Headed home...

Tired of conferencing... headed to IKEA and then coming home! Stayed out too late downstairs with other nerds... very tired with headache... hope IKEA is worth it.... Will post later...

Austin, TX

I think I'm a nerd! I know this might be news to some of you, but I am just realizing it! My colleague/friend and I are at a UT Writing/Communicating Across the Curriculum Conference in Austin... and we are soooo having fun! This morning we learned about using technology in the classroom and we were taking notes like crazy. This afternoon we get to learn about assessment and rubric designs... and I am soooo looking forward to it! Seriously... I'm not being sarcastic!

Well, looking around the room, I may not be quite the nerd that I was thinking... my friend and I are actually wearing trendy clothes with shoes that match... unlike most of the people in here! I think the peeps from "What not to wear" should come to one of these things and show the academic world that cute clothes can be comfortable and that matching is impt! I mean, how distracting for some students if their prof doesn't match...

Ok, maybe I'm half-nerd, half-snot! heehee!

We finally moved all of our stuff into the new house... more on that later!

Moving

Sorry I haven't posted this week... I have had sooo much to do. We are moving now on Sunday instead of Monday, which means I have TOOOOO much to do before then. Not to mention I am supposed to spend some time today helping Krista (my friend whose house we are moving into) finish packing! AUGH! Just the thought of this is making my head hurt! Oh well... it will be fine... it will be fine... it will be fine! Sorry, just thought if I kept writing it I might calm down! ha!

Anyway, thanks for helping me pack today Holly! Appreciate it! I'll buy lunch on Monday when you help me UNPACK my kitchen! HEEHEE!

Have a great weekend and someone take a nap for me!

Mexico...

Back from vacation and let me just say that everyone should go hang out on the beach for 4 days... We had a little bit of a rough start due to airport drama, but I'm trying to block that part out of my memory! Other than that the trip was awesome. We did a lot of nothing! We walked the beach, laid out on the beach, swam in the pool, sat around and smoked Cubans (one night), played cards, shopped, and sat around some more! We actually got to rest alot! Blogger will only let me post a few pics at a time, so here is round one!

Here is the front of the resort where we stayed. It is the Viva Maya Wyndam and it was great. Everyone was quite polite and the food was pretty good too! It is an all inclusive resort, so all food and drinks were included and there were quite a few activities to keep us occupied during the day. We did a few of the activities and watched a few more, but we didn't rush around to participate... we wanted to relax! :)














This next picture is the view of the ocean when walking down the beach front! BEAUTIFUL! I had never seen water so blue before! It was great! It was a little too rough to do some of the kayaking and canoeing that the resort offered, but since that sounded like work to me and Amy we were good with that!














Here you have Robert, Me, Amy and Matt. The resort had restaurants that you could make reservations at, but the guys had to wear slacks! We went to a different restaurant each night! The food was a little weird for me, but I found stuff to eat at each place and the rest of the gang thought the food was awesome... I'm just a little weird about textures and particular about taste!
















Here is a little of my hubby's personality! This is the Mexican restaurant on the resort and if you wanted to take pics you had to wear the hats! Fun stuff! And this pic was before the Mexican Coffee, which let me say is not your everyday coffee! :)















This final pic is right after we 'rededicated' our marriage to the Lord and recommitted to each other! For those of you who have been reading for a while, you know how our marriage almost ended last year... this trip was our first ever trip together in 12 yrs of marriage and it's purpose was to reconnect and to recommit. This was the final night at the resort... we went out to the beach and Matt and Amy each read some versus from Corinthians and Ephesians and said a prayer over our marriage and we recommitted to each other. It was amazing and quite beautiful!














As you can see we had a great time and I feel like it was worth the mucho money we spent! I'll post some of the wild animal pics we have tomorrow!

Way too much to do...

