Day 31-January 31

I had heard rumor of these but thought it was a joke. Here's the proof!

Day 30 - january 30th

Another day, another decoration in a dr's office.  Where do you think dr's offices buy this random artwork?  Walmart?  Target?  DoctorOfficeDecorations.com?  It also amuses me that someone did the research that shows this blue green color is supposed to be calming on the patient.  I don't know if the surrounding color takes away from the poking and prodding!

After all these appointments over the last 45 days, they think they've diagnosed me with something called interstitial cystitis.  I'll let you know when I figure out the exact pronounciation.  We're just calling it IC around the house.  (And a slew of other bad words, but this is not an R rated blog.) :)  I have to have a procedure done under general anesthesia on Thursday morning, so this dr's appointment was just a regular physical to make sure I'm safe to go under.  It took about 5 minutes for him to look in my ears, nose, eyes, and throat and to listen to my lungs, heart, and abdomen.  Combined with my totally average bloodwork, I was deemed good to go. 

Happy thoughts are appreciated.  The idea of general anesthesia is good - because if a dr wants to put you to sleep to help you avoid pain, I think you should appreciate it.  But it's still scary!

Day 29 - January 29th

 

Don't worry, I took this once I got to work and was sitting in the parking lot. :)  When I got my new car, I became a happy subscriber to XM Radio.  My favorite channel is 75 - the Broadway channel!  I enjoy the DJ that does almost all 24 hours of programming - he seems to know everyone in the Broadway world.  In addition to the songs, there are interviews with people in various shows which is cool because a broadway performer is rarely going to show up on Letterman. :)  

However, the channel is EXTREMELY repetitive.  I don't know why.  There are hundreds of shows to choose from, and each album has lots of songs.  They even throw some movie soundtracks into the mix - I have heard Broadway Annie songs and also Movie Annie songs.  So why is it the same songs so frequently?  Perhaps that's the problem behind having mostly one DJ do all the programming.  He's bound to have his favorites.  

In the beginning, during any given ride to or from school I knew about 1/3 the songs by heart, about 1/3 of the songs I was familiar with, and 1/3 were obscure.  But now that I've been listening for 6 months those lines are blurred.  I know almost all the songs - but not necessarily because I am familiar with the show.  Just because they get played so often.

At first, I thought he was trying to get the word out about old-school stuff, rather than playing new hits.  In 6 months I have only heard a Rent song 3 times - and 2 of those times it was Seasons of Love.  Wicked is on about once a week, but it's always the first song from the 2nd act which is stupid and practically not really a song at all.  I've heard Spring Awakening 2 times.  BUT, Shrek is on all the time and it's all different songs.  I dunno.

So anyway, I was happily surprised to hear "Popular" from Wicked on the radio just as I got to work.

Day 28-January 28th

This is a plant. It lives at my urologist's office. You can tell that lots of guys work there cause this is about as fancy as the place gets! It's very old school there. Even the exam tables look like antiques. The magazine in the exam room was from may 1997!!! What i should have taken a picture of was the twilight calender over the techs desk. Not because I am into twilight but because of the stark contrast between it and everything else in the office!

Day 27 - January 27

This lovely sign is posted on the soda & snack machines at school.  Know what is not at school?  Healthy snacks in the machines the sign is posted on. :)  You can get Famous Amos cookies, cheddar pretzel Combos, Doritos, soda, and a myriad of other things.  But nothing really healthy.  There is diet soda, I guess.  Does that count?  There is technically a water selection on the machine, but we usually empty that on the day it gets filled. :)

Day 26 - January 26

We needed 2 towels because when we packed & stored our life 10 months ago, we used our towels as wrapping for all our pictures & breakables. We left 2 towels out, but they were the worst of the bunch. So, I took the plunge today & spent $6 on brand new bright green towels. They're even brighter than this iPhone picture lets on. But they're cool and when you have a bright neon tropical frog shower curtain, it works. :)

Day 25 - Jan 25

This is what i'm doing today.

Note the 3:30. That is 15 whole minutes earlier than normal!

Day 24, January 24th

There are many things wrong here.

1) they sell turkey shaped butter

2) there are pilgrims on the box

3) it is almost FEBRUARY

Jan 23, day 23

Full disclosure- I took this on Thursday! I visited the new school of an old student I've kept in touch with. It was really fun. Luckily a mom of a current student works there so she arranged it and helped me out. He was excited to show off his new digs! He's been through a lot in the last 5 years so it's good to know he's in a good place.

