12 Years

Once upon a time I thought this boy was super cute.  And sweet, and funny.  I kind of liked him a lot, and I sort of knew he liked me.  I could just tell.  We were in band together and Spanish class.  We did the typical high school tease, annoy, flirt routine.

We had mutual friends and we had hung out a few times outside of school.  I started to wonder if he was ever going to ask me out.  Twelve years ago today he finally did.

We went on our first date to dinner and played putt-putt.  Afterwards he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.  I will never forget the way he looked at me in that moment when he was telling me how he felt and asking me that question.  If I could live that date and that moment over again it would be better than all the romantic movies I could ever watch the rest of my life.

Needless to say I said yes to being his girlfriend and today marks 12 years that we have now been together.  Life is crazy and wonderful.  I have loved our journey together so far and am excited to see where God takes us in the next twelve years.

Oh high school days.  We really were just big kids!

Wisdom Teeth

At the beginning of this month I had my wisdom teeth taken out.  I had been having a bad pain in my mouth for a while and finally decided to get it looked at.  Turns out I had one of my top wisdom teeth already grown in some and was supposedly at a weird/sideways angle.  So I scheduled an appointment to get that all taken care of.

I'm sure almost everybody else has at some point had this done too.  I was thankful to not have any wisdom teeth on bottom, so I only had to get the top ones out which sounds like it is a little easier to recover from.  If you know me though, I seriously freak out with needles (shots, blood work, etc).  And I don't mean I just get a little nervous or dislike it.  I get extremely anxious about it, always cry, sometimes practically bawl, and occasionally start to see funny colors and feel like I'm about to pass out.  It's very embarrassing now that I'm no longer a kid.  I always go in and as soon as possible try to tell the nurse/whoever that I really have trouble with this, hoping that they will understand and be as quick/gentle/sympathetic as possible.  Sometimes they are and sometimes it's someone who is just like "Um, you're going to need to suck it up." Either way, the person usually makes some comment at the end like, "You really weren't kidding."

All that to say I was extremely nervous about getting my wisdom teeth out.  Obviously I'd rather get the IV and be out of it during the procedure than whatever the alternative would be to refusing the IV, but I was still panicking and felt ridiculous since I'm suppose to be a "grown-up".  Cody was there with me to drive me home.  I was very grateful to him that he decided to work from home that day so he could be there at the appointment with me, drive me home, and take care of me while I recovered that first day.

As soon as the lady came to get me from the waiting room, I asked if there would be any way I could have my husband come in with me while they got the IV started.  She seemed surprised by the request and said she'd find out for me.  I got in the room and was okay while I waited for a few minutes, looked out the window, and got all situated in the chair with a blanket.  But as soon as I saw someone come in and get ready to start the IV, I sat up and started asking questions while looking around anxiously for Cody.  Fortunately the lady was very sweet and asked if I did need to go get him.  It seemed like they were all ready to start and since I already felt like I was humiliating myself I decided to try to let them do the IV without him coming in.  I figured they would go get him if I really started to have trouble.  They had me hold out my arm and that prompted the crying.  It was in pretty quickly and then I started asking how long it takes to kick in and how aware/unaware I would be during the procedure.  After that all I remember is the lady starting to say something about how it should start working any second now... and then I woke back up seemingly instantly, thinking that they hadn't even started yet.

Overall I felt like it went great (minus the IV) and I had a pretty good recovery after the first day.  The rest of that first day was awful.  I don't know if it was just because of the pain medicine, or trying to eat too quickly, or what -but that was a bad day.  After getting home I ate a few bites of some mashed potatoes and promptly threw them up, and proceeded to throw up all day long.  I have not thrown up that much since I was a little kid.  I don't even remember if I ate anything else or not, but somehow there was still enough in me to keep vomiting.  In my head I assumed it was because of the pain meds and I did NOT want a repeat of that day, so even though I was still in pain, I stopped taking the real pain medicine and only took over the counter stuff starting the next morning.  Whether it was the medicine or not, I was able to eat and not throw up again thankfully.  I didn't do anything on day 2 except sleep, eat, and rest.  Day 3 I started to feel somewhat better and be up a bit and after that I started to feel better more quickly.  And now that everything is better and healed, the pain I'd been ignoring for quite a while is finally gone!

Cody videotaped me a bit on the drive home from the oral surgeon office.  Well, mostly it's video of us sitting in a parking lot waiting for Luby's to open up so he could get me some food to eat when we got home.  He took three fairly short videos all within about a 15 minute period while were were waiting.  I rewatched all three videos this afternoon and was crying I was laughing so hard.  Cody had originally shown me the videos the day of the surgery and then tried again the day after.  At those points I did not find them very funny, but I sure do now!

I think I plan on using the videos as entertaining and quick pick-me-ups for family and friends for a while!

Quote Much?

Throughout our relationship, Cody and I have enjoyed using quotes from TV shows and movies in our daily conversations whenever possible.  We just happen to find it amusing.  Quotes don't happen all the time, but often enough, they fit pretty perfectly in natural conversation.  Over time the shows/movies we quote change.  We typically have about a handful of quotes at any time that we tend to use more frequently, and they eventually swap in and out with whatever shows/movies we have been enjoying more recently.

At the moment, these are the quotes we most often use: (I apologize if some are slightly off...)

Arrested Development:  (-Perfect source for hilarious one liners!  We use these pretty exactly.)

"I've made a huge mistake."

