Utter Chaos, and a dose of Melodramatasism

I think the title sums everything up properly. The PT House has entered that stage where everything is utter chaos.

I have been working extremely long hours at work, and have actually had very little time to pack. Yesterday we had a music festival at school so I was gone all day and lost that precious Saturday of would-have-been productivity.

The animals have become privy to what all these boxes mean. The cats have been doing crazy things like nocking over my jewerly box (so I get to spend my time picking earings out of the carpet and saving them from a dusty death under the radiator). My day started when I awoke to find cloe hanging from the curtains in my bed room. Kona is whining all the time and glued to your side. He has also ripped up a bunch of cardboard, which the cats have pleasantly spread all over the house.

I think the cats will be banished to the basement for atleast 4 hours today, so I can re-group from the destruction they have caused! (I never banish the cats, but desperate times cause for desperate measures!)

So today is my one preacous weekend day, and while there are many things that need done for the move I will instead be doing laundry and grocery shopping, because we need to be able to function.

Functioning is something that I am quite worried about this comming week. I do not work well in chaos... my brain gets all scrambled and I say crazy things and maybe even stutter a little...? My synapeses stop firing or something like that. I can just see it now, me standing in front of my class and having a brain wiring meltdown from the lack of order.

Plus, I think I'm coming down with something... a sinus infection? I actually feel okay, except from the constant aching in my sinuses, and that I think I actually look like death.

Why can't I be like Samantha from Bewitched and just wiggle my nose and make things happen, just like that!

The move- Status update

Random old pic for you guys!

It is now Sunday morning, and I am currently cuddled up in my palpizon chair next to the steaming hot wood stove. Today I am feeling exhausted, and the motivation to waltz around the house packing up all the belongings is really quite lacking.

This is what we have accomplished so far:

We have almost all the books packed, all my antique dishes and glass ware, picture frames/wall decorations. It is slowly getting there.

The move is in two weeks from tomorrow!

Today I will focus on laundry and groceries. If I get anything accomplished after that I will be very happy!

Right now I am dreaming of my Kitchen Island that I will soon purchase for our new house!

There are many things that I love about the new house, but the Kitchen is not one of them and here is why:

1. There is no dishwasher

How did humans live without these, wait, how did I life with out one? Hubs seems to think that this is no big deal however when paired with what I am going to tell you next you will see why I am freaking out!

2. There is about 1 foot of counter space! What!?!

Where is the drying rack going to go?! I'd understand no dishwasher if there was tons of counter space... but there is NO place to even put a drying rack, and the sink doesn't even have a divider in it!

3. There is one cabinet in which to store things.

Count it... one. That lonely number!!

So this Kitchen Island is really needed... and so is this:

We can put the Microwave on it, and cook books on the top shelf instead of the wicker basket, and then dog treats in the bottom shelf in the wicker basket. Do you see the vision that I have?!

I see a kitchen makeover in our future.

Let me dust off some cobwebs around here!

Hello, my poor neglected blog. I know I haven't shown it recently, but I really love you, and miss you. :-(

You see, several big things are going on around here... but my computer has decided to DIE on me! ACK! So I am forced to share with HUBS and we sometimes are not good sharers. There have been fights about sharing his computer.

Now I know I've made these promises before, but I PROMISE to write again soon. This particular month will be hectic because...

1. WE'VE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!! YAY!
2. We are moving in 2 weeks (omg, omg, omg, how?!)
3. I have 2 concerts at school coming up
4. My car is slowly dying and has spent several nights sleeping over at the garage with other broken cars; while I get toted around by my colleagues.
5. We are looking at buying a new car (in the same month that we bought a house mind you...)

So my stress level is a bit high. AND when I am stressed, my favorite thing to do is sleep. AND last night when I wanted to go to sleep, a certian Hubs would NOT stop talking. So I threatened him with this lovely Haiku.

A Haiku for my Husband
because he WOULDN'T STOP TALKING
last night when I wanted to sleep:

If you keep talking
Violence will soon occur
When sleep is needed


I will try to keep you posted while the PT HOUSE is on the move!!

Veridian Lifestyle

Last night I was at a Birthday party for one of my friend's big 3-0. We went to see a 80s cover band play, and in my opinion the band was good but needed a new lead female. With an 80s band you need a lady that channels Madonna or Cyndi Laupher, and not goth like this particular lady, am I right?!

Anyways I met one of my friend's boyfriends for the first time, and among other good attributes he decided to buy all my drinks for me. (Wow!) Which really equals about 1.5 drinks because I'm small. And so we got to chatting and he tells me that he subscribes to the "Veridain Lifestyle" which means, in short, that you spend your money on things that make you happy. (Isn't that what American's are really good at anyway?) So he says that he likes to spend more money on the things that he uses most, like shoes and bed. Buy a $200 pair of shoes that are great and wear them everyday for 2 years or something like that.

So it got me to thinking, do I subscribe to a lifestyle? I sure would like to subscribe to the "Veridian Lifestyle." I thought instantly of my Grandpa's mattress that is God knows how old that I have been sleeping on for 3 years now, but the "Veridian Lifestyle" is sorta about spending money... I'm trying not to spend money at all, so... problem?

So what is my lifestyle then?

I guess my recent lifestyle would be the "Conservative Lifestyle": Spend no money, use everything sparingly and in moderation. AKA the "Poor Lifestyle" or the "Put 75% of your monthly income into your student loans Lifestyle" but "Conservative Lifestyle" sounds much better, doesn't it?

