The Cat Who Hates Walking (Day 78-84)

I can't promise that these pictures are in order but I can promise that these all happened this week. It's my blog I can forget what happened on what date if I wanted to.

Day 78


The teacher I am an assistant for is pregnant and is due in a couple of weeks. The other assistant has been making "diaper babies" for all pregnant staff of the school I work at, there are a lot! The "diaper baby" is made of diapers, clothes, and a pacifier.

Day 79


One of our kids from our preschool choir says he is going to be an artist when he grows up. To prove he has potential and that he is going to make it, he drew us a dragon. We call him "Trogdor."

Day 80


This is a learning tool we use on one of our kids. It teaches cause/ effect and encourages her to practice gripping. Basically, she pushes a button and the radio turns on. When she lets go it stops playing.

Day 81


Look who drove me to school! She had an appointment to visit her vet so we decided to carpool. She is a very excellent driver, except when we find mailmen. She can't stop following them.

Day 82


The cat who can play fetch is not the cat who likes to go out on walks. That's right folks, we attempted to take the cat on a walk. Because we moved out into the wilderness, we don't feel comfortable letting the cat outside on his own like we would in the suburbs. We found out he would rather be stuck indoors than to be dragged on the ground outside. Lucy came as close to laughing a dog could at Barney. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Who knew cats don't like leashes?

Day 83


Today is the second Sunday Aaron and I have been leading worship at the church. We got to meet the choir members and have choir practice with them after a hearty meal. We explored the town some and then came back to go to evening service and have another choir practice at my in-laws' church. Let's just say I am as tired as this puppy looks.

Day 84


Thanks to this time change, we are up before the sun rises and go to bed before the sun sets. What are we, farmers?

"Speshll Stuf" (Day 71-77)

Oh what a week this has been! The whole Spring Break was spent moving mine and my in-law's stuff to Stanton. I was looking foward to going back to work just so I could stop moving.

Day 71


This is part of my commute; isn't it beautiful? I have completely embraced West Texas and I love it! Aaron and I have both expressed this week how much we feel at home in Midland- West Texas in general. We love the people and feel the area has a unique beauty to it. The culture has helped me slow down, really appreciate people, and have genuine conversations with them. I feel like it has helped me grow up. I apologize to the people of Abilene, because it took me a while to take pride in the place.

Day 72


Aaron's mom is going through the stage every parent eventally reaches; handing over the childhood toys and papers to the grown-child to which they belong. Aaron and I had a lot of fun looking through all of his "speshll stuf". He was obsessed with indians and they kept a lot of old stories that he wrote about them when he was four. See if you can figure this one out:



At Aaron's preschool graduation they introduced him by saying, "this is Aaron and he loves indians."

Day 73


Today, we moved the pets to the new house. Actually, Lucy had already been sleeping there with us, but she was "helping" us move. Lucy has been using the cat's crate to sleep in, but of course I left that at the house; therefore, I had to hold on to both animals as we took them to Stanton. Lucy (the puppy) immediately went to sleep and didn't stir even when Barney (the cat) climbed all over her while he was trying to make the world as he knew it stop moving.

Day 74


The rest of the family went into town while I decided to stay home and unpack some. I got the whole kitchen finished and got the guest room ready for Aaron's sister, who is coming for a visit. After about four or five hours I couldn't stand to look at another box, so Lucy and I explored the camp. I introduced her to the horses. Lucy stood at a distance, as you can see, and barked very meekly.

Day 75


This really sweet couple from the church my father-in-law is music minister at is moving, so the choir threw a going-away party. It was probably the most fun I have had at a party. The couple who had it at their house has a real knack for hosting. The food was delicious and they ordered these great candied apples from Idaho that were shipped that day. We had a great time singing hymns and listenening to some guitar playing.

Day 76


Today was the first Sunday out of the next three that Aaron lead worship at the Church with which we're talking. The pastor apparently thinks like I do because he introduced us and said that we were dating the church right now. We loved meeting everyone (and eating all the homemade barbecue). The drive is only 1 1/2 hours and is a straight shot, so it's not bad at all.

Day 77


This is a picture of me editing my blog today. I have to do it in Starbucks because we don't have any internet in Stanton. I love hearing all the conversations of the different people that come in here. I wonder if I look like I belong in a coffee shop or if I am a poser.

Love Ya Nation (64-70)

As promised in a post a while back, I have found my wedding slideshow! We have also found a new temporary home until Aaron's parents find a more permanent location. We are staying in missionary housing at a baptist encampment and there is no internet there so I will try to put the slideshow in the "about me" page either this week or next week. So check it out! It includes cute videos of me and my husband when we were little ones.

