lessons i've learned while being married

• After all the laundry is FINALLY done, Husbands will put something in the hamper. It's like they don’t like to see the bottom of it or something.
• Husband and wife will have different ideas about the amount of money one should spend on a shopping trip.
• Husbands will complain about the hair that ends up plugging the shower drain as if they do not contribute to it at all. Ok, maybe the husband’s hair is not as long as the wife’s, but the husband sheds too.
• The husband will always steal some of the wife’s food when she’s eating, even if he knows she hates it.
• Husbands will NEVER hear the dog waking them up in the middle of the night to go outside. Husbands will PRETEND not to hear the dog waking them up in the middle of the night to go outside.
• The husband will get mad at the wife when she continually neglects to fill up her gas tank, even though it doesn't really TOTALLY gives her hives.
• The husband will always remember to put the toilet seat down, but will NOT remember to close the shower curtain.
• The husband will always love the wife, even when she blogs about him. . . those are the blogs that tend to make him smile the most :)

currently...

Listening: Pandora. My current favorite station is “Priscilla Ahn Radio.” I’m very into mellow, acoustic-ish music right now, and everything on that station is right up my alley.

Eating: Nothing right now…. . . but I may have had some mac and cheese for lunch earlier. Duh.

Wearing: Skinny jeans and a flowy red sleeveless button down top from Old Navy. I also have on my new watch, and my new necklace from Etsy that has my name, ty’s name, and our anniversary date on it.

Feeling: totally relaxed and content. 4 day weekends are totally where its at. I have a ton of stuff to do, but I have 4 days to do it all in, so there are plenty of breaks for Pinterest and whatnot :)

Weather: The sun’s shining and its about 86. I can see some clouds trying to make their way in though. Boo.

Reading: Kate, another blogger that I’m always reading, mentioned the book called “Bloom” and how she couldn’t put it down. So I thought I’d check it out. It’s a memoir of a mother who gave birth to a daughter with Downs Syndrome. So far I’m riveted. The author has a knack for writing in a way that is very relatable. I love it because she's not afraid to say what she really feels, even if its not what you would think is "right."

Needing: Motivation to go down and fold the laundry. But there are so many more fun things to do. . . 

Dreading: As much as I’m looking forward to summer vacay, I’m dreading Kindergarten graduation. I’ve been close to tears every time we’ve practiced, so I know when we do the real thing, I’m gonna be a total mess. I love my kiddos so much! I don’t want to give them away!

What are YOU currently up to?  

his and hers: things you think should be invented.

Ty:

(Money tree or anything else that gives out money is a given, so I won’t even bother putting it.)

• Robot housecleaner…you know Jetson-style. No more laundry, sweeping, cleaning or cooking.
• A cure for cancer
• Transporter…I mean seriously we could go anywhere!
• A magic pill that would make my knee magically 100% again!
• The most amazing wife ever…wait I got that one…we’ll go with brownie flavoured brussel sprouts instead…brussel sprouts good for you, brownie flavor GOOD=Great tasting healthy food!
• A weight loss pill that truly works without dieting, starving yourself, depriving yourself of any nutrients and DOESN’T HAVE ANY SIDE AFFECTS….oh and it’s 100% natural, asking too much? I think not!
• A tv that senses when you want to change the channel…gone are the days of having to pick up the remote. The tv would sense not only you want the channel changed but can read what may peak your interest at the present time and switch to it. Just imagine the mind battles between husband and wife…Keeping up with the Kardashians is on, husband walks in switches to Fishing w/Bill Dance…back to Kardashians then back to Bill Dance, Kardashians, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit countdown…..arguement ensues….on second thought maybe this one isn’t a good idea.
• Same concept as above but stereo in the car. Picks up on your mood and plays songs or picks stations playing songs you want!
• A motorcycle force field…would make it so I don’t have to sell mine due to future plans of having a family. *Just too easily killed if involved in a crash.
• A warming pill. I could hunt all day long in the winter without getting cold…that would be something special!!

