We're starting to get back in the routine. Life is always hectic during the beginning of the school year for our family. I work 10+ hour days, and poor Knight and Jet have to basically fend for themselves.
We did have an enjoyable weekend, though. We had free tickets to Schlitterbahn, so we went on Saturday, along with my sis-in-law and her family. It was SOOOO fun. Jet has never been much of a water kid, but I really think that swim lessons this summer helped. The water park has a TON of litte-kid areas, with a million different things squirting water into an area where the water is less than a foot deep. He warmed up to it pretty quickly.
In other news, I've lost 7.6 pounds in three weeks on Weight Watchers. The system really works for me. I'm a scientist at heart, so the point-counting, data-gathering-and-tracking, and form-filling tickles me to no end. I love to look back over the weeks and see my progress in charts and graphs. :-P Plus, it's online, and I have ONE meeting, ONE block of thirty minutes every week that is ALL ABOUT ME, and doing something I'm happy to be doing. Knight is so supportive and keeps Jet without one single complaint so that I can go to the meetings.
School is going well... I've sufficiently scared the new crop of 8th graders. They don't so much as blink without say-so in my class, which is exactly how I want them for the first few weeks. Soon, we'll loosen up and they'll learn how to read me.
That's all for now! As usual, I'll try to update more frequently!
Monday, August 27, 2007
It's finally smoothing out...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Well, it's better than the alternative.
I think thirty would be better if I was well.
I was okay most of the morning, when I had to sit through a video for inservice. And I was mostly okay when 10 of my co-teachers went out to lunch with me to celebrate. I was especially okay when one of them suprised me by ordering a slice of strawberry cheesecake for me. I only felt guilty for about a nanosecond... and then for a few minutes more after I actually put it in my points calculator online after we got back to school, but by then I was so stinkin' tired, I didn't really care.
Finally, about 2:00, I gave up and called the doctors' office. The nice appointment lady didn't have anything with my doctor today, but finally consented to let me slide in and see the PA (who I really like anyway). She let me bring Jet to be seen at the same time, since he was the one who brought this crud home.
I left my 10-mile-long to-do Post-It dangling from the monitor and took off, promising myself I'd either go back to work tonight, even though it IS my birthday, or come in early tomorrow. Because, HELLO, the KIDS COME TOMORROW. FOR SCHOOL. And I think they are expecting a PREPARED TEACHER. Or, at the very least, the tuition-paying parents would probably appreciate it. And I think I'm a work-aholic. I prefer to call it a "very strong work ethic."
(Lemme just tell you now that I'm already contemplating putting on my PJ's. It's 7:30 p.m.)
Of course, Jet is mostly fine, so she had some samples of decongestants for him. Me?? Ohhhh, no. I don't get off so easy. Sinus infection. Yaay.
So, thirty dollars in office visit copays and EIGHTY dollars in prescription copays later, here I sit, having not had an appetite but drinking some chicken broth (zero points!) to hopefully stave off antibiotic-induced nausea. I think I'll see if Knight will just let me cruise on to bed and drift into dreamland while he takes care of Jet.
I'm SUCH a party girl. See what getting old has done to me?
So. I am THIRTY today.
So far, it's not at all painful, except for the raging cold I can't seem to shake. It is, however, not yet 6:00 a.m., so we'll see how the day goes...
Both Beezneez and Knight harassed me last night about it being my last day in my twenties... I just don't get no respect around here. :)
My parents took the whole family (minus Jet) to a new Brazilian steakhouse in town on Sunday night. It was a-mazing. It was every bit as good, I think, as the old one (beware the music on that site) that we loved in Dallas. If you've never been to a place like that, you REALLY need to go. It's for the carnivore in all of us.
My birthday present to myself is sticking with Weight Watchers (which I managed to do even on Sunday night... granted, I used ALL of my points on one meal, but that's the idea -- to budget your intake). My goal is to be nicer to my body in my thirties than I was in my twenties. Heaven knows it needs it.
