Goodbyes and New Beginnings

It's been awhile since I've been able to post anything, but a lot has happened in the last month.  I left my job  and had my wisdom teeth removed.  Our apartment was packed up and taken away to storage and we left Las Vegas.  We went to Magic Mountain and San Luis Obispo on a mini-roadtrip.  I moved back in with my parents.  And yesterday I said goodbye to K.  That last one is the big one, but I'll get to it in a minute.

First, I'll say that it is amazing what two professional movers can do in the span of 6 hours.  Our apartment went from this...

To this...

 And into those crates...

in SIX HOURS.  It was like magic.  And I felt like a complete jerk watching them lug all of our stuff into boxes and up/down a flight of stairs and I wasn't allowed (for insurance reasons, not because I didn't offer) to lift a finger all day.  (But we did buy them lunch, so that counts for something, right?)

After we said goodbye to our little home, took a very scenic route to Northern California, and spent a week visiting family and friends, the dreaded day came where I had to say goodbye to K.  Yesterday afternoon we went to breakfast and then I took him to the airport.  It was emotional and awful, and every bad thing that I knew it would be.  There were tears and snot, and me unwilling to let go of him.  But as much as I begged the clock to stop ticking, the time came and he had to go.  You'd think that the fact that we were long-distance for 5 years and have said "See ya later" to each other in airports countless times before this would have made me a pro at these goodbyes... it didn't.  It never gets easier, and this one is so different from all of the other times we've had to leave each other.  K respectfully asked that after we said goodbye I "charge on" and leave the airport so that I wouldn't be standing alone, crying in an airport.  I did as he asked, but mostly I was just crying as I walked alone in an airport.

Now it's the next day, and I seemed to have survived my first full day without him.  Right now I am feeling disconnected and fragile.  I'm not quite ready to be around anyone and have been avoiding my family.  It's nothing personal, I'm just not ready to talk, and it's difficult when I cry at the drop of a hat.  

K has been in Vegas staying with a friend, and tomorrow he begins the real journey.  We have a sort of rough itinerary of how he'll get to Iraq, but no clue when/how long he will be stopping at any given location.  I am angry that I can't just know where he'll be and when and that this whole process feels so unorganized.  (Actually, it IS unorganized.)  I've been trying to comfort myself with the thought that at least we've actually made it to this point, instead of living with it over our heads.  We're here, we're doing this, and the sooner it gets going, the sooner it can be over.

My Baby Sister

A few days ago my little sister complained that I wasn't blogging often enough for her liking.  In her 14-year-old, typically dramatic fashion, she told me that she had nothing to look forward to in life if I wasn't putting up a new blog for her to read everyday.

My solution for her problem was to write a blog ALL ABOUT HER.  Happy now, R??

This is my little sister.  We'll call her 'R'.  She is a typical teenager... dramatic, annoying, frantic, entertaining, crazy, and impossible to keep up with.

She has a Russian alter ego named Natasha that is a little bit promiscuous and always makes us laugh.  And she makes ridiculous faces:

She also loves her horses and is a great rider.

When she was born, I remember being picked up from school and being so upset that I had to miss computer class.  (In my defense, we only had that class once a week, so when I had to leave to go to the stupid hospital, you can understand why I already didn't like her.)  When she was about a month old, my parents left me at home with her for about an hour.  Being that I was in charge, I took it upon myself to put her up for adoption.  I wrote out an adoption certificate listing all of her physical attributes and other redeeming qualities and took a photo of her with it.  I'm not sure what I was going to do with the photo, but I figured it was the first step in getting rid of her.  My parents ended up coming home before I got very far with my plan, and I've been stuck with her ever since.  But I guess she turned out alright...

All kidding aside, she is becoming an amazing young woman, and a great friend to me.  She has always loved me unconditionally and knowing that she looks up to me means a lot.  So despite all of her antics, I guess it's a good thing that I didn't carry out my plan to get rid of her.

I am unemployed.

Wednesday was my last day at my job.  After talking things over with K and my family, I decided that I would leave my job and move back home while K is "playing in the sand".  We're quickly approaching our last day in Vegas, and now that I'm done working, everything seems to be happening very quickly.

Anyway... for those of you that don't know, I was working for a car rental company as an assistant to one of the managers.  I worked in the Maintenance department and to quickly sum up my job, I handled all of the damage claims for ALL of our vehicles... about 5,000+ of them.  So, every time you crazy tourists came to Vegas and rented one of our cars and brought it back in less than ideal condition, I dealt with it.  This may not sound very fun, but the truth is, I saw some pretty weird accident reports.  As a last goodbye to my job, I thought I would share a few of the more memorable accidents with you.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1)  A vehicle was returned to us with the front passenger window shattered, and a giant rock sitting in the front seat.  The customer wrote on their accident description "I was driving when a rock flew off the hill through the window and it broke my arm."  Okaaaaay.

