Tag Archives: Life is good.

Cracks in the rose colored glasses

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I like to claim I’m an optimist. I see the rain barrels as half full, not half empty. I’m pleased by simple achievements.

Whatever is going on in my brain – stroke, migraine, or otherwise – makes the positive difficult to find. If I’m honest with myself, (which I’m not very often because it’s tough to face the truth that the worst may be yet to come), there are positives in this situation. Unfortunately, most of the positives are more along the lines of “At least it’s not….” which is a poor excuse for a bright side and more like a silver lining in a bank of tornado-producing thunderheads..

But here goes anyway.

I have a good ER nearby – less than 10 minutes away – which meant Chuck could leave the hospital while I was getting my MRI and make sure Amigo was doing okay (he was) and then come back to my side when the doctor had information. 

I work with compassionate people. They’re concerned, and they ask how I am, and yet no one is nosy. They accept what I’m willing to tell and respect what I don’t want to say. Within three minutes of my arrival at work this week, I had a stack of phone numbers from people willing to give me a ride to work if I feel unable to drive.

The neurologist wears awesome shoes. Dark red suede short boots with a jet black zipper center front – don’t judge me, people, I enjoy footwear. It’s a simple pleasure.

Still upsetting:

  • the inability to walk to work in nicer weather
  • the need to grab a wall or a countertop when I’m wobbling
  • the fear that the leg will fall out from under me while walking down a hallway or carrying a hot cup of coffee
  • parking in the crowded lot so I can use the elevator
  • feeling off-balance unexpectedly
  • the sheer irritation of feeling perpetually numb on one side of my face
  • the unpredictability of the weakness and wobbles in my left side overall
These make it tougher to don the rose-colored glasses each day. Optimism must be tempered with reality, and that reality is cloudy with a dense fog advisory carrying low visibility when I try to look ahead.

And yet, I feel thankful every day that the effects of this condition, whatever its name might be, have so far been purely physical. Nothing indicates cognitive trouble. My speech is clear and my language functioning is still strong. I can communicate. I can still think.

Maybe those rose-colored lenses have a little more wear left in them.

 

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Eating the opponent continues!

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In case you wondered, we are continuing the tradition of Eating the Opponent. Each week during the NFL season, we look up the Packers schedule and choose a signature dish from the area of the opposing team. We’ve stretched on occasion: Bear claws for breakfast, for example, or turnovers when Favre was still throwing picks for the Vikings. This weekend, while Chuck drives a company car to Detroit for the occasion, we chose to eat a Michigan food not out of Detroit, but from the Upper Peninsula. You guessed it, locals, we had pasties.

Any questions?

For a little pasty history, see last year’s post.

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Shopping Season Looms

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From an old post – can you figure out how much I saved on this jacket? It’s still in my closet. I’ve worn it a few times, about once a year, and that’s enough to get my $1.97 worth.


I am bargain-hunter, hear me roar! I rode along with La Petite while she was in search of a specific summer sweater that might be on clearance. I did not plan to buy anything for myself. Then I found this — and had to buy it. Frankly, if I wear it once I will get my money’s worth.

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Virtual Talent?

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Dear science students;

You may think it shows talent, but it’s a trait. A recessive trait, at that. Rolling your tongue, no matter how cool it seems, is a trait. If you said talent, it got marked wrong.

Dear Social Studies students;

It’s Social. S-o-c-i-a-l. If you can’t spell it, try calling it History. United States History. But please, my dear young ones, Both of these wild and crazy errors came out of my Gifted and Talented group. GT parents, let’s work to teach your children how to pick up a book (a dictionary, maybe) and look it up if they’re unsure.

Oh, you wanted to see the disastrous spellings?

1. Socil Studies (He left out the a in Social. Needs improvement, but there’s hope.)

2. Souchil studis (I don’t know where this one came from. Mars?)

Dear math students; 

Never mind. Today, you were the cream of the crop. All of the tests made me smile. None invoked tears or hysterical laughter. Keep up the good work.

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Grandma Daisy thinks back to Election Day 2012

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Readers, I think this might be the last Voter’s Voice for a while. I’m enjoying President Obama’s victory, Tammy Baldwin’s successful run for Senate, and the feeling that I may have contributed in a tiny way to the campaign. Meanwhile, let’s look ahead in time and listen to Grandma Daisy as she reminisces about women’s rights and the election of 2012.

Grandchildren, dear, did you say your history teacher asked about 2012? About the way women suddenly came to the forefront again? Oh, I remember it well – the idiocies and the intelligence, the outrage, the voter turnout, and more.

