Brave little toaster.

When I announced that I was looking at houses, the reactions I got from friends and family were positive and supportive. But what I didn't expect was that people would comment on me buying a house "alone." None of the comments were negative or discouraging... but I was kind of surprised that people would even mention it. I heard things like, "I'm sure it's not easy to do this by yourself," or "I'm always amazed when a woman buys her own house." Is it really that brave of me to do this alone? Then again, most of my homeowner friends are married... and most of the single homeowners I know are men. 
   
Well, I will say this: it's certainly not easy. I mean, home buying itself isn't an easy process. But doing it alone just plain sucks. Not just financially (because, OH BOY does it suck financially), but also emotionally. Aside from my realtor, I don't have anyone to offer an opinion about any of the houses. No one is walking around an empty home with me imagining where furniture will be and how the rooms will be used. I know that some people would consider that a huge plus - sometimes too many opinions make the decision more difficult. And there is definitely something empowering about knowing that this will be MY HOUSE and I did this with no help from anyone else. But sometimes it also feels a little lonely. It's definitely not how I pictured myself doing it... but if there's one thing I learned, it's that life usually doesn't go the way my 10 year old self thought it would go. If that was the case, I would have been married at 25, and live in a beautiful suburban development with a gazebo in the backyard (who actually uses those things?), with my handsome successful husband, a big fluffy golden retriever, and 2 adorable children (one boy and one girl, naturally). 

     
But I digress.
  

So now I'm at the point where I found a house that I like. The rest is a waiting game. Put in an offer and wait to see if it's accepted. If it is, then I wait to get the house inspected and hope that nothing major is wrong with it. If the offer isn't accepted, I look at more houses. Or wait for more houses to go on the market. And then it starts all over again.
   
Well... maybe I'll get lucky. Never know.

House Hunter

So if you don't know, I have officially started house hunting. When I met with the realtor for the first time, I informed him that he needed to give me the "House Buying for Dummies" version of Real Estate. Anything I know about house buying came from watching HGTV. After only 2 days of looking, I am already overwhelmed and confused. 
  
A few observations about the process:
   
I have now walked through 10 houses. People are still living in 9 of them. It feels extremely awkward to walk around someone's home when they're not there... opening their kitchen cabinets, peeking into their closets, criticizing their taste in carpet color, wallpaper, or bathroom tile. And every house has its own smell. One house smelled like moth balls... another one REEKED of stale smoke. One house had 3 cats just rolling around the living room when we walked in. (This is why cats make for terrible home protection. They barely batted an eyelash when 2 complete strangers walked in. One even purred. Useless animals...) 
   
I've been doing a lot of thinking about what's important to me in a house. I know that some things are purely cosmetic and can be easily changed. Do I want to buy something at the top of my price range just because everything is freshly painted and newly updated? It would be "move-in ready" and I wouldn't have to spend any extra time or money fixing an outdated bathroom with hideous pink tile or ripping off peeling, faded 1980s wallpaper. Or do I want to get a house that's a little cheaper, and then pay to have an older kitchen remodeled the way I like it? In the case of the smoker's house, I thought (and the realtor agreed) that they were asking too much for a house that needed a lot of updating... not to mention the carpet and wallpaper would have to go in order to get rid of the smoke. However, the location of the house is amazing. The neighborhood is quiet and well maintained, the back yard is lovely. Decisions, decisions.
   
What I need to do now is create a list of pros and cons and really decide where to draw the line. I hope this gets easier soon.

Livin' it up.

I have 26 days of vacation left before I have to go back to the office. 
   
Since I worked summer school for 5 weeks, August is the only time I have off. I spent the first two days of August being lazy. I slept late, I didn't shower until the afternoon, I watched way too much HGTV and spent way too much time on Facebook. I was starting to feel like one of those perpetually sad people in the depression meds commercials. You know... the ones who stay in bed til noon and wear sweatpants all day? Yeah.
   
I finally decided that I need to nip this in the bud. I can't spend my last 26 days of vacation moping around the apartment. And really, if you've seen one episode of House Hunters, you've seen them all. So I sat down and made some lists. (You know how much I love my lists!) One is a list of things I NEED to do. One is a list of things I WANT to do. And the last one is a list of things I already have planned. My goal is to fill my days with things to do. 
   