Day 22 - January 22nd

We are really enjoying Dexter. Just started season 2!

Day 21

A day or two after Paul found a fish, I found one in the Essex branch of the library. Random!

Day 20

See this??? It's when my alarm is set for tomorrow!! That's 30 minutes AFTER I usually GET to work! I have to be in essex in the morning, so I get to sleep in. We celebrated by staying up til 10. :)

Day 19 - January 19th

I really hate the way onions taste.  However, the smell of them cooking and caramalizing is one of my favorite cooking smells.  Don't ask, I don't know why. :)

Day 18 - January 18th

This afternoon I'm having a CT scan with contrast which means no food for many many hours. Soooooo, my awesome husband made me this complete breakfast. It's even quasi (my phone keeps wanting to make that word Quasimodo!) healthy cause it was turkey sausage and mostly egg whites.


Blogging about food when I'm hungry? Not the brightest idea. :)

Day 17-Jan 17

Tonight I made a bunch of cards I got from a stampin up kit last year. 3 each of these 3 designs. They looked cooler in the catalogue but they are ok. It wound up being a productive card making weekend with 8 yesterday and 9 today!

Day 16

Today we made cards! Now we're driving to PA to watch football. Quite the mismatched day, indeed. :)

Day 15

Finally got the plain version. Zombie fluxx is cool but almost too hard.

Day 14

It's at least 40 degrees today! Yet the white stuff persists... Is it June yet??

And in related news, I wasn't freezing in my classroom today! These above freezing temps help. :)

Day 13 - January 13th

Pardon the untied laces. I was getting ready to take them off. I got new shoes! I know what you're thinking. "She's a girl. Of course she's excited about new shoes." But I'm not that kind of girl usually. Actually, to be truthful, I'm not the kind of girl that gets new shoes that often. I did just get boots for the snow, but that was a necessity because my old boots from 1999 finally died. (May they and their awesome waterproofness rest in peace.)

The last time I got sneakers was spring of 2008 after the trip to London & Paris where it rained the.whole.time. So I was excited today. And I went back to the Nike brand. I tried so hard to stop drinking the kool-aid but my Asics just never fit my orthotics correctly. These shoes feel like they were made for me. They're last year's model (seriously? Shoes have model years?) so they were super cheap, too!

Day 12 - January 12th

In my school district, the best you can be is "effective." There's no step above that. But, it's good to know I'm effective.

Day 11- January 11th

It's Monday! I had to make a tough decision tonight. Chuck, House, or HIMYM?! Decisions, decisions. Since we're not a Neilsen (Neilson? Spelling?) house, it really doesn't matter what we do. But someone, somewhere, is representing me in the ratings!!!

We decided to watch Chuck live (hence the picture), DVR House and watch it at 9, and then I'll watch HIMYM online tomorrow.

And truely, that's the most exciting thing that has happened to me today. Sad. I know.

Well, I did finish a book!

Day 10- January 10th

Watching the surprisingly good Ravens game at the inlaws with family today. Wishing I had a ravens jersey!

Goal for upcoming weeks is to use my real camera and take some good pictures!

Day 9 - January 9th

It's been really cold lately, so we're cooking with the crockpot today. It's supposed to trick our brains into thinking we're toasty warm!

Mike's not admitting what's in his concoction. Claims it's his secret recipe. The trash can is telling though! It has the empty meat tray, frozen veggie box, baby carrot bag, soup can, and BBQ bottle.

I was also given an open can of soda to finish off, so I'm guessing there's a little caffeine free Coke in there....

Day 8- January 8th

These are my feet cased inside a wild print fuzzy fleece pair of socks! (And my shins in Little Miss Chatterbox pajama pants.)

Yes, it's 2:52pm. It's a Snow Day! (Capital letters are a must, because as you learn when you're little, holidays are capitalized.)

Day 7 - January 7

This isn't meant to be an artistic picture, of course. It's symbolizing something I witnessed today. This is the foot of one of my students. He has no idea why I asked to take a picture of his foot. :) Luckily, I'm the yearbook photographer and therefore I take lots of random pictures all the time and nobody thinks I'm (too) weird!

