It's Over Already????

I can't believe the weekend is over already. :( After resting Friday evening, we woke up early Saturday and were excited about heading out to the beach. Since it was pretty early (8AM) I decided to take advantage of the morning and go for a long run while Robert took care of some errands before we left. We finally hit the road around 10 and were there before we knew it. Our first stop was the Palms Cafe for lunch. The food was so good and the service was great. They offer suntan lotion and flip flops for their guests which I thought was such a great idea. We will definitely be back. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach with friends and then later enjoyed a great dinner at Blackbeard's and some drinks at Tequila Sunset. It's no surprise we are so tired today. This afternoon we decided it was time for us to buy a TV stand. Right now we have one but when we first bought it it wasn't intended for that. After two hours in the furniture store we finally decided on not just a TV stand but a new table too! Here is what we got: just the stand, not all the extra shelves on the side and top


Can't wait for them to deliver!!!!!

No question is a dumb question

As a teacher I've told my kids year after year that no question is a dumb question but today I think I finally realized (on two different occasions) that unfortunately that's not true. It happened while at the dentist getting my second root canal. Like last time they were all ready for me and took me right in but when he injected the first two shots to numb the area it just didn't feel like it had the first time around. I figured maybe it was just that I was nervous. Well, it wasn't. As he started working I was wincing and tensing up so bad because I could feel everything he was doing. So what does he do? Asks me "Would you like more anesthesia?" Uh, yeah. Good example of a not so good question. The second occasion happened at home with Robert. I casually threw out that an airline was running a special on flights to Vegas. I then asked him "Should we go?" That's right, a dumb question and I realized it as soon as I asked it. Robert LOVES Vegas and immediately I saw his mind working. He ran around and found the laptop and started researching dates, times, hotels and even worked on a budget. I'll be more careful next time I want to tell my students no question is a dumb question.

It's Just Sad

Jon and Kate plus 8 is one of my favorite shows so when I saw last night's season premier being rerun tonight I couldn't wait to watch it. About 5 minutes into the show it was just too uncomfortable to watch. Yes, I have heard the rumors and seen the tabloid magazines but to actually see the two of them on camera trying to explain what their family is going through now was tough. I'm sure this is not how they wanted to have to deal with the situation so why continue taping then???? There's no ignoring that there are major issues they are all having to deal with. The parents don't seem to think it is affecting their kids but I don't buy it. It has to. I think that was the hardest part to watch during the show, the shots they had of Kate and the kids and then Jon and the kids. It was clear they are not the same. At the end of the show they asked each of them what was in their future and neither one could give an answer. Now, I know it's none of my business but I just can't help to think about how entertaining it used to be to watch the show and yesterday's episode was just so sad.

A Much Needed Long Weekend

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all the brave men and women who have fought and are fighting for our country and for us.

Well we are officially back from paradise (the beach) and it was so great to have a three day weekend. We got to spend some much needed time with family at Ethan's baptism, some R&R at the beach, some nice color thanks to a beautiful day yesterday, and even managed to get in some running along the way!

Saturday was so busy and started out pretty early. I woke up around 6:20 to make my 7:30 5K. I didn't stay around to get my official time but judging by how far I got on my playlist I'm thinking it was between 26 and 27 minutes. There were some really fast girls out there and I did my best to keep up. After that it was on to the baptism which was a very nice ceremony followed by lunch at Carinos.

Although we got to the beach a little later than expected on Saturday we were still able to set everything up before the sun went down. We enjoyed a great dinner courtesy of Stacy, her parents and Esteban. Their setup was awesome with tons of food, drinks and even live music. The firework display was one of the best we've seen yet! Yesterday was such a great day out there. Some of our friends had their jet ski out on the beach and we were lucky enough to take it out for a while and have some fun. For dinner Robert threw some steaks on the grill for the three of us. That's right, even Charlie got his own cut!

