Total Pageviews

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sick kid + full time job = Nightmare

One of the first challenges of being a full-time mom and having a full-time job is when you have a sick kid. This week, Maggie is sick. Because we are on our Christmas vacation, my handling her sickness went smoothly.
You see, usually what happens when one of my kids is sick, and I discover this when I wake them up at 7 AM for school, is I have a list of questions in my head. Can they go to school like this? Do they have a fever? No fever, should they go to school like this? Sometimes I discover too late that one of my kids is sick, and it's too late to call a substitute. Like the day when I sent Maggie to school with a rash to school, that was all over her face. I ended up emailing her teacher that morning, and she was sent to the nurse. The nurse called me at my school to tell me that she's was alright, to my relief, since I was calling myself a Bad Mom all that morning. So, when my kids are sick, and I discover it in the morning, it can be stressful.
Once I discover that I need to take the day off to be with the kids, then another wave of things need to be completed. Calling the Sub Service to get a substitute. Writing up sub plans. Going to school and dropping off the sub plans. It's always hectic, and I always have to make that decision, "Are they sick enough to stay home all day."
When I was living in Germany last year as a stay-at-home mom, it was nice. If I thought they were sick, they just stayed home. Those questions, "Are they sick enough to stay home" never crossed my mind. If I simply thought they were sick, they just stayed home. I'm not saying that my kids go to school sick all the time, but it's those "Borderline Sick" days I'm talking about. Those Borderline sick days, while living in Germany, I would keep them home. But I guess I had other stresses while living in a foreign country: Like visits to the kids' doctor, and hoping that I would get the fluent speaking English doctor (which I only got once). The other times I went to their doctors, I got the German speaking doctor. And the best was when I got the medicine, and had to go to Google Translate to figure out what the heck I was doing with dosages.
This week, Maggie had to go to the doctor's on two days. So if I were working, I would have to have taken a couple days off this week. She's still not better. She was first diagnoised with a sinus infection, then on the 2nd visit, bronchitis, and now she's on an inhaler and steroids. I'm hoping she's not getting pneumonia. Yesterday, she was complaining of her chest hurting, so that worries me.
Some people would feel an inconvenience with their child getting sick during their vacation time off, but I'm feeling relieved that it happened when I was home.

Friday, December 30, 2011

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly


As I wrote in my first post, I love my dog Toga to death; when he's good and when he's bad. You see, even when he's bad, he's cute. I know as soon as I walk in the house, and he sits there and shakes uncontrollable, that he did something. He even looks cute when he sits there so pitiful, because as he shakes, I would like to think that he is sorry for the countless things I might find. Usually, I might find garbage out if we forget to shut the bathroom doors, or he has gotten into our work bags or the kids' backpacks.
The worse things he does involves getting on top of tables and eating food, or what he did two days ago.
We have a butcher table in our kitchen, and on this table we had leftover rolls from Christmas. Coming home after being out most of the morning, I walked into the mess he made: the bag of rolls, with only two left, on the floor. We must had come home when he was in the middle of eating all these rolls, because I would think all the rolls would had been eaten if we didn't interupt him and his badness. I walked further into the house, and he was hiding in his dog bed. For some reason, he wasn't shaking, but just hiding. So maybe he wasn't sorry for eating all those rolls?
Anyway, my dog Toga knows better. He is 11 years old; almost close to 12 years old. He's supposed to be in his senior years. He is still a sneaky little guy, who is fighting off the aging process, I guess. Instead of tranquil naps and being lazy, he is still wandering around the house when we are all gone, looking for trouble.
That night, Toga became very sick, but not to the knowledge of any of us until the next morning. My husband got ready for work and managed not to run into any of Toga's messes. Me, on the other hand, saw it right away. On our area floor rug, Toga had many accidents. All over the place. Yup, doggie diarrhea. The rug was a complete loss. I rolled it up, and lugged the 30 pound plus rug to the garbage. You ask, do I still love my cute dog? Yes, is my answer. But I was stressed because as I walked around the house to check the status of other rooms, that's when I saw the many more messes. On my dining room floor, in all areas of the room. I was mad, but I felt more sorry for Toga, because he was sick. Seconds after cleaning up the dining room, I heard screams from my daughter. He actually backed up himself and made a basket right in Maggie's boot. He had to think about where that one was going! OK, now I'm getting mad, since these are her new Keen winter boots that cost more than what I usually spend on boots. An hour later though, those boots were shiny and new, after a ride in the washer.
There's reasons why things happen, is my thinking when bad things happen. So I got rid of a rug. That rug probably needed to leave. It was too big for the room, and it made the room seem smaller than what it is. And it wasn't as bright and vibrant as it once used to be. Now in the room, I have put our Turkish rug that we bought in Instanbul. This rug is amazing and is what I would consider a family heirloom. It was hidden in our family room, where it looked small and insignificant. It looks perfect in our parlor room. It should be treasured and loved in this room. So it all worked out.
Toga, on the other hand, was mad yesterday. After dogs have bouts of diarrhea, you are not supposed to feed them for 24 hours. So all day yesterday, he did not eat. He sat in the kitchen most of the day yesterday, looking at me with those eyes, wondering where the food was. Today, it was a bowl of rice, until dog food is scooped back into his bowl in a couple of days.
I still love this dog to death. I guess we should all take lessons on a senior dog, who still loves the thrill of trouble. Hopefully, as I get older, I will remember this. The thrill of living, even as we age.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My First Post


