When life hands you lemons, you take muscle relaxants.

Well. Web MD is a magical thing. After a couple of weeks of believing I had sciatica, I realize I was misdiagnosed and sorely (pun intended) mistaken. Several trips to the clinic proved unsuccessful and this anti-inflammatory and that painkiller proved unhelpful. I decided to do a little research of my own as some light bedtime reading and low and behold, I have diagnosed myself with a Hip Labral Tear!  Yes it is as painful as it sounds and is about as untreatable as sciatica so I'm kinda stuck there. Since I play no sports, this kind of injury can be attributed to one thing, and one thing only. SHOVELING. Repeated stress movements at the hip can cause the tissues to tear around the ball in the socket of ones hip. Think of the repetitive injuries golfers or hockey players would get from the same kind of wear and tear on their hips. So what I am basically trying to get across is the fact that I shovel the driveway LIKE A BOSS and now I have a athlete-style injury to match. I am a mix between proud and embarrassed but either way still in chronic pain. Every day is better and I am looking forward to the day when I can put on my undies without pain!

So what else is new. Well this week we have been hit with a literal heat wave! With temperatures rising to the low -10s, the snow has begun to fall once again and we can finally go out doors for recess!! One of my students actually cried because we hadn't been outside in so long. I felt terrible so today we spent recess at a giant nightmare-inducing-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen snow hill!  With the fresh blankets of light, fluffy snow, the poop graveyard on my front deck that Bobo has lovingly adopted as his personal toilet has been disguised! When the temperature falls to -40, precious boy takes as little time as possible to take care of business and that means my deck becomes a toilet. What a sweetheart. 

Things at school are trotting right along. As busy as ever, my class is positively shining! They are eating up new concepts, enthusiastic about learning and participating whole heartedly. We are heavy into grammar right now which can be pretty boring but I am getting tons of great ideas from some awesome colleagues and it's turning out to be not so bad after all! Today we wrote a short "how-to" text, "How to Blow a Bubble", which of course necessitated the chewing of gum and blowing of many bubbles in order to make sure the steps were correct ;) 

We are also doing lots of basic review for upcoming standardized math and language testing. Not the most fun but the kids are patient and we try and make the tedious practice fun and rewarding. I have also started to PM Benchmark again (a reading and comprehension testing program) both grade 2 classes which is turning out pretty well! It's great to see the progress that the kids have made over the last few months as well as conclude with some tips for instruction to further improve their reading and comprehension skills!

Anyways, I plan on really not leaving my house this weekend so I can lay flat and ice and stretch my poor hip back to life. Wish me luck!! 

  Ever good friend bringing in my groceries for me in my fragile state!!!

Perma-snow until we cross the freezing point!!

15 foot snow drift beside my house!

Bobo chillin' like a villain in the road. No biggie. 

My latest accessory. 

Ever classy!!