5 years ago today...

I was attending my human resources orientation for my first official teaching job (English III). I was living on my own (with a 3 year old) in a new town, and excited about being a "city girl" for the first time in my life (you Ruston folks know what I'm talking about!) Little did I know that the orientation class would do more than just prepare me for the ins and outs of teacher retirement and insurance plans... it would introduce me to my husband!

As I sat at my table with my college friend AJ, she pointed out the cute blonde guy at the back. So sitting through all our paperwork lectures I would glance back at him. When we finally got a snack break, AJ drug me to the back of the room to "mingle". Lo and behold, we were both going to be at the same school... me as an English teacher and he as a band director. And that was it. Orientation wrapped and we headed our separate ways. No numbers were exchanged, just a friendly wave. (I should note here that he had been in town for exactly 12 hours... seriously, all his stuff was still in the U-Haul truck and he was staying at a hotel)

But for the next few days our paths would cross at even more new teacher trainings, breakfasts, and work days and eventually, at the prompting of AJ, he finally asked for my number. And then left town. (This would become a theme...)

Fast forward to the first date: He calls while I'm laying out at the pool in my "the place to live" apartment complex. He's just flown back in from his summer job and wants to know if I'm free that evening. I know, I know, all the dating books advise to say no if it's less than 24 hour notice before a date so you don't look desperate, but I had been living on pb&j and kool-aid. I thought it would be a nice change of pace. So, off to dinner at Chuy's. Don't remember much of dinner except the creamy jalapeno dip, which I ate about a gallon of. Conversation went pretty well as we talked about the new school and how we ended up there. He is not a big fan of the movie theater, so we decided to hit up blockbuster and watch them at his apartment. Here's where it gets fun. Movie starts (think it was a Bourne flick)... 15 minutes in I hear snoring. That's right, snoring. He. Has. Fallen. Asleep. I was a little confused, but really wanted to watch the movie and was sure which of the electronic disc changer gizmos he put it in, much less which of the thousand remotes operated it, so I stayed on the couch till the movie ended.. At which point he woke up, groggily mumbled "I'm really sorry" and went back to sleep. I went home.

So there you have it. Not the most auspicious beginning to our relationship, but I promise it got much much better.

And today, while he's on the road again, I got a little surprise:

Awwww... isn't he the best?

Time Waster Tuesday

As I procrastinate the cleaning of my kitchen/bathroom/bedroom, I haven't been totally useless. I did learn how to get rid of stuff. Need to get rid of sensitive teeth? Tips are here. Need to get rid of hairballs? Yep, they know how. Global Warming? You betcha. Back Fat? Oh yeah. There are a ton of tips to be found in several catagories, but my favorite has to be how to get rid of people (co-workers, stalkers, telemarketers). So go ahead and tell yourself you're being productive. You migt actually surprise yourself and get rid of a few things :)

As I enjoy some quality time with Craig Ferguson

Just more self entertainment on a Monday night. Here's how it works:

1. Open your mp3 library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, shortwave radio from Eastern Europe)
2. Put it on shuffle (or random or whatever else it gets called)
3. Press play
4. For every section of the movie, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Title: Crazy for You (Madonna)

Waking Up: Stay Away (The Honarary Title)

First Day of School: Zombie (The Cranberries)

Falling in Love: So Small (Carrie Underwood) *she sings it in the minihorse commercial

Breaking Up: There's a Girl (The Ditty Bops)

Prom: Wave on Wave (Pat Green)

Life's Okay: Details in the Fabric (Jason Mraz)

Mental Breakdown: If I had Eyes (Jack Johnson)

Driving: City of Angels (Gabriel Yared)

Flashback: Coyote (Better than Ezra)

Getting Back Together: Cry Me A River (Diana Krall)

Wedding: The Saints are Coming (U2)

Birth of a Child: Going the Distance (Cake)

Final Battle: All Star (Smash Mouth) *this on my ipod for Will's enjoyment

Death Scene: Wherever I may Roam (Metallica)

