Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday, not really as it's actually in January, and since it's always cold, the one weekend of snow, and I typically am giving exams, I like to think that June 30th is my real birthday. It was my surgery date in June 2004. I think by now most friends and family know that I had gastric bypass surgery at Duke after a year long approval process. If you didn't know and you wondered what was up with me, the cat is out of the bag.

I told less than 5 people that I was going through the process including not telling my own family until months after the surgery. I have always been kinda private when it comes to my family and me personally but I know realize that I had such a good experience, why not share it if it helps others. My recovery took most of the next year and in a nutshell really sucked and was not fun. There are still lots of foods I can't eat and probably never will again (sorry Chinese food and most meats). But the trade-off was I was happy with the weight lost and the self- confidence gained.

As many folks know my major reason was that both my parents were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in their 40's. My dad died from complications and now my mom is in what is called "end stage renal disease" and requires dialysis. I want to be here as long as I can for my family, friends, and to enjoy life. So I didn't eat cake today, instead I celebrated with a 9 minute mile something that the old heather would have never believed possible.

Talk me out of my missionary work

SO at the end of the first full week on summer vacation, I am having serious thoughts about what it would be like to be home full time. I think someone is trying to tell me something in that Bill, my doctor, even my neighborhood friends have all commented that I really need consider staying home full time. This is actually the plan once baby 2 comes along, but I have to wonder why the push to do this sooner rather than later.

I confess that my job can be a soul crushing bureaucracy at times, but I do truly feel alive when I am with my students teaching somthing I love. I don't know that I am ready to give that up just yet. I also know that although this has been a good week with ben in that we played at the pool, got together with friends, shopped the farmers market, hit a new park this week. I even managed to do Yoga at the gym two days as well as tackle 4 major items on the list of 100.

Keeping ben on daycare nap/eating schedule has helped along with watching Max and Ruby on Noggin when I needed a time out. For Bill I think it is the last bastion of his conservative beliefs that deep down he thinks moms should stay home. I also know he is really tired of my doing hours school work most nights of the week. I agree it sucks, but it comes with the job, just like traveling or sitting through multiple mindless meetings does for other professions.

With Bill moving to Microsoft this past year, we may have the opportunity to move at some point so this might be the catalyst I need for a major life change. I would actually really like to get a second masters degree, this one in public policy and either teach on the college level or work for a non-profit policy institution at some point. I refuse to believe that I am too old to consider my options including staying home with a second child for a bit. It's worth serious consideration as I think I will regret not staying home once ben and baby V part two are older and I missed an oppotunity to be with them while little.

On the political note- I'm very disappointed with the SCourt's overturn of the DC handgun ban this week. THIS is why who you elect matters as LONG after the Executive has vacated the White House as their influence over the courts continues for decades. This case is perfect for teaching selective incorpation (see earlier post) this fall so thanks party of 9!

At least their position on a death penalty case this week seems to be moving away from the Texas motto of "keeping the seat warm" as I think we are close to stripping the state's right to execute with a national moratorium. Also- looks like they also have finally decided that many of the issues surrounding GITMO are unconstitutional and that due process prevails. Amazing what a lame-duck presidency will do to the conscious of Americans and other policy making institutions. I think I hear Nixon calling and he wants his title of lowest approval rating back!

Open Letter to Barack

So as I write this my son is watching Sesame street and as I look at him I can't help but think how history will reflect on this election. Will it be the 5th realingment of party politics in our nation's history?

Right now Elmo is the most important person to him, but it is the leader of the United States that will likely impact him over the next decade as decisions about education, healthcare, taxes will impact him through a trickle-down effect the way in which public policy effects American families.

In that regard, I am disappointed to hear that Obama has decided not to take public financing of his campaign. So what, campaign finance is a snore (and I have to agree at times). But, his decision NOT to take public funds and thus cap the amount that he can spend is the first major decision as a major presidential contender. I think this shows a glimpse that of who he is and what he is willing to do to win. OP-Ed columnist David Brooks wrote last week in the New York Times that that "naive is not a word to describe Obama and he may be the smartest politician in decades to be able to succeed in politics by pretending to renounce the very system he is working from both sides of the room".

