A list of 5 things

1. I need to set a reading timer or something. I've been reading before bed and I just don't stop when I should stop and then I go to bed late and then I'm reminded that this is why I prefer audiobooks these days. I get too involved in the physical act of sitting and reading and nothing else gets done.

2. I have to actively force myself to make something other than pancakes for dinner most nights.

3. My class won a pajama party yesterday. This was a school-wide incentive, because I would never offer that up.  I'm super competitive, so I really wanted to win that contest (and we DID), but of course the prize is a pajama party. Much like adults, pajamas are the favorite attire of children.

This Schmidt moment sums up my everyday life. That's why I use it all the time.

4. I didn't wear pajamas.  I still don't believe in pajama day.

5. If you're still thinking about self-tanner, here's my post from Monday...I plan on using it again this weekend.

Even though we're getting plummeted with rain and snow again this weekend. I had previously signed up for a 5K tomorrow (ha ha) and I might just not go if it's cold and snowy/rainy. Maybe they'll cancel. Coloradans aren't exactly tough. 

Kidding. Kind of. 

I won't compare your baby to my dog...

...because I understand that babies and dogs are different types of mammals.

(This is written with an air of satire, but not really...take it how you will.)

Jett wouldn't pose for me. Scout did, though.

Articles like this one are confusing.  By reading the comments, I can tell that people are genuinely wondering if it's a satire. I don't think it is. I think it's just a mom writing about how she feels. But the fact that many assume it to be a satire is pretty telling.

I came across it because one of my Facebook friends "liked" it and also liked the HuffPost.  I generally don't take much that they say seriously. They'll hire anyone.

Most of the comments on the "article" are along the lines of So people without kids aren't allowed to be tired? Aren't allowed to feel/be broke? Aren't allowed to be busy? 

But I'll tell you why I won't compare your baby to my dog: I'm a learned individual and I understand that dogs and babies are, in fact, different species. Both living things are choices that we decide to care for, but that's where the similarities might have to end. They both require an extreme amount of care, but in different ways. For example, you can leave a dog alone most of the day and you can't do that with a child. You can also take a child with you places that a puppy cannot go. You can't leave your kid in the car, you can leave your dog in the car (temperature permitting), and so on.

There are some similarities. I've taken sick days to take dogs to the vet or take care of them in case of emergencies. I hear you can do that with kids too (note the satirical tone).

**This is written to the plural "you". There is no one in my mind as I write this (childless, yet still tired) at 10pm on a weeknight.**

However, I won't tell you I "know how you feel" when you mention your baby/child/children, because I don't have a child to talk about. But because you talk about your child a lot, I draw on the only comparison I know: taking care of a puppy.

It's ALL I have to add to the conversation.

If you don't want to hear the occasional puppy tale (tail...ha ha), don't trap me in a childcare conversation. Because puppy talk is all you can possibly get out of me. I'm just trying to relate and keep conversation flowing. But I've never said "I know how you feel", because I don't.

The next thing that will happen though comes with the territory of my job...if you have a child and you want to talk about your kid/kids all the time, please don't hate me if I talk about the 30 kids I spend all day with. I don't want to talk about my job all the time. I really don't. I spend enough time there and I rarely talk about it at home. But if you're talking about your kids, it's (again) ALL I have to add to the conversation.

Unless you want me to talk about my dogs.

Cleaning out my bookmarks

I have way too many things bookmarked.

Cleaning out those links, here's some things worth sharing.

Let's start with pictures.

I love this shirt and I would wear it often.  I think that's my favorite movie.

This is something that I think about almost every time I leave the house. Not that I would worry about becoming a zombie, but if I'm stuck in the apocalypse, I better be wearing something practical. Is that weird? Like, I have 3 pairs of older sneakers in a tub in the basement because, even though I don't use them anymore, I think that it'd be nice to have extra serviceable shoes around when everything goes south.

Jana posted this the other day. 27 Sweary Office Products and I immediately sent the link to my coworker. I don't know what that says about me.

This article about a woman who writes a response to why she won't upgrade her wedding ring.
I have to say that upgrading wedding rings is a pet peeve of mine. Unless you don't have a ring and get one later or there's some kind of extenuating circumstances, why would you not WANT to keep the ring that symbolized so much from that time in your life? I wouldn't be able to give mine up simply because it's been with me through some very rough times in the last 7 years. It's seen that history with me, and it's a reminder of how far we've come. I kind of think of it as an evolving, living thing that represents everything we've gone through in the last, again, 7 years.
When people upgrade just to upgrade, I want to gag. Hashtag priorities, amIright?

