Uh-Oh... Yogurt

We had a delay this morning. I'm not quite sure why, because the roads are fine, but I'll take it! I came into school early to get some work done and eat breakfast. I eat breakfast every day at work, I know that probably sounds weird, but it's easier than eating at home before I come. So, I'm spooning the yogurt out of the container and into my bowl when I fling it all over my pants. Now i have this crusty gross spot of yogurt on my pants. I am not happy about this.

I can't believe it's Thursday already! I guess snowdays are good for that. :) My sisters are flying in tonight and will be here around 7:30pm. One will stay in the city with her boyfriend but the other will be out in the 'burbs with me for the weekend! I'm really looking forward to it. And? With the snow day yesterday I was able to get most of my grad work done for the week so I can really relax.

Also, I think I'm getting monitored at Jazz tonight. I don't know for sure, but I have a GREAT big sneaking suspicion.

We'll see!

Ted on Oprah

Is anyone else watching Ted (lastname?) on Oprah right now? Am I the only one who thinks he's in denial?!?!?

400

Wow. I was just popping on to say hello and I realized this is my 400th post! Where does the time go?

It's a snow day here in CT and I would have loved to sleep in but unfortunately I have a *lot* of graduate school work to do. A lot. Which includes over 30 algebra problems. Did I tell you I was taking a math class? Have I told you I hate math? Yea... it's a winning combination. Also? This MATH class is online. Which means that I have to do the problems in pencil and then RETYPE them in the class forum.

Ugh.

Birthdays

It was my mom's birthday on Saturday and while my sisters were visiting last weekend we got a wild idea- - we would all surprise her and come home for the weekend.

Friday night surprise her we did. We all walked in the door with birthday cake and cards (conveniently) as dinner was being put on the table. :) It was awesome. We spent the weekend hanging out, and I came home with a month of dinner that my mom made for me. On HER birthday.

She's awesome.

How Do I Not Know This?

I am totally out of the "cool" lingo. I have a friend (a very "cool" one) who knows what's hip on the oratory homefront.

Twice this week she has made reference to things that I had to ask for clarification about.

The first? "B's" (pronounced 'bees'). Means? Bitches. Used in a sentence: "Thanks a lot B's. Now that you wore that jumper to school first, I can't wear mine 'cause it's the same."

The second? "Take the goalie out" Means? To stop taking birth control when you want to start trying for a baby. In a sentence? "So, you gonna take the goalie out, or what?"

Really.

Am I the only one who didn't know about these?

Better Late and 1/2 @$$ed than Never...

...right?!?! I always love reading everyone's "100 Things About Me" and I was tagged on Facebook to do "25 things about Me" so while it's not the full 100, it IS 25 and I thought it would be fun to share with all of you!

1. I have three sisters who are my best friends. I don’t know who or where I’d be without them.

2. I teach kindergarten and love going to work every day. Those kids are FUNNY.

3. I always squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom. Always. It really bugs me when tubes are squeezed from the middle.

4. I used to make fun of my sisters for watching Friends on dvd all of the time. Now? I am obsessed with 90210 on dvd- - Dylan is my favorite. As if I didn’t get enough of it the first time around.

5. I love wine.

6. If I drink beer it’s almost always Mich Ultra.

7. I love Jeopardy and have an impressive accuracy percentage. If I had dvr I would record every episode.

8. I never start my laundry unless I can finish it--there is nothing worse than the smell of clothes that have been sitting in the washing machine too long. And I always fold my clothes when they’re warm.

9. I think I was born to be the star in a Broadway musical. The singing, the dancing, the name in lights… Unfortunately I can’t sing. Or dance that well. The closest I’ve come is starring in my middle school play.

10. The not-being-able-to-sing thing doesn’t stop me from karaoke-ing. Ever.

11. My family is incredible. I hope to one day create something as special as what I’ve been a part of.

12. The first thing I bought in my “adult” life was a car. A Volvo XC. My friends and family make fun of me for driving a “mom” car with built-in booster seats. I don’t care, it’s my dream car.

