2012 Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?

Played in a Scrabble tournament. I actually played in three tournaments and won 2^nd place in the third one.

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

I don’t think I made any last year. I’m going to have to make a resolution to lose weight this year though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My best friend’s daughter passed away this year.

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 2013 that you lacked in 2012?

More time to read.

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Probably Jan 1 when Matt kissed me for the first time at New Year’s.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Selling my house in Canyon and buying a house here in San Antonio.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I can’t think any major failures except sucking at my first Scrabble tournament and gaining a million pounds.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Same as last year: 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?

A new house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Matt has been a pretty awesome boyfriend and Josh still has a 4.0 in college.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I can’t think of anyone. Some of the kids at school are still brats.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Buying a new house.

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

House hunting, beating Matt at Scrabble.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

“Start of Something Good” by Daughtry

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

happier or sadder? Probably about the same. Still happy that I’m with Matt.
- richer or poorer? Only slightly richer because I paid off a few bills
- thinner or fatter? Much fatter – gained 15 pounds this year

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

Reading and traveling.

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

Eating

20. How did you spend the holidays?

New Years (2012) – with Matt
Valentine’s Day – with Matt – sort of. Had a band concert so only saw him briefly on Valentines, but we celebrated together later.
Easter – Matt and I went back to Canyon
4^th of July – with Matt – cooked out on the grill and then just hung out at home.
Thanksgiving – with Matt and Josh – made dinner in the new house.
Christmas – here in SA with Josh and Matt

21. Did you fall in love in 2012?

Yes, Matt and I said “I love you” on Valentine’s day.

22. How many one-night stands?

None – dating Matt exclusively.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

I started watching Storage Wars this year though it’s not necessarily my favorite. I still enjoy watching House Hunters as well.

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

No – still friends with everyone as far as I know.

25. What was the best book you read?

I didn’t read as much as I wanted, but I did enjoy Perks of Being a Wallflower and a new teen series by Allie Condie (Matched, Crossed, and Reached).

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

Les Miserables

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?

Since I gained so much weight and refuse to buy bigger closthes, I’m limited to wearing the same 3 or 4 pairs of pants over and over.

28. Whom did you miss?

Still miss many of my friends back in Canyon.

29. Who was the best new person you met?

Not sure – only met a handful of new people.

30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

I can’t think of any major lessons learned. Don’t move in the rain.

House Tour

Well as promised, I’m providing you with a video house tour. I hope the video works. I think my voice is a little muffled. I may have had a finger over the mic or something – not sure, but it took about 8 takes to get this done, so you’ll have to deal with it I guess. I didn’t realize I had to hold my phone horizontally to video. I took other videos vertically and when I played them, they were sideways. So here’s the tour of my house if you’re interested.

  

Shopping Day

This is my second attempted at blogging today.  I had another post written and then my computer decided to freeze.  I couldn’t save it or anything.  So here it is again… sort of. 

Matt and I went shopping yesterday.  We had to go to three Home Depot stores to get the drill that I wanted.  After that we went to Kohl’s to see if I could find something to spend my gift cards on, but I didn’t find anything.  I don’t want to even look at clothes until I lose some weight.  So I guess going to Chipotle for lunch afterward didn’t help with that endeavor.  We went to the outlet stores in San Marcos and even though I don’t need shoes, I did find some at the Sketcher’s store that I decided I needed.  I also got Matt a pair of cross trainer shoes as well since it was buy one get on half off.  We went to the Bose store and Matt got new earbuds.  After that it was the Jockey store for new underwear and socks.  We planned to go to the movie and see Jack Reacher last night, but traffic was backed up on our way back into town so we didn’t make it.  I’ve read the Reacher series and I don’t really see Tom Cruise as the the character, but perhaps he will surprise me. 

I’ve been trying to read The Hobbit as well but it is slow going.  Tolkien is very wordy and the tv is distracting.  Josh said that I only need to read a few chapters to be able to see the movie.  We’ll go see it when he gets back to San Antonio.  He left on the 27th to go back to Canyon to visit his friends.  Matt and I are going to a Scrabble New Year’s eve party on Monday. 

Well, I think I’ll do a little more cleaning and try to get the Christmas mess out of here.  Not the decorations, just the “stuff” like wrapping paper and such that needs to be put away. 

Just plain lazy

I’ve hardly done anything the past three days.  I have gotten out, but only briefly and only because I had to.  Wednesday I went to the store for a couple of necessities.  Yesterday, I went to the post office because I was out of stamps and had to mail some things.  Matt is off today, but he had to go to the dentist.  I’m not sure what my plans will be.  I have some gift cards to spend so I might get dressed eventually and get out. 

Yesterday I watched tv most of the day though I did put my new lamp together and work on some rosaries.  I thought about trying to sell them online again, but haven’t decided yet. 

We thought about going to Six Flags sometime during the break, but I’m not sure if I really want to.  I know, it’s a shock, but the temps are cooler right now and I think I’d rather wait until the spring.  I do need to get a new season pass though. 

I know I had promised to post some pics of the house… I just forgot to take them when the house was clean for the party.  Now it’s a bit of a mess again.  I’ll try to tidy up this weekend and take some pics – maybe even a video. 

Well, I think I’ll get back to doing nothing. 

Time for a do-nothing day

I don’t remember the last time I actually had a do-nothing day.  You know the kind of day where you sleep really late (and still take a nap during the day), sit around in your pajamas ALL day (really), and do nothing but sit in front of the t.v. with a laptop in my lap and being as unproductive as possible.  If I had someone that could bring me food, it would be complete.  Oh, yeah, Josh is here.  Perhaps I could text him and have him deliver goodies to me on the couch.  I guess that would be pushing it though. 

Christmas was lovely yesterday.  We slept in until around 9:30 and then I got up and made breakfast burritos (with and without eggs) and some cinnamon rolls.  We opened presents and it was a very good haul for everyone, I think.  Matt got me a Blue Ray DVD player, and really cool Ott Lamp for crafting, and gift cards for Kohl’s and Home Depot.  He drew the line at actually buying me a drill, but thought the gift card would be ok.  He also gave me his entire Monk DVD collection.  So now I have the entire series to watch. 

We headed out to see Les Miserables around 2:30, but when we got to the theater, it was sold out.  We headed to a different theater and we were the first to buy tickets for the 4:00 show so it was nice to choose the best seats.  Of course we had a 45 minute wait before we even got to the previews, but it was worth the wait.  I thought the movie was awesome with the exception of Russell Crowe.  He just didn’t seem to get “into” the character.  Otherwise, I thought the cast was amazing.  When we got home, Matt hooked up the DVD player and we watched the 25th anniversary DVD of Les Mis as well. 

Matt was going to grill steaks last night, but we were under a red flag wind warning all day so we decided to wait until today.  I made cashew chicken instead.  Having two guys and me in the house means that we didn’t have any leftovers like I normally do.  Oh, well, that’s probably a good thing.  We’re still eating all the party leftovers as well. 

So I guess I better get back to … doing nothing.  I’m going to enjoy the moment while I can.  I’m sure there will be something that I need to do tomorrow.  But maybe not. 

Successful Christmas Party

Well, the Christmas party went without a hitch.  I cleaned and cleaned the week before.  Yesterday morning, I continued cleaning and did a lot of cooking.  We had way too much food of course, but everyone seemed to enjoy everything.  Most people said that I had a lovely house as well.  We probably about 20 people come over altogether.  I made bacon wrapped weenies with brown sugar, queso, chicken bites coated with french fried onions and homemade honey mustard sauce, cucumber sandwiches, lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, a white chocolate – raspberry cake, two kinds of punch and hot spiced wine.  Josh made oatmeal raisin cookies with cinnamon chips and Matt got a sampler tray of meats and cheese from the New Braufels’ smokehouse. 

Oh, at the party last night I sold two rosaries!  I was showing some friends the ones I had made and two of them bought one from me.  So I made $35 that I didn’t plant to have.  That was kind of cool.  I might try to sell some online again. 

We are going to the Spurs game tonight. Josh is going with us. He’s never been to a professional basketball game. I hope he’ll enjoy it. It’s hard not to get in the spirit with the crowd. It should be fun. 

We have no plans tomorrow other than I need to get out and do a few last minute shopping things.  I’m going to try to get out early in the morning and hopefully avoid the big crowds.  We’ll see how it goes. 

In case I don’t post for a while, I hope all my blog readers have a very Merry Christmas! 

I love my house

There may be a time when something breaks and I’ll rescind this statement, but tonight I was thinking about how much I love my new house.  I’m in awe that I have such a nice place that I bought by myself.  It’s not fancy, but it has a lot of room and the layout works for me.  I’m still not keen about the stairs and the kitchen counters need to be replaced, but overall it is a great place.  I’m almost ready to take some pictures to post so you can see how it turned out.  I’ve gotten pictures hung and stuff put away.  Tomorrow I need to work on my bedroom and get stuff on the walls in there.  I still need some big artwork, but I’ll know it when I see it.  I keep scouting stores here and there and that’s how I’ve found the stuff for my living room.  My guest room is ready for guests and the only thing that is still a mess is the garage.  But isn’t that always the case?  I don’t think it is possible for me to have a clean garage for an extended period of time.  I’ll take pictures of the house on Saturday before the party and try to get them posted. 

