Morning at the pool

This year Wichita East High School got a new pool. We have been without a pool since 2003 when the original pool (from 1924) was removed to make additions to our building. The pool is FINALLY open and thanks to Maggie P. one of our PE teachers it is open on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 5:30!!!
Now that Luke's job is in town and just down the street from me he is able to take Amelia to school on days when I need to be at work early. So when Maggie said she was opening the pool to staff I was stoked. Two years ago I did a morning bootcamp with Maggie and I LOVED it! At first I wasn't too sure about getting up so early, but I would rather be up early and get it done that have to go after school. More often than not I don't really feel like working out after work. Ya know?
So this morning came early as the alarm went off at 4:45... but I was up and at 'em! I pumped, brushed my teeth and headed out the door. It was AWESOME. The facility is absoloutly beautiful! It was so neat to see the water so still. The water was pretty cold but once you got in it was great. All in all I swam about a mile, showered at work, grabbed a coffee at QT and headed to my room. Maggie played music while we were swimming, it was great! I feel great! And I am looking forward to next Tuesday...

Tonight I am meeting Abi for dinner at On the Border, but I am going to go weight in at WW before hand. I haven't weighed in a few weeks because of tennis and I won't be able to weigh in on Saturday because we are leaving for the regional tennis tourney in Topeka at 6am... So I will drop in to take care of that. I am feeling really good that I am down to my pre pregnancy weight... now I just want to get back to my before my mom got cancer weight. I don't have too far to go for that and I have consistently lost! WOOHOO yay for being a nursing mom!

On another note, I was talking to Luke last night. His boss told him that he beat out 56 candidates for the job during the interview process. Two of them had 20 years or more of experience and 6 were PhD candidates. Talk about STUD! So proud of him!

Book I am currently reading: Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney

Been a while...

I am now making it my goal to post at least weekly about my life...
On my mind today:
Dealing with my mother inlaw
My new chicks at home in the garage
Spending time with my sweet baby girl Amelia
My oober annoying student teacher

To tackle the first issue. Luke and I decided after a series of events that we were going to seriously limit our time with his family. After Amelia was born we saw them a few times then didn't go to the family Easter dinner. Not too long after that, we were going out of town and had asked Luke's aunt to watch Amelia. We decided that we should fill his mom in because the odds of her finding out anyway were high... He started the conversation off by asking her to go to family counseling so we could work out our issues (this didn't go over well) then he dropped the bomb about Aunt Cindy watching Amelia... this was even worse.

So really since then we have only seen them a few times and to be quite honest it has been a relief for both Luke and I. She has tried to contact me a few times on facebook and I haven't really responded... the way I see it, if she wants to talk to me, she should call. Last weekend was a birthday party for Peirce (Luke's cousins little boy.) We knew ahead of time that the fam would be there and weren't too worried about it. We were a little late getting there, due to it being across town and church going late. When we arrived Luke's older sister Laura was at the top of the stairs. She didn't even greet us... AWKWARD! So, when she didn't speak, neither did I. When I got to the top of the stairs I looked for the easiest out... LORI! She was standing in the middle of the room and immediatly wanted to give Amelia attention. So, that's what I did. I didn't make the effort to talk to Luke's dad (don't really have much to say) and the conversations with the rest of his family was VERY surface level! We left at the end of the party and that was that... or so I thought...

The next day I had a fb message from my MIL she said that she would like to babysit Amelia this upcoming Saturday and take her to our nephew's bday party. I had already informed my SIL that we wouldn't be able to make the party because I will be in Topeka for Regional Tennis. I asked her if we could celebrate his bday the following weekend. I honestly don't really even feel comfortable with them watching her. We don't have a good relationship AT ALL! I don't think they would hurt her, but they don't even respect us or our boundaries. I just don't get the "have fun with grandma" feeling. It is like a "I feel sick to my stomach even thinking about it" feeling ya know? Anyway I was trying to think of a way to tell her how I feel and decided to call her... BAD IDEA.

