infrequent updates

Uhh, I didn't meant to be this infrequent...

2010-11-08T19:49:00.002-05:00

So when I titled this blog infrequent updates, I didn't mean I'd post annually. Oops. So now there is a LOT of catching up to do.

We loved our first little apartment in Oakton. It was so cute, but we decided to buy a house when we found some doctors who could answer some of my medical problems. Or so we though. We still don't have answers, but maybe we will find some soon? Also, the job market hasn't picked up much, and since we both have pretty secure jobs, we thought it would be silly to leave them and be in the last hired/first fired area. So we started our search in March of this year. We finally found a house we liked, although it was far away from my work. We closed at the end of May, getting us a tax credit for 2009, and promptly moved in. We LOVE our house. We've done some little things to improve, thanks to some major sweat equity from Dad. We've also painted and Tony has worked hard to stay on top of the goofy things that come up when you own a house. He keeps the yard gorgeous as well.

We had a great summer, with lots of quality time spent together. We went to Ohio for a week and a half to visit my family, and then had a little vacation for the two of us after. While we were in Ohio I took everybody's picture. Now it's 4 months later and I better get to editing those pictures I took so families can send them out if they'd like! I suppose that should be my mission for this week.

At the end of August, I was feeling a little strange and ridiculously exhausted. I found out that I was pregnant and felt better that at least I knew why I was feeling a little crazy! I'm now 14 weeks and feeling better every day. Food doesn't disgust me quite so much, I can eat a normal dinner, and I might even be able to eat chicken again sometime soon. We'll see. I am due May 9, and we are so excited for our new baby.

Last week we got a letter from George Mason University - Tony got accepted to their business program. We are excited for him to be able to be in school full time and to get his education completed. He is still not sure if he wants to do finance or medicine, but I am sure he will figure that out soon. With attending Mason, he will be doing ROTC so he can finish his degree without being deployed. With graduation he'll also be a higher-ranking officer. And, as far as we understand, he can choose his drill unit, which would mean he could be in the Manassas unit, and not have to leave town once a month. The only down side to that is that he may have to have a 2-week training in June, not long after the baby comes. That would be quite difficult for me to not have any help for two weeks as I'm still adjusting to baby life.

Mom is coming to visit on Friday for a few days and I am excited she will be here. It will be fun to have her at my house and we will do fun things together. I love my mom. She is great. And it will be great to have a little company while my sweet husband is being a soldier for a couple weeks.

Maybe I should work on editing those pictures now...

Sherlock always outsmarted Watson!

2009-11-18T08:53:00.003-05:00

And today I am Sherlock. I got this email in my spam folder today. It just made me laugh. And then a little sad that people actually think it's legitimate.

Please note the ridiculous spelling and grammatical errors. Sure thing, Dr. Watson, I'll send you allllll the information you need to pretend you are me. No problem. You got it. Be looking for it around the 10th. Of what month, you ask? Oh... the 10th of NEVER!!!! Really, who falls for this stuff??? And really? You think I'm going to think an email from att.net is legit? HAHAHAH Just because you put BOA as the sender?? Silly kids....

From: Bank of America (boanyk01@att.net)
From The Desk Of: Dr.Grey Watson
Bank of America
Branch Offices New York
1680 Broadway, New York,
NY 10019, USA.
Vice Chairman on Investment Banking
Director, Credit Control Dept.
Email:boanewyork@ovi.com

Attn: The Beneficiary,

TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE.

We are hereby officially notify you concerning your fund telegraphic
Transfer through our bank, Bank of America, New York, to your bank
account, which has been officially approved by the management of World
Bank Swiss (WBS) to credit the sum of US$18.5 Million into your bank
account.

Note that I have started processing your payment and every thing
concerning the immediate remittance of your funds will be carried out
within the shortest possible time from the time we received your? Below
needed information.

Also be informed that the Governor of Bank in London (BL) will sign on
your payment advice and a copy of the advice will be sent to the World
Bank in Swiss for some record purposes. Meanwhile your information and
your full contact details were received from our research manager, Barr.
Paul Peterson on your behalf to FRB for immediate release of your fund.

This fund was part of the lodged Late President Saddam Hussein of Iraq
discovery fund with World Bank of Switzerland, which the Swiss Bank has
decided to distribute it generously to help few lucky individuals and the
American Government is in agreement with the Swiss Bank to distribute the
fund to 700 hundred thousand people in America, Europe & Asia in other to
help improve their businesses.

Therefore, reconfirm the aforesaid information accurately, because this
office cannot afford to be held liable for any wrong transfer of funds or
liable of any fund credited into an unknown account.

These are the information we needed to be reconfirmed by you.
1.Your Full Bank Account Details
2.Your Direct Cell or office phone to reach you
3.Your address of locations
4.Your full name

Finally, you are required to reconfirm directly to me the above
information to enable me use it to process your bill of payment.

Your quick response shall be mostly appreciated; all your response should
be directed through our alternative email address for the immediate
attention of the credit control department.

Yours Faithfully,
Dr.Grey Watson.
Vice Chairman, Director, Credit /Telex Department.

in my office...

2009-09-01T16:53:00.002-04:00

I have the following hanging on my wall in my office. I think it's fabulous. Make sure your volume is up to get the full effect.

lookie!!!

2009-09-01T16:40:00.003-04:00

So I am a family & consumer science teacher. It is really a lot of fun but I am forever exhausted by hearing "oh we have that at our school???" or "where's S112??!!!!" So today, as part of my teacher prep week before school starts next tuesday, I put my artsy fartsy skills to work. And lookie what I've done!

I think they are fabulously cute, and bring quite a bit of attention to my classrooms in the hallway. Nobody else has anything like this in the building, and I LOVE it. Although I have given lots of people the idea, and it is taking off. I'm not done - I'd like to decorate them a little more, add some sparkle, if you will. But the basics are there. And I love it. And I did it all freehand.

a letter to a sister.

2009-08-24T22:06:00.002-04:00

Dear Katie,

Remember how you took a video of our house? SOoo uhh... how did that turn out? Will you share it? Please??

Love, Sara.

home improvements.

2009-08-24T21:50:00.003-04:00

We've done a few things since family has been here to make our home a little more homey. The very first thing we did was hang a clock we got for our wedding. We love it.

Here is my husband being very manly. He likes to be very manly. When everyone was unloading stuff from the wedding reception, he carried three cases of water up two flights of stairs. All the womenfolk (and maybe some of the menfolk too) were gasping at the manliness of my husband. So Tony is putting an anchor in the wall, on which we will hang our clock.

And here is the finished product. We love it. It'd be even cooler if we put a fun color behind it. We'll work on that. Maybe one day we'll paint.

the party before the party!

2009-08-24T21:35:00.003-04:00

So as is tradition, lovely friends (my sweet Sundee and Laura and Cristy) threw the party (who my Dad still thinks is "Sunday" because he says "Sunday" as if it were Sundee. He doesn't do that with any other day of the week. Just Sunday.). We had a little bridal shower at Sundee's home. It was fabulous and I was delighted to have some close friends there, and to spend the evening laughing our heads off. WE didn't play any dumb games (THANK YOU!!!!) (I don't care for shower games much). We just had some dinnerish and sat around and laughed and talked. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! So here are a few pictures from the evening...

(Sister H, Cristy, Sarah, Jenica)

(Cristy & Sarah)

(Laura & Jenica)

(Sundee, Alexis and Karen)

The whole group - I had a great time - thank you all for partying with me!!

above water honey moon pictures

2009-08-24T21:25:00.002-04:00

TADAAAA!!! Here we are - just arrived in Cancun after a LONG day in the airports, and we were waiting for our shuttle to the hotel. I was amazed at how organized and structured they had everything. We didn't have to lift a finger our entire vacation. Right there is about as much as we touched our suitcases.

So this is the resort - the pool and one of the restaurants (the roundish building there to the rightish in the picture) and my sweet husband.

Here's the water - oh my heav was it clear and beautiful. Each little dark spot was a spot of sea grass. That's how clear the water was - you could see the sea grass from a distance!! (this is taken from the boat on our snorkeling/isla mujeres trip)

This was the view from our oceanfront room. We didn't pay for oceanfront. They just gave it to us. It was GORGEOUS! Do we look like we were photoshopped in? We weren't. It was just the effect of the flash from being on the balcony.

This was before guitar hero and dinner one night. This was the night we got HOOKED on guitar hero. We have since purchased the game for the wii. We pretty much love it. But not more than we love each other, don't worry.

About the wedding....

2009-08-24T13:58:00.002-04:00

I don't have a single picture of my own from the wedding, so we have to be friends on facebook for you to be able to see the pictures that were tagged of me. I'm pretty sad about that. But my sisters posted on their blogs about our wedding, so I'll just link them here.

Alison posted here and Katie made a video here.

Thank you both for making lovely little montages of pictures!!

it was sooo cool!!!

2009-08-24T13:51:00.003-04:00

Here are a few trips from our snorkeling trip we took on our honeymoon. We bought an underwater camera and got some ok shots. I think if we take our film somewhere else we may get better-developed pictures, but CVS did NOT do a good job of developing the pictures. They were all kinds of grainy, and really, you shouldn't have that if you're using a film camera.

We loved the snorkeling. We had so much fun and it was so cool to see all the fish and creatures under water.

by request...

2009-08-24T13:25:00.003-04:00

...and because it's LONG LONG overdue, I am updating. Briefly.

A lot (which is still a gross understatement) has happened over the last few months.

After Tony proposed, we made plans to visit his family in Oklahoma. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Oklahoma meeting his wonderful family. We had a great time there. His family is great and I was welcomed to the family with open arms. They even threw us a great party to celebrate our upcoming marriage.

In June I got the final assignment for my masters degree which I worked on full time this last year. It was suicidal enough on it's own. And then I met Tony. I really didn't have time. But it's amazing how you can make time for things you really want, isn't it? I just didn't really sleep or exercise all year. In June we also found an apartment and did 90% of the preparations for our wedding. We were VERY busy. This all happened in the first two weeks of June. The last two weeks Tony was gone for his annual training with the national guard in podunk, virginia. That was a horrible two weeks. The worst part of the two weeks was that towards the end, his unit was informed that they would be deployed in 18 months for approximately one year. That means January 2011. This camper was not the least bit pleased about that.

While Tony was gone for his two weeks of training I did my best to keep busy by completing the majority of the final research project with a woman from class. We decided it would be MUCH easier to divide and conquer. And it was. And we rocked it. And now I am a master. And that is fabulous.

The last saturday of June I went tubing with Darin, his wife Melanie, Adam and his new flame. We had a great time, but I was really missing my honey. When we got back to the car, my phone rang and it was Tony telling me that he had gotten back a day early and so I promptly went home after we got back into town from being in WV for the tubing. I kind of offended my friends, but it had been two weeks since I'd seen Tony and I REALLY missed him!!

Wednesday July 1 we moved all of our belongings to our new house - Tony's first, and then mine. It was a very busy evening, and thankfully one of Tony's coworkers came and helped out. It was great to meet David and also great to have another strong man to be lifting and carrying things around.

July 3 we drove home to Ohio so Tony could meet my family. Tony stayed for the weekend where we enjoyed all kinds of Ohio 4th of July festivities, including the parade and street fair. We enjoyed a plethora of street fair foods and had a great time chillin with the fam. Tony got everyone excited about setting off our own fireworks, so we spent some time picking some out and then later in the evening setting them off. Everyone LOVED them!! And we can't believe we've never done that before! It was SO much fun. And I was so proud to have such a clever man.

I stayed in Ohio for another week and sent Tony to drive home by himself. He made it safely, and I enjoyed a few more days relaxing with my family. It turned out it was good that I stayed because of some family things that came up last minute. It was nice to be able to be home to be supportive and help out where I was needed.

The rest of July was busy with getting my family coordinated to come to Virginia for our wedding and making final arrangements for the wedding. August 1 sneaks up on you - you don't have all of August to anticipate the wedding. If you are planning a wedding at the beginning of the month, I suggest you start thinking of it as being at the end of the previous month, so as not to accidentally miss some deadlines. I should have thought of it as July 32. I didn't miss any deadlines, but I could have!

July 30 my family arrived. August 1 I married my best friend. He really is the greatest man in the entire world, and the last three weeks have been really amazing.

August 5 we left on our honeymoon to cancun. We had a fabulous time!!! Tony was disappointed he had to ask for tortillas every time we went to eat, but we really just enjoyed relaxing at the beach, snorkeling, and swimming in the pool at our great hotel. We came back Sunday. I was kind of ready to come back, but I really loved being on the ocean and spending so much time with my husband. I love him.

August 15 we had a reception in Ohio. I got to spend some time with some good friends and see some people I haven't seen in forever! Tony got to meet some of my very favorite people, and while he does not remember everyone's name (can you blame him?!! He just got dumped on with all kinds of people to meet - just the family who came to the wedding totalled 20 people), he does remember the people, and we both had a fabulous time with friends.

For our 3-week anniversary we went with our good friends Darin and Melanie to Ocean City, MD to go to the beach. Darin and I started beach day 3 years ago, and this year we were excited to bring our new spouses along on our excursion. We were glad they were happy to be there and we were also happy to include them on our tradition. We had a great day at the beach. It was forecasted to thunderstorm, but the rain missed us by thismuch We weren't really allowed to swim because of the harsh rip currents due to Hurricane Bill which was working its way up the eastern coast. We could play in the already crashed waves though, and that was more than enough to keep us entertained.

And now it's back to work. Tony starts school tonight, and I was in a meeting today. Tomorrow starts the full days. Not fun at all. But I have a great husband. I love him and he loves me and we could just make you gag with how happy and in love we are. I won't go into details. You can thank me later.

Playlist?

2009-06-16T23:42:00.002-04:00

I need suggestions. We need to make a play list for our wedding reception. What songs should we add to our list? C'mon, give me a list. Please please?

Our website!

2009-06-16T20:56:00.001-04:00

I have made a wedding website for Tony and I. Go visit!!

The address is:

www.weddingwire.com/tonyandsara

a sneak peak

2009-05-21T09:37:00.002-04:00

Go check out Sydney's blog - she took our engagement pictures. She posted a little teaser there. I think my favorite is the last one!

yes or no?

2009-05-20T10:27:00.002-04:00

I think I like this cut. It should be just barely long enough to pull back the front, but short and sassy and easy to do. What do you think? yes or no? the longer hair isn't working for me - I need to go short and have a good summer 'do.

Here ya go!!!

2009-04-19T22:00:00.003-04:00

Last night, around 8:00 pm, this amazing man you see here....

....took me to the location of our first date and....asked me if I would marry him and love him forever.

And then he gave me this:

And I giggled.

And said yes. I might have shouted it, I'm not sure. I was right near tears.

It's perfect. Just absolutely perfect.

And I have been giggling ever since. That kind of became a problem when we went to church today - it's not exactly appropriate to giggle through sacrament meeting. Oh well!!

I couldn't possibly ask for a better man. We have more fun every day we are together and I can't wait to start our lives together, just the two of us.

my fabulous honey...

2009-04-10T17:23:00.005-04:00

The other day I was having a very very difficult day. I had a meltdown, crying and stressing over the results of my stress. Not a hysterical meltdown, just a sad one. I was with Tony, and just started crying on his shoulder. He ran to the store to pick up a few groceries and brought back this beautiful rose - which smells sooo soo soo good!! He's so wonderful. I am so lucky to have such a loving, caring, thoughtful man in my life.

yeah gross...

2009-04-10T17:11:00.002-04:00

So I just moved into a new house. I noticed the drain was going slow. So I decided to clean it out. It was dis-gus-ting!!! It took me a good long time to get the thing cleaned out. I should have worn gloves - see how nasty???

And this is what i dug out of the drain....

....and a closeup view. arent you disgusted? It was so horrible. It wasn't just a hairball. I pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled - it just kept coming.

Once I got that mass out, I tried to rinse out the tub. The tub just filled - it didn't drain. So I had to take the plunger to the tub. Nast-o. After a good little plunging, the drain clears like new - too bad it was such a disgusting process to get to that point!!!

Darin got married...

2009-04-10T17:04:00.002-04:00

One of my best good friends got married once. His name is Darin. His cute woman's name is Melanie. They got married in the DC Temple. It was nice.

Sorry to the friends who got cut off here - I'm not sure what happened...

My cute honey got to come party with us at Darin's party. We had a good time.

Oh look, Darin and Mel at the temple posing for pics!

Aww how cute - coming out of the Temple! I think they might be a little excited!

Italy...mmmm italy!

2009-04-10T16:54:00.003-04:00

My kids made some pasta from scratch before break. I loved how it looked all laid out on the parchment paper to dry between classes. They did an awesome job with making the pasta and the sauce - it was pretty dang tasty! I couldn't help snapping a few pictures of the pasta...

incessant apologies?

2009-03-24T12:56:00.002-04:00

Yes, I know I am a crappy blogger. For that, I don't really apologize. I'm kinda busy. But some highlights:

Tony and I went to a Brazilian BBQ place - the type where they come around with swords of meat and slice it onto your plate. It was pretty tasty, but pricey. I don't feel as though I got my money's worth.

Yesterday an old friend from my freshman year of college (and we lost touch the following year due to a variety of reasons) found me and we caught up. Turns out we've both been living in the DC area for the last 4 years. Insane! It was fabulous to chat with her though and I so look forward to getting together for lunch or dinner sometime soon!

Grad school sucks. Royally. Especially when I'd rather be spending time with Tony or sleeping. Both rank pretty high on the lists. I am terribly afraid I am going to completely bomb the research project this semester. That is really not good. I have GOT to buckle down there.

One of my best-good friends joins the ranks of the marrieds on Saturday. I am totally stoked for him and his lady. They are both fabulous and I love 'em to pieces. I just hope they don't drop off the planet once they do the deed as marrieds tend to do.

For some reason, all the sinks in my kitchens at school are not draining right now. Funny how it's the sinks that the community ed cooking classes use. Oh wait. So not funny. Sooo obnoxious. The program has yet to be a positive experience for me.

I have really great students. Now that I've said this they'll probably make me regret it. But for now, I am glad I have great students this year.

I love to laugh, and I love it when the fabulous people around me make it their mission to make me laugh.

My preschoolers are stinkin adorable. One of them ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug because he got to be the caboose today. He's not one who usually talks, especially to me, so I was completely surprised (and delighted).

Valentines day...

2009-02-16T12:39:00.005-05:00

This is the first Valentine's day in four years I haven't been dumped. That's right. The previous three years I have been dumped immediately before or immediately after (with the impending sense of doom, thus ruining any hopes of a happy day). Really, not being dumped on V-day makes it a successful Valentine's day. Given my rather unfortunate history, I made Tony promise to not dump me until the end of the month if, in fact, he was anticipating doing so. I knew he wasn't, but I made him agree to it anyway. He did. And he also made it a fabulously lovely day.

It's probably no surprise, given my history, but let me just say, I hate the "holiday." Really, it's not a real holiday, just some forced day for boys to show girls they love them. I'm not complaining about that aspect of it, but sheesh it's so stressful to make it all fabulous and romantic and crap. But, my boy sure did do a fabulous job of making it fabulous.

I think we really celebrated on Friday - he sent me these:

Then friday night I hit up the local whole foods for some groceries - Tony had to work late and I am trying to eat a little bit better, so we decided to make dinner at home instead of going out. So I picked up some beautiful, lean steaks, and a few other things to make a lovely dinner at home. We ended up with blue cheese-stuffed steak, a lovely salad, baked potatoes and strawberries. It was delightful! We spent the rest of the evening cuddling and talking about upcoming events.

Saturday we spent the day together, lounging and watching tv. It was so nice to just cuddle up together and hang out all day. We both had a lot of homework we should have been doing but in the interest of some quality one-on-one time, the homework stayed put away and we had a great day together cuddling, talking, and watching movies.

Saturday night we decided we'd do a little celebrating. We got a little gussie'd up - compared to what we were all day - lounging in pj's is lovely and all, but not appropriate for a night out on the town. Isn't he adorable?

So we went to our favorite store - Target! We had a few essentials to pick up so we could get through the week - groceries and toothpaste, garbage bags and water. After Target, we went out to a lovely little dinner at

Even at 9:30 when we got there for dinner there was still a 45-minute wait. We determined that the little hostess honey was new and didn't really know what was going on - there were SEVERAL empty tables and lots of people standing around not doing a whole lot, and lots of people leaving. But, no worries, we sat at a table in the back corner of the bar area - we could just go sit there and not have to wait for a table in the "dining room." It wasn't smokey at all, and we were really all alone tucked in a little corner, so it was actually a lot nicer than being in the dining room. Also, we sat on the same side of the table, which we really never do, but the table was HUGE, and I felt WAYYYY too far away, like I'd have to yell across the table to talk to him, so we sat on the same side. It was fun and I think we should do that more often. It's a good thing he likes to have his arm around me!

Sunday we were together again, but more in a technical sense - he was doing homework ALL day - I was doing homework too, but not nearly as long as he was. I have enough to do that I could have, but in-class research is holding me up. But it was still lovely to have such a great weekend with my honey.

