2016 Year in Review

So I've pretty much given up on blogging.  I'm not sure why really - just haven't felt the need to write.  I sometimes wish I did blog more.  It helps me to be able to go back and look at previous posts to remember things that happened.  Maybe I'll make an effort in 2017.  If not, I may just archive my blog and let it go wherever blogs go to die or something like that.

I did feel the need, however, to post my annual year in review so if you're not my facebook friend, you can at least get a general idea of how my year went.

1. What did you do in 2016 that you'd never done before?

Worked as a high school librarian

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

I met my Goodread’s goal of reading 40 books this year.  I am really going to have to start losing weight this year.  

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope – we’re all getting old but my cousin is pregnant at the age of 43.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Thankfully, no.  

5. What countries did you visit?

Still pretty much land locked.  I only got out of Texas a few times this year – went to New Orleans in January for a Scrabble tournament, drove to Atlanta for vacation this summer, and went to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving.

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?

More energy to get more things done and to lose weight. 

7. What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Going to the Tall Texans Leadership Institute in June - it was an incredible experience and I made a lot of great friends and connections.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Being accepted into the Tall Texans Class of 2016 which is a Texas Library Association Leadership group.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not losing any weight this year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Had a bout with asthma for over a month at the beginning of school.  Sprained my ankle at school in March – had to wear a walking boot for a week and another brace for a week.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My new car – Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid.  It’s the fanciest car I’ve owned and I love driving it!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Not sure – Matt has still been a good husband and Josh is doing well with his job in Houston.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

The students at my former middle school (aside from my Scrabble club kids).  Most behaved badly and having moved to high school – it’s like a breath of fresh air.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Bills, Scrabble tournaments, eating out.  

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

Making it into Tall Texans

16. What song will always remind you of 2016?

Can't think of any.

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

happier or sadder? About the same as last year – generally happy.
- richer or poorer? About the same – got a standard raise, but lost some stipends when I went to a new campus.
- thinner or fatter? Fatter – really, really need to work on that.

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

Losing weight, organizing the house.  

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

Procrastinating

20. How did you spend the holidays?

New Years (2016) – at home with Matt
Valentine’s Day – with Matt – had dinner at Maggiano’s 

Easter – with Matt - can't even remember what church we went to this year.
4^th of July – with Matt – didn’t really do much – listened to Josh’s live radio interviews.

Thanksgiving – With Matt and Josh in Albuquerque visiting my aunt and uncle.

Christmas – stayed home.  Josh came in on the 23^rd.  Matt grilled steaks on the 24^th and we went to see a movie (La La Land) and opened presents on Christmas morning.  Josh left by 11:00 to spend Christmas with his girlfriend’s family. 

New Year's Eve (today) - went to ta Scrabble part at a friend's house north of Austin.

21. Did you fall in love in 2016?

Still in love with Matt.

22. How many one-night stands?

Do I have to answer this question every year?  I'm a married woman!

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Big Bang Theory is still a favorite.

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

Nope - still like everyone I know.

25. What was the best book you read?

Notable books: Ready Player One andThe Magic Strings of Frankie Presto.  You can see my list of books here:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/15978192

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

Didn’t really go out to the movies much.  Did enjoy Sully and Arrival. 

27. Whom did you miss?

Some of the staff at my former school.  It was harder to get to know a bigger staff at the high school.  

27. Who was the best new person you met?

All of my Tall Texan colleagues.  

29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.

Go with your instinct when considering a new job. 

A Time for Change

So I bought a new car on Monday.  I've been planning on buying a Rav4 Hybrid for a while now.  I thought I was going to wait until mid-summer but I found what I wanted with 0% financing on Memorial Day.  I wanted to trade in my Prius while it still had some value though I did have to negotiate with the dealer some.  I first took my Prius to Car Max to get a quote from them and they offered me $5000 which I thought was pretty reasonable given the fact that it has scratches on the door and a back panel.  When I was negotiating at the Toyota dealership, they only offered me $3500 for it.  I told them they could meet it or I'd take the Prius to Car Max and get a check for the down payment.  They eventually gave in and I got full amount.  I really love this car.  It's the fanciest one I've ever owned.  I can even do hands free calling.  It has satellite radio, a back up camera, and other cool features.  I also love the color. 

