An Aging Household

I've known one simple truth for some time now.  But it wasn't until today that it really hit home for me.  The Edmunds household is aging.  We are not by any means old, but we are not as young as we use to be.

Take our house for one.  It was built in 1929.  If my math is correct, our home is 82 years old.  In fact, it was built before indoor plumbing!   We have put enormous time, energy and money remodeling it.  However, there are a lot of "little" things that never got finished.  It's also time to make what has become old new again.    This fall Rick and I made some decisions about the house.  Because of his health concerns and our ages, we decided to make the house ready for the future. We are thinking ahead and making changes that will benefit us in our golden years.  We are putting in hardwood floors, new windows, a bathroom overall, paint, etc.  Twenty-five years ago we definitely had more energy to do the work.  This time around it is going much slower!  But I think it is the best work we've done to date.

Then there is Rick and me.  We are now 53 and soon to be 49.   Once again, I do not consider us old.  But every day our bodies let us know that we are no longer twenty something physically.  We both have our daily aches and pains.  We also have our daily regiment of medications.  We are so lucky because we both only take one pill a day!!!!  But, nevertheless, we do have to take them.  That was a hard one to swallow, no pun intended, when it happened.  The perception was that only old people take long term medication.  You know the images...pill boxes, early bird specials, walkers, etc!  But no matter what our bodies tell us, we still feel twenty something in our hearts.  I don't care what the calendar or the medicine cabinet says, attitude means every thing!  My attitude is to enjoy, laugh, learn and embrace my life.  It's the only one I have on this Earth, and I want to have no regrets.

So, what drove the point of age home today?  Two words...Sophie and Stormy.  They went to the vet today.  It was one of those defining moments.  They have crossed over to the older dog category. Let's start with Stormy.  She is a nine year old Schiperke mix, and she is the love of Rick's life.  Back in January she got sick and we discovered she a mass on her liver.  We tried a few things and I took her back for a check up.  Unfortunately, her liver panel levels are higher now than they were in January.  So, she is now on medication for life.  It will help her lead a quality life for however long she has left.  Then there is Sophie, the eight year old Terrier mix, who is the love of my life.  She too is now on  medication for life.  She has arthritis on her spine and has a lot of trouble getting around.  So,  Dr. Williamson put her on a medication to help control the pain and inflammation.  While both girls have slowed down a bit and move more gingerly, they are still young at heart too.  All I have to do is say "rabbit" and watch them go.  They may not run as fast or as far as they use to, but  they will give it a good old college try!

So as you can see, the Edmunds household is aging.  The proof is in the picture.  All you have to do is drive by and look in our window.  Every morning we line up and take our pills together. At night,  Rick and Stormy will be sleeping and snoring on one couch.  Sophie and I will be curled up on the other couch.  We will be spending quality time together and loving every moment of it.

None of us  knows what the future holds, so we must make every day count.

Denise

Oops, I've Done It Again!

Oops, I've done it again.  I've managed to make a complete ass of myself at yet another school assembly! (See my profile picture if you don't believe me!)  I can't even begin to count the number of times I have made a fool of myself in front of the student body.  I just know that I'm destined to laugh at myself at every turn.

My earliest memory of school assembly humiliation was in my junior year of high school.  (I'm sure there is a plethora of earlier experiences, but this is the one I remember.)  Lori McQuillen and I were the popper scoopers for the donkey basketball game.  She and I wore these ridiculous clown costumes and walked around the gym floor scooping the poop in front of our peers and community! I just remember laughing my butt off and having a great time.  Now how many 17 year old high school girls do you know who would willingly set themselves up to be laughed at for years to come?!?!?  I guess my fate was sealed that night;  I would act the clown in numerous events in the future.

