How Embarrassing

So the most embarrassing thing happened to me this afternoon! Well, could have been worse (like walking around church with my skirt tucked into my nylons.... which did happen to me last winter!) but still . . .
So on Tuesdays I teach 8 students out in Eagle. I drive to their houses. Usually at about 5:30 I am in between students and need a bathroom break. Well there is only one gas station anywhere near any of their houses, and it's the Chevron right at the beginning of that "Scenic Byway" that heads to Horseshoe bend, if you know where I'm talking about. Anyway, so I usually stop there. I HATE going in there just to use the restroom but if you know me I drink a lot of water, therefore use the restroom alot. I can't go for 6 hours without! (don't know many ladies who can, lots of water or not!) The bad thing is that there are always the same 2 guys working in there, and they always say "hi, how's it going" as I walk past them and say hi, and head to the restroom. I always feel like the biggest dork just using the restroom and leaving! Once in a while I buy a coke or something if I'm really dying that day, or to look like I didn't just stop to use the restroom. I mainly feel stupid because it's always the same guys. I admit, sometimes I will even walk around like I'm deciding if I'm going to buy something before I leave, just so I don't feel so dumb! (it doesn't usually work.)
I hate going in there as it is, and have sometimes held it all afternoon just to avoid having to see the Chevron workers. And I always just tell myself that they don't recognize me and aren't wondering why I come in at the exact same time every Tuesday. But about a couple of months ago 2 new guys got put on. They are just as friendly though and still say "hi, how's it going" every time I come in. As if I need the extra attention that I am just there to pee!
So . . . today, as usual, I had to stop. And as usual they said "hi, how's it going" and I said hi as I was heading back to the restroom. BUT when I was heading back out, one guy said to me, "I have to clear something up. " And I knew I was caught, as the weirdo who just uses the restroom! Here's what he said: "When I started working here a couple of months ago, my friend, who used to work at this time, said something about "The Tuesday Lady" . . . who comes in every Tuesday."
I died! I couldn't believe they call me the freaking TUESDAY LADY! Not only am I so conspicuous for coming at the exact same time every Tuesday, I have a nickname! THE TUESDAY LADY for crying out loud! It gets better . . . his co-worker went on to say "Yeah, our friend said 'once she even bought something and I was so nervous as I checked it out.' "
So, not only do I stop at the same time every Tuesday, thus The Tuesday Lady, but they also TOTALLY know I never buy anything! Not only that, but it's like, the topic of their conversation! I don't even want to know the conversation they have after I leave . . . "Wow she actually bought a diet coke. Wonder why, maybe she's got a late night. Hmm, it is a little after 5:30 this time. She must be having a rough day. Whatever the heck her job is or why she is out here all the time anyway." I don't even want to know. And all I have to say is that I am really never stopping there again! I am so embarrassed!





. . . and don't you dare call me the tuesday lady.

Up and Running

I made a blog for my piano studio . . . it is temporary until I can get a real website going, which might be a while. (until I can convince my talented cousin Tanner to make me one!) But this'll do! So if you're dying to know what a cruel, evil teacher I am, and more about me eat your heart out! Don't be expecting too much though. :)

http://tonyarobertsonpianostudio.blogspot.com

Hubby Tag... why not?

Well, I knew the minute I got up and saw that the first thing on my to-do list was clean the bathrooms that I would end up wasting time blogging instead. And yep, thanks to Kami I AM! :)Perfect way to spend my morning, bleach-free.1-Where did you meet your husband? The first time I saw him he was my first day at church in our singles ward in 2003. He had long he-man hair (you've probably seen the pictures) and a girlfriend. We officially met a week later when my roommate and I "SHOT THE TUBE" with his roommates.

2- How long did you date before getting married? Dude, you are really asking for it if you want the story on this one!! (if you've heard it you know!) but in a brief nutshell, we went on a couple dates fall of 2003, then each dated other people, then officially dated from March of 2004 to September of 2004--then we broke up, then got back together in Dec. 2004, dated until April 2005, broke up again, I moved away, we didn't speak for a month and dated other people, then in July 2005 Collin called me up, came over to IF, I saw him, fell in love again, and we were engaged a week later. We got married 7 weeks later in September 2005.

