2011 Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

Moved far away from home for the first time in my life. Moving with my family when I was six doesn’t count.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t think I made any particular resolutions, though my general goal was to have a library job for the 2011-2012 school year. Though I didn’t get the job that I originally planned to have, I did get a job and am happy where I am.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My cousin’s wife had a baby, but we’re not particularly close – but that’s the only baby I can think of.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?

No countries again – but I have hope that I will some day.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

I think I would simply like to make more new friends here in San Antonio. I had several wonderful friends back home, but making new friends here has been somewhat of a challenge.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I can’t remember the exact date – around the end of June when I was offered a librarian job in San Antonio.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Moving to San Antonio relatively unscathed and starting my career has a librarian.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t know that anything was really a failure this year – but probably the fact that I gave up on the yearbook and had to have the new adviser finish it for me.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing major – typical colds, allergies and such. Lots of bumps and bruises from moving and delivering textbooks.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My new furniture for my house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Josh still amazes me – he is doing so well in school and bravely venturing to Tasmania.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Nobody that I can think of – the sixth graders at the middle school have been trying though. They don’t seem capable of listening or following instructions and are obnoxious most of the time.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Paying for the move to San Antonio.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My new job and going out on dates.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

“Changes” - seems this year was full of them!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? Much happier in my job, but a little sad missing some friends.
- richer or poorer? Mostly the same. I make more money now, but I have more expenses here so it comes out about the same.
- thinner or fatter? Slightly fatter – gained about 3-4 pounds that I need to lose!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Riding roller coasters and spending time with friends back in Canyon.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

As usual – worrying.

20. How did you spend the holidays?

New Years (2010) – with my friend Kirsten again. Valentine’s Day – alone. Easter – at Church with wonderful friends. 4^th of July – with friends. Thanksgiving – in Vegas with family. Christmas – here in SA without Josh for the first time, but with my new boyfriend, Matt, and his friends.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

No, but found a new boyfriend that I really like!

22. How many one-night stands?

None – but considered it with Marty at one point. Also had a single date with a guy from e-harmony that didn’t go anywhere.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Probably re-runs of Monk and House Hunters.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Nope, I’m a lover, not a hater.

25. What was the best book you read?

Probably the Lee Child books.

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

The Help.

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

I still don’t have fashion sense and probably never will. I still wear lots of purple and got new purple Sketchers.

28. Whom did you miss?

All my friends back in Canyon/Amarillo, my fellow speech teachers, and my family that I didn’t get to see much of.

29. Who was the best new person you met?

My boyfriend, Matt.

30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Sometimes you have to take risks to get what you want in life. Change can be a good thing. It is important to have a career that you enjoy.

Hugs are getting good

So we had dinner at Olive Garden tonight and it was very good. Some nice conversation at dinner and then we came home to play some Scrabble. I beat him the first game, but then he proceeded to kick my butt for the next five games. I did have some pretty good bingo words playing “maestro” and “sojourns.” He wants me to go to a one day competition with him at the end of the month and play in a novice division. At the end of the night, he gave a very nice tight hug and another quick kiss on the lips and told me before he left that he was glad that I found him.

We are going to go to Mass tomorrow evening together and then Brent is coming over at 7:30. I think it is going to be very nice evening. Tomorrow I have to make the dessert (raspberry and cream cheese squares) and finish doing laundry. I guess I should head to bed and get rested for the full day tomorrow.

Gotta get back on schedule

I hate how my sleeping schedule gets off during the breaks. I’m finding that I stay up later and later and then sleep in as well. When I have to go back to work on Tuesday, it will be tough to get out of bed that morning. I’m sure it will take a few days to get used to going to bed early again.

Yesterday I got out of the house and went to half-priced books. I didn’t find the Harry Potter book I wanted, but did get some other books using the gift card Matt got me. I still have about $9 on the card. After that, I went to the movies to see “Young Adult.” It was ok, but not that great. It was a pretty dark comedy with no real resolution at the end of the movie. It felt good to get out regardless. After the movie I went to Chipotle for a steak burrito and started reading a book on playing Scrabble. A guy at the restaurant saw me reading it and asked me if I was a champion. I told him, no, that I was just learning, but he wanted a hint or tip that he could use. I told him the strategic key is rack management and learning to play “Bingo” words using all 7 letters.

After dinner I drove up to my rental company’s office to drop off my check and then I headed home. I was up until around 1:00 a.m. and even then I had a hard time getting to sleep. Today I cleaned my house including doing laundry and dishes. Matt is coming to pick me up at 6:30 for dinner. Looks like it will be just us tonight.

Lazy Day

I slept in this morning and stayed in pj’s most of the day. I wasn’t completely unproductive though. I mowed the back yard today. It has been so wet lately, I couldn’t mow. I finally got it mowed though the mower clogged twice with wet grass. Some areas were pretty thick. I still need to get the weed-eater out there but I’ll save that for another day. I also went to the store to get stuff for dinner on New Year’s eve. For dessert I’m making raspberry cream cheese squares.

The last few days I’ve been in anxious anticipation. You know that feeling when you’re first dating someone and you can’t wait until the next time you see them? I’m there. I’ll see him on Friday evening though I don’t know if we will be playing scrabble with other friends or just one on one. I kind of hope it is one on one. I’ll see him again for New Year’s eve of course. I’m hoping that I’ll get to kiss him at midnight. If it happens, it will be my first NYE’s kiss since Marty in 2004/2005.

Tomorrow I may head to the one half-price book store that I haven’t been to yet to see if I can find the elusive hard copy of the 2nd Harry Potter book. That’s the only one I don’t have in hard copy right now. Even if I can’t find it, I can probably find something to spend my gift card on.

Reflection

Now that the year is coming to a close, I’ve been thinking about how much things in my life has changed. Sure – things always change for people throughout the year, but this year was full of much bigger changes for me. I went to the movies by myself tonight. As I was driving home I was thinking about the fact that I’m simply happy. Life is good. It’s not just because I have a boyfriend – that is certainly a plus, but I’m finally in a place where I’m happy about where I live, I enjoy my job, and have the freedom to pursue other interests.

I’ve been randomly reading some of my blog entries from earlier this year and the following I wrote in February:

“I’m feeling that itch of needing a change. Problem is that I don’t know specifically what kind change. I just need something different. A different job, a different house, a different city, a different hairstyle, I just don’t know what it is or even how to go about it. I’m sure the itch will go away, but right now I just feel very incomplete.”

It’s amazing how fortuitous that statement was. I hadn’t yet started applying for jobs though I did mention in a January blog that I was interested in a university job opening in San Antonio. I don’t think I applied for it though. I spent much of the first have of 2011 in frustration with my job and my relationship with Michael (aka Matthew as a pseudonym). I sent out numerous applications for library jobs and even though I second guessed my decision to even apply in San Antonio. Luckily I overcame it and everything worked out in the end. I think this is where I’m supposed to be at this time in my life. I wasn’t sure I could ever actually move away from the home I’ve know most of my life. I’ve fantasized about moving away but wasn’t sure if I truly had it in me. I guess I did.

I don’t know where things will go with Matt, but I’m happy to have met him as well. I enjoy spending time with him. I’m really going to try to not overanalyze our relationship (wish me luck on that) and just take things as they come. The fact that we’re not moving very fast is probably a good thing.

I will post the traditional year in review in another day or two, but I wanted to comment in general about the current state of things. I do hope, however, that this isn’t one of those situations where someone finally says “I’m happy” and something in their world comes crashing down. Let’s hope that things continue to be positive here in San Antonio.

One more week of vacation

Time seems to fly when you’re on vacation. Yesterday I was completely lazy. I didn’t even change out of pajamas all day. Today I at least took a shower, but now I’m back in pj’s. I’m actually thinking of getting dressed and going to the movies. One of the theaters here has $6.00 tickets all day. I can’t decide if I want to see New Year’s Eve or Young Adult. I think Matt and I are going to a scrabble party on Friday evening. For New Year’s Eve, my friend Brent is coming down and he will spend it with Matt and I. I think we’ll grill steaks and I will make fettuccine.

Here’s a picture of Matt for those of you that I don’t have as friends on Facebook.

I think Mollie is in love with him. When I’m cooking in the kitchen, she waits by the front door. I think she’s figured out that I usually cook when he is coming over. They cuddled all day on Christmas. Hopefully next time it will be me cuddling.

An interesting day

So I tried to sleep in this morning, but was awake at 8:00 a.m. in spite of my best efforts to not wake up that early. I made myself get out of bed around 9:45 and take a shower. Matt came over around 11:30 and we exchanged gifts. He got me a gift card to Half-Price books and he seemed to enjoy the gifts I got him. He also told me that “I” was the best gift he had this Christmas and gave me a huge hug. I made breakfast burritos (without eggs) and cinnamon rolls. We had a late breakfast and visited for a long while as we ate. After that we watched “A Christmas Story” together. Mollie found a new best friend as she sat on Matt’s lap the entire time and he petted her. After the movie we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I realized at 3:00 that I needed to start making the apple crisp so I got to work on it. It turned out very well I think. At 4:30 we headed to his friend’s house. There were a lot of different people there, but they were all very nice and we had a lot of interesting conversations. There was a lady there that had just moved back to Texas from Australia so we had lengthy conversations about Josh going to Tasmania. At one point, I was introduced to someone by Matt and he called me his girlfriend. We ate barbeque and played several games of Scrabble. We headed out around 11:30 and came back to my house. He came in to gather his gifts and then he gave me another hug and I even got a quick kiss on the lips. So it is official. I have a boyfriend!

