Year 3 - Day 31 - January 31

My cat is super excited that I've been hanging out on the couch for 4 days. He follows this sun beam around the room and then later in the afternoon around the house. He lives in the lap of luxury!

Year 3 - Day 30 - January 30

So, this surprised us last week. We got to spend a couple days getting tentatively excited until Friday afternoon, when some early monitoring bloodwork and physical symptoms put up a red flag that there might be a problem. In attempts to make everything ok again I spent the whole weekend with my feet up taking a medicine to foster a good environment for it to stick. Sadly, today's repeat bloodwork showed that the medicine didn't work. Turns out, it sucks pretty bad even when you only know for a couple days. However, medically this event should be less stressful on my body as a whole due to the fact it's happening more than a month earlier. Hopefully that is true. I was off today because I wanted to stay off my feet until we knew if the meds were working and tomorrow was supposed to be a half day for a dr's appointment anyway so I upped it to a whole sick day. I plan on spending it being annoyed at the universe and more specifically my body. Then on Wednesday I will slap on my happy face and go teach the children. Someday it will be our turn, but I'm getting tired of waiting.

Year 3 - Day 29 - January 29

Here's another good one from my pile of kids books. In this one, Slim has to overcome some scary moments on his journey to Fire Gulch City so that he can make a delivery for the Coyote. Luckily, the Coyote also gave Slim his magic cowboy hat. ;)

It's cute. Will crazy happenins' in the old west ever get old?

Year 3 - Day 28 - January 28

I'm laying low this weekend and chilling on the couch. While I do nothing, I've been working my way through a pile of kids books I need to read. Here's one of my new ones that I'm really enjoying. I can really see the little kids loving it because it breaks the fourth wall and begs (well, demands) for audience participation. You see, this cat has a book of cat secrets, but he will only share them with other cats. Therefore, the reader must prove that he or she is indeed a cat.

This whole breaking the fourth wall in children's picture books is not completely new (See: There Is A Monster At The End Of This Book by Lovable Furry Old Grover from my childhood) but it is definitely a trend right now. I personally enjoy it and this is another good addition.

Year 3 - Day 27 - January 27

Tonight was the series finale of Chuck. I didn't get into the show at first, but about half way through the first season we started liking it and bought early stuff on iTunes. The second season was great, and since then it's had its ups and downs, but we have continued to watch. The beginning of this season wasn't great, but we watched since we knew it was going to be the (real) end. Each season, there was a possibility that the last show would wind up being a series finale and each year it was brought back. One of those years, people decided to go to Subway (One of Chuck's advertisers), buy a sandwich, and write on a comment card in the store "I'm here spending money because you advertise on Chuck, Save our Show!" It worked, and Chuck lived. Throughout the last few seasons there have been several amusing product placement moments with various Subway products and slogans as a nod to both Subway and the fans.

So tonight, in honor of the little show that could, we had Subway for dinner. :) Meatball, of course.

As for the finale, I like to believe that everyone lived happily ever after, as soon as the credits rolled. There were enough little clues to make me believe it!!

Year 3 - Day 26 - January 26

I spent my planning period today doing this. They're just old book ends being used to hold up paperback books. I can't believe I never came up with this idea. I totally stole it from my mother and the book shop she works at. Usually I just lay the paperbacks down but this looks more fun. It's working, too, because I had to fill in a ton of holes at the end of the day and I just did it at lunch time!

Year 3 - Day 25 - January 25

One thing I like to do once in awhile when I know my kids are going to need a book for a class project is a lesson called "speed dating." Since they're 5th graders, I call it "hot potato" but it will always be "speed dating" in my brain since that's what it was called when I first read about it.

Each of the 6 tables gets a large stack of books about the theme, topic, genre, etc. (Whatever the teachers need them to leave with.) I make sure to have as many boy books as possible, since that's harder, and then fill in with girl books. When I was pulling them off the shelves, I made piles of "leaning towards boys" and "other." Then I sorted each of those big piles into 6 smaller ones. I try my best to spread out a variety of reading levels, too.

I put the online stopwatch up on the screen and they have 1 minute at a time to get to know a random book from their table. Pick it up, read the back, read the inside flap, read the summary, read the first page, heck they can even read the middle or the last page if they're one of those crazy readers that likes to know the end first. Just one minute. At the end of the minute, they write the title down on their scrap paper if it seems like a book that would work. They do this 3 times at each table and then we rotate between all the tables. They get to see 18 books of their choice before making a selection to take home.

