This week's happy moments...

I bought gas for $3.33 a gallon!!

The blind girl I was so worried about is one of the best students in the class.

I left school at 2:30 today as opposed to 5pm on Monday and Tuesday.

Finally got an LCD projector for my class so I don't have to use those "overhead projector" things... that's what they tell me they're called anyway...

FHE with Jon after missing a week while he was out of town.

Now I've Done It!

I've gone and got myself a job. I'm teaching Spanish at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology, a magnet High School in the area. It is a highly respected public school where students apply and audition for their "prime", kind of like a major. They also take a regular core of classes. It is in the top 5% of Public High Schools in the United States, and I feel very blessed to be working there. I actually accepted the offer over a month ago, but I started on Monday. This week is for teachers, and we start with students next Monday, the 25th. I am working part time, teaching three Spanish 2 classes. My hours are from 11am to 2pm. Does it get any better than that?? I don't think so...

Anyway, the first two days have been a little bit overwhelming, but I am really excited to start. I feel like I am getting things together, and even if I have to fake it for the first couple weeks, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll pull it off. I usually do. Pull things off, that is.

To do:

Jon went out of town over the weekend. He was helping out at a recruiting event at a university, which left me all alone on Friday and Saturday. To keep myself busy, and distracted from the fact that I was missing out on a whole weekend with my husband, I made a to do list. Since no one was there to witness my productivity, I thought it would be appropriate to replicate my to do list here, with a bit of evidence of its completion, for the world to see.

Sarah's To Do List

Do laundryAs you can see from the clean towels in the dryer, I did the laundry. So what if I didn't get around to folding a few measly towels...

Fix pillowsI made these throw pillow covers awhile ago, but the closures on them failed after only a few weeks. So I spent some time fixing them, and now they stay closed and I think they look lovely.

Pay Comcast billOur TV still works. That should be evidence enough that I did, indeed, pay the Comcast bill.

Watch Olympic Opening CeremoniesOkay, so I got this pic off the internet, but to furnish proof that I did, indeed, tune in to the opening ceremonies, I will identify the only singer atop the giant globe/Chinese lantern whose name I can pronounce. Sarah Brightman. And, I'll tell you what, it was good!

Book Christmas FlightsFriday morning I heard on the radio that the airlines are cutting over 60,000 seats at Christmas time. So I got a little nervous about rising prices. My nervousness was validated when I did a search on Orbitz and saw prices of over $1,000 from here to SLC. Thank heaven for Southwest though, because I was able to find tickets for MUCH cheaper than that, and booked them (while on the phone with Jon, of course) just to be safe. Here's the email receipt, just in case you think that story sounds too far-fetched to believe.

Send thank you notesThis has been an on going project for the last several weeks, and I am pleased to say that over the weekend I mailed all but these few whose addresses I was still tracking down. Very big relief.

Clean houseThis part looks clean at least, right?

Shop for school clothesYou might think that once one graduates from college, school clothes shopping is over for them, at least until they have school-aged children. Sounds like good logic, but it just doesn't hold if that one happens to be a teacher! I think that's got to be one of the perks of teaching. You get paid a pittance, you deal with naughty kids all day long, but hey, you get to shop for school clothes every fall. Totally worth it in my humble opinion. My goal this year, though, has changed from "look cute" to "look older than the kids".

Print email applicationI'm not sure what's with Baltimore County Public Schools tech department, but it seems that the application for their electronic mail cannot be submitted electronically. So I had to head to the business center at the club house to print out this form (we still don't have a printer, and I have made many a trip to the business center- chiefly to print out directions to wherever I was going. Thankfully, the recent purchase of a GPS has cut down greatly on those trips).

Water plantsAs you can see, one of the tomato plants likes tap water. The other one decidedly does not. I blame its early death completely on its own finicky nature, and take none of the blame, as I have treated both with equal love and care.

Buy nightstandsPoor Jon has been putting his alarm on the floor for the last couple of months, so when a Visa check card for $100 came from rent.com for signing a lease through them, I headed to Ikea and this was the result. Chinese lanterns seem to be becoming a theme in this post. And circles are becoming a theme in our room.

Grocery ShopIce cream sells for about $6 for a half-gallon around here, so when they have a good sale, you've just got to stock up!

Go to poolYes, I really put this on my to-do list. See, when we moved in, the pool was a big selling point, but I had only been once all summer (I kind of have a problem with the hours and days they are open...don't really jive with my schedule) but I figured I'd better make up for some lost time and go before summer's over. I went twice this weekend. Here's some evidence drying in the shower.

Read bookI have been reading the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series by Pamela Aidan, (Shout out to Diana..."Hey they Fitzwilliam...") and I finished the third and final one this weekend. I have to say that although they were a little slow to start, I really got into them by the end. Very interesting take on the classic story. Also, going to the pool allowed me to multi-task with this item, and kill two birds with one stone.

