Mom's Visit

My mom came to visit last weekend. It was so much fun. We shopped and shopped, and then we shopped some more. With my mom's knee replacements being so successful, I think she can go longer than me without wearing out! It was so great to just have fun together without worrying if her back or knees were hurting. It was like shopping with a young friend - and I was the oldest!!!! Anyway, we both found lots of cute clothes, and I, of course, made new jewelry to match my new outfits (see the "sets" page on www.freewebs.com/debbeads.)

Since our birthdays are only two weeks apart, we decided to celebrate them together with a Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake!!!!!

Mom also took some pics of Cleo and I while she was here. I used one for my jewelry site (after I made a matching necklace for the shirt I was wearing!).

Cleo kept begging to go in the car. I guess since mom and I kept going all the time, Cleo thought she should go, too. In the above pic, she kept begging, and I kept telling her that we're not going anywhere...

This is how worn out we felt after a long day of shopping!

Next week at school is super busy with TAKS testing most of the week. My classes have a 91%pass rate in reading and math so far; the retakes for reading are next week, so I could end up with a 100% pass! Looks like either way, we should get the state incentive money in the summer. Also, I am teaching summer school in July, so that will provide more for baby savings. Our school is changing health insurance for the fall, and it looks like for only $20 more p/mth, I can get on a plan w/no deductible and only a 1k out of pocket maximum. Oh, and there are no pre-existing conditions or waiting periods for new members, which means even if we happen to get pregnant immediately, we will be covered! SO cool!

Looks like we will need to change churches ... again. Roy's professor (a world-reknown scholar) pulled him into his office a few weeks ago and talked to him about the whole getting-a-job-when-you-graduate thing. He gave statistics and everything. It was helpful because it was something Roy and I had talked about but didn't really know what to do. We are going to start looking again this summer. Looks like we will need to be Baptist. I am not looking forward to the hymns, but normally their preaching is great, and they generally are not dogmatic, which is good seeing that we rarely settle on any one "right way" anymore.

I have a TON of grading to do, so I best end this. I am already feeling like I need a nap! Not good.

Colorado or Bust!!!

Yea! We are going to CO in June to see our long lost friends, Cary and Melissa!!!!! I can't wait! Maybe I will get pregnant while I'm there!!!!!! Okay, that really wouldn't be the best timing, but it would be a memorable souvenir! We are going to make it a split trip between Ponca and CO. We are also taking Cleo, and I am trusting Roy that we are not crazy for doing so. Things are going fine here. I am in the last few weeks of school and already planning for next year. Roy only has 3 weeks left! Hurray! I will be glad to have my husband back. My mom is coming down this weekend to shop till we drop for our birthdays. I just turned 31 on the 11th, and now I feel way beyond old. One of my sixth graders told her classmate, "You know, 31 is not the new 20; it's just 31!" Nice.

Update on Cleo

Cleo had her follow up X-rays yesterday, and the vet said her fracture is half the size, and there is no more inflammation in her back!!! Hurray!!!! She had gained a pound since the last visit, but that's probably due to the steroids and the lack of activity while she recovered. Now we are really working on not letting her jump on and off the couch... She's very stubborn - like her daddy, of course!

One other thing, I got a Betta fish!!! It has been almost two years since I have had one, and I decided it was time. No feeding it people food like I did the other one - which died, incidentally, of a disease that I had caused! This one is a beautiful blue color. Cleo thinks it's the coolest thing, and just wants to get ahold of it!

Spring Break!

I had the best spring break! Technically it is not over until tomorrow (Sunday) night, but seeing that I have to prep tomorrow for school on Monday, it seems like it's over today...

I went to OK to stay a few days with my sister. It was great! My mom was watching John and Sarah, so on Saturday my sister and bro-in-law and I painted Sarah's room pink!


Then we went to this really great pizza place, and then watched a movie together that night - all w/o the kids! I hadn't spent this much time with my sis w/o the kids since ... well, I can't remember when.

