Nerd Alert

Not much has happened since the last post, but its been a crazy couple of weeks.

* We picked out a car from my dad's lot. An '05 Ford Focus. The selling point was it's low mileage. I wasn't planning on sticking the name on the car like Sister Rosalina, but then my dad called me and said he had the stencil guy at his lot and wanted to know it's name. Long story short, we named him Toki :/

* We got a loan for Toki. Then, miraculously, Matt learned that because of his GPA, he is receiving extra grant money in the spring that equals our car payments for one year. He's so smart :)

* I got a hair cut.

* Matt did not get a hair cut, but I'm diggin it.

* By the grace of God, and our generous friends, we've managed to find rides to work for the last three weeks!!!!

* I have successfully gone without a migraine for one month!!!

Lastly, its fictional character week on facebook. This is who I picked. Ten points if you know who she is. But most of you probably don't. *shrugs*



This is Yuna from the video game Final Fantasy X and FFX-2. I'm not really sure if we have a similar personality, but I do like her, and have cosplayed her on a few embarrassing incidences. She's not a stupid girl, like so many in popular lit now-a-days. Boys were none of her concern in the first game, as she was too busy saving the world. Granted, the second game was based around trying to find the cute boy that disappeared at the end of game one, but when it became apparent that he was history, Yuna easily moved on with her life. Of course the story would have sucked if she wasn't reunited with him after all. But Final Fantasy has never let me down. And she has guns. AND she flies around on an airship with her two best gal friends fighting monsters and conspirators. That sounds like fun to me.

Here are some other candidates that may be in some part close to my quirky personality:

* Rouge from Xmen

* Sheldon from Big Bang Theory

* Alice from Wonderland (the book version)

* Bio Robot Girl from "The Outsiders"

* Gwen Stefani

The Wizards of Winco

Its been one helluva week.

Rosie is still at the shop. Kenny spent practically the whole day taking her transmission out. I knew the task would be time consuming, as he has cursed the engineers of my Dodge on countless occasions. I was with Aubrey today when he called her, and I heard him mumble that Sister Rosalina needed to go back to the convent.

Aubrey was kind enough to pick me up from work and let me tag along with her to Winco. Ah, Winco - such a magical place. I don't know how they get away with it, but somehow this grocery utopia is able to offer the commoners of Rigby, Rexburg, and Idaho Falls namebrand goods at peasant prices. Aubrey and I don't get there very often, but oh when we do - the treasure is certainly worth the quest.

Enough of that...

New Years was a bust this year. *shrugs* A couple of years ago, My roommate and I threw a kick ace cocktail party for all our friends. We decorated our apartment, dressed up in our cutest dresses, and invited the cutest boys we knew. Matt and I agreed it was the best New Years ever. I figured there was no reason we couldn't do it again. Well, turns out there were a lot of reasons we couldn't do that again.

Reason 1: Walmart. Matt was scheduled to work till 11 that night. And I was scheduled to go in at 7am the next day. Yeah, party not happenin. I had planned on just going to bed. Of course that didn't happen. I have to many family and friends on the other side of the country who love me too much :)

Reason 2: Matt felt like he was dying. A day or two before he had been complaining of a pain in his belly. When it moved to his lower right side I panicked and took him to the doctor. (new years eve) Turns out Matt's blood work came back fine, but the doctor was confident it was the early signs of appendicitis. He told us to go home and wait until it was "for sure". Well we did go home. And the pain went away. And we read on the internet that the pain goes away for a lot of people. And then weeks later it comes back 10 times worse. *shrugs*

Reason 3: We live in a shoebox.

So this last week I've tried not to get too stressed. Preschoolers don't respond well to stress. But it's hard.

We have great friends, and have been relying on them for rides lately. But I'm not sure that we will still have great friends if we do that for three weeks. If the transmission just has a leak, we will just wince and pay the four hundred dollars. If the transmission is ruined...that's another story. My dad has a couple cars we could buy, but we won't make it to Missouri until the end of this month.

Since removing Rosie's transmission is an all day project, I'm not sure if Kenny actually had a chance to look at it. So he has yet to tell me my fate. If he does know something and is hesitant to be the bearer of bad news, well then...he's a mechanic. He should get use to ruining people's lives.

JK.....*shrugs*

Its that time again!

Turns out Imaginary Kenny was right. I did hit something. Something indeed.

Whether it was a rock, or a hunk of black ice, or spiked mace placed in the road by the devil himself, the object in question somehow ripped a hole in my transmission. And yesterday, as Matt and I went sliding down the snowy hill of doom, a stringy trail of fluid the color of burnt sienna was left in our wake.

Then the check engine light decided to alert me something was wrong.

Scott and Chelsea came to our aid, as we were on our way to go have lunch with them anyway. Taking advice from Real Kenny, the boys went to get more transmission fluid in hopes that the leak was a slow one and we would be able to make it two blocks home. Chels and I waited in the car waving by the endless amount of gracious people that stopped to check on us. Including some parents of my students.

