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.

Finally a hug

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.

Why am I up this early?

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.

Confession is good for…

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.

A lot nothing today

There was much on my to-do list and I did almost none of it. The only thing I did do was play at church at the 5:00 mass. I slept in and just stayed in bed this morning. I eventually got up and had some breakfast. I did stuff on the computer. Goofed off basically. I heated up yet more chili for dinner and had frito pie. I watched the movie Up in the Air tonight. I had never seen it. It was kind of sad. But it was entertaining and I enjoyed it. I know lots of people don’t like to travel, but I actually don’t mind it. I like getting away from where I am and going someplace else for a little while. I think it would certainly get old to travel too much though. But I guess if you don’t have anything tying you down, it wouldn’t matter so much.

I’m feeling a little lonely today. I usually have so much to do that it doesn’t bother me most of the time, but I had a thought that when I actually do become a librarian and I have no more grad school, no papers to grade, no lessons to plan, and I have evenings back to myself, what am I going to fill it with? What am I going to do? Will I still be doing it all alone? I should revel in my independence and sometimes I do. I look forward to my weekends when my roommate is gone – though even when she’s here, I hardly know it. I just long for a companion, I guess. Ah well, no use complaining about it, I guess.

I did have a thought tonight though. I have some pajamas that I never wear. I’m not talking about skimpy lingerie or anything, but it is a set of silky pink pajamas that are rather pretty and I’ve dubbed them as being “special.” Back in my more promiscuous days, I wore them for company so to speak. Tonight when I was getting ready to change into my typical old long pants and t-shirt, I wondered why I never wore the special pajamas any more. After all, it has been a great many years since I’ve had a guest over. Why should I deprive myself of wearing something pretty just because nobody is here to appreciate it? So I put my pretty, pink, silky pajamas on tonight. I figure I might as well get some use out of them and quit keeping them in the bottom of the drawer.

Guess I’ll go to bed so I can do a bunch of grading and cleaning tomorrow. At least I look pretty in my pjs.

The Party and other stuff

The party was fun but not terribly exciting. It was good to see some friends that I hadn’t seen for a few years. The food was really good and I probably ate way too much of it. I had a few drinks but didn’t get drunk. I realized it had probably been about five years since I’ve been to a party like that. I’ve been to a few get-togethers with fellow teachers, but that’s it. I need more of a social life. Of course I don’t have a lot of time for one, but it would be nice. I made the time during my brief dating experience.

I sang at church today in the women’s ensemble. Then I picked up some lunch and started on some homework. I went to the library around 2:30 and struggled through writing my article that is due tomorrow. I got it finished around 5:00 and then went to Sonic because I really wanted a burger and tots. I am going through my phase of eating everything in sight right now. I came home and have yet to grade a single paper. I really have to get through the letter rough drafts tonight. It’s already 9:00 so I’m not very hopeful.

I got a couple emails from the guy in Odessa today. In the last one I sent him, I gave him my number. Guess I’ll see if he calls at some point.

I need to edit my paper, but I’m waiting for a response from the teaching assistant. I’ll take it to school and work on it during ISS tomorrow. Nothing like procrastinating, is there?

Well, for your enjoyment, he’s a picture of me at the party last night. And yes, that is a pillow under my shirt.