Have a very merry Christmas

We had ourselves an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with Leo's family last Saturday night. It was actually really fun. We have all been working on finding our sweaters for a long time. Then we went ahead and had a little photo shoot.

p.s. hopefully you understand the awkwardness is intended.....

p.p.s. Leo found his pants at D.I. women's section.... and his shirt from Walmart's women's section. How can I not love this man?

This one is of Leo and his brother and sisters. We laughed and laughed at their series of shots.

This one is the boys feeling the Holiday spirit

And here is Leo and I in front of the fireplace. you can sorta see my prego belly poking out a little. I'm looking more pregnant lately but pictures rarely happen.

Almost graduated...

Do you realize that I am done with school in 3 days.....

I do :)

P.s. I watched the Singoff tonight and loved it. This all male group did Gaga and I could only find their audition video, but here it is. I don't know if the baby makes me giggly but I laughed so hard watching their dancing. (for some reason it will only show the left half of the video, whatevs)

Many moons

It has been awhile since I've posted and I'm going to blame school on this dilemma. This semester of student teaching has been crazy busy. I have loved it, but I am a tired girl. I am have one more week and then I am done, which means I'll graduate in 8 days (4 teaching days to be exact). It really is surreal. Most of that is because it has taken me so dang long to finish school that I'm not quite sure what it will be like to not be on campus anymore.

Since October I have been in a preschool class and they are a riot. Funny stories every single day. My mentor teacher is a genius with children and it's so great to hear her insight into their little minds. We have been studying bread and yesterday, I got to take them to a bakery. My goal was to not crash a van or lose a kid and I was successful! We really did have such a good time and I love that I was able to take them on the first field trip ever.

Onto more important things, my pregnancy is going well. I'm getting larger and larger.... what a lovely process (hopefully you heard the sarcasm). Annnnd, I just realized I haven't announced what we are having. It is a boy!! I went a little crazy on black friday and I'm pretty sure he has clothes for the first year of his life. We also got his bassinet, crib, and changing table over that week because of all of the sales. I haven't really started organizing his nursery yet though. I have lots of ideas, but I'm sure after this next week I'll just go crazy in there! My sister is pregnant with a boy too and it is really fun to share this journey with her. We trade stories and it is so weird how much we experience that is the same. I'm starting to feel him more and more, which is amazing. My husband can't feel him yet though, but he will eventually.

Well, I'm on my lunch break at school but before I go back, I'll share my to-do list for after I graduate.

After I graduate, I want/need to:
1. Clean my house
2. Sleep in (I'm so sick of waking up at 6am)
3. do a puzzle- I bought some Christmas puzzles! yay!
4. Prepare for tmi.... but I need to shave my legs (let's just say its been awhile) Well it is cold here so really I'm just adding on a layer of warmth
5. be better about planning meals for dinner- I have wasted so much money this semester with eating out
6. talk to my family more- my poor sisters have been ignored for the past 4 months, well really most of my time at school- I'm not so great at that whole talking on the phone thing, what a shock since you can tell how consistent I am with blogging.....
7. get the nursery ready!
8. Go on a date with my husband- we celebrate our 4 year anniversary in 27 days

Oh crap, I forgot to update about my Thanksgiving! It was amazing!! My mom, my brother and sister came up here and spent the week with us! It was more fun than I've had in a long time. We ate, played wii, shopped, played wii, ran outside, played wii, and played more wii. Leo taught the kids Mario Bros on the wii and I have not laughed that hard in a long time, like almost to the point of an accident... I said almost. We also showed them a dance game called Just Dance. Apparently cotten-eyed-joe is the choice song/dance for them. Of course, there were tears when they left. There always are, but I get to fly out in about month to Texas and then my mom will be back here in April for the baby. Woop woop!

Ok that was the longest post of my life, but hopefully, graduating will free up my time so I can blog more.

P.S. my house looks so cute for christmas.

Glee... get it together

So, I embraced the Sonic dollar menu today.....Is it a bad thing when your total amounts to $6 from the dollar menu?

Anyway. Life is busy! I feel like I'm running around like a crazy person most of the time.

Recent big events: We went to the doctor last Friday and heard the heartbeat. Healthy and normal. Hallelujah!

Leo's birthday was also last Friday! We celebrated by stuffing our faces at Burger Supreme. I wonder if we can take that place with us to TX. Relax, we're not moving for another year and a half. But its' getting closer! I was a kind wife to Leo and bought him Starcraft II. If that doesn't mean anything to you, you're not my husband.

School is going well. I found out I'll be here when we go on a field trip! How fun, right!

Also, it's almost October...which means it's almost Halloween.... which means it's almost Thanksgiving.... which means it's almost Christmas!!! Which means, I'm excited. Tai Pan got there Christmas stuff in. I know, I'm a freak. But I don't care.

p.s. our internet and cable are out at home. I came all the way onto campus just to post on my blog. Not really, I had to prepare a presentation.

p.p.s. Glee's episode last night was disappointing. So much hype for the Britney episode and a lot of let down. They better get it together or I'm done watching.... Yeah right, like I could stop.

