doctor doctor

So today is Monday and was supposed to be the first day back to work after spring break.  I wasn't sure how things would go, so I made sure I was up early so I could accurately assess my state of health before work.  I got up at 5:30, and by 9:30, I called the boss.  I couldn't do it.  Fever was back and I just couldn't move.  

Kyle called the doctor for me and I went.  Now, what you need to know, is that I haven't been to the doctor's office on my own since being a legal adult.  The last time I had prescribed medicine was in 9th grade.  So, in a lot of ways, this whole doctor bit is new to me.  Anyway, I went.  After the doctor told me where to go and how to pick up my subscription (that's sad, I know), I was off to CVS for some good 'ol amoxicillin.  

Long story a little shorter: I got the meds and came home and spent the rest of the day in bed.  I'm hoping that this stuff helps.  I can't afford to miss any more work...I'm already not sure if I'll be able to catch up after missing today.  

And one more thing on a slightly different note...

Kyle, as I've mentioned, has also been sick.  He stayed up all night doing the laundry that I've been neglecting and every time he heard me cough or sniffle throughout the night, he came in the room to check on me.  He dabbed my head with a cold rag, rubbed my back, got me water, crackers, OJ, anything I asked for.  His temperature was higher than mine, yet he really went above and beyond to help me.  He's even cooked dinner two nights in a row.  :)  I just had to share, because he's been so amazing.

Here's to health.  

Praxis

Well, it's over.  I took the praxis this morning.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the test, this is my school psychology licensure exam.  So, it's important.  

It's relatively short, 120 questions in 2 hours.  I ordered a book to help me study and signed up to take it today so that I would have all of spring break to study for it.  Of course, that's not exactly how things panned out.  

I spent the week sick.  fever.  sore throat.  sinus infections.  headaches.  Oh, and morning sickness really kicked up a notch this week.  Since I'm not allowed to take any of the medications we had readily in the house, I didn't get anything until yesterday  (It took poor Kyle several stores to find just plain tylenol)  The book that I ordered to study by didn't arrive until yesterday afternoon, so my week of study time was condensed to about 3 hours. 

But that's ok.  I read the book, I took the practice test, and I took a tylenol.  I got up this morning and took the test.  About an hour and a half and 25 tissues later, I was done.  I'm glad I'm done.  I hope I pass...I feel cautiously optimistic.  I won't find out my scores for another month or so.  

Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone.  Now I just have to get better so I can face another work week.  

food

This week has been my spring break.  I've spent the majority of it feeling sick...not fun.  Kyle's sick too, so we make a pretty pitiful pair.  However, today was the first day in about a week that I actually wanted food.  I swear I almost forgot what it was like to be hungry.  

I took the opportunity to go grocery shopping with Kyle.  It's really hard to go shopping when you feel nauseous, so we were pretty low on the basics.  Now we're all stocked up...except that I noticed that while we usually do a good job of only buying healthy items, this time around, we gave in to more cravings. I think because we both don't feel good and wanted "easy" things to fix.  I've been wanting chef boyardee ravioli really bad. So I got these two freakishly huge cans.  Really, anything with marinara sauce.  And tacos.

I haven't had taco bell since we moved to Boston...which is probably a really good thing.  However, yesterday, in the midst of feeling nauseous, I really wanted a surpreme chicken soft taco.  Kyle and I were on our way downtown, and we were going to pass the only taco bell within 30 mins of us.  So, Kyle let us stop.  We got off the train, walked down the block, and...it was closed.  Gone.  Of course, this being the ONLY thing that I wanted and I'd been thinking about my taco for hours, and being hormonal.  I cried.  Not hard, just sad.  It was, once again, pitiful.  

I settled for some string cheese at the convenience store.  

Anyway, it's funny (and slightly annoying) the way food cravings and aversions play with me. Things will sound good one second and be the most disgusting thing ever the next.  I can't do boiled eggs.  There was one in my lunchbag the other day...big mistake.  Also, all the fresh veggies that I love, especially fresh spinach has sounded really bad lately.  I don't think that's fair.  I think my body should WANT good things.  Wouldn't that make more sense??   

I guess I don't get to make the rules.  

lazy sunday

On saturday night, Kyle and I returned from a taekwondo tournament.  It was a lot of fun.  We got home around 7pm.  Here is a list of my subsequent activities.

7:30-11:00pm: sleep on the couch

11:00-1am: watch a movie

1am-4am: sleep on the couch

4am: go to bed

4am-7am: sleep in bed

7am: go back to couch

7am-9:30am: sleep on couch

9:30: eat cereal

10:00-11:30: (try to take vitamins with sprite instead of water)  sleep on couch

11:30-3:00: lay on couch with a queasy stomach not wanting to move, eating crackers.

3pm-8pm: lay on couch drifting in and out of sleep watching old movies on TBS

8pm-11pm: lay on couch, nursing a sprite zero, watching tv with Kyle

11pm-9am: sleep in bed.

WOW.  I told Michael, I'll probably lose the use of my legs by the end of the week if I don't start feeling a little better.  It was a pathetic day.  Poor Kyle, too.  The sound of every food sounded awful, but I knew I should eat...he made me mac and cheese and brought me crackers and water all day.  Never complained.  He's a good 'un. 

