What's On My Mind: RVs, Low-Fat, High Fiber (Will is Such a Lucky Man!)

Another week has flown by. I was chatting with my former assistant principal yesterday, telling him a little about the past week and how tempted I am to tell some stories on my blog that unfortunately would violate the confidentiality rules I am bound by. Perhaps some day far in the future after I will retire I will write a book incorporating some of these stories and embellishing them slightly, so I can put the disclaimer at the front of the book saying any resemblance to any event or person living or dead is pure coincidence. Human nature is so fascinating and life can be such a comedy of errors. I have also noticed a couple of times recently that working in a school office sometimes resembles the job I held in my early twenties in a police dispatch center, as staff members go on foot pursuit of a runaway child and other various suspicious activities occur. But really, the vast majority of our student population is quite law abiding!

Add to that the soap opera of staff relationships and interactions and life is full of drama. I woke up yesterday morning and turned off my alarm, thinking it was Saturday. I previewed the joys of the relaxing day I anticipated, going off with my husband to look at 5th wheels, and went back to sleep. Nearly an hour later I woke up to Will's alarm and realized it was Friday. I was so annoyed, I just couldn't get up for a few minutes. Will was asking why I was still in bed and I groaned, "I have to frame my mind right." "What are you going to frame it around?!" he asked. Of course I meant I had to get back into the right frame of mind for a Friday before I could even get out of bed, and it was difficult after having my mind set for Saturday. I have received a few cracks from Will since then about my mind being framed, but oh well!

We did have an enjoyable time RV shopping today, but fortunately we did not find any 5th wheel that we couldn't live without. We always plan and anticipate this type of purchase for a long time. Not one salesman looked at Will and exclaimed, "Wow, you're a big one" as one did last year. We did have one who we feared we would have to either pry his hand off the pickup door or drag him out of the parking lot with us, but he finally let go!

When we got home, Will got to sit at the table and eat fresh veggies -carrots, green peppers, and broccoli, while I broiled some turkey burgers (from Costco) to serve with melted fat-free cheese slices on whole wheat bread. I counted it quite successful because although Nick was whining before dinner about needing real meat, he liked the turkey burgers. Will might have liked his better if I hadn't slightly overcooked it, but he would never complain. It's such a virtuous feeling to eat a healthy meal! I put lots of lettuce, some onions, green peppers and light ranch dressing with mine and it was delicious! A turkey burger has 5 grams of fat versus the 22 grams in Costco's lowest fat sirloin burger. Our arteries are thanking us right now! It's time for me to stop!!

The big red stuffed dog and balloons that were delivered for a student on Valentine's Day are still in our office. I personally showed it to the child on Wednesday when he finally returned to school, but he has never come back to pick it up! Perhaps I need to threaten him that I will put it on the Lost and Found table....

Reviewing Valentines Week

Here I am at home without my husband again on a Saturday night. We were supposed to go to dinner at a friend's house but he got called to work this afternoon. He got a camera on his last trip to Idaho. It came with a cool program which he used to frame a picture of himself with his dad.

What a week it has been. Much stress at work, with my dear office co-worker suffering the effects of her first chemo treatment, trying to work as much as possible but not able to be there as much as she wanted. Something happened that I have never seen before at school - a girl bit another girl's arm in anger, and felt it was an acceptable thing to do under the circumstances. I got yelled at by the victim's mother. During a break in her ranting, I requested a second time that she please take a seat until the principal could be with her. She turned to her daughter and said, "Is she stupid? I already told her I did not want to sit down." I almost laughed.

Then came Valentine's Day, always fun at our school, with parents and friends dropping off balloons, flowers, candy, stuffed animals, etc. for us to deliver to their darlings. A church youth worker even brought gifts for nine students and seemed annoyed when I respectfully requested that they not bring their valentines to us to distribute next year. (Note to church youth leaders: Please I beg of you don't ever do that to a school.) With about 40 extra note deliveries and then passing out the valentines as students came to the office at the end of the day added to our normal busy office duties, somehow one child did not receive the notification that there was something in the office for her. I was fortunate enough to answer the phone call from the parent who called shortly after school was out, demanding to know why her child wasn't notified, what kind of office do we run, who should have taken care of this, she and her daughter were so disappointed, her daughter was crying, she was so disappointed in us, how could we fail to do such an important thing, she was extremely disappointed, etc. I was also fortunate enough to get a lecture from the girl's father the next morning when he brought her to pick up her flower and balloon. "I'm very sorry" just wasn't good enough for them. My advice is, celebrate Valentine's Day with your child at home, it has nothing to do with school.

