In a mood......

The school year is coming to an end and I have concluded that I am very ready! For whatever reason, I have been in a mood all week and feel the need for a good cry or a good bottle of wine. Not sure which will work better...maybe both! TGIF.

Life vs. Work

Nurse Nancy Life Story: I feel the need to brag today....... Plain and simple, everywhere I go with Jr. Birdman, I am constantly proud of how he acts in public places. Sometimes I think it is just me and that I am blinded by the love I have for my dude....but then, others makes comments about how good he is, what wonderful manners he has and how proud I should be. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside........and outside. I only hope it continues and he becomes a person of substance.

Nurse Nancy work story: Sent a child home Tuesday with a fever of 103. Made sure that Mom heard me say that said child should stay home on Wednesday. Wednesday morning teacher calls to let me know that student is back. Called Mom to say come and pick him up....."Oh, I am sorry I did not hear you say he needed to be home for 24 hours....." Do they think I am that stupid? He went home and I am sure he will be back today.......

Parenting 101

Would you send your child to school sick? Happens all the time with mild illness but a fever of 103?

If your child was going on a field trip to the beach for 5 hours, would you remember to apply sunscreen before putting them on the bus in the morning? Apparently not for more than 10 kids in a class of 22.....

Call me cranky but why don't people think (I know we are all busy but I am busy too and should be able to concentrate on more important things).....and I do think there should be a test that everyone MUST pass before becoming parents.....

Best Plans.....

I did what I said I would do this weekend and did not go anywhere near the computer....mostly because we switched ISPs last week and Fly Boy was still getting all the kinks out....but boy did it feel good..... What did I do instead? Transplanted and split plants in the perennial garden, read a book and caught some rays, in between working at the doctor's office which was nuts. Also had time to run (felt good), cook (which I love more than anything) and have some nice conversation with my boys (what could be better).

In the "go figure" department, I had a small cook out with some family on Sunday.....being the planning maven that I am, I had all the salads made, burgers made and the baked beans heating in the oven before anyone arrived. Just needed to fire up the grill. Had planned all day to have our first outdoor meal of the season.....Mother Nature thought differently.....a tornado warning and severe thunderstorm took care of that and the power too! We survived the storm, ate inside by candlelight and the power was back in time for coffee and dessert.....and a fun time was had by all.

OK enough rambling.....have to get to work now.

TGIF or should it be TGIS and a long weekend

Yes, I know it is Saturday and I am not one who lnormally longs for Friday each week.....I seem to have boundless engergy (or I am too stupid to listen to my body say STOP) and have enough things going on that all the days blend together.....however, this week is very different. We had our first case of positive H1N1 in our school district this week.....with it came panic and concern. While that was expected, it meant that our team spent endless hours on the phone calming nerves, talking to parents of potentially high risk children, documenting each and everyone of these interactions and keeping other important staff up to date.

Now that it is the weekend, I hope to NOT speak to anyone on the phone or type a single word into a computer (which is why I am getting this ready on Friday afternoon).

Wish I had a pool or hot tub to hang out in all weekend - with a glass of good wine, of course. Have a good weekend and everyone stay well.......

Swine Flu Update

We have to find the humor in life or it is not much fun.........

First celebrity to die from the swine flu.....guess we know who the carrier is......

It's Official!

I have officially registered for the OBX Half Marathon. 13.1 miles.....am I crazy? I see it as an amiable goal and I know it will be achieved. Afterall....there was money involved in the registration and that cannot go to waste. Isn't that always a motivation?

I am looking forward to this experience for so many reasons. The personal accomplishment, the health incentive and most importantly...a girls weekend with some new and old friends and the party that comes with it...after the half marathon of course.

Current training status.....I can run 1 1/2 miles without having to stop and walk or catch my breath. Only 11.6 more miles to go....... Thank goodness the event does not take place until November 8th.

We've Got Dirt!

The before........

Today was the day....the dirt is in! The plants are planted! The seeds are sewn! The watering has begun.....now how long will Jr. Birdman stay interested and help me......

The after....

And the supervisor....

How Literal......

