Half of our family already left and Max was on a sugar high when I hear crying. Harris, my nephew, is screaming telling us Max got hurt. Max crying. Dan picks him up and now Dan's head is dripping with blood. Confused where it came from we find the source on Max's head and head straight to urgent care. Max was our very brave big boy and ended up with only what I can assume as his first couple of stitches in his lifetime. Right after the doctor was done all Max asked was, can I go finish my lego house now that was started when we waited. I am so grateful it was not anything worse and we were able to about to help him right away. Dan definitely was the knight in shinning armor in this stessful situation. - Hayley
Today was Bella's first birthday party, which I was very nervous about planning with all the stress of moving. Everything went smoothly after much unneeded stress - her outfit fit, my sister made an awesome princess cake, enough food for all and kids had fun. All seemed to have gone off without a hitch other than Dan's dad and grandfather missing it due to the flu.
Half of our family already left and Max was on a sugar high when I hear crying. Harris, my nephew, is screaming telling us Max got hurt. Max crying. Dan picks him up and now Dan's head is dripping with blood. Confused where it came from we find the source on Max's head and head straight to urgent care. Max was our very brave big boy and ended up with only what I can assume as his first couple of stitches in his lifetime. Right after the doctor was done all Max asked was, can I go finish my lego house now that was started when we waited. I am so grateful it was not anything worse and we were able to about to help him right away. Dan definitely was the knight in shinning armor in this stessful situation. - Hayley
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Last week my little brother was waiting to hear where he would match for his final leg of his PhD in clinical psych. It has been an intense last month for him filled with interviews and a lot of waiting. Match day is a HUGE day for anybody waiting to see if they have been placed for an internship or residency in the medical field. It's a strange process based on an algorithm and there is a great chance you might not get matched with a hospital and would have to wait a full year to re apply. Leading up to last Friday morning, I couldn't sleep!! I knew how hard my brother had worked to get where he is today. How could he not match I thought? This is my incredibly smart sibling who has accolades a mile long - Graduated with 4 degrees in 4 years, over a 4.0 GPA, first in his class, published - and the list goes on and on and on.... We chatted Thursday night and made a game plan that if he matched he would call me, if he didn't match he would text message me. Friday morning, I knew he would be receiving an email between 8am and 10am with the results. At 8:27am I was fumbling around with a million items in my freezer that would pour out each time I open the door, when I heard my phone ringing in my pocket. I let the contents of the freezer spill on to the floor as I reached for my phone. Tyson faced popped up on my screen. I said, "give me the good news???" And it was as simple as this response, "we are going to Chicago." I screamed and jumped! He had been accepted to med school in Chicago! Last night, I watched an interview with Mark Cuban: self-made BILLIONAIRE & owner of the Dallas Mavericks. I looked at him differently than I look at other people for obvious reasons of wonderment… what does one do with a billion dollars, besides buy a sports team? I wondered what it must be like to have that much money… to not have certain financial stresses or to not have to live someplace that isn't top on your list simply because you have a job there. Would I consider him lucky? Yes, definitely… but I wouldn't reduce his accomplishments to a stroke of luck. He worked hard, he invested, he created, he came out on top. Luck plays a part, but unless you won the lottery, it's a majority of other things.
My post is not about Mark Cuban; it's about, as my mom put it the other day, "moving up in the world." I will never be a billionaire teacher- they don't exist. But, I was called in to a meeting the other day at my work, and there, sitting among a few of my colleagues, was asked to think about taking over the English department next year. I was asked if I would like to teach literature courses to middle school kids & oversee then entire English component of our school (don't cringe. Middle school here is like college everywhere else, and the ratio would be around 6:1). Really? Me? I've only worked there for just shy of 7 months. Of course I didn't say any of this, but it flooded my brain. I am entirely confident in my ability to command a class, offer rigorous curricula, and make kids laugh. I can write a stellar lesson plan and carry it out as expected. I can dodge bullets…the kind kids launch at you from their figurative slingshots. But can I manage a staff? I am honored to be considered for this position and of course I accepted it. While I can certainly boss people around, I've never been anyone's legitimate boss before. Not in a work context. Most people at work don't know of my new position yet, but one girl who does (the other girl at the meeting who was there when I was asked) came up to me and expressed her nervous feelings after having been offered the position for next year that I currently have this year. She concluded, however, by saying: "I just tell myself: it will be okay. Christina will be my boss!" Hmmm. I am excited for the challenge, because it certainly will be just that: I will be the one fielding 50 parents emails a day, the one speaking at staff meetings, the one deciding as a part of a team if we should admit or refuse a particular student, the one traveling to conferences on the West Coast. I will have to learn to be many people's boss. I truly hope that I am successful in this next endeavor, and that I can adequately meet the expectations for the position. Moving up in the world, for most people, isn't 9 zeros in the bank. That's unrealistic. It's situations like this, where someone has the faith in you to try new things, and you taking the initiative to see that they happen. ~ Christina I just started packing and I am already tired. When Dan and I moved into our townhouse, we came from a one bedroom apartment. At that point in our lives we barely had any "stuff" other than clothes and some furniture. Now when I look around our house, I am in awe of how much "stuff" we accumulated over the last 6 years.
I have 4 weeks to pack everything up in countless number of boxes. All I can say is THANK YOU to my mother who calmed my fears on where to start and helped me pack our dining room. One room down, tons more to go... Hayley Any time that I have to spend on the phone with a customer service person is usually a waste of time. It's either about a bill, a bank problem, a computer problem, etc.
