My go-to meal of the week

 The makings of a good meal

So it seems that just about every week we end up eating waffles for dinner. It is usually because I don't want to really cook and I am tired of eating fast food. So waffles it is, and I don't do anything else to go with them. No eggs-they smell when you cook them, no bacon or sausage-it takes too long to cook and is a pain to clean, just the waffles with a glass of milk. It is a good thing Andy loves me despite the fact that my culinary skills could use some work.

I've been reading a lot of DIY decorating/craft blogs lately and have become slightly obsessed with finding stuff I want to try or do for our house. My favorite blog so far is at this address http://www.granvillehouse.blogspot.com/. I think I am so captivated by these blogs is because they not only share fun budget friendly ideas, but they share their life stories too. We live in an age where information is given out so freely to anybody and that just amazes me. I mean think back to when our grandparents were growing up and writing down their daily trials and thoughts in a diary. I'm sure they thought about how someday somebody might find their diary and read it, but they never thought about it becoming instantly public like online journals are today.

 Do we share too much information online?

On a side note I have found a canvas painting for my bathroom that I am thrilled with! 

I found a room decor picture on the Pier 1 website a while back that had bird painting in it that I LOVED, but, they did not carry these painting for sale on their website! *DUMB* So in the mean time I have been keeping an eye out for something similar to them and I found it today at TJ Maxx! *YAY* While we were in Dallas a few weeks ago we also found this at TJ Maxx homegoods...

This is also for our bathroom as you can probably tell by the toilet paper. TJ Maxx is one of my new favorite places. I just wish we had a Homegoods here! As the bathroom progresses I will update with more pictures.

How do you know?

So I saw this movie a couple of months ago called "How do you know?" with Reece Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd. The movie itself was just okay, but what I liked was the title and overall theme of the movie. How do you know what to do when what you were doing doesn't work out? This is the question I have been asking myself for the last two months. Ever since I quit my teaching job I keep wondering what am I suppose to do with my life? I thought for sure that teaching was going to be it for me, and I am still not completely convinced that it is not it for me. But for the time being I am put off with the idea of teaching especially with all the crazy budget cuts. People keep asking me what I want to do and I just don't know. I know that God has a plan for me and that there is a reason for everything, but I feel like I am wearing glasses that blur my vision and I can't really see past my own hand. I think I need to pray to God for a better prescription on my glasses! Anyways I just thought that if I wrote it down it would help me work through this. So I guess I am wondering how did you know that what you were doing was right for you?

I'm pretty pathetic when it comes to updating this thing...

So my student teaching semester is coming to a close in approx. two weeks and I am excited that this critical phase is almost over, but sad about leaving my kids. Good news is, though, that I already have two interviews set up with the school district that I am student teaching in. One interview is a general interview with the HR guy from central office, and the other interview is with the principal's at the school that I am student teaching at for a position in second grade. I'm really hoping for this second grade position, but I am trying not to get my hopes up too high. In the mean time I am looking into other districts in this area. I have a few connections I want to utilize within Lubbock ISD just to get my foot in the door then I will see what happens. I am also looking at Shallowater even though their website says they have no openings.

In other news Andy's grandmother passed away a few weeks ago, and since we are living in her house we are now exploring our options for housing. We have been assured that we don't have to do anything immediately, but naturally we cannot stay here forever. Anyways we have been looking at houses online and have found a few that we are interested in. It is hard to find anything when you don't really know what sort of price range you are looking, but we are being reasonable when we adjust our search criteria. One of the houses we are looking at is not far from where are now, just on the other side of Indiana, but the bad news is it is literally right across the street from my Market Street. Like you walk out the front door and you are staring at the side of the store. I don't really care that it is right across the street from the place I use to work, I am just concerned about the amount of traffic associated with the store that will be near our house if we decided to buy that house.

