Eerie? Wierd? Coincidence?

Important Dates in my life:

January 15, 2005 - Jay proposes (also MLK's birthday)
June 30, 2006 - Our wedding (also 4th of July weekend)
January 7, 2009 - We find out that we're having a baby
July 4, 2009 - Andrew Jacob Johnson is born! (obviously America's birthday and the presidential connection)
August 14, 2009 - Andrew comes home from the hospital (also Jake Rawling's birthday, Andrew's middle name namesake)
September 9, 2009 - Andrew's original due date (also my father's birthday, Andrew's first name namesake)

Conclusion: The month of January and the 4th of July weekend are my lucky times of the year! As for the namesake connections??

Side Bar

So here is one of those things that some people will think is just coincidence or meaningless and others might see as more than that. Way before Andrew was even a thought I used to have a reoccurring dream. In this dream I saw a very small (preemie sized) baby, naked curled up on a chair. Even though I saw the baby I somehow ended up accidentally sitting on him, killing him. So yeah, somehow I had fears about caring for a small baby before I had mine. Thankfully I never sat on my actual teeny baby! (And now he's not so teeny any more, by any stretch of the word!)

And...

I can hear the papers turning in the nurse's hand..."Oh, it looks like they didn't do a pregnancy test." Are you kidding me?! "Just take a home test in the morning."

Next installment

So fast forward: I get my degree in Human Development and Family Studies from UCONN, Masters in Ed from Wheelock, work for 2 years at one school, then end up getting the job I have now. And as it turns out my principal is the Dad of a preemie (albeit his son is now 26 years old!). And one of my new co-workers is the parent of one of my very first students.

Well shortly after Jay decides to apply for a tech job at my work and gets to know this coworker who encourages him to start his own family. He also gets to know the kids and gets the baby bug. Next thing ya know we're walking down the street pretending to push a baby carriage. :) Mike and Lauren also decide to start trying at this time, which is awesome so Lauren and I can do the whole pregnancy/motherhood thing together! But they start before us, Spring of '08.

So July '08 I stop taking my baby blocking meds. August I decide to go back on since I felt like a psycho without it. I'm totally one of those PMDD girls. I wanna rip people's faces off without the meds. Sept I hear Norm Bossio speak at work and he included a bunch of stories about how wonderful his life is because he's a grandpa. I was inspired then and there to have myself a baby. Back off the meds. Sept no baby. October no baby. Lauren tells me she's pregnant.

November no sign from my body that I'm baby-less, interesting. December no sign from my body that I'm baby-less. People tell me that I'm upset that Lauren's pregnant and I want it so badly that my brain stopped my body from doing its thing. I disagree. Of course I wanted a baby, but even more than that I wanted my body to act normally. Either way, but not this weird limbo thing. I know that my brain is powerful, but not more powerful than my "aunt Flo," ew. And I just don't feel right. Super tired like mono or anemia and just off.

Home test after home test reads "NOT PREGNANT" or lines that mean the same thing. Blood test says I'm baby-less. Beginning of December I call Dad and have him read me the results of my blood work and he tells me I'm not NOT pregnant, but I'm not pregnant either, kinda like a little pregnant. He thinks they'll have me come back for more blood work in a few weeks. End of December my doctor calls in a medicine to help my body get normal. If my body's still not cooperating in 1 week then I could be baby-full.

One week goes by. Nothing. I call the office and the nurse tells me to wait another week. And my this time my chesticles are hurting, which I knew could be a sign of baby in the belly, but I didn't know if it could also be a side effect of the medicine. So I go back for more blood work to make sure nothing was wrong with my body and I assumed to get tested for pregnancy too. Call up to get the results, everything's fine. And the pregnancy test?????

This is my story

Some of you will won't believe a word of what's to come, others will believe all of it, and some of you will pick and choose. Take it, leave it, something in between, this is the start of my story...

When deciding where to start my thoughts always come back to Marshall. So we're talking back in the good old days when we had our "crew" of friends and hosted movie nights monthly at "Melrose Place." Mark and Laurette announce that they're having a baby and the plans begin. We all dream up all of the activities we'll be doing with the little guy, hiking, snowboarding, volleyball and of course movie nights. We even went to Niagara Falls while Laurette had Marshall in her belly -- it was such an exciting time. So finally Marshall Daniel Mo Potter arrives and Jay and I visit and I visit with Lane and he's awesome, but something's not right. I ask about his "floppiness" and Laurette's thinking he may need OT/PT which is totally fine since that's what she does for a living. Well, son of a bitch it turns out he has SMA and friggin has to die on us. I will never forget being in Chris and Sarah's apartment and seeing his little white coffin go into the church. I think I still have the little prayer paper thing from his funeral in my fancy black coat.

After he passes Laurette becomes a bulldog in the fight against SMA. There's no stoppin this powerful, stronger than life woman and her life's cause.

Now I've always struggled with the purpouse of life (like many teenagers) and my place/purpose in this world. I felt good to be a teacher and give back, and volunteer occasionally and adopt cats, but it was never enough. I always thought that something would happen in my life to give me a bigger cause -- that I too would be a Laurette someday, and I always just knew that it would be something with my kid. I couldn't tell what, but I knew it wasn't going to be retardation, autism, CP or anything where my kid was actually "sick" or "not typical," but I felt it in my bones that something would happen with my kid and I would be forever devoted to a cause. (Even Jay has always said that he felt this to be true, it's just who I am, when I set my mind to something I go at it like a mother bear ripping the face off of some preditor trying to mess with her cubs, ex. 4.0 in college, carried the banner for the school of Human Development and Family Studies, ha that's funny now to think that's my degree!)

And the one charity that I have always volunteered for throughout high school? March of Dimes. *For those of you who don't know, it's to help prevent the birth of anymore preemature babies.

Now of course at the time it would have been ridiculous to think "I'm going to have a preemature baby!" but looking back I know that my life has had subtle signs as to how my path is going to unfold. There is purpose and meaning in my life path -- a LOT of it. This is just the first installment, there's more to come when I can get buddy boy to sleep a good stretch! But know this: I was sent to certain people for a reason, and there are LOTS of people who were sent to me for a reason too.

Hope to have you follow my story, believe or not. :)

It's a...

Boy! Which is weird because that was the feeling I had for a few weeks early on and he's due on my Dad's birthday!

This time it is ME!

I'm 3 months pregnant! Jay and I are so excited! My due date is 9/9/09, how sweet is that? Plus 9/9/51 is my Dad's birthday, so that'd be pretty cool if the baby actually arrives then.

So far I feel great! I was exhausted for about 3 weeks, but I'm better now. No morning sickness as of yet (knock on wood). And baby seems to be doing awesome too. At my last doctor's appointment they said the heartbeat was great. I go again on March 17 -- I'll be 15 weeks then.

We're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl when we can and I'll let you know. Any girl names would be much appreciated! If it's a boy we've decided on Andrew Jacob, Jay's suggestion. Ok it's time for dinner, gotta eat!

P.S. This is my 100th post!

This is awesome.

For those of you who don't read 5 year old this says "My Favorite Friends" and there at #11 Mrs. Johnson!!!!! I LOVE MY JOB. I love my "kids" and it's nice to know that they feel the same way too. :) FYI this document was written before my friend headed to bed last night.

Stone Machine or Medical Mystery Man

Nothing's easy with poor Jay! He went in for what was supposed to be an hour long procedure on Friday morning and didn't get out of the hospital until lunch time on Saturday and it was against doctor's advice too. What you see here is some of his "urine," (note the color) and all of his medications. Thank goodness we finally found the right combination to get him sleeping peacefully. Turns out nothing's better then good old Advil! I knew I loved that stuff for a reason. I really hope he'll be healthy and pain-free soon!

If my house burns down blame this man.

Ok so in the adventures in babysitting Chris Johnson, today's excitment:

As I am resting upstairs trying to get over a headache this man is defrosting a steak in the kitchen sink. Next thing I know my kitchen is a pond, literally 1-3 inches deep. If it were any colder out we could have had a skating rink. It also found its way into the dinning room and through the floorboards into the basement. Lucky me.

Tomorrow Jay and I are going with my parents to the spa, staying over night to celebrate Jay's birthday, hence if my house burns down...

Our First...

Tree! (Together as a couple.) Tah-dah! We got this little Charlie Brown yesterday. Lauren helped me add the beads today and I hope to get the angel for the top from my parents soon. It's so cute! The cats sniffed it a little, but don't seem to care about it at all now, so that's good. I'm happy we've got a bit of the holiday spirit in our house for the first time. :)

Bloody Poo?

