Classy Weekend

Every so often, Matt and I like to vary our usual weekend plans of watching TV and eating pizza by leaving our house.  More rarely, we like to leave our house and go somewhere new.  This past weekend, we not only went to new places, we went to classy new places!

Friday afternoons are typically my time to veg out before Matt comes home so we can veg out together, but last Friday found me changing out of my tie-dyed AMS t-shirt and jeans into something nicer to meet up with some friends at Le Fou Frog.  Since my palate is usually satisfied with noodles, bread, and chicken, I don't really like to spend a lot of money on food, but thanks to Kansas City Restaurant Week, the Frog's prices had dropped into just slightly out of our range.  We enjoyed salad, lobster bisque, pork loin, salmon, and our waiter, Jean Pierre, even if he did scoff at my wine choice.  We each had a dessert with a lot of accessories - this wasn't just a lemon tart, it was a lemon tart with Buddha's Hand zest and a lime marshmallow, and chestnut cake with a variety of glazes and icings.  The atmosphere was a lot of fun too.  It's a very small space with a lot of tables, but it's cozy rather than cramped.  Jean Pierre was extremely nice, and the pastry chef and other employees sang selections from Les Miserables and Lady Gaga.  I would go back!

We were also fortunate to get in our first Kauffman Center performance on Saturday.  Our friend Ryan had gotten tickets to see Yo-Yo Ma's Master Class, which was where three cellists played for him, and then listened to him preach.  I left with a lot of admiration for both the building and Mr. Ma.  The hall was like nothing I'd ever seen, and I can't wait to go back.  The view from the 8th row was not too shabby.  Plus there were a lot of middle school kids there for some reason, and I was pretty entertained watching them.  I loved hearing the cello music, which has now been promoted to my favorite string instrument.  Viola is still my least favorite.  But I loved that this man, who is beyond famous and accomplished, would take time to work with a high school student and have such interesting and important things to say.  He's a phenomenal musician, and a great educator. And thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend, we got to go to the reception after the class, where we did not meet the man, but we did get some pastries.

We felt very sophisticated after such a posh weekend.  And with our Brewery tour yesterday, we are crossing a lot of Kansas City things off of our list.  We don't want to get too fancy though - we still have a Netflix queue to keep up with, and a Christmas wreath to take down.  To give me some credit, it is indoors, has MU colors and snowmen and says, "Happy Holidays."  President's Day is a holiday.

Year in Review

Oh, the plans I had for my Christmas break.  The lessons I would prepare, the menus I would plan, the library books I would read.  And with Matt off work as well, what better opportunity to get errands run and house cleaned?  But it's now afternoon, 9 days after this lovely break began, and we're both sitting in our pajamas,  not even really planning to leave the house.  I had holiday M&Ms for breakfast.  I thought about taking down our Christmas tree, but all the boxes for the ornaments are in the basement, and I'd have to put on slippers.  My dog is wedged very comfortably at my side, and I don't want to disturb her.  I've had about a day and a half of productivity. Fortunately, this past week is not indicative of the productivity of the last year.  And all this lazy time has been good reflection time on where we've been in 2011, and where we want to go in 2012 (at least before the world ends).


The House: If you've read this blog before, you know how much I love our house.  But I've also loved entertaining in our home, and to a lesser extent, learning how to fix broken stuff and be grown-ups.  This has mostly been Matt's region, and the Shop-Vac and cordless drill he got for Christmas will help him in his endeavors.  But I help, and I want to learn to do more around my home.  2012 Home Goal: Cook and eat at home more often, and try to develop a green thumb. 

The Job:  I love my job, and I always want to be a better teacher.  My professional goals are to be positive even when it seems like there's not enough time in the day, and to do more professional reading and writing.  I always make my students write specific goals, so I will add that I want to bring more technology into my classroom and reconsider how I approach outside reading assignments.

