Our possessed cat

He looks innocent enough, until you're laying on the couch and he suddenly jumps on your face and bites you HARD 1/8 of an inch from your eye. It's because of these incidents that I relentlessly harass him with the "pointing finger"....video soon.

Wicked Weather

Did anyone hear about the tornadoes in the DFW area over the weekend? We were right there - as in RIGHT THERE. It's as close to being in or around a tornado as I've ever been. And since I have this strange, perverse desire to be in a tornado, it was way cool.

A few of the girls and parents went to the mall in Richardson during a rare break from the tournament. While shopping we hear there's a tornado warning for Richardson and that we really shouldn't consider leaving the mall anytime soon. So we're standing on the lower level, meaning the underground level, outside of Macy's and at the base of some escalators when we hear a loud crash, glass breaking, and then a gust of wind hits us in the LOWER LEVEL. The lights flickered off and the escalators shut down. I was standing under this large atrium tree when the wind swooped down and blew leaves off the tree in my face. At that point, all of us standing around immediately fled to a nearby Foot Locker. It was so funny. The looks on our faces had to be hilarious.

Afterwards when we were brave enough to venture back up to the upper level, we got the scoop from some Macy's employees. The entrance doors to their lingerie department violently blew open, and panties were sucked out of the doors and bras were swinging wildly on the racks! Their actual words - "there were wet panties everywhere." Hmmm. That wind, or maybe the effects of a funnel cloud above the mall (I'm guessing here), was strong enough to blow all the way through the store out to the Macy's mall entrance, down to the lower level where we stood. There might also have been a draft caused by the actual mall entrance doors opening as well around the same time. Cool, huh?

Bailey in action

We really enjoy these tournaments and didn't want to see it come to an end since this was our last one, so the parents are now considering the Regionals in El Paso. Hopefully it's not too late for us to get in!

Lone Star Classic

We had a great time in Dallas. This tournament was the biggest, craziest thing I've seen.

Try to imagine two huge (I'm talking cavernous) areas inside the Dallas Convention Center with 60 volleyball courts, 4 teams at each court. 60 courts! It was loud, spectators sat right along the sidelines of the courts, Starbucks and Maui Wowi stands in the corners, guys from Medieval Times walking around in their knightly duds, and volleyballs flying all over the place. And of course there were hundreds of screaming 13-14 year old girls.

It reminded me of scenes from "Bring it On" where there's organized chaos all around, and you walk by teams that you beat or that beat you badly at a previous tourney and you maybe exchange those looks. The picture doesn't capture the enormity of it all, but maybe you get the idea. More pictures and maybe videos to follow.

Abrupt changes in subject

I did take care of a couple things this week, employment-related. I updated my resume again, scheduled my screening interview with the district office, and called the principal at the school I've been working at to get a feel for openings. She COULD NOT have been less interested in me. There are third grade teachers there campaigning to get me hired on with them, and she sounded like she was talking to some random candidate whom she's never met and certainly not someone she's seen in the hallway everyday for the past semester and a half. It was so bad it was funny.

We're off to the Big D this weekend for Bailey's last volleyball tourney. Should be tiring but fun. She just got braces yesterday and is in a world of discomfort, but hopefully she'll still have a good time this weekend. We're playing at the Dallas Convention Center in a tourney with 143 other teams. That's only our division - there are three others. How cool is that going to be?!

I finally figured out how to get my profile pictures smaller. The new one is Junior being camera shy and trying to get me away from his face by giving me kisses. He does have an occasional sweet side. It's usually when he's sleepy or wants a treat, but we take what we can get. We're his bitches.

The next step

It's time I guess. Gotta get a real job. Yesterday I finished the long-term job, and I'd like to bum out and do nothing today. But really, it's time to get serious. First things first though - I need to find out when my big honkin' sub check is going to arrive so that we can promptly write out a check for a new furnace. These things happen when you buy a 40-year old house. More bids coming today, but it's not going to be cheap.

The good news is that all my plants appear to have survived that wicked winter storm last weekend. And today....it's gonna look something like this:

Life is good again.

See no evil

Go ahead, click. He's that cute.

This is why I don't camp when it's cold.

Well thank God for space heaters. We have the really nice oscillating one in the living room, the scary and obnoxious one in the kitchen, and a tiny one in Bailey's bedroom. The scary one can only be turned on for short intervals since its wiring is so antiquated that it actually flipped a breaker yesterday. And when you touch the cord to unplug it, the cord is quite hot. That's why it's in the kitchen, where it's okay to have occasional fires. The tiny one in Bailey's bedroom only seems to help if you're sitting two feet away, so she opted to sleep in the living room under mounds of blankets.

