I recently asked my husband if he was finished with his blog. I thought perhaps blogging would join the has been closet along with bowling, golf, softball, and Atari. But alas I was wrong. He has since blogged twice, and I am feeling like a slacker. On a recent vacation with my family I found out that they are close followers of the blog, and that they are just now getting the word out about my blog. How can I let all my potential new followers be greeted by a week old post. I am now renewing my vow to the blog. My goal will be to blog once a week, and to keep my blog more interesting than Tyler's. Now with this renewed commitment to my blog, I will again try to make page long posts out of my love for blogging. I know this sounds exciting, so stay tuned.....

Oh yes and since I know my family is reading....I LOVE MY MIXER.

Blog topics have not been flooding my brain lately. It has been too full of to do lists. I have made list after list. I have happily crossed off 1 thing only to add 3 more. But now I sit in my home with the greatest feeling. The feeling that after 5 hours of work tomorrow I will have 2 weeks to complete lists. 2 weeks to catch up on Christmas shopping, house cleaning, blogging, and most importantly day time television.

An Ode to Blogging

I have really been trying to blog more. I know some of you may be thinking why, but I actually enjoy it. I like trying to come up with witty things to share with the world wide web. Well actually the 4 people that read my blog. Today I was racking my brain searching for a clever blog that would evoke many comments from the 4 reading this blog. I really couldn't think of anything, so I decided to google a poem about blogging. So I went to my trusty google search engine and typed in "A Poem about blogging". I thought for sure someone had come up with a super funny poem about blogging. Well I was wrong. I googled and googled and found nothing, but I am not very good at googeling. I then came back to my blog determined to write my own hilarious ode to blogging. I started typing away....An Ode to Blogging....That is about as far as I got. I then decided I had done something wrong. So I went back to google again looking for a poem about blogging. Still nothing. I cam back to my blog....The History of a Blog by: Jennifer...That is about as far as I got. I decided just a hilarious poem would do. So back to google. I googled hilarious poems...I found lots of poems none of which were hilarious. I decided then I would google "The funniest poem of all time", and whichever poem came up first that would be the one for my blog. Well after an hour of rewording the phrase and reading 100's of not very funny poems I decided to go with the funniest joke of all time. This search was also not very fruitful.....So I guess it is not meant to be. No funny poems, no funny jokes, nothing. What a waste of a blog.

Leaving Home to go Home

I am stealing the title of this blog from a post my brother in law made when he was leaving the Navy. I read his post many times thinking he should be excited to return to a quiet apartment, a comfortable bed, and his family. However, I now understand what he meant. I have been at my parents' house in Alabama for a week now. I have spent days enjoying my family. I have truly had a great time. I even got to spend Thanksgiving with 25 of my family members I rarely see. Though I have spent this week doing lots of fun things I have been missing my husband and dogs who had to stay behind in Florida. It is a strange feeling being home yet missing home. I am often reminded of how far away I am from my family when I say "I am going home this weekend". Someone will then look at me perplexed and say something like "Your home is in Florida now", or "Aren't you going home after work."It is hard to explain to someone who has lived right down the road from their family their whole life how the two homes works. I think I might be beginning to understand how children of divorced parents feel. Tonight I am packing. My dad will take me to Atlanta in the morning and I will return to my Florida home glad to see my husband and taking with me many memories of my Alabama home looking forward to returning very soon.