After talking with my Dad tonight about a recent encounter he had I felt it important to share these bits of info with all of you readers...whoever you are:
1. Your poop can turn black after taking Pepto Bismol. So can your mouth, gums, lips, teeth, tongue. Taking iron pills (for anemia) also makes your poop black. So if you have black poop it could be from internal bleeding, but think first about if you've taken any Pepto recently. :)
2. Beets make your poop red. So again, before assuming internal bleeding, think about beets.
3. Asparagus can make your piss stink.
Just thought you should know these things so that you don't ever find yourself with a doctor's finger up your bum when really all you need to do is think about what you've eaten in the last 48 hours. Hopefully helpful information!

9 Pills a Day Keep the Kidney Stones Away

Jay saw his kidney stone doctor on Friday and you're now looking at one month's worth of pills! Jay doesn't get enough citrus like his levels are 200 and normal people have like 1,000. So if he takes 3 pills 3 times a day and drinks at least a half a gallon of water a day he'll stop making kidney stones, yippeee! We'll see if he can keep up the 9 pill a day regimen for the rest of his life...I'm very optimistic though, it's nice to finally have a plan.

In other news, the stress level has gone down as many things are now under control. My parents bought me a "snuggly" which my Dad likes to call "Jenny in a bag" and my brother turned 30 on 10/2, woah, I have a 30 year old brother. Also, I met Adam and Carrie's baby girl, Addison last weekend and she's very cute. I think that's pretty much it for now. Consider yourself updated. :)

Oh My

Well the stress level at my house is sky high. I'd like to say that it couldn't get any higher, but then there's the saying "never say never" so I just won't go there. Here's a theory of mine: since I think in terms of school years I think there's a pattern...

this school year 08-09 high stress, let's not go there
last school year 07-08 low stress, those kids were ANGELS!
06-07 high stress, only b/c of the things that were happening to everyone around me
05-06 low stress? Wait no that was a high stress year...
04-05 high stress since it was my first year teaching and my assistant didn't do anything

My hope is that 09-10 will be the awesomest year ever. Complete with normal jobs/money and possibly even a kid. Who knows! Life seems to be full of surprises.

A Terrible Thing Happened Tonight

1. Chuck Liddell lost.

Even MORE terrible...

2. Rashad Evans Won.

I love my Chucky and CANNOT stand Rashad. He's so disrespectful. Oy. I hope to wake up in the morning and have it all just be a bad dream.

A Gallon A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Hey there folks,
Just thought I'd give you a little update on Jayski. If you didn't hear he's been having trouble with kidney stones again since the 9th. From the 9th to 16th he was really bad = sleeping all day, taking heavy pain killers. So yesterday we saw a new doc, who was great. He said first off Jay needs to double his water intake. He needs to drink a gallon of water a day! Hopefully he'll do it, but I have my doubts.

So far he's doing well with the new jobby-job. I'm happy with the progress that he's made in a week! Monday is an all staff meeting day and then I think he's got kids for 2 days, then break for Labor Day. I'm very proud of him and can't wait to hear how it goes with the students (I don't think I can call them kids since it turns out he has a lot of 11th and 12th graders too!).

Jace always has a crazy life. He's moving toward "normal." We'll see where we stand a year from now...normalville here we come?

WOW no WOW! And "Mr. Johnson can I go to the bathroom?"

WOW. I think Jay is actually finished with WOW (World of Warcarft). I seriously can't believe it, but I think it's true. Partly because he recently accepted a job teaching 9th and 10th graders tech engineering! So exciting and nerve racking, since he's had no actual training. I know he's going to be awesome. I'm not worried about his management, but I am nervous that he doesn't know what to teach! New teacher training starts on Tuesday and he's going in to meet with his mentor tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! So, I'm pretty sure that he's FINALLY off the World of Warcrack, thank all that is holy! Let's all party our butts off to celebrate the return of my husband to the real world!!

Another nother baby still not me.

So I found out a few weeks ago that Adam HH and Kate are having a baby!! I couldn't be happier for them and can't wait to meet the new Steinfet or Helstien or hillhelstein or whatever the heck lastname they'll give it! Just thought you'd like to know. :)

Let's Get It On! Come ON!

Ok so on Saturday I went to the little old library in my hometown to get a book and to my surprise, just as I was getting ready to leave, I see "Chuck Liddell." Chuck Liddell! Yes! I flew through the book in 2 days. I have a real passion for MMA and the UFC in particular and Chuck, if you don't already know, is one of the biggest names in the sport, for good reason. I love his book, Iceman: My Fighting Life.

If you want to make me happy, humor me and read it. So many people still think of the UFC as the way it was when it first started, just an all out street brawl/blood bath. It is NOT like that anymore, it is a pro sport and the best one out there by far. If any fighter goes in there without a game plan, looking to fight like he does punks on the street, he's going to be made to look like a fool, no matter how big, tall, tough. Fighters need to be talented in boxing, wrestling, jujitsu (Brazilian is best), and kickboxing, have heart, and have excellent conditioning so as not to gas out and get caught with something.

Not only do I love MMA because of the technicality, but I really love it because I get to know the fighters and root for the good guys and against the meat heads. Plus I've always loved wrestling, with my Dad and brother, watching the WWF when it was the WWF, karate with Sensei Matt, and just living vicariously through the winner. I love to imagine that I could get in there and beat everyone, even though I'm 113 lbs soaking wet. Doesn't everyone? Ok, I'm gonna wrap this up now, I'll leave you with a list of some of my favorite fighters (check them out online) in no particular order:

George St. Pierre (GSP to fans)
Matt Hughes (this is a love-hate thing, reminds me of Sensei Matt)
Rich Franklin
Chuck Liddell
Randy Couture
Anderson Silva
Forrest Griffin
BJ Penn
And more...

Two Years Ago 6.30.06

Jay and I got hitched! Above are pictures of us celebrating our anniversary yesterday at brunch since the resturant isn't open today. We talked about how things have only gotten better and made a toast to our long happy marriage (and our cats). Yay love!

Birdville USA

Yea no joke yesterday morning and Thursday morning there was a bird in my kitchen. Don't know if it was the same bird come back again or a new bird. NO clue how the heck it got in there. So now I'm fearful of my kitchen, dishes are getting backed up, and I'm often hungry but can't go get food. Also no joke I discovered the first bird while making scrambled eggs. WTF.

Chillax Girl

I have wanted a break from school for a week or two now, but have not yet settled into vacation/relaxation mode.

Fortunately I'm not too sad about school being over (read: missing my kids), mostly because I'm not thinking about it, not letting it sink in, and generally just denying it.

Thankfully we already have plans to see Wall-e next weekend. Hopefully between now and then I will find chill out mode and enjoy having very few "have-to's." Like the card I got from my awesomest kid says "do very few things that feel like homework and lots of things that feel like recess."

And a quick update on Jay: he finally got into a guild (yes I did just say "a guild") that he really liked and they broke up. He's in a bit of a tailspin trying to figure out what to do now. Hopefully he'll either find a new one or drop the game altogether and find something else. I'm not holding my breath for the latter. I just want him to be happy and not to annoy him too much. (Examples of how I've annoyed him today, personally I think he's wrong: 1. turning on the fan because he was sweaty 2. asking him if he'd brushed his teeth yet before kissing him 3. telling him he should eat "real food" for dinner and not a shake since he'd only eaten a bagel all day...whose side are you on?)

Ok it's back to doin what I was doing before I was doin this.

School's Out for Summer

And that means that I'm bored. Yikes. Any ideas, things that you like to do, things everyone should do once in their life? Jay and I hit a car show today...totally not something that I would recommend to you. Just pop your hood and walk around your car. Show over.

FYI

I'm crazy emo right now. A combination of PMS and needing summer vacation. I'm so fried. 6 more days of school and they can't go fast enough in some ways. It seems like there are all kinds of issues with all kinds of things. I want to sleep but I can't. Just wanted to let those of you reading that's my deal currently. Please suck the thoughts and bad energy from my brain. Thank you.

Inter-netting

I love to surf the net and I wish I had more inter-netting to partake in, so please tell me where I must surf on a regular basis.

Marry Me, Again!

We got her and we got her good! If you didn't know I've been planning this surprise for my mom with my Dad since July. She had once mentioned to me that she would like my Dad to surprise her and renew their vows, so tonight we made it happen and it was awesome! I'm so glad it all worked out and now it doesn't seem right that it's all over! But I'm done with planning surprises, seriously. So yay to my mom and dad, I wicked love them. :)

Llama Time!

That's right, Jay and I went hiking with llamas! It was awesome and I would totally recommend it to everyone! The llamas are super cool, the scenery was beautiful. Our tour guide was a nice guy too, who taught us a lot about nature.

