The World According to Leslie

Why do I pack more in a day than I know I will ever get finished?  I have to be at 3 places at the same time today.  Unfortunately, for me, (fortunately for everyone else) there is only ONE me.  So I am going to have to FLY (I need wings) from place to place. Luckily the three places are not very far apart.  I just wish that I would convince myself that it is OKAY to wait on things.  Wait!  I am the master procrastinator.  So I should have this down....right? One of my students asked me yesterday if  I am a procrastinator.  I said, "Yep!"  He said, "How do you get everything done if you keep putting it off?"  I said, "I just put off dying until I can accomplish everything!"  (The entire class of Freshmen laughed!  I love when I can get them ALL to laugh about something!) I don't think I can procrastinate any of the things today.  So, I will just try to be in 3 places at one time and see how it works.

You know how when you are something, it's harder to deal with other people who are that too? For example, if you are an electrician, it's harder to deal with other electricians who are not as experienced.  They talk about stuff, but they don't really know what they are talking about.  You sit listening and wondering if you will ever get to just tell them to shut up? Of, if you are a Zumba instructor (I have a few friends who are), you sometimes dread going to classes with other instructors.  What if they really don't know what they are doing?  What if the music is lame?  What if you just don't like how they do the class?  Make sense? My issue lately has been dealing with Chasity's teacher.  When I ask questions, I don't get actual answers.  I get answers that make me feel as though the teacher is blaming everything on my 9 year old.  I get answers, which I "love", of "I don't know" or "I can't remember."  I get...

Recently, like last week, our Princess began the Girls on the Run Program at her school.  Two days a week, they prepare for a 5K.  The 5K will be held in May. The program also teaches the girls about respecting themselves, being healthy, and using teamwork.  They meet right after school, twice a week, for an hour.  I'm guessing today is not going to be the best ever for the Princess.  Last night, she was coughing really badly.  It sounded horrible.  She was having a hard time breathing.  She had a really bad headache.  I can hope that after a little sleep last night she is "all better".  However, I went in to listen to her this morning already.  She is still having trouble breathing.  She sounds all raspy when she breathes.  :( My Princess doesn't feel well.  I hate when she's sick.

From what I can see, nothing really spectacular has ever happened in my life....  until recently.  (The last 10 years!)  So I really didn't think I had that much to write about. However, recently, I read a book called The House on Mango Street .  It's a very quick read.  The chapters are short.  The book is short.  It's really great.  It also got me to thinking....  If a house could influence a book like that, then the house I grew up in is perfect.  So I have started writing.  It's a REALLY rough draft.  I might finish is before I'm 90. :)  But.... if inspired, I might finish it before I'm 40. If I wrote a book, would you read it? 

Today, my pastor will be speaking at a different church.  We will have the pastor of that church speaking at our church.  Why is this special?  Well.... the churches are two different denominations.  However, we try to do this once a year....on Crossover Sunday. Tonight we will gather at another different church and meet with several different churches.  Some baptist.  Some Church of God.  Some A.M.E. Zion.  Some non-denominational.  A little of everything.  And we will sing.  Each church has a song or two.  We will sing and sing until the singing is done. :) I love Crossover Sunday!

Today, February 23, 2013, is a teacher workday. :(  We had a snow day in January.  Unfortunately, the snow melted.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that if you check clock times for the two days, the snow melted before I will get off work today.  I have to work until about noon.  The snow was gone around 10am that morning.  (We totally could have had school!) In order to make up the day without having to have the kids come to school on a Saturday, "they" turned Monday (2/18--President's Day) into a school day.  Then "they" (the people who do NOT have to work on workdays) turned today (SATURDAY!) into the teacher workday. So... I have to be there at 9am.  We should be finished around noon (or 1pm).  I'm glad I didn't have a cookie booth set up for this morning! But...we have one tonight! :) 

After finding out 2 weeks ago that I had a "mass" in my left breast.... After going in for a biopsy on Wednesday of this week and waiting for the results.... There is NOTHING wrong with!  NO!  It's not cancer.  Just a fibroagnoma (?)  I'll have to get them to spell that for me one day!  I don't have to go back to see anyone for a year! :) God is Good!  All the time!  All the time!  God is GOOD!  :)  Praise the LORD!

On Wednesday, when I had my biopsy, the doctor said I would have results today.  They said someone would call me today with them.  The nurse said she would check the results and talk to the doctor about them.  She also said that she would be in Florida getting ready to leave on a cruise.  However, she said that she would call me tonight to make sure I got the results and understood everything.... no matter what. So.... I'm waiting for the call.  Today is the day.