The Book of Stuff:  One of my more brilliant ideas of 2011 was to write down the fun stuff that we did over the year.  I have a lined book that I update as we travel, see movies, read books, or go to sporting events.  It's fun and easy, and I have no idea why I haven't done it in the past.  It was something we both contributed to - I wrote down the weekend trips we took for weddings and new restaurants we tried, and Matt handled the starting pitchers of Royals games we saw.  It makes me wonder how much stuff I've done over the years and forgotten, because I didn't have a record.  I really notice this in the books section.  It's no secret I'm a big reader, but I've never thought about writing down what I read.  As I look back, there are books I read three months ago that I'd forgotten about.  I set a somewhat arbitrary goal of 50 books for 2011, and as of today, I've done it!  To be fair, about eight of those books are just a bit below my reading level.  I had a lot of 7th grade literature to catch up on when I moved to the middle school.  However, no picture books were counted in this total, so I'm pretty proud of that!  I want to read another 50 in 2012, but do more writing and sharing about what I read. 

Now it's probably time to take care of some easier goals to accomplish, like showering and going outside.  Happy New Year to everyone!

Terrible Television

I must confess that I am addicted to terrible, terrible television.  I'm trying to cut myself off reality TV.  I can honestly say that I don't watch very much - no denial here - but what I watch is so awful I think it rots my brain at twice the regular rate.  I used to ride a pretty high horse when it came to reality television.  Rubbish, staged, waste of time, etc.  Then I started watching Project Runway.  Then Top Chef.  Then Bridezillas.  Then I stopped watching all of those, and discovered shows that portray some of the worst wretches of humanity imaginable.  When Matt started having rehearsals on Sunday, I started watching Discovery Channel and TLC.  At first, I thought I could get away with it.  When someone asked me what I was watching, I could say, "Oh, just something on Discovery" without mentioning it was a show about 900 pound people, a mermaid girl whose legs were fused together, hoarders, polygamists, or people with Pica (look it up).  This doesn't work with TLC.  If I'm watching something on TLC, it's almost guaranteed to be the opposite of educational.  The Learning Channel does not fit the programming.  I suggest Toddlers, Lunatics, and Cupcakes.  Other suggestions? 

One of my favorites is "I'm Pregnant And...".  I watched a marathon once, and it was life-changing in a very depressing way.  The premise of the show is that a woman is pregnant and has some obstacle to overcome, or some weird quirk that makes her interesting to viewers like me.  For example, I've seen episodes about pregnant heroin addicts, prison inmates, and nudists.  But as I recently discussed with some friends, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are so many other weird things people can be in addition to with child.  Surprisingly enough, some of them already have their own shows (I'm Pregnant and it's Baby #20).  Also, some potential shows could be based around people we already knew of:  I'm Pregnant and in Driver's Ed, or I'm Pregnant and in 8th Grade.  So programming gurus, take note.  These examples are free.  I've got more - but they're going to cost you.  For your entertainment:

I'm Pregnant and...a Mature, Financially Stable Adult in a Long-Term, Committed Relationship
(Just Kidding)

I'm Pregnant and...Accused of Statutory Rape
I'm Pregnant and...A WWE Diva
I'm Pregnant and...My Sister Wives are Jealous
I'm Pregnant and...This Time I'm Telling the Truth
I'm Pregnant and...So's My Mom
I'm Pregnant and...I Made a Deal with the Devil
I'm Pregnant and...An Alien Abductee
I'm Pregnant and...I Have a 6 Week Old Infant
I'm Pregnant and...I'm Getting Divorced
I'm Pregnant and...I'm a Virgin
I'm Pregnant and...It Didn't Stay in Vegas

Having a Ball...in Autumn

I could have gone with the clearer choice and titled this post Having a Ball in Fall, but since I recently taught my students that fall and autumn are the same thing, and that I wasn't trying to trick them with a fifth season, I thought I'd go with the fancier word.  I've also taught them what TBA means and that Bob is a nickname for Robert, so I'd say I'm pretty effective and also brilliant. We're still working on their, there, and they're. 

Fall is definitely one of the best seasons.  I'm glad I live in an area that has seasons, but I wish that they were only spring, fall, and Christmas.  Fall just has a combination of all sorts of things I love.  I will list them here.  The next post will focus on recent reading, date TBA.

