Haha...when I just typed in the title of the blog, for some reason I did a Shift-1 1 for the "II" part so it said 'sick, part !!' Like being sick is so very exciting. Bleh. In all honesty, I have pretty much enjoyed my part-time work status this week, but I still don't like being sick. I went back to work yesterday, but spending the whole day teaching and talking caused endless coughing fits and also decimated what was left of my voice. So there was no point in going back today...plus I coughed all night and got no sleep again. Anyway, I went to the doctor today and got new asthma medicine and antibiotics and hopefully will be feeling better soon.
On Tuesday, when both Matt and I stayed home, we got a lot accomplished: namely, watching the first 7 episodes of Amazing Race Season 13 (last season). I need to applaud and congratulate CBS for finally getting with the program and posting full episodes of AR online. It's been a long time coming. Now we only have 4 left and I'm willing to bet we'll knock them out before V-Day. So while today was really an ideal situation in terms of finishing up that season...I just couldn't do it to my poor (at work) husband. It would be so wrong to spend the day watching it without him. So I didn't. Luckily, I had a fresh DVD (4 episodes) of Gilmore Girls to help pass the time. That and a doctor's appointment that took an HOUR AND A HALF. Oh yeah, and Lola, who entertained herself while I slept in this morning. By chewing a bone or playing with one of her many toys? you may ask. Oh no. By getting into my gift-wrapping supplies in the guest room closet (???? how she found this ????) and strewing raffia (that decorative, crafty twine stuff) all over the house. It was truly lovely. She's really artistic sometimes.
Although I've had 2 whole days off this week, I still haven't made Valentines for my students. Darnit. Now I want to stay home tomorrow just so I don't feel like a jerk. :) Oh well...the night is still young, perhaps I'll be productive later.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
home sick
I'm finally taking a day off. I've had this cough/congestion thing going on for almost a month and it gets better, then worse, then better, then worse. But for the last few nights my coughing at night has been so bad I can't sleep, which only makes me feel miserable the next day. I finally decided to stay home and spend the whole day resting and taking meds. I haven't really taken anything at all, but today we're throwing all that to the wind and taking everything Kroger has to offer a person with a cold. Matt hasn't been feeling well either, so he stayed home, too. So we're two sickies...with one hyperactive, VERY-happy-her-owners-are-home Lab to dote on all day. In between naps and cups of tea, I plan on trying to figure out how to spruce up this ol' blog. Plain green is so last year.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
dog parks and fried bananas
This weekend was the kind of weekend God had in mind when he created weekends (I was going for a world record there...). I'm serious. The weather was phenomenal. Our "things to do" list was minimal. Our "eating out" envelope (Dave Ramsey devotees, remember?) was full of moneys. I think the orbit of the moon was optimal too, or something...because this weekend was excellent.
To start with, we visited all 3 of the major Athens dog parks. Our beautiful love Lola gets a big old lack of dog interaction during the week, so we try to give her lots of chances to play on the weekends. This weekend she got super lucky. Just in case you're wondering about the happenin' Athens dog park scene, here's a quick re-cap: Memorial Park Dog Park: (Friday afternoon) Although this park is walking distance from our house, we rarely go there because it's rather small. I went, though, because I had an hour and a half to kill before Matt got home and I wanted to get some exercise and enjoy the weather. Anyway, as it turns out, it's for good reason we avoid this dogpark. It's for snobby people with snobby dogs. Seriously. One of my favorite things about the park we usually go to is how friendly people are and how everyone socializes while their dogs socialize. Not so much here. Not only is the park small and mostly dirt (which means it's dusty and the dogs get filthy), but no one talks to you! They talk on their phones or to their sorority sisters they came with (hate to throw out a stereotype, but...well, no I don't.) I even tried to talk to a few people (not in a creepy way, just in the regular way I'm used to people talking in dog parks) and got SHOT DOWN! What is this, middle school? Come on Lola, we're outta here. So we jogged around the pond and chased ducks instead. Perhaps we'd have better luck Saturday. UGA Intramural Fields Dog Park: (Saturday afternoon) This is where we usually go, and for good reason. An absolutely huge off-leash area complete with leash-free trails and multiple open grassy fields for people and dogs to congregate. Here Matt and I sat in the sun and chatted with other Athenians for 2 hours while all the dogs chased and played. This is the epitome of the Athens dog scene, in my opinion. Everyone playing with each others' dogs and chatting as the mood strikes. Perfect. Lola goes home absolutely exhausted, barely able to climb up the steps to the front door. Mission: accomplished. Southeast Athens Park (Wiggly Field): (Sunday afternoon) This was our first trip to Wiggly Field and although it was much much smaller than I'd imagined, it was pretty decent. Again, it was very sandy and dusty, but at least there were water spouts for the dogs to drink from, and a separate place for very small dogs/puppies. I liked that because often times I worry Lola will run all over or eat the small dogs...and if that happens at Wiggly Field, it's not my fault that the owners chose to put their small dog in the Big Dawg playpen! The coolest thing at Wiggly Field is that there is an agility course section, which is where there are the cool obstacle things that the dogs on Animal Planet do. We took Lola over there and discovered that she doesn't have much agility. Big surprise. Next time we will be more prepared and take treats and toys to lure her up onto the bridges and seesaws. This could be our ticket to fame and fortune.
