Teachbroeck

It is the last day of July. The last day of the last month of complete freedom from work. I have inservice the last week in August so July is truly my last full month off. I am not complaining. Just sad.

I have attended a Smartboard Bootcamp the last 2 days and am VERY EXCITED to start using one in my classroom when I get back. We learned the basics and then how to make some pretty awesome lessons, presentations, even interactive story books using the software! It is like scrapbooking for teachers!

As part of the bootcamp we had a keynote speaker : Will Richardson who is a leader in technology and meshed those ideas with education and the future. I support his passion for technology and agree America's public schools are suffering because we don't utilize it as we should, but I also have serious worries about our children's future if we expect them the be "hyper connected" to the world 24/7. I only allow Kdog 30 minutes on the computer to do email and Webkins....and already I feel like I am holding on tight against the vortex of technology trying to suck her away from me. She likes to text a family member once in awhile but I know in 2 years she will rely on cell phones as I do! Mr. Richardson made he clear we need to teach the kids even very young how to Google, how to access information and edit it as they go ( he feels this kids should be able to have cell phones in school and no Internet filters). I agree that I should help Kdog make a Facebook page when she is older not let her fuddle through and make her own...of course it may have things on there I would not approve of...it is funny that I think maybe when she is 14 I could help her make one...she will probably already have 3 and know more than me! Anyway if kids or even adults are connect so much to whatever on the computer they are NOT connected to
*pets
*family
*outdoors
*BOREDOM...it is good to be bored!
*HUMANS!
really think of schoolers that text as they WALK down the street but don't respectfully acknowledge the real human beings around them....
Yes it is amazing that our children will have so much access to powerful information...but not all of it is necessary if I was a teenager with my cell phone in school I would not be looking up facts about another country I would be texting TrixieJo in the next room about what time we were going to the mall!

Anyway these are just my very unorganized reflections about the amount of technology the whole world will have in 5 years...it blows me away...borderline scares me...Kdog will probably do a job that does not even exist right now, but hopefully she will still enjoy quiet times on the lake, a real book, or even daydreaming...I pray with all the connections she can make with phone and computer when she gets older she still will dissconnet and be okay with the stillness and love the people around her instead of getting a false sense of connectedness with the net as she sits in an empty dorm room behind a screen.

PS I won't even go into my thoughts about Baby J....that seems to0 far away and overwhelming!

And MISS Kdog comes home form being at that cabin all week....where she only used the cell phone twice and checked her email once =)

I was tagged by KT a while back and just saw it now!

Okay, here are 6 quirky things about me.
1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tomatoes on anything...pasta, pizza, eggs...but I LOATHE ketchup.

2. If I get a stain on my clothes I HAVE to change. I can't relax until I do and usually have a spare shirt in the car.

3. Clean laundry and children give me a high almost as good as shopping. Seriously I love having the clothes clean and put away and the kids squeaky clean and smelling good!


4. I love my G'ma's mashed potatoes with cabbage salad on top.

5. I keep our potato chips in the freezer.

6. I never fully dry my clothes. Unless it is towels or work out clothes I take them out of the dryer and hang them all over my house. So they don't shrink and look new longer.

So it all worked out.


Soon after I posted my step-dad called and asked if K could come to the cabin this week. I have class 2 full days this week so I said sure even though I will miss her MADLY! K's dad lives in the same town as my mom and step-dad so they just dropped her off at the later time. Jdog and I went to a different town only 25 minutes away to get groceries and supplies...so all worked out well I guess.





I just got up...it is 8am. Tomorrow I have to get up, get ready (and more than a tank top and brush my teeth like usual) drop Baby J off at daycare for the first time (WAH!) and be at the high school by 7:15 am. I better just frickin stay up after his 4am feeding.





I love his daycare provider and she is "closed" during the summer but agreed to take him to get to know him before school starts...it will still be hard. But I will post about that later..I don't want to weep in my Wheaties. (HA I don't even eat Wheaties)

**UPDATE I am only taking an optional class...SMARTboard training actually NOT school YET =)

...I have been saying that a lot lately and pretty sure I sound like a teenage thug.

Weekend so far has been good Friday we doubled dated with some good friends to dinner and drinks...lots of laughs! Yesterday J and I cleaned and organized the house...then I went to a jewelry party which turned into more drinks and nachos after the party goers left... overall pretty fun albeit very unhealthy weekend..

Suppose to go get K at her dad's later this afternoon...it is about 45 minutes away so I usually visit my mom and step dad and get some groceries make a WAL MART run whatever try to make the most of my gas and the trip over there...