Time to clean

The big Christmas party is now less than a week away.  (Assuming the world doesn’t end on Friday.)  I decided that I need to get most of my cleaning and stuff done this weekend.  I’ve hung pictures and put together a bookcase so far.  I started on hanging curtains, but am having issues with them.  I need to go to the hardware store and get a few things I think.  Matt is off playing Scrabble today.  I’m kind of working on the house, but I’m taking frequent breaks.  A nap might be in order as well.  I do have to get to the store at some point. 

Thankfully there’s only a week of school left until Christmas break.  I’m so ready for the break.  I had to be a sub for a teacher on Friday.  That really sucked.  It was a reminder why I got out of teaching in the first place.  I love being a librarian and I couldn’t be a teacher today.  It was exhausting and all I did was show a video and have them do an assignment afterward.  Of course it was a completely wasted day for me. 

It looks like the Christmas party is shaping up to be a good one.  Several of Matt’s co-workers have said that they would be coming and several of mine are as well.  We’ve got some Scrabble friends coming as well so I think it will be a success.  I just hope I can get everything done before then. 

Is it Christmas break yet?

Only 1 1/2 weeks of school to go.  I’m not really all that anxious actually.  Matt and I are hosting a Christmas party on the 22nd so I think time is going to fly by since I have to get the house ready by then.  I spent this past weekend unpacking all my Marvin items.  I had about 5 boxes of stuff.  I found places on the shelves and my loft area looks like a Martian explosion.  I also hung curtains in the guest room and put away all the unpacked boxes in closets.  The house is slowly coming together.  I need to hang some artwork in the living room and the curtains in the kitchen.  I got the office/workout room cleared as well.  Now it’s a matter of general cleaning I need to get done such as running the vacuum, sweeping, mopping, cleaning toilets and such – the things I love – not. 

Work has been busy as always.  My library and Scrabble club has been keeping me really busy, but it has been fun.  The kids that hang out in the library are really neat and I think they are really learning from playing Scrabble and doing the projects I’ve put together for them. 

I got a little irritated with Matt the other night.  I was trying to get him to talk about his future plans and he totally avoided my questions.  I let him know that I gave a reprieve for a few days, but that we would continue the conversation at some point and discuss our relationship like adults.  For a guy that is 52 years old, he can be a little childish – but I still love him. 

I’m looking forward to the 2 weeks off for Christmas though.  No place to go and I’ll get to take it easy – unless I decide to paint a room or something. 

A free Tuesday

I’m not sure what to do this week with no band or orchestra rehearsals.  I really should work on house stuff.  I did some of that yesterday.  I worked on unpacking a bunch of stuff in the office/workout room.  I’m not really going to have an office – I have an office closet where I’m storing filing cabinets, some shelves and such.  My desk got ruined when we moved so I can’t use it anyway.  My old desk that was in Josh’s room is now being used as my crafting desk.  Josh will have to get his own desk at some point. 

Matt and I have kind of been talking about marriage stuff while still skirting the specifics of him actually asking me or an idea of “when.” But we’ve talked about some logistics – like that fact that I’d probably want to get married in my church back in Canyon which works for him because his best man lives in Lubbock and another friend lives in Oklahoma.  Then there was the comment about his mother not approving a white wedding dress since I’ve been married before.  While I probably wouldn’t choose a white dress anyway, I told him I’d still wear whatever I wanted.  I’m not sure that she would even come to the wedding.  She still has made no effort to meet me.  But as far as actually getting married – that issue is still up the air.  Matt offers no information.  I did ask him if he was going to renew his apartment lease when it comes up in the spring, and he said probably not – but I don’t know if that really means anything. 

Matt asked me to make a rosary for his mother for Christmas.  I made it and I think it turned out really pretty.  I chose large beads that have pinkish flowers on them, pink beads with some teal green spacers.  I chose the beads because she has an extensive rose garden and it made me think of flowers.  I hope she likes it and I hope it might open up some lines of communication.

Well, I guess I’ll figure out something to eat for dinner and then do a little work on the house.  Matt and I are planning on having a Christmas party so I have a lot to get done before then. 

Back to the Grind

I’ve felt really tired since starting back to work after the break.  I guess I need to get more sleep or something.  Yesterday I was so tired that I napped for an hour and a half after I got home from work before I had to head out for band rehearsal.  Work has been busy.  I had Scrabble club on Monday and remembered at the end of the day that I was supposed to submit a grant proposal.   I stayed up late that evening working on it and finished it around noon.  I turned it in to my facilitator yesterday and got her comments back today.  She only had a few suggestions and told me that she really enjoyed reading it.  She said that her email was standard to all those who submitted the grants, but told me that mine really stood out and she hoped that I would get it.  I’m going to officially submit it tomorrow and see what happens. 

Matt is going to a tournament in Austin this weekend.  I’m not going because I have a band concert on Sunday.  I think I’m going to try to get a lot of work done on the house on Saturday.  I’ve been making some progress.  I got all the books unpacked and on the shelves.  I have a crafting desk ready and have made some rosaries.  We got the trees decorated last weekend and hung lights on the house. 

Matt and I saw Lincoln this weekend as well.  No wonder I’m so tired!  The movie was really good.  I think Daniel Day Lewis has a good chance at an Oscar.  I’m excited about seeing Les Miserables on Christmas.  I need to read the Hobbit before the movie comes out in a few weeks.  I haven’t ever read Tolkien’s books, so I guess I should try. 

Well, I’m going to try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight.  I hope I won’t be so tired tomorrow. 

Break is almost over

Where did the time go?  The trip to DFW with my cousin was very beneficial.  She got a good feel for the area and it helped her decide the areas she wanted to focus on finding a house.  We looked at a few rentals and found one she really liked and she almost filled out the application for it.  Her husband wanted to wait until his transfer came through, however.  So it may be a little while, but they are definitely making plans to move in the next few months.  Hopefully it will be sooner than later. 

The only eventful thing happened when I tried to leave.  My new GPS kept getting me lost and when I finally made it to I-35 South I had to cut across traffic and I did it in front of a Dallas PD vehicle.  He pulled me over, but thankfully didn’t give me a ticket.  He even showed me how to get back on the interstate.  I took the new toll road north of Austin and was happy to avoid the horrible traffic.  It was great to be able to drive 80 and 85 mph.  I made good time getting back home.

Thanksgiving was a nice but subdued affair.  I made the full dinner for the first time in a very long time.  The turkey was ok, but everything else was pretty good.  Josh requested ground turkey tacos and they were quite yummy.  After dinner Matt watched a million football games and I finished painting the loft. 

Yesterday Matt and I actually braved Black Friday, but waited until mid-morning.  It really wasn’t that bad.  We looked for a grill for him but found that it was better to order it online so I bought it for him for Christmas.  I also ordered a futon for Josh.  We went out to dinner with some friends at La Gloria and then tried to go to the movies to see Lincoln.  Unfortunately it was sold out so we’ll have to see it another time. 

Today I slept in and then headed out for a little more shopping.  I got some beads to make a rosary for Matt’s mom.  I picked up a few more things for Christmas and my shopping is almost done.  I think we’ll put up the tree tonight.  Matt I also got some lights for the outside of the house.  This will be first for me to decorate the exterior of the house.  I think Matt is more excited about it than I am. 

In Garland

I drove up Saturday morning and picked my cousin up at Dallas Love Field.  We headed to the hotel which is a very nice Hyatt Place that I got for $50 a night through Hotwire.  We didn’t do much on Saturday.  We checked in and then went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in front of the hotel called Matt’s.  I spent Saturday evening making a plan for checking out the rental houses by mapping them using batchgeo.com.  On Sunday, I got up early and went to church in Richardson.  Amanda was still sleeping when I got back.  After she got up, we headed out and drove by 29 different rent houses.  We were able to narrow down the list and get a feel for different neighborhoods.  This morning she got in touch with an agent in the area and we have appoints to see 5 of the rentals tomorrow.  We did another drive by today of the favorites.  We went to Chipotle for lunch because Amanda has never eaten at one.  It’s one of my favorite places so I didn’t mind.  She really liked her vegetarian burrito and I enjoyed my barbacoa one.  After we got back to the hotel, we decided to head up to Grapevine and go to the big mall there.  I bought a new perfume at Bath and Body Works that I really like and found a set of dishes at the JC Penny outlet store.  They aren’t going to be my “nice” set, but they will work for everyday dishes.  I only bought one box that has a four piece setting.  Early today I also bought yet another Titanic book and I found a cool vase for the kitchen table that I like.

Tomorrow we are going to check out some of the schools in the area and then meet the agent to look at the houses.  I’m not sure what else we will do.  It’s been quite a trip for my cousin.  She is usually taking care of her three kids so she is finally getting a good night’s sleep and getting out and doing things that she never gets to do.  I hoping that if we come across a really great house that she will jump on it and just make the move earlier.  I’m so excited that she’s going to be back in Texas finally!

It’s been a nice trip for me as well.  I’ve gotten to read one of my new books and I’ve done some shopping.  I can sleep late in the morning, though I’ve been getting up by 7:00 so far.  I will be ready to get back on Wednesday, though.  I miss Matt, my pets, and my house.  I like visiting Dallas, and I probably wouldn’t mind living here if I had to, but I really love San Antonio.  That is my new home.

Time for a break

Just one more day until my Thanksgiving break starts.  Of course it’s not really going to be a break.  I’m leaving Saturday to go to Dallas and meet my cousin, Amanda, for house hunting.  She is moving back to Texas from San Diego.  I’m picking her up from the airport and I’ve already got a hotel room through hotwire. I might try to do some shopping while up there as well.  I really need to find some new dishes since I gave mine to Josh. 