I've been doing this during my 5th grade class for the past week. I wish I had a hundred more books of historical fiction (this week's selections) because the "WOOHOO's" die down after the first few classes. I do set up a computer with the county library's catalog so that we can search for titles if someone grabs my only copy of a book and a kid is dying for it. That has been helpful as well.

There are this many books left, and only 25 more kids to choose. I hope a bunch of them can get what they need.

Year 3 - Day 24 - January 24

Look! Blue lines! There are green lines too, if you look at the top! These are the signs that FIOS is coming to our house. I have wanted FIOS for awhile, because I do think it's a better product than Comcast. However, I couldn't justify the increase in price and decrease in services. We have been getting Comcast's promotional rate for 2 1/2 years. For less than $100, we had digital TV & a DVR on the big TV, 2 extra TV's, HBO, Showtime, and Internet. That was really an excellent deal and worth putting up with the spotty internet from time to time in my opinion. However, they finally refused to continue us on the promotional rate. Even if we dropped Showtime & HBO we were still going to go up significantly. So, enter FIOS. My biggest FIOS issue is having to pay for the upstairs TV, even if I just want the networks. Comcast gave us 2 free basic cable TVs even after we had to use the adapter boxes so that stinks. But oh well. I'm excited to get the better Internet (the one upgrade we chose rather than HBO/Showtime, but you know I will get Showtime as soon as Dexter is back!) and by switching our landline to FIOS we saved some money there and gained unlimited long distance. There are perks, but we will pay more than our old awesome rate. It is what it is so now all that's left is to get excited! And learn a whole new set of channels. I honestly still don't know all the ones here, and I have had this line up since 2002. My fingers still type in the numbers from my childhood!

Year 3 - Day 23 - January 23

Today, I did something I have done in a REALLY long time.

I had McDonalds for dinner. I had a few fries in December when we stopped at McD's before our ATV tour, but I didn't think it was smart to eat a whole meal there for the first time in awhile right before jumping on a 4 wheeler in the middle of nowhere for a few hours. Things I noticed:

1 - Fries - Still delicious. They are so good. I never eat here, but I still think their fries are the best ones out there.

2 - Chicken McBites - They must be piloting them in our general area, because I have been seeing the signs for awhile but didn't see them at the McD's in Arizona where we stopped. They are going for "popcorn chicken" but fall a little short. The few in there that were actually hunks of chicken were decent. Most of my pieces were just fried hunks of breading though. Maybe I got the bottom of the basket? It seemed to me they were almost the Chicken Selects crumbs. However, this container was only 99 cents, so I guess I got what I paid for.

3 - The shake. Oh my goodness. When she first put it on my tray, I thought I had misordered or she had given me the wrong thing. But this is what their shakes look like now! (After a quick check of the ever helpful picture menu) It still tasted like a standard McD's shake, but I liked the whipped cream addition and the cool cup.

4 - My shake cost as much as the other two things put together. The fries were $1, chicken $0.99, and shake $1.89 (they're all small or snack sized portions)

5 - The people watching added to my meal. ;) I had school, a meeting, and then stamping club tonight so there just wasn't time to go home. I don't think I'll go out of my way to go back to McD's anytime soon, but for 5 bucks, it was fun. And I loved my shake and fries. Oh, the unhealthiness!

P.S. I haven't given up all fast food! We really don't eat fast food very often, but when we go for grease it's almost always Chik Fil A. I also love Taco Bell, it's my guilty pleasure. Also, we get Subway on vacation sometimes when we're tired of eating out and don't want to spend a lot. It's a sad fact of getting older that my stomach can't handle fast food that much anymore! :( Give me back that teenage metabolism and iron stomach anyday!! :)

Year 3 - Day 22 - January 22

We spent the day in PA celebrating the baptism of our friend's baby and trying to will the Ravens into the Super Bowl.