I was worried, children. If President Obama had lost his bid for re-election, we were facing some very difficult times. Many, many women were getting more and more worried. I saw protesters carrying signs saying “Didn’t we protest this s*** already?” and they weren’t kidding. If the other guy won, Mitt Romney was his name, we were looking at a serious loss of rights as women. His VP running mate was even worse in the way he looked down on women — but that’s another post.

That brings me to the idiocies of the campaign. One of the old, white guys in Congress was running for Senate in Missouri, a fairly conservative Southern state. In response to a question on abortion in cases of rape of incest, he claimed that in cases of “legitimate rape” women had ways to “shut that whole thing down.” I would have laughed, too, honey, except that he was serious. Seriously stupid, that is. Later on a candidate from Indianapolis tried to tell women that if they got pregnant from being raped it was “God’s will.”

Both of these dinosaurs were defeated. Women voters decided it was God’s will that we shut their whole thing down. 

Now Mitt had some women problems of his own. He sidestepped a question about the Lily Ledbetter Act – equal pay for equal work, sweetie, it’s in your history book – by claiming he’d made efforts to seek out qualified women for his state cabinet. He had supposedly asked women’s groups for referrals, and they gave him “…binders full of women!” Binders full of resumes, that is. The outrage came from people who said, “Hey, Mitt, it was already the 21st Century. You didn’t know any qualified women in 2003?” and worse, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus came forward and said, “Mitt did not come to us. We went to Mitt. After he won, we gave him resumes of many potential candidates.” Oops. Twice bad, Mitt. Twice bad. 

So – we were dealing with old farts who didn’t know their basic reproductive science, and potential leaders who thought women were second class citizens not worthy of the same rights as men. There were bright moments, though. 

Some of the best and the brightest moments in 2012 were women who skipped the binders and went straight for the ballot. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Oh, Tammy! I was so excited when she decided to run for Senate. I was even more excited when I, a lowly campaign volunteer, got to meet her. She was articulate, smart, and very personable. She listened more than she talked, and when she talked, she gained our attention and our respect. When Baldwin’s victory came, the headlines were all “First openly gay senator elected in Wisconsin!” And we said, “Oh, yeah, we knew that.” But her being gay didn’t matter one way or the other. We Wisconsin voters, gay or straight, female or male, elected Tammy Baldwin to the Senate because of her skills, her intellect, and her record in her fourteen years in Congress. 

So, young ones, there’s more to say on the mood of the election. I could go on longer – the battleground states, they way Mitt and his VP didn’t even carry their own states in the end, the closeness of the popular vote, the issues of birth control and more. Voter suppression attempts, early voter turnout, oh, my the list goes on.

I was looking forward to hearing and saying “Senator Baldwin.” It was like hearing “President Obama” for the first time. And now that Obama had won his re-election, I could look forward to saying President Obama for another four years.

Well, my dears, that’s the main thrust of the story of women’s rights and the 2012 election. Now I’m going to make a pot of coffee. Does your mother still have a package of Obama Blend Coffee in the cupboard? It’s a blend of Hawaiian, Kenyan, and Indonesian beans, and it’s as delicious as it is clever. I’ll have some in my Born in the USA mug.

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Vital Signs for Teen Drivers

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Did you know that close to one million high school students drank alcohol and got behind the wheel last year?  When teenagers drink any alcohol at all, not only is it illegal for them to drive, but it puts them at extremely high risk for a dangerous crash. Zero tolerance for underage drinking and driving is the law, but some teens still ignore the danger in favor of behavior they think is “cool”.

The “cool factor” isn’t what teens might think. My local school district conducted surveys and then asked students to create posters sharing the results, and the results might surprise some.

 78.6% of 9th Graders have not had an alcoholic drink in the last 30 days. You don’t need a drink to have a party.

88.2% of 9th graders have NOT smoked cigarettes, 86.6% have NOT smoked marijuana.

When asked, students often overestimate the percentage of their peers who use alcohol and other drugs. When they overestimate, they justify use by their peers and are more likely to use themselves. Our goal is to challenge and to correct students’ incorrect perceptions of peer alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and to consistently provide a ‘no use’ message to students. Seeing statistics like this helps debunk the “Everybody does it!” mythology.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked bloggers to pass on these sites for parents and teen drivers alike.

