Will this winter ever end? We got 5-6 inches of snow today and more is on the way. J is out shoveling right now. No way I'm crazy enough to help him this time. (Sorry honey!)

Last week at work was SO bad being cooped up at work in our tiny classroom with 12 stir-crazy screaming three year olds. We usually can take them outside to the playground or to the gym to let off some steam and get some energy out but this week the playground was iced over and the gym was being used every single day. It made us all a little crazy. In fact, one kid (who is known for violent outbursts but has been SO much better until this) got so crazy he started hitting me and screaming "I'm gonna kill you!" when I tried to put him in time out. I promptly picked his little butt up and hauled him down to the office. That didn't feel very good on my broken finger, but I'll be danged if I'm putting up with some future juvenile delinquent kid hitting me and screaming at me.

And you know what his mom said about it when I asked for her to talk to him about what he said to me? "Well, we don;t allow him to talk like that at home. He must have heard it from some other kid." No. This is the same kid who hauls off and smacks his mom when she picks him up if he doesn't feel like going home yet. Unfreakingbelievable the bad parenting I see on a daily basis. Now I'm not saying I'll be a perfect parent myself. I'm pretty sure make a fair amount of mistakes when my time comes, but I sure as heck won't let my kid get away with that kind of crap.

I feel a mental health vacation day is in order. And soon! J's been feeling a little burnt out too, so I think we'll take off some Friday and have ourselves a 3 day weekend somewhere fun. Maybe Baltimore or D.C.

I have some training coming up next weekend in D.C. and I'm really looking forward to it. Some of the classes they're offering sound like they will be very helpful in my class. J's taking me and then he'll probably to to the Air and Space Museum while I'm in my seminars. Then he's picking me up and taking me to P.F. Chang's for dinner. They have AMAZING chinese food. If you get a chance to go to one, get the lettuce wraps. YUM!!!

In other news. my finger is feeling better. It still hurts, but less so. Typing is still a hassle, so I'm not on the computer much. I go back to the dr on March 6th and she said if the xray looks good, I get to take my splint and bandage off and start moving my finger. It will be nice to be able to take a shower without having to wrap my rt hand up in a walmart bag. :)

Good news about my finger. The urgent care doc was wrong and it looks like the fracture wasn't displaced at all. No surgery! They took another x-ray, mashed around on my finger a little (OUCH!), put my splint back on and said "See you in two weeks." But I'm still not supposed to do much with my right hand, so posts will be short and sweet. Thanks for thinking about me :)

Tomorrow is the big day. I have an appt w/the orthopedic surgeon at 8:45 to see what they are going to do about my broken finger. It's been a long 5 days (tomorrow makes 6) and I'm hoping for the no-surgery route, but by looking at my finger, I'm not too sure they can fix it without surgery. Then again, I'm no dr., so I guess we'll hope for the best and find out tomorrow. I have a meeting after work tomorrow, so U may not be able to post tomorrow night, but I'll try to post as soon as I can. Think good thoughts and pray they don't have to do surgery. :)

Yuck...I can feel my heartbeat in my broken finger. Sounds like the lyrics of a really bad song. This sucks. But the wine and painkillers make me feel quite lovely.

Don't worry. I only had one glass. And I've been waiting 3 whole days to drink this wine, people. I got to feeling a little sorry for myself and broke down and had one glass. It was really good and now I'm feeling really good and sleepy.

Well my Valentine's Day was eventful. Maybe more so than I had planned. The plan was to order Chinese food from our favorite take-out place, eat dinner and exchange gifts. Then we were going to have some wine and dessert and have a nice romantic evening watching a classic movie. Instead, Jason came home and couldn't get into the driveway because the snow plow blocked in our driveway and he was stuck in the street.

I got bundled up and went out to help him shovel the ice and snow off of the driveway. He started at one end of the driveway and I started at the other. I hadn't been shoveling very long when my feet slipped out from under partly because of the 40 mile per hour winds. I landed with my hand still wrapped around the handle of the shovel crushing my hand. I tried to yell for help but the wind was so loud it took a few minutes to hear me, but when he did he came running over to help me up. We went inside and surveyed the damage to my hand. My finger hurt but not nearly as bad as my stomach did from all the pain. From the way my finger hurt, I knew something was WAY wrong, so we got in the car. Carefully.

We went to Urgent Care and they took an x-ray of my finger. The Dr. said it is definitely a fracture and the bone is pushing into the joint of my index finger. He gave me a splint, a prescription for Lortab, and a referral to an Orthopedic Surgeon (I have an appointment with them Tuesday at 8:45.)

By now, it was 8:45 and we hadn't even had dinner. Luckily, the Chinese food place is opened late. We called the food in and picked it up on the way home. We ate dinner and exchanged gifts as planned. I gave J the Chris Daughtry CD, some candy, a card, a Martini shaker with hearts on it and chocolate-covered fortune cookies with love messages inside. He gave me some beautiful red tulips (my favorite), a rose scented Yankee candle and a card. We had a nice night except the whole broken finger thing and four hours in the Urgent Care.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Before we went to sleep, we had dessert. Earlier in the day, I used some of that coffee flavored ice cream I have been talking about so much and made a heart shaped hot fudge sundae. It was a nice way to end the night. After that, I took a pain pill and went to bed. Next time, I don't think I'll offer to help shovel the driveway.