So now I have to apologize. I'm sorry I'm a horrible blogger. Occasionally I have really good stories from my kids or really fun things that happen, but right now besides Tony being in my life, there really isn't anything exciting happening - and Tony is plenty of excitement. We're both busy working full time, going to school full time and he's in the National Guard. So, we're not around to lounge all day very often - hence the excitement of just being able to cuddle all day. And when we do get a little time, we are usually so exhausted one of us is falling asleep at 9 pm. So I'm sorry I don't have all kinds of fabulous outings to update you with. Just lovely times with my honeyboy. Sorry if that makes you ill from all the cheese and sap....

en francais, s'il vous plait!

2009-02-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

good-NESS!

2009-02-06T20:08:00.003-05:00

This picture has nothing to do with anything except that I love that child! He is one of my preschoolers and is absolutely adorable!

How fun to have so many of you find my blog. Not many even knew it existed, and now Mom is spreading the word, so now I feel like I really have to update things more often.

At the moment I am sitting in class. I am doing an accelerated Master's degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum/Instruction and Character Education. I am taking 13 credits this semester and am in class every other weekend, Thursday and Friday 6-10 and Saturday 9-4. I'm still teaching Family & Consumer Science, and of course I have my honey love. Busy, to say the least.

This week I was informed that I was to vacate my house in 30 days because I had violated the terms of my lease. I have been stressing about it all week, and a little topsy-turvey about the whole thing. I am thankful though, for some very good friends (dave!, julie!, surrogate mom!). And I have not violated the terms of my lease.

I am home this weekend without my honey-love to cuddle with. His name is Tony. He's in the Army National Guard and is out on drill this weekend. So one weekend a month he is away for training, and then he'll also be away for two weeks in June. He's also going to school. Oh and he works full time.

We are equally busy, but unfortunately on different nights a lot of the time. My classes are Thursday through Saturday, his are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. So we have a guaranteed Wednesday and Sunday, but we both have to do homework at some point. Last semester we just did our homework together. Strangely, that's more difficult now than it was initially.

And my bottom hurts. I mean it really hurts. And I'm really not quite sure what to do about it. Thursday night is always fine, but about halfway through Friday night, I start to have serious problems. Nevermind that I rarely sit down at work to eat lunch, so I'm not used to sitting around much. I have a hard time sitting through a movie - I always have to be up to do something partway through. I'll go to the bathroom or change the laundry over or decide it's a great time to make my bed, or I'll get up and check the email or put a piece of paper in the garbage. And I have to sit for 4 hours straight? My bottom hurts. Also, I'm sitting in a chair that, while it does have padding, it is not comfortable in the least. And there's no getting comfortable either. Ever. And I don't know what to do. Any suggestions? It's getting seriously ridiculous.

Really.

Input.

Please.

My.

Bottom.

Hurts.

weekends.

2009-01-19T13:33:00.002-05:00

This weekend is lovely. I have 4 days. So that means I might actually get my homework done. And maybe some shopping for school too. Oh am I a slacker. Today is day 3 of the weekend and I have just barely started my homework that is due on Thursday. Think I can get it done? Hope so!!! It's 25% of the grade for the character ed class. Which I think is insane. I already teach all this, and the prof who is giving the assignment knows me really well and knows I teach this and all about my unit since she was at a few meetings where I presented the unit to my teacher peers. And I still have to do it. Bugger. Hate that. Oh well... at least I have it started-ish, right? I guess I should finish it, or at least work on it some more.

Wellllllll.... you should know.

2009-01-13T21:35:00.004-05:00

I have a honey... isn't he adorable? I sure think he is! I suppose the story of how we met and fell for each other is due. But, it's late, so it'll have to be delivered another time.

I love this picture of us, except the seat belts. But we're obviously very safe in the car, right? That we'd get in and put our seat belts on right away? And didn't even think to take them off to take a picture. I wish we had, but oh well.

We went up to the temple to look at the lights and see the stuff in the visitors center. He had much better pictures, but I haven't gotten them from him yet.

The kiddies at Christmas

2009-01-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

Isn't Abby adorable? The earrings and the "lipstick" she's putting on?!! Hilarious!! She had to wear those earrings and put them on first thing in the morning.

Grandma and Grandpa. I love my momma and poppa. Even if Dad is pulling a Mr. Rogers. They're so cute!

My little sister and older sister. Post-singing of every Christmas song known to man. It's tradition.

Holly and her beau. I don't think she knew I took this...

Tori and I while we were singing Christmas songs. You should see Tori rock out. The girl has some serious moves. Watch her here. The hip action and headbanging are priceless.

The girls LOVE Alex. And he's not quite sure what he's done to deserve such a punishment, but there Abby is cuddled up to him.

Remember how I said the girls love Alex?.... yeah.

Ellie got a new barbie!!!

Drew is rocking the sunglasses - he thought they were hilarious! Isn't my sister beautiful?

I think it's hilarious that Drew poses for pictures. He's at that fun age where he does goofy things like that.

Christmas 2008 part 1

2009-01-13T20:56:00.003-05:00

Drew and Grandpa having fun playing on the couch. Drew LOVED going upside-down like that!

Abby had to get in on the fun too! Grandpa likes to play it cool, but you can tell he's LOVING having the kids crawling all over him vying for his attention!

I had fun decorating my house this year. I have a lovely mantle and decorated it the same as my couch table. I loved it, it was so pretty all lit up!

I love the light behind the flowers. This is a bouquet Paul and Jill sent Mom for coming to stay with them while Jill was adjusting to new little Jacob. It was really beautiful!

Mmmm Peanut Blossoms! These aren't necessarily pretty, but I loved taking a picture of them. I did these and the snickerdoodles on the same day. I was busy!

I love this picture of the snickerdoodles. It almost makes me feel like a food photographer. Oh to have a fancy camera!!! But I love what I get from my new little point-n-shoot!

Dear Megan. And Jules.

2008-12-11T13:07:00.002-05:00

Dear Megan.

I'm sorry I'm the worst blogger in the entire world. Please forgive me. I have been typing until my eyeballs shrivel up and pop out of the sockets. It has not been fun. But I have some fun things to blog about over Christmas. Stay tuned. I think. At the very least, I have cute kids to post pictures of. Sorry I stink.

Love, Sara.

PS, how do you find that youtube of mark telling the horrible rabbit-killing story at the baby shower?

Dear Jules.

I know you tagged me. See above.

Love, Sara.

Oh the sleepiness of me!

2008-11-14T09:14:00.003-05:00

So here I sit. It's parent-teacher conference day. The parents come in from 7:20 until who knows when. 9:30 maybe? Or maybe it's 10:00. I have absolutely know idea. I'm hoping it's 9:30. I teach family & consumer science. cooking, early childhood careers, life skills. While it's all very valuable information, it's not a course parents particularly value. I had a record-breaking 9 parents today. Only one was of a child of concern.

I am B-O-R-E-D. I did bring work with me to do, and I did some of it, but goodness I'm more exhausted than I am bored. I am sitting in a gym looking at all the long lines of parents wanting to talk to teachers. Poor parents, I'm sure they're bored to tears also. Even worse? Some poor kids got roped into walking around trying to sell their wares. I just had a group of 3 boys walk by. One is holding a pumping thing full of coffee. One is holding an open (nasty!) box of Krispy Kremes and one is carrying a basket with the cups, sugars, and all the other necessary accoutrement's. It's now occurring to me that I probably should spellcheck this blog.

I rarely use this as a forum to vent, but today I am venting. I detest parent-teacher conference day. Here's what I say. If you have a child in school and you are visiting the teachers, it is a long, painful and often unpleasant day for those teachers. Surprise them with a little treat. A brownie? A Reese's cup? A cup of tea? What I would give for a cup of hot water right now. I feel like something crawled in my lungs and is trying to die. I slept with the humidifier on last night though, and I'll chug the tea today in hopes that I can stave off the illness. It might help if I slept more than 4 hours a night, don't ya think?

I'm done now. I get to go back to my room and recover for a little bit before I have darling students. My students really are darling though.

I think I might go out to my car and take a nap.

Nasty people.

2008-11-07T14:24:00.003-05:00

So once upon a time I wanted to see how many people had been to my blog. It's not many, friends. Not many at all. Occasionally go and look to see where people are and what not. Today I looked at search threads. You can see what people searched to get to your blog, but then this one also tracks what people search within your blog. There was an interesting search thread that some nasto searched today. When I say interesting, I don't really MEAN interesting. I mean the weirdo was really psychotic. Why would you search someone's blog for those things????!!! I mean, it's not like you're searching the whole world wide web. No no, these were searches WITHIN my blog. And they were all from the same IP address. In Ashburn. Over like 5 minutes. So nasty ashburn person whose IP is 65.216.218.133, go get your jollies somewhere else. You're nasty. And not the good kind of nasty.

Show yourself Nasty Mcnasterson.

3 blind mice, see how they run....

2008-11-06T23:16:00.002-05:00

Soooooooooo as I am wont to do, I went on a blind-ish date tonight. Sheesh was this guy a doozy - all kinds of asking crazy questions and even trying to hold my hand!! He might as well have driven me up a canyon and displayed all the hey-nanner-nanners.

Ok, I'm kidding. I had a fabulous time. Except maybe I laughed too much. I do that sometimes, but they were all genuine laughs - not a single "I should laugh because he meant to be funny there." Real laughs. It was delightful, actually. Questions were good, conversation was fun. I hope he asks me out again soon.

In a hurry much?

2008-10-28T22:06:00.003-04:00

To say it has been a crazy couple of days is a gross understatement. At least I knew I had to do a load of whites today, otherwise tomorrow would be a bit.... breezy. So I separated out all my dirty clothes and made a big pile and threw them in the wash. In a hurry? Yes indeed I was.

I was a little curious as to why the was was so clanky. We sometimes have a clanky washing machine, so I didn't think too much of it. Maybe the load was extra big or unbalanced or something, oh well. That is, until I went to put the clothes in the dryer. I opened the lid and this is what I saw:

What's that?? Can't tell what that is?? Well, you hopefully see that something is wrong. It is a load of whites with some big old black thing in there. Let me help you out....

Yes. My croc went into the wash. It is now very clean, I think. I'm awesome.

ummm huh?

2008-10-26T21:51:00.003-04:00

So I'm doing my masters degree. And because it's a cohort we are doing it in an elementary school near mount vernon. THE mount vernon. Washington's Mount Vernon.

Because are classes are in an elementary school we get to see some rather entertaining things. I was walking down one of the halls one day and saw this envelope posted on the wall. I'm really not sure what goes in the envelope. And I'm a little disturbed by the smiley face only having one eye.

This one is for Paul. There was a lady on his mission who answered the door. In a horrible old-lady-500-years-of-smoking-voice she said "Hi, I'm Mrs. R. You can call me the Dragon Lady. Can I take your coats?" Well apparently Mrs. R is teaching music in Mt. Vernon now. Who knew??

shake it baby, shake it

2008-10-26T21:43:00.003-04:00

Some of my favorite people are Darin, Adam and Mel. I love it when we do things all together, it's always a lot of fun. We had conference together, you know, a lovely breakfast spread. And we've had a few wii parties.

Mel and I are boxing and cannot for the life of us figure out how to actually make it hit each other so our match went on forever!

DHP and AJ dueled it out on the boxing also. They had an even harder time and worked up a good sweat trying to knock each other out. It was awesome.

Our first wii party, this is Darin after he'd just boxed. He was a little toasty. And he found some beady things on the end table. And they stuck to his head. Look how pleased Mel is with her man.

I had a wii party a couple weeks ago. And another about a month before that.

Stirfry Sunday

2008-10-26T21:33:00.002-04:00

I've got a little stirfry of pictures for you - over the last month I have done or come across all this:

I went to a mongolian bbq the other night for the very first time. It was a fabulous evening with good company and fun conversation. I thought the big huge round grill was cool, and how they're all there snapping your food around and all. I wish they'd snapped mine around a bit more though, some of it was still a bit tough.

A couple weeks ago I actually got to go and be social with people after school for happy hour. I wasn't all happily drunk or anything, but it was fun to visit and de-stress together!

I made cinnamon rolls for conference. Darin and Adam invited me over for breakfast and to watch conference at their house on Sunday. We made french toast, and I had some extra frosting so we made some stuffed french toast too, and then the cinnamon rolls. It was fabulously sweet and disgusting, and that's all we ate all day long. But it was all SOOO good.

See my cinnamon rolls?

See Adam eating a cinnamon roll in seemingly one bite? He got most of it in, too.

This is a picture I found in some papers I had in my office. I am really really not sure how it got in those papers or even how old it is. But, it's a beautiful (?) picture Katie drew for me long long ago. I turned it over the other day when I was packing it up to take it home and she had outlined everything on the back side of the page in pen, so really, it was 2 pictures in one. Awesome. Thanks Katie, love you!!

sunrise, sunset, sunrise sunset

2008-10-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

sunrise

sunset

sunrise

sunset

sunrise

sunset

I took these while driving. I've got some mad skillz, eh?

Do the Camcam

2008-10-26T21:05:00.002-04:00

One of my dearest friends was in town this weekend. We had lots of fun. We met up at Maggianos in Friendship Heights for a fabulous dinner. A four-hour dinner (like a 3-hour tour).

I'm not exactly sure what Marcus has on his head. A sticker? A name tag? No idea where it came from.

This is Jeff being 82. And Chris next to him...

Cammie blowing out his birthday candles in these strange little lemon cookies.

Cammie, his friend Kim from freshman year at Ricks and me.

the whole bunch! jessica, jeff, chris, cam, marcus, steveo, me, kim and laura

I've gotta punkin, I've gotta punkin, I've gotta punkin, hey hey hey hey!

2008-10-26T20:15:00.008-04:00

Every year we take the preschool I run with my high school students to the pumpkin patch out in Chantilly. We have a fabulous time. And the preschoolers are ADORABLE!!!

While we were there I took the opportunity to take advantage of some of the fun things around the pumpkin patch, it was a gorgeous (but freezing!!) day!

The colors were so bright and beautiful, and then a fabulous blue sky, the contrast was amazing.

This one was fearless. They had a little booth where the kids could come up and milk a real cow. She did it a couple times with the farmer there. Then she just did it by herself. She is hilarious - and not afraid of anything!!
The cows were in 2 pens. One for the milking, one for the resting.
It came time for the farmers to switch the cows. The cows were not so keen on moving around and getting all their milk squeezed out of them by elementary school kids. So the cows, both of them, took off. Up and down the hills, verging on getting in the sponge pits for the rope swings, almost going down the slides. And all the while, farmers are chasing after them. One cow was even on a lead rope. The farmer had about 20 feet of length on it, had his heels dug into the ground and was dirt skiing behind the cow. Apparently they don't know the FIRST thing about herding cows.

I'm not a huge fan of pigs, but the 3 sleeping was just so screaming for a picture. I had to.

This character was in this cage just a-talkin' to himself. I'm not quite sure what he was saying - something about how they do things in France or something. Honestly, I was a little scared to get too close.
I think the kids will be talking about the loose cows for a long time!!! We had a fab day at the pumpkin patch. Can't wait for next year!

DUH!

2008-10-26T20:04:00.003-04:00

So I had to take my new car in for oh something, I don't remember. My first oil change or something? who knows. It was a lovely day, and I was sitting outside. I looked around when I saw a sticker on the wall.

I thought, "oh those rowdy teenagers. putting their stickers all over. What's the duh about anyway? I mean, I think it's a funny sticker, and if I had a fat stack I'd probably post them where I could.... but....hmm...."

Then I look around and see this one....

Way across the driveway in the window.

See it?
Then there's these, back where I'm kinda sitting...

Now, as for cars, I would think the honDUH would be the one to have this sticker. No. Apparently its Hyundai. I don't get that. But it's a company sticker and they stuck them all over the place. Weird. The next time I went back I saw even more, but didn't take pictures as they were in more populated places and I was already feeling a little self conscious that day.

Family Night

2008-10-26T19:53:00.002-04:00

So in the singles wards we have family night with some geographically arranged families. but once a month, we meet all together as a ward family for a fabulous outing - or inning or 8. September brought us Matball. It's a rendition of soccer/baseball. It's not how I grew up playing it, but still decently fun none the less. I decided to document the evening.

Here we have the fabulous Annie. She really is fabulous.

The outfield. You can kind of see one of the bases taped off on the left side of the picture there. White tape, crossing over the painted red line. We're poor and single, we don't exactly have big gymnastic mats for our mats in matball.

Camille at bat, Annie as catcher, and Viddy reffing the game

Look at all those hotties..... adam, mikey, christian...

It was a rousing game, and went into an extra inning to end the tie. Much fun, way to go FHE Grandparents!

Ward Retreat

2008-10-26T19:34:00.003-04:00

As a ward we went way up in the mountains of Maryland and had a cute little cabin-out. It was good fun, always is. While we were there we did lots of just comfy things. There was a bonfire and lots of games to be had. And I took some pictures.

Saturday morning we had some visitors in the pasture by our cabins.

This is Kasey and Mel. Mel and Darin are a pair. Kasey's sweetie is far far away so she didn't get to come, but I think she gets to come back soon -YAY!!!

See all the games we played? or.... they played? I wasn't feeling well and didn't play a lot.

This is the dinner bell.

This is hottie Adam being all manly and stuff. He was strutting with the football.

These are some of the coolest. Darin in red, Adam in blue.

The totem pole.

We stayed in these super rustic log cabin things. They were so 1832.

My feet. I got bored in the morning devotional. I wasn't quite awake yet, but was still very ADD. But my toes were all kinds of cutely painted!

Opportunity of a lifetime?

2008-10-08T14:00:00.002-04:00

I have the opportunity to go to a skins game on sunday. Redskins. But it's Sunday, and I'm not really a huge NFL fan. BUT, there is the whole experience of it all. So. What do I do? 2 cents please. What would YOU do????

Guessing Game.

2008-09-28T11:34:00.004-04:00

So here's how the game works. I'm going to post some pictures. You have to guess what they are. Ready??

Um, excuse me?

2008-09-28T11:22:00.003-04:00

I had to run to Target the other day to grab a few things at the store. It was perfect timing since I had some time between work and grad school and it was on the way. Loverly. So I'm grabbing a couple groceries. I am on one end of the store and can see all the way to the back. I look up. This is what I saw:

Do you know what day it was? Friday. Friday SEPTEMBER 26!!!! Do you know what he's hanging? Do you see the snowman? Do you see the reindeer? Do you see the green and red GARLAND!!!!!!?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 whole months before Christmas!

Ok, let's just talk about all the holidays between now and then. Columbus day. What happened to celebrating the man who "discovered" the grand ole US of A?! And Halloween? All the dressing up and candy-grubbing. We can't miss that. Election day. I don't know, but it seems like that's a kind of important day for a few people here and there. And then Thanksgiving. Talk about celebration of survival. And shouldn't we all really really celebrate survival this year? Good heavens! And the best holiday between now and Christmas? Pear Harbor Day!!! And that goober in the Target is just skipping them all. Rude.

Things I love and eat!... or eat and love?

2008-09-28T10:57:00.004-04:00

I've started photographing some of my favorite things I like to eat.

There. I said it. So far, this has been the result. I meant to take a picture of my beautiful french toast breakfast, but I was halfway through it before I thought "wow, this was pretty, I should have taken a picture!" Oh well. Next time.

So one thing that I quickly fell in love with when I moved to the thriving metropolis of the WMA (Washington metro area...weird.) is all the amazing amazing wonderful food. There's a great little kabob place not far from my school. That's where I got this little delight - lamb souvlaki sandwich. Oh so good! In fact, I'm totally drooling right now craving the delight that is Moby Dick's. With it you can see the Tzatziki sauce and the hummus. De-light. Actually, not light at all, but soo soo good. Some days I"ll just get the naan and hummus for lunch. That's also delightful. They also make basmati rice and make some of it with saffron, which is incredibly tasty. So if you get a chance, try some kabob.

Another favorite (and even more occasional meal than Moby Dick's) is Five Guys. YUM! Fresh fresh burgers on the grill, made just the way you like it, one patty or two and all the fixins you could imagine. Raw onions or fried onions. Raw mushrooms or sautéed mushrooms. Lettuce, tomato, relish, cheese, mayo, mustard, you can even have horseradish. Gross. But if that floats your boat, then you'd be happy at Five Guys. They get all their potatoes from Idaho and they announce where their potatoes were grown each day. Mine were from Sugar City, Idaho. Then they fry 'em up in peanut oil. Oy what a difference that makes!! My favorite are the Cajun fries - they have a little sprinkling of old bay-ish spices and are oh-so-yum. Look how yummy it is? I made up a little fry sauce to go with my regular fries. Oh and you also get more fries than one person could possibly eat. In fact, maybe even more than 2 could eat. When I go, I often bum fries off everyone else or we go splitsies on the fries. A week ago I went with 2 guys and we got one large order and that was plenty for 3 of us. That's a lot of fries!

Another new discovery here is sushi. A friend of mine took me for sushi at the end of last school year and I've been addicted ever since. We even had the sashimi which is the raw meat on top of a little mound of rice. It was SOOO good!!!! I couldn't even believe it. So that got me over my fear and grossness of fish. It was sweet and didn't just mush in my mouth. YUM. So a fabulous thing is that in almost all the grocery stores they have a sushi person who will make you sushi to order, and then they also have some that is all ready for takeout which they make fresh each day. One of my favorite things to do is get the California rolls (I think). They have avocado, I think some cucumber and krab. They don't taste fishy or ocean-y or seaweed-y at all, which is good. Look how pretty they are!!! So if you come to visit, we have to go be adventurous and get some sushi. I promise it's good!!!