So last weekend I bought a treadmill.  It was a pain to put together and then thought it was going to be problematic because the breaker kept tripping when I’d take it up to 4 mph, But when I plugged it into a different outlet, it worked fine.  I have actually been using it.  I guess we’ll see if it works. 

I get back from my Dallas trip on Wednesday.  I have no big plans for Thanksgiving.  I’m cooking a turkey and all the trimmings (with turkey tacos for Josh). It’s been years since I’ve cooked a Thanksgiving dinner.  I usually go elsewhere for dinner.  I’m actually looking forward to it.

The house still isn’t unpacked.  I started unpacking boxes of books last weekend, but haven’t finished.  Hopefully I get some stuff done during the break – such that it is. 

Got a Life

I guess I was satisfied with my life back in the Panhandle.  I had a decent job, made decent money.  I had my own house, some friends, freedom, a church family.  I played in a band.  My garage constantly needed to be cleaned, but I was ok with all of that.  And then I moved to San Antonio. 

When I found out that I wasn’t going to get the librarian job at Hereford, I started sending out resumes everywhere I was willing to live.  Though I got a couple of local interviews, I didn’t get those jobs.  I had another horrible interview in the Dallas area.  When I got the message that SAISD wanted me to come interview, I wasn’t sure what to think.  I was still hoping something local would come open so I would not have to consider moving.  I also considered not even responding and just spending another year teaching. But since I just finished my degree, I thought that I really should take whatever library job I could get.  I needed to get my feet wet and get some experience.  So I got the job offer in late June of 2011 and by mid-July I was making plans to move across the state.  It was going to be the first time I ever lived far from the home I had known for the past 35 years.  But I figured change could be good and if it wasn’t I could always go back.

And I realize that change is good.  When I first moved here, I was happy with the house I got and having access to all the things such a large city has to offer.  I still lead a fairly quiet life – especially since I didn’t have a lot of friends here.  But I got to see my friends Marty and Brent from time to time since they lived in Austin.  I went to the movies by myself a couple of times and just enjoyed a fairly quiet life.  But I still wanted something a little more so I decided to try online dating sites again.  I thought that since I now lived in a big city, there might be more choices – maybe out of the 1.3 million people living here, there could be a decent single guy that wasn’t creepy, desperate, perverted, etc.  I did go on one date with a guy I met on eharmony, but he definitely wasn’t it.  He seemed nice enough, but no sparks at all.  And then I decided to give Catholic match another try.  I thought that surely there are a bunch of single Catholic guys around here – maybe I could meet just one of them. To my complete shock, I did. 

I saw Matt’s profile and read that he enjoyed Scrabble and going to theme parks.  Though he was 10 years older than me, I didn’t mind that.  My only hesitation was that he had never been married.  I figured that might indicate something was wrong with him.  But I figured I couldn’t find out if I didn’t take a chance so I sent him a message.  And he replied back.  Then we started emailing.  I could tell that he was very smart and that he seemed pretty nice.  A few weeks later he called me up and asked me on a date.  A few months later, he finally kissed me.  Now we’ve been together for a year.  Because I came to this new city and met this amazing man, I started to realize that although I had a decent life back in Canyon, I don’t think I was really “living.”  So many new doors have been opened up here.

Though we don’t go to movies a lot, I probably went to more movies last year alone that I’ve done in the last 5 years total.  I’ve experience more artistic and cultural events than I ever did back home.  Before I came here, I had been to a total of 4 “pop” (non-orchestral) concerts in my life.  After moving here, I’ve been to 4 in just the past year.  I’ve attended two symphonies, played in a symphony, and still play in a band.  I’ve eaten a LOT of great food (and gained 15 pounds).  I’ve gone to Sea World and Six Flags multiple times.  I’ve competed in three Scrabble tournaments.  I have something to do almost every night of the week.  Even though sometimes it is overwhelming, it really is a good kind of busy that makes life more interesting. 

Several of you have commented about how much my life has changed in the past year.  It certainly has and I couldn’t be more happy.  I love my new house here; I love my job; and I really love my wonderful boyfriend.  This experience has been a blessed change.  Not everything is completely picture perfect of course – I’m still trying to find a church home that I love, but I have to say other than that, so far, so good.  I’ve finally got a life. 

A great weekend

I spent most of Saturday cleaning my house.  My new dining table was delivered, so I focused on the downstairs.  I did a little work upstairs, but I still have the loft area to unpack.  On Saturday evening, Matt and I did some shopping and went to dinner.  On Sunday we went to church, did more shopping – looked at some treadmills and then came home.  We had big plans for the evening so I had to take time to get ready.  We went to dinner at a very fancy restaurant downtown where you have a waiter, an assistant, and a sommelier.  Luckily, Matt paid, but it was an expensive dinner.  We barely made it to the theater before the concert started, but I didn’t miss anything, thankfully.  Olivia Newton John was amazing.  I’ve waited more than 30 years to see her live in concert.  I’ve been a fan ever since I saw the movie Grease when I was about 8 years old.  I really enjoyed the concert and was surprised that she sang my absolute favorite song that is pretty obscure on a soundtrack that is no longer produced.  I could tell that her voice was a little strained like she was fighting a cold or something, but she still did an amazing job.  I have to say that aside from Josh, it was the best birthday present ever.  We had really good seats that were on the floor.  After the concert, I wanted to get a shirt and CD.  I headed to the souvenir table and there was only one guy working it with a crowd of about 100 people that wanted to buy something.  Luckily, I got close to the front, but it still took 30 minutes to get a shirt and CD.  Even then, they sold out of large t-shirts so I had to buy an XL.  But I was happy to get the shirt and Matt was patient about waiting for me.  I think he had a good time too.

Can you believe that we’ve been dating for a year?  He is such an amazing person and I am so happy that I found him here in San Antonio.  I love living in this city and having Matt by my side most of the time.   I could write a longer post about all of this, but I’m tired and really need to call it a night. 

I’m watching the election results, and though the media is calling the election, I’ll wait until morning, to get the official results.  I did do my civic duty and vote today.  I don’t have a political bone in my body and I don’t think I’ve really ever talked much about politics on this blog. I prefer to keep my preferences to myself most of the time and refuse to make comments on Facebook and such.  I am, however, getting really tired of all the political postings that I have to see on there.  My personal political stance has shifted in the last few years.  I was often influenced by my parent’s (really my mother’s) beliefs, but now I’m starting to figure out what I really care about and believe in which in many ways is very different from how I was raised.  I would consider myself to be very moderate at this point in my life.

Well, my bed is calling me so I’m going to head that way.

Almost TGIF

It seems like it has been a long week for me.  Monday was inservice for school so no kids.  My library has been freezing the last week.  It has hovered around 63 degrees most days.  Today it got up to a whopping 66.  I’ve been wearing a jacket and gloves off and on, but it’s still pretty miserable.  Yesterday I either had a cold or massive allergies and I felt miserable most of the day.  I didn’t do much work at all.  Luckily I can look busy without doing much.  Most of the time I really am busy, but yesterday was just not my day to get much done.  I came home after school and intended to go to church for the All Saints vigil mass, but had to wait for my GPS that I ordered from Amazon to be delivered.  I didn’t want it left on my front porch with a bunch of random trick or treaters walking by.  It came too late for me to go to church so I headed into town to avoid handy out candy.  The doorbell drives the dogs crazy and I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.  I was still feeling pretty miserable, but I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and found some curtains on sale for my dining area.  After that, I went to Chipotle to get a burrito for dinner.  I got a deal on it since I was in “costume” as a teacher.  Paid less than $4.00 for the meal.  I brought it home, kept the lights off downstairs, and headed up to my bedroom.  I took a benadryl, 1/2 a tylenol p.m., and two regular tylenol.  I was fast asleep within an hour.  It seemed to help and I felt like I got some decent sleep.  I felt better this morning, but still have some symptoms that pop up at times. 

Tonight I went to church, picked up a sandwich at Jimmy John’s, then headed to Scrabble practice.  I played a my personal best high scoring turn tonight.  I played the word “chasings” for 185 points as a triple-triple bingo.  Matt challenged it, but it was a good play.  I beat him by almost 200 points tonight.  I still haven’t officially played a 500 point game, but got close with 489 points tonight. 

Tomorrow I’m going with the middle school band to a high school football game as a chaperone.  It will be a long night, but I’ll take my Kindle with me and probably read a lot.  My new dining room table will be delivered on Saturday and then Matt and I are going to the Olivia Newton John concert on Sunday.  He bought me tickets for it a few months ago as an early birthday present.  We are going to a fancy restaurant for dinner as well.  Sunday is also our one year anniversary.  Our first date was a year ago.  My, how time flies when you’re having fun.  I have to say that moving to San Antonio was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.

A Cold Snap

We’ve had our first bit of cold weather here in SA.  We had a thunderstorm roll through on Friday that dumped a lot of rained and dropped the temps down into the 50’s.  It was very chilly that day.  On Saturday, the high was in the mid 60’s when Matt and I went to Sea World.  I wore a sweatshirt so it was actually comfortable most of the day.  I got to get some coaster rides in as well.  By the time it got dark, it was pretty chilly.  We left a little before 9 pm.    Luckily it hasn’t been cold enough to turn the heat on.  (I hope the heat works, though.)  It’s a good time of year for my utility bill.  Not running the air or heat means a lower bill! 

