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I can't believe that this is my three hundred and first entry into this blog...Hooray!

I'm at work at Job #2: The Library...and I'm a tad bored. I'm at the check-out desk for the first time in 5 months. Reference took over the information desk, which is fine. I have more leeway with the computer at the check-out desk...as in- I don't have to sneak using it for personal matters like this blog. I'm actually allowed to use the computer here because patrons can't see what I'm doing. I should be reading my Stephen King book (The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla), but I'm too tired to really focus for long periods of time.

You know, I have been totally beat this week...I'm sure it's residual stress from the whole house debacle. I got home from job #1: The School today and took an hour long nap before getting up, and I'm still a bit tired...but I get off from work in less than an hour and I can dive right into my jammies. No problem. I'm just thankful that tomorrow is not only Friday, but it's payday...so I'm going to take a trip to the nearest JoAnn Fabrics to spend a bit o' cash.

Food hasn't been great today. I've been eating lots of fruit...and that's all I've really wanted to eat for the past few days...which is not great...so I made myself get something with some fat in it. I got a soup-bread-bowl from Panera and it was a delicious treat. I didn't' even eat most of the bread, so I refuse to feel guilty.

Other than this drivel, there is nothing going on. Hope all of you are well!

Okay, okay

Yes, it's been 5 days since I've posted...I'm abso-fruitin'-lootely sorry. I am having one bitch of a month. First the no National Cert thing which bit royally. Then the big secret fell through...we were going to buy a house with my parents. It was a huge raised ranch with a 3 bedroom accesory apartment on an acre of land. Was it that we couldn't get the money up for a giant down payment? Nope. Trouble getting a mortgage? Nope, our credit is in the high 700s. Was it the engineer's report? Nope. Was it a family member of my husbands who did sneaky things to undermine the confidence of other people related to my husband, taking advantage of their anxiety issues and thus turning everything into a crisis...complete with family member #1 calling Chris telling him he'd better calm family member #2 down because he/she is afraid that he/she will hurt him/herself? And that family number #1 had the audacity to cancel my appointment with an attorney and change it to a day that he/she could go and didn't even ask about my availability to go see my lawyer? I think that has a ton to do with it. So, we're not getting the house. I'm only a little bitter and it's fading...which is great because otherwise it would be a very horrible Christmas for us.



In other news:

1. 30/100 is not going so great at the moment, but I still have time, so I'm not sweating it.


2. We have a new student at my school who needs reading services...and I'm psyched because he's a nice kid and he wants to become a better reader.


3. I've got banana bread in the oven...do'nt tell Chris, but I put FiberSure in it for good measure.
4. This video makes me laugh....a lot:

Tagged!

I was tagged by the always adorable Marta! Thanks Marta!

5 Random/Weird things about me:

1. I am obsessed with taking my temperature. I don't know why, but when I'm well, I take it once in a while for kick, and if I'm sick...forget it, I have that thing in my mouth every 45 seconds.
2. I had an imaginary friend when I was a kid. I'd play with her for hours. Her name? Little Alanna. Apparently I was creative enough to imagine another little girl, but not creative enough to come up with a different name.
3. If I have to use a pencil, it has to be dangerously, poke your eye out sharp or else I get aggitated and I can't focus. That's why my desk at work has a multitude of mechanical pencils...and I have an electric pencil sharpener just in case. When I work at the library, the first thing I do after taking off my coat is sharpen the pencils.
4. I hate to be woken up in the middle of the night. I am calm before I go to bed, I'm a fairly peppy person in the morning. Wake me 2 or 3 hours into a night's sleep and I'll tear your everloving face off. I'm beginning to think this is a hobby of my husband, who seems to think it's funny. It's not.
5. My favorite genre of movie is horror. If the FBI were ever to look at people's Netflix queuesto find potential serial killers, my husband and I would be called in for questioning. 98% of our movies are horror with a comedy or sci-fi film thrown in for good measure. The FBI would think those were just to "cover something up".

Hmmm....5 people to tag, I'm only going to tag 3:

1. Chai
2. Cory
3. TrixieBelden

I'll be back later...I've got secret work to do this afternoon!

Sick, again!

I was at the doctor's office for the second time in a less then 7 days. Last week I went because of my ears and went back because by Friday I had a fever, by Saturday I had a dry cough, and woke up Sunday morning with a "productive" cough. I started the antibiotics Friday, and should have seen improvement, not movement. So now I have an antibiotic that's a tad stronger, and a night time cough medicine that I think is regulated by the FDA...so I'll be able to sleep. I love my doctor.

