Herb update

First, for those of you who don't know Herb is my gecko and he is sick. He has something hanging out of his butt that belongs on his inside.

Now, on with the story.

I took Herb to Dr. G (different Dr. G, the cat and dog Dr. G doesn't do reptiles).

Apparently Herb is not a "he," Herb is a "she." She will continue to be called Herb, Herb-a-licous, Lic(ous). Yes, I have always called HER those things.

Herb has been eating the sand substraight that is in the cage. This has caused a "blockage". Or at least that is what we think the problem is as of right now.

Dr. G offered to keep Herb over the weekend to monitor, adminsiter meds and to see what he could get out of her and put back in. The Dr. thinks because of the sand Herb has some hard stools and is pushing too hard to get them out, thus causing the innards to come outwards.

So, for the next 3 days I am Herb-less. It's kind of strange.

The Dr. is giving me a great deal. He had me tell him that it was a class pet, he gives teachers a deal on class pets. When I said "no" at first he told me I was supposed to lie. So, he is charging about $20 to keep her, then the med and stuff will be on top of that. Pretty cool huh?

Although I did feel really weird taking a lizard to the vet.

Keep happy thoughts coming Herb's way. I am sure she isn't going to be happy with me when she comes home on Monday.

sick...

I hate being sick. I've been sick since Monday. Came home with a raging fever. Now it is sore throat and an ear ache. Figures it would get worse just as the insurance is changing over.

I feel like I have swallowed a can of nails.

In addition to my being sick, Herb (the gecko) needs to go to the vet. I would post a picture, but it's actually pretty gross. It looks like his insides are trying to escape through his butt. We're making an appointment tomorrow when the offices are open. Hopefully his innerds can be put back inside without too much trauma or expense.

Wish me luck.

too hot...

Will it ever cool down in Southern California? Is it going to stay hot forever?

I'm soooooo ready for some rain.

For sweaters.

For hot chocolate.

For cozy blankets.

For something other than HOT!

insomnia sucks

At the sound of the tone it will be...

4:53 am


(I've been up since 3:00)

drama students are crazy

I'm probably stating the obvious here, but they are!

Let me go back a bit...

I have taught 9th grade English for 8 years. Nice little freshmen, cute freshmen, small classes of cute little freshmen.

This year I have 10th grade English. Monster size classes of nasty sophomores.

When I say nasty I mean nasty. Now, when you talk to them one-on-one they are actually nice kids. Put them in a group of 45 and they are out of control.

So needless to say I have been a raging bitch since school got underway. I can't get ahead of them, I spend too much time trying to grade papers. (Our principal ended the days of TAs to grade papers, the TAs have to be "learning" something). They don't listen to instructions, so I have to give them 45 times, once to each student. They don't want to read, they don't want to discuss, they just want to sit and stare at me.

Because I teach the Theatre classes at the end of the day they receive the wrath that is left over from the English classes. I feel bad about it, but can't seem to get into a good mood.

Now, here is where the drama students being crazy comes in...

Two students went to the store to buy supplies to ask a girl to homecoming (I don't get the having to do something creative to ask someone to a dance, but okay...).

While at Michael's they discovered there is a pet store next door. So, with the dance theme being "Under the Sea" they decide that the boy should buy the girl a fish and write the invitation to the dance on the bowl. Cute, yes.

Then they decided they needed to buy me a fish...


They named the fish "Mr. Raschal Paschal", I just call him fish.






He's a pearl fish. To me he looks a lot like a goldfish.

What in the world made them think I needed a fish?

I guess they just wanted to make me smile...It worked.

I walked, and I walked and I walked some more...

Almost 2000 women and men walking.

100s of volunteers and crew members.

100 of people cheering.

More than 3.6 million dollars raised.

Lots of funding for a tremendous cause.

This was probably one of the most powerful experiences in my life. Yes it was hard, yes I'm sore (very sore), yes I have blisters on my feet, yes it's all worth it.

Do I plan on walking again next year...Heck yes!

