Love,
Laura
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
What a Croc!
It appears that I won't be getting my new croc flip flops. I got an email from them saying they were sorry but my order choice is not in stock and they canceled my order. I went to look and see if there was another pair I liked in my size that was in stock and they still showed my color and size choice as being available, so I tried again. Again, they canceled my order. I think I may call them (do you suppose they are working on the 24th?) to alert them to the flaw in the system and see if there is anything my size in stock in a color I might want.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Bargain Shopper Extraordinaire
I am very much a bargain shopper. Ricky and I are frugal...ok, ok, we're cheap!...with our money, but I like to think we've been getting better as far as purchasing the things we need and not skimping just to skimp. That doesn't mean I don't still love a bargain, though. While I'm not a big coupon person at the grocery store, I love coupons for clothing, online purchases, and the like. I participate in MyPoints* because you can redeem the points you earn for gift cards to various places. So far we've gotten a $50 Kohls gift card and a $50 West Elm gift card - that's how we bought our new duvet cover for our beautiful new almost-finished bedroom! (Don't worry I'll post pictures when we're done). A few minutes a day of taking short surveys or simply clicking on an email earns a lot of points in a relatively short time, and the next thing you know - FREE MONEY!!
from the Crocs outlet online for $8.39 with free shipping. Again, not something I'll wear anytime soon, but for a savings of $22, I'll take it!
So yesterday I was perusing the MyPoints Daily Deal when I happened upon two things I have been wanting but hadn't been able to find at a price I was willing to pay.
1) Black sandals. With the MyPoints daily deal, I was able to get a $100 pair of Simple Shoes black sandals from 6pm.com for $16.35. Add a coupon code for free shipping and we're in business! Here are the cute sandals
Granted, they'll sit in my closet until May or June, but for $16.35, it's worth the wait!
2) I've also been wanting a pair of Crocs flip flops. Normally $30, I just couldn't quite swallow paying full price. Yesterday I was able to stack some coupon codes with a MyPoints daily deal that allowed me to get these
from the Crocs outlet online for $8.39 with free shipping. Again, not something I'll wear anytime soon, but for a savings of $22, I'll take it!The best part of these purchases? By shopping through the MyPoints website, I earned multiple points per dollar spent. Not only did MyPoints help me save some money, they also gave me extra points while doing it! Another 900 points and I'll be getting another $50 gift card. I wonder which one I should get this time?
*If you want to sign up to do MyPoints, let me know and you can sign up under me. I'm being selfish here - it doesn't help you in any way, but I get points for having referred you!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Lucky Number 7
Seven years ago today, Ricky and I done got hitched.
Hard to believe it's been 7 years already. I remember Thanksgiving the year before we got married, just after we got engaged, not long after Ricky's grandfather passed away. His grandmother was talking about how she couldn't believe it'd been 33 years, that if someone had told her when they wed that they'd be married 33 years she would have laughed, because it's so hard for us to think of - 33 years with one person!
I know what she means. Obviously none of us go into marriage expected to ever leave or be left by the person we're marrying, but there's something in our brains that just makes it impossible to imagine what it's going to be like that far down the road. When I try to think about years and years down the road, it's so hard to even imagine. Suddenly, I turn around and we've been married 7 years and I wonder, when did that happen (and are you sure we both made it through alive?!).
Marrying young has it's advantages and disadvantages. We've had our share of arguments and stubbornness, sure - I once walked home 2.6 miles at night in the rain because I didn't want to ride with him after an argument! - but mostly we've had good times, and bad times that turned into good times because we got through them together.
I think our 7 years can fairly easily be summed up this way:
2 houses + 2 vehicles + 3 degrees = 7 years.
Oh yeah, and throw in a dog for good measure!
Hard to believe it's been 7 years already. I remember Thanksgiving the year before we got married, just after we got engaged, not long after Ricky's grandfather passed away. His grandmother was talking about how she couldn't believe it'd been 33 years, that if someone had told her when they wed that they'd be married 33 years she would have laughed, because it's so hard for us to think of - 33 years with one person!
I know what she means. Obviously none of us go into marriage expected to ever leave or be left by the person we're marrying, but there's something in our brains that just makes it impossible to imagine what it's going to be like that far down the road. When I try to think about years and years down the road, it's so hard to even imagine. Suddenly, I turn around and we've been married 7 years and I wonder, when did that happen (and are you sure we both made it through alive?!).