Sew apronAprons for Jon and I have been my most recent project. I spent some time working on mine this weekend. It's much more complicated than Jon's, which I finished in a couple hours flat.

Prep Sunday dinnerWe had Becca and a friend over for dinner on Sunday, and I wanted to get the tedious part of making curry over with, so I spent an hour or so chopping onions, garlic and jalapeños. I must say, my hands smelled lovely for several hours afterwards. Here is some leftover curry. I'm sorry, but I just didn't have the foresight to take a picture of myself chopping. It may look gross, but it tasted great!

BlogI must admit that I didn't get to this one over the weekend. I think it was the book's fault. At any rate, better late than never.

Done, and done. Phew!

VISITORS!

Last Saturday night we were quietly spending the evening at home when we got a phone call. James, my double cousin, had been unjustly arrested on suspicion of having drugs in his car that were not there, and had spent half the night previous in a Brooklyn jail. WHAT? I could go on and on about my feelings about that use of our tax dollars at work, but instead I'll write about the silver lining. Due to said arrest, James deservingly took Saturday off work, and he and Adam decided it would be a great time to come visit us in Baltimore. So, they asked, were we busy? And if not, could they come spend what was left of the weekend with us? We told them to come on down, so down they came, and arrived a bit after midnight. We were really sad to be missing the family reunion that was going on in Utah without us, and the impromptu mini-reunion did not disappoint. We stayed up talking for a couple more hours before going to bed, and then attended church together the next morning. Church was great, and we came home for a leisurely afternoon. The boys played Settlers of Catan while I read, and then I made dinner while they napped. We ate together (it was the first time there were more than just the two of us at our table, and we loved it!) and then headed out for a Sunday nature walk, that turned out to be a little more rigorous a hike than was, perhaps, appropriate for Sunday. But once you're halfway through a loop, you might as well keep going as turn back. It was a gorgeous walk though, through thick wooded areas. We saw cool mushrooms, crossed a river by walking over a fallen tree, and listened to the birds and dirt bikes in the distance. (Fortunately the dirt bike sound was available for only a small fraction of the time). After our "nature walk", we headed back home for some chocolate pie and some scrabble. With a little team work at the very end of the game, we were able to use every single piece! Adam, however, was the clear winner...do not let his seeming frustration in this photo mislead you. After scrabble we had a little creative time with the pieces, and then just hung out and talked. We all agreed that it was great to spend time with family, and that it had been way to long for all of us. Monday morning, the boys packed up and headed back to Jersey, and Jon went back to work, but it was a surprisingly fun and refreshing weekend. We love having visitors!! (hint hint)

I'm cheating on my grocery store!

Since my initial grocery store adventures I have been faithful to Weis, other than quick stops for one or two items. Until last weekend when Jon was sick and I headed out to buy some sick person food and medicine. The Super Fresh tempted me...especially when I realized that it is actually CLOSER than the Mars when we take our newly discovered short cut to Bel Air road. So I went inside. But it gets worse. I signed up for their Fresh Club Card! It's actually much cuter than the Weis card. And I went there again on Monday to do the real grocery shopping. Aside from not carrying bean sprouts, the a gallon of milk costing $3.99, it did not disappoint. So, we'll see. But whatever you do, don't tell Weis.

Waxing Artistic

My creative side got the better of me yesterday and after a few hours with paintbrush in hand, our bedroom is now photo worthy. At least one wall of it, anyway. Turns out that a little background in scenic art never hurts. Thanks TMA 368!

One day and $500 later...

My job last week was to get the truck registered. It was important not only because you have only 60 days after moving to Maryland to do so without a fine, but also because the old Texas registration expired in June, and we were driving illegally on the sly. It was a fairly complicated endeavor, which we had not postponed out of sheer procrastination, but out of necessity while with cut, bit by bit, though all the red tape that was required before they would even give you a number at the MVA. So after legally changing my name, having Jon's parents send us a notarized bill of sale, notarizing our signatures on the bill of sale, and waiting for my new social security card to come in the mail, on Thursday, I was ready.

The day before, I had made an appointment for a safety inspection. They usually run about $30 in Utah, so when the first place I called told me $85, I laughed to myself and said I would "call back", fully intending to find the $30 place and never call that place again! My subsequent calling yielded me answers of "$89.95", "$90", and so on...so I went back on my internal vow and did call the first place back. Yikes! $85 for a safety inspection?! But what else can you do? Luckily, we have kept the truck in pretty good shape, so I didn't anticipate any repairs. And I was right...the truck is in great shape. Except, apparently, tint (even a very light one that comes standard on the truck) is illegal without a certification sticker, which we didn't have, so we could not pass the inspection! Oh, and the wiper blades needed replacing. We could either make an appointment with with police to contest the policy in our specific case, scrape all the tint off the windows with a razor blade, or pay $70 to have the shop remove it. After a phone call to Jon at work, we decided on the latter. We were headed on an out of state road trip the next day, and really needed the registration asap...no time for police or razor blades. And, might as well have them replace the wiper blades while they're at it...add $30. ($30 for wiper blades?!) Add $100 to the initial $85, and the truck passes!