Well of course K already called today (because her dad is a wuss and won't) to ask if I could pick her up at 6 instead of the already arranged 5pm so she could she her grandparents before we headed home...this is the 5th or 6th time in a row he has either changed the time or DAY of pick up. I said NO I am not going to push off dinner plans with my parents and then get home at 9pm at night because of another change..
....but then I always second guess myself and try to do what is best for K so I called back on (THE Girlfriend's cell phone which I HATE to do but they are at her cabin-that is a whole other story full of Jerry Springer intrigue and drama!) anyway K answers and I ask to talk to her dad because I don't feel she should be stuck in the middle relaying messages back and forth ...I was going to just say I will change my plans and come get her Monday since her dad has off and then it won't be so late and the kids and I can actually spend more time at my mom's because she is a teacher and has off too...
Well K answers and said her dad is not there-- he is on a bike ride but she will go "ask" about staying until Monday...UM NO that CREAKING ASS TWAT does not make decisions for my daughter OR affect my schedule...so if her dad was gone did she tell Kdog and ask to stay longer because of course they are with HER parents up at HER cabin and nothing is more important...

grrr I could go on and on..like I said that situation is a whole other blog that exhausts me just to think about writing...I will tell you this ...that at one point her and I had the same last name..think about THAT one my little bloggy friends!

To only complicate things further and raise my level of irritation higher Jdog calls from work and says he will come with me to make the Wal Mart trip easier because either I take the baby and try to maneuver a cart with 20 pounds of dog food, diapers and a week of groceries or I drive across town and drop him at my mom's...well he only wants to come if we DON'T do dinner with my parents...because he will be too"tired"...umm you got up at 3 am Friday and had no problem throwing the beer back...I mean we see your mom every other day so YES let's just skip my family stuff that I plan around getting K and grocery runs so I don't have listen to bitch about gas money to see my own kin!

*and I don't want to go back to work (another post)
*and I feel a fight brewing with the SIL (another post)
*and I feel horrible for eating like a COW all weekend who do I think I am that I can eat pasta, pizza and nachos and look like a muffin top victim?
* I poured a bowl of fruitloops whilst spell checking this and they are f'en stale..my first bowl all week and because SOMEONE over the age of 20 in this house can't roll the bag down I get shitty hard cereal!

WHATEV!

Coolness just runs in the family....

Dear God,

Thank you for my wonderful husband who spent 40 minutes cleaning out the frig because a half gallon bottle of very sticky Vanilla coffee cream spilled from the top shelf and cascaded through the rest of the shelves like Niagara Falls. Thank you that he did this even though he was exhausted at 9pm at night and he didn't even cuss once.Thank you for keeping my baby boy asleep past his usual 4am feeding while I was in the bathroom with violent stomach cramps. Thank you that 5 minutes after I had survived the bathroom ordeal and fed the baby you gave me the patience to do laundry at 5am because Baby J had puked all over himself and his bedding.

Yours truly,
Teach

This weekend was our town's fest days...all the Midwest towns have them...you know cheese curds, parades, softball tournament and oh yha the beer tent! So we dedicated Friday night and most of Saturday to the kids (Kdog mostly) and DID end up working out all the babysitting issues. After 2 long hot days of carting the kids around I was tired, but so excited to spend a night dancing and schmoozing with my Jdog! MORE ON THAT LATER!

Friday was fun...just visited with friends and ate our hearts desire of brats and nachos. K and her friends enjoyed the street dance and we ended the night with fireworks. I only had one beer that night, but I didn't mind watching the girls dance..Jdog pretty much drank beer and BSed but overall he did not ditch me too bad!

Here are some pictures of the street dance...I forgot my memory chip in my computer so only took a few pictures using the internal memory.

Saturday Jdog left early because the Fire Dept does a lot with the fishing contest and of course the water fights. I knew I would have the 2 kids most of the day, it went okay even with the heat and me feeling like a packmule with the stroller weighted down with enough crap to sink a ship. K refuses to be in the kiddie parade and only watched the fishing contest. Then the water fights were on....! The kids love to splash around in the residual hose water and I love to cheer my man on! I think we took second..and then Jdog and a friend went one on one for case of beer. He lost. I dropped K and her friend off for the night then went home to shower and give Baby J a proper nap...about 6pm I went back to town, scooped up that babysitter, drove them to J's mom's house and I was a FREE WOMAN! Had some drinks, chatted, finally hooked up with my gang and then was just about to get my groove on when Jdog's pager went of. YEP the one night we have off HE HAD A HOUSE FIRE...which in our small town RARELY happens...I hung out with my friends but he didn't get back until 2am when we headed home. BOO HOO I WANT A Redo! O'well I guess if he wanted to ruin my drinking night to go be a hero he can!

