School

The First Day of School

- Melody

Monday was my first day of school. My first day of my journey towards my Bachelor’s Degree. My first day to try and meet new friends. (So far, there are some excellent candidates! Woohoo!). I wasn’t freaking out too much since I did that a few weeks ago. While my day was good, I couldn’t help but miss Kilgore College and all the familiarity. Everything at UT Tyler is so new so it’s going to take some getting used to, but one thing I’m excited about is picking out outfits for school. (Plus, there’s a Chick fil-a and Starbucks on campus!)

Last week started out well enough, though the heat is killer. I’ve managed to stay indoors most of the summer and I am really pining for fall! (Hurry up, cold!) The week before school finding tuition money nearly sent me to an early grave but we managed with some family love, so when last Thursday smacked me, I nearly broke down. Our first meeting with all the music majors let me know that I was missing a $400 class. Unfortunately, the class only comes around every other year so I couldn’t wait.  So, after sweating my way over to the admin building and registering for the class I realized that it was a T/Th class at 3.30-4.30. There went my errand days. And of course, I had to stay an extra hour that day to attend the class without any paper or pencils or food. Instead of getting home at around 2:15 I wasn’t home until 5:30. Boo.

I know that sounds incredibly selfish but driving 2 hours every day can really take a toll on the gas tank and the bank account. Driving four extra hours a week (for a ONE HOUR CLASS! AHH!) has really hit us/me. Thursday was a really tough day for me. It was one of those days when things just keep piling on top of you until you just want to scream as loud as you can. Finances, books, a new school, and realizing that 90% of my closet doesn’t fit anymore has really made me stress out. (My forehead started cramping. Now that’s stress. Oh, and did I mention that our post office sent two checks to the wrong address and people stole money from us?)

So, I’ve decided to try and take control of at least one aspect of my life as much as I can. I’ve joined Jason’s cousin, Becca, in her fitness challenge. It started last Thursday and will end on Thanksgiving day: 90 days. Last week, I worked out three times. (Though, one of those times was Thursday so it doesn’t really count because I was so angry.) The people in her Facebook group paid a $25 ante and whoever loses the most inches wins the money! There’s a first, second, and third place. I’d love to win at least one of those, but first I have to get motivated. I figure the best way to do that is to tell all of you!

So, who’s with me? For 90 days let’s eat better, exercise, and strive to lose those inches. As a mini challenge, also from Becca, I’m going to cut out sugar for two weeks. On the 15th day Becca challenged me to eat one serving of sugar and to see how I feel. I’m already guaranteeing I’ll feel awful! Which, of course, means I shouldn’t eat so much sugar. 🙂

As much as I can, I’ll report back here with my progress along with some outfit posts! I also apologize for my blatant absence in the past week. As you can see above I have been beyond stressed out, but I’m praying this week will be merciful. My one consolation is sleeping late on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Hey, at least it’s only a one hour class. (See, I’m being optimistic already!)

Who’s with me!

PS. Whadya think of the new header? It’s a little different from the vintage, eh?

Sometimes I’m Awesome

- Melody

… and sometimes I’m not. But let’s be serious here. Most of the time I am.

Boy it feels good to write without looking up sources and turning it in to turnitin.com. Lemme ‘splain. I just finished writing a 6 page (including bibliography) paper on Dante’s Inferno for my World Lit class. I’ve blogged a little about this class before, mostly about how much it sucks and how I’m ready for it to end in a couple of weeks. But this class has opened my eyes somewhat. Being required to discuss certain topics and read things I wouldn’t normally read has been.. a challenge. A welcome required challenge.

The only reason I did it before it was due so I can go to Canton tomorrow with my family! Woo thrifting!

pretty leopard shirt from the sister. 🙂

Believe it or not I’ve had some pretty amazing outfits the past couple of weeks. However, waiting for Jason to get home to take pictures of me hasn’t been on the top of my priority list. Maybe if you’re lucky I’ll recreate them so you can seeeeeeeee. 🙂 In the mean time someone please tell me how to make my ear stop itching. If you can’t do that, sign up for Pinterest. You’ll lose hours of your life. Thank me laterrrr.