1 out of 2 ain't bad. ;)

It was my first time in church since the words changed. It was harder than I even imagined - and that's with the script they put in the pews! So. Hard. I think it's hard because your brain doesn't remember that your muscle memory is wrong. I went to church 500 or so times (1st-10th grade, 52 weeks a year, but occasional skips and extra holidays) over the span of a decade, and then intermittently after that. My brain thinks it knows what it's doing! I understand it's a better translation, but after saying "and also with you" for that long, "and with your spirit" doesn't roll off the tongue. And that's nowhere near the most difficult, it's just the one that happens the most often.

Also, just like in school, it appears that people treat church in a more relaxed manner than they used to. The church was kind of U shaped, with seats 180 degrees or so around the alter. This gave me a view of at least 75% of the people attending. I saw TONS of people (mostly kids, but some adults too) get up and leave to go to the bathroom or whatever during the service. Up and down, in and out. It was probably almost 20 people in the 70 minutes of mass. When I was little, you held it. And you answered your phone later. (Well, of course, since your phone was your land line at home & you weren't there.) The modern style of the church also meant for some reason that they built what basically amounted to a landcaping pond in the lobby of the church that they use for baptisms. It was interesting.

Then we went to their house & ate food & watched football for a few hours. What a hard way to lose, but at least they didn't stink. (Except for those last couple plays. You know, the ones that counted.) But that's life. :) It was sad, but not like Mariano-Rivera-Ruined-The-World-Series-In-2001 sad. That made my stomach hurt. Today was just disappointing.

Year 3 - Day 21 - January 21

I had big plans for today. I was going to sleep in, have lunch with friends, do some homework because I have a ton to get done this weekend, have dinner with Mike, and then go to stamping.

Instead, I woke up early, tried to shovel the sheet of ice that fell on our driveway last night, failed, had to cancel lunch, continued to fail at clearing the driveway, found out we were going to have to cancel stamping too, got annoyed at life and therefore refused to do the homework that I have to do.

BUT...

We found a whole bag of chocolate chip cookies from our Christmas cookie baking extravaganza in the back of the freezer! (I guess that's why I felt like I ran out of that flavor so much quicker than the others!) And I got to catch up on my DVR (between Mike's run of terrible, terrible, movies!) and lay around in the PJ's that I put on after I showered for my canceled lunch. So I guess life's not all bad. :)

Year 3 - Day 20 - January 20

With the AFC Championship game coming up this weekend, lots of local stores are selling Ravens gear. Shop-Rite, my usual grocery store, is carrying the Festivus line. I was going to get one of those but they have faces on the shirt of several players, and they're not that great looking. Tonight on the way home I stopped to visit my favorite pharmacist to do some research. (He wasn't there, but my favorite pharmacist tech was, and that's just as good!) Redner's is selling these tee shirts, which are a little more specific to the fact that the Ravens are playing Tom Brady. ;) They're not official though, even though they have the hologram sticker. None of the things had the real Ravens logo on them!

Year 3 - Day 19 - January 19

Allow me to profess my love for my water bottles. We got them either at BJ's or Costco awhile back in a 3 pack. They don't leak! They have a great seal, and you have to push a button (the dark plastic piece in the gray band towards the top) to make the opening open up while you're drinking. They are BPA free, although I don't know that it really matters since I'm sure whatever they're using instead will turn out to be bad for us someday too. The top is like a carabiner so they can clip on to something, but I have water bottle holders on my backpack so I don't use them. I will say the one down side is that they dent really easily (on the top plastic part) if you drop them on pavement. All 3 of my bottles have been dropped, and they have lots of gouges on the top area. But the part that holds the water doesn't even scratch and the gouges aren't messing with the usefulness and non-leaking features. I love them!

Year 3 - Day 18 - January 18

You knew I'd retaliate, right? Can't get to YOUR Cheez-it's if they're in MY pantry!

I fully expect to come home tomorrow to a sign on the front door saying "Mike's House." :)

Year 3 - Day 17 - January 17

I ate a bunch of these not-usually-in-our-house-but-my-husband-went-grocery-shopping-with-me-so-we-came-home-with-some-good-junk-food Cheez-It's this afternoon. Then I left them on the table, where he found the bag. When I came home later this evening, he jokingly said "Yo - those are MY cheez-it's." I guess he expected me to make a snappy comeback or something, but he definitely wasn't thinking I'd say "Is your NAME on them?" because he got a huge grin on his face and said, why YES. YES IT IS. And voila. He wasn't lying. ;) He later said he anticipated me finding the label a day or two from now when I went to finish off what I had started, but that he couldn't believe his good luck in me using that particular comeback. ;)

Meanwhile, are you watching Alcatraz tonight? It's really good so far!!!!

