My bowling shoes have arrived!!!!

I am happy, happy, happy, happy.......

Summer Break!

I realized today that it has been a while since my last blog. I've actually been quite busy, but that's no excuse. It really doesn't take long to post an update!

Last Tuesday (June 3) was my last day of the school year. I am very happy to be on break, but after a week of not seeing my students, I'm beginning to miss them . I'm working summer school this year which starts on June 23. I actually like working summer school, although this summer is going to be a bit more challenging than others have been. As of right now, we only have one teacher for 24 students. Yes...I said 24 students. CRAZY!!!! Anyone who works in special education can sympathize with our situation. I won't go into the details on here about what is going on with the administration behind the scenes and how they handle things, but I'm hoping that they find another teacher. The one that is offically teaching is pretty stressed out about the situation...and I don't blame her!

I've seen quite a few movies in the last few weeks. Actually, all of the recent movies that I have seen have been fantastic! I'm always so happy when I walk out of the theater feeling like I've seen something great. I've seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, Sex and the City (twice!), Young At Heart and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This Friday, Lance and I will head out to see The Incredible Hulk. I'm crossing my fingers BIG TIME that it is better than the last Hulk movie. There are a few other movies that are coming out this summer that I'm looking forward to seeing. Man...what a great time for movies!!!

So, other than seeing some incredible movies lately, I also went to a wedding last weekend and on Monday, I got the most amazing massage by my boyfriend...er....I mean Massage Therapist, Marco. That man does amazing things with his hands....in the most appropriate, totally professional way, of course! =) Seriously, though...if any of you are looking for a really great massage at an unbelievable price, let me know. I can hook you up big time!

Two years ago, I decided that I needed to challenge myself to try new things. I felt that I needed to experience or do something each year that I have never done before. I told myself that it didn't matter what it was...whether it was taking a class, going to a new destination, trying a new hobby, etc. Last year that challenge was working a second job at a preschool. I definitely had never done that before and it was such an amazing experience! Not only did I get to experience a new work environment, I also met some amazing people and I feel that I have new friends for life! This year, I decided to join a bowling league. Yes, that's right people...once a week, I am bowling! I had my second session last night and I have to tell you...I am having a blast! It is so much fun. The people are so nice and everyone is having so much fun. It is really nice being a part of something like that.

Well, that's about it for now. I have some other fun things on my calendar that I will write about once they happen. I'll be heading up to see my sister-in-law and nephews tomorrow. I'm so excited! I don't get to see them that much, so when I do get to, it's always really special.

Happy Wednesday!

Losing My Mind

Ever since I was little, I always had good manners. My parents instilled in us at an early age that it is important to be polite to people, no matter who it is or where you are. I've always been shocked at the lack of manners that some people have at the movie theater. People are always putting their shoes on the chairs in front of them, kicking the chairs, talking to each other, talking on the cell phone, etc. It gets super annoying. However, I think my experience at the movie theater tonight takes the cake.

Scott, Lance and I went and saw Indiana Jones tonight. I kid you not...throughout the ENTIRE movie, I had to listen to the lady in the row behind me smack her flippin' gum!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was about to go completely insane! She came into the movie with a guy who sat next to her the entire time who said nothing to her. There is no way that I could stand it if Lance was doing that. I turned around to look at her a few times and realized that not only was the sound of it annoying, she looked ridiculous, too! Every once in a while, she would stop for a second...POP her gum...then continue smacking it. Oh my gosh...I'm not sure that I've EVER been so frustrated in the movie theater. It took everything I had in me to not throw my slushee at her. (And I'm not a violent person).

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for teaching me the importance of being polite. Hopefully I will never find myself as the topic of a stranger's blog for something totally annoying that I have done!

Heat Wave

The last two days have been SOOOO hot here. I'm ready to look for somewhere to live in the Arctic Circle! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of hot weather. I'm okay until it reaches above 80 degrees. Then I become a sweaty, irritable mess. Today it "cooled off" into the mid-90s. It was still way too hot for my taste. Yesterday, my class went on an outing and we were all miserable. I think everyone was relieved when the day was over and we could go home. We don't have air conditioning in my classroom, so we've been working with the lights off and the fans on since Thursday. My poor students!

The last couple of weeks have been really good. Busy, but good. Two weeks ago, we got complimentary tickets to go see Duran Duran in concert. They put on an awesome show! Lance, Bre, a coworker of mine and I went and had a blast. I didn't think it was going to be as good as it was. Last weekend, I went to see Alicia Keys in concert with a couple of my old coworkers from the Preschool I worked at last year. I LOVED getting together with these ladies and catching up. I feel so lucky to still be in contact with them even though I'm not working with them anymore. So fun!

Mother's Day turned out to be a nice day. We weren't able to do much since my mom had worked the night before and she was supposed to work again that night, but we did find time to spend together. We took her out to breakfast early in the morning. Then she went home to sleep for a few hours before we took her out to P.F. Changs for dinner. After dinner, we went back to my parent's house for cake and ice cream. I must have gained 10 pounds from all the eating we did that day!

