10 Day "You" Challenge ~ Ten Secrets

Secrets.... Not so good at these! I'm pretty much an open book, but I'll try.

10. I don't really exercise and I don't diet. I'm making a conscious effort to eat healthier, but I've never been "on a diet." Yes, I will admit, I am slightly overweight. But I am healthy and I have a healthy body image, so I don't see the point in depriving myself of food (especially because I LOVE food) or forcing myself to go to the gym.

9. I didn't have a good relationship with my brother (AT ALL) until our mother left our father and we were forced to redefine what "family" meant to us (and we're still working on that). But at least now we can get through a weekend without fighting and annoying the crap out of each other.

8. I pride myself on having good spelling and grammar, but a lot of times it's because my Mac has built in spell-check. And I use it.... a lot.

7.  Sometimes, I don't like my cats and think about giving them away. But then I remember them as sweet little kittens and how Danny and I adopted them together the first year we were dating, and I know I could never get rid of them.

6. I have to look up "how to boil an egg" every. single. time. Cannot for the life of me remember how to do it. I'm certainly no expert when it comes to cooking, but this is one of the only things that I can never just "do" and hope it comes out okay. Because it doesn't.

5. I'm kind of okay with living in my aunt's basement. Some people in my "family" (see #9, where I've redefined what family actually means) have tried to make me feel ashamed of myself for making what has been a very economical choice for us and kept us from accruing any debt in the past year. But I am smart enough and mature enough (contrary to the belief of my so called family) to realize that no one gets their dream job right out of college (without some really good connections, anyways) and sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to get where you really want to be in life.

4. I want to have kids someday probably more than I really let on to people. I scoff at the idea of having kids quite often, but I really do want them - someday.

3. Sometimes I'm quite self-conscious about my teeth, but seeing pictures of celebrities (like Kirsten Dunst and Anna Paquin) make me realize that they are just a part of who I am, and you can be beautiful even with messed up teeth.

2. I used to be addicted to Frontierville (Zynga game, like Farmville)

1. I don't wear a lot of make-up, but I HATE leaving the house without at least mascara.



I'm going to ATTEMPT to post this weekly. Presumably on Sundays. No promises, cause I sometimes suuuuck at this sort of thing. But I think I just need to write. It's good for me.

On Being 23

I turned 23 last Friday, and to be quite truthful, 23 somehow feels older than 22. Perhaps it was a maddening bout of immaturity I experienced in my last days of being 22. Perhaps it's my sassy new "grown-up" (as in, no more ponytails!) hair cut. Or perhaps it is that I may possibly be nearing the end of my quest for a big girl job. Whatever the reason, 23 feels older.

Danny and I had a discussion about where in your 20s being 23 falls. I believe that I am in the last year of my early 20s and he will be 28 this year, and therefore well into his late 20s. He disagrees, at least as to which part of his 20s he's in. He doesn't think he's in his late 20s yet at 27. He thinks this:
20, 21, 22, and 23 are the early 20s.
24, 25, 26, and 27 are the mid 20s.
28 and 29 are late 20s.           Yea, cause that makes sense.

I think it's this way.
20 doesn't count. You're basically still a teenager and not even old enough to drink.
21, 22, and 23 are early 20s.
24, 25, and 26 are mid 20s.
27, 28, and 29 are late 20s.        Your take?



Anyways, I am looking forward to being 23. I'm looking forward to getting a big girl job (hopefully this week, ya'll!) and moving into Danny's and my first apartment together. (We lived in what was my college apartment for a year before we moved in with Jen and James).

This year in my life has potential, guys. Will it be as exciting being 22? Probably not. But I'm kind of okay with that. A lot of negative came with the positives of being 22. And some kick ass things happened right before I turned 22 (graduated from college, birth of my nephew) and aside from Australia (which was holy crap amazing) not much else lived up to being 21. But 23.... 23 has potential. Honestly, I'm hoping for a calm, unexciting year, really. I want to start a career, get an apartment that will be our home for a few years, and just be settled.

Ten on Tuesday

1. What’s the recipe for your favorite drink? (Smoothie, alchoholic, coffee, whatever.)
I'm kind of a big fan of coconut rum and orange juice. It's delightful.

2. What kind of razor do you use?
I used to ALWAYS use Venus razors, but they're expensive. And now that I live with a man who believes that razors are communal and uses them on his massive beard, which ruins them. So I just buy cheap ones now. Not like suuuuuper cheap, slice your leg off type razors (cause that's what I'd do, not even kidding) but definitely disposable.

3. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?
I always loved Big Bird because my aunt bought me a stuffed one when I was little. Now, I don't know, there's probably more interesting characters.

