The homestretch

That's what all the teachers call this time of year. I see it more like I've been climbing a mountain, and these last 5 weeks are like the super rocky, slippery part right before the summit, where you're not sure if you have enough oxygen or strength to make it to the top. Summer would be the easy downhill climb, and once you reach the bottom, it's almost September and you may as well turn around and start climbing again.

Anyway, I haven't meant for this to become some sort of monthly thing. I always thought I'd be one of those annoying people who blogged almost daily about just anything. I know I keep promising to be more consistent with this, but I may as well stop and say that once I reach the top of Middle School Wrangling Mountain, I will be back more often.

So, good news: I have been offered my position at Linus Pauling for next year, same hours and everything, and I would be a moron of gigantic proportions to not take it. The major sacrifice we have to make is pushing our plan to move back to the Portland area another year, but I think we can live with that, especially if we get some sort of furry pet to make up for the serious lack of people around.

Another plus: apartments are waaaay cheaper here in Corvallis, and we've decided on a two-bedroom, one bath in a much nicer part of town. It is a definite upgrade from the place we have now. Don't get me wrong; I love it here, but the complex was constructed somewhere near 1972, when I suppose not having lights in the closet, golden-hued countertops matched with dark dark dark cabinets, or a slightly slanted kitchen floor wasn't a big deal.

I suppose the hardest thing for me these last few weeks was to actually find the silver lining in staying here another year. I had really amped myself for leaving, and starting a new chapter in our lives, and I felt like I was being held back against my will. Then I'd get mad at myself because hey, it was a job, for crying out loud, which, right now, is a lot more than some people have. And yeah, there are days when I want to pull my hair out and punt more than one kid out the window (there is a reason those windows don't open all the way, and why Glencoe High School had none: the temptation is too great) but in the end, I adore my job, and I adore my kids.

So yeah. Staying here another year certaintly won't kill me, and who knows what lies in store for me, or us, in the upcoming year. I'm sure there will be more surprises.

Okay, if you made it this far, here is your reward:

This is what happens when you get two tired educators on a Friday night!

I cannot get enough of

Slumdog Millionaire!

I just watched this last night (every time we tried to see it in theaters one of us came down with the flu, so we just resorted to Netflix so we could watch it, plague-ridden or not) and I loved it. Rarely does a movie move me like this one did, and if you haven't seen it, please do!

Also, being the soundtrack junkie that I am, I am currently obsessing over the music in this film. Here are two of my favorites, although I thought it was all fantastic.

ssshhhhhh, I'm hunting an apawtment...

I apologize for not writing more often. I have an excuse other than laziness, however. I have become totally enthralled and addicted to apartment hunting, which I know doesn't sound horribly exciting, but considering the fact that I've had the flu not once, but twice (my immune system is no match for middle schoolers), it's about all I have the energy for.

There's just something about comparing floorplans, and amenities offered, and oh, ratings. I love ratings and reviews.

Okay. I know I sound like a loser with too much free time, but really, it's addicting. We've made a list of about 8 complexes (complexi?) in the Hillsboro/Beaverton/Tanasbourne area that we're going to scout out during Spring Break. If you guys (all 6 of you) know of any we should know of, or avoid, I am all ears.

I'm not saying I want a baby...

But shopping for other people's is a lot of fun. Especially when you can get stuff like this:





The shoes are my favorite. For now, I'll vicariously dress other people's children as I would my own. That'll definitely do for now.

Oops. Is it really February?

Well. It's been a while since I've posted, and I wish I had a decent excuse, like a really high-powered job, or kids, or moving to an exotic island and realizing there is no internet.

But, to be honest, my real reason is that I've just plain gotten lazy. I've had ideas, but then something happens, and I want to post about that, but there's this twang of guilt that I won't be posting about the former thing and well, it is a vicious cycle.

That's why I am going to try to cram everything that's happened in one post that (hopefully) won't bore all six of you to tears.

Which will be tough, since I haven't posted anything since we made gingerbread houses and they have gone the way of the dinosaurs and Pauly Shore's film career.

I think what I will do is a "yay" and "nay" post, because they seem to be the most energy efficient, and we're all about being green here in this household.

Yay to having Christmas Break start a few days early.

Nay to Corvallis apparently thinking we don't need the roads cleared and that we still can use horse-drawn sleighs to get around.

Yay to taking the chance to walk around Corvallis and realizing that it looks like an old timey Christmas card during the winter.