The past week I have spent HOURS at a time on the phone with customer service agents. Numerous calls for my business email account, another for my car payment and another one for my cloud service. I dread calling customer service numbers - you can almost always guarantee, a wasted hour filled with lousy wait time music. And then, if you get cut off, you start the whole process over. Ugh, I am getting angry thinking about all of the time I wasted last week on the phone. But, have you ever wondered who the person is on the other end? Sometimes, I admit, I forget they are people too. They probably deal with angry people all day who would rather be doing something more productive. I have listened to my dad a few times when he has spoken with service agents on the phone. He always asks where they are located, how the weather is and when they ask if he needs anything else, he always says "the winning lottery numbers would be great!" I have picked up on these simple questions and asked each of the three people that I spent over 2 hours each on the phone this past week. All three people were stellar at their job, I was pleasantly surprised that I was lucky enough to get three great customer service reps. Asking these simple questions, and getting the answers always remind me that the voice on the other end is just a person doing his job. It also reminds me to calm my voice when I am getting irritated, take a depth breath when I feel like screaming and that in the end there are worse things I could be doing. -Heidi 2.22.14 "I believe cats to be spirits come to Earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through. " Jules Verne
On February 19, 2014, my beautiful ragdoll cat, Bennett, turned 2. Somewhere, over the last two years, I've gone from never owning a cat to, according to my friends, the "cat lady." Do I own a ridiculous about of felines? No way. Do I flood your Facebook, instagram, and even text message feeds with pictures of cats? Sure. And in return, whenever a friend of mine reads a funny article about what "cats may be thinking" or finds a picture of cappuccino foam in the shape of an adorable cat, it's shared with me. I am happy to be the recipient; it makes me smile. This post is dedicated to my beautiful cat, because he has brought nothing but joy to my life since I got him. I don't have kids yet, but he is my child. If I had kids, he would still be my child. I am not sure what you gather from the pictures, but here are some fun facts about Bennett:
Happy 2nd Birthday, Bennett. Thank you for these two years. I love you, from the deepest recesses of my soul. My father always warns us about the dreaded Black Ice. When I was in middle school he slipped, hit his head and was very badly hurt. Thankfully he recovered but since then it is a family saga that no one is allowed to leave the house with the slightest bit of bad weather in the forecast. As soon as the predictions come out, my dad calls around making sure we all plan accordingly.
Today as the weather report called for warmer weather I left the house early and what do I find... Black Ice. I slipped, caught myself and completed my walk to my car. First thing I did, texted Dan who was just feet away from me in the house with my very own warning of Black Ice. After slipping a few more times that morning into and out of the dentist but catching myself, I drove home thinking how grateful I am that I didn't hurt myself but I finally realized after years of warnings how scary it must be for my father to have that feeling of losing your balance to the ice. As I returned home, I stepped out of my car holding a cup of coffee and slipped on the very ice that I sent warning signals about that morning. My coffee was saved, my knee, well, that's a different story. After I picked myself up and the thought of my dad's fall so many years ago kept flashing in my head. I was too young then to understand but grateful that he recovered and I will give him a break the next time there is an ice warning. - Hayley As an adult receiving mail usually falls under the following for me: bills or photo orders, mixed with the occasional amazon prime box.
Except, a recent mail delivery was a bit different - I received a big box with a return label of "from Ryan." I ripped open the box to find my girl scout cookie order...All, ten boxes...YUM!!! An image of me running on the treadmill quickly took over that yummy thought and then quickly disappeared. Funny how that works. I was greeted by a fabulous handmade card and rainbow loom "Samoa" keychain from Ryan. Thankful for my niece Ryan and for girl scout cookies! -Heidi 2.18.14 This past weekend, I spent a lovely 4 days in one of my favorite towns: Asheville, NC. Every time I go; there are new restaurants to try, new art in the Woolworth Gallery walk, and new books propped up in Malaprops bookstore.
See these steps? They lead to a private hot tub for 4. See that snow? It's left over from a wicked storm that hammered the south. See that water? It's the French Broad River, which flows 213 miles from near the village of Rosman in Transylvania County, NC all the way into the state of Tennessee. Any of you who follow me on social media, know I was there. This time around, I got to experience Hot Springs, which is just 40 miles north of downtown Asheville. As the name suggests, it's the home of hot springs, whose waters are channeled into hot tubs with a view. Four of us armed with laughter, good drinks, and good food, were able to escape winter for an entire hour . There, in the steamy water, I forgot that Princeton was going to get another 3 inches of snow, and that Spring is still, seemingly, a lifetime away. I am so grateful for my sense of adventure, those who accompany me on my journey, and the means to experience new things. What a fantastic weekend it was. First vacation as a family of four. We have taken Max to Florida a few times and he now knows the lay of the land. Do not get me wrong he loves the pool, beach and aquarium and looks forward to these special places but I love the look on Bella's face when she sees and experiences things for the first time.
She was a newborn during the summer so we had a ton of firsts. Sunshine, pool, sand in her toes and fish at the aquarium. Her face absolutely lit up during each new adventure. Even her first trip to the gift shop when she picked out her very first doll - a mermaid - that she so proudly carried around through the rest of the tour. If we could all be open to new experiences not jaded by familiarity we all would be in a much happier place in this world. - Hayley |