Happy Easter!

We had a very non-traditional Easter this year due to the Coronavirus. My sister got the idea to “egg” our house from a friend. She hid eggs in our front yard and left a note on our porch with some Lysol spray and cookies. We were so surprised, the kids loved it! Mackenzie wanted to pay it forward and “egg” a couple of her friends. I went to the store and got all of the stuff. We got each family a box of tissues, a 500 piece puzzle and some snacks to go along with the candy filled eggs. Mackenzie was all for filling the eggs and choosing which family got which puzzle. But when it came time to leave, she panicked. She is a VERY nervous person by nature, so I should have expected this. We drove to the first family’s neighborhood and Mackenzie says, “ I think this is her street.” I turn. We drive to the end of the street and she says, “I think that one is her house.” I said “ what do you mean you think? How do you not know which house it is?” She told me that she’s only been to this friends house a couple of times during the day. She noticed her friends car parked between the house she thought was hers and another house. We went with her gut instinct and chose the original house she pointed out. We parked around the corner and I gave Mackenzie the eggs to hide while I put the other stuff on the doorstep. Mackenzie kept reminding me that her friends dad is a police officer and would probably shoot us if we got caught. I told her I was pretty sure he would ask a couple questions first! It took me less than a minute to set the stuff on the doorstep. I turned around to help Mackenzie hide the rest of the eggs and saw her running back towards to car full speed. She had already hid all of the eggs. I saw one on her friends back car window and one in a bush, but didn’t see the others. Mackenzie promised she hid them well. Off to the second house. This house was a corner house and one we’ve been to many times so we already had a game plan. Mackenzie hid the eggs and I crawled by the garage and slid the puzzle and other items onto the doorstep trying to avoid setting off their Ring doorbell camera. After we left, Mackenzie texted her friends to go outside. At first, we were going to let it be a surprise, but Mike pointed out with everything going on right now, it might be better to let the families know it was from Mackenzie and was safe. After leaving the second house, we decided to go back to the first house and try to watch them find the eggs. We parked on the side street and had a clear view of the house. Mackenzie texted her friend again asking her to go outside. Her friend texted back and said “I did, why?” Mackenzie asked if she saw anything on her doorstep. Her friend said no. As Mackenzie is reading me the text from her friend, we see the garage door of the house NEXT to the house we left the stuff at open. Mackenzie panicked and whispered repeatedly “We did the wrong house! We did the wrong house! We did the wrong house!” My first thought was “oh, shit” followed by telling Mackenzie to tell her friend to check her neighbors doorstep. She said “No, we have to go move it all!” A car pulled out of the garage and drove away. The house we “egged” remained dark. Mackenzie’s friend texted and said her mom got the stuff off the porch and they were waiting for her little sister to get home to hunt for the eggs. We did the right house after all! I laughed until I cried and Mackenzie was sure she was going to have a heart attack. She would make a terrible criminal! We headed home and within minutes of being home one friend after another called Mackenzie because they couldn’t find all of the eggs!

Here is the note we left.

Easter morning was pretty normal. I made the kids pancakes shaped like bunnies and they got their Easter baskets. My parents (who live literally next door) came over for coffee and to see what the Easter bunny left. Everyone took a nap and my parents came back over for a BBQ followed by a game night. I missed seeing my niece and nephew and watching my kids help them hunt for eggs in my parents backyard like we normally do. Hopefully next year!

Jake also got a video game, but I just realized it’s not in the picture!

Endo Update

***I feel like this post needs a disclaimer. It is very long and was written over the span of 3 days. Click back now if you’re not feeling it! There, you’ve been warned 🙂 ***

