Photography Update

I've been very lax in uploading pictures lately... partially because my new camera's card doesn't fit into the reader on my laptop! But that's no excuse, really. :)

Here are a few updates from recent events:

Easter: We were at my sister's house and enjoyed a great meal and family time. Matt brought these cool balloon-pinwheel things and we played with them outside with my niece and nephew. There was also some fierce Wii playing in the basement after dinner... but all in good fun!

Watkins Glen trip: Here are the long-ago promised pics of the trip, including the visit to the Krispy Kreme store!

Lastly, this past weekend we went to the Grover Cleveland Birthplace - a part of the NJ Parks Passport to Adventure Program. It was a nice visit, complete with an extremely extensive tour/lecture from the volunteer on duty. She was an interesting lady, who had been a high school history teacher, college professor/administrator, involved in town politics (we guess Mayor from the sticker on her car) and now volunteer historian. The house isn't large, but we actually stood in the room that Grover Cleveland was born in. He is the only president that has been born in NJ, although he lived most of his life in NY and elsewhere. It was a lovely spring day and we enjoyed ourselves, not only visiting the house, but wandering in the area, going to a book sale, and getting some lunch as well. A nice little local adventure! Pictures are here!

Like, OMG!

On Friday, May 16th, I'm heading to my second prom. I only went to one in high school (my senior prom) but not because I didn't want to... because I had no one to go with. I went to one other formal in HS... the Holiday Ball (again senior year), but that was it. We didn't do casual/semiformal dances. Then in college it was worse!! I wanted to go to the formals (each year at Christmastime, known as "Turner Hill" for the location or "The dance formally known as Turner Hill" when the venue changed) but again.... I was cursed with no date - which was the theme of college for me! How sad I sound!

But now I get to go with a really good date... my high-school (teaching) sweetheart! We'd talked about it before, but the other day when I came to visit him at school, Matt asked me to the prom. I shrugged and said, "Whatever" in true high-schooler form. :)

I'm really excited to go! It's going to be so much better than my prom, which was cursed with sadness, rain, drama... all on a Friday the 13th. I don't have to worry about all of the stupid stuff or what other girls are wearing or how my hair looks. I can go and have a good time observing the silliness of high schoolers in a tradition that spans the test of time.

He, he! I'm going to the prom, I'm going to the prom!

Free, free, wheeeeeeee!

If you know me at all, you know I love a bargain... and something free is even better.

Tomorrow, April 15th, is tax day. And Dunkin' Donuts has something for each of us.... a free donut! I already have plans to get a coffee. Maybe I'll get a chocolate glazed and eat just half. :)

Coming soon.... Free Scoop Night on 4/29 and 31-Cent Scoop Night on the 30th! (I'll have to do a lot of Zumba to burn that off!)

tired

Feeling very tired, and it makes me a bit blue. (hence the color choice.) I often feel tired... it is something I just have to accept about my life. I don't sleep enough. I run like a crazy person a lot for work. I worry a lot, which is tiring. I take pills that help keep me healthy, but also make me tired. But sometimes the tiredness just catches up with you and you wish you could just disappear somewhere quiet, warm, and cozy and just sleep and sleep and sleep until all of that tiredness disappears. But the kicker is that often too much sleep will... shock of shocks... make you tired. So it seems to be a vicious cycle.

Time apparently flying also is something that adds to tiredness. This past week simply flew. That's both good and awful. This whole year has flown by... it feels like it was Christmas yesterday (practically) and spring break is almost upon me. As soon as spring break is over, school will be a race to get a million things done in what will seem like a week's time. And I will worry and stress and flip out more which will lead to... more tiredness. Oy.

They always tell you as a kid to enjoy the fact that life goes slow in childhood because it speeds up as you get older. That is so amazingly true... but I never expected it to go this fast. I feel so left behind in it - I can't keep up with the speed of things around me, which is why I struggle to get anything and everything accomplished. I can only manage the "must-do" things and everything else seems to be left on the sidelines, piling up. This is hard to deal with and I then stress and worry about that, too. And you already know where that can lead...

