Day 11 Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

I'm a wee bit late to wish this, as it is already 9:48 am, but "Top of the Mornin' to You"!

I'm supposed to be working on our yearbook, but for the 6th day in a row it is not working properly. IBM will be fixing their end of the problem, then StudioWorks can fix its end, and we should be up and running by Thursday, just in time for spring break to start Friday! UGH.
My goal was to have this all done by Thursday, so we could all go and relax over our break, me included. Not so now. Now I'll be working on it over break, which really annoys me because I never seem to be able to enjoy my vacations the way I want to. Oh well. It's got to be done, and so it must.
The good news is there are only 4 days of school this week! Friday we have off as it is Good Friday. This makes me smile. This year is really flying by!

We finished our Pennies for Cancer Drive and ended up with over $2400.00 dollars earned! (I had forgotten some receipts to add) I am SOOO proud of our school! Next year when we do it, I'm going to ask for 'matching donations' from businesses so we can raise even more! I think of all the children, nieces, nephews and grand kids who will die because they have a cancer that has no cure. Think a moment- what would you be doing right now if you were affected by this in some way? You can help by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society right now! Any amount helps! We need to find a cure as soon as possible!

Update to Day 9

Well, at 2:35 pm, I was OFFICIALLY DONE with the penny drive! YEAH!!!!
Suddenly the whole world became so clear, air smelled so fresh, a cold breeze was blowing, the sun was shining, and all the flowers were blooming... See?
Unfortunately this picture doesn't do justice and I was riding shotgun as we drove past ...so the picture is horrible! The flowers blooming on the corner of Vista Chino and Gene Autry are gorgeous...... Go drive past- there are a fields full of pretty yellow, white and purple wildflowers everywhere!
So far no working out in the yard like we had wanted. The wind is still blowing hard and would make it terrible to trim the palm trees. Oh that reminds me, I was going to take a pic of the ones we had cut last weekend...Let me go do that now, hold on...oh bursey, bursey it is COLD out there!

Our "cuttings" from last week Here are our 'queens'

We are supposed to have a very cold day tomorrow, and the wind blowing has already turned cold as the big clouds are creeping over the mountains. Took a picture of that too, but the sun is just in the right spot where it might be hard to see. Here is the pic from our back yard.
Jeff got off early today and still had time to take Cope to a birthday party, so they are at Chuck E. Cheese's. T and I are home resting, and being lazy...okay, she is lazing around. I am still doing laundry, picking up the house, working on my blog, and trying to rest too. :)
Bye for now! Don't forget to leave me a comment somewhere! That way I know you are reading this! LOL

Day 8 and what a day! (Re-Do)

Okay, Saturday morning and I reread my blog entry from last night. Most of it didn't make sense as I could barely keep my eyes open last night! I'm going to fix it so it reads better and makes sense! LOL
I am so glad it is Friday! For one, it has been howling at about 25 mph since last night. The weather has been really weird here in Palm Springs. It sure is a comforting feeling knowing you are safe inside your own home and it really makes me appreciate everything we have!
We finished our Pennies for Cancer drive, which helps children who have leukemia and lymphoma cancers FIND A CURE.
I wasn't sure how much we would raise, and hoped we could come close to the $800.00 I happen to put down on the event poster. I have never had a money fundraiser before and really didn't even know what amount to start off with.
Each week we collected change and kept track of how much each teacher and grade level raised.
The winning grade level will be going to the park for the day, so stakes are very high. Today was the last day and I started counted the left over change not finished by the students today. I started at 2:00 and when Jeff arrived at 3:00 with Tierney, I was going strong. We counted until 5:15 and finally got everything counted except the big money jars from the student store and this huge glass jar someone brought in. We loaded everything up into the van and headed off to Stater Brothers grocery store. It really is funny how people stare at you and the grocery cart full of 3 Xerox copy boxes full of dollars and cash....everything from "Wow! How long did you save for?", to "It sounds like a slot machine in here"... by 6:45 pm we were done.
Technically not though, as the bank was closed by then and we need to go back tomorrow to turn in all the dollar bills into a money order. (Almost done...)
Jeff is already 'out' on the couch and I'm soon to follow. I can barely think and keep my eyes open. I think I will sign off now as my brain has stopped working.
Ill write more tomorrow!

