Diets and Q & A

Can anyone else relate to that? Well, if you were in the McCarl house you could. We have decided to go on diets. We could both stand to lose some weight and have tried for a while to diet but it just doesn't seem to work. Now, we are both watching what we eat and will attempt to exercise a little. Yes, Mat is the one pushing for the exercise. My idea of exercise is getting up to let the dog out. Pray that we can keep this up!

Have you noticed that every single post I say I'm going to blog more? What happens? I don't! It seems that something always gets in the way or when I have time there is nothing to blog about. If anyone ever desires to know what's going on I figure they'll email or comment and ask. Speaking of comments, is there anyone reading the blog? I know Melodie is but that's about it. So, to see who is reading and to come up with stuff to blog about, leave a comment and ask whatever you want to know. I'll read all of the comments and answer all questions. I figure this will be something fun that I know everyone will be interested in. If you'd rather email your question and have me answer that way, feel free. My email is jfmccarl@yahoo.com.



Have a great week! I can't wait to see all of your questions and comments!

Valentine's Day - A Little Late

It is about time that I posted something about Valentine's Day!

First, let's start with Valentine's Day - First Grade style. Valentine's Day is a HUGE deal in 1st grade. Even as the kids were coming in, they were asking when they could give out their cards. Because I am the horrible teacher that I am, I made them wait until the afternoon. So mean, I know!

The whole day I was sort of dreading it because this class is very active and not always appreciative. However, they really surprised me! They were all so well behaved and thankful for everything they got. They were saying "Thank You" for every card they got. It made me so proud of them.

I think the proudest moment was when I was giving out the cupcakes that I had made for them. Little A said "This is the best Valentine's Day I have ever had! Thank you so much Mrs. McCarl!". I didn't know what to say. It is moments like that that make it worthwhile to work with little kids all day.

Here are pictures of the amazing cupcakes that I actually made myself.

Of course I got tons of cards and candy from the kids. I also got these from D (have you noticed that I don't put my students' full names?). They are gorgeous and were so unexpected!

Now to the McCarl Valentine's Day. This year, Mat and I decided not to do anything special or get each other gifts. We really didn't have the money to spend. We did get each other cards and ended up going out to a little Chinese place to eat. Oh, the best part, we stopped by Krispy Kreme and got heart shaped donuts. That's a great Valentine's Day to me.

This weekend, we did a lot of relaxing around the house. We were going to waterproof our hardwood floors but realized Sunday afternoon that we forgot all about it. Hopefully we'll get to do it next weekend.

Saturday night, I made these cupcakes for Mat's mom's birthday that was 2 weeks ago. They also turned out being for my father-in-law as well because his birthday is on Valentine's Day. The cupcakes are supposed to look like groundhogs (because my mother-in-law's birthday is on Groundhog Day) but they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. That will probably be the first and last time I make those. Everything said that they were good though so I guess that is what matters. Thanks also to Mat! He actually made much better looking groundhogs than I did.

Why so many cupcakes you ask? Because I have this:

and this:

I LOVE both of these things. The first is a picture of my stand mixer. I have wanted one these as long as I can remember however the KitchenAid brand is over $200 so I wasn't getting that. At Christmas time, Mat and I were out shopping at Target and discovered this one for only $25!! I had to have it and my hubby loves me so much that he let me get it. I LOVE IT!!

The next thing is my new cupcake holder. It has a cupcake pan on the bottom, another holder on the top (they are stackable), and a cover. It holds 24 cupcakes! This is a must have for anyone who often travels with cupcakes. My students are going to love that I have this. I'm already planning cupcakes for every holiday. :) And, of course, this also came from Target and was purchased by my awesome husband. He is so good to me!!

If you have learned anything from this post, it should be:

1) You need to make cupcakes.

2) You need a stand mixer and cupcake holder from Target.

3) My life is so boring that I am blogging about cupcakes and things I buy at Target.

I hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and are having a wonderful start to the week!!

Happy Presidents' Day!

Wednesday is Wonderful

I have already been fussed at by my Mom for not updating after my doctor visit so I guess I better get to it!

I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. The MRI was normal so that is good. However, that means that I get more tests. I now must have a stomach emptying test because my stomach may not be emptying fast enough. I also get to go have another blood test to see if my liver is now functioning normally.
I was excited to hear that I wouldn't have to have surgery (for that sphincter muscle at my gallbladder) right away but I wasn't happy to hear that I would need more tests. I still may have to have the surgery but she doesn't want to do it until she knows if it is absolutely necessary. She says that it is a high risk surgery and can cause complications so that scared me a little. I just hope that the blood tests are now normal or that it is just my stomach. I really don't want to have surgery!

In other news, are there ever days when you aren't really in the mood to do anything and then something happens to change everything? Well today was one of those days for me. When I woke up, I wasn't all that excited about going to school. I wanted to stay in bed and I wasn't happy about the doctor's orders for more tests. I was just in a funk. However, when my students started coming in, they were all so happy and excited (only God knows why). Two of my little girls brought in Valentines even though I already told them we weren't exchanging them until Friday. They were both so excited because they had special Valentines for me. There was also a note from one of the girls' parents asking what my favorite flower was. I didn't really know what to say. I talked to the little girl and she told me that she wanted to get me flowers because I was "pretty like a flower". It was so sweet that I wanted to cry! I always tell the kids that they don't have to give me anything but they always insist. It is nice to be appreciated. All of the kids wanted to hug me all day and one of the boys even told me I was going to be his Valentine.

