Day 21, 7:41 pm

I'm pooped. These by day jobs are wearing me out! I just finished my specialist degree at UGA. Presented to my committee at 2:00. Presenting or public speaking does not bother me at all - I get a little nervous, but not much. I'm like - whatever. Today was different. I believe it was because this decided if I graduated or not. I graduated!!!! I can now become a full-time superhero - oh, wait, I have 3 daughters, 2 stepdaughters, a dog, a husband, and a math teaching job. Sorry world. I can't be a superhero fulltime. Maybe when the kids are grown and I retire.

Superhero deeds - 1. Let a car pull out in front of me. This was a superhero deed so don't think that it wasn't. There was a long line at the red light. 2. My middle daughter went with me to present to my committee. When we were walking to the building, I made her walk on the inside away from traffic. She's 13, but she is still a baby - my superhero baby. 3. I let the students in my 5th grade math class finish watching a movie that we had started last week - they thought I was a superhero.

Good day - but pooped. You know, pooped is a great word. I really don't use it enough. Expect to see more pooping in the posts.

Day 20, 7:28 pm

At what point in life do we stop (or I stop) doing stupid things? I'm almost 42 years old and yet today I did something stupid. I won't go into details, but I can't believe how absolutely 21 years old I turned today. Is everyone like that? Does anyone else have stupid moments? I'm not stupid, but every so often I find myself doing stupid things... I'm a superhero - superheros don't do stupid things. Do they?

I'd like to think that my superhero deeds for the day made up for the stupid things I did, but my superhero deeds probably weren't that great to make up for stupid stuff.

Superhero deeds - 1. I chased down a water bottle across a parking lot in the wind that fell out of my car. 2. We had two students run into each other today. One of them had a big gash on his forehead (blood everywhere) - needed stitches. I went by his house to see how he was, but no one was home (at least I don't think they were home - door was closed and it is usually open). Does an attempt to check on him count? Oh, can we go back a few weeks - I did take that same student and his sister to hit golf balls over springbreak.

Lord, please forgive me for my stupidity. We learn from our mistakes, and I did learn from mine today. I hope I've gained a little humility from the situation and anything else you think that I needed to learn from it.

Day 19, 9:16 pm

I need to get excited again about my superhero powers. In the beginning, I thought, "who or what will I save today...." Now, I'm still thinking about it, but probably not with as much "umph." That will change tomorrow, for I am a superhero. I must remember that - I am a superhero, I am a superhero, I am a sleepy superhero right now. Maybe that could be my name - Sleepy Superhero. It sounds good anyway.

Today's deed - I saw that a friend was in distress (read it this morning on Facebook). I offered her some words of encouragement (on Facebook). But then, I ran into her this morning. I made a point to stop and speak to her about her situation. Poor thing. I don't think I solved her problem, but hopefully my ear and shoulder was enough. Good work today, good work.

Day 18 7:59 pm

Superhero deed - I gave my Diet Sprite to my daughter. I really wanted it too. I've thought about it all day.

When I picked up my youngest daughter from school, she started telling me about a dessert she had at lunch and how the other kids were asking for some. I said, "You are a superhero. Why didn't you share?" She replied, "I really wanted it - it was good." Maybe tomorrow for her.

Day 17, 6:27 pm

My day was consumed with my "day" jobs instead of being a superhero. But, I guess that the day jobs have some sort of superhero stuff in them.

Superhero deeds - washed my husband's clothes AND folded them. I put the and in upper caps because I almost didn't - I thought it would be enough just to wash them, but I decided to take it one step further. You see, his mom has cancer and today she wasn't feeling well (has not been feeling well for a few days). He and his sister took her to the hospital. They are keeping her tonight for a blood transfusion. My husband was a superhero today also.

Day 16 6:58 pm

Not much happening in the way of superhero deeds today especially considering that I only left the house once to pay a bill this morning. I've pretty much been the lazy by day job today.

Oh, I did clean up about six eggs this morning that my daughter dropped - not cooked either. Usually I would have told her to clean them up, but I thought, "Well, I am a superhero (a lazy one today, but a superhero)." It was a mess; there were raw eggs on the stove, on the floor. I don't know if you've ever tried to wipe up raw eggs, but they don't soak up really well. They pretty much just keep going in the direction that you are pushing - that's why they ended up on the floor. Oh well. It's clean - that's what counts.

I hope there were some superheros in Mississippi and Alabama today - bad storms went through and they are coming our way. Hope everyone is okay.