Here's Jay with his llama, Magic. Cuzco was in front of Jay and my llama was Picasso. Magic was really cool, smart, great posture, good jumper. He let Jay pet him a lot and kept rubbing up against Jay's arm. My llama, Picasso, always goes last and looks out for predators. He loved to eat everything non-stop and let me pet him by the end, very cool llama.


So that was our day trip! Yesterday I ended up going to Matt and Ally's new apartment (very nice). We had lots of fun "fishing," flinging bread into the river outside their window, watching fish in said river, and playing Guitar Hero. Then I went up to Stacey's house and we went for a walk. It was such a nice day and her neighborhood is pretty. It was great to hang with Stace and Riley again.


So now I have the weekend left and then it's back to work I go! Yay good vacation and double yay llamas!

On Vacation!!

I'm on vacation! And so far so good. Here's the rundown, just in case you care.

Friday - dinner w/my parents
Saturday - scrap booking w/Lauren then UFC fight night, GSP beats up Matt Serra! Thank goodness! Wow I love George St. Pierre, he is so frickin totally hot. And pound for pound the best athlete ever.
Sunday - movies w/Jay, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, very cute/funny and dinner at UNOs
Monday - went to co-worker's house to see the start of the Boston Marathon and doctor's apointment with awesomest doctor besides my Dad
Tuesday - spring cleaning day and Ally taught me how to blowdry my hair, thanks Ally!
Tomorrow - scrap booking w/Gretchen
Thursday - me and Jay take a day trip, any suggestions where to go?

And the weather's been great! Yay vacation! So nice to have some time off to re-charge my batteries. Then it's the home stretch of the school year, which is okay, but I LOVE my kids this year and wish I could teach them first grade, but that's not happening. So there ya have it. :)

Let Me Be Your Doctor.

Ok so if you don't already know I like to give medical advice and I think I'm pretty good at it on a count of I'm a doctor's daughter and I've been sick most of my life. So here are the do's and don'ts according to me:

DO
1. Go to your local pharmacy and try something over the counter. Try anything for a few days. If you feel you need more help than that, speak with the pharmacist about your symptoms and see what he/she suggests.
2. Rest and drink fluids. No matter what you have it can never hurt and will always help. No one rests or drinks enough ever.
3. Take at least 2 Advil, 2-4 generally. Cause Advil is the greatest thing ever and works on just about everything. It's my Tussin.
4. If and when you have to call your doctor, be ready with some stuff. Know how long you've been sick and what things you are experiencing, including if you have: fever/chills/vomitting/nausea, diarreah, dizziness, blurred vision. Know what things you've tried and your current medications. Basically be prepared.

DON'T
1. Call your doctor right away or on your first day of sickness. Esp. without having tried anything on your own.
2. Go to the ER unless close to death. They don't care about you unless your heart is exploding and you will be there for a minimum of 6 hours. Oh yea and you'll owe them at least $1,000 for the bag of fluid they give you.
3. Underestimate the power of the tichtach, which in Yiddish means damp cloth for your head.

There you have it. Seriously just let me be your first line of defense when ill. I'll steer ya in the right direction, promise.

Not so bad.

Today is better. :) Feeling less sick and got lots done at work, happier mood. Looking forward to tomorrow, hopefully hopes aren't too high and day will be good. Nice to feel happy again. That's all for now. :)

Count Down to 27

*Sigh*

Sick. Always sick. Been sick since I got strep way back when. Still dragging self to school though. Report card time. Birthday quickly approaching. Will be 27. Fine. Hopefully an enjoyable day, but outlook is sadly bleak. Someone please come and fill my bedroom with balloons prior to my awakening on Wednesday morning. Clearly also have PMS since could cry at any point, which is annoying. And there, my friends, you have it. Let's all take sleeping medication and wake up tomorrow. The End.

Water Skiing Anyone?

I've been avoiding one of my school classmates for years now. Actually since we graduated high school. Not that it's been that hard, cause most times there's no reason why we'd see each other. But he happens to be one of Katie's (see K-T posted Friday, August 25, 2006) best friends and Tucker's too. Not that I see Tucker that often. Anyhow, I'm thinking that I'm ready. It's time to see him and get over it.

I don't want to care what he thinks anymore. What matters is what I think, duh. Do I like him? NOT does he like me? Doesn't matter. And even more so, do I think I'm pretty not does he think I'm pretty. My self worth does not rest upon his evaluation of me. So there.

You know how it is sometimes, the longer you go without seeing someone, the more they get built up in your mind. I think this is the last stupid middle school thing I have to get over and then I'll be free. But Tucker, I think I really want you to be there. And you too Kate. And of course my wonderful husband Jayski. Where would I be without the Jace? Clearly, a water skiing instructor living out of my boat. ;P

Drama Skips a Year

I've been thinking about blogging about this ever since New Years Day...

Reflecting on last "year" vs. this "year." Why the "" you ask, because to me a year means a school year, not a calendar year. That being said...

06-07
September - Start working at my new school! Love my new room and supplies.
October - My brother finds out about his wife. I have a painful colonoscopy, get too much sleepy medicine.
Novemeber - My horrible barking 60 going on 90 year-old assistant decides her back hurts too much and she's going to retire.
December - My new mega hyper super controling assistant starts. I get a tough kid moved into my room from my co-worker's class. Steve tells Stace he's not attracted to her.
January - My co-worker's husband passes away. Jay moves to AZ. Jay moves back from AZ.
Feburary - Steve tells Stace he's not in love with her.
March - I turn 26, bowling birthday party.
April - I get strep and it impacts my health until about Septemeber. My brother moves into his new apartment.
May - I'm drained and need the summer.
June - School's out! Steve flies to Canada and knocks up a 20 year old.

So basically last school year a lot of stuff happened that made it feel more like 2 or 3 years and this year is just more "normal," in a nice way. It doesn't feel like it's moving too fast or slow, just regular, which is just fine.

Another Baby on the Way...

Weird. Adam and Carrie are having a baby. I knew it was coming but still, weird. Due in June, they're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl soon. So there's the news.

Splash Thud.

Yea so I totally whacked a wine glass while passing over baby shower gifts, spilling half the glass onto a lady's white shirt. She was cool but I still feel HORRIBLE. I get hung up on stupid stuff like that...now for the thud...

Driving home from my parent's house at 10pm (it was my summer school co-worker's baby shower, who works with my mom during the year), going 40, workin' the radio, GIANT daddy deer RIGHT in front of my car, crazy.

Of course I hit the brakes and cut the wheel, and thud, it looks like I hit his rear end, but he keeps on leaping across the road. I think he gets away, I pull over and call Jay in a panic. When he gets to the scene we call the cops and they show up. Look at the hood and the worst thing, bits of fur hanging out where the hood meets the car! So sad and gross! No blood, tush shaped, medium-sized round dent low on the hood, swipe marks. Not horrific damage, but who knows what it's going to cost me anyway. I am glad that we both seem to have gotten away okay, but just thinking about the whole experience, which I can't stop replaying, is crazy. Oy.

Um, just stuff to tell ya.

My Hidden Talent = an eye for scrap booking
I've started scrap booking my wedding photos with Lauren and I LOVE how it's coming out. Of course I bought one of those pre-made kit thingies so it helps a lot, but I don't settle for anything but a killer layout/color combo. So it's exciting.

In other news...
Jay took his first MTEL (MA Tests for Educator Licensure) yesterday. He should find out the results in a month, so keep your fingers crossed.

Today Jay and I are going to our co-workers house to see her son on MTV's Made! From Geek to Chic. Check it out if you can.

Questions:
Does anyone know of an interesting, fun, not too hard, workout tape? I've started doing one of those walking tapes and it's not bad, but it doesn't have any fun music and the lady's a total nudge. Hopefully I'll keep doing it, but no promises.

How about some book recommendations? My last few books haven't been page turners with the exception of Harry Potter 7. Some of my recent reads:
1. The Devil and Ms. Prim by Paulo Coelho
Didn't even get through the whole thing...
2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I did like this one, but not my favorite ever...
3. I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
Quirky like me, but still haven't finished the last few pages and it's been a LONG while...
4. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Too freaky and depressing ...

So any help to find a seriously good book would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Yea, yea I know, it's all about balance.

Life is all about balance. I got that in theory. But finding that balance ain't that easy (SY, is it killing you that I said "ain't" instead of "isn't?" :)

Topic #1
Spend vs. Save
Spend: "You can't take it with you." "Live for today." "Do something nice for yourself."
Save: Retirement. Kids' college fund. "Just in case fund" (meaning just in case Jay and I ever get sh*t canned).
What's your philosophy?

