Dia De Los Muertos

My students have a hard time keeping the Mexican holiday "dia de los muertos" seperate from halloween. Dia de los muertos is more like our memorial day - the graves of loved ones who have passed are decorated and the passed loved ones are remembered. Halloween is now a day to run around and have fun with friends and eat candy. When halloween nears I also have a hard time determining the difference between the two.

Many types of dermatitis

So...there seem to be many types of dermatitis. Which makes sense since "derma" is the skin and the "itis" part means inflamed. Which explains why my lips burn! Yes, lips! I went to the doctor today about my fluffy, itchy, bumpy, oozy (making you a little hot around the collar eh??) red, tingly lips. It looked similar to when I had poison ivy but felt a lot different.

Before my lips felt like bumpy leather that was itchy but painful because they were so swollen.

Now they feel like I have put on the lip plumper stuff and they tingle ALOT, like someone is tickling my lips and it is pissing me off.

So I went to the doctor he poked and proded as doctors do and after running the gammet of possiblities he decided that I have a lip dermatitis which he thinks is acually going to turn into one big cold sore on both of my lips --which I guess would technically be two.

I have some pills that look like tic-tacs and taste like chalk but after just two pills my lips are less swollen.

While this may seem like a bad deal I am trying to look at the bright side....there are certain things I can't do in my condition that involve predominantly the lips. I may have lip dermatitis forever!

Homecky Becky

Last night was regional volleyball here at CHS we didn't do so good. I got volunteered to do the "hospitality room" for it. Which was fine but I was not about to do it all on my own time so I switched some lessons around and Food Science got to do a cutting lab and cut all the veggies and cooked the meat (we just talked about how heat changes food either chemically or physically or...gasp...both!) for the potato soup and chili and veggie trays and Resource Mangement made cookies and cookies and cookies. So right now I am feeling very "Homecky Becky" I never minded when you all would ask me to sew something (although it might be a while--sorry about your pants Cindy) or how to get a stain out but you didn't interupt class time to do it or ask me to wash your coaching shirt 30 minutes before game time!! So I have begun to do what no "Home Ec" teacher has done before--I have said "no" WOW!!! Okay so usually it's just "not right now" but if they don't come back you don't have to worry about it!

I do have to admit...the potato soup and snickerdoodles did turn out well...my kids have a knack for cooking--this may be a good year, good enought to gain a few pounds!

Skoo Jail

Did your life in college ever make you feel like you were in school jail? Not like you had been bad but that you just couldn't escape? I thought I was past that, apparently not. Some days I feel like I am in school jail....or more like on the school jail chain gang because it follows me home, reminds me it is there during supper, during dishes, during laundry-waiting to be graded and planned and revised and discussed with whomever will answer their phone...and what makes it worth it? Is it the 12 hours a day I work? Is it the "summers off"? No....it's those ungrateful urchins that I am so excited to see everyday who when I crack a joke look at me like I am an idiot then gradually smirk and finally giggle when they see my eyebrow raise as if I am saying "aren't you going to laugh at my joke? I'm waiting for the applause sign to light up and you to follow the directions." Only sometimes I'm the one who has to keep from laughing, has to keep that composure and I erupt into laughter at a comment that while inappropriate and unrelated has to be addressed and acknowledge because my kids are witty and funny and smart and dumb as a rock, and mean, and hurtful and playful and clueless and they share the same cell that I do here in skoo jail.