This is a TED Talk from a few years ago, but I saw it a few weeks ago. It's about why dieting doesn't work. If you're struggling, it's worth a listen.

As someone who has a home-sales business and has a regular job (I'll steer away from the word "real" here), I still don't know how I feel about this. I think I bookmarked it because I wanted to agree or disagree but the whole thing is kind of an annoying piece of self-justification (is that a word?) and I don't feel like thinking about it. Thoughts? It's about whether or not MLM businesses and the like are real businesses.

I might have to make this a regular blog feature. I have so many things bookmarked because I, obviously, had plans to share them but never did.

White is a bold move

I read a book a few weeks ago and I didn't love it and it started out in a weird way and I thought, Wow, that's a bold choice, Neil Gaiman.

That reminded me of the quote from The Office and now I can't get it out of my head:

And that quote was also going through my head as I wore this white dress to work last week.

The color on this is a little wonky. 

The sun was super bright and you couldn't see anything before I adjusted it.

Also, I was trying to keep Jett at bay. He was ready to jump on me.

This dress is on Old Navy's website. I got it about a month ago in some half off sale, plus a coupon, and only paid $12. My biggest concern was that it would be see-through (the only see-through thing in this picture appears to be my skin...this was before self-tanner).

The dress is actually really thick, quite comfortable, has a little stretch and a side zipper, and is much better than I'd expected.  I'd recommend it. Shopping online at Old Navy is always like a flipping a coin, right?

Here's to Tuesday.  Why are Tuesdays so hard?

R+F self-tanner is for everyone!

Seriously. If I can do it, you can too.

I put this on around 6pm, after I showered*. I took the "after" picture around 10am the next morning, but the color is supposed to appear within 2-4 hours. (I was in bed by then.)

I let it dry for an hour with shorts on before I put pants back on.

It's a very light-weight foam that dried awfully quickly. In fact, the few little mistakes I did make (just being honest) were because it dried quickly and I probably didn't put enough of the product on to begin with. I'd never used a self-tanner before.

However, all in all, it came out just fine!

And the self-tanner itself made my legs softer and smoother than any lotion I'd ever tried. I would use it again immediately just for that effect.

Anyway, I'd never used self-tanner before and was even scared to try this. My two co-workers bought it from me and raved about it so I had to get on board.

The retail price is $24 for a bottle that will probably last me the whole season. I might put it on every other week. The Preferred Customer price is $21. 

You can order here if you'd like to try it out for yourself! It would also be very easy to add to your bi-monthly order if you're already a PC.

*I don't always shower and turn in for the night at 6pm. It was Friday. I was exhausted. Plus we'd had a fund run at school and I was still kinda gross and sweaty.

Friday Phone Drop

In recent weeks, several people I know IRL have found me on Instagram and I don't have a good reason to not be friends with them so now I feel weird about posting on Instagram. In the same way that I feel weird about posting on Facebook. It's almost like I don't want to share or something.

I'm obviously still under the delusion that stuff I publish on here can't be found, seen, or read.

However, effort is required to find my blog because I don't post it all over Facebook, so we'll just go with the fact that *maybe* IG followers can get to it and I'll just happily speak to my blog community, sharing all those things I don't put on social media.

Here's some things from the week...

I ordered pens online. Because convenience is always my #1 motivating factor.

 The week started like this, and now it's going to be in the 70s today. I'll take it.

How we all feel getting out of bed on Friday:

I'm supposed to be fixing this flat tire and I'm procrastinating it until forever. Or until I need the four-wheeler. I DON'T KNOW HOW.

Finished this and started the next one in the series. There's only three of them. It's not the best thing I've ever read but it's a nice pass-the-time-kinda-thing while I walk the dogs. I'd rate it at a solid B-.

Happy Friday!

My $35 worth

Coat: JCPenney's // Skirt: Loft // Sweater: Target 

All of these clothes are at least a year old. Mix/match/shop-your-closet/etc.

I'm also wearing these booties, which are also 3.5 years old. 

This is not a springtime coat, but we've not had very springtime-ish weather this week, so it fits.

I bought this in the fall of 2011 for $35 at JCPenney's in Anchorage and I've worn it all over the country ever since. Ever fall and spring, it's my go-to jacket. It still looks at good as new.

Here it is in Boston in 2011.

All I remember from this picture is being exhausted from climbing up the monument at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The coat was removed during that. 

And on a beach in Maine that same week.

We've gotten around, my coat and I.