I have been a Obama supporter since he stole the show at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. He is a dynamic speaker who has the charisma and ability to lead the masses by owning the concept of change. For the first presidential election ever both Bill and I are supporting the same candidate and have even given money to his campaign (Bill's idea no less). I can only hope that Obama stays true to his supposed convictions and the man that he truly is. Inside the beltline politics changes even the best man that enters office, but this election is pivotal to regaining the nation's trust. I hope Obama will seize this moment and truly incorporate "change" that makes a lasting difference.

By the way, check out this great website I use with my students http://livingroomcandidate.org/. It is a clearinghouse for the last 60 years of presidential ads. Notice any similarities? My favorite is 1984's Morning in America

First Real Day of Summer!

So after being gone all last week with AP training plus an all day workshop on Saturday at my alma mater UNC-Chapel Hill on political satire that an old professor from grad school was presenting, "From Twain to Colbert"I am home and ready to tackle my list. I had a great week and got alot done on my class. Plus the chance to collaborate with other Gov/Politics teachers was the best part. So since my list officially started with Memorial Day weekend and so far here we go with what I've done:

Sort giant mound of filing cabinet papers

plant daylillies and hostas

plan ben's second birthday party (See photo- I think he enjoyed it)

make strawberry jam

organize all AP gov resources set up a place to work all summer

clean out outside storage room

start a give away/donate pile in the garage

go through all ben's old 0-12 month toys and consign/give away at least 50%

get family photos taken

Go out with Bill for one of at least 3 summer dates

Check out and pick one day a week summer care for ben

Update Netflix cue with my "heather movies" to watch this summer

Start Food Co-Op with friends and plan first month (made my entries today to freeze)

Good Start but so much more to go ( I did watch the past few weeks of 30 Days while ironing today- so I didn't use that time as effectively as I could have). Tomorrow I am taking bottles to babies r us for a store credit for BPA-free tomorrow plus keeping an appointment for myself in Chapel Hill. Mark two more items off!

Selective Incorporation Docterine of the 14th Amendment

If that title didn't put you to sleep, than imagine sitting through a hour lecture today on effective ways to help your students understand and then apply using the due process and equal protection clause. The worst part is that I was the one that asked the instructor to explain as I can't get my kids to understand it when I teach it. So one of my major tasks this summer it to work each week on my AP Government class that I am bringing on board this fall to my school. I have taught this class before, but it was over 5 years ago at another school, so I jumped at the chance to get to be a student all week at Wake Forest University and participate in a week long AP seminar.

I do believe that I could be an eternal student and live in a lecture hall as a career. That is if I didn't have to do any work/papers, but could spend my days listening and discussing with other like minded souls. I have a wonderful group of rising Seniors, most of all I already know from teaching them civics or through National Honor Society that I advise. We are working on the McCain and Obama campaigns in the Raleigh field offices this fall as part of the class. How cool is that!!!!

To the ultimate political junkie-

I was in the car on Friday when NPR broke into the afternoon news to announce Tim's death. I literally had to pull of the road I was so upset.

I have been a Meet the Press fan since Russert took over in the early 90's and I was suffering through my gov't teacher's 1992 election campaign portfolio that required us to watch and record a journal of the way the media represented the candidates (thanks to my gov't teacher- Mrs. Leatherwood I really did learn something other than cutting up on the back row with Nathan Pugh in your class)

I have been a fan of his sharp wit, humility, political acumen, and most of all that he made politics understandable. I cannot imagine this election season without him. Every week that I watched I was his student and in turn I think I was a better teacher to my government students for what I learned from him.

When I set up my own classroom I posted page from the Daily Show book in my classroom and included the phrase "Do your homework, Tim did" to show my respect for him. I will have to add a memorial white board on election day. I hope you are having one hell of a debate in heaven and I hope to join in when I get there.