Topic # 2
Save the earth vs. Live without worry
Save the earth: Holy climate changes Batman! We only have 10 years or the next generation is screwed! Al Gore. Living under the sea ain't for me. Cost of living. I love the animals, well except for the ones that I eat, oops. Etc. etc. etc.
Live without worry: Plastic silverware is so easy. Leaving the light on means not having to get off my ass. Turning up the heat feels nice. Not recycling means one less container to remember to put out.
What's your philosophy?

So the thing is that I get a little obsessive and go a little nutty sometimes, surprise, surprise. I'm little miss extreme one way or the other. Middle ground I'm trying to head your way! Just tell my brain to knock it off. I know poor little Jayski would be a lot happier. Any advice on how to get there would be much appreciated.

Let's all go to acupuncture together.
The End.

Blah.

So, I'm always sick. Whatever. Allergist says no allergies but possible food aversions, rash seems like the kind you get when you have Celiac disease, which means gluten sucks, which means everything I eat, which means I'm afraid of food right now. IBS has been crazy for about a week. Medicine is making everything including my lips taste like metal. Again, whatever. Nothing more at this time.

Allergic to Life

I haven't posted in a while so per Ally's request...
(You: Wait. Who's Ally? Me: My brother's new love interest. Cute girl. Nice too. Yay my brother.)

Only new stuff:

Just rid myself of itchy red bumps on back and legs. New bump on arm. Going to see an allergist soon I hope. More to follow.

Jay is finally more in shape and no longer yarfing after MMA. He's lost about 7lbs and is starting to look better and is more muscular. Jay also had a bad couple of days at work because of a higher up. Things are all set now though. I'm not gonna post the details here but you can call me if ya wanna know more.

UFC night on Saturday!

Hopefully more evenful shiz to post about soon. Till then!

Finally Kickin' Some Ass...Well...

Jay went to his first MMA workout in Jorge Rivera's gym!! I am SO frickin' pumped that he finally did it! Poor thing just called on his way home to tell me that he projectile vomitted -- he's so outta shape, but that's all gonna change soon! I love MMA and Jay's so made for it. He works like a dog, he's lighting fast, and he can be powerful once he's cut again. Woot!

The Stupidest Man Alive

There's no good way to say this, so I'm just gonna:
Steve's new 20 year old girlfriend is pregnant.
Ok, now you know, if you didn't.
What more is there to say really?

New Baby!!

You didn't think for a second that it was my new baby, did you? Nope it's even better, a new baby for Laurette and Mark!! I couldn't be happier! If you don't know Laurette, you can check out her blog on the links section to your right. I was just posting about her on Aug 16. Laurette has gone through SO much in her life, but she never let it stop her from having the children that she always wanted. Even when others said stop, no, don't, and it seemed like all odds were against her, and now she and Mark have both a girl, the lovely Murphy, and a boy too! His name is Anders and I cannot wait to meet him. Both of these children are miracles and couldn't be loved anymore. So it's just fantastic and I wanted you to know!

O-M-G

Big news. As of tonight Jay and I officially work together in the same school!!! He accepted a tech position at my school, which will most likely lead to him teaching technology to kids at some point. So I'm super excited and kind of weirded out all at the same time. I can't wait for him to be introduced to everyone on Wednesday at the staff meeting. So crazy. Jay has been his own boss for 5 years, now he finally has a boss again, and has to be up and out the door early! I really hope he loves it. I guess we'll see! Oh and if you're wondering he's still doing the Catch too.

Did the stuff I was looking forward to...

So most of the stuff from the last post was fun/OK, but not quite as fun as I thought it might be.

Getting my haircut was cool, but I keep going back and forth, thinking it's awesome and thinking it's a little too puffy/mushroom head.

Getting fitted for the hair show was AWESOME. The clothes are killer and I get to wear 4 different outfits, 2 dresses and 2 pants/shirts. Plus they gave us a 75% discount on summer clothes so I bought the summer dress that I'm going to be wearing in the show and wore it to Riley's birthday party! (See below. Funny how everyone else is in jeans and long sleeves! I ended up changing into the original clothes I was going to wear since it was kinda chilly.)

From left to right: Stacey, me, Sarah, Clare, Kate
Front row: Maelin

And here are a few pics Jay took on the first night of new hair:

I'm thinkin my hair looks OK/good here but looks better/different in person. We'll see what happens when I wash and do it myself today. Three things could happen (right, Dad?): it could get better, get worse, or stay the same. :)

And one last thing. Jay's trip to the GI was interesting (he got a finger up his bum, he'll tell you all about it I'm sure). Come to find out the doctor thinks Jay's problems are from his horrible eating habits! Which holy crap, have you not heard me talk about his terrible diet?! And he says, "Don't talk about my food." Oh. My. God. When will he just listen to his wife?! I have been so right about so many things now, but still he goes on refusing to do what I suggest! Hopefully this will force him to be more adult-like and eat better, if only we could get him on a better sleep schedule too. Oh man, where have I heard this before? Seriously I don't want to be his mom, I'd much rather he take care of himself.

K. That's all for now.

No title

Can't sleep. So lemme tell you some stuff.

1. Mom and I had a mini-vaca in York Maine. It was awesome and I wanna go back again next year for sure.
2. Tomorrow I'm going to my co-worker's garden party which I've been waiting for all year.
3. Saturday they're cutting my hair for the hair show!! Hopefully I'll love it and will post a pic. Then Sunday I have to go to get clothes fitted for the show on my way to a birthday party. The party should be fun since I'll get to show off my new hair and see some friends.
4. Monday Jay's off to see his GI (gastroenterologist), thank goodness. He's still messed up somehow. Oy.

And last but not least, I read Laurette's blog tonight and have to post about Marshall. I think everyone who reads here has heard me talk about Marshall, but maybe not. And if you have please try to tell someone else about SMA, because August is SMA awareness month and it's important that people know and help. (Laurette said tell more people, so I do.)

It's crazy to know that Laurette had Marshall 5 years ago. It seems so long ago yet like it was yesterday. And it's weird to think about what he'd be like as a 5 year old going off to Kindergarten. I wish I could know what he'd look like and be like. I just think he'd be so damn cute and sweet and fun. He was like that as a baby, he was a good kid. He was awesome. It sucks that all of us didn't have more time with him. Strange things happen in this world and I don't know that I "get it" yet. Anyhow, I'm thinking of Marshall and missing him.

Ok, so perhaps I'll post again after some of the above mentioned events have happened.

Seriously Desperate Housewife

Ok so I have a problem and I blame it on the women's movement. In the dark ages women stayed home in their cute little dresses and aprons and were career homemakers (look at her she's f-ing smiling too, like she friggin loves that sh*t). Then they felt all cheated that men could go out and work so they started doing that. And here we are today with women expected to be professionals all day and professional homemakers all night. Thanks a lot ladies.

I was totally born and bred to be a working gal. I suck at home care stuff and I hate it. How I wish Home Ec was mandatory for high schoolers of both genders.

It's not that the house is ever a total pigsty, it's just that there's always a back up of dishes, laundry, mail, and random odds and ends and I'm not accustomed to living that way. All of you who have been to my mother's house know how immaculate she keeps it and it was always that way even when we were kids. That's probably why she'd blow up and complain about feeling unappreciated every so often. I get it now. She figgin worked her ass off keeping that house in tip-top shape. Granted my mom has always worked part-time. I wish that I could work part time. But who I am kidding, it's summer, I was working part-time and it didn't make much of a difference. Although this week I was at a course all day from 8-3 and things got more backed up because of it. Whatever.

Anyhow, I'm always down on myself about how I keep the house and I need to know that I'm not the only one out there. Please people, tell me that you go through this too.

Sigh.

So this has been kind of an odd week. Mostly not good. For one Sarah's mom passed away on Thursday afternoon (the friend from the previous post). It's hit me pretty hard...

I've just spent several minutes typing more on that then erasing it...maybe I'll have my thoughts put together another time. Jay, Stacey, and I are planning on attending the wake on Tuesday. Needless to say I wish that I could do something to help take the hurt away from Sarah. I hate that moms don't live forever. And I really hate when moms pass away too early, much too early.

Next topic for now. Steve. Another situation that is weighing on me. I'm so upset by how he has been, and is treating Stacey, and the incredibly stupid decisions he's made. There's really nothing I can do about it, because as my mom likes to remind me, "you can only control/change yourself." I don't know how to let go of the anger. I don't like knowing that there are people in this world that have bad hearts, who hurt people, and at least for the time being, get away with it.

Which leads me to the next topic. On Wednesday I walked into work (summer pre-K) to find one of my co-workers, let's call her "Karen" bitching at one of the girls who works with me as a one-on-one, let's call her "Jamie." It upset me very much to hear Karen speaking to Jamie in a nasty tone. I went to find and console Jamie after things appeared to be over and Karen returned to continue bitching. It was awkward and I didn't know what to do since it didn't really involve me. Jamie is awesome at her job and Karen is well known for having favorite assistants and making drama over non-issues, which this was. The whole program is SUCH a mess, I don't even have words.

