9/1/97 - 223 - I know, I know, still the same as last week; but I have that little "girl thing" going for me. I'm sure once that's over with I will show a loss. I have made major changes in my life over the last week and they start this week. Today I start walking to my brother's house and you are welcome to join me on my journey to Pensacola. I also enrolled part time in college and my first class is Thursday evening. I am working towards my degree in Elementary Education and Special Education. I can only go part time as I have to work to pay for my van and also my classes. My husband offered to pay for the classes for me; but he takes care of all the household bills, so I want to do this myself. I realize it will take quite a few years, but I am determined. I am really nervous as it has been a long time since I have been a student. My kids are incredulous as they can't believe I am going to school because I want too. Hopefully that will change as they get older. Wish me luck and keep the faith:)
9-2-97 - I worked today as a sub in the class I worked in last year as a long-term sub from Feb to June. The teacher is a different one than the one last year and picked my brain about the kids and their behavior patterns from last year. I enjoyed it and hope I get called to sub again tomorrow. Not necessarily in the same class, I just enjoy the work. One of these years I will have a classroom of my own. Someone told me that subs get more money than they did last year. That would be a big help in paying for my schooling if it is true. Guess I will have to wait for my first check to find out if it is true. Have done well on eating and drinking. A little too good on drinking during school hours; drank almost a half gallon and only had one bathroom break all day. Thought I was gonna die. Well, guess that's all for now. Keep the faith:)
9-3-97 - Didn't get called to sub today; so my hubbie and I went to get Jaime's birthday present. She will be 13 on Sunday and asked for a CD player. We just gave it to her today as it was too big to hide under the bed til Sunday. Besides; Yobo has to work on Sunday and won't get home til after she leaves for school on Monday. We also got her a CD by Beck. She was very excited and did the little happy dance all around the kitchen. She is growing up very fast all of a sudden. Seems like just last year she didn't really care how she dressed when she went to school. Now she takes great pains and has to fix her hair just so every morning. She is still a tomboy; but is taking a lot more pride in how she looks before leaving the house. She is only about 1 1/2 inches shorter than me and still growing like a bad weed. Did a good job on eating and exercise today but only drank about 3/4 of water so far. Have about 2 hours to get the rest in. Keep the faith:)
9-4-97 - Just got back from class. Boy is this gonna take a lot of my free time; I hope I can do it. I got so made at myself on the way to class. Most of the when we get on I-95 we are heading south to go grocery shopping; but when I go to college I have to go north. I just wasn't thinking and went south instead of north. I was going across the Susquehanna River and suddenly realized I was heading in the wrong direction. Had to keep going and get off in Havre de Grace and come back across the river again. Boy did I feel stupid! Funny how habit takes over when you don't stop to think. At least I wasn't late for class. Had a good day eating and exercise wise; just have to drink all my water. I seem to do better when I am working; so tomorrow should be a good day as I am subbing for the music teacher. I am the only sub they have who can play the piano. Keep the faith:)
9-5-97 - Had to work again today in the same class I worked in Tuesday. Was supposed to be music teacher; but got switched because of my experience with the kids in the SED class. Just got my daughter's birthday cake in the oven. They already had pizza for supper and will have cake and ice cream later. I got chocolate cake because I don't really like it and won't eat any. Will have a small piece of yellow cake tomorrow when the family comes over. So tonight I am stuck with 5 giggly girls and two boys who are plotting. Should shape up to be an interesting evening. Tomorrow my hair will probably be totally grey. Guess I should go out and get some Clairol. Drank all my water so far and it is only 7:14 so I should get quite a bit more in. That will help make up for yesterday when I was a little low on water consumption. Wish me luck tonight. Keep the faith:)
9-6-97 - I made it through both parties without doing much damage. Had a small piece of cake today and skipped the chips. However, I did put myself out of commission as far as walking goes for about a week. I was out jumping on the trampoline and sprained my ankle. Am on crutches for 4 days and then can't walk for another 3. I feel so stupid. Nothing much to report. Will keep you posted on my ankle. Keep the faith:)
9-7-97 - It's official, I now have 2 teenagers in the house. Only one more to go. Now the next big hurdle will be Joey getting his license. He turns 16 in March. As of now he seems to have little interest in getting his permit and taking driving lessons; but I know that will change.
