Q = quite a lot to say, as usual

Quite a lot has happened in this past week or so I can't think of a lot of Q's to use so I'll forgo it just this once

Moving to the high schools from middle school is one of the best things I've done, what a difference a few years makes! The kids are self-sufficient and the staff has a whole different attitude, they are no less caring for sure, but are more into making the kids independent learners rather than chasing after them as was done in middle school. As example, a kid leaves a book and papers behind in the library, in middle school we'd find the kid and return his/her belongings. In high school, the teacher takes the stuff and holds it until the next time the kid is in class or the kid comes to the teacher to find their own stuff. Little things like that make such a difference in giving the kids an opportunity to become responsible adults.

Since I'm once again building a library, I went to Donor's Choose to write a grant for chairs for the kids to sit in while reading. The library has tables and chairs similar to those in a classroom, but no soft seating to draw in readers. We found out that the first obstacle in getting usage out of the libraries is making them look appealing to the kids. Thank you, Rutgers! Pictures of the library will be up soon.

One of my good friends runs in lots of different charity events, taking her lead, this weekend, Dave and I are going to be in our first ever charity walk - not run - for the Heart Association we are going to be with a group from St. Francis Hospital. When they called for a donation we decided that participating and donating would be the way to do it. It should be fun.

Quitting for now, at least I got in a couple of today's letter :)

P = for perfect day!

Perfect day in the library! Today was the first official day for librarians and my first official day in the high school. I have a great partner, Greg is very knowledgeable and easy to get along with, it's going to be a great working relationship and I can't wait to see what we accomplish in the library.

Purple is the color of my new phone, I had a Razor but the battery was no longer holding a charge for more than two or three hours. The cost of a new battery versus the cost of a new phone was a no~brainer. It's cute. And I should be able to find it in my purse, maybe.

O is not for Oprah

O is our sponsor tonight

Olympics are ending tonight. as I watch the closing ceremonies, it seems that the press has really shortchanged some of the athletes. Seems we missed so many different events that the press deemed not interesting enough for the masses...not sure what the attraction to beach volleyball was but I wish that we had more glimpses into other sports


Only a few hours left and its off to school for the new year. Can't wait! Update tomorrow or maybe the next day or . . .

N = for Now where did the summer go??

No longer am I wondering where I'll be in the fall... got the call Thursday and its off to the high school library! Yeah! Can't wait to start. In the short discussion with my new principal, I learned I will be splitting my time between two high schools, the main campus and a satellite which houses the Medical Arts and Gifted and Talented programs. At the main campus I will be working with my mentor which should be so cool, he is a multi talented guy who is very computer literate, now I can stop bothering my Rutgers buddy who has been my go-to computer girl. At the Medical Arts campus I will have an aide (imagine that!) who will be in the library all week and I'll go over to do librarian stuff either one day or a few half days each week unless there is a project or something that would get me there a little bit longer. I am SO excited about building a new library (again) and getting a reading program going on the upper levels. I've been getting emails from my students, news of the transfer got around to them almost before I knew about it!

Here is the mural the kids did for my former library (how strange does that sound??) All Together Better is the motto of our superintendent. I hope that it stays for a while, over the summer I put about a dozen coats of varnish on it so it will not get too many finger prints on it.

Not having time to work with my former principal will be a shame, she just came to our school in June and has lots of enthusiasm ~ I hope the new librarian can benefit from her caring and continue to encourage reading with the kids.

'Nough of talk about school... summer is flying by so fast, we almost have gotten through my mom's house, she was a saver to say the least and there are things from the 1940's to the 2000's to go through. Not until we had taken bags of brand new clothes, stockings, purses, shoes and perfumes to a charity did we realize Mom had tucked lots of money into things. Hopefully when a person in need finds a few extra dollars inside a package of stockings or the toe of a shoe, they will think kindly on the world.

Now that Rutgers is officially over and I have all this extra time on my hands, I'm going to be training as a volunteer for a local women's shelter. By Christmas time, I will have finished the training and expect to begin volunteering early in '09. I had to fill out a huge questionnaire and am being interviewed at the police station on Tuesday morning. Can't imagine what the interview will be like, already heard from the police officer who was checking my background. It is going to be interesting.