3-How long have we been married? 3 and a half years

4- What does he do that surprises you? Falls asleep while he's reading his scriptures... just kidding! (it's not a surprise!) I'm surprised when I know he has a really busy day but he'll call me anyway just to say hi and talk for a couple of minutes. And he will surprise me with a romantic dinner or a fun date every so often. (it's been a little scarce lately due to wrestling season but I'm digging back into my pre-season memory!)

5- What is your favorite feature of his? His stinkin' cute blue eyes! He can make the most hilarious expressions. And look romantic, all in one! A close second is his perfect blonde hair. Please, please let our kids inherit that!

6- What is his best quality? His commitment--hands down. Commitment to everything. I know he's 100% committed to our marriage, to his wrestling team, to his teaching job, his church calling, everything. It's really admirable because I'm basically a schmuck who backs out when I can! :)

7-Does he have a nickname for you? Basically whatever dorky thing he can come up with at the moment. We call each other "honey" a lot though--even though sometimes it's when we're mad!

8- What is his favorite food? Food. But especially meat of most any kind, and chips and salsa.

9- What is his favorite sport? You seriously want me to answer that?

10- When did you first kiss? Spring Break of 2004. We had been slowly starting to hold hands and cuddle.... he was staying at my parents' house (as a friend) but we were downstairs watching a movie... and he hates this fact but it's true: I laughed after we kissed! Just because he was such a good friend, and even though I liked it I just was thinking "did we just kiss? Really?" I was NOT laughing at him like he tries to believe.

11- What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Everything. Camping, Bike riding, reading, snowboarding, going on walks, watching TV or movies, working out, talking, cooking, going out.

12- Do you have any children? Still no. But the tests are next month.

13- Does he have any hidden talents? He LOVES designing his wrestling clothes. He gets to design the shorts, shirts, and warmups that the team gets each year, and he'll spend days showing me different possibilities. I can tell he gets real pride out of doing that, which is hilarious to me!

14- How old is he? 3-0!! Or as I like to call him, GRANDPA!

15- What is his favorite music? Country, which was hard for me to take at first and I still can only stand so much of it. His 2 absolute favorites are Counting Crows and Van Morrison. And I'm constantly amazed at how many random obscure songs he can sing along with at a moment's notice.

16- What do you admire about him? I think I already went over this. But to add to that commitment thing, I also admire the fact that he can function on way less sleep than I can! Or else I'm even more lazy compared to him than I originally thought! Every so often I have to actually get up when he does, and stay up all day like he does. And that doesn't even include teaching school for 7 hours straight and then running an insanely hard wrestling practice for 2 hours after that. And I can barely make it! He does a lot every day, and doesn't even seem to care.

17- What's his favorite color? Blue--thank goodness because it looks good on him! ( ha ha)

18- Will he read this? Only if I tell him I updated our blog. (You can see how much he cares about this thing!)

19- Who said "I love you first"? I think it was me. We had some rough spots there in all that breaking up and getting back together.... but I seem to remember that after I told him that, he said "I love you and you're my best friend, but I can't marry you." At the time I was devistated, but look what happened anyway! What can I say except something about the woman always being right??? :)

20- Who do I tag??? Chaly, Alli, Wendi, Lyssa, and Kaylin!

We did so good at Kick-Off Boise! (Our first competition of the year!) And I just got reminded of how much I love clogging! It has been stressful lately getting ready for both this competition and our performance at the Special Olympics last week (some may have seen us on the news... ahh!) but we were well-prepared for the comp. and did AWESOME! I love the girls on my team, and we all did so great. We got first in all 3 dances! We actually won a special award for the highest score total out of our level--ADVANCED level--for The South! Awesome! Our other 2 dances, Never Been and Get It Started, were Championship level. (higher level)

So of course we qualified for Nationals in all 3 dances, and most likely will be doing one more as well at Nationals.. the really insanely hard Pro-Level one we've been learning for a year! So I will see you at Lagoon the last weekend in May!

