Happy Halloween!

Our Little Houdini

I awoke Tuesday morning to barking dogs. This is not unusual. Ethan and I live out in the country a bit and there are many things that grab the attention of our two "guard dogs." However this was different. This was louder. Hmmm...I wondered what had those to all wound up, so I got out of bed (moving rather slowly, as it was the 2nd day I was waking up with the flu) and checked out the window. All I could see without my glasses was some blur of a shape that looked to have four legs. Great. Some animal has our girls all excited and I'll never get back to sleep. I grab my glasses and go to the front door to see if I can't make out exactly what is causing all the commotion.

It was Breck!

How in the hell did she get out of our fenced in back yard???

After getting her safely back inside and causing enough commotion for Ethan to decide to come upstairs and see what was going on. (He slept downstairs while I was sick...how nice of him to give me the whole bed to myself!) He bundled up and went outside to investigate the situation and see how our little magician worked her way outside. All gates were closed. No chairs were next to the fence. Hmmm....

He decided that there was a tree branch that had grown low enough for her to use that to propel herself over the fence, and we decided to keep her inside the crate until he could cut down the branch.

True to his word, Ethan got the chainsaw from his parents house and cut the branch off the next day, and just to make sure the problem was solved we took Breck outside to see if she could still get out...

Yeah, she climbed the fence.

I'll tell you again...SHE CLIMBED THE FENCE!!!

There is roughly 1/2 acre of fenced in backyard for her to run and play in. There are many dogs who would give anything to have that much yard. Not Breck. She needed more.

We should have named her Houdini...

Wedding Planning Surprises

As I am in the middle of trying to plan my wedding I am finding out more and more that the "perfect wedding" I had in my mind as a kid sure has a lot more to it than just pretty dresses and matching colors. There is so much more to wedding planning than anyone can really tell you about. Here are just a few of the things I am finding out as I go...

~ EVERYTHING is expensive. That stupid TLC "Wedding Show" that had me hooked into watching and getting ideas when I was in my early 20s in college should really include the prices of these beautiful weddings they show. Cause I'm betting not one of them was less than 10,000.

~ You will constantly want to talk about it. I can't help it. I even make goals NOT to talk about it today...and at some point I mention something about it.

~ You will count down the months, weeks, and days. It's so corny...but true!

~ He might just care about helping with the planning. Mine does...and it's nice. :)

~ All the little tiny details...like writing the petitions for Mass or feeding your bridal party lunch on the day of the wedding. (Good thing Bird got married a couple weeks ago so I could see what all I had to do)

~ Everyone will want to be invited. I've had people tell me they had marked the day down on their calendar so they would be sure to be there... How nice of them to remember my wedding day, but I hope they make other plans when they don't get an invite...

~ Apparently it is absolutely necessary for you to have background music while the guests wait at the reception hall for everyone to arrive.

~ The hard part about registering for gifts is actually picking the places you want stuff from. When Penny's has the bath towels you want and Wal-Mart has the shower curtain and Bed Bath and Beyond has the dishes and Sears has the grill and Target has the fire pit it sure makes it hard to narrow it down.

~ There are ultimately not enough of the "good" jobs for all your friends and family...someone has to be the guestbook!

Random Chatter

~ I only blogged one time in September. Where did this month go?

~ My nephew turned 2 today. He is getting so big and talking so much. It is so fun to watch them grow from a distance...

~ Why is it that the one night you actually want the volleyball games to go fast so you can get home in time for your TV show everything will be done in the universe's power to make sure that it runs as slow as possible and you end up late for your show and eating dinner at 8:15 at night.

~ I like to eat dinner as early as possible without seeming too weird...I don't like to eat past 7:00 or 7:30.

~ I'm coaching the JV volleyball girls this year and I find that no matter what level of girls you coach you will indubitably have drama, weenie-itis, and players that MUST leave practice early to go fix their hair for the football game.

~ Ethan and I are having our engagement pictures taken this weekend and I'm really excited. I think it will be a fun way to spend a Saturday evening along with dinner out downtown.

~ On Monday Ethan and I will have been seeing each other for 2 years...where does the time go.

~ My dad is planning on breeding our new puppy Copper. He is such a good looking and well-mannered dog that dad thinks he needs to help have puppies. I'm hoping that he helps have many litters and someday I can talk Ethan into getting one!

~ I came home tonight to a cleaned kitchen and laundry going. I love that man!

~ My friend Bridget, also known as "Bird" finally got married last weekend. It was such a beautiful wedding and everyone had such a good time. I am very happy for her and Ruben!

~ My mother has a facebook account... I helped her set it up...

