LMK is unplugging the modem today so we can return it.
I'll see everyone when we're moved. Won't I have exciting stories to tell then? No, not really.
Have a happy holiday and remainder of the week. Hopefully I'll be back by our anniversary (Saturday).
Last few ornaments:
Everyone in the family has one like this.This is mine. Made by a family friend.
Made for my entire 4th grade class by one of my best friend's mom.
Doesn't everyone have one of these?Happy Holidays everyone!
As I told LMK yesterday, I'm starting to panic. Just a little bit. My sanity is hanging by a thread!
It's the same moving issues everyone has. So much to do - no time to do it. Add to that the Christmas season, wanting to spend time with my brother (ok, really just his cats), and my family and my time dwindles even more.
Seventeen times a day I think - "I should be packing right now." But we're either doing last minute shopping, cooking, baking, or just hanging out.
Oh, and I miss Lucy already.
Two more pet ornaments today. We found a lot of my favorite ornaments, including these, here.
I am currently on a Yes, Dear kick. I go through periods where I love certain shows. There was West Wing, when I couldn't watch enough West Wing. Then there was Friends, when I would watch every one of the 5 episodes on a day. Currently, I love Yes, Dear. I love Anthony Clark. He was in an old show called Boston Common years ago with Traylor Howard and I liked it, too.
So one of the first shows I set to tape when we got dvr was Yes, Dear. It's on twice a day, so each day (or every few days) I'll sit down and watch all my saved shows. Yesterday was the one with the Wiggles.
I've been singing this song ever since...
I went to the doctor this morning for the last time. Have I mentioned how much I love my doctor? Well, I do. If I could pack her up and take her with me, you better believe I would.
Blood pressure was finally normal. LMK and I were shocked considering the stress we're both under.
And...
AND! I've lost 16 pounds. Look at me! Light as a feather...well, a cement feather. Working every day seems to be good for me. I've been eating junk for two and a half weeks, but apparently, it's working. Hopefully the loss will continue into 2007.
Today's ornament - the required teacher apple. It also counts because my aunt and uncle used to have an apple orchard (gone as of this year) so appleas are a staple around here. I love this one because it's a bell and it's shiny. I love shiny.
I almost cried at school today.
I knew I'd be a water risk anyway, but I held it together ALL DAY LONG...until tutoring after school. That's when all the teachers who weren't tutoring were leaving. Hugging me goodbye and wishing me good luck. I'm so lucky to have spent as much time at that school as I have. I know part of it is I'm my mother's daughter - but another part of it is me. They appreciate what I've done/do to help them.
It's nice to be appreciated.
It's going to be strange not going to this school ever again (ok, I may still visit, but you know what I mean). It will be strange not to know how the kids are doing. Even though I know things will go on and that everyone will be fine - I'd like to think they'll miss me. You know what, that is just want I'm going to do. Believe they'll miss me.
`Cuz I sure will miss them.
Ornament of the Day: One of Lulu's ornaments
Most of the time, I am excited about our upcoming move. Let's say...75% of the time.
Some of the time, I am overwhelmed and nervous about our upcoming move...15%
Then there are the times - like at Little Brother's graduation dinner where I was able to sit around a dinner table with my entire family (and my brother's girlfriend and her dad) or last night on the phone with Twin and I feel sad. I remind myself that it isn't like we're dying. We can always come back and visit.
But it won't be the same.
I feel like one of those cheesy recipes people write.
75% excited
15% overwhelmed/terrified
10% sad
100% moving
15% overwhelmed/terrified
10% sad
100% moving
Now, LMK will read this and he'll ask me if I want to move. Well. No, I don't want to move. But I think moving is the best option for us. Sometimes the end justifies the means. Tonight, I just miss my family, my friends, and the school system - though it hasn't treated me well - where I got my "start" teaching.
Change is scary and it's hard, but we're going to make it. Of that, I've never been more sure.
This evening...ornaments of the boys.