I think today will be a good day at work. I have several odds and ends to tie up and three sets of lesson plans to finish before the kids come tomorrow. It'll be a busy day, for sure, but hopefully a good one.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Can you tell that school started?
I started going back to work a little on August 1st, and we officially started inservice this past Wednesday. It's par for the course for the rest of my life to suffer for this period of about three weeks... family, blog, house... you name it. Several years ago, I finally realized that this is just how it is and I stopped feeling guilty about it.
However, I do have some great news to share. First, I joined Weight Watchers last week. My second meeting was last night and I'd lost three pounds! Yay! This all came about because my Granny usually likes to take me shopping for clothes when we're together. Now, usually, I don't mind one tiny little bit. This time, though, I wasn't ready to buy more clothes in my current size.
I'd been looking at joining WW for a couple of months. (I don't make fast decisions in areas like this. I want to be sure it's what I'm really ready to do before I make the financial and time commitment.) So, I told Granny about it and she offered to pay for my first three-month package. It's been really easy for the first week, even with the new chef at school providing lunch. Of course, I'm a data-driven, form-filling person, so the points system really works for me. Knight has been riding my coat tails a little... we figured out how many points he needs, and he's been paying more attention to how he eats. So, thank you, Granny!
Also, I have a cute Jet story (of course). He went back to his playschool on August 1st. I had not slept well the night before, which is rare for me. I had woken up a few times, and, well... everything is so much scarier and more emotional in the dark when you're exhausted, you know? I kept asking God for peace about our decision for me to go back to teaching this year. I was actually worried more about me missing Jet than about his health and safety and well-being at his playschool.
When we walked in the door, all of his friends were jumping up and down and ecstatic!! to see him after the summer. The whole class lined up to hug him. I had tears in my eyes as I watched him embrace each of his friends. There is nothing sweeter than the joyful emotions of three-year-olds, because they don't hold anything back.
After the hugs were done, he and three of his little boy friends stood in a circle and started talking. The conversation immediately turned to who was wearing big-boy-underwears and who wasn't, and, more importantly, what was on those big-boy-underwears. I caught Jet just before he pulled down his shorts to show off his baseball underwears.
I got back in my car and thanked the Lord for showing me what my Mommy-Heart so desprately needed -- that my son his happy and well-loved at school!
One more story before I head to work!! Jet was doing very well with potty-training, but he's had a tough time at school. It seems like he forgets until it's too late and then has an accident on the way to the potty. Last Friday, Mrs. P (the playschool director, who is good friends with my mom and who we know from church) was cleaning him up and had this conversation...
J, pointing: That's my pee-nit.
Mrs. P., seriously: Yes, it is. I heard you had an operation this summer?
J: Yes. The dop-ter fixed it.
Mrs. P: Oh, yes, that's good.
J: How's it look!?!?
Mrs. P, sputtering a little: Oh, um, it looks just fine.
J: Thank you.
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Nickel Tour
I finally have pics of the new decorations! The large window over the couch (note the snazzy throw pillows): The new rug: And the overall effect when walking in the front door is, I must admit, quite pleasing:
The window over the kitchen table:
Yay! A big, BIG, HUGE thank you goes to Knight for hanging the valances. Thank you, Googly-Bear!
Here I am!
Once again, it has been forever since I've posted.
I took a road trip with my sister and Jet to visit our grandparents. The 7-hour car trip with Jet was not nearly as painful as I was expecting it to be. In fact, I still have about half of the 15 or so little toys I had bought to distract him throughout the trip there and back. (Yay for the Dollar Spot at Target!!) I was budgeting on giving him one every hour or so, but it wasn't necessary.
Also, we are officially potty-trained!!! (Well, I've been trained for a good 27 or 28 years, but JET has finally gotten the hang of it.) He made it all the way there with dry underwears, and only messed his pants once on the way home. We had stopped at a park for lunch and to let him play, and I think he was so excited to be able to run around a bit that he just forgot.
I have some cute pics from the trip that I hope to post soon. I managed to pack the USB cord for my camera, along with some batteries, but NOT THE CAMERA. Duh. I also forgot to pack something to sleep in. I ALWAYS forget to pack a nightgown. I honestly think that most of my pj's are from road trips.