I’ve seen a few people post on social media pictures of themselves getting iron infusions lately. I’ve also had quite a few people reach out to me and ask questions about Hashimoto’s (either for themselves or a friend/relative). I try to give as many details as possible. And, I have no shame so embarrassing details are always included! I went back to the endocrinologist the week of Thanksgiving and he said all of my thyroid levels looked good. He did not need to adjust my medication! Instead of sending me on my happy way, he said I have IDA (iron deficiency anemia) and referred me to a hematologist. I went to see the hematologist on December 16th and he said my iron was severely depleted and I needed an iron infusion. He said iron pills and/or eating iron rich foods would not bring my iron level up quick enough. We scheduled the infusion for Monday morning (12/23) but then his office called a couple days later and rescheduled it for the day after Christmas. The nurse who called said they didn’t want to ruin anyone’s Christmas, so they were rescheduling all of their Monday appointments. My new appointment was scheduled for Thursday afternoon (12/26). I googled how to prepare but didn’t find much information. This is the reason why this post is so long. I decided to document everything from the beginning to the end. I packed a bag with a blanket, book, magazines and some snacks.

Thursday

When I arrived at the center, they put me in the infusion room. There were 6 people receiving chemotherapy. I felt incredibly guilty for taking up a seat just to get iron. I instantly remembered going with Mama Jack (my mom’s mom) to get her chemotherapy. I was a senior in high school and used to skip school to take her for her treatments. Some of my best memories are of us in that chemo room. Everyone was so nice and just loved her! Anyways, they sat me in a chair next to the nurses desk so they could keep an eye on me. The nurse explained all the things I would be getting in my IV. As she was talking, she looked at my hand a couple of times and asked if I ever had trouble with getting blood drawn. I laughed and said “Yes, every. single. time.” She proceeded with the IV set up and blew out the first vein in my hand. At this point, Mike (my husband) excused himself to the restroom to keep from passing out. She waited a few minutes and then reinserted the IV in a different vein. She had to wiggle the needle a little and then it began to work. The first thing they gave me was dexosomething and then they gave me Benadryl and a steroid and something to help protect my stomach at 11:30. After all that, they gave me a test dose of the iron around 12:30 and waited to see if I would have a reaction. I have never responded well to any type of medication. For whatever reason, my body tends to over absorb anything and everything (especially alcohol!). No reaction (whew!) so they waited 30 minutes and started the big bag of iron at 1:10. The Benadryl kicked in and I fell asleep for a little bit. I read my magazines and part of my book. I don’t do well at sitting still and kept moving around in my chair. At one point, a nurse nicely asked me to sit still and said moving won’t make the iron pump faster. Like an annoying child, I asked to go to the bathroom a few times just to move freely.

Four hours later, they unhooked everything, checked me out and sent me home at 5:22. They said the steroid would give me a false sense of energy for a day or two followed by a couple days of flu like symptoms and then the fatigue would come back until the iron kicked in which will take a few weeks.

I was starving by the time we left so we picked up dinner and headed home. When we got home, Mackenzie told us she took all the ornaments off the Christmas tree to help out. We ate dinner and continued to take down the rest of our Christmas decorations and get our house back to normal. Then the kids went to get ice cream. I unpacked my bag and felt wide awake. Not super energized, but wide awake! We later binge watched the entire final season of Fuller House and listened to an hour long podcast.

Friday

I outlasted the boys. They fell asleep around 1:30 A.M. after the podcast was over, so I went into Mackenzie’s room and watched a couple movies with her until she fell asleep at 4:00 A.M. I spent the rest of the early morning hours creating a new budget based on the Dave Ramsey plan I found online, did a workout dvd, got back online and spent my Kohl’s cash on a new comforter for my bedroom, downgraded my DirecTV plan (thanks for the tip Dave Ramsey!) and then called DirecTV to find out how to return one of our boxes that we are no longer using. After Mike woke up around 9:00, I got dressed and headed out to run some errands. I went to the bank, got gas, went to the mall and bought 13 personalized Christmas ornaments to replace ones that have been lost or broken over the years. I also bought some make up with one of my gift cards and went to the UPS store and then placed an online grocery order. As the day went on, I felt fine. The only thing I noticed was that I was slowly bloating to the point of having to take off my ring and socks. Watching my ankles and wrists disappear was very sad and uncomfortable. I grew another chin and felt my jeans getting tighter and tighter. The fact that my period is supposed to start today isn’t helping. The nurse told me yesterday that I would swell up pretty good due to the amount of crap that was pumped into me yesterday. She wasn’t kidding! Around 5:00 P.M., the steroids wore off and the truck hit. I felt stiffness all over. My skin was sensitive to touch. I felt tingly all over and wanted to sleep for days. My house was full of giggling teenagers playing Jake’s VR games in the living room. I made them pizza, paid the bug guy who showed up during dinner and went to my room and laid down and watched TV. Mackenzie went out with her friends and the boys went to the Void. I was able to go to bed at 8:30 and crashed.

