Happy Thanksgiving.

We had a good day yesterday.

My in-laws came for thanksgiving, bringing us a freezer for Christmas! Finally I can grocery shop without worrying if everything will fit in the freezer.

Although the water is still cold the air temp was 80 so the kids hopped in the pool. They saw for about 45 minutes before turning blue. I cooked between W and J hanging my kitchen cabinet doors so finally the kitchen is "done" at least till we move to the next phase!


Phase 2 is new appliances. I have the stove but need a stainless hood, dishwasher and fridge. Phase 3 will be the new counter top and back splash and, finally, Phase 4 will be the paint and chair rails in the dining area.

Pool Project DONE! (sort of)

The pool is "done" and the kids have been in it. They are CRAZY but they swam for about 30 minutes. The air temperature was 78, I have no idea what the water temperature was but we filled the pool with well water so I can guarantee it was cold. They came out shivering and with blue lips but they had a blast. Next on the list a fence (that is not orange and plastic) and some landscaping come spring.

The kitchen is coming along. W is hoping to hang the cabinet doors next weekend.

T has a consult appointment for her arm bump on Dec. 1st. We should find out then when her procedure will be but likely not till after the 1st of the year.

I have been subbing quite a bit, 2-3 days a week. I subbed for T's class last week. One of the little boys asked me if I really was T's mom.
Me- Yes.
Little Boy- Your daughter is cute.
Me- Thanks.
Little Boy- You look like her. Not that I am saying you are cute or anything.

Monday and Tuesday I was asked to sub for a "difficult" class. I was told that they ate their last sub alive. I handed out a few conduct marks over the two days and threatened to send one student to visit with the principle. But, they were not as bad as I expected after the warning I received. However, I did have 2 kids CHEAT on their math test. Third graders!

Off to sub half a day this afternoon.
Garage sale tomorrow and Saturday.
E and G and I are going to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow night!

Pool Progress

We finally have progress on the pool! Day one they dug out the hole and got the walls up.

Day 2 it rained- a lot.


Yesterday was day 3 they pumped the water back out of the hole, finished the bottom of the shallow end and started hooking up the filter equipment. The electrician was also here working on the wiring for the filter and the lights.

Today they are working on the deep end and the slope and I was told they may start back filling along the walls depending on how well the ground dries out in the sun today.

Subbing Update- I have been working! A lot. Well maybe not a lot but enough. I had a 2 day job for a second grade teacher who has a student teaching in her room (I have done it before). Friday they pulled me out because the music sub cancelled so I went to music. Monday I spent a few minutes in an inclusive K classroom waiting on the sub to get there and then turned the room over to her. Tuesday I subbed all day in that room- it was an interesting day. Two children with behavior/attention issues, one with weakness/paralysis on the right side, several who were pulled out at different times of the day for resource, and one with speech/hearing difficulties. I think it went pretty well though. I felt like I kept the kids attentions and they learned something. The only meltdown happened outside the counselors office so she dealt with that : ) and everyone got on the right bus! Today I showed up at 7:15 for a job that starts at 11 (so I put away the Halloween decorations and am catching up on my blog) but as I told the kids better to be there when I am not needed then to not be there when I am!

T's Arm

T had a bump on her arm. We tried treating it with Compound W thinking it was a wart. After a couple days with the Compound W it started bleeding so we made an appointment with a dermatologist. He looked at it said it might be a wart but it kinda didn't look like one but maybe it was it didn't really look like a melanoma but.... First he decided to send us home to try Compound W for a couple more weeks. Then he came back while we were making a follow up appointment and said he wanted one of his fellow derm.s to take a look. He looked said it really didn't look like a wart but maybe it was. They eventually decided to go ahead and do a 4 mm punch biopsy.

The biopsy came back as an atypical Spitz nevus. More here http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1059623-overview

The recommendation was to excise a 1 cm margin around the site. Because of the size of the excision and the way it would need to be repaired T would end up with a 6 cm incision on her left forearm and it would have to be done under general anesthesia. Today we saw a general surgeon at the Naval Hospital. He recommended that due to the size of the incision and the amount of tissue that would need to be removed that we see a dermatologist out in town who can do a Mohs procedure. With this procedure instead of taking a 1 cm margin they take a 1 mm margin and map any abnormal cells. If they find any they can they target the area with the abnormal cells and do further excision. This procedure will (hopefully) minimize the amount of tissue they will have to excise and leave her with a smaller incision.

More on Mohs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_surgery

Even though Mohs is most often used to treat skin cancer T does not have cancer. In all the studies that have been done on Spitz Nevi there are no documented cases of any type of metastasis.