Sorry it's been so long since my last posting. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. Brad and I spent a couple of days in Allen just hanging with the fam, but we had to turn around and come right back so Brad could go to work on the 27th. Just FYI, we'd be returning home from England today.... So glad I haven't been thinking about it....

I've been spending this week unpacking all our cool Christmas toys and catching after-Christmas sales. I got out the other day to see Casino Royale - wow! I can take or leave James Bond movies but this one was fab! And Daniel Craig...... yum.

Oh, and the big news is I have pneumonia. Yeah, no joke. I feel absolutely fine, but I have the nastiest cough you can imagine. I went to a doc-in-the-box in Allen and after a chest x-ray they determined I'm sick. I'm on meds, but they're not helping a lot with the cough. I saw a doctor here in town and they're keeping an eye on me. It's so bizzare. I had pneumonia back in college and I was really really sick, but this is nothing like it. Life is going on, I'm just coughing a lot. I'll let you know if anything happens with this.

I'm done! I turned in my grades last night and am thrilled that my vacation has started. I'm also done with my Christmas shopping and am busy wrapping presents today. I was supposed to arrive in London today, but alas.... However, I took part of the money we would have spent on the trip and bought another elliptical machine for myself. I really liked the one I had in Lexington until it broke. This one is much sturdier. I put it together last night and it looks so nice. I haven't had a chance to try it out for a full workout yet, but I'm really excited about it.

Nothing else really. We leave for Allen on Thursday, so I'm wrapping gifts, and doing laundry and housework. Not too interesting, but it's a great feeling to be done with work for now. Have a merry Christmas everybody!

What a busy weekend! Brad's office Christmas party was Friday night and it was fun to hang out with our new friends (and eat lots!). Yesterday was icky because I literally graded all day. Not kidding. From about 8am to about 11pm. Stopping for meals, of course. I'm almost done. Grades are due tomorrow evening and I have some finishing touches to place and then I'm through with this semester!

Brad took me to see The Queen (which was fabulous, by the way), but it's not playing at any of the theaters near us. So, we finally had an excuse to go check out this commerce-mecca called The Plaza downtown KC. It's really cool. We saw the movie and walked around and looked at all the shops. So much cool stuff! We had dinner at a fun Irish pub and tried something we'd never heard of - boxties. Basically, it's meat wrapped in a potato pancake, topped with sauce. Yummy! I love pub grub. It was a fun excursion and was our first downtown. We've just not taken the time yet. The other cool thing is the Plaza lights - it's a big deal. Every year they have a big ceremony for when they turn them on for the first time. So pretty!

My NEW car just rolled over to 100,000 miles yesterday on my way home from work! How is that possible??!!! I just bought it...... in August of 1999. Right before I started grad school. Before I even met my husband. Oh. Man, it feels like my new car - I can't believe it's that old. Thank goodness it still feels that way - I'm glad it's not an old clunker. I've not had any problems with it. The only time it's seen the inside of a mechanic's garage is for routine checks. I love my Honda Civic! It's not very kid-friendly, though, (being a 2 door sporty little thing) so it will have to be replaced eventually. But, shhhh, don't tell it that!

Whew! What a weekend! Brad and I had our first houseguests since my parents came back in October. The house looks so nice and I made a really yummy dinner (If I do say so myself). It was wonderful to just chill in this house we picked out mainly for it's entertaining-friendly layout. So fun!

Then, the big scary deal was this morning, I acted as a cantor at my church for the first time ever. This new church's choir isn't as active as St. Pat's in Lexington so a cantor runs the whole service, doing all the music at the front. My new director is fabulous and he sweet-talked me into trying the cantor bit. It even pays a little money! So, anywho, it was incredibly nerve-wracking and I made a very small flub with one of the words, but overall it went pretty well. I might even do it again. :)

We just got back from the movies - my very awesome hubby took me to see The Holiday. We were a bit worried it would be rubbing salt in the wounds, watching a movie about an American traveling to England for Christmas.... But it was a cute movie and I really enjoyed it.

So - got some bad news.... We're not going to the UK for Christmas. Due to a mixup in Brad's office about leave-time, we had to cancel the whole thing. I was really bummed when I found out, but it'll be okay. It's not like we'll never have the chance to go again. It was hard going back and cancelling all the reservations and stuff, but it's finally done. Since we cancelled with plenty of notice, we're not losing a lot of money, which is great. I just wish I could get back all the hours I spent planning the damned trip in the first place! At least we can plan a nice Christmas back in Allen - especially since Mary Beth just moved back. Should be nice.

On an upside, I've finally caved and gotten on Facebook. A friend of mine joined and invited me on, so I signed up just so I could chat with her. But, once my info was out there, I've been found by my old students in Lexington. The last 48 hours have been interesting as they discover me on there and I find them. All my A-team Academic Team girls are in contact now (they're in college now) as well as a few other students - I expect I'll find more soon. I even found a student I taught 5 years ago back in College Station! How fun!

Just to set the record straight - I'm not a moron. I was embarassed about my little ice capade yesterday morning, but it turned out to not be my bad driving-on-ice skills. When Brad got home from work, he walked over to get the car and drive it home and he got stuck, too! We can get it to go forward on very flat roads, but we got it stuck in a different part of the neighboorhood (again with the hills). Frustrating as hell, but I'm glad it wasn't me that was the problem. The sun is out today and so hopefully the ice will start melting. Yuck! Yay - welcome to Kansas!

In other very exciting news, you may note the link off to the left for My Korean Adventure. I finally got the Korea blog up and running. It's not that spectacular, now that I've been building the suspense for 4 months, but I'm just so glad it's done and I can FINALLY check it off my to-do lists every week. Enjoy!

Happy week after Thanksgiving! Whew! What a crazy week! We went to Boston to see Brad's family. We go almost every year and it's always so much fun. I also got to see my friend, Kelly, from RCHS who now lives there. Good times. Brad's aunt and uncle just built a new home and it is gorgeous! I got to play with my nieces, who are a trip. Alyvia and I are buddies - this kid loves me. It's really cute. She followed me everywhere - I think she spent the whole week in my lap!

Back at it this week, but the big news is the winter storm that came through. Ohmigosh! Yuck! It started sleeting yesterday afternoon and into last night. When I woke up this morning EVERY school in the KC metro area was closed except mine. Seriously. So I tried to not be a wimp and decided to go to work - next week is the last week of class and I didn' t want us to get behind. I backed out of the driveway really slowly and slowly drove down the street - which, by the way, isn't patchy ice like I thought - it's a solid sheet. The first left turn off my street left me spinning out (at 2mph) into the curb in front of someone's house. Not a good sign. So... I decided to make a left on the next street and just come home. Well, the street has a bit of an incline and I couldn't get the car to move - lots of engine noise - almost no acceleration. AND, there were cars parked on both sides of the street! I managed to mostly pull over (not all the way to the curb) in front of someone's house. The guy was in his garage so I told him for the safety of everyone I was leaving the car there. He laughed and said it was fine. I gathered my stuff and slipped and slid all the way home. I'm not interested in wrecking the car or hurting myself or someone else so I'm staying home. I've had very happy emails all day from students who didn't want to brave the ice, but didn't want to miss class. It was kinda fun to have a snow day. It's supposed to snow this evening on top of the ice (which hasn't melted yet, btw), which should be interesting. At least I'm always home on Fridays. :)

Here's one for the ages. I accidentally ruined my last pair of decent jeans this weekend (long story) and I'm leaving for Boston tomorrow - no time to go to the mall. So, I thought I'd take a chance and try to find a cheap pair at Wal-Mart that would get me through this week. Since I don't normally buy jeans at Wal-Mart, I picked out about 10 pair in 3 different sizes (women reading this - you understand why) . The heavens opened and the angels sang when the very first pair I put on fit like a glove! Perfect fit! That NEVER happens to me. Usually the best I get is a pair that fits "mostly". The very first pair. That never happens either. Needless to say, I handed the rest of the jeans back to the clerk and moved on to buy kitty food. Five minutes. 18 dollars. Hell, yeah. I'm savoring it because I'm sure it'll never happen again. I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a size 0... Oh, well - I'm having fajitas for dinner and I'm lovin' it!

