Labor Day Weekend

Wow, what a busy girl I have been. Sorry to my faithful readers. I finally finished handing out textbooks this week and am starting to regain my sanity. It's a very nice feeling.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Phoenix to see Troy's sister, watch a baseball game and say goodbye to our friends who are moving to Philly next month. I will discuss three highlights:

1. Troy's sister wants to make room in her garage so she made us go through all her old baby and toddler clothes so she can toss the ones we think are ugly and would never use. The clothes sorting was as exciting as you'd expect. However, our niece and nephew were funny. They couldn't understand why we were looking at all these baby things if we weren't having a baby. Apparently there's no need for thinking ahead in the mind of a 7-year-old.

2. Monday morning our nephew Kyler was on a wild streak. While Troy was in the shower Ky decided to booby trap the place. He placed small rocks outside the bathroom door, leaned 8" skewers against it and tied a top vacuum cleaner to the handle. Then he put a bunch of stuff on the stairs. I don't know if he was trying to be sneaky (not successful) or just make things difficult.

3. Later that day we went to a Diamondbacks game with our friends, the Durrants. I am not a baseball fan. In fact, the biggest ballgame I'd watched was my brother's little league playoff game. But this was really fun. Baseball is MUCH better in real life than on TV. Because I don't have a team and Troy's team wasn't involved, we rooted for the D-Backs. There was a lot of scoring and a come-from-behind-win for the home team, so that made it extra exciting. Randy Johnson pitched (that's the only player name I recognized), but he's old so they pulled him in the second or third inning. Apparently I should have been extra excited because a guy hit for the cycle--meaning he hit a single, double, triple and home run--and it only happens once or twice a season, but on SportsCenter that night I learned another guy it the same day and a total of four did it in the last month. I think Troy was exaggerating the cool-ness. :) Another note: I did decide that being a spectator is very dangerous. On TV it looks like the foul balls gently float into the stands, but those things are lethal! I was greatful I was in a very safe box behind the plate.

Getting to Know Me

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your Friends. Copy, then change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning?5:45 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Dark Knight
4. What is your favorite TV show? The Office
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Toast and Jam. Yummy.
6. What is your middle name? Nada. Wouldn't it be funny if that were really my middle name?
7. What food do you dislike? Eggs
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Colbie Caillat. I think I'll listen now.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Escort. We call it the FoMoCo (Ford Motor Company)
10. Favorite sandwich? Something with real roast turkey
11. What characteristic do you despise? High drama
12. Favorite item of clothing? Undies. They are not optional. :)
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I have no idea. Somewhere Troy would like.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Silver jeans.
15. Where would you retire to? Who cares about where, I'm dreaming of when.
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Probably 19 because boys from the dorms took me bowling and bought me candy (all my roommates were home for the weekend). Even if those boys were drunks and pot-heads, they were nice when sober.
17. Favorite sport to watch? Football
18. Furthest place you are sending this? I have no idea. I don't think anyone reads this outside the western U.S.
19. Person you expect to send it back first? Surprise me.
20. When is your birthday? November 18 (the best day ever, right Kelsey?)
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night. I didn't get up at 5:45 by choice.
22. What is your shoe size? 9.5
23. Pets? Are too stinky.
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Today was the first day of school. That's the best I can do.
25. What did you want to be when you were little? I think it changed every week.
26. How are you today? Tired
27. What is your favorite candy? Sugar Babies sound good today.
28. What is your favorite flower? Hyacinth
29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? September 1. Labor Day!
30. What is your full name? Ruthanne
31. What are you listening to right now? Colbie Caillat
32. What was the last thing you ate? Twix
33. Do you wish on stars? No
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Toughy. Maybe white.
35. How is the weather right now? Hot-ish. That goodness the humidity has dropped a little. It was miserable at the assembly this morning!
36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Probably someone from the office.
37. Favorite soft drink? Sierra Mist
38. Favorite restaurant? Hmm. I really don't know.
39. Real hair color? Ugly blonde-ish. The same one I walk around with every day.
40. What was your favorite toy as a child? I think it all depended on who I was playing with. I can't remember anything too specifically.
41. Summer or winter? Summer.
42. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.
43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Usually vanilla
44. Coffee or tea? None. They both stink.
45. Do you want your friends to email you back? Sure, but I can't guarantee I'll respond.
46. The last time you cried? I almost did last night when I talked to my sister about her doctor who died. Too close to home.
47. What is under your bed? Dust
48. What did you do last night? Studied for a test.
49. Fears? Lossing someone I love.
50. Salty or sweet? Salty
51. How many keys on your key ring? 3 on one, 4 on the other.
52. How many years at your current job? Nearly 2
53. Favorite day of the week? Thursday (because the next day is Friday)
54. How many towns have you lived in? Four
55. Do you make friends easily? Unfortunately not.
56. How many people will you send this to? Maybe millions and billions.
57. How many will respond? Three?

A little pick-me-up

My cousin posted a link to this video and it made me smile. Good dancing, Matt.

A weekend I couldn't avoid any longer

I have tried very hard to be productive today. We cleaned out the inside of the car, vacuumed it and washed it. I still need to armor-all the inside, but it's only cool enough for that until about 9 a.m. so that will happened next weekend. Then we went up to check on Troy's parents house. No disasters there, but we decided we need to go up Monday night and pull weeds, sweep and squish cans people have dropped off. Coming back to the heat is hard for Connie, so the easier we can make it the happier we'll all be. They'll be back on Tuesday and I'm actually very excited. I hang out with my mother-in-law more than anyone else in town and I miss her when she's gone for the summer.