So now in my bone-tired and blue state, I will attempt to prepare my stuff for this week's work-week, clean my bathroom and hopefully make myself lunch for tomorrow and sort through some files and clutter on my floor... things being listed in the order that they might be accomplished. I'll be surprised if I get through the first two, even though I want to do them all.

Yawn.

ROAR!!

Next year I will bite the bullet and PAY someone to do my taxes. I hate it. Who needs this extra stress? It's really frustrating to get to the end of a software program and find that even if you want to print out the dumb thing and mail it in yourself it will cost you money.

And it doesn't help that I have to write both the IRS and the state checks this year. GRUMBLE! (I mean, for a good reason, as I made more money, but still. Grr.)

Catch up on a road trip

Last weekend, we went up to Watkins Glen, NY so I could meet Matt's family. It was a loooooooong drive up, partially because the TomTom directed us on a "shortcut" which ended up being TWICE as long due to the fact that halfway through the shortcut, TomTom died. Not just the battery... that would be easy to fix! No, we had complete software failure. It rebooted itself about five times and then went to a glowing screen and no more. Sad. But we did eventually make it. The one good thing about that trip was that we went to Krispy Kreme... my first trip, and the light was on! I was fascinated by the process of how the donuts are made... and oh, the hot ones are amazing! :) New Jersey does not have any KK retail stores. How sad!
We had a nice weekend, despite the long drive up. Matt's parents had gone up on Thursday night, so they were already there when we arrived. On Saturday, after an AMAZING breakfast at the Bout Time B&B I met two sets of family members, including one teenager (Jay) who was performing in his high school's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie that evening. (He played the male lead, Jimmy Smith - his only audition ever and he lands a lead!)
In the afternoon, we went to a chicken place (the aptly named Mr. Chicken) and then over to Famous Brands store... where I got a pair of pink Tevas. (cute, no?)
After a bit of a rest in the afternoon we headed over to the high school for the show. It brought back a lot of memories... I have fond memories of my theater geek days in school. Jay did a great job in the role, and we had fun poking around the school and having root beer floats during intermission!
On Sunday... another unbelievable breakfast started the day, then we visited one more house for a bit before we headed home. It was a very quick trip, but nice to finally get up there. It even snowed when we were there - a surprise! I want to go back up when it's green - there is a ton of great hiking and outdoor adventures to be had, and I want to take a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass as well... it looks like such a great place! There are also a ton of wineries that look interesting and lots of other things to do. Next time, however, we will not do a whirlwind weekend!

(I'll hopefully get the few pics I took uploaded soon.)

Just in Case You Need To Know....

A work colleague of mine told me a story today that needed to be shared. Some of her students wanted to know about her personal life - is she married, etc. She said no, she was not married, and no, was not getting married in May (supposedly this was "what they'd heard."). When they found out that she was currently single, they wanted to set her up with the gym teacher... also single. (And buff, according to the 5th grade girls).

One boy decided to tell her "HOW TO GET A GUY TO MARRY YOU."
I thought that this was information that is necessary to share with all of the single girls out there.

Here it is:

A choco taco and four dollars. (as a tip.)Obviously, getting a guy to marry you does NOT involve love. And why is he being given a $4 tip?

ROCK ON, little friend!

The other week, I bought myself a pair of earrings in one of those teeny-bopper accessory stores. They made me laugh and seemed like something I could totally get away with wearing at work.

Today was the first day I wore them, and oh... they were a huge hit! But the best part was when a third grader came up to me and said, "Those are Les Paul guitar earrings!"

Oh, obviously devoted Guitar Hero player, yes they are! Little does he know that my Guitar Hero band's lead singer plays a sunburst. These earrings don't look quite like that one, though - they are pink and sparkly. ;) This new Les Paul Goddess model is pretty cool, I must say. If I ever learn to play the guitar well, then maybe I can someday rock out with something like this!