What are your favorites?

Mark's visit

2008-08-08T18:15:00.005-04:00

My brother-in-law Mark came to visit. He had an ethics training here in DC and his hotel was 2 blocks up from the white house, which was quite fun. The poor guy and his poor friend, I walked them alllllllll over DC. We walked a lot. Mark is kind of an insomniac. I think he slept well that night.

Here's what we did ....

Of course went to The Mall and had to see the Capitol - that's me and the BIL. You can almost see Mr. Freedom on top of the dome.

You can see Mr. Freedom a lot better in this picture. I think this is the best one I've gotten of the Cap. It was a freaking HOT day, but the sky was beautiful, and perfect for a good shot of the building without a whole bunch of other crap in front of it. There is ALWAYS other crap in front of it when I'm down there. Today was a lucky day.

Then, because I was with 2 boys, of course we had to go to the Air and Space Museum. Those boys like the big rockets and all of that. I've been there a bazillion times. It was still fun though. This is Mark with the Wright Bro's replicated aeroplane.

Then we moseyed up 7th Street and got into Chinatown where we had a fabulous dinner with soup and appetizers and family-style dishes, so we got to try lots of fun things I haven't had before. It was oh-so-yum. Thanks for the fancy-schmancey dinner Mark!! :) This is Mark not waiting for the picture to be taken before he starts walking out of the picture. I'm sorry. My camera just isn't as fast ok? It's a little slow. It's doing the best it can.

Then we went back to the Hilton. Nice diggs, huh? Mark's coworker picked up his car and we drove around the monuments in the evening with his convertible top down. It was a delightful evening to be driving around such. We parked and walked up to the Washington Monument. It looks so little there!

But no. IT was just really far away. REALLY, Mark is only about 3 blocks tall on the monument. Crazy huh?
And that was Mark's Washington Adventure. Well, maybe he did a few more things, but we were pretty dang busy, and that was a LOT of walking. Good thing we all had good walking shoes on.

And now, my corniness and dorkiness has exhausted me. I shall go eat my dinner.

Need a distraction?

2008-07-22T15:03:00.002-04:00

Visit this delightful little place:

Cake Wrecks

Keep in mind, everything you see has been done by a professional. Someone has paid money to get the cakes you see there.

Of special note: the baby cakes. Freaky. And the fireman cake. Be sure to read that story. Oh and the bride replica. and the antimarriage. Well, you'll get there....

Announcements:1 and 2.

2008-07-18T17:01:00.003-04:00

1. I got a new car. It's cute. It's snazzy. It's in need of a new name. Isn't it cute? It's a laguna sand-colored Hyundai Elantra. So I will be taking name nominations. Stanley (the old car) is on the selling block. He's sitting in the corner and is very sad. If you have name nominations for the new car, post them in the comments. And Darin, Leon will not be accepted as a name nomination.

2. I am going to be a master. Yes, that's right. I got accepted to grad school and will be attending Regent University in the fall. Don't expect to see me much over the next year. I will be working and going to school full time. Full time on both parts. That's busy. But I am very excited about it!! Yay for me. Maybe once I have some money in a year or two we can celebrate all together!

AS promised.... #2

2008-07-18T16:09:00.002-04:00

I know this has been a long time in coming. I know I promised it would be soon. And well, my friends, "soon" is relative. Get over it.

Now, I know many of you have cringed and shared your absolute horror and disgust with me over bad date story #1. Yes, that story is 100% true. Yes, it really did happen to ME. And maybe now you will all understand why I sometimes have reservations about dating. Sometimes I can't wait to date. Other times I remember these horrible experiences.

Number 2 isn't so much one particular date as an almost-entire dating story. One night was ummm awkward, but the end of the relationship was just hilarious.

Some time after date #1 I started to date another guy. This guy lived in Sandy, Utah. This guy was deaf, and lived with his family. I wasn't concerned about the deaf factor as I was pretty fluent in sign language at the time, but found that wasn't necessary because he had hearing aids and did rather well with them. He was a returned missionary and worked for the church inspecting fabric. As an employee of the church he was required to maintain a temple recommend. Not a bad kind of boyfriend to have, really. In true Utah dating fashion, we had dated about a month and started talking about the M-word. Looking at rings. You know the drill.

One night we went out to Payson or something to visit one of his mission companions or one of his friends or something. I have no idea what all we did at said friend's house. His friends woman was there also, so it was kind of a double date. We watched a movie, the 4 of us. And we all cuddled up under blankets with our honeys. We had a lovely, schmoopy time enjoying everyone's company and of course loving cuddling up. The boy drove me home at the end of the evening. We were sitting in the car talking, and kissing a little bit. We were directly under my bedroom window - there was a student parking lot right there. I knew any of my roommates or neighbors could look down and see us sitting in the car. In the course of the kissing and conversation, he determines that maybe we should um... progress a little bit.

Now, granted, I'll take a little responsibility here. We were sitting in his car. Making out in a car is not exactly easy or convenient. My hand was on his leg. Not scandalously, just on his leg. I learned an important thing this night about having your hand on a guy's leg. Keep your hands on your own lap. You can also keep your hands on his shoulders. One hand on his shoulder might even be handy, so that if he gets a little too "in your face" you can easily push him back a little bit so you can breathe for a minute. But, if you put your hand on HIS leg, even if it's not scandalously, apparently it's scandalous for HIM. Which reminds me of another bad date story. Well, it wasn't BAD, just ummm not the best. Awkward. But that's another story for another time. So, my hand was on his leg. Don't do that. Ok? Just don't do that. Apparently that's code for "show me the goods, cowboy!" Now, if you want to see the goods, then by all means, go right ahead.

So my hand was on his leg. We're kissing. He says to me, "so do you want to see it?" I am thinking "ummm what might I want to see?" And then, before I know it, there it is. Yes folks. The little general. In full salute. Right before my, and possibly my roommates' and my neighbors', very eyes. You would have thought there was a cop behind me telling me to keep my hands where he could see them. Now, I ask, what is a girl to do when a boy decides to share the jewels?

I mean, I'm all for jewelry. I like sparkley, shiny things like diamonds and all. And how on earth do you get it out so fast that a girl hardly has a time to respond and say "No don't! it's NOT attractive! I know the two of you may have a great relationship, but that doesn't mean I want in on that. Two's company, three's a crowd!"

A couple weeks after that, the boyfriend went out of town for the weekend. He hadn't said anything about going out of town for the long weekend. I called his house wanting to do something, and his mom said he was out of town. He'd gone to Vegas with some friends. I thought, "well that's nice. What a fun time." He got back into town Monday night. Apparently he was pretty upset that I wasn't so interested in his jewels so he didn't want to offer me any jewelry. I'm starting to think that maybe someone else was more interested in the jewels. Monday night he IM'd me. It's funny how certain conversations stick in your head for YEARS. This happened probably in 2001. So this is what he says to me:

"Sara, I can't see you anymore. Actually, there's someone else. I asked her to marry me last night. She said yes."

Ok boys, a little tip. As sucky as it is to tell someone you don't want to date them anymore, at least offer a phone call. Breaking up with someone over the internet is not acceptable. Not over email, not over instant messenger, not over text message.

Also, do not get involved with another girl before you end it with the previous girl. It is wise to only maintain one relationship at a time. If you have lost interest in the girl you are dating, end it. Do not hold on to her. It's just too complicated. You're not just messing with her head, you're messing with your own head. The poor boy. No wonder he felt the need to pull it out - I think he may have temporarily forgotten who he was with. It's difficult to keep these things organized in your head. So back to the story...

What???????? There's someone else?? And wait, we were dating last weekend, and you were sharing your jewels with me not long before that. I didn't ask for them, but you were happy to volunteer them. And there's someone else? And how long have you been playing both of us at the same time? And what on earth possessed you to ask her to marry you last night and THEN break up with me? Well it's just as well. Your jewels were nothing compared to bad date #1. I mean, if you're going to share the salute, I'll share the evaluation. So THERE!

And really, it's just as well. I couldn't seriously look my husband in the face and call him Doyle. He didn't go by Doyle though. He went by D'. That's right D with an apostrophe following it, which he was sure to point out to people. "I'm Dee, with an apostrophe." Why? Because his 3 names all started with D. He also hated "Doyle," so he decided to abbreviate, hence the apostrophe. I'll leave you to comment on all the things the D could be short for. I'm sure you can tell my imagination runs wild there...

If only...

2008-06-20T17:18:00.001-04:00

...every office was like this

The embedding link didn't work so sorry.... here's the link you'll just have to surf there:

Battle of the Century?

a letter to a friend.

2008-06-20T01:20:00.002-04:00

dear jules.

i hate you.

i will never sleep again.** (see note)

love sara.

** NOTE: http://www.sporcle.com/games/

coming soon...

2008-06-20T00:33:00.002-04:00

bad date story #2. just hold your horses. i'm kind of busy. school is finishing. i'm applying to graduate school. and my car is dying. slowly and painfully. the mechanic told me to drive stanley until he dies. so sad! so i am fixing to be 30g in the hole in about 12 months. aren't you envious. ha. no really. you are. i know it.

The solution to all my problems...

2008-06-20T00:21:00.002-04:00

We single people have a tough lot in life. We suffer through so many things, are harassed regularly about why we aren't yet married, what could possibly be wrong with us that someone hasn't snatched us up yet and what, don't we want to get married??!!! Well... in perusing a particular yahoo group posting, I think I have solved the problem of the singles.

Please read the following:

16a.: STILL ISO a barber I can trust

Posted by: "Poorboy still needing a trim"*

Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:01 pm (PDT)

So.... nobody responded to this question the last time I asked it, but I thought I'd try again.

I'm looking for a barber/stylist that won't butcher my hair, as Haircuttery barbers are wont to do. I'm looking for quality and professionalism, but I'd rather not pay more than $20. Any suggestions?; PoorBoy

So, isn't this poor boy in such a predicament??!!! And you may ask, what on earth does that have to do with solving the problem of singles across the church, heck, across the world? Well. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Oh wait, I mean the answer is in the reply, which, obnoxiously enough, was approved to be posted. Maybe someone approved it because they found it so amusing.

Here's the solution, not only for the PoorBoy who cannot get a good haircut (which I can do pretty well - better than haircuttery at least...I think... right? Or...no???), but also for those of us who may struggle with the perpetual singles scene.

16b.: Re: STILL ISO a barber I can trust

Posted by: "Man with all the answers"*

Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:01 pm (PDT)

Spend 20 bucks and go buy some clippers, then buzz your head. It's been a
while but when I finally decided to buzz my head, a couple weeks later I had
a girlfriend, a new job and did quite well on the LSAT. I am now married to
that girl and in law school.

Think about it. It will save you so much money in the long run, and who
knows what else might happen, your hair might be holding you back.; -AnswerMan

Wow, it's so simple. So. Actually, I already have a pair of clippers. So I should just buzz it all off then? And then I'll be in grad school, I'll have a new car (Stanley is dying a slow and painful death), and the man of my dreams will swoop around the corner and put a ring on my finger, and we'll not have any debt and life will be happily ever after. And all because I buzzed my hair!!!!

If only I'd known this years ago, I could also be so lucky as to have 30 children following me around already. *sigh* the things you miss out on...

*names have been changed to protect the clueless and rude...

Bad date story #1

2008-06-01T22:14:00.002-04:00

This is for all the lurkers out there... you know who you are.

I don't think I've chronicled this aspect of my life yet. And since I like to humiliate myself for people who don't know me, I've decided to tell you all this delightful story. I hope you enjoy it. This is Dating 101, according to Sara. This is also a story I tell one of my classes when we talk about dating. It's part of the curriculum to talk about dating and relationships. It's just too bad all my lessons are what not to do. There are some important lessons here. Pay attention kids.

Once upon a time, long long ago (my sophomore year of college) and far far away (in Provo), I studied in the library. Not just anywhere in the library. I studied on the 2nd floor of the HBLL, near the maps. See, not many people go digging around the maps, so it was VERY quiet, and there wasn't a lot of people-watching to do to distract me from my studies. In true library fashion, there was a little man behind a desk at a computer. Strangely, my best-good friend at the time had met him online and then gone out on a date with him. She told me about this guy and that he worked when and where I studied. I somehow started talking to him. Best-good friend (heretofore referred to as BGF) said I should date him. Like I can just say "Hey, you be my boyfriend now." That might work with preschoolers, but usually in college that kind of backfires.

Soooo eventually, this boy asked me out on a date. I say eventually, but really it didn't take him very long at all. I think BGF had some hand in telling him to ask me out because I didn't instigate it. Anyway, so he picks me up and we start driving north. And we keep going north. On University Ave. And we keep going north. Do you know where we're going? I figure we're going over to the movie theaters at the mouth of the canyon. But we just kept right on going at full speed.

We continue driving up the canyon and I start to wonder what is going on. I asked what we were doing or where we're going and all I got was a "you'll see." Squaw Peak, the makeout point? No no, that's for high schoolers, apparently. No, we pulled into a park. Vivian Park, about halfway up the canyon. At this point of my life I'm pretty clueless and naive, but I'm smart enough to know that there is NOTHING in Vivian park, especially after dark. Nothing. So he pulls into a parking lot, pulls the car around to a dark, unlit corner and parks the car, turning it off. I'm not quite sure what's going to happen to me. I have my cell phone and debit card in my pocket (never go on a date without a phone, chapstick and $20 in your pocket!), so I know if I have to make a run for it, well he's a much bigger guy than me and I could easily get back to the highway and thumb a ride back to the valley if I needed to. He lays his seat back and wants me to start kissing on him. I don't.

Let's just pause here. Lets talk about some dating do's and don't's.

Do ask girls out on a date.
Do have a plan
Do plan something fun
Do not drive up the canyon
Do not assume what you think will be a fun-filled evening is necessarily your date's idea of a fun-filled evening. It is important to talk about your plans and be clear about what you are doing before you actually leave the house. That gives you an opportunity to back out of the date before you are in a compromising situation.

You think the story ends there? Um no. Unfortunately for me, the story continues on. Fortunately (?) for you, it gets much more exciting. Just as a forewarning, if you are tender spirited, you may want to stop here, but I'll try to keep it rather G-rated. Maybe PG-13. And while he's trying to get me to start kissing on him, and he's all laying down, he pulls it out. You know. IT. The general. And as if I'm hungry, he offers me a snack. Mind you, I'm not kissing on him. Not. And as if that will entice me to kiss on him!

Back to our list....

Do not whip out the little general. Do not. Do not. Do not!!!!
And do not think that introducing the general will entice a woman to kiss on you. Anywhere.

And back to our dating hints and tips:

Boys and girls are different. Boys are generally visual. Girls are generally not. Boys have hair ALLL over their bodies. Girls should not. Girls parts are not weird. Boy parts are. Showing your parts around is not not not not not going to entice a girl to kiss on you if she's not already. Not any decent girl, anyway.

So hopefully needless to say, I asked if he would take me back home. I don't think I was that polite about it. And I'm leaving out some disgusting details, thank your lucky stars. Thinking about it makes me want to put my fingers in my ears and scream "la la la la la la la" until all the nasty memories go away. He agreed to take me home, and thankfully didn't force me to do anything, but he pouted the whole way home. What a horrible way to ruin a date! We had a nice conversation on the way up, and silence on the way back. It was really too bad that he turned out so filthy.

So no, I didn't have to thumb my way home. I didn't have to call for help. And I didn't have to use my chapstick (unfortunately - had it been a respectable date , I wouldn't have minded kissing on him, he was actually really cute and a lot of fun. I just don't respond well to being bossed around!!! And too bad he turned out to be a bit more freaky for my tastes).

I saw him a few years later, just happened to see him across the way around town one day. He had tattoos and piercings, had gone all tough-guy biker-dude and gotten all kinds of weird. It's not like I didn't see that coming.

Unfortunately for me, this is not the end of the bad date stories. There are many many more to come. All somewhat equally nasty. It's starting to make me wonder if I have something stamped across my forehead, like "Tramp" or "trashy ho" or "take me, I'm easy" or "will work for dinner" or......... Um, do I? You know, as a friend, it's your responsibility to tell someone if they have food stuck in their teeth, mascara across their face or a big "I'm a trashy girl, take me" stamp across their forehead! Sheesh.

Some people tell their love story on their blog. Not me. I tell horror stories. And maybe you'll understand why now I have some hesitations about marriage...

I need a desk chair at home...

2008-05-14T07:51:00.001-04:00

...and found this on ebay... oh the tempting wiles of ebay!

It's bad.

2008-05-14T07:44:00.000-04:00

Very very bad. When you are awake and doing the morning email check before your scheduled email deliveries come. It's very very very bad when they come at 5:30 am, and you are awake and checking email before 5:30. That's too dang early.

a new home....

2008-05-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

I have been delightfully settled in my new home for about a month now. Muchas gracias to the darling dears who helped with all the hauling of crap, and of course to the old people for unpacking me and putting everything together and stored away and all of that. I had pictures on the wall by the end of the week - when does that happen??

So pictures of the new diggs will be coming soon. Really, I should just record a little video and post it, but I'm not sure how I'd go about doing that. We'll see.

Let's just say this much:

Bedroom: has closets. ROCK ON!
Living room: has a fireplace. and lots of space. and built-in bookshelves. and is all kinds of organized and clean. LOVE IT!

And the roommate is great too - we went out to dinner over the weekend, and went grocery shopping and so far have always had a good time together. It is soooooo nice to have a clean house, and a comfortable place to come home and relax and not worry about getting black lung or something from all the mold and mildew.

And I know, I'm over doing things, posting twice in a day. I just get motivated sometimes. Or I just get to procrastinating other things I should be doing. Right now I'm procrastinating.

For Dan...

2008-05-12T12:54:00.001-04:00

Not that Dan reads my blog - if you could call it a blog, but I saw this and it made me think of him...

from http://xkcd.com/417/

for me. maybe you.

2008-05-04T00:47:00.000-04:00

This is just for me... if you enjoy it too, well all the better. Thanks, Darin!

Things to (not) miss

2008-04-08T16:28:00.000-04:00

So in an effort to blog semi-regularly, for my 3 (ok ok, one...) reader(s), and scanning at the last couple entries, I decided to tell you some things I will miss. and some things I will not.

I am moving one week from today. Actually, I am loading the truck next monday evening - want to help??, the 'rents are old, and we can always use a few bodies to speed up the work! and who can turn down papa johns? So it occurred to me that I will miss a few things about my current location. In no particular order,

being across the street from the metro station. furrealdo.
being 2.0 miles from work.
being able to wake up at 6:35 and get to work by 7:15 having showered and done my hair and put on some makeup
being 1.0 mile from church - maybe less
being able to go home from school and take a nap during my planning period

And things I will not miss?

stairs to get to the house
stairs to get to my room
water infringing on my living space
mold resulting from the water
mold-induced allergies
crazy people strolling through our parking lot and yard as if it is their yard, or their trash can, or their staircase to get to their house.
wood floors above my bed
students knowing where i live and then asking me who i was with at a given time or what i was doing not at school because they saw my car in my driveway
having to take care of the yard - granted i didn't do this very much, but i also didn't enjoy it when i did help. except for cutting down the massive bushes, that was sweet. it was like a major getting-even, because apparently i believed it was the bush's fault we were burglarized. and just so you know, we were burglarized because being robbed is when there are weapons involved. although if you count the large knife on the bed the next day, then i guess weapons were involved.....

and so as to not complain or end on a negative note - my new place will be deeeelightful. it's a bit farther away from school and church, but the location is still de-love-light-icious. oh and i will have a really nice kitchen. oohhh i am so excited for a big kitchen where i feel like i can actually function. ohhhh a kitchen.... *droooolllll*

Cherry Blossoms 08

2008-03-30T19:27:00.000-04:00

So I got up at 5 on saturday to get downtown to see the cherry blossoms and take some great pictures before it got crowded. It was FREEEEEZZZZZIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!! But there was a beautiful clear sky (doesn't work great for sunrises, but it was still nice later) and I think I got some good shots. I haven't finished editing all of them, and not all of them were great, but thanks to reading a photography blog, I learned how to edit pictures, I think. So if you aren't in town, or won't make it down this year, maybe this will give you a little idea of what you're missing....

After I did the whole tidal basin thing, I decided to go to Eastern Market, it's just a few more stops from downtown. I got a brick at the market breakfast and strolled the kiosks before heading back to suburbia. I got some fun snaps there, too, I think.

Don't those strawberries just make your mouth water?? MMMMM!!!

So now that I'm happy with the pictures I'm taking on a more regular basis, I'm getting the itch to get a really good camera with all the lenses you change out and all. My cam takes great shots, but it's just 4 mp's, and they get grainy pretty quickly which is sucky. So the savings will begin, as well as the research, to get a really fabulous camera. And maybe by the time I have the savings for a good one, the price will have come down, or I can get an even better one than what I'm thinking about right now!

dictionary defn: Slacker....

2008-03-30T19:08:00.001-04:00

insert picture of me.

Ok, so I haven't posted for a really long time. Let me just catch you up on what has happened. I'll try to put this in as chronological order as I can.