Well, my brother is a college graduate! Congratulations Little Brother!
And unlike me he graduated with honors! Me? I was just lucky to graduate.
We went to Toledo this weekend to attend his graduation. The morning graduation (with the entire university) wasn't too bad. The seats were comfortable and even though it was a little over two hours, I've sat through worse. The engineering graduation ceremony was awful. Aw-ful. First, my tush didn't fit in the seat so I spent the entire almost three hour ceremony wiggling. Left cheek. Right cheek. Middle. Left cheek. Right cheek. Middle.
Oh, it was horrible.
Then....THEN! We return home to evidence of kitty shenanigans:
Somehow, Socks had gotten some stray packing tape stuck to his whiskers. Poor guy! LMK got it off, but there was a whisker casualty.
Notice LMK in the background comforting Socks. Poor kitty. He was not amused.
Or "the day full of things to get the Lawn Mower Queen fired."
Thursday is mentor day in the classroom I am currently teaching. Mentors are adults who come in once a week and read with the kids. Sometimes they play games, one woman actually teaches the kids (something tells me she was a former teacher), and generally the kids get to interact with adults who aren't their parents. The most consistent mentors are, of course, senior citizens. It's really neat to watch. The kids are so polite and they love their mentors. The mentors love being around the kids.
But some days? Some days I wonder just how much has changed since they were in school.
The following four things happened between 1 and 3, when the mentors are visiting.
- Two of the mentors brought Christmas gifts for the kids. Apparently there's a hullabaloo with the classroom teachers about "my" kids getting stuff that the rest of the class doesn't get. While I understand...tough noogies. The teacher I'm in for usually leaves the stuff in the library and gives it to kids as they leave the building at night. Uh. No. I sent it back with the kids and told them to put it directly into their bookbags. If there's a problem, hey, I'm "just a sub."
- After passing out the gift bags, the mentor told the children not to get the bags out on the bus because (and I quote) "there are bigger, meaner kids on the bus than you and they may take your bag." WHAT!? Good gravy. Not that it bothers me because, I'm "just a sub."
- Another mentor brought his mandolin and played Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells with the kids. Unfortunately, the first class ran long so to fill time we had to sing another song. He only knew Away in a Manger. Think of the lyrics to that one - definitely school appropriate. But hey, I'm "just a sub."
- Meanwhile, during mentoring a student experienced a coughing fit. I sent him to the drinking fountain and he seemed to be ok. He was really ok when his mentor gave him a cough drop*! Hey, I'm "just a sub."
Tonight's ornament is one I picked up last year. Not only is it a soccer playing Santa, but Santa's is in LMK's high school colors and sporting his high school jersey number. How could I resist?
* We are expressly forbidden to give kids cough drops because they are technically medicine. Parents must sent a note with them to school if the kid has them.
Let me tell you about The King. No, not Elvis. The Lawn Mower King.
We're both really excited about moving, but I'm also not excited. I love my family and I love living next door to them. I'm really going to miss them when we go (even though some of them are leaving in May). However, another large part of moving is leaving this house.
The rational part of me says, "its just a house." A bigger part of me is in love with this house. It was my grandparents house. The clock on the mantle has been there for as long as I've been alive. I have clear memories of sitting at the tiny kitchen table, on a step stool, drinking milk that Grandpa had put a tablespoon of coffee in (so I could drink coffee too). Sometimes, when we walk in the door - I get a wiff of Grandma and Grandpa's house. I love this house.
So, Sunday evening while packing a box I started getting teary. Next thing I know, I'm crying. LMK did what husbands are supposed to do and even offered to decline the job. Whatever it takes for me to be happy. He's going out of his way to make this transition as easy for me as possible - even though it's tough for him too.
It's times like these I'm so thankful for everything we've been through. We've conquered a life shattering mental illness together...everything else - it's gravy. Today (and every day) I'm grateful for my husband.
Tonight's ornament - our first Christmas. (I blacked out our faces.)
