Update!

My wedding dress is here! I got a call from the bridal store on Friday and my dress came in. Now comes the task of juggling my hectic schedule and finding time to get home for a dress fitting in the next month. I am so excited, but a little nervous, to try my dress on again. I know what it looks like from the picture online, but I also know that the picture doesn't nearly do it justice. The other panic of "what happened to the gym??" has also set in. It was so easy to put off, and now I'm carefully planning every meal for the next couple of weeks and scheduling a time to work my butt off.

The students have been in a weird mood lately. I don't know if it is spring fever, or pre-teen rebellion but they are just cranky and disrespectful. I need a crash course in teaching respect, because these kids don't have it! When we read stories about disrespectful people I get comments like, "That's mad rude!" but when we read stories about children who are punished for their poor behavior they say, "I'd kick their ass if they did that to me!". It's a no-win situation I feel.

Outside the world of weddings and houses J and I have been trying to spend more time together. We went to the grand opening of Old Navy a couple towns over from us, and then spent the afternoon on Saturday at the mall lazily browsing the new stores that have opened there just in time for spring. We also rented a dvd from RedBox last night. I really wanted to see Precious, but of course it wasn't available. So instead we watched The Men Who Stare At Goats. It was funny, a little difficult to follow (maybe because I was on the computer at the same time) but overall a good movie.

I gave up on cooking about the same time that I gave up on the gym. The problem is a lack of motivation, but I'm starting to get sick of the "normal" food that we eat all the time. This week we are going low key with meals. J and I made a giant fruit salad last night ($5 for raspberries??) and we are going to stick with lunch meats for our dinners.

An author that J and I both like is coming to Boston this Friday. I am excited because I've never heard him speak (but love his books) and J is excited because he has heard him speak (and loves his books) so we are going to head to the bookstore Friday night and maybe get something to eat afterwards. His new book "Bite Me" is really good. J has been reading it to me every night before bed. It is the BEST way to fall asleep. Unfortunately, it means that I hear 3 or 4 pages and then am asleep for the other 50 or 60 that J reads. I'm trying to catch up in my free time.

The weather is miserable, but this weekend is supposed to be nice. I'm excited to get outside again- the 70 degree day we had a few weeks ago was such a tease. Overall my mood is just very positive and excited. Things are really looking good!

Home Owners

It's official! We are homeowners! I am so excited and relieved and feel like the stress level in our apartment has dropped significantly. The papers made it to the bank, the money made it to the bank, we're good! So this week has been a week of celebration, and I want it to keep going!

The other night we went to the mall and after searching for months I finally found the wedding band that fits with my engagement ring. I was so relieved, I was so happy, I couldn't even put it into words. J got a band that matches and it is really nice. This weekend we have our marriage prep class in Waltham, so hopefully that goes well.

The weather has been gorgeous this week and I'm so excited to just enjoy it!

Signed, Sealed....Being Delivered

The contracts showed up on Saturday and J and I spent the evening reading through the pages, double checking the fine print and determining exactly what he had to do today. I just heard from him and everything is signed, notarized and on it's way back! I didn't know if I would have the patience to deal with this, but here we are a month later buying our house!!!!

We went to Home Depot yesterday and looked at paint. We found some colors that we like, I think the living room might be the first on my list of things to do. We also found a living room set at Macy's that we like and it matches the colors that we picked for the living room!

School is going smoothly today. I am much happier having 5 students as opposed to 8. It is just so much more manageable this way. I think the students can feel it, and I hope last period goes well. Last week when I tried to do this activity my coffee mug got smashed.

Going out to celebrate the closing tonight! Once again, I am THRILLED!!!!!

Changes

Things are getting pretty crazy at school! Three new students are joining our school on Monday and two of them are younger, so that impacts my classroom. No, they are not bumping my enrollment up to 10. They are actually splitting my class up and adding a new classroom. On top of that, the physical location of my classroom is changing. It's exciting, but it's stressful. I take for granted those long empty summer days when I can sit around and cut out borders and bulletin boards. Now I have to put a classroom together in a day! Staff are staying late tomorrow to set up our new spaces and I have a little bit of shopping to do for my new room. The students find out in about 20 minutes and I'm expecting mixed reactions. Cross your fingers and hope that this goes as smooth as possible!

In other news, I teach one more class today and then my students earned an incentive and we are having a snack/movie party! I'm pumped, they're pumped, YEAH!

Things are moving slowly with the house. Bank called yesterday and said everything looks in order. J has to wait for the contract to be mailed on Saturday. Which is too bad because my mom and aunts are coming up this weekend to go shopping. J will just have to join us once the mail comes! Closing is on Monday, let's hope it is smoother than the LAST closing we were supposed to have.

