We need to move, pronto.

So I was out in the backyard playing ball with Dog 1 and Dog 2. Penny, who has the attention span of, say, a mosquito, quickly lost interest in the numerous balls cluttering our backyard, and decided to start barking like a loon at the two foofy white dogs that live in the house behind us. The two foofy white dogs began to bark back, the three of them proceeded to have, what I'm sure was a really nice, albeit loud conversation.

I noticed a girl come outside with the two foofies, chasing them around the in-ground pool and yelling their names. I wondered how old this girl was. From her clothes and hair, she looked about the age of one of my students. 15 or 16, I thought, hahaha.

When Penny's barking got excessive, and even Rex was looking at me like "shut her up already". I went over to the fence to grab Penny, and I thought, geez that girl looks really familiar. But my eyes are not the greatest and I've never even met the people who live in that house. Then, just as I was about to pick up Penny, I hear, clear as day "Hi, Mrs. !! " Oh No! My heart sank. Shit.

"I thought you looked familiar", I said. Still thinking, WTF!!! "Do you live here?", I said. "No, my aunt and uncle do." WTF!!! Not only is one of my fourth graders spending vacation in Newington, she's spending it in my backyard!! Crap.

Then this morning, as it snowed, I was back in the yard with Dog 1 and Dog 2. And just as before I hear, "Hi Ms.!!" Is she watching me from the window? Is anything sacred for the rest of the week? I guess I'd better think twice about taking the dogs out while still in my pj's. Crap.

Kicker is, that house just sold about a year ago for 400 something thousand dollars. Which means, my fourth grader lives in ghettoville, while her mother or father's brother or sister live in an almost half million dollar house. Really? Spread the wealth people, and get her out of my backyard while you're at it.

Happy Holidays

I must really love you if I'm showing you this picture.

This is what I plan on doing for as much of my vacation as is absolutely possible. Laying in bed, dogs keeping me company and my laptop not far from reach. Its going to be a great week.

My absolute favorite movie of the holiday season is "Its a Wonderful Life". It has always been my mom's favorite and I could probably recite it word for word. In fact, when I was with the family on Christmas day when it was on TV, my mom started asking questions about it, trivia of sorts. I was impressed with how much I knew. This is one of my favorite quotes from the movie. It is so true.

I hope that all of my friends had a wonderful holiday. I am thankful, grateful for each one of you.

The one where I pat myself on the back

If you thought I was cool before (and you know you did), there should be no doubt after you see what I have done. Just when I thought I had done all that I could do (Turkey Cupcakes), just when I thought I had met my culinary match, I found "the decorated cookie"~ My new favorite blog. Here Meaghan Mountford (who apparently is famous) takes things that are premade and/or very simple to make and makes them fabulous! And as I searched her site for past entries, I found what just might be the greatest idea anyone ever had.

Sushi cookies.

I don't want to give away any secrets, but it couldn't have been any easier. Debilicious loved them, and I've got to say that I was quite proud of myself. What baking feat shall I try to conquer next? Only time will tell.

In the meantime I say in the words of Debilicious "Merry Chritmas to all, and to all a good night."

Btw, I am very tempted to scan and post pictures of Debilicious and I from our mall adventure last night. We did the photo booth and, well, the results were a bit risque... Let's just say my husband will never look at D or I the same way again...

That's me!

That's me! Conducting my concert! They did a really great job!

After my chorus sang, each grade sang a song and they were awesome too!

Then, on Friday, Santa came to school and each grade sang for Santa. It was a wicked long day, but I really loved it. Its tiring, but so fun to lead the school in a sing-along. Fun, fun.

The one where I air some dirty laundry

Did you ever have one of those days (or weeks, or months even) when you cry at the drop of a hat, for practically no reason at all? I've been having one of those days (weeks, really). I really thought that once the play was over at school and we got Penny (isn't she the cutest?) things would calm down for me. Instead, I feel more irritable than ever.

I'm back to feeling like no one likes me at work, feeling like everyone is talking about me. Feeling like I've done something wrong and I am going to get in trouble. And you know what the worst part is? I absolutely know that it isn't true! I can sit and rationalize that I've done nothing wrong, that its all in my head; and yet I still worry and get all worked up about it. For example, today is our Winter Concert. Long story short, today was the original date, then we had a snow day last week and the instrumental teacher who is only at our school once a week took it upon himself to make a new flier and change the date to tomorrow (Thursday), which is what we would have done in past years. However, Joe Cool instrumental teacher never consulted with the principal about this and therefore the principal was pissed that the date had been changed without his knowledge or consent. Now I emailed the principal the day we were out for snow and said "La la la, this is how we've done it in the past, is that okay, blah blah blah" Did the principal see that email? Of course not. So because Joe Cool instrumental teacher assumed (and we all know what that does) the principal was pissed. No where in there did I do anything wrong, and I know that. But I got all worked up that the principal would think that I had gone behind his back and that I am some good for nothing piece of crap. So I actually went up to the principal and explained this to him; that I would never do something like that without consulting with him, that I was sorry for the confusion, that it was my fault for not putting a snow date on the flier. He just nodded at me and I ended up feeling worse.

My husband loves me very much. I know this. We have a great relationship and hardly ever fight. I know this. He works hard all day and then goes to the gym because it makes him feel good about himself. I know this. And when he gets home from work, he's tired. I know this. But, I'm tired too. I worked all day too. I get home and run around doing errands and make dinner and try to get the puppy to poop outside. This I also know. I know he loves me and I know he appreciates everything that I do, but sometimes I don't *feel* it. Instead I feel worn out, worn down and just plain tired. And then I get cranky, and it gets worse. Maybe he looks at me the wrong way, or says something in a way that triggers something in my head, or maybe he leaves crumbs on the counter (again), or maybe, just maybe, the puppy keeps jumping up on his lap to cuddle with him or snuggles in between his legs in the bed when she was suppose to be *my* lap dog. And I lose it. And I go in the bathroom and I cry. (My eyes are welling up as I reread this, by the way.)