One of Those Days

- Melody

Pretend that “those” is italicized because that’s how I’m saying it in my head. For emphasis.

I guess that choir trip to Tulsa last weekend reeeally wiped me out because I’ve been thoroughly exhausted by the time 10pm rolls around and usually I’m not that tired until 11.30. But since I’ve obeyed my body I’ve actually gotten up BEFORE my alarm every day! Still can’t decide if that’s a good thing… but, hey! I wore makeup today!

Despite my accomplishment of wearing makeup today, it turned into one of those my-life-is-a-black-hole-I’ll-never-lose-any-weight-I’m-just-gonna-make-cookies-and-watch-a-bajillion-episodes-of-The Golden Girls-and-House-while-Jason-talks-to-his-brother-on-the-phone days. These happen more often than you think. The cookies and Golden Girls part, anyway.

My day started out like any other day. Wake up begrudgingly and resent Jason for being able to sleep in for another half hour, get ready and frantically try to find clean clothes in the mountain of them in my floor, grab my books, tell Tooncy goodbye, and drive to school while trying to stay awake. Classes were fine and my second one even let out about 40 minutes early. With my two-hour break I ate breakfast started on my music theory final and even talked to Jason.

But then my voice lesson came… Just before my lesson every Thursday I’m in rehearsal for our girls’ choir for an hour and a half. I was feeling really good about that rehearsal. I had all my parts down and was even a little sad that time flew by so quickly. But when you’re in a choir, sometimes you don’t always hear how your own voice sounds because you’re blending in with other voices. So to go from being a uniformed sound to a solo is kind of hard sometimes.

It was just one of those lessons for me that I couldn’t stop obsessing about how bad I needed a hair cut every time I looked into that giant mirror of hers she keeps in front of her students and how awfully tired my voice sounded. Sometimes I have flashes in my head of “You’ll never have a career in music. You suck! Give it up! No one would ever give you a job much less a record deal.” Those devastate me.

So that’s how I was feeling on the silent 40 minute ride on the way home. Wondering how I’d get through the next 2-3 years of my college life and brooding over the fact that I don’t want to be a music teacher with all my heart but sensibly it makes sense to go ahead and get that teacher certification in case those voices in my head do come true. I dread going to school in the fall because I know the rest of my schooling will be focused on psychology classes and how to deal with students and how to teach and to conduct and all the things I loathe with all of my heart! It makes me feel like I’m majoring in something I don’t love doing. And that’s just not true.

Music is the only thing that’s ever made any sense to me and it’s the only thing I’ll ever want to do. But doing it in the form of teaching just isn’t…. me. At all. I can see why it’d be fun for some people: the relationships, the building up of young lives… but.. I don’t see that for me. And I’m pretty good at at least sensing what my next move is.

So after those 40 minutes of depressing thoughts and questions I came home, turned on Golden Girls and waited for Jason to come home. Then, I made cookies. I couldn’t be happier that I have the day off tomorrow. I need the alone time (sadly, Jason doesn’t have the day off..sad.) to think and reflect and honestly to just do some laundry. My sister is having a party tomorrow night so it’ll be nice to get out later on and socialize.

Anyway, sorry for the heaviness of this post, but I really needed it.

Happy…? Almost Maundy Friday.

One of Those Days

- Melody

Pretend that “those” is italicized because that’s how I’m saying it in my head. For emphasis.

I guess that choir trip to Tulsa last weekend reeeally wiped me out because I’ve been thoroughly exhausted by the time 10pm rolls around and usually I’m not that tired until 11.30. But since I’ve obeyed my body I’ve actually gotten up BEFORE my alarm every day! Still can’t decide if that’s a good thing… but, hey! I wore makeup today!

Despite my accomplishment of wearing makeup today, it turned into one of those my-life-is-a-black-hole-I’ll-never-lose-any-weight-I’m-just-gonna-make-cookies-and-watch-a-bajillion-episodes-of-The Golden Girls-and-House-while-Jason-talks-to-his-brother-on-the-phone days. These happen more often than you think. The cookies and Golden Girls part, anyway.