It was very lovely to sleep in this morning. I got up around 9:30 and had some leftovers for breakfast. Today I’m going to start painting the loft area.  That’s hopefully one of the last big to-do things on my list that needs to be done so I can finally get completely unpacked.  Though I doubt I’ll ever be completely unpacked.  Matt is moving stuff into my garage.  He has a storage closet at his apartment and is going to give it up to save some money on his rent.  He has a game table that he wants to put in the loft.  I’m going to have to reupholster the chairs, but I think it will be ok once I do that.  Of course it is going to have stay in the garage until I get that area painted and unpacked.  It’s full of my boxes of books and Marvin stuff.

Skipped Scrabble

It’s difficult to have something going on every night of the week.  I was supposed to go to Scrabble practice tonight, but I opted out.  I did meet Matt for dinner at Taco Cabana which has been our tradition for a while, but instead of going to Scrabble I went to the store for some much needed items.  I just finished paying bills as well.  I just made my first house payment.  It was actually lower than my rent payment used to be.  Since I paid off most of my credit cards last month, I actually have a little extra money in my account now.  It’s a good feeling to have a little cushion. 

Believe it or not, I’ve actually been able to do some reading lately.  I am finally reading some of the books I’ve ordered for my library.  I feel like my biggest weakness as a librarian right now is that I can’t truly recommend books I know about to my students.  My goal is to read at least two new books a month.  I’ve also started a library club at school and I have about 50 kids that are participating in it.  Luckily we’re only officially meeting twice a month, but it keeps me busy.  I’m starting a Scrabble club as well, but the first meeting won’t be until November. 

Hanging in here

Well, I guess there’s at least one blog reader still hanging on even though I haven’t posted much. Annie, yes, I’m ok, just staying busy as ever.  When I’m not working, I’m usually doing something else.  I’ve had orchestra rehearsals, band rehearsals, concerts for both, meetings, Scrabble practice, and shopping.  Last weekend I finally bought my dining room set.  It will be delivered next Saturday.  I also painted two more walls of the living room and a wall in the dining area.  I bought paint for the loft area and will try to get to that at some point.  It’s already gearing up to be another busy weekend.  Matt wants me to go to the movies with him and his friend Ira on Friday.  On Saturday we are going Sea World because he got free tickets from work as an employee appreciation thing.  Unfortunately, a cold front is coming in this weekend so it might actually be cold.  On Sunday he wants to go to Austin for a book thing. 

The house is slowly coming along.  Still not completely unpacked, but hope to be there by Thanksgiving or so.  I got some artwork for my walls and I hung the curtains in the living room.  I plan to post pictures once it looks like a house and not a storage facility. 

Still alive…mostly

I’ve had allergy issues for going on two weeks now.  I’m either stuffy, sneezing, sniffly, or congested at any given time.  In spite of this, I’m staying pretty busy which has limited my time in unpacking and working on the house.  I finally got my bedroom unpacked this weekend.  I now have clothes in drawers and I’m no longer living out of boxes for the most part.  I still need to hang curtains in the living room which is on the to-do list for tomorrow.  I also have to paint the loft area before I can unpack the numerous boxes that are up there. 

I had orchestra rehearsal last night and have band tonight.  I’m really ready for a break.  Tomorrow is supposed to be bowling.  As much as I like being social with my co-workers, doing something every evening takes it toll.  Scrabble is on Thursday and I’m not sure what is in store for Friday.  Luckily, Saturday is a free day for me.  Perhaps I’ll get some painting done. 

I’m heading out to band rehearsal early tonight.  There’s a cocky kid that keeps trying to sit above me so I want to get there early and claim my spot at the end of the row.  It might be petty, but since I volunteered to move down to 2nd part, I feel like I kind of deserve to sit on the end. 

Making progress

I’m slowly getting things unpacked, but it’s not going as fast as I’d like – but that’s just because I’ve been pretty lazy.  Today was the first cold (really cool) day we’ve had in San Antonio and it was just one of those stay in bed and nap kind of days.  Of course the more I unpack, sometimes the bigger mess is made.  I still have the dilemma of deciding whether I should pain the loft area.  If I do, I need to do it before I get all my books and stuff set up in there.  But if I paint, I will have to paint the entire upstairs area (outside of the bedrooms) and probably down the stairs as well.  The other issue is deciding what color to paint. 

Tomorrow my garage door opener is getting installed as well as my new dishwasher.  I will have to take off from work in the afternoon for the dishwasher install because they aren’t coming until sometime between 2 and 5.  Matt has a doctor’s appointment so he can’t be here then.  But that means perhaps I can get more stuff unpacked and some curtains hung.  I think I’ll have to make some curtains for the dining room and kitchen because I haven’t found anything that I like.  But there’s no major hurry – no neighbors behind me. 

Moving Sucks

But moving in the rain sucks even more.  Of course last Friday the heavens opened up.  Originally a teacher from the school was going to bring his truck and trailer, but the rain started pouring right about the time school got out.  I called and cancelled him coming and went to plan B which was to rent a Uhaul truck.  I tried Budget truck first, but they were all out.  Uhaul had a truck so Matt took me to get it around 5:30.  Matt and Jason loaded the truck when I got back but then they had issues unloading some of the heavy items.  They couldn’t really get some of the big items upstairs so I was stuck with those being in the garage.  They worked hard, but were pretty exhausted by 10:30 and had to stop.  At that point, I still had about 70 boxes left in the rental house along with the couch, washer and dryer, tv stand, and a few other large items.  On Saturday it still rained.  Josh and I loaded the truck with more boxes that morning and unloaded them, but I’m so badly out of shape that it completely wore me out.  We went to lunch and then I talked to Matt’s friend’s mom, Cathey, who was trying to find me some movers to hire.  She couldn’t find anyone, but gave me another number to call which was a service provided by uhaul so I called it.  I was able to get two guys to help move on Saturday evening for 3 hours for $155.  I had to go back and forth with uhaul to keep the truck another day, but got everything worked out.  Hiring those guys was the best decision I made in this whole process.  They came and loaded the 14 ft truck completely full in about 45 minutes.  When we got to the new house, they moved all the big furniture upstairs for me and unloaded the truck in a little over another hour.  They hustled and did a great job.  I tipped them $50 extra. 

On Sunday last week I cleaned the rental as best I could in the 8 hours I had after church.  I left my keys and a note at the house.  The rental company will have the carpets cleaned and deduct the amount from my deposit.  I have slowed unpacked but still have a ways to go.  I got the kitchen done by about Wednesday.  Today, I worked on the living room while the cable was getting hooked up.  I’ve spent about $2500 at home improvement stores purchasing a refrigerator, new back door with pet door (and installation), a new dishwasher (to be delivered and installed on Monday), and a garage door opener (to be installed Monday).  The pets seem to enjoy the new house and like having their pet door again.  It is a relief to sleep at night and not get up multiple times to let them out. 

Work has actually been pretty productive as well.  I’ve been weeding books in my library and getting other things done this week while the book fair is going on.  I was off campus at a meeting today and got to leave a little earlier than usual.  Of course the cable guy was running late and didn’t get here until 6:45.  He was here until about 8:00 because he had to run another line in my back yard and then bury it.  But I have cable and internet now which is a huge relief. 

Tomorrow I’m looking forward to sleeping in and then getting more of my bedroom set up and unpacked.  I’m still debating whether I’m going to paint the loft area because if I do that, I need to do it before I put a bunch of books on the shelves and such.  I also need to hang a lot of my curtains tomorrow since I don’t have blinds.  I do have curtains in my bedroom, but would like to get the living room curtains installed. 

I do love my new house.  The stairs take a little getting used to – especially when you forget things either up or down stairs and have to make multiple trips.  I love that my kitchen is really big and I have plenty of storage space – though it has filled up quickly.  My living room isn’t huge, but is just the right size for my furniture.  My computer desk is toast after the move but I probably won’t replace it.  I’m going to buy a treadmill and put it in my office instead.  I really need to lose some weight and I realize out of shape I am after this move. 

So that’s the update for the past week.  It feels good to finally be able to blog again!

Brief blogging break

It's going to be difficult for me to post for a few days as I will not have Internet at home until Friday. Right now I'm posting from my iPhone which is a pain. I had to install chrome on my phone in order to post and typing is slow going. Thank goodness for auto correct as I'm making a lot of mistakes. In brief summary, I got moved and it was a complete hassle thanks to the constant rain this past weekend. I'll write all the details when I can post from my laptop.  Hey, it's not like I was blogging regularly anyway, right?

