Not THAT big of a procrastinator...

Okay, I realize I haven't written in FOREVER. But, I'm back now, and, as every good procrastinator does, I have a good excuse. :)

I actually haven't written for awhile because, for the last several weeks, I couldn't type without significant pain. You see, one of the items on my list this summer was to get a large lump called a ganglion cyst taken off of my left wrist. I has been getting in the way of watch for 10 years and I finally decided to do something about it. It still isn't completely healed so I haven't decided yet if it was worth it. I hope so.

I've had a great fantastic summer and a frustrating summer, depending on which parts you look at. I reinjured my back halfway through the summer and have been unable to exercise for 6 weeks so my goal of losing a little more weight went down the tube. It also put a damper on some of my fun with my daughter. On the other hand, I got to spend a lot of special extra time with Katie and we have made some great memories that I, at least will always remember. We went to Pullen Park, the Museum of Life and Sciences, the pool and, just this weekend went to the splash park. We spent time with friends, ate lots of good food, and spent a lot of time laughing at each other and ourselves. We even added another member to our family when we, at the last minute, agreed to take in an exchange student from Germany whose host family backed out.

Balance
Last fall I was talking with a friend about how her key word for this year was balance. Finding a better balance between working and motherhood and time for herself and her husband. I thought that was going to be my keyword last year too but it turned into survival. As a first year teacher with a one year old, it was all I could do to keep my head above water. It didn't help that I spent most of the spring semester sick with one thing or another just as I took on a third class to prepare.

I'm stressed now about being back at work. Last year I was part of a two-teacher team and now I am alone at a new school. The learning curve is steep and I feel the pressure keenly to serve all of my students to the absolute best of what I can do. Despite this I want my keyword to be balance this year. I am working towards being more efficient, working less at home and not staying so late at school each day. This way I can spend more time doing the other things I value in life, being a mom, a wife, a friend. I will give myself a little bit of leeway while the learning curve is the steepest to work late but, within a few months, I will be ramping up my expectations and working a little harder to meet those goals.

One step in that direction will be making a pact with my teacher friend and her son to get out early on Fridays to go somewhere together with our kids. By having a date, a person to meet and a place to go, I will be able to remind myself to get out of my classroom and back into the world. :)

I also have gotten farther on my to do list than it seems. I'll update you more on that soon. For now, however, I will leave you with one of my to do list items. Learn how to use One True Media to make fun videos. Here is a little of my own piece of heaven.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

NOT gettin' it done...

Okay, so I've been sick with one ailment or another since the day school got out in June. This has seriously compromised what I've been able to get done. My latest problem includes some back problems. I had surgery on my back in 2004 and, although I am fine most of the time, I had an acute episode about 18 months ago and another starting last Tuesday. I went back to the physical therapist today and I already feel better. The back problems are getting in the way of doing most of the physical things on my list right now. So, for this moment, all I am trying to do is get better.

Hopefully, all will be better soon and I can knock a few more things off the list!

Items 19 and 20 - more doctor trips

Okay, enough with the doctor already! Fortunately, I was able to knock these two out fairly quickly one morning. Item 19: get a physical included blood work (which came back fabulously healthy by the way). I haven't had one in over a year and I've lost 30 lbs since then, so it was good to go back and be under my pre-pregnancy weight and see how I am doing physically. Both Jim and I are trying to take care of ourselves by having annual physicals.

While at my physical, I was able to get Item 20: get pesky mole removed from back taken care of as well. It was very simple. I had a mole, on my back, in a pesky location. Doctor's have been suggesting I remove it for years but, knowing it was benign made me reluctant to deal with the inconvenience of removing it. Unfortunately, I changed bras recently and...it became peskier. So, off it came. Still benign, all is well.

Item 15, 16, 17, 18 - all in one day!

We had a very productive day last week on July 3rd. Jim, amazingly, had the day off from work. Apparently, his company was given both Thursday and Friday off. It was wonderful to have him home, especially since Katie and I spent the morning at the Farmer's Market with Heather and Ben. We shopped and watched the kids run in circles around the booths. It was hilarious to watch them. They would look at each other, smile with a mischievous glint in their eyes and then take off running again, arms pumping in that oh so cute way that only two-year-olds can pull off.

And that takes me to item 15: spending more time with friends and connecting with Katie's friends. I am in a wonderful mom's group where all of our first children are the same age. I love to connect with these moms to share the triumphs and tribulations of raising our kids, and the rest of our lives. For those moms I have become close friends with, I really wanted to get some extra time to spend with them this summer for a couple of reasons. One, I feel like I fell off the face of the planet during my first year teaching and two, I want to encourage friendships between our kids as they get to be old enough to start developing such things. It would mean a lot to me for some of us, and our kids, to still be friends 15 years from now. (Yes I'm a totally sappy person, that's just the way it is.) As a fellow teacher, Heather and I discussed getting together to let our kids play and hang out some this summer as our schedules allowed and we have so far gone to the pool, the Farmer's Market, and the Museum of Life and Science.

Check out our game of ring around the rosy at the Farmer's Market while Heather takes the picture!Aren't those the most innocent "Who? Me?" looks you ever saw?

