I will not be winning wife of the year...

Yesterday, after a very productive day, I came home with a horrible headache. One of those that pounds on top and goes down deep into the neck. Ick. I took some Tylenol. Barely touched it. Added some more Tylenol. Then, I went with the classic Benadryl...my seasonal allergy drug of choice. It must have had something to do with allergies because I was out. Apparently so out of it that I didn't wake up to notice that Micah was up all night sick. Sick. Sick. I didn't even know he was sick until today at 6:15 p.m. when I got home. Apparently, I did wake up and ask him why he couldn't stay in bed. Great. So now I'm rude in my sleep?!? He's told me that I talk about nonsense in my sleep, but now I'm just downright tacky.

To add to not winning the wife of the year award, he started sending me little reminders of why he loves me each day. Today' he wrote: Day 8 That you slept all the way through my NIGHT OF SICKNESS last night. I think it’s cute but I can’t believe how you did it.

Much love,

A Hole in One and Old Friends

Last weekend, Micah agreed to play in a charity golf tournament at the last minute. His team won the whole thing! Not only did they win the tournament, he also won closest to the pin on several holes and get this, hit a hole in one! His first hole in one! Micah is really very humble and probably has told very few people about this; he donated one of the big prizes back to the charity to be auctioned off at their gala. He sent me a text out of the golf course so excited and came home really ecstatic, too. You know though, it wasn't about the prizes...(although he did say he was a little bummed when the hole before was the 10,000 dollars cash prize for a hole in one...this one wasn't!) I think he most enjoyed this hole in one for all the years of playing golf for fun, then playing competitive golf and he went out there relaxed, and confident, doing something he loves and it just worked out. I think the timing made that shot more special for him. Maybe I'm making my little theory more than it really is, but maybe this is a life lesson for me about God's timing. I know that we can want something so badly it hurts, but I need to hold strong that God's time is the best and will make our desires so much sweeter to savor. I tease him that he is good at everything and he can generally top me at anything. I'll let him take his hole in one, but just know that I still am the ultimate thumb wrestling champion around this house, Bud. Congratulations, Micah John!

I've said old friends are like your favorite sweat pants. You feel comfortable in them. They are your favorites. You never throw them out. They are the ones you choose if everything is clean. You hang on it no matter what. A dear friend from high school flew in this weekend. I so enjoyed catching up with her and her sweet momma, Brenda. I feel comforted knowing I still have friends that anything they say or I say we already know about. There's truly something special about an old friend. And, Brenda, I'm so proud of your seven years cancer free...all October I will think of you and your brave fight! You are one of my personal heroes!

Micah also got to see some of his old friends this weekend. He flew down to Houston where he met up with Kevin and Sean to watch the Tech game. Yikes, not a pretty one. Nevertheless, I'm glad he got some good time with his old friends.

Here's to life lessons on a golf course and old friends...they both do something good for the heart.

Much love,

Autumn

Summer is my favorite season. Hands down. No question about it. And, no, it's not entirely because I have no work to report to. I love just about everything during summer, but I happen to like several things about fall. Here goes.

1. bright yellow mums
2. hay bales
3. pumpkins
4. turtlenecks (Micah totally makes fun of my turtlenecks...I happen to love a good turtleneck sweater!)
5. Pottery Barn catalogs with the Thanksgiving table all set up
6. wearing the new clothes that I bought at the end of summer for back to school
7. coats and cute scarfs (I'd rather not have to wear a coat, but I'd also like to have weather like Hawaii.)
8. Tech football games
9. turning on the floor heater in my car until my feet turn red
10.holly berries that come out our shrub

See, ten things I like about fall. Now, if I could somehow manage to wart off the time change and colder weather I'd be set!

Much love,

A List

No, I'm not on the "A" list of all the parties or celebrities...it's just a list. I'm reading There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom to my students after lunch. In the book, the main character, Bradley Chalkers, writes a lengthy list of topics in which to discuss with the new counselor at his school. First, I wish I would have a counselor to plop down on to discuss everything. Not that I have too much to discuss...and I have Micah who is quite a good listener. Secondly, I don't really have that much to say in terms of stories, but I always am thinking so here's my list, too.

Things on my mind as of 09/17/09

1. Today my mom is 54.
2. She started our phone call by singing to herself.
3. Then I finished the birthday song.
4. Maybe this is why I really like my birthday.
5. Tiny baby frogs
6. Dodger spits out tiny baby frogs.
7. Autumn
8. Mums returned from my planting last year!
9. Desperate for a haircut
10.Highlights, too
11.The movie The Game...strange
12.Fall returns our favorite television shows.
13. C'mon Tech surprise everyone
14. Win!
15. Ralph Lauren calf hair printed leopard shoes with an adorable ankle strap
16. Perfect fit bootcut jeans from Gap
17. Reece singing "I'm a Pin-cess" and playing on her keyboard
18. Laundry
19. Need to go get gas
20. Need to go the grocery store
21. Need to make whisper phone out of pvc pipe
22. Not handy
23. Need to make or buy privacy offices
24. Grading
25. Unfortunate incident on the playground today
26. Appeared to be used toilet paper
27. On my foot
28. I was wearing flip-flops.
29. Lysol
30. Sanitizer by my next door neighbor teacher who actually washed my feet...sainthood!
31. Left early.
32. To shower
33. More sanitizer
34. Now wearing socks
35. So gross
36. Scare therapy?
37. I hate germs.
38. Allergies
39. Cutting corn
40. Fridays.
41. Creepy birds who explode their nasty feathers in my lawn
42. Trying to brainstorm a hobby
43. Maybe I'll work on just being on improving what I'm already doing.
44. Joking with man with a gun on his hip
45. Great students
46. Impressionable children
47. Laughing
48. Lawn chairs in the grass
49. Starry nights
50. God is great!