So, I'm putting together the itinerary for our U.K. trip today. I can't believe we leave in 4 weeks!!!!! We're going to Stratford-Upon-Avon because we both love Shakespeare and it's one of the major sites that I haven't seen yet. However, we were planning to skip a performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the interest of time. I know they're the best, but living 20 miles from the Shenandoah Shakespeare players for nearly 4 years has not left us with a want of good Shakespeare. But, I just did a quick check on what is playing and they're doing The Merry Wives of Windsor, starring Judi Dench!!!!!! So, yeah, I just bought tickets.... I love her work - she's such a phenomenal actress - I can't believe we're going to see her on the stage! Yippeee!

More details about the trip coming soon.

I totally stole this idea from my friend, Susan, because I think it's great. I apologize for not updating this at all in about a month. Life is good, but rather unexciting. Those of you who know me well, understand I usually live life at warp-speed, juggling about a dozen things at once. Right now is a bit of a lull in the action - there's really nothing too interesting to write about. But, to give everyone a quick update, I'll mention a handful of minor happenings.

1. My house was invaded by ladybugs! A couple weeks ago, we were outside in the yard and noticed our house was covered in them! Dozens got into the house and have been taunting the kitties. Most have died and of all bugs to invade the house, I can deal with these. I don't mind picking them up and shooing them outside. Any other non-cute bug would have me shrieking!

2. Halloween was really fun now that we live in a neighborhood, but I didn't really have time to really decorate. I carved a couple of pumpkins, and put out a coupld of things, but that was about it. I'll do better next year, now that I know I can expect a lot of kids. My pumpkins are below

3. Vacation plans are coming along nicely. I have an itinerary almost plotted out - just trying to figure out the last couple of things. We leave in 5 weeks, though, so it's getting exciting!

4. My Korea blog is almost done. I have one more entry to finish and then I just need to work on some formatting issues. Coming soon!

5. Mary Beth got a job at the corporate office again and is moving back to Dallas this week! Her store in KY just celebrated their 1 year anniversary yesterday and she's glad she got to stay for that. Now she'll be a communications specialist to run lines of communication between all the stores in the country. Sounds like a cool job and it means she gets to go "home".

6. That's about it. I spend my days writing lectures and grading - no time for much else. Only a couple more weeks left, though. Next semester should be a little easier...

That's it here. I'll try to get on here more often just to say hi anyway.

Well, Mom and Dad just left this morning. They came in on Thursday and we had a great weekend hanging out and seeing the town. I worked my butt off trying to get the house ready for their arrival and it really paid off. It's not completely done, but it's done enough that I feel I can take a break from it for a while. I've got some small projects here and there, but no more creating rooms start to finish. Every bit of my free time has been taken up with house stuff - now I can read a book or get back in touch with all the friends I've been neglectful to. Sorry guys....

In other news, this morning I bought our plane tickets to.......London. After 3 months of crazy schemes and fantastical vacation plans, we settled on a tour of the UK. We're going to rent a car and drive around England, Wales, and Scotland, staying in Bed and Breakfasts. I've been a couple of times, but there's still so much I haven't seen and it's still hands-down, my favorite place in the world. Brad's never been, so it'll all be a new experience for him. It's not as exotic as we had originally planned, but it's a heckuva lot cheaper than Australia, South Africa and even some of Eastern Europe. I'm thrilled, because any reason to go to the UK is a good one in my opinion! We haven't decided on the exact itinerary just yet, but that'll come. For now, we're just glad we have our tickets to get there. Woo hoo!

Okay, sorry - no Korea blog yet. Soon, I promise. Brad and I have been hanging pictures and doing general set up. I haven't painted anything since my scarring incident in the hallway, but I'm back at it this weekend. Tomorrow, I'm painting my kitchen and the guest bathroom (both are small projects). My folks are coming to visit next weekend, so I want to get as much done as I can.

We just got back from the Aggie game against Kansas University. We haven't seen the Aggies play live since we left College Station in 2002 - RC Slocum days. It was great to see the boys up close. Except they sucked. They managed to pull out a win at the very end of the game, but they looked terrible. It was definitely a guilty victory. However, it will not keep me from talking smack to my students on Tuesday. Many of the kids at my junior college plan to transfer to KU, or are already co-enrolled, so there was much smack-talking on Thursday. I even bet one of my classes extra credit points that the Aggies would win. I spent most of the game thinking I'd be giving out the points, but then came that lovely drive we had. :) Too bad it was KU's Homecoming.....

I am having a thoroughly enjoyable weekend of not painting. Brad and I ran a bunch of errands this morning and spent the afternoon plotting where we're going to hang things. We haven't wielded a hammer yet, but everything's in position to go for tomorrow.

I've also been working on my Korea blog. I hope to have it up and running by next weekend. I'll let you know when it's ready. Happy weekend!

Home decor crisis!!! I have painted a room each weekend for the last three weekends. It's been a struggle, but it's fun to have it done. This past weekend, though, was a bit too trying...

I painted the first coat Saturday afternoon in a warm beige-y color. Looked great, but it didn't cover very well. I went back to the store to get a second gallon and gave the guy the exact "recipe" sticker off the old can. Got it home, spent Sunday putting on the second coat and to my horror, it wasn't the same color! I didn't notice right away because I think paint always looks different when it's going on, but when the color didn't change much after it dried, I knew I had a problem. It was still beige, but it had a purple/pink undertone instead of a brown one, so the walls looked lavender in the light. Argh!

Went back to the store and fortunately, they were horrified at what the guy had done. They couldn't give me my Sunday back, but at least I got a complimentary can of the right colored paint. I put it on today and all is well. My goodness, though! I'm definitely taking a breather from the painting thing. Gotta find something else to do this weekend. Actually, I think we're going to take the time to finally hang pictures on our lovely painted walls.

I have furniture!!! I'm so excited! The furniture we ordered Labor Day weekend arrived this morning and it looks great in our new house. We got a living room set - a brand new couch, loveseat and tables to boot. I love how the room looks - the only thing left is to get curtains. Had to take down the ugly ones the previous owners left behind. I was very grateful they left them for us - I wasn't ready to buy curtains right away - but now I'm ready to replace them.

I also have to take in a couple of the pictures we want to hang in there for repair. The glass broke on one and the backing is coming off of another - what a mess! When the room is finally done, I'll post a picture.