Possible TMI alert

So, I never understood why people's blogs turned into their pregnancy or baby journal, except now I do! It's the only thing I really think about. Well, that's not totally true. Student teaching has definitely distracted me and I usually tell Leo too many student stories, but that's only because 6 yr olds are pretty funny.

But yeah, so here's what I'm thinking about lately. How many people are wondering if I'm pregnant or just extra fluffy in the middle right now? Honestly, I can still button most of my pants, it's just really uncomfortable. And my shirts are for sure still all okay, but if any of them were once tight around the stomach, I've got awkward pudginess going on. This is probably a lot of TMI, but alas this is what I'm thinking about. And the illusion of sucking in is far and gone. I miss that illusion. It got me through high school and most of college. I knew I'd be the kind that shows early. And I'm probably over reacting. My goal is to have no one ask me (that didn't already know..) if I'm pregnant until 15 wks. That's another 3 wks or so.

Anyway.... enough of my pregnancy complexes.

I'm pregnant!

Yep, it's true. I'm 11 wks along, which makes me due in the 1st wk of April. I'm feeling great so far. Had a couple wks where I wanted to sleep all day, but it feels like my energy is back to normal lately. Leo and I are super excited and just want the upcoming months to move faster.

Another week

Another week of student teaching has gone by and it was great! Life is busy, but fun. Looking good in the morning has slowly become optional since I get up at the crack of dawn. But the kids don't care, right? right? I now come home singing all kinds of songs from BINGO to that Snow White song- Hi ho, hi ho... Yep, I know all of the official words. And at night, I find myself talking to Leo like I'm still a 1st grade teacher. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's annoying. Lol, I wonder how real teachers turn it off.

We had a great weekend. Friday night, we had some friends over and played Wii. They brought their sweet baby girl and she was hilarious! Leo and I could have played with her all night. Then Saturday, we went up to Leo's parents and had a little barbecue in the canyon. Other than the some nice little mishaps with the chicken (burning, falling the ground, leaking all over the other food..) it was really fun! Of course, I spent most of the night doting over my 8 month old niece. She's learned to crawl and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen, especially because it's more of a caterpillar scoot than a crawl. Fun stuff.

I love the weather this time of year. The mornings are so cool and crisp, Leo and I have been leaving a window open at night and I love the chilly feeling when I wake up. I probably will hate that feeling in a couple months when no matter what I do, it's chilly and dark in the mornings, but when its new after summer, it's amazing.

Pardon the hiatus...

Hiatus is a good word, right?

So, I've been gone for awhile. Here are my reasons.

1. I hate my computer. Well, not hate, but it's a pain in the tookus to turn it on. You have to do this little trick where you switch one button, then watch til it gets to a certain screen, then press another button and wait for it to restart properly. Oy. So, since I didn't have to be on the computer during the summer, I didn't really care to deal with the little tricks. We will be getting a new laptop soon, so that should be fun.

2. Summer trips. I had quite a few quick trips. I suck at taking pictures so I don't have much evidence that those even happened but they did. Leo and I went camping with his family, then went to Texas to see my family. We also went to a little resort in a nearby city for a weekend. So, fun stuff, but we were pretty busy.

3. Working. I also worked a bunch.

Now that school has started back up again, the computer is back in my life, whether I'm patient with it or not. I'm student teaching this semester and last week was my first week. I'm excited to be back in the classroom. My teacher is wonderful and it should be a great experience. It'll definitely keep me busy. I'm up at 630 am and don't get home until about 5pm. I'm in this classroom until the 3rd wk of October and then I go to a different classroom until December. Then I graduate! Hallelujah. I just paid tuition for the last time. That is amazing.

Phone?

So, I lost my cell phone. I don't lose things so I'm kind of going crazy. And of course, Leo lost his too, so we can't call each others. Good times.

Skeletons in my closet.

Okay, I don't really understand that phrase but let's pretend that it pertains to my morning.

I had happy energy after being discharged from physical therapy, so I decided to do some cleaning. I scrubbed my bathroom, cleaned up my floor bomb (the inevitable clothes that pile up), and then went to the junk closet. Some people may have a junk drawer. Well, we have a junk closet. I started going through it and to be honest, I still am. If I wasn't so lazy, I would take a picture of the room here and you too would call all of the stuff that surrounds me junk.

However, I realized that most of these things are things that involved some type of new obsession or hobby of mine and are now ignored. Don't worry, a lot of it is Leo's too.

So, what did I find?

Ok, I'll tell you. A yoga mat..... Scrapbook kits.... yarn for crocheting (for those of you who don't know, Leo and I fell in love while crocheting. I'll let you sit with that for awhile.)... buttons and fabric.... and the list goes on and on.

Now I realize this is common, but it's still slightly sad to see all of these things I used to be interested in. You might think I should give myself the goal to stick with my hobbies! But, I know me and that's not me. So, I'm sure in a year or two I'll go through my closet and reminisce once again.

Oowa Oowa

Guess who has no more physical therapy! Hallelujah. I'll actually miss my super sweet physical therapist. It was always really fun to visit with her, but at the same time, I'm so glad to be done.

My life is a bore.

My life is very mundane right now. Let's talk about it.

