A New Direction

So...I've decided to take control of my health through more homeopathic ways. I prefer that but somehow got caught up in the medicine thing.

• I've started walking every (most) days for 30 minutes.
• I went to the health food store today and got herbs for a parasite cleanse. I also got grapefruit seed extract. I have gargled with it, drunk it and put it on my toenail fungus as well as used it in my neti pot. I also got something to hopefully help me fall asleep.
  
• I'm watching what I eat - no more sweet tea, no more sugar (only occasionally) and smaller portions.
• I'm eating something 5 times a day.

Results...

• I've lost almost 4 pounds in a week. The scale is going down a few ounces every day. It's finally below 150 for the first time in months.
• My body is already used to eating more often, I'm now hungry between meals. I'll have Jenny check my blood sugar in the morning and see if it's really helping.
  
• Using the grapefruit seed extract for 1 day appears to have already helped my post nasal drip. I was spraying my nose 3 times a day with what the doctor gave me and I've only sprayed once today and am doing as well as I was on the medicine. The doctor said that if two sprays didn't dry me up, nothing would. Well, nothing apparently will...

I'm still going to take the cholesterol medicine because of the family history of heart problems on both sides of the family but if my cholesterol is where it needs to be in 3 months, that's gone too. I'm not going to take the anti-depressant any more though. I've had clinical depression and I don't have it now.

I feel better about the whole situation.

Rachael's Quilt

I picked Rachael's quilt up from the quilter yesterday and it looks great!

It took her 10 weeks to get it done though so I won't be taking any more quilts to her. I've got to find another quilter...

Tired

Not only am I physically tired, I'm tired of doctors and I'm tired of medicine.

I despise going to the doctor.

I despise taking medicine.

4 doctor's visits in the last 2 weeks and 7 medications.

And more to come. Another visit to my GP in a month and the allergist in 6 weeks.

Depression
High blood sugar
High cholesterol
Skin testing

Anti-depressant
Antibiotic
Cough capsules
Nose spray
Cholesterol medicine
More nose spray
Xanex for the needle anxiety while skin testing

Enough already!

Did I mention that I'm allergic to absolutely nothing?

Nothing!

I love my allergist though and he said his nickname was bulldog because he doesn't give up until he has a diagnosis. I sure hope he comes up with a reason that I've had this horrible post-nasal drip for my entire life.

Have to walk every day and watch what I eat. I DO NOT want to be diagnosed with diabetes!!!

It's heck getting old...

Finished, Finished

Tonight I hand sewed the hanging tabs down for Jenny's quilt.

I don't like hand sewing.

I love Jenny though so I did it. :)

I'm heading to her house to take it to her.

It Almost Forgot

I had a workshop in Huntsville today.

I think my truck almost forgot how to drive 70 mph.

I really don't remember the last time it was out on the open road so that it could go 70.

It's probably been at least 6 weeks.

We survived even though it was iffy there for awhile.

Score!

I was at Wal-Mart today to get a Father's Day card.

It was not a good day to be at W-M for someone who is trying to get out of debt and has red and yellow disease (clearance).

LOTS of stuff was on clearance.

I avoided most of it.

Until I got to the fabric department.

They are getting rid of fabric and most of the crafts.

Sad, sad times we live in. That department is very important in a small town. And it's going away.

All fabric was 25% off.

Not real enticing.

All the clearance fabric was marked down to $1.00 a yard.

I got real excited about that!

I bought the remainder of the bolt for all the clearance fabrics I was even remotely interested in.

I bought some other fabrics that weren't on clearance.

I ended up with almost 83 yards of fabric.

Yes, you heard correctly, almost 83 yards.

It averaged $1.24 a yard.

There's fabric for several lap size quilts and a couple of bed size quilts plus some other stuff.

20 yards of it was tulle for Tres Dias. So it was actually only almost 63 yards of actual fabric.

That's still a lot of fabric.

I will now be making W-M a daily stop to see if they've put more fabric on clearance for $1.00.

Hopefully, I'll get some other fabrics I've had my eye on but I don't want to pay full price less 25%. If not, I'll survive.

My fabric stash is happy...

Finished!

Well, mostly finished.

Jenny's wall hanging is bound. It took all afternoon and into the evening but the binding is on.

I don't like binding. I spent about six hours looking up videos and instructions, watching the videos and trying to figure things out. It is so worth paying the $20 to the quilter to bind it. That's what I'll do in the future. My time is worth way more than $3.33 an hour to do something I really don't like to do.

When she chose that fabric for the binding, I wasn't very impressed and didn't think it would look good. Boy was I wrong! I really, really like how it looks with the light binding.

