Happy Birthday Ivy!
I hope you have a wonderful day!
I love you!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Update
Hello!
I am feeling somewhat better. Well, that was until I had to sweep my classroom. Someone hasn't been cleaning it lately. :( I swept it all up today. I got 4 dust pan loads of trash and dirt up. I am shocked at how kids think they can just drop their trash on your floor. After eating candy they will just throw the wrappers under their seat, like no one notices. Anyways, my allergies have been acting up since then. But! I am feeling much better! :) I think the sinus infection has cleared up.
This morning was stressful. I was running late, so I was in a hurry to get out the door. I got in my car at 6:15 and headed out of the garage onto the street. As I was driving down the street, I heard a strange thump thump noise. I kinda knew it must be my tires because I have had the air pressure is low light on for over 3 months now. Paul keeps filling up my tires each weekend. So... I let go of the steering wheel for a second to see which side the flat was on and the car jerky to the right. I got out in the pouring rain and sure enough my front right tire was so flat that my rim was touching the road. The Lord was watching out for me. I'm so glad I didn't get on the interstate or get further down the road! I was able to turn around and drive home. Unfortunately, I had to wake Paul up at 6:15. He was very sweet about it. I got home and I moved all my stuff to his car. I left for work. You can't miss a day as a teacher. Plus, subs are really busy right now with teachers running out of gas (I'd have to take a day without pay if I can't come in for gasoline reasons). There is no gas anywhere. So Paul took care of getting my car fixed up today. He was so nice about it! :)
Well, we were hoping to go to Aiken this weekend. I really wanted to see everyone, but I don't have enough gas. I have enough to get to work on Monday, but that's it. I was hoping to fill up today because they said we'd get a big shipment in, but all the gas stations are empty. I really hope they fill up by tomorrow.
That's about all the excitement right now. I'm going to be pretty busy at work the next week.
I am feeling somewhat better. Well, that was until I had to sweep my classroom. Someone hasn't been cleaning it lately. :( I swept it all up today. I got 4 dust pan loads of trash and dirt up. I am shocked at how kids think they can just drop their trash on your floor. After eating candy they will just throw the wrappers under their seat, like no one notices. Anyways, my allergies have been acting up since then. But! I am feeling much better! :) I think the sinus infection has cleared up.
This morning was stressful. I was running late, so I was in a hurry to get out the door. I got in my car at 6:15 and headed out of the garage onto the street. As I was driving down the street, I heard a strange thump thump noise. I kinda knew it must be my tires because I have had the air pressure is low light on for over 3 months now. Paul keeps filling up my tires each weekend. So... I let go of the steering wheel for a second to see which side the flat was on and the car jerky to the right. I got out in the pouring rain and sure enough my front right tire was so flat that my rim was touching the road. The Lord was watching out for me. I'm so glad I didn't get on the interstate or get further down the road! I was able to turn around and drive home. Unfortunately, I had to wake Paul up at 6:15. He was very sweet about it. I got home and I moved all my stuff to his car. I left for work. You can't miss a day as a teacher. Plus, subs are really busy right now with teachers running out of gas (I'd have to take a day without pay if I can't come in for gasoline reasons). There is no gas anywhere. So Paul took care of getting my car fixed up today. He was so nice about it! :)
Well, we were hoping to go to Aiken this weekend. I really wanted to see everyone, but I don't have enough gas. I have enough to get to work on Monday, but that's it. I was hoping to fill up today because they said we'd get a big shipment in, but all the gas stations are empty. I really hope they fill up by tomorrow.
That's about all the excitement right now. I'm going to be pretty busy at work the next week.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Finally, the foyer is no longer empty. :)
This weekend Paul and I took on the foyer. It's been very bare for way to long. I was hoping to go with a modern them with bright colors, but ended up with a country look. It carries into the living room where we have a cabin painting over the fireplace. Not as modern as I'd hoped for, but we like it. Not sure why we picked ducks, but they matched the picture we bought.
This was all brought to you by Target. :)
The other side. I got the boxes from Kirklands and put random stuff in them.
We still need to get a bench and curtains to make it complete.
The ducks! For Christmas, I'm going to tie red ribbons around their necks. :)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
3rd Anniversary Trip
A year ago, for our 2nd anniversary, I planned a trip for Paul. He didn't know where we were going, so this year, it was Paul's turn, so for the past month I have had no idea about where we were going from August 8th -10th. I thought we'd be going to the beach after a few comments Paul made, but I wasn't sure.