~ I got my nails done again. It lasted about 2 months of not going in to have them all "prettied up." I am so glad that I have girly hands again and doubt that I will stop any time soon.

~ I know that I have plenty of time, but I just can't decide how I want to have my hair for my wedding... With the style of dress I have I really should probably have my hair up. But I just LOVE how pretty my hair is down. I guess I have a while to make that decision.

~ My sister is about to start her Senior year on the ESU basketball team. SENIOR! Wow.

~ HA! At the wedding last weekend my dad ended up taking over the bar tending... It was awesome!

~ We are in the process of redoing our bathroom. I will post before and after picture once we are finished. It will look so cool! I can't wait :)

Vacation in the Rockies!

Two tickets to see the Colorado Rockies vs. Arizona Dimondbacks...two nights in The Curtis, the hippest hotel in Denver...dinner at various sports bars downtown...a drive through the mountains...First vacation away with Ethan...Priceless.

Ethan and I took our first vacation together over Labor Day weekend. He proposed the idea early in August when he was browsing the Rockies baseball team's website and noticed that they played at home that weekend. Ethan is a huge Rockies fan, but hadn't ever seen them play in Coors Field. I hadn't ever seen the mountains...or even set foot in Colorado for that matter, so it didn't take much to convince me that it would be a fun trip. A week later, we had tickets bought and hotel rooms booked. It was set.

We left early Saturday morning on our 8 hour jaunt across KS and most of Eastern Colorado. I started out driving since E had just come home from Lincoln the night before and was sick and tired of driving. We had all the necessary materials for a long car ride; GPS, DVDs, and snacks (pretzels and jolly ranchers). Unfortunately Dillons does not sell Mad Libs, so no fun word games for us. We quickly began the alphabet game (I won) and even saw a high speed car chase (going the other way). I also found out that Eastern Colorado is just as drab and boring as Western Kansas. 7 hours driving full of nothing but flat land for days...

Then finally I got to see my first glimpse of the mountains and Denver...unfortunately it was a cloudy day, so it wasn't too clear. We checked in to our hotel, The Curtis, located smack dab in the middle of down town, and is the "hippest hotel in Denver" (which we booked for a discount thanks to hotels.com).

The Rockies played on Saturday night, but we had tickets for the Sunday afternoon game. We decided to just go into one of the sports bars across from the stadium and have dinner, a beer (or three...) and watch the game. After 3 innings and eating an enormous amount of food we decided to walk off some of our chili fries and finish watching the game at the hotel. Well on our way out we got stopped by guys who were still trying to sell tickets. We talked them down from 10$ each to 5$ each and ended up going into Coors Stadium and watching 4 innings of the night game! What a fun, unexpected addition to our weekend!

Sunday we got up early and walked to church. From the outside of the building it looked like any normal Catholic Church, but when we walked in, both our mouths dropped. Gorgeous!

I am pretty easy going and don't usually have any real "demands" on things I want. (Ethan might tell you different...) but I knew that one thing I really wanted this weekend was a hot dog, peanuts, and a beer at the ball game. Well this was not going to be a problem, because Coors Field is a "fan friendly" stadium. You can bring in any food or drink as long is it's not alcohol or glass. We bought our hot dogs, peanuts, and waters outside the stadium for 1/2 the price and brought those into the game. The beer was bought inside the stadium (for a ridiculous price...but hey, it's our vacation!) It was a great day for baseball with 7 home runs between the two teams and a Rockies win of 13-5!

After the game Ethan suggested we take a drive out to the mountains so I could really get a good view of them up close and personal. We decided to drive out to Breckenridge and have dinner. It was beautiful, and such a great day. We stopped to take pictures and the mountains are just breathtaking! Ethan was such a great guy, driving us there and back.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and so did our vacation. Monday morning we packed up and head back to KS. It was a WONDERFUL trip which will hopefully be the first of many Labor Day Colorado Trips for us!

Random Chatter

~ Last weekend Ethan and I painted the spare bedroom in his house. I wanted to go with a neutral color that wasn't too blah... We decided on "Dust Storm." Which according to the little paint sample looked like a light brown/beige color. Well after getting it on the wall, there is the tiniest, teensiest, hint of pink in there. Ethan is not completely satisfied with the color, but we are NOT going to repaint it.

~ With the completion of the room I finally feel like I'm all moved in. No more unpacked boxes laying around the house!

~ This was my first official week back to work. Beginning with three long days full of in-service (yuck!) and then it's into the fire on Thursday as 197 middle school kids come filing into the building. It was a great first two days with kids and I am looking forward to all the learning will take place this year!