Me

Day 6 and 7

To my adoring fan,

I'm so sorry Mom I didn't write yesterday! LOL
That was so funny that I thought no one was reading these and figured since I didn't feel well, and I was dead tired, I would skip a day... thank you for the note this morning and letting me know!
For those of you who are reading this-lots has happened in TeamThornhill's life.
First, T came down with what I thought was a cold, a bad head cold. She then got a cough with it and last night she awoke with a horrible dream where she was just sobbing and sobbing. She was also dripping with sweat which meant a bad fever. We kept her home today and took her into the doctor. She has "simple strep". Medication for the next 7 days and she should be fine.
Meanwhile, Cope developed the same cough, but (knock on wood) not the cold. I have enough medicine though if he gets T's strep. Added with the fact that yesterday Jeff helped me take the 3 Xerox copy boxes of change and dollars to the grocery store to put into Coin Star. Right now at school we are having the "Pennies for Cancer" drive. All the money raised goes to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, which benefits all the kids who have this cancer. It is a 3 week fundraising drive and all the grade levels are competing to see who can raise the most money. The grade level that does raise the most money will get rewarded by going to the local park for the day. (So stakes are high) Unfortunately, there are some who have lost sight of the reason why we are doing this and it makes me want to give up ASB and what we do. It sure feels like no matter what we do, there will always be a group that will argue. I guess that is life, huh?

Anyways, as Jeff and I were spending the hour it takes to drop all those coins into the machine, and then travel to the bank to get money orders for the dollars, (whew) I developed an itch in my eyes. I don't know if I touched with them with gross money germs on my hands, but I probably did. By the time I got to the parent teacher conference later that day, I could feel something was terribly wrong with my eyes. When I got home I already had them all bloodshot and full of yuck. I kept drops in them hoping that would fix it, but to no avail.
I went to the doctor with T today and I have conjunctivitis. Both eyes. So, since I have no more sick days (another long story) I will go to school tomorrow and wear my sunglasses all day long. Again. Ugh.

I came home after getting all three prescriptions and wanted to take a nap. Jeff woke me at 12:30 am and since now he is snoring, I couldn't go back to sleep. Here I am! :)

So, as you can tell, another not so boring day in the TeamThornhill household! Ugh.
Positive side to all this?

• Tomorrow is Friday.
• I already started my medication
• My students will continue working on their mosaic projects
• Weather is great
• I see a relaxing weekend coming up

Well, I suppose I should say goodnight. I do want to thank Mom for emailing me this morning so when I got to school, and turned on my computer, there she was! I was so bummed there was no email at home yesterday from either Erin or Mom. Both are in New Zealand and Fiji respectively. (I know, I know) I'm very much enjoying their stories they have sent and HOPE THEY BOTH BRING ME VARIOUS SANDS FROM ALL OVER THEIR TRAVELS! (HINT, HINT)
I am also (admittingly) very jealous as I so wish I was there too! Away from the stress of this job that is aging me too quickly. I would like to request a million more pictures and send them to me everyday! It would have been neat if we had discussed blogs before you left, and you each could be doing one! They really are alot of fun! I hope Jamie's birthday was a great one! I called your phone and sang to her today! (I also sent an email birthday card) Tierney has something she made for her so we will mail it when you get back. :)
Dad, no more peanuts, shrimp, etc... because if you do, and your lip swells again, Mom is going to take a picture of you and send it to me! Then I'm going to laugh my self silly!
Ill see if I can get back to sleep. If not, I can add another story for you all.

Goodnight!

PS- our school has raised over $1200.00! I am so proud of them! :)