The house has been very cold but livable I guess this weekend, which is good since the HVAC folks (who are the ones who pretended to repair our unit three weeks ago when the A/C wouldn't work) haven't called us back. All weekend. I think I would be more upset about the whole thing if it were the middle of winter, but since we're expected to be back up into the 80s on Tuesday, I'm biding my time.

One way we bided our time yesterday was getting out to see "Blades of Glory." Very funny, but probably not going to be my favorite Will Ferrell movie so far. It's easier to pick favorite scenes from all of his movies. Like the entire scene from "Old School" where he gets drunk, goes out on stage naked, and then streaks through town. Maybe my favorite Will Ferrell scene ever.

I just checked the thermostat which has slowly but steadily been dropping all weekend, and we're now down to 61 INSIDE THE HOUSE. Come on Tuesday.

I Give

Because really what else am I going to do?

Grin and Bear It

I had to cover my flower beds and window box yesterday with sheets and plastic covers. And our heater is not working. Do these two statements sound reasonable for April? NO! (said in my most evil Amityville Horror voice.) Currently, it's 28 degrees with rain and sleet falling.

By the way, let's recap the past five weeks: broken car, air conditioner, fridge, and now heater. Mother F***er! I don't mind a few things breaking now and then, but how about something small like the toaster or a hair dryer?

It's a Full Life

Tomorrow is a school holiday, and I'm so excited about having a Friday off! The priorities of the day include: tanning, watching the last two episodes of The Hills (unless I watch them here in a bit since I'm up so early), and watching my cooking shows!

Insomnia makes for gloomy posts

Yes I do still have another daughter, although the lack of mention of her in my blog makes it seem like I've disowned her. I absolutely haven't, but since I'm not actively involved in her life right now means blogging about her would just seem forced. I keep tabs on her, I help her out when needed, and we talk occasionally but briefly, both in person and on the phone. Hopefully now that some time has passed, we can do this more often.

It's not as if I haven't written several blogs about her, I just never published them. Those were typically low moments when I was struggling with this whole separation issue. There's been a range of emotions - anger, disappointment, frustration, guilt, hurt, you name it. But mostly sadness. And those unpublished posts were ways to get my thoughts out somewhere, even if it meant leaving them suspended in cyberspace.

There are still low moments, but more and more I'm coming to realize that that's just part of raising teenagers. Some parents get to enjoy this time of life with their kids, others don't. Big whoopie. Don't need pity, but don't need to be judged either. Walk a mile and we'll talk.

I usually don't like Sundays

It's 77 degrees, sunny, clear, and the groceries have been put away. All that's left to do is write a lesson, clean a bathroom, and go chill on my back porch. But fear not - I have a strawberry margarita wine cooler to get me through this very tough day.

First Day of April....Aaaaahh.

Finally this morning I can see some light. Between grades being due, the refrigerator going out, and the volleyball tournament (for which I reluctantly volunteered to help out at), it's nice to know I have a full day today to catch up.

Submitting those FINAL grades was a weird experience. There is some finagling that goes on, more than I realized, but always to the student's benefit. Some kids will have happy parents and some....who knows what will happen. I wasn't about to tinker with grades to the point that a kid gets a grade undeserved. So will they be grounded, spanked, ignored, or will pissed off parents be at my classroom door the day after report cards arrive? Guess I better be prepared.

We have a new refrigerator, and the kitchen is a happy place again. Today we get to make a monster-size grocery run to fill it back up. It might be the one day I enjoy grocery shopping.

It was a long day yesterday at the tourney, but still a good one. I griped way more than I should have about having to help out, but I still don't like volunteering. Bailey's team voted her MVP. Alan and I were puzzled at first - not because she's not a great player, but...MVP? We think it's because everyone just really likes Bailey and there were a couple other girls on the team they were determined NOT to vote for. She shows up for practice, she plays hard, she's very likable and nice to everyone, and when her serve is on she can't be stopped. Still, I'm happy that her teammates recognizes that SHE ROCKS. :-)

You can't contain the power!

Remember when I had the premonition that something costly would go wrong because we got a bonus and tax refund? First was the car wreck, next the transformer blew out on the A/C, and yesterday the refrigerator died. As we were contemplating buying a new fridge, Alan asked me to please not make any more premonitions. He's just jealous of my powers.

Today - a much needed lift

I'm tired. I'm ready for this assignment to be over. I'm ready for my own class. I'm tired of there not being enough hours in the day to get everything done and tired of the job spilling over into my time at home. I'm tired of copiers getting jammed, meaning the activity you developed, planned and prepared to teach that morning will not get done. I'm tired of so many things right now.

