Thanksgiving "Fun"

On the way to my in-laws house on Wednesday night we were rear-ended while sitting STILL in traffic on the highway. (I was driving.) Yes, my second accident in less than a week. The lady who hit my (in my rental car) was quite old. I told her the samething I told the boy who hit me...that these things happen. My mood deteriorated quickly after this accident and I ended up going to be early so I would keep my bad mood to myself.

When we got to my in-laws house we discovered that my father in law was very sick with the flu which he had gotten from our niece whose whole family was sick and coming over on Thanksgiving day. Today, Thanksgiving day, we got up and started cooking when Davin's sister's family came over. They all had the flu and were still in the slow recovery stage. (Can you guess how I felt about being with all of these people?) Right in the middle of cooking Davin's mom started getting sick. I told her that I hated to eat and run but that we were leaving as soon as dinner and clean up were over. She said she wasn't going to argue with me that she wanted to go to bed. I told her next time to tell us ahead of time that everyone was sick and that we will stay home. I do not think that Davin's sister and mom realize that Davin and I are going through our sick days like crazy with Alea's bladder infections and that we (especially Alea) do not need to be sick. I was not pleased to walk into that sickness situation without warning. They should have told us ahead of time so we could have decided what was best for our family. It isn't like they live so far away that we couldn't see them when everyone is well for Thanksgiving. Can you tell all the stress is getting to me.

National Board Certified Teacher

I finally got my scores back from my National Board project and test. I am now a certified National Board teacher. I am so grateful to have certified on my first try. Some people can take up to three years to certify and some people never certify. I turned in my project in March and took my test in June. Since then I have been waiting for the scores. What a long wait. :)

Round 4

I took Alea to the doctor today and they said that she either has strep throat or a bladder infection. The doctor gave her a medicine that will "clear up" both problems. I do not believe them anymore. This is her 4th bladder infection and if they had something that would really clear it up then they would have given it to her the first or at least the second time.

Sick?

Starting about 5:00 this evening Alea started gagging and saying that she needed to "puke". She would say that one minute and then be giggling and jumping around the next minute. We thought she was being goofy. We weren't sure if we should take her seriously or not. After dinner I went to look for her and found her in the bathroom (see the pics below) I asked her what she was doing and she said she was just "waiting for the puke to come up." I felt her head and she didn't feel warm or anything. Right before bed she felt warm so I took her temp and she had a temp of 100.4. I guess she was sick after all. Davin will be staying home with her tomorrow.

A little good followed by some bad

This morning I got up a little early and decided to head the the next town up the road for a Chic Fil A breakfast. It was a nice surprise when I got to the window that the local bank and the Christian radio station had teamed up for random acts of kindness and was paying for breakfast for several people going through the drive thru. As I drove back to Springdale towards my all day meeting I was stopped at a stop light behind a truck when a high school boy rear-ended me from behind going about 50 MPH. I do not think he ever hit the breaks. He hit me into the truck infront of me. My car doesn't look too bad but the damage is worse than it looks. Radiator, fan, bumpers, and maybe some frame damage. I felt bad for the boy. He was really shaken up. The lady in the truck infront of me went to the hospital in an ambulance because she said her back hurt. I have some bruises and scrapes and my neck is sore but other wise I am fine. The kids car is totaled for sure. Both of his airbags went off. The boy's high school English teacher stopped and put him in her car because she said he was wondering around kind of lost. I was on the phone with 911 so I wasn't sure what he was doing. I went over to the boy and introduced myself to him, his English teacher, and his dad who was there by that time. The boy was so upset that I was a teacher. He seemed like he respected teachers and was upset that he had hit me. I hugged him and told him that stuff happens and that it was going to be okay. Davin came and kept me warm in his car and kept me company. It was such a blessing to have a free breakfast and that no one was hurt worse.

Luggage

My luggage showed up about midnight last night. :)

Buffalo, New York

I just got back from my trip to Buffalo, New York for the TESOL conference. My assistant principal and I had a good time together. We got to visit and enjoy each others company for four days. We were blessed enough to have a day to go visit Niagra Falls in the U.S. and in Canada. Neither of us had ever been to Canada before so that was fun. We had beautiful day on Friday at the falls. The rest of the trip was dark grey and rainy. It really reminded me of Wisconsin. :) Today we even saw snow flurries. (See pics of the Falls below.) When we got back to Arkansas tonight we were surpised to find out that our luggage had made it as far as Atlanta but not all the way to Arkansas. The airport said they had no idea where our luggage was. They said if it was on the next flight that they would deliever it to our homes tonight about 9PM. I hope it shows up. My assistant principal's luggage was missing too. I think it was only about three of us who were missing our luggage and Alison and I were two of those three people. Besides that little surprise it was a great trip.

New Friend

This has been a crazy week at work. We had a consultant come into our school to teach the teachers how to better instruct our ELL's. (English Language Learners) I respect her so much and really enjoyed spending time with her. Last week we went out to dinner twice and she even joined me at a party on Friday night that someone at school was having at their house. Today she called me and asked to come over. We just hung out and visited. I think that she likes Davin. He understands the problem my school is having because I tell him about everything that goes on at work. She seems to enjoy his perspective. She borrowed some of my movies to watch this week (we both love Stargate which is funny because no one seems to know about the show.)

E Coli

The doctor FINALLY called back today about Alea's urine sample she left TWO weeks ago. They called once and said that she had E Coli and that the medicine that she just finished should take care of it. I knew that wasn't true because she has been running a low fever ever since she finished the medicine earlier this week. Later in the day the nurse called back and said that they have "discovered" that the medicine Alea has been on will not cure the E Coli infection and so she needs to come in tomorrow and get a shot and start another antibiotic.

Birthday

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. It was a good day. I am famous for having terrible birthdays. As for the way my birthdays go this was a good one. A consultant has come to my school to try to fix the problems there. She is the person that taught me everything I know about teaching and probably one of the people I respect most in this world. After school I was able to enjoy an evening of dinner with her and another woman I greatly respect. The great part was that my family got to join us. Davin has really looked forward to one day meeting these important women in my life. Having this get together on my birthday was a nice surprise.



For my birthday Davin got me a really nice green luggage set (for my trip to New York next week.) Alea got me a very nice prayer box necklace. She thinks that mommy's need necklaces or braclets for their birthdays. That is fine with me. I think I have gotten a necklace from her each year for the past four years.