Sunday, April 29, 2007

Disappointment

So Saturday we went to Roger's to this wonderful jewlery show. We were expecting it to be really cool and have lots of expensive J Lo type jewlery...you know big fat 6 karat pink diamonds...so not! We walked in and it was like a car lot on a Saturday...there were jewelry guys everywhere! So many that at one point, two of them were arguing over a customer. Fortunately for us we had an appointment with the guy we had talked to before. Anyway he started showing us all the different rings and really there wasn't anything all that exciting. I mean it didn't really seem like everything he had hyped it up to be. Sure there were nice rings, but I thought Roger's had nice rings. There wasn't anything new that jumped out at me. I found one ring that was similar to the first one that I liked but Dave didn't like that one because it wasn't sparkly enough. He said that it wasn't as flashy as the first one that I picked out and he thought it looked dirty. Hell it would have saved him half of what the other one I like is!!

So we left there still liking the original one that I had said before. Today we were talking and I was talking to my friend Christine. She is like jewelry goddess and has all of the nicest diamonds you can imagine. She was saying that we don't have to buy our stone from Roger's. (The setting is there, and then we buy the diamond seperately so that we can have the size/color that we want). So I was like yeah...we were thinking that the diamond at Roger's was a little over priced because it is a SI2 ( I guess that means that there are inclusions in it that can be seen at times). Christine said that for the price they were asking it seemed really high. So we thought we would go back to the very first jewelry store we looked at because they used to be Rogers and the lady there used to work for Rogers. She was really helpful and took her time with us explaining all the different colors, inclusions and sizes of diamonds. After I talked to Christine, Dave and I were talking and we decided that we might take out some of the diamonds from my mom's rings and put them in there. My sister got her wedding ring, but it would be nice if I had a diamond in my engagement ring that was from something of my moms. I thought it was really cute that he thought about that when we were talking about getting diamonds from somewhere else. Having a diamond from my mom's ring would make that ring that much more special.

Ugh so that's the ring update for now...

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Friends

Well this seems like the topic of the day. I read Shannon's post and I read Steph's post and I see both of their points. Call me the mediator if you will but after reading both of them it made me stop and look at my friends.

I have friends that I tell absolutely everything to. I also have friends that don't mix so well because some of my work friends are in their 30s and the friends we hang out with all the time are our age and at times act 12. Hence why I see both of the points.

Growing up I had three close friends. I had Shasta, Julie and Callie. Shasta and Julie have been my friends since I can remember knowing what a friend was. I did absolutely everything with these girls and we always seemed to end up in my bathroom. Don't ask...my bathroom has that affect on people and it was just a place to talk. When our pets died, when our hearts were broken, we headed to the bathroom. My mom understood this...my dad thought we were the weirdest people on the planet. These were the two girls that when my mom died, the drove to the house and I literally waited for them on my front steps. These were the friends that I chose to need because they knew my mom and she was like their mom...they felt like they too lost a mom. At that point in the night, my friends from college were there. My friends that I spent every single day and night with. Even my friend Teela was there and I had only met her the month before, but she was a good friend taking time off work for someone she was just becoming close with. However, while those friends were already there I remember thinking...I need Shasta and Julie. I need the girls that have always been here for me, the girls that I probably haven't talked to in the last month (Well I talked to Shasta more often than Julie but even then not that often). I need the friends that I have neglected because I have been busy with my life just haven't had the time to pick up the phone...but I need them now and I KNOW they will be here. Sure enough those girls showed up and immediately walked me into the bathroom where we closed the door and cried. My friends from Reno didn't know that I would find comfort crying in the bathroom, but these girls did. So these are my close friends that I can count on even if I haven't been the best of friend at calling them or spending time with them.

Then there's Callie. I met her in second grade and we were literally inseperable from that point on. We did everything together spent every moment together and then she moved away our freshman year. I was sad thought my world was ending (well at that point it was because life when Callie moved turned to shit with my mom getting cancer, my boyfriend dumping me and my close friends at the time not being allowed to be my friend anymore...only Shasta was around at this point). We kept in touch and we have visited each other. She was here for my college graduation and that was a great time. We had a blast...yet another friend that I could just pick up and go right from where we left off at. So there you have my three close friends.

