um...yeah...so....

Life has kicked me in the butt, and the blog has gone to the wayside.

I will post a brilliant entry soon, though. I have to get down my thoughts and memories about the fabulous homecoming weekend I spent in Columbia last weekend. It was a truly magical thing.

I love that town and my alma mater with all my heart. As fellow alum, Jon Hamm says in the ad, "Z-O-U, forever."

Excited!

Today I took a load of crap into my classroom. Sadly, I don't think I even got half of it in there, but it is a start.  And, what I did take in is already unpacked (amazing, I know).

Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised by my room!

It's very decent sized; I have two desks that form a wrap-around desk, a HUGE counter, lots of cabinets, a closet, two bulletin boards, and four big bookshelves and one small one. Plus, I've got a lot of natural light thanks to the big window and door by my desk.

Here's what it looks like:

This is from the front looking toward the back. My desk is next to the door and window.  All of the boxes on the desks have textbooks and novels. The teacher in the neighboring room had her daughters put them there so they could install my bookshelves.

 

 

FOUR bookshelves!!!! The small one is behind my desk.

Look at that counter!!! There are cabinets and drawers under it. The whiteboard is bookshelved by two matching bulletin boards.

My vantage point.

Sam says: I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's just a room. Now leave me alone. I've gone into sleeping bag mode, and I shouldn't be disturbed.

Day with Aunt Beth, Part 2

Taylor's choice for our day together was going to the Science Center of Iowa. So, we went to lunch first, and I made sure to time it so she had the option of being on the Channel 13 weather forecast at noon. But, she didn't want to do it, but at least I gave her the option.

I basically let her go on her own and just trailed behind. It's a hands-on museum, so I let her play with what she wanted to and added in my knowledge when necessary. This resulted in us blowing through the place in 32 minutes.

Taylor may have had the most fun in the toddler section of the science center.

Here she shows off her brute strength.

I had her for the rest of the afternoon, so I had to quickly think of an idea of what else to do. I suggested we go to Barnes and Noble, and she was thrilled. I had to put her on a limit of two books, otherwise she would have walked out with 20 (not that I would know anything about that). She was reading one as soon as we hit the car, and she curled up on the couch to finish it when we got back to the house.

But her dorkitude didn't end there. Last summer, I had the girls Kool-aid dye some yarn, which they then used to knit a bookmark. Taylor really took to it, and she had actually finished a dishcloth for her mom a few weeks before that. So, I had given her some needles and two balls of remnant yarn I had so she could make herself a scarf. I can't describe how proud I was when she showed me this:

It doesn't look like much, but there's only one error in there. That's pretty good considering she did all of that on her own. 

We finished the day with a trip to the mall to get some ice cream. I also let her window shop for a bit.

So, we had a nice dorky day. The dork gene runs strong in this family:)

Goal updates:

Um, the no new yarn thing, still not working. The shop got a lot of new sock yarn. I came home with two skeins - one for me, and one for Jeremy. I also heard that my favorite sock yarn will be coming in soon. Plus, I'm on the search for the World Cup sock yarn; I'm going to have obnoxious German knee highs for the next one:)

I have read a book a day so far. I've also been reading on my Kindle while I work out. It makes me less cranky about the entire thing.

A truce?

Sam and Miho haven't gotten along - ever. This is not Sam's choice; it's been Miho's. If he comes close to her, there's a lot of hissing and batting. And then Sam looks confused because all he wants to do is be her friend. It's been this way since we first got him:

So, imagine my surprise when I turned around one day and saw this:

I thought it was a fluke, and then the next day, it happened again:

It is a small step, but it's more than we've seen in the 3.5 years we've had Sammy (who manages to always look brilliant in photos).

Randoms

*Sorry for the blog silence. I was without  my laptop last week. My technology curse continued, and one of the Web sites that I visit had been hacked. This resulted in me getting a virus. The "humorous" thing about this virus is that is actually from a antivirus company. Basically, they hold you hostage because they pop up their antiviral program, and then they disable yours. Then, they say your computer is riddled with spyware and horrid virii. It meant we got to wipe my computer and start over.

*I broke down and got a new Zune. Mine took a bath in the pets' water dish (Jeremy knocked it off the counter). I'm very glad I got the new version. It's so light. And after loading it up with my favorite 90s music, I now have a better idea of why my dad thought I was addicted to heroin (nothing else, mind you -- just heroin) in high school. I listened to some angry stuff.

