Update

It is very late and I just got back from the UIL tournament in Mansfield. I am here to update you on Chad's progress. He passed all his skills stations on the first try. He had two patients today that he cared for, and passed with both of those patients. He has one more patient tomorrow to care for, and if he passes, he will come home and be DONE!!! If he doesn't pass that patient he will have one more try. So, he is doing a great job!

On another happy note, our team took first place sweepstakes at the Mansfield tournament (38 schools competed) and my journalism team took first place by one point...hey, we'll take it! I am so proud of them, considering only 2 of my 7 team members have competed in journalism UIL before.

Time for bed...I am still a little sick from earlier this week and the Nyquil is kicking in.

Eeeek!

The day(s) we have been waiting for are here...Chad goes to Amarillo today for his CPNE, or Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination. He has 5 skills stations tonight, and takes care of 3 patients over the course of tomorrow and Sunday. Please say a little prayer for him. We both have full confidence in his abilities, but are also aware of the importance of these few days. They are very picky about how everything is done, so all Chad has to do is remember everything he has studied over the past eight months.

I know that Chad will be glad when this is all over, so I can stop blogging about it.

New pictures

Here are the latest pictures of the place. What do you think?

Our builder is basically done. We are just waiting for the electrician to finish up whatever it is that he needs to finish (can't remember what that is) and for the plumber to show up and install the shut-offs and then our builder will install the faucets and p-traps since there was an issue with our counter tops and those can't be installed yet (countertop was damaged at pick-up, so another one had to be ordered).

So basically this is the finished product. We are over budget already by quite a bit, so everything else will have to be done little by little as time goes along. At least we know that we have a roof over our heads, running water and electricity when we visit our favorite place on earth.

Please keep Chad in your prayers. He is finishing up the last week of studying for clinicals, and he is working hard. He also found out on Monday after having an MRI that he has a hairline fracture in his leg. He has been having problems with his leg since the spring so we are hoping it will start healing up soon, and we're also glad to know what the problem is.

It's almost Friday! :)

Hi everyone! I know some of you are ready for it not to be "all cabin, all the time" on our blog, and I am happy to report that this time is coming. The cabinets are installed, countertops are about to be, the electrician is finished and the house now has electricity and light fixtures, our builder has finished the railings and staircases on the outside of the house and is finishing up the ones on the inside, and we are now waiting on the plumber for this thing to be finished. He hasn't shown up yet.

This past week was quite busy with coming back from San Antonio and working. Chad went for one more review in Dallas for his clinicals which are about a week and a half away. My job is to force him to go over his skills stations with me every day until his clinicals. He just bought some pretty awesome all-white scrubs and all-white shoes to wear, which remind me of the scene in Willy Wonka when the Oompa Loompas are in those outfits in that white room. Anyway, I am sure he will do great, but please pray for him as he finishes his preparations...I know he has got to be pretty nervous.

The weekend was good. We had some friends over for a non-Halloween Halloween party on Friday night (meaning no one dressed up, and we didn't do any theme games or anything), and then Saturday we watched the Tech-UT game along with the rest of the town, and then rushed home to avoid being hit by a drunk driver. It was a good game, but I was in turmoil the whole time about who to root for: I know Aggies are supposed to favor anyone who is playing UT, but I just couldn't bring myself to all-out cheer for the Raiders. Instead, I wore my A&M shirt and just enjoyed watching the game.

Well that's enough ramblings and putting off grading for today. Hope everyone has a good week!

Josh would be proud

On second thought, he probably would be embarrassed. This morning was the annual faculty vs. students basketball game, which is a fundraiser for United Way. Our assistant principal asked me probably three times to play before I finally said I would (only because he was really desperate for female faculty volunteers). The way it works is that the female teachers play the female students for two quarters and the male teachers play the male students. I think I was one of two, total, faculty members who was not a coach. But, I did score a total of two points during the two seasons I played private league basketball in 7th and 8th grade, so someone probably heard about my awesome skills and insisted that I be on the team. There were six women playing which means I had to play most of the time. It was tiring! Anyway, here is a picture of me playing some awesome defense. And just in case it doesn't LOOK awesome, I want everyone to know that the girl students didn't score on us once. And the faculty beat the students by over 20 points.