March brought some heavy rain. You know what they say, in like a lion, out like a lamb. Well that lion sure did a number on our house, in a matter of 30 minutes we had 2 inches of water in our basement. For those of you who may not recall, my bedroom is in the basement. Yes, my bedroom had water in it. Luckily not 2 inches like all the rest of the basement, but still.
I got very allergy-sick due to all the mold following the water. Go figure
I had more than enough of the water and found a new place to live - since then we've been trying to figure out how to get our contract sold at our current house - we don't want to stick around for may and june rainfalls. no sirree bob!
I found a new place to live - a delightful little townhouse in Fairfax. Quite excited about that little move, I have to say. Welll, excited about not being in a flooding basement anymore, not so excited about the actual moving.
I went on spring break to Charlotte, NC to visit my sister and her adorable little family. Seriously, they are the cutest kids in the entire world. See??
The last night I was at my sister's Peter Breinholt was in town, so we went to his concert. It was fab. I have a renewed love for some amazing music. Isn't he so cute???
We met Peter and the band. We giggled a lot about it.
My sister's neighbor had just moved in and they put a bunch of boxes out on the street - guess who's moving?! ME!! SCORE!!!!! Good sturdy boxes. Fab.
A crazy insane couple of weeks of stress about selling contracts and the impending move and realizing that school is going to get very crazy and difficult.
I started a graduate class on incorporating technology in the classroom.
We found out we have pretty much sold our contracts - it's almost official, just waiting on word that one has been accepted!

....and here we are! Oh wait, and yesterday I got up at a disgusting hour for a saturday and went down to see the cherry blossoms and have been editing pictures ever since, but I think that will get it's own post.

best line...

2008-02-28T21:38:00.001-05:00

from my HT:

His bottom snored.

Think about that kids. Think about that.

Have you ever been....?

2008-02-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

....so tired that it takes every ounce of brain power you have to move a finger? That is about where I am right now. OY!! And for no good reason! I was in bed at a decent hour last night, I woke up at the normal time today, didn't have any caffeine yesterday so I slept REALLLLY soundly. But man if it's not just killing me to be upright at my desk today. Sheesh!!!

If I had my wish, I'd have a substitute here, and I'd go home and crawl back into bed for the majority of the day. I could really use a good 30 hours of sleep. Ok, maybe not 30 hours. But a good 2-hour nap would rock. Or an iv drip of caffeine.

But I have 3 energetic classes to teach today, and then the gym and then I might be making dinner too, so off I go. Of course the energy will come to do it all, but at this very moment my bed is calling..... maybe I'll find my office floor for 10 or 15 minutes....

Details??

2008-02-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

Um, did you want details? One person complained that she found out about the new object of my affection here instead of in person. Sorry about that - I've been a little... umm... busy. Not dirty busy! Sheesh!! Just occupied busy.

So, Friday night I went out on a hot date with a very nice man. I was about to say boy, but well, he's not a boy. I figure being a homeowner puts you in the category of being a "man."

So I arrived at Peter's houses around 5:30 after working and getting a good swim in at the gym. Love the gym. Not sure how I'll show it to you, because I think I'd probably get some strange looks taking pictures in the locker room or whatever, but let me just say it's beautiful. Anyway, we made this fabulous chicken salad stuff together. Here's the recipe:

1-2 avocados, diced up
1 tomato diced
1 can white shoepeg corn
1 can black beans
1 cucumber diced
1-2 mangoes diced
the juice of 1-2 limes
some rice vinegar
1 green, red or orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
2 chicken breasts, marinated in teriyaki (optional, I don't always marinate) and grilled or otherwise cooked, and then diced.
1/2 cup cilantro, or more or less, depending on your tastes

I think that's all. Then you serve it on a little bed of lettuce and eat with tortilla chips, or with a fork. Or you can just serve it in a bowl as a side salad and leave the chicken out. Or you can add more chicken and make it more of a main dish. Or you can add more mango. Really, you can edit it to match your tastes. Enjoy with tortilla chips and a gathering of friends. It really is fabulous.

SO we dined on this fabulous nutritious salad for dinner, then went to a town center to stroll and go see a delightful movie. During our strolling we observed some ice skaters. They were all so cute but we both agreed that if we were to skate we'd break both our ankles and probably something else, or two or three. See the skaters? It's a real ice skating rink. Really Really. And a whole buncho of high school kids just zipping around. Super cute.

And what was the movie??? Juno. Have you seen it?? If not, you need to. This was my second screening.

That ellen page is just so dang cute! After said movie, we went back to Peter's house which is also nicely done.

We spent the rest of the evening cuddling and chatting. What woman does not like a good cuddle? Seriously. Boys, girls like to cuddle. Get over it and do it already. It was a delightful evening.

Saturday we gathered ourselves together for a so-yum homemade breakfast. We made bacon (thick cut, of course), pancakes with homemade syrup and strawberries on the side. We also had OJ to drink. YUMMMMMMMM.

all in all, it was a delightful weekend filled with good conversations, good food, and the best company I've had in a while.

Tonight I went to the superbowl party at Darin's. That was a good time - lots of good food and I got to visit with some fabulous people. I always forget to take pictures. I promised to be better, didn't i? If I had gotten there on time, I suppose I would have, but I wasn't so much feeling like the life of the party, so I didn't quite think about it. It was pretty chill.

And that, my friends, was my weekend!

Gross.

2008-01-31T11:02:00.000-05:00

Ok so disgustingly enough, I am just ridiculously giddy. After three fabulous dates this week, this pretty much captures how I'm feeling:

How wonderful to know
The things a woman knows;
How marvelous to wait for a date
In simply beautiful clothes!
How lovely to be a woman
And change from boys to men,
To go to a fancy nightclub
And stay out after ten.
How lovely to be so grown-up and free!
Life's lovely when you're a woman like me!

Gotta love the corny Bye Bye Birdie....

Nope, no pictures yet. I suck.

Exciting weekend!

2008-01-29T16:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm tooting my horn. toot! toot! It's true, I had a fabulous weekend. Let me just recap for you.

Friday night I had a beautiful little girls night with my delightful friend Cristy. We watched girly movies, made cookies, drank tea, and of course talked and talked and talked and talked. No, I won't tell you what we talked about. How dare you ask!

Saturday night I hosted the dinner portion of a progressive dinner. We had sooooo much fun! I can't take a lot of credit for the amount of fun, because there were some freaking hilarious people who were assigned to come here. We hosted David, Dan, Brad and Steve (all 4 accountants!), Tess, Lisa and Shanna. Also in attendance were my roommates Joy and Kelli. We laughed a ton, it was fabulous. That Tess is a real kick in the pants. Then we went to the harbours for a little dessert, which was also delightful.

Sunday I went over to a boy's house and we just spent the entire evening talking. It was a fabulous time. We talked a ton. The plan was to watch a movie, but we never got that far. In fact, we talked so long that I only got 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up to go to work all day Monday. That made for a long day of meetings, but that's ok. I am more than happy to give it up for some good connecting with a delightful person. In fact, I may just sacrifice the all-coveted weekend sleep for more.

If only I had pictures to document the weekend. How do I manage that? Well, I'll tell you. I absolutely SUCK at taking pictures. I just always forget to take out my camera, so it usually just sits in my room. BUT, I am resolving to do better. Hopefully this week I'll have some fun things of which I can take pictures. Then I can blog. Yay for blogs.

Fabulous peruvian gloves... or are they mittens?

2008-01-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time I went to italy with my roommate joy and her friend jason. i got some gloves there that were kind of mittens, kind of gloves - you know the fold-back mitten kind so you can still do things with your fingers? That kind. I love them. See photo.

So my roommates joy and kelli went to peru once upon a time. they were so kind and thoughtful and brought back some delightful peruvian things for me. I got some gourdish things, and a tapestry/blanket thing, and some of those mitten/glove combo things.

It snowed here thursday. After school thursday I decided I would be a super cool roommate and shovel the walk and a part of the driveway that is always hard to drive on when it gets icy. I knew the snow would turn to ice, and snow never melts well at our house because of how it faces and the trees and definite lack of sunlight. we will probably have this ice on our stairs and driveway until february. so i eliminated some of it. that's a good roommate thing to do, right? I got home earlier than everyone else, and was excited for the snow - I had all kinds of energy. it was fabulous. so I dug out some winter gear, including my snow hat made with baby yarn (it's not itchy like all the other hats) that joy made for me, and then I also got out my peruvian glittens (gloves and mittens. it works.). They served me well.

Today i was cleaning up some stuff, and grabbed my hat and mittens I had left upstairs to dry after the snow. I don't like to leave my stuff around upstairs and was a little embarrassed that I had left things there for so long. So I put on my gloves. I noticed a little peek hole in the thumb. Then I realized my thumbs can come out just like my fingers. AMAZING!!! Do you know how fabulous that is? Because really, my little thumbs just feel left out when all the other fingers are out playing and the thumbs are locked inside. While they stay toasty warm, it really does become difficult to do things when you can't use the fine dexterity your thumbprints add to your thumbs.

Want to see?? It's amazing.

Well, pictures are coming soon - blogger doesn't want to upload pictures right now. I guess we're all entitled to some crankiness from time to time.

HA! I fixed it ..... enjoy the pictures!

brunch.

2008-01-16T20:07:00.001-05:00

Today's best moment: that is torn between being called red-locks chili peppers and the following demand
M: can you not interrupt me
M: i am improvising

Today's Worst moment: leaving at school, just to go grocery shopping and go right back to school to cook for another ohhhhhh 4 hours?

I'm hosting the guidance department for brunch. See, I have them in my room, and I show them a lovely time and tell them all about the delightful classes I teach, and then they put lots of kids in my classes and then I have a job next year. It works out well. A little buttering-up tends to go a long ways.

Said brunch is tomorrow. 9:20 a.m. I was at school for ohhhhhh 11 hours today, frantically getting things done for said brunch. Dangit, I forgot to make the copies I need. Hopefully my slacker aide comes to class tomorrow! If not, I'm screwed! I hope you appreciate my moment of panic there. It'll be a fabulous brunch if I can enlist the help of my morning class. I'm not sure how excited they'll be about that since they won't get to eat, but oh well. I'm the teacher, right?

Anyway, it'll be a delightful menu. I'm excited about it. I'll be too busy and stressed to take pictures, sorry about that.

Lucky French Breakfast Muffins
Individual Breakfast Casseroles
Fruit Kabobs (which might just turn into a platter)
Bacon
Ricotta triangles (with a raspberry inside and baked in phyllo)
Spiced cider (gotta remember to take the spice with me!)

There might be something else, but I don't remember.... it's not that late, but I'm really tired!

Bathroom. Hole.

2008-01-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

So we've known for a while that this was coming. There have been pleas and beggings and all kinds of pitiful crying from our knees to get some particular repairs completed in our home.

I have a little vanity I've created in my bathroom.

Our house is kind of old, so it doesn't come with like, oh, real closets or drawers in the bathrooms and things like that. I'm not sure how people didn't have drawers in their bathrooms, but we don't. Anyway, I have come up with a few little creative things to meet my needs. So I sit in the bathroom and get ready for work in the morning, or where ever I may be going. And, in proper design style, the bathrooms are stacked on top of each other. It makes sense, and if you think about where plumbing is in most houses, you'll notice that for the most part, everything is one on top of the other. It's more cost-effective that way, not only for the incoming pipes with clean water, but also the outgoing pipes, since they have specific design to work with gravity.

Occasionally someone will be taking a shower in the upstairs bathroom while I am getting ready for my day. No big deal. I don't complain to much as long as it's not while I'm in the shower and we're having to share the hot water. Our house doesn't like to share very much. Until now.

Occasionally, while sitting there getting ready, I will hear a little "plop plop" on the ceiling above me. This is rather curious because there is a bathroom above me. But I'm not hearing someone drop something on the bathroom floor. No, I'm hearing it on my ceiling. We determined at least a year ago that the upstairs shower is not sealed correctly and water gets inside and drips onto my ceiling. We have pleaded with the management company to fix the problem. We have explained the situation. They sent some incompetent people out to re-caulk our showers.

Re-caulking the showers is a 4-step process.
1. Scrape out old caulking
2. de-goo residual old caulking
3. bleach out caulked area to eliminate any mold and other crap
4. apply new caulking

Not tough, right? A little googling will instruct you easily in the correct process. Not hard, but a little time consuming. The last time we asked for it to be done, the guys were in and out in 30 minutes. Obviously they didn't do the job, because it would take longer than that to do two showers and around 3 toilets. We called the management company and told them as much. They refused to make the repairmen come back and do the job correctly.

That's the preface.

Last night I went in the bathroom to wash my face. Joy was in the shower upstairs. I heard a plinky-plink on the ceiling. I look up and see a drippy-drip. That's happened before, so I go look at it. I touch the drippy-drip. My finger goes right through the layer of paint which was all that was remaining and up into the under-shower cavity upstairs. Yes, my friends. I have a hole in my bathroom ceiling.

The drywall is completely rotted away.

The little bit of the wood that you can see is black, covered in rot, and is not an entire solid piece of wood.

My dear friends, if I don't show up to something, please come look in my bathroom. I may have been smothered under the shower falling through the ceiling. Do you see the close proximity of the hole being at the edge of my vanity? The upstairs bath goes from the hole in the ceiling to the back wall. I'm estimating that the hole is about the centered left/right at the front of the upstairs shower. Save me!!! Save me!!!!!!!!

Is it horrible to do this?

2008-01-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

Until I figure out a better way to do this.... One massive copy and paste? We'll see....

Please forgive the freakish mess I just made??

January 14

uhh...

well, it's late and I should be trying to sleep, but I just have to say two words. I'll report more later.

bathroom.

hole.

This is not good, my friends. Not good. I promise, you won't want to miss this.

the challenge of TV watching

Let me just start by saying I love my Dad. He's a good man. He's good with computers and good with lots of things. One thing he is not good at though, is connecting all the components of a tv and sound system and all the other extra curricular gadgets together to make it easy to use. In fact, it has become such a problem that when I go home to visit the family I do not watch tv. Or, if I do, I watch it on the tiny little 13" in the kitchen, which needs to be turned at a strange angle if you're anywhere but standing in the kitchen.

So here is how it worked. Mind you, this is rather vague because I'm not sure I really ever did figure it out. It was usually just a stroke of luck. But it went something like this:

Gather selection of remotes, based on which television experience you would like to have. You will definitely need at least two. Three if you want to watch a dvd. Let's assume we're going to watch a DVD, just so we can get the full experience here.
Be sure not to sit down
Turn on the tv with the tv remote. With the universal remote (which sometimes also turned on and off the tv, but not always) make sure that the input is correct to get the cable.
Walk over to the tv and push the switch box to your desired mode - satellite, dvd or stereo, because yes, the stereo system was connected in the fiasco. On a side note here, the switch box is kind of like the old-school cable box where you have to push the buttons down to switch from channel to channel instead of being able to use the remote.
Turn on the dvd player with the dvd remote.
Be sure the stereo tuner is on, and turned to "video." Adjust volume as necessary with stereo remote.

Now here's the catch. The "surround sound," which is a term that should be used loosely, was topped out at 4 speakers. There were two front side speakers and to rear speakers that weren't really all centered. There was no volume control on the tv. So, when watching something, you had to rely on the side speakers to deliver all the speaking. Now, the problem with that is when you have a sound system set up and don't have a center speaker, you don't have many words because those are the speakers that deliver all the ambient sound like people walking around and monsters creeping up behind you. So, presuming you can get all the correct buttons pushed and arranged just so, once you get it all going nicely, you won't be able to hear the movie unless you are laying on the floor right next to one of the front speakers. Really, it reminds me of the scene in Singin' in the Rain where they are just opening the studio to record their first talkie and Lina Lamont is being wired for sound. The sound tech picks up everything except for what Don and Lina are saying. Kind of humorous in the movie, absolutely ridiculous when it's how you have to actually watch an entire movie!

So, now Dad is all excited about the HD technology. The day after Thanksgiving Dad found himself a fabulous deal on a 65" HD television. Over Christmas, he finished the new entertainment center (side note, the old "entertainment center" was this table that had these thin metal legs which held the tv over a tower of accoutrements - it was a miracle that the table never fell over!) which spurred the assembly of the new system. Luckily my brother-in-law Mark was there to assist in putting everything together so there was minimal frustration in TV watching, and switching now between not just the satellite and dvd, but also a wii. Yes, that's right, my mom got her wii for Christmas. It still makes me giggle that she wanted a wii so badly. Also, the new tv makes adding such accoutrements much easier as it's expected to have everything.

Sadly, the tuner is still old. The sound system still sucks. But now we can at least use the tv speakers, where before we couldn't. It pains Dad to not use his "incredible" sound system, but it pains the rest of us more to attempt to hear what's happening in a movie using the sound system.

January 12

some favorite pictures...

My favorite...

COMMERCIAL! Ok, so this makes me laugh every time. Hard. It's so dumb, but I have to share the love. I'm sure you've all seen it, but check out the link anyway.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7614649706382704254

Oh holy crap I laugh so hard!

On a completely different note, apparently I have some lurkers? I don't mind, I just hadn't blogged in a long time since I figured I was the only one who ever read it, and that's just kind of silly to read my own blog, because, well, I wrote it! I don't need to read it again! So I was at dinner tonight and one of the girls there said I needed to update, so here I am updating. And now that I'm thinking about blogging, dang I have some hilarious stories I need to post here. Some are schadenfreude-ish which I'm sure will delight all to revel in my pain. Some are just goofy. I'll have to spread them out so that I don't use up all my clever in one sitting.

Clever is a funny thing. You can have it in droves and droves one day and then just be all dried up for a month! I should really be more social because it seems when I'm in social situations I become more clever. That is helpful so that I don't sit in the corner so much without anything to say. I guess it's all about practice. The more you put yourself out there and practice being clever, the more clever you are. Oh wow, that was a big epiphany. And now it's fading.... fading..... melting.... melting....

So, in case I lose my list I just jotted down, here's what I have for the blogging to come, in no particular order:

Monkeytown
Footrauma
TV Watching in the grand village
Christmas
Thanksgiving (can we say "Heelys"?!)
My fabulous celebration of being removed from my mother's loins.
Anna's birthday (hilarity ensued)
My most fabulous dating lesson given at school
Stories told along with my most fabulous dating lesson about bad dates I've survived to include Kansas City, Provo Canyon and Helaman Halls dorms.

Are you excited about this yet??

I feel like for this to be complete I need to add a picture. I'm not sure what picture to add. I did give you a link for a video though....

Next post: cool pictures. How's that?

October 07

Washed-up Weekend

It's been all too long since I last blogged. I have been dying to go to the beach all summer long, and haven't been able to go for a variety of reasons. I am delighted to announce that my weekend activities included going to Rehoboth Beach in beautiful Delaware, the first state, and home of no sales tax.

I had planned on spending the weekend in North Carolina, but because of a variety of reasons, that didn't happen. Instead, Darin and I went to see Ratatouille Friday night at the cheap seats - $4 for a movie! Whoohoooooo!!! Much better than the highway robbery at the mall, and really, for that kind of movie, it doesn't really make a difference if you see it in the fancy-schmancy theater or the cheap-o theater. Then we went to Nielsen's for frozen custard. That was num! I had cake batter flavored custard, my new favorite, introduced to me by Darin, and on it I had raspberries and hot fudge sauce. So stinking good. We decided the next morning we would go to the beach, either Ocean City, MD or Rehoboth, DE.

We got on the road about 8:40 and arrived in Rehoboth after a delightful drive DJ'd by Darin (I was driving) to find that there was a greyhound convention of sorts in the cute little touristy-shop-filled downtown area of Rehoboth. There were greyhounds everywhere, but they were pretty cool. I don't particularly like the look of them, but they were all so mellow and just chill. Even around other dogs, they were just laid back, which is kind of nice since so many dogs are so spastic. My picture is a little crappy and washed out because I didn't have my camera set for the sunlight, but the dogs were seriously everywhere. It was kind of fun.

Darin and I found the beach - it was pretty easy. The sand was so nice and soft, and it had just been raked and graded that morning, apparently. It was super easy to walk in, which was nice for me since I have the delightful dysfunctional ankle. We spent the afternoon playing in the ocean. The waves were great, and the second time we got in the tide was coming in so the waves were huge - so big we couldn't jump a lot of them, and instead had to dive through them. Unfortunately, because of how the beach is in that area, we couldn't boogie board or bodysurf. The beach was really steep, so if you tried, you went nose-first at a rather frightening speed into the hill of the beach. The waves were so intense that if you got caught in the surf, you got stuck there. Darin and I both took a couple good slams in the surf. At one point, we saw a jellyfish. Darin happened to catch it right between waves so he got out of the ocean in time. I, however, wasn't quite so lucky. I got up to the beach and a huge wave crashed and knocked me down. As I got up, another crashed right on top of me and knocked me down again. By the time I sat up from that hammering, another wave was well on it's way to crashing on me, so I rolled back with the surf and tried to swim under the next crashing, which sort of worked, but I still got slammed into the little strip of gravel under the surf. By the time I got out of the crashing waves and was able to stand, I had a swimming suit filled with sand and gravel. I looked like I had growths all over my body with all the gravel I had in my suit. I was pulling out handful after handful of sand and gravel for the next 10 minutes. I wish I could have seen the people's faces who were watching me from the shore get hammered on the beach. It was not graceful. In fact, it may have been in my Top 10 Least Graceful Moments. I'll have to enumerate them sometime. But they were big waves.... see???

