Adopting in Ashburn

The things about living in suburbia, or being in your thirties married without kids, or just being me is this: you know how lucky you are to be who you are and have the experiences you have, and you love your life; but keep hoping that one day you'll fit in.  It's been a struggle this week, being happy with my social life. It's gorgeous this afternoon. 16 straight days of rain - including this morning - and then the sun was out. The weather clear and the sky a stunning robin's egg blue. If RJ hadn't told me to leave school and get outside and enjoy it, I might still be in the copy room, taking care of business. Instead I'm on the balcony with my pooches enjoying the reprieve from the clouds of gloom.  Still, my first thought was: what would I even do in the sun? There are no kids to play kickball with or ride bikes. No friends who live close enough to meet for a walk in the park before it gets dark. No buddy to sit in a cafe or at an outdoor table with to enjoy ...

Last year at this time I was taking my husband to urgent care, where he promptly got diagnosed with pneumonia. Then we were in and out of hospitals and doctors appointments for the next three months as he got diagnosed with NMO. His recovery to get back to work full time took almost another three months. And then I finally took a few minutes to feel the anxiety, worry, and stress from those 7 months (because there was still December 2014's month of husband illness which led to the emergency gallbladder removal which led to the horizontalness which led to the pneumonia). Of course, that wasn't the only thing in my life last year. Life ardently insists upon going on, whether I'm ready or not. All of this to say, I put me on the back burner last year. This year, I am dedicated to recovering myself. Our new normal is just that - new. While there are huge chunks of me that are exactly the same as last year or any of the years before, it's like 2014 and 2015 made a huge c...

Breakfast this morning was at Duck Donuts in Herndon. RJ claims it was to help give me some inspiration for making my own cake doughnuts at home, but I think he just wanted to see if they were as good as Krispy Kreme (ruling: different kind of doughnut, but definitely closer!). Today's home adventure: framing all the paintings we rescued from Grandmother's house.  Don't they look lovely? Two more needed custom mats/frames and should be ready in 3 weeks. It is going to be so challenging to wait to pick a few to hang up until we see them all together! Then, because that wasn't enough of an adventurous day, we went to go see Inside Out . It was quite good. I tend to think it is more of an older kid to adult appeal, but RJ says it appeals to both differently.  Now, I have to somehow get in about 6000 steps and make my new FitBit vibrate. Yes, I know it is arbitrary, but totally motivating anyway.  Off to get my steps! Love always, Heather

This is my first real "teacher's summer". After four years in the classroom, I will finally have almost six weeks of time without required work/classes/surgical recovery or anything else mandatory. Of course, I already signed up to help with volleyball, but I love that and would go through withdrawal without at least some teenager interaction. :) So, I decided to make a list of all the things I want to do in this seemingly endless amount of time. Then, I went to yoga this morning and after an hour realized that not going to the gym for almost 6 months gets you super out of shape. Therefore, I am limiting myself to the following things I don't have time for during the school year: 1. Going to the bathroom whenever I want.  2. Sleeping in until 7 a.m. 3. Wearing jeans or shorts without a sticker that says I "earned" them.  4. Eating breakfast and lunch over more than 20 minutes.  5. Using curse words, talking about religion or politics, making adult jokes, and...

As it is officially 2015, and this blog got it's start in 2005, it will be turning ten this year. When I think about the last ten years and how tumultuously, terrifically, different now is than then, it makes me curious about what I'll be writing about ten years from now. However, we can't live in the past and the future is a ways off, so I'm sticking right here.  Right now, I am getting sweet kisses from Raleigh.  Upstairs, RJ is taking a nap with HGTV on in the background (recovering from gallbladder surgery and pneumonia).  I'm thinking about resolutions while I type my first blogpost from my phone (both odd and behind the times?).  My only goal this year is to end the year grateful and happy for the year that passed. Of course, any good goal should have some sub goals; so let's call those my resolutions.  1. Focus on saving more so we can travel more.  The cruise last summer was relaxing - as were visits to family. But we have a lot more family, friends...

As I sit here on this gorgeous Saturday avoiding the sun (details on that in a moment), it occurs to me that summer is quickly slipping through my fingers and I have only accomplished one of my big ticket items for the summer! To prioritize my time, I thought I'd make a list of the remaining things I'd like to accomplish. Clean out the two spare room closets to get everything into one closet (with room to spare). Goodness knows I do not need probably more than a quarter of the items in there. Sell the random items that are actually still worth something at a garage sale or online to earn $1750. That's a random numeric goal, but I think it is fairly attainable. Finish putting pictures in all the frames on the stairwell. Clean out my bedroom closet so as to no longer have a wide assortment of clothing that doesn't fit or I don't wear clogging it up. Use the VHS to DVD converter to complete the transition to DVD home videos. Donate as much of the clothing, old...

Dear Future Self, Hello there! Do you still remember when you had crazy curly hair, drove an adorable Focus, and were making an inordinate amount of rice noodle dinners? Anyway, that's the time frame we're talking about from here. This is also roughly the end of your third year teaching in the States. You just got your SOL test results back and they were pretty good. Some of the classes even earned fun prizes! Here's where I want you to take note.... If you ever feel like, as a parent, you have the right to undermine a teacher and the overall school test results by having your sweet, little spawn not take the SOL then you darn well better be ready to deal with the consequences. Especially if your child is sort of prickish (which, if a teacher or series of other adults tell you, you'd do well to believe) and has been boasting about how he doesn't have to take the tests to anyone and everyone who will listen. When the teacher says they don't get to enjoy the...