At least she's double insured...

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Today at 2:30 I was cleaning the house when I heard Samantha start to cry outside. My first thought was "Oh, great. Now what!" So, I ventured outside and found Samantha face down on the ground bawling like she was dying. I asked her what happened. She told me she slipped.

Some background knowledge for you: Samantha & Nash recently decided to convert the swing set into a makeshift gymnastics bar. They've pushed the little picnic table up to the swing set, stand on it and jump to grab the top of the swing set. Then, they swing forward once, backward once, and then let go and drop. Yesterday I told them to quit it before someone broke an arm. But, what do I know? I'm just the stupid mother.

I knelt down next to her and saw that her right hand was shaking something terrible. I asked where she was hurt and she said her left arm. I looked over at it and I was privileged enough to see her wrist sticking out about an inch from where it should have been. I told Nash to put his shoes on and run next door to get my girlfriend Amy as fast as he could. Samantha was still screaming. I told her not to move and ran into the house to get the sling they gave me when I had my car accident. I was able to slide her arm into the sling and get her into the house. Amy arrived with Nash at this point. I told her what happened and asked her if she'd be willing to keep my boys. Since she's such a superhero, she of course said yes. I called my sister and dropped her kids off to her at her work and then set out for insta care.

We were in insta care for 2 hours (from 3-5)! I told Sam we weren't going to make it to Back To School night. She was sorely disappointed. After about 3 xrays and all the wait time, we were told we were going to have to go to the ER where she would be sedated, have her fingers put into a finger traction and her wrist set back in place. Awesome! So, I called and got Amy to drop my boys off to my dad.

Once we got to the ER we actually didn't have to wait too long to go back. The wait was going to happen if we couldn't get the orthopedist to come down before he had to go to surgery. Luckily, he made it down fairly quickly and we were able to start. Samantha FREAKED out about getting an IV (big surprise). It took about 4 of us to hold her down to get it in her. They also put 3 monitors on her chest to keep track of her heart rate. Once they gave her the medicine to make her sleepy, the respiratory dr. told me that one of the medications they were giving her was Ketamine. Ketamine is also known as "Special K" on the streets. The dr. then proceeded to tell me that teens abuse it and how they abuse it. Great idea dr.! Tell a mother of the 7 yr. old you're sedating you're giving her Ketamine! Duh!!

Luckily they only had to set her wrist one time and they got it right on the money. The orthopedist gave us 2 "after" pictures of her wrist. He told me that she actually fractured it through the growth plate. Funny enough, when we got to the ER and were back in the room and were just waiting for the orthopedist to show up, the other dr.s there (anesthesia, respiratory, etc.) all asked me "Did you see her x-ray already?!" Yea, she broke it that good. Luckily it was an easy fix that didn't require surgery!

The orthopedist told me to call his office tomorrow and set up an appointment for Monday so we can go in and get a cast on it. She's already decided she wants pink with sparkles. She fell asleep pretty quick after we left Shopko (had to pick up her Lortab prescription). I told her she's lucky it's her left arm so she can still write and that it isn't a leg so she can still dance (class starts Thursday this week).

My sister kindly reminded me "It's like you wrote on your blog the other day. Nash got stung, something else happened to Caleb, and you didn't dare put that Samantha was injury free. Here you go, now she's not!" Gee, thanks! I guess I can tell Samantha "Happy 2nd to last day of summer vacation!"

When she finally woke up last night & we tried to put pjs on her, I realized that her arm wasn't going to make it through the sleeve of her dress. This is a dress my mom made her this spring that she absolutely loves. I told her we might have to cut it to get her arm out. She cried. I called my mom at nearly 11 and asked her to come up. We thought we could just cut the lower sleeve and turn it into a tank top top. Nope. We had to completely cut through the sleeve. Sam cried. She was really upset. My mom told her it was ok, she'd make her something new out of this blue paisley fabric Samantha loved (it's just like Brad Paisley's guitar ;) ). She seemed to feel better about cutting the dress after that. Plus, my mom told her maybe we could make something else out of her dress. Guess we'll see. If nothing else I can put it into a quilt for her, right?

Oh, I remembered what else I was going to blog about earlier today. We went to The Treehouse Museum on Friday with my sister in law. The kids loved it and thought it was great!

Input please

I got a comment in my last post from someone that does a giveaway website telling me if I was interested I could add my blog and my giveaways. Not exactly sure if there's any interest from anyone that reads this for that sort of thing. If you'd give me some feedback about whether I should try it or not, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I've decided to start an etsy.com website. Nothing is up and running just yet, but it is fiercely in the works. So more info on that coming soon. Let me know if you have any great ideas about what I could put on it. I've already got some things started and lots of things waiting for me to get started on them. But, it's always nice for feedback from other people.

Tonight is back to school night for Samantha & Nash. Sam's pretty excited. Nash I don't think has had it sink in yet. I'm excited for them to go and meet their new teachers. That's always exciting. I'm thrilled this year that I can actually help in someone else's class too! How dorky is that?

You know, I had other thoughts running through my head about what I wanted to post and then Caleb came in crying -the other kids haven't been too inclusive today- and now I can't remember what else I wanted to post about! Oh well, it will come!

Job interview part 2

After all that stress....they offer the job to someone else.

Oh well. Now I can say I tried and feel better about staying home & enjoying my babies!

