Brackets Schmackets.

Every year since at least 1999 I have filled out at least one if not two NCAA brackets and I have entered a pool.

I have never won a dime. Now, I do consider myself to be fairly well-versed in sports, but I know it's always a crap-shoot for this tournament. I know you're supposed to pick a certain amount of "upsets" and shouldn't always pick the number 1 seeds to go all the way. I always follow this advice ... to no avail.

This morning I woke up to look at my brackets and I got out my fancy little highlighters to mark them off (a little OCD, I know). There are way too many blue cross-outs and not enough green highlights.

Maybe next year I really need to pay attention to the teams for a month or so before the tournament, not just the week before.

Or, I'll just hope that one day my luck will finally push me ahead and I'll be a bracket champion.

Movin' on up!!

It's almost official! I am almost a home-owner!

Last Tuesday the sellers accepted my offer.

Friday I had the home inspection (nothing major is wrong, thank goodness, just a few minor repairs need to be made and two of them my dad fixed while we were there - he's awesome!).

Today I started packing. I cleaned out / packed five closets, one bookcase and washed all the bedding for the spare bedroom and all tablecloths. I figure if I start with the non-essentials now while I have time it will make it easier to pack the things I'm still using for the next couple weeks.

Wednesday I will go to the bank to process the loan and I guess to get all the paperwork done.

Supposedly we will close within 30 days. Wow. I'm thinking Easter / Spring Break will be busy busy busy for me!

Wish me luck!! I'm scared as hell, but so excited to get started on this venture!

Aunt Janis ... I like the sound of that :)

So I have known for about 4 months that I am going to be an aunt this summer, but yesterday we found out that It's a Girl!!

I am so excited ... of course, I would have been excited for a boy or a girl, but it is nice to know. I can't wait to start shopping and finding all kinds of great books, toys and clothes (of course) for her!!

This is going to be such an exciting adventure. We are going to have so much fun and from what I hear being an aunt is pretty darn awesome!

Yaaaay to all of us! Can't wait until July!!

Time Flies ...

I can't believe it is March 9 already. The past few weeks have just flown by, in my opinion. I suppose having something to do every weekend makes the weekends go by quickly, which can be good sometimes.

I was thinking that March was going to be a long month because we don't have any days off of school, but now I am rethinking that opinion. This Thursday I'll be at a meeting all day, so I won't be at school. Next week I have a personal day. The week after that I will be in Chicago for AP Training. Amid all of those things we are HOPEFULLY going to be playing basketball still, so I might be traveling back and forth to Cleveland!!

Of course, we lost an hour this past weekend, so I guess technically, time is flying by. That's good. I'm ready for spring, warmth, sun and whatever comes next.

Home Sweet Home??

For the past six or seven months I've been thinking about buying a house. I'm scared to death. As independent as I am this is one step in my life I really never pictured doing alone.

BUT - looks like the time has come!! I started looking a few weeks ago at homes in Warren and was scared and disappointed to see how deplorable the ones in my price range were.

Saturday, however, I think I may have found one. Wow. Scary. Exciting. A block and a half away from my parents ...

Anyway, I'll add more details about it later, but here is a link to the photos of the house - http://www.gmaceatongroup.com/listings/images.php?lid=42836754&img=2 .

Going to the bank tomorrow I hope for preapproval, then we'll see what happens next! Wish me luck!

Get Out!!

I was probably only 14 years old when Seinfeld first aired. I'm sure I was still watching Growing Pains and Mr. Belvedere at the time, so I didn't even attempt to understand it. I remember watching it a few times in college, but not that often. So when it went off the air in 1998 I supposed I hadn't seen that many episodes of it ... unlike now when I could take just about ANYONE in a Seinfeld trivia contest. I mean for real. I sometimes feel like Elaine, Jerry, Kramer, George, Frank, Newman, Morty, Babu, et al are my friends. Often (and when I say often I mean almost daily) I use Seinfeld quotes or situations in my life. For real. It's probably quite annoying to others, but to me it's HEEELARIOUS!! I am a little disappointed that I usually only catch four or five episodes a week now due to my hectic schedule, but I always laugh.

I'm not sure what gets me the most about it. Is it the callous way the characters deal with each other? Is it the banter that they have with each other? Is it the way they just seem to breeze in and out of relationships? Is it just so amazingly about NOTHING that I can't get enough of it?

Some of my friends are pretty knowledgeable about the show too (maybe even more than I am) and when we used to play games a lot we were quite competitive! Recently my sister and brother-in-law received the Seinfeld Scene-It game and were pretty nervous to play with me. I'm itching to play again. Sometimes I even do Seinfeld trivia on-line. By myself. And I'm awesome.

One year I even had some of my students translate an entire episode for a French 5 assignment. I might do that again. Or maybe it's not good to double dip.

I'm ready to go back to work.

I love my job. I really do! Although I never EVER thought I'd be a teacher, I love it. I especially love teaching French because it gives me a lot of freedom to teach cultural things and to help my students learn about what is out there in the world beyond the Warren Bypass.

I also love snow days. I really really do! But I think that three in a row was a little much. Especially butted up against the weekend. I mean, one a week for the month of February would have been perfect. Then it would have been like a nice little break from five-day weeks, but spread out enough.

So honestly, this is a little too much. I cleaned out all of my drawers on the snow days earlier in the month. This time I did laundry, I packed up CD's (in case I move sometimes soon), I grocery shopped, I hung out with friends and spent a little too much money out and about, I met with a man about buying a house and I spent WAAAAAY too much time on Facebook. I am ready to get back to work. Actually, I am excited to go to the basketball game tonight to see my students and my teacher friends - it's amazing how much I miss them when I'm not around them!!

But I guess we are supposed to get another bad snowstorm next week? I'm sure I'll be happy if I get "the call" - as long as it's only for one day at a time please!!