As much as I was dreading it, it was actually pretty fun, and News Channel 11 was there so for those of you who live here, watch for us on "I Beat Pete" on the 10 o'clock news either tonight or Friday.

Feel free to critique my form Coach Jones. I noticed in the picture this girl is looking at me like I'm a crazy person, but I think she's really just worried that she can't get the ball past me.

Still alive and a cabin update

We are back from San Antonio, and the trip went well. It seemed like the kids had fun, no one got in trouble, and maybe we all learned a thing or two that we didn't know before about something journalism-related.

For those of you who are still keeping up with cabin progress, the drywall is taped, bedded, and textured! Cabinets are being installed, along with countertops, sinks, etc. The place is almost liveable, as long as you don't mind walking around on a 3/4" wood subfloor until we scrounge up enough funds to put in some flooring. Personally, I think wood floors are the way to go. Maybe we will just leave it that way. Our builder also finished the staining of the log siding and he said it is "bold." I don't know what that means. I am scared. He said it looks good, definitely like a cabin in the woods.

So the plumber and electrician have their finishing touches to come do, and we are assuming they'll do that quick since they probably want the rest of their money. We are really going to try and make it out there for a weekend after all this is done just to see the place one more time.

That's it for now.

Goings on

This week has been super busy for me. I feel like I have been home, not doing anything, for a total of about two hours all week. Things have been kind of crazy around here. Chad has been working all week, and mom asked yesterday when a good time to come visit between now and Thanksgiving would be. I was looking through my calendar, and we pretty much don't have a free weekend at all until Thanksgiving, except this weekend. So mom is coming to visit, which I am looking forward to, but I just realized that we still haven't unpacked from our trip to NM last weekend. Yes, it has been that busy. Monday night I went to the choir concert to help photograph it for the yearbook. This was the first event of the year that I photographed along with a student, but since there are so few of these concerts before the yearbook deadline, I thought two cameras would be best. Same goes for tonight...I am going to the orchestra concert. Last night was church, but it was also time to get the first issue of the newspaper ready. After my design editor finishes the layout, I go back through and tweak everything and double-check the writing and grammar. This takes me, on average, about 6 hours. That's about what it took me last night, only we had church as well, so I was up until about midnight doing that. Needless to say I have been quite the zombie today.

Chad has about one month until his clinicals. He is scheduled to go to another review in Dallas in a couple weeks, right after the weekend we are chaperoning 16 of my students to San Antonio for a journalism convention. We are excited about our romantic getaway next weekend on a charter bus with my students. Just kidding...I am being sarcastic, but they are really good kids and it will be a fun trip.

So lots of things are happening right now...which stresses me out, but makes the time go by fast. Which I'm not sure is always a good thing. Anyway, I guess I better go.

What's that you said? You want more pictures of our unfinished cabin? Well, today's your lucky day.

We had a great weekend. I'm not sure there's such thing as a bad weekend when you are up in the mountains of New Mexico. It rained quite a bit, and I did not bring the correct gear, so after a talking-to from Chad about always being prepared, I now know not to make the same mistake again. Especially since this is the second time in a row that it has rained a lot when we were up there and the second time in a row I've forgotten my rain gear. Anyway...here are a few more pictures, and hopefully the next time we take pictures, the place will actually be finished. Hopefully.

This first one is our water heater. We decided to do a tankless water heater, which we are hoping saves electricity and water, is less likely to leak, and saves space in the closet. Now, we can use this closet for some extra storage instead of the whole thing being taken up by the water heater.
Our deck is great. I'm afraid right now though, the cabin is not usable for people with small children, because you can see how high it is off the ground. Hopefully our builder will build some stairs and a railing before he's finished with the place.
Another view of the outside of the house. I'm pretty sure I've already posted a picture like this. We still need to stain and seal the siding.

Here's a photo of the inside with the insulation in and the drywall being put up. The drywallers were there on Saturday when we showed up to look at the cabin. There were four of them, and this is what they got done in 6 hours. We thought they could have done more, but no use complaining about it. I'm just glad they finally showed up after the drywall had been delivered to the site for over a week.
Look how artsy I am, with my crooked picture.


