Spoke Too Soon

About an hour after I posted last night's statement, "We haven't had any lost lunches around here in a week and that is a VERY good thing." Bear lost his lunch in a projectile kind of way.  Sigh...

I picked up some more sensitive tummy food today.  Hope this helps him.

Update

Aside from a very chilly bare bum, the Blueberry Bear is A-Okay.  All of his blood work came back normal and his urinalysis was perfect.  So, we are switching him to a diet that is exclusively for "sensitive tummies" with the hope that he will be able to keep his food down.  We have also been instructed to feed him more, so he's very happy about that.  We haven't had any lost lunches around here in a week and that is a VERY good thing.

Update on my mom will come within the next few weeks.  Keep thinking good thoughts!

P.S.  One more exam to go!!!

Bliss, Bare Bums and Biopsies

K2 and I live in a very small town in the Greater Toronto Area. We have everything we need here, but for the good stuff, we head to the city.  Sushi is one of those things for which we have to travel into the city.  We absolutely don't mind doing it (especially for sushi) but we have often thought about what life would be like with a sushi restaurant just down the road. 

On my way home from work last night and just down the street from our house, my eyes fixated on something I have only ever seen in my dreams:  a SUSHI RESTAURANT!  You have no idea the thrill that ran through me as I drove past, rubbernecking to see if it had opened yet (it has not).  I know it won't be better than "our place", but to have an actual sushi restaurant a minute down the road is going to be VERY dangerous.  I like danger.

On another note, we had to take Bear into the cat hospital this afternooon to have him checked out.  He's been having some tummy issues, so the doctor took some blood, some urine and *gasp* shaved his furry bum (he had some tangles there).  Oh, the humanity.  He has dropped a whole pound and a half since last summer (which is a lot for a kitty) so I'm a little worried.  We'll get results tomorrow.

As if my mom hasn't been through enough.  She found out last week that she may have endometrial cancer.  She had a biopsy this afternoon and will get the results in a couple of weeks.  The good news is that if it comes back positive for cancer, it is known for having the lowest death rate of any of the cancers.  The only concern is that surgery is challenging with her heart/blood issues.  Send good thoughts!

P.S.  ONE more teaching day left until exams!!!

Bad Blogger

I know I've been absent from this blog.  Every day I try to think of something...anything to write about, but other than the following random list of thoughts, I struggle.  So, here are some random things I have been thinking about lately.

• I wonder if the cows I pass on my way to work in the mornings abhor being rained on.  I mean, they don't look upset by any means, but if I had to stand out in a mud field and be rained on first thing in the morning, I would be mooing angrily.  I bet I could pull off a really good angry cow.
  

• Birds start chirping outside our bedroom window at 4:30am.  I am one of those people who loves to hear birds chirp..even at 4:30am.  We have a lot of Robins and Red Winged Black Birds around our house.  Bear loves them and wants to be their friends, but they won't have it.
  

•  There are 8 teaching days left until exams begin.  I am a little stressed about how much I have left to teach before I can begin my exam review with my classes, but it will be okay, right?

• One of my students bought me a can of Alpha-getti last week.  Whatever happened to apples?  Is Alpha-getti a Canadian thing or are people in the States as lucky as we are?  I personally love dipping a piece of buttered bread into my Alpha-getti.
  

•  K2 and I are ecstatic that So You Think You Can Dance has begun its new season.  Thrilled is more like it.

• I have become woefully addicted to The Real Housewives of Orange County.  I watch New York as well, but I don't like the women on that one as much as l like the OC women.  Shameful, really.

• We haven't planned a summer trip for 2009.  This will be the first summer in a couple of years that we won't travel anywhere out of country.  In 2007, we went to San Francisco and last summer we went to Barbados.   It might be time to plan a winter trip to somewhere warm.  This past winter knocked us on our behinds with how cold and miserable it was.  I think the Mayan Riviera might be the ticket!

