I DID IT

I raised my GPA and made satisfactory progress in school. I not only completed all my classes, but passed them with flying colors. I did well enough to no longer be on accademic probation, I still have to be on financial aid probation because they toughened up the guidelines, but I'm getting there, and I get to go to school over the summer and get even closer. Maybe silly to be so happy, but it's been a long long road for me and I haven't done well in school since before I moved to Reno, so for me, I am very proud, very happy and just want to keep going and moving forward.

On the daughter front, tonight she and a friend played in the mud, which would not normally be a problem, but the splint got very muddy, along with the wheelchair, the pads for said wheel chair, the child, the front porch, and anything else around. I know that she is bored, and not able to do much but sit in the chair or attempt to wander around on the crutches. I'm glad that she is trying to think of something to do besides sit in front of the television, but the mess on the porch was the last thing I wanted to deal with after work today. AH well, sounds like life.

I'm thankful that she broke her leg and not her head, I'm thankful that she is trying to get through with minimum complaining about being hot and itchy and uncomfortable. I'm thankful that I won the helmet war before this happened and I'm thankful that my brother had made sure that the helmet was properly adjusted for her head. I'm thankful that she is healthy other than a broken leg and I continue to hold onto my faith that she will heal correctly and be just fine.
Life's an adventure, I'm enjoying the ride.

Happy Birthday to my father.

After Surgery

She made it through, we will know two weeks from now how the healing is going. For now, it is painful, she sleeps a lot, and she is driving me NUTS with the dumb TV shows. She's camped out on the couch for now, my living room is beginning to look like her bedroom did before I attacked it tonight. She's moving back in there whether she likes it or not!!!! I didn't know I had the strength to get her in and out of the bath tub, or to repeatedly lift her in and out of the car, she helps a bit of course, but not as much as she could, we are learning together how to do this!
Tomorrow I go back to work for the first time after her surgery. She will go back to school Monday, and hopefully we will get back to normal.
I took my final for math today, got a 90%, so off to summer school for the next class. Tonight I'll write my two finals for the other classes and then I'm done with Spring semester. First semester that I have completed since Fall 05, YAY ME! Keep Sydney in your prayers, pray for fast healing and for Mommy not to loose her patience too much.

Did You Know? Or Adventures in Parenting an ACCIDENT PRONE daughter!

Did you know that there is now an x-ray machine on which an x-ray can be transmitted to a doctor via the Internet? Did you know that a child can break her ankle ten minutes after she says "Mom, I'm going to ride my bike" Did you know that there are growth plates in the ankle? I did not know any of this until last night! Crash course in radiology!
Sydney left the house yesterday night to ride her bike. Ten minutes later the kids from around the corner were running to the house "Sydney fell!" I walk down there, hear her crying before I even round the corner. Three adults holding her up, can't bear weight on her left leg. OH (four letter word, rhymes with MUCK, I was doing so well not cussing too!) Call home on someones cell phone, I'll need the car, no answer, no answer. I run back to the house, leaving my daughter, crying, on the curb with ice on her leg. Ah, here is why there's no answer in the house, Al is standing outside to see what's happened. "GET THE CAR, GET THE CAR NOW!" We pull up and load bike and kid into the car, get home, look at leg, can you wiggle your toes? Yes, can you move your ankle? NO! Ok, can you move the other ankle, yep, black and blue, not 20 minutes after falling, hmm, can't be too good, take her to the hospital, after two broken arms and surgery required for each one, I've learned something. Yelling that word in the house, over and over, looking for shoes, for keys, for phone, call her father, drive to the emergency room. Get to said emergency, taken into urgent care. Wait for an eternity, they x-ray with the coolest machine I've ever seen, they didn't have this machine two years ago when she broke her arms. I don't see a break in the picture, they come back and say they need a lower picture, looks like the break is in the ankle, they do another x-ray, the bone doctor who happens to be in the ER says to do a CT scan. YAHHOOO, I've now officially met my deductible! No one can read the CT scan by the time it's done, the doctor has left. Ok, so they give her Tylenol with codeine twice, take her vital signs twice, splint the leg, and off we go, the kid on crutches, her crying because of the pain. Get her home, get NO sleep, go to work, get little done, go home early, go to the orthopaedists office, find out how bad the break is. DID you know that if a child breaks the bone at the growth plate they have to put screws in to line it up? Did you know that the screws will stay in there? Did you know that you can go to the doctor on Friday and they do surgery on Monday. Pray for her Monday, pray for her surgery to go well, pray the doc knows what he's doing, and guide his hands to steady completion of the surgery.

