Another Year Later

Has it been that long already?  I finally have an electronic device that is mine and can make time to get on here.  I bought a Chromebook for myself and I love it!  My school received the Race to the Top grant (RTT-D) so every student and every core teacher was given a Chromebook.  Thankfully my Chromebook is way better and way cheaper than the ones given to the students.  I figured if the kids have a Chromebook and I am in charge of them, I should have one so I know what the kids are doing with them.. At least that is what I told myself to justify buying it.  Anywho... the past year.  Let's get started:

Road Trip to South Carolina:  My parents decided to visit Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore this past summer.  They also decided to drive the entire way.  31 hours from El Paso, TX to Pawley's Island, South Carolina.  Thet made a pit stop in Houston to pick me up and away we went, twenty hours.  COincidentally, my dad's car's blinker went on the fritz as soon as he entered Houston so we ended up taking my new car.  First road trip and the Tuscon was great!  I drove all but about six hours of the trip there and back because I didn't really trust anyone to drive it.  Dad was the only other person allowed to drive on the trip.  Mom always messes up the seat so I didn't allow her to drive. Louisiana has got to be the second worst state to drive in, while Alabama is the worse.  We spent three hours the first day trying to get through Mobile, AL.  There was not accident, it was just poor city planning.  Louisiana had slow downs for no reason whatsoever and half the state is driving on highway over water with no shoulders and trying to compete with semi trucks on narrow lanes.  Never again!  Once we arrived in SC I was able to start my vacation.  The beach was a great place to run and relax.  Grandma and Grandpa are still the best ever and so much fun to be around.  Grandpa even starting picking up his artwork again.  I loved seeing his drawings of the Maine coast lines and lighthouses.  He has so much talent its annoying.  How did no one in my family get his creative/artistic genes.  I just wish Leland had been able to join us ont eh trip.  Unfortunately, he was in a pretty grueling part of his residency and was unable to join us.  I tried to buy him a plane ticket but realized it wouldn't be worth it since he wouldn't be able to stay very long.  I love going to South Carolina, in fact I wouldn't mind living there if we had to, as long as I was close to a beach.  I love spending time with my family and being able to listen to my grandparents stories about my dad and his siblings. I just hope one day I will be able to do that with my own family.

New school year: The 2013-2014 school year came fast and strong and it's still going.  We had hiring issues and the people the other AP's and I fought for turned out to be duds.  I mean, terrible.  They interviewed very well, but when it cam down to actually teaching students, they just didn't get it.  The staff has been nothing but negative and downright disrespectful.  I will be so glad once this school year is over and I don't have to deal with the craziness anymore.  I can't wait to go back into teaching and be with the kids again.  I thought being where I am would be a positive to administration, but it hasn't.  Maybe I will give admin a try again when I can't hang with the kids anymore.  There has been way too much to even begin telling of experiences.  Only seven weeks left of the school year.  I pray I can make it to the end.

New Doggie!: I seem to collect strays.  I was driving to work one morning and everyone in front of me was hitting their breaks.  It was 6:30 in the morning, what was going on?  Then all of a sudden I see this skinny little thing dart in front of my car.  Thankfully I was still stopped so no heart attack for me.  I pulled over into the parking lot at the corner I turn down to get to work.  I saw the little thing across the street and she looked like she was heading into an apartment complex.  I thought that if she went into the complex I would continue on to work and have no worries because someone there would probably take her in.  She then decides to start crossing the street back in my direction.  Once she did that I knew I couldn't let her wander. There is a vets office down the street from my school so I waited there until they opened.  "Sugar" stayed in the back of the car until I let her out and took her inside.  I had them check to see if she had been microchipped. Unfortunately, she was not. They told me that they could not take the dog in unless I was willing to take financial responsibility for her.  I said I would take care of the bills and pick her up on my way home from work.  I called Leland, thankfully he was still somewhat asleep and didn't really know what was going on, and told him that we had a new dog.  He said okay and went back to sleep.  After work I picked her up, took her to Petsmart and brought her home.  Tyson was a little concerned about this new dog that was coming onto his turf.  He, being the sweetheart that he is, has been very patient and loving towards her.  It has taken about six months, but they are a lot of fun together.  We don't know what breed(s) she is, but she is a total goofball and has become quote the cuddler.  She is VERY energetic and loves to play fetch with whatever she can get find to play.  she is always on defcon 5 alert.  It's great, but she doesn't relax very much and it's scary, especially when she decides jumping out of a moving car will be fun. I have loved Sugar from the start and Leland is growing to love her more each day.  He still says Tyson is his favorite, but Sugar will work her way to the top with him and they will be on a level playing field.  Welcome to the family Sugar Page!