And then there was a dinner with my family on Thursday night...what can I say...let's just put it this way, it's another thing that is weighing on me at the moment. I certainly am in a funk currently, doing almost nothing but watch television today didn't help. I get very upset about "wasting" a day, not doing anything worth anything.

On another note I read the last Harry Potter this week from Tuesday to Friday non-stop. It was excellent but got me in a weird funk which I can't seem to shake or understand. I loved the book, so I dunno...

There's a little more too, but that's enough for now. Tomorrow's a new day, let's hope that I make the best of it. Any suggestions?

Yes Sir!

Katie, guess what I'm watchin' on TV? In The Army Now!! Does anyone else have a thing for Pauly Shore movies?

Why am I up at 1:45am you ask? For one, my bedroom sounds like an airplane with the AC and fan going and the AC gives me like insta-sinusheadache and throat pain. For two, some crazy shiz is going on with my friends.

Steve ran away to Canada, moving in with a 20 year old girl he met on WOW. On top of that he drove back to visit the baby and brought this new girlfriend along. On top of that he had her sleep over in Stacey's (and his) condo and expected Stacey to bring the baby down to stay over night with them! This chick was actually sleeping in Stacey's bed using Stacey's pillow! All of this makes me pissed and what's tough too is that some people aren't yet completely fed up with Steve. They think that he's just like retarded so you can't blame him for doing all this. Like he isn't doing all of this with intent or maliciously, he's just not thinking, errrrr. I don't care if all of that is true, I think he sucks and is evil.

Another friend's mother has cancer and was recently given about 3 months to live. That really, really sucks. I feel horrible for her and her family. And I hate when something terrible is happening and there's nothing that anyone can do about it.

And for three, I can't stop thinking about a co-worker and my summer j-o-b. I think I had to spell that out because I don't really wanna hear it. Only 10 or so more days, but I dunno if I can/should do it or just get this other girl to take over cause it's stressin' me out. I really don't NEED the money, but it would be nice...again, errrr. We'll see how tomorrow goes. BLAH.

At least Mike came over to work out with Jay and I beat him at the wall sit! I also did better than him at jogging a 1/4 mile when I tried the other day! I guess the first time he tried he gave up like half way and I made myself jog the whole thing! Jay was so proud and so was I. Not that's it's long at ALL, but just to work through the desire to quit and the discomfort, ya know? Also, Chris Bloomberg came over and chilled with us for a while, which was fun, and Tucker called me! It was a nice, busy, people-filled night. Ok I gotta watch this movie so I'll shut up now.

Oy

Ok people I think I need more friends who live near me. This whole summer thing is not going very well for me. I am WAY TOO bored. Seriously does anybody know someone who you think I'd be great chums with who lives kinda in my neck of the woods? Someone who likes just chillin at my house. Thank goodness my parents are back from Canada. Hopefully we'll do something fun tomorrow, hopefully involving getting some sun somehow. Why don't you give me a buzz and/or come over?

Hopefully my PMS will pass soon...

Oh goodness since I last blogged somethings have happened, mostly I've been pissed off because of PMS, or PMDD like the commercial for YAZ likes to say.

Jay and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary, yay! Thank you to those of you who wished us well via text, phone, card, and in person. I couldn't believe people actually remembered and cared to get in touch, Sensei Matt was a shocker for one. Chris Bloomberg not so shocking cause you are a true nice guy in all the right ways. And now you're officially Jewish since I've changed your last name to BloomBERG. Unfortunately no relation to the fabulously wealthy mayor of NYC. Today is Mike and Lauren's 1 year anniversary, not that they read here, but still yay to them.

In not very good marriage news, Steve is officially the slimiest person alive. He has put Stacey through hell and continues to do so, even taking things to an all time shocking new level. If you are a friend of his I think you should get in touch and attempt to make him understand how evil he is being and how stupid too. If you're a friend of hers, well there's not a ton anyone can do to make her feel better I don't think...but showing your support can't hurt, right?

Also, Katie and I went up to her cabin in NH, wicked relaxing, fun, and a yummy time had by all. And by all I mean me, Katie, and her brother's pet panther. Ok, cat that looks like a panther. Then it was straight home to head out to Tristan's place for the best fireworks. Another good time had by all.

Doesn't sound like I've been all pissy, but I have. Some things that made me see red:
1. My summer job teaching pre-k, don't ask, seriously don't.
2. My neighbor tough guying my husband about our street's parking, probably don't ask about that one either.
3. My cleaning lady accidentally locking both of my cats in the closet for 11 hours, and that was the second horrible time for gray. And her response when I called her about it. Don't go there either.
4. And my boredom and low energy.

Yep definately a recipe for disaster. Poor Jay has been laying low and waiting for it to blow over. Tomorrow's the first day of a week long conference that I'm attending, so that should help. I don't really wanna go, but once I get there I think I'll have fun. Also, if you didn't know, Jay moved the office to the house. Which is fine by me cause I love not being alone and Jay cleans up the house a little so the employees don't see how sloppy we are. The only thing is all the stuff that came home with him. He's been doing a good job of getting it fairly well squared away and tomorrow I have a guy coming to install a door on the office area (former dining room). So that's good, but will cost me everything that I'm making this summer at my shitty job. I was hoping to spend that money on clothes and fun. Oh well. Ok call me. It will help my PMS I swear.

Soap Box Moment...

Ok so I've recently been inspired by two things/people:

1. Jeanine Fitzgerald
I heard her speak for the second time and felt just as passionate and excited about her information. She is a behavior specialist and a former bad kid, seriously bad kid. As in bullied some of her classmates into locking their teacher in a closet after Jeanine had conned her into it. Oh and her father was teaching in the next room at the time.

She understands why children (and adults for that matter) have bad behaviors and how to help them. And I can't urge you enough to read her book, The Dance of Interaction, or hear her speak if ever given the chance. Esp. if you have children. I must say that parents in general these days are driving me nuts. And I know, I know, that I "shouldn't talk cause I'm not one," but whatever to that. I am a teacher of these children. I am a member of this society. And thus I believe it is important that adults, all adults not just parents, know that doing what is best for a child does not always feel good for them or you.

Children will cry. Children will fuss and fight, but it is our job to make decisions for them that they cannot make for themselves no matter how many tears fall, no matter how much whining, or other heartbreaking, annoying, tiring shiz happens. It's okay to say "NO" if you have a good reason. The best thing to do is follow through and win the battle that you have set out to win. As we all know, life's not easy, and trying to make it all peaches and cream only results in a sour, rotten, curdled mess.

That is my soap box moment. Now, please don't think that I am saying all of you do not go through this every day with your children. What I am saying is keep it up. Because what I am seeing as a teacher of young children is spoiled rotten brats who do not feel empathy or regret for the hurt that they cause others. I had two children like that this year. And their parents...do not hold them accountable, do not ever seem to use a firm hand, always allow the child to have a say, and feel sad about how things are going, mostly for their child's sake, but don't realize or choose not to have the balls to change the path their child is running down. So please, don't be like them and don't raise children like theirs. I can only do so much as their teacher, parents are by far the biggest, most influential teacher in a child's life.

2. Dateline NBC story Rescue on Roberts Ridge
Fantastic true story. If you didn't see it you should totally check it out.

Ok, any responses to my little rant or the awesome story of Nate Self and his men?

Eating is Good.

Jayski and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary tonight! (Even though it's actually the 30th) He surprised me by taking me to Taste of Shrewsbury Street, which was perfect. We each got a button which allowed us to try some tasty food stuffs from all the restaurants. Some of the food was really good, just the right amount too, and lots of fun! We also bumped into my brother and a parent of one of my students from last year who I love. So that was cool too. I'm so glad I picked a good husband. He totally knows that I like to be surprised and knows that the way to my heart is through my stomach, esp. with small portions. Yep he's thoughtful/romantic, so yay to marriage.

In other news this week has been great. School's out for summer! (Think: Dazed and Confused) Yesterday and today I did some work with my fellow K teachers but only from 8:30-12:30 then it was home to chill in the hammock or nap with my kitty in bed. I've got 2 more days of a similar schedule then next week is free, free, free!

Two other exciting things:
1. I've begun the process of training the cats to let me hold them both at the same time!
2. I'm going to be in a hair show!! Eeek! I'm going to the salon on Friday night to find out more, but the jist is it's to raise money for cancer research and I've never done anything like it so I'm anxious, excited, nervous. More info to follow.

