Murder!

Yes, that's my post title.  I suppose I'll break it down for you.

We are hosting in Murder Mystery Party in a month.  And, a month in advance I'm getting excited.  I don't know if you've ever been to a Murder Mystery Party, but it's pretty much amazing.  I love them.  You can find them online. Usually they are for groups of 8 or more.  Everyone is assigned a "character" to play, you print scrips, facts, and clues, and throughout the night you have to figure out "who dunnit".  Kind of like Clue, but cooler.  Plus there are costumes and all sorts of theatrical-ness if you decide to really get into your part.  Which, I will.  Because I'm like that.

And the theme of this party is...wait for it...

Yusssss.  Bring on the scrunchies, jelly shoes, and Pop Rocks!

I'm playing the role of Polly Pingmold, obsessed with my pink prom dress and my Rubik's cube.  Charlie is Ivan Pingmold, CEO of a Hairspary company that has a flatulence problem.  We'll be joined by 6 other friends from our church...ranging from an NFL players to a narcoleptic ballerina.

We are all bringing a dish to pass, but since it's taking place in our Casa, I'm in charge of the 80s decor.  My budget is $20 or under.  Bring on the Goodwill!!!  I seriously love the Goodwill.  It's better than chocolate.  Okay, maybe not chocolate, but I love it.

Here are my ideas for the party and approximate costs, (with the assistance of Dollar Tree)...

• Bright neon table clothes (disposable) and paper plates:  Dollar Tree  $4
• Records as chargers for the plates:  Goodwill ~$2

• Fun party confetti to sprinkle on the table:  Dollar Tree $1

• "Danglers": Goodwill $3 

• Candy Necklaces as Favors:  Dollar Tree $3 (I'm pretty sure they come in a pack of 3 for $1)

• Ugly pink prom dress: Goodwill $3.79, the cost of any dress!
• 80s Music on pandora.com  FREE
• 80s Board games on display (Jenga, Guess Who, Connect 4, Trouble)  FREE, already own
• My Rubik's cube FREE (I have one at school as a prop...don't ask)

That brings my total to around $18 with tax.  Yay.  Maybe I can get Charlie a fart maker after all ;) 

I'll post pictures of the evening and decor.  Totally tubular!

Let there be light...and breeze!

So as the bonus room comes together, we finally have the next things picked out!  Lighting and a fan.  It was actually hard to find a fan--really hard.  Because of the lower ceilings, we couldn't have a light on it otherwise we would be constantly bumping our heads... and because the ceilings are slanted the fan had to be less than 50''.  It's a lot harder than it seems!  Then we stumbled upon this guy...

The best part??  It was only $70.  I can't say it's perfect...I mean, honestly, fans are pretty ugly.  But it serves it's purpose and met all of our specifications.  It is also much more modern than what is currently in there.  Our lighting is going to be MUCH improved as well.  It's going from this ugly "school lights" as I like to call them.

To this!....

 

"Track" lighting from the Home Depot.  Ohhhh...ahhh!  

Unfortunately, the previous owners just screwed the lights and fan right into the ceiling drywall, mounted on nothing.  So it took a couple of extra steps than we imagined, but the room is really coming together.

 Especially if you compare it to the before....

Bonus room progress!

I know, I know...we're impressive.  The bonus room is getting done during the first week of school!?!?!  She's crazy! 

I wish I could take credit for how great it looks...we actually had hired help.  Totally unlike me, I know.  I hate to have to pay for things like that when I can put some blood, sweat and tears into it.  But the drywall had to be rebuilt...  Could we have done it?  Yes, but it would have been a HUGE pain, and I'm glad we didn't because it took professionals over 8 hours to complete.  Yikes.  They said it was really bad. 

Here was the bonus room when we moved in...

