1. Vegas. What can I say? It was Vegas! I think you could spend a month there and still not see everything there is to see. If you've never been, I highly recommend you go. It's certainly an experience unlike any other. And, it really helps if you have credit card reward points to pay for your hotel, because it heps ease the guilt when you spend (what feels like) a million dollars on restaurants and gambling. The drinks, though, are free on the casino floor. Can't beat that!
2. Pool. L-0-v-i-n-g it! The color of it has actually changed a bit since my last post. Before it had this tealish color to it, but since then the water has fully seeped into the surface and the color has changed to a much deeper blue. It's absolutely gorgeous. I am certain everyone who comes to my house now will feel the pool calling their name. It just beckons you to swim.
3. School. Hmm.. Well, things with the students are going well. We're still in the honeymoon, however, I did find myself getting rather irked with them by the end of the day on Friday, so I'm thinking the honeymoon might soon be over. Positive was that a number of my last year's 8th graders have been by to visit me. I must say, as much as that class was a challenge and a pain in my butt, I miss them more than I've ever missed any other class. Weird how those things work out. Anyway, they always want to tell me about their English teacher -- one student actually thanked me for preparing him for high school. He said the writing assignments that we did in 8th grade really helped prepare him for his assignments in high school. It was pretty freaking awesome of him to say that. Maybe I'm not a total failure as a teacher, afterall. :)
4. Cars. Did I tell you? We sold our bmw m3. Buying said bmw was notably one of the biggest mistakes we've ever made. This bmw was waaaaaaaaay too expensive, it broke down regularly, and it cost a freakin fortune to repair. The worst part: it didn't even turn out to be the "dream car" that Mike had initially thought it would be. After finally being rid of it, he quietly confessed that he had never really enjoyed driving it as much as he thought he would. In any case, he convinced a Major who took over his duty station in Iraq that he should buy this car from us. Thoroughly convinced, when he got back from Iraq he took it off our hands last weekend to drive around the city and never brought it back. It was love at first sight for him. It was a huge weight lifted from our shoulders. No more ungodly expensive bmw to worry about. In its place we bought what has turned out to be Mike's actual dream car which does not include the bmw brand name or pricetag. We bought an '05 Pontiac GTO which cost us a miniscule fraction of what the bmw cost us, and truth be told we're both thrilled about it. The drive is about a thousand times smoother than the bmw, our monthly payment on it is laughable in comparison to what we were paying before, and Mike is damn near giddy about it. The best part is that I have received his sworn promise that the next car we buy will be 100% my choice. (note to self: get this in writing!)
The problem is that we're both completely car obsessed but happen to have completely opposite car tastes. Generally, I feel that my car tastes get bypassed for his, so I feel good knowing that next time if I want a Toyota Prius or VW Eos, I can get it with no ifs ands or buts from him.
Overall, life is good these days. I really have no complaints.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Flexible
I have good news: the pool is finished! And, oh man has it ever exceeded my expectations. It is absolutely gorgeous; pictures aren't quite giving it justice at this point. I have been sitting at the edge of the pool today quite a bit just absolutely mesmerized by the shimmering mosaic of colors and gorgeous ripples of the water.I've also been sitting outside a lot today literally watching the water level rise. You see, we're filling our pool, and it's taking forever! According to the contract, the pool company started filling the pool with water as soon as they were finished, and the way it all goes is that you're not supposed to stop filling it until it's full because it will cause some kind of stain on the new surface if you do.
This presents a bit of a problem, because, well.... We're supposed to be in Vegas right now!!!!! Or, at least we're supposed to be on our way to Vegas. After weeks of planning the perfect anniversary weekend, I had no idea that the pool company would actually finish so early and throw all of my plans right out the window.
Last night, our actual anniversary, we spent in downtown San Diego at my friend's birthday party. After the party we had a hotel just down the street so that we didn't have to drive home. We were slightly late to the birthday party, though, because we spent hours staring at the pool and trying to figure out just the right water pressure so that the pool didn't overflow while we were gone (overnight) and so that it wasn't painfully unfilled when we returned home the next day. Well, the pool certainly didn't overflow while we were gone.... I wish I could say the same thing about it being painfully unfilled, though.