Oh I Dunno

So it's been a while since I last posted and all kinds of things have happened. Some stuff --

Jay is mostly better but still has a ulcer that medication is helping...

I have 4 1/2 more days of worky work and they're jam packed, stressful, and weird. I can't frickin wait for summer. This year has been awesome but long and filled with all kinds of events.

My assistant is CRAZY and decided to scream at me the other day for a good 1/2 hour. Everyone asks if the kids were there and of course they weren't. We've patched things up so that we can get through the last 4 1/2 days, but she totally doesn't get that it's not going to work because she is neurotic, beyond neurotic like checks her credit cards to make sure they're all there everyday. And way too super controlling. The situation is so not cool as she says to me that she doesn't want to have to look for a new job, yikes.

Jay, Mike, Lauren and I went to Tomb! Check it out, seriously. It was so much fun and different from anything else out there. I also went to monster golf with my brother and Stacey, which was cool since it's all glow in the dark, but every hole was way too frickin long and around a stupid corner. I wanted to quit half way through, but we laughed our butts off at the way the ball either kept coming back to us a serious number of times or jumped way over onto another hole three blocks away.

Anyhow right now my main focus is to finish all my work stuff and get to relaxin somewhat full time. I'll be teaching pre-K again this summer, Mon-Thurs mornings. Plus I'm taking 2 courses. Should be just enough to keep me sane. The rest of the time I hope to spend on my hammock listening to my ipod, reading, napping, and generally doing nothing. Oh, to do more nothing is all I want right now, so needed. So yeah. Next weekend we have an afternoon UFC fight, so perhaps I'll see some of you at my house then...

A Four Hour Tour

Jayski is finally reconnected to his chair and laptop! Went into the hospital yeaterday for 2:30pm, surgery began at 7:10pm, got out of surgery at 11pm. It took way longer than usual and I lost my mind during the last hour of waiting to hear from the doctor. But he's OK now after sleeping over at the hospital. I got there at 8:30 this morning and got him outta at around 11am so that's pretty good. His nurses said he was the poster child for recovery. There are, of course, many more details to this story, but that's all you're getting for now. If you feel like playing nurse come on over! We'll be chillin here.

Under the Knife...Again

At least this time it's not his shoulder. Jay had to go back to the hospital today and see a new doctor who told him that he needs to have surgery to remove his appendix, which is much too big. But, of course, the doctor doesn't think it's the cause of the pain that he's been feeling on the other side of his body. Who even knows what other proceedures he'll need to have done to get this whole thing figured out!

In other news...
Guitar Hero II rocks!
Katie came over on Sat and we had soooo much fun! Chris, Adam, and Steph came over Sat night and that was cool too.
On Sun Stace and I went shopping and we ran into Steph. I got 2 cute shirts and a chillax pair of jeans. Yay new cute clothes!

Here's What's Up Currently:

Jay drove off to the hospital, to get some test done, cause as you probably know, Jay has had kidney stone problems and possibly some other weird illness thing for years now. And more recently for the past three weeks. It's been driving me crazy how we haven't got any real or good answers about what's up with him so I really hope that this test gives an answer that I like. I would have gone with him, but when he called I was laying on Stacey's couch, still in my pajamas and unshowered since Wednesday. I'm still in my pajamas, unshowered since Wednesday, but now I'm on my couch!

Why you ask? Because the strep throat that I thought I got rid of came back on Wednesday afternoon. I was a mess Wednesday night and Thursday morning but went into work anyway because I had planned a walking field trip with my kids and I didn't want to bail on them. I went on the trip with my first class but the school nurse kicked me out after that. I'm doing better now, but didn't want to push it so I took a sick day. Yea I know, Jay and I are messes. Although this year I think I've been my healthest of all years in a long, long time.

I had fun at Stacey's. The baby is too cute. His smile, the way he moves around, the faces he makes, and esp. his laugh! His laugh, and actually he does a couple of different ones, is unbelievable, seriously awesome. Also, when I was leaving Stacey was kind of poking out the door with him in her arms and he leaned his little head out the doorway to watch me leave! It was so frickin cute.

After leaving her house I was thinking about how it can be hard to know someone's true intentions and how it can be hard to trust people...and I'm not talking about Stacey. I wish I could speed up time for her to just get her to a better place, whatever that might be.

On another note, I went to my brother's new apartment on Wednesday night and I love it! It's super cute, plus he got a huge new HD TV that's all light and skinny. His place is in a great location, with lots of people of all different backgrounds, tons of stuff to do and places to go, but still feels kinda suburbish, and the complex has everything, tennis courts, a pool, a gym, and more. And he was telling me how he goes into work for like three hours then comes home, works out, and finishes work from the comfort of his couch with his computer wirelessly connected to his TV. What a life! I think he's in a good place, so that's good.

So, that's the story morning glory. Thank you to those who tried to entertain me with their drama, although Andy, I must say your life is much too hectic for me to handle. Get back to me when things have settled down, eh? And once again, when will you and your lady love come to my house? We'll be ready and waiting when you give us the go. Perhaps when HH gets married? By the way HH, will it be a big wedding? No pressure, but are we invited? Either way yo, I understand and don't wanna add anymore stress to the whole wedding thing. Ok, nough said.

If you're looking for me I'll be chillin here on the couch.
Bring me a cup of tea, eh?

Drama Anyone?

So I'm bored. I've been on vacation this week and have also been sick. I'm better now, but am just crazy tired all the time. Anyhow, this may sound terrible and maybe it is terrible, but I like a little drama in my life. You know, a little gossip to talk about. And right now there really isn't much. So please comment with your drama, good or bad, below. Thanks!

Details and Junk

I realized that I left out a couple of things from the last post:

Bill and Mel have a new baby girl! I still haven't been out to their house to see her in person, but her pictures are cute.

Adam W. is back from AZ. Not too many details on that one at all, but I'm glad he's back.

And a new development: My brother's house sold and he found an apartment!

Other Stuff:
So the delivery of my new furinture was interesting and it turned out was not included in the 11oo, but still it was all a good deal and it looks awesome in my room.

Yoga college out near Tanglewood was good overall. I really loved spending time with my roommate, my Momma. We had some good laughs and some good relaxation too. I really like the meditation stuff we learned and Godess pose. It's beautiful out there and it was so nice to sit around sippin' a cup of tea (with organic honey) looking out at the mountains, then of course, falling alseep and drooling.
Some not so good things about Yoga college include:

1. NO hot water to shower with
2. Yoga kinda hurts my neck and shoulders
3. The food was good, I tried almost everything, but nothing made me feel full, and I couldn't eat a whole plate of any one thing
4. No regular sugar to be found anywhere, or dessert type foods

So after a total of 6 1/2 hours of yoga, Mom and I decided to drop out. There was no way we could put on the Freshman 15 with that food, so we headed to the nearest pizza joint.

Today we celebrate Easter with Jay's family. That's right today, even though it's the day before Easter, and we are meeting everyone at a Chinese resturant. What, not traditional enough for ya? Then tonight it's MMA! I can't remember who's fighting at the moment, but I'm psyched anyway. Jay and I geared up for it last night by watching the new season of The Ultimate Fighter with the little guys, 155 pounders. Those little dudes are all wound up! Oh and the Bundys are bringing their Wii for some pre-game fun! The Wii is actually wicked fun, yes I said "wicked." Then tomorrow it's Easter with my family. I'm looking forward to having the Easter bunny come twice!

K I gotta go tidy up my house for tonight's guests. Don't even try to get in my guard. I'll freakin arm bar your ass.

The Update You've Been Waiting For

Hi There.
Some stuff has happened since I last blogged. I'll try to list it in order from big stuff to littler stuff:

Laurette is pregnant! Wholy crow! And not only that but so far everything looks good and the baby is SMA free. Everyone think good thoughts for her and Mark. That's an order. This freakin baby had better enjoy it's time in Laurette's belly then get out here in Sept like it's supposed to.

Word is that Adam HH got engaged! Of course I have no details what so ever because HH told Jay and as always Jay's mind can only hold onto the most important part of the story. Wait that's not true, Jay told me about the ring, how the band kind of splits and goes around the stone, right? So HH, fill us in. Please include: how you proposed, what she did/said, more details on the ring, any wedding plans. Also, will you two be working on kids anytime soon? I only ask because I know you're into kids. I'm totally psyched for you. I really like Kate, even though we've only hung out twice. :( You should seriously call ME and make plans with ME (clearly Jay is not able to make plans with people either). But whatever. <---Playin' it cool.

Jay and I got a hefty tax refund! I got a very good deal on a bedroom set from Bernie and Phyls, which is coming today!! I paid eleven hundred for bed, nightstand, dresser, mirror, and chest including tax and delivery! Originally they wanted seventeen hundred for three pieces without tax or delivery. So yea.

