Listen To Your Mother!

Remember when your mother told you to drink plenty of fluids, wash your hands, get sleep, and go straight to the doctor when you have a fever or cough? LISTEN! I have had pneumonia, which turned into a lovely case of acute bronchitis. At first, I thought I could handle it myself (tylenol, nap, cough drops). I didn't want to miss work, because that is hard on the kids and the rest of the teaching team. Then, I got very, very scared when I spent a night completely awake - every moment - coughing, vomiting, with a temp of over 100 degrees and with an ever-increasing blood pressure. The Urgent Care doctor (very nice) told me that my bp was going up because I could not get enough air into my lungs. Now, three days since Urgent Care, I continue to cough greenish-yellow stuff, I nearly pee in my pants every time, and I have just stopped running a fever...have had a breathing treatment in the clinic, have two antibiotics, and my own inhaler.

So, don't be like me...get your butt to Urgent Care if you have any sign of a fever, a productive cough, a sleepless night, etc.

MY THANKS go to the people who helped me: Angelica (who told me so, and who brought a bean burrito - the first food I'd eaten in two days), Mary Anne (who took control of my classroom and sub - a lot of work for her ...I owe her BIG TIME), my mom (for being a typical mom and for getting me there and back again), and Sharley (for arranging my subs, even when I called at the last moment).

Friends are the most valuable thing we have on this journey!

A Dictionary Definition

ESTIVATE:
Verb: Zoology. to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, snails, insects, and small mammals.

We are officially summertime hermits, and we love it! We sleep late (sometimes VERY late) and we wear sloppy, comfortable clothes. I put my hair into a funky pony tail each day and go without makeup or a bra (there, I said it!). We are loving this lifestyle, and don't even really want to venture out into the real world. While the myth of teachers having a whole summer off (we have a ton of prep work, some meetings, and only about 1 month away from school), we do manage to relax and do nothing a lot of the days. We don't even answer the phones (truth is - they are set to not ring so we don't even hear them) Did I mention how much we enjoy being hermits? We are nurturing our creative side daily. Here are my two latest cards, using the new paper colors from Stampin' Up! If you want a new catalog...email me! And, here is one of the projects Walt works on. The birds were actually finished before school ended, so he could put one into each teacher mailbox at his school. He made about 75 birds (does anal-retentive have a hyphen?) Check back later to see the 1970s era mirror he is making!! Oh, by the way, if you want to make your own birds (and lots of other paper models), here is the 3-eyed bear website where they came from: http://www.3eyedbear.com

Let's Play A Guessing Game!

The game goes like this:
Guess whose ear this is. I will give you three hints: 1) It is not mine, 2) It has gray hairs growing on the head above it, and, 3) It has gray hairs growing IN IT!!! YIKES!!! When did my husband start growing enormous, prehensile, thick, disgusting hairs out of his ears? It is no wonder he can't hear half of what I say!!! So, congratulations if you guessed. Even more congratulations if you can get this image out of your head while trying to sleep tonight! In some strange way, you can blame Ali Edwards...she wrote a book called Life Artist which led to the creation of this blog. Thanks Ali! Now, does anyone have one of those nose and ear hair trimmers. Eeew!