In my 25 years of teaching I have done a variety of embarrassing activities in the name of education.  Several years ago I kissed a pig for charity.   The premise was to vote for your favorite teacher.  I voted ($20) for Mrs. Berginnis to kiss the pig.  She won and planted a big one of that pig!  Then the tables were turned and I got called down because I had donated the most money!  I kiss Sophie and Stormy every night, so I was a pro at kissing animals!  For breast cancer awareness I was pied in the face.  Once again people could pay for chances to smash food in my face.  My little buddy Seth won.  Being 6 years old, he didn't quite understand the concept and wouldn't let go of the pie plate.  I sucked some whipped cream for a while!!  Of course his 4 year old brother cried because he didn't get to do it.  So being a good "Aunt", I let him have his turn!  I think I smelled like Cool Whip for a couple of days.  I have been subjected to many dancing competitions throughout the years.  I can't dance.  I have no rhythm.  Nothing like a middle aged, chubby girl trying to do dance to a hip hop song!  Then, of course, there was the "Pimp My Teacher" assembly!  It was a take off of the MTV program, "Pimp My Ride."  I was transformed into a biker babe! The kids spiked my hair and dressed me in leather chaps.  I was quite the sight!  I got to play air guitar to George Thurgood's, "Bad to the Bone" while walking down the aisle of the auditorium.  Of course I played it up and was a real "badass".  I was rocking those chaps.  Luckily it was in my skinner days!

So, what did I do today to top the biker babe persona?  My good friend, Beth Adkins, and I were selected to be cheerleaders for the senior class  in the Operation Feed Dodgeball Tournament.  Well, let's be honest here.  I was asked to do it and I conned  Beth into doing it with me.  Big mistake on her part!!  I decided we need to have a play on words so we dressed as bodacious senior citizens.  Once again, refer to my profile picture.  We wore pink nightgowns and wore curlers in our hair.   We topped of our outfit with  trouser socks and pink slippers!  We also made quite the entrance!  We arrived with Beth pushing me in a wheel chair!  As if being naturally loud isn't enough, I intensified the event with props.  We had air horns, silly string, hula hoops and candy.  We were the center of attention at all times.  We even led the group in a rousing round of the human wave!

After each assembly I always say never again.  But I know that I'm lying!  I will always put myself out there when the kids ask me to.  I believe it is important to teach them the importance of laughter and being able to make fun of one's self.  I know that a sense of humor has gotten me through some of the darkest moments of my life.   Let's face it, we all feel better after laughing our asses off!   Nothing like a good snorting laugh to lift your spirits.

Thanks to Beth for playing along!  She had no idea what she was in for until she came to my room at 1:30 today.  Too late to back out then!  You're a rock star.  Thanks

Until the next embarrassing moment....

Make Every Day Count
Denise

Really, Dude?

It never fails.  Whenever Rick and I go out in public, we always ended up sitting beside the obnoxious drunk guy or the out-of-control children.  We seem to be some kind of magnet for disruption.  Well, Thursday night the Blue Jackets vs. Red Wings hockey game was no different.  I was the lucky one who had the obnoxious drunk guy sitting in front of me.

We went with our friends Keith and Toni.  They are season ticket holders and they often ask us to go along.  Now we are Blue Jacket fans expect when they play the Red Wings. Then all bets are off.   As we got settled in our seats, Toni says "oh-no, he's here." In all of the years we have been attending the games, this guy has never been there when we were.  However, Toni has told me about him many times.  This guy is so bad that all of the ticket holders around him have complained to the their sales representatives.  In fact this guy has been warned that he may lose his license if he doesn't tone it down!

He starts at the drop of the puck.  He berates the fans from the other teams.  Screaming and hollering about how disrespectful it is to wear opposing jerseys in the "his" house.  They should all go back to where they came from.  Really, dude?  Take a look around you.  The arena is only half full, and half of the people are Red Wings fans. Do you think it is a good idea to piss off the Red Wings fans who are spending a lot of money in "your"arena?    Let's face it, if the Wings fans weren't there, "you" wouldn't make enough money to pay the electric bill.  Besides the money factor, there is another bone of contention.  You see loud, drunk, obnoxious guy is a closeted Bruins fan.  Apparently the week before he was spotted sitting on the other side of the arena in his Bruin's apparel.  Really, dude?  I think that's like the pot calling the kettle black!   When it was brought up to him, he claimed it was different.  He wore a sweater and not a jersey.  Whatever!!!  I wish I had worn my Red Wings jersey that night.  The minute he would have said something to me it would have been on!