Darin took a few good slammings too, but his were all due to body surfing, pretty much. His weren't so much because of being clumsy when trying to get out of the water. I think I fared better than he did though. He got some good scrapes and even a bruise, I just got a shattered ego. Which is worse? I'm not sure. But look how cute we are on the beach!!

There wasn't anywhere to shower, so we were stuck in wet, sandy swimsuits for the remainder of the day. It just added to the excitement of the adventure. We strolled along the shops lining the street as we headed back to the car. Then we went back to the real part of the town and enjoyed a down-home dinner at Friendly's, with complimentary ice cream sundaes. They were pretty good.

If there's something we both love, it's a good deal. And outlets. We're both a fan. Rehoboth happens to have a LOT of outlets. Naturally, after dinner we made a point of strolling through the 3 outlets in the 1-mile stretch of road. Darin got some snappy new clothes, I got some snappy new jeans and some pots at the Corel store. Then Darin DJ'd again as we drove home.

The only down side to the day? We forgot sunscreen. Apparently you can get quite the sunburn when you're on the beach in October. I am a little sore today.

August 17

Who needs feet?!

June 8 I stepped in a hole in a parking lot. Yes, I know I should avoid those but this time I didn't see it. It was under the shadow of another car and it was getting dark and ready to rain. I stepped, of course with the bad ankle, and down I went with a crunch and a splat. Now, in all fairness, it was a DEEP hole!

A good 8 or 10 people saw me and came running, one dialing 911. I quickly got them to stop calling for an ambulance. I hadn't hit my head and I was really ok except that I couldn't walk. One girl ran and got some ice from the subway down the street. I managed to get up on the sidewalk, out of the impending rain, and my ankle swelled up immediately.

So that began the adventure for the rest of the night! Janelle and her dad came to get me, crutches in tow. Janelle's dad took my car back to the house for me, since I couldn't drive it all incapacitated as I was. We got back to the house, and Kelli, the good nurse-to-be of the house came down and checked all my vitals and decided what I should do. She loaded me up in her car and took me to the urgent care. They put me in a splint until Tuesday. It was cute, see?

I found out, after several doctors appointments and a CT scan, I found out I in fact did not break my ankle, but had a bad sprain which means I tore ligaments that have already been reconstructed. Pretty dang sucky. I was in a boot for 3 weeks and then slowly worked my way to not having any support. Then it was time for 6 weeks of physical therapy.

I'm almost done with physical therapy - yeesh I'm glad. it has been such a pain to rearrange summer plans because I've had to be going to the doctor, or I couldn't move, or I wasn't allowed to play in the ocean or walk on the beach, or I was in therapy. What a crappy wrench thrown in summer plans! So now I'm about done with it all and school is starting. Back to the stinking grind.

August 16

NYC

I just got back from a fabulous trip in NYC. It was lovely. I loved it. It was fabulous. I flew up Wednesday, the 8th, and met my darling dear Cameron at the airport. We got our crap and then this super-crammed shuttle shuttled us back to Manhattan. The last two people to get on the shuttle were a couple good friends who just happened to run into one another at the airport and had shuttle reservations together. Crazy, huh? THe guy got in and said, "I'm matthew, this is susan. You'll get to know us very well as we have a lot of catching up to do. We hope you don't mind." Which made me laugh. Then we all got to talking. When I say all, I mean Matthew, Susan, Cameron and I. I have this horrible disease. I just can't keep my freaking mouth shut, always have a comment for something. I wish there were a drug for that.

Thursday we went to Coney Island. That was fun to say I've done. I guess the park is going to be closed down, a lot of the area is really run down and a lot of the area is really really trashy. That's sad that a national landmark is going the way of the garbage heap, but I guess that's life, right? We had hot dogs from Nathan's, apparently THE place to get a coney dog. It was ok, but I think the best part was that it was a cheap lunch in NYC, which is hard to come by sometimes.

It was fun to walk along the boardwalk and enjoy some sun. Then we went back to Manhattan and changed for an evening on the town. Cameron and I had tickets to Spring Awakening. Let me just say A-freaking-mazing!! It was so intense and incredible. The people in the show are so freaking talented! Not only did the sing and dance and act amazingly, a few of them played some of the music on the piano that was part of the set! Serious. How many people on broadway also provide the music for the show as part of their character? I"ll tell you. Not many. That's Cameron and me and my new best friend Michael at coney island.

Friday we went to the Natural History Museum. That was pretty dang cool. Friday night we went to the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village after a delightful dinner at this fabulous Italian place just a block down. This is a picture with our server - he was freaking awesome. We laughed so hard!!

Then our hotel-mates got sloshed. Cameron had to drag them back to the hotel from another bar. Then we had to put them in bed. Then they had s. e. x. I fell asleep before it got too bad. Cameron was up the whole time. Apparently our bed was a leverage point. Poor Cam got an education.

Saturday Cam and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - all modern art, and pretty much all fabulous. They didn't have crazy stuff like the local Hirshorn does, which is fun in it's own right. But yes, it was amazing. And I saw Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night, as well as The Olive Tree, which were both incredible.

There were also a few Monet's and several other amazing notable names. All in all, it was beautiful and wonderful. After we were done tinkering in the museum, we stopped at a crepe stand for a little snack. I got strawberry and nutella. so stinking yum! Again we changed into hottie clothes for a hottie night on the town. We had dinner at this fantastic turkish place just down from our hotel. For a prefix of $20, we got an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Not a bad deal. You can't even get that much at Applebee's. Then we enjoyed another hottie night at the theater, this time enjoying Wicked! Oh so much fabulous fun. It makes me love the music even more.

Sunday Cam and I wandered around a bit and happened across the fixings for a Dominican Republic parade. This is a little snippet I found about it:

Dominican Republic takes Manhattan by storm

NEW YORK.- Hundreds of thousands of Dominican immigrants who participated in the Dominican Parade of New York yesterday wave their country’s flag while observing the march of authorities, personalities and performers who attended the popular event.

The Parade, held for the 25th time, took place along the Avenue of The Americas, in Manhattan, and lasted over 5 hours.

5 hours??? And apparently a parade just for the hell of it - their independence day is in February. So when I left at 2, they were just getting rolling. Apparently it was scheduled to start at 1. And what the hell do you have in your parade that makes it last 5 freaking hours? Anyway, we stopped by the hotel after walking a snippet of the parade rout, already crowded 2 hours before it started, and took our crap down to the storage room. Then we wandered the other direction from our hotel and found this incredible little street fair. All of Madison Ave was closed and there were vendors lining both sides of the street. Apparently that was the Workmen's Circle festival. I guess that explains why it was all handicrafts and food kiosks. It was fun all the same. I got 3 pearl necklaces, 3 pairs of pearl earrings (two pairs go to my mom and lil sis when they come to visit), a painting and a few other things. It was a fabulous find!

June 05

Graduation

So this is the time of year we teachers reflect on if we did anything or not. This year, I'm feeling like I didn't do anything. Maybe I made the difference in the life of a child. Wouldn't that be profound?? But instead, I think there are a few more kids who won't burn down their kitchens by taking stuff out of the oven with a towel instead of a hot pad, and a couple more kids who won't die of malnutrition (or food poisoning) due to poor college cafeteria food.

I had a fabulous last week. We had munchkin graduation. That's right. Preschool. I teach (-ish) preschool. I say "ish" because I teach my high school kids how to teach the little ones and then they teach the little ones. I will jump in from time to time, but for the most part, my 16-18 year-olds are large and in charge! Scary thought, huh? So the grand culmination (that's obviously a school buzzword, huh?) was the munchkin graduation. So I made this dvd of pictures we'd taken throughout the year. So fun! I even put a soundtrack behind it. Maybe one day you can come over and watch it with me. It's really so stinking cute. I even impressed myself, especially for the amount of time I had to put the thing together. I figured out the program (enough to get the thing done) and burned it on a dvd. Fabulous, eh? So the parents watched the dvd while they waited for us to come in, then the kids walked in, said the pledge of allegiance, sang a few songs, and then they were awarded their diplomas. I invited the principal and the VP's so they came down and the principal came in his graduation gown and hood. He handed the munchkins their diplomas, which was SO incredibly cute - you couldn't even believe it! Then we had a lovely little reception in the sauna that is the preschool. One of my kids brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and said "Here Mrs. F! You are the best teacher in the world! I love you!!" How excellent is that?? I mean, even if it is coming from a 4 year-old, who doesn't like to hear they're the best teacher in the whole entire world??!

The other great part of graduation is the annoying seniors who aren't coming back because they have GRADUATED! So congratulations to my little darlings who I will miss horribly, and good moving along already to those of you who should have maybe considered some kind of alternative educational avenue!

Another great part of graduation is that I only have to work 9 more days until I don't have to work for 2 months. There are parts of being a teacher that are really fabulous. Shall I be done enough with rubbing that in your noses now?

Ok, then I'll tell you how amazing duck beach was! We (my roommates and some boys and I) rented a house on the beach for the massive migration of single mormons to the outer banks area of North Carolina. With the windows open, I could hear the beach from bed. I walked the beach for the sunrise and even got a few partial conch shells. I learned how to boogie board. That was so excellent! I have had all kinds of unrealistic fears through my life, or maybe just some crazy beliefs that I couldn't do things like everyone else. I had some recent realization that it's a bunch of crap. I can do whatever I want to do! So this will be the summer of crazy adventures! Boogie boarding. Friday I'm going to Hershey Park and I"m going to ride a roller coaster. Yes. It's true. I haven't been on a roller coaster since I was maybe 10 and my dad made me ride on the vortex at kings island. It was one HUGE hill (of course), 6 loop-de-loops and 8 or 10 corkscrews. Maybe my numbers are off there, I just know I went upside down a BUNCH of times and I wasn't particularly thrilled about it! I'm now, approximately 17 years later, ready to get on a roller coaster on my own accord. Wish me luck. Luckily, I don't think Hershey Park has a ton of HUGE roller coasters. I think they're all about medium-sized. I think I can handle medium-sized.

Saturday I'm supposed to go sailing. I've never been before. If I can get up early enough to make it worthwhile, I may go. I may be too dang tired from being at Hershey all day.

May 23

wed nes day!

16 days and counting until I'm a free woman! Previously said senior is seriously grating on my nerves. But I do have a few delightful things to post today. Sherpa has Wordless Wednesday. I think I'll begin a "Quote Me Wednesday." Ok, so it doesn't have the same ring to it, but it'll serve my purposes today.

So some favorite things in the recent past:

"Who would win in a fight? General Tsao or Colonel Sanders?" - A student in class

Sherpa put on some of my chap stick in church to soothe her poor burned lips. It was lipsmackers and she smeared it on because she was in some serious pain. Then it hit her - after she realized my fits of laughter. "Oh, it's colored!" Poor Sherpa was a bit like a 5-year old putting on her mom's makeup. It was cute.

"Higher! . .. oh yeah.... harder.... harder... mmm... so good!!...." - Jessica at dinner Saturday night when Cam was scratching her sunburn. Not what you were expecting it to be, hmm? Get your mind out of the gutter!

"That black guy just checked you out!" - D, when we entered a Wal Mart across from Easton.

"I am thankful for wine" - Mommy Chickadee, in France, meaning to say she's thankful for the wind, but said wine instead. In Sunday school.

On a completely different note:

I have semi-officially lost my mind
as result of mind loss, I am contemplating writing everything phonetically from now until June 19.
Also, to go with writing phonetically, I will not correct any typos or spelling errors.
I'm going to the beach.
I'm excited for that.

May 18

Rude awakening . . .

There was a fire up the street this morning. What a bummer for the family. J and M and I were out there watching the goings on. I took some pictures. Wanna see?

The sirens came at 5:30 - I thought it was an accident. The helicopters came at 6:30 - that really woke me up! Then I saw the flashing lights through my blinds. I went out to chill with my roommates and see what was happening that would cause all the noise around my house! Across the street and a few houses down, all up in flames, and TONS of trucks, helpers, fire trucks, ambulances and the like. All up the street to the top of the hill, and even down on the main road - with it all blocked off and closed. It made for an exciting day - stuff to talk about today! But sadly, there's a kid who lives there who is a freshman in high school. He is quite the misfit and has to take care of himself most of the time.

I drove past the house today on my way home - what a bummer for the family! There isn't much left. I think the worst part is that it's a brick house, so it didn't even burn down ALL the way - there's still the structure there. So the family will have to bring in crews to bulldoze and scoop out the remains. So sad for them - we should do something as a neighborhood for the family!

May 16

It gets better....

I am now a victim of a hit and run.

But first, a really quick recap on recent events:

Friday - The zoo went off without a hitch - parents, munchkins, student teachers - nobody lost, no fatal injuries, nothing lost or stolen. Fabulous! The bus driver was mostly on time, and we even met the afternoon cut-off time. BEAUTIFUL!

Friday night - temple night. Interesting. The people around me had me SO frustrated that all I could do was sit and cry.

Saturday - a delightful day with a good friend. Kite flying and watercolor painting at Glen Echo park. That place is fab! Have you been there yet? I LOVE it there. It's very retro, has this beautiful carousel, and all kinds of beautiful scenery. What a lovely date place. Makes me want to go back with my camera and shoot the place up. There'd be some amazing shots, that's for sure. I just need a tripod first. And maybe a fancier camera.

Saturday night - a beautiful dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with my best friend. We sat in front of a beautiful picture window looking out over Regan airport and enjoyed a delightful dinner together. We had a lovely lesbian couple sitting in front of us who even shared a kiss on the way out. Then we had some lushes behind us. Our server kept trying to sell us on other restaurants, which was quite amusing. It's really fun having a good reason to get dressed up and extra primped.

Sunday I enjoyed leftovers from dinner and then laid on the lawn and read for the afternoon. It was a perfectly beautiful day - nary a cloud in the sky, perfectly warm. BEAUTIFUL.

So I have this one student who is afraid to talk to me. Perhaps rightly so, because every time she comes to ask me something, it's an absolutely retarded question. Like, she'll ask me where to find the books in preschool. It's the 4th quarter. If she doesn't know where the story books are, should I tell her? I don't think so! If she wants me to tell her where something is, really she wants me to get it for her. If I say "the big book bookshelf top lifts up. It's inside that top." She'll look under the bigbook bookshelf, she'll look behind it, but she won't even touch the top. Now, you might say she's just that dumb. She's not. She does it on purpose. She'll ask a question and then ignore the answer on purpose so that she doesn't have to do anything. She has this "disability" where she doesn't remember things. Most people call that "selective listening" or "selective memory," where one CHOOSES to not pay attention long enough to hear the answer. She has somehow managed to get her selective listening a big old truck-full load of accommodations so that she doesn't have to do much of anything. She's "graduating" and doesn't know how to do simple things like iron, look for the papers she needs, talk to a teacher about a grade. Even more amazing is that she apparently has selective reading too. She sent me an email asking why she got a D on a project in class. Want to read? I edited out the names and addresses, of course, but enjoy:

-----Original Message-----
From: student
Sent: Tue 5/15/2007 6:06 PM
To: Me
Cc: counselor; Mom
Subject: Powerpoint follow up #2

Dear Miss,
I really don't understand why I got such a low grade on the power point
project. I finished the project early and then asked what I needed to do to
get really good grade on the project. I have trouble interpreting directions
so I did what I perceived what you meant, and went back just to make sure
that I interpreted it right. However, when I did that, you didn't want to
look over it again to see if I understood. It seems like every PowerPoint
that I saw was formatted the way I had originally interpreted it, and I
overheard several people saying what their grades for the project were and
most of them got good grades, even though they did not to it the way you had
explained to me. Can you clarify to me a little more why I got the grade
that I did, and what specific errors I made to get this low project grade.
Thanks,
Student

----- Original Message -----
From: Me
To: Student
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:23 PM
Subject: RE: Powerpoint follow up #2

Student,

If you are concerned about your midterm grade, I would venture to guess that
you've missed some labs you have not yet made up during your 2-week absence.
Your PowerPoint project alone would not warrant such a grade, but a
combination of low grades might. I am available for a little bit after
school, and also during lunch if you'd like to see your current grade sheet.
Class is not a good time because I am not able to explain things to you
without being interrupted by groups needing help on their labs.

Me

-----Original Message-----
From:Student
Sent: Wed 5/16/2007 5:04 PM
To: Me.
Cc: Mom; counselor, special ed accommodater person.
Subject: Re: Powerpoint follow up #2

Dear Miss,
Thank you for responding to my e-mail. I know that I missed a couple of
labs because of my hospitalization,(which I am in the process of making-up)
but I was not refering to my interum grade, I was refering to the "D" I
received on my powerpoint project. See original e-mail below. I'd really
like to understand why I recieved such a low grade on the project after
speaking with you. Any clarification you could give would be appreciated.
-Student

Student,

As I previously mentioned, if you want to know the status of your grade, you may come and talk to me after school. I can show you the grade sheet then. Also, 83/100 is not a D. It's 83% - as I recall that is somewhere between a C and a B. You can discuss it more with me after school if you'd like.

Me

Now, just between you and me, she got docked down because she's an idiot and didn't complete the assignment. Sure she had a bunch of PowerPoint slides, but she didn't appropriately answer all the questions asked. She is insistent that she got a D. While she in fact does have a D on her midterm, she has also missed some labs. She did not get a D on the project. She got an 83. Last I checked, an 83 is like a high C. Not a D. Ok, back to the point at hand - selective reading. So she sends me this email, because she can't ask me in person, demanding to know why she got a D on this project. I told her she could come in after school or during lunch to discuss it. This was last night I sent that email. Tonight I got another email from her, again wanting to know why she had a D on that project (again, she doesn't have a D - not a bright little lightbulb....). Didn't I tell her to come see me? Yes. Did she? No. So again I emailed her back and said she could discuss it with me after school. We'll see if she will. She won't because she's afraid of me. And because every time she want something she brings this huge attitude. She doesn't listen when she's got the attitude going, so I refuse to talk to her. Is that bad of me? Does all this make me a horrible person and a bad teacher? Opinions?? Am I mean?

And the icing on the cake: Someone sideswiped me today while I was in the grocery store. Someone else saw it, wrote the license plate down and went to the customer service desk. I was a bit startled to hear MY car description and MY license plate! You know how you always hear those and you think "man that poor sucker - gonna have a dead battery!" So I go over there, kinda smiling and say "oh did I leave my lights on?" The guy kinda smiles and says "uh no - someone hit your car, this is the car's information. It's that red Honda Odyssey over there - see it?" (and he points). Of course I'm a bit flustered and taken aback by that. He offers to call the police for me. I probably should have - just to nail the people for a hit and run - although I don't know that they would have bothered because it was right about rush hour and I live near an interstate HOV area. I said I'd go out and look at it and decide what to do. Sure enough, there is a HUGE scrape down the side of my car. Like a good 8-inch wide, 20-inch long swath of red on my poor gold little Stanley. Most of it wipes off though - apparently it did more damage to the other car than it did to mine. I went to look at the other car. Yep. Huge area with no paint on it. That's a bummer for them. Most of the paint wiped off my car. There is one good long scratch, but it's not too terribly bad - nothing that needs to be buffed out or really requires a lot of work. That makes me happy. I did leave a note on their car though. And I went back inside to get more info. The store manager said that it was someone who SAW the people hit my car and not do anything, so she wrote down their license plate info and took it in the store (as well as my info so they could inform me, of course). And the nerve of the people who took off the side of their car on my car to just not do anything about it - someone else had some sticky notes handy and wrote it all down. The nerve!! She had cute sticky notes! And she put one on my car, but it was raining pretty badly, so she took a note in the store too. What gem. So then I wanted to thank her, but she didn't give her name because she didn't want to get in the middle of it all. Understandably so. I'm a victim. Good thing Stanley has plastic doors and nothing was dented. I'd be really mad if I had to have the car in the shop again! Although sometimes it's fun having a rental car.

May 10

zoo! can we say stress??

I'm taking some kids to the zoo tomorrow. 25 kids. 15 are under 5. I am responsible for them. I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible. Maybe if I keep saying it to myself I'll believe it!! So can we say stressed out? Yes. A little bit. Which brings me to one of the bigger issues of the day. I went to the dermatologist today. She gave me some shots. Now, ordinarily, you'd say a shot is no big deal, right? And if I told you I had big huge crocodile tears, you'd say I'm a total baby, right? Well, let's talk about this a bit.

So I have to get these shots because I get stressed out. Majorly stressed. How do you react to stress? Heartburn? The need to run until you can't breathe? Eating an entire carton of ice cream? Well, I just float right along, but then my body shuts down. And my hair falls out. Not like "a little thinning" falling out, although that happens too. We're talking more like massive clumps. Not all at once, but kind of. I'm sure it's a gradual process, but one morning I'll wake up, run my fingers through my hair, and find areas where there isn't any hair where my fingers are running. Now for most women, one of their "pride and joy" type things is their hair. I'm sure men have some "pride and joy" things with their hair too, but when they start to lose it, they can just bic it and that's damn sexy! How many women have a bic'd head and you look at her and go "damn that's sexy!"???

So when it's not there anymore it's a little bit traumatic. So, stress causes my body to attack it's own hair. Not in anywhere useful though. I still have to shave my legs and all. So the cure for it is to get a shot in the actual bald spot. Except, it's not just one. And let me just say, it's not like getting a shot in your arm or your butt or anything. It's your scalp. There's not a lot of excess skin hanging around there to allow for the addition of fluid. So when the drugs go in, you FEEL it! And each spot gets oh, 6 or 8 shots, really fast. One right after another. All in the same neighborhood. NOW am I justified in my big crocodile tears? So, you enjoy your carton of ice cream. I'll just be floating along seemingly happily and then getting some shots in my head in a few months. Ouch. Holy Freaking OUCH!

