Category Archives: Stevie

Spring Break…

Spring Break…

…couldn’t have come at a better time. I am feeling incredibly burned out. I know I took on too much this year, and with my various roles-teacher, StuCo, mentor, AVID, etc- it’s really hurting me. On top of it all is the stress about the public education system and budget cuts throughout Texas. Rumors are flying, and each one just goes from bad to worse. So I know if I am still in the same place next year, I will need to be cutting back significantly for my own sanity. Even if my kids are as great as most of them are this year. 🙂

Saturday and Monday I did a lot of yardwork. We have two enormous live oak trees that apparently like to shed their leaves in the spring, not fall. Awesome. Allergies are going to start soon because now the new buds are coming out and with them, a fine dusting of pollen. Everywhere.

I had the opportunity to learn how to start a quilt this week. One of my co-workers has tried to get me to sew with her for over a year now. So, Tuesday, I finally took her up on her offer and spent the day starting a quilt. To all you out there who have done this several times… wow. I bow down to you. The process can be intimidating! Picking fabrics, cutting them so precisely, sewing them together just as precisely… it’s scary. But I’m excited. I think the overall quilt will look great.

Quilt Overall

This is how it will look basically overall… Essentially 8×10 squares

Quilt pt 1       Quilt Pt 2        Quilt pt 3

And here are some of the smaller parts- close-ups.

My “Theme” fabric that I used to tie in the remaining colors with was the one with the white-ish background and colorful circle/abstract flowers on it. All the colors are supposed to tie it with that.

Overall, I have really been enjoying the process.  At this point, I’ve managed to sew all the smaller squares into the foursomes, and the first 5 rows have been sewed into their strips. Eeek! I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much I’ve liked it and how well it’s been going!!!

Yesterday was probably the worst day of the break. Stevie had his first dental. Italian Greyhounds tend to have peridental disease due to the shape of their mouth, and to help with it, we’ve taken to brushing the pup’s teeth around 1x a week. However, we’re not always as good as we should be, so Stevie’s mouth wasn’t looking that great. I knew that we needed to get his teeth cleaned, but it was a disaster.

We were told to bring him in at 7:00-7:30am, and he should be good to go by 4:00. So I brought him in at the appointed time, but then the vets didn’t get to him until 2:00 or 3:00 pm! What is the point of that? Really? Anyway, so I was on edge all day and didn’t even get an update call until they put him under and started the work around 3:30pm. I was furious. They ended up pulling three of his cute little teeth in the front. 🙁

I called them at 5:30 PM, because they still hadn’t called me to let me know if he was ready for pickup. They closed at 6:00, so they said I probably should come in. So I come in, get instructions on care for him and medications, etc, and I pay the expensive bill. Finally, I see my poor, pathetic Stevie, groggy still from the medication and smelling of the anesthetic. I start to carry him out the door to the car, and he starts to bleed profusely all over my hand. Apparently they hadn’t thought to bandage the arm that they stuck the IV in, and so once he started moving a little, he was bleeding. I had to take him back in and ask for them to help clean him up and take care of his poor arm.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, anybody?

I didn’t sleep very well last night; any time Stevie moved, I woke up to make sure he was okay. He’s still not himself today, but at least he’s eating and looking a little better.

Now that my week is almost over, I just wish it could have gone on a little longer. There is always so much I want to do, ad never enough time to get done with everything! I haven’t even looked at anything work related. (Should I really admit that?) I just couldn’t bear the thought. I guess I should do some of it over the weekend before school starts again!

Farewell, Spring Break. Our parting comes all too soon.

Texas Snow Day, Y’all!

Texas Snow Day, Y’all!

Okay, so all my friends and relatives will totally laugh when you see what a “Snow Day” in Central Texas consists off.

Snow Day 2011

But this rarely happens. The temp. have been aroud 20 degrees F for the last 24 hours as well, and underneath the inch or so of snow on the roads is a fine layer of black ice. Central Texas isn’t really equipped to handle this sort of weather, so most of the smart businesses shut down. Not Jared’s, of course. But my school district did! So happy snow day to me!

And since Stevie and Bonnie aren’t the kind of dogs that are equipped for this sort of weather, I get them ready for the outside weather too!

Bonnie’s Snow Day

Bonnie getting ready to go play outside…

Stevie’s Snow Day

Stevie: “Ugh, what IS this torturous white stuff?!”

