If you want some advice take some stock in Swiffer!

Well hello again. I know 4 times in one week. I am as surprised as the next person. I had class all day today and I am LOVING my class. But tonight I am here to relax and write about a few observations I have come up with.

I am a product of my parents. I have always been told I look like my father. I have his dark hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. My sister on the other hand has my mom's light hair, green/blue eyes, and light (burns really easy) skin. I am small boned (like dad) and Trisha...big boned (like mom...don't be mad I love you both). And yet Trisha and I am always asked if we are twins. SERIOUSLY?! Anywho onto my whole point....those are all of the physical traits. Now from my mom I got my Independence, drive, faith, organization and loyalty. From dad the love of a busy life, strive for excellence, need for attention, ability to exaggerate everything, and budgeting sense. I have been called a "mini Jerry" more times that I can even count. The other thing I got from my father is the obsession with a clean house.

This is something I have tried to hide until now. In college I loved having a clean house, but I was home so little, school all day, serving 3rd shift, and then marching band on the weekends, I had no time to clean, much less actually live there. Then the same thing when Jacob and I first married, and lived in Kalamazoo. Our apartment was so small you could barely move around, much less no room to move a vacuum.

The problem reared its nasty head when we moved to our first two bedroom apartment. I wanted to vacuum, no dirt in the house, clean up the kitchen each night, spray the shower every day. This cleaning problem has just gotten so crazy now that we live in a house. I vacuum every week! Sprinkle the carpet dust, and vacuum. This includes vacuuming the couches, and comforters (one in each bedroom). Then of course it is take out the attachments and do the stairs and all around the edges of the room. If I am really super cleaning this could take at least one hour easily.

Then there is the kitchen, clean it every night. Microwave and stove. I have to wash the trash can, inside and out, at least twice a month. I can't stand dishes in the sink. Then the wood floors....oh dear. We have purchased a Swiffer Vac. This is the best invention ever! Then I am able to Swiffer Mop! Then I use my Swiffer duster. All over the entire house. I use Swiffer wood spray for the dinning room table, coffee table, and book shelves. Don't even get me started on what I do in the bathrooms each week. If during the week I step on some dirt I have to clean the entire room that is "dirty". I have air fresheners in each room. And use Febreeze air sprays probably every other day. I know....I am just coming clean about this problem.

I believe it stems from my Father. When Trisha and I were young dad had given us "chores" Mine was vacuuming. He taught to me start in the farthest corner, and make my way back to the door of room. Then there were to be no footprints anywhere in that room. We had to leave the house that way. I always hated this! I never understood why the house had to look nice when we were leaving the house. Just in case we were robbed the robbers would have a nice clean house. It never made any sense. I blame this to my problem that I have now.

I have been able to hide this for a while. But now that we have some friends coming over, I have to make the talk...you know like tell them " I have to tidy up" or "you can come in, but it kind of messy". When the truth is I know the house looks nice. Insanely nice.

Jacob does not mind this too much! I don't ask him to do too many things. I get grossed out by his dishes in the sink, so I make him clean those. Jacob is also a pretty clean person and picks up after himself. I don't want you all to think that this is interfering with my normal life. I am not some psycho...I don't think.

So thanks dad for this wonderful trait....a weird one....but it makes me..me! Oh and on Saturday nights I can be found watching Cops and America's Most Wanted. That is a big thank you to my PA! :) If I can give you any suggestions for the future...take out stock in Swiffer!

25 Random Things About Me

Below is a survey that has been passed around Facebook. I thought it was pretty random, and yet interesting so I placed it on here, for people who don't have Facebook. The directions are just to fill out 25 random facts about yourself. It was much harder than it looks, and gives you a nice insight to some people. ENJOY!!


1. I am a 5th grade teacher in a very affluent neighborhood of the ATL

2. I love Dairy Queen Blizzards (cotton candy is my all time favorite)

3. The only (material) thing I miss about MI is being so close to the water

4. I am a Christian and look forward to a great time in Heaven

5. I love chewing gum in the shower

6. I love being a military wife (even though I do complain about the government...a lot!)

7. I love organizing, and color coding things; including to-do lists

8. My dream is to live in either FL or CA eventually

9. I have a tattoo, and have not regretted it yet

10. I will forever be a band dork... my most played CD is my marching band recordings

11. I cry at commercials (on TV and the radio)

12. I miss playing on an organized sports team and hope to get back into it soon

13. I drive my husband crazy most of time...I know I am over the top :)

14. I have no real desire to have my own children. Adoption, foster care, and/or just animals for the rest of my life is how I see myself in the future

15. I am starting an accelerated Masters Program - I figured everything else in life seems accelerated; why not?

16. I miss my sister with every muster of my heart and want her badly to make the move south

17. I can normally be found dancing around my living room, kitchen, and dinning room where none of my windows have curtains or blinds yet - I believe the neighbors enjoy it :)

18. I love Diet Coke. I have one every morning.

19. I have been to Africa, Peru, Mexico (many times), and over half of the lower 48 states. Most of these times were on Mission Trips. I miss traveling as much as I used to

20. I have always been an informed person when it comes to current events. The only time in my life when I refused to watch the news was the year Jacob spent in Iraq

21. I have had every test known to man kind done to my body, including biopsies. Only to conclude I have an idiopathic (the doctors have no clue) blood disorder....I have also done chemotherapy!

