New Year

It will be a New Year in approximately 14 hours. I am so ready. Work wasn't the best this year, my grandmother passed away, I've found out I have had some medical concerns my entire life and I haven't been aware of them, it's been a struggle with money and with time. My horoscope says 2010 will be better. All I know is that it has to be!

My New Years resolutions are:

• lose some weight
• stay away from dairy and eggs (no more benadryl to compensate)
• smile and laugh more
• save money ($100) out of every paycheck
• keep my gradebook up to date
• spend time with those that matter

I think I can do it.

I broke my toe. Stubbed it on one of J's work boots while I was getting something out of the dryer at quarter to five. He was laughing at me for complaining at first, then I sent his a picture text of my toe after first period. It's a brilliant shade of fuschia on one side with a royal purple darkening to navy blue on the other side (that's the side that actually broke). Absolutely beautiful. My students were awesome about it though. They got me ice and tried to find ways to keep me off my feet. I have some great kids this year.

Doctor's appointments and life in general

This weekend I got sunburnt. Really sunburnt, sun poisoning sunburnt. And it was only on my face and arms. You know, the places people see when I'm at work. Awesome! I was at J's rugby game, and I freely admit I was not paying any attention. Usually I pay attention to the games; I'm learning how to keep score (have you ever tried to figure out rugby? it's hard!) and I hang out with the wives and girlfriends. One of the wives (Stephanie) brought her 16 day old twins! So adorable. I kept having to walk away becuase I get baby fever whenever I see babies. I know that babies are hard and I definitely know I'm not emotionally or financially ready quite yet (not to mention that pesky marriage thing) but there's something about bringing a new life into the world with the person you love most that gets to me. Anyway, no more babies. I shouldn't even look at them. Back to sunburn. I actually spent most of the game sitting in a chair reading a book. I cannot remember which one. I know it's a book I've read a million times because I haven't been to Barnes and Noble in months (and yes, it is killing me). Ah well.

My week got even better when I went to the doctor to establish primary care. I haven't been to a doctor for a check up in years, so it was much needed. I had to go back for labs yesterday because I hadn't fasted and that was horrible. I have the world's worst veins. They are hard to find and they are really deep so it took what seemed like ages to find one and when the needle went in the lab tech lost the vein...great. She had to go to the other arm and I ended up getting stuck right over a bone. Horrible. She laughed when I asked her at the end if she now understood why I hate needles.

I found out today that over the course of the next few weeks I will miss significant instruction time. Thank you explore test, PSAT and pep rallies. I am a teacher. I hate missing class time. It gets to me. I haven't done my glucose test for the doctor yet because I refuse to take off work. I'm trying to find a day when I can leave around 12:30ish so I will only miss teaching one class as opposed to 4 classes. Hopefully it will work out.

Getting home from work

There's something I love about getting home from work. I can (hopefully) shut the door on everything that happened at work (I have made a LOT of people mad at me over the past week for advocating for my kids, although I have the ESOL district level coordinator backing me up) and I can play around in my tiny kitchen. Cooking is the one thing that really relaxes me. I love creating new healthy meals and I love that I get to eat the end product. I always always follow the recipe the first time through, just to make sure that it tastes ok, and then I get to experiment. I love to experiment. Tonight its a Maple-Mustard pork roast with roasted potatoes and carrots. We are also going to have romaine salads. I spend a lot of time in my kitchen after work, and the best part is that I have a wonderful man who does the dishes after dinner! I love it. I have the next couple weeks planned out, and I've got to say that I really can't wait until I get to make lasagna....only 9 more dinners to go! I love lasagna and it is so much fun to make!

As you can see, this is the best way I know to decompress after a long day at work.

I haven't posted in quite a while. It's been a long summer (technically the season of summer is not quite over). My grandmother died less than 3 hours after my last post. As I said, it's been a long summer. I still forget that I can't just pick up the phone and call her.