Is it possible to have too much to do before going on vacation??? We leave in less than 48 hrs and I have sooo much to get done! I probably won't have time to post again before we leave, but please keep my family in your prayers for the next week. We leave Wednesday night and fly out Thursday morning... we get back Monday night... that's a long time for my kiddos to be without their parents! BUT... I know they will be in good hands and Rt and I NEED this trip. We got married sooo young and had no honeymoon... we have been married 12 yrs and this will be the first 'kidless' trip to anywhere besides Ft. Worth! I'll post pics when we get back. Blessings to all...

Jess

Graduation

I just completed my final task of the 07-08 school year... I sat through two graduation ceremonies all decked out in my gown on a stage that was hotter than blazes! Our students really should realize that the faculty are way miserable up there sitting in the lights with no air flow... it's kind of like payback for their final exams if you ask me!

This semester one of my favorite students graduated to the surprise of many of my faculty friends! This student is big, loud, opinionated, black, and 6' 2" tall. Most of the faculty members are scared to death of her, but she is one of my favorite people. She will tell you what she thinks, but if you take the time to talk to her she will also listen to what you have to say and really consider it. During the first semester that she was my student, she got into a fight and ended up getting stabbed... I was the only person from campus to call and ask if she was OK or if she needed anything. From that point on, I became some who she could depend on. She is from Oak Cliff... she comes from a family that has no male members (because they all leave)... her mother is an alcoholic and halfway through the student's jr semester the student had to bring her little bro and sis to raise... she was raised in chaos and chose to live with chaos around her for quite a while by choosing certain friends... But... despite what the girl had stacked against her... she graduated!

Oh, and lest you think she's still a hoodlum, after the stabbing I sat her down and we had a very long chat about the type of people we keep around us and how they influence our lives. She didn't want to hear it, but in the end those words helped her understand how the choices she was making now were going to affect her later on! Anyway, I'm quite proud of the girl! Just goes to show how a little extra time and attention can help a student go a long way!

I hate ITUNES!

Or maybe it is that I hate all things computer when they don't work the way I want them to. I want to be able to put my CD's on the compter quickly and them be organized... instead I look at the screen and it is a mess! Not to mention that my CD ripper from school is slower than molasses! UGH! What happened to the old days... we just carried our cassettes around with us, it was great, no scratches, no breakage... man, I miss the old days! hahahah!

Hope everyone is doing well... 8 days till MEXICO!

9 Days

9 days away... we are 9 days from leaving this town of our for the beaches of Mexico! YIPPEE! And to make matters better, I just called my family dr to tell him that I wasn't sure I could get my husband on the airplane and he called me in a prescription of Zanax! Now... how do I get him to take it! ha! Now for those of you thinking bad thoughts about a woman who would drug her husband, just know that I'm doing it out of love! He has severe anxiety and in most cases, beyond being a jerk, he can cope with changes. BUT... he has never flown and has no real desire to leave the great USA... so... in order to get him through the air port check points, I am afraid I will need the help of drugs to calm him down! Those of you who know him will completely understand! :)

The house selling/buying thing is moving along... so far! Fingers crossed and prayers lifted up that all goes smoothly til we move! ha! The stress of the 'what if's' is going to kill me... maybe I'll take RTs Zanax! ha!

The kids were out of school today, so I took them to see Nim's Island! Let me just it was great! There was, of course, some bad acting, but overall the movie was great for the kids! I recommend it for one and all! Oh, but Kali wants you to know it is a tad suspenseful! :)

Prayers Please

Edit: The doctor came in and she really thinks that was Kenzie has is a head cold. Yes, there was fluid around her heart and lungs, but she wouldn't call it enough to be failure. They put her on Lasix to flush out the fluid and have Ashley scheduled for an appt on the 22nd with a dr who comes to Abilene to make some decisions. Kenzie has two holes in her heart and a valve that is jacked up, but again, the dr doesn't think that surgery is necessary right this second! So... as soon as Kenzie shows us she can eat every 3 hours we get to go home! Keep them in your prayers... we have a long road ahead of us medically with both her and her big sister Alyssa!