That's it for now. The cabinets are sitting outside on the deck, covered up, waiting to be installed. We are on the downhill stretch. I imagine when it's all done, we will be making one last trip to camp to check out the finished product. Stay tuned!

Long time no blog

Hey guys, this post is mostly for our family to let everyone know we will be in NM this weekend. So if you try to call, that's where we are.

Pictures to come...probably of the same stuff you have already seen of the cabin, except with minor changes like outlets and plumbing put in. I know, fascinating stuff.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! I know I will...today is a half-day at school, and then we are outta here!

I love fall

Fall is in the air. I love this time of year. When I leave for work in the morning, the sun is just rising, and it is so pretty. The air is crisp and has been in the low 50s in the evenings and mornings for the past couple weeks. Yesterday, I started pulling out my fall decor, which includes a scarecrow, a pumpkin wreath, and some more little pumpkins to put around my house.

The first six weeks is over tomorrow, which means we are officially 1/6 of the way through the school year. It doesn't sound like much, but I know the fall semester will fly by and we will be halfway through the year before I know it.

Football has started, of course. We have been to one home CHS game, and will go to another one tomorrow night.

And the cabin is almost finished. Shawn and Emma went up there this weekend and took some pictures, and we are this close (holding thumb and forefinger about 1/2 inch apart) from it being liveable. The inside plumbing is done, the wiring is done, inspections have been passed, the cabinets have been delivered though not installed, and drywall and insulation should have been delivered yesterday or today. The trench has been dug and pipe has been laid for connection to the well. I am guessing we have about 1-2 more weeks before everything is finished that needs to be done by another person. Maybe you're ready for me to be finished with giving every little detail of what's been going on with the cabin, and to let you know that it is finally finished! All in good time. And when I say that, I mean don't hold your breath, because we probably won't finish it until next spring. We aren't putting any flooring in it right now, anyway. Chad and I will go up there next weekend to take one more look at it before saying goodbye until next spring, when the snow melts and we can get to it again. Then it will be work, work, work...painting, moving furniture in, putting flooring in, etc.

So anyway, I love fall. The end.

Cabin update

The outside of the cabin is finished. The electrical and plumbing inspections have been completed and we are now waiting on a general inspection so the insulation and drywall can be put up. The trench has been dug and the pipe has been laid for the water. Cabinets shipped yesterday and should be showing up on site next week to be installed.

Time is crucial at this point. Snow will start falling in the next few weeks, so we are hoping all the major stuff will be done. Chances are looking slim that we'll be able to stay in the cabin at all before winter. Oh well, something to look forward to over the next few months.

Shawn & Emma are staying at another cabin in the neighboring canyon this weekend and have promised to take lots of pictures...

Input please

So, Chad and I are coming up on our 5 year anniversary. Yes, it really has been that long. We have started to discuss what we will do for this anniversary. True, we just went to Hawaii 3 months ago, which I guess could count, but we would like to do something else specifically for the occasion. I had always wanted to revisit where we went on our honeymoon, but after much thought and discussion, and a near-death experience while trying to leave the honeymoon site after being snowed in during a mid-January snowstorm, we are reconsidering where we would like to go. So, what are your thoughts? Places you've been that are just awesome that you think we need to go? Here's what we're thinking:

1. Somewhere we've never been before, maybe warm and beachy. We're thinking somewhere in Mexico. A really fun city would be good too, but I would prefer to leave wintery weather out of the equation. In other words, nowhere like Chicago where a bad snowstorm could cancel our travel plans.
2. Somewhere that would be fairly easy to get to, and not too expensive as far as flights go.
3. A place where we could get one of those all-inclusive hotel deals, with meals and accommodations.

So, any thoughts? Places you've been that you'd love to go back? Places to definitely avoid? We would like to be there on our actual anniversary (January 3), but spring break is also an option, so I'd really like to avoid places like Cancun during that time.

Forum is open for discussion.

Pictures from last weekend

My only nephew, Kellen, turned 4 this last week. I was able to be in town when they celebrated his birthday, complete with a Thomas the Train cupcake cake. Bonnie's totally unimpressed, obviously.
Erin and I took the kids to the Amon Carter museum in Ft. Worth. Erin wants to teach the kids how to behave when they're in a museum. They acted really good, but I just had to get a picture of them right after they spotted a bench to sit on.

