WoW! December 12, 2009

It has been so long since I blogged, that I almost forgot my username and password (shocking!)  But at the behest of a few facebook friends, I decided it was time to dust this thing off and blog again. Here is what you have missed:

1.  Football season:  Oh, football season!  Whatever will I do with all my free Saturdays now?  Probably spend them watching basketball games, I guess.  We tailgated at every MSU home game this year.  The tent is still building its fan-base, but next year, I think will be our year!

2.  Grad School:  Oh, man, that was a lot of work.  Taking two classes and teaching at the same time is for the crazy.  This curriculum was so much harder than Belhaven.  There were many a sleepless night…. Only 5 more classes to go!

3.  Reading:  I have been on a reading frenzy, as of late.  I suggest you check out 1) The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb  2) Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.  if you have any more suggestions, PLEASE, send them my way!!!

And really, that is all.

Love,  Marie

Happy First-Day-of-School Eve August 10, 2009

Yay! Tomorrow is the first day of school! I can actually admit that I am so excited, I can’t sleep. This is the first year I’ve been able to say that, by the way. This year, I know what I’m doing, my classroom is in order, I have syllabi printed, and lesson plans ready to go (for the second day, of course. Only mean teachers give work on the first day.) Tomorrow after we get all the housekeeping stuff out of the way, I’m going to have my kids make comic strips of the summer vacation: Five blocks telling me something they saw, something they did, somewhere they went, someone they saw, and something random. There is nothing worse than having to write the good old-fashioned essay on your summer vacation. Then I’m going to introduce myself to my new 7th graders by giving them a quiz about me. Whoever gets the most blind guesses right gets candy! (Perhaps I’ll post that later…)

Now I’m off to pack my lunch, lay out my clothes, and roll around in bed until I finally fall asleep.

Photos July 20, 2009

Well, I guess I had this coming.  I have put off the task of uploading, downloading, editing, organizing, and printing pictures since…lets go with….the advent of the digital camera!  It is sad.  Sure, I have them on my computer, but it’s just not the same as having them placed with love inside a nice photo album.  And for our one year anniversary, Matt told me that he was going to get our scrapbook started (he even bought glue-sticks…How cute is that?)  So this weekend I finally forced myself to sit down and get my share of the pictures in order (I still have not printed any pictures from my bridal showers or the honeymoon!)  I spent 4 hours on Saturday editing.  Then I went to Wal-Mart, only to find that their price per picture was outrageous, and every photo kiosk was taken.  I go to Walgreens and CVS and came to the same conclusion:  Printing these photos is going to be a pain in my butt and my bank account!  I spent two more hours Saturday night uploading pics to Walmart.com because I discovered that I could get $0.09 prints by choosing the online service, instead of going into the store.  Convenient, right?  WRONG!  Apparently Wal-Mart.com was not ready for my 538-print order.  The service kept freezing around photo #44.  LAME!  So, in a second attempt today, I spent another 3 hours regrouping the photos into uploads of 20 at a time.  I got about half-way through before I realized that when you add shipping and handling, it would cost MORE than if you just waited in line at the store and printed the over-priced pictures yourself.

(EXPLETIVES AND CRYING!!!!!)

Thank God I have Matt!  He quickly intervened and found a brand-new method to order low-priced prints online:  Google!  Of course!  Google does everything short of making babies, why shouldn’t they have a photo service?  Why didn’t I think of that?  Anyways, we uploaded 600 photos Picasa and ordered from SnapFish for around $80.  They should be here by Thursday.  Finally!  Anyway, I thought I’d share a few…There are 596 more where that came from ; )

Recipe of the Week: Quick Shrimp Chowder July 1, 2009

Here is one of our new favorite dishes.  Even my husband who is a soup hater loves this one–I’ve made it twice so far!  It is so easy, and takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.  When I made it the first time, we ate half and I froze the rest in a Ziplock freezer bag for a fast weekday meal.  Here goes:

2 tbsp butter

1 medium onion

2 cans cream of potato soup (undiluted)

3 1/2 cups milk

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1 1/2 pound peeled shrimp (I use one of the frozen packages from Wal-Mart)

1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese.

1.  Melt butter, add onion, and saute until tender   2. stir in cream of potato soup, milk, and pepper; bring to a boil.   3. Add shrimp, reduce heat, and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring often.   4.  stir in cheese until melted.  Serve immediately

I added extra cheddar cheese on top and some chopped green onions, and I served it with chunks of french bread for dipping.  Excellent!

Accomplishments June 5, 2009

Since I haven’t found a summer job (not for lack of trying), I have decided to make housework my job this summer.  If I don’t stay busy, I just feel lazy and depressed. So here is what I’ve accomplished:

1.  Vacuumed out the couches (I’m rich!)  2.  Cleaned all the fans (I felt like I was on an episode of dirty jobs)   3.  Washed all the kitchen cabinets (inside and out)   4.  Cleaned the oven (Surprisingly fun)   5.  Scrubbed down the drip pans (I will not miss those things when I move)   6.  Sprayed the house for bugs (VENGEANCE!)   7.  Repainted the patch on the bathroom wall (there was a mopping incident)  8.  Finally touched up the paint in the hallway (from a YEAR ago)  9.  Packed up all the winter clothes (summer is definitely here)   10.  Sent a load of stuff to good will (there is another load coming)

In addition to this, I go to the gym, run the dishwasher, sweep, and do a load of laundry daily.  Never in my life have I done so many household chores.  I read so many blogs of my friends who have kids and they sound so tired sometimes.  I feel I need to do enough housework for the both of us.