I learn more every day how literal elementary age children can be.....and how funny. We arrived home on Friday to a small package in the mail from Ellen for Jr. Birdman. He was so excited to open that package and find so may little things - chapstick, bandaids from the Philadelphia Marathon, a new key chain for his backpack, some state quarters to add to his "D" collection and an envelope labeled "For a snack for after a baseball game." So, he disappeared into his room to fill in the quarters and I kept asking him what was in the unopened envelope? His answer, "A snack for after a baseball game." Finally, his Dad convinced him to open the envelope where he discovered a $5 bill! After the hoots and hollers associated with recieving money, Jr. Birdman started to laugh a bit. Flyboy asked him what was so funny? His answer, "I did not understand how Auntie Ellen could put a snack in an envelope and send it to me." I had to leave the room....

Frost!

It is May 18th and we are expecting frost tonight....what is with that!

We broke our backs this weekend getting the vegetable bed ready to be planted and now there is going to be frost.......will we ever see the vegetalbe garden planted? The pea plants are slowly taking over my family room. We will need a mischette to find the sofa soon.

Go away frost and I promise I will not complain when it is so hot I can fry an egg on my back porch.

Is it safe?

Everyone I know if on my case about not have a FaceBook page and I keep thinking about it and not acting on it....anyhow, FlyBoy reviews and monitors "spam" activity for his company and they recently did a test last week to see how secure the social sites are.....guess what, they are not!

One of his colleagues created multiple facebook pages with made up information on different people, names etc. Then another colleague created a business entity and queried personal information for his business......everyone on of the "made up" people from FaceBook came back in the query with all of their personal information and many other FaceBook souls came back too. I was lectured reapeatedly all weekend about why I should NEVER create a FaceBook page.

Is this a case where ignorance is bliss?!

Got Dirt?

Here sits the beautiful raised garden bed that Fly Boy and Jr. Birdman built while I was enjoying girls weekend. Prior to beginning the project, Fly Boy called our friendly driveway guy who is also a landscaper and arranged for the delivery of 2 yards of top soil/compost.....that was supposed to happen a week ago. Do you see it? I don't. A few phone calls and messages have been left and no calls back. Is that customer service?

The peas and beans are ready. We have a few basil and parsley plants and the tomatoes cages have arrived.....guess we will be spending the weekend hauling bags of top soil and peat moss and loading it ourselves.....if the landscaper disappeared do you think they would come looking for him here? :)

By the way, the matter that is in the bottom at the moment are the flowers I received last week. Jr. Birdman tells me they make great compost and insisted we place them at the bottom of the garden bed.......

Ups and Downs

Baseball season for the AA Reds is in full swing and the emotions of boys are right there too. Two games in the last three days...... Jr. Fly Boy made a BIG mental error running the basepads during the first game. Top of the sixth, down by one run, batter hit a slow roller back to the pitcher, Jr. Fly Boy on second started to run to third and stopped! Don't know why but he just stopped! Drew the play to third and was tagged OUT! Tears ensued and the pounding of fists on the batting helmet still on his head - not pretty. The other team won!

Two days later....same senario except it was the bottom of the sixth inning, game was tied.....this time he remembered to keep running and he scored the game winning run! High fives all around and lots of hooting and hollering (his teammates cheered too). Amazing how quickly things can turn around but I don't think my nails and cuticles will survive the season.

Boy or Girl?

It is that wonderful time of year when we start recieving paperwork on incoming K students for next year. Annie and I love being inundated with paperwork...RIGHT! Anyhow, it is always interesting to see how many multiples we are getting, how many new siblings are coming and the names of the children. The most interesting one so far is Jasper. Since we have not recieved all the required paperwork yet, nothing we have tell us whether this is the name of a boy or girl.

Any thoughts? Annie is thinking boy and I a clueless......

First Place!

I know it is only May 11 but being a long suffering Mets fan, I learned a long time ago to celebrate the small victories. My boys have won 7 straight games, are in sole posession of first place in the National League East, the hitters are hitting and the combined ERA of the starting rotation is 2.66. So for today, I am smiling....check back with me on the last day of the season. I hope that they are at least in contention this year......

Lets go Mets!

Happy Mothers Day!

To all my Mom friends out there....take the time to relax, enjoy and reflect on what being a Mom has meant to you so far...... For me, it has been the best 7 (almost 8) years of my life and I know that most of my friends would agree it has been truly life changing for me.

It is Saturday.....

and I sincerely hope that while you are reading this (or at least when this gets posted), I am fast asleep. I need sleep....we all do.