Mobile Daughter

When my Sydney was 6 I bought her a bicycle. I got a bike for myself too, so that once she knew how to ride I could go for rides with her. It was going to be fantastic, exciting, we'd go on adventures together. We went out and kept trying to get her to learn to ride the bike, she would fall, say I pushed her off, and then wouldn't get on it again. Over the last three and a half years I have tried time and again to get her to ride that bike, but to no avail. Last year I gave up on the idea of long family bike rides and gave my mountain bike away to someone who would use it. I didn't like the bike anyway, I'd rather have a beach cruiser. So yesterday I was in the thrift store, and I saw an old Huffy bike sitting there, it was $4, no visible damage, ugly as sin, pink and purple, puffy little seat, so on a whim I had her sit on it, perfect fit, I bought it, an old helmet, and I took the bike to the gas station for some air in the tires. We went to a baseball game last night, she took the bike with her. The bike is tall enough for me to hold a handle bar while she rides. She was insistent that she could not do it on her own. So I helped her, until my arm was tired and I got to playing with my former neighbor's two year old while they coached the ball game of the 7 year old. We were going to the car for a sweater, Sydney insistent that I help her, me telling her I didn't have a hand to help her with, so then suddenly off she went, she was riding the two wheeler, BY HERSELF, tears in my eyes as she sped past me, baby and I jumping up and down cheering Sidy on, OH OH OH. So, she is mobile now, first a little bike, then a bigger bike, then only 7 years from now, a drivers license. This is the hard part, I know, I've said it before, this is the hard part though, letting her go bit by bit, my baby girl.

FRUSTRATED

Ok, so over the last four years, I haven't been the best student. I've had some health problems and some other family problems come up that I've let get in the way of getting the best possible grades. One semester I completed my classes, but the grades were really bad because I couldn't focus on the finals with some things that were going on with Al. Then there was the Fall '07 semester when I dropped all three of my classes because Sydney needed me home more than I needed to be in class three nights a week. So not the best track record. I repaid the debt to financial aid by paying for and passing the classes that I had gotten financial aid for and failed to complete the course work for. I filed an appeal for financial aid and had it approved. I signed up for summer classes and filed for financial aid again, they said I needed an appeal, so I filed the appeal, only to get a letter on Friday informing me that since I had met the terms of my appeal I didn't need to file an additional appeal. Today, I receive a letter that says I need to file and appeal and have been denied for financial aid???? Ok, sound confusing yet? Last semester, when I filed the appeal they asked for a letter from my 9 year old to back up that I was needed at home. UMMMM??? Then I provided them with a letter from her psychologist, which they then told me they lost, so I went home, got the copies and was all ready to fax them back when I received a call that said they found the letter and other items I submitted. If this was only a recent problem I could understand, but every semester before this, I've had to call and remind them that they should take the hold off of my account that was on there due to having to prove that I was a ward of the court, that my parents are dead. Well, part of the reason I waited this long to go to school here was because after age 25 I no longer had to prove that they were not living in order to not provide their income, so I didn't need to provide a ward of the court waiver. EVERY SEMESTER FOR THREE YEARS!!! I am frustrated beyond belief. I am almost done, five more classes and I don't have to deal with them again, I get to deal with a new financial aid office. I know, I know, a lot of you have paid for your classes yourselves, you didn't have the luxury of qualifying for financial aid, and I should be thankful that I am not paying for this myself yet. I am just frustrated because how smucking hard is it, how hard is it to keep track of papers, how hard is it to put them in a file with my smucking name on it and NOT loose them. I do it in my office every day for 600 active students, I do it for 20 students a week who are separating and I keep track of every piece of paper that crosses my desk as do the four other people I work with in my office, so why can't these people do their job the way I do mine, CORRECTLY??? So, I suppose for the sake of the good I can achieve with the right degree, I'll continue on like a circus animal and jump through the hoops, with a little steam blowing in the process.

