When Life gets rough...

my students have special ways of cheering me up..

notes left on my whiteboard,

Or handwritten "love" notes. 

Art work, candy, jokes, so many things. 

Kids are great! 

I got behind on my blogging, again

This is why...

What is that you ask, a massive, intensively itchy allergic reaction. It covered my entire body. These are pictures of days 1 & 2 of my arm and back, Mom wouldn't take day 3 pictures, which were worse than these, she said we were already scaring people (she posted this on Facebook).  This rash came from a serious allergic reaction to anti-biotics that I was prescribed for a sinus infection. We first thought that I had chicken pox, for the 3rd time. Luckily we were wrong.

I am allergic to Sulfas,  which is a class of drugs derived from sulfonamides. These drugs are used in the treatment of both bacterial and non-bacterial infections. The most common sulfa allergic reaction is the appearance of rashes on the skin. These itchy rashes can appear all over the body and can cause irritation and discomfort. Another allergic reaction is Anaphylaxis, which is quite a serious condition where the affected person experiences difficulty in breathing, increase in heart beat, vomiting, nausea, dizziness and sometimes fainting.


This was just my first exposure, I now have to wear a medical ID bracelet stating this allergy, because next time could be much much worse. Lets just say I love oatmeal baths, and Melaleuca Renew lotion, they are life savers. I am doing much better, my "spots"  or "dots" are now light pink and not welt-like. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, sinus infection to allergic reaction. 

Are you sleeping?

Are you sleeping?
Mo-ha-med?
Yes, in fact he was,
completely asleep.
Right outside my studio door,
so naturally, I took photos,
and tried to wake him up-
it took a few attempts.
Once awake, I asked him why he was alseep.
He responded "I was waiting, so I listened to the music
(coming from the studios) and it carried me off to sleep.
The power of music is very strong!"
Adorable

P.S. this is the kid who wrote the "Today I did good" note to me.

We didn't mean to...

Buy a new car. We were just looking, honest! On Saturday February 4th we bought a used 2009 KIA Spectra, it's white & lovely. We need a car with air conditioning, that fact had been weighing heavily on my mind lately and I told Joseph to start looking at cars online. He started looking for cars within the parameters we set (and our bank would approve) 2006 or newer and & 10,000 spending limit. I know, these are really tight to meet, but we did. we both looked and just kept coming back to the white KIA, so I had Joseph call so we could run down  and look at it. Well, an hour and a half later we drove home in our new car. And we're loving it. Oh, and her name is Constance. Sorry Val, Bessie just didn't make the cut! And Joseph calls her "Connie Lou"

News

First off, I am sorry for the lack of posts...it's not because of lack of interesting blogging material but rather a lack of interest in blogging. Don't worry I am over it, now some news. 

 Around Christmas time we "fired" Joseph's employment agency. He had just gone through so many different agents, we were done. Then a few days later we got an email from Joseph's vocational counselor, Daphne telling us that  EnTrust Services (his ex-agency) called and wanted to interview Joseph to work for them! Long story short, he got the job, it will start initially as a 3 month internship through DSB, but they are already talking about keeping him on after that. Tuesday his computer and CCTV move to EnTrust, and Thursday he starts work! We are absolutely elated! We kept it quiet until we knew more, the details were hashed out Friday.

 Insurance: starting in June Joseph will be enrolled in Medicare. We've been fighting for 2 years to get Joseph on Medicaid, unsuccessfully. So how does medicare fit in? Good question, after being on social security for 2 years he is becomes eligible for benefits. Soon we will know what to expect for dues or co-pays etc.  We are still very angry and disappointed that we didn't succeed in getting Joseph on Medicaid, it is still our plan to write an article to the paper about our struggle against our state programs that failed to help him. Hopefully it will cause quite a stir, that's what we're going for. We want to help create change and improvement so others won't have to go through what we have, and get the help they need.

And the good news continues... I am beginning to work on my certification to become a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). My boss has agreed to pay for my certification and I purchased my books (set to arrive on Monday). I agreed to stay with TCAB for 2 years as the deal for helping me get certified. I have no intention of leaving so its a win-win situation.  More about what I have to do to become a certified teacher later, it merits a post all on its own.  And lastly, Joseph's student loans have been "forgiven", he doesn't have to pay them back as long as his income stays below a certain level (same limits as his social security) for 3 years then it's forgiven forever. We'll also have to file taxes separately for the period of time.  That's all the news for now.  Huge blessings!