It Finally Happened.....

I threw up. I know you all wanted to know that. But I was so relieved. I haven't felt much of anything since I threw up, but it's something about riding in Sid's truck that makes me feel my worst. That could just be in my head, as he would tell me. But we went out to his mother's to eat supper and on the way there I was gagging and by the time we got there I finally threw up. Maybe it's getting worse so it can get better.

And you'll notice the time. Now maybe if I could just sleep........

Heaven Help Me! (and my poor husband)

So I'm camped out on the couch this morning watching TV and right now The View is on. The story line is "behind the scenes" and they are showing the audience how to clap and make noise at the start of the show so it looks real "on air". You know what I just did? I just sat here watching the producers tell the audience to "make noise make noise" as the countdown for the hostesses to come on stage started. And I CRIED!!!!! Like, it was a chill bump moment and I actually cried at Whoopi and all the others walking out on the stage. WHY???? That's not like me. I'm a hardass. I don't cry, especially at the darn random people on The View clapping for the 4 hostesses. I'm a little worried about myself at this point.

I have felt so rotten this week that I haven't lifted a finger around this house. And I'm waiting on Sid to drop the bomb for that one. He has actually been really, really good. He has done so much, of course he always does alot. But he hasn't complained about doing it and that isn't like him. He's just sort of let me wallow in my own nauseated feelings all day and not really bothered me. He got to go fishing yesterday afternoon with his cousin. He has funerals all weekend and it's his weekend to work and I actually feel a little bit better this morning than I have the previous mornings so maybe I'll feel like pulling my weight around here this weekend. I'm hoping this gets over soon. Surely it will.

Gosh this is so confusing.

So yesterday at the doctor's office, after the ultra sound and the blood work, Dr. Jordan looks at me and asks if I've decided which OB I want to go with. WHAT???, I say, YOU AREN'T AN OB??? Oh, yes I am, I just don't deliver babies anymore. Gee, that would have been a nice fact to know, oh, about 2 weeks ago maybe. So, here I am 6 weeks pregnant and in a foreign land, where everything that I've ever know is unfamiliar and you want me to pick out yet another new doctor. I just told him to refer me to one of his partners.

This morning, the new doctor, Dr. Acosta, had his nurse call me so we could go over some questions. It seems that they have now thrown in the "any previous history of autism" into the question pile. Of course there's no history of autism, but being the Barbie that I am, I find that very interesting. She also told me that when they draw blood and do the screening for anything and everything under the sun, they will be looking for that as well. I'm not sure when all this slipped up, but I wasn't aware they were screening for autism prenatally now. And again, I find this very interesting. There isn't a history of anything but twins in either my or Sid's family (except for one case and it isn't his immediate family), and we know we don't have twins. But it still makes you uneasy when they are asking about Down's and CHD and neural tube defects and cystic fibrosis, and etc. etc. etc.

It's just all so confusing and I wish I didn't have to go back so soon. But it looks as if I'll be going back June 10th. The nice nurse assured me that after that exam, it will only be tummy checks.

The nausea hasn't let up any. I thought for sure it was the prenatal vitamins but that doesn't seem to be it. I went to bed at 7:00 p.m. last night and poor Sid had to camp out in the rest of the house. But at 12:30 a.m. I was wide awake, on the couch, fighting off this feeling. I was praying to just throw up, but it didn't happen and at about 3:30 a.m. I was able to go back to bed and slept until 9:00 this morning. At least I got some sleep.

Oh Baby Baby!!!

Well, there was only one heartbeat, but a good strong one at 122 bpm. My levels from the blood work were great and showing the reason why I am nauseated all day long. It went from 334 on May 12th to over 17,000 on May 28th (today). We didn't actually get to hear the heart beat because they had to use the probe to actually see the baby. But it's defiantly there, measuring in at a mere 1/2 inch. It's amazing something so tiny with a heartbeat of 122 is living inside me (we did get to see the heartbeat) and making me feel pretty darn rough. We should be through those days pretty soon though. My levels can't get much higher, I think they top out in a few weeks and that number doubles every other day. So maybe another week and I'll be good to go.

The official due date, which I'm sure will change in time according to them, is January 19, 2009. I already had that figured up, so it wasn't a surprise. That puts me at about 6 weeks 4 days according to the ultrasound measurements.

