Happy New Year!

We're almost moved into the new house! Thanks to WONDERFUL friends who have donated their time, bodies and vehicles to the cause of getting us out of the moldy rental ASAP.

Only a few more days.... Yay!

I would like to send out all the most positive karma possible to everyone for the New Year. I have been so blessed this year. A new job, an aunt who survived an incredibly complicated procedure, a new house, great friends and family. It doesn't get much better than this, and I hope that you all have a better year this coming year than my past year (which was good... really really good).

Aaaahhhh......

While I'm typing this, I'm sitting on my Shiatsu back massager. I got it for Christmas last year, and I really should use it more than I do, especially with all my back problems. After two days of heavy duty packing and moving, my back needed this. I only get a few minutes break, though. I don't know when I'll be able to blog again, we have the movers coming tomorrow to move the big heavy stuff, and the internet company is coming to the new house on Friday. Hopefully, we'll have computers set up and I'll be up and blogging by Monday. So, I know that you'll miss me... I'll miss you all, too. See you sometime next week. Maybe I'll post pictures then....

**Mu-ah**

Houston, This is Challenger....

The Challenger Learning Center-St. Louis now has a full complement. Today we offered part time positions to two people and they accepted!! Yay! We also interviewed an amazing lady for receptionist, and I have a feeling we'll be hiring her, too.

I'm so freaking excited. We'll have a competent receptionist whom we believe will be able to take on a ton more responsibility. Not that our receptionists have been bed, just not exceptional.

10 Ways That I Am Different Than You:

1.) I donated a kidney.

2.) I met my husband through my nephew (by marriage...). In other words, the man who became my nephew introduced my husband and me.

3.) I was married in the same room where my reception occurred 45 minutes later.

4.) My uncle married my husband and I.

5.) I have attended 5 different colleges. This means that I probably have enough schooling for a couple of master's degrees, and yet I only have my Bachelor's and a certification.

6.) I have a kitty with no name. We call her "Kitty." The vet thinks her name is Jet.

7.) I drive a 2002 Honda Civic with over 61,000 miles on it. Figure that mileage per year....

8.) I have Transformers in my house. Lots and lots and lots of Transformers. And also other action figures and random toys.

9.) My Christmas tree is more Sci-fi than the Sci-Fi Channel on TV. Many of the ornaments light up, some of them talk. I'm not freaking kidding. Nothing reminds me of Christmas more than hearing Worf's voice coming from the little spaceship hanging on my tree.

10.) I have a horrible reaction to peanuts. No, I'm not allergic. It gives me gas. Gas that clears rooms. Gas that keeps rooms clear for hours. According to my friend, Karl, it is gas that "clears OUTDOOR stadiums." Maybe I could put the Rams out of their misery this season... where are the peanuts?

Hello, My Name is Jennie...

and I'm a scarf-a-holic. No, I don't have a problem with eating too quickly, I actually have a LOT of scarves. While organizing and packing tonight, I found that I have 11 or 12 of them. Each of them is unique, which is good. It means that I have a scarf for just about any outfit or coldness level.

Fleece: Black; Grey; Black with sparklies; red, white and black plaid

Fuzzy Ones: Pink (knitted myself); lavendar (Magic scarf); blue and gold Rams(knitted); red and white Cardinals/candy cane (knitted)

Others: light brown with oranges, burgundies, creams; cream "cashmere" (knitted); dark brown "cashmere" (knitted); purple multicolor; white multicolor

Maybe if I get a chance, I'll take a photo of them all and post it. At least I have admitted my problem...

It's Official!

Today Ben and I closed on our new home!! I'm so excited. I went ahead and set up our Christmas tree while Ben put up lights on the outside of the house to let our new neighbors know we're movin' in. We were lucky enough to meet three of our neighbors today.

This morning while doing the closing day walk-through, our doorbell rang and a neighbor was standing there with the garage door openers and an extra set of keys. She was very nice. Then later this afternoon, after I had shown my parents around, I was walking them out to their car when a neighbor and his son came up to say "hi." Then his wife joined us, then their two daughters. The whole family was so nice and friendly. The kids were 6, 4 and 2, respectively.

I'll take and post pics tomorrow of our uber cute, lit-up house!

Quote of the Day

Today we had a group of gifted kids at the Center. They started out in the classroom, working in groups rotating from learning station to learning station. During the classroom portion, I walk around, checking on them, discuss various parts of their answers, etc. I get to the space food learning center, and the group has gotten to the question regarding what they think astronauts do with the trash from the packaging of space food. One kids chimes in with, "Well, they could just throw it out into space towards Earth, and it would just come down in the atmosphere."

Another kid's response, "Today in the weird weather category: It rained burgers in Connecticut!"

I about died laughing. Sixth graders are seriously hilarious!

Packing It In (Up) Whatever....

We close on our new house in just a few days. Guess how much packing we've done. Seriously. None. Nothing is packed up. We keep talking about how we need to get started and blah, blah, blah, but we've packed nada.

This ought to make for an interesting move, right?

I think that we might just be a little scared of jinxing the whole process by starting to pack before we close.

Oh Yeah.... our damn HDTivo keeps locking up. It's truly pissing me off. What if it locks up while recording one of our shows? Thank goodness we have a second Tivo (non-HD) on which we record many of the same things for just this reason. We found early on that HD recordings look really good, but they don't always record perfectly (occassional sound and picture glitches). To protect our religious watchings of certain TV shows, we set both Tivos to record many of the same shows just in case one locks up, loses HD signal, etc. It's sick how much TV we record and watch. No wonder we're both out of shape.

My Sides Hurt...

From laughing too much. Morgan's comment on my lucky kidney/karma post on 12/8/06....

Seriously, still giggling.... wiping tears from my eyes.

I'll link with the comment later today. So come back....

OK, so I promised a link, here it is:

Lucky Kidney (with comments)

Hell, Yeah!

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

So, I'm the High Priestess.... sweet...

Moody? Check!

Someone who illuminates what you otherwise might not see (Teacher)? Check!

Someone who holds knowledge, secret knowledge? Check! (Hey, as much as the general public knows about our space program, you would think that it was secret knowledge.)

F'ing Sweet Blog

Morgan apparently responds to bullying! Yay! She's started her blog and I was right, it's f'ing HILARIOUS. Now, I'm not sure how much knowing her adds to the hilariousness, but I'm sure that many others will find her funny, too.

Morganarama

I've already subscribed to it using my bloglines (www.bloglines.com). I serve this up for your personal entertainment. Let me/her know how much you love it. Encourage the cursing like a sailor with tourette's who's mama never spanked him for it. That's a Morgan-ism from her blog. Are you crying yet? I sure was when I read that.

Fridge/credit/power Update

Because I know you want to know about these things...

Bought a fridge last night at a major national electronics/appliance store. At frist, we were gonna get a black fridge, but at the last minute we decided to purchase a faux stainless steel side-by-side. It's beautiful. Did you know that fridges can be beautiful? Well, they can be. Mine is proof.

Also, fixed my credit problem. The one credit bureau did not have my whole birthday, only the year, and that is what flagged. So now that is all fixed. Although, it doesn't appear that many of the credit/financing places that I use actually report to this particular bureau, so that is why I haven't ever encountered this issue before.

I'm afraid to discuss my power issues for fear of repeating what happened earlier this week... but, our power came back on yesterday late in the morning. so the house was nice and toasty by the time I came home from work. Thank God. Seriously, thank you God. Please don't smite my power again.

Lucky Kidney

After my little P.S. post last night regarding our power, guess what? No really, take a guess... we lost power at 2 a.m. I am not kidding. Due to this recent occurrance, in addition to other power issues, I have come to the conclusion that I gave away my "lucky" kidney. Lucky Leftie now resides in Massachusetts, bringing much luck and health to my aunt, for which I am grateful. Don't get me wrong. I am glad it's helping her out. But I've had awful luck when it comes to power and other 'little' things happening to me since March. Let me lay it all out for you:

1) Major storm in July that knocks out power to my home, but also forces me to close the Center and cancel a summer camp due to a power outage at work as well.

2) At work, lost two weeks worth of missions in Sept because of someone leaving their job and not telling anyone about us.

3) Last week, major ice and snow storm causes power outages both at home and work. Work only lost power for a day or two. Home, we had no power for three whole days.

4) Last night, we lost power at home AGAIN (due to high winds from an Artic cold front moving in).

For those of you who are Howard Stern listeners: I am the Scott the Engineer of everyone I know. I have that Black Cloud following me; knocking out power, causing bad things out of my control to happen. Anyone know any incantations that will bring my luck back?

Can I swap kidneys with my aunt?? Oh wait, nope. Not going through that healing process again. F* that.

By the way, I do find this all hilarious. Shennie, I know you're reading this... say hello to Lucky Leftie for me!

P.S.

Just in case you don't know, Ben and I got our power back on Sunday night. So we've been home since about 11:00 p.m. Sunday. Yay!

(Gotta find something to be positive about with all this credit junk going on...)

House Inspection and other stuff

*Warning: There is a bit of cursing in tonight's post. You'll see why.*

House inspection went well tonight. I brought the camera with me and took like 50 something pictures. There are only a couple minor things that need to be fixed and we're not asking the sellers to do it. We think that they'll balk at paying for them, and they are things that can wait until spring/summer anyway.