But I'll never tire from hearing, "Oooohhh, Mrs. Schaeffer - I GET IT now!" Or having a habitually off-task kid say, "Look how much I'm getting done today, Mrs. Schaeffer!" Or the girl who walks in every single morning with a scowl on her face (most likely from her home life) finally reply back to me with "Good Morning." And then there's the special needs girl who went from being noticeably uncomfortable around me to asking me if I'd walk next to her to P.E.

Then I get home and see on Bailey's myspace that she loves her mom and I'm her hero. ME, someone's hero.

ALL of that happened today, IN ONE DAY. It couldn't have been better timed.

Amateur

I need to work on posting pictures that aren't Ginormous when someone clicks on them. I'll see what I can do...

The back porch is where we'll be spending a lot of our time in the evenings until the mosquitos get here and/or it gets too hot to be comfortable.

An Overdose of Pictures

Because I LOVE SPRING and maybe also I was getting carried away with my camera. I like the bird hidden in the first picture. Could he be any fatter?

Quick, get a picture before they die.

I don't have a good history with plants. The ones I planted last weekend, which include these in the guest house windowbox, are still alive after 5 days. Maybe there's hope for me yet. We've had some rain this week, which provides a good protective barrier between the plants and my lack of know-how.

Happy Birthday Alan!

Fredericksburg

This is what we like about Fredericksburg - quaint outdoor places to eat and peoplewatch. And the mark of any good vacation is how often you get to eat.
We ate a lot.

We did manage to do other things though, like visit the Becker Vineyards Winery outside of town.

Had to stop and get a picture of Alan's mighty and impressive guns.

Our hotel in Kerrville was really nice. And oh, there was this one added amenity:

Only in Texas.

When it rains, go to the mall

I'd like to see a little less of this tomorrow:

Three straight days of rain set me back a bit on my Spring projects. Still, I've managed to stay pretty busy around here, not to mention sneaking in some shopping with Bailey. Don't you love it when you're standing at the register having your items rung up, and you've done the calculation in your head so you know how much it should be, and then the salesclerk tells you the amount and you're thinking they've made a big mistake (in your favor). I acted all cool as if I knew that shirt for $16 was going to ring up $3.90. It was already a bargain, but whoa! So I took my bag and got out of there as quickly as possible, thinking I had really gotten away with something.

I swear to this day that the salesclerk at Wet Seal a couple years ago who sold me the $80 long jacket (suede, mind you) for $5 was absolutely WRONG about how the special sale was supposed to work. I felt like I was stealing something by letting her do it, but in my defense I questioned her no less than three times. That same day Alan went back and got me a $40 corduroy jacket for another $5.

By the way, if you're looking for the perfect length cami to wear under shirts, Gadzooks has them for $3.99.

A busy week, but still a much needed vacation

Instead of being on my way to D.C. for Spring Break, I'm going to be spring cleaning and working in the yard. Sounds like a fair trade to me. Uh-huh.

So I started yesterday with pruning rose bushes and unruly shrubs, pulling weeds, and cleaning off the back porch that gets covered in dirt everytime we get one of those West Texas dust storms. I also attempted to mow the yard, but the mower wouldn't restart about mid-way through, so I now have a half-mown yard. (If you're wondering why in the world I was doing the mowing instead of Alan, it's only because he's sick.) And since it's been raining since last night, I'm stuck inside for today. But tomorrow I'm getting back out there, laying down some Preen (thanks to Elizabeth's suggestion), and pulling more weeds in the front.

Alan's dad is supposed to be coming this week, and we might take him down to Fredericksburg for some German food and beer. I'm also planning on getting estimates for the body work on the car and hopefully getting it in the shop. I wonder if the insurance company would hook me up with an Escalade for my rental?

I was just about to finish this post when it started thundering, really raining hard and then hailing. So of course I had to make it a Kodak moment instead of doing the smart thing and shutting the computer down:

Scapegoat

Update on accident. Did you know that it's much wiser to plow head-on into a vehicle that has pulled right out in front of you, rather than avoid the collision? I'm apparently the only idiot who thought crashing straight into someone at 45 mph and risking serious bodily injury, not to mention certain total destruction of my car, was NOT the thing to do. I can't believe I have a degree. And teach school.

My poor baby

Less than a week ago I made a prediction. We knew our tax refund and yearly bonus were going to be hitting the ole' checking account at any day, and both at around the same time. I said to Alan, "Mark my words - as soon as we get the money something BIG (i.e., expensive) will come up." And by come up I don't mean we will merrily go shopping for something fun and exciting, especially since both deposits are already earmarked for student loans, extra mortgage payments, etc. Au contraire. By come up, I mean this:

This one went in the police report as a hit and run. I bet within 15 minutes of the accident I was remembering my prediction. I hate to sound so pessimistic, but I just call 'em like I see 'em. All of this took place about an hour before we were supposed to be leaving town for Bailey's volleyball tournament in Lubbock.

