Merry Christmas Part III

Soooo, have you ever done something you know you are going to have to confess to, but you really don't want to because you know everyone you talk to is going to tell you that you are an idiot? Maybe you haven't, but I have. A lot. It really stinks cause there you are repeating your little tale to one person after another. But then there was the internet and soon after that the blog. God's gift to the chicken. I can tell you with great amusement Mom is turning pale at this moment trying to figure out what the hell I've done. I'm just sorry I can't get video. ha. ha kidding.

So, at any rate, back to doing foolish things. At this moment, I'm sure the window is wide open. Good grief, what has she done. Welllll, a funny thing happened on the way to Roseanne's the other night. My friend Burgundy called. (That's not the funny part.) She has this half-lab, half-boxer mix named Champ. He is a great dog, but he gets lonely. She found some of these pups that she wanted to go see. I told her no firmly. (Mom is starting to sweat here, I can tell.) Well, I have the same voice control over Burgundy that I do over Eva. Deborah might be thinking to herself I really need to get myself into that boundaries class and learn how to set limits. This is ridiculous.

So, she came by and picked me up to go look at the puppies with her. The good news is that I didn't want a lab/boxer puppy. I wanted a Doberman. The fun part of the evening is that a former Miss USA was the proud owner of the mama of the many pups. I know this because she had a trophy big enough to swim in. Don't you think for Miss USA they could give more delicate gifts?

Back to the story. So, we looked at the puppies and left. Ha. Got you. Silly people you think I walked away with a puppy. Not me, I'm stronger than that.

But, on the other hand, it is totally morbid to be standing around waiting for Eva to die to get a puppy. And my friend Rod's dogs died recently at 18 - that is two more years people. And if I want a dog to being a guard dog, then it is silly to just wait and wait. Eva already pees and poops wherever the hell she wants to, now is the time. And there is a dog park near my house. I could socialize the dog, socialize myself, meet some nice rich doctor with a dog. Really, if I got a dog I would be doing it for Mom. (Ha, didn't see that one coming didcha'?)

Well, Burgundy (hence forth to be known as "that girl" for those searching for someone to blame for this insanity, after all I am an innocent victim.) and I went back to the home of Roxy and the puppies. Burgundy is on the left. She is holding a puppy originally named fight face that kept going to her. They say the best pets are the ones that pick you out, and I certainly wasn't going to let her walk out of there without a puppy. That wouldn't have been right. Especially since I didn't quite manage to make it out of there the second time without a puppy. Somebody, smelling salts for Mom.
Since Burgundy already had Champ, and she wasn't sure of how he would do greeting the newest addition to the family, I said that I would take hers to my house too. So we made introductions all around. Eva did impressively well. She actually tried to play with them for a few minutes. It didn't take long before she was playing follow the leader. Sure, to some of you it may look like she running as if the hounds of hell are on her heels, but she was having a lovely time.
Cat, on the other hand, was not pleased. I have to tell you I was surprised. He always acts like dogs are no big deal. He has spent quite a bit of time staring longingly out the door since the arrival. Did I mention that it has been raining the whole time and quite nasty? Longingly I tell you, longingly.
So when Burgundy's pup, the adventurer and general ring leader headed out to check things out I snapped a few photos. Who am I kidding? I have taken more photos in the last 3 days than I have in my entire life. That includes the trip to Europe. Where I took a freaking lot of pictures. Notice how the frisky monkey walks right under the bed. She's a purse puppy, at least for the next couple of days . . . In the meantime, my two slept like babies. oops. Did I forget to mention that part? Roseanne said it isn't necessary to have dogs the way you have shoes, but I find everything is nicer in pairs. Aren't they adorable? We have had a tough time working on names. We were hoping for triplet names since they are litter mates and they will hopefully get to play together a lot. We finally settled on Eliza, Holly and Sabrina. . . did you get the connection? Just so you know Sabrina is on the left (Burgundy's) and Eliza is to the front and Holly to the back. Ok well, my work here is through. Hope everyone is having a very merry Christmas. I've got to get back to my puppies.

My bad. I almost forgot to add. Yes, I am crazy. No, I don't know what I am doing. Yes, they are keeping me up at night. Ok, we're good here. TaTaForNow

Merry Christmas Part II

Not feeling kind thoughts toward the blogger people. This is becoming a total holiday buzz buster. But, I forge ahead.

Ok, so I drove up to spend Christmas Eve with Tread and Cindy. Weather wise, it was yucky. Rained the whole way up and back. However, the sun set a few minutes after I got there, and as you can see, it was beautiful. Then it rained.

I'm all proud of myself because I manage to make it there without getting lost (a Christmas miracle in and of itself) and I baked a rum cake and brought a fun Christmas decoration that lit up. Seriously, I had done no shopping. I've been a little shut in, but I had found something I thought would be cute at the farm. It, of course, did not light up once I was there. Typical. I wanted to beat it with a sledge hammer. Another holiday buzz buster if you ask me.

Cindy's mom had made enchilada's. They were yummy. Feliz Navidad.

The cast of characters included: Cindy on the far left, Craig(works for them, his family is in Florida so he doesn't always get to go home), Tread, Kaleigh (their oldest), Cindy's mom, and Tiffany (sorry, just the back of her head.) Other characters from left to right are the boar's head sporting the Santa hat, deer head sporting other head gear and the flying duck. (Luckily he only has one room in their main house.) For Christmas to show how much he cares he gave Cindy a machete. Cause nothing says I love you like a sharp blade. So many jokes come to mind here.

Cindy has the biggest heart in the world. She got me several presents so I would have some to open too. It was obvious she put thought into each gift too. It warmed the cockles of my heart. I am a lucky girl. Not so lucky I got a machete for Christmas, but I know someone with one if I ever need to borrow it.

It was a great evening. I'm really glad that I went. It was a holiday buzz and a half : )

Merry Christmas

I tried to post this last night, but I couldn't get the internet anywhere in the house. I am typing as fast as I can in hopes that I can maintain this connection, wretched thou it may be, long enough to get this posted. I'm standing in the back corner of the kitchen, a hot spot a Casa 711. As I look out my window it is fun to note that my neighbors (parents of coco and now parents of a baby born on the 18th) are also up. I know this because I can see the lights on in their bedroom. These are old houses with size size yards from front to back but still mighty close left to right.

I can't remember if I already wrote about the two contractors that came out. I have no idea of how to decide between them. Both seemed capable etc.

Whatever day Terminex came, I spent the night at Roseanne's. The floor with the roaches was just too much. The next day the bed guy came and voila I had a functioning bed again. Choruses of church songs were heard through the land. I'm sure you must have heard them.

Yesterday Pam came by. I finally had the bug level down enough so that I wasn't horrified at the thought of anyone coming over. I had finished shelves in the front closet and done some work in the utility room, so the place was looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

Because any previous socialization is no longer able to hide what a total geek I've become, I took photos of Pam's arrival. Although she is a total bean pole, right now she could eat a horse and not gain weight. Her body is burning approx 3000 calories a day getting her back into tip top shape. Let's give a hoo ra for the hardest working body I know!

Yesterday afternoon I went up to Tread and Cindy's farm. They have 3 lhamas, 2 or 3 horses (including a Clydesdale) and various other critters.

Isn't Christmas Monday?

I'm just curious. I have no chance of actually getting my shopping etc done by then, so I'm choosing to not focus on the little details.

Terminex came by and a lovely man sprayed the snot out of my home, gave a warning about the possibility of American roaches coming out of hiding to die (they can't be like elephants and go off to die alone?!?!), yes, American, much better than German. Who knew?

However, a couple of hours later I am realizing I may have to spend the night elsewhere. The roaches are coming out of the woodwork - literally. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. I am soooo grossed out. Who is going to pick up all of the dead roaches????? Where is DAD??????

The bed man came. He laid out his plan to take the sideboard and bring it back some time next week, unless I had company coming and might need the bed. I'm quite certain I had a look of horror on my face as I swallowed and very politely mentioned that, in fact, that was the only bed in the house, I'd been sleeping on the floor for 3 weeks, and, golly, it would be swell to have the bed sooner. Ah, the power of guilt. Thanks Mom.

He'll be back tomorrow with the fixed board to put the bed together. Thank heavens!

Yesterday, an architect came to discuss options with the house (I can hear Mom sucking air - no worries just talking, don't freak). I had one contractor come this morning and another should be here in a little bit. I'm sure they will all tell me different things. grrr. But at least I am getting some research done on the process.

I've begun building shelves in the front closet. With any luck, at least this room will be organized before I return to school. Not holding my breath on the rest of the house.

I did go see The Holiday. Very adorable. Everyone should see it. I am reinstituting Monday night movie night. Ann and I were discussing we are very behind on our movie watching (something about not seeing a minimum of 52 movies a year.) Actually considering the beverages of choice for MNMN our livers are probably in better shape than they were last year at this time. ha ha

MaryBeth and I are going to run the Christmas White Rock Marathon next year. Don't ask why, just nod and wish us luck. I'll be lucky not to hawk up a lung before next Christmas.

