horrible blogger...

I know, I'm a horrible blogger, but I'm just too busy to keep up with this right now! Work is great, the new school and kids are wonderful! I've just got a lot to do, pretty much every minute, because I'm still trying to navigate the new sixth grade curriculum I'm teaching and keep things going with the eighth graders too. Plus having a new team, new fundamental guidelines to learn, and still getting things set up in the classroom.

back to work

I'm getting a pedicure right now. I should still be at work, because I have so much to do, but my mom helped me in my room until 3:30 and then we headed to the mall for pedicures. Getting back into the swing of things with work is very difficult, but I'm doing ok. I just don't feel like I've gotten into the flow yet. My room is coming together. Now is the hard part, planning out how to organize the class assignments and curriculum and putting that plan into a letter/syllabus for the parents. I don't like having a set schedule of mondays we do this,tuesdays this, etc., because there are always interruptions and days off and things. Plus, I'm teaching a whole new class this year, 6th grade advanced reading. We don't have a lot of our books and materials yet, because of the new school. I'm also working with all new people, so that makes things more challenging too. I know somehow it will all come together for the kids' arrival on Tuesday.
My uncle Mike is in town and we're having dinner with him tonight. Tomorrow, I will be at school very late.

...

Last Tuesday morning my brother called to tell me my dad had died. He was only 57 years old. He was working and had a heart attack and collapsed. He didn't make it to the hospital. I had just seen him while I was in Ohio and I am so thankful for the time I had with him this summer. It still doesn't seem real.

After receiving the news, my mom and I packed up quickly and headed to Daytona, where we drove through the night with my uncle to Columbus. After arriving, Chad and I met up with my aunts to plan his funeral. The funeral was Saturday and his body is now resting beside my grandparents'.

On Sunday I flew to Washington, D.C. then to Orlando. My cousin picked me up in Orlando and drove me to my uncle's house in Daytona. From there, I picked up the car and drove back to Tampa.

Yesterday I went back into my classroom, this time things were much better, but there's still a lot that has to be done. I was just not in a place mentally where I felt like I could work on it and accomplish anything.

Today, I was supposed to be in a training from 8:30-3:30, but I actually finished up at 10:45, so I was able to sign out my classroom key and work in my room for awhile. I accomplished quite a bit and I feel a lot better about it now. I got rid of all the extra crap left in my room by previous teachers and moved my furniture around, so it's mostly where I want it. It's awesome to have tile floors, I can drag all the furniture around by myself!

After that I had lunch at home with Lola and then I worked on cleaning out the kitchen in my grandma's condo (she died in January and we still haven't done much of anything with it). Later I took princess Lola to Pet Food Warehouse to get some more canned food. She loves going in there, because all the employees pay attention to her and give her treats and I swear she thinks she's like an honored guest or something...it's quite amusing. She is now sleeping soundly, recovering from her busy day!

I finally got up the nerve to get on the scale today and I actually cried a little. I'm going back to weight watchers tomorrow. I have been very uncomfortable with my body lately, because I knew I was gaining weight, but I didn't know how bad it was. I've got to lose some weight, because I feel gross.

Tomorrow is another day of training, but I have to leave early and pick up my mom at the airport. Friday Chad & Ioulia are coming to visit!

back home

The rest of my trip flew by. I had some more dinners and lunches with friends. My last night Lola & I went to Dogs on the Deck at the Lodge Bar to benefit Ohio Pug Rescue. We were joined by Layla, Chad, Ioulia, Shirley, Tom, Jill & Amir. Later that night Chad, Ioulia, Amir, & I got Jenny's icecream and played 101 at Stauff's. We left on Saturday morning, after a final family breakfast. Lola was in a panic, because I packed the car and then went out to breakfast, so she was afraid she was being left. Once we had her in the car and ready, she was a happy little girl. She slept soundly the whole trip!

I drove all day on Saturday and Sunday, returning home about 3 on Sunday. I visited with my mom for awhile and then took a nap. Then Ryan came over. Lola was more excited to see Ryan than my mom, which didn't go over very well with my mom!

Monday I went into my school to see my classroom, but it is tiled (most rooms are carpeted), so it was being waxed. They emptied it out entirely to wax it, so my stuff and the stuff of three other teachers that left Madeira was in the room next door. Looking at that mess of furniture and boxes, I have no idea what I have/will need for my room, so I'm going to go in this Monday and I hope it will have been moved back into my room, so I can take stock of everything.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my mom's only days off until August 14 (yes she's insane), so I spent them with her. We did some cleaning and organizing, watched Eagle Eye, went to my grandpa's house to play dominoes, went walmarting, and went to Ikea! I enjoyed the Tampa Ikea, but I still think I like the Chicago one better. While we were at my grandpa's we discovered two baby turtles that had somehow ended up in his pool. My grandpa fished them out and I returned them to the lake. They were soooo cute!