~ Apparently KC and Breck have not enjoyed my return to work. They have been quite spoiled this summer with lots of attention and a walk every morning. After a very busy week for me, and not even seeing the girls in the daylight until Thursday, they let me know how they felt loud and clear. One of the hay bails was somehow dragged out from the shed and into the middle of the yard. I believe it is their way of saying "take that!"

~ Ethan and I are planning a trip to Colorado over Labor Day to take in a Rockies Baseball game and enjoy the Mountains of Denver! I'm sooo excited I've never seen the mountains of Colorado!

~ Volleyball season has started and we have 33 girls out for the team this year. Should be a very exciting season with many new things brought to us by our new coach!

~ Anyone want to buy a boat??

~ I am in need of some new athletic shoes. This usually turns out to be a difficult venture for me. I wear a size 12 women's. How many stores do you think carry a 12 in women's? None. And if by chance they do, the shoes are always ugly. So in order to find the shoes I like, I have to order them off the internet...paying for shipping and the extra cost. The ones I found that I love are 109.99, not good. I have found a similar shoe that is on sale for 59.99...that will have to do.

~ FYI. If you are planning a trip to Brazil they charge the US 100$ for a tourist visa. They do this because the US charges Brazilians 100$ for a tourist visa. Gee-wiz!

~ I finished watching Alias...all 5 seasons. I feel sad that it ever ended. Good shows should be able to keep going, look at Law and Order.

~ Speaking of TV. I know my days of the week by what TV show I watch each night. Mondays is CBS and it's comedy line up, Tuesday is Fox with Fringe, Wednesday is Fox with Lie to Me, and Thursday is NBC with The Office (Friday I do have a life...or try to). Well Fox has decided that Fringe should be opposite NBC's "Must See TV" of The Office. Not good.

School Year's Resolutions

Being a teacher causes you to have a totally different calendar than the rest of the general population. Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks are two of your favorite times of the year because you get a well-deserved break. Spring Break is for visiting family you don't get to see too often. While Spring cleaning and big household projects are usually done during the summer months when you actually have time. And finally, probably the biggest difference is as a teacher is "New Year's Day." Yes we celebrate with champagne, confetti, and a kiss when the clock strikes 12 on January 1, but that really isn't a teacher's New Year. Our new year starts on the first day of school. A chance to start your classroom over again. New ideas, new materials, new students.

Every August, like every January, I think about the things I want to improve on from the last year and how I can make myself better. Only in August those items are school related and usually don't involve counting calories or heading to the gym. I make "School Year's Resolutions," and like New Year's resolutions, I tend to follow through with them until around October, if I'm lucky... Yet every year I still make these new promises to myself. Maybe this year I'll stick with them.

2009-2010 School Year's Resolutions:

1. I will NOT get behind in grading papers. I will keep the kids' grades updated hopefully every week, BUT will not go two weeks without entering a new grade.

2. My desk will have some sort of organization to it. No piles of ungraded papers in various spots on the desk and floor...see resolution #1

3. I will try my very best to not let those one or two VERY difficult students get to me. I will try anything I or my team teachers can think of to get positive results out of him/her.

4. I will not complain about my co-workers and their teaching habits. However I am aloud to complain IF something they do affects me negatively! (Gotta leave a little room to vent)

5. I will not hate my advisory. (Advisory is like a homeroom class at the end of the day...I have the same students every day for the last 25 minutes, and EVERY year so far they have been hell to end my day. This year it will NOT be like that!)

6. I will NOT go school supplies crazy and buy more of the same thing...I have more pens and sharpies, and rulers and notepads, and fun office gadgets than anyone I know!

7. I will not talk too much about my upcoming wedding. I will wait until someone specifically asks me a question to bring up the topic. (this one will actually be hard...I'm kinda excited and tend to over-talk it I think :) )

8. I will try not to get frustrated with all the IEP meetings for my special ed and gifted students. (Since I have a subject that can be easily modified...I have ALL the students, no matter what their disability, and I love them...but that means that I have to attend ALL the meetings...ugh!)

9. I will limit myself to only bringing home projects to grade. I enjoy my evenings and need that time to step away from school stuff. But projects tend to take me a long time to grade...so grading a few of those each night is ok.

10. I will use my planning period wisely. I tend to take that time to chill out and do a crossword. That, as Dwight from The Office puts it, "is stealing time from the company" (or in my case the school). I will use my planning period to grade papers so I won't get behind!

And there you have it. 10 promises I'm making to myself for my New Year. Maybe I'll re-evaluate these after the real New Year and see how I've done...