Since I was only off work yesterday for the biopsy, I can only imagine all the questions I'll get today. From the teachers/staff who know why I was out, "How are you feeling?"  "How was it?"  "Are you ok?" From the kids, who did not know where I was going, "Where were you?"  "Why weren't you here yesterday?" "Were you sick?"  "Where did you go?" For the teachers/staff..."I'm good.  Just waiting on results." For the kids..."I had to have an attitude adjustment.  Your behavior today will decide if it was a success or not!"  I love my kids!  So I had to come up with something funny to do to them.  Honestly, I wish I could have had the rest of the week off.  Couldn't we get some snow or something?

So, I am home.  I went for my biopsy this morning.  I have such a wonderful support system.  My mom was there .  Tony was there.  My dad, who isn't supposed to be in waiting rooms, was there.  One of my best friends, Nannette, was there.  I was there, but didn't want to be.  All I wanted to do was cry!  So I did. While I was on the table, they said, "Go to your happy place".  Where is my happy place? This morning it was in prayer.  So I was on the table praying silently. They kept asking "Are you ok?"  So I would answer, "God's got a plan".  (That's the family motto!) For now, the tears are gone.  The waiting has begun.  I should have results by Friday.....or so they say.

I guess the title sounds a little more dramatic than needed, but in reality.... aren't those the only two things we are GUARANTEED!  lol As far as death goes, we have had a few deaths in the families of friends lately.  There is a pastor friend of ours who is just holding on.  We all thought he might be "waiting" to go home on a Sunday, but Sunday came and went.  He's still holding on.  I know it has to be really hard for that family. I think I know of 4 people (friend's relatives) who have died recently.  It really is quite sad when it all starts happening at one time. As for taxes.... Well... ours are done.  My sister-in-law, who normally works for a tax prep company during tax season, does them for us.  She sent a message last night that they are done.  The IRS has accepted them.  I should have them next week.  Now.....  what do I want to spend that on????  I will have to think about that!  Think I w...

While I think much of the government is shut down today, I have to work.  We have a snow make up day today.  So instead of sleeping in until 6am and going in for a teacher workday, I had to get up at 4am to go in for a regular school day. That also means that this Saturday, Feb. 23, we have the teacher workday.  :(  Really?  ARGH!!!!  But.... I get to sleep until 6:30am before going in on Saturday!  ;)  I'm hoping my kids aren't bouncing off the walls today.  They normally are on Mondays, but make up days are the worst!

Yesterday morning, before I could get awake good, it started snowing.  On Friday, it was 60 degrees, so nothing STUCK!  We did out cookie booth at Lowe's Home Improvement and sold a fair amount of cookies.  It was cold, but the sun was out; so it wasn't unbearable. Last night, we had a booth at 5pm at the OTHER Lowe's Home Improvement in town.  It started snowing as we were leaving the house.  It was snowing so hard (and directly into my windshield) that it was hard to see.  So we got there, about 10 minutes away, and there was already about 1/2" of snow on the ground.  It was freezing outside.  We stayed until the booth was over at 8pm.  My legs and hands were so cold that I slept with the electric blanket ON most of the night. My feet and hands are still a little numb this morning.  Hopefully they will warm up today.  If not, I might have an issue. :) :( 

Today is my BIRTHDAY!!!  At 2:45am, I turned 35!  WOW!  (I'm getting old!) So there are some things I want to work on this year.  (I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I do try to do things differently on my birthday!) 1. Stop stressing over the little stuff.  To me, in recent years, everything has been "big" stuff.  Not now! 2. Lose a little weight.  I'm not setting a goal of 100 lbs or anything, but I want to get back on track with losing weight again. 3. Have more family time!  I want to spend more quality time with the family!  I think that it would help our family dynamic.  I think it would also help Chasity to excel (even more) in all her activities. Thanks for all the birthday wishes already!  Some of my friends, who know there is NO WAY they will wake up before me, posted "Happy Birthday" for me last night so I would get it this morning!  You guys are the best!  I hope you all have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I can't believe that 13 years ago today Tony proposed to me.  That means that on May 19, I will be married for 12 years!  OMG! That's crazy! :)  I can't believe February is 1/2 over!  Where is 2013 going?  Wasn't it just Christmas?  WOW! I can't believe that tomorrow this time, I will be older.  Tomorrow is my birthday!  Today, I'm going to celebrate the love and relationships in my life.  Tomorrow I will celebrate life! :)  Happy Valentine's Day!

