Last post for a while (?)

This will likely be my last post for a while, and unfortunately I probably won't get to blog as much as I'd like over the summer, however there is still a chance. Within the hour I will be disconnecting my computer, loading it into my trunk, and driving it to my parents house (tomorrow). Internet access at the 'rents is sparse, due to the crappy connection and picky father. Good news is that my sister got Internet AND cable installed at her house yesterday.

I am hoping she will be nice and let me use her computer for say, forty-minutes three times a week. Hopefully we will work out a deal where she gives me a house key and I can use her computer while she is at work, so I don't have to be a pain to her (little sisters will always be pains to their older siblings, no matter what). And then you know, maybe I could watch some HGTV on her cable.

She seriously said she would make me a list of chores to do while she is gone that I can do to "earn internet and TV privileges." Cute, right?

Enough about that. I will be in this great house in Mo-town for less than 24 hours. Liz and Natalie should be home any minute to start the cleaning party. We are all sleeping on the floor tonight and sharing memories of this house. I am really going to miss the fact that the library is right down the street.

And I am going to miss checking on the old people right before I go to bed.

And I will miss Harry Potter's room (the closet under the stairs).

Ugh, this seems so final.

I really am going to do my best to keep posting, even if it's just a short little one to let you know I am alive and going insane with parents.

Happy Fourth of July in advance.

Love you, thanks for reading this year. I will likely miss writing this a lot more than you will miss reading them. But it's not over. It's like a vacation. A 30 day vacation in a cram packed room on farmland with two crazy parents who want to treat you like you are still 13. But at least they have AC. Seriously, it is getting so hot.

Okay, I really am going to disconnect my computer now. Seriously. Chow, baby.

A significant day in my life

Oh my gosh it seems like the packing will NEVER END. More stuff is EVERYWHERE. Yes, I am still sleeping on the floor. It's really not that bad. And okay, maybe I am a liar and never took a picture of my cat bed, and I don't plan on it anymore, but whatever. Take all your blankets and pillows and throw them on the floor and you will get an idea of what it's like. Maybe you could even actually do that, and sleep on the floor tonight too, and then tomorrow morning you can comment me and tell me how it went. Like, did you have dreams that all your teeth were falling out too? Or did you dream you were at your high school reunion and saw your old math teacher? Lemme know.

In case you were wondering, I did go to my 5 year high school reunion. All by myself. I count it as the thing in June I did that freaked me out. I've been trying to do at least one thing a month that scares the bejeesus out of me, and June was running out of days. I will have you know that all of 25 people (or so) showed up. I talked to approximately 11 or so of them. The other people I didn't talk to because I couldn't remember their names. I'll study the yearbook ahead of time for the next one.

Um, in case you were wondering, yesterday was a very big day for both me and my roommate Natalie. June 26, 2009 is the day that Natalie found out she's for sure teaching 3rd grade next year at the same school I student taught at (it's awesome) and it is also the day I started signing the papers for my house because that's right folks, MY OFFER GOT ACCEPTED. Well, actually, that is sort of a lie because the seller counter offered, but we were totally expecting him to because we offered a rock bottom price, just so we could find out what his rock bottom price was, and guess what folks? It wasn't that much more. His counter offer was reasonable so I went in and signed some more papers. We are aiming to close by the end of July.

I'm getting a home inspection this Thursday, and on Monday I need to call my mortgage guy and get everything taken care of at the bank. Meanwhile, I will be living at my parents house trying not to go crazy. My sister is getting cable and internet installed at her house tomorrow, and I fully plan on visiting her a lot. We made a deal. I can stay at her house during the day while she and her husband are at work and I can use her internet and watch her TV in exchange for cleaning her house. Like, maybe one day I will go over to watch Full House re-runs and Design on a Dime, and in exchange I have to scrub her bathroom sink and sweep the floor.

It might sound to you like I am going to be sitting on my butt all day, but I'm really not. I'm starting to tutor some kids next Tuesday, and I will be tutoring them twice a week. So I need the internet so I can get lesson plan stuff together for that. Also, I plan on actually finishing the editing/drafting of two of my manuscripts in time for the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland this August, so I need to get on it. I could totally type it on my computer, but I have this feeling that if I stay in the room at my parents they will try to get me to do things like irrigate the 3000 little trees we have growing.