Finally a hug

It wasn’t at the end of the night, but I did get a hug from Matt during the “Peace” at the church service tonight. So here’s hoping to more hugs in the future. We had a nice time at the service. We went to the Mission San Jose. We got back to my place around 1:30 and he came in and had some hot chocolate. He left about 15 minutes ago. He’s coming over in the morning around 10:30 and I’m making breakfast burritos – without eggs. I offered eggs to him, but he said he didn’t have to have them. I will report again tomorrow on how Christmas day goes.

Digging

Well, I got a little more information last night. He told me at dinner that he had been holding out for a Scrabble player – that he had other girlfriends before, but none of them really got into the game. Turns out that Matt also had a rather lengthy relationship with someone before – 7 years in fact. I didn’t get much else in the way of details, but it was someone that he worked with. He said that it seemed to fizzle in the end.

My impression is that he is shy about new relationships and likes to take things slow. I think he really likes me but isn’t sure how to proceed. I’m still holding out for that hug and I think it has to happen soon. He also said that he liked the fact that I was intelligent. I told him that it was nice to hear and that I thought being smart intimidated some men, and he said again that he likes that about me.

I made parmesan chicken for dinner last night and it turned out pretty well. After dinner he helped me put a new t.v. stand for my bedroom together. After that we watched Blazing Saddles. He’s coming back over tonight around 7:00 and then we are going to midnight mass at 10:30. I’m making beef enchiladas for dinner.

Tomorrow he’s coming over in the morning and we will exchange gifts, have breakfast, and watch A Christmas Story. We head to his friend’s house at 2:00. I should probably study some scrabble words as I think we’ll be playing lots of games tomorrow.

I want to wish a Merry Christmas to all my wonderful blog friends. If I leave your name off below and you’re a loyal reader, let me know! I hope that Andrew, Patti, Mago, Jamie, Jan, LM, Leann, Christina, Carol, Rebecca,and Summer have a very happy and blessed Christmas.

Scrabble Success

I finally beat Matt at Scrabble last night. I even had one of my highest scores ever at 453 points. I met him for dinner at a restaurant across the street from where his Scrabble club meets. It turns out his friend Jason and his mom showed up for dinner even though they couldn’t stay for practice. Matt made a comment as we were entering the restaurant that they would finally get to see that I’m “real” and he’s not making me up. Jason and his mom were very nice. Of course she asked how we met and I wasn’t sure if Matt would be embarrassed to tell them that it was on an online dating site, but it didn’t seem to phase him. Michael didn’t really want to tell people we had met that way. My brother and his wife met online, but I’m the only person in the family that knows that. It doesn’t bother me. If I find someone I like through the internet and it turns out he’s not psycho, then who cares? So we had a nice dinner and they got to know me a little more. Even though I have yet to hug Matt, Jason’s mom (I’m drawing a blank on her name right now) hugged me before leaving so I take it that I have her approval. So then we went over to the practice center. When I sat down to play one of the other guys in the club, I was really nervous. I can’t explain why, but I was actually shaking a little. I had to open and I was frantically trying to make a bingo word because I had pretty good tiles. Finally it came to me and I played “stouter.” After that, I did pretty well and beat the first guy – though not by much. For most of the game we were scoring pretty evenly. After that, I played another guy who kicked my butt and I didn’t even break 300 points. Then I played Matt and scored two bingo words – one of them in the very last play. Score was 453 to 368. We played another game – actually Matt played me and another guy simultaneously and he beat me, but not by much. Perhaps I’m getting better and actually learning a few things. Or maybe I just had a good night.

Today I have to go to the grocery store and get stuff to make chicken parmesan tonight. I’m also going to get stuff to make caramel apple crisp for dessert to take to Christmas dinner. Then I’m going to clean the house and do laundry. Matt is coming over for dinner at 7:00. If I can find a t.v. stand for my bedroom, I’ll try to get one and get my new t.v. hooked up. I should go get dressed and head out for my errands.

Early Christmas

Josh and I celebrated Christmas this morning since he was going to be heading out this afternoon. I have to say it was a very nice Christmas this year. Josh bought me a 32 inch flat screen t.v. for my bedroom, the first season of Columbo, a Marvin the Martian wallet, and a model Titanic thing I saw at the bookstore several weeks ago. He’s now headed back to Canyon but I won’t be lonely for long.

I’m going to dinner and Scrabble practice with Matt tomorrow night and then he’s coming over for dinner on Friday. Saturday will be midnight Mass and then he is coming over Christmas morning to hang out and exchange gifts. Then we have dinner with his friends on Christmas evening. So my mission in all of this is to get a hug. I think that would be a good start. If I really feel brave, I will start asking some of the deeper questions that we’ve avoided thus far. We’ll see how it goes.

I had insomnia again last night. I was awake around 5:00 and didn’t get back to sleep until after 7:30. At least I don’t have school right now. And for the rest of the day I haven’t done a thing. I’ve stayed in my pajamas, read some of my book, and watched a couple of episodes of Columbo. Tomorrow I have to pay bills and see if I have any money left.

I think I’ll finish my book and perhaps watch one more episode of Columbo.

Insomnia Strikes Again

This time I’ve been awake since 3-something. I just took a tylenol pm in hopes that I’ll get a little more sleep. If I had to work tomorrow, I wouldn’t take anything and just deal with it. But since I can sleep in, I will – assuming it kicks in and I get to sleep in the next hour or so.

Yesterday I headed out shopping again in search of the final beads for Matt’s rosary. I found some that worked and finished the rosary. I thought it turned out pretty well. Even though it is purple, I wanted it to still be masculine so I used black and silver with it. Matt’s favorite color is purple and it’s my favorite color as well. It seems we have quite a bit in common. We’re both librarians, we both drive a Prius, we both like Scrabble (though he is far more passionate about it), we both like roller coasters (of which I am more passionate), both love to read (duh), and like the color purple. He is a San Antonio Spurs fan and I’ve never been to a professional game, though I think he will take me sometime.

He told me that we have have been invited to Christmas dinner by one of his Scrabble friend’s family. I thought it was interesting that he said that “we” were invited – not “I” have been invited and you can come too. It means that he has mentioned me to these friends. He says that they are like his adopted family as he has mentored their son in playing Scrabble and with no family here, they have kind of taken him in.

Josh and I are going to Austin today. We will drive down this afternoon and go to lunch. Then we are going to go see Marty at work at Home Depot and look at BBQ grills. Matt said he would love to grill the steaks he got for Christmas sometime, but he isn’t allowed to have a grill at his apartment. After that, Josh and I will do a little more Christmas shopping and then meet Marty and my other friend Brent for dinner. I’m looking forward to the company.

Josh heads back to Canyon on Wednesday. I just realized that this will be the first Christmas that we have not spent together since he was born. Though I will miss him, I know that he really wants to spend time with his best friend and girlfriend back in Canyon so I’m ok with it. He’s growing up and I know I can’t always have him here. I’m looking forward to getting to spend time with Matt so all is well. I think it would be more difficult if I didn’t have my new friend.

Well, I will go do some internet surfing until the tylenol kicks in and then try to get a few more hours of sleep.

Why am I up this early?

It’s 6:15 in the morning and I don’t have to work. Even on work days, I’m not up this early. I’ve been awake since 4:53, but finally gave up the bed around 6:00. I do not want to be up this early. But I guess I’ll blog instead.

Yesterday I went to church. I decided to go to the one closest to me. It was ok, but I really miss St. Ann’s. First of all, it was crowded. Even though they have three Sunday services and a Saturday service, it was fairly packed. I guess that is a good thing – to have a church filled with people, but it was warm. They had a choir, but they were not very good. There was only two somewhat familiar songs during the service though they do have the same hymnal that we used at St. Ann’s. I guess it was ok as far as church’s go, but I think I’ll keep looking. Matt and I are either going to the Cathedral or to the Mission for midnight Mass this next weekend.

Josh and I went out shopping yesterday. We stopped at Michael’s where I found a frame for pictures I’m giving my aunt for Christmas, but didn’t find beads that I liked. I headed to Hobby Lobby, but forgot about them being closed on Sundays. I did, however, find a store that had just beads, so I found some purple beads that I thought would do. I may still need to find some additional beads, but I guess I can head back to Hobby Lobby sometime today. I did find out that Matt does use a rosary so I hope it will be a good gift. Josh and I hit several other stores looking for something for his girlfriend. We thought we finally had a great idea – an engraved bookmark from James Avery – but it would take three weeks for the engraving. We are going shopping in Austin on Tuesday and then having dinner with Marty and Brent so I guess we’ll see if we can find something there.

Matt I went to see Hugo last night. The movie was good, but I don’t think my 3D glasses worked very well – everyone in the movie still had doubled faces and four eyes. Still no “moves” to speak of, but he did make a nice comment. We were talking about interests and such on the ride home and I said something to the effect that he did seem to have a few interests beyond Scrabble. He then made the comment that his life had gotten much more interesting since I came into it. So I’ll take that as a continuing positive sign. We talked about going to more movies together, riding rollercoasters, and going to Schlitterbahn this summer. I’m going with him to Scrabble practice on Thursday and then we are going out to eat with a couple of his friends from the club.