Year 3 - Day 16 - January 16

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel on Lexington Avenue. Mike got a special through booking.com or hotels.com or something like that. It was a decent sized room for a city hotel room and (for once in our bargain paying days) it wasn't right next to an elevator. But we laughed when we opened the blinds & this was our view. :) For the price we paid, we put the blinds back down and moved on with our lives! I'm perfectly happy to deal with this view to have a great location, great service, and a well maintained, clean, city hotel room.

Year 2 - Day 13 - January 13

Awhile back, a year, maybe more, Mike heard about an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit about the art of video games. First it was just random news, but then they opened a website where people could vote sort  of "People's Choice Award" style for their favorite video game art out of small collections. Last weekend the guys were talking about it, so today I found the whole schedule for opening weekend. I don't care to use a personal day from work to go hear people talk about video games on a Friday, but I'm willing to go on a weekend day. Plus, it's the Smithsonian, so it's free! ;)

Year 3 - Day 15 - January 15

We started our morning bright and early because there was so much to fit in. First, we had breakfast at Penelope's. It was a cute little local place. What surprised us when we sat down is that they had a pre fixe menu for breakfast. I don't know if that was because it's Sunday or what, but your choice of breakfast came with either coffee & juice, an apple cider mimosa, or a pomegranate bellini. Mike was excited that the world gave him permission to drink that early in the morning, even if it was a girly choice. ;)

We then headed over to Queens (another borough - I've now been to all of them!) to see the Museum of the Moving Picture. Two friends recommended the Jim Henson exhibit to us and we decided to check it out. It was cool, but so was everything else! The exhibit had lots of muppets & props & the stories behind a lot of Jim Henson's creations. We saw Miss Piggy in her wedding dress. :) Sarah would have liked the things from Dark Crystal & Labyrinth, too. The rest of the museum was all kinds of things that show you how to make TV & movies. We made claymation stop animation films, did voiceovers/dubbing of "School of Rock" and made movie soundtracks. There was a neat exhibit showing how a producer uses the 12 feed options from video cameras around a baseball stadium to make decisions about what to actually show on the air. Lots of costume and sets stuff too. If I could have any other job, it would totally be behind the scenes of a TV show. We got lucky on crowds, too. We made sure to get there right when it opened so that we could be done before the Ravens game. The place was empty! Oh, and right next door is Kaufmann Astoria studios, where they make Sesame Street!

After chilling a bit & watching the Ravens, we headed downtown to see the 9-11 memorial that recently opened.

We thought of it at the beginning of the game and were able to reserve passes online for the last time slot of the day. With all the construction going on, it takes forever to get in and out of the park because you have to go all the way around. Once the construction is over and the trees mature, it will be a very peaceful place.

I didn't realize that some of the buildings down there had gotten so high. It's transforming the skyline. We didn't spend much time at the memorial, because we had to get back to the theater district to pick up our tickets from will call.

I've wanted to see Memphis since before it opened! Someone in their production department had a great behind the scenes blog so we got to read about every step of the process. I also thought it was great that the show kept so many of the original workshop actors rather than dumping them all when it transferred to Broadway. It must be a fun show to do, because they're in the 3rd year and lots of originals are still in the show! Back in the fall, though, I found out that Adam from Rent was taking over the male lead, so I asked for tickets for Christmas. (Little did I know it would turn into this whole weekend of fun!) It was great. I really enjoyed it. Mike said it was fine, but I did hear him laughing out loud at all the jokes, so he enjoyed it more than he'll admit, I think. ;) There were lots of Adam fans in the audience, (or people who saw the interviews that came out when he joined the show) because you could hear everyone waiting to see if he'd pull off the high note at the end, (He did) and then reacting to the note.

We are finishing up our day at the bar & grill by our hotel, with this view.

Not too shabby!