Anyway, so why did I take a picture of his foot?

I was in the office this morning, putting things in mailboxes, when this kid and his little sister were brought in a couple hours late by dad. As per the usual, the secretary chirped "Ok guys! Say bye to Dad while he signs you in and head down to class!" This happens all the time. The kids bolt (if they're young) and mosey (if they're older). Occasionally a little one lets Mom or Dad hug them one more time.

Today, Dad got down on his knees at eye level for the little sister. And looked at her. Like, REALLY looked at her. And she got teary eyed pretty quickly. I got that feeling that this wasn't a "see you at 3:30" goodbye. Then, he hugged the boy. 5th grade. Big kid. Almost crying. Dad was almost crying. I know the family, and Dad came back from his last deployment about a year ago, so I got a pit in my stomach.

The kids composed themselves, said "bye" and walked toward the door. Then, they turned around and ran back into his arms.

Then, the part that made me cry. The boy turned around and said, "Be safe, Dad."

Wow. We wished Dad well on his journey. We felt guilty being there for the moment, but I'm pretty sure it was the most meaningful dad-kid moment I've witnessed.

I want to remember that moment. So, I decided to make it today's picture by snapping a shot of his shoe. :) Nobody else knows whose foot it is ... but I do.

Day 6 - January 6

This is a reflection on my car's roof from 7am today. When I left for work, I knew just these few flakes would cause insanity at school...what I didn't yet know was that we had 1/2 inch on the ground up at school. (I teach 35 min away.) If you haven't been in an elementary school when it flurries, you haven't experienced true craziness!

Day 5 - January 5

The gym just got new machines with individual tv's and you can pick your own channel!

It only works if you're walking so I put it on the slowest speed possible. Sorry. I know it's still blurry!

There are iPod cords too but they aren't working with the iPhone ... Doh'

Ok back to dirty jobs!

Day 4 - January 4

This was a crazy find! I'm not really a drinker but last month at the store they were serving samples of this alcoholic whipped cream on top of hot chocolate and pumpkin pie. It's tasty!

The name is creative, too.

Day 3 - January 3

I read this book on the airplane last week. It's fun and full of great stories. I learned and laughed a lot! It's definitely worth the read if you're familiar with her work at all.

And if you're not familiar with her work, you should get the Wicked CD, the Pushing Daisies DVDs, and watch her episodes of Glee! :)

Day 2 - January 2

I know what you're saying. "Caffeine Free Mountain Dew? Seriously? Is she nuts?" I've heard them all. I've probably THOUGHT them all! Here's the deal. I get migraines from caffeine. It stinks, but it has been part of my life for almost 15 years now, so I'm used to it. It's pretty easy to avoid. I also get migraines from diet soda and the chemicals that make things "light" like Splenda, Nutrasweet, and all their chemical names.

Problem? When this all happened, I was 16. By the time you're at that point in your life, you have sodas that you like! My favorites happened to be Dr. Pepper and Mtn. Dew. Those just so happen to be known for their caffeine content. I said goodbye to them and went on my way.

Fast Forward to college.

I noticed on a Dr. Pepper coupon that it was good for "any Dr. Pepper, Diet Dr. Pepper, Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper or Diet Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper." After I scraped my jaw off the floor, I started doing some research.

Enter - the Internet. Seriously people, what did we do before that?! Turns out my trusty friends at VA Tech had access to the stuff and hooked me up. AND Caffeine Free Mountain Dew was found at the same grocery store! We didn't even know that was out there to be found.

Now, it's almost a decade later, and it's still exciting to come across the stuff. A friend brought me back some cans from a trip to West Virginia and my husband's friend realized his Walmart sells it.

Long story for a small picture. :)

Day 1 - January 1

This is my 16 year old cat, Sneakers. When he was born in the fall of 1993, I would have never guessed he'd be here for New Years Day 2010! After spending the first 13 years of his life with my parents, he moved in with me & my cat Moose (to be featured sometime in the coming 364 pictures, I'm sure). Somedays I think we mis-named him and should have gone with "Squeakers" because he is by far the loudest cat I've ever met. Especially between the hours of 4-6am! My darling husband long ago nicknamed him "Stinky." That might be a better name too. Of course, Sneakers doesn't actually know his real name, so you can call him anything you like.