Holidays!: This Thanksgiving Mom came to visit.  I feel bad since I had to work most of the time she was here and she didn't really get to do much with us.  Dad tried to warn her that Leland and I were going to be at work and unable to spend a whole lot of time with her.  I don't think it was the Thanksgiving she was hoping for.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving with my boss, his family and couple other co-workers.  I enjoyed it and had a good time, but no sure how Mom liked it.  She did learn the recipe for delicious Turkish rice though.  That's a plus.  Christmas was spent at my fam's place in the 915.  It was a nice and relaxing.  We were able to leave the dogs with my parents for a week while Leland and I went to the frozen tundra (Utah) for New Years.  I was not a fan of the cold, snow, or inversion.  I thought pollution in Houston and El Paso were bad, there were days in which you couldn't see the mountains as you were driving up the mountain side.  Bad stuff man.  Even though I did not like the cold and snow, I had a fantastic time meeting up with family and new friends, and partaking in a Moon/Page family tradition of homemade Chinese food and games until the new year was upon us.  Leland also participated in a Martinelli's chugging contest.  He did terrible, but that's okay he doesn't need to be the best Martinelli's chugger to keep my heart.  Sappy, I know.  But what can I say, I love the guy!

December 29, 2013: Four years as an eternal family!  We weren't able to attend out usual football bowl game this anniversary, but we were able to spend time with family and see some gorgeous lights.  The one thing I really wanted to do in Utah was see the lights at Temple Square (and get a pizza from Pie, mmmm Pie).  The family hopped into Pearl (Mama Ellen's car) and drove up to Salt Lake to see the lights.  It was more beautiful than what I had seen in pictures.  I was very grateful to have that opportunity.  It is an experience that I will never forget! I just wish it wasn't so cold and I had a better camera.  I love my husband and I am so grateful that he came into my life when he did.  The Lord has impeccable timing. Over the past 4 years I have seen how much love can change and grow deeper when you really cherish each other and you remember the covenants made with your husband and your Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for temples and the blessings that come from them when you are doing what you need to do and keep your covenants. I hope we have many more years in this earthly life with one another and that our love continues to grow throughout the rest of our lives.

Job Hunt: Since Leland is finishing his two year residency at MD Anderson, it's time to look for a job and a new adventure.  We are back to where we were two years ago.  Leland is still without a job after he finishes the residency in a month.  It's concerning to me too.I like to know what is going to happen so I can better plan.  I have to know now what the future holds for work.  We were so positive that he would have a job by now that I have already told my principal that I am not coming back.  If he doesn't get a job, we are p a creek without a paddle.  It's frustrating to no end to not know what's going on and feeling like he's not ding anything but waiting for something instead of actively searching.  You can't just wait for something to come along, you have to go out and work for it.  FRUSTRATING!!!!  Hopefully we hear something soon. I don't know how much more uncertainty I can take.  I know this is a test of patience and faith, but there are a few important things that are on hold until Leland has a real job.  I don't know how much longer I can take having these plans on hold.

There is probably a lot more that has happened but I can't remember anything else right now.  I'm going to say goodnight and work on my Primary lesson for Sunday.  Goodnight all!

Almost a year

since I last blogged.  I haven't had an opportunity to do so since the site is blocked on the network at work and I don't use the computer at home when I get home.  A lot has happened since August last year.  I got a new position at work, got in my first ever car accident blemishing my perfect driving record of 16 years, Leland had a rough time in his program and was told he would be kicked out if he didn't do well on his mock oral exam, Tyson has become extra territorial, we were threatened to have to move out if Tyson didn't start "behaving in a normal manner", I received my CHL, my high school soccer team is the TCSAAL State Runner-up, the first group of kids I ever taught graduated high school, and so much more!  I will try to hit some of the more interesting points (maybe not interesting to you, but for my posterity it will be learning points).