Pre Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

Ever since Tyler and I have been together...about 6 years we have never spent a holiday apart. I like spending the holidays with Tyler. He is generally in a good mood thanks to lots of home cooking and football. But alas this year we will be spending Thanksgiving apart. In my life my mother has only had our whole family over for a holiday meal one time. We usually go to someone else's house, because it is more convenient for the majority of our family. But this year she will be having her entire family over for Thanksgiving. And as I have missed a lot of family moments living 8 hours away, and the fact that Tyler will be working the day before, the day after, and the Saturday following Thanksgiving there would be no point of me staying home with him. Although we made the decision for me to go home jointly I was still feeling a little bit guilty. A lot of people love food and football, but my husband LOVES food and football. More specifically homemade cooking and Alabama football. Both of which I will be indulging in on my trip to Alabama. So as I was saying I was feeling a little guilty when the greatest thing happened. My best friend decided to make an impromptu trip to our humble abode. It was then I decided I would whip up (with her help) a holiday meal for my husband and a few of our Florida friends. So this morning Jenny and I went to the store and bought all the necessary ingredients for a feast for 8. It was when we returned home with groceries in hand that we realized what a great undertaking we had signed up for. I had already invited people so we couldn't canceled. Well it is now about 12 hours later. Of the last 12 hours we have spent at least 7 of them cooking. But we pulled it off. Everybody enjoyed all of their Thanksgiving favorites. The leftovers are now securely in the refrigerator, and I am sitting here thinking over the many holiday dinners I have eaten in my 26 years. I never really thought about the hours of hard labor put into these meals. now have completed my first Thanksgiving dinner (with lots of help) I want to thank everyone who has ever helped to prepare a pan of dressing, a sweet potato casserole, a turkey, or any other part of a holiday feast. Thank you!

Clean House

Have you ever been to someone's house only to be met by the homeowner at the door saying, "Sorry my house is so messy." Or "I have just been so busy I haven't found time to clean the house." Or even "I hope you won't mind the mess." It is then that you enter their house to the smell of Lysol, Windex, apple cinnamon candles, and freshly baked cookies. It is then that you decide never to invite this person to your house. I have had this happen on many occasions. It is an awkward situation. Do you say, "Oh don't worry it won't bother me." Or "What mess?" Or maybe something a little sarcastic like "You are right, this place is such a dumb."? I however have never really had the chance to say these things to house guests. In fact I am the one that moves over laundry on the couch to find you a place to sit. I am the one who only opens the refrigerator 4 inches so that you won't see my disorganization. Today, however, my house is clean. I am having company on Saturday and I am thinking of meeting them at the door and apologizing for a mess that doesn't exist. But I have realized that is just not my style. My husband and I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 hours cleaning our house, and I want people to notice. I want people to say, "Wow, you didn't have to clean for us." Or "I never noticed you had carpet, I thought your floor was made out of clean laundry." I am now faced with a dilemma. What will I say when people arrive and stand astonished that you can actually see my furniture? I think I will say, "Welcome, feel free to keep your shoes on. Put your feet on the couch. Just leave your dishes in the sink. I will get to it eventually. Oh, you spilled grape juice on the floor. Don't worry, the dog will lick it up, and what he doesn't get will serve as a reminder of the fun times with friends."

That Kind of Day

We have all had those days that you just look around and say "Really". You know the days when everything seems to be going wrong. I am already running on a little less energy thanks to the shingles. I woke up late. There was nothing to eat for breakfast that could be cooked in less than 2 minutes which is how long I had allotted. I went to lock the door and couldn't find my house key. I went to go out the garage door, but it wouldn't open. I got stuck behind a bus. When I finally arrived at work my classroom was full of trash that wasn't taken out. I forgot my lunchbox, and we were having beef dipper sticks for lunch. It just seemed nothing could go my way. Luckily the day started to turn around when a friend brought me lunch and spared me from the mystery meat. I came home and begin attacking my house, which is now fairly clean, and followed up with a burrito for dinner. So it all turned out okay. Tyler is leaving for the weekend so I am planning a lot of rest and relaxation for this weekend.

Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them, anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you willl win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Fall

Today is what I call a good fall day. I woke up this morning at 6. That left me with lots of hours of productivity. I went yard saleing with a friend and found some cool buys. I don't love shopping in people's driveways and garages but it is a great time to people watch. There is such a range of people are yard sales. Next we were on a mission to find a Halloween costume for myself and her son. My costume has to be from a book so we were racking our brains for an easy book character. I decided I wanted to be the cat and the fiddle so we stop by a costume store and picked up ears and a tail. We were then in need of a fiddle. We called many stores looking for a fiddle. Well as you guessed a fiddle is not an easy thing to come by. We then stopped by Goodwill and you will never guess it....a fiddle...an iron fiddle just sitting there. So we swooped that up and we were then off to one of my favorite places that I rarely visit...Sam's. I really have no need to buy things in bulk, but I think it is a passion handed down from generation to generation. My dad will be the first person to buy a gallon of sour cream or a case of peppermint Mentos. We then went and picked up my friend's son and friend's daughter and were off to a fall festival. I have been to a lot of fall festivals. This one was not incredibly huge, but I was impressed by the spread of food. Which when you don't have kids of your own what else are you really looking for at a fall festival. Now we are sitting watching Alabama make some huge mistakes. I have had to quarantine myself to the game room because I can watch. But we pulled it out. And who says there is no such thing as miracles.

Homecoming!

This week is an exciting week at our school. Although I do try to convince my students that every week is exciting this week is especially exciting. This week is homecoming week. You know the week where each day has a theme and one gets to dress up with each daily theme. I do love this week. I think it is because when I was in high school I was far to unpopular and embarrassed to dress up with these preposterous themes. I received enough ridicule on a daily basis that I didn't want to add goofy outfits to the mix. Today was cowboy/camo day. I guess that they did both of these things just in case your Wranglers were in the wash. I truly enjoyed watching all my kids walk around in belt buckles and cowboy boots. They truly thought they owned the place. I also didn't even mind the joke "Where is -___________. Oh I didn't see you in your camo" Even though I did hear it at least 100 times today and it is possibly the worst joke ever uttered. Well anyway I am now getting to relive those dress up days and I am loving every moment. I am very thankful for my finally discovered self esteem that lets me walk around with boots on and a handkerchief hanging out of my back pocket without listening for laughter coming from corners. Now if only come Friday morning there was a huge mum with long ribbons this week would be perfect.

California

After finally arriving in LA this morning at 2:00 local time 5:00 eastern time I was shuttled to the hotel where I had a short nap and then it was time to begin exploring. First, we went to Roscoe's were we had fried chicken and waffles for breakfast. Starting your day with such a great combo leaves one with high expectations for the rest of the day. We then took a series of trains and subways to Hollywood. We went to the Chinese theater, the walk of stars, the wax museum, and saw lots of interesting people. We also visited Sunset Blvd. and Chinatown. And now after another confusing progression of trains and subways I am enjoying resting my feet in the hotel for a little while before we tackle Long Beach. Katie is off somewhere with her engineering friends (who I do not have enough intelligence to hang with), but I will be spending the day with her tomorrow. So after a long day of seeing many of California's most famous spots I find myself trying to tackle a blog. I thought that I would share with you a list that I created all day that may be more interesting than me describing famous hot spots. So here it goes:

The Top Ten People I Do Not Want to be in California (if you are one of these I am not saying it is bad, I am just saying it is not for me)

1. A senior citizen screaming at a teenager through the subway station about his missing pot (not the kind you cook with)
2. A person living under the tram overpass
3. A person selling burritos out of a white van
4. A person eating a burrito purchased out of a white van
5. A person wearing thigh high leather boots going to a casting for Gotham something at Universal Studios
6. A person sleeping (or maybe dead) on a pile of trash bags in the subway station
7. Anyone without a metro pass determined to walk the city
8. Someone paying 1 dollar to have my picture made with a 90 year old man in a faded Spiderman outfit
9. A 90 year old man having children pay a dollar to have their picture made with me in a faded Spiderman outfit
10. A tiny woman peddling my house cleaning services on Hollywood Blvd.

All in all it was a very interesting and eventful day. Although I don't know that I appreciated it all because I had already walked 1000 miles before arriving at some of my destinations. Also I am confused why maps are such a rare commodity around this place. It seems with a city this large and so many tourists there would be people peddling maps all over the place. But I guess the house cleaning industry and botox (yes you can get it done in seconds) keeps everyone in business.

