Comfessions

Yes, "com"fessions. Because that's how I typed the title when I was tired and that's how I'm going to leave it. Because this is a confessions post.

1. I was more than a little put out by the fact that I had to spend Wells' morning nap trying to figure out what was wrong with my Kindle. All my books disappeared and I had to set it up from the factory settings. I still have no idea what happened. During nap times, I have a list of things I like to accomplish and I was willing to trade off some of those things in order to read for a bit yesterday (because the book was that good), and instead I ended up trouble-shooting for 45 minutes.

2. The amount I could possibly care about baseball is so minuscule that I don't even try to pretend. The same goes for basketball and March Madness.

3. I often think about Friday blog posts, in blogland, as just weekly shill of what you should buy and here's-my-affiliate-links. For the billionth time, I don't care if you use affiliate links. I legitimately have looked into it and just haven't gotten to it yet. But do not build a post around them. I like to see what you buy and like and enjoy. Do not build a weekly (predictable by the day of the week) post around them. It's dumb and lazy. Stop it.

4. Speaking of lazy...Scott often says that he's just waiting for me to come home from a dog walk with seven fines from the local township "police". I follow none of the rules of walking dogs. Whatever. Dogs weren't meant to be walked. They were meant to run and hunt.

5. I hate the color lilac. I don't even have a reason. It's just so specific and it's everywhere this time of year. Light pink? Okay, sure. Light purple? Never.

6. I will never give up my GapFit Breathe Maternity shirts. In fact, I might order more. Everyone should own one and my three are getting to be pretty threadbare.

7. I'm seriously judging my home state these days: Having been used to living out west, things are just...different there. The other night I got a pedicure and the middle-aged women in the salon giggled for several minutes over the idea of "marijuana". And I had forgotten just how illegal everything in the world is here. I also feel like I'm allowed to judge the crap out of Pennsylvania for the next year because I'm from here and it's not even being mean and unfair.

8. My parents bought Wells a walker and, while he is absolutely wicked with it and has no control in the house and I don't like that, there's nothing for him to hit on the patio and he has more space so it's become an outdoor toy (this probably isn't really a confession...this is just what we did last night).

Anything to "com"fess? 

Linking up with Jenn!

Confessions.

I found a Walmart near our house on Google Maps. But when I actually "got there", there was no Walmart. Oh well, I thought. Weeks later, Scott said he was at Walmart "near our house" and I was like What? and he said Yeah, it's up on a hill. Kinda hidden. It's huge.
I went the next day.
I'm not a die-hard for Walmart, but it has everything I need in one store, like this dog food that I buy every other week (Chewy.com doesn't carry it and Walmart is the ONLY place that does) to mix with their dry food. And formula. Formula can be bought pretty much anywhere, but to have paper products, toiletries, allthegroceries, formula, AND dog food in one stop? That's for me. It's less than 2 miles away.
Plus, Target is right across the street if I'm feeling browse-y.

I turn on Veggie Tales or SuperWhy for Wells a lot. He's never interested. He loves music and will grab at our phone screens but won't watch TV. This is probably okay.

I spilled dog food on the basement steps yesterday. Instead of trying to clean it up, I just kept directing Jett toward it and he took care of it for me.

I felt like I had an ear infection a few weeks ago. I have had a ton of sinus issues with my ears in the last two years. Finally, I felt like it'd reached the point of needing real medicine, instead of Mucinex. But, I'd been at the doctor for a well check and just to establish care (with Tricare Prime Remote, you have to be on the ball) the week before and I'd had to take Wells with me and people there had had the flu and, well, that made me nervous. So I didn't want to go back to the doctor because of the potential for germs, whether Wells was with me or not (and with Scott's schedule, he'd have to be). Therefore...the confession....I dug out Scott's emergency stash of antibiotics and just treated myself for a week.

I hate it when people throw their hand weights down at the gym. I've been to gyms where they make a big deal about not throwing them. But here, the instructor throws hers and it's just so annoying and lazy (and so, so bad for the floor).

If I see one more person say they eat 80/20, I'm going to ask to see their calculation sheet. Your perception of 80/20 is not good enough for me if you claim you're doing all the right things by eating 80/20. I mean, WHAT IS 80/20, really???

I am the worst (the worst) and putting up curtain rods. It's pitiful how terrible I am with a drill. I always manage to get halfway with the project and then Scott has to take .008 seconds of his time and finish it properly.

