Story of My Life

A little under the weather

2012-02-06T22:40:00.001-06:00

I think I’m coming down with a cold. It started yesterday. I had a headache again and was sneezing off and on. Today I woke up with a scratchy throat, am still sneezy. My lungs are feeling a bit heavy as well. We had testing at school today and I was supposed to be a hall monitor, but I ended up testing students. It wasn’t too bad as I only had the late arrivals so it was a small group. Not sure if I’ll have to do it again tomorrow. I have to deal with testing this entire week so I’m not going to get any library work done. Oh well, I guess I’ll do what I need to do.

I came home from school today and discovered that the power was out in my house. Not sure what caused it, but I couldn’t make anything for dinner without power so I headed to Chipotle for dinner. I discovered there is one close to the university where we have orchestra rehearsal. Rehearsal wasn’t too bad. The other 2nd clarinet player was gone so I had to play the music on my own tonight, but did ok. Luckily the power was back on by the time I got home.

It’s going to be a crazy week. I hope that my cold stays mild and goes away quickly. I think the I generally have a pretty good immune system having been an educator for so long, but you never know. I don’t even have a doctor here yet. I should probably look into finding one pretty soon. I think I’m going to head to bed and try to get some sleep.

Go Spurs!

2012-02-05T13:07:00.001-06:00

Matt took me to the Spurs game last night. We had a great time. I had never been to a professional basketball game, but I enjoyed it. It is much more interesting to watch it live than on t.v. The Spurs won so everyone was happy. We had hotdogs and nachos at the game for dinner. This morning Matt and I went to church at the parish that is closest to me. I’ve been there before. It’s a nice church, but the choir is simply awful. I think I need to keep looking and find a church that has a decent choir. Most that I’ve attended so far have only had cantors, but then again, we mostly go either Saturday or Sunday evening masses.

My friend Brent is coming over today to watch the Superbowl with Matt and I. We are ordering some wings and I’m making some queso. I’m glad that one of my friends is finally going to get to meet Matt. Next weekend we will get to see my friend, Kim, from high school and her husband, Sam. We’re meeting in Temple. Another friend of mine is coming to stay with me this week. I’m glad that I’m finally getting to see some people that I haven’t had the chance to see in a long time it seems.

Exhausted Again

2012-02-03T18:29:00.001-06:00

I had to be a substitute again today. Overall it wasn’t too bad. 4 of the six classes were actually pretty good. Two of them were not very good though so it was frustrating. I forget how exhausting teaching is. Even though I didn’t do a lot of instruction, I did have to reprimand a lot during the chaotic classes as I walked around and monitored and it just wore me out. I also had to deliver dictionaries to a dozen classrooms after school for testing next week. I didn’t even leave school until after 5:00. Matt is coming over this evening and he mentioned going out to eat, but I think I’m going to cook some fish and plan to stay in. I just feel really tired. I feel like I slept pretty well, but I was up too late. I woke up with a headache which is really unusual for me. I rarely get headaches, but it was bad enough that I had to take something for it. I took some tylenol and had a cup of coffee which probably helped as well. It was gone by the time first period came in this morning which was a good thing.

Once again I’m dealing with last minute district decisions. I was told yesterday AFTER school that we had to figure out a way to test all ELA and Math classes in 9 days. The caveat is that we can only use the computer lab because the netbooks won’t work and that the district has to do a remote install of some program for all the computers. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I’m going to be out for testing Monday and Tuesday and then I’ll be doing make-up tests in the library after that. So the teachers are on their own for this and I don’t think that it will go well. But I’ll do what I can, but I’m limited in that I can’t do more than about 40 things at once.

Well, I gotta go start dinner. Matt will be here in about 30 minutes. Not sure what we will do after dinner. Maybe watch a movie at home. I had wanted to go see One For the Money because I read all the books by Janet Evanovich, but it has gotten some really lousy reviews so I’m not sure about it. Anyone else see it or read the books?

Breakfast Tacos

2012-02-01T19:55:00.001-06:00

I don’t like eggs. I never have. This doesn’t include things made with eggs like cake, french toast, or mayonnaise. I just don’t like cooked eggs of any kind. I have discovered living in San Antonio that there are restaurants that make breakfast tacos without eggs. You can pick and choose your toppings. Matt likes to go out for breakfast so we’ve been going out quite a bit and it’s nice that I can order breakfast tacos the way I want them. Of course all this eating out from dating is taking a toll. I’ve gained about 5 or 6 pounds in just the last two months. I’m going to have to get active and start losing the weight I’ve gained. Matt has actually lost 6 pounds, but he works out almost every night. I can’t wait for the pool to open so I can start swimming.

So tonight I made breakfast tacos for dinner. I thought they turned out pretty well. I made some eggs just for Josh, but my tacos had potatoes, sausage, bacon, onion, peppers and cheese. (Yeah, I know, eating like that isn’t helping the weight problem.) Tomorrow will be our weekly dinner at Taco Cabana. Matt and I meet there every Thursday before Scrabble practice. Not sure what our plans for Friday are, but I think we’ll go see One for the Money. Saturday we are going to a Spurs game. That should be fun. I’ve never been to a professional basketball game.

I’ve been teaching dictionary skills to some of the ELA classes. I thought that I had created lessons that were relatively interesting, but some of these students simply don’t care. Many of them never really used the dictionary for more than looking up what a word means, but some can’t even use guide words. Maybe it will get better with the 7th graders tomorrow. I’ve invited my principal to come down to see me in action since I know she has to observe me doing lessons.

Tonight I’m watching idol and then I think I’ll do some reading and maybe play a few games of Scrabble on my phone.

Another free Monday

2012-01-30T20:20:00.001-06:00

Tonight is another break from orchestra rehearsal. Tonight is for the strings only. That means that Josh and I were able to go to the grocery store tonight. Josh helped me financially by paying for it tonight. My student loans kicked in this month so now it’s going to be tight money-wise. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to sell my house in Canyon this summer to my aunt and uncle and use the money from it to pay off a few things and the rest for a down payment on another house. We’ll see how that goes. I do want to get my own place that I can do with as I please. I especially want a pet door.

Today I worked on a lesson over dictionary skills for some of the English classes. I’ll teach it to three classes tomorrow and see how it goes. Tonight I’m watching the episodes of American idol that I missed. I think I’ll start my next Sue Grafton book and just take it easy tonight. I got blisters on my feet from walking to church on Sunday so I don’t want to do anything but sit.

Matt emailed me today and said he would pay my entry fee for the next Scrabble tournament. I guess I’ll try it again. He assured me that there will be more people at my level this go around. I don’t know about that, but I guess I’ll give it a try. We have to decide whether to go up late on Friday or leave really early Saturday morning. I’ll get some studying in and some practice and see what happens.

I suck at Scrabble

2012-01-29T16:00:00.001-06:00

I was thinking that I was relatively decent at Scrabble. Certainly not a top competitive player, but thought I could hold my own in a tournament in the 3rd division. Turns out that I’m either not a very good player or have the worst luck in the world. But first let me offer the excuses. There were only four people in the division. Two of use had never competed before. The other two have been active competitors and aren’t really “novice” players. I also had relatively lousy draws. In one game I drew all vowels twice in a row. In another game, I had all vowels, exchanged most of them, then drew all four S’s and more vowels. S’s are considered power tiles, but you don’t want all of them in your rack at one time. I only scored over 300 points once in 6 games. It was a pretty disheartening day. I also didn’t like the fact that most of the time I played on really closed boards – meaning you couldn’t play any long words because there were no open spaces. I had several bingo word possibilities that I just couldn’t play. So I don’t know if/when I will do it again. I guess I will try to just get more practice and see how things go.

In other news, Matt heard from his mother. He has been relatively estranged from her for a number of years. He sent her a letter around the first of the year and she sent him a note back to him this week. He had mentioned me in his letter and she commented about him bringing me up sometime to visit. I may be the bridge between them building a relationship again. We are now talking about a time that we can go up to St. Louis to visit her.

Matt and I went to church together this morning. Since I’ve been here and going to church, I have not really attended the same church twice with the exception of the church that I went to confession at – and then later a service. The thing about the churches here is that they are simply beautiful. They are older and very ornate. We went out for breakfast afterward and then I headed back home and took a nap. I still need to catch up on sleep. Matt is coming over this evening for pizza. I need to pay bills and do some house cleaning.

The month of February is going to be a busy one for Matt and me. Next weekend we are going to a Spurs game. The weekend after that will be the symphony and then a Scrabble competition in Salado. (Though I’m undecided on competing.) The weekend after that is my band concert followed by the orchestra concert the following weekend. Josh leaves around 17th. My friend, Kirsten, is coming around the 8th. Somewhere in there we are going to go see One for the Money.

Sleep must be overrated

2012-01-25T23:36:00.001-06:00

I tried getting some sleep last night. I was in bed before 11:00 at least. And wouldn’t you know it, we had two major thunderstorms roll through the area last night. The first one came in around 1:30 a.m. and the second rolled through around 4:00 a.m. So I didn’t get much sleep last night. Now it is 11:22 so I hope I get some sleep tonight.