Nay to losing my debit card and driver's license in the stupid snow while sledding.

Yay to the amazingly nice lady at Wells Fargo who heard my story through my hysteria and let me have an emergency card.

Nay to realizing the emergency card only had 60 bucks on it because I couldn't provide a form of ID other than my OSU student identification card.

Yay for stores that have special sales for people like me who leave Christmas shopping for the 23rd.

Nay to dealing with students who have had three weeks of vacation and have somehow forgotten everything taught to them the 3 months prior.

Yay to watching Obama's inauguration and experiencing such a monumental moment with my students.
Nay to the other teacher in the room who promptly turned off the inauguration because he voted for the other guy.

Yay to also being able to attend Carl's wedding reception back in Hillsboro and see him be so incredibly happy.

Nay to realizing that yes, my friends are getting married, having children, and getting jobs and are, by most accounts, adults, and therefore (gasp!), so am I.

Yay to coming back home to Corvallis and settling back into our routine and being able to play with our new Christmas goodies. One of which was this amazing book of the classic Life portraits. Best part about it: it comes with actual prints that I can put into nifty frames!

(don't actually click on it to look inside...)

Nay to a newfound aversion to snow. It snowed this last weekend, and when I saw it peacefully falling outside my window, I moaned and said, "Ugh, more?"

Yay to the sun finally coming out again and being able to go outside again and not fear breaking an ankle. We went to Eugene for the day recently and went to 5th Street Market and Prince Pucklers, the best ice cream in the world. Even Obama has been there!


Nay to not actually being there when Obama stopped by.

Yay to at least being there with Evan, whom I have had the pleasure of spending three wonderful years with. He is an amazing person, and I hope to share many, many, more years with him. Especially if we can still stop by Prince Pucklers.

Nay to Corvallis School District for announcing that their budget will be utter crap for the next two years, which means I probably won't be working at Linus Pauling Middle School next year.

Yay to seeing this as an opportunity for us to move back up to the Portland area where we would be closer to our families and friends, along with the fact that Ev and I would probably have a better chance of finding a teaching gig, what with there being more than one district nearby. Also, a major plus: not walking out the front door and being instantly hit with the smell of 3,000 cows. No, really. It happens.yay! nay!

Nay to leaving all the kids that I have gotten to know. I really don't know how teachers can watch their students leave their grades year after year. I get all sad and teary just thinking about it. I've already promised to come visit them in high school.

Yay to most apartments in the Tanasbourne area allowing pets bigger than fish! And that have fur!

Nay to being allergic to most things with fur, resulting in our probably having to buy something with "doodle" in it.
well..they're not that bad...

Yay to having a fish meanwhile. And he is the coolest fish in all the land. His name is Osiris and he was my reward for surviving an uber cold that had taken over my sinuses and made me its minion for a week.

I call Ozzie for short.

Nay to having a cold so severe that when I tried to go to work, my coworkers took one look at me and said, "Sweetie, we don't mean this the wrong way, but you look horrible. Go home and sleep." And this was after I had taken two Dayquils. At least I got Ozzie out of the whole ordeal.

Yay to finally catching all 6 of you up on what I've been up to. I hope you guys haven't given up on me, and that you have not totally gone comatose after reading all this. I will try to be more consistent with updating this so it's not a manifesto every single time. Here's to February, more adventures, and hopefully more blog posts!

Sudden Burst of Craftiness.

So, I adore Christmas. Well, the season, rather. I love the cold, brisk mornings (provided I am not out there too long) the cute sweaters, the cozy evenings with a cup of hot cocoa, the lights (I even like the tacky, gigantically bulbed, multi-colored ones), heck, I even like the music.

During one of these cozy evenings, Evan and I were trying to think of what to do that didn't involve leaving the relative warmth of our apartment. He looked at me warily and said, "What do you think about making gingerbread houses?"

The cause for wariness stems from the fact that I am the least domestic person you'll ever meet. I don't like to cook or bake, I have never owned any sort of scrapbooking paraphernalia, and the last time I sewed, my stuffed horse ended up with just two legs instead of four. My "projects" never come out quite right, and I think it's just better for the craft world if I don't come around and insult it.

Naturally my answer to Evan's question was, "You mean the kind that come in kits, right? The ones that you just stick together?"