Now, here's the shit that pisses me off. Ben and I went fridge shopping now that we feel fairly comfortable that this whole house thing is gonna go off without any major hitches... found the perfect fridge, told the guy we wanted it, filled out the credit/financing application... it comes back with a red flag because of my birthday!!! Are you flipping kidding me??!! I've NEVER had that flag before. I've had like 10 credit cards over the past ten years, bought a car with dad, rented a house with a couple of landlords that did credit reports... nothing ever flagged on my birthday before... WTF?!

Oh yeah, WTF reminds me of this group of kids that came into work today to run a mission. It was a group of kiddos with special needs. One young man kept getting frustrated, and would exclaim "WTF?!" Not, "What the F*ck?!" but the actual three letters, W T F. It was hilarious. I was proud of him for finding an appropriate way for expressing frustration, because few adults actually know what WTF stands for. So now, all day, I've been saying WTF?! when I'm frustrated.....

WTF??!!


What the flip is up with my credit stuff?? This is such crap. I am unbelievably frustrated because we're not even 100% certain which credit bureau has my birthdate wrong. I did a 3-in-1 credit report, and two of them report the month and year only (and they're both right), and the last one only reports the year, and it's right. So I'm completely flummoxed. On the 3-in-1 credit report, it already shows which credit company the appliance store checked, so I'm guessing that they perhaps don't report month and date on their reports for some dumbassed reason. I'm too pissed to keep talking about this. It means we might not be able to get a fridge on or around our move in date. Who the hell wants to move in to a house without a freaking fridge???!!!

I'm just working myself up more. I better just sign off now.

"I almost have a house... I almost have a house... I almost have a house..."

I Wanna New Blog...

One that won't make me twitch (except with laughter)

I've decided (with the help of my sister) that my friend Morgan should have a blog. While my posts are occasionally funny, they are mostly informational. Letting you all know what's going on in my life.

Morgan's blog, on the other hand, would be more like Jessica's blog, funny AND informational. I can only imagine the nicknames she would come up with for her students (so no one can identify them), and the stories that she could share. Oh, the stories I've already heard. I'm sure there are many more that there just aren't time for that she could share with us online. How great would that be?

Morgan, Please please please please get a blog. Blogger is a good, easy way to blog. There are many other choices, but I'm not familiar with them to recommend or advise against.

I Have the Power!!

NOT! My house has been without power since Thursday night. Ben and I slept at home that night because we hoped that perhaps power would be restored within 12 to 24 hours of losing power. Boy, we were optimistic. So as of yesterday afternoon, we still had no power, so we stayed at my sister's house last night. My best friend from high school also stayed here. He's been without power as well.

So we all had a nice breakfast this morning. Lunch was Penn Station. Then Jessi and I went grocery shopping. Now we are all sitting and watching movies, while I think Jessi is in the kitchen cooking, and I'm knitting. What a relaxing weekend.

I hope my kitty is warm enough at home...

When It Rains, It Snows

At least that's the case today! If you haven't been following St. Louis weather, it has been raining since late last night, getting colder and colder since then as well. Around noon today, the rain turned to freezing rain and sleet, and by tomorrow morning parts of St. Louis could have up to ten inches of snow. But that's all way west of me. We're only expected to get three to five inches here in my neck of the woods.

Luckily, my outpatient foot procedure (getting my two large toenails removed and killed forever, YAY!), was early this morning and I was home and doped up by noon. I've had time to get some little things done today that I wasn't sure were going to get done, like writing our Christmas letter for this year. I'm waiting for Ben to come home and read through it to see if I'm missing any little typos or any other info he wants to share, or not share. I'm going to have to send out e-mails to make sure that I've got everyone's most current address on file. Somewhere....

You know how that goes. You've got three of four different address books; one through Outlook, one on your PDA (which should be sync'd up, but aren't always), and one hardcopy that's about five to ten years old...

Thank goodness for this severe weather, cuz now I don't have to take another "sick" day for my feet tomorrow, my boss thinks that the district will call "Snow Day!" by early morning! Yay!

Day After

I had a nice Thanksgiving. Two meals, one with the in-laws and one with my family later in the evening.

I got the Secret Santa Gift Exchange set up for the Bellinger Family. I think that I have entered everyone's e-mail who wants to participate. Now it's just a waiting game for everyone to respond to the invite.

Everyone was so excited about the house purchase. None of the Bellingers had known we were even looking for a house, so it was all a complete surprise to them. They all can't wait to see it when we have our house warming in late January/early February. I can't wait to close. Only three and a half weeks.... Dec 19.

I need to find a counter to put on this page for countdown to close time....

Let's Give Thanks

What I am thankful for this holiday:

1) My husband Ben. He's the best. Sorry gals, I took the best one. Luckily, he loves me too. Who could be more lucky than me? For Ben, I am eternally grateful.

2)My Family. That includes the Bellingers. I have such wonderful parents, my sister and brother-in-law are great (will be good neighbors who won't "borrow" eggs and milk... read her blog.). My brother has gotten better since he's an adult now, and his wife is a sweetie. My baby sister is a sweet, smart girl.

3) My job. I truly enjoy my boss and co-workers. The work is fulfilling. I love the subject.

4) My friends. They are funny, smart, cool people to be around. Obviously.

5) My house! We got it! The papers are signed, we close on Dec 19!!

So what are you thankful for? Count your blessings in my comments.

OMG

We're homeowners!! The sellers accepted our counter offer (after having to offer it twice...)! I was notified as 12:55 p.m. Central time. I am SO excited! It's a huge relief after all the back and forth phone calls with my realtor and Ben. Now we just have to hope that no one else offers something higher than our offer between now and when we sign the paperwork this afternoon. Apparently, in Illinois, a verbal agreement isn't enough, signatures must be on the paper in order to make it binding. So, now I'm just in a hurry to get "home" to sign the papers. I say "home" because this house we're in now isn't ours. Hehehe... I'm a homeowner!!!

House

Not the TV show (although I hear it is good...might have to borrow the uber-cheap Season 1 box set from Bob when he's done watching).

We offered on the ranch-style home last night. As of 6 a.m. this morning, we had a counter-offer waiting in my cell phone voicemail. We split the difference and I am now waiting to hear back from my realtor. I'm totally freakin' out/anxious. I just want them to accept this counter-counter-offer. I want to know if I'm a home owner or not.

I'll keep you all up dated.

What to do...

Ben got his Wii this morning, apparently after getting no sleep on a very cold night. So it's still in it's box, waiting. I'm sure he'll hook it up either later tonight or sometime tomorrow. He spent the day catching up on sleep. He said the wind last night just blew right through his blankets and the layers of clothes.

Ok, I lied. Ben's woken up enough now that he's taken the Wii out and is setting it up now. It's TINY! compared to other consoles.

Well, pizza should be here soon, and Harry Potter is on....

My Husband is a Wii-ner

Yes, I intentionally spelled it that way. Ben is staying the night tonight in front of Target. The store. It's due to be in the 30's tonight. And he's staying out there for a game console, the Nintendo Wii. His prerogative, I suppose.

It's been about two weeks since the last post. Sorry about that, y'all. We've been dealing with Ben's Barrett's, my trivia night (more on that in a minute) and house hunting. Ben's condition is OK. He is trying his best to stick to the prescribed diet. He is taking his Nexium religiously. Hopefully his next scope will show some healing.

Trivia night went well. I even included a tribute to my best bud, Morgan. The question was "Renamed for a famous banker who also collected gems and minerals, pink beryl is now more commonly known as what?" The answer? Morganite!! Named for J.P. Morgan. But placed in my trivia night to honor my friend from across the state who I haven't seen in forever. Not her fault, we've just both been busy. I'll see her soon at the holiday get together. Back to Trivia Night. We raised over $1300 for our Center. Yay! That will help get some stuff for our programs.

House hunting.... we're now torn between two houses. Once we make a decision, we can go ahead and make an offer. Ranch vs 2 story, Cheap vs upper affordability range, finished vs unfinished basement, close to family vs close to highway, smallish bedroom vs good bedroom size, ofallon schools vs fairview heights schools (but OTHS), 2 car garage vs 3 car garage. We're truly torn.... urgh. What do you think?

Totally 80's Halloween

Technically, the Totally 80's Halloween bash was two years ago, but last night was a close second. We started out the evening with dinner that I prepared from scratch. Chicken Gardner. Chicken, potatos, carrots, onions in chicken broth and wine sauce. It was preety good, although I could do without the wine part.

Then, we played Totally 80's Trivial Pursuit. It was fun!! I liked it, and I didn't even win. But then again, I love trivial stuff... by the way, please check out the Challenger Learning Center Trivia Night. We really need a few more tables... Check it out HERE.

After 80's trivia, we played a short game of Apples to Apples. There was only five of us, so it was a very short game! But a hell of a lot of fun! If you've never played Apples to Apples, you need to, it's friggin' hilarity in a box!

Scopes and Acid

You know how I said that Ben hasn't been well lately? Last week he had some blood work done and that didn't appear to tell us anything about his abdominal pain. Today he had an upper GI scope done (doc puts a lighted camera down your throat and esophagus to take pictures of your esophageal lining and stomach lining/acids). The results were not what we had hoped for. While the results do give us a diagnosis, we had hoped he was just acidy. Apparently, over the years all his acid has been eating away at his esophageal lining, and his doctor has preliminarily diagnosed Ben with Barrett's Esophagus.

