sleeps

I feel like I should write something about the first few days of school for all of my blog fans. j/k. It has been a good first couple of days, but I am beat!!! I had class tonight at TCU and think I could fall asleep right now...without washing my face or brushing my teeth...yes, it's true. I'm that tired.

My kids-all 22 of them (had to ship my 23rd to another school)-are pretty swell. Of course there are a few that are taking longer to train, but they'll get there. They're like puppies who talk. We had the first "card" change today, which equals getting in trouble. She jumped/leaped gracefully from the top of her desk to the floor, what else was I supposed to do? Nevermind that I think I've said her name more than any other students' thus far...and ironic that she has the same name as a miss clarkyclark....Anyway, when I told her to change her card the entire class went "ohhhhhhhhh"simultaneously. This was the first card change of the year. Sure not to be the last. And I'd love to show you some pics of my new little friends, but as Deneise/Charlene pointed out, I could probably get in trouble for that.

My fellow 2nd grade teachers rock! You wish you worked in our hallway. We've already played a couple of pranks and we've planned a very important planning meeting after school with margaritas tomorrow. I'm so thankful to work with such fun, smart, and kind women...I'm even more thankful that two of them are my bff's.

So now I'm off to wash my face, brush teeth, and crash. I don't think Mazie is ready for bed, but she will have to entertain herself. I've even got my pb&j, fruit, and string cheese packed and ready for tomorrow. :)

'twas the night before school started

And here I am, my last true night of summer....sigh. :( I went and did a little back-to-school shopping this afternoon because I looked in my closet and didn't like any of my clothes. Apparently all of Fort Worth had the same idea, so I had lots of company while I shopped. Anyway, after fighting traffic-both on foot and in my car-and getting back, I tried on several first day outfits and made my selection...comfy shoes and all! I wish I were tired because I know I'm gonna curse that alarm in the morning, but I'm not sleepy yet. I do have my lunch all packed and ready in the fridge. Boy, did I NOT miss packing those every night this summer.

I am so very excited to be teaching with two of my best friends this year. Meredeth's next door and Emily is right across the hall. It's kind of like living in the dorms in college because we play pranks and run next door to ask questions, but instead of dorm furniture taking up space in the room we have 22 small children and their desks. I also adore the other three gals I'll be working with! They're the moms; we're the youngins. :) I have a good feeling about this year and all that it holds in store. Hopefully I'll still have this upbeat attitude tomorrow at 5:30 a.m...

excitement city!

My yittel sister, Claire, called me today (luckily I was on my lunch break and could answer my phone) to tell me that she got a job in Fort Worth today!!!! Yay!! She will be working for MHMR of Tarrant County...good luck with the crazies, you'll fit right in! :) This means, of course, that she'll be flashing a peace sign to Denton very shortly and moving here next month. She's heading over this Saturday so we can go find her a place to live-woowoo!! I will get to actually put my awesome real estate skills into practice. It is going to be so fun having her nearby and showing her all of the fun things Fort Worth has to offer...Yogi's, Joe T's, sneaking into Cats games at the very end to watch fireworks for free, Chimy's, SUPER Target. Yes, this will be fun. We haven't lived in the same city since I left SAtown for TCU. :)

On a different, yet very exciting note, we had open house tonight and school and I'm pretty sure that I have the cutest and sweetest class in the 2nd grade hallway. I have never had so many kids come in and hug a complete stranger who will be their teacher in 3 short days. I even got hugs from little siblings-booya! I met so many nice parents who seemed genuinely invested and interested in their child's education...what a breath of fresh air! And hello, I already have my two favorites. How does that happen so quickly, you ask? Well they brought me stuff, of course! And this "stuff" rocks-a precious little boy brought me a shell....from the beach...that he found this summer...and brought just for me. Love. A little girl made me a little key chain with yellow and clear beads. Wow, is it easy to buy my love! I left that school in such a good mood that I wanted to break out in song and dance. I didn't, don't worry. I know this is going to be a wonderful year and will hopefully cover up some of the not so fun memories of last year.