"Light drizzle will just annoy you, but thunder will f you up."

"He deserves a big hand."  (Or we enjoy any modification about a big hand.)

"Who? Her?"

"Same!"  (Definitely awesome if we can both say it at the same, or almost, same time.-SAME!)

"I would but, I just drank a lot of water." (Perfect excuse for anything lol!)

"That was a freebie."

"That's why you always leave a note."


Parks and Rec:  (We don't use these as exact quotes, but rather use them in our own way whenever we can.)

You may have thought you heard me say I wanted a lot of bacon and eggs, but what I said was: Give me ALL the bacon and eggs you have.

Calzones.  (Just generally any time we can mention calzones we try to.)


The Office:  (We still use this quote as often as possible -as everyone should.  It's obviously a classic and is amazingly appropriate in almost daily conversations.  -Appropriate as in, can be used to easily fit in natural dialogue, not "appropriate" as in actually appropriate to use loudly in public.)

"That's what she said."


Anyone else find the use of quotes as entertaining as we do?!  

Things that have and have not changed...

May 17th was our 5 year anniversary!  : )  Cody and I took off that Friday to enjoy a 3 day weekend together.  But I'm going to save my rambling about our wonderful weekend together for my next post.  First I wanted to share a random list of things that have either changed, or not changed, throughout our marriage so far, comparing Year 1 to Year 5.

Things that have NOT changed from Year 1 to Year 5:

• We both still HATE cleaning and therefore typically don't.
• We both still have an unusually high tolerance for a dirty home. (See above)
• We both still love to be silly and goofy together. 
• We both still enjoy playing games together and cuddling to watch TV or movies.
• We both still find it entertaining to use TV and movie quotes as often as possible.
• We both still call each other the same nickname that started right around our wedding - "Loves".

Things that HAVE changed from Year 1 to Year 5:

• We used to sleep with a nightlight (yes, I was 'scared' of the dark at 21) but now I also prefer it to be pitch black.
• We used to Febreeze our clothes in order to rewear them, but now we do laundry more regularly. 
• We used to (at the beginning) argue over food/dinner/groceries due to a lot of differences between us, but now we have grown accustom to the food specifics of each other and it rarely bothers us.
• "We" used to be just us, but now "we" is us plus Callie.
• We were both still in school finishing up at A&M throughout Year 1, but now we are both working full-time (and are SO grateful to finally have started a real dual income!).
• We used to not have any sport activities in common, but now we both love the Spurs and wear matching jerseys to games. 

Obviously there are numerous other things that could be on either of these lists.  These are just some worth sharing.

It's a Love/Hate Thing

The Spurs.  Oh my goodness.  Sometimes I LOVE them; sometimes I HATE them.  Do you know what I mean?!

In general I am not a sports fan and know nothing about sports overall.  However, I have become a fan of the Spurs in the past couple years (in part due to a small initial crush on Tony Parker), and over time I have gained a decent knowledge base about basketball and the Spurs from the combination of Cody spewing various facts, stats, and opinions and my constant question asking during games.

Now being tied 2-2 in this series against the Warriors I am feeling a mixture of nervous, excited, and frustrated.  We need to get our act together to win game 5 and then finish the series.  Seriously.  They are called "free throws" because they are free points - assuming you make the stinking basket.  Spurs - Make your free throws!  And since I've started a little rant, pay attention and get a rebound!  Goodness gracious.  We were basically giving them numerous bonus tries on each possession.  Lastly, being professional players and all-stars and everything... you would think they could consistently make layups at least!  I think I could have made some of those layups and easy shots they missed throughout the game.

Don't get me wrong.  I still love my Spurs.  I love our combination of older-trio-history meshing with newer younger guys like Danny and Kawhi.  I love our simple slogan and cheesy Tim, Manu, and Tony local commercials.  I love the mix of nationalities on our team.  And I love (overall) being able to expect them to be a decent team year-to-year.

I love my Spurs.  I wear my (signed!) shirt or jersey to games and I cheer, clap, and yell -at times for them, other times at them.  But, I am TIRED of being annoyed and frustrated this series!  It is the playoffs.  These games are important.  Please, Spurs, drink a red bull, suck it up, or do something to come out, play, and win game 5 on Tuesday.  Followed by finishing and winning the series.  I would really appreciate it.

Go Spurs Go!!!

Is this a phase? -Or will it stick?

Honestly I was (and still am) a little hesitant to write and publish this post.  Typically what seems to happen with new things for me, is that right about the time I start to feel good about it and share whatever it is with others, is about the time that my new phase finds an abrupt ending.  Then I have friends and family asking me how the new thing is going... and I always regret having talked about it since it so quickly died out.

(If you look back at my older posts tagged with 'exercise', you can see proof of this!)

In this case at least, I am pretty sure this is the longest period of time that a new phase for me has stuck around.  So, that's a plus that hasn't happened before (at least as far as I can remember).  Also I have a goal that I'm working toward and am genuinely curious if I can do it or not, so that is also something I've never had before helping to keep it going.

For the last six weeks I have been running and trying to exercise on a consistent basis.  Let me clarify to  you what I mean by running though... it started as almost all walking with a bit of S-L-O-W jogging (which, well, is my running) and I have been very gradually increasing the amount of jogging time while decreasing the walking time.