Saturday

I woke up a little after 9:00 and felt groggy and stiff from sleeping so long. I spent the day catching up on TV shows. All in all, I felt fine. I’m scheduled to go back to the hematologist in March for more blood work. Hopefully the infusion holds and I have enough iron in my system not to need another one!

‘Tis the Season

There are so many things about my new position as a counselor that I can’t talk about or share due to confidentiality. I have seen and heard the craziest stuff and kept it to myself. This past week was a little different. I had a couple families reach out and ask for help providing gifts for their children for Christmas. With no resources, I had to turn them away and offer phone numbers of places they could call for assistance. Then, out of nowhere, my assistant principal texted me and said she received an anonymous donation of $1,000 that we could use to help these families. We made a plan to buy gifts for all the children on my list.

The day before we went shopping, a young mom came into the front office to withdraw her special needs child from the early childhood program. When asked why she was withdrawing, the mom broke down and told the front office that her family was being evicted from their home on Jan. 1 and would become homeless. The registrar put her in my office and called me to talk to her. It broke my heart to hear this woman’s story. Her husband lost his job due to taking time off to help her with her postpartum depression. They have a 4 year old and a 3 month old. The mom struggled with postpartum depression shortly after having their second baby and was unable to take care of both kids alone while her husband worked. He took too much time off and ended up getting suspended and then fired. They used all of their savings to make ends meet until the money ran out. She said they are actively looking for jobs but haven’t had much luck. I asked her what their plans were for the holidays and she said they told their daughter that sometimes Santa is unable to visit. I thought about the money that was donated and told her that we would get a few items for her children for Christmas. All she asked for was a warm blanket and warm clothes for each. She said they didn’t need toys and they received food stamps so they didn’t need food either. I gave the woman some phone numbers of community resources and walked her back to the office.

Yesterday, we went shopping for the families in need and were able to buy $1,000 worth of clothes, shoes and toys for 9 kids. My mom also bought a few things and dropped them off at my school. Once all the gifts were wrapped, families were called to pick up their items. Most of the families were grateful. The mom that I met the day before was overwhelmed and cried. I had also gotten her a couple job applications for her and her husband. She was very grateful and appreciative. I don’t know what will happen next week when they lose their home. She said they are planning on living in their van until they have enough money saved to pay rent somewhere. I hope something changes soon for them!

I am in awe of the generosity and donations we received to help our families at my school. I am already planning on how to do more next year. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Losing Jingle Bells

We lost Dixie suddenly on the last day of school in 2018. We were not expecting it and even less prepared for the loss. About five months later, Jingle started to have heart problems. We put all of our energy into treating her and making the most out of whatever time we had with her. She became very spoiled very quickly! She started to sleep in Mackenzie’s bed and got treats anytime she gave us “the look” with her puppy eyes. She didn’t improve with the medication, but it did slow down what we dreaded the most and gave us more time with her.

Jingle woke me up around 4:00 in the morning whimpering. We couldn’t get her to take her medicine the night before so I tried giving it to her again. No luck. I sat on the couch with her and she slept in my lap for a little while until I had to get ready for work. I let Mike and the kids know that she wasn’t doing too well and asked Jake to keep an eye on her since he had the day off. Mike went to work. I dropped Mackenzie off at school and headed to work. Jake started texting Mike and I around 10:00 saying he was really worried about Jingle. I was sitting in my assistant principal’s office discussing the upcoming earthquake drill that was about to begin when Jake called panicking because Jingle wasn’t breathing right. I stayed on the phone with him while she took her last breath in his arms. My assistant principal heard Jake and saw me try to hold it together and lose it all at the same time and told me to go home. I called Jake from the car and he walked me through what happened. Jingle wasn’t acting like herself and followed him around the house all morning. She collapsed in the kitchen and Jake picked her up. This is when he started texting us. A couple minutes later, he followed Jingle outside and she collapsed again but didn’t get up this time. Jake sat down and pulled her into his lap, called me and she passed after a couple minutes.

