First Day of School!

Bowen in his cool uniform and Power Ranger sunglasses eventhough it was still dark when we left!
I can't even believe she is in first grade, I still look for her when I see her K teacher in the hall!
Me ready to sweat all day in my hot gym.
Jonathan, relieved that it wasn't HIS first day of school!

Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets...

absolutely broke my heart today. To tell the truth I can't even think about them without tearing up. Why, you ask, did fused chicken make me weep? Well I'll tell you. When I went to pick up Bowen today his teacher told me he'd been a little upset today when he had eaten his chicken nuggets and no body could give him more, he didn't want his broccoli (duh), he had eaten his peaches but he could only have three (?!) nuggets because that is the rule of portion for his age in the cafeteria. Well. I went down to the directors office, not mad, just wanting to find out why he couldn't have more if he wanted, I mean I pay for his food, give him more! ( A little aside here to explain: I can't bear thinking of people being hungry, kids, poor people, dogs, Jonathan, especially kids, and really especially my kids. I think it stems from Laine as a newborn not getting enough milk at first and having to supplement and pump to get her to gain weight, that girl sucked on her hands and cried and cried and there was nothing I could give her because my boobs were SO full of milk none would come out.) Anyway, I asked what had happened, she said blah blah three nuggets, I said that's not enough for him, and I started crying. She said she was trying to see if things could be changed, I knew I couldn't stop crying, I told her that I was really sad and that I needed to leave and I walked out of the office. Awesomely enough while I was waling to the car, I saw a teacher from my old school and couldn't talk and I saw a student from my new school with her mother and she was asking me questions and all I could say was you've really caught me at a bad time and walk away, tears coming down my face. All I could think of was that my baby was hungry and no one would help him. Is that REALLY what happened, no, those girls love Bowen so much, they gave him everything he wanted except the stupid chicken nuggets. Stupid cafeteria rule. It's so much more that nuggets, it's doubting my working outside the home (I could have given him all the nuggets he wanted if we were at home), it's doubting my decision to buy his lunch instead of making it like 3/4 of the other moms do for their kids in his class. AND, they bring snacks for them too, the learning center provides a snack free of charge, and I'm thinking heck yeah, something I don;t have to pay for! And Bowen is sad because he has to eat apple sauce while the other kids eat their yummy snacks from home, what a beating, at least mentally for me, PEER PRESSURE. I rarely doubt myself, I rarely cry in public, I rarely let myself feel inferior to other moms, but today I did. Today I cried like a baby over three chicken nuggets and I can't seem to shake it.

Later in the afternoon the director called me, I was still crying. She is one of the sweetest people I know. She made me feel better, she told me she was working with Food Services to get things changed. She even cried with me a little while we were taking about how hard it is to worry about your child when they are away from you. I can't decide. Do I start making his lunch? Do I just send some extra food for back-up? Do I just follow up and make sure he's getting enough from the cafeteria?

I'll get some first day of school pictures up soon.

Beach volleyball is the reason I'm blogging

Because I'm tired of watching it, give me Track and Field, Diving, whatever, just no more volleyball! I love having a reason to sit in front of the TV for long periods of time and something that only happens every 4 years is a pretty big reason.

I didn't have the best week last week with the mammogram (which came out OK, I have some calcification in my right breast that they are going to keep an eye on but nothing serious), the cat incident and starting school back I was worn a little thin by the end of the week. The event that topped it all off happened on Saturday morning. I was getting ready to do my 8 mile run at before the crack of dawn o'clock in the morning when I decided I needed to use the potty before we got started. So I make my way over to the port o potty and suddenly wondered why I could see the sky? and a millisecond later I was flat on the ground. I had no idea I was falling until my body collided with the cement, it was terrific. Two people saw me which was two more than the last time I fell in high school while trying to jump over a foot high chain going to a baseball game. I went to the trainer's room to get cleaned up and lied that I had done it on the tennis court, I don't think they believed me since there was gravel all up in my wound and no gravel tennis courts exist that I know of. Well I picked myself up off the ground made sure everything was still attached and could move, got cleaned up with the Luke's first aid kit and then ran 8 miles. You might think I'm pretty tough but with all the whining and sighing and groaning I did the next day I think I might not be a tough as I thought. I mean did you know your muscles get sore when you fall? That abrasions hurt in the middle of the night? That skin hurts even though there isn't a visible scrape or cut? Me neither! And you know if I had a really good story of bravery or heroism to tell to go along with me injury it would totally be OK, all I've got is a fall on the way to the john!

