Cherish Your Health

It was a chilly Autumn morning today and whilst teaching some sort of interesting vocabulary tidbit to my French 1 class, I felt a very sharp pain in my chest.  It didn't hurt me enough to stop teaching but the pressure remained throughout that class and the next two Spanish classes.  Since we thankfully have a school nurse on duty, I decided to go talk to her during my lunch and she pretty much told me I had to call my husband and go to the ER right away.  I guess chest pain is not to be taken lightly.  Geez, all I expected was to get a couple of aspirin and be on my way.  

Well, my husband arrived about 30 minutes later, picked me up, and took me to the emergency room.  A team of efficient medical professionals swarmed in, placed sticky things all over me and took my blood pressure, pulse, and several vials of blood. Luckily, my EKG came back normal as did my blood work with regard to heart problems.  However, I do have high glucose, which I need to fix. The doctor thinks the pain is acid reflux but I tend to think it's a pulled muscle.  Of course, he went through years and years of medical school so who am I to argue?

Lesson learned today?  I need to get off my derrière, exercise, and eat healthier foods.  You know, like we should all do every day.  That and I need to appreciate my good health much more than I do.  I want to be around for my family for as long as I possibly can.  I want to see these two wonderful youngsters become the people they are destined to be!   ¡Salud!

Hug the ones you love a little tighter

My love of languages has led me to become a language teacher.  I am in my first year at a new school, the high school where the middle schoolers I taught for nine years have attended high school. I also get to do lunch duty this year. I encounter perhaps 150-200 young people every day.  I love what I do for the most part, although grading is not exactly a picnic.

But what happened today makes that little inconvenience seem completely meaningless. Today, an otherwise healthy 17-year-old student at my school passed away. He had suffered a stroke during his football game last night, underwent surgery this morning, and never recovered.

I did not have Andre in class, but I saw how this tragedy affected the kids in the lunchroom and classroom today. My school community has a close-knit, family atmosphere and it is wonderful to witness firsthand. Those kids lean on each other in their time of need, as they should. Unfortunately, this school has had more than its fair share of tragedy in the last few years.

I cannot imagine what his family has been going through for the past 24 hours.  My heart is with Andre's family, teammates, classmates, friends, and indeed the entire SMW community. Rest in peace, Andre Maloney.

KC Star article about Andre

Wishing for Washington state!

Waxing nostalgic today for the state of Washington.  Chris and I were lucky enough to enjoy a 15th anniversary trip there in 2011 for the Sequim Lavender Festival as well as other side trips.  Yes, I dragged my husband to lavender farms.  Yes, he liked it.  Real men like lavender, in case you didn't know!  :)

The temperature today where we live in the Great Plains didn't get much higher than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were even cooler than Sequim, WA.  I know this because Sequim is saved as a favorite place on my Weather Channel app.  The sky was overcast and we had a little bit of rain, which suited me just fine.  It felt so much like Washington state that I started thinking back on our time there and felt like sharing some photos.  

I miss all this:

A Kansas girl can't get enough of the ocean

Pike Place Market, Seattle

First Starbuck's, Seattle

Seattle's Puget Sound

Lovely lavender!

Snow in July!

It's love at first sight.

View from our B&B window--Port Townsend

We weren't the only ones celebrating 15 years!

Point Wilson Lighthouse, Fort Worden State Park

Old Consulate Inn, Port Townsend

Cape Flattery

Hoh Rainforest

Me and my sweetie at Hurricane Ridge

Washington, je t'aime et tu me manques!

Last vestiges of summer, Labor Day, et al.

Summer vacation was over for me a few weeks ago when I had to report back to work. But the summer season is officially coming to close with Labor Day weekend nearly over.

Thanks to our forebears in the workforce who fought for a living wage, a decent work week, and no child labor, most of us in "civilized" countries enjoy vacation time, sick leave, and many other job perks despite the current stagnant income.  I won't delve too deeply into this topic; I just wanted to make sure I gave a shout out to those brave men, women, and children in the past.  As a proud member of a union, I mourn the lack of union presence in the American workplace today.

But onto less serious stuff, here are some photos of our final taste of summer:

I even got in a little quilting this weekend!  This is Savonnerie layer cakes by Moda Fabrics. I will most likely make a two-sided tablecloth out of this.  

So tomorrow it will be business as usual:  no swimming pool, no sewing machine, no late night Danish movies on Netflix. Alas, I will roll up my sleeves and act like Rosie the Riveter:  

Origami Owl!

I have been waiting literally for months to become an Origami Owl Independent Designer.  The company has been THAT successful!  I got my kit today and I have made my first Living Locket:

This week marked my first week at my new school.  I have gone back to teaching high school after being a middle school teacher for 10+ years.  I am so exhausted from waking up early again, getting to know the school layout (where the bathrooms and copy machines are is quite important!), and being on my feet for nearly eight hours per day.  But it's a good kind of exhausted.

Then I came home today to find my Origami Owl kit waiting for me.  And I also found this in my mailbox:

What a great end to my school week!

Last creative projects of the summer

School is starting back up soon but I wanted to share my last creative venture of the summer--two cool bags I sewed myself. This is quite the feat because I never figured I would be able to sew much of anything. But I think they turned out pretty well. I got the idea from Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Co. Here is a link to the You Tube video.

Such a fun, creative summer it has been but it's time to get back to the old grindstone.  :)

Finally got our vacation album done!

I love Shutterfly!  They have so many wonderful products.  I have ordered many of their photo books and here is my latest one.  It details our recent road trip from Kansas to Walt Disney World.  I can't wait to get it.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a wide range of artful designs and embellishments to choose from.