I work 35-40 hrs every week. Good for the budget, bad for the free time.

I've been taking an art for elementary class. Lots of fun activities. When I say lots, I mean tons. All of these which were half finished last week but all due this week. Therefore, I spent a lot of time doing studio this week. Don't I sound artistic? I keep showing Leo what I'm painting or making and he kindly nods as if to say, "Good job producing what a 1st grader can do." (Yeah right, if any one knows my husband, he's probably sincerely saying, "I'm so proud of my talented wife.")

I've been enjoying the summer weather. Last weekend I hiked to Stewart Falls. It was so fun! I went with some friends from my church Relief Society group. They helped me not die, even though everyone kept saying "This is such a great hike to start with, there's almost no elevation." And then I would hold my heavy breathing in and smile. That hike produced a super sexy farmers tan. Theeen, later that day, Leo and I went to the pool and I decided to not put sunscreen on my legs. Mostly because I look deathly pale and I figured red is better than white. Well, at some point Leo or I had sunscreen on our hands and touched my thighs. And now, I have a beautiful mural of finger prints on my thighs. Boy am I excited to go back to the pool and show the people my art work.

Finished with Glee and on to So You Think You Can Dance. We'll see how this SYTYCD season goes with the new rules. I wanted to be bitter and not watch because of all the changes but then I started watching last night and it was all down hill from there. There were so many good dancers and I kept crying because I'm so proud of these people I don't know. It also makes me really want Tivo. But, whatevs, I'll try not to complain.

I'm painting! I almost done painting my kitchen and I've been testing colors for our 2nd bedroom.

Back update: I go back to the physical therapist (hopefully for the last time) on Monday. I feel great lately, I haven't tried running much mostly because of the working a lot more thing. So, I guess we'll see how it goes.

So full of energy

Ok. So, I just finished watching Glee. Darnit, this show is so good! Tonight was the Gaga night and it was flipping fantastic. Idina Menzel and Rachel sang a slow version of poker face. Good stuff. Idina also sang Funny Girl. I wish I lived in a musical. Leo says my face is lit up with pure joy when I watch Glee. He just laughs because I get so excited when I like the song, which I pretty much love all of the music. So yes, I'm happy. Plus So you think you can dance starts this week and as we all know, this is what my summer revolves around. I'm siked, except that I often work nights Wed or Thurs and I don't have Tivo. So, boo. But that's okay. Alright, I should go do my back exercises.

P.S. Did I mention I really like Glee?

please come out sun

im typing this with my wii remote on my wii internet, so if it looks funny, thats why.

life is good right now. almost done with my spring class. working a whole lot more and desperately waiting for summer weather. it snowed yesterday, like heavy snow. boo. i want to wear shorts and flip flops.

my hand is tired. peace.

I have hope

So, my symptoms are improving. This is awesome. The one test that shows my symptoms clearly is just to do a solo calf raise with my left leg. A month ago, when my therapist asked me to do this, my foot wouldn't move. It just stayed on the ground. No pain, just wouldn't move. 1 1/2 weeks ago, she had me do it again and it like barely moved. Maybe like 1/2 an inch off the ground. So, I did it a couple days ago and I can go up like 3-4 inches! Yahoo! It's still a pretty shaky raise, but this means good things. I go back next Monday and we'll see what she says.

Things I'm a Fan of.....

I am a fan of the following:

Bathrobes: this won't come as a surprise to my family. I spent 80% of my lazy high school days in a huge purple bathrobe, that I know I should've washed more.

Tweezing: I love to sit on top of my bathroom counter and tweeze my eyebrows. There is something so satisfying about cleaning up the brow area. Poor Leo. He hates tweezing, this is because he knows I will eventually start to tweeze him. I don't necessarily shape his brows, just start finding random hairs on his face that really shouldn't be there. And everyone once in a while, when he's not paying attention, I'll get some off the back of his neck. (Too much information?) I don't know why he wouldn't enjoy this. :)

Slippers: I actually don't wear slippers very much, but Leo has been seriously complaining about the temperature of my feet. At night, there is nothing better than to sneak my toes under his calf and since my feet are like icicles, he doesn't like it. If he was a blogger, he might make a list of things that he is not a fan of and this would make that list. Except that my husband's abnormally kind and probably wouldn't even think to add it the list. Anyway, I'm wearing slippers currently to help the situation and it's very nice.

Lego Star Wars Wii game: Hey, look, I am not ashamed of how I spend my free time. So, if it happens that Leo and I spend 4 hours working on Lego Star Wars on a Friday night, then so be it. Only unfortunate thing about it is that I'm not a very good video game buddy. I tend to die. Alot.

I am an even bigger fan of the following:

My sweet husband Leo: I love him. It's so nice to be around your best friend all the time. The first thing I ever noticed about him was this twinkle he had in his eyes. He still has it. I see it all the time. He is ever so patient with me. Which means he doesn't get annoyed that I suck at cooking, cleaning, and laundry. When I do cook, he gives me 5 star reviews, which if you ate my food, you would most likely disagree. I love that whenever we play board games with just us or his family, he inevitably creates many many extra rules. I love that he lets me drive when we're late to something, because he knows I can't stand not having the control over how fast we're going. I love that he will watch Spongebob with me on Saturday mornings and laugh almost as much as I do. I love how much he hates hornets. This might seem random but it makes me laugh a lot. For some reason, almost every place we've lived has had a hornet's nest in our backyard. I don't know if he just forgets they are there until we take our the trash or go outside for other reasons. But, I guarantee, every time he sees the hornets are still there, he comes back in with a very serious face and finds whatever chemical is in our cupboard and proceeds to kill them. I just sit at the window and watch. It is awesome. See, how do I not love that.

