2012 (Or Being Cliche)

Well, here I sit.  10:24 New Year's Eve (eastern time that is).  I'm going to cliche blog about my 2012.  Deal or skip it.  No big.  

Conveniently googled picture

Things that happened:

- Megan moved in (this started as insignificant, but ended up awesome)

- Mom surprised me for my birthday (awesome)

- She also bought me lots of fun birthday things while she was in Utah

- My life fell apart (not awesome, also generally this continued for the whole year)

- Went on vacation to Disney World again (good)

- Life continued falling apart (boo)

- Finished my first year of teaching

- Decided to move to Virginia

- Freaked and stressed for a few months about moving to Virginia

- Megan met Gentry (this is not my life, but I think it's significant and important and it's my list so you can deal)

- Generally acted like a huge bitch to the only people in my life that were nice to me (to be fair, this was due to the falling apartness of my life but I still don't get to act like that)

- Had a going away party for myself.  Loved it.  Some people mean a lot to me.

- Went on a going away type date thing with Brittany to Trafalga and Mexican food.  Almost passed out while I was there. Made a fool of self. 

- Moved to Virginia

- Got London

- Got a job

- Teach third grade now

- Still acting like a crazy person

- Planned next Disney vacation (this time with family)

Pretty much the end. 

Boots

On Black Friday I went shopping with my mom and bought a pair of black boots.  They're identical to my most favorite pair of brown boots that broke a few months ago.  I wore them a few times to school and the white house before I realized that I had two different boots. Stop judging me!  They're very similar and I got lots of compliments on them and everything.

A week or so ago I went back to the store to ask if they had the opposite pair tucked away in the back somewhere so I could purchase them.  No luck.

Today I went back with a slightly less ideal plan to find the two types and make my own opposite pair.  Sadly, they're sold out of one of the types.  I decided to just go ahead and buy a black pair of the type they still had and a brown pair to boot.  The sales girl said perhaps the manager would give me a discount.  He scoffed and said maybe if I had brought them back in the box unworn.  Rude.

I walked through the mall a little bit and then turned around.  I figured I would just go on wearing the mismatched pair and return the black ones.  When I got back to the shoe store the manager actually huffed and me and complained under his breath about how I was returning them five minutes after I bought them.  I controlled myself and left.

But here's the problem.  I've had some less than savory customer service interactions in the last several months (the car wash that damaged my brand new car among others).  So, I tell them I'm not coming back and my family won't come back and I'll tell all my friends not to go there...but no one gives a shit.  My dollar doesn't have enough power.  In these giant businesses with multiple branches and tons of customers from miles around, no one cares where I send my dollar or if I ever come back.  And it's kind of obnoxious and disappointing.

The end.  Whine over.

Glee Post-Grad

Guys, I know it's embarrassing or something, but I need to blog about Glee because it's making me have all the feels (not that it takes much these days). Anyway, so I have opinions about this new season and the focus on new characters and everything and I don't always like it.

Also, Kitty is a bitch and I hate her SO much.  More than I ever hated Quinn.  I don't even hate her in the way that you can hate and still find someone an interesting character you want to watch.  I just hate her.

Now, moving on since that's out of my system.

Slaine's duet and super-hero showdown with the Warblers? Help me.

The red-shirted throwback to "Don't Stop Believin'" in the premiere? I love you.

"Some Nights"? Never stop singing forever and ever amen. 

I'm an embarrassment to myself. This is likely no surprise.  Especially if you follow my twitter feed.

The Christmas Story

My sister tells Tori stories before bedtime.  Tori says "Momma, tell me a story about a unicorn" so Heather tells a story about Princess Victoria who saves the unicorn or whatever.  If she wants a story about a shark then Princess Victoria fights a shark and wins.  Last night she wanted a Christmas story.  Here's the exchange.

Tori: Mom, tell me a Christmas story. 

Heather: Ok, I'll tell you the Christmas story.  Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl and her name was Mary.  The Angel came an told her "You're going to have a baby and his name will be Jesus."

Tori: No Mom!  Not Mary's baby Jesus. Toria's baby Jesus. 