Once we got home I was tempted to be lazy, but forced myself to do the dishes and wipe the counters. Then I looked and my floors and decided I just had to do them. If there were ever floors that needed some TLC, they're mine. I mopped, but because we live in a rental, the grout was kinda grimy when we moved in. Then after two years of cooking and washing and walking and pasta sauce (for those who remember that incident--see my post in October of last year), the grout was brown instead of the light beige it's supposed to be. So I pulled out the pumice and went to work. It looks a lot better, but I'll have to keep working on it. I used a whole stick on the kitchen and still have the dining room and trouble spots to do. I took before and after pictures and although you can see a difference, it still looks icky close up, so just be proud of me because it's a major improvement.

After that I was in a slightly productive mood so I went to the store to get pectin for freezer jam. I had strawberries I needed to use and I LOVE freezer jam. I've never made it before and travelling to Utah to steal some from my mom just isn't practical, so I decided to give it a shot.

This is for you Linds. For those of you who pay attention to details, my jam is cheese-free, contrary to what the lid says.

It tastes good for now. Hopefully it will set up and still taste good.

So that has been my day so far. I do not plan for the rest of it to be as productive. I think I'll make dinner and that will be it. :)

I am so FRUSTRATED!

So for some reason today I asked Troy what he didn't like about me. At the time we were trying to decide if we should be good and stay in for dinner or be bad and go out. I refused to make the decision, so Troy told me he didn't like that I won't make decisions. Big or small. It's so true.

Perfect example. I don't know what to do with my life. I'm considering getting my teaching credential because the yearly schedule is better and in just the first year I'd make twice what I do now. Sometimes I like the idea of being a teacher but others I'm not so sure. Then I have to decide what I would teach. I have two majors and neither of them are broad enough to help me pass a subject test. Then there's the issue of waiting for a spot to open up in my chosen subject (again assuming I can pass the test). I've thought about English, but holy cow! The test looks hard and it's VERY broad. I may get asked about stage lighting for crying out loud. Then I thought I could try social science, but my political science major covers less than 1/5 of the test. I am not an expert in ancient world history, thank you very much. Oh what to do. I'll have to take teaching classes, which I can accept, but I really don't want to take courses for ANOTHER major. I really should just find a buried treasure so I can stay home and clean my house all day.

If it sounds like I'm whining, I am.

For my Sister (who doesn't read my blog)

Happy birthday, Seeester! Here are some birthday pics of my almost-littlest sister, Rachel.

Ita, you are so great. I couldn't have asked for a better partner growing up. Well, I guess Jason was really your partner, but I liked to think I was in on the action, too. I was trying to think of some good memories of you, but I could only think of funny ones involving the younger girls. I think that's because we were so close together that even if you did silly things, I was too young to realize they were silly. How unfortunate. :(

I do, however, remember sitting in your hut on your bed, munching on stale bread from your cardboard refrigerator and thinking that if the world came to an end, I'd have to stay close to you because you were much better at gathering food than I was (although no one could beat Jason). I remember desperately trying to find your hiding place so the hide and seek game would end and I could have the FHE treat. I remember lying in bed in our attic room (probably smelling your dead turtle) and talking about everything as the streetlights reflected off the falling snow and low clouds. I remember summers in the apricot tree and being jealous of the "spots" you'd find because you were such a brave climber. I remember laughing in the dark as Ramona told us all about the "donzerly light." I remember singing Vanessa Carlton while driving to Richy because we didn't have a radio. I remember falling asleep when you'd make me watch old movies. I remember loving your old movies when I actually did stay awake.

Your wit and love (and sometimes your witty love) make our family complete. You fill holes only you will fit into. I'm lucky to have a sister like you. You drove me crazy, you kept me sane and you'll always be one of the most amazing people I know.

Pay no attention to the girl on the right.

And now, my birthday gift to you:

Sorry it's recycled. I have no Patty to make a new one. :)

Cent Cat Page Lug

A couple weeks ago I started tutoring an incoming 6th grader. Let me tell you, tutoring in the summer is hard because you have to come up with everything on your own. Materials aren't that hard, but just deciding what to teach is tricky. I'm working on reading and math with him and I feel like it's pretty hit and miss. Last week when we were working on simple conversion from decimal to fraction to percent, I had a hard time connecting with him. Today I introduced area (because he was CLUELESS about it) and once he realized it's just multiplication, he got it really fast. We'll see if he remembers on Monday.

It's the same with the reading we were doing. He's behind, but I think his comprehension is pretty good, he just has trouble with figuring out what the words are. Then I realized it all comes down to phonics. Yep, as in hookd on fonics rilly workd for me. He he. Anyway, so today I pulled out a phonics book and we worked on hard and soft c and g (simply because that's the first lesson. I really have no skill at picking what to specifically target). I learned rules I never knew exsisted! I don't know that it will help him right away, but I think once he can successfully sound words out he'll be able to make connections with similar words he already knows. We'll see. But I think he had a good time thinking of words with the different sounds in them. In fact, as I'm typing this I'm still watching for C and G. I'd better work on getting something else running through my head. Mmmm. Like yummy dinner.