It was a pretty decent work day. I had classes in doing testing and I worked on the magazine order for next year. I dropped a bunch of magazines that nobody ever read like Texas Monthly and ordered a bunch of new stuff for the students. Hopefully that will encourage a few to read more. I left around 12:45 and had to go to the bank. I was charged a “maintenance fee” on my account this month and I had them take it off because I’m not supposed to be charged as long as I have monthly direct deposits. I think the issue was the fact that I was paid much earlier last month and it more than 31 days passed before the next deposit. Thankfully they put the money back in my account. I picked up some lunch and then headed to our monthly librarian meeting.

After the meeting I stopped by the store to get salad fixings and stuff to back a pineapple upside down cake for dinner. Matt and his friend Jason were going to come over for dinner. At 6:30 Matt arrived but said that Jason couldn’t make it for dinner but we would go over to his place for Scrabble practice after we ate. So Matt and I had spaghetti, salad, and garlic toast for dinner. We took the cake with us to Jason’s house and everyone enjoyed it as we practiced.

Matt brought me home after practice and we cuddle for a bit. He left a little while ago and I’m going to try to finally get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow we have our regular Scrabble practice and we are meeting at Taco Cabana for dinner. I’m not sure if I’m ready for the tournament this weekend, but I think I’ll do ok if I draw reasonably well.

Still tired, but still moving

2012-01-24T22:29:00.001-06:00

I hit the snooze on my alarm clock twice this morning. That’s all I could afford and still have time to take a shower. I barely made it to school by 8:00 this morning which is when I am supposed to sign in. I usually get there 10-15 minutes early. I also made some coffee and took it with me. It helped for a while, but I was dragging again this afternoon. I spent the day cleaning out the textbook room. I’m making a bigger mess, but that’s how I clean. It always gets worse before it gets better.

I left school right at 4:30 and picked up Sonic for supper. I ate and then watched t.v. until I had to leave for band rehearsal. I just got back and my mouth is sore. I’m still tired. I’m going to head to bed shortly and hope that I can finally get enough sleep.

It’s a Monday

2012-01-23T19:39:00.001-06:00

It wasn’t really bad, but I’m dragging today. I actually did get to bed early and slept well, but had to get to school early. I got there at 7:30 to get things set up for the professional development today. The presentation that another teacher and I had to do seemed to go well. We ended up with a longer lunch so I picked up something and came home to eat it. I changed into jeans and a t-shirt so I could do some cleaning in the afternoon. I worked in an extra classroom that has been used for storage so I could move some stuff out of the back of my library storage area. I got a pretty good start, but I hope to keep working on it this week and then get all the textbooks that are sitting in the front of my library put up. I came home and felt the need to take a nap before going to orchestra rehearsal. I did sleep and was having some weird dreams. I dreamed that my sister was pregnant and about to have a baby, but she had a hysterectomy when she was 29. It was very strange. The alarm on my phone went off at 6:00 so I could get up and get to rehearsal on time, but I decided to not go. I am one of four clarinets so it’s not like I’m going to be completely missed. I did email someone to let them know, but I decided I just needed a quiet night at home. I had lots of dishes that needed to be washed, laundry to do, and I just wanted to take it easy tonight. So that’s what I’m doing. Tomorrow I have band rehearsal and then on Wednesday Matt is coming over for supper and we are going to do some Scrabble practice to prepare me for the upcoming tournament this weekend. Things just seem to keep moving fast here – which isn’t bad, but I’m finding I simply needed a break this evening.

A hangover

2012-01-22T21:48:00.001-06:00

I have to admit I drank too much this weekend. But I guess I should start with Friday. Matt and I went to see the move “The Artist” on Friday and then we went out to eat at an Italian pizza place. I stayed at his place and came home Saturday morning since he had to work on Saturday. On Saturday, I did a little work on the website, started reading the next Sue Grafton, and mostly just lazed around. Matt went to mass at 5:30 and I didn’t go with him because I was supposed to go with a friend from school on Sunday morning. The friend (who is the school nurse) called and cancelled around 5:00 while I was in the shower and it was too late to meet Matt. She was coming down with the flu or some other crud she picked up from the students and didn’t think she would be feeling up to going. I texted Matt, but he doesn’t always carry his cell phone with him. We were supposed to go to his friend Jason’s house for Scrabble, but those plans never came through so Matt came over around 8:00 with steaks and we cooked those for dinner. We had some wine with dinner and then more wine. And then we both had way too much. I probably had a glass too many because I ended up getting sick. It was not fun. But Matt was good and he took care of me. He wanted me to come over to his place with him this morning and hang out, but I still wasn’t feeling all that great and I had to work on a presentation I’m doing tomorrow during inservice. I slept in a few more hours, worked on the presentation some, took tylenol, took a bath, slept some more and then finally pulled myself together enough to get ready for church. Matt took me to the Cathedral for mass at 5:00 and then I took him to dinner. After dinner we hung out at his place for a few hours before I had to head back here. I have to get to bed early because I have to get to school early to set up for the professional development tomorrow. Even though it wasn’t an ideal situation to get totally blitzed, we did have fun and lots of good conversation. I think he is going to be a keeper. I haven’t scared him off yet and he still seems to adore me. He tells me all the time how lucky he is to have me in his life.

So much for being a player

2012-01-19T22:44:00.001-06:00

I guess I’m not a complete loser. I won one game tonight (by a point). I got called out on stupid mistakes and lost turns. It was a bit frustrating. On the upside, I did play four bingos. One of them was pretty impressive with the word ‘massagers’ where I had to play through an ‘a’ and an ‘s’ already on the board. I feel like my vocabulary is very limited and I really need to take time to really study. I’m slowly learning my three letter words, but I also need to learn the bigger q, j, x, and z words. I’m not sure if I’m ready for the competition on Saturday. It may be a huge disappointment for both me and Matt.

Today at school I had to take another teacher’s class all day and give a test. It wasn’t too bad as her classes were all small. Tomorrow I am dealing with more make-up tests as well. At least it gives me time to study words since I can’t get much library stuff done.

Tomorrow Matt and I are going to see the silent movie “The Artist.” On Saturday we are playing scrabble with friends. Sunday I’m going to church with the nurse at my school. She has befriended me and wants to get together this weekend.

There’s not much more to tell. Life is about the same as always. I’m still happy, but also still really tired. I’ve been drinking coffee every morning if that tells you anything.

Just another day

2012-01-18T21:15:00.001-06:00

It was a busy morning for me as I had to deliver dictionaries to 13 classrooms. After that, I had to prepare for testing students in the library. Testing took about 3 hours. After that, I didn’t do a whole lot. I did some reading – library magazine and a book called “How they Croaked” which was interesting and a bit gory. I left school around 4:40 and headed home. I was feeling pretty tired so I rested for about an hour before I got up to make dinner. I finally decided on a website host for the scrabble website that I’m going to create for Matt’s club. I spent most of the evening looking at other sites and jotting down ideas for it. I also watched the season premier of American Idol. And that’s all the excitement here. I’m really just tired and need to get more sleep. Last night I woke up several times and I’m not sure why. One time was due to a nightmare, but I don’t know about the other times. I probably need to get back on ambien. I think I’m going to call it a night and try to get some better rest.

Last Minute Attitude

2012-01-17T22:31:00.001-06:00

One of the things that drives me the most crazy about working in this district is the last minute attitude it perpetuates. For example today during 7th period (the last period of the day), I was told that I needed to have dictionaries in each teacher’s room for testing tomorrow. I also found out after school that instead of relieving other teachers tomorrow, I will be testing students. It is very frustrating to have to make changes and do things at the last minute. I had to stay until five getting all the dictionaries ready to hand out to other teachers tomorrow.

I came home from work and just felt tired. I didn’t even want to cook so I had an ice cream instead. I finally made myself get up and go to band rehearsal. I stopped at McDonald’s on the way and ordered a happy meal for supper. Band rehearsal was ok, but once again, we are playing too much music without enough rehearsal time. I don’t know how much longer I will want to stay with this band. I would rather play fewer pieces well, than more pieces badly. The only good thing is that playing first part is more of a challenge for me.

I’m still debating whether I’m going to give Matt the link to my blog. I do wonder how much I would self-censor knowing that he reads it. I do some censoring already because people I know in real life do read it. But a part of me thinks that I should be completely open with him. He should know the real me – all the good and the bad. And if it doesn’t scare him off, then he is definitely one to keep. I’ve only let one other boyfriend have access to my blog – and that was Marty. I did it because I felt I could trust him. And honestly, I didn’t censor much – I actually did some venting on the blog knowing that he would read it. So I will give it some thought for a few more days and decide.

To Share or Not to Share

2012-01-16T16:08:00.002-06:00

I’m debating about whether I should give Matt the link to my blog. Surprisingly, he hasn’t made the effort to find it though I’ve told him that I’ve blogged for several years. I asked him why he hadn’t tried to find it and he said that he would wait for an invitation from me. It’s not that I have anything to hide, but I realize that there are probably some things I’ve written about that he may not want to know, or would be surprised to know. Then again, I doubt he’s going to get through 7 years worth of blog entries which totals 2,009 posts including this one. I skimmed through several entries over the past few years and I discovered a few themes if you will.

1. I don’t like to clean my house and only do it out of desperation.

2. My garage will never be clean.

3. I don’t understand men and probably never will. (Hoping that Matt is an exception to this general rule.)

4. I like to sleep in. Sleep is good.

5. Teaching was frustrating and overwhelming.

6. I’m an overachiever.

7. I’m very proud of my son.

8. I’m not afraid to give my heart away, but unfortunately, I’ve given it away the wrong men too many times.

9. I’m a hopeless and sometimes hopeful romantic.

10. Sometimes I’m really lazy, but I also thrive on being busy.

I’m sure there are a lot more themes, but these are a few that seem to stick out in my blogging. Perhaps some of my faithful readers can share a few more. I must be feeling pretty serious about Matt if I’m going to let him read and get a view into my daily life.