Car Accident:

I had this feeling that moving to Houston would not be good for my driving record.  After arriving here, within 2 weeks I was almost t-boned twice while turning left on a green arrow.  In March I was driving to work and decided I was going to go to the Shell station across the highway from work instead of turning to go to work.  There was a truck in front of me so I could fully see the light until the truck turned.  Once the truck turned I saw the light and it turned yellow.  Since I would have stopped in the intersection if I had tried to stop I kept going straight.  I was looking at the light to see if it would turn red, I never saw it coming, BOOM! Airbag deployed, car disabled, slowly crept to the light pole and stopped.  The other car ran the red light to turn left and I hit him.  Thankfully, neither of us was seriously hurt.  But my car, my poor baby Dawson, was totaled.  I didn't think there was that much damage since I was going less than 30mph, but since the car was a hybrid, there are not used parts to rebuild it and everything would have cost more than what the car was worth.  No more baby Dawson, no more amazing gas mileage.  After the reports came in, my insurance company found no fault in me and I was not cited for anything on the scene either, so my insurance will not have a huge impact.  The other guy though was found to not have sufficient coverage (aka no insurance) so I am in the clear.  The saddest part, I was 9 months away from paying Dawson off.  9 months!  I did get a cool scar from the steering wheel cover when the airbag deployed.  The Honda "H" is imprinted on my arm.  It's starting to fade, but if you look at it in the right lighting you can still see it.  It also meant I got a new car after 3 weeks of having one car between the two of us.  the day before I bought my new car, Leland's car literally blew up as I was driving it.  It didn't blow up in the traditional fire and BOOM way, but the engine blew out.  I was driving the car and thankfully Leland was with me and was able to talk me through what I needed to do.  Scary when your car stops in the middle of the U-turn lane as it begins to turn and it's getting dark out.  I am grateful we were both safe and all has turned out well.

I got my Concealed Handgun License!  As an educator in an area of the city where crime is high and you never know what can happen, I am all in favor of teachers being armed on a school campus, IF that teacher has the proper training and licenses.  I even went on a former student's podcast talking about that.  Let the debates begin!

Leland's tough semester.  Last August Leland had to take a mock oral exam after taking all his summer courses.  if he fialed it he would take it again in December.  Well, he failed and had to take it in December.  He failed again and was told if he did not do better in May he was going to be kicked out of the program.  All semester he was enrolled in two graduate school courses while still doing his residency work.  Toughest semester ever!  It paid off and he passed in May and will be in the prgram for one more year then on to a new job, and hopefully a new city.  Maybe San Antonio, fingers crossed!

I got a new position at work in February.  The principal at my campus was moved up to the central office in order to write the grant for the Race to the Top Grant.  We got a new principal and he decided to promote me to the position of AP of Operations and Finance.  I am in charge of HR, Money, Fundraising, CNA/CIP writing, School events, buses, and everything else under the sun that it take to operate a school.  It has been a very eye opening experience and i have learned a lot.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be in this position and learn what I have.

Tyson is finally a much better dog!  He is finally out of his puppy stage and turning into a real dog.  I love it!  He is also starting to become territorial and barking at everything that comes around the apartment.  he is also starting to cover other dog smells with his own.  It can be annoying when he stops every three feet to pee.  At least he is acting like a real dog now.

We are still teaching Primary.  It's been almost a year since receiving that calling.  I am loving the kiddos we have in our class.  They are smart and always ask great questions.  For the most part, they are engaged in the lessons and are learning more about the gospel.

Since Leland and I have been in Houston we have been through many trials.  We have been greatly tested, but greatly blessed as well.  The Lord will not give us anything was can't handle.  He will push us to our limits and a little beyond so we can grow and show our devotion and faith in Him.  As much as I hate the trial, I am able to learn more about myself and my relationship with my husband.  I am so grateful for the things that have happened that have made our relationship stronger. I am grateful for the things that have built my faith and testimony.  The Lord truly does know me and what I need.  Only one more big trial that I am trying to deal with but don't know how I will at this point. Maybe one day I will have the courage to talk about it.  Until that time, I will suffer in silence ;)

As much as I hate Houston I told Leland that we are going to try to make more positive memories of the city for the next year.  So far we have gone to  Dave Matthews concert, gone shopping and I actually found clothes I liked, finding happiness in the little things, and enjoying the limited time each day we have with each other.  The next few things on the list, WICKED, NASA, Kemah, and more exploring the city.  We will get through this crazy next year together and our faith and love will continue to grow.