Now, after the derm, I went to the optometrist. This is where my day changed drastically. Eye candy. Yumm. I kind of want to keep saying the prescription is wrong just so that I can keep going back to see doctor dan. Wow, that's nice. I know very few things about him. 1. He was in the air force. 2. he likes to lift weights - he hasn't told me that, but dang he's cut. 3. He's not a good bowler, which is amazing because he could use a really heavy ball. 4. Flirting with him is fab. Let me just say, I'm not horribly broken up about having to go back in a week or so to get my new glasses and just pop in to the office there to say hello. So after having my head poked, at least I had a lovely reward of eye candy and shameless flirting. Is that horrible?

May 09

things i've heard today

preschoolers saying the pledge of allgiance at the top of their inside-voice range.
a dear friend informing me that he keeps his moobs as hairy as possible to avoid feeling or appearing too femme.
high schoolers who actually liked the food they cooked today
"Mrs. F, my shirt glows in the dark. Can I take you in the bathroom and turn off the light so we can see it glow? I want to show you!"
"Miss F, I forgot we promised that we'd make our elephants today. Can we make our elephants now?? We made a promise together!"
Me: "Do you want to go to the zoo with us?"
Student's mom: NO.
"Woah, there's a pharmacy in this Giant?!"
"I must be an idiot. Dad asked me to get a fuel filter. I got an oil filter. When I got home, he said 'This is an oil filter. I need a fuel filter.' I said I'd go back and get the right one since I messed up in the first place. So he said 'I'll show you what it looks like.' SO he showed me. Now I am driving back to Sears to exchange the oil filter for the fuel filter."

New news?

Ok, so I suppose any new would be considered new news since the last time I posted was um. yeah. well, almost a year ago! Ok, 9 months. I could have had a baby in that time! I didn't.

Since then (and not particularly in this order):

I dated foot-rub guy. We didn't last long - just a month or so.
"previous guy" and I got back together.
Got in a huge fight with dad - and I mean huge. Like, didn't talk at all for months.
"previous guy" and I broke up again, but this time with more of an open door.
This guy in the ward asked me out - we hang out sometimes, but he has a girl on a mission so there's nothing there. nothing. There'd be nothing there anyway.
"previous guy" and I hang out still sometimes.
I don't have to change schools again. It's about stinking time!
Baby chickadee had her baby - cute little AK. Curly curly blond hair! Oh and she's pregnant again and due the beginning of September.
Mommy chickadee did a study abroad in Paris. Now she's going back to teach for a year. She just found out this week that she's going to be in the Versailles district, which she is sooo ridiculously excited about.
I went through the temple last june
still not married. no boyfriend. story of my life. I'm not complaining
being still not married means I can drop everything and go to the beach or italy or spain or the caribbean or mexico. any time I want to. so consider this a thumb on the nose toward all you married folk (aka, John) who can't drop everything and run out of the country for an exotic trip where foreign men want to kiss you. Ha. Italy was fabulous!
Oh, I went to Italy for thanksgiving in 2005. Fabulous. I'm thinking Paris this thanksgiving - of course Mommy Chickadee will be there, so I'll get to see her. And I love Paris. Who doesn't love Paris?

pictures coming soon. don't hold your breath. I'm a sucky blogger.

August 13

It's a party... I think

This week has filled me with a plethora of anticipation.

I have spent the majority of the week planning an adieu party for a dear friend. She is moving back to Utah. While this is a fantastic thing for her, it will be sad to see her go. She's a good girl and is trying hard to do what is right. It's frustrating to see her make interesting choices though. So we planned a party for her. Another friend hosted the party at his house, and he and I did the majority of the food. I made a delightful layered cake for the party using techniques I learned at the conference I went to. It was one of the two classes that I really got something good out of the presentation.

Earlier this week I focused on getting some school work done. I got a good chunk done, but still have a lot to do. I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with the prospect of having a preschool and what all is involved in that. I guess I will just have to really rely on my students to help me through and understand exactly how they did everything in the past. I'm hoping they are good kids!!!!

So, goals for this week: I missed a day playing the piano. I need to be better with that. Also, I need to find some music I really want to learn how to play. I"ve kind of lost my energy for playing the piano, but that may be due to it's location. The piano lives upstairs now, and I feel like if I play it has to be when everyone else is gone. Or I have to use headphones. I need new headphones!! Actually, what I really want is a pair of wireless headphones. That would make for the most playing pleasure. Then I wouldn't have to worry about a wire over my shoulder or under my arm or anything. As for the other goals, they all went well. My ankle is feeling better, though still not 100%. We have had some nice weather so I've been going out walking with it all wrapped up. Maybe this week I'll attempt some kick boxing. That's really where the weight loss comes in, and the really feeling healthy. It makes me sore, but that's a good thing - it's the good kind of sore, not the "oh crap what did I just do?" sore.

Today is dad's birthday. He's the big 63 today. What a good man my dad is. He really is. He works so hard and does so much. I love him, what can I say? I still need to call him - I"ll get to that shortly.

No call from the lawyer - big surprise there. But hey, he asked for my number! Haha... oh well. Maybe one day! I wasn't about to hold my breath for him to call. If he does, of course I'll be delighted, but if not, hey no biggie. I'm sure he'll be by to visit again sometime in the near future. And if not, well, I probably won't notice that much anyway - I'll be too busy immersed in work.

Speaking of which, school starts tomorrow, sort of. I'm going in this week to get a bunch of office work done. I'm not going to worry about setting up my preschool until my students come. My kitchen is pretty much already set up. I'll wait until I have a student aid to help more with that. Really, I just need to get paper work done. Oy, and there's a lot of paper work to get done! I need to get my syllabi completed, as well as disclosure documents and lesson activities. I want to make a bunch of copies and have everything ready for my 15-minute lessons for the year. I need to take all my file boxes into the school and get unpacked and situated in the office. I need to organize the office to fit me, as well as the food pantry. I need to go through all the cupboards and figure out what is in each one, what kind of equipment I have and don't have. I need to make calendars for my classes and decide exactly when I'm doing things. I need to get a school calendar before I can do that so that I know when there are special things happening. SO much to do! And if I get 2/3 of that done before I leave town on Friday, I'll be amazed.

Luckily, I think I kept pretty good records from last year, so a lot of it will be reviewing what I did before and deciding what to change for this time around. I'm glad I kept good records from gourmet and international foods. That will make a world of difference for this year!! And really, I'm not at all worried about that class! I'm more concerned about how purchasing is going to work (it's a screwy system!) and the preschool. I know it will all work itself out though, and that's good. I'm glad for that.

I'm going home this week, which is why I'm working this week. Katie gets back from her study abroad/internship in Paris on Saturday. Mom went to pick her up and travel around a little bit. So I'm going home so I can be there when she gets off the plane. Katie is doing a french dinner and slideshow thing on the 23rd. My contract starts on the 22nd. So I wouldn't get back until the 24th. SO, I'm working this week to make up for the time I'm missing next week. The delightful thing is that because I'm staying for the whole french dinner and all, it will count as a professional development thing, which is why I'm allowed to trade time. It will be excellent. Now I'm just hoping I can get a good flight out on Saturday - nice and cheap. I'd rather fly than drive, really. And if I fly out first thing saturday morning, then I think I can beat Mom and Katie to the airport. I'll have to check the details on that. But also, I'll be able to go out with my friends Friday night. I think they're having a dinner and going bowling. It should be fun. Unfortunately, I think I will be driving though. Right now tickets are still too expensive. I'll have to wait until probably Wednesday or Thursday to get a last minute flight at a good price, IF I can get one. I should have been looking for this a long time ago! Oh well.

Tomorrow will be a busy day! I should rest up!

August 06

Musings of a Sunday

I'm really trying to create a good habit here. But I don't have a ton to say. Here's what I have, in no particular order, of course:

1. I ate too much chocolate/sugar today, and now am feeling sick. I hate it when I do that. You'd think eventually I'd learn. Apparently I haven't learned.

2. I have to speak in church at the end of the month. The topic? Service and Gratitude. Hm. So much to say on all that, and it's SOOOO vague!! I guess I"m going to be working on that for the next little bit. And I'm sure I will write my talk ten or fifteen times between now and then. I've been stuck on this idea of where your focus is set - like a zoom lens on a camera. If you're zoomed in really close then the only things that matter to you are the blurs you can see in your ultrazoom. But if you zoom out a little bit then a little more you can see and the more that is important to you. I wonder if I can tie that in somehow.

3. I twisted my ankle today. There's nothing like a good crunch of the ankle to keep you humble. Man, and I was feeling soo good about it too! I thought "hey, maybe I don't have to be so careful anymore! Maybe I can run and play like everyone else!" Maybe I was wrong. Yeesh. It sucked. The worst part, I was wearing like 2-inch heels, and I was stepping on the curb to go into church. Brutal, eh? This should make starting the exercise regimen tomorrow a little bit interesting. Maybe I can do Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday instead of Monday Wednesday Friday.

4. A really cute, nice, temple worthy guy asked for my number today. In fact, it's a guy who was at my house this week and who I quite enjoyed talking to for the few minutes he was here. OY!! He is cute. He's a lawyer and works on research for fraud cases - so like, Enron or whatever, but except not Enron, because that's all secret and all. So he gave me his number, and I called his phone. But he was asking for my number so we could get together - excellent! Now just hoping he uses it, sooner rather than later! Really, he's one of those guys that you think you'd never get to go out on a date with. I guess I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch though, right?

5. Water is a fantastic thing - too bad I can't get myself to drink more of it.

6. I want a manicure. Oy I want a manicure sooo badly!! And I want the really good kind that has the pink and white acrylic so you don't have to paint them - you just look put together all the time. Maybe I just need to learn how to do it myself.

6. I know there was something else I was going to say, but now I can't remember it for the life of me. Ugh. Hate it when that happens!

I suppose I should start doing a little research for my talk. Who knows what I'll come up with for that. And I only have 10 minutes. How am I supposed to go for only 10 minutes? I'm a teacher, and the topic is so broad, and they want me to limit it to 10 minutes? For crying out loud!!!! I suppose I'll manage. Of course I'll manage.

Also, I think I looked pretty dang cute at church today. I love it when that happens...

August 04

Pictures

Just for proof... or maybe you can't tell a difference.

plain pink shirt is pre-weightloss

pink plaid shirt is after 25+ pounds

Is there a difference? you tell me...

My new life

So, how fitting that my first post in a long time finds my space looking all new. Fitting for a new life. Wow, how amazing the last 7 months have been, and so scary at the same time. I think only one person knows of my space, so I'm not sure anyone will find anything here. That's fine with me. This is my own place to rant and rave, and I'll try to keep it safe. Mostly safe for me.

In January I met an amazing man and we started dating. We dated until April and then have continued to see each other on and off since then. We went all over the city, never doing the same thing twice, except for our favorite restaurant which we visited every Friday night. We went to the air and space museum and saw the "roving mars" movie. We went to Ruth's Chris steakhouse, which was amazing. I felt like the most spoiled woman in the world that night. It was so romantic and beautiful. We saw the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin. We went to Balitmore and walked around the marina and then went to the aquarium - a fabulously fun afternoon. I love being on the water like that. We went to Georgetown one night and just walked through the shops and restaurants and then we went to an art therapy benefit thing at George Washington. It was interesting, to say the least. We both made pretty pictures, and then traded them. Our first date we went bowling and then to applebees -nothing fancy, but with him it was a blast. We went to the Hirshorn and Native American museums and then went to dinner at the Starfish Cafe. I had lobster for the first time there, and the most amazing chocolate mousse cake for dessert. We went to a dinner theater - the Blair Mansion Inn. We had so much fun there. We went to a lovely cuban restaurant in downtown DC and then went to see Richard Lewis at the Improv. We stayed in one night and watched a movie - that was a faisco getting the tv and dvd player connected, and then getting the tv to work.

We broke up. It was sad, but we're still friends, so I suppose that is good. I love the man, and the man loves me. We still have good solid heart to heart conversations. The man is getting his life in order, which is an important thing to do. The deal is that we stay friends, and we keep our relationship at friends. Really, I think it will be better for both of us. He really is the most fantastic man. We went to the 4th of July fireworks together, which was delightful. We had tickets to a rooftop party and were so close that we had ash on us. He is thoughtful and kind and patient and loving and hard working. That is just his nature. How many men have been so conscious as to make that their nature?? Not many I have met. When we go out, even still, he is the perfect gentleman, and even thoughtful of others we are with. My roommate had the tickets for the 4th of July party, so it was the 3 of us there. He would always ask both of us if we wanted anything.

Here, 4 months after we broke up, he is a better man. His life is falling into place, he is setting his priorities to where they need to be. I couldn't be more proud of him. In a few days he will be 90 days clean. Amazing, isn't it? Now just one more day at a time, and soon it will be another month, and then a year.

I went through the temple on June 21st. What a beautiful experience. I love going to the temple, and the Washington DC temple is by far my favorite. My parents came in for a few days to be part of it. That is by far my most favorite place in the entire world - not just because it is the temple, but the DC temple in particular.

I took the man to the temple last week. He has lived here all his life and never been there. We took a picnic up and ate on the grounds. Then walked around for a little bit. We stopped at the reflecting pool for a little bit, and then went in the visitors center. The man got to see pictures of the inside of the temple and a missionary talked to us a little bit. Then we sat down in front of the Christus and they played the overhead thing. So powerful, so beautiful. That really struck both of us. I knew how it made him feel, which was amazing. It was a wonderful feeling to be with him when he saw and heard the things you see and hear at the visitors center.

What now with the man? No idea. I know I love him and I don't want to lose contact with him. I also know that time for him to continue to heal is important, and I want that for him.

I am switching schools again, which I hate. This time it is not my choice. I would have loved to stay where I was, but there wasn't enough enrolment for a full time position there. The new school is actually closer to my house though, and I don't think I"ll be involved in as much drama, which is exciting. My old department was very dramatic. It gets exhausting.

I spent a week at Baby Chickadee's house. She's pregnant again, which is very exciting. I think they caught the pregnancy in time to get her on blood thinners so that she can carry the baby full term instead of miscarrying. She has the best family - I just loved being with them. Her two little girls are the cutest things in the whole world, and the sweetest too. It was hard to leave, but it's always better to leave on a high note than when you've worn out your welcome and you're being pushed out.

After the visit to baby chickadee's, I went home to visit the old people. The old people are my parents and grandma, who I love dearly. It was fantastic to be home with them. Mom and I went all over town to garage sales and shopping and all sorts of things. I spent a little time with dad which was nice. I don't always get to do that when I'm home. Mom and I both got our hair cut too. I'm loving my new style. The guy who cut my hair was trained at Vidal Sassoon, and really, it's a fantastic cut. I feel so glamorous all the time. I don't have bad hair days. How often is it that you get a cut and then don't have a bad hair day???!!! I guess I'll have to go back around Thanksgiving and get it fixed up again. The last thing I want to do is get it done by someone else, they butcher it, and then charge me $50 to do it. No thanks!

I came home for a few days, and then headed out to a professional conference in Virginia Beach. Ah, that was delightful!! We went down a bit early and spent sunday at the beach. I played in the water for an hour and a half, then we dried out on the beach and walked the boardwalk. That was definitely the highlight of the conference. The conference itself, I got a bit of good information, but really there was nothing fantastic and amazing about it like there was last year. Our hotel room was moldy (holiday inn.... surprising?), the food served to us was NEVER hot, usually about lukewarm, and the presenters were not ones I was excited about seeing. Oh well, I had a lovely time chatting with my friends and I did get some good information. And I got a beautiful tan to start out the week. It sounds like I'm complaining, but really, it just got to be humorous. We had the same vegetables at lunch and dinner for 3 days, except for one day they gave us pasta salad with our sandwiches. We had the same rice, which actually wasn't that bad, but I'd rather have different things every night, not leftovers! If we're paying $35 for a meal, I expect it to be something I haven't had the last three days, you know?? OY!!!

So now I'm home. I'm facing the sad music that work will be starting again very soon. I'm hoping to be able to go home for a few days when I should be on contract, so I have to go in a week early and do some work in my room so that I am ready for the school year to begin. I am hoping they will allow me to trade days so that I can go home and see Mommy Chickadee. I haven't seen her since christmas.

Mommy Chickadee is doing an internship in Paris. She has been there since april. First she did a study abroad there, and now she's doing an internship. She gets back August 19, and then is doing a dinner on the 23rd. My contract starts the 22nd. I figure I can justify it as professional development because I teach an international class. I can get good pictures from her, and real authentic recipes for the international class. That counts, right? I'm hoping my boss will see it the same way. And I also figure that I've been to a professional development conference on my own time, and if I'm coming in a week early and making up those days, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I need to see my mommy chickadee!!!

I think that's all for today.

Really, I'm going to be better.

Oh, goodness, and here I wanted to talk about the new me and all. I got so sidetracked.

So with the breakup with the man, I decided I had put all this energy into him, and had really neglected myself. So I set some goals for myself. I really want to be the best person I can be, and be more prepared for the different things I know will be coming in my life. I knew my life was out of balance, so my goals are to round out my life and get back to those important things. I have set a goal to exercise at least 30 minutes three times a week. I get bonus points if I exercise every day. Ok, not bonus points, just the joy of feeling that much better. I have to have breakfast every morning, and morning scrpiture study. Morning and evening personal prayer, and practicing the piano every day. I also am not eating sweets during the week - only on the weekends. Since I have been keeping track, I have lost 25 pounds. It has probably been a bit more than that, but that's just from when I started keeping track, a month into my program. I started in April. It is now August, but I pretty much took off the new lifestyle in July due to traveling and all. Now I am getting back into the swing of things and a bit sore today. I didn't stretch after today's workout - gotta remember to do that! The best part about all of this?? I am fitting into clothes I couldn't wear a year ago. I had to get new jeans because the ones I had been wearing are falling off, and are so big they look ridiculous with a belt. And everyone who hasn't seen me in a while is marveling at the changes. I hope they continue! (the man gave me a hug the other night and it felt TOTALLY different - not as much for him to squeeze!)

So, this will be my place to vent and post updates. I've lost a few inches, but realized that I was measuring in the wrong place. To know the change in size of the blobs, you have to measure the blobs, not the waist that is hiding underneath! I have to have more accountability. And I have to have a place to talk about this so that I don't annoy people to death with what i"m doing and how much weight I've lost and all. It's delightful that I'm losing this weight, but really I'm more delighted that I am living a healthier lifestyle. The energy is worth it!

So, weekly posts, at least, I figure. And hopefully the new position doesn't kill that goal! Maybe I should add it to my checklist that keeps me in line!

So, until something exciting happens....

December 06

Amazing things in the works

So I've realized lately that I say "amazing" a lot. I really came to that realization after I got back from Italy. Ok, Italy was AMAZING! Sheesh it sounds so stupid to say, but really, it was tons of fun. I went to Florence with my roommate and a friend of hers over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was really just the right amount of time. Traveling is a blast, but really, sometimes just stinking exhausting. You want to see and do everything, especially when it's somewhere you know you'll not necessarily visit ever again. So we went to Pisa and saw the leaning tower, we saw some of the most incredible art in the entire world. We went to the Medicci palace. We saw the real and original David by Michelangelo.

Dating is nonexistant, but I'm having fun in life anyway. I don't need a man for fun, in fact, I've determined that they generally just cause trouble.

I went to Boston for a weekend, that was great fun. OK, well not anywhere near as much fun as Italy, but it was still fun.

My birthday is tomorrow. I'm going to be 26. That feels so old! The older I get the more I hate birthdays. Actually, I think I just don't want a birthday because I don't have anyone to be with to celebrate with me. So I'm having cake with my kids after school, but really that's just to entice them to come to a club meeting. We'll see what happens with that. I think the roommates and I are going out on Thursday night, but I'm getting to where I just don't want to go. I'd like to be home with my mom and dad. I want my mom to make me a cake in the shape of a christmas tree. I've always had a tree cake. And then the weekend of my birthday we always go get our christmas tree. It's so sad, this year mom is doing a fake tree! I totally understand why though.

Grandma had a stroke. When mom took her to the doctor, the doctor said that she had actually had several strokes. SO, Grandmama is in a rehab center right now, but mom is working on trying to figure out what to do with her once she's done at the rehab center. There's a senior day care kind of place, there's assisted living, or there's also the possibility of getting a 2 bedroom apartment and finding a roommate for her, just so she's not alone. Poor mom is doing this all alone, and she's not having a very easy time of it. I love my mom. She's the best!

October 14 2005 - Oh the Excitement

I don't remember if I announced this before, but the boyfriend and I broke up. Yep, it's over. I'm moving on. He just really wasn't the right one for me, and the more I talk to him the more annoyed I get with him. He's coming into town next weekend and wants to go out on a date, but I think he thinks we're still dating. I can go on a date with him, but he's talking about getting schmoopy and cuddly and all that. I don't think so! I just have no desire for that. I am actually a bit amazed at how fast that went away. But I guess being so far away, not talking as much, and definitely not seeing each other as much, and additionally consciously putting the feelings on the back burner, that would make sense.