Literary Confessions (I have many)

I have a love/hate relationship with Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next?

Currently, Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy is highlighting some literary confessions as part of her new book release. I likely won't read the book, but I enjoyed the quick podcast that covered that chapter in the book.

So back to the love/hate...

I love that she and her guests talk about books. I enjoy talking about books and I like listening to others talk about books. I wish I had more people to talk about books with, if we're being honest.

I don't love that she and her guests are so shy to talk about books they hate. I believe the books a person hates tells you more about them than the books they like. I also don't agree with a lot of the literary tastes of the people on the show...generally. For example, everyone loves My Name is Lucy Barton it seems.

+I despised My Name is Lucy Barton. I kept waiting for something to happen. Spoiler: Nothing did. I did the audio version and it wasn't very long. It was definitely like listening to a 6 hour commercial. Or like one of those late-night interviews they do on radio stations. You keep waiting for the point. There is no point.

+I don't like any classics, really. This includes Jane Austen and anything Bronte. I've tried them ALL. Some of them I've tried more than once. I like that Keira Knightley movie, though.

+I do like The Catcher in the Rye. I've read it more than once.

+I did not enjoy The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at all. I adored the movie, though, when I watched it on Netflix last week.

+I feel like I'm the only person who didn't like The Book Thief.

+I still think about All the Light We Cannot See...and how much I disliked it.

+I really liked the first two Twilight books when I first read them (2008). The second two got weird, and the movies were so bad that I had to dismiss all thoughts of Twilight forever. 

+I despise anything Dr. Seuss. I dread the day when I have to start buying those books. Maybe Wells can get by without them.

+I gave up halfway into the first Harry Potter book when I was 11 years old and never tried again.

+I haven't finished a book since mid-June and I don't care that that is the case. I still like reading about books and listening to podcasts about books. I don't read when I'm overwhelmed or stressed and this season is one of overwhelm, so I just haven't been reading. And that's okay.

Alright. 

Confess something literary. 

Truths.

I can't find my phone charger. My iPad charger works for my phone too, but I legitimately think I threw it away when I was cleaning off the counter after chopping up a bunch of vegetables last week.

I haven't read/bought a single pregnancy book. I use the What to Expect app (which I have found typos on and that annoys me because how can I trust their credibility then?) and have just done a lot of reading online. Everything else has come from doctors. Since I'm super skeptical of "how to get pregnant" books, I figured I'd just go with my gut.

I've spent the better part of the last month trying to nail down when the recycling pick-up is here. We have a trash can and a recycling can that are both picked up by the city (both have the UW logo on them, in case you doubted what I said yesterday about the university running the town). I *think* the recycling pick-up is every other Monday. We have a ton of cardboard (thank you baby gifts!) that I've painstaking cut up and broken down to the required size and I just want it to be all picked up so I can refill the can. The neighbors have theirs stuffed with styrofoam and have not cut the boxes down to the correct sizes. But I don't want to be that person.

I don't understand how people don't have baby names ready to go by the time their kid is born. You have MONTHS to think about it.

I have been terrible about checking emails ever since this whole Blogger comment debacle began back at the end of May. Since I got Disqus, I just check my posts for comments and if I get emails about anything, I always forget to respond now. I've actually been horrible about keeping up with people in the last month or so in general. I expect that this will get worse. 

I don't like Subarus. I have no real reason for it? Scott has offered, more than once, to trade in my RAV4 on a Subaru and my answer is always no. I would rather hold out for something else if we're talking about trading in a car later on and aren't ready to upgrade to something I really want at the moment.

Does anyone else just ignore text messages? I don't like this about myself but I'm really bad at checking/answering and sometimes I'm just too pre-occupied with all the other things we have going on. Like, I just can't get into a texting conversation, you know? 

I don't miss my job at all. Like, not even a little bit. I know I'll go back to teaching eventually, but it won't be in this part of the country. 

The whole state of Colorado is basically burning down, but many there are concerned about where/when/how they can light off fireworks. I will never understand the draw of fireworks. Like, I really don't get it. 

*Also, the fire that has destroyed 104 homes in the last few days was started by an illegal immigrant. That might be worth having a conversation about, right?*

Tomorrow I think I'm going to bake some cupcakes for the 4th, even though we don't have any plans. At the least, I can freeze them and have them on hand. You never know when you'd like a good frozen cupcake, right? 

