Surprise!

We adopted a dog. He's a chocolate lab named Hershey and he's adorable! He's about 4 or 5 months old and rambunctious. He needs to get used to being around Colby and Colby needs to get used to being around him because right now Colby and him have a love hate relationship. I'll post pictures after I take them!

In other news, we finally signed the paperwork to refinance our mortgage. That will save us $150 a month...now if only the IRS would give use the $8000 it owes us.

Happiness and Sadness

Shortly after I wrote my last post I got the call that Brandon's grandmother had passed away. It was sad, but at the same time she was at peace so that was good. However there is one awkward thing: She's being buried at Arlington National Cemetary because she was in world war two, but they have a huge backlog and the funeral can't take place until October 21st! I think that's crazy!

Over the weekend Brandon and Colby and I went to the outer banks for his cousin Jaime's wedding. She was getting married on the beach at Kill Devil Hills. It was a really nice ceremony and you couldn't ask for better weather (except maybe not as windy!). Jaime looked gorgeous! At the reception I discovered that nobody can get under your skin better than your own child. I discovered this when Brandon got so angry and frustrated with Colby that we had to leave. But it will be okay - they were back to best buds by the next day. On our way there we decided to travel through North Carolina. It was a nice drive...it took the same amount of time as going through Virginia with fewer traffic headaches. On the way back we went through Hampton to visit with my family for lunch, which was nice since I hadn't seen them in over a month.

Oh, and...Go Hokies! I'm proud of my team for shutting out BC at BC. Hopefully they'll take out North Carolina at North Carolina and knock them off of #23 and maybe inch us closer to the top 25.

Crazy Sad Week So Far

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted! So my weekend was good. I got a sitter for a couple hours so that I could go work the Three Little Pigs stand at the VT game. I earned $75 by wrapping bbq sandwiches in foil...but the best part was that I got to watch the entire football game on the jumbotron, incerceptions and all! I won't lie...I wasn't very enthused on the first couple of drives, but once the defense and offense started turning their wheels it was all over for ECU.

On Sunday I cooked one of our pumpkins from the garden. I got twelve cups of pumpkin!! That's a lot of pumpkin. I froze most of it and left out a few cups because I had plans for it.

Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse this week when Brandon called me at work yesterday to say that his grandmother had a massive stroke Monday night and they had taken her off life support. As of right now, she's still hanging on. Apparently her heart is healthy as a horse, but she hasn't woken up or anything since the stroke. I hope she doesn't linger...I think she's wanted everything to be over for a while so that she can forget all the problems of this life. At any rate I haven't really been able to be very helpful except for cooking food. I've had to keep Colby and Colby can't really go to the hospital (what's this tube? Ooops) so food was what I could do. I made a fabulous pumpkin dump cake...super good! Here's the link: http://www.momswhothink.com/cake-recipes/pumpkin-dump-cake-recipe.html

Craziness and more Craziness

I had a very scary experience yesterday when I went to Walmart (no...I didn't have to wait in line for 3 years nor did I see anything gross). I was talking to Brandon on the phone as I was walking in. All the sudden I heard a thud and looked up just in time to see a woman flying off the hood of a car. I was like "Holy $*%! I'll call you back!" I hung up and made the first 911 call of my entire life. The woman who got hit was a Walmart employee. She was really shaken up, but I think her only real injury was her ankle. The woman who hit her failed to look left again before she turned. I couldn't tell if she was a Radford student or not, but best guess she was. When all the managers started rushing out and I heard sirens I excused myself because the crowd was getting crazy. I hope she's okay, though.

On a more positive note I'm really excited about tomorrow. At the Tech game last Saturday I stopped to say hi to one of the ladies who runs a concession stand at the stadium who I used to work with in Covington. While working up there she asked me to help with concessions a couple of times so when she saw me last Saturday she asked for my phone number again just in case she needed extra help this season. Well she called me yesterday to see if I wanted to work and I was thrilled! It's a lot of fun working concessions there. I can occasionally see the jumbotron and listen to the game, plus I keep my math skills sharp and get to earn a bit of money. It's fun times! I got a sitter to watch Colby for a couple hours, which is a little nerve racking because it's the first time I've left Colby at home with a stranger, but the girl goes to my church and may have kept Colby in the nursery before. She's going to watch him until he goes down for a nap and then she can go...Brandon will be home napping anyway and should be able to handle it after Colby wakes up until I get home.