So, I have a fun little story today. I got asked out today by a guy I work with. I love the compliment of a guy asking you out. It's great. Becaues even though they haven't said it, they find you attractive enough, and hopefully intelligent enough to want to get to know you more, and want to spend time with you. So, huge compliment. I do have to say, I was feeling mighty cute today too, so I suppose that was helping a little bit. Unfortunately, though, I had to decline because he asked me to go out on Sunday, and well, of course I can't go out on Sunday. But, I said I'd love to but that I don't go out on Sundays, but I'd love to another time. So he's going to call or email sometime this weekend. SO cute. Well, the whole asking out is so cute. He's a pretty decent looking guy. He used to have a long pony tail, but he cut that off recently, and I'm SOOO glad!

That's the latest excitement. I know it's only 7:30 on friday night, but it's still Friday night. I'm exhausted, and I think I'm going to get ready for bed!

I'll be better - I promise!

October 03

Oops, I forgot!

Wow, I'm a horrible blogger. No wonder only like 3 people ever come to my blog. I'm such a dope. Oh well. It's for my benefit anyway. If you all get a kick out of it, that's splendid for you. I call blogging my therapy. It works great like that.

So, the boyfriend and I are a bit rocky right now. One would think that the rockiness would be caused by living 3 hours away from each other. Actually, the rockiness is caused by my religion and his religion not being the same. It's an issue for me, not an issue for him. In fact, he has a hard time understanding why it is an issue for me. Oy. I finally spelled it out for him all plain and dumb-like, which is not to say he's dumb, but just that the "want's" were quite blunt. So I finally said, "I want you to stop drinking, be my religion, and I want us to live happily ever after." That about freaked him out.

Saturday I went to a craft show with the new roommates. It was called the Crafty Bastards, and it was in Adam's Morgan. I could be totally slaughtering that, but, well, I don't know any better. It was good fun though. It was sooo beautiful saturday and we just had a lovely afternoon, and then we went to Heidleberg Bakery on the way back. Ok, can I just say YUMMMMM!!!! Wow, that place was incredible!! Most of the stuff at the craft show was pretty crappy though. And the stuff that wasn't pretty crappy was so freaking expensive that there was NO way I could purchase anything. It was still fun to get out though.

So, Friday night I got such a horrible phone call. Brady called, and left a message on my phone. The fact that Brady called was concern enough. He's not one to call and just chatty chat. So I knew something was up. Then, the message he left was, "Sara, we have a family emergency. You need to call me right away." OY!! So, here's what happened. Ready? hold on to your hats kids!

Friday afternoon Dad and Jeff, his little buddy, were out in the woods cleaning up some fallen trees and wood. They're all remenant of the ice storme last christmas when the power was out for 6 days. Dad and Jeff have been chopping firewood, and hauling logs up to the house to turn into lumber. There's some incredible walnut and cherry out there that they've been salvaging. So, they were doing something with a tree, and something happened and the tractor flipped over. Not a big deal except that Dad was sitting in the tractor. And after it flipped, he was still sitting in the tractor. You know how you can flip something upside down and it dumps out? And then you swing something upside down and it all stays in the bottom? Yeah. Dad stayed in the bottom. He was pinned in a way that he couldn't really breathe, and eventually stopped breathing and then passed out.

The ambulance came, took him to the hospital, and then they flew him to a real hospital in Columbus. It was a pretty serious accident and they had no idea what kind of damage was done. It turns out Dad didn't even crack a rib. Nothing. He's got some bruises and his face is scratched up because he was flipped into a bunch of briars, but that's about it. He's sore and has to rest for a while. The whole series of events was odd though. Jeff had called the ambulance. Brady came up the driveway behind the ambulances, fire truck, and 2 sherrifs, as well as the fire chief. You know, when you live in a small town, and someone who has lived there for years has an accident, EVERYONE is going to come. Brady had no idea what was going on and got out there in time to help load Dad up into the ambulance and then call Alison and me to start the phone tree. Mom was at Grandma's house and saw all the trucks flying by, and of course wondered where they were going. When she pulled up to the house, she of course realized and then obviously got upset. Jim, the barber in town has a scanner and heard the call to go to our house. So he called some people from church who went right to the hospital to administer to Dad before they took him to Columbus.

Friday night 4 or 5 couples were with Mom at the hospital. Saturday a bunch of people stopped in to see how everyone was doing. It's amazing though, that nothing happened. Black eyes, yeah, some bruises, but nothing serious. Not even a cast of any kind. What was even more fun was the doctors and nurses who had no idea how he survived such an ordeal. No, not witchcraft or wizardry. But definitely someone upstairs looking out for him.

The whole thing gave me quite a perspective of life. And also helped me to cherish my parents more. I realized there were so many things I still want to learn from my dad, so many things that I don't know and that I want to know. And the same about my mom. So much I want to know, and so many things I'm sure I've missed over the years that she's tried to teach me and I've just been oblivious or stubborn.

So, I still like the boyfriend. I just want him to be my religion. He's not so keen on it. Is it horrible of me that I just want him to miss me so much that he'll at least consider it?? I know it's asking a ton though. But I also know he could handle it. He could so handle it, and in fact, he'd rock being a good little boy. So, we talked last night about taking quite a significant trip together. I want to go to Paris for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad are going to Japan to visit Paul and Jill. So, I say why not go somewhere too? So I want to go to paris. Tickets are about 350. We could find a hotel for about $45 a night, and split that and it's totally do-able. And then just money for food and transit in the city. And it'd only be 3 days in the city, so we could just backpack it, and have more than enough space. Actually, I'd probably backpack it, and pack another bag that I could put other stuff in and check for the trip back. It'd be sweet.

September 04

Ramblings of a Sunday

So I had all this amazingly clever stuff to say, and now it has just escaped me. Tuesday I go back to school with the kiddies all being there. I'm a bit nervous about it because it's a new school district and all. New kids are going to try and push the limits, and I'm not always good at being mean and stern. I just hope that the special ed kids are ok. Yikes. So the one special ed kid I thought I was going to get out of the class is going to still be in the class. I'm just worried that she won't be able to handle it because of all her anxiety and limitations and all. Yikes! The severely handicapped kids always make me nervous.

So here's another little bit of interesting information. Apparently in the WMA, they don't believe in one-stop shopping such as super wal mart or super target. What is so bad about being able to get groceries and everything else in one place? Personally, I prefer one stop to driving all the snot over town. Maybe another wally world somewhere else around town has the super part. I hope so!

So I decided to walk to church today. It was a lovely day, and I was ready to go in plenty of time, so I just strolled along to church. It's maybe half a mile, but I just took my dear sweet time. When I say dear sweet time, I mean dear sweet time. I took about 20 minutes to get there. But also, I was being careful to not break my ankle or something. Anyway, church was interesting today. Because of the holiday weekend, it was much less crowded which was nice. I had a great opportunity to sit and really think about some good stuff that I've wanted to resolve. I got to talk to a few people after church too, which was nice. I haven't really taken the opportunity to do that, being all pensive as I've been lately. Then I was walking home from church. That's what you do when you walk to church. When it's over, you have to walk home. I got about a block from the church and some guy from the ward pulled over and gave me a ride. I couldn't very well say no when he was already holding up traffic. So I got in, and in the remaining 4 blocks to the house, we had a really nice chat. And then we sat in the driveway and chatted for a while too. Well, he was really nice, and I wanted to keep talking, so I invited him in for a little dinner. So I whipped up some chicken parmesean and some frozen corn. He was quite impressed, and it's my favorite meal to do last minute. It's always a winner. So he was going to call tonight about ward activity plans for tomorrow, but he hasn't called yet. Maybe he'll call tomorrow about it. We'll see. Anyway, it was nice to have such a lovely dinner, and he was so fun to talk to. Just a really nice down to earth guy.

I love lazy weekends, just sleeping late, taking naps, being unproductive. Tomorrow is the end of that though. I'll still sleep late, probably, but I get to be uber productive tomorrow. It will be the end of being lazy. I get to clean and organize the apartment, and clean out the car. I can't go to school with all this crap all over the place, so it will be good to get it taken care of. Oh and dishes. I get to do dishes too. That'll be good fun.

I talked to the brother in Japan last night. THat was so fun. He told me my niece was looking in photo albums the other night and saw a picture of me and said "Sara is my best friend!" And then she found out that my brother and I were talking and she said "I love you, Sara!" How sweet is that!?! I just love my little baby. She's three and a half, and just adorable. I love my other little baby too, who just turned three. She's a riot, and is always saying some goofy things.

August 31

Driving in the WMA

So I was posting on my lovely johnboy's blog, and was cracking myself up. So I figured I'd post this about the lovely culture in the new location. Isn't culture a wonderfully hilarious thing?? My brother and sister both went to Russia and said that when kids raise their hands in school, they don't put their arms over their heads like americans do. Instead, their elbow is firmly planted on the desk, but they still do the reaching thing when you REALLLLLLY want to be picked to talk. So, go ahead and try it. Plant your elbow, raise your hand, and do the reaching thing that you'd normally do when your arm is fully extended. Now don't you find it hard to keep your elbow firmly planted. Funny, isn't it? Can't you just imagine a classroom of 25 8 year olds, all excited and wanting to say something, but with their elbows firmly planted on their desks? Sheeesh, american kids can't even keep themselves in their SEATS when they're excited about something. They think that if they raise their hand the highest they'll be the one to be picked. Of course, if you have ever taught kids, you know that's the one you pick LAST, but anyway. That's another story.

So, have you ever lived in a big city? It's a real kick in the pants. Actually you don't have to have LIVED in a big city, you can just have driven in one. Salt Lake doesn't count, by the way. That's not a big city. So I'm driving home from work today, and I"m behind this guy. MInd you it's like ohhh 4:00 pm. We're driving TOWARD DC, so theoretically this guy hasn't even hit the bars yet. The dude is swerving all over in the lanes. Unbelievable. Seriously. Totally weaving, but still staying in our lane. That's the most mild insanity. The other day going in to work, we were all making a lovely 2-laned left turn. Not hard, right? We've all done that a thousand times just in driving classes in high school (or shortly before we married . . . for those to whom that applies). So this lady turns really super sharp, which was unnecessary, because this is the WMA (washington metro area, for those of you nonlocals who don't know about the wma. Incidentally, the people in the metro wear vests that say WMATA on them, and I find that quite amusing. Wmata? What the hell is that? Ok, well, I know what it stands for, but still, it just looks funny, and I like to actually say it in my head. And that's even funnier. You just tried it again, didn't you. Funny, right? So ha!) Anyway, since this is the WMA, there is always serious lane-age. So, to correct for her way-too-tight-turn, she swerves into MY lane, the bitch. She about drives right into the side of my car, which would have been very bad because she would have hit ME, not just my car. The little wench. So, since I'm in the WMA, I honked my horn at her in furry. That's what we do here, ya know. We honk our horns. It's an extra long one in furry. It's a beep-beep-beep if the idiot just isn't paying attention and the light has changed or traffic is moving. There are all sorts of honks, actually. I have yet to attempt the honk/finger combo, but actually I'm a bit frightened to do that, AND it's just not something I'd do. I'll swear in my car at the idiot, but flying the birdie I'm just afraid the guy is going to pull out a big ole uzi and take me out or something. THAT would be horrible!

The end.

August 24

GreeN? Why green, I say, WHY!??!!

Ok, let me just say, first. I am a bit annoyed because I typed this whole big long blog and then it got lost when I went to post. GRR!

So now I have to make notes for myself to try and recreate the blog. But it won't be anywhere near as amusing. Sad, isn't it?

Alright, so I love the new job. IT's absolutely excellent. I got gobs of work done today. I turned on some Indigo G

So I turned on some indigo girls and rocked out while I got work done. It was great because it kept me going when I was tired, and oddly helped me focus and get through things. For some reason, Indigo Girls has that affect on me. Anything else and I get a bit sleepy or sing along too much. I think the IGs are just so ingrained in me that I can sing along while I’m typing something else. It’s splendid like that. And generally just enough upbeat. Not at all annoying to me. So I got gobs of copying done, like I said, and I think everything is just about ready to be passed out the first couple days of classes. I have everything copied for the first week, and am almost done with copies for the second week. Splendid, eh? So it’s a good thing I got so much done today because it took me an hour to get all the copies done.

You might say, Holy cow! How many copies were you making? Well, 150 of everything, because I’ll have something close to 140 students, and a few who will add/drop the first week, so lost copies. Secondly, the copier was having issues. Apparently it always has issues. Every 50 copies or so, it would get a paper jam or, when I was doing a packet, it would lose count of what page it was on. What? You say, lose count? Why yes, in fact, it would lose count. Believe it?? I didn’t really either, until it happened over and over. But it’s an old copier, so it scans each page every time it makes a copy of it. So when I’m doing a 5-page packet 150 times, it had some serious issues. Between losing count every so often and getting jammed, it was having issues. So, I only got 90 some copies before I threw in the towel on that set because I just got so stinking sick of dealing with it. It really was a bit of a comedy though. I’m just glad there wasn’t someone else there wanting to make copies, otherwise I would have felt like I needed to leave and come back later. There are two copies though, but it’s a bit of irony. The old copier loses count. The new copier was broken. Technology! Sheesh!!

So, I’ve had good fun talking to the boyfriend today. He kind of got on my nerves a bit because he was venting about the irritating people at work. So, me being the good girlfriend that I am, started making suggestions and questioning him about things he can do to make it better. In the process of me trying to make connections with him, I said he maybe needed to make more of an effort to look past his coworkers annoyances as I’m sure he does with me. He promptly came back and said that there’s nothing about me that annoys him. Nothing. So the whole analogy didn’t work at all, and he was being all sweet and nice and everything. How does he do that? He’s not really a schmoopy person, but he’s good at getting things in like that that make me feel good and whatnot. So, anyway, It took me a bit, and him a bit of just saying as much, to realize that he just needed to vent and get it all out of his system. So he did, and I relaxed, and we were all much happier. Then later he was looking for some bills and papers around his house. Bless his heart, he’s not the most organized person in the world, but the things I’ve done to help him be more organized he’s stuck with, so that’s good. Anyway, so he was asking me where some of the papers were, and I told him. I was there over the weekend, but I knew the papers hadn’t moved since he’d used them over the weekend because he just hasn’t had time to do anything with them. So, I like to make smart comments to him. I’ll ask him if he loves me just to make him squirm a bit, but it’s also kind of my way of telling him I love him. I’m not sure he realizes that, but someday maybe he will. Anyway, so my smart comment about the bills was that we make a good pair and we work so well together. He totally agreed and said he had been thinking about that earlier today. Oy, I like my boy. I can’t wait to see him again this weekend! He’s coming on Friday, which means I need to have laundry done and have some things cleaned up before he gets here. I’m thinking he’ll probably get stuck in some fun traffic though, which will make for an interesting trip for him, and a stressful little bit when he first arrives as he relaxes from the drive. You know, the other thing he said about the annoyances? Well, he did have one little thing. He doesn’t like when I talk on my phone while I’m driving because he worries about me being safe. My holy, can a woman ask for a better man?

So, Pumpkin has this neighbor who is just crazy. So, naturally, we call him crazy guy. And I think every day, pumpkin has a new story about the crazy guy. He’s going through everybody’s mail, or going through the garbage. He keeps tabs on who is using the laundry and who isn’t. The guy is special. Actually, we’ve decided that he has some for reals mental issues and is like, OCD or something. Poor guy.

I ordered some clothes from Old Navy online. Very excited about all that, it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be delightfully surprised when I get home from work. The plan is to end up with some super cute pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Very fun. I’m still anticipating sending them back for non-fittal though. That’s always frustrating.

I talked to my older sister today. Baby Chickadee is her name. She’s pregnant and is due in a little bit, but they’re going to deliver her September 6, so that will be lots of fun to have a new baby in the family. She’s on blood thinners, so they have to be really careful about the delivery, so they’re going to take her off the blood thinners 2 days before delivery, and take the baby c-section so that there aren’t many risks for her bleeding out.

So now it’s been all night it’s taken me to get this stinkin blog done a second time. The first time around it went nice and fast. But phone calls have interrupted the redo. All good fun phone calls, but still, phone calls. Oh, and now it’s late! Ok, one more quick story.

I was in the storage room today, my office/pantry/storage. I was digging in one of the shelves to see what type of office supplies are in there. IN my digging I found some boxes in the back of the shelf and they looked to be pens. SO I pulled a box out and it was green pens. One box of green pens isn’t a big deal, but I kept digging. The second box? Green pens. And the third? Also green pens. As was the fourth and fifth. The sixth box? Green permanent markers. Not pens, markers. The seventh box was also markers. Boxes 8-10? Guess!. Green pens? No! actually, blue pens. Same style as the green ones, but blue. And boxes 11-13? Green pens again. What, I ask, does someone have against using green pens? I mean, yes, we’re teachers and all, but really. Green is just as good as any red pen, in all honesty. It’s going to be different than what the kids use, so what’s the big issue? Sheesh! They’re pens friend! Just use it. So, I am apparently going to be doing everything in green for the next however many years. There’s probably enough there for 5 years.

Ok, that’s enough for tonight. I’m done. I need to wash my face and crash. I have a fun little drive tomorrow!

The end.

August 23

New Job!

Alright kiddies, so the fun begins. Today was the first official day on the new job, and let me tell you, GOOD FUN! I can't stinkin believe how great this new job is going to be! All the people I have met have been so amazing and nice and helpful, and not just the fake kind of nice and helpful, the for reals kind of nice and helpful. My department head came in my room today and gave me a big ole hug, and towed me around introducing me to all sorts of people. I think I got a decent 45 minutes of work done today. The thing that stinks about that is that I'm going to have to haul ass tomorrow to get everything done before I sit in meetings Thursday and Friday. It would be so much easier if I had a printer that printed, and a login for the computer, but that's all being worked around, so for now I think I'm ok.

I spent the weekend with the boyfriend and that was good fun too. He's such a sweetie. He's coming up this weekend too. It'll be 3 months on Saturday. Oy, I'm such a schmoop, where did that come from?? I've never been like this before! That's ok though, I don't mind, and I am not close enough to anyone here for them to be annoyed by my schmoopies.

So have you ever eaten something, and as soon as you bite into it, you know it's going to be the best you've ever had of that particular thing? I think that's about how I felt when I bit into my lovely little swiss cake roll today after school/work. You know, for as much as I hated college, it's quite odd that I chose to sentence myself to a life of going to school. What was I thinking?! Oh, but I love working with those good ole high school kids.

So have you ever just had one of those days? You know, one of those days where you get little to no sleep the night before, nothing seems to go right, you spill your breakfast on you in the car on your way to work, you forgot your lunch, and it's just boring meeting after boring and painful meeting? Yeah, so, today wasn't one of those days, and dang am I glad for that. Tired, yes. I couldn't get to sleep last night for anything. I think I got a decent 3 hours, but tonight will be better. All the rest of that crap didn't happen. Good thing, huh?

I'm excited to be getting back into the swing of things, even though adjusting to the new schedule is a bit exhausting. It's nice to have a schedule and routine, and have very set things to do. I feel more productive, although I did quite enjoy the summer and not having to wake up at any specific time, but man was I lazy! Now I have lots to do and I will be kept plenty busy with school work and whatnot.

*sigh* I guess that's all for now. So sleepy . . . so needing rest . . .

August 11

The boyfriend

FYI - This entry is more for my own personal journalishness, less for the entertaining of the masses. Soo, read at your own risk of boredom and gagging at schmoopiness.

So, I spent the last few days with the boyfriend at his parent's house while the old people were out of town. I am so happy! Dang, that boy is just so stinking good to me. We didn't do anything particularly exciting or splendid, but it was just all the lovely quality time we spent together that was so great, and all the excellent conversations about very important topics. He makes me so happy! Now if only he and I didn't have a huge difference of religion. Maybe he'll change for me . . .. that'd be the day!

So, I'm mostly unpacked now in the new house. It's still a bit odd though, I don't feel like it's home yet. Well, I feel like my room is home, but I don't feel like the upstairs is my home. I kind of want a microwave and hotplate downstairs so I don't have to be upstairs, but I guess being comfortable up there will come with time. I still get to unpack some kitchen stuff, and hang pictures. But beyond that, I think I'm done with the moving stuff, which is very exciting. It's fun how fast my new room feels like home, and has fit well with my belongings. I still have too much crap though. Oy!

I just bought a printer the other day with the boyfriend. It's a very exciting purchase because I haven't had a printer in, oh, I don't know, 3 or 4 years at least. It's color, which I don't like, because when the color dries out you have to replace it, even if all you want is something printed in black. So annoying when I just want a paper printed out for my kids at school! Very excited that I"ll be able to print things from home and take them to school now. That was always a pain in the butt, to have to email things to school to print them. Also, with the move, it'll be nice to be able to print out directions to new locations. It's so different living in a large metro area!

Speaking of a large metro area, I went to Home Depo last Saturday and they had a parking garage there. A PARKING GARAGE! At the home depo! What the?!! Yeah. I went to the mall though, and actually parked right in front of the store. I think I just lucked out though. There's obviously a parking garage at the mall, but that's not TERRIBLY uncommon, for any decent-sized mall.