And yes, that is me on the front of the Press Telegram (it's a local paper in So. Cal).

anything for a cause

After months of fundraising, months of (not) training and lots of anticipation it's finaly here, The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

I will spend Saturday and Sunday walking to raise awareness of this terrible disease.

In honor of the big event I started my day looking like this...

And ended it looking like this...

If you still want to make a donation, you have until the end of Friday night to do so online.

www.avonfoundation.org

walker # 661441

I dyed my hair pink...what would you do for a good cause?

what a week!

Completed my first almost full week of school. I am getting into the swing of things, although the kids are not happy that we are already working. What do they expect? To play games until Christmas...WRONG!

I was really worried about my Theatre 1 numbers, but got 4 new kids on Friday.

I have a student who I was told didn't speak any English (the other kids who were translating for me). That's okay, I was told they would be moving him, I said I would keep him if he wanted to stay (he doesn't). Then low-and-behold yeterday he asked me if he could go to the restroom, and then when I said I thought he couldn't speak any English he said (mind you in perfect English, no heavy accent) he couldn't. I think I've been had!

Thursday my grandma had to go in for triple by-pass surgery. That was freaking scarey. She's old. I mean if I'm old, she must be really old. Anyway, I spend Thursday evening in Los Angeles at the hospital waiting for her to come out of surgery and to make sure she was okay.

Got a phone call from my mom last night, grandma had made 6 lap around the nurse's station over the course of the day yesterday. They don't waist any time getting those cardiac patients up and moving now do they.

My mom and I are going to see her today. It should be a good visit.

My package of shirts finally arrived. Now, not only was it almost a week late, the box was all crushed and mangled. As I said before, I will NEVER use UPS again. DHL (thank you Chatty) or the US postal system from now on. If it needs to get there fast, FedEx here I come.

My sister, niece and I put the shirts on while we were at the hospital and gave my mom her's.

As well as these Paloma Picasso earrings. Notice how they look kind of like the cause ribbons?

She really liked them. It was her first "little blue box".

I'm sorry, no woman should have to wait until she is almost 60 to get a little blue box.

The best things come in that little blue box. Trust me I know. I know my Tiffany!

Speaking of the blue box. While M and I were at Tiffany to buy the earrings we were looking around the entire store. I mean you can't go to Tiffany and look at ALL of the pretty shiney stuff. We went in to the "Diamond Salon". This is where they keep the diamonds and engagement rings. M likes to have the workerbees pull out stuff for us to look at up close.

So, he has them pull out this one ring. It's kind of a bluish/gray colored diamond. The guy says we have to look at it in the viewing room because of the cost. Would you blieve I held in my hot little hands an 860,000 dollar ring! I was so scared I would lose it.

Apparently it is a blue diamond and very, very rare. If you get a chance to see a blue diamond, do. They are stunning.

So, I pretty much think that was my week in a nutshell. I hope you all had a good week.

Now it's time to do something I haven't done all week...clean my poor little house.

I hate UPS!

UPS sucks ass!

I ordered some shirts from cafepress.com, very cute cancer shirts. My sister, my niece and I were going to wear them to our end of summer bbq in honor of my mom finishing her radiation treatment.

Two days ago the shipment was set to arrive today.

Today as of 4 pm, no shipment.

Checked the tracking number, UPS rescheduled the shipment to arrive next week. Not early next week...LATE next week. How do you go from arrive on one Friday to arriving the next Friday!

I am so mad. I had all this stuff planned for the bbq to really celebrate the end of this ordeal. And now, it is all shot to shit.

We will still toast the end. I will still give her the Tiffany earrings I bought. But I won't have the shirt for her..."I beat cancer and all I got was this lousy T-shirt".

My 9-year-old niece won't have on her "my grandma kicked cancer's butt" shirt.

My sister won't have her "my mom is my hero" shirt.

While the shirt will still be cute, they won't have the punch as they would when we walked out with the chapagne wearing them.

I send UPS an angry email. And I will never use UPS again!

My new shipper of choice those guys in the yellow trucks...now if I could only remember the company name.