I'm sure that for a lot of people this is really nothing to talk about.  However for me it is huge.  I have not done anything really active or athletic since... about middle school.  In middle school I played basketball (yes I was on the 7th grade C team and played in 1 game -and cried!) and ran track and field doing the long jump, hurdles (which I hated), and the shorter sprint races and relays.  I was not by any means great -probably not even good- but well, I guess that's middle school for you.  Anyways.  At the end of middle school I magically seemed to develop asthma overnight.  The beginning of the year I was fine and then one day running during track I thought I was going to die and couldn't breath and started seeing weird colors and was sure I was going to pass out.  I was told to walk it off.  Turns out I had exercise induced asthma and it pretty much completely changed the game for me.  With my new inhaler I could still run somewhat but it was really different and difficult.  Since then, I have allowed that to prevent me from trying any sort of real athletic activity for the last 13 years since eighth grade.

Something at the end of February and beginning of March got into my mind about trying to run.  For the life of me I cannot figure out what it was that I got the idea and curiosity from.  It was like suddenly out of nowhere I wanted to see if I could run again.  I got an up-to-date inhaler from my doctor and some medication for both my asthma and allergies and then felt like I was ready to at least try.  I read various articles online about running for an absolute beginner and everything seemed to agree about doing a walk-run system that started with mostly walking and little running and gradually shifts to more running and little walking.  I decided to create a system to try based on 5 minute intervals for 30 total minutes of time.  My system is SUPER gradual.  Most things I saw online had much bigger increases in running each week than I am doing, but honestly I think going this slow is the only way I'll be able to hopefully do it.  I started with 4 minutes walking and BARELY tried to do 1 minute of jogging.  Each week I am shifting 30 seconds of walk time over to run time.  My end goal is to be able to run 30 minutes without dying.  I'm still not sure if I'll actually be able to do that with my breathing, but I am genuinely curious if I work towards it slowly and carefully if maybe I can.

Currently I just finished my sixth week of running!  For my last interval of running each time, I keep running as long as I feel like I can.  This past week made me really excited because on the last running interval I crossed over the 5 minute mark and added a super brief sprint at the very end.  Also my total run time is now greater than total walk time during the whole 30 minutes.  Small things to be excited about, but I am.

So now my big question is will this last?  Is it just a phase, or will it stick?  I hope it sticks.  I am actually really enjoying it, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I like keeping a record of what all I've done.  This is what I've done so far.

Battlefield of the Mind

A few weeks ago I had coffee with a friend from our small group.  It was one of the few times I felt I was truly able to relate to someone else with some issues we talked about.  At one point she recommended looking into a book, Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer.  I didn't immediately run home and Google it, but when the thought about the book was still sitting with me a few days later I finally did.  The more I read about it online and read reviews about it, the more I thought that yes, this sounds like a good read that could benefit me in some areas, but even more than that it made me think about my mom.  From things her and I have talked about, it sounded like a perfect fit for her as well. I ended up shipping the book to her and plan on reading it whenever she is done.  I did find a mini-devotional in an app on my phone that is about the book with excerpts and topics from it, so I have enjoyed reading through that and getting a preview of it.

The book is basically about how your mind is a "battlefield" where you constantly have to be aware of your thoughts and fight to keep a positive focus in your life instead of allowing negativity to creep in and slowly overtake you.  It's amazing within the two weeks that I've been doing the mini-devotional, how much I have already truly noticed this for myself.  Even just with trivial things, I noticed how I was allowing negative thoughts to start to form in my mind, and sometimes I would choose to let them grow and soon after I found myself in a terrible woe-is-me frame of mind, and other times I would deliberately stop those thoughts and turn my focus to positive things and truths that I know.

Along these lines, tonight was my third night in a six week session/study on "The Theology of Suffering" put on by my church.  Someone in our group tonight said a quote that really struck me with all the things I've been thinking about and trying to process lately.  I don't remember who the quote was supposedly from, but it was:  No one steals your happiness more than you do.   In my mind that completely ties together with how we can choose to focus on the positive or choose to allow ourselves to be swallowed up by our own negativity.

Maybe I'm reaching and maybe this doesn't make sense or connect with anyone else, but tonight I felt like so many things were coming together in this grand picture and realization for me.  One of the ladies leading our study on suffering described an image tonight about what suffering could look like if it were a picture.  You would laugh if you saw my sketch in my journal, but I connected with it, so I attempted to draw it to remember how it made me view all of this.

She said that we rarely know our suffering is coming.  It usually hits us out of nowhere -or at least that's how it appears to us.  She described it like we're just walking along in our lives, and all of a sudden we are sucker punched in the gut.  It can be crippling and cause you to hunch over clutching your stomach.  After realizing the blow, you have a choice in how to react to it.  You can choose to crumple into the punch and allow yourself to be enveloped by it and wallow it in entirely.  Or you can choose to slowly open yourself back up, look around, and work through a process to get to a point where you can stand up straight again and eventually begin to walk forward. A third choice is to remain neutral about it and do nothing.  After the blow hits you and you hunch over grabbing your gut, you neither fold into it nor start to stand again, you pretty much try to ignore it and pretend it didn't happen.  Allowing yourself to do nothing and simply stay in the hunched over position is a choice you make.  Often times doing nothing seems like a safe option, but just like crumpling into the blow, it does not allow you to open up and heal so you can one day begin to move forward again.

I can't change how I have reacted to things in the past, but I do hope and pray that in whatever suffering may enter my life in the future, that after catching my breath, I choose to turn to God and slowly begin to stand and walk again, and even though I don't like it or understand it, to fully have faith and trust that God is there in the midst of it and using it all for his glory.

