Official move

Ok, even though I'm not thrilled with how it looks, all posting will be happening here from now on. Update your blogrolls and bookmarks!

Various things

I'll be moving here soon. I know, it's very exciting. I hate the colors and the only link I have is to West of the Boulevard (coincidentally, the one switching me over there happens to run West of the Boulevard...). But it will be up to my liking soon I hope.

The first students I ever taught have their 8th grade formal this weekend. It's nuts that they will be going to high school next year. I can't wait to see all of the wonderfully awkward pictures that will surely be taken.

I had to buy new workout clothes because the ones I have ARE TOO BIG. If that isn't a victory, I don't know what is.

I can walk today. This is very unexpected after BodyCombat. Nevermind that I'm walking as if I were 9 months pregnant.

I have a very exciting evening planned. I'm going to the gym soon. Then I will get dinner and watch T.V. while I eat it. Then I will go to bed. It's sure to be a rip-roaring good time!

Tagged

So, I've been tagged and I need to post 7 random things about myself and then tag 7 other people to do the same. Here we go, here we go now.

1. My first thought when I got my diploma from UR was, "Ha ha! I've tricked them all!"
2. I love looking at maps but I cannot read them.
3. I'm obsessed with people's triceps and I'm convinced that everyone else's are better than mine.
4. I think all of my friends are incredibly good looking.
5. I rarely take medicine when I have a headache.
6. Kate is my oldest friend who I still see on a semi-regular basis. We met in 3rd grade. Which was almost 18 years ago. W.T.F.
7. I cry whenever I watch the end of The Color Purple.

There you have them. I will do my tagging later so I can make wise, unexpected choices. CAN YOU HANDLE THE SUSPENSE!?!?!?!?!?!!!

TMJ update (because I knowing you are all dying to get the latest)

Well, it's been over week since the Gum Chewing Punishment set in. I called the dentist last night and left a pitiful message asking them to call me back as soon as they could. I meant that as around 9:00am. They took it as 6:42am. At least they are efficient.

Anyway, I can't get in until Wednesday afternoon. All they are going to do is tell me that I need a NightGuard. The same NightGuard that my insurance still won't pay for. Luckily I have some black market connections so I might be able to get one eventually. I'm basically going in the hopes of getting an official diagnosis of *something* and some advice on how to deal with the pain in general. Until then I've been ordered to not chew gum and to avoid any foods that can't be sufficiently mushed up with my tongue. Awesome.

Butt Status: Kicked

I went to BodyCombat at Gold's Gym tonight. It's basically a lot of shadow boxing and jumping around and kicking and what not. Oh, and dying. Did I mention the dying? Dying for a solid hour and then much soreness follows the dying. It was great.

One thing I've learned from trying out several of the classes at Gold's is that I'm not much of "move around person." Sure, I exercise, but that typically takes the shape of running or riding a bike. The classes I feel the most confident in involve balancing, stretching, and holding ridiculous positions for a long period of time. Things requiring me to move more than two limbs at a time while running/jumping I find to be very difficult. Still, I press on and I think I'm a good sport. I know I looked absolutely ridiculous punching and kicking-it was pretty obvious that I have never been in anything that even resembled a fight (slapping, scratching fights of my childhood don't count). The whole time it was like my arms and legs were saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" But, it was really fun and I think I'll go back. Once I can walk again.

No, I'm still not going back to BodyJam. Dancing around other people is not something that will help my self-confidence and I'm sure my lack of rhythm is very distracting for the other students.

The Pity Party is Over!!! (...for now)

I walked into the bathroom this evening, about to step into the shower after this evening's trip to the gym, and what did I find (or not find)? The scale. Ross has hidden it. I think that's a pretty strong message. I have very strong OCD tendencies and they have all been chanelled into weighing myself 5,436 times a day. Ross knows this and knew that extreme measures had to be taken. So, it's gone. I can't find it. Believe me, I looked. But as he said, "We don't need that anymore." We know we're doing the right things and that should be enough encouragement.