I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say and ran it by Aunt Cindy and my mom. They both thought it was well written and nice. So I called her. I read it... then she fired on me. Of course she is still not willing to go to counseling (she says counseling is for people who want to change, not people who want other people to change) my thoughts are... I am willing to work at this... are you? She told me that I don't respect her, she's right! I told her that I respect the position she has in the family, but that respect is earned. She got mad that I now call her Debbie instead of Mom... How dumb! She isn't my mom, never has been! When we used to have a good relationship I called her that, but when she started talking about me and my family behind our backs and wasn't willing to stop because "she needed to vent" that went out the window. I asked her to go and meet with their church pastor, she said no, I asked her to meet with the former women's minister and her friend and she said no. She said she didn't want to air our dirty laundry. I wanted to SCREAM AT HER!!! I just can't imagine someone being UNWILLING to work to mend a relationship. After about 2 hours and no progress I gave up. I asked her if she would like to meet for coffee. She commented that she wasn't sure if she would want to after the conversation that we had just had. I left if at, well, if you would like to continue to work on our relationship give me a call...

It is just so frustrating. She wants to forgive and forget, but they don't really ever forget... stuff from YEARS ago. Our everymove is scrutinized, picked apart and later discussed... It breaks my heart that this is where we are at! I would like for nothing more than to have a positive relationship with them. I feel so bad for Luke, but he is far less willing to see it there way. I am bummed for him. I guess at what point do we give up?

On another note, I got two new chicks last night from a friend. I didn't get them till late last night and they came in a bankers box... I cracked the lid and put the heat lamp over them... this morning THEY WERE GONE! I found them huddled in a corner of the garage. LOL! They are now in the cat crate! Here's to hoping I didn't just take in two roosters :)

All for now...

Mr Ace

Wow! Sometimes time goes by so quickly... I haven't blogged in what seems like ages! Well this week at school is United Way week. There have been all sorts of fun activities all week, like change wars, and powder puff but tomorrow it all comes to an end... and with a grande finale I might add. Tomorrow is Mr Ace. 10 strapping young boys will dress up like drag queens for a beauty contest and Mr Carroll will hopefully be the winner of the kareoke contest and sing Man I feel like a woman :) I will let you know how it goes!!!

So it's time to blog again :) and my ways to combat heat stress

Ok so a lot has gone on lately... as summer is in full swing lately and the temperatures are on the rise I thought I would fill my fellow chicken lovers in on how I combat heat stress in my flock... WATERMELON... as well as a great treat chilled watermelon helps cool down the core temp of the birds and provides them with extra water. I also put frozen two liter and milk containers in the run as well as in the coop. It doesn't do much for the air temp unless in the coop, but my girls gather round and huddle up to the bottles to cool off. Along with these things I make sure to change out the water a few times a day and feed them early... they tend to eat less the hotter they get... Hope this helps!

a slightly depressing post! Sorry :) I needed to get some of this out!

Today was a different day... a day filled with sadness, joy, concentration, and deep thought. I started the day off trying to figure out what I was going to wear to a friends funeral. A dear college friend Stephanie McCart was killed in a car accident near Huntsville, TX on Saturday. She was 22 years old and will be dearly missed! Her mother read her eulogy which took strength I don't think I possess. We laughed and cried within the same minute. Her mother talked of the "planner" that Steph was... she said that Steph had told her about a file on her laptop titled "not yet." this file had all of Steph's plans should she not be around to make them. She had reasons for everything... why she wanted to be cremated, what she wanted her guests to eat should there be an open house... it included everything down to the music played before and after. I might add that we walked out to "Celebrate good times" :) She was a trooper and a true sport.
On my drive home I thought of all the funerals I have been to for friends whose lives have been cut short. there are too many to count or list for that matter, but none will ever be forgotten! A few that stand out in my mind are Melissa Jayne Neher, one of my truest friends in high school, killed in a car accident my senior year. Kevin McMillan, a fellow Marine from home who I used to work at McDonald's with in high school crushed by a 5-ton truck and Brendan Smart... another Alaskan Marine who couldn't outrun an avalanche. Ok super depressing, but just thinking of my friends when I think of Kevin and Melissa the first thought that comes to mind is not their laughter and smiles that glowed and filled the air but, I see them lying in their coffins. I remember standing over them waiting/hoping to see them gasp for air. Kevin's was the last funeral where I went forward to see the body. That isn't how I want to remember my friends and family. Today at the funeral they had the body... that is all it is... it wasn't Steph at the entrance to the sanctuary, it was unavoidable! I rushed past and averted my eyes. So if I ever make a "not yet" folder my only request so far is that there not be any viewings or open caskets! That is not how I want to be remembered!

