M.I.A.

That's how I've felt these past two weeks. Missing In Action. I still can't believe it's been two weeks since I've even checked on this little ole blog. I started to feel so out of the loop. But work kept calling me away from the computer to do other things. Honestly, there is still quite a few things left to do on my school to-do list, but my mind needed a break from it all.

So, since I've been out of the loop, I thought I'd catch you up on some of the things that have been happening around here.

• Our school's football team has been ranked #1 in the state, which is a pretty big deal around these parts I guess. Not a big football fan myself, but still pretty proud of the kids.
• This week is homecoming week. Tonight is the bonfire pep rally. You can see I'm not participating.
• There will be some jumping-for-joy in our household next month. Why? The Hubby's student loan will officially be paid off!!! We're both crazy excited! After his loan is gone, we're going to be focusing on paying off my car, which is next in our debt snowball.

{source}

• The Hubby is still making his way home from work. He may be okay with these two hour drives, but they are killing me. Considering I be home as early as 4 o'clock, having to wait until 7 makes things a little difficult in terms of planning dinner. Let's just say that my stomach is starting to talk to me.
• Speaking of the Hubby, he's got a milestone birthday coming up in about 5 weeks. He'll officially be a quarter-century old! We're not planning anything too big, probably just dinner out with family and close friends.
• Also, one more Hubby related item: He's still working his butt off trying to get hired on as an EMT anywhere. He tested with a nearby county last week, and he'll be testing with another local county tomorrow morning. We're crossing our fingers for the department he'll be testing with tomorrow, but honestly, at this point, anything closer than 2 hours will be a blessing. Both positions are part-time, but it will get his foot in the door, which is the best we can hope for right now. So, prayers and finger crossing is going on in our household tonight.
• Oh, and speaking of birthdays, there are a lot of "Big-0" birthdays coming up on my side of the family. And my mom has gotten this grand idea to host an "O" party in honor of everyone's milestones. I think we have someone turning 60, 50, and 40 in the next couple months. My cousin just turned 29, and I think my mom is trying to lump him in with the rest. But the irony of it all, she wants to host the party on the Hubby's birthday. She seemed excited when I mentioned that it was his birthday, but then really disappointed that his age wasn't even close to an "0" birthday. Ha! That's my mom for ya.
• We've been trying to incorporate more healthy foods in our diet. The easy choices for us seem to be fruit, so we've been making a lot of smoothies lately. Dan's favorite is the peanut butter & banana smoothie. He added a bit of ovaltine to his to give it more of a chocolate taste. The other go-to favorite is a simple strawberry banana smoothie made with orange juice. Yum!

 

• In other news, this girl will soon join the Apple club. Yep, I will soon be the owner of an iPad. Well, more like borrower. Our school is getting iPads for all of the AP students and their teachers, which means I get one! Still not sure on the exact date of delivery, but it should be in the next couple of weeks. I'll finally get to see what all the fuss is about. So I've been researching some apps for the students to use next semester when they get their hands on their iPads.

{source}

• I noticed the Instagram widget on the sidebar seems to be on the fritz? Not sure if its a temporary thing on their end. But if it's not up and running soon, I guess I'll have to take it down.
• An update to the situation I mentioned 2 weeks ago: They still haven't found the scumbag.
• The first 9 weeks is ending in exactly 2 weeks. Which means I will have to have grades finalized here soon. And considering the size of my to-be-graded pile on top of my never ending to-do list, I'm not looking forward to this. Still need to make a semester exam on top of everything else too.

Well, I think you're officially caught up. I know, nothing glamorous or exciting. But what can I say, we're your pretty average couple doing pretty average things. Jobs, debt, technology, birthdays, health.... all part of the equation. I'm just hoping that it won't be another two weeks until my next post... there is still that challenge thing that keeps hanging around. I swear, I'll finish it eventually. Maybe over Christmas break... if we're lucky!

What have you guys been up to? I've tried to catch up on all the blog reading I've been missing.

