I work at a community college. I love it. For one, my students are deaf so I get the added advantage of being able to use two languages and I get inspired on a daily basis because I see these kids do things that I can't accomplish with regular hearing. I also love the cycles we go through. Fall semester, spring semester, summer. Beginning of the semester, middle of the semester, end of semester. New Student Orientation and Graduation. Fall semester and spring semester are completely different with different events and different objectives. And I love what I do here. I love being a secretary. I work with faculty and although I joke about the "children" and the "students" it's really a pretty good gig. It weirds me out sometimes that I'm a "school secretary", but most of the time I'm okay with it.
The first two weeks of any semester are crazy. And for me it starts two weeks before the semester starts because we have meetings and registration and paperwork and faculty coming back from being off for a month and paperwork and more meetings and schedule changes and oh, by the way, did I mention PAPERWORK!!
But this semester has been absolutely, positively, certifiably insane. We had a water main burst in a building. We've had a flu/upper respiratory/bronchitis/pneumonia epidemic that hasn't even hit the student population yet. We're looking at severe budget cuts thanks to the state being billions of dollars in debt. And there's been all this random stuff happening that's making me a little nuts.
So my little blog has been severely neglected. My other blog has been super-severely neglected. And oh by the way...exercising...not happened at all this week so I'm super frustrated there.
All in all...wow. Just...wow.
Is it too early to start counting the days till Spring Break???
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Fruit Basket Turnover Week
All is quiet on the blog front because my week month has been craziness. It's that time of the semester and work and this semester seems to be superextraseriously crazy. Craziness+insanity+hysteria+weirdness=my life right now. It's not necessarily anything bad, just nuts.
It should be over soon.
Sort-of.
My job is a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. It's time for things to settle down. But so far this is one of THOSE semesters. Kind-of like that neighbor that you kind-of like but when you're around them they're unspeakably rude, very hard to understand and WON'T GO AWAY!!! I think we're going to be craziness personified until May 13, 2011. A significant day worthy of it's own blog post.
Lessons of the week:
#1 - Stupid people don't get less stupid - if anything they find whole new ways to be stupid.
#2 - I am in a really, really, really good place in my life no matter what the scale, my migraines, or my feelings tell me. The little Mr. and I are sitting pretty and I need to get good and grateful NOW.
#3 - I'm a big ol' baby who gets her feelings hurt over nothing. I obsessed for 24 hours over....coffee. Wow. That was 24 hours well spent.
#4 - When I get out of my own way, God takes really good care of me. When I get in my own way I am train wreck city.
So yeah, I'm all over the map on this one because I am all over the map in my life, feelings, thinking, etc. I did start a journal to really get a grip on myself. If I'm doing the things I'm not supposed to be doing and I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing....I'm in the wrong spot.
It should be over soon.
Sort-of.
My job is a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. It's time for things to settle down. But so far this is one of THOSE semesters. Kind-of like that neighbor that you kind-of like but when you're around them they're unspeakably rude, very hard to understand and WON'T GO AWAY!!! I think we're going to be craziness personified until May 13, 2011. A significant day worthy of it's own blog post.
Lessons of the week:
#1 - Stupid people don't get less stupid - if anything they find whole new ways to be stupid.
#2 - I am in a really, really, really good place in my life no matter what the scale, my migraines, or my feelings tell me. The little Mr. and I are sitting pretty and I need to get good and grateful NOW.
#3 - I'm a big ol' baby who gets her feelings hurt over nothing. I obsessed for 24 hours over....coffee. Wow. That was 24 hours well spent.
#4 - When I get out of my own way, God takes really good care of me. When I get in my own way I am train wreck city.
So yeah, I'm all over the map on this one because I am all over the map in my life, feelings, thinking, etc. I did start a journal to really get a grip on myself. If I'm doing the things I'm not supposed to be doing and I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing....I'm in the wrong spot.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Happy Time
We all saw the commercials this past holiday season. "Peggy" the credit card service guy. Tells this woman she has like no money from points and then he says "Happy Time".
I love Peggy.
And all my ick, angst, meh from last week seems to have disappeared into "Happy Time".
The reasons, I think, are this....