I told Jake to pick up Mackenzie from school and meet me at the house. I called Mike and he was already leaving work. He said he had a bad feeling reading Jake’s texts and asked his boss if he could leave. When I got home, Jake was on his way to get Mackenzie. On the way home, I tried to prepare myself for what I would see when I went outside. I didn’t do a very good job. I dropped down beside Jingle and cried harder than I had in a long time. I cleaned her up the best I could and wrapped her up in a towel. I didn’t want Mackenzie to see her laying on the cement or Jake to relive it. Mike and the kids came home within a couple minutes of each other. The four of us sat in the living room and grieved for our naughty little chipoodle. I was honestly surprised how hard this hit me. I knew it would hit the kids and Mike hard but I thought I would just be sad. I was completely devastated. This hit me harder than losing some of my relatives. Jingle was family. She was one of us even though she was a dog. One of the first questions people asked afterward is if we were going to get a puppy. What the hell? And go through this all over again in about 10 years from now? If my child had died, would people ask if we were going to have another baby? I just don’t understand that thought process.

Endo Update

I realized it’s been a while since my last update. I haven’t blogged about my last couple appointments. My endocrinologist sent me to have an allergy test done over the summer to see if there’s something that we’re missing. My symptoms are not improving, and new ones keep showing up. He said there might be an allergy that is working against the medication. I went to an allergist and had a scratch test done. The test showed that I have zero food allergies. I was relieved until the allergist suggested I have intolerance/sensitivity test done. After speaking to my endocrinologist’s office, this became my new plan (in addition to restarting AIP). The intolerance test was easy. I sent a hair sample into a place called Check My Body Health and got the results in about a month. While waiting for my results, I restarted the autoimmune protocol (AIP). The best and worst part about AIP is that everything must be made pretty much from scratch. No more quick and easy meals. No more eating out. One of the main factors in AIP is coconut everything (oil, flour, butter, milk, aminos…). Other parts of the protocol include fruits, veggies and organic meats. That’s basically it. Everything was going fine. I went back to work and followed the protocol as closely as possible. Then, my test results came back.

I learned a lot from those 52 pages! I had the platinum testing done which tested for sensitivities and other stuff like vitamin deficiencies, digestive and gut health, the works. The results are divided into sections by the type of item tested. Each section had an overview page which made the results easy to follow. I quickly scrolled to the food portion and started reading. The foods are listed according to the type of reactivity level. A highly reactive food is listed in red; a moderately reactive food is listed in yellow and foods with no reaction are listed in green. The highly reactive foods are identified as those which may be causing or contributing to physical symptoms. There were a lot of foods on this list that I didn’t even recognize. But the ones that I did recognize were doozies! Gluten-containing grains and cereals, ALL dairy products (cheese, milk, butter), prawns, shrimp, cashews, mushrooms, lentils and COCONUT EVERYTHING! AIP is hard enough to follow with coconut, doing it without is going to be tricky. The moderately reactivity foods are identified as those which may have the potential to cause or contribute to physical symptoms. This list wasn’t as traumatizing as the highly reactive list. The only foods that stood out to me on this list were apples (all types), beef and vodka (not that I’m a big drinker, but this is one of the items I recognized lol). All other foods showed no reaction.  What does this mean moving forward? Luckily, not too much. I will continue with AIP and just replace coconut with other AIP items. I will eat chicken instead of beef. If I didn’t have Hashimoto’s, I would have never even bothered with this test. These are intolerances, not allergies. I’m not going to die if I eat foods off the red list, but I may have inflammation, joint pain, brain fog and a list of other unfavorable outcomes. Does this mean I will never eat cereal again? Ummm, no. If I am addicted to one thing, it’s cereal! I won’t be eating it anytime soon, but eventually I will have a bowl or two 😊