Not sure what all I’m going to do today. I need to get some wrapping paper to wrap some gifts. I think that first, I need to go back to bed and try to get a few more hours of sleep. Wish me luck on that.

Christmas Shopping

I don’t mind the crowds in the stores so much, but I mostly can’t stand the stupid drivers all over the place. I went to the mall this morning and picked up some things for Josh. I then went to eat lunch at Chipotle. I went to Michael’s in search of some beads to make a rosary for Matt for Christmas, but I couldn’t find what I wanted. I still couldn’t find anything at Hobby Lobby or Joann’s either. I picked up a couple of stocking stuffers and gifts for the pets, but that’s it. I still need to find a frame for pictures for my aunt and uncle. I will probably send my friend Kirsten a gift card to Amazon. I ordered a calendar and a San Antonio Spurs stocking for Matt. I may still try to find the beads to make a rosary, but if not, I’ll try to find something else.

Matt called this evening to let me know the plans for going to the movie tomorrow. We are going to see Hugo at the Imax and then out to eat afterward. Tomorrow morning I’m going to church and then probably to Walmart to pick up some wrapping paper. I realize that I left all my Christmas wrapping stuff back in Canyon. I guess I’ll have to start over with paper and such. I don’t need much as I won’t have a lot to wrap.

I’m a chicken

Normally I get some kind of signal from a guy that it is ok to make some kind of move. A touch, a glance, a comment… something. I’m getting nothing here. I’ve wowed him three times with dinner and dessert. We’ve done something together almost every weekend for the past six weeks. He wants to spend time with me, and yet he makes no moves at all. I’m ok with the let’s just be friends thing, but usually if that’s the case, I might see the person once a month – if that. He brings me books to read. He asked me to go to midnight mass at Christmas with him and to a possible New Year’s eve party. And still no hug. No hand holding. Tonight I did sit right next to him on the couch and our shoulders touched. I think I conveyed a few flirtatious moments, but not sure. I don’t know if I’m off my game or if I’m just completely in dark and have no idea what to do. We are going to the movies on Sunday evening. He has invited me to go to his scrabble club on Thursday and dinner afterward. I guess we’ll just keep slowly moving forward and maybe one of these days I’ll get a hug or something. I’m not complaining – just confused.

So in other news…. Josh is home. I’m glad he’s here, but it costs me more in groceries. Thankfully I’m able to skip a car payment this month. That way I can buy a few Christmas presents this month. I’m still debating what to get Matt. I have a few ideas. I’ll see if anything else comes to me when I go shopping tomorrow. On Tuesday next week, Josh and I are going to to Austin to go shopping and then we will have dinner with Brent and Marty. It should be fun.

I’m glad that school is out. I spent the day cleaning up and organizing as much as I could. My library is looking pretty nice – at least out front… the back is a whole other story. Hopefully I’ll get to it after the break. I still love the job. I’m still staying busy, but I don’t mind the work. That is the way a job should be. It shouldn’t be a constant level of frustration.

Well, I’m going to go to bed and enjoy sleeping in tomorrow. I’ve already turned off the alarm. Of course that means I’ll be awake at 5:00 a.m. Oh well… that’s the way it usually goes.

Confession is good for…

me, probably. It’s been a while. I haven’t gone to confession since sometime this past summer. I haven’t been to church since August. I guess advent is as good as a time as any to get back on track. I headed to a church mid-town tonight that had a communal penance service. It was a little different than the service I was used to at my old church. Usually we would gather together and go through prayers and the act of contrition as a group before going to individual confessions. At this church, they just pointed out the different places where the priests would be and we just went individually. Luckily I had my iPhone with me so I could pull up the Act of Contrition since I have yet to memorize it. I guess that means I should go to confession more, huh? But I got through it and now I can fully participate in communion again so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve really missed being a part of a church. I think perhaps that is the biggest things I miss about Canyon – the church family I had there. I don’t miss the job, though I do miss some of my co-workers. I don’t miss going to tournaments every weekend, though I miss some of my fellow speech teachers. I don’t miss the cold weather or the wind.

I’m still fighting the cold that is trying to take over. It has stayed fairly mild, but I just felt kind of blah all day. I had to spend the day getting new textbooks out to the English teachers. After school we had a faculty meeting that droned on forever. I came home and ate some leftover chili and rice before I headed out to church. Luckily they had a ton of priests there so there wasn’t much of a line. I was out of there by 7:18 and got home by 7:40. I took a benadryl a little while ago and it should kick in fairly soon. I think I’m going to read a book until I can’t keep my eyes open.

Josh is coming home tomorrow. He’ll be here until the 21st and then he is going back to Canyon. He’ll come back around January 1st for a week and then he’ll go back to Canyon for a few weeks. After that, he’ll spend a few days in Nacogdoches and then he leaves for Tasmania around Feb. 20 and will be gone until June. I’m excited for him, but am worried and will miss him at the same time. He has come a long way and has become such a brave young man. I’m not sure I could do what he’s doing at his age. It was a big deal for me to pack up everything and move to San Antonio at the age of 41. Of course when I was his age, I just had him and was raising him on my own. I guess that’s my show of bravery.

Well, I’m going to call it a night and try to get some rest and get rid of this cold.

Another do-nothing day

I intended to get out and go to the movies today but didn’t make it. I kind of have the feeling that I’m coming down with a cold or something. I’ve just felt kind of blah and tired today. So I just lounged around on my couch watching t.v. and reading a book. I never even got dressed or brushed my hair today. It’s a good thing I never get company. I’ll probably go to the movies next weekend or perhaps one night this week. After Matt reads The Invention of Hugo Cabret, we may go see the movie Hugo together.

So nothing to report today. No housework, no laundry. On to reading book “M.” Going to take a benadryl tonight and go to bed early. I hope I’m not getting sick. That would not be fun this week. Not that it is ever fun, but I’d rather not have to be working while sick.

My Day Off

I slept in this morning in spite of the animals wanting in and out when I wanted to sleep. I got up sometime mid-morning and then had leftover cashew chicken for lunch. I eventually got dressed and headed to the post office in search of stamps. I guess the post office in my area isn’t very trusting as they didn’t have a stamp machine where I could buy stamps during closed hours. I need to mail a check and form to the bank where my car loan is so I can skip a payment for December. That would allow me to have Christmas money to spend. It’s probably wrong of me, but I don’t think I’m going to spend much on my family for Christmas. I will get something for my aunt and uncle because they always send me a check or something. Last year, I did stuff for my brother, sister, and dad but got nothing in return. Though I know it is more about giving, the fact is that I just don’t have much money these days. I’ll spend some on Josh and probably do a little something for Matt, but that’s it. Well, I’m also planning to get the dogs new beds and Lucy a new scratch mat.

It started raining when I left to go on my errands and it has been cold and rainy most of the day. I had to go to Walmart to get catfood and a few things. When I got home, I curled up with a book until I decided to take a nap. I cooked some chili (without beans) and rice for dinner which always seems to be a treat on cold rainy days. I will probably finish my book tonight.

I asked Matt if he was interested in going to see the movie New Year’s Eve but he declined. He said it hadn’t gotten very good reviews and he’d rather see Hugo (though he wanted to read the book first) or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – which doesn’t come out until the 21st. I want to see both of those so perhaps we’ll go together. I may go by myself and see New Year’s Eve tomorrow. I’m finding that I actually enjoy getting out and going to the movies – even if it is by myself.

Not sure what the plan will be for tomorrow. Probably finishing my book and some house cleaning. I can’t do any shopping until payday but at least it is early this month. Most of Josh’s presents will be bought online through his amazon wishlist.

Kind of a Success

Overall the evening was pretty good. Matt arrived shortly after 6:00 just as dinner was finished. We ate my wonderful cashew chicken which he said was very good and had two helpings of. Then we put the tree together and decorated it. We had rum and cokes with dinner and then eggnog when we watched my favorite movie Love Actually. So I sat a teensy bit closer this time and our arms touched a little. He seemed to enjoy the movie and afterward we had cake for dessert (cinnamon swirl with cream cheese glaze frosting) and played a couple of games of scrabble. Before leaving he said that he enjoyed the evening very much. So I walked him to the door and… he left. Still no hug or anything of the sort. So I’m not sure if a.) He’s into me, but really shy. b.) he’s really just interested in being friends and nothing more c.) he is interested, but isn’t picking up on any of my signals or d.) like a typical man, has no idea what he wants. I guess it may even be a combination of all the above. I pulled out all the stops tonight – plied him with some alcohol, made an amazing meal and dessert, watched a romantic, yet enjoyable for a guy movie, and let him beat me at Scrabble (ok, so he beat me fair and square, but I told him it was because I was cheering him up after his disappointment last weekend.) So I don’t know what to think, but I kind of think he’s kind of interested because he has now asked me to go to a Scrabble New Year’s eve party with him. We’ve also talked about going to several movies together in the next few weeks. So he obviously wants to spend time with me… it’s just so confusing.

There was also a little bit of an awkward moment when we were putting up ornaments and one of the ones from last year was an ornament that had a picture of Michael and me and I said something to the effect of “I don’t want to put this one on the tree” and set it aside and he asked why and I said it had a picture of someone I was dating last year, but also said that we were still friends. He made a comment that it is good that I stay on friendly terms with exes.

So I guess we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and see if things progress. Perhaps I need to ply myself with a little more alcohol next time. I had lots of opportunities to ask more leading questions of him and I didn’t.

