Midweek Confessions

For those of you who don't know, E over at emyselfandi does this hilarious midweek confessions series. I'm linking up with her to dish out some self-deprication. (And, E, I'll add one of your cute buttons tomorrow...)

1. I did not cook a meal once last week. We ate out every. Single. Day. Granted, one night I was out with D's mom & Nama. But still. We ate a lot of fast food. 

2. I also didn't do any dishes or unload the dishwasher all week. It took a long time on Saturday to go through a week's worth of breakfast, lunch, & water bottles. 

3. I left my laptop at home yesterday. As in, omgwhatamigoingtodo all my notes and prep stuff is on my laptop, which is 45 minutes away and class starts in 3 minutes. Luckily, only one student knew. She happened to be standing in front of me when I reached down into my bag and panicked. Today, she didn't bring in her homework. Guess who didn't collect homework today, largely as a result? Also luckily, my freshman class had a search through the book assignment that took them 30 minutes, so I had time to remake my French Revolution notes, which were more boring, but at least they existed!

4. I'm typing this in bed. At 9:45. Because I just can't stay staring at my computer working on grades or the next unit any longer. 

5. I cuss myself every time I give a project. Really, the technology challenged of the high school seem to land in my class every semester. 

6. My flower bed is a garden of grass calf-high. And I'm cool with that. My new goal: save enough money to totally rip it out and start over. Maybe pour concrete down to keep the wire grass out next time. I really just don't remember to weed anything. Or water it. Oops. 

Have some funny things to share: Confess away below!!!!

Midweek Confessions

I just love these! I'm a day late, but these are funny. At least to me. 

-I haven't put laundry away since teacher workdays started. For 3 weeks now, I have gotten up in the morning and sorted through the pile in the guest bedroom. Terrible, yes. Maybe that can be a weekend to do item

-I went to a volleyball game today where the school I currently teach at played a team with several of my former players on it. It was torture. I wanted to run down  to the court screaming, "I can coach!!! Please let me coach!!!" Rest assured, this was only a thought. Not an action. 

-On Tuesday, I went to hand out the tests for my 1st block to take. There weren't any. I hadn't printed the tests and copied them. I had to leave my kids with a worksheet and the teacher on my hall who has planning while I sprinted through the halls to make copies. 

-On Wednesday, in the same class, I misplaced their vocabulary quizzes. A student and I spent 5 minutes searching my classroom for them. We found them in my teacher binder. 

-We have eaten one home cooked meal this week. Just one. Granted, Wednesday was my birthday. But still. That's pretty terrible. 

Hope your week had less confessionable moments!

Wild Friday Nights

D & I are definitely not of the partytilthebreakofdawn type. Both of us prefer calm, small gatherings, and being in bed before the next day starts. (Many days this week, I've fallen asleep on the couch before 10:00, and on Wednesday I said I was going to go to bed in a few minutes, but was persuaded not to because it wasn't yet 8:30.)

Tonight has really not been an exception to that rule (hence me blogging away while he showers at 8:30). However, it has been crazy exciting. Let me tell you why:

Our basement is freezing cold in the winter, but we only have gas logs that cost us an absolute fortune to run. D's Nama has a wood stove she's looking to get rid of, and is willing to give it to us for the small fee of getting the monster price of iron out of her home. Being the newlyweds with a home and me still 2 weeks shy of my first full time paycheck since 7/2012, we LOVE free things that will save us money. 

Unfortunately, a previous owner has sealed up the chimney. They used to have a wood stove, and got rid of it for the gas logs we can't afford to use. Tonight, largely due to the fact that the leaves are changing in freaking August and it was cool enough for me to wear pants and long sleeves to work in the flower bed this afternoon, D decide to do the initial measuring for and locating of the chimney pipe. He enlisted my assistance, and it was my job to hold the beginning of the measuring tap at a particular spot. 

I did a great job on the exterior of the house. 

On the interior is when things got interesting. 

The point of reference for me to hold my end of the measuring tape up to was the corner of the basement window. When I reached up and moved aside the curtain, a bat came flying out. 