Thursday Ryan and I tried a new Mexican place I had coupons for. It ended up being attached to a Howard Johnson's so we were a little hesitant to still go in, but it actually was pretty good. After dinner we watched the Mighty, which I had never seen, even though I read the book Freak the Mighty years ago. I liked the movie. I thought it was well done, but it has been awhile since I read it.

Today was a lazy, rainy day of getting caught up on stuff (and there was a nap ;).
Lola is out of pumpkin for her dog food (vet's orders, she's supposed to have 2 tablespoons, twice a day). I've been to 5 grocery stores in the last two days and none of them have pumpkin. I finally found a sign at a Publix that said they were unable to stock it currently due to supply problems with the manufacturer. In the meantime, I need to find something to help up the fiber for Miss Lola.

Our A/C is broken. I have no idea what's going on with it, but I got home tonight and it was 79 in here and I can't get it to even turn on. Fun, fun.

Tomorrow, Ryan, Lola, and I are going to his parents house and Sunday back to UUC for the first time in like forever!

this is my last week in columbus...

Ok, I haven't been very good about keeping up with this lately, but I have been keeping pretty busy, so that's my excuse. Not sure exactly where I left off, but I think I still need to share about our Columbus Clippers game! Chad and I went to see the Clippers at the new stadium, Huntington Park. It was a lot of fun. My dad works there, so he got us into the club level and an usher found some unused seats for us that were great. It's a nice park and a lot of fun.
Then, my boyfriend Ryan came into town. I took him to the "new" COSI. I had fun, it's nice, but I still don't like it nearly as much as the old COSI. Is it just nostalgia for the things I miss, like the street of yesteryear with it's old movie theater, the paper making, the elephant collection, and wool smoothing/weaving? Or the coal mine? Or the baby chicks? The hall of presidents? Why couldn't they have combined these things into the new COSI? I try to be objective and look at it like it's just a museum of it's own, but I haven't been able to do that yet. And how do they not have a planetarium????!!! They did move over the cracker box collection, which I enjoyed looking at this time.
Ryan and I also went to the Franklin Park Conservatory. I love it there, it's so beautiful! They also have the butterfly exhibit right now, so we had butterflies flying around us. We went to Shadowbox, Easton, Polaris, old Hilliard (for Johnny's party), a park in UA for Dylan & Brooklyn's birthday party, had a family dinner at Shirley's, drove around campus and had Adriatico's (of course), went to Dave & Busters, and went to the Wilds. The Wilds was awesome! I love animals and it was really cool to see so many of them up close.
Tuesday, I met Amir, Jackie, Dave, Shannon, Evan, Brooklyn, and Dylan for dinner at the Ballantrae Country Club. It was a beautiful night and Dylan had fun playing on the golf course! Then we went over to the fountains where Dylan played with Amir and Evan and rolled on the hill (too cute) and the girls stayed dry. Then we went to graeter's for ice cream.
Wednesday, Chad, Ioulia, Ioulia's mom, Ioulia's grandma, and I went to King's Island. We had a great time. I LOVE the new roller coaster, Diamondback. The new one from last summer, Firehawk, was pretty awesome too!
Thursday, I got some much needed rest and had dinner with Chad & Shirley at Barley's in grandview. Friday night I went to dinner with Chad, Ioulia, and Evan at Gallo's and then we went bowling! I'm horrible, but I had fun! Then Chad & I met up with our cousin Josh at b.hampton's on king or third or something like that (they moved, so I'm not sure).
Saturday morning Shannon, Jill, and I left for our girl's weekend in Cincinnati. We spent most of the day at the outlet malls in Jeffersonville. Then we had a very nice dinner at primavista, which was a very expensive, but beautiful italian restaurant overlooking the whole city from the side of a hill. We had a great time and the food was awesome! Then we drove around downtown for awhile. We went out to fountain square and hung out for most of the evening (although it rained, so we had to stay inside mostly). Then we watched a chick flick on in demand! Sunday, we slept in, then woke up and had a great breakfast and came back to Columbus. I spent the rest of the day with Chad, we went Walmarting, saw the new Harry Potter movie, and had some Iaacono's spaghetti for dinner.
Today, I slept in and then had lunch with my cousin, Nataleigh. Now I'm catching up on some blogging and I'm going to read my book, because I can't wait to see how it ends! Lola is contentedly sleeping at my feet!