Day 15 8:16 pm

My daughter was the superhero today! I picked my youngest daughter (10 years old) up from school. We got in the car, and she said, "I was a superhero today." My DNA has been passed on - I feel good! "Great, sweetie. What did you do?" She said, "I gave some of my cantaloupe to some other kids." WONDERFUL!!!! She is a superhero. I have another superhero power - passing my superhero powers to my kids. I think this is the best power of all!!!!!

Day 14 9:03 pm

I hope my superhero powers were transferred to the students today. They took the math CRCT this morning, most of them said it was easy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I did say a special prayer for them - I did work my superhero power math butt off this year trying to teach them math. I hope it was enough.

Tonight - my middle daughter just found out she didn't make varsity cheerleading. She made JV and competitive. She's upset. I want to take my superhero powers and make it right. I don't want to make it to where she is on the varsity team. I want to make it to where she understands that she WILL survive this, and she WILL have a great time, and she WILL be a better stronger person because of this. It still breaks my superhero mom heart to see my child disappointed.

Good night wonderful world. I'm still here watching over you - well, God is. I'll take care of my family tonight and God will too. I love you God.

Day 13, 7:52 pm

You know, I have a daughter that would have skipped over today as a superhero because it is day 13...

Not I - a superhero never sleeps - they may not have any superhero events that day, but they are always on alert.

Superhero deeds today - wiped the counters off at the store where I buy coffee and held the door open for a lady coming in. She said "thank you" but of course, no thanks are needed - that's my job as a superhero.

Oh, I forgot about one this weekend - I believe it was Sunday. I had to pee really bad and the kids and I were out riding killing time. Well, having to pee really bad, I stopped at Hardee's to use their restroom. When I finished my business, I wiped the seat off (you know adult ladies never sit down on public toilet seats). I was afraid there might be a child come in and sit down without wiping. I don't like stepping in pee at doctor's office on the floor (that's why I carry socks), so I really wouldn't want my child sitting in pee. Read Day 5 if you are unclear on the socks thing - it will make sense then.

Goodnight to all the people in the world. Sleep tight and I'm watching over you (maybe not me, but at least God is - he's better at this job than I am).

Day 12, 6:45 pm

No superhero powers today. We have been given the CRCT to 5th graders. I'm hoping and praying that they had some superhero powers today - I'm really shooting for Thursday during the math portion. Because, I am "SUPER MATH HERO."

Also, that little problem I've been having because I've had 3 kids, seems to be getting worse. My surgery is scheduled for next month. I hope my superhero powers remain intact. Surely, my powers don't lie in my uterus?

Update: Time - 9:45. The dog went out to pee. She decided to roll around in something dead or something that came out of something dead. While I know that most of you say that you had to give her a bath, no, that is not true. She could have stayed outside and enjoyed her new perfume all night. But, no, the superhero in me said to give her a bath (she didn't say it in a nice way to me, but she did say it to me). Dog is clean - Day 12 - done. Oh, the dog got bathed in Gain washing powders - it was that bad.

Day 11, 9:00 pm

My superhero powers are drained. My "working on my specialist degree" by day job is consuming me. Do superheros like to write papers???? I don't think so. No superhero events today - does it count that I bought the cards on day 9, mailed them on day 10, but they didn't go out until day 11 (since yesterday was Sunday). Maybe?

Day 10 - no time

I'm actually posting this on Day 11 - that's why there is no time.

Life as a superhero -- mailed the 2 cards that I bought on Saturday. I figured that I earned 1/2 superhero credit for each card each day. I recycled some cans; I took my daughters to the store to buy some rubberbands that are shaped like animals???? Never heard of such a thing. I let a gentleman pull out in front me. I think that was about it. I'll post Day 11 later tonight.

Day 9, 7:57 pm

Here I come to save the day.....

I let a gentleman out in the road today. Then, I was at Walmart and I didn't let a lady out in front of me. I know that is not the superhero thing to do, but she was pulling out of the gas station part, and I was headed through the red light. She wasn't looking at me, so I would have to get her attention and then I probably would have missed the green light and gotten stopped by the red light. Everybody that lives in Commerce and patrons that Walmart knows that red light. You've got to move when it turns green or you will wait FOREVER. Sorry, superhero powers slipped. What else did I do superhero style? I bought 2 cards to mail - one to a dear previous neighbor who is about 94 years old and the other one for a friend that seems a little sad. I'm also babysitting - got to kiss that precious little baby head (my kryptonite).

Good day in superhero world!