This year our 6th wedding anniversary fell on Mother's Day. Since I went to the concert the night before, we decided to celebrate our anniversary last night and today. Last night, we went out to a yummy dinner at Zio Fraedos, courtesy of my parents. It was delicious! We go there maybe once a year and it has always been really good. Then today we went to the Indian buffet for lunch and went to see a movie afterward (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). It was nice to spend the day with Lance and just hang out. Lance bought me some beautiful roses last weekend that have now, unfortunately, fallen victim to the heat. I should have taken a picture of them when he brought them home. I love my hubby!

Here are some pictures from Mother's Day. Of course, I tried to get a picture of me and Lance also, but it didn't quite work. So much for trying!

I love my Mom!

Bre and Mom

I don't even remember why we were laughing!

But we couldn't stop!

I thought my Mom was going to start crying from laughing so hard!

She's still laughing...

Finally!

It takes me "scolding" him to get him to smile...

...and yet, this is what I get. Gotta love him!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Last weekend, Lance finally decided that it was time to do something about his hair. I never had a problem with it but it was becoming apparent that he was starting to. He started getting pretty self conscious about it years ago when it started thinning out. He has been wanting to cut it off for a while now, but it's always hard to take that step and actually do it since you never know how it's going to turn out. Today, I took the electric shaver and we did it. We cut it off. I love it! It's nice and soft. I'm having a hard time keeping my hands off of it. I think he's pretty happy with it, too.

I'm starting to finally feel a bit better. I've been sick now for a couple of weeks but it got really bad last weekend. I ended up taking last Monday and Tuesday off of work because I couldn't break my fever. They were my first sick days of the entire school year! It has been horrible...fever, aches, congestion, headache. I'm still feeling a bit weak and I still have a cough, so that's a bit annoying. My dad ended up calling my house last Monday evening and he didn't even know who he was talking to on the phone because I sounded so bad! Thanks, Dad.

Our bathroom is almost finished. I'm so excited! My Dad only has one more day to come over, which will be in a couple of weeks, and then it's done. We only have to install the shower walls and change out the faucet. It will be so nice to have our bathroom back again!

Water Weight

Today, while job coaching two students in the dining room of a senior residential facility, one of my students turns to me and, out of the blue, decides to tell me, "Ummm...Kirsti, my mom said that I cannot talk to you about water weight."

Now, I wasn't sure if she meant that she cannot talk to ME specifically about water weight or if she meant ME, the person who is sitting right next to her. It did make me wonder, though, if I happened to come up in her conversations with her mom about diet. I know I'm not the skinniest person around. I definitely have my share of pudge. My student has been very obsessive about food and constantly reminds us that she is on a "diet" even though she is, in my opinion, a very healthy weight and looks fantastic. (I think it's more that her parents want her to make healthy choices, which is great). She has never told me to my face that I am overweight, but she is very intelligent and I wouldn't be surprised if the thought ran through her mind from time to time.

So, just in case any of you were wondering...I'm not pudgy...I'm just retaining a lot of water.

Yeah...that's it!

One Year

Today marks the official one year mark since Lance and I completed the homestudy for the adoption. It was exactly one year ago today that our social worker came to our house and did the home inspection. In some ways, it feels that it wasn't really that long ago. In other ways, I feel like we've been going through this process for a decade. I think that whenever the phone rings with the news that we've been waiting so long for, it's going to feel surreal. I no longer come home and run to the answering machine to see if Susan has called. I think it truly will be a surprise when it happens. It will happen...I just have to remind myself of that sometimes.

I came back from spring break and had a bit of a stressful week at work last week. Now that is over and I can move on to better days. Only 7 1/2 more weeks of work until summer break. Yipee! I applied to work summer school this year. The schedule is really awesome, so I'm actually looking forward to working this summer quite a bit. I'm off work by noon everyday AND I don't have to work Fridays (except for the first week). Woo hoo!

I've come down with a bit of a cold/something annoying this week. I'm not totally sure what it is, but I feel like I've been in slow motion all week. One of my students came in to school on Monday totally sick. He has been sneezing and coughing all over the classroom all week. My teacher and I looked at each other on Monday and said to each other that we were next. We were right. He's sick, too. Two more students have fallen ill this week as well. Whatever it is, it is sitting between my ears and giving me quite the pressure in my sinuses and a slight headache. Whether it is allergies or a cold, I'm not sure. I just want it to go away.

Everything else has been going really well with us. Nothing much new to report. Lance took me out to dinner tonight to a yummy Peruvian restaurant that is fairly new in the area. The cat and dog are continuing their love affair, which includes loving each other more than they love us. Oliver actually prefers hanging out with Willy over us! Whatever. Lance and I were joking the other day that we didn't adopt the cat for US...we adopted him for Willy!

Silly pets.