 Lisa:

• Money trees. People talk all the time about how money doesn't grow on trees. Maybe instead of talking about it, they should spend some time inventing one.
•  Zero calorie Kraft Mac and Cheese. Enough said.
•  Nail polish that won’t ever chip. It would stay pristine until you decide to take it off.
•  A bed that automatically makes itself every morning after you get up.
•  A remote control that would turn down the volume on my husband when he starts talking about hunting.
• A “lost sock finder” for all those socks that mysteriously get lost in the dryer.
• A fur sucker that would suck all the loose hair off the cat so he wouldn’t shed. One that really worked.
• Flowers that I cannot kill.
• An all natural pill that would give me extra patience with my students on those inevitable “full moon” days.
•   A monthly shopping spree pass that would allow the user to get anything in any store for free. This pass would be good for exactly 8 hours. You could use it to get anything you want between those 8 hours, and then the pass would become inactive for the rest of the month, until the next “spree day.” Some serious thought has been put into that one :)

if only...

Some times, I think its hard not to get caught up in the “if only’s.”

Like lately.

If only it was already summer vacation.

If only I were more motivated to work out.

If only I was a better housekeeper.

If only I had more money to buy lots of awesome clothes.

If only I could keep this class of Kindergarteners until they graduate high school. Please don’t make me give them away in 2 weeks.

If only I was more tan. . . without having to put forth any effort.

If only I was an amazing cook.

If only there were more hours in a day.

If only America had a mandated naptime every day at 1pm.

If only I could eat ice cream every day with no repercussions.

If only I could actually succeed at any of the crafts I’ve pinned on Pinterest.

If only I could have a personal hair and make up artist every morning.

If only the laundry would fold itself.

Then you realize that life is pretty good, even if none of these things are happening for you right now. . . or ever. Its ok to wonder about what could be, but its pretty awesome to then realize that you’re pretty content with how everything is right now, in the moment.

Happy Wednesday :)

chocolate covered strawberries.

I’m NOT Suzie Homemaker. Not even in the slightest.

But sometimes I try to be.

So Yesterday, I wanted to make some chocolate covered strawberries.

I figured they’d look something like this.

Yeah. Right. Good one, Lisa.

I was already, had the chocolate melted and strawberries washed, and you know what?

The chocolate wouldn’t stick to the dang berries.

Looking back, maybe it had something to do with the nasty consistency of that chocolate. . . but that's besides the point.

I tried several times, and still no luck.

So I did what any self-sufficient girl would do. . .

I immediately dropped everything and consulted Pinterest.

According to my research, if the strawberries are still wet, the chocolate won’t stick. So I went back, dried them all and tried again.

And the dang chocolate STILL wouldn’t stick. I tried every dipping method I could think of. Still, nothing worked.

After a few choice words, (and maybe a little spoon licking,) I did what any self-sufficient girl would do. . .

I threw everything back in the fridge and made mac and cheese instead.

From a box.

I’m not Suzie Homemaker, remember?

So then Ty came home later, jonesing for the chocolate covered strawberries I had promised. I told him the story, and he made fun of me.

Then again, I did what any self-sufficient girl would do. . .

I got out the cup of now cold chocolate and the berries.

I melted the chocolate again, and introduced husband to a whole new way to eat this dessert.

Its not called “chocolate covered strawberries” in this house.

Around here, we like to call them “spoon some chocolate onto a strawberry and then eat it fast before the chocolate slides off.”

I still don’t know what the problem was.

But I guess life’s not as fun if everything goes according to plan all the time, huh?

I think its much more interesting my way anyway :)

nighttime at our house.

I never really realized what Ty was talking about all the time until I saw this.

Sorry Ty.

But probably not sorry enough to do anything about it. 

   

Source: Uploaded by user via Mark on Pinterest

my iphone says...

Here’s what my iphone has to say about the last week:

Cute bird craft we made this week to hang up for our graduation play.

I may or may not have found a new favorite store at the mall :)

Its been great weather to hang outside with Abby at night this week.

Got a lot of compliments on this manicure. Pinterest has taught me all about “accent nails.”

Gerber daisies are my favorites! They were also my wedding flowers.