Anyway...so we spent much of our weekend outside, which suits me just fine. I also got in a good dose of Gilmore Girls, Matt caught a few episodes of Band of Brothers, and we spent lots of time with both friends and family (and by ourselves). I didn't get as much laundry or housecleaning done as I'd hoped, but I'm sure there will be cold or rainy days this week to catch up on! Perhaps the most productive thing we did was PREPARE AND FILE OUR TAXES!! Wahoo!! And-- wait for it-- this is the first year ever that I not only don't owe the IRS lots of money (I've always had to claim lots of self-employment income)... but WE GET MONEY BACK!!!! It's a miracle. It's only like $250...but hey, that's $250!!! So we're done and filed federal, now just have to figure out a free way to do state (one advantage to being poor: we qualified to have our federal taxes prepared and e-filed for free!). I'm from a family that has never ever filed taxes a day before April 15...and even since I've been on my own, I've always owed so much money that I wait until the last minute to gather it/mail it in...well, this was just a happy milestone for me.
We finished off the weekend by eating at a Chinese buffet with Matt's parents. Sometimes you're just in the mood for Chinese, and lots of it...and man was it good. Best thing ever: they had fried bananas. Don't knock it til you try it, okay? I think I ate a good banana tree's worth. I should be turning into a monkey any minute now. And I will most definitely not be getting any leg cramps for the rest of my life. You think I exaggerate-- I assure you, I do not. I ate like a mad dog. If I had thought about it, I would have written a letter-- maybe even poetry-- to the chef, thanking him/her for them personally.
I believe that is all. Time to get ready for another long (but hopefully good) work week. I need to make Valentines for my students. As much as my job stresses me out, I really do love my kids. And I really do hope that the work my co-interventionists, teachers, and teaching assistants are doing is making a difference in their lives, because those babies are so incredibly special...my heart breaks to think what many of their lives could become. They were created for so much more than what this world has to offer...
Goodnight.
To start with, we visited all 3 of the major Athens dog parks. Our beautiful love Lola gets a big old lack of dog interaction during the week, so we try to give her lots of chances to play on the weekends. This weekend she got super lucky. Just in case you're wondering about the happenin' Athens dog park scene, here's a quick re-cap: Memorial Park Dog Park: (Friday afternoon) Although this park is walking distance from our house, we rarely go there because it's rather small. I went, though, because I had an hour and a half to kill before Matt got home and I wanted to get some exercise and enjoy the weather. Anyway, as it turns out, it's for good reason we avoid this dogpark. It's for snobby people with snobby dogs. Seriously. One of my favorite things about the park we usually go to is how friendly people are and how everyone socializes while their dogs socialize. Not so much here. Not only is the park small and mostly dirt (which means it's dusty and the dogs get filthy), but no one talks to you! They talk on their phones or to their sorority sisters they came with (hate to throw out a stereotype, but...well, no I don't.) I even tried to talk to a few people (not in a creepy way, just in the regular way I'm used to people talking in dog parks) and got SHOT DOWN! What is this, middle school? Come on Lola, we're outta here. So we jogged around the pond and chased ducks instead. Perhaps we'd have better luck Saturday. UGA Intramural Fields Dog Park: (Saturday afternoon) This is where we usually go, and for good reason. An absolutely huge off-leash area complete with leash-free trails and multiple open grassy fields for people and dogs to congregate. Here Matt and I sat in the sun and chatted with other Athenians for 2 hours while all the dogs chased and played. This is the epitome of the Athens dog scene, in my opinion. Everyone playing with each others' dogs and chatting as the mood strikes. Perfect. Lola goes home absolutely exhausted, barely able to climb up the steps to the front door. Mission: accomplished. Southeast Athens Park (Wiggly Field): (Sunday afternoon) This was our first trip to Wiggly Field and although it was much much smaller than I'd imagined, it was pretty decent. Again, it was very sandy and dusty, but at least there were water spouts for the dogs to drink from, and a separate place for very small dogs/puppies. I liked that because often times I worry Lola will run all over or eat the small dogs...and if that happens at Wiggly Field, it's not my fault that the owners chose to put their small dog in the Big Dawg playpen! The coolest thing at Wiggly Field is that there is an agility course section, which is where there are the cool obstacle things that the dogs on Animal Planet do. We took Lola over there and discovered that she doesn't have much agility. Big surprise. Next time we will be more prepared and take treats and toys to lure her up onto the bridges and seesaws. This could be our ticket to fame and fortune.