Thus, here we are. Waiting. For. The. Pool. To. Fill. Up. Already! You've heard that expression, "A watched pot never boils" or something like that. Yeah, that's how I currently feel. Watching that water line take its time to edge up and up the pool wall is just a teeny bit frustrating. Especially because, in case I didn't mention it enough yet, I'm supposed to be in Vegas right now.
Actually, I do believe that I deserve a gigantic pat on the back. Because, after initially finding out that the pool people were going to be finishing the pool Friday and realizing that was going to throw a gigantic curveball into all of my amazing plans, I had a bit of a temper tantrum about the whole thing. Poor Mike. His mantra for that evening was, "This is NOT my fault. You can be mad but you cannot say this is my fault." He was right. It wasn't his fault. But my frustrated this is why I never plan anything because everything I plan always backfires in my face-self needed someone to blame for the unfraying of my beautiful weekend right before my very eyes.
Except that after I threw the tantrum of the century, I basically got a grip. Ok. So we didn't get to sleep in at our beautiful San Diego hotel. So we have had to spend a few hours back at the house waiting for this pool to fill up. So maybe we will be getting to Vegas Saturday night instead of Saturday afternoon. Oh well. whatever. We still got to spend an amazing anniversary dancing the night away with one of my best friends on her birthday. We still got to stay in a beautiful San Diego hotel even if we weren't there all that long. We still get to spend our weekend in Vegas. And, to top it all off, we have this beautiful pool paradise that we've been dreaming about forever.
When all is said and done, maybe our anniversary weekend isn't panning out to be the perfect weekend that I had concocted in my mind, but it is turning out to be perfect. And, it's teaching me that after 5 years of marriage one thing that we've learned how to do really well together is be flexible!
Which leads me to one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time, "Blessed are the flexible for they will not be broken." So true.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Good Times
Let me begin by apologizing for my absence of late. It's just that I've been a tad busy.
School has begun, we're getting our pool redone, and we're doing some traveling for our upcoming 5 year anniversary this weekend.
Life in general is pretty darn exciting right now.
School is going OK. The new teacher seems great and we are becoming fast friends. She seems to be more on my wavelength than any of the other teachers, so I appreciate that more than you can imagine. The students are *excellent! I have to tell you, that first week back without the students around was downright depressing. Our school is in the midst of a financial crisis, our principal is beginning to fray at the seams, and everything was generally unpleasant. When the students showed up that first day, it was pretty much a breath of fresh air, and I remembered why I got into this business in the first place. If nothing else, I'm sucking it up and putting forth my very best effort this year because these kids deserve the best we can give them.
The pool. So! Exciting!
Though, the first day was a bit of a disaster. The guys showed up to drain the pool; they put the drain hose into our main drain and exited the scene. Luckily, Mike didn't listen to their assurance that he didn't need to be home, and took the day off. Because, not 30 minutes after the draining had begun our main drain backed up and flooded our kitchen. Good times.
This all happened on Book Day and Parents' Night at school, so I left the house at 8:00 am and didn't return home until 9:00 pm. I don't think anything could have quite prepared me for what I came home to, though.
First of all, when I opened up the garage door and walked into the backyard, the back door was open and the dogs were outside running around. There were sopping wet towels hanging all over the patio (a result of the aforementioned flooded kitchen). From the pool to the guest bathroom stretched a drainage hose which ended in the toilet. The toilet, constantly filling up with water, was flushing itself repeatedly. All the lights in the house were on, the tv was on, the front door was slightly ajar, and one of our couch cushion covers was missing. Oh yeah, and the best part of it all was that Mike wasn't home; he was at a soccer game.
Suffice to say, I nearly had a heart attack. And I started to question whether or not this whole getting the pool redone thing was such a good idea afterall.
The next day, I came home to a scene that was just as positive as the day before had been negative. The pool was about 3/4 drained at that point, so when Mike got home he got the dogs in there to play fetch. Because our pool goes from 3 ft to 9 ft, half of the pool had no water while the deep end had about 2 feet of water. I seriously believe that the dogs and Mike had the time of their lives playing in that almost empty pool. We briefly considered spending an extra $20k and adding "zero entry pool" to our makeover wish list, but then we realized we're not actually millionaires and decided against it. Maybe someday.
And today? Well, today the workers completed all of the demolition, so I can only imagine that tomorrow they'll start on the resurfacing. If you click on this website you can see what we're resurfacing our pool with. We chose the No Fear with blue accent stone. It should look pretty awesome when all is said and done.
