I can't remember the last time I had such a hard week at work. Not coming home crying every day hard - though I did cry on my lunch break yesterday when I felt like my boss (it is a married couple who owns the school. I am referring to Mrs. Owner) had a disapproving tone after we worked our rather substantial butts off all week with only moments of help from her - but hard. Monday and Tuesday night I was so physically exhausted that not much happened once I got home, other than a much needed shower. Tuesday night I was so thankful that Brett's mom wanted to take us to dinner because the thought of standing in front of the stove, or even standing at the counter long enough to make us panini's was painful.
It turns out we are understaffed. We have more kids than we realized, which is an awesome problem to have, but it required every one putting in extra effort, and unfortunately, half of our staff called in sick at least once this week. Yikes. For the first time ever, I was a substitute teacher for the entire day. I have filled in an hour here and an hour there in almost every class at the school. But I was a 3 year old teacher for an entire day. The first full week of summer. Which means new students. New 3 year old students.
That's all I can say about that.
It was such a ridiculously tough week, that for the first time in the history of our school, the Mr. Owner hosted a happy hour last night. He said thank you with pizza and wine. Because we survived 5 "I need a drink" days.
It was last night, and I didn't go. Brett got paid yesterday and we decided yesterday morning to have a date night so when I got to school and was offered happy hour, it was an incredibly tempting thought. I had my phone in my hand and was texting Brett to tell him I had plans, when I pictured his face as he read my text and put my phone back in the cabinet where it lives while I am at work. I'm not the only one who had a full week at work. Last night was one of those nights where we really needed to be together.
(Brett also doesn't really approve of alcohol. I could probably count on both hands the number of alcoholic drinks I have had in my life (maybe both hands and one foot... maybe) I look forward to a margarita now and then. I usually have an "I need a drink" moment once a month, and actually have a drink once a year, and it is always planned far in advance. A lunch date with my girls or a birthday dinner with my bestie, Jennifer. But alcohol has just never been a big part of my life. As a believer, and someone who has witnessed up close and personal the devastating effects alcoholism can have on a person's life, it was an iffy subject for me for years. Not knowing how I felt about it kept me away from it for a long while and it just never became a major player for me. So if it's not important to me, and it is important to Brett, why would I not honor him in that area? I haven't said firmly that I will never drink again, but the thought has crossed my mind once or twice that maybe I should... okay, back to our regularly scheduled program.)
My date night with Brett was exactly what I needed. It was super simple. We spent a total of $53, but that included dinner for both of us at $20, movie tickets for both of us at $20, candy to sneak into the movie in my purse at $3 and a gift from him to me at $10.
We had talked about seeing Snow White and the Huntsman, and because it was pay day, and we were exhausted, I wanted to see it at the Cinema Suites room at a nearby theater. It's a dine in theater but the seats are recliners. I have heard it is the most comfortable, enjoyable public movie watching experience out there and I have always wanted to give it a try. But at $15 a ticket, it is not something you do every time you go catch a flick. Because of the large seats, the seating is very limited in these theaters. We wanted to buy tickets online at home, but we are out of toner and can't print anything at the moment. So we went to the theater two hours early. Well, there were only 2 seats left, and they weren't next to each other. So we passed and bought tickets to the regular theater.
This particular theater happens to be at a mall, so we ended up eating dinner in the food court and then visiting the Lego store to kill time.
We went to the brand new Lego store in The Woodlands when we were there a few weeks ago and I really wanted to buy a figure key chain. I have the Indiana Jones Lego figure key chain because it came with the game and Brett gave it to me. We play the Lego video games together. Brett is a gamer, and most of the games that he plays, not being a gamer myself, I am not interested in playing. But, because he is a gamer, we look for games that I can have fun playing, and the Lego games are my all time favorite. They are hilarious, and because they are all based on classic films, they are right up my movie loving alley.
If you are a long time reader of my blog, or a friend, you know that my husband and I collect Mr. Potato Heads. We have 15 or so on top of our kitchen cabinets. The first we bought was Spud Trooper, a Mr. Potato Head dressed up as a Star Wars storm trooper.
We saw it in a grocery store one night and died laughing. We had to buy it. A few weeks later, when we came across Darth Tater, also in a grocery store, a collection was begun.
It's been WAY too long since they've put out a new one. Not that we have them all. I occasionally get on Amazon and drool over these guys, none of which we have, but I tell myself to wait. Maybe we will find one on a comic shop shelf one day.
I was sure that The Avengers films would inspire some new potatoes, but if they are out there, I haven't found one yet.
Well, Brett collects all kinds of other things, all comic related. I was an avid collector as a child. Stickers, bells, maybe spoons at one point? A brief flirtation with Avon bottles after college. But they were all eventually rationalized away. In high school I went on a cleaning kick one day and got rid of everything that was junk. I was a hoarder waiting to happen. I went cold turkey one day deciding that I didn't want "things" filling up my life. I threw away notes, pictures, collections, and who knows what else. I'm still big on fighting clutter. I refuse to buy something that I don't have a place for. Clutter is the opposite of convenience. Excess things will not make my life better. I am just now letting myself start to buy a cute bit of randomness now and then to decorate the house. I realized that there is a happy balance where a home can be decorated without wasting a ton of money on non necessities. It's okay, and even healthy, to display your personality.
But I love our potato collection. I have always know that I will someday have a collection of Pez dispensers. Well theses Lego figures rock my world, and they are tiny, so I have ways to display them now. I have officially started collecting them. I have the Indiana Jones key chain that came with that Lego game, the Captain Jack Sparrow figure that came with that Lego game, and last night I bought two more key chains. Hagrid and Wonder Woman. It was Hagrid that did it. When I saw him, I had to have him. He is my most loved character in the Harry Potter books. If I were a student at Hogwarts, I would have a secret crush on him.
We both enjoyed the movie. It is very well done. Not the kind of movie that I would typically watch over and over but Brett has already said he wants to own it, so I will see it again, for sure.
Wow. That was a long post. I am off to put on some make up, so we can go get our oil changed and run a thousand errands today. I am feeling very spoiled. It was a hard week, but we made it. And today is all ours =-)
Hope you find whatever medicine you need this weekend, be it a margarita, a movie night or a Lego key chain.
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