Just about the same

Things are busy as usual. Not as bad as two weeks ago when I had something every night, but still busy. Garrett has two more days of school before dead week and then finals. I start work this Friday (we hope) but have to wait until my fingerprints/background go through. Of course I am starting during testing for the 2nd-5th graders which means my library will be used for kids that need extra help. I assume I will help them as needed. We still aren't sure on my pay b/c they haven't ever had an hourly employee and so what they are going to do is take the money that has been designated for my position and divide it by how many hours I will work. Basic math never killed anyone so I should know soon. It all depends on when I start. Randomly enough, when I went to get processed at the district office yesterday, they had my paperwork for a job that I had applied for, but never did the class to actually be eligible to take the position. Luckily, I asked what my specific job title was and when she said special ed assistant substitute, I was like, "uhhh..." and so now I have been hired as both. The special ed job pays about 120/day I think. We will see if I get any calls seeing as I haven't taken the training class.

Garrett registered for Fall Semester. He spoke to some 2Ls and 3Ls and found out which professors were the best for certain classes. Lucky enough for us not only did he get all the classes he wanted, but 3 out of the 5 are in the evening. This will be great if I start working f/t in the fall. According to the schedule I have, he is taking professional responsibility, criminal procedure, property II, evidence, and constitutional law (at least I think that is what con law means). I still am not sure how well I will do w/ the whole full-time thing, but we really need the health insurance and I really want to pay off the higher interest loans Garrett has accrued already.

On a stinky note, we were planning on taking Garrett's hiking backpacks to China, but low and behold we realized two aren't functional at the moment. Now we need to calculate what will be cheaper, fixing them or finding a good deal for at least one online.

I am hoping Rea's glasses come in this week so we can start that process before the inlaws come to watch the girls. I want to make everything as easy as possible for Garrett's parents since they are nice enough to come out here and watch the girls. As it stands now, I think the most annoying thing will be our crazy psycho sprinklers. And temper tantrums :-)

I think that is about it for now. I will let you all know how work is once it starts!

new online find

I was looking online to find out about the brand of this skirt I just bought and came along a online designer type resale store. It is called Christabelle's Closet. It has some great deals if you know what designers you are looking at (some may not understand that 40 dollars for a used skirt is a good price). :-)

ps-the skirt I bought comes from some French based company..good times!

Update-its long

at the Navy Beach on Coronado w/ Lauren

It is that time again! I have realized that I haven't posted anything about the family in awhile. So here it goes.

bunny cake at Grandma Shill's house for Easter

Garrett has finals in a few weeks. I feel like this year has flown by very quickly. He will leave for his study abroad to China only a couple days after his last final. I hope to cram in a bunch of "quality family time" in before he goes. He will be gone from May 14th until June 10th. We already have reserved the hostel he will be staying at. It will cost about 85% less than the hotel everyone else is staying at. I told him that the hostel is to be a secret so he has a place all to himself to study :-) Its a private twin ensuite which means he will have his own room and private bathroom. They also have free wi-fi as well as lockers. I assume he will also have a lock to his room. So many people go the really really cheap route (his room is 4 times the cost of other ones), but for 17 dollars, instead of 4, you get some peace of mind. The cheap rooms are shared with whoever else ends up at the hostel. That is crazy if you ask me, unless you are only at the place two nights and just carry everything around with you wherever you go. The hostel is a 10 min bus ride from his school and 15 min by bike. I have emailed the hostel a few times and they have been very helpful. They write back in pretty good English. According to reviews, the places has 95% positive reviews. We are very excited for him!

Reagan as Harry Potter (note: these are not her glasses)

Reagan is doing well also. She went to the optometrist yesterday to get her eyes checked. She did so well! I was actually really surprised. They did the same tests adults get, but she didn't have to do that air in the eye thing which is awful. She even let them put the drops in to dilate her pupils. I was quite impressed. She is getting glasses and has an astigmatism in both eyes. The dr really emphasized that she wear her glass ALL THE TIME. Of course her insurance doesn't cover the cutest frames out there, but one: she is only 3, two: she is cute in everything, and three: they will probably get lost/broken and we will end up buying another pair at Costco or Walmart before a new rx next year anyways. She basically wears the same two dresses all the time. A pink and white one our friends Lauren and Brandon got her for her bday and a purple one I got at Mervyns before they closed. The best part is that she usually has the purple one on backwards.

