Yea for Friday!

Once again, my favorite day of the work week has arrived.

Any of you who were planning on coming to shoot me to put me out of my misery can put your guns away. I think I can make it now. The cough is still hanging on, and the congestion is still there, but they aren't as bad as they were Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Those four days were the worst I think I've ever had with a cold.

It is such a nasty-looking day, and from the weather report, it may be an interesting weekend. The high today is supposed to be 70ish, but by Sunday, they're saying there is the possibility of snow flurries! Last night I dreamed we had gotten snowed in. All John and I had at the house to eat was enough for a couple of sandwiches, but we weren't concerned about getting hungry at all. I hope my dream isn't prophetic. LOL

As I lay tossing and turning about 2 AM this morning, I was thinking of something else I was going to blog about, but whatever it was has slipped my mind. Obviously, it wasn't of any MAJOR importance.

I guess that's about it for now. Have a GREAT Friday!

♥

Will somebody shoot me...PLEASE?

Thanks for all of the well wishes yesterday!

I still feel horrible. The only improvement over yesterday is that my head no longer feels like someone has split it in two with an axe or whacked me across the eyes with a steel beam. However, my head is so stuffed that breathing through my nose is impossible, and my ears feel like cotton is stuffed in them. I'm just glad that my ears aren't hurting. And I still sound like a barking dog.
I went to work simply because it is easier to be there than it is to take a day off. In my classes, we went over the material they had to read yesterday, and then I gave them an independent assignment. The students are usually good about cooperating when they know we don't feel well.

The doctor did give me a prescription for a Z pack yesterday "just in case" I get worse. I haven't decided whether or not to have it filled. If this truly is a cold, taking an antibiotic won't do one bit of good, and it would just be money wasted. On the other hand, if it is a sinus infection, I'm sitting here suffering until I begin to actually blow green snot out of my nose when I could be taking something to help.

Like I said in my post yesterday, this doctor was NOT the one I really wanted to see, but the one I did want to see isn't seeing walk-ins this week. (They alternate weeks with walk-ins.) Had I known that ahead of time, I would have tried to make an appointment. I've seen this doc once before when I was having back spasms. I had dealt with those for about two weeks before I broke down and went to the doctor. She made me feel like the only reason I was there was for drugs. I am SO not one to take drugs just to take drugs. I don't even take stuff for headaches unless they are killer.

I certainly hope that this crud goes away...SOON! I'm not a very good sick person, am I Mom?

Have a GREAT day!
♥

I really don't think it's "just a cold"

I'm sick, and since I'm home alone, I'm going to whine to all of you about it. LOL

On Friday, I started coughing--just a dry, hacking cough. It was the kind of cough that in the past has left me sounding like Froggy from The Little Rascals. This time, I kept my voice. When I woke up Saturday, I felt like someone had run over me with a Mack truck--headache, stuffy head, sneezing, coughing, fever. John was going out, so I asked him to pick up some cold medicine for me. He brought back NyQuil liqui-gel. I took a dose, and then I slept for quite a while. I didn't feel any better Sunday. I slept almost the whole way home from Hartselle, and then I was asleep again not long after we got home. Basically, my entire weekend was spent sleeping.

Typically, when I have a cold, I can shake it enough within a couple of days so that I can function, but that isn't happening this time. When I woke up this morning, my head felt like someone had split it in two with an axe and my temp was up a little. I called in, which is something I RARELY ever do, but I knew that I wouldn't be very productive. I got to the doctor's office not long after they opened. The doctor I WANTED to see was only seeing patients with appointments this week, so I had to see the other one. NOTE TO SELF--next time, make an appointment, even if it means waiting all day to get in.

When they took my temp at the office, it was 98.6, but I knew that wasn't right. I know when I have a temp! Since I got home, it hasn't dropped below 100.4. So, I'm not really thinking I have "just a cold." I don't think it's the flu because I don't have the aches associated with flu. However, I'm not a doctor, even though I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express before. :)

Maybe I'll be able to catch up on some blog reading. Sorry if this sounds totally disjointed.

Have a GREAT day.