That's not all. Friday is our 5 year anniversary, and it's also the first anniversary in 3 years that Mike won't be in Iraq. Friday also happens to be one of my best friend's birthdays, so we'll be spending Friday evening partying the night away downtown San Diego. Because neither one of us wants to drive home that night and because the dogs will already be in the kennel, we used our credit card reward points and got one of the nicest hotels in San Diego (which just so happens to also be only 2 minutes away from where the birthday party will be). After celebrating my friend's birthday and enjoying one of San Diego's finest hotels, we'll be heading to Vegas on Saturday morning for the remainder of the long weekend and to finish our anniversary celebration in style.
All in all, I expect it to be one of the best weekends of my life. No pressure or anything, though.
School has begun, we're getting our pool redone, and we're doing some traveling for our upcoming 5 year anniversary this weekend.
Life in general is pretty darn exciting right now.
School is going OK. The new teacher seems great and we are becoming fast friends. She seems to be more on my wavelength than any of the other teachers, so I appreciate that more than you can imagine. The students are *excellent! I have to tell you, that first week back without the students around was downright depressing. Our school is in the midst of a financial crisis, our principal is beginning to fray at the seams, and everything was generally unpleasant. When the students showed up that first day, it was pretty much a breath of fresh air, and I remembered why I got into this business in the first place. If nothing else, I'm sucking it up and putting forth my very best effort this year because these kids deserve the best we can give them.
The pool. So! Exciting!
Though, the first day was a bit of a disaster. The guys showed up to drain the pool; they put the drain hose into our main drain and exited the scene. Luckily, Mike didn't listen to their assurance that he didn't need to be home, and took the day off. Because, not 30 minutes after the draining had begun our main drain backed up and flooded our kitchen. Good times.
This all happened on Book Day and Parents' Night at school, so I left the house at 8:00 am and didn't return home until 9:00 pm. I don't think anything could have quite prepared me for what I came home to, though.
First of all, when I opened up the garage door and walked into the backyard, the back door was open and the dogs were outside running around. There were sopping wet towels hanging all over the patio (a result of the aforementioned flooded kitchen). From the pool to the guest bathroom stretched a drainage hose which ended in the toilet. The toilet, constantly filling up with water, was flushing itself repeatedly. All the lights in the house were on, the tv was on, the front door was slightly ajar, and one of our couch cushion covers was missing. Oh yeah, and the best part of it all was that Mike wasn't home; he was at a soccer game.
Suffice to say, I nearly had a heart attack. And I started to question whether or not this whole getting the pool redone thing was such a good idea afterall.
The next day, I came home to a scene that was just as positive as the day before had been negative. The pool was about 3/4 drained at that point, so when Mike got home he got the dogs in there to play fetch. Because our pool goes from 3 ft to 9 ft, half of the pool had no water while the deep end had about 2 feet of water. I seriously believe that the dogs and Mike had the time of their lives playing in that almost empty pool. We briefly considered spending an extra $20k and adding "zero entry pool" to our makeover wish list, but then we realized we're not actually millionaires and decided against it. Maybe someday.
And today? Well, today the workers completed all of the demolition, so I can only imagine that tomorrow they'll start on the resurfacing. If you click on this website you can see what we're resurfacing our pool with. We chose the No Fear with blue accent stone. It should look pretty awesome when all is said and done.
That's not all. Friday is our 5 year anniversary, and it's also the first anniversary in 3 years that Mike won't be in Iraq. Friday also happens to be one of my best friend's birthdays, so we'll be spending Friday evening partying the night away downtown San Diego. Because neither one of us wants to drive home that night and because the dogs will already be in the kennel, we used our credit card reward points and got one of the nicest hotels in San Diego (which just so happens to also be only 2 minutes away from where the birthday party will be). After celebrating my friend's birthday and enjoying one of San Diego's finest hotels, we'll be heading to Vegas on Saturday morning for the remainder of the long weekend and to finish our anniversary celebration in style.
All in all, I expect it to be one of the best weekends of my life. No pressure or anything, though.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Untitled
Ok so maybe it was that I am an incompetent pool owner. I left the pump running all day today (after following Mike's laundry list of cleaning solutions), and wouldn't you know it? The pool is practically crystal clear now. At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore. *phew.
Today, the newly (as of yesterday) hired teacher came to school. And she's young and seems GREAT. I am overjoyed about this and hoping she will exceed my expectations and possibly even be a new friend. I'll keep you posted.
