Happy Fall

I guess that covers me in case I don't update until Thanksgiving. Not that I am a slacker on my blog or anything!

Here's what's been happening lately.

• We went on a cruise over Fall break. My parents had booked it for us over the summer and we went to Cabo San Lucas (beautiful) and Ensenada (yuck). We had such a good time and it was just what we needed after all the emotions of losing Gramps. We invited Grams to go with us but she thought it was just too soon and she wouldn't be able to enjoy herself. I guess that means we'll have to go again so that she can go. You gotta do what you gotta do. :-) I'm going to do a post with pictures as soon as I get them transferred over.
• We celebrated Grams' 81st birthday on Wednesday. We wanted to make it special for her and I think she had a good day. Her favorite part was the 97 cent blinking tiara that we gave her from Wal-Mart. She wore it all night!
• I have been on a non-stop eating binge for the last month. I wish that I was one of those people who don't eat when they are upset but, unfortunately, I am the opposite. We had so much funeral food and meals and they all included dessert! We were so blessed by so many people who provided for our family after Gramps' passing but I needed to practice some moderation. So . . . it is back on the bandwagon tomorrow! I may actually have to turn my blog into my accountability journal. Even if no one else is reading it, I would feel like I needed to make good choices if it was going to be posted. Anyone want to be my food accountability partner?

So Sad

I haven't posted in a while. It has been a very sad week for me. We took my Gramps to the hospital on September 23 and the doctor talked with us about Hospice care. Last Monday I got a call that he was having a bad day and my Grams decided that it was time for Hospice. We got him transferred to the Inpatient Unit of the Hospice on Tuesday afternoon. In the inpatient unit they assess his situation and decide what he needs for a peaceful transition at home.

On Wednesday morning, October 1, at 3:44 a.m., I got a call from the nurse at Hospice that Gramps had passed away.

This has been a difficult week but we are getting through. We had Gramps' funeral service on Friday and it was beautiful. We wanted it to be uplifting and reflective of the kind of person Gramps was. I think we succeeded. My dad, brother and I talked about Gramps and the prayer chapel that we held the service in was beautiful and peaceful. It is still hard to think about Gramps without a few tears, but I am so happy that he is in a better place where he can move and do things without being short of breath and in pain.

Here are some of the pictures we used in our video tribute during Gramps' service:

This is a picture of Grams and Gramps in their "younger years".

Gramps and me . . . don't you love our matching overalls?

One of the only recent pictures that we found of me with Gramps. This is from Christmas 2006.

Gramps, Haley, Jared, and Kameryn

February 2008, at Denny's on the way to his last cruise. Gramps' health really started to go down about a month after this picture.

I love you Gramps!

It's The Simple Things

It doesn't take much to amuse me. I just learned how to get new, free, cute templates for my blog. It was so easy! Now I kind of feel like a scrapbooker. Just wait till we get back from our cruise next month and I add a slideshow, too!

I think this one is pretty. There were something like 375 free templates to choose from so I may change backgrounds everytime I post. That alone will make you want to check back in on a daily basis!

Now, for a quick update:

• I had Kelly, Angela & Addison, and Kimberly & Hayden over for dinner last night. We had such a good time. It was nice to have the "Liberty Ladies" together again--we don't do it nearly often enough. And, if I do say so myself, the peach crisp I made was pretty kick-ass.
• Our school carnival is tomorrow. I know, on a Saturday! I am trying to be positive about the whole thing but it is going to be so HOT.
• I am so proud of myself because I am going to give up sleeping in tomorrow morning (at least by my definition of sleeping in) to go to my class at the gym at 8:00 a.m. Liz won't be there on Monday so this is a make-up class before the fact. If I could just stop eating so much crap, I would probably be in pretty good shape by now. But I love brownies, nachos, bread, pasta, food in general.
• We split classes today. I now have only 18 students! But saying good-bye to a couple of them was as hard as the last day of school--even though I will still see them everyday.
• I need to learn not to hit "something" on my laptop while I am typing. I keep wiping out entire paragraphs. I don't know what it is, but it is frustrating to keep starting over.
• Gramps finished his first week of chemo and all is well. He gets the weekend off.

