Just Love Me

Ollie really craves attention in the morning. 

Smart dog knows we are going to leave him for the day. 

It's Friday!

Wow...the mercury in the ole thermometer really shot up today!  It was a whole 40 something degrees out.  

That does not sound warm (and it's not, really)but as the majority of the past three months it has been below zero, this was cause to spend some time outdoors.

Lower hoop means easier to dunk

Still working on his vertical - determined to dunk with the hoop raised

Just a dog and his shadow

And then we went here:

Someone needs a haircut!!!

I cannot get this boy to stop chewing his fingernails! I should actually say fingers - no nails anywhere on his hands.

On Ending Relationships

I picked up Jon from school last night and he broke the news on the way home.  

He had ended his relationship with his girlfriend of almost a year.  The reason he cited was the upcoming move to Florida.  

For some reason he has been convinced that a long distance relationship would not work.  I've discussed this with him a few times.  I agreed that it certainly wouldn't be easy, but I didn't think he'd give up without even trying.  

My immediate reaction failed him and I said all the wrong things.  It's not that I knew his girlfriend well - I think I've really only seen her maybe five or six times.  But she was (and still is) the sweetest and kindest girl, which is not easy to find these days.  She also didn't make any demands on him or his time, which is rare and truthfully just what Jon needs in a girl.  

So, for me, it became one of those moments of, "hey, this isn't what I would do, so I don't think you should either."   I failed to give him credit for thinking through this decision.  It may not be the one I would have made, but it was the one he made...and I needed to be there to support him.  

I'm still sad about it.  And, to be honest, secretly praying he'll change his mind. 

   Man, between the three boys, there is bound to be a bunch more break-ups.  I hope I don't take all of them this hard. 

Question

Can anyone explain to me why I must take 45 minutes out of my day to fill out an online application for jobs in Seminole, Volusia, and Orange counties in Florida...then still have to submit a resume (with identical information to the online application mind you) for each individual job I want to be considered for with the online application number I was given, when I took 45 minutes to fill it out, in the upper right-hand corner of the resume?

Frustrating!  Its just a reminder how messed up Florida is.

Adolf Hitler in the Bible?

This entry actually comes courtesy of a sixth grade student.  

I will preface this by saying in their World History class they are learning about World War II right now. And as a cooperating assignment I am having them complete a PowerPoint on World War II leaders.

Anyway, the sixth graders had a Bible exam yesterday on Paul's imprisonment.

 Question: What kind of man was the commander (the man in charge of watching over Paul)?  

Answer by one student: A fascist

They're good for a laugh now and then.

I Gotta Write Something

I'm in a blogging funk.  I want to record things so that I will remember them but...really...nothing has been happening.

Life is so boring lately.  Go to school...come home...go to school...come home....repeat, repeat, repeat.  Not a thing that is  blogworthy. 

Speaking of school, I cannot believe we are starting the 4th quarter next week.  Seriously, where did this school year go?  Also, I cannot believe we are over a month done with basketball and there still has not been an awards ceremony yet.  I'm beginning to wonder if there is even going to be one. 

I am in the process of sending out resumes to Florida schools as well as filling out online applications. It's so hard to determine what prospective employers prefer. 

This evening  we met Zack's little friend, Hailey, and her grandma at Tortilla Flats for dinner.  A lot of fun and great conversation. I did have my camera but didn't feel like Zack would appreciate pictures so I restrained myself.  Generally, as a rule, dating is not allowed until he is 16 (preferably 18) but a completely chaperoned dinner with family I thought was okay. 

That's about it.  Tomorrow night is the school's annual auction/dinner and I am so excited.  It is always a very fun evening.

Getting There - Slowly

This is odd.  It has never taken me this long to recover from the flu.  
On a positive note, I do not need the medication to calm my stomach anymore.  And the pain that flared up while I was unable to keep the Tramadol down is now all gone.  

The negative is - I still don't feel line eating.  Yesterday I had half of a scrambled egg, about five spoonfuls of soup, and maybe two or three spoonfuls of applesauce.

Today is much the same with a piece of toast and a few spoonfuls of soup being eaten today.  Grape juice is my best friend...drinking about 16-20 oz. a day.  

I was so sure I wanted a chocolate shake today when I drove through McDonalds for the boys.  But once I got it I took only three sips.  Hope this passes quickly. It is hard to have energy to do anything when you don't eat.

On another note.  The snow here is melting quickly and I am looking forward to never having to see snow again.  We had a lake in our yard on Friday from all the melting snow.

And tomorrow I am getting my tooth pulled - the one I wanted to get taken care of over Spring Break. So that should be tons of fun.

But once it is done, I am done (hopefully) with dental work for a long, long, time.

ER Visit

Things did not go so well yesterday after all.  All was well at noon and I hadn't thrown up since 5:00 so I decided to go ahead and take my medication.  

