One long trip

Well we’re in Georgia.  Just … barely.  I hadn’t taken into account the fact that everyone would be traveling yesterday.  We left Durham at 2 p.m.  We pulled into Perry around 1.  Why, you ask?  Stop and go traffic for the first 200-210 miles.  6 hours, 200 miles.  Do the math yourself, it was a LONG trip.  But we’re here.  And it’s 8:30 in the morning and I’ve been up almost an hour because my body usually gets up at 5:45 and so … I got to sleep in, it says.  I’m going to end up taking a nap I think.

Minus one

Tomorrow a little after noon we’re leaving for Georgia.  About an hour ago I dropped Roxy off at Maureen’s.  Maureen and her family have tons of animals at their house and they’re great with animals so it’s not like I’m worried about Roxy but it was sort of pathetic when I came home and went to take a shower (one of Maureen’s menagerie is a cat) and I called Roxy because she always sticks her nose in the bathroom door when I’m showering.  Of course, Roxy didn’t come and I was all sad.

On the up side, I am done with being at school or working on school stuff until at least January 2.  I actually don’t start teaching again until the 8th of January but I have some things I need to get done that week before school starts so I’m looking at going back January 2.  Yesterday we had our Christmas party and made ornaments with glass ornaments and glass paint, the kids mailed Christmas cards to their parents, and we watched most of a movie (The Prince of Egypt is long!).  The kids had so many goodie bags they didn’t know what to do with them and everyone left pretty happy.

Merry Christmas to all … I don’t plan to blog until we return from Georgia on Tuesday night.  We pick up Roxy late Tuesday and then we come home for 3 days of peaceful bliss.  I can’t wait.

Tie a string around my finger

As we get into this week, things I need to keep in mind:

• 2 1/2 days of teaching, 1 work day = a very short week
• Just because my brain is tired does NOT mean I don’t need to work out
• I still have a pile of Christmas cards that need to be stamped and mailed by Tuesday.
• At least all my Christmas presents are wrapped (I think).  At least all the ones we’ve already bought anyway.
• At the end of the long, tiring, dull car ride will be a beautifully decorated house and (eventually) little people to play with.
• Next Wednesday we get to be in our house, with our dog, all by ourselves.
• It’s supposed to get cold in the middle of the week.  Finally.  I don’t understand this world in which it’s almost 80 degrees the week before Christmas.
• I get to go swimming soon.
• No school from Wednesday afternoon until January 8th!

Are you ready for some …

It’s Sunday afternoon which means that I’m watching a Steelers football game.  The first quarter or so it was DULL.  But it’s always nice to see 27-3 in favor of the Steelers at the end of the third quarter.  I’m feeling sleepy so I’m thinking a nap is in order immediately following the game.  Dave, keeper of the Panthers Fanhouse over on AOLSportsbloggers Live, is here watching with us today.  In honor of this, we got wings from Wing Stop.  Yum.  For some strange reason JJ has changed his clothes and jumped on our bike.  During the game.  While Dave’s still here.  Weird.

Funny story, Roxy has started lifting her leg every once in awhile when we take her out to pee.  I read up on it and apparently female dogs will do this when new dogs come into the neighborhood to show acknowledgment of the new canine and we’ve had 2-3 new dogs move in around here lately. Well during halftime of the game I took Roxy out and she was doing her lift leg thing … and she fell down.  She sheepishly decided to squat like usual and we slinked back upstairs and she hid in the corner and went to sleep.

While I’ve posted this the Steelers have scored again.  It is now 34-3, Steelers.  Santonio Holmes just returned a punt for a touchdown.

Innkeeper

YAY!  Maureen from school is going to take Roxy while we are out of town.  This makes me happy.  I was always 50/50 on actually taking the dog to Perry.  For one thing, I really like my father-in-law and I want to do my best to respect his wishes.  And for another, 9-10 hours in the car with the dog … I’m just not sure how that was going to turn out.  So we owe Maureen big.

In other news, the elementary creepy-crawlies have gotten me again.  I’m home with something seriously icky.  Headache, muscle aches, tummy aches, the whole nine yards.  And it’s no fun at all.

