How Did I Live Without Seat Warmers

December 15, 2014
I am not complaining….I will not complain…. I have had some good things happen in the past few weeks and I can see the end of the PhD in sight as well as a break next week to finish up some items.  I have been able to spend time with some good friends catching up both in person, on the phone and via Skype.

One of the things I LOVE about Southern Cali is the consistency of the weather.  There are not radical changes in the climate - yes it is hot during the summer but not stifling humidity filled heat and yes, it gets a little cold but it is more like Spring weather in SC.  It is cool in the morning and then it gets warm so you layer.  However, the past two weeks has brought a lot of rain and cooler temperatures.  I will not complain…… it is nothing like rain in SC and my hair does not frizz so it does not bother me.  In addition, I have not had to close up the apartment and turn on the heat because it does not get THAT cold.  I actually love sleeping with the windows open and snuggled up in the covers.  However, I am not sure how I ever surveyed without seat warmers!!!  The Jetta I got last year has seat warmers that I did not really use but the past three weeks I have REALLY enjoyed getting into the car with it being chilly and turning on the seat warmers to warm my TUSHIE and not have to blow a bunch of hot air.  The seat warmers send heat up the back of the seat and it is toasty warm!!!  I never thought I would be so pampered to ned something like seat warmers but I don't ever want to be without them now.  :(  It makes me wonder what else I am missing in cars…….ummmmm…… better stop thinking about that.

December 16, 2014
I have to stay that it is only Tuesday and I have been thinking all day that it is Wednesday.  Can I tell you how sad I was when I remembered that it is only Tuesday.  However, I also found out that I am not the only one and a lot of people were thinking it was Thursday.  We are looking for break a few days too early!!!  

I have decided the only part of my job that I really dislike is lunch duty / line duty.  I am so tired of kids trying to break into line for lunch.  If they would just stand in line and quit trying to rush and crowd the area, everyone would eat lunch a lot quicker.  They do not understand the idea of a funnel and therefore they end up bottlenecking in the line.  It is actually sad.  But the kids get so upset when they have to go back to the end of the line for cutting in line.  I did bust a kid for throwing carrots today off the only second story building we have.  Poor little 9th grader, I think I scared him.  I made him sit in discipline and stew about it and then finally got him out of discipline.  We then went and sat at the tables and talked about why his behavior was wrong and the problems it causes. I made him sit there and watch some of the custodians use the grippers to pick up the trash and carrots like the ones he threw.  He seemed to feel terrible.  I then gave him a choice of discipline.  He could do lunch duty trash pickup for three days (the rest of this week) or two Saturday schools.  Guess what he decided???????  Yep, he decided to take the three days of trash duty.  And he constantly apologized.  I almost felt sorry for him.    Rich, another assistant principal, just laughs and feels bad for the kid who has to deal with me because I make them sit and listen to me and feel really guilty.  I told Rich I don't think I am that effective but he is convinced I am.  Who knows…..it helps me develop better relationships with the kids!

Husky has developed a new trick.  She likes to play fetch with a little green stuffed mouse.  Tonight she has run back and forth off the bed to get the mouse and bring it back.  I promise I think she has turned into a dog.  It tuckered her out and she slept the entire night.  Here is a short video of a few of her runs but she must have downs this about 50 times over 90 minutes.  She just kept going and going and going.

December 17, 2014
So there was rain again this morning.  Can I have my sunny, lovely Southern Cali back please!!!!!!  I know that we need the rain and therefore it is good for the water reservoirs but I would like to have my weather back that I love so much!!!   I woke up this morning with all the rain pounding down and it was very nice to snuggle in the bed with the kitties who are so nice and warm!   The drive to work was relatively busy because of everyone driving so slow.  I did not get there until 6:45 which was 20 minutes past the time that I am usually there!