A great big red stuffed dog with a Happy Birthday balloon and a Valentine balloon was also not picked up. I called the home of the child, fearing that he also had not received a note. His mom said, "He just walked in the door and said he forgot to pick it up. No big deal." I was so relieved. The student was absent the next day. His gift is still sitting in our conference room.

I did enjoy going out to dinner on Wednesday night with my husband and attending the Valentine's Banquet at church with him last night. Valentine's Day is not ALL bad.

And today - what a happy day. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine - and I went to the wedding of a friend who was on her deathbed a couple of years ago, with cancer in her bones and liver. She got better and has felt great for the past couple of years. Her doctors are mystified. God is amazing! I was her daycare provider for her youngest, and it was fun to reminisce with him about the good old days when he and Eric made action figure movies together!

Not Bored Anymore

It's great to have my husband back home. We were quite social over the weekend, attending the sheriff's office awards dessert on Friday night (where we were privileged to preview a foretaste of Will's next career as a "soft rock singer" after he retires, his first music video - "I'm So Ronery") It made me laugh til tears flowed. Saturday was the monthly pinochle party, where I won a prize for having the lowest score. Good times. Sunday Doug, Anisa and Duane came to visit. Nick and Uncle Doug engaged in a rousing thumb wrestling match. They both started on the couch, but Doug thumb wrestled him to the ground. I love the look on Duane's face. What you can't see is that he is wearing one of Nick's enormous size 13 shoes, exclaiming, "It's so roomy!"You will notice Nick got a haircut. His hair had been quite big and disorderly. He came home one day and said he needed a haircut right away. I asked what changed his mind. "I caught a glimpse of myself in the window when I was walking into school, and I just looked goofy!" was his reply. I wasted no time getting out the scissors.

A Dull Week

A whole week since I have posted anything and nothing comes to mind that I must share. The highlight of the past week was going to see Santiam Christian's middle school drama in which my charming nephew Duane starred quite convincingly as "King Dum". Will, Nick and I, as well as the rest of the audience had some good laughs. I believe dramatic talent is a strong Troyer trait. As well as good looks and charm. And brains and beauty. But one of our greatest gifts, a deeply ingrained humility, precludes me from sharing any more of our outstanding family attributes.

There are several reasons for the lack of activity in this household. One is that Will is missing. He was gone for a whole week, returning home last Thursday. He left again Saturday morning, battling blowing snow and icy roads en route for Idaho to be with his Dad, who had surgery yesterday. His dad was released from the hospital today, and hopefully Will will be home soon. Without him the sun doesn't shine, food tastes bland, and there is less to laugh at.

Another problem is that I'm still recovering from "the bug". I went to the doctor yesterday and he broke the bad news to me. "Your lungs are full of junk." Hopefully the antibiotics he prescribed will help.

Tonight I hit a new low. I worked three hours late, arriving home around 7:30. Exhausted, I heated up some soup and read the paper. Eagerly looking forward to relaxing on the couch with the newest Robin Cook medical thriller ("a ripped-from-the-headlines tale of an innovative doctor's dangerous downward spiral"!), I entered my living room. To my horror, there was a pile of cat poop in the middle of the floor. I speed dialed Eric, who was hanging out at a friend's, to request that he immediately dispose of this problem his cat had left for me. He said he would call Nick (who was at church) and offer him $5 to clean it up because he didn't want to make a special trip home to do it. Nick returned home a short time later with a big smile on his face. He went right to the drawer and put a plastic baggie over his hand, saying he was getting $10 from Eric to clean up the cat poop!

In the meantime, I was forced to read in the family room, where it was difficult to feel relaxed and happy because Nick had left a plate with dried ketchup, a plate with remnants of a melted ice cream bar, and two wrappers lying about. I was not happy with him. He had to clean that mess up for free. And it took quite a little scrubbing for him to remove the dried ketchup. Where have I gone wrong? Why is he such a slob?

It's time for me to take my exciting book upstairs and read in bed for a bit. One must get one's beauty rest.