So, here's the plan: I'm giving myself a break. I'm still going to exercise and I'm still going to eat what I'm supposed to eat. But, the days of torturing myself over what the scale says have come to an end. Weighing will only happen at the gym. I'm going to try to do it just once a week. It's going to be very hard, but this needs to happen for my sanity.

I'm sure there will be days when it will be very hard to resist the urge to fold myself into the food scales at Kroger, but those will pass. It took two years to get where I am, so it's going to take some time to get where I want to be. I just need to accept that, get over it, and stop making my husband worry.

Plateau

I'm seriously about to have a break down a la Lilly Allen. (The funny thing is, I *just* saw her on TV and thought, This girl looks like a lovely, normal-sized woman. What a nice thing to see.) I'm stuck on a weight that I'm not happy with. It's not that I'm concerned with numbers, I'm just not particularly pleased with how this number represents itself on my body and in my overall state of mind. The number could be 327 and I wouldn't care as long as I felt comfortable in that skin. I'm not comfortable in this skin at all and I'm having a hard time finding something to like about my physical appearance. And you can say that your physical appearance shouldn't dictate how you feel all you want, but you know that isn't always true-when you look like death, it's hard to not feel like it.

Real life encounter of the best kind

Ross and I were in Ellwood Thompson's this afternoon when I heard someone call out my name. I looked over and didn't see anyone I recognized. My first thought was, "Oh, Lord, this could go either way."

My recent experiences with a certain someone have made me a little weary of the many somewhat strangers out on the Internets. I wasn't certain that this encounter would be about this blog, but I had a feeling.

Well, it turned out to be none other than Patience, wife of Jorge, and mother to the ridiculously adorable/gorgeous/did I mention adorable? Josiah, Jackie, and Lucy. We met, we hugged, and I got to see 3/4 of the wonderful family that I don't know in person but I feel like I know so much about. I don't know if any of you read their blogs, but they are seriously some of my most favorite ones out there. They both give such great insight into how to live what I think is the best kind of life: one with kindness, intelligence, and laughter. Plus, I think they give us all hope that you can still be cool after you have kids.

Friends, it was so great to meet you. Hopefully we can all get together soon. And I hope Josiah's presentation on squids went well-I didn't think about asking him until we had parted ways.

Weekend Wrap up

Friday: Got a job, picked up Ross, went to the in-laws, chatted it up, listened to Ross play the ukulele, went to bed.

Saturday: Went to the gym, went to Matthew's graduation party, celebrated Mother's Day with in-laws, played some dominoes, went to bed.

Sunday: Went to the gym, puttered around the house, went to church, celebrated Mother's Day with my mom, visited with siblings, going to bed soon.

The weekend seemed much more eventful while I was going through it. I'm truly exhausted and desperately looking forward to some downtime next weekend.

My favorite friend

It was 1:00am and Zapp was very determined to see what I was doing on the Internets. I took the opportunity to capture her beauty for all of you to behold. As you can see, we have matching eyeliner and we are very much in love.

Appetizing.

Upon pulling up to the drive thru window, I had this conversation...

Cashier: Here ya go. I'm trying to hurry because I really have to take a sh*t.

Me: *blink* *blink*

Facing the Consequences

I woke up this morning feeling like I had gotten punched in the face I knew it couldn't have been Ross (this time, at least) because he was off saving Richmond last night. I spent all day trying to figure out exactly why it hurt to both open *and* close my mouth.

See, I have the TMJ. Well, actually, we all have the TMJ. For some reason, having a problem with your TMJ is described by simply stating that you have the particular joint causing you aches and pains. It's like instead of saying you have a headache, you would just say you have a head. I actually have TMJD which is far worse than just having the joint. I developed this in college with it first making its appearance in the form of me waking up at 3:00am in a complete panic because I couldn't open or close my mouth. Seriously, it's like someone comes along, wires your mouth shut, and kicks you in the jaw just to make sure you've been completely crippled by the pain.