Mean Girls and Boys

So much for the season of love. Yesterday I left school early to get home and meet the alarm dude and the heating guy. Alarm now functions properly and all neighbors should come running if the sucker goes off.

Heating guy checked things out. He looks in the middle bedroom and asked if anyone sleeps in there. (Good questions considering the mattresses are torn asunder and there is a pallet is on the floor covered in clothes from the armoire I'm trying to organize.) I told him yes, I did. He suggested it might be very cold in there since the REGISTER is closed. AH HA I told you the last explanation was crap. So, he opened the register. He also looked in the attic, took pictures, said the insulation looked fine. The only problem he saw is that there are four ducts leaving the heating unit. The shortest and closest (the living room) is the hottest. The bedrooms are off of one that is long and windy, so he suggested closing the vents on the other side of the house to push the air to the bedrooms. Luckily because the first guy missed the closed register, I didn't have to pay for the second visit. Yea heating guy.

In the meantime, when I call the kids one of my editors says she needs to talk to me. I get back to school and find out one of my staffers was a total jerk to her. Incredibly rude and disrespectful with a room full of staffers around. I called him asked if we could meet Monday morning at 8am (He doesn't have an exam until Monday afternoon) and let him go. I know, I have a mean streak. Within ten minutes he called one of the other editors sounding particularly nervous. He knew his butt was in trouble. Then he called and left a message for the eic that he was mean too. Really is a shame. He's a nice guy, but a repeat offender in the I'll be a total jerk and then apologize sweetly later to make it ok. Sadly for him, he is being horrible to the person that determines if he is on staff next year. Not wise.

Then I find out from a senior editor that she walked in the room as a section editor was making fun of her. GEEEEZZZ people. Can't we stick to making fun of people outside of the yearbook room. Jeepers, there are plenty.

I attended a party last night. Put on some jeans that actually caused pain when zipped. Unable to sit down. Left at about 9pm so I could get home, since my dang dedicated editors decided that they needed to work from 8-2.

Weather has been amazing lately. 70-80 I like it! I may even rake leaves when I get home. Speaking of which, I have finally hit bulk trash pick-up week. I thought it was last week, but a friendly note in my door with the correct week highlighted let me know I was wrong. So Diane helped me drag all my stupid trash back to the drive way and last night I dragged it all back to the front lawn. So, if I get the leaves raked, they will actually be taken away.

Don't know if anyone else is counting down to Christmas, but I'm counting down knowing I haven't gone shopping yet. Eye. . . tick . . . getting . . . worse . . . whole . . . head . . . starting . . .to . . . .twitch!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fran is off from work this week, so ironically I haven't gotten to talk to her at all. Probably why I never get to talk to Monica, she doesn't have a damn job. (Although you are an icon of a girl not getting paid to be busy as hell, at least I get paid.)

Well, the girls have begun to arrive, so off I go. Oh, in case you haven't figured it out. I haven't sent out Christmas cards either. Those will be late too. They could be up to a year late, so don't hold your breath or anything.

What a day I tell you

Although I could have slept in a little bit, I went ahead and got up early this morning. I actually did better than I've done in a while. Of course when I finally got my act together to get on the road, I couldn't find my keys anywhere. After a 15 minute search, I found them.

I headed up to Collin County Community College for a presentation by Victoria Young, the director of something or another with TAKS. The lady presenting Victoria Young was from region X. Her name was Jan Moberly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of you may not realize why this is worthy of so many exclamation points, others, such as MaryBeth will immediately brighten knowing that was our 5th grade teacher!!!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that. I almost fell out of my chair. MB - she told me to tell you hi.

I didn't realize my friend Skip was going to be there. That was nice, since he sat beside me we were able to chat a bit. Our chat included his asking me if I'll chaperone the Europe trip!! Whoopee. Look out Deborah Long Clack: I'm back and I'm bad and looking to sleep with you baby ; ) You say quiet time, I say . . . nothing. : )

I almost forgot about the Leadership Lens (newsletter that I'm responsible for). I ended up calling my first period back at school and getting some kids to go pick up the newsletter from the print shop then running around the district to get copies to all the different schools. Yeah for yearbook students. I am bummed that I missed two of my classes today. So I didn't get to wish them Merry Christmas or anything!

At any rate, after the day of learning (yuck, who wants to do that) I headed home to let Eva out. It was such nice weather that I just tossed her keister right out the back door. Takes a little pressure off of me to be home immediately. That helps since I may run by Diane's (she's making tacos. It's like fast food only home made : )

I'm at school now working with the kids signing off on spreads. They really are amazing and fabulous. It's so much fun this year. I love it. The three silly girls are my editors-in-chief. Georgia, Kristen and Scholle. They are beasts, and I am very proud of how hard they are working. The list on Kristen's shirt is the pages in the batch of proofs that they just finished to be mailed to the plant. I have no doubt the wicked people at the plant will send proofs to us right before we leave for the holidays just to mess with our heads.

I don't have any exams that I am giving tomorrow which is nice, since I have some essays to grade and a bunch of other stuff I have to get done.

The alarm company is coming back to my house tomorrow afternoon because when the alarm goes off at my house, it doesn't actually make noise. I would prefer if someone breaks into my home that a very loud siren signaling trouble for all my neighbors goes off. I'll be looking for some assistance from the homi's in the hood.

A new and different a/c company will be coming out. Hopefully they will come up with a better explanation for what the heck is going on my heating. Otherwise, I'll be stuck paying them $55 for their little visit to confirm the previous stupid diagnosis.

Ok, back to the children. I'm ready to start shooing them out the door!

Losing my mind and other issues

What you see is a hook rug that I must have bought when I was 20 or so. I have carried it around in a big plastic Dillards bag from home to home. For some reason, I became possessed by the "I must finish this bug." I've already doubled what it started as, so I thought it would be fun to keep everyone up to date as I progress. Especially since I have 8 MILLION OTHER THINGS TO DO. What is wrong with me???? I can hardly stop myself from working on it.

Last night, instead of folding the laundry all over the dining room table or working on the rum cakes, I worked on the rug.

Although I can't resist adding, look how pretty it will be when it is done!

This is a house I pass frequently. I finally had to stop and take photos. The cows are there year round. Santa and the gifts are the christmas addition. Is it not the funniest thing? Seriously. Park Cities. Huge wooden cows. Go figure. I do like the way they did the yard though. Lots of flowers.

I finally managed to get my butt to work by 7am (I haven't managed to do that, well, since I started sleeping on the ground.) I have gotten a lot done, but the children are coming, so productivity should end any minute.

It's been a long week

The fact it is only Tuesday doesn't help anything. It's nice that I can forget how horridly busy this time of year is.

I'm still sleeping on the floor. Not having fun. I haven't been waking in a timely fashion lately, so I am running around feeling behind all day. Exams start Thursday. As it turns out, I have to go to an all day conference on TAKS essays Thursday. Ugh. I'd rather be at school.

Yesterday and today I got home and was able to go walking with my neighbor Emily. Luckily the weather has been comfortable enough that we were able to have very nice walks.

I met with the boys today. We had to change the dates on the deadlines. Since we haven't even signed the contracts, and I haven't been given the list of people to even start contacting the odds of getting 1/4 of the book done by Jan 1 are slim.

The house remains a disaster. Yup. That pretty much covers my world. Back to the grindstone.

Why I love my yearbook staff

On our final push to get everything done before Christmas (send all pages from the first four deadlines, return proofs that we have gotten on pages already sent and get ready for second semester), the staff has really done a great job. In fact, yesterday a lot of my 6th period students were at school late working diligently. So, today, my editor-in-chief over 6th period Kristen brought a cookie cake to say thanks! How awesome is that? This is why I make sure I have touchy feely girls at the top. I would have never thought to do this. They did their job, great work, move on. But that's why I'm a crank. (Kristen in in green under the cookie cake.)

The holiday is fast approaching

I have even managed to get my car in the holiday spirit. If you look closely you can see the antlers on each window to go with the very cute button nose.

It is a little difficult to back the car into the driveway because the driveway becomes very narrow where the hows pokes out (apparently making the driveway just move to the left a little was too much). The car is backed up enough for the gate to be able to close.

I haven't gotten to see much of my neighbors lately. The cold has driven everyone inside.

I called the heating company that came out this past Saturday to get them to re-explain why, if the problem is that the heat is leaking into the attic, the front bedroom isn't warmer than the back bedroom. That would make sense right, since the heating system is basically above the front door? The guy tells me that it's because of the steel ducts, but my warranty doesn't cover that. So I call AHS ready to have a hissy. The lady tells me that yes it would be covered. Huh. Then I asked her about getting a second opinion since I believe these guys are idiots. She told me that AHS would pay the service fee for a second company to come out. OK. Things are turning around. However, I am stuck waiting for this company to submit their information to AHS. It'll be interesting to see how long that takes.