Quick post

Someday soon I'll be able to catch up on reading everyone's latest posts. I'm not really sure when that will be, but I do know that whenever it is, I'll probably have to spend an entire day (or twelve) doing nothing but reading and commenting!

We're going to Hartselle this weekend to see the fam. We haven't been up since we were up on Dec. 20th for Christmas. I know, I know...we're bad kids!! (I won't tell you how long it's been since we've been to Oakman...)

For any of you who don't know, John's mom (Billie) has Alzheimer's. She hasn't progressed to the point of not knowing any of us yet, but she constantly asks the same questions and tells the same things to us. She used to get really frustrated because she would tell us and then remember that she had probably already told us, but the last couple of times we've been up there, she hasn't even done that.

Connie (my SIL) called the other day and said that Billie had tried to call her 15 times that day. Connie said that most of the time, Billie doesn't even remember why she called. Or she'll ask Connie how she's feeling, even though she may have just asked her that same thing a short time before. I'm not sure if Billie calls Danny or Tim that often. I know she doesn't call John that much. I think there is just something different with Connie being the daughter.

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!
♥

Do you want to be cute or ugly?

Joe, the speaker we had the other day, did a great job talking to our juniors and seniors. All of the students I've talked to said that they really enjoyed what he had to say and that they got something from it.

In his talk, he gave them a couple of acronyms that I think are fantastic. He asked them if they wanted to be cute or ugly. Of course, most of us will quickly answer that we want to be cute. I mean, who WANTS to be ugly?? After giving them the acronym, they decided that being ugly was, by far, the better thing.

So what do you think? Do you want to be

C - catering
U - unconsciously
T - to
E - everyone

OR, do you want to be

U - understanding
G - God
L - loves
Y - you

Personally, I'll go for ugly.

Stuff

As soon as school was out yesterday, I walked down to the blood drive area to see how we'd done. When I got to work yesterday, I had only about 15 students to have signed up ahead of time, AND all of our juniors and seniors were in an assembly during first block, so I knew the day had gotten off to a s-l-o-w start. However, once the assembly was over, I was bombarded with kids getting passes. Just before they packed everything up, we'd had 69 people sign in. Granted, not all who sign in are able to give, but I feel like we had a successful drive. Of those 69, if only 60 could give, then 180 lives could be saved. I know that several of the guys did the ALX. It's the machine that separates the plasma (I think) from the red cells and puts the cells (I think) back into the donor. It's a more complicated process than just donating a pint, but it also does more toward saving lives. Because I'm A negative and that's in demand right now, Ashley actually suggested I do it if my iron were high enough. Unfortunately, I didn't have long enough AND my iron was just the teeniest of tiniest bits too low.

When John got home yesterday, he had a UPS notice about his insulin pump. He called for pick-up so we rode to Opelika to pick it up. Now he just has to schedule a time for his training. He also got a new monitor with it that will wirelessly send his results to the pump. In a way, I'd kind of like to go with him for the training, but I guess I can just wait and see what he says. It probably wouldn't be necessary for me to go, but I like being able to get the information firsthand. It isn't that he doesn't tell me stuff--he does--but I always ask him questions that he didn't ask about. I just hope he is able to keep his blood sugar under control now!

I have some copies to make, so I guess I'll go for now.

Have a GREAT day!

No more pain in the neck!

For the last, oh, three years maybe, I have had the WORST pain in the neck. No, I'm not talking about John. A SERIOUS pain in the neck (and John isn't serious. Not most of the time, anyway.) I've been to my chiropractor, I've had massages, and I've taken Alleve like it's candy, but NOTHING has worked. John's best friend, Ron, is a physical therapist, and he had suggested sleeping without a pillow, but I'm a side-sleeper most of the time, and I just can't sleep on my side without a pillow.

Over Christmas break, I bought a new pillow. I didn't get a top-of-the-line, super expensive one, but I didn't get a cheapo one, either. I stood in Bed, Bath, and Beyond for probably 30 minutes hugging on the different ones until I found one that I thought I'd really like. I LOVE IT! It has made a world of difference! I can still feel that something isn't quite right with my neck, but I'm not grimacing in pain every time I move, either. I think it's kind of funny that it really didn't even occur to me until a couple of days ago that my neck wasn't bothering me.

