Ring Swap

Since we got married back in 2011, I've rarely found the need to take off my wedding rings. 

I think I took them off a couple times on our honeymoon for fear of losing them in the ocean. And every 6 months I have to take them to be inspected. Other than that, I usually only take them off when I put lotion on my hands because I don't like lotion getting stuck between the diamonds on the band.

About a year ago, a weird rash broke out on one of my hands and arms. I've got pretty sensitive skin, so rashes aren't anything new to me. I went and saw a dermatologist about it, and he said that I have eczema. Said it was a pretty typical skin condition, prescribed a lotion for when it got really irritating, and sent me on my way.

At first, it wasn't a big deal. The initial rash went away quickly, and my skin was back to normal. I even took a picture the next week and sent it to my mom. She had trusted me to get a new stone put into her engagement ring, and I was sending her the "after" photo. 

Isn't her engagement ring gorgeous?

But lately, I've found myself having to take my rings off for prolonged periods of time. The skin under my rings has become red, scaly, irritated, and at times, painful. 

It started during the winter and progressively got worse. There were times where I'd take my rings off at night and forget to put them back on the next day before leaving for work. My students even started asking why I wasn't wearing my rings. Some days, so that I wasn't entirely without my rings, I'd wear them on a necklace.

Once school let out, I decided to take the rings and get them resized. The summer seemed like the perfect time to get it done. Luckily, when Dan bought my rings, he purchased the insurance plan which allows me to get them resized at any time, free of charge.

We dropped off the rings a few days ago, and they should be back by the end of the month. It feels so weird not having them on! When I go out of the house, I still like to have something on my ring finger. I dug into my jewelry box and found my old class ring. So I've been wearing that around lately so that my finger doesn't feel totally naked.

The nice part about wearing my class ring is that it completely covers the redness underneath and it's still loose enough not to cause more irritation. Plus, it's nice to get a little more usage out of a ring that I haven't really worn in a few years.

Hopefully by the end of the month I'll be able to swap my high school ring back out for my wedding rings. Fingers crossed!

Best Pillow Ever

A few months ago, I was out shopping with my mom when she mentioned that she hated her pillow. She was tired of buying a pillow that was nice and firm only to have it become flat and unsupportive in a matter of weeks. Been there. Done that. More times than I care to admit.

Anyways, as we were walking through Bed Bath and Beyond, we came across this pillow:

Mom fell in love with the pillow, but not with the $60 price tag. That was a lot of money down the hole if the pillow didn't work out.

A few weeks later, I decided to pick up that pillow (along with my 20% off coupon) and gift it to mom for Mother's Day. What sealed the deal? A store employee told me that my mom would be allowed to return the pillow if she didn't like it after a week or two. Who ever heard of returning a used pillow?? But, with that reassurance, it was a no brainer to go ahead a pick this up for mom.

At first she was hesitant to accept the gift knowing the price. But after reassuring her that if it didn't work out, she could easily return it, she was very grateful for the gift.

For weeks, she raved about how much she loved her new pillow! Said it was the best pillow she had ever slept on and that she was falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer than she had before. And, she wasn't waking up with kinks in her neck from sleeping in an awkward position.

Fast forward a few months. Mom decided to return the favor and bought the same pillow for me as a birthday gift. Knowing how much she loved her pillow, I couldn't wait to try it out for myself.

Since we bought our Sleep Number bed, my back aches had pretty much disappeared. But, I was still occasionally waking up with neck soreness due to my pillow. That neck soreness sometimes translated into an early morning headache. And, let me tell you, that's a crummy way to start off your day.

I've been sleeping with my new pillow for about a month now, and let me tell you, it's amazing! I seriously can't explain how much better my sleep is at night. I don't wake up as often to fluff up my pillow. I'm not waking up with aches and pains in my neck. I just wish that I had broken down and paid the money a long time ago to upgrade to a nicer pillow rather than buying cheap pillows over and over again every time they became flat.

So, if you've been hesitant to purchase the more expensive pillow for fear of it not working, let me be the one to encourage you to go for it. I don't think it'll be a purchase that you'll regret.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or perked by Brookstone or Bed Bath & Beyond to write this post. Honestly, I doubt they have any idea who I am or that this little blog exists. My opinions are totally my own and I felt like sharing them in the hopes that it might help someone else making the big decision to purchase a relatively expensive pillow.

