Last Day!

Well, this is it - today is my last day of work at the high school. Lots of feelings and emotions, most of them very very joyful. Although I still have a couple of nagging icky feelings, mostly about making sure someone is taking care of my kids when I leave. And that's hard. But I need to let go. I need to concentrate on my own life and what's ahead of me, which is all good stuff!

I am beyond excited about my new job. The staff there is already more welcoming and more interested in what I have to bring to the table than my coworkers at my current (soon to be old) job ever were. I will have a real office, not a closet without ventilation. I will have real coworkers who are ... nice to me. I will be part of a team. It's definitely time.

What will I miss? A couple of coworkers, but only a couple. A lot of students. Saying goodbye to them has proven to be extremely difficult. The thought of never seeing them again is really hard - I mean, okay, I'll probably run into them at the mall or Walmart or something, but it won't be the same. And that's okay, it's just an adjustment.

But you know what I will miss the most? The students who drop by just to say hi, the ones who came in before school started this week to see how my summer was, the kids who smile from ear to ear when they get a passing grade. Those couple of coworkers - now friends - who helped keep me sane over giggling lunches and eye rolling sessions.

Sigh.

But enough of that. It seems only fitting that today, on my last day of work, I leave you with one final "Overheard from my Office - High School Edition."

Girl walking into counseling department: "Hi, I need to change my lunch from A lunch to B lunch."

Me: "Why?"

Girl: "Ummm because, um, there's this girl, I think she's a lesbian, and she won't stop staring at my boobs."

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand scene.

Grrrr. Howl.

TERRIBLE night of sleep last night. I blame ... my broken bed, and my dog.

Last night was the third night I've had to sleep in the guest room because my bed is a piece of crap from Ikea, and it's broken. And I can't fix it. I believe I briefly discussed this in my last post. Basically, Ikea beds (or at least, the one we have) do not use box springs - instead, the frame has these wooden slats, like so:

*photo found here*

And, in fact, this is the exact bed that we have (but wow, that's a small bedroom, eh?). But anywhoo. Those damn wooden slats!!! There are two, um, slat thingies (sets?) - one for the left side and one for the right side. Oh, and they don't actually secure or attach to anything because THEN you wouldn't be able to easily take the bed apart and put it together somewhere else, apparently. However, the slats themselves are all stapled (yes, stapled) together to a flimsy piece of fabric so that, when one falls, half the rest come with.

SO. The slats constantly move around and are generally crappy in every way. And when they move around, they come dislodged from their happy place and fall into the floor. Because there is basically only one millimeter of overlap.

The slats on the left side of the bed (Matt's side) are notoriously easy to dislodge. Like, if you sit on the bed, the mattress will plummet into the ground. Not fun. I noticed a dip (seriously, there is a visible dip) in the mattress a few days ago and decided to attempt and fix it. Basically, half of the slats on that side of the bed had fallen into the floor. I spent what seemed like hours fixing it, thus somehow causing a bunch of slats from the RIGHT side of the bed to fall into the floor. So, I put the mattress down, went over to the right side of the bed, and spent another 4 hours fixing that side. Thus causing the slats from the LEFT side of the bed to fall. And repeat. Repeat. Repeat until I was thisclose to bursting into tears in a feeble Iwantmyhusbandtocomehomerightnowsothathecanfixthisgoddamnbed type of way.

But instead of having a breakdown, I angrily made up the guest bed and slept there for the night. The next morning, I woke up to discover I had somehow pulled something pretty painful in my back/neck region - likely from constantly propping up the mattress with my right arm. Boo. So the next day, I didn't try to fix the bed because my back/neck hurt.

And then yesterday, I just didn't want to deal with it, so I went right back to the guest room. But here's the thing - for some reason, Oscar doesn't like to sleep in the guest room with me. So, I've been a little lonely. And yes, I know that's absurd, he's just a dog, and I'm asleep. But somehow, it matters. Last night, he spent a few minutes curled up on the bed with me before hearing something suspicious outside. He sprinted into the living room and started howling. "NO!!!" I shouted, to no avail.

He never returned from the living room and I fell into a very fitful sleep. The guest room and bed are insanely comfortable, but for some reason I just have not slept well there. Something about it just not being MY bed. So, when he woke me up by howling, it seemed like several uncomfortable hours of sleep had gone by. Surely, it was morning, right? I ran into the living room and said "Oscar, NO NO NO!!!! SHHHHHH!!!!" He responded with a growl of unhappiness. I returned to the guest room and looked at my phone ... it was only 1am. Argh.