*Staying with the technology theme, thanks to my curse of gadgets hating me, in the past 3 years I have managed to kill 3 laptops (one was a work one and it was actually Sam's fault -- he stepped on it), render 2 Zunes useless, kill 2 or 3 phones, and the wii went kaputt, too. I say it is because of my electric personality; Jeremy doesn't buy this.

*Jeremy and I joined the Y. I've worked out every day since we joined. I have never liked exercising, and I still don't. It makes me hot, sweaty, and smelly. And I hate smelling. However, the nice thing about already being a stick means I get to see results quickly. My egg (what I've always lovingly called my bicep) is now more of a large lemon. I can see my calf muscles again, and my thighs are rocks. I'm now preparing to run my first 5K in October - The Race for the Cure. And I'm making Jeremy run it with me because I need a buddy.

*It's been a wet summer in Iowa. This makes me miss Florida - if only because people in Florida can drive in rain. People in Iowa, not so much. I've had practice driving in insane rains thanks to various tropical storms and hurricanes. Just keep plowing ahead, there is no need to slow down at random points or hit your breaks suddenly.

*I may have downloaded a widget to my phone that is counting down the days to Disney (153, if you were curious). I'm worse than a kid, and Jeremy is about as bad. Once we have mini-Knips, it may be hard to distinguish who are the adults and who are the kids.

*I have two weeks left of summer vacation. Thanks to my stupid classes, I feel like I have not accomplished enough laziness. But, I will finish the last class this week, and it is my goal to read a book a day in that time.

Yarn diet update: I fell down and went boom last Friday. I went to a yarn shop in Altoona that I haven't been to before. I got some yarn for a present (so that was a necessary purchase), and then two skeins that were just for me. But, I also finished two projects last week. I'm calling it even.

I have a problem

Last year, I put myself on a yarn diet.

It worked for a while. I had a lovely spreadsheet, and I was actually coming out ahead of what I was using to what was coming in.

I'm not sure what happened, but two months ago, I took this photo:

That's Sam, being pushed into the middle cushion of the couch. By just my sock yarn. And after I took this photo, I realized I had another basked filled with sock yarn.

So again, I'm on a yarn diet. I have been winding yarn so I can easily grab yarn to start a new project. This way it will be out and in my face, and I won't think I have to get more yarn. The only caveat to this is I do have a few Christmas presents in mind (although I already have 2 done!). There is a big chance I will need to get yarn for at least one of those.

I may admit to this issue, but I won't touch the towering stack of books I've bought over the years or the stack I have from the library...

Summertime

One of the fantastic things about moving back to Iowa has been getting to spend time with the kiddos. Even though they're my cousin's kids, they've always called Jeremy and I uncle and aunt, and we may be guilty of spoiling them a bit. We try to go to at least one of their games and some of their events. I also have made sure that they get a "fun day with Aunt Beth" during their vacations(I may use these as an excuse to get to do kid things that I want to do but not look like a weirdo. For example, it's how I went to the Floppy* documentary; I conned Em into going with me and relived a great childhood show. This is also how I'm going to go see Romana and Beezus later this summer.

But, since the end of May, the kids have kept us busy with all of their events (OK, it slowed down after June - but there were a few busy weeks). We got to see Em and Taylor at their dance recital. I enjoyed it more because a lot of the kids I had at Waukee were in it. Jeremy admits he snoozed a bit during it.

We had Parker's little league game. He's improved a lot since last year when he hopped up and down on third base yelling "Aunt Beth, Aunt Beth! Look! Look!" He even did this while a ball rolled right past him (the unobservant part is apparently a family trait). He's become very serious about it, and he's informed me his favorite position is catcher.

 Look at that concentration. 

He really is a peaceful kiddo (as well as absolutely adorable).

 Clark, on the other hand, is a hellion. He managed to run onto the field
as well as yell "diarrhea" across it. Spitfire doesn't even begin to describe him.

Em's our little soccer player. Uncle Jeremy has informed me I'm not allowed to tell her how to play dirty. I do think she needs to learn how to celebrate goals though.

Em, center, looks pretty serious (and looks a lot like a young Aunt Beth).

 "No, no, Jeremy!" is Sam's favorite phrase. And that's always good for laughs.