Towards the end of the evening, people started to leave before the game was over.  This infuriated him and he stood up and started screaming at everyone.  He told everyone to sit down and cheer the team on.  He reminded everyone and LOUDLY and I quote, "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor did we give up?"  I swear to you that's what he said.  Everyone just looked at him stunned!    Of course, yours truly had to say something!  I'm like "Hey Dude, it was the Japanese and you should really be quiet now"  Everyone around just started laughing.  He was totally clueless and had no idea what I was talking about.  His friend just sat there and shook his head.  I wanted to yell at him and say he's your friend do something!

As the evening wore down, there was a little chit chat on the ice. Apparently, the players weren't being aggressive enough, so obnoxious drunk guy yelled somebody hit somebody.  So yours truly made a fist and pretended to hit him.  He had no idea, but everyone else laughed their butts off.  He turned around and was trying to figure out what was going one which only made everyone laugh even more.

I want to tell you that my new technology obsession  probably kept me from getting into it with obnoxious, drunk guy.   Normally, I would have voiced my irritation with the guy.  I don't have much patience with people like the obnoxious drunk guy, and I usually tell them off.  Trust me I have gotten into a few verbal confrontations with parents at Little League games!   Instead, I spent the night posting about him on Facebook!  After all, I thought it was important for all of my friends to know that our history teachers have been lying to us for years about Pearl Harbor!

The night ended with him leaving a minute early! Red Wings fans had thrown a few octopi onto the ice.  It made him mad!   I guess he just  didn't have the fortitude that the Americans had in 1941.  He was defeated by an octopus.

So, let this be a lesson to all of the obnoxious, drunk guys out there.  If I witness your stupidity, you can guarantee I will be your Taylor Swift.  Instead of writing a song about you, I will dedicate an entire   blog about you.   I will let the entire Internet know what an ass your are.  I will get the last word!

Make Every Day Count...
Denise

Update:  I was told the drunk obnoxious guy was quoting  John Belushi from Animal House when he made the comment about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.  That just proves I'm right about drunk obnoxious guy!  He's an idiot!

Defining Education

Politics are not my thing, but  I do try to stay abreast of what is going on in the world.  I mean I have President Obama as a Facebook friend!  He sends me posts several times a day regarding numerous legislation items and initiatives on Capitol Hill.  I must say I only glance at the items and read only  the ones that are of interest to me.

Of course, being an educator, I pay attention to educational legislation.  I just received a post the other day about fixing the No Child Left Behind Bill.  This is a blog in itself, but we won't go there today.  He wants every child in America to know that as she returns to school in the fall that education will be America's top priority.  As a teacher, I'm  ecstatic to hear this, but perplexed at the same time. In my opinion, Senate Bill 5 doesn't seem to make America's educational system a top priority.  I guess my question is this...Who's not listening?  Is the president oblivious to what the state governments are trying to do?  Or are the state governments ignoring the president desire to create a better education system? 

I am not taking any sides here, and don't email me about any specific politician or political party.  I'm not going to engage in a Democrat vs. Republican debate.  In my opinion, about 90% of all of them are power hungry, personal agenda ego maniacs.   I'm just pointing out what I think is the obvious.   No one in politics can claim to put education first when they are contradicting each other. Increasing government spending on education won't do much good when there are few quality teachers left to teach our children.  When forced to choose between providing  for families and teaching America's youth, the choice is clear. Veteran teachers with families must put family first.   I don't profess to know the answers, but I do know every one needs to be on the same page.  We can't have various government branches fighting against one another; it needs to be a joint effort.   What we have now is a recipe for disaster.  The need to dissolve the party lines and start working together to make a better society for all.

