The Schwalk Family

Happy belated Valentine’s Day! I hope you and your sweetheart had a great day together. I wanted to share what Tim and I did since I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting and checking this blog to find out. No? Anyways…

Let me preface this by saying that Tim’s been finishing a game, so in video-game language, that means workingworkingworking basically 24/7. But, for Valentine’s Day, they only worked part of the day so that we could spend the rest of it with each other.

First thing that morning, I woke up and found these beautiful flowers on the kitchen table, along with a little red box next to it (which is kind of like a little blue box, only cheaper and cuter). So, I opened that and found this cute little flower ring inside:

See, I told you it was cute. I was very excited!

Then, Tim opened his present and got a watch box. It’s pretty fancy:

(Tim actually does have more watches than that–that’s just for the picture). Have I mentioned yet that Tim has started collecting watches? He’s slightly obsessed with them-but they are really cool.

So, Tim left for work, and when I was getting ready, I went to my jewelry box, opened it up, and found this:

ANOTHER RED BOX!!! which contained the matching flower earrings to my new ring. I called Tim to say thanks, and he told me that he didn’t want to go anywhere with me if I didn’t match.

(Aside only for the girls’ eyes): Y’all, I think I am at least partway genius for what I have done…did you catch it? Matching earrings and ring? Tim not wanting to take me somewhere if I don’t match? Him buying me matching things? Follow me here: Imagine that one day Tim decides to buy me a 10 karat ring (imagine also that we won the lottery). This will be his thought: I might as well buy the matching 10 karat earrings because I wouldn’t want to go anywhere with her if she doesn’t match. See, start with the little things and watch where it leads!! I have taught him well!!

Then, I went and met Tim at Pei Wei’s (which Tim’s dad called Pee Wee’s when he was here and I like that name better and it makes me laugh), then we went to one of our already-scheduled Broadway shows A Chorus Line. All I will say about that show is that if you like to watch things where people stand in a line, sing, dance a little, stand in a line, sing, dance a little, throw in some vulgarity, stand in a line, sing, sing, sing, sing (while still standing in a line), and then dance a little more, then this is the show for you.

Then, Sunday afternoon we went to the movie and decided to order pizza for dinner and LOOK AT WHAT WE GOT:

Heart-shaped pizza–isn’t that cute?

Here’s me and my Valentine.

I apologize for the mess that was yesterday’s blog. I didn’t take it down because I’m all about keeping it real around here. But, today was a different day and I feel a bit better.

• Today I had to go to to a seminar about assessments and I ACTUALLY USED what I learned in my graduate level statistics class…not only did I understand and keep up with the conversation, I even explained and gave examples of a criterion referenced test. And I like totally felt grown up.
• The kindergarten teacher told me that the kids in her class were much more interested about what the dead hamster looked like and how she knew it was dead than being sad about it…which made me laugh at their little curious brains.
• The student teacher was up working on detailed lesson plans until late last night…and I was so thankful I’m old enough to not have to do that stuff anymore.
• Tim offered to change my blog to whatever I want…so stay tuned.
• I actually got a comment about how nice my hair looked today, which was surprising considering I was thinking that it’s starting to look like I’m sporting the female version of a mullet–and I’m getting a haircut Friday.
• I have MANY friends (you know who you are) who are already over 30, or will turn 30 before me and in my opinion, are some of the coolest people I know, so I feel better about that. (And I’ll always be younger than you! )
• And the blemish? Well…I don’t want to talk about it.