13. I work full time and am in grad school full time. It’s about as much fun as it sounds.

14. The “Southern (mylastname)” was born on a wild spring break. It is still offered on the drink menu at the bar where it was created.

15. I hate drama.

16. I love Jazzercise and teach it as much as I can.

17. I am forgiving to a fault.

18. I am really selective about my girl friends but have been extremely lucky to meet two fantastic new friends in the past two years. They’re incredible and are tagged in this note. ☺

19. I love knowing the words to songs. I actually impress myself with my lyrical prowess. John Michael Montgomery’s “Sold” was the first song that I knew every word to and could sing without the song being on. Sir-Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” was the second.

20. I have more bags than I know what to do with but really only use 8 or 9 of them.

21. There is nothing better than the feeling you get when you cross the last thing off of your to-do list.

22. I am really Type “A”. Really.

23. I grew up watching TGIF. Somehow everything always comes back to a Full House episode.

24. I prefer to sleep in the cold so I can wear sweatpants and stay under the covers. Even in the summer.

25. I love to read.

Avenue Q

My sisters are here for the weekend so we headed into the city for the day on Saturday with the hopes of seeing a Broadway show. We got to the TKTS booth nice and early (and waited in the FREEZING cold for an hour) so we had many choices of shows to see. We wanted something good, but also something we weren't totally familiar with (Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, etc) we remembered Avenue Q sounding interesting and getting great reviews.

We picked that one.

It's a puppet show.

With no dancing.

And the puppets get "intimate".

It was totally creepy.

We should have picked Chicago.

Water for Elephants

Have you read it? If not, go NOW and get it. It was fantastic. I'm usually not into historical fiction/etc and it did take me a while to get into it but once I did I couldn't put it down. I loved it. If you're in New England this will be the perfect weekend to pick out a new book and stay (warm) inside while reading it.

You won't regret it.

2009 Action Plan

I just found out that you can download Suze Orman's new book for FREE from Oprah's site. It only lasts until today, so do it NOW! Click HERE.

Blustery Day

We had a delay here in CT this morning which would have been great if I didn't have to wake up anyway to walk the dog, get the newspaper, feed the dog and ready the recycling. So? I'm at school at the normal time with no co-workers and no kids. Kind of enjoyable really.

With all of this talk about Cleansing around here these days I've actually started to consider it. Am I crazy? The idea of subsiding on liquid alone for any amount of time over 3 hours terrifies me but I think it *might* be a good experience and my friend said that she'll do it with me. Power in numbers, right? Of course neither one of us can afford to just start whenever we feel like it, so we'll have to wait a few weeks (and a few paychecks) before we start.

Here's to 2009, a new year and a new me.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

I can't believe it's already January 13th and I'm just getting to a recap of Christmas. I guess that's what happens when I go into hibernation for the two week holiday. I may share all of my gifts (or at least my favorites) with you here but there was one gift that I got for Christmas that was by far my favorite.

Growing up, my mom was always baking/cooking. She's not one to try a new recipe every week, month or even year. She sticks with what she knows, what we like, and in most cases, the tried and true recipes from her mother. From mashed potatoes, crepes, chocolate chip cookies and chili we've grown up with the same versions of each and somehow, they just never taste as good when someone else makes them.

In short? My sisters and I are totally attached to the kitchen workings of our mother.

When my mom's mother died my aunt got all of her recipe cards so my mom just copied them as she needed them and has acquired quite the collection of recipes- - all in her writing. My sisters and I are always "claiming" what we want when our parents die (totally morbid, I know) and while I would have loved to have the recipes in my mother's handwriting we all kind of assumed that Sister #2 would get them because, well... she actually cooks and bakes.

My parents know that we joke about this stuff all of the time and so, this year for Christmas, my mom bought us each a recipe binder and started to hand write each recipe she has for all of our books. The books are not finished, yet, but when they are all four of us will have all of our favorite recipes, from our mom, in her handwriting.

This gift was not on my list, but I can't think of anything I would have rather received.

A Major (minor) Meltdown

Returning to CT after the holiday break made me homesick. Really homesick. I don't remember I time I felt more lonely than the weekend before school started again. It was a hard adjustment, to go from being home with my family 24/7 back to CT where I am very much on my own outside of the working day.

