WORN OUT!

Well sadly spring break is over and I think I am more worn out that before.  But the good news is thanks to my mom, sister, and family I was able to check off many things on my list.  Without my people here to help it would have been so tough.  A HUGE GIGANTIC ENORMOUS THANKS to mom and Abby for everything.

First things first....we began the clean out of our house!  We are trying to "stage" the house so we can sell it.  I think we have made some tremendous progress.  I am just mad that I didn't take pictures before I realized I needed to. Grr!
Here is how the house looked (kind of) before!  Keep in mind all of our closets were packed with well wedding gifts I have yet to use due to lack of space.  Chris' parents were kind enough to send down a POD with some goodies in it for us when we get our "bigger" house.  Plus we are now able to move out some of our things....I mean my storage unit is pretty packed with my apartment stuff in it!  Okay get ready for some major pics....

BEFORE: 

This is where my sweet RED couch went in our bed room....out it goes! 

Here is our room during the mess of things! 

In the empty space was Chris' couch...again away it goes! 

our living room...yikes

This is the guest room also known as Bob's room....preclean out

Okay and here is a look at the POD in all of the goodies we got or put in! Ha it was a huge project to pack that sucker just so!  We had to make sure it was nice and tight so nothing would fall or break during the move. 

Again I should have taken pictures before we got all the stuff out! 

Here are all the things out of the pod!

Chris' mom was even nice enough to send all of Riley's baby things.  I got a great baby bed, amazing stroller, and a bike stroller!  Yippee this makes me want to have a baby. Yes, my mom just fell over as she read that! Ha...but no babies for us anytime soon we have to get a HOUSE first!

Okay in this pic you can see the first part of our stacking.  In the pod we have our guest mattress, both of our couches, the dinning room table and hutch from Chris' parents...thanks! Also a wonderful coffee table.  This was only the beginning of our POD fun.  My sister has a great pic of the pod closer to the end!  I will post those later!

Again our goodies waiting to go back in.

 AFTER: 

A clean organized closet...prior was stuffed to the gill with wedding gifts! 

Bob's closet cleaned out...with her box in there so we can hide it easy! 

My new bed thanks to my grandma....This room is wonderful now! Bob loves it too!!

Our bedroom!!  

The new TV stand area...remember it was where my couch went! 

A look at our living room from our bedroom.

A view from the kitchen 

A view from the door...

Okay so we moved these chairs over to make it look roomier.  Yes...the TV mess will be covered soon!  I have to go pick up a nice Tree plant thing to go between the chairs.  Then we need to do a few more touch ups here and there.

Oh and did I mention that mom and I also worked in the yard.  Here are a few pics of that too.

new mulch in all the beds....

Part of our new flagstone walk way.

We still have to pick up more flagstone for the upper area to the door.

The bed before we planted and mulched!

Weeded, mulched, and flowers added

Flowers added also mom brought down grandma's bird bath to add.

The side, almost ready to go! 

Well we are not 100% done with the yard as you can see, but mom and I can only do so much in a short time frame.  Oh and to top off all the fun!  I also got my BLOG SWAP gift ready and shipped off.

I can not wait for JANNA to open up all the goodies. I have had the best time getting to know her better.  I love this blog swap idea for so many reasons...but most of all for making new sweet friends! Oh and did I mention that Chris is out of town again!  Winston and I have been chilling...but he misses his dad.  I only know this because he always lays so he can see the door, as if he is waiting for Chris to walk in at any moment.  Poor guy will have to wait a few more days.  I hope your weekend was as productive as mine.  Enjoy your MONDAY!  Kicking and screaming I too will head back to work....

WILW

ooopppss...with spring break here I seem to be a day behind in my week! Yikes!!  Oh well at least I am willing to admit my errors, ha.

Here are just a few of the things I am loving:

• Chris and I went HOUSE HUNTING today!! YIPPEE I am so excited.  Although we are not ready to sign any papers RiGhT this SeCoNd we had made the first step.  We found the nicest realtor ever too thanks to a friend.  

