I don't have any pics to post to prove it, but I'm in Destin enjoying the beach for fall break. When I get home, I'll prob post pics. For now, I'm just taking the photos, relaxing on the beach, working on my tan, etc. More about all that to come I promise.

For anyone who actually reads my blog, I do have a question for you. After a terrible birthday on Monday, I've decided to buy myself a gift to feel better about turning 38. Scary to type that number, fo sho! Anyway, what do you think I should buy? Here are the things I've narrowed my choices down to ---

1. Making Memories Slice starter kit
2. Point and shoot camera with 14 mp and 5X zoom
3. Canon Pixma portable printer

Each one is about the same amount of money - $150. Here's why I can't decide; I don't really NEED any of them. They are basically just stuff I want. I already have a Quickutz that I never use, but I'd really like a new gadget and the slice seems to fit the bill. I already have a point and shoot camera, but it only has 6 mp and 3X zoom. I already have a regular photo printer, but I always use an online photo developer because printing at home just hasn't been my style so far.

Sooo, what would you buy for yourself if you were me, and why?

Blog ya later, gater -- T

I'm all about alliteration these days...but I'm not sure if I spelled terrifically correctly. I'm tired, so there's my excuse should I need one.

Went to the reunion this weekend. It was "sorta fun" - kwim? Not earth shattering, found my long lost best friend, I couldn't have missed it fun - but glad I went, and glad I saw a few people fun. There is a group pic of all of us on facebook, but I can't access that right now. Maybe I'll figure out how to link it eventually, or maybe I'll keep you in suspense forever....right... I didn't take my camera with me to the reunion and (as such) didn't take any pics. Shocking, I know. I just didn't want to fool with it. Maybe I have a fever or something.

Long week at school this week since it's the last one of the quarter. Heading to Florida for fall break on Saturday. Looking forward to it, but not sure it'll be very relaxing since little girl is going. Still, I think it will be fun to go with a little one -- it's been a long time since I've "done" the beach with a kidlet. Think of the pics I'll take! Kelsey is going too, which I'm glad of. She will be a definite help, plus she hasn't been on vacation with me in a couple of years. I'm already picturing the family shots on the beach of us all wearing white. :) What a cliche, but hey, sometimes cliches can be fun.

Need to get back to my night class now...you may all resume your normal lives.

T

Hey all! (Definitely a misnomer since like three people read my blog, but anyway...) Having a week, not good, not bad, just a week. KWIM? A few updates:

--My twenty year high school reunion is this weekend and I don't have anything to wear yet AND got my haircut and don't like it. Appropos, huh? Oh, and my nails are horrific, but who knows when I'll have time to have them done.

--This weekend is a non-kidlet weekend and Charlie has to work both Saturday and Sunday. Bummer, but I guess I can fit in some "me" time.

--Raining, raining, raining...enough said.

--Feeling better but def. not well yet. Slept twelve hours on Monday night which seemed to help...

--Just finished The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It was fabulous!

--Want to scrapbook but haven't had the time to do so in weeks...need to make time to do that this weekend for sure.

--Going to Florida in nine days! Can't wait!

Enough for now! Planning period is over and need to teach!

T

I LOVE to read. Unfortunately, I take it by "spells." How's that for some southern wording? Anyway, I'm in the midst of a great reading jag and thought I'd share some current faves with you.

The Time Traveler's Wife was superb! I finished it about ten days ago and was depressed when it ended. Funny enough, I tried reading it for the first time about three years ago and didn't like it. At all. I guess there was too much going on in my personally crappy life for me to be able to enjoy a love story. I picked it up again about two and a half weeks ago and literally devoured this book. I laughed and cried and did all the things you do when you have a great book - like not keeping up with the laundry and stealing reading time whenever and wherever I could. Now that I've read the book, I'm dying to see the movie. I hope it's still on next weekend, because Charlie owes me a movie of my choice. :)

After I finished that book, I was dying for something else good to read. I took my classes to the library one day for an assignment and came out with a book for me to read too. It's Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir. It's about the life of Lady Jane Grey who lived in the 1500s in England. I've enjoyed the book, but it is very different than I expected. It's told from a series of vantage points of people who lived with/knew Lady Jane Grey. I sort of got bored with it last weekend, so I've put it on the back burner and have gone on to something else right now. I still plan on finishing it, but it's getting a bit tedious.

Since I needed something else to read in all my free time (insert sarcasm here), I reserved several books in the Charlaine Harris series about vampires that the new HBO series Trueblood is based upon. So far, I'm about 100 pages into the first book, and I like it. It's easy, light reading that doesn't require too much effort or concentration.

Once I finish the books in this series, I'll probably feel like I should read something literary though. :) By that point, maybe Vonda will be finished with Pat Conroy's new book, South of Broad, and I can read it. Happy reading to you and yours!

T

Happy Monday! I had a good weekend even though things didn't go exactly as I planned. We went to Puerto's for dinner Friday night and then went to see Hurt Locker at the movies. It's a war movie that Charlie has been dying to see! It was pretty good, and now he owes me my choice of movies. I'm thinking it'll be The Time Traveler's Wife if it's still playing in two weeks.

Saturday I went up to Vonda's house that she's building to help her make some choices about lighting and electrical outlet placement. I can't believe how far they've come in building the house. I think they'll be in it for sure by Thanksgiving. A little jealous seeing all the land and the great house and all, but I'm happy for her more than anything. I have a lot to be grateful for too - just have to remind myself of that sometimes.

