From the Files of "What the Hell Was I Thinking?"

Two thoughts:

• Like the masochist that I am, I again enrolled in NaBloPoMo. I made it through last year, even in my last term of graduate school, so I should be able to do so again this year. Of course, I will admit (now that it's after the fact) to a wee bit of back-dating on days when I didn't quite make it in by midnight. So I'm going to try not to do that this year.
• I agreed to participate in the costume contest at work tomorrow. Staff members are dressing up as movie characters and there is a contest among the advisory classes to see which class can guess the most. There is also a prize for the costume that stumps the most classes. I'd tell you who I'm dressing up as, but then I'd have to kill you. Plus, my costume isn't quite finished yet. I put in about two hours on it last night and I might have another hour tonight, but I don't think a single kid will guess it. The only way will be if some English teacher helps their class cheat.

That's all for now. Have to save all my thoughts for Thursday and beyond.

Where the Heck Have You... Oh Wait, That Was Me...

Yes, I realize I've been MIA lately. I've been swamped. And exhausted. That's it, end of excuses.

Nothing real special going on, just very busy doing my new job. And half of my old job. I love the stuff I'm doing for my new job. I just wish I had the whole day to do it. Which really seems reasonable to me, seeing as the previous person had all day to do it. I really hope things change in that direction next year.

B.'s class was in for their library time yesterday, but he had a sub. The kids told me he had to take his daughter to the doctor and then he had to go renew his driver's license because it was his birthday. I had forgotten it was his birthday. I did get a little tinge of sadness when I realized it was yet another special day we wouldn't spend together, but I also think it's a good sign that I forgot it was his birthday. I'm very good at remembering birthdays. Maybe it's another clue that I really am getting past him.

It's been a very expensive couple of weeks around the home of the beagle. First was the unexpected car repair a couple weeks ago, then the very next day I ordered my new glasses. I have vision insurance, but it doesn't cover the thinner lenses for practically blind people like me. Or at least my eye doctor's office says it doesn't. A co-worker of mine says differently, so I have to ask them to re-check my coverage when I go to pick them up. I also had to order more contacts. And then, last week, it was yearly check-up and vaccination time for Copper and Coal. I think it would be cheaper to have actual children... at least then my insurance would kick in!

Speaking of the fur children, they claim that both of them need their teeth cleaned. They've been telling me this about Coal for about three years now, but it's the first they've mentioned it on Copper. This is a pricy procedure because it's done under general anesthesia. While I will conceed that Copper's breath is NASTY, I still think teeth cleaning for pets is a bit of a scam. We had dogs and cats for years growing up that never had their teeth cleaned and it didn't seem to affect them.

And Copper has ear infections again, too. This time it's both yeast and bacteria, so I had to get new medicine to treat both (last time it was just yeast). So that was some extra cash. And she just loves being held still while I stick something in her ear twice a day, too. Damn her big cute floppy beagle ears!

And one of the kids keeps throwing up on the backroom carpet everyday while I'm gone to work (three days in a row this week). Why can't the guilty party puke on the kitchen floor? Why the carpet? Neither of them ever acts sick when I'm home, so I can't tell for sure which it is, but I think it's Copper because it's never on the living room carpet (which Coal can get to, but Copper cannot). So tomorrow I have to sequester Copper to just the kitchen and see if there's any difference.

My metabolism seems to have finally caught up with me. Ever since I went to Hawaii, it's been out of control. As in, no working out and eating whatever I want while still dropping pounds. And then I was still maintaining while I ate out several times a week and sat on the couch. But now it's started to creep back up, so it's time to start running again. I just hope that alone will do it because I really don't want to go back to counting points. I'll do it if I have to, but the last three months without it have been so nice.

How's that for a random recap?

The Best Laid Plans... Take Two

We were doing a special event at school this morning that made me get out the door at 6:30. My plan was to get there around 7:00, get a couple things done, then catch a ride with someone else to the elementary school. I woke up craving McDonald's breakfast, so I cruised though the drive-thru.

