Knees......take 2!

Back last fall, I had both my bone-on-bone knees scoped and cleaned up... Once they healed from the scoping, they were pretty good. The right one was painful and clicking for a long time, but is pretty good now. The left was good for a while, but hurts like a beeyotch lately. I went back to the orthopedic surgeon a couple of weeks ago and got cortisone shots in both knees. Then, he said, "you know, what you have going on is probably a bone chip floating around in there chewing up the cartilege...." Wow, doc, thanks for that imagery! SO, due to the bone-on-bone rubbing in my knee, he thinks that I have bone spurs/chips floating in the joint and chewing up what teensy little bits of cartilage I have left! Great! That leads me to believe that this scoping/cleaning may be a regular thing till I get to the point that they just replace the whole joint(s). How's that for incentive to keep the weight off and take it as easy on those knees as you can?

I am having the left knee done again on Tuesday (6/22). Wish me luck!

10 ways to include healthy carbohydrates in your diet

Not sure where this came from as a friend passed it on to me... The list is pretty simple and some are no-brainers for a postop WLS lifestyle... See what you think! How many of these are you doing already? How many could you try now that you have them in mind? 1. Choose corn instead of flour tortillas. 2. Use whole wheat pasta instead of refined white pasta. 3. Opt for whole-grain breads instead of refined white breads. 4. Choose brown rice instead of white rice. 5. Eat slow-cooked oatmeal or steel oats in place of processed or "instant" cereals. 6. Snack on whole, fibrous fruits instead of artificial sweets and candies. 7. Opt for yams instead of white potatoes. 8. Choose whole wheat snack crackers over butter crackers. 9. Try making your own pizza with whole wheat pizza dough. 10. When eating baked goods, opt for muffins or pastries containing whole grains, nuts and berries instead of processed and refined white flours and sugars. I have a wonderful whole wheat pizza crust recipe here on this blog... I only use the Barilla Plus pasta these days. There's a little Mexican grocer at the end of my street that makes fresh corn tortillas EVERY day and you get about 15 tortillas in a foil wrapping for $1! When I want tortillas, this is what I use--even for my burrito bake recipe. I don't eat many potatoes--of any type or color. Just don't crave them anymore. Crackers--my fave these days is the multi-grain Club cracker. But, I don't eat them without cheese! I haven't had a slice of white bread since July 2006. My favorite these days is Arnold's Health Nut bread but we usually use their Multi-Grain Sandwich Thins. Those are awesome and nice and thin so not too filling and leaves room for lots of meat and cheese. I never eat oatmeal. I love fruit as a snack, and I make my own sweet goods with Splenda and healthier flours. If I have to make it, I won't eat it as often!

Crisis Averted!

As I informed you back in May, my position as a teacher was reallocated to the language arts department and I was unemployed as of June 9th. I've been job hunting since the end of April and there are just SO many teachers out of work right now due to budgetary cutbacks that I was really worried about finding something before school starts in August. I'm qualified to teach so many things, but there are just more applicants than there are jobs. I am certified to teach Social Studies, grades 6-12, Exceptional Student Education (special education or ESE) for grades K-12, and can teach any subject for 5-9 as I carry the Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum 5-9 certification as well. Was all of that doing me much good? It didn't seem like it!

BUT, my principal found me a position after all! It will be a hectic year, but I will be strong and "just do it!" I will be teaching ESE (learning strategies class), 2 classes of "level 3 reading" which is 11th grade reading--I think, and then 1 period/class of 9th grade physical science. Yes, me--the social studies teacher--teaching science! I've never done it before, but I passed the test and am now qualified to do it. This year, I get a chance to see how I like it! Our school is stretched really thin in several areas this year due to financial restrictions. We don't have enough science teachers. We did get another language arts teacher (due to my lost job being shifted to them). We don't have enough reading teachers or ESE teachers. The math department is stretched a bit thin AND the social studies department is going to be very thin with losing my position and adding several AP courses to their offerings... Just not enough teachers to go around and the school board doesn't get it!

I'm happy to have secured a full time position so soon in the summer. I'll have 3 different classes to teach, so that allows me more time before school starts to familiarize myself with the course materials, get moved into my new classroom (not as nice as what I had, but I'll make due!) and get started for this new position...

It's Official!

It is official! My baby, Mandy, is now an official graduate of LaBelle High School--with honors! On May 31, 1985, I graduated from LaBelle High School. My graduating class was 85 graduates. Today, June 5, 2010--25 years later, my daughter graduated 39th in a class of 237! It was a beautiful day for their outdoor graduation and the people came out in droves! The stands were full and people were standing down front too.