Healthy Skin

We're back from our mini vacation and I can't wait to share all of our adventures with you. However, some of our photos won't be back for a week (darn underwater cameras and off-site photo processing!), so it might be a little while before I can share the details. But, in the meantime...

This morning while reading some of my favorite blogs, I came across a post written by Erin at Sweetness Itself  about why she broke up with tanning beds. I'm so glad that she shared her story to help raise awareness of the dangers of tanning and the risks that are associated with it.

I started to write a comment to her blog post, and realized I was starting to ramble. So I decided to write a post about my skin and how important it is to take care of it.

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I was blessed (or cursed, which ever way you choose to look at it) with pale skin. My dad is fair skinned and has strawberry blond hair, so it comes from his side of the gene pool. I don't remember getting sun burns when I was little, but I know that the older I got, the more aware i was of how much the sun hurt.

I played softball for about 8 years, and I remember how often my mom would bug me and my teammates to wear sunscreen. Did you get behind your knees? Your shoulder? The back of your neck? Yes mom.... She would come up behind us and attack our ears and cheeks with sunscreen. I wish I was kidding. It was pretty embarrassing. I knew then that she meant well, but I hated the fact that my friends and teammates got sucked into the sunscreen craziness.

Without fail, every summer I would somehow managed to get sunburned. Usually it was because I would forget to reapply sunscreen after a few hours. When I would go to the beach with my family, we'd only stay 2-3 hours, so we never really reapplied. I didn't know that you were suppose to. It wasn't until I started going to the beach with friends and staying much longer that I realized that one coat of sunscreen was never enough.

Fast forward a couple years and my twelve year old self was sitting in a dermatologist's office with my older sister as she was having a mole removed from her back. You see, my sister didn't heed the warnings about tanning beds. Although I don't know how often she went, it was often enough for her skin to start changing. And it changed enough that the doctor thought it was necessary to remove a suspicious mole. Luckily the biopsy results came back only as "precancerous" but it was still enough to scare me. I knew from that point forward, if I didn't want to have a mole removed like my sister did, I had to start protecting my skin.

Even with the heightened awareness, by the time I was eighteen, I too had to have a mole removed from my back. I had gone to see a dermatologist so that I could get established. I knew I had a few moles on my back that I couldn't see well, and therefore couldn't monitor well enough to notice if there were any changes to them. During that initial appointment, the doctor said there was a mole in the upper center of my back that he wanted to biopsy "just to be safe." Like my sister, it was nothing serious, but still came back as "precancerous."  I haven't had any other moles removed since then, but that doesn't mean that I can stop worrying about my skin.

In Erin's post, she shared a video, and I wanted to share it too:

Melanoma is no joke. I worked for 3 years at a doctor's office that specialized in cancer treatment. My mom has been with that same office for over 15 years now; and my sister for at least 7. We've met and talked to many patients in the different stages of cancer. Although skin cancer wasn't the most prevalent diagnosis that I came across while working in medical records. But, when I did notice it, it was because I was stopped in my tracks when I realized that we were treating a patient who was the same age (or even younger!) than I was. 
One of those times that I stopped, I didn't stop because of the birth date. I stopped because I saw the name of my high school and my graduation year in the dictation. I then scrolled up to the name and realized that I knew the girl. She had been in the popular crowd. She was always tan and beautiful, and at times I remember being jealous of her. But realizing that all of those days spent in the sun landed her in our doctor's office with melanoma, I was no longer jealous. I felt sorry for her. And it was in that moment that I realized I needed to be thankful for the body, hair, skin, eyes, etc. that I was blessed with. That I needed to stop envying other people for the bodies they had been blessed with. That pale can be just as beautiful, and was so much better in the long run.
Some of the things that I do now to protect my skin include: investing in a beach umbrella to take with us on beach trips; setting an alarm on my cell phone to remind me to reapply sunscreen after 90-120 minutes; wearing a hat to protect my face; applying sunscreen at least to my shoulders and face even if I don't think I'll be out in the sun that long (better safe than sorry!). Sure, I still get the occasional burn (like I did this past weekend) from forgetting even my own advice. But if I remember to do these things 99% of the time, I've done the best I can do.

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So please, listen to the warnings. Be careful of how long you expose your skin to the sun. Wear sunscreen. Wear a hat. Do whatever you need to do to keep your skin healthy. Believe me, it is better to be pale than to be tan with a scar that was left behind from melanoma.

Weekend Adventures: Hero For A Day

Today the hubby and I got to play the role of heroes. We'll never know the people we helped, but that's okay with us.