I turned 26, ew, on March 12. It was good, but just not the same as when I was little. Parties and gifts are so awesome when you're a kid. I can't wait to experience my own children's delight at their birthdays (not that it will happen anytime soon, so don't go there!). My assistant baked me a cake and gave me a meal all ready to eat for dinner -- totally the way to my heart! She also had the kids sign a card and had a present ready from them, a candy bar and a helium balloon. My parents gave me a gift card to Nordstroms. I've already spent part of it on a pair of pants, which are now my new favorite, and some socks. Jay got me Dance Dance Revolution for xbox, so fun! My brother came over last weekend and he is NUTS! He was amazing at the timed part, and it is so freaking funny to watch him! He looks like Gregory freakin Heins, that tap dancer guy who I saw on Sesame Street. All of you should come and play it. My Dad has once and my Mom is gunna today. Yay.

Mom and I dropped out of Yoga college. There's a lot to say about that, but I feel like this post is getting too long and your "puppy dog mind" is running away. Our instructor, named Mega, like to say that the mind is like a puppy dog. Seriously, do you really think her name is actually Mega? Actually it's splet Megha, which makes me think it was Meghan, but she dropped the "n." More details on that experience to follow later.

Also, not sure where to put this, but things with S and S have been interesting. I'll let her update you on this if she's one of your friends too.

Ok, now you can go do whatever else it is your mind is telling you must be done right now, you little puppy, you. Stop by here again read up on my adventures with my Momma.
Stand in Godess Position with me. Don't forget to breathe!

Do As I Say

Rent "Love Actually." Or turn to USA this very minute (10:29 am) and watch it! It is the best movie. I've already cried twice and that was within the first 15 minutes of it! The first cry was out of pure love/happiness and the second deep sadness. And I've belly laughed a lot too. It's so outta control good. So seriously watch it.

Other stuff:
Vacation in FL was OK. I'm only toast brown and would prefer to be cinnamon brown but the dry bloody hand is healed and nothing got painfully burnt. The pool was under construction so I was hanging out in the backyard and at the beach for a short bit (Gramps needed a beer and Gram can't get too much sun due to her meds). Oh yea, yesterday was her 81st bday. Yay Grammy!

I've got a sinus infection, which I was hoping to lose in FL, but it's hung in there. It's slowin me down, but whatever yo.

Very good friends of mine are going through a rocky patch in their marriage, which looks as though it's headed to an end...I feel terribly sad for my girl. I wish things could be different for her and I hate to see her hurting. You never know where the road of your life is going to twist, turn, or come to a halt. Eeek that was way too serious...

I have a weird "wait and see" feeling about life in gerneral right now, so let's wait and see together. What's around the next corner? Anyone see anything?

Ok I'm going back to my movie now, and will continue to avoid showering, doing my hair, and grocery shopping. Who needs food anyway.
Humph.

Fly Away With Me

Now that Jay is back from AZ I was debating weather I should book a flight to FL to visit my grandparents during February vacation. I've been going down there on almost every February and April vacation since I started teaching. But the flights are expensive and last time I was down there by myself I was pretty bored. Although, I was in a very different place in my career, a very depressing one.

Hopefully this time around I'll be back to relaxing happily by the pool. Cause I did book an expensive flight this morning. I'll be sunning myself next week! I can't believe it's only a week from today! Yipppeeee! Anyhow, the point is, if you love getting sun, floating in a heated pool, and taking naps, I'd love to have a friend come along. Just to be sure that I won't be bored.

Why isn't Jay coming you ask? He doesn't like relaxing...I know, can you believe that?! I feel badly that he can't enjoy warm sunny places like I do, but he enjoys other things that I don't understand, so it is what it is. Viva la sunshine! Hasta luego chapped dry skin!

Surprise Surprise

I had a feeling he'd be home before Friday, but you never do know with Jayski. He told me that he and Adam were going to check out the Grand Canyon yesterday. When I called to see how he liked it and to let him know that I'd be sleeping over my parent's house he fessed up that he didn't go to the Grand Canyon but was almost at our house! I was all packed and driving to my parent's at the time, so I ended up saying a quick hello, eating a quick bite, and jumping back in the car to head home.

He's all about surprises, which can be awesome, but sometimes I just wanna know! Then I don't have to wonder everyday, and I won't make plans that'll interfer with his "surprise!" At least I don't have to wait another week for him to get here. All in all it was only like 11 days that he was away but it felt like forever. Weird. The whole experience was just weird. And now it's over but it doesn't really feel over. Again weird. Hopefully life will feel "normal" again soon.

P.S. Happy Martin Luther King day everyone! I feel like I should try and do something good today, or sign up for a charity thing or something. MLK would like that. So we'll see.

Change of Plans

He's coming back! That's right Jayski's had a change of plans and will be home on Friday. Yay Jayski comes home!

Bored Again

Honestly people, what do you do on the weekends? I have no idea what I used to do when the weekends seemed like so much fun and I don't know what to do now. So please let me know what you do for fun and maybe it'll inspire me.

It's Just Me and My Catta Girls

I can't believe that I can actually live alone! I NEVER would have thought that I could, but I've proved myself wrong. I feel like I'm finally a grown up. And now that I think about it, I attribute the change to two things: accupuncture and that new antibiotic/colonoscopy which stomped my IBS (for now at least).

I used to be an anxious mess. I couldn't be in a room alone never mind a house alone. If Jay went out I'd call him after a few hours and bug him to come home. Every little noise would freak me out and the dark was a big no no.

Now I feel fine! I don't need every light in the house on and I don't need music or TV at all times. It's weird but good.

Of course I miss Jay. Sometimes I feel OK and then a little wave of sadness will hit and even when I feel OK my heart feels a little heavier. That sounds so cheesy and dramatic. Point being that I love my husband and can't wait for him to come home.

Alright so there's the update on project "JJ away." Anybody wanna have me over for dinner sometime? :) Hasta la pasta people.

Ew New Years

Without question New Years Eve is my least favorite holiday ever. In fact I hate it. Cause there's nothing good to do ever and it makes me look back on the year and think about all the sucky things that happened and get depressed.

Although thinking about this year right now, I feel pretty good. Thank goodness for my new job. It really means the world to me to be the hell outta the old place and at this awesome new job where the vice principals/principal appreciate me and my co-workers are nothing but supportive. Also I had a beautiful, picture perfect, wedding. Wow, it's nice to see that the good things of this year are actually standing out in my mind and not the bad.

But back to complaining, I've asked around a bit and nobody seems to be doing anything great. Not that anyone has actually invited us to anything though. Plus I'm just kind of grouchy in general...I think I need to see people even though I don't really feel like it. I get that way, where I don't really wanna do anything with anybody, but then when we do hang out I have fun and feel better. Weird I know. Plus I need to get back to work. I miss my kiddos and I hate being a housewife. I am a carrer woman that's for sure. I'd go nuts if I couldn't work.

Does anyone actually like New Years? Maybe people who drink like it, but the whole drinking thing sucks cause I worry about getting hit by a drunk driver since there are so many of them tonight, eek. Everyone please drive carefully and be on the lookout. And you know there's no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I'll stay up to see the ball drop, but that's no heartbreaker at all.

So what is everyone doing?? I know what mom and dad, Mike and Lauren, Tony, Adam and Carrie are doing, and I heard that Aarron said Chris and Sarah might be having something, but no more info has come through on that one...so what about YOU?

Blah. I'm annoying myself right now. Hopefully I'll perk up later. Ok, perhaps I'll be seeing some of you tonight, if not I hope you find something fun to do and have a Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Jayski!

Yesterday Jay turned the big 3-0...wholy crap. I gave him a wicked cool GPS! (Don't ya just love the term "wicked cool?" I so do.) Also, on Thursday he is leaving for a 3 month business trip to Arizona. He and Adam are driving...wholy moly. (What is a "moly" anyway? Like a really cute mole? Are mole the spy, animal, and skin thing all spelt the same way? No, I think not, someone please enlighten me on that one.)

Anyhoozle I'm not looking forward to living without my Jayski for three months. I'm hoping that my friend Andrea will come and live with me while he's away. Otherwise I dunno if I can do it. I hate being alone. I'd stay with my parents but that would add 15 minutes to my commute to work, making it an hour, which is just too long. So we'll see I guess. Of course I will keep you all updated. So yea the news is out.

Other than that my vacation hasn't been that great cause all I've been doing is crappy stuff that needs to get done around the house (laundry, dry cleaning, picking up stuff from CVS and the mall, dropping off shiz to Salvation Army, etc.). But at least tonight we're having people over to watch MMA, which as you all know is one of my favorite things to do. Although before people get here I stress cause I want the house picked up and I do that at a snail's pace and Jay refuses to do it at all until an hour before people are supposed to arrive which equals anxiety for me. This whole week I've been having a lot of that cause house stuff does that to me and I know that it so shouldn't. I hate house stuff.