We had a professional development day today. Do you know how wonderful it was to be able to sleep that extra 45 minutes? Just 45 minutes! It made a HUGE difference in my morning! I am so NOT a morning person!

Anyway--PD day. No kids, but not a lot was accomplished, either. Not by me, anyway. We had a speaker from 8 until 10:30ish. He was okay. He had some good points, and he was funny. Funny speakers are always good. He's speaking to the juniors and seniors tomorrow morning. I'm kind of curious to hear what he has to say because that particular presentation isn't suitable for freshmen and sophomores.

Once he had finished, several of us got together and decided to go to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. It was about 12:30 before I got to the school. I finished grading one test and did a couple of other odd and end things, and then I left. I think I'm seeing a grading day in the near future.

John and I got home this afternoon at the same time. To no water. The city (I guess) has the entire street beside the house torn up. We both had to park in the yard because we can't get down the street at all. And of course it's a HUGE muddy mess. I'm quite sure they'll do a fantastic job of cleaning it all up, too. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yeah, I'm laughing! A couple of years ago, they replaced the water lines along the street in front of the house. Guess who had to do all of the lawn repair on that? Yep, we did, and that isn't even OUR property! We couldn't go to the mailbox or the paper box without walking through red mud, though.

Last month, our water bill was twice what it normally is. Sure, we have a sink that leaks, and there is a toilet that runs if we don't jiggle the handle, but we know those things, so we are very conscious of checking them. This repair work they are doing makes me wonder if the increase in our bill wasn't actually due to an increase in our water usage.

I've rambled on long enough. I just haven't had time to post or to read much lately. I'm not really sure when I will get around to catching up on reading your posts, but I will. There are just several things that are keeping me busy and away.

Have a GREAT evening!

♥

A great Valentine's Day and 10,000 visitors!

John and I had a great Valentine's Day--nothing sappy and romantic AT ALL. We left around 8:30 or 9:00 this morning and rode over to Warm Springs, GA. We went over to Pine Mountain about 3 years ago for our anniversary. While we were there, we went to Warm Springs to FDR's Little White House and browsed through all of the neat little shops. We were really looking forward to going back to a couple of the shops today, but it just isn't the same as it was. The Courtyard area is basically empty. There was one shop that was worth our time. We got a couple of birdhouses that we're going to take up to the lake. The couple who run that shop are moving to Manchester so they can "do things the way we want to." Apparently, changes have taken place, and from what we saw, we're not so sure it's for the best. The main street area was still a lot like it was 3 years ago, though.

After we left Warm Springs, we rode to the downtown area of Pine Mountain. We spent maybe an hour browsing there. One of the shops we went into (a gallery) had the. most. comfortable. sofa. ever. Seriously. We've said that our next set of den furniture will be leather. It is so hard to keep dog hair vacuumed off the fabric. If I have anything to do with it, we'll be going back to Pine Mountain to make our purchase. It won't be anytime soon, though. Probably not before we build (if/when) at the lake.

We stopped to have dinner at Milano's, a restaurant in Valley. Delish! And I'm still stuffed. And I have horrible garlic breath. But it was SO good. No need to worry about vampires tonight. :)

I noticed that I've had my 10,000 visitor since I installed the counter on my blog. I don't really remember how long that's been, but I know it's been SEVERAL months. I think my average number of visitors per day is probably between 40-50. Some days I have more visitors; some days I have fewer.

That's about all I have for today. I hope everyone out there has had a wonderful day with someone that you love.

Have a GREAT evening!

The daily routine

I think I've posted before about Ali and Bama's morning routine. John lets them out when he gets up, and then before he gets in the shower, they come back in and snuggle in bed with me. When I get up to shower, they stay in bed, but once they hear John in the kitchen rattling around, they jump up and wait for him to drop a crumb on the floor. (This week, though, they've been snoozing through that.) Anyway, as soon as John starts putting his shirt on, Bama starts "talking" to him. Bama knows that John is about to leave, and he is reminding Daddy that he still needs a biscuit. Ali just sits there wagging her tail.