My dryer broke last week. Okay, not life-threatening or anything. I mean, I already hang dry my husbands jeans and I could easily do that to his work shirts. I could go to the laundromat and do the other two loads a week of laundry I have (It's just me and the little mister at home, we don't go through that many clothes). It's a do-able situation. Except money has been tight and I'm stressed about money anyway. I was envisioning hundreds of dollars to fix or that we'd need a new one. No telling when that would happen. But I wasn't figuring on my husband being like a dog with a bone. Every night after work he tried something on it, he cleaned it out, he took the heating unit to the repair place, he borrowed an electrical sensor thingy and tested everything. It was 5 days before it was all put back together and fixed...but...it...is...fixed!!!!!
Much more importantly than the whole dryer thing...we found out that my baby niece has congenital hip dysplasia and there was the potential for her to have surgery which would have ended up with her being in a body cast. Her doctors appointment was this week and she doesn't have to have surgery. She just has to go back in a year. Sweet.
I found out last week that I'm getting a niece in Oklahoma and a nephew in Texas. I collect nieces and nephews like most people collect sea shells and this will be niece # 4 and nephew number 6...oh and baby nephew already has a nickname. Thanks to his father's weirdness he is henceforth and forever..."SpidaMan". How could that not be a "Happy Time".
And finally, I spent Saturday watching my grandkids while my step-son and his girlfriend went to look for Hailey Dunn. I'm so sad about this missing little girl and it reminded me how lucky I am, once again, that all my family are fairly healthy and happy. We don't have any problems nearly that big today. We may tomorrow, but today....everything is alright.
So yeah, last week I was full of the sad, stressed, freaked out. This week...full of the happy.
I love Peggy.
And all my ick, angst, meh from last week seems to have disappeared into "Happy Time".
The reasons, I think, are this....
My dryer broke last week. Okay, not life-threatening or anything. I mean, I already hang dry my husbands jeans and I could easily do that to his work shirts. I could go to the laundromat and do the other two loads a week of laundry I have (It's just me and the little mister at home, we don't go through that many clothes). It's a do-able situation. Except money has been tight and I'm stressed about money anyway. I was envisioning hundreds of dollars to fix or that we'd need a new one. No telling when that would happen. But I wasn't figuring on my husband being like a dog with a bone. Every night after work he tried something on it, he cleaned it out, he took the heating unit to the repair place, he borrowed an electrical sensor thingy and tested everything. It was 5 days before it was all put back together and fixed...but...it...is...fixed!!!!!
Much more importantly than the whole dryer thing...we found out that my baby niece has congenital hip dysplasia and there was the potential for her to have surgery which would have ended up with her being in a body cast. Her doctors appointment was this week and she doesn't have to have surgery. She just has to go back in a year. Sweet.
I found out last week that I'm getting a niece in Oklahoma and a nephew in Texas. I collect nieces and nephews like most people collect sea shells and this will be niece # 4 and nephew number 6...oh and baby nephew already has a nickname. Thanks to his father's weirdness he is henceforth and forever..."SpidaMan". How could that not be a "Happy Time".
And finally, I spent Saturday watching my grandkids while my step-son and his girlfriend went to look for Hailey Dunn. I'm so sad about this missing little girl and it reminded me how lucky I am, once again, that all my family are fairly healthy and happy. We don't have any problems nearly that big today. We may tomorrow, but today....everything is alright.
So yeah, last week I was full of the sad, stressed, freaked out. This week...full of the happy.
Friday, January 7, 2011
End of 2010/Beginning of 2011
I haven't blogged since the middle of December and here it is the end of the first week in January. It seems like forever ago, but really...not.
My two weeks off from work were nice. Spent some time with family, chilled out, watched a lot of tv, got some exercise, watched some football, cooked, cleaned, the usual. Stressed out a lot. Which was stupid. It's all my fault, too. It's a long story, but it involved reading my electric bill wrong and thinking the electricity was going to be turned off any minute because I didn't have the money to pay it until the first. If I had gone back and re-read my electric bill, it would have saved me roughly 379 panic attacks. So my "chilling out" was seriously hampered the first week of my vacation.
I did not make NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS like I always do, but I set goals for where I wanted to be this time next year and by the end of January. Which means in my mind that I don't have to do them all RIGHT NOW, but I've recognized that they're all part of a process. And my goals for January aren't even things that all have to be done right this minute like every day in the month of January I'm going to eat my vegetables and work out for 2 hours a day. For example, one goal for January is that I'm going to take a room in my house each week-end and clean/re-organize/re-arrange. Which I like a whole lot better than "I AM GOING TO REORGANIZE MY WHOLE HOUSE!!!" Which is destined to fail because my whole house is a little overwhelming, but my bathroom during the week-end of January 7-9 doesn't leave me feeling all that freaked.