Job interview

I went to my job interview in south Ogden today. I got lost on my way there and had to call and have the secretary guide me to it! I made it, 24 minutes late, but I made it.
The interview itself went pretty well. He was quite understanding about the whole getting lost part. He asked several questions and I answered them to the best of my ability. Good interview practice! I had several questions ready for him as well.
What I know about the job is:
*They just posted the job Monday because it was an unexpected position.
*It is for a 5th/6th split class. 12 5th graders and 14 6th graders.
*The students in this class aren't "advanced" per se, but they are your higher end kids that can work independently.
*I would teach both the 5th & 6th grade curriculum. 6th grade doesn't worry me since I just did it, but I am unfamiliar with the 5th grade curriculum.
*I would have to teach all my own "specials" (pe, art, etc.). This doesn't bother me since I had to do it at the charter school. But, it is nice to get a break for part of a day to catch my breath and get ready for the next part of the day. Or, like I had last year - planning time with my colleagues.
*I would work with 2 women (5th grade) and 2 men (6th grade) to accomplish my grade level goals.
*The principal is a man. This would be a nice change after working for 2 women and dealing with all that drama.
*There are just under 500 kids in the school. Only 1/2 day kindergarten is offered.
*The position begins Monday and the kids start on Wednesday.
*Weber district starts their step 1 teachers out at just over $33,000/yr. + benefits. Last year I was either a step 3 or 4 (I can't remember). So, I would be looking at between $33,000 and $35,000/yr. + benefits.
*It isn't too far from the school I was at last year. About the same drive time but further south a bit. The population of kids ranges from "hill kids" to a few transient kids. Not a high turn over rate and lots of parent support.
*Weber district does NOT require their teachers to get their ESL endorsement. Which means even though I'm half way through, I wouldn't have to finish it. However, I don't know that if I do want to finish it if they'd pay for it.

So, now that I know a bit more about the job. I've decided I'd actually probably really, really like the job. Which is funny because I didn't want to apply for it (I almost didn't) and I really, really don't want to go back to work. They said they'd let me know today. So, guess we'll see & then go from there!

May the gods of fate not sneek out and bite you in the behind!

I hate karma

So 2 days ago I applied for about 10 different jobs. Eight of them were teaching jobs in Weber district and 2 of them were teacher's aide jobs at Sam & Nash's school. My rational was that I could list it on my unemployment paperwork because I seriously doubted that Weber school district really still needed 8 teachers with school starting just next week. I've been freaking out about the unemployment because my mother in law is going through it right now and she's had a hard time getting enough contacts for workforce services to be happy with. Hence my applications.

When I first found out that my contract wasn't being renewed I was happy to get out of the school. My principal and I just weren't a good fit together it seemed. As the days went by, I was angry and bitter about being let go...again. I felt like I'd wasted the last 10 years of my life! I finally came to the decision that I was done teaching and was going to do something else with my life. I hadn't moved any of my school stuff that sat in the middle of the garage because I didn't know what to do with it. Yesterday, YESTERDAY, I finally cleaned out the garage and moved all my stuff to the back of the garage and sat it at the top of the stairs (getting it ready to haul down and store). I had unpacked my classroom library about as soon as I got all my stuff home. The kids have gone through it fairly regularly. Not quite as much as I had thought, but still, enough to make me happy.

I have always told Samantha to NEVER, NEVER answer the house phone. It's ALWAYS telemarketers and never anyone I want to talk to. I put my cell number on everything and anyone that knows me knows if they want to talk to me to call my cell.

My brother in law came over this morning and worked on the boys' bedroom (more mud) since he got rained out at work. He had just finished and we were outside talking when Samantha comes outside with the house phone in her hand and announces, "Here mom. It's for you." Before I could say anything she said, "It ISN'T someone selling something. I asked." Great. I gave her my dirtiest mother look and took the phone.

Much, MUCH, to my surprise, it was a principal at one of the schools I had applied for a job at. One from Weber District. One from the district that I got an automated email with my application telling me I must have a letter of recommendation from my previous principal included with all my paperwork before my application would be further considered. I didn't have a letter of recommendation from my previous principal. I asked for one this past spring but never got one. So, with the automated email I sent an email of my own to my previous principal and bluntly asked for one so I could apply for other teaching jobs. A letter of recommendation I have yet to receive and send to Weber District.

So, here I sit in irritated contemplation. Wondering...Why? Why? Why did I apply for that particular job? It's for a 5th/6th split in south Ogden and I had finally accepted & was looking forward to the fact that I was going to be home with my not so little baby this year. I had finally accepted that it was going to be just me and Duleb and I was going to finally have time to do all my projects that are half started. I had finally accepted that Nash was in Kindergarten and Samantha was in 2nd grade and for once, for ONCE, I was going to be able to be a mom that went and helped in my child's class.

Tomorrow I will leave my house at 8:30 am and drive to Syracuse to drop my children off at my sister in law's house. I will then turn around and drive another 30 minutes to south Ogden to find this new school. I will then sit through a 15 minute interview and wonder whether or not I should sabotage this interview because I really don't want to go back to work. I will then drive the 30 minutes back to my sister in law's house and wonder if I did subconsciously sabotage that interview and whether or not I really should have done that. I will worry again about unemployment and that we might not get enough money for all our payments. And if, IF, I am offered this 5th/6th split position, I will call my husband and rationalize why I should and shouldn't take the job. Of course, there is this irritating reminder in the back of my mind that if I teach for just 1 more year, just 1 more, then I will finally, FINALLY, have my level 2 license and won't have to renew my license for 5 years rather than renew my level 1 for a second time.

Did I mention that I hate karma?