The dreaded P word

I have noticed that my post are becoming less about me and more about the dogs!!! (I know I am not alone in this--cone of shame owner!). Anyhow, a week ago THursday, I came home and let the dogs in. Normally, they all run in and jump and have fun. Not Thursday. Not Hugo. He just looked at me as he continued to lie in his kennel. He then stood up and wobbled over to me, where he vomited clear liquid! It scared me so much I took him to the doggy ER. $250 later, found out he had PARVO!!!! When I was young, I lost my dog to parvo. It scared me sooooo much. I stayed up for 4 nights nursing him to health. On Monday night, I was so excited that he had made it. Tuesday morning, Mia refused to eat. NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!! I have been forcing water down her throat for the past 4 days. Today she is doing so much better. Thanks to my vet, the syringe and Pedialyte for all the assistance! We are not to leave our yard for a month, so no visits with Santa. Tomorrow I am putting up the tree and taking pics with them in front of it. i am so thankful that they are healthy again. I pray that Rhino does not get sick with it now! BTW: Hugo went from 32 lbs to 18 lbs in 4 days! Mia only lost 8 ounces. Pic is of Hugo after the illness.

Daddy

So now I am a father. Not of children, but of dogs. I don't really know how it happened. About 6 months ago, my roommate found a stray and brought it home. He asked if we could keep it. It is a cute little dog; looks like a chihuahua wiener dog mix. It was very skinny and very friendly, so I said yes. I ahve taken care of this dog ever since. I have grown a little attached to it. About three weeks ago, he said that the little dog needed a friend, and that we should get another dog. I agreed. He wanted a boxer, so he looked on Craigslist and found a guy who just had boxer/rhodesian ridgeback puppies. We went to south Phoenix to look at them. THEY WERE SO CUTE! I decided that I would take one as well. (My roommate said if he moved out, he would take his dog with him). So now I was planning on 3 dogs. That is great. We went last Sunday to pick the dogs up. The guy said the only pup left after we got our two was the runt. Nobody wanted her, and if nobody took her, he was going to feed her to his PYTHON!!!! I couldn't let that happen, so I took her as well! NOW, I HAVE 4-yes 4-DOGS!!!! The last week has been exhausting as we have learned to get on a feeding, watering, peeing and pooping schedule. We have moved from a little corner of the tile floor to taking over the whole living room to being boxed in a portion of the patio to roaming the whole backyard-all in 7 days. It was fun today trying to do yardwork with 16 feet under me. I am looking forward to them growing a little more so we can go to the park, etc. Maybe this is preparation for taking on bigger responsibility? who knows.....

What is a man....

What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. (Hamlet IV, iii)

So tonight I am happily teaching my favorite play, HAMLET...when we get to the above speech. I begin to explain the lines quoted above, when I had an emotional moment. WHY? I don't know! Each time I teach this play, I learn something new. I was explaining to my students that the chief mission in life is to have purpose. If we just live to eat and sleep, we are just like animals. In my mind, I was thinking about my purpose....then the emotional response swept over me. Try explaining that to hardened teenagers!

Mr. Fix-it

I don't know how or why, but I do not have any talent when it comes to fixing things. This morning my toilet broke. All I had to do was change one little pipe and everything would be ok. Not me though! When moving the toilet to fix the little pipe, I broke the whole toilet. Grrrrr. I then had to turn off the water, something I have never done before. I had to dig through a lot of weeds, grass and dirt to get to the valve. Then had to struggle to turn it off. I then took 3 hours to unscrew a bolt. My dad finally came over and informed that I was doing it all wrong!!!! I still do not have a toilet, do not have water.......AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Since the toilet is away from the wall, I decided to paint. So, I am going to paint the bathroom tonight and put the toilet ($165) on in the morning. Hopefully that won't take all day....

It's Life....

Not a very exciting day. I love teaching, but wow...kids are outta control this year! It seems that the first class I teach and the last class I teach are the most crazy! Last week, one of my students got drunk in class drinking vodka from her water bottle!! 12 years old!!! I also have tons of students who are constantly absent. grrrrrrrrrr....how can I teach them when they are not there? Let's try again tomorrow!