J was nice enough to transcribe this post for me. Guess he felt sorry for my hunt-and-peck typing. :)

No posts for a while. Valentine's Day was eventful. Scraping ice from the driveway left me all banged up. I fell on the ice and landed on my right hand. Now my rt index finger is broken. Appt w/ an orthopedic surgeon some time today or tomorrow. This really slows down my typing.

Snow Day number two! :) Happy Valentine's Day to me! Too bad Jason had to go to work...it would be fun to be snowed in together. But, he's working and I'm in the same spot I spent the majority of the day yesterday...blogging from my couch. I swear, I think this end of the couch has the imprint of my butt in it from all the time I spend here.

Yesterday, I spent almost the entire day on my computer. I shopped (didn't buy anything, but had fun looking for a birthday present for my sister and my friend), I blogged, I worked on updating some forms for work, created a new form for one of the other teachers at work to use. I watched some tv and did one load of laundry, but that's about the extent of my day. Today, I'm determined to be more productive and active. We moved the treadmill back in the house this past weekend and have yet to use it.

I am really wishing I had a good workout video (or dvd) to use today, but every time I buy one it turns out to be SO dumb. Anyone have a favorite they can recommend? I've really got to get serious about working out. Not necessarily losing weight (although that would be nice too). I just want to feel healthier and have more energy. I miss riding my bike like I did the summer we lived in Muskogee. I don't know why, but I just can't get back into it like I did back then. I loved riding in the neighborhood we lived in. The houses were GORGEOUS! They were all beautifully landscaped and the roads were hilly and challenging to ride. Maybe when the weather warms up I'll get back into it, but in the meantime, I need something to do that holds my attention.
I have to get off the couch and get busy with something.

I have a stiff, crunchy neck today from sitting all day yesterday. Time to find something to do that doesn't require sitting. Hmmm...my house is clean, I'm not hungry so I can't cook. What to do, what to do?

We're closed today! I just got the call that our daycare center is closed and that means I can go back to bed! Woohoo! Now I can take a nap and still have enough time to work on my mile-long To-Do list. Yay for snow days!

Happy Birthday to AmyG! Here's to another great year full of concerts, Happy Hours, dinner parties (YES we ARE going to have one of those finally!) and fun times. So glad we met.
P.S. How was Vegas?

My friend, Jenni posted the story of how she and her hubby met on her website and I thought it was a great idea.
For those of you who don't know the story, here it is:

My friend Kristy had been talking for a while about how her boyfriend had this friend that I just HAD to meet. Every time she'd mention it, I'd roll my eyes and think "No way am I going on a blind date!" But there was this concert (Jason Boland & the Stragglers) that I really wanted to go to and she said she'd invite this guy and not tell him she was going to introduce us so I could check him out and see if I was interested. So I got all dressed up (jeans, black wrap sweater, tall black boots for all you detail-minded ladies out there) and I met her there at the concert. She introduces me to Jason and completely disappears! She ditched me there and didn't come back until half way through the concert...it's a good thing I liked this guy! We had fun at the concert and he asked for my phone number at the end of the night, but he was more than just a little bit intoxicated that night, so I didn't really think he'd call.

A few days later, my roomate answered the phone and says "It's Jason." I could tell by the tone of her voice that she thought it was my EX Jason, not this new guy I had just met, so when I answered the phone, I have to admit my "hello" was less than polite. Once I realized my mistake, I started apologizing right and left, but luckily the "new Jason" as my roomate quickly learned to call him, thought it was funny and asked me out anyway. We went out on our first date and had fun. He took me to Chili's and to Hastings, where we rented movies and went to his house to watch them. We watched Old School and Minority Report and he took me home.

After our first date, I didn't hear from him for a while, so I assumed he must not have had as much fun as I did. I got a little irritated about it, but not too much. Boy did I feel like a jerk when I found out that he hadn't called me because he was busy with school and visiting his nephew in the hospital!

We went out on a few dates and after only a couple of weeks, we were both totally smitten. We kept telling ourselves "This is too good to be true. It's too soon to feel like this, etc, etc." We dated and went to a million more concerts that year and by the time spring break rolled around, we knew we'd end up getting married. We actually talked about it quite a bit but he decided he wanted me to pick out my ring myself. He said because I'd be wearing it forever, he wanted to know that I liked it. So we skipped classes (!) the Friday before Spring Break to go to Tulsa to pick out my ring. He proposed in the mall parking lot and we've been happy together ever since. :)

It must be love, because I followed him from OSU to Muskogee so that he could start a new job. Then after I got all nice and settled in at NSU, he moved me again! This time it was all the way to Virginia! :) We've since bought a cute little house in West Virginia and are happy here, but not after a VERY LONG adjustment period. Now we're just busy at work, working on our house and seeing new things. We don't get home as often as we'd like, but we do like it here and I've come to appreciate the closeness that all that moving around brought us. Now it's just us here and we're the only family each other has (here anyway) and so we've got to make our own traditions and special occasions. It's pretty nice.
(Jason, quit reading over my shoulder as I type or I'll think of something really embarassing to tell everyone!)