Sid and I are excited. Just sort of taking it all in. Now, we have the task of getting the extra bedroom cleaned out so we can hopefully get our new furniture next week. Keep us in your prayers.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's been a busy and crazy couple of days since school got out on Friday. A little "edited to add" piece of info: When Ne Ne got here last Friday night with our KFC chicken, she had kids meal and a big 10 piece meal because she changed her mind half way through the order and they already had some of it fixed. So she did come in with enough food to feed an army. However, I ate a few bites of potatoes and about 3 bites of chicken and had to excuse myself. She got paid back for making fun of me since KFC gave her a bunch of free food, BUT I did not get to enjoy it. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Saturday, Sid got me up to get ready to go to Jackson to see his grandparents that live there and I was STILL sick at my stomach. He had cooked breakfast and had taken a shower before waking me up so I just thought it might have been the smells. But on and off all day, I didn't feel good. We did, however, have a great time. We took his grandparents to eat at their fav pizza place. The rest of the fam was there too because Brady was playing ball in Jackson. They always stay with the grandparents when Brady plays ball nearby. Sid and I went to the mall in Jackson which is very nice. We ate supper at Zaxby's and stopped by the Motherhood store on the other side of Jackson before heading back home. My jeans aren't too small yet, but they do feel uncomfortable unless I have them pulled way up high. So I got a new pair of jeans and some shorts. I like the shorts, they wear good, but the jeans are just a little too lose right now. It rained on us on the way home and by the time we got home, I was so tired. Didn't have problems going to bed.

Sunday, I got up and got ready and left for Alabama. I felt fine when I got up and was doing ok on the way home. I stopped at Cracker Barrel for some hash brown casserole in Tuscaloosa. It was yum, yum, yummy. But then I was very tired. By the time I got to Oneonta, I was completely given out. Erin was still napping so I went to Maggie and Bo's and rested up. At dinner time, Bo wanted pizza and that sounded good. So we went to Pizza Hut, but around 5:30 p.m, here came that nagging in my throat, oh my goodness I'm going to toss my cookies feeling. Erin went to play on the Slip and Slide at the neighbors house when she got up from her nap and I desperately wanted to see her. We went over there and it'd come in waves. I'd feel ok, then not ok. Finally, at around 8:00 we went back to Bo's, where I decided to spend the night. Maggie and Bo made the extra bed up for me and I went to bed, just in time for the "NO SLEEP TONIGHT" to kick in. I did feel better as the night went on, but I bet you I didn't sleep but just a few hours, off and on. I'm also waking up more in the middle night needing to T.T., which is really strange for me.

I was up bright and early on Monday morning and Bo went and got us a gravy and biscuit. Mom and Dad were home from a wedding they went to in North Carolina by this time and had gone to get Erin. They then took her to Wal-Mart and bought a Slip and Slide and a pool for Mom's side yard. It was a nice morning/early afternoon and we all sat outside watching Erin and the neighbor play in the water. But, of course, I got hot and started to not feel well. I went in to cool off and Macy, Mom's dog, wanted to see me. So I laid down and snuggled with her for a bit. Chris brought his golf cart with his big sprayer on it to go spray my granddad's yard and I rode with him up to his house to visit. We weren't there long and it was a nice visit, as always, but I just did not feel good and could not stop yawning. He even gave me a plant I forgot to take. Sorry Pap-paw, don't give it away to some other undeserving grandchild. I'll come back to get it. I promise.

I laid down when we got back home because I didn't feel well and everyone else was napping. Finally, I fell asleep and Dad and Macy woke me up when it was time to go eat at Chris and Leslie's. They cooked out for us and it was so nice. Thanks guys. It was me, Chris, Leslie, Erin, Maggie, Bo, Mom, Dad, Pap-paw, the neighbors from up the street and their two children, and another couple we all know from there stopped by too. It was alot of fun and although Sid wasn't there and I missed him, I did enjoy it. BUT, not 30 mins after finishing up dinner, I got really really sick and left to go back to Bo's to lay down. Once back at Bo's I couldn't get comfortable because I thought of my family back at Chris's having fun so I had to get up. By this time a storm had blown up and everyone had left but I went on back anyway to see Erin. I felt bad bad bad for about another hour and then low and behold, it went away. I spent the night at Bo's again and slept much better.

This morning (Tuesday) when I woke up, Will called and wanted to have lunch so I just ate a snack and was feeling pretty good. Me, Maggie, Will and Lacy ate lunch at Cafe On Main-man it was GREAT!!! That was probably the best food I had eaten in a few weeks. I had chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and some sort of really really good roll. I brought left overs home, thinking they would be good the second go around. WRONG!!!!

I got home about 4:30 and by 5:00 the nausea had hit full force. It was bad this time, I almost did throw up. But it seems that it went away faster. Which is good. This time last night, I was trying to have a brave face while Les was saying, "Gee Barb, you don't look so well.....". haha! I guess not.