Pumped about April vacation. Trip to Ohio (again) to start doing things with OUR house! Too bad there are still about 25 school days until we go. I'm still really excited!

March is here, the weather has been gorgeous and I'm ready to start moving on. We are still waiting in suspense to figure out what is going on with the house. Our NEW final closing date is March 15th which is next Monday, so hopefully everything will go well.

Today was a great day at school because the students participated in a Poetry Slam led by the English teachers and all of the students did a really nice job. It was also a crappy day at work because a student flipped (literally) out because I asked to collect her work. Seriously? This is my job? I asked this girl to simply hand in the piece of paper that we are working on in class. She blocked another student and me from exiting the classroom, and then prevented me from coming back into the classroom and when I told her that she would have time she started yelling and screaming and swearing. It gets better...she proceeded to flip over my desk and throw my coffee mug against the wall- breaking it into a bunch of pieces. All in the last 6 minutes of the school day.

We went for a nice walk on the beach when I got home from work. J had taken the day off because we had a conference to go to this weekend. It was nice to get out and walk in the sunshine. I think everyone's mood improves just a little bit when the weather improves! Let's hope for more of the same.

I haven't been cooking and I haven't been going to the gym. My kidneys really hurt, and I know it is an excuse, but I just don't go to the gym. I know I will be disappointed in myself when I try on my dress and see how much work I have left to do, but I'm not seeing that long term goal. Oh well. Maybe once all of this stress with the house settles down things will get back to normal....I can only hope!

Change of Plans

Last week was a complete mess. That's why I haven't blogged. I didn't even want to talk about it. While driving to Ohio we got a phone call from the bank telling us that something wasn't yet completed so we wouldn't be closing on Tuesday, or Wednesday, and hopefully we would close by Friday. Tuesday I woke up with a sharp pain in my back and knew right away that it was kidney stones. We went to the house and walked through it with the sellers. It was good to walkthrough and hear about the house from people that know it so well. We had to leave early because I couldn't take it anymore, the pain was just too much. I tried to just stay at J's parent's house but I couldn't. I couldn't keep anything down so J took me to the hospital and we spent the remainder of the day there. It was miserable.

Wednesday the bank called to say that they had the appraisal all set, and that we should have an ok from the underwriter in 24 hours. Thursday we waited patiently, and didn't hear anything. I sent an e-mail from J's account demanding to hear something. It worked. They put a hold on our account, for a reason that we should have been made aware of a month ago. It made me so angry, it was so awful. Friday I got to go back and take pictures of the house. I put them up online and will post the link later.

Saturday we drove back home and Sunday we prepared for the week. It was so tough to get up Monday morning. I had butterflies, not knowing what the week would bring or how the kids would be. The week has been ok, I feel like I haven't done anything and I wish the week was over.

We have a conference this weekend. Circle K is celebrating its 50th anniversary. J should be there and I should probably go too. I don't mind going, but I'm not as excited as I used to get about conventions.

I'm so drained after all the issues with this house...I just want to be there. I just want to put my house together. I just want to know where I will be working in 6 months. Everyone keeps saying that things will work out ok, and I hope they are right!

1 Day...

Huge snowstorm hit Boston yesterday...oh wait, no it didn't! School dismissed at 11 because we wanted everyone to make it home safely. Turns out they could have dismissed at 6, and we still would have made it home safely. No delay this morning, which was sad, but one bus was late, cutting 20 minutes out of my first period class. One day stands between me and winter vacation and I want it now!

The upcoming week is going to be very busy. Saturday J and I leave to visit my family in CT. We are stopping at the mall to meet up with my MOH (so excited, haven't seen her since...June?) and then going to spend the weekend at my aunt's house (they have a guest room). Valentine's Day we are going out to eat, which will be nice. Our Valentine present is sitting in the parking lot- so what if we got it a few weeks early? Monday we leave CT and travel to OH. Tuesday (as long as everything goes as planned) we have our final walkthrough and close on the house. I am very excited. I feel like it is home already, and I can't wait to blow up an air mattress and sleep in my very own house! The realtor took down the listing from their website, so the pictures that I had are gone. I have to take more, don't worry, I've charged my camera and I am ready! Hopefully we will get to see Peyton at some point while we are in Ohio too.

I have my students for the last two periods today. We are doing a web scavenger hunt and then reading Lord of The Flies...who remembers that book from Ms. S-V's class?? I still tend to lead toward favoring Ralph as a leader, but I try to have an open mind when presenting it to my students. Hopefully the kids do well today, someone is coming to observe (not me, the class) and I just want them to raise their hands!