Unfortunately, they didn't last very long. I’m hopeless at keeping flowers alive.

 While packing my lunch at 6:30am, this very curved banana was quite amusing. It wasn’t very amusing however, when I bit into this banana later and it was not even kinda ripe. It was so hard, it was almost crunchy. That poor unripe nanner is now sitting in a dumpster.

 

Barnes & Noble is one of my favorite places. But when you take your husband, you wind up in the hunting and fishing section. BORING.

Another fun manicure. My nails are literally ALWAYS painted. Earlier this week, I actually went two days without them painted, and my students were starting to complain. So I did this one for them. They loved it!

I carry a clipboard around all day with me to chart behavior in my class. Last week, one of my kiddos accidentally dropped and broke the one I was using, so I found another one at home and decided to jazz it up a little. I love it!

And that’s pretty much all my iphone has to say about all that. Have a nice weekend :)  

his and hers: favorite summertime activities.

I have exactly 14 school days left until summer vacation.

The summer bug has hit my students and I hard!

As much as I don’t want to give them away to another teacher, I’m ready for a break from the stress of my job.

So, since I’m longing for the lazy days of summer, I thought Ty and I would do a summer-themed his and hers today.

Lisa

1. Get a tan. Although I absolutely HATE to be hot, so depending on the temp, I might choose to stay inside with the air conditioning.
2. Read. I do a lot of reading year-round, but I get some extra time over the summer. I rarely read books about education during the school year, so I like to use the summer to read those kinds of books and get my mind back in gear for the coming year.
3. Shop. Duh.
4. Have a bonfire. I enjoy sitting by a fire and roasting marshmallows. I don’t enjoy what I smell like afterwards, but that’s besides the point.
5. Beach time. Not necessarily during the day though. My favorite thing is to head to the beach for sun set with my hubby for a beach picnic.
6. Relax. My job can tend to be very exhausting, so summer vacation is the perfect time to rejuvenate before the next group of kinders shows up.
7. Stay up later. I’m such an old lady sometimes. I’m one of those people who needs their 8 hours of sleep. I’ll be incredibly grumpy if I don’t get that, or sometimes more. So during the year, I go to bed early. Sometimes like 9pm. So I look forward to staying up a little later over the summer.
8. Be on a boat on the water. I don’t necessarily care what kind of boat, or what water, I just love being there.
9. Weekend get-aways. We did a couple last year and they were awesome. Its so fun to just get away and go someplace new.
10. Ice-cream runs. We already did one last weekend. I love when its hot and we decide spur of the moment to run and get an ice cream. Ahhh.

Ty

1. Get ready for the uncoming hunting season (preparation.)
2. Play some softball.
3. Go to the beach with my wife (and go to Oinks.)
4. Fishing.
5. Ride my motorcycle.
6. Dinners on the deck with Lisa.
7. Landscaping. I actually get enjoyment out of it. Once its done I feel accomplished.
8. Celebrate my wife’s birthday.
9. Cubs baseball.
10. Lazy Sunday afternoons. Or bonfires...can't believe I forgot that one.

Boy, this is all going to make the next 14 school days go by even slower!

5 things you'd (MAYBE) be surprised to know about me.

