Paying Attention

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

It is true that children are always paying attention to what the adults around them are saying and doing, but even as a preschool teacher I forget how much my students are watching. The other night I was at my friend's house and her daughter is in my 3-4 year old classroom. While I was visiting with my friend, her daughter asked us to play "school" with her. She was the teacher and my friend and I were the students. Everything thing she did from circle time to trying to get her students to "quiet down" was modeled after things I say and actions that I make. It actually brought tears to my eyes. On one hand I didn't realize how bossy I really do sound, but on the other hand it helped me remember what a responsibility we have as adults to lead our children. They want to be shown how to act. The question is, are we up to allowing them to follow our example?

It is in the water...

When I was finishing up with college I had my heart set on getting a Jeep Liberty. It is a funny thing when u want something...all of a sudden u see what you desire everywhere. Whenever I was out I would see at least one if not hundreds (or so it seemed) of Jeep Liberties.

I am now seeing pregnant women everywhere. So everyone I know is having a baby...or so it seems. I go to Target and I see pregnant women, I go to work and someone else is announcing they are pregnant, I am shopping at IKEA and I am bumping into preggo bellies everywhere. So my question is, what water are they drinking? At work alone there are four women pregnant and I am convinced that they have the secret concoction floating in their water bottle. I was eating at Panera the other day with my family and a friend and there was the cutest family with a young boy and the mother was pregnant. My friend suggested that I drink from the lady's cup...maybe she has magic water too.

Thanksgiving

I can't think of one holiday since Reid and I have lived in Illinois that we have not traveled. That is one of the downfalls of living where we live. Now we have never offered to have festivities at our house, but who really wants to come to Illinois...I'm just saying.

So normally we would be traveling to Fargo, ND for Thanksgiving at our Aunts' house and then spending the rest of the weekend at Reid's parents'. We were given warning at the beginning of the week that the weather west of the Mississippi was not the greatest so our plans to travel changed.

Reid and I put on our big boy pants and went to our local grocery store and bought the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner for two, only it could have honestly feed way more people then we had chairs in our home. Now my husband was insistant that we have a real turkey, not a turkey breast, not a cornish hen, but a turkey. So we bought a prize bird, or at least the bird that weighed the least. Reid made it his job to prepare the Thanksgiving Bird. Now if you know my husband at all you know that preparing the turkey as directed per instructions that came with the bird would not suffice. Instead he researched the best possible way to prepare the his first Thanksgiving Turkey.

Of course Reid did not disappoint and we enjoyed a wonderful meal just the two of us...and our beagle Maggie who also really enjoyed Reid's turkey.

Braces

So when I was in college I got braces. Now I was so worried that I was going to look 12 with regular braces so I got the new line of invisible braces called Invisaline. When I went in for my consult they told me that my treatment would take two years...five years later my "treatment" was done, but my teeth were still not straight. Now that orthodonist I went to told ne there was nothing they could do for me unless I was willing to pay for another treatment. Needless to say I was very upset not only because of the fact that I had been commuting from Illinios to South Dakota for my braces, but the end result was not what I was told...straight teeth.

I may have an emotional issue with my teeth being straight. I remember in high school that certain individuals would make fun of my smile and one person even went as far as to draw a picture of what he thought my teeth looked like and glued it to my locker.

So fast forward to today...
My teeth started to shift back to their original state so I had to make a decision; to get a retainer to keep my teeth where they were or to finally straighten them. So today I got braces. Old fashioned metal braces. My treatment is scheduled to take a year, so we will see :)

I saw my favorite neighbor girls, Fiona and Chiara, after I got the braces on. Chiara sweetly asked me, "Mrs. Hamann, why do you have bracelets on your teeth?" My response, "So I can have beautiful teeth like you."

Humane Society

My sister and I were walking around the Dubuque, IA mall looking for my mother and we decided to go down by the Dubuque Humane Society (not to find my mom, but to see the dogs)which has a location at the mall. The dog in the front window was a little dalmation puppy. He was wagging his tail and very happy to see people stop by the window. I could see his ribs and it broke my heart. It reminded me of when we first brought Maggie home and she was skin and bones (not the case anymore!).

