Positive Thoughts Thursday

It's been too long since I've done one of these, and there are way too many positive things going on in my life right now to neglect mentioning!

• I'm 26 years old, with Cystic Fibrosis and will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow!
• My latest PFT (done less than a week ago) was amazing! My FEV1 is 83% and my small airway lung function is 92%!
• Baby Girl is growing steadily. :-)
• It absolutely amazes me what my "sick" body can do!!
• I have an amazing, hard-working husband! We've been in our house for just about a year now and it looks like a completely different home, inside and out!
• Tim's sister, Katrina, had her second child yesterday - our first niece, Alayna! I'm so excited that our girls will be so close in age. And the thought of watching all of the cousins grow up together is even more exciting!
• I've been walking with a friend 3-4 mornings a week which has been great exercise and great adult interaction over summer.
• For every hot week of summer, we've had a nice, cool week to balance it out. I absolutely love being able to have the windows open, especially at night, to feel the fresh air throughout the house.
• My classroom is ready to go for my maternity leave! Its a wonderful relief knowing that's all taken care of already.

Positive Thoughts Thursday

It's been way  too long since I have done one of these!!

• I finally received my Tobi in the mail today (for anyone keeping track, its been almost a month now... gotta love insurance)!!! I'll be starting my 28 day cycle this evening and am really looking forward to how I'm going to feel when it's done. I think the sinus rinses, Kalydeco and Tobi are just what I need to clear up whatever the heck I've got going on right now. Although I have to add, I'm feeling slightly less sinus-y than I did a week ago. :)
• I also received a phone call today setting up my first round of Cayston. This is another inhaled neb which I will alternate with Tobi to help keep my lungs clear. According to my doctor, typically insurance doesn't like when CFers are on both (even though they're alternating months and never on both at the same time), but it doesn't sound like my insurance is putting up a fight...thank goodness!  I know many CFers who prefer Cayston over Tobi, so I'm curious to see how it works for me.
• I logged into Facebook this evening while doing my treatments and saw that my blog has been ranked 17th in the Top 35 Cystic Fibrosis blogs (check out my new award on the right)!! How cool is that?! I know that I've been slacking lately, but I really appreciate the constant support & comments from my readers. I hope to be spreading awareness and information about what it's like to live with CF - especially that it's not the end of the world!! I can still Live, Laugh, Love, Breathe & Be Happy! :)
• This Sunday, we'll be celebrating Tim's great-grandma's 100th birthday!! Her official birthday is tomorrow, and we usually celebrate her birthday the first weekend in March, but this year she pushed
  
  it back a week because she didn't want to celebrate her 100th without being 100 - didn't want to jinx herself! :) The picture on the right was from when we went camping (yes, she goes every year) this past September. She is one of the funniest and sweetest ladies I have ever met and I am privileged to be a part of her 100th birthday celebration on Sunday!

Positive Thoughts Thursday: Quotes

I have a board on Pinterest called "Quotes & Cute Things", which is where these all came from. I enjoy going through that board occasionally and reading these happy thoughts, so I wanted to share them with you.

Positive Thoughts Thursday: Health & Fall Fun

I've been totally slacking on blog posts lately, but honestly there hasn't been much going on. I'm glad that several of my other blogger friends do their "Thankful Thursday" posts each week because it reminds be to get back on here and appreciate the little (and big) things in life. :)

• Today I'm thankful for good health. I've been on Kalydeco now for six weeks. And just now, over the past couple days, I feel like I'm finally slowing down with my mucus movement. Over the last six weeks, I experienced some serious mucus movement in my lungs, especially deep down in there. Things started moving around the first few weeks I was on Kalydeco, then I got a cold which tightened my lungs for about a week. And then after that cold, I felt like I was constantly coughing my brains out! I'm pretty sure I've coughed up every color of the rainbow mucus (except maybe blue/purple...) and I've gotten a LOT of stuff out. Over the past couple days, I feel like I've finally been able to take a good, nice deep breath without coughing up a chunk of my lung. 
• Related to the above post - I'm really looking forward to my CF appointment coming up soon. I'm very anxious to know what my FEV1 is, especially now since I feel like my mucus production is slowing down. I'm also curious to see if my weight has gone up. Since starting Kalydeco, I've been having at least one, usually two, Ensure Plus's each day which is an extra 350 calories each. I hope K really helps me in the weight-gain department.
• Fall weather! I am not a fan of the heat. I enjoy sunny & 75 (Joe Nichols, anyone?). It's so much more comfortable to teach in the cooler weather. I love having the windows open all day and getting fresh air in the house. And of course, all the fall fun & fall food (aka: apple donuts!)! This weekend we're hanging out with Tim's aunt & uncle, and his sister, her husband and their two little guys! We're going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard on Saturday -- always a good time! :)  
• Last weekend, Tim and I walked in (my third) our second Great Strides of the year. I was asked to speak at this one which I enjoy doing. I like to share my story with others, especially parents of little ones with CF to give them hope about their child's future. I was also able to meet one of my blogging cysters, Cheriz - who's now in the hospital for a tune-up- hope you start feeling better soon!! Here are some pictures from the event.