We're moving in 2 weeks! Oh. my. goodness. That thought crosses my mind at least 700 times a day.
Tonight I am printing pictures so I can finish ornaments for my cousin (a paying customer).
I also haven't packed a box this evening - and it's almost my bedtime!
Ack!
Now for the ornament. Tonight's is a handmade paper star. My mom used to make them every year with her kids (before NCLB and other high stakes tests).
They would fold them up, dip them in wax, and sprinkle them with glitter. I have several of these in all different colors.
I'm running around trying to focus. I swear. I want and need to go in seventeen directions at once. It's just not working. Tonight, I am going to make blackberry jam. Is it a necessity for me to make jam before we move? Not really, but I can't take the blackberries with us and I want to use up as many of them as I can before then.
In other news, while the tutoring kids were working on the computer tonight one of them got the following task: "Write three things you like about trees."
All I could think of was the episode from Friends where they lose the apartment. "We were looking for leafy, LEAFY."
Check around the 2:05 mark. You'll see what I mean.
I leave you with ornament pictures.
The first is a clarinet. I played clarinet in high school. Pretty self-explanitory. (Please ignore Ollie snoozing in the background) This one is always getting lost on the tree because it's clear glass. I stumbled upon it last year accidentally and it didn't get chucked out with the tree.
Mmmk. So, the excitement is wearing off and the sheer enormity of what we are planning to do is becoming clearer and clearer.
We're moving! In three frickin' weeks!
Holy hell.
This week has just been an emotional roller coaster. Up, down, round the corner, up, down. Add to the fact that this is the worst possible week of the month to mess with me and it's been quite interesting. Lists are just about the only thing keeping me sane lately. I need lists. Lists of lists of lists. They're comforting.
We're not putting up any Christmas decorations. Frankly, I don't want to have to rush around putting them away the day after Christmas so we can move. It's weird not having a tree and putting away the decorations, but there's always next year. We'll be decorating our house in Virginia next year - which is exciting, yet terrifying. Maybe, in my spare time (ha!), I will get out a few of my favorites, snap a couple pictures, and put them here. Won't that be festive?
We've decided that Lucy is going to stay with my parents until the summer.
First, because we don't have a way to safely get her from Ohio to Virginia. I can't keep her safe and away from Hokie, Socks, and Ollie while driving and I will not allow her to ride in a moving truck with the Lawn Mower King while he drives an unfamiliar vehicle over unfamiliar roads, one of which being 81. It's not safe for us or her.
She's also staying because I am giving myself an ulcer worrying about her barking. Lucy is beagle. She barks. Luckily, she's not like LMK's dog, Hoss, who howls just because he likes to hear the sound of his own voice. Lucy only barks when she's angry. Lucy only gets angry when she's not getting the attention she believes she deserves. She barks at people walking by, other animals, or us if we're not coming to play with her. Add to this that we're moving to the "city" with close neighbors (one of which being LMK's new boss) and I just don't want to put that kind of pressure on her or on us. She'll be just as happy staying in her own house at my parents where she can go for rides with my dad and help my mom cook dinner than she will being forced into silence or penned in. Either way...I'm just sick about it. I'm going miss her so much.
There's so much more I could say, but I'm not going to right now.
Well, we need to go call the grocery store to get some boxes. We're probably going to end up looking like a couple of drunks moving in with all our liquor boxes. But hey, they're free!
He got offered the job!
Soooo....
We're moving to NoVa! We're moving to NoVa! (That's the scary part.)
I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm thrilled. I'm terrified. I'm overwhelmed.
In even better news, my cousin/partner in crime/best friend has a cousin in a larger city near where we're moving (just a few minutes up 81) and she may be able to help me find a job. Maybe not for the spring semester, but they're getting a new school and there will probably be some openings there in the fall. Hello!? New school? Count me in!
Hot diggity dog!
I love this time of year with little children. They still (for the most part) believe in Santa.