TMJD tends to be pretty cyclical with it's symptoms and mine hasn't flared up in quite a long time. Episodes come along with stress...or with eating anything chewy like gum, gummi bears, gummi worms, really anything that might have gum in it. Basically anything fun and wonderful.

Well, I realized I had gum yesterday. Actually, approximately 40 hours ago and I probably chewed it for all of 10 minutes. And I'm still experiencing throbbing, soul-splitting pain in my jaw. I mean, come on. Is this really necessary or in anyway proportionate to what I did? It's like slicing the skin between someone's toes with a dirty screwdriver because she wore flip-flops.

So, I will spend much of today and tomorrow with a heating pad on my face, cursing the good Lord for creating the gum tree whose sweet, sweet nectar taunts me so.

Excitement abounds

I accepted the offer and as of the end of June I will officially be a copywriter.

More importantly, Ross got a ukulele today and he's learning to play the song from Joe Versus the Volcano.

Personal Space

I went to Target this afternoon buying more versions of the T-shirts I wear everyday (except these are V-neck-CRAAAAZY). While I was standing at the checkout counter, a man got in line behind me. And by behind me I mean *right* behind me. It was almost like he was trying to snuggle. He was standing so close to me that the cashier actually started ringing his stuff up with mine and putting it in my bag. I responded by declaring, "No, he's not my husband." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!? That doesn't even make any sense!!! Awkwardness ensued and I kept my eyes on the floor and hurried out of the store with my bag 'o' shirts. Seriously, I should be kept in a basement somewhere.

To all those trolled.

I'm sorry if you were one of the people bombarded by a comment about me. I have no idea who this person is and I don't care. I'm just sorry that you have random comments on your posts now. I just think it's incredibly lame that someone has nothing better to do than not only harass me, but also harass the people who know me, on here or in meatspace. I'm sorry for the inconvenience and hopefully this person is satisfied with all of the annoyance he/she has caused. If you want to be taken off of my blog roll, I understand. Just let me know.

Well, I'll be...

So I got a job offer. I'm still kind of stunned, partially (ok, totally) because I was told that this blog helped me get the job. The formal offer comes tomorrow, so it won't be official until then. Regardless, I think I've earned myself a nap.

Things I remember from when I was little...

When my sister and I used to take baths, she would always make me sit in the part of the bathtub that was more shallow while she lounged in the deeper part that held more warm water.

Also, my sister used to have to blow dry my hair when we were little. If I screamed because of any tangles, she would hit me in the back with the brush.

I used to never want to listen to the "Nightmare on My Street" by Will Smith because it scared the crap out of me. Yeah, that's right.

When Roger Rabbit came out on video, my parents let us stay up until midnight to watch it. It was crazy and awesome.

One snowday, my mom made sausage biscuits and we ate them while watching Gone With the Wind. One of my most favorite memories in life, hands down.

My brother ate English muffins all of the time. Like, if I were to draw a picture of the brother of my childhood, he would be holding an English muffin.

My mom had this beaded purse that I coveted. I have no clue what it looked like, but I remember exactly how it felt when I held it in my hands.

We were only allowed to have three Oreos at a time when we were little. One time I ate six. I felt so bad I went and told my mother immediately.

*AMENDMENT*
Some people who are exceptionally lame and have problems understanding tone when they read things (and who claim to "know" me, but obviously not very well considering what I'm about to say) think that I posted those memories about my sister to portray her in a negative light. Someone who "knows" me knows that I love my sister (and brother and family) more than anything in the world. She is one of my most favorite people in the world and anyone who suggest any different is just not fortunate enough to know her as well as I do. Forgive me for sharing something that came to *my* mind on *my* blog and made *me* laugh. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Status

For those of you interested, no I haven't found a job yet. I have a third (yes, that's right, third) meeting with a company tomorrow for lunch and another interview set up for Monday.

