TEXAS OR BUST. Well, next week at least.

I’ve tried to contain my excitement, but I can’t help it anymore.  Which is why I will shout from the highest of highs, from the mountain tops, from the roof:

I’M GOING TO TEXAS IN SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!

I wanted to use a lot more exclamation points, but I had to restrain myself a little bit.

I’m so excited, I even made a to-do list (thanks husband, for imprinting your annoying list making habits on me).

1.  Go to Chuy’s.
2.  Go to Iguana Joe’s.
3.  Go to Freebirds.
4.  Go to Gringo’s.
5.  Shop at the Galleria.
6.  See my cousin, and my baby cousin, and my other preggers cousin.
7.  Go to Rice Village.
8.  Go to the half-price books in Rice Village.
9.  Travel up and down Westheimer with the windows down.
10.  Go to the half-price books on Westheimer.
11.  See the gparents.
12.  See nine puppies that the dog just had.
13.  Sleep in, eat lots, don’t talk about work, don’t think about work, don’t dream about work.

I have more on my list, but I think that’ll do for now.  Is it bad that the first four things are all eating Mexican food?  I mean, we have decent tex-mex here, but there’s nothin’ like a bowl of salsa and green dip at Iggie’s, or jalapeno-ranch dip at Chuy’s.  Yeah, I’m a glutton for chips and dip.

I’m also excited because it’ll be vacation, and since I’m sick again, for the millionth time, I’ll actually be able to chill out, relax, and rest.  You know, in between stuffing my face and shopping.

Cheers.

It came upon a midnight clear…

I’ve been that crazy kind of busy this week.  But the good kind of busy.  The kind that I get from working three-ish jobs.

We bought a Christmas tree!  Last year, it was tiny and black and with glittery and neon ornaments.  It was awesome.  We still have it, but it’s going to be put up in the bedroom.  This year we wanted a decent size, but cheap, tree.  So we went out on black Friday to take advantage of the non-Christmas deals and bought a tree and ornaments from target.  That, coupled with the old-school ornaments from mine and my mother’s childhood (thanks gma!) makes for one gooooood-lookin’ tree.

 

Okay, I’ll admit it, most of the ornaments are really these awesome decorative balls we got out of the decor section.  We just stuck a hook in them.  ‘Cuz that’s how we roll.

And to kick this Christmas off right, we saw Santa and his elves parachute at the park.  Yeah. Like, legit.

Ghosts of Thanksgivings Past.

I always get sad this day every year; the last day of Thanksgiving break.

Call me crazy, but Thanksgiving is hands-down my all-time favorite holiday.
I’m sure it’s because my family is the best family ever. (Don’t be jealous.)

It also may or may not be directly related to the fact that I got engaged the day before Thanksgiving.

I also love seeing my family grow.
And grow and grow and grow.

grandparents, granddaughters, and first great grandchild

And we usually average 50-75 people.

This year was different.  For the first time in 23 years I did not attend the family Thanksgiving.
Instead, the huzzband and I hosted our own with his family.
We cooked the best turkey ever, watched a movie, and ate four pies (that’s right, one per person).
And all drama aside, I had a wonderful time.

The In-Laws and The Frosts

Probably because his family is clearly just as crazy as my own.

Thanks-givings.

I think Thanksgiving week should be a mandatory, statewide, week-long holiday.  Like, fo realz, yo.  I hate having to spend half the best week of the year working.  But, I guess I’m in the real life now, so…whatever.

Here’s my cliched list of thankfulness for this year’s Thanksgiving:

I’m thankful that I have a husband.  Because having a husband means that I’m married for life and I don’t have to worry about trying to find the right guy.  Which means that I can watch Twilight twice in one weekend and I can still go home to a man at night.  Of course, that man probably isn’t exactly as happy as he could be after being dragged to a movie he never wanted to watch, but he is a man nonetheless.

