Fall 2010

So it's been a while...  Here's the Reader's Digest update:

We moved ... a whopping 5 miles!  New apartment, a little quieter, and we love it.

I'm teaching 3rd grade at a school 2.5 miles from our home :)  I love my school and my class.  It has been a great transition.  I'm in the midst of report cards right now.  This is new, I feel like I've put in 12 hours and have finished one.  Here's to hoping the rest move a little quicker. 

This week is fall break!  WHOO-HOO!  While I technically have the week off, I'll be spending the first part of the week doing school-related tasks.  In better news, the hair apt is scheduled for tomorrow, so that should start my week out great.  It should end on an even better note as Eric and I will be spending the weekend in Asheville, NC next weekend. 

In health-related news (which I'm sure you're dying to hear), I stopped drinking coffee when school began.  My main motivation was that I don't have a break in my day until 11:45 (school starts at 7:45) and I couldn't drink coffee and make it 4 hours with no restroom break.  So in the place of coffee I found it quite fitting to add Diet Dr. Pepper to my afternoon routine.  School ends at 3:00, popcorn enters microwave at 3:15 and Diet Dr. Pepper promptly follows.  I find this "one-a-day" to work well.  To my dismay, I recently read on facebook (the source of all true information) that one carbonated beverage a day increases your likelihood of developing Type II diabetes by 83%.   Ugh.  What will I drink now?  Water... all day? 
*If anyone out there has research to support this statistic, I would love to read it.

Our home is an utter disaster.  While I've never experienced such a cluttered mess, Eric says he's proud of me for leaving it this way.  I think it's his attempt to steer clear of cleaning duties!  Teaching has been overwhelming which has forced me to let our home fall through the cracks.  This week should at least move our status to "controlled chaos," and if I'm lucky to "tidy." 

On that note, I should get back to report cards, so I can finish by Wednesday and still have half-a-day to clean before we leave for Asheville!

Flood

Several friends and family have been asking about our well-being as related to the recent floods in Nashville. Here's the story and a few photos. As most of you know, Nashville received 15 inches of rain in a 48 hour time period (Saturday and Sunday). We realized it was raining hard when a friend of ours called Saturday evening and asked if we were still coming to hang out due to the interstate being closed. We had no idea, so we turned on the news! Sure enough, the interstate was closed due to flash-flooding and more than 70 vehicles were trapped. As it unfolded from there, we kept getting word about more and more things/streets/buildings flooding.

This first picture is Saturday evening. We were trying to make a home-made pizza and ran out of flour (I know, what kind of wife am I?!). We drove literally 1/4 of a mile and it took 30+ minutes. This is our street.
The rest of these are from Sunday. Here you can see our swing set and the actual swings are under water. You can also see the top bar of a fence toward the center of the photo.


This picture shows water coming right up to the porch of another apartment. This is NOT our apartment, but is in our apartment complex.



Here is another shot of the playground. The top part you can still see are the monkey bars.


This picture is late Sunday afternoon/early evening. You can start to see the swings again... the water was starting to subside.


In all, we are fine. Our whole city is on a mandatory water conservation effort. Schools have been cancelled thus far and many, many homes are still under water. The damage is far more than we can begin to comprehend and it really seems surreal. Eric has been out making sandwiches for shelters and he's out today delivering water. We continue to help where we can, and stay out of the way where we can't. If you haven't already seen some of the pictures of downtown, or Opryland, I encourage you to visit http://www.wsmv.com/ for more information/photos/videos. You can also visit the Red Cross for information on how to help.

Seasons of Change

A compilation of thoughts from today, in no particular order:

I love the warm weather. I hate bugs. Today I had to kill one in our kitchen. Have no fear, I didn't touch it. I wrapped my shoe in multiple napkins so my shoe and my fingers would stay clean.

I was so angry at a child today that my eye twitched, for nearly 2 hours

The change in seasons brings out everyone else's new clothes. My once content-with-what-I-have mentality suddenly dissipates. I want to be content with what I have, but those clothes are so stinkin cute.

I will probably be overwhelmed tomorrow, but I can't force myself to deal with tomorrow's agenda. My brain currently has the capacity to deal with today and today only.

I love having the windows open to let the fresh air in. Right now I hear ridiculously loud sirens and my neighbors are outside smoking. grrr.

Snow Days and a Lesson

We had two snow days two weeks ago (for snow that never arrived), and now I have two snow days again (for real snow this time, 4 inches). Here's what I've learned about myself over 4 days in 3 weeks that I've been trapped at home.

• On a normal basis, I structure and use my time very well
• By the second snow day, I waste unbelievable amounts of time
• I love to bake
• I'm addicted to salty snacks and really cannot put them away
• I am incredibly impatient
• "Sleeping in" is a thing of the past that no longer exists
• I only clean when I'm on a time frame. Snow day = no time frame = no cleaning
• By the second snow day I am going crazy which makes my husband go crazy which leads to unnecessary irritability

In the end, maybe snow days aren't the best for me. Let's hope this melts soon.

On a positive note, I did complete the next two weeks worth of assignments for my class and print about four weeks of reading lessons for my after-school job.

Frustrating

It's been so long since I've posted, I almost forgot how to do this...

Anyway, I took Eric to the airport tonight. He'll be in Utah all week SKIING! While I am a bit jealous, I'm super excited for him :) I normally have plenty to do, but my after-school job doesn't start back until next Monday, and my master's class doesn't start back up until next Saturday. So this week is just the day-time job.

The past few weeks have been pretty emotional for me, but I've had to just keep going, going, going. With Eric gone, and work hours at a minimum, I knew this week might be rough. So tonight on the way home from the airport I stopped to rent a movie at a RedBox. Here's the story:

I had a movie of Eric's to return: District 9. I tried to return it, but it said the RedBox was full and could not accept returns. So I rented one for myself, Julie and Julia. After the box had given me my video I figured it has one open space, so I tried to return Eric's movie again. Success!

Came home, played on facebook, talked to a girlfriend for a while and finally decided to put it my movie. What? I still have District 9? Which leaves only one conclusion, I rented AND RETURNED Julie and Julia.