Yep, we donated blood today. It's something we've both done a few times. Back in high school, we'd go out for lunch once classes were over, then head to the local donation location. We made it into a little afternoon date if you will.

Well, this past week the Big Red Bus, with the Florida Blood Centers, was at my school, and we both realized it had been a while since the last time we had donated. We made a plan to go out this weekend and find our local donation spot. Luckily, our closest location had Saturday hours, which works great for us.

The plan was to eat a large breakfast and then head straight to the center. However, other things got in the way, so we got there a couple hours after we had eaten. I made sure to eat something small before we left so that I'd have something on my stomach and I grabbed a bottle of water as we headed out the door. I am prone to nausea while/after donating; the more food and fluids I have prior to donating, the better.

So we got there and started the paperwork, which seems to always take longer than the actual donation process. Turns out it had been more than a while since we had last donated. My last donation date was January 2009! And Dan's was even further back - 2007! Ok, so we were slackers when it came to donating blood. At least we're donating, even if it isn't six times a year, which I think is what matters.

For anyone who hasn't donated and wants to know the process, here it goes. First, you fill out a questionaire about your travels, sexual partners, recent illnesses, etc. Basically its to determine whether you have an infection or have possible been exposed to some sort of blood disorder. Then they take you back into a little room and verbally go over some of the questions, and if needed, ask for you to elaborate. For example, one of the questions was if you had travelled outside of the country in the past year, which we both answered yes to. They asked us where we went, and they wrote down all of the locations we visited on our honeymoon cruise. Then, they prick your finger to determine your iron levels. And lastly, they take your blood pressure and temperature. If all of your levels are normal, they escort you to a lounge chair.

Then, they get everything ready. This is the part I hate the most. Needles and I don't get along. But, being the daughter of a lab technician, I've learned to just suck it up and deal with it. My phobia and momentary pain is nothing compared to saving someone else's life. So, as long as I don't look at the needle going in or it sitting in my arm, I'm good.

My phlebotemist was awesome! Little pain. Got it in the first time. And, he even put a little gauze pad on top of the needle (without being asked!) so that I didn't have to look at it.

Now, don't be intimidated by all of the tubing that comes attached to the donation bag. It's basically there to route your blood into different pouches for the different methods of collecting. They have to get four tubes of blood on top of the donation pouch. The purpose of the plastic tubing is to keep you from being stuck more than once. To collect enough blood (1 pint), it takes about 10 minutes or so.

 Then, they give you snacks. Like water, fruit juice, crackers, and cookies. 

They insist that you eat and drink something before you leave. One, so that you start the process of replenishing the fluids you just lost. Two, I think they do it to make sure you're not going to have any sort of reaction.

Once they are confident you're not nauseated, light-headed, or faint, they let you go on your way. We decided to go out for lunch afterwards and headed to one of our favorite fast food places for some chicken and milkshakes.

I love that donating blood is a fast and cheap date that you can do with your significant other, or even make a girls/guys day out of it. We're planning on going more regularly now that we know how closer and convienient our donation center is. We're even considering doing ALYX donation next time around. Smaller needle? Less likely to have reactions? Twice as many lives saved? Sounds like a deal!

Have you considered donating blood? Maybe it has been a while since the last time you donated. If your in Florida, and need to find a location, you can search here. Be a hero!

Waiting for the Dust to Settle

Warning: This post is pretty lengthy. It's not a positive upbeat post. This post is keeping it real. To break things up, I've included some pictures from when the hubby was in firefighter school.

We've been on a bit of a roller coaster for the last couple of months. Back in January we got the call that the hubby was offered a job as a Firefighter/EMT in a semi-local county. To say that we were excited is an understatement. It took nearly a month from that initial phone call for all of the paperwork, fingerprinting, drug testing, etc. to clear before the hubby could actually start the new job. Meanwhile, his previous job was wonderful about working with him and getting him ready for the new job.

As the hubby's start date drew closer, I grew more and more nervous. Could I handle being the wife of a firefighter? Could I handle the long shifts? The potential danger the hubby would be finding himself in? Well, my anxiety didn't last too long...

The training program that the hubby had started was 10 weeks long. Considering what we've heard from other people who graduated with the hubby, 10 weeks is a pretty long training program. Most in our area seem to be only 3-5 weeks. Granted, this training would also provide additional certifications (free of charge!) that other counties in our area just don't offer.