Of course what reminds me of that is adding the pictures of the mad scientist Christmas tree. humph. I've added arrows to the close up shot, so that you can see the different types of lights. I don't have any traditional lights. They are bubble lights, snow globes, flicker flame lights and pointy colored lights. A festive tree if I do say so myself.

You probably don't need this many pics of the tree to get the idea, but I was unable to resist.

Not counting today, we have 8 days left of school before break. Hip Hip Horray

I haven't bought a single gift yet. The house is still a disaster. I have a ton of grading to do for my English class, good thing I only have 16 kids!

I think today is the day I'm going to have to break down and grade their TAKS writing they did last week.

Did I mention I'm also in charge of a little thing called the Leadership Lens Newsletter? It's through the district. I've done it for a couple of years. It is only 2 per year. However, last year was totally screwy rabbit, so a spring one wasn't even done. This year I got a call asking me to do it, telling me that I'd actually get paid, but that I'd be in charge of the whole kit and caboodle from writing it to getting it printed. It is hard to get everyone participating in a timely fashion. At any rate, I'm trying to get that sucker out before the holidays.

More later.

So close, and yet, so far

So, I took pictures of the tree and the car (cute decorations if I do say so myself). Both came out horribly. I'm going to have to try again.

The bed is scheduled to be fixed next Friday. In the meantime, I've taken every blanket, comforter etc I could lay my hands on and made a pallet of sorts. Eva and Cat love it. In fact, they love it so much that at night they curl up on it. Mind you it is on the ground. They could sleep on the ground and be very close to me. They could sleep on Eva's little bed. No, no, they sleep on the little pallet bed keeping me from being able to move during the night. What is that about?

My eye tick is back. It started some time last week. It has to be one of the most annoying manifestations of stress ever. I feel like a freak.

Tonight my goal is to get all of the copies made of my medical stuff to be reimbursed before the end of the year. I don't think I've done anything since June. oops.

That's all for now. I do have one picture to show. I just found it on a disk today. It is of the flowers that Ann gave me right after I moved into the house. She did the arrangement herself.

I'm in a funk

I had no internet access all weekend. It is soo annoying. I don't feel very well today. I've been sleeping on the bedroom floor because the loveseat is quite uncomfortable and the bed fell apart again. Turns out there aren't as many people doing antique restoration as I had hoped. I have a call in to someone out of Van alstyne who might come out and help.

At any rate, I am totally congested and I have a headache. Now caffeine would probably help the headache but not the congestion.

I have book club tonight. We are discussing Year of Wonder. It is a great book about a town that quarantined itself during the plague. I've been looking forward to this for a long while.

Say a prayer for Pam C. She had her last chemo last Monday. Horray for Pam.

I finally got the Christmas tree decorated. The man that came to check out my heating told me it was the strangest Christmas tree he'd ever seen.
"Really?" I asked.
"That's good. It just looks like a mad scientist did it." >????? What does that mean? I told him that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said.

Photo to come. I must return to my funk now.

End of another week

Not much time, but I figured better write now before I forget. Tuesday I stayed home from school so that I could have the security system installed in my house. Cost me a pretty penny. I didn't get much done other than that. Wednesday I had a sub because I had to grade TAKS writing at the admin building, poke a needle in my eye that was no fun. Subs were highly suspect. Once again reminding me why it is important to plan ahead and have subs I trust!

Yesterday we had a snow storm of sorts. Lots of fun, the kids were maniacs all day long. They had great hope Wednesday night that there would be no school Thursday and great home Thursday there would be no school Friday. Please note: I'm writing this from work! The glass replacement people did install temporary glass in my bedroom window Wednesday so that the artic North winds couldn't blow straight into my home. They are looking for the right glass to match the rest of the windows in my home.

I have spent quality time analysing the fung shui-ness of my home. Look out world. As soon as I get off my butt and finish unpacking, there is going to be great chi in my home.

OK, so the long and short of it is that nothing exciting has happened this week. I'll see what trouble I can stir up this weekend : )

Only hours left of holiday time . . .

Survived anotherThanksgiving. This one was fairly benign. The fandam went to Atlanta (everyone but me that is.) I did have Thanksgiving dinner with Jon-David's family, so I wasn't lonely and abandoned, although I would have been ok just getting stuff done at the house all day. My neighbors across the street invited me over for drinks, so I did that for a little while before leaving for my own T day festivities.

I managed to get a lot done as far as cleaning and unpacking. I even got the tree up although no lights or anything are on the tree yet. I am reading one of my many feng shui books. It speaks frequently of getting rid of "things" since I am currently surrounded by "things" with NO room for any of them, forces are aligning as I look around thinking, ok what can I get rid of. This means the mother of all garage sales is growing. I don't know how that is going to work! I may try to sell things on the internet . . .

Today I realized my bed is not in good shape. The wood the slats sit on was coming unnailed. So, I was taking the bed apart, leaning the mattress against the wall, getting the box spring up and against the wall . . . no . . .no. . . into the window. Long string of cuss words. Broke a dang window. Can't wait to see how much that is going to cost. I went to Home Depot to get wood to put in the window . . . saw broken. . . went to another one, score. $2.00 for the wood : ) So, Monday I'll be calling Alamo glass to see what they can do to help me.

If I may pause for a moment for a small gripe. Nothing is easy. I mean I think, can't sleep on my bed tonight, I'll have to sleep on the fold out sofa bed, but I can't do that unless I love the crap out of the way that is in front of it. Can't do that until I create space in the back bedroom for the stuff from the front bedroom. Can't do that until I find more stuff to go out to storage. Can't do that until I rearrange the stuff in storage to make room. Sigh. double sigh.

As it turns out, I have gotten a fair amount of stuff done, but nothing on the Leadership Lens newsletter that I really need to have done by tomorrow.

Money makes the world go around, the world go . . .

I just got the contract from the real estate boys. HOLY COW. It is real. I think I have the shakes. They are going to pay me more to write this book than I make in a year of teaching. I think it is going to be important for me not to think on that too long.

Doing the happy dance, doing the happy dance.

4 1/2 hours until Thanksgiving break . . . .

I love two day weeks

Last week was the first week that I actually had time to work on unpacking since moving into the new casa. I finally got to start unpacking!!

Some where in here Ann and Mike came over so Mike could check out the heating unit. He declared it good to go, and I have heat!! It brings tears of joy to my eyes. Now the weird part is that the front room is the warmest room in the house. I can't decide if it is because there is something funky going on with the heating ducts or what. Who cares. I have heat!

Friday night I got home with a plan to walk the dog and immediately head out to meet some friends. I got distracted because I started talking to my NEIGHBORS. That's right. I have friendly hanging out, talking to each other (in English) neighbors. woowee.

Saturday I worked a little on the house then headed up to school to meet with the editors who wanted to get some work done. (I'm trying to be a good example for scoobie instead of my usual example of what NOT to do.) It is very tiresome.

In the afternoon I started to mow (I hadn't mowed since I'd moved in) and th stupid crappy mower wouldn't work. So, I went to Home Depot and bought a new one for $200. It is awesome. On the way home I stopped off at Burgundy's and she helped me put it together. Went home mowed the lawn. Fantabulous.

Saturday night I went over to Roseanne's, and we had healthy salad and cosmo's for dinner.

Sunday morning, a little church, a little more church, then clean, clean, clean. I mowed the back yard, filled up five huge bags with leaves. Sooooo many leaves. It was crazy.

Diane came over and helped me get the kitchen together. I had not been able to get myself to do anything. So, it was quite useful to have someone come over and start telling me what to do.

I'm not sure what I would do without my friends. Curl into the fetal position most likely.

Scoobie called in sick this morning. He didn't have a sub at about 7:30, but luckily someone got it by the middle of first. I'm very annoyed. If he isn't here tomorrow, he'd better be prepared to barf a lung.

I'm hoping to get a bunch more done tonight. I'm working on a box of things to sell in the mother of all garage sales. I want to get the house back to looking organized so that I can put up the Christmas decorations!!

Off I go, things to do.

But wait, there's more

So, we get on the airplane to fly home. Did I mention that on the way to Nashville and on the way back Scoobie Doo got on the plane before the kids did? So much for being sure the ducklings are on the plane. In Nashville coming back, he was walking away from security with two kids left in line to go through security.

I slept the whole way home. I had two of my migraine pills in me, so I was pretty loopy. Once in Dallas, I told the kids they needed to let us know when they were leaving. Not sure he would have done that. I spoke to the two sets of parents and gave them the information I'd been given.

I am standing on the curb waiting for the bus to take me to A (I hate departing from one terminal and arriving in another!) when I see Scoobie getting reading to get in a car and drive off (he had to get a ride from one of the student's to the high school.) He says his wife is smart but describes a woman that is too stupid to get from Preston and 380 to the airport. huh. She actually seemed capable to me, but what do I know.

At any rate, I look at him, look at the student he is about to leave standing on the curb with no parent in sight, then look at him again. He starts to stutter, I'll stay with him. No, No, I'll do it. Unbelievable he was going to leave this kid.

