Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tragedy
The school shooting last week was especially hard for those of us who works in schools but not as hard as it was for parents of elementary kids. I heard about it on Friday while still at work. I did have to talk to one kiddo who saw it in the office on the news. Se was laughing about it to her friends. Shevdoesn't cope well and tends to say the opposite of what she feels. Mid afternoon we got an email from the superintendent that was from President Obama about putting the flag at half mast. It hit pretty hard that this was a big deal.
When I got home, the tv wasn't on. At one point, I looked it up on the Internet rather than turn on the tv so I could choose what I wanted to be exposed to. I read for about 5 minutes then turned it off. I did see some posts on Facebook and there was a lot of blame going around. I went to the office party that night and it wasn't talked about other than a person whose wife was a teacher who didn't come because she was struggling. Later I found out they have a grandchild that age. Nothing more that weekend other than finding some resources and ideas on Pinterest.
On Sunday, we prayed in church for the families and survivors and wrote a card that the Wesleyan church in Newton agreed to mail to the families.
On Monday, I had two kids referred down who needed to buzz about it so we talked awhile. Greg did a brief announcement just stating that we send our good thoughts to Newtown, to seek help if they needed it, and then a moment of silence. It was helpful. There were some emails and resource sharing amongst the social workers and from the head office.
Later in the day, a staff member came and we talked quite awhile. We talked about safety measures and how safe we feel in our school. He cried. We know there is no way to prevent something like that, just minimize the carnage and try to minimize the trauma.
Then at exercise class, I asked a kindergarten teacher how she was doing and if it was hard. She said that she knows she loves her kids that much, enough to die for them. It seriously choked me up. She is young like the young lady who put her kids in the closet and died for them in Newtown. This gal also works in a school that she feels unsafe in for multiple reasons. It made me feel good about Eisenhower.
A couple of points made on Facebook resonated with me. One was the post about the mom with a mentally ill son who feels helpless. Every year I have at least two to three kids on my caseload who are capable of something like this. All you can do is keep them as surrounded with help as possible and take action each time they go toward the edge. You can't ignore the signs and signals. I wonder how many disasters we've actually averted through our actions. Scary, huh?
Another post that was meaningful was the one by Morgan Freeman (later found out it was not him). He said that this happens because the media glorifies the shooter. If you are a disturbed individual who wants to go out in glory and be remembered, just do this and make sure it's bigger than the last one so it makes the news and guarantees your name and face will be remembered. The victims are soon forgotten in the media. So sick to think what someone will have to do to top this.
Another post was by Huckabee. I thought about posting a simple comment that says that God is love and where there is an absence of God, there is an absence of love and what remains is hate. Huckabee talks about how we limit God in our society, in our lives, and then wonder how things like this happen. We actually give satan permission to do this, people!
School is pretty calm now. I think that people may want to move on and stick to the routine. We 'll be reviewing our safety plans and maybe beefing up some things, mostly to make ourselves feel better. Today I heard they want us to keep our doors locked at all times and carry our keys everywhere we go. Ugh. We will probably take up some donations or write some cards or something. We will pray for the school and community tomorrow in FCA. And we'll move on. I will keep Newton and Sandy Hook in my prayers for a very long time.
When I got home, the tv wasn't on. At one point, I looked it up on the Internet rather than turn on the tv so I could choose what I wanted to be exposed to. I read for about 5 minutes then turned it off. I did see some posts on Facebook and there was a lot of blame going around. I went to the office party that night and it wasn't talked about other than a person whose wife was a teacher who didn't come because she was struggling. Later I found out they have a grandchild that age. Nothing more that weekend other than finding some resources and ideas on Pinterest.
On Sunday, we prayed in church for the families and survivors and wrote a card that the Wesleyan church in Newton agreed to mail to the families.
On Monday, I had two kids referred down who needed to buzz about it so we talked awhile. Greg did a brief announcement just stating that we send our good thoughts to Newtown, to seek help if they needed it, and then a moment of silence. It was helpful. There were some emails and resource sharing amongst the social workers and from the head office.
Later in the day, a staff member came and we talked quite awhile. We talked about safety measures and how safe we feel in our school. He cried. We know there is no way to prevent something like that, just minimize the carnage and try to minimize the trauma.