But still, when I was going through my calendars for 2011 I just had this feeling of "Ick" like I don't want to deal with 2011. No offense 2011, but for some reason I just don't like you. It's like when you meet a person and they seem alright but for some reason you just don't like them. I'm sure you're a perfectly nice year, but I'm not feeling it. Maybe it's because you're the year that's going to force me to turn 40. Maybe I just don't like the number 11. I don't know. But for some reason I was putting dates on my calendar and just kept thinking I just don't want to deal.
Part of my problem is that there have been several years where nothing really bad has happened. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind is the thought that the other shoe has to drop eventually. I'm not really sure. I've just been kind of "meh" all week. But...I'm a Member of the Band over at Band Back Together and this is the year of "Bringing Back the Happy" over there. It's the Bringing Happy Back World Tour and I am going on it. I just didn't realize I was going to drag myself kicking and screaming and I'm really not sure why.
My two weeks off from work were nice. Spent some time with family, chilled out, watched a lot of tv, got some exercise, watched some football, cooked, cleaned, the usual. Stressed out a lot. Which was stupid. It's all my fault, too. It's a long story, but it involved reading my electric bill wrong and thinking the electricity was going to be turned off any minute because I didn't have the money to pay it until the first. If I had gone back and re-read my electric bill, it would have saved me roughly 379 panic attacks. So my "chilling out" was seriously hampered the first week of my vacation.
I did not make NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS like I always do, but I set goals for where I wanted to be this time next year and by the end of January. Which means in my mind that I don't have to do them all RIGHT NOW, but I've recognized that they're all part of a process. And my goals for January aren't even things that all have to be done right this minute like every day in the month of January I'm going to eat my vegetables and work out for 2 hours a day. For example, one goal for January is that I'm going to take a room in my house each week-end and clean/re-organize/re-arrange. Which I like a whole lot better than "I AM GOING TO REORGANIZE MY WHOLE HOUSE!!!" Which is destined to fail because my whole house is a little overwhelming, but my bathroom during the week-end of January 7-9 doesn't leave me feeling all that freaked.
But still, when I was going through my calendars for 2011 I just had this feeling of "Ick" like I don't want to deal with 2011. No offense 2011, but for some reason I just don't like you. It's like when you meet a person and they seem alright but for some reason you just don't like them. I'm sure you're a perfectly nice year, but I'm not feeling it. Maybe it's because you're the year that's going to force me to turn 40. Maybe I just don't like the number 11. I don't know. But for some reason I was putting dates on my calendar and just kept thinking I just don't want to deal.
Part of my problem is that there have been several years where nothing really bad has happened. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind is the thought that the other shoe has to drop eventually. I'm not really sure. I've just been kind of "meh" all week. But...I'm a Member of the Band over at Band Back Together and this is the year of "Bringing Back the Happy" over there. It's the Bringing Happy Back World Tour and I am going on it. I just didn't realize I was going to drag myself kicking and screaming and I'm really not sure why.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Quiet Week
Okay, no, not really. It's been crazy hectic. But my brain has been quiet which is...not normal.
Okay, that's not really true either. I get these spells where I've got nothin'. No profound wisdom, no fun things on my mind, just getting through life one step at a time. Compared to the times of my life when I'm thinking in 150 gajillion directions...it's kinda nice. Not so great for a blog, though.
What's been happening this week?
I met a scorpion named Jennifer. And saw the biggest freakin' Burmese python I've ever seen in my 39 and a half years and please Lord let it be the last. It was in a tank. At a nature center. But still. Holy mackerel that thing was huge. I would've been just a tasty snack. I was able to keep a detached interest at the other 50 some-odd snakes they had including the rattlesnakes, but the Burmese python scared the bejeebers out of me.
My one and only grandson turned 5 on the same day. Needless to say that was the highlight of the day (although the 2 bobcats were pretty cool).
My oldest granddaughter had her 3rd Christmas dance recital and finally came out of her dancing shell. She danced! And smiled! At the same time!!! She's my more cerebral girl so it was good to see her let some of her personality show to the rest of the world instead of standing there thinking about everyone looking at her.
The next night the middle granddaughter had her very first ever dance recital. No worries about her thinking too much about it. She smiled and danced and flipped her hair and had a great time. Until about 3/4 of the way into each dance and then she was over it. But she'd finish...just you could tell she was done. There's a lot of speculation about her having ADHD and sometimes you can really see when she's just onto something else in her mind.
Wednesday was the migraine from Hades...not a good day, but I worked most of the day, went home and went to bed... and then went on with my week.
