Thursday, January 30, 2014

Sharing isn’t always good

Matt is a very kind and giving person.  His generosity is something I really appreciate about him.  I could have done without him giving me his intestinal bug that he had last weekend, however. Yesterday I feel out of sorts most of the day.  I couldn’t finish my lunch and by the time I was able to head home (at 6:30 p.m.), I was feeling achy.  By bed time, I had chills on top of the achiness.  I took a hot bath and some tylenol.  I tossed and turned most of the night.  The chills and achiness subsided by this morning, but that is when the diarrhea hit.  I had to go to school because I had librarians coming to get some Scrabble practice this afternoon.  Luckily it subsided by this afternoon. 

My Scrabble session turned out well.  I had six librarians show up and some of my students came in to play during 7th period.  I think the librarians were impressed by my club.  A couple of my students stayed late to finish a game.  I got home and made some dinner and watched American Idol.  Now I’m watching Big Bang Theory. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Angie didn’t leave any surprises on the carpet today.  I keep rewarding her when she uses the bathroom outside.  Hopefully she is starting to figure it out. 

I think I’m going to call it an early night since I didn’t get much sleep last night. 

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Three Day Weekend

I ended up getting the day off on Friday as school was closed due to “severe weather.”  It was really just a bit icy, but with so many overpasses and idiot drivers that don’t know how to drive in such weather, most of the city was shut down Friday morning.  One of the few exceptions was Matt’s job.  The City of San Antonio expected everyone to be at work at the normal time.  He made it but had to take some detours.

The new dog, Angie, is doing ok, but she and Mollie have gotten huffy and snapped at each other a few time.  No blood has been drawn, but they both have some anger/jealousy issues.  Angie has learned to go in and out the pet door, but hasn’t quite mastered remembering that is where she should be doing her business. 

Matt and I officially have a wedding date set!  We are getting married July 12, 2014.  Matt and I are heading back to Canyon in February to meet with the priest.  Now that I have the official date, I guess I need to start actually planning.  I’m not even sure where to start. 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

A New Member of the Family

I didn’t really want another dog so soon after having to put Max down.  But I also knew that Matt has been talking about getting another dog even before Max took a turn for the worst.  I knew that if we didn’t mutually decide on a dog at some point that he would come home with a puppy.  So on Tuesday at school one of the Science teachers came to see me in the library and asked if I was interested in another dog.  She knows I’m an animal lover and that we just put Max to sleep.  A dog ended up on her doorstep and so she took it in.  Her kids took it around the neighborhood to see if they could find its owners, but didn’t have any luck.  She didn’t have a collar or tag.  So when she came to ask me if I was interested, I said no, but that Matt probably was.  So she sent me a picture of the dog and I sent it to Matt.  Of course he was interested.  So yesterday we went to the teacher’s house and got the dog.  She was skittish with both Matt and I when we got there.  But Matt picked her up and I rode with her in the back seat back to the house.  She didn’t mind being in the car at all, but she was shaking for a bit.  I think she wasn’t sure about us and couldn’t figure out what was going on.  Of course traffic was slow during rush hour, but once we got home the dog made herself at home. 

We debated names most of the evening.  We got several suggestions from Facebook friends.  Matt originally chose “Betty” but I wasn’t keen on it.  I wanted Matt to name her though, since she is “his” dog.  This morning he decided on Angie which is for “N-G” or “New Girl.”  She has figured out how to use the doggy door so she’s pretty smart.  We bought her a toy to play with last night and she has been enjoying it.  Mollie is getting along with her, but puts her in her place from time to time by snapping at her.  Mollie has always been a jealous dog.  I think deep down she kind of likes her.  Angie wants Mollie to play with her, but Mollie is kind of set in her ways.  Lucy the cat has found her tolerable except for a few moments ago when Angie barked at her. 

I know you’re probably anxious for some pictures so here are a few of them I was able to get during the brief moments she has been somewhat still.

photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 photo 4

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Marriage Class Done

Matt and I finished out two day class on marriage formation this weekend.  Overall it was good.  We talked about some things that we didn’t give a lot of thought to before – like finances.  We had to write each other a love letter.  True to form, my letter to Matt was a page and a half.  His letter to me was about three sentences.  But that’s ok.  I know he’s not as verbose as I am.  It was great to sleep in yesterday.  Matt went to the movies with some friends of his.  After that, he played Scrabble.  I sat  around most of the day doing nothing and it was awesome.  I did get to the grocery.  I was surprised that I got paid last week so I figured I should go get groceries while I had the chance.  I got some lunch items for the week in addition to stuff to make tacos tomorrow.  I’ve discovered a new tasty dessert treat.  I bought some Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches that have cinnamon ice cream with oatmeal cookie toppers.  I just had one for dessert tonight and it is yummy. 