For the last seven years I've been on an anti-depressant call Celexa. How ironic that seven years is how long I've worked here in The Black Hole. Coincidence? I think not. In our feeble attempt to get pregnant, Gordo and I decided that I would slowly come off of the medicine. Its not something I would ever want to be on for the rest of my life anyway and really, what better time than the present. So I slowly weened off. Gordo was never thrilled with my being on it to begin with. Natural remedies, he says. And now here I am, almost two weeks chemical free. And so the other night when I was teary and Gordo couldn't imagine what he could have done wrong, I said, "Don't forget I'm not taking that medicine anymore. There's a good chance I'll be more [and I searched for the right word] irritable and sensitive."

I certainly hope that my body readjusts and figures out that I don't want to be crying all the freakin time. Cause I don't, for the record.

The day we got him

So today's the day I've been waiting for all week. Saturday. Sat-ur-day!! And as I wait, with an anxiety induced stomach ache, for the moment to come when we leave the house to pick up the new addition to our family, I am thinking about the day when we got Rex. Two and a half years we've had this furry monster in our home, in our lives, in our hearts. I look at the pictures of the day we got him and can't believe he was ever that small. Hummm.. Do I sound like a mom? Thinking back to the days her child was an infant, as they now get ready to graduate kindergarten? *Sigh* I love my Rex.

This was his first picture. How could you not love that face?

I mean, seriously.

Seriously.

In a few hours you'll be a big brother, pup. I can't wait!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

First snow day!! Woot woot!!

You know what I hate about the winter? Dry skin. Every year I dream of soaking in a bath tub full of body lotion or body cream. (Oh how I love body cream!! So thick and creamy!!) I feel like I put lotion in places that really shouldn't even need to be lotioned. Every year I get bruises on my calves from constantly scratching at the same place over and over.

But you know what I love about winter? Snow days. While you know there's a storm coming (from both the forcasters and the way kids/dogs/adults behave) it is like an early holiday gift, waking up in the morning not knowing if you need to actually get out of bed or not. Oh how I love that little blue scroll at the bottom of the screen! I sit, wide eyed at 5:45am waiting for the W's to come up. (All those St.'s really piss me off) I feel like a little kid. The new NBC30 commercials are spot on. Kids sitting in front of the TV in their pj's, dramatic looks of anticipation on their faces (and in the music) and then~boom~ they jump up, they hug and rejoice! No school! No school!

I am loving this week. What a wonderful thing to be able to say, by the way. I feel like I haven't been loving very many weeks lately. Snow day today (did I mention how exciting this is?), tonight we are trying out a new sushi place, which is hopefully going to be as awesome, tomorrow is just regular and whatever, Friday is our 4th grade place which will finally (thank you!!) going to be over with. Imagine the stress of being asked by the principal to put on a holiday play along with your co-workers, but only two of us really do any of the work and preparation, but everyone will get credit. Grr. Just one of the many reasons I hate that F-ing place. But regardless, it will be performed on Friday and really I think they will do a decent job despite the stress of my partner in crime and I. Then Saturday! Oh Saturday how I am looking forward to you!

Saturday we are getting a new doggie!! She is coming to us via Tennessee and I couldn't be happier. I will certainly write more about this in the coming days, but basically the homeless animal situation in the South is devastating. Therefore, in many cases dogs (and cats I suppose) are brought up to the Northeast in mobile kennels to be adopted. In the South, dogs (and cats I suppose) are rarely spayed and neutered, and therefore run rampid. There isn't enough room in the shelters for all of these animals, so many are put to sleep within 72 hours. But wonderful, loving people will foster them and advertise them on sites such as Petfinder, where wonderful, loving people like Gordo and I will call and inquire, and adopt them. So while there are great pets to adopt here in Connecticut, the situation in the South is a dire one. Not to mention the fact that many of the dogs (and cats I suppose) that are here in the Northeast came from the South to begin with. Rex is actually from Tenn. originally too!

But back to our new pup! She is a dachshund/terrier mix. She is 6 months old. She is about 15 pounds right now. She is cute as the day is long. Now, I know what you are thinking~ A substitute for what we have not been able to acquire in our lives. Honestly? Probably to certain extent. But truly, we've been talking about getting a second dog for quite a while. And maybe current personal circumstances have pushed us to do it a bit sooner than we may have planned. So what! I am so excited about this!! And I haven't been excited about anything in a really long time. Now we know I love my Rex. Love him, love him, love him. But Rex is not a lover. Rex is not a cuddler. Rex is a "I want to be in room with you and know that you are there for me, but please don't put your hands on me and I definitely don't want to lay on the couch and cuddle with you." Oh how I long for a dog who will cuddle with me. Let me lay my face into the crook of their fuzzy little neck. The foster mom said she was a cuddler and I was sold. And the little face! How could you not fall in love with a little dachshund/terrier mix face? I'm in love and I haven't even met her yet.

Oh, her current name is Bella, but we will try our damnedest to get her to respond to a new name (I won't tell yet!). My brother's bipolar Kujo/sweetheart of a Jack Russell is named Bella, and my partner in crime has a Pug named Bella. Too many Bellas.

Did I mention how much I love this week??

Excited!

Exciting things are happening here at the Gordo house!!

I don't want to say too much, but something, or someone, might be coming here. I don't want to give anything away, but it might be wicked cute, it might be furry and it might have a Southern accent.

I've said too much already.