It's always so sad to come back but with no school today it should be a short and quick work week. We have a field trip planned for tomorrow and lots of other activities the rest of the week. Summer is closer and closer and I can't wait!

Oh no, I think I have This

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically. This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT!!! This virus will wipe out your private life entirely. If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Thanks for this Stacy, it helped me get through the looooonnnngggg afternoon. :)

Where's the Fast Forward Button????

On this Tuesday night (and 10 days away from summer vacation) how I wish we could just hit the fast forward button to this weekend. Here's what I'm looking forward to:
1. A Saturday morning 5K


2. This cute little guy's baptism on Saturday


3. Heading out here for a couple of days with my favorite two men: Robert & Charlie

and
4. No school on Monday


Since that fast forward button doesn't seem to exist I guess I'll have to settle with fast forwarding through the commercials on my DVR:)

Great Start to the Week

WARNING : If you're not a teacher in Texas the following post may seem a little boring. If you are or know someone who is you'll completely understand how a few percentages can mean so much.

Around 9 this morning one of our counselors walked into my classroom and said that our principal wanted to see me in her office. Immediately my heart sank and I knew the only reason she would be pulling me out of class in the middle of the morning was because our Science TAKS scores were in. Sure enough as I made my way to her office I see other 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers headed in the same direction. All 19 uf us crammed into her office, shut the door and waited for her to begin. As a school we did awesome with all grade levels scoring at least a 93% or better in all areas that were tested. After she went through and shared results with the other two grade levels she glances at her papers and says "Ok 5th grade now for science." She took a long pause which worried all of us and then said "Gosh, it's 99% passing with 55% commended!" We were thrilled. That's the highest we've been in a while. It was such a relief to hear that. My class did an AWESOME job.
We had 100% passing and 19 out of 23 students who earned commended performance. For science that is great! The standard for passing is 75% and to earn commended they have to miss no more than 3 questions. They were so excited when I told them. Finally we can relax and enjoy the last two weeks of school!!!!!! Robert had good news this morning too. His school met AYP standards after struggling for the last couple of years!! They've been through a lot of changes to try and get their scores to where they needed to be and it's great to see them find success. No more headaches, ulcers and lost sleep over TAKS!!! Well, at least until next school year!

Thank you Holly!!!!

A few weeks ago while visiting Kristen's blog I decided to partake in my first swap. I was a little nervous at first but after communicating with Holly, my swap partner and new blog friend I knew it was going to be so much fun. We each shared 6 of our favorite things and I had so much fun shopping for her. Everytime I went out to a store I found myself looking for something pink and cute for her. Saturday after I got home from our run in Corpus I arrived to an AWESOME surprise ---- my swap package from Holly. Here's a pic of all the great stuff I got: It was like my birthday all over again. As I started going through it I thought to myself "Oh no, did I send her enough????" She was too kind with the gossip magazines, OPI nail polish, too cool insulated Starbucks cup, notecards and those always fun gift cards. Everything was perfect Holly, thanks! Go by and visit her blog, she's so sweet! A big thanks to Kristen to for hosting!

From the Beach to the Bay with the "Sole" Sistas

I'm so sad the weekend is coming to an end because it was soooo much FUN. In a span of only 24 hours, my Beach to Bay Crew and I managed to drive about 300 miles (to and from Corpus),stuff ourselves at lunch and dinner, squeeze ourselves into an unusually small Holiday Inn room, laugh, help others try to be more thoughtful, and oh yeah finished a RELAY MARATHON!!!!!! All of that with only about 5 hours of sleep too!!!