This morning I had to iron. When I went to the kitchen I noticed that the food bowl was empty, so I stopped and filled it up. Bama came running to eat. John got his shirt on and was ready to give them their biscuits. He got one out to give to Ali since Bama was still chowing down on breakfast. She wouldn't take it. She knows that Bama gets the first one. So John got hers out and gave it to her. She took it but immediately dropped it. She wouldn't pick it up until Bama got his. Once he did, she grabbed hers and ran.

We thought it was really funny because they are SUCH creatures of habit!

Have a GREAT Friday eve!! :-)

Random thoughts...

This post will probably be one of the most random I've ever written. It's just one of those random kinds of days!

Hmm...Let's see. First of all, has this week seemed really long? In senior English, we've just started The Canterbury Tales. Yesterday was notes on Geoffrey Chaucer and some of the background about the Tales. First block seemed to go okay, but during second block, I looked at the clock thinking it HAD to be almost time for the bell. Wrong! We were only about 45 minutes into the period. Huh??? The rest of the day seemed to d-r-a-g.

This morning, one of my girls in first block made a comment about how long the week seemed to be going. The bad thing about TCT is "The Prologue." It is page after page after page of introductions to the pilgrims. I could stand in front of the class for two days and drone on and on, but I don't. Not only would the students be glazed over with boredom, but I would be as well. So, as a class we go over the Knight, the Squire, and the Yeoman so I can show them exactly what I'm looking for in their pilgrim analysis. Then they get into small groups and become the "expert" on a couple of the pilgrims. Tomorrow they will present their pilgrims to the rest of the class.

In my second block class today, one of my guys said that this was the "most boring story" he'd ever read. I told him that the prologue was pretty dry, but I promised him that the tales we will be reading will be much, much more interesting!

It's been a long week, but on the other hand, tomorrow is Thursday, so it's kind of "where has the week gone?" Crazy, I know.

Monday is a professional development day. We have a motivational speaker that morning from 8 until 10:30. The rest of the day will be for us to work in our rooms.

On Tuesday, the juniors and seniors will be involved in an assembly with this same speaker. That means I'll lose part of my first block class. I'm not one of those people who gets all worked up and bent out of shape because my plans were interrupted. Those things happen. I choose to deal with it. Tuesday is also the blood drive that the Junior Civitan sponsors, so I'll be making my donation. ♥

I'm sitting her right now having to type using the one-handed method. Ali wants to be petted, and when she wants to be petted, she will make sure she's getting petted. She tried to get the blanket all fluffed just right bit Bama is lying on part of it.

My extremely talented husband built a table for the hallway. We're calling it the "Sam table" because we have all of our pictures of Sam on it. We've been looking for something similar to a sofa table, but we never could find exactly what we were looking for. John loves woodworking, so he decided to build on. He got most of it done Sunday afternoon. He finished up Monday, and we stained it. Yesterday he got it varnished before I got home (at 5:30 or so.) When I came in today (about 6:15) he had put it in the hall and had the pictures of Sam and the lamp on it. It looks GREAT! Of course, I am just a touch biased because he is my hubby. :) He is seriously good at working with his hands, though.

Bama is off the blanket now and Ali is all snuggled up under it. Bama is sitting on the other end of the couch with his "vulture" look. Think Snoopy sitting on the top of his doghouse. That's kind of how he looks. He's a funny boy.

I think I've probably rambled on enough about completely random stuff. I need to go to facebook and read Kristen's note. I'm so behind on facebook that it isn't even funny! I've been spending the majority of my computer time in the evening doing PowerPoint presentations for my classes. Right now it is horribly time consuming, but once they are all done, it will be wonderful! I'm almost finished with my British Lit. presentations. The first one I actually did last semester was The Canterbury Tales. I had to do some tweaking, but that's no big deal. I still have quite a bit to do with American Lit. 2. Those are a wee bit harder because I don't enjoy that literature as much as I do British lit. It's harder for me to get "into" those presentations.

