Little Luie

Luie is nearing the one year mark (in age -- he's been our puppy since the first of August -- five months & counting) and he is clearly growing up. He's definitely still very active and he still wants to taste everything he meets, but he no longer tries to chew it all up and then spit it out. His potty habits have much improved and if his mama and papa pay attention to him, he never has indoor accidents.

He traveled with us to Branson at Thanksgiving and was far better in the car than on his initial trip from Tulsa to here. He even did well in the motel. The Houston road trip -- 14 hours in a car to and 14 back home -- was almost idyllic.

In Houston he was the perfect gentleman, though Auntie Wendy was not noticeably impressed with his exuberance. Still, he behaved perfectly in her home and listened and responded positively to all commands. We were very, very proud of him.

He grows daily in my heart. He is simply the most endearing little fellow -- all legs and hugs and kisses and good humor. He tries so hard to be the life of every party. He loves people. He loves to play. He teases Gus unmercifully but listens when Gus finally announces he's had just enough.

My heart continues to heal as Luie curls up next to what ever body part he can latch on to and gently snores the night away.

5 a.m. is awfully early . . .

We managed to roll out of bed at 5 a.m. -- on time and waking up without the benefit of the alarm (aside: Hubby gifted me some years back with a very expensive radio/CD player/alarm clock which is so complicated all I can do is set the time on it -- I've never gotten it to go off at any set time in the last three years -- which necessitated my learning to self-program getting up without alarm benefit). Hubby strolled to the kitchen in his undies to do the breakfast / lunch chores and I stumbled to the bathroom for the morning ablutions.
All dressed, dogs, Hubby, and I were out the door in the still dark, frigid wee morning hours and I was strolling down my classroom hallway by 6:15. The temps outside were 17 degrees and it wasn't that much warmer in my classroom.


The day ran fairly smoothly. The science teacher called to say one of mine refused to work and could she send him to me. Instead I suggested I come talk with him; sometimes it's as hard for the kids to get self-started as it is for the adults. When he found I wasn't mad, just rather amused that with only seven days left in the semester it was NOW that he decided not to work, he thought better of the situation. Seems he hadn't wanted to come to school today but his mother made him, so he conveniently left all his supplies at home. "Well, this is silly. You came. You knew we'd expect you to work. How do YOU want to handle this?" I queried and he agreed that getting pencil and paper from me and doing the vocabulary assignment wouldn't be such a bad deal.

In World History my two girls passed two benchmarks each. My student aid came in the last part of second block and instead of getting right to putting away Christmas decorations, came over and gave me a big hug from behind. Then she got right to work.

My para, who was absent the day before Christmas, was now absent the day after Christmas. My understanding is that you miss the day before AND the day after a holiday, the district will not pay you for the holiday. I hope she's found other employment because if she shows up this week without a doctor's note, the principal will suspend her for at least another two days without pay.

Third block completed all the assignments for Mockingbird. Now I'm just marking time with them. They work so diligently at this point that I hate to see them go. We have only the final left.

Lunch was taken up with a teacher from another community who is very, very unhappy with her life at my school and thought I might offer her some insight. I had little to contribute other than "hunker down, keep a low profile, and try NOT to piss anybody off." That's my current teaching philosophy, anyway. She wasn't really pleased that I wouldn't help her tilt at her windmills.

Fourth block went by quickly with the students working on a reading program on the computers in the lab. The kid from first block brought back the unused portion of his borrowed tablet just as the bell rang but had lost the pencil into the stratosphere. Then the SPED staff met for 30 minutes to review new procedures for alerting parents to IEP meetings. And it was time to go home.

My virus still hangs on. I feel crummy and on getting home went straight to bed. But I got an unsolicited hug from my student aid and that made the day all worthwhile.

Post 176

It seemed like it was just an hour ago that I was looking forward to a 16 day holiday, half in Houston, half at home catching up on things that needed doing.

The Houston half went pretty well, though, par for the course, I got sick. Same old refrain for 2008 for me. I managed to hang on until we got home and then I took to the bed and there I spent the next seven days, lamenting my ill luck, my sweating brow, and my un-ending cough.

Monday the work routine starts again and I'm not prepared. I haven't developed a plan for the English 1-2 course I'm piloting. I do have the first couple of lesson printed off, but I still don't have the stories chosen and the over-all bird's-eye-view of the course in my head. Here's to winging it, I suppose.

My head is still awhirl, though I do feel marginally better than yesterday. My cough remains persistent and my sinuses refuse to dry up. The dogs and even Hubby are thoroughly disgusted with my vegetative state and I can't get up enough energy to really care. "Go. Run in the park. Have fun. Go to the party. I simply can't be bothered," I mumble as I climb back in bed for another three hour nap.

By Monday morning, though, I've got to have recovered sufficiently to pop out of bed at 5 a.m. and put on clothing -- not sweat pants and dirty tee-shirts. I think that means I need to do a load of wash. Darn it, there's always something.

Here's another happy Houston holiday picture of Hubby opening one of his sock gifts, Luie at the far left trying to make his sheep toy "baa-baa" (blind dogs need noisy toys), and little Gus hoping that the present his papa is opening is a treat he can share:

The Year May Change but . . . .

Of course I ended 2008 sick. It was the year of the trifling illnesses for me and so I caught one final bug going down to Houston and came home, not violently ill, but just plain sick and tired. This is the third round of this nasty chest / nasal virus that I've had and this is probably the lightest version. Still, my head is a terrible stopped up mess, my cough never ends, and I'm soooo tired. Today I cleaned out the linen closet in preparation of putting in the new sheets (400 & 800 thread count! Whoooo!) and blankets we got at the after Christmas sales in Houston and by the time I was done, I spent the rest of the day swabbing my brow and gasping under the old flannel sheets, shivering with sweats and fever and pouring in liquids. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired. 2009 had better bring me some better health!

Here's a happy picture from Houston -- sister-in-law and me opening Christmas presents! We had a great trip -- and if I could only manage to stay healthy for more than a couple of weeks at a time, things would be super-duper.

Greetings from the Pups!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

And we're off! The Towncar has been picked up. The GPS is programmed. The presents are in the truck. The boys have food and water and the adults have Cheez-it's and Diet Mountain Dew. The camera does not need film but has batteries. All the pills (and there are many) are in their respective cases. The laptop and cell phones have been charged. Oh, yes -- we even managed to pack some clothing, mostly comfort stuff and a couple of pairs of happy pants. See you on the other side of Christmas!

Going to Get Christmas

Christmas in our household is with the best family member of all, the one who respects our foibles and loves us in spite of them.

The one who says bring the dogs even when she really only likes cats.

The one who puts out the Schnauzer dog decoration dressed in traditional Santa costume among her much more classical nutcrackers and Christmas cats.

The one who gives up her own bed and sleeps on an inflated air mattress so the family is comfortable.

The one who puts up the Christmas tree and gets out the red place mats and the Christmas tableware and turns on the fireplace even when the weather is 60 degrees so we can FEEL Christmas.

Christmas in our household is shared with the one we love -- and who loves us in return.

We leave on Monday to celebrate Christmas. We can feel the love already!