I got home tired and ready to go to bed. Jon-David was waiting since I didn't have a key to the house. He ended up leaving shortly after I got there. Men, what a beating.

I got to school early so that I could get the referrals completed before the first parent meeting at 8am.

I was busy all day. Egads. I have a meeting scheduled with the principal and one of the assistants about the serious concerns I have about Scoobie's ability to take kids on a trip alone.

I was supposed to get a lot of unpacking done tonight, but it's not looking good. Maybe tomorrow.

The weekend from Hell

Sooooo, I started getting calls about mid day from newspaper kids asking what the plan was, what we were doing etc. I asked if they had met with Scoobie Doo in the morning or at lunch. No, nope. Friday night, they still had not seen him. The last sighting had been at 2pm. So, I went back to the room and at 9:30pm I knocked on his door. Took about 10 minutes for him to get to the door. He'd been asleep; since 8:30; gosh he got up at 5:30 and he'd had a really hard day. I basically told him he had to do a better job. Meet with the kids have a plan, check on them.

In the meantime, my friend Cindy came out for the convention Friday morning and stayed with me. Love her. She helped me getting a meeting with Mark a graphic artist, if you will, so that we could talk about the design for "The Book". I have to meet with the real estate boys on Tuesday, so he's going to send some stuff to me to show them Monday afternoon.

Saturday morning I start getting calls from the newspaper staff back in Dallas at about 8:30am. Scoobie Doo had not scheduled for the kids to be at school with the head custodian. He had not scheduled an adult to be in charge of the kids working all day Saturday. So, they had to get me to talk to our Saturday custodian to let them in. Then they realized they needed in Scoobie's office, but by that time they couldn't find the custodian (school's pretty big with lots of places to hide.)

I saw Scoobie at about 11:30 and told him he needed to contact the kids at school. He comes back to tell me everything was fine. I'm thinking, sure it's fine cause I've been talking to them for the last two hours solving all of your damn problems.

He tells the kids that he has scheduled for them to go to Vanderbilt to take a look around at 1:30. So, he finally realizes perhaps he should have them meet earlier. So they meet at 1:15 at his room. He tells them he has an appt at 6pm that he has to be back for. I ask, "Is that the football game?" Yes, it is. He plans on meeting another adviser and watching the guy in the sports bar. "a restaurant" he says. "a bar" I say.

So in the monolith hotel he tells them, 1:15. Really, not enough time. Two kids head off to get their coats because it is cold, and sure enough they miss the bus. He tells the kids "guess we aren't going to go to Vanderbilt."

I get a phone call of distress because two of mine really want to go to see the school.

I talk to him. "You are still going right?"

He hems and haws and says they'll have less time.

I reply, "great, thanks."

I get a phone call at about 4:15 from the police asking me to go to X store in the mall because two of my students have been caught shoplifting. . . . please let this be a joke. please let this be a joke. So, I haul off to the mall. Show up at the correct store, still hoping it's a joke and see 4 policemen standing in a back corner (it's a pretty small store, but it was still a back corner.) Sitting on the floor . . . two students. Crikey.

4 stores, 2 hours, for them. 8 police reports and 2 hours later for me, we get back to the hotel. At one point the police tell me that if they hadn't been able to reach me they would have taken the kids downtown to the actual police station (instead of the substation in the mall) and booked them. At which point their parents would have had to FLY out to Nashville to get them out of jail. Horrifying. One too scared to stop the other, the other crying out for help by trying to get herself in trouble. (That's just me, the arm chair psychologist.)

Scoobie finally shows up with the other kids (turns out he didn't know the bus system very well, they got lost, missed the bus etc etc, raise your hand if you are surprised . . . no I didn't think so, no surprise.)

I spoke to one of the asst principals several times - LOVE HIM. We were trying to get those two a flight home immediately, but there were no flights out at that point, so they were put in a room by themselves in lockdown.

The rest of the kids got to watch a movie in my room while eating copius amounts of pizza. Cindy and I went downstairs to eat. Got a phone call while at dinner that one of the mom's of the other kids text her son and he replied they were in lock down. (Have you noticed a theme of the phone calls NOT coming from my student's parents?)

I just called Scoobie (Sun am 9) asked him if he had gotten the girls anything for breakfast. He says he doesn't have any money (another problem we've had all weekend, since he doesn't have a credit card and he didn't bring any money). He'd forgotten about the girls, but he'd go down and ask if they had money to get something.

Well, I'd better get my butt in gear and pack. I'm sure I'll have more when I get home.

Nashville is a happening town

The day started out in a less than spectacular fashion. We had a day tour of Nashville scheduled for 9am. If I read the e-ticket, I would have seen and noted that we were to meet at 8:30 and where.

Instead we had everyone meet in the front lobby at 8:50. Of course two of the newspaper kids didn't show up on time because they didn't wake up. (I did wake them a little after 8:30, but that wasn't enough it turns out. In the meantime, the 3 girls I brought came down even later than the boys did too. I asked the bell hops where we were to pick up the bus, and he sent us in the exact opposite direction from where we were supposed to be. It was like a comedy of errors, but without the comedy.

Once we were on the bus things did begin looking up. It was a good tour. We stopped at the old Opry house, the Country Music Hall of Fame and a "honky tonk". The hotel is ridiculously large. So large, my little feet are sore from walking from one end to the other. The Gaylord Opryland is large, and the cost of the rooms is paying for all the stuff outside the rooms, not in.

The former amusement park for children, "Opryland" has become an amusement park for women, "a mall." So we went there and walked around. That thing is huge. I'm very tired, and so I must go to bed.

It's like watching a car wreck

I had a phone call from my friend Roseanne yesterday telling me to check my email.

Scooby Doo has sent an email to the entire school with the name of a student at the top (total no no) defending her honor as it were against allegations of not taking good notes basically. Let me back up so you realize what a big deal just got made of a very little thing.

Student is writing an article about X. She interviews a mom that is in charge of this activity and a department chair that has a lot to do with it.

After the article comes out, the mom sends an email to the department chair saying she is disappointed and upset because many of the facts were wrong. The department chair forwards the email to scoobie and says this is an example of no harm done, but I thought you would want to see this and use it as a teachable moment with the student.

He brought the student in, checked notes, la de la de la and finds that he thinks her notes are good no problem.

He tried to call the mom back schedule a meeting etc. but the mom is working on the big activity X and it's not that big of a deal, so she says she doesn't have time.

In the meantime, I don't know what is going on with the student and parents but he has them allllllll freaked out that she won't get into NHS and that all of her teachers are talking about her etc etc. I don't know why he doesn't calm them down and say don't worry about, I'll take care of it. I don't know why he doesn't come talk to me.

He sends an email to this mom and the dept chair about the importance of meeting etc etc. Copies the principal. Principal asks me to translate what the heck the email means (Scoobie is no better at responding with the email attached so people can follow the strain of the conversation that he is at responding to all.)

He doesn't hear from the dept chair or the mom because the dept chair is out of the building mon -wed at meetings and the mom is very busy getting the fa la la together that was on Thursday.

So, he sends an email to the entire school. (There are district personnel on hs list as well) titles it the name of the child, and goes into great detail into the accusations that include many slams to the parent (basically saying she has lied and failed to behave in a professional manner).

If the boy still has his head when we get back it will be a miracle.

I'm not sure I'm going to survive the week

I really thought once I had internet I'd be keeping the blog totally updated. Sadly, that has not been the case. Although I'm not feeling the love from my audence. Come one people, make comments, let me know you are out there.

This is going to be a totally random one. I'm feeling some serious ADD after my stressful day.

Friday night's football game was better than the others. Greenville gave us a run for our money at least part of the time. It took forever though so I didn't get home until almost midnight.

I got up Saturday morning and joined a gym. (Trust me, I've been getting on the scale, and it groans in pain.) I worked out Saturday and then this morning at 6am!!

The day was busy as all get out. I was running from one place to another. I met up with Cindy at PF Chang's *yum* then we went and I finally got the palm replaced. (I love Jostens North Texas : )

Diane and I went to a get together at my friend John's Saturday night. It was really nice. John's roommate decorates like a beast!! The place was cool.

I borrowed a camera from school to get a picture of the beautiful arrangement Ann brought over Thursday. I think her fingers and toes were frostbitten by the time she left! She bought the pumpkin from Michael's, carved it and did the flowers. How cool is that??

I realized Friday night that since my purse had been stolen, I had to find my passport. Searched off and on Saturday. Searched for quite some time Sunday. By Monday I had an eye tick and a headache. I raced home after work and searched. I went through every file folder individually in case it had fallen into the wrong folder. I searched every where. Thank God MaryBeth called me when I got home and kept me from leaping off the ledge. I was ready to curl into a ball and cry like a baby several times. However, I finally found it. Hallelujah.

