BBQ anyone?!

This past Friday, my daughter had her Family Fun Night at her school. Its her last year there and right now...I'm kind of sad because its on to middle school. OMG, that is so scary! The past 2 years we have gone, I usually buy her 25 game tickets, where she can win prizes or buy food (like popcorn). This year, I decided to let Alexis hang out at her school with her friends and not have me hanging around. She thought that was a great idea! This year, I bought her 25 tickets and 6 raffle tickets for baskets that each class participated in buying things for. I bought some last year and won nothing, so I only bought 6 this year with the assumption I wouldn't win anything. So Alexis and I drop our tickets in to 6 different baskets...a BBQ basket, a lottery ticket basket, a pizza basket, a cookie basket and 2 other ones I cant remember what though. I pick Alexis up at 7:15 and they are drawing for the baskets at 7:30 that night so we hang out and wait. Well...there are a lot of baskets, there are the baskets for all the classrooms AND other raffles for other things. So we hang out and its going so slow and I just want to get home. So we decide to go home, thinking that once again, we didnt win.

I pick Alexis up at school and here is what she is carrying...







Yep, we won! We got the BBQ basket that includes...hickory wood chips, 2 sets of skewers, BBQ sauce, an oven mitt, a table cloth, and a few other goodies. I was excited! Finally we won something. I will miss this next year but I know the middle schools around here do lots of great things. Now all I need is a BBQ....

Not Me Monday

For those who don't know MCKMama, you should click on the link and check out her blog, its hilarious, and not to mention how cute her kids are.


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not go to church yesterday and did not enjoy it after not going for over 20 years. I went with my friend Carol and then my sister and nieces showed up. The pastor of the church was funny and also serious at the same time. Because honestly, who wants to be sitting there for over an hour falling asleep. They also have a great Christian rock band who got you on your feet singing.

I did not spend the last 2 nights driving down to Little Caesars each time and getting just their bread sticks. Because I totally didn't eat just carbs both nights for dinner.

I did not invite my daughter to stay the night at a friends house because I did not want to drive the 10 miles to go pick her after their "play date" was over. Normally I don't do that because its rude but the mom understood. I told her I would come back later and pick her. But just to let you know, when Alexis goes over to her friends house to hang out, she always calls me and says "friends name....wants to know if I can stay the night?" Then I have to drive some clothes, and whatever else she requests and I do not find that really irritating. Plus I do not get nervous when she is over at someone elses house because I can't look out for her and for some reason I do not fear my house or where she is at catching on fire.

Also, I did not spend $10.00 on some color highlights for my hair and I did not have my sister do them and they sure did not work. Err...honestly..they didn't. They were crap and a waste of money!

I did not eat the rest of the strawberries last night with Alexis yelling from her bedroom "you better not be eating the rest of those strawberries." Oops!

Education...what in the world.

Many of you know that Alexis is in the 5th grade here in CdA. I have always been active in her school education because I want her to become something in the future, whether it be a nurse or lawyer or teacher. Whatever she does, I know she'll succeed. So here is the problem that I am facing. This year, Alexis has her first male teacher and at first she was so excited because she heard he was a great teacher. Now, she would rather transfer to the other 5th grade classroom. Alexis has always received A's and B's throughout K-4th grade. Around Thanksgiving, her teacher has some illness that makes him miss MANY days of work. Alexis is always coming home telling me the substitute teacher that she had that day and how they are always "mean" to all the students. At first I told Alexis they aren't being mean, they have to have the tough look image or else the students will walk all over them. So, Alexis came home last week with a math test with a 33% on it. I was shocked and a little pissed off after Alexis tells me SHE HASN'T EVEN LEARNED THE CRAP THAT WAS ON THE TEST. Now, she isn't in any low math, she is in the accelerated math, right now doing area's of squares and rectangles, algebraic equations, distributive properties, etc etc...you get the point. Alexis had to redo all of the problems and her and I worked through all them together (thank goodness I finished math 108 in college). What I didn't do was "sign" her little test telling the teacher she has redone them. Now...for those who know me know that both of my parents are teachers. I grew up with their way of thinking, so I respect them. But when it comes to my child I have to do what is right. Alexis calls me from school telling me I didn't sign her test, so I tell her I will be in later to do it. She then tells me her sub wants to talk to me, I said OK. Her "sub" gets on the phone and wants to confirm with ME that Alexis actually did her math. HELLOOOOOO? Does she NOT have the 3 pieces of paper (she writes big!) ready to turn into her? At this point, I am so freaking irritated. I am also disgusted by the school ciriculum at this school and the whole school district. Now I know this isn't the teacher's fault, but to make kids take a math test when they haven't learned the stuff because its a mandatory test is just WRONG! Now on to her teacher... her teacher I am not fond of. He is basically a sarcastic man who thinks he knows everything. I sure shut him up when on a phone conference call told him both of my parents have taught school for more than 25 years. Now, because of his illness or who knows why...he is always GONE! How is he supposed to teach my child and other children all they need to know to move on to middle school when this man is gone all the time?! Why is it that my daughter loved school up until this year and gets so frustrated with her math that she now cries? And believe me, I've called my mom to help with some of this because yes I did take 108 in college, but it was 4 years ago or so. And the little math I learned wayyyy back in 5th was 20 years ago.