Much to do

So I eventually went back to bed after my allergy attack.  The benadryl started working around 5:00 a.m.  I briefly woke at 7:00 but went back to sleep until around 9:00.  After I got dressed, I went to Lowes to see about my door estimate.  It cost me over $600 for the door, pet door, and installation.  But I think it will be worth it in the end.  Problem is that it may not get installed until Monday so I’ll have to isolate the dogs in the kitchen over the weekend.  While I was at Lowes dealing with the door, the Lowes delivery guys called because they wanted to deliver my refrigerator.  I told them I’d be about 20 minutes.  They said that was fine.  I headed back to the house and they were waiting.  The refrigerator is in and seems to be working fine.  After that, I headed to Lowes to get some paint, but the guy was really busy so I just bought some supplies and decided to come back later.  I then had to head back to the house because the sprinkler guy was going to come out and look at my system.  He got the leaking valve to stop temporarily and he’ll come back out and take a look at the system on a later date.  Then I waited for the pest control guy to come out.  He came and sprayed the house and yard so it should be bug free.  After that, I went to get more curtains but couldn’t make up my mind.  I was hungry by then so I went to Whataburger for a burger.  I then went to Home Depot to get my paint.  While there, I got a text for a house showing for my rental house.  So I rushed back to get stuff to take to the new house and then took Mollie and Max with me for about an hour.  I was called by the agency stating that the showing had been cancelled.  I headed back home and was gathering my painting clothes when I heard a car door slam.  Turns out the people wanting to see the house was just late and the agent wouldn’t wait for them.  I told them they could see the house if they didn’t mine my animals being inside.  They seemed to like the house but I don’t know if they’ll rent it or not.  I told them that I liked the area and it was a really good house.  After they left, I headed back to the house in the rain.  We got a nice rain storm briefly.  I started painting the living room and it took about 3 1/2 hours.  I need to do some touch-ups, but I really like how it turned out.  I chose a mushroom color that gives it more pop than the plain beige.  Tomorrow Matt is taking the day off so that he can help me.  I got paint for the garage but not sure if that is a priority or not.  I need to get some new curtain rods and get them hung so that we can have some privacy in the house since I don’t have blinds yet. 

Tomorrow is moving day.  One of the teachers from the school is bringing his truck and trailer and we’ll hopefully get the big stuff moved if it doesn’t rain.  Of course we have rain in the forecast for the whole weekend.  It’s going to be a long and busy weekend.

Allergies @ 4:30 a.m.

If misery loves company, I guess I should blog since I’m up at 4:30 in the morning sneezing my head off.  I took a benadryl about 10 minutes ago so it will be a while before it kicks in.  I’m slowly making progress on packing.  I already took a few things over to the house since I had to meet the door guy at 6:30.  He measured for my new back door.  It might not be until Monday before he can install it so I’ll have to keep the dogs in the kitchen of the new house until I can get the pet door installed.  I don’t want to risk them peeing on the new carpet. 

I met my new neighbors to my right and they are very nice.  They have lived in the house next door for 7 years – since the community was built and they said that they love it.  Tomorrow I’m having the pest control company come out to service the house before I move in.  My new refrigerator will also be delivered.  Tomorrow I will move other things that can’t really be packed like my sewing machine and other awkward items.  I may try to get my curtains hung as well since I don’t have blinds for the windows yet.  I went to Anna’s Linens today and bought more curtains for the house. 

I will try to post some pictures or maybe even a video of the house soon. 

Got the keys

…but not without more drama.  I thought it would be a nice easy day at work while I patiently waited for the funding to happen so that I could get my house keys.  Well, the day at work wasn’t too bad.  I worked on processing some new books most of the day.  But mid-morning I got an email from the title company stating that they had forgotten to send a few of the documents that were supposed to be signed.  So I printed those out, signed them, scanned and emailed them back.  Then I was told that everything was done, except they were waiting on final inspection from the lender to ok the funding.  Then in the meantime, I got another email saying “oops, we forgot that you had to pay another $295 that we left off.”  At that point, my agent laid into the title company person but I think I’m still going to have to pay it.  Regardless of that outcome, I was able to get keys a little after 5:00 today.  I went to the house briefly, but then headed out to look at refrigerators. I think I’ve narrowed my choice and will go back tomorrow. I also made an appointment to get an estimate on replacing the back door.  I skipped band rehearsal tonight so that I could do all this.  Now I’m at home and I should finish my packing, but I just want to go to bed. 

Ready to be Moved

All this packing sucks.  I am so ready to be moved.  Today I got to go back to the new house to do a walk through.  Somehow the alarm system got set and there was no code to turn it off.  It eventually turned off, but you had to leave the doors open so it wouldn’t go off again.  I guess it will have to be checked before I move in.  I tried to wire the money for the closing and it turns out that my bank has a limit on the amount of money that can be wired electronically.  So then I tried transferring money from one bank account to the other and it will take 3 days to move the money.  I did a transfer just in case, but I will contact my bank in the morning and see if I can just have them wired the money directly to the title company.  It seems there’s always something to deal with. 

Tomorrow will be a full day.  I have English classes coming in again and I’m also closing on the house at some point – I hope.  They will send a mobile notary to me at the school.  I’m supposed to go to a library meeting after school, but I don’t know if I’ll make it.  It will depend on if they are showing my house again or not.  Right now it is in a very messy state with boxes everywhere, but it’s going to be like that until I move.  The only areas left to pack are my closet, Josh’s bathroom, the laundry room, and some of the stuff in the garage.  I do need to go to Orchestra rehearsal since I skipped last week.  I probably won’t go to band rehearsal this week though. 

I’m going to try to pack a little more tonight and be about 90% done if possible.  Of course all this packing means that I’ll have to eventually unpack as well.  But that’s another week or so. 

Packing Sucks

If I could get everything to fit perfectly into boxes and they were all light enough to lift with little effort, then packing might not be so bad.  But things are never that way.  I made quite a bit of progress today in spite of taking a lot of breaks.  There’s still a lot to do, but I’m getting there.  Tomorrow I get to do a final walk through on the house.  I want to make sure that the air conditioning is truly fixed.  I also need to measure the back door because I need to get a replacement door.  I also need to get a refrigerator.  I think I’ve figured out which one I want, but need to do a little more shopping – just not sure when I’ll find the time for that.  I’m feeling a bit sore from packing so I took some tylenol including a tylenol p.m. I’m starting to feeling it so I think I’ll head to bed. 

Dare I Hope?

Well, I think I will be closing on the house on Monday.  I haven’t gotten the confirmation of the time, but as far as I know it will happen.  I just got a call regarding the final amount that I will need to wire to the title company.  I’ve reiterated the fact that regardless of when things happen, that I must have keys in hand no later than Friday.  I absolutely have to move next weekend. 

There has been some active interest in showings for the rental I’m in now.  I have had to put the dogs outside and vacate the house for a hour most evenings.  That means I’ve done a lot of shopping.  Not necessarily a lot of buying – just shopping.  Now I have to really get in gear and buy a refrigerator, curtains, and a new door for the house.  I also need to decide on cable/satellite service and call the utility company for the changeover.  I think I will take Thursday and Friday off next week – especially if I can get keys by Thursday.  I would love to have a day to get some painting done. 

In other news, I did a presentation today at the Library Round Up.  I think it went well.  Several of my librarian friends attended and they seemed to enjoy it and said it was beneficial.  I went to some other sessions that had some good information so I think it was a worthwhile day.  Last night when I was trying to get ready for it, my wireless internet stopped working.  I was able to get connected with a direct ethernet cable, but I figured that my old G router was taking it’s last breath.  I went to Walmart after I got home today and purchased a new wireless-N router.  It took a while to get it going though.  I had the old router’s power cable plugged into my cable modem and I think that was the problem.  It couldn’t keep a charge.  I finally changed to the right power cord and everything hooked up wonderfully.  I love the fact that now I have a simple password to use for the network instead of the ridiculous long alpha numeric key that I had to use before.  The internet seems to run even a little better now.  I wonder if the constant hangs and freezes that were happening are because of the old router. 

Matt is coming over shortly and then I think we’re going to Red Lobster for dinner tonight.  He said he was craving seafood and I think they may be having an endless shrimp thing going on right now. 

A Rainy Day

Rainy days are very rare here it seems.  We had some rain about two days ago and then sometime last night it started again and it has been raining constantly since.  It’s a good thing but it makes me want to just nap and do nothing all day.  I did already nap a bit, but now I have to do some cleaning.  The house is being showed tomorrow so I have to tidy up.  I also have start getting in clean in order to get my deposit back.  Since I may not be moving until the last weekend of the month, I will have to get all the cleaning here done before then. 

Yesterday Matt and I took all the animals to the vet to get their shots.  For their ages, they all seem to be doing pretty well.  Max was getting another ear infection so we got medicine for that.  They were all very patient – even the cat.  When we finished, I got the dogs burgers from Sonic as a treat. 

Yesterday I spent almost all day working on my presentation that I’m doing next week.  There’s a library resource round up at the local region service center and I put in a proposal for a presentation.  I’m the only librarian in our district that is presenting.  I hope it goes well. 

I’ve also been working on a book order for the library.  I have to spend $5000 by this Thursday.  It’s harder than you would think. 

Is tomorrow already Friday?

Where does the time go?  I’m back at the fast and furious pace with both work and play.  I stay busy all day long at work – but thankfully my day is about 1/2 and hour shorter now.  Evenings the rest of the week are busy.  Mondays I have orchestra.  Tuesdays I have band.  Starting next Wednesday I will be bowling.  Scrabble practice is on Thursday.  I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, but usually Matt I are doing something.  I haven’t been packing in a while, but it turns out I may not need to rush. 

My agent contacted me today saying that the air conditioner still had not been fixed and that the seller (Fannie Mae) wanted to extend the closing date to as late as the 28th.  I told her no way.  Closing on a Friday at the end of the month would mean that I probably wouldn’t get keys to the house until October 1st or 2nd.  I have to be out of my rental house by the 30th.  I told my agent that unless they wanted to pay me $1200 for another month’s rent or pay to put all my stuff in storage, that the 28th was not an option.  She reiterated that to the seller.  I conceded by extending the date to the 24th, however.  So I probably won’t be closing on Monday or Tuesday next week as planned.  I probably won’t be moving next weekend either.  It does put a cramp in my plans, but as long as I can get moved before the 30th, I’ll be ok.  I’ll have to do a lot of cleaning here at the house before I move so that I won’t have to do as much the weekend I move. 

