Feelin' the love...

Life is still cruising along this week and its almost Friday!....I better be quiet, I don't want to jinx it.

School is still going well. Ellie won the "my dog is best" essay contest in her class. Of course since it was about our Aggie (the one with nine lives) she really couldn't lose. Madison has officially put in her sample for the "drug free is the key" poster contest....hopes are high. She has discovered that she actually does like the cafeteria food after all. She tried chicken adobo with red rice (local dish) this week and didn't find it too bad. Tomorrow is ham and cheese pizza day- now she and Ellie have both tried this one, neither coming out with a positive opinion but it couldn't be too heinous as they are going in for a second time of it....I'll let you know the final vote. I don't mind making their lunches, but there is something magical about the mornings when I don't have to....its a small thing, but one less thing is a good thing in my books.

My first year nursing students are starting to present their culture projects tomorrow....I think it will be interesting. They each had to pick a culture, outline it according to various headings and also come in with one "wow" factor about their culture- something that will make the class oooh and aaah. Of course two different students chose Canadian- I offered 5% extra if they research and sing the Canadian national anthem. My one student said "Miss, its not worth it for that- offer me 10%". I think she has a future in negotiations.

My second year nursing students had clinicals this past Wednesday. They were to make up a diagnosis for an elderly client, create a nursing care plan and then act it out with a partner who would play the part of the nurse. It all went well, everyone acted their role. I am not sure how it started, but next thing I knew all of their individual role playing converged into one big hospital soap opera- there was paternity testing, long lost aunts dating ex-boyfriends, car accidents resulting in paraplegia...security was called in quite often. They loved taking it the extra mile. There is talk of play writing and continuing the drama on all of their clinical days- can't wait to see where that goes.

Sorry about yesterday to everyone who looks here daily for a posting- our internet was down. I would like to think it was an isolated incident, but since this isn't the first time its been spontaneously down, I am doubting it will be the last.

Things are finally settling down.

Aggie as you know is home. She is pretty much as she was ...happy to see you when you arrive and just as happy to find a place to go lie down. Aggie is old but happy.

Madison is Mrs Money-bags right now...has her birthday money to spend and was daily changing what it was to be spent on. The last three days have consistently been stated and re-stated to be spent on Bitty Twins from American Girl. She is in the process of trying to earn the last dollars needed for the big purchase. Should be any day now.....especially with me paying her to massage my feet...not sure if that falls under emotional abuse or child labor laws?

Ellie is also focused on earning money. She however has very little money, but is trying to earn enough to buy a video game she has been wanting. Her money making scheme involves a Pedi-egg and any callouses she can find on our feet. Dad is a favorite client of hers.

Kevin is coming off a rough weekend. Starting with Texas A&M loosing. That always sets him off. Then Aggie's near death experience. Ending the weekend with his Xbox 360 and computer dying spontaneously. Though I will say he lost sympathy from me and the girls when he came in the room and sat on the bed with us (we girls often have "reading parties" on my bed) and said "everything I have is broken or sick". The girls and I looked at each other like "what are we, chopped liver?" Aggie coming home cheered him up considerably-but to date the Xbox and computer remain dead.....and as far as A&M football goes-ya never can tell what they are going to do next.

Work is still trudging along for me. Mostly good, but definitely moments of "why am I doing this again?" Micki helped a lot by calling me- she told me her first year of teaching was really hard, and she was sure she wasn't cut out for it....but now can't imagine not being a teacher. I hang on to those words daily! Its good but challenging at times. Thanks to everyone for all the positive words- Barb and Julie have been borderline cheerleaders for me! Thanks.

Lets hope everything keeps on this settling trend....looking for no surprises in the coming weeks- what are the odds...

Today...

Aggie is home with us! She is very tired but other than that pretty much the same. Can't tell you how nice it is to have her home. Its the little things in life...

Nothing else new- I am actually short on time tonight as I have school work to finish up- this full time working thing is for the birds! Actually am loving the job-its just getting used to keeping up with the girls, housework, and work-work thats the challenge.

...hope to have a more exciting blog tomorrow!

Aggie Update

Aggie will be staying overnight again at the veterinarians. She is much better. Still has her IV in. They did blood tests and found that some levels are still off so they want to keep her another night in order that they can keep giving more fluids.

We all went to visit her today at this happy looking clinic. Kevin and the girls went in the back to see Aggie and were able to walk her around out of the cage. I chose to stay in the lobby and not see her....I knew I wouldn't handle well seeing Aggie and her look that says "please take me home" so I opted out.

We are hoping to be able to bring her home tomorrow...keep your fingers crossed!