Another Summer, Another list of 100 things

So those of you who know me, may remember that, with fervor n0rmally reserved for snake handling Pentecostal revivals, I attempted last summer to accomplish 100 things from the last day of school to the first day of school. I was in a contest with two other friends and we agreed to keep each other honest by keeping a blog detailing our accomplishment. I did well, meeting close to 90% of my list. Since I didn't meet my deadline, my "penalty" was to make a donation to a local charity.

I felt really good about using my summer for good will besides just going to the pool with Ben and watching 90210 reruns on Soap Network (yes that is true and I admit I still can't pass up a brandon walsh marathon). I digress... so as I embark on another summer I have another list. But to add to the task I am going to write more frequently and also about WHY certain tasks are on the list.

I also hope to include some political banter too as those who know me, know I am following this election like it is civics porn (is there such a thing and please god don't let James Carville know). Anyway, hope you will check back in a find out some more pieces of me you probably haven't seen. Enjoy!

In case of Fire, grab child, spouse, pets, and file cabinet

So today's task as been one I've been putting off, but alas with only days left in the countdown I had to tackle it. Our household filing cabinet looks like we were the victims of a FBI raid looking for crack. About once a year I decide to go through the mounds of receipts, tax info, "hey I should keep this newspaper clippings" and then file them or toss them.

Bill doesn't help with this task, but assures me that we MUST keep things like his file of guitar chord practice charts (although he sold his guitar long ago for 5 bucks in a yard sale). So for the last few hours I have been purging files and have made a commitment to file and toss on the first weekend of every month.

On the brighter side I can mark the following things off my list as they have been accomplished while in Florida on vacation last week:

Read (at least) 5 books that do not relate to raising kids- ok- 3 were audio books, but I am desperate at this point to mark it off (in addition to Barrel Fever and Dress your Family in Denim and Corduroy, I re-listened to Freakanomics- all on audiobook) I finally finished This I Believe collection of Essays. Earlier in the summer I read An Ordinary Man (audiobio leading to the movie Hotel Rwanda) and The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Purge my recipe file box and reorganize them into a more usable way. As I hope to start a weekly meal plan this fall, this too has been on the to do list for a good 5 years. As I collect cookbooks as well as have had a family recipe shower when I got married 10 years ago, I have a TON of things that sound good on paper, but I have never made. Here's too (NOT) making the recipe for marinated shoe peg salad that someone gave me!

3 tasks in one day!!!

So the heat is on to finish my list by the 27th. Today I got three very easy tasks completed, but still they had been on the list for the better part of a year.

1. Contact Buggy Bag about a replacement (my shopping cart/highchair cover) that broke after about 3 times using it. I love the design and the concept and it is the only one to work in places like BJ's carts. They offered to repair my bag at no cost!!!!

2. Order a NPR car decal and the book of collections of "This I believe" to use in class

3. Research the cheapest place to order my dog (Vegas) heartworm and tick medications and make an order!!!!

Ok, not a a witty entry, but then it's hot, I'm working on 5 hours of sleep, and we were asked to "leave" a library story time today due to my son's behavior- I do not get the good mommy award.

I am now equipted to take out someone's spleen on the interstate

Task #11- First Aid Kit update

Not really, nor do I have the desire to, but I went through our cars and home first aid kits and restocked them, checked exp dates, and updates with numbers of poison control, dr numbers, blood types, and the like. I really HOPE that I never have to whip out the abdominal pad, or recall my CPR class, but I am prepared to do so while administering a dose of Motrin, and applying anti-fungal ointment to the hurt masses.

Over Halfway there!!!