I've got some cool stuff in the works, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'm not going to mention it...yet. Once the dust settles, I'll be sure to post about it.

Reuben the spoiled

Did I ever tell you all where my dog sleeps at night? Yeah, on the bed and under the covers. Every person I have ever met that has a weimaraner have snuggly dogs who sleep under the covers....I guess it's a weim thing.

And yes, there are sock monkeys on my sheets.

More Van Halen!

Annoying Samus Samuellson

Random movie generator = awesomeness.

Brief update:

Today is day 8 of 100...first day of my WW week and so far so good. Very core thus far. Yesterday was WI and I lost .6 and considering the weekend's debauchery, I am ecstatic.

I finally had my ear looked at by my doctor. No redness, but there is fluid. It's Mucinex and tons of water for me for the next 4 or 5 days...if that doesn't clear it up, I have a prescription for antibiotics.

I think that's all I've got for now....ta ta!

More about my weekend...

Tuesday night Keisuke took us to...what? Van Halen at Madison Square Garden? With David Lee Roth heading the group? You bet your butt...and the seats were awesome!

Where to start?

I do not know where to begin....so maybe at the beginning, right?

Friday night was fun...happy hour and then a nice wine tasting right after...nice.

Satuday night was all about sock monkeys...always a good time.

Sunday night my family went to Ruth's Chris for dinner and we had a fabulous time.

Monday, Chris, Ian and I went into NYC to see Chris' old roommate Keisuke...Keisuke and his friends flew in from Tokyo to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. We took them to McSorely's as it's Keisuke's favorite American (Irish) Bar.

Booo..hissss

The major thing that was stressing me out is over for now. I got my result back from the National Board and I did not get national certification. I'm now trying to figure out if I want to appeal my score on the basis that the students I work with make up only 1% of the special education community...and on top of the that, 8.3% of that scant 1% are disturbed enough to be sent out of district for schooling...making it imperative that my work should have been looked at through that lens. When you work with children who are severely ED, what would be considered minimal progress in other cases are great leaps. Plus, I also signed up to redo the 2 parts so that next year at this time, I could be considered nationally certified. I'm fine with the rejection, it was the waiting that was making me totally insane.

It's day three of my 30 in 100. I went for happy hour and then to a wine tasting. I had a fabulous time and came out with 17 flexies left until Wednesday. I have dinner at a steak house tomorrow, so most of my meal has Core potential. Monday we're going into the city to see Keisuke, who is coming in from Tokyo on business. He was Chris' college roommate and he makes a point of seeing us every time comes to NYC. Tuesday night Keisuke is taking us to see Van Halen...with David Lee Roth as front man! Oh yeah.

Hope all of you are enjoying your weekends!

Day 1/100

So far, day one of 100 has been uneventful. I've used one flexie so far, which is good because it seems as if my weekend is going to be full of alcohol...at least one crack-a-rita, maybe a couple of Corona lights, a wine tasting, dinner at Ruth's Chris on Sunday, dinner with Chris' old roommate who is coming in from Tokyo on Monday...I've got my work cut out for me when it comes to eating. Plus, what I'm trying to figure out: with all this drinking that I have to do this weekend...when will I be able to (or sober enough) to go running? Yikes!

On the up side, I will hopefully have pictures to share once the weekend is over. That'll liven things up around here...right?

Cuh-razy!

I'm am going a little nuts at the moment, but it should all end shortly, thank God. I'll be sharing all about that once all the piece fall into place...there is a chance that none of the pieces will fall into place, and I'll report out regardless of the end results. I feel as if I'm juggling 3 things at the moment...two of which are intense and one is just plain fun, but the timing has to be just right.

On the Weight Watchers front, I'm thinking about giving the 30 pounds in 100 days challenge again. Tomorrow will be day one of 100 in and we'll see how it goes. I can't ask for anything more. My starting weight is 183...it's an official WW weight.

Me and my freaky, stressed out, bride-of-Frankenstein haired self will be back tomorrow (I hope!)

Should I be totally creeped out by this?

And how weird is this...

Secret present!

I decided I'm going to post about the secret project that I made for my friend, CA, who is having a baby at the end of December. I can see about 10 different mistakes in the Tigger quilt, but the baby ain't gonna care. All the baby will know is that Aunt Alanna loves it to death!

It's actually the first quilt that I have ever made from beginning to end on my sewing machine...so at the very least, it was a learning experience. For example...flannel stretches easier than regular cotton. Who knew?

I think I'm going back to sock monkeys for a little while...I love them...plus I owe my friend, Collette, a sock monkey for her 2 year old daughter.