I have started taking things down in my classroom. This is making the kids very sad and me very excited. It's making the whole concept of leaving very real.

I am still not pregnant, nor do we plan on that happening anytime soon. While I love the idea of having a baby, I'm not ready to give up my body or awesome hang out times quite yet. Also, Ross keels over and dies at the very thought of it.

Things are growing nicely in our garden. I will post pictures of the first harvest.

I have now lost 10 pounds as a result of going of the anti- anxiety medication and not eating gross food. It is the hardest thing I have ever done and I'm very proud of myself.

Shooter is still the fun police and Zapp is still dumb.

Dear Creatures on the roof/in the attic,

I'm going to keep pretending that you are not there as long as you keep not busting through my ceiling and keep not eating my face of and/or clawing my eyes out.

Regards,
Your tolerant, appreciative downstairs neighbor

Look what I found!

Do you know who these people are????

Marriage.

I'm only 25 so I haven't done a whole lot, but I can say without hesistation that marrying Ross is the best thing I ever did. This realization came to me this morning as I looked over and saw him sleeping. He was lying there (having taken ALL of the sheet, as per usual), with his face smushed into the pillow, lips pouting out, hand curled up under his chin as if pondering something. I love seeing him like this. It's not because it's the only time he's quiet (which is the complete truth-he goes from dead asleep to 574,657 miles per hour in 4 seconds flat). I love seeing him like this because this is how he always looks in the morning. I look at him and think, "That's my Ross." It's the most comforting thought and pleasant feeling I could ever ask for.

As of June 7, we will be married for 4 years. True, that's not the longest marriage in history (unless we are talking about Hollywood history), but it's the longest out of our close friends. We love our marriage and we take pride in it. That's not to say that we think we are better than other people. We have our problems. But we love how our marriage started and how it works.

Ross and I met in high school. We started dating the summer before junior year. We broke up the fall of senior year. Then we kind of got back together that spring. We were definitely not together that summer, but we were back together the in the fall of 1999. A romance reblossomed and sustained with the help of Instant Messenger. That's what we'll be naming our first born out of gratitude.

We got engaged in the fall of 2001. That's right. He was almost 21. I had just turned 20 a month earlier. It is absurd to me to think of that now, but that's how it went. We were married a year and half later.

It would be completely accurate to say that Ross and I are growing up together. We are so different than how we were when we first met, even from when we first got married. A lot of people warned me that it was dangerous to get married so young. You change so much in your 20's and that could mean changing in ways that don't compliment one another, thus drifting apart.

Things have changed. They are so much better than I could have ever imagined. I am so proud of the person Ross is becoming and I am grateful that I have been here to see this new person take shape.

I've changed, too. Ross requires me to be honest at all times. I don't know if he realizes this, but it's true. There's no point in trying to pretend to be something I'm not, because he knows me so well. There is no room for being shy or pretentious. You are who you are, and you're loved totally and completely, no matter what.

We laugh all the time. All. the. time. Before Ross came along I was extremely self conscious. Now I'll pretty much say anything, especially if there's a chance that he will laugh. You know, a laugh where he tries to talk but can't because he's so tickeld by something I've said or done. When that happens, it's like the heavens have opened up and angels are singing.

Ross and I have the expectation for each other that we will always be kind, whatever that means or whatever that looks like. I think that our shared desire to do good is one of the strongest joining forces in our marriage.

My love for Ross has not only grown exponentially, but also changed profoundly. He is my partner in every sense of the word. We are in this together and I'm so proud to be able to say that.

Defatting update

So apparently I am the incredible shrinking woman. My pants which were a little snug two weeks ago can now be taken off without unbuttoning them. Convenient, yes, but not a very flattering fit.

Also, Ross made delicious wraps with our delicious organic vegetables for dinner. Seriously, you should consider joining something like Sprout. Everything tastes amazing and the cost is equal or less than what you could get a grocery store. We've been eating our first batch for days and we still have tons left. Plus, you get new stuff every week. I cannot wait until Saturday to see what we get. This is ideal for me considering my stomach has decided to not tolerate anything that does not provide me with my essential daily nutrients.

