To Share or Not to Share

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

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

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?

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

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

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)

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

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

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….

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.