Sylvan

So I work at Sylvan in the evenings tutoring math. It's the best part of teaching...no parents, no lesson plans, no (or minimal) discipline issues. I have been working there over a year now. I first started back when Eric was looking for a job and we needed the extra money. And now, I just continue because the extra spending money is kind of nice. However, lately (in the last couple months) things there have changed and it has become a not-so-pleasant experience all the time. When I first started, the two girls who were in charge were super nice, and I really liked working with them. They have both, since, had babies and quit, and been replaced. So now, one of the "replacements" is, well, let's just say, she rubs me the wrong way. (Those of you who know me very well know exactly what I mean!) It has just made the whole thing kind of rotten for me - which is a shame because I do really like some of the kids I get to work with.

Another issue I have with Sylvan is that I just get tired of not having any evenings to myself. I usually go in at 5:30 (as soon as I get off my "real job"), and am there until 7:30. So much for making any dinner plans with others, or having a long relaxing evening, or cooking dinner for Eric, or just hanging out. By the time I get home, eat, and get the dishes cleaned up it's time to get ready for bed. It just gets kinda old day after day. I would really love to quit, but am I ready to give up my extra "play" money?

Blogs

Can I just say that reading blogs is totally addictive. But it is a wonderful, quick way to catch up on the lives of people who you have lost touch with. I love it!

Easter

Happy Easter (a day late).

Yesterday was a good day. Eric's parents came in Saturday night and we had a nice visit with them. I totally lucked out in the 'in-law' department...mine are great! Yesterday's lunch was good and everything came out really well. And now we have leftovers that we will be grazing on all week. (Even better...not much cooking required this week...oh, wait I don't ever do much cooking.)

Today I am back at work...back to the same old routine. It was really nice to be off last week and it was super hard to get up and come to work today. Another day, another dollar...

Busy day

'Twas the day before Easter and all through my house...

Eric's parents are coming today for Easter, and I am the "host." This will be the first holiday I have had in my house, where I am preparing all the food. I am making a ham, sour cream potato dish, cream cheese corn casserole thing, tossed green salad, rolls, jello salad, apple crisp, and fudge. And for breakfast in the morning I am making monkey bread. Oh, and I made banana bread last night. I already have some of the stuff done, (jello salad, fudge, salad stuff) and will do some more later this afternoon. I was busy yesterday cleaning the house and getting laundry done, and today Eric is working in the yard. Overall, a very productive day already (and it's only 1:45).

They're everywhere

Lately, everywhere I look, there are pregnant women. I'm sure there are not any more than normal, but lately I just seem to notice them even more. We went to Target the other day and in the 15-20 minutes we were there we probably saw at least ten expectant moms. Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot, but when you want to be where they are it seems like they just jump out at you. I want to be the one people look at and wonder when I'm due or what I'm having. Hopefully some day soon...

Spring Break

All I can say is...thank goodness I work for a school district! I am officially on spring break this week, and it is great. I plan to do a whole lot of "not much." Maybe some laundry, maybe clean the house, maybe get some scrapbooking done, maybe work in the yard...and then again, maybe not to all of that. Basically I plan to do pretty much whatever I feel like doing each day. The only bad part of the whole thing is - Eric has to work every day. So I feel a little guilty not doing anything while he's working all day...but just a little.

Welcome to the 21st Century

Okay, I have a confession to make. (And it's a tad bit embarrassing.) Until today, we did not have a computer at our house. I know, I know...what the heck! (Shut up - we are poor and it was one of those luxuries we were putting off.) But, we finally decided to join the 21st century, and we bought a computer. So now I can actually update my blog from the comfort of my home (instead of doing it at work...don't tell my boss!).

Here's an ironic tid-bit: the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy really are geeks! We had the (unfortunate) opportunity to work with 'Agent Browne' on our deal. I kid you not - this guy actually referred to himself that way...like we were going to call him 'Agent'...and he fit the "geek" definition completely. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's the one they named the whole thing after. Unbelievable!

Overall today was a pretty crappy day, but it is ending good, so I will save the rest of the story for later.

My husband

I have the best husband. Recently (okay for our entire marriage) I have complained about the fact that we do not eat at the dining table enough. We are in the terrible habit of sitting in front of the tv in our respective places (me on the couch, Eric in the recliner) to eat every meal. Well, last night when I got home from Sylvan, Eric had supper ready (which is pretty standard), but to my surprise he had the table set for us to sit down and eat rather than plopping down in front of the boob tube. In addition, he had fixed a fruit salad, our drinks were fixed and waiting (and not in plastic or styrofoam cups), and he had a beautiful long-stem red rose for me. So we enjoyed a nice romantic supper (okay it was just hamburger helper, but that's beside the point) at the dining table where we talked about our day and looked at each other instead of looking at the big illuminated screen in the living room. It was a very big gesture on his part, and it did not go unnoticed.