2)  One customer thought they could pull one over on us by painting over the damage they did to our vehicle... with a different color paint.  Sorry dude, we aren't all colorblind.

3)  A vehicle was towed back to our lot in pretty bad shape.  The entire front left and rear left of the vehicle were smashed in.  The lady who rented the car told us that she swerved to avoid a cow... and ended up hitting it... twice.  (And there was hair stuck to the car... yuck!)

4)  Another vehicle was towed into the lot completely wrecked.  It had rolled a few times, and the lady who rented it ended up in the hospital.  We heard that she would be alright, but she was definitely confused about what happened in the accident.  She was very adamant that she was side-swiped by an 18-wheeler and pushed over a cliff/hill.  Well, after further investigation (and the official police report), it was determined she was in a single-car accident.  There was no one else around... no other vehicle, and certainly not an 18-wheeler.

5)  Some of the simplest accident descriptions really are the best.  Here are two that really summed up what happened:  a) "I fell asleep.  And hit a wall."  and b) "I was driving on the road and then smack."  It doesn't get any simpler than those.

Overall, it was definitely one of my favorite jobs that I've ever held.  I had an awesome boss who I got along with really well, and my own little office which was kind of amazing.  I'm going to miss it, but it's time to move on to new adventures!

Playing the Lotto

In case you didn't already know this, there is no state Lotto in Nevada.  Go figure.  So what do we do when we really want to throw away $20 bucks on the minuscule chance that we could win the big money? We drive to California of course.

About 35 miles south of the Las Vegas city limit (55 miles for us way up in North Las Vegas) is tiny little Primm, NV.  There really is nothing there except for two casinos, an outlet mall, a roller coaster, and fast food.  It is immediately on the Nevada side of the California/Nevada border.  The casinos are mere feet from the border so that tourists headed to Las Vegas can get their gambling fix the second they hit Nevada.

But there is one special little building that sits just on the California side of the border (literally feet from the border) that allows all of us Las Vegas residents to get our Lotto fix.  It's called "Terrible's Lotto Store."

When K and I visited last Saturday at 10 am, the parking lot was full and the line inside was wound around the lobby like those lines at Disneyland that seem to go forever.  I would like to point out that while the sign says "Mini-Mart", it is probably the most mini of all mini-marts in history.  There is a small refrigerated section, one little shelf with chips and cookies, and a coffee machine.  The rest of the store is empty so that it can be filled with people lining up to the giant counter manned by multiple cashiers, and the rest of the lobby is filled with scratcher machines.

I find this building hilarious and just a little ridiculous.  If you're ever driving into Las Vegas, when you come to the Nevada border, look to the right really quickly and you'll see it.

The Green Monster

Things are moving along pretty smoothly with everything we need to get done before K deploys.  Mostly its been paperwork and appointments that K has to deal with, but a few nights ago, this big, smelly, green monster invaded my apartment:

(It really does stink... like boys and sweat and dirt.)

It's filled with the things that are meant to keep my husband safe in case the s**t hits the fan, if you know what I mean.  So obviously I made K put on everything so we could laugh and it would make me feel less scared about the fact that it's meant to save his life.

We also discovered that someone named "Larry" once had this helmet.  If it kept Larry safe, I'll expect it to do the same for K.

"Rant" from Lovin' the Little Things

{Today I wanted to share with you something that I find to be truly important to all of our futures... the fate of our education system.  The blog below was written by Katie from Lovin' the Little Things.  I went to high school with Katie and she is one of the most upbeat, happy, and genuinely kind people I have ever known.  She is brilliant and selfless, and I have been following her heartfelt journey to become a teacher on her blog.  She is currently a teacher in Northern California and her school, like hundreds of others around the country, is facing cuts.  Whether you agree with her words or not, we cannot deny the importance of our teachers and their need for proper resources to lead and teach our nation's future.  You can read her blog below, or find it here.}


RANT
Rhode Island just pink slipped ALL of their teachers.

Proposed budget cuts of millions of dollars are threatening school disctricts everywhere.

The school where I work may not be able to continue its art, drama, or music programs next year.

Wisconsin just passed a bill that eliminates collective bargaining for government employees, which means people like TEACHERS will have to pay more out of pocket for their healthcare and pensions.

Aside from feeling very angry/sad/depressed about all of this, I just don't understand it. I am aware that our nation is experiencing a huge economic downturn and that every state and the federal government need to tighten their budgets, but I do not understand why education bears the brunt of these cuts.