1. I was diagnosed with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) about 3 years ago. I used to have full-on panic attacks almost every single day. It often kept me from going places alone, and I even quit a job in college because of it. I suffered in silence for 2 years before talking to my family and Ty about it. I take medicine for it now, and have it like 98 percent under control :)
2. I’m a terrible house-keeper, and that’s extremely embarrassing to admit. I have such a hard time keeping our house clean, because it doesn’t bother me that much when its dirty. I really do attempt to keep it clean, but its so hard, and after chasing little kids around all day, the last thing I want to do at 5:00 is clean a house. It is something that I’m trying to get better at though.
3. I’ve always wanted kids, but I keep pushing back the age at which I want to have them. That magic age is now pushing 30. I love the idea of having children with Ty, but I can’t help but be a little selfish with how much I enjoy our life right now without kids. The freedom we have is something we’ll never get back after having children. And, I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I’d be a very good mom right now anyway. If something happens, it happens, but for now, we plan on waiting for the foreseeable future.
4. I graduated with honors. 11^th in my class. It was a small class (116ish), but I think 11 is pretty good. If you would have asked me that when I was 18, I would not have been so pleased. I was beyond TICKED that I was 11^th. I worked my BOOTY off to make it to the top ten, and I didn’t get it! I know, I know, who cares, right? Well, I did. (Yep, I was one of those students.) But I now have the job that I always hoped I would get, and my principal did not once ask me about my GPA or class rank in high school, or what stinking diploma I graduated with. So apparently, it doesn’t really matter.
5. I have an insane fear of doctors. Any kind of doctor. I don’t know where this irrational fear came from, but the moment I step into a doctor’s office, I can feel my pulse quicken and my blood pressure rise. In fact, there was one time during a routine checkup, that my heart rate and blood pressure was so high, they made me have an emergency EKG right there on the spot. (Clearly, that has done NOTHING to help my fear of doctors.) Everything looked fine, and my heart was totally healthy. . . turns out I was just incredibly nervous. Duh. I could’ve told you that. Ty thinks its absolutely ridiculous to be afraid of people who are trying to help you. I think its ridiculous too, but I can’t help the way my body reacts to it. I try to “yoga-breathe” or something silly like that in the waiting room, but that just makes me focus on how nervous I am and it makes it worse. I think I just have to accept that this is the way I am and deal with it. Hopefully I won’t go into cardiac arrest during my next physical.

And that’s some stuff about me :)

Not that you asked, but I answered anyway!

happy anniversary.

It seems like it was just yesterday. . .

Its hard to believe this day was actually 2 years ago.

(First time my dad saw me that day. . . still makes me tear up every time I see it.)

(We may or may not have provided some of the “entertainment” by singing a duet. “I Run to You” by Lady Antebellum. If you’d like to book us for your future shindig, we come highly recommended. HA!)

Its been an incredible two years. I’m not going to lie and say that its been all picnics and sunshine, but I never imagined that being married would be as easy as it has been, or as fun.

Ty, thank you so much for everything from the last two years.

Its been a fun ride so far, and I can wait to see what the rest of the journey has in store for us. Love you to the moon and back. 

Forever and ever, amen.

friday night date night

Friday Night Date Night last over the weekend took us to a local ice cream shop. 

Lucky for us, they announced our arrival as soon as we showed up :)

There was a lot of waiting to be done at this little ice cream shop, but it was worth it. On the menu for me: angel food cake ice cream with m&ms. And for the hubs: peanut butter ice cream with reece's cups.

After we finished our ice cream, we headed home to watch a "Pretty Little Liars" marathon. Don't know if any of you have heard of the show, but its a pretty good murder mystery kind of show. I got into it when I took a sick day last fall. It was on tv all day and I got hooked. But I normally never watch much tv, so I never watched it again. Then while lesson planning a couple weekends ago, it happened to be on again, so I had it playing. Ty came home, and was instantly hooked. Hooked so much he got on Amazon and ordered the 1st season for us. Perhaps I should mention that this show is about a bunch of high school girls and all their drama. But he's in to it! He says its just because its a good mystery, but whatev. . . he likes himself some girly drama :)

Probably doesn't help that the girls are cute too!

So that was our fun, but fairly uneventful Friday Night Date Night.

momma

Happy Mother’s Day Mom.

Words cannot begin to thank you for all you’ve done and all you’ve taught me throughout the years. I can only hope I’ve grown into half the woman you are and that I’ve made you proud. You’ll never quite understand how much you mean to me. I love you lots and lots!

Love, Lisa

his and hers: if a genie granted you 7 wishes, what would you wish for?

(Circa 2008)

Because 3 wishes just isn’t quite enough!

Lisa

1. To have infinity money to buy everything I love at the store.
2. That the weather would be sunny and 73 degrees all year long, except on Sundays, when it would rain. I love rainy Sundays!
3. That a school-week would be 4 days long instead of 5.
4. That my house would always be clean and the laundry always be done without me having to do it.
5. That I could have the perfect body without having to work for it.
6. Ok, I’ll be serious now: that no child in the world would ever experience hunger, poverty, or abuse.
7. That everyone I care about could live a long, happy, and healthy life with little stress or worry.