Life

Why is it that we as humans let life take over and come between us and people who, at one time, were a huge part of our lives. I know it is just a part of life that friends will come and go, but isn't there something we can do about it? Why, if someone is so important to us, do we simply let time or distance or some circumstance take that person and their friendship away from us? Why don't we fight harder to keep that from happening? I am sometimes frustrated when I think about the friendships I have let go because of the "inconvenience" of the distance between us, or because "it's just been so long since I talked to them, so what's a little longer." Why do I let this happen? I think all of this is fresh on my mind because I was just recently reminded of a good friend who, because of life's circumstances, has become someone I don't feel like I even know anymore, much less someone I can call a friend. That frustrates me because since we were last in touch some pretty important things have happened - I have met and married my husband, they are now engaged to get married, most of our mutual friends have either married or had children. We have let too many things (or maybe excuses) take over and taken the place of our friendship. I know everyone is guilty of this, but maybe it's time I do something about it in my life, and time I get back to what's really important in life - the people. But how do I do that?...

Old Ladies

A couple weeks ago I went to lunch with a group of girlfriends from an old job (I wrote about it here). So today Eric and I were eating lunch and beside us was a group of eight older ladies eating and visiting and laughing and just having the best time, and it made me wonder if that will be us in fifty years. I spent my lunchtime watching these women and comparing them to the girls I go to lunch with. It turned out to be quite humorous because I found a "match" for each one of us. It's fun to think that hopefully we will all still be friends and still be doing our monthly (or bi-, tri-monthly, or whatever) lunches years from now.

Sometime just try to picture yourself and a group of your friends in fifty years...it will probably make you smile. :-)

About me...

Nothing new today...so here's some mostly useless info about me.

1. What is your occupation? Accountant
2. What color are your socks right now? No socks today
3. What are you listening to right now? Radio - country music
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Blueberry bagel (and a couple bites of cake...it's a birthday at work today)
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Turquoise (not sure why I always answer this question this way)
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My mother-in-law
8. How old are you today? 31
9. Favorite drink? Diet Coke
10. Favorite sport to watch? Rodeo, gymnastics, college football
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes
12. Pets? One dog - Murph
13. Favorite food? Chips & dip (this is a complete weakness of mine!)
14. Last movie you watched? Watched part of Bad News Bears on tv this weekend; Last complete movie to watch was Good Luck Chuck (would not recommend this one)
15. What do you do to vent anger? Cry, sulk, say mean things (to people who I'm not even mad at)
16. Favorite Day of the year? July 8
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Anything I could use to play school with
18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall
19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
20. Cherry or Blueberry? Fresh-cherry; Other-blueberry
21. Current living arrangements? Home with my husband
22. When was the last time you cried? Last week sometime (I cry a lot more than I would ever like to admit.)
23. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes
24. What are you afraid of? Not being able to have children
25. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese and spicy
26. Favorite car? Pickups
27. How many years at your current job? Almost 3 (in April)
28. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
29. How many states have you lived in? 4
30. How many piercings? 4 (2 in each ear)
31. How many tattoos? 0
32. Are you wearing Acrylic nails? nope
33. What color toe nail polish are you wearing? au natural

Eye issues

This post is going to be so riveting that you might want to sit down, grab a big cup of coffee (or caffeinated beverage of your choice), and get comfy...not too comfy though - I don't want you falling asleep on me...

For the last few weeks I have been having a serious 'eye issue' that I just can not figure out. One of my eyes has been burning and watering and just being an overall nuisance, and I can not get any relief. I have tried allergy eye drops, re-wetting eye drops, otc allergy medicine, sinus medicine, tylenol, and nothing...no relief. So I finally broke down and went to the eye doctor today. Turns out, I have "very severe eye allergies" (surprise surprise!). So she gave me a suggestion of an otc eye drop to use. Good thing I paid $40 for someone to tell me which eye drop to use! (I probably shouldn't complain since I would have spent at least that much money trying all sorts of solutions before I ever got to the one she prescribed.) So we will see if it works. Let's hope it does because I am ever so annoyed at the burning and watering that has been constant for weeks now.

Wasn't that an exciting story? I'm telling you, I lead an exhilarating life! Let's see...this weekend I am going to tutor at Sylvan, go to the grocery store, do lots of laundry, iron some pants, run and unload the dishwasher, maybe cook a meal or two, go to church, probably watch some tv...the excitement never ends!

