Some good news...

... I have a job. I don't know which school I will be teaching in, or what grade... but I will be teaching somewhere. That means I will have an income! YAY! This is very good since I am getting my Master's Degree and I need money to keep paying for my classes!
I really wanted to get an embroidery machine, but the local store is quoting a very high price and I just feel like I am getting ripped off. I think I need to go to Indianapolis or Ft. Wayne to some larger sewing stores to get a better deal.

On another note, my dad got some awesome awards Thursday evening from the International Dental Association. He got one for being the IDA Honor Dentist for the South Central region of Indiana. This award was given to dentists who provide exceptional service to their components (I have no idea what that means, I copied it from the program). Speaking of copping from the program... the MC of the evening was horrid. Basically, he just read word-for-word what was written on the program. It was like being in one of those horrible college courses where the professor reads the entire syllabus to you on the first day of class. Not necessary. I can read. (Here is a photo of my dad with his murse [man purse]. Yes, he loves bags. He swears it isn't a murse, but I am not buying it. It has many, many pockets filled with stuff, a camera, and a long strap. Murse. Doesn't he look good for 66?)

My sister and went to the award ceremony to surprise my dad. He really didn't have the surprised reaction we were going for.He basically just looked at us like we were supposed to be there and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Whatever.
Anyway, the first award he got wasn't the big deal. We went because the president of the IDA wanted to give my dad a special award for being his personal mentor. (Here you can barely see his blury figure behind the president. My dad was standing either right behind him or with the microphone covering his face the whole time. Lovely.)

He wanted to give credit to my dad for encouraging him to get involved with dental associations when he first became and dentist, ultimately encouraging him to become the president of the International Dental Association. Pretty big deal. I think the best part is that the day my dad got he invitation to receive this award, another dentist called the office just to thank my dad for being an encouraging mentor to him as well. It is really nice that he is getting some credit. I love my dad and I think he is amazing. Lord knows I certainly tested his patience growing up.

Bah Humbug

Well, on the bright side, my foot feels better. I can walk on it today like a normal person, so at least I don't have to worry about that anymore.
Back to my bah humbug. My school district originally RIFed about 125ish teachers this year. We had 45 or so teachers volunteer to retire (thanks to a kinda-lovely retirement incentive). The school people decided they would call back some of the teachers they originally RIFed. I think I am pretty high on the call back list considering I have three years experience, and I have an additional degree in Reading. Well... everyone in my building got called back today (and told they got to stay in our building) except me. I guess I won't be getting that embroidery machine I picked out.
That sucks, but I can live with it because I wasn't expecting to hear anything until about August when next school year begins anyway. Perhaps I will work at Starbucks, I hear they have good benefits... and I love coffee.
What really got me revved up today was a lovely announcement at our staff meeting (right before I was told I didn't have a job). One of our 6th grade teachers is pregnant. Don't get me wrong, she is very nice and I am sure she will make a wonderful mother. But in the land of infertility, it really doesn't matter. Oh did I mention, another teacher who just got married a month after me is also pregnant (heard through the grapevine). And we are all guessing that another teacher is pregnant due to a suspicious bump.
LOGICALLY I know that no one gets pregnant just to shove it in my face that I cannot. I also know they plan these things and maybe even tried for longer than one month (insert eye roll). But LOGIC is leaves me as soon as I hear anything pregnancy or baby related.
All I feel is like a failure.
My body has failed me and I am failing as a woman.
I want nothing more in the world than to have children.
They are my driving force.
That is why I became a teacher.
I was meant to have children. All of my negative characteristics leave me when I am around them. It is very strange but true. I have nearly infinite patience (compared to the amount I have with adults).
I am looking forward to morning sickness. To a baby keeping me up all night crying. I will gladly give up ever sleeping in again, fitting into my clothes, or having any alone time.

I think what may be the hardest about this is that I don't have anyone here IRL who knows what I am going through. Sparky is very supportive, as are my friends. But unless you have experienced this yourself, known that without medical intervention (and maybe even with) you will not get pregnant, you just cannot relate. I think if I hear one more person say, "It just takes time. Not all people get pregnant in the first couple of months." I may poke their eyes out. I know it takes time. But I have charted and kept track of SIX cycles now. I have endometriosis and a short luteal phase.
So until my next doctor's appointment, I just would like everyone else to stop procreating and getting knocked up! I don't think that is asking too much. ;o)

Abscess

I am debating whether or not to post a picture of my foot... I may spare you all. Then again, I may not! I am posting several photos throughout so you can clearly see the pain and suffering I so bravely endured. Don't mind the callus on the big toe, I need a pedicure. Also, the lovely scar in the middle of the top of my foot is for a horrible wart experience in kindergarten, but that is another story.