I went back to my endocrinologist last week. He said my blood work looked good and was happy with my levels. He did not need to adjust my medication. I think this was the first time that had happened! He said the AIP appeared to be working and looked over my intolerance test results. He recommended having another intolerance test in about six months and then once a year after that. He said that intolerances will change over time. He asked how I was managing stress. How does anyone manage stress? Is it even possible? I skimmed over that question and told him about an irregular period. He looked stunned, shook his head and said I was a wild card. I have never had irregular periods before. I don’t remember missing any and sure as hell don’t remember having any bonus ones. Ever. I asked if this could be the beginning of premenopausal symptoms and he said he didn’t think so. Whew! We both agreed that I am too young for that to be happening yet. He did remind me that I will go through menopause earlier than normal (another perk of Hashimotos). He wants to see me in three months and ordered some hormone testing with my next round of blood work. I will see him for the results just before Thanksgiving.

I Could Get Used to This

Three weeks in. So far, so good. I’m starting to get used to having an office. I’ve mastered how to use the walkie talkie! I survived my new role during a fire drill. I must say, I like fire drills much better as a teacher. I attended a suicide protocol training last week. It was intense and very informative. I heard from other elementary school counselors who had already written suicide protocols for students at their schools. The trainers said that the number of suicides threatened, attempted and completed fluctuate from year to year, but do occur in elementary, middle and high schools. One of the papers they went over in detail was the initial screener. When a student mentions wanting to die or something similar, a screener must be done, and the parent needs to be notified no matter how serious their intent turns out to be. The first question on the screener is “What time do you go to bed?” The trainer said to always follow up with the question “What time do you go to sleep?” The trainer said we will get two completely different answers. Especially in middle and high school, students may go to bed at 10:00, but will be on their phones looking at social media seeing all of the things they weren’t invited to, all of the parties they missed out on, all of the people who are skinnier and more attractive than them….  until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. The trainers said to suggest to parents to take their child’s phone at night when they go to bed. If the child needs an alarm clock, get them an actual alarm clock. The trainers told a few stories about their experiences and what they saw in the field. One told of a time where an 11-year old student overdosed on Tylenol and died from liver failure. They said to recommend locking up all prescriptions and over the counter medications. When a child is contemplating suicide, they will often test out different things such as vitamins, pain relievers, cold medicine… The training took about four hours and was overwhelming to say the least!

The rest of the week was spent putting out little fires among students and teachers. I am struggling a bit with note taking. As a teacher, I took very detailed notes about everything that happened with a student. Now, I am supposed to take minimal notes (more like a log) in case they are ever subpoenaed in court. I found a form online that I plan on using that is very basic. I’ve spoken with a lot of students and a few parents about the most random stuff. I take each person’s confidentiality (and my license) seriously and do not discuss details with anyone. I started to put together an introductory lesson that will be taught school-wide in the library during the book fair. I cleaned out some files and began organizing some ideas for counseling groups that will begin next month. I submitted applications for food and clothing for some students. I had another training that took place at my school with the Title I Hope department. I am finding that I need a binder for everything! I set up a peanut butter drive that will begin next week and run until the end of the month. Things are starting to move quickly, and I love it!

Change is a Good Thing

Week 1. Done. I am so excited to have my very own parking spot! This was a hectic week and I loved every minute of it. It got off to a slow start. Monday and Tuesday were very quiet and calm. I did my breakfast duty in the morning, checked in on classrooms, went to my office, did my lunch duties, took my lunch break, went back to my office and called it a day. Wednesday through Friday we’re much busier. I met with students and set attendance goals. I was called to a classroom to help a student in distress and met with his dad after school. I discussed poor choices with another student multiple times. I made some phone calls and met with a family in need.

I went to a back to school training for all the counselors in my district on Thursday. I had been looking forward to this training since June. I get to the school and go to the theater and am told that something happened and the air conditioner and power were both out but the power company was working on it. The training began (thanks to back up generators) and about an hour later, the generators went out and the theater went pitch black. The training ended and the head of the counseling department said she would send the PowerPoint and rest of the presentation to everyone’s email. The school didn’t regain power and the students ended up being sent home as well. I was so desperate for this training that I was willing to sit in the dark during an extreme heat wave with no air conditioning just to hear something, anything about my new role! But, that wasn’t an option. Oh well, I have another training next week at a different place. This training will be for brand new counselors. I am looking forward to meeting other people in the same boat as me.