So just an update as in three short weeks I will be heading back to school and my "official" time to complete the 70 task will be up. Here is a list of some of the items I finished that have been marked off:

• Hosted/planed 3 separate parties (Baby Steps Birthday, Book Club, Mary Kay- this counted as 3 items as it required planning , cleaning, and food prep)
• Plant perennials in outside porch (got all at 50% off- you know I am coupon crazy)
• Make appointment with contractor for the house addition possibility
  
• Call about snack tray for stroller and car seat (none exist for my McLauren :-(
• Restart gym membership and shoot for going at least 3 times a week (this is an ongoing thing to keep up once school starts)
• Try 3 new classes at the gym (tried yoga, gentle yoga (no difference) and Pilates) Going to keep up with the yoga on Monday nights if possible
• NHS stuff (3 tasks- meeting with Dean of Students over setting up tutoring program, meeting with officers to rewrite the bylaws, set up student help with Freshmen Camp)
• Join Weight Watchers (I keep loosing and gaining the same 5 lb, Bill has lost almost 20)!
• Try 10 new healthy snacks and meals with Ben
• Go and have lunch with Bill at his work- had great Sushi!
  
• Practice baby signs with Ben and introduce 5 new signs (still really working on these going to a class on Monday at the library)
• Clean out hall closet, pantry, scrub out fridge/freezer, laundry room, drawers in kitchen
• Make a donation of money and goods to Guardian Angel (local charity that runs a thrift store)
• Hang all 12 month pics ofBen in Living Room from Duke Garden photo shoot
• Work on a tan (ok it's really vain, but I love to hang out at the pool and going to the beach for a week helped)
  

Oh for the love of clean carpet!!!

So one of my items has been to steam clean all my carpet upstairs, especially the stairs. It finally got done today!!!!!! I am kinda fanatical about clean floors and damp mop my hardwoods and the kitchen almost daily (especially if Ben has had a food fest), but the carpet I felt was getting the "hey you must have pets" smell. I bought a Bissle little green steam machine and it worked nicely on the steps. I am going to shoot for doing this once a month (which will likely be once a quarter), but I can dream. Unless Glade makes a "wet dog" or "14 year old cat with accidents" air freshener I think I am going to steam clean.

SO what can I buy for 219.47 that equally about 100 hours of work???

SO for those who read my previous post I got my hard earned check today in the mail from the consignment sale. I am happy that I made at least more than the 50 bucks I expected. I still think that my hourly salary to complete this task and mark off the list qualifies me for some govt benefits. So on a really weird note, I never got around to pricing the books that have been living in my garage for the last 2 years. Both my mom and bill's mom kept all our childhood books. Before you start thinking, "what kind of person who is a TEACHER would sell children's books", let me tell you about the condition of these books:

1. My mom kept my books in a Attic that had a squirl problem. you can image how happy I would be to give them to my son so that he could contract rabies or better let some flesh eating virus. Almost all the books had to be thrown away :-(

2. Bill's mom had a major dampness problem when she lived in Atlanta, so the books look good, but smell horrible. She didn't think they smelled bad, and brought all 10+ boxes with her thinking our children would want them. Again, great thought, but the smell alone made us toss most of them. Even though Ben eats dirt, sand, and even bark on the playground, him tasting these books made me sick.

So I had planned to just give them to Goodwill or Guardian Angel Thrift Store, but then I decided to just TRY and see if I could make anything for them as they are all hardback books. So between Mike's Used Books, Kid to Kid, and literally a woman in the parking lot of Kid to Kid would bought what they wouldn't take I got rid of all of them and earned $120.00 more bucks in cash and store credit. I think with some cleaning and activated charcoal they will smell better, but at this point, they are GONE!!!!

Next time stage an intervention

Ok- so I owe my mom, brother, bill, girlfriends, and even Ben a big "you were right, I should have NEVER thought I could consign so much stuff at the Kids Exchange sale". I had such good intentions, clean out the 30 something boxes of clothes, toys, and gear that have been vacationing in my garage for the last year, and make some much needed money. But after a MONTH on nightly going through boxes and gleaning the best stuff out I really underestimated how much time it would take to tag and bag each and every single item and then cart in to the fairgrounds to the building where during the fair cows are exhibited during the July heat!

