Diary of a Crossing Guard, power of positive thinking edition


It's going to be 74 today here in balmy north central Texas. So despite the 48-degree temps this morning with drizzling rain and gusty winds, one dad is ready for later: new convertible, top down. Winter, perhaps, is only a frame of mind.

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day ???

I would rather melt through a thousand Augusts than freeze my tutkus off through 1 windy and frigid December day. I am going to need warmer EVERYTHING than I currently own if I'm going to make it through the winter and the brutal winds of my crosswalk.

John Wesley's Covenant Prayer

I felt inspired to set John Wesley's Covenant Prayer to this awesome (creative commons licensed) picture this morning...now, it's not just in my heart, it's shared with all of you! <3 span=""> Have a blessed day!



Changes...They Are A'Comin'!

Warning: vague-booking ahead!

I've had an opportunity on my heart for a while now that would represent a fairly significant life/work change. My brain and heart have battled out this scenario ad nauseum. Today, I "took the plunge" and put out my feelers in a semi-official way. I expected to have days or even weeks go by without getting a response. "Ding!" I had a reply email in under an hour.

I'm not ready to share details yet...need to see how it goes first, and ensure I'm resolute in this decision. But along the way, I sure could use your prayers and well wishes! Thank you!

The Sickies Have Invaded!

I have a super power: going to the doctor for one reason and getting a diagnosis far different.

This morning, I had a 3-month followup at the neuro to check progress on my migraine and trigeminal neuralgia issues. *That* part went well, with only a minor medication change - upping my gabapentin from 3 to 4 times a day.

However, the NP who saw me didn't like my cough. She ordered me to go straight to my PCP, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Unfortunately, said PCP was overrun with appointments and her next available was a week away. So off to urgent care I went.

With white blood count results sky high and terrible chest xray images, I was the lucky recipient of a double pneumonia diagnosis and had 5 lovely prescriptions foisted upon me. Could have been worse; I managed to talk my way out of being sent to the hospital. Tomorrow, however, I retest. If my WBC hasn't dropped or my lungs haven't shown any improvement, she wants me admitted. In the meantime, water and nebulizer and rest.

Huge thank you to TracieandMickey Bramlett who kept the kiddos while 1 doctor appointment morphed into 2, and toChris D Aller for taking the kids off my hands for the next few days.

If you're a GS parent, you'll soon receive a message canceling tomorrow's meeting. If you're a client, look for an email rearranging my editorial calendar for the week. If you're a crosswalk parent, I'll see you in a few days. And if you're a Sonic employee, how do you feel about making deliveries? ðŸ˜˜

Having stocked up on soup and my comfort foods, I'm now headed to pick up my newly finished prescriptions then crawl into bed. This, too, shall pass.

KonMari and Kids

Anyone else caught up in the wonderfulness of KonMari? Look at the kiddos' shirt drawers after refolding! Phenomenol, no?

'Kon-mari'd Cate's shirt drawer!'


Catie and Karate

So my Catie girl got to use her karate in the real world today, apparently.

As relayed to me by the principal, a boy in her grade was chasing her and her friend, pretending to be an evil clown and pretending to shoot and stab them. Cate apparently decided to stand her ground and did a jab cross to the other kid's gut. More chasing, another punch. After visiting with the principal, it was determined that Cate felt the circumstance truly entailed her needing to protect her and her friend, and she didn't get in trouble, while the other kid promised to not play that particular game again.

Geesh. Kids. I don't know how she felt in that moment, but I think we'll have a chat at home about when it really is necessary to defend and when not.

But You Don't Look Sick!

My chronic/autoimmune illnesses are mostly invisible - just like many of you. I've shared this before but it's worth posting again because this is truly the best explanation I've seen to explain constant illness to people who aren't also sick. We might suck it up and put a bright face on it...but we only get so many spoons.

Cartoon image of Christine Miserandino holding a spoon The Spoon Theory, by Christine Miserandino

How God Created Animals - Funny!

Stop. Stop whatever you are doing and go see this site right now. You'll die laughing!

Twitter Reveals How God Created Animals

Watch My Sermon!

In better news, I was blessed to be able to deliver the sermon at my church yesterday for the second year in a row for United Methodist Women Sunday. My topic was "3 Lessons from Godly Women of the Bible." I didn't know it was being recorded, but it's now up on the church website if anyone is interested in listening to it. 

http://www.riveroaksumc.org/sermons

Sharing Sad News

There isn't always a great way to share bad news, other than to simply put it out there.

Two weeks ago today, my husband filed for divorce. Today, he is preparing to move out. We anticipate this process to take the next couple months to resolve.

This is an incredibly hard and sad time. If you could keep him, I, and Catherine and Jeffrey in your prayers, we would all appreciate it.

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day, uh, Something

You know what's worse than cars disobeying the flashing red lights and stop signs on a school bus?

Having another school bus ignore it. Seriously??

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 12


This morning brought 3 hugs, 1500 pedometer steps, 1 pair of shoes to be tied, the breaking out my first aid kit for the 1st time to treat a big owie, having a very nice woman pray over me, 1 car ignoring the school bus' red lights and stop sign, and 2 people blatantly running red lights, but only 2 families ignoring me and cutting through the teacher's lot instead of using the side walk and no one dumping their kid off into traffic. We'll call that progress!