OK---ENOUGH!!! I HAVE to go read about Kristen's Hamburglar belly. Long story--you just have to know Kristen. She is our comic relief.

Have a GREAT Friday eve tomorrow! (Please overlook any typos. I did spell check, but I'm tired and I'm not proofreading! Even English teachers aren't always perfect. LOL)
♥

Tuesday Thought

A small boy looked at a star and began to weep. The star said, "Boy, why are you weeping?" And the boy said, "You are so far away I will never be able to touch you." And the star answered, "Boy, if I were not already in your heart, you would not be able to see me. - John Magliola

My babies and my new grandbaby, and CONGRATS to a friend

Yesterday and today have been SUCH gorgeous days! My babies played outside almost all day long both days. I love it when they get to be out in the fresh air. It really wears them out, though.











The first picture is of Ali in her cute little dress I bought her. She really doesn't mind clothes once they are on her and Bama isn't trying to chew them off her. He has NEVER liked wearing clothes, but what boy does? LOL I took this picture last night after their day of play. She was whipped and had snuggled up in Daddy's arms to take a nap.

The picture of Bama was taken just a little earlier. We get so tickled at some of the positions he gets himself into when he sleeps. He is usually stretched out between John's legs with his left hind leg cocked up on John's left leg. When he isn't snoozing like that, he's snuggled up under a blanket with me.

The pictures of them outside are from this afternoon. They were enjoying the sunshine. They LOVE lying in the sun, just like their skin momma. :) I think both of them are gorgeous animals, but Bama has always been so photogenic. Or at least to me. It's hard to tell about Ali because she is rarely ever still long enough to get a decent picture of her.

Today, Jess and Lance brought our new grandbaby over for us to meet. Oh. My. Goodness. He is an absolutely doll! Lance had been looking for a white lab, but they are very difficult to find. Jessi had told me that they'd try to call a man in Alex City who had some listed. I asked who it was, but the only name they had was "John." I didn't think anything else of it. After all, I know about 7 men named John in Alex City. It is a quite common name. (But it is one of my FAVORITE guy names. LOL) Anyway, a few days later, she sent me a text to tell me that they'd talked someone about getting one. She told me his last name, too. I TEACH WITH HIM! I didn't know that he even raised labs. They went to day to get Chipper, and he is gorgeous! He was so sweet and snuggly, too.


Don't you think Chipper looks just like his momma and his daddy? Just a cute as can be. All three of 'em. What is going to be funny is when sweet little 9 lb. Chipper is a sweet 79 lb. big boy still wanting to snuggle in Daddy's lap. :) I'm sure Lance will let him.

I have to give a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to a good friend of mine. Sheryl Gordon is a former teacher and administrator at BRHS. After retirement from education, she continued with the National Guard. Today she was officially promoted to Brigadier General of the Guard. She is the only woman in Alabama to hold this position. Quite an accomplishment! Way to go, Sheryl!

I hope everyone has a GREAT week ahead.


♥

The wrong Trina was dissed on SITS...

As I was reading the Roll Call this morning, I saw my name. OH MY GOSH!!! Have I started SLEEPBLOGGING????? No. There is ANOTHER Trina who left a comment on SITS. How cool is that? I don't know very many people named Trina! Her Roll Call comment made me sad, though. She said that very few people leave her comments. How 'bout popping over and taking a look-see! From what I've had time to read, I think you'll be amazed by her strength and dedication to her family.

OK...so I know I haven't been sleepblogging. I continue scrolling through the Roll Call to see who else had popped in on this gorgeous, sunny Sunday. I came across this comment:

I LOVE sits! Every single blog I have been led to has been so interesting...and they are ALL so sweet to visit me and leave sweet messages! You girls are the best!

The person who posted this is my hubby's ex (and my stalker, who I'd bet is using Google Reader to keep up with my blog,.) I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she saw the comment by the other Trina. She thought it was my comment, so in an effort to diss me, she made sure she said how sweet ALL of her visitors and comments are. Out of the other 90+ comments in Roll Call, the other Trina was the ONLY one who said anything about not having many people comment on her blog, and then my ex-wife-in-law makes that comment. Coincidence? I don't think so. An effort to boost her ego? I do think so.