After taking care of all that fun medical stuff on Friday morning, I began packing a variety of things for the trip. Still, not knowing where Paul was taking me. We finally got on the road at 1PM and started driving. Once Paul got on I-85, I knew it wasn't the beach, but I still had no idea where we were going. I figured it had to be mountains, but that could have been anywhere along the Appalachian.
We drove down I-85 going completely through SC and into GA. I still had no idea where we were going, but I was pretty sure it was a mountain location. Finally, Paul needed help navigating through GA back country, so I had to help read the directions to him. The directions were thus: "After about 5 miles GA-17 will become GA-17 North/GA-365 South/US-123 South. Continue on GA-17/GA-365/US-123 about 5 miles until it meets up with US-23/US-441/GA-15/GA-365". This was taken straight from the directions. Have you ever seen a road that was going South and North at the same time? Confusing... Why so many road names? Why not just one?
After navigating our way, I realized we were staying at a place near Helen, GA right in the middle of the mountains. At 4:30, we arrived at the cabin. Paul picked out a gorgeous cabin in the mountains through cabinrentals.
View from cabin
We were 30 minutes outside of Helen. Helen, GA is very touristy. Paul wanted to go some place more rural, and he found one of the most rural places I've ever been to..
Right after arriving, we needed to get some groceries, so the nearest grocery store was 20 minutes way in Blairsville, GA. We got back in the car and headed to the Ingles in Blairsville. We grabbed some water and snacks, but we also wanted to get some beer. Paul searched the store back and forth, but he could not find any alcohol, anywhere!!! I figure maybe I can find it, so I run around the whole store searching for beer. Well, Paul had to ask the cashier. She, in a whisper, said "Dis is a dry county. We don't sell alcohol here." Yeah, this is how rural this place is. They still had a mammoth cigarette selection, but no alcohol. How hypocritical. Anyways, Paul ask where we can find some and the cashier says in a whisper "Well, my cousin get his beer from this bp station in the next town. It's about 15 minutes that way."
Paul and I feeling like we were evil for asking for alcohol scooted out of the store with our heads low and headed to the Bp station. The Bp Station had signs all over it announcing they had beer! On our way back to the cabin (before Blairsville), we noticed a winery and figure why not, so we drove down to a very quaint winery called "Crane Creek". They had some of the best wine I've ever tasted. Crane Creek was closing up when we got there, so we weren't able to enjoy the property.. beautiful lake, cow field, rolling hills, and cottage... for long, but we did enjoy some wine tasting. :) We got 2 bottles to take home.
We arrive back at the cabin at about 7. We sat out on the back deck and rocked in the rocking chairs for a bit. The temperature was only in the 70's, so it felt great. Then, we ate the frozen pizza we got at Ingles. After dinner, we decided to walk around the cabin. There were 2 other cabins near ours, but no one was staying in them, so the place was very quite and rural! We walked around the cabin and up to a road that was alittle ways in the woods from the cabin. We walked up a really steep hill and then back down.. after that we decided to head back to the cabin.
Well, on our way back, we heard a 4 wheeler coming. All of a sudden the 4 wheeler pops out of the woods and the guy riding it miss judges the ditch he's heading straight into and flips over. The 4 wheeler was on top of him. Paul rushes to help get the 4 wheeler off. They both were able to get it lifted up. The guy was unhurt, but explain to us that he was having an argument with the folks that own the cabin we were staying in. They put up a chain to prevent him from biking on their property. If the chain wasn't there, he wouldn't have had to go into the ditch. He doesn't think that was very fair that they won't let him bike through their property to get to the other road... he continued cussing out the folks for a bit and we convinced him it was time to get his 4 wheeler back on the road. He then began pulling the chain down by tugging at a beautiful fur tree (I think that's what they are called-look like Christmas trees)... almost bending the whole thing over until Paul and I showed him he could remove the chain by pulling it over the nails that were in the pine tree on the other side. Poor tree!
That was the excitement for Friday. Saturday, we had a busy day planned. We went hiking in Vogel State Park. We decided to hike the 4 mile trail up Blood Mountain. The lady at the visitor center said it would take 2 hours, but we thought we could it in less. Wow! This was the STEEPEST trail I have ever climbed. You are completely exhausted after only a few steps.
About to start the trail...
The never ending climb....
Finally, near the top...
View from the top..
Still, it only took us an hour and 45 minutes to go all the way around. We still showed up the usual time. :)
After that, we went into Helen, GA for lunch and to go tubing (doughnut floats) down the Chattahoochee River. Helen was very crowded, so we had to wait a bit for lunch. It was 2 before we finally got to eat at Troll Tavern, but the food was good.
Some pictures from Helen
A restuarant called Paul's
Eating at the Troll Tavern
At 3, we went to the tubing place. I wasn't able to take pictures of us going down the river because I was worried my camera would get wet. It was suppose to take 2 hours, but it ended up taking us 3 hours to go about 2 miles. The river was really low, so your tube would get stuck on the rocks alot, so you had to get out and push. It was a very refreshing way to end the day, not as relaxing as we'd hoped, but fun. There were a ton of people in the river as well and that would lead to some traffic jams, as you can see from the photo below. It was taken when we were in Helen about to eat lunch.
It was fun, but you had to sit in cold water for 3 hours with wet shoes. It started to get cold at 5:30, so we were glad when the ride finally ended. Paul was tired from pushing us both off the rocks the entire trip.
We headed home and ate the rest of the pizza and watched the olympics. We were completely exhausted from the uphill hiking and hiking/tubing down the Chatahookie River. It was fun though. :)
Sunday, we had to pack up and get out of the cabin pretty early. I noticed when I went to the back deck to pick up our clothes that had gotten wet from tubing.. that some mice had walked across our clothes and across the towels. There were droppings all over them.. .... Then, I noticed my shirt! A mouse decided to start eating it! See picture below:
I had to throw it out. :( Ah well! At least it didn't eat anything else or burrow in my wet tennis shoes. :)
We got back to Charlotte at about 2:30. I'm just doing some laundrying and trying to relax before training all next week....
After taking care of all that fun medical stuff on Friday morning, I began packing a variety of things for the trip. Still, not knowing where Paul was taking me. We finally got on the road at 1PM and started driving. Once Paul got on I-85, I knew it wasn't the beach, but I still had no idea where we were going. I figured it had to be mountains, but that could have been anywhere along the Appalachian.
We drove down I-85 going completely through SC and into GA. I still had no idea where we were going, but I was pretty sure it was a mountain location. Finally, Paul needed help navigating through GA back country, so I had to help read the directions to him. The directions were thus: "After about 5 miles GA-17 will become GA-17 North/GA-365 South/US-123 South. Continue on GA-17/GA-365/US-123 about 5 miles until it meets up with US-23/US-441/GA-15/GA-365". This was taken straight from the directions. Have you ever seen a road that was going South and North at the same time? Confusing... Why so many road names? Why not just one?
After navigating our way, I realized we were staying at a place near Helen, GA right in the middle of the mountains. At 4:30, we arrived at the cabin. Paul picked out a gorgeous cabin in the mountains through cabinrentals.
View from cabin
We were 30 minutes outside of Helen. Helen, GA is very touristy. Paul wanted to go some place more rural, and he found one of the most rural places I've ever been to..
Right after arriving, we needed to get some groceries, so the nearest grocery store was 20 minutes way in Blairsville, GA. We got back in the car and headed to the Ingles in Blairsville. We grabbed some water and snacks, but we also wanted to get some beer. Paul searched the store back and forth, but he could not find any alcohol, anywhere!!! I figure maybe I can find it, so I run around the whole store searching for beer. Well, Paul had to ask the cashier. She, in a whisper, said "Dis is a dry county. We don't sell alcohol here." Yeah, this is how rural this place is. They still had a mammoth cigarette selection, but no alcohol. How hypocritical. Anyways, Paul ask where we can find some and the cashier says in a whisper "Well, my cousin get his beer from this bp station in the next town. It's about 15 minutes that way."
Paul and I feeling like we were evil for asking for alcohol scooted out of the store with our heads low and headed to the Bp station. The Bp Station had signs all over it announcing they had beer! On our way back to the cabin (before Blairsville), we noticed a winery and figure why not, so we drove down to a very quaint winery called "Crane Creek". They had some of the best wine I've ever tasted. Crane Creek was closing up when we got there, so we weren't able to enjoy the property.. beautiful lake, cow field, rolling hills, and cottage... for long, but we did enjoy some wine tasting. :) We got 2 bottles to take home.
We arrive back at the cabin at about 7. We sat out on the back deck and rocked in the rocking chairs for a bit. The temperature was only in the 70's, so it felt great. Then, we ate the frozen pizza we got at Ingles. After dinner, we decided to walk around the cabin. There were 2 other cabins near ours, but no one was staying in them, so the place was very quite and rural! We walked around the cabin and up to a road that was alittle ways in the woods from the cabin. We walked up a really steep hill and then back down.. after that we decided to head back to the cabin.