Luckily, though, Tinkerbell brought her camera. She took some fantastic pics, and I'll post them as soon as she uploads them to her Facebook. (Andale, Tink!) Wal-Mart saved the day, er, night, with regards to the sleepwear.
I can't believe that summer is actually ending. Jet will start back to his playschool on Wednesday, and I'll go back to work. We'll have some short days this week, to wean me off of being home with him all day, everyday. I think the thing I'll miss the most is being able to scoop him up and get hugs and kisses anytime I darn well please. I know once inservice and school actually start, I'll be really busy. I usually don't even really think about how much I miss him until around 2:00 in the afternoon, and by then I'm two hours from heading home, so it's bearable.
I did get the valances made before we left town. The handsome and uber-talented Knight helped me hang them. In fact, the poor man had the entirety of his Saturday taken up with honey-dos. Don't worry, though, he was paid handsomely. With DINNER, people.... Sheesh. (Sorry, Dad.) I will post pics of the window treatments, soon. I also bought sheers and throw pillows and rugs, oh my! They are really beautiful.
My dad mentioned that it looks less like a college dorm now, with the windows done. I have to agree. I didn't really realize how much it would help me to feel like we live in a home instead of someplace we're renting. Everytime I walk in the door, I have a big sigh of "Oh, that's just SO NICE!!! And PRETTY!!" It just rilly, rilly, rilly makes me happy!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Early Sunday Conversation
Me, softly: Jet, sweetie, wake up...
Jet: mmmghmmmpfpmmmm *stretch*
Me: Time to get up and get ready for church.
Jet, sleepy but happy: Yep, time to get up.
Me: Do you want to help me make waffles for breakfast?
Jet: Nope... my tummy has enough waffles in it.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
So much time, so little to do
I've not posted in a couple of days, and now I have a herd of things galloping about in my head, demanding to be described. Things about...
- new hobbies (knitting)
- how irritated I am with neighbor's barking dogs (extremely, but that really is a whole post on its own, given the history involved)
- the fun I've had and money I've spent on decorating the living room (tons on both counts)
- how well Jet is healing from his procedure (very)
- my new adventure in cutting calories (two days in a row, I've been under my goal - yay!)
- more cute phrases for the Toddler Dictionary
- other little things that would make great blog fodder had I nothing else to say
So, saddle up and prepare to follow my thoughts as we attempt to round them up into some semblance of order.
You know what they say about pictures and words, so let's start here:
I found this book at my mom's house last week. I think it belonged to one of my sisters. After reading post after post of Barb knitting totally adorable things, I decided to just go for it. I read the book (self-proclaimed nerd, here - everything I do begins with a book) and ventured to Hobby Lobby to purchase necessary items for every knitter's first project - the scarf.
The first attempt yielded a too-small gauge, but was good for practice. On the next trip to Hobby Lobby, I got bigger yarn AND bigger needles. Still not quite right, but still practicing. A lot.
I'm hoping to have the scarf done for my niece's 11th birthday, which is at the end of October. Three months. Think I can make it? I dunno. I'm visiting my grandparents next week, and Granny told me to bring my things so she could help me.
At any rate, it's fun. I enjoy it because, unlike my other hobby (reading), I don't block out the world.
Next:
This is the yummy fabric that I bought to make valances for my living room and kitchen windows. (Actually, my mom took pity on me and my living room, which is currently a study in neutrals - white walls and brown furniture. Every. single. piece. of our furniture is BROWN.) I had picked up a swatch of this fabric over a year ago (maybe even more than that), before we were even ready to buy a house, and have been drooling over its $27.99/yard yumminess ever since.
I've found this project to be like the Mouse and Cookie story. First, I wanted to make valances, which required two trips to Hobby Lobby for fabric and batting (they were out of the fabric the first time), and one to Home Depot for boards and various hardware.
Mom was generous and told me about this great rug she'd found for my sister's apartment at Wal-Mart. She also gave me money to buy it, so first I went to Wal-Mart and got a rug (slightly different from Beez's rug, but similar).
