My Daily Picture

Every year, without fail. This year it was the first card to arrive. My friend Anita never forgets my obsession with my birthday. 2 days.

I think I'm in her zone, but she is on my blanket. Princess slept on top of me last night. Now I'm ready for my morning nap and need a place to lay down. Recovery problems....

I have a pretty good baby sitter today. He does a great job of making eggs and Cheerios. I even get fresh water and juice. No pain medication today. I can't handle the headache. Exercises are going well. My nap was pretty epic. But by tomorrow the boredom is going to be off the charts.

I survived day one of home recovery, my day consisted of many naps, lots of soup, and help from my wonderful family  💖 {note: this entry was written by Megan as well, I remember her asking me about the kind of heart I wanted to add to the post. I was pretty tired and out of it. The side effect of every medication they gave me was headache. I could not think at all and that was bothering me more than anything. I wanted everyone to know I was okay. }

My surgery today went well. Thank you for all the prayers and support  ❤️ . Also does anyone know where I can find one of these heated blankets they used? - {note: this actual post was written by MEGAN as I was too tired and out of it to write, but she expressed my thoughts. The heated blanket was AH-MAZE-ING! it blew warm air, just the perfect amount to be cozy. I was fascinated with it.}

Just to document my journey, here is a picture showing how limited the movement in my shoulder had become. I only experienced pain with particular movements, but my reach, and range of motion was way off.

I never turn off or stop. I am always giving of myself. Well, tomorrow I will have to stop that for awhile. It’s going to be weird. When I had surgery the last time, they handed me a human I then needed to take care of. There was no concept of recovery. There was no longer ME. I have been perfectly ok with that. It kinda stinks God had to do something so drastic to get my attention, but her sure has it. I have 5 weeks to focus on myself. Thank you God for the gift you are giving me. Be with my family as they have to pick up the slack. Be with my SCA family as they have to learn to appreciate how much I did for them and adjust to their new reality. Be with me and guide my focus. Keep me strong.

Spending the day with my wonderful family. No lesson plans, no papers to grade, no deadlines, no pressure. Just a perfect day at Disneyland and my favorite Italian restaurant Cortina's. It's my day.  

6 years ago we went on a family cruise to celebrate my God Mother in laws 60th birthday. It was one of our all time Best trips ever. Looking back at the "remember this day" pictures brings almost as much joy as the actual trip!

Ordered this copy for Megan. I can't find my copy for some reason. Read it a few years ago with my book club and LOVED it. I'm thrilled Megan has to read it!! I'm really glad she already complained about the cover picture!

I received the sweetest care package today. It also had 4 movies to go with it. This particular family helps me remember what teaching is about. They are slow to anger and rich in kindness. They thank me for everything, no matter what. I wish I could help more when I experience their brand of love. Update: Karma has a way of righting things. I was able to secure this mom a spot on an upcoming field trip. It felt so good! 

Mission report time is so much fun. Today was just the first of many!

Spent my day working. It's the final countdown to my rotator cuff surgery. This time next week I will be one handed sitting in a chair thanking God for the opportunity to reset my life in so many ways. It will truly be a no pain no gain experience. I have to exercise!! Ha ha ha!!!!

Had a wonderful time celebrating my cousin Rose's 40th birthday today! Everyone got to make a custom painting. Mine has birds of course! It's already on display in my entry way. Happy birthday Rose!

Today was long, but wonderful! Encore High School put on their end of semester FESTIVAL, basically an all day talent show. Lauren and Megan are in the same ballet class, what a treat! Megan sang with a group for her voice tech class and Lauren performed with the concert choir. I even got to see my sweet Aubrey play in a piano recital! (Sorry no pictures, giant heads in the way).

We "argued" about where to eat for awhile because someone doesn't like something about every place suggested. And then the tone changed when one of us suggested Polly's Pies! Polly's has been a favorite for their entire lives. We had a great time! A wonderful end to the week and beginning to our 3 day weekend!

I received a box of pink cranberry juice as a gift from a student yesterday. Today when I got home they were all gone! Thankfully I had one last night.

I’m saving this book. I read it once a few years ago. I came across it again by way of my daily prayer book and decided to save it for my birthday month. Reading isn’t something I take time for, so it will be my gift to me. I'll report back after I finish. 

All my energy has been for you today sweet heart! In 9 years I will be your favorite 4th grade teacher too! This is Charlotte she is my Grand-Student!  Charlotte Lucille Secrets was born January 15, 2019 at 3:55am weighing in at 6lbs 8oz and 20 inches long.