Even though I missed my walk last night and now I will again this evening and for the next week; this has given me an excellent excuse to just sit around with my feet propped up and catch up on the 100s of pages I need to read for my class on Thurs. I am trying to get all Thursday's work done by Monday so I can have Tues and Wed to devote entirely to Monday's homework. I only have about 100 pages left to read of the 450 assigned to us on Thursday. He took it easy on us as it was the first class and didn't give us any writing assignment. If this is taking it easy, I have a feeling I am really going to be swamped. Hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew. Keep the faith:)
9-8-97 - Well, I must confess I had an absolutely horrible weekend. Seemed like I ate everything that wasn't nailed down and some of the things that were yesterday. How I managed to stay the same I don't know. Finally figured out what my problem was when I woke up crying this morning. Today is the first anniversary of my mother's death and I guess it was bothering my more than I thought. I did manage to get my self together before waking the kids up as I didn't want them to remember. Yesterday was Jaime's birthday and I don't want her to associated her birthday with my mother's death.
Had my first class in Introduction to Education tonight. It seems like it will be pretty interesting; but will be a lot of work too. I hope I can keep up with the two classes and my work. I worked today and will work again tomorrow. Luckily I can do my observation while I am subbing as long as I am subbing as an aide and not a teacher. We have to do 12 hours of observation during the semester and I can do it right in the school I am working in. How lucky can a person get. All the teachers know me and we seem to have a pretty good rapport. Keep the faith:)
9-9-97 - Boy am I miserable. In addition to a hurt ankle I am now getting poison on my legs from a walk thru the woods with the kids Saturday before the trampoline incident. It is so bad that I had to wear a dress today because my pants legs rub it and irritate it. Then everyone kept asking what was wrong with my legs. The doctor called in a prescription for prednisone, which makes me retain water like crazy. I feel like one big watermelon and my legs are really swollen. I really hate my life right about now. I have gained 3 pounds in 2 days because of the medicine. What a drag! I know it doesn't really count because it is caused by the meds; but it still sucks. Keep the faith:)
9-11-97 - Sorry I didn't journal yesterday. Am off the crutches now and subbed yesterday then came home and went grocery shopping. By the time I got done my ankle was very sore and swollen. Just took a nice soak in the tub and kept it propped up for the evening. Subbed again today; but only half day. Am off soon to take daughter to orthodontist. She gets spacers for top braces today and get braces put on next Thursday. She has had bottom braces on since May or June. Have had a good couple of days and water is finally leaving my body as I am slowly cutting down on medicine from poison. Keep the faith:)
9-13-97 - Another day missed in the journal. Have spent a lot of hours on the net doing research for my term papers. I am trying to combine the two and use the same subject for my Intro to Education as I am using for my Freshman Comp. Am having a hard time finding 3 internet references for the subject I want and need at least three of them for my Freshman Comp class. The Intro to Ed isn't quite as strict. Have been having a hard time with my walking. My ankle still swells and by the end of the day teaching it is really painful. Hopefully this won't go on for too much longer. Last night it took me 30 minutes to walk one mile. I will never reach Pensacola at this rate. Oh well, this too shall pass. Have been eating a lot of fruit lately. I really enjoy frozen grapes. The white seedless ones are the best. I was folding clothes this morning and came across my favorite t-shirt I use to sleep in. My husband was freaking out when I held it up in front of myself because he remembers when it used to fit and I would wear it out in public. He keeps telling me how proud he is of me and that helps considerably enough though I haven't lost any weight lately; but have been maintaining. Now if only the water from the poison meds will go away. My poison spread more so the dr put me on more of the medicine. This has been one vicious bout with the poison. I haven't had it this bad in years; so I guess I was due. Keep the faith:)
9-14-97 - Same old stuff happening. We went out on the boat for a while this afternoon. This was exercise I could do without it bothering my ankle too much. The hardest part was getting back on the boat with only one good ankle. Yobo spent half the day over my dad's helping him pull the well. He will go back tomorrow to help put it back together after Dad gets the part he needs. We are getting ready to leave for a viewing now. One of the guys Yobo works with lost his mother. It seems like there have been a lot of deaths of family members in the firehouse this past year. None of the guys could get time off when my mother died last year because it was my mother and not Yobo's. He was pretty upset about that and let the Chief know his feelings. Sometimes those guys have no common sense. We had been married 15 years at that time and she was just as much Yobo's mother as mine. Oh well, time to get over that now. See you later. Keep the faith:)