Today I spent a good bit of time meeting with students who have been struggling in school.  Most of the students I meet with are good kids they just need an advocate in their corner and someone to talk about issues.  Overall things were good today.  I have to say that I am Christmas Partied out.  Between the Holiday party on Friday, the Secretaries party on Tuesday, the Potluck today, the staff meeting with cookies and then the food that will be around for the TA's, I am tired!  While all of them have been fun and good to see people and spend time with them, you always eat at these things and I am trying to watch what I am eating!  Zumba today was hard but I am not sure if it was because of the playlist I made or the ton of food I feel like I have eaten in three days without making it to the gym!!

Today was another technology clean up day for me.  I keep thinking that it is done and then low and behold I find something else.  This time about 15 old computers were moved for disposal.  I know that  I have found another "stash" or materials that need to be cleaned out also.  I can hardly wait for all the old materials to be out.  Yes, I know that it will continue but hopefully by that time I will have a good inventory so I don't have to worry about finding items and running into equipment that should not be there!  Fingers crossed!!

Thursday, December 18, 2014
It was a little cold today but staying busy helps ignore the cold.  This morning we did Donut Patrol and the first classroom we hit had no tardies!!!!  Hooray!!!!  We ended up with some left over and was able to visit another small class and they had no tardies also!!!  Hooray!!!  Two Times!!!!!

I met with a lot of students today to check on them before they go to break.  It was a pretty lively day. It was good to check in with them and see what they are planning for Christmas.  I also got to go and see some of the plays the Theater groups were putting on.  The students did a great job and it was nice to see them have fun.

After school I had some students who came and sat with me to chat which was great.  These are some of my favorite students that are trying to turn their lives and education around and do better in school and life.  They are so cute because they have a hard time having a full conversation with anyone but they really are trying to do better.  They are in that awkward stage of adolescence where they are not sure if they should laugh at everything or take is seriously when they don't understand or in odd situations.

Weekend in Vegas with the USC Group
On Saturday morning I took a drive to Las Vegas from Murrieta.  On the way in, I picked up Chic-Fil-A for Josh, who has been living in China, since he discovered there was not a Chic-Fil-A in Vegas - Oh!  The Horror!!!  So, with two Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in the car, it was off to Vegas.  It took about 3.5 hours, which is not too bad.  Traffic was moving pretty well but it amazed me that as you go into Vegas, it turns into a two lane highway which gets a bit congested!  I picked up Benetta at the Vegas airport on the way in and then it was off to get into trouble after we checked in at Bally's where we were staying.

Now, I am here to celebrate Erin Hahn's wedding this weekend.   It is funny how small the world of Athletic Training is and how connected we are through the University of South Carolina.  Stacey, who will be here tomorrow is the oldest of the four of us that hang together,  I am the next in line, with Benetta a year behind me.  While I was in grad school at Furman, I met Erin who was a High School student taking an athletic training class at the career center I taught at.  Erin when to USC where she met her friend Josh and we have all introduced one another to each other over the years.  While the world is incredibly large, it is funny how small the athletic training world is.  In fact, the athletic trainer at my high school attended USC as well.  I guess we could do Six Degrees of USC and we could probably connect each athletic trainer with all the connections each of us have.  Josh is now working over in China at a school and is widening our circle even more.  We met one of his friends here in Vegas that he became friends with while in China - CrAzY!!!!  Josh was so sweet that he even brought us Christmas presents from China in the form of pearls!

Needless to say, they are beautiful and of course I wore them.  THANKS JOSH!!!  We met up with Erin and Tony, her fiancé, to eat dinner at Señor Frogs and ended up with crazy hats on our heads.  Who would have known that balloon hats are just created there for our pleasure to take pictures with. I also love the fact there was all kinds of cool quotes / mottos on the ceiling.  Unfortunately we got so busy talking, I forgot to take a few pictures.  However, one of the cool things was as we were leaving, we did get to see the private ship used in Miss Congeniality II - and yes, it is way smaller than it looks on TV and no it did not sink!