Sept 11, 2001

I can't believe this is the 8th anniversary of the tragic day. I still clearly remember living in my little bungalow in uptown Phoenix waking up to my alarm radio with a guy screaming that a 2nd plane had hit the WTC. I scrambled out of my bed, went into my front room and turned on the television. As I watched in disbelief, events unfolded across the country. I drove to work that morning listening to the radio. When they announced that the Pentagon was also attacked, I knew fear. What am I going to say to my students? Should we even have school today? I arrived at the school and was immediately called in to talk to the principal. He decided that we would have a normal school day. The purpose of terrorism was to get us to change who we were. If we change our day, they win. This action has had a profound impact on my life since. I share this with kids when they are getting teased, or someone wants them to react. If you react; they win. It was a difficult day. Many students were upset by the events. I remember tearing up watching television, and finally getting to a point where I couldn't watch television anymore...It was too much. Perhaps the memory that stands out the most is the candlelight vigil held in the neighborhood. I cannot drive down Central Ave. and look at the footpath without remembering that night. Everyone was so emotional, kind, loving, NEIGHBORLY. It makes me sad that those days are forgotten, America is back to where we were (or are we worse?)

Sleep? Shirley you jest! Who is Shirley anyways?

I hate hate hate it when I cannot get to sleep! Since my dryer is broken, I spent last evening at the laundromat. Since I was there, I thought I would wash my comforter and all my pillows. Shirley (there she is again!) I would sleep well with all my things smelling so neat and clean....nope. I tossed and turned until 4:30 in the morning. I so wanted to get up and work on my homework for "Law for the High School Leader" but thought I should stay in bed so I could finally go to dreamland! Now, I am moving in slow-mo all day long. I hate it. Just thought I would blow off steam Thanks.

Customer Service?

I walked into a Circle K this morning to purchase gas and something to drink. In front of me, two young girls were taking their time paying for their goodies. I am ok with that. But the cashier was so obnoxious to them. They left, I placed my items on the counter, said "Good Morning," no response. I looked at the debit card pay thingamadooger and it instructed me to swipe my card. Being one to follow orders, I did so. The cashier came unhinged. "DO YOU WANT ME TO RING UP YOUR STUFF OR NOT???" he bellowed. I said, "Sure, but one question. Why are you so rude?" You would have thought that I had just informed him there was no Santa Claus. The man started screaming at me that he did not have to put up with my S***! WOW....take a chill pill guy. I then informed him that I was the customer, and he probably needed to learn how to talk people. He kicked me out of Circle K! As I was walking out, he said, "Don't let the door hit you in the A**" WOW....
What has happened to customer service?

memories, Light the corners of my mind....

So I spent all day yesterday at my parents helping them get stuff ready to move. Long story short, they are losing the house we grew up in. Some of their investments gave up the ghost and they hadn't prepared for my dad to be on social security so soon. Anyways, my mom has an upstairs room in their house where everything gets dumped. Now I have one of those areas as well, but it is much smaller and has the accumulation of about 1 year of stuff. Imagine having a room like that where things get added for years!! They built this house 30 years ago, so picture how much stuff is in there! I thought I was on an episode of that show on A&E about hoarders. It was kind of fun to go through things that she hasn't seen in years! She found her Social Security card, all of our birth certificates, craft projects she started in the early 80s (macrame anyone?). The sad part was going through pictures and watching my mom try to figure out who was who, where was that picture taken, etc. It was also hard watching her look at pics of her mom and grandmother who have passed to the other side. A day that I thought would be arduous became a bonding experience with my mother. We are by no means finished, but what a great start! BTW: I have now been tasked with organizing the photos, scanning, saving and posting them to our myfamily.com website. (something I highly recommend!)

WOW!!! How things change

So I read my post from my birthday almost a year ago and realize how depressing and sad that was! However, the words were true and have made me focus on what I want. Soon after writing that blog, I lost my job. This normally would be a tragic event; however, I felt a rush of relief as I walked out of bad relationship with my life into a new adventure. The road has had some speedbumps, but now I am focused on what is best for me. I feel alive for the first time in a long time, and I am looking forward to what life has to offer. I began my Master's program to be a school administrator in January and I am really enjoying what I am learning. I teach two part time jobs and love both. I am working hard to balance my career with life and am now looking for opportunities to live! I am going to blog more so I can reflect better!