And yes, true story.  I saw the movie on Friday and then again on Sunday.  But in my defense, the theatre was so crowded on Friday and we sat in a row right in front of loud talkers that it turns out I quite literally missed about half the dialogue.  So, it was sorta kinda like a whole new movie on Sunday.

I’m thankful for the weather.  As terribly cold as it is, it has allowed us to keep the AC turned off for two weeks and subsequently save on our electric bill.  Because it’s all about pinching pennies when your poorlyweds.

I’m thankful for seasons, because it means I get to have views like this from my balcony.  I can’t wait until it snows.

I’m thankful that we’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, instead of going to Texas, because my husband is going overboard on the foods he wants to cook so we went to BJs and ended up getting a 24 pack of IBC rootbeer.  But, now we’re down to 20.  I’m going to miss my family, sure, but this year is going to be somethin’ else, I know it.   (Wait, make that 18.)

I am thankful for going Christmas shopping last year after Christmas, because when we opened the boxes to see what we have, I’d forgotten about all the great stuff we had bought.  Like our Happy Hannukah dish rags covered in dreidls.  And our stuffed Santa and Elves toys.  And I’m thankful that on Friday, Christmas finally begins and we get to buy our first ever adult-sized Christmas tree.  This year it’ll even be green.

last year's tree: 1.5 ft tall and silvery black

I have a cornucopia of things to say, but ne’er a corn to ucopia in.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to write about forever, being that I’m finally over my deathbed sickness and all.

But I can’t think of a single thing today.  So instead, I’ll do a five finger update.

Finger One:  I’m applying to Graduate School!! We’ll see if I actually get in before I give the details, but I’m very excited.  Now I just gotta find some professors who will remember me enough to write a recommendation letter.  That’s honestly the biggest obstacle to overcome in this whole shebang.  And the huzzband is starting his masters in March.  We’ll both be students.  It feels weird.

Finger Two:  We painted our bedroom this weekend.  So instead of three ugly white walls (one was already painted a pretty blue) we now have a pretty blue wall with pretty blue stripes running along the other three walls.  And we rearranged the furniture.  Eventually there will be a picture, but I have to hang things and buy things still.  So, soon.

Finger Three:  I’m not quite sure why I’m doing this with “fingers” but I’m too lazy now to change it.  Now that I’m over this whole clogged-head-no-voice-cough-sick stuff, I’ve started listening to my students.  Like, really listening, when they think I’m not.  Mostly because I can finally hear what they’re saying.  Secondly because I cannot get over how hilarious they are:

Student #1:  Mrs. Frost, when my dog poops, he does it like this. *Sticks but out in air and turns in circles*
Me:  Student #1 that is disgusting!  We are kindergarteners now, and we don’t talk about things like that *says in scolding voice*
Student #2:  Mrs. Frost, this weekend we went to the beach and my dog ate a rat.
Me:  Student #2!  What I did just say to Student #1?  That’s gross, we don’t talk about gross things.
Student #2:  Well he spit it out. *Says in a voice that sounds as if this fact is the difference between pleasantries and gross-itries*

Finger Four:  Speaking of my students, I taught one to read today.  Which sounds kind of weird, but I have really really smart students, so I haven’t gotten the chance to actually teach one to read.  But I did this one.  It was awesome.

Finger Five:  Sometimes I’m a facebook creeper (okaayyyy, all the time) but I found this band on my feed and I have to say, I’m just a tad obsessed.  But rightly so.  Thank you kind stranger for posting it on a fellow “friend’s” wall just for my hearing pleasure.

Maine-ing.

I’ve been sick.

And not the stuffy nose, a bit of coughing sick, either.  The stuffy nose, a bit of coughing, with fever, headache, nausea, fatigue and more kind of sick.  And I’ve been sick since the beginning of October.  According to WebMD it could be about 20 different things, including diabetes, pneumonia, or tonsilitis.  But I’m neither of those things.  And I’m not pregnant–I have a pee-stick and a blood test to prove it (thank God).  According to the nurse practitioner, I got a virus.  And then I got another virus.  And then I probably got another one on top of that. Which sucks because I haven’t participated in any of my favorite fall activities, like apple picking, pumpkin carving, or corn-mazing.