• Oh, and how could I forget?! Yesterday, Tim and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! :-) Today marks our 7th anniversary of being together, total - seven years ago today, Tim asked me to be his girlfriend while eating lunch in the "Dog-Pound Deli". This year, not only were we husband and wife, but we also became "homeowners"! I'm looking forward to what this next year (and MANY more) has in store for us! I love you, Tim!!!! 

Positive Thoughts Thursday

No matter what's going on in your life, there's always something positive you can find! I challenge you today to try to think of at least one positive thing going on in your life right now! Feel free to share below in the comments section. :)

• I seriously have the best in-laws! :) We had our annual camping weekend this past weekend and it was so fun and relaxing, as always. We enjoyed each other's company, hung out, did some fishing (I even caught a fish!), cooked hot dogs over the fire, roasted s'mores...the whole nine yards. It's always a good time when we all get together.
• I got my first refill call for Kalydeco yesterday. It's weird to think that I've been on it for three weeks now. And although I haven't noticed the "huge" change that some patients have within the first few weeks, I'm excited at the long-term effects this drug is going to have on my body. 
• I'm so happy that it's been cooling off! Aside from today when it's supposed to be close to 90 again, it's been feeling like fall lately and I love it. We're planning a trip to an apple orchard with some family in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to that! The cool temperatures also make for a much happier and relaxed (and less stinky) teacher!!! I'd take 70 degrees any day - it's the perfect teaching temperature! :)

And finally, I saw this on pinterest and thought it was pretty funny: 

If only it was that easy!! But maybe, just maybe, it won't be as disgusting after being on K for a while!

Positive Thoughts Thursday: K, Tim and Cysters & Fibros

To start off this blog today, I googled "thankful quotes" and these caught my eye:

"I'm thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." ~Woody Allen

"Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." ~Alphonse Karr

"I'm thankful to be breathing, on this side of the grass. Whatever comes, comes." ~Ron Perlman

• I'm so happy, and lucky, to be able to say that I've been on Kalydeco for a week now! I'm still journaling how I've been feeling day to day, but I'll post several days at a time now instead of one each day, just because the changes are so minor. Overall, I'm not feeling too different from before I started except for the random rattly chest & thick mucus fits/moments throughout my day. And I really do mean random - they come out of no where!
• I'm so thankful today, and everyday, for an amazing, hard-working husband! Since we bought our house a little over a month ago, he has been working so hard on it! Yes, I try to help him with projects, but home improvement isn't really 'my thing'. I'm the 'deal with the people' & accountant of our relationship, haha! 
• I love having access to the internet. I have met so many amazing people through the online CF community, I consider some of them to be my friends although we've never met in person. It's such an amazing experience to be able to talk and get to know someone who understands what you're going through, when you would have probably never have met that person if it wasn't for the internet. :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday: My Job!

Woah, look out! Two "positive thoughts Thursday's" in a row! I've been slacking on the blog posts this week, but I feel like I have a pretty good reason this time around...back to school!