1.  General coziness - throw blankets, cardigans, hot chocolate, staying in bed a little longer every morning, slipper socks, etc. And this year I'm excited to have a fire in our fireplace!
2. Birthdays - Mine!  And this year's combo housewarming/birthday party was a blast.  I think I'm going to devote a whole post to my new Kindle. 
3. The return of the slow cooker - this is my kind of cooking.  Throw some stuff in a pot and let it simmer until you're ready.  Last year, I successfully made chili, pot roast, pork shoulder, and macaroni and cheese.  This year, I made a pretty good dip, and I want to do chicken noodle soup.  Just a lot of good things to eat when the weather cools off!
4. Fall Foliage - It ends too soon, but I love the fall leaves.  Upside is that our new house has lots of old trees, downside is we have to rake them up.  And don't even get me started on how many walnuts are appearing overnight.
5.  Fall Festivities - In addition to birthday celebrations, I love other fall fun.  City fall festivals, even if I only went to Gladfest this year, Homecoming, Halloween and Thanksgiving gatherings are all great ways to see good people and eat good food.  

Football

In general, I dislike the phrase 'slippery slope', because it is an obnoxious catch phrase that politicians use to defend inequality and promote their own agendas.  And if politicians are allowed to use expressions like 'slippery slope', and 'Wall Street Vs. Main Street', and 'vaccines give you disabilities', then where do we draw the line between personal opinion and politics?  It's such a...slippery slope...oh no.  Perhaps I will use the visual image of a domino effect instead.  I need some kind of metaphor to describe how my love of football has developed and grown over the past few years, with little personal control or choice.

Throughout the first 18 years of my life, I don't remember ever seeing a professional football game.  I saw high school games, but Friday nights were mostly about band.  College games would be on at home sometimes on Saturdays, but not something I really paid attention to.  Sundays were for church work or woman's work.  But this all changed when I came to college.  Can anyone describe the rush of a first home college game?  I was in love.  As time passed, I progressed from following just Mizzou to the Big XII and beyond.  I realized that because I'd missed some critical years hating kansas, I had to hate them extra hard now.  And my first bowl season...oh my.  I never realized how much fun the holidays could be with some friendly smack talk. 

When Matt and I first started dating, I still hadn't moved on to professional football.  He just thought I was so darn cute he didn't even mind that I knew very little about one of his great loves.  When he took me home to a Chiefs game and I met his family and loved ones for the first time, I figured out that if I was going to be serious about Matt, I would have to be serious about football.  But my beginnings as a good-intentioned girlfriend morphed as I started to love the sport for the love of the game, not just for the love of Matt.  I do draw the line at Madden, though.  Never will I love Madden.

Now, many of my fall weekends are devoted to football.  I don't watch all the games.  I nap, I read, I grade, I nap, but I'm also spending time with family and following the scoring.  While I initially got involved in fantasy football because I liked the challenge of coming up with a clever team name, now I am an active researcher/drafter/participant.  (Thanks Wes Welker, and I hate you Jamaal Charles.)  I can even follow along on the Red Zone channel.  I have opinions, and after a few years, I vocalized them.  Sometimes I even watch a game when Matt isn't home.  I get excited for drafts. 

It's been quite a transformation.  The downside is I get to experience the heartache of being a Chiefs fan, and knowing that they have to lose today if I am going to carry on another week in my survival league.  Is it worth it?  Yep.  Maybe.  I will have slipped too far if I get a team tattoo, but I think the slope has bottomed out at a good place. 

Death Threats

When you are a high anxiety person (like me) and are exceptionally clumsy (also me), maiming and death traps lurk around every corner.  And it turns out that when you buy a house, you can hire someone to come in and tell you all about the many dangers of your future home.  Some of these items even I'm not worried about - the inspector was pretty concerned about the 1/8 inch difference between the tile in the kitchen and the wood floors in the dining and living room, but not even I could trip over that.  We acted on other recommendations, though.  Getting the radon situation mitigated was probably a good choice.  Some issues we didn't even need the inspector to point out.  The stairway upstairs has a low doorway, so we have to watch our heads.  The basement stairs are narrow and rickety, so we have to watch our steps.  I knew I had to be careful there...but so far, I've had a few near - death experiences that had nothing to do with anything I'd been warned about or figured out on my own.

Venomous Serpents:  One of my earliest childhood memories is of being terrified of snakes.  I can't say for sure if I have a diagnosable phobia, but truly nothing frightens me more than those slimy, slithery, harbingers of death.  So imagine my dismay when I was peacefully walking with my dog in the backyard and heard a deadly rustle - it was a foot long, black snake wriggling away from us.  I screamed.  Now the neighbors think I'm crazy, and every stick, leaf, and walnut lying on our lawn startles me and makes me shiver.  I should point out that not only did the dog fail to defend me, she didn't even notice. 