Lots of life changes...I guess that is part of the deal with being a grown up. Oh and another thing I have noticed that a lot of people that are having babies these days name them Kenzie, Kinley, or something to that affect and so I have decided that my child in the future will have NOT have a name that in anyway resembles those names. It's like Ashley was the name to have when I was growing up and now it some variation of the Kenzie, which is isn't that short for Makenzie anyways...whatever!

Riverdance

So on this past Thursday Andy took me to see Riverdance. Apparently they are closing the show and this was going to be our last opportunity to see it. When he first mentioned going he said that his grandparents suggested that we go see it. Of course I thought we would not go, because getting Andy to go to these kind of things is nearly impossible. But then he said he was serious about going and wanted to see it! Shocked was all I felt! So we went and it was AMAZING! It is like the people's legs and feet are detached from the rest of their body. Sometimes I wish I could do something really well. I can play the clarinet and the piano, but I am only average on both of those...probably because I don't practice. Anyways I have decided that if I have a daughter or even a son for that matter and they want to pursue dance then I am going to let them, because it is awesome! Cheerleading and gymnastics on the other hand are another story...as no I don't think so! I say that now but I guess we will see what happens when I actually have kids.

All hospital chairs are the same

Warning this blog does contain some semi-graphic descriptions of bodily functions.

Last night at approximately 12:45am Andy woke me up and told me he was having a terrible pain in his lower abdomen. I knew instantly that it was really bad and immediately suggested going to the ER. I got out of bed and began to get dressed and then he started feeling very nauseous and had to throw up. We weren't able to leave for the hospital for about twenty minutes because he was so sick he felt like it wouldn't make it. Finally we left and he held a bucket in the car on the way over there. At the ER he was in so much pain that he could not even stand up straight and was constantly holding his side that hurt. Thank God that they were not busy and were able to quickly get him into the triage room. In triage they went ahead and drew blood to begin doing blood work and also started an IV so that he could receive medication and fluids. They took him back to an actual room in the ER where a nurse came in and did his initial evaluation. The nurse said he thought it might be kidney stones, but that they would find out for sure from the blood work and when the doctor came in. They started him on fluids, Demerol for pain, and Phenergen for nausea. The doctor came in and told us that he was going to order a catscan to check for kidney stones. Luckily for Andy he had all the good medicine and was not feeling as much pain or nausea as before and he was able to get some sleep while we waited for the catscan. The technician finally came and got him and I was left by myself in an uncomfortable chair watching the X Games at 3:30 in the morning. Finally Andy was back and he was able to rest some more while we waited for the results. I managed to get some rest by laying my head on part of Andy's pillow, but still the chair was not comfortable and I have a knot the size of Texas in my right should blade to prove it today. Around 5 am the doctor came back and said it was kidney stones, but that they had already passed to his bladder so he was going to be fine and it was just a matter of time before they were completely passed. He was sent home with a prescription for the pain, the nausea, and an antibiotic to get all the gunk out of his system. We both stayed home today so that he could rest and recover and I could rest and take care of him. The experience was scary for me because at first we had no idea what was going on and I was so worried about my honey. I am glad that in the end it was just kidney stones, but I am not glad that Andy had to go through that awful experience.

Now a little bit more about my title. The last time Andy and I were in the ER was two months after we got married. Andy's parents were out of town camping in New Mexico with Joel so that asked us to check in on Andy's grandmother Eufa and take care of anything she needed. We received a call one night from a person that works at her retirement home explaining that Eufa was having trouble breathing and wanted us to come check on her. So we did and she said she was having a little trouble, but that she wanted to stay there and was feeling better. So we helped her into bed, put the phone next to her, and told her to call us if she needed anything. At 1am she called and said she wanted to go to the hospital. We went up to room and helped her get ready while we waited for the ambulance we called. We spent the whole night with her in the ER in these terribly uncomfortable chairs and finally found out at about 6am that she had pnemonia. My point is that she went to Covenant and last night Andy an I went to UMC and both hospital's emergency rooms have the same uncomfortable chairs. I know their concern is the patient, but what about the person that is stressed and is patiently waiting with the patient and helping them through their emergency. Ironically enough when we took Eufa to the ER it was during the summer olympics and this time with Andy it was close to the winter olympics.