Back update

So, I went to see the surgeon last Friday and he thinks I should wait a little bit longer before surgery. We'll give it another 3-6 months and if it is improving on its own, I won't have to have surgery. So I'll just keep doing physical therapy and what not. If pain or an increased weakness ever comes back, then he said I should come in then and we'll do surgery quickly. So yep, that's what's going on. I am a little sad only because with surgery, you have about a month and then you're back to normal. With this, I still can't do much. Leo and I love tennis in the summers and we can't play and I can't go running or anything like that. So a little sad but very happy that I don't necessarily have to have surgery. I'd hate to be this young and already have had surgery on my spine.

I am taking one spring class- Art for Elementary teachers. Oh snap, it is fun. Slightly boring because it's 3 hours long, but we got to do some drawing and we played with modelling clay. There's only 7 of us too and the teacher is way cool. Good times.

Brielle

So, I never understood the obsession with nieces and nephews. I like babies just as much as the next person, but some people just go on and on about all of their nieces and nephews. That is, I didn't understand it until I had a niece. Oh sweet nectar, this girl is sooo cute! And we are best friends. Last Thursday, I went and spent the entire day with my sister-n-law and niece up in Brigham and we had so much fun. Brielle is almost 4 months now and what a hoot. She has the best smile ever. Here are some pics of our fun day.


We had some super yummy french toast for dinner that Adrienne made. We were inspired after watching Julie & Julia.

I made this picture black and white because I could tell I'd had too much coke because my teeth were yellow.
I love her in this video but I must warn you- I am absolutely obnoxious when I talk to babies. Like full on annoying voice and noises, so prepare yourself.

Oowa oowa

Done with finals! Best feeling ever. Now if only I could get my internet to work. I had to email my last final to a professor and so I had to come to the public library to do that. Let's just say, this keyboard is a little iffy and I might have to do some serious sanitizing. Don't get me wrong- me and the library are buddies, but I like it a little less after touching this keyboard.

Boo.

So... lets just talk about my morning. First of all, my Internet was down. Not a big deal except that my preferred surgeon to go to called and said they actually don't go with our insurance so we'll have to find someone else. The first surgeon we wanted can't even see us for a consult until August 10th... now this one's out and I'm sad because I wanted someone who others had recommended. Well, the lady from that office gave us a new name for someone to call but I was still annoyed. Back to my internet, now I needed it so I can do research on other surgeons and soon because apparently they are busy people and can't see us for awhile.

Then my friend texted me and reminded me that I was supposed to be at an appt with a professor which I missed. But I couldn't email her because my internet sucks. Blah blah blah. My friend talked to my professor and helped me set up a new appt. Then when I went up to campus to see her, there were no spots. LIke, none. So I spent 20 minutes wandering the parking lots, stalking those who are coming out. Btw, people who are coming through the parking lots, if you are just using the parking lot as a shortcut to your apartment complex, I would prefer you to not do that. It kind of makes me think you have a car and are going to provide me with a spot and then I slowly drive behind you and most likely freak you out. So, if you could just take a different route, it would save my time and then you wouldn't feel like you had a stalker. Anyway, my day got better, don't worry.

I made it to my appt and she was super nice and even gave me some children's books. (Have I mentioned I loooove children's books?)

Then, I set up an appt with this surgeon the other receptionist recommended and he is on our insurance and did his fellowship under the other surgeon that was #1 on our list. So, Im feeling better about that.

Hopefully now I can go home and clean up, do my physical therapy stuff and go to work without any other annoyances. Peace.

Physical Therapy

I'm a physical therapy fool. I went again this morning and it's actually really enjoyable. My therapist is this sweet woman and we just chat the whole time. She also gave me some more difficult exercises which made me happy. The ones she gave me last time felt like I was doing nothing. I think they just have to be that way for the first time. Anyway... yes, it was good. We also did the pool again and I felt like a kid again. I floated on the noodles and did "bicycle" movements. I really hope it helps.

Has anyone noticed how gorgeous it is outside? Leo and I went and just laid on a blanket in our backyard area after church yesterday. We stayed out for about an hour and watched some dog people play with their dogs. I want a dog. But alas, a dog is not going to happen for awhile. That's okay, I don't know that I want to train an animal to not get bodily fluids all over my floor right now. Plus, Leo and I just killed our house plant (Peter) this week. He lasted for almost a year, which for us, is pretty impressive. Leo tried to transplant him into our backyard but he got a sunburn and died. This picture should show our lack of green-thumbness, note the beautiful crafted garden of dead weeds. Good-bye Peter, it's been real.