I forgot one (it's day 10 now, but applies to day 9). My oldest step-daughter told us this year that she is gay which is fine with me and her father. We love her; we believe that she is who she is and that being gay is not a choice - it's actually who you are. She went to the prom Saturday with her date. We invited them over to the house so we could make pictures. Actually, we insisted that we make pictures somewhere even if it wasn't at our house. This is new to us, but we want her to always feel welcome and loved. Is this superhero material? (My husband is a superhero too).

Day 8, 8:12 pm

I'm frustrated. Where are my superhero powers. All day, I have played the role of a 5th grade math teacher and a mom of 3 kids (because things won't stay where they are supposed to inside me)...... Yes, I had another doctor's appointment today - I took my socks, but didn't need them.

I want to be a superhero!!!!

Day 7, 8:39 PM

Well, you can tell what kind of day it was yesterday - I actually put Day 5 when in fact it was Day 6 (I went in and corrected it). You see, we had an incident with a student yesterday that threw me off. Can't go into details, but I was a little shaken up about it. I'm getting back my powers today though.

Superhero accounts for today: told the cashier (who is a wonderful person by the way) to keep the change from my coffee and give it to someone that may need it later in the day; picked up trash off the 5th grade hall; asked a student to pick up a piece of metal in the road so no one would get a flat tire from it.

Superhero stuff can't be boring can it. I'm actually excited each morning to think about what powers I can use.... Everyone should be a superhero!

Day 6, Time 20:44

No superhero powers used today. I'm a little disappointed, but I guess that's good because all is good in the world.

Day 5, 20:26

The beginning of my day seemed normal enough. While saying my prayers, I prayed for God to enlarge my territory for his will (for my superhero powers). Little did I know that I should have prayed for a little more on the "mom of three kids by day" side.

Normally, I try to keep these posts short, but this one may be a little lengthy so bare with me - it's not the superhero powers events, but the "I've had 3 kids" by day person in me.

We will begin with the superhero. I was excited to see what powers I would use today, but I had a doctor's appoint to check my bladder (not very superheroe). My day proceeds as normal and I head to my doctor's appoint - but first, I do go into work to cover my morning duties so that no other unfortunate soul would have to endure a gym full of middleschoolers at 7:00 in the morning. As I'm driving to my appointment, I run up on an apparent wreck that had just happened. I am new at this superhero stuff, so my first instinct was - I'm going to be late to my doctor's appointment. How am I going to get around this? But I caught myself - thank goodness. I didn't feel that I should stop, but it was the superhero thing to think about. I assessed the situation and saw that one car had already stopped and then proceeded. After passing by the 2 automobiles, I saw that everyone appeared to be okay. My instincts said it was okay to go. Believe me, if I had felt otherwise or saw that there was danger, I would have stopped. I did question myself for a couple of miles after that, but then reminded myself of a few times (before my superhero job) where I had acted with superhero powers and pulled over on an interstate to assist in a wreck and had called 911 while following a man who was running off the road for several miles. I felt good with my decision, but was I going to use my superhero powers today.

I'm almost to the doctor's office when traffic stops. A nice person in front of me lets a car pull in front of him at an intersection - that was nice, but come on - I might be late. Then before I can pull off, another car pulls up to pull out in the intersection. My thoughts, "Sorry lady. I'm going to be late." But wait, that's not very superhero like, so I let her out. WONDERFUL! I have once again used my superhero powers. I'm off to the doctor... We will continue that part in a minute.

One more superhero story. After the appointment and I'm back at school eating lunch, a student comes to the teacher's desk to ask if we want a cookie. It is quite clear that several 5th grade boys hands have been in that bag of cookies. A few of the teachers say "no thank you." But, I, seeing this as a great superhero moment, say, "Yes my wonderful student. I will take a cookie." He smiled. Of course, I was not going to eat that cookie for you see the cleanest thing in our whole school is the sink in the boys bathroom because they never wash their hands.