Matt wants to get a new dog.  I’ve been fighting it because I really don’t want more pets.  It’s more expensive, more to feed, more to deal with and they die at some point.  But I knew that Matt would probably get his way eventually.  So today a teacher at my school randomly came by the library to ask me if I wanted another dog.  She rescued a dog this weekend that she can’t keep because she already has too many pets.  It’s a smallish dog that is female with short hair.  She had her husband send a picture of it so I forwarded it to Matt to see if he was interested.  Of course he was.  So we will probably be getting a new dog this week.  No name yet – Matt will have to decide that.  I’ll post pictures if/when we get the dog. 

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Marriage Prep Day 1

Well Matt and I got up at an ungodly hour to go to the marriage prep class.  We got there by 7:30 but it didn’t start until 8:00.  I figured we’d be the oldest couple there, but there were two others that were probably close to our age.  I was tired most of the day.  Overall the session was fine.  I don’t think Matt and I learned anything about each other that we didn’t already know.  We had to list two things that we disliked about each other.  Matt said that sometimes I’m pushy and stubborn.  No surprise there.  I said I didn’t agree with his time management and he can be uncommunicative.  For the most part we were on track with everything else covered.  When I decided to convert, I did a lot of reading about marriage and I actively pursued an annulment so that I would be free to marry should I ever find the right person.  Thankfully I found Matt.  I think that he and I compliment each other very well.  We are looking forward to planning the wedding and having a wonderful marriage. 

We have to go back tomorrow.  Luckily we now know that it won’t start until 8:00.    I’m going to take 1/2 a sleeping pill shortly so that hopefully I’ll get to bed earlier and won’t feel as tired.  I just have to wait until my clothes in the dryer are done. 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Big Bang Theory Night

I stayed late after school today trying to catch up on my growing to-do list.  I’m not even close to getting there.  I started reading a book called The Art of Procrastination a few days ago.  It’s slow going because I am in fact a procrastinator.  But one of the things I’ve gleaned from the book is that even procrastinators can actually accomplish quite a bit because when they procrastinate doing something major, they are usually still doing a lot of other minor things as part of the avoidance, so in reality they actually get a lot done.  So that’s where I am now at school.  I put unpleasant things off to do other things.  I work on whatever strikes me at the moment or whatever may be the most pressing in terms of a deadline. 

I didn’t get the chance to eat lunch today so I went to Sonic for dinner.  I was starving so I got a cheeseburger, tots, popcorn chicken and a sundae.  I didn’t finish the chicken, but I ate everything else.  I was supposed to go to Scrabble tonight, but I got home so late that I didn’t want to go once I finished dinner.  I watched Big Bang Theory instead.  Now I’m watching American Idol. 

Tomorrow is an inservice day for teachers and staff.  We’ll have meetings all morning, then a break for lunch, and then time to work on our own in the afternoon.  I have a lot of cleaning and sorting that I’m going to try to get done tomorrow.  We’re getting visited by the Civil Rights Office in a few weeks.  I want the library to look good for the visit. 

Matt and I have to go to our marriage preparation classes this weekend.  They start at 7:30 and Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I think that if we can both commit to going to these classes at such an early hour then we should automatically qualify to get married in the Church.  One of the nice things about this class is that we will get $60 off the marriage license which is normally $72 and the 72 hour waiting period is waived.  I hope after we get this class done that we can officially set a date.  Several people are waiting for that information and I haven’t really begun planning much myself.  I have a few general ideas, but I can’t do much until I have the official date. 

Monday, January 13, 2014

Babysitting Today

Babysitting is what I call it when I have to watch classes without the teacher because we don’t have enough substitutes on campus.  Luckily I only had to do it for the last half of the day and the classes were generally good.  Babysitting means that I don’t get anything else done thought.  So it seemed like a mostly wasted day.  Thankfully Matt came today (like he always does on Mondays) and shelved books for me.  I’d never get books back on the shelf it I had to do it myself.  I really wish I had an assistant.  Have I said that before?  The district got rid of assistants right before I took my job.  I guess I don’t know the difference, but I know that I could be far more productive if I had some help.  I sent out a call to elective teachers today that might send me some students to help with the discarded books that have to be marked through. 