Back to sleep, kind of. Tossed and turned and had crazy dreams. Then, the howling. AGAIN. Please note that Oscar hardly ever barks/howls/whatever, and especially never at night, so this was really weird. I yell NO NO NO again ... look at my phone. Only 3am. The last time it happened was at 5am and at that point, I just got up.

The plan for this evening is DEFINITELY attempting, yet again, to fix the stupid bed. I don't want to sleep in the guest room anymore ... apparently both Oscar and I sleep much better in my bedroom!

Dear Army

Dear Army,

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank you for taking care of my husband the last almost-5 weeks that he has been away from home. He has had the privilege of spending time in the lovely and scenic Fort Benning, GA.

Since he left home he has had:

• No heat
• No hot water
• No internet
• Nothing to do

He arrived at Benning to spend two weeks doing paperwork and having the usual in-processing-related appointments. He has remained for three extra weeks to do ... absolutely nothing. He is so mind-numbingly bored that there is a good chance he's losing brain cells. He spends all day, every day, watching movies and tv shows that his friend burned onto a hard drive for him to take with him. He watches said movies and tv shows on his computer in his barracks room. His computer that cannot connect to the internet.

I certainly would much rather have him spending 5 weeks doing absolutely nothing away from home, than spending 5 weeks doing nothing right here with me. So thanks for that.

Thanks for making sure his day of staring at the computer is broken up by useless formations every 3ish hours. And thanks for sending pretty much every other guy off to where they're supposed to be ... except for my husband. He loves slipping through the cracks...he loves it so much that he's been forced to contact his old commander, and his old first sergeant (who is currently in Korea) for help in speeding up his orders.

Thank you for letting him sit for so long that Redstone Arsenal, his next destination, had to call Benning to inquire as to where in the hell he is.

Thank you for treating him worse on American soil than he will be treated once he actually deploys. Thank you for making him so crazy that all he does is wish for the day he gets on that plane to Kuwait.

In conclusion ... thank you. Thank you for your fine treatment of our country's soldiers. I know that I am personally thankful that I don't have to spend any time worrying about him as long as he's on American soil.

On Apartment Living

As I'm sure many of you know, there are both pros and cons of apartment living.

Pro: On Tuesday morning, I came home from a frolic in the dog park with Oscar to hear a weird sound coming from the guest bathroom. When I turned on the light, I discovered that it was raining from the ceiling vent, which was ... fabulous. I called maintenance, and they sent someone over to take care of it. Apparently, my upstairs neighbors had a leak issue with their water main that connects to their toilet. It flooded their bathroom, and leaked down through my vent. Luckily, there was no damage and the lovely maintenance man brought in a wet vac to take care of everything. This is a definite pro of apartment living: not having to handle messy situations like leaks myself! Having easy, free maintenance whenever there is an emergency is really fantastic...especially when said emergency happens mere days after your husband leaves for a year!

Con: Last night, I planned to go to bed early, around 9:30. Yet as soon as I got into bed, I realized my upstairs neighbors (ugh...they are extremely bothersome lately!) started BLASTING opera. I mean, it was loud. Now, I actually enjoy opera quite a bit, but ... it was so loud that it sounded as if it was playing in my living room. I could hear each and every note clearly and easily. I buried my head in the pillows and the blankets and, eventually, fell asleep. Obvious apartment con: having neighbors whose homes are attached to yours. Upstairs neighbors are the worst. Matt and I are really great neighbors...we are quiet, especially during the nighttime hours. We don't play loud music and we rarely have people over...and when we do, they aren't loud either. When I go outside to warm up my car in the morning, I turn my lights off so that they don't shine into anyone's bedroom windows. I keep them off until I pull out of my parking spot. I live in an apartment, and respecting your neighbors is a huge part of apartment living. Needless to say ... this morning when I woke up, I blared my music just out of spite. And when I warmed up my car? The lights stayed on. Just this once, just today.

Just Checking In...

Hello friends. Just checking in to say hi, and to let you know that I won't be around much this week. Matt leaves on Sunday for the Big D(eployment) and I'm trying to spend every waking minute with him until then. Can't believe my D-day countdown is at 6 days...it started at 158! How did that happen? Sigh.

