my pink life, mi vida rosada

It's been a series of mishaps over here, and all of them are putting me into a funk. The two littlest children in my family finished nursery school on Thursday the 16th.  I climbed in bed early that night, exhausted from all the fun and festivities of the last day and last swimming lessons.  Sweet hubby had gone out to see his former students perform in their school concert.  The phone rang -- unusual in these days of texting -- and my dad informed me that sweet hubby needed to go to the hospital in an ambulance for back spasms. Therefore, I needed to go to the hospital.  My dad (the best!) came over to stay in my quiet house with my sleeping babies while I accompanied sweet hubby at the hospital.  The medicine they gave him did not ease his pain.  The x-rays did not show anything.  The CT scan did not show anything.  The extra medicine did not seem to provide any relief. Finally we left, anyway, and got home at 3:00 in the morning. On the "night" before I would have

Well.  Yesterday was an interesting day. The dryer broke (it's shooting sparks!) (but it didn't start a fire!), so we'll be replacing the washer/dryer combo. Delivery estimate is 8 days.  Good thing we have a clothesline outside!  And, does this give me a reasonable excuse for not keeping up with the laundry over the next week?  I believe so.  Also, Miss Middle has decided to act like she is four.  Not in a good way.  She is getting in to all sorts of stuff that she would have left alone before, and blaming her pretend daughter (Kelsin -- no idea where she got the name), and trying to skip her nap.  It is no good. (She will be four this summer, but I was not really mentally ready for this!) And then we went to a graduation party for some family friends, and as I parked the car, I totally busted a tire.  The whole thing will have to be replaced.  One hundred percent my fault. I have the best husband.  He didn't fuss at me (beyond the initial, didn't you see t

So.  I submitted my contract to teach in the 2019-20 school year.  I have mixed feelings about it. I'm a good teacher. I know a lot. I like to do things well. I am kind and compassionate. I have a lot that I can offer the kids in my classroom. Teaching is not a well paid profession.  It requires long hours (sure, the contract says 7:30-3:30, and then it adds this lovely little catch-all of "and other duties as assigned" that really means work all the hours, all the time, even when you are supposed to be on a day off or you are sick or whatever, and come early to keep kids safe at school and stay late to plan for tomorrow and stay for this special event and this meeting and all of these extras that oh wait hey you thought we were paying you for teaching? We really meant come spend your whole life here at the school working!) and has high demands (be a counselor! be a professional! turn in all these forms!  go to all these extra meetings!  prove that your students are

Few projects to report, as spring has sprung and the busy season known as the month of May is upon us. I'm counting down the few days I have left with child care (8.5) and trying to squeeze in as many errands and projects as possible.  However, I'm only capable of so much, and there are only so many staples I can pull out of a chair at a time.... So yes, I've started in on de-construction of yellow chair number two. I'm trying to pull a few staples every chance I get, because my wrist strength is not such that I can sit and pull staples for more than about 10 minutes at a time. Here's what I've been getting done, this time: 1. Beginning de-construction of yellow chair number 2 2. Embroidery (design from Urban Threads ) on my round casserole dish cover 3. Two more monogrammed pillowcases, to complete the sheet set 4. Rally signs for the teacher's protest on May 1, in favor of fully funding education. (The one in Spanish says, "Our students de