• How excited was I to hear about my friend's referral news?!?  Good things come to those who wait.

• Was I the only person who didn't watch American Idol this season?

• I was talking to my dad this week and was saying that I think some people really enjoy worrying.  I think they get a payoff for seeming so preoccupied with worry in the attention they get.  I believe the same is true for people who I deem to be "complain-i-acs".  You know, they're the people who complain about EVERYTHING and nothing makes them happy.  There has to be a payoff for being that miserable.

• Perhaps we should put the worriers and the complain-i-acs in the mud fields with the cows.  Maybe they would learn some gratitude?  Nah, the cows don't deserve that.
  

Not That I'm Counting

There are 22 days left of school before exams begin on June 19th.  22 days, people.  I can't wait for summer to arrive, for the air to be consistently warm and for long evening walks in shorts and tees. 

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed this semester and the students I have (all ninety of them) are really sweet and good natured.  For the most part, I think they think I'm insane, but that's okay.  Today, as a review for a unit test we have tomorrow on Islam, I created a Jeopardy game on PowerPoint.  I told them that there would be a prize for the winners.  When all was said and done, I offered the winning team a Granny Smith Apple that was left over from my lunch.  Would you believe that they actually wanted it?  I walked over to their desks, apple in hand, then proceeded to lick the entire apple and cough all over it before attempting to hand it to them. Needless to say, they opted for me to keep it.  Wonder why?

Last week, I was drinking from a bottle of water (in which I had poured lemonade crystals, so it was tinged with yellow).  At one point in the afternoon, I had made a mistake with something I was saying and I immediately looked at my yellow water and declared that I was no longer going to drink Margaritas in the afternoon. They would only be a morning drink from now on. 

Despite the insanity and my desperate attempts to make the days go by as quickly and as painless as possible, I'm ready for the year to end.  The students are ready too.  Time for beaches, sand, kayaking, and long, lingering evenings.  I'm ready.  22 days.

Special Gift

My birthday was back in April and, being the VERY lucky girl that I am, I received some lovely gifts from even lovelier people.  One of the gifts is extraordinarily special to me and I thought I would share it here, since I finally found a home for it today.

Doris and Dan presented this to me when they were down a few weeks ago.  Dan sketched and painted it HIMSELF and from a photo that I had of Bear.  How precious is this?

 

I put the picture in our foyer, so that as soon as someone enters the house, they can see it.

 

Honestly!  Adorable.

Thanks again, D&D!  It is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received.

Bullets

• Why is it that Monday to Friday, the sun shines its warmth, but on the weekends it rains chilly, wet drops?  I'm tired of watching spring from my classroom window.

• I have three very brave friends who are waiting for referrals.  It would be really nice to see them become mommies VERY soon.

•  Bear gave me a good scare this morning before I left for work.  He was shaking and very sick.  I almost called in sick (which would be incredibly rare for me to do).  I gave him some snuggles, then asked K2 to go home on his lunch hour to check on him.  He's okay now.  Probably just a hairball.  

•  My best friend found out the sex of her baby today, but I forgot to ask her if I could post it here.  I just tried calling her, but there was no answer.  Sigh.
  

•  I have rediscovered sour watermelon slices.  It's a sickness, really.  I need an intervention

• Our next door neighbors...the ones against whom we filed a formal complaint with the city (due to their two dogs barking throughout the night) have MOVED!!!  There has been peace for the past seven days.  It has been glorious.  We are not brutal people.  We understand that dogs sometimes bark when they are outside and we have no problem with that.  What we were living with were two terriers barking for 45 minute intervals at all hours of the night.  We're talking midnight, 3:00am, 4:00am, etc.  

•  K2's volleyball season ended right before Easter.  He doesn't enjoy beach volleyball, so he is not joining a summer league.  I have lost my alone time.  
  

• My best friend just called.  She said I could show you the ultrasound picture from today as it is VERY obvious from that:

 

CONGRATULATIONS, TANYA!!!