Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Retirement

I wrote this the summer after I retired, but for some reason never posted it. I just reread it and thought I should post it.

I just retired from teaching after twenty-six years, twenty-five of which were special ed.  Everyone says it will not really hit me until fall when school starts, but I know I do not need to spend part of my summer planning for fall, and I like that idea.

I can say that you know when it is time to retire. My heart was no longer in it. Being out last fall recuperating from my heart surgery was part of what lead to the decision to retire.  I did not miss school while I was out and I did not really want to go back to all the stress and the problem students.  Not all of them were difficult, but one bad apple can certainly ruin a class period.  This spring I got a new student and one kids in the class said to me that he was really ruining the class. He also said class was much nicer when the new kid was not there. Sad to say I had to agree with him.

What really made up my mind was all the paperwork and meetings that special ed teachers have to deal with on top of teaching. You work the same contract as the regular ed teachers, but with longer hours due to meetings before and after school and all the additional paperwork on top of lesson planning and grading. It was a lot of extra work and tons of extra stress.  Stress I did not need.

I am looking forward to relaxing, sleeping in when I want, being able to sew for hours, read, and go out to lunch with friends anytime. I do plan to sub on occasion, but I can decide if and when I want to accept a job. The best part according to a friend who is retired is there is no homework. You get to go in and work with the kids and then go home and relax.

I told my husband I am going to plan a lunch date with another retired teacher I know for the first official day of school, just because I can.  I am thinking that it will be fun, knowing I do not have to go to work that day. I am sure I will miss the kids and that is why I plan to sub some. I loved teaching, but not all the added stress of being a special ed teacher.

Update:

Since I retired two years ago I have enjoyed subbing and spending time working with the kids, without the headaches of meetings, and the endless paper work. I enjoy going to lunch with my friends who are retired or work in professions other than teaching anytime I want.  I also enjoy the extra time I have to quilt, read, journal, and just relax.  It is also nice to be able to travel anytime. I have been to Ireland, and to visit family and watch my son graduate from basic training and AIT. I have a trip planned in the fall to visit family and friends and I like knowing that I have that option.  Subbing is fun and gives me some extra money, but knowing that I have the flexibility to say no and to take time for me makes it all very worthwhile.  If you are considering retiring and can afford to, I highly recommend it.

If you are interested check out my quilting blog all the quilting and sewing projects I have been working on the past two years. I would never have gotten them all done if I was working full time and you can see how many unfinished things I have from back when I was working that I am still trying to get caught up on.

Monday, June 3, 2013

What This Country Needs....is Someone Like My Mom

We need a strong woman to run this country, but not a Hillary Clinton. We need someone like my mother to run this country. She is a go getter, a woman before her time.

 She told me that my grandmother, her mother, always taught her and her siblings that no matter what your job was, cleaning the toilets or running a business, you should always do the best you can and don't wait to be asked to do something.  If you see something that needs done, do it.  Each time you will learn something that will help you move up the ladder.

When I was little my mom was a working mom before most moms were working outside the home.  My mother worked for Ma Bell as a telephone operator using one of the old fashioned switch boards like this one I found on google.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrylsphotoblog/4162420387/
 She was also in the Air Force for several years. In fact she only got out because after she married my father she became pregnant with me. Back in the 1950s you could not be in the military if you were pregnant. It did not matter if you were married or not.

My mother worked her whole life from topping onions in the fields to being a management analyst for the federal government. She did not work for societal recognition, but because she needed to and she liked working.  She was the one people went to and she worked her way up the ladder as a civil service employee. She started out as a GS3, working as a secretary for years, starting over every time my father was transferred.  She retired as a GS 12.

I may not have always agreed with everything my mother said or did, but she taught me to be the woman I am today and I am proud of her. She listens and gives advice, and she cares about others.  She also knows about service and that it takes work to make things work, not just words.  My mother is also one who will get in and work with you, not just sit back and let others do the job. She did not grow up in a life of privilege and money, she grew up knowing what hard work was and that it took work to make you feel you had accomplished something.  I am proud of her and all she has done in her life and I would like to be proud of the person representing this country to the world.

Today I am embarrassed by the person that is that face of America. Obama does not represent me or the majority of the people in this country, or our beliefs. He knows nothing about taking care of our country and doing the right thing for us. He has never been in the trenches of the working class. He is selfish and self centered, focused on his agenda, not the agenda of the American people.

We need someone like my mother, someone who has been in the trenches to run our country.  We need someone with real life experience. Someone who knows what life is really about. We need a president who will represent the real people of this country, the working class. If I could I would nominate my mother for president because I know she would do a great job and she would listen to the people and do what is right for this country. She would be a true representative of this country.






































































































































Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sleep Apnea

In the last month I have spent two nights at the sleep clinic doing sleep studies.  The first was to see if I had sleep apnea. I do not sleep well and Tom often comments on how I have destroyed the bed with all my tossing and turning. My cardiologist thinks sleep apnea may be a contributing factor to my leaky valve getting worse and so she referred me for testing.

I have been told that I have severe sleep apnea when I am in REM or deep sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic "Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts." 

According to the nurse I stop breathing an average of 27.3 times per hour. They prefer you only do that once per hour, if at all.  So in 60 minutes that means I stop breathing or breath very shallowly every 2.2 minutes on average, for a few seconds to minutes.   

Sleep apnea is very disruptive to your sleep and moves you out of deep sleep into lighter sleep which means that you are getting a poorer quality of sleep and results in excessive daytime sleepiness. This can lead to more accidents, 

Sleep apnea is often undiagnosed because doctors can not detect it without a sleep study. There is no blood test for it. Often times it is noticed by your partner who may be the first to notice the signs of excessive snoring, snorting or gasping for breath in your sleep. It disrupts your sleep cycle and though you may not fully wake up, it does wake you up to a point, that disrupts your sleep.

You can have sleep apnea for years and not even know it because you become conditioned to the feeling of fatigue or daytime tiredness.  I never even thought of it as being the problem, I just knew I was tired a lot and would fall asleep in my chair. I would mention it to the doctor, but they never seemed to think it was a problem. Or at least not until my leaky valve got worse and my cardiologist said it could be a contributing factor and we needed to rule it out.

So now I have a diagnosis and know that a CPAP machine or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open. It can help me sleep better, and breathe while I am sleeping. It increases air pressure so your airway does not collapse and decreases daytime sleepiness.  It can also lower blood pressure which will put less pressure on my leaky valve.

In my research I have found that use of a CPAP machine can improve vitality and motivation, Job performance mood sexual drive and performance alertness while driving, quality of life, and quality of sleep.  While untreated sleep apnea can lead to hypertension or high blood pressure, stroke, and congestive heart failure.

I have been doing a ton of reading about sleep apnea and the CPAP machines so I have a better idea of what is going on with me and how to treat it.  I do know that I want a smaller machine that is quiet and easy to travel with and that I definitely want one with a humidifier as it can get very dry here in Alaska, especially in the winter.

Once I have had my follow up with the doctor and started using my own CPAP machine I will know more and I am sure I will see a difference in how tired I am. I will update this topic at that time. Right now I think I will go take a nap.

It Is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to Pay Off Your College Loan

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