A.  Freaking. Bat

In. My. Basement. 

I squealed. I ducked. My hubby may have let out an expletive or two. All the while the bat was flying circles around the basement. I ran, ducking, to the door, left it open, and hid behind the storm door, holding it open and praying that the stupid nasty thing would fly out. D was attempting to hit it with his hat, and missing. 

D went out of sight, and then shouted, "I got it!" Sure enough, it was lying on the carpet and immobile. He had knocked it out of the air with a level. I was thoroughly  impressed. 

Then we had to decide what to do with the thing. My suggestion: beat it to sure death with the shovel. D felt like bat blood would be gross on the carpet. I felt like a room full of new carpet because we killed the bat was a valid monetary sacrifice. I also suggested that bat blood on the carpet was preferable to a round of rabies vaccinations (in case you don't know, they're gross, painful, and include giant needles).  We decided to scoop it up with the snow shovel. It started crawling. We then decided to cover it with the snow shovel and scoop it up with the regular shovel. It started flying. Again. (I'd like to note here that the reason we had these tools close at hand is because I kept picking up things to protect myself with; and that by we deciding, I stood cowering while he acted out our decisions.)

After another series of squeals from me because the stupid thing was at large again, D made a masterful swing with the shovel, knocked the bat into the wall, and it fell into D's open tote box of Legos.

He then drug the box outside, picked up the Lego mat the bat was on, and dumped it out on the other side of our fence, in the woods. 

Thank freaking goodness. 

We got back to our project, only after D made a thorough check of the window for more bats. He proceeded to cut a couple of fairly large holes in the Sheetrock & insulation, exposing the concrete and no chimney pipe. But at least we don't have a bat inside anymore!

Like I said, we don't do big party nights. That doesn't mean we have boring ones!

Oh, and here's a picture of one of our dogwood trees. Its leaves are changing colors already. I'm highly upset about it. I dislike fall because it means it will be cold soon, and I hate the cold. It's a pretty picture though!

Heard at my parent's house

Momma: "Tell her about how you rescued the bunny?"

DP (age 3): "Did I rescue a bunny?"

Me: "I don't know, did you?"

DP: "Yeah. He hopped away." (A further explanation of the story detailed the fact that one of the dogs had carried a baby bunny to the yard. My mom thought it was dead. DP went to get my brother, who went to pick up said dead bunny, and it jumped up and hopped away)

J: "Tell her about talking to the policeman."

DP: "I talked to a policeman."

Me: "What did you talk about?"

DP: "Wowzers in the woods that eat you."

Me: "Did you learn about George Washington?"

B (age 6): "yeah. He's our first President"

"What is a President?"

"They make the rules and tell people what to do."

"Well, yeah, kinda. Who is our President now?"

"Abraham Lincoln."

"No...not Abraham Lincoln. Who was he?"

"He was like the 3rd president." 

"Not the third, he was like the 16th or so."

Then my dad stepped in. "Tell her about who Jesus was."

B: "He was a man who they killed on a telephone pole."

My dad: "But why did they kill him?"

B: "Because they didn't like the rules he made."

O (age 2): "Yamaw Yamaw! Your car is raining!"

My mom: "What? My car is raining?"

"Yes! Your car is raining! Come see!"

She then drags my mom to the window and points at my moms wet car. 

"See! Your car is raining. See my car? It's not raining, but your car is raining." (Note here, my sister in laws car was too far away to see whether it was wet or not.)

From the mouth of babes huh?

Meal Mistake Merrymaking

Guys, I have a really terribly pathetic story, that I can't help but share.  My desire to share it probably stems from the fact that it's been a really stressful two weeks, and I need to laugh.  Laugh tonight I did.

I came home from work and thought I had a fantastic plan for supper tonight.

Plan:

1. Filet Mignon
2. Green Beans
3. Baked Potatoes

Isn't that delicious?  And, it's Friday.  We ALWAYS go out on Fridays (and Saturdays, and a lot of Sundays).   In the spirit of trying to save money because I make one quarter significantly less of what I made this time last year, I wanted to have a special dinner, then put up our Christmas tree.