Not much else going on. Spending ungodly amounts of time planning house projects and putting together this big trip we're trying to take in December. Nothing to report just yet, but I'll keep y'all posted.

Got another crazy Shadow story for ya..... When I was painting last weekend, I (naturally) took off the outlet covers and air conditioning vent grates on the walls. Well, this particular grate opening leads into a utility closet where you would find the air conditioning unit, hot water heater, etc. There is also a hole in the back of the closet, left by the builders, that opens into the basement below. Maybe you can see where this is going....

So my curious but not-very-bright kitty apparently snuck inside the wall just before I screwed the grate back in place. I didn't even notice him going inside! Mind you, this was about 9 am. I got so busy Friday that I didn't even notice him not being around the house. When I finally noticed he was gone, I figured he was off snoozing somewhere. By about 5pm, I started getting nervous because I couldn't find him anywhere. Yeah, it finally occurred to me what had happened and I found the poor guy in the basement. He looked really relieved to be rescued! Silly kitty.

I love Kansas. The full measure of this hit me today in my western civ class. We were talking about governments falling apart and a student made reference to our nation's Civil War. He finished his statement by saying that "thankfully, it all worked out okay and the union was preserved." It took a moment to sink in and then I just went nuts on this kid. The rebel-flag wearing, gun-toating redneck who believes the South will rise again is a minority in Virginia, but I've never had a student there (or in Tx) say "thankfully" the union was saved. Most of what I get is a genuine, "yup, it's too bad we lost". Not that any of them want slavery to come back, but I guess when the war was fought in your backyard, when parts of your town were burned down by Union troops, you feel a bit passionate about the cause. Hard to blame them. I just find it hard to swallow. I don't know if this makes sense to any of you, but my heart leaped for joy today. Yes, I am a nerd...

Classes are going well, but keeping up with three different classes is kicking my butt. Plus, I haven't taught US history in a while, so I'm trying to refresh my memory on some of this....

The house is FINALLY starting to come together. I was stagnated a bit - getting bogged down in indecision - but I made some progress this weekend. I painted in my family room and I think I like it. I'm planning to put a faux finish on top of what I've done, but I'm nervous about screwing it up. We also bought some furniture at an awesome labor day sale. I'm really excited about getting it in our big empty living room. It's going to look great!

Oh - here's a crazy bit: before we left for the furniture store, Brad used scissors to cut some string in the garage. He placed the scissors on his back bumper (it's an SUV so it has a bit of a ledge) and forgot about them. When we got out of the car at the store (25 miles down the road), we discovered the scissors still sitting on the bumper! The road we took was a back-road that was fairly curvy - can't believe they didn't fall off!

Yesterday was my first day of class. I love my job! The first day is always a little weird - you stand there and give a bunch of rules to a room full of people who aren't sure if they're going to love you or hate you. They laughed in all the right places and many of them seem pretty interested in the class. It's a good sign. Tomorrow the real work begins - the first lecture... My office is a tiny cubicle I share with two other teachers (we're in there on different days). It's never been decorated and is, in general, filthy. I got the official sanctioning from my (male) office-mates that I could pretty up the room and I've been working hard to do so. It's starting to look habitable and I'm thrilled! Other people keep walking by and remarking that they'd never noticed how barren that room was until I started putting up stuff. Now if I could just make that kind of progress on my house....

I've been gone a long time, I know. Very little to report on. However, this weekend was awesome! Brad took me to see Rent (which I've been dying to see!) at an outdoor theater downtown. Despite the sound difficulties, it was fabulous. I loved getting to finally see this on stage and I've been singing along to my soundtrack ever since. We spent the rest of the weekend working on the house and planning this big vacation we're putting together for December. We're trying to get either South Africa or Australia. Either way would be awesome. We're waiting to hear what the time-share folks say (a friend gave us a week's stay in theirs). I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow is my first day of class, so I've spent the whole day making sure I've got everything put together. Ugh. I'm sure I'm forgetting something....

Just thought I'd check in and say hello. Absolutely nothing of interest is going on here. We're just busily trying to get the house set up. It's fully functional at this point - all we have to do is decorate. So, I'm spending a lot of time with paint swatches and mulling ideas and such. I'm also working on putting together my three classes that start soon, which is fun but exhausting. Brad's graduation ceremony is going on as I type this, but we couldn't make it - he's too busy with his orientation for his new job. It's too bad because it's kind of a big deal. He's officially Dr. Brad today. Very cool. That's really it, though. You can rest assured that my life will go back to its usual craziness very soon.

I'm employed! I had a phone interview with a community college while I was in Korea and it went well enough that I was pretty sure I had the job, but it wasn't a lock until Wednesday when I went in in person. I'm all squared away as an adjunct assistant professor (what Brad was at VMI) with three classes. I have the first half of western civilization and both halves of US history. Three different classes will be a lot to prepare for, but it'll be a lot less taxing than teaching full time in a high school. I'm really excited to give this a try. I think I'll like it - the colleagues I've met seem really nice and it's a nice campus. I'll miss working with teenagers and I may go back to that someday, but this seems like a good idea for now. Another bonus: since I have to drive about 45 minutes to get there, they scheduled all my classes for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Awesome!

The unpacking is going really well and it's starting to look like a real house. Brad starts his job Monday, so we're trying to get as much done as we can now since the pace of unpacking will slow with him working for a living. The majority of the boxes are unpacked, but the decorating will take a long, long time to finish... I'll post pictures when I can.

We're here! After a long, long drive, we got in about 1am Monday morning. The movers came around 8am and we got everything in the house within 2 hours! Obviously, the computer is now up and functioning, but we're still working on everything else. Our bedroom furniture arrived this morning and we mostly have our bedroom put together. Everything looks so great! I think we'll have the place put together in another couple of days. The decorating will take weeks or months, but at least we'll get the boxes out of here!

Got a crazy story for ya: Shadow almost didn't make the trip with us. He and Stitch were freaking out as we packed everything up and didn't like the total lack of furniture in the house once we'd loaded the truck. Stitch rode with Brad in the UHaul and made it to the truck just fine. Shadow was going to ride with me, but flipped out and wriggled out of my arms (leaving me with a couple of nasty scratches on my neck) and ran away. The only reason he didn't get totally away from us was that he's not used to being outside and so even though he runs really fast, he kept stopping to figure out where to go. He bolted down the alley-way and across Main St. (yikes!!), winding up behind the courthouse under a dumpster and wouldn't come out. After 20 mintues of trying everything we could think of, we called animal control to help us coax him out. Another 20 minutes and we finally grabbed him and put him in a kitty carrier. He was not a happy camper. Neither were we, now that we were running so far behind schedule! He rode quietly in his crate for the first few hours of the trip and once I let him out, he hid underneath the driver's seat for the remainder of the drive. He's finally calming down and getting used to the new surroundings. I knew it was going to be interesting travelling with cats, but this was crazy!!!

Here we go.... I'm shutting down my computer in about an hour to pack it up. We load the truck tomorrow and leave first thing Sunday morning. Once we get there and get a little settled in, I'll be back online. 15 hours in the car with cats.... It's going to be epic.