However...if forced to find the positive, it's this: Finally a fender bender that wasn't my fault!

Another food discovery

As if I needed one more food addiction...my latest contribution to the world is this: RUN, go get yourself a box of White Cheddar Cheez-its. I'm not even kidding.

And remember how I said that everytime I go grocery shopping I was going to buy something I'd never heard of or tried before? Well the other day I had just pushed my cart into a checkout lane and realized I hadn't picked up anything new, so I hurried to an aisle and grabbed a can of German Potato Salad (yes, a can). Threw it in the basket, and when I got home I noticed a recipe on the back for "BBQ German Potato Salad" where you combine sliced cooked bratwurst, BBQ sauce, and the potato salad. Meat, potatoes, and BBQ sauce. It's gotta be good.

And still on the subject of food, I'm taking the "Special-K" challenge where you eat a bowl for breakfast and lunch and magically lose 6 pounds in two weeks. Not getting my hopes up on that one, especially since I start snacking as soon as I get home. And then there's that other part of the plan where you're probably supposed to exercise. Okay.

Much ado about nothing

It feels lonely in the blogging world lately. I'm not even sure why. Just does.

So I'm enjoying the teaching, even the challenges of obnoxious parents, if you can believe it. Challenging parents are sometimes fun, especially when you can refer to them as whores and bitches and assholes behind their back with the other teachers. And that's just what they say about parents, nevermind what's said about some of the kids. Who'd have thought teachers could be so foul-mouthed and tactless about their own students? It's great fun.

Alan's been slumming it in Houston at the Renaissance for a couple of days and returns tonight, so I'm expecting a dinner out tomorrow to make up for eating leftovers and cereal by myself.

Reality

We survived the winds yesterday, and as the meteorologists like to present it, "Good news! The winds are dying down to only 15-25 and 20-30 the next two days!" I love recess duty, by the way.

Do you ever find yourself not wanting to post anything because in reality there are depressing things going on and if you put some happy-go-lucky post out there you feel like you're being sort of disrespectful to the situation(s)? I'm guilty of that a lot. I posted very little about the situation with Addison, yet it consumed my thoughts and days for quite a while. I wrote several posts about it and then either deleted them or left them unpublished.

What's looming over us this week is that the girls' dad and stepmother are getting a divorce, and it's just more upheaval and change. It's not an ugly situation, but it still makes you feel sad for everyone involved, especially when you see one of the kids upset. It'll possibly mean even less time that the girls will live together, which is one thing their dad and I vowed to avoid at all costs when we got our divorce.

But, life happens and everyone moves on. I'm sure it'll be fine once things are settled and new routines are established. But I'm getting tired of things being gloomy. Bring on happy thoughts. Perhaps I should post some Junior pics. :-)

Ho-hum

Friday through Saturday we're expected to have wind gusts up to 45-50 mph. I can't understand why thousands of people aren't flocking to live in West Texas.

I must report that although I didn't get my Krispy Kreme fix in Ft. Worth, we did get a free jar of La Madeleine's tomato basil soup (which they sell for $8.99 for the SMALL jar). They screwed up Alan's order, meaning they forgot to cook him anything, so Alan asked for the freebie. The fact that they charge that much in the restaurant makes me question whether the La Madeleine soup you get in some grocery stores is the same recipe, since it is much cheaper in the stores.

And although this post is extremely captivating, I must close and get ready for my day with twenty 9-year olds.

Back from Cowtown

Got back Sunday around midnight from Ft. Worth and had to get up bright and early yesterday morning. I'm really not sure where Bailey's team ended up in the standings, and honestly it's best not to know. Bailey totally lost her serve this weekend, but otherwise played fine. We go to Lubbock in less than two weeks, so hopefully she'll have it back by then. Other than the matches, the weekend was fun hanging out with the other girls and parents.

Yesterday I started my long-term sub assignment, so I'm the real thing for a few weeks. I think I received a great initiation on my first day when a student vomited on the carpet in class, and a parent got pretty confrontational with me after school. Nice way to start! And today we administered the state academic test, which meant no sitting down for the teachers except the 20 minutes or so at lunch. I'm looking over at the couch right now and thinking of bon-bons and a nice nap. It won't happen.