Now, on to the MVA (like the DMV...in Maryland it's called the Motor Vehicle Association). I managed to find the place (I swear they hide them) without too much trouble, but of course the first time I went, I didn't have all the papers I needed...("Oh, you need to see my new social security card and my marriage license?...Oh, no problem...I'll just run home...Oh, my husband and I both have to sign this form...no biggie, I'll just stop by his work on the way home..."). And thus, I found myself making my second trip to the MVA for the day.
I, a new resident to the state of Maryland, was bringing a lot of business to the MVA that afternoon (yes afternoon. Did I mention I started the ordeal at 8am?) So you would think I would be treated very kindly. I had to transfer the title of the truck, register the truck, and change my drivers license over to a Maryland one. Could they help me with all of those things? Nope! Two lines...one for drivers licenses, another for vehicle title and registration. Better do the license first. (How could I forget? No competition, no customer service.) So I take my first number, and I wait, and wait, and wait. And since they have like, four types of numbers (each beginning with a different letter) I have no idea if my turn is getting closer or not. I think they are trying to drive us all crazy. Luckily, I have brought pretzels and a book. They serve me well. Except that, I have just taken a bit of a pretzel when they finally call my number. And I'm so flustered that I forget to put a marker in my book. And then I'm worried that I have pretzel in my teeth when they take my picture. Oh well.

Not sure what takes so long, but the lady just sits there typing and clicking away, and finally looks up and says, "$48." I still don't have my own check card, (you don't even want to know what we have been through with banks) but I have Jon's debit, and since you can enter the pin, and I know the pin, I've never had a problem. Only, they only run cards as credit. I swipe it, and she looks at me like I'm some sort of criminal and says, "Is he here? He has to sign." (No, he is not here. If he had been here, I wouldn't have had to drive to his work to have him sign that silly form, now would I have?) I sigh, scrounge up $48 cash from my wallet, and hand it over. That was toll road cash for our road trip. Oh well. After a couple minutes she hands me my new Maryland drivers license (she kept my Utah one...I'll bet she's gonna sell it on the street to some kid who doesn't even look like me...for how cranky she was they couldn't be paying her that well).

Now I head back to the line, which is much longer by now, and wait. Eventually, the attendant reviews my documents, verifies that I have everything (she seems surprised...the attendant has switched by now...little does she know that I have already had to make a trip home), and gives me a number. "Wait!" I say, "Do you know how much this will all cost?" (Now that I know they won't accept our debit card I need to sneak out and get some more cash...unless it costs less than $3.76...I still have $3.76 in my wallet). "Let's see" she says, cheerfully. "It'll be $36.75 for sales tax," (the car "cost" $0 in the "sale" from Jon's parents. Apparently 6% of $0 is $36.75), "$50 for the title, a $25 registration fee, and..." (she glances down at my paperwork) "is this a pickup truck?" I nod. "$150 for the tags" she finishes, and smiles up at me. I smile back, feeling faint. And I take my number, and run to the bank next door, where I hit up the ATM for $300, and sneak back into the MVA to repeat the waiting game. Only this time, in the title and registration section, there is a super annoying bugle sound every time a new number flashes up on the screen. Maybe the title and registration workers are all mutes, and can't actually call out the number. I go back to my pretzels and book (I haven't had lunch yet, and it is well after lunch time...) trying to ignore the bugle sound.

Finally the bugle alerts me to my number, and once again, I have just taken a bit of a pretzel, so I chew quickly and approach the desk. At least there are no pictures this time. This lady is actually pretty nice. She turns out not to be a mute, and, noticing my book, asks what I am reading. "It's called 'An Assembly Such as This'...it's a take on Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view." We chit chat for a bit about literature. She has seen the movie, 'Pride and Prejudice'. Cool. She doesn't seem to be in a hurry, and while I appreciate her interest, I can't help but think of the long line of numbers behind me. But who expects efficiency from a government agency? She processes my paperwork, hands me the new plates and stickers, and says "$261.75". Good thing I'm prepared...no light-headedness this time. I whip out a stack of 20's and hand them over. She tests them all to make sure they're legit, hands me my change, and I'm done. I can't believe it. Am I really done? Yep. One day, and $500 later, I have a Maryland drivers license, and a legal car. And I'm making Jon put on the plates.