In other news I may be moving up to high school.  I interviewed for a job at a local high school last week.  The librarian there seems to really want me to take her place.  I am waiting to hear from HR to see if I got the job.  I think it's promising, but I'm concerned about HR being behind.  If they don't come through quickly, I won't get to take my new Chromebooks with me.  That will have to happen before my principal leaves on the 15th so she can sign the transfer form.  Then again, I may be stuck where I am another year.  While I do love my Scrabble kids, I've had enough of the other ones that refuse to listen to anything anyone has to say.  They never go to class and all they want to do is goof off in the hallways.  I figure that if you're going to skip class, you should at least leave the campus.  What's the point otherwise?  

I have another week of work and then I'll be starting my summer vacation.  I'm heading immediately to Dallas next Friday as I will be participating in a librarian leadership institute starting the 12th.  Matt and I are going up early so we can go to Six Flags.  I'll get back on the 16th and then I'll probably sleep for about a week.  Josh and I are planning a road trip for sometime in July.  We've decided to drive to Atlanta.  We can go to yet another Six Flags park there and there will be several other things we can do as well.  

I can't play at Scrabble Nationals this year because of the date.  Matt is going to go and car pool with some other friends from Texas.  I guess I'll just play every other year if I can.  Well, I guess that's all the excitement here for now.  I'll try to update more this summer.

Time to Catch Up

I know I'm still a very bad blogger.  This is my first post for 2016 and it's almost April.  I guess at least it's better than not posting at all, huh?  So to catch up a bit:

In January, Matt and I headed to New Orleans for a Scrabble tournament.  I played in a lite open division (players rated 1300 and less) and I did fairly well.  I ended up 8th overall and won $115 for being the 2nd highest of those who started out in the lower half of the division.  My rating had a nice large jump and briefly I was in the top 10 in the nation for ratings gain.

In February I headed to Austin for the TCEA convention.  My cousin who works at a hotel there was able to give me a great discount at a Hampton in for the week.  It was an interesting conference to attend and this year I had someone to each lunch with a few times.

Matt did a great job on my Valentine's day flowers this year.  He got me a bouquet of purple flowers.  We went to dinner at Maggiano's which was delicious as always.

I've had to step up as a leader among our district librarians as we are making an effort to make some changes for us within the district.  I helped draft a letter that we presented at a board meeting in February.  We are planning a meeting with the superintendent and plan to attend the next board meeting on Monday.

I applied for a Leadership Institute that is part of the Texas Library Association as well.  Matt has pushed me to apply for some time now, but I wasn't eligible to do so until this year.  I found out at the beginning of March that I was accepted as a TALL Texan.  I'll be going to training for five days in Dallas this summer.  I was one out of 24 librarians accepted from across the state.

Matt and I went to another Scrabble tournament at the end of February - this time in Houston.  We both didn't do very well.  I was in division 3 and he was in division 1 but we both ended up in 9th place out of 12.  He actually moved up some and I moved down about 4 places from our beginning rankings.  I lost some rating points at this tournament.  On the bright side, we did get to have lunch with Josh while in town.

Spring break was last week and I was a slug for the first half of it.  I slept late, read, and watched t.v.  I finally got productive on Thursday when I started cleaning the house.  Matt took me to dinner on Sunday night since we didn't get a chance to do anything fun.  I told him that I earned dinner and a margarita after cleaning the toilets.

Yesterday Matt found out that his collection of African American Funeral Programs has won an award.  It's the Texas Digital Libraries Trailblazer Award.  We are going to an awards ceremony in May.

Which brings us to today - it started out ok.  I've had two full days of catching up on work since the library has been closed.  I've been taking Scrabble boards into the cafeteria so my students can play as we have a tournament coming up in a little over a week.  I was heading to the cafeteria with my cart of stuff when the wind caught a folder I had on top and sent the signed student permission slips flying.  I panicked and jumped down from the sidewalk to retrieve them when I twisted my ankle.  It hurt like a #$!!*^&$^.  I sat down for a bit and then forced myself to get up and get to the cafeteria.  When, the pain got worse and it started swelling up.  I couldn't walk on it very well so I decided to go to the clinic and have it examined.  I had to fill out workman's comp paperwork first.  Thankfully I didn't break anything, but it's a pretty bad sprain.  The doctor gave me a boot to wear which helps.  I also got a prescription for some high dose ibuprofen.  So now I'm in bed taking it easy.  Thankfully Matt has been a great husband.  He picked up my prescription and dinner for me.  I missed giving a presentation that I was supposed to this afternoon.  I was trying to get through the visit at the clinic but it took longer than expected.

So for your viewing pleasure here's a picture of my foot now that it's bruising nicely.