Do you know where I put my.......?

I've been losing work things lately. People tell me this is a sign of stress. (no, really?)
I lost a CD at school. I lost another CD at another school. I lost a teaching mag/CD that I bought with my own money.

And so, I stress about it. I looked into how much it would cost to get a replacement magazine... $30 plus shipping, which isn't as bad as I thought. The one CD I lost can't be replaced without a big big hassle... so I will have to burn a new copy of it if I can't find it. The other CD costs about $45, I think. (It's an accompaniment CD and those are tres expensive.) All in all, stressworthy, I think. I could potentially be out $75+ out of pocket and miss out on things that I could do with the stuff while I don't have it.

I've actually had a full night of anxiety dreams about the magazine, and last night I found myself dreaming about one of the CDs and potential places it could be. So I dug through a pile of stuff at school and found a CD... not the one I was looking for, but another I didn't need right now. But what was underneath it? The CD I lost. Relief! I don't need to spend $45!

So then I had a doctor's appointment today and had a few minutes in the waiting room... so I looked through her magazines. There was my magazine!! (I thought I left it there last week, but when I called them and asked them to look, they said it wasn't around.) Yay! I was worried someone walked off with it if they realized what it was. But it was happily sitting in a pile, intact.
So happy I don't have to replace what is already mine!

Now if I can just find the un-replaceable CD I'll be golden - in terms of work, anyway.
...until I lose something else.
It's the curse of the moving-around type of job. Things have a way of vanishing.


... too much stuff to try to keep together. Both at work and school. Most of the time I am just hanging on by my fingernails! Ahh!

4.5

I just randomly realized that I've been at this for FOUR and a HALF years! I started on August 16th, 2003... and haven't shut up since. Wow.

...time flies when you're good at procrastinating.

Yes or No?

Things like this are the sunshine on a grumbly day, telling you that your job has its moments of brilliance.

Backstory: If a student misses chorus, I send them a little note. Students and parents know that if the kid is unexcused for three rehearsals they will not remain in chorus. I stress the importance of notes from home. One girl wasn't able to go to chorus yesterday. She came to me and told me, and I reminded her to bring me a note today. She remembered to bring it to me today. I decided to post it here, as it was written, with names changed to protect the innocent. ;)


March 18, 2008 Note For Miss President

Dear Miss President,

I'm sorry that I miss chorus on March 18, 2008 because my cousin wanted to go home, and my mom was outside. And my mom want me to go home too!

I hope you don't take Petunia out of chorus?

yes OR no

Sorry,

Petunia Smith
(Mom's signature below)

I heart love chocolate

I needed some chocolate today. So I bought some on my way home from my doctor's appointment. I got this:


I'd seen this at the Chocolate Show that I went to in New York a few years go. It's a very nice chocolate that has both traditional and unusual flavors... and I love the fact that it has a love poem inside! Check it out - Chocolove!

Court Proceeding

Sorry about the delay. The week has been so busy that there hasn't been time to post!

Court was an interesting experience. There were all sorts of cases that went before us... everything from small claims (fighting over a condo deposit), two DUI cases, someone in handcuffs (didn't see them, though) and lots of other interesting looking people. There was one other gentleman and myself who were there for speeding in the park. The officer was there and we met him out in the hallway once the proceedings had started. He offered a deal - a lesser charge (something about disobeying a speed device, I think?) and only 2 points instead of the 4 that it could have been. I went with plenty of cash so that I could pay the fine (there was no ATM and they don't accept credit or checks) and was fortunate to find the fine to be much much left than I thought it would be! I went before the judge and took the plea and asked for leniency. All in all, it was not so bad. I'm also taking a "safe driving" course in the spring (my own decision, not theirs) and that will remove the two points... which are thankfully too few to change my insurance anyway.

