Spring Break Recap!!!!

It has been an extremely busy but EXCITING Spring Break!
I started the vacation off with a mini trip to Phoenix… Troy and I went to IKEA and picked out some furniture for the room! We then got to meet up with Patrick, Sarah and Allison for dinner! I forgot my camera so there are no new pictures of the little princess... boo I cannot believe I did that… I felt like a big ding dong! I did get some bonding time with Ms. Allison and learned a bit more about her! She likes to look around when I am holding her… she is a very curious bambino! And she toots like a champ! To Ms. Allison, I say… You go Girl!!!
Monday I went on a shopping excursion with Jess and her mom! We had a lot of fun hitting up BB&B, Target and Home Goods! We also made a little visit to Babies R’ Us and made Jess show us the major things she would pick out for Baby Agredano! I can’t wait until we find out what that little peanut is growing into!!!!
Tuesday and Wednesday I was up to my eyeballs in boxes and packing… bleh! Jess and Troy-boy kept checking in on me, because I think they were afraid I would be taken over by cardboard!
Thursday was paint day.
You might say to yourself, ‘Wow…that is all they did all day long?’
To which I would say, ‘YES… we painted aaaaallllllll day long! Boy am I glad Thursday is over (and the paint looks fantastic)!
But then the evening came and we had the 1st EVER fabulous ladies Bunco Bonanza, hosted by the lovely Nikki Churchill! We had some great snacks, conversation and fun while playing a pretty intense dice roll game! I had heard of coworkers of mine that played in a monthly group and always laughed to myself while thinking… super nerds!!!! Boy was I wrong (feel free to call me a super nerd!) We had a BLAST and unanimously agreed to have future monthly Bunco nights!
Friday Matt, Troy and I moved all of my lovely things to the house. Well let me rephrase that… Matt and Troy did most everything! I just finished packing the rest of the house, tied up some loose ends and had a mini panic attack when I saw Troy dropping things into Matt’s arms from the 2nd floor. I think it was understood that I would do most of the unpacking. And boy did I unpack! If you know me at all, you know that I had the majority of things put away that evening. The things that weren’t put away had at least had an assigned spot, for a later time!
Saturday I graded at least 100 assignments and entered them into the online gradebook. Well maybe not exactly 100, but really close to that. I also unpacked and reorganized some more.
Sooooo…. there was a little more to Saturday...it was my friend’s baby shower. This is the friend that I decided to part ways with. Seeing as I have not heard from her AT ALL, to discuss some of the hurtful things that went down, I opted to be a no show. I felt a little guilty about it… I would have loved to be there, Hell I would have loved to throw it for her. However I have come to the realization that if I do not have a higher expectation of my friendships then I will constantly be faced with these hurtful situations. By higher expectation I’m talking mutual respect, reliability and trust…not Carnival cruises and shopping excursions. At some point in my adult life I said no way Jose to negative relationships and who walks in but my Prince Troygle! Since I have let go of this friendship (and start to move past the sad part) I have been able to spend more time fostering the friendships that matter.
Anyways… back to the recap!
Sunday I finished grading the last 100 things I needed to grade… again this is an approximate. Troy and Matt BUSTED through the house repairing, reviving, plucking, filling and being the handiest of men! I escaped to some family dinner and celebrated St. Josephs Feast day (Friday) with a zeppole. For those of you who aren’t Italian Catholics and have never had the honor of tasting one of these delicacies…. I am sorry  They are divine! The best way I can describe it is… the most delicious fluffy, yet crispy on the outside donut, cut in half and filled with whipped vanilla custard, topped with fresh whipped cream….. heaven! I do not like to commit myself to a favorite Italian pastry, but this one might be it!!!
Which brings me to TODAY!!!
Today was the 1st day back after being off for 10 glorious days! I was happy to see the little rascals! I am also looking forward to learning about the Butterfly Life Cycle, Objects in the Sky and painting our interpretation on Van Gogh’s Starry night this week. Oh yea… math and writing too! Maybe even a little reading!!!! Happy Monday!!!

Oh and peeps... I need some followers!
Please and Thank you!

List Mania!?!

Happy Friday!
This is a pretty special and happy Friday as it is the last work day for me and then I am on Spring Break!

