Ramblings . . .

Since these have been circling facebook, I knew it was inevitable that I would eventually be tagged. 

Well, in my sweet little county, we had a snow day today!!! So, knowing that I was on P for my alphabet blogging...so I set out to have a day full of P's. But not peas, I don't like peas.

First...I started my morning by pretending.

I woke up at my normal time; about 5:35 to start my morning. The weather people were calling for snow, so I went to my laptop to see if my county had a delay or if they were closed. Lo and behold, we were closed!!! Halle-freaking-lujah! I tried to climb back in bed with the boy, but I couldn't sleep and I was squirmy and coughy, and he wakes up about an hour and a half after me, so I decided to get out of bed. I thought it would be fun to pretend to be a stay-at-home-wife so I tidied the house a little, washed dishes from the night before, and made hubs cheesy eggs and ham, bacon, and toast. It was fun pretending, then he went to work and I was bored.

Next, I decided to give myself a little pedicure. I soaked my feet, trimmed my cuticles, buffed my nails, the whole nine yards. Finally, I painted my pigs OPI's French Chambord-Tini. I won this nail polish at the same WWW where I won my massage gift certificate!

Around 10AM I decided to go to my Mama's house...I think that's one of the good things about living in a one mile radius from your mom and sister; even on snow days you can still hang out with the girls, and boys! My dad drove up to pick up my sister and her boys to bring them down because of the crappy roads. I walked over to my mom's house and began my play day.

My mom and sister made me drive out to pick up the pizza and Sam was excited for his pizza. Joelie ate tons and TONS of pizza, but somehow, I didn't have many picture of him and then he was onto his nap.

Later, Sam and I decided to make peanut-butter kiss cookies! He is starting to be a help in the kitchen! He even unwrapped the kisses for the cookies. Here is a picture of Sam eating another cookie while we were making the other cookies...he has quite the sweet tooth.
Later, Sam wanted to get in bed to "play". I pretended to be asleep and he laid down beside me...then he was concerned about where my feet went. He went under the covers to find my feet and decided he wanted to stay under the sheets. He looked up at me and said, "Amy. AMY. This is so fun!"
After Joelie woke up from his nap, he of course had to have a cookie, but not the peanut butter kind, apparently babies shouldn't eat peanut butter until they are two. It's such a good thing my sister knows everything to know about pregnancy, being a mom, what kids can eat because I am sure I will be totally clueless when it comes to that stuff. My mom was making pinto beans for dinner and Sam said he wanted some. She set some out on a plate so they could cool down for him, he never got to those pinto beans because Joel ate them. Joel who doesn't like to eat anything if it isn't sweet or pizza.
Joel and Sam ended our play day by playing the piano together. I promise they are not really dirty, they just had about fifty a couple Hershey kisses. The temperature has warmed up a little here but it is still icy. I am hoping for another snow day tomorrow, but I am not quite sure I could come up with a day full of "q" activities. Oh well!

Well, not really just Old, but Old Crow Medicine Show. And older is for me.

Seriously, what is going on with all these nosebleeds in Lost???

Luckily lostpedia.com has some insight here...

and for those of you that don't watch lost...sorry, I am obsessed with enjoy it.

Um. Massage. Oh, how I love thee.

Unfortunately, I did not have a fabulous experience two nights ago.

I had a massage Monday night, my first professional one in at least a year and it was less than stellar to say the least. I have decided to outline the high and low points of this massage;

word to ya mother;
1. it was relaxing
2. it was quiet
3. it was dark
4. I could sum up numbers 1-3 by saying the atmosphere was perfect, but I am trying to give him a little more help than he deserved.
5. It was warm, nice and cozy while it was about 17 degrees outside

bites a big one;
1. he spoke very softly, I could barely hear him talk
2. the music was too loud. I mean, it may be relaxing to lay in a rain forest while fairies dance around playing the pan flute, but not when they are playing the pan flute and ungodly decibels.
3. he gave me for-ev-er to get undressed. as he could probably see, I was only wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, I already took off my jacket, scarf, and mittens...I was left alone long enough to take off a lace-up wedding gown with a full corset, garter belt, and thigh-highs. . .
4. when I asked him what he would prefer I do with my hair he said he would like me to put it up...he asked if I had a hair thing, I told him I did, he left for another 5 minutes so I could put my hair in a ponytail.
5. he rubbed me with the intensity of an 82-year-old lady, and not a strong 82-year-old lady; the frail kind.
6. he only rubbed my legs to about 5 inches above my knees
7. he tickled my feet when he rubbed them. and not in a good way.

