Catching Up

What's been up with me?


Well, I've been preoccupied with the applying for the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) program @ Lee. I've done a lot of what I have needed to, such as getting fingerprinted, filling out the application, & the biggest headache, taking the MAT (Miller Analogies Test). Studying for the MAT has taken up a lot of my evenings & weekends, and I can finally put that random trivia in storage, since I took the test this morning. The people at the testing center seem to think that I did a good job on my "tentative" score, so I don't' have any worries about it. All I have left now is to write a 500 word essay, have and interview, & get a TB test.


Besides that, life has gone on as usual. I've had my annual physicals recently, and found out that I'm still healthy, although I need to work on my triglycerides just a touch. My doctors seem to think I'm doing well, and surprisingly none of them ever tell me I need to lose a few pounds (although I know better). I've stayed well most of the year, and my only ailments over the past few weeks have been allergies.


We've had an interesting month of expenditures between new tires for my car, fees for grad school stuff (application fee, fingerprints, & MAT), home improvement unexpecteds (such as needing to replace a leaky faucet in the bathroom), and getting our heat & air serviced (which included installing a new digital thermostat). With these things in mind & the extra time I find myself with on Fridays, I am now a substitute at another local daycare. I'll just be doing it on Fridays as needed, but I'm looking forward to the new experiences, extra cash, & enjoying being a teacher instead of director. With only one online class this semester, I can handle it. I'll just have to see how those evening classes wear on me next semester. I may find myself taking my Fridays back for study time.


Josh & I have worked around the house on projects. He's getting ever closer to having the back porch finished. We also helped Jenny & Jud last weekend as they moved into their new home. We were part of the painting crew, and as reward for our troubles we were treated to sausage biscuits for breakfast & Rafael's pizza for lunch. And, one can't forget the delicious chocolate chip cookies. Great Value has remarkably good cookie dough for a generic. Don't they have beautiful wood floors in the living room? My husband, the spackle-machine!
Life was crazy today at the center, so I'm very ready for bed. Rain & daycares don't mix, evident by the stir-crazy children & teachers, the plumbing issues created by copious amounts of rain, & the never ending germs, which resulted in calls from yours truly to send the poor little ones home. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much brighter day. Fortunately my disposition was cheery since I had gotten the MAT behind me. I'm going to bed now. It's 10:30 PM, and I want my 8 hours of sleep!

More silliness

How did these miss the silly photo post?

Taken in "England-land" as Josh calls it. (Disney's Epcot)
At the Ocoee Whitewater Center being "one with nature".

Labor Day Weekend

A summary of our weekend:

Friday -- I got to stay home all day while Josh went to work. He spent the evening at a friend's house for a fantasy football draft and was back home with me by midnight. I watched Little Black Book, Premonition, & TV. I also did a lot of blog hopping. ;)

Saturday -- Josh & I worked around the house in the morning, and by early afternoon we went to Hamilton Place. I got fingerprinted for my MAT application, and then I shopped at the Jack & Jill consignment sale for the center. It was lots of fun, and we even got a mobile for us to use in the future once we have kids. Josh went to Sam's while I was picking things out for the sale and showed up near the end to help me carry things. (Internet picture of mobile below -- only $18 at the sale!). After shopping, we ate dinner at Abuelo's. It was delicious!

The big project of the weekend was Josh screening in the back porch. His parents came up Sunday evening, and his dad helped him Sunday evening through Monday evening. The men worked outside, and I worked in the spare room, helped prepare food, & wash dishes. My biggest contribution to the porch was holding one board steady while Josh set it in concrete.

We used the Screen Tight system, and we're very pleased. The porch is 75% complete, and Josh is working on it little bit each night. We both have recovered from the weekend slowly since both of us ended up with a stomach virus. Both doing much better now.

While everyone bustled around, the kitties rested, and they had to put up with me flashing my camera at them. The funniest thing about the screen is that Athena does not like it. She hasn't quite figured out how to get out of the porch, and the first time she ran out the back door she ran straight into the screen. lol. Poor kitty. She'll figure it out after a few tries.

I think that's about it for tonight. I'm just catching up on the blog while Josh watches the Steelers/Titans game, and then I'm going to go wind down for bed. I'm not much for football, but I have a mild appreciation for the game since I end up watching it/hearing about it semi-regularly because of the men in my life. *yawn* My pillow is calling.

Feeling kinda silly

Sometimes I've just gotta be a little silly, so I thought I would post some of my goofy faces & poses from years past. Hopefully you can get a few laughs. Sorry if any of them seem grainy or out of focus. A few of these "gems" came from my cell phone.

Grooooaaaan! So heavy! Some may ask, did we use photo shop? Nope, I was in Pisa during Spring of 2004 (Part of a trip with Lee), and our group found a strategic place to trick the camera.

You know, they really shouldn't leave patients alone in the room...look what happens. (I was getting a breathing treatment for bronchitis.) (I got the cute earrings at a flea market for $5. They are made of thread on a metal frame).

Taken at my wedding shower at the childcare; I apparently needed a little more roughage.

Well, what else are you supposed to do in a Boston gift shop? Put on a funny hat & take a picture of course!

Feed me! Feed me!

I was tired & bored one day on a lunch break, and I texted my sister this funny.

GRRRRR! A moment of silliness while writing thank you notes after the wedding. Those are the little sticky strips that come off the stamp booklets.

I worked too long decorating for VBS for Outrigger Island that year, and I started to get a little loopy.

What the daycare director does when teachers leave dress up items in her office at Christmastime...(In the background, left to right, over packed bookshelf, plans & color samples of the now renovated center, bulletin board with training options for teachers, City & County School system schedules). And, oooh oooh! I'm wearing my cute Coldwater Creek snowman earrings.

