Paperwork Monsters

I have been drowning in paperwork lately.  On the positive side, it has reminded me about why I'm an English teacher: I teach kids to read a text and really understand it.  Hopefully, when they are drowning in HOA contracts and Escrow paperwork, they too will be able to read and understand the finer points.

I dressed casually for church Sunday.  One, I wanted to be comfortable.  Two, I hadn't done laundry and when you are out of trousers and skirts…you are left with jeans!  The top and the cardigan don't really match, but they didn't not match either.

Sunday

Top: Kohl's
Cardigan: Banana Republic
Jeans: Mudd (Kohl's)
Necklace: J.Crew Outlet
Shoes: Sperry (Dillard's)

 Monday at work was a crazy day.  I wore the pink dress as a skirt, but the black sweater I wore kept rolling up a  little, so I thought it looked weird.  Oh well.

Monday

Sweater: Loft
Dress: JcPenney
Tights
Necklace: Dustee's
Shoes: Hush Puppies

Friday and Saturday

We were supposed to have a showing today on our house.  The people never called, but they also never showed up…so we woke up early and drove our dogs around for an hour for absolutely no reason.  GRRR.

Friday
Sweater: Cato Fashion
Skirt: Walmart
Flats: Hush Puppies
Necklace: Target

Saturday
Top: Loft
Cardigan: Maurice's
Jeans: Mudd (Kohl's)
Sperry's: Dillard's

House Hunting Trip

Last weekend was crazy.  I had two interviews Thursday afternoon via phone.  This was also the second day of parent/teacher conferences.  I had permission to leave the conferences for an hour or so in order to hide in my car for said interviews.  Also, it was raining.  So you can imagine how well the phone interview reception was!

I had one really good phone interview and one really bad phone interview.  I wanted to be really upset about the bad interview, but I wasn't.  I reflected on it before heading back inside for P/T conferences, and I realized I had done NOTHING wrong.  In fact, many of the questions they asked were the same as the one before, and that interview could not have gone better.  The first interview I had was for a school similar to the one where I currently teach: it's a demographic of economically disadvantaged students and the school does a LOT to help those kids succeed.  This first interview was with the department head.  She was friendly and conversational and I felt really good about it.  The second interview started out with bad phone reception (which I apologized for, explaining I was in my car in the rain because I was in between meetings with parents).  The interview would ask a question and then interrupt me in the middle of my answer to say she could hear me better at that particular second.  Or once she asked me a question about my use of technology, and as I was in the middle of a sentence interrupted to ask, "Wait, how big is your school?  Do you even have diversity?"  Ummm…really?!  I felt like this person thought so highly of her school that she didn't even respect me enough to realize I was also interviewing her, that I was also trying to decide if the school would be a good fit for ME.

Obviously, this made my decision really easy.  Second school: cross it off my list.

After the end of parent/teacher conferences at 8pm Thursday evening, hubby and I drove nearly three hours to St. Louis to catch a few hours of sleep.  Our flight was to leave at 5:30 am Friday morning.  And we all know that you have to get to the airport a few hours early to make it through security.  After about three hours of shut-eye, we got to the airport around 3:30 in the morning!

Once we got to Phoenix (our new home!) we drove to the high school where I had given my first phone interview.  The interviewer (dept. head) had invited me to come visit her classroom and see how I felt about the school!  It went really well and I was offered a job on the spot.  I feel so blessed to have found a wonderful school family so quickly in the process!

After checking out the school, hubby and I headed to the hotel for a quick change before starting the house hunting.  Here's my outfit from AFTER that quick-change:

Top: H&M
Undershirt: The Limited
Jeans: Mudd (Kohl's)
Sandals: Toms
Necklace: Gift from hubby

Ignore the blurry shots and the ugly toes.  Day one of house hunting was a bust and hubby and I felt a little discouraged.  Day two went much, much better.  We found TWO houses we really liked and we put offers out on both.  One came back immediately with an acceptance of all our terms! Here's a picture of my outfit that day AND a quick pic of the house:

Bow Top: Dillard's
Lattice Pants: Cato Fashion
Necklace: Gift from hubby
Sandals: Toms

Since we had an offer on the house, Sunday was spent by the pool as we waited for paperwork to be finalized so that we could sign off on things before heading back to MO.

Maxi Dress used as coverup: Kohl's

To recap:  In one weekend, I got a job and a house!  Not too shabby.

Start of the Week

Each night I tell myself that I'm going to go to bed early and get some more sleep.  It never happens.  Why does it never happen?  These are questions that I am haunted by.  Also, I ended that sentence with a preposition, which also haunts me.  But I'm too tired to care.