Tuesday was a nightmare because I had meetings one after another, I had about 10 batches of prooofs that I had to go through before a meeting at 4pm with the real estate guys and Tread (my Jostens rep who will be the publisher for the real estate book), and then Cult.

I was a little sad for my last Barnabas (Cult). I may have already mentioned that the graduation is on Sunday, so I'll miss that because we won't be back yet. I just kept thinking that I am so busy and so tired and so stressed that I wasn't able to put into it what I think it needed. Since a huge part of my problem is taking on too much, perhaps I can focus all of my energy on doing less. Strangely enough I think it is going to be really really hard.

Not getting much done

Fun news: #1 and #2 (principal and asst principal) said that there is a Humanities course that already exists that I could teach if I get kids to sign up. I am so excited. I went back to ask #1 if he was yanking my chain, and he said he wasn't. woohoo

OK, I started this yesterday or the day before, and truthfully, nothing has changed, so I thought I'd just keep going.

Had cult activities last night since Tuesday was Halloween. Low turn out. Oh well.

An interesting side note, the door knob to the bedroom keeps falling off, so I decided to grab one of the crystal doorknobs I had gotten from one of Ann's teardown houses and replace it. Which I did. For some reason, only one side of the door knob turns the catch mechanism. It was on the outside. So, last night when I realized my phone was not in the bedroom charging, I got up to go get it and . . . that's right I found myself trapped in the freaking bedroom. It was a little stressful to say the least. I had NOTHING to get myself free and no way to call anyone. I eventually found a little pocket knife ( I do mean little). After much effort, and a lot of cussing, I got the door open. Thank you, Lord.

Got the phone, put it in the bedroom, turned the knob around and went to bed. This morning when I got up to go potty, I shut the door to keep the warm in the bedroom and off I went, upon my return I discover . . . wait for it . . . some of you have already figured this out . . . that's right, now I am trapped OUTSIDE of my bedroom. Can't open the door at all. Oh, and my tools are all still at Jon-David's . . . and don't forget the phone is INSIDE the bedroom. Holy snot, I cannot catch a break. Strangely enough, I finally find a pocket knife that happens to have a mini pliers? Whatever I finally got the door open . . .did I mention the animals were still in the bedroom at the time?

Fun adventures at 711.

Today is the English department meeting. Should be all sorts of fun. I will be remaining quiet today. Hey, keep your rude comments to yourself.

Tonight is the last home game. Very exciting because I hear the new band director is bringing back the drum dance . . . that is when four boys raise a big drum on its side with a girl in a kilt on top. She then dances on the top of the drum, a little scottish jig.

Oh, and no I haven't done a damn thing to the house this week. Next week I take kids to Nashville Wed - Sun. So, won't be getting much done then either.

Trick or Treat . . . smell my feet

Speaking of which, getting Eva set up in the yard this morning, I managed to step into poop (for the second time I'd like to add.) Think it might be time to do some cleaning of the yard.

It is 6:30 and I've only had 3 trick or treaters and they all came at the same time. What's up with that?? I am hugely disappointed. I thought I was going to do some unpacking today, but I don't have the will.

I went ahead and hung the sheers in the front bedroom. I think I really want to put up heavy curtains (help keep things warm in winter too!) In the meantime, these keep people from being able to stare in. Ok, there probably isn't a long line of people standing around waiting to stare in, but you never know.

Sunday evening at home

Names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike.

OK, so Friday's department meeting went pretty well. Before it started I told "teacherA" I didn't appreciate the email he sent to the department that ended with "fools rush in where angels fear to tread" . . . me being the fool. I also told teacherB that I wanted to reassure her my Masters was not in "patchwork quilting". It actually was funny.
The principal was in the meeting (I had already told him what I planned on doing, and he was ok with it.) After the meeting several people went by the principal's office. He told them all it thought it was great. That I spoke well, and it was about time that complaints came from within the dept rather than the principal or asst principal talking to the dept and then them kvetching about the administration.

Friday 7th period a student brought in a HUGE bouquet of flowers (I could include a photo, but the camera was stolen with my bag.) She said it was from the Bagpipe staff because they heard I had a hard week. (Now, this is how Scoobie Doo is smarter than the Penguin ever was.)

After school he comes by my office to say he has some questions. Since he doesn't drink, and he doesn't teach any English classes he feels uncomfortable in the meetings and what can he do. Really? I told him he should show up to meetings, even if he doesn't have anything to say. So very annoying.

So, Friday evening I ended up meeting Ann and Mike at the Tipperary Inn (Irish Pub) near my house.

Saturday I took the cable boxes up Plano to return them. Ran by 2137 to say hi to Mom and Dad, got home, took a little nap, then went to the Hi-lites dance.

The dance was good. There were no children caught for drinking. I've either lost my edge or they really were being good. (I'm hoping they were really being good.)

I got up this morning for 9am service at Incarnation. I was quite perplexed when I arrived early and the service was in progress . . . hmmmm. Turns out it was daylight savings time. So, I was done with church quite early. I went over to Ann's at about 10:30 to go to the Karygma service at her church.

This afternoon I was a beast. I got so much done. I rearranged the front bedroom, moved the love seat in, the daybed out, and I finally ironed my clothes.

I moved all of the blankets etc out of the master bedroom. I emptied the two plastic containers of clothes. I got rid of the fan blades. It made me nervous that it would get turned on and hurt the bed.

I emptied some of the boxes in the kitchen, and then broke down all the empty boxes and put them in the garage. I moved the litter box from the front bathroom to the breakfast room. Progress is slow but sure.

I'm supposed to be writing college recs right now, but inspiration hasn't struck me. Maybe tomorrow.

Go Figure

So, I was feeling pretty confident that Wed would be the worst day of the week. Seriously, how much worse could it get?

Yesterday, I had to deal with Scoobie Doo not showing up to a meeting. When I commented on it, he then sent this long reply (I wish this stupid program would let me copy and paste, so you could see it.) The end result is that he takes no responsibility for anything. In addition, I really can't say anything else to the administration because they think he is great, and I'm just being negative. Yes. It's true. I'm very negative about stupidity, and people who lie and don't take responsibility for themselves.

Then on my way home at 4pm I stopped to get gas. While I was fighting the pump to put in my zip code (It's like the copier, some numbers don't want to work at all and others work too well.) someone opened the door of my car, stole my purse and bag and walked off. Included in the theft is a very cute purse, credit card, $40.00 cash (I never have that much money) all the gift cards kids have given me for writing their stupid recs that I put in my purse not 10 minutes before, my palm pilot and other personal items that can't be replaced. Oh, and my keys.

Today is the English department meeting. I'm feeling pretty cranky and I'm still annoyed by what a couple of people said regarding Biblical Lit. May not be able to help myself.

I haven't been able to work on the house AT ALL this week, so there has been no progress made.

Some days are worse than others

Probably wouldn't have been too bad. I got some of my rec's done last night, feeling good about that. I cleaned out the apartment and left the key. Good.

Friend at school asked sweetly, perhaps thinking she was getting on a secret early if I was pregnant. . . . . No just fat.

Shoot me NOW.

Half way through . . .

I met the real estate boys at lunch. They said the contract looked ok, it was with the lawyers getting cleaned up. Is it possible they are really going to pay me an exorbitant sum of money to write this book? Yippee.

Yesterday afternoon right after school, I picked up Shari so she could borrow my car to go to her son's football game. First, we had to run by the house to let Eva out. Thank heavens she likes St Augustine grass because she got to spend the evening on it!

By 4:30 Shari had dropped me off at the Souper Salad near the cult. My plan was to get all of my college recs written. I didn't quite make that goal, but I did get several of them written. I finally got stumped on one with a kid I've taught for four years, but hasn't exactly made the kind of impression schools want to hear about. This could be tricky.

MaryBeth called at about 6pm or so . . YEA! We were able to talk for a while. We're beginning to hit the time of the year when people in the military play chess with their lives. . . will they go here, will they go there, will someone take them by surprise and make them a pawn. It could be stressful if we weren't such old hands at this game. More news as it arrives.

Cult was good. I think we only have a week or two left and then we "graduate". Don't worry though. There are other cult programs I can sign up for next. Of course since one of my goals is to not sign up to do everything in the world, it could be a problem. . . hmmmm.

I didn't get home until 9pm and then I ran around for an hour getting things done including setting up a heater and a humidifier in my bedroom so I don't freeze my hiney off. It worked pretty well. I was able to get out of the bed when the alarm went off rather than huddling under the blankets for as long as possible.

Monday I had issues with my socks and underwear riding up and down (you figure out which was doing what) unfortunetly I think I may have set myself up for the same kind of long day of unhappiness again. Crap.

I just looked at the calendar and realized I have to be out of the apartment by tomorrow. I am mostly out, but I haven't emptied the fridge (I think Jon-David thought he was doing a good thing when he brought stuff over from his mom's house . . . however, it might all end up in the trash at the rate I am going.) I also haven't swept etc. . . Maybe I can do that after I run home take care of the animals and come back before Anchee Min gives her talk at 7pm.