4. What makes the perfect salad? (Lettuce type, toppings, dressing, etc.)
I like my salad with a lot of crunch. A good crispy lettuce base (like iceberg) is an absolute must. With other crunchy veggies like celery and onions. And crunchy toppings like bacon bits and croutons. (I'm almost drooling right now)

5. What was your favorite subject in school?
Language Arts. I love to read. Love it.


6. What’s your favorite summer tradition?
Cooking smores on a campfire. Hands down.


7. Do you suffer from season allergies? How do you combat them?
The further south I move, the less bad it is. But more so in duration than intensity. Last year in central Maine I had a HORRIBLE bout of allergies that actually resulted in an outbreak of hives, a trip to walk-in care, and a prescription for a triple combo of anti-histamines.

8. How often do you have to charge your cell phone?
Every night.

9. Do you have a bucket list?
Uhm, not really. But whenever I do awesome things, I usually think "Well, that's something I'm glad I got to do before I die." Almost a better way to think about it, I think.

10. Do you have any desire to go back to school?
Yes, but not for a long time.

It's Monday

I had a second job interview this morning. My initial reaction of the school was positive when I first interviewed last week. Today I had a teaching interview and spent some time in a classroom... and I would say that view of this place as drastically changed. It was a toddler classroom... I expected bright cheeriness, happy teachers, smiling children. Yeah, none of those. The classroom was dingy and dirty. All the furniture was at one time white with yellow trim and no other colors. All the bulletin board type stuff was old, faded, peeling laminated construction paper letter. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. The teacher had poor routines and poor teaching techniques. I don't think they were people that I'd get along well with as co-workers. I just... ugh. I don't want to teach there. I'm not even sure how well the interview went... probably not that good. But if offered, I won't be taking the job.
However, I'm still holding out to hear from the pretty much dream job in Easthampton. I waaaaant that job. I want to live in that town. I want my own cute little corner classroom with my 8 or 9 cute little preschool children. However, just in case I don't get it I put in an application for another job in the dream town and a company with several job openings in the general area. Plus maybe there will be something full-time coming up in my current company, which I would jump all over.

Today is June 27th. My parents' anniversary. Their last anniversary. Their divorce hearing is tomorrow. And tonight my mother is sleeping on my father's couch so she doesn't have to be up at 4 AM to get to court. All kinds of fucked up, guys. All kinds.

Also, I've been hearing some oh so freaking lovely things about myself from my family. Apparently a certain family member thinks that I am overly emotional, I blow everything out of portion, and now apparently I am untrustworthy and I am trying to turn everyone against my mom. The only information I passed on to other family members is common freaking knowledge. The absolute truth. Shit my mom has completely admitted to. Yup, and I'm the evil, malicious one now. Oooookay. I'm not the one who tore the family apart. I had no part in that. And I don't believe in doing that kind of thing. It fucking hurts. I would know.
One of these days, I'm going to confront this family member. One of these days...

Tornadoes in New England??

Wednesday was very likely to be on the scariest days of my life. I check the weather on my way to work. They were forecasting thunderstorms to begin around 1 o'clock... nap time at preschool. Fun... I have several little ones who are quite afraid of thunderstorms. Many who could care less, but a few who are afraid. So I was not looking forward to crying, terrified children waking up from their much needed naps.

One o'clock rolled around and no storms came. However, the Pre-K teacher assistant informed us that we were under a tornado watch. Being in New England, tornado watches come on occasion, but we never get tornadoes. Ever. But, just to be safe we reviewed the emergency plans for the school. The plan was to be aware of the weather (the director and mentor teacher were listening to the weather radio) and when the watch got upgraded to a warning, we would move from the classrooms to our "evacuation" place in the stairwell to the basement. At this point, we were light-hearted about it. The mentor teacher was running around saying "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!" and said it was okay to take the kids outside to play - just come in if we saw cows flying by. (For the record, I didn't take my kids outside. Storms can come on fast! Keep reading). I did, however, text Danny on my break to make sure he was home from walking from the bus. Westfield (where we live) was under a warning before Springfield (where I work) was.

Around about 3:30 when I go back to my own classroom after floating for breaks, it started storming. Bear in mind, this is my first week that I'm "allowed" to be in the classroom by myself (Complicated situation. Needed to be licensed in the state of Massachusetts, needed 3 months experience, etc etc etc) so I was a little nervous. I managed to keep my little kiddos under control though. Once the thunderstorms started, many parents picked up their kids so by 4 o'clock I only three children left. Two boys who were playing an imagination game about African safaris and my little girl was snuggled up in the quiet space with her blankie to hide from the storm. After one of the boys went home, I took them to the classroom next door where there were more kids to play with, and so I could clean up everyone's snack dishes.