Heather: No, it's Mary's baby Jesus. Mary and her husband Joseph traveled a long long time to stay in the inn.  There wasn't any room so they had to stay with the animals.  Then the baby Jesus was born and Mary and Joseph snuggled him.

Tori: No, not Mary.  That's Toria's baby Jesus.  Tori snuggled the baby Jesus.

My sister is building a slightly self-centered child.  It's hilarious. 

A [Really] Short Story

Just for funsies because I haven't blogged in awhile here's a short story I wrote to introduce my kids to realistic fiction tomorrow.  There will be another story (written by a second grader) to go with it and we'll pick out the features of realistic fiction.

Please note: I do not think this is some kind of literary masterpiece or even good, I just needed something to blog.

"Mom! I'm home!" Sophia screamed as the door slammed closed.  

"How many times have I asked you not to slam the door?" was her mother's exhausted reply. 

"Oops!  Sorry Mom!" Sophia answered, mouth already full of chocolate chip cookies (her favorite after school snack). 

It had been a long day and Sophia was glad to be home.  Glad to be away from that meanie Alice.  Most of all she was glad that she wasn't sitting in the principal's office anymore.  Besides, it was Alice that started throwing food in the first place.  Sophia just threw some mashed potatoes back at her...and accidentally hit Mr. Johnson. 

Sophia had had enough trouble for one day.  She would finish her cookies quickly then try and go upstairs to her room - hopefully without having to explain what happened to her mom.  As she swallowed the last bite Sophia grabbed her backpack...and the phone rang. 

"Hello" her mother answered the phone. "Yes, this is Mrs. Knight." Sophia continued to sneak toward her room. "Principal Brooks?  Oh no, what happened this time?" Sophia was almost around the corner when her mother did the snap.  The snap that meant "you better come here this instant and not make a sound or you're grounded for a month."  Sophia turned around and walked, feet dragging, toward her mother.  So much for no more trouble. 

I Need to Talk About Politics

Guys, I'm having trouble deciding who to vote for.  I posted a little bit about it on facebook, but I didn't want to get too much into it there.  Here's my problem: both guys are smart, and both have ideas that make sense.

I'll give one example to explain my thoughts, then I'll leave you alone.

Good old Brother Mitt says that keeping the tax rate low for the extremely wealthy helps grow the economy.  I see the logic here.  If the rich have more money they will spend more money.  If they're spending more money on stuff, there have to be more people employed to make this stuff and sell the stuff and pack and ship the stuff.  I know that's grossly simplified, but I get his point. 

Barack says the rich are rich and should definitely pay more taxes.  They can afford it.  That money can be used to help the poor and out of work.  It can be invested in all the things taxes pay for like education (hello, I'm a teacher and this matters to me), and infrastructure  etc.  Also, why should the rich get a break that the poor (who seemingly have no breaks ever) don't? Even the principle of the thing seems backward. Again, I definitely simplified this to a awful level, but I get his point too.  

So, how do I decide?  How do I get past their awful attack adds and the nasty debacle of a debate the other night and choose a candidate?  

Right now, I can't.  So I'll just blog my frustration. 

P.S. Holla to anyone who still reads my blog despite my irregular updates. 

Not My Party, But I Cried

Yesterday was my brother in law's birthday.  None of you really care about that and I'm not going to write a post about all the great things about him or anything.  Boring.

We threw an Avengers themed party for him because he'd never had an awesome party with decorations and we're weird.

There were a few presents, but the best came from this guy.

He is very open with his emotions.

So a few days ago Billy (that's my brother in law) dropped his iPhone and broke it.  Boo.

I made him try on clothes and ask his mom's opinion.  He hates shopping. 

And Gabe thought of a brilliant birthday present.  He gathered up all the money he'd gotten for losing a tooth and a few other things (about 24 dollars) and put it in an envelope.  And gave the whole thing to his daddy to replace his phone so he wouldn't be sad. 

Started football three weeks late and still the best on his team (not an exaggeration). 

I'm a sap and I had a few tears. Billy told him he was entrusting the money to the Bank of Gabe so they could go do a fun boy activity sometime. 

Yes, he is enjoying shark week. 

What a precious kid.