Weird Wednesday -or- My Space Has Been Abducted

I have to apologize if the previous post is hard to read. I don't know why it wouldn't let me put a space between paragraphs.

I will add a space here to see if it works. If it does, then maybe the previous post was too long?? I dunno. Probably just a Weird Wednesday. Surprise, surprise. A Weird Wednesday in my world? Surely not.

Guess What I Got?!

Yesterday evening I did it. I just typed in the information and hit the request button. I held my breath while I did it. And then I got the confirmation that I could have what I requested. Wow! It was scary and exciting all at the same time! It is still scary and exciting!

What is this mysterious thing that I did? I bought us plane tickets to Hawaii!

When My Crazy Man and I got married, we decided that we wanted to visit Hawaii to celebrate our first anniversary in July 2012. But, we wanted to take The Boy and my Little Little Brother along. We decided that this would be a once in a lifetime trip, so we started to save.

Then, Crazy Man's cousin and her military husband found out they would be sent to Hawaii in June 2009. They would be there for a minimum of three years. If we waited to go in July 2012, they may be gone. And it is always more fun to have friends and family around to do things with. So, we decided to move it up to July 2011. But then we found out that a couple of our friends who wanted to go also wouldn't be able to go then since he is scheduled to be deployed that month. So, we moved it up to July 2010.

And that is when I bought the tickets for! We are supposed to leave the morning of July 2 and our return plane lands the afternoon of July 16. When our plane takes off, we will have been saving money for 18 months. We know that we will have enough, because we have been cutting back on things for just this reason. We would much rather put things off now so we can make this a once in a lifetime trip.

The plan is that this will be a graduation present for my Little Little Brother (who is scheduled to graduate in May 2011). We are hoping to be able to take some pictures over there that he can use for his Senior Pictures. I love to take pictures and I think this would be a great thing. I would be able to take pics, and my parents would be able to save money. (Since we all know that the professional pics usually cost big bucks.) The Cuz's are scouting great picture places in Hawaii everyday!

I think I should also clarify a few things in the previous ramblings. After reading it I realize that it doesn't make sense to say I am married and plan to celebrate our first anniversary in 2012! It also may not make sense that I have a Little Little Brother who is going to graduate in a couple of years.

The easiest one to clarify is about my brother. I am the oldest of three kids. I have a Big Little Brother who is 20 months younger than I am. He has a 10 year old son. When we were preparing for my first wedding (the marriage that brought me The Boy) and my Big Little Brother's high school graduation, our parents told us that we would be getting another sibling. I loved going to the priest and telling him that we would need to move my wedding up a couple of months due to pregnancy! You should have seen the look on his face! Talk about priceless! It got even better when I told him that the pregnancy was my mother's and not mine! I thought he was going to pass out from the shock and laughing so hard!

We were all excited since my parents had always wanted three kids and had tried for years without luck. All of a sudden, we got what they had hoped and prayed for for a lot of years. It was a fun pregnancy actually! (I don't think that 'fun' is the word my mom would use though!) We were all there for the ultrasound and the day of delivery.

So, my Little Little Brother was born when I was 20 years old. I didn't know how else to distinguish between my brothers since I then I had two little brothers. The easiest way was to call them my Big Little Brother and my Little Little brother! Of course, they are both a lot bigger/taller than I am!

And that is the reason I have a brother who is a junior in high school and a son who is a freshman. They have been raised almost as brothers and look out for each other in the manner. They fight and bicker like brothers too.

As for the first anniversary celebration in July of 2012. That one is fairly easy to clarify and yet, not so much!

My Crazy Man and I met in 2001, online. We dated for several months and decided that it just wasn't going to work out for us. He had planned to become an over the road truck driver. I didn't think that our relationship was strong enough to survive being apart that much. So, we went our seperate ways.

Fast forward to January 2006. I saw him pushing a cart in Sam's Club one afternoon. I was going to say something to him, but then saw a purse in the cart and decided that I would act as though I didn't see him. I figured that the purse had to belong to his woman and if he saw me and wanted to speak, then I would talk to him. But I wasn't going to initiate the conversation.

Well, he did see me and called my name. He told me that he had a new "baby" and asked if I wanted to see a picture of her. Of course I said yes. He pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture of a blue Harley Davidson motorcycle! I just looked at him like he was crazy. I told him that I thought he meant an actual baby. He said no, that he wasn't even married! I asked if the purse was his then. He said that it belonged to his mom! He took my number and we started to talk nearly everyday.

We talked like that until the day I wished him a happy birthday in March. He stopped calling after that. I figured that it was going to be up to him, that I wasn't going to chase after him. He called back on May 7 and left a message asking if I wanted to go for a bike ride with him. We then made plans to go ride on May 13, 2006.

That was the first real date we had since we had met back up in January. It was also the first time I had ever been on a motorcycle. We have been together everyday since. We have either talked on the phone or been side by side everyday.

On February 14, 2008, my Crazy Man won a contest through the Sean Hannity show where each Valentine's Day three couples propose. He was chosen to be one of those guys who was able to propose on air.

On February 29, 2008 (yes, 15 days later!) we were married in the local Harley Davidson dealership. We wanted something different and totally 'us'. And we got it!

That is why we say that our real first anniversary will be in 2012. In February this year, we said that we had been married for 3 months! Next February it will be 6 months and so on. We have been having a ball with it all! I will have to post some pics from our wedding sometime in the future. I don't have them with me today since I didn't really know that I would be writing about it!

