I just get overwhelmed

I am not the most organized person, but I have a place for everything and everything is where it should be (according to MOI!). I missed 2.5 days for granddad's funeral and another day shortly afterward for a sick kid. I feel like I am SO far behind, when in all honesty, I don't think I really am far behind. I have several kids miss, so keeping up with their work is what is bogging me down. Tomorrow midterms have to be posted by 8:00 AM. I have posted once, fixed some stuff, and posted again. So I'm covered as far as HAVING to have grades posted.

Last year a student started a Coat Challenge. She challenged the school and ENTIRE community to donate used coats that would be given away to people in the community who need a winter coat. This was part of a challenge she received at church camp. We are continuing the program again this year and hope to be able to give away lots of coats!

Another teacher and I "sponsor" the students who are in charge. I have three lovely kiddos helping out this year. Two senior ladies and a sophomore boy. It's hopefully all coming together! I am going to challenge ALL of my classes to bring in coats. The winning class will get a special treat and more extra credit than if you just bring in a coat.

Wish us luck! It's going to be a crazy fall!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Luckily today wasn't a rainy Monday. It was a beautiful blue skied day. My heart was cloudy with a chance of rain though. Today was granddad's funeral. I did ok at the visitation last night, but today was a bit harder. We drove over and back for both. Sleeping in my own bed was so worth it!

My grandpa was an amazing man. He was always happy even at his worst. This summer I went to see him at the hospital several times. He was always upbeat, even when he felt horrible. I'm talking had surgery and didn't want to move horrible. Or in the ICU and couldn't hardly move at all. He still radiated love.

Several years ago when my mom dropped her home phone, she got her dad a cell phone so she could call him as often as she wanted without having to pay (mobile to mobile is free.) That also meant I could call him more often. I would love to call him on my way home from work, just to say hey. If our conversations lasted more than 7;00 minutes (EVER) that was a record. He didn't have much to say, but I can still hear him saying my name.

My grandma broke my heart as she sobbed on my grandpa's casket. That's the hardest part, I think. That and my mom is about at her breaking point. Mom thinks she has to do it all. She has two brothers and a sister who can handle some of the responsibility. She promised grandpa she would take care of grandma...and she will. I just hope she remembers to take care of herself along the way.

Few things that have made me angry:
~The pastor who did the service didn't know my granddad. Not sure she even knew how to do a funeral service. My grandma didn't hear a word she said. All in all, she sucked.

~My little brother Lucas is just a memory. This was the last straw. I realize he is in Afghanistan, but I'm sure he got a Red Cross message that granddad died. He hasn't seen my grandparents in over 5 years. I guess he didn't care about grandpa living and he doesn't give a darn now that he is dead either. A quick phone call from my SIL or even flowers would have been nice. I'm done. He is not a man I want in my life.


Good things:
~Granddad's casket has "footprints" on the top. One of my fave poems.
~I found out my cousins can be pretty darned good people. I hope they continue to rally around grandma.

He's gone

My granddad had a massive stroke on Thursday morning in his sleep. He was for all practical purposes gone with that stroke. His shell was there, but he definitely wasn't there.

Mom called me at work and told me he had a stroke. I left work in a mess of tears and rushed home then to Quincy to the hospital. Pretty sure I went about 150 miles in less than 2 hours...I think??? It's a blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! He was in the ER when I got there. Grandma told me to talk to him, tell him I love him and kiss his forehead. I did all that, then I just stood there with everyone else.

I stayed until about 11:00 pm then I was exhausted and had to leave. He passed at 3:03 am. I know he is in God's hands. He's an angel watching over me. I've got both my grandpas up there now. Wish there were here, but I know they are up in Heaven watching over me.

Summer, where did you go?

Labor Day weekend brought some pretty cool temps! I was kinda surprised, but really impressed! I love fall weather. If the temps were high of 80 and low of 50 every day, I would be in hog heaven.

Grandpa is not doing well. I think he is losing the will to fight. He's tired. He's weak. He's weary. I will miss him dearly when he's gone, I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be gone.

Funny story:
Shane put some trim that we tore out of our living room on Craigslist. Price=a case of Bud Light. He had a guy call from about 2 hours away interested, but he wasn't sure if he could make it down anytime soon. Another guy from about 30 minutes away called...Shane says an "old timer." Old timer and his wife came to get the trim last night. He called twice saying he couldn't find our street in our LITTLE town. Shane had to stay on the phone with him until he found the road. Shane got his beer...22 Miller Lites and 2 Honey Weis. Date on the Millers? 11/30/09. Most likely the beer is skunked, so we won't be drinking it...just found it funny...LOL

It's all about him

Right now it is pretty much all about Grandpa Fuqua. I don't really know what is going on with him, but I think he is better. His journey has been a tough one.

June 25 or so- he had a routine colonoscopy and the dr. found a cancerous spot. Dr thought he would have a 3 inch section of his colon removed and be in and out of the hospital in about 7 days.

July 7--surgery. It was lower in his intestine than thought, so he ended up with a stoma.

July 12--Grandpa was SICK. Turns out he was septic and had infection in his colon. They did a second surgery because they thought he had a twist in his colon. After this surgery he was in ICU.

July 15--out of ICU and into intermediate care

End of July he was moved to a nursing home in his home town so grandma could visit more often. It was supposed to be just for a week or two so he could get his strength back.

August 22/23--He was sick again. My mom insisted they take him to the hospital. He was extremely dehydrated. Pushed IV fluids and that helped. His heart decided to take a crap though.

Here we are on September 2. He is home. I thought he was going to die this last week. I cried for the first time about all of his problems. I didn't even cry when he was in ICU. But I really thought he was going to be calling square dances in heaven.

I'm happy he is home; I just hope he can continue to improve and actually get some rest.

Keep those two lovely people in that picture in your prayers. I am pretty sure God is watching over them, but a little extra help doesn't hurt!

A new beginning

The beginning of the school year is always FRESH! Very seldom do I have repeat students (2 this year). I do have some students who chose to take Speech...but not repeat offenders!

So far my classes seem to be going well. I have a few students I am a little concerned about already. That's a common thing too. Students who cannot find subjects and verbs as a sophomore need some intervention!

It is so hard to get back into a routine. The morning routine is the toughest for Wade. He is a sleeper. He loves to get 12+ hours of sleep on a regular basis. Unless he is going to go to bed before 6:30 PM that is not going to happen! He gets about 10 at night and at least one more during nap time.

My friend Kelly picked Wade up from daycare today for a little play date! I will go get him after school and have some time to chat with her too!

Fall is going to be good!

Summer is coming to an end

I know that summer is coming to an end when I have to go back to school and get my classroom ready. I spent some time working on getting things ready on Monday. I don't really have much to do. I can't do seating charts or anything like that until the end of the week when I have a final class list. I do know who my students are, but most of my classes will change between now and Friday. During our loverly meetings on Thursday I will make seating charts. I met the new principal today. Figured I should introduce myself.

When I leave at the end of the day, I close my blinds to keep the heat of the sun out. I always come into the building from the back side and rarely drive by the front of the building at all. When I opened my blinds today, this is what I saw. He was a bit higher up initially, but I was talking on the phone and couldn't snap a picture. Last spring the pulley for the flag pole broke off in a KILLER storm. So this guy got to fix it today. I did get to have a nice little conversation with him. Funny man.


I am happy that Old Glory will be flying high again this year. I missed it! I could always tell how windy it was by the flag.

Across the street Advanced Eye Care lost their time/temp marquis in that storm....now if only they will fix it so I can see what the temp really is out there!