Finals.... & Glee :)

I finished one final. 4 more to go. I'll get one more done this afternoon. 2 are take home. 1 is in the testing center. I can do this!

Physical therapy started this morning. It was interesting. I did some strengthening exercises in the gym and then some funny things in the pool. Good times....


But what I'm absolutely obsessed with right now is GLEE.... Oh, it's so good. I watched one and it was really dirty so I never watched it again. Then I happened to download the soundtrack and fell in love. I wish I lived in a musical. I also wished I could sing like the main brunette girl. Amy came over last night and we watched 4 or 5 episodes and I couldn't stop smiling. I keep singing "I bust your windows out your car". So awesome.

Back update

So, I have a herniated disc. Again, apparently I have the body of a 70 yr old. I'm still walking a little funny but it is improving very slowly. The suggestion from my doctor is surgery because I have no pain and my only symptom is neurological. There's a chance of definite nerve damage which is why surgery is the push right now. I've talked to a chiropractor who basically said, they'd do the exact same thing as physical therapy, which I am already going to start on Friday. The more research I do, I feel comfortable with the surgery. I have two highly recommended names of surgeons. I'm going to set a date with these two people this week because it will take a while to get in to them and just go to physical therapy until then. If its better by then, then we can cancel the surgery. If not, I guess I'm getting surgery.

On another note, I'm done with my classes and my school. My kids were so cute. They were like, "What are we going to do without you?!" and I looked at my teacher, who was still in the room, and was like, "I think you're going to be alright." Lol, they're so sweet. Makes me excited for student teaching this fall. Well, time to do some spring cleaning and go through my junk closets and drawers and get organized. I love doing this kind of stuff. Getting rid of old junk. I'm so not a pack rat.

1 am.

Yep, I'm awake at 1 a.m. Why? You might ask. Well, I've procrastinated a huge project for a very long time. It is due at 5 pm tomorrow but I will be in my school from 8-4 and it's my last day, so I have to go. What this means for me is that I have to finish it tonight. Not only that but I still have to plan a lesson for tomorrow. Let's just say- I'm glad I'm not getting observed for that lesson. I think I can finish by 3 tonight. We'll see, I probably shouldn't've gone to Cafe Rio tonight for 2 hrs. Luckily though, I'm eating the rest of my salad right now. That's not healthy but I need energy. This post won't make sense tomorrow but I needed a break for my brain. Alright, back to the grind.

Michael Buble & Amy

So, here are some pics of me and Amy at the Michael Buble concert! Amazing! I'm too lazy to write more.We finally got to our seats here and we're so relieved to have the whole ticket issue behind us. And can i just tell you? My hair is growing! Yay hair. Granted it has a weird kink in it here but whatevs. It's growing! Now I've just got to get through the blah stage of not doing anything and onto the Gisele hair stage where its long, voluminous, and flowing.

This picture makes me laugh because it's so us. We ran up to the stage to get a picture in front of it. And Amy didn't care at all that the security guards were yelling at us but of course, I (The Rule-Follower), was like, "Yes, yes, of course, we're going."

And then, when we left at 12:30 that night, it was a blizzard.

Twas a good night.

Hoveround anyone?

What if I have to use a jazzy chair? jay-kay. I won't have to have a wheelchair, but my back is worse than I thought. Still looking at the treatment options. But, one thing I know for sure from all of this. I love my husband. He is so concerned for me and I can tell he's thinking about me all the time right now. What a sweetheart. My family is amazing too. I'm feeling very loved, which helps so much.

Spring Break

This week is spring break for the elementary schools, which means for the first time in almost 5 years- I get a spring break from BYU. Well, at least Mon-Wed off. The goal for these 3 days was to finish all my final projects. Well, it's Wednesday and I've finished 2 out of like 6. Ruh-roh. So, today, I'm going to be very productive. I'm not going to get distracted with other blogs, like NieNie or C-jane. I'm not going to get distracted with the Wii- darn you Super Mario Brothers. Yeah, I'm not afraid to say that I stayed up until 11 playing that last night. And, I'm not going to use cleaning my house as an excuse for not doing homework. Mostly because that was my excuse yesterday and so my house is pretty clean. I am going to do homework all day. Peace.

500 Days of Summer

I finally just watched 500 Days of Summer all the way through and I'm emotionally drained.

Sub & Buble...

Ok, so yesterday was slightly amazing. First of all, there was a sub in my class and so I pretty much was the teacher. I was a little bit nervous when I walked in and saw her but then my teacher had left really detailed plans, so it was no biggie. Annd, it was so much fun!! I was all using my management skills and helping those kids learn things! Oowa oowa. Yeah, I came home beaming! I even got my first "You are the best teacher ever!" note. I almost teared up, but I didn't. We measured weight with scales and I let the kids measure pretty much whatever they wanted as long as it fit in the scale and they loved it! It was slightly chaotic but they learned a lot. So yes, that was the first good thing.