Well, it is late and I’m going to go to bed. I have to go to the post office tomorrow and then if it’s nice, mow the back yard.

Warmth

My heat has been fixed.  The repairman was here for about an hour and he replaced the thermostat.  Thankfully I don’t have to keep using the space heaters.  Though it’s not as cold here as it is back in Canyon, it does get chilly at night.  It’s dropping down into the 40’s at night and gets into the 60’s during the day.  I’m enjoying the temperate weather. 

So after the repairman left, I headed to the liquor store.  I wanted to get some rum for the eggnog tomorrow night.  I picked up a bottle of Captain Morgan black label spiced rum.  I tried some tonight in a cup of hot apple cider and I have to admit that I’m feeling quite nice.  I stopped at Walmart and got another Christmas tree because the one I was planning to put up in the living room is missing the stand it goes in.  I could probably find a replacement stand online, but it’s a bit late to order one.  I bought a new tree instead.  Tonight I decorated a smaller tree with just my Marvin ornaments and red, white, and green lights.  I have to say that it turned out pretty nice. 

I think I’m going to bake a cake for dessert tomorrow.  I should probably get started on it so I can get to sleep at a decent hour.  I’m really glad tomorrow is Friday.  I can wear jeans to school and hopefully get caught up with some things I need to do.  The of course there is the company I’ll have tomorrow.  Maybe a little alcohol will allow us to let loose a little.  Or maybe a lot of alcohol. 

Getting there

The week is halfway over – yay!  I put in a repair request at my real estate company and I should get a call tomorrow.  The guy said that my thermostat probably needs to be replaced (though they just replaced it this summer).  So I have to figure out how to be here when the repairman can come.  At least I’ll have heat again.  This morning it was 63 degrees in the house.  Right now it is hovering around 68.  I have a space heater at my feet in the living room and have a larger heater warming up my bedroom.  I won’t be able to get to sleep if it is too cold in there.

Things are still hopping in the library.  Luckily I was able to get more done today without dealing with all the English classes.  I finally got some books re-shelved, made posters that I’ve been trying to do for a week now, and got another 20 students caught up with the digital citizenship lessons.  Maybe one of these days I’ll get the newly delivered textbooks (3 weeks ago) put up somewhere. 

Tonight for dinner I picked up McDonald’s.  I also just ate the last two of my homemade cookies.  Now I’ve got to start doing some housecleaning.  I at least started the dishwasher.  I’ll probably finish the “K” book tonight.  Not sure if I’ll start “L” or not.  My goal is to finish them all – including the new “V” book by the end of Christmas break. 

Another busy week

I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up, but I’m at least trying to stay on top of things.  It’s cold here and the heater doesn’t seem to work.  At least I think I have a heater.  There’s a big thing in the attic, but I don’t know what it does other than blow air.  My thermostat has a “heat” setting so I’m assuming that it is supposed to work.  It hasn’t been just horrible – it’s hovering around 69 degrees in here, but in the mornings it gets around 64 degrees.  I guess I’m going to have to call the real estate company and plan a time for them to come out. 

I decided to cook cashew chicken for dinner on Friday.  I also got some eggnog at Matt’s request.  I have to make sure I have some rum for it. 

I feel at a loss for words tonight.  There’s not much to report here.  I’m working on the “K” book, watching t.v., and trying to stay warm. 

Book-aholic

I have a lot books that I haven’t read yet, but I insist on re-reading my Sue Grafton series.  I finally got book “J” today so I can continue.  Of course I have to read them in order.  I found it at a half price book store.  I also got another Titanic book that I didn’t already have.  I wanted to get the 2nd Harry Potter book in hardback – it’s the only one I don’t have as a hardback, but I might have to order it online. 

Last night was my Christmas concert.  My new friend came to the concert.  He seemed to like my cookies and enjoyed the concert.  We went out to eat at Chili’s after the concert.  We had a nice time visiting, but still nothing more.  No hug good-night.  I mentioned decorating my tree and he seemed interested in helping me next weekend so I think I’ll make him dinner.  Though I still can’t tell how interested he is, he seems to want to spend time with me so I’ll take that as a positive sign.  He even mentioned going to Christmas midnight mass together since we’ll both be here at Christmas with no family.  I think I’m going to try to go to a communal penance service in the next couple of weeks and then start going to church regularly again.  I have missed it.  I really need to learn the new Mass parts anyway. 

This morning I slept in which was very nice and then I went to the movies by myself.  I guess that I can admit on here that I’m a closet Twilight fan and I went to see Breaking Dawn.  I actually enjoyed it.  There’s a few other movies I want to see.  I’d like to go see Hugo because I read the book and it was wonderful.  I also want to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when it comes out.  I bet that Matthew would go with me to see it.  I’ll probably go during Christmas break.  After the movies, I ate a burrito at Chipotle, then headed up to the bookstore.  Now I’m in for the evening.  I’ve got the t.v. on and I’ll start reading my new (used) books. 

Baking

We were told at our rehearsal on Tuesday that we were supposed to provide cookies for the reception at our concert on Friday.  After school today I went to the grocery store and got the stuff to make cookies from scratch.  Sure, I could have just bought pre-made dough, but there’s a sense of satisfaction I get from making it from scratch.  Besides, my cookies are quite delicious.  I made chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips.  One of the cookies happened to come out in the shape of a heart.

Normally I’d give it to someone special, but I don’t really have that – yet - so I think I’m going to eat it myself.  Maybe it is a sign though that love will come my way again some day.   Here’s to hoping.

Today was a relief to be finished teaching the digital citizenship classes.  Now I have a ton of stuff to catch up on.  On the positive side – only two weeks left until Christmas break!

Finally a night at home

It has been an insane few days.  Monday I had to get ready to teach the digital citizenship lessons which took a lot of planning.  Monday night was orchestra rehearsal and even though I got there an hour early, parking was almost impossible.  I had to park across the campus and walk in the dark.  Since I’m not familiar with the campus, I just walked in the general direction of the building and eventually found it.  Tuesday morning I had to get to school early to set up for my lessons and I had to go to the elective team meeting to explain the process of sending students down for the lessons.  I taught a full day yesterday with my only break at lunch.  It was pretty exhausting.  Then I had band rehearsal last night as well.  We are playing a lot of music and my chops were pretty shot by the end of the night.  Today I got a break for one class period in addition to lunch but I taught mostly classes of boys today so that was kind of a pain.  One student I had to send back to class because he starting cussing out another student.  Tomorrow will be better because I’ll have two free class periods and smaller classes in general.  Friday is my concert so I’ll have to rush home to change and then head towards the church where we are playing so I don’t get stuck in rush hour traffic.  I’ll probably have dinner in the shopping area that is close by.  Matt is coming to my concert so that will be nice to have someone in the audience. 

I had to laugh at Andrew’s comment on the previous post.  While I have made the first move before – I only did it when I knew the other person would be receptive to it.  I haven’t even hugged Matt yet.  When he came over to watch a movie the other night, I wasn’t even sure how close I should sit next to him.  I wasn’t brave enough to sidle up to him so I left some space between us.  If things do progress at some point and I get the feeling he is truly interested, I probably will make the first move if I need to. 

I finished the “I” book by Sue Grafton yesterday and I realized that I didn’t have “J.”  I thought I got all the books I was missing, but I must have overlooked it.  I guess I’ll have to go out and get it this weekend.    I think I might go to the movies this weekend as well.  I think I’m going to finish watching Mythbusters on t.v. and then call it an early night.  I’ve surprised myself how much I sleep better here.  I don’t always sleep through the night, but I am able to fall asleep relatively quickly most nights.  I think the difference is the job.  I don’t have the stress I did before with my mind racing at the end of the day.  I still need to sleep through the night without the animals getting me up, but for the most part I’m sleeping better. 

To flirt or not to flirt

So Matt and I went out to dinner tonight.  We went to a place called the The Little Red Barn which is a steakhouse.  It was interesting in that they give you a salad as soon as they seat you.  The steak was good.  We decided to stay in and watch a movie tonight.  He brought over Mystic River which I had never seen.  I’m still having a difficult time trying to figure out if Matt is interested beyond something platonic.  A part of me thinks that because he keeps asking me out and spending time with me, that he is interested beyond the superficial stuff, but he doesn’t really flirt or make any kind of move.  We haven’t even hugged.  I’m not complaining – I guess I’m just not used to that.  Either a guy likes me or he doesn’t and if he does, then he usually pursues it more actively so to speak.  I think, though, that perhaps, he is really kind of shy when it comes to dating.  I’m thinking that he perhaps doesn’t have a lot of experience or something.  Or maybe he just takes things really slowly – which in my case is probably a good thing – it just confuses me.  Regardless, I’m just enjoying spending time with him and he keeps acting interested so I’m just going to go with it and quit over analyzing things.  Ok, so I won’t quit overanalyzing, but will still enjoy things as they are.  He’s coming to my concert on Friday. 

Tomorrow I have to go to the store and get ready for the digital citizen lessons I have to teach this week.  Though I still enjoy my job, I’m glad that Christmas break isn’t too far away. 