It was actually worse than it looks.  The map on the wall was wallpaper, and all the walls were covered in beige, slightly peeled wallpaper.  When I went to Spain, I left Charlie with the task of taking the rest down thinking it would be an easy fix and we could just paint over it.  Well, my AMAZING in-laws came down to visit charlie and spent HOURS peeling off wallpaper shavings...on an angled wall.  It took them forever.  Talk about a pain in the neck.  Literally.  That's love right there!

Anyway, my mother-in-law, Vicki, told us, "Just knowing how hard that was, we are going to pay to have this finished for you."

Yay!

So they did.  Here was the room after miracles performed by Vicki... she did all of this near single-handedly...

Look in the bottom right had corner, the drywall is all broken and shaved off from peeling the wallpaper.

Oh, and I don't know if you can tell, but here is some AWFUL sponge paint that was under the wallpaper.  It looked like a disease took over the room.  Randomly enough, the people were too lazy to paint it over the stairs...so they just stopped.  Which made it even uglier.

But here is the room in progress...

We LOVE the color.  I had to switch to Behr because that's what the painters used, but I'm really happy with it.  It's called "Warm Nutmeg."  It really is very warm and inviting.  Adore.  I'm also really glad we painted the ceilings white, too, because it makes the room feel so much bigger.

Now on the docket is getting track lighting (notice the crappy "school lights" as I like to call them in the first pictures), and a new fan.  The one up there is broken and ugly.  And sagging.  I call it the serial-killer fan because it makes a saw noise when it is on.  Shudder.

Eventually (some time down the line) we will put a couch on the back wall (progress picture 1) and a t.v. in the corner where Charlie is sitting (progress picture 2).  We'll put those Ikea box shelves on either side of the "short walls" to keep toys in and find a fun area rug.  Presto, change-o: kids' playroom.

Imagine these sitting horizontally!

 I guess we have to make the kid first??  I'll update you when that DIY is completed I guess!

skewel

So school started again.  Back to work was hard (especially given I didn't get much of a "break" summer), but I'm SO happy to see the kids.  I have stellar ones this year.  It's rare when I DON'T have stellar kids, but I seriously bubble over with happiness about them.  I tell them all the time, too how much I love them.  I teach many of them for 3 consecutive years, so by the end, I know them well.  A few kids wrote me notes on the back of their pre-quiz today...and one made me cry.  Full on, need the tissues, this is why I have my job cry.  I won't even tell you what he said, because it will make me cry re-typing it, but I feel honored to be a part of his life.  That's all.  :)

It's not all roses, though.  In fact, I cried numerous times before the school year even started just feeling overwhelmed.  It's...a lot.  My job is hard.  Really hard.  It's a rollercoaster of tasks and duties and a rare break for me.  But when you invest in people--in children--you are always on, always teaching and always loving.  So the investments and the payouts are great. 

There are some cool, new developments, though....

• I'm a homeschool teacher!  I'm still working in my public school (obviously), but, starting after labor day, I will be teaching Spanish to a student I taught in public school last year and her twin sister (and their mom!).  They will be homeschooled starting this year but still wanted to take Spanish for their mission trips.  It's going to be awesome.  And the best part?  I completely design the curriculum and what we do.  The freedom is so amazing I don't even know what to do with it. 
• I will have a teacher's aid next semester!  AHHHHHH!  A student that I taught my first year--who is no a Senior-- is coming back to be my aid.  I'll have...help!?!  It's insane.  I'm so happy.  She was a great kid when I taught her 5 years ago.  I can't believe it's been that long.  When those kids are in college that will start really weirding me out and make me feel old.  LOL.

Anyway, today was my first day back.  I'm EXHAUSTED.  Luckily it's just a two day week with kids.  My janitor asked me if I was bringing back any Soy sauce this year.  If you remember from here.  Yeah, he really asked me that.  Emarassing.  Now I have a PICTURE of it rather than the actual thing.  I assured him if I bought any I would be sure to put it in a plastic bottle.

He wasn't amused.