I’m going to go take a shower and then head up to his place. We are going to go to dinner before I have to go to orchestra rehearsal tonight.

New Territory

2012-01-15T15:05:00.002-06:00

For those that have read my blog for a while, know that I’ve have my share of dating and relationship experiences. It seems that most of them ended up being very one-sided. Either the guy was more into me and I wasn’t into him so much, but most of the time it was the other way around. I seem to have have the ability to attract perverted and/or commitment phobic men. Or maybe it’s just that I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find my prince. I mention this because my relationship with Matt is unlike most of the others. It’s the first time I’ve been with someone that I like a lot and the feeling is completely reciprocated. Matt wants to spend time with me. He talks about me to his friends. He tells me how happy he is that I’ve come into his life - that I found him. He said that he waited a long time for someone like me. His friends told me last night that he has changed for the better since I came into his life – like he’s a new person in many ways. I’m not sure what to make of all of this. It is a very wonderful feeling and I know that this is still the “honeymoon” stage of our relationship, but I’m thinking that is the way things are supposed to be. Perhaps it is just finally my turn. Sometimes I still wonder if there’s a “catch” in all of this. Is it really ok to find happiness in multiple aspects of my life?

Successful Scrabble

2012-01-12T23:07:00.002-06:00

Tonight I played pretty well. I won two out of three games and two of them were over 400 points. I had four bingos as well. The game I lost was only by 22 points and I had some good potential bingos, but the board was very closed and I couldn’t play much. We had a good turnout tonight. Two new guys showed up and played and there were several other “regulars” that I hadn’t seen before. I visited with Cathie (Matt’s friend Jason’s mom) and got a little more information from her about the conversations that occurred about me on Monday. I’m guessing that like most “girls” do is that they planned out Matt and my future together. She did say that he liked me a lot and that Rose is very anxious to meet me. Before the practice we met for dinner at Taco Cabana and Josh joined us. They seemed to hit it off with talk about movies and such. Josh has met him before but I think it’s good that they can converse well with each other.

It was another busy day at school. I was working on the library order this morning when I found out that I couldn’t buy the materials for the subject areas that I was planning to. Instead I had to focus on reading, math, and ESL. So I shifted gears and went about choosing books that have high interest but lower reading levels for the struggling readers. I also went over research skills with two English classes and then worked on the math make up stuff for tomorrow. I stayed at school working on it until 5:15 when I had to leave to meet Matt and Josh. I’m not finished, but I’ll try to get there early to get everything done.

Matt is coming over tomorrow evening and I’ll make something quick for dinner and then we will probably watch a movie. We’re going to play some Scrabble with his friends on Saturday and hopefully I will get to meet Rose. Matt has to work Sunday, but we’ll probably go to church that evening. I have Monday off so I’m looking forward to sleeping in. I still feel like I’m not getting enough sleep. And yet, I’m up late once again. Oh well, it is a busy but really good life so I can’t complain too much. After all sleep is overrated, right?

Is it the weekend yet?

2012-01-11T21:30:00.002-06:00

Now that I’m dating, it takes too long for the weekend to get here. Things have been busy at school with math testing this week. I was also told on Tuesday that I have to spend $695 by Friday on library materials. Today I also had to go to a training session so I had to make sure that the math teachers could handle things while I was gone. I got a parking ticket while I was at Matt’s place this weekend so I tried to go pay for it today and it wasn’t “in the system” so I couldn’t pay for it. After my meeting, I went and picked up a free parking permit where I can park at parking meters downtown for free since I drive a hybrid. Hopefully that will prevent another ticket.

Matt said that some of his scrabble friends were talking about me on Monday night at their practice in Austin. When I asked him what they were talking about he said he couldn’t tell me. When I asked why, he said that it was embarrassing and he wouldn’t tell me. You know that is going to drive me crazy now, don’t you? He said that the people in the Austin club were very happy for him. Unfortunately, he’s also telling them that I’m a pretty good player which means a lot of pressure for me to do well when I go to the tournament up there at the end of the month.

Tonight I had to stay late at school because of a parent meeting where only about 4 parents showed up. I came home and made spaghetti for supper and overindulged as always. Tomorrow is scrabble practice so I’ll get to see Matt again. I think we’ll go out or do something on Friday and then we’re supposed to play scrabble and his friend Jason’s house again on Saturday. Matt has to work on Sunday and do some volunteer stuff for the library on Monday. I have Monday off which I’m looking forward to.

To answer Jan’s question – the animals have settled in and for the most part they are not having accidents in the house as much. Of course part of that is the fact that Josh is home during the day and can let them out. Lucy is able to go outside on her own but doesn’t stray far. Mollie has bouts where she’s afraid of the backyard, but then forgets in a day or two. Max desperately needs a haircut so I’ve got to get him an appointment soon. I can’t lock them out of my bedroom any more since Lucy’s litterbox is in my bathroom so Mollie sleeps right next to my bed on the floor and Max is usually by the window.

I think I’m going to call it an early night if I can. The last two mornings have been coffee mornings as I’ve been so tired when I get up.

Going and going

2012-01-09T22:31:00.002-06:00

It was a busy weekend, but I enjoyed it very much. It was nice to sleep in on Saturday. I didn’t do a whole lot during the day, mostly just piddled around and goofed off. I started getting ready around 3:00 and headed out at 4:45. I stopped at a convenience store to have my car washed and it was getting kind of nasty. Of course it rained today. Oh well. I guess we need the rain. I met Matt at yet another new church Saturday evening. The church was very pretty inside but the priest was very hard to understand. He is Vietnamese and does not speak English very well. After mass we went back to his place. He did tidy up, but he is definitely a bachelor. We tried a new Mexican restaurant in the Pearl Brewery area and it was pretty good though my entree had beans on it and I’m still not a fan of beans. I kind of ate around them. After that we headed to the movies to watch the current release of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” We both liked the movie but there are some scenes that are difficult to watch.

On Sunday, Matt and I went to breakfast at the Magnolia Pancake Haus which was very good. I had an apple cinnamon waffle. We then headed up to Austin to go to some friends of his 20th wedding anniversary. It was nice to be able to meet some of his friends and I actually also ran into my library facilitator for our district. There were a lot of librarians there so that’s no surprise. We headed back to SA around 5:30 and decided to cook the burgers he brought over a few weeks ago. We ran to the store to get buns and such. After dinner, he helped me take my Christmas tree down. (I think this is the earliest I’ve ever taken a tree down.)

Today was a very busy day with 6th graders doing math testing all day. I headed home right at 4:30 and heated up a t.v. dinner since Josh had already eaten. I then headed to orchestra rehearsal and just got back. I’m pretty tired and ready to call it a night.

Matt sent me an email today that really made me smile. I know I just saw him yesterday, but I already miss him. Have I mentioned how much I like him? He is just so nice. He told me that I was pretty the other night and tells me often how lucky he is to have found me. I think he’s a keeper.

Start of a busy weekend

2012-01-06T23:50:00.002-06:00

I am certainly glad today was Friday. It was another busy day of work in the library, but I’m hopefully ready for the math testing on Monday. I put a roast in the crock pot this morning. I got home around 5:00 and did a quick clean up since Matt was coming over for dinner. He came over at 7:00 and seemed to enjoy the roast. He told me that I’m a very good cook. After dinner we watched the Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” I thought it was pretty good.

Tomorrow I’m sleeping in (thankfully) and then meeting Matt at church at 5:30. After that we are going to dinner and then we’ll see the current version of the movie that’s in the theaters right now. He has invited me to go to Austin with him on Sunday for an anniversary party for some friends of his. Monday I have to get to school early to get things set up for the math testing.

Nothing more to report here. Life is getting really busy again, but it’s the really good kind. I’ll probably be perpetually tired, but I will certainly have a smile on my face.

Brief update for Billy (aka Abbagirl)

2012-01-05T23:30:00.002-06:00

I’m so happy that Abbagirl has returned to the blogging world. She wanted a quick update on my life and I’m not sure how quick I can do that. Seems the last time she blogged with some regularity was 2009. So in 2009, I was still teaching and going to grad school and probably somewhat insane. No love life to speak of other than the eharmony Thomas fiasco. In 2010, I gave eharmony another chance and ended up meeting a guy named Michael who I called “Matthew” on the blog. He actually worked for the district where I was teaching and we had an on again, off again, he couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted kind of relationship. We ended up being just friends of sorts. He was a bit flakey, but it was nice to go out for a while. I finished grad school in May of 2011 and was dismayed at the fact that the job I hoped to get within my district was not going to be available because of state budget cuts. I ended up putting my application out all over the state. I went on four job interviews. Two in Amarillo (near Canyon where I lived), one near Dallas, and one in San Antonio. I ended up with a job offer for San Antonio so I took it. When I took the job, I wasn’t sure which campus I would be at, but I ended up at a middle school (which is what I wanted). I made several trips down here this summer and moved officially the first week in August. It was a very big step for me because I have never really moved away from home. But I’m now 5 hours closer to Josh’s school (he’s a junior in college at Stephen F. Austin university). I started my job as a librarian in the middle of August and I love it. It is what I am meant to do. I went on one date from an eharmony match in September and didn’t get anything out of it. I decided to give Catholicmatch one more try and I finally had success! I sent a message to a guy that seemed interesting because he liked Scrabble and amusement parks and he is a librarian. He responded and we started emailing each other in October. He called me up and asked me on a date a few weeks later and since then we’ve seen each other almost every weekend. Josh went back to Canyon for Christmas so I spend it with my new friend (Matt – real name). I got my first hug on Christmas eve and discovered that I was his “girlfriend” on Christmas day when I was introduced as such. Got a brief kiss that night and then a real kiss on New Year’s Eve. So to answer your question – YES, I do have a special man in my life. Whew! How’s that for a brief update?

