Cozy!

I remember back in the day when my sister slept in our downstairs and she had a heating blanket on her bed.  One day I was down there with her and it started smoking.  Scariest thing ever!   Lately I've been craving a heating blanket (I like mine non smoking....in case you wondered).  How nice would it be to curl up on the couch with some hot chocolate, the fireplace on, and my super cozy heating blanket?  I have some fabulous booties that you heat up in the microwave and it keeps your toes toasty warm while sitting on the couch or in bed.  Love them!  I'm thinking a heating blanket would be even that much better!

I found this little buddy on Amazon.  I'm thinking he might be my new best friend.  What do you think? 

Sewing

Who would've guessed that I would kind of enjoy sewing (most parts of it anyway).  I like feeling the accomplishment of finishing something and being able to display it so I can see all of my hard work. :) 

In the past few years I've made a Halloween quilt and am almost finished with a smaller Christmas quilt.  I worked on said quilts at my mom's house, using her machine, with some help since I really had no idea what I was doing to begin with.  I found that my favorite part is the actual quilting.  The little elf's hand on my Christmas quilt might've taken me forever, but I was very proud it turned out as well as it did.  I also later found out that the foot I used was a lot more difficult than if I had used the free flowing one.  I have since bought my sister's old machine, and I'm looking forward to learning how to do a lot more. 

Gianormous Spiders

I have a huge phobia of spiders!  I mean I'm deathly afraid of them!  My biggest con to living alone is having to deal with creepy spiders on my own.  I can't just yell for someone to come and kill them for me.  Occasionally I do call my dad, begging him to come and "visit".  

Last night I decided to do some dusting/cleaning, trying to get rid of the never ending amount of dust caused by my bathroom remodel.  As I was cleaning the table I looked up on the wall and the Godzilla of all spiders was crawling around up on the wall, by the ceiling.  Most of the time I can climb on a chair and get out my fantastic "spider vacuum" and suck him to his death.  This time the sneaky thing must've known this and was by the ceiling above my stairs....therefore not within any reaching distance.   I called my dad in hysterics!  He suggested hitting it with a broom or throwing something at it to make it fall down.  I knew this was a bad idea because then said spider would be loose on the carpet, without my being able to find him, and without a doubt he would attack and kill me!  

By this point in the conversation I burst into tears.  This wasn't just an ordinary house spider (is there such a thing?), this was an abnormally large, black, with many other colors mixed in.....monster!  For the next 10 minutes I sat on a chair sobbing uncontrollably while the creepy spider crawled around the walls.  He ended up coming around the wall where I could actually reach him.  I climbed up on a chair (in amongst my sobs of course) and tried to suck him up in the vacuum.  The blasted spider was so big that it took me much moving and twisting until I could dislodge him off of the wall into the vacuum. Sheesh! I ran to the bathroom and flushed him multiple times, making sure that yes, he was forever gone.   

Fall Break

I was really looking forward to Fall Break.  A 4 day weekend,  hooray!  It started out great, other than a stiff neck (or so I thought).  By Thursday night I was in a lot of pain.  Another muscle spasm in my back, a lot like in the spring.  I was able to find muscle relaxants, and it didn't get as severe as it did last time.  I still wasn't able to hold a book to read, or find any way to sit or lay down comfortably.  By Saturday I was starting to feel some relief and was finally getting some sleep.

My parents have been out of town and I thought I would be a nice daughter and check their mailbox and bring it in their house for them.  I looked like a stiff board, since I still couldn't move around a lot, but heck, I could walk to the mailbox and walk back right?  On my way back from the mailbox I stepped in a hole in the grass, rolled my ankle and sprawled on the sidewalk (mail going everywhere).  Now not only did I have back pain (feeling a lot worse from my fall), but my knee was bruised and scraped and I could barely walk on my ankle.  After my meltdown, complete with hysterical sobbing, I decided I had done enough damage for one weekend and spent the rest of my weekend in my pajamas trying to recover.

And did I mention that I had the tile guy over at my house working on my bathroom floor all weekend? I didn't get a lot of relaxing done, but I did catch up on some DVR while camping out on my couch.

Showers

For those of you that remember I redid my shower in the master bathroom about 2 years ago.  Overall, I loved it.  I hated the guy that did it because he took freakin' forever and he was sloppy and didn't have things to perfection like I wanted.  But it was definitely an improvement to what I had before.

