Quick note before church...

I told someone recently that it feels like my blog has become hospital and school updates lately. I guess that just happens sometimes. Anyway, I'm making a hospital update this morning.

My dad has been acting really strange lately and wanting to sleep non-stop. He usually sleeps a lot but lately he can't keep his eyes open for any length of time. He's even stopped eating because he's too tired. So my mom took him to the emergency room (I told her they should just give her an express lane) and he is back in the hospital. He has another (I think the same) UTI and they are going to re-evaluate his medication. I have voiced my opinion in the past about Huntsville Memorial Hospital and I continue to be reaffirmed in my dislike of their practices. I said all along they let him out too early last time and that I felt they hadn't really found the problem. After moving away from Huntsville, I increasingly feel that the quality of service in the town in general is sub-standard. I never realized it while I lived there but now I see it in the school system, the restaurant and retail industries, and the hospital. I wish my parents would consider moving away because I think their quality of life could be so much better. But they just bought a new house in Huntsville that my mother insists is just what she needs. blah...

I'll jump off of my soap box because I have to get ready for church. I wouldn't normally ever post before church but today, I don't have to make dinner because I did it yesterday. woohoo! I just have to pack it in my dinner box and I'm done!

Spring Break

Spring Break has been a bit of a bummer. Although I am thankful for the rest and the time at home, I would have loved to go on a vacation like Steven and I did last year when we went to Colorado. I just love Colorado. I bet I think of it on a daily basis. Sigh....

As it turns out, Steven and I don't have the same spring break this year. His is next week. Even crummier, this year he only has 2 days off instead of 3. So he has had to work all week and I have had to get up around the same time I usually do to take him to work since we only have one car and in order for him to park at his job, he must pay $600 a year. And he works in transportation and parking!!!! Texas A&M wouldn't want the transportation department to think they were getting any special privileges even though they maintain the garages, the gates, the ticket booths, cameras, etc. It has been a bummer week because it went way too fast and I was alone all week. But there is always a silver lining and mine is that at this time next year I will be graduated and hopefully have a job, taking spring break with the school district I work for. And that means more moolah which also means a greater chance of taking a vacation!!! Like to Colorado..... or wherever. :o)

Ok, so I really shouldn't be complaining so much, I know. At least I got a break from school and driving to Huntsville every day. But unfortunately I am writing this entry on the down slope of the break so all I am thinking about is having to go back the day after tomorrow. Impending doom..... cue scary organ/string music Alfred Hitchcock style. Ok, another silver lining - 8 more weeks of school! See, I really am optimistic. haha. And I really wasn't alone all week. Steven took Friday off of work and we went to the movies. However, winter decided to pull an encore and the high yesterday was 43 degrees with rain, rain, and more rain. The lawn area outside of our patio looks like a mini-lake. I guess that would be a pond, duh. Or would it be a tank because we live in Texas? Does anyone else know about tanks?

Wow, I'm all over the place today. Anyway, we went to see the "Watchmen." I highly DO NOT recommend this movie. It was unbearably long, did not have a developed plot or characters, and was extremely, EXTREMELY violent and had a great deal of nudity/adult "situations." Now, I can handle violence and nudity and am not usually offended by it but this was excessive. One character was unclothed almost the whole time and they did not even attempt to hide anything - at all. I guess they thought it was ok because he was radio-active and bright blue (and computer animated) but it really only made it worse. Halfway through the film I had to ask Steven if this film was rated R or if it didn't have X's in it's rating. And what was worse is that there was no development of characters or a story. Steven and I were both thinking separately about leaving the theater and had we communicated, that is exactly what we would have done. Usually we research movies before we see them but this was a spontaneous venture. Now we know and so do you....we give it four thumbs WAY down.