Marrying young has it's advantages and disadvantages. We've had our share of arguments and stubbornness, sure - I once walked home 2.6 miles at night in the rain because I didn't want to ride with him after an argument! - but mostly we've had good times, and bad times that turned into good times because we got through them together.
I think our 7 years can fairly easily be summed up this way:
2 houses + 2 vehicles + 3 degrees = 7 years.
Oh yeah, and throw in a dog for good measure!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
85 cents for a cookie? Why, that must have been 10 years ago!
I was thinking about how great it is to find money in coat pockets and realized we have a few coats in the closet that rarely, if ever get worn. Aha! I thought to myself. I might be able to "make" a buck or two!
So I started going through all of the coat pockets. Nothing, until I got to my letterman jacket, which I haven't worn since I graduated. In the right hand pocket I found 15 cents. Pretty darn sure that had to be change from a warm chocolate chip cookie purchased from the CCHS cafeteria during our morning break. Man we loved those cookies!
So I started going through all of the coat pockets. Nothing, until I got to my letterman jacket, which I haven't worn since I graduated. In the right hand pocket I found 15 cents. Pretty darn sure that had to be change from a warm chocolate chip cookie purchased from the CCHS cafeteria during our morning break. Man we loved those cookies!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
So much to be thankful for*
So far it's been a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend.
I had a rough few days at school - a tough parent meeting (tough doesn't even begin to describe it - after he heard about, my administrator told me I don't have to take abuse from a parent and that I should have said, " I'm sorry, this meeting will have to continue with an administrator present" and walked out of the room. Yes, it was that bad), a fight in my classroom, and an overall need for a few days away from the craziness. Enter Thanksgiving Weekend!
Thursday was wonderful. Ricky and I decided this would be the year for us to start hosting Thanksgiving. We set up a long table in our living room, borrowed silverware and serving utensils from my parents since we don't have enough, set up a buffet table and beverage station in the kitchen, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with 10 adults and 2 kids. Ricky had to work so we served our meal abotu 5 pm. My very first Thanksgiving day turkey was wonderful. I used the Williams-Sonoma Turkey Brine at the suggestion of a friend (and 120+ raving reviews on the W-S website) and it definitely did the job. The white meat was almost as moist as the dark!
We had a great day with Ricky's parents and sisters, both nephews, Ricky's grandparents, my mom and a friend of Ricky's sister. There was so much food, great fellowship, and it was just a wonderful time to enjoy the company of friends and family. My mom was a huge help, even though she felt she couldn't do much as she broke her foot a week before Turkey Day. She may think she didn't do much, but I beg to differ! If nothing else, she made sure I didn't screw up the turkey!
Friday Ricky was off so we ran some errands, returning borrowed items and did a little shopping at Lowe's in the afternoon. No, we were not up at 4 am for the Black Friday sales. You know I love a good deal, but I love my sleep (and keeping my body parts in tact) even more! In the afternoon we took a thermos of hot chocolate downtown for the Christmas Tree Lighting in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Afterward, we had an excellent dinner at Aura Restaurant and Lounge on 10th and Burnside. What a cool place - a little too cool for me, I think! The food really was wonderful but I'm not sure we'd fit in with the standard clientele.
Today I met a friend/college roommate on NW 23rd for some lunch and shopping. We had a good lunch at Rose's Deli, then did a little shopping at Paper Source (I got some Christmas wrapping paper), Moonstruck (yum, chocolate!), and Lush (bath goodies!!).
Overall it's been a fantastically relaxing weekend, something I really needed. Tomorrow I'll be hanging out at home getting some work done while I wait for the delivery guys to show up with our new bed!! We've been redoing our bedroom and we're getting down to the end. Still need to choose a paint color, find nightstands and a dresser, and get new blinds for the window. All in good time, though. It already looks incredible since Ricky installed beautiful new wainscoting. What a change that made!
I hope you all have had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as I have. I am truly in a wonderful, holiday spirit. Here's to keeping it through the next 26 days and beyond!
*It's killing me that the title is grammatically incorrect, as it should read "so much for which to be thankful" but that sounded kind of odd and pretentious so I went for the more common version. It's all I can do not to change it! I am a freak.
I had a rough few days at school - a tough parent meeting (tough doesn't even begin to describe it - after he heard about, my administrator told me I don't have to take abuse from a parent and that I should have said, " I'm sorry, this meeting will have to continue with an administrator present" and walked out of the room. Yes, it was that bad), a fight in my classroom, and an overall need for a few days away from the craziness. Enter Thanksgiving Weekend!