Friday's Letters

{source}

Dear city police officer, why yes, you have my permission to search my apartment. Especially once you tell me that a 14 year old girl has been kidnapped and you're looking for her. Who wouldn't let you in? Dear 14 year old girl, I am so sorry that you went through what you did. And I'm sorry for thinking that perhaps you were just mad at your parents and had run away to a friends house for the night. Dear kidnapper, I hope they find you. Soon. People like you don't deserve to be a part of this society. People who do the things you do deserve to rot. Dear students, today we had our second "coming to Jesus" moment of the year. I don't like these moments. I'm seriously at a loss for what else to do to help you. I can only do so much. At some point you have to pull your own weight and take responsibility for your grades/knowledge/future. Dear parents of said students, please don't call me into a parent-teacher conference at the last minute and ask my why your student's grade is so low. At this point, the grade won't change much. There is an electronic grade book for both you and your student to monitor. You can't tell me you didn't see this one coming. Dear students, no. There is nothing you can do to "bring your grade up." I'm not going to give you extra work when you didn't do your actual work in the first place. Besides, why would I give myself more stuff to grade when my pile is already out of control? And no, you can't make up the work that you didn't turn in or the work that you missed when you were absent 3 weeks ago. It's too late. Take responsibility. Stop making excuses. Buck up sissy pants. Dear readers, I'm sorry for my teacher rant. I shouldn't take it out on you. But sometimes venting is necessary. Dear Hubby, I am so happy that we are getting out the apartment tonight. I'm hoping it'll take my mind off of work. I'm looking forward to spending this weekend together.

Linking up:

Hobbies

#23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

So, I tried really hard to come up with 5 hobbies. But, honestly, I don't really have time for hobbies. That, and when I do actually have free time, I revert into a hermit and stay indoors relaxing. Now, if you had asked me back in high school, I would have been able to add softball & photography to this list. But  I don't have time for either of those things now. Four hobbies was all I could come up with...

Blogging I love that it gives me an outlet. I love connecting with people across the country, and even around the world, who I would not have otherwise met.

{source}

Thrifting Finding a great deal seriously gives me chills. Taking something old and re-purposing it into something useful is my idea of a good time.

Surfing Pinterest So, I'm not sure if this really constitutes as a "hobby," but it is something I like to do in my free time. Since we currently live in an apartment and can't really do may DIY projects, I like to live vicariously through others on Pinterest. I like to think I'm doing research for our future home.

{source}

Dreaming Again, not sure if this is really a hobby, but it is something both the Hubby and I like to do together. A lot of our conversations revolve around our dreams and future plans. Usually we start talking about money and how much longer it will take us to pay off our debt. Then it transitions into what we want to do as soon as we are out of debt: House first? Family first? Can we afford for me to be a stay-at-home mom? After we talk through all the possibilities, we talk about the things we'd love to have in a future home and the places we'd like to travel.

Friday's Letters

{source}

Dear short work week, oh, how I love you! Dear progress reports, is it seriously time for you already? Guess what I'll be doing this weekend... Dear fish tank, thanks for springing a leak Wednesday. We still haven't figured out how to fix you. Dear fish, I know you're probably tired of sitting in what must seem like a tiny bowl. Hopefully by this weekend you'll be back in your old home. Dear Hubby, can you believe we are nearly 2 months away from our first anniversary?! Where has the time gone? Dear former student, thank you for asking me to buy donuts for your fundraiser. They were delicious! Dear Periwinkle, I'm glad that you don't seem to have a UTI this time around. However, considering the vet thinks your problem is more "behavioral" than anything else, don't expect a whole lot of sympathy from me when you have another "accident." Dear Saturday morning, please know that I will be spending you in bed, sleeping in. Something I haven't been able to do in two weeks. Dear readers, please keep your fingers crossed and say a few prayers for the Hubby. He's got a couple of tests coming up for potential new jobs. Dear Hubby, I know you're going to WOW them!

linking up at Adventures of Newlyweds

Animal Instincts

#15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Hm.... this is a tough one. There are a bunch of animals that I love....