I few months ago, or so, I noticed some of the tiles in my bathroom popping up from the floor.  I started getting even more worried when I noticed the grout on the step into my shower was cracked and shifted.  My cousin's brother in law does tile (too bad I didn't know him before) and I had him come out to look at it.  He popped off the tile by the shower that was almost completely lifted.  MOLD!!  The stupid shower has probably been leaking from when it was first put in 2 years ago because the moron did a crappy job.  We have to rip out at least half of the walls and floor in the shower, and fix who knows how much damage.  Oh, and who knows how much damage the neighbors garage ceiling below me has as well.  Then we have to change all of the tile on the bathroom floor since that has all popped up, since it wasn't put down correctly in the first place.  It might be until the first part of December before the guy can come and work on it since he's booked up until then.  Luckily I have another shower to use in the guest bathroom in the meantime.  :(

Enemies and Such

All of you know how much I detest spiders. If you don't, well, then you just don't know me as much as you thought you did.  I pretty much have a huge phobia of spiders, insects, and anything creepy, crawly and much smaller then me.  I have a trusty vacuum to dispose of those creepy things, dead or alive.  I always make sure my house is protected with bug spray and let me tell you, I use said bug spray quite often just to make sure I have as much protection as possible.  I have also designated a closet at the bottom of my stairs as "The Spider Closet" due to the vast amounts of spiders that end up dying in there.  

The other night I came home late after spending the evening at my parents. I pull into my garage, shut the door, get out of my car and precede to the back to retrieve my recent purchases out of the trunk.  Upon getting to the back of my car I notice a ginormous moth (I'm talking the Godzilla of all moths) flapping his bat wings around my garage light.  I scream in terror and lock myself safely back in the car.  It does require locking, because who knows what talons or claws that thing has to open unlocked doors. I decide the best option is to open the garage door and yell at the moth to "Get Out!"  I lose sight of the moth, and know that he is waiting for me to try running for my freedom before attacking me with his vampire fangs.  I find scary moth on my back passenger door window looking at me hungrily and again I yell "Go away creepy, mutated bat/moth.  Pick on someone your own size!"  I tap on the window until he disappears yet again.  Keep in mind that I had to crawl from the front seat into the back to tap on the window.  I decided I would have to make a run for it.  I closed the garage door, for the 2nd time, prepared myself and made a mad dash for the back door, which might have involved more screaming, and flapping arms.  I made it unscathed!  I'm sure my neighbors wonder at times who the crazy, screaming lady is that lives next door.  

Life's Lessons

It's been a few month since I last blogged.  I've been wanting to blog about a few things, but haven't been able to bring myself to do it until now.  I recently was in a relationship which ended quite suddenly and without much explanation.  I realize that things happen for a reason whether you want them to or not.  I've been on dates since my divorce, but I've always compared everything to my ex and seemed to be shutting myself off from everyone.  I thought it was a lot easier to sabotage any relationship from the beginning rather than waiting for someone else to hurt me.  Screwed up, right?   This time I was finally letting myself be happy.

I was always so afraid that I would never be able to love someone again,  that I would forever be a hot mess.  It was such a relief being able to know that there are people out there like me.  That I'm not alone in what I'm feeling or what I'm going through.  That I was able to have a great time with someone who wasn't my ex.  That someone thought I was amazing, and treated me the way I have always deserved to be treated.  It was so nice to see a glimpse of what could be.  It was another constant reminder that my life is going in the right direction.  I've left behind things I no longer want to be a part of my life. Even though I still make a ton of mistakes I know what I want and don't want.  I'm such a better and stronger person for my trials and though I don't ever want to go through them again, I am happy with the person I am today.

Spring?

I didn't blog at all last month.  Wow, I'm such a big slacker!  I've been sick for the last 3 weeks.  Seriously, 3 weeks!  I got a sinus infection, went to the doctor and he gave me antibiotics.  The first ones didn't work and he had to prescribe another kind.  That one finally started to help, but by the time I took my last pill I wasn't completely better and then started feeling worse and worse.  I went again to the doctor, and he prescribed MORE antibiotics.  He said my sinuses didn't look any better and hopefully being on meds even longer will give it a chance to clear up.  It better hurry...I'm sick of being sick!   

Last week my mom and I went to the BYU Women's Conference.  We had a blast!  We've made this into a tradition and I totally love it.  We went down Thursday morning, went to a few speakers (had lunch of course), went to a couple more (with shopping in between), then finished up with a fun dinner at a mexican restaurant.  Great times!  Lucky for us we picked Thursday, a warm, perfect day.  Friday it ended up snowing, raining, and all kinds of craziness.  