I have now noticed however that as you get older, you do have different groups of friends. It is hard because sometimes these groups don't mix. They don't mix not because they can't get along, but at times they simply don't mix because they have personality differences. For me you can take my "work friends" and my "all the time friends". My friends that we hang out with on the weekends and go on trips with...the people I call my friends can really be immature at times. They haven't all grown up or really moved past that let's go out and party hard core and then get wasted and act like an ass. (Ok maybe it's just Eric that hasn't moved past that). My work friends are all older than me. I'm the baby at my school. They range from ages 31-42. I have an absolute blast with these people. I look forward to going to school each day to spend time with them. I think this is so because they are more mature. They are all family oriented and all married. Not that that matters, but they aren't really down for going out and getting wasted. Maybe going out and having a few drinks and having a good time, but not getting obligerated and acting like a total ass. So these people aren't going to mix well. I will be the one that is uncomfortable because I will feel like I have to be mediator and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and then forget to enjoy myself. So in this case I can see how the lots of friends don't mix, but I seem to want each of those people in my life for one reason or another.

I like Stephanie have lots of friends on myspace. I don't talk to all of them all the time and a lot of them are people that I have graduated with. I do like keeping in touch and just seeing where we all are. But I bet that I don't talk to each of them once a month. I probably don't talk to them once every six months. But then I wouldn't consider all of those people my friends. They are my acquaintences, people who I like to keep in touch with, but could live without if I lost touch with them. Who do I talk to most on there...Shasta, Shannon and a few other people.

Also as I have gotten older I have noticed as I said that I am valuing the people I work with more than the friends that I am with on the weekends. We are all growing to be so different that really all we hang out with is our friends Eric and Teela. Even they are still in the go out and party mode and I'm just not. I was over that when I turned 21. Our other friends strained friendships and for me it's like walking on eggshells when we are all together. These are the big things that Shannon referenced in her blog. My friend Steve and I were inseperable in college. People thought we dated we spent so much time together...then my mom died. Not a phone call, nothing! He was at a football camp and his mom called him to tell him. He claims he didn't have service yet he called his girlfriend. Hello if I was important you could have called collect. To me that is a big thing...we were close and I have a very hard time forgiving that. Even Eric who can't be mature at times was there for me. It is a big thing that I can cut that tie. And I pretty much have. I used to spend everyday with Steve and then talk to him on the phone for like 5 hours each night. Now I only spend time with him because he is dave's friend and I don't want to alienate dave's friend from him. My friend Monica that I lived with and was pretty much best friends with I hardly talk to. She moved to Fallon to student teach and got a job there and we grew apart. I know I could go to her and we are still very good friends...by no means have I written her off. But I also used to talk to her every minute of the day and now I maybe talk to her once a week. I have learned that you grow apart from people and you learn who your real friends are. I still consider Monica a friend but at this point in our lives it seems we have very different agendas and have just had too much time apart...we have almost filled each others need for each other with other people. Holy shit this blog is all over the place...let's get back to those work friends.