 Okay, so they ALL might be a little hellionish.
I have NO idea where they'd get that from:)

So far, I've only done one Aunt Beth day with Parker. I scored us some great seats at an ICubs game, right to the right of first base. Parker even got a foul ball that some older gentleman was nice enough to make sure the player gave it to the kid. He was thrilled.

 He was so excited to be that close to the field. I may be biased,
but he's the cutest kid in the world!

I did take all 3 kids to see Toy Story 3 the other day. I even braved 3D for them, and we were "cheaters" as Em said and snuck in our goodies. That seemed to be very exciting for them. After the movie, we met Uncle Jeremy at the park for dinner. They played tag while I documented the entire thing. Parker was so excited that Jeremy was chasing him, he ran by me laughing hysterically. You can't help but be happy with moments like those.

*For you non-Central Iowans, the Floppy showed aired after the noon news from the 50s to the late 80s, when it changed to a Saturday afternoon show. Floppy was a beagle in a box, and there were corny cartoons and jokes on the show. One of my childhood favorites, and yes, that is how my beagle Floppy got his name.

Chicago

A little more than a month ago, we took a weekend trip to Chicago. Neither of us had been, so we decided it was a good, quick getaway (which is sad considering I grew up 7 hours away and a decent number of people I went to college with were from Chicago. Instead in college, I took the day road trip to Texas - I'm not kidding).

True to our typical form, we hit the ground running (we have yet to plan a relaxing vacation; we're not good at just sitting all day). So, after the giddiness of realizing that we were staying at the hotel the NHL was using as its HQ for the Stanley Cup in Chicago, we decided it was time to eat. Right next door to us was Miller's Pub, which is apparently a famous spot (these are things we did not research).

After running back to the room to get a sweatshirt, we went on a walking tour to see the sites from Ferris Bueller.

I check out the map and realize how much walking we're going to be doing.


I managed to not have a panic attack on the Skydeck. I think this was because I was so excited to see the Adventures in Babysitting building.


The Chicago Board of Trade is a pretty cool building.


It's a flamingo.


The hotel.

I managed to get blisters after this walking expedition, but that didn't slow us down for the rest of the weekend.

We started off the day walking on Saturday. We tried to get to the Shedd Aquarium, but the wait for tickets to just get in was 2 hours. We were going to the Cubs game that afternoon, so that wasn't going to work. Instead, we tootled around on the lakeshore, and we went to the Field Museum instead. Neither of us were that impressed by it.


It's Soldier Field. And me with way too bright hair.


The Bean.


the closest I got to any Chicago Bulls.


The town had gone Blackhawks nutty. These are the lions out in front of the art institute (where I was happier than a pig in poo because they had many Monets).


I may have jumped up and down when I saw this. it was a gift from Paris, and I may have declared that it was time to move there.


Wrigley - unfortunately the White Socks weren't playing in town that weekend, otherwise we would have gone to both parks.


Sue!

On Sunday, we took it a bit easier. We managed to get into Shedd, puttered around the art institute, and then meandered around Navy Pier while waiting to go see Taming of The Shrew.

We had a good time, but my feet were ready for a break when we got back.


I represent and show my Iowa pride wherever I go.

It's a pretty good year

In April, I found out that there was an opportunity for me to get my teaching certificate in Iowa from doing a portfolio instead of finishing up all my classes (which I'm doing anyway because I'll be done with my master's next May). So, a few short weeks later, I had my "non-traditional transfer license." I still needed to take a few classes for the English portion of my license (hence speech since I'd never taken it for undergrad), and I also needed two years of experience teaching in an Iowa school.

This meant I started furiously applying for jobs. It's not such a great time to do that. Each position is getting hundreds of applicants, and they typically only interview 3-5 teachers. So, when I got a phone call 2 weeks ago to set up an interview for a 9th grade English position, I was thrilled!

I had my interview last week, and I felt very confident after leaving it. The counselor, who was on the hiring committee, personally knew one of my references and had called her directly. I had an inside track from another friend on what they were big on, which was actually something I had gotten experience with while doing my long-term jobs in Waukee (professional learning communities). But, I had to wait five days to hear anything.

Yesterday I had planned a day with Parker. We went to the Iowa Cubs game. I managed to get us pretty decent tickets, and he managed to get a foul ball. He had a great smile on his face the whole day, and he had told his mom that morning that he was just excited to get to spend the day by himself with Aunt Beth. I will admit there was several moments of me checking the phone to see if I had gotten the call that I got the job.