I'm a little sad tonight about school. I don;t like to write a lot about work on my blog but I really need some therapy. I LOVE my new job, the people I work with are fabulous, my school is nice. I guess I miss familiarity, I miss the faces I've seen in the halls for the past few years, I miss the neat things my AP does for in service, I miss Laura one of my best school friends. I know things are only going to get better the longer I work at the FAA, I'm just a little sad tonight remembering all the good parts of my old school.

You know those moments...

in a day when everything up to a point has all gone well and then a series of things happen that make the shit hit the fan? Good. You know when it's about thirty minutes before you need to leave for your doctor's appointment and you decide to get supper started and you season some chicken and notice that your cat is up on the counter? Pumpkin Batman never gets on the counter and then he walks over and licks the chicken? And then you shoo him off and he walks further down the counter and knocks over a cereal box and sits on it? And then you look at him because he's sitting kind of weird and you realize that he's PISSING? And then? Then? You look at the cereal box and he's peed blood?
That is when my day went to Fast Forward mode. I knew that our regular vet would never be able to get him in and I wouldn't be able to get to my appointment on time. So I call the vet office that is about 90 seconds from our house, they will see him, scoop up the cat yell at the kids to get shoes on. All the while they are asking to see the evidence that he's peed blood. We race to the car, get buckled in toss the cat in and speed to the vet. I call Jonathan to tell him not to come home but to meet us at the vet, he's confused but agrees. Now it's 15 minutes before I need to leave for the Dr., we get to the office and everything feels better, if PB tries to die at least we're where they can do something about it. Jonathan arrives i give him the story, I leave. I'm still in panic mode as I'm driving to the Doctor. It turns out that PB has cystitis, it is kind of like crystals in the bladder and now he's on antibiotics and special food and he's not going to die as long as I can find him to give him his medicine.

At the doctor's office the nurse asks me if I've ever has trouble with my blood pressure, I tell her the cat story. The doctor comes in and feels me up and pushes on the sore place way too much. She then puts my mind at ease when she tells me that it feels fibro-cystic and that lumps that are cancerous rarely hurt. She still schedules me an appointment at the Boob Clinic, where they will either do a sonogram or a mammogram just to make sure it's nothing bad. My decision is to not worry until there is something to worry about. The doctor made me feel better, I just wish my boob would stop hurting.

So, here's my advice, if you're worried about something tell your cat to pee blood and you won't feel so worried about yourself.

The times they are a changin'!

It's almost back to school time here at the Williams' house and let me just say, I'm ready. I would have never guessed on June 7th that on August 10th I would be saying those words but there they are. I'm also the type of person that does not languish those last few days of freedom. Once the time gets close at hand, I just want to get it started already. We have Open House on Tuesday night and start in service on Friday. I haven't really been up to school yet because there is furniture and crap in my gym and no one has decided if my office can be set up in the gym yet because of Asbestos, Asbestos Schmasbestos is what I say! Just get me a phone and computer and put it in a room, I need my space, I need to have a home at my school!

The best news I have received all summer long came Friday in the form of an angel! She was heralding and harking and singing that she would come and clean my house for a very reasonable price. I just about did a back flip I was so excited, I'll let you in on a little secret, I HATE cleaning my house, especially once I am in working full time mode. This is one of the best blessings Jonathan's new job has afforded us. She starts August 26th, I'm giddy!

Last but not least, I'm worried about my left boob. It has a sore spot on it that feels "thick", at least that's what Jonathan called it after I made him do a self exam since I couldn't tell with my own self-exam, the funny part was the look on Laine's face when she walked in on the examination, she appropriately called it "Awkward!" Anyway, I don't think it means much from what I've read on some breast cancer websites but I'm going to call the Doctor tomorrow and go in for my peace of mind.

Cage Match 2008

Head vs. Teeth

Who came out on top? Only you can decide!