I looked online at the Idaho statures to see if I could find out legally how many days a teacher can miss, but I couldn't find an answer. I, of course, know how many sick days a teacher can take with pay, but not so many absences from a teacher. My daughter has only missed 1 day this year, and that was because she was throwing up. Its time for a conference with the principal because I am fed up with all of it. I want my daughter to have the best education and her teacher never being there is screwing that up and frustrating both of us!

Shopping

Alexis and I had a wonderful weekend and even better Valentines Day. No, I didn't get any flowers, but maybe one day when I lose weight maybe someone will want to be with me. I look forward to that day. Mind you, I LOVE having Alexis around, though NOT when she's making messes or accidentally drops my favorite mug on the kitchen floor, shattering it and then not cleaning up the shards of glass; but I look forward to not being single and enjoying my life with a wonderful man and maybe a few more kids. But enough about the woe-is-me pity party. OK, so I myself have never heard of the grocery chain Winco before. We just had one open in North Spokane which is, according to map quest 48 mins away and 38 miles from my house to the store. I have been bugging both of my sisters to go, but they work and don't have the time to drive all the way over there. So yesterday, Alexis and I decided to go to Kmart and see what kind of clearance they have on winter stuff and Alexis found the cutest comforter set. But, the downfall...they didn't have it in queen size. So we decided not to get it. I then decided to drive to North Spokane to go to Winco and to stop at Kmart over there, which to me, seems to be bigger?! They had the comforter, so that is one of Alexis' birthday presents. So after getting lost for a few minutes, we found Winco. Now this store is just like Costco, but it doesn't sell anything in bulk sizes. When we went in, they were down to 5 carts, we took 1, which left 4 if that tells you how busy they were. OMG, this is the best store. They have everything you need, except clothes, and electronics. I got huge boxes of Cheerios for $1.50. Crackers for 98 cents. Salmon fillets, 1.5 pounds for $3.98, skinless, boneless chicken breasts (4 huge pieces per package) for 98 cents per pound. Bananas for 18 cents per pound, and so much more. OUTSTANDING!! They are so much cheaper then Walmart. I asked the cashier if they were coming to Northern Idaho anytime soon and she did mention they were coming to the valley in April, which is 22 miles from me, not bad at all. They take all types of payments except for credit cards. Another great thing about this store is that its employee owned, which means employees who work there get to have stock in the company and they own it. Oh yeah, you also have to bag your own groceries, so if you go and are buying a lot of groceries, bring someone to help you bag them or else...

Migraines....

are the most dreaded thing right now. Let me go back to the beginning and explain how I got to this point. There might be just a little too much information in this post. Beware! Wayyy back in the year 2000, when I married to Jason, I had to find a civilian dentist off of base to do a root canal on my back molar. I thought I had found the perfect dentist and went off to have a root canal and then a cap put on. I sat in that chair for almost 2 hours and at one point, the "kind" dentist decided to put one of those black rubber openers in my mouth to keep my mouth open. Finally, its done and he takes the rubber opener out of my mouth and wouldn't ya know it, my jaw had LOCKED itself open. It wouldn't close! So I sat there trying to get it closed and working it so I didn't hurt myself. The "kind" dentist walked over to me, laughed and then SLAM!!, he closed my jaw. Now when he did this, all I heard was a crunch sound. Now to this day, I have really bad migraines and I also have TMJ, you can read more about it here at this informative website. http://www.tmj.org/ Now mind you, those who have never had a migraine, you are so lucky and I hope you never experience one. They are so painful and they literally cripple you. You try to think of so many ways to knock yourself out. Now with TMJ, I personally, cannot sleep on my stomach or on my side because if I have ANY pressure on my jaw, I can guarantee myself one of the worst migraines every. But you know, I love sleeping on my side, because when I was pregnant, sleeping on your side was the most comfortable, not to mention the most safest for the baby. I also love sleeping on my stomach because I (and dont you laugh at me!) love to bury my face in my pillows and find that cold spot. *SIGHS* Come on, we have all been there. Okay, sorry for getting off the subject there. Back to TMJ and migraines... Thursday morning started out like any other, I woke up after 2 hours of sleep to my brother-in-law dropping my 5 month old niece off while he went to school and Mel was working (he is in electrician school and she is an RN in labor & delivery.) After a few hours, Mel came over and picked her up early and I fell back to sleep for 30 mins. I then got up, took Alexis to school and came home and slept until 1 am. I had a few errands to do, so I ran around town. Now normally I dont breakfast (gross so early in the morning) and I dont eat lunch. Hmm, thats odd. Anyway... I picked Alexis up at 3:15 and we then headed to do a few errands, including Walmart which takes forever. You know...I still CANNOT find a metal snow shovel, grrrr! Now before I go on, let me explain that I've always had migraines, but since the dentist visit, my jaw now hurts all the time and my migraines are now worse. Around 5-6 pm Thursday night, Alexis and I got home and I could feel it starting to get worse, it wasn't too bad during the day. I took and hot bath which normally makes it go away. This time it didn't. This was the WORSE one I've ever had and it scared the shit out of me. Here were my symptoms:



1. neck and shoulder pain, it streaked up shoulders, and neck.

