It's Been A While

I cannot believe how quickly time is passing this summer and am astounded that we are at the end of July already.  Sigh.

Thank you all so much for your comments and well wishes on the post about my mom.  I have to say that I wasn't worried about her, despite how worried she was.  I just had a strong feeling that it would all be okay and that if she did have cancer, she would be cured of it quickly.  I'm happy that she doesn't have to deal with it at all.

We were all geared up for referrals this month because my very good friend Catherine is SO close to seeing Hannah's face for the first time.  Sadly, Catherine missed the cutoff by one day and we were all pretty bummed for her.  The good news is that she is NEXT and I can't wait to finally see Hannah and to see Catherine become a mom.  Next up will be Doris and Dan and we can't wait for them to see their Baby Girl!!!

Speaking of new parents...Red Sand and Enviroman are leaving in TWO DAYS for China to meet their twin boys!!  How exciting is that?

K2 is working 10 hour days this summer which leaves me to my own devices Monday - Thursday for the better part of the day.  What happens when I am left to my own devices?  Organization and purging.  However, I must complete the organization and purge before K2 gets home each day so that he doesn't see all that I have thrown away.  He's not a pack rat, by any means, but he does like to hold onto things "just in case".  I have no emotional attachment to anything and can easily throw things away, so I do so while he is at work and he never catches on.  Deceptive?  Yes.  Necessary?  Absolutely.  As a result, our house is now very organized and mostly everything has a place.  We now need to focus on getting furniture for our finished basement.  My brother was storing a lot of his furniture down there, but he has moved it all out and into his new house.  Now, the basement is empty and we want to make it a living space.  Perhaps one of these days, K2 will come home to a fully furnished basement!

I am going to make more of an effort to post more often because I'm sure you're all just desperate to find out more about my organization follies.  Seriously, I need to get back to writing...

I leave you now with a picture of my biggest hinderance to organization:  Bear.  It takes forever to get going in the mornings because he pins me down until he's ready to let me go.

Cancer Free

My mom, that is.  She got the news this morning that the biopsy revealed that she is clean as a whistle.

Thank you to those of you who have been emailing and sending good thoughts.

Pretty Good So Far

Today marks day five of being on summer break and I have had a lovely five days thus far.  On Saturday, my very pregnant best friend came for a visit and we had a great time together.  Sadly, she had to leave on Monday to travel back to Ottawa to be with her family.  How cute does she look at 26 weeks?

 

Little Rowan will make his debut sometime in early October.

Yesterday, my good friend Terry and I spent the day shopping and dining.  It was a great way to spend a Tuesday!

Today, K2 has the day off as it is Canada Day!  The weather is promising to be ugly for the better part of the day, so it is difficult to know how to plan.  We were going to tear out the kayaks and head for water, but with a storm brewing, I'm not sure that it's such a good idea.  For now, we are staring at this lump of fur (who is still NOT eating the way we would like him to).  Sigh.  Could he be ANY cuter?

 

He's had a rough morning playing in his tissue paper and with all of his toys.

Hope that my fellow Canadians have a lovely Canada Day today and that my American friends have a great Independence Day on Saturday! 

Thoughts On The Last Day of School

Today marked the end of my 13th year of teaching.  Thirteen years.  Wow.
I graduated university in April of 1996, spent April, May and June of that year driving from school to school supply teaching for various teachers on leave.  I was offered my first full-time job in September and the rest is history.  One thing I can say for myself is that, throughout the years, I have never rested on my laurels.  Gaining experiences only moved me to strive for new ones.  I have taught grades one, two, six, seven, eight, eleven and twelve.  All by choice and some more enjoyable than others.  For example, after teaching grade seven for a couple of years, I opted to teach a one/two split class and thought I was going to die.  That year, I realized that I am much more comfortable with older students.  The young ones will hunt you down and make you suffer.  The snot, the never-ending stories, the unsolicited hugging...it was all just too much for me.  Yes, I'm definitely more comfortable in the upper grades.

Today also marks the end of my second year of teaching in high school.  Has it been difficult?  Yes.  Would I ever go back to teaching elementary.  No. I do like high school and have found my groove.  Other teachers are now coming to me for lesson plan advice and for resources and this tells me that I am in the right place for now.  That said, I can only sit back and wonder what my next move will be.  I don't like to stay in one place for too long.  Life moves too quickly and there are too many experiences to be had.

For tonight, though, I am happy to take a break from school, to unwind the stresses of the year and contemplate warm summer days spent doing anything I like.  It doesn't get much better than today.

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!!!