So today, I ran that farthest I have ever run in all my life…5 miles. Well more like 5.25 miles, but close enough. Susan and I took meet this morning to go running along the river through the cold and fog. I was initially a little worried about going on such a long run after spraining my foot, but my foot didn’t give me any problems. I had some calf and quad pain from a run in with a soccer goalie on Thursday night, but nothing that some ibuprofen and stretching can’t fix. I ran a little slower than anticipated, but hopefully I will be able to pick up my pace a bit. And the training continues…

So as I was sitting at home this evening, when Heidi introduced me to an online quiz called “Find Your Spot”. It’s meant for people to figure out which is the best city for them to live in. I thought it would be fun, so I decided to take the quiz. And guess which city I should be living in…Eugene, OR. Here is the list of cities I should live in. Well I guess that buying a house in Eugene was a good choice for me!

1. Eugene, OR
2. Corvallis, OR
3. Olympia, WA
4. Tacoma, WA
5. Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
6. Alexandria, LA
7. Salem, OR
8. Portland, OR
9. Kent, WA
10. Bellinghman, WA
11. Santa Cruz, CA
12. Charleston, WV
13. Medford, OR
14. Bend, OR
15. Fayetteville, AR
16. Little Rock, AR
17. Anchorage, AK
18. Valencia, CA
19. Danbury, CT
20. Santa Barbara, CA
21. Ventura, CA
22. Hartford, CT
23. St. George, UT
24. Fort Collins, CO

So take the quiz and see which city you should be living in. Let me know your results!

Well after taking a week off from working out and running due to my sprained foot, I am back running. I went for a run today, be it slow, to see how my foot did. Surprisingly, my foot did very well. I did not have any pain in my foot, which I was thrilled about. I guess following the doctor’s directions was a good thing. I’m still not up to my full speed, but getting out there is a start. I wish that I would have not lost a week of training, but I am determined to make it up and still continue on with the same enthusiasm as before.

Also exciting, is that I now am playing on an another soccer team…yes, I know I’m crazy. I joined a women’s recreational indoor team, and after watching them play last week, I have become more excited about playing. I am most excited that they need people to play forward, which is a position I would like to play more. After my last co-ed game of having 10+ shots on goal with out a goal, it’s time for me to work on my shot. I am hoping on this team I will be able to help me put the ball in the back of the net.

Here’s my funny story from this past week…

So I decided to play rhyming BINGO with my kindergarten students to asses their skills…little did I know, this was a mistake. I drew the card that said ‘horn’ so I asked the kids to give me words that rhymed with ‘horn’. And the responses went like this….corn….torn…..born…..PORN. I’m not sure if he knew what it was, but I calmly moved onto the next card while trying not to laugh. A few minutes later, I asked the kids to rhyme with duck…and I bet you can guess what happened. The responses went…luck, tuck….and then F—. Once again I moved along quickly to next word, while telling the student that was not an appropriate word. The funny thing is, this was not the kid I had given my ‘f word’ lecture to.

So moral is….be careful what language activities I use at work!

So there’s good new and bad news. The good news is Ginger is feeling much better thanks to a steady diet of white rice! The bad news, I have not turned from nurse to patient. Let me explain…

On Saturday night, we have our typical weekend soccer game. In the middle of the first half, I tweaked my right foot. It was a bit sore, but I ran it off and continued to play. I played really well, although I couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net…one would think that at least one of about twenty shots on goal would have gone in…oh well. My foot was a little sore the rest of the game, but no more than usual. At the end of the game, I headed home with a sore foot, but with only mild pain. I got home and took off my soccer gear and all of a sudden, it was painful to walk and I couldn’t put very much weight on it. I had to hobble around on my heel as I iced my foot for the evening. I assumed it was just some soreness that would go away the next morning.

But when I wasn’t able to walk on it Sunday morning, I knew that it wasn’t a typical injury. So I got an early doctors appointment to check out what was wrong. Driving with an injured right foot is a little difficult…and I had to drive with two feet because my right foot is not strong enough to push on the break! So after jolting myself to the doctor’s office and getting x-rays, the doctor, who happened to be the hottest doctor I have ever seen, tells me I have a sprained foot and a possible stress fracture. So best case scenario, the sprain will subside with simple rest and icing my foot, and I will be fine in a week. Worst case scenario, I have a stress fracture and would need 6-8 weeks to heal. (Maybe playing on three soccer teams and training for a half marathon is too much…but this is me we are talking about, I won’t slow down!) So I am hoping that taking a week off running and soccer will help me heal. And I am actually taking a sick day on Monday to rest my foot…shocking to all, I know.