Now, this is not a final diagnosis, but his doctor is a gastro-intestinal specialist, and I am inclined to trust his judgement. This diagnosis means a few things...

1) Ben will be on some sort of PPI medication (Nexium, for example) for the rest of his life.

2) He needs to lose some weight around his middle, those extra pounds are pushing stomach acids into his esophagus at night and when he lies down.

3) He needs to get scoped on a regular basis to make sure that his Barrett's does not turn into esophageal cancer.

4) Diet changes... no soda, fewer acidy foods such as tomatos, oranges, etc.

So today has been a rather big day. I'm worried for him, but he's in good shape now, and we intend to help keep him that way.

No Antlers for the Wall

Well, hunting yesterday was uneventful. We ended up seeing three houses. Two of which we would consider, but neither of them really screamed "buy me... you must have me!" I'd be fine with either house, but Ben had reservations about both of them. After having lived in 15 different homes/dorms/apartments, I can make do with anywhere, as long as the kitchen has enough cabinets and the master bedroom must be large enough for a king size bed. That's all I need.

Oh yeah, and the St. Louis Cardinals are the World Series CHAMPS!! We rocked the Tigers. It was a good series. They definitely played hard, and made us work for it, but we won in the end! Last night I bought red yarn and white fun fur to knit a Cardinals scarf. Hopefully, I'll finish it sometime this week.... Yeah right....

Mmmmm...crow tastes good...

OK, not really, but I'm a big enough person that I can admit when I've made a mistake. After a little more research, I found that my realtor did not just send us her listings. Apparently, she just has a program that sticks her name and contact info at the top of each listing that she puts together for a client. But the way it's set up, it does look like all the listings on the page are hers.

Tomorrow night is a Halloween party that my nephew and his wife are throwing. I still have some shopping to do. Since I've been sick this week (stayed home from work yesterday, left work early today), it's been difficult to get the energy to go and get what I need. I'll have to get that stuff tomorrow on my way home from work.

Oh yeah, and I met another astronaut today! Yay! Brian Duffy was awesome. Very nice guy. I'll post a pic once I send it to myself from work.

We've got the scent...

We have narrowed the home search down to what seems to be four houses in town. And yes, Jessi/Craig, Victoria made the final cut. Now, it's just a matter of getting a hold of our realtor and going to see those homes. If none of those work, we may have to look into another realtor, this one only sent us homes listed with her agency. I'd like to work with a realtor who will show homes that s/he may or may not list.

She only sent us like 10 places to choose from. I'm kind of disappointed. I guess I should e-mail her and let her know that none of the homes on this list really knocked our socks off. But, I'm trying to keep in mind that homes may be better in person than on paper.

Up until tonight, I thought that Ben just wasn't as into this hunting as I was, but I figured out that he has been sick for the last week, so it's probably hard for him to get as excited. It's not that I've been ignoring his discomfort, he's just not a complainer (like me...), so I just wasn't aware of how sick he was. Hopefully, he'll feel better before we go see homes this weekend.

One Down, Three to Go

Game One of the World Series: St. Louis Cardinals.

What a great game.

Tonight will hopefully be another killer game. Got my Cards tee and fleece on. The bracelet is on. We'll see how they do!

Go Cards!!

World Series, Here We Come!!

Bernie Miklasz (sp?) wrote a beautiful front page piece for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today. I know this because I have the day off and that meant that I actually had time to read the Friday morning paper. Yadier Molina is my hero of the day. He really pulled it together for this series. He's a great catcher, and it looks like he's becoming someone on whom our team and fans can rely on in tight situations.

Well, I have some errands to run before Ben and I go see friends tonight, so I must go. Have a great weekend, y'all!

Hugs Galore!

Today I got to visit my old school,LMS. I visited all the teachers I used to work with on a regular basis, and was lucky enough to see the teachers that I liked a lot whom I didn't work for.
And the big bonus, seeing two of my kids from last year who are now 7th graders (thank God, there's one that I seriously thought had a shot at being held back...). They were acquaintances last year, but appear to be really good friends now. I'll call one JB and the other JT. JT is the one that I worried about. He wasn't/isn't a bad kid; he just needed a positive relationship with an adult who cared enough to be patient with him to get him through the homework. JB is a GREAT kiddo. He's really intelligent, funny in a dry sense of humor kind of way, and an all around nice kid. Why he was ever assigned to me last year, I'll never know. Once I had him "in line," I still didn't send him back to classes because I could tell that he was having an affect on JT.

They both say that 7th grade is easier than sixth. This I can believe. Mostly because many kids on their team had difficulty with one teacher. The teacher is a nice person, not so great at showing a caring, patient attitude to students. Unfortunately, the school had rules against moving kids from team to team unless there were egregious problems between particular students. I believe that had the school moved JT and another young man to another team, they might have had more success earlier in the school year. The team that I wanted them moved to was a smaller team and could easily handle another two students. Oh well, they both seem to be doing well, and JT said he likes his teachers this year.

I bet the 7th grade teachers are ecstatic this year. They had a class from Hell last year. There were kids that I was ready to strangle, and I didn't work with them daily. They had other TA's crying. Seriously. The 6th grade class from last year is a great group of kids. They've all got good reputations from the schools that they came from the year before. The 7th grade teachers deserve a group like them after the group they had last year. They're like chocolate after a liver dinner.

New Obsession

So, during the Cardinals game, I got a little bored... but they won!!!

Back to the story... my thought was "How do people just randomly find funny/great/cool vids on YouTube??" And then proceeded to YouTube.com to randomly find a funny/great/cool vid. And I happened upon a regular video blogger, William Sledd.

He now also has an "Ask the Gay Man" fashion and hair series. I think I watched every video of his tonight. I'm so obsessed. It's sick. It's wrong, but I'm loving his humor, his advice, his Fun Underwear Day. I'm so having Fun Underwear Day tomorrow. OK, on second thought, maybe not... can't tell you why, but I can't. Maybe next week....

So, if you're bored, or even just want a really good laugh, go watch William Sledd's video blogs. He's great. He's from Paducah, KY. How can you not be great if you're from Paducah. Everyone that I know from Paducah rocks. Just because I only know two people from Paducah doesn't mean a thing. They're both great. So it must be true.

Now I'm just babbling. It's late, I'm tired. Gotta go... nighty-night!!

New fun page to play

Here is a page to play at when bored at work or home...

South Park Character Page

This page allows you to make a South Park version of yourself. It's awesome.

This is the Jennie I designed with the April cruise in mind:

Two Out of Three...

OK, earlier this year, I got the full time teaching position I was looking for. With all the fabulous benefits of:
1) No Daily Lesson Planning
2) Being creative in many areas
3) Educational Interaction with middle school age students
4) Getting rid of said students in two hours (only a benefit if they are really difficult to work with)
Oh, and the best benefit...
5) Making more than your typical first year non-Masters-degree-holding-teacher

Now, Ben and I are taking on hunting. No, not deer or animal hunting, but house hunting. We sent an e-mail to my sister's realtor this weekend. BTW, Jessica and Craig bought a GORGEOUS new home last week... see it here.

After talking with Jessica and my parents, we are looking at one story, ranch style homes with at least partially finished basements. Two reasons for the one story stipulation; first, you are taxed on livable above ground space; second, you don't have to pay to heat/cool the second floor. With us only looking at one story homes, that means that the basement is a MUST. As is the "at least partially finished" part. What use is a completely unfinished basement? None to me... since I have absolutely no carpentry skills, it is much less likely that the basement would get finished in any timely manner.

So, I will keep you apprised of the housing situation. We're not in any huge hurry, but I'd really like to be done with buying /moving in before Thanksgiving or at least Christmas.

Employee of the Month

Yup, that's me. OK, not really. Maybe. Anyway, that's the movie we all saw Friday night. Totally hilarious. It was your typical romantic comedy, but Dane Cook and Andy Dick were really funny. I'd highly recommend seeing it.

The rest of my weekend was pretty good. Worked a half day on Saturday, and then went to my nephew's birthday party. He's 9 years old now (this is the little guy who was the ringer bearer at my wedding). I can't believe it. He's a funny little dude. At this party were a couple who are friends with Brad's parents. I'll call them Pete and Wi-Fan. Wi-Fan is from Vietnam. She's very nice, but very difficult for me to understand her. She has a very heavy accent. Just check with Jessica, she'll tell you that I can't understand anyone from an Asian country. Jessi is my translater when we go for manicures at a local shop. The person doing my nails will ask a question, and I'll look at them and smile like a complete retard because I have no idea that they have just spoken to me in English and that they expect an answer. Jessi will sigh and repeat what they've said and I'll tell them what I want.

So to make this story even more interesting, I find out that Wi-Fan also speaks French. She finds out that I am somewhat fluent, and she decides to try to speak with me that way. Yeah, like that's gonna work. I can barely understand you in my own language, let alone a second language?! You gotta be crazy lady!

I seriously believe that I have an auditory processing disorder. I can hear what people are saying, it just takes me a minute to figure out what it is that they've said. Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me may notice that I ask them to repeat seemingly simple sentences, only to have me understand what they said the first time half way through their second time saying it. It's not an attention issue. My focus can be completely on someone and the conversation that I am having with them, but I will still miss what they say sometimes. I have learned to read lips, though, and that helps.