Why am I so aggravated by this? I'm aggravated because if the other Trina had read that comment, I'm sure she would have been extremely discouraged. Trina has six children. She has a son with CP/autism/ROP. She has a daughter (adopted, but that's beside the point) who is struggling to learn that she has a family. She hasn't has an easy life herself.

Of course, r/ed wouldn't know this because all she wanted to do was make me feel bad about myself. She saw the name Trina, read the comment, and thought she had a perfect way to rub something in. She doesn't have to tell me (or anyone else) how wonderful her blog friends are--we share some of them. Unfortunately for her, it only made me angry for the other Trina, and therefore, I'm ranting. ARGH!!!

For ANYONE who is offended by this post--deal with it. It will NOT be removed. It will NOT be edited. Leave a smarmy comment if you so desire. And next time you try to make me feel or look bad, how about making sure it is ACTUALLY ME????

♥

A 2nd place...beauty?

"Pauline Valentine"

"Michelle Jackson" and "Pauline"

I am so...proud? My hunny was the 2nd runner-up in the pageant. Sorry the pictures aren't any better, but I could not get a good shot of him (her?) Every time I'd snapped, he'd (she'd) move. After the pageant was over, I did get a picture of "Pauline" with "Michelle Jackson", who was the 1st runner up. Again, this isn't the best of pictures, but I caught John just as he was disrobing, and I had to make him re-dress. I knew asking them to go to a place where there was more light was out of the question. LOL "Michelle" is Leroy, one of John's techs in the x-ray dept. I have a feeling the x-ray dept. will take a good ribbing on Monday. :)

Even though John wasn't really looking forward to doing this, he did end up having a good time. I knew he would because he can make the best of even the worst of situations. Two of his former employees are cancer survivors, so he did this for them.

Fortunately, no one in our immediate families has been stricken with this dreadful disease (or at least no one that I know of), but we know so many people who have been. My (step)daughters lost both their maternal grandfather and an uncle to cancer, and their (step)father is currently battling the disease. My very dear friend Karen is watching both her father and an aunt as they begin their battles with lung cancer. My best friend's mom is a survivor of breast cancer, as is one of my mom's best friends. Another of my mom's best friends lost her life to ovarian cancer (I think it was ovarian) a couple of years ago. Two of my co-workers were given the horrible diagnosis of Wilm's Tumor when their daughter was 7 months old. Thankfully, Ivey is a very healthy and happy 3rd grader today. You'd never know she'd been sick. One of our retired special education aides is a breast cancer survivor. Of course, many people in bloggerland have been touched by the loss of Tuesday last week. I've thought of her family and friends all day. I hope the celebration of her life went perfectly this morning. And of course, my bloggy friend Mary will be taking her son Dennis in for a oncology appointment soon, and I pray for a continued clear report. I know I could go on and on, but we all get the picture. Whether we have received the diagnosis or not, we all know someone who has. As one of the contestants said last night, cancer doesn't care about age, race, sex, or religion. I guess we could call it an equal opportunity disease.

I hope a cure is found. Soon!

It is an absolutely gorgeous day here. The sun is shining, there are no clouds to be seen, and the temperature is perfect. I'm letting in all that delicious, fresh air. Once the oven is cleaned, I'm gonna go play!

Have a GREAT Saturday!

♥

Finally Friday! :)

This has been the easiest and fastest craziest and longest week. I think I might say that at the end of every week, though. hahaha But this one has really been crazy. And long. And I'm so glad Friday is finally here.

I was sitting at home Tuesday evening reading the paper, and it seemed like it needed to be Friday evening instead of just Tuesday. Every day has seemed to drag by. Everybody--students and teachers--are so tired and ready for a break. That's kind of sad because we've only been back from Christmas break for a month. There is just something about this time of the year. So many people seem to have the blahs.

