1. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? Hmm, this one is tough! Probably my patience. There are days that I just need an extra boost of patience to get through the rest of the day. 2. Write about a time when you got lost. Haha, I am ALWAYS getting lost! I constantly call Tanner when I am on my way to a place for the first time. I used my GPS for probably the first year (yes, year) I lived in LC. 3. Camping or 5 star hotel? 5 star hotel. I've only been camping once in my life and while I had fun that weekend, it def wasn't my cup of tea. 4. Have you donated blood? No. When I was younger I had to give blood a lot for tests, so the thought of giving blood scared me when I was old enough to give blood. I think now I would be OK with it.

5. Do you have a budget or do you 'fly by' most months? A little of each. We have a budget that we try to go by, but obviously things come up (whether want or need).

2 more months of school! I am very much looking forward to this summer! Tanner and I are going to Florida for the shuttle launch (yay!) and will be going to Georgia for a few days to stay with my Aunt and Uncle and see my family! I'm VERY excited becuase some of them couldn't make it to the wedding so I'm looking forward to getting to see them. AND it will be mine and Tanner's 1 year!

Pink

It has certainly been a long time since I have posted! Lots of new and exciting things are going on in my life!

7 weeks ago Tanner and I decided on a breed of dog and started searching. 6 weeks ago we were in Kingwood and his mom started helping us with our dog search. She gave us the names and numbers and websites of a bunch of different places (every place we had already looked, but still very helpful). Tanner finally sat down and found a breeder in Glaveston, called to ask if they had any females and she said "yes, but she's already spoken for." =( After talking for awhile, she finally came out saying that she had been spoken for for awhile but the man had never come to pick her up yet and if he didn't come by Sunday we could have her. Tanner called Sunday and she said "she's all yours" and we had about an hour to go get her. We kicked our friend out (he understands!), ran to the ATM to get cash to pay for her, and on our way we went! After we got her (Lucky was her original name) we went to Petco to buy EVERYTHING, as we had nothing!

We took Lucky Pinkerton (her registered name as she full-bred) aka Pink to the vet at 12 weeks and found out (as we already assumed) she was WAY underweight and very poorly taken care of at the breeders. She had a massive yeast infection in her ears, roundworms and hookworms, and an infection on her belly, as well as awful dandruf. Our poor baby was put on 3 different meds to get her better.

We went to the vet yesterday and found out all the original stuff was gone, minus the infection on her belly and her dandruff. She's on 2 more meds for her belly, as well as a medicated sampoo for her dandruff. We may have bought her from the "Galveston Ghetto" as our vet put it, but we love her just the same and look at this as we were saving her from worse infections.

Pink already sits at the door when she has to go potty. She sits before we feed her and lets us mess with her while she eats (something ALL dogs should let you do. This helps so they won't attack kids who want to play while they're eating). She also slept ALL night last night, only waking up for Tanner to feed her and take her out at 5:30 this morning. She went back to sleep and I had to wake her up at 8:30 when I finally rolled out of bed. She is such a sweet girl and LOVES to cuddle and give kisses. We are so blessed to have our little bundle of joy!

We're heading to Kingwood tonight to start Christmas with Tanner's side of the family. I'm looking forward to getting to spend time with his family! We're going out to dinner tonight where we will have to give them their gifts since we will be with my family when his 2 brothers and their wives and kids will be doing Christmas with his family.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

1. If you could be a fly on any wall, which would you choose?

This is tough! I think I would want to be like any fly and just fly from place to place. I can't pick just one wall to stay on!

2. Do you budget your Christmas shopping or just get it done without budgeting?

Tanner and I always say we're going to only spend so much on each other, but that never happens...and with the families we try to keep it even.

3. What is the craziest fad diet you have ever done?

Haha, I'm an AWFUL person to talk to about dieting. I love food way too much to diet.

4. Is there a TV show that you have seen every episode/season of?

Too many! One Tree Hill, Laguna Beach, The Hills, and pretty much any reality show on E!

5. What one song always pulls at your heart?

Seasons of Love from RENT. I could listen to it every day, and I would tear up every day.

I can't believe it's already Halloween! Last time I posted it was the end of the first WEEK of school...the 2nd 6 weeks is almost over already! 3 weeks until Thanksgiving and then 3 weeks after that until Christmas break...CRAZY! Tanner and I finally painted out bedroom this past week. On Saturday both sets of parents came to visit and we went to Ballunar fest at NASA. Sadly, I was sick so we left before getting to see the balloons. Thankfully the mend were ready to leave anyway! ;)

Tanner and I have been talking more and more about getting a dog! :) We have ventured away from the lab idea. We both love Sprinkles, Sam and Elissa's pom, but we want something a little bigger...at least for now! I still want my yorkie, but my newest kick is a boxer. I've been doing my research on family pets (not only for when we have our own family, but also for all of our friends that come visit that already have kids!) and boxers seem to be pretty high on the list of great family dogs. Very kid friendly, but also seem protective. We'll see.

Sam and Elissa got married last weekend! Yay! The wedding was beautiful and it was great to get to see Tanner's family again and actually spend time with them at this wedding!

One week down...30-something to go!

1. How many pets do you have? None right now =( We are hoping to get a dog in the somewhat near future, once we figure out exactly what we want and when I am off to train her.

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be? TOUGH! Haha, probably a Kardashian to see if their "normal" life is really that crazy and drama-filled!

3. What is your favorite money saving tip? I have a few, but I guess my biggest one right now is that I have my account automatically draft so much money each paycheck into a separate account so I don't touch it!