I'll spare you the list of needs... but I will post my list of wants. And it comes with an invitation. If you know me, you know that I hate doing things by myself. I need to get better at doing that... and I'm sure I will... but for now, I wouldn't mind the company. So if there's anything on this list that you want to do with me, let me know. Call, text, email, comment, facebook, smoke signal, Morse code... whatever. Just get in touch with me and we'll make plans. 

•  Find new Zumba class. (FYI, I LOVE my current Zumba class, but once the fall comes, I'll be teaching CCD on Tuesday nights. I need to find another class that I like on another night. I already have a list of places nearby, so I can start this anytime.)
• Go to a farmers market. I'm not picky about which one. 
• Go to Peddler's Village. I've been there in the fall and winter, but never in the summer. I just like to walk around there.
• Go to New Hope. I haven't been there in ages.
• Go to my secret beach again. That's a day trip. It's an hour away and completely worth it. 
• Go to Wildwood. Even if it's just for the boardwalk. I need some butterfly chips and Mack's pizza.
• Host a game night. 
• Get a mani-pedi.
• Drive to Centralia (yes, really), with a pit stop in Pottsville (home of the Yuengling brewery). 
• Go to Longwood Gardens. I've been there in the spring, but they change flowers with the seasons, so I'd love to see it in the summer. (Bonus... there's a "Fireworks and Fountains" show on 8/13!)
• Go to Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. I have ALWAYS wanted to go there, and it's right on South Street! (This outing should also include cheesesteaks at Jim's.)
• Take my own walking tour of Historic Old City.
• Do the walking tour offered by the Mural Arts Program.

   

I know I'm not going to get to do ALL of these things, but I'd like to hit a good percentage of them. Many of these are free or cost very little, and they're all day trips. Very easy to manage.

  

Join me on my quest to make the most of my summer vacation! Get in touch with me if you're interested in any of the above... or if you have other suggestions for me! :)

Face(palm)book.

Facebook is a wonderful thing. When used properly. Of course, there are no real "rules" for how to use it, but there are things that I see every day that annoy the crap out of me. I'm sure I've been guilty of one or two of these things over the past few years, but some people are repeat offenders. They need their Facebook privileges revoked for a few weeks. Just to give them time to think about what they've done.
   
So anyway, what follows is a comprehensive list of things that annoy me about the people who use Facebook. Keep in mind that I don't have an actual problem with the people who do these things... most of them are friends of mine. In fact, if they read this, they will recognize themselves in one or more of these points. Also, I'm sure there are things that I do on Facebook that annoy other people. Like mentioning coffee every morning. And posting "Let's go Flyers!" every time a hockey game is on. And taking pictures of my beer when I go out to eat. And posting song lyrics that are meaningful to me, but probably no one else.
   
(Funny story... when I told two of my friends that I was working on the outline for this post, both of them were able to guess most of the points I had listed. That tells me that a: they know me really well and b: these things annoy other people, too!)
   
The List (without apology or explanation)
   
General Pet Peeves About the Status Message

• People who have their child or pet as their profile picture. (Yeah, I started with that. I smell hate mail coming soon.)
• Poor grammar, spelling, punctuation, writing in all caps
• Anything that a middle/high school kid would post: WrITinG LIkE tHis, <<<<<<3, overuse of OMG LOL LMAO ROFL, and writing extra letters to make a point... OMGGGGGGG I loveeeeeee himmmmm...

      