I have a friend Chrissy that I work with. I actually met her in college through Steve (I should thank him he introduced me to her and Dave!) and then she did her student teaching at my school. We get along great and were good friends but it wasn't until this year that we have really become close friends. I totally consider her one of my closest friends and I tell her everything. She is the first person that I call when I am having a bad day and when she rips my head off for no apparent reason, I just take her some cookies and say have a better attitude by lunch when I see you again. She is the person that I have my relationship/friendship that Shannon referenced. I fight with her like I am married to her and yet we know that when we do rip the other one's head off, we just needed that moment and we will be sorry in a minute. We know that we don't take it personally and we are still friends. Even Dave and her husband Eric (totally different from the other Eric I talked about) have become better friends and now we all spend time together. But I still find that we haven't managed to work ourselves into "that group of friends". Your "all the time friends" as I like to call them and at times that bothers me. I know we appreciate each other like no tomorrow, yet I also know that as a whole group of friends we don't mix well together. So I think this is where the non mixing comes in again. I can tell you that Chrissy has made me realize the value of a friend again that I haven't seen since Shasta and Julie. We became close this year because another teacher was on maternity leave and it gave us the chance to work together. The constant being near each other is what I feel I need. I have learned that when my friends go away for a while I realize the things that make me not really miss them...I find those more than the things that make me miss them. With Monica I missed her a ton at first, then it was like I had a life here and she had a new roommate and a whole new set of friends there. I think you need that constant in your life in order to maintain friendships in a healthy way. At least for me when I find that I am away from the people for a long time I think I forget why I always had them as my friend. The qualities that I couldn't live without get replaced by someone else filling that need and then I forget how important those people were. I would venture to say that I take them for granted in that aspect. But when I really really stop and think about it, there are two people that are the definition of a friend in every single aspect. I know I can call up Shasta after not talking to her for months and know she will be there. I can do that with Chrissy too. I don't see Shasta but maybe twice a year and I see Chrissy every single day. Somehow I maintain with these two people everything that is important to me. I know they are there and I don't have to worry about them not being there tomorrow because I forgot to call or I didn't go to see them. (Ok I'm really starting to ramble!)

So long story short...I have many acquaintences, I have quiet a few friends that I enjoy spending time with, and I have two close friends that I share all with (ok three if you include Dave but I was talking about girly friends here). I see why Shannon needs her three close friends and is ok with that because I always want to talk to my close friends and be around them too. I see why Stephanie has friends that don't mix because she enjoys spending time with the different people but they might not all enjoy spending time together as a big group for various reasons. I guess I need both...I need my friends that I know are there for anything and everything and I need my wacky friends that don't mix with my fun work friends. I need them all for one reason or another.

As Christina Yang on Grey's Anatomy put it...Shasta and Chrissy are my people!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Rogers

I almost forgot...I don't remember if I told you guys when I said we last went and looked at rings, but the guy at Rogers said that they were having some big jewelry show and that he would send us an invitation. Dave said sure but I just thought he was being polite. So yesterday we got the little invitation. I didn't know it was there so I was on the computer paying a bill and he goes did you see we got our invite from Rogers? Uh NO! Oh well it's here some place...I like how he brings it up and then plays it off all nonchalaunt. So I of course said well where is it? He finds it and I was like oh that's nice. I must have said something along the lines of oh well it's not like your interested in going. His response: If I wasn't interested in going, I would have thrown it away.

This is good news in my direction right people...I'm not going to bring it up and I'm going to see where we end up on April 28!!

Graduation and such

So I am very proud of Dave for finishing school. He is going to graduate in May and this makes me very proud of him. I remember what a bitch college can be and he is trying to do it while working full time. So naturally I want to have a little BBQ Graduation Party. Get the friends together and have a nice time. What a nice girlfriend right...WRONG!

So I asked him last night to tell me who he wanted to invite. You see sometimes it is difficult to mix two couples of our friends because one is our friends we have hung out with forever, and one is a work friend of mine that Dave had known before. Well one of the boys thinks the other is just a jackass (have you figured out that the boy that is the jackass is my friend Eric...Oddly enough they are both named Eric). So that poses a problem because Chrissy and her husband offered to have it at their house. And then we have to invite all the friends that always cause drama...it was just going to be a mess in my world so I asked him to tell me who he wanted to invite. Our converstation went like this...

Ang: Who all do you want to come to your grad party?

Dave: I don't care

Ang: Well I'm not sure who all to invite so let me know who you want?

Dave: (Now being a jerk) Invite everyone!

Ang: Ok I don't know who "everyone" entails so could you please just tell me...you would think you would be appreciative that I want to have a nice party in your honor.

Dave: I really don't care...I don't even want a stupid party.

Ang: (Me looking very hurt and at the same time completely annoyed) Why wouldn't you want one? It would be nice to have everyone together!

Dave: If you know anything about me you know I hate parties.

Enter me not speaking to him now. I have no idea what the deal is with having a freaking party. I know he doesn't like to open presents in front of people, but hello it will probably all be cards and you can just open them at home. Other than that I don't know what the hell his problem is.

