Today’s Blog-A-Thon is Kids. Now when I first read this I was a little like, really kids but then the more I thought about it the more excited I got. I could write about all my students over the years which I call my kids or the fact that I am an Auntie now (and soon I will get to have not only a niece but a nephew as well) or I could write about the fact that we have lots of friends who have super cute kids but I decided instead to write about the fact that I am excited that my husband is going to be an awesome dad some day. Now I want to make it very clear that we are not on the kid bandwagon right now. We want to enjoy being an Aunt and an Uncle first but one day when we do decide to become parents, I know I chose the best for dad’s to be.

Five Reasons I Chose The Best:

1. He is Patient

Jeff is one of the most patient people I know. I can’t believe sometimes how patient he is. I am definitely not a patient person so it is good we have him to balance us out. Here are a few examples:

• He doesn’t care about traffic, I on the other hand have really bad road rage when there is traffic.
• He’s ok not seeing a movie opening night (he was willing to wait till my family got here to watch the Hobbit so we could watch it together as a family)
• He will stay off media on Monday’s during football season so we can watch the Seahawks game together cause he knows it means a lot to me
• He waits (not complaining) while I get ready to go somewhere and change outfits three hundred times
• He doesn’t mind going to 500 souvenir shops as he knows my mom and I enjoy that

I know there are tons more that I can’t really think of right now and these ones are quite silly. I think I sometimes take advantage of how patient he is and don’t notice as much as I should.

2. He Compromises

This was a quality that I knew I wanted in a marriage but I guess I didn’t realize how lucky I got with Jeff. He truly does compromise more than I could ever ask for. He will watch chick-flicks with me, go to the grocery store (though he hates it but knows I love when he goes with me), take beachy vacations (though he would rather take adventure holidays), let’s me buy tons of Christmas decorations (even though our house looks like Christmas exploded but he knows I love Christmas decorations), let’s us have a rubber ducky bathroom, etc, etc, etc. I could go on for days on how much Jeff compromises in our daily lives but I won’t bore you with all that mushy, gushy stuff.

3. He Deals With My Childish Behavior

I sometimes will revert back to my childhood years and Jeff takes it in stride. There are even times when he will say stuff like “when you do that I can totally see what our children will be like”. I like to blame it on the fact that I hang out with 5-12 year olds all day long and then I start acting like them. I do whine, throw tantrums, and complain about chores but he loves me through it all. I sometimes don’t understand how he deals with me when I revert back to my 6 year old self or worse my teenage years but he does and I love him even more for it.

4. He Is Not Afraid Of Being A Dork

I love not caring about things and totally being dorky but not everyone is. Though I don’t think Jeff realized how much of a dork I was until we got married. But he has been such a great sport over the years. He is just a few examples of the dorkiness I have put him through over the years (and he did it with no complaints) :

 5. He Loves Unconditionally

No matter what Jeff loves me and I know that. He shows me in ways that I could never imagine. In times I needed him the most he loved me. I can wake up in the morning with dragon breath, crazy hair and no face on yet and he still will say he loves me. I could burn dinner and he would still say he loves me. I could stress about what I am going to wear and he will say I look beautiful in whatever and still love me. I can be the biggest brat in the world and he would still love me. I feel like I won the lottery with him as no matter what I do good or bad he still loves me.

There are many more than five reasons why I chose the best but I will keep this blog short and simple. I can’t wait to one day share the joy of raising kids with this man.

January 17: Things that Rhyme (now it’s no longer the 17th here in Oz but it is still the 17th back in the states so I am going to jump on the bandwagon now!!)

Now when I first read this I was a little freaked out , I do not write poetry and I can’t rap, so I initially figured I was out again for another day of this super cool project. That was until I read Katrina’s post for the day: How to Set A Snuggle Trap and the only rhyming words in her whole post were Dog/Blog and figured if one of the masterminds behind this Blog-A-Thon could only rhyme two words then so can I.

So here it is: Jeans and Machines (well just one machine; a sewing one)

I have been reading lots of blogs about refashioning clothing and have wanted to for awhile, just couldn’t take that step of faith to actually do it. I didn’t believe that I could actually take something I owed that looked decent and make it into something that looked better. I mean I am not the best seamstress out there and why ruin a perfectly good piece of clothing? But today I decided to bite the bullet and see what happened, if it didn’t turn out I guess I learned my lesson.

I have a couple pair of jeans that I liked but were too long for me and a little too much flare for my liking. Granted I did buy them that way but I guess thought I liked them better than I did. They have just sat at the back of my closet for years. I figured I would start with one pair and if they didn’t turn out I would never say anything and stick to keeping them in the back of my closet. But man was I wrong. They turned out great and in such a short amount of time as well. Now I just wish I had more than two pairs stored in the back of my closet.