Do these look like slippers to you???

My dad must care a lot about the shoes that people wear -or at least shoes that he deems "not real shoes" and therefore are not appropriate to wear out of the house.  For years now, I have consistently heard comments and questions about the shoes I choose to wear.  A long time ago it used to always be about my flip-flops -because through high school and most of college those were literally all I ever wore.  Now I have upgraded to what I consider "adult" sandals with little straps and things and flats.  I feel like I've way improved my shoe selection and can now present my feet in a more adult and professional manner.

The silver flats I was
wearing at lunch today.

 I get the feeling though that my dad disagrees.  Today Cody and I met my parents and Aaron for lunch in honor of my parents' 28th anniversary.  (Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!!! I love you both a lot!)  On our way out of the restaurant, my dad made some typical comment about the slippers I was wearing out in public.  I tell you whole heartedly -I was NOT wearing slippers!  And I do not ever wear slippers out of the house.  He tells my mom the same thing often.  (Although to be fair, there was a period of time I do think she wore legit slippers to HEB consistently lol!)  I was wearing my silver flats that I even wear to work occasionally -and have gotten compliments on.  They are far from slippers.  I also have a pair of winter flats that are SO comfy and closed toe and cute that my dad always insists are slippers.  Today after lunch when a discussion ensued about shoes compared to slippers, my dad even specifically referred to my winter flats that I love and wear all the time once it gets cooler and I had to defend them yet again.  My brother, Aaron, who bought them for me for Christmas, also stood up for them as definitely not being slippers.  I think the pair of shoes I wear that my dad could make the best argument for would be my winter boots.  I guess they're a knock off type of Uggs.  However, they are such a common type of winter boot that I have trouble believing my dad doesn't know what they are and realize that so many women wear them during winter.


I decided to post about my shoes vs. slippers so I could feel like I have defended them publicly. Lastly to prove I am not wearing slippers out of the house, I took a picture of all the shoes in question and then also a pair of slippers that I have.  Feel free to comment and let me know if you agree that some of my shoes seem to be slippers!  My dad would love someone to back his side of the argument lol.

Cute comfy winter flats

Silver flats

"Uggs" (cough*)

Do any of those look like slippers to you???

REAL slippers

  

A Little Perspective

Right now my mother-in-law, Sue, is on her third mission trip to Uganda.  I always really enjoy reading her blogs while she is on these trips and thought that there might be some other people out there interested as well.

Cody and I went on a mission trip to Zambia together when we were still dating during the summer of 2007, but for two reasons that trip often feels more like a distant dream rather than a real life experience.  Reason one is simple, it was more than five years ago now and some of it is starting to fade when I think about it.  Reason two is not as easy to admit, but honestly I do not think I was fully "there" during my time in Zambia.  I really believe I was called to go, I felt that strongly, and so obviously I did go.  And I loved it and it was absolutely an incredible experience, but it came at a time when there was so much... just life happening back home, that I was never really able to fully leave that behind and immerse myself in the mission trip at hand.  For that I often feel guilty when I think about the trip and truly regret not being able to put more of myself into what we were doing there.  However, part of all of that going on, was a big reason I felt called to go if that can make sense.  I truly believe had God not put that trip in my life that summer... well, I don't know what would have happened, but I think I possibly would have lost myself in way at that time.

What I was trying to get at, was that reading about Sue's experiences for the past two years and right now, always helps me remember my own experience in Zambia.  And more than that, it helps me remember that there is SO much more of the world out there.  It is far too easy to get lost in the daily routine of life with work and schedules and laundry.  I frequently live in a way that I seem to be oblivious to people and life outside of the school I work at, let alone people on another continent.  The pictures that Sue brings back, the stories of the children's faces lighting up, and hearing how such small things like a pair of shoes or medicine can so drastically impact and improve someone's life, all helps me remember there is such a bigger picture going on around us.  This world is so much bigger than me and my life and my problems or accomplishments.  It's good to be reminded of that.

If you would like to read about Sue's current mission trip to Uganda, here is a link to her blog.  She is also going in October on a trip to Ethiopia and will be using the same blog to document her experiences there as well.

http://suehenderson2012.blogspot.com

  

f u n n y

I have noted the show Parks and Rec on the sidebar of this blog under the section "Recently Enjoyed" -however, I have been SO enjoying it lately that I felt it deserved a short post.

I was completely against watching this show initially because I couldn't stand Amy Poehler and was decidedly not going to let myself like it.  But it slowly grew on me and I started to like it.  Now after having watched the first 3 seasons (Cody and I are impatiently waiting for season 4 to become available on Netflix), I love it!  While each and every character on the show is utterly ridiculous, the show has me laugh out loud almost every single episode.  My favorite episode thus far is Flu Season (season 3).  I don't know if it would be my favorite if I watched it again... but goodness gracious.  I think I was laughing through the entire episode.  Cody didn't seem to love that particular episode like I did... and I don't know what was so exceptional about it to me. But whatever it was, I found it hilarious.

While visiting Cody in D.C. (or rather on my return trip home) I was in the DFW airport with an hour delay for my flight.  I found an area with a place to charge my phone and just plopped on the floor and leaned against the wall. While my phone charged I watched the episode Ron and Tammy: Part 2 (season 3). This so far is my second favorite episode.  I had an extremely hard time not busting out laughing while dozens of strangers walked past me throughout the show. I was grinning and trying to hold in my laughter and must have looked ridiculous myself to the people around me.  It was worth it.  Hilarious and I loved it.  Cody did find that episode especially funny himself.  At least we agreed on one of the best episodes thus far.