Sleep Catch Up

2012-01-04T20:54:00.002-06:00

I really need to catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, I got used to staying up late over the break and getting up in the mornings is still difficult. Of course it didn’t help that I didn’t get back until almost midnight last night. I think I impressed my principals today with the substitute brochure that I created. I got it finished today and then I cleaned out the conference room since the math teachers are going to be meeting in there all day tomorrow. I had to stay late today because one of the math teachers needed to use the computer lab for tutorials and I had to help most of the students with their logins. I didn’t leave school until 5:10. I didn’t feel like cooking much so I just heated frozen pizza for dinner. Tonight I have just sat in front of the t.v. and done nothing. I need to do some house cleaning tomorrow since Matt is coming over for dinner on Friday. I’m cooking a pot roast. My goal tonight is to be in bed by 10:00 and asleep shortly after that.

Busy schedule resumes

2012-01-04T00:19:00.002-06:00

So the last you heard is that I finally got a kiss from my new boyfriend. I’m still grinning as I write that sentence. Matt came over on Sunday evening delivering a pizza. We ate and then played 4 games of scrabble. He beat me three times in a row, but then I turned the tables on him in the 4th game. He helped me a little, but I ended up with a pretty good score over 400 points. I spelled “jeez” for 60 points on a triple word. After that we cuddle some more. It was getting kind of late so I offered for him to stay the night. And he did. And that’s all I’m going to say about it. I’m not saying whether anything more happened or not. You can speculate to your heart’s content, but I will not confirm nor deny anything. Whether anything did happen or may in the future, it is not something I’m going to write about.

On Monday morning, he took me to breakfast at a place called the Guenther House. After that we stopped by the parking division office to see about me getting a free parking meter permit for my car since I have a hybrid. I didn’t bring my registration with me so I’ll have to go back and get it. From there we headed to the new theater that opened near my neighborhood and saw Sherlock Holmes. After that, he took me home.

Josh got in yesterday around 9:30 so I stayed up long enough to visit with him and then went to bed. The alarm went off way too early this morning. I managed to get out bed (after hitting snooze twice) and headed to school on time. I spent most of the day working on a substitute brochure and did some digging on information for audio books. I left school around 4:40, made a quick trip to the grocery store, and then Josh and I headed to downtown for dinner and a show.

We ate at a Mexican food restaurant called Acenar. I had the fajitas again because I thought they were pretty good last time. Josh had chicken enchiladas. From there we headed to the Majestic Theater to see the musical “Les Miserables.” Though our seats were not very good, I thought the music was simply amazing. I loved it. It brought me to tears. I’m going to have to buy the music online.

Well, it is way past my bedtime so I’m going to call it a night. No plans other than work tomorrow. Thursday I’m going to Scrabble practice. Matt is coming over for dinner on Friday and I’m going to his place for the first time on Saturday. We’ll go to mass Saturday evening.

And then he kissed me….

2012-01-01T02:36:00.002-06:00

I have to say that welcoming in the New Year was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, my friend Brent couldn’t come down because he threw out his back while exercising yesterday. So tonight it was just me and Matt. He came over around 5:30 and we went to Mass at a relatively close church. After church, we went to Walmart so that Matt could use his last two free coke zero coupons. He won a contest sometime last year that gave him coupons for a year’s worth of coke zeros and was down to the last two and the expired tonight. He’s been giving them away here and there and he’s given me three of them. He also joined the 21st century by finally getting a cell phone. He got a Straight Talk phone that doesn’t require a contract. I helped him get it set up. He cooked steaks on the grill, I made fettuccine and salad. At 11:00 we watched the ball drop in New York and he gave me a quick kiss then. At midnight here, I finally got a full blown kiss. We had sparkling wine and cuddled a bit. Then the real fun began. Turns out he’s quite a kisser and very affectionate. We had a very enjoyable evening, some good kissing, and wonderful conversation. I really like him and he really likes me. It’s a very nice feeling.

2011 Year in Review

2011-12-31T12:15:00.003-06:00

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

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

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

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

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

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

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?

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

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

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

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

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

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

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

9. What was your biggest failure?

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

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

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

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My new furniture for my house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

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

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

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

14. Where did most of your money go?

Paying for the move to San Antonio.

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

My new job and going out on dates.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

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

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

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

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

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

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

As usual – worrying.

20. How did you spend the holidays?

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

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

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

22. How many one-night stands?

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

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Probably re-runs of Monk and House Hunters.

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

Nope, I’m a lover, not a hater.

25. What was the best book you read?

Probably the Lee Child books.

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

The Help.

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

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

28. Whom did you miss?

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

29. Who was the best new person you met?

My boyfriend, Matt.

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

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

Hugs are getting good

2011-12-31T01:04:00.003-06:00

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

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

Gotta get back on schedule

2011-12-30T17:25:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

Lazy Day

2011-12-28T23:45:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

Reflection

2011-12-27T23:35:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

One more week of vacation

2011-12-27T17:01:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

An interesting day

2011-12-26T00:33:00.002-06:00

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

Finally a hug

2011-12-25T02:21:00.002-06:00

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

Digging

2011-12-24T14:08:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

Scrabble Success

2011-12-23T10:32:00.002-06:00

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

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

Early Christmas

2011-12-21T18:49:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

Insomnia Strikes Again

2011-12-20T04:33:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why am I up this early?

2011-12-19T06:32:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Shopping

2011-12-17T21:51:00.002-06:00

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

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

I’m a chicken

2011-12-17T00:25:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

Confession is good for…

2011-12-13T20:28:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

Another do-nothing day

2011-12-11T18:44:00.002-06:00

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

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

My Day Off

2011-12-10T22:47:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

Kind of a Success

2011-12-10T00:04:00.002-06:00

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

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

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

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

Warmth

2011-12-08T20:35:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Getting there

2011-12-07T18:31:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Another busy week

2011-12-06T20:31:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Book-aholic

2011-12-03T19:15:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Baking

2011-12-01T21:00:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Finally a night at home

2011-11-30T20:25:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

To flirt or not to flirt

2011-11-26T23:07:00.001-06:00

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

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

What happens in Vegas…

2011-11-25T22:35:00.001-06:00

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

Wish you were here

2011-11-24T01:29:00.002-06:00

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

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

Heading to Vegas!

2011-11-22T09:37:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

The things we do for our pets

2011-11-21T10:41:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

In a happier place

2011-11-18T22:35:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

A respite

2011-11-17T18:33:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Orchestra Rehearsal

2011-11-14T22:51:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

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

An Outlet

2011-11-13T20:41:00.001-06:00

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

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

A day with my son

2011-11-13T10:31:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

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

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

Scrabble Success

2011-11-11T16:18:00.001-06:00

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

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

Pity Party Over

2011-11-10T18:16:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Doldrums

2011-11-09T19:45:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

A Full Day

2011-11-08T18:48:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

Bad Annabel

2011-11-06T10:54:00.001-06:00

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

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

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

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

A Nice Evening Overall

2011-11-05T11:32:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Cleaning Frenzy

2011-11-03T19:09:00.001-05:00

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

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

So much for sleep!

2011-11-02T21:49:00.001-05:00

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

Not a cold

2011-11-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

Allergies or a cold

2011-11-01T22:08:00.001-05:00

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

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

I’m a hit

2011-10-30T19:31:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

Slow moving

2011-10-29T18:58:00.001-05:00

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

Grocery Day

2011-10-27T20:14:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

Missing my Marvin ties

2011-10-26T18:41:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

I should be in bed, but…

2011-10-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Books and a Busy Week

2011-10-24T21:54:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

A pretty darn good day

2011-10-23T22:11:00.001-05:00

I got to sleep in some this morning. I originally intended to get up around 8, but I ended up sleeping until 9. That was fine though. I got up and filled my car with gas and then found a car wash that I was able to go through quickly. I then went to Walmart to get just enough stuff to get my by until payday which is Wednesday. I picked up a few packets of dog and cat food and a few frozen meals for lunches. After that I cam home and mowed my lawn (again) and then did some house cleaning and put together another set of shelves. I have just one more to do and my bookshelves will be ready for me to unpack all my books. I then got ready to head to Six Flags for some coasters. My friend Brent came around 3:00 and we headed to the park. It took about 30 minutes to drive across town. We went inside and then rode a fairly tame coaster to begin with, then headed to Superman. It was a great ride as always. We then rode Goliath, Poltergeist and then Superman again. I bought a picture of me and Brent on the coaster and looked for some Marvin the Martian things but didn’t find anything I didn’t have to have. We left the park around 6:30 and headed downtown for dinner. It seems tonight was some kind of “Zombie Walk” but we were able to find parking and then we went to the Menger bar for a top shelf margarita. From there we went to the Riverwalk and walked until we found a place to eat. I can’t remember the name of the place – but it served Mexican food so we had another margarita and I ordered fajitas and he had a chile relleno. The food was really good and I was completely stuffed. We walked back to the car and drove back to my place. I had a wedding gift to give him that I hadn’t before so I gave it to him. He headed home and now I’m heading to bed very soon. It was a really nice day spent with a good friend. Just an FYI – Brent is my friend from high school who just married his boyfriend Leo, but Leo is still living in Minneapolis at the moment.