Second- I went to Michael Buble!!! Yeah, ticketmaster's on my bad side but E Center's not! Well, they were at first because they told me I could come up anytime to deal with my issue and then I got there at 4:45 and they said they didn't open their "resolution" window until 5:30, so I came back at 5:30 and she said they couldn't do anything until 6:30. I almost gave her the finger, but I didn't. So, I came back at 7 after eating at IHOP with Leo and Amy. And we got in!! The whole credit card thing was not even an issue. It was the best concert I've ever been to! Me and Amy had a freaking blast. I'll tell more about it when she emails me pictures! But his voice was ten times better live and what a cutie! Basically, yesterday made life better.

Paramore

I was looking at my posts for March and I've been slightly grumpy so here's my current favorite song, so you all don't think I'm depressed. I have listened to this song every night while I'm planning my lessons for the next day. It's so good.

Ugh.

That is how I feel right now as I eat my feelings with chips and dip. I am irritable. I'm still limping and I have to get an MRI on Thursday that is going to cost too much money and I might not be able to go to my Michael Buble concert tomorrow. I'm mad at Ticketmaster who I loved so much last fall when I bought the wicked tickets for the wrong date and they fixed it so fast.

I'm mad because I pulled up my confirmation email for this concert yesterday to make sure I had everything ready for Wed. and it said you had to bring the credit card that purchased the tickets. I realized that Leo lost that card a couple months ago, so I thought, Ok, I'll call and have them transfer it to another card. Well, apparently, my situation was completely crazy and unique and they had never heard of anything like this ever happening! Because they said the credit card company has to fax over proof that the card is cancelled, which takes 5 processing days. and Leo has to come to the ticket booth (even though he's not seeing the concert, me and my friend Amy are going, but I used his credit card to buy the tickets because he's my husband!) so, yeah, Leo has to come and show his credit card and then leave! What the heck, right? Basically, my husband's amazing and was on the phone for 2 hours while I was at work trying to get it figured out. I'm planning on them not letting us in tomorrow so if they do it'll be awesome. But, Leo's going to drive all the way up there with the next credit card, explain the situation, and see if they would allow a verbal confirmation from Discover over the phone. This is why I'm annoyed and need to blog.

Diagnosis

It's official. I have a name for my pains... You ready? I have.... "radiculopathy". It sounds like either a character on Sesame Street or a name Dr. Seuss would come up with. Well, it's not an actual disease, just a condition. I even have to get an MRI and possibly have physical therapy. It's slightly hilarious. I don't have any kind of medical history and one day I wake up and my back hurts, which turns into my leg hurts and now I have to get an MRI and go to a physical therapist. Probably not for long but she basically said I just need to make sure I have a strong back. So, she prescribed me some steroid things and hopefully that'll take away my limping and symptoms. At least I have somewhat of an answer. But she said I'll probably always be prone to this type of thing. Boo.

My husband thinks I'm crazy because I love the name of the diagnosis. I keep saying, "Oh, you didn't know? I have radiculopathy." He's like, "Why are you proud of your illness?" Because the name rocks, that's why.

Peg Leg

So, I have to talk about my random pains.... It is the weirdest thing ever. Ok. So, last Sunday, my back started hurting really bad. It felt like I had thrown my back out (Yes, I'm 85 yrs old). I couldn't bend at all from my waist and if I had to go down, I had to completely squat from my legs while my back stayed straight. You can imagine, it was a long 3 days in a 1st grade classroom, where pretty much all you do is bend down to talk to kids. That lasted until Friday, when all the sudden my back didn't hurt as much but my whole left leg started throbbing. It was awful. I could not get comfortable and even laying down, it just ached so badly. My poor husband thought I was going to die, because I'm never sick or anything, he hadn't ever seen me in pain. Well, then Saturday, my back didn't hurt at all, and really my left thigh didn't either. But now, all the pain was located into my calf. It was just moving lower and lower. Basically, I limped all Saturday, which was annoying because I had a baby shower and big group activity at night, so everyone was like, "What's wrong with your foot?!" over and over again. My calf didn't hurt unless I didn't limp and then it turned into an automatic charlie horse, which I decided to just limp after that happened once. It was bad. So, then today... I woke up and got out of bed and it's still in my calf. But, it hurts today, more than it hurt yesterday, even if I limp. I had to take much smaller steps than yesterday, like my calf could not use any muscle to stretch. So, I limped around really slowly. Annnd, my foot feels like its constantly coming out of being asleep. So, its always tingly. Well, there you go. I'm a freak. I'm even going to the doctor's this week. I haven't been to the general doctor since I was like 5, seriously. So, if this has happened to any of you, could you please diagnose me? It would be much appreciated.

Rough lesson.

Oh snap. Yesterday, I did an Interactive Writing lesson where the students "share the pen". Basically, they help write something on a big piece of chart paper. And that lesson went amazingly! It was pure goodness. The students generated fantastic ideas, actively participated, and then were so quiet during independent work. I came home feeling like I had accomplished something great, plus it made a very cute wall display :)

Then today happened. I taught my first math lesson. Math stresses me out because I don't feel like I actually understand the concepts as well as I should. But that wasn't really the problem because my students understood things really well, but my management was unfortunate. At one point, I had to look at my cooperating teacher for help because I was talking and no one was listening. I did my attention grabber and they looked at me like "why are you talking" and then kept playing their game. So, I looked at my teacher and said "help me" with my eyes. She had to just quietly say, class you need to be looking at Mrs. (my last name). And then, they gave me their undivided attention. I felt like such a loser. It's so tricky when you're teaching in someone else's classroom because I don't want to do anything she wouldn't want me to do with her kids.