Not much else to say at this point. The emotions are running high and I'm trying to keep things under control and not freak. At least not while he's around! So far, so good. Any helpful hints or tips for handling this would be much appreciated. At this point, going to sleep has been the hardest part for me. Not sure why...I feel fine during the day but have been getting upset at night. At the risk of sounding cheesy, there's just something so comforting about curling up in a warm bed with the person you love. Something that makes everything else just melt away. Know what I mean?

Anyway...that's what's going on here. Be back soon.

Mosquitos are trying to kill me.

It's true, friends.  Every time I step outside, no matter what I'm wearing, they seem to attack my feet and ankles.  This weekend was no exception...I have no less than 8 bites on my feet, INCLUDING on my toes!  Boo.  Last night, I was slathering hydrocortisone cream on like it was going out of style...but still itching.  Matt suggested clear nail polish, so pretty soon I was covering my feet/ankles in nail polish.  But I woke up this morning and I was super itchy again, so I put on some calamine lotion and THEN covered it in clear nail polish.

Guess what?  Still itchy.  Do you have any fool-proof remedies for itchy bug bites?  If so, pass them my way!  I'm miserable over here!!!

Boo

Something you should know about me: I used to be really, really blind. So nearsighted that I couldn't see my hand if it were two inches in front of my face. I never knew what it was like to wake up and be able to see in the middle of the night...or the morning...or ever, really. I started wearing glasses when I was five, and switched to contacts in eighth grade.

And then, a miracle! In April of 2005, I had lasik surgery. It has been truly amazing - I mean, I can see! After the surgery, I was 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 in the other. For a long time after my surgery, I would be amazed every time I would wake up in the morning...and be able to see. Now that the years have passed, I have started taking my eyesight for granted.

Bad, bad Mrs. Smith. Over the last few months, I've had a lot of difficulty seeing at night while I'm driving - issues with auras around streetlights/headlights, depth perception issues, etc. When someone brakes in front of me...I can't exactly tell where they are. Not good! I'm also getting a lot of tension headaches behind my eyes during the day as I stare at the computer. Also, not good.

This afternoon after work, I went to the eye doctor. What she told me made me cry a little bit (don't worry...it was in my car, afterwards, not in front of her!). I need glasses again. Not all the time, but for driving at night, and probably some reading during the day. I am slightly nearsighted (again) and show signs of having astigmatism in both eyes (again).

Needless to say...I am crushed. When I had my surgery, my opthamologist told me that I shouldn't need reading glasses until I'm in my 40s. I just turned 27.

Blindness is something that has always scared me - especially having eyesight as bad as mine. I can't help but wonder if, in a few years, I'll be back at square one again, blind as a bat?

Until then...I'm off to figure out how much of my glasses my vision insurance will cover.

Things I love. AND things I hate. All wrapped up into one.

Things I love:

Everything bagels. They are like the holy grail of bagels, and that's saying a lot...because even eating boring bagels is kind of like a religious experience.

Things I hate:

Worrying about seeds stuck in my teeth after eating aforementioned everything bagel. And worrying that there is a poppyseed stuck right between your two front teeth, and when you're trying to have a meaningful conversation with a troubled youth, you're worried they can't pay attention because they're just staring at that darn poppyseed.

I have GOT to get a mirror for my office.

Things I hate...

Throwing up in public.

Yesterday, I got one of the worst migraines I've had in years. It was kind of lingering in the background much of the day, and I thought it would just kind of fade away. When I got to a work meeting, the migraine basically punched me in the face, and I decided I absolutely had to go home.

First, of course, I had to stop at CVS because I recently ran out of my special super-duper migraine meds. On the way over, I became super-nauseous (one of my wonderful migraine symptoms). I was literally driving with my hand clamped over my mouth. Awesome. I ran into CVS, stood patiently outside the bathroom for 30 seconds until a 6 year old was done washing her hands, and then...yeah. I threw up in the CVS bathroom. NOT COOL, people, not cool. I won't go into the details, because, it wasn't pretty.

Thankfully I managed to get my prescription and rush home before the next wave of nausea started. Then...I changed into my pj pants, crawled into bed, and slept for about 2 hours. At around 5, I woke up, ate some chips (why is it that I have a SERIOUS salt craving post-migraine/vomit?), made a tiny dinner consisting only of pasta, then curled up on the couch under my favorite blanket. I just decided to close my eyes for a minute...and woke up at 9:30. At which point I decided it was bedtime, and I crawled into bed. I woke up this morning at 6:30.

I feel much better now. Who wouldn't after 15.5 hours of sleep???