However, I am totally bummed.
I also received the schedule for this year and *GASP* for the first time since I've been teaching there I will not be teaching 7th grade literature. I love teaching 7th grade literature. 7th grade literature is the class where I teach all of my favorite novels. Of course, I will offer my book choices to the new teacher, but there's no telling whether she will take me up on my suggestions or not. And, even if she does, I want to teach The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It's not fair!
It's right about now that I wish I was a little kid so I could have a good excuse to stomp around and throw a temper tantrum.
Instead, I'm throwing a temper tantrum in the adult way and writing a complainey-blog about the whole thing.
Thanks for reading. I feel much, much better now that I got that off my chest!
Today, the newly (as of yesterday) hired teacher came to school. And she's young and seems GREAT. I am overjoyed about this and hoping she will exceed my expectations and possibly even be a new friend. I'll keep you posted.
However, I am totally bummed.
I also received the schedule for this year and *GASP* for the first time since I've been teaching there I will not be teaching 7th grade literature. I love teaching 7th grade literature. 7th grade literature is the class where I teach all of my favorite novels. Of course, I will offer my book choices to the new teacher, but there's no telling whether she will take me up on my suggestions or not. And, even if she does, I want to teach The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It's not fair!
It's right about now that I wish I was a little kid so I could have a good excuse to stomp around and throw a temper tantrum.
Instead, I'm throwing a temper tantrum in the adult way and writing a complainey-blog about the whole thing.
Thanks for reading. I feel much, much better now that I got that off my chest!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sabotage
I am really starting to get suspicious.
I mean, not a few days had gone by after Mike left for his Afghanistan training when mysterious green patches started appearing in the pool.
I smell sabotage.
Either the pool has a mind of its own and likes to torture me when he leaves or he is rigging it so that the pool decides to self-destruct as soon as he makes his exit from the scene.
I know what you're thinking and you can just erase that thought from your mind right now. I swear to you I am not an incompetent pool caretaker. I PROMISE.
Day by day the pool has been getting greener... and greener.. and I finally broke down and emailed Mike about the situation. He was indignant. Hose out the filters! Go buy more chlorine tablets! Brush the sides! Do not let the pool turn green!
Hrmph.
So I did. I followed orders. I did what I was told. I moaned and groaned about it the entire time. I was no happy camper.
And after all of my hard work, I tell you, that pool darn well better be less green tomorrow when I get home from work or I am going to be peeved.
Personally, I would just let the whole thing turn green. In a few days the pool guys are going to show up and drain all the water out of the pool, anyway, so who really cares at this point? But, Mike is somehow convinced that they might refuse to work on our pool if the water is absolutely disgusting. I have my doubts about that. I would prefer to continue with my first thoughts and believe that Mike and the pool have somehow joined forces against me to make my life miserable every time he leaves. I think he does it so I'll miss him more. Well, I can tell you right now...... it's working.
I mean, not a few days had gone by after Mike left for his Afghanistan training when mysterious green patches started appearing in the pool.
I smell sabotage.
Either the pool has a mind of its own and likes to torture me when he leaves or he is rigging it so that the pool decides to self-destruct as soon as he makes his exit from the scene.
I know what you're thinking and you can just erase that thought from your mind right now. I swear to you I am not an incompetent pool caretaker. I PROMISE.
Day by day the pool has been getting greener... and greener.. and I finally broke down and emailed Mike about the situation. He was indignant. Hose out the filters! Go buy more chlorine tablets! Brush the sides! Do not let the pool turn green!
Hrmph.
So I did. I followed orders. I did what I was told. I moaned and groaned about it the entire time. I was no happy camper.
And after all of my hard work, I tell you, that pool darn well better be less green tomorrow when I get home from work or I am going to be peeved.
Personally, I would just let the whole thing turn green. In a few days the pool guys are going to show up and drain all the water out of the pool, anyway, so who really cares at this point? But, Mike is somehow convinced that they might refuse to work on our pool if the water is absolutely disgusting. I have my doubts about that. I would prefer to continue with my first thoughts and believe that Mike and the pool have somehow joined forces against me to make my life miserable every time he leaves. I think he does it so I'll miss him more. Well, I can tell you right now...... it's working.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Bad
I feel really bad.