All of that to say that we got tickets to Hawaii for next July!

Mounds of Papers

I know I said that I would be able to post more since school started. I know. I know. And here it is Friday and this is the first post all week. I really try not to lie. But I feel like I did!

I am just now able to peek my way out from the mounds of paperwork that comes with starting school. Matter of fact, I had to move papers off my keyboard just to type this post! The word crazy just doesn't do this week justice! I would say that I hope it slows down a bit next week, but I am thinking that it is just getting started. It will slow down soon. I know this is true since I have been doing this for a while, but evidently I am able to block out the first week of school until I am having to re-live it all over again.

Yesterday I met the newest nurse at the other school I am in charge of. Hmmm. Not sure how that is going to go. Took my consultant with me to also meet her. The new nurse looks to have just graduated nursing school, and seemed to be getting more and more overwhelmed the more we talked and instructed her on what has to be done when and how. Matter of fact, at one point, she said "I didn't know I had to do all of this."

Now, don't get me wrong. I was a beginning nurse at one time so I know all about that. I know that she can do it. IF she wants to. And, I know that walking into a new job for the first time and getting the list of all my responsibilities is a daunting thing. BUT, usually when I got a new job, I knew ahead of time the general idea of the position. I don't think this girl had a single simple clue as to what she was signing up for. And for that reason, I don't know how long she will be around.

Her mom is the secretary at that school. I am afraid (now I don't know this for certain, so don't go spreading it around) that the mom told the girl "all you have to do is sit in an office, play on the computer, and wait for some kid to need a band-aid. easy money."

As my superintendent said, "time will tell." I just hope she doesn't go to her mom and tell her what all she was told she would have to do and the mom say that I was just trying to scare her off. Trust me. I want someone OTHER THAN me there to work with her mom. I am not going to scare her off on purpose!

In other news.....

The Boy is doing very well in school. He is in the newest class called Transitions and that is the one class he seems to have something to say about everyday. He even ranked it as one of his top three favorite classes! The other top two are FACS (which is what I called Home Ec when I went to school) and Biology 1. He says that he can't say which is he likes the best because they are all three his favorites so far. His least favorite is English. Of course, that makes sense since he has the written expression deficit.

We are supposed to be having his IEP meeting by the end of August I think. I haven't gotten the final invite yet, so I am not positive about the actual date. I am kind of worried that The Boy's father is going to show up and complain about the Transitions class. I am worried that he will pitch fits that he doesn't need a class like that and that he should be taking something else. And when that happens, he will tell The Boy and that will get him down on the class too. Last year, the man showed up to an IEP meeting for the first time ever. He showed himself then, but luckily, the staff there knew who knows what is going on with The Boy.

I know that Gin commented on my last post that her son will be going to the same school that his dad is employed. I am assuming that he also has an IEP. I just wondered if his father attended the IEP meetings and if he has the same problems that I have. The specific problem I have is that it sometimes seems as though the school can't look past the fact that I am not an employee at the IEP meeting...I am a parent. Is it just this school (because I know it isn't just me, since there are other parent/employees here with special needs kids) or is it like that everywhere?

I will surely vent about his upcoming IEP meeting here after it takes place!

Okay. I have got to crawl back under my stacks of paperwork if I am going to be able to leave for home sometime today. If I keep working at it, then one of these first days I will be through it and will be able to wipe it from my mind so that I can be totally shocked and surprised by it all again next school year!

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

Well, school is back in session, so I should be able to post here more often than I was able to do during the summer. We started back yesterday. Actually, I started back on Monday, but yesterday was the first day the kids all returned. So far, so good I guess!

The other school that I am in charge of as the nurse has had a change in nurses. So, I will be trying to teach that nurse what she has to do, how she has to do it and when it has to be done according to the state contract. Not sure how it will work out since she is the daughter of the secretary over there. Could be for a fun time!

The Boy started his Freshman year yesterday. He is looking forward to some of the classes and not so much the others. One new thing he is enrolled in the year is called "Transitions". This is brand new to the school and the teacher is one of his LD teachers. She told me that the kids enrolled would be learning things they would be needing to know to live on their own in the future. She has already gotten them set up to do some laundry and run a copy center for the high school. She has said that one thing she would really like for them to be able to do is to cook a meal for the school board one evening. I think this will really help The Boy's confidence/self esteem and it will hopefully help me to feel more comfortable in leaving him home alone for more than just a tiny bit at a time. I guess we will both be learning something this year!

The Boy is worried about English (which is normal since he has written expression difficulties) and Math. Not sure why he is so worried about math since they are allowed to use a scientific calculator and he is a whiz when it comes to that. (Me, on the other hand....have no clue what to do with a scientific calculator!) He is looking forward to Biology I. At least I think he is. I think what has us both the most worried is that he has some new teachers that he has never had to deal with before and we aren't sure what to expect. Once he settles into the routine of his classes, I think he will be just fine.

Ziggy was taken back to the vet again. I'm about to get tired of that! He has his third UTI since the middle of June. They gave him another shot of antibiotics and we are trying a special food they say will help. I don't know what to do if tis doesn't help. He is about to cost me as much in medical as The Boy this year!

It is time to go home, but I wanted to leave this post since it has been a while. Plus it helps me to just write sometimes. If others are still out there reading, then that is good too!