It's Not The Post I Wanted

Well, I've been anxious to blog about the Mrs.' visit, but instead I am laid up with the flu.  It started last night, right after I dropped the Mrs. off at the airport, and hasn't really stopped.  

Which makes me wonder why people pay for a colonic.  Just get the flu.

Please, Lord, make it stop soon.  

The Mrs. Has Landed!

The Mrs. arrived safe and sound yesterday at Fifty Below Zero, and we have done a lot of giggling, talking, and playing with Gizmo.  A full report of her visit will be up soon.  

Tween Sensations Annoy Me

What do you think will happen to Justin Bieber when his voice changes?  Or, even worse, what if his voice changes during his big tour this summer?  

Get a haircut, son.  

Signs of Spring

• The buds on the trees are just starting to pop out.
• We grilled out for the first time tonight.  Pork chops = delicous!
• There are a TON of people out walking, running, rollerblading, and generally being healthy. 
• There are dead squirrels on the road.
• We have been enjoying the weather and walking with Gizmo.
• I had a bug hit my windshield the other night on the way home.
• The kids in school have a serious case of spring fever.  So do the teachers.  
• Mitch and I enjoyed our first beer of the season on the patio.  

Spring, it's so good to see you.  I sure miss you during these long Minnesota winters.

If Nothing Comes Up When You Google Carol Chen...

....then I'll have to tell the story, Munchkin.  

There's been some banter on my comments section about The Mrs. coming to visit.  You see, The Mrs. has lost her mind and has started training for a half-marathon after being guilted by one of her best friends.  My Auntie M thinks I should run with her while she's here.  I think she's fallen off her rocker.  

I actually did run one season of track with The Mrs. at good old DTHS.  The Mrs. had been a member of the school track team since junior high, and was one of the best on the team.  I joined because I had just started working at the Dairy Queen, and wanted to maintain my svelte high school figure for the upcoming prom.  I told the coach that I just wanted to practice, but never run in meets.  I would be happy to go along to the meets for moral support, but knew I was bad and didn't want to compete.  She agreed to this deal.

After a few weeks of grueling practices (my God! running is so hard!), our first track meet was upon us, and I was SHOCKED to see that I was registered for one event - the 100-meter dash.  I immediately went to the coach to correct the mistake, but she believed in me and said for me to do my best.  Well, my best was second to last in my heat - I finished only in front of Carol Chen, our foreign exchange student that year at DTHS.  And I was as slow as molasses.  I think I ran that 100-meter dash in something ridiculous like 22 seconds.  

In meet after meet, I always ran the 100-meter dash.  And I NEVER beat anyone, except Carol Chen.  (Oh, and one other girl from Pontiac.  Sucker.  She was really bad.)  At one meet in Seneca, the coach even made me run the 200-meter relay.  I seriously thought I was going to die, of both exhaustion and embarrassment.  

I was seriously terrible.  Everyone knew this.  I knew this.  But I had fun.  I finished the season.  And we were conference champs that year.  My name is on the back of the shirt.  (I wonder where that shirt is.....)  

And I looked great in my prom dress that year.

Updates

I apologize for not updating the blog with interesting anecdotes, cute pictures of Gizmo, or other random events happening in our lives.  It's certainly not because things haven't been happening.  Here's our update:

• Grama Poke has been visiting since last week due to Mitch's training in Kansas City.  She and Gizmo have been enjoying lazy days of playing, rolling, laughing, and going for walks while I go to work.  Grama goes home tomorrow, and Grandma Jersey Girl takes over her normal duties of playing, rolling, laughing, and going for walks.  (Hopefully the weather will stay like it has been - sixty degrees!)
• Gizmo has mastered the art of rolling over.  She can now go from back to front.  Look out!  Baby gates go up soon!
• My job situation is shitty, to put it bluntly.  I was laid off again for next year (and found out said layoff from another music colleague), and due to budget cuts, will most likely be re-hired, but only at a .5 status.  Part-time work does not make me happy.  There are several part-time jobs in the district, but they are not considering combining any to make full-time positions.  I have gone from mad to sad to pissed to weepy to mad again.  Now I just don't care.  I so badly need spring break.  Cross your fingers as I begin my Annual Hunt For A Job Extravaganza.  
• Gizmo is such a goof - she has the weirdest cough-laugh right now.  Check it out:  

• I've been so preoccupied with Gizmo and this whole job situation that I haven't even filled out my brackets yet!  I need to get that done ASAP.  
  
• I'll leave you with some cute pics of Gizmo, as poor Mitch hasn't seen her in almost two weeks.  Miss you!

