just a one.

one of my students with autism, who checks in with me at the end of the day, came to my office in tears and said "mrs. menz, my day was just a one".  most days, if this were the case, i would ask him what happened and discuss with him how we could turn it around the next.  but to him, i just said "and that's ok.  because you know what...mine too".

...because it kind of was.  although, i didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed, i didn't spill my breakfast on myself, i didn't get bad news and i didn't feel sick.  it was just one of those days...that was just a one.

so after thinking all of that in my head and almost saying, "buddy, i could cry with ya"...he looked at me and said, with the most logical intent, "well then it's easy, we both need to come back tomorrow, turn it around [as he made a circular motion with his pointer finger] and make tomorrow a three."  and with all the resolve in the world, he walked out to the bus shouting in the loudest voice, "see ya later alligator".  to which i said, "after while crocodile".

cut to this evening and my day ending with a phone call from my sister...who must have known i needed to talk when she called me three times with no real reason.  and after our conversation, i felt a little bit like my lil buddy walking to the bus.  so i soaked in my giant tub and inhaled the scent of my eucalyptus candle and thought...

tomorrow is another day.  and all i have to do is turn it around [picture circular motion] and make it a three.  but some days, are just a one...and that's ok. 


"dwell in hope."

 

if school is going to be in session, it might as well be fall.  no need for hot summer days at the pool if you can't take advantage of them.  i got a glimpse of outside today around 11 am [i don't have a window in the cloffice] and i just thought, "i would be heading to the pool right now."  let's just bring out the fall decor and call summer what it is...officially over.  besides, i have a few fall tops i'm dying to wear!

in fertility news.  i've decided to take a leap of faith and start taking the vitex.  i will spare you my reasoning behind it, but that's the plan.  along with charting, i will add vitex to my long list of daily supplements.  that makes it: a duo set of prenatal multi-vitamins, extra folic acid, additional b6 and three vitex capsules per day.  i've also made the transition to no coffee [decaf or not]...i almost wanted to drink water out of my coffee mug during morning duty because i just felt strange without it.  i plan to try green tea.

we were extra out-doorsy this past weekend.  we got together with a group of friends and hit the katy trail for a bike ride.  we rode from defiance to augusta [about 8 miles each way].  great workout and beautiful weather.  only two pics turned out.

this was jake's bike.

on the trail.

then, jake's aunt planned a family canoe trip for the following sunday.  the weather was perfect and the water was awesome.  and i maybe lifted the ore three times.  jake made me a little lounge thingy so i could get my tan on.  needless to say, i didn't bring my camera or phone.  we all know my history with electronics.

kinda creepy.  kinda cute.  i walked past my mirror this weekend at just the right time of day and i saw this little "paw" print on it.  must have been from when my niece was here mid august.  it put a little smile on my face.  i haven't washed it off yet.

look close.  can you see?

mystery pet.  someone put this on my laptop today at work.  i'm not sure if it was a student or coworker.  but it's kinda of like a little pet.  and...it made me smile.

pet rock.

pillow fight.  we've decided to be a bit more trusting and let remy stay in our room while we're gone for increasing periods of time.  welp.  that's not happening anymore.  we came home from the cards game to this:

ya that's a pillow.  or was.  this too shall pass?

little stinker.  she likes to have me play fetch with her while i soak in the tub.  on this night...she kept balancing the ball on the edge of the tub and then nudging it into the water.  then, the little bugger stole my towel and moved it to where i couldn't reach!

until next time...

s m i l e.

such as:

...my amazing job

...my healthy family

...my quirky dog

...my awesome pals

...my caring family

...my precious neice

...my soon.to.be nephew

...my cozy home

...my dedicated mr.

 happy friday to all.

awkward and awesome [and sick] thursday.

not a whole lot of new around here.  just drained from fighting off my first cold of the school year [it came on quick  - not even a week after the first day].