22. I have always connected with guys better than girls. My best friend is a fantastic guy named Shane who is changing the world one eye at a time, in Chicago :)

23. I truly LOVE teaching, and know that this is where God wants me right now. I am hoping he wants me as a principal soon, as that is what I am studying for!

24. My mom and I email or call each other every day. I love this fact about my life!

25. (Finally done!) I am truly happily married, and love spending time with my husband Jacob!!

I am feeling MUCH MUCH better! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

An Update!!

Okay many people have tuned in and sat waiting for this next post! Well here it is! We have answers (at least ones that I agree with)

Blood doctor has seen all of the tests and the results of all of the happenings at the ER. He has decided it was in fact the Sudifed (12 hour) that did it. Sudifed has a blood thinning agent in it, but with my old blood (before remission) the doc allowed for me to take 5 consecutive days of this pill before I had stop. He saw no correlation of my blood thinning from this. But with my new immune system (post remission) my blood does thin. Because of the thinning of the blood my immune system went into high demand and all flowed to my head (where the meds were trying to take care of my sinuses). With all that blood in my head...well y'all know what it feels like when you get a lot of blood in your head. Only I couldn't undo how much blood was in my head. Hence all of the pain.

So there we go. Doc Saleh said that the ER doctor would have been looking for what was causing the pain, not why the pain was occurring. So I still stand by the fact I had the best ER staff possible, but all hands go up for my blood doc! YAY Dr. Saleh! So I am to check in with him and hopefully no brain doctors will be needed.

I went back to school today thinking about only doing a half day. I was able to do a full day, and still feel a bit of energy to write this! I am taking things much slower, and am still really thankful for everyone who helped me out, from my small group, to Jacob.

I am happy to have some answers, and I feel really good about the doctors diagnosis. He also said that there is no real way this can take me out of remission....I just can't have Sudifed at all. I guess I can live with that :)

A scary night

Well hello everyone. I am writing to you at noon on a Tuesday. That can only mean one thing...I am home from school! Yesterday I had a pretty scary experience, but let me start from when I think it started...

Saturday morning I woke up and my throat hurt a little bit and I felt a pressure in my face. So I am thinking it must be a sinus infection. So I get up shower, take some meds, and then tutor. I do pretty good for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling like poo. So of course I think....again I must be getting sick. I took some meds and went off to work in the kindergarten room at church. I couldn't get this horrible pressure from the front of my face to go away. Instead of staying for church, I drove home and went straight to bed. I slept the entire day away, and then got up to eat some soup for dinner. Jacob was very concerned and wanted me to call in a sub. I finally agreed, so I went to my plan book, only to remember I was having my final observation. So I tell Jacob I would get through Monday and then stay home on Tuesday.

So Monday morning I got up feeling pretty good. I didn't take any sinus meds until 10:00, while I was teaching Math. This was also the time that my observer was to come in and observe me...which he never did. That just made this whole ordeal so much worse. Around 10:45 when my kids went to lunch, I noticed this horrible pain that was like slicing the top of my head off. I tried to find a teacher to cover my class for the last part of the day, but everyone was busy, and couldn't and cover, so I just kept plugging away. I had my kids doing seat work in hopes to get some sub plans put together so I wouldn't have to come in Tuesday. Around 2:00 I got up to talk to the class, and the pain was so SO bad I remember putting my hand on my head and closing my eyes, and then I don't remember anything. I didn't fall, but I slipped onto on one of my kids desks who sits in the front of the room. One of my kids ran next door and got a teacher friend of mine, and she took my class. I told her I was going to go home, and she was like "you are not driving, call Jacob" So I call Jacob and try to make it to the front office (it is about a 3 minute walk from my classroom). I made it up there, only to collapse when I get there. My Vice Principal sat in the workroom with me as we waited for Jacob. The pain was so bad I became nauseous, and couldn't sit up straight.

Jacob finally arrived and wanted to take me to the hospital. All I could think of was sitting in the ER all that noise, and getting sick, and I was like just take me home. I fell asleep for a an hour and a half, and when I woke up the pain was worse than ever. That was when Jacob told me to call my friend Krista and see if she could take me to the ER. He was in class, and would leave as soon as he could.

I am completely blessed with my friends. I call for one, and three of them show up. Two of my friends came to pick me up, they put the girls away in the their kennels and took car of the cats. I was taken to the ER (which is the best ER I have ever been in) and I was pushed through pretty fast as I could barley stand up straight for any longer than 30 seconds. I had an EKG, x-rays, CT scan, and blood work. I was then hooked up to an IV and put on some strong pain, and nausea medication.

