Top 6

Happy New Year!

I apologize for the lack of blogging activities, but Blog, I've been busy! With a trip to Disney with my choirs, A Christmas concert, traveling home for Christmas, and anniversary and my birthday it's just been a mess. A big, happy, fun mess-- but a mess all the same. Forgive the clutter! (seems as if I am always saying that!)

So, here are a few top 6 lists for you. Why 6? Well, it has always been my favorite number, and since I can hear someone equating it with Satan already...no. When I was little I had a record player (A WHAT??!!) and a record of Sesame Street songs. One song was about the number 6, and as Bert so eloquently put it:

Now two is your eyes and one's your nose
And five is your fingers or your toes
And four is the legs on an easy chair
Yet there's no number can compare
with Six

.Anyway. enough about that....on to the lists!

Top 6 ways I spent the month of December:
1. Behind the wheel of a car
2. Behind (errr...playing?) the piano
3. Worrying about my Christmas Concert (which ended up fabulously!)
4. Spending money I didn't have on presents for people (no, really, I didn't mind)
5. Singing
6. Laughing (pretty nice way to end the list, dontcha think?)

Top 6 ways I spent the first week of January:
1. Worrying/Fretting/Giving myself shoulder and neck pain over registration for UAB honor choir and Wenger Risers (a long and drawn out story that thankfully ended well.)
2. At the copier in the Briarwood Office
3. Stapling at my desk
4. Behind the piano (see a pattern forming?)
5. On a treadmill @ Planet Fitness
6. At the STOVE! (Yes, dear blog, I am a cooking woman now!)

Top 6 Christmas gifts recieved:
1. My brand new digital camera from Keith! (insert italian accent *that's a lotta megapixels!*)
2. The JLo esque hat my Dad picked out. I have never laughed so hard on Christmas. Sorry, Father.
3. the 3, yes, 3 different monogrammed Coffee/Koozie cups. I will now never be thirsty OR forget my lonely first initial.
4. 2 weeks off from school!
5. Pretty jewelry from Mom and Grammy

Top 6 engagements that-happened-over-christmas-break-that-i-can-name-off-the-top-of-my head:
1. Kelly and Matt (the roommate!)
2. Allison and Allen (the childhood best friend!)
3. Megan and Jason (the aquaintances)
4. Jami and Nick (the OBC friend from long ago)
5. Mary-Elizabeth and Brad (A girl I taught. Yes, that's correct. one of my former students from Tallassee)
6. there's probably another couple I forgot.


Top 6 Christmas suprises!
1. My birthday necklace from Keith
2. Our parents getting to have dinner with each other after my concert
3. Actually going back to the gym
4. the PTO christmas checks (WHOOOOHOOOO)
5. How quickly the candlelight service went Christmas Eve
6. How much time I got to spend with family.


and now, lunch break over- it's back to teaching time. But let this be a warning internet:
I'm back :)

This speaks perfectly

The Christian School Journal: "Daddy, Is That the Bad Man?" Election 2008

This was written by the headmaster of my school. His insights are wonderful and more eloquent than any I could express.

Nutshell

This time of year is always crunch time. Being a teacher, I am perpetually "in school" and have been going by almost the same calendar since I have been 5. My year consists of 2 glorious months off and 9 on, with weeks here and there for holidays and testing. At the end of each semester, though, comes that old familiar feeling...that i'm not going to get it all done in time, that i'm not going to prepare my students like I should, that something is going to go wrong that i'm not worrying about. I handle this in 2 ways- worry and denial. Usually it seems i'm worried about the things that will fix themselves, and i'm in denial about the things I might need to actually examine. Anyone else on board with that? I can't be alone!

I spent last night curled up watching election returns. I really thought we would have a different outcome. However, God is sovreign, and though he protects his children, he also disciplines them, so perhaps the next 4 years our country can grow closer to Him and realize his will for our land and peoples.

Thus ends my 5 minutes of freedom this morning...

Update

I made it!

The surgery was not so bad-- Dr. Sciacca is amazing. Endoscopic surgery is so the way to go. I had little swelling or bruising, but lots of soreness. Actually, I had my stitches in my sinuses out today and that has hurt the most of anything during the whole ordeal! Go figure. My pain meds also kinda counteracted with steroid drip they had me on during my 2 hours of surgery, so I didn't sleep much at first, but I definitely stayed home and healed last week. I already feel like I breathe easier, and though it will be about 3 weeks til i'm 100% normal, I am very thankful to be progressing like I am! My mom was a sweet nurse, and my Keith was amazing as usual. By my side and helpful. I have zero complaints! If only all surgeries could progress like mine with such great helpers...we'd all be peachy!