This week is going to be a killer

Yesterday evening I had book club. So I had to run home let Eva out. (Good news is she likes the yard, so I just left her out there.) Got back to school I thought with enough time to get some work done. Scooby Doo came by, and that was the end of that. I went to Cafe Express with Fred and Jack (English teachers and book club members). Book club was at the UP library because it was on the book Red Azelea by Anchee Min. (Note to Monica and Fran, book about communist China, not a book of recipes. ha ha ha ha ha hahaha.)

I didn't get home until after 10. Today, I have my English team meeting 4th, then I am meeting the NTCAR boys (real estate table top book committee) to discuss the contract maybe? Tonight I have cult activities. Tomorrow Anchee Min speaks to the community and then there is a supper at the Hunt's house. (Parents in the community)

Thursday I have plans to go over to my friend Burgundy's (she lives in funky town - where I was orginally looking for a place.) Friday I am deliciously free, but Saturday is the Hi-lites dance, so I'll be looking for drunks!

In the meantime, parents have been pushing for some type of course on the Bible to be taught at HP. They basically have agreed to do it. I went to Marta (assistant principal with a deep desire to screw with me any chance she can get, but unfortunetly in charge of curriculum and the English department chair at the moment.) At any rate, I said I wanted to teach it. She told me I had to propose a new course (even thought they already know they are going to offer it?) and get the English department support? (I don't remember ever having to do that before.) So, being a good girl I sent the email. Lordy, lordy did THAT start some kvetching. The department meeting on Friday should be fun.

My student that is now in ISS for sending emails from my computer is supposed to be getting work from me of some sort, but I have not had the time to sit down and come up with something and get it all together to take down. I'm actually feeling rather put upon by all of this.

Last, but not least, my stupid eye tick is back.

Too much time has passed

How can I possibly catch everyone up? Well, the 5 pods of my belongings arrived Wednesday. Jon-David had to meet the truck because I was stuck giving the PSAT at school. I slept on the living room floor that night listening closely in case anyone attempted to steal my stuff. As it turns out, no one wanted it.

Thursday I took off from school and worked madly unpacking as much as I possibly could. The phrase of the day became "back bedroom" which is where I put everything that I didn't specifically have a space planned. It was quite a bit of stuff. Diane came over in the afternoon and helped a ton.

Friday was back to school. I got a little done Friday night, but no where near as much as I had wanted to get done. To the right are three dogs. The two in the foreground I think are visitors. Look in the back, on the steps, that little weiner dog . . . coco is her name . . . is a hellion. I mean a barker. Not occasionally, not sometimes, all of the freakin time. I'm choosing to be charmed by her, but things may get ugly. Coco is my next door neighbor, sure people live in the house, but they have not made their presence known in quite the same fashion as Coco. In fact, there is a chance that they are deaf, otherwise they surely would have ripped poor Coco's vocal cords out long before now.

Saturday morning I picked up the U-Haul truck at 7:30. Started at the apartment. Diane met Jon-David and I and we took the bed apart and emptied the apartment. Then Jon-David and I headed over to the storage unit. A fine packing job if I do say so myself. Got all of that out and then headed over to Mom and Dad's. Fran was there working on mom's computer, so I got to give her the ceramic fish from the garage sale. Good thing she has a sense of humor, because those fish are just funny looking.

Roseanne and Drew came over at 2. We were beasts; all of the heavy stuff was unloaded and in the house shortly after three. Then two of my friends from the cult came over, John and Shari. Shari brought her daughter Montana (a pistol I tell you, a pistol.)

As some of you may remember, I packed my stuff using lots of bubble wrap and plastic wrap. I have to tell you, the stuff worked great. So, loads of it was being thrown in the trash. At one point we sent Montana out to get it, so we could cover stuff that would go in the attic. Montana did a small bubblewrap fashion show before handing it up to her mother on the ladder behind her!

They helped get stuff arranged and finish up moving some of the awkward stuff in. The big green sofa ended up in the garage, and the love seat ended up in the dining room. Hmmm.

Later, as I continued to figure out where stuff should go, they started working on the living room. I thought they did a lovely job, and Eva seemed happy with it, so it stays. (See photo below.)

Diane continued to work in the kitchen. She is a blessing I tell you.

Sunday, I got up to go to church. Hunted around for a warm top, looking, looking, looking. Finally, found what I was after. Theeeeennnnn I started looking for the right pair of shoes, looking, looking, looking. Finally gave up and said screw it. God obviously wanted me to stay at the house and clean! The dining room has boxes around the area rug because it has been wrapped in my attic for the last three years, so the edges all curl up. Trying to fix that. The hoosier cabinet is in the kitchen. Looks like it belongs doesn't it? As you can tell, I haven't put the same interest in cleaning the kitchen as I have other parts of the house.

Getting ready for the move

Sadly, the first part of getting ready for the move includes cleaning. ugh. As it turns out there is a lot of dirt in that house. I took all of the sheers down and started washing them. I'm putting them through twice because the water is so dirty in the washer after the first run, they can't possibly be clean.

I've cleaned most of the baseboards and doorways etc. I cleaned the main bathroom. The two front bedrooms are vacuumed and steam cleaned. Diane, that fabulous girl, came over Sunday afternoon and started working on the kitchen. Every time I went into the kitchen I got overwhelmed, turned around and left.

Friday night was the homecoming football game. Once again we just killed the other team. The boys are going to be in no way prepared to play a hard team for finals at the rate they are going.

I got incredibly annoyed with 2 of the other game monitors. They were standing on either side of a lady trying to watch her baby boy get patched up after an injury on the field. The mother had a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old running amok on the stands. I had to go over and corral the boys so THEY wouldn't end up damaged. Both of the monitors just kept standing there. Grrrr.

Saturday I cleaned. Jon-David came over and brought cleaning supplies, although we still had to make a run to Home Depot. We ate lunch at a place near the house called Kitchen 1924. It was misleading. The sign on the window that said Daily Specials lured us in for what we thought was good cheap food. This place was so pretentious the only tea they had was vanilla; and it tasted weird.

Got back to the house and then Mom and Dad came by to check the house out. As they were leaving my friend Burgundy and her mom came by. When they left, I had to run to the dry cleaners to get the clothes I planned on wearing to homecoming. So, all in all, I really didn't get much done.

The dance was fun. I was in the front collecting the ballots for queen, so I was unable to catch all of the silly drunks. The fire alarm went off at about 11pm. That was crazy. It was a real alarm, but they weren't sure of what caused it. So, after evacuating the dance and standing around for about 15-20 minutes everyone charged the place so that they could get their t-shirts from the dance of all things. (Every dance gives out a t-shirt as part of the price of going to the dance. The kids love their t-shirts. Weird.) On the upside, the dance was pretty much over at that point, so we got to leave a little early.

Sunday morning I went to the 9am service in the chapel of Incarnation. Another church service gone bad. Not as bad as the chapel at St. Michael's, but still just not right. The music is modernized? I think there is an electric guitar. I don't know, but not my favorite. I'll try the main church next week. After church, I went over to Ann's to go with her to Kerygma (the teaching service focusing on the book of John) at 11am.

I didn't get over to the house until almost 2, but Sunday was much more productive. It rained like cats and dogs most of Sunday. I took Eva out this morning and most of the front yard at the apartments was under water. It was a quick potty break.

So, I'm at school. I have a headache. I don't want to do anything, yet, as always, I have a ton to do. sigh.

You may call me a homeowner!

I can't believe it worked out. I missed the actual closing time, but I got a call saying the seller agreed to x and y, but it has to close and fund today. This would be a problem since the administration gets so bent out of shape when I leave the building ENTIRELY. I did manage to hunt someone down for coverage for part of my 6th period class, at which point I hauled ass to the title company.

I ran like a chicken with my head cut off the rest of the day. 6th and 7th were hopping. 8th was the usual insanity. I left right after school to go over to the house and get the keys from Mr. Johnson. Ran home let Eva out, changed shoes so my toes wouldn't get cold at the football game, back to school, finished what I was doing when I left, went downstairs to grab a hamburger for the cheerleader fundraiser dinner, poked my head in the volleyball match because Georgia one of my e-i-c's is a captain, headed over to the stadium for the football game, got home at almost 11pm.

Jon-David called and thought he would give me attitude about how many people I had called to tell about the house at some point. I pointed out that I hadn't called anyone. He tried to trip me up with a "well what did Fran say" and I swung back with "I haven't had time to talk to her yet." I got a small little "oh" in reply. Grrrrr

OK, I am heading to the dry cleaners in an effort to get the only skirt that even comes close to being ok for the homecoming dance cleaned before heading over to begin cleaning the house! Homecoming Dance is at 8. More Monday.