Mollie and I did go for our walk today.  I didn’t walk this weekend like I should have.  I was going to go out on Saturday, but I didn’t have enough time after I went to get my inspection sticker and then to the grocery store.  Matt and I headed out to my friend’s birthday party after that.  We had fun and I drank a bit much.  I wasn’t wasted, but nicely buzzed by the time we came home.  On Sunday I just wasn’t feeling up for walking.  I didn’t really have a hangover – I made sure to drink water throughout the night and in the morning, but I just kind of felt blah. 

I’m doing pretty well on my Good Reads Challenge so far.  I pledged to read 52 books this year.  (A book a week), but I’ve already read five.  I should stay ahead when I can because I know there will be long stretches where I don’t have time to do much of anything.  Matt is watching the Spurs and I’m goofing off on the computer.  I think I might play my addictive word game for a bit and then go watch tv upstairs. 

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Yay for the Weekend

It was lovely to sleep in this morning.  I don’t have any pressing plans today except that I have to get my car inspection sticker renewed.  Matt and I have been invited to party this evening.  We’ll probably go for a while.  It would be good to get out and socialize – especially with non-scrabble players. 

Matt and I went to Applebee’s for dinner last night.  I thought that I was going to have to take him out to cheer him up because of the situation with his job, but it turns out that they are keeping his department as is at least until the end of the fiscal year.  I ordered the sirloin with garlic herb shrimp.  It was good, but the shrimp wasn’t very hot.  I also ordered tortilla soup, but they never brought it out to me so they took it off the order.  I did have the perfect margarita of course so I was feeling nicely relaxed by the time we finished.  After dinner we went to Marble Slab for ice cream.  I had vanilla bean with Heath Bar mixed in. 

I finally took Mollie for a walk again yesterday.  Most of the week was cold/rainy so I didn’t get outside.  I did walk on the treadmill a couple of days, but I prefer walking outside.  I mean, I don’t like exercising in general, but if I have to, I’d rather walk outside.

I guess I should go take a shower and get dressed for the day.  Then again, sitting here on the coach watching tv and doing nothing is quite appealing.

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Almost the weekend

I’ve slogged through the week.  I still feel like I’m not getting enough sleep.  At least tomorrow is Friday.  I get to leave school at 1:30 for a meeting so it’s almost like a half day for me. 

Matt and I took the online Jeopardy! test last night.  I didn’t do very well, but I think Matt did ok.  It comes down to chance whether either one of us will make it to the next round. 

Tonight was Scrabble night.  I met Matt for dinner at the restaurant across from the club location.  I was starving since I didn’t have a chance to stop and eat today.  I order a cheeseburger and fries.  It was good, but nothing truly amazing.  Scrabble went well for me.  I won all three of my games and played two bingos in each game.  The second game was really close.  It came down to the last few plays, but I was able to pull it out with a late game bingo. 

I’ve actually read 4 books so far this year.  Granted, three of them are from my library, but it’s a good start for the year.  I just finished Chasing Lincoln’s Killers which was really interesting.  I still haven’t gotten the new books on the shelves because I stopped to read two of them in the past two days.  Hopefully I will finish them tomorrow.  I still have three more orders to come in. 

I guess it’s time for me to try yet again to get some sleep tonight.  I’m just glad that nothing is going on this weekend and I’ll be able to sleep in on Saturday.  Next weekend, Matt and I have our marriage preparation classes which start at 7:30 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.  Ugh.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Same Ol’ Things

I went to bed earlier last night and I guess I got enough sleep.  I was ok today, but now that I’m home I’m feeling quite sleepy.  It’s still cold outside so I refused to walk.  Maybe I’m a wimp because it was only in the 40’s, but I hate being cold period.  I did walk on the treadmill, but for only half a mile.  Matt is at work tonight and I don’t have band rehearsal until next week.  I cooked some pasta for dinner and I’m watching Big Bang Theory while sometimes reading my book.  Since I’m such a multi-tasker, I figured I could blog as well. 

Matt called me at work today.  He said that he went by the university that had a library opening and talked with the director whom he already knew.  He said that it sounded promising and that he was going to get his application submitted soon.   Hopefully that will work out.  He hasn’t been very happy with his job lately. 