9-19-97 - 218 - Finally, a loss. I know it has been a while since I wrote in my journal; but frankly I have just been too busy. Have worked every day this week and had school two nights. Have been spending a lot of time surfing net for info on my thesis. Have been able to use same topic for both of my classes. My subject is inclusion and mainstreaming in public schools. I see a lot of it in the school I work in and have my own opinion. Just want to know what the so-called "experts" have to say about it. I can't seem to study with all the noise like I could when I was in high school. My poor kids have almost forgotten what I look like as I spend a lot of time in my room with the door closed studying. My husband was only home 3 nights this week; and I had class 2 of them. I woke up next to him the other morning and had to stop and think who he was. (Only kidding. It hasn't gotten that bad yet.) Will try to get back on track this week. Keep the faith:)
9-21-97 - Another day missed in the journal. Spent most of the day working on my thesis paper. Seems like I am spending all my time on it lately. Took my oldest soon to a friend's house to cut her grass for her and even took a book I am reading for college with me. That gave me a little over an of uninterrupted time to read without any of the kids bothering me. Joey will be 16 in March and is trying to find a job. It is kinda hard in our area because he doesn't want to work in a convenience store or a fast food place. He also wants a place that he can ride his bike to work. There is a Honda dealership down the road and he is gonna go see if they need anyone to clean the cars up that people but. You know, wash and wax them so they look good. He is a pretty dependable kid and hopefully they will give him a chance. He doesn't really mind mowing grass; but it does affect his allergies. Well, off to church and then back home to study some more. Keep the faith:)
9-22-97 - What a day! Subbed in SED class again and it ws horrible. Both the teacher and aide were out and there was me as the teacher and another woman as the aide. The kids didn't know the other woman; and they gave her a baptism in fire. I will be subbing as the teacher again tomorrow. This is a real exhausting class on an ordinary day; it is even more exhausting when the kids are dealing with someone new. Plus they got a new student and that throws the whole balance off. Went to class tonight. Parked as far away from my building as possible and hiked it. Took in snack for the whole class; but hardly anyone ate any. It was apple slices with fat-free caramel dip. Most people went out during our break and got doritos or potato chips. I had water to drink along with my apple slices. Feel pretty good about that. Keep the faith:)
9-25-97 - Finally got in - Tripod has been giving me a fit. Took youngest son to allergist this afternoon. He put him on antibiotics for bronchitis because his mucus is brownish- yellow and this means he has an infection. On the other hand, his asthma is doing better since he started the allergy shots and had his meds changed. I am starting to believe I have the same thing as Timothy. Can't stop coughing and my chest hurts like hell. Guess maybe I will be the next one to visit the doctor. Haven't been running a fever and have three days off as tomorrow is a professional day for teachers and being a sub I don't have to go. I can use the rest. Have to go to class tonight to hand in my first essay; but am going to see if I can leave early because I feel so crappy. Got 100% on first Comp assignment and 90% on first Intro to Ed quiz. Hope I can keep up the grades. Wish me luck. Keep the faith:)
9-26-97 - Wish I could say I feel better; but I don't. My voice is almost gone and the kids love it. Guess maybe I may be the next one on antibiotics; but haven't gone to dr yet as my mucus (sorry to be so blunt) is still clear. If it starts to change color, I will go. On the other hand, I haven't felt like eating and should have shown a slight gain as my period is due in 2 days. Instead I am showing a 2 lb loss. Hope the scale is right. Keep the faith:)
9-27-97 - Just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive. My husband is convinced I have walking pneumonia. I have been taking tylenol and eating nice steamy soup to try to loosen things up; but it doesn't seem to be working. Looks like I may have to go to the dr after all. There has been a lot of talk on diet list about ADHD. My oldest son was diagnosed with that when in first grade and the first thing they wanted to do was stick him on ritilan. We held off until he was in third grade when his grades started to plummet. As he go older, the ritilan just seemed to tire him out and turn him into a zombie. Against the advice of the school counselor, we took him off the ritilan because we thought it was better to let Joey be Joey and have low grades than to have our son in the condition he was in. Since then he has gotten himself together and with a lot of help from his father and I has learned to control himself. We also found out he is an auditory learner so I spend a lot of evenings reading to him out of his school books because he learns better when he hears it than when he just eads it himself. He is carried as a Level 1 special ed student, which just means they have an ARD meeting for him once a year and observe him in the classroom 3 or four time a year. He is in 10th grade now and gets A's and B's. We tell him constantly how proud of him we are; just as we did when he was having trouble. He has come a long way, and so have we. It is so easy to blame yourself as a parent when your child has these problems because other people look at you and wonder why you can't control your child. Guess we were lucky that everything turned out like it has. Keep the faith:)
9-29-97 - Well, I give up. I am going to the drs today. Feel so bad I turned down 3 sub jobs today. I still can hardly talk. My kids love this because when they are outside and don't want to come in, they can't hear me calling them in. I spent all day yesterday on the couch dozing off and on. My throat is so sore, I have been existing mainly on low-fat yogurt. That is about the only thing I can stand. It even helps some. Will let you know what the dr says. Keep the faith:)