Here are the FOUR simple steps to refashioning your jeans from something you try and hide to something you can’t stop wearing:

Refashion Needed

Step One: Find a pair of jeans you like and fold both that pair and the one’s you are refashioning inside out. Lay the jeans you like on top of the ones you are refashioning. Using a pen draw a line down the inside seam (I chose the outside seam as the inside seam was decorative on these jeans). Pin down that line.

Jeans I Like On Top of The Ones I Want to Refashion

Line Drawn On Refashion Jeans

Pinning On Line

Step Two: Sew down the line. Start at the top of the jeans and work your way down. Since I did the outside seam I gradually worked from the outside seam towards my line so there wouldn’t be any bunching and so it wouldn’t be noticeable.

Step Three: Cut excess fabric, leaving a 1/4 of an inch (before I cut my fabric I tried them on to make sure they fit the way I wanted too, cause at this point I could stitch rip the seam out but once you cut you can’t go back). I then used a zig-zag stitch along the edge so it wouldn’t fray (this step is not necessary but I wanted to make sure it didn’t come apart and I didn’t have a serger). {At this point I also hemmed my jeans as they were too long for me. I had decorative stitching along the bottom that I wanted to save so I fold them the length I wanted them and then just sewed right below the seam and then cut off the excess fabric and then iron them down. Worked perfect you can’t even tell I made them shorter and they still have the decorative stitch along the bottom.}

Cut Off Excess Fabric

Zig-Zag Stitch

Hemming

Step Four: Fold your jeans right side out and strut your stuff in your new refashioned jeans.

Refashion Complete

Since these turned out great. I did do my second pair and love those as well. I now need to find some other things to refashion in my closet. I have become addicted.

First Refashion

Second Refashion

So this blog didn’t have much rhyming but I got to show my refashion and join in on this cool Blog-A-Thon. Hopefully now I can continue out the month

This run was so much fun and prevented my ADD personality from coming out (this this run over yet; what is that over there; why are these people passing me; hopefully there is some good food at the end of this; etc). But in this run every kilometer they would throw color powder at you and they had great music playing at each station. I have to say I looked forward to each color station and my goal for the day was to have every inch of me covered in color. The color stations couldn’t come fast enough, I just wanted more and more color. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can’t wait till the next one (secretly I am counting down the days, though they haven’t even released the dates for it).

Another reason why this was such a great experience for me was that fact that they didn’t time it. I am a very competitive person so the thought of being timed stresses me out but being able to just go out and have a run with no expectations made it so enjoyable. But most of all why I loved this run was that I got to run with my best friend. Jeff and I haven’t done anything like this together it was so much fun completing this task. (And I got him to wear a tutu which is always a plus.) We ran with a group of friends that made the day spectacular.

I hope by looking through the photos you can see how much fun this run was and experience a little of the color yourself. I encourage anyone out there who is a self proclaimed couch potato to get out there and run this run as it will make your day!!

I have always dealt with the pain of endometriosis and moved on with life. But in the last year it has come to my attention that the pain is getting worse. For years the pain has been about the same and I have gotten used to it but recently it had gotten to a point that was not something I was willing to live with. So I went to a GP to see if she could prescribe anything or change my birth control again (I was thinking this was one of the reason’s why I was in pain again because I had to change birth control here as they didn’t have the same brand as what I was on back home) to see if that would help with the pain. I knew that she probably couldn’t as the only thing that really helps endometriosis pain is getting pregnant or have a laparoscopy. I had a laparoscopy when I was 18, which is how they found out that I did have endometriosis. But I was hoping there was another option. She wanted me to get a ultrasound to see how the endometrosis was, though I knew this was not going to show anything. Sometimes knowing more than the doctor is not helpful. But I still went to the ultrasound with Jeff in tow. It was an internal ultrasound and one of the most painful things I have done. Jeff’s poor hand was almost crushed and I was in tears but I made it through. Of course the ultrasound came back with nothing new and the GP said there was nothing else she could really do (that was not helpful). But she referred me to OBGYN in the area and said to see her and maybe she can help. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the OBGYN that the GP referred me to was one of the best in Victoria and specialized in endometrosis laparoscopy surgery. I am not sure that the GP realized how amazing this OBGYN was but I was thankful it was her that I was referred too.