Tomorrow my class and one other class in 3rd grade are going on a field trip to Red Butte Gardens.  We went there a few years ago and it's tons of fun.  I'm excited and looking forward to it hopefully being good weather for us.  

What a Pain in the Neck!

I subbed a few days my first week or so off track.  It's a great way to earn some extra money, and it seems a whole lot easier than dealing with my own class. :)  My 2nd week off track I was planning on heading to St. George and Las Vegas with my parents.

 Tuesday afternoon as I was subbing my neck was sort of stiff, almost as if I'd slept on it wrong.  No big deal, right?  Tuesday night it got MUCH worse and I was unable to sleep. I couldn't sit, stand, or lay down in any position to get some relief.  I called my doctor Wednesday morning and he gave me some muscle relaxants.  I had a muscle spasm going down my neck and through my right shoulder blade.   Sadly, I couldn't go to St. George as planned.  I spent the next week doing a lot of sleeping thanks to the muscle relaxants, watching a lot of movies, and reading (when I was finally able to hold the book up).   I couldn't do much of anything, not to mention move much at all.  I couldn't turn my head, couldn't even turn my body without being in excruciating pain!  I couldn't bend over,  couldn't drive my car, couldn't lift anything with my right arm, and was very frustrated that I was unable to make dinner or get anything done in my house.   

My last week off track I was able to finally start feeling some relief in my neck and was able to slowly feel like I was getting back to normal.  My off track didn't go exactly as I'd planned, but at least I was able to stay home and get better rather than worrying about going to school.

February

I decided I better post about something before February is over, since I haven't been very good at blogging lately.  The last time was the first part of January......either I really suck at blogging, or my life is pretty boring.  Or maybe some of both!  I'm going off track tomorrow and I'm super excited to be getting a break and also to do a little subbing to get some extra money.

The past couple months I've been extremely nervous about our school going traditional, since it seemed inevitable.  I look forward to my off track time, I love being off during different times of the year, having it spaced out, getting breaks from my students and coming back refreshed, going on vacation when everyone else is in school, being off in December to get my Christmas shopping done and not as exposed to the flu.  I don't want to have a 3 month chunk of time in the summer off....I don't want to get a second job, I'd much rather sub sporadically during the year when I feel the need.  I don't want to start in August and go clear until June with only small holidays to look forward to.  Basically I was seriously looking into switching school to one that would be staying year round.  Last week we found out my school is staying year round next year and would then be re-evaluated in the fall for the following year.  I'm sure my school will be changing to traditional, it's only a matter of when.  In the meantime, I'm thrilled beyond words to at least have one more year to savor my off tracks, make some extra money and figure out how to make do with getting no pay check the first August we switch over....but I won't think about that now, I'll relish in the good news for a while first.

I did my taxes early this year and to reward myself a bit I bought myself a Nook.  Hooray!  I'm so in love with it and don't regret my decision in going with the Nook vs. the Kindle.  I really do think it has a lot to do with personal preference.   I've already downloaded quite a few books, and find it so satisfying to know I have a wide variety to pick from in one hand held device.  There are so many books that I've already put on my wish list, and I'm looking forward to enjoying my off track with some Nook time.

The NOOK

I've been looking at the original Nook (Barnes and Noble) and the Kindle (Amazon) since they first came out a year or so ago.  I've been liking the Nook a little better so far since it seems to have a bit more to it.  You're able to "lend" books to friends that also have a Nook, and there's a wider variety of ebooks to purchase.  I'm a huge fan of reading, and I wasn't sure at first if I would like not being able to touch my pages and actually feel the books.  Also, would the screen strain my eyes?  I was worried that once my memory space was filled up with books I would have to start deleting them to order more.  Ack!  What an awful thought that would be!

I've since found out you can have unlimited amount of books saved in an archive and I've heard the screen looks a lot like a book and doesn't strain your eyes like on a computer.  I've also found out that you can check out ebooks from the library.  The Nook has a dictionary to look up words while you're reading and a bookmark function, etc.  I have a bunch of gift cards to Barnes and Noble that are burning a hole in my pocket to be used, so that would be a good down payment to my Nook, don't ya think?  So, everyone who has a Nook or Kindle, what do you think?  Or if you don't have one, what have you heard?  Pros?  Cons?