Time flies....

It's been a very busy week, and things don't seem as if they will slow down any time soon.

Dad came home from the hospital last Thursday, and is doing just fine. There was no damage to his heart at all.. thank God! He needs to stay focused on a diet, and exercise more. Other than that.. he seems to be in good spirits, and back to driving us all crazy. In fact, he plans on going hunting soon.

Last week Anne's daughter in law passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). She had the disease for just over five months, and was 51 years old. I went to call hours last week before school to give my condolences to the family. I know Anne's children and grandchildren quite well, and had gotten to know Mary and her family well over the years. I felt so bad for Mary's husband Tim, and their two High School aged children. I could see the immense pain in Tim's eyes. I want to just wrap the whole family up in some kind of blanket that will make them all feel better, but no such device exists. Death is part of life, but that simple fact does not make it any easier when it we lose someone we love so much.

This week we have a LOT of family coming in from out of town to celebrate my Aunt Karen's birthday, which is Saturday. They will be coming to our house for lunch, then we will be going to the hospice center to surprise her. It will be nice to see everyone, but it is a lot of work to get the house ready in the mean time. We will be having over 20 people to feed, so I have to get busy baking. I'm making cookies and two different cakes for dessert, and Mom is ordering subs from Wegman's for the actual lunch, along with some side dishes we will be making.

I'm trying to get on the substitute list for a local school district. A good friend of mine is a Social Studies teacher there, and I had the opportunity to visit the school and her class last month. I really liked the school as well as that age level of kids. She will be going away for a week in December for a conference, and needs a substitute. The district doesn't have many, so she has encouraged me to put in an application. She'd be so happy if I could sub for her while she was gone since I also am certified in Social Studies, as well as having a good relationship with her to go over lessons in advanced to get the most done possible while she is gone. It would be great experience for me, and maybe even get my foot in the door for this district. Unfortunately, the district's webpage is not all that user friendly, and looks like I will have to call people and go back and forth with paper work to even apply for the position. Nothing like good old fashioned running around! Oh, how internet has spoiled us!!

I have also been working some more hours lately at Walmart. Good for the wallet, bad for my nerves. I'm beyond tired of working retail, especially with the approaching holiday season. It's so much crap to work through for so little money. Even the stigma of telling people I work for Walmart or retail in general when asked what I do for a living. I'm eager to be working in the field I have been schooled for, and more than ready to leave retail far behind. The week of Thanksgiving I am working over 30 hours... that's going to be rough. Thanksgiving week is the week from HELL.

Good God.. give me strength.