Vital Signs; Teen Drinking and Driving

Vital Signs Social Media

Parents are the Key; a website devoted to safe teen driving in general

 

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Life in perspective

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There’s nothing like an ER visit to put life back in perspective. Armed with a faithful husband and a sense of humor to take the edge off the worst, I wobbled into the closest hospital’s Emergency entrance last night.

The symptoms, by my estimation, had come on mid-morning. Numbness on one side of the face, shaky left leg, dizziness. I shook off concerns and stayed in my cubicle all day, and then (typical teacher) called the doctor when I got home. The nurse on call said, “ER. Definitely. Do you have someone who can drive you? Soon?” Well, yes. Chuck was pulling in the driveway moments after the call.

While the nurse was getting me wired up to the beeping and blinking equipment, she asked basic questions. “What’s your name? Do you know where you are? Do you know why you’re here? What month is it?” Was that a trick question, we asked? It was November 1st. We told everyone who treated me about my hearing impairment, and they all handled it professionally. Well, mostly professionally. This is the first time anyone has called my hearing aids “cute.”

So – I was exhausted. Chuck pointed out that I’d been fading since earlier in the week. I’d been tired, very tired, but chalked it up to stress. Campaign stress, election fears, work stress due to state testing – you name it, I’ve felt it. No, he told me, it was more than usual.

CAT scan was an odd experience – my first. Hold still? No problem. Let me doze off and we’ll all be happy. Results were normal, so ER doc talked to the neurologist on call and ordered an MRI. We got lucky with timing; the MRI tech was in house due to routine equipment testing, so they took me almost immediately. Here again, lying still was no problem. “Can I take a nap?” They thought I was kidding.

MRIs are loud, though, even to one like me. With my hearing aids out and earplugs in, the rhythms and changing tones kept me awake. Has any composer written an atonal piece based on MRI sounds? If it hasn’t been done, some talented and creative musician needs to write it.

Ultimately, all life-threatening possibilities were ruled out. No stroke or TIA, no blood clots or bleeding in the brain. My orders included an anti-dizziness medication, a day of rest instead of school, and two follow up visits: one to my family doc, and one to a neurologist.

So here I am, resting on my couch, watching MSNBC and promising myself that I’ll turn it off if bad news or campaign news becomes upsetting. I dropped a note to friends and family on Facebook and emailed my bosses and secretary after I put in for my sick day. Petunia, good mother that she is, picked up my prescription and promised to drive me to the family doc. La Petite checked in within minutes of my online update. It’s the opposite of the sandwich generation; this time, mother and daughter are taking care of the one in the middle: me.

Meanwhile, I still have that post-dental work feeling in one side of my face, and I still wobble on my left leg. I’m leaning left now literally as well as politically. As long as I do this Weeble style and wobble but avoid falling down, I can move on.

And if my blog posts sound one-sided, you know there’s yet another reason for that point of view.

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Work email among creative sorts

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Or — sometimes “Reply to All” gives you more than you ever really wanted to know.

From the Media Specialist’s assistant:
“We are missing a skeleton. His name is Mr. Thrifty. If you have seen him, let us know.”
The responses:
“Is he in a closet?”
“Maybe he’s boning up for a test.”

From the guidance counselor:
“Where’s my cardboard banana? It’s about 4 feet tall, heavy cardboard, and was on the ‘Eat a Healthy Breakfast’ bulletin board by the office.”
The responses:
“The skeleton ate it.”
“I know where it is, but I’m sworn to secrecy.”

From the art teacher:

“My desk chair disappeared on election day. It’s gray, on rollers, a little paint on it.”
The responses:
“Is it a Democratic party chair or Republican party chair?”
“Was that a committee chair?”
“Chairman or Chairwoman?”
“The skeleton has it – he’s sitting on your chair, in his closet, eating the banana.”

The final follow-up:
The skeleton turned up in a classroom for a human body unit in science.
The desk chair had been returned to the wrong classroom after the poll workers used it on election day.
The banana? It was hanging on the music room door, clad in a pink feather boa.

That was at a previous workplace. I still keep in touch with those people. In virtual schools, however, we find our own random ways to share knowledge and keep spirits up. 

Did the inventors of email imagine it would be used for entertainment such as this? Never mind.

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Putting the Garden to Bed for the winter

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It’s a bittersweet day when I finish putting the garden to bed. It means that I’ve given up on any more warm spells, I’ve harvested every last tomato and pepper, and I’m nearly ready to open the garden gates to let the rabbits forage through the months we call winter.