I am sitting at Cook's Children's Hospital in Ft. Worth right now with my little brother, his girlfriend and their almost four month old daughter Mackenzie who is in heart failure. We have known since she was born that there was an issue with her heart, but the dr's have been waiting until she gets older to do something about it. We are currently waiting for the heart dr to come in... and I'll post again when she does... but please start praying... here's what we need...

1. Pray for Kenzie... she's got a long road ahead of her! She was born with a chromosomal issue that we aren't really sure of in terms of long-term expectations (same issue her big sister Alyssa has) and the fluid surrounding her heart and in her lungs is only part of the issue.

2. Pray for Matt and Ashley. They have two children together, both special needs, and then they each have a child from a previously relationship. They have a lot of baggage and I got to listen to them bicker and fight for 2 hrs in the ER last night over everything from Ashley's mom to Matt's refusal to disclose how much money he has in the bank. I left the hospital last night thinking, how in the world are these two going to get married and make it work.

3. Pray for me. I got about 5 hrs sleep last night and my patience level with my rude little brother has about come to an end. He's just quite rude to Ashley and I am annoyed by it. Also, I forgot to refill the Prozac before I left town... so exhaustion and lack of Prozac are probably a bad combination... which will result in me saying what I think instead of what I should say!

Anyway, I'll post again when I have an idea of what's going to happen next!

We just sold our house...

We just sold our house... we just sold our house! Yippee! It's all I can do to keep from running up and down the halls singing this! The guy just called me back and they want our house. We will get the papers drawn up and be out June 1st! With gas at $3.49 a gallon, this couldn't have happened at a better time... not to mention we will be moving after our vacation and before summer classes start! YIPPEEEEEE!

Anyone wanna help us pack???
JW

Update...

I have got to start posting more than once a week... haha! School will be out soon and I'll be back to posting normally!

Yogi seems to be doing fine, for anyone concerned. He has some pretty nasty bruising, but he managed to work out of his wrap... silly dog! I'm to the point that if he lives, he lives... I cannot spend money I do not have on an animal! I HATE GAS PRICES! Funny how gas prices seem to be crunching every one's budget and yet the government can't seem to do anything about it... what's that about?

We leave for Mexico in exactly 18 days! I can't wait! It is a little overwhelming to find people to watch the kids, the dogs, pack for all four of us etc, etc. But I know it will be well worth it! This will be the first trip Robert and I have ever gone on that wasn't to Ft. Worth. And the first one that was more than 2 nights! Yippee!!!!

Ok... have to grade the 60 papers staring at me...

Yogi

Friday night my sweet little Yogi caused lots of drama in our house. He came in from his nightly potty break and he could barely move. He had a wound on his side so Robert and I were convinced that one of our neighbors shot him. Robert and I spent all evening arguing over whether or not I should call the vet. If anyone knows my husband, then you know what he was saying... "we are NOT spending money on a dog..." "you are not calling the vet" etc. etc. After much crying on my part, I told him we would see what happened through the night and I would take Yogi to the Vet in the morning... but I would not pay for surgery! (In my head thinking I'm paying for surgery!) I took Yogi to the Vet Saturday and the vet was convinced that he had been shot... so I left him there to be x-rayed (let's not talk about how much a dog x-ray is). The x-ray showed that Yogi had not been shot... instead he had been chomped on by something much larger than he is! He has broken ribs and must be wrapped for the next 2-4 weeks.

This pic is in the car after the appt... look at my poor baby! :) He is on pain pills and antibiotics and he just lays around and looks all sad at me. Last night he layed on my chest like the kids did when they were infants. As I type all of this I can hear my husband laughing out loud because I am sooooo not a dog person. Yogi is the first dog I have actually liked in the probably 10 that we have had since moving to the country. If you had asked me last year if I would be willing to carry a dog outside for him to potty, I would have laughed at you... and now... I pick him up and carry him outside so that he can potty... I put his food on a plate and carry it over to him... etc. etc. Anyway... I will say that after all of this, Yogi better get better and be the perfect pet... hahahah!

Shelly

Do you like my new look??? My friend Shelley did it for me... she is amazing!!!! THANKS SHELLEY! If you want her to create a new look for you, click on the hyperlink above!