What happens in Vegas…

Isn’t really much… No shocking stories to tell.  Had Thanksgiving dinner with my family in a casino restaurant downtown.  Food was decent and relatively inexpensive.  Everybody except Josh and I had Turkey and all the trimmings.  I opted for a steak and Josh had a burger.  After dinner, my dad, his wife, and I went to see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor.  Josh went and saw the Aquarium at Mandalay bay.  After that we headed to the Hilton to see an Elvis impersonator.  The show was pretty good.  The guy nailed Elvis’ voice, but it was a small audience that was not very outgoing so he didn’t seem to be giving it his all.  Josh and I thought the tickets were overpriced, but it was still entertaining.  After that, we headed back to the hotel, stopping at Paris so Josh could find something for his girlfriend.  We picked up jackets as it was very chilly by then.  We walked over to the Venetian and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  We window shopped some and then headed back to the hotel.  I didn’t gamble much.  I put about $33 in the slot machines and that was it.  This morning we used a taxi to get to the airport and we got home around 6:30.  We tried to order a pizza, but they wouldn’t deliver past the road that is just one block over.  I cooked some fish and chicken instead. Josh is heading out tomorrow afternoon.  I may have a date with Matt tomorrow evening.  I read two books while traveling.  I finished Sue Grafton’s “G” book – I’ve been re-reading the series.  I also read the newest Janet Evanovich book as well.  I think I’m going to read a little bit and call it a night.  Traveling is exhausting.  I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed with my cat next to me. 

Wish you were here

Well I'm in Vegas and posting from my iPhone since Bally's wants to charge 13.99 for 24 hours of Internet service. We got in around 8:30 yesterday evening and after checking into the hotel, we headed downtown to see my dad and his wife, Gina. Josh got to gamble for the first time. He only played slots and lost $35 quickly. He has discovered that it is frustrating to play. I spent $20, but played for an hour or so. We didn't get in until 2:00 which was 4:00 am Texas time.

Today we mostly shopped. My dad bought me a pair of Sketchers for my birthday. They are purple and more comfortable than the shoes I brought. My sister used her comp card at Maggianos for dinner so our meal was half price. Tonight we went to Penn & Teller and it was very entertaining. Now we're back at the hotel and I'm going to read until I fall asleep.

Heading to Vegas!

Actually it will be a few hours before I head out, but I’m getting ready for the trip.  I got my boarding pass last night.  I refuse to get suckered into the $10 charge to have it automatically reserved.  I’m still in the “A” boarding group so I’m happy with that.  It’s going to be a busy morning.  I got up earlier than I really wanted to.  I kept hearing email notifications on my iPhone so I got curious about it.  Turns out someone hacked my email and sent a spam message out.  Luckily, I only have about 15 contacts in my new email address so I sent a quick note out letting everyone know that I had been hacked.  I changed my password so I hope that will be the end of that.  I have a to-do list going and am making progress on it.  I met with my ex-husband yesterday to go over information on taking care of the animals and the house.  Max is feeling much better so I think the medicine is working.  I had to resort to putting it in cat food, but he eats it with no problem.  On my list today is to clean the house, pack, go to the bank, call my other bank, and make a quick trip to the store.  I also have to clear stuff from my old laptop so my ex-husband can use it while he stays here.  I don’t think that there’s really anything incriminating on it, but I suspect he would love the opportunity to snoop.  I’ve already put my journals in the storage area of my car which will be left at the airport so that he can’t read through them.  I think it would be really tempting.  I also have to mow the lawn today.  Not looking forward to that, but I finally was able to get the mower lowered so it will cut the grass a little deeper.  I had to use some WD-40 on the things that you lift to adjust it.  It worked like a charm.  

Josh and I will probably leave around 4:45 and go eat and then head to the airport.  Our flight leaves at 8:00 and arrives in Vegas at 9:00 given the time change.  Tomorrow night we have tickets for Penn & Teller.  On Thanksgiving day we will find someplace to eat and it will be great to be able to see my dad and sister and all the in-laws and nephews.  I just wish my brother could have come.  Hopefully I’ll see him in January.  He is taking a cruise out of Houston so he’ll be driving through and we’ll probably go out to eat or something. 

Well, I guess I better get back to work.  I’m almost finished with my cup of coffee.  (I’m still not really a coffee drinker – this is the first cup I’ve had in about two weeks – but it’s getting more tolerable with enough cream and sugar.)

The things we do for our pets

Yesterday I spent 3 hours and $500 at the vet.  My dog, Max, hadn’t eaten anything since Friday evening.  He threw up early Saturday morning and then stopped eating.  He was a bit lethargic and wanted to go outside almost constantly.  I kept an eye on him and kept trying to get him to eat, but he wouldn’t.  On Sunday, he was acting like he needs to go to the bathroom but couldn’t.  Luckily in a big city, there’s 24 hour vet hospitals.  They say they don’t charge more for coming in on weekends, but they sure charged me an arm and a leg regardless.  They ran blood tests, took xrays, and did a urinalysis.  Turns out that he doesn’t have any major diseases, but probably had an infection due to the high white cell count.  They also discovered that he had bladder and kidney stones.  They gave me the option of going with surgery or try to treat it with meds and diet first.  I opted for the meds/diet first.  The surgery was going to run 800-1500 dollars and I didn’t even have the $500 that I already spent.  I ended up putting it on my credit card and I guess I’ll eventually pay it off with the hope that the medicine and fancy dog food helps Max get better.  I had a heck of time getting Max to take the first round of pills (antibiotic and two pain killers).  With him not having any appetite, I had to get them down his throat and he didn’t like that at all.  I called my aunt and she suggested wet cat food.  I tried that this morning and it worked like a charm.  I know it doesn’t help with the diet, but this point, I’m happy to get the meds and any kind of food in him right now.  I think the meds are going to have to kick in first before he gets his appetite back.  I’m guessing he has a bladder infection.  I know that when I’ve had them in the past, it was really painful and you felt like you had to go all the time.  I hope the medicine kicks in soon.  Max is getting old, but I think he still has some life in him yet.

In other news, my Scrabble friend, Matt, came over Saturday night.  He brought me a stuffed animal and I made homemade pizza.  He seemed to like the pizza and told me that I was a good cook.  We played 4 games of scrabble and he showed no mercy.  He beat me every game, though I did have a pretty good score of 389 for one game.  It was kind of frustrating for me, but I appreciate that he didn’t hold back.  I don’t think he should let me win.  He did ask me if I wanted to do something next Saturday and mentioned the possibility of bowling.  He said he didn’t want to monopolize my time, but I made a comment about not having much of a life anyway.  He’s still difficult to read as he is not flirtatious at all.  Perhaps if we do something other than play Scrabble, I’ll get a better feel for him. 

Today I’ve got to pay bills and see if I have enough money to spend on the trip to Vegas.  I’m going to skip a car payment this month by submitting a $25 fee to do so.  That should help a little.  I also got paid $100 for playing at a church service yesterday.  I have orchestra rehearsal this evening and will probably pack tomorrow since the flight doesn’t leave until 8:00 p.m.  My ex-husband is coming over shortly so I can go over information on taking care of the animals. 

In a happier place

Don’t you just love the mood swings in this blog?  A few weeks ago I was downtrodden and feeling lonely.  Today I’m realizing that things aren’t really too bad.  It was a busy day at school.  I didn’t get to work on anything that I intended to work on, but still had plenty to do.  Lots of students visited today.  After school, a group of fellow teachers met at a local bar/restaurant called The Cove.  I had a couple of beers and a burger and fries.  It was fun to socialize with them.  I’ve become a kind of confidant of one of the male math teachers.  We’ve talked about dating (not each other) and he was telling me about a girl he really liked and whether he should pursue it. 

I was finally able to reserve an iPhone 4S at the Apple store.  I’ve tried several times, but haven’t been able to get through.  You can reserve one to pick up the next day after 9:00 p.m. the night before, but each time I’ve logged on this week, a black 16GB wasn’t available.  Sometimes the 32GB was, but I only need the 16 – I haven’t even filled up my 8GB phone that I’ve had for two years.  I almost had it reserved yesterday evening, but I couldn’t remember my full login so by the time I got logged in, the phone wasn’t available.  I finally got through exactly at 9:00 tonight and I’m supposed to pick it up between 10 and 6 tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I also have to go to the store to get pepperoni for the pizza and then do some housecleaning before library guy comes over. 

A respite

If only briefly, I finally get a break from meetings and rehearsals.  I spent all day at a meeting and am tired of the perky lady that makes us stand up and find new partners all the time.  Today was the first time I ran into really slow traffic for an extended period of time.  What should have taken me about 15 minutes took about 35 minutes.  The way home was better though.  When I got home I let the animals out to do their business, fed them, and then I made my infamous cashew chicken for dinner.  It was quite delicious as always.  I think I’ll have some seconds.  The problem with making this recipe is that it makes way too much for one person.  I’ll have leftovers for a few days. 

Library guy and I have been emailing back and forth a few times this week.  I think he likes me – but not sure if it is just a new friend kind of way or an I think she’s an interesting prospect kind of way.  We might try to do some form of exercising together as he is needing to lose about 25 lbs as do I.  He mentioned tennis, but I have never really played the game.  He’s coming over after work on Saturday and I’m going to make homemade pizza and we’re going to play a lot of Scrabble games.  This time he said that he wouldn’t be as nice and that he is going to pull out his obscure, arcane words.  Guess I should do some studying myself.

Tomorrow is Friday and then my Thanksgiving break starts.  I’ve never worked for a district that gave us the entire week off for Thanksgiving.  Josh and I leave for Vegas on Tuesday.  Richard (my ex-husband) is going to house sit and watch the animals for me.  Tonight I’m going to watch some t.v., read a book, and just take it easy.