Next on the list ... as of July 1st I became president of my chapter of the Columbiettes, the ladies arm of the Knights of Columbus. We are a charity organization with our main objective being raising money and things to give away. I've been vice president for 8 years and hope that the new vice president will want to move up lots faster that I did! Some of the charities we get involved in include

Ronald McDonald House... collecting pull tabs that they turn into cash for operating

expenses

Local Women and children's shelter... putting together shoe boxes with personal needs and also a few extra cosmetics

Nothing but Nets ... malaria netting for children in Africa

Snacks for Vets and their families ... as they wait for deployment service people and their families are able to have a cold drink and a snack

and other local, national, and international needs that we find out about

New puppy - Alan fell in love with a German Shorthaired Pointer who arrived two weeks ago, Lexi is a cute, laid back little girl who has fit in perfectly so far. Pictures soon.

Now its time to go...

M = for Mom

My Mom

May 28, 2008 - My mom went shopping, to the eye doctor and was getting ready to go to my sister, Terry's, house for dinner. I had called her to go shopping (so I could benefit from her senior citizens discount, she had said maybe later). My brother, Tony, was cutting her grass and she went outside to talk to him, it was about 6:30. As they were talking she said she didn't feel well and proceeded to fall down. Tony called 911 and then me and my sister. We all live next door so we were there almost immediately. As we waited for the ambulance we thought stroke and were just trying to keep her comfortable.

I was in the ambulance as we went to the hospital, she was communicating with the crew and paramedics. In the hospital she was following commands from the doctor and nurses. She knew where she was and they were telling her that she had a stroke, her speech was a little bit slurred but both arms and legs were equal, she held up the right hand and left on command. Then she told the doctor that her head hurt and almost immediately had a seizure. The doctor knew then that he was dealing with a serious aneurysm (experience I guess) and they wanted to put her on a respirator. I was standing right there and said absolutely notas did Terry, until they knew what was up. They ran with her to CAT scan and when they returned the prognosis was terminal. Now it was almost 8 PM, a life changed in an hour and a half. I cannot say enough about the the wonderful way we were treated both by the Hopewell Volunteer Ambulance Crew, the paramedics, and the emergency staff at Helene Fuld Hospital in Trenton. They put her on oxygen since she was breathing and gave her some medicine to calm down the seizures and keep her comfortable. The nurse asked if we wanted a priest and we said yes, they called the priest who had left our parish in December and he was there in less than 15 minutes.

At the same time, all 9 grandchildren were called and were nearby (surprising in itself) - all of them and their significant others showed up along with my mom's sister and brother... how did it happen that everyone was home at the same time is mind boggling to say the least. Anyway, Helene Fuld allowed all of us in the ER to attend Last Rites --- imagine a troupe of nearly 30 shell shocked people in a place where they are attending to other emergencies making room for us and not hurrying us at all. Father Dennis Apoldite stayed and talked and prayed with us, too.

The doctor said there were multiple aneurysms, blood would continue to fill the area and that the pressure on her brain would soon stop the heart and breathing. The decision was made to make her comfortable, by 4 AM it was decided to move her to a room (she was not following the normal course of events as the next three days would show, the doctor thought she would expire within an hour or two at the most).

By 5 she was in a room and my sister, brother in law and I were still there. In the morning a neurologist came in and confirmed the diagnosis, it was almost word for word that of the ER doctor. Her doctor came in a little later and said that he recommended hospice care since there was no hope. We agreed and the move was made later in the day (Thursday) to St. Francis Hospital Hospice.

The care she received there was so great, the nurses came every two hours to give her medication that would keep her comfortable, they did not give any needles but used a cream that they rubbed into her wrists, neck, or chest. Every time they did this they turned her, washed her face and combed her hair. Twice a shift they bathed and changed her gown, too.

The next two days turn into a blur, Terry and Jeff and I stayed, we washed up in the bathroom and shampooed under the faucet. Her grandchildren were there, we had tears and laughs, she was proud of her Polish heritage so polkas played in the background. Her friends had a chance to stop by and say good-bye. We discussed her life and had lots of laughs with her brother, sister and friends. Her sister-in-law, Linda, a nurse was our rock, she came and interpreted what was going on, she brought food, and magazines, we could not have made it without her. Terry and I discussed the plans with mom for the inevitable funeral and what we would do with her things.

Saturday, sheeesh its been three days, and she was hanging on. Her heart beat was finally under 12o (where it had been since Wed - what a strong heart). By mid afternoon there was a change and her fingers began to get blue, most of the family was there and calls went out to let those who were home know. We watched the space shuttle go up and told her to hitch a ride, before the TV coverage of the launch was over, mom was gone. Very peaceful.