Specific Types of Status Messages

• The Vague Status: "I just don't know what to say anymore," "I can't believe it!" (This is a huge cry for attention and you know it.)
• The Passive Aggressive: "Don't tell me how to live my life/raise my kid/do my job. If you don't like it, then shut the f*ck up!"
• The Personal Message as Public Status: "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!" "You're the reason I wake up every morning!" "I love you, shmoopie!" (If the intended recipient of this message is on Facebook, then post it directly to his/her wall. If this person is NOT on Facebook, then get off the damn computer and go tell them!)
• The Daily Schedule: "Breakfast, errands, gym, cleaning the minivan, taking junior to sports event, and then family ice cream time!" "Time for shower and bed!" 
• The Specifics: "Doctor's appointment at 2 PM, then gym at 5!" "Working til 6, dinner, then bed before midnight!" (You're just making it easier for people to stalk you. Or rob your house.)
• Messages to People Who Don't Have a Facebook Account: (And if I didn't piss people off before, this will surely do it...) "Happy 90th birthday, Grandmom!" "Happy 1st birthday little Mikayla! Mommy loves you!" "Merry Christmas, Uncle Ken! I know you're celebrating with us in heaven!" "I miss you every day, Great Aunt Tillie!" (My problem with this is mostly the wording. If you said something like, "I can't believe my baby is 1 already!" or "Thinking about my grandmom today. I know she's celebrating with us in spirit," then that's more acceptable. To me, anyway.)
• Constant Negativity: "My life sucks," "I hate my job," "I never catch a break," "I can't believe this happened again," "Why does this always happen to me?" "Of course I didn't get the job/house/man... nothing ever works for me!" (If this happens more than once a week, it makes me want to delete you from my friend list.)
• Everything's Zen: "Life is wonderful!" "I'm so blessed!" "My friends are my the best!" "The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, I'm in love and everyone should feel as glorious as I do RIGHT NOW!" (There's nothing wrong with being happy, but when you're constantly posting stuff like this, it makes me think you're trying to convince someone. Or convince yourself.)
• Too Much Information About Your Child: "Junior pooped twice this morning, we're waiting on his third!" "Sally did the cutest thing today! She climbed into the chair with her babydoll and pretended to feed it a bottle! Could you DIE from the cuteness??" "Megan threw up 3 times last night and has a temperature of 102. Time for another trip to the ER." (And don't try to tell me that this only annoys me because I don't have my own children.)
• Re-posters: "Copy and paste this if you love your daughter!" "Copy and paste this if you have a cousin that means the world to you!" "Copy and paste this if you hate disease, war, and famine!" "If you love your mom, put this as your status for the next hour!" (So if I DON'T repost this, does that mean I hate my mom?) 

   

I'm sure I'm missing a few things. Feel free to comment and add your own. Or comment and tell me I'm a bitch. That would be fun, too :)

ZUMBA!!!

When I first started my Confidence Goal in January, I didn't quite know where it would lead me. All I knew for sure is that I wanted to concentrate on stepping outside of my comfort zone in any way possible. 
         
Two years ago, I made a resolution to exercise more. I remember writing that exercise had been "my Everest," because I just couldn't motivate myself to make it a regular part of my routine. The purchase of a wii got me up and moving a little more, and a walking game for the wii got me excited about exercising almost daily. I still couldn't quite take the next step to join a gym. I considered myself too out of shape for something like that. I wasn't comfortable moving and sweating in front of other people (who, in my head, were already skinny and toned and incredibly adept at all of the equipment and moves). 
      
And then I started hearing people talk about Zumba. First it was a few co-workers, then some friends on Facebook. I started finding videos on youtube to see what it was all about and I was instantly intrigued. Then one day, a friend posted on Facebook saying that she wanted to lose weight, and I suggested Zumba. We found a class nearby, got a group together, and went for it. 
         
I LOVED it. The music, the moves, the energy. Sure, the first class was rough. I was a little uncoordinated and I was dripping sweat when it was over. But I definitely liked it enough to go back and try it again. Since then, I've made it a weekly (and sometimes twice weekly) part of my routine. 
   
The class is full of REAL women... thank goodness. They wear old t-shirts and messy ponytails and they sweat and they occasionally miss a step or two. Not like the ones you see in the ads and infomercials, with the cropped shirts and perfect abs and flawless movements:
   

   
I'm glad that I found something that I not only enjoy, but look forward to. I'm proud of my ability to stick with the entire hour without stopping (save for the occasional gulp of water from my ever present bottle, of course). Surprisingly, I have become completely comfortable with myself during the class. After the first week, I stopped worrying about how I looked because, let's face it, no one is looking at me - they're all too busy concentrating on their own moves. 
   