Now on to the exciting stuff. The Rams are now 4 and 1!!!! More importantly, the Cardinals are going on the National Laegue Championship Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo! Go Cards! So now begins my obsessive blogging out the Cardinals every day/night of a game. I apologize now if you get sick of reading about it. It'll all be over soon.

Earl and Xavier

I totally needed a night like tonight. First, we ate dinner at my mom and dad's with my two sisters so we could help Jessi move my dad's computer desk. That gave me a chance to give Jessi her Thank You gift for watching my house while we went to Botcon. (Botcon was on Attack of the Show on G4 tv today!!)

When Ben and I got home from dinner and moving, we watched ER. Awesome show. Then we watched My Name Is Earl. If you are not watching MNIS, you SHOULD BE. It's seriously the funniest show. Ever. Don't believe me? I dare you to watch one show and not belly laugh to the point of snorts. OK, so, I'm probably the only person who snorts while laughing on a fairly regular basis, but you know what I mean. Anyway...

Well, watching Earl put me in a goofy mood (I'm sure the Ambien probably had more to do with the goofiness that is about to ensue...). We're watching the news after Earl is over, and an ad for Governor Rod Blagojevich comes on. He's running for re-election in IL. He's not such a bad guy for a Democrat, but I have digressed. I realized during his ad that he looks like a Cabbage Patch that grew up. Pinch his nose just a little bit, and he's a grown-up Xavier Cabbage Patch kid. Check out his pic:

Botcon funnyisms

I'm in beautiful downtown Lexington, KY, home of Transylvania University. And Botcon 2006. You know, the Transformers convention. Ben is super excited, though the convention hasn't technically started yet. Today was a tour of a Toyota plant and a Kentucky Bourbon distillery.

On to the funnyisms....

While waiting in line for lunch at Buffalo Trace distillery, I overheard two Botcon attendees debating whether or not one of them should have painted a model Ford GT with pink fingernail polish so it would look like RC, a female Transformer who is actually pink. Yup, feminists unite. Anyway, they seriously went back and forth on this for about 10 minutes. "Dude, how could you paint a Ford pink?" says the dork incredulously. Other dork replies with, "well, if Hasbro won't release an RC Alternator, then I just have to settle for a model. And model companies don't make Fords pink."

So, still in line, I imagine this young man standing in the nail polish aisle of Walgreens trying to pick out the right shade of pink for RC. So what happens... I begin to giggle. Incessently. At least I didn't burst out laughing the way I did when my baby sister mentioned something about the importance of graduating.

Other funnyism: while standing in line waiting patiently for Ben to purchase some TF (Transformers) souvenirs, they actually started to play the Star Wars theme. The funny part: some dudes actually started to rock out to it. Imaginary lightsabers and all.


The most amazing thing to me... I've been to a few conventions with Ben & Friends (affectionately called "The Street Geeks"). Usually, it's a bunch of stinky uber-dorks who the Queer Eye gang couldn't make attractive after a whole week of help, let alone a day's worth. Anyway, there are actually a few attractive gentlemen here. A few scary guys thrown in the mix, but it's not all unattractive.

Shennie's New Age

On Sunday morning, Jessica and Aunt Sher (now called "Shennie" because she's part Sher, part Jennie) decided that Aunt Sher is no longer in her mid-50's, she must be in her mid-40's.

This whole conversation started with Aunt Sher saying that she had celebrated her kidney's 29th birthday on Sept. 8th (my birthday). Jessi told Sher that since part of her now is 29, that must bring down her average age, because statiscally speaking, one outlier will bring down an entire mean. so one body part aged at 29 will bring down the average age of a mid-50 year old body. But we're only counting major body parts, you know, like heart, lungs, intestinal tract, liver, minor ear bones. OK, not the ear bones.

So, Happy New Age to Aunt Shennie! Love you!

P.S. There was another kidney donor at Sarah's wedding. Unfortunately, his recipient rejected the kidney and he's now on dialysis. So prayers for the little boy in the Hawai'ian shirt at Sarah's wedding would be appropriate.

My Cousin's Wedding

On Saturday, Jessica, Katie and I flew into Connecticut with our parents. We landed shortly before 1 p.m. Eastern time, and promptly headed off to get our rental car. We got a cute little Hyundai Accent. I kinda wish I had taken a picture of it, oh well. Jessi drives down to Cromwell, CT, to our hotel. It was in a shadier part of Cromwell, but not horrible. The hotel sufficed. It was within 25 minutes of anywhere we needed to be in CT. My grandfather was west of us, my grandmother was south of us, the wedding was due east of us, and the airport was due north. Not bad planning there, Pops! I'd stay there again.

Yesterday was my cousin's wedding. The church was very pretty. It was an old style, Pilgrim built church. Wooden pews (I think one of the Congregationalists had made some pads for it), rafters, an old organ. Her flowers were very pretty. My father's whole family was there. She even invited my aunt's ex-husband. That made for a slightly awkward social tension. But it was nice to see him again. I hadn't seen him since I was in 7th grade. I'm 29 now.

The wedding was great, Sarah and Doug seem like they'll be a happy couple.

Murphy Hates Me

You know, Murphy... the guy from Murphy's Law. He hates me. Ever since I've been in charge at the CLC, stuff has been going wrong left and right. And there's nothing I can do about it. None of it was my fault.

Let me count the ways that Murphy hates me:

1) Storm in July knocks out the power around St. Louis, forcing me to...

2) Cancel a whole week of summer camp. That ended up losing our facility about $3,300.

3) A large school district did not show up for their two missions and two Discovery classrooms today. Come to find out, their science coordinator (who was in charge of telling the teachers when to come to our Center and she was in charge of getting us paid) had resigned a month earlier and noone contacted us. She was our only contact in the district, and her voicemail did not indicate that she had left her position (We called her twice last week to find out whywe hadn't been paid yet). Oh yeah, this large school district was signed up for 15 missions and 15 Discovery classrooms over the next two weeks. Cost: over $8,000.

These are just the major things that have happened... I'm not counting all the little stuff that has happened over the past three months. I swear, if one more thing happens while Tasmyn is gone (only TWO MORE WEEKS!), I will cry. I will sit at my desk and weep like a frickin' baby.

Just so I don't end on a downer, Ben said the funniest thing at dinner tonight. He says, "Honey, in the future, would you mind not talking to me about major life decisions as we're laying in bed about to fall asleep? The other night, you bring up the baby talk* after you're already on Ambien... then blah, blah, blah, baby, SNORE!"

*baby talk = when do you want to start thinking about having a baby? Not let's have a baby now... no house, no baby.

Football

Well, the Rams buggered this game up. The offense just doesn't seem to be in sync. Marc Bulger looks uncomfortable on the field, and I think it's because he doesn't have much faith in his line. They aren't giving him much time, and when they manage to give him a few extra milliseconds, he can't complete a pass to save his life. He overthrew his receivers like mad today. Thank God Torry got that touchdown. I can't imagine what these guys would be feeling if they lost AND they hadn't scored a touchdown yet this season.

My Cowboys rocked the hizzy though!! They played like I wish the Rams would. They were hitting hard on defense, not just sitting back and waiting for the other team to come to them. The offense did well, too.

Man, I love me some football...

Loads goin' on....

Today, Ben and I each cleaned out our office areas, and I am actually typing this blog from my desk. I haven't been able to type from this computer for almost a year. Check out my newly clean area!!

Our new staff at the CLC are trained on the Mars mission. The new Lead Flight Director is a fast learner and is now doing the parts of her job, which are now leaving me time to do my job (and my boss' for another two weeks).

Last weekend was my 29th birthday, and I had a nice weekend. I went in to work on Saturday morning to get a project completed, watched the shuttle launch (OF COURSE...), and then went out to lunch with friends, went to the Science Center with them, saw an Omnimax movie (Adrenaline Rush), and finished the night off at Dave and Buster's.

Next weekend, I'll be in CT with my parents and sisters for my cousin's wedding. I'll try and publish photos from that trip next Monday night.

Well, Rams are about to start playing, and the Cowboys are on after that. I am so happy the football season is up and running again. Sundays are so nice now!

Long Time No See!!

Sorry that I haven't blogged in such a while, but as I've said before, work has been pretty rough, but things are improving (I think...). And, last week I was in Houston for the National Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education Conference. The week was pretty good. Monday was AWESOME! For those of us who got there a day early, we got an up close and personal tour of Johnson Space Center. I was in the Mission Control Room where the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and first shuttle missions were run. For a space geek like me, that was like being in Jerusalem or Mecca for a Jew or Muslim, respectively. I saw the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (otherwise known as the largest pool in the world where astronauts train underwater in their 185 lb spacesuits), Building 9 (one full size shuttle mock-up, two cockpit mock-ups, one International Space Station mock-up, etc.) and Mission Control. I got to meet four astronauts last week. Barbara Morgan, Scott Paraczynski (sp?), Bill McArthur, and Rick Mastracchio. Rick and Barbara are training together for their June 2007 mission (STS-118). They were both incredibly nice and Rick was really great for talking with Mellisa and me for two hours. We were able to pick his brain about living in space, training to be an astronaut, going through the application process, etc. I also talked with him a little about Waterbury, CT (his hometown, where my mom and Aunt Shennie grew up).