Not to mention that now the patio is covered with about an inch of snow, so he can’t even step outside without getting in the snow!

While I’m sad I will have to make this day up later, I will just have to make a diligent effort to enjoy my THREE DAY WEEKEND… and the fact that I got to sleep in, I am definitely staying in my PJs aaaaallllllllllllllllll day today, and I have a lot of good books to curl up with. Difficult, I know.

Happy Snow Day, y’all!

Way too cute not to share

Way too cute not to share

I found the camera today.

Oh yes. 🙂

So of course, the dogs were immediately the focus of my attention once I downloaded the pictures from our August cruise. (Just in case Bonnie decided to try to chew on the camera…)

Now, this is the reason I have such a hard time getting up to do things around the house:

Bonniferous     Stevie Football Sweater

How am I supposed to get anything done when these two dogs look at me like this every time I try to get up?

What sweet pooches. 🙂

Red Robin ain’t got nothing on this.

Red Robin ain’t got nothing on this.

Have any of you seen those Red Robin commercials where there are kids playing hide and seek, or the UK Grenadier Guards (The ones in the hats that aren’t supposed to move or talk no matter what) and they get a reaction when the phrase “Red Robin” is sung? (They have to respond “Yum”.)

Nuh uh. I can’t stand those commercials- so annoying.

I recently decided it was time for me to watch what I eat again, so I’m currently on the South Beach diet, phase 1. Meaning no carbs, no fruit, no sugar, really. That’s pretty difficult for me, but I’ve recently come to terms with it when I get to have delightful meals like Seafood Caesar Salad.

Seafood Caesar

NOW we can say YUM.

Shrimp grilled in EVOO and some minced garlic, a bit of crab, salad, and voila- A beautiful, tasty lunch!  Pretty fulling too. And a whole lot cheaper than eating out. I am pretty happy with the results so far-about 4 lbs in 6 days. (I promise, it’s necessary!)

I hope I can stay to this- chocolate and mexican food have been an integral part of my diet and I struggle not having them!

Besides trying to chill in my last week of true vacation and diet, the dogs are keeping me busy. We had a small playdate with a couple from Jared’s work that went really well. They have a puppy (27 lb puppy…) named Bonny. It was so much fun to watch Bonny chase a tennis ball, our Bonnie chase Bonny, and Stevie then chase OUR Bonnie.

Bonnie, Bonny, Stevie chase           Bonnie, Bonny, Stevie

Apparently Stevie’s the wimp- while Bonnie chased a dog 3 times her size, Steve went after a dog that’s smaller than him (1o lbs to his 13).

Bonnie’s also healed up amazingly well from her spay last week and has been pestering her brother nonstop. We are all happily busy and enjoying this summer weather!

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

I can’t believe I’m even saying that.

This time last year, we were in full-on drought mode, and making a run for the summer with the most 100 + degree days.  We were PRAYING for rain.

The reason that I am more unhappy about the weather is probably because my in-laws are here and we had some awesome plans that have now been washed away with the rain. We were able to check out The Hula Hut down town yesterday and walk around before the rain got too bad.

By the way, The Hula Hut and Mozarts are both at a very cool location- right on the riverfront, with some beautiful views. And the food was pretty awesome too.

Hula Hut

Today it has been raining NONSTOP, ALL DAY. Bad because

1) The dogs are wimps about going outside in the rain for bathroom breaks, meaning more accidents to clean up inside the house.

2) The dogs are wimps about going out in the rain,  meaning we can’t get some of their crazy ADHD energy out through a walk (which Bonnie desperately wants).

3) Today we were gonna hit up San Antonio: The Alamo and River Walk.

But no. It has to be all wet and stormy thanks to has-been Hurricane/Tropical Storm Alex. Thanks Alex. Now I get to watch Jared set up his SURROUND SOUND STEREO SYSTEM.

Despite our weather woes, it’s been fun having David and Phyllis here. We went to see the movie “Knight and Day” today to escape the gloomy weather, and for an action-comedy-romance movie (think along the lines of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) it was pretty good. Even though I don’t really care for Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz.

I’m just hoping the weather clears up soon so I don’t get cabin fever! There’s a lot I’d like to do while Jared’s parents are here… if the weather and my health allow it.

Because if it’s not one, it’s the other. So it goes…