Not Me Monday...again.

I have not gone for many weeks without blogging simply because I didn't feel like it. I am dedicated to my blog and my (ahem) 4 followers.

I have not blown my diet to smithereens. I have not comsumed LARGE amounts of tamales, pizza, ice cream, and whatever else I can get my lips on simply because I can.

I do not eat when I am stressed out.

I am not stress-eating because I am currently VERY, EXTREMELY worried that I am going to lose my job.

I am not worrying away my vacation because I am VERY, EXTREMELY worried that, when I get back, I will not have a job.

I am not worried about getting my paycheck on Wednesday.

(sigh)

Not me Monday...and then some...

Ok..it's been a while since my last post and since I have been scolded, errr, gently reminded that I need to blog again....here I am. I know you've missed me. All four of you. :)

So, to start off, let's have some Not Me's:

I did not semi-yell at the TV on Saturday night when the Heisman trophy winner was announced and it was NOT (really not) Colt McCoy. Really? Seriously? Again?!?!?!? I did not root for the washington redskins to beat the oakland raiders. I hate the redskins and would never, ever cheer for them. I don't feel the least bit sorry that they suck this year.

I did not bake five hundred million different types of cookies this weekend. Included in that total is 300 million butter cookies and yes, Matthew, I did not burn some of them. You know, for old times sake. ;)

I do not feel the need to bake five hundred million more cookies, including four hundred million semi-burnt butter cookies.

I am not completely unfazed by the fact that I have gained TEN FREAKING POUNDS since Thanksgiving. I mean, I totally eat healthy all the time, so why would I need to worry about that?

I am not to the point where I am ready to count down the MINUTES until Christmas break. I love my job and never, ever want to be not at work. Ever.

This time of the year is so busy, for everyone, not just me. My high school students are finishing mid-terms tomorrow and then they have MEGA rehersals for the Christmas program. The middle school students had a regular schedule but are going crazy as can be because of the upcoming break.

The weather is so unpredicatable right now. It was cold this morning but almost like spring this afternoon. By Friday the high, the HIGH, is supposed to be in the 30's. The HIGH. Oddly enough, though, my dad has had more snow in Texas than we have had here. Global warming being what it is an all. ;)

miss raven is doing well. Currently she is, ahem, snoring next to me. She has a full tummy and an empty bladder. What more can a girl ask for? She spent part of this evening under my sweatshirt. I think I should get a snugglie for her. Other women wear their babies...I could wear my dog. :) Seriously....

Thursday, Thursday, da, da, da, dadada.....

I am starting to kind of like Thursday a lot. Why? So glad you asked. I'm groovin on Thursday because it is one day before Friday. EVERYone LOVES Friday because, well, it's Friday and all. Thursday get a bad wrap sometimes, I think. No one likes Monday, that's a given. Tuesday isn't all that bad, and Wednesday is kind of ho-hum. Everyone likes Friday and Saturday and Sunday, but Thursday is kind of always skipped over. So, I've decided to kind of like Thursday. not as much as Friday and Saturday and Sunday and I am sure that Thursday understands that and all, but I have grown rather fond of Thursday.

Tomorrow there is a baby shower at work. Just another reminder that it isn't me that is having a baby. Of course I will go and of course I made/bought a present, but I will spend the whole time trying not to be jealous. I am happy for her, I really, really am, and I know she will make a good mommy, but it isn't me and that is a huge bummer.

Anyway. Work wasn't awful today. That's good. I had a meeting that laster longer than I was hoping it would and I couldn't read to my K5 class like I usually do but other than that, it wasn't too bad. Only one more day.

C'mon, sing with me....Thursday, Thursday, da, da, dadadada..... ;)

The weather outside is frightful...

Well, ok. It isn't TOO frightful. It IS yucky, and rainy, and damp, and wet, and icky, but I guess it isn't frightful. It COULD be worse, I suppose. It could be snow, or ice, or sleet. I can deal with rain. Especially when I am in my warm and cozy bed with my warm and cozy dog with a warm and, ok, not really cozy, cup of peppermint coffee. Yum. :)

Today went well. Hump day is over and I only have two more days this week and then it is the weekend! Yea for the weekend! After this weekend I only have ten school days left until Christmas break!! :)

I found out on Monday that Miss H does NOT have the pox! Chicken or otherwise. Apparently her body was just stinking tired of the flu germs and the strep throat germs that it freaked out in a weird chickenpoxlike rash. Yea for no chicken pox, boo for having to go back to school looking like you have the chicken pox. She is such a good kid, though, and I am really glad she didn't miss that much school. Her teacher is rather a bonehead and I worry that, when she misses school, he isn't going to make sure she gets caught up. I know it isn't all that nice for me to call him a bonehead, but really, he is. I speak the truth. I only met the guy once but I really think he may be a little scared of me. Hehehe. That's a good thing. ;)

Two more days until the weekend!!!! :)

So.....