It took almost 3 hours just to put all the stuff out. I have never been so sick of baby/child related stuff in all my life after spending an afternoon wondering "so where do these tacky-ass diaper bags go" and if I do find where I am likely to throw them on the floor in a pile instead of hanging them nicely on the chicken-coop wire that had been so decoratively places using paper clips to hang each bag.

On a positive note I bought Ben at little car off some lady unloading her loot in the parking lot to also sell. It was the best 7 bucks I spent in that it kept Ben from trying to climb/jump of the deck while he pushed it all over the yard. I felt like I was buying crack in that I talked her down from the original price of 10 dollars.

So for all of you that love these sales, I join you in the admiration of 90 bouncy seats lined up but I will NEVER consign again and if I do... please as my friends stage an intervention for me.

If you Skeetered, Say you Skeetered

I've been to South Carolina for most of the last week and while I didn't put it on the list of 70 items I should have. I often say that when I get to Hell I will get time off for the 18 years I spent living in South Carolina. It is truly a state unlike any other in terms of valuing southern ways, Dixie history, and the fact that putting a bummer sticker that reads "if you skeetered..." us considered upping the resale value of your car or better your pick up truck. Not that North Carolina in a bastion of intellect, but at least we are not in the bottom five states for children with rickets, teen pregnancy, and my personal favorite women's rights including domestic violence. I'll get off my soap box as many people I love and helped raise me live in SC and wouldn't move anywhere else (except maybe Mississippi or Alabama).

As many friends know my mom is widowed and is in end stage renal requiring kidney dialysis 3 times a week. When I am down I always try to help out and clean, cook/freeze meals, take her to visit family, and on this trip make floral arrangements for family graves. I love my mom dearly, but needless to say I work really hard while visiting her. Ben always goes with me as he has been a blessing to her to become a grandmother. We did venture out and did a little shopping which was quite hard as I pushed her wheelchair and Ben simultaneously to the many stares of others. We only made it shopping for about a hour before we all were about to give out in the SC humidity and heat. And my hair looked like a 70s afro.

I did get one task accomplished on my 70 list (Elizabeth you will be proud after we tore apart her house looking for my engagement ring only to find in my car). For the LOW cost of 45 bucks I got my rings re sized. our wedding bands are inscribed in Greek on the outside with the famous "love verse" from Corinthians so it had to be hand resized. I love my wedding ring and credit Bill with the super cool idea of a verse that is broken into 2 parts on the two rings, making one. A family friend at our college transcripted it and it was spoken in Greek at our wedding ceremony. I would have never thought that I would loose weight in my fingers but I lost two ring sizes... oh if I could only loose it other places too!!

Home to Raleigh tomorrow after I take my mom to my home church in the morning.

Baby Steps Party-July 8th

Like some crazy fool I thought, "hey hosting out Baby Steps First Birthday Party will be easy, just a matter of mowing the yard, filling up some baby pools, and firing up the grill". As always I take party planning to the extreme and as a result the patio was built, a planted new flowers, and make a flower arrangement for the guest bathroom, and make homemade jam for for all the families. All were tasks that I had on my list, but the catalyst of a party made me get them done sooner. So on one of the hottest days of the summer, we celebrated a year of successes and frustrations. The now toddlers had a great time in the pool and sandbox while the parents ate, socialized, and tried to stay cool in the shade. All enjoyed homemade strawberry ice cream as well as the spread of food everyone brought. We had a great time and DID enjoy hosting, it gave me a chance to mark some items off my list as well as entertain with friends.

A big thanks to Elizabeth, Amber, and Laura for letting me borrow items for the party!

Making Jam/Visiting the Animmal Shelter/Daylilly Farm

I have been on a roll for the past few week in preparation for hosting a baby/toddler one year party-more to come. One of the things I am really guilty of is really overdoing it in the party planning business. So most of last week I spent cleaning, organizing, making a floral arrangement, and really "important" stuff. I would like to think that someone would comment "wow your baseboards are really clean" but really they just wanted a hot dog. So I got three major tasks done on Saturday 7/7/07

Goal #21- Make homemade jam- I have a huge fig tree in my yard that every year I promise to myself make something figgy. So this year I went to the big farmer market in Raleigh and picked up plums/nectarines and made jam. I gave away jars at the party as well as to friends in the neighborhood. YUM!