On Sunday my parents brought the kids back home, and I got to visit with my mom and dad for a few hours. I rested my head on my dad's belly, which was nice and cozy, and kind of made me feel like a little girl again being rocked to sleep by my daddy. Oh, and did I mention I had a cold?!!!! Yea, on the Friday before I left, I started catching a cold, so my whole trip at Kim's was full of snot - literally!

On Monday I got to just hang out and play with the kids. John and Sarah and I built a rather elaborate Lego house - so much fun.


On Tuesday I went to Tulsa with my sister and the kids. Kim had a doctor's appointment, so I watched the kids in the waiting room. I was so amazed at Sarah's abstract thinking abilities. The waiting room ceiling had a square cutout all around, and Sarah looked at the corner of the square and said, "If you cross it that makes an 'A'" And sure enough, it did!!!! She's not even 4 yet!!!! She knows many letters and can write them, but to make an A out of the corner of a square w/o any prompting is impressive. Okay, on with my vacation... After the doctor we went to the mall and to the Cheesecake Factory to pick up some dessert, then we headed home.



That night Kim and I went (by ourselves!) and got a spa pedicure and then to Chili's to eat. When we got home, I was trying to take a pic of my, Kim, and Sarah's toes (I had painted hers earlier), and John kept sticking his foot in the pic!!!



After a long day, I had to pee, so I went in, did my thing, and flushed. As I was walking out of the bathroom, I heard a trickling sound ... yep, toilet overflowed! I hollered for Kim and she hollered for Steve, who was in the middle of eating, and he had to come in and step in the pee water to turn off the water. So Kim and I spent the next little while vacuuming up water! It was quite funny!


On Wednesday morning I left to come home to TX. My old college roommate picked me up from Love Field, and I hung out at her place that afternoon. Her mom ordered a bracelet from my website! That's my fifth order! Roy and Cleo came and picked me up and brought me home. Thursday and Friday I worked on the house and on my website (www.freewebs.com/debbeads), which is so cool now, by the way, because you can click on the "buy now" buttons and it calculates the total with shipping and all, and you can pay through Paypal. Last night I spent a couple hours making several new necklaces.

Today I spent 3.5 hours on the lawn - mowing, weeding/feeding, and watering - and then Roy and I went and got a Fuddrucker's burger. Now I am typing this super long blog like you all having nothing better to do than read for hours.... LOL

Cleo is feeling much better, by the way. She is finished with her steroids and other meds, and is back to her old self. We take her in for the follow up X-ray on Friday.

Cleo and Jewelry

Cleo had a bad spasm or something in her right leg/hip last night. She cried for a long time and didn't want to move much afterward for a while. She was shivering really hard, too, from the pain, I guess. Anyway, she seemed to get a little better (she was walking w/o crying), so instead of taking her to the animal emergency clinic last night, we waited and took her to the vet today. Vet did an x-ray and saw inflammation in her back (which we knew about because she went in last Fri. and got meds for it), but then he also saw a fracture at the top of her femur on the ball. Weird thing is, it's on the left leg, not the right one that she's been favoring. He said it's possible that the disc is causing a nerve in her right leg to hurt only at certain times when she turns a certain way, but he said with medicine the back stuff will probably be okay, though we have to be very careful and retrain her to not jump up and down on the couch and all. Anyway, he was really concerned about the femur thing, and said he wants to see her again in two weeks to do another x-ray. If it hasn't started to heal up on it's own (with the 4 meds she is on), then we will look at our options - one being surgery.... Kids can't be any more expensive than our Cleo!!!! Actually, it was only $100 today for the visit, exam, x-ray, and meds, so that wasn't bad at all. Roy said she is really prepping us for kids...

I am leaving on Sat. to go see my family in OK. I will get back on Wed. and then I get to see my old college roommate for a few hours before Roy comes to get me. After that, I still have Thurs.-Sun. of my spring break to enjoy! I can't believe the school year has gone by so quickly... only two and half months of birth control to go!