Tomorrow is inservice meetings so that means I have to get to school early to set up the projector, ELMO (visual presenter), and a computer. It’s going to be a busy week in the library. I have two classes coming in Tuesday, then on Wednesday I have a monthly meeting. Thursday are two more classes and I can’t remember what’s going on Friday. I’m still loving the job so I can’t complain too much at this point. The only down thing right now is that the library guy hasn’t replied to my last email yet. Not sure if he’s been busy this weekend and hasn’t had a chance or what. Guess I’ll wait and see. Maybe I should call him?? For now, I’ve got to get these contacts out and get to bed!

A pajama kind of day

2011-10-22T18:30:00.001-05:00

It’s 6:00 p.m. and I haven’t changed out my pajamas all day. I tried to sleep in some, but with animals wanting in and out this morning it was difficult. So I got up and made some cinnamon twists that I had in the fridge. They were pretty yummy. I had them with half a cup of coffee (with lots of cream and sugar). I’ve mostly sat around and watched t.v. today. I did finally get one of my shelves put together. I’m going to try to get two more put together this evening. I’m also going to clean a little since I’ll have company tomorrow. I think we’re going to go to the park in the afternoon and then go have dinner and drinks downtown.

I think I might just get dressed to at least go pick up something for dinner. It’s back to some slim pickings around here.

A busy day in the library

2011-10-21T20:34:00.001-05:00

So much for the relaxing few days I had. But then again, I do like staying busy. Today I had students coming in to take make up tests, students using the lab, and three English classes that still had to have their orientations. Students are figuring out that they need to have passes before school and that is making my job easier. The scavenger hunts seemed to be a hit again. Surprisingly, even one of the teachers helping her ESL students had some issues doing the hunt. It might be something good to have the teachers do sometime.

The library guy emailed me again. He even emailed me late last night because the time stamp on the email was after 2:00 a.m. He said that he would be happy to show me around San Antonio. Hopefully that is a promising sign. I guess if we do meet and such that I should come up with a pseudonym for him at some point.

Not sure what my plan for tomorrow is. I kind of want to go to a bookstore. I guess I’ll figure it out in the morning. On Sunday, my friend Brent from Austin is going to come down and we’re going to Fiesta Texas. I finally get to ride some coasters! Woo hoo!

Earthquake?

2011-10-20T22:13:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel out of touch with things going on in the world. I find out about the death of major people only when someone mentions it on facebook. I was on CNN tonight checking up on events and read that there was supposedly an earthquake 50 miles south-southeast of San Antonio around 7:20 this morning. They said that people in SA felt it. I certainly didn’t. I was probably in my bathroom putting on makeup or doing my hair at that point and I didn’t feel anything. I’m kind of disappointed.

In other news, the email conversations with the librarian guy here seems to be going well. This is kind of surprising to me. I know I can be a negative Nelly, but the way it usually works (if I contact the guy first), they respond out of kindness and then it fizzles within about two emails. This guy, however, writes rather lengthy emails with anecdotal stories and has so far responded just about daily. And in the last email he gave me his number and said that I could call if I wanted. I’m probably going to be too shy to call at this point, but I gave him my number in the last email so maybe he’ll call me.

I talked to my sister and dad last night and they are going to go to Vegas during Thanksgiving with Josh and I. It will be great to have family there.

Blurbs

2011-10-19T19:57:00.001-05:00

The great coffee experiment

So I’ve discovered that the milder roasts of coffee with lots of creamer and sugar isn’t too bad. I actually had a cup on Monday when I woke up pretty tired and it did seem to help. I still haven’t finished a full cup, but I got pretty close. So we’ll see how it goes. I may become a coffee drinker yet.

The Animals

They are still hit or miss on the potty training. My schedule can be erratic so it’s difficult to get it work. Sometimes they use the wee wee pads, sometimes they don’t. I should probably ask my rental company if the homeowners would let me install a pet door. That would help with sleeping at night as well.

Work

Work has actually been rather slow this week. Yesterday it was so quiet that I had to put on music. I even started a new blog just for my library ramblings. I plan to cover books, technology things, and helpful information for students and teachers.

Dating

I haven’t talked to the guy I went on with once in a few weeks now. I wasn’t all that interested so it doesn’t bother me. Now I’m emailing a guy locally who is a librarian. I also have email conversations going with a guy that lives in Washington state. Other than that, nothing going on in my love life these days.

Out and about

2011-10-15T20:25:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed sleeping in this morning. I got up around 10 and took a shower and got ready to go out. I headed out around 11:15 to a shopping area that has lots of restaurants and a movie theater. I at lunch at a Greek restaurant and the food was really good. Then I headed over to the theater and watched “The Help.” It was a good movie as well. I really enjoyed getting out and going to the movies – even if I did it alone. I was surprised that the small theater was as full as it was. I know the movie has been showing a while, but there was a pretty good sized crowd there. Mostly older people, but a variety. After the movie, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and looked around. I bought a towel rack for the kitchen and a small coffee sample back of a lighter roast coffee to see if it helps in my quest to become a coffee drinker. I haven’t tried since last weekend so I plan have a cup in the morning. From there I headed up north and went shopping at Kohl’s. I tried on several things and couldn’t really find anything that I loved. I almost bought a pair of pants, but I talked myself out of it when I found shoes on sale instead. I bought two pair of shoes (though I really don’t “need” more shoes). After that I headed over to another part of town and picked up a steak burrito from Chipotle for supper. I got it to go and came home to eat it. It was a little cold when I got here, but it was still good. Now I’m a little bored. There’s not much on t.v. and I don’t have anything I want to do online either. I guess I could start a book. Or I could just go to bed early. I’m enjoying my second beer right now, so I may fall asleep pretty soon.

Tomorrow’s plan is to go to the store, clean house, practice my clarinet, and probably watch some t.v. No promise that I’ll get any of this done, but we’ll see. Oh, I have to mow the yard yet again. Ugh.

Another weekend

2011-10-14T21:55:00.001-05:00

Today was spent at a meeting regarding positive behavior interventions. It’s basically strategies for maintaining discipline. I was asked to participate in the meeting. I think it is because they don’t have to get a sub for me when I’m gone. But I think they also kind of like me as well. It’s always hard to replace another person who has been a fixture within a school, but I think they realize that I have a lot to be bring to the job.

I’m making some changes regarding the library. I appreciate that I have a lot of students that want to be in the library before school, but it is getting hard to manage. Most of the boys have been gunning to be one of the first four to play games on the computer. But then we had a student that had a backpack stolen. Then I’ve also been overwhelmed with just the numbers. I have to deal with checking in books, checking them out, monitoring students coming and going and it is a lot to handle. So now I’m implementing a requirement that students have a pass before school. They can pick one up the day before from me or a teacher. The computers also are going to be a positive behavior incentive. I’m hoping this will alleviate some of the issues I’ve been dealing with. Of course I’m still happy that students are excited to visit, but I certainly want them to actually use the library. I have been checking out a lot of books though. I hope they keep it up.

After our meeting today I went to the payroll office to get my paycheck issue resolved. I had to fill out yet another form to get the check deposited in my local bank account – although the next check will still go into the account back in Canyon. I came home and the house was quiet. I didn’t hear Mollie barking like she usually does. I couldn’t figure it out. Then I opened the back door and it turns out that I had left Mollie outside. Boy did she let me have it. I certainly didn’t mean to. I remember hastily shutting the back door this morning to keep Lucy from getting out, but I guess I didn’t realize that Mollie was still out there. She was fine, but I did feel bad. I let her yell at me and I gave her some extra love.

I’ve spent the evening watching episodes of Psych and Monk. I have such an exciting life. Tomorrow I’m thinking of going to the movies. By myself. And maybe some shopping. I feel the need to get out of the house.

Ready for November

2011-10-12T20:40:00.001-05:00

I’m not necessarily looking forward to another birthday next month, but I’m looking forward to the fact that I’ll get to spend some time with Josh. He’s going to come back to San Antonio the weekend of the 12th so we can go to dinner and celebrate our birthdays. The weekend before that, he’s going back to Canyon to see his girlfriend and go to the high school musical. We are also going to Vegas for Thanksgiving. We’ve both purchased our airline tickets. I’ve reserved the hotel and he has bought show tickets for Penn & Teller. I’m starting to feel more of a sense of loneliness here. I’m making new acquaintances at work and in band, but can’t say I’ve developed any friendships yet. I do miss my friends back home. I haven’t heard from Marty or Matthew or really anyone lately. It’s not horrible, because I’m kind of a loner of sorts and most of the time I don’t mind being alone. I guess I’m missing a few of the connections I used to have. I know it takes time to develop those connections so I just need to be patient.

