Belated Two Things Tuesday

My evening was very busy yesterday, so I did not get around to posting this on the right day. But, seriously, who cares when I post these things anyhow?



Two Things:

1. I hate UTEP - I cannot overstate this. While, yes, I had a handful of fantastic professors during my time in college, the whole experience is severely soured by my dealings with the administration.

Without delving much into past events, let's just jump to today, rather, last night, when I received an email stating that there had been a grade change initiated by one of my instructors, changing it to a score which implies I never finished the course.

Ahem, I GRADUATED 3 YEARS AGO! I wasn't even aware they could change grades after a degree had been awarded, especially so long ago. Without a grade in the course, I would be lacking enough credits for my degree, possibly rendering my degree invalid. You can imagine my fury last night after reading the email. I was literally shaking. I thought I was done with UTEP.

It became my mission today to short things out. It's a good thing I don't live in the same city anymore. Instead I started calling this morning, trying to get ahold of anyone who knew anything or could do anything. That became a chore in of itself. It took me 9 phone calls to the operator and transfers to the Registration and Records office before I bypassed the operator and just called directly repeatedly. Each time, no answer, transfer to voicemail, voicemail was full. The operators had tried transferring me to two real people instead of the main number. The same thing happened, no answer, transfer to voicemail, voicemail full. After 6 more phone calls to the Records office, I finally got someone. She was kind enough to giggle at the situation and remark that I shouldn't have graduated. I reiterated how important it was to get things sorted today and she promised someone would call me back. I was less than hopeful. After some extra help from a few fantastic people, I did receive a call back. Everything would be sorted out ASAP. Apparently, no one signed some sort of paperwork and the system caught it in an audit. Whatever. It's done.

2. Getting Organized - I bought Dan a shelving unit for his pint glasses. They used to be stacked in groups of 2 or 3 on top of the game cabinet. Nightmares of a cat jumping up on top of the game cabinet out of curiosity drove me to my purchase. It looks much better and makes me feel better, too.

Two Things Tuesday - Middle School Fashion Edition

While the school at which I teach has a dress code, the students nevertheless find ways in which to personalize their look. Today, my 2tT focuses on a couple of fashion choices the kids make.

1. Bows - This one surprised me last year. I did not expect the girls to wear bows in middle school. I grew out of them well before 4th grade, opting for headbands for the rest of my life. The girls at my school absolutely love bows. The bows are big, floppy numbers. It's adorable on the kids. It makes them seem more like the kids they are than the teenagers they're turning into.
2. Sagging pants - I know. This has been around forever and shouldn't have surprised me. For some reason, I had expected this trend to die out at some point in the last 10 years. No dice. However, to add to the ridiculousness, there are boys who are sagging skinny jeans. Try to get a visual on that. They all look like penguins or little kids with poopy diapers. It's hilarious. I assume they continue to sag because they have no idea how they look. One would hope they wouldn't continue sagging if they actually knew how they looked.

30 Things Series - Number 2

2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.

There was a blog post I wrote about 6-7 years ago in which I had posted a few things I wanted for myself in the future. One of the items was to buy a couch. I must have seen #2 on the 30 Things list coming.

At the time, I was still living at home, in college, and spending an inordinate amount of time playing The Sims 2. Life was good, but I wanted more. Spending hours "buying" Sim furniture and decorating apartments and houses was just a cursory fix.

Years later, when I moved out, I moved into an apartment with my then boyfriend, now fiancé, Dan. Our apartment was a small, one bedroom bachelor pad with little room for anything more than the things he already had. I didn't have the option of adding much of anything.

Making one's first large purchase for a home feels like a rite of passage. Before Dan bought a house which needed filling, I was a college graduate. By age, I was technically an adult. However, I'd never had any serious bills to pay or anything of substantial cost I needed to buy. I was in this strange, in between stage. It gave me a feeling of being left to the wind, as if I weren't truly anchored.

