What a Day

What a day I've had.

Friend takes me to work, drops Rose off at daycare.

About 10:30, I check my email to find one from MaidBrigade.
Titled, "Aug 18 Maid Brigade Damage"

whoo boy.


The list was:
1. Purple candle holder with candle
2. Green/brown candle holder
3. Gold trim tea cup with light blue flowers
4. Gold trim tea cup saucer with light blue flowers

The cup and saucer were my Grandmother's.

The is the SECOND cup that were heirlooms from her that they've broken. In the SAME place as before. What did they do this time, fall against the shelf?

The third cup that was on there remained unscathed and has now been moved to a different location.

I was so angry and upset, on the phone in tears with their customer service representive. She was extremely nice and apologetic, and knew the gravity of the situation. When asked though, she could give me no good reason to continue with her company.

So that's been on my mind.

After work I picked up my car and signed over $425 for the tuneup. Then I went to get my allergy shot, then went to a teacher center to get laminating done. Then ate a quick dinner, picked up my dog, brought Rose home, and left again immediately for the PTA night.

PTA went well. Curriculum night went well.

I feel more like myself since I have my car, my independence back.

I really don't know what to do though about the maid situation. They'll replace the items, but you can't really replace what Grandma brought me. I'm tired, and spent.

Monday

These are photos from my Saturday henna appointment. The 2nd one is a Kim Brennan design. The client found me last year at a festival, and after a year, still had my card! This is a woman who loves henna :) It was her birthday gift to herself.


I did a lot of cooking Monday. I made meatloaf with onions, green beans, celery, and garlic. I made a turkey-and-red-pepper-and-steamed-cabbage dish. I froze half of what I made. I still have fish to steam.

Today is my maid service day. I'll come home to a clean apartment. A welcome respite among the potentially frazzling week I've been having.

My car wasn't ready yesterday. It'll be ready today. They'll do a complete tune-up on the 2000 VW Jetta for about $400. Not great, but it's less than the horrors of my mind was producing.

Coworker brought me home, and friend will take me to work. I would have walked, but with the maids being here I have to have the dog out of the apartment and into doggie daycare. Otherwise she'll bark the whole time they're here, and be a nervous wreck by the time I get home.

Two loads of dishes done from my cooking. I love having a dishwasher!

Today will be a long day. Have PTA tonight, first one of the year which includes a curriculum night. Talking to parents, showing them the new materials, answering questions about our procedures.

I'm here

I'm still here. Went to doc Friday and he discharged me. Said my knee was fine. It still aches occasionally, but is much better than it was. I'm still careful with it.

Went to see Clone Wars yesterday. Great movie for kids, bit disappointing for me.

Had a henna appointment Saturday. Will upload photos when I get a chance.

Mostly have been going to work, coming home and taking Rose to the park, eating, then sleeping. Rinse and repeat.

Something's wrong with my car again. Engine light came on. I think it may be the spark plugs from the way it sounds when its running. Hopefully it'll get me to work, then I can call a place and take it there this afternoon.

Watched a bunch of old Gene Kelly movies on TMC yesterday. That was neat.

Sunday Update

My classroom is ready.
Nametags are ready
Bus tags are ready
Tables and table groups are ready.

Printer still needs ink cartridge.

It's odd how one little think like that can make me feel handicapped. I'm used to being able to print out schedules and curriculum, but for now, at least at work, I can't. So I've brought some things home to do this weekend and printout to take to work on Monday.

I went back to the Worker's Comp. Doc on Friday. This time it was a different doc. He said the knee bandage/sock was a bit tight and it looked like it may have caused some swelling. He changed me to an elastic bandage, and told me to ice the knee every 4 hours. Everything else seems better. I'm to return to him again next Friday.

Counting My Blessings

Somewhere late this afternoon I started a mental tirade in my head of all the things that had gone wrong today. I consciously chose to stop, and think instead of my blessings from the day.

