Nerd Couple

I am beyond excited. Today Kev has an appointment with his academic adviser to register for his classes for grad school. He's in a great program that's going to get him closer to his life's goals, this degree will eventually provide him with the means to move higher in his career, and he generally likes school, much as he would hate for his high school friends to call him out on it.

While I'm happy for him for all of these reasons, a part of me (I won't say how big) also can't wait to have some sympathy- he'll now know exactly how gross it is to go to class twice a week after working all day. Instead of teasing me about procrastinating my homework, he'll have to do homework too. Sweet revenge for the last four months is coming soon, and I am ecstatic.

I realize this is a less than flattering announcement, but I don't care. I'm just being honest. I realize in all likelihood he will be more gracious and productive during his grad school years than I am, and that's okay. I'm willing to be the smaller person, and admit it. Despite being a teacher, I really still do think that homework sucks. Hurray for being a pair of nerds.

No Security Blanket

Kev is out of town on business this week, and while I consider myself a respectable, independent adult who is capable of living and working on my own, I'm getting a little ragged around the edges.

For starters, I haven't slept the last two nights. I am a person who requires a lot of sleep, and I'm not very nice to the kiddos at school when I don't get it. The last two nights, I just haven't been able to get comfy. I keep hearing strange noises, the radio is either too loud or too soft, the pillows are shedding down everywhere, and the dial on our alarm clock is just too dang bright. The bed feels enormous, and I keep worrying that I'm leaving the doors open or that the cats will find a mouse and bring it to me (it happened to Kevin once and I'm still terrified). I've been stumbling around in a stupor and brought the wrong notebooks to both of my grad classes. I finally decided to pack up my laundry, get my hair cut, and stay with my parents tonight. I'm starting to look like a hippie at a fest.

To top it all off, this morning I realized I left my house without my planner. Ordinarily, I am a very disorganized person. My classroom tends to have stacks of papers and books and my house is usually teetering on the edge of disaster. However, I cannot live without my planner. It has daily to-do lists, color coded by class, work, or home jobs, and it has running schedules and dates for pretty much everything. I have a lot of plan time at school on Thursdays, and I was really counting on my planner to keep me honest about how much I had actually gotten done. I also have gobs of homework for grad school this weekend. Ew. Leaving home without it has caused me to waste a lot of time trying to remember what was on my list, and I'm getting cranky about it.

Kev comes home tomorrow. Hopefully his pilot puts the pedal to the metal. Things are starting to get ugly.

Book Update!

On a separate note, I just finished reading Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, and after I have some time to really marinade my ideas about it, I'll be sure to write a quick review. However, in pondering next books to read, I found a new post on The Book Lady's Blog announcing a mini-book club over the internet. If you're interested, click the button below, and have The Sparrow read by March 30th to get in on the action. I may even have Kev read this with me and do a dual post- he's into these types of books. Hurray for reading! What else is there to do when there's this much snow still lurking around?

These Are My People

I feel like a real grown-up now, because Kev and I are discussing buying our first home. We're looking for a condo that gives us more space, a second bedroom to do all our grad school nerdery in, and makes both of our commutes to work a little easier. We've settled on a neighborhood and are starting to figure out how it all works.

Kevin is very comfortable with this process, whereas I am terrified. I know little to nothing about finance, mortgages, credit scores, and the like. Usually, when I am wondering about something financial, I just run it by Kevin. My brain excels in the gray areas: the interpretive, the creative, in word play and language and building connections between words and concepts. Kevin's, on the other hand, is a firmly black and white mind. He likes to know the given formula that makes something the way it is, the bottom line, and the certainty that one plus one always equals two. In fact, upon arriving at our bank to meet with somebody about pre-qualifying for financing, Kevin closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and with a smile on his face announced "These are my people." He was nearly giddy when discussing the prizes we may one day trade our rewards points in, and he beamed with pride when I asked clarifying questions about the cold, hard numbers.

I'm convinced this means that our kids will someday be either the next Einstein or the next Glow Stick Tool. Either way, yikes.

Swing Into Valentine's Day!

Kevin and I have never been very "into" Valentine's Day. While I love the excuse to have a date night, we try to do that weekly anyway, we love to cook together, and he is fantastic at showing me he loves me. Case in point: After the Chicago area got hit with a foot and a half of snow, he shoveled out my entire car AND parking spot while I was at class. I got off the El and found my car ready to go so that I could sleep in and not have to do it at 6 a.m. before work. What a guy!

Although our celebrations tend to be fairly low-key, we do have one tradition that endures. Every year, I have a class Valentine's Celebration with my kids at school. I buy them something fabulous to decorate for a mailbox, I buy them candy and valentine's from Walgreens, and we spend some time sneaking valentines into eachother's boxes. This year, I found some totally rocking Batman and Disney Princess valentines and pencils. Turbo sweet. In return, I almost always come home with a manila envelope chock-full of teats and cards that the kids are certain I will love. Kevin and I spend the night after my party opening all of the valentines and giggling.

I'm always intrigued by the choices that the kids make when they are choosing valentines for me. Why, for instance, did one of my second graders last year warn me that he picked a card for me that was "inappropriate" for school? When I opened his envelope last year, I found a card with the Grim Reaper on it. Not sure how I'm supposed to take that.... I also get a lot of cards with Bratz Dolls, and a lot of Fun Dip. Often I get temporary tattoos, and sometimes I even get a flower or two. This year, I got all of those things, and something even more interesting...a Webkinz.

In case you aren't in the know, a Webkinz is a Beenie Baby type toy that comes with a secret password. If you go to the Webkinz site, you use this special password to create a virtual world for your pet. By playing online games, feeding your pet online, and doing other basic tasks, you can earn points to upgrade your little pet house. Cool if you are an elementary school student, right?

Which begs the question: Did I receive this gift because the parent was concerned that we didn't have a class pet and wanted to give us a project to do together? Did she know it was a Webkinz and instead thought she just bought me a cute stuffed animal (note: I am 25. This is still not acceptable) Or did she find it discarded by one of her children and regift? I'm just not sure what to do. I'm praying she doesn't ask me anything about it. I mean, I'm already hopelessly addicted to FarmVille. I don't think I have room in my life for another virtual world. Yikes....