HOUSTON!

I have been in Houston for about a month and half now and so far so good, kinda.  First the bad.  There is no dog park for Tyson.  There are three that I have found for him, but they all have doggie ponds and come to find out the water has something in it that is giving my poor baby a rash.  Since all the parks around us have these ponds, we can't take him to the park.  He loves to roll around in the puddles and mud created by these ponds thus ensuring the rash each time.  Even if we bathe him right after he still gets a rash. Then last night Leland and I noticed bumps all over Tyson's sides and chest.  We gave him some benedryl and that reduced the bumps, but they were back this morning after going to do his business.  Poor little guy has terrible hives and we don't know why.  Traffic is a total nightmare!  I was almost t-boned twice within two days because people don't pat attention to the lights or they just can't wait to get out of the parking lot.  The heat and humidity are killing me!  San Antonio was pretty humid, but nothing compares to this kind of humidity.  I cannot go outside for a minute without sweating! 

On the bright side, I found a job the first week I was out here.  It is with the sister school of my school in San Antonio.  I am actually writing this post from work since I have nothing else to do and I have to be here.  I will be working with another PE teacher which rocks!  I have never worked with another teacher outside of student teaching so I will have someone other than the students to talk to during the day.  The gym is located in the central office building so I also won't be too bothered by people from the main campus.  The athletics here is also pretty well set-up so I am back to coaching soccer, yay!  I am so excited.  It's going to be nice to be back in the teacher mode.  I will still have stupid parents, but not as many and I can actually work with the kids in a positive environment.

Another top note: Leland and I are teaching Primary.  Thankfully we have the 9-10 year old kiddos.  Any younger and I would have died.  These kids are so flippin' gospel smart!  How do you teach kids the gospel when they know more than you?  At least, that's how I feel.  We have one kid that's a challenge.  he's pretty much a genius kid and we have already butt heads.  All I have to do is think of him as one of my middle schoolers and I will be able to handle it.  The rest of the kids are super duper!  They are fun and light-hearted with inquisitive minds.  I can't believe I am actually excited for Primary.  I get to sing all the primary songs again too!

Bright number 3: Sheikh. aka my all time favorite shoe store.  All the crazy, eclectic shoes I love for not much money!  I was shopping for Leland's birthday gift a couple of weeks ago and saw an amazing pair of heels in the window so decided to stop in.  The choir was singing and the light was shining for I had found gorgeous shoes!  I am so in love with this place!

The Woodlands: Not my favorite place in the world, but lots of concerts come through there and we can listen to them for free!  We paid and went to the Rascal Flatts concerts a bout a month ago and when we were leaving we found a great place outside the venue to listen to the concert.  You may not see what is going on inside, but the sound quality is so much better, plus parking is free and you can bring your own food and drinks!  If you want to know what the place looks like, you can watch that Lipton commercial with Lady Antebellum (I think that's the group) and see it.  That's where the commercial was filmed.  The next concert we are looking at going to is Linkin Park.

The Temple is only about 45  minutes away if the traffic is decent.  We haven't been able to get up there yet, but will soon.

Everything we need, except the temple and my work, is literally within five miles of where we live.  If it were safer to ride a bike I would be riding a bike everywhere.  It's pretty great having things that close.  My dad thinks we live in downtown since everything is so close and there are big buildings all around us, but that's just the Galleria/Greenway area.

Leland has already made up his mind to that we will be moving in two years after he finishes his residency.  He loves MD Anderson, but it's the rest of the stuff he doesn't like.  He is having a hard time with officiating football because it's such a good ole boy system and the refs are arrogant around here.  He doesn't have one varsity game and he's a division 3 and has been told by some of the top officials at the college level that he is a pretty darn good umpire.  If he were in SA he would be doing all sorts of varsity games.  The traffic gets to him and some of the people too.  But I am trying to find the good of Houston.  I am trying to make the best of this crazy place while I am here.