After all of that, the docs can not figure out what is wrong with me. Everything came out clear, so I definitely don't have sinus infection. The major good news is that my platelets are completely normal so I right now they can't find any correlation between this and ITP. I am at home with some Vicadin, and orders to stay in bed and rest. I have to make an appointment with a head doctor and I will be contacting my blood doc too.

I feel a bit silly going to the ER over a head pain, but like Jacob said he would have paid any amount to find out at least it is nothing major. The doctor did mention something about possbily reacting badly to a migrane. I guess we will just have to wait to find out. At least we know it is nothing major. We would have just sat here and wondered. I am trying to eat normal again, as I have eaten nothing but toast the past 3 days. I am relaxing and actually writing this while still in bed. My head is not in nearly as much pain as it has been. I am thinking about starting back to school with at least a half day tomorrow. I just can't sit still for too long.

Again I need to give a huge shout out to my fantastic husband. He does so much for me. I mean he knew I wasn't 100% when we married, but he puts up with more hospital visits than any person should. I love him more than he will ever be able to grasp.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will keep you all up to date as best as I can. I am doing so much better! The sun is even coming in my room, and my head isn't about to explode at the thought of it. Everyone keep well!

Keeping up with resolutions....

Well a week into the New Year, and how are you doing on your New Years Resolutions? Jacob and I talked quite a bit about resolutions. The biggest thing we wanted for the new year was to better ourselves as individuals, because we thought that would better our relationship together. We wanted to worry less about money as a whole, and give more trust to God. So below is a the small list we came up with:



1. Every 90 days go off somewhere together



2. Spend some quite time with God everyday



3. Cook at home at least 4 nights a week



4. Get to the gym at least 2 times a week



5. Walk the girls (the dogs) once a week



I am pretty excited about what we came up with. So far we are doing quite well. I have noticed a difference in myself this new year. I am feeling more energized and more relaxed. That was the biggest thing I wanted this year. I am always so busy and so stressed, and so on edge. This year I know I have a house over my head, we have food in the fridge, and I have a great family. I do not need to worry so much, and I need to take care of myself. By taking care of myself I can take much better care of others (which if course is my ultimate goal)!

I hope this post finds everyone else doing well this new year. Keep up the motivation that you will need to make this year the best!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!  I can't believe it is 2009 but here we are!  I have had a wonderful and very fulfilling break.  I have actually relaxed, and put in very few hours of tutoring.  Jacob and I celebrated Christmas on our own, and then went over to our friend Jeff and Sara's new house to celebrate Christmas Eve, and Christmas.  We all laid around and relaxed.  It was a great holiday.  I can't remember the last Christmas when I wasn't on a time restraint to be at the next gathering.  We watched movies, played the Wii, played with the dogs, and made some ginger bread houses.  It was seriously exactly what Jacob and I needed.  

We had some other great news...can't remember if I wrote about it last time.  Jacob has been transferred to the Smyrna PetSmart store.  This is such great and fantastic news.  His other store was downtown Atlanta, and was at least a 30 minute drive with no traffic.  Then the store had gone through some manager changes and many of the customers stopped going.  Then with the economy the way it is, more and more people decided their dogs didn't need to be groomed, and I would have to agree with them (said the girl with two dogs with short hair).  So Jacob had been asking to go to the Smyrna store which is literally like 10 minutes away...with traffic.  And this store is BUSY!  Jacob has made more money (remember he works on commission = no dogs, no money), in the last two days than he has in the last week.  The atmosphere is much better at the new store too.  They have him on a set schedule so when he starts school next week he will be able to go to school, do homework, and work.  And he will also have Sundays off, which means we could actually see each other one day a week!  We are just overly excited for this transfer!  It was a God send at the just the right time!  

As for me:  I got a raise at Huntington because I had gotten an excellent on all 8 of my observations!  YES!  So I will make 50 cents more an hour!  At least they are trying to acknowledge good work!  Like I said lots of relaxing.  Well the relaxing has been cleaning the house.  Much needed super cleaning.  The stuff that I normally don't have time for.   Then I got my new book to also start classes in January.  We have a pre-reading assignment which is 4 chapters, each chapter close to 40 pages.  So I have been trying to get through that.  I forgot what text book/ reading assignments were like.  I am loving the information in the book (Education Administration) but it is just really dense and a lot of information.  I hope I am up to this accelerated program!!

For New Years Jacob's parents were able to come down.  Jacob and I both had off Sunday and Monday so we were all able to hang out with them both days.  We visited the aquarium, and the High Art museum.  Both had new and cool exhibits we had not seen before.  They were able to come over after Jacob got off of work yesterday to bring in the new year.  Because Jacob had to work today too, we didn't go out anywhere.  We all made it to the new year and celebrated in our basement!  YAY!  I am ready for the new year.  It always brings new promises!  I have only 3 new years resolutions and I think they are very capable of doing.  The Larkin's left this morning on their way back to MI.  It was good to be able to spend some time with them!

Well I hope this LONG message finds you also enjoying the new year!  We did not take a single picture of the new year gathering, but we do have some pictures from our Christmas doings.  Click on the link below the girls in their sweaters!  We all wish you a happy new year!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES