Lookie lookie...

I'm here! I know y'all have missed me. My last post was LAST WEEK. So long ago, right? But I've been crazy busy and having crazy amounts of fun. Let's break it down for ya.

• Thursday, March 29 - Had a day off so I could take care of some BTSA stuff. Which led to me being home slightly earlier than normal. So I got a relaxing afternoon. AND I got to see Third Day on Thursday night!!!
• Friday - Half day at school. Most of which was spent having an Easter party. Then got home, packed and off to So Cal!
• Saturday - Lounged around all morning then went to a wedding. At the risk of sounding conceited I looked pretty dang cute. And we had so much fun. There was a photo booth that we got crazy in. There was a random guy who tried to dirty dance with my grandma (you know I was watching for him the rest of the night). Plus we sat at the hotel bar for awhile afterward just chillin'.
• Sunday - Morning after get-together at someone's house. It was a BEAUTIFUL day so we chose to spend the rest of it at Disneyland. Always a wise decision if you ask me. 
• Monday - California Adventure. It was another gorgeous day. Spent the whole day over there. Visited the preview center thing because it was all about Cars. I cried watching the video because I am apparently a total girl and cry about stupid crap now. But listening to the people talk about it... and I'm so excited to take Tad!!! We finally saw World of Color that night too. Please people, if you haven't gone you NEED TO. It was amazing.
• Tuesday - Morning at Disney... with my cousin!!! She was down with her boyfriend and we met up since we have somehow never been there together. We had stupid amounts of fun for only being there a few hours together. And I accomplished a goal... I WAS THE REBEL SPY ON STAR TOURS. See they redesigned it and now at the beginning you get stopped and a picture of the Rebel Spy (a random person from your ride group) gets flashed on the screen. Just the day before I had told hubby that my goal was to be the rebel spy. AND I TOTALLY WAS. I raised my arms and cheered. People laughed. Sadly we only spent the morning there because we had to head home.
• Wednesday - BASEBALL!!!! Hubby bought tickets for exhibition a couple months ago. We bought 14 together and just got a group of people. SO much fun. Especially because it was the A's vs. the Giants! I was actually torn about wearing my Oakland shirt. I think I might be turning into a full-blown Giants fan... but I wore it. And people said how cute it was that hubby and I are an interleague couple. And my A's won. WHAT?! I know. 8-1. Maybe that was a sign I shouldn't give up on them yet.

And now I have a few days left to have some fun. Visiting the cake supply shop today. Maybe going to a movie. Still crossing my fingers that SOMEONE will be willing to head to SF with me tomorrow. I just want to stay busy and have fun.

And because I wasn't here Monday, here's a manicure pic for you. I didn't do them until Tuesday, but at least I did them.

Happy Thursday. If you think you can contribute to my fun then hit me up.

5 Things

OHMYGOODNESS. Still not feeling totally recovered. I came home from work yesterday and took a three hour nap. No judging. Wait until you hear the breakdown of my weekend. I posted it on Facebook Sunday...

From Friday night to Sunday morning I spent 19 hours in high heels (like, the 4 inchers), 22 hours with the seester, three bars, one couch guest, and nine hours of sleep at night. I threw in a couple short naps for good measure. *whew* The sleep is what is still killing me. We got in at three in the morning once, then five in the morning the next day. That time change screwed us up there...

So what did I DO? Well lemme tell ya...

Five Things I Did This Weekend

1. Celebrated mommy's birthday! Went to dinner and hung out a bit.
2. Shopping with the sister. No major damage, just a couple cute little things.
3. Met a lacrosse team. This was only unique because I have never met anyone who plays lacrosse. Cool people too. And funny.
4. Met a super white guy with the most Hispanic last name ever. I obviously won't post it here, because what kind of creeper would I be telling you some random stranger's name? Just trust me, we didn't believe it was his name at first.
5. People watching. People watching so hard. This is what we do at bars. I actually became famous among the people we were hanging out with for my people watching skills. They told me it was one of the fun parts of their night. If you want to be entertained, take me to Tower on a Friday or Saturday night. Or both. Just don't keep me out late.

Now in case you're wondering, husband is fine with me going out. Because he does this absolutely insane thing that apparently very few people have heard of... he TRUSTS me. OMG shocking! Or it would seem that way when people ask why I'm not out with my husband. His sis and I are super close and have each other's backs. We're good.

This weekend? Much less festivities. Maybe trying to cheer up a newly single friend. Guess we'll have to see.

*sigh*

Let me get the fluff out of the way before the heavy stuff.

I only have five days left of the last soap opera that I watch. Five days before they take it away from me. I cried watching yesterday's episode. They're pulling out all the stops and it's so bittersweet. The show hasn't been this good in a long time, but it's good because they're time is dwindling.

It's also bittersweet watching it because hubby's cousin, Allison, used to watch it. She passed away yesterday morning. She was younger than me. She's been battling cancer and was in the hospital for most of the last month I believe. We went to see her Wednesday night. She didn't open her eyes, but when I talked to her you could see them moving behind her eyelids.

The family is not okay. As you might imagine. Knowing it might be coming never makes it easier. So I use this random Saturday post (y'all know I'm never here Saturdays) to ask for prayer. For her family. This is the tightest-knit group of cousins I've ever seen. The girls are particularly close. For her kids. The oldest is still in elementary school. My heart just breaks for those kids. And her mom. She had to bury her husband when Allie was little. Now a daughter. Everyone needs a lot of strength right now.

As an aside: I want to do something for her kids. I don't know if I want to do a scrapbook, or what. Anyone have ideas? Have you ever received something that meant a lot to you after losing a loved one?

Whoa

Thank GOD it's time for Christmas break. I had too much going on in my life last week. So much that I actually had a total breakdown one morning. Thank God for my coworkers. I don't know what I'd do without them.

But everything is done! I got my tattoo, I turned 30, our Christmas program was OUTSTANDING, I cleaned and prepped for a party (with a lot of help), had a super fun party... and today I did nothing. NOTHING. Grazed on leftovers, caught up on soaps, laid around on the couch, did a miniscule amount of cleaning... and it felt nice.

Don't know which of my partygoers currently read the blog (seeing as how I'm awful at updating it), but for those of you who were here Saturday and are currently reading...

THANK YOU!

You are amazing friends and family and I love you all. I love that I can put all of the people I love into one room and it's just fun. There were bad jokes made, stories shared, and just all around happiness. I feel loved. I have wonderful people in my life.

Now, seeing as it's Sunday, I suppose I'm off to do my manicure. And feed my dogs. And wait for my husband to get home.

Catching Up

Yeaaaahhh vacation makes me lazy. Hence the non-consistent blogging. Oopsie. :)

Wanna know what's up?

We had an excellent 3rd of July (yes I said 3rd) out at a friend's house. On the 4th my cousin texted me and we had a last minute BBQ for four. Complete with fireworks (legal here and illegal in the skies around us) and a walk/bike ride through the neighborhood. The pups weren't terrified of the fireworks, they just didn't enjoy them much.

The 5th of July was a day for baseball. We have a Triple-A team here and there were fireworks after the game AND the tickets were two-for-one. How could we not go? We took my cousins (twin shoutout!) with us. Despite the Alabama-like humidity and discomfort, it was a good game. Our team won and the fireworks were legit.

There's plenty on the schedule to come too... can't let my last few weeks of vacation be boring!

• Monday... I have an appointment for my first tattoo! I'm kinda nervous. :)
• Tuesday... All-Star Game. I'm honestly pretty underwhelmed with the voting results. But at least there'll be some legit pitchers.
• Thursday, well... technically Friday at 12:01 AM... HARRY POTTER!!!!! I haven't seen any of the others at midnight and this is the last one so I figured why not? We'll have a decent little group going.
• Also in the slightly more distant future are a couple more baseball games, a couple local (and not quite local) shows to attend, and we still need to make time for camping!

So what have y'all been up to?

Hello Out There

Day one of vacation. And I'm ready to DO something. haha

Went to work this morning to do some cleaning and moving. Ya know, end of the year stuff. Got to have chat time with my brother-in-law who was awesome enough to help me out. (He's single ladies!)

Watched (okay, dozed) through a few soap episodes on the DVR.

And now I don't know what I want to do. I suppose right now would be a good time to work on my tattoo design seeing as how I want to go get it next week. So I guess that can be next. Tomorrow is work-related stuff, but nothing I have to go in for. It can be done from home. Can I just tell you California doesn't make it easy on beginning teachers? Yeahhhhh...

I'm deciding where I want the blog to go this summer. I have a lot more time than normal. I'm hoping to share with you the projects that I decide to do (there are a few on the list). And more pictures of the furbabies (even though I'm not Sookie's biggest fan at the moment). We'll see I guess.

Thanks for sticking around with my desertion lately. I'll be back more often now. :)

Oh Hai

Um, so I'm still alive. In case you were wondering. Just insanely busy. Church Wednesday, open house Thursday, and baseball last night...

Okay, baseball was only at home, but interleague is an important time to us. Obvs. And I'm totes not bitter that his team won. Because I'm cheering hard for my boys to have their turn today.

Craziness doesn't stop here though. I have seven days of school left. I will not be home much this weekend. We're starting the morning by taking Tad to tee ball (Hubby has the weekend off so he gets to go). Then off to an uncle's house for a massive BBQ. Then tomorrow we're adding to our little familia over here.

Yup, we found another pup. Well, we didn't find her, but we found the one we wanted to buy.

So someday I'll return to you and amuse you. And seeing as how Idol is the finale this week, I'll definitely blog it. I'll MAKE the time.

Alright, off to get ready for the manlet's game. See ya when I see ya!

Oh Hello There

Remember me? I'm that super busy school teacher that likes to come here and chat sometimes.

Well, things aren't less busy. Yet. But the time where I can resume regular posts is very close. 12 days of school left. Of course there's a field trip, open house, planting day, and water day in there. But it's all coming together!

I've crossed a couple things off my list on the side over there. My parents took me to IKEA yesterday!!! We were in SoCal for a family party and they surprised me by planning the stop ahead of time. Ummm... can I just live there now? For realsies. It was amazing. Hubby and I are going back this summer. We desperately need a new couch. And I think I found my perfect living room curtains finally. I also crossed off sewing something that I'm proud of. I sewed a shirt from scratch and wore it to work. No pics yet, but I'll do that eventually. I've also refashioned a few things and have lots more sewing planned.

So that's me. Our weekend was fun, even though I had to go without hubby. :( I got to see some of my cousins from Mexico though! And started making some summer plans with some other cousins. And possibly made spring break plans for next year already.

Whew.

So I'm off to start another week. Probably with some coffee. I definitely need some coffee.

Neglected

That's my poor little blog. Things are going to get hectic around here. For about the next month. Let's see...

• birthday dinner for my baby this week
• ball game for my nephews then a birthday party on Saturday, oh and cousin's prom
• Mother's Day Sunday (yay for brunch and mimosas!)
• possible weekend trip to SoCal the next weekend?
• lots of birthdays scattered throughout the month
• definite weekend out of town, likely a family barbecue
• another birthday party
• a baseball game? Quite possibly.
• open house, field trip, last day of school

I will probably be scarce around here. Consider that your warning. I'm so ready for summer. Crafting, drinking, shooting, playing some pool, camping, and family time. Bring it.

21 work days.

Happy...

Happy anniversary to my hubby today!

Photo courtesy of my wonderful pal Steven

Today the hubby and I have been married for three years. Which actually doesn't seem like a long time because we dated for four years before he proposed, then we had sixteen months of being engaged (no hesitation on our part for either, just timing it around school for both of us).

I won't get crazy gushy, but I just have to say thanks to him here. Thanks for supporting me when I was in school. Thanks for supporting me when I couldn't find a job. Thanks for supporting me when I got my job and had a tough time for a few months. Thank you for being exactly who I need you to be every day. Thank you for being funny and weird. Thank you for being an amazing uncle that makes me excited to see the father you'll be. And thanks for loving me when I'm crazy, depressed, grumpy, and every other way I am.

Love you. :) 

Blame Vacation

Vacation apparently throws my blogging off. Oh, and maybe that sickness from last week. Meh.

Things are getting back to normal around here. I'm feeling a lot better and even headed out to the movies with hubby today. We finally went to see the new Narnia movie. All I've got to say is "Helloooo Caspian." *rawr*

I may continue to be light on posting for the rest of this week. I'm hoping to put together a bigger post for New Year's Eve. Plus I've got a baking project coming up that I'm pretty excited about. And I'm trying to track down my own Narnia books that I believe are still at my parents' house. Hopefully. Because I haven't found them here...

So if I don't pop in before then, I'll see you Friday for some reminiscing!

Hello Again

Hi. Did ya miss me? I kind of fell off the radar last week. It was as crazy as crazy can get. So let's give you a rundown.

Monday morning I woke up with swollen lymph nodes. So I called my doc who got me in after work. Couldn't find anything else wrong with me though. So she gave me antibiotics. Monday night I got a call that no one likes getting - we had lost a family member. It wasn't out of nowhere, she had been sick, but it was still really hard. We all gathered at my grandma's that night. Lots of tears, lots of stories, lots of everything. I came home exhausted.

Tuesday was spent recovering from Monday. Plus musical practice, plus actors-only practice after school. I was ready for bed when I got home.

Wednesday was my birthday and it was a great one. I got Facebook posts, texts, cards... one of my kids even asked his mom to make me cupcakes so she did! I felt loved.

Thursday was sooooo loooooong. Last play practice and this time it was dress rehearsal with the set up on stage. The set threw off my little actors and the principal and I were so worried! But they had to do it so we just prayed that it would all work out Thursday night. Stayed in my classroom all afternoon because home is far enough from work that it wasn't worth it to go home before the play. But it ended on a great note because THE KIDS ROCKED THE PLAY. They did so good and I was so proud!

Friday was the last day before vacation so I knew that all I would be able to accomplish with the kids was their spelling test. And I was right, even that was tough when they're distracted by our impending Christmas party. It was pajama day and a half day too. Love wearing my pjs to work. :) Our party went well. I had about ten parents in the room at any given moment which was fine with me. They enjoyed themselves too and I actually got a chance to breathe.

When the kids went home I realized my head behind my ear was THROBBING. So I popped some ibuprofen and went home. Didn't get better. Took a nap. Didn't get better. Finally at seven that night I went to the urgent care at my medical group where I dealt with a kind of jerky doctor who almost didn't even give me pain medication even though MY HEAD FELT LIKE SOMETHING WAS ABOUT TO EXPLODE OUT OF IT. Seriously. Like a scene from Alien. Only my head, not my stomach. She called it mastoiditis and said if I got a fever I should go to the ER.

Saturday was spent on the couch catching up on soap operas. No ER visits thankfully. And Sunday I woke up feeling a bit better. Not ready to call myself cured at all, but optimistic that I would be able to avoid the ER again.

Now I'm going to call my REAL doctor today for follow-up. Hopefully my antibiotics are doing the trick and I won't have to go through anything gross or painful. And now that it's Monday I have four days to finish presents and bake. No rush or anything...

Happy Monday.

So Sorry

I totally goofed and didn't make a gift list for today. I knew this earlier, but my day was the kind that I seriously had ZERO time to even post.

I'll give you something good tomorrow to make up for it.