My day started out like any other day. Wake up begrudgingly and resent Jason for being able to sleep in for another half hour, get ready and frantically try to find clean clothes in the mountain of them in my floor, grab my books, tell Tooncy goodbye, and drive to school while trying to stay awake. Classes were fine and my second one even let out about 40 minutes early. With my two-hour break I ate breakfast started on my music theory final and even talked to Jason.

But then my voice lesson came… Just before my lesson every Thursday I’m in rehearsal for our girls’ choir for an hour and a half. I was feeling really good about that rehearsal. I had all my parts down and was even a little sad that time flew by so quickly. But when you’re in a choir, sometimes you don’t always hear how your own voice sounds because you’re blending in with other voices. So to go from being a uniformed sound to a solo is kind of hard sometimes.

It was just one of those lessons for me that I couldn’t stop obsessing about how bad I needed a hair cut every time I looked into that giant mirror of hers she keeps in front of her students and how awfully tired my voice sounded. Sometimes I have flashes in my head of “You’ll never have a career in music. You suck! Give it up! No one would ever give you a job much less a record deal.” Those devastate me.

So that’s how I was feeling on the silent 40 minute ride on the way home. Wondering how I’d get through the next 2-3 years of my college life and brooding over the fact that I don’t want to be a music teacher with all my heart but sensibly it makes sense to go ahead and get that teacher certification in case those voices in my head do come true. I dread going to school in the fall because I know the rest of my schooling will be focused on psychology classes and how to deal with students and how to teach and to conduct and all the things I loathe with all of my heart! It makes me feel like I’m majoring in something I don’t love doing. And that’s just not true.

Music is the only thing that’s ever made any sense to me and it’s the only thing I’ll ever want to do. But doing it in the form of teaching just isn’t…. me. At all. I can see why it’d be fun for some people: the relationships, the building up of young lives… but.. I don’t see that for me. And I’m pretty good at at least sensing what my next move is.

So after those 40 minutes of depressing thoughts and questions I came home, turned on Golden Girls and waited for Jason to come home. Then, I made cookies. I couldn’t be happier that I have the day off tomorrow. I need the alone time (sadly, Jason doesn’t have the day off..sad.) to think and reflect and honestly to just do some laundry. My sister is having a party tomorrow night so it’ll be nice to get out later on and socialize.

Anyway, sorry for the heaviness of this post, but I really needed it.

Happy…? Almost Maundy Friday.

My Life is Good

- Melody

Yes, I’m back from my leave of absence for now! And life is good. I’ll take what I can get.

Since I’ve been gone I took a trip to Tulsa with the college choir. It was… rough. We were all ready to come home. I’ll share pictures of the awesome zoo we went to though, later!

While I was gone, Jason bought drywall for the living room. A while back we tried to paint the uuugglyyyy wood paneling that covered our walls but it was so old it started bubbling and peeling back so we (read: Jason) took a chance and ripped it down. I was pleasantly surprised to find recycled wood underneath! There were all different colors and textures. Sadly, in some places water had taken its toll and it was rotting. In addition there was a layer of a cheesecloth type fabric nailed EVERYWHERE underneath the paneling. We tried as hard as we could to get the leftover strings off the wall to no avail. SO! While I was gone Jason drywalled 3/4 of the living room. IT. LOOKS. AWESOME. It’s actually turning into a room now!

We have a really neat mantel and wooden trim everywhere. We’re going to paint it white and eventually paint the walls a light gray/blue. As of now we only have a futon my in-laws gave us from our wedding registry. Unfortunately, sitting on it for 30 minutes or more will make your bum/legs numb. We plan on using our tax refund for a flippin’ awesome couch and a dishwasher because ours smells like burnt rubber when we run it. Yikes!

just a little picture for you to oogle at. 🙂

In a matter of weeks I graduate with an Associate of Arts degree. (Vocal performance.) THANKFULLY, so many of my friends are going to UT Tyler in the fall, too! (SHOUTOUT! Randa, Preston, Kait, and Austin!!!) I’m so excited for a break from all of this madness. I seem to be so absent-minded lately. I have a concert next Thursday and a huge Theory project due that same day. Wheeeew.