Work was uneventful today which is probably good.  I’m debating with myself over weeding some of my award winning books.  I can’t justify keeping really old books on my shelf that are great “classics” if students are never reading them.  I started processing my new books that came in.  As always, it takes longer than I anticipate because sometimes I just have to stop and look through some of the books. 

Tomorrow night Matt and I are taking the online Jeopardy test to see if we qualify to be considered for a show.  I think has far more potential than me.  I know a lot of useless things.  He has a lot more sports and historical knowledge.  If by chance one of us does qualify, unfortunately, there are not really any convenient “audition cities” for us.  We chose Miami simply because my sister is moving to Ft. Lauderdale so we would have a place to stay.  But of course I’m getting way ahead of things.  First we’d have to pass the test and then we’d have to be randomly selected to audition.  Then again, you never know. 

Monday, January 06, 2014

Back to the grind

Of course I couldn’t get to sleep last night.  I was working on updating Matt’s resume and got it printed so that he could proof it.  I went to bed a little after 11:00, but still wasn’t asleep after midnight.  I finally got up and took a sleeping pill and eventually fell asleep.  The alarm went off much too early this morning, but I made it.  I was able to take my new Keurig coffee maker to school, but didn’t have time to get it set up until mid-morning.  I was going to make some coffee but then realized that I left my special creamer at home.  I still can’t drink black coffee, but luckily Matt was home and was able to bring me the creamer. 

I was surprised that my library wasn’t freezing.  It was only in the 30’s here today, but luckily the heat seemed to work.  I spent the day working on Scrabble stuff and weeding books.  I have a new book order in that I have to deal with tomorrow.  It will be like Christmas again going through all the new books. 

Mollie and I didn’t go on our walk today, it was too cold.  I forced myself to walk on the treadmill instead.  I did it before I sat down on the couch.  I walked a mile while watching Jeopardy and the first part of Big Bang Theory. 

Matt is out playing Scrabble this evening so I’m on my own for dinner.  I can’t decide if I want leftovers or something else.  I don’t really want to cook something big.  I also don’t want to go out in the cold again.  Maybe I’ll just heat up some taquitos. 

Saturday, January 04, 2014

The end is near

The end of vacation that is.  Just one more day of vacation left.  Well, I guess I need to stop being lazy and actually do some work so I might as well go back.  I should try to make myself go to bed earlier tonight.  I haven’t been as bad as I usually am during long breaks.  I’ve only been staying up until midnight or so. 

I didn’t sleep as late today.  I was awake around 9:30 or so.  I eventually got out of bed and got dressed.  I headed to Kohl’s in search of the yoga/workout pants.  It started out rather depressing.  Most of the official “workout” clothing did not fit at all.  I finally found a pair of soft gray yoga type pants that fit and another pair of capri type workout pants that were comfortable and didn’t highlight every inch of fat.  I stopped for lunch at Five Guys burgers (but only ate about 1/4 of the fries).  After that I went to Best Buy and got a set of over the ear headphones to wear while walking.  I used a 20 dollar visa gift card that I got from my secret Santa for Christmas. 

When I got home I put Mollie in her harness and we headed out for our walk.  I changed up the route a little and walked a little further today.  Mollie was looking pretty winded by the end so I shortened it some.  Matt grilled some chicken for dinner tonight and I made some wild rice to go with it.  After dinner we went to Peachwave, a local yogurt place, for some dessert.  Now I’m sitting on my bed watching Big Bang Theory while Matt watches basketball. 

We haven’t even tackled the mess of boxes that we planned to.  Maybe we will do that tomorrow.  Or maybe we will do nothing.  I did start some laundry.  I have a couple of books I’ve been reading.  Funny – one of them is about procrastination. 

Friday, January 03, 2014

Festival of Sleep Day

It’s a coincidence that I discovered that today is the Festival of Sleep day and I ended up staying in bed until almost noon.  I went to bed around midnight last night but couldn’t really fall asleep.  I took a sleeping pill and it left me groggy all morning.  I forced myself to get out of bed before noon, but I probably could have stayed in bed longer.  I heated up my leftover burrito from Chipotle.  I was smart yesterday by not asking for lettuce as I can’t stand wilted lettuce on leftovers.  I watched a few episodes of “Say Yes to the Dress” before I talked myself into getting dressed to go out.  I decided that I needed new walking shoes since I’m actually making the effort to do more walking.  I went to the Sketchers store and got two new pairs of shoes that were really comfortable.  After that I went to the mall and looked for some comfortable workout clothes but left without buying anything.  Trying the clothes on was just depressing.  It’s a catch-22 conundrum needing something to wear to help you lose weight, but not finding anything that fits since you’re overweight. 