Pandas....

{source}

Koalas....

{source}

Elephants....

{source}

Dolphins....

{source}

But which one would I want to be? Well, I guess the one animal I would choose is the one animal I know the most about....

...the domestic cat.

Why? Well, for one, all the cat naps. And I wouldn't have a problem with keeping my nails long. And I would forever be entertained by frogs and bugs. Plus, having human parents to love on me is always something to look forward to.

Yep, I think I'd want to be a cat.

If you could be any animal, which would you choose?

Weekend Adventures: Road Trip & Unpacking

As I mentioned last week, the Hubby and I went on a little road trip to go see his brother, Brian, who lives near Atlanta. As soon as I got home on Friday, we loaded up the car and hit the road. 

We made one stop for dinner and only took one potty break. It took about 7 hours to get to Brian's new house. To entertain ourselves, we listened to the Dave Ramsey show on iHeart Radio.

We got in about midnight Friday, then stayed up late and talked for a little while. In the morning, the hubby snapped a pic of their new home with his cell phone. Unfortunately, we were so busy unpacking boxes and fixing things up around the house that we both forgot to snap any other photos during our trip of the house. Bad blogger, I know.

They (meaning Brian and his girlfriend) bought a really cute, old brick home in Marietta. It's got 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a sun room. There's also a barn, shed, 2-car carport, and a green house in the backyard. It's got a lot of things that need updating and a lot of things that need fixing up. But I think they are both up for the challenge and even excited to have projects to work on.

Saturday night, after working most of the morning and shopping in the afternoon, we cleaned up and head out for a little walk around downtown Marietta. There was some sort of street art festival going on. But we didn't get the memo, so by the time we got there, all the vendors had packed up for the evening. Some of the funniest pieces were these porta potties that people had decorated.

After walking around the little town square, we decided it was time for dessert and headed over to our go-to spot when we visit Brian - the Marietta Diner.

You might remember this bad boy from our last trip to Marietta. Yep, the Butterfinger Cheesecake returns! This time around I split it with the Hubby rather than keeping all the yumminess to myself. 

Sunday was more unpacking and organizing. At one point, they needed to run back out to Lowe's to return some stuff. I decided to hang back and enjoy some peace and quiet. I flipped through the new Ikea catalog. While I was relaxing, the cats, Scooter & Jack, waited patiently by the door for everyone to return. 

Before we left Monday morning, we woke up really early so that we could make one last trip to the diner for breakfast. The french toast was delicious! And this time, the service was actually really good! If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now: You don't go to the Diner looking for good service, you go to the Diner for the food. And this trip I was pleasantly surprised.

We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and headed back to Central Florida. This time we made the trip in 6 hours by cutting out a food stop and only adding one potty break. 

So that was our quick weekend trip up to Atlanta to visit with the Hubby's side of the family. Hopefully next time we're in Georgia we'll be able to visit with my side of the family as well. And maybe even visit with an old family friend?

What did you guys do this Labor Day weekend? Any road trips? Or maybe you just stayed home and worked on some projects around the house? Or maybe you just sat around and took the time to relax with the family? Would love to hear from you!

Quick Update

We made it safely back to Florida after our weekend trip to Atlanta to help my brother in law move into his first home. If you follow along on Instagram, you got to see some of our adventures from this weekend.

Anyhoo, I wanted to stop in quickly and share another quick blog update with you guys. I've been dying to revamp my blog design, but I don't really know much HTML, nor do I want to shell out the cash for someone else to do it right now. But, I came across this pin for free social media icons from Carrie Loves, and I decided I'd  change things up a little bit and swap out my old icons for some nice, dark gray icons. I used the same steps for installing them that I used the last time (which you can check out here).

So, if you're in the market for new social media buttons, be sure to check out these cute options!

I'll try be back later with a photo of the new homeowners sometime this week.