**Edit**

Okay, coolness will have to wait for Friday.

Hey

I'm lame. I know.

Things got crazy and I seriously just FORGOT to blog. Report cards were due today, conferences started, I had an unsuccessful DMV appointment... ugh.

So how are you doing?

We're trying to stay sane here. Hubby got our dryer fixed and now we're just enjoying having it again. Rain yesterday, now it's just cold. So winter is definitely on its way.

Sorry for the disappearance. I'll try to make it back here.

Hola

Hey there. No coolness for ya today. Because I'm just not feeling the coolness at the moment. Things are a little overwhelming around these parts lately. I'd like to say that my blog won't suffer, but I can't promise that at the moment. Just send lots of prayers, happy thoughts and the like my way.

:)

5 Things

What's uuuuup?

Do you love when life points and laughs at you? Yeah, I've been having some of those moments. So I'll share them today. Because they do say misery loves company...

5 Ways Life is Trying to Get Under My Skin

1. I have become the new queen of flat tires. Three in three months. I want a crown.
2. Picture day is Friday. So who's face decides it's time to revert to junior high? Yup.
3. I got my new computer, yay! But the build date is over a week away. Let's hope they're severely overestimating.
4. SOMEONE canceled his birthday plans for Halloween weekend. Booooooo. But now I get to have a party here... which means cleaning. Boooooo.
5. I get paid this week! My first check! Which I have to use part of for student loans. Ugh.

See how things are here? I feel like I need to sit down with life, offer it a beer, and beg for mercy.

That's Just My Life

So even though I have my credential I'm not done "learning." There's a class/program I have to go through to clear my credential. Meaning that if I didn't clear it within a certain amount of time, it would expire. I don't know what would happen after that because everyone I know has never left theirs preliminary.

Just a little background info.

So there's another teacher here at work who has to do the BTSA program too. Lucky me! I don't have to do it alone! Well, for a couple reasons we're doing our program a few hours out of town. So yesterday was our first meeting. We did the smart thing and decided to drive together. I don't mind driving so it was no big deal.

The drive up was quick. We got there no problem. We were even early. The class went kind of quick. We didn't feel like we got as much out of it as we could have, but hey, that happens.

Then we go to leave. And there's something wrong with my car. As in, it's moving horribly slow and making a noise. We're still in the parking lot so I just park in another stall.

I have a flat tire.

Not deflating. FLAT. Meaning I ran over something because it was perfectly fine earlier.

Have I mentioned I can't really change a tire? Don't judge, I'm not in the mood.

Oh, and we were two and half hours from home. From anyone we knew.

So I went inside and got a guy to come help us out. He was joined shortly by another guy. They changed the tire and I called hubby. He told me I couldn't go fast on that spare so if I wanted to drive at a sane speed I had to go get it patched. Then I direct my attention to my car. My spare is pretty flat. Thankfully one of the guys had Fix-A-Flat. Then one of the guys directed us to a street where there were at least four tire shops so off we went.

First place. Closed. Ten minutes before we got there. Same story with every other place we tried. We finally found a transmission shop that was still open, but despite my cute looks they told us they don't do tires. They did direct us to a little ghetto-type place that they thought would still be open. So off we went. Not too excited about it getting dark and driving around looking for a tire.

Found the place. Got creeped out by the dude's son. But got the tire patched! For a decent price! And it was quick!

So finally we got on the road and laughed about our adventures. We can laugh now. But driving around a town you don't know looking for an open tire shop SUCKS. We got home at about ten. And I have never been so happy to see my house.

Let's hope that the next adventure to BTSA is less of an adventure.

Booooo

Short version: both interviews that seemed promising amounted to nothing. I got a no for both positions. In the same day.

Awesome.

So excuse me while I go lick my wounds today. I'll be heading to the range to take out a whole buttload of clay pigeons. Then maybe I'll come home and tan.

