Summer!

And I'm officially done!

I was in school from about 10:30 til almost 5pm.  I managed to get all my stuff into the new office--not all unpacked, but most of it and the rest in rubber totes.  Would you believe that someone stole two books that I left (stupidly) on top of some boxes in the hallway?  They were samples and not used much, but I didn't leave til 3:30.  Curious...

The office was pretty grimy and gross, but I bleached the hell out of the desk and phone and wiped down all the other surfaces.  I wonder how long this will be home?  I have to bring in some stuff to put on the walls.

Now I've been sucked in to "The Brothers Bulger" by Howie Carr and am up to 1980.  So profoundly disturbing.  I prefer to think that people are essentially good, but this tale has me thinking otherwise.

Let the relaxation and vegetation begin....

Oops, still one day more.

This isn't like me--my mom trained me to run out the door on the last day of school just behind the kids and to not look back until Labor Day....

The kids' last day was today, and I'm going to go in tomorrow to clean and hopefully set up my new office space.  I tried to swap for some space on the first floor but finally agreed to keep the MFL office in the basement because the classics office has been, like, on the first floor since the school opened in 1635, so....it's ok.  I still have a window. 

I probably won't have a smile on my face. 

It will be easier to hook up the iPod and work away with fewer distractions.  And I somehow got the custodians to do the office floor today, so it will be all nice and shiny and in perfect condition for me to drag boxes across it. 

Then, I swear summer begins.  For real.  It kind of feels like it's kicking in because I have no grading to do, no planning to do, no ideas running around on an endless loop in my head...and I'm freakin' exhausted from schlepping boxes all day. 

To quote the custodian as he looked at my three foot high pile of assorted boxes, totes and milk crates, "You have a lot of shit."  He then followed it up with, "Do you use all of it?"

Why yes, yes I do.  See the previous post about my teacher-hoarder behavior.  If I don't use it and throw it away, as soon as it is gone, I will be searching for that one piece of paper I think I need.  Like a madwoman.  So yes, I must keep all of it in one place. 

"It ain't all gonna fit in that office. You know that, right?" 

Why yes,  yes I do.  I just want to pretend before the inevitable freakout at the thoughts of having to lug said shit home, and store it some place. 

So, tomorrow will be an interesting experience of doing what my dad would describe as "trying to fit 10  pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag." 

On a happier note, Mr. Wonderful took himself to IKEA  and purchased four bookcases!  Three of them have been put together and already completely filled, so the box piles have decreased amazingly.  I brought the empties to school and used all of them--what a good recycler I am!  We're trying to figure out how to configure the space in the den so we can have a den/office/library and space for the computer...we're making progress. 

Just in time for me to possibly bring home a carload of school materials/books/classroom decorations.  The Barbie and Ken dolls and fake food are taking up residence in the storage unit in the garage until needed later...

At least I can sleep in a bit--the floors won't be dry until after 9am.  Guess I should bring them donuts for doing my floor early? 

Gershwin starting to float thru my head..."Summertime and the living is easy..."

One day more....

Can you hear Jean Valjean and the cast of "Les Mis" belting this out?  I can!  I just can't find a picture that I can put on here.  Bummer.

Today is day 179, so that means one more day left to school year 2010-11.  (Insert smile and deep heavy sigh here.)

My classroom is a model of organized chaos as I pack everything (and I mean everything, down to the last colored paper clip).   I don't know where I'm going yet--either down to the basement (troll!) or somewhere on my current floor.  I get an office next year and lose my classroom, and I still don't know how I feel about that.  I mean, I have some great classroom decorations that will have to go into storage or get plastered in the tiny office....sombreros, wall hangings, posters, postcards, gifts from kids who have traveled to places like Spain, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico...I have way too much stuff.  The file cabinet alone fills 7 boxes.

I think it's a little known secret that teachers are in fact closet hoarders when it comes to school stuff.  I literally am afraid to throw things out, and probably have at least 2 paper copies of everything I use.  I think it comes from never knowing from year to year if there will be money for new stuff, so we cling to all the old stuff, no matter how old.  I checked out one office that I might end up in tomorrow, and the previous occupant left a few full drawers in the desk and file cabinets.  He told me that the stuff was there when he moved in at least 7 years ago and that he never got around to touching it.  Really?  More deep heavy sighing here.

I also have a ton of materials from teaching Spanish 1, 2 and 3;  someday I might have to teach them again, so I can't possibly throw them out yet.  Even though it's been three years since I taught Spanish 1. My fake food, menus, Barbies and Kens can't go anywhere.  Just in case.