Well, on our way back, we heard a 4 wheeler coming. All of a sudden the 4 wheeler pops out of the woods and the guy riding it miss judges the ditch he's heading straight into and flips over. The 4 wheeler was on top of him. Paul rushes to help get the 4 wheeler off. They both were able to get it lifted up. The guy was unhurt, but explain to us that he was having an argument with the folks that own the cabin we were staying in. They put up a chain to prevent him from biking on their property. If the chain wasn't there, he wouldn't have had to go into the ditch. He doesn't think that was very fair that they won't let him bike through their property to get to the other road... he continued cussing out the folks for a bit and we convinced him it was time to get his 4 wheeler back on the road. He then began pulling the chain down by tugging at a beautiful fur tree (I think that's what they are called-look like Christmas trees)... almost bending the whole thing over until Paul and I showed him he could remove the chain by pulling it over the nails that were in the pine tree on the other side. Poor tree!
That was the excitement for Friday. Saturday, we had a busy day planned. We went hiking in Vogel State Park. We decided to hike the 4 mile trail up Blood Mountain. The lady at the visitor center said it would take 2 hours, but we thought we could it in less. Wow! This was the STEEPEST trail I have ever climbed. You are completely exhausted after only a few steps.
About to start the trail...
The never ending climb....
Finally, near the top...
View from the top..
Still, it only took us an hour and 45 minutes to go all the way around. We still showed up the usual time. :)
After that, we went into Helen, GA for lunch and to go tubing (doughnut floats) down the Chattahoochee River. Helen was very crowded, so we had to wait a bit for lunch. It was 2 before we finally got to eat at Troll Tavern, but the food was good.
Some pictures from Helen
A restuarant called Paul's
Eating at the Troll Tavern
At 3, we went to the tubing place. I wasn't able to take pictures of us going down the river because I was worried my camera would get wet. It was suppose to take 2 hours, but it ended up taking us 3 hours to go about 2 miles. The river was really low, so your tube would get stuck on the rocks alot, so you had to get out and push. It was a very refreshing way to end the day, not as relaxing as we'd hoped, but fun. There were a ton of people in the river as well and that would lead to some traffic jams, as you can see from the photo below. It was taken when we were in Helen about to eat lunch.
It was fun, but you had to sit in cold water for 3 hours with wet shoes. It started to get cold at 5:30, so we were glad when the ride finally ended. Paul was tired from pushing us both off the rocks the entire trip.
We headed home and ate the rest of the pizza and watched the olympics. We were completely exhausted from the uphill hiking and hiking/tubing down the Chatahookie River. It was fun though. :)
Sunday, we had to pack up and get out of the cabin pretty early. I noticed when I went to the back deck to pick up our clothes that had gotten wet from tubing.. that some mice had walked across our clothes and across the towels. There were droppings all over them.. .... Then, I noticed my shirt! A mouse decided to start eating it! See picture below:
I had to throw it out. :( Ah well! At least it didn't eat anything else or burrow in my wet tennis shoes. :)
We got back to Charlotte at about 2:30. I'm just doing some laundrying and trying to relax before training all next week....
Thursday, August 7, 2008
My room and eye doctor appointment
I made it to the school at 9 this morning to start work on my classroom. My room had a lot of old textbooks and material of the last teacher scattered about. I was able to move some of the books along the shelf down giving myself some more room at my desk.
It took a little while to clean all 32 desk whith wet wipes and arrange them in traditional rows. It's amazing how much room 32 desk take up. I'm sure I'll be spreading them out more after the first few weeks of school. My mentor caught up with me at 10 and she looked over my lesson plans. She said they looked good. She also told me we'd have a homeroom class that was 30 minutes each morning, so I need to find something to do with that class each day. She suggested making it required reading time for them. I might do that or just give them basic math problems to do. It's really just for taking attendance and morning announcements.
My mentor will also help me set up my seating charts. She was a 7th grade teacher last year, so she knows all my students for this year. :) She's going to let me know their personalities and tell me where they should sit. She's been really helpful. We also printed out all the worksheets for the first week which was around 1000 sheets of paper, so that took an hour at the copier.
After she left, I was able to decorate two really small bulletin boards in my room. They are probably 3ft by 3ft. I only have two of them which means less bulletin board decorating for me! :) I left the school at 1:30 and headed to down town Charlotte for my eye doctors appointment which was at 3.
I stopped by chick-fi-la for lunch at 2:30! I love that place! :) I got my usual number 5 combo (chicken nugget and fries) with a sweet tea. Yum!