After dinner we ended up in Erin and Tony's room in order to see their view and watch the Water Show from their room with the music on the TV.  It was a beautiful view.   Josh decided he wanted to go to another bar and let me tell you, there is no way we should have been here for an extended period of time.

When we got there at 10:15 pm, the club had just opened at 10:00 pm, so we were excited to get to see the club before things got hopping!!!!  As we found a place to sit we talked about what we were going to order and let me tell you, I almost died.  I don't think you can see the pictures really well but let me tell you that most of the drinks on the menu were bottles of liquor and ranged from $235.00 - $126,000.  What the heck!!!!!  - that is more than my salary!!!!  Who in the world????  I wanted to stay just so that I could see who would purchase a bottle of $126,000 liquor.    We eventually left and while it was only 11:20 pm for me, for Benetta it was 2:20 am and for Josh it was actually Sunday morning at 5:00 am for it being Saturday at 11:20 pm at night.  Time to get to bed!!!!

Sunday was the big day for Erin.  Benetta and I went to pick Stacey up at the airport at 10:00 and and then went to IHOP to eat off the strip, just to try and save a little money and time.  It was great to catch up with Stacey and what is going on with her new house she just bought as well as hearing about the Shine Bowl and her work with Barry this past week.  When we got back to the hotel it was off to do some shopping before the wedding.  The four of us had a theme as you can see in the picture below and no, it was not Christmas, it was USC - we all decided to wear garnet and black for the wedding since that is how we all knew each other.  The wedding was beautiful and I can finally say I have seen a Vegas wedding.  Erin and Tony chose to get married at the Bellagio on the courtyard veranda with the fountains in the back and we all laughed for their closing song with was Vive Las Vegas!  Lots of pictures were taken by all of us so I am sure they will appear on Facebook at some point. 

After the wedding we did go and eat with Erin, Tony and Erin's family but by this time it was 9:00 pm at night and that means about 12:00 pm for everyone else.  Needless to say with Stacey coming in at so early she was up extremely early in SC, Josh is on China time and did not get in until 5:00 am this morning anyway, we all crashed for the night.  

Monday morning we all met for breakfast at Paris and ate out on the terrace.  This might have been the best meal of the trip.  Everything was yummy and we had a great time sitting and just chatting.  We then walked down to the Venetian and just windowed shopped for a bit before we went back and packed up all of the items to leave Vegas.  Overall, it has been great to all be together without an NATA convention pulling us all together.  This will be our "ATC Girls" trip for the year and it has been a fun and interesting one!

Week of December 8

Sunday, December 7, 2014
So how many of you grew up with Boy Meets World.  This is a show that I grew up with.  Like Saved By the Bell and such.  I always liked Boy Meets World the best but I am not really sure why.  I remember Mr. Feeny, Sean, Corey, Eric and Topanga.  I was sad when the TV show ended simply because it was like I grew up with them.  Well the Disney Channel now has Girl Meets World which is a secondary story line where Topanga and Corey have two kids.  The show has characters from Boy Meets World like Harley, the bully who is now the janitor at the school where Corey works as a teacher.  They have Minkus on as the dad of one of the students and they just had Sean on as well for a Christmas edition and yes I teared up seeing Sean and Corey back together again.  I know, I know….I am too old to be watching Disney but I like the fact that it is not reality TV nor do I have to hear cussing or see killing and yes, I watch The Walking Dead.  And yes, I am upset they killed off Beth at the mid-season finale!!!!!

