I am still here

I haven't written much lately because I have worked almost every school day since the kids returned from Christmas break.  The only week I did not work every day was the week we got flooring put in our kitchen.  Since our kitchen is smack-dab in the middle of our house, it created a lot of chaos, especially since we had to take the fridge and stove out and the 2 day project was extended to 3 because they had to lay new underlayment.  They had not planned to originally, but they realized that the underlayment was poor quality after pulling up the existing floor. So I spent two days trapped in our basement, having to go outside and through our front door to go to the bathroom.  The second day, I was so tired of having to be sequestered to one room, I went ahead and took a sub job and left the workers come in and work the 3rd day without me here! When the kids got home from school, they also had to stay in the family room and we had to eat things that could be eaten cold or microwaved, because that was the only appliance in the kitchen.  And the second day, we weren't even allowed to walk on it to do that, so we visited the newly reopened McDonald's that night! I tried not to get grumbly about it - I mean, it was a choice we made and it was going to better our house and it was just an inconvenience and not a catastrophe, for goodness sake!  But I have to admit, I was feeling pretty irritated by the third day! It was so nice to get it finished, though, and be done with a remodel project that had been several months in the making!

We just have a few last finishing touches and we can count the job complete.  And now that the weather has caused the cancellation of all basketball activities for the weekend, I believe that those finishing touches will be done by Sunday!

Even though I have been working a lot lately, it hasn't been nearly as hectic as it was before. I think that we all are getting used to the schedule and I am not as stressed about subbing, in general. Of course, this week we had 3 2-hour delays and 1 early dismissal, making it a pretty nice week to work!

I am scheduled again for the entire week next week again, but I am looking forward to it. I have been subbing for an elementary school librarian.  I think I may have missed my calling! I love working as a librarian! I love books. I love helping kids learn and relate to books. I love reading out loud to kids. I love making little projects to go along with books. It has definitely been my favorite sub job so far!

After 2 weeks of it, I may be singing a different tune by next weekend!

As soon as I get some decent pictures of our kitchen, I will try to post the before and after pictures.  I painted the dining room too, but the color didn't change that much and I made no other changes to that room.  I used the same paint as I did in the kitchen (since we overestimated how much we would need!) but since I didn't prime it first and just painted over the existing mint green, it looks like it is a different shade than the kitchen.  I like that it compliments it, but is just a little different.  It definitely spruced it up, but I don't think a picture would show much change.

I am about to get the kids to bed, so I can snuggle in for a long winter's nap!

Link fixed

I was made aware that the link on my last blog post wasn't working.  I fixed it and hope you will go back and check it out now.

So eloquent...

I wish I could think of something this good to share with my son and daughter, when they are old enough to hear it.

How to Be the Parent You Want to Be: 40 Things Every Child Must Know Before They Leave Home

Read these posts...

If you have a sponsored child through Compassion International and you sometimes are scrambling for ideas of what to include in your letters to your sponsored child, you really need to check out these posts.

20 Letter-Writing Prompts

Ideas for fun items to send your sponsored child

Update #2 on my dad

Thank you to all those who have asked or sent messages about my dad.  He is out of the hospital and they are treating the blockage with medicine for now.  They are going to monitor it to make sure that it doesn't cause any more problems and that the medicines will dissolve it.  He is feeling much better, but has been instructed to still take the rest of this week off of work. I am a little nervous about them not doing anything more invasive to remove the blockage, but the doctors feel this is the best direction to go. I appreciate your concern for him and for me!

Update on my dad

My dad is doing better. He is off most of the machines and they allowed him to eat and get up and shower today. All of that raised his spirits a lot. They got the results from the tests they've run so far and they think it is a blockage in one of his arteries. Because he has responded so well with the blood thinners and other medicines they have given him, they feel they may be able to treat the blockage with medicine,  instead of surgery. They will know more after they do the catheter tomorrow morning. I am not sure why they didn't do it today, like they had said they were going to originally, but dad is glad that they said they probably would release him tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for your prayers for him.

Unexpected New Year's Eve

My dad is in the cardiac unit of the university hospital near us right now.  He went into the ER at his local hospital on Saturday evening and was transported to the other hospital yesterday, so that specialists could see him and work on him.  He is getting a heart catheter and a stress test and a multitude of other tests run today. They have cords and pads stuck all over him. It feels weird to be sitting here at my house, listening to my kids watch cartoons, while he is down in a hospital bed. It is weird to see him in a hospital bed at all. He doesn't sit around often and he definitely didn't lay around. I hardly ever remember him ever laying on the couch, only on extremely rare occasions when he was so sick, that even his stubbornness couldn't keep him going.  Last night when I was at the hospital with my dad, an alarm on the heart monitor kept going off, indicating that dad's heart was beating too low or out of rhythm. It was very unsettling.

I have heard about people getting heart catheters done and it being called a procedure and having slight concern, but not being too worried about their safety. But when it is one of your loved ones hooked up to those machines, with defibrillator pads stuck to his chest, just in case they are needed, it feels much more serious than the word "procedure" indicates.

My dad comes from a long line of heart problems. His dad and a brother both died from heart attacks and 2 of his other brothers had multiple heart surgeries and procedures. He is 72 and only recently began to have problems with his heart, so I am thankful for that. His younger brother has had a pacemaker for about 10 years. But no matter how old he is, I don't like that he's having these problems now any more than I would have 10 years ago.

I am going down to the hospital now to see him.  Not exactly how I pictured spending New Year's Eve, but I still feel blessed that I can spend another New Year's Eve with my parents.  Many people my age, and much younger, don't have that privilege.