Nothing more to report really. Going to work. Come home. Make dinner. Watch t.v. I did finish reading “The Help.” Now I guess I need a new book. I should find some things in my library to read so I can start making more recommendations to students.

Back to library stuff

2011-10-10T20:43:00.001-05:00

Finally no orientations this week. I did have classes in the library and lab today, but nothing that I had to really help with. I did some work on the website, shelved books, and set up a Halloween display of scary books to read. These middle school kids really like the scary books. Tomorrow we have another campus visit and the library is reserved for the visitors in the afternoon. I’ve learned my lesson and I’ll be working in my office while they’re here – rather than get kicked out of my own library. I stayed late setting up the display today. I think it turned out pretty well considering that it’s my first. The previous librarian left all her seasonal decorations. I think she probably decorated more of the library, but I just did a display of books to read. I don’t have much more to share so I’ll leave you with pictures of my book display.

A Rainy Sunday

2011-10-09T13:40:00.001-05:00

Well the rain came in last night around 3 in the morning and it’s still raining. There was a pretty good thunderstorm around 3 that kept me and the animals up for a while. Normally thunderstorms bother me a little, but I think this house is more insulated because it didn’t seem as bad. It could also be that my bed isn’t under a window like at the last house. I fell back to sleep around 4-something I think, but then I slept intermittently after that with Lucy wanting outside, then wanting in, the animals being antsy, and hearing random bursts of thunder. I’m glad I mowed the front yesterday – it is way too wet today. Today is grocery day for me so I took a shower and then headed to Walmart around 11:00. It was still raining pretty good, but I wanted to beat the church crowds. I got groceries including stuff to make chili (without beans) and rice for supper. That’s my comfort food on a rainy day. I thought about going out today and watching a movie, but I think I’m just going to curl up on the couch and watch t.v. instead.

Mowing delayed

2011-10-08T12:05:00.001-05:00

I planned to mow this morning, but we got some rain early this morning so it was put off for a while. I just got back in from mowing the front. The back will have to wait. I’m going to try a coffee experiment again this morning. I’m brewing another cup and we’ll see how it goes. It looks like we’re going to get more rain today. That will be a relief. The high is supposed to be only 89. I think that is the coolest thus far.

Today’s agenda is to finish my book (about halfway through now) and clean house. It is getting quite untidy. I’ve started dishes, but need to put up clothes, do more laundry, vacuum, and put miscellaneous things away. But I’m not going to rush on that. For now it’s me and a book and the tv and sometimes the laptop.

Time to mow again

2011-10-07T21:25:00.001-05:00

I’m going to have to mow tomorrow morning again. Not looking forward to that. But these damn weeds keep growing as fast as ever – even without rain.

The last two days of school were a little more rough. One class on Thursday was probably the rudest I’ve ever encountered. They were a class of students that were supposed to have gone on to high school already, but for whatever reason – can’t pass or get out of middle school. They were full of attitude and completely disrespectful. The positive side is that I don’t have to deal with them all the time. I invited my principal to come observe me this week. She did stop by briefly. She sent me an email that said I was doing an outstanding job and that she was glad that I was there. So that was a positive end to my week.

Last week I bought the book “The Help.” I’ve wanted to see the movie, but I’d rather read the book first. So I’ve started reading it. It’s pretty good so far. Tonight I’ve had the t.v. on watching Psych and reading some. I had some chicken and potatoes for dinner, cheesecake for dessert and now I’m enjoying some popcorn. Guess it’s good that I’ll work up a sweat mowing in the morning. Monk is coming on next.

a long post – but read anyway

2011-10-05T22:06:00.001-05:00

So yesterday had more frustrations. I remained flexible about the schedule and tried to be a gracious host to the visitors in the library. They came in and set up shop and then asked me to close the library to students before school even started (as they were signing in). So I did that. Then they went about their business and did some observations and regrouped around 10:30. When the bell rang for the next class around then, I stepped out in the hall to monitor students. The assistant principal came out and asked if I could just stay out of the library while they debriefed. So what do I do at that point? Say no? So I say no problem. Of course I’m in the hall with nothing. No book. No phone. No computer. Nothing. So I go to the teacher’s lounge. Nothing to do. I straighten the block letter things that can be cut out and clean up some. I go to my car and clean it out. I find a word search magazine so I bring it in. I do the word search puzzles. Almost an hour has passed and they are still debriefing. The bell for lunch rings so I decide I’m going back in to at least get my lunch. So I quietly go in and go through the back part to get my lunch and heat it up. I take it to the lounge and eat with the other teachers. By the time lunch is over, they are finally finishing up. So I can finally get my library back. I was a bit put off by all that. The least they could have done is give me some advance notice or let me work in my office with the door closed. So after that I rushed to get ready for my orientations.

After school I went with the band to the showcase at the stadium. All the high school bands performed their marching shows and the middle schools performed in the stands. I took my clarinet and played with the band and helped as a chaperone. It was interesting to see all the bands, but I wasn’t all that impressed. A few bands stood out, but I’ve seen better back in Canyon. It was a nice evening – not too cool and no wind. I really love living in a place where the wind doesn’t blow all the freaking time. We got back around 9:30. I was worried about leaving the animals so long, but surprisingly, there was only one pee spot to clean up and no poop at all. I let them out as soon as I got home. Then Mollie totally ticked me off. She came back in and I fed them. Then about five minutes after that I discover that she peed on the carpet in the time I’ve been home. So to answer Jan’s question – animals are doing ok, but Mollie is driving me crazy still. Happily today, however, I discovered that they used the wee wee pads twice today – no stains on the carpet.

Today at school it was a good day. I did library orientations with English classes. I figured out yesterday that I needed to give them fill in the blank notes to keep their attention. So I got those ready and it made things go much better. I have a scavenger hunt of sorts that I’m having the classes do, but most aren’t able to finish it. But I’m getting used to actually finding books in the library, using the Dewey Decimal system, searching the card catalog, and using an actual reference book (not googling). I think it is a good skill to teach them – especially in middle school. They seemed to enjoy it so hopefully it will continue to go well the next two days with the other classes. I love being able to do some teaching but then not really have to do anything more – I work with a variety of students – but none are truly mine. I don’t have to grade papers, but I guide and direct, offer suggestions, and I love it. I have no doubt that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m finally in a place where I enjoy going to work. I really like my job. Even with the annoyances like the last minute changes and lack of communication, I enjoy the job itself. And I still love leaving the work at school. I don’t bring it home. Other than a little planning this past weekend, I haven’t done any work from home. This is the way a job should be.

More big news – ok, not big but something kind of big for me. I tried drinking coffee today. You must understand that I am not a coffee drinker. I don’t drink coffee. Period. The last time I tried coffee was maybe 20 years ago and I hated it. I do like how coffee smells though, but I’ve never been able to develop a taste for it. So this morning I’m tired. I need caffeine. I didn’t want a coke. My aunt bought be a Keurig coffee maker where you make just a cup at a time. I had a sample pack of coffee. I bought some white chocolate/caramel creamer at the store this weekend. So I thought I’d try it. I still think it kind of tastes like dirt. The creamer of course helped, but sugar helped more. But the taste just stays in your mouth – even after brushing your teeth. But I got through about a third of a cup. I can’t decide if it helped or not. So the jury is still out.

And to answer Jan’s other question – the weather is still hot, but it is starting to cool down a little – meaning that it only gets to the mid-90’s during the day and maybe down to the 60’s at night. So it is nice a comfortable most evenings. Not getting much rain, but there’s some storm possibilities in the next week I think.

Guess that’s enough for my post today. Sorry for the length – lots to share I guess. I’m going to go read a little before calling it a night. I bought the book “The Help.” I do want to see the movie at some point, but I want to read the book first.

Being Flexible

2011-10-03T20:41:00.001-05:00

So I got an email Sunday night from one of the English teachers stating that she needed to reschedule her orientation for another time because her students were still finishing a writing assignment. I was ok with that especially since I didn’t want to stay up late getting ready. So I get to school and diligently work on finishing my presentation and plan a scavenger hunt of sorts. Then I get a call from the secretary asking who is scheduled for the library tomorrow. I told her that I had scheduled an English class for orientation. She asks which teacher and I tell her. Then the teacher comes down and tells me that the principal needs the library tomorrow and she has to reschedule. So I have to adjust for that. What gets me is that the principal has known for weeks that these people that are going to use the library were coming. The last minute attitude of this district is driving me crazy. I’m a planner. I can be flexible – often because I have to – but I prefer to plan things out and have some structure. So now I’ve had to shift yet again. I had scheduled the library facilitator to come visit tomorrow to observe me working with classes. I was able to work around that issue because the English teacher is being flexible by bringing her classes three different days this week. But I did get the powerpoint finished in addition to my scavenger hunt questions. I’m not sure how that is going to go, but we’ll see. It could be a mess. But I’m going to try at least.

So I came home and couldn’t decide what to do for dinner. I got stuff to make tacos which I really wanted to make, but I didn’t have the stuff needed to make Spanish rice so I decided not to make it. I didn’t feel like making anything else so I just went to Sonic and got a burger and tots. Other than that, I’m not doing much this evening. Just watching some t.v. I still haven’t started putting the bookshelves together. I should get to that at some point.