That's the life in a nutshell.  I know, not very interesting, but hopefully I will have some better things to post later.

Goodbye San Antonio!

It's been just a little crazy the past couple of months.  Leland has been in Houston for almost two months now and I can't wait to be with him again!  This Saturday is the big day.  I now have a new found respect for any wife/mother that has a husband that either travels for business all the time or is on the military.  I think the only thing that has been keeping me sane has been being able to talk to Leland every night over the phone.  I really don't get how people can go for days. weeks, months or years without talking to each other.  Trying to take care of all the packing has been no small (or fun) task.  I have a mound of things that meed to get to Goodwill and still have way to many boxes for my liking.  I just cleared out the on-site storage unit at the apartment.  I usually get on to Leland about all his stuff, but after looking at what I have, I am the hoarder.  Granted, once I start teaching PE again, most of the stuff will go back to school, but I still have a ton of stuff from my single years that need to go away.  I guess I am a little more sentimental than I thought.  I have been a little more ruthless than usual and tons of stuff has gone to Goodwill already.  I really hope all this craziness ends soon.  I would really like a little normalcy in the year 2012. So far there has been nothing normal about this year.  I haven't even been able to sit down and write about my last day of school at SST.  It was a doozy of a day!  Hopefully I will get some time to write about all my experiences there.  There have been so many these  past few months that I just don't have enough time right now.  I also have to do my "End of the School Year What I Learned" list.  There is so much that I have to really sift through to get to what is truly important.

Tyson is taking this craziness in stride, the Tyson kind of stride.  During the month of May I didn't have any problems with him.  In fact, he was finally turning into a good dog.  No run-by bitings, no chewing on anything that he isn't suppose to chew, and finally calming down.  Since the beginning of the month, he has reverted back to his chewing and run-by bitings.  Every time I work with boxes he goes bonkers!  He runs around, starts jumping to bite at me, takes my tape and scissors and gets into boxes that have stuff in them that still need to be taped. Thankfully my dad will be coming into town today so I will have some back up and can get everything finished. 

That's the rundown in the Page household.  Only a few more days and I will officially be in Houston.  It's bittersweet, but I am finally handling it and ready to go.

Living the Single Doggie Mama Life

Leland is officially moved into the new place in Houston and I am left alone in SA trying to make it through the last weeks of the school year.  We moved Leland in at the beginning of the month, about two weeks ago.  It has been a rough two weeks since then.  I feel so horrible with leaving Tyson by himself all day and this past week I felt like such a bad doggie mama.  First, it rained at the beginning of the week so the dog park was out of the question and so was the eveing walk.  Then on Wednesday I had Activity Days so an hour after getting home I had to place him back in the kennel.  Thursday night I had to come home for about 10 minutes, let Tyson out, then had to place him back in the kennel and conduct the 8th grade graduation.  Then last night I came home for about an hour then had to place him back in the kennel and go to prom.  I had planned on getting home early from prom, but once again, I was the only administrator at a school function so I had to stay the whole night.  I am officially a bad doggie mama.  But, today I will start to redeem myself by taking Tyson to the dog park to play with his friends and exercise!  I should probably leave my office and do that then shouldn't I?  More on the "single" life later.

Relax with a Little 90's

I love relaxing Fridays!  I don't really care about the rest of the week when my Friday evening are wonderful.  I got off work a little before six, picked up the dog and it was off to the dog park.  Tyson LOVES the dog park.  He gets to play with so many different dogs and their owners.  He is such a joy when we go there.  We were there for about an hour and half.  That's the longest time he has ever been there without looking tired.  I finally had to make an executive decision to leave since neither of us had eaten dinner.  I get home and Leland was there and we were trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  So we looked in the kitchen and had pineapple, mango, strawberries (gotta love when Sprouts has great sales on produce), ground turkey, cheese and corn tortillas.  We decided top do tacos with fruit salsa.   Can I just say pineapple, mango and strawberry fruit salsa is more than delicious?  I don't know what other word I can use to describe it.  While I was meticulously cutting up the fruit I told Leland I needed some noise, but not tv noise, I needed music.  I told him to sing to me, but he struck that down pretty quickly.  He turns on the tv and goes to the music stations on Time Warner.  He asked what I wanted form the list and I told him, very excitedly, 90's!  A flood of memories started to pour into my head.  With every song that came on there was the occasional "I didn't know that was a 90's song.  I thought it was 80's", and then the memories.  Memories of stake dances, going on soccer trips, studying in my room for hours and just hanging out with friends came flooding in.  We even made predictions of what songs were going to played while we cooked dinner and chilled on the couch.  Boys II Men, prediction come true.  We even predicted the right song, Motown Philly.  We were on fire!  After dinner we sat/lay on the couch playing games on our phones and talking while Tyson curled in a ball on the couch where my legs were and slept.  Oh, it was the perfect ending to the not so perfect week.  It was exactly what I needed.  I love relaxing Friday nights!