When we walked further into the store we saw more dogs and all with the same look...ribs and hip bones in full view. If anyone asks me about wanting to get a dog my first response is always to look at the shelters. The easiest thing to do is go to www.adoptapet.com and search the shelters in your area. It is so heartbreaking for me to think that Maggie was rescued from a shelter that keeps dogs for 72 hours before killing them. Now I know that Maggie is not my child even though I may treat her as such, but if we treated all living things as though they were family this world would be the place it was created to be.

Boot Camp

As I was going to step class I saw a flier for "Boot Camp" being offered from 4:30-5:30pm Monday thru Thursday for 8 weeks. Now I have some extras I have wanted to lose...I had gained some unexplained weight (no, I am not pregnant) and was worried about my thyroid. My blood work showed that I had a Vitamin B 12 deficiency which from what I understood ment that I had no energy so no drive to exercise. Anywho, I am now taking a B 12 supplement and I am feeling great, so hello boot camp. Now the first day I was super nervous, not sure what to expect. Now lets see, how do I explain that first day...utter muscle ripping pain...yep, sounds about right. I couldn't walk, bend down, go up or down stairs, lift my arms, laugh, or cough for a week and I still had three more days to go for the week. I didn't know how many torturous ways the body can be forced to move. I assume that after these 8 weeks the plank will be my friend, but for now it is my bitter arch enemy. Wish me luck...

Triathlon

So I always knew that a triathlon consisted of swimming , biking, and running...however it was not until after I signed up for the "I tried a triathlon" that I realized for this mini thriathlon I had to do all of these events consecutively. It is ok that you are saying "seriously" or "duh " at the computer right now.

My goal for the triathlon was to finish, just finish. My secret goal was to not come in last. I am so happy to report that I accomplished both of my goals! :) I swam 250 yds., biked 6.5 miles, and ran 2.1 mile...consecutively I might add :) It was nice to push my body again. I haven 't had to or wanted to do that since high school. It was good to have to mentally push myself. Once you have swam and then biked your body is done, no more, lets go home. The beauty of it is that once you get off that bike you have to run 2 miles, poetic cruelty.

It felt so great to finish and to hear my dad yell "kick it in Alysha"!

Hiding in the Bathroom

Note: If you don't want to do something just go hide in the bathroom...

This summer I am teaching summer preschool camps. This week I have a fun dynamic group of kids. All of their ages range from 3-5 except for one 2 year old girl. This little girl dislikes cleaning more then any other child I have ever seen. All this week when I have asked her to help clean up she will find other activities to occupy her time in hopes that I will not notice her non-clean-up effort. Well today my little anti-tiddiness child really upped her game. I asked the preschoolers to start cleaning up and all of them (minus one) willingly cleaned up the classroom. After the room was tiddy I noticed that the bottom half of the bathroom door was shut. Another child had to use the bathroom, but he couldn't get the door opened so I went over to investigate. That darling little girl was sitting on a step stool with her back against the door. She made it very clear that she was not going to clean.

I think I am going to follow her lead...instead of cleaning the house I am just going to sit in the bathroom with my back against the door. So if my husband asks where I am tell him you know where to find me.

My Me Book

When I was in 5th grade attending Cora B. Darling Elementary School, I had an assignment to create a book that displayed my life and outlined my hopes and dreams...or something along those lines. As I read through a written and drawn account of my life, I had to smile and laugh. There was a page entitled "What I Want To do When I Grow Up" and as a child I was unclear of what I wanted as an adult however I did have lofty goals.

"I'm not sure yet, but I think that I want to be a singer, someone who comforts little kids at the hospital if they are scared, or a fashion designer. I want to be a movie star. I want to live in Hollywood or I want to live in Hawaii."

I don't have the heart to tell 5th grade Alysha Miller that she doesn't grow up to be a singer turned movie star with a home in Hollywood and Hawaii. I suppose I can just tell her that she does grow up :)

Back At The Ranch

So I believe that if you pay attention there are always signs to help guide us in our decisions. You just have to be willing to see the signs.