So my question...do I actually listen to him and not plan a party or do I take it as he is just being modest like girls would and then if I don't plan him one he is going to have hurt feelings?

A Short Hooray!!

Sanjaya is finally gone...America figured it out...why Blake was in the bottom I haven't got the slightest...but none the less Sanjaya is gone! YAY!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Jota vs Joto

Well today was a learning experience. We are doing multicultural night and I am teaching my kids how to basque dance. It's going well...they are having fun I am having fun...that was until today. The name of the dance is the Jota...go ahead if you see where this is going and challenge me. Let me preface this with the fact that Dave made fun of me last summer telling me that was a bad word or the word for gay or faggot (and I hate that word) in Spanish...I think he is being funny...I am wrong. Today I name the dance again and about 7 kids all spanish speaking students bust up laughing. I realize the problem I have and tell them that we will talk at recess. I stress the point that if they tell the rest of the class we just aren't going to learn the dance and we will be done. I mean it's not a bad word if it means gay but it if it is slang for fag, then it sounds like I am calling my kids fags all day...just what I need.

So I immediate inform my principal and VP in case any disgruntled parents should call. I doubt they will but that would be my luck. So we looked it up in the spanish dictionary and it means the letter j or a dance. Then we looked it up on wikipedia and it means a spanish dance or music or some kind of scandinavian sawerkraut! Yeah...THEN my VP looks it up on urbandictionary.com and if you haven't ever visited this dumb site you should. As annoying as it is some of the words they have on there...it's actually pretty funny. So on that site a joto or a jota is the mexican slang for a homosexual male or a faggot...hello not my problem that my 8 year old kids have their minds in the gutter!!!!

Any parents that want to challenge me can bring it...I have the spanish dictionary and wikipedia to back me up!!!

Question Game

Ok so Shannon and some of her other blogger buddies have done this game and I thought it would be fun to try out. So these are the five questions that Shannon asked me.

1. Why did you become a teacher and are there days you regret it?
I think I have always wanted to become and teacher and it wasn't until I got into the actual classroom that I figured out why. The first day that I saw the light bulb go off for a child, I knew why I wanted to be a teacher. When you see them understand something for the first time, or see them finally get something that they have been working so hard to get it is the most rewarding feeling in the entire world. So that's why I became a teacher ( I believe there is another blog down below that goes into this more in depth). Are there days I regret it...YES! Ok not really. Today for example I wanted to pull my hair out because this little boy would not shut up and follow directions. He was just go go go all day long and he would never just quit or he kept saying totally smart ass things. It's moments like that that I don't regret teaching...I regret not being able to cuss at them and tell them to shut the hell up and follow my damn directions haha!! No child, even my hardest little boy from last year has made me regret teaching...there have however been times when I wanted to strangle colleauges...I guess that only made me want to teach more so I could get the shitty teachers out haha!

2. If I could go back and tell my mom any one thing what would it be?
Hmm here is a super tough one. I think the day my moms cancer finally hit me was the day I told my mom everything about my personal life in high school. I told her I was having sex, when I lost my virginity and told her that I really wanted an open relationship with her. So I can't say there is anything that I regret not saying or that I feel like I didn't get to tell her. I guess there are two things I wish I could have told her...one was that the night of her rosary I wrote her a letter...I poured my heart out into three pages in less than 20 minutes. I told her how I appreciated all the times she made my curfew 30 minutes earlier than everyone elses, because usually the trouble always happened in that 30 minutes. I told her how I got why I was never allowed to do somethings and that I"m glad I had those restrictions because they made me a better person...filled the letter with that kind of stuff. So I wish that she could have actually heard all that stuff and that it was just sitting in her casket never being read again. The other thing that I really really wish I could have told her about my first day of teaching. She died the month before I began teaching. So her birthday isn't too bad for me, the day she died, other holidays don't bother me much (although I am a shitty teacher at mother's day because I am very bitter that I don't have my mom here to celebrate it with and that my snotty little kids are asses to their moms and don't appreciate them). But the day that bothers me the most is the first day or week of school. I always get sad driving to school in the mornings and meeting my kids for the first time. I always wish that I could call her at lunch and tell her all about my new class and hear her say "that's great babe I'm proud of you..." No one and I mean NO ONE can say that statement and mean it as much as my mom did...ask my sister she tried. She sucks at being my mom!