• I am so thankful to have a job. I am so thankful to have a job that I LOVE, in an awesome building with the best staff! Yesterday was the first day back to school for our students (teachers started Monday) and I am just so happy. I'll admit that Tuesday I was feeling a bit frazzled, I felt like I was starting my first year of teaching all over again because I switched grade levels (and was doubting my abilities), but as soon as that first student walked into my classroom Tuesday night for Open House, it all came back to me so naturally! It made me so happy seeing their excited and apprehensive little faces coming into a school and/or classroom that they didn't know, but then leaving feeling a bit more excited and comfortable about the following day. :-)
• I received the best compliment, twice, on Open House night and once again yesterday morning at school! On Open House night, I had two parents of students I had in my class last year, express to me how happy/relieved/excited they are for me to be their child's teacher again this year!! *Made me feel so warm & fuzzy inside!* And then yesterday morning, I learned that I have a cousin of a student I had last year, and those parents told the parents of my current student, "Oh you'll love her, she's great!" Best feeling ever!!!
• And even though I am no longer kindergarten, I've already been keeping an ear out for hilarious things my class will say this year! I'll be calling them "First Grade Funnies". The hardest part is remembering them at the end of the day because I can't (usually) write it down when they say it! But I'll leave you with this one that I thought was cute: One of my little girls was leaving the room and she said, "Bye Mr. Grouper".....not quite, but she tried! :)

Positive Thoughts Thursday: Friends, Family & Kalydeco

Each week I've been trying to spend time reflecting on the positive things going on in my life and/or the world around me. I know I've been slacking lately, but I'm really hoping to get better. What are some positive things going on in your life right now?

This is a picture Tim sent me while
I was away for the weekend at Catie's
wedding. He's made a lot of progress.
I'll do before & after pics later.

• I am so grateful for my husband, Tim! He has been working non-stop since the day we have moved into our house! Between working his normal job during the day, driving an hour home and then going straight to work on the bathroom remodel until about nine each night, I don't know how he hasn't taken a day off! He is such a perfectionist which really helps when he's putting tile in the bathroom, and his work always looks good. 
• My friend, Catie, got married this past weekend!!! She couldn't have asked for a better day to get married, it was gorgeous outside and everything went very smooth. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a TON of fun! They had a Motown band which was amazing & had the dance floor packed the entire night!
• I'm so happy to have had this summer break! It was really nice to be able to spend time with a lot of my friends and our family this summer. Unfortunately, I did not stick to my exercise/eating routine like I should have, but I guess I'm not really surprised. So I am really looking forward to getting back into a routine next week. My first day back to work is Monday, and the kids' first day is on Wednesday! I'm a little nervous about teaching first grade this year because I've never worked in this grade, but I have two wonderful teacher-partners who I know will help me along the way. :)
• My doctor and I have decided to start the paperwork process on Kalydeco now instead of waiting until October. The more I thought about it after I left my last clinic appointment, the more I starting thinking, "Why wait?" The paperwork was submitted Tuesday and they said it typically takes about two weeks for the process, but depends entirely on insurance. So there's a very good chance that I could be starting Kalydeco in September! I'm looking forward to it and I'll keep you posted as I know more!! :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday

I've been slacking on my positive thoughts over the past couple months, so I'm really going to try to get back into looking at all of the positives going on around me & in my life. What is at least one positive thing that's going on in your life right now?

• One week from tomorrow we're scheduled to close on our first home! I'm super excited to finally be able to move into a home and not feel like we are only living there temporarily. And I'm excited that it's one more thing to check off of my life goals! :)
• Later today I'll be making a 4 1/2 hour trek up to Wisconsin for Country Thunder! I'm a huge country music fan and so the next four days are going to be heaven for me. Country Thunder is four days of many different country artists performing back to back. Here's the line up! The main reason I'm going is because I've always wanted to see Keith Urban live, super pumped!
• I'm also looking forward to spending this long weekend with one of my awesome friends, Karissa! Her and I worked together as assistants for a couple years before we both got our first teaching jobs this past fall. I'm thankful that she's allowing me to stay with her family at their cottage all weekend while we go back and forth each evening to dance & sing (and people watch) at CT!

Clinic Day & Positive Thoughts Thursday

I had my CF clinic appointment today and number-wise it wasn't the best, but feeling-wise it went well. Everything's pretty much the same as my last appointment - my lung function is still hovering in the high 70s which I really don't like to see, but I've been feeling really great lately. My weight is about the same - today it was 108.5. Thankfully I have a wonderful relationship with my doctor and I was able to explain to her how I was feeling and she understands that sometimes the numbers don't reflect that. She just told me not to worry or focus on the numbers which made me feel better...as long as things don't keep going down, that's what matters. Of course I'm still trying to increase my weight and lung function (always!), but for some reason it's just sticking where it is right now, so I think I'm going to really have to take advantage of the next month and really kick my butt into gear. I need to make sure that I'm consistently exercising and consuming at least 2,500 calories per day, especially before I head back to work.