When I wake up there isn't anyone there to talk to or even see. The family that I live with does not wake up early so I don't see them (which is FINE with me) before I leave for work and when it's not your OWN family or your own friends you're with somehow it just doesn't have the same effect.

I knew that we would have Monday, January 19th off from school in observation of MLK Jr. Day but on our school calendar it said that Tuesday was a faculty in-service day. I assumed that we would be at school that day. It turns out that "faculty in-service day" is code for freebie day off. So? Now I have a four day weekend I didn't know about. This is wonderful and I thought that I would head home for a the long weekend but (you knew there was a "but" coming, right?!?) when I talked it over with the woman that I live with she was LESS than flexible about me leaving for the weekend. In fact, she flat out said no.

I called home totally upset but after talking with my mom I resigned myself to the fact that I would stay down here and get as many babysitting jobs as I could for that weekend and make it as lucrative as possible. Then... dun dun DUN DUN, my sisters came to the rescue. Instead of me going home for the weekend, they are coming to see me! So, Saturday morning I'm picking two of them up at the airport and we're meeting up with the third at her squash matches over the weekend. It will be WONDERFUL.

I hate that my living situation dictates so much of my life but unfortunately I can't afford to pay rent in this area and this is how I'm making it work while paying for grad school. I don't like it, but you never know... maybe something better will work out soon.

Has anyone seen Bride Wars yet? I saw it with a friend yesterday- - so funny!

Christmas Gifts Part I

I was gifted two things for Christmas that didn't arrive on time/had to be exchanged so yesterday, when the UPS truck pulled up I was more than excited. Living by myself it's not very often that I get packages or even mail so expecting two (fun!) packages on the same day was, well? Like Christmas all over again.

Being a Jazzercise instructor for almost two years you would think that I have EVERYTHING I need to teach. I don't. Or didn't. At my old centers we all shared a microphone but had our own headsets. In Connecticut, everyone has their OWN microphone so, since moving here, I've really needed one. I've been asking for a wireless set for a while but it just hasn't worked out.

Until now. :)

Look what the UPS truck dropped off yesterday....

(I can't move the images...sorry)

Woke Up On Tuesday...

I woke up (late) this morning and went to grab my snacks and diet coke out of the fridge. Well? One of my diet cokes had frozen and exploded EVERYWHERE. So, did I stop then to clean everything?

Nope.

Not really looking forward to that after class and jazz tonight...

Cut or Styled?

A girl in my class came in yesterday obviously sporting a new 'do.

I said to her, "Oooooh! Susie*! I loooove your haircut!"

She replied, "Uhhh, Miss T? I didn't get it cut. I got it styled."

Obviously.

*name changed to protect the guilty. ;)

Alarming

I'm taking a two week, 1 credit course to keep this whole grad school thing going so I knew getting to the gym or jazzercise after work/school the next couple of weeks was going to be difficult. To counter that, I set my alarm for the nice and early time of 4:45am yesterday and today to get a workout in before the day started. I usually do not have any trouble at all getting up and out of bed but? The past two mornings? I have hit snooze until the. last. possible. second.

That's right. Not only have a NOT worked out, I haven't even showered before work. I think I'm losing it.

To be fair... I caught a major cold/sickness two days before I came back to CT that I've been violently fighting off since. I think my body must need the recovery time. I was asleep last night before 8:40pm and slept until 6 this morning.

For now? The gym can wait but as soon as I'm feeling better... well? The gym better watch out.

Monday Already?

One of the many (many, many) benefits of teaching, especially at a private school, is nice looong vacations. However, after said vacations it is extremely difficult to get back onto a routine. I'm jumping in headfirst today though-- back to school and back to grad school all in the same day.

Watch out.

Whoa.

I haven't even signed onto blogger since December 17th. I'm slacking. I know. Happy new year to all of you here, I hope you were able to spend time relaxing and enjoying your friends and family.

I had the best two weeks I've had in a *long* time. Full recaps to come. Right now... I'm relishing in the fact that it's Saturday night and I don't have any plans.

Life? Is pretty darn good.