Goal #39- Take old towels to the Wake County Animal Shelter/make a donation- I always feel really bad when I go in the grocery and see the collection barrels that people use for trash and not animal supplies. At my old school we had a student chapter of the SPCA. Every year they would do a food drive and I would make it a compete ion between my classes for extra credit. I cannot tell you how sad this place was. They had a big sign on the door stating that if you brought puppies in they would be immediately euthanized due to a contagious virus. I picked the county animal shelter over the local SPCA (where we got our dog Vegas) as we make a annual donation to SPCA , and frankly this place is a last resort for animal care. I also went ahead and make a donation to them already. While there I also asked for the volunteer coordinator name to set up a possible pet drive with my NHS students this fall. I wish I could say that I felt better knowing I had done something good, but as Ben and I were leaving I noticed a big crate of puppies playing, how sad to think of the loved pets they would not have the chance to become. Bleeding heart liberal- you bet!

Goal 11- Visit a local daylilly farm. If you have been to my house you now I love anything that grows. It's in the genes. I used to spend every summer with my grandparents on their farm-snapping beans, canning veggies, feeding chickens. Even my dad grew tomatoes in coffee cans when he was in Vietnam on his airforce base. There is nothing better than working out some frustration in dirt-cheaper than a therapist! I visited a new daylilly farm and picked up three new varieties. Great place, friendly people, good prices, and best of all my son walked 10 steps back and forth across the field. I hope one day he too will love to "play " in the dirt.

Goal #47- help Bill build a patio...aka home improvement is NOT good for marriage

One of the biggest tasks on my list has been #47-Help Bill build a patio for the gargantuan grill he got for Father's Day. I had this idea of simply laying down some brick and moving the grill, but no-Bill goes to home depot and must have talked to one of these "trading spaces" rejects relegated to working in the toilet dept. He was brainwashed into believing that the only way to put in a patio involved 25 bags of stone paver and sand and 20 35 lb piece bricks.- most of which I hauled from the store to the yard (using a car, not walking).

Against my better judgement, and obvious memory lapse of prior home improvement experiments including painting our first apartment kitchen a hideous red over wagon-wheel wall-paper, putting together a TV cabinet that took 27 hours, or putting in a ceiling fan that involved using an axe, I agreed. So after a very long, hot 4th of July digging a pit and filling it up here is the resulting product. We grilled steaks for dinner and they we the best I think I ever had, or maybe it was just I would eat cardboard after that much work!

I am very happy to announce that at no time did either of of talk of ways the 35 lb bricks could be used as a vise or projectile. Ben was a big help- he put rocks in his dump truck and rolled them around the yard. Boys and their toys-from grills to trucks!

70 things in 69 days

Thanks to my friends Laura and Elizabeth I am accepting their challenge to try and accomplish some things over the summer. I have exactly 69 days between the last day of school and the first workday back in August. You can read about their lists on their blogs: "I think I can, I think I can" and "Let's Do This". Following some of their goals idea such as Laura's competition to create a awesomely bad mixed tape (lets here is for Barbie Girl by Aqua) and obvious entries as a new mom, like finishing my son's baby book, I hope I can make a dent in my every growing To Do list.

so here are here are my ground rules:

• Can complete the 70 items in any order
• Can count any items already completed as long as it falls between 6/12 and today
• If I do not finish at least 95% of the tasks by 8/20 then for every week I am late I will make a $ 10.00 per week donation to one of my favorite charities

SO I cast out the challenge to the my friends to keep me honest and to find out why I have Goals like, pretend to be Martha Stewart minus the jail term or why God didn't intent married couples to complete home improvement projects together made the list.