Afterwards I had to take Kelsey to get new pointe shoes in Nashville. This was NOT how I wanted to spend my day, but what could I do? What should have taken us 2 1/2 hours took us 5 hours because I kept getting lost since 440 East was totally closed. Talk about a stressful afternoon! We eventually made it back home where I stayed until Sunday morning.

Sunday we went to late mass, then out to Charlie's parents' house for lunch. After that we toured the St. Jude home, cleaned his apartment, stopped over at Vonda's for a cocktail, and headed home to relax. But we ended up cleaning up the garage some instead of relaxing... Finally, about 8:00, we stopped for a grilled cheese and to watch Trueblood. Whew! Again, I was busier than I had planned.

Lots to do this week, but I think I "might" be hitting my stride. I might have it all figured out to work smoothly. Remind me of this the next time I'm complaining, okay? Today is school, meeting, grocery, then home - oh, and we have Brooke so there will be homework to do too. Gotta love it!

T

Okay, so maybe I have a bad memory or something, but I don't remember feeling this tired at the beginning of school before. Granted, I do have a busy schedule right now - beyond the actual school day - but I've just been exhausted the past couple of weeks.

Let me give you a picture of my day today, and I think you'll see what I mean. Brooke stayed with us last night, so I had to get up 1/2 hour earlier, but it was still just 6:30. I know a lot of people get up a lot earlier than that. We got ready for school, had breakfast, etc. I dropped her off at school at 7:55 and then headed to my school. I was early (which was nice), so I had a minute to collect my thoughts and prepare for the day before my first class at 8:30. Today is a guidance counselor run day, so I'm spending most of my time working on inputting grades and clearing the clutter on my desk. Not really teaching today....just monitoring kids and assisting the counselor as needed. (It's my planning period now.) After school, I'm teaching ESS (after school tutoring) until 4:15. Then I'll have to corral Brooke (who will likely be wandering around the building visiting people - haha) and get her changed. Today is her first day of ballet class, and she is sooo excited. She has ballet from 5-6, but I want to get there early because she'll be nervous and because I want to have a photo shoot. Of course that's required! I'll wait for her to finish ballet, then her mom is supposed to pick her up. Unfortunately, the plans for that may change at any moment. I just don't get the whole 'fly by the seat of your pants' way of living. I'm such a planner. Anyway, I digress. Once we leave dance, I need to stop with Charlie to grab some fast food somewhere because we have RCIA at church tonight from 6:30 until 8:30. I hate to eat that late at night, so I'm thinking fast food will be a better option. We'll leave church by 8:40 and head home. That will be the first time I will have set foot in my house since 7:45 this morning. Then we will need to prep for tomorrow; I'll need to pack Kelsey's and Charlie's lunches, and we might have a few minutes to relax before going to sleep. I really need to be asleep by 10:30 at the latest to be functional in the morning. The thought of this day exhausts me - and I'll be doing it every Thursday!

Sound like a long day to you or am I just being a whiner? Praying for some energy today and some rest this weekend...

Blog ya later - T

Sounds like a good blog title, huh? I'm trying to shake my groove thing, getting back into the groove of school and schedules that is. I have tons of pics to post, but can't since I'm updating my blog during my planning period at school. Shhh! Don't tell on me. :)

Lots going on in my life as always.

Kelsey is a senior now with all of the requisite things that come with it. Today, for example, she has school and work, but she needs me to make sure her car gets new brakes and rotars put on it (she's driving my car to work in the meantime) and I need to cash her check for her (I also need to open up a bank account for her but can't do it unless she's with me) and pick up her senior picture proofs. Not like I have anything else to do, thank goodness! Haha!

Brooke (Charlie's daughter) is a first grader with all of the requisite things that come with that. (Talk about each end of the spectrum, right? All I need now is a newborn - JOKING, JOKING!) Anyway, she rides the bus to the high school and then we have homework to do until she goes to her mom's house this afternoon. Brooke has ten spelling words to practice, twenty sentences to write, and a poster due on Friday. Doesn't sound like much until you consider we'll only have her for about an hour each today and tomorrow... Lots to do for sure!

Charlie is off work this week and has big plans of stuff to do around the house. Yay! Unfortunately, he is sick today. He was up all night long with some sort of stomach bug and he had a terrible fever this morning. I hope he feels better soon AND that the rest of us don't get it. Prayers welcome! He is going to paint the hallway, paint the bonus room, work in the backyard some, and move the rest of his stuff over from his apartment this week. Considering he's sick today, that means he'll be even busier the rest of the week. Oh, and he's going to Brooke's school Friday to read a story to the class and be "interviewed" by a bunch of 6 year olds. How hilarious is that? I so wish I could be there to see and hear all that happens.

I'm back to my regular routine, sort of. I'm teaching ESS this fall, but it doesn't start until next week. That means that I'll be at school an extra hour and a half each Tuesday and Thursday, but the money is so good I couldn't turn it down. I'm also still teaching my night class on Tuesday nights. I'm only doing it one night a week though; I'm splitting the class with Vonda so I won't have to be out quite so late. Plus, I have a meeting at church on Thursdays as part of my ongoing process in converting to Catholocism. Let's just say that my life is about to get exponentially busier in the next couple of weeks. The good news is that I've made plans to go scrapbook with Tracie and to meet she and the girls to go to CKC Nashville. I'm really looking forward to it. I scrapbooked a lot this summer, but I haven't done anything in about three weeks now, and I miss it. I need a creative fix!

Looks like I need to spend the rest of my planning period actually working, so I'll blog you later. :)

T