Category Archives: Travelling

The Day Before

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Look who woke up early to help me blog this morning!

Sophie

Our schedule has been jam-packed this week, what with this being the last five days of school before the Holiday break, preparing to drive home, and my birthday.  Last night happened to be the one night that we didn’t have something going.

I decided to take advantage and start preparing for the long road trip northward.  Some people may call me a Scrooge for this, but I made a controversial decision:  I took down all the Christmas decorations.

No Joy

It was a preemptive strike that was designed in partnership with both myself and my future self.  I knew that when Dan and I return to our home after the break is over, the last thing I would want to do, in addition to all the other get ready for the real world again chores would be tearing down the tinsel.  So while Dan was out running a few last minute errands, Sophie and I took all of our decorations down.

Confession:  I got a little bit morbid and silly while doing this chore; I put on the song, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and pretended that I was staring in a Lifetime TV movie where I was the CEO of a billion dollar empire whom everyone that worked for hated because I was considered to be a kill-joy, but secretly I did have a heart but never showed it because I had lost my sister at the holiday time, so I never knew how to properly celebrate, and NEVER went home.  Every time I took an ornament down, I dramatically sang along, all knowingly, but longingly wishing how to “be home for Christmas.”

I don’t know what’s wrong with me…

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When Dan got home, he brought me my favorite “easy peasy” meal: Subway!

Subway

Anyone else notice that I’m wearing the same sweatshirt this morning that I wore while dinning in class last night?  Oh yea, only the most posh lifestyle is allowed in this house!

I have been trying to hold off opening my birthday gifts until Friday morning, even though I have been know in past years to tear open mail-delivered presents early.  It’s been a struggle because I also have been compiling a stash of goodies that my darlings have been giving me:

Holiday Gifts

But despite my best efforts, Dan did convince me to open his gift last night because he wanted to have just a moment with the two of us.  Awwww!

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Inside my birthday card were three things:

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I have been telling Dan how much I would love to see this play, and I couldn’t be happier that we’ll be going to see The Book of Mormon over the holiday break!  Good job, Dan!!!!

Michigan to Florida: The Move

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Happy Tuesday, Fancy Oatmealers!  And as promised, here is the recommencement of the blog that is fancy.  I feel as though my eyes may explode from the mass quantities of manufactured  illumination; cracking open my laptop at 5:30 this morning, when I had been using my iPhone for over a week, was a little disturbing.

But it’s great to be back on this side of the Blog-o-Sphere!  Normally, I follow around 25-30 blogs, and don’t always have the time to really sit down and read them.  Also, I’ve been away from a reliable internet source for about 9 days, so I’ve kicked up my reading a few notches.  Please keep in mind that even though I was in the passenger seat of a moving truck for two solid days, I get extremely carsick and wasn’t able to get much of anything productive accomplished, other than switch to a new podcast every hour and thirteen minutes-ish.

Podcasts that Rule My Ears:

  1. Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories
  2. Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies
  3. the Sklar Brother’s Sklarbro Country
  4. Anything with Ryan Sickler*

*A note about Ryan Sickler – He does have his own podcast, the Crab Feast, but I don’t subscribe.  He’s a bit of a potty mouth, but the reason why he made the list was because he has an AMAZING laugh!  If you are a fan of the Ricky Gervais laugh, you’ll be down with the Sickler.

**Please also note that there’s not a single educational, topical, or “listen to this with your mother in the car” on my list.  Please don’t judge my ability to be a sound citizen based upon my recreational listening choices.

The Destination or the Journey?

So let’s start at the beginning of the crazy journey that was the second cross-country move that Dear Hubby and I enlisted in, the first being to St. Paul Island, AK.  When you have a (parental) garage full of tubs and assorted pieces of furniture, you need a reliable method of transporting said goods to your new home.  We went with a 16′ moving truck from Penske.

It was only slightly intimidating to drive for about the first 245 miles, and I made Dear Hubby drive when we were going through the mountains.  If this teaching gig should hit a dead end, I think he’s got a trucking profession on the back burner.

I would say I drove maybe 1/8th of the way, but damn I make driven’ truck look good!

