There have been a ton of things going on in my life this past week, and I’m way overdue to catch up on all of it on this blog.
First and foremost, for all the moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day. I hope you spend the day doing the things you love with the people who make all your hard work worthwhile.
Speaking of Mother’s Day, my adorable niece set up a beautiful breakfast in bed for my sister this morning. She and my mom got all the food, plates, napkins, cup, tea, etc. I kept it hidden at my house for the week, and then this morning she came over to get it all. She cooked everything, even using a melon baller to make the fruit salad (inside the Have a Royal Day plate). It was her idea to add the fresh chives to the eggs.
My younger niece made my sister an adorable mug – her teacher had the students draw a picture and then transferred the drawings onto the mug. I know this is going to be a keepsake for years to come!
My nieces are so sweet and thoughtful – all the hard work and sacrifices that my sister has put in as a single mom really have paid off. These girls are just the best!
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Yesterday I was all set to do the Willow Glen 5K with Tinkerbell, which was a fun run in support of one of our local elementary schools. I woke up early, got dressed, and was about to make a cup of coffee when I decided to open a package. I tried using scissors, but couldn’t cut through the tough plastic. So I grabbed a knife, thinking, “I better be careful, this could be dangerous,” and at that exact moment, I gauged my hand right by the thumb pad. It was really deep cut, and the blood started spurting out immediately. I’m not good (to put it mildly) when I see my own blood, and I started feeling really light-headed and faint. I ran over to my sister’s house next door, screaming that I’d cut myself and I needed help. I was already feeling like I was going to faint, when my sister went into calm-in-a-crisis mode. She washed the cut, laid me down on the bathroom floor, and didn’t panic even when I started convulsing on the floor. My body was going into shock, and I almost fainted. My sister just said, “Bella, stay with me! Keep your eyes open, open your eyes!” And then she bandaged my hand. She called my dad to come and take me to the minor injury unit at Kaiser.
We had to wait about 30-45 minutes because the minor injury section hadn’t opened yet. I was in a lot of pain and was feeling really faint. When they finally took me to the back and took my blood pressure, it was really low. So low that the nurse took it twice, just to make sure. When all was said and done, I needed 3 stitches. The wound was deep, and I’d punctured the muscle, which was what was causing me all the pain.
This morning I’m not in very much pain at all, but my hand is super swollen. I don’t know if it’s coming across in the photo, but my left hand is a lot bigger.
I can get the stitches out on Thursday, and I can’t wait.
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On the work front, my principal asked me to be the English Department Chair next year. I was really flattered by her vote of confidence in me and my leadership abilities, but I was very hesitant to accept. I have four preps, meaning four different classes that I teach – English 3 honors, AVID, yearbook, and journalism. All of them take a lot of time to prep and plan for, and the honors classes give me a ton of grading. To top that off, I update our school’s website, which takes time each and everyday. The department chair position adds lots of meetings, both at our school and at the district office. Plus all the time organizing everything for the department itself. But leading people and organizing things are two of my strongest abilities, so it does seem like a great fit. And my department could really use some positive leadership, so I accepted the position. I had my choice to take a stipend or to get a second prep period, meaning I’d only teach four classes, instead of five. Since the stipend isn’t anywhere near 20% of my salary (which would be the equivalent of giving up one class), I decided to go for the 2nd prep. I asked if I could give up one of the honors classes I teach, since the grading takes me more time than prepping for the AVID class (which would have been the only other class I would have even considered giving up). My principal said that would be fine with her, so I’m all set. I’m actually really excited about this new opportunity. Both for what it means to my department and for my professionally. I’m only obligated to serve as department chair for one year, but my principal did say she’d like to see me doing it for at least 3-5 years. which is very flattering.
And I am also really looking forward to the fact that I’ll have one 1st-period prep and one last-period prep. Meaning that on A Days I’ll be able to leave early and on B Days I’ll be able to come late. Except when I have meetings or other department obligations, which will happen about 6-8 days of the month. Which makes me very excited about my workouts – I really want to start working out first thing in the morning, and on B Days I’ll be able to get up at the same time I do now and still get in a whole workout. And on the A Days if I haven’t woken up early and worked out in the morning, I can get in an early afternoon workout, as I’ve been doing this year.
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I’ve tried some new fitness classes at the gym, but I’ll write about those in a separate post.
Bella on the Beach 