This time, the police officer was much much nicer, too... he actually had helped Matt the day before in the park when he blew a tire on the way to school and the two chatted about cars for a bit. How funny how people can appear so different during different occasions.

I'm just thankful that it went well and it's mostly over... just two evenings of class in May and the whole thing is done. Sigh.

And the funny thing is that a week or so later, my car had some warning lights go on and I had to bring it in... to have my front wheel SPEED SENSORS replaced. So this means that I might not have even known I was speeding as much as I was! Blast! :/

Don't throw the book at me!

Tomorrow I have to appear in traffic court. I was lucky that they rescheduled my court date so that I wouldn't have to miss work, and for that I am thankful. But I am so intimidated by this process - I will go in and plead my case, stating that I am a safe driver with a clean record. I will admit to speeding... I'm not going to lie. But I will still ask for leniency and show them that I am signed up for a driver education/point reduction program in May. I hope that they take that into consideration.

It's a late night, too - court doesn't begin until 8pm, and it's at least 30/45 minutes away. I hope that there aren't a million other people there as well.

Wish me luck! :(

Thought provoking...

When we let others' judgments and criticisms affect us, or their advice and opinions sway us from our truth, we give away power. On of the reasons we do this is to please others in order to be accepted. But if we habitually put others' needs before our own, our life-force energy is drained, our passions are deadened, and our purpose and dreams go unfulfilled.

-Karen Mehringer

Query....

Do you suppose that if you took the cookie-dough bits out of the ice cream you could bake cookies with them?

...too bad I ate them all.

It's A Small World After All!

Time for a trip post. :) I'll do my best to remember everything... or at least most. It was jam-packed with lots of goodness, as this post will be!

S u n d a y : We had to get up before the butt-crack of dawn to get to the airport. We flew to DC, and had a layover there... which was longer than we initially planned, since they changed our flight after we booked it. We arrived in Orlando at 1ish and got in the first of many queues... to get on the bus. We'd taken up Disney on the option of the "Magical Express" - they will take you to your resort and then deliver your baggage later that day. Very convenient! We were a bit sad that we didn't get one of the cute Disney motorcoaches, but at least they got us there!
We stayed at Port Orleans - French Quarter. When we booked our trip through AAA, this is the option they gave us. It was a really nice place... they make it so believable. We actually had a corner room that overlooked the little river - very picturesque!
We right away hopped on a bus to Hollywood Studios - enough time had already been wasted! ;) We wandered a bunch and did a few things - Tower of Terror, Muppet Vision 3D... and dinner at the 50's Primetime Cafe! We'd bought the Disney Dining plan, and it was worth the money!! I highly suggest it if you are considering it. You won't go hungry and have a ton of choices. The place is hilarious - they had us wait in the "living room" and then when we were seated we were told some of the "house rules" - no tattle-taling, no spitballs, no elbows on the table, etc. We were chastised for using hand sanitizer and praised for cleaning our plates... and their dessert menu is on a Viewmaster! How fun is that??