That wasn't really a quick update. Off to warm up leftovers--you probably all wish you could live this glamorous, single life that I have.

If you have no plans tomorrow you can always join us at the carnival. We'll have nachos!

Gramps

I love my Gramps! He has been very sick for the past 6 months. We already knew he had congestive heart failure, pulmonary hypertenstion, and kidney disease but now we find out he also has colon cancer. He has been in and out of the hospital every few weeks.

But throughout it all, his attitude has never turned ugly. He is just so nice to everyone, even when they are coming at him with needles!

Here is a picture of Gramps after he got his hair buzzed so that he would "look like all of his boys".

Gramps started radiation last week and he goes for his first dose of chemo tomorrow so if you feel led, please say a prayer for him that he handles it well and doesn't have a lot of side effects.

Random Thoughts

Alright, it has been almost a month since I've posted. Would you believe that I have such an incredibly busy life that I don't have a spare moment to blog? I didn't think so. Here's a quick update on my life in general.

• I have a Facebook page. I just set it up today and it has no bells and whistles (unlike this blog that is just soooo fancy!) but it is an addicting thing. It is not user-friendly so I am just clicking on things to see what they do. If you have a Facebook, let me be your friend . . . please!!!!


• I think this is going to be a really long school year. Just when I thought things were settling down, I got my new student. He is "interesting". We started his first day with an hour and fifteen minute fit--not because he was sad or scared, but because he was pissed off! There was not a single tear on his part but I think I shed a few. I was told that he hated me and then after he ran out of the room and I caught him he threatened to bite me. I let him go----biting is not part of my job description.


• Qwest is not my friend. I called to set up service and they weren't sure that they could do it but they would call me the next day . . . Hello---that was 2 weeks ago. I wanted to go with Qwest over Cox because they had a great deal going but apparently I am in a "Cox Community".


• All of my friends are having or just had babies. I have the fever! However, I am missing that one key component to have said baby. My next post is going to be about asking for your help in this quest . . . no you don't have to be the father of my baby but surely someone knows of someone who is not so young anymore and wants to meet a really nice girl! :-)


• I am addicted to Reality TV . . . I need to see who wins Big Brother tonight . . . I'm going with Dan but I think it will really be Memphis. And, finally, The Biggest Loser starts on Tuesday and The Amazing Race starts soon. Yay!!!

Enough randomness for now.

Edging my way into the Digital Age

Well, I bought a new TV this weekend. However, I couldn't justify the expense of a flat panel since television is just not that important to me. So I am very happy with my 27" "flat screen". The bonus is that I receive the local stations' digital broadcasts. You know what that means . . . bye-bye rabbit ears! And since I'm on a technology roll, I think I'm going to go ahead and have satellite TV and internet installed at my house. I know . . . you're all very impressed!

I love my job! (boring post ahead)

Really, I do, but it has been a really rough start to the year. We are all at 24-25 kids each--add to that the fact that they are 5 year olds and most have never been in any sort of school setting and 7 of them don't speak English and you have my first 2 weeks of school. Things are getting better now but I was so discouraged at the end of the first week.
The first day was the worst I've had in my 9 years of teaching. There were crying kids, 2 "bathroom accidents" before 8:30 a.m., kids going through the lunch line and getting only milk and silverware, and 20 minutes to get everyone in a line to go anywhere. Can you say "crowd control"? Add to that the 3 kids I lost on the way to the bus, along with the 5 gallons of sweat that was dripping off me by the end of the day and it was good times!
Things are looking up now. We had a fire drill and everyone made it out to the field. It now takes us only 10 minutes to get anywhere instead of 15. And I don't come home absolutely exhausted anymore. Now, if only the weather would relent and I could come home without feeling like I just finished a marathon!