I also had a job helping out at the sound table after we were done competing so I got to watch all the lower levels compete, which was so fun. Clogging is great! I should have been doing it longer, I wish I hadn't taken so much of a break all through high school and college.

ANYWAYS... and I know you're all biting your nails waiting to see how the BAKE SALE turned out... of course we made like $100. I figured considering it was the day before VAlentine's, it was like 30 degrees outside (yes we were outside) and it was a weird day because there was no school, we were successful. And I got to share treats with lots of my friends and have leftovers for my family that's coming to visit this weekend. So it's all good, plus I improved my baking skills! AND Juli admitted it wasn't her greatest idea... but hey I was a good sport. :)

AND we had a fun Valentine's! I was at the competition all day, and Collin had to teach a coaching class and then run a freestyle tournament so we were busy all day. But Friday night Collin brought home empinadas (it's sort of a Valentine's tradition with us) and we watched more LOST! For like 4 hours that night. Too much! But it was great to relax after a busy week. Then after I got back from NNU yesterday we went up to Bogus again--and I am finally figuring out how to carve! So that was fun. We went without stopping for like 2 and a half hours, I was doing good so I didn't want to stop! There were like 7 inches of powder so it was perfect. I hope we can go again before they close for the winter!

And of course I better fill in on other Valentine's stuff.... I got Collin the sweetest present! He opened up his card and inside was.... a plane ticket to St. Louis and an all-session pass to NCAA Nationals, which are next month! Granted they were fake tickets, but I had talked with his brothers and planned for the 3 of them to take a boys' trip to Nationals! So he gets to plan all the details but basically I gave him my blessing to go! He has never gone since he competed there (and got 6th might I add) so it is exciting.

Collin was so sweet to me, because originally we had decided to make each other presents! (before I went totally berserk and planned him a trip! But he knew that was coming, I warned him I was giving him something awesome!) But I didn't want him to do anything fancy for me and it was perfect. He made me the CUTEST card (especially considering what a manly-man he is, any homemade card is incredibly impressive) and there were flowers waiting for me when I got home from NNU yesterday, along with DOVE chocolate (can't live without it) and he had printed out all the emails he has sent to me since 2004!! Back when we first started dating! I haven't gotten to read through them all yet but it is like a journal of our dating life and is so fun and sweet. Is he thoughtful or what!

But meanwhile, he is waiting to have dinner with me so I better shut up! Happy Valentine's day!

OMG-SH!

So... Last Sunday Juli (IMTA president--I am vice president) called me up with this great idea to have a bake sale Friday. We have planned a really awesome Music Fair that's going to be in May, and a famous pianist is coming to do a free concert at the Boys and Girls Club. BUT all the grants we got for it still didn't cover the whole cost so she had this great Bake Sale idea. We (more like her, I am blaming here!) figured we'd just let all the IMTA members know (there are like over 100) and they could all donate one baked good that we could use for the sale. WELL, here it is Thursday and guess how many people have volunteered to donate? 2. Thankfully those 2 aren't me and Juli, but guess what we have been doing. BAKING! Judas priest, I have spent the last 24 hours in my kitchen!! And it's embarrassing to put these up because really, it doesn't seem like I did that much. It is ANNOYING baking for hours and hours though! And I have a feeling it's going to be even MORE annoying when no one buys any of my stuff tomorrow! Oh well.

So, I made these...

and these...


and these ...

AND these.

I really didn't want to donate all my hardwork to the bake sale, so I made up some little treat bags for my visiting teaching girls and some friends. So, hopefully I can combine a little service in with all this bake sale nonsense. And wish me luck that we at least make some $$ off this stupid thing!

