Last day in Ole Cali

Well, I'm just resting and getting ready for my overnight flight. I thought I would write thank you's and hopefully sleep for at least 5 hours. I got to see family and friends at my shower yesterday and got lots of wonderful gifts. The wind howled at about 40 miles an hour so we ended up having it here at my mom's house instead of the patio. We had carne asada (my favorite), cucumbers, chocolate dipped strawberries, chips and salsa dip, beans, and spanish rice. The strawberries were gone in a snap, but that's my fault because I only dipped about 36 and said, ahh, that's more than enough. Boy was I wrong. My sister made pink shirts that said bride, maid of honor, and mother of the bride. Very cute; although, she thinks I'm a lot smaller than I really am. It was fun to open the presents, and I could not get Craig out of my brain. He is going to love all the cooking stuff, especially the cookie scoop and cooling rack. I talked to dude yesterday and he was excited for me to come home, he said he made brownies. I reminded him that I wasn't coming hiome till Tuesday and he said, "I can't promise there will be any brownies left." I miss him so much. I even got a few gift cards that I will probably put toward the kitchenaid mixer. I got to go back to see Harmony and Kyndall today. Her official name is Kyndall Aulora Miller(I don't know how she spells her middle name, better check that out) I got to hold her for a long time today, she is so sweet, and makes me think about the possibility of having children someday. I said think!! That's all for now, can't wait to come back to the snow and fridgid temps. Woohoo!

California here I come...da da da da da dut da!

Well, I'm here in Cali and loving the weather-actually, it's a little warm. haha! My friend Joe picked me up from the airport Tuesday and we went straight to the beach. Hermosa beach in So.Ca is great. We ate at a place called Hennesey's; which by the way is right on the beach. We layed out in the sun and got a little tan. We walked up the beach to manhattan which was about a mile north and Joe got a piece of pizza, then we walked back. He saw some of his friends and we all played volleyball on the beach for about 2 hours. I have bruises all over my forearms, and they are so sore-what was I thinking? Funny enough, 4 out of 5 of them graduated from Illinois University. Haha. I guess Northrop Gruman recruits from there, trying to get Craig to apply. woohoo.
When I was headed toward Palmdale I got a call from Harmony asking if I could baby sit over night since she was still in the hospital after having her 3rd child. I said yes of course. Kambrie woke up at 10p.m. coughing and every 20min. there after, so basically I did not sleep because I was checking her temp. and making sure she didn't get scared. Pretty sure J sent that all the way here somehow. :) The kids were angels, and we had so much fun. Today, mom and I ate lunch with LaDonna and walked the mall looking for bridal shoes, no luck. Tonight I will be going to hang out with my sister. I'm hoping we can have some serious girl time.
As much fun as it is to be here and see everyone, I miss my dude, and Rem, and the cats. Miss you Dudee!!!

HomeComing

Well, I leave this Thursday to visit California. Harmony is due anyday,and mom and LaDonna are throwing me a wedding shower next Sunday. This will be my first shower-and Craig and I were so excited that we went ahead and registered at Bed Bath and Beyond and Target. Craig would not let me hold the scanner-he really enjoyed picking out stuff for our home, and we actually agreed on a lot of stuff-this is not normal for us. :) I saw a pair of Kate Spade shoes online that I love. Still too pricey. We took Remy with us to Chuck and Connie's. She came face to face with a huge coyote. She barked and raised her fur till it stuck up like a mohawk all the way down her back. Thinking about it now it was funny, but at the time I was so afraid that she would run at it and they would fight. My tubby lil Rem would be no match for this whopper of a coyote. It was about as big as a male german shepard. Yikes!! I went to my friend Amber's bridal shower today. It was very nice, and I won a plant for knowing 5 out of 15 English terms. The hardest one for me was jelly, that is really jello in England. Not sure what it had to do with weddings but it was fun. I get to see the kids on Tuesday-I'm gonna stay the night at Christi and Eric's so I can hitch a ride to the airport on Wed. I'm so thankful for them. I went Country line dancing a few weeks ago so I posted a pic of Jen and I from that night. Wish we lived closer. Easter is coming and I hope everyone remembers the reason for the season. Glory be...