Wally World

When you live in a small town you learn to live without certain luxuries. One of which is Wal-Mart. The town I grew up in is not so small now but when I was growing up was by most considered small. We however were blessed with a Wal-Mart, but it wasn't a super. I remember when a super Wal-Mart opened 30 miles north of us and we all piled into the car to go see the bright lights of this new Wal-Mart. I remember my astonishment to find groceries, and wondering how my sister could possibly be asleep in the cart during this eye opening experience. Well I now live in a small town. Much smaller than the town I grew up in, and we are without Wal-Mart. When first moving to this town it was hard times. What was I going to do without this modern day staple. I would have to drive 22 miles to the nearest blue paradise. But as time dragged on I learned to live without it and in the process finding myself saving money. Today after dropping Tyler off at the airport I was faced with the decision of what to do by myself for the afternoon. There were many great choices...homework, grading papers, cleaning...but then I saw it. It was the beautiful green (formally blue) heaven of Wal-Mart. I thought to myself...self...what would it hurt to browse a few aisles? I needed to get a few items for my secret pal at work and I thought she might be tired of my Dollar General finds so I decided to stop in. I found a front row parking place so I knew it was meant to be. I walked in and there was the familiar smell that had welcomed me so many times before. I shopped and shopped. I walked up and down all the aisles. I love my husband but I do have to admit it was nice to wander the store throwing things in the cart knowing he wouldn't be home to stare down my purchases. I was enjoying my time there and was headed to the check out when I realized that I had found nothing for my secret pal. I returned to the sea of merchandise on a mission. It was then when I remembered why I don't go to Wal-Mart anymore. I can save much more money by not surrounding myself with "discount" merchandise. So I have my fix now. I will cling tight to my unnecessary purchases until another day when I am feeling weak and I once again must feed my addiction....maybe a support group is in order.

In other news Blake is safely in Vegas with Tyler soon to follow.

So tomorrow is the day. The day that Tyler has been waiting for this day for 3 years. No it is not the birth of our first child or paying off our house. It is his trip to Vegas. But more importantly it is his trip to Vegas with his best friend. Tyler and I had already booked a trip to Vegas before we found out we were moving to Florida. Then when we found out we were moving here we had to cancel. Ever since Tyler has been dreaming of the day he could see the bright lights of Vegas. Now of course there is a little jealously that he is going to live it up in Vegas without me. I love bright lights as much as the next girl, but I am trying to look on the bright side of this trip (after giving my husband grief for a couple of months). I figure that by him going to Vegas with his best friend that I then become entitled to an elaborate trip with my best friend. I am thinking an all inclusive resort with daily trips to the spa will do the trip. Luckily my best friend is married to Tyler's best friend so she is therefore also entitled to an elaborate trip. So eventhough I will be somewhat lonely for the next four days I am looking forward to the time in which I can enjoy a girls only getaway.

Travel

I know that many people who keep up with me on facebook think that I am always traveling. This is to some extent an accurate judgement. I often go on day or weekend trips to see family or to explore this beautiful state. However, I am now preparing for my first cross country trip/flight. I am looking for any advice on how to survive a 8 hour plane ride. That is an entire workday spent in a confined space with people you have never met before, and let's not even begin to discuss the bathroom situation. Not only will I be traveling cross country for the first time, but I will be traveling alone. Tyler will already be in Las Vegas and will be meeting me in California. Yes, you got it. My husband is going to Las Vegas without me. He will be meeting his best friend in Vegas for 3 days of bromancing (is that even a word). Him and his best friend have frequently turned their noses up at the word bromance. But they will be going to the wedding capital of the world together. Well anyway if you know me you know that I am a worrier. If you have any advice about traveling such long distances I will be very willing to accept.