So I sat with the only people I knew at the funeral... the girls from WSU in Language Arts... we cried, held hands, and passed around a box of kleenex's. I was very glad I went, but it wasn't the highlight of my day. When i got home, I changed and started working on my massive paper that's due on Tuesday when Sassy started barking. I hollered for her to be quiet insisting it was just the neighbors, but I was oh so pleasantly surprised to hear the door bell ring and open the door to see a dear friend Craig Wiebe, home on leave before deploying to the Philippines! I was so thankful for his unplanned visit. God knew I needed a friend today and since lately I have felt quite alone when it comes to my friends it was such a relief to be able to say... "I am so glad you are here... I just walked in the door" I needed a hug at that moment and I got one... I had even tried to get a hug on the way home but couldn't think of who I could go to in order to get one... I even drove around down town thinking of stopping by a friends work but didn't want to be a bother.

Maybe I am just in a downer mood today, I don't really know why. I guess I have just felt alone! I have a wonderful husband who is always there for me and loves me unconditionally.... but sometimes you just need someone to talk to in the moment... Luke was in a meeting :( and other times you just need a girlfriend! Sometimes I just want to bitch about things and sometimes I want friends that will just agree with me because they know that's what I need to hear... I don't always want to look on the brighter side and think about what lesson I am learning from my current situation... I think for the most part I am a pretty happy person, I love to laugh and I love to have fun and be crazy... but sometimes you just wanna be in a crap mood ya know? And I think that's ok! And maybe my bad mood lasts for a season... everyone has seasons right? Or maybe my funk just relates to a certain situation... like having babies!!! Everyone around me seems to have jumped on the baby band wagon and that's cool... I am just not at that point in my life yet... because well I think it is reasonable to want to graduate and want my husband to graduate and actually use our degrees before we have kids... if that's not your choice good on ya... but I get so sick of all the extra personal baby talk... let's find something else to talk about already... the baby talk has gotten to be so bad I find myself talking about babies or rather complaining about mommies to be and their over-shares with my non-preggo friends... the cycle is never ending! Gosh I hope it ends soon... :)

So on a lighter note... come may I will no longer be 6 chickens and a rooster I will be 12 chickens and a rooster! More on that later! No worries friends I will be back to my normal self tomorrow!!
Love love!

Parent Teacher Conferences

So this week has been a long one. I will start with last Thursday... I stayed late at school and helped with hall decorations for winter homecoming. I was a little disappointed with the lack of students but all I can say is that we rocked it! Our theme was decorating by going green and winter wonderland... we took a swiss theme and made a matterhorn mountain and a yeti made out of trash. It was pretty fun! By the way... our hall won :) Then Friday was the game and that was fun then Saturday I went and volunteered at the dance. I was introduced to the "Stanky Leg" quite and interesting dance I might add. Tuesday was back to seminar and senior night at the chuck! It was great to see the shockers win! Clemente and Griskenas will be missed! Wednesday kicked off parent teacher conferences and tonight is the grand finale! I am so ready for the weekend! Last night was pretty interesting, it was hard for me to see a few kids getting yelled at by their parents in front of me. THough I whole heartedly agree they needed a good ass chewing, I would have prefered it not take place at my table. It really just makes me thankful I had a good loving home! While sitting there the only thing I felt for the student was pity! Hopefully I will see some improvement in class to prevent such future encounters! Well My first parent is here... wish me luck!
PS on a lighter note my sister had her baby this week! Benjamin Spencer born on Monday at 6:58pm 7pounds 4 ounces 20 inches long! Beautiful and Healthy! Lea and Jeff are both doing well and headed home today!

My Etsy!

A few have asked to link my etsy shop to my blog! So for those of you who are interested here is the link www.etsy.com my shop name is 6chickensandarooster.... so since I can't figure out how to exactly link to my shop just search under seller's names...
Sorry I haven't posted lately I have been very busy with my student teaching! It is going well and I am loving it! Tonight is our winter homecoming dance and I am volunteering! Should be an interesting experience!