Sid and I go back to the doc tomorrow for more blood work, the ultra sound, and another visit with Dr. Jordan. I'll be sure and update everyone but I'm a little nervous. We should hear the heart beat tomorrow, but remember, the doctor thinks I'm almost 8 weeks when I know I'm not quite that far along. I had mentioned this to the nurse and she says I should be 6 weeks 1 day tomorrow. I think I'm a little further along than that, but not 8 weeks. So we'll see. But I keep telling myself this nausea is a good sign. Say a prayer for us.

For those of you I promised to see while I was home (and those of you I did see but didn't feel well) I hope I feel better next time and will make the rounds. It has been a rough few days and I really really really missed my bed. I'm just glad the sickness is more in the afternoon and night than the morning. God knew better than to do that to me.........

UGH....

I believe the sickness has begun. I have been nauseated with that nagging feeling in my throat for about 3 days now. But I never actually get sick. I think I would feel much much better if I could.

Be Very Very Careful

When you are sending text messages or you could accidentally send something to the wrong person.

Sid's Mom and Dad are coming over for supper and when they come on Friday's after work, his mom usually picks up something. So tonight we are having KFC and I had it in my head we would be having pieces of chicken even though I normally would get popcorn chicken. I think I am craving a big piece since we talked about it earlier. But anyway, she and Sid's dad had the popcorn chicken kids meal last weekend so I guess she was going to get the kids meals again this weekend. I was disappointed when she said that and told her I wanted a breast if she didn't mind. So she starts making fun of me, jokingly, about getting enough food to feed the army, there being more than one baby, blah, blah, blah. And we laughed, but still, it did hurt my feelings just a tad.

So later, I am getting ready to go to Wal-Mart and send Sid a text message that says "Your mom made fun of me for wanting more than a kids meal from KFC. I hope she doesn't start doing that. I am going to Wal Mart, do you want or need anything". I get a reply that says "You may want to send that to Sid". And it was from his mother.

I had accidentally sent the message to her. I just died laughing and called her. She was laughing too. Thank God. I told her at least I didn't call her a name.............

My Goodness!!!

If I don't start getting some sleep soon, I don't know what I am going to do. Sid and I went to church to eat supper and visit the family summer kick off water thingy they had set up outside. And by the time we got home, at a mere 7:00, I was exhausted. So I put my pj's on, wash my face, get in bed, read for a bit and turn the light off about 7:45. At 8:30, I got up, because I could tell sleep was just not going to happen. So here I sit at 9:30, blogging. UGH!!!!!! You all can imagine what this must be doing to me. I'm starting to get a little irratated about it.

But in my bordem and trying to not think about how sleepy I am, I came across this and thought I'd share the quotes. I liked them and they were appropriate for my mood! Hope you have a good laugh!

As I've Matured...
I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in...

I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others -they are more screwed up than you think.

I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

I've learned that it is not what you wear; it is how you take it off.

I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.

I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

I've learned that ex's are like fungus, and keep coming back.

I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.

I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for naturalstupidity.

I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.

Every path has a few puddles.

It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

I Feel So Strange.

So usually when school lets out, it's always an emotional roller coaster of some sort because we are always sad to see another year go, but happy in many, many ways too. For those of you that aren't teachers, I know you don't pity us because we do have our summer offs after all, BUT you also don't understand how hard it is to stop a school year, send children off, and then start all over again next year. For regular education teachers, they start off all over again with a whole new crop of kids. At least in special ed there is some continuity. But anyway, you all know what kind of year it's been for me. And I still haven't gotten used to being away from my family and friends. They just don't make you feel as at home here in Philadelphia as O-town always has. And then again, I'm not an implant in O-town so it might be just as hard for someone new there too. And don't get me wrong, I do have friends here in Philly. But most everyone looks out for themselves. There are those few that will go out of their way to check on you or ask how you are doing or make sure you are included in activities. But for the most part, they weren't my sped and regular ed co-workers. So something just doesn't feel right, again, as the year closes out at my current school. I guess it's confirmation for me that moving on out of public education where I am is the probably the best thing to do for now. It still doesn't help how I feel, with emotions running haywire, but at least there is a flip side to my story. And for once, at least I'm being run off because of what I know and how uncomfortable that is for some people instead of because I've screwed something up. And God's giving me a new place to shine and that's all I can ask for, but why does it still feel so "weird" for me?