Not fifteen minutes later, it came back up.  I waited another hour and tried again...same thing.  Two hours later...repeat.

By this time, it had been over 28 hours since my last dose of Tramadol and that is way too long.   

So I had to go to the ER.  They were able to give me medication to calm my stomach enough that I could keep the Tramadol down.  The doctor also wanted to give me an IV of fluids since, apparently, my heart rate was pretty high.

But I was able to talk her into waiting.  I took the Tramadol and had some Pedialyte and a half hour later the heart rate came down and she let us leave. 

I have such wonderful sons who came along to keep me company.  

The rest of the evening Zack kept checking on me to see if I was taking sips of fluids every few minutes like the doctor instructed me to.  

We've Been Hit

By the flu bug.

It actually all started on Wednesday evening.  We had just gone to bed when Zack came in and said he had thrown up. As a side note...this is the first time he has ever thrown up that was not related to taking medication. Pretty fortunate I'd say.  And still pretty fortunate since he only did that one time and then never again.

Thursday morning I was considering making him go to school because I'm mean like that, but he was feeling warm and had a slight temp (100.3*).  It wasn't a terrible temp but at the time I had no idea whether it would get higher as time went one so I let him stay home.  As it turns out, that is as bad as it got for him.  

I thought we had dodged a bullet. 

Oh foolish me.  How very wrong I was.  

Last night Hubby had gone to bed early (8:30).  He's working days this weekend and has to be up by 3:45 am when he works days.  I was still awake watching TV when he came downstairs about 11:00 and said his stomach felt funny and thought he was getting sick. The weird thing was...I was feeling the exact same way.  

Well, yep...within a half hour we were both in a bathroom vomiting.  I was in the downstairs bathroom and could hear him right above me.  

We did not fare quite as well as Zack did.  Between 11:30 and 5:00 hubby was in the bathroom 5 times and me 6.  I also woke up with that same low grade fever Zack had.   

Needless to say Hubby is not a work today.  He is still in bed.  I am up and have been sucking on Popsicles all morning.  Add some Tylenol for the fever and body aches and I'm feeling much better right now.  

I will probably take a nap soon since I only slept a total of about 3-4 hours last night.

Hopefully Jon does not get it.

More of This

We had two straight days above 45*! 

Unbelievable

But I guess we can't have too much of a good thing because today is back to this:

Oshkosh, WI, US

Now 20°F Windchill: 9°F Fair	Wind: 10 mph N Humidity: 40% Visibility: 0.1 mi Pressure: 30.02 in falling Sunrise: 7:12 am Sunset: 6:56 pm
Updated: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 1:53 pm CDT

The End of Boredom

I had a great day.  I am so fortunate to be one of those people that love their job.  

Last week I felt like a lazy slug who did nothing but sit on the couch and watch TV.  I don't like that.

Today was back to business as usual at school.  Now I can actually come home at night and relax on the sofa with my computer and TV knowing I've done something productive with my day.  

Summers are different.  I don't feel the same way in summer because I stay busy cutting the grass, taking walks, working in the garden, reading books outside, or taking Zack swimming.  

Today's weather was (unbelievably) above 50*!  Probably about 55* to be exact.  Don't worry - it's not going to last long. 

 But Ollie sure enjoyed it.

Let's Talk Basketball

In particular - Florida Gator basketball.

Since there seems to be nothing else going on in my boring life as of late.

Gators finished up their regular season today accomplishing something that has never been done before - going undefeated in SEC play (18-0)

Overall they went 29-2 with one of those losses to Wisconsin (when Wilbekin did not play and Young was limited in play due to injuries) and to U-Conn on a buzzer beater.  Combined loss total was 7 points.  Very close to an undefeated season.

Up next for them is the SEC tournament and then the NCAA tournament.  No matter what happens in the SEC tournament, they are already the SEC champions by virtue of their record (2nd year in a row).  I'm pretty confident they can win the tourney this year. Something they did not do last year.

Not so much for the NCAA tourney. That is gonna be tough.

But whatever happens, I have had a ton of fun this year watching the games with Zack.  And so so glad we could go to two games this year - one in Gainesville.  

Spring Bust

Spring break can be described in one word - boring! Not much to do when this is what the outside looks like.

Many of my friends and co-workers have headed for vacations in warmer climates.  We, on the other hand, need to save all our money for our big move this summer.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace and watching movies is a lot more boring than it sounds.  

The biggest excitement was taking the boys to Fuddruckers last night for dinner.

We usually go there when CJ is here so it was hard not to miss him.  

Zack has been constantly texting with friends - once he earned his phone back on Monday

It's in the Record Books

Someday we will look back on this and think..."we survived this"

A bit ironic that I left Florida the year after we experienced three hurricanes in six weeks and now I will be leaving Wisconsin the year after this horrible winter.

I found a K-12 Christian school in Clearwater (down by Tampa) which is looking for a 4th grade teacher. I am going to call on Monday and get the specifics on that.