We did discuss the possibility of adding Kalydeco into my life if I can't seem to get out of this rut which really makes me excited. When Kalydeco first came out I was honestly a little hesitant about going on it. In a weird way, I felt like if I started taking Kalydeco, then I was "giving up" on fighting CF myself. After typing that out, it sounds totally strange, but that's the way I felt. I feel like I've been doing a really great job keeping myself healthy and I didn't want to....I don't even know how to word it... I was also concerned that 'What if I was taking it for several months, saw a great increase in lung function, and then for some reason I had to stop taking it and then my lung function would go back down (to the 80s which is still 'normal') and I would feel like complete crap.' I was nervous that once I started it, it would be something that I'd never be able to live without, something that I'd rely on forever.
But after a great discussion with my doctor today, she put it in perspective for me. Everything that I'm doing now -Vest twice a day, six-eight nebulizers a day, countless amounts of pills, etc -I'm going to rely on those forever to keep me healthy, so what's another pill? Especially if it's going to change things for the better, increase my quality of life, and possibly reduce the amount of medication/treatments I do now...duh! What was I thinking?! So the plan is to see how the next few months go and at my next clinic appointment in October we'll make the decision on whether to start the approval paperwork, or to keep it on the back burner.

And finally, I've totally been slacking on my positive thoughts Thursday posts over the past few months, honestly, because we've been completely stressed...which is probably when I should be doing it, but either way here's some recent positive thoughts:

• We are 15 days away from our scheduled closing date on our first home! As long as everything keeps going according to plan we should be moved in before August! Yay!
• The possibility of Kalydeco entering my life is starting to get me really excited it. Of course it may not be until the end of this year, it's something that I'm looking forward to. :)
• I love summer break! Not a huge fan of summer weather, but the time off is amazing! I've been able to do way more this summer than I even thought I was going to do and there are still several more fun things planned...next one on the list: Country Thunder! One week from today! Oh yeah!
• Our new little guy, Ozzie, is adjusting very well to life in our home. He has an enormous amount of energy and he's hilarious to watch when he's running around! Archie is also doing a wonderful job being patient with him and playing (usually) gently with him. 

Can you tell who's who?! Haha...Archie's (4 yrs old) a big hefalump, but
Tim thinks Ozzie (3 months) might get to be about his size...we'll see. :) 

Positive Thoughts Tuesday: Updates

 Switching it up a bit and doing my Positive Thoughts Thursday Tuesday, today. Thankfully, things are finally, slowly, starting to look up for us!

*A few weeks ago I posted about all of our house drama which is also starting to come together. We actually submitted an offer on a major fixer-upper a couple days after that last post, on a Wednesday, I believe. We offered low because it needed a ton of work and before the listing agent even presented it to her client, she told our realtor that she thought it was too low of an offer and was acting really rude. Then the sellers told us they needed to talk to their attorney about the offer and they'd get back to us by the following Tuesday - this just turned me off. I didn't want to deal with annoying listing agents, more attorneys and delays all over again. We ended up looking at a foreclosure in the mean time that we really liked, so we withdrew our offer on the fixer-upper to submit an offer on the foreclosure Monday or Tuesday. Before we could even get our offer in on the foreclosure, it had sold. :( This meant that we were back at square one with no house, again.
So we decided to just keep looking, and we ended up looking at four houses in one night on Wednesday of last week. The last house we looked at Tim and I both really liked! It wasn't an estate, it wasn't a foreclosure, and it's not even really that much of a fixer-upper! :) We ended up looking at it one more time Thursday night and submitting our offer on Friday! We negotiated a couple times with the seller over the weekend and accepted their counter-offer on Saturday!!! Yesterday I went in to initial the papers, so we're officially under contract with a house and we're both very excited about it! Right now I'm in the process of setting up our home inspection and getting our loan approval process underway, again. :-) Let's hope this one works out this time!!

*Last weekend Tim and I drove down to TN to celebrate our nephew, Cole's third birthday and also to see his new brother, Liam who was born in the beginning of May. It was so fun to be able to hang out with Tim's sisters and their husbands and their kids for the weekend. We had a great time, but I cannot wait until they are living in Illinois so we can do this more often!