After my first visit with Dr. Catarina Ang, she helped me to feel better about my situation. She fully understood that I knew about my condition and she didn’t make me feel that I was out in left field. She recommend that I have another laparoscopy to see how the endometrosis was doing. She had a feeling that it had grown and that is why I was in more pain. Jeff was with me during this whole process and he learned more about my condition then he ever thought he would. We discussed and decided that surgery was my best option. Though I was nervous to have this surgery so far from home, I was blessed with an amazing husband who supported me through the whole thing and an exceptional doctor that I wouldn’t have been able to get back home.

I had the surgery in May and was surprised with the results. I knew that there would be endometriosis but I was shocked how much there was. I had it on the front, back, and underside of my uterus, the left and right pelvic wall, and the left and right side of my bladder. This was a lot more then I was expecting. The recovery for this procedure took a lot longer than I expected. Last time I had this surgery I was recovered after about two weeks, this time it took almost a month but that was becuase Catarina believes in cutting the endometrosis out rather than just cauterizing it as they do back home. Jeff was an amazing nurse and really  made me feel so loved. He waited on me hand and foot. He had to do almost everything for me besides hand feeding me. It was the first time in my life that I felt that kind of love from someone other than my parents or brother. He supported me through this tough time and literately was my support (as I could barely walk on my own).

After I recovered I thought my journey was finished, well at least until the talk of kids comes about, but I was wrong. While I was in surgery Catarina decided to put a medical dye in my tubes to make sure they were working correctly, sometimes endometriosis can affect the tubes. She said my tubes looked great but she still wanted to make sure and since I was already under and they were in there, she would check. Well the dye only flowed through one of my tubes, which surprised Catarina and she wasn’t to happy about it so she said I needed to have the dye put through again. Now this is a procedure that can be done while you are awake so no need for surgery again but I needed to wait about three months after my surgery. I had that procedure done on Wednesday of this week. Again my life support was there to hold my hand through the whole thing. I again had to have an internal ultrasound, this time though it was painful it didn’t bring tears to my eyes and Jeff’s hand was not damaged. The procedure resulted in the dye flowing through both tubes but it was very slow and not much through the left but it did flow, so good news!

So I know this post was probably more information than  you wanted to know but I wanted to share with you all that you can fall more in love with your partner as the years go on. I never quite believed this as I was so in love that beautiful day two years ago but after going through this ordeal with only him by my side I realized that love can grow. He has been so selfless and wonderful these past few months it blows me away. I truly do love him more today then yesterday.

One major thing I have had to get used to (which is driving me nuts), is the fact that most of the time lessons plans are not left. I mean nothing!! I am normally getting what I will be teaching from the teacher next door in a brief ten minute chat before the kids walk in. There are no emergency sub plans; like what time things are or where things are or how things are done in the classroom and a majority of the time no class list either. I am going crazy! I think of all that time and effort I put into my sub plans so that the teacher felt comfortable in my class and it would run as smoothly as possible. Nope not here. Part of it I know is that they are way more laid back here but at the same token these kids are so smart, why aren’t the teachers taking advantage of every minute, even when a sub is there. I would love to take my school of Pioneer teachers, deposit all of us in school and see those kids blow the socks off other schools. We took advantage of every minute we had with those kids, even when there was sub. Here I feel like the teachers write off the day when a sub comes in, but not when I am the sub. Some of the kids. I think, are a bit shocked when we are actually doing work and getting stuff done rather than just playing games but this is precious time.

Another thing I am getting used to is the fact of getting up at 6:00am not knowing if I am going to work that day or not. I loved subbing back home cause I normally could get a call the night before or even weeks before since I knew the teacher,s but not here. So I get ready and sit on the couch waiting for the phone call. I never once thought I would love to hear that phone ring at 6:30 more than I do now. This must be my dream job, as I wouldn’t do this for just anything. I am not an early morning person, so 6:00am wake up calls are not my cup of tea (or coffee). But I know when that phone rings I am heading to a great day, doing what I love.

There are a few things that will never change, the kids. No matter where I teach it seems the kids are all about the same. When a sub enters a room their day is made. They love to see what they can get away with and what stories they can make up that you will believe. I feel though they are still as sweet as can be. Though they wanna have a crazy day, I think deep down the kids just love to have someone love on them. Not that these kids don’t have loving families at home but it just nice to have a complete stranger love them no matter what. I see this so much when I am in the classroom, these kids just wanna be loved.  On my first day back in the classroom, I received this from one of the little girls who I taught that day:

When I read it I knew I was meant to be in the classroom. I might not change their lives in the one day I am in their classroom but teaching is my passion and even the kids can see it. I am so thankful that I can take my gift with me no matter where I am and share it with everyone around me.