Okay. Now, I have to tell you the story of what happened at the doctor's office because to truly understand any superhero, you have to understand their "by day" life. My doctor's appointment was to check my bladder - let's just say that after having 3 kids, things are NOT where they are supposed to be. Not thinking, I drink a pretty big cup of coffee on the way there. When the nurse asks for me to come on back and we are in the room, I say that I really have to pee. She proceeds to point to some type of apparatus that looks like it used to belong to my grandmother that has a cup underneath it. She then explains that I will need to use it and then get undressed from the waist down and sit on the table (which by the way has a doggie pad on it). I look at the cup and I can already see the problem - that cup ain't big enough. But I say okay and follow her instructions. I'm sitting on the apparatus using the "cup" and monitoring the amount that goes in. Yep, I was right - that cup ain't big enough. "Well," I think, "I can just cut it off here." I get up to wipe and realize why I'm at the bladder doctor - I can't cut it off that quick anymore. So with my pants down to my knees I scoot over to the sink to grab more papertowels but I suddenly realize there's water on the floor, my panties, and my pants. WAIT, that ain't water. I've just peed from the apparatus to the sink and am pretty sure that I'm still peeing. This ain't good. I scoot, with my pants down to my knees, back to the apparatus. "Please don't overflow, please don't overflow." GREAT - it didn't overflow. But now, I have pee on me, the seat of the apparatus, and the floor. "What do I do? What do I do?" I take off my pants and panties and place then strategically on the chair. I still have on my flip-flops, and I wrap one of the paper blankets around my waist which by the way does not go all the way around. I then get more and more paper towels to clean up the pee off myself, the floor, and the apparatus. "Please don't let her come back in. Please don't let her come back in." After 2 trips to get paper towels, it's all clean. I put on my socks (I always carry socks to any doctor where I might have to get naked from the waist down. I don't want to walk around on the floor barefoot - what if someone peed on it.). I then hop on the table and cover up. DONE. "Oh, shit. I forgot to wash my hands." Here we go again - I hop off the table, scoot to the sink - wash one hand at a time so I can keep the paper blanket around me. "Please don't let her come in. Please don't let her come in." DONE! I hop back on the table. She comes in.

You see - you really needed to know that part of the whole story of the day.

Day: 4 Time: 20:07

Well, I went back to my 5th grade math teacher by day, superhero by night status - Spring Break was over... But, still my keen sense of awareness for the use of my superhero powers were on heightened alert today. There are plenty of kids that need help - would I save the day maybe with a math problem? Nope, it turned out to be a fellow teacher (I wonder if he is superhero by night). Our 8th grade math teacher needed someone to cover his afternoon duty so he could go to a doctor's appointment. I have morning duty this week and almost deleted his e-mail, but then my superhero strength took over, and I replied, "Hello, good friend. I will cover your afternoon duty." He thanked me, but no thanks were needed for I am a superhero - that's my job.

Turned out that there were 3 other teachers (by day) doing duty in the gym so my services were not needed, but I instructed the assistant principal to signal me if there was an emergency for I would be there in a flash!

Day 3: Time 18:33

My superhero powers are drained. I'm not sure what has happened. I was fine yesterday after saving the family from distress, but today, I feel that I am weaker and weaker. My family and I are watching the masters, but I feel that I need to do more. Every superhero needs a break, right? But, I feel that I'm slipping.

I am babysitting my 8-month old cousin - she is precious, but wait - is she the source of my draining superhero powers. It did start yesterday after she came. I felt weaker and weaker during the night every time she cried - but she is so precious; I just want to kiss that head all day and night. I did take her to a family cookout so she could see her grandmother (superhero powers in there somewhere), but still, could it be...

Oh, no. My kryponite is an 8-month old!

Day: 2 Time: 17:50

My life as a superhero started off quietly today. I actually played the role of the 5th grade math teacher by working the gate at the middle school baseball game. It was pretty boring sitting there with nothing to do so I picked up trash - that takes powers, right?

But then, out of no where I spotted a family in distress. The dad was carrying the baby on his shoulders and carrying a folding chair; the mom was pushing the stroller with the diaper bag; and, grandma was carrying another chair plus her belongings. Mom was clearly stressed that dad had the baby on his shoulders and only holding him with one hand. My superpowers kicked in - I immediately rushed to the aid of the dad and took the chair from him. We all walked together to the baseball game until baby and family were secured. I then returned to my role as 5th grade math teacher working the gate at the middle school baseball game.

My work is done today, but if not, I am alert and ready!

Day 1 16:50 EDT

I began my blogging experience as a 40 something year old trying to figure out her life. I've decided to change that to a 40 year old superhero. For the past year or two, I've wanted to be a superhero. So.... starting today, I'm going to use my superhero powers for good. I believe that God gave us all extraordinary abilities. We all have to find out what they are. In fact, I may already possess them. I am, of course, a 5th grade math teacher, a mother, and a wife (I probably should mention that I'm on my 3rd - and last - marriage). Superhero powers are surely found in there somewhere (late showing in the marriages).

Yes, I'm probably going to be that crazy old lady walking around with a cape who thinks she is a superhero. I won't be eccentric because I don't have enough money - I'll just be crazy.

Did I do a good deed today? I bought my kids flip-flops.