I got my pictures today! You know...the ones with me and miss raven! Awwwwwww......they turned out so well! I would have bought the picture CD (apparently they don't sell the proofs at J.C. Penney) but it was, HELLO, a HUNDRED DOLLARS! I love miss raven, but really...a HUNDRED DOLLARS?!?!?!

Anyway, I am trying to figure out a way to get some of them online. I suppose I could take pictures of the pictures...let me try that.

Hey...what do you know? It (sort-of) worked! The pictures aren't the best...pictures of pictures and all that, but you get the idea. :) Isn't she so adorable? :) I think so. The first picture is my favorite but LOL!!!! don't you just love the "demon dog" face in the last picture???

I went out for dinner tonight to Ruby Tuesday's. I love their salad bar. After dinner I spent an obscene amount of money at Target. I didn't mean to, but there was a ton of stuff I needed and then gifts to buy. Happy Holidays and all that. To cheer myself up I got a Peppermint Mocha Frapp Light. Yummm. Happiness in a cup. :)

One final bit of happiness...me and my BFF shopping on Black Friday. :)

Note the snow falling. ick.

Not me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me Monday! Feel free to read on about the things I did not do.

I did not get home from Ohio in 5 hours and 53 minutes yesterday. To arrive home that quickly would mean that I would have been speeding at various points along the way which I did not do. I never speed. That's dangerous.

I did not put up a countdown on the message board in my kitchen listing how many school days until Christmas vacation. Like I said before, I love my job and never ever want a day off. Ever.

I did not spend my entire trip home wondering if I would make it in time for football. It's just a game.

I did not root for the redskins to beat the eagles yesterday. I hate both teams and generally wish the game would end in a tie. A zero-zero tie.

Anything you did not do that you would like to confess? I'm all ears.... ;)

What I did on my Thanksgiving Break.

Hehe--doesn't that just sound like something a teacher would make you write?? :)

WARNING: this is one EXTREMELY LONG POST. If you don't feel like you can read what could most likely be considered a mini-novel, please feel free to click on that little "x" in the top right-hand corner of your screen. If you feel like you are up to reading something that may leave your eyeballs bleeding, fasten your seat belt and read on, dear reader. :)

I SO needed to have a week off from work. Have I mentioned lately that my job is rather sucky? I LOVE the kids and most of the people I work with, but there have been some changes that have made it, well, rather sucky.

Anywhoo. Last Monday and Tuesday we had a teacher's convention in Crystal City, Virginia. That wasn't too bad. I have some follow-up work I have to do for it, but it was a nice break and a few of the seminars I went to were really good.

Wednesday morning I got up, loaded up the truck, put miss raven in her carrier, and made my way to O-H-I-O. I went over the river and through the woods to my BFF's house. I pretty much always spend Thanksgiving with her family and it is wonderful because they treat me like I'm one of them. :)

Wednesday night we (and by we, I mean SHE) made our annual pumpkin cheesecake. I can take some credit (and by some I mean a teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy, little bit) because she used my spring form pan to make said pumpkin cheesecake. I really should have taken a picture of the beautiful thing. It really turned out well, if I do say so, my, errr, herself? Anyway, because she is the QUEEN of the kitchen, she also made two outstandingly delicious apple pies, a large pan of green bean casserole, and a large pan of cornbread stuffing, as well as a little skillet of cornbread stuffing with cranberries (YUMM-O!!!). Like I said...QUEEN of the kitchen.