M o n d a y : We woke up wicked early (especially after the early morning the day before!) to catch the early extended hour at Animal Kingdom. We mainly went early due to Expedition Everest - the new coaster. We got to ride in the front car, then got back on line to do it again - and rode in the back! The coaster travels in both directions... and if you have to wait in the queue you will have a TON to look at while you wait! :) We also visited the Kilimanjaro Safari and went to It's Tough To Be A Bug before we had breakfast and then hopped... (gotta love the park-hopper tickets for ADD people like us!) Next stop was EPCOT! Our first stop was Soarin' - a new ride that is like hang gliding over scenes in California. When we were there two years ago, the waits were just too long for us to handle... this time was no different. We were debating fast-passing the ride when a cast member (Nicki Rose!) came up to us and questioned if we were thinking about the ride... we said yes, and she told us to follow her.... into a side door. We ended up getting to be "VIP - First Class" riders!!! We were taken through the VIP entrance (supposedly the Travolta family had been in the same place a few weeks before!) and got walked on to the prime seats. SO COOL!! We also got an open ended fast-pass for the ride so that we could come ride again on our trip. It was cool to get a little piece of The Year of A Million Dreams! :)
The one partially gray cloud of the day was that Matt was suffering with a neck-muscle spasm due to the teeny airplane/seats... so he really needed to get some help and called to make an appointment for a massage. Luckily, they were able to get him an appointment the same day. So we hopped on the monorail to the Grand Floridian Hotel and Spa - so amazingly beautiful! On both of my "nanny-ing" trips to Disney a few years ago we ate there, and I can tell you it is luxurious! So I walked him over to the spa and planned to poke around the hotel while he was there... but he surprised me with a massage for myself as well! Oh, happiness! The therapist, Rachel, was amazing... and the spa is unbelievable. If we had time, I could have spent the day there!!! Needless to say we were both super mellow after that... but still ready to hop again!
Our next part of the day was spent in the Magic Kingdom (told you we hopped and hopped!) where we visited the Pirates (yay!), rode the Teacups (so dizzy!), went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Philharmagic (one of our favorites!) and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin... to which someone gave us their fast-passes! Yay! We also had snacks at the Main Street bakery... which I HIGHLY recommend. If nothing else, imagine this: two large cookies (4+ inches) with three scoops of vanilla bean ice cream between them. Mmmmmmmmmmm......
But the day wasn't over. We went back to EPCOT for dinner at our favorite Morocco.... it was still as amazing as we remembered. :) The day finished with the EPCOT fireworks, which are beautiful. I am quite a fan of fireworks!

T u e s d a y : We were going to start the day at EPCOT, but the bus never seemed to come to our stop... so instead we got on one to Hollywood Studios again, and were there when it opened! This gave us the opportunity to be in the front car on the second train of the day at the Rockin' Roller Coaster... woo hoo! We fast-passed it again for later, and opted for the last car on that ride, being the coaster-heads that we are. We also did the Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride, rocked to a bit of the High School Musical street show (yes, I sang along!), and then left to go over to our original destination of the morning, EPCOT. We decided to country-hop... and so visited each country, spending time and riding the boats in Norway (I even spoke my teeny bit of Norwegian with a friendly guy named Kim!), viewing the Canada 360 movie, browsing in a ton of cultural shops, and eating lunch in Morocco (we had wanted to actually do a counter-service in Norway, but the line was too crazy... luckily we were happy to eat Moroccan again!). We used our Soarin' fast-passes while we were there and walked on to Living With the Land, which takes you on a boat through their greenhouses. Matt was fascinated with this (I was too, but his was a Science-nerd fascination!) and we discovered that there was a "Behind the Seeds" tour of the greenhouses we could take, so we booked a tour for the next day!
Tuesday night was a dinner we were really looking forward to - the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show/Luau at the Polynesian Resort!!!!! I've done it before (whilst nanny-ing) but it was even more amazing this time - first of all, we traded two "dinners" on our plan for it, and then were lucky to catch someone's cancellation table, so we went from "tier 3" diners (the back) to "tier 1" (second table from stage!!!) for a grand total of $18!!!!!! AHHH! So amazing, and such great food!
We were crazy enough to take one more stop before putting weary bones to bed... back to the Magic Kingdom! I actually got Matt to ride Small World(!!), we had a "hunny" pot to ourselves on the Winnie the Pooh ride (where a cast member originally from Hoboken gave us "princess and prince-for-a-day" stickers!) hit up the front car of Space Mountain, and played some more on Buzz Lightyear again.

