Total Car Annihilation 2009

Well, we've finally got some news. Thursday morning at 7:30 I was fixing my breakfast when a loud knock called me to the door. I opened it to discover three San Jose police officers on our doorstep. (Surprise number 1). I'm thinking, "Holy crap - what kind of a parking ticket IS this???"

Policeman #1 wished me a good morning and asked what kind of car I drove.

"A silver Matrix," I said.

The reply: "Not any more."

He then asked if someone in the household drove a grey Volvo. I responded that my husband had a grey Volvo. The response to that one was a grimace (from all three officers) and the comment "You're going to want to come with us and see this."

I call out to Robb, we grab our coats and walk out to the street with our company of San Jose's finest, where we saw surprise number 2. My car, completely annihilated and smashed up against Robb's, which is also looking somewhat smashed and generally off. Oh, and it was also up on the curb and quite cozy with a tree.

Turns out some guy driving a RAV4 was quite sleepy and ran into my parked car at 35 - 40 mph. My car smashed into Robb's Volvo, which smashed into the tree and a pickup and pushed the pickup forward about 6 - 10 feet. We're talking IMPACT.

The "sleepy" (possible extenuating circumstances, more on that later) driver was okay, just airbag-bruised. Robb and I are okay, just car-less. Right now we're just grateful that:

1. We weren't in or near our cars when this happened.

2. "Sleepy" is insured.

3. I'm free from my lease. Not that I had a problem with it or that I didn't like my car, but I'm trying to find the positive here and I guess it's nice to be free from that contract 18 months ahead of schedule. I guess.

So, we're all well, but I thought I'd share since we finally have some "big" news. Thanks to everyone who sent prayers, good thoughts, and positive energy our way. We love you all!

Halloween '09

Thanks to Google Image Search I came up with a costume idea, so here are a few pics of myself and my students. Happy Halloween everyone!

I need to come up with a Halloween costume

Any ideas? I know I should probably just hit up the local thrift store and make it work, but I thought someone out there might have a genius, quick, cheap, easy costume idea. So.....whaddaya got?


(Okay. I admit it. This post is also a necessary step to get the giant, bits-encrusted bear butt from being the first thing you see every time you come to my blog!) :-)

Not so Charmin

I HATE THESE COMMERCIALS FROM CHARMIN!

Seriously. They're unnecessarily explicit and I wish they'd stop.

For my readers who haven't had the misfortune to see the actual commercial,

I now give you the choice to change that - if you so choose.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Charmin Ultra Strong.

Fun stuff with Shaine WITH pictures

So we went wedding dress shopping again; no real pictures of that for (what should be) obvious reasons. If the reasons aren't obvious enough, please read the previous post. ;-)

Post-dress shopping we hit the outlet mall in Folsom for some spending - I mean BONDING - time. We discovered that the 80s are most certainly back, and they're mixed with other odd fashion bits. The result? A bunch of REALLY UGLY shoes. Of course we had to document them, so we took our time finding the ugliest shoes we could, and are generous enough to share the results with the rest of the world. Enjoy!

A multi-purpose

purse?

(Maybe if you're short and/or really like your abs.)

I've always known Shaine is fascinating and multi-faceted;

I just didn't know HOW fascinating.

She truly, sincerely likes these shoes and wouldn't mind owning a pair.

Wow.

These are the ugliest shoes I think I've ever seen. Ever.

Why would you own these? And for what events or moods would you wear them?

Never mind. I don't really want to know.

Me, mystery leg, Shaine.

So we thought these were ugly, then we put them on and decided we liked them.

For, you know, those days when you have the desire to know how it feels to be a hooker.

Ah the joy of guilty pleasures! ;-)

Correction

As Shaine pointed out, I have been doing many interesting things in her company.

BUT I CAN'T POST PICTURES (you know, the whole wedding dress before the wedding thing), SO IT'S LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED!

Not quite. She's right. We had a great lunch at a roadside diner in Oakdale, and the waitresses were...astounding. The cook/waitress sounded and looked like an anorexic chain smoker in a 50s style waitress outfit, and the lady on the register looked about 70 but had the attitude of a teenager. You couldn't get irritated, though, because it just FIT so perfectly. A sample of her style of customer service:

When Shaine asked what the cheese choices were and needed a repeat, she said (with overly clear enunciation and word spacing): "swiss, american, and pep...per...jack." We also got a look like maybe we needed a keeper.

Ah, the joys of small town American dining. We dare you: visit Snow White Drive In, today!

30 is how much more than 20?

Much, MUCH more than 10, let me tell you!

I have 30 students this year, and they're kicking my butt. I'm constantly exhausted and feel overwhelmed, even though I've taught third grade three of the past four years AND I have the same students. The district and my school have also been pulling me out of class pretty much every week for professional development, which is another contributing factor to my inner chaos.

Anyway, I realize this is boring, but I thought I'd explain why I haven't got anything interesting to share!!! Here's hoping I return to "normality" sooner rather than later.