Made in Richmond

we have access to a Temurpedic (sp) mattress. Last night my hubs was very brave. With the help of some of our wonderful friends and my fabulous father-in-law, a hole was dug in our front yard, exposing the leaky pipe. Digging started at 5pm and ended at 1am. They tried to fix the pipe, but with no success. So, after the many hours of working, all of our wonderful helpers went home, took showers to wash off the mud, and went to bed. Ross just went to bed. Neither one of us slept a wink the rest of the night. I arose at 6:30, called my assistant principal to tell him I needed a sub today, and left my dirt, crusty, wonderful husband to go make lesson plans for the day.

I returned just before 8. Ross and I then loaded up a bag with shower necessities and headed over to my in-laws’ house. Conveniently, they moved into the house last weekend, but don’t live there yet. After taking showers and finally brushing our teeth, we settled in for a long winter’s nap on the best mattress in the world. I slept until 3 and didn’t move once.

Now we’re back at home, spending quality time with the dogs, and packing up clothes for tomorrow. We will return to the in-laws’ tonight. A plumber is scheduled to come tomorrow. It was a horrible night last night, but I’ve realized that we are very blessed to have people willing to give of their time and homes to help us out. Hopefully everything will be back to normal and not caked in mud by the end of the week!

P.S. A huge thanks to all of the boys who came to dig up my yard last night. You guys are amazing!

As of now, I’ve been in a rut for about 2 weeks. I don’t want to be at work. I don’t want to be at home. I don’t want to be anywhere. I don’t want my job anymore, but I’m not qualified to do anything else. I look into getting qualified and get overwhelmed by the logistics of doing so. Things make me happy for a short time, and even when they do, I’m just a little happy. I don’t particularly want to be around anyone. I try exercising to get my energy up, but it really just makes me tired and even more cranky. It seems like during times like this, more and more mess gets piled up on me than usual. Even the slightest hiccup in my day puts me on the verge of tears. But I’m sure it’s just that I’m more sensitive now. I’m on meds for anxiety, and they are basically anti-depressants as well. I guess every now and then even they can’t give me the seratonin I need to perk up. Oh well. I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

MaxPower over at Haduken tagged me for this, so I might as well contribute. So, here we go, here we go now.

Four jobs I’ve had

1. 5th grade teacher
2. Nanny
3. Student Assistant at the UR Curriculum Materials/Technology Center
4. Architectural Archives worker at UR Architectural services

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Jaws
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Anchorman
4. Big

Four places I’ve lived

1. Grayland Avenue, Richmond, VA
2. Ellwood Avenue, Richmond, VA
3. University of Richmond (Lora Robins, South, and North Courts), Richmond, VA
4. Two Notch Ct., Brandermill, Midlothian, VA

Four TV shows I love

1. Made
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm
3. Lost
4. Campus Ladies

Four places I’ve vacationed

1. Ashland
2. Dominican Republic
3. Mexico
4. Chicago

Four of my favorite dishes

1. Cafeteria pizza at my school
2. Chicken quessadilla and fiesta potatoes from Taco Bell
3. Club sandwich on toasted wheat, no tomatoes, with fries at Perly’s
4. Peanut butter toast