6 month mark and some new color

Where have I been... again?  Vacation this time.  Siesta Key, Florida for 5 glorious day.  Yes, it was as good as it looks. :) 

But now that I'm back it's time for an update...the 6 month update to be exact.  We have been living in our home for over six months now.  I can't believe it.  I suppose it's one of those things that you assume that when you move in: the place will feel 100% yours because, legally, it is.  For us it was quite the contrary.  The first 3 months or so of living here, it didn't feel like our home.  It felt like someone else's home that all our stuff was in and we were just crashing for a while.  Sometimes if I closed my eyes, I could picture the old owners things filling up the home still.  I had this feeling that it was a well lived in home, everything in it's place.  Meanwhile we were still trying to figure out a place for everything.  It was like putting on a worn-in shoe that was on someone else's foot for years.  Its the right size, but our feet have different print.

But, but when I got back from Spain, I had that ah-ha moment.  The epiphany if you will.  Home is where my family is, but for the first time, this place truly felt like ours.  A little time away must have sealed the deal.  I think I also realized the changes we have made to make our place a home, and how much we've put our stamp on it's walls since we've moved in that I saw with fresh eyes when I came back.  I think back to this video that I made the day we closed.  We were very excited, but it clearly wasn't our place just yet:

I made this video to show you what it looks like today... 6 months after it became ours.  If you have followed our blog at all, you've probably seen most of what this video contains, so I apologize that you can't get 10+ minutes of your life back...



If you can't/don't want to watch the video, here is something else we I have been working on...Charlie's office.  He was quite opposed to my random desire one Wednesday to paint, but we went along with it and let me pick the color.  Valspar's Drizzling Mist.  It's a shade darker than our bedroom and two shades darker than our den.  Yeah, I'm really in love with that part of the color wheel I guess ;)

Here is the before:

And the after:

Here's something else that I did for Charlie as a surprise for the office... I was in Goodwill and for $3.99 I spotted an awesome, black shadow box from Pottery Barn.  I knew it would be perfect for displaying this karate belts that he worked so hard to earn and were just collecting dust in the closet.  So I surprised him with it.  He was mildly happy with it :)

And now back to our regularly scheduled programing....

Well, I'm back in the US.  I'm so incredibly glad to be home, and I hope you've enjoyed my few (but long-winded) updates from abroad.  Yet another experience in my life that has molded and shaped me.  I don't think I will ever have this opportunity again to travel, for extensive time, to another country, walking through the same doors that people have since the 13th century, and enriching my life in Spanish language/culture in such an intense way.  I always miss Spain whenever I leave it, but even good things come to an end.  I didn't cry when I left this time, though...mostly because I know that I"ll be back...someday.  Not in the same way for the same reason, but I'll be back.  I can count on that ;)

Plaza Mayor, Alberca

Studying away during "la pausa" in class before final exams! (yes, I was the nerd that sat right up front!)

 I was super horrible at posting updates the last couple of weeks.  I had something going on every day of the week, including the weekends.  The 25th was a holiday which gave us a long weekend.  I didn't end up going to Porto, Portugal, instead I went with a group of friends to Valencia (and I had never been before).  Breathtaking.  Loved it.

Me in front of the cathedral in Valencia

Travel buddies...trying some "horchata"

Yay Valencia!

Made it to the beach :)

Coming back from Valencia was rough, seeing that I was so tired and seeing as I had to study the entire time on the RENFE (train system) because final exams started that next day.

Studying historia de arte

I feel like I really came out on top, though...I *think* I got all As on my exams, and attending the final graduation ceremony was a really proud moment for me.  I finished my thesis (with all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it), and I finished both phases of the program and did well on all of my exams.  But more-over, I grew as a teacher and a person, both of which I can share with my students.

Graduation Ceremony

Friends I will never forget in the Paraninfo after-party

We people ask me about my time in Spain, despite the fact that it was a life-changing experience, I'm always at a loss of words for what to say... it's like so much happened, and few words doesn't do it justice.  When people ask you, "how was Spain?"  they really don't want to know everything that happened, but they just want a 5 word summary of your trip affirming that you indeed had a good time.  They are mostly experiences that I carry in my heart, and that those who know me best have heard.