I also wish Dave could have known her. He only met her once and I don't think he can really appreciate what I really think of my mom. She told me once that she wanted to know who the boy was that put a smile back on my face...I know she approved of him then!

3. Your stranded on a desert island, you can bring three things, they can not be electric, food or drink, what are they?
What a great question. The first thing I would bring would be pictures from home. I am a picture freak and I have tons and tons of pictures. So I would have to bring pictures with me. I would also bring this pink blanket that I bought at Target. It was on sale for like 4 bucks and it is the thinnest blanket you have ever seen. It is however also one of the warmest blankets I have ever used. For being such a chincy looking blanket it warms you up in like 2 minutes. It's made of terry cloth and fleece and it's my favorite. Hmm the other thing I would have to bring would be a suduko book...it would keep me entertained and I couldn't really think of anything else to bring so I needed entertainment.

4. What is one quality from how you were raised that you hope you don't utilize in your own parenting?
Hmm yet another great question. As I said above, I have come to an understanding about my stupid curfew always being before my friends by 30 minutes and I kid you not it was always 30 minutes before them. So I wouldn't change all those weird kinds of things because I get why she did them. But my mom was a yeller. I notice that my sister yells at her kids a lot. Neither one of them spank their kids, but they yell all the time and I think that yelling can hurt just as much sometimes if it is done long enough. So I hope that I will be able to control my anger better and not be such a yeller...hopefully I will have better patience and I won't blow up at my kids over silly little things.

5. What is one thing you wish you could learn to do?
Wow there are a lot of things I wish I could do better...like draw, play softball (I just learned that) those kinds of things. But I think one thing I would really like to learn to do would be take photography pictures. And not just pictures like the kinds that I take now...the really neat pictures that people have of old benches and random flowers...and to make them in black and white. I would love to learn to do that...I think it would be fun and I would of course have pictures all over my house because I am a picture freak!!

So that's the game...if you want to play let me know and I"ll email you five questions. It was really fun and Shannon's questions were awesome!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

BOYCOTTING!

Alright not sure who in the blogging world watches American Idol, but I am going to vent. Ok reality TV not really something to get worked up over. But could someone PLEASE tell me why Sanjaya is still on this show The guy can't really sing...ALL of the other ones are better than him and he is taking the place of people who really deserve to be there!! Gina got kicked off tonight and Haley got to stay? Nothing against Haley, but hello Gina was 15 billion times better! I am now convinced that pretty people get to stay (Haley) and other people will go because they don't sport the look...and for the record I think Gina is way hotter than Haley because she has more of a fun personality! I'd be willing to bet that Lakisha and Melinda go pretty soon even though they are arguably the best girls on the stage. UGH! And I have decided that every single person voting for Sanjaya is doing so because otherwise we are going to have 9-11 x 1000 (ok that was mean but why the hell else is he staying...it's not due to singing ability!)

Therefore I am boycotting the show...Blake and Gina were my pics for the final two...and if they are going to allow people who can't sing to stay then why would I watch...I mean I'm watching to see good singers not idiots with ponytail mohawks on top of their heads! UGH!

**disclaimer** since I have no self control, I am certain that I will NOT be able to boycot the show...I must know when my friend Sanjaya goes home and it better be soon!!!

AZ Peek-tures!

Finally I have the pictures back...some of them turned out pretty good...there's not as many as I for some reason thought I took but here's what I came back with.

This is Dave and his nephew Daunte...he's getting so big and we sure do wish that he was still living in Reno!!

This is another picture of Dave and Daunte...Daunte looks like he is going to be a monkey on the corner turning the music box for money with his master. We had been drinking yummy (well in my opinion of course) grandma margaritas and this new fruity berry drink that she makes. The woman can make some booze!!