Ty

1. That I die before Lisa (because I don’t want to live without her.)
2. To spend one day with Bryce. (Brother who passed away before I was born.)
3. For my dad’s health problems to go away.
4. That I could have 200 acres of my own ground with a log cabin on it.
5. That my wife and I never had to work again.
6. The Cubs would win a World Series.
7. That sin would be no more.

OMG.

I found a freakin’ gray hair this morning!

I was doing my hair, and I noticed one up toward the top that was really light.

I had very blonde hair as a little girl, so I figured it was just a really blonde one.

Then I noticed that it was very shiny, almost too shiny.

Upon leaning closer to the mirror to inspect it, I realized it wasn’t blonde at all. . . but GRAY!

Seriously?!

I’m not even 25 years old yet! I’m too young to have a stinking gray hair.

So I did what any self-respecting 24 year old woman would do:

I quickly yanked that sucker out of my head.

(And took a picture of it, but that’s besides the point.)

Apparently that just goes to show that my kindergartners have driven me nuts this year.

Now I’m going to have to go to work and demand a raise so that I can afford go and get my hair colored once a month to cover up this terrible atrocity.

If I look on the bright side though (if there is a bright side), at least when I’m totally gray (probably in 5 years at this rate), it appears that my gray hair will be very shiny.

But who cares about that?

Not me.

kindergarten teachers probably shouldn't wear high heels...

Exhibit A:

These heels have always been incredibly comfortable every other time I’ve worn them.But pair those same heels with a job in which you are on the move the ENTIRE day trying to keep 5 year olds alive, and this is what your poor tootsies look like at 4pm:

 

Is it too much to ask to be stylish at work?

Apparently so.

lazy saturday evening on the deck

What better to do on a Saturday night than laze around on the deck?

After dinner at a local family restaurant (aka, an “old people” place) we came home and chilled on the deck til dark.

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, Ty had his beer, and I had a glass of pinot grigio (thanks to my super cool dad who bought it for me, since I’m becoming a ‘wino’ now.)

We brought Abby 0ut, and left Bubba inside this time. . . poor baby.

And, despite the wine, I did a little Bible reading. Who says you can't do a little sipping and read the Bible at the same time?

 But unfortunately, the drinks are gone and so is the daylight.

Guess that now its time for some of the following:

Ty: video games where he gets to shoot bad guys into a bloody pulp.

Me: Reading a book until I turn into a sleepy pulp. (Not sure that makes any sense, but whatever. Maybe its the wine!)

Happy Saturday :)

his and hers: our idea of the PERFECT day

I’d Sleep in (not too late, maybe like 8:30 or 9:00).

Have a LARGE cinnamon roll with vanilla icing for breakfast. NOT CREAM CHEESE ICING! I’d go and get a mani/pedi. Then go shopping at all my favorite places. Everything would be on sale. Everything would fit perfectly. And I’d have about a million dollars to spend. (I said it was my PERFECT day.)

Then I’d to the beach with my hubby. It would be a perfect 74 degrees, and the water would be nice and warm We’d have the whole beach to ourselves and the concession stand would give us free food. We’d read books and hang out until sunset. . . maybe even share a romantic smooch or two.

Then we’d go home, snuggle up in our big chair, and watch a movie that I picked out. It would definitely NOT be a war/history/superhero type movie.

Maybe Channing Tatum would be in it. Or Ryan Gossling. Maybe both.

Yeah…. . . probably both.

We’d also have to eat some ice cream during the movie. Blizzards to be precise. Mine would have to have M&Ms. It would be a LARGE, and would contain zero calories. Then we’d go to bed, where no one would snore. And no one would get in my “bed space” during the night. Yep. Pretty much the perfect day.

I’d get up early, be up the tree before light.

Hunt all day.

Have date night (dinner, movie) with Lisa.

Go to bed.

Very simple.