While reading a friend of mine's blog I came across this idea of sharing 5 things that have happen or will happen recently in your life. Often I struggle with not writing for awhile versus just giving a blog post of words and no photos. This 5 things idea is a quick way to check in with the blog world while hopefully keeping it short. Though I may not have photos for every post, hopefully non flashy posts are just as interesting... from time to time.
5 Things Tuesday:
1. Jarrod and I recently returned from a wonderful...WONDERFUL... trip north to see family and friends. After returning to Houston I realized that while our little apartment was good enough, it now felt so small in comparison to staying in my parents house on our trip. Since the Spring Jarrod and I have talking about buying a home in Houston so we can be more settled (and so we can put all we have "learned" from HGTV to good use). Going from my parents' large house to our tiny apartment only solidified the need to move to something with more space, better use of space and more sense of OURS. Then we get a letter from our leasing office. Our rent is going up a bit for the next year and if we only want to stay for 6 months (original plan) and then buy a house, our rent would be far too large to save enough for a good down payment. For now we have to decide between what is smart, and what we really want. So in order to make smart choices, we are staying in our tiny apartment for another year... However just you wait until we do finally get to buy that house! You'll be able to feel the excitement (and security with our decision) oozing out of the computer.
2. Speaking of oozing.. haha...eww.... While home I got poison ivy. When I finally realized it was poison ivy and not bug bites, I was surprised that my face hadn't exploded into the something that resembled the marshmallow man. Ever since I was a kid, whenever I got some kind of poison plant on me it would make it's way to my face and seal my eyes shut. However this time around it has stuck strictly to my arm. While it is not pretty, I still look like myself and that is a really good thing :) I never realized that people can grow out of (and into) allergies. I am super thankful for this evolution of myself. Looking like the marshmallow man at my conference this week would have been not so fun and probably highly distracting to the other teachers.
3. Speaking of conferences, it seems fitting to mention that the week after returning home from New England my school sent me off to Seguin Tx to attend a conference on how to teach AP Human Geography. It is a 4 day conference and I was lucky enough to bring Jarrod along for a few days so we could explore the area after each daily session. Only 2 days in and I have already learned so much that my brain feels physically stretched! It has also made me think about a possible direction for another masters, or at least a +30. GEOGRAPHY! Who doesn't love studying the world and all that is in and on it. Stay tuned to see if I can make this happen any time soon.
4. In Jarrod news, we learned that due to new laws, there has to always be 2 people at his work at any given time. Prior to this law, it was ok for only 1 person to work each 12 hour shift on the weekend which meant that Jarrod only had to work every 3rd or 4th weekend (honestly after a year I still can't figure out or remember his crazy schedule). Now that 2 people have to be there Jarrod will have to work every other weekend. My first reaction was to be extremely bummed. There are already weeks where we don't see each other very much because of his schedule and my extra curricular obligations and so to not have the weekend seemed horrible. After being bummed I came to the realization that while this new schedule will indeed stink, at least I actually live with my husband and get to see him at least 3 or 4 times a week, even if it's only for a few hours. I know women who lived without their husbands for way longer periods of time and yet their love is still extremely strong. If they can do it, than I can definitely handle an on and off weekend deal with mine.
5. Last but not least, I will end with something I am looking forward to. Though not all plans have been solidified, it appears that this fall is shaping up to be a fall of out of town visitors! For sure my college roommate nancie will be joining us for a long weekend (yes one Jarrod is working incase you're wondering) and I am super excited to introduce her to Houston finally! I am also hoping to see a few DCites *wink wink, nudge nudge*. Anyone else looking to escape those first few months of chilly weather are welcome to come on down! We have a loft that has a full size bed in it (no more futon thanks to our awesome new bed) and plenty of clean sheets to go around :)