Journals

I saw a fun post a while ago with different journal entries from different years. And, last night I ended up sitting up for like 3 hours looking through my old journals (because I'm finally trying to write the story of all my crazy health experiences and I needed some help remembering details... long story.). Anyway, I have always been a journal maniac, mainly thanks to my mom! She had us writing in journals starting at age 4! She would write whatever we said, which I'm so glad she did because I know all my siblings will agree that we have had some hysterical laughter about the things our old journals say.

So I looked through to the closest date to today I could find 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago:

20 years ago:(I was 4)

Sun., Feb. 5, 1989
"Heavenly Father likes us to be nice, share our toys, and not yell and scream and cry and argue. I got to be babysitted at the Huish's while Tara had her operation. I painted in my puffalump book. I got a snack of marshmallows, and a bowl of Trix. Tara had to go to the hospital that Mommy got her born in." (wow life seemed so simple..)

15 years ago: (I was 8)

April 4, 1993 (I know it's only 13 years, I couldn't find the next journal)
"Miss Payne got married last Saturday. The wedding was long and boring. Amanda had an idea to get a class present. We didn't have time to order it from a catlog, so we went to ShopKo and got 2 cuddly bunnies. Grandma and Grandpa Swackenberg came to visit us, and they bought me a brat ball, and Tara got a mermaid that blows bubbles. We went to Norths on Saturday night to eat, but Grandma couldn't come to church or the wedding with us because she forgot her dress. At my piano festival I got a ninety seven for Indian Celebration." (still pretty simple!)

10 years ago: (I was 14 if you can't tell by typical 9th grade garbage!)

Fri., Feb. 12, 1999
"Kari called me and we're gonna go to the dance tomorrow. Tyson called and I explained about the hang-up thing. (??) I really hope he's not at the dance cuz I sort of can't stand him and I don't want to be stuck dancing with him the whole time. Manda called me too. And at school Luke was really trying to persuade me to go to the dance, and Michelle said she was gonna write me a note. So I feel quite loved today." (now this is where it gets complicated! --eye roll--)


5 years ago: (I was 19)

Feb. 11, 2004 (My 1st year at BSU, 2nd year of college total)
"I feel pretty content and in control of my lifestyle right now. Getting up, going to school every day, practicing, doing homework, hanging out. And I totally live on my own, too. Boy, am I a grown up or what! Just kidding! Anyways, Monday I hung out at Collin, Joe and Clint's and tonight Clint called and invited me to go to a movie with them. They are so cool. . . . . I am excited for that someday when I will meet Mr. Wonderful! Yes, there IS a Mr. Wonderful out there somwhere! Anyways, I'm going home thsi weekend too, I'm looking forward to that! Also, I love my institute class more than I can explain! It's GREAT!"
(I thought this one was so funny because I write about hanging out with Collin totally oblivious to the fact that he IS my Mr. Wonderful! ha ha)

3 years ago: (hmm... 21...)
Okay, so I couldn't find this journal, and even if I could it was probably.... well, complaining about wrestling season seeing how we had been married a few months by Feb of 2006! I admit, I also sort of dropped off in my journal writing once I got married. I guess it's better to actually talk to my hubby than just write it all down! Take what you will from that stuff I dug up...there are some funny ones so I'll have to put those up someday!

Fun Weekend!

Collin was home this weekend! We had lots of fun.

Friday night we went over to Brady and Amber's and had a LOST marathon! I rented the first season last weekend when Collin was gone because I know so many people who love this show! Collin started watching with me when he got home last weekend, and sure enough we are HOOKED! Once you start you can't stop! Anyway, Brady and Amber have all the seasons and invited us over for some yummy pizza and we watched for like 3 or 4 hours! We still have tons of catching up to do!

Saturday Collin had practice in the morning so I went and worked out, and afterwards I ended up scrubbing our kitchen! It has been driving me nuts because I haven't cleaned it well in a long time! I started with sweeping the floor and before I knew it, I had cleaned out the microwave, fridge, and I was scrubbing the baseboards!

I sent in my MTNA Certification Application! I've been putting it all together for like 3 weeks. Once it gets processed (hopefully about 6 weeks) I will have a huge test to take! Back to studying! But once I'm done I will be a nationally certified music teacher! And I can put NCTM at the end of my name!