Aunt Colleen & Liam

Uncle Tim & Cole

Aunt Colleen pulling Cole & Isaac in the wagon

Baby Liam :)

Aunt Colleen & Cole reading "The Pout-Pout Fish"

Cousin love! :)

*After we got back from Tennessee, we pulled our offer on the fixer-upper, saw those other houses and put in our offer on our current home. Then we left for the weekend again. Tim and I ran our first 5K together on Saturday, along with several of my old co-workers from DeKalb. We did Brett's Run, which was my very first 5K last year. It rained the entire morning while we were waiting for the race to begin so we were soaked before we even started running. Once the race started, the rain died down, but it picked back up again as soon as we were finished.
I had not been training for this run as well as I did last year, so I wasn't too pleased with myself when I had to stop and walk a couple times along the route. But, I am very happy that I was still able to finish in 35:29.7. Tim, on the other hand, blew right past me as soon as we started and finished his first 5K with an awesome time of 26:53.3, that's an 8:40 mile pace! It was really fun being able to do this with Tim and several of our friends this time! I hope that I can keep in shape and that this is something we can do annually together.

Tim & I post-race, drenched!

Our whole team pre-race, nice and dry!

Yay, we survived the rain! :) 

*The other big news of the summer so far is my job placement for next year. Long story short, the district messed up their numbers thinking there would be enough students for three kindergarten classes next year, allowing me to stay as a kindergarten teacher...well it turns out there are not enough students for three classes, so back to the original plan of me moving up to first grade in the fall. I will not have all of my same students from my kindergarten class because we mixed up all of the students at the end of the year, but I'll have a few of the same. I'm very happy that I'm staying in the same building because if you didn't know already, I love my coworkers & job! I will be moving rooms this summer (going from room 15 to room 9 - movin' on up!) which I wasn't planning, but that's okay. It'll give me something to do on those days when I'm bored out of my mind. So this fall will kind of feel like my first year all over again with a new room and new curriculum, but the first grade team is great (one of them is my mentor) and I'm looking forward to working with them. :-) Better start thinking of a clever name to go with their quotes this year, can't call them 'kinder quotes' anymore!

*Even with all of this craziness that's been going on, I've really had a lot of time to relax over the past few weeks, especially during the day while Tim's at work. I've been doing pretty good about getting in an extra treatment during the day - probably about 1/2 the time I do. I just finished up a few weeks of TOBI which really helped clean my lungs out and I've been feeling really good. I had a great workout today - did a 10 minute standing ab video and then a 20 minute medicine ball video that Tim and I did a lot over the winter. I've got about six more weeks until my next CF clinic appointment, so I'm really trying to get my lungs in great shape and really trying to gain some weight. My goal is to cut back on the running and to increase weight training exercises like these workout videos to gain muscle weight.

I've been watching a lot of HGTV & Dr. Phil, doing some cleaning and laundry, but I'm planning on adding more reading this summer. First on my list is The Walking Dead graphic novel! We've been watching the show since it started and I've really enjoyed it. Tim's aunt Linda read this already and said it was totally different from the TV show, so I'm excited to read it. This is the first graphic novel I've ever read, so I'm curious to see how I like it.

I'm also going to see "The Book of Mormon" with Tim's aunt Linda next week, too, which is supposed to be really funny. Then I've got a bachelorette party, bridal shower, Country Thunder, (hopefully moving into our new house), and my best friend's wedding all before the new school year starts! I love having summers off! :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday

First of all, I want to apologize for neglecting to post any positive thoughts over the last month. Tim and I have been through some stressful, crappy stuff over the past few weeks - which is when I should have probably been trying to really focus more on the positives - and I've been feeling pretty crabby lately. Thankfully, I feel like I'm coming around out of that slump a little at a time, and I felt it was necessary to get back into my positive thinking ways...