What's your lifestyle?

VIA Google Image search for "Lifestyle"

PS: Google Image search "Lifestyle" and look at the options, notice that there are no pictures that show overweight people, or lifestyle choices that are unhealthy like smoking, or fast food. It seems like the actual American lifestyle is not displayed through those images, but a rather we see a facade of what American culture ought to be? Interesting.

The back to school life...

Myself teaching!

The best part of my job is.... that I don't have to work all summer long, and still get money!! (I know I'm suppose to say touching lives and yada yada yada...) The fact of it all is that being a school teacher is really quite hard, and no one ever tells you quite how hard it is because it is "such a wonderful profession to sculpt the future of our society...(and yada yada yada)". You see what I mean?

I am into my second week of school now and for the first time (ever) I feel like I know what I'm doing. Deep down I know that I really do know what I'm doing, but now I feel like it too! Something about being in that 3rd year. 3rd times a charm, or something like that?

So yes, I am enjoying my job for once... perhaps I'll start blogging about my job more often now. You see, this blog is my happy place, and school does not necessarily equal happy.

Now this is the hardest part, and really I guess it doesn't sound all that hard, but it feels hard. I don't have much time for myself. I'm up at 5:30, out the door by 7:00 at the very very latest, and home at 4:00. At which point I am either walking the dog or cooking dinner, then cleaning dinner. THEN 8:00 is the magic hour when Hubs and I crash on the couch to watch a few mindless episodes of South Park on the Netflix before crashing in the bed promptly at 9:00 to sleep. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. It just seems like Hubs and I are always tired, and THAT is hard.

This is when I hear my Mom's voice in my head telling me to take Vitamin B Complex supplement pills.

(And yes, I am writing this post at school.... shhhhh)


Now I am wondering how people with kids manage all this!? You people are amazing!

Ballerinas

In another life, I would be a NYC Ballerina. Ballet is so beautiful and artistic! Maybe I'll be one of their musicians instead. ;-)

I think I found Love!

This tiered table is just screaming to jump out of my computer screen and into my dinning room, don't you think? It would be the perfect fit, sigh. If only I could haggle Wisteria to give it to me for only $100! Ha!

Tiered Marble Top Console | Wisteria

Wise words from a classic woman

I believe:
*In pink
*Laughing is the best calorie burner
*In kissing and kissing a lot
*In being strong when everything seems to be going wrong
*That happy girls are the prettiest girls
*That tomorrow is another day
*and I believe in miracles
~Audrey

"Truly it may be said that the outside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man."

The past week or so, I have been visiting with family. It was so nice because since I've moved away I haven't been able to see them as much as I like. Mom and Dad came to visit Hubs and I in VA; and for as beautifully sunny as VA is, Mom and Dad wouldn't know it because it is always rainy when they are here.

For example, we went canoeing on the South Fork of the Shenandoah river one day, and it was delightfully cloudy and unseasonably cold. To our surprise there was practically a Fraternity party floating down the river on tubes, so it wasn't quite as peaceful as we would have hoped. Then half way through our trip it poured on us! I got chilly and hid under my towel while Hubs rowed the two of us the rest of the way (how sweet!!). I think we still had fun despite the rain and party atmosphere!

The next day we wanted to check out Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, and it was threatening rain also. While we were out we didn't run into any rain, but we drove around in the clouds for a bit. It was windy up on the mountain and we got to see the clouds pushed around us by the wind in it's gray and white swirls. Very cool. I wish I could have captured it in a picture for you! What I did get was a few pictures of us out on the Appalachian Trail which we walked for a little bit, you can see how foggy it is in the background.

Mom and Dad on the AT, I think they look very cute!

My outdoors-glamor photo,the fog was not doing wonders for my hair!

Hubs! How handsome and rugged on the AT!


Hubs and I had read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson a year or so ago which chronicles his travels on the Appalachian Trail. So the entire time we were like "Bill Bryson walked here!" "Bill Bryson might have touched that trail marker" like he was some kind of celebrity. Except Hubs is not so good with names so he kept saying "David Bryson" instead of Bill. Oh Hubs!

What a perfect little visit for the end of summer. Hubs and I are now gearing up for the start of the school year. Hubs has a new position as an Elementary Music Teacher, and thoughts of his class room and the curriculum are practically consuming his thoughts day and night! Wish us both luck for the start of school!

Kona, sleepy in the car.

Well friends, my camping trip was very nice! Hubs, Kona, and I got rained on quite a bit, but we still had a ton of fun, and even managed to go swimming in the river between the rain.





We had a bit of a disaster in the cooler department: leaky ground beef. So between that and all the rain, we actually didn't eat much of the food I packed. We did manage to eat all of our Kashi cereal (which had whole flax seed in it and made me think of my Mom every time!) because it kept us very full all morning long and into the afternoon. One morning after it had rained all night long, and then poured on us again once we emerged from our tent, we were feeling very defeated (and I desperatly needed some coffee); so we went out and found a cute little hotel/resturant/bar and had the best breakfast (and coffee!) which perked us right back up. All in all it was a great trip. Kona seems very sad (or just very tired) to be indoors again. Hubs had so much fun, he wants to go again right away!




