Today, I tried to go to work, but this turned out to be a pretty bad plan.  I got there, taught one class, and then started heaving all over my classroom.  Sick.

I had to leave.

Later, I was feeling so miserable that I called my doctor's office.  "I know you're probably just going to tell me I have to wait this out," I said, "but is there any reason to be seen?"

Turns out if you have been vomiting for 70ish hours, you actually should be seen. I should go to Urgent Care, the nurse said.

The doctor in the Urgent Care gave me IV fluids and a magical anti-nausea medication.  Then she prescribed extra of that. Just so I can keep it around.  Just in case.  Because apparently she understands that sometimes you get the same thing again and can actually self-medicate.

I asked that doctor if she was taking new patients, but she's not.  Actually, she's kind of easing toward retirement in the Urgent Care. At the end of my stay, she looked in my mouth and smiled. "You have glistening saliva on your tongue," she said, "and you didn't have any before."

At home, I felt well enough after my second dose of that magical med that I took the kids outside for a short while with our new pup. And now I'm bathing them while Dan takes a break.

Poor Dan.  He's been doing everything since Sunday evening and he's actually sick, too.  Someone had to take it for the team, and he did.  Thank the lord.  I would totally give him some of my nausea potion if he were the type of guy to break rules like prescription labels.  He basically doesn't break any rules, especially not prescription labels.

Well, Shef and I are still here in bed, side by side in our misery.

I plan to try to get out tomorrow and go back to work.  I'm not sure how this will go, but I pretty much have to do it.  Who's ever heard of a teacher being out three days in a row?  No one, that's who.  Especially not the week before finals.

What kind of Middle School has finals?  My Middle School, that's who.  Not sure why, but I'm going along with it for now.

I did get out briefly to take Shef to the doctor's.  Well, actually Dan drove us all to the doctor's.  She determined that we have some version of Hand, Foot, and Mouth or some low-grade viral meningitis.  Not the deadly kind, thank the lord.  Actually she said the deadly kind is not as scary these days because of the vaccines.  Good to know, actually.

I've slept most of the hours in the last 48.  Shout out to Dan for holding down the fort. 

I haven't been sick that much in general, but yesterday evening I got super sick rather suddenly.  And, then I remained all day in a prone position except when I had to hurl.

Sorry for the detail, but sometimes you just need people to understand how badly you feel.

Midway through the day, I got a call from school. It seemed Shef was also sick with a fever and an upset stomach.  Since I couldn't drive, Dan had to go get him.  Thanks, Dan! When he got home, little pale Shef crawled in to bed next to me, and we slept on and off for five hours.

Now I'm trying a stint on the couch.  I ate half a piece of toast and have kept it down, along with some Sprite.  I've got to write lesson plans for tomorrow.  It would be really be a heck of a lot easier to just be there, but I'm pretty sure that's an impossibility.

On Wednesday, I had my final, final review of the year.  "Congratulations on completing the Entry Level 1 year," one my bosses said.

"Do I get a sticker or a certificate?" I asked.

Everyone laughed, but to tell you the truth, I really did want that kind of thing.  Maybe just one tiny gold star.  Would that be too much to ask?

As I type this, Pronto is licking my feet.  That's kind of gross, but I'm also pretty happy Pronto is our Pup.

I feel like he is going to be some work, as he has a ton of energy.  I've walked him for about 2 hours today to tire him out.  Part of that is that he's super anxious at this point.  He's from Joplin, Missouri.  When he was little, there was a huge tornado there, and he ended up in a shelter.  Six weeks or so ago, Secondhand Hounds in Minnesota arranged a transport of 30-some canines from this area.  Then he went to his foster home with some cool and caring foster parents. Then, the foster parents decided we would be a good family for him, even though Mac cried a lot when we first met him.  Poor Mac.  He's now become the middle child.  And poor Pronto, he probably thinks this is just another temporary deal. 

But, it's not.  Pronto is our new family member, and he's here to stay. 

As such, he's going to have to learn manners and submit to my will, just like everyone else in the household.  Obedience starts soon.  Pronto, if you will.

I got completely overwhelmed last week, and that doesn't really make good blogging.  Here's what happened: I had a formal observation and a performance review, I gave a ten-minute speech in front of the entire Middle School, I administered student surveys and looked at the results, and I found a dog to adopt.

That's right.  I'm about to become a dog mom, just in time for Mother's Day.

Can you even believe that?

I'm probably going to blog nonstop about the beautiful dog, a terrier mix.  I love the dog already.  We're going to be best friends

Thanks to Pronto for the Photo.  Also, we're considering naming the dog Pronto.  Is that wrong?

I have a friend at work who is also new to our school, and we sometimes chat about how intense it's been to be new at that place. 

One thing that's happened is that our entire lives have been taken over by school.  It's like we live in a school bubble.  For me, it means I don't tweet or read tweets.  I get behind on blogging and reading blogs.  Also, I have absolutely no idea what's happening in the world.  Like current events.  I don't know current events, and neither does my work pal.  That is, I don't know it unless Rachel Maddow tells me about it, because I actually watch Rachel just about every night.

Anyway, the whole current event situation became embarrassingly clear the other day when we were both in Restricted Recess (where the kids who don't do their homework go instead of outside to have fun), and one little guy asked us for help with his Current Event.

"Do you know about that shooting?" he asked us.

We looked at him blankly.

"Hmmmm," we said.

"You know," he said, and then he described some details.

My pal and I looked at each other helplessly.  It's just true that we don't know any current events.