A highlight of the day was having lunch at Jason's Deli. For a few weeks we have been getting Jason's to go on Saturdays and going to the park to feed the ducks. We are not feeding them Jason's Deli but bread we bring. We love the ducks but not that much! Yesterday, since it was raining, we ate in the restaurant and it was nice. I love their California club with avocado and sprouts. I really enjoy our time on the weekends when we don't have anywhere to go or much to do and we can decide to just go for lunch or stay in, or whatever. Steven is my light in the darkness, my sun through the rain. I had many rough years before I met Steven and I think I will always define them as being pre-Steven years. My life has been divided as the time before I was married and the time after I got married. I am a better person having married him because he has showed me how good I am and how great I can be. I also feel as if daily life isn't so urgent and that it is important to enjoy it. He has taught me what living really means. There is no doubt that he is a blessing from God.

See, I made my way to something happy! I knew I would. :o)

Square peg in a round hole

This is how I feel most of the time. But I yam what I yam and I can't be nuthin else.

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." -- Shakespeare

The Sick Folks and Such

Daddy came home from the hospital on Wednesday evening. He's still really weak as he always is after a stay in the hospital. For a place that is supposed to make you better, it sure wears a body out! He seems to be doing ok though.

Since I'm updating on the sick people, Mema has a large lump on her leg and now her leg is swollen. The doctor wrapped it in an ACE bandage and has drawn fluid from the leg for testing. We should know what it is by next week.

On a sad note -not that what I've been talking about is particularly joyful- my brother-in-law's childhood home that he and my sister owned and were renting out burned down this week. I haven't gotten to talk to them but I know this has to be devastating. They were renting it to make the mortgage payments on the home so more than just an emotional blow, this has also probably taken a financial toll on them as well. Please pray for them during this time of uncertainty.

Speaking of uncertainty, how in the world does spending equal saving? Grief! I heard yesterday on the radio that there was "scientific proof" that the worst of the financial crisis was over. It turns out, things are still getting bad but at a slower rate. Does that even make sense? How does that add up to the worst being over? So far, Steven and I are ok. We don't own anything so there really isn't anything to lose. It reminds me of how my Mema said they didn't know when the Great Depression hit because they were so poor already. I'm just thankful that Steven's job is secure for now and that we can still make our rent. What does worry me is that I heard there will be 600,000 fewer teaching jobs in 2010 nationally. That isn't really encouraging considering how hard I'm working right now. But, as always, the Lord will provide.

I notice by my countdown clock on the wall, I have less than 300 days until graduation. We're in the 200's! Also, in one month and two days I'll get my class ring at the ring ceremony. Woohoo!

Hospital again.

Daddy is in the hospital again. Saturday he fell pretty hard but seemed to be ok. Then on Monday he was acting really confused and couldn't hardly stay awake and was very weak. Mama decided to take him to the hospital and he has a very bad UTI. Hopefully that is all that is wrong. They are keeping him at least through tomorrow but we'll see. He is having spasms and is still not able to stay awake much. Also he has really bad congestion and they have him on oxygen right now. Since today my classes ended at 1:00, I was able to be with him all afternoon and into the evening. When I got there, he didn't even know the nurses had brought him his lunch, he was so tired!

The good news is, there doesn't seem to be anything "major" wrong. But a hospital stay not fun. Hopefully he'll be home within the next few days.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone has a good one! I was going to be making Steven a romantic dinner tonight but after the week I've had, he said I shouldn't have to work so hard on Valentine's Day. So we are going out to eat! We don't do that very often anymore so I'm excited. I haven't bought Steven's gift yet but it's all good because I know he hasn't bought me anything either. We are low-keying it this year. Just mainly going to enjoy being together.

Have a great day and remember to share the love! That's all we need after all. More love. :o)

<3

Worse for the wear...

The title for this entry is exactly how I feel today. Correction - this month. I haven't blogged in a while because I just haven't had the time or the energy. I'm feeling a bit Eeyore-ish today so if you want something up lifting, you might want to think twice about reading.