Since we've been home, I have been battling the ants which seemed to have found a single m&m in the bottom of a drawer and used my potted plant to walk through to get to it. They are very perstistant. After a while I feel like they are all over me! The cats seem to have behaived themselves in our absence (no messes like last time) they were probably very happy to have the dog out of the house!

In other news, Hubs has been hired as an elementary music teacher! We are all very excited, because he can now quit Lowes (which is always in the way!) and have more time at home with Kona and I! Maybe he will start doing some cooking too! I won't be holding my breath ;-)

In a few days I (and maybe Kona too) will be going to PA again to visit with some of my family, and then my parents will be visiting Hubs and I! I am very excited to be going back to PA, VA is very hot and buggy right now! See you in a week or so!

A Camping we will go!

Hubs and I are packing up and heading out to go camping this week! I am so excited, I haven't been camping in what feels like two years. Hubs and I didn't actually have much camping equipment... the last time we went camping we used all of my parents things! So I set off to Gander Mountain, and spent a small fortune on camping nessesities (and I still forgot that grate that you put over the campfire to grill or put your frying pan on, ugh!)

Anyway, this will be Kona's first camping trip, and his first long car ride. I am praying for no messes in the tent, and no getting sick in the car! I did buy Kona a new bright orange reflector collar, because he is so black that we can't see him outside at night!

The last time Hubs and I went camping, we rented a cabin at Black Moshannon State Park in PA. This was the trip when we awoke one fine May morning to an unexpected 32 degrees and snow on the ground. Then, when Hubs was out collecting wood for the stove, his Grandfather's ring fell off into the snow. Then in the panic of looking for his ring, we got locked out of the cabin, in the 32 degree weather.

Good things are: we can't get locked out of the tent, and I know it won't be 32 degrees in August!

Wish us luck, and a fun and safe trip!!

Hiding places, and a red eye

Today I discovered where Olive's favorite hiding place is... behind the microwave.
Smart! I wouldn't have ever known, had I not saw her jump back there!


For the past couple weeks, I have had a chronic red eye accompanied by a sinus headache (only on the left side of my head, the right side knows whats up).
My Mom has been urging me to go see a doctor, but I am resisting... I can take my pets to the vet, but I HATE going to the doctor myself.
Finally Hubs went to the drug store to get me 'the goods'. I sent him with a list of sudafed (the good stuff), Vitamin C, and eye drops.
What a good husband, we'll see if this works before I go off to the human kind of doctor.

Check out my glamor photo. Don't I look good?
I actually look so pathetic, that Hubs won't look at this photo, he says
"You look much prettier in real life, when you have at least one good eye"

Who is afraid of the doctor? Not Kona!

"Visit with a sadistic Vet"

Kona has been an extremely well behaved puppy. I have not had to reprimand him hardly at all (especially not like the cartoon vet suggests above!) He has lived with us for a week and one day, and he is almost puppy trained! Kona had his first visit to the vet yesterday and here's how it went.

We arrived at the vet, and Kona was like "What is this strange place, I am not going in those doors!" Where in he proceeded to gently sit down, and stare at me in defiance. I urged him to follow with a few "come on boy"s and he eventually followed, he is a sucker for that 'come' command.

We get inside the vet and do the paper work and turn in the special stool sample. The lady at the desk asks me a few questions, "how old is he" she asks and I tell him 3 months. She looks at Kona and says "he is so big, I bet he is 4 or 5 months." She tells us to wait for the vet assistant, so we wait. There are no other people or pets in the waiting room, so Kona gets to roam all around and sniff the dog food stacked up for you to buy. He is having a grand old time, despite not wanting to enter the building.

The vet asst. comes to get us and we follow her, she is a cute little Asian lady. She says "Oh, Kona, what a cute little puppy you are! Today is a cute little puppy and kitty day" "Thats a good type of day," I say "Do you ever have mean mangy mutt days?"
"Yes, those are the horrible days when everyone gets bit, and muzzles are everywhere."
I can only imagine, I never thought about what a bad day at work would be like at a vet office. She takes Kona's temperature. He spends this time following the thermometer around trying to sniff it like "Oh boy, what is that?!" She leaves, we wait, Kona falls asleep on the floor.

The vet comes, and Kona wakes up with a jump and slams his head against the leg of my chair. He wags his tail and approaches the vet, and she says the same thing everyone else says "Kona, what a cute puppy you are!!" She examines him and is confused, "You say he is 3 months? Judging by his teeth, he is probably closer to 2 months. You are not sure how when he was born? We'll say he is right around 10 weeks old" So first he is older than thought, now he is actually younger than thought.
He got out of a lot of shots just then, only one shot for this visit. The vet tries to check his hears, but he won't let her, then she says "Alright, lets shoot him!" She prepares his vaccine, and sticks it in his back. Kona jumps a bit, then looks at the shot like "OH BOY, what was that!!?!"

Kona gets a clean bill of health and we return to the waiting room to pay. We wait. Then the door opens and two huge dirty German Shepherds come in pulling around their little Asian owners. (I have actually never seen this many Asians in Woodstock, ever) Kona hides between my legs, and after about 3 minutes of hiding, be attempts a little baby protective growl. It was really darn cute. Then Shepherds get taken away, then in walks a itty bitty chihuahua. Now Kona wants to be friends ("Finally something smaller than me!"), but the Chihuahua has other ideas, which involve gazing from a distance. We pay and go to leave. Once we're outside the doors, Kona (now realizing what sort of place this is) is sniffing EVERWHERE! Then we go to cross the parking lot, and in the middle of the parking lot Kona proceeds to sit down, again, in defiance. He had so much fun being poked and prodded, that he didn't want to leave!