In Other News...

So I haven't blogged since last week...mostly because I didn't want to blog about the football game on Saturday. I was really excited to go to the game. You always expect something good on a home opener against an unranked team, but unfortunately my expectations were not met. First of all it rained the entire game. That wasn't so bad because we had ponchos with us courtesy Brandon's mom. My shoes, socks and butt were the only parts of me that got wet. Other people were stupid and didn't bring anything with them to keep themselves dry like some girl wearing shorty shorts and a tank top...not smart! Then the Hokies lost...to JMU...yeah...JMU. Unfortunately the highlight of the game was the stupid JMU student who tried to rush the field. He jumped over the rail, lost a flip flop, somehow cut his ankle and he got grabbed and forcibly removed by a sheriff. That's pretty sad that, that was the highlight of my game. Oh well, it only football. VT has plenty of other things going for it, but right now lots of Hokie fans are just miffed that in two games we went from ranked 10th to not even in the top 25.

On another note school is going well. I sort of wished someone would come by and take a peek in my classroom during 1st and 4th blocks. My kids were on task working on a group project to prepare themselves for their test on Thursday. I felt like super teacher...but alas no one was there to witness it.

Randomness

So I've been having a really random day, so here goes.

I used to love Enrique Englasias...he used to sing the best songs like "Hero", now he's singing trash. I hate his new song and I hated hearing it on America's Got Talent. However, I do love America's Got Talent. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, Fighting Gravity, a group from Virginia Tech, has made it to the final four. They are really cool so watch next Tuesday to see their final performance before the final...you won't be disappointed.

I've decided today that I love cooking with Campbell's soup. There are so many yummy dishes I can make with a can of Campbell's soup. Try this one. Brown a pound of beef add one cup of water, a can of beef broth, a can of cheddar cheese soup, 2 cups of pasta like penne, and a couple tablespoons of ketchup. Simmer until the pasta is tender. Sprinkle cheese over it when you serve.

I've seen this commercial several times tonight while watching TV. It's a Cox commercial trying to sell their local phone service. The interviewer asks some shmuck if he knows that with Cox if the power goes out the phone still works. The shmuck is like "Really?" Duh! The phone always works when the power goes out no matter what service you go with!! It makes me laugh every time.

Tired but Excited!

The main headline of my life - sooooooo tired. There's something about teaching that is really draining me. Or maybe I'm just not used to doing this after a summer of relaxation. My classes are okay...I have one block of students I need to whip into shape, but my other two classes are golden. The ironic thing is that this one class that's so crazy and immature isn't even my biggest class...it's just the class right after lunch. You may think they would be tired after refuling their stomachs, but you would be wrong :-)

In other news, the Hokies lost on Monday :-( But it was a very exciting game after the first quarter. I'm really excited because I get to go to the game on Saturday against JMU. I think it might be an interesting game thought others think JMU is going to get killed. All in all it doesn't really matter, I'm just excited to go to a game. I know my dad is reading this while making his I-hate-Blacksburg-and-Hokie-football face, but I think being in such a jazzed up atmosphere is just plain fun. I can't wait!!!

Almost Felt Like Fall

It has been a most glorious day today! It almost felt like fall with the cooler temperatures and the low humidity. I swear the sky looked less hazy. I'd like to say that I really got out there and enjoyed it, but aside from taking Colby to the park and planting some bulbs before putting down mulch, I didn't do too much enjoying. I napped all afternoon after planting and started reading a new book - a new young adult book that gives an interesting take on werewolves. I think I'm unsatisfied because it's almost just like Twilight except the heroine is admirable and the overall plot isn't all the different, just the details are different. I don't know, maybe there will be some sort of twist to it, who knows!

Mockingjay

I just finished reading Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games series. True, all three books are mean for a young adult audience, but I cried my way through the last chapter. Some critics on a website I frequent seemed disappointed by the ending, but I was very satisfied with the way it all ended and would recommend it as a good read for any young adult or adult. Gwen, thanks for suggesting it.

However, I think I'm feeling overemotional because Colby was VERY whiney tonight. He pretty much whined nonstop since I got home today. There's only so much whining one can put up with without wanted to scream or lock yourself in a room with a soundproof door. I was quite relieved to put him to bed and go outside to plant the mums I bought yesterday. Tomorrow I hope to plant the bulbs I bought and put out some fresh mulch. Fun times.