Homecoming/Closing/Nervous Breakdown

It's a toss up folks. This has been a stressful week, and I can't decide what will be the thing to send me over the edge into the land of nervous breakdown. Will it be the 15 college recs I need to start writing? The reflexive essays I need to make myself grade? The numerous ripple effects of having a student take advantage of all the things I've done to make it easier to run the yearbook room while bending rules willy nilly? Perhaps the selling of my existence for a house I'm crazy for but we all know I probably shouldn't be buying? (Hush Mom) Maybe it will be the final days in the 500sq ft cave in which I've been living? So hard to tell.

The closing papers were sent to me yesterday afternoon after 4:30. I had just left school to go home, let Eva out and go walking with Ann. Mr Johnson calls me right after the title company lady and tells me I bring about 3,000 to closing. WHAT?

I get over to Ann's and since she's done a lot of mortgages lately, she was able to fairly easily look at the HUD with me and help me figure out the taxes are the problem. All along I've been told they would collect taxes from Mr. Johnson and they would come to my side of the account, so I wouldn't owe money at closing, but I would be responsible for the tax bill. The instructions for closing document from the mortgage companys says that the title company collects taxes from both of us, so not only was I missing his taxes I was owing an additional 1,000 for mine. That took up most of the night. At any rate, it was left with some poor lady at the mortgage company being told, "let me know. That is not what I agreed to and I don't have the money for that." We'll see if I really close at 11am or not. I was supposed to actually go over to my friend Burgundy's last night, and I was supposed to call Diane. Hard to remember to do things when you are in the middle of spazzing out.

For those who remember from last year, Spirit Week was a bit of a mess at HP because our seniors like to have a dress up day specially for the seniors that they lovingly call "Thug Day" didn't play out well in the press. It was rumored that the Penguin was the one that told the press. Thankfully, this year has been pretty calm.

My business manager went before the honor council yesterday, but I haven't heard what their suggesting was for the final outcome. I'll try to find Mr. Williams this morning for scoop. I spoke to all of my classes yesterday in general terms and tried to emphasize how interdependent we are and how much trust I put in them everyday. I'm not sure if it took, but I hope so.

Fun story, so a friend is out and about when she meets up with lady A that she knows. Lady A begins telling her about her child's English teacher and how mean the teacher is. Child needed to go to the bathroom, teacher told her no, child tramatized. At the beginning of the convo my friend says, "Oh yes, I know her, we're friends". Lady A continues talking. Friend says," Well, she was at my house for dinner last night, I'll ask her about it." Lady A finally realizes she's an idiot. . . and we hear it's a small world playing in the background. Just so you know, it was before class, and I told her she had better hurry and not be late. I'm not actually trying to cause the world's teen population to have bladder infections.

I spoke to Fran very early this morning. I knew she would be up because Valerie is coming by with baby Cecilia to say goodbye. They are heading back to Virginia. If you read this today, say a little prayer for Fran and company. She needs air hugs and love.

I think I have managed to take care of all the stuff that goes with moving. I was able to go online and sign up for electricity, gas, dish and an alarm system. (That may actually be a problem, since I don't have a landline. I am researching that). I have the 5 containers of all of my worldly possessions arriving Wed morning. When I'm cleaning on Saturday (hopefully), I plan to contemplate the world, the house and how to arrange the furniture.

I was talking to Jon-David the other night about what I've organized etc. I had arranged to get a U-Haul Wednesday night. He felt this was a poor plan. That perhaps I should focus on emptying the containers first then get the UHaul for Saturday and do that second. I don't care if he is right, he shouldn't upset me right before bed. Sigh. So, I went back and changed that.

I met with Mr. G and Mr. T this week. Who are they you ask? They are the gentlemen from the committee for the tabletop book. I am supposed to get a contract to them to peruse regarding my authorship of the book. Doesn't that sound cool? Elizabeth, the published author : ) Not just notes on the bathroom walls anymore.

Well, I'm sure I have left out all sorts of fun stories. My apologies for that. When I have internet in my home, it will make it much easier to keep everyone updated. So, for those of you that enjoy the blog, pray for the closing to work out!!

Yearbook staff and Photos

Most of the yearbook staff, I tried to put the names of the editors on their shirts, but I doubt it is readable.
Voila. One prairie style house built in 1921. Some characteristics of the prairie style house (revolutionized by Frank Lloyd Wright) are low pitched roof, overhanging eaves, horizontal lines, central chimney, open floor plan, rows of small windows, one story projection. We've studied the house, and I think there was a second chimney in the middle of the house that is hidden behind walls.


So the one on the left is of the living room. The big area rug stays and the fireplace is on the far right. You can see the legs of Mr. Johnson the seller of the house. It is a nice size living room, but I haven't quite figured out how the furniture is going to fit. I'm pretty certain I will be having a great garage sale. The walls throughout the house are peach and they have thick texturing on them. Yuck.

The photo on the left is of the front bedroom. Lots of windows very bright, I'm probably going to put the sewing machine, my desk and stuff like that in it. There is carpet in the bedrooms but wood floors underneath. Probably won't be able to go to town on the floors immediately, but I'm looking forward to when I can.

I don't know if he is leaving all of the sheers or not. There are two for every window, so even if they stay, I'm going to not have so many. They are also at a very odd length, so I'll probably shorten them so they fit the windows properly

In the dining room , you can tell it is shaped funny. That is because a bathroom was added at some point and it was put right in the dining room. You can see the door to the bath room on the left side of the photo. The kitchen is at the back of the house. The kitchen is big, but it needs to be updated. That will be low on my priority list.

I haven't included any photos of the bathrooms because they are both bad. High on the list of things to be fixed.

There was lots of stuff laying around, so I'm hoping he will have taken all his crapola before closing. He is leaving the fridge, washer and dryer. So more stuff for the garage sale. The yard is a nice size. I'm looking forward to getting to weed. Hopefully before it gets too dang cold. My plan is to clean this weekend (did I mention it is also homecoming?) and the storage pods will be delivered Wednesday. Thursday I've taken off to start unloading said PODS.

Hope you like the photos!

Once again, it's been a while

It's really hard to keep up this blog with so much in my life going on.

I close on the house October 13th (Friday). I'm excited, and I'd like to find a way to have the house blessed before I move in. I've never done that before but for some reason it feels improtant to do it for this house. I'm fast running out of time to arrange that. And, now that I think about it, I haven't arranged for electricity, gas, city services etc, so I might want to get working on that.

I had a Barnabas retreat this weekend. The cult is at it again. Poor Jon-David got stuck wtih Eva. (He was quite put out Cat didn't come too). I headed up to Camp Copass in Denton. Slept on terribly uncomfortable bunk beds and trie to face the things in my life keeping me from the Zen like peace for which I yearn.

I actually think I did well, but you'll have to talk to me for details. (I have to hold somethings out.)

I discovered Thursday that my business manager on the yearbook staff (position of utter trust, responsible for deposits, payments, lots and lots of stuff) has been leaving her study hall class, coming to the yearbook room and writing notes as if she were me on email excusing herself from from study hall. Oh, and she's been excusing a friend of hers that I have never met. The whole thing just kills me. In the end her greatest distress was that of being in trouble. It makes me feel many things but sad is probably the greatest emotion. I don't exactly how this will end, but the details of the story are demoralizing to me. I write about it because to not write would deny the importance of what happened.

The adoption of Cecilia looks like it will go through, and although it hurts my heart, and I know it is breaking Fran's heart, she is going to a good home and will grow up safe and happy.

Monday was Columbus day. I needed to write college recs, but the love wasn't in me, so I decided to wait to write that. I did pick up my laundry from Jon-David's (he dropped by my apartment and picked it up while I was gone - how sweet is THAT??) I walked in the morning with Ann and in the evening with Diane (getting my socializing and exercise in). Of course, in the evening we foolishly took Eva. I had to carry her for some of it. Poor thing just was plum worn out.

So, I have stopped long enough to update. I need to get back to making my list of things to do. It is quite long as you can imagine. I will do my very best to update in a more timely fashion.

Back to work

I didn't get the inspection report until this morning. I went through it, no surprises. I'm waiting to hear from Lisa to tell her what it says and get some advise.

I went over to the house on Saturday with Ann, Mike, Diane and Jon-David. I think it passed their inspection too : ) I went by Mom and Dad's later to check on Dad. He had taken some pain pills, so I don't think he was feeling that great. After that, Jon-David and I went to his mom's house for dinner and hung out with her and his Aunt Joannie.

Sunday morning I went to church with Ann and Mike. They have a new service called Kerygma. It's a teaching service. I really enjoyed it. I'll probably try to go to the 9am service at Incarnation and then this 11am service with them.

Went to lunch with them, then hung out by their pool. Nothing too exciting.

School was ok today. I came back after taking care of Eva and getting dinner to finish grading. (The end of the six weeks was Friday, so you might say I was a little behind.) Almost 1/3 of my English students are failing. Tragic. Primarly from not turning work in.

Tomorrow morning I am going to a yearbook workshop in Denton. I'll only miss 1st and 2nd, so I'll be here for the afternoon. Oh goody.

Time to update

I have a huge list of things to do, but I am updating the blog because I yearn to keep friends and family updated on my kookie life.