After Dan bought our house, I began my mission to fill the house. We did well with furniture he had, things he had in storage, some great pieces donated by friends and family, and a few things my mother so graciously bought for us. It began to feel like home. I started having to pay some real bills (hello student loan payments). I also made my first big purchase - a washer and dryer. It felt like a very adult thing to do.

I remember sitting in front of the washer, watching it as it ran, then the dryer. I was proud of my purchase. Though they weren't a piece of furniture, they counted as my rite of passage. I was an adult furnishing her adult home!

While furnishing the house, I discovered Craigslist, much to Dan's chagrin. I was beyond excited when I found an all oak, roll top desk. I had always wanted one of those! Dan and I went to pick it up from across town, disassembled the thing, carted it all the way back to the house, then reassembled it in what was my office at the time. It was beautiful! And my laptop didn't fit on the desk space due to the roll top.

Soon after, I sold the desk and picked up a smaller, Bombay Company cherry wood desk which I loved almost as much as the roll top. I also found two antique chairs on Craigslist I just had to have. They're currently sitting chairs in the guest room. I'm not sure if that is they're permanent place just yet. These chairs and the desk are my favorite passage into true adulthood purchases.

In the end, I'd have to say I agree with the necessity of purchasing a decent piece of furniture not previously owned by someone in my family. While there is certainly nothing wrong with family or friend donated furniture (I have some lovely things from Granny's storage shed), it creates a feeling of ownership over your home, wherever it is, to have something you chose, then made the commitment to purchase.

 

30 Things Series - Number 1

One of the newest books which I have started reading has inspired me to start a blog series in response. The book, Thirty Things a Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She is 30, is based on a list by the same name.

Pamela Satran originally wrote the list for Glamour magazine. You can read more about that, as well as the list in its entirety here.

This blog series will be in response to each of the items on the list. I can't say for sure how often I'll post one of these responses, but I can promise to be very honest with what I write. Some responses will be harder to write than others.

Now, without further ado, I give you 30 Things - Number 1:

By 30, you should have ...


1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come.

Before I just dive in and answer this one, I feel like it is important to figure out why it might be good for a woman to have one of each of these. It wouldn't be very telling for me to just list two names and move on to the next post.

It's harder to explain why it might be important to have an old boyfriend I could imagine going back to. I mean, really, if I could imagine going back to them, it ought to follow that I might as well just do that. However, my mom told me once that people break up for a reason and it is important to keep that reason in mind when thinking about the person with whom you broke up with. I suppose having someone you could imagine going back to should tell you that not all your decisions were bad. You should see that you had progressed from the one you dated who you can look back upon and see how far you've come. Perhaps it is meant to show you that you started dating people for the good person they are as opposed to any other reason.

With that being said, here goes. For anonymity's sake, I'm using initials. Those know me well shouldn't have much of an issue figuring out to whom I am referring.

I'd have to name DH as the man I could imagine going back to. He was truly a great guy. He respected me, treated me well, and supported my dreams. We were content. However, content is not enough. He lacked ambition and drive. He was also very negative about himself and the world around him. I cannot live with these things. Additionally, of marriage, he said he preferred a "Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell" type of relationship. Not my thing. I have no ill feelings towards him and wish him nothing but the best. We simply weren't meant to be.

On the other hand, the boyfriend who reminds me of just how far I've come is obviously MK. Though a good laugh is important in life, it isn't the only thing in life. He had a fantastic sense of humor, was the epitome of romantic (in the mind of a teenager), and had ADHD in every aspect of his life. He had little attention span for school, work, or relationships. He still has yet to get that under control, based on what I can tell and have been told. People in my life tell me, "You're lucky it isn't you in that situation," when referring to him and his life. I have always responded that it never could have been me. I'm smarter than to allow myself to be put into the situations he has put himself and his family into. Though, when I was a teenager, and in what I thought was love, I might not have been smart enough. He definitely reminds me of just how far I've come in relationships.

I can't say it was easy to travel down memory lane to put this post into words and explain my thoughts behind my answers. However, after working on this post for about 3 days, I'm glad I did it. I expect the next few 30 Things posts to be much easier and fun. If you've made it to the end of this, thanks for reading. :)

Two Things Tuesday

My good friend, Elizabeth, writes a blog in which she has weekly posts for Thursday entitled, "Three Things Thursday". As I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon, I was inspired by a structured weekly post. With her permission, I altered her Thursday and changed it to my very own Two Things Tuesday.

