a HUGE waste of time

Last night, Brian and I watched Cloverfield. It is truly unfortunate that I will never get that hour and a half of my life back. I like most movies, but this one was simply ridiculous. There was no point!! Let me warn you of possible spoilers now (I'm SO rolling my eyes) - but here's the plot: a monster attacks Manhattan. That's it!! They didn't bother with details such as where the monster came from, if it was ever destroyed, what happened to Manhattan, etc. It was just this attack and then the movie ended. My opinion: don't waste your time.

the lost has been found

That's right, I'm back. It has been so long that I have dreaded the thought of trying to remember everything we've done over the past month or so! I will try to give an adequate update, starting with this past weekend.

On Friday we headed out around lunchtime for Tampa. We visited the Big Cat Rescue and took an awesome tour! It was one of the neatest things we've done in a long time. Below are several pictures that we took of the cats. I was just fascinated, despite the heat. They were so adorable and you could tell many of them were pretty hot, too. One tiger named T.J. even got in his pool to show off for us. It was fabulous!!

After the tour, we went on to St. Petersburg where we spent the rest of the weekend. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast, Inn at the Bay. It was luxurious and relaxing. We spent the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing, and boy did we need that! We've both been working so much and we needed to unwind and recharge. Saturday Brian surprised me with a couples massage that he had arranged earlier. It was heavenly! Sunday afternoon we came home and then met some friends for dinner and a movie, Prince Caspian. It was great! All in all, it was a spectacular weekend.

Some other rather large news is that I resigned from my church. Yes, folks, we are now undergoing the great church search. Although we LOVED Winter Haven and really felt at home there, with gas prices climbing, the hour-one-way drive was getting pretty old. Not to mention that we were gone 7-8 hours every Sunday, meaning that Sunday had turned into another work day. April 27 was my last Sunday and I greatly miss my boys in the band. I'm hoping to still be able to play with them on occasion.

Let's see...my cousin Chris got engaged to his fabulous and amazing girlfriend, Gloria. We love her and we cannot wait for her to be part of the family!! We haven't seen them since they've been engaged, but we hope to get together with them soon for dinner. Maybe we'll try out their church. :)

The first weekend of May we went to Ft. Myers to see my grandparents. They have since gone back to KY, so we were at least able to get in a quick visit before they left. I don't know what I can really publicly say about the visit - I guess I'll say that senility is a very sad thing. Nan and Pops aren't who they used to be. :(

My Kindermusik semester has ended and I have a few weeks off. Summer camps start near the end of June and I already miss the kids, so I'm looking forward to that. The church is renovating my room and I'm SUPER excited about it! Stay tuned for pictures of the demolition and remodeling.

I have 2 days left at the Montessori school and I've already informed them that I won't be back next year. I really enjoyed the people there and the kids too, but my life has just gotten too busy. Health and exercise have taken a back burner and I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen again. I don't want to gain my weight back or let my life get out of control again. So now I only have ONE job, Kindermusik, and I'll be able to focus on my own studio and still have the time and energy to eat well and exercise.

Let's see. I think that's just about all. I'm sure there are more things to tell you about, but I can't think of them right now and I just want to get a post done so you'll all know that we're still alive down here! So, more later.

AND - YAY! DAVID COOK WON! :D

OK, here are the cat pictures. Amazing. I'm ready to go back.

idol yawns

I don't know what's up with Idol this year. First of all, I'm just not as into it as I usually am. Second of all, last night was really weird!! The best singers did just ok, and the bad singers did pretty well (for them). I still think that Kristi Lee Cook (aka Country Bumpkin) needs to go home, as well as Jason Castro (aka Ladyface Travolta, because we think he has a ladyface and looks like the daughter of John Travolta. Plus, I HATE his hair, SO gross!)

I love Carly, Michael, and the Davids. I also totally love Syesha and I thought she ROCKED last night. I couldn't understand why the judges gave her bad comments and said she didn't emote - I was nearly in tears at the end of her song! And they thought Jason Castro was so great? Is it because he screwed up his face and closed his eyes when he said, "Bluebirds fly?" I don't get it.