My first post....I guess I should start out by telling more about who I am. What defines me.

My name is Stacey and I am 41. I am a wife, mother, teacher. This year is my 17th year of teaching and I'm currently teaching Kindergarten. Currently, I am very fulfilled being a teacher and educator, but at the same time, I feel like there's something more out there for me to do. What that is; I don't know. Being a writer? Opening my own pre-school? Teaching at a community college? These are ideas and aspirations I toy around with.

Last year, I was an expat's wife. I spent a year living in Germany, and in that year, I traveled to 15 countries and learned so much about life. I really should had started my blog last year, huh??? I have been back in the United States for almost 6 months, and I'm finding that I'm still adapting back to my "old life" here. My year in Germany was similar to an "Eat, Pray, Love" year. I took time for myself, I grew confident. Part of my adjustments back to the United States is the balance of being a mom and having a full-time job, and on top of that, finding time for my husband. But I guess that is half of America and the world. But I had the luxury of just being a full-time mom while in Europe, and it felt great to be on top of the kids' activities, the housekeeping, and just feeling relaxed. Now, I am driving around town, with my head cut off, barely able to think. I am still adjusting to my transition back here. I fell in love with Europe- the architecture. Walking and not having to rely on a car. City life. Cobblestone streets. The fashion. The excitement of traveling. Learning about cultures. I don't know when I will be "back to my ole self," in terms of me just not missing my old life. It's kind of like going through a break-up- that's what I'm going through. I really did fall in love with Europe, and now we are broken up.

I named my blog, "Forty and Fabulous" because that's what I feel, right now in this stage of my life. I feel the best that I've ever felt. I think my year in Europe changed me to feel this way, along with just being wiser, that comes along with getting older.

I have a husband, Tim, and we have been married for 16 years. I am madly in love with him, and he's the best thing that happened to me. I truly feel lucky to have the relationship I have.

I have a son who is 9 years old, Riley. Riley is an old soul, and when I hang out with him, sometimes I think he's the "older" one. I wonder where life will take him. My daughter Maggie is 7 and she's full of energy and very witty and chatty. I feel lucky to have my kids, too. They are good to me. I cherish my relationships with both my kids and hope that my closeness with them continues on until the teenage years and adulthood.

What else to describe me: I am bubbly, friendly, positive person. I surround myself with people like me. All of my best friends inspire me, and there's something in them that I aspire to be more of.

I have a Boston Terrier dog named Toga. Toga is like my child. I love that dog to death. I will probably put a million pictures of him on this blog.

Well, this is my first post. I plan of writing about daily life events; A-ha moments, my life as a mother, teacher and wife. As I write, I have no idea who my audience is. I guess right now it's just ME!

So long!!