I get to the doctors at 2:45 and I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork because this was my first time at this doctors. The last 2 years I've gone to another doctor who insist that I get Lasik surgery done immediately. (This surgery is $1,3o0 per eye. Plus, it has risk.). After completing all the paperwork, I find out they are having trouble with my insurance, so it took another 45 minutes to get that straightened out. Finally, the assistant takes me back at 3:30. She checks my vision with my contacts in.(My vision is really bad. It's -7.00 in the left and -6.50 in the right. It gets worse each year, so the letters were a little blurry, but I was able to do well on the pre-eye exam. )Then, I take my contacts out and the world goes foggy.. then it gets worse after she puts the dilation medication in my eyes. My whole family has trouble with this medicine. Our eyes dilate really easily, so my eyes were completely black within seconds!
So.. I wait another 30 minutes because according to the assistant my eyes needed to dilate (saying this without noticing they were already black!). Finally, I go back with the assistant again. She starts doing the "eye exam".. the part the doctors is suppose to do. I'm a little annoyed at this point, but I figure whatever she must be specialized enough to do it.
Well, she adjust the lenses on the big eye thing (not sure what to call it). Anyways, the thing that tells the doctor what prescription you need for your eyes. She adjust it to my usual strength first and shows me some things to read. I can't see any of the letters. Really! It was just a strip of white blurr that would change in size, but I couldn't see a single LETTER! She was very perturbed with me. At this point, she figures my eyes must be really dry, so she puts eye drops in them. Again, I tried my hardest. Every now an then, I could make out a line or two and guess what the letter was, but it was a guess. She increased the strength of the lenses to the highest they could go, but I still couldn't read any of the letters on the charts she showed me. She was getting concerned and frustrated at this point, so she runs to get the doctor.
So... the doctor comes in, clearly not too excited about being a doctor today. He does the exact same thing the assistant did. I still can't read any of the letters. I go through 50 to 60 lens changes with him. A few letters I could guess at but most I couldn't see, just white. These moments would really ANNOY the doctor. He would respond with "Well, could you at least try?" (I'm sitting there thinking.. "Ok, let me just randomly guess some letters! Would that help?") I'm honest and say "I really can't make out anything. It's just white.". He makes a comment that "You would need a seeing eye dog if you can't read this!". (In my head, I'm thinking.. "Well, where do I get one of those?") I respond "I could see this before the dilation and with my contacts in. I don't know why I can't read it now". His conclusion is that the dilation has caused my cornea to stretch which makes my nearsightedness worse. He decided that he can't make a new prescription for me now. I'll have to come back later.
Problem: This place is an hour away from work. I start training next week which is from 8 to 3:30 every day and then for the next year my schedule will be 8 to 3:30. There is no way I can make it to the last appointment which is 3:45. So.. I beg him to let me come in tomorrow at the office in Rock Hill, SC at 9:15. That is 40 minutes from my house. On top of this, I have to get my second Hep B vaccination shot for work tomorrow because it's exactly 2 weeks from my first shot and the nurse only does this from 8:30 to 11AM tomorrow. Some how tomorrow.. I have to drive 40 minutes to Rock Hill for hopefully just an hour long appointment.. then an hour to uptown Charlotte to get my Hep B shot.. then 30 minutes home. So tomorrow morning won't be much fun. :(
Oh.. on top of all that, my insurance doesn't cover 2 yearly eye exams, just one, so I'm getting charged for both.. It would have been just 20 bucks today. Now, $65 dollars today and tomorrow it will be $40.00. I haven't even bought contacts yet! Grr...
Driving home wasn't much fun. I had to put my contacts in, of course, but still the world was very blurry. I only recognized signs by there shapes, not the words. I'm glad they threw in a few of the shape, not words, questions on the driving test.
My big question of the day is: So.. when will optometrist realized that you can't dilate someone's eyes before the eye exam?
Anyways, hopefully this blog makes sense. My eyes are still somewhat dilated, but I can see much much much better now since the medicine has worn off some. :)
It took a little while to clean all 32 desk whith wet wipes and arrange them in traditional rows. It's amazing how much room 32 desk take up. I'm sure I'll be spreading them out more after the first few weeks of school. My mentor caught up with me at 10 and she looked over my lesson plans. She said they looked good. She also told me we'd have a homeroom class that was 30 minutes each morning, so I need to find something to do with that class each day. She suggested making it required reading time for them. I might do that or just give them basic math problems to do. It's really just for taking attendance and morning announcements.
My mentor will also help me set up my seating charts. She was a 7th grade teacher last year, so she knows all my students for this year. :) She's going to let me know their personalities and tell me where they should sit. She's been really helpful. We also printed out all the worksheets for the first week which was around 1000 sheets of paper, so that took an hour at the copier.