Fall

It is getting dark earlier, the weather is growing cooler (by Florida standards), football is on every Saturday, and my fall decorations are out and filled with candy (well they were until I started eating it). Fall is finally upon us. It is my favorite season of the year. For some reason cooler weather makes me feel less stressed even though the list of things to do keeps getting longer.
Speaking of to do lists, I often find myself making list of things to do. I love lists. They make me feel more organized than I really am. When you see a person checking something off a list you really think...that girl has really got it pulled together. Lists seem to make my OCD settle down for a while, and allow me to tackle only one things at a time. So my new goal is wake up every morning and make a list of the items that need to be done that day while also keeping a list of things that need to be done in the month. This will accomplish one of two possible things. 1. I will become completely obsessed with list making and crossing things off my list. Kinda like My Name is Earl, but with a lot less of doing things for Karma. or 2. Drive me completely insane. I will be taking bets on what you think will happen.

Rain, Rain Go Away

There are times in your life that you look around and wonder what decisions have led you to this moment. I had one of these moments today. I should start by saying Tyler and I are in Birmingham. We drove up last night to help our two best friends move. When looking at the weather channel on the way here last night I noticed that there was a 100% chance of rain. This should have given me an idea of what was to come. We woke up early this morning and headed over to their current house. There were some very ominous clouds but we decided to persevere. At first it seemed as if everything would go as planned. We packed up mine and Jenny's car and were off to the drop off location. Once we arrived we unloaded both cars and called the husbands for an update. Jenny's husband had reluctantly decided to get a trailer. When we returned back to their current residence her husband and father in law were returning with the trailer. It was then that my moment started. They began the trek up the back hill in a heavy duty 4x4 truck with trailer in tow. The sound I heard next was one in which I never want to hear again. It was the sound of truck tires spinning. Taking beautiful grass and turning into a mud bog that would make any redneck call into work and spend the day on the four wheeler. It was then I realized that we were in for either some high quality entertainment or a big muddy mess. We found ourselves in the latter. We tried plywood which quickly turned into potentially deadly projectiles. Then we had the great idea to all pile in the back of the truck to try to increase traction. It was when I was squatted down in the back of this truck, all my closest friends around me, that I realized that the 8 hour drive was totally worth it. Needless to say it didn't work. We ended up calling AAA and letting them handle the muddy mess while we continued packing and moving. All in all the rest of the day was about the same. Wet and muddy. Now that everything is moved, my stomach is filled with authentic Greek food, Alabama won, and now I am sitting in a quiet house I think about how glad I am to have spent this weekend here. Next time Tyler and I move we will be calling on our friends and a typhoon. I mean it's only fair.

I don't want to grow up...

I now understand why so many blogs come to an untimely in. I have received countless number of e-mails informing me of a new blog I have to check out. It seems that as soon as I add this blog to my favorites list the blogger disappears off the face of the Earth never to be heard from again. I have vowed not to be that blog. However, it often feels like no one is reading. Today though I have heard from 2 people...yes you can count them...2 people that read my blog. So I will blog on. Please try to contain yourselves.
So today was uneventful. Which is a welcome reprieve from recent events. My car has now been returned with fresh spark plugs, transmission service, and oil change. I think I saw my car wink at me on the way in. It is also seems as though Tyler and I are eating dinner later and later each night, and therefore I am staying up a lot later. I feel like such an adult staying up past 9:30. Last night I didn't even put my PJ's on until after 10:00. Well from all these events I have decided at the ripe ole age of 26 I am finally growing up. I am taking care of my car (actually Tyler did most of that), cooking dinner (well Tyler actually did that tonight), staying up past 9:00, and somewhat keeping up with the laundry (actually Tyler does that most of the time). Well maybe it is actually Tyler is the one getting a handle on adulthood. Oh well, my time will come.

It could happen to anyone

So I know all of you were sleepless last night wondering what would become of my car. Would I be selling my body to science to pay for the repairs? Well the answer is no. As it turns out there was some glitch with my gas gauge and I was simply out of gas...pauses for everyone to finish laughing. Now that you have all had your laugh for the day I would just like to say that I still consider this not my fault. I have never run out of gas before and my OCD doesn't let me get my car below 1/4 tank. Last night when I was traveling, my not to be trusted gas gauge was informing me that I had plenty of gas to get home. I have spent the majority of my day sharing this story with others. However, I always like to look at things in a positive light and have come up with 3 things that have come of this that have made my trouble and near death by grizzly bear or 18 wheeler driver all worth it.
1. I now who to call and who not to call while stranded on the side of the road. My first phone call will be to my friend who has a trailer with ramps. Had I known this before the incident I would have called her first. I now have made a full inventory of all friends who have trailers and other equipment that can help me while stranded on the side of the road.