Maddie is doing well in school. We recently had her parent/teacher conf and of course she is super smart, but we already knew that. She is reading at a first grade level, so I have gotten some books from the library for her to read. She still has a very strong opinion on shoes, clothing and hair, but that is to be expected (I am the same way and was the same way) and I know that won't change. She has her friends at school and with Girl Scouts. She is always busy w/ homework. Luckily, this month they just have to write 5 sentences per day that use "star" words. We usually help her w/ the sentence and then she can pretty much write/spell it on her own.

I am staying busy working in Maddie's class and Girl Scouts. I also am still doing the monthly activities for the women at church. I am going to begin working with our area's school board rep as a community liaison. Along with that, I should be starting work at Maddie's school in the next few weeks. The job goes full-time next year which I am excited about, but also nervous seeing as I haven't worked full-time permanently since before getting married and obviously before having kids. Luckily, Reagan won't have to be in daycare all day since Garrett will only have a two classes per day in the Fall. I hope it works out. The health insurance alone will be worth it. I will be joining Garrett in China on June 2nd and flying back w/ him on the 10th. I fly into Shanghai and stay the night w/ his sister and her husband. We are sooo lucky to have them in Shanghai. I probably wouldn't be going if they weren't around. I then will take a train to meet Garrett in Hangzhou and then we will get a train back to Shanghai, meet up w/ the family and take an overnight train to Beijing!!! I am sooo excited. Meredith's hubby speaks Chinese so hopefully they will come. If they don't I will freak out. We haven't made permanent plans on exactly where we will be staying in Beijing. Its a large city (duh) and there are so many little 'districts' so I am still doing research. I would hate to get a hotel somewhere far away from where we want to be. We will be there three whole days (Sunday morning thru Wed morning) so we will head to the touristy areas (the Wall, Tienamen (sp?) Square, Summer Palace, etc). Adam (Mer's hubby) knows an area off the tourist path of the Wall that is supposed to be awesome! The budget will be tight so I won't be bringing home a bunch of touristy stuff. Pictures are worth a thousand words anyways, right?


My mom came and visited last week. She was really there for a Navy Educators Week, but we got to see her a few times. She tore her ACL a little while back and it looks very painful. I told her to have her surgery this summer and the girls and I will come take care of her.

Mariah (my sister) is due in a week and a half. I can't believe Samantha Lou is almost here. I hope she looks like me. Though it won't be too hard to have a light haired/light eyed kid between Kalon's and she's genes..

Ok, so that was a cheesy, life is perfect post. But, I still am stressed and stay up too late watching TV instead of going to bed. Once I start working that will have to change.

Thought of the day

1. A day without sunshine is like night.

2. On the other hand, you have different fingers..

3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.

6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.

9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.

10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.

13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.

14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?

15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?

18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?

21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, 'What the heck happened?'

22. Just remember -- if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.

23. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

24. Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeños. What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow.

sprinklers and hot tub

With water cuts, our water district is going to basically charge customers if they go over about 50% of whatever they are currently using. This is the stupidest idea by far b/c it hurts those of us who actually try to conserve water!! I have decided to start watering our yard again since it will be getting warmer and fill up our hot tub. This way our water usage will go up a bit and maybe we won't be highly penalized this coming year.

Yesterday, we fixed a few sprinkler heads that had broken and worked on fixing the back ones b/c they haven't worked since we moved in. Garrett figured out that the reason the back ones didn't work is b/c the water flow valve had been turned off. Yeah! We had figured it out. Of course we then discovered that we in fact had more than one sprinkler head, but it had been covered by a mini mud slide since 1/3 of our yard is on a hillside.

So you are probably wondering why this of any use to report, but here is the exciting part. Whoever was the stupid idiot who put the sprinkler system in (which by the way, most sprinkler heads were buried too low and are going to be replaced w/ 4" popups in stead of 3") somehow linked the backyard water line w/ the washer. I am NOT KIDDING!! We discovered this after having "fixed" the backyard ones. I started doing some laundry and realized that whenever the water kicked on for the washer, the sprinkler that shares a wall w/ it starts squirting out water. It isn't a ton of water, but it is still not only a waste of water, but the stupidest thing I have heard of in awhile. I have no idea how it is even POSSIBLE for this to occur.

We figure that may be the reason why the water valve was shut off in the backyard, but haven't decided if we should manually turn it off every time the washer is going, or just leave it. I am thinking we should shut it off b/c I HATE wasting water.

As for the hot tub, we have decided we are going to use it as a mini pool and definitely make it VERY childproof. It has a cover, but no snaps to keep it on (which is why it is empty), but once we fill it up, we are going to cover it w/ a 4x8 and then put bricks on top. I know, real classy, but at least it will give us peace of mind. Now I just have to figure out the chemical thing and we will be set.