Anyway...so we spent much of our weekend outside, which suits me just fine. I also got in a good dose of Gilmore Girls, Matt caught a few episodes of Band of Brothers, and we spent lots of time with both friends and family (and by ourselves). I didn't get as much laundry or housecleaning done as I'd hoped, but I'm sure there will be cold or rainy days this week to catch up on! Perhaps the most productive thing we did was PREPARE AND FILE OUR TAXES!! Wahoo!! And-- wait for it-- this is the first year ever that I not only don't owe the IRS lots of money (I've always had to claim lots of self-employment income)... but WE GET MONEY BACK!!!! It's a miracle. It's only like $250...but hey, that's $250!!! So we're done and filed federal, now just have to figure out a free way to do state (one advantage to being poor: we qualified to have our federal taxes prepared and e-filed for free!). I'm from a family that has never ever filed taxes a day before April 15...and even since I've been on my own, I've always owed so much money that I wait until the last minute to gather it/mail it in...well, this was just a happy milestone for me.
We finished off the weekend by eating at a Chinese buffet with Matt's parents. Sometimes you're just in the mood for Chinese, and lots of it...and man was it good. Best thing ever: they had fried bananas. Don't knock it til you try it, okay? I think I ate a good banana tree's worth. I should be turning into a monkey any minute now. And I will most definitely not be getting any leg cramps for the rest of my life. You think I exaggerate-- I assure you, I do not. I ate like a mad dog. If I had thought about it, I would have written a letter-- maybe even poetry-- to the chef, thanking him/her for them personally.
I believe that is all. Time to get ready for another long (but hopefully good) work week. I need to make Valentines for my students. As much as my job stresses me out, I really do love my kids. And I really do hope that the work my co-interventionists, teachers, and teaching assistants are doing is making a difference in their lives, because those babies are so incredibly special...my heart breaks to think what many of their lives could become. They were created for so much more than what this world has to offer...
Goodnight.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
stripped and fried.
So all afternoon I had this intense craving for fast food. More specifically, for fast food fries. Come on-- is there really anything better than some fresh, hot, salty, crispy-on-the-outside but melty-on-the-inside fast food fries?? I submit that there is not. Anyway, as it often happens when I find myself craving something, I convinced Matt that it was absolutely imperative we find ourselves some fast food for dinner. It was doubly convenient that I also had absolutely no desire to cook and was exhausted from work. So, Chick-fil-a it was. I love CFA (like any God-fearing person should) and was in the mood for some chicken strips (to accompany my fries). I've only had the "new" chicken strips once, a few months ago, but I had really liked them...and I was just in the mood tonight! Anyway, once we got there and I got my food, the saddest thing happened. I didn't like the chicken. There wasn't anything wrong with it...except that with every bite I wanted to vomit. I would swallow as fast as I could and chase it with 2 fries and half a cup of water. After a few torturous bites, I came to terms with the fact that it is okay to not like and not eat your chicken strips...after all, it's not like they're particularly nutritious or anything. So Matt ate them (and his 2 sandwiches) and I ate our fries. I'm still confused, though. Why the sudden aversion? Does this mean I will no longer like chicken biscuits, too? What will come next, pizza? Please no. I really could not survive without pizza.