Okay, here are some photos for now:

Find happiness where you can

Meringue cookies - where have you BEEN all my life? It still amazes Alan the foods I don't know about or were never exposed to in my upbringing. So this new discovery has me thinking that from now on when we make our big grocery runs, I'm throwing something new in the cart to try. I have been trying the last few years to make a concerted effort to try new recipes, new spices, whatever - just to make sure I don't get stuck in my (or my family's?) ways.

"Stadium Arcadium" - Alan got me the new Chili Peppers CD set for Valentine's Day! I can't wait to listen today, plus we'll listen to it on the way to Ft. Worth tomorrow. I rarely buy music - it's just one of those things I tell myself I will splurge on someday.

Nelly Furtado's "Say it Right" - I am fascinated with her, the video, the song, the lyrics, and Justin Timberlake's dancing ain't too shabby either. Wow-wee.

Beauty and The Geek - If you didn't follow this show, you really missed out. It is very well done, so sweet, and so classy compared to some of the other reality/contest type shows. I fixed a big Valentine's dinner for Alan last night, but we made sure to be finished and camped out in front of the TV by 7:00 for the finale. It was great!

Volleyball Tourney - We're heading to Ft. Worth this weekend for another tourney. They're lots of fun, and of course being in Ft. Worth means two other very important things: Krispy Kreme doughnuts and La Madeleine! Oh yeah.

Happy Valentine's Day

I saw this last week and thought it was the coolest. It was on my home page, so you've probably seen it, too. The fossils are 3,000 to 5,000 years old. I can't wait to hear what more is discovered about them, but they do know they were a young couple and are truly embracing.

More changes

Bailey was tired of these lime yellow walls:

So she picked out a nice blue, which is more Bailey's style. She believes you can be a girl without being too "girly":

But I left the lime yellow on one wall next to her more "girly" things:

Neighbors

We don't live in an affluent neighborhood, but it's sure not the slums either. However, here's the accumulation of crap on our neighbor's front porch that we get to see outside our living room window on any given day: a broom, a car seat, a bottle of spray cleaner, a soda can, a cardboard box that might be acting as a trashcan, and today I think I can see a pack of cigarettes. And since I've been up to their front door, I also know that their flower bed is filled with cigarette butts - a couple hundred or so. We're not perfect, but at least we keep our crap on the back porch.

Spring Cleaning?

I've been in the mood to change things up a bit around here, because even the slightest changes or improvements will provide a little lift. We decided to move the armoire into the bedroom to free up some space in the living room. For such a medium-sized piece, you can't imagine what a pain in the ass it is to move. I could write a full essay on what measures we have to take to move it from room to room, not to mention from home to home. I got the armoire from Dale (actually I've been "borrowing" it for the past 16 years), and it belonged to his grandmother or great aunt maybe? Anyway...it's very pretty, quite old I'm guessing, but perhaps built by a third grader. That means that every time we move it, there is sure to be profanity, sweating, splinters, and sore muscles to follow. Still, I like the end result of both rooms:

February Shmebuary

If you visited my blog today in the afternoon, maybe you noticed it was 75 amazing degrees! Love it. It's gorgeous. Yesterday was the same, so I swept the leaves and sprayed the bird poop off the back porch. Our porch became a huddling spot for the birds to keep warm during that long cold spell, and the treasures they left behind were just gross.

Spring is awesome. I know it's not technically Spring, but a girl can dream. Even Junior felt the change and started exploring out on the porch as if he hasn't been there a million times before. (Check out his cute toes in the last picture. And I realize my lens was badly smudged when I took these.)



I wonder if Spring has a positive effect on wayward teenagers? Again, a girl (and a mother) can dream.

Football and Volleyball

Alan looks less than amused that I was taking our picture last night. Just had to capture the excitement of our super bowl party - the party of two, I mean. I was happy that the Colts won, but it seemed sort of anti-climactic at the end. The Colts/Patriots game was way more exciting.

Well I'm off to make Bailey's lunch. Speaking of Bailey, here's the video that Google finally "processed." It's nothing phenomenal, but I wanted to film Bailey serving at practice since I didn't get any good videos from the tournament. Her serve has been known to pull teams out of close wins, and it's funny to hear the murmurings of anticipation from other parents when it's Bailey's turn to serve. This is just from my digital camera, so the quality isn't superb:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4587142754464025832&hl=en

Goodnight

We are feeling much better, thank you. I guess going to the doctor wasn't so bad after all. I subbed yesterday and today and maybe have a job for Monday. My long term assignment starts in about two weeks unless the teacher has her baby early.

I've been trying to post a video from Bailey's v-ball practice, but Google's video upload is being a pill. Maybe tomorrow.

I just took my Tylenol nighttime and am waiting for it to kick in.