• MOM is in TOWN!  I am so excited to have my mom here to help me.  I just feel like when she is here I can conquer the world.  We have tons to do around the house, but it is way better together! 

• Sister and Co. may also be heading down to help out!  I love that, because if you remember my last post....this is my first spring break without my niece and nephew! 

• SPRING BREAK!!!!  Need I say more?

• Of course my hubby....

Creepers, yard work, and more

Well yesterday was kind of my lazy day all day! Ha!!  Today I got up and thought I would start things off right with spin class.  I normally go to the classes after school you know the 5 or 6 o'clock class.  So hitting an early class seemed pretty exciting.  Well I had never got to this instructor before....and can say I will not return to her class.  There was only a total of 8 people in class.  If you have ever attended a good spin class at 24 hour you know this is NOT NORMAL!  But then again I thought well it is spring break and 8:30.  Yeah, that is more than likely NOT the CASE!!!

The class was horrific to put it nicely.  I mean in the first 30 minutes we had only turned our knobs 3 times...are you kidding me!  This was in no way a challenging ride.  Then to top it off this CREEPER was sitting next to me.  Picture a 40-45 year old man in super tight workout shorts and a tank top.  Yes, he picked the bike RIGHT BESIDE ME!  There are 20 bikes in this room (only 8 taken), and he pick directly beside me.  Okay no problem....until he was WATCHING me the entire time.  I mean it was the most creeped out I have ever felt in my life.  He would not stop watching me...it was so bad that I felt dirty.  Needless to say with the crappy workout and the creeper next to me...I ditched out of class a bit early! I felt like the stalking was over the top and I needed to go home and shower off!

After my amazing workout, I ran home and picked up Chris.  We had an appointment with the tax guy. Thank heavens we are done with taxes. Then a super great lunch date at our favorite, ROSA'S for taco Tuesday of course!  After lunch we headed over to Home Depot for a little yard renovation.  Nothing like picking up 12 bags of mulch, grass seeds, plants, and more to start spring break off with a bang.  Tomorrow we are going to meet with a relator to look at houses!  I am super excited for that.  Much like blog stalking I have been house stalking on line.  It has been great, but nothing beats checking them out in person.  Oh and about blog stalking.

I have been out and about picking up little odds and ends for my blog swap partner, Janna!  I am having the best time picking out goodies for her!  I love the spring blog swap.  I have just a few more odds and ends that I need to gather before I mail it of on Thursday!  Now I should do a few more "productive" things before Chris gets home from work, yikes.

What a start to

my spring break! I took a half day on Friday, because Chris' work is having a function out of town.  In order for use to make it there and enjoy our time we wanted to skip town a little early.  Of course we had to take this cute face to his favorite puppy spot!

Waiting at the door with his bag and bed! 

The thing I hate most about going out of town is leaving this face...and Bob alone!  However Winston LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Kerrie and Steven at 4P Doggie Dude Ranch.  They take the best care of him!  After dropping our little stinker off at the ranch we were on our way!  

Chris' company was hosting their annual awards banquet at the Four Seasons in Houston this year.  Have I mentioned that I love the Four Seasons.  We frequent the Scottsdale Four Seasons with Chris father and LoVe it!!  I love the personal service...Actually I love a billion things about the Four Seasons.  I will tell you a few of my favorite reasons: 

1. You are always referred to by your last name...as a newlywed I ADORE that! 
2. You get night time "turn down" service
3. The place is run amazingly

Thanks to Chris' amazing COUSIN we had a wonderful stay!  He made sure our room was perfect and so much more.  Here is our wonderful room! 

Our goodies as we arrived!

Chris enjoying the view from our wrap around window in the bedroom.  

The CoZy sOft bed.....love it!

Our living room too...