I am officially a jewelry business! I have my own business cards, website, and state sales tax ID! I have sold a bracelet/earring set, two necklaces, and a necklace/bracelet/earring set! Yippee! I have updated my website with a few new items. www.freewebs.com/debbeads. Go see! Below are a few new ones.

Roy is 32!

Tomorrow Roy will turn 32! Geez, it seems like just yesterday that he was 21 and I was 20, and we were getting married! For his birthday I got him a library embosser. He was wanting one to mark all of his books. The seal has "From the Library of R.E. Garton" around the circle, and in the center is an open book. I tried to take a picture of it, but it was just all white, and you couldn't see a thing. Well, you get the idea, anyway.

Today I spent way too long making curtains for my kitchen. Since we painted the kitchen red, the brown curtains I had up just didn't go, and we needed to get more light into the room, so I made some white ones. I had seen some similar at Target, but didn't want to pay for plain white curtains, so I thought I would make them out of a sheet. Sounds easy, right? Well, it took me about 3 or 4 hours, which is totally ridiculous, and the curtain I made for the other kitchen window is too bad to post on this blog! Maybe Target will have a sale on curtains soon...

I made some more earrings last week. These are two of my favorites. Don't forget to tell everyone you know about www.freewebs.com/debbeads!

I looked at over 1,000 baby names last night, and I still can't find a girl name better than Alyssa Mercedes. I am now trying to bribe Roy to let me name our little girl: I offered him sex and ice cream! LOL He still doesn't like Alyssa because I initially chose the name spelled Ellissa, after his middle name - Ellis - which he dislikes, but now I just love the sound of the name, and it goes perfectly with Garton. Plus, if we have a boy and name him Warren Van, then we need a girl name that goes along with it in style and tone. Warren and Alyssa sounds sweet. I also spent time last night calculating my ovulation schedule from June to December and reading tips on getting pregnant. It's getting closer to trying time....

debbeads

My jewelry website is up and running!!!! Okay, it's not perfect, heck, it's not really even professional, but it's free!!!! (I make jewelry, not webpages!)

http://www.freewebs.com/debbeads/

Catching up

I sometimes wonder why I even have a blog! I haven't updated this blog in almost a month, but hey, I guess that's the purpose of blogging - sparatic communication with no guilt. You know how it is - you see a friend that you haven't seen in a year and you feel guilty that you didn't keep in touch - blogging keeps that guilt from forming. I bet those of you who read this monthly get more info. then you would if I didn't blog... So I am rambling away my own guilt for not updating sooner ... what is it with me and guilt? LOL

School is back in session for both Roy and me. He is getting pretty overwhelmed already, and I am just as tightly wound as usual. Actually, I think it is much better this semester. I am not as busy because we don't have history fair and UIL to deal with. The big thing on my mind is the reading TAKS test - yuck! Anyway, I have been thinking about getting my masters in administration and working toward a principal certificate. I have to pass the GRE first!!!

Roy and I went to the hospital tonight to visit our friends David and Staci. They just had their third baby, a boy named John Thomas. He was almost nine pounds, but when I held him he still seemed so tiny. Staci said, "You're next," and for the first time, I actually got nervous about having a baby. I mean the kind of nervous that feels like someone punched you in the stomach! It was an excited nervous, I suppose ... I think ... maybe. Afterward Roy and I went to Wingstop (totally cheating on my diet!) and talked about having babies. He confessed that he has trouble with poop. He said he will change our baby's diaper, but only with those surgical gloves on!!!!! Then he started into his whole "apparatis" talk about hooking a baby up over the sink and just spraying it off! HELP ME!!!! What I am going to do with this man???!!!!! It was really quite funny. He, of course, said it all with that cute grin and dimple showing, which made it all the more enjoyable.