Back story- I decided a wonderful way to lose weight would be to workout. I thought the best method would be to work out every day for a period of days until it became a habit (the plan was working too). I went to Jazzercise Monday and Tuesday but the class on Wednesday is only 30 minutes long instead of an hour so I thought I would take advantage of the beautiful weather and go walking on the Clear Creek Trail.
I successfully convinced my mom to go along with me on the walk and all was going well. We walked pretty far, I wore a pedometer on our walk and it said we took about 8,000 steps (using the estimate that 2000 steps equal a mile, we must have walked about 4 miles). Anywho... on our way back to the car my feet really started to hurt me. I wore some horrible old shoes (now on their way to the garbage) and I could feel blisters forming on my little feet.
I went home, kicked off my shoes, raised my feet, and refused to put them back down on the floor.

Thursday I got up and put a band-aid on my little blister (although it felt massive and like there were ten of them, apparently there was only really one). I went to school and all was well. I decided not to go to Jazzercise to give my little paw time to heal.
I don't remember if I drained the blister on Wednesday evening or Thursday evening, but I am thinking it was Thursday. I just cut a small slit in the blister to allow the water-stuff out. Ahhh- sweet relief.

That brings us to Friday. I did not place a band-aid on my foot this day because it looked like it was getting better. I put on nice, extra comfey, shoes and went to school. My foot was fine. Until after math class. Then, suddenly, my foot really started hurting. It hurt so badly, I took off my shoe and sock in front of my entire class. They were rather grossed out.
My foot looked like I had a bruise under the blister (which had re-filled with liquid and really hurt). It was warm to the touch and EXTREMELY tender.

I could barely push the gas pedal with my foot on the way home. For the brake, I used my left foot to be safe.
Sparky and I debated on whether we should drain the blister again. My mom said I should. I did. Then we applied Triple Antibiotic Ointment to the wound and covered it with a band-aid. I put it on an ice pack because it was throbbing so much.

That brings us to today. I pretty much have kept off my foot. Because I cannot put any weight on it. After my bath this evening I sat down with my medical supplies to re-evaluate the situation. I cut a small portion of the blister open again to get out some remaining liquid. To my surprise what came out was not the normal watery stuff--it was pus.

Web-Md tells me that I have a skin abscess. This sounds horrible, especially to me. After working in my dad's dental office, I have had several encounters with people who have dental abscesses and they require drilling, shots, and antibiotics. Yuck!

I am going to call Dr. Dad tomorrow morning to see what I need to do now that I know what I think is wrong with my appendage. (Current symptoms: pus drainage, pain, redness, swelling, warm to the touch. No red streak leaving wound site.)

Kim thinks there was a lot of fuss about nothing. Clearly, the photographic evidence shows otherwise. It is a miracle I survived. Did you see that blister? The underlying redness? The hole cut to release the pressure?  I am just glad I lived to tell the tale.

101 in 1001

(Image taken from lovefromtexas.com)

I have seen this on a couple different blogs that I follow and I really like the idea! These are all things I plan on doing anyway, but I think having the goals organized like this really helps me to stop thinking about them as much, and helps me prioritize my time. As you can see, I had a lot on my mind!! I have organized them into groups to help me locate specific goals faster.
Key:
Items in pink have been completed and will have the date completed next to it in parenthesis. Items in italic are in progress
Items in regular black font have not only been contemplated in my mind, so far.

Body/Health:

1. Have a baby :o)

2. Start Weight Watchers or another weight loss plan (and stick to it)

3. Lose 20+ lbs.

4. Work out at least 5 days a week (for 1 month; ideally a life change)

5. Run a mile without stopping

6. Go to a Pick Your Own Fruit farm

7. Eat only hormone free/organic meat, dairy, poultry (for 1 month; ideally a life change)

8. Quit drinking soda and sugary drinks (for 1 month; ideally a life change)

9. Find a natural face cleaner that works for me

10. Take daily vitamins

Home:

11. Switch to all natural cleaning products (4/22/10- Earth Day! Shaklee's Get Clean kit arrived)

12. Set up an all encompassing (school & home) calendar (5/6/10- on iPad)

13. Get wedding photos & put into frames

14. Put landscape stones in the garden

15. Plant some more flowers in the garden

16. Remember to plant bulbs in the fall

17. Paint guest room

18. Frame old Time magazines of Jackie Kennedy and hang in guest room

19. Learn a good yeast roll recipe

20. Advance from FLYbaby to finally FLYing!

21. Have people over for a party

22. Start an annual tradition with friends (taking suggestions- Halloween party, ugly Christmas sweater party, end of school year party, Valentine's Day ladies brunch, etc.)