What a GREAT day!!!!!

zzzz's

So today was my first day back at work since I missed last Friday. Because of that, I just got to see my class list and begin labeling the 8000 things I need finished by the end of the week.

What's my least favorite letter to write, you ask?? Well, Z, of course. And I'd say that a good 1/3 to 1/2 of my 23 students have a Z in either their first or last name!!! What are the odds?!? Lucky me, I got to write my least favorite letter lots and lots of times today. Definitely the opposite of a snap.

I'm also exhausted from getting up before the sun this morning...I need to catch up on my zzzz's...just as soon as The Hills is over tonight! :)

a sweet coupon...and some fish oil

I printed off an email coupon from Central Market and took it with me this morning as I headed there a little before 10:00. You have to get there that early or it's not worth it to go. For me, anyway. You can't turn a corner or get down an aisle without wanting to pull your hair out and/or scream at someone. Early morning is much more relaxing. I can wander more around the store. Anyway, my coupon was for a FREE gallon of organic milk as well as saving $10 off a $50 purchase, $15 off a $75 purchase, or $20 off a $100 purchase. And while I could easily spend over $100 there, I try to practice self-control. I planned to spend just over $50 so that I would get the free milk, plus $50 worth of groceries for only $40! What a deal!! Well....I managed to qualify for the second level of the coupon...but I stocked up on some things I like to have around all the time such as diced tomatoes and got some new things to try, like quinoa.

I also decided that I would buy some fish oil supplements to contribute to my $50. I found some that were on sale, no less! I have been debating for a while about taking them. One of my professors swears by them. I know they help provide some good vitamins and whatnot and help coat your joints. Most importantly, though, taking fish oil has been linked to helping prevent Alzheimer's. Score! Both of my grandmothers suffered from the disease, so I figure I'm more or less doomed. To combat the chances, I eat as many blueberries as possible when they are in season (more research stats), do my People crosswords religiously, and use a deodorant without aluminum. Some days with that deodorant are better than others. I'm sort of nervous about taking these soft gels. What if they are disgusting?? The bottle recommends taking two a day. They're huge! And supposedly have no taste, but we'll see...I'm gonna try my first one tomorrow morning.

I also bought some ground flax seed. I am a big fan of Dr. Oz (you may have seen him on Oprah), and he swears by the stuff. Since he sold me on steel cut oats, which I consume about three times a week, I am expecting similar results. He recommends grinding your flax seeds so it's easier to digest, but since I found it already ground, I picked that up. You can eat it plain (um, probably not), or sprinkle it on cereal or yogurt or whatever really. If I baked, I could toss some into whatever I were baking. What does flax seed do, you ask? Well, lots! It is really good for your heart and has a significant amount of fiber per serving. It has omega-3 acids and some decent protein. All in 2 tablespoons! Again, I'll try this out tomorrow morning.

More on Dr. Oz. He is a surgeon, but is also super knowledgeable about whole-body/mind wellness. He has really great ideas about food consumption and how to get your meals to all be more or less "of the earth." Since I'm very interested in this, I enjoy listening to him and reading about him. Here's a link to his book I think I'll be getting soon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061473677/ref=s9subs_c2_14_img1-rfc_g1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0KGYREDXQQPWRSX841BT&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240301&pf_rd_i=507846.
Anyway, he's not about cutting things out all the time or counting or eating low/no fat junk. He's more about knowing how different food affects your body, what different foods provide as far as vitamins/minerals, energy, and how your body digests it all. He's into yoga and acupuncture, but I'm not really there. Yet. While I enjoy yoga when I get around to doing it, I lack major flexibility which can get frustrating (and yes, I know that if I actually did the yoga regularly, it would help) and dedication to doing it everyday. I think acupuncture is interesting and would definitely try it if I had a need. But right now my only ailments are a still swollen and itchy right hand and finger and some bruises on my knees and elbows thanks to climbing a rock.

