early morning

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to knocking and when I opened my eyes, Bella was sitting on the corner of my bed staring at the ceiling. There were red and blue lights flashing on the ceiling. The knocking wasn't at my door and when I looked out the window, I saw an ambulance and a fire engine in the parking lot. I tried to roll over for my 45 minutes left of sleep, but the flashing lights were too bright and distracting and Bella was so nervous that she was on top of me.
I took Bella outside before I got into the shower and she took off running because we saw the ambulance gurney outside an apartment door. As we were walking back up the stairs, we saw the EMT's carrying someone down the stairs in some kind of chair. I guess because the stairs have a landing, it makes it hard to get the gurney up.
Bella didn't calm down until the red and blue lights quit flashing about 15 minutes later - apparently it wasn't a life and death emergency because they didn't move very fast...
Thankfully, I haven't been any more tired today than I usually am for the loss of 45 minutes of sleep. However, I think I'll hit the sack a little early tonight.

Another -0- Year

I turned 30 today. No big deal really. My Monday wasn't any different than most other Monday's except that I got more phone calls, text messages and emails; my teaching team brought me lunch; and Emily took me to dinner and brought me a present. I don't feel any older and I don't look any older than I did yesterday...30 is just another number.
I did want to do something special to celebrate this year so Emily and I went to Humble for the weekend and went with my mom to a tea room in Highlands, TX called the Teapot Depot and then we got pedicures and my stepdad joined us for dinner. It was a fairly relaxing weekend, which is just what I was looking for.
On the 4 hour drive back home, partly in attempt to stay awake and partly reminiscing, I started thinking about other birthdays I've had and how I celebrated them. There are a few that really stand out and others I don't remember at all:
10 - I got my ears pierced and had a slumber party
16 - I had a surprise party
20 - I sat in the emergency room and watched footage of the Columbine High School shooting while waiting to get my ankle looked at - it was fractured
21 -A group of friends took me to Medieval Times in San Antonio and Robin was my waiter (tights and all)
24 - A group of friends took me to the Omni Theater in Ft. Worth
29 - Emily and I went to Sam Moon and went purse shopping, had lunch at Red, Hot and Blue and then drove around Irving taking pictures to spell out "Melanie is 29"
Back when I was turning 10, 30 seemed a long way away. It didn't take as long to get here as I imagined.
I look forward to the coming year and all that the Lord has in store for me.
Lord, let my 30th year be my best year yet!

Bella & Me

I just doesn't have the same ring to it...I went to see the movie Marley & Me yesterday. I thought it was a really good movie, even though I spent the last 20 minutes crying uncontrollably. For those of you that haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled, STOP READING HERE...
Foolishly, I forgot my Kleenex, even though I cried uncontrollably during the latter part of the book when I read it 3 years ago just after having to put my dog Ember down - reading about them putting Marley down was like reliving putting my own dog down.
Ember was a 12 year old pure breed Dalmatian with more spots that I've ever seen on a Dal. I had gotten her just before my 15th birthday when she had just been weaned. I was away from her the years I was in college, but as soon as I could find a place that would allow big dogs, I brought her up here with me. At 12, she had become arthritic and cranky. One day she got in a fight with Paisley, my friend Emily's dog. Needless to say, she didn't win. Based on her age, her changing temperament and her injuries, I decided to put her down. It was like losing one of my best friends. She was a good dog. Ember
However, it wasn't just the end of the movie that I related to. I enjoyed the movie more because I could relate to the destructiveness of Marley as well - though on a much smaller scale. About a month and a half after putting Ember down, I got a new dog. It was just too lonely all by myself. I wanted another Dalmatian so I started looking online and I finally found a Dal mix at the Humane Society of North Texas. She was about 8 weeks old when I brought her home. The shelter said she was 3 months so they could go ahead and spay her but they don't loose their puppy teeth until about 4 - 5 months and she didn't lose her until June. Anyway, I brought her home and called her Bella. She was all white with a few brown speckles and hazel eyes!

Bella on her second day at home.

This cute little puppy turned out to be full of mischief. Thankfully, it was all covered by the pet deposit...here is a list of some of the things she did:
1. She chewed through the supply line of the toilet and flooded 3 apartments.
2. She ate all the windowsills in my apartment, parts of the door frames and baseboards and pulled paint off the doors and walls.

Do you see where the paint is peeled off the door? Doesn't she look proud of herself?

