work – Lakesidegirl

One Thing for Another

I used to have weird stomach anxiety. In high school and off and on in college, I would have a stomach ache when I woke up in the morning. Occasionally I would be able to track it to some stressful situation, but most of the time it was just there for no reason. It often meant I couldn’t eat breakfast. It wasn’t nausea, just weird stomach ache. It’s been so long since I’ve felt it that I can’t really describe it anymore.

Because once I started my job, I haven’t felt it. Not once. I’ve been working since August 2010, and can’t recall a single instance of my weird morning stomach. It makes little sense, because my job is often stressful. I’m confident that I’m in the right place in my life–but I’m confident I was where I was supposed to be in high school and college. It’s just a thing that will probably always befuddle me (assuming that it keeps staying away).

Alas, I have traded that weird morning stomach for preschool. And you know what preschool means? Germs. Lots of them. I spent the last two weeks with a cold, after spending August/September/October with allergies (although the latter can’t be blamed on the children). Aaaaand then last night I was struck with the least delightful of diseases: the dreaded stomach bug. It’s nothing like weird morning stomach. It’s terrible, but at least it has a cause Five out of my nine kids had had a stomach bug over the last week and a half. It was only a matter of time before it came to me.

I’ve traded one thing for another. In the throes of illness, I’d obviously rather it just GO AWAY. But I’ll take definable, contagious diseases over weird unknown ailments. That seems like an odd thing to be appreciative of, but hey it’s Thanksgiving week. Time to be thankful.

And, of course I get sick as I start a break. One, because I worked myself to exhaustion on the brink of disease (not quite sick enough to not show up, but not quite well enough to feel 100%). Two, because that’s just the way it is.

I’ll get to reading books eventually. Today, it’s been movies and tv shows on the couch. Alas.

Social Media

I’m part of the social media team at work. This is a new focus at work: utilizing social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the blog we have on our website. I’ve also started and am now curating a Pinterest page for us. Today we had some training about how to use WordPress, the platform by which our website and blog is maintained. Most of the information presented I already knew, but I did pick up some tips on linking and raising ranking on Google search.

I could care less about the Google ranking of this blog, because it exists for a writing outlet and vague updates for friends and family who care to read. However, I want to do everything I can to improve the ranking of the LLH websites and such. As you may have noticed, one tip was to link back to other pages. It improves our rating and that of the site we link. I’m experimenting with new things here, as this is my own personal experimentation ground. I’d rather do strange formatting things here rather than on a blog we’re trying to use to spread the news about what we do for kids with special needs. So if weird things pop up around here, that’s why.

I love being a part of the social media team, because I love helping further our mission past our doors. I feel like I am uniquely qualified to help make our presence on these tools better–I’ve been using nearly all of them longer than anyone at work. Facebook? Since I got my jbu.edu email address in early 2006. Twitter? I don’t even remember how long I’ve had it, but at least two or three years, if not longer. YouTube? Ok, I don’t really do much with YouTube, but words are my thing, not videos. Pinterest? Well, that hasn’t been around long, but I’ve been on it since it’s early stages. WordPress? I’ve had this blog since 2007. Writing? I’ve been doing that forever, but that’s not a social media tool. It’s just an awesome tool.

Basically, I’m not the best at using these tools, but I am very familiar with them. If I don’t know how to use anything on each website, I can problem-solve quickly to find a solution. I hope to get better at explaining how I use these tools to others. I don’t want to hoard all the information!

I have a vision for how we can use all these internetly tools to help children with disabilities and their families. I just need a plan. So I’m going to write one. We have big things coming up these next few months and I want our social media front to be ready.

Guess that’s what I’m doing this weekend.

Blurs

Today two of my kids did something ridiculous during Morning Circle. I could’t stop laughing so I had to cover my face and pretend I was crying so the kids wouldn’t notice I was laughing at them. Because whatever it was, they weren’t supposed to be doing it. But I have no memory of what the ridiculousness was.

My days are sometimes such a blur. My students do hilarious and random things that I can’t always remember, even if I want to remember. It’s like being a parent, but with fake children. But still with bodily functions. And tantrums. And screaming. And crying. And timeouts. And, as I like to call them, costume changes (meaning me having to change into scrubs because some kind of bodily fluid makes its way onto my clothes). Never a dull moment, my job. Those moments are sometimes disgusting, but never dull.

So Long August

This month has been INSANITY. And I love it. At least most of it. I have fabulous thoughts about this month and I hope to write them down someday. However, because of the insanity, I don’t know when that will happen. Maybe Labor Day weekend?

Probably not. I’ll be sleeping. Because I wake up every day at 6 AM. And I work 40 hours a week. And I’m taking 9 hours of graduate classes. And I’m attempting to maintain friendships of those near and far, including 24-hours only trips to Arkansas and meeting up with friends near and far for snatches of time.

I don’t have time to read, I don’t have time to sleep, but that’s ok. I love my life right now. Except I don’t love grad school. Maybe that will change.

September…bring me sleep.

Also, bring the Little Light House $500,000. If you read this and haven’t heard yet, the school I work for/adore is in a contest on Facebook to win $500,000. Go to Littlelighthouse.org and click on the Kohl’s Cares link and VOTE for the Little Light House!

[Also, Ravelry/UU, I miss you. Someday…I may have free time again and I’ll come back.]

Bring it September.