On the off chance that anyone still reads this blog…(and on this night I’m hoping that’s not many)…I’m having a hard time sleeping tonight, which is very unusual for me since I’ve been known to sleep through almost anything, because all at once I have so many random thoughts running through my head. Here are a few (or welcome to the madness that is my world sometimes):

• I am turning 30 this year. I have no real feelings about this yet (it’s still a long way off, and I’m planning on saying I’m 29ish from now on anyways), but I’m thinking about how I used to view people that were 30 when I was younger, which is kind of a weird thought and yet it’s 11:00 and I’m still thinking about it…hmmm
• I have a big blemish right now on my cheek, and one of my students said, “did you get bit by a giant spider?” which made me feel like I was 12 and in middle school…and I didn’t even have that many zits in middle school.
• A kindergarten teacher down the hall found her hamster dead this morning, which made us both cry and then laugh a little when it was totally stuck to the bottom of the cage, and then we cried again, and I’m still getting a little teary-eyed now…which makes me feel like I’m 12 again (and gave me a red nose which called more attention to the blemish).
• I have a 21 year old student teacher right now (with no blemishes) and she seems so much younger than me, which makes me feel old (and I’m only 29ish!).
• I really need to change my blog so it doesn’t look like fall anymore….or I could just leave it and be early for this coming fall…I don’t know how to change it anyways since Tim didn’t like blogspot, so I have a real website…
• I REALLY need a haircut because my hair is starting to do funky things in the FL humidity.

If you’re reading this, I’m sorry and it will probably disappear soon anyways….I just needed to write this down so I can go to sleep and I type faster than I write.

Yesterday was my birthday and what a birthday it was! My terrific husband made my day surprisingly wonderful! To start things off, when I got up, I got a new laundry sorter! I was really excited about it! (I know you’re thinking that my life is sad–but just wait…)

I went to work and after school was over, Tim called me and said that he was at home (??!!) and waiting for me. He took a half day from work. When I got home, we opened presents, and I got not one but 2 beautiful new watches (one from Tim, one from my mom), as well as lots of other great gifts (thanks everyone!!). Here’s a picture of my “birthday table.”

Then, Tim told me that he had something special for my birthday dessert. He went to a place called The Dessert Lady, (which is a shop that makes the desserts for the fanciest restaurants in town), and got not one-but 3 pieces of cake for us to sample. One’s a layered chocolate cake, one’s an amaretto chocolate cake, and the other one is an apple caramel cake. They were each wrapped with all the decorations and real flowers. Here’s me with the cakes:

Before:

After (I had some help):

The last present that I opened from Tim was an email that had portions blacked out, but it said we had an appointment the next day at 10am. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I was excited! We left this morning and pulled up in front of a helicopter touring place!!! That’s right, we went on a tour of Orlando-by helicopter! We flew over some of the attractions (Sea World, Disney, water parks, etc.) and Tim’s work. It was awesome!! Here’s a few pictures from our flight:

Take off!

Up, up and away!

You can tell how happy I was!!

Tim loved it too!

Epcot from 700 feet above! See the Epcot ball?

It was a REALLY great birthday! I wonder how Tim will top it next year…

ON BROADWAY!!!

Guess what we got in the mail today? Our Broadway tickets!!! I’m so excited for the new season to start! Tim and I really enjoyed going last year, so we decided to get tickets again. This season, we’re going to see:

• Wizard of Oz (should be interesting since the last musical of last season was Wicked)
• Avenue Q (puppets)
• Chorus Line (Best musical. ever.–that’s their slogan–you know it’s gonna be good)
• Legally Blonde (Oh, yeah!!)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (sing with me now…Oh you pretty Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you!)
• Jersey Boys (supposed to be really good!)

I can’t wait!

Here’s me with my tickets (disclaimer: it’s really humid outside and Cocoa and I just went for a very long walk–excuse the hair please):

That’s right! Truman brought in another lizard for us to admire today. It was actually pretty funny-Tim and I were sitting on the couch, and I looked over at the cat door just in time to see Truman coming inside. I thought I saw something, so I looked again, and there was a tail (Yes, a TAIL), hanging out of his mouth. I screamed and Tim jumped up to get it. Truman brought this one in while it was still alive, so it tried to scurry away. Tim (my lizard catching hero), caught it just in time and put it outside again. Here he is, the mighty hunter….

The hamster is officially named Twilight. This is entirely better than the generic names like Hammy or Fluffy, like I thought he may be named. My class also decided that “it” is a him. I don’t really know why they decided this-but it works for me. Also, Twilight could be a name for a boy or girl hamster, so should it be discovered that he is a she–the name still works.