My favorite preschooler gave me a beautiful butterfly dish that holds dips in it and along with the dish came a package of "Back At The Ranch" dip.

I think that is a good enough sign for me :)

Red Light District

Prostitution is the oldest profession

In Amsterdam there is a part of the downtown area that surrounds a beauftiful church full of history. That area is call the Red Light District. Prostitution is legal in Holland and in the RLD sex is everywhere. There are sex shows, porn theatres, condom shops, and sex toy shops. Sex is literally dripping off the stone buildings. I was facinated by the RLD. Here are these women, mostly young, who make their living by selling their bodies. Many of them have husbands and children and working nights for them is much like being a nurse and working the night shift...just part of the job. I really wanted to sit down with some of these girls and ask them about their lives: how is their self esteem?, what is their daily life like?, what do their children think of the profession?, what's the rate of STD and pregnancy...and my list would go on and on.

Human behavior facinates me.

Jiffy Pop

Now I have had several surgeries in my life, but never did I have to don a jiffy pop hat. As we were waiting with my Dad before his surgery he was given a silver shower cap to wear during surgery. He looked liked one of the jiffy pop containers that you put over the stove to cook. It was much needed comic relief during a stressful time :)

So after hours and hours of waiting we finally got to see Jiffy Pop. There were more tubes coming out of him then I could have every imagined. He was flat on his back and the many monitors present were reminders that machines were keeping track of his life. He had an IV coming out of his neck which was hard to see. He knew we were there and his breathing sped up so the sweet nurse continued to remind him to slow down his breathing so they can hopefully removed the ventilator. And less then an hour later they did!

The staff in the CICU was wonderful. They let us see Dad as much as we wanted, no questions asked. My Dad stayed in the CICU a little longer after he as actually discharged from there because as my Dad said it , " There was no room in the inn"...the step down floor was full. So he got the service of the CICU without the cost.

I was so impressed with how the staff at St. Mary's cared for my Dad...they cared as though he was theirs.

A Bypass and a Volcano

So what are the odds that the week before I am supposed to be boarding a plane to Holland two big things happen:

My Dad has to undergo a double bypass

and

A volcano in Iceland shuts down London's Heathrow airport

Seriously, what are the odds?

My Mom called me a week before our trip and informed me that my Dad had failed two stress tests and now is at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, WI awaiting news on his heart. So I think to myself, has the time come where my parents are no longer invincible? The news of my father's condition hit me hard. They discovered that my Dad had two 100% blockages and one 50% blockage. He was scheduled to have a double bypass that coming Monday however when he was discharged from the hospital for the weekend they surgeon informed him that his surgery had been moved to Wednesday. So that Wednesday the Miller family gathered at St. Mary's Hospital. The bishop stopped in right before the surgery and he talked with my Dad and then prayed with us. It was the first time in my life I cried during the Lord's Prayer. They took my Dad in around12:30pm and the next time we saw him he was in recovery in the Cardic ICU and it was 9:30 pm. More to come on that subject...

So on top of all of that a volcano in Iceland decided to start burping and spitting up ash. Now normally this kind of news would not really cross my mind twice, but this fun volcano was putting ash so far up into the air that it was affecting the flight patterns of many airports...one of them being London's Heathrow Airport. The same airport that I was going to be connecting into in a week. So checking the travel news became my new obsession and any news whether good or bad I hung on until any new information came. Finally the day before we flew out Heathrow was at 100% capacity for flying...YEAH!!!!!

It was a very intense last few weeks of April. I never really experienced the saying "In like a lamb out like a lion"...all I have to say is, "Bring it on Simba".

Weight Watchers

So my journey begins...

Now I have done weight watchers before and it works, but my issue is that once I no longer hold myself accountable for what I eat trouble looms. Now I don't want to become "skinny", but rather want to feel confident in my own skin. I have never done the weight loss thing very well or even very healthy. So now I am making a choice, a choice to take care of myself.

So here we go...