Baby J helping the fireman net the fish

Fun in the streets

As I mentioned before, Kdog, Baby J and I ventured across the state 2 hours to see my dear kindred friends...(Ya Ya's I call them...have you ever read the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood? That is our movie and one of my favorite books)

*Babysitter and baby J are staying at Jdog's mom's house Saturday which is VERY close to town
*My new picture CD is already in the mail....
*K's coach is taking her to the game so not only will NOT be late for beanbags we will be early =)
*My oil change and tire rotation only cost 38 bucks and I got a 32 dollar check from the public library because they found 2 books they said I lost and paid for!

Did I mention Kdog has shown interest in a new sport? I have NEVER golfed....mom and step dad bought her a child set of clubs...we will see if she keeps it up!

Excuse my muffintop in these pics I was too excited to suck it in....
More to come on the fun trip to the YA YAs later.

*Good weekend...road tripped with our good friends....watched our local baseball team play
*May or may not have ended up at a strip club =)
*cooked out last night
*K started swimming lessons which means I have to get my ass out of bed at 7am haul Baby J with keep myself occupied for 1.5 hours (Driving back seems like such a pain!)
*K is grounded for her bad attitude...trust me it is harder on me that she can't use the computer or watch TV (What can I do? I'm bored)
*Tomorrow I have to drop K at lessons (the bus TO lessons actually) drive back pack the car, go get her, and then drive 2 hours away ...I hope Baby J sleeps
*Going to see my Ya Yas...CAN NOT decided if I should stay over night!
Drive home that night:
Don't have to pack as much
Sleep in my own bed
K can stop whining about missing swimming lessons
Stay over:
Baby J may not sleep well
Have to LUG A LOT OF SHIT
Drink WINE!

*Not Pregnant!

*Baby H slept from 9pm to 7:30am!

*Got on Y A Z pill

*Jdog has off tomorrow!

* My G A P package came in the mail

*My first P E O P L E magazine fomr my B-day subscription came in the mail too!

First...

So it was a rough night...all my bragging and bloggin about my good sleeper bit me in the ASS! The dr mentioned it may be a growth spurt when I told her Baby J had been getting up at 2 or 3 am instead of his usual 5am. Last night it was 12, 3, 7 am...not sure if I believe the whole growing spurt thing because he feel asleep mid bottle each time...yet I couldn't soothe him back to sleep with just a pacifier



Next...

Kdog accidentally pinched Baby J's leg in the swing tray. I know she didn't mean it, but it was his first injury and she was all preteen" WHAT??? IT WASN'T MY FAULT! " Normally she is very sensitive to others aches and pains but I think she felt so bad she was trying to downplay it.



Then...

Baby J had his first shots...he did well but still cried hard...my heart melted. he stopped after about 45 seconds...



Then...

It rained...alot...and the sirens went off and the wind blew and we were stuck at the health center! K is having a sleepover tonight and her friend was coming about the time I predicted/planned we would get home and here we were stuck! It all passed..and her friend was right behind us on the way home!



And then...

I was googling the Mirern@ ...which was suppose to be inserted tomorrow at 3pm after weeks of packing the plastic...then I saw all the complaints...NO WAY! I realize for every complaint there is someone who loves it, but I am too nervous to have it INSIDE ME! Guess it back to the pill for me.



Finally...

I asked my nurse who I adore about the NOT having a period for 9 weeks and she said it was very common! VERY..so I want to throttle that other nurse who I called Monday who was all weird and paused in strange places in our conversation leading me to believe I should be worried





It is only 4pm so there could be more....

Badge...I believe you are the only male reader I have...I promise no more period posts! OH wait you have no power hee hee can't read it anyway!

Have I ever posted twice in one day???

I took all these today...excuse the UGLY afghan but it is the same one I took Kdog's monthly pics for her scrapbook...the middle one shows you how LONG he is!!! And his proud daddy would want you to look at his feet!

***********

about the worried post...I feel better...like I said it was a venting of stress..thanks for all the support!!! I knew the net would not judge me =)

I also SHOULD take a test...I just don't think I really am...or it could be denial...either way I would be in total SHOCK if I was and SAD and worried...BUT I would have a little pity party and then get over it.