it's the bee's knees

Let me begin by saying BlackBerry Farm=A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I can think of no other word to describe it. When we pulled up to the property, all you could see were trees, rolling green hills, and white picket fences. Then you pull into the front desk area and the magic really begins. Everyone that works there is so excited to see you, they have Hershey kisses with almonds in a bowl on the counter, and you get actual keys for your room, not plastic cards to swipe. And the rooms are not numbered like 245, 510...oh, no no. They are named. Mine was Lady Slipper. Most of the rest of Andrew's family's rooms were named after birds. And Andrew's, of course, was slightly creepy...Doll's Eye. We proceeded to laugh, chant that name, and make up stories about what would happen in the middle of the night to him the entire time. I also had chocolates with a little note on my pillow each night...I managed to find room in my stomach for those, too.

A gourmet chef selects the menus (yes, all 3 meals) for each day and then you get to pick whatever you want to eat. There were usually 3 courses plus dessert at lunch and dinner. What did Andrew do the last night? Well order two dinners, of course. Good thing he's so cute. It's like a cruise ship-all the food is included in the room occupancy. All the food is fresh from the farm and delicious. I tried all kinds of veggies I'd never had/heard of before: lemon cucumbers, tiny tomatoes that were smaller than grapes-and also the best tomatoes I've ever had, wreckfish and sturgeon (which, obviously, weren't quite from the farm). I always finished a meal thinking there was no way I'd be hungry for the next one, but surprise-I always was! I even had peanut butter cookies with chocolate milk-in a mason jar, no less, with lunch one day. We ate lunches on the picnic tables in the above picture. Dinner on two nights was in the "barn"...which, yes, was a red wooden structure but looked like a magazine inside-gorgeous. One night we had dinner in the garden which was complete with a fiddle player, a garden kitty, and all sorts of crops growing about 10 feet away.

I did attempt rock climbing, but in the end did not complete it because I'm too dang short and was a little scared. We drove up the mountain with our guide and repelled, which I enjoyed. I have only climbed fake rocks before, however, so climbing a rock that is leaning at less than a 90 degree angle was a bit intimidating. I couldn't hoist myself up for the last part to ring the imaginary bell, but I still had fun. We also rode bikes all around the property, played with the puppies in the barn and the barn kitty, got a little spa treatment (played with that kitty too), talked to some horses, roasted smores at the bonfire, put our life in Andrew's hands as he pretended he was actually part of MarioKart while driving the golf cart through the woods, and laughed and relaxed A LOT. I even fell asleep while at the pool and woke up to my own drool...that, my friends, is true relaxation.

The employees are awesome and are like genies in the sense that they grant whatever wish you have. You want dark chocolate Dove bars in your freezer instead of milk chocolate? Done. Bagel with breakfast? Done. Soymilk? Done. Firmer pillow? Ditto. Now, you're probably thinking those are fairly simple requests. The unusual part is that those above mentioned items were not available on the property so some minion had to go out and fetch them. Yes, it's true. None of those were my requests, mind you. My only request, which really just started out as a simple question, was when a helpful employee picked April and me up from the spa. I asked him where the dairy barn was and instead of telling me how to get there, he just took us. He pointed out the sweet herding dogs and told us their background story. Then he showed me the sheep and took me into the area where they are milked at 7:00 every morning. He explained the process to me and reminded me that I could come watch the next morning. Thanks, but no thanks. He then explained how after I saw the milking I could go see where they make the cheese with the milk. I would enjoy that, but never made it. Which means I must visit again. He even pointed out the little baby chicks and how cute they were when they jumped up on the bush branch to escape from me trying to pet them. Then he took us on a little path so we could see where the horse riding trails were through the hills/mountain. All we'd done was ask for a ride back to our rooms from the spa. It was probably the closest I'll ever feel to being a celebrity. None were there; I asked. But I did find out that Brad Paisley had been there recently. I can't leave my celebrity passion behind, even on vacation.

Minor anecdote I'll share only because of my love of physical humor: Andrew was pushing me on the swing (in the pic above) when we got there. It's on a pretty significant hill. I first had to ask him how to swing...it'd been so long since I had and I honestly forgot how to. My legs were going in the wrong direction at the wrong time. He is so patient. Then I thought I was close enough to the ground to jump off. Wrong. My legs buckled under me and I went rolling down the hill. Apparently I resembled Gumby.