I am going to try to finish up my jewelry website this week. I am very excited about it, even though it isn't very professional looking. Here are a few pics of some earrings I have made recently:

My fifth grade girls just love my earrings, so when they have a chance to choose a prize for some event in class, they always choose earrings. The pair above was just such a case. The student has worn them every day since she got them!!!!

Christmas in Oklahoma

We have just spent a week in Oklahoma visiting family and friends for Christmas. It was a fabulous visit! Here are some pics:

Roy just loves having his picture taken!!!

My parents

My sister, my mom, and yours truly

My sister and her family

John got a stocking full of pickles!

Sweet Sarah posing for Auntie Debbie

My grandparents

I got a special treat this visit! My best friend from high school, Lacey, was in town with her new baby!!!!

Roy's niece, Keara, is now two years old. Isn't she a cutie?!!! She loves coffee - Starbucks, of course, and when we were visiting one night, she told her mom, "I need my coffee!"

Keara and mommy playing with the new kitchen set from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Roy.

Showing off for the camera with her new teddy bear from Uncle Adam - he built it himself at Build-a-Bear! Such a sweet uncle - yes, ladies, he's single and good looking!

My mom got Cleo a tent for Xmas! She was too nervous to play with it much while at Grandma's, but she has played in it and walked through it several times now that we are home.

I am so glad to be home in Texas where the weather is warm! While in Oklahoma, we got several inches of snow, and it was just too cold!!! Cleo liked the snow, but she would just shiver from being so cold.

If you think this looks like a sad puppy-dog face, then you are definitely correct! We always stay at Roy's grandma's house when we go to Oklahoma, and Cleo loves to hang out with Grandma while Roy and I are off visiting family. This time, however, Grandma was in the city visiting her daughter, so Cleo sometimes had to stay home alone during the day. She would sit in this chair and pout, looking at the front door. I think she was just wondering when Grandma was going to come back home. Poor thing...

We have been back in Texas for a couple of days now, and I must say we have done little but sleep and eat. It has been nice. Next week we both have to start back to schoolwork...

Random Updates

I can't believe it has been so long since I updated my blog! Things have been so busy at school and otherwise, I just haven't had much time. Roy and I are doing well. Roy is out of school for winter break; he did so well this semester: A, A-, and B+ in his classes. He also has become known as a hardworking grad assistant; one which works harder and longer than any other grad assistant, mostly due to the requirements of the professor he works for. Incidentally, that professor gave Roy a $50 gift card to Outback Steakhouse!!! I had a winter white martini, which was fantastic! My school is fine, just busier than ever. History fair just finished up today, and UIL finished a couple of weeks ago. I don't remember being this busy the past two years... I suppose it's because we have about 25 more students than we did last year, but really no additional staff members. That means we all have to do more.

We are leaving for Ponca on Thursday after school. We will be there about a week. We are taking Cleo with us again. She has been so great! Right now she is chewing on her Xmas gift - a peanut butter flavored candy cane bone. She is about 14lbs, so I have her on a no table food diet. I must take full responsibility for her being a bit overweight. It is so hard for me not to give in to her pouty face when she is begging for food. Roy and I are trying to watch our weight, too. It's ridiculous how much weight I've gained in the last two years. My goal is to lose 10-15lbs before the end of May. That way I will be my normal weight before I get pregnant - I hope. It is really exciting planning for parenthood. Roy and I were talking tonight about whether or not we should get rid of our piano. We decided to keep it because our kids might want to learn to play, or we could all take lessons together. Though we still have many fears, mostly financial, about parenting, I think we are as ready as can be.

Roy gave me one of my Xmas gifts early - he made me a lap desk for my jewelry making. It is great. I haven't officially sold any earrings yet, but I haven't exactly taken the opportunity to sell any, either. I have been trying to make several different styles to meet different tastes. I have given a few pairs away, and that has been good advertisement, but now I just need to say, "If you would like to order a pair, let me know" when people see a pair they love.

Okay, enough of this dull update... Merry Christmas, everyone!