Day 64


To make up for my lack of an interesting day, here is an embarrassing video of me skydiving for my eighteenth birthday. Do I deliver, or what?

Day 65


Today was a very tough day in general. We had kids misbehaving left and right and I am pretty sure I have used up the entire week's supply of patience today. Aaron being a really sweet guy let me pick the restaurant we ate at so we went to Fazoli's. We always end up sitting at the same booth no matter what Fazoli’s we are at. We ate at that booth when we had a crush on each other and I guess we just like to keep the tradition.

Day 66


Meet our new neighbors, at least for three weeks. Aaron's parents have connections to the head of Circle Six, which is a Baptist encampment in Stanton. They are letting us stay in missionary housing for at least three months, or whenever we find a place to live.

Day 67


Will work for play. One of the teachers I work with his head of concessions at the Midland Community Theatre so Aaron and I agreed to sell food for free tickets to Shrek. We can't really afford to see plays because the tickets are usually $26 a pop. Aaron and I used to work together at this family entertainment center so it was fun to work together again. Intermission was crazy. It felt like one of those cartoons where the crowd is waving money in the air and you are just throwing food at them.

Day 68


Sorry for the pictures of drinks. I had a plan of what picture I wanted to take, I just completely forgot! Aaron and I had an interview at a church today. I am so excited to say that it went really well! We have been asked to come back and lead worship for the next couple of Sundays as a trial basis and they will see from there if they want to hire us or not. I always compare our involvement with churches as a dating relationship. And yes, it is getting pretty serious.

Day 69


Lucy has a thing for shoes, specifically her grandmother's slippers; therefore, grandma got her a treat in the shape of a shoe. I am sure this will deter her from chewing on shoes in the future. Oh well, it kept her occupied all afternoon.

Day 70


Today Aaron and I woke up early to move most of our stuff into storage and the rest into our new "temporary" home at the Baptist encampment.

I'm a Barbie Girl in a Barbie World (57-63)

This week Aaron and I went home for our niece's sixth birthday. I didn't get the websites up yesterday because we are traveling so I am hoping to get that up later tonight.

Day 57


Every morning I have the same routine at school. One of my objectives is something I dread. Freshmen get dropped off at our school to get picked up from another bus. They aren't supposed to be in the building, but can be in the foyer when it is cold. I have to wait for the buses to drop off my kids so guess who gets to enforce the rules. I feel like I have to say the same phrase every day and I get called some variation of the same name everyday.

Day 58


After church, the landlord informed us that they decided to sell the house. Without boring you with a lot of details, we have a short amount of time to find a place to live. The landlord is coming Friday to check out the house so we are scrambling to get the house clean before Aaron and I leave for Round Rock after I get off work on Thursday. Life loves to throw you curveballs, doesn't it?

Day 59


Last week was half of my family's birthdays, seperated by a day of two. I wanted to go home to celebrate with them but I didn't get payed until this week so I had to put it off. Aaron and Lucy picked me up after school and we stopped in Abilene to pick up some used baby stuff from one of my really good friends to give to my sister-in-law and brother. We got to my parent's house around midnight and went straight to bed.

Day 60


I spent all day setting up a mini party for my niece. She loves Barbies so I baked her a barbie cake. Here is a close up; I am pretty proud of this thing:



Day 61


The intention of today was to go shopping for some baby stuff for my not-yet-born niece. What ended up happening was us driving around aimlessly while I was giving directions. Both Aaron and I are awful at reading, telling, writing, and listening to directions. We finally got to our destination. That's when my ditsy self realized it would have saved a lot of frustration if I clicked the "directions to" button on the map rather than trying to interpret the stupid thing. Technology is only useful if you click the right buttons.

Day 62


We had planned on going to a kite festival in Austin but after fighting traffic for an hour I actually muttered the words "I wish I was in Midland." I think this officially makes me a West Texan. How did this happen? Sorry Austin, I am no longer a conservative hippie.

Day 63


Today was actually pretty good! I didn't have to yell at freshmen when I first got there (some other teacher already took care of it) and my first period class with the general ed kids was actually pretty calm, even though there was a sub. We also took the kids out on their bikes today! We have three or four tricycles outside our classroom and I was looking foward to finally using them. The kids have so much fun and it is a good excuse to get out of the classroom.

The One Where I Confess That I am a Vandal(50-56)

Day 50


No, you are not looking at El Chupacabra. This poor little thing had to get two baths in one day. Not only does she like to dig, it was also raining. So the puppy formally known as "Snow" by the shelter we adopted her from looked more like mud. Don't you love the look she is giving the camera? She knows how to play it up already.