Then at exercise class, I asked a kindergarten teacher how she was doing and if it was hard. She said that she knows she loves her kids that much, enough to die for them. It seriously choked me up. She is young like the young lady who put her kids in the closet and died for them in Newtown. This gal also works in a school that she feels unsafe in for multiple reasons. It made me feel good about Eisenhower.
A couple of points made on Facebook resonated with me. One was the post about the mom with a mentally ill son who feels helpless. Every year I have at least two to three kids on my caseload who are capable of something like this. All you can do is keep them as surrounded with help as possible and take action each time they go toward the edge. You can't ignore the signs and signals. I wonder how many disasters we've actually averted through our actions. Scary, huh?
Another post that was meaningful was the one by Morgan Freeman (later found out it was not him). He said that this happens because the media glorifies the shooter. If you are a disturbed individual who wants to go out in glory and be remembered, just do this and make sure it's bigger than the last one so it makes the news and guarantees your name and face will be remembered. The victims are soon forgotten in the media. So sick to think what someone will have to do to top this.
Another post was by Huckabee. I thought about posting a simple comment that says that God is love and where there is an absence of God, there is an absence of love and what remains is hate. Huckabee talks about how we limit God in our society, in our lives, and then wonder how things like this happen. We actually give satan permission to do this, people!
School is pretty calm now. I think that people may want to move on and stick to the routine. We 'll be reviewing our safety plans and maybe beefing up some things, mostly to make ourselves feel better. Today I heard they want us to keep our doors locked at all times and carry our keys everywhere we go. Ugh. We will probably take up some donations or write some cards or something. We will pray for the school and community tomorrow in FCA. And we'll move on. I will keep Newton and Sandy Hook in my prayers for a very long time.
Crock pot corn
Ingredients:
Crock pot
Cream cheese
Milk
Butter
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Frozen corn
Put the cream cheese block in the bottom of the crock pot. Add butter, about 3 tablespoons but you can't get too much. Add equal amounts of salt, sugar and pepper, about 2-3 teaspoons each. I make little piles right there on the cream cheese block. Add enou milk to cover the bottom of the crock pot. Add a bag of frozen corn. Cook on low for 4 hours or so. sometimes i do it on high for less time, just stir it more often. The pictures below are for a double recipe.
Eat!
Crock pot
Cream cheese
Milk
Butter
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Frozen corn
Put the cream cheese block in the bottom of the crock pot. Add butter, about 3 tablespoons but you can't get too much. Add equal amounts of salt, sugar and pepper, about 2-3 teaspoons each. I make little piles right there on the cream cheese block. Add enou milk to cover the bottom of the crock pot. Add a bag of frozen corn. Cook on low for 4 hours or so. sometimes i do it on high for less time, just stir it more often. The pictures below are for a double recipe.
Eat!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Lake Christmas
Friday night I went to step class as usual though Ryndey was subbing for Kelly. Leah and David had gone to JC to a day or two so Scott and I went to willies for the Eisenhower Christmas party. I had fun and the food was delicious. A lot of people came so we has a good time talking. The people who were drinking were super loud so we stayed a couple hours then came home.
Saturday morning we got up and ready and went to Lake Wabaunsee for our Christmas with Larry and Jo etc. it was a little weird without Hannah and Emily there but it was nice to have David there and Shari's friend Aaron. I love Season, too. And Larry's brother Lonnie joined as also. I hadn't seen him in years and years. We did the usual fun games and massive eating and then it seemed like everyone stayed a long time. The girls really liked the scarves I made them, especially Season. I felt like I got quality conversations in with Shari, Season and Ian and at least caught up with CJ and Bonnie. Cj has grown up a lot. It was good to get to know Aaron, too. I liked him. I saw that Joel and Ian had quite a good talk and Joel even went outside and played catch with his cousins even with his bad knee!
When we got home at a decent time and played games- Scott, Leah, David, Joel and I. We played Settlers of Catan and banana grams. Fun times.
Saturday morning we got up and ready and went to Lake Wabaunsee for our Christmas with Larry and Jo etc. it was a little weird without Hannah and Emily there but it was nice to have David there and Shari's friend Aaron. I love Season, too. And Larry's brother Lonnie joined as also. I hadn't seen him in years and years. We did the usual fun games and massive eating and then it seemed like everyone stayed a long time. The girls really liked the scarves I made them, especially Season. I felt like I got quality conversations in with Shari, Season and Ian and at least caught up with CJ and Bonnie. Cj has grown up a lot. It was good to get to know Aaron, too. I liked him. I saw that Joel and Ian had quite a good talk and Joel even went outside and played catch with his cousins even with his bad knee!