2. Tyler and I, who have never been much for preventive maintenence for our cars have now put my car in for a full tune up, oil change, and whatever else they needto do to insure safe driving conditions for me.

3. Gas gauges are not to be trusted. My car will never again be below a half of a tank.

So anyway I think we have all learned a little something from this.

Cinderella, Breaking Down, Grocery bagging, and Cookbooks

Let's just say that this weekend has been filled with lots of ups and downs and for that matter sideways, but not upside down. I woke up Saturday morning, relatively early for a Saturday, and began my drive to the happiest place on earth, Disneyworld. I was meeting some family that I had not seen in 10 years and was a little nervous and excited at the same time. I arrived found the appropriate transportation and met them in Hollywood Studios, formerly MGM. We spend the day riding rides, and catching up on lost time. It is always great to meet up with the sane side of the family. We really had a great time, and it was weird how much we had in common. We ended the night at Cinderella's castle. It was amazing. The food at the castle left something to be desired, but the atmosphere made up for that. I was like a 5 year old meeting the princess for the first time. I then returned them to their hotel and begin my "2 hour" trek back home to High Springs. I was almost home and my car decided it had had enough, and gave out 5 miles from my exit. Now I might not be the most attractive girl in the world, but I still found myself thinking of some 18 wheeler driver or a grizzly bear having me for their midnight snack. I even picture something or someone coming out of the woods, slicing the top of my car open and dragging me out the top by my ponytail. So as you can imagine I was pretty much freaking out. It was 1:30 in the morning, I had been up all day walking an unthinkable distance around Disney, and I was exhausted. As you can imagine I started freaking out. So immediately I call my husband. Now if you have been keeping up with my blog you might remember the flat tire incident. He again offered no help to my current predicament. I then call my dad. I know I have been married for 5 years and I still called my dad. Trust me I have already received the due criticism for this decision. However, he did have the most rational reasoning. I called FHP and they sent an officer to sit with me until the tow truck and Tyler arrived. After a 148.00 towing and a tongue lashing Tyler and I arrived home around 3. This morning I woke up pretty upset about the princess (my car not Cinderella) and was faced with what to do today. Church was pretty much out by the time I woke up. So I decided we would start working on our family cookbook by preparing some of the recipes and taking pictures. We picked 4. Pecan pie, chocolate decadence, cheese grits and shrimp etoufee. I was off to the store to pick up all the needed supplies and was out the checkout. Now I consider myself to be a great grocery patron. I always try to put my groceries on the belt in a way they can be easily packed without squishing the bread. I neatly put my groceries on the cart by squishiness and category and then you will never believe what happened. The girl starts reaching all around my neatly prepared groceries and throwing cans in with bread, Bisquick in with pie shells, and syrup in with eggs. It was a gruesome scene. Despite my night I managed to not say anything about it. I have now returned home and the recipes have been made, only a few tragedies. The pictures have been taken, and now on our way to what I hope will be a quiet dinner. In the mean time if you are feeling generous and would like to take me to work...just let me know.

Rain

My OCD doesn't allow me to go outside and play in the rain. I just really can't handle wet clothing. However, I really love the idea of standing in the rain. I have always compared true acceptance to running through the rain. There is a point when you are running through the rain that you realize you are going to get soaked. There is no point to run anymore. Your hair has water droplets dripping off the ends soaking the back of your shirt. Your socks are already squishing and your pants are sticking to your legs. It is then you stop running and start walking. Maybe you even splash through a few puddles and reminisce over your childhood. You think back to the time you were walking home from the bus stop and the bottom dropped out. You walked all the way home thinking about the refreshing quality of rain. I have always loved rain. Tonight I will put my pajamas on, curl up on the couch, and relax to the refreshing sound of rain.