Monday...no wait...it's Thursday

Okay, so it feels like Monday because this is my first day in the office this week. I have been in Austin (since Sunday) at a work conference. Nothing too exciting...learned a little, ate some really good food, laughed a lot, walked a lot, sat in some pretty uncomfortable chairs in cold rooms for long days, rode in maybe 7 or 8 different buses, but overall a pretty good trip. I was so glad to get home though! And now I have a lot of work to get done...emails to read and reply to, phone calls to return, questions to answer, journal entries to get entered, and that's just the "catching up" part...then I have all the 'regular' work to do. So today and tomorrow should go by pretty fast. I have some kinda funny stories about this week, but I'm just too tired right now to tell them, so maybe later.

Today is Karah's (Eric's sister) birthday. She told him earlier that she wasn't having a birthday this year, she didn't want a card or a phone call or anything. I think she is worried about 'getting older.' But I am a big fan of birthdays, and I think they should all be big and special, regardless of what year it is (just fib about that part if you want to!). So, Happy Birthday Karah - love you!

Friday...

Nothing really exciting to write about today, so just some random stuff.

-We got our tax refund today...woo! hoo! (I was on the ball this year and filed super early!)
-I will be in Austin all next week for a TASBO (Texas Assoc. of School Business Officials) conference (sounds like fun, huh!)
-There is hardly anyone in our office this afternoon - for some reason most people decided to leave early today...why didn't I?
-Eric has been sick most of the week with "the crud"...boys are whiny and mopey when they don't feel good!
-I drink WAY too much diet coke...it's a bad addiction I have.

Okay - enough random thoughts. I will leave with a few (random) pictures today, just for fun.




My cute nieces - Emma, Bailey, & Isabel












Eric likes to tell people this is a picture of us...isn't that sweet of him.










My sweet friend April and her adorable Marcella (who will be 1 in April...wow!). I just had to post this one since I mentioned taxes and I just finished doing her tax return as well. (Nice trade - I do her taxes, she does my hair...I think I win there!)

Girlfriends

I'll try to be a little more up-beat today than I was yesterday. After all, it is Wednesday, which means the work week is half over!

Yesterday I had lunch with a group of girl friends who try to meet regularly for lunch to "catch up" with each other. The funny thing about this group is that at one time, just a few years ago, we all worked together. And now each one of us is at a different place, each doing something completely different. The best part of it is that, because we all spent time at the afore mentioned work place, we all have this "bond" that ties us together. We can share funny (and sometime not so funny) stories about people, trips, jobs, etc. and we all completely understand the good and the not so good memories shared in the stories. These lunches are also a great time to find out about each other's families, see pictures of kids, and find out how life has been for each one. Thanks to Jennifer for always planning our girl's lunches and keeping us all in touch face to face!

Venting

I am going to vent for just a minute (so here's your head's up)...

I absolutely hate Eric's job...and more specifically his boss. I am so ready for him to have a job where he is happy and where he is rewarded for his education and experience instead of treated like any other "hand" off the street. (He has his Master's degree for crying out loud.) I hate that he comes home from work every day disgusted at whatever happened that day and asking if he can quit his job. I hate that he is so unhappy working there. I hate that he gets paid squat and it causes us to struggle financially. I hate that his boss is more moody than any woman I've ever met. I hate that he works someplace where he has to punch a time clock. I hate that we have to keep track of how many hours he has taken off each week so we know how much smaller his paycheck is going to be. I hate that when he does actually get a weekend off (unpaid of course) he is chewed out the following Monday for "putting them in a bind by being gone" even though he cleared it with them weeks earlier. I hate everything about his job.

We have been married for a year and a half, and we have spent that entire time looking for a job, or a better job for Eric. Why has this been such a struggle for us? It seems like it has put so many areas of our life on hold because we are always 'waiting until he finds a better job.' It just gets old.

Weekend Update

We had such a great time this weekend. Being in Plainview, and on the Wayland campus brought back lots of memories from the years I spent there. Friday night a group of us got together and had a great time catching up and looking back. It was lots of fun looking at old yearbooks and old pictures and laughing at the silly (and sometimes stupid) stuff we did. And even better was looking at current pictures of everyone's kids and families, and hearing what everyone is doing now.

Mike & Summer, Kevin & Sarah & Elizabeth, Eric & Mandi

Sarah, Mandi, & Summer (This is kind of a tradition for us...just missing Kala.)

Here's an upright shot of us (Mandi, Sarah, Summer).