That does make my extremely busy week next week a little better, so I guess it’s not all bad.  I have to put in a $5000 order by next Thursday.  I also have to prepare for a presentation that I’m doing at a workshop next Friday.  I also have classes coming to the library on Friday and Monday.  My library is finally looking like a library, but I still have lots of things to deal with. 

We’re finally getting some rain here.  It doesn’t seem to be raining as much as it is in town, but it’s better than nothing I guess.  I’m exhausted from today so I’m going to head to bed and hope I get a decent night’s sleep.  I think I need to put in earplugs tonight and ignore the animals if I can.

Working too Hard

It doesn’t help that I didn’t get much sleep last night.  The cat wanted in and out, in and out ALL night.  Today I shifted textbooks ALL day.  I’m trying really hard to get all the books back in the textbook room where they belong and have it where I don’t have to move them out into the library at the end of the year every year.  I’m finding that I can send quite a few books back to the textbook warehouse which helps. 

I have to say that I have the nicest boyfriend in the world.  Not only did he mow my lawn today, he brought me lunch at school and then he stayed to help me with all the textbooks.  I feel guilty that I didn’t go to Scrabble practice, but when I got home, I was completely exhausted.  I’m going to take a sleeping pill and put in earplugs tonight and hope I can sleep through the animal wanderings tonight. 

I’ve started packing but haven’t had time to continue this week.  I got a call two days ago about my rental company wanting to show my current house to a prospective tenant and I wasn’t ready for that.  I hadn’t had a chance to clean.  I rushed home at lunch at did a little cleaning and did more when I got home after school.  The prospective tenant, however, canceled the appointment.  At least the house is clean now so it can be shown.  The problem, however, is that I have to keep the dogs penned up the next few weeks until I move.  I ordered an X pen for them which they won’t like, but I have no choice.  The house has to be ready to be shown at any time.  I cannot tell you how ready I am to be moved and live in a house with a pet door.  Of course I still have to find someone to install the door, but I have a friend that can give me a recommendation.  It’s all happening pretty fast and moving day will be here before I know it.

Labor Day Weekend

It was great to have the three days off this weekend.  I finally started packing and got quite a bit done.  Most of the books are packed as is most of my Martian items.  I’ve packed DVDs, CDs, and office items.  I’ll start on the kitchen after this week.  I think I’ll be ready by the time I close.  I will move a few boxes at a time that week and then do the big stuff on the weekend.  I’m still debating on whether I should hire someone to move the really big stuff. 

Matt and I went to Schlitterbahn Water Park today.  It was a lot of fun, but the sunscreen I used didn’t seem to work.  I’m not sporting a pretty good burn and I look like a lobster.  I hope it doesn’t hurt too bad tomorrow.  I’m trying to keep it moisturized.  Matt brought some aloe spray so hopefully that will help. 

I have 3 1/2 days to get my library ready to open.  I’m not sure if I can do it, but Matt will come and help me on Thursday. 

Packing

Now that it looks like I’ll be moving in a little over 2 weeks, I finally started packing today.  I also shampooed the carpet in the den.  I got almost all my books packed, all the cds, dvds, and some office items.  I gave my notice on Thursday evening and by the time I got home yesterday, they had a “For Rent” sign in my yard in front of the house. 

I got a little upset with Matt last night.  It was another time issue.  I had a long speech prepared to give him, but he finally came to his senses and apologized this evening.  It’s probably a good thing that he is not as stubborn as I am. 

He has been wanting to go to Schlitterbahn so I guess we may go on Monday.  I’m not keen about going out in public in a bathing suit right now, but it would probably be fun. 

Still Alive, Just Tired

I survived the first week back to school.  I keep working and working in my library, but things only seem to get worse.  I know I’m making progress, but I hope it moves a little faster when I get back next week.  I found a cool program online today that will track your time as you do things.  I started tracking what I do during the day and I think it will be interesting to report on it later.

On the good news front, I finally got word that the air conditioning in the house will be fixed before I move in.  I told the lender to get the appraisal and I’ve had to submit several other things for my paperwork but hopefully that is taken care of except for the bank statement that should come soon with it being the end of the month.  If everything goes well, I should close on the 18th.  Of course in my infinite wisdom and the fact that I’m a total overachiever, I signed up to present a session at the Library Round Up at our education service center on the 21st.  I don’t think it will be too involved, but it’s one more thing to add to my to-do list.  I also got word today that I have to get ready for testing in my lab coming up in two weeks AND I have to spend $5000 by September 20.  My library is still a complete mess, but I guess I’ll somehow get everything done. 

Now I’m waiting for Matt to come over so we can go to Johnny Carinos for dinner.  I got a $10 coupon in the mail the other day so I thought it would be good to use it tonight.  I really need to start packing and cleaning this weekend.  The 18th will be here before I know it and I will want to get moved as soon as I can. 

Josh called me yesterday to tell me how his classes are going.  He seems to be enjoying everything.  He’s taking a literature class that focus on horror stories that he seems to really like.  He likes living on his own in his apartment as well. 

Well, I think I’ll snooze or rest a bit before Matt gets here.  It has been a very long day.

First Day of School

Well the first day of school is tomorrow.  Luckily I don’t have to open my library for another week or so.  I haven’t even been able to get into the cataloging system – not that I’ve had time.  I will stay busy with a million other things to do.  I will wear a dress (well, skirt and blouse) tomorrow, but that will probably be it for dressing up for a while.  I’m dismayed that I can’t fit into much of what’s in my closet right now because of the weight I’ve gained.  I really have to start eating better and working out. 

So yesterday I drove a huge truck to Nacogdoches.  I reserved a 10 foot truck, but they only had 16 foot trucks.  It went ok, but was kind of awkward to drive.  There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff to take so it didn’t take long for Josh’s friends to unload it.  After I dropped the truck off, Josh and I headed to Walmart to get him more things he needed for his apartment.  I paid for half of it to help him out.  Now he has a microwave, toaster oven, vacuum cleaner, and other apartment necessities.  We went to dinner with my friend Kirsten and then Josh took me to the hotel.

I was a little upset with Matt last night.  Even though he has a cell phone, he doesn’t answer it.  He was late getting to the hotel and wouldn’t answer my calls.  Me being the worry wart I am, I imagined the worst.  I think he realized that it bothered me a lot and he eventually apologized this morning after the cold shoulder last night.  But I got over it and everything is good now.  Tomorrow he’s going to bring me lunch at school and then help me out for a couple of hours. 

Well, I need to head to bed in order to get a decent night’s sleep.  I’m really glad I’m not a teacher – that would make for a really hard day.  I hope this year’s sixth graders are a better bunch of kids than last year’s. 

Bad News, Good News

I had the house inspection today and there’s both good an bad news.  Good news is that the pest inspection showed nothing of concern.  Other good news that in general the house is in good condition and seems to be built well.  But the bad news is pretty significant because the air conditioning didn’t work.  Even though technically I’m buying the house “as is”, this may be something I can get Fannie Mae to fix.  If they don’t fix it, and I walk away from the deal, they’ll have a hard time selling it unless they fix it anyway.  Since an inspection has been done, they would have to disclose that the air conditioning doesn’t work.  Also there’s the issue of the heat not working since the blower wouldn’t come on and that is an FHA financing issue.  So hopefully they’ll get it fixed and we can move forward. 

Tonight was the first orchestra rehearsal for the new season.  It was long and my thumb was hurting by the last 30 minutes of rehearsal.  I’m out of shape in terms of playing.  I guess I need to do some practicing.  I’m tired and want to go to bed, but I’m waiting for clothes to get dry.  I should have washed them earlier.  I have to have some clean pants to wear tomorrow and I’ve gained so much weight that only a few pairs fit.  It’s very depressing.  Hopefully I’ll get in gear soon and start getting active.  I’m trying to watch the diet, but I’m pretty weak when it comes to cheeseburgers and pasta. 

Starting Fresh

I’ve been buying a few new things for my house.  A few weeks ago, I bought a new quilt and pillow shams for my bed.  With the extra Kohl’s cash I got from it, I went back the next week and got the matching throw pillow and some sheets.  I’ve been using the same comforter that I got when I married my ex husband.  It’s still a nice comforter, but I think it’s time for change. 

Josh is moving back to college next week and I’m going to give him my dishes that I got when I married as well.  I just think it is time to start fresh with my own stuff.  After all, when you’re a college student, you’re supposed to start with hand me downs and I think it’s time I had something different.  I’m going to buy a new dining table as well.  I haven’t looked for one yet, but my current table is one of the last hand-me-downs that I still have. 

I didn’t do a lot of cleaning yesterday.  I just did some dishes and cleaned the kitchen so Josh could make supper last night.  I taught him to make cashew chicken which turned out great.  He has been wanting to learn to cook so he can impress his friends.  He’s very excited about getting his own apartment. 

Well, I’m going to go find some lunch and then maybe start some packing. 