23. Buy a home without an HOA with land for Sparky to have a metal shop

Spiritual:

24. Start a prayer journal (write at least 20 days per month for 1 month; ideally life)

25. Make/buy ornaments for Jesse Tree: days 1-5 (1/5)

26. Make/buy ornaments for Jesse Tree: days 6-10 (0/5)

27. Make/buy ornaments for Jesse Tree: days 11-15 (0/5)

28. Make/buy ornaments for Jesse Tree: days 16-20 (0/5)

29. Make/buy ornaments for Jesse Tree: days 21-25 (0/5)

30. Read the Bible cover to cover

31. Join a Wednesday small group at church

32. Go on a Christian retreat

33. Commit 20 Bible verses to memory (0/20)

34. Read Beth Moore’s books- So Long Insecurity

35. Read Beth Moore’s books- Praying God’s Word

36. Read Beth Moore’s books- Get Out of That Pit

37. Read Beth Moore’s books-Esther

38. Read Beth Moore’s books- Looking Up When Life is Looking Down

39. Read Beth Moore’s books- Breaking Free

40. Read Beth Moore’s books- Living Beyond Yourself

41. Read Beth Moore’s books- When Godly People Do Ungodly Things

42. Read Beth Moore’s books- Daniel

43. Read Beth Moore’s books- Jesus

44. Read Beth Moore’s books- A Heart Like His

45. Read Beth Moore’s books- Believing God

46. Read Beth Moore’s books-Stepping Up

47. Read Beth Moore’s books- A Woman’s Heart

48. Read Beth Moore’s books- Things Pondered

49. Read Beth Moore’s books- David

50. Read Beth Moore’s books- Jesus the One and Only

51. Read Beth Moore’s books- Feathers from My Nest

52. Read Beth Moore’s books- Voices of the Faithful

53. Read Beth Moore’s books- The Beloved Disciple (John)

54. Read Beth Moore’s books- To Live is Christ

55. Go to church every Sunday possible

Financial:

56. Create budget via Dave Ramsey

57. Learn how to use coupons well

58. Cook 5 nights a week

59. Learn how to plan menus

60. Set up retirement

Material:

61. Buy an embroidery machine Used money to buy an iPad (5/6/10)

62. Buy Photoshop

63. If Goal #1 is achieved: have maternity photos taken

64. Make scrapbook/photo book for each year married (0/3)

65. Buy a Fire Safe box for important documents

66. Get external hard drive or explore options for saving photos

67. Get my picture taken in a photo booth

68. Go to flea markets

69. Buy a pair of designer jeans (after goal weight)

70. Trade in my car

Hobby:

71. Learn how to appliqué with machine Learned how to download apps with iPad (5/6/10)

72. Sew a quilt

73. Learn how to smock a dress

74. Learn how to make hair bows

75. Plant a vegetable garden

76. Make yearly Christmas picture frames (0/3)

77. Convert a low dresser into a frame for a bed

78. Make a jewelry frame

79. Scan in all old photos

80. Blog daily

81. Go to the circus

Mind:

82. Get my master’s degree

83. Publish a book (with Sparky)

84. Learn HTML so I can create my own website without blogger

85. Take Photoshop class

86. Take digital photography class

Marriage:

87. Have a weekly date night with Sparky

88. Finish changing my name on everything (bills, magazines, college degrees…)

89. See a movie at the drive in

90. Go to Mackinac Island on vacation

91. Go to Las Vegas

92. Go to the Grand Canyon

93. Finish Wedding Thank You cards (oops!)

94. Take Sparky to see a play at the IU Auditorium

95. Begin praying together daily (at night)

96. Begin praying together before meals

Others:

97. Take dinner to someone after they have surgery or have a baby

98. Donate to Air 1

99. Implement one new Kagan Cooperative Learning Structure/brain break into my classroom each week (0/60)

100. Send birthday cards via mail

101. Create a system for communicating positive messages about students to parents

I will update this periodically to see how I do! I suppose if I could today as my official begin day... well someone else can do the math. 1001 days from now is 2.74 years from now. I have no idea what date that is, nor do I have the desire to count the days on a calendar. If you would like to figure it out for me, let me know!

