The Night Shift . . .

. . . is brutal.  I can see why officers and detectives would like it with all the cool cases and weirdos, but it sure wreaks havoc on family life.  Let me explain.

1)  First off, Ken’s “weekend” is now on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Enough said.  The children and I are all at work/school. On our true weekends I’m trying to keep the kids quiet so Ken can sleep.  This morning the whole family went to the do the grocery shopping, just so we could spend some time TOGETHER.

2)  Secondly, Ken sleeps late in the mornings.  And so he should, since his shift ends at 1:30 AM.  Problem is, try getting 3 kids up and ready for school without making noises.  Impossible.

3)  Dinner schedules.  Should I cook a full meal for just the kids and I on the off-chance that Ken could come home to join us?  Sometimes it’s just easier to make sandwiches or macaroni and cheese.  Yes, me too.  Scrap South Beach.  Or, like last week, I made tilapia with brown rice and steamed veggies.  That was the night that Ken didn’t make it home for dinner.

4)  My work schedule.  I used to get home about 5-5:15pm.  Now I have to rush to get home to get the kids.  That means that I have to bring more work home to do, something I would much rather not do.

I am glad, however, that it’s only for a month.   His last night is October 19th.  I am really looking forward to that.

Steppin’ Up Challenge Results for Week One

The first week’s results are in and some days were good, others not so good.  I might add that I felt rotten all week (sinus infection on top of allergies )  and that didn’t help contribute to the amount of steps.  Here’s the rundown:

9/17/2007    7535

9/18/2007    6315

9/19/2007    6561

9/20/2007    7555

9/21/2007    6029

9/22/2007    7047

9/23/2007    6183               Week’s total:  47,225            Goal:  70,000 (10,000 steps every day)

I reset my pedometer on Sunday night.  Every morning as I reach for my glasses I also reach for my pedometer!  Every step counts — although I still haven’t figured out how to account for the steps in the shower!  (just kidding!)  Perhaps if I was working out at the Y again, my numbers would go up!  I’m looking forward to the cooler temperatures at night so I can walk the dog and get some extra steps from that too.  I even parked further away at the store yesterday to log some extra steps!

Taylor, Taylor, Taylor

No sooner did Taylor get his arm brace off from his skateboarding accident Friday, today he replaced it with a new finger accessory called a “dog bone”. I got a call at school this afternoon from his school secretary saying that he had been kicked in the hand during recess and couldn’t move his middle finger. Uh-oh. Sounds like another x-ray job. I split my class between the other two 4th grade teachers and headed to get Taylor to the doctor. We’ll find out tomorrow if he’s got a fracture or not but the doctor said that the bone alignment looked good so far. Radiology can look at it tomorrow and determine the rest. As for now, Taylor is really, really ticked at his “friend” for kicking him in the bad arm.

Steppin’ Up!

My school district is putting out a 10-week challenge in the attempts to increase our physical activity level for better health.  Honestly, I don’t think I have too far to go, but I’m definitely up for the challenge!  Now that I’m registered, I am wearing a pedometer to record my daily and weekly steps.  I’m supposed to work up to 10,000 steps per day, which is supposed to be 5 miles, according to the average person’s 2,000 steps per mile.  Yesterday I did 7,535 and today I’m only at 5,487 with about 3 hours left to go!  I’ll keep you posted on my 10-week challenge!

Don’t Bad Things Happen in 3’s?

If so, I’m still waiting for the other one to drop.  Yesterday morning the phone started ringing at 6 am.  A little early for me although I was up and getting ready for the day.  Turns out it was Ken’s lieutenant, telling him not to go to work as there had been a fire/explosion in the basement of the city building.  All city employees were being told not to go to work which wouldn’t have been a problem except that Ken was working a 1-9pm shift to account for a presentation he was doing.  Oh well.  At least he didn’t have to leave until 6:15 pm and he had the rest of the day off.

Ken said that he thought it would have been his Mom calling about his Uncle Floyd.  It wasn’t 30 minutes and Ken got a call saying that Floyd had passed away that morning.  Yikes, strike 2.

So far nothing too bad has happened since yesterday morning, unless you consider me being sick, a blow-up with Taylor, and being behind in grading bad.  Let’s hope it doesn’t.

Hangin’ with the Hogs

That’s the theme this year for the Kansas State Fair! Here are a few pics of our fun afternoon/evening.

Another ER visit

It was only a matter of time before we were going to the ER with Taylor. Today proved to be that day. Ken had the kids while I worked an inservice day when I got a page that I had a telephone call. Taylor had had a spill at the local skate park and he was en route to the hospital via ambulance with a broken arm. It turned out that it wasn’t actually broken but a bow fracture (whew!). They put a wrist splint on it and sent us home. Check out Ken’s blog for the video (yes, he caught it on tape!) and pics from the hospital! At least that should slow him down for awhile. I’m thankful that it wasn’t worse, particularly since he wasn’t wearing a helmet (something I nag him about ALL THE TIME!)

Wheelchair Woes

People are soooo rude.  But then again, you probably already knew that, right?  The reason I say this is that I took my Mom to Wal*Mart yesterday afternoon.  With Mom’s leg still being non-weight-bearing, Mom uses a wheelchair so her leg can stay elevated.  No, this isn’t the wheelchair that Wal*Mart offers that’s motorized, but one she manually wheels herself in.  Only yesterday afternoon Jocelyn pushed her.

Anyway, back to what I was saying.  I was astonished at how we, or more specifically, Mom, was treated in her wheelchair.  I had the cart and Jocelyn was pushing Mom.  It was a Saturday afternoon, a time I don’t usually go to Wal*Mart because it’s usually busy but Mom needed groceries and that was the only time we had to do it.  People just didn’t see Mom.  They stepped right in front of her or reached across.  If they did see her, they looked at her as if to say, “How dare you shop when I am.  You’re in my way!”  For those that firmly and irritatingly said, “Excuse me,” their dirty looks said it all.   They shot looks at all of us, as though we had no right to be there.  It was awful.  There was one lady who saw Mom and wished her a speedy recovery.

Although Mom’s condition is temporary, I genuinely feel for those that have a medical condition that requires them to be wheelchair-bound permanently.  Discrimination is out there, people, and Mom and I experienced it first-hand yesterday afternoon.