The DISASTER

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 started like any other day. Brock and I avoided exercising by turning off our alarms and sleeping the extra hour (in our defense, we were extremely sore from lunges the day before). We each went to work, came home, and had dinner- nothing out of the ordinary. Later that evening we decided to go to get frozen yogurt from our favorite place, Golden Spoon. This is where things go awry.

Before getting into the car, Brock mentioned that he was going to turn the sprinklers on to water the lawn. Because of Utah's marathon rain month of May, we had not previously had to water our lawn yet this year. He turned on the water and we left. We were gone no more than 15 minutes (drove there, got our yogurt, and brought it back). When we got home I walked by my bedroom door and told Brock that it sounded like the fan was on...but it wasn't. The hose spigot is right by our bedroom window, so Brock immediately ran outside and to turn the water off. While he was out there, I took one step in our bedroom and...SQUISH. That's right. Flooded bedroom. We realized the water went into our closet (which shares a wall with the closet of the second bedroom). Sure enough, two flooded bedrooms. We called our landlord who then called the carpet restoration guy.

The rest of our night was filled with a lot of waiting, obnoxious neighbors, and ZERO sleep. However, we do have some pretty awesome stories about that...I won't mention them here. We ended up having to completely empty our bedroom and half of our spare room. So where did we put everything, you might ask? Well we piled that second half of the spare room quite high and the rest is in our living room! Oh and I can't forget the awesome industrial fans that we have going in our two rooms...nonstop...for 3 days. Yes!

If you know me at all, then you'll know that the clutter, the mess, and the noise are driving me CRAZY. I live in a hoarder's dream house right now. Here are some pictures:

Just part of the living room. Not pictured: the king size mattress blocking the entrance to the kitchen, the 3 piles of shoes, and the rest of our bed frame by our front door.

Part of our empty bedroom with the restoration man's hoses to suck up the water. If you look closely, you can see how soaked the carpet is (especially below the hose).

Half of our second bedroom.

Our sweet white trash bed until this is all over.

We found out that the pipe that the hose is connected to burst in the wall. Supposedly it's getting fixed. And supposedly the carpet guy is coming back later today to see if carpet and pad is ready to be installed back in. Cross your fingers that we can put our house back together soon!!

Can't Wait for School!!!...wait, what?

So the worst part about the whole process of getting hired for a teaching position is the timing. I was hired May 11th. School starts in mid August. You know that feeling on Christmas Eve or the night before you go on vacation where you want so badly to fall asleep so the happiness of the next day comes faster, but you can't fall asleep because you just keep thinking about it? Yeah try having that for 3 months.

I had all these plans for summer like: complete all of my new hire paperwork, choose a benefits plan, write my syllabus, brainstorm ideas for my classroom, pick out posters for my classroom, make a rough calendar for lesson plans, etc. Unfortunately, I had completed each one of these within the first two weeks I was hired. Now what?

Here's how I've been filling my time lately:

1. I'm the Dallas Mavericks' newest fan. The only person in this world that I hate more than Kobe Bryant is LeBron James. He's an arrogant, selfish, self-proclaimed "king" that I would like to personally dethrone with physical force...nothing fatal, just career ending. Thus, Go Mavs! In my defense against those that would accuse me of being on a bandwagon, I have always liked Dirk Nowitski. The guy is an animal. In short, I would love to see Miami's infamous "Big 3" fall... hard. On a semi-related note, is it just me or is Rick Carlisle seriously Jim Carrey's long lost twin brother?

2. I have officially memorized all of my favorite channels- both in standard cable and in HD. This may not seem like any feat, but oh let me tell you, it is. I have experienced what I like to call Television Viewer Evolution. Phase 1: Beat the remote against something like a primate until the TV turns on. Phase 2: Learn where the power, volume, and menu buttons are on the remote. Phase 3: Scroll through the channels using the menu button-starting at channel 2 and working my way up- until finding something entertaining to watch. Phase 4: Learn such functions as "Info" and "Last" to increase viewer pleasure and channel maneuverability. Phase 5: Memorize channels' locations relative to ESPN HD since that is always the channel that the TV gets left on. For example, E! HD is about 15 channels up from ESPN. Phase 6: Begin to memorize frequently watched channels. Phase 7: Effortless transit throughout the cable world by combining memorized channels with functions of the remote for guaranteed entertainment pleasure.


3. I work...I'm not that pathetic.

4. I cook again! Brock did a great job of taking care of me that last year of school. Because of my job I didn't get home until about 7:30 each night which would have been a ridiculous time to start cooking our dinner. We would have been digesting dinner half way through our REM cycle...gross. However, now that it's summer and my work hours are in the morning, I have time to come home and provide some good home cookin' for the hub. Now I'm no Cat Cora, but I do enjoy cooking and being in the kitchen (not in a 1950's housewife sort of way, but as a hobby). Fun fact: my favorite chore is doing dishes.

5. I've been spending more time outdoors. As much as I hate Utah (I don't actually hate Utah, I just hate the way it pales in comparison to California), I have come to realize that it is beautiful. I'm trying to take advantage of the scenery while we're here. We went hiking last weekend to Battle Creek Falls. It's a short, easy hike but it was beautiful. The water levels are super high right now so the waterfall was gorgeous. We also go on bike rides quite often. The weather has been so nice and I know that soon it will be disgustingly hot, so we're enjoying it while we can. Also, we've started running...I hate running so I have nothing more to say of this.

Even though I want nothing more than to get in the classroom and start teaching, I'm trying to enjoy my summer. This is my last summer before I start my career...weird. I know that come fall, I'll be wondering where my time went. So for now, I'll take some time to soak up some sun, watch some TV, and just enjoy life!