• A few weeks ago I started taking a probiotic and man, do I feel great! I am less bloated and gassy in general and my bathroom trips have been less frequent. I'm also still trying to monitor my calorie intake and blood sugars to try and stay as regular as possible. I'm hoping the combination of all of these things will help me start gaining the weight back I need.
• Although I have learned quickly that the end of the year is almost (if not more) stressful than the beginning of the year as a teacher, my class and I have had a lot of fun days in the past couple weeks. We went bowling (supposed to go to the zoo, but it was rainy and cold); we went to the YMCA where the kids were able to swim and play in the gym; and just yesterday we had Play Day where we travel from station to station outside all afternoon. There was a bounce house, inflatable slide, inflatable obstacle course, a water station, snow cones, tug of war, dodgeball, and sack/relay races. I am so happy that I'm healthy enough to run around with my kids and be able to participate in all of this fun stuff with them! :-)
• Tim and I are house hunting! Since I have found a job that I love and Tim's now in a stable job, and we're closer to Tim's family, we're looking to buy a house! This is a huge goal of mine (to be a homeowner) and is one of the things that I wasn't sharing about a month ago when I mentioned I was working towards one of my goals. We are currently under contract on a house and are waiting to close (this has been the stress of my life for the past few weeks because it is NOT going according to plan, but I'm keeping this post positive!). I'm hoping soon that I'll be able to post that we're officially homeowners. 
• Last Saturday was my second Great Strides of the season and it was so much fun. We had family on both sides show up to walk on the chilly, windy but sunny day. After the walk, Tim's sister Katrina,
  Tim and I played on the playground with our nephew, Isaac for a while -it was so fun!! I can't believe how big he's getting! See the adorable pictures below. :)
• Kitten update: The kittens are 4 weeks old today! We were able to see them while we were in town for Great Strides last weekend. They are hilarious. Their eyes are open and they're learning to walk, but they stumble all over the place. They are also learning how to play together which is hysterical! I think we sat there for about 2 hours just watching them. 
• Oh, how could I forget?? I'm an aunt to a third nephew!! Tim's other sister, Elise, had her second son, Liam, on Monday, May 6th! He's soooo cute and I cannot wait to go see him in June to celebrate his big brother's third birthday! :-)
• I've started running again and boy did I miss it! A couple days ago I ran 2.4 of my 3.5 mile route! :) Tim and I signed up for a 5K in June (the same one I did for my first 5K last year) so I'm prepping for that. I'm so happy that my body hasn't lost a lot of the endurance I had in the fall since I took the winter off. 

3 1/2 week old kittens

This is our little guy - still haven't agreed on a name yet for him

My favorite picture from Great Strides! Aunt Colleen & Isaac! :)

Running around the park with Isaac

Tim and I just hanging out on the dinosaur!

Weeeee!

He loved peeking through that thing

Haha...that slide was painful on our hips...I think we were a little too big!

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• I'm thankful that Tim & I are still renting our house (in case there was any damage) and that we are not affected by this crazy amount of rain and flooding going on throughout the Midwest.
• A few weeks ago I wrote about how a pregnant cat wandered onto Tim's dad's property. Well this morning she had 6 little kittens! I'm so excited that we'll be able to have a little kitten this summer. I think I'm calling 'dibs' on the brown, black & white one. :-)
• Next week's Thursday post may come on Friday due to my next CF clinic appointment being on Thursday and then we're having a Spring Carnival for our school Thursday evening -- that's going to be a long, busy day!
• This isn't really a positive thought, but I wanted to share this again since I didn't get any responses last time: If you could as an adult CFer any question about their life, what would it be?

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• I can't believe I didn't post this when I first heard about it! Another wonderful advancement in CF treatment! It's a powder inhaled form of the antibiotic TOBI (which I nebulize every other month) -- I might have to bring this up with my CF doctor at my next clinic visit.
• Tim and I took part in something this weekend that's very meaningful to me and I cannot wait to share it with you. It'll be shared this summer.
• One of my students called me "the funniest teacher" today! It made me smile. :-)
• I know I've been sharing this one a lot, but I'm very excited. My first Great Strides event of the year is on Saturday! 

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• This week the weather has been progressively getting warmer! I am not a fan of the cold or the hot, but warm is right up my alley! I'm loving the warm sunshine and that it's staying light much later. 
• There are only 37 school days left this year! I cannot believe it!! This school year has FLOWN by so quickly and it's been so much fun. This is the first year I don't really have any concrete summer plans, and I'm actually looking forward to being able to pretty much do whatever I want all summer.
• Next weekend is my first Great Strides event of the year and I'm really looking forward to it! So far my team has raised $195!
• I'm happy to have such great communication with my husband. I love how open and honest we are with each other. I feel like we are very good at compromising and working together at everything. I cannot imagine it being any other way. He makes me so happy. :-)

Kind of off topic, but please read my previous blog post and comment, comment, comment. I saw a great question from CysticLife and I think it'll spark some great blogging ideas for me (especially this summer!).

