Life after FaceBook . . .

Alright. I did it. I confess . . . I joined FaceBook. I couldn't help it! Anne so nicely pleaded with me! Well, I joined thinking that I could hide for a bit and, you know, feel it out before jumping in full force. Hmmm . . . not so much. For those of you who aren't on FaceBook(you know, that'd be those of you who are still getting through your to-do lists!) you CANNOT join "just to check it out". It's all or nothin' and once you're in- you're in! They even flash your picture and name to people who might know you, causing people who knew you when you were in 1st grade and then moved away to want to get back in touch! Personally, I think it has to do with a subconscious desire to have more "friends" than the next schmuck. It does an ego good to open up your inbox and have 5 or 6 "friend requests" and to think of other people opening up your profile picture and seeing that you have a bazillion friends. (seriously- like you FB addicts haven't thought it!) I've enjoyed the back-and-forth nature of FaceBook and without a doubt, it is more accommodating to my non-committal, ADHD-tendencies self!

So besides FaceBook, I'm working on department scheduling(imagine a never ending trip to the dentist), improving my teaching, learning more about Autism Spectrum Disorders, and staying on track with my walk with God. Oh- and somewhere in there is the normal tries to stay on top of laundry, dishes, cooking and eating. I am also wondering when in the midst of all that I am going to get my storage room organized so that I can fit my lawn furniture and bike in it?!?!?

My back has been out since Tuesday, and to top it all off, the extra stressor of this weekend involved a strange cut under my thumb nail that has gotten infected. I KNOW, TMI! But besides serving lunch at the men's conference at church, I spent a good amount of the weekend with my thumb alternating between a bucket of hot soapy Epsom salt-y water and peroxide. Seriously- how ridiculous is that???

School is a little crazy, as well. Kids leaving, kids coming, kids being sent home, and time spent following up with a behavior specialist. We've had several rough weeks, with some particularly rough days that will be etched forever in my memory . . .

A few humorous moments made it in to the weeks, too. How about overhearing a 10 year old boy in the hallway, "does this sweatshirt make me look fat?" He's the same boy who wondered aloud where the bellybutton was on the gourd that another student had brought with him. (why?? I do not ask those questions!)

I'll be back, I promise. I'm also checking in on my blogger peeps regularly. I just couldn't miss what is going on in your lives! My own life is just not that exciting in reality, I promise!

Google bad.

'Manda not happy. Nuff said? Stupid side bar tab scrunches up the rest of my home page, making me feel like I need glasses. Hard to read. No likey!

A

4 years ago today, and-well- 33 years ago today . .

There aren't many days in life when I can look back and know with absolute certainty where I was and what I was doing. Today is a day that I can! 33 years ago today, at this time, I was working up to making my grand appearance to this world! I was born at approximately 6:35 pm, if my memory serves me correctly. Oh come on! You don't think I remember that? I meant my memory of the stories told to me and seeing the time on my birth certificate!

I can also look back to another birthday spent in the hospital! Have I ever told y'all this story? My last days of 29 found me stressing about my 30th birthday. I would spend it alone, as my friends were all busy. Bummer. At my weekend job on Sunday I mowed the lawn and -so I thought- put my back out. By the time the over night shift came in, I was in agony. Rolling, well, writhing really, in pain on the floor. I managed to drive home where I called my neighbor for help. She came down and helped me find some left over muscle relaxers from another time I'd put my back out. I took one, called in for work the next morning, and soon took a second. At about 1:30am (ON MY BIRTHDAY!) I drove myself to the emergency room. Walking in, I declared that I needed drugs, lots of drugs! Long story short- the doctor decided that it wasn't my back, but my gallbladder! 3 or 4 shots of morphine later they decided to keep me and I passed out. An ultrasound the next morning determined that I would need surgery that afternoon. Sooo . . . 4 years ago at just about this time, I was coming out of recovery and returning to my room. No food, no birthday cake, no soda. It was 9:30 that night before I even got a crummy sandwich! They let me out the next morning. I purposed in my heart after that experience that I would never again be dismayed about where I would spend a birthday or who I would or would not spend it with! I don't think I'll even be concerned with my age! Whatever you want God! Where ever you want me! I'm not complaining!