This time next week we'll be in our new house! Ohmigosh! The packing is going very well so far, even though I took a little break. We had a yard sale on Saturday that got rid of a lot of our junk, although not all of it. Got to make a run to Goodwill here soon. Then my friend, Jennie, from Texas came to visit for a few days. She'd never been up here before and wanted to see our little town before we left. It was fun because I got to see some stuff that I haven't had the chance to see even though we've been here for 3.5 years. We spent a morning at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house, and walked around the very hip Charlottesville. We also drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway and visited the Natural Bridge - it's really impressive! We went to my favorite Shakepeare theatre for a performance of MacBeth. It was okay, but I was disappointed because I've seen them do SO much better.

Jennie just left a little while ago to fly home and now it's time to face the reality of getting this house packed up. Ugh. We've got most of the easy stuff done - now it's time to pack up the little stuff and the stuff we use on a fairly regular basis. We pack the truck Saturday and leave Sunday, so it's going to happen whether we're ready or not!

I'm home! I got back from Korea yesterday afternoon and I'm happy to sleep in my bed and eat pizza. I had a wonderful time there and was sorry to leave. I'm going to try to do a travel log attached to this blog, but it will probably have to wait until after the move.

I got to speak a little Korean, saw beautiful palaces and temples, ate interesting food (octopus, squid, eel and even a silkworm!!!), and met fabulous people. We were treated so well over there! It's a little hard going back to being a peon, but at least I'm a pizza-eating peon. No more kimchi for me! Probably ever.

We spent most of our time in Seoul, splitting our days into lectures at Yonsei University and afternoon sightseeing. We spent 4 days in Kyeongju, in the southeast part of the country, simply exploring. We pulled taffy by hand and learned how to make prints of Korean roof tiles. Lots of cool experiences! I'll get pictures up soon.

The picture below is of me at the garden pond in one of the palaces in Seoul.

Happy July 4th everyone! Hope you all have a fun and safe holiday.

The house is almost packed - I'm really impressed with the progress we've made. I'll be able to relax and not worry about the house while I'm in Korea. Speaking of...... I leave first thing tomorrow morning! I'm really excited about the trip now that I've had time to process the fact that I'm actually going! I haven't finished packing yet, but I'm mostly there. I'm running out of time, since we have friends coming over for holiday fun in just a couple of hours. Yikes!!! I'll have email access while I'm gone, so definitely stay in touch. I'm sure I'll have lots of cool stories when I get back. 'Til then, take care everybody!

I'm so excited! I got my itinerary and details for my trip to Korea next week (!!!!!). I leave a week from tomorrow! I fly non-stop from DC to Seoul, which is 14 and a half hours. Ugh... The longest I've ever been on a plane is 8. This is almost double. There had better be some kickass movies is all I have to say... :) But, the trip looks fantastic and I can't wait to see everything and learn as much as I possibly can.

In other news, we had the new house inspected and all went well, so we're on our way! We haven't set an exact closing date yet, but almost everything else is done. Yipppeeee!

Sorry for the long absence in postings, but I've been gone awhile. It's been a fantastic week of exciting things! First --- we found a house! Our offer was accepted and we move in 5 weeks. It's really great - big, only 5 years old and really well maintained. It's a beautiful area - we were thrilled to discover elevation in Kansas and we have a nice bluff covered with trees right at the end of our street. The town is small and quiet, but we're so close to Kansas City with all its cool stuff to do and see. We really liked it there and I think once we get settled in, we're going to love it!

The rest of the trip was fun, too. I stopped to see MB in Kentucky on my way and we had a blast. We toured the Wild Turkey distillery (I don't like Bourbon, but it was a cool process to see) and a local vineyard (I do like wine...). Once I got to Kansas, I was happy to finally meet up with Brad, who's been at a conference for the last month. It's nice having him around again.

Anywho, that's the condensed version of events here. I'll keep y'all posted as the news comes in.

It's official. Totally done. My room is depressingly empty and I nearly cried when I walked out of the building yesterday. However, I came home to a nasty email from a parent which totally took the emotion out of leaving. Just a lady frustrated with her kid and lashing out at anyone she can. I didn't take it personally, but it did sort of make me feel like it would be okay if I took a break from teaching. :)

I'm gathering all my crapola to get on the road tomorrow to head west. I'll stop at Mary Beth's and spend the weekend before finishing up the drive to Kansas. I'm so excited! I had a nice chat with my realtor this afternoon and I'm pumped about our options. I'll have to let y'all know when I find THE house.

It's really summertime. It's always a bit strange to come back to work the Monday after graduation and the school is without kids. It feels official. It'll feel even better on Wednesday when I turn in my keys and be done for good. When I say better, I mean more like summer. I will really miss everyone. My department threw a nice lunch for me today and gave me some nice parting gifts - they are so sweet.

Very exciting news! Amanda got my job!!! I've been lobbying so hard for so many years to have her work at the high school - too bad I had to leave in order for her to get a job. I would have liked seeing her every day. I'm going over to her house for dinner tonight and there will be much rejoicing! Yay!!!!

Well, poop. I don't get to go to New York City this summer. I was signed up to go on this history teacher week in the city for free as part of a grant. I was going to room with Amanda and we were set to paint the town red, but the lady in charge decided that since I'm not coming back into the school system next year I'm not eligible. What a bummer.... I understand completely, though, and now Amanda's husband Tony will go in my place and that should be fun for them. And actually, I really could use the week to pack. It will make my summer a lot less intense, which is good, and I should be able to spend more time with Jennie when she comes out in July.

Today was the official last day of school and thus this is the first summer evening. Graduation is tomorrow and just three days of inservice next week (which I desperately need in order to get my room packed up!). Then, I am finished at RCHS. How surreal... How exciting!

Yippeee! We've got a mortgage loan! Talked to the bank today and we're all set - we just have to pick out a house. It wasn't really a pleasant experience, though. The guy on the phone was painfully nice, I just hated giving all this personal financial information to a total stranger - I felt very invaded. Yuck. Oh, well. It's done and we're set to buy a friggin' house!

I got a physical today to prove I'll be able to keep up on this Korea trip and got the paperwork mailed off. I'm really getting excited about this!

Lazy Saturdays..... Ahh.... What an enjoyable day! I began by cleaning my house and mowing the lawn, which isn't very enjoyable, but I'm always much happier when I have a sparkling house and a beautiful lawn. I had lunch with a good friend today who is also moving, so we talked shop about buying our first homes and stuff. AND I got to have my favorite soup around here: she-crab. Yummy..... After Kelly went home, I wandered around downtown for an hour or so because it was such a gorgeous day and bought an ice cream cone. I love these days, where nothing super exciting happens, but all is well in my world and I am content.

Every year for the last four years, I have shown the movie Gladiator. It's a treat for my kids after they finish with the state tests (SOLs). We spend about 5 weeks learning about Rome back during the winter, so it fits in well with what we do. However, I teach 5 classes a day. Times four years. Today we finished the movie, which means I have now seen this movie 20 times just at school. And EVERY stinkin' time, I get all sappy at the end. It's insane. I know what's going to happen. I have every bloody word of the movie and every note of the soundtrack memorized by this point - I'm still bummed at the end of it. I never get tired of watching it - it's such a great movie! It's got a ton of accuracy issues, but there's enough right to get the point. And yay, Russell Crowe!

My favorite line (it gives me chills every time): "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix legions. Loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next." Boo yah!