Anyways.  Enough about a random not-at-all-actually-important T.V. show. I just thought I'd throw it out there that if you like to laugh and be entertained by ridiculous characters and you haven't yet watched this show -you really, really should give it a try.

Pity Party

I firmly believe that there are two distinctly different types of pity parties.  One is useless in which you simply feel sad, whine, complain and otherwise wallow in your thoughts and emotions.  The other I believe can actually be beneficial if you get yourself past the wallowing phase and into honestly trying to evaluate the situation and yourself in the situation.  If you can try to detach, step back, and at least attempt to realize the situation from an outside perspective, along with yourself and whatever role you play in the situation.  If you can genuinely try to determine what you are thinking, feeling, and why.  Whether those thoughts and emotions are appropriate and equal responses or not to whatever it is going on in your life.  And what you can do -if anything- to help, or simply change your own actions and the part you are playing.

Lately, (and on and off for quite a while now) I have been throwing both parties for myself.  Recently however, I feel that I have finally started to grow more and more into the second type of pity party and am actually starting to address things in a more rational mind set and also at least attempt (attempt is the key word as I feel like this doesn't easily happen overnight) to view myself and everything from an outside perspective.

I also recently (ok, just today actually) have remembered some of my favorite books from when I was little. I loved Anne of Green Gables!  I owned and read them all, along with of course watching each of the movies.  I loved how Anne thought and spoke and was just so genuinely herself. (I know she is a fictitious character, but we had a childhood bond. I felt we were bosom friends, kindred spirits, if you will.)

"I'm in the depths of despair."

"It's all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it's not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?" 

These quotes from Anne fit exactly what I've been feeling lately.  And guess what, I feel like I am far from handling a lot of things "heroically" in my life.  I more often throw myself pity party #1.


HOWEVER, the other day, it morphed into party #2 and really was helpful.  It's amazing how much we need to process and just deal with things.  And at least for me and what I've found so far, is that simply talking about whatever you're thinking and feeling can really help.  I was on the phone with Cody and he just listened.  He didn't try to solve any of the problems.  He didn't offer any suggestions or make any judgement or comments on any of my thoughts, feelings, or opinions.  He just listened.  It was exactly what I needed.  Time for me to let myself talk through everything, share everything, and know that I was genuinely heard by my husband who loves me.  I woke up the next day feeling immensely better and more positive.  

Through all of this lately, this summer I decided to officially and finally take a few small but real steps in trying to grasp and deal with some things in my life. While what I've started doing might not even be noteworthy to some people, it was at least a monumental first step for me. 

---More on this to come.  Hopefully in my next (or at least next few) posts.

For this post I'll end with one last Anne quote on a more positive note, because of course every day isn't one in which I throw a pity party. Even though occasionally the pity party days start to feel like they overwhelm my life, they really don't.  Most days are good, fine, or wonderful.  I'm extremely blessed, and I hope and pray that I never forget that.

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” 

Yes, it really is.

Random Question...

The other night I tried a new recipe that I was very excited about... and well it did not turn out well!  I had been wanting to try to make a battered-chicken dish for a while, and finally tried it.  I pretty much followed a recipe... dipped/covered chicken pieces in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.  Here's where I think I may have ruined it... I almost always cook on the stove with olive oil, and so I did as I always do.  Within just about two minutes there was smoke filling the kitchen and the chicken was completely blackened/burned on the outside.  --Was it the olive oil?  Next time should I not put anything in the pan to cook it with??  Anybody have a thought? -Because I really wanted that recipe to turn out and Cody was excited about it as well.  He was sweet and still ate it and said it was great -minus the blacked parts that he scrapped off lol.  Just curious though because I'd love to try it again if I can figure out what to do differently!  And just for the record even though I haven't done a cooking success/fail post in forever... this is going down as a cooking failure!

Bittersweet... 13 days and counting!

I've had an "End of the School Year" countdown on my dry-erase board for a couple of weeks now... and I think I'm more excited about it than the kids!  As exciting as it is to be approaching the end of the school year, it is really bittersweet... and the bitterness is starting to grow as I become aware of how quickly everything is approaching!  I know you all know the definition of bittersweet -but let me break it down for you with our situation.  While I am super glad (and I hope it's okay to feel a little be accomplished) to almost have finished out the school year in this long-term sub position, I am also getting more and more nervous and stressed because at the same time, that means I'm about to be unemployed!  And I can't be unemployed.  I need a job for after June 2nd -well ASAP.  And I am so confused about what to do.  Teaching sounds unlikely to be hired but that is what I'm qualified for and all my experience is in.  I have mentioned applying for jobs with Child Protective Services, which I still am, but haven't heard anything again... and so I am not counting on anything.  And now that leaves me with no idea of what to do!  I have no clue (aside from teaching) what I am qualified to do... or what I would like to do.  At this point honestly I'd take almost any job if something was offered.  Ideally I'd hope to find something that can support us financially and that I can enjoy and be successful at.  I just have no idea what that might be!  Just randomly looking around I have applied for several various jobs that I've been interested in and feel like I'd be qualified for and could do well.  I am trusting that God has something out there for me and that He will provide for us.  I'm just not good at this waiting and not knowing time!  If anyone out there has heard of anything, knows anyone or anything, or has any general suggestions for a job/career I could look into outside of teaching, please let me know! I'm open to most suggestions and any and all help/advise would be welcome : )  Just throwing that out there!