My life is still crazy, so I don't have time to post. I woke up at 7:10 this morning and have to leave my house by 7:30. NO FUN! Good thing I have a hair appt in 20 min... otherwise I would look like this all day! hahahaha!

Long time between posts...

I'm not sure I have gone so long between posts in quite a while... but our life is CRAZY! I'll try to touch the highlights of the week.
M--I teach a night class at CJC.
T--SOFTBALL
W--church
T--SOFTBALL
F--SOFTBALL
S--SOFTBALL
S--church

Are you seeing the pattern??? Our life revolves around church and softball right now. I enjoy the games and I know it is good for the kids, but we didn't get home a single night before 9pm... and then all I have the energy to do is crawl into bed. Dr. Reinmund should have warned me that the recovery from the big 'H' was going to take the entire 6 wks, if not more. I'm exhausted by the time my head hits the pillow!

I do have a funny/scary story from the other night. I went to United at about 10:45 Friday night and this toothless, black woman came to my window and asked for a ride home. I, of course, said yes, but I called my husband 'just in case' something happened. Well, this little woman tells me how God is going to bless me and was a sweet as can be. She originally told me she lived in ACU apartments and to drive down 10th. Well, we pass ACU apartments and she says that the house she needs to go to isnt ACU, but she tells people that so they wont be scared... huh??? Then she has me turn onto Carver street. Well, for those who don't know Abilene, Carver street is not a street I want to be on during any part of the day... it's not a safe neighborhood with the sun out, much less at 11pm at night. I called Rt and told him what street I was turning onto, then she told me to keep going down the road... we get to the end of the street and there are these two men in hoodies standing on the corner that she told me to stop at in front of a house that is all boarded up. So I stop a little ways back and unlock the doors to let her open hers, and then quickly lock them again. Before she got out of my car she asked if I had cash to spare, which I didn't because I don't carry cash, and then she mentioned debit or credit... like I was going to hand that over... I played dumb with that one too! Anyway, I spoke to one of my friends the next day and she told me the woman was harmless, but I can't help but be a little freaked out. Surely those men weren't planning to rob me.... surely she is a good person and had no intentions of hurting me... but when you put it all together it is a little freaky.... maybe I just watch too much CSI. Anyway, I'm alive, but a little freaked out. I called the police station just to let them know what had happened as I was concerned that she was setting me up for something icky on that dark road with the two men in hoodies and the lady at the police station told me "no good deed goes unpunished" and it makes me very sad to say that I won't be picking up anymore little old women who complain of gout anymore!

Edit: I just told my mom the story and got in more trouble than I think I have ever been in! Apparently this is a scam that has been going on and I am sooo in trouble! Thank God my angels were working overtime! :)

Oh... the memories...

Ok... how many of you can guess who this group of men are???? They, of course, were what made me drool with silly girlishness during my freshman year of high school... New Kids on the Block! Did you hear that they are reuniting and releasing a new album??? Am I the only one excited??? HAHA! I know I'm not, as there is a group of ladies I work with who are just as excited as I am! I think I might even break out the poster that I have hidden in the shed, just so my kids can understand!

Answers...

You know, I have found in life that sometimes the answers you need come along when you least expect them! For the past 2 yrs I have had extremely icky periods (sorry guys, this is going to be a girly post); I have also had some serious mood swings and behavior that I couldn't really explain. When I discussed it with my dr's they put me on anti-depressants and birth control... but that's about all the satisfaction I ever got! When I went for my 4 wk checkup today, my dr asked if I had "heard the pathology" before I left the hospital. Um, no I hadn't... in fact, it hadn't really dawned on me there would be pathology. Apparently, the people who get paid to look around at chopped up organs found an estrogen sensitive endometrial polyp and hyperplasia... not sure what that all means... but basically, I was on the road to endometrial cancer! This friendly little polyp was the cause of the nasty periods and because it was estrogen sensitive it was also the cause of my migraines during my period and even some of my mood issues. Had I not had the recurrent dysplasia, though, we might not have figured any of this out until I did indeed have cancer... so in a sense it is quite the blessing that the dysplasia returned! Amazing how God works sometimes... huh?