Thanksgiving Day, after watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade...hey! I just realized that I missed seeing Santa!...we loaded up the vehicles and went over the river and through the woods...ok, up the road, to grandma's house. I would just like to say here and now, that there is NO PLACE like grandma's for Thanksgiving. Oh my word! Diet? What diet? Turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade noodles, stuffing, cornbread stuffing, corn, lima beans (ok..ick on that one), green bean casserole, cranberry/strawberry salad, rice pilaf, and bread from the Amish. I feel like I am forgetting something. Oh! Deviled eggs. How could I forget those? That's just the meal. Then there is dessert, which requires a whole separate table. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, baked apples, vanilla pudding pie, cherry cheesecake, peanut butter pie, and pumpkin cheesecake. Again...I feel like I am forgetting something. Needless to say....I was STUFFED!

Of course, no post about Thanksgiving would be complete without an homage to football. Those of you that don't like football (yes, you...you know who you are) may scroll down a bit as I pay my respects to the game I love best. :) The Packers/Lions game was a no-brainer. DUH! Who really expected the Lions to win. The can only beat the, ummmm, who can they beat? Oh yeah, lol! The redskins!!! How could I forget? Everyone beats the redskins! ;) The COWBOYS/raiders game was next. Not only did my BOYS win, they crushed, dominated, destroyed, owned the raiders. Who is in first place in the NFC East? Yep, you got it! That would be my COWBOYS!!!!! WHOO-HOO!!!!! I was a happy, happy girl! The Giants did me a HUGE favor by losing to the Broncos Thursday night and the Longhorns also won to remain undefeated. (Note to all in charge of the BCS championship game....you had SO better make sure that the Longhorns play in that game this year and while you are at it, Colt McCoy had better get his Heisman this year. Nothing against Mr. Teabow, but he already has one. HOOK 'EM HORNS!)

Now, where were we? Oh yes, after sleeping off the turkey-induced coma, my BFF and I got up early on Friday morning to participate in the annual ritual of fightingthroughthecrowdstofindthebestpossibledealoutthere, also known as Black Friday. It was snowing when we left at seven in the morning (no, we aren't one of THOSE people who get up before dawn even cracks to go shopping) and yes, I said the "s" word. Blech and double, triple blech. By the time we got to Easton (in Columbus) it was still snowing, but not quite as bad. We hit Old Navy first and got some good deals there. I had major coupons this weekend. How I love saving money. :) The line in Old Navy was OHMYGOODNESS long. I think we waited in line longer than we actually shopped. It wasn't too bad, though, and it is all part of the experience that is Black Friday. From Old Navy it was over to Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body, Barnes & Nobel, New York & Company, and the Container Store. A store that is entirely devoted to storage and storage containers. Ahhhhhhh. :) We ended our time at Easton with a trip to World Market. We walked around Khol's but found nothing that was worth waiting in their lines. After lunch at Panera it was on to Newark where we visited Hobby Lobby (I bought NO yarn. I was a little afraid the world would stop and we would fly off, but thankfully that did NOT happen. Phew!) and Target. Dinner was of course leftovers. Duh! What else do you eat the day after Thanksgiving?

On Saturday I was SUPPOSED to take Miss H out for a girl day. Uh-oh. In the midst of our frolicking, um, line-standing, in Old Navy, my BFF got a phone call from her husband. Miss H was spotty. Very, very, spotty. Methinks she has the pox. Chicken, not small, of course. Poor girlie!!! She is soooooo spotty! Unfortunately, you can't go out with the chicken pox so we had to have a stay-in day. She rested, she whined, she itched, she got covered in calamine and doused with cornstarch. I felt so bad for her! We played Sorry!, we watched TMNT. She quite possibly will be out of school for a week. I hope that she gets better very, very soon.

And so we come to today. Sunday. My week of vacation is just about over. 15 school days until Christmas vacation. The countdown has officially begun. I left Ohio early this morning and got home in 5 hours and 53 minutes. Speeding? Not me! ;) miss raven is BEYOND thrilled to be home and is currently napping next to me. Did I mention that my BFF has three dogs one of which is a Boxer who is in LOVE with miss raven? She does not, um, return said love. At all. As a matter of fact, I think it would be safe to say that she rather hates him. And the other two. She doesn't really play well with others. I love her anyway. :) Since arriving back at my house I have not only unpacked everything, I have also done three loads of laundry (one to go), emptied the dishwasher, gotten a shower (there is nothing like your own shower), and am currently watching, what else? Sunday football. Don't make that face. You know it might stick that way. :P Oh...and I have also finished this marathon post. Thanks for sticking with me and have a Happy Monday!