Sunday Fun.

After church we drove to Tumon to pick up the girls' friend Leilani to bring her here for a play date. They had a great time. Leilani felt it was a really long ride to get to our house....she is from halfway up the island and really never comes down this far. Though she did say she went on a road trip with her family once that brought her down close to our end. Funny how the 30miles that makes up the length of this island can seem so long.

Kevin has pre-ordered the next up and coming super-star xbox to be released Nov/09. Yes, thats right, his present xbox is still dead. The only fun part of all this-since he is ordering a new one, he has decided to try and fix the old one....can't make it any worse right? Oh, and to complete the Kevin update- his computer is fixed as of Friday and Texas A&M lost as of today. His mood remains considerably high though since he will be able to watch football tomorrow morning on his day off (Sunday night football is Monday morning here....its all just so wrong).

Hope your holiday weekend continues to be great...

Countdown to Halloween!

Its all so exciting. The choosing of what to be, and then weeks of mom driving everywhere on the island to try and get together all the parts and pieces of the costume together....it actually hasn't been that bad. But I will tell you this, there is no such thing as one-stop shopping on Guam.

Columbus Day is the one holiday between us and Halloween. Although I will point out to any Americans who read my blog- Columbus Day is actually Thanksgiving in disguise. So a very Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian friends and family. I hope you are all enjoying your turkey and pie....and thinking of me eating chorizo, red rice with finideni- very much missing the turkey and pie...and of course very much missing all of you!

Kevin and the girls are off on Monday for Columbus Day (aka Thanksgiving). I unfortunately have to work....not to be a whiner, just sayin'. Apparently before I got the job there were two days of school missed for some reason so this holiday Monday is used as a make-up day....so off to teach I go. The thing that kills me is there is a "Lady of Carmin" and "All Souls Day" holidays coming up that are apparently nonnegotiable as make-up days. Its all good, I am sure it will even out in the end....but that won't stop me from thinking of my family home having the day off without me- on my Thanksgiving nonetheless!

So happy non-defined holiday weekend to everyone....that is except to me who has to work. Consider yourselves warned, I will be bragging big time when Lady of Carmin day comes around....

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.