Year 3 - Day 14 - January 14

We're in NYC! We got here this afternoon and promptly jumped on the subway to Brooklyn in order to hunt down the Brooklyn Brewery. When we got there around 3:30, there was a line outside. Assuming it was the line for the 4pm tour, we got in line and bundled up. We were surprised to find that it was actually the line just to get in. The brewery is a giant open space (see above) full of people. You can bring your own food (there was a pizza truck right outside the door) and buy tokens to get beer. It appears that people just hang out all afternoon. We did take the 4pm tour, but it wasn't really a tour about beer. It was more the story of their brewery, which was interesting and involved some funny mob stuff.

After an afternoon at the brewery, we headed back up to midtown to find our hotel and put down our backpacks. They sent us to a local sushi place for dinner so that Mike could get his inner city sushi fix. (I had cooked appetizers!) Finally, then it was time for dessert! We decided to walk the 20+ blocks south just to work off dinner and work up a dessert appetite. It was cold & flurrying, but it's not freezing freezing. Behold, our dessert at Max Brenner's:

Fondue for 2! 2 types of chocolate & a butterscotch/caramel dipping sauce along with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, brownies, and blondies. Plus, a hot thing to roast the marshmallows on! I love the tray it came on, too. It looks like notebook paper! Mike also decided to order the Italian hot chocolate:

Oh my gosh it was so good. The mug is a little squished (and doesn't have a handle) so you can cup it in your hands and drink. (or spill, like we did a little.) See how thick and dark it is? It was really that thick. It was like drinking a melted hershey bar. YUM.

After another brisk walk back to the hotel, we are now ready to never move again. Or at least not until tomorrow. :)

Year 3 - Day 12 - January 12

I'm driving my very own car to work today! How exciting! It's been in the shop since last Thursday with some mysterious symptoms. (Like owner, like car?) ;) We picked it up last night which is great because my carpool mate has been shuffling me around all week and we had to be different places today. Perfect timing! I'm a little worried that this whole "collector's edition" version of car ownership (since they don't make Saturns anymore) may begin to be a pain in the butt as the car gets a little older...

Year 2 - Day 11 - January 11

As you can see, we actually remembered to bring our glass home with us tonight. They're a cool style, with a heavy bottom. I like when we get something other than the standard pint glass!

Year 3 - Day 10 - January 10

I just ran out to add another bag to the trash can and noticed it's a full moon. Or at least pretty darn close to one, if it's not. I sure hope that today goes smoothly anyway...crazy behavior & full moons are not just stories of folklore. Spend one full moon day in an elementary school & you'll see what I mean! :)

Year 3 - Day 9 - January 9

I spent an entire red light trying to figure out this license plate tonight. (Don't worry, Mike was driving.) F4UAV8R?

Anyone? Ideas?

Year 3 - Day 8 - January 8

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful outside. We took down the Christmas lights in short sleeves! How awesome is that?! It was over 60 degrees. Today is not quite that warm, but you could still get away without a coat. Of course, with this rise in temperature, comes an uptick in squirrel activity. It would appear that a squirrel thinks he buried a nut in our flowerbed, because there are about 20 little holes dug all over the place and I saw a furry creature creating the same kind of mess in our neighbor's flowerbed. :)

Year 3 - Day 7 - January 7

Last night while we were sitting at the bar waiting for our table, Jeff pointed out this liquor on the shelf. He had heard that it was basically a "Mountain Dew Vodka." When the guys stopped by the liquor store to pick stuff up today, we saw this small bottle and decided to try it out. I only had a sip, but it just tasted like rubbing alcohol to me. :) It did SMELL a little lemon-limey, and Jeff said it was good mixed in his real Mountain Dew. Boy are there some crazy liquors out there...

Year 3 - Day 6 - January 6

Our friends are here for the night and brought this sugar beast with them.

I know it's hard to tell in the bag, but it's a 5 pound gummy bear!

We finally got to La Tolteca tonight. I always thought Mike wasn't into Mexican food, but I guess I made that up in my head. We enjoyed what we had, but the service was slow. It was ok since we had 4 people and lots of conversation and it wasn't terrible, but it did take awhile for someone to take our order. Also, while we were waiting for a table, we sat at the bar. They all had a beer and I had a soda and our bill was 29 dollars. We knew that couldn't be right, but they use a calculator rather than cash register to do the math and she hit the wrong button. Good thing Kadie checked the receipt because our bill was really supposed to be 10 dollars!