And to the politicians out there who are determining the futures of the educational system, teachers and students, I want you to remember something very important.  As you cast your votes, I want you to think about all of the educators who helped you get to where you are today. The math teacher who taught you how to balance a budget whether you choose to do so or not.  The social studies teacher who taught you about history in the hope that you don't repeat the mistakes of our past.  The language arts teacher who taught you how to eloquently write Senate Bill 5 so that you can force her out of a job. With the exception of family, education dictates everyone's future.  You have enormous power in your hands.  I can only pray that you will use for the betterment of our children.

To the 10% of the politicians who are in politics to do the right thing, I applaud you.  I also warn you that the ugliness of politics will try to suck you in at every turn.   If there is one thing the other 90% hate, it is when others do the right thing.  It makes them look bad.

Make Every Day Count...
Denise

Blessings #1

God gives us blessings every day.  Some we notice while others occur without  recognition.  Some blessings are loud and in your face. Others are quiet and reserved.  Everyday it is our responsibility to take time and reflect on the day.  Acknowledge the obvious and search for the hidden.  For me, it seems that it is the less obvious blessings that are the most meaningful ones.

Three years ago Rick turned 50.  We celebrated with an "over the hill" party at a local restaurant/bar.  He was amazed by the number of people who showed up to honor his birthday. A side note:  The restaurant closed the weekend after Rick's party!?!?!?  Was it us??!?!?!  Anyways, it was a really good time.  That night as we rehashed the night's event, we counted our blessings.  One, so many people came out to celebrate Rick's milestone birthday.  Two, we have awesome families.  Three, we have wonderful friends. 

A few months after the party, things began to fall apart for Rick.  Being a responsible adult, Rick decided to get a physical and start taking a more active role in the health.  It was that fall that we found out that Rick had prostate cancer.  After much discussion with Dr. Stallworth, a course of treatment was established.  Rick had six weeks of radiation and then had the radiation seeds implanted in his prostate.  We were blessed with a wonderful doctor and health care workers.  A special shout out to the Riverside radiation center.  They are the best people ever!  We were blessed to have good insurance.  When you compare a couple of $1000 to a couple of $100,000, you realize there is no comparison.  We were blessed with generous people who rode with Rick to radiation everyday.

The biggest blessing was the prostate cancer.  You see, during a routine pre-op x-ray, a spot was found on Rick's lung.  Because he was in treatment, the doctors couldn't do anything about it.  Long story short, last March Rick had thoracic surgery at Mount Carmel East.  Dr.  Tishko  removed the spot and biopsied it in the operating room.  The results were cancer.  He had a portion of his lung removed.  The blessings were numerous.  One, Dr.  Tishko found it early and, therefore, Rick did not need chemo!  Two, we were blessed with a wonderful doctor and superb health care workers.  Three, we had health insurance, thousands instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Four,  we have wonderful co-workers and administrators who supported us in so many different ways.  Five, we have family and friends  who brought meals, said prayers, babysat Rick, sent cards, made phone calls, etc.

Yesterday Rick went to see Dr. Tishko for his one year check up.  He was given a clean bill of health for another 3 months.  He goes to see Dr. Stallworth in two weeks.  I'm positive the news will be just a promising.    As we drove home from Columbus yesterday, we talked about all of our blessings.  Sometimes it is hard to see them when you are in the throes of adversity.  That is when you have to dig deeper to notice what is right in front of you.

Never in my life did I think I would be thanking cancer for so many blessings in my life.  Who knows what would have happened if Rick's lung cancer would have gone undiagnosed.  So I count my blessings everytime Rick criticizes my driving or leaves all of his junk laying around the house, or snores so loud I can't sleep, or  channel surfs for hours, or naps 4 different times on Saturday.  Well, let's be honest, I'm  not counting them as blessings in the moment.  But when I'm feeling overwhelmed or down or sorry for myself, I take the time to realize what I have in my life.  It always makes me feel better.   I'm a lucky girl.