And then fun began!
We got no advance warning before we got word that a tornado was on the ground in Springfield. The teacher from the downstairs preschool room ran up and yelled to us that a tornado was on the ground in Springfield, so we immediately evacuated the classroom and moved to the stairwell. (Which is the best place in our school - central, below ground, no windows)

All the children were safe and entertained, although many of the parents were exceptionally late, mostly due to traffic. We were able to take the kids back upstairs at 5:30 (end of my workday). From our vantage point, it looked like not much happen. However, traffic was horrible (the cause of most of the delay in parents picking up their kids) so we knew something must be up. While there was no damage to the school, there was a lot of damage to nearby areas, and some of the students' homes. Everyone is safe; everyone I know anyways.

On my way home from work, I hit crazy rain (thankfully not much traffic.) Called my dad and my sister, who were also having crazy storms up in Maine. Found out when I pulled into my yard that there had been a possible tornado on the highway right after I had driven across. Most terrifying thing I've ever heard in my life.


The damage in Springfield, Westfield, Monson and surrounding areas is devastating. I'm just thankful that no one I love and care about was effected.

Update on my crazy, crazy life

I haven't drawn my giveaway yet. It's closed to new entries but I haven't drawn a winner yet. Why? Because my life has been disastrously insane lately. For the past THREE weekends in a row, things have been well, not so good.

Two weekends ago...
My parents split up a few months ago. This is the first time I have mentioned this on the internet. Its been extremely hard for me. But that weekend all of the fighting and bad feelings and betrayal and whatever else you want to call it came to a climax. Things got ugly. I'm not going to go into detail about what exactly went down, but it wasn't good.


One weekend ago...
My mom came down for my great-grandmother's memorial service. I'm sure you could figure out how that was all kinds of difficult. But add to it that after the memorial service we went back to my aunt and uncle's house to find my aunt so sick that she had to been taken to the hospital by ambulance. Then at the hospital there was more drama because the hospital we took her to was just the closest one and by far not the best one at all. So we ended up transferring her to a better hospital where she stayed overnight and had a bunch of tests and nothing was really diagnosed... she was just sick. Like a bad flu, or an infection or something.


This weekend...
This weekend was supposed to be fun. My cousin (not the daughter of the sick aunt, the daughter of the other aunt) spent the night Friday night even though she wasn't feeling the best. Having some headaches and off and on fevers and such. We watched movies with our boyfriends, and then the next day went hiking in the park, then out for lunch, and then wandered around Northampton and did some window shopping. My cousin felt ill off and on, but nothing too serious, except one odd symptom - orange urine. Dr. Google told me that one time of off color urine could be caused by just something you ate and not to worry about it. Except when she slept over Saturday night as well, she threw up and had high fevers all night. The next day we planned to go to a BBQ with her parents anyways, so I didn't bother to take her home or anything. And besides, her uncle is a doctor and he'd be there, so she'd get cared for anyways. And it's a good thing he was there... she ended up spiking a 103.2 fever. Her uncle made her take a cold bath, lay down, etc. I had to leave to run some errands before things closed down for the Memorial Day holiday, but I knew she'd be in good hands. When I texted her later last night, her boyfriend texted back and said she was in the hospital.
They don't know for sure yet what it is. Last night the verdict was "probably gallstones." Now they are thinking it's maybe Hepatitis A. They don't know and won't know until tomorrow when she was a something-that-begins-with-H-but-I-cant-remember scan. I plan on going up and spending an hour with her in the morning before work. However, it is looking like she will probably have her gallbladder out.
Poor kid... She's only 17 and has had 2 surgeries in a little over 2 years. (She seriously broke her arm cheerleading awhile back, and then ended up with compartment syndrome.)


So yeah, thats my life recently. I wish I had more positive things to say.

Ten on Tuesday

Thanks to Chelsea for hosting and for this week’s questions.

1. What is the weather like in your city today?
Today was gorgeous. Upper 70s, a bit cloudy and humid but with a nice breeze.

2. Do you like the zoo?
I love zoos, especially for taking photos of the animals!!

3. Do you eat coconut?
I can't remember the last time I had straight up coconut, but I love things with coconut flavor in them.

4. Have you ever hammered a nail? Are you good at it?
I have, but I would not say I am particular good at it. I'm not absolutely terrible though. I get the job done.

5. Does your family have a vacation destination that you visit often?
Yes indeed. My mom's whole side of the family (grandparents and their adopted daughters, aunt and her family, uncle and his family, my siblings and nephew... all told about 20 people) goes to Old Orchard Beach every summer for the past 5 or so years. However, those of us in our 20s have decided to start opting out. (I think I've only stayed the whole week once. Tooo much drama)

6. How many pillows do you sleep with?
2, and they need to be replaced.

 

7. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Go to the bathroom

8. Will you send your kids to summer camp?
Doubtful, unless they really wanted to go. And even, just like a one week thing or maybe day camp.

9. What do you put in your baked potatoes?
I liked baked potatoes all different ways. Especially with chili and cheese though.

10. Did you take swimming lessons as a kid?
No, I learned to swim in a pond in our yard. For real. I'm a hick.