Anyway anyway. We also have my family xmas party today. And I'm so excited cause my Dad is making malasadas, which is Portuguese fried dough! Yummy!! It's better than the stuff you get at carnivals cause they use real sugar not powdered. So yea. I gotta go do some more house stuff before we can get to the party.
*Thinking of a closing line....er, um, crap. I got nothin.

Just Stuff, Nothin Much

So I've been thinking about blogging some stuff, but nothing of consequence, random tid bits, not sure how. Here goes a free flow:

Christmas -- Monday. I hope it's fun. People keep talkin about how it's me and Jay's first Christmas as a married couple. I think that's weird. What's the big whoop? We've been doing xmas together since '98. I really don't expect this one to be any different.

On vacation. Need some rest. Stressed out by my new assistant:

• She's awesome in some ways = doesn't yell at the kids, gets SO much stuff done for me.
• Stressful in others = lectures the kids about EVERYTHING, has an idea about EVERYTHING, has energy like she's on crack which makes me feel gittery-nuts.
• She is 100% better than my last assistant, and just needs some polishing, but that is SO hard for me to do. I HATE telling assistants what's up.

Getting a new student in my morning class. Morning class kids are angels. This new one is not. I know cause he's in one of the full day classes right now. Can't handle a whole day at school. He could be ok with me or not. I showed him the room after school yesterday. I didn't get a good vibe. He's not too cute. That's horrible I know. But cute punim helps. The whole situation is very interesting. Parents didn't get along with other teacher. Didn't like what they saw on the report card. I just want to see how things go. Need to get back to school.

Yesterday was PJ day. Each kid gave a little something to the class (like art supplies) and ate a special snack. Parents were nice, morning class gave me a beautiful platter with the kids' fingerprints turned into flowers, birds, bees, etc. One morning mom gave me $50 to Williams Sonoma. Afternoon class gave me $100 to Macys. And of course little candies and things from a few kids.

And then there is some news about two of the men in my life. As some of you know, my brother is getting divorced. That's all about that for now. Jay's got some stuff going on. He probably won't even read this, but I will wait to tell you his news until he says, "k."

Alright that's enough for now. More to follow in the coming weeks.

Bye, bye baby, bye, bye.

Happy Holidays!

Ok so I'm obsessed with saving the earth, and one of the suggestions I saw on TV or www.think.mtv.com (I can't remember which) was to send out ecards instead of regular holiday cards to save paper, so consider this your holiday card from me and Jay! I feel very mixed about regular paper cards -- I kind of like the idea of sending them, but it's money and work that I never feel like spending/doing. Plus I kinda feel like store bought cards are not that important really. If I could make enough by hand that would be cool, but whatever, and the whole paper issue would still be there. Anyway! This holiday card post is to show that Jay and I care about you and your family and hope that all is well with everyone.

Yay having my holiday cards covered! Now, let's talk more about the earth. For most people all the recent ads about doing earth friendly things is good, but for me it adds to my neurosis. I think about how Al Gore says that we have 10 years to change things or we're screwed. Ten years people! Eeek!

So I do things to help save the earth all the time, like turning lights off when we're not in the room and not leaving the water on while I'm brushing my teeth. Actually I've been doing those two things for a LONG time now. My latest thing is making sure stuff is unplugged when we're not using it. I read that cell phone chargers are esp. bad when left plugged in. And I hope to get a hybrid car when I go to buy my next one, but that's a long ways off since I only have like 40,000 miles right now.

Anyhoo, one thing that drives me crazy is that I feel like I'm only canceling the damage that Jay does to the earth cause he always does stuff like leaving lights on or leaving a window open when the heat is on, etc. But I know that he will just be like that forever unfortunately. I like doing things that are easy, but still helpful. I'd like to do more, but I dunno how. So what do you people do to make sure that we're not all living underwater in the future? I like where the coastline is now and I'd like for it to stay there. And ya wonder why I have IBS, ha! I'm always thinking about crazy stuff like this. So yea. Let's all gather round a tree and let it know how much we love it. ;P

Sleep, Comments, Crud, Donations

Ok so after I blogged last night I went back to bed, only to over sleep and wake up an HOUR later than I usually do! I HATE being late and ended up calling school, which I also hated doing, but in the end I got there 2 minutes before the kids. So you can guess how I've been feeling all day.

I'm totally shocked that you commented Matty, mega bonus points. You've been shocking me a lot lately by telling me about your life (since you know what a big mouth I am, but I am seriously trying to be better!). Keep up the good work.

Now everyone, let's welcome Cyndi to this here bloggy blog. *Picture everyone saying "Hi, Cyndi" all lack luster like they would at an AA meeting.* I welcome new readers, esp. those who comment, and double esp. those with IBS. We should form a secret society with a toilet on our crest. Ew. Anyhow, in answer to the whole vitamin/no sleep thing, well plain and simple I have no idea. I'd say keep taking the vitamins for a couple of weeks and see if you still can't sleep at night. I can't sleep cause I go to bed too early then get woken up by my husband coming to bed and can't go back to sleep cause I think too much stuff. So yea.

My GI doc just called in a new Antibiotic that has been successful for people with IBS. It is currently used for people traveling abroad to help with the cucks. You take it for 10 days, so when I finally get around to picking it up and trying it out I'll let ya know how it goes. Although I must say ever since I had my colonoscopy I haven't had any IBS issues. I think that's cause the prep got rid of all the bad bacteria in my gut and it hasn't grown back. (Ew to that whole paragraph.) Anyhow Cyndi, I hope your gut is under control and you are able to find treatments that work for you, and yea, it's nice to hear from other people who have crappy IBS, pun intended.

One last random news tid-bit: The principal at my old work announced that she is retiring at the end of this year, which is early! My mom thinks that it's a forced thing and Jay thinks my whole episode with her probably contributed, but who knows. I just really hope they get an awesome new principal cause that place could be turned around and be something awesome. I bet everyone working there is thrilled cause this lady seriously brings the stress hardcore in such unnecessary ways. Should be interesting to see what goes down.

Ok seriously last bit of random info: I got 10" of my hair cut off and donated it to locks of love! Yay totally, awesome, hot, fresh, new hair and yay helping kids with cancer. I also recently brought some food to needy elderly and dropped off old clothes in one of those donation bin things. So I'm feelin pretty good about all my givin lately and it only makes me wanna do more. Helping people = good. End of story.

Why I'm Awake Right Now

Yea I so can't sleep. There's way too much on my mind right now, school stuff, home stuff, friends stuff, etc. Let's talk school stuff:

I got in touch with Gretchen and she feels too badly leaving my old work mid year, so we won't be working together again just yet. :( I totally understand, but I would have loved to work with her again. You never know what the future holds, so hopefully someday we'll be reunited! I just love my Gretchen!

I have a new assistant who will be starting on Monday! Her name is Margaret and I worked with her once this year when she subed for my current aide. She's awesome with the kids and full of life and ideas, which I love cause she can actually do things on her own! However, a couple of people have made me anxious about her, cause they think she might get too "single white female" on me and we'll have a power struggle, eeek! I don't think so, but I can't help but stress about it a little.

Talking about stress, I've been working on report cards and of course that means stress. One thing that I hate about trying to get report cards done is that I haven't been able to put as much time into developing a unit and instead have had to come up with activities that the kids can complete on their own so that I can keep working one on one with kids. Like I have some ideas about things I'd like to do on fairytales, but I can't right now, because I need to finish assessing and observing!

So next week, on Margaret's second day, I'm going to a conference -- again anxiety. I know Margaret will be great and I feel SO much more comfortable knowing that she will be there rather than the aide I have now, but still. Then I have parent teacher conferences next week too -- again anxiety. Talking with the parents can be so uncomfortable.

Plus there's a meeting tomorrow about where our classrooms will be near year, and that might be stressful, cause I LOVE the room I have now and don't want to move AGAIN this summer. Another thing that has come up lately is that there might not be enough Kindergarteners next year for four teachers, but there will be enough first graders for five teachers, which means that there is a possibilty that I would have to teach first grade next year -- again anxiety.

This probably makes you think I'm like freaking out, but I'm not really, just thinking about these things and lots of other stuff. So yea. That's why I can't sleep. After next week is over I'll probably be more chill. We'll see. Lata gatas!

P.S. Five points awarded to Laurette, Jenni, and Heather for commenting on the last blog. Seriously people, if you value your place in my heart, collect your points by commenting! ;)