End-of-spring grievances

Let's end spring officially by airing it all out, okay? These are some things that have bothered me lately.

+June 21st is my favorite because it means that the longest day of the year has arrived and now the days are getting shorter and I love when the days start to get shorter. I realize this is the minority opinion. I've never been on the "days are getting longer so yay!" train.

+I get really annoyed when people talk about how tired they are, but don't drink caffeine. Like, you can't say you're exhausted, your kids are wearing you out, and you are struggling at work...and then say you only drink tea or something like every other day. There is a solution to this problem and you're making it harder than it has to be. Even if you hate coffee or don't like the effects of caffeine, you've got to make a choice.

+I came up with this non-negotiable: the dogs are not to be left alone in the Colorado house while we go somewhere. I'm not dealing with even the slightest potential of not being able to get them if there were to be another fire. I will take the inconvenience over the alternative. So, one of us stays with them or they go with us, whether it's to Lowe's (really, the only place we go in Colorado Springs anymore) or whatever.

+I forgot to mention our NINE YEAR anniversary on social media. Does it even count if I didn't write prose about being married for another year? Anyway, this was the first anniversary we'd actually been together for since 2013...He has missed every single Colorado anniversary.
Scott did ask if I wanted to go out to dinner but there was high-fire danger and I was like nope. He said he completely understood.



+I wanted to say "I can't deal with entitled people" but I think that "entitled" doesn't look the same for everyone. For me, I notice "entitled" as being someone who can work hard but still assume that the world (and everyone in it) owes them for simply existing. Like, everyone else's agenda should still be in second place to your own, lest you be slightly inconvenienced. I think that the hallmark of this type of entitled involves airing your thoughts on said inconveniences on social media. I can't even explain how many people have inconvenienced us (Scott and I) in the last year and what they've done...and I WON'T (though, it'd make for highly entertaining blogging) because I don't want to appear as that type of person. First world problems are common with this type of entitlement but the person doesn't usually recognize that they are first world problems. It's an issue of being tone-deaf and, quite honestly, unprofessional.

+I think that any military member would tell you that they will gladly fight for someone's right to a peaceful protest or the ability to speak freely. However, you cannot pretend that you are exempt from the consequences of those freedoms. I think the most ironic part of this article is what I highlighted:

If you are being colluded against, the organization has the right to do that in the same way you have the right to blast the organization. It goes both ways, and I understand that this seems to be an unpopular opinion. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.


Whew. Spring is over, summer is here, fall is coming, and it feels good to get that all out.

Name a grievance, any grievance. 

Confessions (mostly things I hate), 4/25

1. I think most of Modern Mrs. Darcy's recommendations that she/they/the LLC says I "have" to read are terrible. I've DNF'd sooooo many of them. Plus, she'll say that Educated didn't blow her away, but she'll go on and on about books I couldn't stand. Plus, she pushes paleo meal-planning and meal kit boxes in all of her ads and I can't get behind that.

2. I hate Alexa. It's stupid. Scott uses this thing all the time. I don't.

3. Scott is really into recycling and composting. When he's not around, I just throw everything in the trash.

4. Beyonce is dumb. I don't know why anyone really cares about what she does.

5. If you can't post links in your blog post to open up a new window (instead of directing me away from your page if I click on the link), I don't know what to say to you.

6. I hate Chris Brown so much, but I also hate that I will always find his music enjoyable. I also have a weird penchant for Flo Rida and Pitbull.

7. And as I fall down the hole of Youtube music videos, I'll admit it took me over two years to realize that Joe Jonas is the lead singer of DNCE.

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I don't hate that I have a 3 1/2-day weekend coming up. I'm thinking I might do some baby shopping and get a few things for his room.

While I won't have a wooden plank wall (since we'll be moving when he's six months old), I plan on getting one of these big letters:

via

via

Also, I need a pedicure.

Confessions 2/22

Just a few things I've been thinking over the last week or so....

+I'm quite curious about how NBC can tout Shaun White on the Olympics when he's likely in the same camp as Matt Lauer, when it comes down to it. Matt Lauer was fired overnight. Shaun White gets commercials and interviews and whatnot.  Also, Savannah Guthrie sounds like she's asking him about what he had for breakfast in that clip I linked, not why he was being sued for sexual harassment.

+I wear the same shoes (brown boots) almost every day. It's just easier.

+When adults spell "fave" as "fav", my eye starts to twitch. Magic "e"s cause vowels to say their name, guys.