This week also began training for our new staff. Day One went well, tomorrow we get our interim receptionist. So yay! I don't have to learn another job. I'm down to 2 and a half jobs rather than three (Kim's still training, so I'm still doing half her job for at least another two to three weeks...)

I'll make up a flickr account or something for my Houston pics. I'll post the link once I've got the hookup.

Fantastic Time Waster

On the news this morning, Art and Jennifer (Channel 5 in St. Louis) announced that Missouri is the number one state in wasting time while at work. Apparently, Missourians waste an average of 3.1 hours per day, number two state wastes only 2.1 hours per day. IL workers waste only 2.0 hours per day.

So this got me to thinking, what is it that I do when I need a brief break from work, while at work? I check my e-mail during coffee in the morning and during snack time in the afternoon. I check if my sister has updated her blog. Today, I decided to take a 15 minute break after addressing packets to go to every elementary school and middle school in the 5 counties in IL that are close to St. Louis. During said break, I happened upon Barney's Blog. Barney is the best character off the hit show "How I Met Your Mother" on CBS. He's a mysogynistic, horny bastard who is funny as hell. He's played by Neil Patrick Harris. The blog is to die for hilarious, especially if you've seen the show and know the character well. I've linked the blog entry about how to dump someone. If you don't read the whole blog, you at least have to read this entry; it's the best I've read (so far).

Well, Mom, Dad and Jessi should be calling soon from the airport and I need to be ready to go get them.

I can't wait for October

Seriously, I'm going nuts here people! We haven't had any missions at work this week, so my whole week has been stuck behind the desk (except the day I went home sick). Today, I took some of my work into the classroom just for a change of scenery! Then, after I got bored working in there, I went and did some of my work at the receptionist's desk (she's not in on Thursdays).

I don't know how people work eight hours a day, five days a week at the same desk. I would go insane.

Surgery Update

My friend Bob got out of surgery today and is doing very well. The doctors did not remove as much of his bowel as they thought they might have to, and so they sent him home today. He's at his parents' house, under the care of his mother. Despite all this good news, we will have to wait until next week to get the results of the tests that they are now doing on the removed parts. So keep those prayers, good thoughts, and positive karma headed his way, please.

USS Bill Clinton

Got this humorous e-mail minus the picture (that I would so love to photoshop, if I knew how). So went out googling the net for the whole e-mail and it's accompanying pic.

Here is the link to the announcement of the USS Bill Clinton.

Did you click in it? If not... do so now. You need to see the picture before I tell you what I would photoshop in...

First of all, I would add a cigar boat (haha) as the life boat.

Then, I'd place a cheap looking fake palm tree near the jet. Christmas lights would string from the tree's branches to the open cockpit (haha) of the plane. The seat of the jet would have one of those tacky seat covers that teens are putting on their driver and passenger seats. You know, the one with the silhouette of the naked woman.

Finally, I'd photoshop a bevy of Monica Lewinskys, Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers look alikes on board.

Nope, wait, the final touch would be for the people who look very closely at the Captain of the USS Bill Clinton. She's in the boathouse, holding onto the wheel... Hillary Clinton.

Prayers are needed

My friend Bob will be undergoing abdominal surgery to remove parts of his bowel that may or may not be cancerous. Regardless of the outcome, abdominal surgery is rough to recover from, as was evident after my laparoscopic abdominal surgery. I have read scientific studies that people who have been prayed for (whether or not they knew they were being prayed for) had faster, less complicated recovery times. This is what I want for my friend. Goodness knows how long I would have been out of commission if I hadn't had all the prayers and good karma out there for me! Best of Luck, Bob. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Really, When It Rains...

Now I'm not talking about work or bad things, I'm talking about the fact that:

1) I've been blogging like a mad woman the past few days

2) I'm putting pictures on my blog now...

3) Here's even more pictures, but now they are of my beautiful new piece of furniture. OK, so it's considered an accessory, but it's the first piece of furniture I've bought all by myself. I got it at Ashley Furniture Store (thanks for the heads-up Jessi and Craig). It's black wood and leather, with gorgeous detailing. Enjoy!





The reason I bought the screen, though, is the funny part. Take a look at what's behind it...

When It Rains...

As many of you know, I'm working my tail off at work trying to keep the Center up and running while I bide my time until my boss comes back to take this responsibility off my shoulders. Well, my poor husband is not only having to deal with his uber-tired wife, but it seems like everything is breaking down on him.

His new car needs brake work; the rotors appear to be uneven. (OK, so how long did you believe that I actually know what the heck that means?!)

His Xbox 360 (less than a year old) broke down this week. Won't even start up sometimes. Won't run a game from the CD/DVD.

I know there is something else he told me about that broke... but I can't think of it right now.

He's also having to do a lot at work. But he told me the other day that he's really loving what he's doing. I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. I've been hoping for the last two years that he would like what he's doing at this job. I know that he likes the people at work (he's related by marriage to many of them, so he has little choice about liking them...).

More Mike party pics (on Mike's ACTUAL birthday)

Happy happy happy

Happy Anniversary Mike and Morgan!!! Aug 1

Happy Birthday Morgan!!!Aug 6

Happy Birthday Mike!!!Aug 9

I love you both! Enjoy the rest of you month!!

Scar

The picture in which I am wearing the yellow tank, is the "before" pic. The picture in which I am wearing purple pants is the "after" pic. Back then, the scars were so red, they itched, and they looked awful. Now, they have lost the red, they are more pink. The almost never itch, but from time to time they do. I bet overtime, it might get to be that people might not notice them.

Looking at the scars now, I wonder how they will be affected during any of my future pregnancies....

So what do you all think about these??

Pic from Mike's party

Feel free to take, use, adjust picture , as long as you are a Truman group friend. I don't want someone taking it photoshopping it and make my friend Mike to look bad.

DVD list

Alright, for many years now I have been talking about taking some time and watching movies from our collection. Many of the movies are ones that I have not seen before, but purchased because I strongly felt that I would like the movie. Others fall under the category of I've-seen-it-and-really-want-to-see-it-again. So, here begins the list. In alphabetical order, since that is how we organize our movies.

Amadues
An americna Werewolf in Paris
Anger Management
Because of Winn-Dixie
Blow Dry
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason
Bulletproof
Chasing Amy
Closer
The Count of Monte Cristo
Disney's Halloween Treat
Dogma
Failure to Launch
Gone with the Wind
Grosse Point Blank
Gunner Palace
Hardvard Man
Heart and Souls
High Fidelity
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
In Good Company
Just Married
Kingdom of Heaven
KINSEY
Labryinth
Life Without Dick (it's not porn)
Mary Poppins
Mona Lisa Smile
Muppets Wizard of Oz
Animal House
The Natural
The Notebook
Phantom of the Opera
Princess Bride
REnt
Runaway Jury
Saint
Saw
Saw II
Say Anything
Serenity
Sideways
Singles
Under the Tuscan Sun
UnderWorld
Wnderworld; Evolution
Untouchables
Waking the Dead

IMpressive list. Like I'll get through it anytime soon though. But at least I've put it out there. I'll check them off as I get them watched.

Columbia and CLC

This past weekend, Ben, Bob and Karl and I traveled to Columbia, MO, for our friend Mike's surprise 30th birthday party. Mike is the husband (and good friend of mine from college) of the marvelous and thoughtful Morgan. He's the first of our group (from college) to hit the big 30. Hell, I'm next, and I'll only be 29. So anway, on the way there, Ben asks me if Mike knows about the party, or even if he has an inkling. Right off the bat, I say "no, he doesn't have a clue." Ben then proceeds to push the issue, saying that maybe Mike knows. Again, I say nope. Morgan kicks butt at keeping good secrets like this, it won't even occur to Mike that she would have a big blow out like this for him.

Later that afternoon, we all arrive at the restaurant and we're waiting for Mike and Morgan to arrive. He shows up, on the phone with someone who is at the restaurant waiting for him! When Mike turns the corner and sees us all, his expression is PRICELESS. The look on his face was complete and utter confusion. I got a picture of it, but Ben has to offload it from the camera and put it on the server for me. I'll load it to the blog for everyone.

During the party, Mike begins talking about how he had no idea that this was going to happen. So I elbow Ben and give him an "I told you so" look. Mike catches it and wants to know what that was, so I tell him about the discussion in the car. Unfortunately, I worded it badly when telling him about it and it sounded like I thought he was stupid or clueless (WHICH he is NOT), I merely meant that he would not think of her doing something this big. I have mad respect for the intelligence that Mike possesses (Hello, he married Morgan didn't he?!).

On to the job front...

I'm EXHAUSTED these days. Doing my job, my boss' job (out on maternity leave) and my co-worker's job until the position starts in September is quite tiring. And unfortunately, our receptionist is transferring to another school in the district, and there's a really good chance that we won't be able to get a new one hired and trained until Oct (when my boss gets back anyway). I'm sure not going to learn the receptionist position. I barely have time to get any part of my job/boss job/coworker job stuff done.

The past two days, I've gotten home from work, sat down and passed out. I'm mentally and physically worn out. And I've still got two months to go. Then I'm taking major vacation and comp days. Plus I get a full two weeks off at Christmas. Yay! I'm sure as hell going to need that time.