There are so many things that could have kept us from getting together.

1. He almost didn't go to that concert that night. His friend didn't go, so he almost didn't go either.

2. I almost didn't talk to him when he called the first time. My roomate almost didn't let me.

and 3. I really almost didn't talk to him when he DIDN'T call (after our first date). Good thing I got over being stubborn and found out why he didn't call.

OK, now that I've probably embarrassed my husband and bored the rest of you to tears, that's the end of how we met. Anyone else want to tell how you met your sweetie?

We just got a postcard from a real estate agent that says something like "This house is for sale. Know anyone who wants to buy it? If so, call me!" OK, so it's way more eloquently worded, but that's the gist of it. And the cool thing? The house pictured on the card is EXACTLY like our house. It's in our neighborhood. And they're asking FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS more than what we paid for our house. Woohoo! I knew our property value had increased, but I had no idea it had gone up this much! Pretty cool!

Well, J read that last post and I stand corrected: That was NOT our first cocktail party. (Sorry AmyG, how could I forget the party at your house for Dr. L? ) But last night was really fun. I'm not usually very good at parties. I tend to sit back and just listen a lot and don't talk to people I don't know. But how are you ever going to meet new people if you only talk to people you know?! We did get to meet new people, drink WAY too many of Kevin's famous Cosmos, try Kelly's famous pepperoni/cream cheese lasagna (YUM!) and I think a good time was had by all.

By the way, J did like the dress. And he didn't even mention the price. I didn't actually take any pictures of us at the party. J took one of us right before we left, but you can't see my dress in it. I took another pic this morning of my dress. And I also took a closeup of the fabric so you could see the design better. I LOVE this pattern. What do you think?

Ooh, my first ever grownup cocktail party tonight. My fun and fashionable friend Kelly is getting married and her parents are throwing her an engagement party. I went out and bought a new dress to wear. I am usually a VERY thrifty shopper and have once even paid only $5 for a formal dress to wear to a Christmas party, so for me to spend as much as I did on this particular dress is almost unheard of. I went shopping by myself and was prepared to find myself shopping all over town and for several hours until I found exactly what I was looking for. Much to my surprise, I found the perfect dress at the first store I went to and it only took me about 45 minutes. Yay! I knew as soon as I saw this dress on the rack that I had to try it on. I took in 6 or 7 dresses to the dressing room but secretly hoped this wrap dress would be "the one", despite the hefty price tag. I tried on all of the other dresses first and some of them looked OK, but when I tried on the last one, I knew I'd buy it. It was exactly what I was looking for. And it was on sale 30% off. Great. That only made it $70 instead of the astronomical $100 price on the tag. I must say, I didn't even pay 1/2 that for my wedding dress! But this dress was just one of those few "gotta have it" items of my life. Hopefully J likes this dress as much as I do. I think I spent my clothes budget for the next 6 months on this one dress.
How in the world could someone buy a dress at that price and not even flinch at paying that much for one dress? I can't imagine.
I'll try to get a picture and post on here later.
In the meantime, I've been busy spending my morning doing strange and painful things all in the name of beauty. Glad my hubby is at work this morning, so I can lock myself in the bathroom and he won't have to see anything but the end result. Man, the things women do to look good!

Note to self: Don't try to paint your nails a deep, dark red after almost an entire pot of coffee. You can't see that well, your hands are shaking like crazy, and super short bitten-to-the-quick nails don't look that great painted a dark color. And QUIT BITING YOUR NAILS ALREADY! :)

To the frozen foods stocker at my local Food Lion:
All I could think about was coffee flavored ice cream. I had a crappy day today and that was what I needed to make the world right again. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered you were OUT of my favorite flavor? But when I asked if you could check to see if you had any more in the back, you checked. And not only did you help me find another brand when you couldn't find Breyers, you checked again after I left the aisle and when you DID find Breyers brand coffee flavored ice cream, you tracked me down at the front of the store to bring some to me. I hope the manager gives you a raise. :)
Thanks for making my crappy day better.
One very happy customer.

P.S. I think I already posted this a while back, but it bears repeating.

A recipe for a better day. (At least this does it for me.)
Imitation "Cappucino Chunky Chocolate Braum's Frozen Yogurt"
2 scoops of Breyer's coffee flavored ice cream
a small handfull of chopped dark chocolate
Mix together in a bowl and enjoy.

[How can I make this recipe even better? Eat it in the bathtub, while reading a book. I don't think I'm that talented, but it sounds heavenly to me. :) ]

I know, I know.
My blog = sadly neglected.
But you know what?
Lately, my life = not that interesting. :) Work, work, work. That's about it.
J's out of town on a business trip and I'm keeping myself entertained in the evenings by painting my classroom coatrack. Fascinating, no?
I'll post more when I have something more blog-worthy.