Orchestra Rehearsal

I haven’t played in an orchestra since high school.  Tonight was a bit intimidating.  With so few “wind” players, the parts are very exposed so you can’t hide when you aren’t playing well.  I played the principal part tonight so it was a bit scary at times – especially when I had solo parts all to myself.  But it was a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed playing with the ensemble tonight.  I started to get more brave as the rehearsal progressed.  I am going to actually practice though.  But it will be good for me in the long run I think.  It’s kind of nice to be so involved in music again. 

On the way home I talked with Michael (his real name - Matthew was the pseudonym I used).  He is the same as always – dealing with school budget issues and such.  He said he would still like to visit sometime and so he will try to get down here in a few months or so.  Won’t hold my breath, but it would be nice to see him and have him visit.  Library guy (Whose real name is Matt – thus the need for clarification on the pseudonym) emailed me last night.  He asked if I had a chance to look at the scrabble word book he gave me.  He is gearing up for another tournament in December.  He said he was looking forward to making pizza and playing scrabble again this weekend.  I emailed him back and told him with Josh visiting and reading my other book that I haven’t had time to check out the word book yet, but would do so. 

It was a busy day at work for me.  I’m still at a loss on dealing with the new textbooks.  I think I’m going to tackle that task tomorrow and see if I can make some room for them. 

Well, I’m pretty tired so I’m going to head to bed.  I think this week is going to go by fast.  I’ll be heading to Vegas in no time!

An Outlet

Well, now I’m going to be playing in an orchestra believe it or not.  I got a call from a lady that is in the community band that I’m playing in and she said a local college community orchestra was needing a clarinet player and someone had mentioned my name.  So I looked up the music that they were going to be playing to see if it would be too difficult for me and it looked like it would be ok.  She had mentioned that I might need an “A” clarinet, so I called her back and told her that I was interested but would not have access to an “A” clarinet.  She called the director and he said the parts were in B-flat so that it would be ok.  Then I was told that I’d be playing the principal part this time.  No pressure there.  I haven’t played in an orchestra since I was in high school, but I really enjoyed playing in it when I did.  I think it will be fun.  I think it is good for me.  Playing more often will build my stamina and help me improve as a player.  It’s also a way for me to be more social here in SA.  I haven’t found a church yet – need to get on that soon, but music is allowing me an opportunity to meet other people which can be really hard for a person as shy as I am.  Then there’s also the potential for getting involved with Scrabble stuff if I can learn to play more quickly.  I’m going to make pizza for library guy next weekend and we’re going to play again. 

Josh headed home a little before 2:00 today and I took a nap.  I haven’t done much other than read, surf, watch t.v. and I did mow the yard in the front lest I get in trouble for the weeds again.  It’s going to be a really busy week for me at school.  I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time.  I’m going to try to make an appointment to get an iPhone 4S at the Apple store tomorrow if they have any.  You can place an order online after 9:00 p.m. the night before as long as they have some in stock.  I don’t know that I can afford it – but I may never actually be able to afford it. 

A day with my son

Josh got in a little after 10 p.m. on Friday night.  He told me that he had spent his birthday playing a new video game.  I told him at least he wasn’t having a baby.  He told me that there is no way that he could handle something like that at his age and he had no idea how I did it.  I think now that he is 21 that he has an even greater appreciation of what I went through in having him and raising him on my own. 

On Saturday morning, I slept in (yay) and then went to the store to get milk and some things I needed.  Since Josh was home, I found the closest donut store and picked up some donuts for him.  It wasn’t that close – still a few miles away, but they were decent.  He played his video game for a while and then we headed out shopping around 1:00.  We went to the mall because there was an Apple store there and his mac’s hard drive had crashed for the second time and he wanted to see about getting it fixed or getting another one.  Luckily I bought a three year warranty so they are fixing it for free.  Only thing is that I will have to pick it up for him in a few days so he won’t get it back until he comes home for Thanksgiving.

After we finished at the Apple store, we had lunch and then did some shopping.  Well, Josh did some shopping.  He found some jeans and a shirt at JC Penny’s.  From there we went to Ross for Less and didn’t find anything.  We went to half price books where Josh found two CDs.  After that we went to Walmart to get a storage cabinet that I wanted to store my office items.  We got it and came home because I had forgotten my cell phone.  I think I’ve made the decision to go ahead and upgrade to the iPhone 4S.  My phone seems very sluggish these days.  So we headed to the ATT store.  I wanted to change my data plan to the minimum in order to save money.  I had been grandfathered into the $30 a month unlimited plan, but when I checked my past usage, I only exceeded the minimum plan of 200 MB once in a year and a half.  I usually use my own wifi at home.  Even if I have to pay $30 to increase my data a few times a year, most of the time I’ll be saving money.  I also signed up to get a discount since I work for a school district.  I was going to upgrade my phone, but they were out and said it would take 2-3 weeks to get a phone.  I decided to wait and consider other options.  I might be able to get one at the Apple store here instead. 

After that, we went to a different mall and Josh found a leather jacket that he liked and two more shirts.  After that, we finally went to Olive Garden for dinner.  I went out on a limb and ordered something different.  I probably should have just ordered what I always do. I ordered the stuffed rigatoni with chicken.  It was ok, but almost a little too cheesy and rich for me.  I ate half of it and will have the rest for dinner tonight. 

Josh is still asleep and I’m going continue reading the next Sue Grafton.  He’s leaving this afternoon to head back to school.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do when he leaves for Tasmania in February.

Scrabble Success

So I had my lunch date with library guy today.  We went to a home cooking kind of place that is on this side of town.  Food was pretty good but not amazing.  I had the fried catfish with mashed potatoes, corn, and dirty rice.  We then came back to my place to play Scrabble.  He had his own board, timer, and scoring sheets.  Luckily we didn’t use the timer or I would have not done as well, but I ended up winning 373 to 289.  He had an off day and I ended up with most of the good tiles.  And he did help me make a bonus word.  We’re going to get together next weekend and I’m going to make my homemade pizza.  He said that he thought that I had lot of good potential to be a great player.  He brought me books to use for studying and some other books just to read.  So things are going pretty well in that sense. 

Josh will be coming home tonight but probably won’t get in until late.  Tomorrow I think we’ll go shopping and then go out for Italian.  Today I mopped floors and am doing some laundry.  I had the day off from school for Veteran’s day.  The rest of the house is still clean though I will have to mow this weekend.  I find it amazing that just having free evenings make it easier to keep a clean house.  Sure, sometimes it gets a little messy because I get lazy – but it hasn’t been too bad.  Part of it is the amount of space I have, but most of it is the fact that I have time on weekends to stay on top of things. 

Pity Party Over

There’s nothing like getting a date to get over self-pity.  Surprisingly, the library remembered it was my birthday – only after telling once on our date and he emailed me today telling me happy birthday and asked me to lunch tomorrow.  So of course I said yes. 

I got up early this morning for some reason.  I got to school and stayed busy all day.  No birthday wishes from anyone at school – but nobody knew it was my birthday.  I did get a lot of comments on Facebook though.  I had a meeting after school and then headed home. 

I’m heating up something for dinner and having a beer while watching Harry Potter.  I’m on my third Sue Grafton book so I only have plans to take it easy tonight.  Can’t complain too much. 

Doldrums

Today I was at a training session for our textbook tracking software.  Though it was useful, I felt that we could have done the training in half the time without all the longwinded gripe sessions.  I ate lunch at a place called the Pig Stand.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger which was ok, but I thought it was rather overpriced.  We finished a little after 4:00 and I got home about 4:45.  I fed the animals, checked email, caught up on blogs, watched some t.v., and made some dinner.  I finished the second Sue Grafton book a little while ago.  I feel like it should already be about 9:30, but it is only 7:00.  Though I like this time change, I feel like I should be in bed already. 

I guess I could start the next book in the series, but I’m not sure I want to.  There’s nothing on t.v.  There’s nobody really to call and talk to.  I guess I’m also feeling a bit melancholic.  It’s probably the fact that my birthday is tomorrow.  While I will certainly get a bunch of happy birthday wishes on Faceback and probably from a few blog friends, I realize that I’m rather alone here in San Antonio.  Then again, I’m not sure what is so different here than it was in Canyon -except that I at least saw some of my facebook friends in real life.  My birthday usually fell around one of the major speech tournaments that I’d usually attend.  It’s not that I want a party or presents or anything, I guess I’m just wanting more companionship here. 

I’ve always tried to make other people feel special on their birthdays and it seems that mine has been just another day for the past several years now – especially with Josh gone to college. At least when he was here it was more special since we shared the day.  I thought that turning 40 would be a major event and yet it was just another day.  No party.  No black balloons.  Nobody making fun of me being over the hill.  Perhaps I’m just feeling like an old maid.  Don’t worry, my birthday will pass quickly tomorrow and I’ll get over my pity party.  Josh will be here this weekend and we’ll get to celebrate our birthdays together with a traditional dinner out.  The fact that we share the same birthday is pretty awesome.  I’m sure that’s fairly rare.  Well, enough of this rambling.  There’s a show on the Titanic on this evening so I’ll watch it and read my book during the commercials until it is time to go to bed.