Dang these kindergarteners and their runny noses and New England specific strains of flu-like symptoms.
Because I have every single thing that my students have.
In the order they have gotten it.

But my sickness is the reason for my blogging absence.  Because I still have to work, see, and by the time I get home I don’t want to do anything but watch The Big Bang Theory.  And I’ve been watching that a lot.  Sometimes the huzzband and I sing “Soft Kitty” in rounds.

This weekend we went to Maine.  I love Maine.  I love the old house that my husband grew up in, and the fact that you are completely cutoff from civilization in a very real and slightly disturbing way.  I spent a lot of time sleeping, taking pictures with my new (old) camera, and generally doing nothing but resting.

I came back with a migraine, more nausea, and hot flashes (early menopause maybe??) but perhaps I’ll beat this cold soon, since my mommy is coming to visit on Thursday to take care of me.

But back to the weekend.

A few weeks ago my Mother-in-Law and I did a garage-sale run and I found this awesome old camera that still worked.  So I bought it.  And this weekend I bought film and took lots of pictures.  Of course, I think I exposed the film too much to the sunlight when I was trying to figure out how to wind it back up, which is why you have all the light leaks, but I still think some of the pictures are pretty awesome.

First picture!  The husband standing out on the deck.

A fall tree in my husband’s grandmother’s yard.

Me and the husband at his “birthday” dinner.

What was even more crazy was when we got there, it was definitely fall, as evidenced by the pretty leaves.  But on Saturday night, it snowed 10 inches, so it was winter when we left.

First snowfall of the year!

Sunday morning in the backyard.

I don’t even know what kind of camera it is–nor do I really care–but I am going to look up how to use the settings and now that I know not to open the case until the film is wound back up, maybe there won’t be as many light leaks in the pictures.  Or maybe there will be.  Either way, I love taking pictures and not knowing what I’m going to get until it’s developed.

Marriaging at the airport.

I was planning on cleaning the house before my husband returned from his stint in Las Vegas.  I was also planning on freshening up my makeup, fixing my hair, and putting on a cute outfit but instead I’m sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching TV (he doesn’t get in for another hour yet).

Let’s face it.

Marriage is not dressing up when you don’t have to because the guy has already seen you when you’re coughing up mucus and haven’t showered in 3 days.  Honestly, I’m better looking now than the very early morning that I got up and took him to the airport.  So I feel like that’s enough of an improvement already, and no extra work on my part!

Yeah, sometimes we dress alike.
Okay, a lot of the time.

Revamping

After waking up before the sun to take my huzzband to the airport this morning, I’ve spent the last few hours cleaning, ironing, and watching tv.  I’m pretty sure a nap is due in there somewhere.

I’m looking to revamp the blog a little bit.  It started out as a book review, movie review, culture type thing, but now that I write book reviews elsewhere, I don’t really post them up here. And now that I’m teaching, I have almost zero time to do anything at all.

I’m thinking of changing this to more of a lifestyle blog.  A how I survive New England, as a not-so newlywed with a very long journey ahead of me kind of blog.

I’m looking for a new layout–but I have no idea how to manipulate html or css stuff, so that part will be a while.  (If you wanna help, please do!)

I’m also looking for new topics, new stories, new pictures to post.  I’m hoping this will go well.  But we’ll see.

I also really want to revamp my wardrobe and apartment style.  We’re here for the long haul, and I’m a working “professional” now.

Really, I just need change.

Until now, I leave you with this photo–my favorite one of the two of us–the one that stays in my car so I’ll remember what he looks like when he gets back on Thursday night.

and to think i took this with a disposable camera.