Monday, December 8, 2014
Okay, who put something in the water…..You have got to be kidding me.  Well maybe not.  Same story different state.  Thanks mom and dad for waiting until 18 days before your child's final to complain that your child is going to fail the class and you want them moved.  That is not going to help the situation and does not prevent them from failing.  It might have been good to talk with someone in October after the first quarter grades in order to arrange for tutoring and extra help.  At this point, teachers will teach until next Wednesday, give a test on Thursday, do a party of Friday and then when we get back from break they will start reviewing and then do exams.  I know, I know….there should be no parties in High School at this point and as we all know we can make the statement, policy, procedure or regulation and there will always be classes that try and go around it.  Just like in Laurens when the teacher told the kids not to tell but then sent a kid to ask for ice in the main office and another to ask for serving utensils.  Like the kids are not going to say what they are doing.  LOL!!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The water is still contaminated.  It is one thing after another and while I do not mind staying busy it is situations that makes no one happy and causes people to be extremely upset.  We have a great substitute who has done everything she can for a class but since she actually wants them to work, the kids are upset and complaining.  Really???   The sub just wants the kids to do extremely well and wants to help them as much as possible.   I am telling you - IB students and other students at my school are EXTREMELY smart but they can use their brains for good or evil and sometimes evil is what they choose.  I often wonder if they do it intentionally and plan it out or if they get on a roll and forget what their behavior does to others.  Okay - Leann - remember they are high school students and that is the point, to teach them…..

In the afternoon I met with April Aldrich-Johnson who is our athletic trainer to work on a Pathways grant.  Now, April is from Michigan but she went to THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she is a GAMECOCK!!!  The best thing about this is that we get one another and if I say to her, "Five Points, Harbinson Boulevard, Assembly Street, Huger Street or Krispy Kreme - she gets it and understands.  It is nice to have that!  We tend to have the same feelings about a lot of things - but hey we were in the same Athletic Training program at a point.  She is so much fun to work with and it so nice to be working on the grant with her!!!  She is doing a FABULOUS job!!!

I went to the Band / Choral concert and it was FABULOUS!!!  Pete and Tom did a great job of including over 300 students in a program.  Not only one program but two.  They did one at 5:30 and another at 7:00 pm.  The kids were fabulous and I was so proud of all of them.  Now, if you remember, this is a program that he is building and we "PUT" kids in his class.  Last year we only had two choral classes and this year we have 5!!  While you can tell that some of the students are not thrilled, they are doing a great job and like the recognition!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014
I am wondering when they will come and clean the water….. More parent phone calls today.  While I have always worked with customer service I find that people just seem to be getting ruder and ruder.  When working at Steve's Deli, Applebee's, Kroger, Riverbanks, and any other place I have worked, typically people are nice and willing to work with you.  Even parents of students that I taught.  Just in the last week we have had parents who are extremely rude on the phone.  I honestly try and take care of every phone call, email and concern ASAP.  However, if you call me at 3:30 pm when the kids are gone and I need to speak with your student, I cannot "deal" with the situation that night.  I also love when they call and DEMAND I call them back that day!!!!  There are 2400 students on campus.  I want to call you back but the kid that is about to pass out, the teacher that had an emergency, the fire drill that happened and a multitude of other issues might take precedence over your phone call.  It is not that I don't want to help you and I do want to call you back but there are duties I have to do like lunch duty, morning duty, after school duty and meetings I have to attend.  I promise I am not sitting and eating Bon Bon's with my feet up.  I truly do try and help each student and provide everyone with quality time to deal with the situations brought to my attention.   I just need time…..

Well, now that I read these last two paragraphs it sounds like I hate my job and am miserable.  That is not true.  It has just been a couple long days in which I want to help everyone but I get pulled in 99 directions at the same time so I can't get it ALL done.  But I will - it may just take me some time.  :)

Thursday, December 11, 2014
Well the end is near.  At least I think it is near.  I had a two and a half hour Skype meeting with my Committee Chair and we have a plan.  Not only do we have a plan but she helped me see where she is having problems with some of my work that I am so entrenched in, which makes it really hard to see because to me it makes complete sense.  But again, this is something that I have lived with for 5 years now and it makes perfect sense to me.

Thursday was busy…..dealing with lots of little details in the morning, the Skype Meeting, the Leadership Meeting at the district office with student performances and shared fellowship.  Of course we all sat together but our table ended up with a broken Poinsettia.  I promise I did not break the branches off but they kept falling off.  So our table ended up with the Peanuts "Linus" tree in the end.  I felt bad because this was also a door prize they were giving away at the tables.