On the flip side, only two more weeks until Leland leaves for Houston, sad face.  Once he's gone, that leaves only two more months in San Antonio.  It's time to start doing all the things I want to do and eat at all the restaurants I want to eat at (once I have the money).  That also means there will probably be many, many nights at Orange Leaf, happy face!  I'm not going to think about that at this time.  I will enjoy the time I do have with the hubs while I still have it!

30 and Houston

It's been so long since I posted last that I had to go back and see what my last post was about so I could update about everything. Since March 10 my 30th, yes 30th, birthday has come and gone. My dear sweet husband took me out to dinner and told the waiter it was my birthday when I went to the restroom. I knew I shouldn't have left the table, dang it! Like my dad, I don't care about any big to-do about my birthday. I have never had anyone sing to me at a restaurant for my birthday either. Thankfully, Pappasito's was almost empty so it wasn't that bad. I didn't hate the hubs for too long after that. He always finds a way to make it up to me =0)

Leland and I also went out to Houston to find a place to live over Spring Break. The first day was a total disaster! I had contacted an apartment locating company to help since I don't know the city. I gave her the parameters of the search and off she went. Within a day she had sent me a list of places. Unfortunately, when we went to check it all out the things that were in our price range were surrounded by bars and strip clubs, or the apartment didn't have any openings or the things we actually needed. By the end of the day we were more than concerned. I started thinking we were going to be homeless. We went back to the hotel and started a new search. Every site we looked at the same place kept popping up. So we went out there the next day before we left town and, ahhhhhhhh (in opera voice), it was the perfect place. It had an open floor plan, washer/dryer connections, and pets were allowed. my perfect place. So much storage in the kitchen and other areas. I fell in love with the place. If I am in love with it, then Leland is in like of it. Of course, my wishes win out ;) I also was able to visit MD Anderson and meet the people Leland is going to be working with. Nerds, all of them. But, what more could I expect, I married a nerd myself so no biggie. MD Anderson is so secure that you have to have an employee escort you wherever you go if you are visiting. It was pretty interesting. I couldn't even go to the restroom without an escort. I am happy to see that there are places that secure and my hubs will be in a place like that. That was a pretty successful trip.

General Conference was March 31 and April 1, but I will have to review and write more at another time since I was at work for half of it and falling asleep during the other half.

This past weekend we went back out to Houston to sign our lease. I was not happy with the apartment we got. The thing that really sold me on the apartment was the open kitchen. When I walked in to the new place, I had a closed off kitchen and the oven ti about half the size of the one I have now. I will have to buy a whole different set of cookie sheets because mine are too big. The stove is on a counter top not even close to the oven, so weird. But, there is still plenty of storage space. I am a little disappointed in the kitchen, but I can survive it for two years. The dining furniture will not fit (we planned on that already, it was just trying to get my mom to understand that we will have to get rid of it that was tricky). Since the old stuff won't fit, I can finally get the pub table I have been wanting! While we were in Houston I also went on an impromptu job interview. I had made contact with a school in the area through a former co-worker and I received an e-mail that morning from the school wanting me to do an interview when I was available. I e-mailed right back and about three hours later I was sitting in an interview. Yes, I did get a job. I don't know what I will be doing since the superintendent doesn't know what will be open, but he did say I have a job, so whew! Another worry down. Now, it's just the packing and de-cluttering process that is going to drive me (and Leland and Tyson) crazy! All will work out, I'm sure of it. Everything has worked out so far.