columbus times

I had a wonderful 4th of july weekend! Friday started out with a walking tour of the osu campus (I led the tour and Ioulia translated it into Russian for her grandma). I was excited to see the big changes on campus since I graduated five years ago and I didn't see a whole lot! The library construction started while I was in grad school and is still not complete, but it says that it will open fall of 2009, so I guess it's almost finished. The union project looks like it's going to be a lot longer, but it looks like it will be very nice when it's all finished. I didn't realize they were completely rebuiklding not just remodeling.
After the tour I picked up my cousins and we went to chad and ioulia's place. We went to the pool and swam, although it was kind of cold outside, the pool was heated, so we were fine as long as we stayed in the water. Then Chad and Ioulia had a cookout.
Later, we headed down to Red, White, and Boom. We hung out in the arena district area and found perfect seats on the hill at the end of the grassy mall near the arches...definitely recommend the spot if you're looking for one next year! The fireworks were good, but a little short this year. I heard later there was a problem with some of them, which shortened the show.
Saturday, I did some shopping with my dad and my aunt. Then I met up with Chad and Ioulia for the Hilliard fireworks. They were awesome! Much better than Red, White, and Boom actually. Then we headed out for a midnight showing of the Hangover. It was very funny.
Sunday I baked brownies in the morning, went to the zoo with Chad, Ioulia, and Ioulia's grandma, and then my aunt had a cookout in the evening. At the zoo we got to see the baby elephant, he's still very tiny. I also enjoyed seeing the koalas and kangaroos, because they weren't out when I was at lowry park last time. And there was even a bonobo named Lola! Columbus zoo is also home to the oldest gorilla in captivity and the first gorilla ever born in a zoo, Colo, she's in her 50s now! She looks pretty good, but the sign said she has some arthritis! We had a great cookout at my aunt's (she's an awesome cook) and after we ate, we played some Mexican Train!
Monday I took my mom's car in to have her remote repaired, hit up half price books (my favorite!) And took some flowers to my grandparents' grave. That night Chad and I had Jersey Mike's (yum!) For dinner and then did some shopping.
Today, I was woken up to Lola gagging and she proceded to throw up several times. I rushed her outside where she peed and acted like everything was completely normal. Despite my extra doting, she has seemed completely normal all day since. I had lunch at Easton with Jauna, my little sis from Big brothers Big sisters. She's going to be a senior in high school this year, I can't believe it! Then I visited with Shannon while the kids napped. I checked in with Lola and took her on a long walk. Then, I had dinner at Rusty Bucket with my friend Jill (or Dr. Bower!). After that, I went shopping with my aunt. Now I'm relaxing on the couch. Lola is all curled up with my aunt and wants nothing to do with me, but if I go upstairs or outside she flips out. She's a trip!
Tomorrow I have another busy day scheduled and Ryan comes on Thursday!

columbus!

Well it's been a busy few days since I arrived in Columbus on Saturday night. Sunday we had a family breakfast, went to see a wonderful play, and had a family dinner! Lola and Layla were happily reunited! They hung out while we were at the play. The weather here has been amazing! Cool and breezy! Monday Lola went to the groomer while I ran errands. Then we went over to hang out with Layla for awhile. Monday night I went out to dinner and to the Counting Crows concert with Chad, Ioulia, Shannon, and Evan. This was my 11th counting crows concert and it was amazing as always! The lead singer wrote on twitter that it was the most fun he'd had playing music in years! It was an amazing night!
Tuesday, Lola and I had fun hanging out with Nataleigh and her three dogs Hailey, Lacey, and Cassie. We just caught up and let the dogs play and it was a lot of fun. Then we went to Chad's and Chad and I went to dinner while the dogs played. Lola must have been energized by the company, because she was still excited to play with Layla. After dinner we walked down to the icecream shop near chad's. They give dogs free icecream, so the girls really enjoyed it! On the walk back we went by Ioulia's parents and Lola met Ioulia's dog Mischa. He wasn't a big fan of socializing, so we didn't stay long. Wednesday night we saw Transformers 2. I thought it was pretty good. Lots of funny parts, which I like, but it was a little on the long side (with previews it was 2 hours 50 minutes) and I only find robots fighting momentarily entertaining, but overall, it was pretty good.
Today, I pciked up my cousins who are also in town from florida and we went to easton, had lunch at Max and Ermas (yum!) And did a little shopping. Tonight, Simi and I saw the proposal (total chick flcik, but adorable) and ate at Adriaticos. Oh how I had missed the adriaticos bathroom...if you've been there you will rcall the experience...and the lolvely storage closet decor, but you can't beat the pizza andb breadsticks!
Looking forward to a fun, but jam packed July 4th weekend. Happy independence day weekend!