After she left, I was able to decorate two really small bulletin boards in my room. They are probably 3ft by 3ft. I only have two of them which means less bulletin board decorating for me! :) I left the school at 1:30 and headed to down town Charlotte for my eye doctors appointment which was at 3.
I stopped by chick-fi-la for lunch at 2:30! I love that place! :) I got my usual number 5 combo (chicken nugget and fries) with a sweet tea. Yum!
I get to the doctors at 2:45 and I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork because this was my first time at this doctors. The last 2 years I've gone to another doctor who insist that I get Lasik surgery done immediately. (This surgery is $1,3o0 per eye. Plus, it has risk.). After completing all the paperwork, I find out they are having trouble with my insurance, so it took another 45 minutes to get that straightened out. Finally, the assistant takes me back at 3:30. She checks my vision with my contacts in.(My vision is really bad. It's -7.00 in the left and -6.50 in the right. It gets worse each year, so the letters were a little blurry, but I was able to do well on the pre-eye exam. )Then, I take my contacts out and the world goes foggy.. then it gets worse after she puts the dilation medication in my eyes. My whole family has trouble with this medicine. Our eyes dilate really easily, so my eyes were completely black within seconds!
So.. I wait another 30 minutes because according to the assistant my eyes needed to dilate (saying this without noticing they were already black!). Finally, I go back with the assistant again. She starts doing the "eye exam".. the part the doctors is suppose to do. I'm a little annoyed at this point, but I figure whatever she must be specialized enough to do it.
Well, she adjust the lenses on the big eye thing (not sure what to call it). Anyways, the thing that tells the doctor what prescription you need for your eyes. She adjust it to my usual strength first and shows me some things to read. I can't see any of the letters. Really! It was just a strip of white blurr that would change in size, but I couldn't see a single LETTER! She was very perturbed with me. At this point, she figures my eyes must be really dry, so she puts eye drops in them. Again, I tried my hardest. Every now an then, I could make out a line or two and guess what the letter was, but it was a guess. She increased the strength of the lenses to the highest they could go, but I still couldn't read any of the letters on the charts she showed me. She was getting concerned and frustrated at this point, so she runs to get the doctor.
So... the doctor comes in, clearly not too excited about being a doctor today. He does the exact same thing the assistant did. I still can't read any of the letters. I go through 50 to 60 lens changes with him. A few letters I could guess at but most I couldn't see, just white. These moments would really ANNOY the doctor. He would respond with "Well, could you at least try?" (I'm sitting there thinking.. "Ok, let me just randomly guess some letters! Would that help?") I'm honest and say "I really can't make out anything. It's just white.". He makes a comment that "You would need a seeing eye dog if you can't read this!". (In my head, I'm thinking.. "Well, where do I get one of those?") I respond "I could see this before the dilation and with my contacts in. I don't know why I can't read it now". His conclusion is that the dilation has caused my cornea to stretch which makes my nearsightedness worse. He decided that he can't make a new prescription for me now. I'll have to come back later.
Problem: This place is an hour away from work. I start training next week which is from 8 to 3:30 every day and then for the next year my schedule will be 8 to 3:30. There is no way I can make it to the last appointment which is 3:45. So.. I beg him to let me come in tomorrow at the office in Rock Hill, SC at 9:15. That is 40 minutes from my house. On top of this, I have to get my second Hep B vaccination shot for work tomorrow because it's exactly 2 weeks from my first shot and the nurse only does this from 8:30 to 11AM tomorrow. Some how tomorrow.. I have to drive 40 minutes to Rock Hill for hopefully just an hour long appointment.. then an hour to uptown Charlotte to get my Hep B shot.. then 30 minutes home. So tomorrow morning won't be much fun. :(
Oh.. on top of all that, my insurance doesn't cover 2 yearly eye exams, just one, so I'm getting charged for both.. It would have been just 20 bucks today. Now, $65 dollars today and tomorrow it will be $40.00. I haven't even bought contacts yet! Grr...
Driving home wasn't much fun. I had to put my contacts in, of course, but still the world was very blurry. I only recognized signs by there shapes, not the words. I'm glad they threw in a few of the shape, not words, questions on the driving test.
My big question of the day is: So.. when will optometrist realized that you can't dilate someone's eyes before the eye exam?