On a more positive note, I was on the phone with Sid at lunch while I was going to get me a $10.00 scoop of chicken salad (as he calls it) from the The Bean. And what before my wondering eyes did appear, but a silver Z71 pulling into a parking space in front of the tanning bed shop, complete with it's own "Life Is Good" sticker. And I thought, HEY, I know that truck. And I said, HEY, there you are Sid. Where are you.....you are going to the tanning bed!!!! I thought I had already told him that if I had to be big and pale this summer so does he. He works outside alot during the summer and is already a few shades darker. He says he didn't go in since I was making such a big deal about it, but he also says that he's not a mind reader and he ain't gonna even try to read mine for the next 9 months...................

WHY???

http://www.proudbody.com/bellycastgallery.htm

I can't imagine wanting to do this. Ok, maybe I could see myself thinking the painting is ok. But I just can't see myself wanting someone to wrap my naked pregnant body in wet guaze, letting it get hard, decorating the cast, and forever keeping it in my house. But kuddos to those that can and do I guess!

Still OK

Hopefully I won't jinx myself by blogging this, but I'm still OK. Still no morning sickness, none, not even a "oh my goodness I think I'm gonna puke" feeling. Is this normal?

A Funny...

I got this email from my friend Kelly who has to send some of the funniest, best emails I've ever gotten. And I did forward this one on to some of, but I decided it was good enough material to blog. Can you tell the second hour of the season finale of Desperate Housewives is pretty boring, or just pretty pitifully written (if that's correct grammer).

Anyway, enjoy....

Happy IVGLDSW Day!

Today is International Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman's Day, so please send this message to someone you think fits this description. Please do not send it back to me as I have already received it from a Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman! And remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the i ntention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WO O HOO what a ride!'

To the Girls !!

Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the hell happened. - Cora Harvey Armstrong

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut the bitch up with cookies.

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy. -Helen Hayes (at 73)

I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them as stray eyebrows.- Janette Barber

My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one is hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.- Erma Bombeck -

Old age ain't no place for sissies -Bette Davis-

Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart. - Caryn Leschen

If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning. - Catherine

I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.- Roseanne Barr-

Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.- Maryon Pearson-

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.-El eanor Roosevelt

When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!!

Ahh, I just a saw a commercial for the 2 hours season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I hope it's much much better than D.H.

OK, edited to add... I guess Desperate Housewives turned out to be ok, it was the fake little red car that got me distracted.

Class Picture 2007-2008

This is the class picture from earlier in the week, minus one that was absent the day we took the picture.

Thanks Mom!

When Mom and Dad were here last week, Mom and I eyed the orchids all throughout the casino. They were beautiful! So on Saturday, Mom brings me some potted Orchids and the past week I've just admired the heck out of them ever since. I hope I can continue to take of them. Thanks Mom!

FINALLY!!!!!

I got some some sleep today.......in the middle of the day...........so are my days and nights mixed up for some reason?????

I'm just bewildered over not being able to sleep since I'm usually the sleepiest human being in the whole world. But I did get some great sleep this afternoon. I had an appointment to go to at 9:00 this morning and then Sid took me to lunch. I decided to come home and see if I could get some sleep. My eyes were even swollen and puffy due to no sleep. And get this, even with the builders next door sawing and hammering, I was out like a baby. I slept from about 12:30 to about 3:45. Then had a long conversation with Mom, got redressed, and had supper with Sid. Then we went to the ballpark for Brady's game.

After the game, I was having a craving for a Sprite Icee. I remember getting them at the Phillip's 66 station in Oneonta my senior year in high school. So where in the world does a craving for something from nearly 15 years ago come from? Your body and brain must be all mixed up during pregnancy because mine sure is. The icee thing I ended up with tasted like Mr. Clean smelled so I couldn't drink it.

Sid and I decided to take some flowers that died back to Wal-Mart since they guarantee them for a year. BUT, here's the kicker, you have to have your receipt and the dead flower/plant. Don't think Sid Whitehead didn't dig up the dead flowers and take them straight to the service desk. The lady at customer service didn't even question us. For all she could tell though, we had road kill in the bag the way it smelled. So now we have more flowers to plant in a ground that apparently won't grow anything. And yes, my cala lilies died. Not sure what I did wrong. Hopefully I can grow a baby better than I can a flower. But while at Wal-Mart my craving switched from a Sprite Icee to some chocolate milk. That's a good thing because I very seriously doubt I'm going to find a Sprite Icee around here unless I do what my friend Rosemary said to do and make my own. But I don't want to do that. My chocolate milk was good good good!!!