[yawn]

|awkward|

experiencing a cough attack during a meeting and being so far from the door through which to excuse myself.  the speaker had to refrain from talking until i left.

the fever blister that continues to linger, from last week's a & a...remember the talking stain?  these things are a curse!

not being able to spit out "speech language pathologist" as i introduced myself to a parent...actually, that's more ironic than awkward.

having a drunk guy ask me what i do and then say, "i need therapy when i'm drunk"...if i had a dime for every time i heard that.

being flipped off by a 1st grader.  she barely has any expressive language, but she sure picks up signs well.

being asked three times to be fb friends with someone.  did they forget they asked or are they really this persistent?  or are they just trying to prove a point now?

the glare i gave to the lady at schnuck's who didn't have one nice thing to say to the pharmacist about being pregnant [if it isn't the back pain, it's the peeing and if it isn't that - it's the sweating... she went on and on].  i'd kill to be in your shoes, lady.  if you only knew.

the gag face i make when downing cough syrup...or gargling salt water.  i can't do it.

|awesome|

my three.year.old niece's length.  she sure didn't get it from our side.

my new ipod and its pedometer.  i walked over 4000 steps today.

my birthday spending money.  can you say shopping spree?

having a full hour of plan time first thing in the morning.

seeing a student sign more,please and ready for the first time [not the same student who used the inappropriate sign].

_____________________________________________

that's about it.  like i said, not much going on here.  cd...25, i think?  trying not to be too crazy and remember, jake was out of town during the time my doc "suspects" ov.  immaculate conception?  a girl can dream.

thinking of starting vitex but not sure its advised to take vitex while on prometrium.  need to call doc.  if that's the case...torn.  part of me wants to try the vitex [natural] route, which is known to regulate progesterone production.  but prometrium isn't synthetic.  but what if the vitex would work?  now, i'm rambling...but that's my current thought process.


 

birthday by numbers.

my friend from grad school, kaitlin, @ more like mary does blog posts by "numbers" at times.  here's one. 

so i thought i would be a copy cat and recap my birthday in this fashion.  i hope kaitlin doesn't mind.  :)

twenty seven.

one.  the number of ipods i got! 

read this if you want a little background about me and my electronics.  my last ipod sprouted legs at the gym and walked away.

the new nano.  tiny + pedometer + radio streaming.

two.  number of little gold studs i got from my mother.in.law.

[thanks, tara!]

three.  the number of wishes i made.

five.  the number of ruffles on the dress from my mom.

 

six.  the number of roses in my bouquet from my grandma maudine.

 

seven.  the number of compartments in my new purse.  

perfect color for fall.

nine.  the number of candles i licked icing from.  [i had 9 candles...two on top and seven on bottom = twenty seven].

fav part of birthday cake

 ten.  the number of cards i received from friends and family.  still love getting mail.

twelve.  the number of schnookies [schnuck's cookies] my friend marge got me.  yummers.

fourteen.  the number of items in my amazon cart to purchase with the gift card my aunt gigi got me.

thanks so much for all the birthday wishes.  i'm too lucky.  feelin the love.  i have a feeling 27 will be a good year...i just know it.

oh and one more thing...

i crack up  every time i see this commercial.  hillshire farm does it again...go meat.

 "we're pretty"

20/20

came across this here.  love it.  

if it didn't look weird, i'd have my whole house full of quotes. 

i desperately need a chalkboard wall so i can change it as i wish.  

i live by quotes.  they lift me up.  another fav is the one on the very bottom of this blog. 