Make Every Day Count
Denise

Like Owner, Like Dog

I have two wonderful dogs who are the loves of my life.  Stormy is our  9 year old Schipperke mix.  We got her 10 days after we lost our beloved Freeway.  We just couldn't stand the quiet in our house, so Rick ran off to the pound to find a new puppy to fill the silence. There is a story behind this one, but it will have to wait until another time.   Thirteen months later we got Sophie, our long-haired, Terrier mix.  We got her because Stormy bonded with Rick and, therefore, found me to be a nuisance that came between her and her Daddy.  I wanted a dog who would worship the ground I walked on. Be careful of what you wish for!!!

I took Sophie to the vet last week.  It was time for her annual shots and physical.  Also, she was having some problems with her hind legs.  Rick and I noticed that she was limping and walking with some discomfort.  We kept telling her she was getting old and decrepit.   After emptying our savings account with a quick bank drive by, it was off to see Dr. Jessica at Pet Plex in Buckeye Lake, Ohio. What it costs to go to the vet could feed a family of four in India for a year!   (BTW, for those of you who live in Licking County and you have four legged children, I highly recommend Dr. Williamson and Pet Plex.  It is a state of the art facility with the most wonderful people ever! My girls don't even mind going to the vet anymore.  Even the in residence cat is pretty awesome!)

While sitting in the examination room, I notice a 'How old is your dog in human years?' poster on the door.  I got up to read it.  Sophie is 8 years old and in human years she is 48 years old.  What?  My dog and I are the same age.  We looked at each and all of sudden we had a new understanding  of one another.  I became more sympathetic to her daily aches and pains.  I have my own daily issues.  Every morning I have to work to get my hips to move and at least once a week I have to ice my right shoulder. Ibpruben is my friend! And now it's Sophie's too.

Dr. Jessica diagnosed Sophie with arthritis in her lower spine.  She now has to take medication twice a day for the rest of her life to combat the pain.  The vet also sat me down and discussed ways to help improve Sophie's health.  The biggest concern is her weight.  She needs to lose 10 pounds!  Again Sophie and I exchanged looks.  Yep she's just like her owner, she's overweight!  I would say our weight issues are proportional to our sizes.  I need to lose 30 and she needs to lose 10.  It was a long trip home.  There was no stopping at Pet Smart for the usual pig ears.  Instead, we went to Wal-Mart for a bag of  Iams weight control food and a box of the low fat doggie treats.  I had to explain to her that this is how it is for Mommy after leaving a Weight Watchers meeting.  While I was at it, I also bought a few low calorie treats for myself.  I guess she and I will have to lose weight together.  

Once we got home, we had to go on the Sophie begging tour.  You see, one of our neighbors is wrapped around Sophie's paw. All Sophie has to do is go to Debb's fence and bark and Debb throws her food.  Much to Sophie's dismay, Debb is now limited to one treat a day.  Debb calls me everyday and tells me how mean I am.  Apparently Sophie is putting the guilt trip on her by barking and whining at the door! I reminded Debb that it takes a community to raise a dog.  Sophie needs her to be strong!

That night as I got ready for bed, I noticed my eyebrows needed plucked.  Upon further examination I noticed my mustache needed some work too.  Just as I finished something caught my eye....I saw a hair on my chin!!!  What? This can't be happening!  I looked at Sophie and I'm pretty sure I heard her say,"Like dog, like owner" as she sauntered into the bedroom.   I've become my dog!

Sophie gets groomed on March 30.  I get waxed on the April 1!

Make Every Day Count...
Denise

PS:  For all of you dog lovers out there, you must read the book "A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron.    You'll never look at your best friend the same way again!