Here We Go Again

The offical time as I start to blog tonight is 10:52 p.m. and this is the second time I've been up since trying to go to sleep at around 9:30 p.m. I don't understand. When I got in the bed, I was exhausted, had a headache, and couldn't wait to put my head on the pillow. And I was fine with the light on reading, but as soon as that light clicked off, there I went, into wide awake mode.

I have found that around 10:30 p.m. I am hungry when at 10:29 p.m. I was not. And I have found that it doesn't matter what time I eat supper or what I eat for supper. At 10:30 p.m., I'm going to be wanting a snack. And do you know what kind of snack I've polished off this week at 10:30 every night? A box of mini-saltines. No, not a whole box each night. But I have eaten the whole box over the period of the last three or four nights. Oh, but guess what? Tricia, this one is for you. Guess how many Dr. Pepper's I've actually had today. Now, before you go guessing in the high numbers, let me remind you that just recently I was able to cut down to two a day. So the answer has to be less than two. Yep, only one today. I didn't have a craving for that night time Dr. Pepper tonight so I just didn't get one. My wonderful husband bought me a huge case of Sprite and put the whole thing in the fridge the other night. So I've been knocking off the caffiene milligrams, too. Although, I did read in the What To Expect book that it's safe to have around 200 mgs of caffiene a day. A Dr. Pepper only has 35 mgs, so I was safe with what I was drinking. But believe it or not, I just didn't want my night time one. Hmmmmmm!

I decided that I'd skip my mega pre-natal vitamin since it is souped up with B6. I was thinking that might be what was keeping me awake. But no, that must not be it, because it's still happening.

So Sid brought us our special lunch today and he sat in the classroom with us while we ate it. I had three that ate McDonald's, one that ate his usual KFC mashed potatoes, and one that didn't eat much due to a siezure earlier in the morning. But we had fun and the pictures actually turned out cute. We had to take a class picture ourselves and I'm getting them developed for the parents since my class didn't get called the day they took class pictures. I'll have to post a pic of it. Anyway, Sid told tonight that he enjoyed sitting in there with us. He said he realized how much we all take things granted as he sat and watched a handful of children eat McDonald's chicken nuggets like it was the best meal they'd ever been given. Now, I have to add here that my kids all come from great families and probably get more than you and I get. But they were sooooo excited to have chicken nuggets and not lunchroom and were so thankful for it. On that note, we all need to be a little more grateful for what we have than we probably are. I know I do need to be at least.

Ok, I'm going to try this again. Maybe I'll have some luck. But I hope I don't already have to start sleeping on the couch. Last night, I ended up having to and then around 3:00 a.m. a big boom of thunder woke me up and scared me half to death. So at least all that has moved on out.

Offical Time: 11:47 p.m.

So why can I not sleep? Or rather, why am I still awake? Ya'll know I'm a sleeper, but other than a nap after school last Friday, which my mind needed before heading to the casino to see my parents, I haven't even been able to nap. But why is it that at 5:30 p.m. when Sid and I were eating dinner and killing time til a daycare board meeting at 6:30 p.m. I could have laid my head on his shoulder and zapped right out? But now, I'm wide awake, after I read some of my book, because I'm always reading a good book, had the light turned out at around 10:20 p.m. and finally just had to get up and come to the living room where I've been reading random blogs online since then. What the heck is going on???????

All I can think about as the time approaches midnight is our McDonald's "party" lunch we're having tomorrow at lunch time. Do you know how much energy it'll take to get McDonald's to the school (and KFC mashed potatoes for the kiddo who eats that everyday) and actually get everyone fed? A whole lot of energy, some of which I'm wasting here blogging. What the heck is going on????????

I'm going to try the book for a few more minutes and hope that puts me out. I've been waiting to take the monster purple pill pre-natal vitamin that the OB put me on Monday til I go to bed so I don't have to fight nausea if it makes me sick. Usually, once I'm asleep, I'm out and nothing short of another human shaking me can get me up. So I was hoping taking them at night hoping I would avoid the nausea with those. And so far, for three nights it has. But for three nights, I have not been able to get much sleep. Any correlation?

Oh, got to tell this one funny though before I go try Sleepy Town again. Sid and I went to Sonic for him to get some ice cream during the mentioned "killing time" time. The waitress hops on out with his peanut butter hot fudge sundae "minus the whip" as she put it, hands it to him, asks him DIRECTLY if he's had a good a week so far, gets his money, hands him his change, and then looks DIRECTLY at him again and says "is there anything else I can do for you before I go sir......" WHAT???? I looked at Sid and asked if that was a proposition or just someone more excited about their car hop job at Sonic than they should be. Those of you that know Sid well and know that he can be a cut up must know the hell I endured for the next 5 minutes while we sat at Sonic and he ate his ice cream. At one point, he acted liked like he was going to click that big red sonic order button again and tell her "as a matter of fact there is." But I must admit, although Sid feels he's been neglected for the past 4 weeks, I thought it was funny too!