We had been debating whether to go up to McCall for the winter carnival, but in the end we decided we should stick around to get stuff done Saturday. So Sat. night we went up to Bogus instead! It was my first time boarding this winter! It is so fun! I always forget how much I like it until we get up there. We went to the TOP for my first time!! I did so good, if I do say so myself! :) Seriously though, I hardly fell all night. I still can't figure out how to carve, that is when I fall. But I can at least make it down a somewhat steep mountain without falling! Plus I get to watch Collin's sweet moves!

After we got back from Bogus we went to Merritt's! (tradition!!) Then headed over to Cam and Chaly's where Collin finally got to meet little Kacen who was born a week ago. He is so adorable! And isn't Collin adorable holding a baby too!

We watched FIREPROOF (Thanks for loaning it to us Alli and Jason!). Good movie! I admit that the acting (besides Kirk Cameron) was a little cheesy. But the movie had such a good message, we really loved it. I recommend it to anyone!

The last thing for the weekend was I turned pages at the AMERICAN PIANO DUO (my teacher Del is on the right) concert Sunday afternoon. It is scary being the page turner! I feel like the performance lies in my hands! I know it's not true but still a little nerve-wracking. Plus it's a leg workout, sitting and then standing to turn the pages every minute or two. It's the best seat in the house though, right next to the piano!

And that was our fun weekend! I'm glad Collin gets a couple off during the winter. See honey, that's why you should take more weekends off during winter! Look at all the fun things we did! :)

Wow.

I was folding a load of Collin's laundry a few days ago, and once I had it all folded I looked closer and realized....

It was NOTHING but Centennial gear! And that is a big stack of shirts! What can I say? I guess you know you've been coaching 4 years when you have whole loads of laundry that look like this!!

A Good Reminder

So, lately I have not exactly been on a self-pity trip, but haven't exactly been out to better the world either. I was especially feeling sorry for myself this weekend, for many different reasons. (which is stupid, I know, but I know everybody does at some time or another.)

So as I was leaving from the 8 piano lessons I taught yesterday and hurrying over to the Crohn's and Colitis support group I am STILL the facilitator for (yes, STILL, I say that because I was grumbling to myself the whole way over there that I am sick of being the only facilitator and that I was so tired I would much rather go home than sit around with 5 or 6 people and talk about incurable diseases), I pretty much wanted to do anything else than that. Plus attendance hasn't been more than 5 people the past 3 months so I wasn't expecting much.

Well I got there and 12 people had shown up! And after a fabulous hour and a half of sharing experiences and advice, I left feeling much-needed reprimanding. Every time I leave one of those meetings I can't help but count my blessings all the way home. I'm HEALTHY, maybe not in the completely normal sense of the word, but compared to being sick with colitis I really am. I've really been blessed to be given a second chance at everything. I remember back during all those long hospital stays and seemingly never-ending bouts with colitis and the whole "leg thing" (blood clot-surgery-skin grafts) wondering how I would ever be the same person again. Of course I'm not the same person I was before, but it is amazing to me how easy it is to forget how blessed we are. Well, for me anyways! I can't believe I get so caught up in self-pity sometimes that I forget what an amazing blessing it is that I wake up in my own bed (no hospital), can walk to the bathroom (I have my leg, and it works), and that it's the first time I've used the bathroom in 12 hours. (no more colitis) And that I can go on to do perfectly normal, fun things all day long without having to give my health a second thought.

Meeting with so many people who are less fortunate than me in the health area always brings me back down to earth! There was a 10-year old girl recently diagnosed with Crohn's there last night, and I could tell you the stories of hundreds more people I've met over the past year dealing with these devastating diseases, they are all heart-wrenching, yet full of hope. The participants of the support group are always so thankful to me for making a group like this possible, but as I drive home to my medication, IV, pain, hopelessness and surgery-free world again, I always feel like I need to say a big thank you to all the people I meet at these meetings who remind me of what I really have. I need to remember it more often!