I still have to sew down the bottom of the hanging sleeve but have no suitable needles and don't feel like getting back out tonight.

Next up - Rowdy's dinosaur quilt...

About Time

I just called and made a doctor's appointment for next Tuesday.

I'm tired of being tired all the time.

I'm tired of hurting all the time.

I'm tired of my allergies.

Hopefully, I won't spend the entire summer in doctor's offices...

I'm so Impressed!

We went to Buc-ee's either the first or second day it was open. When the store manager asked if everything was OK, I pointed out the plastic inset on the fountain drink machine. It said:

Where Beaver's meet for a cold drink. (or something close to that)

He looked at it and said you're right - it should be a plural instead of possessive.

Yeah, of course it's plural.

He said the marketing manager would be in the store later that week and he'd talk to him about it then.

I, of course, thought that would be the end of that situation.

I was wrong.

Steven went in Monday morning for coffee and it was correct!

Of course, I had to go see it with my own two eyes. Not that I didn't trust him, I just needed to see that I had effected change.

This is not a cheap, paper sign, this is a custom plastic insert.

My question is - how did that sign get made incorrectly to begin with? This is a major chain. They are all about appearances. How many people at the many stores in this chain did not catch such a glaring error in grammar? I'm sure it's the same sign in every store.

Life is good - I spoke up and effected change. Think I'll speak up more often...

I'll Be Sorry

I started off yesterday pulling things out of cabinets and organizing.

Today I was cramming stuff into any available space.

Come August, I'll really, really be sorry that I did that but that's what has been done.

I was totally overwhelmed and just wanted to leave.

There are things piled up that have to come home but that will wait until tomorrow so Steven can help load it up and haul it home.

In August, I'm taking every single thing out of my cabinets and organizing. I'm also getting rid of stuff.

I have too much stuff at home and at school.

It's time for that to change.

I'm going to be ruthless at home this summer and ruthless at school in August.

That's my plan...

Last Day of School

It's finally over! It was a long, difficult year and I'm really thankful for it to be finished. Work day tomorrow but that's OK because there aren't any kids. I have tons of things to get done but there's always just cramming stuff in cabinets or hauling it all home (have to do some of that anyway),

Right now, there's almost a whole cabinet pulled out to be organized but I'll get it done, maybe. Right now, I really don't care.

I'll be teaching Math and Science next year. In some ways, it will be easier since it won't be so many diverse things but math is kind of scary. I know it will be OK but it's going to be a lot like a first year of teaching again and I just had one of those last year and wasn't really ready for another first year. Oh well, I get to keep science, which I LOVE.

Does it surprise anyone else that I love teaching science? It shocks me to no end but there it is, I LOVE teaching science.

All through college, I thought I would be a very old fashioned teacher - desks all lines up in rows, everything quiet and very structured.

I'm almost totally the opposite.

My desks are in groups, it's almost never quiet because we do LOTS of group work. I still have to have structure and some quiet but there is lots of working together, which is never quiet.

I'm struggling with classroom management so I'm taking an online class this summer for 6 weeks and hope it helps. I'm also doing a workshop for the science curriculum I use that is supposed to address classroom management for group work. Hopefully, that will help next year.

I'm off to play with fabric to help get rid of the remainder of this lingering stress...

Productive Day

I slept till my body said to wake up this mornint - 9:15. Not my idea of sleeping in but such is life...

I got lots of organizing done in my quilting room - not finished but much better than it was. I'll finish it this summer.

After lunch, I went and worked in my classroom.

I got the remainder of the clipboards finished for the kids' end of the year gift. Steven pulled staples off the wall and removed classroom decorations.

I went through "stuff" and brought some home to organize this summer and got the rest put away.

It looks normal behind my desk now instead of like a bomb exploded. I still have lots to get put away but I made good progress.

We're heading to Jennifer's for steak, rice and gravy in just a little bit. She makes great steak, rice and gravy - MawMaw taught her well!

I'm tired but got lots accomplished today and that feels good!

How do I Despise Thee?

With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning...

How do I despise thee, field day?

Let me count the ways...

I could spend all evening detailing all the ways I despise field day but I won't, I'll just stop here...

I'm going to go play with fabric then head to Shrimpy's for some shrimp and bread pudding after Steven gets home. Hopefully, that will take away the pain...

It Never Fails

You can rest assured that if I love something, it will be discontinued at all the places I shop.

When we went to Steph's house last weekend, I forgot my allergy medicine. We stopped at Walgreens. Of course, I had ulterior motives...