It sounds like for the 4th of July I am going to be heading down to Florence to my family's lake house. Some relatives are going too. Any takers? There is a canoe and a sail boat and a really sweet little green raft. Plus there are two sets of super awesome purple bunk beds in the loft. I haven't been down there for about a year, so I am hoping when I show up something amazing will have been installed, like a TV or zip line.

Basically the only reason I am blogging write now is because I am avoiding packing all my clothes. Shoot. Something just crashed downstairs. I hope it wasn't another ceiling fixture, and I know it wasn't another CD exploding inside the drive on my computer (which is a complete pain to get out, BTW).

World Beat Festival tomorrow (hopefully) and jamming my car with crap.

Peace out. Love you lots.

Mini Blog

I forgot to tell you yesterday that I cleaned up some apostrophe abuse while out in the sunshine. Britt and I went to the carousel and took the horses for a spin. Afterward I was dying of thirst so we stopped at a little snow cone/Italian soda cart. I ordered a strawberry Italian soda with whipped cream, and while waiting I noticed that they were advertising "Italian soda's and iced mocha's." I know right? How incredibly annoying. So after I paid, I faked like I dropped a coin on the ground and while bending down I quickly erased the apostrophe on soda's because it was written with a dry erase marker. I didn't have time to get the one on mocha's though. I didn't tell them, but they probably should have given me a discount for correcting their punctuation and making them look smarter. In case you didn't know, an apostrophe makes something possessive, not plural. Unless you meant for it to be a contraction, in which case you would be saying "Italian soda is"....what?

On the floor for 5 days

About two hours ago all of my furniture got taken away from my room, so now that my desk is gone I am laying on a pillow in front of my keyboard, typing away. I vacuumed my floor and set up the little corner I will be sleeping on. I am going to try just the floor tonight, and maybe the lawn chair tomorrow.

I'm sure you already know this, but Michael Jackson is dead. My grandma called to tell me. I love her, she's adorable. Only my Grandma Terrie would call me to tell me that Michael Jackson has died. It's kind of shocking, because it seems like he's been around forever--since I was born, anyway. Also, Ed McMahon died so now I can't make jokes about him coming to my door and delivering a big fat check. And of course, the death of Farrah Fawcett is also sad, but honestly I wasn't that connected to her.

My high school reunion is tomorrow night. I haven't decided if I am going or not. If I show up, and you are from SHS and read my blog, you should say hi to me so that I am not all awkward in the corner counting ceiling tiles or whatever. I kind of want to go, because it's not like I hated high school or any of the people that went there, but I also kind of don't want to go. Because what if I show up and people are like "who are you? What do you mean you went to high school with me?" Having people not remember you is pretty pathetic. I'll think about it over night (on my hard floor in my near empty bed room).

Now it's time to watch some trashy MTV shows. Watching them is like eating a jumbo bag of M&Ms--you know you shouldn't, and that it's not good for you, but you do it anyway.

(un)Extreme Home Make(under)

Today I went to a house that may be a real possibility. Here are the specs:
3 bed/2 bath
vaulted living room ceiling
tile floor in the bathrooms
cute little kitchen
1300 square feet
2 car garage
composition roof
fiber cement siding (looks very weather resistant)
continuous foundation (because you don't want slab)
construction finished this year! No one has ever lived there.

I am looking at it again tomorrow with my mom and sister and maybe my brother in law if he's not too tired, and possibly some friends if they feel like it. And then maybe I will cancel my offer on the house I've been waiting on for a month and make an offer on this place.

Here is where the holey-moley-I-should-have-taught-summer-school-for- extra-money-part comes in.

I made a list of everything I would need to buy, then I visited Sears, Target and Home Depot web sites for price estimates.

All rooms:
blinds $280
curtain rods $240
curtains $320

Bathrooms:
shower rods $25
shower curtains $40
mirrors $60
hooks/towel racks $40
colored paint (because it's fun) $85

Furniture:
sofa $600
love seat $300
chair $200
bookshelves $400 (I have a lot of books)

Appliances:
fridge $900
washer $350
dryer $350

Other:
garage door opener and cute Sears guy to install it $175
rugs $100
shrubbery for the outdoors $120

I don't know if you've been keeping track with your calculator, but the total comes to.....$4,585! Holy frijoles and oh mis gatos! And I was using the cheapest possible estimates. Frickin' windows alone cost $840. Over the past few days I was thinking about adding more to my down payment, but now I think I'll just keep it because I have to pay for all this stuff.