Yesterday was day one of Couch to 5K which is a whole other post entirely.
Now I'm just kinda ready to be done with work. I have some things I need to do the next couple of weeks, but for the most part I'm ready to just chill. We'll have the two local grandgirls most of the time so I'm not sure how much actual "chill" will happen, but I'm going to try my hardest.
Oh, and as for the Dr.'s appointment last week? They called on Friday afternoon with the results of the echo. Still no word on the holter, but I only had to push the stupid button three times, right before bed, when my heart palpitates anyway if I'm extremely tired. So I'm not too worried about it...but this is why I hate having tests run this time of year.
* As soon as I originally posted this...I got the call from the heart doc. It's all good. I had some extra beats...which I knew....but nothing they haven't seen before.
Okay, that's not really true either. I get these spells where I've got nothin'. No profound wisdom, no fun things on my mind, just getting through life one step at a time. Compared to the times of my life when I'm thinking in 150 gajillion directions...it's kinda nice. Not so great for a blog, though.
What's been happening this week?
I met a scorpion named Jennifer. And saw the biggest freakin' Burmese python I've ever seen in my 39 and a half years and please Lord let it be the last. It was in a tank. At a nature center. But still. Holy mackerel that thing was huge. I would've been just a tasty snack. I was able to keep a detached interest at the other 50 some-odd snakes they had including the rattlesnakes, but the Burmese python scared the bejeebers out of me.
My one and only grandson turned 5 on the same day. Needless to say that was the highlight of the day (although the 2 bobcats were pretty cool).
My oldest granddaughter had her 3rd Christmas dance recital and finally came out of her dancing shell. She danced! And smiled! At the same time!!! She's my more cerebral girl so it was good to see her let some of her personality show to the rest of the world instead of standing there thinking about everyone looking at her.
The next night the middle granddaughter had her very first ever dance recital. No worries about her thinking too much about it. She smiled and danced and flipped her hair and had a great time. Until about 3/4 of the way into each dance and then she was over it. But she'd finish...just you could tell she was done. There's a lot of speculation about her having ADHD and sometimes you can really see when she's just onto something else in her mind.
Wednesday was the migraine from Hades...not a good day, but I worked most of the day, went home and went to bed... and then went on with my week.
Yesterday was day one of Couch to 5K which is a whole other post entirely.
Now I'm just kinda ready to be done with work. I have some things I need to do the next couple of weeks, but for the most part I'm ready to just chill. We'll have the two local grandgirls most of the time so I'm not sure how much actual "chill" will happen, but I'm going to try my hardest.
Oh, and as for the Dr.'s appointment last week? They called on Friday afternoon with the results of the echo. Still no word on the holter, but I only had to push the stupid button three times, right before bed, when my heart palpitates anyway if I'm extremely tired. So I'm not too worried about it...but this is why I hate having tests run this time of year.
* As soon as I originally posted this...I got the call from the heart doc. It's all good. I had some extra beats...which I knew....but nothing they haven't seen before.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Nothing to complain about
I have nothing to complain about really. I'm going to the heart doc tomorrow and really it's not that big of a deal. I love my current cardiologist and I haven't always been able to say that. I'm having an echocardiogram and a holter monitor like I do every December and really that's not that big of a deal. I'll have the exact same conversation with the echo tech that I do every year because she doesn't remember me from year to year. I'll have the same conversation I do with the doc every six months (Are you exercising? Why not? When are you going to start? What's the plan?) I get a day off of work. I'll be able to do all my Christmas shopping when I'm done.
So what's the deal? Every adult CHD'er (CHD = Congenital Heart Defect for those that don't know) will tell you the same thing I'm sure. Going to the heart doc is annoying. I work with around 50 people. I can think of only two others that work here who have standing appointments with a cardiologist and they're men in their 50's/60's. Although now that I'm less than 6 months away from 40 I'm starting to fit into the right age group. It's fun trying to explain to people why you're going to a heart doc when you're 25 - "Are you waiting on your grandfather?" "No, I'm here to see the doc." "But you're way to young for that." "No, trust me, I'm getting way to old for this. It was much easier when I was 5". Because lets face it. When you're 5 the heart doc has toys to play with while you wait. I mean come on!