Thursday was wonderful. Ricky and I decided this would be the year for us to start hosting Thanksgiving. We set up a long table in our living room, borrowed silverware and serving utensils from my parents since we don't have enough, set up a buffet table and beverage station in the kitchen, and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with 10 adults and 2 kids. Ricky had to work so we served our meal abotu 5 pm. My very first Thanksgiving day turkey was wonderful. I used the Williams-Sonoma Turkey Brine at the suggestion of a friend (and 120+ raving reviews on the W-S website) and it definitely did the job. The white meat was almost as moist as the dark!
We had a great day with Ricky's parents and sisters, both nephews, Ricky's grandparents, my mom and a friend of Ricky's sister. There was so much food, great fellowship, and it was just a wonderful time to enjoy the company of friends and family. My mom was a huge help, even though she felt she couldn't do much as she broke her foot a week before Turkey Day. She may think she didn't do much, but I beg to differ! If nothing else, she made sure I didn't screw up the turkey!
Friday Ricky was off so we ran some errands, returning borrowed items and did a little shopping at Lowe's in the afternoon. No, we were not up at 4 am for the Black Friday sales. You know I love a good deal, but I love my sleep (and keeping my body parts in tact) even more! In the afternoon we took a thermos of hot chocolate downtown for the Christmas Tree Lighting in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Afterward, we had an excellent dinner at Aura Restaurant and Lounge on 10th and Burnside. What a cool place - a little too cool for me, I think! The food really was wonderful but I'm not sure we'd fit in with the standard clientele.
Today I met a friend/college roommate on NW 23rd for some lunch and shopping. We had a good lunch at Rose's Deli, then did a little shopping at Paper Source (I got some Christmas wrapping paper), Moonstruck (yum, chocolate!), and Lush (bath goodies!!).
Overall it's been a fantastically relaxing weekend, something I really needed. Tomorrow I'll be hanging out at home getting some work done while I wait for the delivery guys to show up with our new bed!! We've been redoing our bedroom and we're getting down to the end. Still need to choose a paint color, find nightstands and a dresser, and get new blinds for the window. All in good time, though. It already looks incredible since Ricky installed beautiful new wainscoting. What a change that made!
I hope you all have had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as I have. I am truly in a wonderful, holiday spirit. Here's to keeping it through the next 26 days and beyond!
*It's killing me that the title is grammatically incorrect, as it should read "so much for which to be thankful" but that sounded kind of odd and pretentious so I went for the more common version. It's all I can do not to change it! I am a freak.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Insanity
Before I continue, let me make this disclaimer:
I am glad to have a job! For the most part, I love what I do, I love my students, and I am oh-so-glad to be employed.
That said, it is insane. At last count I had 240 students in 6 periods. I rarely work fewer than 10 hours a day and I'm still behind. It took 3 hours to grade a 10 point quiz because there were so many of them. I feel like I'm brand new at this. The only good thing is, I'm not the only one. All of the teachers in my school are working crazy hours. We're all behind on our grading. We're all feeling frazzled.
Not to mention we're having some major behavior problems we haven't had in the past. That couldn't possibly be linked to the fact that we're serving 100 more students this year than last with 1/3 fewer teachers, could it?
Needless to say, life is insanity. I also committed to stage managing The Laramie Project prior to being recalled to my job. It has been such an incredible experience but if I'd know then what I know I might not have done it. Eh, what am I saying, of course I would have! But I am looking forward to Saturday when the show closes and I can feel like I have some free time again.
I am glad to have a job! For the most part, I love what I do, I love my students, and I am oh-so-glad to be employed.
That said, it is insane. At last count I had 240 students in 6 periods. I rarely work fewer than 10 hours a day and I'm still behind. It took 3 hours to grade a 10 point quiz because there were so many of them. I feel like I'm brand new at this. The only good thing is, I'm not the only one. All of the teachers in my school are working crazy hours. We're all behind on our grading. We're all feeling frazzled.
Not to mention we're having some major behavior problems we haven't had in the past. That couldn't possibly be linked to the fact that we're serving 100 more students this year than last with 1/3 fewer teachers, could it?
Needless to say, life is insanity. I also committed to stage managing The Laramie Project prior to being recalled to my job. It has been such an incredible experience but if I'd know then what I know I might not have done it. Eh, what am I saying, of course I would have! But I am looking forward to Saturday when the show closes and I can feel like I have some free time again.
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