Eric giving Grandma Margarita's a try for the first time. We all anxiously awaited the look on his face when he tried this lovely concoction. You have to understand that Dave's grandma's margarita's are potent and after you get one down (not that you need another one because one will make you fall on your ass) the rest go down even easier and then you hate the woman in the morning when you can't move and be a functioning human being.



There is the woman responsible for the wonderful drinks and the bearable times in AZ...haha see the alcohol makes it bearable at times!


Here is my favorite picture from Mexico...it actually turned out good...sometimes we take good ones and sometimes we should burn them...this is a good one. Notice the yummy margarita in front of me...yes this picture was taken only an hour before the complete blow up at the mother...don't you love how alcohol also assists in such matters? I do!


This was Eric at the beginning of the day in Mexico. He now has on his newly purchased Oakleys for $10 and is drinking his quart of beer...yeah I said quart...only in Mexico.


This is Eric midway through the day in Mexico. Although he looks completely wasted in this pic, he isn't. He as doing a nice job of posing for me...the next picture however I cannot vouch for his drunkenness. Maybe he was good to go here and I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt!

Here is Eric AND Dave at the end of the night...yeah we were driving home from Mexico and they were serenading Kayla and I as we drove...it was as you can imagine American Idol material. I mean they would totally give Sanjaya a run for his money...Rock on Rockstars...rock on!


This is all of us after leaving the wonderful Green Door. Good little bar...cheap beer...naked girls yeah not what we were actually expecting. We had always heard that it was a "questionable" place, but Dave and I had never seen anything. This trip was rather interesting though and we quickly learned the difference between American strip clubs and Mexican ones...like the ones in Mexico occur wherever in the hell they feel like and ours are in an actual strip club!! Behind all of us is a huge bottle of tequila that is on display on the corner. You can see the top of it above my head (kinda). Also, we were right next to the Purple Pharmacia (and yes that is what it is called). It's a pharmacy and liquor store...good combo right? Yeah did I mention that you do not need a prescription over there for drugs? Like I said great combo! Anyway our favorite saying from the trip was "Pharmacia...cheap cheap...almost free for you my friend." This is what every single Mexican guy says as you walk buy the 15 million pharmacy/liquor stores and it happens every trip. It's hilarious and we spent the rest of the night saying it!


Ok I just stole these from Kayla's myspace...this one is of me and Daunte...he likes to share the margarita ice with me...of course I get yelled at but oh well!!

And this was the boys the minute we sat down in Mexico...interesting how their night turned out from the above pictures haha!

So there you have the pictures from my trip. Kayla is supposed to be sending me more of hers and I'm not sure what all she has on her camera. So there should be more pictures to come!

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

New!!

So finally after much debate and several test drives...I got a new car yesterday! It's a 2007 Saturn Aura...it was between that and the Grand Prix (anyone who says I should have gone with the grand prix keep the comment to yourself..this decision was hard enough as it was :) ) I went back to saturn to test drive it again yesterday because I just didn't seem to like it as much as the grand prix. Keep in mind I had a grand am so I was a little biased...plus we took a grand prix to AZ for spring break so I got a good feel for that car. The saturn people were really nice and after another test drive I decided that I could be ok in this car. It was pretty much the same as the grand prix but I got no interest on my financing which is great!! So I am excited and although I was sad to see my old car go, I am excited for one that isn't going to break down all the time.

In other news I totally found the ring I want. I cannont seem to find a picture of it online, but it's from roger's and it is BEAUTIFUL. I fell in love with it pretty much instantly and dave really liked it too. He got my ring size (this is a step in a SOON directoin wouldn't you think) and he even let the guy get his ring size since there was a spot for it on the back of the card. He also tried on rings to see what it would look like and it was funny. YOu could tell that he was not used to wearing jewelry and this specific type of ring was going to take even longer to get used to wearing. But hey at least he tried it on...so as soon as I find a picture I will put it up here...he told me that he is waiting for a special moment and by special moment he meant special date that isn't here yet. I can't for the life of me think when an important special date would be coming up soon...my birthday is july 31 that's the only thing and I can think of. He told me it would make sense when it happened because he has it all planned out in his head...

anyone know how to extract thoughts so that I can see this master plan hahaha