Make-a-list Monday

If you asked the husband to describe me in 3 words, easy-going would not be on that list.  In fact, if you gave him 100 words, easy-going still wouldn't make the cut.  No matter, I have many other redeeming qualities, such as organization skills, plan-obsessed, and meticulous.  Wait, are those redeeming???

Lately, there's been a few more stressful situations in my life than before.  I know everyone is going through their own stresses, so I don't pretend to think mine are worse than someone else.  Believe me, that's not a game I want to win.  But I do think I win (or lose) the game of stressing out about situations.    I'm a master.  I can orchestrate the most epic over reacting symphony you've ever witnessed.  In fact, when there is literally nothing to stress out about, THAT stresses me out.  

I am trying very hard to find my zen or place of peace.  With that in mind, here is my list of things I'm doing to minimize my stressing.

1.  Read a reflection each morning.  I'm reading Jesus Calling.

2.  Laugh.  They say it's the best medicine.

3.  Rely on the husband.  (Oh yeah, I'm not alone.  He can unload the dishwasher, I just have to be ok if the spoons aren't stacked the correct way.)

4.  Take walks.

5.  Find the good and focus on that.  (Way easier said than done)

How do you maintain your sanity and not over-stress?

Home Ownership

Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.  No longer "throwing away" rent money, decorating any way you would like, pride in your yard, extra space to store all those amazing wedding gifts, creating memories and traditions... the list goes on and on.  Unfortunately, so do the repairs.

Let me quickly take you back to May 2012.  We had a decision to make when we moved back to Houston.  Buy a home and move in right away, rent an apartment month to month while taking time to look, or live with the husband's parents.  Many normal and logical people try to limit the amount of change happening at one time.  Not us.  We thought living seperately, working full time, job searching, preparing for a move, and buying a home all at once seemed like a good plan.

HAHAHAHAHA (that was us laughing at those normal/logical people).  

We went with option "buy a home and move in right away".  We thought moving one time from Waco to Houston was such the obvious way to go.  So we did it.  We found our dream home!  Those normal, logical people are boring and don't know what they're talking about.  It's better to get it all done at once.  

Now, I'm not going to go so far as to say our home isn't our dream home.  I love it.  Mainly for the memories and traditions that I know will take place here for years to come.  But I would like to share with you all the things that have happened to us thus far.  After all, this blog is called "It Happens" and boy, has it happened with this house.

Over the first year of owning our home, here are the rennovations we have done (most out of sheer necessities):

1.  New windows in half the house (it use to rain inside our home before the new windows)

2.  Scrapped all popcorn ceilings (popcorn should only be used as a snack, not wall treatment)

3.  Painted every room, hallway, bathroom, ceiling (with threat of only 4 divorces minimal fighting)

4.  New insullation (oops, someone forgot to put any in the house at all... in Texas)

5.  New pipes (if you ever need this, be prepared to part of your first born child to pay for this)

6.  Rod iron fence (this was a neccessity since Vedder attacked a pit bull, lost, and had to go the ER vet on a Sunday to get tubes, skin grafts, and stiches... let's just say the fence was a lot cheaper than having this happen 2 times)

7.  New furniture (some rooms remain empty to this day)

8.  Chimney updates (loooove our wood buring fire place, love the fire staying inside the fireplace even more)

9.  Landscaping (neighbors stopped for months to thank us for doing this, best money spent yet)

10.  Extermination (infestation of wasps who didn't realize we now possessed the title to this property)

11.  Dry wall/ceiling repair from leaking AC unit (this also lead to removing the carpet form our bathroom and yes you read that correctly, carpet in the bathroom...)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (that is the logical and normal people laughing at us)

Perhaps waiting a beat before jumping into new jobs, new home, new city could have been a good idea.  Maybe those normal/logical people are on to something...

Next on our renno list... total redo of our master bathroom.  Sounds exciting right?  Well, I'll save that story for another post...  

Don't call it a come back...

As the famous and ever so eloquent LL Cool J puts it, "don't call it a come back, I've been here for years..."
Sometimes life gets in the way of our plans.  I originally started this blog when I had this precious thing called "free time".  Since then, free time and myself have parted ways.  Now, "too much to do in the amount of hours in a day" and I have become BFFs.  But isn't that what happens as you get older (or more experienced) and life progresses?
Many things have happened since my last post.  The husband and I moved backed to Houston and purchased our first home and we both have new jobs (obviously you can't remote teach, so I teach at a school in Houston).  We still have our loving, sweet, and disproportionally crazy dogs  for their size.  We've succeeded in taking a normal, happy, energetic puppy and turning her into a neurotic, hyper, and perpetually fearful dog (we have a talent, feel free to contact us if you'd like our help with your animals).  We also have an illness in the family that has made us all reexamine our lives and priorities.
With all of that said, funny, interesting, and improbable events continue to happen.  I can't help but laugh at some of the situations that arise in my life.  I figured that I should share my joy with others and plus, I have missed blogging/writing.
I am thinking of this as a new blog, but I didn't want to start all over, since this one it set up (remember, I'm BFFs with not enough hours in the day, and this saves some time).  So please enjoy!

Let Me Check My Calendar...

Before I became a teacher, I never knew the sheer amount of time it took to be a teacher.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other things that go into being a teacher.  But the time alone is what shocks me.  Now I'm not here to get on a soapbox and start talking about the inequities of being a teacher.

What I'm talking about is time management and organizational skills.  I was born with these talents, but having gone to a meticulously anal high school, I perfected my organizational and time management abilities.  I am a HUGE believer in a good old-fashioned planner.  Not on my phone calendar, but an actual assignment book.  We all used these handy dandy tools in school when all we needed to remember was what chapter to read that night.  Somehow, after catapulting into the real world with bills, budgets, responsibilities, projects, errands, and chores, we cease to use a planner.

I live by my planner.  If someone asks me a date or if I can do something, I literally have to check my calendar.  People laugh when I say this.  Believe me, it's not because I'm so popular that I have a million events to attend.  It's because I'm so scattered that I don't know what I'm doing in my life without it written out in front of my face.
And I have a compulsive need to write down every event in my planner.  Here's an embarrassing admission: I've even gone back in time and written down events that have already happened and I forgot to write down.  I know what you must be thinking... but my allotted blog time is up according to my planner!

In Another Life

You know when you're cleaning your house or driving somewhere or working out and you play that game with yourself "if I didn't do (insert job here), I'd be _______"?  Well, I know what I would do.  If I wasn't a teacher, I'd be a singer/song writer.
Whenever I am doing chores around the house, I love to put on some great music and belt it out as loud as I can.  Of course, the husband absolutely cannot be present for such an event.  He might not understand my using a remote control as a microphone while I dance around on my stage and get the crowd going. And yes, I do have a crowd; thank you Vedder and Gabby for being my most loyal fans. Sometimes, my audience even sings along!  I haven't decided yet if that is a good or bad thing...
But I love music.  I always have.  I like all kinds of music.  For example, here are some upcoming concerts the husband and I will be attending: Pat Green and Randy Rogers Band (Texas Country) then Godsmack (rock) and Staind (alternative).  I'm not a particularly talented singer, much to my dismay.  However, that doesn't stop me from living my dream every time I have to clean my house!
Today I am currently jamming to some Eric Church.  He has a song called "Carolina" and it's amazing!

If you didn't do your current job, what would you do???