A new addition!

Dearest Blogger friends,

I am officially introducing you to....

KONA!

Hubs and I adopted him Thursday afternoon, and we are all in love!
Kona loves us, and we love him! (How could you not?!) He is a 3 month old Lab/Collie mix.
Kona was the sweetest pup at the Shenandoah Animal Shelter (where only one of his brothers are left).
There he was referred to as "Bubba Gump." Needless to say, Kona is a much cooler name.

How did we come up with that name, you ask?
Well a good friend, Greg, suggested it; and we loved it because:

1. One of our favorite hobbies is riding bikes, and the brand name of Jason's mountain bike is "Kona"


2. We looooooove coffee, and since our new pup is the color of coffee we thought... perfect!



3. We wanted a name with a good strong first consonant and "K" is strong, wouldn't you say?


Kona has adjusted very well to living at the PT House.
He already knows "Come" "Sit" "Stay" and his new name!
Today Hubs and I took him to the park and we ran around a lot.
He doesn't play fetch... yet... but he really likes to play hide and seek (as the seeker of course).


Did I mention how hard it is to get a good picture of a black dog?

Kona and I on our first full day together!

For the birds

What do you do when you are in your office at school during the summer and being stood up by students who you are generously offering to give lessons to for Free?

I am currently pondering leaving... or I could do some online shopping on the school's electrical bill :-)

The past week or so I have been a bit addicted to the ebay. This is not a new addition, but an old one rearing it's ugly head. My latest conquests have been a vintage copper kettle, and a Hazel Atlas pink depression glass measuring cup and reamer set. Very cute.

What I am currently drooling over is this:

Painted iron candelabra. Isn't it adorable with it's leaves and bird?! And currently no one has bidded on it... which means I watch it every day and then bid at the last minute and don't tell Hubs... so it's mine right? And I would give you the link, but I want it to be mine, you see. Can I trust you to not out bid me?!

Speaking of birds, on Martha Stewart today they made this adorable bird cage, and I just wanted to run out and make one myself and fill it with little canaries.


Why shouldn't a bird cage be huge and beautiful? Maybe I'll just start with a sock feeder :-)

In which I ponder my garden, and discover my fear of bats.

In my mornings I love to roll out of bed, make the necessary coffee, and wander out to the patio and contemplate what I am going to do that day while sipping the necessary coffee.

Many days, it seems there are way to many things that need done, and I'm not sure exactly where to start. Today I was gazing over at my garden that Hubs and I started way back in April. This is what the garden looks like today:


I would like to draw your attention to the trellis which was meant for pole beans that I never started, the Lavender and Sage that are completely over grown with crab grass, and the pots of dead cherry tomato plants which never made it into the ground.

In my defense, this 'garden' was a hodge-podge of plants and weeds when we moved in last summer and the entire place was sooooooooo over grown that it was really over whelming. Words cannot describe how uncared for this yard was... well maybe neglected?

Now take a look at the far right at those beautiful eggplant babies! Hubs and I just moved them over there yesterday. They were getting squashed under the squash that is on the far left. Word around the area is that eggplant is really hard to grow. There are these bugs that just chew away at the leaves. I haven't seen them on my eggplant yet, but I did see them on my neighbor's and it does not look fun. Hopefully they stay away, because eggplant is soooooo yummy.

And now for my pride and joy: the squash, again to the far left. When Hubs and I were planting this garden we literally got into an argument on where to plant everything. I will spare you the details but we planted them 'his way' and they are all bunched up on top of each other, and despite their positioning they are doing quite well. I have already harvested two beautiful yellow squash(es?) and as my neighbor said it was the "Perfect Squash".

So this morning I decided I would pull a few weeds and make my garden look like I love it. So I went to get my gardening gloves out of the garage, notice how the door was left open:


And as I approached the door I found this:


It looks like a fuzzy blob, but it is a bat. A bat which I didn't get close enough to decide whether it was dead or alive. A bat which will be a welcome home from work present for Hubs. I guess I will not be weeding for now.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Ever have one of those songs stuck in your head, and you don't want it to go away? That is the relationship that I have with ESMZ's "Home". I love it, and I love those hippies. Here is a clip of their performance on Letterman. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Antique Find

This weekend I had the rare opportunity to visit with friends from back home in PA. This is one of the things I miss most having moved away: hanging out with people my own age!

One of our weekend activities was going to an antique warehouse. Hubs told me I could spend $50, and I picked up this Fenton Pitcher/Bowl set. Isn't it precious!

Please excuse the picture size/quality, I was using my cell phone :-)

The power of positive thinking

Me conducting my Orchestra in the June 3rd, 2010 Concert

When I moved to Virginia to teach High school orchestra I felt extremely lucky. The Music Education field had many teachers, but not many job openings, and it is even harder to find an Orchestra job over Band, Chorus, and Elementary Music. What I didn't know was how extremely busy I would be and how difficult my job was.

This year was my second year of teaching, and as with many jobs there are positives and negatives. The negatives can consume my consiousness, it is easy to focus on that student who has a bad attitude or the coworker who continuously complains about their students, or the parents who are not supportive, or how I don't have time to collect my thoughts. It is easy to get discouraged when the state is cutting funding, and you have to scramble to figure out how to get money to continue to grow your program. So as an end of the year synopsis I am going to talk about some postitives to my job.