If you can find a jacket that has the structure of a coat but feels like a sweatshirt, I highly recommend it.

And as soon as I get home from school, the dogs have to sniff around a bit.

I can't stay home all day, I can't stay home all day, I can't...

At least twice a year, I get all introspective and start to wonder why I do what I do. Why do I work when so many military wives don't?* Granted, a lot of those military wives have kids they are taking care of all day long, but a lot are stay-at-home-wives. Why not me?

There's many reasons why I keep working...
#1 It's nice to be able to use my degree.
#2 My degree has been paid off for years now and I've required no extra certifications, so my salary is just my salary. I'm not working to pay off loans.
#3 It helps me stay sharp (this sounds dumb, but it's true)
#4 It doesn't make me depend on Scott's schedule. If he's gone for days at a time (or, you know, months), I have other things to focus on.
#5 I didn't have a job, I guarantee you I would stay home most days and studies have shown it's good for people to leave the house (right?).

The downsides are that my schedule doesn't always fit with Scott's and I can't really travel when he's not here. A lot of military wives go home, to wherever home is, during deployments. I've never done that.

That doesn't mean I haven't entertained the idea of taking on the role of army wife full-time. I actually miss a lot of gatherings and get-togethers because of my job. Most of those things are during the day. And when I'm forwarding FRG emails at 6am, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just not have to do that.

Drinking hot chocolate out of my mug from Germany. Sent by Scott during his travels last year.

Here's an example...an acquaintance posted on Facebook about how she got everything in order for her husband's change of command.  I'm not knocking the SAHM gig (eh, maybe I'm indifferent toward her though), but I, too, prepared for my husband's change of command ceremony. 

In case you're wondering why Scott didn't do this stuff himself, the change-of-command ceremony refreshments, etc is usually the responsibility of the family and Scott was busy with the actual taking command part. He was working 15-18 hour days.

My day(s) went like this:

I took a day off work so I wrote sub plans. 

Then I went to Costco by myself after work and bought hundreds of dollars worth of food and drink

(this was the week before Christmas...that should set the scene for Costco). 

Then I got up super early the next morning (ceremony was at 10am), drove super far in morning traffic to the Dunkin' Donuts and spent hundreds of dollars more on donuts and coffee. 

Then I set it up mostly all by myself, spent all day hanging around his office, talking to people, etc. 

That night, I had to go to an army Christmas party.

The next morning, I got up and went to school, cleaning up both a mess from the students and getting a terrible report from the substitute. Exhausting, mentally and physically.

I believe it was also Christmas party day at school, so there was so much to do that I think I've honestly blocked a lot of that week out.

Another example of being a working army wife: 

I dropped Scott off for deployment #2 at 1am on a Thursday night, back in December 2011. By 8am, I was in my classroom, putting math problems on the board and trying to stop crying before the students got there. 

Obviously I don't know how long we'll be in Colorado or where we'll go to next. When we talk about it, the possibilities seem endless. I could tell you the front-running locations/jobs, but it changes daily. It's extremely unsettling to not know, but it's also exciting. I came to a peace a long time ago, not knowing what's next. I'm okay with it. When I mentioned that I was already bored with Colorado (granted, I do tend to bring boredom upon myself...as the great Betty Draper would say), Scott asked why and I explained. I ended with We (I) haven't even been here for two years. You've conditioned me to constant upheaval. This just doesn't feel right. 

For which he apologized and that wasn't what I was looking for. I've changed SO much in the last 7 years. My whole outlook and viewpoint have adapted to whatever it is now. And sometimes I don't even know what my outlook is, which is kind of scary. I do start to fear that I won't be happy anywhere. I mean, is that what it's coming down to?  Would I like to live closer to family? Yes. Am I afraid to move back to the east coast after 6+ years of living west of the Mississippi? Yes.

Regardless, being a working military wife has its plusses and minuses. Plus: the time goes by A LOT more quickly. Minus: when Scott sends me a message asking what I'm doing at 8am, I'll send him a picture that looks like this:

Good, bad, or indifferent, it is what it is. I'm obviously not the only working army wife, but being in the minority is an interesting feeling.

*After 3 bases, this is the trend that I've noticed. I realize many military wives work. I just haven't come across very many. 

Stitchfix Stuff

I got a Stitchfix box over the weekend. I would've taken these pictures outside, but the weather was awful. Maybe next time.

The big change with this box was that I actually requested jeans.