Don't get me wrong - it is wonderful that I live in a town where so many people are kind enough to stop for strangers. But I hate to burst people's bubble after they triumphantly run down to my car, happy to be doing their good deed for the day.

"Nope. Sorry. Where just waiting. Thanks for stopping." Over and over again. And to my defense, in Missouri Driver's Ed class, I was taught NOT to talk to strangers when your car breaks down. I was told to call Triple A, sit in the car with the doors locked and wait.

Honestly, do you think if I was desperate for help I would just be sitting calmly in my car just waiting for someone to pull off to the side and rescue me? No that would be more like the time I was pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the AutoZone in a state that doesn't match my license plates talking on my cell phone with tears streaming down my face. That's when I need help. Luckily an Angel in khaki pants and a blue collar name badge that said "Kelly" decided to spent the next four hours replacing my alternator. For nothing but a handshake.

I have Kenny's boss looking at my car now. My gut tells me it's just a leak. I've had two cars that pooped out their transmission. Before yesterday, Rosie has shown no signs of transmission failure. She's been running great for the last 5 months. But the thing is....do I want to fork out ANOTHER couple hundred dollars? With as much money as we sink into that car every few months we might as well be making car payments AND have someone take our car away for a week at a time.

I don't know.

The thing is, it is so frustrating trying to coordinate my work schedule, my other work schedule, Matt's work schedule, and Matt's school schedule with ONE SINGLE CAR. That is why we pay top dollar for a close apartment no bigger than a shoebox. If it weren't for the awesome friends we have....I don't know what we would do to get to work. I am eternally grateful to them all. Kenny, Aubrey, Scott&Chelsea, Andy&Lacey, Bill.

The real kicker is...I knew this was going to happen. Believe it or not. About a week before Christmas, I got a feeling of doom I couldn't ignore, like I always do before the car or computer fritz out. I now account that to the reason I was so nauseous and for all the dizzy headaches. I would just walk around the apartment so anxious I didn't know what to do with myself. I kept thinking...something is wrong. Then the rational side of myself, as small as it is, would say just relax, nothing is wrong. But I couldn't.

The sad thing is: It wasn't Rosie's fault this time. It was mine. Or the Devil's. Investigation is still underway.

WWKD?

I had a really nice afternoon with Aubrey. We gorged ourselves on pizza and orange sweet rolls while watching "Julie&Julia." Cute movie, but it scared me indefinitely. I felt like half of the dialogue was derived from Matt and my conversations.

"I wish I were a writer."
"You *are* a writer."
"You're not a writer until someone publishes you."

Or the infamous "Can you please not look on the bright side for once?"

Shivers....

Anyway, my point to this story and it's strange title: Driving on my way home I heard a horrific "thump". In the next few seconds the car proceeded to jerk slightly as a continued down the dark snowy highway. In a pre-programed reflex I reached for my cell to call Kenny. But in mid reach Kenny suddenly popped up in a little bubble in my head and said:

"Is your check engine light on?"
No.

"How's the temp gauge?"
Fine....

"Are the RPMs normal."
Yeah...

"Do you hear any strange sounds?"
No.

"Do you smell anything?"
Uh uh.

"Jerk the wheel a little."
Okay.

"Response good?"
Yep.

"You probably just hit something then."
Okay. Thanks Kenny :)

And then he burst back into the thin air from whence he came.

* * *


Because I haven't blogged in forever I've decided to take my sister in law's approach and break this up into sections.

Section 1: Blogging.

Sigh. I just haven't had much to say. (Believe it or not.) Life has been rather routine lately and I couldn't bring myself to bore my two loyal readers. There is always something to write about, I know. But I always put it off and then just forget about it. My students say jaw dropping things everyday. I should just start a blog about that. But I'm making a resolution to blog once a week. Officially. Its not a new years resolution by any means. I wouldn't want to jinx myself.

Section 2: Work.

Walmart still sucks. But at least I only work weekends, and I've arranged it to where I can do absolutely nothing and get away with absolutely anything. I'm goooood ;)

The gym is going great. I'm teaching a lot more grade school classes on top of preschool and they added two more classes to my busy schedule, as well as set up a bed for me in the back. I officially move in on Monday. No seriously I love working with kids this age. They are hilarious and so thoughtful. I feel like they are teaching me so much more than they could ever learn from me.
Even when they are being impossible and Standing there with my hands on my hips thinking, "Come on. Stop crying. You're being ridiculous. Get off the floor. It's not the end of the world."
And then the light bulb comes on and I take a spoonful of my own medicine.

Plus this job keeps me in great shape! Who'd have thought I'd make money doing handstands? But after 4 hours a day of spotting and moving mats around I'm look pretty darn good if I do say so myself. (I LOVE MY JOB!!)

Section 3: My pipe dream.

Ugg. Still a work in progress, but I've started book number two. I just couldn't wait any longer. I was starting to hear the voices again.

Section 4: Mattykins.

Amazing. Wonderful. Perfect. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his wife. I'd be jealous if I wasn't the one who was married to him. Even at the worst times, Matt makes me smile every day. I've been through some pretty humbling trials lately and I know I never would have been able to get through anything without him, and I never will. I must be so annoying to live with and he puts up with all of it with a smile on his face. Oh man, I'm crying now.