Our first Beach to Bay experience was AWESOME!(Yes ladies I already have the date for next years---May 15, 2010) Friday night we spent a lot of time trying to figure out the logistics of it all. Who was going to drop off who, what time we all needed to be at our legs and where and how in the world we were all going to meet up after it all with over 12,000 people participating. Luckily it all worked out. It was so great to see each other running towards the finish line and ready to pass the baton (pvc pipe) on to the next person. As the fourth leg, I was able to actually run through the entire Naval Base in Corpus. Considering I would probably never have been allowed access onto the base otherwise I thought it was a great experience despite the heat. It really was like a whole new world in there. They have everything they could possibly need and were so gracious to us as we made it through our 4.7 miles. After the race we all met up for lunch at Landry's before heading back home.

So having spent a couple of days with just the girls, now I'm going to channel my inner Oprah and share what I know for sure:

1. Mariana was born with an internal GPS. Without it who knows where we would have ended up on Friday.
2. Apparently you cannot run UNDER the JFK Causeway in Corpus. One must run OVER it to get to the other side of the island. And for future reference it's leg 3 and not 2 who does this.
3. Causeways are built so tall so that ferrys can indeed go under them.
4. It can be really hard for some people to be thoughtful. Take for example friend A who prepares goodie bags for us all and then friend B who laughs at others "clown" pajamas. Not thoughtful I know but we've made a pact to help her get better.
and
5. The race directors really knew what they were doing when they decided to name the event Beach to Bay because after 26.2 miles, you really do go from the beach to the bay. Who would have thought??????

Our next big challenge:

The Time Is Near

Created by OnePlusYou

That's right my crazy idea four months ago to get 5 of my friends to get togther and run a relay marathon is now only a day away. Tomorrow after work we will drive to Corpus, squeeze ourselves into a room at the local Holiday Inn, enjoy a pasta dinner maybe, and then say our prayers before going to bed that we all make it quickly safely through our leg. We are still a little unsure about exactly how we are all going to get to our starting points but I'm hoping that when we pick up our packets tomorrow, the race officials there can clear things up for us. Tonight I decided to go out for a quick four miler since I knew I definetely wanted to take tomorrow off. It was nice to go out while the sun was still out for a change. I'm going to try and do that more often and make get a little sun while working out. I also worked on cleaning up the house since I won't be here tomorrow and don't think i'll be up for it on Sunday. Isn't funny how taking a trip to get away sometimes creates even more work for us???

Addiction through Association

Hi, my name's Jen and I'm addicted to eBay.

No real surprise right. Well last week while Aurora was over for dinner we casually talked about me shopping for her on eBay. That night she found this White House Black Market dress: I asked her how much she was willing to pay and voila three days later she was the brand new owner of the dress. Monday I get a text from her in the middle of the afternoon about another WHBM number she was interested in. This morning when I looked at the bid history I knew this one wasn't going to be so easy. After an intense bidding war this afternoon I was so excited to text her and tell her dress no. 2 was now hers too!!!!! In a matter of a week she was able to get two new dresses for under $100. That's crazy for dresses from there. Of course what does she respond with "What should I get next? I need summer tops and shorts." Oh no I thought I've created a monster.

Biggest Loser and RHONJ

Although I haven't watched the 3 hour finale of the Biggest Loser (must do tomorrow) I did just visit the NBC website and saw that Helen is the winner. Wow! I thought for sure Tara had it in the bag. Then again did you check out those guns and teeny tiny waist on Helen??? From what I gathered online it was a total of 140 pounds. That's amazing! I can't help but wonder though what happens after the cameras are off and Gillian and Bob are gone. She seems like a tough (heehee) woman though,she'll be fine. All of them are just so inspirational. When they ran that marathon last week I cried every time one of them crossed the finish line. What an accomplishment!

What I did watch tonight was the Real Housewives of New Jersey.(Did I miss the RHONY reunion??) Loved it and am hooked. I thought Dina looked familiar as soon as I saw her and then remembered her and her husband from an episode of Platinum Weddings. It all started to make sense. Can I just say that some of those women scare me. Really. I would hate to cross some of them in any way. The teasers they show at the end of the episode are so full of drama! I love it!