So now Heidi and I are both limping around the house, sharing the use of the crutches and my car (because Heidi drives a manual, but can’t with a hurt left foot). So we are doing our fair share of laying low and relaxing, which I am sure the dogs enjoy the company instead of being crated all day. So Monday, I will be spending the day on the couch…which is something I rarely do. We will just see how long it will take me to go stir crazy tomorrow…anyone want to place any bets?

So I currently have two patients in my house…Ginger and Heidi.

Let me start first with Heidi. Last night we played in our women’s competative game, just like every Friday night. Heidi and I were both playing well. Heidi had already scored one goal, and on her way to a second goal, when she was tripped from behind and face planted to the ground grabbing her left calf. (PS-The girl didn’t get a card, it was only called a foul). Unable to get up and complaining of intensive calf pain, myself and another teammate helped her over to the bench in which she expressed her concerns about a possible torn calf muscle, considering she couldn’t put any weight on it. So after losing the game, Heidi and I headed over to Sacred Heart Hospital at 9:00pm last night…what a way to spend a Friday night! She was fast tracked and we got in to see a doctor pretty quickly, and Heidi actually knew the doctor from work. After the examination, Heidi has torn tendons in her calf. When the doctor told her she could need to wear a black boot soft cast and crutches, I perked up. It was a few years ago that I had a small fracture in my ankle and had to wear a boot and use crutches. Because I was so accident prone, I decided to keep them around just in case. So with that, I told the doctor that I had that medical equipment at home, so Heidi did not have to purchase those things (woot for saving money). With pain medications in hand, we headed home, but now before stopping for some ice cream! Now Heidi is on crutches and ‘the boot’ as we call it for a few days until she goes to see an orthopedist. That means that I am her legs for a few days, helping her get around and being her personal assistant. I really don’t mind as it was what I needed when I had my injury and I am happy to help her out. My motherly care taking instinct is in full effect. On a side note, for being the hospital for almost two hours, we actually had fun…well as much fun as waiting in a hospital can be. We both had up beat attitudes and were joking around a lot. Hopefully this optimism will continue because being hurt is no fun!

Now Ginger…the reason I need to buy a carpet cleaner. Yet again, she is having ’stomach issues’ as she was not able to keep anything down last night. So I was up every hour cleaning my carpet and letting her outside. Last time this happened, it ended up in an expensive vet bill, but I am hoping it’s not the case this time. Hopefully with a bland diet, she will feel better soon…my carpet and my bank account will appreciate it!

I also gave Harrison (Heidi’s dog) a lecture that he couldn’t get sick because I can only handle two patients at a time. He better listen!

Yes, this is a posting about the ‘F word’. Not fart, fudge or farfignewton. In the words of Ralphie from A Christmas Story, “The F-dash-dash-dash word”.

So I was sitting at my desk this morning after taking a phone call, when one of my kindergarten students said, “[Insert student name] called me a f—”. I calmly said I would be over in a minutes, while I asked my assistant if I heard the word I thought I did. When she confirmed that I heard what I thought I heard, I walked over to my kindergarten table. (I was not surprised that the student who was called a f— knew the word, as he had called me that a few times this year.) I asked the student where he heard that word. He refused to answer me. So I went onto my lecture that went something like this, “F— is a bad word. We do not use the word f— at home, school, on the playground or anytime. F— is an word in inappropriate and I do not want to hear it from you again. Do you understand?”. Of course, I did this in a calm voice and manner, since he may not have known this was a bad word, and therefore his only consequence was the mini lecture. He truly seemed to understand.

Now, working with other kids I wouldn’t use the f—, but with some kids to you have to specific and what is appropriate and what is not. So I gave my first f— lecture to kindergartner, and I felt it was successful. After my student apologized and he began to get back to work, all of a sudden I hear him saying “gigity gigity gigity”. So then I proceeded to say that the phrase was not appropriate either. However, it did make me laugh inside.

So it was only a week or so ago I was talking with a friends saying that work was nice and calm…well I spoke too soon. In the past two weeks, I now have two new students I am serving in my classroom. These students are great, but one requires one-on-one attention and one needs constant re-direction. Granted I do teach in a behavior classroom, but it still adds to the classroom and my stress level. These students are different then the students I am currently serving in my classroom, but it is good for me as I grow as a teacher.

On top of just classroom chaos, I have been involved a lot more with school wide behavior interventions and systems. It’s a role that I really enjoy, but it is ending up being quite time consuming. It’s a lot of time on the computer working with databases and spreadsheets, emailing staff members, sitting in meetings and talking with teachers. I feel very passionate about what I am doing, but it’s hard for me to do this all on my own. Throughout the school, I am becoming known as the behavioral expert, which is a great confidence booster, but staff also expect me to have all the answers for everything. And I will be the first person to admit I don’t have all the answers. For now, I am trying to take on only as much as I can handle and take in each experience as a learning opportunity. With everything I am doing for work, it makes me realize that becoming a behavior specialist is something I really want to do.