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.