Time keeps on slippin’…

It’s been two months into my new job–4 weeks since the school year started–and I am loving it.

I get to work at 8:30 and am busy with parent/student drop-offs, making copies, general secretarial work, etc.  From 9-12 I homeschool a ninth grader, from 1-3 I teach kindergarten, from 330-445 I tutor a sixth grader and from 445-6 I do more secretarial work, all at the same school.  I love that my day is broken into segments so that I’m not always doing the same thing all the time.  It’s routine enough to keep me satisfied, but varied to keep my interest.  Plus, I love teaching kindergarten.

It’s been a little weird going from 12 months straight of not working (outside the home) or having any sort of routine/work schedule.  I literally would wake up and do whatever I wanted to do all day–not cleaning, not washing dishes, not doing laundry, etc. etc.  And as much as I am grateful for a job and I absolutely do not want to go back to the previous unemployment status, I have to admit, I miss having time.

I miss having time to waste, or to clean, or to read, or to take an hour long bath just because I could.  I miss having time to workout–or at least having energy to workout–and time to reorganize our closets and write blogs and watch tv on the internet.

So I’m excited about Columbus Day tomorrow, and the fact that I will have an entire day to do anything and everything I want–minus all things that cost money.  And since the huzzband will be gone on a business trip to Las Vegas, I will have nothing to distract me from my endless amount of time.

I plan on cooking, cleaning, organizing, trying to sell stuff on craigslist or getting rid of it via freecycle, reading books, writing reviews, and watching lots of netflix.  Or maybe just sit around on the couch.  I do have have sickness as an excuse for laziness.

I’m excited.  I’m looking forward to this day.  I won’t get another day like this until November when Veteran’s Day comes along.  And as much as I’ll be lonely at night when the huzzband won’t be here, at least I can do some time catchup.

nov 2009, two days after being engaged.

Yeah, I’ll miss this man.  But I sure am welcoming the quiet solitude of a lonely apartment.

A recap…sortakinda

I think this has been the busiest I’ve ever been in my life.  Scratch that, there was that one time when I had three ten page papers due in three different classes on three successive days, along with working, but after being unemployed for sooooo long, it’s been quite a hectic transition.

And by that I mean, we’ve eaten mostly take-out because I’m too busy/tired/sick/blase to cook and all everything is dirty.  Major apartment overhaul this weekend.

Recent Reads:
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (but really it’s by the memoir liar et. al)
I reviewed the movie already–I saw it before I read the book–but since I’m reviewing The Power of Six (whenever the library puts it on hold for me) for Daemon’s Books, I figured I’d need to read the first.  And wow, was it awesome. And by awesome I definitely mean in a Twilight teenage-scyfy kind of way.
I loved it.  It was so good. (I might write a better review later, but I am beat right now.)

The Legacy by Katherine Webb
I really am going to review this one better for Daemon’s, but let me just say, this book is awesome.  It had everything promised in Francine Rivers’ Legacy series and it delivered in a great way.  But of course it would, the author is English.

The Gap Year by Sarah Bird
Again, another review needed for Daemon’s.  This book is hilarious.  It’s told in the perspective of Mom and 18 year old daughter, but I found myself identifying with both characters.  And Bird had me laughing from the second page.

Awesome Tunes:
Owl City, specifically Honey and the Bee
I love electronica–when it’s done right.  Which means I love Owl City, Hellogoodbye, The Secret Handshake, and so on.  I’ve been listening to the All Things Bright and Beautiful album when I run at night.  How many times can I say awesome in a blog post?  I’m using sick-and-tiredness as my excuse.  This album is awesome.

Movie Madness:
Black Swan–Have ya seen it?  If so, you know it speaks for itself.
Sourcecode–Ahhhhh, so good.  And it doesn’t hurt that Jake Gyllenhal is so great to look at.

I think this is all I can muster for now.
Until next time, troops.