Missing Aggie

Aggie gave us a scare today with a bit of a collapse and not being able to breath. Got her to the vet office. She was suffering from heatstroke, but after giving her medicine to try to keep her from going into shock, and some IV fluids she is doing much better. We will visit her again tomorrow and hope she is still well. All happy thoughts and prayers for Aggie tonight- the house isn't the same without her.

Updates on everyone...

Ellie is doing very well in school. She is working hard (as usual) in everything she does. 100% this week on her spelling test! There were some "friend" problems at school for her originally. Apparently a friend of a friend didn't like Ellie (this is beyond unusual, I have never heard of anyone not liking Ellie. Not bragging, just saying she is sweet to everyone- if I were her age I would want her to be my friend). The stated reason was that this girl didn't like Ellie's hair...? All this seems kinda small on the importance scale, but Ellie took it quite seriously- this was a first for her, and she made it her mission that this girl should like her. Well this week her perseverance paid off...Ellie has announced that they are now indeed friends and have made up a club to seal the deal....its all so exciting.

On to Maddie...doing well in school (as always!) She finished the 7th Harry Potter earlier in the week. She handled the finishing of this book better than I thought she would. Often when she is reading a series she loves, when it comes to reading the last of it there are tears. Well, I won't say there wasn't sadness when she finished The Deathly Hollows, but she handled it well with a new found maturity..... definitely has turned a corner there! I think as a comfort thing she is revisiting two of her favorite series....she has just finished re-reading the Percy Jackson books (yet again) and is finishing up the last of the Fablehavens for the second (maybe third?) time. Reading remains one of the biggest "happy-place" in Madison's life.

Speaking of happy-places ....meet my newest joy- my Cannon Rebel T1i. A really, really nice camera. Barb.... I think you need to consider keeping up with the Jones' on this one! I am loving it....I still find it intimidating and I am treating it somewhat like a frail newborn. For example, if I ever go to take it out of the house I seal it in plastic and put it in the garage for 20 minutes to acclimate it to the exterior temperature. It may be extreme but I will take no chances with my new baby! I am slowly trying to rely on it more and more for all my picture taking. I have to remember it is just a camera....and that it is ok to love your camera, you just shouldn't LOVE your camera.

And Kevin...this past week at work as far as I can tell has been doing a lot of weather watching. Part of his job is making sure the base is in whatever state of readiness it needs to be according to the oncoming weather. Right now we have moved into COR 2, which means we are to be ready for the winds- we will most likely be in COR 1 in the morning. All stores and such will be closed and typhoon shutters on. The soon to be super-typhoon is to hit north of us but we will still get tropical storm winds from it. We lucked out this time. Keep in mind though, if you don't hear from us in the next days our power may be down. Here is a link to tracking the typhoon if you are curious:

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Kevin and I are both trying to get outfits together for the Navy Ball in October. We have been able to avoid it for the past 13 years, but with this job its considered "mandatory fun" for him. My friends Sue and Sara would get a kick out of the two of us attempting our first ball....put it to you this way there are dress fittings and a cummerbund involved!

Good times, good times....

Blue skies ahead?

Its looking better for us...not so good for the islands north of us.....but our island typhoon-wise is looking good!

I added in today a cut-and-paste of a local online newspaper just to give you some extra reading:

"A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Guam, while a Typhoon Watch is in effect for our neighbors to the north in Rota, Tinian and Saipan. Tropical Storm Melor has now become now Typhoon Melor.

With winds climbing to about 75 miles per hour, Tropical Storm Melor was upgraded to a typhoon this morning and it continues to make its way towards the Marianas. Just before sundown, the National Weather Service put the disturbance about 500 miles away, at just about the same latitude as Guam, meaning that if it continues its west-northwestern movement it'll miss our island and head north of Saipan within the next 48 to 72 hours.

Meteorologist Paul Lee explained, saying, "As time goes on and the system takes a more polar track it makes it harder and harder for it to make a southwest turn. We don't usually see southwest movement in these systems once they gain momentum." But Lee warns that we aren't out of the woods yet. The NWS continues to keep a close eye on Melor.

The system is expected to intensify, and may even become a supertyphoon as it comes closer to our region.

Island residents aren't taking any chances, and retailers like Home Depot have seen a surge of customers prepping their homes in case of a storm. General manager Jabarr Bean told KUAM News, "The last few days have been really busy for us a lot of customers coming into the store looking for generators, gas cans, batteries, flashlights, all the essentials that you need in this kind of environment."

The Office of Civil Defense and Homeland Security urges residents to develop disaster plans and stay prepared. While we were spared damaging winds from yesterday's Tropical Storm 18W, Mother Nature's unpredictability won't always be in our favor."

-KUAM Online News