Funeral Song: L.A. Song (Beth Hart)

End Credits: Going Back to New Orleans (Dr John)

So, I'm not sure who wrote this particular screenplay, cause I've always imagined my life a little more Pretty in Pink/Sixteen Candles but don't remember Molly Ringwald fighting many final battles (unless we're talking metaphorically). But if this is how its going to go down, can I please have Kirsten Dunst or Reese Witherspoon play me :)

For Mom & Dad

To celebrate 35 fabulous years, here's a look back on some of the highlights. And before you get too stressed out, there's only like 5 people who read this blog and most of them are related :)

Happy Anniversary you crazy kids! We love you and hope you have 35 years more!

Sassy Sunday

As I try to put my living room back together, I caught inspiration here. I'm not a star girl myself, but had a batch of Fleur-de-lis I picked up on a trip to First Monday. They were too dark for the red walls, but with a little paint and some clear coat, I think they just might work. I started with plain metal.

Then I added 2 layers of "linen" acrylic paint with a paper towel.Followed by a shot of clear coat. I was pleasantly surprised by the effect the clear coat had on the acrylic. (I also don't know how to right side up this one).And here they are hanging together in the living room... (sorry about the glare) I have some additional ones I may add in as well.

There ya go, project # 2 done. Yay! Can't wait to see what else I have that can be painted and re-purposed!

What I need (according to Google)

Can't sleep. Typed "Julie needs" into google. Here is what google thinks I need:

1. Julie needs complete access in the hallway. (google must have been talking to the wii board)
2. Julie needs your HELP! (the caps were just like that...)
3 Julie needs a new pair of shoes (oh how well google knows me)
4. Julie needs to finish this painting. (Ummm, I thought I did yesterday, remember all the trim)
5. Julie needs coffee (this google is a mind reader)
6. Julie needs an early start (gotta beat the crowd to Schlitterbahn)
7. Julie needs to work on her parenting. (and google needs to work on some tact!)
8. Julie needs to be shutdown. (google is getting a little brazen...)
9. (I'm not making this one up) Julie needs a cupcake.
10. Julie needs to get her ass handed to her. Pronto. (errupting in huge fit of laughter...seriously, I'm crying... google is about to get a smack down)

*wiping tears* Wasn't expecting that last one. Can't say that all of those are on my "need" list, but Google must know better than me. What about you, do you know what you need?

Free at last!

Yes, we have escaped from the loft! Yesterday we painted all the quarter round to match the baseboards (after tracking down trim paint that hadn't separated into nasty looking liquids). While they dried we took in a little minor league baseball at the Dell. Much to our delight, one of our favorite rising starts was back on the roster, JR Towles. We met him at Spring Training and he is such a nice guy. I had to get a picture, even if it meant doing the pouty lip and sad eyes after the game. ***At this point I would post said picture, but my stupid computer won't recognize my SD card tonight and I'm too lazy to walk downstairs and find the cable*** But trust me, it's a cute picture that I will be putting up in my classroom.

Yesterday was also Will's day of freedom; after 3.5 weeks he had his cast removed. I didn't think cast removal was going to be a big deal, but along the way he has apparently been told that the saw of choice is a chainsaw. We had to do a lot of reassuring, and eventually the cast came off. He wanted to keep it. ***At this point I would insert the picture of Will's purple cast being used as a "bat weapon"... you know like something Batman carried in his utility belt... he even added wings to it***

Last night we moved the furniture back into the living room. Hallelujah! So happy to have my kitchen back and room to walk around. ***At this point I would put the before and after pictures of my fabulous new floors, but you can just imagine the rich mahogany***
Now keep in mind that I chose really bad before pictures so the after would have a much greater impact (plus those were from pre-an orderly fashion)
Sorry for the pictureless blog... I feel like I shouldn't have even bothered blogging about it, but it's been 2 days since my last post and I was going through withdrawal. I promise in the morning I'll march downstairs and find the cable and all will be well. It will have to be after I get back from Schlitterbahn though :)*Pictures fairies have been here*

Prisoners in the loft

Today is the day! I had it all planned out in my head....