Sunday, we go to the funeral home and make arrangements and the next few days are a blur there is so much to do, no wonder we have this custom for our dead, it makes it so there is no time for the living to think, we go on autopilot and have no time to feel sorry for ourselves.

Friends and family are wonderful, we are so thankful for the thoughts, cards, emails, flowers and fruits that we received. What a comfort.

Wednesday evening calling hours, we are overwhelmed by the crowds on a rainy night. There is a line all night long. Wow.

Thursday the funeral - after a short time at the funeral home we go to church and the priest is awesome, he quotes from Shakespeare, Schweitzer, movies and more. It is a very personal and moving service until he brings out the incense and sets off the smoke alarms. Not once or twice but three times! Knowing my mom, she would tell a joke and if you didn't laugh the first time, she would repeat it three times, we all knew she was there! The fire men and police could not have been scripted, she had the last laugh after all. We ended up assuring the priest that it was fine, it was Jean all the way, she had a sense of humor and it was just perfect. All of the grandchildren had a part in the service and were wonderful, too. Sr. Rosemary sang to perfection and when we came out of church it was a beautiful day, almost like signs from Heaven were all around us. Because of the delay with the alarms we came out at noon and all the town church bells were ringing.

Background, my mom used air horns at all the grand children's high school graduations from Hopewell Valley High - even though there were specific directions not to use them, she would bring one to each graduation and toot it. (8 of the 9 grandchildren have graduated from the same high school, the 9th is a junior there, too). Anyway, we found her cache of air horns in her pantry so we put one in the coffin and took one to the cemetery. Terry explained what she had done with the horns and the funeral director said that as everyone stepped up to place a flower on the coffin the horn would be there and feel free to toot. Everyone including the priest took him up on the offer, another fitting tribute that made a difficult time that much easier.

Afterward, we had people over to my house for lunch which lasted until 9:30 last night. Cousins came from Trenton, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, Boston, Philadelphia and Morrisville. One, a musician played in Pittsburgh Wed night then drove straight to the funeral. We had a wonderful reunion, the first time we were all together since my grandmother's funeral in the early 80's. Plans were made to get together before the next funeral/wedding and lots of love was shared.

Mom, although we knew that someday this was coming, we didn't expect it this soon, but you did it with class, dignity, and fun. Thanks.

Jean A. Mokros

February 21, 1933 - May 31, 2008

L is today's letter

Lucky - I'm one of the luckiest people I know, I started out with the 29 day challenge of giving... I gave one of my 5th grade girls 5 t-shirts from Michael's (they were on sale no less) ... I got a note, written in pencil from the heart, saying its the first time anyone did anything like that for her and that she loves the beautiful t-shirts. Friday she had one on and today she was wearing another. I didn't give away, I got. What a great feeling.

Little ones - I also gave three backpacks full of school supplies and books for little kids in Haiti, one of our teachers went down over the weekend to deliver the goods to the school. She is really the hero here, she found out about the school by accident and decided that it would be a nice way to spend a weekend... the sad part, from our school of way over 100 employees, she received few donations.

Looking forward to meeting the new principal and one last giving, I promise, she is coming Thursday to meet everyone before she officially starts next week - one of our teachers sent around an email asking for donations to buy cookies and punch... again we only managed to get 24 donations... hmm a pattern??? are we all that burned out?? or self-centered?? or not aware??

Last of school (had to work in the L, sorry) graduated from Rutgers last week (another L!) it was bittersweet, there was a luncheon planned for lots of students and only 4 of us showed up. While the food was great and the company even better, I wonder what made people RSVP and not show. Especially those of us who are supposed to be 'educated.'

Looking forward to the end of school, only 18 more teaching days then five days without kids and summer, summer, summer! With no classes hanging over my head, the only concern is where I'll be next fall.... high or middle school. The transfer went in two months ago but HR has not yet looked at the requests. Love. Trenton. Take a deep breath and know that whatever happens, happens.

Leaving with a view of my little one....

Today is brought to you by the letter K

Keeping it short...Going to start off with an apology for slaughtering the language today, but K is not too easy! I'm brain dead from cataloging... last paper will be sent off today... yippee the degree is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kan it be? Mother's Day is tomorrow, that means June is not far off and summer will be here in a blink.

Kids - both boys are great, today I'm puppy sitting the grand-one. He's been barking non-stop for about 2 hours already. My dogs are not interested in playing his rough and tumble games. In a little while we will go for a walk.

Kudos to all the moms who have little ones, big ones, and part-time ones, too.

'Kay - I'm done.