So There Is A God!

Not that I had any doubt. And there seems to be enough good news in Philly for two posts today.

This will be confusing for some of you who may be reading. But for those of you who understand this it is WONDERFUL news!

There was a school board meeting last night for the county school board, which is the system I work for. The principal that everyone has such controversy with was asked to either move to a different position or resign. There is no tenure here in Mississippi. This is great news for those teachers that will be at this school next year and year's to come. But for me, it still means a new job since she ruined it for me my first year here. I'm still going to the superintendent on Friday and I'm still going to the board in June, just because I've waited all year for somebody to listen to me and I didn't go through that stupid grievance policy for nothing. And because my middle name is still Self and I'm not giving up easily...........

But for the record it just goes to show that sometimes I do know what I'm talking about, even if the people in charge don't want to admit it.

But here's my problem. Why can people "higher up" in education who are not competent enough to do the job they are given be moved to another job where they will be incompetent rather than fired or forced to resign like the rest of the people in school system's below them?

Just doesn't make much sense to me! But still good news!

The Most Sophisticated Piece of Technology.....

You'll ever pee on!!!!

That's how the commercial goes for the new digital E.P.T pregnancy test. And the one I took last Thursday said, "PREGNANT"!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday was the doctor's appointment and I had to go it alone because Sid couldn't get away from work. They took some blood, which believe it or not wasn't the hard part for me. The hard part was when the doctor walked in, checked me out, said, "good, your cervix is closed", and walked out. Maybe I should find a new doc over here. But you know me, I didn't let it stop at that, and had to ask a few more questions. I finally looked at the nurse and told her I felt as if I knew more before the appointment than I did after the appointment.

Too make a short story long, there is no due date yet. But I am indeed pregnant and although it's still really really early everything looks really good. Sid and I will go back on May 28th for the first ultra sound and more blood work. The doctor counts me as being 4 weeks along right now, but I know different. There is no way I could be more than 16-17 days along at this point, so when I say really, really early, I mean REALLY, REALLY early.

If you do the math there, it should put my due date around the middle to end of January, 2009. Maggie and Bo's wedding is set for Jan. 10th. So pray for my Mom!!! Maggie has already started stressing out about how will everyone choose where to be if it happens on the same day and she doesn't want to miss the birth. I told her to please not change anything because it will all work out and if she goes changing stuff, it could jinx me or her or both. Don't you agree? My brothers keep sending me text messages about "the twins" and their "niece and nephew" but let's hope that for everyone's sake who has to put up with me for a long, long time that it's not. That idea is actually exciting and nauseating all at once. For those of you who need a fill in, my dad is a twin, my mother's dad was a twin, and there is more than one set of twins on Sid's side in older generations. So if you do that math, it's likely. More likely than me going into birth on Maggie's wedding day!

I haven't had any morning sickness yet. I do get a little sick feeling around lunch and later in the afternoon, but no actual sickness. Maybe it'll hold off, although I read that morning sickness is actually good for the baby. I haven't been able to sleep well although I am very tired. Don't know why that is.

Sooooooooo, that's the news from Mississippi for now!

Sorry for the break....

So Mom and Dad have been here this weekend and we had a great time visiting. Sorry for the break in reporting how things are going.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there. May it be a sweet, sweet day as you spend time with your children and friends.

I figured I'd take this time to write more about my new upcoming job, since people are wanting to know. So here goes.......

Let me start out by saying that God is good and His plan is unfolding right before my very eyes. Although I didn't understand what was happening even as He led me through the front door of Philadelphia First United Methodist Church, it's all coming together for me now. You all know that this past year at my first job teaching in Mississippi has not been the best year for me. I started out in a classroom with no materials for the type job I thought I was going to be doing. Once school actually started, I was even more at a loss of materials when I realized I had a severe and profound multi-handicapped classroom of about 7 children. Now, let me stop here and say that although I struggled in this position, I never lost sight of the face of God in each of the children in my classroom and I never gave up that drive I have in the area of Special Education. Each child in my classroom blessed me ways I can never explain, but something just wasn't right for me there at this school the whole year long.