Maybe I'll just skip all the living room furniture for a year. We can just have 500 square feet of living room with nothing in it. And I mean, washing your clothes is over-rated. Just wear them in the shower and scrub them down with a bar of soap.

Oh, in case you were wondering Travis (my brother in law) is coming to move my furniture on Thursday night. But I'm not leaving with it, which means I have 5 nights of sleeping on my fold out lawn chair with a sleeping bag. But I'd rather sleep on a lawn chair for a week in my own place than sleep in a bed at my parents' house. I'll take a picture for you and post it on Friday sometime.

I guess that means I only have two nights left in my bed, and I should use it to the max. So I am going to sleep now.

My childhood habits are catching up w/ me

Talk about an anxiety attack. I crammed as much crap as I could into my car for the first load to my parents. When I got there I went into my room to check out the available space. All two square inches of it. My mom told me on the phone that it was jammed pack from the childhood crap from our old house. She wasn't lying. There was crap everywhere. And I mean crap. I cleared and rearranged as much as I could so there'd be room for my stuff, but it was a challenge. I didn't worry so much about aesthetics as having it all fit inside the door. After I unpacked my car I took a load of old stuff to Goodwill, including:

1) the twin baby stroller I had as a child. I totally loved that thing. I pushed it around everywhere.
2) My Lakorus teal and hot pink duffle bag, which my dad bought for me at the Sportsman show.
3) old speakers
4) My first Bible. I know. Goodwill has hundreds of these. And it was my first one. But I have two other ones. Four if you count the mini ones I have.
5) a bunch of other worthless garbage not worth mentioning.

I am looking at houses tomorrow, and I plan on taking another load to my parents on Wednesday. There is so much to go through that it is overwhelming. But I am going to be ruthless. Basically, I will snap photos and then burn everything. There isn't enough room for everything.

I don't know if you realized it, but it is basically my three rooms coming together, finally, after like, 5 years. Because I have all my childhood crap from my old house that got moved there. And then I have additional crap that I used more, but didn't take to college with me at my parents' new house. And now I am trying to shove everything I've used from the past three years into that same bedroom. So what I'm saying is, I've never seen all of it in the same place. I'm not sure it can be done. God help me. Seriously. Please God, help me. I need to find a house that I can afford. I need the seller to accept my offer, or for the bank to call back on the house that I currently have an offer on. This would be cool if it happened by the end of next week. And I need to become detached from my sentiments and be able to throw away/donate all the garbage that is accumulating in my room, so I can be free from ridiculous possessions. Amen.

I once heard on the radio about this woman who hoarded everything. She wouldn't get rid of anything, and her house was just a mess. It was full of piles and stacks. Well, her husband didn't see her for two days. He reported her missing. The police searched and searched, and then they came to the house and saw what a mess it was. They thought it quite likely that she disappeared amongst all the crap. And sadly, it was true. She was like, 75 or 80 and one of the towering piles of junk fell on her and smashed her and she perished in her own home. Death by possessions. They had to search her house for 8 hours before they found her. I don't want that to be me.


UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Silver Bullet

I'm about to give up on the whole finding a house thing and just live in a silver bullet and park it in my sister's backyard. I seriously almost cried yesterday. It's just so frustrating. Blah.Of course I'd want one with a giant cupcake on the top. Who wouldn't?

Today I am driving over my first load of stuff to the 'rents. It's very sad. Moving is such a pain, and it's even more annoying knowing I have to do it twice before September.

I had this dream last night that it was the first day of school and it was ten minutes until the kids arrived. My classroom was still all packed up like I left it. I asked our new principal "what happened to the two days before the kids come?" Apparently they disappeared. But I woke up before the kids arrived. Thank God. I probably would have had a heart attack in my sleep.

Number of school related nightmarish dreams so far this summer: 2
Number of children I have seen from school this summer: 1 (the kid with the blond mullet!)

I need Advice

I am thinking about this house, even though it was built in 1950 and only has one bathroom. Also, it has small closet space. However, it has a basement and I am contemplating painting the basement and putting in new flooring and turning it into a lavish wardrobe. A walk in closet, if you will. Just, you know, the size of a basement. Because chances are my roommates will want more space too.

Pictures of 1950s house Take a look at the photos and let me know what you think. I freaking need a place to live!

Rude Receptionists, a play in two acts

Today I was a creeper at nine different houses. I peered in through the windows, went in the gate to check out the backyard, got on my hands and knees to peer into the basement windows, and did a park-and-watch. It only took me three hours. I took notes next to the addresses like "needs new flooring in bedrooms--ugly." Or things like "way cute inside!" or "needs a lot of yard work in back" or "needs new paint--ugly" or "kind of trashy neighborhood" and "Totally heinous, don't even think about it." I marked down which ones I want my realtor to take me to and which ones to forget about. He will be receiving an e-mail and following phone call in the morning.

I also had to make pit stops at TSPC and the Sal-Keiz main offices. Here are their respective transcripts:

Setting: TSPC, a receptionist with a headset on is sitting at the front desk.
Enter: Joelle. She's holding an envelope with a check for 100 bucks and a C-1 form so she can get her language arts endorsement added to her license. She waits patiently as the woman ignores her.

Joelle: Hi. Can I just drop this envelope off?
Crabby Receptionist: (adjusts headset) If you ring the bell someone will come out to help you.
Joelle: (looks at bell. Rings it. Sits down for two seconds).
Enter Receptionist #2 from back area.
Receptionist #2: Can I help you?
Joelle: Hi, can I drop this envelope off? It's for adding an endorsement.
Receptionist #2: Sure, that's great. (takes envelope)
Joelle: Thank you. (exits, but gives Crabby Receptionist a look first).

And here is the other one.

Setting: Sal-Keiz Administrative Offices. Two women with headsets are sitting behind the enormous desk, which has been moved from its previous location on the left to right in your face when you walk in through the door.
Enter: Joelle. She's holding a W-4 form.

Joelle: Hi. I think I need to go up to Payroll. I have a new W-4 form, I need to change my address, and sign up for direct deposit.
Anna: Blah blah blah. Yes, you'll want to go up to Payroll and talk to Shelly.
Joelle: Okay, thanks (goes upstairs and sees another receptionist). Hi. Is Shelly available?
Crabby Receptionist: Can I ask who you are?
Joelle: Joelle Lastname.
Crabby Receptionist gets Shelly, a thin, 30 something woman with blondish hair.
Shelly: Can I help you?
Joelle: Hi. I have a new W-4 to turn in, and I need to make sure you have my new address so this month's paycheck doesn't get mailed to the wrong place. Blah blah blah more details included about the situation.
Shelly: What kind of work do you do for the district?
Joelle: I'm a teacher.
Shelly: (hands over a form) You don't look old enough to be a teacher.
Joelle: (trying to be polite) That's what my kids say. They ask "Miss G, how old are you?" But I try to keep it a secret.
Shelly: Then I guess there are those people who are 17 and look 21.
Joelle: Yeah.
Shelly: The good thing about it is that when you're 45 you'll still look really young.
Joelle: That's probably true.
Shelly: (finally coughs up all the forms needed) Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah.
Joelle: Thank you. (Exit stage left)

Unbelievable, right?

The Butler List

It feels like Friday but I realized it's only Wednesday. I slept in till 9 this morning, then started in on my Butler To Do list.
*I printed out the form I need to send to TSPC so I can finally get my middle school language arts endorsement added. Basically, I've just been waiting to send in the extra 100 bucks needed to process my request.
*And then I called HR and told them that they have my birth date entered wrong and it's messing up my doctors visits.
*I checked up on new houses and harassed my realtor with both an e-mail and a phone call.
*I was about to schedule a massage, but figured I'd wait until tomorrow.
* I e-mailed my tutoring client to set up days and times.
*When I go into Salem later today I am stopping by TSPC personally so I don't have to wait for the mail, then I'm looking at houses (provided my realtor gets his ish together), and then I am going to my kick class at the gym with Natalie (provided she still wants to try it out).


In case you're curious about what I did yesterday, I:
*cleaned out my classroom and organized everything. We were supposed to be done by 4pm, and I just barely made it. Actually, I left at 4:15.
*drove by houses and was a creeper and peered into the windows. One of them really freaked me out because as soon as I looked in I saw a face staring back at me. It was mine. I was looking into a bedroom with a mirrored closet door.
*trespassed.
*talked to potential neighbors, asking them how they liked living in the neighborhood. Janet was very friendly.
*ate nachos at my sister's. But I'm not a complete dinner free-loader. I cut up the peppers.
*went line dancing with Susan and Co. and Natalie.
*ate licorice.