The Best Compliment Ever

Ross said this to me the other day:

"I realized that you are just like Princess Leia."

I stared at him with my jaw hanging open, both in awe of what he said and of how touched I was by it.

Announcement

I've decided to enable the option on blogger that requires me to moderate comments made here. I'm only doing this because some people have nothing better to do with their time than be idiots, and I don't want my relevant and productive audience to have to read their asinine comments. I guess this means I'm famous now since I have strangers who hate me. It's the price you pay, friends. It's the price you pay.

Knitting Project Glimpse

So, I've decided that my MacBook, Boots, needs a cozy. He's not heavy or bulky enough to warrant his own back, but he needs something to keep him clean and scratch free. So, I'm knitting him a cozy. I know, it's very hipster/etsy/craftster of me.

Very untrue to form, I actually planned this one out. Here's an out-of-focus picture of my plan:

I don't count stitches because I don't have the patience. This one doesn't require me to as it's just a rectangle that will be wrapped around Boots and then seamed to get the right fit. It's all being done in garter stitch will requires little to no effort and allows me to watch ridiculous amounts of TV while working on it. I've never made button holes before, but luckily these will only be decorative rather than functioning. I've knitted about 3 inches of the 22 required. It's taken me awhile because it's pretty thin yarn. I figured doing this in bulky yarn with huge needles would be too much of a cop-out.

I'm very motivated to get this one done, so maybe you'll see it soon!

P.S. Follow up interview tomorrow. Fingers! Cross 'em if you got 'em!

Weekend Wrap up

Friday: Work and such. Got a very promising phone call regarding employment. Gym. Went to Zach's birthday party. Sang a lot of Billy Joel. Watched Jake stuff himself into every major appliance in the house.

Saturday: Gym. Lunch with in-laws. Nap. Visit to UR campus with Phanie and her new bf. Dinner at Sticky Rice with friends. Back to the house to fall asleep while watching the fight.

Sunday: Woke up with a headache. Lunch. Gym. Came home. Showered. Went to Lowe's and bought a peony bush. Home. Now trying to convince Ross to take me out to dinner. It's not working.

Why I don't imbibe with the alcohol

I had a whopping 2, count 'em 2, ciders last night and my head is now pounding. This after I spent the tail end of last night falling asleep on the couch while a large group of people were watching "the fight" in my living room. I think due to my healthier living as of late, my body goes into complete shock when I consume anything that has little to no nutritional value. I guess that's a good problem to have.

The thing I don't get is why people *keep* drinking after they start feeling drunk. I mean, I think it's fun for about 5 minutes and then I just start thinking, "Why the hell did I do that? I'm just going to feel like crap and I just consumed hundreds of empty calories." It's entirely possible though that I've only ever been extremely "tipsy" and never actually drunk. Maybe being drunk is awesome, but I don't think I could ever get over the hump of the tipsy awareness of the fact that I could potentially do or say something quite embarrassing. I mean, more embarrassing than anything my lucid self would do.

I dunno, I think I'd rather spend the evening drinking Diet Coke (of which I drank 2 liters on Friday night, thank you), singing Billy Joel songs with Ross and MattWhite, and watching Jake try to stuff himself into the oven (oh how I wish I had pictures of that to show you).

Cinco de Mayo!!!!

Today is Cinco de Mayo!!! Probably the only reason a gringo like me has to be super excited is that I have an excuse to drink an inordinate amount of margaritas (Because that's what it's about. And the chips with the salsa.)

In honor of the festivities, I leave you with this:

Actually, this is basically for Susan, what with her love of all things dachshund (No, I don't understand why either, although she explained to me why their legs are so short. I'm not going to tell you-figure it out for yourself. It's like a Cinco de Mayo Scavenger Hunt!!!)