2. jaw pain

3. popping ears

4. also with the popping of the ears...anyone who has had a baby and knows what it sounds like to hear your baby's heartbeat like a boom boom boom boom. I hear that sound in my left ear and NO, I'm not pregnant. LOL!

5. nauseated, OMG, this was bad, I couldn't lay down flat at all, I had to prop myself up with 4 pillows.

6. blurred vision

7. slurred speech; my poor mom couldn't understand a word I was saying to her.

8. fatigue, I am so tired; all the time, including right now as I type this.

9. behind my eyes throb

10. throbbing headache

11. I couldn't catch my breath, almost passed out.

12. I couldnt take listening to any sounds, Alexis and I were watching Princess Diaries in my room, I turned it off, she turned it on in her room and I made her turn it off.

13. eyes sensitive to light, even outside [Friday] in the sun today hurt my eyes.

14. hot and cold sweats

15. I usually sleep with my fan on, but w/ migraines I cant have any cold air blowing on me.

16. no appetite (Alexis and I went to the mall today and they had a pretzel stand, she wanted one, I couldnt get away from them fast enough!)

17. my ears alway turn red and burn w/ migraines.

18. crunching sound when I open my jaw.

So with everything listed above. I walked, barily, into the living room and DVR'd Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and then fell into bed. It was almost 9 pm and Alexis was getting ready for bed. I called my mom who always seems to make me feel better. But I was feeling so bad that she couldn't even understand what it was I was saying to her. She has a chiropractor over near Shelton that can put her back in alignment in less than 5 mins and she was going to ask him if he could help me, but I dont think I could or would want to travel all the way over there to Shelton for that. So finally with me talking and listening to her and almost throwing up, I had to end the call, and for those who know me I love talking to my mom and we usually talk for hours when I call. I promptly fell asleep around 9:15 or so, I was asleep before Alexis was. LOL! I woke up at 1 am and had trouble going back to sleep. I was in and out of consciousness throughout the night, finally waking up for the last time 6:48 am. I then woke up at 8 am because Alexis came in and told me to get up to take her to school. Now my alarm was set to go off at 7:30 and I NEVER heard it. My mom told me that I need to have X rays done of my jaw, neck and head. Who knows whats going on with me. I have no idea! But it was the worse pain I've ever felt and yes, even worse than giving birth. I'll keep you updated on whats going on.


Alicia


P.S. Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope everyone has a special someone to share it with.

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



Above is the link for MckMama's blog. If you havent checked out her blog, do so. She's incredibly smart, funny and inventive. This is my first time doing the Not Me! Monday. So go to MckMama's blog, grab and link and add it to your own blog. Its fun!

So I totally did not spend 2 longgg hours washing, and drying my clothes, then folding them and then I did not toss them onto my bedroom floor because I was too lazy to put them away. No way, I didnt do it.

And there is no possible way I did not stay up until 3:00am watching old episodes of Rescue 911 on Youtube and getting only 4 hours of sleep. I then, did not throw on my flannel PJ pants this morning to take my daughter to school instead of getting dressed. And I most certainly did not go back home and again be in bed. Oh no, not me!

I most certainly did not hit the gas peddle in my truck this morning on purpose to see if I would slide around a corner with the new inch of snow we got on the ground this morning. I would never endanger my daughter like that, no way, not me!

When working on my taxes this weekend, I certainly did not redo them 3 times to see if I would get a bigger refund. No way, not me!

And...lastly, I most certainly did not end my Not Me! Monday post so I can go back to sleep. No way, not me!

So check out MckMama's blog, its great. Grab her Not Me! Monday link and post one on yours.

Nature Walk

So Alexis and I had cabin fever today, so we decided to go for a hike/nature walk. It was a bit cold outside, but it wasnt so cold it was unbearable. We hiked up to Higgins Point to see if we could catch some sightings of the American Bald Eagle. But we didnt see one. Normally we see families of them flying high up into the air, but we couldnt catch sight of them today for some reason. I said they were probably at home watching the SuperBowl. Alexis replied that it would work if the Philadelphia Eagles were playing, LOL. What I did notice is a lot of people walking their dogs. I miss having a dog. I want a dog! I wonder if my landlord would allow me to have one?! My cats certainly wouldnt like it. But its a proven fact that people who have pets are happier. The only downsides to having a dog is 1.) I rent, so if for some reason I have to move, many landlords dont want to rent to you if you have big dogs and 2.) dog crap in the backyard...gross!! Back to our walk, it was so nice and quiet. I was disappointed though that we didnt see any eagle this time. We went approx. 2 weeks ago, and were lucky enough to get pictures. We even took binoculars this time with us. I will post the picture of the eagle we saw but because my camera only has a 4x zoom, its not the best picture. In fact, I am thinking about getting a better camera with my tax return. I am looking towards the Canon XS 10 with 20x optical zoom. *SIGHS* Here are some pictures that I took, plus the eagle picture that I took a few weeks ago.