3. She dug a hole in my carpet down to the concrete slab.

The hole was in my guest bedroom - through the carpet, she ate the padding, down to the slab.

4. She dug a hole in the crash pad (a big 7 foot long pillow you could sleep on) and pulled the stuffing out so she could fit inside.

The crash pad used to reside at my grandparents house and we grandkids would fight over who got to sleep on it...nobody sleeps on it anymore.

5. She ate a green pen at Emily's apartment and got it on the couch cover (which Emily later gave to me) and on her paws.

Bella's green thumb.

I think those were the major things. I tried using baby gates to keep her in the part of the house where I wanted her but she quickly learned how to climb one, and when I bought a second she could scale them both. She continued with her destructive tendencies until we moved into a new apartment. She hasn't damaged anything in the year and a half we've been here. So unlike Marley, Bella grew out of her destructiveness.

A dog is one of the family and in that I can certainly identify with the Grogan's. No matter what destructiveness she caused as a puppy or what heartbreak awaits when the time comes to let her go (hopefully many years down the road), Bella adds to my life and I can't imagine my life without her.

At my parents house over the summer wearing the pink bandanna her Granny got her.

and the worst part was...

And the worst part of today was...definitely the blisters on my feet! The first day of school is always crazy, and today didn't fail to meet expectations, but at the end of the day, the pain of blisters on my feet overshadowed everything else that happened. I hate wearing shoes, especially dress or work shoes...I spend my summers barefoot or in flip flops so putting work shoes on my tender feet makes them very susceptible to blisters.
I'm teaching 2nd grade for the 7th year in a row, but what makes this year different is that I no longer have one set of kids all day long. We are team teaching so I am teaching reading/language arts and social studies and my team teacher has math and science. I have to learn the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of 41 students (so far) instead of just the 21 on my homeroom roster. The challenge today was that I had maintenance stuff (such as enrollment info and sorting school supplies) to accomplish with my homeroom class and that took up all the time I had with them plus some, but since I didn't have to do all that with my afternoon class we had a lot more "free time". I don't want one class to get ahead of the other, so 2C (the afternoon class) and I spent time getting to know each other just by talking.
Nothing crazy happened. In my homeroom, I have 12 boys and 9 girls - a much better ratio that last years 6 girls and 12 boys; in my afternoon class I have 11 boys and 9 girls. The end of the first day came much faster than I was ready for...I guess that just means I have extra to accomplish tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...and if I can avoid any more blisters.

Just rambling...

I had a flashback on Friday night. A flashback to my middle and high school days. I went to the movies at Grapevine Mills Mall and when I walked out after the movie, there were kids standing around "hanging out". They were everywhere. I remember when I was a kid and did that. I've come a long way since then...

I graduated from high school 11 years ago and headed off to college. I went home for Christmas that first year and then didn't go home to live again...only for weekend visits. I met some amazing people when I was in college and really came to understand what had happened when I had accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 16. After 5 1/2 years and 5 majors, I graduated from college still unsure of what I wanted to do with my life.
5 months after graduation and too many unproductive job interviews, I accepted a job with Dallas ISD to get certified to teach. It wasn't something I'd ever wanted to do, but 6 school years later, it has become a career. Some years are more difficult than others - and each presents its own challenges, but I have found joy in my students. It is so satisfying when their eyes light up when a concept finally hits home.
I have done my fair share of traveling - I've been to 25 states and 14 countries. I've seen so many cool things like Les Miserables on a London stage; the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and the Kremlin; Westminister Abbey; the Mona Lisa at the Louvre; Notre Dame; I've napped in Hyde Park; rolled down a hill at Stirling Castle; watched the sun set and rise over St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square; shopped at the Gum; and dove the Antilla wreck off the coast of Aruba.
I've gotten into debt and am working my way out (debt is definitely something you should avoid). I've rebelled against the "norm" you might say and got pierced and tattooed. I volunteer my spare time at a Children's Hospital.
Ultimately, my life is and has been great and I have very few regrets - and even those few regrets, I wouldn't change because I've learned so much from them. Besides the debt, which I'm working very hard on, the only thing I want that I don't have is my own family - a husband and children.
I am still waiting, albeit not always patiently, for God to bring that person into my life. I never thought I would be 29, going on 30, and still single. I realize it isn't the end of the world that I'm still single, and I don't always let it get to me, but sometimes it's just really frustrating.
I try to keep in mind some of God's promises to me...

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6