Item 16: Buy beautiful flower baskets to spruce up me front porch. Okay, so this one wasn't originally on my list but the flower baskets at the Farmer's market were amazing and relatively inexpensive and I had been thinking about needing to put something on the front porch ever since the ferns died (a veeeeery long time ago). I have a bit of a black thumb so, we'll see how long they last. :)

Once I purchased the baskets, they were followed, out of necessity, by Item 17: Have Jim pleeeease fix the drip system to the hanging baskets. We have a nice drip system that Jim strung up years ago to negate by black thumb problems but they haven't been working since the disappearance of the ferns so... he quickly got them back in working order. Now all we need is a timer so it's really dumby proof...

Finally, I come to Item 18: remove yucky shrubs obscuring access to spigot. This was not originally supposed to be on this summer's list because we don't really have a lot of cash right now and it was supposed to go along with another item that included purchasing something looking but fake to put in place of the bushes so it wouldn't look quite so bare. However, I returned from the Farmer's Market to find the bushes...gone. SO, I guess part two, putting pretty stuff in it's place, will be on next summer's list. :)

Item 14: Sell Jim's Car

I wanted to write a catchy "Ode to the Black Car" poem but poetry has never been my forte so you're stuck with this entry instead. :)

To be very honest, I didn't have a huge amount to do with this. My part in this activity was to prod Jim along a little and, mostly, give him time to work on the sale, minus the 2-year-old. Not to say that isn't a significant part of the job! I suppose that the title should really be "Help Sell Jim's Car" but, it's my blog so that's what we'll call it. :)

Anyway! We were selling Jim's 1991 Honda Civic with 170,000+ miles on it ( a good little car, BTW) in favor of a new car (which shall be revealed soon!). (Another item on my list...)

From what we understand, it went to a good home for much more money than the dealers were offering us as a trade in. As a bonus, it sold in 24 hours on Craigslist! Go Craigslist!

He's had that car 14 years. Longer than he's known me. Jim is still experiencing withdrawal.

Item 13 - Take the 2-year-old to the dentist

This was a very exciting/scary/nerve-racking item on my list. I have been hearing conflicting reports from different sources as to when kids should go in for their first dental visit. A class I took when Katie was born brought in a pediatric dentist who said that kids are now supposed to be in for their first visit at 1 year. My family dentist who also sees children said that he didn't need to see until she was three, but kindly took a look at her during my visit when she was about a year old so I didn't have to bring her in for her own visit.

I decided to split the difference and try to take her in around two. That would also get her on the same visit cycle as me (summer and Christmas). I was terrified about taking her to the dentist. I wanted it to be a positive experience, or at least not a horribly negative experience. I looked for books at the library but didn't find anything helpful. All the books there were above her head and horribly outdated. We're talking 70's chairs and setups. It wouldn't look anything like what she was going to see at the dentist now. They did have the Berenstein Bears dentist book but she isn't into those books yet since the text is a bit long for her. I ended up buying Elmo Visits the Dentist and one other that was realistic pictures but also cute. I think they helped. The text was still over her head so I just narrated the pictures but her interest in Elmo helped. We also practiced saying "AHH" a lot beforehand. :)

All in all it went MUCH better than I ever imagined. The hygienist was FANTASTIC. Katie sat in the chair all by herself and got her teeth cleaned and scraped. She didn't like the light or the floss so we skipped those parts and, wisely, I think, didn't even attempt a fluoride treatment. She didn't scream or holler and only tried to get out of the chair a few times. It helps that our dentist has TVs attached to the chairs so she could watch Dragon Tales over the hygienist's shoulders while it was all happening. I believe that they are DVD capable so I could bring a DVD for her to watch as well. She only started to fall apart when the actual dentist came in, mostly because she had already done quite a bit and she was "all done Mommy!" She was a star, though, and all the folks at the dentist's office kept talking about how amazing it was that a two-year-old let them do so much and was so cooperative.

Amusingly, at the end she got to choose from the treasure chest and, instead of a slightly more age appropriate toy, she wanted the pencil and pad of paper. Overall, definitely a success.

Item 12 - The Eye Doctor

This summer is about getting on a schedule to go to the doctor for my regular checkups. Last week, I went to the GYN. I was actually early (I remember to call at 12 months and it takes 3 months to get an appt) for a change and that was possible since I changed insurance this past year. I've been going to the eye doctor sporadically and went for 4 or 5 years without going at all, which isn't very good for someone with such bad nearsightedness that I only see a slightly shaped blob in a mirror 6 feet away. Basically, I am blind without my contacts or glasses. Not changing your contacts at all for 4 years is not good for your eyes, by the way. So, I am going to try to get into a routine of making summer doctor appointments in like, March and having them, in say, June. Hence, the eye doctor on Monday this last week. Unfortunately, what I wanted to hear was that I could get 30 day wear soft contacts which he entirely shot down. Apparently, moving from soft to hard is difficult because the image is not as clear and sharp and the image you get with hard lenses. I know myself well enough to know that I will be frustrated if I get a blurry image with soft contacts, even if it still is 20/20. Also, he doesn't recommend that anyone wear contacts overnight. period. Fabulous. I was really hoping this would be a solution for me since my eyes are too high a prescription for Lasik to be a good option. Sleeping in contacts for 30 days would be just as good, in my opinion, without the risk. Ah well, perhaps Scotty will beam back an eye doctor from the 23th century who can fix everything up in a jiffy. :)