While in the drive-thru, I had the radio off and I started hearing a funny noise. I dismissed it as coming from someone else's car. I gathered my food and turned onto the street, but was still hearing the noise. I turned the radio off once again and thought, "What the heck is that noise?"

And just then the battery light came on, freaking me way the hell out. I really don't handle situations like this well.

I pulled into the gas station and turned everything off, but left the motor running, knowing that, if the problem was electrical, I might not get it started again. And that was when I saw the steam coming from under the hood.

So I turned the car off, called a tow truck, called Principal to tell him I would be late, and waited. I did eventually get the Jeep delivered to the dealership and caught a ride to work with the shuttle van. I hadn't even gotten to work before the shuttle driver got a phone call that turned out to be for me. They had already found the problem (the water pump) and had an estimate for me. No one likes spending money on car repairs, but it wasn't bad as those things go.

I made it to work, having only missed the first hour and went about the rest of my day. But it's funny how one event can turn your entire day. I felt like I was in a haze. I had missed the morning's fun and now had to shell out over $400 for car repairs. Not how I planned on today going.

But it could have been worse. I could have been stranded in a bad part of town, or the repairs could have been much more. I guess I'll just hope that tomorrow is uneventful.

The Best Laid Plans

Four weeks after school began and I finally came home without any work that needed to be done tonight. I spent a little time updating my MySpace page and had every intention of writing a nice long post here to update my life.

And then my laptop froze up. Again. It's been doing that lately.

Now, if there's a silver lining to this, at the time my laptop froze up I was chatting with my friend "Ryan." Once it froze, I ran out and logged into Messenger on my desktop to continue the conversation. I told him what happened and, as it happens, Ryan has some expertise with computers, so he ended up coming over and working on it.

He didn't solve all of its problems, or at least we don't think he did, but some of its more minor issues seem to have gone away. That makes me happy. And he promised to continue thinking on the problem and see what else he could come up with.

Plus, he's really cute and I like to look at him when he's sitting on my couch. Tonight he was all scruffy because he hasn't shaved his beard off. I got to touch it. Damn he's hot.

In other news...

My new job is going well. I love it. I just wish I could do it full time instead of still having those two classes each day. I've had some minor victories in the past few weeks where I've solved some problems for some people and figured out how to do some things on my own. I have fewer and fewer questions for my predecessor, and, in fact, I'm finding that I prefer to figure things out on my own over having her show me things. She's a wonderful lady and I owe so much to her, but I find that she's, on occasion, getting in my way. Today she was in subbing for my parapro and she got a bunch of stuff done that I simply hadn't had time to do yet. However, she was also on my office computer all day. And, at the end of the day, rather than asking me if I wanted her to, she went ahead and ran the system back-up (which I need practice doing) then shut down the computers. Too bad I wasn't done with them. She really is a fantastic person and there is so much more I can learn from her, but I also know there are things that I am already doing better than she ever did.

For the most part, I'm getting along fine with B. He does get obnoxious on occasion, but that's just his personality. It has nothing to do with our history. The worst part is not his fault. Tomorrow our Volunteer will be in and she is one of B.'s neighbors. She just goes on and on about how nice his girlfriend is and how she hopes things work out for them. I just have to stand there and grit my teeth. I usually try to pretend I am engrossed in something so I can keep from looking at her when she keeps talking about how happy and in love they are. It's not Volunteer's fault. She has no idea that B. and I once were in love. She has no idea that he used to tell me how much he wanted to marry me. Or that he broke my heart when he changed his mind about all that and neglected to fill me in.

On a non-work-related topic, I'm tentatively planning a weekend trip to Chicago this fall with my friend, "Amber" (I could have sworn I'd assigned her a name before, but I'll be darned if I can find it!). Amber and I have been friends since elementary school and always have a great time when we get together, so I'm really looking forward to this trip. It will be so nice to get away, plus, I've never experienced Chicago except on school trips, so it will be nice to take a more "grown-up" trip. I'm hoping we'll get to go see Wicked while we are there. Amber hasn't seen it yet and I am dying to see it again.

Time for The Bachelor... Hey, I'm taking advantage of this free evening!