Knowing

I spoke to the male nurse taking care of my father. He had sad news for me. Expected, but sad.

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In the Zone

On Wednesday, my students received their report cards. Their grades are fantastic as I teach an incredible group of kids. When I was done giving out the cards, I looked around the room and I didn’t see the happy faces that I thought I would see.  I asked them what they thought of their grades. Most of them just weren’t satisfied with what they earned.

My students’ report card grades range in the 93% – 99% overall averages. Many students have 95% and over in every class. I was confused by their comments and when I went home that night I thought about it.

Seeking perfection is a hard road to follow. I want my students to find happiness within their accomplishments. The following morning, we had a class discussion about it. I think it’s something we have to work on.

I took my students to a Spanish restaurant in Staten Island, NY yesterday. As we were riding on the school bus, a group of the students started to sing. I put my head down and really listened. They were really happy and free. I want them to feel that more often.

As their teacher, I felt fortunate to hear them sing and for that I am grateful.  Finding satisfaction in what you do is one of life’s joys.

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Change of Rooms

He changed rooms. Usually this means that there is an improvement. But I’ve seen this happen a lot at Lutheran. Someone looks like they are getting better, but they really aren’t.

We’ll see

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Say What You Need to Say

Tonight I went to the hospital to see someone I haven’t spoken to in 10 years.  I was very close to this person most of my life. And I didn’t want to go and see this person. I didn’t feel like it and I didn’t want to be part of drama. But I went because I let some friends decide for me because I didn’t know if I was thinking rationally.

I arrived at the hospital and went in. There was a male nurse inside administering medicine and the person I went to visit was flailing all over. I thought he had a stroke and wasn’t able to move.  I backed out of the room and waited until he was done. Then I put on a plastic robe and gloves and went in. I visited many people in the hospital and never needed to put on a robe or gloves.

Before I went I wasn’t sure what I was going to say, but I knew whatever words came out of my mouth would be honest and straightforward. As he laid there, I talked about everything in my life. EVERYTHING! And he just laid there while I spoke. Once in awhile he coughed as a response to what I said. I knew some things I said upset him because he coughed quite a bit. But his head remained facing the ceiling and I talked to his neck.

And afterwards I felt good. Good because I told him everything I ever wanted to say about anything and everything. And he had to sit there and listen to my babble. It was probably one of the longest REAL conversations that I have ever had with this person. But I am glad friends told me to go and I am glad that I said everything I ever wanted to say.

And now he will probably get better because I told him a lot of personal things and I am sure he would love to tell a lot of people about it….because Irish people are like that. And I said all the important things too.

My friend waited for me and she told me that the doctor said the person who I went to see wasn’t able to talk at all, but is improving. Upon hearing this, I know I should have been sad for him and his family, but I wasn’t. Maybe because I didn’t believe he was in such bad condition or maybe because I hadn’t seen him in so long. I said everything I needed to say to someone who couldn’t communicate. LOL – only me. Grateful to God for moments like this.

Add on: Several friends sent me Jon Mayer’s words….And I smiled because I love this song so much: “You’d better know that in the end. Its better to say too much. Then never say what you need to say again”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSS0wtjrm1U

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Blessings which extend too long

We had our first Easter dinner in our home.  We ate great food and the house was filled with laughter.

One of our friends said grace and she thanked God for our house and then was saying some sweet words over our home. She ended it with, “Lord, may Marlene & Leon have 100 more wonderful Easter celebrations in their home.” She was then leading us to end the prayer, but Lee interjected with….”wait Lord….I really don’t want to live 100 more years. I know the blessing was meant with good intentions, but if you are listening I really don’t want to live that long.” 

We all couldn’t stop laughing!

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Sorority Life

I love the game Sorority Life on Facebook. It’s fun and at times the fast past is exciting.After playing for awhile I decided I needed some hacks and cheats.I missed playing on key days and needed help finding the egg from the collection. If you miss a gift in the collection, you can’t get the final prize, but Freestyle Design shows you how to get the Faberage egg you missed or any other gift you missed here. I found the other items in the collection: the peeps, the basket and the shoes, but I couldn’t complete the Easter collection without the egg.

