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Oct 31, 2015

Of Mice & Men


The old saying of 'You never know what you have until you don't have it anymore' is one that is often pinned to the losing of a loved one or perhaps the ending of a relationship. I know that I have personally applied to many of the heart aching break ups in my younger year when I was SURE that I was left for solitude for the rest of my days. Or more favorably, they have no idea what they lost when they broke up with me. I have not given too much thought to this quote in recent years because I always foolishly apply it to a relationship lose. Yet, I find myself today thinking, "I sure do miss working with men'.  Let me paint for you the full picture.

I hobble down to my co-workers office today to try to catch up on the two days that I have missed (more on that later). Of course, I don't find her, so I sit and wait because the 25 steps between our offices is just too much to bear right now. I make myself comfortable, take out my cell and pop open Instagram. I am adoring someones fierce eye-liner wing when I see it - the flash of a shadow? What the heck was that? Am I seeing things? Oh crap did I take two of those pills this morning on accident? I race through the questions in my head in about 2 seconds and cannot come to a conclusion for any of them. I realize quickly I am not wearing my glasses (oops) and it was probably just my eyes adjusting to the light in the room so back to Instagram I go. Wait, there it was again. I put my phone down and stare where I have seen this 'shadow' for a few seconds. I am pretty sure I am losing my mind and then, there it is. This flash, this shadow, is nothing more than a mouse. A MOUSE!!! My first instinct is to get up and book it. However, the boot on my foot is going to make that next to impossible. The mouse looks at me and then the open door. It is a quick stare down before I get up and decide I am making it to the door before this vermin is. The mouse quickly retreats under the couch and I make it to the door and slam it behind me. This door slamming, especially from me, has people emerge from their office. I quickly go through the moments prior events and everyone automatically pick up their feet in their chairs and closes their doors. We do have a security man outside so we called him in. In true 'The Green Mile' fashion the mouse is no where in the office to be found. 

We now have an office pet, Mr. Jingles Houdini. 

You see, working in a school with all females we have no strapping man to call for in an instant to help us with this problem. We have no balance to the spike of estrogen to replace that ICK's and the EWW's with a stable, 'it will be fine, I'll find it'. We are left here to fiend for ourselves, to excavate this mouse out of my co-workers territory. We have no shovels, no traps, no cheese. In my former schools, I would have left the office and my male counterparts would have taken care of this issue without the blink of an eye. Within an hour we would be back to usual. But as typical females, we have to talk about it. How did it get in? Where is it living? Does it have babies? Will it bite someone? What if there are more? I mean usually, I am all sorts of women power but dang it, today, we needed a man or even better, men, to deal with this. Who has the time to wait for pest control to get here? I understand that this post may seem as though we only need men to be the force that deals with the unwanted or the icky, and largely, that is true. Yet, I do miss getting things from a guys perspective and hearing how they see certain situations. Also, there is a lot less talking with males. I've learned they think we females talk too much. They were right. Females have to talk about everything. Replay everything 48 times, and continue to discuss things even after resolve has been reached. A co-worker of mine used to say 'It is just too much talking'. He was right. Males are the balance to us, we do need them. 

So today,like many other days, I miss working with guys. 




As of publication, Mr. Jingles Houdini is still at large. 


Oct 24, 2015

Fall About Me & Favs

'Scuse me while I slide this post on in. Life has definitely gotten the better of me this month and since we are already almost hitting the Halloween button on October (!!!!!) I figured I would get in on a little of the favorites/ Fall about me action to hopefully get back in some sort of groove.

So I found Lauren's post from Life With Lolo and thought it was super cute and of course fall appropriate soI figured I would get in on the fall wagon. So lets get to it:

Favorite candle scent:  How funny that we just bought all of the fall scents last night at Bath and Body works. My absolutely favorite is sweater weather. I have been stalking BBW like a legit psycho for the last month and they FINALLY got it in. #Desertlifeproblems.





Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate: Yes, Yes, and Yes. I'm sorry what is the question? I Love coffee all day, err day. and I love a mid-day tea. I haven't had any hot chocolate yet because it just isn't cold enough but you can bet I will be visiting a favorite, Nutella Hot Chocolate, from last fall/winter soon.

Best Fall Memory: There are so many because this is definitely my favorite time of the year. Some that stand out are going to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando and Hallo-Scream last year at Busch Gardens in Tampa. Let us not forget the Haunted Corn Maze and Haunted Hay Rides in Newberry, FL with our sister and brother-in-law. Scary for sure but so much fun!!

Best fragrance for Fall: I've never really been one to designate fragrances for a time of year really. I just like body sprays in general so I can also be found mixing my VS sprays year round.

Favorite Thanksgiving Food: All of it. Everything. If you have been following for some time you know my Abu Dhabi journey started last year on Thanksgiving so I was without turkey, pie, mashed potatoes, etc. So this year, it is so on as we are going home for Thanksgiving!!




Favorite Type of Pie: Pecan. See above as I will be making that accommodation to eat as much as I can shovel in my face.

What is the Autumn weather like where you live?: um.. its 95 degrees still. I don't think Abu Dhabi got the 'Autum weather' memo. But it is a vast difference from 115 degrees!

What make up trend do you prefer for Fall? I really wish I could get into the dark lips but I think it looks terrible on me. I can can down with the burnt orange, dark browns, with some shimmer for the eyes look. I just pair it with a muted lip because I feel like I look like a clown with anything dark.

Is pumpkin spice worth the hype? Depends on the day. But I had my first one the other day while wandering the mall and it was so worth it. Even if it was 100 degrees outside.



Fall TV Show: I wouldn't even know what shows are classified as Fall TV...

Boots or Uggs?: Neither of which are conducive to my environment.

Halloween, yay or nay?: Um, that is a Hell Yeah! I love Halloween. It is the kick off to a wonderful time of year.

Fall mornings or evenings?: I prefer evenings  because that means bonfires. I miss bonfires.

Your thoughts on Black Friday: It cannot come quick enough!! I really enjoy Black Friday because I usually go with my sisters. Last year was the first year I didn't get to go which was a big bummer. I know many people think that Black Friday is a terrible thing because people have to work and be away from their family from Thanksgiving eve until the following day. Well humor me and think about this: people moan and complain that people have to work but no one complains that men pay football and people have to work the game (refs, ticketing agents, concession stand workers, etc) how is it any different?! It's not. So don't rain on my black Friday parade.

One Fall 2015 trend you are liking: I love the dark lipstick that is coming in with full force this fall. However, it looks terrible on me so I just like it on others.





Oct 4, 2015

I Cannot!

Happy Sunday Funday to all my western folks, or as I like to call it Pre-Monday since it basically is my Monday. I am praying that the work gods take it easy on me this week because the last few weeks have been emotionally challenging and draining. I thought ending a school year was rough. Heck, I'll close a school every single week compared to opening. The movement of kids, the changing of schedules, gaining teachers, losing teachers. It is has just been a whirlwind of chaos that I feel like I have not gained my footing in.  I hope that I am wrong and things are going to begin to simmer rather than the rolling boil soon. Like last week soon. Granted, I have never opened a school here so the process is completely foreign anyways so that just adds to my confusion. I absolutely hate feeling useless at work. I believe that I am a fairly competent person and I can usually hit the ground running with work task. I feel like I've just hit the ground over and over and over again. But if it was easy, everyone would do it right?

I found this chart on my of my many Instagram brain breaks and I thought it summed my last few weeks up so perfectly that I am planning on printing and framing it.  If I was a Kindergartner I would be sitting in timeout rather than playing during recess because I would have been on orange or red the last few weeks.



I'll admit it, I haven't been super pleasant at work or probably at home. Sorry for what I said as I changed the schedule for the 13th time in 5 weeks. I promise I'll try harder at happy.


I can't even.