So, I feel the need to talk about the boyfriend. I don't really have tons more to say about him, or a particular story to tell, but apparently I like talking about him. I like talking to him too. I am anxious for when he gets back to his house and we can talk on the phone again. It's hard while he's at his parent's house because there are always people coming in and whatnot. He can't be as schmoopy as we sometimes like to be. And when I'm schmoopy, he gets all squirmy about it. I think it's funny when he gets all squirmy though, so sometimes I do it on purpose. I'm rotten!

I love that the more time we spend together, the more he shows feeling and emotion. He's generally a very conservative person, and very reserved, but I love being close enough to him that he can comfortably talk about fears and worries, and things that make him happy or sad. And that I feel comfortable enough to talk about all those things too. Something else that totally impresses me about him is that he never complains about me or things in our relationship. I know I am faaaaaar from perfect, but he never says anything. If something upsets him, he addresses the problem, but never says anything about being upset with me. He always says I look nice, even when I feel yucky. How does he do that?? How does he not complain about anything in our relationship? I wish I could be like that. I feel so bad about the silly things that I get on him about, like slamming the lid to the washer. Oy, it drives me nuts, and he slams it every time, but it's so not a big deal, and I totally made the biggest deal about it. What was wrong with me?? Well, it was PMS, but still.

He about made me cry the other night with all the sweet things he was saying. I was expressing concern about some factors in our relationship, and he was absolutely amazed at the things I was concerned about. He said he was so impressed with my values and ethics and he's never met anyone with values as high as mine. And he was amazed that I was having a hard time because I wasn't doing all the things that I know I should be doing. Well, that just made me feel even worse for not being a better example of some of those values which I should be better about. THe whole weekend just made me love him even more. When I was leaving (I had to because his parents were expected home shortly) we were hugging and kissing at the door, and just not wanting to let go. During the talking in between hugs and kisses, he was looking me in the eyes, and I noticed that he was kind of tearing up a bit, but I thought "hm, that doesn't seem right." But then I noticed it again, and he was a bit sniffly. Well, that just got me going, which got him going even more. Oy, we were quite the pair, standing at the door, hugging, kissing, and crying.

I miss him so much already, and it's only been what, a day?? How pathetic is that? I miss laying in his arms, I miss the silly inside jokes, I miss just sitting together and watching a silly show. And of course I miss all the schmoopy stuff too, can't forget that. There's something about the way that boy kisses me, especially when he's feeling particularly schmoopy about me, that is just perfect.

I need to go find my empty picture frame so I can put our picture in my room. That's the next thing on the list to do for the unpacking . . .

The End.

August 06

MOVED IN!

So, let me just say, IT'S ABOUT STINKING TIME! I'm mostly moved into the new place, obviously got the computer set up and whatnot. I'm quite excited about the new net connection - cable net! whoohoo! It's super speedy gonzalas! Today will be uber short because, well, I need to finish cleaning up my space and whatnot, but just wanted to say I'm back again. Yay for me :)

The End.

July 24

Oh the stories!

Al, this one is for you, baby!

So, back by popular demand, my BLOG! How wonderful, huh? I know you all just missed my rantings and ravings so much. I suppose "you all" would just really mean one person. Ha! but that's ok!

Now, it's been a while since I've been here, and I don't remember where I left off. Let's see. The short version: Pumpkin made up with me, we were happy and good, and then he made me mad again, and then Pumpkin held me tonight while I was a brat and a snot and let me snot on him (literally - I was sobbing...) and we made up. No nookie making up though, just left on good terms, and the potential for a sweet date tomorrow night. I hope I'm still in the mood for a nice date because that will probably be the last time for about 2 weeks that I will get to see him. Today, that's a bad thing. Tomorrow or Tuesday, it might be a good thing. I hate being a girl sometimes!

Saturday the boy and I drove up to Washington DC to check out the new digs. I am pretty pleased with the house, although it's a bit old and a little small. But that's ok. My basement bedroom will be my little haven, and I"ll fix it up all cute-like. After we checked out the new place, which will be a pain to move into because it's at the top of a set of stairs, and my room is in the basement, we went into the city and tailgaited before a Washington Nationals game. I hate that he drinks. He drank at this game a lot, to the point of running out of money for all the beers he bought, and not buying me anything to drink at all. I was a bit grumpy about that. There was a cute little old mormon guy sitting next to me though, and he bought me a lemonade, it was so sweet. He and I had a fun talk, and it was nice having them (him and his friends) right next to me. The trip in general was alright, just very stressful for me because the backseat driver in my car was so tense and stressed about there being traffic on the roads in DC (go figure, traffic? in dc??? oh come on!) that he almost couldn't handle it.

Anyway, I got home about 2 am, and then got up and went to church this morning. Needless to say, I took one killer nap this afternoon!! I was still so tired. Still am, in fact. Oh goodness, I guess I shouldn't have let this go so long. SO much to say! Just novels and novels worth. I guess I"ll save some for the blog tomorrow, because I know I"ll want to procrastinate cleaning and packing to blog simply because it's a good excuse.

Now, back to my Al. He's a good boy, it's just too bad he doesn't love me enough to give up his vow of never getting married. If he ever did, dang I'd be all over that like white on rice! Ya know, I'd make a good wife. I'm a home ec teacher, how could I not? I know how to cook, clean, take care of little kiddies, I grew up on a farm so I'm all resourceful and stuff. It's a stinkin shame I haven't been snatched up yet. I guess the man just isn't ready for all of this yet. HA!!!

Ok, that's enough for tonight. Here's the love

July 20

Visiting friends

So, last night I was up until oh, about 4. I talked to a friend on the phone until 2:30, but then I was so wound up from the conversation that I couldn't sleep, so I went in the living room where the tv was still on, and 7th Heaven was on TV. It was a newer episode. Lucy is pregnant and she's causing hell for the rest of the house because she's on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Well, naturally I got all sucked in and watched what turned out to be the entire stinking episode. It was annoying, but good. So then it was 3:30 and I finally went to attempt to sleep. I figure by the time I dozed off it was around 4. Since I was up so late, I of course wanted to sleep in. but did i? Well, not really. I woke up at 7:30 for some sick reason. I knew I couldn't stay up and have a functional day, so I forced myself to go back to sleep. I woke up again around noon. That's the first time my entire summer vacation I've slept in until noon. It was great. I just hope I'm not perpetuating a horrible cycle. I'll have to be sure to get in bed at a decent hour tonight.

So, I pretended to pack today. Then my friend Kee-em called me and wanted me to come over and hang out tonight. So I did. Really her name is Kim, but I call her Kee-em because in the south "Kim" is a two-syllable name. Anyway, so I went out to her place. She has this cute little farm house they're renting until they build a house on their 350 acres. She made me fried okra for dinner and it was soo good. I'd never have guessed. I guess now I can leave the south confident that I've learned some good southern culture.

Pumpkin called on my way over to Kee-em's house and sounded a bit upset that I wasn't home to entertain him for the evening. He got back early though, and I wasn't expecting him until like 7:30 or so. Then, on my drive back, he called again, and seemed upset that I was not home yet, after he had gone and played trivia (and got drunk) with his friends. Then he started ranting and raving about all the places he went today, and how stupid the people are who are with him in this class. I don't mind the ranting and raving. The part I minded was the "colorful" language.

Now, if you ask me, if someone uses the same 2 words before they say a person's name, or refer to a person, that's not exactly "colorful." That's dull and boring and uncreative. I just get tired of hearing F-this, and F-that. Between the fbomb being dropped every few words, and calling people fags, I got kind of upset and told him I didn't appreciate his language. He apologized, but then said "well, this is part of who I am, so sorry. I am a college student right now, you know." As if taking a college class justifies him being an ass. Wow, I had no idea! You mean if I'm in a college class I can be a bitch to everyone, including my significant other, and think it's ok because that's what college students do??

If I'm being told I'm special, and amazing, but not treated like I am, what should that lead me to believe? Ugh. How do I go about calling him out on all this without coming across as a bitch. Do I even care if I come across as a bitch? I just don't know what to do. Any suggestions anyone??

So, closing happy note: Had a great time with Kim tonight and she filled me in on some really good dirt going on with the schools and whatnot. There's always good crap going on within schools. But you generally never know unless you're working in the schools. It's so fun to hear the stuff though. Ha. The end.

July 19

amazing, aren't I?

So all the drugs that are out there just amaze me. You hear all these great things they do on the ads on tv, but have you ever read the cautions in the magazines when you can read the fine print? I remember there was one weight loss one that just struck me as particularly disgusting and hilarious. They even gave the warnings on tv, and one of them was "may cause uncontrolable greasy bowel movements." Oh yum. Let me just run and get that so that at any moment I can be surprised by the appearance of greasy poo running down my pants because I'd never make it to the bathroom in time. Lovely image it gives, isn't it?

Here it is not even 9:00 pm yet and I"m exhausted, ready for bed, and if I were sitting on the couch, I'd be passing out to the food network on tv. For some reason the food network just knocks me out. You'd think I"d be enthralled by it, seeing as how that's what I do. I teach high school home ec, particularly foods. I should be taking notes, paying close attention, but do I? Noooo.... I wake myself up to my own snoring due to some horrible position I've collapsed into while watching Emeril or Bobby or Rachel. Pathetic, I say. Just pathetic. It's even worse during the school year. I've fallen asleep at 7 before! 7!!! But, high school kids will take all the energy right out of ya. I'm not complaining, mind you, I love my job most days. But dang I'm worn out by Friday night! Amazing I'll be going back to work in a month. Let's not think about that.

So, I impress myself. Since i'm talking about cooking and food and whatnot. I made this killer orange marmalade chicken the other night. MMM that was good! And tonight I made sesame chicken, although something has changed in how I do it and it's not as sesame-y as it used to be. The sauce was far too sweet. I'm going to need to work on that. Maybe looking at an actual recipe for that might give me some good ideas as to what to do. Maybe toasting some sesame seeds would add to the flavor and make it really good. Hm. I think I"ll try that next time.

Usually, I'm kicking butt at desserts, but since the boyfriend doesn't much care for desserts, I don't make them much. I'm not quite sure what happened to him, but it's true. He doesn't really like dessert. And what's more, when he does have dessert, he is usually quite satisfied with just a few bites. I guess that's why he's 130 pounds and I'm.... umm..... not 130 pounds. That'll be a nice thing about the move. I can make desserts and then just leave them for the roommates to help eat, and not feel like I'm being wasteful by making a pan of brownies or something, and then getting full after one or two.

And what are we going to do tomorrow?? The same thing we do every day!! Try to conquer the world!

July 18

Random Whines

So , I think I might have poison ivy or something. I itch everywhere! My arms, my neck, ugh. It's no fun. The last time I had it, I had to get a nice steroid shot in the ass. THat was lovely, especially considering how much I just adore needles. Now, just to be clear, that's not a bitch, that's just an informative blurb. I'm realizing that I don't have as much to tell you since I've blogged 2 novels in the last 2 days. You've read the blogs, so um, yeah. haha.

So, I like starting a paragraph with "so." Have you noticed?? I think I did that for almost two complete blogs. It's quite fun. You should try it. it's more ummmm. . . .how do you say. . . . conversational-esque. It's kind of like "So did you hear about the psycho old lady in the news??" And hten obviously it would go on for the rest of the story.

You know what I'm completely tired of?? Car insurance commercials. SHUT UP!!! They're just the most annoying, don';t you think?? geico, all state.... blah balh blah. Ya know what ya big marketing yahoos??? If you find some way to advertise that doesn't PISS me off, I might use your product. But your plain overannoyance just bugs so I'm not going to give in to your retarded marketing ploys!!

But, I guess they are appealing to the masses because stupid people are taking over the world. YOu know this theory right?? Stupid people are too dumb to use any kind of protection, so they just keep reproducing at enormous rates. Educated people realize that they have to have a certain amount of money to support children, so they stop at maybe 2. so, stupid people are taking over the world. stupid people fall for annoying marketing ploys like geico commercials. Therefore, they really are appealing to the masses. Sick, eh??

So dinner tonight was blah. We didn't go to the mexican place. WE went to some hick hole in the wall. I think the total, including tip, was somewhere close to $10. It costs more to go out to fast food! So on the way back the bf is bitching about how the ambiance there sucks. I told him he couldn't bitch about ambiance when it's only costing $3 a plate. I had a hamburger. I could have made one at home for free. Except I don't have tomato and lettuce on hand.

Goodness I'm whiny tonight. Oh the joys of being a woman, let me tell you!

So, tomorrow's agenda: Pack, Pack, lunch, pack, pack, pack, a little piano playin and dinner. I can't wait for this stupid move to be over with. Oh, I also get to call and make sure that I have the apartment lined up, that my job is secure (no contract yet, should I be worried??), and if I'm really going to a conference in Richmond the week after I move. If the school district doesn't pay for it, there's no way I'll be able to afford going. I can't shell out for half a hotel room for a week. No way Jose!!

So, happy note. I bought some belgain chocolate tonight. Mmmmm reminds me of the trip to europe and makes me oh-so-happy! Oh how I love some good quality chocolate! YUMMMY! If the boyfriend only knew - white roses and chocolate and I'll be a happy woman.

Packing . . . Oh the joys!

So, today I'm packing. I hate packing. Packing up my life for the last year. What I hate most is that I realize how much crap I have. I justify it by being a teacher though. I never know when I'll need something as a resource. Honestly, I just can't wait until I settle down and don't have to be moving my crap all over the place all the time. I'm hoping this move will be the last until I'm married. That's the plan, anyway. That is as long as this basement I'm moving into doesn't stink so badly that I can't stand living there.

So far I've packed almost all the books I have, all the school stuff, and I've taken the pictures off the wall. I think next I'll pack winter/work clothes. That should be fairly easy, and I can do that in rubbermaid boxes. Those things are great! This is thrilling, isn't it?

Pumpkin called on his lunch break today. He's so cute. He's taking a summer class, just one week long, and they're traveling to all sorts of historical sites, but today is in the classroom. It's going to stink for me because I won't get to see him much this week, and I'm moving next week. Ugh! Poor me, huh?? He's taking me out to dinner tonight though, that will be fun. I usually cook for him so it's nice to be taken out. He did cook dinner last night though, although it was in my kitchen and with most of my food. He brought the spaghetti sauce because I hadn't had a chance to get to the store. Hm, that reminds me . . . another thing I need to get done today!

So the reason he's taking me out to dinner is kind of funny. He just bought a laptop last wednesday and was sooo excited about it, but he knows very little about computers. So he went out playing on the web without antivirus or spyware protection. Not only did he go out playing on the web, he went surfing for porn. He plead loneliness as I had already left for the wedding. I'd been gone about 16 hours at that point. I'm not buying the lonely thing! Anyway, I'm a bit of a computer geek, so I spent a few hours last night working on his computer and getting it functional again. We're improving, but it's still got some issues. He felt so bad for being an ass and surfing for porn and also that I was spending so much time fixing it that he said he was taking me out to dinner tonight. I thought that was kind of funny. I'm so irritated that he was looking at porn though. Ugh!! How shallow and disgusting! I gave him a bad time about it too, saying things like "So what, is your girlfriend not good enough? she's not pretty enough and doesn't love you enough? is that why you were out surfing for porn??" Well, then he felt REALLY guilty. As well he should too!! Maybe some of you guys can enlighten me on that whole porn thing. If you've got a woman, and there's no wanting in the relationship, what's the attraction of porn? Honestly, it makes me feel cheap. Like I'm at the same level as porn hos. Now that just sucks, doesn't it?? I bet you guys never thought girls would feel that way, huh? Or, you know and you just don't care. I think that's worse.

I should be nice now. Pumpkin certainly does take good care of me. And I never question whether he cares for me or not. All this reminds me of a conversation I had the other day with a good friend, dj. He was saying how negative and horrible relationships are , and that 90% of them fail and everyone is so negative and all he hears is bad stuff about people's relationships. So we got started talking about how we, the human race in general, enjoys bitching about the crap that happens to us. Something along the lines of "misery loves company." He then said how he makes a point of sharing positive things with people because he noticed he was bitching a lot. I think that's a great thing - to make a conscious decision to be positive and share good things that happen to you with people around you, not to brag, but just to be a happy person. So, the new goal is to always end on a positive note. We'll see how that goal holds out. But at least now I'm aware of it, right??

My fingernails are pretty . . . all done up and painted and all. and kinda long too, hence all the typos and all. That's my happy note :)

July 17

So, here it is. . .

I've finally given into the the world of the blog. Ugh, I can't believe it!! But I suppose I have things to blog, and if nobody else reads this, that's fine, because maybe this way I'll actually keep a journal. The last time I kept anything journalish was last summer, and that was only because my little sister sat beside me and pretty much MADE me write. I'm so glad she did though. She's a good egg like that!

So I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm me. I have a family and friends. Terribly exciting, eh? There's a boyfriend. We'll call him Pumpkin. No, I don't call him that, but that will be his name until further notice.

So I had this wedding I was in this weekend. Let me just say, I'm not going to subject people to all that when I get married. I dropped probably $400 when it was all said and done. SO ridiculous. and she really thinks I can afford that on my salary? Yeah right!! I was happy to be there, and she's a great friend, but really. THe dress, the gifts, the hotel room, the blah blah blah. After this weekend, I just want to elope, and then we'll throw a big ole potluck party after or something.

Sweetness of the boyfriend during the wedding weekend though. I had invited a friend before the boyfriend existed. The friend bailed on me 3 hours before he was supposed to be there (asshole!!), so I called the boyfriend in tears, and caught him as he was heading out of town to go to a concert on the beach. After a bit of phone tag back and forth, he called and said "so how do I get there?" Oh what a sweet boy!!!! He drove 5 hours to go to this wedding with me. That TOTALLY melted me! We haven't said the L-word yet. It is a 4-letter word, ya know. And he is so anti-pda. That annoys the daylights out of me. SOmetimes he'll be sweet and want to hold my hand or kiss me, and then other times, he won't even touch me!! But he more than makes up for it while we're home. He holds on to me all the time, and it's great.

So, I got sucked into this bigtime by my scot friend. We'll call him Junior. He's so goofy, and always makes me feel pretty and sexy, even if sometimes he's um, abit.... well,.... inappropriate. I love him anyway though, and I totally miss his rockin' accent!

These are the boredomnessicities of my life. I'm packing to move this week. I'm moving north about 3 hours. Better job, better pay, better environment, more social life than the hickville I live in now. Pretty much anywhere is better than where I am now. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of exciting things to report about the move. The parents are coming to help with the move. They're AKA "the old people." Love 'em! But also, I've had my own place for the last 2 years, and I'm moving in with roommates - complete strangers!! I'm a bit nervous about that, and actually haven't seen the place yet either! YIKERS! But I'm sure it'll work out just fine. If not, I'll have a better idea of what I want to do and what I can afford and then I can move! That will be splendid, if necessary.

Wow, who knew I had so much to say!! And I could go on, but I'll save some for later this week. . .

Welcome Welcome

2008-01-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

To the new blog. I am delighted to have you here. Did you all make the transition nicely? I hope so. Hopefully this will be a little more post-friendly than the old blog. Apparently now blogger saves your drafts automatically!

As soon as I figure out how, I'll somehow manage to get the old posts moved over here. It will be delightful because I hated signing in over there. Here I'm always signed in anyway. If you have any genius methods besides copy/paste, copy/paste, I'd be open to hearing them. Maybe I'll even be more fastidious about blogging.

Today's best line:
B: "Luke you're going home with Sam's mom"
Luke: "Awww! I hate sitting in the booster!"

Most annoying moment:
Several: Freshmen. Lockers. Need I say more? UGH!!

Best moment:
Amazing email this morning - nothing better than some love in the in-box when you wake up!

infrequent updates

Uhh, I didn't meant to be this infrequent...

Sherlock always outsmarted Watson!

in my office...

lookie!!!

a letter to a sister.

home improvements.

the party before the party!

above water honey moon pictures

About the wedding....

it was sooo cool!!!

by request...

Playlist?

Our website!

a sneak peak

yes or no?

Here ya go!!!

my fabulous honey...

yeah gross...

Darin got married...

Italy...mmmm italy!

incessant apologies?

Valentines day...

en francais, s'il vous plait!

good-NESS!

weekends.

Wellllllll.... you should know.

The kiddies at Christmas

Christmas 2008 part 1

Dear Megan. And Jules.

Oh the sleepiness of me!

Nasty people.

3 blind mice, see how they run....

In a hurry much?

ummm huh?

shake it baby, shake it

Stirfry Sunday

sunrise, sunset, sunrise sunset

Do the Camcam

I've gotta punkin, I've gotta punkin, I've gotta punkin, hey hey hey hey!

DUH!

Family Night

Ward Retreat

Opportunity of a lifetime?

Guessing Game.

Um, excuse me?

Things I love and eat!... or eat and love?

Mark's visit

Need a distraction?

Announcements:1 and 2.

AS promised.... #2

If only...

a letter to a friend.

coming soon...

The solution to all my problems...

Posted by: "Poorboy still needing a trim"*

Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:01 pm (PDT)

Posted by: "Man with all the answers"*

Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:01 pm (PDT)

Bad date story #1

I need a desk chair at home...

It's bad.

a new home....

For Dan...

for me. maybe you.

Things to (not) miss

Cherry Blossoms 08

dictionary defn: Slacker....

best line...

Have you ever been....?

Details??

Gross.

Exciting weekend!

Fabulous peruvian gloves... or are they mittens?

brunch.

Bathroom. Hole.

Is it horrible to do this?

Blog

Welcome Welcome