Once we got settled in we enjoyed a nice dinner out.  Then we headed back to the lobby for some fun with his Chris' cousin! We also found out that his cousin just got promoted to the LA Four Seasons!  How fun is that??

This is how I spent my first day of spring break!!!  Loving every minute of it, of course!!

Chris took all of these pics...little stinker

I got to lay in bed, watch some footage of the Japan disaster (so sad), and enjoy this view of downtown.  After some good old laziness...we got up and did a little running around town.  That evening we got all dolled up for the banquet.  The dinner, people, and awards were wonderful.  Here are a few pics we took before.

ready to head out

Doesn't he look so handsome!

I love that my spring break started out with such a fun and relaxing weekend.  Now that I am all relaxed and happy....I have to hit that TO DO LIST! YIKES! Thank heavens I have a wonderful mom who is willing to help out!  Enjoy your week.

Take a deep breath in...

now release it! Ahhh didn't that feel good!  You know as a teacher you really look forward to many things, but mostly BREAKS!  HA, breaks from your kiddos for a moment to breath in and relax a second or two. This spring break I have a big plans, thus the reason I need a few extra deep breaths!

Normally I get to enjoy my sweet niece and nephew for spring break...this is the first year I am not.  I'm pretty bummed by that; but know I get them for a week this summer!  I ALWAYS get them for a week in the summer, it's "AUNTIE" time for them.  Well for my sister and brother-in-laws vacation time..ha (I love to spoil them...so they have do go through auntie detox when they leave!)

Needless to say since I am not hanging out with them I have to be super productive!
Here are the endeavors I WILL accomplish over the next week:

HOME LIST:

• Chris' work awards banquet
• get my blog swap gift organized and mailed
• SPRING CLEANING
• Move out the extra stuff
• manicure the flower beds and pots
• squeeze in some spring clothes shopping 
• house hunting (just for fun)
• work out EVERYDAY!!!
• prep for the OKC marathon (yeah haven't even started, YIKES!)

SCHOOL LIST:

• new center groups for the kiddos 
• new table groups (their talking is making me CrAzY)
• file away old paper work 
• prepare POST SPRING BREAK rules (they always come back a little rowdy, have to lay the law down again for the last 11 weeks)

Okay, whew I am pooped just typing my list out!  I guess I may have to give up my dreams of sleeping in and eating bon bons all day.   I do know one thing for sure... I will be NO WHERE NEAR the FORT WORTH ZOO for the next week. Thus posing a problem since we live with in the radius of it.  ZOO traffic + Spring Break= MADNESS!!!

WILW

well it's better LATER than never right??  I was apparently not realizing that TODAY was WEDNESDAY until um about an hour ago!  This week has been so busy that the days just seems to be mixing together over here.  Of course the madness began on Monday with school, kids, meetings, and grades all at once.  Also last week in Arlington a sweet pastor was shot and killed.  Well, this pastor was one of Chris' college friends.  Due to the horrible event many of Chris' college friends have been here visiting for the funeral.  Needless to say I can't believe to day is JUST Wednesday!

Here are a few of the things I am loving:

The massage my AMAZING PRINCIPAL gave each teacher today! 

She set up 10 minute massages for each teacher throughout the day...so wonderful!

I got my BLOG swap info today!!  I can't wait to get started on it!  

2 Days of school left...then SPRING BREAK!!! 

My side

Chris' side minus a few!

Our families!

  I seem to have been, touched, or seen others affected a lot this week by sadness.

I am very thankful for our sweet families, without them we would be lost! 

Happy FAT TUESDAY!!

Go out and enjoy your FAT TUESDAY!  I know I will!  Enjoy it!  I am sure by now I should know what I want to "give up" but don't.  I mean there are a billion things I could do without...but what is it I need or use too much!  Hummm....guess I will take this FAT day to really think it over!  I'll report back once I enjoy my fun tonight.

PROCRASTINATION...