I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.
I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Shel Silverstein

road rage

Okay I have been known to think a few dirty thoughts about other drivers when trying to negotiate my way through downtown Gainesville. I have even been known to give an ugly look to someone passing me when I am already going 10 miles over the speed limit on a two lane road. But what I heard today really takes the cake on road rage. My friend was driving to Bell. So if any of you know where Bell, Florida is you might rank it on the bottom of the list for possible road rage cases. I mean it is almost a daily occurrence to get stuck behind a tractor or some other type of farm equipment. Well back to the story...my friend pulled out in front of a car while crossing an intersection. It was a complete accident, but I guess the guy she pulled out in front of did not see this as an accident. So this person instead of brushing it off with an ugly look or a few curse words decided that my friend and her two innocent children needed to hear about it. He turned around and began following my friend. He then sped past her and stopped in the middle of the road. Then this 30ish year old man started yelling at my friend out of the window profanities. Well if you know Bell you also know cell phone service is a rare commodity. So my friend desperately trying to call 911 can not get a call through. While she is frantically trying to call 911 he is still yelling, parked in the middle of the road, and won't let my friend go past. Inside of her car my friend's children are crying hysterically. Finally when this idiot realizes that my friend has sobbing children in the car and is trying to call 911 lets her pass. So crazy man in the white car if you are reading this I hope you realize the trauma you put two innocent children and one innocent woman through. What did you gain? What did you accomplish? All I can say is I hope you were late for work.

Boredom

Boredom is such a weird emotion. One I rarely find myself having to deal with. Between ESE consults, lesson plans, grading papers, team leadership, flat tires, and my loving husband I can pretty much avoid boredom. However, last night I found myself wrestling with this emotion. As you already know if you have been keeping up with the blog my television satellite was out (fixed today though). And I had executively decided not to bring any school work home with me, and therefore eliminated much of my nightly to do list. I figured with the flat tire situation and cooking a home cooked meal I could manage to fill at least a few hours until 9:30 at which time I would go to bed. Well at about 8:30 I discovered all was done. The dishes from the home cooked chicken pot pie were securely in the dishwasher and the flat tire situation all cleared up, thanks to my husband. It was at this time I decided that Tyler and I would play a board game. We all piled into the game room (my husband, our two dogs, and I) and settled in for a board game. I then realized that most of the board games which we would both be interested in playing (lots of our games are off limits due to the fact that my husband has made me cry while we were playing them) were games that would take at least an hour or more to complete. I then found myself playing self created dice games with my husband. At no point in my life did I think I would be bored enough to sit for 20 minutes throwing dice across the table at my husband trying to knock over a tower of dice he had built. When one finds them self in this position on must take stock of one's life. I looked around and began to worry about my mental state. I began to think of friend's lost that I might be spending time with. I thought of Alabama, and what we would be doing if we stilled lived there in our tiny apartment. It was then I realized that I love my life. I have everything I need. A loving husband who despite half read books he would like to finish and almost completed writings is willing to sit and throw dice at me for 20 minutes. Two dogs who are occasionally a bit disobedient. A house where I feel at home, a family a mere 8 hours away who loves me for who I am, and a best friend who would do anything for me. So even though I don't like to be bored, I am glad I had the opportunity to appreciate what I have.