*Believe it or not, there *are* actual Cinco de Mayo Scavenger Hunt that tell you what the day is all about. Perhaps clicking here, or here would be a better way to honor the day than trying to find out about a dog that originated in Germany.

A thought...

The company I interviewed with yesterday is working on promoting and licensing this out to various businesses. Looking briefly at what it's all about, I thought that public school administration and staff would benefit from exploring this idea. Then I had a thought and I wanted to see what the Internets would think about my thought...

What if public education were run like a business?

I asked Maura what she thought about my thought. Let me know what you think.

Holy Lord

I love living in the city. Seriously, I do. But, there are two things that I would call "undesirable" about my surroundings: birds and cats. Here's why...

We don't really have what you would call darkness in the city. Street lights run all night. Street lights that stand right alongside trees. Trees with birds. Birds who think the street light is the sun. Birds who consequently chirp 24 hours a day. All day and night with the "GOOD MORNING!!! HELLO!!!!! GOOD MORNING, NEIGHBOR-FRIENDS!!!!!"

First of all, I hate cats unless they're kittens (like my kitten named Boots who Ross will never let me get so I ended naming my MacBook Boots instead). My hating of all things feline kind of puts our city cats at the top of my shit list, even above having to trim your fingernails and people who somehow believe that throwing cigarettes out of the window isn't littering. See, a lot of cats in the city are stray cats. STRAY AND CRAZY. They cry and fight and cry and fight and cry and cry and cry all night long. Except their crying sounds like babies rather than cats - babies being thrown into boiling hot water.

If I were a super hero, my power would be "selective deafness."

Hokie Healing

Mosaic, Blacksburg local yarn store, has started up a wonderful project. They are accepting 8" by 8" knitted squares that will be sewn together to make blankets for the families of the victims of the VT shooting. Click here for specifics.

Jane has already done two and a ton of other knitters at my school are working on theirs. When they heard we were participating, Mosaic even sent us a box of soft, yummy yarns to use, each skein accompanied by information regarding the gauge. As you can see from Mosaic's blog, the love and healing has started to pour in. I'm slowly but surely getting mine done:

(I made the picture small so you couldn't see how gross I looked after going to the gym.)

If you knit, please consider doing this. The pattern can be as simple or as complicated as you like. It's also an excellent first project if you (or even your kids!) have ever wanted to knit.

Stewart over at The Yarn Lounge has awesomely offered her services to be a collection spot for squares, or you can always send them off yourself. I'm sure she and any other local yarn store owners would be willing to help you pick yarn and get started on your square.

I know that pulling the knitters together at my school and starting on my own square has helped me deal with the grief. I need to feel like I'm doing *something* for these people whose lives have been shaken to the core. Please consider making this small but touching contribution that will allow the victims' families to find some comfort, if only for a little while.

Exhausted and Hungry

One interview down. It went well I think. I'm not going to say anything else for fear of jinxing it. The other interview that was also supposed to be today and then got move tomorrow has now been moved to Monday. So, I'll have some time to breathe over the weekend.

All I want to do is eat pizza, but no. Ross is insisting that we not be fat. I spend all morning and afternoon not being fat so I feel like I should get a little break for dinner. But Ross spends all day being fat so he thinks he needs to be good at dinner. This could create some serious tension in our marriage.

Anyway, Ross and I went to Ellwood Thompson's yesterday and got some of this "organic food" that all of you keep talking about. Friends, they have samples. It's like Costco but with better lighting. Ross was appalled when I took more than one sample, but I maintain that if there is no sign discouraging multiple trips, then eat I will. We bought organic turkey, organic salad, organic salad dressing, organic smashed potatoes (I guess organic is too classy to be mashed), organic yogurt, and organic turkey dogs (which only have 6 grams of fat in them!) We had turkey burgers last night and you could actually tell the difference. The salad was crazy good, too. We'll be having the turkey dogs tonight. I'll be sure to let you know how it all went, what with you waiting at the edge of your seats and all.