+I would never go to see The Greatest Showman just based on the fact that they've glorified (through song!) a verrrrry sketchy individual.  Even if half the stuff in that article is true, it's enough to show he's awful.

+I stopped listening to Happier with Gretchen Rubin and Happier in Hollywood with Liz and Sarah last fall. I just can't take the ridiculousness of their first-world whining anymore. They just started getting...dumb? If I want to listen to meaningless rambling, I'll listen to Bachelor recaps.

+Season 9 of The Office is a million times better than season 8. The reason why I never watched season 9 in real time was because I hated season 8 so much (I think it's because I don't like James Spader).

+I'm honestly thrilled to give Jett a human sibling. He adores babies and toddlers so much. He knows they're perfect petting height and he really just wants to be petted and hugged all day long. My precious Scout is a one-man dog and is into hunting and pretending he doesn't like to sleep next to me in the middle of the night (when he thinks I won't notice). But Jett will be so excited. I can already tell he'll be the best big brother (I would also love to get him a puppy but maybe next year...).

Unpopular Opinions

This post was inspired by Rachel, because I do like seeing the inner-workings of how people think.

The biggest unpopular opinion I've had lately is probably that I really don't like Halloween. I find dressing up to be exhausting, mentally.

Here's more:

I don't like baseball.

Watching movies is one of my least preferred activities. I even thought about ways I could change this, but haven't figured it out yet. I think the last movie I watched all the way through was back in March. Sometimes Scott will say Let's go to the movies and I really have to psych myself up for it.

Tacos are just okay.

I think I was more impressed with Alaska being "Alaska" and Missouri being "Missouri" than I am with Colorado living up to the hype. I won't say I wanted to live in either place forever (because I didn't) but they were what I expected.

Chocolate is okay. Vanilla or caramel are better flavors.

Chai tea is gross. So are PSLs.

I don't vote. I used to, but I don't anymore. I can't vote in Colorado because I'm not a resident even though the issues here affect me more than the issues in Alaska do. I could send in absentee ballots but I don't know anything about local politics in Alaska now. Voting uninformed isn't ideal.

Spirit week/spirit days are my nightmare.

I cannot stand 80s music.

I don't buy magazines. I think they're a huge waste of money.

I don't like To Kill a Mockingbird. I understand why it's an important part of history because of how it was written but I don't like it as literature. I didn't love it in 11th grade and I don't care for it now.

I like turning back the clocks in the fall. As I told someone yesterday, all those years (you know, all four of them) in Alaska did something me. I find the dusk comforting.

What are your unpopular opinions?

Confessions 10/12

I shared a joint confession between Scott and me on Instagram the other day.

We ran out of dog food on Sunday, mostly because I forgot to take the dog food we had up to Laramie. 

Here's some more:

I won't stop at the mailboxes for our neighborhood if there is anyone else there. No need to be social. Scott will ask if I stopped for the mail (he lost his own key yearsssss ago) and I'll say no, there were people there and that'll be the end of the conversation. He lost his own key; what can he possibly respond with?

I don't like movies. I will almost never watch a movie more than once, unless it's a Christmas movie. I'll go to the movies once in awhile because Scott likes going but otherwise I can't be bothered.

I don't love music. I have no Spotify. I have a few stations on Pandora that I listen to but usually just while driving.  And I have them whittled down to the exact songs I like. I, as a rule, don't listen to music.

I did a lot of reading about enneagram types last week. I took some free quiz (probably not the same quality of the paid-for quizzes) and discovered I'm a type 3. I don't think that's great. Also, I did the Harry Potter sorting hats quiz last year because my pre-student teacher was really into HP and we talked about the hats (I've still never read the books)...I'm a Slytherin.

My crest, apparently.

I put off buying the plane tickets until 2 weeks before we were planning on going away to the east coast. We leave next week and we bought the tickets last week. We've known about this wedding for over a year. Couldn't buy tickets a year ago, because we didn't know what state we'd be living in come October 2017. It could've been anywhere in the world back at that point. Couldn't buy tickets 6 months ago because Scott was gearing up for an emergency deployment and we didn't know if he'd even be back in Colorado. We couldn't buy tickets 2 months ago because he didn't know his class schedule. 

Finally, after he bought the tickets, he said "I was really hoping you were just going to take care of it". I hate looking for plane tickets so much. I never would've taken care of it. 