So, long story short, I'm really glad I wasn't getting officially observed today. That sounds more positive, right? However, my next observation, I will be teaching another math lesson. Fingers crossed that it goes well.

What a paradox?

Ok, I don't think today was actually very paradoxical (sp?) but I wanted to use that word. Irony is probably a better word. Yes, I'll stick with irony.

1st reason for irony: So... lately, I've been feeling rather bitter about my job (reminder: I work in a kid's clothing store) I don't work very much right now, which is fine because school keeps me busy. I'm not bitter about that.... but the fact that when I do work, I look at the things customers say and wonder, "You want to return the pair of shoes your child wore for a week and are covered in dirt and scuffs because they gave her a blister? Interesting...." I have to control the faces I make at people too because I'm not good at hiding my "You are a dumb person" face. Plus, I've been in retail for 5 years and it's really the only job I've ever had and well, it's getting old. And I'm slightly sick of having to push people into the credit card, get their email/ phone number and get our percentages higher... the list goes on and on and I just want to say. It's a clothing store! It's not that important! So these are the reasons I am bitter.

Well, today, I was supposed to work 9-2 but my co-worker/favorite person in the world, Amy was sick and so I stayed until 4ish so she could come in a little later. Anyway, it was super busy and I rang almost the whole time and of course, a huge coke spilled all over the floor and I went to mop it up while there are 30 people waiting in line. You get the picture.

2nd reason for irony: I don't really like old people. I hate feeling like I'm talking down to them. I don't like the way they smell, move slowly, etc. This will make sense soon.

About 10 minutes before 4 (I knew Amy was coming in around 4), an elderly woman comes up to the desk and says, "Can you help me put a few outfits together?" Everyone knows that this question from a grandma means you will now have to plan the entire family picture and their outfits and help her decide on what sizes, colors, and fit it into her budget. But she asks me directly and I say yes. And she's like, "Are you sure it's okay if you to leave the desk?" I jokingly said, "Well, of course, Thank you for letting me get away from there." She laughed abnormally loud for an old woman and I instantly could tell that we might end up being friends.

I helped her put 2 outfits together for her granddaughters (not nearly as much as I thought when she showed me her notes from the mom of the girls, which btw- grandma's always bring in notes of sizes of kids and then they can't understand their notes)

She was very sweet and grateful the whole time. Then, I went and rang her up and gave her a coupon, mostly because she thought I was funny. I asked if she needed gift receipts, which she did and helped her get the outfits in boxes. She put her hand on mine and said "Thank you ever so much." Then she asked if I had a boss. Terri, my manager was at the register next to me and said, Yes, she's my boss. She waddled over to her and said, "Ma'am, I just want you to know, this girl here is a pleasure to work with and she deserves anything you can give her. This was my first time in the store and I'm coming back because of her."

I laughed and she made her way out of the store. The man that Terri was ringing up was like, "Wow, she liked you." I said, "Yep, I'm saving the world, one outfit at a time." Then, it was like 4:20 and Amy had been there since 4, so I booked it home.

So why is that ironic? Well, because I didn't think putting outfits together for an old lady would make me like my job again, even if it's only for a short time.

P.S. For those of you who work with me: Relax, I'm not quitting. You know it'll be really hard for me to leave that darn store.

P.P.S. I got a ticket for my expired registration on the way home. I never get tickets. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten an actual ticket. I cried. I'm such a baby.

Seriously?

Snow. Really? I'm working on math homework right now and it's a freaking blizzard outside. Granted, it looks beautiful, but it's March. I'm ready for spring.

I don't want to do my math homework. It's such a pointless assignment. Can you tell I'm feeling rather annoyed today? Sorry bout that. I tried to procrastinate for as long as possible, by watching 2 hours of Desperate Housewives, a half hour of Friends (there's no judging on my blog for laziness). But, this thing's going to take me awhile, so I should probably start.

Adele is getting me through my snowy, grumpy, procrastinatey day.

Tired.

Member how I love my major? Well, I still do. But, I am very tired. I think I have been used to easy semesters for awhile and right now, I am busy. I am gone from 8-4ish everyday with my school and then a couple times a week, I have to work 5-10. This might not seem that busy, but it is for me. Plus, I am trying to keep track of everything I am assigned from my classes and everything my teacher would like me to do. Almost every day after school, I have a killer headache and I desperately need a nap. I hate taking naps because I can't do the whole "power" nap 15 minute thing. Nope, if I nap, I'm out for awhile, which makes me groggy and then I can't fall asleep later. Blah, blah, blah. I feel like I'm rambling, but oh well.

It's still so much fun being in the classroom. The kids freaking crack me up. Tattle-telling is a big deal in first grade and the stuff they tell on is hilarious. "Um, teacher... He dropped his pencil and he didn't pick it up!" "Teacher..... he looked at me during silent reading!!" I have a hard time not laughing at everything they say.