Day 51


Every week we have a different coloring page that introduces the stories we talk about in our Preschool choir. It is funny because Aaron HATED coloring when he was that age. In fact, that was his kindergarten teacher's only complaint about him. By the way, his fine motor skills could be a lot better if he would have not been a rebellious six years old.

One of our regular kids brought her little sister with her. I think her little sister is barely four. I made instant friends with her because I agreed to call her whatever she requested. It was good I had her on my side from the very beginning because she is a fire cracker. I had to constantly change the subject because she was bringing up conversations of death and destruction. She also kept moving her chair closer and closer to the door and tried to lock herself in the bathroom. Of course, she couldn't reach the light switch so her mission wasn't very successful.

Day 52


Look who came to pick me up! We overslept this morning by thirty minutes and I couldn't find my keys; therefore, the rest of the day I felt completely rushed and out of sorts. I did get the opportunity to be driven and picked up by my husband- and Lucy, in the afternoon. We are working on her car rides. We are driving to Austin next week to celebrate my dad's, brother's, and niece's birthday next week so I am hoping the five hour drive won't be too much of a disaster.

Day 53


First period, some of our kids go to general-ed classes. The other assistant goes with the students who go to art and I go with one who goes to a Human Services class. I never heard about it but it is a class that talk about different jobs that deal with people. The other assistant wasn't here today so I went over to art. They need more help over there because the general-ed kids are nuts and most of our kids are in that class. They art class was learning about the importance tracing and my kids insisted I do one. So here is a tractor I traced with me driving it. Yeah, I have already accepted the fact that art is not my forte.

Day 54


Knowing that we are going to my parents' house in the country next week, we decided we needed to start training Lucy with a leash. We went to one of our favorite places in Midland--the duck pond. Lucy did so well! There were a lot of dogs and toddlers and ducks, of course. She did not bark once. She got better and better on the leash the longer we were there. I am looking forward to whenever we take her to a real trainer. She has a lot of potential to grow into great dog from a sweet puppy.

Day 55


We usually go to this one Mexican food restaurant every Sunday, Usually I am the one requesting this. They have these stuffed chicken medallions that I crave all week. We went today but it was going to take forty-five minutes so we decided to go to another restaurant. They told us it would take thirty minutes. It was really an hour for us to be seated and our half our food was overcooked. I know I am being picky. They were really busy and I am sure there were worse tempered costumers. It was just a little disappointing knowing I was missing those Medallions for a burnt hamburger.

Every day when I drove home from school I saw evidence for a carnival so Aaron and I decided to go today. It was pretty small but we still had fun. I love anything that resembles "small town"- carnivals, rodeos, parades etc... We only road the Ferris Wheel and we were too full to eat any junk food but we had fun walking around and people watch. Carnival rides freak me out more than regular amusement parks. I think I have seen "Are You Afraid of the Dark" one too many times.

Day 56


In case you were wondering, it is not a good idea to put tape on white board. No one has asked me about it. I wonder if this is considered "destruction of school property." Oh gosh, I am a vandal.

I love You 'ilada! 43-49

This week my resource class got to go to a Valentine's dance and I got my first beat down from one student over a ball but don't have the bruises to show it. Also, I am a little late on the websites but they should be up tonight.

Day 43


Today was the first day I ever celebrated Mardi Gras. No beads were awarded in the celebration of this day. One of the kids in my class has parents who are Cajun so they brought us a king cake to eat. Although this is the first King Cake I ever ate, I can testify that HEB makes a mean cake. The tradition is to put a trinket of "baby Jesus" in the cake and whoever eats the piece with the trinket is the "King". None of us knew that and didn't discover the baby until it was too late. Although I don't think it is a bad idea to fast from certain things to bring you closer to God, I don't agree with the whole sinning on purpose thing that goes right before that. I guess that is part of what makes me a Protestant.

Day 44


Wednesday night consisted of the same routine at church. I did give the preschool choir a valentine card but there are only four members so that didn't take much prep work. After church Aaron and I went shopping for some supplies for the Valentine’s Day cards I made for the kids. I love cheesy puns. I had a friend in drama class who could whip them out like nobody's business.

Day 45
< Speaking of cheesy puns, I made cheesy enchiladas because "I love you 'iladas'. It's something I am kind of famous for. Well, by famous I mean my husband and in-laws love me just a little bit more every time I make them.