When we got home at a decent time and played games- Scott, Leah, David, Joel and I. We played Settlers of Catan and banana grams. Fun times.
Joel Surgery
I am so leased they were able to get Joel in to see Dr Jones, get the MRI, and that Dr Hodges was able to get him squeezed in for the surgery on Wednesday! I took the day off work after rearranging a few things and took him to the surgical center at 8:00am. The place was swamped. Joel has never had surgery of any kind so I explained they'd get him ready then I'd wait with him in preop then he'd wake up. At 8:30 the nurse came to get him and said shed be right back for me. At 10 I went up to the counter and asked and they said they'd started the surgery! I was so pissed. So the girl fell all over herself bringing me messages that basically said nothing while he was in surgery but she must have gone to lunch. At noon, I went up there again a nod they said he was out of surgery! They said to go to this small room and the doctor would come talk to me. I waited and waited. I peeked in the recovery room and there were a bunch of people gathered talking and I got really scared. I was in tears by the time the doctor came in. He said the surgery went really well and he showed me pictures of the tear. It was a doosey! The used his hamstring to fix the Acl. As soon as Joel was in a room, they let me see him. Leah and Scott brought us some food. Joelmhad had a block so he was doing really well. He was also on good meds. I did the nystagmus test on him just for fun and it was really cool how his eye jumped around. We got him home around 3:30. Then the goober and his goober dad stayed up half the night playing games with cousin Jon and friend.
Thursday I went to work and they did a good job with the pain meds but forgot about ice and elevation. We took all his wraps off and he took a bath and his whole leg was swollen horribly. We almost called the doctor but we wrapped, iced and elevated it and it got better. He was pretty grumpy and groggy all evening but I turned over the meds schedule to him and went to bed.
On Friday when I got home, I couldn't believe the progress. He had been to PT and they were having him put full weight on it, bending it, etc. He can get around a lot better and isn't taking the full amount of pain meds.
Thursday I went to work and they did a good job with the pain meds but forgot about ice and elevation. We took all his wraps off and he took a bath and his whole leg was swollen horribly. We almost called the doctor but we wrapped, iced and elevated it and it got better. He was pretty grumpy and groggy all evening but I turned over the meds schedule to him and went to bed.
On Friday when I got home, I couldn't believe the progress. He had been to PT and they were having him put full weight on it, bending it, etc. He can get around a lot better and isn't taking the full amount of pain meds.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Elf on a shelf
I discovered elf on a shelf on Pinterest, of course, and remembered I have some elves from when I was little! So when I dug out my Christmas decorations, our little elves got busy with their mischief!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Adelle Birthday
Picked up Adelle on Saturday, the day after she officially turned 17. We had the day planned in advance, of course, so we headed to Pizza Hut. We ordered our cheese pizza and cinnamon sticks, two of Adelle's all time favorite foods. While we waited, she read the ticker at the bottom of the football game on tv to practice her sports commentating skills. Then we made a list of our traditions together:
Telling her mom we are going to Boston when we leave.
Pizza Hut on her birthday.
Loud music and rock fists in the car.
Our song: we don't even have to try
Facebook and YouTube.
Asking how Jess and Darby are.
Grocery store.
Car wash.
Around The Horn updates.
Then she opened her present and.....she liked it! I got her a whole bunch of notebooks and list pads including a journal of lists like " three friends you wouldn't mind being stranded on an island with.
After our pizza, we went bowling. Fun. A friend from her class cam with a gift! Surprise!
We ended our birthday visit with Orange Leaf. Yummmmm
Telling her mom we are going to Boston when we leave.
Pizza Hut on her birthday.
Loud music and rock fists in the car.
Our song: we don't even have to try
Facebook and YouTube.
Asking how Jess and Darby are.
Grocery store.
Car wash.
Around The Horn updates.
Then she opened her present and.....she liked it! I got her a whole bunch of notebooks and list pads including a journal of lists like " three friends you wouldn't mind being stranded on an island with.
After our pizza, we went bowling. Fun. A friend from her class cam with a gift! Surprise!
We ended our birthday visit with Orange Leaf. Yummmmm
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