We'd wake up. Gather everything we could possibly need for the afternoon and set up camp in the loft. The installers would show up and *Presto* my floors would lock in place smooth as butter. We'd be crafty and organized and knock out my summer project list. And at the magic hour I would walk back downstairs to my reassembled living room and whip up a spectacular batch of chicken spaghetti for dinner.

This is what really happened:

I woke up at 8:49. The installers arrived at 8:56. I grabbed cheerios, a bag of banana chips, peanut butter and some crystal light from the kitchen. I found a bag of what I thought held some summer art projects to keep us entertained. It would have helped for me to check that the sun catchers were packed with their paint, and even better a paint brush. I have a glue gun, but only one stick of glue. I brought up scrappy paper, but didn't grab the scissors. Instead of hanging up clothes, I had to lock my cat in the bedroom so she won't escape through the open front door. I've counted at least 5 houseflies that are sure to drive both my husband and the cat insane. We've done a lot of this:

And 5 hours later those installers are still sawing and banging away on the floors.

Now let me give you a little background on this floor situation. 4 years ago when we moved in this house we knew we wanted wood floors downstairs. The carpet was super industrial and had been done by the bank... not pretty and not comfy on the feet. After watching way too many hours of DIYTV I decided that we could do this project. I talked to some friends that do this on a pretty regular basis and asked for thier input. I read all the stories on-line. I stalked the flooring guys at Lowe's and Home Depot. And I chickened out. But this summer we finally decided to get it over with. After admitting to ourselves that this was not something we were repared to do on our own, we found a great deal on flooring (gotta love those 4th of July sales) and called a local company to install it for us. We did make an effort to do as much of the project as we could on our own... like ripping up all the carpet, pads, etc. We called our good friends J & T to move furniture and rip up carpet last weekend. My impatient husband moved all the furniture before they got here, but there was plenty of carpet and tack strips for everyone.

J pulls up tack strips...

And T scrapes up glue and carpet pad....

Bob gets scraping with his special gloves :)

It got pretty sweaty and dusty...

It was a dirty job....but we got it done!

I don't know if this is going to get finished today, but I will post before and after pictures when it's done. Now if I can just figure out how to get my furniture out of the kitchen...

Rolling with the homies....

Holy Cow! I just saw my odometer... In the past 4 days I have made a round trip to Athens, TX (360 miles) a round trip to Dallas (380 miles) and a round trip to San Antonio (200 miles). No wonder my head is spinning! Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for a good road trip. In college I remember loading up in a couple of cars and driving to Memphis, or during one particularly ambitious spring break, to Lake Havasu City, AZ. But nearly 1000 miles in one week is just a little too much for me. Most of our time was spent hanging out in the pressbox of whatever stadium Bob was rehearsing in, but we did find this cool abandoned rest stop on the side of I-35.

I had a great time in Dallas, catching up with Colleen (getting the dirt on our old school), and crashing at Monica's house. Good friends and good relaxing time at the pool (and a little BW3s just for the heck of it!) made it worth the drive.

Saturday was spent at the Alamo dome (every time I see that I think of a la mode and I crave pie) watching Bob rehearse for DCI Southwest. We all had our own way of preparing:

Bob worked out his schedule.

Will concentrated on defeating the decepticons.

I read my book.

Showtime!! That's Bob at the bottom watching while SCV takes the field. We had some sweet seats to watch from.

We left after the show and got home around 2 A.M. So nice to have a few days to decompress, and even better because Bob is home for a few days!!! Next up for us: New floors!

Dallas

This is what I did last night. Good times catching up with Colleen :)

This is what I did all day... while everyone else taught summer school :)

Ahhhhhh summertime.

The boys are back in town!

Technically, only one of my boys is back... Bob is still on the road, but I get to see him on Thursday!

I drove to Athens yesterday to meet my dad for the exchange.. I gave him a pair of cute Mickey Mouse crocs and he gave me my son. Nice Swap huh? (*the crocs are for a friend, not my dad) We had to do a quick switch, I was trying to beat out the nasty looking clouds that followed me most of my drive.