Four sites I visit daily

1. RVABlogs
2. Haduken
3. Imdb
4. The Superficial

Four places I would rather be right now

1. Domincan Republic
2. In the shower
3. Bed
4. At the Creehans’

Four bloggers I am tagging

1. Sister
2. Brother
3. Maura
4. Kate

Nothing horrible happened today, but it definitely wasn’t the best I’ve had lately. This afternoon Ross and I found out that we have a leak under the sidewalk under our house (probably a pipe that froze and then broke). The leak is between the meter and our house, so we might be responsible for tearing up the sidewalk, fixing it, and putting the sidewalk back. Meanwhile we’ve got a water/gas bill approaching the $1k mark because of it. Not a dire emergency, but a potentially very expensive one. Luckily, public utilities will be here tomorrow between 8 and 4 to look at it. I feel a battle coming on.
I left work late because I spent the better part of the evening trying to get my grades done. Report card time is coming and my duties as lead technology teacher require me to be available to my co-workers. Consequently, I work on a much tighter deadline. I didn’t even want to come home because I knew it would be freezing. I walked in the door, ran up the stairs, and put on my flannel pajamas, a sweatshirt with a hood, and my robe. I proceeded to then spend the next hour making Ross suffer for a leak that is by no means his fault. I yelled, pouted, and declared that I want to move. I still want to move, but I feel bad for yelling at Ross.
While eating dinner huddled around the space heater (as our thermostat has now been turned down to a balmy 58 degrees in an effort to save money while we sort things out with the utilities people), the hubs and I watched a few episodes of Lost. Feeling better, I did my Thursday vaccuuming upstairs, and then headed to the icebox of a kitchen to load the dishwasher. As per usual, the dogs were crowed around the dishwasher, lapping up any globs or splashes that fell from the dishes. Shooter, ever the enthusiast, decided that he needed to kick it up a notch and actually hold one of the plates between his paws as he licked it. I think he realized halfway through the act that he was CRAZY, flipped out, got his paw stuck in the rack, and pulled the bottom drawer out of the dishwasher. As I played tug-of-war with him, trying to save my set of dishes, for some reason I looked up. And what do I see? Oh, just a mouse having a good ol’ time climbing across the handlebars of my bike. So I scream, let go of the dishwasher rack, it crashes to the floor, Shooter scrambles away, and I stand there ready to pass out because I have no clue what has just happened. Luckily no dishes were broken.
In an effort to cheer me up, we decided to watch a little Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, it was the episode where they’ve just bought a new house and it keeps making “a house noise.” This just reminded me of how much I’m hating our house right now. So now I’m right back where I started. I know, I should feel blessed that I even have a house, but I’d feel more blessed if it wasn’t leaking, freezing, and home to furry things other than those I chose to have there.

After my wonderful evening of grilled cheese, tomato soup, “Lost,” and some quality hubby time, I’m definitely feeling the love. So I thought I’d say what I love about some of the people in my life. If I don’t include you, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I’m sure I’ll write something about you later.

Ross – I love you because you’re the best thing in my life. You know how to make me happier than anyone and I’m a much better person when I’m around you. And, you gladly accept and follow a weekly chore chart.

Maura – I love you because you’re my kind of girl. You’re girly enough to always look good, but not so much that it looks like you try too hard. I’d date you if I were into that. When you really care about something, you do it with everything that you are. I wish I could more like that. Plus, you have beautiful, dark locks.

Phannie – I love you because you keep me on my toes. You and I were together during one of the most important (AND AWESOME!!!) times in our lives. You taught me how to live with someone that isn’t a member of my family. Ross should either thank you or blame you =)

Robinitaface – Even though you were mean to me when I was little, and I was mean to you when we were big, you really are my heart. I love you more and more the older we get. When we are old, gray, and fat, I imagine my heart will have exploded if it continues at this rate.

Brother – You showed me that being smart is awesome. I think I never got involved in anything really bad because I just wanted to be smart like you. I’ll never be as smart as you, but I’ll always work at it. Thanks for setting the bar really high – I think I’m successful because of it.

Maaaachew – I hope we are friends forever because you’re the only ex-boyfriend that I have really made an effort to stay friends with (no offense to any of the others who might be reading this-but chances are, you’re probably not, since we’re not friends). Anytime I do something stupid, my first instinct is to plead “Don’t tell Matthew” to whoever saw it. That means you’re in my brain forever!!!! And you wrote me a poem one time. I still have it.

Matt – I love you because you live with Maura. Well, that’s not the only reason, but it’s the smartest decision you’ve ever made. For serious though, it so easy to be your friend because you’re awesome. It’s never hard to be around you, and you’re good at everything. Especially Karoake. What’s not to love?

Nicolai – Some people might think that I only love you for your family, and that would be a logical assumption because they feed me and there are babies there, but really it’s because you have so freely allowed Ross and I to become part of that family. Ross and I have both learned so much from you and the rest of the Creehan clan that we will be forever grateful.

Kate – You are my oldest friend and I think that is awesome. I love that I get to spend time with someone that I’ve known for so long. I love that we didn’t hang out in high school but we always talked when we saw each other. You’re just awesome and we are all lucky to have you.

That’s all for now. Try being in a bad mood now, friends!!!!!!!!!

Ross had me take this MENSA test tonight. If you get 19+ correct then you’re considered a genius. I got 20!!! I *KNEW* I was brilliant. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you got. I especially want to see how the bro does.

Just a little image to keep you awake a night. I think it conveys my genius quite well. The cap is because I’m so busy getting genius degress that there is no point taking it off. I need such thick glasses because I reeeeeead so many genius books. And the quill just helps me feel connected to my forefathers who are the only individuals who can truly understand my intelligence.