K & B showing off their new moose and horse toys. On the morning of Kellen's birthday celebration, he came in my room and asked very politely if I would wake up, please. He was so excited to open his birthday presents, and I had wanted to see it, so Erin & Josh told him that everyone had to be awake before he could open them. He was so cute. He kept saying, "Oh, I wonder!" and "It's just what I wanted!" when he would open up a new present.
Another part of Kellen's birthday was going to the Ft. Worth zoo, accompanied by some friends. There were 7 kids and 5 adults, and I still felt like I was counting kids the entire time. It was fun though.

My sweet little niece Noelle.

And my sweet little niece Bonnie. The picture's out of focus, but I love the expression on her face.
With K & B at the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden. The weather was perfect that day.

I just realized today that I haven't blogged in a while. I just got back from a trip to see Erin and her family. I was originally supposed to fly to Houston, but the Joneses were camped at mom's house because they were still without power from the hurricane and didn't know when it would come back. So, I flew to Dallas instead and got to see everyone anyway. It was a good trip. I got to meet Noelle for the first time, we got to celebrate Kellen's 4th birthday, and we got LOTS of playtime in and had a lot of fun. I took quite a few pictures and will post them later. I got back last night, and went back to work today...and we are back to the routine. No more days off for a while.

Things are progressing fine with the cabin, I guess. We really haven't heard much lately. I always assume when we don't hear, it's because our builder has been busy getting stuff done, or that there isn't anything to report. We did hear that our cabinets are supposed to ship out there in a couple days, and our in-stock stuff (countertops, etc.) is ready to be picked up in Santa Fe whenever our builder goes down there. We are still waiting for the plumber and electrician to finish and the inspections to be done, as far as I know, so the drywall can be put up. Then, it will be about the finishing touches and getting the appliances there and furniture moved in. I am still hoping that we get to stay in the place at least one time before winter hits, even if it is in sleeping bags on the floor.

Can't think of anything else. Will post pictures later.

I could have a cooking show

I have decided, after watching my favorite cooking shows over the past few years and more in recent weeks, that I could have a cooking show. It seems that you just need to memorize a few phrases and use them a lot. Here is what I would say...over and over again:
1. Be sure to scrape up all the brown bits in the bottom of the pan, because that is where all the flavor is.
2. You might be surprised that I am adding salt to (fill in the blank, but usually some kind of dessert), but the salt will just bring out the flavor and really make the flavors brighter.
3. Make sure and squeeze the (lemon/lime/orange/grapefruit) with the cut side up so you don't get seeds in whatever you are making.
4. (Takes bite of whatever I just made and then describes the texture and flavor of every individual ingredient)
5. Arugula is peppery and has a bite. Cumin is smoky. Paprika is sweet, unless you get the smoky kind. Ricotta is light and creamy and makes your baked goods more moist (as does plain yogurt). Every specific food seems to have one adjective the chefs prefer to use to describe it, especially if it might be unfamiliar to the viewer.

Recently I've even started hosting my own cooking show in my kitchen. Chad is my audience, but he doesn't really pay attention. Today he told me he didn't like it when I did that, although I think he secretly likes me to give him a step-by-step of everything I make.

My heart really goes out to all those people who are without power and homes after the hurricane. I was supposed to fly down to Houston next week to see Erin and the family and to see my new niece for the first time, but I'm not going now. Here are pictures of the town that Erin and Josh live in. It looks like Liberty got hit pretty hard. She told me earlier today that they think they will be without power for another week. They're at mom's right now, and my flight went through Dallas both ways, so I just kept my ticket and will just fly the Lubbock to Dallas leg next week.

We officially have no school tomorrow. I'm staying up late and sleeping in!

We've got flooding, yes we do, we've got flooding, how 'bout YOU?

It's raining.