While the day was full and all of this should have been enough but then it was another late night with the PTSA meeting and Financial Aid meeting lead by the guidance counselors.  I left school at 9:15 pm to get home at 10:00 pm.  For some reason there was a lot of traffic that late at night and I am not really sure why.  


Friday, December 12, 2014
Well, the 2nd storm of the century hit.  Yes, apparently every time it rains it is the storm of the century in CA.  So on Wednesday and Thursday there were huge news flashes on TV and the radio about all the rain we were going to be getting.  It was humorous.  I felt like I should run out and get bread and milk because I was not going to be able to leave the apartment.  In fact on Friday morning, I woke up at 4:30 am and there was nothing happening outside.  I went back to sleep for another hour and when I woke up you could hear the rain.  No thunder or lightening but only rain.  It was slow moving on the way to my meeting at 8:00 am.  It just took so long because I left late but also because people here can not drive in the rain.  They just don't see that much precipitation here.   But hey - it looks like South Carolina!!!

The kids did stay in class today due to the rain and lunch duty was easy because not many students came out in the rain to stand in line for lunch.  They "moseyed" into the lines.  It did finally stop raining about 2:00 pm and cleared off just in time for the end of school.  This was a good thing because we had our Holiday get together for the school on Friday night at one of the teacher's houses.  However, I got to say….this has been one HECK of a week.  It seems like I have not been able to make anyone happy and have had to make some really tough decisions this week which did not make anyone happy but they had to be made.  

I did get to relax some on Friday night.  Of course that was after I picked up the little tree for like the 5th time this week.  I keep losing ornaments little by little to Husky.

I was able to get my nails done and come home and clean the apartment some.  I was able to go to sleep early and snuggle deep into my covers without setting my alarm for Saturday morning.  Ahhhh……the first time in a long while that I have been able to do that.

Saturday, December 13, 2014
Today was a marvelous day.  Both in weather and events.   California usually does not have a lot of clouds but because of all the moisture around we have clouds.  It was a beautiful day with the clouds also.

I was able to sleep in a bit and wake up to have a breakfast and a fun morning with a friend that I love seeing but don't get to see often.  We had great discussions over breakfast and while I know that we have similar feelings about a lot of items, it was nice to see they were confirmed.  After breakfast I was able to just come back home and relax some.  I was able to get all my errands ran this morning as well and feel like I am slightly caught back up after Thanksgiving Break.  You know….just in enough time to get behind again during Christmas Break since I have to work on the PhD.  

The outdoor cats are getting big and while I can pet the two orange ones and momma the great and tabby one are still a little skittish.  They do hang out on my porch and while they know that i won't hurt them, I promise I am not the crazy cat lady - I promise they like to hang out because I am not home so they are safe.

This afternoon I worked with one of the teachers from school on a grant for Career and Technical Education.  I have to admit that April is so easy to work with and has great ideas as well.    It was hilarious because since we are both Athletic Trainers we were having some real problems with the math.  For some reason adding numbers at 4:00 pm was really bothering us and giving us a really hard time.  It was hilarious to see us try and figure out where the mistakes were.  LOL!!!  Spreadsheets can be your best friends or a little difficult at times.  But, HEY - its done!!!

I am looking forward to Sunday to work on the writing and relax.  I am really excited to sleep in and I know that cats will be curled up next to me.  As my new sign says, "Life is Short, Play with Your Cat."  So I will probably look like this in the morning.  They don't like to lay right next to one another, they would rather lie on either side of me so that I cannot move.  Those crazy cats!!!!!!!

I also have one that says, "Never pass up an opportunity to tell someone you love them."  For those of you who I have not talked to recently, please know that I do love you and thank you for all the memories we have had, will have together, time on the phone and time where you have read this blog or a status and wished me the best.  I love each of you.