I am in a wedding Saturday back in my hometown, and Friday my sister drove me to pick up the bridesmaids dress...that i'd never laid eyes on (just called in the measurements!). It fits so nice, and I was nervous about a two piece dress, but it's just wonderful. Here's a skinny person modeling it (and the cute shoes!) below:

I am also singing in this wedding and my mom is the pianist! This is not the first, and probably not the last time that this has happened. That's being from a small town for you!



Speaking of weddings, I attended the ceremony of one of my oldest friends on Saturday (my first post-surgery event). It was bittersweet, as her father is terminally ill. It was a beautiful day, though, and I got to see lots of old friends. Here's a shot of my best friend Cassi and I (with our respective gentlemen friends :)...she and Justin will be married Jan. 31!)



My kids were super excited to see me back at school today...and I was excited to see them. 25 days til Christmas, only one month until our trip to Disney, and 5 weeks til the semester end concert. I just need to make it til then!

Politics at lunchtime

Francois Guisot (1787-1874): "Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head."

a little food for thought. See also,

http://anncoulter.com/

A Sinus Tale

Yes, dear readers- this post is about my sinuses. Why, you might ask? Well, after a much procrastinated trip to the Ear, Nose and Throat Dr., it has been determined that I will be having surgery in 3 days. On my sinuses.

It was totally a God thing that any of this even happened, because I was able to get an appointment, have a CT scan, and have that CT scan read all in a period of about 6 hours. WHO ELSE DOES THAT HAPPEN TO?? wow. Dr. Sciacca called me back to his office and then proceeded to show me lots of slides which indicated these things:

1. 11 of my 12 sinuses are completely blocked, and show signs of "sinus disease", or infection lingering for many months.

2. My septum is deviated and looks like a "knuckled letter S" in the words of Dr. Sciacca

3. My sinuses are filled with cysts and polyps that have been trapping infection and not letting my sinuses heal. This explains why I go a month or so without a sinus infection, and then wham, another one pops right up. The slightest irritation can trigger this.

So, basically, during surgery the Dr. will straighten my septum (ow), and scrape and snip all the polyps and cysts out of my sinuses. None of which sounds particularly delightful, so I hope you are not eating while reading this. My mom is coming up to be...well, a mom, and nurse me back to health (AKA keep the pain meds comin'), and it just so happens that K had the day off anyway, so he'll be around to help out, too. I could not have asked for anything more. If I have to have surgery, this is the way to go!

This also means that in the next 3 days I have to write a weeks worth of lesson plans, and not just any lesson plans like most teachers, but CHOIR lesson plans which totally throw subs off kilter. Here's hoping I can get them all done.

Days gone by

I am really lucky to have 2 wonderful, generous, loving grandmothers. I got to live in the same town as one of them (mimi) growing up, and only about an hour away from my mothers's mom, Grammy. Here's a little photo essay and birthday wish! What a tech savvy grandmother she is, as well, as she's been "on-line" for years now. If only she'd blog....

Grammy and I the day of my college graduation, Aug. 7, 2006

My sweet, dear Grammy and her two little ones. My mom is on the left and my Aunt Lori is the cutie in the black patent shoes! Grammy is one of the sweetest, funniest and most thoughtful people i've ever known...and she gets to be my Grandmother, too! I, for one, am really glad she's been around 79 years this week :)

My Grampy, Grammy, and a pre-meeting-my-dad Mom!

Lorilyn, Me, Grammy and Mimi at my Jr. Voice Recital in Auburn. 2004

My sweet Grampy (and me--1984), my Grammy's other half and husband. 7 years of dating led to one of the most wonderful pairings of people God ever concieved!

Some Grammy memories:

-playing beautyshop with her in the kitchen sink of her old house in Andalusia

-going with her to get her hair done at Miss Connie's

-visiting her at work at the Courthouse. she was a hard workin' Grammy for a very long time!

-many many trips to "Penney's" and a shoes shop that just might have been housed in an old bowling alley??

-VBS at FBC

-Many day-after-thanksgiving's spent in Andy

-her playing with my hair when I was younger

-talking and laughing whenever she's around

-the generous family thanksgiving beach trips and the sweet prayers she gives

Happy Birthday!

Cold (?): Day 8

Boxes of Tissues: 3

Boxes of Tissue with Lotion after I got smart: 1

Packs of Tylenol Sinus: 2

Packs of Dayquil: 1

Packs of Nyquil: 1

Days at work being grouchy because of feeling bad: 5

Blessings in spite of a little head cold: millions.

Shower

The shower went well! I will never wear polka dots again, but other than that, I call it a complete success! :)

Preparation

The last few days have been spent in busy preparations for my dear friend Abigail's Around the House shower that 6 of my childhood friends and I are hosting. Saturday at my house, things should be hoppin! I cannot express how thankful I am that everything seems to be coming together so well!

I will post more and have some pretty pictures later this weekend :)