My last weekend in Salamanca, I was shopping with a friend after class looking for something to bring home to help me remember these past two summers...something that when I saw it, it would bring back amazing memories. 

Then I found this:

It's a print, signed by the artist, of the cathedral right by where I had class every single day.  It might just be my favorite place in the whole city, right by my favorite croissant shop (it gives France a run for its money, let me tell you).  You come around the corner of the little narrow street to an open plaza and amazing Gothic architecture, with the swallows darting about...

My photo of the same cathedral :)

Salamanca changes you...it did me.  I'm left with a little momento on my wall, and a million and one memories in my heart.  <3  Gracias a la vida y a Salamanca que me han dado tanto.

2 week mark?

Well, we've just completed two full weeks of classes.  I can't believe how fast the time is passing already.  It seems like just yesterday I got here.  My notebooks are filling up with notes, my accordion binder is filling with papers, and my note-cards are filling up with information.  Mid-terms are on Wednesday.  Gulp! 

My favorite professor so far is Bego.  She teaches social and geographical differences of the Spanish language in Spain....fascinating and hilarious, because she is constantly doing impressions.  She talks 90 miles a minute and she moves around a lot.  Kind of reminds me of me, maybe that's why I love her :)  Language use has always fascinated me, though, especially regional study.  Today she played this song in class, sung by a person from Extremadura and we had to listen to it and note the features of speech: fonetics, morfosintaxis, leixcon etc. based on what we learned.  It is currently very stuck in my head. ;)



As expected, my art teacher is also one of my favorites, but is very typical art teacher in that he is very disorganized and a little scattered in his lectures.  He frequently talks about paintings and forgets to tell you the title of the work, which is annoying for the sake of organized notes.  But we're learning about the Alhambra and Muslim mosques now, which my mom and I visited back in 2006.  It's nice to have some background knowledge, and to know I experienced what we are learning about.

Mom and I in la Alhambra in '06!

I feel different this year, more confident.  More myself.  I make small talk with my professors, asking more questions, raising my hand (without my heart beating into my chest), and actually getting to know some Spaniards.  We went out last Friday night, and I spent most of the night talking with some girls from Salamanca.  I feel much calmer this year with the schedule, and I've taken a few days to live the life: tapas, drinks, etc.   It still study a lot, and I find that the lifestyle of this country prepares your brain for lots of learning.  The weather has also been amazing.

de tapas with friends, near Escorial, Madrid

I also had this realization today that my ear doesn't tire from hearing the language anymore...I have these moments when I forget what language I'm listening to.  I've never meditated before, but I would imagine it would be a lot like that thing that happens when you float outside yourself, where your thoughts and body are unaware of each other.  I feel myself floating in the idea rather than the words.  This may sound weird or strange, but yesterday was the first day I had a realization of this feeling.  A few years ago I remember that listening to Spanish for long periods of time made me really tired.  It doesn't anymore.  :)

We traveled to the Escorial near Madrid last weekend, our first excursion (where all of the Spanish kings/queens are buried)...We weren't allowed to take pictures inside (so that was a bummer), so these are a few I took/of online.

Me outside the Escorial

One of the most famous libraries in all of Spain

Tomb of the Kings/Queens, including Carlos V!

Beautiful view, I took this one

The Paraninfo back in Salamanca, during our opening ceremony

Gathering in the Patio for wine and tapas!

San Esteban

Stork!

Casa de las Dueñas

Beautiful girls!

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with some friends, and tomorrow, in addition to studying, I'm working on planning my trip to Porto, Portugal for out long weekend.  I've never been to Portugal.  I look forward to it...mostly to this....

Oh, and this....

Don't be too jealous ;)  I'm only there for 2 days!  Muhahahahahaha!!!!