Saturday morning we made our way to the famous Spudnuts Donuts establishment, where we again spent time talking and laughing with good friends Sarah & Kevin, and Summer & Mike. We proceded from there to the campus where we (unsuccessfully) were planning on attending the actual "reunion" part of the festivities. Since we obviously missed that, we gave ourselves a tour of the campus and oohed and aahed over the new student activity center. (Where was a place like that when we were there??) I think the most memory-inspiring activity was the trek through our old dorm. Summer and I dragged Eric and Mike up and down all the hallways of the dorm, pointing out which rooms we lived in, who lived in each of the other rooms, which stairs we had to drag our friends up in the middle of the night when they were not able to do so themselves (ahem...Michelle!), how the bathrooms had not changed at all, the basement where the laundry area was still quite stinky and scary, and even the backyard with a funny (although somewhat unfortunate) story about laundry and misfit kids (Rachel). After a yummy lunch at Leal's we went the the basketball games where we caught up with some other friends and had a good time visiting. Overall, the time spent in Plainview was really great, and I guess we will make the journey again in 10 years! (Maybe we won't wait that long this time!)

Following our time in Plainview, Eric & I went to Lubbock where we spent Saturday night and Sunday with our good friends Kelly & Kory. Kelly and I met while working as auditors together at DK in Abilene. She has been, and will always be, an amazing friend, a delicious and talented cake maker and decorator, a fun scrapbooking buddy, and a genuine person who I am happy to call my friend! We had a fun time with she and Kory Saturday night eating pancakes (you've got the love the Lion's Club!), playing pool (although not the original plan), watching wedding videos (Eric's favorite part!), and eating chocolate pie (yum!).

Kelly & Mandi

Me & Eric...we don't have very many pictures of us, and this is why!

Kory & Kelly

So, other than being super tired, everything about the weekend was great. And I can't wait until I get to see my friends again!

10 Years!

That's right...I have been out of college for 10 years! Wow! In May of 1998 I thought I was on top of the world because I was about to graduate from Wayland Baptist University. (That's in Plainview, TX for those of you who don't know...and if you don't know where Plainview is...well, you're probably in the majority!) Anyway...so there I was, about to be free of classes and studying and tests and, uh-oh, everything I had known for the last four years. Exciting...but extremely scary at the same time. What was I going to do? Where was I going to live? Where were all my friends going? Yikes! I guess I finally figured it out, because here I am...ten years later...and doing okay!

So this weekend we are going back to the scene of the crime...back to the plains of West Texas, "where the wind sings loud her name." Oops - got a little carried away there. Homecoming 1998 at good old Wayland is this weekend. Fortunately, this weekend will be a chance to reunite with friends of long ago and catch up on the lives and families of the people I surrounded myself with for four very fun and fulfilling years of my life. It will also be a chance to introduce most of those people to the most important person in my life now...my amazing husband. I can't wait! It will also be a chance to remanisce about some of the fun and memorable times we had. I am excited to show Eric around the campus, take him to Kidsville, have him taste a Spudnut Donut, show him the dorm and house I lived in, eat at Leal's with him, and just let him experience (if only for a day) some of what I was like before we met. I am also super excited about seeing my dear, sweet friends Summer, Sarah, and others, and spending time with them laughing and just being silly (because let's face it - that's what we do best!).

I will try to remember to take lots of pictures (try is the key word here), so that I can share them and have them as memories of what I'm sure will be a wonderful weekend.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Today is Eric's 31st birthday...Happy Birthday, Babe! So if you know him, give him a call and wish him a great b-day!

Here's a picture of Murph giving Eric a great big birthday smooch...

So last night I talked to my sweet friend, Summer, about our plans for this weekend. This weekend...holy crap...has is really been 10 years since I graduated from college?!? What have I done the past 10 years? How old am I? Good grief...

Trying something new

I have recently happened upon several blogs of friends from college, high school, and even elementary school, and I am learning that this (not email, or phone calls, or even...gulp...snail mail) is the newest and easiest way to stay in touch with people. So, I am giving it a go. We'll see how successful I am at staying up-to-date with it.

So, yes, I am back in Abilene, even though I swore I would never move back here once I left. It's funny how sometimes things don't work out exactly the way you plan them out in your head. But anyway...I have been back here for about six years now (yikes...has it really been that long?!?), and I work for the school district. I am NOT a teacher...I did that for a while and realized that it is not the job for me. I am an accountant, taking care of all the federal and state grants the district gets, and I really like my job. The best thing about being back in Abilene is that, had I not moved here, I would not have met my wonderful husband (more on how we met in another post).

Okay, I didn't really mean for this first post to be about my job or where I am, but that's just what came out when I started typing. I will try to use this blog as a (daily/weekly/or whatever) journal of how things are going in our lives, and sometimes as an outlet for whatever happens to be on my mind. Enjoy!