Scrappy Days are here again!

I am sooooooo loving the new job and the new kids and even the new rural commute.

I will be posting photos of my commute, Lucedale, and Mobile soon.

In the meantime, just know that, though my commute never involves heavy traffic, on my first day to my new job I was stuck going 30 mph on a highway behind THIS for quite a while:



I was simply too amused to be annoyed. I am in no way making fun of Mississippi, Alabama, or my rural route--I am just fascinated by it all still.

Today I hung some of the precious vintage strawberry fabric Lauren got me ages ago on the bulletin boards in my classroom. I framed it with--yep, you guessed it--red gingham. Mere words cannot come even remotely close to expressing the insane levels of cuteness and cheese that my classroom has now reached. Soon I think I will make classroom curtains out of the remaining strawberry fabric.





If you don't love that, then I am afraid you do not know the meaning of the word cute!

The sisters threw a bridal shower for me this weekend. Yay for sisters and prizes and cucumber sandwiches! Here are some photos of the madness:



Me. duh.



Mr. (and soon-to-be) Mrs. Wonder.



Me receiving the ultimate love chickens in the love nest!



Cutting the cake.



Boy Wonder, Me, and my almost parents-in-law!



Amy, Me, Nat.



The Bridal Party: Lauren (pictured as an Ugly Doll), Emily, Me, Nancy, Wendy, Stephanie, Amy, Natalie, Allison.



Sister Nancy.



Allison and I were tired after the festivities.


AND Boy Wonder's fabulous co-workers are throwing us a shower next week! I am just dumbfounded by the supreme niceness of it all.

OOOOH--and we now have a mini-honeymoon! Johana and Stage went above and beyond and bought us TWO nights at the super fancy Battlehouse Hotel in Mobile for our wedding gift! Which is amazing and exciting because the hotel is deluxe and near everything, but it's also kinda crazy romantic because Boy Wonder took me there on our first date. Okay, that didn't sound right. Let me explain. He took me to dinner at Busaba's (where he sipped wine through a straw) and then we walked over to see the lobby of the newly renovated Battlehouse. A hotel employee told us about the whispering arches and the "ghost" stories, so we ran around the hotel looking for ghosts and whispering through arches at each other. Okay, we walked around--but it was still fun. Thai food and ghost stories; he knew what he was doing with his wooing!

So, basically: I am super happy, showered with gifts, employed, no longer in pain, and almost entirely stress-free. It's a good thing.



-Scrap diddly dee

Ole Miss Scrappy?

Happy update below!



Since I last typed I:

Mostly recovered from the Tonsillectomy--although I will always be a bit traumatized.

Quit the bookstore--they wouldn't give me enough recovery time, so I kind of had to quit or just not show up. Plus, you can't work there and teach!

Have made most of the wedding plans, and had several planning "meetings" with the siblings and mom (this means we get together to eat a lot).

HANDMADE the invitations--with help from the Sisters, Trina, and even Michael! (More on this on the craftiwoo site later).

Sent out most of the invitations (my poor mother had to write the addresses out herself--no one would let my handwriting near them. Ouch).

Found out that I had THREE schools that wanted to hire me: two in Mobile and one in Mississippi. I decided to take whichever one would pay me first, thank you.

At long last the job search is over:

And the winning town is: Lucedale, Mississippi!

I actually started TEACHING Special Education high school yoots on 8/6.

They do the inclusion/resource teacher thing there, so it is VERY different from what I did in Los Angeles, but I think it's going to work out for the best! Each class is 96 minutes (!) long, so there are only three classes per teacher a day--and one 96 minute prep period (so very deluxe). My first period is 6 students with mild mental retardation/autism. Second period I go into a 10th grade English class to teach collaboratively and to help the students. Third period I get to eat lunch and prep for 96 minutes--which is really great for someone (me) who got hired the day before the students came! Fourth period I teach 13 students of average cognition but with some learning disabilities and ADD (this is most similar to what I did in LA). These kids keep me on my toes! Never a dull moment. They already started calling me "Ms. D" yesterday; I got a tiny tear since that is what the babies in LA used to call me! Sigh.

It feels great to be in the classroom after almost an entire year of unemployment and bookstore jobs!

Soon I will post photos of the interesting things I see on my very long and very rural commute to this quaintest of quaint (I mean, I sooooo LOVE it. Seriously) towns.

If anyone nearby has any couches, bookshelves, coffee tables, etc. that they don't need/want I may be very open to scavenging once we have a place to put stuff in!

-Ms. Scraps

BLING!

Today I was feeling a bit better, so Boy Wonder took me ring shopping! We went to about five different stores and saw several nice rings that weren't exactly right. I was about to pass out from exhaustion when we finally stopped at the last store.

The second I put it on my finger I knew it was the one. I think I lit up like a Christmas tree when I put it on! I never thought I could be so enamored by a ring--or any piece of jewelry--but I was. He loved it, too, and he bought it on the spot.

It is not a traditional engagement ring, but it is what I have always wanted: garnet and white gold. This one has three little garnets and two precious hearts--yes, hearts!--on the sides...and it is even prettier than I ever hoped for.

Here are the cheesy obligatory engagement photos that my mom took:











I am so annoyed that none of the photos show just how sparkly and pretty the ring is...although they DO highlight how strangely creepy-looking my hands are! I'm gonna go ahead and blame that on the tonsillectomy too.



Though the swollen tonsil holes still require ice packs, love makes the pain bearable....aaaaaah! Sorry about that.

We are thinking September 19th for the big day. And no, we are not rushing into this for the reason you may be thinking--we are simply eager to start our lives together already.

Oh--after we bought the ring I asked the sales lady if I could wear it home. As she was putting the ring in a box she looked at Boy Wonder and said, "Oh no--you still have work to do...the whole knee thing and flowers and dinner and all that."