I hope I never have to take my husband to the ER again and that the next time either of us is in a hospital we are having a baby.

The year 2009

The past year brought a lot of changes for Andy and I. I thought I would share a few of the memories with pictures.

In January we went skiing with Andy's family in Crested Butte, CO and while there we went snowmobiling. The snowmobiling part of our trip was the best part of our vacation. We also got Bella, our beloved dog, at the end of January! She has been a wonderful addition to our family and we cannot imagine life without her. Even Tabby is beginning to like her.


Here is the family about to go snowmobiling!


Here is one of the first picture's we took of Bella.

In February Andy turned 25! Which means he is an old man, or at least I like to tease him and say he is old.


At Andy's 25th birthday party.

In March one of my best friends, Sarah, got married to Gary. Andy and I went to Dallas for the weekend to attend the wedding and see some old friends. Sarah was a beautiful bride.


This is Sarah and I right before the wedding in our cool t-shirts that Sarah made for us.

In May I went to the Dominican Republic for a two week study abroad course offered through Texas Tech. I lived with a Dominican host family and worked in a local bilingual school. I also got to see the capital of the DR and go to some amazing beaches. I can't wait to go back and take Andy with me.


This is my host mom, Monchi, and my roommate and one of my best friends, Dana at our mother's day lunch.


In June, Andy and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. We ate some of our top tier of our cake, and then exchanged gifts. I got Andy a Wii and he bought me another ring that I could wear at work and not worry about banging up.


Andy eating his piece of our leftover cake...he was soo excited about it!

In July we attended my mom's family reunion and I turned 24.


This is my parent's and brother's at the parade in Lorenzo. Attending the parade is part of our family reunion tradition.

In August, Andy and I went to Disney World in Florida with two other couples. It was Andy's first trip to Disney World and my second.


This is Andy and I waiting to eat breakfast at the Crystal Palace.

In the Fall of 2009 we attended Texas Tech football games with Andy's parents. I began my last semester of my degree program and left my job to focus on school. In October I took my master's comprehensive exam and my TEXES certification exam. I passed both!!!

In November our friends, Sarah and Gary, came to visit us in Lubbock and brought their family member Marty along with them. Marty and Bella had a blast playing together. When you don't have children you think of your dogs as children!


This is Marty and Bella playing with each other.

On Thanksgiving weekend we traveled to Arlington to watch the Texas Tech v. Baylor game at Cowboy stadium. This was our first and probably last trip to Cowboy stadium, but it was really impressive.


This is Andy and I inside the Cowboy Stadium!

Finally in December I graduated with my masters in Elementary Education from Texas Tech. My name can now officially read Robyn Woodward M.Ed.-I love that!!!


This is me the morning of graduation!

We were really blessed this past year and are excited about this next year. Hopefully this time next year I will have a job teaching and Andy and I can start looking for our own house.

Facebook status qoutes after the Texas Tech v. UT game...

These are a few of my favs my friends wrote...

Trey Caliva: Colt throwing to Shipley on a boat. Cute.

Trey Caliva: Would like to remind everyone ... OU lost to UT by 10 last year. They ended up in the BCS Championship game. Just saying ...

Sarah Roberts: wreck 'em tech! Good game! Too bad the officials were biased.

Karol Batey: Super proud of our boys!!! They did awesome for an "unranked" team against #2. But we'll prolly get no credit for this. Like ALWAYS!!! Congrats ut u beat an unranked team by 10 awesome....

Glenn Burns: is annoyed by all the UT fans who have never set foot on the UT campus...at least i'm an alumni of Tech

Jen Wall: i wear a tech shirt because i went to tech. you wear a ut shirt because you went to walmart. wreck em

Andrea Byrd: I love you Texas Tech! Hell of a good game against the #2 team in the nation. At least we beat them when they were ranked! Bunch of pansies... Colt McCoy is lame!!!