Tis the season....to watch my students take a final exam

Hey ladies:

My blog title rings true....my Fundamentals of Outdoor Team Sport students are currently taking their final exam while I proctor and write on our blog. In theory I should be grading some papers and unit plans but I decided to catch up on this and cruise through some email instead. I'm not 100% awake yet (even though it's 10am) so grading papers is dangerous. I stayed up to 3am to finish grading unit plans for the previously mentioned class because I wanted to hand them back their work today after their final. Students never come back to pick up their projects if they aren't mandated to see you before the end of the semester.

I also made good headway into my Christmas cards yesterday. I still have plenty to finish but I think I've mailed 20-25 already. Fortunately a lot of the remaining cards don't require postage since I can put them in people's mailboxes at work. It was really odd not writing my Grandma Smith a Christmas letter and sending her a picture of Gavin.

I want to do some baking this weekend. I'm going to make peanut butter balls, cornflake wreaths, and dip stuff in almond bark. I'm not a fan of the latter but Jon keeps requesting it (the white almond bark not chocolate). I think I'll make those Ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches and dip them in almond bark too. I've also had a craving for the no-bake cookies that involve mixing chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal into clumps and letting them cool on wax paper.

I think my Christmas shopping is somewhat complete but I still don't have everything wrapped yet. I need to make one more trip to Game Stop to get Gavin a couple games and I'm still pondering what to get my Dad for his birthday. Despite the chaos in my life lately, I've kept Christmas somewhat organized. Now that I said that, I'll probably forget to pack things to bring to Waukon when we travel.

Jon is making improvements as well. His staples were removed and the incision from his surgery continues to heal nicely. He was diagnosed with a blood clot last Thursday but was told to stick to his regimen of baby asprin and leg elevation. The pain in his calf and foot have gone away so that hopefully means the clot has broken apart (in small pieces) and been reabsorbed into the body. I've been helping him buy gifts for his family too since you can't find everything online for a decent price.

I went back to the doctor on Friday since my joint pain and discomfort reared its ugly head again. I'm on a generic form of Reflen now since my body was not enjoying the ibprofen I was taking constantly. Sadly the new med isn't working. I'm going to call again next week (giving that new med more time to try and work) and the doctor is going to refer me to an osteoarthritis specialist assuming my recent bloodwork does not show anything. They did a full work up on the possibility of Lyme's Disease so I have to wait for that panel to be processed.

I am hopeful that the Red Cross does not need me the week after Christmas. A babysitting "camp" is scheduled Monday-Friday that week and I'm the instructor assigned to it. I'd much rather spend some extra time in Waukon and relax that week. Enrollment is low and if it stays that way, the "camp" will be canceled. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to do that class. I agreed to it back at the end of the summer and I was oblivious to the fact that I'd probably need some down time between semesters. I didn't anticipate Jon being out of commission too. The Red Cross needs to hire more people that want those extra hours and money.

I think that's long enough of an update. It saddens me that I'm not checking this blog and writing entries as much as I truly want. I certainly need more "me time" so that's a possibility for a New Year's Resolution.