Once autumn comes, I won't be able to attend my regular Tuesday class, since I'll be teaching CCD again this year. I guess I'll have to find a class on a different night... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 
   
I'll leave you with these videos from youtube. Just a little taste of what goes on in a Zumba class, in case you were thinking about trying it for yourself. Now if you'll excuse me... I need to go lace up my sneakers. I've got some booty shaking to do tonight :)
   

   

Short stories from summer school...

A few short stories from the past 3 weeks of summer school, for your enjoyment.
   
Timothy is a 6 year old bilingual Vietnamese boy. He's very bright, but gets a little confused about the easy concepts, which might be because of the language barrier. One day in math class we were sorting buttons in different ways - by color, size, shape, number of holes, etc. I put the buttons in piles by size and asked Tim to tell me how they're sorted. "They're all the same shape." he said. "Good try, but no," I said. I turned to call on another boy, but Tim interrupted me. "I know!" he shouted. "They're all the same... shape!" Close, but no cigar, kid.
   
Robert is another 6 year old who has a little trouble sitting still. He was rocking in his chair (after I warned him not to) and fell out of it, landing on his rear end. "Are you okay?" I asked as he stood up. "I'm fine," he said, rubbing his bottom, "but I bumped my noggin."
   
Julio is one of my 7 year old boys. He's fluent in Spanish and working on his English. The things that come out of his mouth are funny... usually unintentionally, though.
   
Last week on a particularly hot day, one of the teachers bought ice pops for all the kids. (Those sugar filled frozen things in the plastic tubes... blech...) Julio was quite enamored with his treat, and expressed his love by saying, "Oh baby... if you could cook, I would marry you."
   
Earlier this week, he brought a lemonade juice box with his snack. He didn't want to finish the whole thing though... according to him, "Lemonade makes you peep a lot. All drinks do."

The wisdom of a 5 year old man.

One of my summer school boys has the look of a man who has seen it all, twice. And for a 5 year old, that's saying a lot. 
   
He tends to be dramatic in his speech... for example, we got a new student on the last day of the second week of summer school. I explained to the boys, "We'll have to teach Tim the math games we learned." Alex jumped out of his seat and said, "Yeah! Literally ALL the games!" (accompanied by an expressive, all-encompassing hand gesture that almost smacked another child in the eye).
      
And he's obsessed with the concept of infinity: 
   
"It's so hot out today. It's like infinity degrees."
   
"How many pages are in this book?! It's like infinity pages!"
   
One day, Julio (who is 7 and bilingual) asked him what infinity actually means. Alex informed him that "it's the last number out of allllll the numbers in the world." I tried to tell him that infinity is just a word we use for a number we can't count, but it's not actually a number. Alex would have none of that, and went on to tell us what infinity would look like if you wrote it. 
   
"Infinity is one zero zero zero zero zero..."
   
"No, honey, infinity isn't a number, it's a word," I said. 
   
Alex continued, "... zero zero zero zero zero..."
   
"Al, you're still just telling me numbers."
      
"... zero zero zero zero zero zero..."
      
At this point, Timothy (6) interrupted him to explain that there IS no last number. "They just keep going!" he exclaimed.
   
"... zero zero ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO..." (As if saying it louder would prove his point.)
   
Unfortunately, a conversation we had on only the 2nd day of summer school told me more than I wanted to know about his home life. 
      
We were transitioning from one activity to another when he suddenly asked, "Miss Adrienne? How was your life when you were a kid?"
   
Only slightly taken aback, I replied, "It was good. Why? How's your life as a kid?"
   
He then launched into a story about his mom and dad. "They fight all the time. They don't love each other anymore. They need their own houses, because they can't stay together. They don't even come inside, they just drop us off at the house because they don't want to see each other."
   
This is always a difficult task as a teacher. I have to find the right thing to say without making it into a super emotional moment. Since Alex delivered this news matter-of-factly, I kept my response simple. "Wow... I'm sure that's not easy on you and your brother. But sometimes if people don't get along, it's better for them to be apart until they can work things out. It sounds like you and your brother are doing a good job of dealing with it, and right now that's all you can do."
   
He nodded sagely. "Yeah. Now I just have to live life. It's hard to live life." 
   
(student names have been changed)