This first week was beyond different than what I am used to. I’m used to a classroom full of untrained kindergarteners and overbearing parents. I’m used to going over rules and procedures and repeating myself a million times. I’m used to being damn good at what I do. This week, I had to relearn how to use a walkie talkie lol! I’m looking forward to the next few months and learning everything I can 🙂 If you went back to school this past week, I’d love to hear about it!

Summer Recap

Oh summer, where did you go?! For a season that has the longest days, it sure does go by fast! We were busy from the minute school got out until now. I took on a little project of redecorating our staff lounge at my school and signed my husband up to help. We started our summer with this project. You can read about it here. Then we celebrated a ton of birthdays: mine, both of my kids (pics from Mackenzie’s sweet 16 luau are here), my niece and nephew, my brother in law and three close friends. It is literally Christmas in June around here! I took a quick girls trip to Mesquite with some friends and played Bingo, got a massage and a sunburn!

We celebrated 4th of July with my parents. Our son went out of town with friends and our daughter went to a party. It was so weird without them. The dud firework that exploded and scared the crap out of all the little kids at my parents kept it interesting though. http://www.mrsdandymandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/img_5169.trim_.movAny free time I had was spent at my friends pool. My daughter got her drivers license and has been sharing my son’s car and driving to meet up with her friends at the five places she knows how to get to. She is still driven everywhere else (for now). I think she will be more comfortable once school starts and she is driving more regularly. Jingle Bells went to the vet for her check up and blood work. Her heart condition is worsening (as expected) and we are just giving her the medication, lots of love and as many treats as her little body can hold! She is still as naughty as can be especially when it is time to go the the vet or groomer, but everyone gives her a free pass because she is so stinkin’ cute! I went back to my endocrinologist and he adjusted my medication. Again. As well as added two more medications. He sent me to an allergist to see if I had any food allergies that could possibly explain some of my symptoms. I went to the allergist and had testing. I had no reaction to the food testing. The allergist suggested an intolerance/sensitivity test or an elimination diet (similar to AIP). I called my endocrinologist and relayed the message. He didn’t seem to be a fan of the autoimmune protocol last summer, but suggested I do it again (but for longer) to see if anything changes this time. I have been back on the protocol for about three weeks and the inflammation seems to be going down. It will take a couple months to figure out what (if any) food is causing which symptom. I got desperate and bought a food intolerance/sensitivity test online. All I had to do was send in a hair sample for them to test. I should get the results in a couple weeks. I might do another one in my moms name just to see if the results are the same. Is that crazy? Maybe. We took a vacation and went to Brian Head, Utah for a few days. We went shopping, did a little hiking and some sight seeing. The lady who worked in the gift shop at the resort we stayed in told us about a short trail that led to a small pond behind the resort. We walked the trail and found tons and tons of dandelions. We took a few pictures for my Facebook page and some other pictures before we realized that we were covered in bugs! We ran across the street to a small store and bought bug repellent but were too late. We came home covered in bug bites. The resort also had a huge indoor pool and game room. We spent quite a bit of time in the game room. I was dying to use the pool, but not dying to be in a bathing suit in front of anybody (who is, right?). On our last night, I went to the pool to see how many people were there and it was empty. Not a single person! I was so excited. We ran back to our room, changed into our suits and went to the pool. In the ten minutes we were gone, TWELVE (yes, I counted) people had gotten in the pool. Where in the hell did these people come from? I was so annoyed. The kids and Mike were annoyed with me. It was not pretty. In instances like this, my family loves to point out the obvious and make things worse: “It’s not the Mandy Resort”, “you can’t put a sign out that says No Kids Allowed!”, “This is a family hotel, what did you expect?”. A family got out of one of the hot tubs and I saw it as a sign from God and went and got in. Not even five minutes later, a man and woman got in with their kids. So now there are eight of us in hot tub with squealing kids. It was awful. I looked at Mike and wondered if he even noticed the kids jumping and playing all around us. I don’t think he did. I’ve spent the last couple weeks back at my school decorating it for the new school year. Over the summer, I created some Hollywood themed items for Teachers pay Teachers and hung them up around my school. My husband painted the conference room and gave it a fresh new look. My assistant principal contacted me and hired me to decorate her office. I made some paper flowers for over her doorway and bulletin board and a tassel garland with a vinyl saying for her wall. A couple teachers asked me to decorate their bulletin boards as well. I think I might print pictures of what I’ve done and create a small portfolio to maybe drum up some business? If you know of any schools in the Henderson, Las Vegas area that need some freshening up…