Many Exciting Things

Grown-up:
I bought a suit today. I realized that most companies might not be too keen on me showing up in Danskos to interview, so I figured I needed to drop some cash to look nice. If you know me, you know I don't wear suits. I tried on a couple "standard suits" and the saleswoman at Ann Taylor Loft could tell that I felt completely ridiculous. So, she located this for me which I bought. I love it because it's nonstandard but still looks nice. None of the jobs I'm interviewing for are mainstream companies, so I think it will work. And if they don't appreciate it, well, I'm sorry, I can't work for a company that has no fashion sense. I also got some pink shoes to go with it. PINK SHOES?!?!??! How can your day get any better???


Almost De-fattified:
I have lost approx. 7 pounds since going off the Lexapro, AKA "the make you slowly but surely fat and only slightly less crazy pill." This is very exciting. I'm OCD and I weigh myself in the morning and at night, every day. Don't worry, I'm still eating (ask anybody, I'm probably eating their food, too). I would just go crazy if I didn't know. So each day I have what I call my "starting weight" and my "ending weight." Well, as of the last couple days, my ending weight has become what my starting weight used to be. And my starting weight has become numbers that I have seen in quite a while but have missed very dearly. I'm almost back to my pre-medicine weight, but if I just loose a couple more pounds I'll be comfortable with that I think. I had kind of a break down last night because I felt like I had been left in the dark with this whole concept that anti-depressants make you gain weight. And then I realized I was being amazingly-bratty and ungrateful for the fact that this medication (and my wonderful doctor who put me on it) brought me back from an abyss of sorts. I can deal with a little pudge. It's kind of like a badge of honor.


Productive:
My bonus-brother initiated the tearing (well, kicking) down of our front yard "fence" yesterday. I put "fence" in "quotes" because a real fence wouldn't be that craptastic. I mean, it was plastic. I. hate. that. fence. Matt being the great guy that he is destroyed the entire thing in about 20 minutes. Ross and I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning up the teeny tiny yard it surrounded. Then, James in all of his awesomeness arrived in his equivalent of a white horse (a noisy white van) to carry away all of the leftovers. When we pulled out the fence we both thought that James would probably want it (he and his lovely wife have a penchant for dumpster diving), so we didn't completely demolish it. We asked him to help us carry the pieces to a bigger dumpster than we have in our area. In true Murphy form, he decided he would just take the pieces. I love the Murphies to the maxx.

P.S. Working in the yard is just as good as going to the gym. I already can't move my arms.


Miracle:
You may remember that I mentioned a little girl from my school who was involved in a terrible fire. She got badly burned and spent 8 weeks at the Shriners Hospital in Ohio. Well, our girl came back to school today. Her classmate were SO happy to see her and she couldn't wait to get back to school. My kids have been so thoughtful about how to make the transition back into school easy for her. The hospital sent a wonderful woman to come and talk to the kids about how our little girl looks different now and what she has to go through each day to get better. I was so proud of our kids. They asked such thoughtful questions that had more to do with her well-being rather than about the rumors of the specifics of the fire. The hospital representative said it was the best group of 5th graders she had ever spoken with. A compliment like that means so much.

Employment:
I had to turn in my official letter of resignation today (eek!) but that was balanced out by three calls for interviews. I have one on Thursday and I'm calling tomorrow to figure out specific dates for the others.

It goes without saying that with all of this excitement (yes, for me this is much excitement) I'm pretty wired and I probably won't get much sleep. But hey, at least it's wired because of good things.

*UPDATE* I now have another interview. Originally it was going to be tomorrow at 3:30 but it just got moved to Friday at 3:30. So I will leave work early tomorrow and slightly early on Friday. I'm refusing to get excited due to a neurotic fear of disappointment.

O-M-G! a J-O-B!

I have an interview on Thursday at 2:00. I can't believe it. Even if I don't get it, it's such a confidence booster to have someone suggest that they are maybe, possibly considering hiring you.