And, lastly, I was chosen for a random vehicle search on my way onto the base yesterday. The confession part is that I moved as slowly as humanly possible while I opened up all the things, struggling a bit with the giant truck hood, pulling the "weak arms" card, and generally just took my time. Might as well hold up the line if they insist on doing this nonsense. They're not gonna move faster with the paperwork end if I move faster with the opening up of things. 

As a side note: If you've NOT talked to your Pumpkin Swap partner yet, let me know!

Not gonna lie

I have two pairs of these best-shoes-ever from Target and I'm contemplating a third. My friend is currently disliking her new Tieks and that means long-live Target and their $16 shoes.

I'll own that rubber boot tanline. It's from manual labor in old boots, not hanging out in Hunters or something fun like that.

I spent an hour yesterday grading papers in the Big O Tire waiting room because three (3) of my tires were low on air and the tire light was on. I would say that I could've just fixed the air issue, because I thought it was a nail or screw or something in a tire, but let's face it: I definitely couldn't have fixed the air issue myself.

I tried to shut the truck door and hit my knee. It was terrible. My knee, I'm predicting, is terribly swollen this morning.

I definitely thought about eating this whole pizza last night (Scentsy for scale).

I have taken more Mucinex in the last 2 1/2 weeks than one probably should. I cannot kick this thing.

I get a lot of joy out of buying new soap for each season.

TGIThursday.

Confessions 7/6

+This weekend was the first time I've hiked since probably last August. Someone should take my Colorado card away.

+I've not read Harry Potter and all those tweets about the 20th anniversary last week were annoying.

+I can't fold a burrito properly to save my life. I want to make a freezer breakfast like this to have on hand for weekdays, but alas...it would all fall apart.

+I wanted a fountain Pepsi the other day so I stopped at the shoppette on base. They only had fountain Coke. I got back in the car, drinkless.

+I stopped at another gas station that I knew would have fountain Pepsi but I usually don't purposely go there because it's too close to where I work.

+I got out of the car and opened the back door to rearrange the groceries I'd just bought because a watermelon kept rolling around. When I did, a bottle of kombucha and a bottle of soy sauce (both glass) fell on the pavement. All over my shoes, completely shattering. I really needed the Pepsi after that.

+I walked into Scott office last week and he said Oh, there's a dragonfly in here. He kept shuffling papers while it took me a full ten seconds to realize he was referring to me in my new sunglasses. 

Scout doesn't do selfies (with me).

+I've been putting up bulletin boards at school and working on things at home too. I don't do summer well. 

+I've unfollowed a lot of blogs lately. If I don't feel that, on some level, we can be friends, reading your blog will likely turn into hate-reading and that's unproductive.

+I've been watching Saved by the Bell: The College Years. 

And that's all for today (got to save some for next time).

Confessions. (S&T 4/20)

The confessions edition of Stuff and Things. This comes around every other month or so...so here we go:

1. I only eat Italian ice in even numbers. I must always eat two. I never feel satisfied with just one. This is a problem. Also, I only eat the blue raspberry ones so Scott knows he's only to eat the watermelon ones. This is really weird behavior for a grown-up, I know.

2. I buy Italian ice so we don't eat tons of ice cream.

3. My favorite ice cream in the entire world is Grandma's Cake Batter from Tillamook. They stopped making it. I haven't had it in years and, though they do sell Tillamook in Colorado, they don't have the variety they had in Alaska. I still check the ice cream case every time I walk by one, just to check. However, I'm certain it doesn't exist anymore because it's not on the website.

4. When people write a blog post about nothing just so they can affiliate-link it to death, I don't understand their purpose and/or motivation. Nothing against making a few pennies from Amazon or Nordstrom, but have an author's purpose for your writing. It's important.

5. Also, when bloggers say they love "this dress" or "this shirt" and they just affiliate-link it to a shopstyle link and I can't see where it's from without clicking the link, I can't even handle it. That's baiting and it's not a way to make friends.

6. Maybe this should be a pet peeves post.

7. When dishes don't come out of the dishwasher clean, I put them back in for another round and expect different results.

8. Last week, I overslept for the first time in my adult life. I got up at 6:15 instead of 5:00am. Scott said Oh now you only have an hour to get ready instead of like 3 hours. Because I do get up 2+ hours before I have to leave the house.

9. I save all of my fortunes from Panda Express. I was having a really crappy day a month or so ago (hence the need to stop for dinner) and I got an empty fortune cookie.