Monday ended uneventfully. I should have enjoyed the day more. I went back up to school for a little while to get work done and watch Designed to Sell on the big screen.

Tuesday - After school I drove over to 711 Dumont and got the contract from Mr Johnson. I took it with me and read it to my friend Lisa in Florida. (She was a real estate agent and got me the house in Plano before moving to Florida to do other things). This summer she has been forced to practice real estate from a distance since I call her all of the time for help. She's a lovely girl, and we are very grateful to her.

I had told Georgia (editor-in-chief and volleyball captain) that I would watch some of the vball game before going to my Barnabas get together. So, I raced from meeting Mr Johnson, who is a Southern in all manner most especially that of talking a whole hell of a lot. I didn't see much of the game, just practice, before having to leave. I did see my friend Deborah. She's hanging in there.

After cult activities I raced home to see if I could get ANY reception on my little TV so that I could watch Boston Legal. It wasn't pretty, but I got it. Love that show. Very strange. And funny.

Wednesday I drove over to Mr. Johnson's house on Swiss Ave (very nice) and gave him my offer on the house, signed, sealed and delivered. (Mom, breath deeply and just don't think about it)

Some company gave the district 60 tickets to the Stars game, and since I hang out at my computer a lot I was able to immediately send a reply to the email saying pick me, pick me. So, Jon-David and I got to go to the game. They were GREAT seats on the platinum level. oohhh la la. The new band director, Joel and the assistant, Chad and their wifes were there too so we had a good time.

Oh, and at 10pm the owner of the BMW FINALLY called and left a message. Geez.

Thursday This requires a prep story. About a year or so ago a former student's Dad came to me about a real estate hall of fame table top book he and several other realtors were heading the creation of and they needed back ground info etc from me. In the course of the conversations I told them it sounded cool, and I'd be interested in organizing it for them. Robert (head guy on this) called me earlier in the week and asked to meet with me if I was still interested etc etc. He also emailed copies of several docs to me including a write up of expected costs etc. For author/creative director the amount was listed at $50,000. Now I don't know that they really plan on paying that, but just the thought is delicious! So, I had that meeting at noon.

After school became a ballet of sorts. Jon-David picked me up down the street from the school so that we could race to my eye doctor appt. They want to see me AGAIN in 4 to 6 weeks. Actually I'm very impressed that they have seen me so many times to make sure there isn't any more plaque or whatever on my eye.

We left the eye dr to meet the inspector at 711 Dumont. He had already done most of the house, so we were there forever going over everything again. Jon-David asking 8 million questions etc. I'm supposed to have the report by Saturday morning. He basically said for a house that is almost 100 years old (don't think about it Mom) it is in great shape and it has been well maintained. During the inspection the owner of the BMW called (by the way I still don't know his name). He's going to take it today to find out how much it'll cost to fix it. He is in the Marine Corp (reserve maybe?) and just got back on Wed. night to get my note. That had to make him happy.

We raced from the inspection to Theater Three. Now usually I go to Theater Three with Pam. She always gets tickets, but Jim doesn't like to go (awwwww) Works out great for me because I love to go with her. Since she still is being careful of going out and about, she asked me if I wanted to go. So, although it was weird to be there without her, I dragged Jon-David. (Pam, please get healthy soon.) Boys do not eat up plays the way girls do if you know what I mean. We saw Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre. It was really good.

Today is the English department meeting which should prove to be fruitful for blog stories. Sadly this year is not a wackadoodle free year for the English department. Thought it might be, but no.

My little eyes are burning from so many late nights this week! However, I have one more to go. Tonight we have Barbeque with the Band and then a home football game.

Now for all of the weekend I have to get my English grading done and Ann and I are going to check out the houses she bought to see if there is anything good to steal for my house since these are going to be torn down to built very chi-chi new houses.

Jon-David's Aunt Joannie is in town, so hopefully I'll get to see her.

Oh, and Dad has surgery today on his rotator cuff. I have already called Mom showing love and support. Bless her heart.

The problem with not being able to write at night (due to the crappy internet access since I continue to pirate) is that I don't remember all the fun stories of the day. I close on October 19th - things should improve soon after.

auuugggghhhhh

Friday at noon BK met me at a house in Bluffview. It looked like it might be a foreclosure, so something I could possibly talk the price down and then afford. The house was just kookie. Some coke sniffing freak was in charge of adding on . . . several times it looks like. After we parted ways, I called her with a questions and in the course of conversation she let me know it would be a fine plan for me to use a different real estate agent for a while. That's how low I've gotten. I've been fired by my real estate agent. Put "high maintenance" on my forehead and call it done. She really is trying to get her own house remodeled and liveable, so I totally understand. It does make me want to make jokes about the patheticness (this may not be a word, but it should be) of my search. Champagne taste on a beer budget. I don't even like champagne or beer.

Saturday morning I worked the wrestling garage sale until noon. At about 10am we were all looking at each other trying to figure out how it wasn't already 4 in the afternoon. Shortly after that it started to rain, I mean hard rain slanting into the parking garage getting everything wet rain. I didn't think there was any chance of ballooning in the afternoon, but it did clear up.

After the garage sale I went out to look at houses. I found one I am really keen for - you can look it up if you choose. It is 711 Dumont. Very cute. Yes, I yearn for it. There aren't pictures of the inside, but it is a really solid house. We'll see if I manage to make it mine. I'm really still in a total funk cause I think this is a great house, really solid, yada yada, but It's about $15,000 more than I can afford. So little, and yet, so very, very much.

I ballooned Saturday afternoon in the Plano Balloon Festival. Great weather. Fast flight though cause the winds were to the south and there just aren't a lot of places to land.

So, Sunday I miss church. I couldn't quite make 9am, but I couldn't find a 9:30 service anywhere. What is up with that? Apparently the Episcopalians have boycotted 9:30 services.

I was planning on ballooning Sunday afternoon, so I left the apartments with the intention of going to my parents house. Backing up carefully so as not to hit the fence on my left, I instead nailed the BMW sedan behind me to the right. Good news, no damage to Teflon (I highly reccomend the Ford Escape to anyone with a propencity to hit things.) Bad news, nailed the BMW quite nicely. I left a note, but remain on pins and needles having not heard from the owner yet. If the note is still there when I get home, do I get to take it back? I didn't think so. Spoke to my favorite insurance agent ever, who kindly informed me that I'm on the "people we don't want to insure" list already, so I'm really screwed if I turn this in. Can't wait to find out what this will cost me.

I hung out at Mom and Dad's expecting to balloon, but it was cancelled because of high winds. So, I made an appointment to see another house. It is one street over from the Dumont house, but it totally needed to be leveled (this costs approx $10,000) and it cost the same as the Dumont house.

I had to be at school early today to give a make-up test, and I'm here this afternoon to give it. I'll be cleaning up dog pee this afternoon for sure. I think I may come back up here (with Eva) and watch some TV and get some work done tonight. I have got to get my ducks in a row!!

I can't even focus at this point. There are a ton of calls I need to make, but they all need to be made during the day. grr.

shoot me now

I got my paycheck yesterday. Since I am not teaching a 6th class this year, thank you very much Marta for screwing up my year, the COLA we got doesn't equal it, so my paycheck is less than it was last year. This will become important in about 2 paragraphs.

The network went down in the yearbook room, so basically, no one was able to get anything done today. I spent most of 8th period trying to get my English students to stop talking and listen as I worked with them on how to respond to a short answer essay question. Mind you these are all students who basically FAILED an exam of short answer essay questions.

Immediately after school I met BK at the real estate office to go look at houses. We looked at five and drove by 2. They are shit. This is because all I can afford to purchase is shit. In fact, thanks to people previously named, I can afford less than shit. Two of the houses we got totally creeped out and left within about 2 minutes of walking in the door. That kind of shit. BK is working her butt off to get her own house fixed (she bought one to flip), and I think she is getting a little tired of showing me houses. I think she is going to go work for some company which means she won't have as much time to show houses to me either. There's also a chance she is not having a lot of fun being part of the "we're going to offer you way less than you are asking for on the off chance you might say yes, but knowing it will more likely piss you" team.

So, I get home after seeing all of the houses that totally suck (may I add at least 2 were potentially out of my price range) and discover Eva has peed on the floor and Cat has hurled on the bed. Great. Just fabulous.

For dinner this evening I am eating double stuffed Oreo cookies and milk. I have hit a new low. If Jon-David knew, he would have a coronary. "That is not healthy, you eat food that is bad for you and then you get sick, you have to take care of yourself." Blah, Blah, Blah. Alright, I put the stupid oreos away.

Oh, and I don't think I have anything to wear to school tomorrow. What kind of absence does that count as? School safetly, professional courtesy or personal illness . . . I'm ill because my life sucks and I have nothing to wear.

Ah, but at least I am able to pirate internet access this evening to enable friends and family to be a part of the hell that is my world. Don't try to call, I'll be taking a bath.