Need to Clean

I really need to clean my house.  It’s getting pretty bad and I know I won’t have time next week or next weekend.  It’s shaping up to be another busy week.  I survived my first three days back and I worked my tail off.  I delivered computers to dozens of classrooms in addition to data projectors, Elmos, and textbook kits.  I’m not finished though.  I still have equipment to deliver to the 6th grade building, but I can’t until after they paint in those rooms next week.  This is typical of the district I work for.  Everything is last minute.  I even had Josh come up and help me.  I struck a deal with him.  I’m renting a moving truck to take his bed and some other furniture to his new apartment in Nacogdoches.  He’s leaving Wednesday next week.  I’m picking up the truck on Thursday evening and then Matt, his friend Jason, and I will load it up on Friday evening.  I’ll drive the truck to Nacogdoches on Saturday morning.  Matt will drive up Saturday evening and we’ll stay the night in Nac and come back sometime Sunday.  The next day is the first day of school so I need to be there for that. 

My house inspection is going to be on Monday.  I have to miss part of our inservice training to be there, but my principal was understanding about it.  I hope everything goes well and there isn’t too much wrong with the house.  Since it is a foreclosure, Fannie Mae won’t fix anything.  I think, though, if it is something that would be required by the appraisal for my FHA financing, they would probably fix that.  My lender called me on Thursday and gave me the numbers for closing costs and my estimated payments.  I’ll be paying about $60 more a month than what I’m spending on rent right now.  I will, however, have enough money left over to pay off several credit cards so that should be ok.  I’m debating whether I’m going to keep my cable subscription when I move or switch to direct tv. 

Back to Work

Though I went to a meeting yesterday, today was my first official day back at work.  I got a lot done, but I realize there is so much more to do.  I saw a few of my fellow teachers which was nice.  A few people noticed that I just got my hair cut.  Josh and I went to the mall yesterday and we both got hair cuts.  I went with a short bob that I think looks pretty cute.  I won’t promise a picture because I’ll probably forget to take one and post it.  But maybe I will.  If so, it will be a surprise. 

My realtor called me and said that we could go ahead and schedule the inspection.  It will either be this Friday at 9:00 a.m or on Monday at noon.  I’ll go and take measurements for window blinds and such.  I’ll try to get some pictures to post, but again, no promises. 

I was pretty exhausted after work today but I went to Target to find a watch since the strap on mine broke today.  Matt and I went to church this evening since it was a Holy day of obligation.  Afterward we got stuff for burgers at the store and then he grilled them for dinner.  I’m heading to bed shortly. 

I got the house!

I found out on Friday mid morning that Fannie Mae finally gave me a counter on the house.  I offered $139,000 and asked for $4450 in closing.  They responded with the $139,000 but only $4000 in closing.  I thought that was a good deal so I accepted the offer.  Matt and I had intended to go to Albuquerque on Thursday but couldn’t since we hadn’t heard on the house.  So then we made tentative plans to just go to Dallas for the weekend.  Once the offer came in on Friday we decided to try to go ahead and go to Albuquerque.  The problem was that I needed to get my earnest money as a cashier’s check and potentially sing a paper.  The other issue was that I may have needed to sign other paperwork by Monday.  After going through several rounds with my realtor who went several rounds with the seller’s office, it was determined that we could work around it if necessary.  So now we are in Albuquerque. 

We left on Friday afternoon after dropping off the check and signing a form at the realtor’s office.  We stopped for dinner in Fort Stockton and then stopped for the night in Roswell, NM.  No, we didn’t see any aliens or UFOs unless you count those in the windows of businesses along main street.  When we got to Roswell, we had to stop at a DWI checkpoint.  They looked at Matt’s license and insurance and then sent us on our way.  We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night and met my sister and her husband and my uncle’s daughter.  The food was really good, but I only ate half of it.  I’ll have the rest for dinner tonight. 

Today Matt and I went to a Catholic church in town and then met my aunt and uncle at the Chili’s where my sister works for lunch.  After that we went to Kohl’s.  I got a few things and bought Matt his first pair of jeans.  Can you believe that?  He has never worn jeans – except he said he might have had one pair when he was a kid.  My aunt bought me a top and a purse and I bought a couple of tops and a pair of pants.  Matt even bought another pair of black jeans, a few more shirts and another pair of shorts. 

Now we are back at my aunt and uncle’s place and will probably just take it easy tonight.  We might also play some scrabble tag-teaming against Matt.  We will head back tomorrow.  I just got an email today stating that there was a back to school library orientation on Tuesday, but I don’t know if I’ll make it.  I may have to sign paperwork on the house that day.

Still Waiting

It’s been two full days now and I haven’t heard anything regarding my offer on the house.  It’s getting a bit unnerving.  I hate waiting to hear.  The longer it takes, the more worried I get.  Perhaps I should have accepted the offer the first time.  I don’t know.  You never know when making an offer if yours is the only one, if there are others or if it’s what they will accept.  So it’s still hurry up and wait here.

Matt and I planned to go to Albuquerque this weekend, but the plans are on hold until I hear about my offer.  If we can’t go, we may just run up to Dallas for the weekend instead.  Our original plan was to leave tomorrow evening after Matt gets off work and go part way.  But unless I hear about the house, we’re stuck.  For someone like me that tends to be a planner, it’s difficult to do. 

My friend Pam asked me to make her a rosary.  She’s not Catholic but when I made one for her daughter (the one who recently passed away) she said that it seemed to bring her comfort so she wanted one.  The rosary that I made Kami was buried with her.  So today I went to Michaels and got some beads to make a rosary for my friend.  I think it turned out nice.

I hope it does bring her some comfort.  I can’t imagine the difficult time she is going through and I wish I could do more for her.  Well, I guess I’m going to try to get some sleep and not think about the house.  I hope I get an answer tomorrow – hopefully the answer I want. 

House Hunting Round 2

Matt, Josh, and I headed out for more house hunting today.  We met my realtor at a nearby community and looked at two houses there.  The first was nice, but only 3 bedrooms.  The second was horrible with dirty carpets.  We then looked at three other houses that were even closer to the school where I work, but only one of them had a decent floor plan, but it was a fairly expensive short sale.  After that, we headed to a community further on the east side of town and looked two houses there.  The second was by far the best with an awesome kitchen with granite counters, but it was only 3 bedrooms as well.  We then headed up to Converse and looked at a new build that I was anxious to see.  It was nice, but the kitchen still had limited counter space, the master bedroom was smaller, and it was still pretty far out.  So after looking at a few more houses up there, we headed back to where I live and looked at the house that I originally put an offer on again.  Since I last looked, the linoleum in the utility room had been replaced.  That was one of my concerns the last time I looked at it.  So after checking it out again, I decided that I still liked the house and wanted to put in another offer.  Since they came down $7500 from the original asking price I made an offer of full asking price and asked for $4450 in closing costs.  I signed the paperwork this afternoon and my agent will submit it this evening.  Hopefully they’ll accept this time and I can get under contract.  If not, I’ll have to consider one of the other houses I looked at.  I hope it goes through.  I’m ready to get this done.  If it is accepted in the next day or two, then Matt and I will go on vacation to Albuquerque starting Thursday evening. 

Company Induced Cleaning

There’s nothing like the potential for having company to get me to clean my house.  My friend Brent from Austin texted me yesterday and said he was thinking about coming down today and staying until tomorrow.  So yesterday I got the guest room ready by changing the bedding.  Today I cleaned the kitchen (though I haven’t mopped) and I’m thinking about running the vacuum soon.  Luckily, I don’t let my house get to an unbearable state these days.  I generally keep it picked up where it doesn’t take a lot to get it presentable.  But I’m looking forward to my friend visiting if he is able to do so.  He told me yesterday that it is just “penciled” in for now. 

In house hunting news, the house that I put an offer on dropped in price by $7500.  If they had come back at that price when I made my offer the first time, we would be under contract now.  So I’m going to look at more houses on Monday but if I don’t find anything, I may resubmit my offer on the other house.  It confirms that I was right to not accept their counter offer the first time. 

Well, I think I’m going to scrounge up some lunch and then do a little more cleaning. 

Back to work

Well, for just a day.  I went up to the school this morning to meet with some other teachers to work on a presentation for a faculty meeting.  I also had to set up the assistant principal’s computer.  It was nice to see some of the other teachers and meet a couple of new ones.  It was also good to have an excuse to get my butt out of bed.  I’ve been quite lazy lately, though yesterday I did do some cleaning and some laundry.  Matt and I are going to go to church in Converse this weekend.  Since I’m looking at a few more houses there, I think going to church might give me more of an idea of the area.  If the church has a really good music program, it might be an incentive to live there.  We have yet to find a church with a good choir though we haven’t really explored many new churches lately. 

It turns out that a few of the houses I want to look at on Monday are no longer available.  Hopefully I’ll be able to choose something after I look at the remaining 10 or so.  I didn’t think house hunting would be this difficult, but it’s true that there’s no perfect house – at least in my price range. 

I think I’m going to get my hair cut before school starts.  I’m not going to go way short like before, but I think I’ll get something like a chin length bob.  I still plan to keep growing it out, but I need something a little easier to manage.