I had the following conversation with a 2nd grade girl today.
Girl: "I know Santa's favorite cookie."
Me: "Oh, really?"
Girl: "Yep, he likes sugar cookies. I know `cuz he wrote me a letter."
Me: "Oh?"
Girl: "Yeah. My cousin has a piece of his suit. He tore it on the fireplace and my other cousin, she has a bell from Santa's sleigh. That's all I want for Christmas this year, a bell from Santa's sleigh."
Me: "Well, make sure you put that in your letter, so he knows. You must be pretty special to have gotten a letter from Santa."
Ahhh, the magic of Christmas.
Oh, and I found this site today. Go check and see if you're on the Naughty or Nice list. It was actually surprising accurate.
We're on pins and needles over here, people. PINS AND NEEDLES! Nothing today regarding Lawn Mower King's interview this weekend. Well, I guess that isn't entirely truthful. He had a fifteen minute converstation with the head of the math department. Whether that's good or bad, we have no clue. He said they want to make a decision before the dean gets back from vacation (end of the week). We're hoping it will be tomorrow like the head of the school said. You haven't uncrossed anything yet, have you?
I did find out that the town we may be moving to (knock on wood) does offer a "relocation packet". I'm forcing myself to wait to request one until we actually decide to move there. But! How helpful! Gotta love those Virginians.
I began my two week job as a Title 1 teacher. I love the woman I'm subbing for. She left me a present! How sweet is that? She had surgery today and cannot be around kids for at least two weeks (totally understandable - they cough and sneeze all over you). When I went in so she could show me where everything was she kept saying things like, "Here are the reading take home books for the rest of the year -- just in case I never come back." WHAT!?
However, I do not love her schedule. She has bus duty twice a day. Did I mention it was only 20 degrees today? They don't make appropriate school clothes that warm. Brrrrr!
LMK and I really want him to get this job. Reallllly. He's pretty shocked because I am just as excited about it as he is. Me! The person who only months ago would totally shut down at the idea of a move.
Where do I begin?
The hotel. The school put us up in a Hampton Inn. I'm a simple girl, really. I don't need a big fancy hotel room. Holy heck, they've "redone" the Hampton Inns. They're wonderful! Even Twin would approve because their linens are laundered every day. I loved, loved, loved the comforter....excuse me, duvet. It was so fluffly that you sink into it and oh brother, was it warm. I definitely need one of those.
The school. It's beautiful! It sits over one hundred acres on the highest point in town. You can see everything! Everyone we met at the school is so nice. The head of the school was really great. Since it is a boarding school, LMK would have a lot more responsibilities than a regular teachining position. We're both ok with that.
(view from one side of the school)The housing. The school provides houses for their staff to use should they need somewhere to stay. The only thing they have currently available is a four bedroom house, with a porch, fenced in backyard, sunroom, garage, and wood burning fireplace in the living room. The backyard was the selling point. It means we can bring Lucy with us. I was really concerned about where she was going to live if we move. (I got a little sniffly on the way home because I was so relieved) Even though it isn't rent free, we saw the same house (4 bedroom, backyard, etc) adveertised in the rental book we picked up for twice the price. It's definitely a deal!
Please, everyone keep your fingers, toes, eyes, etc crossed for us, send good karma, keep us in your prayers - whatever you believe. We should know something by Tuesday. While you're crossing/praying, think of me and hope that I can pick up a job in town too. That would make this move truly perfect.
12 hours in a car over the span of 36 hours is a hell of a lot of time just sitting on your ass.
The rental car was a wonderful idea - they even upgraded us to the "Luxury" car (a Toyota Sonata) and other than the seat belt biting into my hip after hour 5 it wasn't too bad. I spent a lot of time telling LMK : "The pretty car likes to go FAST!" Mwahahahaha.
I'm zonked, but tomorrow, TOMORROW I will tell all about LMK's interview.
Fingers crossed, people, FINGERS CROSSED!