Much love,

A Must Read

Through reading a friend's blog she had a link to Pioneer Woman blog. My first thought was if this is about retrieving eggs from a chickens or about how to make your own detergent, I'm out. Micah was in the other room watching college football and I was trying to find something to do with my time besides the things that needed to be done...like the papers I have neglected to grade...that are still in the car that I told Micah, make me grade papers...he clearly hasn't...good man. On Pioneer Woman's website, she writes her love story about her mid-twenties dating, shortly followed by her meeting her now husband. You have to read it. It's called From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It describes her life from a country club kid, going to college in LA and then winding up with a ruggedly handsome cowboy and planning life on a ranch with passion sprinkled in. I read the whole thing in my spare time in two days. It's good. Really good. It sucks you in, good. I make me laugh out loud, got me a little hot, and made me relate to those great phone calls and smelling the scent of Micah anywhere he had been after he had left. At one point, I walked into the living room where Micah was lounging on the couch and planted one on him. His response, "What kind a Fabio novel are you reading in there?" Find some time and read up!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/category/black_heelstractor_wheels/the_night_i_met_marlboro_man

Much love,

September 11, 2009

Funny how September 11, 2001 seems not that long ago. In fact, I wrote on my board "09/09/09, cool huh?" Wednesday...wrote on my board today regular 'ole 09/10/09 and then nearly forgot tomorrow is September 11. Time has passed and I nearly forgot. Eight years ago, I never thought I would almost forget. How fortunate I feel that I almost forgot! Eight short years ago I was watching the Today Show getting ready for a Tuesday class in Holden Hall in my Stangel dorm room when the second plane crashed. I went ahead to class, but came back to my room and sat glued to my television trying to get through to my friend Laci who I worried about as she attended Columbia in NYC...phone lines down.

Thank you God for the freedom that we experience. Thank you for the safety that you have blessed our nation with. I pray for the families and friends of those who lost loved ones that day. I pray that you would comfort them. God, I thank you that I when I drive to school, go to the grocery store, attend church, that I never question my safety. I owe so much to our armed forces for protecting these freedoms. Bless them and their families. And, God bless America.

Much love,

Farewell white pants...

Ahh, Labor Day has come and gone for this year. My white pants will hang until Easter returns. My mom would always make us put away our white dress shoes in favor of black patent strap shoes as a child. As I was making my evening news article check, I found this interesting read. I had no idea the theory of traditionalists versus the upward mobility of the middle class who revolted against the notion as silly and unpractical. I suppose I'll just have to hunt for a pair of winter white pants, or cream...I cannot break the 'ole black patent shoe rule after Labor Day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090908/us_time/08599192068400

Much love,

Texas Tech football season opener

After our own personal pep rally to fire up, we headed south for the season opener. I love the atmosphere on campus on a game day...the smell of cookers, all the Tech attire, fans from all generations and all walks of life...I love it. It was a slow start to the season, not what most predicted. Maybe slow and steady wins the race!

Watch for Tech in the commercial below...love the music!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=280643080001&ref=nf#/video/video.php?v=280643080001

Much love,

Shades of gray

I'm still pondering on a discussion I was having Saturday before the game. It started by nonchalantly talking about the upcoming gubernatorial race. There is no such thing as a perfect canidate because there is no such thing as a perfect person. Micah points to single topic voting. Am I a single topic voter? Are there some issues that inherently trump others? Who is the moral police? Are Democrats more for the poor? Are Republicans more Christian? Hogwash. Sometimes the media and individuals on the far side of party lines try to paint these pictures. Then, Micah and I had to go act on a "hot tip" birthday present idea and the conversation continued in the car. He pointed how could I be against the death penatly, but still vote for a candidate that was for it all while I can't vote for someone who is for abortion. So, this has me thinking still today. Seeing the big picture can be hard. I must include that Micah and I banter and somewhat pester each other on political discussion all while having eerily similiar leanings (we are nerdy and took a lenghty political test and literally scored within tenths of each other). Wasn't right/wrong, good/evil so much easier when we children. Now, I see in shades of gray. And, aren't shades of gray hard to figure?

Much love,

Time flies

a. I was teaching about the census today. The last census was taken in 2000 when I graduated high school. I remember Micah telling me about his job as a census enumerator when we were first dating. The kids I teach were still babies at that time. Time flies.
b. Speaking of time flying...the kids I starting teaching 5 years ago are now seniors in high school. They will be in college next year. College doesn't seem that far away for me. It's just bizarre. Again, time flies.
c. We will have lived in Plainview 2 years in a few months. I still say we are new to town. Time flies.
d. My hair was last cut at the beginning of the summer and has now grown several inches longer and probably out width wise, too. My next appointment is at the end of September...I need my hair to cooperate for the next 29 days until my hairdresser can make it back from surgery.
e. I was in a store today when the shoplifting alarm by the door went off. The store manager ran out to try to catch them. I didn't notice a thing. I should be more aware.
f. I played kickball today and then I smell like recess.
g. I'm still super tired everyday. Yea three day weekend. I miss sleeping in and no makeup, hair, or shoes days!
h. I got off the phone with my niece Reece, she tells me almost everytime we talk, "Aunt Tolby, you are funny. Where you are? (yes, I typed it right...where you are) Where Dodder? Where Micah?" Then, we sing our ABC's, but tonight we went with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I love my sweet Reece!
i. I'm excited to have Micah home after he went on a golfing trip for the weekend. I'm glad he goes and does boys activities, but I sure love when he comes home to me! He played some fun courses and caught a Cowboys/49ers game in the new stadium (even though he is a pretty serious Packers fan). Dodger and I did some serious resting and cleaning to catch up this weekend.

Much love,