**Edited to post ending date: January 15, 2013
I used this to figure it out quickly ;o)

Stupid Luteal Phase

The title says it all. I started my dumb period. No implantation bleeding for me. This means my luteal phase is only 8 days long. That is WAY too short to give my little eggs time to implant. Ever. This really, really sucks.
I am thinking I should probably chart all of this for another month then go ahead and call my Dr. to figure something out. Since luteal phase length does not really vary from month to month, I shouldn't need too much proof of its shortness. Also, every period I have causes more and more scar tissue to build up in my abdomen making fertility odds worse and worse. So much fun!!
I am assuming that the doctor will put me on a progesterone supplement to try and increase my luteal phase length to at least 10 days, but who knows.
Have I mentioned how much I hate my period? I really hate it.
Ok, pitty party is over.

Mini-Lesson

For all you teachers out there, you know what a mini-lesson is. A short lesson. I could give you a very detailed lesson, or I can use bullet points for those of us who(like small children) have short attention spans.

Kim, don't read this. It is about reproduction and you have no interest. Consider yourself warned.

So here is my mini-lesson on the female reproductive system:

• The official first day of a woman's monthly cycle begins on the first day of her period.
• The cycle "typically" lasts for 28 days.
• Estrogen levels rise until there is enough estrogen built up to cause a surge of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) that causes the ovary to release an egg.
  
• This is called ovulation.
  
• As soon as an egg is released from the ovary the follicle containing the egg collapses in on itself and begins releasing progesterone.
• Also, if charting basil body temperature (temp. before rising in the AM, after at least 3 hrs of sleep) you will notice a fairly steady temp. until the day after ovulation--then there will be a rise in basil body temperature.
  

• As soon as ovulation occurs, a woman begins the next part of her cycle: the Luteal Phase.
  
• The luteal phase lasts from ovulation until the start of the next monthly cycle.
  
• The average length of the luteal phase is just over 12 days.
  
• A woman's luteal phase does not vary more than a couple of days from cycle to cycle. So if Woman A's luteal phase is typically 12 days, it may occasionally be 11 days or 13 days.
• A luteal phase shorter than 10 days will not allow the fertilized egg time to implant before menstruation.
  

Now that you have survived my mini-lesson, I can move onto my point.

This was my first cycle that I was able to use my handy new little Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor. My fertility monitor told me that I was at Peak fertility on cycle days 18, 19, and 20 which were August 7, 8, and 9. My book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, told me that the last peak day is the actual day of egg release. It is desirable to "try" the day before ovulating for the best odds because of the time the egg takes to travel, blah, blah, blah.

I also had some pain in my right ovary area on the 9th, so I am fairly positive that is when I ovulated. My fertility monitor told me on the 10th on that I had low fertility, further confirming my guess at my ovulation date. (The only way to really know the date of ovulation is to have daily ultrasounds while the egg is being released.)

So that would make me on day 8 of my luteal phase today, April 17th.

I had some very light spotting evening of day 7 and morning of day 8 (implantation spotting???). I am praying that if I get my period this month that it won't come until at least Tuesday the 20th so that I do not have to deal with a short luteal phase in addition to endometriosis.

It would be even better if my period doesn't show up again until December 20th in the form of a little baby ;o)

Anyway, just needed to get all of that off my mind and documented somewhere so I can stop thinking about it!

Spring = Clean

Sorry faithful readers for leaving you without any updates for so long (Cassie;o).
A few weeks ago I went to one of my favorite blogs, Kelly's Korner, and began browsing through all of the cleaning tips posted for her "Show Us Your Life" post, and I noticed one product kept coming up in many blogs. They all seemed to be using some product called H2.

I had never heard of it, but the bottle was really cute! I looked it up and apparently it is made my Shaklee, another thing I had never heard of... apparently they have been around for over 50 years as an eco-conscious company. They sell via direct sales (think Mary Kay), so I used their online distributor locater to find someone in my area I can buy through. The nice Shaklee lady called me and dropped off a trial kit on Monday so I could try the products in my own home!