I figured by the time 3 p.m. rolled around, I was going to have to wait until today. Nope! As I was driving Parker home, the principal called. I called back, and left a message. It was a very long 10 minutes while I waited to get the call.

But, I got the job! I start August 9! I'm very excited!

So excited, in fact, that I agreed to go to Disney during my Christmas vacation.

Excitement finds us

It's been a busy two weeks for me. I got the brilliant idea to take a speech class that was 3 credits in two weeks. Not exactly so much fun when I was taking four other classes, but at least it's done!

Then, I found out on Wednesday that my great aunt had died, so it was going to mean a trip down to Eddyville for the funeral on Saturday. By the time I got home that afternoon, I was just ready to crash and be a bum.

Nature had other ideas, though.

Jeremy took Sam out to go potty, and as he opened the door two ground squirrels/grinnys/chipmunks/whatever you call them ran at him and one actually ran inside. (Side story: I usually call them grinnys. The first time I saw one was at my granny's, and I got a kick out of saying "Granny's got grinnys!" My odd little sense of humor started early). I was sitting on the couch trying to get homework done, so I was a bit confused at why Jeremy was making odd noises outside of the door and why it was still open.

Then, I looked over and saw a little grinny, scared to death, staring at me from the kitchen. Miho also quickly spotted it and cornered it. I've never seen my tubby little cat run so fast.

I jumped up and grabbed two plastic containers to attempt to trap it to release it back in the wild. This did not go as planned.

It first ran behind the trash can, and I got it out, but it then ran over to the box pile. Sam then came in, shooed out Miho, and got the grinny to run back over to me. We tried this a few times to no avail.

I decide to get a lid to shoo it in to the box, but Sam got to it first. He grabbed it in his mouth, and Jeremy quickly moved him outside. (Sam does have a toy chipmunk; he grabbed onto the real one exactly like he does the stuffed one. I don't think the thing had a chance).

Unfortunately, the grinny didn't make it. I took one of Sam's poo bags and disposed of it in the Dumpster. Sam and Miho kept trying to refind it all night long, and I think Miho was a bit upset that she didn't get to finish her hunt.

I later saw the grinny's little friend, and it looked sad and depressed. I told it to blame Sam.

Now Sam has gone nutty and wants to really chase after everything he sees. I'm not looking forward to this.


Sammy's first kill

What We Did Last Summer - Entry 1

I always said one nice thing about Pensacola was that it was close to a lot of interesting cities. Of course, we only made road trips to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Destin. Apparently, I just blanked on the idea that Des Moines was close to quite a few places, too. Omaha is 2-3 hours away, Kansas City is the same, Minneapolis is 4 hours, Chicago is 5, St. Louis is a day's drive, and Mizzou is about 4 (I couldn't leave CoMo out:).

So, about a year ago, I realized Green Day was playing in Minneapolis in July. I have loved them since 8th grade. So I begged Jeremy (and it really didn't take much arm twisting), and we decided to make a weekend out of it. The only downside was that my friend Lois was leaving that week to go visit her family in California, so we wouldn't be able to meet up with her.

We drove up on a Friday afternoon because the Twins were in town, so we decided we'd go see them, too. We found a hotel right across from the Target Center, which meant the Metrodome was within walking distance.

I had been to the Twin Cities several times as a kid. My dad's best friend from the Marine Corps lives there, so we took several trips to visit. I had never thought that it was that great of a place. And when I went to visit Lois a few months before the wedding, it was January and cold, so we didn't do much exploring. I was very surprised at what it has become.

We had a decent walk down and back to the Metrodome. Not once did I feel unsafe. Downtown Minneapolis is really clean and safe. There were several cops and security patrols around. And, there were a bunch of bars and restaurants around. I was really impressed. If I were just out of college, I think it would be where I would want to move.

It was nice to go back to the Metrodome one more time to see a Twins game. It's the only ballpark that I've been to where I was on the jumbotron. Granted, I was passed out, but I was on there - mouth hanging open and everything. It was a good game, and I was very happy to find they had microbrews there. This resulted in me not realizing it was the bottoms of the 9th and that the game was over.

The next day, my dad's buddy came and got us for lunch. We got to see Dinkytown and part of the campus. We also started the search for Jeremy's hockey stick. Fun times.