Day 46
< I feel like I will review every Mexican restaurant in town by the time this blog is over, believe me, there is a lot. This was definitely a hole in the wall place which is the best place to find Mexican food. Another sign that this was a good idea was the fact that we were about the gringos in this whole place. I made a point to take a nap when I got home from work so I could actually participate in conversations and not fight going to sleep at 8pm. Day 47


Tuesday the in-laws are heading to Tennessee for a math convention, so while the men were doing the typical Saturday tradition of working on Aaron's truck, the ladies went shopping. Whenever my mother fantasized about adopting a little girl, she imagined we would go shopping and play Babies together. Instead, she got a girl who would rather climb trees and has zero tolerance for shopping. Well mom, if you are reading this, I am sorry you never actually got to buy an outfit while shopping with me. I am sure I will get to experience the joys of an impatient daughter someday. I am still not sure how to behave when I go shopping with someone. Am I supposed to go try on outfits while people wait? Am I supposed to show off my outfits and ask their opinion? Am I supposed to pick out outfits at all? What is the proper time one is supposed to be in the store? What are you supposed to talk about while shopping? Where is Emily Post when you need her?

Day 48


I have this nightly ritual to put the puppy to bed. Lucy sleeps in a crate at night and we read that we have to make the crate seem really safe. Whenever you get Lucy to stop moving she immediately goes to sleep, so I basically rock her to sleep and then put her into her crate. This particular night she went to bed really quickly. Ten minutes later I see the cat walk out of the room and Lucy starts whining. I figured the cat just messed with her and ignored it. I usually don't like to encourage whining so I let her whine herself to sleep. The following morning, Aaron wakes up to see this. Apparently the cat knocked the crate over. The poor thing's bed was toppled over and she had to just live with it. Bad pet parenting award.

Day 49



Today was another teacher work day. Because we just had one less than a month ago, there wasn't much for me to do. So I deep cleaned the classroom and got materials ready for STAAR alt. while movies were playing in the background.

Bringing Home Lucy(36-42)

Well, I guess this blogger needs to be honest every once in a while. I typically work on my blog every day; however, I had a really hard time finding motivation. The good thing about doing a 365 days of pictures challenge is it forces you to blog every week. Any kind of challenge is a good one in my book. If you haven't checked out the blog babble page, check it out! I update it every sunday.

Day 36

The school I work at celebrates the teachers' birthdays of that month by providing a spread of sweets. I eat in the teacher's lounge by myself everyday. It is usually a tumbleweed short of a ghost town but today I saw teachers I have never seen before. I don't think I saw any of the teachers with the actual birthdays but I still celebrated... a lot!

Day 37

This blog either features food or hands. Well, here is a picture of my naked hand. This is a very scandalous blog. My ring I got sautered in June fell fell apart while we were leading PreK choir. I have always had a ring on that finger- a purity ring since I was sixteen and then I switched it out with my engagegement/ wedding ring. It will be a week until I can get it back. I'll just have to remember I am married without it.

Day 38

The animal shelter we visited on Saturday told us a litter of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixes would be ready to pick up on Thursday. When Aaron went there, no one was there. I look on their facebook page and fifteen minutes after they were suppose to open, they said that they were no longer going to be open on Thursdays. I was so worried we were not going to be able to pick up our puppy. They wouldn't let us get on a waiting list because some people don't show up and then the dogs don't get adopted. I just knew if they didn't let us adopt today, all the dogs would be picked up by the time we got there on Friday. After Aaron called eleven times, they finally picked up the phone. My knight in shining honor convinced them to let us adopt today. He picked the smallest of the litter, formally known as Snow but now known as Lucy. I am just in love with this puppy. I guarantee most of this blog is going to be dedicated to this little ball of fluff.

Day 39

We go out to eat a lot on weekends. Today we went to a Mexican restuarant where only one person working there spoke English. It was awesome. The rest of the night was spent watching movies on Netflix. I am pretty sure Netflix should make a the list of "most amazing ideas." If that list doesn't exist, then it should. That's an amazing idea!

Day 40

Earlier we bought a bag of apples that didn't turn out to be very crisp, so I decided to make some kind of dessert with it. I found this cake recipe, which I can no longer find. If you are interested, I can at least give you the measurements.

Day 41

As it turns out, cat food and grass do not make a good combination for this puppy. Making a mess in her crate and our bed, it was decided she needed a bath after she got better. She proved she is not really a fan of bathing by shaking the whole time and repeatedly attempting to escape. The good news is that Lucy's fur dries really fast and is even softer than it was before. Also, she doesn't smell horrible.

Day 42

Whenever I started student-teaching one of the teachers asked me if I drank. After I said "no," she replied that I will be the end of it. She was right, but not with alcohol. Any time I have a stressful day, I end up at Sonic. My kids hardly ever stress me out. It is when I am around general ed students. I had to send two students to the office today and yell at several others. It is such a weird feeling being on the opposite side of the desk. I am now the man. Figuratively speaking of course.