I am blessed that my knee wasn't permanently injured.
I am blessed with coworkers who will drop what they're doing to help me with my room.
I am blessed with money for the laundromat to wash the poop out of the dog's bed and towel.
I am blessed with a dog park close by.
I am blessed with air conditioning in my car.
I am blessed with a car, period.
I am blessed with a job.
I am blessed with a vision of how I want my classroom to be.

Tonight I will be blessed with some much deserved sleep.

Thanks Vickie

At Vickie's urging, I did tell my principal about my knee. Better safe than sorry, right? I'd felt myself torn between wanting it taken care of vs not wanting to cause a fuss at school.

My principal was totally understanding and helped me get the right forms to fill out, the ones to take to the doc, and where the workers comp. docs were located so I could choose one, and go to right away.

I did, and am glad I did. They x-rayed, nothing broken. The big word is "contusion", the easy word is bruise. I bruised my knee (even though there's hardly any discoloration) and sprained the ankle area of my right foot. I left the office with knee brace, foot brace, bio-freeze gel, and a...


CANE

A cane! Like I'm a senior citizen invalid! I felt ridiculous about it, and couldn't decide which side to use the cane on. The foot brace makes me go around sock footed. I don't think I'll wear the cane and foot brace for Open House, but I'll keep them handy if needed.

Also he said

No Pulling,
No Pushing,
No Bending,
No Stooping,
No Lifting things heavier than 20lbs

Modified duties I can do include: desk work, and standing /walking is to be kept to a minimum of 3-4 hours a day. I go back on Friday for a check-up.

The obvious dilemma with the above is that I HAVEN'T SET UP MY ROOM.

And since the main thing I do when setting up my room is:
Pulling
Pushing
Bending
Stooping
Lifting things heavier than 20lbs

I was SOL

Sooo Out of Luck.

But, the principal was very understanding and asked the three nicest ladies in our school to come help me. In about an hour and half, the arranging was done! Now only the small stuff is left, and my assistant and I should be able to get most of that done tomorrow. I bought them a nice thank you card, and $10 gas cards, cause really- they didn't HAVE to do it, and two of them weren't getting paid to be in at work today.

Update

Time for an update. My life is once again heading for a new course, gone are the docks and waterways of summer. Up ahead is a new school year, with new students and new adventures.

Last week my brand new gift to myself came via UPS. It's a Danby Countertop Dishwasher, from Target.

The first day it was up and running, I did 3 loads. Amazing, just amazing. Something so simple has the potential to remove a big dread from my life- the sinkful of stinking dirty dishes.

Around the time that it came, I was also looking at going back into my school early, to set up the classroom *before* I officially had to be there on Monday the 4th.

As luck would have it, a thunderstorm kept me home and I put all the "classroom arranging" energy, into my computer room / dining room / guinea pig den which I never sit at the table and eat.

I was fed up with what felt like an overwhelming amount of stuff that I was drowning in. Don't ask me why it chose just then to hit, when it'd been that way all summer. I don't know. Eventually my plan is to have the table moved over by the windows and cleared so that I can dine there again and look out at nature.

Friday I did end up going into school. A coworker had called, telling me that her rugs hadn't even been vacuumed, let alone really cleaned as of Wednesday. She had rented a steam cleaner, and did I want to go in on it with her so I could do mine? Sure.

Our rugs not being done was a pet peeve of mine last year. Even this year, with more custodial staff being hired, it hadn't been done. These are the places our children play and lay. So I went in and cleaned my own damn rugs. Unfortunately, I was wearing my sneakers. And when I left the rug to get more water, guess what happened. Yep my right foot slid out from under me like the Jamaican Bobsled Team, and all my weight came down on my left knee. I'm really glad there weren't kids around, cause I cursed, it hurt so bad.

So today I'm still dealing with the aches and pains from this. There's no visible bruising, but the knee is very sore, as are the muscles I used to try and stop it all from happening.

How's that for teacher dedication?