Update

By the way, the room color turned out nice. The paint chip says "cliff rock," but I think it's better described as my coffee after I add vanilla caramel creamer. I'm off to pull weeds now. My mother-in-law has a beautifully manicured backyard and porch, and she needs to not see my flower beds like this next weekend.

His name is Bear

One of my new favorite shows is Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls. It's a show similar to Survivor Man, which is also a cool show, but Bear is hotter and has a British accent. And sometimes he gets naked.

Ghost from the past

Twenty years ago I graduated from high school. Ten years before that I was in second grade and writing lies in my diary about how I had a new boyfriend named Donny. (I'm leaving off the last name in the totally off chance that someone who knows Donny might read this. But I mention that because never do I remember referring to him by his first name only. It just doesn't seem right to be doing so now). Donny was an actual person, was one of the boys all the girls liked, but in NO way was my new boyfriend. I was just such a pitiful loser it seems, that I had to make up boyfriends TO MYSELF in my own diary.

What's weird is that twice in one week recently here in Midland I have seen Donny. And I heard from a good source (you know who you are, wink, wink) that times haven't always been good for Donny. You know those newspaper pages where they print photos of people with the associating crimes listed? It seems he's been on one of those pages. But when I saw him he looked to be a normal-looking working dude and then on the second encounter to be a normal-looking family man.

We all do dumb things, but I hope things have turned around for him. I really shouldn't care, other than the fact that I used to place him on such a high pedestal. He's down here with the rest of us now, where we all belong. And I think these recent spottings are just more proof that it's time for me to get out of Midland.

Off to Home Depot

My plan today is to finally paint our bedroom. Originally I said I wouldn't do anything with our room until we could do it right - buy new furniture, new bedding, window treatments, art, etc. But I just can't wait any longer. It's ugly, drab, and I usually try to pretend it doesn't exist when giving someone a tour of the house. Don't expect before and after pictures though. A little paint won't hide the goodwill furniture.

Temporary Insanity

I think this is my third post to write over the last two days, but only my first to actually post. Each time I'd write one, I'd re-read it and think "god, how depressing." There are times when having only X chromosomes really annoy me. I hate hormonal episodes. So if you're a guy reading this and rolling your eyes right now, piss off. It's a horrible feeling that you'll never understand.

Times like this I just want to walk off the face of the Earth and never return. The only way I know how to handle it is to keep my distance, speak as little as possible to anyone, and nap or look like I'm trying to nap. Joy.

Tomorrow I'll likely be a new person and will laugh that I not only wrote this but was nerdy enough to post it.

My Friday Off

I have so much I could/should be doing today, so I've decided to set minimal goals:

1. Clean off the friggin' dining table. This has unfortunately become the walk-by drop spot.
2. Find a spot for the huge roasting pan I bought for the turkey. Who knew this would be such a chore.
3. Go shopping, at least some, and probably with my younger sister Ashly who's in town.
4. Ignore the mess in the garage.
5. Not kill the cat for deciding the Christmas tree is his new jungle gym.

There. They're neither lofty nor overwhelming goals. All I need now is some coffee to get going.

Keep blogging...

Yes, I've been a blogging fiend the last few days but there's a reason. At least four fellow bloggers that I know, including myself, have been either bored with the blogging thing or bored with what they have or don't have to talk about, and so I'm trying to do my part to get back in the blogging spirit. My sister got the ball rolling, so I'm following along. And Melissa has been putting us all to shame.

So fellow bloggers out there - stop thinking you have nothing to write about. I bet you'd be surprised at what entertains your readers.

Alan and I assembled the Christmas tree last night, and I hung lights while he hung more new blinds in the living room. (We've been replacing all the old flimsy mini-blinds with the wide slat wood-looking ones - huge improvement.) Anyway, I think I spoke too soon this morning when I said Junior has played with the tree but hasn't actually been IN the tree from what I could tell. Nope, I'm wrong. A lower branch has already been knocked off and lights are being pulled and probably chewed. Should be a fun few weeks. Grrrrr....

Hoping for zzzzzzzzz's

Why is it that sleepless nights hit you at the most inconvenient times? Like, I don't know...say the night before a busy day? I know the answer is obvious...it was pretty much a rhetorical question. Or perhaps it's because I can't stop falling asleep before 10:00 (some nights before 9:00!) on the couch every evening. It must be contagious because now Alan is doing it. And to the two people who called during this time, sorry. There is no phone call that can interrupt a nice nap on the couch!

So we woke up at midnight and moved to the bedroom. I haven't been able to sleep since. But there's a James Bond marathon on Spike, so I'll try curling back up on the couch and seeing if I can recapture that sleepy mode. It helps to curl up with Bear - that would be the name I gave this super thick blanket that Alan's dad brought back from Korea. You could easily survive sub-zero temperatures with this blanket.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Much to celebrate!

I'm Done with a capital "D" with student teaching. Today was my last day, so yea for me! It was really a good experience overall, and I honestly could not have had a better mentor teacher. I have some sub jobs lined up for the next 2-3 weeks and a long-term maternity job that I'm likely to have starting in February. Other than that, I think I plan to just substitute instead of taking a mid-year job.

Graduation is December 9th. One of my students wrote me a note that said "congratulations on passing college." It's just hard to believe that I'm really done with all of this. I mail off a paper tomorrow, and that is my last official anything. Although I think I owe the university $47 for something.