Take a trip somewhere

Well, it's been just about a year since I've been home to California. I sometimes feel in a funk, but knowing I'm going home to visit always pulls me out. My best friend is due with her third child soon, a little girl. I was not there to hold her hand when the other two were born, but maybe I will be lucky and be there for this one. I leave March 25th and come home the 30th. It will be another short trip, but one much needed.
Craig and I worked a little on the upstairs this weekend. We poured mortar, layed a pan liner for our shower, and sanded more drywall. Woohoo! We need to test our plumbing now, so we will be working on other stuff until we can test it. Our list looks something like this, finish sanding the 2 bathroom walls, drywall the stairway, mud the stairway, prime the ceiling in the stairway, run a soil pipe and connect it, blah, blah...it goes on and on. The good news is, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the lights on our ceiling. It feels so good to make progress.
I see the chiropractor again tomorrow, just for an alignment. I am subing three times this week so far, yay! I will be starting to get stuff ready for summer swim team here in Shelbyville, ah, summer! Sounds so good.
Remy, Craig, and I went for a looong walk today. It was so nice outside we had to take advantage. We also watched the movie Australia-very good, I recommend it.
The only wedding news, Craig said he wants to make stuffed mushrooms for the occasion-yikes!

on to the next thing

Well I did it. I woke up this morning, got online, and applied for GRADUATE SCHOOL. Yikes. Like I need one more thing to pay for. I can have my middle school endorsement done this summer, meaning I can apply for junior high positions for Fall too. yay! I asked my advisor about teaching highschool-and that's another story. I can either try to take the content area test, which she said is hard, and if I pass-voila, I can teach H.S. Or I have to take classes, do practicum, and student teach all over again-No Thanks! I will just do my endorsement and start my administration classes. I think I have six years to complete-surely that's possible.
We are starting to get spring weather-and along with that comes tornadoes. RUN. Springfield had one rip through a couple of days ago-that's about an hour and half away. I think I'm going to put some chairs in the basement just in case. Last time I was down there for a tornado warning it was grose and I had nothing but nasty cement to sit on. I might take a margarita mixer with me too, just in case! :)

Quotes I like!!!

I don't need a baby growing inside me for nine months. For one thing, there's morning sickness. If I'm going to feel nauseous and achy when I wake up, I want to achieve that state the old fashioned way: getting good and drunk the night before.
Ellen DeGeneres, My Point and I Do Have One
US comedian and actress

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
Mark Twain
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.
Mark Twain
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Alan Watts

centerpieces and a New Tub!!

Well, today was the first day of the clock change, and we missed it. We ditched church because we woke up at 9:30(our time) It was really 10:30-crap! Felt pretty bad, but felt a lot better once we purchased our new bath tub-woohoo! It's awesome and we got it for a great price too. When we got it home and upstairs Craig sat in it for about 20 minutes, but he wouldn't let me take his picture-you'll just have to imagine it.
Connie and I worked on a centerpiece yesterday to see what it will look like. Here is the end result of one. I think it is absolutely beautiful. I have decided to use these, the short ones, and the eiffel towers. Christi and Connie helped me finish cutting and gluing all the save the dates together. They worked on finding addresses today too for those people who's addresses were unknown. We are having some trouble using outlook, and emailing it back and forth. Hopefully this week we will have them all addressed and in the mail-have to buy stamps-ouch!
We got to see the kids this weekend, I was so happy to see them. J is so sweet and told Caroline he missed her and gave her a hug when she got up from her nap. So cute. Caroline and J ran back and forth from Craig to the hallway and got all worked up right before bed-hilarious. I got to put little C to bed and it just made my day-she is so special. I also agreed to hold Sophi, she was too small for me last time-made me nervous. She is much bigger now and I felt more comfortable- how pathetic, I'm 28 and still nervous around newborns. haha. I got to feed her and change her, and we just had a great little time.
Harmony is getting ready to pop soon, today was her shower. I hate missing this. She thinks she might have the baby this week-I'm trying to see how many pennies I have to make a trip out really soon to see her. Still haven't heard any names, I'm still recommending Astrid or Aster. "You can't have LILLY" haha.
I am going to start spring cleaning this week, starting with my closet-wish me luck!