They seem to send me a pair randomly every couple of months and I figured I'd go with it and actually lay out the specifics of what I want. Currently, I only have one or two pairs of jeans I've worn in the last year (I know...).

My notes were: 

"Long", as I've gotten a few too-short pairs and "Dark wash".  

My stylist really came through this month with these:

I believe they're a Nordstrom brand and, at $58 with my styling credit, they were reasonably priced. Good jeans are hard to find and maybe I'd wear them more if I had a pair that I felt were truly flattering and weren't falling down all the time. 

It says Straight, but they have a higher waist and a little flare.  I had a black tank on here, underneath this sheerish pink shirt they also sent.

I actually liked the pink shirt, but I hate shirts that you have to wear "second shirt" underneath. It's like, what's the point???

But I didn't like the shoulder cut-outs. I might be conservative, but I feel like it's just too iffy when you teach elementary school. And I really do dislike layering shirt upon shirt for reasons other than warmth.

So this dress was a no from the start because it was Denver Bronco colors and I can't abide by that. It was also REALLY heavy and not summery at all. I found it kind of unflattering and uncomfortable, overall. 

This yellow sleeveless blouse was supposed to be tucked in, but it was too big. So when I tucked it into this extremely high-waisted pencil skirt, it looked like I had an innertube around my waist and it was just weird. I liked the shirt, but you can see I had to layer a tank under it and when it's 90 degrees out in the summer and fall, that's not what I'm going for. Also, it was just too big. 

The skirt looked like Mary Poppin's carpet bag suitcase, but it was VERY comfortable and soft. Like sweatpants, actually. But I couldn't get over the pattern. 

I keep telling Stitchfix I want neutrals I can mix and match. Someday they might listen. 

The only thing I kept was the jeans and I'm satisfied with that. There's few things worse than going shopping and trying things on the in the dressing room, so I'll try again next month.  It's like an addiction.

Necessary referral link (because I'm a blogger).

My Weekend...

...started with a giant pile of things to sort through at work.

My view on Friday when I got home from work. We spent the weekend sequestered at home because there were tornadoes, hail, and thunderstorms in Colorado on Friday night, and a blizzard on Saturday and into Sunday.

So my work continued at the kitchen table, still chipping away at piles of school stuff.

*I also spent a fair amount of time watching Orphan Black while I did said schoolwork. Have you watched this show yet?? You need to. 

*And I cleaned.

*I talked to my co-worker, who has the stomach flu (an actual doctor diagnosis), so now I'm just kind of waiting for that...we share everything. Sigh. 

*I got a Stitchfix box and that was the most exciting part of my weekend. Details to follow.

(You can see the Stitchfix clothes on the kitchen table in that picture up there.  They're in my pile o' stuff to take care of before the weekend's over.)

*Oh! Jett hit a major milestone. I had to share it with Scott via text, like a proud parent. 

I threw a treat to Scout and he missed it. Jett snatched it up and, when I gasped and said NO, he spit it back out and backed away slowly. 

And then I kept pushing Jett away because he wouldn't leave me alone when I was trying to do work and Scott said he won't leave me alone because he knows I'm his master and he's looking for direction. .....Sure. 

*I can see that the east coast had a nice weekend, weather-wise. Maybe next week it'll be our turn??

*Also, I've realized that I'm writing these weekend posts and Currently posts because I want to prove that I'm passing this deployment in a productive manner. I'm SO glad I have this blog as proof that I didn't (exactly) piddle away the deployment in 2012. 

Here's to....Monday.

This is my favorite gif of late. 

Skirts and Patterns

I wore this skirt a few months ago and Scott told me I look like that teacher lady from TV. I knew he was talking about Jessica Day on New Girl.  I have a hard time resisting a flouncy skirt and this one was only $12ish from Old Navy. It has little white polka dots.

This was Monday.

My floor isn't dirty..it's antique, I swear.

And the skirt is nice and wrinkled from a day of school, but you get the idea.

I also had a conversation with coworkers about how I don't wear pants. 

I really don't and I realize that is pretty odd. 

I have like 4 pairs, including jeans, because I never wear them. I prefer thick leggings (with pockets = kinda like pants) or dresses. Sometimes even skirts are too much work because you have to find a top to match. 

Or somewhat match.  I had this idea for pattern mixing and didn't go through with it because I got on Pinterest at 6am and noticed that all the pattern mixing was same color/different pattern. These are the few outfits I could find that mixed pattern AND color (which is what I was planning to do). I was basically looking for validation of my pattern mixing idea and couldn't really find it. When you can't find something on Pinterest, it's something that doesn't actually exist. 