10. I am one entire season behind on Once Upon a Time.

11. Not gonna lie: I feel incredibly disconnected from the internet right now. There's major upheaval in life in general and just the processing of it takes a lot, and blogging then takes a backseat. I'll be ready to chat you all up soon though because I think the best way to learn is by relating to others and maybe someone can relate to me.        #vagueblogover

Confessions (S&T 2/16)

Every clock in this house says a different time. It's confusing. And stressful.

Scott had an event after work one day and I went home to do laundry and get a head start on cleaning instead. I was invited but it was kind of an "if you want to" thing. I wanted to spend my night doing laundry instead.

I can barely stay awake past 8:30pm these days. Is that a winter thing? Or just an overwhelmed thing?

I don't answer text messages. Sigh. And I often let my phone die on the weekends. Sigh.

This is my stash of pens. This is just my desk and my tote bag.

This is at work. They used to be more organized (by size, color, type, etc) but I've started letting students grade work for me, and have granted them access to my pens/markers. It's a fair trade-off. 

I finally mailed Jett's registration paperwork. His third birthday is next month. Chances I probably filled something out wrong and they send it back? Likely high. 

I bought Scott this hat for Valentine's Day.

This isn't so much a confession; just more of a I know what he'll want and it's easy to buy. There's no aspirational thinking when it comes to Valentine gifts. I don't want jewelry. I want a new chair for the living room. We're going to look this weekend. Fingers crossed.

However, Scott sent me a picture of one of our stock portfolios and had labeled it "Kristin Valentine". To show how his day-trading is paying off dividends (literally).

Did you celebrate V-Day? Do you have a secret stash of pens no one is allowed to use/touch? Have you watched the Earl Dibbles Jr. videos? (So many questions)





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Confessions and things (S&T 12/1)

+I don't like Gilmore Girls.

Now that I have your attention...

+I also don't like tacos that much.
Sure, I'll eat them. But I will not actively seek them out.

+I (we) am (are) the worst pet owner(s).
We never sent in Jett's AKC registration paperwork. He's 2 1/2 years old.
When I found this paperwork a month or so ago, I decided to fill it out and send it in. I realized, since it required a signature, that I would, in fact, have to be Jett's owner.

I was just coming to terms with that fact when I realized you were required to list a co-owner and Scott might as well be on the paperwork too, and that also needed a signature. I decided to just wait and Scott could sign it himself.

+I'm a believer in vitamins, supplements, and protein shakes. However, I refuse to shop at GNC because I know someone who works there and this person is a terrible person. It may seem petty because it is.
(I hope the people from GNC see this.)

+We were reading a story about a snake a few weeks ago. A kid said, "I saw a snake like that!". I thought, I blew several snakes like that apart with a shotgun over the summer. I just smiled.

+I've read so many blog posts and informative pieces about bullet journaling that, frankly, it's embarrassing. The more I read, the more I'm convinced that it is absolutely, 100% not for me. But I still like to read about it.

+We were learning about the Civil War and a kid asked me if I was alive at the time of slavery. I didn't even bother to present the impossibility of this (because, really now, he asked the question in the first place). I just said no.

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(More) Confessions

I've been buying a lot of things lately. Mostly online. (Boots that will go with a anything. New bedding because we only have one set of bedding for our king-sized bed. Everything else we own is queen.) But I tell myself you deserve this. Which is never a good mentality. But a big chunk of that is that Scott is deployed and I spend all day being treated with indifference and, often, being chastised. So yes, I deserve this.

I ask for extra Chick-fil-a sauce when I get nuggets (or anything really) and I hoard it at home and eat it with sweet potato fries.

Something in this window's mechanism broke and it won't stay up on its own. I prop it up with this leftover fascia stone that we used in the basement. It's been like this since May.

I still haven't cleaned this window sill. #prairielife

If I made a list of everything in this house that was slightly broken, but still useable, your mouth would drop open.

I knew my dogs were spoiled when...every time I pull something out of the oven, they assume it's for them and crowd around the counter.

I will forever hover before I click if I suspect an affiliate link. The nondisclosure has to stop. I will not support your Anthro/Target/Nordstrom/etc habit if you don't make it clear that I'm doing that.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use dry erase markers or wet erase markers on paper. THEY ARE NOT FOR THAT. I can't even watch when people (other teachers) use an Expo marker on chart paper. I literally have to look away. It makes my teeth tingle.