Party Like a Rockstar

The next best thing to attending a killer party is hosting one! I love having parties, especially for my kids. Their birthdays are my absolute favorite days of the year and I love celebrating them. My daughter turned 16 this year and we had ourselves a little luau with family and friends. I purchased her invitations on Etsy, took a screenshot and texted them out about two weeks before the party date. My assistant principal let me borrow some of her luau party items that she used for her daughter’s party a few years ago. I ordered everything else from Amazon. The kids all had such a good time and spent most of the night at the photo wall. I love how cute the backdrop turned out. I ordered this 100 foot flower string and props from Amazon and the giant tiki boxes were made by a friend and leftover from our work luau.

These yellow tablecloths were a great find at Big Lots. I bought the giant palm leaves from Amazon to use as table runners and topped them with fresh pineapples from our local grocery store and glass bowls filled with white rocks, shells, colored sand and tea lights from the Dollar Tree. Each place setting had a lei, tiki cup and flamingo straw.

I tried to talk Mackenzie into letting Gramps make it a real luau and roast a pig, but she wasn’t having any part of that! Instead, we barbecued hamburgers and brats and served chips and dip, grape salad and these cute pineapple donuts. My cousin made the adorable cake.

If teaching or counseling doesn’t work out for me, I may look into party planning! It was so much fun working on the details with Mackenzie and watching her enjoy the party with her friends. After the party, all the girls came back to our house for a bonfire, made s’mores, played games and watched movies until 9:30AM the next morning!

Last night, we celebrated Jake’s 19th birthday. It’s finally starting to sink in that he is actually an adult now! He’s finished up a year of college, changed his major, quit his job at Journeys, got a new job with the City of Henderson and is living his best life! He didn’t want a big party. Instead, he opted for a small family gathering at our house and requested to have breakfast for dinner. So we ate scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and chocolate gravy (I promise it’s yummy!)

Overall, it was a great weekend full of family and friends celebrating our kids. We ended the weekend watching the kid’s past birthday videos and reminiscing about the “good old days” as Jake likes to call them!

Lounge Makeover

The long awaited lounge makeover is complete! I had so much fun planning and am so grateful that my administration gave me free reign creatively. Having a hubby who is a painter also came in handy 🙂 He was a huge help. My kids were also very helpful. The first thing we did was repaint the lounge. The next day was spent covering the green cabinets with shiplap style covering from Lakeside Collections. After that was complete, it was finally time to decorate the walls. My husband’s cousin cut and assembled the oversized frame above the cabinets. My husband painted it and covered the inside with a shiplap vinyl wallpaper. I turned it into an established sign and added some small flowers. The Smile board was redone using colored burlap. The district news bulletin board was freshened up by adding a fabric background.

The PTA bulletin board was redone using a flower template from Happily Ever Elementary and greenery from Michael’s. The colored burlap was purchased from Hobby Lobby.

There is a tiny room with a phone inside the lounge for making private calls. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time or money on it because I don’t know how many people actually use it. On the other hand, I didn’t want to leave it naked so I added a frame from JoAnn’s with some cute teacher quotes and flowers.

I found the envelopes above the mailboxes on sale at Michael’s and filled them with small white flowers and greenery to match the PTA bulletin board.

My Cricut machine got quite the workout during this project. It made things so much quicker and easier. I couldn’t be happier with the results and hope everyone else is too! Who knows, this could possibly turn into a side hustle? I would love to do this for more schools in our district! Spread the word 😉