San Antonio

So, Tuesday night I flew to San Antonio, TX, for a business trip. First of all, I saw more military people in the 24 hours of my trip than I see in a month around O'Fallon and Fairview Heights. At Lambert, before I even boarded my plane I sat and talked with three Army guys. They were coming home from Iraq for some time off. I thanked them for their service and told them about my dad being retired Air Force and my brother being Army. They seemed to appreciate the fact that I may not have lived "the life," but that I had an understanding of it. They were really nice guys.

Then, the gal sitting in front of me on the plane (I'll get to THAT in a minute) was on her way to San Antonio for AF Basic Training. She is straight out of high school, trying to get money to pay for college. She'll be training for Security Forces. I got the impression that she believes she'll be headed to Iraq/Afghanistan soon after her training is complete. She was a very sweet girl. I tried to give her my US Weekly for her to read during Basic, but she said she wasn't allowed to have stuff like that.

Now, onto the plane. This plane could have been Ben's left shoe. It was freaking tiny! I was in seat 2A for both flights. Just to give you an idea of how little room I had, I made a trek to the onboard bathroom on both flights just so I had some room to stretch out!! Other than that, though, both flights were fairly uneventful. On the flight home, I got to see some thunderstorms southwest of St. Louis. Most people would be freaked out seeing lightning while flying, but it was far enough away that I just enjoyed the beauty of nature.

My trip itself was good. The staff at the San Antonio Challenger Learning Center were very nice. I truly enjoyed their presentations and program. They were very kind and gave me all kinds of stuff (a patch with their logo and a CD of space music and parodies made by one of their more creative staff members). They also shared a lot of cool lessons that I can (and will) use in the future here at our Center.

Well, back to work I go. I've got a lot of prep work to do for Monday. Laters!

3 Things

So my sister did this on her blog a couple of weeks ago (and me being the procrastinator that I am), I am just now doing this on my blog. So here it goes:

(By the way, my answers are in no particular order)

3 things that scare me:
Losing Ben
Losing my parents
Not being able to have kids some day

3 people that make me laugh:
My sister, Jessica
My Best Friend Morgan
My husband and our friends

3 things that I love:
Ben
going on cruises
hanging out with friends

3 things I don’t understand:
stupid people
calculus based physics
one eyed one horned giant purple people eaters

3 things on my desk:
pic of Ben and me on our honeymoon
lightup mini glitter lamp from Boeing
cool rolling magnetic paper clip holder

3 things I’m doing right now:
Watching America's Got Talent
filling in this blog
sitting under a blanket despite the fact that it's 90+ degrees outside

3 things I want to do before I die:
Have kids and grandkids
travel Europe (mostly France, Ireland, Scotland, and Sweden)
go on a hot air balloon ride

3 things I can do:
Talk (a lot)
educate others
type really fast

3 things that describe my personality:
Outgoing
Entertaining
Giving

3 things I can’t do:
be an astronaut (having donated a kidney probably precludes me from going into space)
play the piano with both hands at the same time
tie a cherry stem in my mouth

3 things I think that I should listen to:
my friends
my husband
my family

3 things I should NEVER listen to:
I don't know... I guess I never really listen to telemarketers (I rarely answer the phone when they call, and hang up on them when I do)

3 of my ABSOLUTE favorite foods:
My grandmother's cooking (especially her pies)
LOBSTER
Chocolate

3 things that I ‘d like to learn:
Sign Language
Spanish
Celtic

3 beverages that I drink regularly:
water
wine
juice

3 shows I watched as a kid:
Star Search (the ORIGINAL America's Got Talent)
Sesame Street
She-Ra

Totally Random

Jessi and Craig (my sister and bro-in-law) are on their merry little way to Omaha, their newest place of residence (at least for the next year). They weren't able to make the move without any drama, though. As if it isn't enough to be moving halfway across the country, it turns out the people who run their apartment complex in Louisville, KY, are greedy bastards and nobody ever gets their deposits back. Jessi and Craig scrubbed that place from ceiling to floor and according to the apartment people "It's not clean enough, we'll have to dock you some." Are you flipping kidding me?! If Jessi can't get a place looking sparklin' new, then Mr. Clean ain't gonna do it either!!! Greedy buttfaces. Then, yesterday as Craig is packing up his car getting ready to drive away, he falls down the last couple of steps and hurts his ankle. It looks awful. I feel badly for him, it's gotta hurt. (Check out Jessi's blog for pics.) So Craig's Mom and Dad were kind enough to drive him up yesterday, because he hurt his driving ankle.

Now the mini-drama in my life. I got a speeding ticket. In O'Fallon. But according to the officer, if I show up in court on the appointed date, I'll get three months court supervision and if I don't get another traffic citation, I'm off the hook, and insurance will never be the wiser. For giving me a ticket, this guy was seriously nice. But up until he was getting ready to walk away, he thought that he had pulled over an astronaut!! I had my flight suit in the back of my car and I was wearing my NASA tee-shirt "I Need My Space" with the NASA logo on the front. I told him that, no, I'm not an astronaut yet, but that I would be applying in the next round for Educator Astronaut. Now, I don't think that I would ever be accepted to be an astronaut. I have a feeling that my missing kidney pretty much precludes me from them taking a risk with my life. But I seriously would like to apply next year when apps will be accepted again. I'm still younger than the average astronaut. Most don't get accepted until they are in their mid-30's. So, we'll see.

Finally, I'm going to see my boss and her newest member of the family, Owen Zachary. I'll post a pic as soon as I have one. I hope I can figure out how to do that...

Serious...

I have a horrible new addiction and it is called NASA TV. I have the TV set to the channel all the time now. When I'm on the computer, I've got NASA TV streaming live. It's sick. It's obsessive. I LOVE it!

This just tells me how right my boss was for hiring me. How many other people so love the subject of their profession that they continue to obsess about it long after they've gone home for the day? I've been off this week, which has been GREAT. It's allowed me to watch and keep up with what's going on in space this week.

I'm a total space geek. Yay!!!!

Scrubbed Again

So now launch is postponed until July 4th, 2:38 p.m. Eastern time.

Keep track of NASA's launch plans by reading the Launch Blog

Boy, I hope the launch goes off on the 4th. If it doesn't, I'm probably going to be asked questions about launch (which I have some knowledge about, but I'm studying mission objectives and re-entry like the show producer asked me to).

We'll see how it goes, though.

Not to worry...

OK, so Discovery didn't launch yesterday. That's OK. I just hope it gets to launch today.

How cool would it be to be an American astronaut in space over the USA at night on July 4th? I bet they'd be able to see all those colorful flashes of light everywhere. Man, really makes you want to be an astronaut, doesn't it?

Don't forget, I'll be on Channel 5 way freaking early on July 5th! Set your Tivo to record between 6 and 7 am. Otherwise, check www.ksdk.com that day for video of the interview.

Space News

Camp last week was great, but then again, I had middle schoolers.

Today is the Discovery shuttle launch, and I have to watch it because I'll be interviewed live on Today in St. Louis (channel 5) on Wednesday July 5th. I'll probably be on between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m. They are supposed to interview me as a local shuttle and re-entry "expert." So I'm brushing up like mad to make sure I can answer those questions. There are probably people more knowledgeable, but I bet they aren't as cute or able to get the point across as well as I can since I'm a teacher. For those of you who are not from St. Louis, I bet they'll put my interview online at www.ksdk.com. Feel free to check the site later that day for video feed of me! :)

Only a few minutes until Launch. God, I'm excited.

One Day Left

I technically only had to be with my campers for half of today, I went and gave a presentation to over 200 Girl Scouts. That was easier for me than dealing with third and fourth graders. I'd rather do public speaking than work with elementary kids. Thank God we focus on middle schoolers at CLC.

I gues I've been a little negative about camp this week. The kids aren't bad, they just take A LOT of energy and patience. I thought I was patient until this week. Altough, I guess there are people who might have actually snapped at these kids. As far as I can tell, they don't even know how hard working with them is on me. When I came back this afternoon, I got hugs all around. And they all seem pretty happy to see me each day. I just wish we didn't have to do a young kids camp. Doing the camps for the older kids is hard enough.

One day left.

Sad Day

I'm sorry to announce the passing of Craig's grandma, Nana, today. She was a great lady whom was well loved by all who knew her.

The Lotz's are in our thoughts and prayers.

Random bear

So this has been a tough week. The morning camp is not only a large group of third and fourth graders, but they are a less mature group of kids than my afternoon group. So when I got home and checked my e-mail to find this HILARIOUS nugget in my Inbox, I felt better. Ben is the best.

USB drive

I haven't laughed this hard in a while. The photo of that teddy bear sticking out of the front of the computer was awesome. It's like someone got mad at the bear or the computer (or both) and just shoved it in there.

Great stuff.

P.S. If you see me on the news in the next two days, it's either because I have poked a child's eyes out because I've gotten sick of "Two Fingers Up" (a method of getting kids to be quiet), or I've attempted to launch one of them on the model rockets we'll be launching on Friday. Just so you know.