 

awkward and awesome thursday.

leaping on the daybook bandwagon.  here's my version of sydney's awkward and awesome thursday.

|awkward|

these three quotes from kids at work today: 1.  "thank god you got me out of there" as i was picking up a kid from class. 2. "when i grow up i'm going to buy my friend beer" and 3. "i can make a grown man cry".

too much sun + stress + more stress = fever blister.  awkward.  it's like the talking stain...only on my face.

pretending not to be home when a strange young man knocked on my door [i think he was selling lawn services].  i literally crawled to avoid him.  i don't deal well with solicitors.

saying "hi" to a coworker who didn't say hi back.  i'm going to assume she doesn't like didn't hear me.

talking myself out of buying a dress at target.  aloud.

the only time i can pull the librarian's son out of class for speech...is during reading.  oops.

|awesome|

i could actually file this under awkward and awesome.  awkward that i used my school's fax machine to fax my waking temp chart to my doctor this morning.  awesome that she thinks i ovulated based on my temps.  i guess she cracked the code.  not awesome that it was while jake was out of town.  wah wah.

tomorrow is friday and that means jake comes back and we have a very light weekend.  hallelujah.  

sunday is my twenty-seventh birthday.

i finally got to walk my doggy tonight.

oh and one more thing...

almost forgot about some trash tv moments i wanted to blog about...

1.  teen mom amber's french tips on tuesday's episode?  really?  they couldn't be any longer.  i tried to find a pic, but i couldn't.  did you see?  so trashy.  yet i continue to watch.
2.  bachelor pad a]  did anyone else swoon over ames' exit?  i mean, how cute!
3.  bachelor pad b]  did anyone else love how chris harrison called out vienna?  come on vienna...you had to know the producers of that show would salivate over the drama that is you and jake pavelka.  stop crying about being on the show together and leave if you can't.  holly and michael make it work.
4.  bachelor pad c]  gia leaving...a little lot dramatic?
5.  housewives of new jersey's ashley [jaqueline's daughter]...does anyone else want to slap her across the face?

i will end there so i don't look like a total loser.  i'm just getting it all in while jake's out of town and i have full dvr and big screen at my disposal.
 
 

dips and peaks.

thought i had it figured out and was actually semi-excited to start charting and have a better understanding of everything below the belt.  thought it would be easy...wake up, take temp, chart, wait for ov, take prometrium, repeat [unless it worked!].  and this is what i've been looking at...

normal...normal...normal...peak!, then dip?

compare it to this "normal" chart. ...granted...what is normal?

mind you the major peak day was a day i slept in.  not the same time i typically take the temp [which does impact].  what does it all mean?  i'm faxing this to the doc tomorrow...did i ovulate?  do i start the prometrium?  but if i didn't ov yet, am i stopping it with the prometrium?  did it dip because i hadn't taken the prometrium yet?  i don't see a distinct coverline [charting jargon].  so many questions.  any other charters have oddities like this?  i have to keep reminding myself that i am learning a lot and this is beneficial!

so i will end with this, as i discuss dips and peaks.

my dip for today:  feeling discouraged as i look at this.
my peak:  getting a really nice and reinforcing compliment from my principal and making it through the first day of pulling my kids for services.  they're so cute!

what were your dips and peaks?

 

busy girl. no hubby. other randoms.

what a crazy couple of days.  fam left sunday and today :(  i hate to say goodbye.

emma is getting so so so big and i swear, she's the smartest.  really.  granted, i am surrounded by kiddos with delayed communication skills daily, but i really do think she's a genius.  maybe it's because she has her parents' undivided attention, maybe because my sister doesn't talk "baby" to her, maybe because she's been in school since she was a wee one.  she perfectly articulates words like burglar, delicious, refrigerator and magnificent.  she can even annunciate "r" appropriately.  she expresses analogies, she uses and understands abstract concepts....i'm rambling. 
...she said to my sister, "mama i'm going to miss aunt lyndsay" as they left today :(

what else...school.  school began today, although i didn't pull kids.  i spent seven hours making my schedule.  seven....actually probably more like 6.  after waiting on the schedules of the other sped team [we're low on the totem pole so we are at the mercy of everyone else].  i took 30 minutes for lunch, popped into see a few kiddos and finally finished right at 3.  oh my dear, is that stressful.  i will spare you the details.

