30 Day Challenge | Day 9: The Last Thing I Purchased

You all know I'm just a boring mom now, right?  Married to a man who put me on a spending allowance?  The days of shoe shopping are looong gone, my friends.

I wish that I could tell you that this was my last purchase:

But this is the best I've got:

Not only am I so boring that the last item I purchased was groceries, you should know that 90% of these items were on sale this week.  Yep, my grocery list revolves around the weekly sale circular. 

And there ya' have it.

30 Day Challenge | Day 8: Random iPod Songs

I have an widely varied taste in music!  Here are my first ten random songs:





Van Morrison- Baby Please Don't Go
Jay-Z- Money Ain't a Thing
Britney Spears- Toxic
Dave Matthews Band- Ants Marching
Black Eyed Peas- Shut Up
Def Leppard- Pour Some Sugar On Me
Sarah Bareilles- Love Song
Aerosmith-Walk This Way
John Mayer- My Stupid Mouth
Justin Timberlake- Rock Your Body

And just 'cause I think this is fun, here are the next ten:

Steve Miller Band- Take the Money and Run
James Taylor- You've Got a Friend
Madonna- Burning Up
Norah Jones- Feelin' the Same Way

Jamiroquai- Canned Heat
Stevie Wonder- Signed, Sealed, Delivered
The Rolling Stones- You Can't Always Get What You Want
Barenaked Ladies- Falling For the First Time
John Legend- Save Room
Alicia Keys- Fallin'

30 Day Challenge | Day 7: Dream Wedding

This one is easy-peasy.  I got my dream wedding.  The wedding that little girls dream about.  Right down to the tiara.

When J and I got engaged, we were full steam ahead with the wedding planning.  I started researching wedding venues immediately, and within a couple of days, we were off to visit some of my favorite sites.  The problem we ran into was that we picked the most gorgeous site to look at first.  I mean, the place was pure perfection, and was literally designed for the day to flow exactly as I saw it flowing in my dreams.  After this, every other place we looked at was crap.

Once we worked out a few kinks (or really, one big kink- moving the wedding from a Saturday to a Sunday to be able to afford said site of perfection), we booked The Umstead Hotel.  Beautiful outdoor ceremony site, complete with flowers and a pond, lovely terrace for cocktail hour, stunning grand ballroom for reception.  AH-mazing.

The details were even more beautiful that I could have imagined.  Classic black and white, with red flowers to accent.

My gown was satin, beaded, crystaled, HUGE!, with a looong train.  And yes, I had a tiny little tiara to wear in my hair.

I felt every bit the princess, walking down the aisle to marry her prince.

We were surrounded by our favorite people.  And when we walked into the reception as man and wife, we had the time of our lives!

My wedding truly was my dream come true.

30 Day Challenge | Day 6: Pets I'd Love

I am an animal lover.  Seriously.  To the point where if those stupid Sarah McLachlan/Willy Nelson playing SPCA commercials come on, I MUST change the channel immediately or risk bursting into uncontrollable sobs and/or adopting every last animal on the screen.

I've got two unruly dogs and a mess of a cat, but somehow the topic of future pets manages to come up not infrequently in my house.  (Much to J's dismay.)  There are several pets I'd love to have.

I'm a woman of extremes.  I love BIG dogs.

But I'd also like a dog that I could dress up and carry around in a fabulous bag.

Turtles are cool.  I especially like box turtles.

I like lizards, too.

And who wouldn't love a finger monkey? Communists, maybe.

But the reality of the situation is this: J says no to most of my animal whims.  In the future, we'll be a dog-only kinda family, and my next dog will be a labradoodle.  They're furry, goofy, lovey dogs who are great with kids and don't shed.  Yes, please!

Tee Hee

Merely one example that illustrates how my grammar nazi tendencies are not unfounded.  Punctuate carefully, friends!

30 Day Challenge | Day 5: My Future

Ah, the future.  The thing about this is, I'm pretty darn happy here in the present.  I have an amazing husband and the cutest baby in the world.  It's hard to ask for more when I have it so good!  But, here are a few things I see in my future:

• Babies, babies, babies.  Gabe is amazing, of course, but I want him to have siblings.  J and I want a big family.  When I think of my future, I am surrounded by children.
• Money.  Not lots of money, like the "I could buy you and sell you" kind of money.  Just money to the point where I can be at home with the babies, babies, babies.  (Although if we won the lottery, you certainly wouldn't hear this mama complaining.)  As I have mentioned several times before, J is frugal.  I was not.  But I have seen the light.  We are currently working very hard on our finances.  It's nice to think of a time in the future when this won't be such a struggle, and we can live comfortably.  (AND if we happened to find ourselves comfortable enough to have a vacation home somewhere on the water, that wouldn't be too shabby.)

That's all I want out of life.  Truly.  And that's all I've ever wanted, for as far back as I can remember.  I just want that great family life.  And I'm off to an amazing start.

OH, and I almost forgot- in my future, I am perpetually 29.  ;)

What Not To Do

For those of you who didn't know, this past Monday was the first day of the new school year at my year-round school.  Each and every year, the week of the fourth of July is the one week where all of the students are off, and us teachers get to work on staff development and getting our classrooms together for a new group of students.

Part of our yearly staff development includes "refresher" trainings on Bloodborne Pathogens, Sexual Harassment, Seclusion and Restraint, and Students with Diabetes.  For good measure, this year they threw in one on Students with Allergies.  These "trainings" are online, in the form of videos and/or Powerpoint presentations.

Keep in mind that this one week without students is a busy, busy week!  So the last thing anyone wants to do is sit in front of their computer for two hours and listen to stuff they hear again and again, year after year.  I've listened to this stuff so many times now that I tend to drown it out, or busy myself with other tasks while the videos are playing.

But this year, as I was ignoring listening to the Seclusion and Restraint video, one segment caught my attention.  This, my friends, is a list of ways that I am not permitted to punish my students.

THANK GOD they told me that!  I had the electric shock station all set up and ready to go.