Year 3 - Day 5 - January 5

Mike offered to take my car today so that he could drop it off at the car place on the way home from work and talk to them, and then I grabbed him after my dentist appointment. Luckily, the owner was still there when I got there because (OF COURSE! Did I not tell you?!) the car didn't make the sound in the morning OR afternoon for Mike.

Enter my phone recording. Lloyd (that's the owner) thought it was a great idea, and he knew what to look for. Since Mike is off tomorrow, it's ok that we are down a car. Since I had the recording, they know what to look for & that will save us money because they won't have to guess 10 other things before finding the problem.

Then, just as I pulled into the garage, I noticed that Mike's car hit 111111 miles!

Year 3 - Day 4 - January 4

Today, I solved a problem that has been plaguing car owners since the beginning of car ownership. You know what I'm talking about. You wake up one day, and your car makes a noise. It happens intermittently until eventually it's a 24/7 issue. Since you're a busy person, you wait until that moment to call the car place. By the time you get there, it's a couple days later. You pull into the shop, (I'm sure you know where this is going), and the noise magically stops. The mechanic pulls everything apart but finds nothing wrong. You stand there, trying your best with your limited human noises to recreate the sound to no avail. So of course, you go home- where the noise stops again. :)

I'm not at the 24/7 stage yet, not by a long shot. But when I start my car in the cold (like the 14 degree weather this morning) it makes a terrible sound for 10-20 seconds. Once the car is on though, it takes hours for the car to cool enough to make it happen again. The car place is far enough away that the car will be warm by when I get there, so .... I made a recordng with my cell phone when I turned it on this morning.

Maybe you're thinking "duh" because you've thought of this plan before, but I was happy to think of a way to solve my problem. :)

Year 3 - Day 3 - January 3

Sorry, I can't make the picture rotate so you have to turn your head!

Today's post is a "profess my love" post. Or instead, perhaps it's a "profess that which my father loves" post. You see, my dad loves Costco. He could do their commercials and they wouldn't even have to put "paid professional actor" at the bottom. This product is high on his list of stuff he likes to get.

We finally got some on our trip this weekend and made some last night for dinner. It really was good. It looked really disturbing right out of the vacuum sealed package but started looking much better while we were stove heating.

It does NOT taste like sweet pulled BBQ pork. It's definitely more of a smoky flavor. We wound up not seasoning it at all because the flavor it came with was so good. That's a big thing for Mike because he usually puts condiments on everything.

The package was a little pricy at $10 for just 2 pounds, but since there is no bones, extra fat, or waste, it makes it more reasonable. It won't be an all the time purchase, but we'll get it once in awhile because we want to try it in a bunch of things! The leftover pound in the freezer is destined to become pork tacos. Yum!

Year 3 - Day 2 - January 2

I went to a 31 Party hosted by Mike's aunt awhile back. The stuff came in forever ago but I told her I could wait until Christmas to grab my goodies. Now, I have the same lunch box as almost everyone else I eat with. :) At least I have a unique (to our lunch shift) pattern because they all got theirs a long time ago. Plus, you know, the monogram is unique! Sadly, the lunch bag is out because I have to pack a lunch for tomorrow!!!


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Year 3 - Day 1 - January 1

After 12 hours of building, Mike finally finished the Death Star today. I probably shouldn't say "finally" because I was hoping it would take him longer than that. :) The thing is huge.

For a size comparison, here's the cat contemplating attacking the death star:

So, today's 2012. That means last night was New Years Eve. I did see the ball drop, but from my own couch because we got home late last night. I didn't do a big wrap up post for New Year's Eve, so here's the abbreviated belated version.

January: Lots of snow, again. A tiny pink line shocked us, and many medical professionals.
February: I took a photography class and a leadership class, we took a fun "staycation" in Baltimore at a really cool B&B
March: Our very sad day and week
April: Easter break, lots of landscaping, friends moved closer to us!
May: family parties, MORE friends moved closer to us
June: end of the school year, we lost our library leader, and then got a 8 month reprieve when we got her back!
July: Vacation to California, part 2, and my birthday
August: Earthquake! Hurricane! School started. I got a college gig.
September: Getting into the groove at school and new TV
October: Lots of time spent working on college stuff, and a conference & weekend getaway to the beach
November: UD Homecoming with many of the roommates, Thanksgiving, and Mike's birthday
December: Finished up teaching college, went to AZ