other things...for anyone who has read taking charge of your fertility or anyone who is charting or at all in interested, my sister turned me onto this website...the beautiful cervix project.  very interesting and very educational..warning: graphic though [the site name says it all].

no hubby.  jake is in baltimore all week for a training.  all week until friday!!  this has never happened.  and while i'm creeped out by being home alone, and missed him coming home tonight at 6...i'm going to take advantage of being a single lady for the week.  [and how sweet is it that my s.i.l. and b.i.l. have invited me for dinner tuesday].  here are some things i plan to do [or not do] this week, that jake would never let fly:

• leave dirty dishes in the sink because i'm not quite ready to unload the clean dishes
• sleep in the middle of the bed [maybe with remy]
• not make the bed
• leave my makeup and straightener on the bathroom counter [alllll week]
• turn the ac up at night so i don't have to wear socks to bed!
• leave my clothes on the bed

okay so we'll see how many of those i actually do [since jake is rubbing off on me], but...

happy week to all.

 

2 seconds of down time.

between the two teacher work days [yesterday and today] and all my family coming in town, it has been a busy 24+ hours.  "meet the teacher" night was a success and it was so nice to see my students from last year as well as some new faces!

everyone is getting ready to head to the stl zoo today!  and then more family fun time back at my dad's. 

couldn't be happier to see my two aunts, an uncle, two cousins, grandma, my sister, brother.in.law and niece [who is perfect].  pics to come!

here's one.  my dad, a university of michigan alum, brought out "marching mark" last night.  that is his trumpet from middle school and a michigan marching band hat that his friend rescued from a thrift store in stl.  imagine the fight song playing loud in the background.  huh-larious!

poor picture quality but that's what you get on the BB

 

me, a to z.

casey at the wiegand's did this, so i'm copying because there is nothing else to note today.  other than that it is my last day at the pool (as part of summer break) and it actually looks like it's going to be a perfect day.  gonna bring my book out there and bronze for one last day.

A. age :: twenty.seven (in 11 days)

B. bed size :: king.

C. chore you hate :: putting laundry away

D. dogs :: remy

E. essential start to your day :: coffee!

F. favorite color :: green.

G. gold or silver :: gold.

H. height :: five.feet.two.inches

I. instruments you play :: clarinet (back in the day)

J. job title :: SLP.

K. kids :: please, oh please.

L. live :: o'fallon, mo.

M. maiden name :: fanger. (true)

N. nicknames :: lynz.

O. overnight hospital stays :: never.

P. proud moment :: graduating with my masters with a 4.0!

Q. quote :: "and when it rains on your parade, look up instead of down;  for without rain, there would be no rainbows."

R. righty or lefty :: right.

S. siblings :: one younger brother, one older sister.

T. time you wake up :: 8 in the summer...about to change.

U. university attended :: missouri state.

V. vegetables you dislike :: green/red peppers.

W. what makes you run late :: not knowing what to wear. (but i pride myself on being punctual)

X. x-rays you’ve had :: chest, when i had pneumonia.

Y. yummy food :: pizza, mexican food, sushi!

Z. zoo animal favorite :: zebras, monkeys

i will leave you with these two pictures.  the first is me reading in bed with jake's headlamp on.  and the second is my pedi color that i am obsessed with (got a beginning of the year pedi with my s.i.l. and her friend marissa yesterday).  it's opi, but i have no idea what the name is.

ha, ha.  ha.

hard to tell, but it's a little pinkish.

 

taking charge.

so since doc told me to chart i had been feeling a little like this...

but more than one person suggested that i read this...

 

and i was pretty overwhelmed because i saw this...

but then i started reading and my brain went like this...

and now i look like this...

because it's possible to understand this

and this...

is this...

and hopefully soon...i'll have this...

in all seriousness...this book is extremely helpful.  if i had only known this information prior to even trying for a bambino, life might have been a little rosier.  highly recommended.  i don't, however, recommend trying to explain "charting" to your husband unless you have a few hours and some busch beer.  bless his heart, he tried to listen.