If God chooses me to be a mother to another fine specimen who am I to argue..we will rack up our charge cards and I will be a bitter hag with spit up on my clothes and my roots uncolored...but a baby is a GIFT.....who could be mad at that!

I am trying really hard NOT to entertain the wicked thoughts of 2 children under 2 in my mind right now. We did not want to have another child...and if I did it would be years from now.



Last year at this time I was crying because I wasn't pregnant. Now I am trying not to think that I COULD be.



I am not breastfeeding. It was been almost 9 weeks since I had a period. I wasn't concerned until I called to schedule my IUC Monday and the nurse paused when I told her I hadn't had one. Apparently it is easier to insert the IUC during your period....then she asked THE QUESTION



IS IT POSSIBLE YOU ARE PREGNANT?



NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! NO WAY NO HOW~



Well there was that ONE time 4 weeks after H was born we cheated a bit.



And sometimes we cheat before we pack the plastic.



And the secretary at my shcool has a son with a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old and his wife is 38 and got her tubes tied..GUESS WHAT PREGNANT again! But they are pharmacists so money is no issue (words taken from his mother)



I really had not thought about it at all..being all busy with motherhood and all...but now the nurse has planted a seed of doubt in my mind.



I am trying hard not to sound terribly selfish here...but I was not cut out to be a mother of 2 small children...ask anyone I am the first to admit it. I truly admire those mom's with babies and toddlers but I am not good at it. I have minor bouts OCD (I can't have laundry in the basket...I wash it everyday...if more than 3 bottles are dirty I have to wash them and have them all ready to go) with one baby I can handle all that and not feel bad. Plus Baby J gets most my attention with special times during the day for K dog...yesterday we made muffins together, Monday we played tattoo shop.



Ahhh these are just mindless ramblings I can't hold in anymore and don't feel ready to talk about with people.



We can't afford 2 kids in daycare.



I am not ready to be pregnant again.



Everyone says once you accept it it will all be fine...I am not sure I can deal with it.



HOW UNFAIR to Baby J who is 2 months old for c!&#$ sake.



I am scared. I am not even going to take a pregnancy test. I am sure they will Friday before they put in the IUC.



Please understand I know couples all over the world and right here on my blog would do anything to get pregnant. anything. Trust me I was there just a year ago. But the point of my blog is to express my emotions and celebrations and worries...today I worry. Forgive me if any of it comes off as insensitive. I am just overwhelmed with the range of thoughts racing through my mind right now....hopefully writing here will let me let some of it go and I can enjoy my kids today.

Guess who got a new camera for her birthday?

Thank you for the birthday wishes....I am alone in the house for the first time in a long time...J went to pick the kids up at the camper...

It made me sad for a minute, but then I just realized how blessed I am to have my family and friends...I feel old but my journey right now is in a such a good place so I am okay with it.

Enjoy a happy, safe 4th of July!

I was trying to get this done for wordless Wednesday, but I guess I was to busy...that is a good thing =) K is off to the camper with J's mom and step dad...we will be dropping off Baby J later for his first sleep over in the camper...I was really nervous, but he has been sleeping so so so WELL! 9pm-5:30 am then back to bed form 6-9am CRAZY! Once in awhile he gets up at 3 to eat but then goes back down til 7:30 I really can't complain. He is almost 2 months old, but he has grown up in the last 4 days! He rarely screams anymore and is so smiley...the newborn stage is over...it makes me sad...but I really think all of us have savored it and are ready for him to start building his personality.

Jdog and I have a beanbags tonight...it is actually our week off due to the holiday but since everyone is around and no one has to work Friday we are having a little tourney and a lotta brewskis...we usually party it up ON my Birthday, but I wanted to have my kids around and just enjoy family and friends....

The weather has been so nice here...I hope you all are able to enjoy it!!

I am working on a wordless Wednesday for tomorrow...so this post will be lame..

WHY is it that I can walk 2 or 3 miles in the heat of the day and not break a sweat, but sweat like a hog while changing the crib sheet?


WHY do I keeping sores in my nose and eyes?


WHY does baby J scream every time I lay him flat or change his diaper...he did when he was first born, but then didn't seem to mind...? Ear infection?


WHY am I not excited about my birthday this year?


WHY don't the softball coaches actually USE the calling tree when there is a change?


WHY do I feel guilty about not wanting to PLAY with K dog all day? We used to go go go all summer vacation, but this week I just need a break...trying to work out a sitter a bit tomorrow to take her to the pool.

WHY do I think people will actually care about this stuff ??????????