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• Spring break was excellent! I was able to spend some with some family and friends, and I also had lots of time to relax. I even got a one day extension when we happened to get about a foot of snow on Sunday = Snow day Monday!
• Thanks to our snow day, this was only a three-day work week because we have tomorrow off for Good Friday.
• Last night was McTeacher night for our school. The teachers worked at McDonald's for a few hours last night and 20% of the profit went to our school. We ended up raising around $870!! I spent my time working the drive through. :) I have to give credit to the people that work at McDonald's - it was not easy, but I had a lot of fun! 
• Tim and I are big fans of The Walking Dead. I saw this on Facebook today and it made me laugh! It's called "Undeniable Proof that 'The Walking Dead' and 'Toy Story' Have the Exact Same Plot!

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

Here's a side view of what they
do every time I do my treatments!

• I found a local (about 45 minutes from where we currently live) Great Strides 5K!!! I'm so glad to have found a 5K to support the CFF! I'm definitely going to train for this one! :) For information, click here.
• This week I've been on spring break and its been very relaxing. I've been able to read some of a book, watch lots of Dr. Phil (guilty pleasure!) and crime shows, and I even got my planning done for next week already.
• Today I'm heading north!! I'm very excited to see some family and friends this weekend. Tomorrow I'll also be spending the day at the school I worked in last year, visiting previous co-workers and students! Yay!
• Exciting things are happening, but I'm sworn to secrecy for now... ;) It has to do with a couple of my Goals.



Sorry it's blurry - I tried to take a
picture with my webcam.
Archie is loving sitting on my lap while
doing my treatments. And Pez (Tim's sister's
cat) is hanging out on the back of the chair.

• Tim's dad has a pregnant cat at his house. I'm already begging him for a kitten when it gets old enough! I've never had a kitten before and I think it would be so fun. I think I'm turning into a crazy cat lady....We have our cat, Archie. And right now we're "cat-sitting" for my sister-in-law and her husband while their house is on the market. They're trying to move to IL, yay! I don't know if I can handle 3 cats at once...that's a little on the crazy side. :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• One more day until spring break! As much as I love my kids and my job, I'm looking forward to having a week off. I'm planning on relaxing and spending some time with friends and family.
• I've got another couple goals in the works that I'm hoping to check off my list in the next few months...not sharing what (no baby, so don't start spreading rumors!), but I will share once they are set in stone. :-)
• We're only 30 days away from my first Great Strides event of the year! I'm very excited and looking forward to seeing all of my old friends and co-workers! 

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere in the world.

Our green eggs!

• We're celebrating Dr. Seuss week at my school and it's been so fun! Tomorrow one of the other kindergarten teachers and I are going to be dressing up as Thing One and Thing Two, and her assistant will be dressing up as Cat in the Hat. So far I've read all of these Dr. Seuss books to my kids this week: Hop On Pop, Fox in Socks, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Ten Apples Up On Top (complete with a full math lesson), Green Eggs and Ham, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, The Lorax, Put Me in the Zoo. Tomorrow we'll be reading Cat in the Hat and Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and any other Dr. Seuss books we haven't been able to get to this week. We've also watched several short videos and today we watched Horton Hears A Who! We've also completed many other Dr. Seuss related activities. It is so fun to teach from these books instead of the standard curriculum! :-)
• Wednesday was Green Eggs & Ham day in our class, so I made green eggs and ham (ham stayed pink) for the kids to try. I only had two students say they didn't like it - one didn't even try them. They were so amazed that they still tasted like yellow eggs! It was hilarious! After they devoured the food, they had to write "I do (not) like green eggs and ham."
• This past weekend we got together with Tim's family and celebrated his great-grandma's 99th birthday! :-) She's such a nice, funny lady and I love being around her. She amazes me because she's totally with-it and still lives on her own!!

Family picture from the birthday party -- notice our two adorable nephews
and one more on the way! :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life, or anywhere in the world.

• HUGE update in the CF world this week! Vertex (the same company that created Kalydeco) is beginning phase 3 clinical trials to combine Kalydeco with VX-809 for CFers with the DDF508 mutations - this is about 50% of the CF population!
• Although I have to reset my compliance count tomorrow, I am very proud of myself for sticking to my treatments for the past year (minus a week)!
• My Great Strides team has raised $135 so far. We're about 6 weeks away from the first Great Strides!