2tT posts will be around random things. Sometimes they may be themed. No promises.

Now, without further ado, two things:

1. I love my movie buddy Dan dislikes going to the movies. I love going to the movies. It really doesn't even matter what the movie is - I'm there for the escapism and, more importantly, the popcorn. I could live on popcorn. Since Dan does not like to go to the movies, I was left with the option of not seeing them or seeing them at home. Enter Elizabeth! She is my movie buddy, and I am truly grateful for her. We snap up the $5 Groupon tickets to Studio Movie Grill every time they pop up. It makes me happy to go to the movies with Elizabeth.

2. Buh-Bye Queso In recent times, I have been eating a lot of chips and queso. I loved the melted cheese. It didn't even have to be great queso. Even just melted Velveeta worked for me. However, after a short period of not having any queso, I've discovered I can no longer stomach it. For some reason, it makes me sick to eat much of the stuff. This makes me sad. The same thing happened when I stopped eating McDonalds for a period of time. After that, it just didn't taste as good and made me sick to eat. I suppose we build up a tolerance to the junk we eat, which allows us to keep eating whatever it is. While it isn't a bad thing I can no longer stomach melted cheesy dip awesomeness, I am going to miss it very much.

Running! Exercise! Oh, My!

So, I went "running" for the first time today.  I use quotes because I didn't run the whole time and thus I feel guilty for calling it running.  This was my experience:

In preparation for my run, I bought fancy-shmancy running shoes.  You've already seen those.  They proved to be a good choice.  I also randomly had appropriate moisture wicking socks.

I was informed that I needed running shorts/pants because friction between my thighs is bad.  Instead of gearing up and buying more stuff I may never use more than once, I dug out a pair of yoga pants I've used once....  They proved to work out quite well as running pants.  They were light enough and breathed just fine.  No fires were started due to thigh friction today.

I was also informed that I would need a sports bra in order to be able to run without killing myself.  I doubled up and wore two, just to be safe.  Apparently, I need to invest in a better (or more?) sports bras.  They did function well as a holder for my asthma inhaler and cell phone.

My cell phone did manage to chafe my chest a bit from sweating and running with it tucked not so neatly inside my double layers of Lycra.  I would have left it at home, but I brought it along because I had downloaded an app called, "Runkeeper". This app tracks my speed, distance and is programmable to include running plans (run for x minutes, walk for x, and so on).  Additionally, it will make a little map of my running trail.  This was more entertaining than it should have been.  

The walking/running combination I did kicked my butt.  In fact, my butt hurts.  I'm making myself believe this is a good thing.  I didn't have any issues with my asthma (WHOO HOO!).  All in all, I'd say everything went quite well.  I'll definitely be doing this again - maybe even tomorrow - I'm going to wait and see how sore I feel in the morning.  If I can't move, there will be no running two days in a row.

Shoes - The Solution for Everything

A lovely lady at my school has begun a Biggest Loser style contest at my school. This is actually the second run of the contest. The first time around, I pretty much just donated my entry fee. This time, I'm taking it seriously. Even if I don't win, I fully intend to be 15 pounds thinner by June 1.

 Week 1 went really well. From Monday to Friday, I lost 3 pounds. I ramped up my activity and started seriously watching my caloric intake. As recommended by a good friend of mine, I've been monitoring my activity using a FitBit.

 The FitBit is a glorified pedometer. However, it not only tracks my daily steps, it also tracks distance, calories burned, stair flights climbed and my sleep. Yes, it even can tell how well I am sleeping.  Armed with this information, I have been able to quickly adjust what I can in order to be at optimal calorie intake/burn levels.

 This week (week 2), I intend to ramp things up. I found a running for beginners program on Pinterest which sounded doable, even to asthmatic me. So, in preparation for my upcoming runs, I bought these babies today: