Time flies. . .

If I had enough time or space to talk about all that happened since I was here last, the reader would either be 1. bored within the first few minutes or 2. happy to see I am still alive or 3. wondering if I had enough space as I rambled on. So, I will give the highlights of the past month. . .

•I attended the conference and had a great time learning and meeting new people. I have spoken to next year's president whom I met last year at my very first conference, and I am hoping to be able to help next year with something. She reminded me to email her and let her know what I would like to do. I also met 2 other counselors whom I spent most meals with and whom I shared information from the workshops. I brought back new ideas and new stuff, and got energized to finish the year with success

•The 6 hours on the train caused me to be obsessed with The West Wing which I watched on my personal DVD player. . .oh how I love that thing.

•Work has been busy, I am in the middle of a DUI class, it has been cold, and I want spring to come sooner.

•My brother, Reggie and Mila were here last weekend. It is fun to see my niece and how she is becoming older. She wasn't strange at all with us, and we are thinking about going to see them in June for my brother's 40th birthday.

•Tomorrow is the Junior's spaghetti dinenr, and I am going up to work shortly to set up so we wont have as much to do tomorrow. We also have a wedding this afternoon, so after cooking meat, setting up and making sure things are ready, I need to shower, wrap a gift and go. On the plus side, we are having prime rib for dinner!!

•I did a craft show last weekend, and didn't sell too much, but I am still planning on doing some at Christmas. I think that it will be better. What I really need to do is to advertise my bookmarks on book club sites, or through book club members. Most people at the sale were looking at food. I guess they were just hungry.

•I am so looking forward to Easter break. We want to go to Penzey's spice store, the Fiestaware outlet and the outlets to get Keith a coat and shoes. I also know of a bead show the Monday after Easter so I am hoping we can get there as well. With Easter later this year, it makes break seem very far away. But, it will get here, eventually.

•I started a new idea this year . . .meeting with Junior parents to discuss next year's applications for college, scholarships, etc. I made myself available 3 evening and some during the afternoon times. So far, I have about 7 or 8 parents signed up, but I think more may at a later date. . .if not, at least I tried.

Well, the cable guy is here to fix us up with new equipment so we have better service and channels. And I need to get ready to go for 10 to set up.

I really hope there are still friends out there who stop by. . .I hope to be around more often.

Early Mardi Gras

Although my {fake-non-leap year) birthday is the REAL Mardi Gras date, we are having a small gathering of friends tonight to celebrate the event coming on Tuesday. I came home from work yesterday and made spiced pecans, the rub and "mop" for the pulled pork, and a cheese spready thing. I wanted to get it done so I wasn't a crazy woman today, and so we could take care of decorating, running to get fresh buns, and a few last minute items. Worked well for me, and I am ready for some fun and friends tonight.
Last night, MJ and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar. Didn't get home till after 12, and then had to prep the meat to get it in the crock pot to cook all night. However, sweet hubby had already done the dry rub and seared it, so I just needed to make sure it had the "wet" stuff on it. We are waiting to run errands till after we put it on warm, and then will take care of it when we return. Anyway, the musical was great, and we had a fun time having a drink after at the bar next door. We don't ight traffic if we do that, so it works to our advantage. After tonight, we have concert tix for Martina on Sunday, I work Monday, we will have dinner out on Tuesday, and I head to Lancaster, PA via a train early Wednesday morning.
Its the PA School counselor's conference, and I am ready to learn and meet new people and feel like I am among other professionals who do what I do all day. I even picked up a couple of new sweaters to wear so I will "feel" better.
Well, I need to get moving. . .have a great day!!

Happy Friday

Well, I missed Valentine's day. No, not in real life. . here in my blog. I wanted to come and write a friendship or love post, and the day just flew by. I did however, get a dozen red roses from my hubby which was very cool since I never had roses before. I am not the hugest fan of roses, but they are beautiful. And why am I not a huge fan? Well on Tuesday, after the delivery to my office which is small, I began to cough and experience a really bad headache. When I left the room to teach, it stopped and then started again when I returned. I left the roses here for Wednesday and was bringing in a vase for a few to leave here all week and take the rest home. Headache and cough return, and I think. . .am I allergic? So, Keith came and took 8 home and left 3 here (1 already was dead. . .not in the water at all), and I felt better. At home, the scent is not too bad, so I can live with them in our bigger than my office house. However, I do doubt I will get red roses again!!