It's annoying because if I tell my family I have a heart doc appointment I get "Gasp! I hope everything's OKAY!" It is. It's been okay for years now. Please don't worry. But they do. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins...they were there. They remember the days when we were all fighting for my life. They remember the tears, the prayers, the hopes, the wishes. And then there's the brothers who all they've ever known is a sister with heart problems. So it instills fear in them to hear I'm headed to the heart doc. But then there's the new family. My husband and his family. All they've ever known is that I have heart problems, but other than 3 days in the hospital 5 years ago they haven't really seen it manifested so...."Do we worry? What's going on? Is something wrong?" No, it's just what I need to do. And the flip side of all of this is if I keep it to myself that I'm going for a check-up then I get. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US???" So I kinda can't win here. And I get both sides of that coin. I really do. And I try to be understanding. But when I post the status, send the text, tweet, whatever...I brace myself.
It's annoying because I'm allergic to some of the adhesives they use for the leads for the holter monitor. Which means 24 hours of itchy. Yay.
But if I've learned anything by meeting CHD'ers on the internet it's that I have it really good. It's been almost 20 years since my last open-heart surgery with only minor complications since then. I've gotten off relatively easy. I understand that I'm one of the few that's kept consistent contact with good medical care. It's paid off. I do have a hole in my heart, but it's not a big deal and doesn't seem to be anything to worry about anytime soon. I'm truly blessed and truly have nothing to complain about.
But when has that ever stopped me???
So what's the deal? Every adult CHD'er (CHD = Congenital Heart Defect for those that don't know) will tell you the same thing I'm sure. Going to the heart doc is annoying. I work with around 50 people. I can think of only two others that work here who have standing appointments with a cardiologist and they're men in their 50's/60's. Although now that I'm less than 6 months away from 40 I'm starting to fit into the right age group. It's fun trying to explain to people why you're going to a heart doc when you're 25 - "Are you waiting on your grandfather?" "No, I'm here to see the doc." "But you're way to young for that." "No, trust me, I'm getting way to old for this. It was much easier when I was 5". Because lets face it. When you're 5 the heart doc has toys to play with while you wait. I mean come on!
It's annoying because if I tell my family I have a heart doc appointment I get "Gasp! I hope everything's OKAY!" It is. It's been okay for years now. Please don't worry. But they do. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins...they were there. They remember the days when we were all fighting for my life. They remember the tears, the prayers, the hopes, the wishes. And then there's the brothers who all they've ever known is a sister with heart problems. So it instills fear in them to hear I'm headed to the heart doc. But then there's the new family. My husband and his family. All they've ever known is that I have heart problems, but other than 3 days in the hospital 5 years ago they haven't really seen it manifested so...."Do we worry? What's going on? Is something wrong?" No, it's just what I need to do. And the flip side of all of this is if I keep it to myself that I'm going for a check-up then I get. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US???" So I kinda can't win here. And I get both sides of that coin. I really do. And I try to be understanding. But when I post the status, send the text, tweet, whatever...I brace myself.
It's annoying because I'm allergic to some of the adhesives they use for the leads for the holter monitor. Which means 24 hours of itchy. Yay.
But if I've learned anything by meeting CHD'ers on the internet it's that I have it really good. It's been almost 20 years since my last open-heart surgery with only minor complications since then. I've gotten off relatively easy. I understand that I'm one of the few that's kept consistent contact with good medical care. It's paid off. I do have a hole in my heart, but it's not a big deal and doesn't seem to be anything to worry about anytime soon. I'm truly blessed and truly have nothing to complain about.
But when has that ever stopped me???
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Land of the Living
I'm back!! If anybody missed me, I was at home with a stomach virus. I don't recommend it. Two days home, alone has it's benefits....but not if you feel like death warmed over. But I'm back to "normal" today and craving chicken strips...so lunch had better hurry up and get here.
A couple of thoughts from the last couple of days....Ramen noodles are the best food in the world. Saltine crackers are the second best food in the world. I can be excused for getting sick. It happens. What is inexcusable is when I forget to take my medication and do it to myself. The stomach virus was complicated by a lack of my diuretic for too long. Memo to me...don't mention that to the cardiologist on Friday.
And that's about it. Not a lot of thinking when you're laying on the couch trying to keep down said noodles and crackers.
A couple of thoughts from the last couple of days....Ramen noodles are the best food in the world. Saltine crackers are the second best food in the world. I can be excused for getting sick. It happens. What is inexcusable is when I forget to take my medication and do it to myself. The stomach virus was complicated by a lack of my diuretic for too long. Memo to me...don't mention that to the cardiologist on Friday.
And that's about it. Not a lot of thinking when you're laying on the couch trying to keep down said noodles and crackers.
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