I'm so "gansta" yo. It's a pillow, btw, and it actually reads, "Do not use for sleeping" on the tag. So I didn't.

MMMMmmmm...blue sno cone in Boston.

That's all the pictures I have for now. I'm sure there are more funnies out there but they are probably not scanned in at the moment or could be potentially incriminating (just kidding).

I felt like a lighthearted night on the blog. My week has been less stressful than last week, but I am still prepping for the MAT, fighting allergies, & balancing work with school. Little blessings have been that my two wellness checkups in the past week have been just that, wellness. I like being able to go to the doctor & them tell me I look healthy. BIG change from last year! Also, my BP is back to 110 over 70. So I have gotten rid of some of my stress...maybe.

In other news, Josh & I are screening in the back porch, which will be very nice to keep the bugs out of the house (mostly), and also not around the hot tub so much. I'll post pictures when we get a chance to work on it. He's healing up from his cold, although he still has a lot of drainage. I had orientation for my online class tonight, so I get to start reading chapters & doing homework for my Intro to EC class. I'm looking forward to a trip to McKay's this weekend. I have about $24 in credit from returned books. I was psyched today to find a great curriculum book for the center (as well as bunches of board books) while I was dropping off the other books that I got credit for.

I think it is about time for me to head to bed. Bedtime has been close to eleven the past few nights, and ten o'clock is sounding mighty fine this evening. Hope everyone has a great week!

Photo "Friday"

Dreaming of sunny beaches, as Mamaw & Josh's parents are in Panama right now.

Here's a flashback to the beautiful Laguna Beach in June 2008. We were at Florida Camp with Josh's church.

Friday morning

Well, so far my weekend of relaxation has started with an early morning call from the center, because of "crisis". Crisis being that we had a worker out, she had found a sub, but that sub was sick, and then that sub found a sub, but then that sub also ended up sick. One of my early morning supervisors called for advice, because my liaison in the childcare office also can't cover the room, because she is recovering from being sick and doesn't want to pass along her germs if she is still contagious.

Sensing a pattern here? Sickness. It feels like we haven't gotten a break from it this year, and probably most peculiar for me about it is that this year has probably been my healthiest year in a long time. Why? Because I went back to taking an allergy pill everyday. I'm not happy that I'm tethered to my prescription medication, but at least I'm not on antibiotics every other month, like I used to be.

So, anyway, here I am awake probably an hour or two before my usual sleep-in time (I am going to relish sleeping in because I know it won't happen with kids!). I fortunately went to bed about 10 PM last night, so waking up at 15 till 8 AM hasn't left me sleep deprived. I would have been woken up even earlier, but I do give myself a break on Friday, and I put my phone on silent until I'm ready to look at it.

Speaking of sickness, my poor husband is asleep in the bed. His cold had him coughing all night, and he is trying to rest up. It's a good thing he got on antibiotics at the start of this thing, because it has been rather rough for him. I'm still sporting some sinus drainage, so I see a hot cup of tea (with milk and sugar, of course!) in my near future.

I'll probably post Photo Friday in a little bit. I have slacked the past week or so, but I have been making up for it with lots of long posts. Information overload!

Thursday Things

This weekend comes as a very welcome relief from what has been a very peculiar & hectic week.

Today was a short work day for me, with multiple errands in the afternoon. I left work, picked up Josh, & met up with my parents for lunch just before noon. We ate at the Little Diner on 1st, a meat & three eatery, with quite yummy food. After we were done there, I dropped Josh back at work, & I set out on some errands. I got a haircut, pictured later in the post. I stopped by the bank with my paycheck, and then I headed over to an allergist appointment. My allergy appointments usually take a long time, which is why I took the afternoon off. I have a lot of comp time from the weekend, plus plenty of sick time for doctor's visits. Surprisingly, my appointment didn't take as long as I thought it would. This visit came at a good time since I've had a sore throat for about two days, but my allergist seemed to think I looked healthy enough, so I didn't have to go on any medication (thankfully!). I'll just drink fluids. It's probably drainage.

After the doctor, I drove over to the center to get some paychecks out of the bookkeeper's office. She had left for the day, and without me or my afternoon supervisor in, I needed to get checks out for afternoon workers. The office was locked, and I was the closest person with a key.

After that I went to pick up my husband at work. He left early today because he hasn't been feeling well. He is recuperating from what we think is a cold (He has a Z-pack to help him along), and I already had a sore throat, and I was worn out from the week. After stopping for gas & a few groceries, we were home earlier than usual.

This weekend brings much needed rest & relaxation. This comes in the form of housework & studying for the MAT, but maybe just having two days at the cabin will give me the much needed stress relief I long for. I think I may be going for some yoga over the next few days to release some tension. I realized at the doctor it's not all in my head. A 122/90 reading for my blood pressure (I'm normally a 110/70 kind of gal), showed me that the waves of anxiety aren't just in my head. Deep breaths Amanda, deep breaths.

Although the week was crazy, God has still blessed me each and every day. I'm leaning on Him to help me not worry so much and to continue to open doors & provide for me & Josh each and every day. After all, where stress is concerned, this too shall pass.

Mini-praise of the day, my haircut turned out cute. I only had a few inches taken off, but it was a much needed trim to give it some shape & prevent tangling. The curl you see...Yup, it's natural. I washed my hair when I got home to get rid of any stray clippings, plus the hairspray was giving me a headache (My allergies make me sensitive to fragrances). I sprayed it with some "Frizz-Ease", brushed it, and after it dried a bit, I finger combed out the curls. I don't often wear my hair like this simply because my hair is unpredictable enough that it only looks good when I stay home. lol. If I try to wear it out like this, it falls flat or frizzes. Oh well.