The tie-ups are removed, sitting in a pile in the garage so they can dry. I’ve never seen the point in washing them. They’ll dry over the winter and be ready for tying up a whole new batch of seedlings next summer. The tomato supports are set aside, too, resting against the garage near the rain barrels. The barrels need to be emptied and upended so they won’t freeze and break in the winter temperatures. That will happen tomorrow or Sunday if all goes as planned.

                colorful tomato supports

I gave in and stocked up on acorn and butternut squash at last week’s downtown farmers’ market. Stored properly, the squash will last a long time. Now that I’ve discovered Amigo likes squash, I’ll cook it more often. This young man likes very few vegetables. I sense a butternut squash soup coming up soon!

                                          squash and apples

The raspberry patch will weather the weather well and the aforementioned rabbits will prune any or all of it for me. I pretend they’re doing it to say thanks for the winter food source. Really, they’re probably laughing through their teeth at the silly human who thinks she’s doing them a favor, these small furry creatures who’ve been finding weak spots in the fence all summer long.

The mini-greenhouse shelving is indoors now. The sage and parsley weren’t doing well, so I might replant them. The basil that went wild has been picked, processed with a little olive oil, and frozen. The oregano, rosemary, and thyme are still thriving. I hope they last! I sense a few homemade pizzas with fresh herbs in our future.

It’s a mixed feeling, indeed, saying goodbye to the plants I’ve nurtured from seed. But don’t worry, readers, it’s not a true blue funk or melancholy. Putting the greens down to rest isn’t the end; it’s a new beginning. I’m already planning which tomatoes to plant next year, which peppers, and where they’ll go to use the soil to its best advantage. Speaking of soil, I’d like to stir the compost one more time. The heat in the middle will keep it decomposing so I can dig it out and spread it in the spring.

Until we get a long lasting freeze, the parsley is still trying to grow.

                                                            parsley

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Freedom – is health part of the picture?

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I enjoy reading Chris Guillebeau’s Art of Non-Conformity blog and newsletters. His outlook on the world differs from mine only in its implementation. His writing resonates with me on many levels. A recent post titled “What is Freedom?” made me (as usual) think and analyze my situation and life.

Don’t worry, dear, I don’t plan to leave my job anytime soon. 

Freedom means different things to different people. For Chris, freedom means being self-employed and in control of his own destiny. For many in my circle of friends, freedom means security, health insurance, and the ability to pay our children’s college tuition. For my women peers, age-wise and academically similar to me, freedom means knowing we’re healthy and that we can get the treatment we need no matter what.

Regular readers know that women’s access to health care, appropriate health care, and the ability to make health care decisions based on medical needs rather than narrow-minded poorly-written legislation is — off soapbox, Daisy, this post is meant to go in another direction. It’s related, of course, but it’s not an election post (for the most part).

Regular readers also know that I’m a strong advocate of vaccines in general and influenza vaccines (flu shots). I’ve discussed the impact of a flu epidemic on local health, but let’s analyze a different angle this time: the impact of widespread illness on education.

It seems logical, and yet people forget. Anyone in a classroom full of students is vulnerable to catching the flu. Anyone, that is, including students, teachers, para-professionals, secretaries, and anyone else who breathes the same air and touches the same surfaces. And when the dominoes start to fall, each one knocks another into yet another. And then —

  • Students get behind in school.
  • Teachers adjust their instruction to accommodate multiple absences, usually slowing the pace significantly.
  • More students fall ill, falling behind, and dragging out instruction even more.
  • Teachers also become ill.
  • Substitute teachers teach in place of the regular teachers, changing the delivery of instruction and the quality of learning.
To counter this list, I offer another list. This one is from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
  •  CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against flu.
  • Vaccination of high-risk people is especially important to decrease their risk of severe flu illness.
  • People at high risk of serious flu complications include young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, or heart and lung disease and people 65 years and older.
  • Symptoms of influenza can include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may also have vomiting and diarrhea.
  • In the United States, thousands of healthy adults and children have to visit the doctor or be hospitalized from flu complications each year. Flu vaccination can help protect you and your family from the flu and its complications.
Freedom means knowing I can get a flu shot without any hassle. My dear loving husband discussed the flu vaccine with our doctor and together they decided he didn’t need to get one. Amigo and I, however, along with La Petite, tend to be vulnerable to influenza and other respiratory illnesses. We make a habit of getting an annual flu shot. To me, with my medical history fraught with both physical and mental illnesses, good health is part of freedom.
For more information directly from the CDC,  visit www.cdc.gov/flu.

 

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