No wish list today because I'm STILL without my own computer. The good news on that is that hubby's friend is going to take a look at it. And he can put in a new hard drive so I'll essentially get a new computer for very cheap. So maybe I'll be back to normal for next week. I guess we'll see.

Sorry for the downer post, but I'm obviously not feeling it.

When It Rains...

... it seriously pours.

I had a rollercoaster week last week. Where do I even begin? Let me try to find a silver lining for everything... if I can.

Both cars had mini freak-outs. Arthur had some brake issues, the Blazer is overheating sometimes. Silver lining: Arthur was an easy(ish) fix. The Blazer should be (plus it's not consistently overheating at the moment).

My computer had seizures, soiled itself, and attempted to make my life hell. Well played, computer. Well played. At the time of writing, it's still out of commission. Silver lining: At least we still have hubby's computer. And I can get it worked on for free (thanks brother-in-law!).

I had some MAJOR issues getting in touch with my student loan company. Can I just tell you I loathe automated systems sometimes? Short version: I was locked out of my account and couldn't find a real person to reset it. Plus I needed my forbearance extended seeing as how I have no job. Can't fill anything out if I can't log in. Silver lining: I guess this is more of a resolution. I reached a real person! She was nice! She reset my account and submitted a new request for my account so I shouldn't have to pay for awhile still.

But it wasn't all bad. I had a few bright spots to finish my week.

My grandpa in Alabama had a pretty serious surgery on Thursday. The actual surgery was of course the part that everyone was worried about. He came through, and now the nurses are telling my aunt that he's doing better than a lot of patients who have the surgery. Prayers answered!

I got two job-related phone calls Friday morning. One was from my step-father-in-law. He told me he knew of a summer school position and gave me the necessary information. Potential summer work? That isn't waitressing or something not pertaining to my credential? Score!

Then I got another phone call a few hours later from a district who I interviewed with earlier this year. I was put on their "hirable list." Well, they have an opening in a junior high. Which is a big surprise because I hold a multiple subject credential (meaning I'm okay to teach the "multiple subjects" in an elementary classroom). Middle and high schools typically hire single subject people (people who studied the "single subject" they're going to teach all day). But this is a core class, meaning it's English and history/social science. Helloooo multiple subjects! Score! So I have an interview Tuesday.

So here's hoping this week is a little smoother. I'll have the kiddos for the last time for about a month(ish). I think we'll make some teacher gifts. My baby finishes Kindergarten! I'll try not to cry. And my best friend is getting married. Again, I'll try not to cry.

I'm ready for the rain to let up right about now so I can salvage my sanity.

*sigh*

You ever have those times when life seems to enjoy laughing at you?

Yeah, I had a few days like that. Not to get too personal, but my PMS waited around this month and threw everything it had at me in the span of two days. Commercials were making me tear up. I had minor panic attacks over the baking project I did for a friend (which ended up being totally worth it because I love said friend and she was in love with my work). I know people who are having problems in their relationships and I'm the listening type so I've been stressed about that stuff.

*whew*

I'm ready for the new week. I'm ready for hormones that aren't making me insane.

Tomorrow is a big day. It's our two year anniversary! We're not heading out of town, but we'll find something to do. I really want to hop in the car and drive around. Have an adventure (and of course take pics along the way). We'll see.

Tomorrow is also my grandma's birthday (though she won't tell you, she doesn't love the birthday attention). Even though she's not a big birthday celebration person, I still asked her before we set the date if I could get married on her birthday. Just to be sure.

And now that I've slightly vented in a rare weekend post, I've got some cleaning to do. I want my sewing machine, which means I need to make room. I have to finish shower invitations, and maybe I'll even do some painting. Not the house, but a little project for the shower that of course will be revealed at a later date when I share entirely too many pictures of the amazing shower.

Was that the longest sentence ever? Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

P.S. My "g" key is being a butthead. In this entire post I've had to go back with the delete button and POUND the key to put it in the word. Ugh.