It surprises me some things that I think should come natural, but don't. The biggest thing I have a hard time with is "transitions". This is when you are moving the class from one activity to another or from the rug to their desks, etc. You'd be surprised just how much this can ruin your lesson. Because if you don't set up expectations or have supplies ready to hand out, they will find something to do and it's not what you want them to do. I'm sure this is way more information than you wanted to know, but this is what's going on in my life right now.

I'm getting observed tomorrow for the first time and I'm teaching a lesson on synonyms. We'll see how it goes, I've gone through it a couple of times, including possible student responses and my husband just laughs at me.

Love it.

So, I definitely remember why I chose this major. 1st grade is amazing. I just smile the whole time, especially because the kids are very aware of me and just sit and stare. Nice lil ego boost. I also get to teach tomorrow! I'm glad because I'll be the only one in there and itll feel good to have a trial run with no one around to judge, so if I totally biff it, it doesn't even matter!

Practicum!

It's here. The practicum is actually starting next week. I found out that I will be in a 1st grade classroom, which I am so happy about because I wanted either Kindergarten or 1st. So this means that Mon., Tues., & Wed. of the next 7 weeks I will be going to my school from 8:30ish til 3 and then I have classes on campus Thursday & Friday. Right now, I'm making a master list of all the assignments I have to do while I'm there and it's starting to freak me out. But it'll be fine. I'm so excited to finally be in a classroom and actually use everything I've been learning! So, if for some reason- you run into me and I look abnormally worn out and tired, it's because I'll be somewhat living the life of a teacher plus working part time! Ah, it's going to be great.

Part 2 of NY trip

We went on a boat ride around the Statue of Liberty. It was pretty cool, the tour guide was very entertaining.

It was tough though, because it rained a lot this whole day.

Loo got a little excited with crossing the street. If you look close you can see she's stuck over there by herself.
Here's a shot of Chinatown. We actually went twice, but Chinatown totally stressed me out. I didn't buy anything because it freaked me out to have people whispering "handbag, chanel, handbag, coach" in my ear.
Later on, we ran into Grand Central Station. It was sweet.
Here's one of the dancers that was down in the subway.
This was from Rock of Ages. We waited outside afterwards to meet some of the actors. This was the lead girl, absolutely adorable.
Here's the American Idol guy, Constatine. Loo had a serious crush on him, she says he's "brooding" here. He was fantastic in the show.
More pics from the subway.
Poor Lauren, always the lifter, never the liftee.
This was at the Museum of Natural History. It was pretty cool.
The Night at the Museum dinosaur.
I didn't get the pics from the night at Wicked sadly. But, I'll post those when I get them. It was one of the best vacations ever. Loved it!

Part 1 of NY trip

I got the New York pics, so now I can finally tell y'all about my trip! It was soo fun!

Here's when we first go to our sweet apartment in New York. It was just a couple blocks Times Square and so, we were close to everything. These are my sisters, Lauren (left) & Jess (right)

That first night, we went out and walked around Times Square. Here's a pretty shot of all the lights.

This is all of us, Me, Jess, Loo, and my dad at the top. I love this scene in the Jay-Z, Alicia Keys New York video, because it reminds me of my trip. This spot was right in the center of Times Square and behind it was this big TKTS kiosk, where you could buy last minute tickets to the shows.

I like this pic because the 3 shows we saw are right next to each other. Wicked, Phantom, & on the right- Rock of Ages.
Here's us on the second day, in the morning. We stopped at Starbucks every morning.
I don't know if you can read it, but the street sign says Leonard, which is my hubby's name. I love him.
Here's us on the subway. It was so cool and we really didn't get lost.
Here's that big tree that's always in movies. It was so pretty, but the ice skating rink was much smaller than I thought it would be.
Me, dad & Loo.
Here's a store that my dad told us about. I actually don't remember the story, but I think it used to be like the only department store, or something. Sorry, I butchered that, pop.
So, I feel bad, but I can't remember exactly if we were at the Top of the Rock or the Empire State Building for the next few pics. I think we went to Top of the Rock first. Rockafella Plaza. This picture is from the top and that big area out there is central park. Cool, right?
Here's all of us.
They had this sweet room, where the lights would change when people walked in and out of the room. It kind of smelled like B.O. in there, tho.
I love this picture of my pop.
This is from the Top of the Rock at night. Gorgeous.

After that, we went to eat at Bubba Gumps. I'm not sure why I have such eager eyes, but it might be because I was so hungry.
After dinner, theeen we went to the Empire State building. Way cool too.
We went to the M&M store that night and it had 4 huge walls of M&M things like this. We each got a bag and made our personalized selection of M&Ms and then after we paid, we realized it was not worth the money we spent. Still very cool. My sister's gorgeous, right?This was Christmas day.

Central park on Christmas day!
We decided to have a small photo shoot :)
Here's a pretty shot of the pond in central park.
This was that night at Hard Rock Cafe. The thing in the back is the original Wicked dress for Elphaba.
I don't know if you can tell but there's a big Twilight display that has Bella's prom dress in it.
Eating our dessert.
This was before Phantom. We're studying our programs. Phantom was absolutely amazing, I didn't love the actress that played Christine, but the Phantom was soo good.
More to come...