A new school year has begun. I love my kids, but I was asked at the end of last week to pick up an extra class in lieu of my planning. I did lose my homeroom so I could have a little more planning, but I still lost significant planning time. I will survive. I know it will end up being rewarding. However I'm very glad that I decided against doing my National Board Certification this year.

I found the house of my dreams. It's affordable, it has a large yard, and it has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is also in Columbia (SC's capital). We talked briefly about moving to Columbia down the road, but that takes a lot of coordination and planning. We will see how it goes.

14 years ago yesterday my mom died. It was a hard day. I was 12 years old, in my 3rd week of 7th grade, at a brand new school when my mom passed. What a great way to make an impression. I still feel bad for yelling at Pat Menchen in the hallway the first day I was back at school. I was a wreck, and we had been going to school together for I don't know how many years. He was concerned, I was not doing well. I was a weird kid to start with, but everything that happened to me that year made it so much worse (dad picked an interesting year to come out of the closet to say the least). I am thankful for the growth of my spirit and character and the strength I gained, but I think I would trade it all again to hear her voice and spend the day with my mom.

So that's me since the end of May in a nutshell.

Oh, and J and I are doing great. Living together came naturally, like we were always meant to be like this. Everyone has their good times and their bad times, but I'm so thankful that the good times far outnumber the bad ones. Definitely something to be thankful for.

prayers needed

My grandmother is in hospice. She has been for a couple weeks. I flew in (thanks to my wonderful maternal grandparents) over the weekend and was able to visit with her one last time. Yesterday my family called and told me that she wasn't expected to make it. Miraculously, she is still alive as of now, but i'm beginnning to believe she would be better off passign quietly. Is that wrong of me? I don't know if she's comfortable, and I don't want her to be in any pain. Her breathing is a bit more comfortable, its true...but this weekend she was so miserable I couldn't stand it. I don't know what to ask for prayers for, but please keep my family in your thoughts

It's been a day

I truly can't stand standardized testing. First of all, as a teacher, I know not every child can and should adhere to a certain set of standards. That's part of the reason I don't like No Child Left Behind. NCLB implies that every person is capable of achieving the same level of success. If that was so, then everyone would be a CEO or a multi-millionaire. Anyway, today we started the May administration of PASS. Then, after testing was completed it felt like all hell had broken loose. We caught kids cutting class....and nothing was done. They thought they could do anything and get away with it, and thanks to those that are slightly higher than I am in the school, they pretty much could today. Not all people were letting them get away with cutting class, breaking tables in half, etc....but it only takes one or two people turning a blind eye to convince the kids they can do whatever they want. It also sucked that testing ran so long. My last kid was done at 10:10....we were not released from testing until 11:40...you try having 23 kids who don't want to be in your room quiet for a further 90 min after testing is complete. It doesn't work. I should be grateful I have a job, and I shouldn't complain, but this is my venting outlet...so if anyone reads this, sorry.

New House?

I think we found a house! Its quite small, but the kitchen has just been redone and it has a large yard and a fenced in patio. For our first place together I think it's pretty ok. Blue will like the yard, and I love the fact that is has a patio. I want to plant a vegtable garden out back and we are allowed to landscape as much as we want, in fact, we get $50 a month knocked off the rent for taking care of all of that. There are 2 bedrooms, one of which we would equip as an office and put my bed in the storage room...which will also function as a closet. I'm pretty excited :)

Spring Break

I'm not sure what spring break is supposed to be. As a teacher, you look forward to the week because the kids have usually not had a day off in over a month, they are whiny, refusing to do work, and the number of fights at school drastically increases. Students just want a week of fun. Are teachers supposed to be grading papers? Taking vacations? Cleaning the houses they have neglected because they are working at the school for 10-12 hours a day while only getting paid for 8 (there is no over time in teaching, sadly)? I'll tell you what I'm doing.