During the trip to Home Depot, I realized that I really wanted sheers to put on the windows, and I'd better go ahead and get the rods to do that because once those valances are up, it'll be impossible to hang sheers behind them. So I decided which rods I needed and picked those up.
My dad accompanied me (and Jet) to Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and then helped me cut the boards to size in his shop/driveway. In the process, sticky pine sawdust (Texas snow) coated my car. So, we washed my car.
This morning, I spread out the rug and compared it to the fabric. Not quite right. Wonder if Target has rugs? I know they have sheers! Jet and I loaded up and went to Target.
But first, I went to the jewelers and dropped off my ring so it would be ready before I leave town next week. While I was at it, I took my pearl earrings to be re-glued (the pearl fell of of one of the posts) and had them solder my wedding band to the ring. Should be ready by Tuesday.
At Target, we first made the obligatory stop at the Starbucks. (Mom, I felt your pain today - the THREE people behind the counter took 12 minutes to get my iced chai together. No steaming or brewing required! Just pump the chai in, fill it up with skim milk and add ice. TWELVE MINUTES.)
Next, the curtains. Jet was being his normal, active three-year-old self, so I peppered the walk with various forms of "stop that, get up off the floor, walk, don't touch, let go, put it down" and a hefty dose of "why can't you just ACT NORMAL" thrown in for good measure. All of that became unnecessary in the curtain aisle because we could hear some OTHER little boy in the next aisle pitching a wall-eyed fit and his mother telling him that he was "not getting a toy" and they were "leaving RIGHT!! NOW!!"
He stood very still right next to me while we listened to three or four minutes of this. (That was nice, because I could browse sheers in peace for a bit.) Then he solemnly looked up at me and slowly said, "I get a toy because I beed good, right?" I'm not above bribery, so I told him that he would if he didn't pitch a fit like that little boy.
Found the sheers. Next: rugs! I found the perfect rug. I called mom to see if she could come to Target because I needed reassurance that it really was the rug I wanted. I'd been burned before. Unfortunately, she was unavailable -- working. I'd forgotten that some people have to do that during the summer. :)
I forged ahead and loaded up the rug, with a matching small one for the kitchen just in case. In case of.... umm... spills. Yeah, that's it. Spills.
Everybody knows that if you buy fabric for valances and rugs and sheers, then you might need... throw pillows for the couch? Of COURSE I need throw pillows for the couch! Picked up four -- two in red and two in sage green. And some cup towels. I briefly considered an apron, but thought it might be carrying things a bit too far.
By this time, Jet has had enough, so we head to the check-out where he picks a happy treat. I paid for everything, after picking my jaw up off the floor from the shock of the total, and carted everything to my car. I managed to successfully wedge a 5'x8' rug into my four-door Saturn Ion.
At home, the sage green pillows are too dark with my BROWN couch, but they'll have to wait to be returned until after Jet's lunch and nap. I get him down and staple batting and fabric on four valances, and batting on the fifth before my staple gun gives out. I needed about 10 more staples from the dumb thing, but it has up and died on me.
After Jet's nap, I wedge the OLD rug into my car to return it to Wal-Mart and pick up a new staple gun. Then we go BACK to Target to exchange the sage green pillows for gold-ish ones, where I successfully resist the temptation to buy even more STUFF. (Purses and shoes and clothes, oh my!)
Back at home, again, Knight confirms my belief that the old staple gun really is dead (he takes it apart first, though), and informs me that the staples I have are too big for the new staple gun. *sigh*
I cannot stomach another trip, so he stopped on his way home from worship team rehearsal at church. I loooooooove this man.
I hope to have pictures of the finished product on Sunday!Monday, July 16, 2007
Delicate matters, part deux
Jet had his little procedure today, and he's doing well this evening. I'll post more tomorrow, I hope, but since he stomped on my laptop and cracked the screen, I'm relying on Knight's generosity with regards to his own laptop in order to post. :) He's a pretty generous guy, that Knight, but he may need it at work tomorrow.