I have some of the best students in the entire county. They are hard working, talented, creative, and dedicated. I am very hard on them, because I expect the best out of them, and they always succeed. It is true what statistics say about students involved in music- they are the smartest - and in my opinion Orchestra students are smarter and more sophisticated than Band and Chorus students.

I get to travel. This year I have travelled all around Virginia to various festivals and events. I also got to visit NYC for the first time on our spring trip. The better performers my students are, the more events they qualify for, the more places I go.

I get to hear great music all the time. I had students audition for regional and state orchestras who made the group, and I got to hear Aaron Copland's Hoedown - Tchikovsky's Symphony No. 5 - Elgar's Enigma Variations played by the best musicians in North-West Virginia, Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique played by all the best musicians in the state of Virginia, I got to see Wicked live on Broadway (omg it was amazing!!!).

I also hear not so great music become music that is concert worthy and something for the students to be proud of; and I allowed that to happen. I get to see students work hard and achieve greatness. I get to watch that freshman violinist learn how to shift. I get to watch my senior learn how to conduct and lead the orchestra. I get to watch my senior cello player become an outstanding performer ready to enter a conservatory for cello performance. I get to watch that determined 8th grade violinist rise to the top of the orchestra. I get to see the group as a whole meld together as one team working for a common goal.

From the month of February to June do I have many free weekends? No. Do I get extremely exhausted? Heck Yes! Do the chores pile up and become rediculous mounds that I have to traverse? Yes. Do I get to enjoy the outdoors during the best weather? No :-(


Is it worth it? ...I guess so :-)

Current Atmospheric Conditions

(Note: here is a blog from early May before work consumed my life. You can tell I am mentally drained because I'm talking about the weather... the weather people!)

The weather here in Woodstock has pulled a fast one on me. Quite fast, actually. You see alllllll last week it was cold, and I was opening up the windows in the afternoon to let the heat in, and had put the heavy duvet back on the bed after putting it away! I was doing my very best to not have to turn on the heat. Then one afternoon it was quite nice, and the house was approx. 60 degrees so I opened up the windows. That is when it got quite hot... about 90 degrees. It has stayed that way for days and the nights haven't been cold enough to cool the house back down. :-(

Somewhere in those past three days the bug population exploded! Yikes! Yesterday Hubs had a Deer Tick! Ick! (I will spare you the details of that story) And the nats! I think they are the most annoying of the bugs, especially since they fit through the window screens. Whats with that anyway?

The spike in humidity has wafted the stench of the dairy farm over to the PT house and it is just sitting around all heavy and suffocating like with it's odor. The neighbors affectionately refer to this as "Dairy Air." I actually like the dairy farm despite the interesting odors that enter the PT house uninvited (how rude!) it adds character to the neighborhood and character is good.

Who else out there can say they can hear cows mooing from their bedroom?

Virginia is for Lovers

There was a time back when I was in High School that I went on a school trip to Virginia. It was the first time I had ever been in Virginia, and by golly, I fell in love! Who knew that I would happen to end up there?

Now, I am falling in love all over again! If you haven't been to Virgina in the spring, it is really the best time to go. About a week ago all the Cherry Trees were in bloom and it is such a spectacular sight to see when the whole town is in bloom. Also, my yard is awesome! Dandelions, Tulips, and Lilacs are all over the place! Hydrangeas and Peonies are on their way in about a month or so!

Virginia makes me think Spring time is for Lovers!!

When Hubs and I don't have to go to work, we have a lovely morning routine of breakfast and coffee on the patio. I could sit there all day, it is heavenly! The weather has been PERFECT, my friends: not to hot, not too cold! Also there are no mosquitoes yet!

I keep thinking how school should let out in April so everyone can enjoy this, and resume in August when it is stinkin' hot and buggy! (Yes, I did leave out some school days there... do you mind?)

I am saving my pennies so I can go wine tasting here soon!

(PS: Virginia is awesome)

:-)

Welcome April...

...after about two weeks! I know! I was just checking on my favorite blogs and realized I haven't posted yet in April. How impatient I would be if some of my favorite bloggers did not write for that long!

There are two women that I have been watching closely because, well, the are overdue to give birth! One many of you may know, cjane, and the other is my Orchestra Director from High School. I keep checking FB and Blogger to no avail! If I am anxious, I can only imagine how they feel.

The weather here in VA has been so glorious. If you haven't been to VA in the spring, you really need to. I think that in VA, schools should let out in April so everyone can enjoy this amazing sunshine before it gets too hot, and go back to school in August! (Yes, I did happen to shorten the length of the school year... :-)

Today Hubs and I went on a long long loooooooooong walk, over the mountain and through the woods sort of deal. The weather was so nice, I didn't even realize we walked about 6 miles. I feel so healthy now, but I have been craving salt and chowing on potato chips so it's probably even right about now.

Lately I've been wanting all sorts of junk food. Potato chips, pop, chocolate, ice cream, etc. And I think I've figured it out a bit... I've been trying to eliminate High fructose corn syrup, as well as artificial sweeteners. Sweet mother, did you know that HFCS is in practically EVERYTHING!?! I am surprised it is not in these potato chips I am chowing on. Also, I've been looking for a yogurt that does not have artificial sweeteners in it and it is hard! The market for yogurt is defiantly those ladies who want no calories! What about those ladies who want calcium, and fruit, but no sweeteners? Trust me they are out there! I am trying to be healthy so here is my goal for April: drink more water, exercise a bit. Wii fit counts as exercise by the way.