It really looks like a beautiful week. I love the rain. Even the thought of inside recess 4 days in a row doesn’t bother me.

A few weeks ago Douglas washed his old man flip phone. It is very clean, but no larger works. Well, it is very hard to find dumb phones, so Douglas is the lucky owner of the lowest level smart phone that exists. If that boy uses a nano of my data I'm going to eat all his bagels . Free smart phones exist.

Yesterday Lauren had a basketball game in Victorville. Megan and I took advantage of that fact with a stop at the Cracker Barrel! I tried to eat low carb.. Megan promised to keep my secret...Today Anthony found the receipt in the truck, ha ha. Extra bread and loaded hash brown casserole gave it away!

Super Saints DOMINATED the Spelling Bee today. However,since you know me, you know I had NOTHING to do with it! These two beautiful souls are a perfect example of self guided learning.But this teacher is bursting with pride!!! First and second place winners from fourth grade is something I have not seen!

GRATITUDE. BLESSINGS. LOVE. Yesterday I received not one amazing reminder that I am loved but two! The first were these super cool pajamas. I found them at Target and put them back because they were not on clearance. ( They look Christmas to me!) My cousin Rose found out and had them shipped to me as a surprise! Then I checked my email and found a gift from my friend Judy! She is taking me on a Scrappy Sister weekend in April. OVERWHELMED BY THE LOVE AND SO GRATEFUL! I belie ve in the power of paying in forward and some day I will. Kindness matters.

Wow, you're like a soccer Mom... That's what Megan said when she found out I went home for Lauren's basketball shoes before picking her up today. What an amazing complement. . . I think???

I have always taken pride in where I work...nowhere more so than St. Catherine's Parish School. It is after all the school that gave me my first job AND my parish school. Today I found out that the readers of the INLAND EMPIRE MAGAZINE voted St. Catherine Parish School the "Best of the Best"...what I have felt in my soul for the 13 years I have been blessed to serve the students of this amazing school. I'm very excited for our School! @ St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish School

I am pleased to announce that after 2 weeks of lounge pants and binge eating, by some miracle I was able to put my pants on for work... Shoes are another story, but I compromised with sandals. Happy First day back to work. Can't wait to see my group of SUPERS! Update: I was so excited to fit into real pants today... But then I spilled coffee all over myself with no time to change. So much for dressing professional! What a waste of good coffee!

I will never outgrow my love for Pooh. My husband said grab them all... And I replied: I can use my Christmas money from my dad...my husband said, oh, ok. It doesn't matter I would get them for you anyway, even if it means we couldn't eat for a few days! I love him!

Sometimes "bad" things can spark great memories... I went out to the truck this morning to discover it had been broken into. Nothing was taken - but they rummaged through my stuff. We can't tell if I left it unlocked, or if they somehow got into it remotely, pried the door... however they did it it sparked a memory of a time my brother AJ and his family flew to California to visit. I don't remember the year. When he got here he could not remember if he had locked his car at the airport. Since he had ONSTAR - and they had the ability to remotely lock the car he decided to call them... this phone call was HYSTERICAL. Listening to my brother try to explain he was in California and the car was in (New Jersey I think?) - then when the operator agreed to try the remote locking service, she was obviously reading a script because she told my brother to step away from the car! We could hardly contain our laughter. First of all if we were near the car we could lock it ourselv...

Lauren: why do you have my eraser collection? We don’t need this anymore! There are about 2,000 erasers in here...proceeds to dump them out and begin sorting.  Me inside my head: Looks like we still need the eraser collection!!

Every January 3rd for as long as we can remember we celebrate Duck Ducks birthday. They have had more parties than all 3 kids combined! It is a wonderful tradition. None of the other "buddies" have parties. Just the ducks! This year the theme was Alien. 

I started a Novena to St. Jude today... it reminded me of a time in College when a group of friends and I did a Novena together. At the time you had to say the Novena 9 times, for 9 days, leaving 9 copies in the church. Well there were 3 or 4 of us doing the Novena... that was a lot of copies being left.. we called ourselves the "litter bugs". We were actually very serious about our prayer life, very close friends - and that is a wonderful memory. As I re-connect with this Saint that I have promised to spread devotion to, I encourage anyone who is in need of comfort to seek it in the Novena to St. Jude. I can honestly say it has worked wonders in my life. 

Just keeping it real. Had to go to work due to an alarm issue. Decided to take the 2 cans of Dr. Pepper from the lounge as my fee. I also picked up my Math Teacher's Edition and the Social Studies tests I need to finish working on lesson plans. I lead the glamorous life.