True Fan

I am very proud (and my husband even more so) to announce that I am officially a real, true, genuine Spurs fan.  I have crossed the line from a 'semi-fan' and a 'I'll watch the game because my husband wants me to' fan, and a 'I heart Tony Parker' fan... to a legit Spurs team fan.  I'll tell you when this moment happened.

You see, I've enjoyed watching the Spurs on occasion for a while now... and I've called myself a fan.  But I was still honestly just a half-fan at best.  I cared if they won -sort of.  I mainly watched or listened only because Cody was.  -Although I will say, I have thoroughly enjoyed actually going to games for quite some time now... I'm talking about being interested when I'm not there in person. It's very different. It tests who the true fans are.

And so this transformation happened Wednesday night.  I was home by myself with nothing but an annoying dog and an equally annoying headache.  Cody was at the Spurs game with his dad, Steve.  We do not have cable and so I did not have a way to watch the game at home (-not that I likely would have anyways) and so I had lots of other things planned to work on all by myself.  However, I was still really interested in the game and texted Cody asking for updates as the game went.  He texted me fairly often and the whole time the game sounded pretty close and I kept wondering how it was going.  Finally towards the end of the game I was looking at my Twitter (I do follow the Spurs and so they were also posting game updates occasionally) and saw a link from the Spurs to listen to the game online. So... I took my second step of the evening -of my own initiative- (the first being asking Cody for updates) and clicked the link to listen to the game. I had this playing on our laptop and took it into the kitchen with me to fold the laundry that just finished drying.  When I got all set up and started listening there was just a little more than 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter.  I was folding laundry and listening to the game... and it was so close and exciting!  I was SO intrigued that I found myself caring so much about what was happening, that I actually had to stop folding the laundry to focus on the game!  -That everyone... was the moment I became a genuine Spurs fan.  When I realized I needed to stop folding the laundry (one of my to-do tasks for the evening) because I couldn't focus on what was happening in the game.  It hit me... I cared. And not a little. And not only about Tony Parker. I cared a lot and wanted to focus to hear what was happening and root for them to come through in the end!

And we did by the way.  Gary Neal made a 3 point shot at the buzzer to tie and send us into overtime.  I'll have you know... I continued to listen to the game in overtime and I just knew we were going to win and see a game 6!  (Alright, I didn't know for sure... I was semi-nervous... but I was realllllly hopeful! And I like to stay positive.)

Anyways.  So that's my fun story of how I crossed over from being a half-hearted fan to a true fan this past Wednesday evening when I chose to stand in the kitchen and listen to the Spurs broadcast rather than continue my previous plan for the evening.

...And in case you didn't guess this part... my husband was shocked and beyond proud and excited to hear that I had been listening to the game on my own!  He loves me being a Spurs fan : )

Go Spurs Go!

Game 6 in 30 minutes! Let's see a game 7!

   

Need to catch up!

Well, so, I fully intended on writing a couple of blog posts this week... as it was spring break and I should have had plenty of time!  But I never got around to it... sorry!  I do hope to update everyone sooner rather than later.  Our spring break was fun and wonderful time off together!  And of course I'll also have an update on how the long-term sub job is going.  On that note... if anyone happens to read this before Tuesday, I'd appreciate prayers for this week!  I'm sorta nervous and stressed about this coming week because it sounds like I'll start doing more of everything on my own and we have parent conferences this week.  PARENT CONFERENCES.  I have no idea what you do at a parent conference lol.  I am way nervous about those.  I know the kids behaviorally pretty well at this point I think... but academically... not at all yet honestly!  I don't know what you typically say or go through... am I suppose to have like individualized reports on each student to share/go through with the parents?  -Cause I definitely don't!  Anyways.  I'm nervous and stressed -mainly for the conferences.  They are Tuesday-Thursday.  Fortunately I do have the principal and facilitators sitting in on most of them with me, so that really helps.  But still.  With them... I'm not sure -do I take the lead?  Will they take the lead?  If I do take the lead... what do I say??  Ugh.  If you can't tell, I'm sort of panicking.  I just want to get through Thursday already!  Which is sad since the week hasn't even started yet.

So.  That's all I have time for now!  Prayers for this week appreciated.  I really hope to have time to post several updates on life soon!  We've gone to a wedding, had spring break, and my sub job... all things I'd love to update everyone on when I can!  Hope everyone is having a much less stressful Sunday evening than Cody and I have!  (We both just finished grading a million things and preparing for tomorrow... so we're heading off to bed hoping to not be exhausted to start the week!)  So now, goodnight!

Wicked

Yesterday evening I spent a wonderful girls' night out with Sue and Kari (Cody did join us for dinner first).  We went and saw Wicked at the Majestic and it was beyond spectacular!  Seriously.  Cody and I went and saw the Lion King the Christmas before last and I loved that experience of going to the theater... and I liked the play, but this time seeing Wicked... I absolutely was AMAZED and in love with that play and music!  And the cast.  They were AMAZING.  I got the CD soundtrack during intermission (thanks Sue!) and am slightly disappointed that it is a CD of a different cast. I guess I should have expected that... but seriously.  The cast we saw last night was captivating on stage and I wanted a CD of THEM.  They were just astounding and I loved everything about the play so much!  So I wish the CD was of the cast we saw because I don't think I'll ever enjoy another performance as much as I enjoyed my experience from last night.  I told Cody that if it was a possibility I would want to see that exact performance with that exact cast over and over again. 