As for the rest of my crazy life... I decided at about 4am that I would not go on our church ladies retreat this weekend, nor am I going to go on our family ladies retreat next weekend. We simply have too much on our plates and I cannot handle it! It is better to stay home and be sane, than to go and try to relax and come back to complete chaos!

Catch up...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted... I haven't had a lot of positive things to say, so I've been trying to keep those to myself. I went back to work last week... 2 weeks post-hysterectomy... WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I was exhausted everyday by 3, but unfortunately did not get home a single evening before 9pm!

You might be asking what was keeping me out till 9pm every night... SOFTBALL!!! I'm not sure whose great idea softball was (oh wait, it was mine), but I am not so certain I still want to follow through with it. We have practice or a game 4 nights this week! If I only had one child playing it would probably not be so overwhelming... but I signed them both up! Kali LOVES it, but her games are often at 8pm at night... I don't know about you, but I do not know many 7 yr olds that need to be out that late at night. Kali turns into a devil possessed child if she doesn't get sleep, so I'm not sure how this is going to work! Megs likes softball, but doesn't want to admit it (cuz then mommy would be right) and she has some laziness issues to work through... like you have to bend at the waist and move in order to catch the ball... but she seems to be doing better. I know the season is only about 8 weeks, so I'm hoping we live through it!

On a positive note... I discovered yesterday that we only have 4 more mondays to the college semester! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! That means for 4 more weeks I will have to get out of bed early... then I get to sleep late! YEAH!!!!

On an even more positive note, we are in the process of booking a trip to Mexico... Robert and I and another couple are leaving on May 15th and coming back May 19th! YIPPEEE!!!! I'm quite excited about it since we have NEVER really gone anywhere for more than a weekend and I have never left the country! It will be nice to be pampered and to get away!

On a sad note, my grandma is in the hospital and it looks like she will be having open heart surgery soon. Her valve is doing something weird and needs to be replaced. She is remaining rather positive, but I hate that my mom is going to have to stop her life again in order to take care of grandma.... keep them in your prayers please!

Happy Easter!

Here's our family pic for today. The church wall isn't so great a backdrop... but this was taken in a hurry while we were trying to get to lunch! You know, the 'I forgot to take it and now we have to eat lunch and might get dirty' picture!

We ate Buffet City for lunch... Here's my fortune:

You shouldn't overspend at the moment, frugality

is important.

Um, if I didn't know better, I would say my husband picked that one out special! He wants to tape it to my phone or something so I see it every time I pick it up!

Gotta love it!

My kiddos crack me up sometimes... this morning in the car Kali told me that her back must be broken because it hurts and I need to take her to the dr. Then she told me that her butt knuckle hurts too! What's a butt knuckle???? I was on the phone with Rt when she said it and I was afraid he was going to drop the phone he was laughing so hard! Maybe I'll make him take her to the dr and tell the dr her butt knuckle hurts!

Last night at pokeno, three of the 9 people that I was there with told us that they were planning some type of plastic surgery in the next few months (2 boob jobs, one tummy tuck). One of the girls mentioned that she was using this particular plastic surgeon 'because she has financing'! So... what's your opinion on this??? What would you have said??? I'll tell you my reaction later, but I am quite curious how each of you would respond!

Spring Break...

Well, spring break has officially started... yippee! There is nothing fun about having two children home while you recover from a hysterectomy. My house looks like a bomb blew up, and no one but me seems to care! I have spent more time out of the house (which I'm sure is against the drs orders) just because I can't stand to look at my house anymore! And... to make matters worse, the kids are sooo sick of me asking them to do stuff just because I can't... in fact, I had to refrain myself when Megan told me she was tired of doing my job... um, hello, I'm pretty sure 10 yrs old is old enough to do your own laundry or not have any clean clothes! Ugh... only 5 more weeks of this!

Does anyone have any spring break plans I can be jealous of??? I mean, we are stuck in the house... what about you???