So, when we got home yeah he got down on his knee in the grass and popped the question again...and I said, "mmmmkay" and then reminded him that I am not supposed to make important decisions on painkillers. Ah, romance.

As you can see, we are very happy & a wee bit scared.

Make sure you look at yesterday's OFFICIAL engagement post and pics, too!

love,
Scraps (now w/bling!)

I had a very ENGAGING conversation on my tonsillectomy bed yesterday....

Yep, he proposed--precisely one year after our first contact!





At the time of proposal I had just woken up: no shower, no make up, no hair combing, still in ratty t-shirt. Not to mention my very romantic scabby tonsil breath! Basically, the boy is not just sweet and romantic; he is also brave.




I hope this self-taken cell phone engagement photo (which I really do want to put in the paper as our official announcement) fully captures the pain of a tonsillectomy and the fear in our tiny loving hearts...

You know you love it!



For those of you who have asked/are wondering: the big bruise on my left hand is from the tonsillectomy IV. The dark spot on my finger is an old ring (from AL-Stephanie, I think?) that we put on for the purpose of the photo--we are going ring shopping as soon as I am able to get out of bed!

Also, I am feeling much better today--they upped my pain meds and I seem to be making progress toward healing--finally.

So much love,
Scraps

I Feel Like Scrap!

We want our tonsils back.

Happy Independence Day!

Funny, I don't feel very independent with my poor mother waiting on me hand and foot and my being unable to talk or eat or drink.... Yep, I went through with the surgery. I can't even eat ice cream right now! What a rip off—that was supposed to be the only perk of this darn surgery! Swallowing my liquid painkiller makes me double over in pain. I just started taking the steroids this morning, which should make it all much better soon; they better not make me angry and hairy like I heard they might. Gross.

The good news is I can tell this surgery will help with my asthma--I can breathe better already now that my airways aren't obstructed with enormous tonsils! Still can't swallow, but I can breathe. I think my recovery will be a tad harder because the doc says it is harder when the tonsils are infected and big at the time of surgery and mine were both.

So, I am going to be out of work for at least a week to recover, and there IS a good chance that I will be fired upon return for some things that I couldn't possibly get done before taking my sick leave.

I’m sorry, but when you are sick and exhausted from working to death for paychecks smaller than what I made in undergrad and you are asked to stay over to finish up a project the night of the TOM WAITS show you spent $195 on and have been waiting since 1992 for…. well, I guess it kinda skews your priorities a little. So, I may get fired and I may not care…

And I am sooooooo glad I went to see Tom Waits. This guy really knows how to put on a show. I knew he’d be good, but this was downright thrilling. We were in the center of the tiny (gorgeous & old) theatre--only 15 rows back....perfect view. The audience was great, too….they knew all the words and got really into clapping for the encore and randomly standing up to yell and clap after certain awesome songs. After the show we walked out the side door where he was standing about 10 feet from a bunch of fans and talking to them! I stood behind everyone and waved timidly. HE WAVED BACK! I expect his proposal any day now. Then he walked over and started shaking hands with everyone, but not me because I just couldn’t put my hand out there or make eye contact. This man fully defines cool. Boy Wonder only knew two songs before the show: “Mocking Bird” and “Goin’ Out West.” Now he is a HUGE fan and wants to go see him again!

The perks of possibly being fired after sick leave: not working that hell job any more and at least a day off before I start my new emergency job. Any job, no matter how quickly rushed into, would have to be better than the current one. And I should know by the beginning of August if I have a teaching gig or not. The principal seems convinced that I do…. It is all in the Board of Education’s court.

Much love,
Scraps.

Grandwoman.

Grandman Triathlon
Fairhope, AL
May 31, 2008

THAT’S RIGHT—I DID IT!

And I have the world’s ugliest shirt/photos to prove it.

1/3 mile swim.
16.4 mile bike.
3.1 mile run.

2 hours and 19 minutes.
And I wasn’t last.




Boy Wonder looks all fresh and non-sweaty because he finished a tad bit before me. Show off. This is me in my sweaty, red-faced glory just after crossing the finish line...

So, on the way home I was expressing how proud I was of myself that I finished without DYING and Boy Wonder says, “So are you ready for the one in July?”

WHAT?!

Upcoming events:

TOM WAITS: JULY 2ND IN A TINY THEATRE IN MOBILE, AL!
I am sooooo ready for that.

And the next day I am having my tonsils removed. I am not so ready for that.
But, yay for ice cream!


Here are some belated photos from our down-home family Easter:






This one is my favorite of me and the sisters. Wendy is clearly saying, "Take my photo already!" Nancy is clearly wondering if she should put on more lipstick while my face contortion screams "Not ANOTHER photo!" Precious. They will kill me for putting this one up.


This is the randomest all-time blog. That being said, below lies The Creature.



My mom and I have been hiding The Creature all over the house for each other to find (attempting to out-do each other each time) much in the tradition of the "I Voted" sticker that Maske and I used to hide all over the Glendale Ghetto and the unmentionable that Katie and I used to hide all over the dorm. So, I think I won when I surprised her by having the waiters at the Olive Garden put it on a cake and sing Happy Birthday to her. No, it was not her birthday. Yes, it was hilarious.




When I was looking for more memories to add to my sentimental tee-shirt quilts I found this bonnet. My mom ACTUALLY made me wear this bonnet on an Easter Sunday when I was a yoot. Yikes. That explains a lot about my love for all things cheesy.



Stephanie's Amazing Fondue Birthday Party in the Neck.





No, I do not have a teaching gig yet. Soon, my pretties. In the meantime I am the Assistant General Manager at the local Books-a-Million. Which will have to do--for now.

-K