PS: for anybody coming to visit, I can verify that our couch is pretty comfy. ;-)

Baby Shachmut

So the news is out!  Kyle and I are expecting our first child to join our family in early December.

We are excited and all of the other emotions that go along with such a surprise, but are looking forward to the adventure in store for us.  

It is still early, I know, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to wait to tell everyone much longer.  We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.

We will be sure to keep everyone posted on all these new developments.  :-)

let spring break begin!

Today was a great day.  

Last night I stayed up writing pretty late, so I decided that because I had no pressing appointments this morning, that I would allow myself to sleep in just a little bit and take my time getting to work.  So, I did.  I took my time waking up, eating breakfast, checking my mail.  I eventually rolled out to work and decided to stop and treat myself to a small burger king breakfast on the way (sooooo good.)

The day was perfect.  It's the warmest it's been this year, at about 75 degrees.  Blue skies.  Sunshine.  

I got to school and saw all the kids outside having a field day.  They were having their annual marathon and they had an outdoor dance party afterwards.  All this put me in an even better mood.  The principal and most of the teachers were doing more dancing than the kids...but seeing that crowd to the electric slide in the middle of inner city Boston...priceless.

Anyway, my work day was easy and I left work a little early, and officially began my spring break!  It was  a good day. :)

Tonight we're going to taekwondo to participate in a self defense seminar with Senior Master Allemier (the 2nd highest rank in the ATA)  So, we're pretty excited about getting to do that.  I'll keep ya posted. 

Fire

I drove to my school this morning and turn the corner to drive down the one-way street in front only to find that it is being blocked by 6 firetrucks.  Smoke is coming from the roof of the building, and some firefighters were walking around on the roof and hooking up hoses.  There didn't seem to be an air of panic, so I drove around the block, parked, and walked up to the school.  Apparently, some generator caught fire while the kids were eating breakfast and the school was evacuated.  

So, that was different.  

I spent the first several hours of my school day helping to entertain and calm a group of kindergartners on a sidewalk a block away.  They were so cute....telling eachother stories about the fire... "yeah, I saw it too!  It was a fire and it was as big as the sky and went all the way up to space!"  Nobody corrected them and told them that the fire was contained to a small area in the front of the school and did not burn through the ceiling. 

As the environmentalist cleared the air as breathable and we were allowed back into the building, the fire trucks pulled away and all the little kids stood up and clapped for them.  It was classic, and it made me happy.

The school smelled like smoke for the rest of the day and it made me feel sick, but c'est la vie.  Life goes on.  

Jettison

I left the apartment this morning just before 7am so that I would have plenty of time to find the testing center for the MTEL (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure).  Now, last night I realized I didn't have my all-important admission ticket and actually had to call around to friends to see if anybody knew the address of the center.  Long story short, I got the address and they eventually let me in without a ticket.  

Anyway, so I left the apartment and it's pouring down rain and I'm already in a bitter mood about having to take this test, because I think I'm a literate person and I think that for anybody who went through grad school, that alone should be proof enough that I can read and write.  Did I mention that it cost me 175 dollars to proove that I can read??  Bitter bitter bitter.   I think the weather was reflecting my thoughts about the next few hours.  There is no parking (surprise).  I'm weaving through one-way streets in the rain with about a million other cars all fighting for some illegal parking spot somewhere.  I found a parking spot a few blocks away and put Kyle's handicap placard in my seat in hopes of warding off any potential ticketers.  Grabbed my umbrella and was on my way.

Fast forward.  Testing has started (45 mins late).  The person next to me is constantly blowing their nose loudly and unapologetically.  It's gross.  The person behind me has her feet on my chair and is shaking her leg so I can feel every vibration...and she's coughing.  I just wanted to get done.

I had 4 hours to complete the test and was done in 2.  Let's all hope that I didn't miss some huge section in the middle.  On the vocab section, there was only one word I didn't know...Jettison.  Apparently, Laura just missed this one her whole life.  Ironically, it means: to abandon or discard (something or someone that is no longer wanted).  Like the MTEL.  

Well, I finished up, and I feel ok about it.  It will be severely embarrassing if I don't pass.  I got out of there as fast as I could.  

As I exited the building I took a deep breath of relief and saw that the rain had cleared, the air was warm, and sunshine fell on my face.  Maybe the weather really was reflecting how I felt. 

oh, and I didn't get a ticket.  :)

slug day

Sometimes I have spurts of amazing productivity.  Today was not one of those days.  The kids I needed to see at work decided not to come to school today (an all too common and frustrating occurrence)  So, that means that now I have to find room in my schedule to test them next week...which is the week before our spring break...so chances that they'll show up then are slim.  It's just frustrating because my schedule can get really tight and these constant rescheduling just crunch everything up.  Anyway, I decided that after no testing was going to get done today, that I would spend some good time doing some real good record reviews.  Turns out the file room (affectionally known to us as the "hot room" due to it's constant 90 degree temperature) was out of lights.  So, there I am, in this hot room that it pitch black with the roar of generators all over, looking through files with a little mini flashlight.  I actually kind of felt like a spy....until I felt lightheaded, then I just felt frustrated again and gave up.  