(Side note:  I am going to kill the guy across the street with the loud pipes.  His car puts me in a bad mood…)

Here is a list of things I plan to accomplish before the summer is over:

1.  Paint the baseboards   2.  clean the carpets   3.  Reorganize the linen closet   4.  Paint a canvas for the bedroom   5.  Reorganize the junk drawer

A Series of Unfortunate Events… March 11, 2009

1.  In the process of walking from my car to the apartment, I somehow cracked the screen of my cell phone.  So now, it’s completely back except for a blob of white down at the bottom corner.  So this means that I cannot see any missed calls. Nor, can I call you because I have no phone numbers memorized.  I also cannot read your text messages (which is doubly annoying because not only am I missing out on awesome little notes, but my phone WILL NOT stop beeping until the message has been viewed and saved/deleted.  I would go in and change the sound settings, but, alas, no screen…).  So now I have to wait another week to go to Jackson to get my screen repaired.  Bummer….

2.  Then, I was making dinner and cut off a nice chunk on my thumb trying to slice an onion.  It’s nothing life-threatening, but it’s just really uncomfortable, as there is this flap of flesh flopping around.  Band-aids do not stick as well as they used to…

3.  The people I have tried to contact concerning by recommendations for graduate school have not replied.  Applications are due the first of April.  I know it is partly my fault for loosing track of time, but I am just ready to get this over and done with.

4.  LOST was a rerun tonight…..LAME!

5.  My new favorite show of the season–Life on Mars–has been cancelled.  They have a couple more episodes and then its all over  More Bummers….

Oh, Wal-Mart…. March 3, 2009

You have not seen red-neck, until you have visited Starkville’s one-ad-only Wal Mart.  The crazies come in all shapes and sizes there.  So I stopped for a few quick items (aka-candy), and as I was leaving, there was this HUGE traffic jam in the parking.  Everyone was trying to turn, and I get stuck hanging out in the middle of traffic–all due to the fact that this large woman and her small child were trying to ride the “buggy” through the parking lot and into the store.  Now, I am not intending to slight people who possess certain handicaps or limitations that require motorized transport around the Wal-Mart.  But I am opposed to this lady, who was so “handicapped” that she had to “Fred-Flinstone” her run-down motorized buggy through the parking lot.  Just get up and walk; you are practically walking right now…

This also brings to mind another post from CampfireStories [Click HERE for laughs!]

Husband Quiz… February 28, 2009

Everyone else is doing it….so, here goes.

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Basketball, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or some random science show on Discovery Channel.

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ceasar

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like?  As it turns out, he doesn’t like any kind of soup.  And he doesn’t like chili.  This was a huge surprise to me.  How can you not like a huge bowl of homemade chili on a cold night?  

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?  A Bud Light or a sweet tea.

5. Where did he go to high school? St. Joe

6. What size shoe does he wear?  11 

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?  Gadgets.  We have a huge box of miscellaneous computer-ware like cables and power cords under the bed…..In case of emergency.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Club sandwich from McAllisters with a cup of honey mustard for dipping and a side of lays…

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?  Oatmeal cookies…. or a Club sandwich from McAllisters with a cup of honey mustard for dipping and a side of lays…

10. What is his favorite cereal? He has several.  Right now he is going between Rice Chex and Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds.

11. What would he never wear? Jeans that are too short or t-shirts with stretched-out sleeves.

12. What is his favorite sports team? MS State Bulldogs, Arizona Cardnials

13. Who did he vote for? Obama

14. Who is his best friend? Me.  Or Maybe Josh Foreman.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? He hates the sound it makes when I clear my throat.  But I can’t help it–My classroom is always full of dirty, germy kids!!

16. What is his heritage? I’m just going to sum it up with “Cajun.”

17. You make him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Cheesecake.  Matt doesn’t like traditional birthday cake.

18. Did he play sports in high school? Football and golf.  And some unofficial basketball, just for fun.

19. What could he spend hours doing? You mean what DOES he spend hours doing?  Reading random stuff on the internet.  Sometimes he will stay up until 2 am just reading about things that are going on in the world.

20. What is one unique talent he has? Matt is unbelievably motivated and tenacious.  Also, he can fix just about anything.  And if he can’t fix it, he will research it on the internet until he finds the solution.  But he NEVER gives up on anything.  I wish I could say the same about myself….

Midnight Mayhem

Here is a picture of our first scary Jack-o-lantern that Matt and I carved last year.  I forgot to blog about it, but here it is.  I will use it to set the mood for a very scary, but very funny story:  The other night I had this very vivid an very bizarre dream that Matt and I went on a trip with a few of our close friends.  We decided to stay at this bed and breakfast, and we stayed up all night having a great time with our hosts.  But in the morning I wake up to find that EVERYONE is gone except for me.  So I panic, and I’m screaming for Matt.  The host grabs me and he say that I’m never going to see Matt or my friends again.  For three days, he and his wife held me hostage, and my captors stopped talking to me or answering my questions.  And I finally lost it and started screaming in his face.  As it turns out, I was screaming in my sleep.  I was screaming so loud that I woke myself up, and I look over to see Matt with his hands over his ears and he’s saying “…Ahhh….Why is this happening??…”  in this weak little whisper.  After the initial shock wore off, we laughed ourselves to sleep again.  Good times….

Retro-Post Day February 22, 2009

I think from time to time, I will post a classic from my old blog “Campfire Stories.” This weekend Matt and I made a mad-dash to the mall for a last minute outfit to wear to St. Joe’s draw down. And we both got very lucky: I got two new shirts, new jeans, a dress, sexy red heels. red jewelry to match, and a new purse; Matt got new jeans, a shirt, and some shoes. And every time we got to the register, the sales clerk was like “Yay! 30% off your entire purchase!” Anyways, It reminded me about this awesome bargain I found in Tucson one day…[CLICK HERE FOR LAUGHS]!