Could this be it?

E and I went house hunting today. Could this be the one? It's got a HUGE yard (a little more than 1 acre) and TONS of room inside. Hmmm....I'm excited!

Hopefully soon I can post pictures of our new puppy! Once we have one that is...

Breathing Room.

Sometimes I wonder how I'll ever have a family. Teaching takes so much time. Ha, then other times I feel like I must be a slow person...I take more time to do simple tasks it seems than other teachers. That has to be the reason I'm always there later than anyone else. Seriously. Maybe by the time I've been doing it for at least 5 years it'll get easier? Hopefully?

So some fun news. I'll be hosting a 28-year-old German named Annika when she comes to our small town to visit with her students. They get here Sunday night and she'll be staying on my futon (poor girl!) for two weeks. I think the best way to describe my feelings about this is anxious. I think it'll be fun, but I also love living by myself. Haha, selfish, I know. As long as I'm still able to make it to the gym, I'll be good. :) I'm just hoping I can find some stuff for us to do over our long Easter weekend. Suggestions? I was thinking of maybe taking her to Amish Country - at least that's what we call it - some weekend. It's pretty cool, and definitely unique.

I'm doing a 5k next weekend and I've got a goal I'm afraid to say out loud. My last 5k I ran in 25:45ish. That was on a dang hilly course. According to the results that was about a 8:19 mile pace. I've been running at least 3.5 miles at an 8:00 mile pace for the past couple weeks...so I'm crossing my fingers. Today I actually managed to run 8/mile, 7:30/mile, and then finished out my 30 minutes at an 8/minute pace. That should make it into the 24-minute range, right? That's my goal. I've said it now. Now I'll have to admit if I actually make it.

So E and I are looking for a house! I'm super excited (if you couldn't tell by the exclamation marks)!! That also means I'll get a puppy, which I'm also stoked for. The house hunt is exciting. I'm sure once we actively start viewing houses and discussing making offers it'll be stressful, too. Right now though, exciting. And I'm just fine with that :)

30 days left of this school year. Not that I'm counting or anything. It's crazy. I still have to finish Julius Caesar and cover Non-fiction with my Honors kids. Ouch.

Oh, and volleyball's over. YES! I love it, but it gets so busy. Hence the post title. I can breathe now.

Currently Reading: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Christmas presents!

So, here's a cute picture of E and Simon, who apparently loves cuddling with E who isn't really an animal person. If you're my sister-in-law, please don't look below the first picture, or you'll ruin your Christmas surprise, and that's sucky. After Christmas you can look. Course, by then you'll have it!


I did it! I did it! I made Christmas presents! That might seem like no biggie, but I'm such a procrastinator. And I actually did it. Yay me.

A clothespin bag - which will be filled with IKEA clothespins :)

And one for Mom, which won't be filled with clothespins...cause she already has a ton.

In other Christmas present news, I'm making a slideshow/video of our family for my little bro (and everyone else). E has helped me figure out how to record an old VHS (the only family video we have) so I can add it to the picture slideshow. How cool?! He's awesome I tell ya.

We're in the process of looking at houses for next year. I'm excited. I'm not gonna deny it. I watch way too much HGTV. So Mom sent me an A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E listing today. It's kinda sad though, cause most likely it won't still be on the market when we're looking. Hopefully we find something great though :)

We had a snow day today, and I'm praying we don't have one tomorrow. We have to have finals! And then...break! Yes! I swear, sometimes I think teachers have the sweetest deal. We get off for every major holiday. And can you say 3 months in the summer? Seriously. I may complain about grading, but the breaks more than make up for it.

Currently Reading: Bottled Up by Jaye Murray