Tonight should be rather boring quite interesting. The hospital is having a womanless beauty pageant for Relay for Life. Yes, John is in it. His dress is black and maroon, and his wig, well, his wig is...ugly. No, it's uglier than ugly. Don't worry. There will be pictures! Lots and lots of pictures. J He really isn't all that excited about doing this, but I think he'll have fun once he starts getting all dolled up.

If you happen to notice the time, you'll see that I'm blogging DURING MY WORK DAY. GASP!!! I know that is SUCH a no-no. I know I'm not alone in this. It isn't like I'm being slack in my duties. My seniors have their second major test of the term on Monday, so they are playing a review game. This is the first time I've reviewed in this particular way, so I wasn't sure how it would work. First block did fabulously with it, and second block is really surprising me! I figured they'd be going bananas, but they are actually really into it. It's amazing what a few bonus points will do.

I had seven students out of my first block. Five are gone to Huntsville for the State Wrestling Tournament—two are wrestlers and three are cheerleaders. One student has gone to Troy for a band clinic. The other one has been out for a couple of days, so I'm quite sure she is sick because she is never out. Because of all the absences, it's good that today has been a review day!

I guess I need to run. I need to begin working on next week's syllabus. Have a GREAT Friday, and check in tomorrow for pictures of John (Johnna? Joanna?)

♥

Way to go Coach Saban and staff!

Two years in a row, Coach Saban and his incredible staff have put together a # 1 recruiting class according to Rivals. I know that the ranking of the recruiting class and the number of stars that a player has beside his name don't always translate into success on the field, but I do feel quite confident that the athletic staff at UA have a pretty good read on the kids that they go after. It's going to be exciting to see who from this class ends up being the star(s). Will it be Dre, Tana, DJ, Trent, or some other player? I guess we will find out come September. Oh, sure. We'll hear some stuff over the summer and in fall camp about how so-and-so is doing, but we won't really know until they take the field in the fall.

It is a great time to be a Bama fan. For those of us who remember the "glory days" of Alabama football, it's almost like we can see the re-emergence of those days. Some people like (love??) to hate Alabama because we do love our tradition so much, and we love to talk about it. It isn't so much that we long for Coach Bryant to "return from the dead" as so many auburn fans LOVE to say. As a matter of fact, I hear more auburn fans talking about Coach Bryant than I do Bama fans. Yeah, we love our houndstooth, and yeah, Coach Bryant made it famous at Alabama. Just because we wear hats or scarves or anything else doesn't mean we want to resurrect the man.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love college football. I love Alabama football. It's going to be a long off season! Until September...

ROLL TIDE!!!!

♥

Yes, it is WAAAYYYYY past my bedtime!

If you know me at all, you know that I am usually sound asleep by 10:30. As a matter of fact, last night I woke up and looked at the clock around 10:30. I rolled over and went back to sleep. So, why AM I up so late tonight? Just a case of insomnia? Nope. Not that at all.

About 8:00, somebody knocked on the door. John got up to answer it, and some young girl asked him about having a free carpet cleaning done. Not thinking, he said "sure." It was a Kirby vacuum salesman. They just left about 15 minutes ago. Without making a sale.

I felt bad for the guy because he really did a good job, but the timing just isn't right for us to put out that kind of money, even though his boss came off the price by 2/3s. Yes, you are reading that correctly--by TWO-THIRDS! Go price a Kirby if you want to find out how much it was. It's amazing to me that salesmen can come down that much.

While the guy was cleaning out the shampooer in the bathroom, John looked at me and said, "At least we didn't have to feed him spaghetti." I'd just been thinking the same thing.

We'd been living here about a year, maybe two, when somebody called about giving us an estimate on having new windows put in. John set up the appointment on the same day that our minister was going to be coming over for a visit. However, John David wasn't coming over until about 6:30 or 7, and the window guy was supposed to be here around 4. No biggie. We figured he'd come do what he had to do and be gone by 5, 5:30. I had a big pot of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove. 5:00 came and went as did 5:30. I finally went ahead and fixed the noodles and bread for us to eat. He was still here, so we invited him to have dinner with us. And he accepted. Talk about awkward! And trusting on his part. Who's to say I wasn't some crazy woman who would've put something in his spaghetti?