One Shining Moment

A warm-weather day (it hit sixty degrees here today!), some spring cleaning, and the announcement of the NCAA brackets.  It is the beginning of the absolute best week ever in sports.  Ever.

Random Thoughts on a Friday Night

• I am mad at Mitch.  He is in Kansas City doing some training for his job and last night he has the audacity to text me from Howl at the Moon.  That's right, the greatest dueling piano bar in history.  One of my most favorite places in the entire world.  And what was I doing?  Giving our poor baby Tylenol for her teeth, which she's trying to cut.  Something about life is just unfair.  
• On the same topic, the Mrs. is coming to visit over spring break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Insert Katie-like exclamation points for the excitement I feel about this visit!)  I have already researched piano bars in the Twin Cities and will be visiting The Shout House when she arrives.  Hell yes!  Revenge will be mine!
• My dad came up to visit for the weekend, and he drove his new car - an "Old Man's Car", as he put it.  A Buick.  Yep, Old Man's car.  Sorry to all the old men who drive them that I just insulted.  
• I now drive a "mom car", as my co-worker (who is me six years ago - she is 25, just married, and totally awesome!) told me.  She just got a Jetta, and as I looked at her sporty beauty compared to my white Hyundai, I just felt old.
• You can see the ground now!  I actually can see my yard.  Now the whole thing, but some of it has finally peeked out from under the snow.  Spring is almost here!
• On another spring note, you know it's getting close when you can buy Leinenkugel's summer variety packs at the grocery store.  Hello warmer weather!
• I'm a true Minnesotan now.  I went out to get dinner tonight and did not even wear a coat.  It was 40 degrees out.  

Luckily, Only My Ego is Bruised (And my Knee, my Ankle....)

I am a clumsy person.  I know this comes as no surprise to you.  I trip over air.  I drop things like crazy.  I have never been described as "graceful".  Today I proved it.  Again.  Twice.

There I was, teaching my seventh grade choir class.  We had just finished working on one song and were transitioning to the next piece to rehearse when I went to hand something to a student across the room.  As I walked, my right foot (which was safely in my super-cute new black suede boot that is a flat) landed on the ground wrong (I guess?) and I rolled my ankle over, tripping and practically face-planting into the front row of altos.  Luckily, my kids were REALLY cool about the whole thing, asking first if I was OK, then snickering politely (I could tell they felt embarrassed for me, how sweet of them).  I played it off best I could (while fighting back tears - it really hurt!), used it as a lesson that we all make stupid mistakes and feel embarrassed, and went on teaching the class.  And thought nothing more of it.  

Fast forward to the end of the school day.  I had just finished rehearsing with one of my students, had packed up my things and was walking down the hallway on my way out of the building.  At the end of the hall by the door were two teachers and a student talking.  As I walk (who am I kidding, I was feeling good and was strutting) towards the door, I totally roll my ankle over AGAIN, but this time totally fall forward and face-plant onto the tile.  The trio of people look over, again politely ask if I am OK, and then laugh along with me.  I stand up, pick up all of my stuff, and again feel completely stupid and embarrassed.  Tripping in front of middle school kids?  Not a big deal.  Proving to my colleagues that I don't know how to walk?  Mortifying.  

I do have to admit, though, that today's incidents are nowhere near as embarrassing as the first year I was teaching at MCHS.  I had just bought a pair of super-cute black boots, although these ones had about a 3-inch heel.  (That was when I thought I needed to teach in heels - I have since come to my senses.)  I was walking down the senior hallway between lunch and the next period and there was some water on the floor from the students' shoes.  I hit a patch of water and fell flat on my ass right in the middle of the hallway.  Super-embarrassing.  Wanted to melt into the floor.

It must be a boots thing.  Or maybe just a Tina thing.  Either way, I've decided to self-medicate with wine and hope that things are better tomorrow.  

Cuteness at Its Best

Could she be any  more adorable? 

A Decibel Level that Might Rival Punkin's

If you know me, you know that I am not a quiet person.  Mitch has said numerous times that if he could change anything about me, it would be that I would be less loud.  My volume gets even louder if I am A) teaching, B) hanging out with my teacher friends, C) drinking, or D) B and C.  

It seems as though Gizmo has inherited my knack for being loud.  This video does not do justice to how LOUD she actually is - her voice echoed off the walls of the house and gave both of us headaches.  While The Mrs. claims that she has a loud child (and she is!), I fear that I might have the louder one.  Punkin - you have met your match.

(Side note - this video also does not do anything for my multiple chins.  Ugh - I'm getting on the treadmill right now.....)