Also, it's supposed to be 97 today with fairly high humidity. I know I'm the one who loves heat, but if we could drop that temp by about 15 degrees, I'd love it!

Police Department Answering Machine - Funny!

Hello, you have reached the ____________ Police Department Voice Mail.

Pay close attention as we have to update the choices often as new and unusual circumstances arrive. Please select one of the following options:

- To whine about us not doing anything to solve a problem you created for yourself, press 1.

- To postulate whether someone has to die before we'll do something about a problem, press 2.

- To report an officer for bad manners when in reality the officer is trying to keep your neighborhood safe, press 3.

- If you would like us to raise your children, press 4.

- If you would like us to take control of your life due to your alcoholic or chemical dependency, press 5.

- If you would like us to instantly restore order to a situation that took years to deteriorate, press 6.

- To provide a list of police officers you personally know so we will not take enforcement action against you, press 7.

- To sue us, tell us you'll have our badge, that you pay our salary, or proclaim our career is over, press 8

- If you plan on emailing the City Council, Mayor, Senator and President, press 9

- To hear this menu again, wrap aluminum foil around your head and turn around three times.

The Real End of Summer

I don't care what the seasonal or school district calendars say: the last day of summer is and always has been Labor Day in my world and mind and heart. 

It was the last hurrah day down at our condo on the Jersey Shore, the last day of endless sun, one last chance to enjoy the fun. 

Then we'd pack up and head back to Pennsylvania the next day, Tuesday, before school went back into session on Wednesday. 

Our vacation condo and the entirety of OCNJ was THE happy place of my childhood and I still miss it so. I spent 20 summers there...and now have been gone 15. Time flies!

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 7

"Other duties as assigned" includes:

-Tying Shoes
-Zipping Backpacks
-Trying to enforce the "no pedestrians in the staff lot" signage

Interesting snippets of overheard conversations today:

#1
Mom: Did anyone poop their pants?
Son: Not yet this week.

#2
Kiddo A: Let's run all the way to my house like Esteban is chasing us.
Kiddo B: No, let's race like the drug lords are chasing us instead.

This is easily the most fun job ever!

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 6

I chatted with a new-to-Texas mom this afternoon and she expressed how thankful she was that temps would be going down "soon" since it'll be fall in a couple weeks. Had to break it to her that "fall" in Texas is, uh, not really a thing. High temps continue, as far as the meteorologist can see! Poor thing...moving to Texas when it's blazing hard can be a pain!

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 4

There are just some wonderful parents and grandparents who walk their kiddos to school, and seeing their fabulous smiles makes my day.

On the flip side, 3 cars disgorged their kids onto Burton Hill, 1 into opposing traffic. Slightly better than last week, but that's like saying that getting shot in the shoulder is better than getting shot in the elbow.

Four cars snuck into the staff lot, but 1 apologized.

And for the real win, only a handful of people ignored the "no pedestrians" sign, cutting through the lot instead of using the sidewalk. That's awesome! Even more awesome, all cars stopped for school busses with red flashers and stop signs today. Yay!

Have a great Monday, y'all. Time for me to fire up my laptop and crunch out some client work.

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 3

I recently shared some observations with a few others on Stupid Human Tricks, School Drop Off edition. Thought I'd share them here as well.

1. If a sign says "no pedestrians," it's not just there for funsies.

2. Red light means stop. This has never, in the history of motorized traffic, meant otherwise. I cannot and will not run out into moving traffic to save you, and shouldn't be expected to.

3. Stopping dead in the middle of traffic to DISGORGE YOUR KID INTO TRAFFIC is beyond brainless. SERIOUSLY. We have a specific drop off zone at the school, on the far safer side street than main drag. This, also, is nothing new.

4. When a school bus has its lights on and stop sign out, it doesn't mean you should swing wide to go around it. Yeah, you. I almost threw my stop sign at you.

5. Yesterday was High Five Friday...we all made it to the end if the first week - hurrah! Sorry I had to miss my afternoon shift...I'll be back Monday!

Have a great weekend.

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 2

Texans are friendly. I've lived here 14+ years and always like that reminder.

Completed my fingerprints scan this morning, part of my onboarding. Digital fingerprint scanning is...interesting.

Compliment of the day: "well aren't you just the cutest crossing guard." If you didn't hear that in your mind in the robust voice of a Southern Granny, go back and try again. I'll wait.

Hugging other people's kids makes me uncomfortable, because of how suspiciously the state of our current world necessitates parents to be. Nevertheless, I don't turn down hugs, just make sure my hands are always seen...these kiddos are great and I love 'em.

Finally, it's a wee bit hot out there. I've drunk more water the past two days than any other two-day period in the past. But it's great out there for improving my tan!

Diary of a Crossing Guard, Day 1

Diary of a crossing guard, day 1:

So I'm officially the crossing guard at the kids' school. Fun!

Day 1 included getting numerous kids across the street, 5 hugs, a billion good mornings, tons of smiles, 2 bottles of water drunk, a comment that Burton Hill has the prettiest crossing guard (why thank you!), and meeting a nice woman named Yolanda who thanked me for being the crossing guard and asked if there was anything she could pray for me about.

All in all, a great first shift.