Step Two Three

Eons ago (or at least way back in December), Paul and I were at an auction and "won" a gift certificate for six dance lessons. I've been wanting to take dance lessons for a long while but Paul was rather relunctant about it. Actually, that's an understatement. Whatever is more than relunctant--that was Paul's position on learning to dance. I love to dance; Paul, not so much. He's afraid people are going to watch him. My take on that has always been that he's neither so good or so bad that people are going to watch him. He doesn't buy it. But he likes me an awful lot and so tonight, he is going to learn to dance.

I love my cat

I'm fairly certain the feeling is not mutual.



(Please ignore that I'm looking like death warmed over in the picture--a little lip gloss and a hairbrush from time to time would do me a world of good). Just look at the Jubinator. Look at how cute he is. With the tongue even (though I think he's sticking it out at me). I found the elephant hat at Target--it was a toss up between it or a little kitty tie. I knew the cat would hate either one so I decided to go with the bigger of the two evils. Jub's not biting me so I'll pretend that he actually likes it. Ha!

Tonight is the 8th grade dance at school. I've agreed to be a chaperone as I've done most every year in the past. It really is fun to see the students all fancied up for the one "dressy" dance of middle school. At least the girls are dolled up and prim and proper. The boys still manage to end up rumpled and attempting the Worm in their dress clothes. It reminds me why I enjoy being a teacher. One of my student aides asked me if I had a dress I was going to wear tonight--like, had I bought something special for the dance, too? I didn't but now I'm totally wishing I had (not that I don't have about 15 completely suitable-for-the-occasion outfits I can choose from).

All the APS graduations were held this week. Yesterday, I saw the list of valedictorians and salutatorians for the various high schools. I'm proud to say I taught one of the valedictorians in 7th grade. I'm totally sure that's why she was at the top of her graduating class. That, or the fact that even when she was a 13-year-old, she was an awesome student and an amazing kid--one of those you know is going to do great things with her life. But I still have a little bitty bit of smugness that I had anything to do with her success.

I Married a Good Guy

It's cooler today than I'd expected when I got dressed. Paul brought me a new pair of shoes this morning after I'd gotten to school because my toes were cold in the sandals I'd originally worn. And he made sure the shoes he brought me would match my outfit.

I love that boy.

My favorite picture, maybe of all time

The shirt says "For those about to read, we salute you." I saw it and just had to get it for Abigail. And my sister has a great sense of humor.

Already humming "Tiny Bubbles"

So, where to begin?

I'm amazed at how busy life became after Spring Break. Like, BUSY busy. Not typical for me. Paul, yes--he's always logging 80 hour work weeks and loads of travel. But even when I'm "busy" it typically doesn't carry over into the evenings. Not that the past six weeks have been bad--just unusual. Here's a short recap of the past six weeks (and I'm not on the computer with the pictures so those will have to wait for a different post).

Because I'm a dork, I looked back at my calendar to see what exactly it was that I've been doing. I think my evenings were mostly filled with a couple of meetings a week between school, Junior League, and a school group (which actually meets during the day but I'm the one who creates the agenda, etc. so I end up working on it during the evenings). There were also a couple of evenings filled with concerts by the singing group my father-in-law leads at church. It's billed as "Bluegrass" but really they're more "Old Time Gospel" or as I like to tease, "The Baptist Hymnal Group" (OK, that's funnier if you know that we attend a Methodist church but I was raised Baptist and Baptists and Methodists have many of the same old hymns. Eh, maybe it's not even funny then.)

Back in April, we also had a progressive dinner party with some of our neighbors and we hosted the entree portion of the evening. I made fajitas. Paul made margaritas. Both were very good. We're very fortunate to have such wonderful neighbors. One of my sisters said our neighborhood was very Stepford-esque because we do things like dinner parties and cocktail hours and there are always people out walking dogs and pushing strollers. Perhaps it is a little Stepford-esque but so far, we have yet to discover the pods of any of the neighbors.

Also in April, we went to Texas for a family reunion/anniversary celebration for my maternal grandparents. It's always a little worrisome when we get together with the family--not because we don't enjoy seeing our families but. But. Thankfully, what could have gone horribly wrong (lots of people, lots of small children, all that family dynamics at play) turned into a really pleasant weekend. All the children (there were 10 or so under age 7) did a great job of maintaining and Paul and I both had a great time playing with them (I think they were being plyed with lots and lots of sugar--I know Paul was starting with the shaved ices we had before the event started). I also enjoyed visiting with with my cousins and their spouses. The weather got a little iffy later in the evening--tornadoes, rain, hail, wind--but happily the really bad stuff missed Amarillo (and the weather gave the men something to do. There was the circle of men outside watching the clouds and the circle of men inside watching the weather in the back room).

That Sunday, my mom, sisters and I went to the cemetary to put flowers at my father's grave. It marked the 30th anniversary of his death. I'm glad I could go with my mom to do that but, as I told Paul, it definitely put me very introspective. I was so young when my father died, almost 2 1/2, that I have no memories of him. It's hard to miss something that you never really had. Not that I don't miss having known my father but I've been very lucky that the people who did know him are willing to talk about him. It's a little skewed when I talk with my paternal grandmother but everyone else has painted a definite picture of this man I was named for but know so little about. And I guess that is what I miss--knowing all about him for myself. But I didn't miss out on having a dad because of my stepfather (who I sometimes forget is just that) so that's when the emotions get a little muddled. Dunno. It's just one of those things I have to mull over from time to time. . .

The chair we ordered in March was finally delivered and it's very comfortable and looks lovely in our bedroom. Last week was the spring book fair so I was super busy with that. And of course, the one day with bad weather was the evening of the Spring Fest family night which made the evening a bit of a dud for me. No one really wanted to walk outside in a downpour from the gym and cafeteria areas where the other events were being held to the library to see the book fair. It got a little busier when it finally stopped raining but the evening's total was only about half of what it had been in years past with nice weather.

Today, we finally got our airline tickets for our trip to Hawaii. Ten days in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach in July. Before Don Ho's untimely death a few weeks ago, I'd told Paul that we'd be making a side trip to see him just for the kitsch factor. I'm not so sure Paul was looking forward to that. Paul's in the conference for five of those days but I'm more than willing to entertain myself with fruity drinks on the beach (where I'll be found slathered in sunscreen, wearing a hat and my lovely cover-up to keep any sun from touching my yes-I'm-a-real-redhead very fair skin).

There are three weeks left in the school year--a mere 14 days now. At some times, it doesn't seem possible. Other times--it can't get here soon enough. The library will officially close for the year on Friday so I can spend the last two weeks of the year completing a library inventory and tracking down all those overdue books. I've also got another book order due as well as all the end-of-year stuff I have to do before May 25. So I'm still busy but without all the stuff in the evenings thrown in to the mix. Hopefully I'll make it back here before then.