So we multi-tasked.  Big Mistake.  While D was cooking the steaks, I was working on a homemade Christmas present (which is only about 1/2 complete, and needs to be done pronto), and decided to bake the potatoes in the microwave, wrapped in plastic wrap.

Now, usually, my microwaved potatoes come in this plastic-package already, but again, we are trying to save money.  Instead of buying those on my last grocery stop, I bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes.  Our basement is colder than the North Pole well suited for keeping veggies cool, so I thought this was a great solution.

Also, I realize that Filet Mignon isn't anywhere close to cheap, but this summer we ordered a ton of meats at a really cheap price.  They come individually packaged and frozen, so we just get them out when we need them.

We also multi-tasked by beginning to assemble our Christmas tree while we waited for the steaks to cook.  Another Big Mistake.

Result:
1. Tiny, overcooked steaks, which needed Worcestershire Sauce poured over them to be edible.
2. Perfectly fine green beans
3. Rubber potatoes, which I could ball up with my fingers.
4. Meal Addition when I saw the steaks were too dry: leftover biscuits left over from a supper last week.

The BEST part of the meal: the week old, microwaved biscuits.

Lesson:
1. Don't multi-task while cooking.  The cooking suffers.
2. Those steaks need to be marinated, and watched carefully.  Also, D needs 2 steaks of this type.
3. Regular potatoes, when cooked in the microwave, don't take as long as I thought.

OH WELL: at least it was entertaining.

Do you have any entertaining dinner flubs?

30 Days of Thankfulness

Happy December Friends!

As I sit here, spending some time procrastinating about graduate school due dates and waiting for the time that I head off to work today, I want to compile some of the things I was thankful with this past month.

For those who aren't on Facebook, or simply try to ignore it, as I wish I did more of, I'll explain where my posts originated.  Over the month of November, I and several (probably thousands) others posted a daily message of what we were thankful for.  

November wasn't the easiest of months in my family, but it wasn't the hardest one I've ever been through.  So here's what I was thankful for, in order:

1. Today, I am thankful for having heat, electricity, and work hours during Hurricane Sandy. So many others are not so lucky.

2. I am thankful for having a job which enables me to teach, coach, and attend grad school while still being able to see family and get the housework done!

3. Today I am thankful for our dog, Axe. He may be hairy, and he may drool all over everything. He may have eaten my muffin wrapper this morning, but one of the best feelings in the world is that wet nose pushing your hand on top of his head.

The drool bucket himself

4. Today I am thankful to be able to spend part of my day with my mom and dad. They rerouted their plans to drive to the beach today just to meet me for lunch!

5. Today, I am thankful for the ability to do physical labor. I was able to work in my flower garden and help my husband in the garage. There are so many people who would be unable to do either.

6. Today I am thankful to live in a country where each and every one of us has the opportunity to influence our government.

7. Today I am thankful for insurance, which allowed me to go to the dentist today.

8. Today I am thankful for a job that keeps me mobile. On the first warmer sunny day in a while, it's nice to spend time outside, even if it is just driving across Salem a few times.

9. Today I am thankful for SC [a girl I coached with for 3 years]. She is a smart, kind, wise beyond her years young woman. I miss her dearly, and volleyball season won't be the same without her. However, I am very proud of her for following her dreams, even as they took her to that OTHER school in Virginia. Knowing her has been a true blessing in my life. Btw: thought especially of her today as I put on my makeup and noticed how awesome my skin looks. Thanks for convincing me to buy Bare Minerals! Love you!

10. Today, I am thankful for good nights with great friends!

11. Today, I am thankful for all the veterans, near and far, past and present, who have fought for our freedoms. This definitely includes some of my favorite vets: SLB, DB, & JS!

