The old men in the room

I say that with absolute affection and respect - I love my dad's rehab roommates. There's 4 of them in a room, they're all elderly and none of them can hear. It's actually really comical because they all just talk and none of them really listen. They try, but it doesn't usually work well.

The oldest in the room is Henry. He's 85 and has been in this rehab place for 8 months. It's his choice though - he loves it there. Because he's been around so long he's the expert on everything and is always sharing helpful (and sometimes not so helpful) advice, even when no one's listening.

The next oldest is Sully. He's 83 and still owns a furniture store. I'm not sure who's running it while he's gone, but he doesn't seem too worried about it. Sully is a Yankee fan, yet somehow manages to get along well with pretty much everyone on the floor of this rehab place in the heart of Red Sox territory. He has a lot of stories to tell and they usually take a lot longer than necessary because he often forgets what he's trying to say.

Last, but certainly not least, is Larry. He's in the bed right across from my dad. Larry likes things to be his way and doesn't mind telling the nurses, aids, doctors, volunteers, etc what he wants and how they can do it for him. He's a good guy though - just a little rough around the edges. He's 75 (almost forgot to say his age).

My dad, being my dad, has already had conversations with all of them about the Lord. Sully is a very strong Catholic. As far as we know Henry is not part of any religion. Larry is either Catholic or Episcopalian, I'm not sure which. Please pray that my dad gets through to these men. He's been taking every opportunity he can to share Jesus with them and now we just have to pray that the seeds will take root in their hearts.

Blog that I LOVE

It's not very deep. It's not about someone with cancer or a rare disease. It doesn't have amazing words of wisdom or even shopping advice. What it does have is pictures and what it is about is weddings. I love weddings, every part of them, and I love pictures. Put those two together and you already have the perfect blog for me to waste time on. Add that the photographer is AMAZING and funny and you have my favorite blog of the moment (other than the blogs written by people I love of course).

http://abiqblog.com

Check it out - it's so much fun!

This past week ...

> My dad went into a rehab place with the goal of learning how to be more independent with less pain (they're even working on his breathing. Yay!)

> My mom had an H1N1 scare

> I worked 35.5 hours (instead of the 10 I was hired for). These hours included being by myself for the first (and second) time with a preschool class AND having a practicum student. Stressful, but such a learning experience!!

(There was a also a small fire in the microwave at work this week - that was interesting)

My mom's birthday ...

was spent in the ER with my father. He's ok now - they were just checking him because his blood sugar shot up and he was feeling really weak (he's diabetic, but they wanted to check for infection). Because of this we didn't really have a birthday celebration as a family (yet, hopefully my dad will feel better this weekend). Thankfully, my mom has awesome friends ...

The day of her birthday my mom and I were supposed to go to a wedding. As a surprise for my mother, the bride and groom had bought her a cake and some flowers and were planning on singing "happy birthday" during the reception. That didn't happen of course, but my mom did get the flowers and cake dropped off to her. :)

Then my mom's Bible Study had a birthday party for her - complete with an appearance by The Cat in the Hat.

Don't you love her expression? :)

Thank you everyone for making my mom's birthday special!

ba da ba baba ... I'm lovin' it!

Not McDonald's (though I do sometimes give in and get snack wraps from there), my job. I'm loving my job!! :)

Right now I float around to all the classrooms. I go where I'm needed and it's a beautiful process.
My usual day is infant room in the morning, toddler room(s) during and right after nap and preschool room(s) during afternoon recess until the end of the day. It's practically the perfect day. The babies are so cute! I love cuddling them and playing with them (stinky diapers not so much, but what are you gonna do?). The toddler room is fun because they're just learning how to be independent and it's a blast watching them figure it out. The preschoolers are my favorite age group (which is why I went to school to learn how to teach them). Being outside with them is so much fun! And the end of the day is so relaxed and laid back, I basically spend it playing ... and I get paid!! I cannot say enough how happy I am about this job.

To top it off - I was hired for only ten hours a week and so far I'm averaging 20. Praise God because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to live on ten.

Hi Grammy!!

I just found out that my Grammy reads my blog. :) That makes me feel so special. She's my mom's mom and a very special lady. I got to know her better when she came to visit my family this Summer. We had a lot of fun and it made me wish that I could see her more often. Until I see her again though at least she can keep up with me here.

I love you Grammy!

Cleaning out the office ...

Tomorrow's my last day working at LAOG. I've spent the last 3 hours cleaning out my office and computers and all that. It's kind of sad, but I'm excited for the next stage of my journey - child care here I come!!

Am I seriously blogging about a cleaning product?

Yep. I'm excited about it too.

Scrubbing Bubbles Orange Action. My new favorite cleaning product. I've used it before, but tonight I let it sit for a couple minutes like it says to in the directions before wiping it off and it was like using an entirely different product. The soap scum and dirt came right off! Who knew that the commercials weren't lying? Well, it took a little more elbow grease than the commercial suggested it would, but when do you not have to use elbow grease?

On a side note: Whoever invented the toilet brush was a genius - they should get a trophy.

I got a job!!

It's not very many hours, but it has the potential to be more. I am being hired to work 3-5 everyday as a float in a daycare. Only 10 hours a week for now, but they said they will be able to offer me more very soon. And if someone else ends up offering me more hours than they will understand if I choose to leave.

Unfortunately I won't be able to post any pictures of the kids because they don't allow that.

Visiting Cait

Laurie B. went to parent's weekend at Caitlin's college and graciously invited me along. Rob B. and Stephen A. came along too. We had a great time visiting a cavern and an historical (and fun) museum, going to a soccer game, hanging out in the hotel and with Cait in her dorm and attending Cait's church. This was the last parent weekend Caitlin will have at her college - she'll be graduating next May!

Excited because we're about to see Cait

Hugs!! (there was a playground at the caverns - Caitlin's standing on some sort of climber)

*pictures by Laurie B.*