Strange

I've just finished a book by Inga Muscio, C--t, A Declaration of Independence. I was afraid to ask for it at the book store when I had to buy it for my Women's Studies class. I was afraid to start the book, but being as I am loud, obnoxious and outspoken most of the time, I chose this title over the alternative, which I can't recall right now. It has freed my thinking, it has allowed me to explore a part of me that I have kept deeply hidden. I suggest it to anyone who wishes to free themselves.

Sunday's news brought plenty of tragedy, both personal and in the world. Personally I found out on Sunday afternoon that my dear dear sister-in-law had lost her beloved mother. Her mother was an amazing person that I missed the opportunity to get to know very well, but what I do know of her I greatly admire. On Sunday, God gained an angel. On the news I saw where 14 had perished in a small airplane crash in Montana. This morning I read the list of those killed. One listed was Sydney, age 9. It brought sadness to my heart to think that the world is less one 9 year old Sydney, I am blessed to have mine in my life daily, for all her quirks, annoying habits and learning experiences. A relatives blog today spoke out about the wonder of 9 year olds. She pointed out that my darling baby is halfway out my door. Oh, how I am aware of this, daily I am reminded of how much she grows, how she matures, how much she has to learn and how much more there is to teach.

Today there seems to be a curse on all things water in our house! This morning I got up and found the water container in our refrigerator was leaking, oh, perhaps I did not tighten the spout, so I proceed to pull the container from the shelf, and become covered in WATER. Nearly a gallon of water, on my slippers, on the floor, and all over the refrigerator. The lid was loose as well as the spout. So I clean that up, then have my coffee. I go to take a shower, flush the toilet, turn to get clothes out of the closet and hear spilling. I turn, of course the toilet is gushing water everywhere. I grab the plunger, reverse the flow, mop the gallons I've wasted off the floor, wash the towels, wash the floor. Then I arrive 5 minutes late for work, because of my misadventures at home, to discover that despite the many lessons of the morning I have neglected to tighten my lid on my water bottle and the water is now spilt in my bag. AARRGH. So do I think the spills have stopped? No, the next spill is the waste toner cartridge, black dust EVERYWHERE. At least it wasn't wet, although quite messy! Home after work, and the daughter is getting water for the cat, the water of course, ends up where? So another round with the mop, and hopefully the rest of the night will be dry!
Tomorrow is another day, give thanks for the people in your life, the blessings, disguised as annoyances and the opportunity to go at it again tomorrow!

Handwriting, the forgotten art?

I am very proud of my handwriting. I love the look of a handwritten letter, I still love to receive them. I push my daughter to improve her printing, to make sure that she can be understood. I was so excited for her to start the third grade, CURSIVE, oh she would learn cursive this year. Alas, I asked the teacher about when they would begin handwriting, I was told that they would no longer teach it to the third grade, it was unimportant!!!! Tonight, I told my daughter she needed to work harder on her printing, to practice by doing her work, she said "That's what technology is for mom, why do I need to improve my handwriting, it is good enough."
ARGHHHHHHH...I disagree, I strongly disagree. I will teach her cursive this summer, she will learn and use it, I don't agree with the teachers and I don't agree with the ever increasing dependence on word processing programs. Spell check is not always dependable, their, there, they're, all are spelled correctly, and yet using the wrong one will give you very different meanings, and the spell check won't catch it. The grammar check will though, maybe, if you haven't used the wrong form of the word in a sentence where it would fit. What about filling out applications, oh most of them are online now, the importance of hand writing goes to the wayside. I see people through my work who have little competence when it comes putting pen to paper. Very few have the handwriting skills to fill out a form, let alone sign their names. I had a hard time on Friday when I came upon an illiterate student who could not even sign his own name, it was sad.
A long time ago I noticed that to raise my daughter with the values I think should be passed on to her in this area, in this time period, it would be very hard. It is like pounding my head against the wall some days. She doesn't want to work, she says the other kids don't work so hard so why should she. Is it the area I live in, or the state of the world? I don't know.
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems that handwriting is the lost art, or at least the act of putting pen to paper is perhaps out of date. Maybe I am the only person who still does it, it's been a really long time since I last received a letter that wasn't e-mail or typed through the post office. Maybe I am in the wrong time period.