Pink Hair

Yes, pink hair! I have a few pink highlights in my blond hair. I have started to like change when I go to get my hair done and we decided to have a little fun with it. Ron didn't believe me when I warned him. I'm not sure why, but it was an instant hit with Mollie! I think the whole neighborhood heard her scream when she saw it. My friends at school got a kick out it. They have learned that I have lost my fear when it comes to my hair. Mom just laughed, I'm sure she was probably shaking her head and rolling her eyes in Pine Bluff as I told her. Its not permanent and I love it! No telling what we might do this summer to it!

What's next?

We got comformation that Ron does have a meningioma. We have appointments to see my two doctors in St. Louis on May 8th. He is going to have surgery, but we will determine the time line when we see the doctors. We are thinking it will be this summer. In the meantime we had a very calm day. Ron had to work and Mollie and I never left the house. It was nice and quiet!

New Day, New Truck

We signed all the papers on Ron's NEW truck this morning. He had a very busy week this week at work since he was gone on Monday, so I have been making the rounds to the car lots after school seeing who had reasonable options. I found a couple and then Ron would go test drive them after work.
We ended up with a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT with 32,000 miles on it. To tell you the truth it looks like some little old man has one big toy and took very good care of it. It's in perfect condition and has everything on it. It's a 4 door king cab, it's huge and we even got in the garage tonight. That's a big deal since it is at least 3feet longer than the Explorer. It's is a pretty truck and actually can serve as a second family vehicle. Mollie is in love with it because it goes vrooooooooooom, vrooooooooooom when you pull out! She says that when she is old enough to drive she wants a truck. Of course she will need one for the horses she thinks she will be hauling around by then!
It's nice to have one part of this mess finished. We sent Ron's scans on to St. Louis this last week and hope to talk to our Dr. sometime this coming week. We may be making a trip to St. Louis sometime soon depending on what he says. Ron and I know so much about the road we are headed down. It is both a blessing and a curse. We know where the best doctors and hospitals are, but I know what it feels like. Ron has watched me go through all of it, and I hate the idea of him having to learn first hand. Ron wont make any decisions on what he wants until after we talk to Dr. Zipfel.
Right now we are taking it one day at a time, and putting one foot in front of the other to make ourselves keep moving. As I am writing Mollie is asleep in Ron's lap. It is a beautiful sight! She knows that Daddy was in a car accident, that his old truck is gone, that he hit his head, and that the doctors are taking care of him. We have not told her what they found in the process. Since Christmas she has been through both of her Great Grandmothers funerals and my surgery, so we have decided to wait until we know more.

A New Day

There is a saying that has been around in the teaching field for awhile and it is "monitor and adjust." That is what we are trying to do. Ron and I both went back to work today and Mom and Dad went home. They were an enormous help while they were here! The yard and house look great and those were things that were on our weekend list that just couldn't happen while your sitting in a hospital in another town.
We starting looking around a little for a truck for Ron with my Dad this afternoon. The great search has only just begun. I am going to go look at the Auto Park where my cousin works tomorrow. Ron will still be at work, but I have idea what he wants and I can at least figure out who has some good options for when he has time this weekend. He did get a rental tonight which was great news. When we first arrived they were going to put him in a Ford Focus. I just laughed at the idea of them folding Ron up into it. Thankfully we got an upgrade!
And for the good news Ron's tournament brackets came in 2nd and 3rd. Not what he wanted exactly, but out of 11 not too bad from my perspective!

Live Life and Love

If I have learned one thing it love the people around you. I need to tell you that Ronny Hardin is the love of my life. He has taken care of me when lets face it life wasn't pretty and I was probably crabby and in pain. He picks up the slack at home and most importantly he has loved me through it all and makes me smile!
Having said that let me tell what all has happened since Friday night. Life has changed for us again. Mollie and I went to Anderson, MO (just over the state line) for my best friend Danita's daughter's birthday Friday night. We were spending the night and going to return late Saturday afternoon. Ron went to the Razorback baseball game with his brother. On Ron's way home a teenager, without a drivers license, and in a borrowed car (and the friend didn't know it was borrowed) pulled out in front of him. Ron managed to swerve and only hit the back end of the car instead of directly hitting him. But Ron couldn't stop and hit a large concrete base of a light poll on the passenger front side. Everyone involved was very lucky for it not to have been worse. As usual Ron set it aside and didn't want to worry me and I didn't find out till the next morning. I came home as soon as I found out. His head was still hurting and he was dizzy. I took him to the emergency room. He visually looked fine, but the Dr. wanted him to have a CT scan of his brain. When he came back it was not with the kind on news we had expected. Ron either had a small bleed in his brain or a menginoma. For those who don't know that is the exact type of tumor that I had surgery for 8 weeks and 6 years ago. I thought someone knocked the wind out of me and there sat my husband being as strong as he has ever been. They weren't certain which it was and wanted to send him to Springfield, MO where they had neurosurgeons to read his scans and evaluate him. So into an ambulance went Ron and I came home to pack. Thankfully we had dropped Mollie off with my friend Kim. Mollie had stayed with her family while I had surgery in February. I left as soon as possible and picked up Danita in Anderson. With her husband Kris following us it was 8:00 before we got there. Ron's brother and his wife met me there. By the time I got there he had already had another CT and seen the ER Dr. We were finally moved into a room about 9:30. I sent Danita and Kris home about 11:00 thinking it was bleeding and we would be going home on Sunday. But when we saw the neurosurgeon Sunday morning he wasn't sure which it was and wanted Ron to have an MRI to find out. So Ron had the MRI about noon Sunday and I went to buy him socks. It was the only thing I had forgotten to pack for either of us and under the circumstances that I packed that was pretty good. After the MRI we waited all day. We finally saw the Dr. again about 8:30 this morning. It is a menginoma-a type of benign brain tumor and the same kind I have had. It took another 3 1/2 hours to get him discharged.
We are both still in shock and experiencing a whole range of emotions. Ron's truck is totaled and we will be dealing with that over the course of the next week or two. I have already called St. Louis and they are expecting us. We will work out the details of that hopefully tomorrow.
Once again life has thrown us a curve ball when we thought we were just starting to recover from the last one.
We did end the evening on a better note. Mollie had her first softball practice tonight and she is playing with several friends this year. They are so funny to watch. We have not told her anything about the diagnosis yet. She does know about the car accident.
I feel a little scattered with my writing tonight, so please forgive any mistakes. Ron is watching the NCAA final game and I am looking forward to my own shower and bed.