It felt so weird coming back to Virginia last night and it still feels weird even this evening. I spent three days in Texas, reveling in that special Texas state-of-mind. Then, Brad and I spent the entire drive home plotting out the details of our move to Kansas. We're so pumped about this move that it feels like we're Kansans already! So, to arrive in Virginia seemed a bit out of place, even though we love it here.

Another weird thing - Texas schools were out by the weekend and everyone was in summer mode. It was easy to think it was June and summer and all, but the snap back to reality is that I still have 2 and a half more weeks to go. It's an easy two weeks, but still - it's weird to be in school when so many people I know are on summer break already.

Sorry for the redundancy of the word "weird", but that's what it's been.

Gotta lotta news, but a little space so I'll be as brief as possible. We just got back from a weekend in Texas, which was awesome! Brad successfully defended his dissertation Friday afternoon and pending some minor corrections will graduate in August! Yipppeeeee!!! It was great to be in College Station again and to see so many old friends, even if just for a short time. I even made it over to the old school I used to teach in - it's been 4 years and I was floored at how big the kids have gotten. The elementary aged kids are all in high school now - some of them have changed so much I wouldn't have recognized them on the street!

With the completion of Brad's Ph.D. comes a new job - most of you already know that he got a job in Kansas and we'll be heading that way at the end of July. We've spent the last few days working through house-hunting and moving details. It's going to be a big change, but we're really excited about it.

I also found out (hours before I left for Texas) that I was awarded a fellowship to travel to South Korea in July!!!! I was so disappointed I didn't get the Japan one, but this one should be fun, too. I know next to nothing about Korea, so I'm anxious to see it and to learn more. It's going to make for a hairy summer, but it's worth it.

That's the Reader's Digest version of events. I'll keep everyone posted. Happy week!

What a wild and wooly weekend! Saw both Da Vinci Code and Over the Hedge. We enjoyed both emmensely. Laughed ourselves silly over the cute little animals in the latter and were scared to death of Paul Bettany's portrayal of Silas...

I finally got up the nerve to cut off my hair for Locks of Love. A bunch of kids at the high school and my sister did it, so I knew about the program, but it wasn't until I realized just how long my hair had gotten did I think I would actually do it. Quite honestly, for anyone who knew me back in grad school, my hair is pretty much just like it was back then - it's just such a radical difference from the mid-back length I've had here lately. I really like it better short, though.

Tonight was our end of year party for the Academic Team. I was able to use the funds from the last competition they had to throw a nice picnic for them. It was nice to say goodbye to the seniors and welcome the new members for next year's team. These kids are just so awesome! Here I am (with short hair) with my girls....

Yay! 96% of my kids passed the SOL test! Only four kids failed and three of them came so close to passing, they're allowed to retake it next week instead of waiting until next year. I'm so proud of all my kids and their hard work. Now I feel like the hard part of the year is officially over. We're doing a project and watching a movie and that's it - 15 school days left! Can't wait for the summer!

My pinko husband is offically a frat boy. Holy cow. Kappa Alpha was founded at VMI and even though the school no longer has fraternities, alumni are allowed to become honorary members upon graduation. Brad has never taken the time to do it, but he decided this year would be a good one for it. The initiation ceremony was this afternoon and he feels a little sheepish for doing the Greek thing, but most of his friends have joined in recent years so I think he's going to be happy he did it. It's really out of character, but what the heck? It's a nice thing for him.

My kids take the state exams for my class tomorrow! I'm keeping my fingers crossed they remember at least most of what they've learned this year.

Last night was our local Relay for Life event to raise money for cancer research. Since my aunt is fighting a nasty bout of the disease, I thought this year I really needed to particpate. I agreed to help chaperone the National Honor Society team. The kids are great, and a lot of it was fun - particularly when everyone got loopy around 2-3am! Parts of the event were really cool - you can buy luminaries in honor of cancer fighters, survivors or victims and they line the track with them. As the sun goes down, they light them and read off all the names - it's very moving. There are even luminaries up in the stands that spell out hope. I took a picture, but it's pretty crappy. Other than that, you're just supposed to keep people from your team walking on the track constantly. Because I was so cold, I just kept walking to keep warm - I think I walked between 10-13 miles! They had live music and different groups were selling food - there's nothing like a chili dog at 3 in the morning. My favorite group sold hot chocolate for 50 cents - they were my best friends, since it got down into the 40s last night.

As chaperones, my friend and I had to stay up all night to keep an eye on the kids so they wouldn't do anything stupid. So, I actually found the event a little tiring and I don't know that I'll do it again - at least not all night, maybe just a couple of hours. The luminary ceremony was really nice, though. I left this morning around 7am (the event went until noon) so I didn't get to hear the final total of money raised, but the last I heard it was about $103,000! I came home and crashed. I've been completely useless all day. Not only am I wicked exhausted, but I can't feel my legs and so I'm relatively immobile! :) We're going to watch a movie tonight and then I'm off to bed...

Brad found out that at the awards ceremony tomorrow, he'll be getting recognized as an outstanding cadet mentor. It's a nice honor for him because he genuinely cares about these guys and puts so much effort into being there for them. The award apparently comes with a bit of cash, so it's extra cool! Fortunately, the ceremony corresponds with my planning period, so I'm planning to sneak away from work to see him get this. Should be nice.

Nothing else too exciting going on. We're still on standby about this job Brad applied for and it may be another few weeks before we hear anything. I hate the waiting game.... Hopefully we'll have good news soon!

Remember my student who got involved with an older man about a month ago? Well, I found out today that the relationship did not end - in fact, it had progressed into more physical encounters. Even better - the scumbag's married! This time, the girl's mom is pressing charges and has already called the police. This thing is about to get really big. I spent an hour on the phone tonight talking (at different points) to both mom and girl and I'm sure I'll have many more conversations with both. Ready to strangle girl - ready to castrate dirty old man. Anyone have any more crises they want to dump on my lap right now....?

My mother in law is in town. So, that's a lot of fun.... We took her out to dinner tonight and then went to see Ice Age: The Meltdown. A cute movie, but I'm really in it for Scrat - the poor little creature who never seems to get his acorn. The movies are worth it just for his scenes. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe at one point! I simply adore him!

So, Brad and I decided we had nothing else better to do last night than bathe the cats. Granted, both were filthy - Stitch's underside, which should be white, was brown. So, we ran out to the nearest store and finding they didn't have pet shampoo we just bought baby shampoo. Brad, as the official cat holder got suited up - long sleeves, raincoat and winter gloves. Threw Stitch into the bathtub. She wiggled but wound up resigning herself to it, while meowing the most heart-wrenching cries of despair. It was so sad! But she's clean. Shadow, however, wasn't going to just sit and take it. He thrashed and bit and hissed, but again, he's clean. When we took both of them out they were so cute and clingy. They just held on to us for dear life, probably thinking - what the hell was that?

Despite the fact we made their lives temporarily horrible for an hour last night, we're back to being friends and all is forgiven. Plus, they both smell so nice and have such clean fluffy fur!

Public Service Announcement for all who read my blog: Don't die. I really mean it. I've about had it with death. He's on my shit list. We've had all we can take for a while. On Sunday, we got word that one of our favorite profs from grad school was killed in a car accident on Friday. He was 75 and the cutest Hungarian medievalist you could ever meet (and I'm sure you've all met dozens). He was a dear man who really liked both Brad and me, encouraging us every step of the way through our degree programs. He's a member of Brad's dissertation committee, so we're waiting to see how that plays out. Oh, yeah - I didn't mention that earlier in April an older friend of Brad's died. He was in his 80s and died of natural causes, but Brad had known him since he was a cadet and they'd been working on a project for VMI together.