FYI... teachers love Spring Break MORE than the kids do! (its true)

There is only one down side to it... when we come back from Spring Break, there is 9 loooong harrowing weeks to get through before Summer! I say long and harrowing, not because I don't enjoy and love what I do. Its just as the weather gets warmer, the kids get antsy.

Not to mention they subconsciously know there is going to be a shift and change in their life. Kids really enjoy and crave consistency. They tend to get a little twitchy knowing that change is in the air. Anyways... summer is far off and I know we will make it through!

Sooooo... my super duper really exciting news is that this Spring Break, Troy and I are taking a ginormous step in our relationship.

We are moving in together!!!???!!!

I would like to be able to put a word on this blog that could fully describe how I feel, but I can't actually find one. Basically I am feeling all of those good, thrilling feelings that I love to feel!!!Needless to say, this Spring Break we will be doing a lot of things to get ready for this big transition.

So yesterday I told Troy I wanted to make a To Do list. Troy initially just laughed, because he knows how much I love my little lists. But he doesn't really know how much I love them. I have always been poked fun of by my family at how incredibly organized and anal I am. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I just understand that not everyone is the same way.... so I try really hard to hide or minimize this aspect of myself. Troy doesn't pop into my work enough to see my bookshelves and desk lined with lists. Typically I de-clutter my purse of lists and notes before I get home, so I wont get caught. Its really all a little intense. Anywho, I think Troy really began to understand how important my lists are to me yesterday.... when I had my first mini meltdown right in front of him!!!

Troy and I were talking about the little things that he would like for us to do before we pack up and move my stuff. As I am listening I become immediately aware that I have reached my mental to do list limit and so it is time to bust out with the good old pen and paper. This is actually one of my favorite feelings. Its like a wave of excitement takes over as I am writing all the little projects down on the paper. I follow with the days and then start mapping out the projects. Troy is watching me do this, with a semi-perplexed look on his face, kind of saying to himself... is she really planning when we are going to fold up the tables? Well actually he said that one out-loud. It was at this moment that he realized that his girlfriend has been replaced by...

Anal (retentive) Amanda.

It was also at this moment, by the look on his face, that I instantly became embarrassed and a little defensive. Oh Bananas! Now he knows how much these little paper lists mean to me! In Troys mind he knows this stuff is going to get done, but for me I need my list to know it will get done.

My lists are like my little contracts.

In a panic I scribbled the tables out and attempted to crumple the list. Troy stopped me and wanted to keep the list going, totally for my benefit... which I appreciated.

Now here is where I got a little batty...

I want to continue this list, but there is a scribble on it!!!

I cant have this being on my list.

It is at this moment that I have the breakdown.

I want to cry because I realize that I am being ridiculous.

I want to laugh because I think the look on Troys face is so funny.

He looks as confused as I feel!

So what do I do?

I laugh and cry all at the same time (a talent totally inherited from Grams)

And Troy just hugs me and gets me a new piece of paper.

He knows why all of this is really happening.

I just want everything to be perfect for us.

And I calm down because I realize that everything is perfect.

And we make the list.... our little list :)

Randomness

At one point in time, I had my whole life planned. Have I met every timeline I set forth? Hell to the NNNNNN OOOOOO!!! Have I met the important ones? YES and I have earned some bragging rights along the way, too :) (thank you, thank you very much!)

I have let my disappointments make me blue, but deep down in that big ole sloppy heart of mine, I have kept faith... and confidence in what I want for my life and what I deserve. Thank you mom, Jon and Josh for reminding me (blatantly, reminding me) when I have lost sight of that.

I see now, that every 'disappointment' has actually been a ginormous blessing in disguise. I am a firm believer in this statement... 'when God closes one door, he opens a window!' And in my case God has opened the most beautiful bay window! It is actually a bay window seat, that overlooks a luxurious white sand beach, in the middle of a colorful painted Arizona sunset! Far fetched... a little, but remember this is MY special window!

I have been so blessed in life, recently! And all my blessings give clarity to the silly little road bumps along the way. So if I can impart just a teensy weensy little morsel of knowledge upon you, my blog friends, let it be this...

keep the faith
AND
if you must plan for anything in life, plan to be surprised!

For dinner tonight...
whole wheat pasta with mushrooms and yellow squash in a white wine, garlic sauce! yum-o!