The Root of the Problem

So today I had root canal #1 performed and so far so good. I was surprised by how quickly the endodontist and his assistant performed the procedure. They took me back as soon as I got there and had everything ready to go. All day I had prepared myself for a long, painful couple of hours at his office and I'm so glad it was the complete opposite. I was in and out in about an hour! 6 hours later (an episode of the View, Oprah, the news, a bowl of soup and all my maximum votes on Dancing With the Stars) the numbness has worn off and I'm so glad I'm still doing fine. Now although I'm grateful for their attentiveness and gentleness at the office, I still don't understand why these procedures are so expensive. How do people without insurance do this? I've been in and out of dentists' office for the last month or so and on a once-a-month teacher paycheck it's not easy even with insurance. The cost for a root canal at his office is almost $980!!!!!!!!! Just typing that ridiculous number makes my tooth ache. Thank god my insurance covered 90%!!!!! Two weeks until the next one! I better start saving.

Birthday Week Recap

Wow, I think this has been the longest I've gone without posting! Guess that's what a birthday will do to you! For my birthday on Thursday I celebrated at our Teacher Appreciation Dinner. It never fails every year this falls right on my birthday so Robert and I always know to make plans for the night after. Thursday was fun with great margaritas, mexican food and karaoke. My group and I took top honors again this year by performing our own rendition of I'm Too Sexy. We switched out the words in the song to include teacher things like being too sexy for lesson plans, staff mettings and after school duty. My prinicipal loved it! Our PTO really goes all out for us during Teacher Appreciation Week. We get an hour lunch everyday with homemade food and desserts and then at our dinner we get these:
$50 to Target---wow, they really love us! Holding on to it for a Garmin watch.

Friday night we meet a big group of our friends for dinner at Palenque grill. The food and drinks are so good there and their service is phenomenal. My friends surprised me with that gorgeous cake. It was soooo good and isn't it adorable????. After dinner we went to a couple of bars for some drinks with friends. They are all so sweet for making it out on a Friday night after a long week. Thanks!

Last night it was dress up time one more time. Robert's school had their prom last night and as an administrator his presence was required. All their kids seemed to have a blast. It's amazing how different they are from my little 5th graders. Biggest moment of the night was when a group of girls locked their keys in their car. Robert saved the day by somehow managing to get them out. They were so excited, even asked him to pose for a picture with them so they could always remember their Senior Prom!

Today the celebrations continue with Mother's Day!

To: Me From: Me

After my last 10K a few weeks ago I decided to invest in a running skirt. I had seen a couple I thought I liked at Target and then one evening while browsing through Ebay I found the Core Running Skirt by Nike. I did a little research and price comparisons and decided to go ahead and bid on it. It was almost double the price than those at Target but also looked like it be a little more durable. After a small bidding war I won!!! I've been tracking it since Monday and it looks like my gift for myself from myself should be here tomorrow. That's what I call good timing!

Cinco de Drink-o

I have to give credit to my co-worker Judith for that title. I loved it when she shared it with us this afternoon over luch. Tonight was day 2 of my b-day week festivities and it was even better than yesterday. Robert took over dinner again tonight with a little help from some friends to BBQ some fajitas and chicken. They then made some yummy quesadillas and margaritas. He even bought me some of these which I had been dying to try:
It was perfect with dinner. The fact that some of those friends are still here glued to the TV watching the Mavs play makes me think maybe today was not so much about me. Oh well I got dinner and drinks out of it without much effort from me and that's always a good thing. :)

Too Cute Giveaway

Ashley Brooke Designs and Misadventures of a Newlywed have teamed up for a giveaway that is simply too cute. Ashley is giving one lucky Misadventure reader a free custom design on any of her products! Go over and visit both blogs--you'll be hooked!

