Medical Education

So my wonderful husband recently had surgery.  Thankfully, he's doing well, so, naturally, I decided now is the time to enlighten you all on my recently acquired medical knowledge.

D had a urachal cyst removed.  Here's the steps we have taken so far:

1. Over the last several years, and in my knowledge at least 2, D would experience a pain just below his belly button, which would, for lack of a better description, pop like a zit.  It occurred infrequently at first, but became nearly a monthly occurrence.

2. In the spring, shortly after moving into our home, D drove himself to the emergency room after nearly passing out at work.  Doctors decided that (a) he was dehydrated, hence the feeling that he was passing out and (b) the weird thing on his stomach was an abscess, to be treated with antibiotics.

3. Weird abscess returns the next month, but he decides to just let it run its course.  Threats emanate from me that it "better not come back when we are getting married."  I know, I know, that's not exactly sympathy, but he should have gone back to the doctor.

4. Late July the "abscess" returns again, so he decides to return to the doctor.  Doctor prescribes antibiotics again, and refers him to a surgeon.

5. Early September, the thing has returned, in time for the appointment with the surgeon.  One pregnant-lady style ultrasound and several gross Google Image searches later, the surgeon tells us that my husband has a cyst that generally manifests in infants.  Cause: the connection between his bladder and his umbilical cord should have closed back in July 1985, but it apparently didn't close all the way.

6. Last week, the surgeon went in & removed the infection, and I have been caring for a stir-crazy husband with 11 staples up his stomach for a week.  Today, he spent the morning watching TV, and is now doing who-knows-what  downstairs because he feels too healthy to lay around, but isn't healthy enough to even sit in a car with his seat belt on.

Such is our life...

It's a Small World

Tonight, while my husband was cutting his hair and showering, I spent some quality time on Pinterest. (Translation: I spent some time avoiding finishing my grad school assignment my pacing said I needed to finish a week ago.)

While perusing this wonderful site, I stumbled along a super cute wreath that was captioned that it had funny directions. Of course, I had to know what the funny directions were, so I investigated.

The blogger was in some of her pictures, and I thought, "Huh, that looks a lot like that girl I went to college with."

Then, I saw under her comments that not one, but TWO other girls I went l college with had made comments on her page. Again thinking to myself, because the dog really just doesn't care, "Wow, what are the odds that I would stumble upon her blog on Pinterest???"

So obviously, I follow her blog now. And it's awesome, so you should too. It's www.peonyandgray.com.

And on a side note: not such a small world-the pin I followed was posted by the classmate who created the blog.

I have also added a pic here of my own creativity from this summer: he wreath I made. It looks absolutely nothing like the one I was investigating today, but I need to make a new one, decked out in Hokie Maroon and Orange, cleverly disguised with fall decor so my hubby doesn't want to take it down.

How is your fall decorating going?

Homebound: What is It that You Do?

As some of you may know, I have recently begun teaching homebound for a local school district. I do field a lot of questions about it though, so I thought I would spend my break explaining my new position.

Homebound teachers provide one on one instruction to students who are unable to attend traditional school for a variety of reasons. Some students have physical or mental conditions that require time at home for the entire year. Some kids just have to be out a few weeks and need to stay up to date on their classes (surgeries, etc).

It is my responsibility to coordinate the instruction with the high school teachers. My students are assigned k classes within the school, and that teacher sends the work to me. The student and I go through the work, I grade assignments as much as possible, and the teacher enters grades into their gradebook.

Here's an example of my day today:

8:55 arrive at scheduled meeting 9-12 with student one. Knock on door, no answer. Call mom, mom calls student, student doesn't answer. I lose 3 hrs of work. Leave to go to library to work on grad school. Schedule meeting at 10:15 with supervisor.

9:10-10:10 drive to library, work on grad school. Download English assignments for student 2.

10:10-11:00 drive to alternative Ed center, meet with supervisor. Pick up textbooks for student 2. Print off English work for student 2. Drive to high school. Get introduced to attendance officers and people on guidance.