We also explored some of downtown. I was a little bummed that I did not have a hat to throw next to the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Downtown is basically a shopping area with the typical shops and restaurants. But, that also meant we got to have a good choice of where to eat for the concert - and we ended up going with Hard Rock.

I should also say that our hotel was extremely fancy -- but we got an amazing deal on it. However, I also realized that Green Day had the penthouse for the night. This may have resulted in me trying to figure out how to sneak up there. But, considering that the lobby was three floors up and around a corner, I didn't think it was going to be that easy. I was a little bummed that I realized when we were packing up that there was a pillow menu. But, I did keep our Hermes soap -- even though it reeks.

Since we stayed right across the street, it was really easy to get to the concert. The amazing thing was that as we walked out of the hotel, we ran into two people I went to high school with. With all of the people that went, it was an amazing feat.

We had pretty decent seats, but that was a minor thing. The concert was absolutely amazing. They played for about 2.5 hours, and they played the old stuff and the new stuff. The kid next to me thought I was weird as I was belting out the old stuff - I shouldn't have been surprised -- it came out before he was born. I'm very glad we went. It was fabulous.



To finish out the weekend, on our way home, we stopped at the Mall of America. That wasn't too exciting. It's just a big mall. Ikea was lovely though. Des Moines needs one. We also spent quite a bit of time at Hockey Giant - a department store of hockey stuff. I was not so excited; Jeremy was like a kid in the candy store.

So, it was a good weekend. Both of us were very happy with it. It was a nice little mini-vacation.

Not a good way to restart the blog

I'm going to skip the fact that I haven't posted on here in a while and get down to the bad stuff.

Last week, Chewy started acting weird. She wasn't eating, she looked skinny, she was quieter, she was clingier, and she wasn't cleaning herself very well. She got better over the weekend.

Then Monday, she started acting odd again. On Tuesday, she wouldn't headbutt Jeremy. So, I decided I'd cancel my job for today and take her to the vet. Both of us figured she had a sore throat. It made sense.

I got up early and called a vet to see when I could bring her in. By 9:10, we were waiting for the vet.

I knew it wasn't good when the tech said Chewy didn't have a fever.

I got even more nervous when the first question the vet asked was if Chewy had been tested for Feline Leukemia.

By 9:30, she had used the cancer word. Lymphoma to be exact.

After feeling her neck, the vet found two massive lumps. Lumps that I couldn't believe how big they were. I had no idea they were there.

So, they took some cells from one of the lumps. These will actually be sent off to a cytologist to look at closer. The vet looked at them to make sure they were viable and weren't just red cell matter. She said she was pretty sure there were lymphocytes.

She asked if I wanted X-rays. I said yes. I wanted a clearer picture.

The X-rays showed that there are two massive lumps in her neck. They're pushing Chewy's trachea all funny. They're not pinching it. But the fact that it is no longer straight explains why she's been coughing, why she'll only eat wet food, and why she hasn't been eating much. She has to keep her head down to feel comfortable. Luckily, her other organs look basically okay. There do appear to be two masses on the lymph nodes around her heart and lungs. But no tumors on the actual organs.

The more disturbing thing was that Chewy has a BB stuck in her back. She's 13 now; she hasn't been an outside cat in 9.5 years. I was pissed. I was ready to drive to Eddyville and just start beating the shit out of people. But obviously, it's not bothering her since it's been there that long. It's still wrong.

Anyway, we are supposed to hear back about the cells by Friday at the latest. They may not be able to get a solid diagnosis from it. That would mean getting a biopsy,which means cutting a big chunk out of Chewy's neck.

I asked the vet what she would do if it were her cat. She's actually gone through this with her 13 year-old-lab. There is no cure for lymphoma. They can possibly put it into remission with chemo. But that would only prolong the inevitable by a few months.

Jeremy and I have decided that's not an option. We're already pretty anti-chemo because of our personal experiences with our parents. Not being able to explain it to Chewy makes it even worse. This also means that we're not going to do a biopsy either. We're just going to be monitoring her, and when she starts to get worse, we know what we have to do.

I have been a mess all day. It's hard to know I'm going to have to say good-bye to my buddy. We've been through a lot together: moving, sickness, college -- she even gave approval for Jeremy. She's never acted like she's gotten older. It's weird to see her actually act her age.

I know this is the right choice though. But, in the mean time, Chewy gets to eat whatever she wants. This means she gets to have a treat of Hagan-Daas every night. She's rather happy about that.