Pictures of the deck without the railing

Latest picture of cabin

The cabin is coming right along! The builder says he is pretty much finished with his part. Now we have to wait for the electrician and plumber to finish (builder says he hopes they will be done within the week), three inspections, and then the drywall can go up. Directly opposite this side of the cabin is the large deck, which is waiting for a railing. We really hoped he would send us a picture of the other side! Also, the siding has not been stained. We are waiting to see exactly how much money we have left to decide if we want to stain it ourselves or have our builder do it. I am leaning towards having him do it because I would like to enjoy myself the first time we stay up there. :) The roof is a dark red. Seeing the picture of the almost finished product makes me really want to go up to the cool mountain air for a getaway! I am sure there will be lots of that in the years to come. Oh yeah, I almost forgot...as of today I have lost 6.4 pounds. Last week I didn't lose any so I didn't post. Must have been the lethargic weekend sitting in a cabin at camp and riding around on a 4-wheeler and not walking anywhere that did it. This week I was a bit more active.

Miscellaneous happenings

Not a whole lot has been happening here lately. It's been busy around our house, but not with anything monumental. Chad has become a lot more busy lately with teaching the high school Bible class on Sunday mornings at church, co-leading a small group at church, working, and studying for his clinicals. I've just been settling back into the routine of waking up early every day and going to work.

So, a few weeks ago I mentioned that we were upgrading our entertainment at home. Yes, we now have satellite TV, DVR, and a new TV. It's awesome! I come home every day and watch my favorite cooking shows...Everyday Italian (yes, she shows a lot of teeth and other body parts, but I like her recipes), Barefoot Contessa (so snobby and uppity, but I like her recipes), and Paula Deen (I like to live vicariously through all the butter and cream). It's wonderful! I don't really think it has increased the amount of TV I watch, but now I'm always watching something that is a show I actually want to watch instead of watching the TV because it is on. So, there's that update.

We also hosted small groups last night, so Chad and I spent the entire afternoon cleaning the house. I think I need to make a public confession that I am somewhat of a slob. Maybe you don't think so (and maybe you do). But if you don't, it's probably because I knew you were coming to my house and cleaned before you came, because that is the only time I clean. People come visit our house just often enough that it doesn't become a complete pigsty, but it is still no small task. I have been thinking about this aspect of my personality a lot lately. What does it say about me that I am more concerned about my house being clean when others come over rather than enjoying a clean house on a regular basis? Am I a people-pleaser? Just super accommodating? Is there anyone else out there who only cleans their house every month or so? Please tell me I am not the only one.

Also, we spent a lot of time at Lowe's last week. We decided to move our patronage to the only other big-box home improvement store available to us, thinking it would be better than Home Depot. It's still too early to tell, but at least the folks at Lowe's were pretty helpful. We designed cabinets for the cabin on Thursday night, and the poor lady's computer kept freezing up on her, so we went back and ordered them, the countertops, the bathroom vanity, the kitchen sink, etc. on Saturday. Apparently we were the first people ever to be at one Lowe's store and want to order items to be picked up/delivered at another Lowe's store. Or at least that's what it seemed like, because the idea of having everything available to our builder in Santa Fe seemed like a bit of a pickle to the people that we were dealing with. But, by yesterday (after 3 hours at Lowe's on Saturday, a call put in to the cabinet guy in Santa Fe and waiting for the guy to get back to us yesterday) we had ordered all that stuff, AND we got 10% off our cabinets and a free sink base cabinet. Yay! Anyway, like I said, it's still too early to tell if Lowe's was a good choice to work with, because we'll need to see if the order was done right and everything gets delivered in a timely manner. I'll let you know.

Also, Chad reminded me that I had not posted that the roof is on the cabin. Our builder says it looks really good, and I am hoping he will send me a picture. Also the electrician and plumber are working, so as soon as the wiring and plumbing is done then the sheetrock can be put up. We're hoping that the ditch for the water line can be dug this weekend and that our place will be hooked up to water soon.

Hmmm...what else...oh yeah. My friend Amanda gave me this idea to sign up for something called e-mealz (yes, with a "Z."). Anyway, I signed up for it, and it is basically a subscription to do the work I was already doing by making weekly menus and shopping lists. The only difference is now I don't have to do it, and they follow the weekly sales at the store to help you save money on your groceries that week. It has been good so far, and I did save money on my grocery bill on Saturday, so if you're interested you should check it out. Takes all the hassle out of the never-ending "What will we eat?" dilemma.

That's it for now.