At the end of school today, we let Twilight out for a little “rock and roll” time (that’s time in his hamster ball-if you didn’t know). He promptly pooped 4 times (much to the kid’s delight and disgust) and tried to escape into the hallway about 17 times. (I can’t imagine him trying to escape from 16 screaming first graders, can you?) By the way, I let him out this morning before school, forgot about him, and one of the kindergarten teachers brought him to me right before school started–oops, my bad.

I also tried to take a picture of him to put on here, (because I know you are dying to see him), but he still attacks my gloved hand like a maniac, so pictures have been a bit difficult. Here’s one of him in his cage (he’s hard to see):

I still can’t believe I actually own a rodent–but he is kind of cute.

p.s. Pest man came yesterday–no more ants!

Either we’ve gone critter crazy, or our critters have gone crazy!

Truman has brought in 2 (yes 2) lizards for us to admire this last week. One night, we had just gotten into bed when we heard him doing this weird meow from the other room. I jokingly said, “I wonder if he brought in a lizard?” (next time, I’m going to say, “I wonder if he brought in a sack full of money?”) We decided we were to tired to go inspect. Well, it was a lizard, and apparently the poor little thing met its demise overnight, and I found it on the rug the next morning (and screamed).

Today, I got home from work, took Cocoa for a walk–where she promptly chased and managed to step on a lizard (I screamed). We got home from our walk and sat down. Truman comes in with ANOTHER lizard, drops it on the rug and starts playing with it. The tail was still slightly moving (I screamed). I called Tim and he told me to just pick it up (meanwhile, I’m trying to hold Cocoa so she doesn’t bite it too). About 30 paper towels, one garden glove and a trash bag (and more screaming) later, the lizard is disposed of (as in, sitting on the back porch in a trash bag).

Also, yesterday in a moment of sheer insanity, I agreed to take a dwarf hamster for a class pet. The hamster’s here too (just for the weekend). He or she (I don’t know, and I’m not looking) is actually pretty cute, but attacked both Tim and my fingers yesterday (and I screamed). Apparently, he/she doesn’t like to be touched–at all–great class pet, huh? I did figure out today that he/she doesn’t mind being touched by a glove that may or may not smell like lizard, which is how I got he/she into a hamster ball for exercise (and protected he/she from nosy cat and barky-chasy dog).

Today, as of 7:00–Cocoa’s walked, mostly dead lizard’s disposed of, He/she hamster is excercised, and Truman’s out hunting on the porch-again.

Did I mention we have ants in our kitchen? (Scream.)

We have had 7 days of training and preparation to start our school year.

I met the parents and students on Friday night, and we were all ready to get going yesterday! I had a great day with the kids–although this is definitely a “rockin’” group that will keep me on my toes.

Then, we found out yesterday late afternoon that school was canceled for today due to Tropical Storm Fay…which is turning out to be gray skies, lots of rain, and a little wind.

So, we’ll start again soon!

Man, did we have a busy weekend! First, on Friday night, we went to go see:

That’s right-Jerry Seinfeld!! It was AWESOME! He was super funny! Both of our cheeks hurt after the show from laughing so much!

Then, Saturday morning started out early with Tim going to check out-and then purchase:

That’s right-an arcade game called Mortal Kombat! As he says, “If the fifteen year old version of myself knew that the thirty-one year old version of myself would get one of these…I would have freaked out!!”

While Tim and his friend Brian were cleaning and working on the arcade game, I went to Brian and Kerri’s house and did these:

That’s right-scrapbook pages! It was really fun, and I feel like I accomplished a lot. (Thanks to Kerri for patiently helping me and letting me use her supplies!) These are from the cruise we went on almost 2 years ago, and from when Tim and I visited Gatorland.

Then today, after church and lunch, Tim and I painted out “fish room.” I took down the wallpaper last week, and we painted today. Here’s a picture of the “before and after.” (Even though the after isn’t quite finished yet.)

Before (with wallpaper):

After (Wallpaper down and painted):

I think I need a nap!!