Another weekend comes to an end

2011-10-02T21:30:00.001-05:00

I finally got some rest. I was up late watching Psych last night and finally went to bed sometime after midnight. But I was able to sleep in this morning – didn’t get up until past 9:00. I headed to the store for my normal weekend shopping. Walmart isn’t as crowded on Sunday mornings. Unfortunately, I’ve been having a sweet tooth lately and the Halloween candy is out. I bought a big bag of chocolate that I don’t need. I came home and started working on my powerpoint for my orientations with the English classes. I still need to do worksheets, but my classes for tomorrow have been rescheduled so I’m not going to rush to get it done tonight.

Tuesday I’m going to help as a chaperone for the band at an event at the stadium. All the bands come together to perform so it will be interesting. I’m supposed to bring my clarinet and play as well. It will be a long night, but will be interesting to hear the bands – see what kind of talent is in San Antonio. The cool thing about living here is that the state marching contest is held at the Alamodome in November so I could see it then. It would be great if my alma mater made it again. Josh went to contest with the band his sophomore year and I went as a chaperone.

So it was mostly another lazy day for me which I am glad to have. If I were still teaching at Hereford, I would have had to go to a speech speech tournament yesterday and I would feel like I didn’t get anything done. Though I didn’t get as much done as I should have this weekend, I’m not sweating it. I have clean clothes and I did do the dishes so I’m good to go. I’m going to head to bed soon and try to get up a little earlier tomorrow morning.

I hate mowing

2011-10-01T22:47:00.001-05:00

In spite of it being a Saturday and wanting to sleep in, I got up shortly before 8 this morning so I could mow the yard yet again. It wasn’t as bad as last week since I only mowed the front, but it was still somewhat exhausting. I think it also stirs up stuff that I’m allergic to because after I finished I could feel allergies coming on in addition to a headache. So I took a claritin and some tylenol and went back to bed. It seemed to help. I eventually fell asleep and got up a little before 11:00. I took a shower and headed into San Antonio. I had to drop off my rent check so it wouldn’t be late. It was across town so while in that area, I stopped at Chipotle to eat. It is one of my favorite places and now that I live in a bigger city, I can go when I want to. They make these huge burritos filled with rice, choice of meat, peppers, onions, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce, and salsa – at least that is how I order mine. You can also have beans and guacamole if you should choose.

My GPS has become a bit infuriating. It seems as though it has no idea how to get me where I want. On more than one occasion today it tried to take me to the wrong location today. I spent probably an hour or so just back tracking to find the stores that I wanted to get to. I went to an education supply store in search of things to give out as prizes for library orientations on Monday. I didn’t find anything. Then I went to office max, Michaels, a toy store, Hobby Lobby, and Big Lots. At big lots, I found bookshelves for $25 each so I bought five of them. They are simple and though I would prefer something nicer, I don’t have the budget for what I’d really like. Now it’s a matter of putting them together. I figure I might try to do one every night and have them done by next weekend. I really want to get all my books out of the boxes that they’ve been sitting in since I moved in.

After all the shopping, I came home and watched t.v., surfed the internet, and heated up leftover pizza for dinner. I made homemade pizza last night. Now I’m watching Psych and planning to head to bed shortly. Not sure about tomorrow – going to do some house cleaning and go to the store.

TGIF – I think

2011-09-30T22:04:00.001-05:00

Glad this week is over for some reason. It’s not really the job, just ready for a break in general. The book fair was going on in the library all week so it is has been taken over a bit. But it’s good to see students buying a few books – and I had more students also checking out books when they came to the book fair. I was able to pick out some free books for the library as well. I got a call from my rental company the other day. Seems the homeowners association wasn’t happy about some weeds in my yard. I mowed the yard since they sent a complaint letter, but even after just a week, the weeds are back. They’re little thin strands that seem to grow a couple of inches a day. I’ll have to mow again tomorrow. Wish Andrew lived close by – I’d hire him to mow my yard for me.

Tomorrow I’m going to drive up to the Northwest part of town to drop off my rent check and to do some shopping. I’m doing library orientations next week and want to be able to give out prizes – and I can’t give out candy but thought I might get some pencils or something. Other than that, no plans this weekend. Just going to take it easy I think.

Where did the money go?

2011-09-28T19:48:00.001-05:00

I’ve been anxiously watching my bank account wondering when my paycheck would be deposited. As of 6:00 p.m. this evening, no check. It was deposited last month with no problem. So on a hunch, I checked my other bank account – the bank that is back in Canyon – and sure enough, that’s where my money went this month. You see I originally turned in a form for that bank, but when I opened up an account down here, I turned in a different form. So now they changed it from the new bank to my old bank. That means I have to make a trip downtown to get it sorted out and this month, I have to set up new bill pays to take care of my bills. Being such a late pay date this month, I’m also going to have to turn in my rent in person instead of mailing it. That means a trip across town. But I’m thinking maybe I need to head to Fiesta Texas this weekend while it is still fairly warm and get some coaster riding in. Then it would be on my way. It’s just a thought.

So I went to a library meeting this afternoon. I got a little bit more information that was helpful. I’m participating in a book study in addition to working with a committee, but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do both. I’m almost finished cataloging all the extra books I have. The rest of the week I need to plan for my English class orientations. Of course I want to be ambitious and get them involved in different activities, but may not have a lot of time for that.

Band rehearsal was ok last night. I’m doing fairly well sitting 2nd chair. I do need to practice a few things, but should be fine with the concert. I found out that the concert is at 3:00 in the afternoon on Sunday which means I could go to the Huey Lewis concert if I wanted to. I called Marty to see if he was interested in going, but he said he wasn’t. He’s not a fan of the group. So I have to decide if I want to go and then try to find someone else to go with me, or if I should go by myself, or if I should just not go at all. Something to think about.

Figuring it out

2011-09-26T21:04:00.001-05:00

I was very proud of myself today for figuring out how to process books without having marc records ready to import. I had to locate the record using one program, modify it, save it, then continue the process for each book I had. Then I had to export the file into another program that checks the records for accuracy and then export them again. Finally I imported them into the catalog database. From there I had to print labels with bar codes and that took some figuring out because they didn’t seem to print correctly. I finally deduced that the pdf file is reduced for some reason, so I printed from a different file and it came out perfect. Then I printed spine labels and put them on all the books. You’d be amazed at what goes into getting books out on the shelves. Not only does it involve getting the catalog information into the catalog, but there’s a barcode label, spine label, then stamping the book with the library’s name in several locations, then writing the barcode in two places in the book and the call number. It is a rather lengthy process when you do it all from scratch. Luckily the large order that came in this summer already had the barcode and spine labels done. But it was still an ordeal to get them all stamped and such. Luckily I had some students help. The next step is to be able to get marc records from other sources or to create them myself. Now I’ve got to see how much I remember from my cataloging class.

I stayed a little late today because I had some teachers using the lab and I was finishing up a few books. I left school around 5:00 but then realized I left my purse and cell phone at school so I had to go back. I got home around 5:30 and started some dinner. I called my dad to visit with him and asked him if he was interested in going to Vegas for Thanksgiving. I think he might be interested. My sister is interested too. I went ahead and booked my flight today. I used my SW airline miles so it only cost me $5.00. I also booked the hotel. Josh is going to book his own flight and pay for the show tickets. So I guess it’s settled that we’re going to Vegas – just need to find an animal/house sitter for while we’re gone.

Another relatively lazy Sunday

2011-09-25T19:46:00.001-05:00

I stayed up late reading last night and didn’t go to bed until after 1:00 a.m. I slept in until about 8:00 and finished reading around 10:00. I then took a shower and headed to Walmart for dog food and a few other necessities. I then picked up some Long John Silver’s for lunch and ate. I don’t know if was all the carbs but it knocked me out and I took a nap around noon. I woke up when I heard my cell phone ringing. It was my sister. She needed my brother’s cell phone number. She also said that she might try to go to Vegas when Josh and I go during Thanksgiving. Josh has been wanting to go to Vegas after he turns 21 ever since he was 10 years old. I don’t know that he really wants to gamble much, but it’s the whole idea of the experience, I think. He originally planned to go with friends in December, but I guess they are all broke, so he called me up a few weeks ago and asked if we had plans for Thanksgiving. I said not that I know of, and he asked if we could go to Vegas and split the cost. I told him probably. The only issue is finding someone to take care of my animals while I’m going. I may be able to get my ex-husband to do it – if he is around that week. Max lived with us when we were married – in fact it was Richard that brought him home, so I think he would like to spend time with him. So now we’re planning the trip. I think I’ll use some of my Southwest miles to pay for the flight. I think we’re going to stay at Bally’s because the rate is fairly cheap and it is in the middle of the strip. I think I’ve stayed in a different motel every time I’ve been to Vegas and I’m not sure how many times I’ve been now. I’ve been often enough that I know to always wear comfortable shoes because you walk a lot.

I’m watching another Monk marathon and I actually saw an episode I hadn’t seen before. It is probably from the last season that I missed a lot of while in grad school. I still need to do some laundry but right now I’m enjoying a glass of wine. I guess I’ll get to it eventually. It’s just been a nice lazy day without much going on.