Hair and Nails

If you haven't seen me in a while my appearance has changed a little on its own and then I have helped it along. My whole life I have been consistently praised for one particular thing, and I treasured that, it has been my hair. It has always been very thick and hairdressers loved to play with it. It took me five years to grow out what the hospital butchered the first time. If you do the math it was a little over a year ago when I finally let go and started to really play with it again. I have been having fun with both the cut and the color. The loss of my hair this time has been a little different. Last time is what cut within 1/4 inch of my scalp if it was that long and it was in the crown. That meant I couldn't see it in the mirror as easily and I had a lot more hair in the front to pull back and cover it up with. This time it is smack on the top of my head, my scalp is in full view, and there is a very thin amount to pull back. The whole spot is maybe 3 x 3. It is sparse, but it is starting to grow! The words peach fuzz have new meaning to me! Therefore I pull it back and....add a hair piece. My new best friend is fake hair. I never dreamed I could find some fun in this process, but playing with hair pieces is fun and it makes me feel pretty when I look in the mirror. I wore hats for a few weeks, but at school it felt like I was advertising that something is wrong. Everyone was supportive of however I got through this, but I felt sick when I saw myself no matter what. I now have instant curls, a long blond pony tail, a spiky bun type comb, and more coming in the mail. My school buddies just start to giggle when they see my come in with something new. And Mollie's reaction is by far the best! She loves to watch me play as I create in the mornings and she is waiting to earn her own wig. She wants the Hannah Montana version. The funny thing about that is she and Ron decided that I look like Mama Montana with my blond hair.
Mollie has had a lot to deal with since Christmas too. We have buried both mine and Ron's grandmothers inside of 8 weeks and I had surgery while trying to keep things regular at school for her. I have been trying to add some special mother/daughter time, so today we got our nails done. She loved it! They painted her nails hot pink and then added a little flower design to two nails with a little glitter. I promise its not as gaudy as it sounds and she was thrilled. I got a simple french manicure, which disappointed Mollie.
We capped off the evening with dinner at mexican restaurant with Ron. Mollie could live off of salsa if we would let her! It has begun to rain again and we have one more school day to make it through so I bid you good night.

Soapbox...I've been egged on!

A few of my friends have asked me to continue with my soapbox on the current state of our educational system. Let me say that I love where I work and I think we are very fortunate to have our kids in school in this area as a whole. This area has faced major growth problems, but with a thriving economy to support it. That in no way compares to the problems inner city schools face and the national news backed that info up with some scary stats tonight on the graduation rates. Mollie is getting a solid foundation and again I love where I work.
Having said that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is flawed and creates a lot of paper trails and not a lot of help. And come on, the title...really do you think any teacher intends to leave a child behind. That alone is just plain insulting to any teacher who went into the profession for the right reasons. I'm not expert on the laws, but bring it up and you will be able to hear teachers groan down the street. It doesn't seem to matter what side of the voting isle you are on the answers seem to be the same.
My other big beef is testing. Do you realize that people who know nothing about planning quality education on a daily basis make these decisions. We start testing every child in the state next week and my darlings are included in that. Can I just say I hate it. Some of the little ones don't realize what is going on and that is a blessing! What is the most painful to watch is when they are smart enough to realize they don't know the answer. I know that some testing is a necessary evil of education, but what could we do to improve it if we had just some of that money to lower class sizes. I could only begin to guess how many millions we spend on testing in this country!
I love my job, my school and mostly my kids! They are why I do what I do!
One last thing to leave you thinking about...voting for president. I realize that the war and the economy are what we hear the most about. I agree that they are important. I will be the first to gripe about the cost of gas these days, but I don't feel like I know what any of the three remaining candidates will do with the current state of NCLB and the educational system as a whole. We need to ask more questions, because when the war is over and the price of gas has evened out our children will still be living with what we teach them and they will be our soldiers and economists!