So here's the short of it, 
Working on the back pain...

And here's the long.

Last night I took my first Flexeril.  I had a really hard time getting up this morning. I'm going to try taking it for the rest of the week and maybe try taking it earlier.  I don't think I'll be able to use it if it makes me so tired in the mornings.  But I'll keep pushing it back earlier and maybe I'll get into a routine that has me taking it early enough to not be so tired and sleepy in the mornings.

I suppose that it wouldn't hurt me to try to go to sleep a little earlier as well!




   

So here's the short of it, 
Today was a long day.

And here's the long.

Each year we have to do assessments of every student who attends school even if they are not able to take the state assessment.  Today and tomorrow the teachers of our most significantly cognitively impaired students turned in their portfolio assessments.  This is a mountain of work for our teachers, that shows how their students are progressing toward meeting the goals that the team has set for them that year.  The teachers are always so stressed on the day that they have to turn them in.

This year, our lead teacher who runs the turn in process is in the hospital.  She was in  for a procedure, then she was back again, and then she ended up last thursday back once again.  Even though she was in the hospital, we had 4 or 5 pages of annotated instructions for getting everything checked in, checked over, and then set up for shipment to Nashville.

For the last several years that I've helped with this it's all been done on one very long day.  I think last year, we didn't get to leave until about 7:00 o'clock!  This year the turn-ins are two days long.  I think it will be better.  Most everyone was on schedule today - so we are in good shape, although I really don't think we're half way through.

I'm starting a prescription of Flexeril for my back pain tonight. I know it's supposed to have drowsiness as a side effect - that might not be such a bad thing!

So here's the short of it, 
This really was a super Sunday. 

And here's the long.

We got to see both of our in-town kids and my Mom for a good visit today.

Jennifer Richelson's wedding shower was this afternoon. She's Alan's cousin.  Her Dad is Alan's double first cousin. I hadn't seen her in so long!  She looks so happy to be moving to this next stage in her life! And I had a chance to meet her fiancee.  He seems like such a really nice fellow! It was nice to see Aunt Miriam since I had to miss her birthday party last night. And it was lovely to spend a little time with everyone.

Then this afternoon, Sarah Stoloff got married to her Marine, Kevin Bowman!

It was a lovely wedding at Mizpah!  She was beautiful, and the groom and most of his attendants in Marine dress blues made a stunning sight.  This was such a breath taker. Sarah is quite a young bride, and it just took our breath away to see her so grown and getting married!



Then tonight we had the Liga and Mom here for the first half of the super bowl.  I'm not much of a pro-football fan, but I do usually enjoy this game.  I was sincerely disappointed in most of the advertisements!  I liked the dog and the VW... but some of them were just wrong.  The dog burying the cat???  Not funny to me.  

So here's the short of it,
So happy to be home. 

And here's the long.

I had a good, but pretty long day in Athens.  The training was good, and we had a great contact with Bonnie Cramond who is the director of the Torrance Center.  I'm looking forward to some good outcomes from this trip.

There was a birthday party for Alan's Aunt Miriam tonight. (She's 90!!) I was sorry not to get home in time to go to the party. But Alan went and took his Mom - Miriam is her baby sister.  I think they all had a great time. I hope I'm up for a big party on my 90th birthday.




Alan said that at about 4:00 this afternoon, Sophie went out and sat in the rain on the tennis court and waited for me.  (That's about the time we left Athens!).  He said that he called her in several times and that she'd come in, but then go back outside and wait.  He said that she goes outside every afternoon and waits for me.  That's so sweet.  Wonder how she knows  when I'm not coming home like last night.


She's lying on the floor really near me just snoozing away.  She's such a great dog! We are going to move to the bedroom in just a few minutes.

So here's the short of it,
At the University of Georgia for a training tomorrow.

And here's the long.

Tara and I drove to Athens, Georgia this afternoon for a training we have all day tomorrow at the University of Georgia.  Leah is here too, but drove separately because her grandfather is not doing well and she wanted to be able to get back to Chattanooga if needed.

We took the back roads from Calhoun Georgia to Athens winding around the mountains and countryside.  We had plenty of time so we made a couple of stops.  The trip was so gorgeous. We drove through Jasper, Georgia the home of the Georgia Marble Works and the famous Tate House. It's made from pink marble. We tried to get into a driveway to see it close up, but it seemed that no one was there and we couldn't get in.  It's been a restaurant, and a bed and breakfast.  My poking around on the internet says that now it's used mostly for weddings and other events.  There were about 6 or 8 cottage type buildings off to the side and to the rear of the building.  So I imagine that there's a place for people to stay as well.

Tonight the three of us went to dinner at a place called Farm 225.  It's a neat concept for a restaurant.   Here's a blurb from their own website which you can find here.


Farm 255’s cuisine is comfortable yet innovative. Food is farm-fresh, first and foremost, Mediterranean in influence with a Southern culinary drawl. The source of our food is local, sustainable, and apparent: ingredients come from our farms as well as other local sustainable producers, with a great emphasis placed on our personal relationships with the people whose food and drink we incorporate into our menu. Hoping to revive lost culinary traditions, we reacquaint customers with the narrative behind their meal by using historical recipes and artisanal cooking techniques from around the globe.  


We are back in the hotel room and ready for bed.  The training tomorrow goes from 8:30 until 4:00.  It promises to be a long day with a long drive home afterwards.  So a good night's sleep will be great.

So here's the short of it, 
Another day another dollar!

And here's the long.

Training all morning in CPI (Crisis Intervention Prevention) for students on the Autism Spectrum. Then trying my best to get caught up this afternoon so that I can be out of work tomorrow.  I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and professional leave in the afternoon so we can get to Athens, GA for an all day training tomorrow.  Here's hoping we can get through or around Atlanta before the Friday afternoon traffic gets started.

This evening Alan and I went to the Chattanooga Symphony to hear the Russian Spectacular.  I would characterize it as Big Music.  We heard Glinka, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky.  I love the music, but I love the quiet now that I'm home!

Alan is already sleeping - so are Sophie and Lola - I'm headed that way!

So here's the short of it,
Getting home the fast way or the best way...

And here's the long.

I really don't like commuting home from work coming the freeway. It is never predictable, and you can't tell from the ramp where I get on whether it's going to be fine or if it's going to come to a screeching halt. And I do mean a screeching halt.  Traffic can be moving right along and then without warning it will be inching along at less than 15 miles an hour going up the ridge cut.  Sometimes I approach the ramp to get on and the traffic I can see is just moving right along.  So I get seduced into geting up on the freeway and get right to a spot way beyond the last truck you can see in the upper right of the picture - way at the bottom of that incline, and traffic including all those big rigs that can't pick up speed very fast start inching along.  And I'm stuck one more time.

Now I'll have to admit, that even if I'm crawling along up the freeway, it's probably faster than going the way I go.  But I don't have to worry about the big trucks. I keep moving at a fairly steady rate of speed (unless I'm stopped at a traffic light). So I go the slower, but in my mind, the safer way.

Tonight the roads were wet. The freeway was backed up and I came up Main Street through the tunnel and down Brainerd Road to the house!  It was good to be home...