Thank God for Elementary teachers

So, today was the first day of Young Astronauts Camp. It's all third and fourth graders. Elementary school teachers are God's gift to the world. Anyone who can put up with 20+ of those kids for 6 hours a day are freaking Angels on Earth. Seriously. It's only been one day, and I'm counting down the days until I'm not dealing with kids this young on a daily basis.

Sorry this is short and raggy, but I've got to give Ben a break from me bitchin' about these kids.

Nugget

It’s insane how many calls we are getting at CLC for missions, mini-missions, parties, etc. for this summer! On one hand I’m happy that we’re getting loads of business, but at the same time, we still only have three people who know how to run a mission!!!! So there will be a lot of days where I will have to leave the camp to others so I can go run a mission or off site program.

I did have one really cool thing happen at work today, though. I’ve been researching the materials that make up the space suits used by NASA, and I found a company that sells rolls of Kevlar fabric. I don’t want a whole roll, just a sample that I can use in a show-and-tell type setting, so the company was nice enough to donate a small swatch for our educational purposes. Yay! So if anyone out there ever needs ballistics grade Kevlar to make something, I recommend Armor Co. of Ohio.

On to lighter stuff. Now that the TV seasons are pretty much over, many summer shows are gearing up. One of them that Ben and I are ecstatic about returning is Last Comic Standing. We missed the first season, watched the second season (LOVED the winner, John Heffron). We also watched season three, a battle between seasons one and two. Two totally wiped the floor with season one’s comics. Only one guy was really up to par with season two’s comics, and he’s the one who lasted the longest before NBC prematurely pulled the plug. As much as we love John Heffron, we really are digging Josh Blue, a comic living with cerebral palsy. He’s freaking hilarious. He makes fun of the parts of his disabilities that are obvious and parts that others may not recognize as being issues. Ben and I have seen him before on our favorite comic show, “Mind of Mencia.” Apparently, Josh is friends with Carlos Mencia, who also happens to look like a Mexican version of my brother-in-law, Patrick. I’ll try and get a picture of Pat at the next family gathering for online comparison.

So I guess what I’m trying say with that last paragraph about Last Comic Standing is that if you’re not watching it, YOU SHOULD BE. Tuesday nights on NBC. http://www.nbc.com/Last_Comic_Standing/

Check out the website to vote for comics who haven’t yet made it to the finals. They have videos of them. Enjoy. That is my nugget for you this day.

Jessi

So Jessi wrote a really funny blog. But she doesn't have the guts to post it. So if you want to read it, e-mail her or me and I'll send it. It's freaking hilarious. I laughed so hard I cried. My stomach muscles hurt. My cheeks hurt.

Cardinals Game

Last night Ben and I got some tickets to the Cards/Reds game. We took our friends, Justin and Cheryl. We lost the game, which sucked, but something Cheryl said at the end of the night made it TOTALLY worth going.

So after the game, the four of us are waiting to leave the ballpark while the rest of the crowd clears out. We are at the top of the stadium. THE TOP. So I'm looking down on the crowd walking below us on the walkway. And I mention to Ben, jokingly of course, "Hey, honey, you can look down girls shirts from here!" So Ben, Justin and Cheryl all look down on the walkway. A few seconds later, an older woman with a MAJOR boob job walks below us wearing a tank top. Cheryl yells out "NICE RACK!" It was hilarious!!

It really helps if you know Cheryl to see how funny that is, but I bet it's at least crackin' a smile on your face... huh huh, I said crack.

New Job

So I've been in the new full time job at the Challenger Learning Center for over three weeks now. I'm loving it. I'm busy, but not too busy now that Space Day is over. Summer camp is coming up, but it's not so close that I'm freaking out. I'm able to be creative and my co-workers are pretty great. My boss has recognized my work already, and she complimented me. The gal whom I have succeeded did a spectacular job keeping everything organized and it's been pretty easy to catch up with everything that is a part of the job description (which is A LOT, I don't know how she did it from scratch, what a tough job that must have been). My boss and co-worker took over my position's duties before I started (while I was off donating a kidney).

The drive isn't too terribly bad, it's better in the morning than the afternoon, when traffic gets worse. I take that time to listen to the Dave Glover show on 97.1 Talk FM (he's friggin' hilarious), plan dinner and decompress from work. Poor Ben has such a short drive home that he doesn't get that time to let go of work stuff (and I'm not being sarcastic, I actually feel for him being this close to work).

Well, long story short, I LOVE my job.

Just got this forward

Hey y'all, just after I post that highway blog, I get this forward from someone in Paducah, Kentucky! I don't know who wrote this originally, but it is SO FREAKING TRUE!!

Enjoy:

Driving in St. Louis...

If you live in St. Louis, you'll understand this. If you've ever visited St. Louis, you'll understand this. If you've never been to St. Louis, consider this your Visitor's Guide to Driving in St. Louis.

1. There are 75 "official neighborhoods" in the City of St. Louis (not to be confused with the County of St. Louis of which it is not a part). In fact, the City of St. Louis not located in any county. It is much like Washington D. C. - in a world all of its own. St. Louisans commonly give directions to strangers (primarily to restauran ts) based on these neighborhoods which are not marked on any map that is handed out by the tourist board, AAA or even available on Mapquest.

2. There are 54 school districts in metro St. Louis on the Missouri side alone. (We prefer not to recognize East St. Louis, IL as being a part of the metro area just as Israelis prefer not to recognize Palestine.) Each of these districts has their own school bus system and scheduled times to block traffic.

3. There are 91 official municipalities in St. Louis County. Each has its own rules, regulations, courts, and often their own police and fire departments. [Calling 911 for help in an emergency can be a very interesting experience... especially if you don't know in which municipality you're located when someone plows into your car, you have a heart attack, or have been mugged.]

4. More importantly, most municipalities have their own snow removal contracts so it's not uncommon to drive down a road in w inter and have one block plowed, the next salted, the next piled with snow and the last partially cleared by residents wanting to get out of their driveways.

5. Snow plowing is never a problem in the City of St. Louis. They plow nothing, and if the forecast calls for snow, they close everything except on "The Hill" (please refer to #1 above) where each homeowner goes out into the street and shovels out one car-sized rectangle and then stands watch over it. Pull in at your own risk!

6. Any car parked longer than 4 hours in the City of St. Louis is considered a "You Wrench It" parts store.

7. The City of Ballwin actually proposed that drivers use connecting strip mall parking lots to get from place to place rather than to drive on Manchester Road to cut the traffic on Manchester. Younger St. Louisans consider turning left onto or off of Manchester Road in traffic an extreme sport.

8. Laclede Station Road mysteriously changes names as you cross intersections. The same goes for McCausland, Lindbergh, Watson, Reavis Barracks, Fee Fee, McKnight, Airport Road, Midland, Olive and Clarkson. Gravois Road can only be pronounced correctly by a native St. Louisan - not all mind you, but a few. Ditto for Spoede and Chouteau.

9. A St. Louisan from South County has never been to North County and visa versa. West County has everything delivered.

10. No native St. Louisan knows that Lindbergh runs from South County to North County! And, if you tell them, they will not believe you.

11. Lindbergh Boulevard (named after Charles, AKA: "Lucky Lindy") belongs to every neighborhood except in the city of Kirkwood, where they had the nerve to change the name to "Kirkwood Road". (The artsy St. Louisans who reside there are known there for their creativity.)

12. There are 2 interchanges to exit from Highway 40 onto Clayton Road and 2 for Big Bend. Stay alert, people!

1 3. If you need directions to O'Fallon, make sure to specify Illinois or Missouri. This is also true for Troy, Maryville, St. Charles, Springfield, Columbia and. well, need I really go on?

14. The Page Avenue extension and the Airport expansion projects took over 20 years to get approved and St. Louisans lost track of how many political figures claimed them as their own idea.

15. St. Louisans were aghast when the federal government required them to redo the highway signs to indicate that our federal highways actually went to cities in other states instead of our local municipalities.

16. Many drivers are starting to cut their OWN license plates rather than go through the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles to get their tags. St. Louisans can also purchase tags from "dealers" behind most QuiKShops in the City. They are a lot cheaper, their clerks are more pleasant than DMV employees, and the service is a lot faster. Cash only. You may want to pack heat.

17. Lambert Field and St. Louis International Airport really are the same place. The East Terminal, however, is a different place.

18. Highway 270 is our daily version of the NASCAR circuit. The same thing goes for Highway 70. You can go all four directions on Highway 270: North and South in West County, East and West in South County, and East and West in North County. Confused? So are most drivers in St. Louis.

19. The outer belt is Highway 270, which turns into Highway 255 in South County. The inner belt is Highway 170. Highway 370 is a sorta-kinda outer-outer belt. Highway 40 is the same as Interstate 64 (but only through the middle part of St. Louis).

20. The morning rush hour is from 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. The evening rush hour is from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. unless the Blue's or Card's are playing - then its 3:30 to 8:00 and again from 9:45 to whenever. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning. Never ever try to cross a bridge over the northward flowing Missouri River or the southward flowing Mississippi River in St. Louis during rush hour unless you have a sack lunch and a pee-pee port-a-potty in the car.

21. YIELD signs are for decoration only. No native St. Louisan will ever grasp the concept. And at 4-way stop intersections controlled by stop signs, forget about the idea of taking turns. Cars go through two or three at a time. It takes some getting used to.

22. If someone in St. Louis actually has his or her turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect or has been on for the last 17 miles.