So, anyway, death is yucky. Sunday morning, we attended Charles's memorial which was really nice. I think it was good for closure. Brad and I walked there and back, which is a couple of miles. We have some really nice nature trails and the exercise felt good. Glad we did it.

On Saturday, I got to go on my first garden tour of Lexington. Basically, you get to tour the homes and gardens of several posh places in town. One house blew me away. It's owned by the widow of somebody Brown who founded UPS. Yeah, she's loaded. We walked in the foyer and were told the boards beneath us came from beams in a Boston warehouse where they used to store the tea. Oh. Guess I shouldn't spill my wine on it, huh? Holy moly. Every inch of the house was immaculate. Amanda and I were the youngest ones there by easily 20 years, but we had a great time.

Brad and I are about to attempt something really crazy. We're going to bathe our cats. I'm sure that will be super relaxing....

TGIF!!! And I really mean it! What a week! I didn't think it would ever be Friday. Things at school are finally calming down and returning to normal. The news report went fine - the guy definitely had an agenda and wanted me to talk more about how traumatic death is for teenagers. I answered his question, but spent a long time talking about what a great kid Charles was. Yeah, none of the personal stuff made it on the program - just the cliched bit about kids dealing with mortality. Annoying, but not that bad. Everyone thought I did a nice job.

Yesterday after school, about a hundred of us participated in this memorial walk from the school down to the river (about a mile). Charles's family was there and it was really nice. Kids placed flowers, candles and notes by the cross they erected on the bank. The kids put this together and did such a nice job of it - it was good for the healing process. Things seemed a lot more "normal" at school today. The official memorial service is Sunday morning.

Outside of that, life is moving on at a fairly steady pace. I went to pick up my utensil holder I painted at the pottery place and it's okay. The speckled paint didn't turn out like I thought it would, but I have something cute to put my dish brushes in. Prom is tomorrow night and I'm looking forward to that because it's alway so much fun. I love seeing the kids get dressed up.

My friend, Tony, sold me a bunch of ground beef for really cheap today. His father-in-law has a cow butchered for them every year and they had leftovers. Tony says it's awesome meat, so we're going to bust out the grill tonight and have some burgers. It's a beautiful night to do it. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Fortunately, today wasn't as bad as I expected. Most of the kids are calming down. Charles's friends are still shaken up, but the majority of kids have gotten over the shock and are getting back to normal.

Our local news station wanted to do a segment on Charles's life and so they came to the school today. A couple of his close friends were interviewed and my principal asked me to speak to the reporters (I'm developing quite a niche for being the spokesperson). The bit will air tonight, but I'm almost afraid to watch it. I HATE reporters. Especially small-town ones. I figure if I'm being interviewed by Barbara Walters and she copps an attitude, she's earned it. I've had to deal with too many of these nobody folks from BFE evening news or newspapers who fashion themselves hot-shots. These guys were so fake. I was so irritated with them that I didn't get the least bit emotional while talking about Charles. Probably a good thing, but I'm sure I'll come across as an ice queen when they air it. Anyway, I hope they do a good job with this segment tonight. Charles deserves it.

My ideal weekend went to horribly tragic so fast, I feel like I'm still spinning. Last night, I got a call from a parent letting me know that two of our teenagers were swimming in the river near a dam (the kids do it all the time around here) and got caught in the current. One got pulled out, the other didn't. They couldn't find the other boy, Charles. I taught both these boys last year and adore them - they're just really nice kids. Charles even stopped by my room after school on Friday to say hi since we hadn't talked in a while - we'd said hi in the halls but hadn't really talked. We chatted for about 10 minutes, he gave me a hug and was gone...

School was really terrible today since no one knew any more about Charles's whereabouts. I stopped by the river on my way in where a lot of folks were keeping vigil, but I couldn't stay long. The school was so quiet today... Despite all our hopes, I just learned they found his body just a couple of hours ago. 16 years old. Bright, ambitious, interesting and truly a great person. What a loss. Tomorrow will really be hell.

What an amazing weekend! Brad had drill so I kept myself busy with all sorts of activities. Yesterday, my friend Amanda and I met for lunch at my favorite downtown bakery (they have the best sandwiches!) and then went to the brand-new paint your own pottery place. It just opened last weekend and I'm thrilled it's here (my pocketbook probably isn't, though). It's within walking distance and it's more reasonably priced than the ones I've been to when I go home to Dallas. Amanda had never done it before and she's hooked! So much fun! I'll have to post a picture of my kitchen utensil holder when it comes back from the kiln.

A met up with an older colleague, who is delightful, for dinner at this dive way out in the country. One of the janitors at our school owns it and is a fantastic chef! We had this awesome prime rib dinner for $7! Dives are the best!

Today, I've been catching up on housework, which is icky but I've just realized I got a good workout - my legs are killing me! I made brownies from scratch, though, so I'm sure I'll manage to replace any calories I burned today.... I did get a chance to walk around downtown and enjoy the beautiful spring day. I read the paper and drank iced tea out on my front porch - I felt like a Norman Rockwell painting. We're having an unusually beautiful spring this year and I'm trying to enjoy every minute.

So, spring break was so much fun. It was great to see my parents and we had a fabulous time playing around town. We went to see the movie "Thank You For Smoking" - stinkin' hilarious! I love satire and this was amazing. We also saw Richard III at the Shakespeare theater I've mentioned before. It's such a treat to go to shows there. It's the only replica of his Blackfriar's Playhouse in the world. They're in the process of building a Globe Theatre as well, which would be the second replica - the first being in London. It's a high class place - Dame Judi Dench is even on the board.

Back to the grind this week, though. I did find out I didn't get the fellowship to Japan. Nor did I get the Asian studies conference in Colorado. Nor did I get the Disney teaching award. None of these is the end of the world, it just sucked to get three rejection letters in a week (although I really wanted to go to Japan.) :( Guess I'll have some free time this summer...

Brad has drill this weekend and I have plans with girlfriends so I'll have more to report later. Have a great weekend everyone!

So, everything is finally over with the student teacher. It was a train wreck and I spent what seemed like all week in meetings either with her or about her, but it's all over. By the way, did you know that Scotland and Wales are the same place? Funny, I'd never heard that before I talked to this chick. Anyway, she finished all her hours on Friday and she's gone, AND I'm on spring break!!!!!!

I'm so glad it's spring break - it was a long wait, but I'm thrilled it's here! After church on Sunday, I drove to visit Mary Beth in Kentucky. We're having a blast - shopping, scrapbooking, cooking, and watching movies. However, my stupid car got towed from her stupid apartment complex. Grr.... I haven't lived in an apartment in so long, I forgot they can be Nazis about parking. Oh well, it was a pain, but I'm not letting it ruin my trip - I love hanging out with my sister. I have to go home tomorrow, which is a bummer, but my folks are flying in to visit for the rest of the week in Virginia. Yay! We're going to have so much fun!

I love spring!