Where do I begin? Two weeks ago today I had a minor foot procedure to remove three toenails. Ew... I suppose I should have also given a gross-factor warning in addition to my self pity alert. Anyway, I had them removed, which is something I've done before. I have always had terrible toenails, something I get from my Dad. I couldn't have gotten my mom's pretty arched, curvy feet, I had to be blessed with Fred Flinstone feet. boo.

Well, the removal went ok and Steven took me home, I propped up on the couch and was doing fine until the numbness wore off and then I was in terrible, almost unbearable pain. It had never hurt like that before. I even took extra pain medicine which I know is a no-no but it turns out it wasn't strong enough anyway. The next day when Steven removed the bandages to change them, one of my toes was really swollen and bright red. Later that night I began running fever and by the next morning, the redness had spread. After quick calls to my nurse sister and my former podiatry assistant mother, I called the nurse hotline and they said I needed to go to Urgent Care. So off we went, me hobbling along and Steven trying to help me keep my balance. When we got to Urgent Care, the line was out the door!

Just for clarity, Urgent Care is the walk-in clinic at our doctor's office that is thankfully open on weekends. We ended up being at the clinic from 11 AM to 5 PM. We felt like we were waiting in the ER. It was so crazy. And because it isn't usually so crowded, I thought we would be home within 1-2 hours so I didn't bring any pain medicine. Needless to say I was very uncomfortable. The most frustrating part is that a large portion of those people didn't need urgent care. But whatever. We got through it.

The doctor said I did have an infection and prescribed an antibiotic with instructions to see my regular doctor on Monday. Unfortunately, nothing was better by Monday and another toe was infected. My regular doctor then prescribed a second antibiotic and said return on Thursday. By Thursday my toes were turning a scary shade of purple-ish/black, (sorry, gross factor alert), so the doctor sent me upstairs to the podiatrist who put them to sleep and did a second procedure to clean them out and remove roots that were missed. A week later I am finally doing better. Through all of this I missed 3 class days but only one methods day so that was good. Unfortunately this week has been a major catch up and I am close to a breakdown.

Which leads me to my second part of this self pity blog. I am tired of Methods. It's exciting to be in the classroom with my mentor teacher but on the days when we are with our college professors, it is barely bearable. I feel like we don't do anything and I swear that time goes slower on those days. The whole Earth slows down and I am stuck in a time warp. The good news is that misery loves company and I have a lot of company. All of the new friends I've made feel the same way. And even though we spend so much time in that class not really doing anything, we have a lot of work to do outside of class. On top of that, this week my two non-methods classes decided it was time to pour on the homework, I had two essays due today, 80 pages to have read, and a separate time consuming assignment to turn in. Tomorrow I have another two projects due. It's insanity.

Today I really almost broke apart. It all started with parking. Actually, it all started with not having slept but for four hours last night. My first class on TuTh is at 9:30. That's not bad, right? WRONG. There is NO parking at 9:30. Steven and I get up and I drop him off at 7:30, I drive the hour to school, and begin my search for a space. The parking lots are swarming with cars doing exactly what I am doing. Sam Houston currently has a "little" problem with parking. Over the years I've been in college,(it isn't necessary to know how many), I have watched them block off parking lots and build buildings over them and not replace the parking. And then, as if to add insult to injury, they have taken student parking and allotted it for staff. Do you know how angry I get when I've been searching for a spot for literally an hour or more and see rows of empty staff parking spaces? It's ridiculous. I hate being late for class, and have been late twice since school began and on the other days I've barely made it in time. Because I was one of several who were late today, the professor decided it was time to get stern. It took every part of my consciousness to keep from crying. It has been a rough few weeks.

I know I've just been complaining and this entry is l-o-n-g, but I will end on a happy note. The one thing that has kept me within the realm of sanity is that I ordered my class ring today and will get it in April at the ring ceremony. It is a good feeling. It will all come to an end and I will be a graduate. I just have to get through these thorny days.