Let the Birthday Festivities Begin

My 5th graders have been asking me for a couple of weeks now when my birthday is and what I'd like and how I'm going to celebrate it. Since they seemed to be so excited about it I thought I'd get into it too. On the way home from lunch yesterday I decided to try and do something every day up until Thursday to celebrate. Robert stepped in tonight and swapped places with me in the kitchen to get dinner ready. It was perfect he did the grocery shopping (for the most part), prepared everything while I went out for a short run and had it ready by the time I got back. It was so nice to not have to worry about making dinner tonight. Here's a picture of him in the kitchen getting things ready: Tomorrow we've decided to celebrate with quesadillas and margaritas in honor of Cinco de Mayo. He did such a good job today he's getting another guest spot in the kitchen tomorrow.:)

What a Sunday!

I'm so glad I got to bed early last night because we had a full day today! The long run I wanted to take this morning didn't happen in the A.M. Instead we enjoyed breakfast at his grandmas. As we walked in they were already starting to clean up but she took our "breakfast order" right away. She is so good to us! On the way home we both decided that we needed to get our chores done today. For Robert that means cutting the lawn, for me it's laundry, picking up and MOPPING! I hate mopping but am so glad I got it over with! We decided to reward ourselves for our hard work by going out for lunch instead of making something at home. The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing the aisles of Tuesday Morning and Target. We have some graduations, baptisms, and communions coming up so the search for gifts was on. We ended up with a couple and a some cute ideas for the others. After I got home I decided it was time to make up that long run I missed this morning. I met Aurora out for a run and it was just what I needed. I set out with a goal and made it and she did awesome too. I ended up running 8.15 miles! I'm sure I'll be hurting a little tomorrow but it's so worth it.

Leelou Giveaway

One of the blogs I visit pretty frequently is Leelou Blogs. If you haven't visited them stop by and look at their cute pre-made templates. They even have a free gallery for some of them! This week they are having a great giveaway. Stop by, browse around and get yourself entered!

The ArtWalk last night was fun and Jesse's art work was awesome! His creativity and talent is unbelievable. On our way home Robert and I talked about how we need to invest in one of his pieces. I think I have a favorite but everytime I see something new of his I change my mind. Here are some pics of some of his masterpieces:

This morning started off rough. I woke up to realize that I had left my debit card at a bar we stopped at on our way home. Actually we realized it last night but didn't want to go back and get it. That was my first stop. I then rushed to Wal-Mart to pick up some food for Charlie. I'm seriously such a neglectful mother. On my way home Robert called me to tell me he had just received a call from his dad and it wasn't good news. His grandmother had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital waiting to be taken into surgery. :( I rushed home to change so we could head to the hospital. Half way there we got a call letting us know to head back home. His grandmother was going to be taken in for surgery and we wouldn't be able to see her until 5. We both napped for a while and then went back around 4. We finally got to see her and she looked so good. She was still a little out of it from the meds but said she already felt better. We'll be back to visit her tomorrow and hope it's more good news. I've really slacked off with my running and am starting to feel it. I NEED a long run tomorrow and am going to try and get it in early. Off to bed now, need to be ready when that alarm goes off!

Goodbye April, Hello May!!!!

Where did April go? When I woke up this morning I couldn't believe it was already the first day of May. I think the fact that we tested twice this month (beginning and end) played a huge part in April flying by. May is always such a busy month for us. We called the park at the beach to cancel the reservation for our RV for the month of May yesterday.:( As we talked about what will be going on in May we thought it might be better to just save that money for something else. The next few weekends we will be busy with graduations, baptisms, birthday parties, Mother's Day, the end of the school year, and of course Memorial Day weekend! Just typing them all out tired me out! That tired, worn out feeling must be going around because today I had 4 students out! I know for sure 1 was sick but the others I'm not so sure about. Tonight I'm looking forward to the last ArtWalk of the season. One of my friend's husbands is having a solo art show and I can't wait to see his creativity displayed for us all. I had thought about running in another 5K tomorrow but that may change if we decide to stay out a little late tonight. :)