When John David got here, the window guy was STILL here trying to convince us that we needed to replace our windows. Of course, he had to call his boss. Twice. And of course, the price was dropped from almost $30,000 to just over $10,000. And we didn't buy the windows either.

I know that sales is a hard job. It isn't a job I'd care to have. Ever. John worked in sales for 10 years, and nothing made him more frustrated than to work his tail off trying to make a sale only to have the group tell him they were going with the competition. If I had to guess, this guy probably works for commission only, or if he does get a salary, it's probably minimal. He kept saying he only needs one more point to win a trip to Sandestin. I hope he gets his point!

Wow...almost 11:00. I have GOT to hit the hay. 5:30 will be here much sooner than I'd like. I hope you all have a GREAT Friday eve. I'll probably post about Bama's signing class tomorrow. That was my intention tonight, but obviously it didn't happen.
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Tuesday Thought

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. - Clyde Campbell

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Hilarious Super Bowl commercials!

We are cracking up at these commercials tonight! I always love the Budweiser ones, and tonight is no exception. The Cheetos commercial with the "sky rats" is pretty good, too. I do NOT like pigeons!! I don't understand why ANYONE would want to hand feed those flying rats or to let them land on his/her head. EWWWWWW!

Dinner, Plumbing, and Game Day

Growing up, the one DIY project we did NOT want Dad tackling was plumbing. That would make him cuss like nothing else. (His brother was a sailor. Sometimes I think Cordell might have taught him a word or two. LOL)

Well, John had to tackle a major plumbing project yesterday. I sat, just waiting for the words to fly. After all, that's what I thought plumbing did to a man. :) He did let a word or two fly, but it wasn't anything too bad. The dogs didn't run and hide in fear. I didn't feel the need to stuff cotton in my ears. He did STINK like I don't know what when he finished. I think those clothes will need to be burned.

Actually, he didn't even finish. He had to work on it some more this morning--replacing pipes—but it is DONE. Fortunately, this particular project hasn't affected showering, brushing teeth, or using the potty. The sink in the full bath was clogged, and no amount of Liquid Plumber, Drano, or a snake would take care of it. Galvanized pipes sometimes will do that after 70 years.

We had a FANTASTIC time at dinner last night. Samantha, Scott, Kristen, Brooke, and I all work together, and we all eat lunch at the same time. And like I said earlier, we can be rather inappropriate at times, but it's always fun. J Todd (Sam's boyfriend), Geoff (Brooke's hubby), and John were the "outsiders." I had met Geoff once last year when he came to the school to surprise Brooke on her birthday, and John had met Brooke and Kristen. Kristen had her two-year- old nephew Graham (or Gramlet, as she calls him.) WHAT A DOLL! He and Brooke hit it off right away. Brooke will be a great mommy one day.

Our chef was awesome. He was good at all the "tricks," and he was funny. I've been before when the chefs weren't very fluent in English at all, and the only English they spoke was when they repeated the orders to us. This guy told jokes the whole time.

It's SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! I don't watch professional football all that much during the college season. I do get into the pre-season games, just because I'm starved for football, and then once the college season is over, I get back into the pro season. Some people just don't "get" that there ARE women out there who love sports. I know there are some who blog because I've read them. I can promise you one thing—John Vest is quite happy that I'm NOT one of those wives who use Saturdays (or Sundays if it's pro) as an excuse to shop and spend money.

I really don't have a favorite in this game, but I decided to be a Steelers fan. Why? Well, my logic is really quite goofy. I like being goofy, though. :) I chose the Steelers because there are more Bama fans on the Steelers' roster. Tim Castille is the only former Bama player on the Cardinals' roster. He was one of my favorite players during his time in Tuscaloosa, so I do send my apologies for not pulling for the Cards. Of course, Tim will never know about this one fan back home in Alabama and her method for choosing who to be for. LOL

I guess I need to go. Snacks need to be bought for the game. Can't watch a major sporting event without snacks!

Have a GREAT SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

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