Also, while I'm talking about shows...I'm totally into The Biggest Loser Couples. I was just watching last night's show and my jaw totally dropped and I nearly died when both girls were above the yellow line!! Go, girls!! I am thrilled. I cannot believe how much the brothers (Mark and Jay) have cried this season! Especially Mark - he has provided so many waterworks!! It's actually kinda funny. He just cries all the time. I'm really anxious to see who wins this year, I'd LOVE for it to be one of the girls!!

I'm gearing up for Kindermusik summer camps - it's going to be fun. People are really excited about it and so am I! I absolutely love teaching Kindermusik. I feel so lucky!

i saw one of the dinosaurs spitting

OK. We went to Disney Quest last Friday for Brian's birthday. It was a great time! We got to do some really fun Virtual Reality stuff. We were just about to get on the Jungle River ride when i saw that the rafts were actually a little wet - I said to Brian, "There's water. We might get wet on this one." Brian's reply was, "I saw one of the dinosaurs spitting." ROFL!!!! This struck me as so funny! He was right - one of the dinosaurs spit right on me. It was hilarious.

All in all, I'm glad we did Disney Quest, but I don't feel like I need to go back anytime soon! It was REALLY loud in there. Luckily, it was at Downtown Disney, so we took a break in the middle and went and saw a movie - "21." It was REALLY good!

Saturday morning we got up at the break of dawn to get to our Segway tour at Epcot. I wasn't feeling the best, but I was still really excited to go. We had an ABSOLUTE BLAST on the Segways!! I would recommend the tour to anyone - it was fabulous! We learned how to ride them at Innoventions and went through some obstacle courses, and then we went off into the countries. It was amazing!! We didn't want to get off the Segways when the tour was over. We LOVED it.

After we finished the tour, we rode Soarin' and then left. By that time, I felt REALLY bad. We went to the walk-in clinic at Walgreens. I had a FEVER!! And I had a lot of pressure on my ears and a really irritated throat. To make a long story short, I spent my whole spring break sick in bed. :( Here it is Friday, the last day of spring break, and I'm JUST now feeling better.

Anyway, hope this finds you all well. Enjoy these pictures of us on our Segways! I'll write more soon!

happy birthday, brian!

Today my sweet husband turned 34. He had a great day at work, went out to lunch and had Mexican, and tonight I made lasagna in the crockpot (lowfat, of course) and we had strawberry cheesecake parfaits for dessert (fat free, sugar free). Yum! He's taking the day off from work tomorrow and we're going to Disney Quest. Games all day - fun for B! And then on Saturday comes my gift to him - we're going to learn how to ride Segways and then we're taking a tour all around Epcot - the Around the World Segway tour. It's going to be SO much fun! We are SUPER excited!

In other news, we FINALLY moved back into our bedroom. It is SO NICE to sleep in there again! The bathroom is done, all except the glass shower enclosure. I don't know when we'll get that done - at this point, I'm SO OVER having workers in and out of our house, we may NEVER get the glass done. So, we have new tile in the shower and around the tub, new tile on the floor, 2 new sinks, a new toilet, and new fixtures in the shower, on the tub, and on both sinks. I know I keep saying that I will post pictures, and I promise I will. Whenever I have time.

Kindermusik is going great - next week is Spring Break and I will be happy for the break. Although, I will be visiting a Mommy and Me group to talk about Kindermusik and do a demo class. I also hope to help my friend Christi get unpacked in their new house, I'm having lunch with a friend on Thursday, and I need to go to the dentist and probably some other doctors too - dermatologist, etc. So, part of my week is planned, and I also hope to organize and clean out a little in the piano room and maybe the guest room - I'd love to get some things listed on eBay! We have so many things to sell. Oh, and we're having date night with another friend and her husband, which will be fun! Plus, I want to wash the windows and do some other spring cleaning. It will be a busy week!