Hubs' has a birthday at the end of the month, he will catch up to this old lady :-) I am getting him some sweet shoes from L.L.Bean. They are pricey, but I am hoping they last more than 2 weeks like other shoes tend to for Hubtheshoekiller.

In other news, my parents are coming for a visit this coming weekend. YAY!!! :-D

Images of Spring

Some scenes from spring at the PT House.


"First buds of spring"

"Infantile Daffodils"

"Purple Flower"

"Aviary Home Construction"

"Spring's first opened window"

Man Brains

Did you know that the ratio of ADHD between Men and Women is 3:1 in community settings and even higher in clinical settings?

What is it with man brains?!

Hubs saw a random hitch hiker on the street, and came home and asked me if he could stay the night at our place.

Umm... ?

3:1 That's all I'm saying.

Pomplamoose

Hey, Blogger, I'm back!

Did you miss me?


...you better say yes.

Did you know that pomplamoose is french for pink grapefruit? Ohh wait that's pamplemousse. Apologies.

Anyhow. Being a music teacher, I am exposed to all sorts of crazy music things that float around the internet. Occasionally I find something Awesome.

Awesome like: Pomplamoose.

They are this couple (yes a couple, that makes them so much cuter, right?) who make covers of popular songs with an accompanying video all in an indie style. Let me tell you, I am so entertained. They play every instrument you hear, and their rule is of you hear it then you'll see it at least once in the video. I had their version of Lady GaGa's Telephone in my head all weekend! You really have to go check them out on Youtube, and their myspace, and their official website. Yup, really.

Check out their Mrs. Robinson:

Toby, the third child.

Toby, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Toby.

Toby is our third child, we adopted him this fall because he was a stray. While I do believe that 2 cats are more than enough, and 3 cats are pushing excessive, look at that face and tell me that you would let him live on the streets!!

Now, Toby is Hubs 'little boy', and he subsequently babies him. For instance, if either of the girl cats do anything naughty he chases them around the house and tosses them around; if Toby does the same thing Hubs yells at him and then says "You can't help it that you're a cat" and picks him up and coddles him. Geez, 8 years down the road check back at this blog and see if I am saying the same thing about children. (By the way, I originally typed 5 years, and then quickly changed it to 7, then 10, and finally decided that 8 was an OK number)

Toby has learned a bit more in his short little life than his elder sisters. You see Toby had it rough on the streets, and the girls have lived with me since they were 5 weeks old (spoiled?). One of Toby's 'street smart' tricks is this thing called scavenging. He will either scavenge in the open or secretly. He will scavenge openly when I am cooking dinner, quickly inhaling anything that may drop to the floor no matter what it is (he is worse than a dog!). Then he will scavenge when you least expect it. Like the one morning, Hubs was making breakfast and had just put bacon in a hot frying pan. Hubs turns around (I don't remember exactly what he was doing, we'll say blowing his nose?) and when he turns around again, there is Toby on the counter, with a piece of raw bacon half in his mouth and half in the frying pan. I wasn't there personally, but I can just imagine how Toby would have frozen with the bacon hanging from his mouth into the pan. Ohh man. Toby is quite the opposite of his sisters who have no interest in human food (aside from one episode with Olive and cream cheese icing). This is probably why even though Toby is younger, he is also 4 pounds heavier.

Toby is also boyish in the fact that he has nasty smelly gas: all . the . time. In fact just today he hoped up in my lap, farted, and jumped back down. What a lovely present. He also for some time had this smell of dirt, which is hard to pull off being an indoor cat. Hubs once found him rolling around happily in the grimy basement: mystery solved! Then Hubs went to give his little 'baby' a bath, and Toby actually liked it: weird. Not very cat-like! Actually he is quite clumsy too, not a cat characteristic either! We once had someone over to the PT House and this someone was holding Toby belly up, our guest then thought to gently flip Toby over to land on his feet: and Toby fell with a thud, not on his feet. What kind of a cat is this?!

Toby is a very quiet cat, except from when he is trapped, then he lets out what Hubs and I call his "Cry for Help." For example he likes to run through a door way as you are shutting that door, and once he realizes he is trapped he will let out one single solitary high pitched "mew" and that is it!

Toby looks so old, but he still has a kitten "Mew". It is so precious.

Chloe is generally less amused with Toby, especially when she wants to play and he is always right there with a "mousie, my mousie, must chase it!" expression on his face. She gives him a look of elder sisterly disgust, and pretends to no longer be interested in the toy. Pretends. Then she beats him up.

Between the hours of 4-8 PM you can generally find him napping on our bed, and when you turn on the lights he instantly lifts his head and looks at you all squinty-eyed like "What? I wasn't sleeping, I swear". Every time, it never fails.

Sunday, bloody Sunday!

Every Sunday I spend my day mourning the loss of the weekend. Anybody else? From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep I have this thought lingering around my head: "Tomorrow is Monday... uggggh" Subsequently I tend to ruin my Sundays. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense: I spend half the weekend dreading the week! Self-Destructive?

So I am going to make a conscious effort to stop doing this... I'm not sure I will be able to really accomplish this until school is out!