But probably the biggest shocker was the fact that this training was being run military style. Boot camp style. Not at all what the hubby had invisioned. Sure, he knew there would be physical training as part of the 10 week program. Sure, he knew it'd be tough - he'd been warned - but he didn't know just how tough it was going to be. He thought his schooling had fully prepared him for what he was about to walk into. Unfortunately, he was wrong...

Half way through the second week, the hubby was ready to call it quits. He was miserable. I got a call from him one night asking me to make the hour long trip to Orlando to discuss the options that were being given to him.

Let me back track a little bit... About 2 years after high school, and right before he enrolled in the firefighter program, the hubby's back had been giving him problems. It bothered him enough that he went and saw a specialist. The results? Not one, but two herniated discs in his lumbar spine. Although the doctor was hesitant, he gave the hubby the green light to proceed with firefighter schooling. However, he gave the hubby very wise advice, "You're only given one back in your life. We can't replace it like we can hips and knees. My advice? Try to avoid back surgery as long as possible - as in not until you're at least 60."

Why do I bring that up? Well, something that the hubby had to do during training really upset his back. He went to them the next day and told them about the problem, and they put him on temporary light duty. However, they said that he couldn't stay on that forever and that they were going to treat him the same as everyone else regardless of his back problems. Fair enough. You can't fault them for that - they're just doing their job.

He tried to tell them that day that he didn't think he'd make it through the program and he wanted to quit then. They asked him if he had spoken to me about it. We had had a couple of text messages back and forth during his lunch, but nothing in-depth. They suggested that he sleep on it, talk it over with me, and then let them know his decision the next day. I have to say, for all the hate I was feeling for these people after putting my hubby through hell, I totally respected them for that.

So I came home after work, packed an overnight bag, left extra food out for the cats, and headed off to Orlando. We went out to dinner and walked around Cranes Roost in Altamonte Springs. We talked - a lot - about the options and consequences of each option.

After a couple hours of talking everything through, we ultimately came to the decision that the hubby needed to quit this new job. Quit a job that he'd worked many years for. A job that we had been praying would come.

Why? A couple reasons...

1. As a firefighter, part of your job is to save lives. If the hubby's back were to go out while he was trying to rescue someone from a burning building, he risks not being able to save that person.
• To expand further, he'd be risking the life of his partner who went into the burning building with him.
• But, the biggest risk, is that if his back did go out during a call, he'd be risking his own life. Sure, every firefighter is risking their lives. But, typically, these guys/gals have stronger backs and muscles with a much smaller risk of something like that happening.
2. Even if we look past that scenario, if the hubby tore up his back at a young age, that means surgery.
• That means a lot of money spent on medical costs.
• That also means that the hubby could potentially be limited on what jobs he can apply for in the future - could mean a much smaller salary.
• And, surgery means that he wouldn't be able to be the "dad" he wants to be to our future kids (no, I'm not pregnant). When the hubby was young, his dad had back surgery, and he remembers what it was like to have a dad that was limited on what he could and could not do. He wants to prevent that at all costs.

We both wish we had forseen all of this prior to the hubby quitting his previous job. Heck, we wish that we had forseen this before the hubby had started schooling for this career. Yes, we know what the specialist advised; but we also figured that he could at least get quite a few years on the force before having to leave due to a back problem.

We keep telling ourselves that there had to be a reason for all of this. The hubby went through  firefighter schooling for a reason. We waited nearly two years for the first job offer for a reason. The hubby's back failed him for a reason. Even though we feel at times like all the hardwork and effort were for nothing, we trust that there is a bigger picture that we just don't understand yet.

So where does that leave us?

Well, the hubby has been out of work for the past two weeks. He searched for jobs in our area that his EMT certification qualified him for. But none of our local hospitals are currently hiring.

The position at his old job has already been filled, so that isn't an option. However, the hubby called his old boss when he started to worry that he wasn't going to make it through the program, and she said she would try to work something out for him if he decided to go that route. Let me just tell you, that woman is amazing! She had been creating a new IT position, and agreed to make the job description fit the hubby's qualifications (considering he doesn't have any experience in IT besides his pure curiosity, its not an easy task). The only problem? It's going to take a while for the hospital beauracracy to approve everything.

We were told that it could be weeks or it could be months before the hospital approves not only the new position, but approves the hubby's application for that position. To wait that long for a paycheck isn't something that we can afford. But again, the hubby's boss came the rescue! She talked the hospital into bringing the hubby in as a "pool" employee. He'd get paid less than what he was previously making, because technically "pool" is code for "part-time," but his boss has guaranteed he'd work 40 hours/week. But, it would keep us afloat money-wise until the IT position opened up.