Wow. I have actually met someone who is dumber than my coffee table. She's my student teacher. Yep. This woman will have a college degree next month and will enter the teaching world in the fall. I plan to do everything in my power to stop such a travesty from occurring. Here's what happened today:

She's preparing a lesson on the crusades to give to my class tomorrow. She showed me her powerpoint today and it was terrible! She got so much stuff wrong, out of order and each slide was a huge block paragraph of info I later discovered she just cut and pasted off the internet. But, since she's new at this I was willing to be patient and talk her through a proper presentation style (even though she should have known better). Things were going along okay when the train wreck occurred. She had a sentence in her ppt she didn't understand - something about the Muslims holding Jerusalem after the crusades until the 20th century. She asked if the Christians finally got the city back and I replied that no, the Jews held Jerusalem now. She then said, "well Jews are Christians, right?" After very nearly swallowing my tongue, I calmly (yet twitchingly) replied, no, Jews are Jews and Jerusalem is a city in Israel - a Jewish nation since 1948. She took all this in as though she'd never heard it before. When I mentioned that the fact that the Jews coming in in 1948 upset the Muslims so much that it has led to intense violence in the Middle East, she stared at me with astonishment as though I just told her I'd cured cancer! I almost throttled her on the spot. I don't allow my FRESHMEN to walk out of my room without knowing this stuff. How does someone get to near-college graduation (with a history degree, no less) without knowing this stuff? And she's not some bimbo coed. She's in her mid 40s and served in the army for 15 years. No friggin' excuse.

Oh - and her idea of doing historical research for the crusades was to watch the movie, Kingdom of Heaven. An entertaining movie, I'll give you, but it's completely unacceptable as historical research at an adult level. She needs to read a stinkin' book! Her advisor is coming to observe her and we've already spoken about what a wreck this woman is. I warned her advisor she doesn't know her content at all and she's got no sense of the world around her. The advisor wasn't the least bit surprised and has been having tons of trouble with her all semester. Tomorrow should be interesting.

On the upside, it was a beautiful day today. I love spring! :)

Yesterday was so much fun! My Academic Team had their final competition of the year at the NBC Studios in Washington, DC! It's a show called, "It's Academic," and it's been around for a really long time. It was a great experience. We lost, but it was only because of speed. The questions were INSANELY easy. Here's a good gauge: I knew 95% of the answers, where on a regular district competition night, I know maybe 60%. The show is designed so that the kids won't look stupid, so only three questions were answered incorrectly the whole show - it just came down to speed. I could see my kids buzzing, but they were a split second behind the school that won. Oh, well. It was really fun to be there and it was a much classier do than the other quiz show we go to at the local PBS station.

After the show, we walked across the street to the Japanese embassy to look at the beautiful cherry blossoms - it was the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, so we got a small taste before we have to head back. It was kind of sad the season is over because this has been an amazing year. I really adore these kids!

So, it's been a while.... Last week was completely insane! I had a fabulous weekend (18-19th) in DC with my friend, Susan. I had a conference at the Turkish embassy that turned out to be really cool. I crashed with Susan and we had a great time catching up and shopping for scrapbooking supplies!

When I came back to start my week, however, it all exploded. I'm on the faculty council for the National Honor Society and we've got to punish a bunch of kids for a recent drinking incident. Lots of fun meetings about that... Also, one of my students confided in me that she got involved with this creepy old man (in his 50s), so I spent the better part of Tuesday with the police, the principal, guidance counselor and the girl's mom. Yikes! I found out I'm getting a student teacher, who started today and a whole bunch of other stuff I won't bore you with here. It was just insane.

Then, we went to Richmond on Friday to see Brad's aunt and cousins. He presented a paper at a conference and we girls hit the mall. It was fun and a welcome distraction from the week. Today was considerably quieter and I'm so grateful. I'm hoping the rest of the week continues this way. Two weeks until spring break!!!!

This has really been a pretty vanilla week. Certainly not black licorace bad (ewww) but not quite chocolate amaretto good either. Brad's out of town and there's been very little excitement. The good news is he met with his committee about his dissertation and they seem really positive about it. He turned in the final chapter and they set the date for his defense in May. So exciting!

I've been working on reading a bunch of essays for the Phi Alpha Theta (history honor society) conference, taking place at VMI next weekend. It's been interesting for me, but not the sort of thing other people get excited hearing about. :) I'll spare you all...

Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. Don't forget to wear green!

So this week has been a total blur... I can't believe it's Thursday night already. I'm thrilled tomorrow is Friday, though.

The American Red Cross came to the high school today for our annual blood drive. What an interesting day... They were not prepared and they ran behind all day. Plus, they had a lot of folks who were phlebotomists in training, which is just scary when you're in the chair. Most of the people there were 17 year olds donating for the first time and they were really freaked out. It didn't make it easier when the lady with the needle is asking for instructions... A lot of our folks overheard the Red Cross people lamenting about how much they hate coming to high schools and their attitudes definitely showed it. I've been donating blood regularly ever since the blood drive at my high school and this was the most ridiculous experience I've had.

After the woman took nearly 45 minutes getting through the initial interview (she couldn't work the computer database or find any of her equipment), I waited another 15 mintues in the chair for someone to come over to me. The girl next to me finished at the same time I did and the technician got flustered. She finished off the other girl and by the time she got to me, my blood had clotted and they couldn't get the final tubes done. So, they had to stick me in the other arm. I don't mind, it was just annoying. I think I earned brownie points with all the kids around me for my cavalier attitude about the whole thing. I've just done it so much it hardly fazes me anymore.

There. I feel better. :) Come on, Friday!!!

Hooray - it's Friday!!!! I'm so glad because I'm so tired.... This has been a really busy week without much sleep. My duet went well Wednesday night. It was really cool to do and it gave me a nice boost of confidence to take more chances. I'm movin' on up....

I just got home from the post office after dropping off my application for that Japan fellowship. I want this thing to happen SO badly that I've been obsessing about the application for weeks. I kept reformatting and changing everything - I was up past midnight working on it last night. I had to postmark it today and of course, I had a nightmare last night that I wouldn't make it to the post office in time after school so I didn't get it. Such a huge relief to see it postmarked and put in the mail. I also applied for this summer institute in Denver - that had to be mailed today, too. It's at the same time as the Japan thing, so it's my backup plan. I should hear back in about 6 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Have a great weekend!

I've had such a fun weekend! I finally got to see Rent. I missed it when it came out in theaters and I've been anxiously awaiting it's arrival on DVD. I'm totally addicted now. Brad got me the soundtrack for Christmas and so I've been listening to it constantly the last 48 hours. So good!!!

Speaking of music, my role in my church choir just got bigger. Ash Wednesday is this week and I'm singing in a duet. A couple of times - one major one and then a couple of lines here and there in other pieces. Yikes! It's really cool. I've learned a lot since last fall when I joined, feeling absolutely clueless. The woman who's my counterpart in the duets is the only other alto in the choir and we do well together - our voices just blend nicely. I'm excited! I'll have to post a follow up later in the week.

Snow day!!!! Yippeee! It's the best kind of snow day, too. It was snowing pretty hard until about 11am, just long enough to cancel school, and then it started to melt and now at 3pm it's almost all gone. I can still get out and about and not feel shut-in.