Anyways, hopefully this blog makes sense. My eyes are still somewhat dilated, but I can see much much much better now since the medicine has worn off some. :)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last Week of Summer Vacation
Next week, I have orientation and then the week after that training starts, so this is my last week completely free from my new job. I'm still working my old job, tutoring students in math this summer. One of my students this morning had a very bizarre cough and he was on an antibiotic, so hopefully I won't get whatever he had.
On Thursday, I'll be meeting with a fellow teacher to prepare lesson plans for the first week of classes. I'm so glad she's willing to meet with me. I think it will be very helpful. :)
Besides all that fun stuff.. I've been relaxing most of the afternoon. I'm going to make corn chowder this evening for when Paul gets home from work at 8 tonight. His slow summer season is coming to an end, so he'll be coming home after 7 most evenings till next summer. Maybe I can make him get up at 5:30AM when I get up for work in 2 weeks, so he can get home earlier. haha! I've really got to settle into an earlier bedtime. I'm going to have to go to bed at 9:30 to get enough sleep. I'm going to enjoy staying up late at least for the next few days though!
Here are some random photos. The first is of the clematis out front. It had "rapid" growth while we were in Aiken over the weekend. I need to get a new trellis for it now.
The kitty cats sleeping up a storm in the sunshine....
On Thursday, I'll be meeting with a fellow teacher to prepare lesson plans for the first week of classes. I'm so glad she's willing to meet with me. I think it will be very helpful. :)
Besides all that fun stuff.. I've been relaxing most of the afternoon. I'm going to make corn chowder this evening for when Paul gets home from work at 8 tonight. His slow summer season is coming to an end, so he'll be coming home after 7 most evenings till next summer. Maybe I can make him get up at 5:30AM when I get up for work in 2 weeks, so he can get home earlier. haha! I've really got to settle into an earlier bedtime. I'm going to have to go to bed at 9:30 to get enough sleep. I'm going to enjoy staying up late at least for the next few days though!
Here are some random photos. The first is of the clematis out front. It had "rapid" growth while we were in Aiken over the weekend. I need to get a new trellis for it now.
The kitty cats sleeping up a storm in the sunshine....
Interesting article on yahoo about 10 things we shouldn't be worrying about:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29tier.html?no_interstitial
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Cheap Labor
Finally, I get a chance to blog...
On Wednesday, I came down to help my parents with their back deck. They wanted to tear down the old back porch and put up a new one.
Here is where the new deck is going to go. It will be glassed in like a sunroom. :) This is what John, my dad, mom, and I accomplished on Wednesday evening. We can't work on this for 3 days because the concrete has to set.
Here is the front porch. Mom and I worked on a few steps that were loose on Thursday.
This is what we'd accomplished by Thursday/Friday. Here is the old back porch after we got rid of all the old floor boards.
Friday, Pa came over and helped too. Pa helped me rip up the lower deck and he helped me get the flashing fitted just right. I didn't know how to fit the flashing stuff. :)
While we did that, Dad worked on a spot near the door frame. It had rotted away, so it needed a lot of fixing.
All the lumber.....
A cool table and chairs I found that Iza and Olivia would like to play with next time they are in. :) I need to clean them up. They look really gross right now... don't tell them that though.. ;)
Today, progress has slowed a bit..... Yesterday, my mom, dad, and I worked from 11AM to 5PM in 90 degree temperatures and high humdity. John started helping at about 4 because he had to take care of some school stuff. I left to go visit Paul's family, so my mom and dad continued working till 10PM, so they put in a full day from 11AM to 10PM. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I left. My fingers are so swollen I can't get my rings off... but my parents are tough so they continued working..
At about 10 PM, my dad, mom, and John were on the old back deck which is about 8 feet off the ground fixing a difficult area. Remember that the floor boards have been removed, but a few remain to stand on. Well, my mom was passing up a board to John and my dad, and my dad stepped back on the board my mom was holding by accident and he fell off the porch. He is ok! It just hurt really bad! I can't imagine...
I get home from Paul's parents at 11PM and they decided not to take dad to the ER. He didn't feel like he needed to go. I tell Paul this and he rushes over to my parents house to help. :) Well, John, Paul, and I decided to fix the entire old back deck up on Saturday (Today) for my parents, so we ran out to Walmart to get some school supplies for John's classroom, so that we could work all day on the deck. We couldn't get the supplies he needed, but we did get Jr. cheeseburgers and fries from Wendys! Wow! They were so good! This was at 12AM.
I was achy and tired, but still wired, so I took a fast acting Tylenol PM. However, this didn't affect me, so I wasn't asleep at 2AM when my mom came in my room to say that the ambulance was coming to pick up my dad. He couldn't get out of bed because his back hurt so badly.
