Fun thing to do

I found my name in someone’s else blog a few days ago and then completely forgot about the instructions I was supposed to follow...sorry Beth! With no further ado:

Rules for the game:
1. Put these rules at the beginning of your post.
2. Answer each question (see below) in your post.
3. Tag five people at the end.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
April 1998: I was about to graduate high school! I was working at Cinemark and my church's day care, hanging out with friends and having major Senioritis. :)

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Tithe
2. Buy a house with cash
3. Help my parents redo their house
4. Pay for masters and doctorate
5. Stick the rest in retirement funds

Five jobs that I have had:
1. assistant at a day care
2. concessions/usher/box office cashier for Cinemark
3. TCBY
4. RA
5. Teacher

Three of my habits:
1. driving fast
2. biting my nails
3. getting on the phone as soon as i get in the car

Five places I have lived:
1. Plano, TX
2. Arkadelphia, AR
3. Houston, TX
4.
5.

Five people I want to get to know better: I'm going with all married people, because it's twice as likely someone will do it! :)
Todd and Jenny
Marc and Julie
Dan and Jen
Laura and Marc
Beth and Austin

Something hard

Have you ever had to do something you didn't agree with, or even think was right, but it needed to be done?

My family had to finalize something yesterday that falls in line with that description. We don't actually like it and wish it didn't have to happen. But it did. We set the wheels in motion a few months back and completed it yesterday, but it was hard. We're glad it's over with.

Unique situation

I found myself in a fairly humorous situation on Friday evening. I was in the shower washing my hair when the water disappeared. That's right...the water pressure literally went to nothing. I'm standing in the shower with shampoo in my hair, a place to be in an hour and no water. Hmmm, what to do?

I call a friend to see if I can come shower at her place, but she's not at home. No one else lives very close by, so I start to troubleshoot. I don't have any bottled water in my apartment. I had just filled my iron with water, so I pour it all out, but it wasn't enough to rinse all the shampoo out of my hair. I start thinking about running to Walgreens with wet, shampoo-filled hair to buy bottled water, keeping in mind I also need a gift bag and tissue paper and now need to be at the restaurant in about 40 minutes. Yeah, not gonna happen.

Eureka! I literally had an epiphany while standing in my bathroom in a quandry. I have ice! I go to the freezer and dump the entire ice bucket into a big pot and turn the stove on high. I don't have time for it to get warm, just melt. I bend over the kitchen sink and pour melted, but freezing, water onto my hair. But it worked! No more shampoo!

I was only thirty minutes late to dinner and had a very amusing story to tell them!

Text Message Conversation

Me: "I NEED WINE and I don't have any."

Him: "That doesn't compute. That's like saying there is no O2."

House buying process

I'm learning all sorts of things while house hunting.

1. www.har.com is an excellent tool, though i might have some suggestions for making it a superb tool

2. the bank thinks i can afford a larger mortgage than i think i can

3. houston has some REALLY old homes

4. "investor's special" is a secret code for 'crappy house'

5. every sellers' initial expectation of price is a little unrealistic. some sellers' initial expectation of price is completely unrealistic

6. pictures do NOT always match with the real thing

7. going to look is a lot of fun

8. i have great friends to use for sounding boards and another pair of eyes, too

9. there are always more questions to ask a realtor or lender than i would have ever thought of on my own

10. asking questions is an excellent way to realize how oh so very little i actually know...but i'm learning!

Does not play well with others???

I don't remember ever feeling this way before, but I feel like this post's title applied to me today. I had several separate conversations today in which I felt my response, perspective or input had value, or at least logic, yet was completely shut down, unwanted and given a "talk to the hand" reaction. I began to feel as if I should be wearing a sign: "Does not play well with others."

Way to go 5th graders!

100% of our 5th grade students passed the Math TAKS test this year! 76% earned Commended Performance!

Way to go 5th graders!

(no pressure for the 4th graders to perform of course...)

Countdown

29 days left of school...will I keep my sanity until then?

8 more school days until the Reading TAKS test...will I get all the necessary work done?

5 more school days until this semester is over for grad school...study for finals?

Random

I saw a man using an electric razor while driving this morning. Does that equate with women putting on mascara in the car?