Tonight I was going through the nightly fit of figuring out what to wear to work tomorrow. Unlike most people who work in the cooporate world where they actually interact with adults, I need to dress in a manner that allows me to look professional, but also enables me to crawl around the floor or sprint across the playground towards a bleeding child. Meanwhile, I wanna look somewhat stylish and not commit any FOH PAWS of which so many of my co-workers are guilty, i.e. jumpers, print turtlenecks, crocheted vests. I got some new pants over Christmas (I rarely do the skirt thing at work. Or ever) that are amazingly comfortable, but require me to wear a certain kind of very small undergarmet. In a fury prompted by exhaustion and a belly ache, I ran into the office, fist raised, proclaiming that I was going to have a VPL tomorrow, and I didn’t care who knew it. Ross, ever the formidable force, looked at me square in the eye and demanded, “DON’T BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.” I stopped dead in my tracks and with a wide-eyed look said, “You’re right. Thank you, Ross.” I will be forever grateful.

Ever since the Harvey family was murdered on New Year’s Day, I have made it a point to not go by the World of Mirth. I knew there were flowers and candles and messages placed outside the door, but I didn’t want to seem like a gawker. I wanted to give those people that knew them their time. On my way to the tailor today, I passed by the store and couldn’t help but stop and look. The number of flowers was overwhelming, as well as the sealed envelopes with “Stella” and “Ruby” scrawled across the front in wonderful and undeniable kid penmanship. They have pieces of butcher paper taped on the store windows where hundreds of people, those who knew the Harveys and those who didn’t, have left sweet messages to these people who loved this city and did so much for it. I began to tear up as my eyes scanned the message, that choking lump forming in my throat as I went.

When I finished reading the messages, I said a prayer, and started to make my way up the block. But, something caught my eye. They have a TV set up in the window, playing a montage of the Harvey family which I assume was the one playing at the memorial service. I couldn’t make myself move. Ever since I heard about what happened, I recognized that it was awful. But I didn’t really get it until I saw them living in that footage. Seeing the little girls was the hardest. They were just babies. In one clip, Kathryn was holding Ruby in her arms, and you could see Ruby mouthing “Mommy” over and over again with a smile as her mother danced with her. At that moment, I really got understood. Here was a family, living their lives, loving each other and their city, and they were taken away for no reason whatsoever. All I could do was pray for the souls of the people who did this, pray that they would have an understanding of how much pain they have caused; I also thanked God for showing me a slight consolation in the fact that atleast that they were all together, and that none of them would have to go through life feeling the absence of another.

After that, I walked over to the tailor, and was greeted by the woman who works there, a nice Korean lady who doesn’t speak much English and thinks my name is Balerie. Being as pale as I am, I don’t recover quickly from the redness that accompanies crying, so she could obviously tell something was wrong. She came up to me from behind the front desk and asked “You OK?” and kept gesturing towards the chair by the window to see if I needed to sit down. I smiled at her and declined. I told her what I needed done and she filled out my ticket. As I took it from her, she patted my hand and smiled. We said goodbye, and I made my way home. I went inside, hugged my husband, and thanked God that we have each other.

I happened upon this website this evening that uses “face recognition technology” to scan your picture and tell you what celebrity you look like. Click here to see the pictures I scanned, and the results I got. I look like two classic beauties. Ross is apparently still up for debate.

Result #1

Result #2

Result #3

It’s pretty fun stuff. Try it out. I definitely felt better about myself after doing it.

I’ve decided to really try and get regular exercise this year. So far I’ve been pretty successful with the help of my lateral thigh trainer, balance ball, and new hand weights. But the most helpful thing has been my iPod because it provides the best distraction from the overall discomfort and sweatiness I experience during these workouts. I’ve discovered that are certain songs that really “get me goin” as it were, so I thought I’d share them with you and see what you thought.

1. ABC by the Jackson 5. I shake it, shake it, baby, when they tell me to. And I love it.

2. Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar. Originally I thought Heartbreaker would be better, but the beat is not consistent enough.

3. American Idiot by Green Day. It’s got a very fast beat and is longer than most Green Day songs.

4. Dammit by Blink182. Again, fast beat. And it’s a lot easier to get caught up in a song when you know the words to it.

5. Bubble Pop Electric by Gwen Stefani. I save this one for last. You really need to work up to it because it almost kills you.