There was RAIN!!!!

Monday, December 1, 2014
Well, it was a tough first day back at school.  Not because of anything that happened but because it was the day back after break and I seriously did not do any school work for 5 days!  It was good to see the kids but you could tell the entire school was struggling to get back.  It seemed like everyone was moving slow and was saying they were tired.

I left work at 3:30 pm to take my car to the VW dealership because I had a nail in the tire.  I was waiting on the car and ended up waiting quite a log time since they had technicians out due to sickness. While I was there I was sitting in the lobby with the TV and the news was announcing a big storm coming.  IT was being dubbed the storm of the year in Southern California.  Now, in SC when they talk about this, you know it is going to be snow and you must run to the store and get bread and milk.  While it is never a lot of snow in SC, you know the state does not keep the equipment to clear the roads so it is literally just safer to be indoors and not leave.  However, it has always cracked me up to go into the stores and see no bread and milk.  Well, let me tell you, when they say storm here, they are talking about rain.  So….rain in SC is not a problem.  Here is SolCal it is.  The state does not get a lot of rain and like SC does not have equipment to clear roads with snow.  SolCal has no drains to handle rain.  So, driving becomes dangerous.  Not because of the rain itself but because of the large puddles of water that sit all over the place and causes hydroplaning if you are not careful.  Well the interesting thing is that people stay home when it rains.  LOL!!!  There was hardly any traffic on the Interstate on the way to work or the way home.  So…the moral of the story is…. Rain in SolCal = Snow in SC.

The other thing about rain is that it keeps students in class. I mean this area is usually filled with students but look at how bare it is right now.

John W. North - The Hill during Rain!!!

On Tuesday we had a basketball team from Canada here to play our team at North.  While we won fairly easily because this was a special case, Rich cooked for the teams in the rain!  So here is the grill that Rich cooked close to 200 burgers on, in the rain!!!!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Today consisted of starting the day interviewing Undergraduate students from the University of California, Riverside for some work study positions.  It is really interesting to see the differences between Freshman and Seniors at college.  Since I spend so much time at high school I do remember and see the differences between 9th and 12th graders but  I forgot what the wide range of differences are in the college kids too.

If I have not said this before, let me say it now.  I LOVE my Guidance Department.  They are so easy to get along with and they want to work with the kids to do what is best for students.  I really do enjoy when we have meetings because we get a lot done and we all get along.  This year we have been having "food spreads" and everyone is willing to pitch in and volunteer to bring something - even my toughest guidance counselor!!!  I am lucky to have such a great group of guidance counselors willing to talk with me, advise me on historical events and help support my crazy plans!!!!

The rain started again around 1:30 pm and did not stop.  There was another storm coming through so the rain just keeps coming.  It is suppose to move out of the area tonight and the sun is suppose to come out tomorrow.  I have enjoyed the rain and overcast weather as a change of pace but it still does not make me homesick for the erratic weather changes in SC.

Thursday, December 4, 2014
The day was a little busy and it was a late night.  I met with kids during the day to talk with certain ones about how things are going.  I have about 18 students that I meet with at various times during the weeks. Usually I meet with them about once every other week or so about their grades or family issues.     In the afternoon we had the Leadership Team meeting with all the department heads to talk about LCAP and where we are going as well as what our goals need to be for the school.  LCAP, Local Control Accountability Plan, allows districts to spend money how they would like as long as you are making progress in one of eight areas and you have goals of which you can show progress.  At North High School, we have to decide on some goals and what we are going to do to move forward to show success.