It's not been a productive day.  I didn't feel like going grocery shopping after work, or returning the overdue wii game...  I just came home and became a slug.  

I did clean the kitchen, as my offering to the husband...who is sick and pitiful looking.  I fed him broccoli and ice cream for dinner per his request....  Yum?

I'm hoping that I can get something, anything done this evening.  I should go exercise....but the chances of that happening are probably the same as those kids coming to school next week.

what a week.

I have the privilege of working with a wide range of people in my work here in Boston.  There is so much diversity, and I enjoy that.  There is also, however, so much need.  Sometimes, during weeks like this one, it just seems that there are more sad stories than happy ones.  This week, I have heard stories of abuse, neglect, homelessness, violence, gang activity, drugs, and depression...all for the same elementary school child.  Then, there were other kids, high school kids and elementary alike with stories that just make you want to take these kids home and give them a good meal and hugs.  You just want to show them what it feels like to be safe and loved.

The good news is, while some of these kiddos have gone through so much and need so much still, I have the opportunity to be part of the solution.  I can't solve all their problems, and I can't actually take them home with me.  But, I can give them the best services that are within my power to give.  I can make sure they are set up with services they need to improve their physical, emotional, and psychological health.  And I'm glad to be one of the good guys.

It also makes you appreciate the success stories and the families that are able to make it.  A kid at my High School just got accepted to Harvard.  Which is a pretty big deal...too bad he found out on April fool's day and nobody believed him.  Poor kid.  He actually made his mom bring his acceptance letter to school.  Those kinds of things make me smile though.  Not everyone is down and out.  

So, I guess this is just some ramblidge to remind you to be happy if you're lucky enough to come from a safe and loving environment, not everyone is so lucky, so count your blessings.  I am.

Wii Party

In order to break in the new apartment, Kyle and I had a "wii welcome you" party.  We had a group of friends come over and play wii.  We cooked pizza, talked, and had a good 'ol time.  

Most people had never played wii before, so we had fun watching people flail around.  Of course, it doesn't take long to get the hang of things, and soon we were boxing, golfing, bowling, and playing tennis with the best of them.  

Thanks to everyone who came over, it was nice to have you around.  :)

Friday.

Yesterday was the first Friday of the month, which means that I spend the whole day in a professional development seminar.  I actually enjoy these meetings, because I always learn something, and it's nice to see my fellow school psychs, and it's a nice break from testing and meetings at the school.  Yesterday was extra special, because we were allowed to leave at lunch instead of closer to 4:00.  Instead of leaving, me and the other two full time interns went out to lunch at the olive garden.  

It was soooo nice to spend some time at a nice lunch with some girls who are in the same position (job-wise) as I am.  We just talked and talked.  I hadn't thought about it really, but other than Kyle, and phone calls to my sister, I don't spend much time just talking about stuff.  But, you put three psych interns together, and we have plenty to discuss.  It's also nice to have a few  co-workers to ask questions and bounce ideas off.  Both of these girls are good at what they do, and sweet too.  So, I just really enjoyed the company...and the breadsticks and salad.  

For dinner, Kyle and I went out to the cheesecake factory, for my next mystery-guest assignment.  We get to go out and take note of things, and get partially reimbursed, which is enough for us to justify going.  Again, another nice meal, and more good conversation.  

It's nice to take time to relax and enjoy a nice meal, especially at the end of a very, very, stressful week.  

Food.

I love food.  I love thinking about food.  I love cooking food.  I like watching cooking shows.  I like restaurants and potlucks.  I like playing with food, and of course, I love eating food.  

Part of my new-healthy-me plan is to try to identify the times I'm eating when I'm not hungry.  The preliminary results indicate: almost all the time.  I am a very emotional eater...but not just when I'm sad or excited, but also when I'm just bored.  I eat when I want to procrastinate, when I'm working...I just love food.  

The good news is, I don't eat a lot of really unhealthy things, but trying to keep myself on a schedule and limit, if not eliminate, my impulsive cravings (counted 12 so far today...) has been an eye-opener.  So, once again, I'm just voicing my thoughts so that I can make them more real.  

In other news, the recent poll indicated that "sunshine on your face" makes more people happy than thunder, kittens, or ice cream.  Keep up the good work pollsters.  

April

I've been ready for March to be over since mid-February.  March was an overbooked month for me, and I'm really looking forward to having a more normal case load.  I'm optimistic about the month as a whole....I get spring break the third week in, which is something to look forward too as well.

I've also designated April, my official healthy month.  I'm feeling motivated to turn a new leaf.  I went shopping and bought all these super healthy foods, I'm planning out my meals and have made an oath to cook smaller portions at dinner...something I've not worried too much about in the past.  I managed to stick to my plan for today and hit up the gym....I was determined not to falter too much on day 1.   

So, I suppose I'll be writing some updates on my April journey.  A healthier Laura for May.  It'll be a good thing.  Keep me accountable...I'll need it. :)