23. Construction on Highways 40, 64, 70, 255, 270, 44, 55 and 170 is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment.


24. U.S. Highway 61 mysteriously disappears as it enters West County and suddenly reappears as it exits South County. Even MO-DOT can't figure this one out. Many think if they ever find it, they'll also find Jimmy Hoffa and Iraq's WMD's.

25. Any blue-haired babe in a Cadillac driving on Olive west of the inner belt (see #19) always has the right of way. But if the Caddie has fins, this territorial limitation does not apply so pay attention. It's dangerous out there!

St. Louis Highway Personalities

Starting my full time job at the Challenger Center has introduced me to the fact that each highway in St. Louis has drivers of certain personalities. For most of my tenure in St. Louis, I have driven highway 64/40. But now the CLC job has me driving highway 70 to and from work. I have now realized that drivers on 64/40 are fairly decent human beings with the occassional jerky driver while highway 70 is filled with selfish assholes! Prime example (though far from being unusual on 70):

While getting onto 70 on my home from work the other day, I was trying to merge onto the entrance ramp for 70. There was a brand new, fire engine red Mustang to my left and slightly behind. There was just enough room for me to turn on my blinker to nicely let her know that's where I wanted to go. So what does this driver do? SPEEDS UP and doesn't let me in. I HAVE to merge otherwise I'll end up exiting onto another road that I don't need to be on. So I let her get far enough up so I can pull behind her (where there is a whole line of cars BTW). As I pull in behind her, I beeped at her to let her know that I didn't appreciate her actions. She not only sped up to prevent me from merging, but she then, get this, sticks her hand out the sun roof and flips me the bird. I was pissed. Later that day, I thought about it and realized that if someone told me about that story I'd laugh my ass off, so I laughed it off and let it go. That's when it hit me that all my bad highway experiences have happened either on 70 or on the Poplar Street Bridge (which incidentally carries I-70 drivers over to Illinois).

FYI, I-270 is St. Louis' version of NASCAR. The speed limit hovers around 85 or 90, with people whipping around each other like they are Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt, Jr. This includes little old ladies in their ginormous Cadillacs and hoosiers in their jacked up F-250's (you know, the ones that have Confederate flags and decals of Calvin peeing on Osama).

I have yet to drive I-370. Although, there have been a couple of wrong way driving accidents on that highway, so my guess is that 370 drivers are morons. Not certain of that yet, it's just a theory.

Please let me know about highways 44 and 55, as I don't drive them enough to know.

Quick update

Went to see the doctor about the not sleeping because of twitchy, restless legs, and he believes it is "Restless Legs Syndrome" brought on by the trauma of the surgery and the stress from the new job. Prescribed Ambien, my new best friend. Ambien is not the typical treatment for restless legs, but I tried it the night before I saw the doc, it worked so he wrote me a script for more. I now use it in fear of staying awake or being awoken by those restless legs.

Started the new job at Challenger Learning Center and I LOVE it. I'm busy every second of the day, but that's good because the hours just fly by. My job has many many aspects to it, and right now we are running on a skeleton crew for missions, so I don't have much time to work on non-mission related duties. (huh-huh, I said "duty") On my second day, my boss and co-worker (yes, there are only three of us in the office on a dialy basis) took me out to lunch. That day I found out that not only is my boss pregnant, but so is my co-worker. So I kind of feel left out like that, BUT I am SO NOT ready for a baby right now. Between the recuperating, new job and restless legs, I could not handle a baby.

Not sleeping is for the birds

OK, so what the hell is wrong with me lately?! I have not been sleeping right. The other morning I was up at 4:30 a.m., and now I can't get to sleep. This is so messed up.

Anyway, so all those plans of things I wanted to get done while recuperating at home?? None of them done. I'm so darn tired every day, just the smallest things wear me out. After a shower I have to rest for a few minutes before I can finish getting ready. Going out and running an errand almost requires a nap when I get home. But my energy levels are slowly getting better.

Part of this not sleeping thing is that my legs feels weird, like I need to move. So I get up, walk a couple rounds around my home interior, then sit down because I'm tired. Then my legs want to walk again, so I'm off like a race horse, walking around and around until I'm tired again. Or until the cat finally pisses me off enough that I have to sit down so she'll quit attacking my legs while I walk. It's like she knows something isn't right. She is probably thinking, "why the hell is Mommy up? She never comes back out into the living room this fast after she's gone to bed... what's wrong with her?"

OK, I'm thinking like I'm the cat. I really need sleep.

Screw the rooster, I was up before him!

Yeah, so I woke up at 4:30 this morning. No alarm, no major storm, just woke up. Totally awake. So I got out of bed so I wouldn't toss and turn and wake up my hubby. When I got out to the living room, I decided to check my e-mail and various blogs. While looking through Jessi's blog, I remembered that she had a link to get a copy of my credit report. So I figured it might be good to look through my credit stuff and see how it all looked. While on the site, I went ahead and purchased my credit score to get a full picture of what it all meant. My score kicks butt!!! I'm only like 40 points lower than my parents' score, which is above 800 (a VERY GOOD score). This is awesome. I'm so looking forward to finding out what Ben's score is. I bet it's close to mine since they are now linked. I'm just so stoked. I hope this means that we'll get a good loan when we go to buy a house later this year/early next year.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you thought I was geeky before...

I have surpassed my own geekiness today. This morning I actually got bored playing Bejeweled and Jewel Quest, so I started playing Ben's Role-Playing-Game, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I thought at first, "Oh, I'll just make up a character and see how close I can get to having her look like me..."

That took all of 10 minutes. I still wasn't ready to go back and play an Arcade game... so I thought, "Well, let's see how long I last until I get my ass kicked by something in the game, then I'll quit."

About 2 hours later, I saved my game and called Ben. He must have been busy because I had to leave him a voicemail. In said voicemail, I told him this..."Honey, I just wanted you to know that I am now addicted to Oblivion." When he came home for lunch, he was so proud of me. And I CONTINUED to play until 3 p.m.!! At that point, I decided that I should at least put some laundry in the washer and get cleaned up.

I can't believe that I am now an official gamer. Not just a girly arcade player, but an official gamer. Now I have to go back on and try to kill some Demons from Oblivion (the game's version of Hell). They were really the reason I stopped playing earlier. Those bastards must have killed me about 5 times before I gave up. Maybe I'll wait til Ben gets home and have him be my Guide Master. Oh my God, I'm a dork.

P.S. Jessi and Craig are probably laughing their butts off right now... that's OK. I think it's totally funny too. Let me know what you think in my comments section!!

Pet Therapy

So if you read my kidney blog, you know about the pet therapy, if not, go read it and come back. I'll wait.

Welcome back! Anyway, so now I think Ben is closer to getting a doggie!!! Between seeing sweet Simon and Heidi, he's starting to like the idea of a smaller dog. YES! Shoot, he's gonna read this and say no. Not that I want a doggie right now... but after we buy a house..... a small dog that won't make our kittie feel intimidated. She should not feel like she's being replaced. I just think she'd like it better if the dog we get is small so she won't feel pushed around. Imagine it... kittie in one lap and doggie in the other lap. How CUTE!!!!

Out of the hospital

I'm out of the hospital now. I was discharged this morning. I took a shower this morning before I left and it was AWESOME. Ben had to help me, I couldn't get both hands up to wash my hair, or stay steady on my feet, so I sat on a shower stool and he bascally washed me. I'm a very independent person most of the time, so asking him to help me for such basic things like showering has been hard, but he's but so sweet and great about helping me out. I've got a good one here, ladies....

My back is really sore, my neck gets pains due to the CO2 in my body from the surgery. So the heating pad has become my best friend. I am trying to be mobile as often as possible, but it's so hard! It totally feels like my guts are going to spill out when I walk around. My abdominal muscles have been cut into, so they aren't as tight as they used to be, hence the feeling like things are going to come out. I walk like a little old lady. Walking through the hotel today, I had littel old ladies passing me!! Not really, but they probably could have.

It also hurts to laugh, which is hard because most of you know how funny my parents and husband can be. Example one: Dad and Mom came home from shopping for me today, and Dad pulls out this package of black licorice. His response: "I know it's past St. Patrick's Day, but I felt this might be fun anyway!" OK, here's the explanation for those of you who don't eat black licorice. If you eat a lot of black licorice, it makes your poop green. I do eat black licorice, I knew this, so I found it hilarious. Example two: Ben and I are watching soaps today while Mom and Dad are gone, and a preview for My Name is Earl comes on. I've seen this preview a few times before, I've been watching NBC nonstop for three days! Anyway, in the scene, Randy (Earl's intelligence challenged brother) is sitting and talking to a robotic toy dog when it gets hit by a ball. As it falls off the table, Randy screams like a girl. It is really, really, really funny. But I've been able to keep from laughing because I know it will hurt. Well Ben just about falls off the bedd laughing from this little scene, and he's laughing in the high-pitched laugh that he does when something is absolutely hilarious. So I had to kick him out of the room until he got the giggles out. I could still hear him the living room of the hotel suite, laughing and saying "screamed like a girl... *chuckle, giggle* he screamed like a girl......"

But I am doing well. All of the prayers that are out there for me and my aunt are helping, keep them coming. I can't wait to get home and see you all.