I finished this puzzle I've been meaning to do since about October. A kid at school noticed that I have a handful of puzzles on my wall as decorations and he brought one in for me to finish. He started it and got frustrated. It wasn't a high priority and I kept putting it off, even though every day he'd ask when I was going to finish it. I busted it out this morning and knocked it out pretty quickly - he'd actually put together some nice chunks already. The glue is drying and I can't wait to show it to him tomorrow.

I'm also working on an application for a fellowship this summer to Japan. I'm really excited about it! I'm sure I've got about a snowball's chance in hell of getting it - they only take 12 people from the US AND Canada. Yikes! But, I figure it's worth trying for. Wouldn't it be a hoot if I got it? I should hear back by mid-April.

That's about it here. It's been a quiet few days. We had a workday on Monday so with this snow day, it's a really short week. It'll be the weekend before I know it!

Wow - what a week! I found out Tuesday that the Academic Team regional competition I thought was March 15 turned out to be February 15!!!! We were supposed to compete last weekend, but the snow postponed it and the boneheaded secretary at my school told me March. The Athletic Director came into my room at lunch on Tuesday and was like, are y'all ready to go tomorrow???!!!! Holy crap! I was livid! So, I spent all afternoon rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to pull something together - the hosting school is 3.5 hours away, so we had to spend the night. I got everything squared away, but I had to leave school immediately because Brad and I had plans for V-Day.

Brad outdid himself again. We don't get out much, so we generally try to do something nice for V-Day. We went out to eat at this cute German restaurant and then went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Blackfriar's Playhouse in Staunton. It's an amazing Shakepearean theatre - the only one in the world! It's my favorite date-spot, so it was awesome!

Fastforward to Wednesday. Gathered my four competitors and left school at noon. We got to the host school and had a blast competing. I love my kids! They are so knowledgable, but are so socially well-adapted. They're cool people. Our school hasn't made it to the regional level in 7 years so just showing up to this tournament was a huge deal. They won the first round, but lost the next two - but I just found out that the schools they lost to were the top two of the night and will advance to States. That makes me feel a lot better. We had a couple hotel rooms and had a great time staying up late chatting. We took our time coming back today, but we eventually had to get back to school. Love those kids!!!!!! My team is pictured below - they're the best!

So anyway, here it is, late Thursday afternoon, and the last time I drew a deep breath was Tuesday morning. Crazy. I'm chapperoning the school dance tomorrow night, but after that I'm chilling out for a while...

Sorry I've been out of commission for a whole week. The flu really knocked me out for a while and then work got crazy. Wednesday evening, I got to judge the district forensics competition (various forms of public speaking, not dead bodies). It was a blast! These kids are so talented. My school's team walked away with 3rd place overall, with two girls winning their categories!

Friday, I threw a toga party for my kids since we just finished our Rome unit. It's really scary to have 50 minutes of unstructured time with a room full of 9th graders, but it went well. Many of them wore togas and brought Roman food for extra credit. We even had gladiator matches! It was so much fun! Guess it's going to be really hard to go back to a regular lesson on Monday... The picture below is of my 2nd period class - they had the most kids dress up so I thought I'd use their picture. Aren't they cute? :)

Well, crapola. I'm sick... I've got the flu - the real flu - influenza. I don't think I've ever really had it before. I rarely bother with the flu shot because it's expensive and I don't ever get the flu, but here it is. I missed work today and went to the doctor. Fortunately, it's in the early stages so they were able to give me this drug that's supposed to allieviate the symptoms. I tell you what - I'm getting a flu shot every year from now on - this sucks!

I'm achy and I alternate between burning up and freezing cold. I'm highly contagious so I can' t go ANYWHERE for the next couple of days - not even sure if I'll be safe to go back to work on Monday. I am bored, bored, bored. How the heck am I going to spend an entire weekend trapped in my room?!!! ARRGGHH!!! I HATE being sick! So there.

It used to be quite common for royal ladies to enter a "confinement" period during the last two months of their pregnancies. She would have had some company, but not much. Two months! At least I've got books and TV. I guess I shouldn't complain. Thanks for putting up with the rant.

Yikes! Last night, our indoor kitties proved themselves as worthwhile mousers. Shadow caught a mouse in our downstairs guest room - eeeeeekkkkk!!!! We weren't sure if it was a real mouse at first and Shadow (having never caught one before) wasn't sure if he did a good or bad thing, so we had a good stare at one another that seemed like ages. We were thrilled he caught it, but didn't really know what to do next since the poor mouse was still alive and looking at me very pleadingly (I felt terrible!). Unfortunately in our hesistation, Shadow ran upstairs and let go of the still-living mouse in our office, which is right across the hall from the bedroom. Yeah, we couldn't find it. Wasn't real excited to go to bed. The cats kept jumping on the bed all night and I'd wake up in a panic, thinking they might be bringing me a "present". Rough night....

Brad found the mouse dead this morning downstairs. He gave the cats an extra ration of kitty treats for their trouble. It's been over 2 years since I've seen a mouse in this house and then Stitch just chased it towards the door and it slipped out. This is the first time one has been killed by our cute kitties. Better to have killer kitties than rougue mice in the house, I guess.

This is the 4th Thursday night at home and it's very weird. Usually my choir practices on Thursdays and it's kind of a benchmark for my week. My director broke her foot and has cancelled practice indefinitely. She's a pain in the ass so I don't mind missing, but I do mind not seeing everyone. We're all playing conspiracy theorists, convinced something more sinister is going on, but I'm sure her foot just hurts badly...

I didn't make a New Year's resolution to lose weight or work out more, but I'm making a concerted effort anyway. I have this awesome elliptical machine at home set up in front of a tv/dvd player. I'm completely addicted to this Irish show, Ballykissangel, and I'm being really disciplined about only watching it when I work out. Netflix just sent the latest discs and I've worked out every day simply because I can't wait to find out what happens next. I did Seasons 1 and 2 about two months ago, but took a break because I couldn't get ahold of Season 3. I'm well into it right now, but it's only available up to Season 4. Going to have to find a new obsession or I'll go back to being lazy!

After many a conversation with my computer-guru friend, Susan, I've finally got my blog mostly to my liking - enough to advertise it, anyway.

The big excitement here is that Brad is continuing to prove himself a juggernaut with his dissertation. He's made significant progress on his last main chapter and then only has to write a quick intro and conclusion! It's really amazing/scary/cool that he's so close to finishing. It does, however, mean that we're both making a concerted effort to give him time to work. It's always been frustrating when we've done this in the past, but the light at the end of the tunnel is so bright and it's totally worth it.

We did make it out this weekend for a couple of movies. Saw Walk the Line and Brokeback Mountain. Loved them both! Brokeback was my favorite. I know some of you might not be comfy with the subject material, but it was truly a beautiful film. I'm rooting for it for Best Picture.

Over the weekend, Brad's family came to our house to celebrate our niece, Mya's, first birthday. I volunteered to make the cake since I'm trying to hone my skills in that area. After some trial and error, I came up with this Elmo cake. It was so fun! We had a great time. Mya's older sister, Alyvia, kept us in stitches - she is so funny!

As much as we enjoy our nieces, it is always a nice reality check for our readiness to leap into parenthood.

Well here it is. I turned 30 last week and wanted to try something new. Since I'm not really into bungee jumping or skydiving, I decided to do something tame, like learn to create and maintain a blog. I will do my best to keep this site updated with stories and pictures about the stuff going on in my life. I hope you find it at least moderately amusing. Happy reading!