I think this might be the longest week ever. I really thought yesterday should have definitely been Thursday, though Friday was also acceptable. I woke up this morning thinking, "Friday?" and was hugely disappointed to realize it was only Wednesday.

Barbara Bush visited us yesterday. I think it might have been my favorite visit so far. About twelve students greeted her in their native tongue and then students asked her pre-planned questions about her travels. As these questions were asked and answered, other students placed the appropriate continent on a map on the wall. After the rehearsed questions, she asked if any other students had questions, thus enabling anyone to raise their hand and voice their curiosity. Whether you're a republican or a democrat, a fan or foe of the Bush family, she's an amazing women with a great sense of humor!

Seeing God Move

Through this weekend and again this morning, I have had amazing opportunities to see the Lord move. It is absolutely inspiring to realize God is using me and others around me in subtle and drastic ways on a regular basis. It is also motivating to go to Him more often.

I love when God puts us in a place to hear a lesson and then immediately provides us with an opportunity to act out what we have learned.

Sleepiness oops

This post requires a little bit of background. (I won't ramble though, LJ!) :)

Wed morning I woke up a little late and thought I'd slept through my alarm. I use my cell phone and the picture was on the screen saying "alarm," but no noise. I thought I'd just never turned it off, and it eventually quit beeping. Thur morning the same thing happened, but I was vaguely aware that I'd hit the "silent" button instead of the "snooze" button. Mystery solved!

So last night I go to bed pretty early, about 8:45. I was tired! At 9:30 my phone rings, but I think it's my alarm. Once again, I hit the "silent" button, but then realize what I've done and open the flip phone to hit the snooze button instead. Since it wasn't my alarm, but was a ringing phone, opening the phone answered the call and hitting the snooze button hung up on the caller! In my state of fuzzy awareness, I still hadn't realized quite what I was doing. Then my friend called right back. This time I hit the silent button, intentionally, and went back to sleep!
And had some odd dreams, but I'm not posting about those.

Spring Blahs

I know this is a slightly contradictory post. I mean Spring is when everything grows and appears new, right? Yet, in teaching, it is when we are the most tired and begin to feel burned out. However, this is not a post enitrely about my profession. :)

I don't want my lunch. I want to go to McDonald's or Subway. Anything but the frozen dinner that is currently growing bits of ice crystals in my refrigerator. I know an occasional lunch out is not detrimental to health or pocketbook. However, I am trying to buy a house this summer. The more money I save, the more I have to put down or use for closing costs, moving expenses, etc.

But I don't want my SmartOne.

Blah.

First Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

I just enjoyed my first fruit and yogurt parfait. I'd heard of others liking them. I admit, I'd turned my nose up a little bit. I didn't think the yogurt part looked any good. Just plain ole yogurt? Yeck. Okay, a little granola. That could possibly taste like whole-grain healthiness. The fruit part, sure I like fruit. But the other two, not so sure about that. So, during the rage of McDonald's fruit and yogurt parfaits and whoever else copied them, I've never had one...until today.

I stopped at Starbucks for a gift card and saw them in the cooler. Something clicked. It looked wonderful! I don't know if it was because it was blueberries and strawberries or what, but I wanted to buy one! Once I picked it up, a flicker of doubt set in. The look of the yogurt caused me to question it's sweetness. Is it going to be gross and healthy tasting? I decided to overcome my doubts and plunge for the purchase. I chuckled at myself to realize I was going to pay $3.45 for something I wasn't sure about, when something similar was on the dollar menu at McDonald's. Oh, well, that is classic me anyway.

This breakfast concoction is absolutely delicious! The granola gives it the perfect crunch. There is some juice/syrup from the berries for the one last drop of sweetness being scraped away with my long handled spoon. The yogurt and fruit mixture tasted like any other off-the-shelf yogurt.

In other words, yummy!

A 'skinny' day

A co-worker told me this morning, "You look good. You're having a skinny day today."

I went up and gave her a hug.

Exciting News

I have two bits of exciting news. They don't necessarily go hand in hand, but I'm celebrating them together nonetheless.

1. Due to paying tuition for a master's degree, I will be getting back more on my taxes than ever before!

2. I'm going to be able to pay off my car loan this month...more than a year early!