Essentially it took us two days + 3 hours to get from Michigan to Jacksonville, and there really were no issues during our travels unless you count the mini strokes I had when Dear Hubby would hand me the nearly $100 receipt after filling up the gas tank.  My parents graciously offered to follow us down in our car and help setup the apartment.  Um, yes please!  I cannot express to you how grateful both Dear Hubby and I were for their help; simply driving to FL and staying in mid-level hotels for two days to move furniture (twice) in 95+ degree weather should qualify them both for sainthood.

I was really proud of the fearsome foursome because it only took us about two hours to get all of the boxes and furniture into the apartment, and then four days to get everything sifted out and placed into their new homes.

I’ve included some highlights of our living room, our makeshift pantry, and guest room/office.  No master bedrooms cuz some stuff needs to stay private, you know!

One thing I have to include, with some detail, is our solarium.  It’s not because I think it’s some dazzling, luxuriously decorated room in our home, but because I have NO.IDEA. what a solarium is.

We, not knowing what is the appropriate use for a solarium, decided to turn it into a multi-purpose room.  The Media Center/Welcome Home Catch-All/Sports Card Library sits across from my reading chair, where you might be able to catch me from time-to-time crocheting granny squares.

What I really love about having our own place, finally, is that we are dripping in wedding swag.  You may not be able to tell because of my sub-par photography skills, but the quilt that is lounging across the back of my reading chair is the double-wedding ring quilt that my mother made for us.  Also, the “Love is Patient/1 Corinthians” wall hanging is peeking over your shoulder to remind you that you better choose your battles when you notice your husband not immediately washing his popcorn bowl out in the sink.

So life is good in Jacksonville, and I’ll be back around later to let you know how my first Floridian Outdoor run went, as well as how I’m going to have to learn gym etiquette all over again.  TEASER!!!!

Back in My Life and New Digs

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It was bound to happen.  I’m just shocked it took this long.  With temptation calling out to me around every corner, I thought the inevitable would have overtaken my life by now.  It’s been over four months since we last indulged.  I’ve dreamed of this day since I last left you.  So pure.  So available.  So tantalizing.  You know what you are.

Oh baby!  Yea, this is my first Subway experience since Christmas!!  I don’t know how I held out so long.

If you’ve ever asked me the question, “what would you like for 10:30am snack dinner, Amanda?” you know that 99/100 times I’m going to respond with Subway.  I’m a woman of consistency and routine.  I should have a needlepoint pillow etched with the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  You know that I’ve eaten the same lunch for the past 6 months of teaching, so that should tell you three things about me:

1. FA-REAK!!!!!

2.  I am nothing if not content with consistency

3.  I lurve me a sammich!

I paired up my turkey breast  (HOLD THE CHEESE; lettuce, tomato, pickles, cucumber, green AND banana peppers, olives, mustard and a splash of vinegar) on wheat with some fresh strawberries from Wally World.

When I took my first bite of juicy, berry goodness, I could barely contain myself.

Truly it was the perfect way to end a day abuzz with exploration and future planning.  To kick off my day, I scratched another five-mile run on my belt, and followed it up with a great abs routine.  The gym at the Courtyard Marriott has a weight bench, so I was able to up the intensity of each move by balancing on it.

I did three sets of each move and was able to feel the effects all day.

Afterwards, Dear Hubby and I spent the morning and early afternoon taking tours and weighing the pros and cons of several apartment complexes in the Jacksonville area.  The two things we wanted to make sure of was that we were close to work and had a second bedroom for friends and family to come and visit us since we bribed a lot of favors using a free stay in our place as the carrot.  With a move from Michigan to Florida coming up, we better make good on that offer.

After enjoying a refreshing Acai Berry Iced Tea at Panera Bread, it was time to head to our new home-away-from-home and officially meet our new principal.  I have to say, I was really excited and nervous about seeing our new school.  I absolutely loved the look of it from the outside, and as soon as I entered the building and walked the hallways, I knew that Dear Hubby and I had chosen well.

Everyone was so incredibly nice and welcoming to us.  I am very pleased to know that some of my future colleagues are also reading my blog.  When I found this out, I smiled and said something like, “Oh great!  I am so glad you’re enjoying.”  On the inside I was all:

Now that my tummy is full and my ego has been stroked, it’s about that time of the night for me to fall into slumber, imagining the new life that Dear Hubby and I are plotting out for ourselves.