This is Halloween, This is Halloween

In this town we call home everyone hail to the Pumpkin Throne!

I love love love Halloween.

And so does Reuben!

Doors in the Men

Yay for Pumkin ice cream! I didn 't occur to me that Edy's would have a season ice cream for Thanskgiving...but hello, I read all about it on Sarah's blog Living to Feel Good. No less than 10 minutes after reading about it, Chris and I were in the car on the way to the store to search for some. We found 1 container left, encased in ice and it's been downhill ever since...but downhill in the most tasty way.

I also saw another World of Warcraft reference on TV today. I was (regrettably) listening to America's Most Smartest Model while I was using my sewing machine (Listen...I need brainless background noise when I use the machine). On it they set up teams of 2 models to do fake sunscreen ads...then at the last minute, they threw each team one "nerd" who has done nothing but "play World of Warcraft for the last 4 (?) months". They were pasty beings. I'm not sure how I feel about being a "nerd"...I prefer "gamer geek".

I can't wait until Sunday when I can reveal what I've been working on. It's for a friend of mine, and I'll be giving it to her on Sunday. I will be sure to take picture of the mystery item. I can't wait! Actually, I can't wait to finish it so I can make some evil sock monkeys for fun...and possible profit. I'm considering putting some on Etsy. I'll have to see how that works out, but that's to be discussed on another day.

On an exercise note: Today was back and biceps at the gym, and tomorrow will be a nice run...I have to do that after my reading team members and I interview another candidate. Should be interesting.

Paranoid

I think someone is out to get me- it smells like hot dogs and kraut in my office. The student cafe is below my office and I think the dean is making them a "special" lunch today. My God...it smells awesome. I must focus on the Reading Department lunch that I'm leaving for in 40 minutes....although, hot dogs are my fav....

I must control my hot dog lust! (ooooh, that come out dirty....sorry!)

Update of the Future

Future...future...future.

Meh, I'm bored. I feel as if I have a million things to talk about and no words in which to express them. I'm not feeling creative at all...completely unmotivated, but I've got this underlying feeling that I have to post...about what? I'm not sure. I'm just blah.

We're currently interviewing for a new reading specialist. And by we, I mean, the reading department interviews candidates and gets to pick who moves on to interview with the supervisors. How awesome is that? We lost 2 at the end of last year; one to retirement, the other to be an at home mom to her 4 active kids....The first interview went kind of, uh, beige. The woman was nice, but didn't seem terrible enthusiastic to work with our team. It didn't help that Looney answered all the questions before the interviewee had a chance. The rest of us can't figure that out...Looney already works there, we're not testing her. Candidate number two was awesome. She is lively, well spoken, passionate about working with kids, and knowledgeable about current literacy theories. We liked this candidate so much we called and left a message with our supervisor to hurry up and set up a second interview. It also helped that Looney didn't sit for this interview. Nor can she sit for the next 3...so we might get some more decent candidates that will actually get a chance to talk.

In other new, my ears are feeling better. It's all allergy build-up for me. I bought Mucinex nasal spray and that helped a ton. Made my nose run like mad, but that was the point. I was congested and I needed my sinuses to clear out in a big way. The way people clear out a room when a dog toots...that bad.

In other news...I'm tired. It's Thursday night and I'm at the library. I came here directly after work where I worked an extra hour and 45 minutes due to the interview. I am exhausted. Woo!

I almost forgot....one of the students on this campus was being fresh, so another student told him to stop or I would pick him up and throw him...."cuz Alanna's mad strong and she doesn't take any garbage"...I love that my students think I'm really strong, and that I don't take garbage. Fab-u-lous.

I think tomorrow is going to be a gym day for me, and a run day on Saturday. Or if it's nice enough tomorrow I might opt for a short run and then a trip to the gym with a long run on Saturday. That would work out nicely.

Wow...I know that I just post random stuff, but I think this post takes the cake!

Sound effects sold separately

Today was a tiring day. I woke up tired, dreaming that I called in sick. I got through the work day and then after dropping baby brother (Ian) at the gym, I went running. After running I went back to the gym to do back and biceps. Now I'm exhausted and drinking a glass of red wine, which is making me melt into my couch.

Cheers everyone!

World of Warcraft is taking over!

I can not believe that I just saw a World of Warcraft reference on How I Met Your Mother. How awesome is that? Makes me want to "suit up"...in plate for level 46 of course. Earlier this month it was reference on The Big Bang Theory. And who could forget South Park's "Make Love Not Warcraft" episode? Not me!