Poisonous Spiders AND Fire:  We were spending a lovely late summer evening sitting on our new deck furniture, when a monstrous spider started to descend right in between us.  I'm not exaggerating about the size of this beast, it was intense enough to make Matt jump too.  Brave husband that he is, he started to attack it with our nearest weapon, a can of bug spray.  The spider was undeterred.  Matt's mother then handed him a lighter, hoping to burn the creature to death.  A second's hesitation reminded us that bug spray + flame = probable house fire.  So Matt defended us with a shoe.

Drowning:  We have an old house with a stone basement.  We were advised to buy a dehumidifier to keep the slight dank odor out, and dry things out in the event of a heavy rain.  So on our weekly trip to Lowe's, we decided to pick one up.  And after some debate, we ended up going with the big daddy 70 pint model.  And it's a good thing we did.  We started running it on Saturday afternoon, and as of Tuesday, we had emptied it 3 times.  That's 210 pints, or 26.25 gallons.  As of this evening, it's still going strong.  That's some serious moisture seeping into our lungs.

Dog Suicide:  No one has ever accused our dog of being brilliant.  But I also didn't think she was dumb enough to try to off herself.  However, within 15 minutes one evening, she tried to end her own life no fewer than five times.  She squeezed out the front door, and gleefully ran across two streets straight to the defensive German shepherd that lives in his backyard and would have thought she was a snack.  Fortunately, the shepherd's owner so what was going on in time to pull her animal inside, which then inspired ours to run back and forth across the street like a fate-tempting fool.  My father-in-law tackled her to the ground in the front yard.  It was not pretty. 

I guess the moral of the story is thank goodness for insurance.  And does anyone know where I can take out a policy on my dog?

Adaptation

This has been a really, really big month.  We bought a house!  It's basically the best house ever.  I got a new job - also basically the best ever.  But with all this new awesomeness comes great responsibility.  Even more than usual, there's always some project to complete, something to clean, and something to grade.  I recently checked the time to find it was 8:30.  I was ready to go to bed and had assumed it was after 11:00.  I'm hoping that I adapt to this new schedule soon, or else I won't even be able to stay awake for local news.

The theme of this post is adaptation.  I'm adapting to some areas of middle school (the kids, extra-curriculars, a later start) better than others (missing my high school colleagues).  Some of us (me and Matt) adapted to our new home much better than others (the dog, who freaked out for a solid week). That being said there are still a few tricks to our house I have yet to figure out.  Part of this is because the house was built in 1940, and it has lots of little quirks which I love - part of the charm of the place.  Part of this is my failure to adapt to a new home. 

I can only lock the front door about 50% of the time.  I can't get the lock just right.  Sometimes I go back in and lock it from the inside, and then leave from the sun room, which isn't terribly convenient.

I'm not sure where all the light switches are yet.  I'm always fumbling around and slapping walls where I think the switches should be, especially in the kitchen and the office.  I go into the office everyday, and everyday I hit the wall on the opposite side of the door.  Embarrassing. 

There are two lights in the bathroom.  One is a regular, pleasant light.  The other is a blinding beam of burning white light, which sears the eyes and heats the skin.  Unfortunately, this light must be turned on in order to have the only outlet in the bathroom work, which I require for my electric toothbrush and hair straightener.  This light is one of the causes of another problem - my leave the house time has increased by a good 15 minutes.

Every morning after I fumble around to find the lights and get dressed, I stare at myself under the bright light in the bathroom.  I see flaws I didn't know existed in nature.  The light shines like a beacon on every overlarge pore, chapped lip skin, and errant eyebrow hair.  I smear powder over my nose, trying to cover the gaping holes in my face, only to see each individual fleck of powder reflected back at me.  Putting on make up is an entirely new experience, as I can see every little blonde eye lash I have, and every spot where eyeshadow and eyeliner aren't quite blended.  After this morning ritual, I head to the kitchen to make my lunch, where I have to remember the hidden light switch and remember which side the fridge opens - it's the opposite of any place I ever remember living.  Then if I can lock the door on my first try, I can leave, if not, several more minutes pass.

The good news is my pores and I overall love the house.  It's beautiful and wonderful and perfect, and I can't wait to finish decorating it and have people over to sit on the deck.  I just wish it wasn't teaming up on me to try to make me late.