After the mall I headed to Petco to get Mollie a new walking harness.  She about choked herself yesterday with her collar while walking.  The harness worked much better.  I downloaded an app on my phone to track how far I walk and it turns out that a complete circuit around my neighborhood is exactly a mile.  So I’ve walked two days in a row.  Still too early to celebrate. 

Matt came home feeling morose from work.  They had a meeting about their department today and he ended up talking to one of the main library managers about how he was feeling.  She encouraged him to stay on, but he’s still fed up with everything.  We’re going to work on his resume this weekend.  We went out to eat at a place called Beto’s tonight.  Food was decent.  I was pretty good in that I did bring home leftovers, but of course overindulged with the chips and queso.  The margarita I had was pretty tasty as well.  I’m not counting calories or anything right now.  I’m still working on the body signals of when I’m full.  I should have held back some, but I didn’t do too bad. 

Tomorrow I’m going to go up to Kohl’s in search of yoga pants.  I have a $10 card and a $5 credit to spend along with another $20 gift card.  I also have $25 from a lottery ticket that Matt gave me for Christmas.  I also need to have my car inspected.  My sticker expired in November.

Thursday, January 02, 2014

Two for Two

It’s day two of 2014 and I’m writing my second blog entry.  I’m on a roll!  Maybe people will start reading again.  To answer dkzody’s question, I go back to work on Monday.  I can only dream about three weeks off at Christmas!  Some of the schools back in the Panhandle went back today.  They get out at the end of May, however.  I think I’d rather have my full week of Thanksgiving and two weeks of Christmas.  We only go until the end of the first week in June.  I work another week beyond that and then I’m off for the summer.

Matt and I are hopefully going to get married in July so that only leaves me about a month to really get all the final touches done.  I’m not really doing any planning right now until we can get the date officially set.  We are going to the marriage preparation seminar the weekend of January 18-19.  Hopefully we’ll have a date set shortly thereafter. 

I’ve run out of excuses for not getting active and start losing weight.  Today I took Mollie out for a walk.  She absolutely loved it.  She didn’t slow down hardly at all except when she needed to mark a few spots.  I think we walked about a mile.  I’m going to try to do this several times a week.  Walking outside was much better than the treadmill.  I might look into getting a bike at some point.  I was also good about eating today.  I’m going to try to listen to my body more and eat when I’m actually hungry and stop when I feel full.  Although we went to Chipotle for dinner, I only ate half my burrito and am saving the rest for tomorrow. 

We had Scrabble tonight.  I won two out of three games but got creamed in the second one.  The last one I barely pulled out the win.  I almost ran out of time on my clock, but managed to stay on top of it.  Matt just told me that only Greg (the guy who beat me) and I had a winning average tonight.  I guess that’s pretty good.   I had a really good game against Matt they other day.  We play against each other on our iPhones.  He usually beats me, but I beat him 530 to 332.  I’ve only had one other 500 point game before – also on my phone.  I’m still waiting to score 500 points during a regular game, however.  The dynamics are different when you can play phonies or have them played against you and you can’t cheat by looking up words. 

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Trying to get off to a good start

Well, I’m not sure if I’m really going to make any official resolutions this year, but I’m going to try to blog more.  I also need to find a few more blogs to read.  A lot of the blogs I used to read have gone defunct. 

Matt and I were supposed to go to a Scrabble New Year’s Eve party last night but several others in the club were not going to be able to make it so it was cancelled.  We went out to dinner then stayed in for the night.  Matt watched sports on the tv downstairs and I watched Big Bang Theory upstairs.  We watched the ball drop in New York at 11:00 p.m. and started drinking champagne.  We changed it to the local news coverage and stayed up until midnight as we finished the bottle of champagne.  We were even treated to some fireworks thanks to a bunch of our neighbors. 

Mollie was kind enough to let us sleep in today.  Yesterday she was barking at 8:00 a.m.  I just heated up my leftovers from dinner last night (ribs and shrimp) and enjoyed it for lunch.  Matt and I watching the Tournament of Roses parade.  Watching singers lip sync to their songs is kind of annoying. 

We have no plans for today.  I’ll probably finish the book I’m reading and decide what kind of good reads goal I’ll set for this year.  Matt and I picked up storage bins at the store last night so maybe we will tackle his boxes of stuff.