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Monday, February 25, 2013

Cricket.....Cricket.......Cricket.......

Did you know that the human brain is only capable of holding one thought at a time? So if you are thinking of one thing, it is impossible to consciously think of another. It makes true multitasking impossible.

It would appear, that at least for me, the same would go for blogging. I remember a day would not go by in which I didn't post something here or at the very least, have an idea for something I would post here. And the fact is, I'm still blogging, almost daily but it's on my Kindergarten blog.

I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's nice to find a voice again that isn't about cancer or illness. I'm still having trouble coming here to blog and talk about something that isn't cancer related....I'm sure one day I'll be able to - but making that transition seems to be challenging for me. And let's face it, no one wants to hear it....and I most certainly don't want to talk about it anymore. I want to move on.

So while I find my voice here again I'll continue to blog over there where I can talk about All Things Kindergarten.

Anyhow, I haven't forgotten this blog. Honest. I know that most of the readers here are not educators and would have absolutely no interest in reading my Kindergarten blog but if you know an educator, feel free to send them a link to my blog - maybe they'd be interested

Saturday, February 9, 2013

What's More Important....?

I came here today with the intent to post a small rant.

You see, we had a snowstorm here yesterday.

"What's the big deal?" You ask, "you live in Canada!" And while that is true, I more specifically live in the GTA where large amounts of snow all at one time are not the norm. We get a couple of cm at a time - not 25+ cm in one day. And while for a large part of Canada that is no big deal (I think my cousins on the east coast are getting something like 50 cm today) for us, in the GTA, it is a big deal.

So yesterday the snow fell. Lots of it. I got up nice and early to watch the news to see if maybe, just maybe school would be cancelled. No such luck - but the buses were cancelled which meant most kids wouldn't be at school anyway.

So being the good Canadian I am, I soldiered on and drove the 30+ km to work in the crappy snow.

 
 
I knew there wouldn't be a lot of kids at school because the buses were not running. And since it was Friday a lot of people just took the day off. But some people didn't. Some people have to go to work, no matter the weather (present company included).
 
But here's the thing. Of the 5 kids in my class who came to school - every single one of them had parents at home. Not at work or at school. At home with younger siblings or in their pj's or doing who knows what.
 
Back in the day when I was working in daycare my opinion that stay at home parents should not have their children in full time daycare was not always popular. Part time daycare or nursery school is great - kids need socialization away from parents - but full day, every day - I've always had a problem with that if Mom or Dad is home all day.
 
This is another instance in which my opinion might be wildly unpopular.
 
I have to wonder why those 5 kids were at school? Did their parents think we'd be learning anything? And even if we were - did they think that missing one day of school in Kindergarten was going to set up their entire educational career for failure??  I can't really fathom why any parent would take their child out in that weather if they didn't have to! 
 
Now before I get a bunch of angry comments about how some parents have no choice but to work and therefore their kids have to go to school or daycare even on a craptastic day like that - I know - I get it. I had to go to work. If I were a single parent or if Sean had to have had to work too or my mom was not living here or Emily wasn't old enough to take care of Connor and Mary then they too would have had to go to school yesterday.
 
But they didn't have to. So I didn't send them. Because their staying home for one day wasn't going to destroy them academically. Because then maybe there wouldn't have been any students in their class and their teachers could go home safely to their families instead of being at work essentially babysitting my kids; because I can promise you no one taught yesterday. 
 
What was so infuriating about yesterday was *most* of the children who were at school yesterday did not NEED to be there. So why did their parents send them? Who was gaining?
 
The parents - that's who. They were "getting rid of " their child for a few hours.  Forget about the teachers who had to travel to and from school to be with those kids (who watched movies all day) who had to drive in that weather - who risked their lives to sit with your kids for 6 hours so that you could watch All My Children because you didn't want to keep them home.
 
If we lived somewhere else in Canada where this type of weather was the norm it might be different but this was the worst storm we've had in 5 years. If you didn't HAVE to be out in it, why were you? Keep your kids home. Spend the day with them. Enjoy them. Take them sledding. Play a game with them. Have a pillow fight.
 
I came here today with the intention to post that rant and leave it at that but my thoughts on this were punctuated by a blogger friend's post that I read this morning. Her teenage son battled cancer at the same time as me. He won that fight last year but they've just discovered spots on his lungs.
 
I can't even begin to fathom what his mom is feeling right now but it makes me want to hug my kids tighter. It reaffirms my contention that nothing is more important than time spent with your kids - that playing hookie from school or work is okay and that we should all be embracing every single moment with our kids.
 
My prayers are with my friend and her family that they will find the strength and courage to fight on and win the battle again. It's a long and terrible road, one they know all too well.
 
Hug your kids, spend time with them. Make them a priority.  Nothing should be is more important than they are. 

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

CPAP? More like C Crap!

For those of you 'in the know' I'll bet you can see where I'm going with this one.

In January I went for a sleep study. You see, I snore. Like a chainsaw. It was to the point that my poor husband spent most nights on the couch instead of on our brand new super comfy mattress.

I know that most of the snoring is because of my weight but I decided a sleep study was in order just to be sure that I didn't have apnea.

Well apparently I do (though to be honest, I tend to believe that if every single person went for a sleep study they would all be diagnosed with apnea. I mean truly, have you ever heard of anyone who had a sleep study who wasn't told they had apnea? Just my thoughts)

Anyhow, for anyone who's never had the pleasure of a sleep study it involves being hooked up to  to more wires and electrodes and shit than they had me hooked up to when they removed my breast and then expecting you to sleep. Funny right? They tape things to your face. They wrap belts around your chest and stomach, put you in a strange bed and tell you to sleep like you normally do. Because every other night I'm wired up like a 1980's stereo system.

So now I've got a CPAP machine.

I promise you I went into this with an open mind. I thought, hey if I *thought* I was sleeping well (my snoring doesn't bother me, it bothers everyone else!) and then I used the CPAP machine maybe I'd sleep even better and feel like a million bucks.

I got this mask

Mine's pink though. Sexy huh? The kids call it my elephant mask.

I'm not sold. I've had it since Friday and I've only had two good nights with it. It's uncomfortable. It shoots air into your nose at a much stronger pressure than you're used to with breathing and it makes me hyperventilate. Not to mention the smell. Blah!

I've learned that having a nose mask and allergies doesn't always work. Often times I can't breathe through both nostrils and since you can't breathe out of your mouth with this mask - breathing becomes an issue.

I called the respiratory therapist to try another mask but he said to keep working with this one a while longer because he's positive if he gives me the fighter pilot mouth mask I won't wear it at all. I know he's right.

I'll keep trying. Last night was a good night so I'm feeling more optimistic today.

Here's the thing though. Once upon a time I looked forward to bedtime. My favorite time of day. I LOVE to sleep and I LOVE my bed.

I'm not feeling that love anymore and that upsets me more than anything.