Anyway, pics coming soon of the bathroom and also of Brian's crazy fun birthday weekend! Cheers!

murphy lives here

Well, the bathroom STILL isn't done. *sigh* It's been over 2 months and we are sick and tired of sleeping in the dining room! Our clothes are hanging on all the doorknobs, the laundry, furniture, our shoes, etc. are in the guest room (along with the litter box, yuck). My makeup mirror is in the office, our dresser is in the piano room, and on and on. We just need our bedroom/bathroom back!!

What has happened is that we've had a 4-day job that has turned into a 2.5 month job. It's because our tile guy doesn't bother to show up when he says he's going to. And when he DOES show up, he wants to talk to us or talk on his cell phone instead of working. However, the tile is FINALLY done and he's coming tomorrow (I'll believe it when I see it) to do the final details - touch ups on the grout, etc. The plumber is coming on Saturday to finish putting the shower fixtures on - that has turned into a big mess with things fitting, etc. I won't even go into all the things that haven't fit, worked, etc. It has been a nightmare! And tomorrow morning a guy is coming to fix our tub where the tile guy dropped tiles or something and made FIVE nicks in the tub. Our nice, beautiful Roman tub!! >:(

I'm REALLY hoping to move our bed back in this weekend, but the plumber is going to have to cut into the drywall to install the shower fixtures. Which means then we're going to have to patch the drywall. Ugh! So I don't want to move the bed and furniture back in until that's fixed, because I hate drywall dust and I don't want to have to clean it off of all the furniture! Y'all pray for us that we can get our bedroom back soon. Of course the mold problem has turned into a nearly complete bathroom remodel with all new tile, a new floor, a new toilet, new sinks, and new fixtures on the shower, tub, and sinks. Whew!

That's just about all that going on with us right now! This project is taking over our lives! However, Brian's birthday is next week and I have something VERY FUN planned for him!! He's taking Friday off and we're going to Disney Quest for the day. Then on Saturday morning, I have something REALLY exciting planned but it's a surprise so I can't blog about it yet. But I will share pictures afterward!

I will also post pictures of our bathroom very soon!

quick menu

I know it's Friday, but I'm doing MPM anyway. LOL I'm going to the store TODAY. Here's the menu for this coming week. This week's menu went down the drain - Brian had to work late every night. However, I am making chicken casserole tonight. :)

Monday - leftover Milligatawny soup (making it tomorrow)
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish, veggies
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian's night to cook
Friday - BBQ chicken, veggies

i don't think...

...that anyone reads this blog anymore.

Anyway, for those out there who care, I'll tell you my favorite Idol performances this week. They are, in no particular order:

Michael Johns
Carly Smithson
David Cook
Amanda Overmyer
Syesha Mercado

Now, those are just for THIS week. I'll tell you who my top picks are (in no order):

David Archuleta
Carly Smithson
Michael Johns
David Hernandez
Syesha Mercado

a day of good news

Today has been a great day in our household!! First of all, this morning we paid off my car!! YAY!!!! We now have no car payments. In fact, we have no debt except for the house! We got our tax return on Friday and we were able to save part of it, put part away for a trip to Hawaii next year, use part of it for our bathroom (which is now getting close to a full remodel), and pay off my car. We are SO excited and happy!

Also, today we welcomed into the world our brand new nephew, Jason Luke. Welcome, little Luke, and congrats to Brian's brother Jason and his wife Angela! :D We are a proud aunt and uncle (for the fourth time!)

All in all, things are going well for us. The new tile in our bathroom is looking really pretty. I'm excited to get it all done! OK, I have to go and try to learn how to play the guitar. I have to teach my 4-6th graders guitar! :P

new favorite page

I went to a crop today with a friend and had lots of fun! Of course, I only got one page done. I put the finishing touches on when I got home, but it's turned out to be my new favorite page! Here it is: Of course, there is a lot for me to update, but I just haven't really had time. Our shower is finally underway - the tile is in the shower but still needs to be done on the walls around the tub. Then the floor will be done and we also have to get the glass enclosure. Still lots to do, but it's progressing. I'll post pictures soon.

PS - This week's menu:
Monday - BBQ chicken, veggies
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish, veggies
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian cooks, chicken biscuits (?)
Friday - chicken casserole