Next year I have a new position, something different and unscripted apparently.  I get to be what is being called a "lead teacher" or "teacher leader", depending on who you're talking with...the idea is that I get to teach two classes (and they are both AP!) and spend the rest of my time doing department stuff, like working with new teachers and counting books.  It will be a change, and hopefully let me see what life is like on the other side of the classroom door.  Not sure what side I want to be on down the road, but this will be a good way (I hope) to find out.  Basically, it's a position that was created because there wasn't enough money in the budget to reinstate a full-time department head.  I won't do evaluations.

However, I might have to come in on Wednesday to find my new space and move stuff...and of course clean it.  So now it's almost 5pm, and I've had enough.  Homeward bound to collapse.  At least my grades are done.

"One more dawn, one more day, one day more!"
followed by
"Summer summer summer time...time to sit back and unwind..."

Weekend!!

Ahhhh another weekend.  And a long one at that--Happy Bunker Hill Day!!  Usually I'm not a big fan of this day off since it comes so close to the end of the school year, but this year it falls on a Friday, so I won't complain about a mini-break!  Not that this week was a back breaker--more down time than usual due to classes writing essays and taking finals.  I do have 100+ essays to grade though, so I'll pay for a little relaxation somewhere else....

Isn't that a cool shot of the Bunker Hill Monument and Charlestown? 

The parade was last weekend, but we didn't go.  Weather was iffy.  Instead, I spent the weekend playing with the fire truck.  Mr. Wonderful entered the Pirsch into a muster on Saturday, complete with a parade through the town where it was being held.  Kind of cool to sit in the front of the truck and play with the air horn and sirens, and watch all the little kids dressed up as firemen.  I don't have a picture of that anywhere handy at the moment. 

I'm headed north tomorrow to hang out with Sis in the 603. 

Feeling ok, but I was almost late to work twice since I can't quite drag my sorry ass out of bed early enough.  That and the traffic is nuts.  Kind of tired.  And a little stressed out because I only have 7 more days to close my classroom for the year....

OH HOW COULD I FORGET TO POST THAT THE BRUINS WON THE STANLEY CUP LAST NIGHT??

That could be why I'm a little more tired today!

They beat Vancouver in game 7.  I stayed up to watch the game, and it was amazing.  My uncle used to take me to Bruins games when I was a kid, and we'd go to 4 or 5 a season.  It was great--we just had to walk over the bridge to the Garden, and pretty soon I knew all the stats of every player.  I played gym hockey too at my parish, so I loved the game.  Loved Ray Bourque too, and Cam Neely, and Terry O'Reilly, and Stan Johnathan, and Gerry Cheevers....it really was awesome to see them win last night.  Tim Thomas? No words to adequately describe what he did throughout the playoffs. 

Such a good week....
Bruins win the Stanley Cup.
Sis gets a teaching job for next fall.
I get a new position for next fall, more on that later.  I get to keep my AP classes though. 
Year is basically over except for reading essays and figuring out term and year end grades. 
I don't want to jinx anything, but it's all good at the moment....

And it's Father's Day this weekend...this is a pic my Sis found while going through old slides.  I figure it was taken around 1976  based on my lovely school uniform and the red watch I'm wearing--that was a first communion present, and I made that in 1976.   We're in the downstairs kitchen in the house where I grew up--gotta love the color scheme!  I love the picture too.  Dad's been gone since 1999, and some days it's really hard to believe that so much time has passed.  He's only about 33 here.  Still miss him every day...

It took you this long to find me??

Kind of funny today...word got to me that some of my students have managed to find this blog.  Hi!  I'm actually surprised you didn't find it sooner. 

It's really not all that interesting since most of my posts are about my thyroid cancer stuff, meds, feeling tired and the after-effects of my traitorous thyroid gland.  I mention school every now and then, but I don't use any names or even the name of the school, and I won't.  Some of the school stories are actually pretty funny.

So I wonder what my posts look like to you?  Things are actually pretty good...life doesn't always give you what you want or hope, so you have to find ways to cope and figure out what to do with the hand you've been dealt. While my hand doesn't sound great in parts of this blog, I've been pretty blessed with the people in my life (including you), and I have a lot to be thankful for in spite of some pretty depressing stuff that has happened. And I'm not dead yet--to quote a friend of my mom's, "Every day above the ground is a good one."  And I still get to come in and torture you with Spanish literature every day, so what's not to love about life?  :)

I come from a long line of stubborn Irish women, and it takes a lot to make me not want to get out of bed in the morning....and my parents always told me, someone out there always has it worse than you do. 