Anyway I thought that on this dreaded of all Sundays, I would share with you some good things:

I went to Lowes today and bought a bunch of seeds and soil so that Hubs and I can start working on our garden! We got Yellow Squash, Tomatoes, Peas, Beans, Spinach, Cucumber, and Eggplant. I'm not sure about gardening a full blown garden, I have no idea what we're doing... it can't be that hard Soil+Water+Seed+Sun=Plant right?

I also purchased a Crock Pot (because my old pot got a crack in it, booo) and am currently making Ham and Potato soup! YUM!


Alright, so I guess that is fairly mundane.


Ohh yes, and I will also be making that Cheesecake I blogged about a few days ago... Sunday can't be all bad if there is Cheesecake involved, right?

Thoughts on Public School Teaching.

My colleagues and I at the MS Music trip to Hershey Park, PA

No one knows what it is like to be a first year teacher, you can't even try to imagine it. You are back in the public schools after about a 4 or 5 year term in college and that alone takes some time to get used to again. Then you are under constant scrutiny of your Administrators, 'constructively criticizing' your every move. If your lucky you will have nice students, who have an open mind, and give you a chance. If you are anywhere close to what I walked into last August, then the students view you like a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti, doing every little thing to make your life hard; as some sort of tribute to their former teacher. That first year of teaching was the first time in my life where I got so angry that the blood all rushed to my head, and I saw dots, and almost passed out (that would have really made me look like a wounded gazelle). I must say that students generally do not have as much of an attachment to core teachers, as they do music teachers or coaches, so it is probably hard being a replacement for those types of positions. Furthermore, not everyone is in the position where they are replacing someone who would have the class play kick ball instead of rehearse, or would spend their planning time smoking pot in the storage room instead of planning OR would show up to teach in pajamas and have a whimsical air about following rules. What good are silly things like rules and structure?

Now you know on daytime television how they have segments about memory loss, and how your brain will block out bad times of your life as a defense mechanism? Well I think my brain is doing that to me about my first year of teaching. It is silly, I know, and there were also many good things that happened last year; but it seems that the further away from 08-09 I get more things I don't remember... and I'm not that old! Right at a time when I was starting to wonder if all my hard work and perserverance was going to pay off some things happened to make me feel like: FINALLY SOMEONE RECOGNIZES HOW HARD I WORK AND THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER!!! You know, like shout it on the mountain top type of feel!

Now, today I had a formal observation review; and while last year my formal observation review was not glowing or even that great, today's was. For instance my administrator said that he has seen nothing to comment on about classroom management. This is huge, administrators always have something to say about classroom management. Score one for me! Then he said that it looks like my students trust me and are excited to learn. Score another for me! Then there was a nice discussion on the structure of my classroom and he basically couldn't stop saying WONDERFUL things about my teaching!

Please excuse me while I climb that mountain behind my house and shout to the heavens about my general awesomeness, and I'll add some Hallelujah's, and some praise Jesus too, and a very sincere THANK YOU!

Then there was a moment this week when I had my orchestra spread out in the gym for sectionals. Now if it was last year, I would be constantly worrying about their productiveness and respecting each other, but this isn't last year anymore. This time, I just took a moment and watched all my students help each other, and have a genuine concern about their ability to play the music, and I am sure this is how parents feel when they see their children interact in some sweet and precious way, but I almost got teary eyed! I was so happy to see positive attitudes and great leadership, I was just beside myself.

These are a few of my favorite things!

My family on Christmas Eve 2009

On this 24th of February, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things:

My family! I love my family, and don't we all look so cute in that picture?

Sick days... I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense (who wants to be sick?), but I love being lazy and not feeling guilty about it.

Soup, all kinds of soup. Chicken Noodle, Beef Stew, Vegetable, Potato, Broccoli, Onion, Minestrone, and the list goes on.

The Bachelor. I know... it's trashy, and made up, but I find it so funny. I'm not a huge fan of Jake the Bachelor, I thought I would love him... but I don't, and I think it happened with Vienna. I don't like her, and so now I don't like him. He had all these great women and.... !!! Well I'm not going there.

I love spending money, which I haven't been able to do in a while. Sad face :-(

I love warm fuzzies: Blankets, Sweaters, Slippers, you get the idea.

Wine is totally my favorite. I used to be really into the whites, but now I'm more into the reds. Lately Hubs and I haven't been enjoying wine like we have in the past, and instead we've been drinking Miller's "High Life" the Champagne of Beers.

Teaching the 'good' students. I know they are the easy ones, but they make teachers feel fulfilled, or that they can survive.

Doing things to make Hubs happy, that is my favorite.

I love fresh air, and nature, camping, and feeling like I am out in the middle of nowhere.

I love pretty little things, rings, necklaces, you know - sparkly things!

Antiques are my favorite, and Antiquing is half the fun.

I love that moment when after a long winter, you feel the warm sun on you, and it is so very warm and comforting.

One of my ultimate favorites though, must be hanging out with friends, and making new friends. For instance over all those snow days we had this year we started a 'snow day' tradition with our neighbors where we hang out all day, play in the snow, and have yummy yummy food, and good conversation.

Oh, and Hubs, he's my favorite.


Whats your favorite?

Craving!