A Full Day

It has been a busy day.  I got to school at 7:45 and had several things to do.  The library was pretty full with students this morning so that kept me busy.  Then I had to make posters (enlarge them on a poster maker) for the science department.  After that I had fix a jammed paper in the nurse’s printer.  During 2nd period I had to get a screen, overhead projector, and computer set up for a presentation in the afternoon.  I got that done, then worked on updating the card catalog software.  It did fine on the data station, but wouldn’t update the correct software on the circulation station.  I couldn’t focus on it since I had to leave at noon for a meeting.  I drove across town to another school to work on a Library Strategic Plan that we have to turn in next week.  I stayed there for a couple of hours and then headed back to my school.  I stopped at the bank to deposit a birthday check that my aunt sent me.  Once I got back to school, I had to get the project ready for the presentation and then sit through it.  At 4:45, I put up the projector and laptop and headed to the DPS office so I could renew my driver’s license since today is the only day that they stay open late.  I got there at 5:00 and was on my way home around 5:30.  I stopped at Sonic to pick up dinner.  I’m heading out to band rehearsal shortly so the day isn’t even done.  I don’t know about you, but I’m already exhausted.

Josh is coming home this weekend so I’m looking forward to seeing him.  We have to go out to dinner for our birthday.  I’m debating whether I should buy season tickets for the symphony.  I would get the cheap seats which means I could buy two sets of tickets that covers about 7 concerts for around $100.  Still not sure yet.

Tomorrow I have to go to training all morning to learn the textbook software.  That means I have to get up and leave earlier than I usually do.  Guess I better head to band rehearsal.

Bad Annabel

So when I moved down here to San Antonio, I packed a lot of books.  This is after getting rid of about 1/3 of them.  When I was putting them on the shelves last weekend, I had a full shelf of books that I still have not read.  I decided that I shouldn’t buy any more books until I read those.  I’ve been trying.  I started one and just couldn’t get into it.  I have another started and might finish it at some point.  I have several book collections as well.  At one point I had all of the Sue Grafton series as well as the Janet Evanovich books.  But I’ve loaned some of those books out and never got them back.  So I was missing 3 or 4 from each of those series.  So yesterday I went to some used bookstores in town and found the missing books.  I also got one of the hardcovers of my Harry Potter series.  I had all but two of the books in hardcover.  I still need to find one more.  They had one that I found yesterday, but the pages were coming apart from the spine.  So I bought more books – but at least they weren’t more books that I may or may not read.  I do re-read my series books from time to time.  In fact, I started with the Sue Grafton books again yesterday.  Her next book is coming out in about a week so I don’t think I’ll make it through all of them, but I’ll get through several. 

I stopped for lunch at Five Guys burgers and then headed home.  I started my book and just took it easy the rest of the evening.  I watched some t.v., surfed the web, and talked to one of my friends from back home.  I’m hoping she will get to come down and visit at some point.  Josh will be here next weekend so I’m looking forward to that.  We’re going to go out to dinner for our birthdays as is our tradition. 

I sent library guy an email after we got back on Friday, thanking him for the evening and told him that I enjoyed meeting him.  He responded last night and said that he enjoyed it too and was looking forward to doing more fun things with me in the future in addition to some Scrabble sessions.  So I think that is a positive sign.

Today I have no plans other than reading and relaxing.  I have a little bit of laundry to do, but other than that, nothing that must be done.  It’s really nice to have such weekends.  No speech tournaments that keep me exhausted.  No papers to grade or lessons to plan.  I don’t mind doing stuff on weekends as long as it is something that is fun that I want to do, not something I necessarily have to do. 

A Nice Evening Overall

My day didn’t start out very well.  I went to school with full blown allergies that kept me miserable most of the day.  I used kleenex after kleenex.  I was sneezing and stuffy at the same time.  I took an allegra before leaving for school.   I took claritin while at school.  Neither one helped.  At 1:30 I left for a meeting downtown.  I took a box of kleenex with me.  I suffered through the meeting that ended at 4:00.  I didn’t want to be miserable on my date so I came home and took more meds.  Thankfully, they started help a little.  I took a nap for about an hour and then got up and got ready.  My allergies calmed down some so I wasn’t completely miserable.

My date showed up a little before 7:00 and we headed out.  Library guy is really tall.  He is 6’6.  I’m 5’4 if I stand up straight.  He’s nice looking – and looks just like his picture on his profile.  He has a goatee and short salt & pepper hair.  He speaks with an upper midwest accent.  We have a lot in common.  We both drive a Prius, enjoy scrabble – though he’s a nationally competitive player, and of course we’re both librarians though he is actually an archivist. 

We headed out to the restaurant which was about 30 minutes away.  It was pretty crowded that night as a band bus came through with about 200 students.  They said the wait would be an hour and a half but we decided to try our luck.  We got margaritas and sat down to visit.  The actual wait ended up only being about an hour.  In the mean time we just talked.  We talked about our jobs, family, rollercoasters, and Scrabble.  He said he would like to play a game with me and teach me some tricks.  I told him my stats from my iPhone games and he seemed to think that I’m probably pretty good.  He said that I’m probably at a fairly expert level.  We were going to play a game after dinner, but it ended up being kind of late and he had to work today. 

My overall impression is that he seems very nice and intelligent.  I think he might be a little shy and awkward.  He doesn’t have much family and is relatively estranged from them, but he has friends from all over the country because of his involvement with Scrabble.  I think at the very least, I’ve found a new friend in San Antonio.  At the end of the evening he said he enjoyed it and would like to get together again in a couple of weeks since Josh will be here next weekend. 

On the drive home, my allergies started to flare up again.  By the time I got in bed, my nose was so stopped up I couldn’t breathe.  I took a sudafed, but it took forever to kick in.  I tried a very hot shower and it still didn’t help.  I eventually got to sleep once the sudafed worked and I could breathe again.  I slept in this morning which was quite lovely.  My house is immaculately clean at this point so I don’t have anything that I really need to do other than get to the grocery store sometime today. 

Cleaning Frenzy

There’s nothing like the potential of company to make me clean my house.  It has already been a long day and there’s much more to do.  This morning I had to act as a sub for two class periods.  Not my favorite thing to do, but it went ok.  Then I had to deal with 100+ boxes of textbooks that arrived.  I had to count them as they came in and make sure we received everything.  Now I’m not sure what to do with them.  I’ll start figuring it out next week I guess.  Tomorrow I work 1/2 a day at school then have a meeting in the afternoon.  I stayed after school a little bit and then came home to get started on the house cleaning.  I mowed the lawn and then started clearing the boxes that were left after unpacking all my books and Marvin collection.  I started the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen.  I still have a lot to do though. 

I’m looking forward to the date tomorrow night.  Not sure what I should wear though.  He’s picking me up at 7:00 and we’re going across town to a Mexican restaurant that he likes.  Sounds good to me.  Well, I guess I need to get back to work.  My break is over.

So much for sleep!

Ok, now I’m really excited.  I must be to post twice in one night.  So here’s the deal.  I could barely keep my eyes open while watching t.v. around 8:00 so I turned off the t.v. at 9:00 and came to bed with a beer and a book.  I was reading the book and drinking my beer when my phone rang a little after 9:00.  It was a San Antonio number that I didn’t recognize.  I answered it and it is the library guy that I’ve been emailing.  He asked me to go to dinner on Friday night!   I have a date!  Can you believe it?  A date!  With a guy that is a librarian.  He plays scrabble.  He likes to ride roller coasters.  I shouldn’t be so excited.  But I am. 

Not a cold

It’s just allergies and they are still driving me crazy.  I took a bendryl last night so I slept pretty well – just not enough.  I’m becoming a coffee drinker just to be able to wake up.  I made coffee and toast when I finally rolled out of bed this morning and it did seem to help.  It was another busy day in the library with students continuing their research.  Overall, I thought they did a pretty good job considering they have no research experience.  Most used three different sources and were able to get their citation information down.  I have tons of books to put up on the shelves now.  It will be difficult to get done tomorrow, but I may be able to get a lot of work done on the computer.  I think I’ll lock myself in my office while 6th graders are listening to an AIDS presentation and ESL classes work in the lab. 

I planned to go to go try to renew my driver’s license after school today, but when I checked the website for information, they had changed their extended hours from Wednesdays to Tuesdays.  So now I have to wait until next Tuesday to renew my license which is just two days before my birthday.  I should have done it sooner, but never really thought about it.  Luckily I did find my social security card and birth certificate yesterday. 

I have to much Halloween candy leftover.  I have to stop eating it.  Maybe I should hide it from myself. 

I’m going to have to go to bed early tonight.  I’m just too tired.  Psych is coming on, but I might just DVR it so I can watch it later. 

Allergies or a cold

I can’t tell if the allergies are just getting worse or if I’m in the beginning stages of a cold.  Today I got a huge headache right before lunch.  It was bad enough that I had to take three tylenol caplets to get it to go away.  I took two just before lunch, then ate and drank a coke but it was hanging on so I took another one.  Finally after another hour or so it passed.   I had classes that I was working with in the lab all day today so it was hard to shake it.  I finally did just have to sit down for a bit during the latter part of one class.  Now I feel like something is coming on and I’m not sure if it is full blown allergies – got the watery eyes, feeling like I want to sneeze but can’t, and kind of drained.  I took a benadryl so I hope that will knock it out for the evening so I can sleep.  Band rehearsal was tough because I just wanted to get through it and go home.  My mouth was hurting by the end of the night.  Once again, we’re playing a lot of music. 