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up? Hmm, well we don't have kids yet, but I'm going to go with the cheesy "Happy" answer. My dad ALWAYS wanted me to be a Dr. and for a while I wanted to also, but I def felt like when I chose to become a teacher I got some backlash about how I wouldn't make as much or be as successful. But I think now that he sees how happy I am with my life he's realized I'm much better off as a teacher than a Dr.

5. What is your favorite quote? At our convocation before school started, we had a man come speak to us and he used this quote. It fits not only with the teacher in me, but I can use it in my everyday life. "Good enough isn't good enough if you can do better. Better isn't good enough if you can do best."

This weekend is going to be pretty relaxing for the most part. Tanner and I are staying in (at least as of now! ha...we'll see in an hour!) tonight and picking our wedding photos for our photo book and the ones we want to get to hang on the wall! Tomorrow he has a Fantasy Football draft in the morning so I'm going to sleep in (yay!) and probably grade some papers (boo!). Saturday night is my birthday dinner. Sunday Tanner is leaving me for a week to go work in Denmark!! =( I'm excited for him but it's going to be hard having him gone for a whole week!!! Sunday evening I'm going to watch his team play softball (yes I'm THAT dedicated...NOT!) and babysit one of the player's kid. At least it will give me something to do and keep me in my usual routine.

SHOOOOOOL

School starts tomorrow. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm more relaxed about my new partner teacher, but I know she's no Amy! I'm def going to miss working with Amy! The parents that came to our Meet the Teacher didn't seem too thrilled about how far their kids had to walk outside to get to our room. Not that it's FAR, but it'd def a good walk. 158 days to go! Haha, one of our teachers is retiring at the end of the year, and she's been keeping us ALL updated on how many days she has left. I'm not sure if this is a good thing, or if it's just going to make the year drag on!

Tanner comes home tonight and I couldn't be more excited!! I am SO ready for him to be home and he's already called to say his flight is delayed 2 hours, ugh!

Married life?

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?
I have MANY nicknames! My dad gave me the nickname Leonard when I was born, and my friends shortened it to Lenny when I was about 12. People also call me Kare Bear since we grew up on Care Bears and my name is Karen. Those are the 2 I have had the longest.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?
I am youngest of 2. My sister is 4 years older so we were only at the same school together in Elementary school and I think she LOVED it being that way! =0)

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?
Someone goofy! Haha, I don't know who hubby looks like, but I can think of a few guys I wouldn't mind playing him! ;)

4. What is currently your favorite song?
Hmm, I don't know. I think pretty much EVERY song on the radio is overplayed, and I'm awful at putting in CDs or my Ipod, so I tend to hear the same things over and over again. I haven't gotten sick of Shinedown's The Crow and the Butterfly yet, so I'll say that one.

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?
I am saving money to get my finances back in check! I was in an accident the end of January and totaled my car so I bought a car (paid cash); bought a house in May; got married in July and went to Hawaii on our honeymoon. Tanner's already talking about our anniversary trip, so I guess I could say I'm saving for that! I am also starting a savings account for our future (and very nonexistent!) kid(s). I know I'm thinking ahead, but with the way the economy is and how expensive colleges are, not to mention just the cost of having a baby, I'm getting prepared.


Tanner's in Tahoe right now for his brother's bachelor party and I am VERY jealous! They went on a hike today and he sent me a picture and it's GORGEOUS there! He also spent most (ALL) of last night gambling, but walked out up $350 so that's exciting. I do miss him a lot though. He'll be home 1 week and then is leaving me again for a week, only when he leaves again he'll be leaving the country! Eeek! We've never spent so much time apart.

Tomorrow is our back to school day/Meet the Teacher. I am looking forward to meeting my students, but I do not feel prepared for this year! Thankfully I am not teaching Social Studies like I originally thought (mistake on P's part), but being outside has not gotten better. I don't MIND being out there, but when it rains (like today) there is no going inside without getting wet! The poor kids! We got new books for Reading and the lessons are divided by day in the T.E. which is pretty awesome!

OK, enough rambling! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Summer blues

Today is my last real day of summer before training starts next week! I am excited to still be teaching 2nd grade, but that seems to be pretty much the only thing that is the same about this new school year. I have a new partner teacher (I teach ELA, she teaches Math and Science), a new last name (! yay!), a new classroom (outside no less), and apparently I am now also teaching Social Studies! Our schedule will also be different this year, but we have not been officially told EXACTLY what is changing. Right now it is all just rumor with little bits of fact thrown in from the new boss. Oh yeah, that's another change also! Our principal was transferred to another elem school, so our AP is now our P.

Tuesday was mine and Tanners one month (already!) so we went to Ichiban and ate sushi and snow crab! yum! Hopefully we celebrate every month! ha!

The house is SLOWLY coming along. We put the wedding on hold to buy the house, then we put the house on hold to finish the wedding planning, get married, and go on our honeymoon. Now that we are back and thank you cards are finished, we are starting to buy things for the house. We went to IKEA last weekend and bought a desk for the study. Now we are searching for the perfect supply cabinet for the study, as well as a "craft" desk for all my scrapbooking materials. We are also looking for a linen closet for our bathroom, and a comforter for the "boy" room.

My birthday is coming up and Tanner and I have been discussing getting a dog. I think we have both decided that our original plan of getting a lab is no longer the best choice. We also decided getting a dog as I am starting school (STRESS!!) and he is going out of town for almost 2 weeks is also not good timing. So we are going to really decide what kind of dog we want and wait until later this year (or next summer) to get one. We both still want a bigger dog, 35+ pounds. We both LOVE Golden's, but they are not good watch dogs, which I want a dog that will bark and sound at least somewhat vicious when I am home alone.