As we all know, education provides not only the services of childcare for children ages 3-18, but also critical skills like reading, writing, and math. In addition, school teaches kids socialization, behavior norms, intellectual curiosity, and life skills. The alternatives to good education are not good: prison, deliquency, dead end jobs. It is in the classroom where we help children to grow into productive members of society. So, simply from an economic standpoint, it makes sense to invest in education. When we invest in education, we keep kids out of prison, and we help them to become purchasing, producing, productive members of society.

It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to target education for budget cuts. If anything, spending for education should be increased because quality education benefits the entire society.

Not investing in quality teachers is the same as not investing in quality education. I have a Master's Degree in English and a bachelors in English and Spanish. My skills are varied and valuable. And yet, instead of working to attract me, schools are pushing people like me away. I don't need to make a fortune. Honestly. I put very little stock into material possessions, but I do want a secure job that will provide me reasonable compensation. I want to buy a home someday. Not a mansion, not millions, but financial security.

It's not that I think teachers are better or more valuable than other professions and therefore deserve exemption from budget tightening; I am of the belief that it takes us all and I am grateful for everyone from business owners and plumbers and financial analysts and physical therapists and mechanics and laywers and doctors and garbage men and so many more because each worker helps to keep our society running. It's that education takes resources. We need money to attract oustanding, qualified teachers. We need money for books. We need money for computers because they are the way of the present and the future and our students need to know how to use them. Without these things, we can't do our job.

And if we can't do our job, we risk the further deterioration of our society.

Because let's really face it. Education is so much more than English and Math and Science, especially in low-income schools. I don't just give my students grammar and writing and literature, I give them a way to think of themselves. As Beth says, we are planting the seeds for a better vision for their future and we are inviting them to surprise us.

My students each hold in them the potential to be great and part of my job is to expect this from them. To demand it. To show them how to unlock it.

Why don't people think that's worth paying for?

And please, if you are going to decrease my pay, increase my class sizes, and take away resources and extra curriculars, do not criticize me when test scores fall and standards aren't met. I may be teacher, parent, guidance counselor, babysitter, disciplinarian, cheerleader, but I am not God.

I realize I am preaching to the choir with all of this, but I just feel so upset about it all and I had to vent. How are you guys, my fellow teachers, and friends, feeling about all of this? Rant with me!

Look At What I Made!

On Friday night K went out for a guy's night, so I decided to have a little fun of my own.  I had been wanting to try another project on my sewing machine because I haven't had a chance to use it since making my mixer cover.  So when I found this project for a canvas tote bag on Purlbee.com, it seemed so easy I knew I had to try it.  I headed to the fabric store after work for all the necessary supplies and when I got home the living room became my own sewing workshop.  You can use the link above to see the instructions I used, but I've paraphrased their directions below.

The supplies:

1/2 yard of of canvas or other sturdy fabric

1 1/4 yard of webbing for handles

contrasting thread for inside of bag (blue)

matching thread (white)

sewing machine, scissors, ruler (or other measuring tool)

(I used the highlighter to mark where to cut the fabric)

Cut fabric into 2 rectangles measuring 16" long and 14" wide.  Make sure the pattern is going in the same direction on both rectangles.  Cut the webbing in half to make 2 handles.  On the patterned side of fabric, pin the handles 3" in from the sides.

Using the contrasting thread, sew a zig-zag pattern along the top of each rectangle, attaching the handles.  Make sure the stitching is close to the edge.  Handles will be pointing down.

Turn the fabric over so the wrong side is face-up.  Fold over the top edge 1.5".  Press the edge and pin the handle so that it is straight.  Handles will now be pointing upwards.

Using the matching thread, sew the folded edge down 1/4" from the top and 1/4" above the zig-zag stitch.  Your handle will now be attached and the top edge sewn down and finished.

To sew the bag together, pin the two pieces of fabric together with their patterned sides facing in.

Using the matching thread, sew along the sides and bottom about 1/2" from the raw edge.  Remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam.  Then cut off the bottom corners.

After you've cut off the bottom corners, use the contrasting thread to make a zig-zag stitch along the edges of the sides and bottom of the bag.  Make it as close to the edge as you can because this will keep the threads from fraying (see blue zig-zag stitch on right side of fabric).

Turn the bag inside out, press out the corners, and you're done!

These are the two bags I made (with my iPhone for scale).  The original directions on Purlbee.com call this the "Twenty-Minute Tote."  I can tell you that it took me about an hour and 20 minutes, but I am still a beginner.  More advanced sewers can probably finish this much faster, but considering how easy it was, it will probably just take some practice.  This was a really fun project, and now I have a great lunch bag that only cost about $8 to make!

I gave the blue/white one away to a friend, and I want to make some more.  Anybody else want a bag??