Birthday, block, and buying

My husband went all-out for my birthday this year. It started on Monday night with a gift for the second day of school: a coffee thermos with a spill-resistant lid (my hubby knows me so well!). Green and shiny and cleaned for day 2 of school, I went to bed with the knowledge that Mike would be making me dinner from scratch the next night and the realization that I have my first ever day of block scheduling on my birthday.

Block scheduling is insane–especially when two of the classes you have during block are single-gender classes. Not to sound gender-biased or sexist/elitist/rude/etc, but a class of 22 girls is much easier to reign in than a class of 22 boys. On my birthday, I had my group of guys. They’re sweet and adorable (6th grade) but they’re rowdy. Throughout the day, I had groups of students clumping around outside my door or at their desks singing off-tune “Happy Birthday” to the volume that walls might shake. It was horrifically wonderful, and I was so flattered that they actually remembered from last year. Having groups for an hour and a half at a time allows you to really gauge your students, analyze who works well together and who is just there to goof around, and encourages them to leave at just about the second you can’t handle anymore. Block is great for getting 1-on-1 time, but it’s also a l-o-n-g time to work with the same 22 kids at a time… Actually quite funny: one of the teachers on the team told the 6th grade girls I was either 40 or 41, and one of the girls ran up to me to say “I have GOT to know what moisturizing cream you use, ‘cuz you look goooooooooood to be in your 40′s.” Thanks for that, I think? A couple of hand-made cards and gifts and some super sore feet later, we’re on our way to meet a guy at the bank. Why? Because we have a crazy idea that we want to buy a house….

Good news? We’re approved for $40,000 more than we were expecting. Bad news? not really any bad news. Unexpected news? We need to save about $4,000 before we can even think of purchasing. Holy crap. Between the two of us, there’s maybe 1/3 of that saved, and at our rate of living/spending, we’ll be looking to buy NEXT fall. So, we’re budgeting…again. We’ve given ourselves what we’re calling “mad-money.” $200.00 in cash for each of us to spend on the things we like to do: go out to eat, to the movies, Picassoz’s Cup, bowling, etc. No more. Once we’ve blown through that, there’s no “Oh, I can put it on my card.” At first I thought $400 blow off money a month was too much, but as we calculated, it’s actually right about par with our average. As we get comfortable with this, we’ll tighten the belt again, until we work our way down to smaller numbers of spending and larger numbers of savings. I’m nervous, but determined, and Mike’s on board 100% with this. It’s comforting to have a common goal to look forward to; I think it will help with impulse-spending if one drops the phrase, “but, what about the house?”

Bank out of the way, it’s time for yumminess! After I admire my new sharpened-pencil bouquet (yes, similar to “You’ve Got Mail” only mine’s better ), I am then presented with yet another awesome gift: a bath pillow! Our bath-tub is designed for giants, well, at least really tall skinny ones. At 5’3”, I can’t sit with my back against the slop of the tub and reach my feet to the faucet. So, I’m either propping myself against the back by pushing my knees into the sides, or I’m literally lying down in the tub. So uncomfortable and inconvenient. Hubby has a solution: a huge, fluffy, air-filled pillow that sticks to the back. It’s perfect. So, along with a new candle and a good book, I immersed myself into bubble bath bliss, and listened to the comforting (!) sounds of a deranged baboon destroying my kitchen–at least, that’s what it sounded like. The bathroom is located on the opposite wall from the pan cabinet, the stove, and the fridge; I was the recipient of many water-amplified booms, bangs, kabangs, and ting-tang-ting-bangs while enjoying my soak. In the end, totally worth it! Mike made the most amazing home-made pork fried rice I have ever had…well, it was the only home-made pork fried rice I’ve ever had…but it was definitely the best! I ate every bite and took some with me to work on Wednesday! To top off all his hard work and devotion, he made me a birthday cake as well! Oh, that funny, stubborn, wonderful hubby ‘o mine

Here’s to the 25th year: may it be a year of growth, change, and happiness! <3