We don't fight often, and I'm so glad for that. We've learned in the last year how to be rational with each other and have "discussions" rather than fights. However, we do have the same fight once a month. And then a few days later I find out why....

And I don't know if its because I haven't seen a lot of him lately, but he's so handsome! Since he's been on his break from school I've just been following him around our tiny apartment staring at him. We're going to have the cutest babies someday.

Anyway, he did awesome this semester. Despite his hard classes he made it out alive and with good grades. I'm so proud of him and he amazes me every day with how smart he is. I picked up his notes one day of some sort of math/chemistry/greek and was like, "You actually understand this? There aren't even hardly any numbers in it! What could this squiggle right there possibly mean?"

I'm baffled. I went way out of my budget and bought him a PSP for Christmas because I couldn't think of one reason why he didn't deserve it.


Until next time :)

Its going on twelve thirty. I really want to go to bed. But today is special. Today is BLACK FRIDAY. Im in the living room of a friend, accompained by my husband and two other poor souls who have been victimized by greedy holiday shoppers. We figure, why bother going to sleep if we have to get up in the middle of the night anyway? But I'll get to all that later. For once I want to talk about something happy.

So this week I've had a little bit of time off. I've taken full advantage of my time by wasting it all. Seriously. I didn't want to lift a finger. One day, I had a WHOLE day off and the dishes was my biggest accomplishment. I was proud.

Even the few hours I did have to work were so easy. We had open gym style classes so it was like, "okay, kids. Go play for an hour and a half while I stand over here and supervise."

Matt has had the week off school and its been nice having him home. He's using his time wisely catching up on homework and projects. I helped him write a paper, but other than that, I've felt pretty useless lately :) My manuscript is in the mail so I really didn't know what to do with myself. I spent like four hours on netflix yesterday, it was great!

Besides being away from family, Thanksgiving was pretty cool. I got out of bed at like eleven, put the carrots in the crock pot and watched the dog show for like two hours. Eventually I talked myself into getting dressed and we went to Scott and Chelsea's. Jon and Denise, another couple from WalMart, joined us and brought a REAL apple pie! For six newlywed college kids I think we did pretty good. No thanksgiving staple was neglected. After some Halo and Rockband, Matt and I went back to my apartment and managed to watch Cloverfield before we decided to take a nap. But I just couldn't sleep knowing I had to be at work in less than 5 hours...

We figured the best place to be was @ Scott and Chelea's goofing off to keep us awake. Jon has agreed to dance to Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold" so I will have a mental image to haunt my dreams and will be to afraid to sleep.

I'm all about finding good holiday sales, but I wish people would understand what they are putting hardworking people through when they stand in line at 4am to buy an electronic hamster and a T.V. Because of selfish "traditions" my husband and I have to get out of our nice warm beds in the middle of the night and clock into a job we hate at 2 o'clock in the morning. My mother has an even worse fate, as she is working from 3am until 1pm. We never had a normal thanksgiving, seeing as mom was always justafiably crabby. In my house, thanksgiving was refered to as "the day before Black Friday."

If I'm not driving my point home, let's try this.

~ I hate Walmart.
~ I hate 2am
~ I hate people (in general)

Well see how this goes :)

I think I'm just not a morning person. I think that's really what my problem is. I just need a good nap.

As much as I hate my indentured servitude at Walmart, I do really like having money. Time will just have to take a back burner for now.

On a side note, having to physically demanding jobs certainly does keep me in shape :)

We worked out our holiday travel situation. Although we can't afford to go home when we want, we are going home the last week of January. I just hope I can find people to sub all my classes.....

Kicking and Screaming.

As my life is not ALL sparkles and rainbows, neither is this blog. Hence why I haven't blogged in over four weeks. Don't get me wrong! It hasn't been all bad in the least bit. Just nothing much to talk about.

Matt is doing very well in school, and I admire him for working to support us through this time as well. I know plenty of husbands that believe it is just fine to live off the government during school, and am blessed that I am not married to one of them.

At this particular moment in time, at 8:02am on this October morning, I'm feeling utter exhaustion. I love my job. I've managed to pick up 13 classes a week (plus misc hours) I wish there was an opportunity for more. (possibly in January.) Since there is not, and I must atone for my miss spent youth, I work at Walmart on the weekends, and I continue to dread it every day of the week.

I'm not sure *exactly* what it was I did to deserve the punishment of giving up my weekends (and watching everyone else enjoy theirs) for minimum wage, and working on the worst shopping days of the year. But the real kicker is that even though Matthew and I work ourselves to the point of exhaustion, we probably won't be able to afford the small fortune it will cost to go home AFTER the holidays.

Alright, I think my bitch fest is finally over. I am very grateful for one of my jobs and Matthew is grateful for his. We are able to live a humble, yet very comfortable lifestyle with minimal debt. But if I am being forced (yes, forced. There are no other jobs. I've checked. And after 5 years I'm tired of working two jobs) to work at Walmart, I'm going to do it kicking and screaming the whole time :)