Will was happy playing his DS for the drive back home. If you've never had a conversation with a Nintendo brainwashed 8 yr old, here was ours:

Will: I can't wait to get home.

Me: Well, it's still a couple of hours. How about you telling me some of the fun things you did at mamaw's house?

Will: I can't remember. Do you want to be Wario or Bowser on Super Smash Bros. Brawl?

Me: What? Who are you talking about? What did you do at daycamp?

Will: I think I'm going to be Bowser cause it's impossible to beat Bowser. His specials are wicked.

Me: (snickering over his use of the word "wicked") I don't think he's impossible to beat Will. If that were true everyone would be him and the game wouldn't be any fun.

Will: I'll be Bowser and use his specials and.... What kind of specials do you think pikachu has? or maybe squirtle? Oh, is Sonic on the game?

Me: I have no idea Will. I don't even know what you're talking about right now. I've played it one time.

This went on for 30 minutes. I didn't understand half of it. And I can assure after playing the game with him tonight, I still have no idea.

We got in kind of late and I didn't feel like cooking dinner after driving all day, so we ordered pizza. I have to stop here and say that I am not a big dessert pizza fan, but I felt like I needed a reward for surviving the crazy Texas backroad drivers (in the RAIN)-- you know who you are--so I ordered the chocolate dunkers. HELLO! These are fabulous!!! I am all about some hot gooey pastry topped with dark and white chocolate with its own chocolate dipping sauce. I even ate less pizza so I'd have plenty of room :) I tried to take a picture, but my hand was shaking in anticipation of the deliciousness and it came out blurry :(

Here's the new haircut for the boy---our attempt at a mohawk. Yes, I said it... Mo-hawk!

Wicked!

ch-ch-ch- changes

I'm trying to find a blog template I like. I was super excited to find all these fun designs at Leelou. So if things look a little crazy for a few days, I'm just trying some on for size. Have a fabulous Monday folks!

I heart Ikea

Went to Ikea yesterday. I could wander in that store for hours! So many colors and shapes and textures, it can lead to sensory overload when you throw in a piece of apple cake too. I have been blog stalking some crafty people lately and became inspired to do something before the end of summer rolled around. So, with the help of this book and the super fun fabric I hope to make this.

On my way to fabrics I found this cute bulldog and bought him too :) Happy Day!

Great Escape

Bob is home for a week, and in an effort to salvage any remaining sanity, we decided to head to a bed and breakfast for a few days away from computers and cell phones (and the looming new floor project). I booked a suite at the Beauregard House, a fabulous home built in 1905 and located in the King William District of San Antonio. Neither of us had ever stayed in anything besides a hotel, so it was quite an experience.

The Beauregard has two huge porches, on off the front living room and one off the back formal kitchen. It was so nice to just sit out on the swing and listen to the birds.

Our room was on the third floor, the Champagne Suite. It was the only room on the third floor and had a great view of the parks and river walk. It was a little strange knowing that we were the only guests staying in this huge house.



We decided on dinner at Paesanos, a fantastic little Italian place on the riverwalk. The Paesanos shrimp, their signature dish, was incredible. We had to walk off all the pasta and bread before going back to the Beau, so we wandered around the riverwalk.



The next morning breakfast was served in the formal dining room. There was one other couple eating with us, newlyweds from Denton. After a spinach and cream cheese quiche, we headed out for another day of exploring San Antonio.





For dinner we wanted to try Chart House, located on top of the Tower of Americas. It's a rotating restaurant, so it took just a little getting used to, but the view was beautiful! We were seated about 20 minutes before sunset and got to see San Antonio light up. I tried a prickly pear margarita, still undecided on that one :)




Playing in the fountains in Hemisphere Plaza
Our View of San Antonio

We opted to sleep in the next morning and found this breakfast basket outside our door. What fun! It was a very relaxing getaway before going back to real life and the road.