Therefore, I didn't go through with it.

And I think I just wore a dress that I wear all the time. 

And then I went to gap.com and ordered a new dress because I was annoyed that it was only Thursday. It was on sale. 

This was all before 7am. 

S&T 4/14: The Final One!

+I planned on a blog post yesterday (of the what-I-wore variety), but my Tuesdays, ironically, look a lot like they did two years ago, so that did NOT happen. Just add in two dog walks per day and a 30 minute commute and it's pretty much the same.

+Last week, I made fun of people for not being able to spell.  After a Skype snafu over the weekend, Scott sent me this and said he couldn't find me on Skype because I had three accounts and, on one, my name was spelled wrong.

He wanted me to point out that I, too, make mistakes. But I think that was just a fluke. Because I do somehow have three Skype accounts and that's probably because I couldn't remember passwords or something and I just created another one as a solution.

We could also point out his sentence structure errors in that conversation, but apparently nothing like that counts in text messages.

+I've been super crabby all week. Short with coworkers, impatient with strangers, etc. I realized after a few days that it's because I have a book hangover. I just finished 13 audiobooks in a row and now I don't know what to do with my life. It's kind of awful. I just feel kind of confused about everything right now.

+I've been ordering from chewy.com for over a year now and this crabby feeling was just amplified on Tuesday when I tried to order more dog food. I have an autoship set up, but I go in and re-order manually because, like I said, I have trouble with things like this.

When I clicked to ship, I got this.

It was just one more thing I couldn't cross off of my to-do list for whatever reason and was very upsetting. It seems like for everything I cross off, two more things need to be added.

I contacted customer service and they were wonderful, explaining that the food had been discontinued in that size and I was all why-doesn't-it-just-tell-me-that-in-the-error-message???
And they were nice and sent four 6-pound bags at the same price of the 24-pound one, but now I have to find a new dog food.
Anyway, they were too nice because I wasn't very nice in my initial email. But holy cow did I appreciate that. I needed to see the "peace, love, and pugs" signature line on a Tuesday morning because it made Tuesday a little less terrible (if that's possible).

So, gold star to chewy.com (as Gretchen Rubin would say).

+And just for fun, here is the first Stuff and Things link-up post I did two years ago.

Since this is the last Stuff and Things link-up, I do want to thank you all for your participation over the last few years. And thank you to Joey for being such a great friend and doing this link-up with me! My blog, God-willing, isn't going anywhere, but Thursdays will be my own again.

Cheers to almost-Friday!

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March Books (the month of Rose Gardner)

Daddy, Stop Talking by Adam Carolla B+
I'm drawn to Carolla's books. They're laugh out loud amusing. My favorite part of this one was when he was interviewing his 8 year-old son about why he didn't participate in crazy hair day at school. The kid said, "It's pointless! It doesn't move the needle!".  THAT is my kind of kid. Just a few weeks ago we had Wacky Wednesday at school and I was a non-participant. Why? Because I was given all of 18 hours notice (first of all) and because it doesn't move the needle.
If you're looking for a funny book, I liked this one.

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank A
Maybe this was just a southern mystery that was reminiscent of Sookie Stackhouse. Maybe a lot of it was annoyingly unbelievable. But I liked it. And I kept going because I enjoyed it a lot.

And then the rest of the series...

Twenty-Nine and Half Reasons A-
Still good. Not as good as the first one. But good.

Thirty and a Half Excuses A
Really good. Character development is happening and things are getting interesting.

Thirty-One and a Half Regrets A+ (This is where I started giving 5 stars on Goodreads...)
My favorite one yet. I like this narrator better actually. MUCH BETTER now that I think of it. And I really couldn't stop listening. It's like you know what's going to happen but you really want to see how the characters get there. For 97% of the book, I was TEAM MASON. For the last 30 minutes, I was TEAM JOE. It's such a predicament. Like, seriously...I can't decide.

Thirty-Two and a Half Complications A
Firmly holding onto my TEAM JOE status.

Picking Up the Pieces (Book 5.5, a Rose Gardner Novella) A+
Short and sweet and covers the time/distance between books 5 and 6. I didn't read the first novella (Falling to Pieces, after book 3) but this one really adds to the character development. It lets you see the different POVs, and I almost (for a second) felt bad for Violet.

Thirty-Three and a Half Shenanigans A
More plot development. Character storylines are getting more detailed.

Ripple of Secrets (Book 6.5, novella 3) A++

#TEAMJOE

Also, this is all about character development. I both like and hate that the author is creating empathy where there was none previously.

Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments A-
This one was starting to lose me in the middle and then it picked up in the last hour and the ending was very interesting.

Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies A
How long until the next book comes out? 
I would love to see this as a TV show. I was loving the end of this book and I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT. #teamjoe #teamjoe #teamjoe (hopefully)

(oddly, no picture of this book)

Should you read these books? Yes, if you like the southern mystery genre. It was like the best parts of the Sookie Stackhouse series without all the faerie stuff.  HIGHLY recommend. It might be because I grew up in a small town, but I can understand the dynamics very well and it's believable. Also, I enjoy the way they focus on the mundane AND the bigger plot developments. Some of it is corny (Mason is kind of corny in general), but it all blends well together and, I think, makes for a generally compelling story.

------------------------------------------

That brings my book count for the year up to 20. Not a ton, but I told myself I wouldn't stress out over trying to read all the books. Or, in my case, listen to all the books.

Also, I don't really want to even talk about how much I've been spending on audiobooks. I will say that these Rose Gardner mysteries aren't available at either of my libraries and I don't have a lot of time to sit and read anyway. Let's file it under "entertainment". I don't go to the movies or anything. This is just my self-imposed entertainment budget for the month.

-------------------------------------------

Also, I tried Room. I couldn't do it. The narration done by a 5 year old who can't speak in proper English (yet seems to know a lot of big words like gnash??) pushed me over the edge. Maybe I'll still watch the movie if the opportunity arises. The book just wasn't for me. I tried the audioversion (download from the library) and read a few pages of the paper copy. Neither were impressive in my opinion.

And I'm re-reading The Wilder Life. I highly recommend it.

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What's the best book you read in March?

Linking up with Jana and Steph!

Currently (six)

Because I always start with what I'm watching...

I started Orphan Black on Amazon. It's kind of mesmerizing. But I'm only a few episodes in.

Trying...to catch up on TV shows. It's not working. I am an entire season behind on TWD, I never watched the finale of Downton, and I haven't watched Grimm or Once Upon a Time since November. At this point, I might as well just wait for them to arrive on Netflix/Amazon, even though I have all of it DVR'd. And clearly I'm still looking for new shows to watch (see above)

Reading...The Gambler.

Can't stop, won't stop with these books. I've already gotten two friends to try them out. They're extremely predictable and kinda dorky books, but it's nice to get lost in a fictional world every now and then. Swank's pretty skilled in characterization. I feel like I'm listening to a rom-com.

But now I'm out of books in the series and out of credits at Audible, so I'll be going back to podcasts for awhile. Sigh.

Finishing....11.22.63. James Franco is wonderful. I liked the ending. The miniseries on Hulu was much less gory than the book. And it's probably not even "gory", really. I just don't read many King books.

Enjoying...The Catch. Who knew the chick from The Killing had personality? I really like her in this.  And did you know that Kate Atkinson, author of the very thought-provoking book Life After Life, writes The Catch? No wonder I like it...

Skyping...

Trying to get Scout to look at the screen and he refused.

Playing...bingo with coworkers from last year.  Old lady status, cemented.

Noticing....that Colorado's Republican convention was happening at the Broadmoor World Arena on Saturday. Colorado opted to not do a caucus OR a primary this year. I don't pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the process and I think Colorado has an awful state government (they're bad at things...roads, schools, etc), but I can't vote in Colorado anyway. Still an Alaska resident.

Buying...protractors. Because if I don't buy them, the students can't use them. I had been borrowing a set all last week but that obviously can't go on forever.

And while I was there, using up a gift certificate at Banks School Supply, I came across some duck stickers.  I'll be sending them to Scott. In case you don't know, he spends his waking hours, and several sleeping hours, duck-hunting. No ducks in Afghanistan.

Well, now there will be.

I hope he reads this.

Mixing Patterns (+Jett)

No camera card and I'm finally in the mood to take pictures of my clothes. That's a very odd coincidence. 

And I told you Jett never leaves me alone. 

I realllllly like mixing patterns and I've been wearing this outfit since September. This is the first time I got the gumption to take a picture and...no camera card. 

The skirt is Loft (2 years ago), and the tank is from JCPenney and has no shape but I love the pattern, so I put a sheer pullover from Old Navy over it.

Seriously, Jett...

I've worn a skirt every day this week now that I think of it. 

These are just black flats from Target. We're state testing this week, so I have to stand all day. 

Practicality always wins. 

And I should probably take my own advice and use some self-tanner.