Surgeon General's Warnings

There are many things in life that people may find themselves addicted to. There are the common addictions such as caffeine and nicotine. However, the other addictions which are typically not chemically addictive provide much more of a threat to the average person. These include things such as: Qtips, clean sheets, fresh towels, chocolate chip cookies, fast cars, and shopping. These addictions are not sold behind the counter, and do not carry the Surgeon General's warning. By the time you realize you are addicted it's too late. You have already spent too much money, gained 50lbs, or had several speeding tickets. Now granted most do not read warning labels. I mean who really needs to know not use their iron in the bath tub. Who doesn't already know that paint should not be ingested. I have fallen into the trap of one of the not so obvious addictions: Blogging. Yesterday when I innocently started this blog I had no idea of the unshakable addiction I was beginning. I know that I am addicted to blogging because as soon as my eyes popped open this morning I began looking around my life and turning every mundane event into a potential blog. I looked around at my ordinary morning. Showering, eating breakfast, checking my e-mail, and gathering the necessary supplies to survive another day in first grade. After completing all these activities I was beginning to find myself in some what of a depressed state. Thinking to myself what will I post when I get home. Thinking that no person in their right mind would want to read about my addiction to blogging and how it has made me realize that my life is nothing to write about. Thinking that today's blog would simply be a quick complaint about how my life is nothing to blog about. But then just as I was resigning myself to blogging only about my lack of blogging material it happened. A flat tire. Now to the average non blogging person this would simply be a hassle to endure first thing on a Monday morning. But to me, a blogger, it was something out of the ordinary to write about. Well the first thing I did was call my loving husband, who as usual offered no help to my immediate crisis which was how do I get to work. I then called a friend I work with who lives only a short 5 minute drive away and she was on her way to pick me up. She delivered me to school only a few minutes late. The day was uneventful after that. I spent the rest of the day thinking about how I could break the news to all 2 of my blog readers about the flat tire. So, you may be thinking what is the point. Why has this blog gone on for what seems like 10 pages. I say all this to say that when initiating a blog there should be a pop up that says: Warning, blogging may cause one to spend many hours studying the day's happenings and pondering how they could be creatively typed in a way that would maintain a person's interest for 8 or more paragraphs.

No Television and Fresh Chicken

There comes a time in everyone's life when the unthinkable happens, the cable goes out. It is at this time one's true patience is tested. Not only is your patience tested by being required to find alternative activities to watching television, but also and maybe more so the call you must make to the cable provider. Well this time for me was this weekend. Not only had the cable gone out but my husband had gone away for the weekend. Luckily most of my Saturday was filled with waffle making and Gator football, but aside from that I had no plans for the weekend. I then decided that it was time to begin throwing myself on any friends that had a glimmer of plans. This is where the fresh chicken makes its appearance. Sunday morning I woke up and decided that I should throw myself into a friend's plans. I woke up and drove over to her house which in shall we say a more agricultural area of this beautiful state. I pull up in the yard and her son runs over with nothing else then a freshly murdered chicken. Being from the city I had never seen a chicken so recently slaughtered. I thought chicken came already processed, no feathers, and in plastic wrap. I proceeded to the chicken butchering area (the tailgate of a white ford pick up) only to see all the parts of the chicken I believe are usually pickled and only served at gas stations with poor lighting. After seeing the lifeless chicken we knew we had to get out of there. So where does one go after witnessing such a trauma....Wal-Mart. Once arriving at Wal-Mart, getting groceries, and accidentally causing a 4 wheel chair pileup we proceed back to the house for some home smoked chicken. Despite the complete horror of witnessing chickens I had seen raised from cute little fluffy chicks get their necks snapped it did make for a delicious dinner.

A Blog About Blogging

I have read many blogs in my time, and have often toyed with the idea of starting one. However, each time I have thought about beginning a blog I have asked myself a few simple questions which in turn have prevented me from starting one. 1. Who would care enough to read and potentially comment on a blog about my life? 2. After a day of teaching first graders (who at times can be very critical) am I up for the potential criticism I may find on my blog? and 3. What would I write about? But yet I find myself reading blogs from others whose lives I find much more mundane and uninteresting than I consider mine.
So here I am writing a blog.
When one begins a blog there is a certain pressure that comes. The pressure to entertain the reader is one I have never been good at. This pressure is only tripled for the first blog. When I read blogs the first entry has to be one of intrigue. I mean how many chances should a blogger get to be added to the favorites list and to be checked on daily. I by no means expect my blog to be found on Time's list of the top 25 blogs of 2009. However, I do wish to create somewhat of a modern day journal which at some point I can look back on and see what at a time I thought was important enough to sit down at my computer and blog about.