W e d n e s d a y : Our last day began at EPCOT, where we finally were able to ride Matt's favorite ride - Spaceship Earth, which is new and improved! The exploration area at the exit of the ride was very interesting as well - we played a bit there before heading on. After a very quick breakfast it was time for our "Behind the Seeds" tour. Matt came prepared with a notebook (my cute scholarly nerd!) and I had directions to photograph everything in sight, which I did - well over 100 pictures were taken in that hour-plus! The tour guide, who is a senior scientist at the project, was very interesting and knowledgeable, answering questions from everyone, from the young kids to the very specific ones from Matt. He let us taste cucumbers grown hydroponically in the greenhouse, the kids released ladybugs into one greenhouse as a means of "bad" bug control, and we fed the tilapia, too. There was a lot to see and do! We wandered through part of the Innoventions exhibit and visited a "house" within that was very technological and efficient!
It was then time to go back to the Magic Kingdom, where we did a lot... (in no particular order) Philharmagic (2 times!), Small World again, Haunted Mansion, lunch at Columbia House in Liberty Square, Cinderella Carousel, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management), Swiss Family Treehouse, Indy Speedway, Buzz Lightyear (2 more times - it's fun to shoot the targets!), and managed to also do some research for a friend... the one thing we sadly didn't get to was our dinner reservation over at Hollywood Studios at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater... we canceled it due to fatigue and the fact that we didn't have another dinner service left on the dining plan! We will save it for next time, since it looks so cool!
After a little shopping, we had one final "snack" and watched the "Wishes" fireworks display from Main Street. Beautiful!!! We rounded off the evening by staying for the "SpectroMagic" parade... by chance. It was the late parade and there were so few people on Main Street that we were just behind the people sitting on the curb!
The funny thing is... I can't report on the parade. I saw the beginning and then DOZED OFF. In the midst of the loudest and brightest nighttime parade possible. How I did it, I still don't know! It's kind of funny, really!!

T h u r s d a y : Since our bus to the airport was going to pick us up pretty early in the day (1:40pm), we decided to not go to the parks... and instead went on a quick trip to Downtown Disney. We did a bit of quick shopping/browsing and had a VERY fast lunch at their branch of Planet Hollywood (thanks to a AAA coupon!) before we caught the bus back to the resort, getting there just in the nick of time for the airport bus!! (This time we did get a "Mickey" bus!)
The airport in Orlando was an adventure, to say the least. The security checkpoint is poorly managed, but we made it in time for our flight... just. We had a three hour layover in DC, so we went over to the main terminal for some food and wandering to pass the time. It started to snow when we were getting ready to leave... luckily we were still able to leave just fine, and had the beginning flakes escort us home in NJ as well. The kicker was the next morning when we woke up to EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW at home! What a switch!

It was a tremendously fun trip. There are a ton of pictures in the photo gallery if you're interested (and it's easier than posting them all on here!)... Part 1 and Part 2.
(I'd reccomend the slideshow option, but that's just me!) Enjoy!

M-I-C....K-E-Y....M-O-U-S-E!

I will make a proper post about it, but if you're interested, you can see pictures at the link below. It was an amazing trip and we had such a wonderful time!

Disney World Part 1 and Disney World Part 2

one sigh of frustration and another of relief

United Airlines, as M says, "Smell like poop." They changed our flight information on us, so now instead of getting to Florida in the late morning, we don't get there until after One. Grumble. Don't mess with my plans without expecting to get the wrath!

But on the other hand, I didn't think that we would be able to get our transfer from the airport to the resort since we didn't do it in advance. But when I called tonight to beg mercy on them, they were so cool to me. Yay, Disney Magical Express.

... and the guy even told me to "have a magical evening". hehe!

FOUR MORE DAYS! WOO HOO!

My timing is impeccable.

I'm sick AGAIN. I've been feeling a little run down, but then as the weekend wore on I felt worse and worse, and by last night I had a low-grade fever. Today brought hours and hours and hours of sleeping (more time than waking!) and a higher fever by dinnertime. This, of course, means no school tomorrow. Grumble.

I am tremendously worried about next week - I've been looking forward to my vacation for months... and what will happen now? Thank goodness we bought trip insurance. I just hope we don't have to use it.

Meh.