It seems today I have a craving for everything that is bad for me. Mainly dessert. I just can't make up my mind about which type of sweet treat I would like to indulge in. I had ideas of dashing to the grocery store for supplies to make myself something great.

My first idea was Chocolate Cake:


Doesn't that look sooooo yummy?!

And then I thought, that might be a bit pricey, and I should go for something a bit cheaper like Rice Krispy Treats. Still delicious! Just as bad for you right? I'm not even sure if it is really cheaper or not!


So then I thought: Cheesecake, how I have missed you!! You are so creamy, and delicious, and sweet, and made of cheese which is so yummy! Cheese is good for you right? Calcium, anyone?

Right when I was contemplating the cheesecake, and how much calcium I would gain from eating it, and that I could top it with fruit to make it even healthier; Chloe curled up on my tummy. So that was it! I was trapped under my 5 lb. cat. I wouldn't dare disturb my little kitty in the name of cheesecake... but it is cheesecake, so I could disturb her this one time...

Then a thought came to me, while I was languishing on the sofa (sofa sounds not as lazy and 'couch') trapped under Chloe: there are dishes in the kitchen. Dirty dishes, and cooking would simply create more dishes. So that was the deal breaker. Cheesecake, you tease, perhaps tomorrow you will be mine!


Completely unrelated:

Who doesn't love an Olympic Gold Medalist, right? And Evan is so hunky! Tall, dark, and handsome. Rumor has it he is dating Nastia Liukin, they would be this super athletic, so beautiful that it is ridiculous, but you love them anyway type of couple. He sorta reminds me of that actor that played the new Spock: Zachary Quinto


Well? Am I right, or am I right?

2010 Winter Olympics

I LOVE the Olympics, and I love to reflect on where I was when the last Olympics happened. For instance, when the 2008 Summer Olympics were happening I was moving into my first place! My tiny little apartment that I loved and lived in all last year! I remember sitting in my living room with no furniture watching Shawn Johnson and waiting for days for my mom to return to me with the trailer full of my belongings!

Anyways one of my favorites is the opening ceremony. I mean, did you see the ceremony at Beijing?! It was incredible! I was so impressed by all of their routines, and really just the sheer mass of people all perfectly coordinated. It was quite impressive. I really think they ruined opening ceremonies forever though, I mean, how can anyone compete with that! The iconic imagery of chinese culture, and all the colors! It was just impressive.

Now, I can't say much about the Vancouver opening ceremony because, well, I missed most of it. I was so upset about it too. I was at work, at our final performance of the Musical "Once Upon a Mattress" I did happen to catch the tail end of it, but I missed my favorite part: when the Olympians enter, and then the torch is lit. Great stuff.

Now I have a few things to comment on what has happened so far.

First of all, the pairs figure skating. Oh my lord, I was on the edge of my seat! I stayed up till 12:00 on a school night when I had to get up at 6:00 AM the next day (aka big deal). I just had to see all of their performances, and who medaled.

Now I think my favorite pair was the Germans. They had this sort of style to their routines that (in my non-professional) opinion the other pairs were sort of lacking. And of course they skated their short program to "Send in the Clowns" which I love!! They were my favorite performers to watch, I felt like even though they were competing, they were also performing from the heart; which I really appreciated!



I also really enjoyed the USA pairs Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig and Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barret. I'm not exactly sure, but I got the imression that Caydee and Jeremy have not been skating together for very long (I could be wrong) but they were awesome!! Caydee has this adorable little face with short blond hair, and she is a really powerful little grasshopper! I have a feeling that at the next Winter Olympics, they will be in prime position for a medal. Now the other USA pair: Amanda and Mark, they were quite on top of their routine, and skated very beautifully. Amanda is extremely graceful and is so wonderful to watch!




By the way Amanda and Jeremy are dating! I find it so funny how figure skaters date each other, and it is even better when they skate together. Although, I'm not sure I could spend all the time 24/7 with Hubs in a practice and then at home. I love Hubs, but that is a lot of togetherness!! What exactly is it about Pairs Skating that leads to romance?

And that leads me to the Chinese Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, who are a married couple that came out of retirement to win a Gold Olympic medal, and boy did they succeed. Hongbo is nearly 40 years old, and for one: I'm surprised he is still competing and two: he doesn't look that old to me! This pair definitely deserved to win gold they were by far the best technical skaters, and they delivered a great performance. When they realized they won gold, and broke that incredible Russian record, they were basically like:

"What do we do with our life now?"

"I guess we can make a baby?!?!"

It was so cute. Yes, please, go have a life. Move out of those dorms and have an adult married life!


All of the pairs are incredibly talented, and beautiful. I could not keep my eyes off of them!! Hubs and I had a great time cuddling on the couch watching it all... but the anxiety was really getting to Hubs. Every time someone fell he muttered a very heart felt "Ahhh Gosh!" which is his basic way of saying... well there goes their chances!! And at one point he covered his eyes because he couldn't handle the tension! He cares so much!

I hope you all stayed up way past your bed time and enjoyed the pairs skating also, what did you think of it all??

Buttons!

Here are some buttons made for me by C&A as a Valentine gift, how sweet!
Take whichever one you want by copying the code beneath the button you choose and pasting it on your website.

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree2-1-2.png" border="0" /></a>







 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree3-1-1.png" border="0" /></a>

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree1-1-1-1.png" border="0" /></a>

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree4-1-2.png" border="0" /></a>

Enjoy!
Thanks C&A!!