Ahhh Saturday

2011-09-24T18:45:00.001-05:00

It was very lovely to sleep in today. I got up a little after 9:00 and then decided to mow the yard before it got too hot. I didn’t realize how exhausting mowing the lawn is. It might not have been too bad had I just mowed the front or the back, but I had to mow both today. I still need to weed-eat some, but it will just have to wait. I came in from mowing and my face was completely red, I was dripping in sweat and was totally exhausted. I laid down on my bed under the fan for a few minutes before I decided to take a shower. Then I plopped on the couch in front of the t.v. for a few hours. I went outside with the animals for a bit this afternoon and trimmed some of the stuff I couldn’t get to with the mower. When I came in I felt a headache coming on and potential allergies. I took some tylenol and claritin and took a nap.

I just had a salad for dinner and now watching the Monk marathon. I had intended to get more done today, but I guess mowing the yard just took too much out of me. I still plan to get some house cleaning done though. I did start the dishwasher and put all my shoes up. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have a tendency to leave shoes out all over the house. It used to drive my ex-husband crazy. He once tried to make a point by hiding one of my shoes. I ended up being late for work that day. He never did that again. I figure there are worse things than a spouse who leaves shoes out - such as a spouse who stays up all night looking at porn. Thankfully I don’t have to deal with that any more and if I want to leave my shoes out, I can.

Been a long week

2011-09-23T20:25:00.001-05:00

Though I do still enjoy the job, I’m glad it’s Friday. It feels like it has been a very long week and despite going to bed early last night I’m still tired. I went to a library conference today which was pretty good, but thought a lot of the programs were geared for elementary schools. No plans for this weekend other than mowing the yard and cleaning the house. It’s not trashed or anything, but it’s probably the untidiest it has been in a while. And that’s all I have for today. Not much going on here.

Need Sleep

2011-09-22T20:57:00.001-05:00

It’s been a busy week but glad tomorrow is Friday. When I got home from school on Tuesday, I was pretty exhausted. I went to band rehearsal in spite of wanting to go to bed. On the way there I felt an allergy attack coming on so I stopped at a convenience store to get some claritin and head it off. It seemed to work. When I got to rehearsal, the lady I’ve been sitting next to suggested that I move up because the first chair player didn’t seem to be there. But he did show up so I thought I was safe. But somehow I ended up moving to the first row sitting second chair anyway. I did pretty well but will have to practice some depending on what we end up playing. At least I’m not sitting next to the lady with the horrible sound any more. And now I’m sitting next to the oboe player that I teach at the same school with. So at least now I can be more sociable. I didn’t get home until after 10 an didn’t get to sleep until after 11:00 because I read.

Wednesday morning I made a point to get up early to get to school and set up all the mobile computers for the math testing that needed to be completed. I got them all set up and then found out that they weren’t going to be testing and they “forgot” to tell me, but thanked me for being flexible. I was a little irritated by that. But I left right at 4:30 and came home to meet Marty. We went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner. They had a special featuring spaghetti with meatsauce for only $5. So we had that, I had a glass of wine, and then shared dessert. Then we headed to the AT&T center for the concert.

I thought our seats were pretty good. The concert started with Night Ranger who played for about 30 minutes. Then Foreigner played for almost an hour. I thought Foreigner was pretty awesome. I knew all but one of their songs. Journey was good, and the new lead singer does sound a lot like Steve Perry, but he isn’t a great showman. His stage presence was really awkward. But the music was awesome though maybe even a bit loud. But we both enjoyed the concert. We got back around 11:30. Marty headed back to Austin and I headed to bed.

I was really tired this morning. I didn’t get to school until right at 8:00. Then a lady came in and expected to use the library for some training and hadn’t planned it but since the math testing wasn’t going on, I made the accommodation for her. It was a busy day as always. I left around 4:45, stopped at the store then came home. Made some dinner. I’ve watched some t.v. and will go to bed really soon. I took a tylenol p.m. about an hour ago and it’s starting to hit. Tomorrow I’m going to a conference at the education service center and need to get up early again.

Doing my job

2011-09-19T22:35:00.001-05:00

I wish I would have figured out my calling a long time ago. Then again, I’m a believer that things happen the way they are supposed to and for a reason. I still love my job. I know there will be a point that I will not like something about my job, but so far it’s still going well. I don’t care much for the lack of communication from my school administrators, but at the same time I appreciate that they seem to trust me and leave me to do my job as I see fit. I love staying busy all day but not dealing with lesson plans, discipline, parents, and all the other annoying stuff I had to do as a teacher. Today I worked on the website, met with classes checking out books, set up a mobile lab, processed more books, and resolved printing issues. I ended up staying really late getting old computers out of the way to get ready for new computers that will be installed tomorrow.

I came home and let the animals out to do their business. I’m still fighting with Mollie on doing what she needs to do when I get home. Then I headed to the grocery store since I didn’t get there this weekend. I didn’t get home until almost 8. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Luckily I got a little reprieve in that I don’t have to deal with the math teachers coming in to test until tomorrow. I’ll have time to get the laptops set up with the link for the test. Hopefully I’ll also be able to get the additional books I have processed before I lose my data station computer.

I was kind of nervous about working as a librarian. I wasn’t sure if I had really learned enough or had enough “on the job” training so to speak, but I feel like I’m picking things up pretty well. The district librarian facilitator told me the other day that I worry her because I haven’t had any issues or needed a lot of help as of yet. I told her that I’m awesome and on the ball. I’ve surprised myself in how well I’m figuring things out.

I need to get to bed. I should try to get to school early tomorrow – still have lots to do.

Socially Awkward

2011-09-18T23:14:00.001-05:00

Last night I went to the reception for my friend Brent. At first is was really socially awkward because I only really knew Brent. So I got food and a beer and sat by myself and ate. I texted Marty to find out when he would get off work which was 10:30. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it until then. But I made an effort to be social and talked to a couple of guys that work for Brent. Then I talked to a guy that graduated from Canyon, but a year earlier than Brent and I. I knew who he was, but wasn’t sure if he knew who I was. Turns out he remembered me so I visited with him and two other guys most of the rest of the night. I also had a nice long visit with Brent’s mom and was surprised that she remembered me. She was very nice and offered to let me visit her in Ruidoso some time. I did have a few drinks but didn’t get drunk, thankfully. I was happy that Marty showed up after work though. I always enjoy talking to him. There was a married guy there that was kind of hitting on me – or maybe he was just being really friendly.

There was a girl there that Marty and I met when Brent invited us over for dinner earlier this summer. At one point she came over and whispered “What’s going on between the two of you?” referring to Marty and I. We weren’t doing anything but talking and standing next to each other, but I guess she sensed something. When I told her “nothing,” she gave me a look that said “yeah, right.” I didn’t have a chance to explain the complexities of our relationship to her. This isn’t the first time that someone has picked up on the connection that I guess is obvious. I’m not sure that I could even explain it because I don’t really understand it either. All I can say is that there is always something just “there” when it comes to Marty. I don’t know if we are cosmically tied in some way, if it’s just because he was perhaps the first man I truly loved, or if it is something else altogether. I just don’t know. The problem is that in spite of whatever connection exists, there are too many other issues that seem to get in the way. Relationships are always complex I guess. For example, when we left the party last night, Marty and I held hands as we walked to the parking lot, we hugged, he gave me a quick kiss and told me to call him when I got home. He offered to let me stay the night at his place and I was certainly tempted, but I figured I should head home. You’d almost think from those actions that we were a couple. But we’re not. I don’t know if we ever will give it another shot. I sense that Marty might be interested again, but holds himself back because his life is rather chaotic. Though I guess I’m probably always interested, what holds me back is our painful history. I don’t know if I can take another risk like that, but then I realize that every relationship is a risk. I just don’t know – thus the complexity of our relationship. I guess we’ll continue to be slightly more than friends and see what happens, if anything. In the meantime, I will leave myself open to other opportunities should they happen.

Speaking of which, I did have a date tonight. There was some confusion about the restaurant that we were going to meet at. I thought he said “Cha Cha’s” when he actually meant “Chacho’s” so I went to the wrong place. I eventually made it and we had dinner. The problem was that it was really loud because they were having karaoke night and they had the music up really loud so it was difficult to have a conversation. The evening was fine. He seems nice. I’m just not sure that it would go anywhere. I can’t explain that either other than simply my gut instinct. I think we could be friends that hang out from time to time, but I’m not sure about actually dating.

We got a lot of rain this weekend which is great. It rained quite a bit yesterday and a storm rolled through this evening while we were at the restaurant. The power even when out for a couple of minutes – which was actually nice because we could talk without yelling. I had to drive back in the storm though so I took it pretty slow. By the time I got here most of the storm had passed.

Well, it’s really late for me. I need to get some sleep and get to school somewhat early tomorrow so I can try to resolve a printer issue if I can.

Rain finally

2011-09-16T18:49:00.001-05:00

I woke up this morning to some kind of sound. I thought is was one of my animals being obnoxious so I yelled at them to stop. Then I realized it was coming from outside. Turns out it was raining. We got a nice shower this morning. Temperatures are still climbing into the 90’s each day, but it’s somewhat bearable. The forecast shows the chance of showers the next few days so I hope that happens.

Work has been busy as always, but still a good busy. I got 274 new books on the shelves today. I did some updating on the website and I think the staff likes my online calendar that I created. Still loving the job so it is going well.

Other than that, not much to tell here. I work, I come home. I watch t.v., read, go to bed. Not very exciting. Hopefully this weekend will be more thrilling. I’ll report on my date either Sunday evening or Monday. I probably won’t have time to blog on Saturday as I’ll probably get in late from my trip to Austin for the wedding reception thing.

I wish I had more to share, but life is kind of dull.