It's not the ideal situation, but we're not going to complain. It's a job. It's something. And it has the potential for higher pay and a new career. Plus, the boss has really pulled some strings to make this all happen. We're just keeping our fingers crossed that the "pool" position isn't going to last too long.

So that's where we are right now. For a while we felt like we were in limbo. But now the dust seems to be settling and things seem to be calming down. On the plus side, I don't have to worry about all the stresses that come along with being the wife of a firefighter. But, I never imagined that that would mean the hubby losing out on his dream job.

The Best Laid Plans

I know I've been a little absent lately. It takes me a little while to get back into the swing of things once school has started back up. I promised in the last post that I would detail how I'm planning on reaching some of my goals/resolutions for the upcoming year. But first, I wanted to revisit my plans for winter break and see how much I actually got accomplished.

So, if you remember, I had quite a bit on my list. But unfortunately, I didn't get to all of them before I had to go back to school. Part of the reason has to do with the fact that the pink eye situation (first mention here) isn't going away. Well, it goes away, and then comes back. I have contacts, but I don't have a back-up pair of glasses. So, if you can imagine, I keep reinfecting myself each time I touch my eye or have to put my contacts in to drive or work. Yes, I have done my best to keep them out of my eye as much as possible - I went an entire 4 days over break without having them in! But let me tell you - I am blind! I can barely read the computer screen or watch television without my contacts. I couldn't go anywhere unless the husband drove me, and even then I was afraid to go out and infect other people. I'm just glad the hubby hasn't caught it yet.

Anyways, here's a recap of what got accomplished and what didn't (things that were done are marked through, things that were not done are in red, explanations are bolded, and things that were kinda done were left alone):

• Health
• Go to the radiology facility and have my ultrasounds done (no, I'm not pregnant - they are for another long-standing health problem that I might share one day...we'll see)
• Have my blood drawn
• Make a follow-up appointment with my doctor once all of the results come back - this one was sort of accomplished. I called & made the follow up appointment, but it hasn't come yet. But, the nurse called and said all of my results were normal, so I'm not even sure if I need to go in for the appointment or not
• Wedding Stuff
• Write all the thank you cards for our wedding gifts (is it bad that the wedding was over a month ago and we still haven't sent out one card yet??) - is it bad that they still aren't done yet?? I know... I know... but I did make some progress. That has to count for something, right?
• Name Change
• Go to the Social Security office and get my name changed on my card
• If that comes in, make a trip to the DMV to have my license changed - went to the DMV the same day as the SS office because the guy at the SS office said all I needed was my receipt to get my license. However, he failed to tell me that I needed to wait 24 hours for the information in his computer database to load so that the DMV had access to it... so I wasted 3 hours of one afternoon waiting in line for nothing. But, the name has officially been changed on both my license & my voter registration card! It feels so weird to not have my birth name on my documents anymore...
• If that happens, then go to my bank to change my name on that account - planning on doing this one weekend this month
• Call around to the different utilities that we are subscribed to and figure out how to change my name with all of them (this whole name change thing is becoming a bigger pain than I anticipated...)
• Christmas Eve & Christmas Day (see more details about our Christmas here)
• Celebrate our first married Christmas together Christmas Eve morning
• Spend Christmas Eve Night with the in-laws and stay the night at their house
• Spend Christmas morning with the in-laws
• Go to my parents house for a late morning Christmas celebration
• Go to my aunt's house to see the rest of my family for Christmas
• Figure out what we're doing for New Year's - we ended up going to a friends house for their annual bonfire
• School Stuff
• Finalize some stuff for my AP course (lecture notes, powerpoints, all that fun stuff...)
• Finish updating the website for the AP course
• Finalize my lesson plans for the first couple weeks back - got the first week done, but have not gotten any further than that
• Get prepared for my first formal observation of the year - had to reschedule. On the first day of classes after the holidays my projector bulb blew. So, I've been teaching in the "old school" way with an overhead projector. My administrator has been kind enough to let me adjust to the "new" technology before coming in for my observation.
• Around the Apartment
• Clean the apartment & try to organize our guest bedroom closet - this one is partly done. We've gone through everything in the guest bedroom closet. We've put things aside for our upcoming yard sale & priced everything before they went into boxes. And we condensed our stuff into fewer boxes then before. However, the house looks like a tornado has blown through it with all of the random boxes lying around.
• Set aside stuff for a yard sale (we're hoping to have one sometime in January)
• Blog Maintenance
• Try to empty out my blog draft box - nope, not yet
• Write a post about our recent weekend trip to St. Augustine (see below)
• Write posts about Christmas & New Years as well as anything else that comes to mind - well, I managed to get a Christmas post done as well as a Resolution post done. But, we really didn't take any pictures at the bonfire, so I don't think there is really much to write about on that front. As for whatever came to mind - plenty has come to mind in terms of writing, however I haven't been able to find the time to write.

Ok, so now that that's out of the way, onto my plans for accomplishing some of my resolutions/goals for the upcoming year:

• Learn to live with a roommate. - My friend still has not moved in with us. So far the plan is that she'll be moving in with us in about a month or so. But so far, our steps towards making the apartment more "roommate" friendly have gone well. We've moved a couple of things out of the guest bedroom that she won't need or that was taking up too much room - specifically we moved our papasan into the living room and cleaned out the closet to make room for her stuff. We still need to move our computer/desk into our bedroom. Also, we're trying to discuss every possible scenario up front so that we know how we'll handle it and make sure the 3 of us are all in agreement.

• Purchase a new car for hubby. - Ugh... this one stresses me out. We're really hoping to purchase a car outright, but we don't think that our current car will give us enough time to save up cash before it dies on us. We've gone looking at used cars to get a ballpark figure in our head of what we need to save up for. But, I'm still afraid that we're going to have to take out a small car loan to get the car.
 
• Work our debt snowball. - So far we've drafted our first month's budget. Unfortunately life has gotten in the way and I've had some health things come up that are requiring more money for copays, prescriptions, and new glasses. But, we're not discouraged. I'll hopefully be able to share our budgeting system with you guys once we get into more of a routine with it.

• Have another successful year of teaching AP. - Well, I've met the kids, and I'm excited! They seem like a great bunch and they all seem highly motivated. 
 
• Get into better shape.  My specific goals: lose a minimum of 25 pounds and be able to run/jog 1 mile without stopping before the end of the year. When I first discussed this goal with the hubby, he was excited. He is always asking me to go to the gym with him. We talked about setting up a schedule for going to the gym. The plan was to go twice during the week (Tuesdays & Thursdays) for a minimum of 30 minutes and once during the weekend for an hour. But my excuses have already gotten in the way... I complain about being overly tired, or my pink eye (which is actually a pretty legitimate excuse - don't want to risk getting it on the equipment and spreading its germy goodness around), or too cold outside to walk in my gym clothes. I think my main problem is that I'm not getting to the gym when I first come home. By the time the hubby comes home, I've already been home for an hour. Sometimes I've already eaten, but usually I wait until he comes home to fix something for dinner. By the time I've eaten dinner, I am not in the mood to go work out. I think if I could go as soon as I got home I would be much more motivate to go. My problem now (and no, I'm not trying to give another excuse) is that I'm staying a work later in the afternoons and by the time I get home my stomach is growling and I have to sit down and eat. But, a couple of the teachers at school invited me to walk the track with them twice a week after school, so I'm hoping to join them and start shedding some pounds. As for the run/jog a mile without stopping - when I do make it to the gym I have been alternating walking & jogging. For instance, I'll walk for a minute, then jog for a minute. Once I get comfortable, I start jogging for longer increments and I try to keep the walking time as close to the original one minute as possible. I find that my endurance has been building slowly. But, I'm excited because I've been running for longer time frames than I have been able to in years!

• Try more foods. I'm relying on Pinterest to help me with this one. I've already found the first recipe I want to try. It's an oatmeal recipe (I'll share the source and recipe if I actually choose to make this). But the hubby wants me to try some of his instant oatmeal before we spend the money on the other stuff in case I don't like it. So, we'll see what I end up making. But the hubby & I are both looking forward to having more recipes in our repertoire. 
  
  
• Not let the stresses of school get the best of me this year. My goal is to not let grading carry over into the next week. To try and stay after school until all the tasks for that day is done. So far, so good. I've been able to keep up with everything. Granted this is only the first week back, but if I can stay in the routine that I'm in, I think I'll be ok. I've been getting to school 30 minutes early and staying after school 2 extra hours to work on stuff. I find that as long as I'm in my room I can stay focused, but once I'm home, I have so many other things to do that I don't find time to do school work. I do try to spend at least 1 more hour at home doing something school related, but I don't do it every night. If you're counting, that's 11 hours a day that I'm working if I can manage the extra time at home. I'm predicting that every so often I'll have to break this cycle and have an afternoon where I just come home and crash. Plus, the afternoon walking sessions will cut into this time. But, trying to figure out the balancing act of life is all part of the game, right?

So there you have it. I've heard that resolutions/goals are easier to accomplish when you've made a plan for accomplishing them. So many people simply say "I'm going to get in shape" but they don't specify how they are going to reach that goal.

I'm sure many of you made New Years Resolutions. Care to share? Did you develop a plan or system for accomplishing those goals? Or maybe you've already failed (like I did in terms of getting to the gym)?

Holiday Wrap Up

Hello all! I hope all of you enjoyed spending the Christmas holidays with your family and friends! Wanted to stop in and share our holiday festivities with everyone. I started out by wanting to do a "Day in the Life" post (inspired by Jenna over at That Wife), but I had a really hard time keeping up with what we were doing at what times of the day. Plus, my irritability due to lack of sleep (more on that later) didn't help at all. Despite all of that, the hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas as husband and wife. So, without further ado...

CHRISTMAS EVE

The night before we had gone out to eat and then went over to a friends house to visit and drop off their Christmas gift. By the time we got back home, the hubby was really tired and went straight to bed. I on the other hand, wasn't so tired. I had had a migraine earlier in the day, and thanks to my medication, had taken a nice long nap in the middle of the afternoon. So, I laid down, but brought the laptop to bed with me to catch up on some blog reading and try to put my mind to sleep. Cruz thought this would be the perfect time to lay on my chest (this is his form of snuggling which likes to do at bed time). So I pawned him off on the hubby and continued playing on the computer.

I soon realized that I wasn't falling asleep. So, I asked myself, what do you do at 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve? Why, clean the living room, of course! So I got out of bed, closed the door so as not to wake the hubby with all my noise, and started cleaning the living room. I also wrapped the last two presents for our family members and put them under the tree. The box on the couch is a present from the hubby to me - I didn't wrap it because (1) I didn't know what was in there and if it was something that could be flipped around while being wrapped and (2) I didn't want to accidentally ruin the surprise of what it was.

After cleaning the living room, I climbed back in bed and starting playing games on my cell phone to put me to sleep. Usually when I do this it works like a charm and I'm out in 10 minutes or so. However, this night it wasn't working. I probably didn't get to sleep until 6 a.m. or so.

When the hubby woke up, he wanted breakfast right away, but I convinced him to open presents first. We started with the cats - I had put a couple of cat nip mice in their stockings (yes, my cats get stockings - you can see them here along with the rest of our Christmas decor). I was surprised at how excited they got when I started shaking the stockings and leading them to the coffee table. I wonder if they thought there were treats inside...?

Then it was time for our gifts. This year we set a limit on the amount of money we could spend on gifts. As much as we had agreed to stop being as tight with our budget during the holidays, we also didn't want to go over board. I'll let you figure out whose presents are whose.

Please ignore how bad I look in this picture. Remember, its morning, no shower has been taken yet, and I have had little to no sleep. There are no excuses for the hubby though (Love you hun!).

After presents, we made up a quick breakfast of waffles. The hubby enjoyed some sausage with his and I had some sliced apples with cinnamon sprinkled over it. We typically watch the news while eating breakfast. And yes, it felt like 80 degrees outside on Christmas Eve! Let me just say that it didn't exactly feel like Christmas outside.

Once breakfast was over we started packing our bags since we were staying at our parents house for the weekend. The hubby also did a few things around the house (laundry, dishes, etc.) while I started in on writing some thank you cards (one of the many things on my winter break to-do list). Then we loaded up the car, checked the mail, took the trash to the compactor, and headed to Orlando.

On the way we listened to my new CD and I read the Christmas cards from family & friends to the hubby.

Before we went to Orlando we stopped at BJ's Wholesale to price a new computer. We've been looking and saving for a new desktop computer, and we thought that maybe they would have a good deal. Although we didn't find a computer we liked (though we eventually did at CompUSA and brought it home with us this weekend), we did find an amazing deal (only $20!) on tupperware! I know, its sad to get excited about tupperware, but this stuff is so much easier to store than what we are currently using. So it's a bit of an understatement to say I was happy to put this guy in our cart and bring him home.

When we got to Orlando we dropped off Christmas gifts at my parents house and then went over to my in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner and presents with that side of the family.

Periwinkle loved the gift from Grandma & Grandpa. :) 



We stayed the night at his parents house. It was another sleepless night for me. And because I was so tired from not getting any sleep the night before, I was really frustrated that I wasn't sleeping for a second night. I've never had problems with insomnia before, but I guess my body felt like this was the perfect time to start.

CHRISTMAS DAY

We got up the next morning and had breakfast with the in-laws. Mom had made up some biscuits & gravy - one of hubby's favorites. Afterwards, the hubby and I got ready and headed over to my parents house to car pool over to my aunt's house for lunch. I failed to capture any pictures at lunch because I was beyond tired. By this point in the day I wasn't really in the Christmas spirit. Plus, it was another warm day in sunny Florida - I had an outfit picked out for Christmas, but had to nix it in favor of a tank top and shorts instead. Once lunch was over, we headed out early and went back to my parents house to wait for the rest of the family to show up. My nieces & nephews had a ball opening up all of their gifts!

The kiddos favorite gift had to have been the Disney game. I forget now what it was called, but basically you place Mickey ears on your head and attach a card to it without looking at the card. Then you ask yes or no questions to try and figure out who or what you are before time runs out. The kids didn't really catch on to the whole question thing. For instance, if you aren't a person, then more than likely you don't wear clothing. But, they had fun asking and answering questions anyways.

Although we had plans to go home that night, I really wanted to go shopping the next morning. There isn't a whole lot of places to go shopping where we live, and I wanted to go do something with my mom. Originally we talked about going home and coming back the next day, but we decided to save time and gas and just stay the night at my parents house. Thank god we packed an extra pair of clothes!

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

That morning we woke up and headed out shopping. I was a little disappointed because the deals weren't really deals and most of the stores had been picked over by the time we got there. I was mainly shopping for gift bags since my supply had run down to practically nothing. But I didn't realize how expensive gift bags had gotten. I did manage to find one deal though.

These puppies were on clearance at Wal-Mart. All of their Christmas stuff had been marked down to 50% off. The sign above them said they were $9.98 each. But we weren't sure if that was the clearance price or if we took 50% off of that. Still, $30 for a 12 piece setting isn't that bad. The hubby wasn't entirely convinced that it was a good price. But when I explained to him that you usually get a 4 piece setting (which includes cups) for $25, he started to come around. We placed them in our cart and I had decided to buy them even if they were nearly ten bucks each. As we walked around we came across one of those price scanners. And wouldn't you know? Each box was just under $5 a pop! Add that up, and we got a 12 piece place setting for only $15! I was beyond excited! I've been looking for a set of plain white dishes. We have a 12 piece setting now, but it includes 3 different types of designs, and I wanted a set where everything matched. But everything I've looked at was either too expensive, or came with the matching coffee mugs, which we never use. These plates have turned out to be the perfect solution.

After we finished up shopping, we met up with friends and played photographers. One of my bridesmaids is getting married to one of the hubby's groomsmen in a couple months, and they wanted pictures taken to incorporate into their wedding invitation. So, we borrowed my mother-in-laws camera (my battery was dying and we forgot to bring the charger) and headed over to the Winter Park Farmer's Market where we got married and had a mini photo session. I don't claim to be a photographer by any means, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun.

As the afternoon went on though, this started happening:

Isn't it lovely? Even though the picture is really blurry I'm sure you can get the idea. Yep, I had pink eye....for the second time. I had already battled pink eye a week earlier and thought it was gone. (One of my students came to school with pink eye and I guess I must have touched something they touched and then rubbed my eye, so I ended up with it too.) So, as soon as we got home I started the antibiotic eye drops all over again. And for the last two days I've been walking around without contacts. Wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that I don't have a pair of back up glasses anymore (hubby broke them a couple years ago while we were wrestling). I know, its stupid not to have back up glasses, but it is what it is now. Let me just say that as I'm typing this the desktop screen is pulled all the way to the edge of the desk and my face is literally inches from it - I'm not lying when I say I'm blind. The hubby laughs at me when I have to get really close to something to read it. Hopefully my eyes will be back to normal by Friday, cause I have a lot of things I need to get done before I go back to school!

So how did your Christmas weekend go? Did everything happen the way you wanted it to? Get any good gifts? Or maybe you gave a gift that you were really excited about? Anyone travel and have to stay with family? I look forward to hearing your stories!