I don't know how Mat will feel about me getting flowers and having little 6 year old Valentines. It will be welcomed from me though because Mat and I have decided not to do anything special this year. I guess when you become homeowners you have to give up the simple holidays. I figure that we love each other more everyday so we shouldn't have to do anything special on Valentine's Day.

Anyways, I hope tomorrow is as great as today!! Now I'm off to do graduate school work.

Nice Weekend

First let me say that I am so sorry for not updating better. I never thought that I would go this long without a good update. Things have been so busy and I just haven't had a spare second. Thankfully things are settling down a little now.


We had a wonderful trip to Lenoir for Aunt Lucy's wedding. Well, some of it was wonderful.


We left Friday evening but it seemed to take us forever to get there. We had a few "bumps" in the road but we finally arrived at 3:30am! We all went right to bed and all slept as long as we could before we had to get ready for the wedding.


On our way to the wedding, Mary's car started having trouble. However, we made it to the the wedding. Lucy and Don's wedding was beautiful. I never thought that I would love such a simple wedding but it was amazing. These two people have so much love for each other and it showed. They were smiling the whole time! Their reception was at a cute restaurant with a beautiful outdoor seating area. The food was wonderful!! I think I ate about 5 of these truffles that they had. Amazing!! Mat was happy with the meatballs. Yes, we love food!!


Saturday evening, we had to go to Advance Auto Parts and Charles tested the alternator in the car. Of course that was the problem but they weren't able to get the part until 9am on Sunday. So, Charles ordered the part and a wonderful guy at Advance offered to put it in for us on Sunday. Yay for the nice guy in Lenoir!!


After that, we all tried to relax a little and went and had a nice time at Lucy and Don's new house. It was great to be with people that we don't see very often. All of Mat's cousins live far apart now so it is hard to keep up with everyone. We are hoping to come up with a way that we can all get together and visit more often. We had a wonderful time Saturday night.


On Sunday morning, we packed up, went to have the alternator fixed (and enjoy the finer shopping of the Big Lots and Dollar General while we waited), and then said goodbyes to everyone. Our trip home was much better than the trip there. We enjoyed some wonderful fast food. I learned that I really need a Sonic and Jack in the Box closer to me.


We got back about 8pm and picked up Patsy from her weekend with Cubbie. Then, I got to come home and do a paper for grad school that was due by midnight. I got it finished with 30 minutes to spare!!

Then, today it was back to work. I was tired from all of the traveling but it was definitly worth it. We were all so glad to get to spend some time with family. We wish we could see everyone so much more but it makes it so much nicer when we do have these times together.

By the way, tomorrow afternoon I go back to the doctor and we'll discuss my MRI and possible surgery. I really hope that I don't have to have surgery but we'll see what the doctor says. I'll try to get on tomorrow evening and update everyone.

Until next time, enjoy these pictures from the weekend.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Busy

Just a very quick update since I haven't been on in almost a week.

I'm doing fine just very busy and it will be even busier this week. I have tons of graduate school work to do as well as school stuff to do. We're going out of town next weekend for Mat's Aunt's wedding (YIPPEE!!) so I'm trying to get ahead on my grad. school work. So much to do!!

I go on Wednesday to have my Abdominal MRI and after that I will have to meet with my doctor again to discuss whether or not I need the surgery. I'll let you all know how Wednesday goes and when/if I hear anything from the doctor.

Have a great week!! I'll try to get on and update more as I have time.

Let it Snow!

Right as I woke up this morning and started getting ready, it started snowing. Because it was a Teacher Workday, I knew that we wouldn't get "out" of school. However, about 11am, I did get to leave school early. Mat got to come home around 3:30pm. YIPPEE!!

Mat and I love snow but Patsy hates it. She doesn't want to go out and has decided that she just wants to look out at it all the time. She also loves barking at the little girl next door when she is out trying to make a snowman. I hope our neighbors don't hate us.

Tonight we are supposed to have sleet and freezing rain. I'm praying that we have a Snow Day tomorrow!!

Here are some pictures that I took today. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Home and Resting

I am now home and resting for the rest of the evening.

My endoscopy went well. I was nervous but tried to relax before it all started. The hardest part of it all was getting the IV.

After it was over and I was awake, my doctor came to talk to me. Here is what she found:
*I have some inflammation in my stomach. This is gastritis. Nothing major or new here.
*They took some biopsies of different areas in my stomach.
*I may have "Sphincter of Oddi" dysfunction. She mentioned this the last time I saw her but I still can't remember what it all means. I found this on Wikipedia.
*To test for the Sphincter dysfunction, I will need to go have a specialized MRI (an MRCP).
*After that, I will go back to visit her and we'll discuss the results of the biopsies that were taken today and the results of the MRCP.
*If nothing shows up and/or if she still thinks it is the Sphincter, she will schedule a surgery. This is a specialized surgery that I will have to go to Georgetown University Hospital to have done. I can't remember the exact name of it and when I tried to Google it, that just gave me information that I didn't want to hear. So, I'm going to hope that the information I am reading is wrong or that I'm looking up the wrong thing. I'm going to try not to worry about it now.
*My gallbladder scan came back normal. Even the doctor was surprised by this!!

Well, no diagnosis yet but I think we're close. I am so thankful to have a doctor that is taking the time to figure out what is wrong. She knows that I'm frustrated. I know that she is trying hard and that some things take time.

I'm going to try to rest this evening like I'm supposed to. I have graduate school work that I really need to do so I hope I can wake up enough to get that done.

By the way, if nothing I have written makes sense, it is because I'm still a little sedated. I'll have the effects the next few hours. So please forgive me for errors or crazy writing.