I was just getting a much needed facebook fix, and I read something that made me feel like a really bad teacher. It was a girl's fb update that went something like this, "Exhausted from cutting lamination, labeling files, and doing bulletin boards, but SO EXCITED for the school year to start!"
......
Yeah. Like I said. Bad.
I was just getting a much needed facebook fix, and I read something that made me feel like a really bad teacher. It was a girl's fb update that went something like this, "Exhausted from cutting lamination, labeling files, and doing bulletin boards, but SO EXCITED for the school year to start!"
......
Yeah. Like I said. Bad.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Welcome Back
Today I bit the bullet and finally made my way into school.
When I arrived, I took a deep breath, opened my classroom door, and surveyed the damage.
Oh, the room looks better than I remember, I thought to myself.
But wait! Those filing cabinet aren't mine. Those filing cabinets are the math filing cabinets. Why are they in my room? ..... Oh no!
That's right my loyal readers, for the first time in 4 years of teaching I decided to wait until the very last minute to start working in my classroom, and it apparently was the wrong decision.
It seems as though my principal decided that I was going to move to the classroom next door this year. It would have been nice had I known this oh, say, a couple of weeks ago? I certainly would have gone in sooner had I realized that my getting ready for school duties were not simply going to consist of decorating my classroom and arranging the desks.
The first thing I did was enlist the help of the secretary, who happened to be the only other person at the school when I arrived. I asked her if I was moving classrooms. She wasn't sure, but she directed my attention to the number over the classroom door. It had been changed from an 8 to a 7.
But no one contacted me. I naively told myself. If they didn't contact me to tell me I was going to be switching classrooms, certainly they wouldn't expect me to switch. The filing cabinets must be a mistake.
Deep down in the pit of my stomach, though, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one would have moved those heavy filing cabinets into my classroom if they hadn't meant for them to stay there.
So, I did what any other insane person in my situation would have done. I went into my classroom and started putting my books on the shelves. My (irrational) thinking was that when the principal finally arrived on the scene and realized I had already finished putting all of my stuff out in the room she would quickly reassess the situation and not ask me to switch classrooms.
My plan failed, however, because not 30 minutes later I saw her car pull into the parking lot. She quickly made her way to my classroom and broke the wretched news to me that I would, indeed, have to move all of my things to a different room.
My head started pounding before she even finished breaking the bad news to me.
So, yeah. If that doesn't say WELCOME BACK, then I don't really know what does. It appears as though this school year is going to be even better (dripping sarcasm) than I thought.
When I arrived, I took a deep breath, opened my classroom door, and surveyed the damage.
Oh, the room looks better than I remember, I thought to myself.
But wait! Those filing cabinet aren't mine. Those filing cabinets are the math filing cabinets. Why are they in my room? ..... Oh no!
That's right my loyal readers, for the first time in 4 years of teaching I decided to wait until the very last minute to start working in my classroom, and it apparently was the wrong decision.
It seems as though my principal decided that I was going to move to the classroom next door this year. It would have been nice had I known this oh, say, a couple of weeks ago? I certainly would have gone in sooner had I realized that my getting ready for school duties were not simply going to consist of decorating my classroom and arranging the desks.
The first thing I did was enlist the help of the secretary, who happened to be the only other person at the school when I arrived. I asked her if I was moving classrooms. She wasn't sure, but she directed my attention to the number over the classroom door. It had been changed from an 8 to a 7.
But no one contacted me. I naively told myself. If they didn't contact me to tell me I was going to be switching classrooms, certainly they wouldn't expect me to switch. The filing cabinets must be a mistake.
Deep down in the pit of my stomach, though, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one would have moved those heavy filing cabinets into my classroom if they hadn't meant for them to stay there.
So, I did what any other insane person in my situation would have done. I went into my classroom and started putting my books on the shelves. My (irrational) thinking was that when the principal finally arrived on the scene and realized I had already finished putting all of my stuff out in the room she would quickly reassess the situation and not ask me to switch classrooms.
My plan failed, however, because not 30 minutes later I saw her car pull into the parking lot. She quickly made her way to my classroom and broke the wretched news to me that I would, indeed, have to move all of my things to a different room.
My head started pounding before she even finished breaking the bad news to me.
So, yeah. If that doesn't say WELCOME BACK, then I don't really know what does. It appears as though this school year is going to be even better (dripping sarcasm) than I thought.
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