Anyways.  I think you get the picture!  A big thank you to Sue (and Steve) for the night out and the gift of seeing that play!

Why Does Cody Win Everything?

I have a lot to update and share... but that'll be a longer post and for now I've only got a couple minutes!  So, for this post I am focusing on why Cody always wins everything.  I mean it.  It drives me nuts!  He beats me at pretty much everything -Boggle, Scrabble, anything math related, Sequence... you name it, he usually beats me at it.  Even other things... like cooking.  Yes I cook 98% of the time for us, but occasionally Cody cooks... and the 2 or 3 dishes that he makes are pretty darn good!  He makes a fish with glaze (I don't like fish, but still) entree that is fairly impressive... and an awesome chili with all fresh ingredients.  But seriously, his fish dish I believe is impressive and a little bit fancy.  I don't have any dish I consider fancy that I make.  So he would win the most impressive meal award in my head. OH GOSH, and baking... he does NOT bake, but, for my last birthday he wanted to make me a cake.  He made a double layered round cake and made his own chocolate mousse icing.  It was really good, and it LOOKED amazing.  He iced it beautifully... and the problem with this is that a few months ago I attempted to make a double layered round cake and ice it... and well it tasted great but as far as appearances go... it would have ranked... at the very bottom of any contest.  I ran out of icing.  The icing got everywhere.  There were holes and patches all over the cake.  It looked sad and pitiful.  (Remember it did still taste good!)  Anyways... so my point is he wins.  He even presented a better cake than I did lol. 

Sometimes his constant winning starts to bother me.  And I do really wish there was SOMETHING I was better at.  (One day I'm determined to find whatever that is.)  But today, I am so glad that my husband wins everything... because he won a MacBook!  Yes, that's right.  Today he went into school to help out at a Technology Showcase and entered a raffle for $5.00.  And what do you know... they pulled out his name to win a MacBook!  He came home beyond excited.  It's a free computer... and we could definitely use it!  So today, I am putting aside my bitterness that Cody always wins everything... and I am instead ever so GLAD!

A 4th Grade girl in the district won the design contest! 

He couldn't wait to come home and show me what he won!

(PS -did I mention that on a cruise we went on with our families a few summers ago, that "he" won $500 at an art auction?  -That's how we got our picture that's on our dining room wall.  Now that time... it was really US that won... and so it does bother me when Cody refers to it and says that HE won... because it was US! --Just a minor note on that past winning instance!)

Weak-Sauce

I don't know what I have, but I officially hate it.  It may just be some weird version of a cold, but I've had this solidly since Thursday. I subbed a half day Wednesday and had a sore throat, came home and it got worse.  I started feeling fairly bad Wednesday night and woke up Thursday miserable.  So it's now been 5 solid days of sickness and I'm ready to be better!  I'm just venting.  It's my blog; I'm allowed to right?  I'm sick, bored, and waiting on my sweet husband to bring us home dinner.  So I'm venting about being sick on my blog.  And Callie has been a PAIN while I've been sick!  I know... it's not totally her fault.  I haven't taken her out for long walks like normal because after about 5 minutes of her pulling me around outside, I start to feel light-headed, and am more than ready to come back and lay down inside. I know... both Cody and my brothers constantly remind me of how wimpy I am.  I think both Sean and Aaron's favorite thing to say to me (as they hand me some random something... sauce, drink, etc.) is:  "Hey Sammie, want a little more weak-sauce?"  And then they crack up and I argue that despite what they think I am not the biggest baby in the world.

Anyways.  Just complaining because I can!  Sorry for the super boring lame post.  Hoping to wake up tomorrow feeling all fresh and brand new!

Non-Birthday Weekend

Me with my friend and co-leader, Angela!

This past weekend was buuusy!  -But good.  Cody and I helped out with Revolution Weekend (like Disciple Now) at Parkhills.  I co-lead the 9th grade girls with a good friend from our weekly small group and Cody was a co-host for the 11th and 12th grade boys.  It was a jam-packed weekend but definitely worth it!  We went through 4 study sessions on the topic of Christ-like Community, the students built/decorated Derby cars for the major race Saturday afternoon, and we had a rally (guest speaker and worship band) Saturday evening.  Everything went great and I think the students enjoyed it --and hopefully left having learned something and being motivated to move forward in their relationships with Christ.

Our girls decorating their journals for the weekend.

My loves giving me my birthday card before the Derby race started.

Cody's 11th and 12th grade guys in the race.

Our girls all in costume and with accessories --aka home-made spears, swords, and I believe we also had an ax-- (It was a Spartan theme) for the race.

Our girls in the race.

Set up for the Rally Saturday night in the Parkhills sanctuary.

It was also my birthday on Saturday.  Cody has made it clear -as I did to him when he turned this age- that I am now officially in my mid-twenties (I turned 24).  Weird!  Lol.  Not really, but a little.  Anyways.  Cody did manage to give me his sweet card during the business Saturday with Revolution Weekend but otherwise we have postponed birthday-ness until this coming weekend.  Which was just fine with me.  By the time we got home from RW Sunday afternoon we were both exhausted!  My friend who was my co-leader, our additional leader, and our 9th grade girls did surprise me late Saturday night with a delicious German Chocolate Cake and 24 glowing candles!  It was super sweet -and I honestly was not in the least expecting it... at least not until they called me downstairs and I walked into a dimly lit room filled with people... then I sorta guessed what was going on lol.  Thank y'all for that sweet gesture!  I really appreciated it : )

Hair before...