Amanda

I drove by an accident today on my way home from work. I couldn't watch close enough to see what happened, but my friend who was riding with me could observe more closely. They were directing traffic around and gawkers were slowing down trying to see. My friend only observed that it was a bicycle laying down near a car. A reporter was on the scene taking pictures from the frontage road. We'd hoped that they were merely overreacting, but to no avail. Kind of gives me the willies knowing that someone was laying there dead as I was rushing to get home from work. Kind of puts things in a new perspective, doesn't it?

I hope that you Mondays went well.

A

The Heart Break Kid

I think this year is going to be even more difficult than I thought. Working with a volatile special education crew, supervising people in ways I haven't before, and working with the Heart Break Kid, a poster child for everything dark and evil in the world. Devastating. Then there is the Master Manipulator. It was a full moon, but we won. At the end of the day, we won. Math was done, our HB worked out stuff with his teacher, sanity was maintained. Some humorous stories in the meantime. Although, in the world of special ed, we have a sense of humor like no other! Perhaps I'll tell some stories some day to test my theory . . . Not today, though, because my hands hurt too much from holding kids, door knobs (not the students) and having a student try to split and twist my fingers like a wish bone. My fingers are intact, said student was suspended. Like I said, we won!

Beat, and beat up.

Yours,
A

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Such was Cindi Lauper belting out of my radio speakers on the drive from church tonight.

Have you ever cut your hair, worn a new outfit, done just a little sumthin' out of the ordinary, only to have everybody you see throughout your day, down to the beggar on the street, comment on it?

The outfit I wore today had such affect. Perhaps it was the leather skirt and fishnet tights? I'm not sure . . . seriously, I usually dress up for work. Although I seem to have an abundance of black dress pants, I'm fairly consistently dressed. Up, dressed up! Today I wore a long denim skirt and a new shirt that I bought on sale this summer, a white "blouse" with a pink sort of pin-stripe with a black line on either side of the pink. A rounded collar and some slightly puffy short sleeves. Yeah, it took a while to work up to keeping it, much less wearing it. The tags came off as I was walking out the door to work! It really is pretty, and not as far-out as I feared it might be. I paired this with a pale pink sweater.

The reactions varied from, "It's swedder wedder" from my withered-blog friend Lizard Princess (although her blog seems to be dead, she is indeed alive and well!) to "you look nice" to "wow, you're wearing pink. You look very . . . teacher-ish" to "a whole lotta pink" (listen sister, I'm a big girl, any pink I wear is a whole lotta pink!). My favorite response was the near hysteria of one of my old roommates. As we were standing talking about buying a motorcycle with a brother at church, she couldn't keep up with the conversation. Finally, she says "I can't believe you're really standing here talking about buying a motorcycle and you're dressed all in pink!"

Ahh, the irony!



BTW- I've only seen 3 crickets since I learned that my coworkers had kids who have to have bug collections. They are now happily (well, for me) encased in gladware in the depths of my freezer! Hopefully they'll have died for a purpose, other than being in my apartment!

A

A collage.

Response: Jen, it was meant to be a collage, a collection of random things, all stuck on one page! I ran out of steam, though, before you could get the full effect!



Hmm. My brain hurts. It has been running as fast as my feet.

We interrupt this blog post for an important message! Did you know that Milky Way candy bar now has more caramel? Good choice Mars! Seriously- it's the bomb!

I was going to say more, but I gave my brain permission, in fact commanded it to shut down in preparation for bed. It's 10:45 and I do need to sleep! I can't think of anything else right now!

Hasta manana, or maybe next weeko.

Eh.