See ya tomorrow.

The top 10 list

Tomorrow is the last day at school. I will actually leave at 4, like I was supposed to all year long. All I'm doing tomorrow is cleaning and organizing and going through my filing cabinet. Also, I'll probably be doing more cartwheels when I think no one is looking because I moved all the desks to one side of the room.

Then it's off to spy into the windows of vacant houses. The prospect (by prospect, I mean definite future) of even living at my parents for as short as a week is looking very grim. I don't really like the idea that someone is already getting pissed at me for having my furniture there. So I'm not taking my furniture there, I'm taking it to Kaitlynn's (THANK YOU SO MUCH). And then I will be living at the library during the day, when I'm not looking at houses and harassing my realtor.

Top 10 Things to do when you are homeless-but-essentially-living-at-your parents'-house, even-though-one-half-of-them-doesn't-really-want-you there, and-one -whole-of-yourself-doesn't-want-to-be-there-either:

1) Fake like you are teaching summer school
2) live at the library
3) Visit your grandparents and aunt. Everyday. Until they ask you not to come back.
4) After the above happens, travel four hours to go stay with your other set of grandparents. Stay there for a week before coming back.
5) Dye your hair blond.
6) Become a mall rat.
7) Work-out at the gym from 5:30 am until 10pm. Hey, they have couches in the lobby, showers, a pool, a hot tub, and cable. Sounds like a nice place. And I could get really ripped.
8) Go to your sister and brother in law's house every evening to watch re-runs of Desperate Housewives and court TV with Judge Judy. Convince them to let you stay by washing their dishes or cleaning their bathroom. Just do one little chore every time you visit, and maybe they will let you occupy their house while they are at work.
9) Stalk your realtor at night and make him find a place for you to live.
10) Buy a house.

I told him to shut the eff up...

I'm having a grand time right now listening to oldies music on Pandora.

I never went into school this weekend like I said I would last week. Screw it. If I have to go in on Wednesday and stay an extra day, so be it. More likely I'll just stay extra long on Monday.

Both my roommates are now college graduates. Congrats to Natalie and Liz!

How long do you think it will be until I able to sleep soundly and quit having nightmarish dreams of my (former!) naughty student calling me a bitch, and of me telling him to shut the eff up? Mind you, this was a dream, and not real life. I still woke up in a cold sweat, though. Maybe I should schedule that therapy session for this Thursday?

I'm out of chocolate milk. How am I supposed to get my calcium?

Whoo-hoo, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison is playing. But my fav by far is Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann. Reminders of childhood.

I should go edit my manuscript. No more excuses now that school is over.

Peace out homeslice.

It is finished

When I go back to work on Monday, it will just be me working in the solitude of my empty (okay, near empty) classroom. Right now I'm so sleepy and I feel so strange, both physically and emotionally. It's sort of but not really like three summers ago when I moved out of the residence halls for good, ending my stint as an RA and on-campus student. So many things were happening, both happy and sad.

I remember driving down Monmouth Ave. at 11:45 at night with my trunk open, trying to get to my new home without getting pulled over by public safety. Emotionally, I was twisted. I literally ate nothing for three days--it was only when my mom came to help me move my bed in and she took me out to eat that I realized I hadn't consumed anything since my last meal in Valsetz.

I definitely just ate some yogurt (and a stawberry margarita earlier), so no worries there, but I just feel kind of like I'm detached from myself. Everything that has been sprung on us at work for the past three weeks is showing me that next year is going to be drastically different. Drastically.

Oh, and I will be homeless in two weeks. Maybe I just need to drug myself and wake up in the morning with a cleared head. Actually, drugs are probably not necessary. At this point, I could go into a self induced coma after I fall asleep.

Being an adult, part 2 starts tomorrow.

T minus 4 days

Today was my last Monday ever teaching my class. Four more days to go. But I'm not really counting Friday, because it should be cake. Here a few of my kiddos on a field trip, Ocean Eleven style.

I'm going to my HS reunion w/ a fake BF

I am currently attempting to organize every nook and cranny of my bedroom, in preparation for the upcoming move. Actually, that is a lie. I am currently typing. It's a dismally gray day, and while I woke up at 6:30am, I couldn't find the motivation to get out of bed and drive into school like I had tentatively planned. It's better that I didn't. Besides, it's Saturday.

I'm using this weekend to go through my room and scrounge up anything I need to take to school so I can leave it there for the summer and not have to pack it around with me during my homeless state. One thing I definitely should have had on my desk at work is my red easy button from Staples. I need to hit my garage because I am fairly certain there is stuff in there that I don't want to haul around either, like binders and a rotating office supply holder, and a near empty bottle of mango rum.

Next Saturday (the day after kids leave) I am going in to drop off all my crap, pack up the crap that I need to work on over the summer, do grades, and start cleaning my classroom. They give us Monday and Tuesday to do this stuff, but I feel like it's going to take longer than 16 hours.

In exactly 11 days I can indulge myself by wearing jeans and flip flops everyday. And tank tops. I wanted to dye my hair slightly blond/possibly magenta, but I figured I should hold off until July because my five year high school reunion is at the end of June, and I don't want to go with a bad hair dye job. My high school friend Brittany doesn't sound too excited about going, but I'm like "Britt. We're not fat. We have jobs. We're not knocked up. If the reunion's lame we can peace out early." I'm not sure she's convinced. The good thing about the reunion is that it is on June 26th, which will be before I am homeless.

Oh, good news. Grade level placements were given on Thursday, and I am still teaching 4th grade in the same classroom. So is Susan. The other two teachers on our 4th grade team got moved to different grades, which means they were replaced by two other teachers. Sadly, these teachers are not happy about teaching 4th grade. So now fifty percent of next years' fourth grade team is not excited about it.

Also, last Thursday's tornado warning? Insane. I was stuck at school for an extra 40 minutes on the one day I needed to leave at 4. Then it took me an hour and thirty-five minutes to get home because the lights were out at two intersections, creating a twelve way stop.

The hope I have for my offer being accepted by the seller's bank is dissipating. I guess they are sending a mortgage broker from the bank to look at the house and decide how much it should sell for. Hello? Why wasn't this done before the sellers made a listing price? Because I have a feeling the bank is going to want more than I can afford. I mean, the sellers had shaved $70,000 off of their price. So I am preparing to be disappointed in about two weeks. Homeless and disappointed.

In other news, my most naughty student finally got in-school suspension. But only for two hours. If you ask me, he should have gotten it in January. I finally realized who my naughty child reminds me of. He looks and acts exactly like Spencer Pratt from The Hills. Only Spencer doesn't always yell when he's being rude. Sometimes he says rude things in a soft voice. Naughty Child always yells. But they both do that idiotic thing where they try to mock someone and just end up looking like assholes. Only they don't know they look and sound like assholes.

One of my co-workers mentioned friend requesting me on Facebook. She knows I have it. Only, I can't accept her because then she'd read this and know that I really, truly, dislike my students sometimes.

Okay. I am going back to organizing the paper clips in my desk drawer.

Oh, and the blog title? All lies. No fake boyfriend coming with me to my reunion. Though I have to say I thought about it. Mostly because it'd make for an interesting story afterwards.

Thank you Brittany

T minus 8 days. Talked to an unhappy parent this morning (sent home 2 notice of concerns yesterday). I was equally, if not more unhappy with their child. Seriously. This kid needs to quit being rude and threatening to go to the principal's office to tattle on me for not making another child spit their gum out the moment child #1 tells me about it. Because I am pretty sure child #1 is not doing what they're supposed to be either. Get your ish together. But you can't tell that to a 4th grader. I am getting so annoyed. I was telling Brittany (who, btw, came in and volunteered in my classroom the WHOLE day, on her day off from work. Muchas gracias.) today that next year starting on day one I am going to be the meanest teacher in the world. I have to do this so the kids don't treat me like crap. I am taking no shenanigans next September.

Met with realtor. Signed addendum. He said that the realtor of the seller says the bank should let us know by the end of next week if my offer is accepted. Pray that it is. I really want this house.

Is it going to be cloudy tomorrow? I feel like the on-line weather info always lies.

Did I mention that while Britt was in my classroom she crafted these mini clocks for me to use in math? I've been putting off doing them for 2.5 weeks, and Brittany cleverly figured out how to make swiveling hands and did a rockstar job on them.