I guess it wasn't all that bad, I had a gift certificate I won from a Working Women's Wednesday so I didn't pay much for the massage and it was relaxing, for the most part. I would have expected it if I went to a student, not a massage therapist at a pretty upscale salon in my town.

But I have ridiculously high standards due to my previous massage therapist that righted all the wrongs in my world when I saw him. He worked out every single knot, kink, any little thing, he fixed. And, he didn't tickle my feet when he did my reflexology. But he has moved onto bigger and better things and no longer massages, even though now, after a craptastic massage, all I can think about is how good I felt when he worked on my back. Ugh. Maybe I can get him to come out of 'retirement'?

On my way out, Mr. Craptastic informed me of all the knots that I had in my body. I wanted to ask him why he didn't get them out, but instead I just simply said, "uh huh". He then wondered why I had so many knots, I let him know that I am a teacher that only teaches girls between the ages of 10-12. He thought that could be the source of stress on my body...ya think?!?!

After paying and begrudgingly giving him a nice tip he asked if I wanted to go ahead and schedule my next massage...

"no thanks you suck, I'll just call when I'm ready..."

Main Entry: lin·ge·rie
Pronunciation: \ˌlän-jə-ˈrā, ˌläⁿ-zhə-, -ˈrē; ˈlaⁿ-zhə-(ˌ)rē, ˈlän-jə-, ˈläⁿ-zhə-, -ˌrā\
Function: noun
Etymology:
French, from Middle French, from linge linen, from Latin lineus made of linen — more at line
Date: 1835

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' "

This past weekend, husband and I were able to see one of our favorite bands play at a local bar here. We always love to see them whenever we can, but especially when they play so close to home. I became familiar with them when I was living in my college town through my best friend Melissa. 

Well, well, well, I can't believe it, but it's time for a new president!

I am not going to spend my time bashing GWB because I am sure you could find about 1,000,000 other blogs that are doing that at this time.

I am however excited to ring in the new year with a new president!

I have now, officially voted in two presidential elections and I tell ya, I just get so stinkin excited.

I used to work for our county here and elections were always a ton of fun...some people hated them but I loved em! We would be up until well after midnight sorting out ballot boxes and being all kinds of official. . .

Anyway, I always love elections, I don't think I have ever missed an voting in my county, even while I was away at college. . . ahh, the benefits of having an INCREDIBLY political grandmother. . .

This election is different for me now though because of my current employment. I teach at a predominately black school (yes, we call them black because that's what they call themselves, many of them didn't come from Africa, and that's what they told me to call them!) and we as a school are amazed at the progress our country has made in the past 100 years. I am looking forward to celebrating the inauguration, not only for me, but with my students as well. We are looking forward to a new era and even more progress.

So as jenny would say. . . Obamanos!!!

it's when I'm cooking on a propane stove,

Making the world's best pizza sandwiches over a campfire,

Or on top of a mountain peeking over the edge.

My happy place is on the river or in the mountains, but away from society with hubs and my nearest and dearests; I wish my mom and sister would come with us.

Negative degree weather is making me not so happy. I want my happy place back.

As some of you know, I am a teacher. I love my job even though it is far out of my comfort zone.

Look what hubs did on Saturday!!!





He took our hainus faux brick kitchen floor from this. . .

To this. . .

Thanks hubs, you rox it on the realz.

Ok. Here it goes.


My name is Amy and I am addicted to deals.



I can't help it. I think I am missing the gene that allows people to pay retail for things.



Anyway, as I posted before here, we have a new bed. This bed was a small source of controversy in our marriage for a hot sec. See, husband didn't think we needed a new bed; we didn't have any king-sized bed linens, ok, he didn't supply that reason, but I think it goes along with my post. Anyway, I found this superb deal. Like, the biggest deal EVER.

I saw this beautiful king-sized 24 piece Martha Stewart bedroom set at Macy's and fell in love. When I called hubs to ask if he thought I should get it, he said OF COURSE NOT! WE DON'T EVEN HAVE A KING-SIZED bed yet!!! ok, he probably didn't yell that much...but for sake of argument. . . So, being the fabulous wife I am, I consulted my mom and sister and bought it anyway.

Fast forward a week and we bought a king-sized bed! Then guess who was smiling when I put all the finishing touches on the bed??? That's right, Mr. Hubs.