Top: Kohl's
Cardigan: J.Crew
Skirt: Walmart
Tights
Flats: Toms
Necklace: J.Crew

Top: JcPenney
Jeans: Mudd-Kohl's
Cardigan: JcPenney
Flats: Hushpuppy
Necklace: Premier Jewelry

Owning It

We have been preparing for our upcoming move by de-cluttering.  It's amazing how much you accumulate over time.  It was quite embarrassing to see how much junk we've held on to in the almost-three years we've lived in our home.

We've gotten rid of so much stuff--most of it donated to Goodwill or friends--and I'm now feeling okay about where we are at with our stuff.  Yes, we could get rid of more, but we aren't out-and-out hoarding anything either.

Here are my photos from the past few days:

Black Top: JcPenney
Gray Cardigan: Maurices
Jeans: Mudd-Kohl's
Flats: Hush Puppies
Pendant Necklace: gift from hubby

Cream Sweater: Loft
Skirt: Target
Gray Tights
Gray Boots: Payless
Necklace: Francesca's

Finding Beauty

I've been working really hard this week to find the beauty in things no matter what's going on.  Putting on those rosy glasses isn't that easy for me, come to find out.  I have been trying, though.  Any time I feel like venting my frustrations or feel the urge to throw my hands up in a gesture of anger, I have been forcing myself to find the good (in either the situation or the person).  It seems to be working a little.  I'm feeling a little less burnt out.  I am finding I do have a little more to give at my job.  I just needed to change my perspective.

Friday the staff and students were asked to wear purple in honor of the student who passed away this week.  This student had Cystic Fibrosis, and purple is the awareness color.  Due to my going to a capsule wardrobe, the only purple I currently have in my closet is through accessories.

Top: Kohl's
Skirt: Walmart
Necklace: Francesca's
Tights: Walmart
Kitten Heels: Union Bay

Lace Top: H&M
Blue Tank (not well seen): Old Navy found at Goodwill
Flyaway Cardigan: Charlotte Russe
Jeans: Mudd from Kohl's
Boots: Kohl's
Necklace: Premier Jewelry

I woke up with a migraine today and, on top of that, it had snowed last night, so I wasn't able to go to my writing group today.  I really enjoy meeting with those ladies; we have been meeting for over five years now.  We eat and we talk and we write and we share our writing.  It's awesome.  Fortunately, I was able to take some migraine medicine early enough and it seems to be working.  Fingers crossed this thing totally goes away.  The dizziness and head-cloudiness (I think I just made that word up) I get with  these headaches is terrible.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got to work Friday morning to find that some sweet child had made individual valentines for every single student at the school and placed them on each locker.  Can you imagine how much work that is to make an individual cut-out heart, hand write the note, and then tape them onto over 700 lockers?  I mean, WOW.

And then this morning, when I woke from the dead (weekends are for sleeping in, right?) I found a dozen roses, a heart-shaped cookie cake, and cherry turnovers on the kitchen table.

My husband is awesome.

Here's what I wore to work Friday:

Love Sweater: Target
Sparkle Skirt: Maurice's
Gray Tights: Walmart
Kitten Heels: Union Bay

Necklace: Premier Jewelry

And today I dressed like a slob and I didn't care. Hubby and I stayed in.  I worked on my spring capsule wardrobe and then did some grading.  Hubby watched TV and read a book.  We played fetch with the dogs.  It was awesome.

T-Shirt: I think I got it at the shoe store Journeys
Jeans: Mudd for Kohl's
Flyaway Cardigan: I think I said it was Maurice's before, but my hubby said he thinks it's from Charlotte Russe.
Purple Socks: Target
Moccasins: I got them from an Indian Shop in OK

You can't tell, but the shirt says "No Prob-llama"  I got it because I LOVE llamas.

Tuesday

Today I took care of my teeth.  Like the alliteration there?  I had a dentist appointment in the middle of the day, so took the whole day off.  Who doesn't love a random day off in the middle of the week!

Hubby and I headed to town early so we could try a new doughnut shop that opened up several months ago.  It was good, but a lot of calories for food that didn't really taste any different than any other donut I've had.  I had a red velvet cake donut with white chocolate glaze and hubby had a maple-bacon donut.  I give them props for cool flavor combo ideas.

Plaid Shirt: Old Navy
Bird Sweater: Old Navy
Jeans: Mudd from Kohl's
Necklace: Premier Jewelry
Boots: Payless