I was a little skeptical because some people on the blog had posted that you need literally 3 drops per 16 oz of water to make a cleaning solution. That is not much of a product. Let me tell you... they were right! This stuff is so AMAZING! I have even found that I am cleaning a LOT more than regular. I think I always dreaded cleaning before because I always felt like I had to take a shower when I finished cleaning the house, just to get all the chemicals and smell off my sensitive skin. This stuff is so natural that I have been cleaning every surface every night (at least in the kitchen) just because I can! Today I even dusted with it. Wow.
The one bottle of Basic H2 concentrated cleanser makes a window cleaner (1-2 drops), an all purpose cleaner (1/4 tsp.), and a de-greaser (1 1/2 tsp.)

She also dropped off the other GET CLEAN products for me to try. The Scour Off worked wonders on my oven, without the need for rubber gloves and a gas mask! I literally had my head inside the oven while cleaning, and I could breath just fine... and I have Asthma!

Scour Off + Dirty Oven = 

CLEAN!!!

I also tried out the laundry detergent, hand-washing dish soap, dish-washing soap, hand soap, and H2 wipes (for convenience). Now I am convinced that I need to trow out all of my old, nasty, cough-inducing, asthma creating, excema irritating, polluting cleaners to get a new set:

If you aren't convinced yet, just watch this: 

*I do not work for Shaklee, and in no way (other than having a cleaner house) benefit from sharing this information with you. It is my honest opinion.

Now I am starting to look at Shaklee's weight loss program Cinch...hmmm

Happy Easter!

Today Sparky and I got up and ready for church. I made him get up a little earlier than normal because Easter Sunday is one of the most popular times to go to church. We wanted to get good seats. Church begins at 11:00, so you can imagine my surprise when we got into the car and the clock said 9:45. Well, that was a little earlier than I had been planning to leave to make the 11:00 service, since the church building is about one minute's drive away from my house.

I had somehow managed to accidentally change the time on the clock by my bed, so we got up an hour early. So we headed to McDonald's for some Sparky-pleasing breakfast. My Mom's entire extended family goes to McDonald's for breakfast every Sunday after 8:00 mass at church, so we got to visit with family before church this morning.

They played this at church today and I thought it was really good, although it might have been even better had it played at a service on Friday... but we don't have those at my church so I guess I will take what I can get!

After church, Sparky and I stopped by the house to get Gaby dressed in his Easter outfit and to grab the Easter basket I got for my mom. She made a great Eater Dinner (apparently a nice lunch is called dinner) then took the dogs out to hunt for Easter eggs!

I found some plastic eggs with two little holes on each end so the dogs could smell what was inside. Then I put a dog treat inside each egg and "hid" them around my mom's garden.
Sparky followed behind Gaby with a little basket to collect the eggs he sniffed out.

Sparky was soon bored with his job.

Gaby was not too good at finding the eggs. But he found some of them with direction.

The grandparents were thrilled beyond containment, especially my mom:

My sister thought I was just as nuts as my mom did:

But on the bright side, Gaby and Ace (my sister's dog) finally put their differences aside and got along for the hunt:

Olivia's Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Olivia's first birthday! Lacy and Steve were able to fly in from Los Angeles so we could all see Olivia for this special occasion. The Eberle's had quite a celebration set up. I wish I had gotten a picture of the cake before it was cut. It was AMAZING. There was candy all over it. If you saw the episode of the Cake Boss when Buddy made the cake for the candy shop to help celebrate the anniversary of the game Candy Land, it was along those lines. But better, because I got to eat some of it!
Because I only get to see Olivia a few times a year, she grows a LOT between visits. I could not believe how much she had grown since there were here last in October. She is now crawling, pulling up on things, sitting independently, and waking while holding onto fingers. In October she couldn't sit independently. What a change!

Lacy was squishing her face. She seemed to really like it. Seriously. She kept pulling Lacy's hand back to her face when she stopped.

Opening a present: She loved the tissue paper almost as much as the books!

And because I don't often have a baby that I can practice using the cool color select feature on my camera with...

Look at those blue eyes!!

Lead Me...

This song has really connected with me lately. I often feel like a lot of the responsibility for earning more money via getting my master's degree lays on my shoulders along with the responsibility for making meals, creating grocery lists, laundry, keeping the house clean, etc. while Sparky gets to hang out and take out the trash on Wednesday night.
I need to give him a lot more credit. Right now he is in Indianapolis repainting a Hudson Hornet for his friend to bring in some more money to pay for all the hospital bills he racked up from this.
He also teaches a night welding class for Ivy Tech. Anyway, he works really hard and doesn't do more around the house out of sheer exhaustion. He also couldn't care less if there was any food around, if the house was clean, or if laundry was done. Those are things I care about.