Everyone has something they procrastinate about!  I know there is no way I am the ONLY person who procrastinates???  Well, I have (by blogging write now am still) as long as possible.  I have been procrastinating on school work all weekend.  There are like a billion things I need to get done but just can't force myself to do it.  I think that there are 2 reasons why!

1. I attended an all day (7:45am-4:00pm) training yesterday.  The training was great, but it makes me want at least one day off from "work" related topics....aka grades, papers, centers, blah blah blah...
2. I am STILL sick!! Geeezzzeeee I thought by now I would be over this mess of sickness.  I am now at the coughing my lungs off and foggy head point!  Yikes!  

Needless to say of all things I would like to do today....is SLEEP, WATCH TV, and VEG!  That didn't stop my wonderful husband from GUILT tripping me into spin class today!  He "claimed" I would feel better....well hum.  Yes, it was nice to be working out.  However, as far as feeling better I am still a coughing FOOL!

I'm glad my husband forced me out the door to do something today!  After spin we enjoyed a nice little outing to Home Depot.  Then we hit up some lunch, as well as Wally world!  Now, well I should be doing "school" stuff.  Yikes...I guess if I don't I will regret it all tomorrow!  Okay I can do this...only 5 days till SPRING BREAK!!!  WHOO WHOO!  Hope you all had a more productive less procrastinating weekend! 

Busy week

Okay so it has been a pretty busy week with Chris being out of town and all.  Therefore I am little sad I missed some of my favorite link up blogs.  I love the WILW (what I'm loving Wednesday) and 5QF (five question Friday)....so I thought I would just do a quick mix of them both.  HA!

Here goes:

What I am loving now is:

Chris is back home from work stuff all week. It's not the same without him around

4P Doggie Dude Ranch 

watched after our sweet pup while we headed out for the funeral.

They always take such good care of Winston, he is in puppy heaven there.

It is finally FRIDAY! This week at school has been terrible!!!

The only thing nice has been the weather.  

Chris and I got to eat dinner with my Cousin Kim and her son Gregory. 

We live about 3 hours away...but life is busy!  After tonight though we MUST do it more.

We really enjoyed catching up...even if it was a quick stop in town.

Hope you all have a super weekend! 

~~A little blog fun after a long day~~

Needless to say this week has been major *ROUGH* I just can't seem to get any sleep...plus caught some nasty bug while traveling to and from Kansas.  NO SLEEP + NOT FEELING GOOD = A VERY GROUCHY IMPATIENT  TEACHER!!! Also....today was TAK test day for fourth grade; thus it had to be SILENT throughout the whole school!  That also adds to the STRESS LEVEL!!! Oh, and Chris is out of town until tomorrow! YIKES this week has not gone the way I was hopping until NOW...

I just sat down to do a quick BLOG STALK (aka procrastinate from grading papers).  I love a quick long blog check.  You know the one where all your favorite blogs have posted some really good ones.  Where you can't just skim over and get the gist...instead you get SUCKED into reading every detail *plus comments.  Okay so my quick check turned into oh about and hour....as well as a POST of my own! (very good thing Chris is working out of town, or he may have busted me on this extra long stalk)

Over at Musing Experiences, Elizabeth and her friend Janna have begun a BLOG SWAP!!  I absolutely love this idea.  I had read a few blogs that I stalk when they did this.  It sounded so exciting to receive some goodies from a fellow blogger.  Plus after I won my blog prize from Christin at Classy, Southern Wife....I felt the need to want to know more from my blog followers.  I mean although I won her give away my FAVORITE part was the personal note from her.  You know a "friend" you made via blogging.  How AMAZING is this chance to learn more about a fellow blog friend...and get to send them goodies.  I love to buy goodies for friends.  I'm not sure why, but I just love to buy for others more than me! CRAZY I know!  Anyway, if you want to join in on the BLOG SWAP EXCITEMENT I urge you to head over to Musing Experiences ASAP!  (If you're interested in taking part in the Spring Swap, please sign up no later than Wednesday, March 9th.)