Internet Browsers

I seem to have issues with internet browsers on my laptop.  I cannot find one that works without problems.  I was a fan of firefox until it just started randomly freezing.  I just tried to open it and it stopped responding immediately.  It took forever to try to close it.  So then I switched to Chrome.  Chrome worked fine most of the time but it has issues with displaying pdf files.  It would hang when trying to display them within the browser.  It would freeze on those types of pages.  So then I started using Internet Explorer 9 and it seemed more stable and had no problem with pdf pages.  But just now it wouldn’t keep me logged into the realtor.com website.  I don’t know if that is a browser or website issue, but it’s very frustrating.  Perhaps it is simply my computer.  I wonder if I should uninstall all the browsers and reinstall them.  Or should I investigate another browser.  Any computer gurus out there willing to chime in?  I hope that Andrew will give me his 2 cents on the matter. 

I’ve been totally lazy for several days now.  I’m feeling much like a slug.  I’ve been wanting to get out and go to the half price book store in search of a cd, but I haven’t mustered up the energy.  Matt and I did go do a lot of house drive-bys yesterday and that was exhausting.  I’ve been watching quite a bit of Olympic coverage and goofing off online.  I do have to get out sometime today and take my rent check across town.  I think I’ll wait until rush hour traffic isn’t an issue though. 

Starting Over

I declined the offer on the house.  In the end the agent and I concurred that the counter price was iffy.  I decided to wait it out and look at other options.  They may come down in price later or I might find something even better.  Matt I spent most of the day driving around town looking at other houses.  My problem is that I have champagne dreams on a beer budget.  I want a fairly large house with at least 4 bedrooms, good sized kitchen, and two bathrooms.  But there’s always a compromise in getting what I want.  I can get most of that with a new construction in a great neighborhood, with the sacrifice of a smaller kitchen.  Or I have to go farther out.  Or I have to give up something else.  Or I have to pay more money.  It seems the perfect house doesn’t exist for people with somewhat limited budgets.  It would be different if Matt and I were buying a house together, but he’s not ready for that kind of commitment – which I totally understand.  Though I don’t think Matt is going anywhere, I feel more secure making this purchase on my own.  If for whatever reason things don’t work out, I’m not stuck with a house I can’t afford.  And on the plus side, if he does stick around and we get married and such, having a dual income with a smaller house payment will make things easier financially. 

I forgot to mention that Matt bought me my birthday present early.  He bought me tickets for the Olivia Newton John concert here in November.  I have been a fan of Olivia since I was 8 years old and saw Grease for the first time.  I used to play her greatest hits album on my record player all the time.  We have floor seats in row S.  I’m very excited about it.  He is such a great boyfriend. 

Counter Offer

I received news about a counter offer from the seller (Fannie Mae)  late Friday.  I originally offered $135,000 and asked for $5000 in closing costs.  House is listed at $146,500.  They countered with $145,000 and $4300 in closing costs.  The agent said that because of it being a foreclosure that this would be their final offer so I have to take it or leave it.  I’m a little concerned as to whether it will actually appraise at $145,000, but the agent has sent me information showing that other houses (though not similar in size) in the area have sold for much more per square foot.  So now I’m waiting to hear back from her regarding what happens if does not appraise at the sales price.  I don’t think it will be a problem, but just want to have all the bases covered. 

Other than that, nothing new here.  I’ve been taking some lazy days doing mostly nothing at all.  I’ve done some reading, watching the Olympics, and taking naps.  I realize that my summer vacation time is dwindling quickly.  Once I get under contract on a house, I’ll probably start packing.  I have tons of boxes now so I could get started.  Matt and I may head to Albuquerque the weekend before I start back to work.  It depends on how things go with the house-buying process. 

Hurry up and wait

So which one did I choose? 

I put an offer on house 1 – the biggest and closest.  So now it is just waiting to hear whether my offer is accepted, rejected, or countered.  I decided on that house because it’s close to where I live now and I like this community.  It’s quiet and outside the city.  It’s close to major highways.  My commute stays the same at about 7 minutes.  The house is really large at 2380 square feet.  There are no neighbors directly behind the house.  There is tons of inside storage and assuming that Matt decides to give up bachelorhood one of these days, we can cohabitate there without killing each other.  The only downside is the fact that all bedrooms are upstairs, but I guess I can deal with that.  Both Josh and Matt prefer two story houses.  It was also listed under my max budget and I put in an offer of $10,000 below the asking price.  So I guess we’ll see if my offer gets a bite.  I’m not going to start packing until I get an accepted offer though.  Since I wouldn’t be able to close until September anyway, I figure that I have time. 

My own version of House Hunters

Matt, Josh, and I went house hunting yesterday.  We saw about a dozen houses and I’ve narrowed down to three – just like the show.  In case you’re not familiar with the show (though you should be), here’s a brief synopsis.  Camera follows a person or couple planning to purchase a house.  They look a three different houses and they tell all the things they like and don’t like about each one.  Then the show recaps the three choices and at the end you find out which one they chose. 

So yesterday I was able to eliminate several houses simply because I didn’t like the location, the layout, the condition of the house etc.  At the end, I was left with three top picks so here’s the scoop on each of them.

House 1 (Best Space, Foreclosure)

House 1 is a two story traditional that is around 2300 square feet.  It is located in the same neighborhood where I currently live.  It has a lot storage space, huge closets, 3 bedrooms upstairs plus an open game room area.  Master bedroom has two closets and huge master bath with dual vanities and separate shower and tub.  Downstairs has a separate office or 4th bedroom, large kitchen with a separate utility area that has more closets and storage.  Back yard is ample without being too big.  Several pickets are missing in the fence that need to be replaced.  House has been recently painted and has all new carpet.  It is a foreclosure, however, so best bid wins.  It is priced the lowest at $146,500.

Pros: Space, price, same short commute to work, no neighbors in back.
Cons: Foreclosure could mean surprises, master bedroom upstairs

House 2 (New Construction, Most Expensive)

House 2 is a newly constructed house about 2100 square feet in a golf course community.  It has four bedrooms with master downstairs.  Upstairs has three bedrooms in addition to an open game room area.  Kitchen area is tiny with limited counter space and small pantry.  Has new sprinkler system included.  Yard is average size.  No rear neighbors with a street behind the house.  Price is currently $10,000 over budget but potentially negotiable.  Community is very nice and well maintained.  Commute time extended by 5-7 minutes.

Pros: Brand new, sprinkler system, downstairs master
Cons: Small kitchen, price

House 3 (Best Kitchen, Farthest Away)

House 3 is a single story with about 2000 square feet.  It has the best kitchen layout with a large open bar facing the living room.  This house has the best overall layout with an isolated master bedroom that has a huge walk-in closet.  Other three bedrooms are smaller with standard sized closets.  Backyard is similar in size to other houses but there are neighbors to the rear.  House is located in Converse, TX which would mean a commute time of about 25 minutes in heavier traffic each morning.  Price is middle of the road at $152,000. 

Pros: Great Kitchen, Single story, Largest master closet
Cons: Location, commute time

So now I have to decide which one I want to put an offer on.  Which one would you choose?

Too Much to Tell

I know I haven’t posted in a while.  It has been a crazy week full of good and bad news.  First the bad:

While in Boston, I found out that the speech teacher that I worked with at Hereford passed away suddenly.  She was the one that helped me get the job there and I took over the speech team.  She retired a few years later, but she had been a great mentor.  I couldn’t go to her funeral because it was held the day after I got back from Boston and I couldn’t get there in time.  I sent a plant instead.  Just a week before that, another speech teacher friend lost her mother.  So after getting back from Boston I went to Scrabble club.  That night I got a call from my friend Pam back home and she said that her daughter Kami was in the hospital.  They were getting in the car to leave and go to the doctor when she just stopped breathing.  Paramedics came and revived her in the ambulance, but she had gone several minutes without oxygen.  Kami has suffered from cystic fibrosis all her life. 

I had been thinking about making a trip back up there to sign paperwork on selling the house in Canyon and that cinched it for me.  So for some good news – my uncle decided to forgo using a lender and we were able to speed up the process on selling the house.  I went there on Monday and signed my paperwork and got a check for the profit.  While there I visited my friend Pam.  Kami was in a drug induced coma with hopes of stabilizing the pneumonia she had, but she was also not responsive.  They scheduled an EEG to see if she had any brain activity.  It was hard to see Kami and my friend Pam there.  She held it together better than I did. 

While back in Canyon I sat in on a director’s band rehearsal and visited with a few people from there.  I had lunch with Michael (at Taco Villa) and then had dinner with my friends Kirsten and Carol.  I headed back home on Tuesday morning.  I got a text from my friend Pam after I got home and she got the report that Kami was brain dead and that they would be letting her go.  I prayed a rosary for her and decided I would make another trip for the funeral.

I came back to San Antonio because Matt had tickets to the Dukes of September concert on Wednesday.  We went to dinner and the concert which was very good.  On Thursday, I headed back out to Canyon again.  I got in around 6:00, had dinner at Taco Villa (again), and then read for a while.  The funeral was Friday morning.  It was done very well, though I cried most through of it.  Luckily I took my own box of tissues with me.  I went to the burial in Panhandle and visited with Pam for a little while before I headed back.  It was a very sad situation, but at least her daughter is no longer suffering with such a horrible disease.  I got in a little after 10:00 last night and I’ve had enough driving for a while. 

In other news… I may not completely suck at Scrabble.  I competed in a local tournament last weekend and I came in 2nd place in my division.  I also had the high game score for the division as well with a score of 452.  I walked away with $35. 

I’m also finally going house hunting on Monday.  I hope I find something soon.  I would like to be moved before the end of August if possible. That may be pushing it, but I can always hope.