Also... this is on a more random note, I had been wanting to cut my hair for a while now and decided to wait until after my sister-in-law's wedding.  Then I decided I wanted to do it around my birthday.  (Note:  I had been saving a Groupon for a hair cut and massage for moooonths to wait and use for just this occasion.)  So I made an appointment and went in Friday morning before RW stuff started.  I cut off about 11 inches!  Big hair cut.  I have never had it THIS short.  I have cut it fairly short twice before... but this is the shortest, and at least so far I really love it!  I have told Cody that I hope he means it that he likes it... cause I may be keeping this hair style for a while.  The one thing I'm still nervous about is that I haven't tried it curly yet!!!  -Which could still be disastrous; we'll have to wait and see. My hair is naturally curly... but probably at least half the time I straighten it.  This short it could possibly be awful curly... hopefully it's at least okay so I don't always have to straighten it now.  I haven't mailed it in yet, but I'm planning on sending in my hair to Locks of Love.  And if I'm being honest... I did not cut my hair for that purpose.  BUT when I realized it was reallly long and I wanted to go short, I looked into it and found out my hair would be long enough to donate, and so I decided that's what I would do.  Anyways.  Enough rambling about my hair.

Adjusting to missing a lot of hair!

11 inches off... a little more when you pull it all the way out.

... And after.

Also a little off of everything from above -Cody's grandma turned 85 last week and we all enjoyed dinner out to Olive Garden for the occasion.  It was a nice dinner out and of course a birthday dinner wouldn't be complete without singing and cake.

Happy 85th birthday, Grandma!

On our way to Grandma's birthday dinner.

So that's our latest update!  Hope everyone is having a great week!

The Sad Story of The Day We Almost Had a Puppy

This past Saturday Cody and I were out running errands and drove past a Pet Adoption event going on in a parking lot.  Cody wanted to stop and just enjoy looking at the dogs and I said we really shouldn't...  We've been talking about getting a dog for a while; we definitely WANT a dog, just haven't been sure if the timing was right yet.  Anyways.  We did end up stopping and looked around and it was fun to just pet them walk around.  Then we made the mistake of talking to a lady working the adoption event.  (There was actually 2 separate things going on right next to each other so at first that was confusing.)  She explained how all their animals were found and now in the shelter, and all had been spayed and neutered and were up to date medically.  She asked if we wanted to go into their trailer thing and look at their pets for adoption... and we did.  We were in there about 30 seconds before I spotted a super cute black puppy (she was 4 months old) and started trying to play with her through her cage.  The lady noticed the attention I was giving her and pulled her out for us to take on a walk.  The name they had assigned her was Juliette.

We took her out and after being out of her cage a while she really started to show some attitude and spunk.  She was adorable and cute and fun!  She already listened fairly well also which was nice.  When she sat she was a little above my knees and on the leash she was already able to actually kinda pull me around.  I can't image the lack of control I would have had with her in the future!  We pretty much fell in love with her within 30 minutes.  We kept playing with her and enjoying getting to know her... and I kept trying to talk to Cody seriously.  I'd lean over and be like "so, are we actually considering this? I can't tell what you're thinking."  We were outside with her probably an hour, and then decided we couldn't leave without her!  We got super excited and went through the paperwork to adopt her.  They held onto her for us for about an hour as we went to a couple stores to buy the basics (and some more fun stuff) for her to take her home.

When we picked her back up, she sat in my lap as we drove home, and it was adorable.  She sat calmly and cuddled up to me and laid her head on my shoulder and licked my chin.  We got back to our apartment and I walked her around outside while Cody went in to pay our pet deposit.  It was taking him quite a while and I started to wonder why.  When he came back on he had this super upset look on his face and said we couldn't have her.  We knew about the apartment's size restriction, but we did not recall ever hearing about an age restriction.  The dog would have to be a year old and we had to have proof of her age.  She was only 4 months.  It was a completely awful feeling to have bonded with her, bought her lots of fun stuff, brought her home, and then realizing we had no choice but to take her back.  We felt awful for her as well... like we had potentially robbed her of a chance to be adopted by someone else.  I know it's only been a few days, but she was SO adorable, I hope someone has adopted her by now.  It was so sad taking her back, and then coming home with all this new dog stuff, and having no dog.

Yes, I will admit I cried.  I know we only even knew her a couple hours... but we bonded and she already felt like ours.  She would have been the perfect dog... we just know it.  We had named her Bella.

So now, we are dog-less, with lots of dog stuff.  And now that we got so close to almost having a dog, we are really ready to get one!  I'm a little sad we can't get a puppy due to the age restriction, but I'm still excited we are going to still try and get one.  We are planning on going tomorrow or Thursday to look again.  Hopefully soon I will be able to post about a new dog that we have fallen in love with.

I don't have any good pictures of Bella... I only took a couple once Cody explained that we couldn't keep her and we were driving to take her back.  So they are not good pics... we were in the car and she was in my lap and I couldn't get a good angle of her.  But here are 2 pics that I did get: