Chaos

I feel like I haven't posted in FOREVER. I've been so busy with school stuff and having a sick kid, so the thought of even touching my blog has caused some anxiety. Lucky for me, Parker's dad took him like he normally does on Wednesday evenings. This gave me time to get my lesson planning done before he got home so that I would not be up till 11pm working (like I have been the last few weeks). My goal...to go to bed as soon as I post this :) We'll see if that happens. 

Anyway, I went to dinner Monday night with my parents and Parker, and halfway through, I notice that Parker is refusing to eat ANYTHING. Not only that, but he is burning up. A lot. Now, this was probably the worst timing ever. I had to be in school the next day because I was being observed. Parker's dad had to be at work because of timesheets and meetings, and my parents were not sure if they could take off either. So I had a mini panic attack Monday evening. What the heck was I going to do?! Well, we eventually figured it out, and my step-dad was able to stay home with him. I left the school as soon as the day was over instead of staying after for meeting and student tutoring. Parker slept for four hours that afternoon. FOUR HOURS! I'm thinking that had something to do with him feeling better. He slept for another hour and a half when I got to my parents house, so I curled up on the recliner and took a much needed nap as well. It was wonnnnderful. I never get to take naps anymore, so when I can, I take full advantage. 

I am so tired this week. I wish I could say that I will get to relax a little this weekend, but I am supposed to work for 10 hours on saturday, and play kickball on sunday. Speaking of, I have been wearing a brace on my left hand for the past 4 days, and I think that it is actually helping the injury that I got 2.5 weeks ago during my kickball game. Maybe I wont have to go to the doctor after all...

Kickball Injuries

I think I have bad luck with the Winter kickball season. Last year after my very first game of kickball, I fell down the stairs at my parents house. 9am on a Saturday. Sober. Not even hungover. In fact, I was more well rested than normal because Parker's dad had him the night before. Unknown to me until 2 days later, I had broken my tailbone. I was walking around as if I had a giant stick up my butt. The steps I was able to take were so minusculey small, it was pathetic. To be able to get through my day at work, I had to sit on giant pillows at my desk chair. The vicodin the urgent care doctor gave me made me completely useless at work, so I was suffering through the pain with just the help of ibuprofen. My broken tailbone took me about 6 weeks to heal from. 6 weeks with a broken tailbone while also being a single mom to a 1.5 year old was torture. You cant just ignore a 1.5 year old and lay on your stomach on the couch. No... you have to still be up and doing things at all times. The pain was ridiculous. 

So, while I did not hurt myself actually playing kickball last season, this season is different. I had a game this last Sunday, and while playing second base, three of the fingers on my left hand had a small collision with the leg of another player. They bent backwards, and pain instantly shot through my fingers and hand. All I could think of as I was in pain was "I don't have insurance, I don't have insurance, I don't have insurance!!" Since I had to leave my job at UCP last month, my insurance is no longer valid. Luckily, I don't think that I need any medical attention, even though the hand is still hurting days later. The hand is not swollen, not bruised or discolored, pretty much looks great by the naked eye. BUT, it hurts still. A lot. It aches constantly, and any strange movement, and a few sharp pains go through my hand and wrist. All I can hope is that the pain will go away soon, and that the string of Winter season kickball injuries stops here.

The French Fry Dance

Did you know there is such thing as a french fry dance? Neither did I until last night. My two and a half year old taught me all about it (as well as my mom and step-dad [Dan]) yesterday evening. 

To begin with, Parker and I decided to visit my parent's house after I picked him up from his other grandma after I got back from Eugene and done with my kickball game. They decided that they would buy us dinner from Burgerville so we had an abundance of french fries at our disposal.

After awhile, Dan asked me if I could play a song off the Glee album that Parker used to sing along with months back. So, I put it on, and Dan turned up the volume nice and high. Parker, of course, loves to dance--so he and I started singing and dancing around the living room. Pretty soon he had a french fry in each hand and shoving french fries into mine. Slowly he followed by shoving french fries in my mom and dan's hands. And them pleading with them to come dance and sing with him. So there the four of us were. Dancing around the living room to Glee songs while holding french fries. The song hit of the night was Glee's Jump song--every time the word "jump" was sang in the song, all of us jumped in the living room (still holding french fries). Parker thought this was awesome and amazing. He was having so much fun!!

It was truly a great night, and definitely a night that I will not soon forget...

Two Days

Two more days of work. Two. Days. That's it. And then I am supposed to be able to leave here, feeling all happy that I am going to finish up my schooling and get out of this place. Problem is, I love my place of work. I thoroughly enjoy most of the people I work with on a daily basis, and I find a lot of inspiration by working and interacting with the people we support at my office. I am going to miss seeing all of them so much!! Luckily, I still get to see some of my favorite co-workers, as we all play on a kickball team together. This is a picture from our summer tournament this last summer. So much fun!

I think part of the problem with me leaving is that I am comfortable here. Sure, it isn't my ideal job, and it sure as heck doesn't pay as much as I would like it to, but it's a job (with income!) that I like... and I am proud of how far I have come here. In three and a half years, I have held four different positions, and have worked my way up to a middle-management position. I'm the youngest manager (by far), and my boss has nothing but positive things to say about my work. It's hard to leave something like that, you know?