I recently recieved a newsletter from one of my pracitioners offices about sleep and all it does to revive our bodies. Here are some highlights of what happens to us while we sleep:

- Sleep is a restorative time for our internal organs

10PM - the heart

1-3 AM - the liver

4-5 AM - kidneys, lungs and large intestines

All night long, adrenal glands rest while we sleep.

- A good night's sleep is uninterrupted for 7-8 hours and we should fall asleep within 15 minutes of lying down.

- Lack of quality sleep has been associated with autoimmune disorders, frequent infections, heart disease, diabetes, anxiety and digestive disorders.

- When we reduce our hours of sleep, we reduce the hours of REM sleep which is a balancing stage of sleep.

And that is all about sleep for now.....I need a nap. Go have some good sleep!

Stability

As parents, this is the best thing we can provide for our kids. As spouses, this is the best thing we can provide for each other. As humans, this is an important quality we can bring to those around us. We have been surrounded by kids this week whose lives lack stability...maybe that is why we have some many visitors.

My stability includes my family, my friends and my faith. What brings stability to your life?

I love my stability and sharing it with others.

Girls Weekend Adventures

So part two of girls weekend includes some adventures and lots of good food.
The weather was interesting...sunny, cloudy, warm, cool...mostly depended on the moment of the day and the plans we had made. If we wanted to sit in the sun, the clouds would come. If we changed our minds and decided to be inside, the sun would come out. Oh well...... So instead of waiting it out, we forged ahead seeking excitement and wild times :)

Here we are enjoying the fleeting sun and the brisk breezes (a good hair day was had by all).

First stop, Assateague Island and the famous wild ponies. The beach was amazing, the park was beautiful and the ponies?! We saw lots of evidence of the ponies and not so much of the actual beast.

Lunch was in the sleepy town of Berlin, MD (where the movie Runaway Bride was filmed). Wish I had remembered to take a photo of dessert....a creation from God called Lemon Lust. It left me lusting for more (we shared one so that the sin was not as great). We ate on the porch of the Atlantic Hotel and shopped in some very cute gift/antique stores.

Dinner Saturday night was crab cakes....what else. And good they were...I won't go into lunch since Ellen already shared our sins.

As we always do, we shopped for the souvenier of the weekend - a Christmas ornament and our starfish charms. What great fun and what a gret friend I have in Ellen! Cannot wait until next year........

Deer Strike!

No I did not hit a deer with my car....thank goodness for that.

During the morning yesterday, one of our "frequent flyer" kindergarten students came for her daily (sometimes two or three times a day) visit. This was our encounter......

Student: "During choice time, one of the deer struck my leg and cut it......the skin is about to fly off and I sense it is is going to bleed at any moment."

My findings....she had a small scrape on her leg that did not even break the skin! Safe to say her skin was not ready to fall off or bleed.

You just cannot make this stuff up!

Happy Nurses Day to all my nurse friends out there!

Girls Weekend Revisited......

And what a great time we had.....from the moment we arrived until we parted company we never lacked for laughs and conversation. So I will try to chronicle the events of the weekend in pictures and comments and you can live vicariously through me....and Ellen.

Destination -

Hotel - The Days Inn on the Boardwalk. Right on the boardwalk. Here is a picture of the hotel from the boardwalk.

Our room - The first thought we had upon entering was that Hawaii flew in, threw up all over the room and left! The second observation we made, most other hotels along the boardwalk had the same set up....Ellen's comment was there must have been a great Buy 1 Get 4,999 free!

The Boardwalk - 2 1/4 miles in length. We walked the length each morning and I thought that was a good start to my training efforts. Great coffee shop next door.....have never (and I mean never) had a better latte in my life! And some fun people watching. Here are some interesting shots of our Saturday morning coffee clatch...who would have expected two marching bands to come by :)

Later in the week, will share stories of our side trips and souvenier of the weekend.

Swine Flu Update

CDC Warning: ***DO NOT DO THIS!!!***


More on girl's weekend later.......I am trying to decide how much money the photos are worth to Ellen if I don't publish them :)

Off to the Beach....again

This time without my family. It is time for girls weekend. We are late in our adventure this year. Sometimes life gets in the way.....more often than we want. I look so forward to this weekend every year. Lots of drinking, dancing and all around wild girl behavior....NOT. Ocean City, MD here we come. I hope the other tourists can handle the excitement we bring.

See you Monday!