Also, on the last night there I got a major bumble bee (we think) sting on one of my knuckles while walking into the barn. Definitely shed tears because I have never had that type of pain feeling before. My hand is still swollen from it...The sweet waitress brought me some ice and a sting relief packet. Someone else brought me a cocktail.

leaving on a jet plane

And arriving at a farm tomorrow afternoon. Well, not literally...we'll first arrive at the airport and then head to the farm. I'm SO excited for a vacation!! My summer flew by way too fast with taking 9 hours at TCU. We're headed to a farm/resort in Walland,Tennessee where the high is..........82 degrees!!!!!!! As you know, I'm not much of a wilderness girl. At all. But maybe that will change after this trip. There's a pool of course, but also rock climbing, hiking trails, cycling, lawn games, and all sorts of other outdoorsy-athletic-like things to do. Yes-I'm trying to imagine myself doing those things, too as I'm sure you are. We shall see! We get back Friday evening...if I decide not to accidentally stay. Oh, and also, I plan on looking just like that girl in the hammock. Bliss.

two of my favorites

Since I'm on summer vacay for just a few more days, I actually got to go meet friends for lunch-like a grown up! I went and met Margaret at her place and then we went to pick up Emily (Suz and her bling couldn't join us :( .) Of course there was the usual banter and laughing and it made me begin making a mental review of all the funny stuff that happened when we lived together. Oh, and Emily's blog about lunch helped, too.

~"sword" (or balloon figures) fighting/pictures on the couch when we were delirious from rush
~sledding down the riverbank when it was snowing

~our GENIUS decision to tie a rope to end of Nick's truck and have him pull on a box top up and down River Park Dr. because the road was icy. Oh, and we did this at night. We were fearless.

~"is the kitty in there?"

~Elvis

~my plotting to scare Emily in her room...worked EVERY time without fail

~Mr. __________ who lived below us...I can't remember his name to save my life

~the screaming match on the phone that Emily and I just sat and listened to

~Ruth

~when the family next door put a chain lock at the top of their door and their fat, obnoxious little girl asked Emily to help her get out

~my bike disappearing

~the Library

~Friends watching nights

~blowing up Peeps in the microwave

And after all that, we've each managed to become responsible, productive members of society!

old school

But not really. It's more like new school...better yet, new school year. Here are some pictures of what I've been working on the past couple of days. I think I'm becoming depressed that my summer is over in a matter of days...I refuse to accept it (isn't the first stage to recovery denial?). So, instead, I'm going to meet one of my dear classroom neighbors for a happy hour beverage in a little while. My room and hallway are pretty much as ready as they can be until I get a finalized list of new angels I'll be spending my days with. I'm sure I'll be in better spirits once I meet the new kiddos and their excitement rubs off on me. Not literally, though...I'm not Mary Kay Letourneau.

daddy's back in town

...Sarge's daddy, that is. The title line is so ridiculous and funny and I try to use it whenever I can...thanks, Belew! So, yes, Andrew is back from his trip to NY and Miami and we're going to dinner shortly. I spent four nights at his place with Mazie in tow...and we're both spent! It is tough to come back to my grand converted garage apartment after being in a house. Although I won't miss Sarge being in my way EVERY time I try to walk somewhere. I very much like my two pets to be a small and quiet kitty and the red beta she is obsessed with...not that I don't love Sarge. But I don't love his loudness when licking, his snorting, his ceaseless panting, or his slobbers. This is how Mazie has looked for the past 3 hours since we came back home. (I have no idea how to post a picture anywhere but at the top...any suggestions???)

Also, for those of you interested, I still have a wee bit of proactive-ness going on around my eyebrows. It's much better, but still slightly bumpy and a little red...the price one pays in order to not look like Frida Kahlo.

wax on, wax off

It's too bad that I haven't actually see the movie that quote comes from, but at least I know what movie it is! I thought it was appropriate because yesterday I got my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever...and hello, my pain tolerance has NOT increased with age.