In case the title didn't scare you off, I am not going to have a political rant here.  I typically keep my politics to the voting booth.  Although, sometimes, it is impossible not to say something....one way or the other. Here is what I am going to say about the speech last night.  I did not watch it.  I had some things on DVR I wanted to catch up on.  In all honesty, I forgot about it until the news broke in for a "Special Report" at 9pm.  I was already on the way to DVR land by then. :)  I did flip through a few times, but I did not listen to more than one or two sentences.  So that makes me pretty unqualified to have an opinion of the speech. I will say, I personally think the state of our union is in a mess.  We have soldiers stationed and fighting all over the world. We have rich people who keep getting richer and never have to pay taxes or face consequences for their actions.  We have poor people who are getting poorer an...

I am sure that many of my posts here have shown the love I have for my family!  I love them all...sister, brother, Mom, Dad, the Princess, and the hubby (most days)!! :)  However, I am a Daddy's Girl!  I have always been.  I will always be.  When something goes wrong, I call Dad.  When I need advice, I call Dad.  When I want to eat tacos, I call Dad. Since July, we have had to try to find meals that Dad can eat that are low in sodium.  Do you know how incredibly hard it is to find GOOD tasting meals like that?  Anyways, I knew that Dad loved tacos.  So I found a recipe for taco seasoning that has 10 mg Sodium per serving.  We cook 2 lbs of ground turkey and put ONE recipe of seasoning in it.  I guess that means it's even less sodium....right. :) So every now and then we get all the stuff and have tacos with Mom and Dad.  That was last night.  Dad doesn't like hard taco shells, which is good because of all th...

A friend of mine owns a Creative Memories business.  (If you need anything, contact her here .) Anyways, she is extremely creative and very talented.  She makes cards and die cuts for all occasions.  Over the weekend, while I was scrapbooking with the Scrap Happy Divas, she said something about trying to get her name out there for people.  She said she has an Etsy shop.  She has Facebook.  (We are working on getting her a website.) :)  Then she said, "...but I've heard that I need a blog.  I don't know anything about blogs.  I'm not much of a writer."  Of course to that *I* said, "I have a blog.  I try to write on it every day.  You design your stuff, and I will blog it for you."  She said, "Okay," but we never set anything definite.  If I do it, I will have a different blog and email attached to it.  However, I will definitely tell you guys where it is so you can find it. :)  I will hopefully find ...

Some days I feel like I have nothing to say.  I feel like what I'm writing isn't really relevant to anything that is really happening. Some days I feel like I can't write what is on my mind.  I'm afraid I will hurt people or make them mad. Some days I just don't know how to say what I want to say.  (Ever had those days?) Today, though, I have lots on the brain.  My brain is completely full.  However, the things on my brain are trivial, trite, random things. For example, my parents are having an issue with the neighbor's dog. It's a really aggressive pit bull.  If it comes up and tries to attack either of my parents, they wouldn't be able to get away from it.  So, they have called Animal Control a few times already.  However, my dad is going to warn the neighbors that if the dog is in his yard again, he's going to shoot it.  He can't get away from it.  Mom can't run from it.  My parents have too many kids and grandkids (and t...

I love lazy Sunday afternoons.  I have not been able to have those for a while, since I was in school.  Most of my homework assignments were due on Sundays.  So for the last few months (Since December) I have had lazy Sunday afternoons.  It's nice to come home, eat lunch, and sit on the couch watching TV.  Sure I have a million boxes (maybe not THAT many) left to pack.  Sure I have 4-5 bags of clothes and stuff to list on eBay.  Sure I could have spent the afternoon writing, reading, or just hanging with the family. But, sometimes, a nice lazy Sunday afternoon is exactly what is needed.  I got that today.....  with a 2 hour nap to boot. :) I hope you have all had a great Sunday afternoon.

Don't you just love it when you go see a group of people you haven't seen in forever and almost NO ONE speaks to you.  Last night we had a Girl Scout event at the local YMCA.  The girls all said, "Hi"!  But... most of the leaders just walked by and acted like I wasn't sitting there. My dad, hubby, and bro-in law had taken Dad's sound equipment and set it up so I could DJ the event.  Good thing.  Nothing went wrong with music/sound.  Bad thing... no one even said thank you for coming.  :( I used to be like that.  Now, I'm not like that.  I try to acknowledge people when I see them.  I try to thank them for going out of their way. I used to be a Frenemy, but now....  I try to be a friend.

You know, if I had enough people who would do it, I would start a "bloggy party" on Fridays.  It would be called "Fractured Fridays".  It would be where we would share all the randomness in our brains.  :) For today, I am going to give you MY Fractured Friday.  (Maybe one day, I will have people to do it with me.  Any takers?) 1. My birthday is a week from today.  What does any good teacher do on her birthday?  Take the afternoon off and give a test! :)  2. Softball sign ups are now.  The Princess isn't sure if she wants to play because her really awesome coach from last Spring isn't coming back! :(  One of his kids made a traveling team.  One is going to be on a team from a different church (and we would have to play them!) 3. My Girl Scouts planned out most of the rest of the year last night.  It's cool having older girls!  They can help plan things. 4.  Cookies come in on Tuesday!  I am excited! :)...

