Wish me luck!

I start teaching third grade tomorrow. (@__@)

Tag, I'm it!

Up way too early this a.m. to go see my baby sister graduate! I'm still waiting for my parents to pick us up, so in the meantime, I've been tagged by Midori.

what is your current obsession?
Getting through as many DVD's on my Netflix queue as possible before I go back to school and halt my subscription.

what is your weirdest obsesson?
Cooking my way through a cookbook, one recipe at a time. I doubt I'll ever do it, though.

Starbucks or Peet's?
Peet's tastes better, but it's not on every corner so it lacks the convenience that Starbucks has.

what's for dinner?
Last night was supposed to be a tomato pot roast but we ended up going to dinner with my parents at Sam Woo. Tonight we'll be celebrating G's bday at Stinking Rose. *yum*

what would you eat for your last meal?
Breakfast. A muffin or other bread-y substance, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, and country potatoes. And a venti Hazelnut Latte. *tummy growls*

what was the last thing you bought?
Books @ Borders. I love getting this book for momentous occasions like graduations. Also got this because I heard it was a good read. It was, I finished it last night in one shot.

what are you listening to right now?
Breathing.

what is your favorite ice cream flavor?
I've never met an ice cream I didn't like, but I guess fruity-chocolatey ones top my list.

what do you think of the person(s) who tagged you?
I pink-puffy-heart her. And I wish I'd see her more often! :)

if you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Anywhere new. I'd love to take Damon to Bora Bora. And Japan.

which language do you want to learn?
I wish I could speak Spanish with more confidence and accuracy.

what's your favorite quote (for now)?
Found this one the other day:

"I am a teacher! What I do and say are being absorbed by young minds who will echo these images across the ages. My lessons will be immortal, affecting people yet unborn, people I will never see or know. The future of the world is in my classroom today, a future with the potential for good or bad. The pliable minds of tomorrow's leaders will be molded either artistically or grotesquely by what I do.

Several future presidents are learning from me today; so are the great writers of the next decades, and so are all the so-called ordinary people who will make the decisions in a democracy. I must never forget these same young people could be the thieves or murderers of the future.

Only a teacher? Thank God I have a calling to the greatest profession of all! I must be vigilant every day lest I lose one fragile opportunity to improve tomorrow."

~ Ivan Welton Fitzwater

what is your favorite colour?
Pink. Yellow. Orange.

what is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
v-neck black shirt. Or my Pj's.

what is your dream job?
Teaching! :)

what is your worst habit?
Eating way too much. Complaining.

if you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
Put it in savings to buy a home. Or buy new work clothes.

do you admire any one's style?
Charlotte on SATC.

describe your personal style?
Lazy. Sloppy. Sad. :(

what are you going to do after this?
Heading out to my Sissy's graduation.

what are your favourite movies?
I don't know that I have a favorite, really. I like many.

what is your favorite fruit?
Cherry. Strawberry. Kiwi.

what inspires you?
Other people.

your favorite book?
Also too many to name.

do you collect something?
Dust. Hello Kitty stuff. Friends.

what is your favorite smell?
Damon. Cupcakes.

what are you most proud of?
My Master's. And my Credential.

what are 5 beauty products you couldn't live without?
Soap. Moisturizer. Lip balm. Body scrub. Eyeshadow.

cats or dogs?
Dogs! Especially Charlie.

I can't tag anyone. I haz no friends. Kim? Are you reading this? If you are you're tagged. Sucka. :)

Vacation

I can't believe in just a couple of weeks my vacation will be over. It went so gosh darn fast, especially the month of June!

While I'm envious of my friends who went on fabulous beach vacations, I'm pretty happy with what I've been able to do. A fair amount of cleaning/organizing, planning, and lots and lots and lots of overtime that translated to a good amount of extra $$$ in our savings.

I've been a bit on the tense side lately -- lots of emotions going back and forth but really, I'm so blessed there's nothing to complain about. Just some major changes that I'm dealing with at the moment.

Biggest change? I'm moving up to 3rd grade for next year. I'm in a bit of an interesting spot this year since the school/my principal are actually using the school budget to pay for me and my position. Which means technically I'm not a part of the regular staff -- if they hadn't purchased me I'd literally be out on the street looking for a new school so I am so grateful for their tenacity and belief in me. Here's hoping that I do justice to my new students (I'm so scared of changing grades!), and that somewhere, somehow, more money becomes available so that I can stay next year as well. What makes me the most frightened after all these budget cuts is that they've laid off all teachers that were credentialed after my year. Which means that now, after building up 4 years of seniority and moving up the totem pole, I am, once again, at the bottom. If any more cuts are to be administered next year, I fear I'll be the first to go. But, que sera, sera, right?

Another big disappointment was our house hunting. The hubs and I actually put down an offer a couple of weeks ago but the house went into escrow quite quickly and because of a lazy/not so smart sellers' agent, our offer was never even looked at. Boo. Now it's just discouraging because we can't seem to find another house (in our budget) that gives us the same *spark*. I hope we're able to find something soon, before prices go up and we're not able to afford anything. We're *so* darn close!

This weekend we're celebrating my sisters' graduation so I'm busy with prepping for that and my new class. Lots to do!

*woot*

Seriously, this might be the saddest, lamest, blog post ever. But I don't care. :P So as I'm sure we all are, hubby and I have been trying to save money. I've managed to limit our grocery shopping to only once a month or so, but this week we finally needed to go and purchase some grub. I armed myself with my usual coupons and freebies and we purchased the essentials, some super duper sale items, and some treats (Oreo Cakesters, yay!)

The receipt totaled almost $200 at first. Made me go (@__@)


Long receipt, right? But after I handed over my club card and a handful of coupons....


Boo-yah! Do you SEE that? Verified total savings: $102.40. Balance? $68.10.

Grocery store WIN!