I have hidden my tweezers from myself for nearly a month now because I wanted a professional to do a better job shaping my brows that I was doing. I saw an episode of Oprah once where she had some woman grow hers out for two months and then come back to her show so Anastasia (famed brow-shaping/waxing guru) could "do" her brows. I was not willing to look quite so disheveled, so I figured one month was enough for me. I actually handled the lack of tweezing better than I thought I would. I really only got the urge at night when I was watching TV and relaxing and could feel the new hairs that I would have normally plucked...but alas, I overcame the urge and did not go for the tweezers even once.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon about this time. I went to the salon where I get my pedicures because it's super clean and they understand more English than most places. I told the receptionist I wanted someone who was gentle because I'd never had my brows waxed before. Jenny (although I'm sure that's not her actual name...they all adopt an "American" name to make it easier, I think) kindly took me back to the waxing room. She put HOT wax on my left brow and then pressed the cloth strip down on it. Now, I've watched plenty of people have their brows waxed and I thought I understood that it may hurt a little bit. Um....I wanted to pull a Joey from Friends and just leave with my one brow done. OMG-I know I'm a weenie when it comes to pain anyway, but this was serious!! My eyes were watering within about .5 seconds of the pulling. Of course I had her finish so that I did not look like Joey. I think all in all, I was there less than 10 minutes, but it seemed like so much longer. Those of you who have to go to the girl doctor know what I'm talking about!

I'm very happy with the shape and "Jenny" was really nice. She put some baby oil (I think...it was something oily) and lotion on my poor brow area to help, although I'm not sure what it was supposed to do...it still hurt like crazy and I looked like a walking add for Proactive of the brows-all red and bumpy. She assured me that the first time is the worst, the second still hurts but not as badly, and then after that it doesn't hurt at all. We'll see. It was all red and swollen around my eyebrows last night, and I've still got some red bumps lingering...luckily I don't have a hot date tonight.

On a side note, for those of you who know about Mazie and Sarge's difficulty (mainly Mazie's) in tolerating each other, MAJOR improvements. She lets Sarge come right up to her and she even sticks her cute little black nose up to smell his nose. The only time she hisses and bats at him is when he goes to sniff her side...but I have faith that that too will cease soon. We've got one more night together and then Andrew's back from Miami! Yay!! :)

animal house

I'm staying at Andrew's house while he's out of town so I can take care of Sarge. This means Mazie tags along too. We had quite an eventful afternoon yesterday! Emily came over from Dallas for the night and brought Rocky, her little 9 lb. chihuahua/mini pinscher mix. Meredeth also brought over her new 3 lb. puppy, Lacey, to show everyone. Needless to say, it was literally...an animal house! And quite an entertaining one at that.


Sarge, who is a 115 lb. bull mastiff for those of you who don't know, and Rocky hit it off right away...maybe a little too much. I can't post their initial videotaped meeting because there was way too much inappropriate sniffing and licking. Mazie and Rocky like playing together too, although Mazie is not a fan of Sarge all that much...yet. Here's a little snippet of what the day/night/next morning was like...lots of sniffing, batting, chasing, and nonsense. :)

Mazie and Sarge both spent the afternoon passed out in the living room...

child life

I think I've gotten my emotions in check finally. I went to a Child Life information session on Thursday night at Cook Children's Hospital. I have been borderline obsessed with child life for about a 2 months now and visit the national website almost daily. TCU just started a graduate course track for child life, however, since I'm nearly done with my Counseling classes, my advisor and I decided it would be best for me to just stick with what I'm doing...I'm still qualified to enter Child Life as a counselor. I had been emailing with the director of child life at Cook's and she sent me the info. for the session.

Let me back up-what is child life, you ask? Well, it's hard to really sum up shortly, but while the job has traditionally been in hospitals, it is expanding to hospice centers and other similar medically-related places. A child life specialist plays with the "sick" kids, reads with them, prepares them emotionally for any procedure, provides support for the family-especially siblings, helps maintain their development, and can even go to little Billy's class and explain to them why Billy won't be at school for a while. Hello-this job sounds fabulous and so rewarding. Here's the website in case I didn't answer your question: http://www.childlife.org/.