 I started keeping track of all of this just in case another person looking for information about thryoid cancer could use it--that's how I got a lot of practical info after my diagnosis, by reading other blogs, and it was really helpful.  And it's a great way to process what's going on, especially when things get stressful and scary.

So, dear estudiante mio, now you can see why it's been a little harder this year for me to find stuff, to remember what I was going to say, to not lose my patience at times....

Un abrazo,
Mrs. K

Doing a happy dance....

Undetectable!!

Got my bloodwork results back today--thyroglobulin is still undetectable!!  No thyroid cancer at the moment.  

My TSH is at 0.19, and Dr. N said she is very happy with it at that level, so no changes in my levoxyl.  How do I then explain feeling symptomatic off and on?  

Everything else was in the normal range except for my triglycerides which are high.  She said to take two capsules of omega 3 fish oil tablets and that should help.  I can blame mom for the triglycerides--she always had trouble with them.  

So, good to go till a blood pressure check in July.  

Whew.  

Antibiotics rule!

Yay, bronchitis is almost completely gone.

Happy National Cancer Survivor's Day yesterday!

I saw Dr. N the day after the last post, she took one look at me and said, "You don't sound normal." Result?  A z-pak and cough syrup with coedine!  Score!!  The cough syrup was pretty gross and really didn't do anything, like knock me out sufficiently to sleep through the night.  But, after a week of people grimacing every time I coughed, there was marked improvement.  Apparently I did need an antibiotic, Ms. Physician's Assistant. So, I have survived a nasty bout of spring bronchitis.  Luckily it didn't turn into pneumonia.

Happy dance too as Dr. N agreed to become my primary care doctor!!  I think I basically wore her down to the point of hounding her looking for a new primary care, and she said to call my insurance and beg them to add me to her list.  I still have to do that.  She looked at me and said, "It makes more sense since all of your problems are going to be endocrine-related."
Oh.  You mean I'm going to have problems?  I had no idea.

On the downside, I have zero reflexes, meaning my TSH is off and too low.  I could have told you that with the bushels of hair I'm cleaning out of the drain and off the floor of my bathroom every day.  Dr. N actually laughed out loud when my knees didn't respond.  I had to wait until this weekend to do my fasting bloodwork (nearly fainted again) to check thyroglobulin (tumor marker) and all the other stuff she checked a couple of months ago.  And, my blood pressure was up, so she says I have to go on meds for that.  I think the estrogen stuff is driving that up.  I haven't started it yet--she told me to wait until the coughing stopped.  Next on the list. Now, the wait for the phone call with instructions about what to do to right the tilting hormonal ship again.

To validate the fact that I'm off again, I slept yesterday from 2pm to 6 pm, and slept hard.  It's like I can function some of the time, and then crash into exhaustion, feeling physically in pain because I'm so tired, or just a short-tempered bitch who can't process information or make a decision.  I'm finding myself holding off committing to just about anything.

Living with me is just peachy right now!  Mr. Wonderful feels like he can't do anything right (he did put another pair of my pants in the dryer after 5 years of trying to get him to recognize that if they aren't his really long pants, they must be mine and therefore cannot go in the dryer due to potential shrinkage.) and I'm trying not to be a nag.  But it's hard if I think I might lose a well-fitting pair of pants--things that fit are few and far between some day.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU PUT MY PANTS IN THE DRYER?? MOVE OR I'LL BITE YOU!!

Yeah, some days lately I feel like that lovely image above.  I think I spend all day suppressing it at school and then once I come home really pooped, the Alien breaks out of my chest and rules all until I fall asleep.  I think this is why God decided I should not raise my own children?  

In the meantime, Mookie is starting to snuggle with me.  He curled up on my hip during yesterday's epic nap.  School is winding down in some ways as we try to cram in all the stuff that's left.  Can you read Isabel Allende in two days or less?  Weather is heating up, supposed to be in the 90s by the end of the week.  I'm not ready to give up my little sweaters quite yet, and I sure as hell don't want to go to sleeveless yet.  Western Mass is cleaning up from the tornados of last week--unheard of in these parts.  The lightning storms that moved through Boston were spectacular to say the least, and it was actually scary being on the 5th floor with bright bolts flashing over the city and howling winds making me wonder if the sliders would hold.  

It's been quite a couple of weeks...this cartoon seems to sum things up....