I thought the Sorority Life hack to automatically play and vote was fake, but I was wrong.I found this site called Freestyle Design  I had no idea that there was even a Sorority Life Bonus Checker!If you missed a gift or need a code, Freestyle Design has it. I even found the beads, shorts and shirt from the Flirty Collection through Freestyle Designs Sorority Life hack. One of the best tips was how to get the Oscar de la Renta necklace. The site is filled with tips and codes to help you out.

On my last vacation, I was playing with Cafe World, Mafia Wars and Farmville’s hacks and cheats. See here for the link to the Cafe World Bonus Checker.

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Shiny Walls & Being Sensitive

If you follow my tweet on twitter, you would have heard about our painting dilemma.I went to sleep because I wasn’t feeling well. While I slept, my wonderful man painted the hallway and walls to the staircase. I awoke to the smell of fresh paint and wondered what he was up to.

He stood before me, smiling and proud.I looked past him at the VERY shiny walls behind him. The wall was glistening. I asked him if the paint was still wet and he told me that it was dry because he started there. Then why is it SO SHINY?

The smile disappeared from his face as he told me that it was Semi-gloss paint. He bought it because he thought it was best for the hallway, a high traffic area.Side note: We have a house that was built in 1950. The walls are not perfect, so each and every wall imperfection was highlighted and shined at me.

So after I was done picking on the old wall, I looked at my crushed man. He wanted me to appreciate him and his hard work. Instead I went to twitter and asked women everywhere, “What should I do?”All of the ladies responded that I should appreciate his work and not say anything, except for one.

I knew they were right, but I also felt I was right. I mean I had to say something to stay true to myself AND to be honest with him, right? I knew in my heart the answer to this involved not crushing someone I love, but I also knew there had to be some compromise because looking at that shiny wall each day will eat at me.

Later in the day we went to a home store to look at something else. While we were there, I walked into the paint area and discovered textured paint. I showed Lee the textured paint. He told me that he thought it would look great over the paint already there.

We bought it and did it together.When it was done, Lee told me that he hated the shiny paint too, but didn’t want to repaint because it took all day. He loved the look of the textured paint too.

So  the moral of the story for me….be more sensitive, especially to a wonderful man who just worked all day to make the home look good. Be honest, but say things a little sweeter.

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Appearing in a Bibliography!

When I finished my thesis, the university published it online with all the other papers. Over the years, people have e-mailed me to ask me questions about my research. I’ve always found it interesting that they were interested in the same topic I was.Today, I searched for myself in a scholarly search engine and articles I wrote for an educational technology journal were included in people’s bibliography.I’m a total geek so I’m pretty amused to see my name listed on someone’s bibliography. Cheers!

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Happy Anniversary to Us!

Lee and I just celebrated a big anniversary. It’s hard to believe that we have been together so long. When I was younger,I had no idea how much work relationships took. I thought people just fell in love and the magic took over.Well there is definitely some magic because the years have flown by and I still feel in love! I am thankful to God for sending me such an amazing person who keeps me laughing.

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Happy Earth Day!

– I recycle: glass, plastic, cardboard and paper. NYC has a good program and they pick up once a week.

– We use our own bags at the store. They are stronger, prettier and hold a lot. I bought these bags by RuMe for Lee or Christmas two years ago (he’s really into recycling).

RuMe Bags From: http://www.rumebags.com/shop/RuMe

I do try to be green. I don’t always succeed though. We had an outdoor composting bin (see below) with intentions of composting fruit and veggie scraps. After composting for several weeks, I found my mini dachshund in the bin! He dug it and was covered in decomposting food – yuck.

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Makeup Companies Coming Up Green

I like to frequent stores which have made some motion to recycle. So these stores are on point for me:

• Lush – get a free Fresh Face Mask for every five empty signature black pots you return
• Mac – return 6 Mac containers and be rewarded with a lipstick
• Origins – Bring in an empty tube, bottle or jar of any makeup and receive a sample of the Origins product of your choice.  Cool!

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Traits I Admire

I always admire people who work hard. Although I normally try not to talk about work on my blog, I thought this was something to note. My boss understands technology and it’s easy to talk to him about problems in the lab. He is always willing to jump right in and help with repairs. Recently, the light in the SmartBoard went out. Normally this cost $300+ to replace. He spent the time taking apart the fixture and just replacing the bulb which was around $100. I learned that as the principal he understands his role in spending money with care. We have Smartboards all over the school and he could have just ordered a bunch of bulbs as I am sure 99.9% of other principals do, but he took some time to cut the cost. Very cool.

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