The paramedics arrived shortly after that. The back board they put him on was really hard to lay on because his head was strapped in and his neck was stablized with a neck brace. Then, they put him on a stretcher to get him out of the house. They had him strapped in that thing! I couldn't even see his face by the time they had him down the front porch steps.
So.. we all caravaned to the hospital. Once we got to the hospital, my mom went back with my dad, and John, Paul, and I waited in the waiting room. At about 3:30AM, my mom came out and said we could head home because dad was going to be ok. He just hurt his back. So John, Paul, and I headed home.
My mom and dad got home at 6:30AM. My dad was having painful muscle spasms in his back. He had to lay on the back board for an hour at the hospital because they were so busy...Thankfully, the doctor was very sympathetic because he'd had this before, so he gave my dad some very nice medicines. :) I hope he is feeling better right now! I'm glad he didn't have anything broken.
Today, it's 11AM and everyone, but my mom and I are still asleep... I don't know how much we can get done on the back deck today. I'm hoping to get the old back porch finished today! :) I need to go wake up John and Paul..
On Wednesday, I came down to help my parents with their back deck. They wanted to tear down the old back porch and put up a new one.
Here is where the new deck is going to go. It will be glassed in like a sunroom. :) This is what John, my dad, mom, and I accomplished on Wednesday evening. We can't work on this for 3 days because the concrete has to set.
Here is the front porch. Mom and I worked on a few steps that were loose on Thursday.
This is what we'd accomplished by Thursday/Friday. Here is the old back porch after we got rid of all the old floor boards.
Friday, Pa came over and helped too. Pa helped me rip up the lower deck and he helped me get the flashing fitted just right. I didn't know how to fit the flashing stuff. :)
While we did that, Dad worked on a spot near the door frame. It had rotted away, so it needed a lot of fixing.
All the lumber.....
A cool table and chairs I found that Iza and Olivia would like to play with next time they are in. :) I need to clean them up. They look really gross right now... don't tell them that though.. ;)
Today, progress has slowed a bit..... Yesterday, my mom, dad, and I worked from 11AM to 5PM in 90 degree temperatures and high humdity. John started helping at about 4 because he had to take care of some school stuff. I left to go visit Paul's family, so my mom and dad continued working till 10PM, so they put in a full day from 11AM to 10PM. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I left. My fingers are so swollen I can't get my rings off... but my parents are tough so they continued working..
At about 10 PM, my dad, mom, and John were on the old back deck which is about 8 feet off the ground fixing a difficult area. Remember that the floor boards have been removed, but a few remain to stand on. Well, my mom was passing up a board to John and my dad, and my dad stepped back on the board my mom was holding by accident and he fell off the porch. He is ok! It just hurt really bad! I can't imagine...
I get home from Paul's parents at 11PM and they decided not to take dad to the ER. He didn't feel like he needed to go. I tell Paul this and he rushes over to my parents house to help. :) Well, John, Paul, and I decided to fix the entire old back deck up on Saturday (Today) for my parents, so we ran out to Walmart to get some school supplies for John's classroom, so that we could work all day on the deck. We couldn't get the supplies he needed, but we did get Jr. cheeseburgers and fries from Wendys! Wow! They were so good! This was at 12AM.
I was achy and tired, but still wired, so I took a fast acting Tylenol PM. However, this didn't affect me, so I wasn't asleep at 2AM when my mom came in my room to say that the ambulance was coming to pick up my dad. He couldn't get out of bed because his back hurt so badly.
The paramedics arrived shortly after that. The back board they put him on was really hard to lay on because his head was strapped in and his neck was stablized with a neck brace. Then, they put him on a stretcher to get him out of the house. They had him strapped in that thing! I couldn't even see his face by the time they had him down the front porch steps.
So.. we all caravaned to the hospital. Once we got to the hospital, my mom went back with my dad, and John, Paul, and I waited in the waiting room. At about 3:30AM, my mom came out and said we could head home because dad was going to be ok. He just hurt his back. So John, Paul, and I headed home.
My mom and dad got home at 6:30AM. My dad was having painful muscle spasms in his back. He had to lay on the back board for an hour at the hospital because they were so busy...Thankfully, the doctor was very sympathetic because he'd had this before, so he gave my dad some very nice medicines. :) I hope he is feeling better right now! I'm glad he didn't have anything broken.
Today, it's 11AM and everyone, but my mom and I are still asleep... I don't know how much we can get done on the back deck today. I'm hoping to get the old back porch finished today! :) I need to go wake up John and Paul..
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