-------------That's your takeaway from this post: please, oh please, do not use dry erase markers on paper.

More Actual Confessions

There was supposed to be an outfit picture shared today. That did not happen. 6:30am is too early for that (and let's be honest, I was running late) and I changed at school so I couldn't do it later. It's a shame. I liked my skirt.

I'm very happy it's getting dark earlier. The dogs can't convince me to walk them at 8pm now. When it's dark, they know it's time to lay down.

Sometimes I feel the best use of my time at 6:20am (when I'm supposed to be getting ready for work) is to online shop. This is why I run late.

I will never, ever go to one of my high school reunions.

Moscato tastes like deployment and disappointment.

I had to buy individually wrapped candy corn packs in order to keep track of how much I eat.

There are candy corn "stains" inside one of my kitchen drawers from where I hide my stash from Scott.

I was ready to buy a new vacuum because ours wasn't working right. My friend told me to call Dyson and I was all No, no...and she was all Give me the serial number. I'll call. My laziness has reached a first-world level. Also, I bought a new vacuum.

I jabbed myself in my own eye last week when I was putting on eye cream.

Every single one of these teaching memes is ridiculously cliched but they are cliched because they are 110% true.

Any confessions today?

(Kind of) Confessions

+I've been stalking Lululemon's website, waiting for their fall tote bags. I want something quality that will hold everything and has divider pockets.

+I think it's fascinating that the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale has really just become a vehicle to utilize affiliate links. Like, does it serve another purpose?

+I'm in charge of Girls on the Run at my site this year and it's stressing me out a little bit. I have this fear that a lot of girls won't sign up because they raised the price. They didn't just raise the price; they raised it $20+. This means that, for my free and reduced lunch school, it will cost each kid NINETY-SIX DOLLARS for 8 weeks of the program. That's kind of hard to wrap my head around.
Also, when I went to register on the website, this popped up. I didn't know these were "Languages".

+It happened with the dog food again and I know why now: Chewy.com is very sporadic in their shipping. Sometimes it's a 48 hour turnaround. Sometimes it's FIVE OR SIX DAYS. Talk about unreliable. This actually makes me really mad. If they can't guarantee shipping in a timely manner, why am I bothering? I could probably get dog food more quickly from Amazon.

+I simply cannot stand it when people claim that too much sugar makes them jittery. That's not a thing. I don't even know that I have a rationale for this, but the complaining of "so much sugar!" or "sugar high" really gets on my nerves. Eat sugar, don't eat sugar, I don't care. They do this a lot on morning TV, I've noticed. 

+I had an army function the other day and it took so much out of me, mentally, and that's why I can't do those things often. I can socialize just fine on my own terms...military-related socializing is just...hard. 

+I don't like throwing people under the bus on this blog because consequences are a thing. I usually keep my unkind thoughts to myself (and my text messages). However...

I had a major WTF moment the other day. Someone posted on Facebook, and she listed all the MLM businesses she could think of and said to PLEASE not contact her about buying or selling any of them. SHE will contact "you" if she has a need for such products. It was a big production and she got a lot of head pats and "likes".

Then, the next day, she posted that she had a bunch of Coach handbags she wants to get rid of and "would anyone like to buy them?" 

(Actual) Confessions

+When your husband is deployed, the day after a holiday is the best day of all. I felt relief on Tuesday, knowing that the last holiday for a long time was over.

+I killed a baby rattlesnake the other day by blowing it into pieces with a shotgun and I couldn't find it all. I buried what I could and resolved to keep the dogs out of that part of the field for a few days. Snakes can be venomous for days after they die.
Then I went back to the house (this really took a chunk out of my afternoon) and had a beer and some chocolate chip cookies. It was deserved.

+I don't like the phrase love you to the moon and back. What does that even mean? Do people actually say it out loud? Or do they just type it and buy it on wooden signs from Hobby Lobby?

+The dogs ate this remote two years ago. The Samsung TV, that was only about 6 months old at the time, hasn't been used since. I went to Best Buy and had someone explain how to use/work/hook-up a universal remote last week. Now the TV works again. It took two years.

+I've been waking up in the morning not being able to remember what day it is.

+We have this shower curtain rod that I cannot get to stay in place. The other one works, why doesn't this one? It's awful, a drain on my energy, and kind of sad that I can't get a shower curtain rod to work.