11:00-12:00 drive to McDonalds to eat and catch up on email (and Facebook, Twitter, and now the blog). Also helped stranger retrieve a pic someone texted to his iPhone.

12:00-3:00 drive to student 2's house to work on new English and math assignments.

3:00-5:50 leave student 2 and drive to coaching job. Plan and run practice.

5:50-8:30 Leave coaching job, eat packed lunch for supper since I went McDonalds. Drive to local high school to do recruiting for coaching job.

8:30-? Drive home, do laundry, finish grad school unit and attempt to spend time with husband before bed.

And that's just a Tuesday.

Here Comes the Bride

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate our good friends B & H!

They had an absolutely beautiful wedding at H's parents' home. The weather was perfect, and the ceremony overlooked a perfect view of the mountains.

We were both so very excited to be members of the bridal party (even if it meant D had to wear a tie AND his good shoes.)

We are also so very happy to share this newlywed period in our lives with an amazing couple.

When I get a moment, I'll add in some pics of the weekend, but I leave you with this wonderful shot of the top of H's dress, and the hanger her sister in law ordered for her.

Love y'all!

Brand New Life

In 2012, a lot has changed for D and I.

We got engaged.
I resigned my job because of his being in another state.
His job brought him back to the town we live in.
We bought a wonderful house.
We got married.
I found a part time coaching position at the local community college.

And now: I have started teaching homebound for the school district D graduated from. My first morning was today, and it went great!

I can't wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store for us!

Currently: September

On one of the teaching blogs I follow, there is a post that blogger does every month called Currently.  She inserts this cute little picture that talks about what she's doing that very moment.

So here's my intention:
Create my own Currently post and post it the first week of every month.  So here goes!

Currently
Listening	To ESPN, baseball coverage now, but it was on because of Hokie Football
Loving	The Hokies win last night, first OT in Lane Stadium History!
Thinking	About how to run practice today.
Wanting	The sun to come out today, I’m tired of the clouds.
Needing	To finish off my grad school work for the first week.
Favorite Things	1.     My new rug 2.    The long weekend with my husband doing totally normal things. 3.    All the apple recipes I keep seeing everywhere!

By the way, if you are a teacher, you should totally follow this woman.  She teaches Middle School, so some of her ideas are great for high school, and some are adaptable for the elementary folks.  She also has links for resources for Math, Science, and Social Studies.  You can find her here.

I LOVE my new sofa! And it's easy to clean!!!

On a recent, rainy Sunday, my husband asked if I wanted to go look at furniture.  You know, to get some ideas for what we might want.  Ha.

After 5 hours and 4 stores, we had successfully purchased our first furniture as a couple.  It arrived Saturday, and we have loved every second of it.

Isn't it gorgeous?

My friend, L, (who has a fantastic blog here, you should check it out!) has microfiber furniture too, and said she loved it.  And she has little kids, so obviously it must be easy to clean!

I was perusing Pinterest the other day, and discovered a pin indicating that it was the easiest way to clean microfiber cloth, so I followed it.  I discovered this blog, with pictures and directions to clean my wonderful couch.  I repinned it, thinking I would need it eventually. 

  This morning, I discovered two places of stain:

Potentially chocolate, from my bday cupcake

Weird, white stains.  Dog drool?

So, I went to CVS, to pick up the 1 supply I was missing.  All you need is a spray bottle, rubbing alcohol, a white cloth (my source said use a white sponge, but neither I nor CVS had such a thing), and a plastic bristle brush.

CVS Rubbing Alcohol, Target Spray Bottle, and an old white washcloth.

I think this is from Wal-Mart, I've had it for years.

All you do is saturate the stain with rubbing alcohol, and rub out the stain.  Then, when it's totally dry, use the brush to re-fluff your fabric.

Good as new!

I don't have a pic of the chocolate stain, but I promise it came out too.  It was just still wet when I wanted to type this up, so I haven't fluffed it yet.