This blog is public, yes.  However, it is more private than my Facebook.  So, with that said, NONE of this should make it to Facebook. If you are also my Facebook friend, please keep this off of there. :)  Thanks so much. Now... A couple of days ago, I asked if anyone here knows anything about RSD.  I still don't.  My mom said I should Google it, but I'm afraid I'll only find the BAD stuff.  So, I'm hoping I can hold off a little longer.  Maybe they will find something else in Dad's leg and it won't be RSD.  I will look it up soon enough. Yesterday, I went for my first ever Mammogram.  My doc said that I'm getting ready to be 35, and she highly recommended that I get it.  (There were other reasons, but I'll keep those to myself, for now!) So after work yesterday, I went.  It didn't take long to do the Mammogram.  I would have been out by 4:30 (and I got there at 4pm)!  However, my doctor also ordered an ultrasound....

Ever had one of those days where you can't seem to find anything you are looking for? First, let me say that I love to do riddles and brainteasers in my classes with my students.  One of the ones that I use regularly is "Why is it that everything you are looking for is in the last place you look?"  (A: "Because you stop looking when you find it.")  Haha!  It takes some of the kids a few minutes to figure that out.  I LOVE IT! :)  Anyways, on with the story. I love it when someone calls and asks "Where are you?".  You look at the phone (yep, take it from your ear and look at it!), and then you reply, "Where did you call me?"  :)  I do that quite often.  Most of the time, it's because I have forgotten that I called someone on their house/work phone instead of a cell phone. ;)  The other day, however, I was in a funk.  I couldn't find anything.  My car keys were in my hand, and I was searching my pockets and purse fo...

So.... on Sunday morning, I posted something.  Or... at least I thought I did. :)  However, there is nothing there.  It really wasn't much.  I was in a hurry (much like right now).  It said "SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!  GO RAVENS!"  (or something just as lame!)  Now, it's not here.  So....  according to Blogger, I "missed" posting on Sunday. :(  I'm thinking in my hurry, I forgot to hit PUBLISH!  lol In the last month, everything I have listed on eBay (5 items) have sold!  Let's hope this trend continues as I have probably 100 things I need to get rid of.  Mostly Chasity's old clothes--good condition, but too small for her! Now....does anyone know anything about RSD?  The docs are saying that's possibly what my dad has.  So... I'm afraid to Google it.  You know all the RANDOM crap you get from Google.  I'm afraid some stupid page will say that his leg is going to fall off from it!  LOL  (Ex...

WOW!  That was an amazing game.  For a minute there, I thought that the San Francisco 49ers were going to come back and beat the Baltimore Ravens .  Here's the deal!  I am a Washington Redskins fan!  I have always been.  I will always be.  Obviously I'm a fan if I still say it...even after some of the really bad years they have had. :)  This year, the Redskins beat the Dallas Cowboys (my husband's favorite team) TWICE!  Once, to knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs.  It was AWESOME! Needless to say, I didn't have a team in the Superbowl.  But, I had to pick one to pull for...right? :) How did you pick the team you pulled for in the Superbowl?  My husband stood by the NFC!  I, on the other hand, chose my Superbowl team by a couple of players.  First, during the playoffs, I discovered a player I had never heard about-- Ray Lewis.   He's a pretty fabulous guy.  (I did some reading up and check...

Today has been a great day so far.  :)  It's 10:45am and I have only been awake for about 45 minutes.  I haven't even made it downstairs yet.  I love weekends.  The SUN wakes up before me.  I love my job, but I hate getting up before sunrise to go to work. Now...  what am I doing this weekend? Laundry Cleaning Unpacking (still...obviously) Setting up Cookie Booths (hopefully!) Sleeping Getting this headache and dizziness to go away (hopefully!) Hanging with the family! (MOST important!!)

I know, you just looked at the title and said, "WHAT?"!!!  I would have too. This has been an extremely long week.  For the past few weeks (3 I think) at work we have had early release days, holidays, and "snow"/"ice" days.  So we have not had complete weeks in 3 weeks.  This week, we have been in school normal hours all week.  5 days!  7 hours/day! That's CRAZY! However, even with being in class 7 hours a day, the days have flown by.  It could be that I am still getting used to my new kids.  It could be that time is just flying as I get older.  It could be....  a million things, but this week has flown! Every day seemed to take forever to pass.  Now, today is Friday, and it feels like yesterday was just Monday. I think I could be going crazy.  What do you think?  Ever had this happen to you? So... I have had an extremely long week that has flown by.  (Sounds weird, but it is possible!)