. . . there was no room in the inn

We have been trying to find poor Roxy a place to stay for Christmas. I’ve been calling since about the first of December and everywhere is full. 5 kennels, lots of friends, full, full, full, or else the friends won’t be around long enough. Unlike a fish, Roxy actually needs someone to come and walk her at least three times a day. So if someone is going to be gone “Just Christmas Eve and Christmas Day” well, disaster could definitely ensue. We can’t bring her with us because, even though she’s an indoor dog who rarely chews and almost never barks (unless you provoke her by playing “Pull” or “Chase” with her), my father-in-law made it quite clear when we got Roxy “No dogs shall visit my house.” So we’re doing our best to not do that. We have a couple of last chances to investigate this week. If those don’t pan out … I’m thinking there’s a reasonable chance that the dog is coming, and she’ll be sleeping in the car, or some other variation thereof that ensures she doesn’t enter the house. The good news is that she does, in fact, have on her winter coat and Georgia winters hardly qualify as “cold” historically speaking so I’m not particularly worried that she’s going to freeze or anything

7 school days to Christmas break!

Random Acts

Last night JJ and I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Ted’s Montana Grill. In case you’ve never been, they make great burgers and because they grind their own meat, we can get our burgers cooked medium-rare, which is the way I believe burgers should be cooked and eaten. They have these pre-dinner thingys called “half-sours” that are pickles that have been pickled half of their normal time so they’re still fresh and crisp and tasty a little sour and a little salty and a little spicy. We’re probably at Ted’s once every 7-10 days. It’s close and I like the ambience (quiet, for one thing) so I like to go whenever we get the chance. When we arrived last night I noticed that one of my students was there so I went over to say hello. As we finished off the last of our burgers and fries, a waitress came over and asked if I was a teacher. I said that I was and she asked if we knew that one of my students was in the restaurant. I replied that I did know, and that I had said hello. Then, the waitress told us that my student and my student’s family had treated us to dinner and had taken care of our check. What a blessing to me and JJ. My thanks to all of them.

Like a Calgon commercial …

JJ and I were talking last week and one thing we’ve never done as a couple is get away for a few days to where there are very few people, the weather is lovely, the hotel is comfy, and it is all quiet and peaceful.  Sure, we went on our honeymoon but that was only (by the time we got there and back) 2 1/2 days and one of those days Hurricane Danny prevented us from doing ANYTHING peaceful.  So … any suggestions for a reasonably priced trip to a nice joint within the continental U.S.?  I’m not a big fan of traveling, and we don’t have unlimited funds for this so something like hopping a plane to Hawaii is out of the question.  But we’re hoping that in June or July we’ll get to go someplace.

And there was much rejoicing

Five of my students prayed to accept Christ yesterday during our Bible class.  I have been teaching a Salvation Series about what it means to be saved and how we become saved.  Yesterday, for 5 of them, it clicked.  And there was much rejoicing.

JJ is home from Orlando.  I’m glad.

Tomorrow, between 5:30 and 6:00 there will be delievered, to our house, a professional grade spinning bike.  We bought one.  For 250 bucks.  I figured if a gym is 50-60 bucks a month, plus gas, paying out 250 for a professional grade spin bike that I can use whenever I want will save me tons of money down the road.  Especially since these suckers last awhile as long as you keep them clean and stuff.  The club where Krista and I coach our swim team discontinued its spinning classes and sold their bikes on the cheap.  I’m excited.  Look for me to be walking funny on Saturday.  I plan to spin for the first time in 2 years on Friday night.

Dig down deep inside of you

I just came from our Christmas concert. I did lights and sound (well, as much sound as I could – it was more set up than anything) for our 3-5 production of the musical Joyland. It’s a pretty classic Christmas story but with some jazzy tunes and upbeat stuff. Plus, our genius music director gave the kids hand motions and stuff so it turned out great. The whole idea was basically that we can give back at Christmas with time, talents, and gifts of all kinds. The kids worked really hard and I’m really proud of them. However, the musical being done means that we can return to our regularly scheduled school. After I soak my feet.