12. Today I am thankful for my wonderful friend L. Her life is anything but easy, as she juggles a full time job, the demands of a husband, a kindergartener and a preschooler, numerous doctors appointments for her sweet baby who battles against the odds daily, soccer, dance, cheerleading, a new business adventure, and finished her Masters Degree. On tip of it all, she manages to make her friends and family a priority in her crazy life. She is a shining example of dedication, love, and Southern Belle! And did I mention, she kicked butt at her first 5K a few weeks ago? Happy Birthday L! I hope if I have kids I can be half as motivated as you are! I love you! (SN: go check out her blog here!)

13. Today I am thankful for a full day of work, even if it included 3 hours of math.

14. Today I am thankful for a husband who doesn't get mad often. I fixed a quick supper today, of which one of the main ingredients he hates. OOPS. So he ate around it, and then ate nachos.

15. Today I am thankful for fleece pants and long sleeves. I was walking around the house in my wool coat and D finally asked if I was cold. That was the push I needed to get comfy. Am I totally warm? No. Am I in my wool coat? Also no.

16. Today I am thankful for random talks with strangers. They make me smile.

17. Today I am thankful for my ability to continue my education. It's difficult; it's challenging; and, particularly this semester, painfully tedious. Regardless, I know that education opens doors, and this Master's Degree will open doors for me!

18. Today, I am thankful for my baby cousin. From infancy, her life flipped upside down and threw her into my home part time. Over the next 2 decades we fought, laughed, cried, played hard, and had what she calls torture imposed on her (many of those latter events I do not recall btw). Through it all, she pushed and pushed. She has grown into a wonderful woman, who I am proud to call my sister. A woman who has the heart to work with a kid who needs a special sort of love, and the strength to stomach a really tough future career. You continuously amaze me Bean, and I love you so much! Be careful going home.

19. Today, I am thankful for the Internet, which allowed me to fix my Wii on my own rather than buy a new power cable. Tomorrow, I'll blog about how I did it! (Oops...never did this..I'll work on that this week.)

20. Today I am thankful for the checks that just came in. Seems silly, but they say [both of our full names]. It makes me happy!

21. Today I am thankful for runny nosed kisses and the giggles that come with playing chase with the 3 most awesome kids on the planet.

22. Today, I am thankful for my kind of thanksgiving. Tons of people all talking at the same time, enjoying being together. One round at my great aunt's that has maybe 40 people, then round 2 with the immediate Fam.

23. Today, I am thankful for ibuprofen and acetaminophen, which you can alternate so that you feel better longer when your whole family shares their germs.

24. Today I am thankful for a peaceful day at home; well somewhat peaceful. It started at 645 when my nephew decided I needed to be awake. It also included a trip to see the new movie Lincoln. So not quite peaceful and not quite at home, but still great. Now if I could just kick this cold!

25. Today I am thankful for the surprise my husband had for me. He put an outlet on the porch so I can hang Christmas lights!

26. Today, I am thankful for having my Uncle C in my life. He came home when I was 6 months old and helped my mom take care of their ailing parents. For the next 2 decades, he lived next door (at least part of each year), and was there for me in a variety of ways. I know today has been hard, but he's been fighting so hard for so long. Rest easy Scooter, I know you're better off, even if it hurts us so much.

27. Today I am thankful for Christmas decorations that help distract me and make my house pretty!

28. Today, I am thankful for memories.

29. Today, as we laid to rest my uncle, I have struggled to find my thankfulness. I think I found it. I am thankful to spend a day "meeting" some of the people who have known me since I was a baby, and to hear stories of a man I loved. I am also thankful for the wonderful weather we had today, raining sunshine down on our time of mourning.

30. Today, on the last of 30 days of thankfulness, I am thankful for my family. I was able to enjoy the day with my mom, sister in law, and my youngest nephew and my niece. It was an exhausting trip, but those kids are hilarious. I miss my husband, but am also thankful that he was able to come down yesterday for the funeral and spend some time with us. Tomorrow it's back to [where we live] and getting back into the swing of normal life.

So that's it: 30 Days of Thankfulness.  Which leads me to ask: what are you thankful for?

Next up: that blog on fixing the wii and my Currently: December!