I'm blogging as Matt watches Band of Brothers. We've been Netflixing for over a year now and our Netflix queue has always been a matter of much compromise and mutual consent. We choose the movies/shows to rent knowing that we watch everything together, so we only get things that we both want to watch (or that at least one person isn't violently opposed to watching.) Well, a few weeks ago Matt kept whining and complaining about wanting to watch Band of Brothers. I mean, seriously. If you're not 'in the know' (haha) like I am, then let me educate you: Band of Brothers is a reallllllyyyy long, reallllllyyyyy boring "mini" series (although there's nothing mini about it) that came on on HBO a few years ago. It won tons of awards. It's about World War 2 and some soldiers or something. If you're not already sold, let me entice you even more by telling you that there is not even a love story to redeem the 200 hours you will spend watching this nail-biter!!! Anyway...if you're a person of great discernment, you may have picked up on the fact that I am not a huge fan of watching Band of Brothers. Not really my thing. But it's totally a man-thing, so who am I to deny my husband the joys(?) of watching BoB? So I said with all my wife-ly cheerfulness, "why don't you just add it to our queue?! I'll blog while you watch it!" (Side note: it really does have a good soundtrack, so I don't mind listening to it passively while I do something else.) It seemed like a win-win situation...until one day I looked at our Netflix queue and the WHOLE THING WAS FILLED UP WITH BAND OF BROTHERS!!! I mean seriously-- the next 5 discs. Ummm...wow. My movie-watching-future was looking bleak. There was only one thing that could be done. My sanity was on the line. I decided there was one thing still lingering on my own personal "things to watch" list that really should be checked off-- stat. And it wasn't the kinda thing that Matt was going to relish sitting through. And it wasn't just a quick 1.5 hour chick flick, either. It was an entire season (24ish wonderful hours) of witty, quick-talking, beautifully-dressed Rory and Lorelei Gilmore-- yes, the seventh and final season of Gilmore Girls in all its glory. (Can't you hear the herald angels singing?) So I added that to the queue, and in an act of marital-compromise ingenuity, rearranged it so that the queue went BoB Disc 1, GG Disc 1, BoB Disc 2, GG Disc 2, etc...right on down to BoB Disc 5and GG Discs 5 & 6 (haha, I get one more!!). That way no matter how dismal what you're currently watching is...something better is on the way. I should probably start hosting marriage seminars or something, because that move was GENIUS.
Anyway....something magical is happening-- mournful and depressing music is playing as the credits roll across the screen, meaning that BoB is over and it's time for some GG!!! Time to cuddle into some blankets, tear my pup away from her bone, and lose myself in Star's Hollow for some quality drama and wit. Love it.
I'm blogging as Matt watches Band of Brothers. We've been Netflixing for over a year now and our Netflix queue has always been a matter of much compromise and mutual consent. We choose the movies/shows to rent knowing that we watch everything together, so we only get things that we both want to watch (or that at least one person isn't violently opposed to watching.) Well, a few weeks ago Matt kept whining and complaining about wanting to watch Band of Brothers. I mean, seriously. If you're not 'in the know' (haha) like I am, then let me educate you: Band of Brothers is a reallllllyyyy long, reallllllyyyyy boring "mini" series (although there's nothing mini about it) that came on on HBO a few years ago. It won tons of awards. It's about World War 2 and some soldiers or something. If you're not already sold, let me entice you even more by telling you that there is not even a love story to redeem the 200 hours you will spend watching this nail-biter!!! Anyway...if you're a person of great discernment, you may have picked up on the fact that I am not a huge fan of watching Band of Brothers. Not really my thing. But it's totally a man-thing, so who am I to deny my husband the joys(?) of watching BoB? So I said with all my wife-ly cheerfulness, "why don't you just add it to our queue?! I'll blog while you watch it!" (Side note: it really does have a good soundtrack, so I don't mind listening to it passively while I do something else.) It seemed like a win-win situation...until one day I looked at our Netflix queue and the WHOLE THING WAS FILLED UP WITH BAND OF BROTHERS!!! I mean seriously-- the next 5 discs. Ummm...wow. My movie-watching-future was looking bleak. There was only one thing that could be done. My sanity was on the line. I decided there was one thing still lingering on my own personal "things to watch" list that really should be checked off-- stat. And it wasn't the kinda thing that Matt was going to relish sitting through. And it wasn't just a quick 1.5 hour chick flick, either. It was an entire season (24ish wonderful hours) of witty, quick-talking, beautifully-dressed Rory and Lorelei Gilmore-- yes, the seventh and final season of Gilmore Girls in all its glory. (Can't you hear the herald angels singing?) So I added that to the queue, and in an act of marital-compromise ingenuity, rearranged it so that the queue went BoB Disc 1, GG Disc 1, BoB Disc 2, GG Disc 2, etc...right on down to BoB Disc 5and GG Discs 5 & 6 (haha, I get one more!!). That way no matter how dismal what you're currently watching is...something better is on the way. I should probably start hosting marriage seminars or something, because that move was GENIUS.
Anyway....something magical is happening-- mournful and depressing music is playing as the credits roll across the screen, meaning that BoB is over and it's time for some GG!!! Time to cuddle into some blankets, tear my pup away from her bone, and lose myself in Star's Hollow for some quality drama and wit. Love it.
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