+We have tube lighting in our kitchen and bathrooms. It's kind of like a skylight. The one in the kitchen is glaringly bright during the day, so I covered it up.

+If there was a way to send dogs in care packages to soldiers, Scott would be enjoying Jett's company on this deployment. However, Jett is a delicate flower and he needs me around to dip his antibiotic pills in peanut butter, as he has a respiratory infection. He is the most loyal and loving dog that ever was, but man. He needs a personal petter or something. He never leaves me alone.

+I generally enjoy the nonsense that is The Today Show. The first half hour is usually the important stuff and then it's normally just people sitting around eating.
However, I had to mute it last Friday because who on earth wants to listen to Rachel Platten? I mean, ugh.

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Today is Scout's "gotcha day". We picked up this little furball three years ago today. He forced me to learn to be responsible for another living thing. I can't even look at his puppy pictures without wanting to order up another one.

Anything to confess today?

Linking up with Nadine!

Confessions and Things

The dogs generally settle in for the night before I do. Wherever they fall asleep on the bed, I pick the other side of the bed to sleep on.  Sometimes I pick them up and move them but Scout really hates that. He'll growl and crawl under the bed. They never ever slept on the bed before Scott deployed last year. Then they started (on their own) sleeping with me and now they won't leave the king-sized comfort.

Also, it happened with the dog food again. I don't understand how they go through it so quickly. Also, how am I so bad at this? But I would like to thank my former principal, who told me about Chewy.com. It is the best invention ever.

I don't like #tbt posts. On blogs, I think it's okay. But when everyone is posting #tbt on Facebook like they just discovered the invention of the hashtag, it gets old. Same with TimeHop. It's awesome that you're reminded of times gone by, but I don't need to know.

I have a document with Laura Ingalls Wilder's family tree laying on my nightstand. It had been in a book I'm currently re-reading and there it sits for weeks now. While this seems perfectly normal on some levels, it's just really weird too.

I had an idea for 2-3 new recipes over the weekend and I just never made them. I had the ingredients. It wouldn't have been hard.  But expending effort is sometimes not worth it.

I deleted the Class Dojo app from my phone. I'm enabling students by answering homework questions they already know the answer to at 8pm. My goal was to make information accessible to parents. It's gone too far.

I am counting down the days to the end of the school year.

Cheers to the end of March!

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Proving worth. Or not.

I'd like to think that I possess a certain set of skills that are useful and worthwhile. But, truthfully, the following examples make me feel like I'm not contributing all that much to society these days.
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Last week, I noticed the tub faucet was dripping. I turned the knob to make sure it was off and the plastic fell apart in my hand and the water started gushing out and, without a knob, I couldn't turn it off.  I ran to get Scott. He used a pair of pliers (something I never would've thought to do *hangs head in shame*) to turn the water off and then told me how to go to Lowe's and buy a new plastic knob and explained how to put it on (he was leaving for...an undetermined amount of time...the next day). I must've asked too many questions because he said we would just go right then and get it and fix it. And then I insisted I could do it. He said No, because you'll just not use this bathroom for x number of months and then you'll call me crying and say you can't get a shower or something because I know you.

We went to Lowe's, got the thing needed, and he fixed it.

My skills don't often translate to the area of survival/sustainment. More like grammar and useless knowledge.

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The other day, one of my students burst into spontaneous shrieking and when I asked what was wrong he said he got pencil lead in his eye.  In his eye. And he was flapping his arms and blinking like someone who'd accidentally put the peroxide contact solution in instead of the regular saline.
So I ushered him toward the office and asked if it was still in there and he said yes and I gagged a little bit. Then I stood there while a secretary dabbed around with a tissue and got it out.
On the way back to the classroom I told him he might not survive if he just had me there to take care of him. He thought that was funny.
I hate eyes, looking at eyes, dealing with my own when my contacts aren't behaving, etc. Like Rachel.

Embarrassingly, I'm now watching The Bachelor. I didn't mean for this to happen. But last Monday, I found myself on the couch for two hours texting comments back and forth with my co-worker. Scout and Jett were not amused.

I hate all my clothes. Like ALL OF THEM. I hate getting dressed in the morning. I even hate my closet. Last week, I finally pulled the trigger on the shopping cart I had at gap.com because I'm thinking maybe I just need some new clothes. I average one piece per month and that usually comes from Stitchfix. And I used Rodan+Fields money to buy these new clothes, so it totally doesn't even count....right?

See? It doesn't count.