save the dates

Okay. Since I don't have an eye for these kinds of things, I need help with which card looks the best. I kind of like the plain one and the one with the ribbon over the writting. What do you guys think?
I also posted a pic of the fabric we got with our centerpieces. We are now thinking-brown satin table cloths, ivory chair covers and napkins, a brown sash on the chairs with a green thing(flower or something) tied in it. The gold runners or squares, and our flower vase with a few candles around.
Mom sent me a great shoe website that I might have found a pair of shoes on. Still want to shop around a little more before I decide.
My back feels a little better, but it's still not 100%. I go back again tomorrow. I have swam three days this week, stretched, and iced my back. Surely it's going to be better soon.
Chris and the kiddos are coming home this weekend, YAY! I can't wait. I miss those little boogers so much, and I know Craig is itchin to get some quality time with Caroline. She cracks him up. Hopefully the weather will be warm and J can run outside with Remy. Woohoo, good times.
"New News" I'm substituting tomorrow in Moweakwa. High School home economics. For some reason I feel like these kids are going to eat me alive. At least it's not math!

uh oh!

Well, went back to the chiropractor today. He asked me all kinds of questions; Am I tired alot, do I have aches and pains, yadayada. I of course answered yes why? He showed me my xrays and I almost cried, had to suck it in and not show him how disturbed I was. First thing, I saw a little half circle in my stomache and thought-"what in the world did I swallow", relax folks it's just my belly button ring. Then he got all serious and asked me if I ever wanted kids. I got serious too and said yah, like in the next year or so. He said belly button rings are not good for this, at least that's what they tell him in acupuncture school. The next thing I noticed was how, not on the line, my spine is. I knew I had scoliosis, but not like this. My pelvis is turned, my lower back is on the right side of the line, my middle back is on the left side of the line, and the top part of my back is way back on the right side of the line. yikes. It just looks painful. Why me? He said it can be managed, but will never be fully straight. The bad news, and I keep replaying it over and over in my head-he said, "you will wear out sooner than someone who has a straight spine," because of the pressure and stress it puts on my organs. WHAT?
He said that it will take a while, ie, lots of money to get my back comfortable and then we just have to manage it. He is a really nice doctor, just not a good time to tell me I will be spending money $$$ to do this.
I called Graywood today and told them I would take any job they had, too bad it was an answering machine.
On the lighter side, we got our save the dates back from the printer and I am going to cut and put them together this afternoon. I am on a strict swimming schedule thinking it might help my back, and stretching too.
Oh and one last thing. Unless you have verizon-I can't talk to you, ever, unless it's a weekend. My phone bill was outrageous.

Well I saw a pair of shoes I like. Unfortunately-they are a little out of my price range. Christian louboutin shoes are about $900. I will keep looking. Went to the chiropractor and had a little adjustment today-did not good, but I am supposed to go again on Wed. to have them show me my xrays and discuss what's going on. I don't care what it is, just fix me. :) Craig and I have decided to move our reception south about 100 yards to avoid some possible work being done at the lake around our wedding. It works out better anyway, because that's where I wanted it in the first place. Mom found a dress she likes, and I approve-very pretty. She also said she is done with our card box and is going to send it soon. I can't wait to see it. I printed up our guest list in a new application that will address all our envelopes for save the dates and invitations. Very exciting. Sorry folks, I know it's not very personal to print the addresses, but I like the idea!! Check out the shoes that I will not get and wish me luck on finding others that I like and can afford in this lifetime.