Monday: laid on my stomach all day because my sunbrn was flaming red and I was in pain
Tuesday: went over to my friend Jill's, played with her 4 month old daughter, and played with Mark Kay makeup (spent too much money on that)....then went to work at the Old Fort Pub at 4 until about 8
Wednesday: tutored a student who cannot attend school because of medical concerns, then went to work at Old Fort Pub from 3:30 until about 8:30
Thursday: have yet to be determined, but will be working at Old Fort Pub
Friday: have yet to be determined, but will be working at Old Fort Pub and then driving to Beaufort to see the kittens and stay with J
Saturday: we are looking at a house at 10am and then I have to work at OFP at 4
Sunday: still working at OFP

This is not a break. At least I will be paid well for it.

J

I love j. For any of you who might actually read this, we met at a rubgy after party about 2 1/2 years ago. We started hanging out at rugby parties almost 2 years ago....we traded numbers at some point but he managed to save mine wrong and started texting a complete stranger, and I thought he wasn't interested because I never heard from him. My roommate talked me into sending him a text message one night, and within 3 weeks we were together.

He makes me a better person. With him I am calmer, less nervous, less sad, and more confident about the future. I sleep better when he is near, and the sound of his voice is enough to make me worry less. For those of you who really know me, I inherited my tendency to worry from my dad's mom, and my tendency towards depression from my mom (and that is a huge load for anyone to bear). On Easter Sunday I had to work at Old Fort Pub from 10am to 8:30pm. He sent me text messages all day to cheer me up, and then when I came home he had made my bed (i hate making my bed), taken out the trash, and bought me roses. He wasn't there, but he came over after Easter dinner at a friend's house to rub aloe into my sunburnt skin. I wish I could be as good as he is. I don't think I know how to be that unselfish and caring.

J won his rugby game on Sat. afternoon (where I got my sunburn) and that means we are traveling to Columbus, GA for the next round of tournaments. We keep talking about taking a weekend and getting out of town....but this is not what either of us were talking about. It will be good to get away for the Hilton Head/Bluffton/Beaufort area though.

Sunburn and other things

I am very sunburnt. Anyone who is out there: please wear sunscreen. Sunburn hurts.

Today is the only day in which I had nothing planned for the whole of my spring break. I am working the rest of my spring break. Thank you Verizon Heritage....I really appreciate it. This island is going to be a madhouse for the next 6 months or so. Tourism season is here. There are out of state license plates getting into accidents, driving 20 mph because they don't know where they are going, and clogging up the roads. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't hate to drive that much. Driving sucks. I can't wait to move to Beaufort.

First...

I decided to do this because I set up a blog today for all my cousins and aunts and uncles and my grandparents to post family news.....but then i read the news and went wow. I need to vent (so maybe I should set up a blog)

Here it goes with my first random thought (or rant if you will): the Duggar Family

I am the first to admit I am fascinated by the Duggars, but what makes having 18 children news???? Seriously. Congrats on your first grandchild, but shouldn't you expose your children to the world to make sure they understand how it works. The Duggar kids seem to have grown up in a loving household, yes. They seem to have had (some) social interaction with others....HOWEVER, it is irresponsible not to talk to your kids about what should happen if your dreams don't pan out. These kids are growing up in a world where mom and dad have no debt. VERY admirable, but not always possible. Hello, mom and dad have a tv show. They are not doing that show for free. Used car dealerships? Yeah, they own one or two. All well and good, but with this economic climate people are going to make do with what they have. I believe the Duggars are real estate agents. While I know several people who have bought houses lately, the market is not exactly booming. Their jobs and businesses are not paying for these kids. Their tv shows and book deals are. What is going to happen to their kids when they start having ridiculously large families? There will not be a TV show for each of their kids. I just hope that if mom and dad are going to preach the "quiverful" movement that they also talk to their kids about responsible family planning. If they don't want to use birth control, they should learn about abstinence. Make sure that the daughters in the family understand that it may not be possible to stay at home full time...not many families can afford that.

Now my rant is done.