This weekend in dinner birthday with Dad at Morton's Steakhouse. . .Yummo! as Rachael Ray would say. I have some beading things to work on for a craft show I am doing in March, and I want to get out my Valentine day cards to friends who didn't get Christmas cards cause I was too busy. See a pattern here? However, I am sending the cards. .late but with love. I wanted to type a letter all week, but never got to it, so a 3 day weekend might allow me to do it. However, I teach my last UAD class on Saturday and have to do the completetion letters on Monday and I have an appointment for a haircut and highlight. . .I think. Once again, my memory and busyness get to me. . .

I will be back later!!

Weekend over again

Its Sunday again, and time for another week of work. This weekend, though, didn't revolve around a football game. I did have to work on Saturday morning again--teaching a UAD class, but we had some fun Saturday night. We had tickets to see Terri Clark (only those who are country fans will recognize!) at a smaller type of venue. We were served a dinner of barbeque chicken, ribs, baked potato, etc. It is a packed place and I had a hard time getting out of my seat to go to the bathroom, but you have a great view of the artist. and Terri was excellent. She joked with the crowd as she introduced her songs, and she had energy but also gave a litle information about herself and her band. To me, that is better than someone who just sings. . you kind of lose their personality.

Anyway, today is a people are weird kind of entry too. When we got to our seats, we should have been sitting next to each other at the table but the people who were at our table did the across from each other thing, which makes it hard to talk or touch each other. We should have told them to move cause they sell the tix to be like that (side by side) but I didn't think of it at the time. Also, he didn't eat his dinner which is odd cause why pay for it if you aren't going to? And the people next to me were kind of zombie like throughout the evening which makes me wonder why go? Yeah, so observations of the weekend. . .people are odd.

I bought a DSM IV to use in my Psych class before we went to the concert, and thought about reading it today but then I realized how odd/weird that would make me!! So, I am beading and reading a "Dear America" young adult book instead. Relaxing, jammie, cuddle kind of day.

Somedays I just wonder

OK, where to start with this one. Yesterday, Keith had an appointment with his doctore to follow up on his blood pressure and his meds, and to look again at his glucose levels cause the doctor mentioned they were "high" last time. So, he goes to the appointment, but although we had discussed him trying to get away with diet and exercise to control issues for now, I never mentioned to him what levels I knew were "good" versus bad, etc. Anyway, his HgA1C was 5.7 (which I know is in the normal range) and the doctor decided to put him on Metformin. And not just a minor dose to see what would happen but 2000mg a day within the first 10 days. . . .yeah, so I have been diagnosed type 2 for over 2 years, AND have had numbers as high as 9.1 when having blood tests done, and I take 2000 mg a day. Sounds kind of extreme, don't you think?

Well, we discussed it, I checked more of my information, and I emailed my sister-in-law who is an internist just to see what she looked with these numbers, and Keith decided he wants to just watch his blood sugar since I have a glucometer. Um, yeah, and it was 84 before dinner yesterday. . . without meds. Of course, today my battery died in the am, so we can't check it in the morning till tomorrow, but I am thinking he made the right decision for now. And I have an appointment with my doctor in late March so we will be having a discussion about this as well.

On another note. . .did you know it is National School Counselor's week this week? I had an inservice with principal and asst. principal today so we had some lunch, and I have been giving tootsie pops to my classes and anyone who stops by my office. Sometimes school counselors get a bad rap. Recently a radio station here said that "guidance counselors do that cause they can't do anything else". If I had not been driving I would have called to give them a piece of my mind. But, I know there can be "bad" ones out there. . .Just like in any other profession. I just don't like the idea that I fell into this cause I didn't know what else to do. I choose to do what I love, and this is it. So, thank your school counselor, or your kids, this week. I say they deserve it!!

Finally

And yes, its finally SuperBowl Sunday so all of the Steeler stuff you see on the news, on the local stations, and in the papers will be calming down. However, since the game has not started yet, I guess I can say that it could get worse if the Steelers end up winning the game cause then we will have 25 million evaluations of the game and players. Don't get me wrong, I am a Pittsburgh girl at heart so even though I am not the hugest fan of pro-football, I want to see my team win. . . .and Jerome Bettis (good old ND guy) is a main reason why I want to see them win.
So, I am here to say. . .I really had great intentions to blog more, but for some reason, I just have not made the time. I want to, but I just don't seem to do it. I guess I need to make the same statement again. . ."I have lots to say, and I want to get here to speak more often." Maybe this week I will try to "talk" daily as a challenge to myself.

I am working at DUI on Monday nights and also Saturday mornings currently. This makes my weekends short for sure. Yesterday, though, we hit the new Sam's and Wal**art near us to check out the size and to fight our way through the crowds shopping for food for today. I also got a new blouse, ordered a text I need for Psych class, and bought some Victoria's bath gels and lotions. We had a great dinner, came home and crashed. Today was surely a lazy day to be at home, but I did iron, clean up, get Valentine's gifts ready for nephew and niece, prep some food, and read a little. Oh yeah, and managed to see soem Charmed on the marathon. . .

Life is good. . .cold, a bit snowy, and surely hectic in this city of Steelers, but good. Have a great week. And I will be here each and everyday with something to say that is more than replaying my days.

It WAS the weekend

I can't believe its Sunday evening and I will be heading back to work tomorrow. But, it does tend to go fast when you do nothing much all weekend. Friday, I came home a bit early with horrible cramps, but felt OK enough by noon on Saturday to go to a home show, shop a bit at Michaels crafts and Lane Bryant, and have dinner at Outback Steakhouse. However, by night, I had horrible sinus pain and couldn't breathe.
So, here I am again, fighting a cold. I really think I should have made sure I got a flu shot, but I just didn't think of it when they were making the announcements. Two years ago, I was the healthiest and that was when I had the shot. Sometimes, being around sick high schoolers can make it worse.

This week will probably fly by because I have deadlines at work, a visit with L on Tuesday (who is doing better but still weak. . .more on her after I see her), and nothing much planned till Super Bowl Sunday. Since the Steelers are in it, a friend is having a party but I am pretty sure Keith and I will stay here. For one, I may need to get to bed since I work a long day on Monday. And for two, Keith would rather watch the game here AND our TV is bigger than the one our friend has. For the biggest game of the year (for my hubby) that means he would rather be at home.

On an entirely different note, I am going to be an aunt again. My sister-in-law from CA is pregnant after a long and trying time to get there. I am very happy for her and Jeff cause I know how much they have wanted to start a family. It is fun being an aunt. . .I just wish they lived closer to us.
Well, I am off to take more cold meds, and get ready for a work week. I know I need to get myself writing more, its just a bit hard to think about what to share somedays. . . .

Taking it one thing at a time

So, I have a busy week ahead. I have planning a banquet (small one--27 people) at a local restaurant, have tickets to see a play (Miss Saigon) on Saturday, AFTER I attend a meeting for Relay for Life with 2 people from work. In there, Keith and I also will be attending a blessing for my mother and Bill which means by the Catholic church since they can now be married by the church. Sunday, the Steelers are playing so there will be some get together of the friends circle, and then Monday its back to work both at day and at night. Hm. Maybe I felt sick today because of all I have coming up.

Whatever it was, I was home today feeling under the weather with stomach issues. Enough said, and I feel much better now.

I know things have been boring here, but I am not sure what things I want to discuss so far. And, it is still getting used to blogging again that is part of it. I know there are things to discuss, issues to voice opinions on, and life to report on, but for now, I am taking my days one at a time.

Friday. . .the 13th

Today would have been my grandfather's birthday. He has been gone for 3 years this month, but I still expect to see him when I go and visit my grandmother's home. It has not been easy for my Mom and her sisters since they have had to have care for my gram 24/7 since he died. They have daytime caretakers that she pays for, but at night, each of them takes a night or two to sleep there, and weekends are all theirs as well. My mom finally had enough mentally for many reasons, and stopped going on a regular basis (plus they travel to see my niece and nephew and brothers) so it was tough for her. Supposedly my gram is on an assisted living waiting list, but no one knows when there might be a place. It has been tough. And I know first hand cause I did help for a while but I really thought it was temporary and my schedule with 2 jobs just got to be too much.

Anyway, the computer is updated. I am happy about that, cause now we can use safari, can get rid of dial up at home, and things are working better.

Tomorrow is a day of errands, and I guess football for hubby in the evening. Notice, once again, not too much going on here in my life, but thanks to all who stopped in or emailed to let me know you got my message about the change. I do like having a place to "write and sort things out".

Day two

I really need to get my imac updated with OSX, and use either safari or netscape on it. I can't even get to my own blog when
I am using IE since it isn't as compatible with macs as is used to be.
OK, so things are a bit boring around my life right now. I am currently trying to get grades done for semester end this week, plan a small banquet for Junior Woman's, and recover from the upper respitory infection. I am still coughing and have sinus issues, but I do feel better. Last night, a killer headache hit, though, but sleep and a cold cloth on my forehead helped. . I never really thought it would work, but after Keith brought me one, the headache did subside.
It's Wednesday, its January. There isn't much going on. But it is day two of my new home.

I have missed blogging

Even though I had been neglecting my blog, I have missed it, so I am back again. I just decided to go with blogger and all the issues that come. I really don't have major complaints yet, and although I may be spoiled by having my "own" domain, I can live with this as long as it gives me a voice.