I think I’m going to get tickets to see Les Miserables in January.  The show is almost already sold out so I need to go ahead and get the tickets.  Josh and I will go since he’ll be home on break.  I’ve never seen the music, but have heard the music quite a bit and it is simply powerful.  Tomorrow I really need to go get my driver’s license renewed.  My birthday is coming up next week and I need to do it before then.  The DMV is open late on Wednesdays only.  I need to dig out my birth certificate and social security before going to bed tonight.  I think I’ll do that and then hit the sack.  I hope the benadryl kicks in soon.

I’m a hit

Today was our band concert. We all dressed up in costumes and I was a big hit.  I wore my clarinet costume from last year and everyone that saw it told me how amazing and creative it was. When I came on stage, people in the audience made comments – especially when I turned to go to my chair and they saw the back of it with the reed on my mouthpiece “hat.”  At intermission I went into the audience and a random person wanted to take my picture.  Again, lots of people loved the costume.  The concert overall went pretty well for me in spite of my favorite reed splitting right before we started. 

This morning I slept in and then spent some time getting my costume ready.  I still had it from year before last, but had to add a missing “key” and clean it up some.  I also had to glue the mouthpiece hat together in some places. 

After the concert I had to drive across town to drop my rent payment off.  On my way back I passed a Sonic and wished I had turned in to get something to drink.  I stopped at the one closest to my house and got a large cherry limeade which makes me think about my friend Andrew.  It was just what I needed.  I stopped to check my mail – nothing but bills I had already paid.  I made some shrimp and pasta for dinner and now I’m sitting on my couch watching t.v.  My house is getting in bad shape.  I should be cleaning right now, but I just don’t feel like it.  I think I’m going to at least do a load of laundry so I have something to wear tomorrow.  Then again, I might not. 

Here’s a picture of the costume.  It’s missing the “belt” divider, but I guess it works. 

Slow moving

I can’t understand why I wake up at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday when I’m allowed to sleep in.  I stayed in bed regardless and dozed off and on for another couple of hours.  Once I got up, I had my weekend cup of coffee.  This time I tried butter toffee flavor.  I wasn’t that wowed by it.  I ate some cereal and turned on the t.v.  I read the facebook updates of my friends, blog posts, and did some general web surfing.  I finally talked myself into paying my bills.  I had to set up more accounts on my online bill pay site with my bank so that took a while.  I eventually got all my bills paid except for my rent payment.  I’ll have to drive across town to drop it off because my bank can’t get it there before it’s due.  After that I couldn’t decide what to do today.  I kind of wanted to get out but at the same time I didn’t.  I took a shower and went to the tire shop because my tire indicator light had come on in my car.  They checked the pressure and filled the tires for me.  Then I went and ate lunch at Johnny Carinos.  After that I went to Big Lots.  I’m looking for a storage cabinet for my office supplies.  I saw one that I liked, but didn’t want to pay $129 for it right now.  Instead I was bad and bought some cookies.  After that I took a scenic route home to discover what was south of where I live.  Turns out there isn’t much.  Now I’m home and don’t know what to do.  I considered going to the movies but I didn’t want to drive across town.  I’ve been invited to a Halloween party tonight, but I don’t really feel like going.  I don’t have a costume that I want to wear and the party doesn’t start until 10 p.m.  I guess I’m getting to be a fuddy-duddy.

Grocery Day

The animals and I finally have food.  I went to the grocery store after work.  I spent too much money I think.  But I had to buy Halloween candy, food for all the animals, and food for me.  It’s a good thing I didn’t have to buy cleaning products.  Those will break the bank.  I need to pay bills tomorrow.  Not looking forward to that. 

I meant to go to bed early last night but ended up watching an episode of Mythbusters that I hadn’t seen.  I did find my Marvin ties – of course in the absolute last box that was hidden in my closet.  But I got a lot of compliments on the tie today.  So now I have a bunch of opened boxes throughout the house.  Maybe I’ll get to them this weekend.  My band concert is on Sunday and I need to practice.  I was also thinking of going to the movies on Saturday.  I’ve been invited a Halloween party hosted by another teacher on Saturday night.  I’m supposed to wear a costume and I’m not sure what I want to do.  I’m wearing my clarinet outfit for the band concert, but want something more simple for the party. 

We have a cold front coming in which means it will get down to a whopping 50 degree tonight.  The Amarillo area got 2.5 inches of snow today.  I’m glad I’m not living up there now.  Turns out that I’m not missing the snow.  I might in a few years, but I don’t like driving in it and I hate being really cold. 

I’m glad tomorrow is Friday.   It’s been an exhausting week that has kept me really busy. 

Missing my Marvin ties

It’s red ribbon week at school so there are dress up days.  Tuesday was wearing team jerseys but I didn’t have anything to wear.  Today was crazy sock day so I wore my Marvin socks.  Tomorrow we are supposed to wear ties.  Of course I wanted to wear one of my Marvin the Martian ties, but I can’t find them.  I’ve unpacked all my Marvin stuff and they weren’t in any of the boxes.  I’m not sure if I just stuffed them in a random box somewhere and haven’t gotten to them or what.  I guess that means I’m going to be going through all remaining unopened boxes so I can find them.  It will drive me crazy until I do.

Today was another busy day, but not too bad.  I had to leave school early to go to a meeting.  I picked up my paycheck and went to the bank to deposit it.  It will be another month before it gets direct deposited – hopefully in the right account this time.  I headed to the meeting and got out of there by 4:00.  I headed home and waited for the pest control guy to arrive.  He came and went and I cooked some frozen PF Chang’s teriyaki chicken for dinner.  I’m enjoying a glass of wine and am going to change into my PJs soon.  Then I have to start going through boxes searching for the missing ties. 

I pretty much have all my stuff on the bookshelves, but now there’s the mess of empty boxes, crates, and newspapers that need to be cleaned up.  I guess I’ll get to that at some point – after I make a bigger mess I’m sure.

I’m thinking of going out to the movies again this weekend.  I enjoyed getting out the last time I went.  I could try a different restaurant for lunch this time. 

I should be in bed, but…

The busy week is off an running.  I stayed busy all day dealing with English classes checking out books and history classes taking a survey in the lab.  In the midst of all of that, I had to adjust the school website because of an edict from the powers that be stating that no student or faculty names or pictures could be on our school website because of some stupid security breach that happened a few weeks ago.  So I had to remove the faculty listing and any place that listed a faculty member.  We didn’t have any students or pictures on the website.  I also worked on finding some research sites for students to use next week. 

After work I went to the bank to deposit some money because my local account is overdrawn.  I did that, then picked up some Bill Miller’s barbeque for dinner.  It was ok, but nothing to write about.  I liked the hash browns.  After that, I finished getting books on my shelves.  I realized that I probably bought one shelf too many, but it’s probably good that I have some room to grown.  I started filling the spaces with all my Marvin the Martian stuff.  I still have one more box to unpack and then I need to hang the shelf that I use to display the Christmas ornaments.  It’s slowly coming together.

I left for band rehearsal around 6:45 and we did a run-through of the concert which is just ridiculous.  We are playing 12 pieces and have an intermission.  I don’t know anyone that likes concert band stuff that much.  Surprisingly, I managed to play the entire night though it was getting tough at the end.  I realize that I do need to practice one piece in particular that has an exposed clarinet part.  The rehearsal ran over time a little so I didn’t get home until 10:15. 

I talked to Josh on the way home from rehearsal and heard about all the things going on with him at college.  He is still doing well and he is going to get to have a lesson this week with the composition teacher from Tasmania.  This will be the person that he will be studying with when he goes down there in the spring. 

I’m still stuffy today.  I think maybe it’s time to find a local doctor.  I haven’t really bothered with it, but I do need to have my yearly checkup and such so I might as well get on that.  There’s a new hospital and medical plaza that was built just down the road so I guess I’ll check that out first and see if any of the doctors are on my provider list.  I don’t want someone that is impossible to get appointments.  I really appreciated my doctor in back in Canyon.  I could always get same day appointments and rarely ever waited more than about 20 minutes for him to see me. 

I’m going to try to head to bed, but not sure I’ll be able to get to sleep right away since I’m having trouble breathing at the moment.  Hopefully the decongestant will kick in soon.

Books and a Busy Week

I finally got all my bookshelves put together.  I started the daunting task of unpacking the many, many boxes of books and sorting them.  I’m about halfway done I think, but I just felt tired in the middle of it all so I decided to take a break.  I think that I still have too many books.  I may have to get rid of a few more.  I’m putting all the unread books on a shelf so that maybe I’ll read one of those before I buy any more. 

This is going to be a busy week in the library.  I have classes every day, a meeting on Wednesday, and a presentation for parents on Thursday.  I also have to work on a research project for 7th grade English classes next week.

I also heard from the library guy.  He sent me an email Sunday night, but I didn’t get it until this morning.  He mentioned getting together in a few weeks so I have that to potentially look forward to.  He has some scrabble tournaments coming up so he’s not free until the 11th which is the day after my birthday.  Josh is coming in that weekend, but we won’t go to dinner until Saturday. 

I didn’t sleep well last night.  First of all, the margaritas made me dehydrated.  Then I’ve had sinus/allergy issues for the past few days so I couldn’t breath very well.  After school today I picked up a decongestant so I’ll see if that helps tonight.