Walgreens sells the most divine cocoa dusted truffles imported from Belgium. They are the best chocolate that has ever passed my lips.

Of course, the divine truffles are exclusively at Walgreens.

Of course, Walgreens is no longer carrying them.

Yes, I googled till I was blue in the face and I can find them nowhere...

I did find one lonely box at another Walgreens there in Killeen but that was all.

I'm not sure that I'll survive the remainder of my life with no more truffles.

Now I have to search for something to take their place.

Maybe at World Market...

It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time

Earlier this semester, the superintendent's secretary sent out an email about Astros tickets for teacher appreciation week.

It sounded like a good idea. I'd never been to a professional sports game and I knew Steven would love to go so I ordered 2 tickets.

The game was tonight.

I'm at home and Steven is at the game.

It's been a long, tough week and I decided on Wednesday that if I had to drive to Conroe to meet Steven, ride to Houston, sit at a baseball game that started at 7:05, ride back to Conroe, drive home at who knows what hour and then get up at 9:00 for Bailey's soccer game, I'd commit hari kari.

Since I lots of living left to do, I chose not to go. I told Steven to find someone to go with him or give the tickets away, I didn't care.

He asked Chris but he wasn't going to be in town so he invited his nephew Jimmy.

Tuesday is Jimmy's birthday so that was perfect timing.

Jimmy is having a tough time right now with 2 young daughters and a wife that suffers from agoraphobia so I hope this gave him a few hours away from his troubles.

Like I said, it sounded like a good idea at the time...

Mixed Emotions

I went to Jenny's this afternoon and she started pulling things out of her drawers for me. She gave me back some clothes I had given her as well as some new to me things. One was a blouse that I love and another was a pair of bermuda shorts I also love. I'm very happy to have them back. I'm also happy to have some clothes that fit.

On the other hand, I'm quite upset with myself for needing to have my big clothes back. I've gained all my weight back and it brought some friends with it. I've been wearing the same clothes over and over because I had next to nothing to fit.

I've got to get this weight back off. It would help if I wasn't eating everything in sight. I'm a stress eater and I'm totally stressed until school is out...

What Do You Do?

What do you do when you're on a fabric diet, you go to a new quilt shop "just to check it out" and your adorable grandson decides on the quilt he wants? Do you stay on the fabric diet or do you indulge your grandson? I'll let you decide for yourself...

We woke Bailey up when we got to the shop. He was grumpy so I found a chair for him to sit in. In a few minutes, he tells me he wants a "ninja star" quilt. He shows me a quilt with a block that looks like this: Friendship Star - the "ninja star". He decides on fabric with planets and we choose coordinating fabrics and Bailey's getting his "ninja star" quilt. Soon....

First up is the 12 black and white blocks for an exchange then Rowdy's dinosaur quilt (need to have this done before they move to Alabama in Jun so I better get on the stick) and then Bailey's planet quilt. Luckily, it will be summer soon.

It's the Little Things

that make me smile.

Dry mail.

2 weekends ago Steven put up a new mailbox. It was about time. The old one had seen better days years and years ago.

Today it rained and my mail was dry.

That made me smile.

Thank you Steven...

Family, Fellowship and Food

Friday, Kevin turned 50.

Saturday, Diane had a surprise party for him and boy was he surprised! She did a great job planning it. She took him out to dinner on Friday night with 16 friends and family so he thought that was it.

Saturday, she drug him to Wal-Mart so we could all get there and be waiting when they got back. She did good. :)

There were tons of people there. We ate burgers and dogs with all the trimmings and cake. Jeremiah did grill duty and Diane's sister was in charge of the rest. I made hamburger patties (tough job, I know) with Tara, Jeremiah's wife. Didn't know till yesterday that they were married and they'll celebrate their 2nd anniversary this year. I think we should keep in better touch...

Diane got him some cool lights for his Harley and lots of people contributed to that gift. We needed to cause that little bitty package of lights was *very* expensive. When we left, Jeremiah and another guy were installing them.

It was really good to see everyone and spend a relaxing day on the deck enjoying everyone's company.

Relay For Life

RFL is tonight.

I'm walking from 7-8.

I've recruited Steven, Jennifer, Emily and Rachael to walk with me. I invited all 56 of my kids to come walk with me too but since they have to be there with an adult, I don't look for any of them to show up unless they're there with someone that's on another team.

I'm really tired and my feet hurt (need some good tennis shoes - the ones I love are worn out and make my feet hurt and my new ones hurt my feet too) but I'll be there walking for that hour.

This year I'm walking in memory of Rodney Ward and in honor of King Cole. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone else that has cancer but my brain is tired...