–

If you don’t already know, we live in a house owned by the school where Jason works. We don’t pay rent, by the grace of God. But with that awesomeness comes a little suck-ness. i.e.: Since the spring has arrived, our big yard has grown. A lot. We don’t own a mower. Before we got married the maintenance staff mowed it with their tractor because the bus barn/maintenance place is literally in our backyard. However, apparently some of the school board members complained/mentioned to the superintendent that our yard was atrocious and that we needed to mow it. YESTERDAY. Again. We don’t own a mower.

At work today, the super called Jason into his office and basically scolded him and told him the yard needed to be mowed today. This upset me for a number of reasons. 1) They don’t care about the house. They’d abandon it if something terrible happen and we’d have no place to live. 2) Since we don’t pay rent they can basically tell us when to jump and we have to. 3) They were upset because it “makes the school look bad”. Our yard… makes the school look bad…?

So guess who just spent 4 hours mowing the yard? Poor hubby. He begged me to do some indoor work, so being the awesome wife I am, I swept the whole house (work. out!) washed all the dishes, and cleaned up most of the living room mess from the dry wall. There’s still a lot of laundry to be done, but at least there’s not dust everywhere now.

Oh, and who is sick of all these junebugs!? Good thing for Toonces. There are dead ones everywhere.

Until tomorrow…

Neglecting

- Melody

So sorry I’ve neglected you, sweet blog. And lied to you about posting about my wedding. I promise I’ll get to it soon! I’m so busy with our Spring Vocal that’s coming up this Saturday and with a surprise that our humongous PowerPoint for my online world lit class is due next week instead of four weeks from now. I guess I’d better get on that.

Today is A&A day but I figured since I’ve neglected this long why not neglect this day too! Not really. But I really won’t be doing one today.

Since I’m not doing that I guess I’ll tell you how my week has been and what I’m doing now.

Tuesday afternoon I came home and took a super long nap. Like a four hour one. I guess that’s a sleep. Anyway, I woke up and felt really sick. I was sick all afternoon and part of the night. It was awful. Poor Jason didn’t even want to be around me so I stayed in our room watching Scrubs on Netflix but when that got to be too loud for my stomach I had to turn it off and lay in silence willing the nausea to go away. It didn’t work.

I woke up Wednesday feeling better but afraid that I would get sick at school so I stayed home and slept the rest of it off. I ate a little and felt better. Jason went to the store and got me ice cream and Dr. Pepper. 🙂 By the time 7 pm rolled around last night I was starving so I finally ate some pizza and watching a lot of episodes of House. Jason fell asleep in the chair next to me but I wasn’t even tired. All the episodes of House in our DVR were played out and I was so bored I couldn’t think of anything to do but go to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. Finally, after 5 games of Solitaire, rest found me.

I got up for school this morning and felt humongous. Blahhhh. I went to class and felt pretty good. My voice lesson had to move into the big gap I had in my day which only left me a few minutes to eat lunch before 5. After class, I had rehearsal for aforementioned Spring Vocal. Luckily, (for the record, I don’t believe in luck, just using it as one of those words like however, therefore, you know, grammar) my duet was up first so I got to leave after that. Woo.

After that, a little retail therapy at the local Goodwill to get costumes for the Spring Vocal and maybe a couple of things unrelated to that. 🙂 Shhh.. don’t tell Jason.

As of now, I’m watching reruns of the office and cooking marinated chicken and roasting veggies in the oven and making rice pilaf out of a box. Don’t judge.

I’d tell you what I was doing later but it’s none of your business. 🙂

FYI, I’ll be taking a hiatus (like I haven’t already) on the blog for parts of next week. I’ll be working on that darned PowerPoint that snuck up on me and tried to slash my Achilles’ heel. Jerk.

Lates. 🙂