So one day, a social worker from a local mental health agency was in my classroom and I asked her to let me know if anything ever opened up at her work that I might be qualified for. Later that afternoon, she called me at school to tell me that Philly FUMC was looking for a Daycare/Kindergarten Director and wanted someone with some certification in education and I should call them just to see. That was on a Friday afternoon, and I immediately picked up the phone and called their office. The receptionist was giving me names and numbers of people I should contact that would know more and then said "hang on just a minute, I see someone coming through the door that is on the board and would know more". Now, what are the chances that this woman would be walking through the door on a Friday afternoon? I'll tell you what kind of chance....a God chance! We talked for a minute on the phone and then I took a resume to the church the next Monday morning. Later that night, she called me to set up a time to come in and talk with a few members of the board and just to see what I was looking for/what they were looking for.

That meeting took place and the board for the Daycare/Kindergarten was to meet the next night. Later the next night, which would now be Wednesday night (if I remember correctly), the head of the board called to tell me what they were preparing to offer and wanted to offer me the job. The big thing was getting my insurance squared away, but God promptly provided a way for that, as well. And Friday (one week from the day I made the phone call to the church) I had excepted the job officially in my head and unofficially to the few board members. The next week, everything became official. And I was headed to be the Director of Daycare Ministries at Philadelphia First United Methodist Church. To read more about this church, visit the link. http://www.phillyfirstumc.org/cgi-bin/index.pl

On June 2, 2008, I will officially take the position and the lady who had been there for the past 30 years will be going home with her grandson and enjoying her retirement. I am a little nervous about following in her footsteps, as half this town tells me she "raised" their children and she has done so much for the ministry in the church and community.

But I'm also very excited. There was a point in time when I was questioning the who's/what's/when's/where's/why's of God taking me from public education after 10 years and putting me somewhere where I would be totally out of special education, but as the year has gone on and is coming to an end, I know I can't do what I'm currently doing for a long period of time. For those of you who've always said, "it takes a special person to teach special ed", I have always replied with a "yes, but, there is a whole other end to special education that I've never done before and know I can't do and it's those special ed teachers that are especially special." I was one of those "especially special" special education teachers this past year, and it's just not my forte. So I'm excited about the journey ahead into a new career.

Basically, to make a long story short, I will be the director of the daycare at the church. BUT, they don't have an after school program and they want me to start one. And, they will be building a new building soon that I will have a hand in. So for those of you who are scratching your head as to why I'd leave public education, I just want you to know that I feel this is really where God wants me in Mississippi and I'm really, really excited. Keep me in your prayers as yet one more journey ends and another one begins!!!!!

Personality Test

So I promised you could come here and read the answers to my personality test. You can leave me a comment with some of your responses and meanings and if you wish. In case you missed the email, go to http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html

Let me say this, I do not actually believe in these things, but they are fun and sometimes come out to be so true. If you haven't done the test and want to, don't read any further until you have done so or it will ruin it for you. After you've done the test, you can read below, which are the results to my answers. How close do you think it came?

Question #1 had you put the following five animals in order (any order) of your preference: Pig, Tiger, Sheep, Horse, Cow (And they may not have been in that order). I order mine like this: Horse, Tiger, Pig, Sheep, and Cow. This is what it meant.
Horse=Family
Tiger=Pride
Pig=Money
Sheep=Love
Cow=Career
I'd say that's about right, except love comes before money no matter how you look at it.

Question #2 listed the following words: dog, cat, rat, Coffee, sea and asked you to write down one word that you related with each. I answered the following:
Dog-bulldog
Cat-Erin's 1st pet
Rat-disgusting
Coffee-smells great
Sea-love
This is what each was interpreted as in my personality:
Bulldog-describes my own personality
Erin-describes the personality of my partner (?????) Ya'll think Sid has the personality of a 4 year old???
Disgusting- describes the personality of my enemies
smells good - describes how I interpret sex (again ?????)
love- implies my own life

Question #3 list the following colors: yellow, orange, red, white, green and asked you to write down the first person you thought about when you thought about that particular color. Here's what I wrote:
Yellow-Erin and it means a person I'll never forget
Orange-Chris and it means someone I consider a true friend
Red-Maggie and it means someone I truly love
White - Ne Ne and it means my twin soul mate person
Green-Sid and it means someone I'll remember for the rest of my life

My number I wrote down was 13 and my favorite day is Saturday. So according to what the test predicts, I should have my wish come true on Saturday if I sent the email to 13 people. YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!

Do You......

Know who your neighbors are? My aunt sent me this email and I thought I'd post for those of you who don't already know about it. I have spent a great deal of time looking around this site now that I'm in a new place. It's been a few weeks, so I might should check it again. haha!


This is a web sight were you can put in your address and it will give you a map. On this map are red push pins. Put your mouse over the pin and you will see who they are and what they were CHARGED with. HELP! I'm surrounded by Felons......

nice to know your neighbors isn't it.

http://www.felonspy.com:80/search.html

The Sound of Music

This afternoon Ne Ne (my mother-in-law), Kylie (my sister-in-law) and Mammie (Sid's grandmother) all went to see the musical "The Sound of Music" put on my the Philadelphia Neshoba County Arts Committee (or some name like that). Ne Ne thought it might be next weekend but found out last night that today would be the last day for it, as it had been playing at an old theater in downtown Philly all week long. So we decided to go and it was GREAT for a hometown kind of play. It lasted about three hours, so it was kind of lengthy. But it was so good and had the same feeling of being at the BJCC for big Broadway Series plays like "Annie". But the good thing was we didn't have to fight the big crowd that comes along with Broadway Series plays at the BJCC. So I enjoyed my Sunday afternoon so much.

When I got home, I had to tend to some flowers that appear to be dying on me for no apparent reason. Sid got me some good potting soil and Miracle Grow and he painted our generic green plastic flower pots with some cool spray paint for plastic. He filled one planter up with a mixture of potted flowers and then I get to make mine with the left overs. We'll see who's wins the "fav award" from some unsuspecting family member or friend that stops by. haha!

I got a few more really good emails over the weekend that I wanted to share but I don't want to share them all at once b/c I'm sure everyone will get tired of reading. I'll post one here, that I believe came from my grandfather. It's called "When Your Hut Is On Fire" and really really good. So read and enjoy and may God bless you wherever you are!

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story: It's easy to be discouraged when things are going badly, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering.

Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

I saved the best for last!

Thursday afternoon I came in from work and these flowers were sitting on my table.....for no reason at all....from my wonderful husband. He had seen the vase and knew I'd like it. I know you can't see them here, but the vase has those glass bead things glued around it. So he bought the vase and took it to flower shop and had them do an arangement in it.....just for me. Isn't he soooo good to me????

More of my favorite things from around the house....

So I've talked about the iron work we searched for and picked out together. The next pictures here are of some flowers from my yard. One is of my cala lily which I just love love love. The other, I'm not sure what they are called, is my second favorite because it's so bright and purple. I'm amazed at the brightness of the color purple that this flower has. There are some of the same flowers in my yard that are pink and yellow, but they aren't near as bright as this purple one. I know you can't tell it from the picture it, but it really is a beautiful flower/plant. But I'm especially proud of my cala lilies.

I'm trying to do something that apparently only smart people know how to do......

I thought I could get these pictures off my camera, onto my laptop, and then onto my blog. I am suceeding in all this, but the problem is Picasa is only letting me add 4 pictures at a time and I want to add them all into one blog. I guess if I want them blogged at all, I'll do it how it lets me do it.

So, here are some pictures in this post, and posts to follow, of several of my favorite things around my house right now. I've fallen in love with flowers and I wish I had my mother's touch of just picking things up and making them into things no one would expect. The vase in these pictures is a vase my mother bought me some time ago and I've never used it. But I have some fresh cut flowers from working in my yard this afternoon and I think they look pretty dang good in the vase sitting on my antique table.

The last picture is one of a piece of iron work that Sid and I picked out together. We knew we wanted something to hang on a blank wall outside and we looked and looked. That's one thing my husband is good at, he gets into some of the things I do so we can shop for stuff like this together. We knew when we saw this one that it was what we had been looking for. There is a ceramic thing in the middle with some color and a design. I think that's we liked it so much because it was different from anything else we'd looked at. There is a close up and a far away pic of it in the next post.

The Princess Birthday Party

So Erin turned 4 on this past week and if you've been reading you know that we had a princess birthday party. These are just a few pictures of her with some friends, one of her blowing out her candles, her birthday cake, and one of her friend Taylor Rhea. The party was at a place where they had a HUGE room with several HUGE blow up slides and bouncy things. You know what I'm talking about. She had alot of fun and so did her friends.
She got an actual kitty cat from her Mom and Dad on her actual birthday, which is what she'd ask for. I called to talk to her on her bday and she wouldn't talk to her Aunt Bah, I'm sure she had a million other things going on. But, she named her new kitty 'Maggie'. I asked my sister, who is Erin's Aunt Maggie, exactly what you had to do to get your only neices's first pet named after you. Maggie just laughed.