Fast forward to Thursday. Part of the seminar was a panel discussion with 5 Cook's child life specialists. Great information, great examples and stories of what they do and how they deal with the exceptionally hard days and the days they get to go fishing as part of a group outing for the kids there. I could definitely see myself sitting on a similar panel one day. Then we get into the powerpoint discussion that explains more of the logistics of the job and shows some video clips of actual work from Cook's. I'm dying to be in those videos-I want this job! Then the explanation of the process begins...and my plan started to crumble. I don't know an easier way to explain all of this other than laying it out in steps:

To be a child life specialist (anywhere):
1-You must first complete a practicum which consists of working 3 half days shifts a week for a semester.
2-You then must apply for an internship which is full time for a semester.
3-Because applications and interviews for internship for the upcoming semester begin about two weeks after the practicum has begun, you're advised NOT to apply for internship while in practicum because you'd be competing with people who have already finished their practicum and therefore have a leg up on you since you've been at it for about 2 weeks. This means you have a semester of basically nothing (unless you're volunteering) in between.
4-Cook's is the only place in FW that has child life specialists right now. Dallas has 2.
5-On average, 30-35 people apply for the intership spots at Cooks...they accept 5-6.
6-Oh, NONE of the above is paid. Anyone have any lucky lottery numbers for me to play?? If you're counting, that's 3 semesters of no income. And if by chance you're doing all of this through TCU, it's going to be 1 1/2 years for you because TCU doesn't offer practicum/internship supervision during the summers.
7-Their advice about interships and jobs is to be flexible and willing to move. If I can take about 8 of my dearest with me, then I'll consider that. But right now, I'm really not all that much up for it...can you imagine me living in Temple, TX, which is where the next closest hospital with child life is?

I have, of course, analyzed this whole thing to death. I am still surprised at the emotional reaction I had to the disappointment-I was such a mope all day yesterday and on the verge of tears at all given moments. I woke up feeling better today, but still sad. I know a huge part of it is that I was SO excited and it feels like a giant bully just ruined something really important to me. I know, I know, everything happens for a reason. But I'm not there yet. I'm still angry and sad that something I think I'd be really good at and a job I'd love going to everyday are not nearly as in focus in my future as I thought. So, yes, I know there's a great power leading my hand, and heart, away for right now...and sure, it may be more accessible down the line. But I want it now.

I'll leave you with some more Patty Griffin:

Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction...

Oh, Moses

My plan was to write about the Child Life seminar I went to last night. I thought I would have all kinds of excitement to tell and things to explain. Turns out, Child Life is not in my near future, and I'm pretty upset about it...I started crying at a totally random, unrelated time at lunch and probably scared Andrew half to death...so I can't write about it yet.

Instead, here are the lyrics to a song I've had in my head for days now. It's by Patty Griffin, however, it came to me via April singing it...and I think it's a pretty fantastic song to turn up loudly in the car and sing to. Apart from the slightly derogatory name for the best friend, I love it! Wish I knew how to get the downloaded song on here. You should look it up and give it a listen or two...or ten.

Moses

Diamonds, roses, I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
I don't necessarily buy any key to the future or happiness
But I need a little place in the sun sometimes
Or I think I will die

And everywhere is somewhere
And nowhere is near
Everybody got somebody with their wine and their beer
So I'm just this tragic figure in the corner over here
With an empty apartment
And a best friend who is queer

Everytime I see him he smiles
And he tells me how well he's walking these miles
But he never ever asks a single thing about me
If I die, he'd hear about it eventually

Diamonds, roses, I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness,
Part this red river of pain

And everywhere is somewhere
And nowhere is near
Everybody got somebodywith their wine and their beer
So I'm just this tragic figure in the corner over here
Go home to an empty apartment
And call a best friend who is a queer

Diamonds, roses,
I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness,
Part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness,
Part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness,
Part this red river of pain