I got a significant eye roll, and all of a sudden, I was attacked by a bout of craftiness. I wanted to go and get all the things needed (and then some, I realized) for making an amazing gingerbread house. So we managed to convince our roommate, Ira to join in, and we trooped off to Winco to load up on anything made with sugar. I told myself in the beginning that I would use all of the candy for the houses, and I kept my promise, for the most part.

The necessities: M&M's, gumdrops, gummy bears, choco-rocks (more on those later) three kinds of frosting, and graham crackers (this was on a college student (and fledgeling EA's)budget. Oh, and for sustenance for me, a glass of green tea.

This wonder of the world is a choco-rock. We found them at Winco and I had visions of a pathway to my house, along with stone pillars...I actually do love architecture, and if I had any sort of a penchant for math, I would have probably wanted to be one. As it stands, however, my math skills are nonexistant, so choco-rock pillars it would be.

Evan concentrating on his task at hand. He had actually done this before. Ira and I had never even tried this and were actually failing miserably on the other side of the table.

Ev actually managed to finish his basic house before Ira and I even had three walls up. Yeah, that open space? "It's a sun deck. I'll make a railing soon."

Proof that I was a graham cracker building failure. This was my second wall, and when I started to attach the third one, it just broke off. Maybe it's a good thing I never went into architecture. Then again, the Great Wall must have lost a few stones, right?



This is what we call Karma. Evan rushed the building of his silly deck, and the whole second story of his house fell on his Gummy Bear BBQ. I get the biggest kick out of the surprised expression on the red gummy bear. He just seems to be saying, "oh dear..."



This was Ira's house. We looked away, and when we looked back, his house looked as if the the Keibler Elves had thrown up on it.

We were amazed that the roof didn't collapse from the sheer weight of peanut-filled M&M's.

When I got tired of repairing collapsing walls, I made a snowman out of gumdrops.

This was my door, and while my dreams of an amazing, decorative, choco-rock pathway didn't come completely true, I still think it's cute.

Evan's finished house. He has since eaten all the gumdrop shrubs, the M&M railing to his sun deck, as well as the gummy bear inhabitants of the deck, and is now eyeing Ira's landscaping.

I'm sorry for the blur. I despise flash, and our apartment manager doesn't understand the need for decent lighting lest there be an amateur photographer living in unit 302. Anyway, here were the (now deceased) inhabitants of Evan's house. Evan is quite crafty, and I need to point out the orange bear workin' it on the black jellybean bbq.

Again, the blur. I'll write a strongly worded letter to the management later. As for now, just take note of Evan's little garage and car he made while he waited for Ira and I to try, yet again, to put a roof on our houses.

My finished home. I went with the open-air attic, haha. Easier to find things, I think, when all the daylight streams straight into your attic.


The finished subdivision. I think these homes will go for anywhere in the low 300 thousands to the 450 range (that right there was my immense pride in myself for doing something remotely crafty and it coming out relatively tolerable, and my love for the HGTV channel.)

I think this could become some sort of tradition.

Hi everyone! So it's been a busy couple of weeks, what with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Middle School Tweenager Wrangling, and trying to stay sane. I've been having a bit a rough patch lately, mainly dealing with things that are far beyond my control but being far too stubborn to admit it, and it has resulted in my reading every one else's blog but skittering away from the trouble of writing in my own.

Luckily, it's Finals Week here in sleepy little Corvallis, and it means the majority of my (still) college-attending friends have holed themselves in their apartments or the Valley Library to cram 10 weeks of material in 5 days, so I have found myself with a little free time to write.

Before the dreaded Finals Week hit, Evan, our roommate Ira and I had a few fun times.

We actually decided to have our own Thanksgiving, a week early. We are always out of food anyway, and this way, we figured, we'd have a lot of leftover food to keep us until the actual day of Gluttony.

What's more funny is that I don't cook. Not at all. Maybe toast, if I'm feeling inspired. But, I did manage to make our mashed potatoes. I'm not sure the boys trusted me with anything else.

Evan made apple pie from scratch, and it was fantastic. I did, however, make the apron in a sudden burst of craftiness.

The next two are just of the wonderful fall colors we get the pleasure of seeing everyday outside our apartment.

And, since it is a Tuesday, I decided to share a song that has helped me through my rocky, too-stubborn-to-realize-I-can't-do-anything-about-it-now moments.

More posts to come! Including one where I had another sudden and unexpected attack of craftiness!