Tomorrow Alan and I are going to an early morning turkey-frying and beer-drinking party, but it's hard for me to be in party mode at that time of the morning. Last Saturday as we rode on the chartered bus to the Tech game, I had a beer at 9:30 a.m. That had to be the earliest I've ever drank alcohol. That would be considered a late start to Alan and his college friends, "back in the day." Could y'all still do that at the old age of 30?

Once burned, twice not so shy

Three or four Saturdays ago, this young black kid rang our doorbell at 12:30 a.m. Normally, we're in bed by then but just happened to be up and in the living room watching TV. Alan answers the door, which is the first thing I wouldn't have done. I would have looked through the peephole and either ignored the guy or yelled something through the door. Alan not only opens the door but goes outside to talk to the guy, and listens to a story about how this kid's parents are fighting and they don't have enough money to get back to Odessa. Whatever. But if you know Alan, the Good Samaritan, you know that he couldn't let this kid go without doing something for him. And Alan has the kind of heart that tells him people are generally good and honest whereas I believe the type of people that show up at your door at that time of the night are up to no good, ever.

So Alan TAKES THE GUY IN HIS CAR to find his parents. Alan's not believing everything the kid is telling him, yet he still has to help somehow. I'm left at home flippin' mad and scared thinking this so-called "kid" is pulling out his knife or gun to not only rob Alan but leave him with a scar for all his neighborly behavior. Anyway, Alan finally comes back without the kid and starts feeling kind of stupid for what he did. It didn't help matters that I'm ranting and griping about all the things that could have happened and how I'd been pacing the house wondering what the hell was going on.

So I tell all of this not to make Alan look like a fool, but to get to the really good part where Alan kicks some ass! At least verbally.

About two weeks later, we go out to eat at La Bodega, not too far from our house but not a walking distance either. We go to leave and are getting in our car when this black guy walks up to the front of the car. I'm already inside with the door shut when I realize this and then realize he's approaching Alan. My first thought is, oh dear God, here we go again. Another sob story and someone wanting money. And I'm thinking either Alan's going to give him some or he's not, and this not so small kid is going to get pissed. But then as I'm trying to strain my ears to hear the black guy, I hear Alan loud and clear. He says something along the lines of "Yeah, well you told me this same story on another night at a different location about a week ago, and YOU'RE A LYING DOG." And he didn't say it with a neighborly tone of voice. It was awesome. I was in the car doing that universal sign with the elbows and fists for "YES!"

I don't want Alan to be cynical and suspicious like me, but it was cool to see him put someone in their place.

"Red hot mama, velvet charmer" - who knew?

Since Alan must get his "Bob and Tom" fix, the radio in our bathroom is usually set to the local rock station every morning. So this morning I'm about to get in the shower and on comes Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog." I get all excited and am turning it way up, because this takes me back to when I was 13 and listened to that cassette no less than 100 times at deafening levels. I probably thought I was something else, listening to a song that had the word bitch in it. Today they probably say bitch on the Disney channel, for all I know. Anyway, I'm singing along in the shower when it occurs to me I HARDLY KNOW THE WORDS. How is that possible?

Well for starters, the cassettes or albums rarely came with the lyrics printed inside. And we sure didn't have the internet to look up words to any song ever recorded. So what you would do is play the song over and over with your ear to the speaker trying to write down the lyrics, or if you didn't have the actual cassette you had to have a blank cassette tape ready and waiting in your stereo in case the song came on the radio. If you were really on top of things, you called in your request to the station and sat by the stereo ready to hit the record button.

So I look up the lyrics today and um......wow, I wasn't even CLOSE to knowing the words. I had the "son-of-a-bitch" part down though.

And I'm just going to take this opportunity to beat Alan or any other pervert I know to the punch, by saying that yes, I realize I mentioned getting in the shower and being excited in almost the same sentence.

You might be bored after reading this.

I should be posting more. I have time. I'm not writing lesson plans, I've almost finished my portfolio, I've taken and passed all my tests now, and I'm not even really teaching much this week or next. So I basically don't have a lot to do, school-wise. And with Bailey's volleyball season being over until club starts in January and Alan's softball done until the spring, I don't even have games to go to every week. But in case you haven't figured it out already, I'm a fairly boring person.

Weird thing is, that never stopped me from blabbing before. I might be in a slight funk, but I think it's the lack of having fun things to look forward to. We've (meaning Alan and I) been in need of a fun weekend away for a long, long time now. I don't see that happening for a while. I guess I have graduation to look forward to, but that also drives the home the fact that I better get my butt busy in the ole' job search adventure. Glory day! That's always a good time!

Time Change

I don't handle the time change well. It'll take me weeks before I stop falling asleep on the couch before 9:00. Yesterday when I got home from school, I made coffee, thinking I had figured out a way to keep myself awake enough to make it to The Daily Show. And Thursday night is my TV night, so I knew there'd be shows on I'd want to stay awake for. Especially after DeeBee told me there would be a new episode of "A Haunting" at 8:00. So I drink my coffee and go about my evening - taking Bailey to a game, picking up pizza, etc. I watch The Office, which was amusingly awkward as usual, and settle in for my fixation on hauntings. I guess I made it through half the show. 8:30!! I'm out.

I don't wake up again until nearly 9:30 when Addison gets back home. By then my contacts are super dry and I'm fighting to open my eyes so that I can look friendly and approachable when her boyfriend or whatever he is comes to the door. He already thinks I don't like him, so last night's failed attempt at looking pleasant didn't help.

It's not like it's a two-hour time change! But that one hour coupled with the darkness just puts me out. The only plus side is that I'm usually waking up before the alarm goes off at 5:00. I don't see anyone else around me having trouble.