So how much did this lovely bed set cost me? This bed set complete with a bed skirt, comforter, sheet set, four shams, two decorative pillows, curtains, valances, and something else that I can't remember right now....This particular package retailed for a measly $600.00, but how much did I pay for it???








a whopping $67.71!!! Can you believe it? It's beautiful and comfortable, and perfect!!

Another deal that I will share when I get to F is the beautiful kitchen floor hubs and I just put in for less than $100...oh, how I love a deal!

Yikes. It shouldn't be called closet, it should be called our top secret hiding place.

Behind the crappy, seldom working doors of my old closet was all of my dirty laundry. literally. We gave the term "skeletons in the closet" a whole new meaning. It was rough. Stuff was everywhere, unorganized, an overflowing mess. When company was coming over, just shove the clothes piled on our bedroom floor into the closet and PRAY that nobody opens it.

Anyway, stuff was outta hand and given the fact that we have a beautiful new bed, we needed a beautiful new closet. So, I bought one of those nifty organizers for about $100. @ our Lowe's.

We painted the inside of the closet Rosemary Green to match our bedspread.



Hubs installed it and I got to work organizing it. I picked up some baskets @ Homegoods and we are good to go...


Now, if only I can keep it looking this nice forever!

and what a bed it is.

After a few weeks of debating, harassing family members, begging husband, calculating costs...we are the proud owners of a new bed.



See, my old bed was fine. Actually, I love my old bed, but it was small...very small. It was a gift from my grandmother or aunt when I was moving into my first apartment. While I lived in my college town it served me very well. Plenty of space for one, comfortably firm, a bed of pillowy-top perfection...until we moved into our house. My seemingly comfortable full-sized bed transformed our happy home into a constant nighttime argument...Normally something like this;

husband: MOVE OVER TO YOUR SIDE OF THE BED!

me: if I move over anymore I will fall off the edge

husband: That's impossible because I am on the absolute edge of the bed and you
have at least two feet on the other side of you.

me: hmph.

husband: I will go sleep in another room if you don't scoot over.

And sometimes he would and sometimes he wouldn't. Anyway, we needed more space.


We found a mattress that we loved very quickly, but we wanted to be sure we loved this mattress so we shopped around. We had a lady look at us like we were crazy because we wanted to spend LESS than $1,000.00 and someone told us that we should spend as much money on it as we could because it would be a lifetime investment. We decided that our first mattress was the best bet, so we went to our local Sam's Club and picked it up! It was about $860.00 for the mattress, box spring, and the universal bed frame! And the best part is, it is the MOST comfortable bed I have ever slept on!




Sure it takes up most of the space in our bedroom...but what else do you REALLY need in a bedroom?? We still have our dresser, chest of drawers, and our nightstands, so I think it is a nice fit!

FYI--

Well, since I am becoming a dedicated blogger...AND because I can already think of letters A-D; I am going to try yet another 26 days/26 letters type of postings. Now, I don't want you to get all excited and check in on me everyday, because fact of the matter is, I'm probably not going to be able to post every single day. But my loyal 2 or 3 readers out there will certainly understand.

Ok.

A is for AT work....
yes, I am back at work. As a school teacher there are a few breaks that I look forward to throughout the year. However, I have an added bonus. I teach at a year-round school. For those of you not in the educational world, that means we go to school for nine weeks and then have a 3 week break in between nine week sessions. Yes, that means I work over the summer, gasp, but it really is NBD.

Anyhoo...I had the best break ever. I will probably post more about it later, ya know, as the letters in the alphabet come up...but needless to say, I wasn't ready for my break to be over. I love my students, most of the time, and they are, for the most part, good kids, but they are not my family. I had such a good time hanging out with my family over break. Especially my sister and her boys. She always looks forward to my breaks so we can run around together and I totally miss it! I also really miss the fact that her boys take naps in the afternoon. I am finding myself increasingly more jealous of my little nephews because I am seriously draaaaaaaaaagging right now! We hung out in the morning Christmas shopping and stuff, the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home, we carried them to their beds, then I would go to my own house and take a nap as well!

I am however happy to be back at work because I will start eating better again. I mostly pack a lunch at work but got pretty used to eating fast food everyday during break! Let's see...only 44 more school days until spring break . . .

I wonder if I could talk my principal into letting fifth graders take naps after lunch???

I suppose it would be easy for me to repeat the same resolutions I have had for years. I could be like eeeeeeeverybody else and say that I want to lose weight or work out more, but I will spare you the details. For some reason, recently I am less concerned with the number on the scale and more concerned about how my clothes fit or how I look in the mirror.