I Really Need to Do This More Often

I just read my last post. OVER A YEAR AGO I PUBLISHED!!! Ack. I can't believe that it's been this long. I don't know where the time goes and what I'm actually doing with it. I miss being here. I miss writing about my life. Ok. Even though it's March, new New Year's resolution: I'm going to write at least twice a month. You heard it here folks. Keep me honest.

Last year was kind of a funky year. I moved schools. Love it, by the way. But things were kind of in a funk. No motorcycle trips. No trips to Mexico. None of that. We just kind of stayed home. The garden wasn't even great last year. So, needless to say, I'm ready to kick 2018 to the curb and leave it there.

We've already made plans to do some clamming. We've got plans for a motorcycle trip this summer. Hopefully we'll make it to the lake.

It's kind of looking up. Although, I'm still in kind of a funk. Maybe as I write I can figure it out.

What's Up, Yo?

So, I just looked and it's been almost a YEAR since I last posted. I'm surprised Blogger hasn't shut me down. It wouldn't surprise me if they did. But look! Here we are! Still alive and well.

So... let's see? What's up? What's new? What's different? I had a garden this year. It was AMAZING! I had corn and peas and beans. And spaghetti squash that took over my garden! Pumpkins! Rhubarb! Tomatoes. Lettuce. Watermelons. I EVEN HAD WATERMELONS!!! My garden was beautiful this year. The Fast One gave me a fence to keep out the bunnies and other animals. It didn't keep out the elk, but they didn't trample anything or eat anything- except the plums off of the plum tree. The Fast One tilled the dirt in my garden so it was fine and fluffy and everything planted just grew like gangbusters. I need to figure out a better way to organize my garden. The spaghetti squash over took pretty much the whole garden and I kept having to cut her back. Yes. "HER". I named "her" Audrey Two after The Little Shop of Horrors. In the back of my mind, I kept hearing "feed me Seymore!" I'm just glad she was happy with Miracle Gro and water most weeks.

We did take another motorcycle trip- this one was more of a tour instead of go to a destination and hang there. I did get to see Sisters, Oregon. Beautiful place. Cute little town. But, man was it hot! The whole trip was a scorcher and smokey from all the fires. And, our friends had a break down on the last day of the trip and had to have their bike towed home because of a faulty alternator. Next summer our friends are building their new house and their son is getting married, so a big trip may not be in the cards for us. Which is OK. We have plans to possibly spend some time at the lake and do some rides from there. We haven't been to the lake in probably 4 summers. We miss it and need to get back there.

Ah! It's good to be back. I'm hoping to get back here more often.

It's Been Awhile...

So yeah. It's been a super long time since I've written anything. I haven't even been reading the blogs I normally read. Ever since I did my master's program, I kind of let it all go. I need to be better about getting on here and getting some writing in. It's been fun going back and reading all of the memories.

So. What's been going on? Well. Lots of fun motorcycle trips. Two summers ago we rode to Sturgis, SD for the Sturgis Rally. SO. MUCH. FUN. We bought a big bike (Honda Valkyrie) that's able to carry both of us and all of our "stuff". It's hard to pack for something like that because you have to plan for everything. You're on a bike, yo! If it rains, you're in it! That means rain gear, which takes up space. Plus, it can't be in the bag, it has to be in the saddle bags so it's easily accessible. Not only that, there has to be a few tools, just in case, snacks, a way to carry water... all that stuff. But, I think we have it down. Our trip last summer was to Zion National Park during the hottest part of the summer. SO BEAUTIFUL, YOU GUYS!!! Loved it so much. We've been going on these trips with friends who are super easy to travel with and fun to hang out with.

We also continued our trip to Wallace, ID. We love going there for a week to ten days riding the quad and hanging out with out friends there. So much fun.

Loving our life right now. And am feeling good about being back on here. :-)

Fifth Grade

I remember being in fifth grade. My teacher was Mrs. Mayo. I don't remember much about fifth grade- it wasn't one of my favorite years. Mrs. Mayo and I didn't get along- I was a Chatty Kathy (go figure) and I was trying out my independence by not wearing barrettes in my hair as I was growing it out and she didn't try to make a relationship with me. My mom tells stories of Mrs. Mayo calling her and basically tattling on me that I was talking too much or not wearing the clips in my hair. Now, don't get me wrong- my mom would back up any teacher. She knew I was FAR from perfect and that I could be a "sassy-mo-massy". When Mrs. Mayo called, it was as if she wanted my mom to do something about it when she hadn't even talked to me about it. She didn't want to be the one to give the consequence. Like she didn't want to be the bad guy. It was kind of weird, actually. Finally my mom said to her, "Tell her to stop talking! Give her a consequence! We'll back you, but I can only do so much from my end!" I honestly can't remember Mrs. Mayo ever talking to me about it, but I sure do remember getting talked to by Mr. Pence (the other fifth grade teacher) because I had been swearing on the playground and someone told on me. I know. Swearing at 10. Not so cool.

I wish that I had the experience that I am trying to give my kids in fifth grade. I think they are the funniest, most loving, and great group of kids. All 90 of them. They work hard (well, most of them), the respect each other for the most part and I feel like I have a good relationship with the lot of them. It's a pretty big responsibility to spend the amount of time I do with someone else's children. They are in my care more than their parents' care during the school year. Plus, if you want to add all the state requirements that they have to learn for middle school... sheesh. It's kind of a big responsibility. But I love them.

Today, in my third block science class, the kids were working on their processing page that comes at the end of each lesson. The Processing page is kind of like a quiz along the way to make sure they are on track for learning the concepts as we go through the unit. I have the kids come up for me to check them individually so that I can make corrections with them right away to keep them all on track.

The second part of the page was asking about the weather that was happening right then and which of Earth's systems were interacting to make that weather. One of my sweetest girls in that class came up to share her work with me and had written that "the hydrosphere and atmosphere were interacting. The warm air rises and then cools which causes perspiration so that it makes clouds and possibly rain." I giggled when I read it and asked her if she meant condensation. "Oh, yes, she said. But, what's perspiration?" This made me giggle more. When I told her what perspiration was, she was completely grossed out and wanted to change the word immediately.

I am so looking forward to camp. I can't wait to see them in that setting. They are so excited!

It's Almost Break TIme

No- Not break dancing. Not Hammer time. Break time. Yes. That lovely week in February that we call Mid-Winter Break. It's a wonderful break after six weeks of dark, rainy, sleepy days. I'm not planning on going anywhere. The Fast One may take some time off, but it depends on whether the units get running or not. Whether or not he does get time off, I'm still going to enjoy the days. A little more sleep. A little less stress. And a few days just for me.

Always

Alan Rickman died today.

And, while I know that he was in many, many movies and played many different roles both on screen and on stage, my favorite character of his is Professor Snape from the Harry Potter series. Snape was always my favorite in the books and Mr. Rickman just brought that character even more alive.

I cried this morning when I heard. I didn't even know this man. Never met him, but I found my chest hurting and my eyes  getting teary every time I thought about it. Someone said it best on my Facebook wall: "It's almost like losing Snape all over again." And it's true. I only saw a few other movies that Mr. Rickman was in besides the Harry Potter series. Snape was the true un-hero. Everyone hated him yet he was a real hero.

Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman. Your absence will be felt, and you will be terribly missed.

Always.

A New Year

I've been challenged by Teenie to write one post a week for a year. I used to write MORE than one post a week every week AND wrote papers for my dumb master's program. What happened? Did I lose interest? Did I get lazy? Who knows. But Teenie reminded me that I missed it. A lot. So. Here it is. Week One Post of a year of posts.

Well... I gotta start slow... can't rush into these things...

Rash

Yup. This is what my life has been for the last 14 weeks. Full of rash. Not the cool Rush Rash, but yucky, itchy, all over my body rash. The moves and crops up in different places just when I think it's gone. 

It started in February when I went to the doc because I thought I had strept throat. I went in on a Monday- the rash was starting at that point, and Maury thought that it was because I had strept. Wednesday, I wasn't feeling better so I went back. He took chest x-rays looking for pneumonia but didn't find any- told me to come back Saturday if I didn't feel better. By Saturday, I couldn't walk the distance from our couch to the kitchen without stopping for a rest. I couldn't breathe. I almost passed out in the shower before going to the clinic. Maury took another chest x-ray to find my heart enlarged. He told me to take at least the next week off and was sending me to a cardiologist. 

I went in for an echo-cardiogram on the next Monday, the cardiologist read my results and admitted me right then and there. He said I had pericardiosentesis. They sent me to the cath lab that night and drained 700ccs of fluid from my heart. People. That's 3 cups of fluid. THREE FREAKING CUPS. The staff  in the cath lab were awesome. Truly. Ursula, one of the nurses, gave me some awesome meds that didn't let me remember that this procedure wasn't a super fun one. Plus, Dr. Doucette, the cardiologist who did the procedure, was super nice. I never got to tell him thank you because I think I was "under" when he finished. The nurses and I took a selfie with the bag of fluid- they really were great- and they rolled me back up to my room to see The Fast One and my family. I felt so much better, although it felt like someone had punched me in the chest. 

I stayed in the hospital for two nights. While I was there, Dr. Hashisaki, an ifectious disease doctor, was looking at the rash that had formed between my belly button and my knees. Everyone was freaking out because they thought it was measles. Nope. Not measles. After I got out of the hospital, Dr. H saw me multiple times trying to figure out what caused the pericarditis, and the rash. Finally, he thought that the pericarditis was caused by an adenovirus. The rash was another story. 

Tons of blood draws, tests run. Predinsone taken, zyrtec taken. A trip to the allergist to find out that I'm "not allergic to anything". At this point were going on 13 weeks of an itchy rash covering 90% of my body. Maury prescribed Zyrtec twice a day along with Ranitadine, and said, what do you think of seeing a dermatologist? To which I replied, I'll try anything. I can't live the rest of my life itching. 

A week an a half later, I"m in Dr. Allison Hughes' office. In 5 minutes she told me I had  viral psoriasis. There's a shot that fixes that people!!! Which I started last night. Finally. a light at the end of the tunnel. Dr. Huges says that I'll have to do the shots for 3-6 months. I can't wait to be back to normal. 

Day 3- RUSH

In honor of one of my favorite rock groups. They are coming July 19th. Can't wait- it might be their last tour.

Day 2: PJ Harvey Down by the Water

I have to say that I love this song.

Challenge Day 1: Joe Bonamassa

I'm going to see this guy in May. I can hardly contain myself until then. This is my favorite song off of his live Vienna Opera House concert.

100 Days

My friend Pam is doing a sort of music challenge where every day for 100 days she posts a song. I'm totally intrigued since I used to do Music Monday on this blog.

So. Here we go.

Thankful

I'm sitting and listening to my fifth graders while they do a winter art docent project. It's so funny to me to listen to their conversations. Some are so grown up, yet will be silly in their words. For example, two of my students wrote "swaggerz" on the sweatshirt of their snowman. I went by and said, "Swaggerz?!?" "Yep, Swaggerz." I told them I was old and didn't even know what that meant. I was accentuating the 'z' and they thought that was hysterical.

Tomorrow The Fast One and I will spend the day with my side of the family, watching the Seahawks (hopefully) kill the 49ers and stuffing our faces with my mom's amazing cooking. I have to bring the green bean casserole (because my brother likes it- ick) and my sister is bringing pies. She makes the best pies. I think about how our family is getting older and the ones we have lost along the way. It just seems like yesterday I was 6 eating dinner at Grandma Betty's house, eating black olives off my fingers, laughing like crazy at my two cousins, and setting my Grandma's alarm for 3:00 AM.

I miss those days.

This is a test. Only a test...

OK. So I started this blog using my home email address. I now have a Google account so I just figured out how to move the blog to that account. Makes it less confusing. Everything in one place as they say!

My Second Family

Everyone knows by now that I am a CrossFitter. My sister got me started a year and a half ago in a tiny garage box down the alley from her house. I was hooked. My previous coach was really into health and food so I "adopted" the Paleo lifestyle and lost 25 pounds along with gaining a ton of strength and muscle. Most of our morning crew ended up together at our current Box when the coach closed her gym down. Our new coaches are awesome and really pay attention to our form and our overall health. I still have A LOT of work to do on the food end of things, but I didn't get this way over night so this will take some time.

I'm feeling a little emotional at the moment because today I ran a mile. Well. Let's be honest. I didn't "run" the whole thing. Probably 2/3 of it and so slowly that someone walking could have kept up with me easily. I was the last one in but did it in 13:34. The thing that was the coolest is that when I came around the corner, one of my morning crew gym mates was waiting for me in the middle of the street. He knew that I was last. He knew running is my least favorite thing AND the hardest thing for me. But, he waited and ran the last little bit with me. AFTER running the mile himself. When I got to the end, another one of our morning crew was waiting to congratulate me and just support.

I can't tell you what that means. As someone who has been fighting weight issues for most of her adult life to have someone that isn't directly associated with your daily routine or life, do something like that for you is HUGE. And to do it willingly. He/They could have been in the box getting ready for the AMRAP that was on the board, but they chose to run with me.

It makes me feel so proud to be a part of a community that supports everyone in every stage of their process to get healthy and strong. On those days when it's hard to get up at 5:15, I think about my 6 AM crew and know that when I get there, not only will I be supported, but I will also have the best time.

So. Thanks North Bend CrossFit and the 6 AM crew for everything. You guys are the best.

May Photo a Day

Science Matters

One of the units I teach my fifth graders is called Chemistry. We talk about matter, atoms, mixtures, solutions, etc. On the day we were talking about matter, I was trying to get them to see that matter is in ALL things so I asked them to name things that were made of matter. In my second block class, most of the kids just looked around our classroom and named the things they saw: window, curtains, books, teacher, students... that is until on student, who had just come back from a vacation in Hawaii shouted out:

Him: Pina coladas!!!
Me: What?!?
Student 2 (singing): If you like pina coladas and gettin' caught in the rain...
Me: ?!?
Student 3 (a girl who just returned from vacationing in Cabo): VIRGIN pina coladas.
Murmuring in the background: What's a virgin?!?

I think that's a discussion for another time.

YIKES!

I hadn't posted in so long that something weird happened to my account and password. Finally figured everything out and here I am again.

Ready to write some more. I've missed it! 

March 3- My View

After a week in Mexico. VERY sad to leave. 

March 2- Button