After the meeting, I went to dinner with the other Assistant Principals and we had a blast.  It is always good to see the other AP's and spend time with them.  We met at Cactus Cantina and just hung out and had a great time talking about what was coming up at our schools.  Poly has a big football game on Friday night, North has a basketball tournament and things are King and Arlington are finding some changes.  Ramona is getting ready for the Gooru training this weekend as well.    After dinner I had to drive to Long Beach for a presentation at NSTA (National Science Teachers Association).    It was supposed to be on Saturday but got moved to Friday at 8:00 am, which is a terrible time!  Rather than drive and get stuck in traffic, I went down on Thursday and let me tell you - it was a odd drive.  It went fast but it was dark and I always thought of Long Beach as a little cleaner than what it was but it ended up I think I came through the back end of town which is somewhat strange and dirty!  I stayed at Best Western and while I thought it would be a good hotel, it was not great but it was not extremely awful!  I was safe and I got there, slept, got dressed and left so it was a short stay.  On Friday morning Jeff and Eric got all my equipment over to the room for my presentation, which thank goodness they did.  I was at the Renaissance Inn presenting but the main area was at the Long Beach Convention Center.  I don't think I would have been able to make it to pick up the items and been in my room ready to start. Thank goodness for Texas Instruments friends!!!!  The presentation went well.  There were 13 people there and they all stayed.  I presented Breathing Peas for the activity and was able to talk with science teachers about the use of Vernier Probeware and TI materials in their classroom.    After the presentation, Jeff helped me pack everything up and everything got returned to the TI booth where I got to go and see Eric, Donald and Kelly, who I have not seen in awhile.  It was great to see everyone!!!  Jeff and I went to breakfast before I left to head back to work.

Friday night I met with April to work on the grant for the Health Science Pathway that we are planning.  After that April went to cover the basketball game as the athletic trainer and I finished up some work in my office and around the school before I went and watched a quarter of the game.  I left and headed home by 8:00 pm only to get home, unpack, clean up and crash!!!!  I was so tired!!!

Saturday, December 6, 2014
This morning I got up and started some laundry, cleaned up the apartment a bit and went to the gym to work out.  When I got home I made a smoothie with my early Christmas present (a Ninja).  I am getting really good at mixing bananas with other fruits.  I have not ventured into the vegetable drinks but it is an easy way to get my fruits in the morning so I don't have to worry about them for the rest of the day since the ones I like tend to need to be refrigerated.   I started working on my PhD items and I got a text from a friend who was willing to meet me for lunch.  So I went and picked up my shoes from the repair place and headed to lunch with my friend to Sammy's Woodfire Pizza.  Now, I have not really hear of this place so this was a new stop for me but OMG, it was super yummy!!!!  We split a salad with balsamic vinegar and blue cheese as well as a Margherita pizza and it was SUPER yummy!!!!  It is always good to see friends and I do value this particular friendship.  I made it home after a quick stop at Loft where I used my $25.00 off cards and got $300.00 worth of clothing for $105.00 with the 40% discount and cards.  I even had two cards left over that I was able to provide to two ladies checking out, allowing them to save some money also!

I came home and ended up sitting on the couch for a few minutes to relax and I ended up falling asleep for longer than what I would have liked.  Before I knew it time had flown by when I opened my eyes and it was LATE!!!  I hate when I do this because then I stay up late at night and my schedule gets screwed up.  Ugh!!!  I decided to use the time to make my holiday chex mix and put up the few decorations I was going to put up for Christmas.  With the new little kitten I am worried that if I put up a tree I will be putting up the tree each day.  I am not sure I want to put up a tree 19 days…….  Well I decided to give it a try and this is what Husky did within the first 5 minutes of having it up:

So I am hoping that she is going to sleep under it rather than trying to attack it but we will see.  It is early and the tree has not been up long so we will see how she does.  I spent some time wrapping a few presents tonight also.  I don't have many to do but I did have a few.   The outdoor kittens are still hanging around.  They get fed in the mornings and afternoon.  While I can pet them, they are not extremely friendly but they do hang around on my porch a good bit.  This is not a great picture but they are hanging out.  There are four kittens and momma that are around.  Dad comes around also but does not usually stay like these kittens.

I hope everyone has a great week as we move into the holiday season.  I know it is a busy time for everyone!!!