Another Happy Place

Friday I went back to Kaiser School to see my first graders.  I hadn't been to school since the first part of March.  And I had really missed working with the children.  Just pulling into the school made me happy.

Ms. H and I both got teary eyed and hugged a lot.  The children were so excited to see me, which made me feel great.  It was pretty emotional for all of us.

Ms. H asked me to explain to the class what was going on with me that prevented my volunteering.  I told them their hearts beat steady and go ba bum, ba bum, ba bum, ba bum around 70 times a minutes.  But mine at times goes babum, babum,             ba  bum,   ba . . . . . . . . .bumbum,  ba bum, babum babum, around 190 times a minute.  I compared it to them playing tag/ running races and being worn out after 30 minutes.  My heart ran those races for days.  I carefully told them it was treatable, I just was so worn out I wasn't strong enough to come work with them.

They seemed to understand on a simple level that I was sick, tired, but going to be OK.  Then they told me things they had done the last 2 1/2 months.  Paper Mache globes were made, the ducks hatched,  they had field trips, one little boy got a "baby" dog, one little girl had spent time in Turkey visiting family.  Lots of adventures were shared. 

The class had all made me big hearts with sweet notes on them.  Before they left for lunch they all gave me hugs and again made me cry.  This class has been so sweet, trouble at times, but sweet.

Even if I cried, this was a visit that made me really happy.  Keep your fingers crossed that in September I will be able to commit to working with the next class of first graders.

I need this happy place.

A year in review, yuck

2013 was not nice to us.  We were very glad to see the end of it.  2014 we welcome with open arms.

This time in 2013 we were in the hell of moving into our lovely apartment.  Very little went right if you remember.  I am not going to put links for the move.  If you want to suffer through our hell just go to the archives and read again our troubles.  Satellite internet that didn't work, refrigerator that wouldn't fit through the door and had to be taken apart to be moved in.  And the list goes on and on.  Finally we were in our lovely apartment. 

Things were fairly normal until June.  I had a lump and in July surgery.  Yes it was benign, but another type of hell.  But I was ok, it could only be smooth sailing from there on out.  Wrong.

September the great drama of a 8 days in the hospital and 4 trips to the ER. (One trip to ER even in the ambulance. I was disappointed they just drove fast and didn't use the siren ) Triple diagnosis, heart, blood clots in the lungs, and diabetes.  I was really really sick.  I survived and I am getting healthy.

Three and a half  months later I am nearly 60 pounds lighter.  I walk every day for at least 30 minutes.  I eat healthy, which is hard for a Southern Belle.  We do love our fried food and gravy.

There were some good moments in 2013.  Being so ill I found out what great friends we had.  I found out people in the church I really didn't know well were praying for me.  My Facebook friends sent love and prayers, even people I have never met in real life, such as authors I follow.  I love my Facebook friends.  I realized I had a second chance to live.

2014 I am ready.  You have to be better than the last couple of years.  Welcome 2014.

Pillows and Pig Hearts (If squeamish do not go below the pillows.)

Those who know me are aware I have no talent for crafts or sewing.  This morning, again like last week, the First Graders were switching rooms.  Our kids were going to work on pillows, the other class would work on poetry.  Ms. H asked me to go with our kids as there was a shortage of volunteers. I gave her the death stare, but went. 

The kids were making pillows with a pocket to hold a tooth for the Tooth Fairy.  The steps were to sew their names, then put the pocket on.  After that they sewed two pieces of fabric together. Finally they stuffed the pillows.  I threaded needles over and over.  They were using heavy multi strand embroidery thread.  Not easy getting all those threads in the eye of the needle.  But so easy for them to pull the needle off the thread.

Here are some of the pillows.

                                            

This shows the back side of a couple of pillows.

Later in the morning, one of the parents came to do a science unit on the heart.  She is a doctor and teaches medical students.  But she had the information at a primary level.  The kids were enthralled.  Me too.

She read this to them before she started the lesson.  Then each child received a copy to take home.

She drew a heart on the board, labeled the sections.  They talked about healthy eating, the purpose of the heart, what the blood carries.  They took their pulse in their necks.  Then she gave them latex gloves and they got to feel the pig’s heart.

She carried the heart around the circle, no touching yet.

                              

She cut the heart in half.  Showed them the parts she drawn.  Again, no touching yet.  The kids are wild to touch it.

You can see the scissors she used to cut the heart.  The hearts were placed on two trays and the kids finally could touch.  Some were squeamish and wouldn’t touch.  But most ran their fingers in and out of the valves, veins, and just prodded.  They loved it.  

                                                                    

This is a packet of worksheets for the children to do at their desks.  If you look closely, you can see the next page showing through.  They were to look at the top page, then draw the lungs and heart on the body on the next page. 

They also have a science journal they worked in.  They drew a cross section of a heart and labeled the parts.  They then wrote 3 or 4 sentences telling something about the lesson. 

People, I was so impressed by this woman.  She really gave them a lot of information.  And they ate it up.  They asked questions, they wanted more information, they were with her the whole lesson.  Bravo Mateen’s Mother.