Freak of the Week- Katy style

Up until today, life has been pretty awesome for Rex and me. Then today happened. I took my husband's car in to the shop this morning to get the window fixed because it keeps falling down. I also asked them to take a look at the car and make sure it's still all good. Here's the break down:
1) Upper and lower intake gasket combination-$734.10
2) Outer tie rod ends and alignment- $248.15
3) Engine oil pan gasket-$536.04
4) Transmission oil pan gasket and filter- $165.69
5) Brake line flush- $99.95
6) Window regulator and motor- $404.29
Total: $2188.22
When I got the news I held it together while I was on the phone with the repair shop guy, but as soon as I hung up I started crying and called my mom. She was able to calm me down a little bit, but I'm still freaking out quite a bit. What newly married couple has that kind of extra money laying around? Other than celebrities, which we aren't (even though I think we're awesome enough to be famous, but I wouldn't want all that attention. Just the money). So my day is shaping up to be the day from hell. I have to work tonight too, which I don't know how I'll get through without breaking down crying again like I have every few minutes since I got the call. The worst is that I can't talk to Rex about it because he's at work and can't have his phone so I have to wait until 3 when he gets off. It's better that he has these last few hours not to worry. I'm going to have to sub every day and then go to work at the library straight after. I'm going to be so exhausted, it makes me tired just to think of it. I just want to go back to bed and pretend like today never happened.

Boston and Birthday (very lengthy)

It's been a very eventful month for us here in the Hill household. I went to Boston to visit my sister for a few days a couple of weeks ago. The travelling part was a bit crazy. My flight to Houston to connect to Boston was late (the plane didn't pull up to the gate until 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave), making me almost miss my connecting flight. I got to the gate right as they were doing the final boarding call. Then, we were at the runway and we were about to take off when the captain came on and said that due to weather in Boston we'd be delayed by an hour. So we went back to the area rght before the runway and waited our hour, then when we were about to take off again, they said that a thunderstorm was moving into Houston and we'd have to go back to the gate. So we headed back to the gate, but right when we got there the captain said that we'd been cleared for takeoff! Crazyness....anyway, we got to Boston a little over an hour late, but thankfully I had gotten in contact with my sister so she knew and didn't have to wait at the airport for a long long time.
On Monday we went whale watching in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw so many whales, and they acted like they were trained at SeaWorld. There was one baby whale that kept jumping out of the water and waving its fins at us, and its mama came up to the boat to make sure her baby was safe. :) After the whale watching, we went on a Duck Tour, which is an amphibious vehicle that took us on a tour of the city, then it turned into a boat and we went on the Charles River, where my sister got to drive it a little bit. After the Duck Tour, we went to FHE and did yoga. It was so hot in there that I slipped and fell on my butt three times, but I just laughed it off and got right back up.
Tuesday we went walking around downtown Boston, around the Boston Common area. We went to the Boston Public Library and I drooled over how beautiful it was. We also went to the Boston Public Garden and took a Swan Boat tour. That's basically a paddle boat, but a very big one with rows of benches and one guy at the back pedalling and steering the whole thing. Tuesday night we went to Walden Pond and went swimming. The water was so clear that even in the dark I could see everything! It was so beautiful!
Wednesday, we went sailing with one of me sister's friends. She and I got to help sail the boat and everything, including raising and lowering the sail and pulling various ropes to make sure we were going in the right direction. After we went sailing we went to a Finnish sauna that was about an hour outside of Boston. We would sit in the 180+ degree heat and humidity for a couple of minutes, then go outside and jump into the lake (which was very cold, although my sister will try to tell it differently), and then repeat the whole process several times. The last time we were in the sauna we used this lemon mint salt scrub which made it bearable to sit in the heat because it cooled us off a lot, but when we jumped into the lake again it was so cold that I couldn't breathe for a minute. But it all worked out all right in the end. :)
Thursday morning we went to the Temple for a session before I had to go catch my plane to go home. We got to the airport at about 2 for my 3:30 flight. I tried to check in electronically, but the flight was delayed so it wouldn't let me. So I had to get in the long long long long line to check in. It turns out that everyone who was in that line was also on the flight I was on, so there were a few people who missed that flight. It didn't help that there were only 2 people checking people in, and one of those people was only checking in first class passengers. Eventually 3 or 4o more people came out and helped with check in so it went much faster, but I still didn't get to check in and through security until about 3:30. I got through security and luckily my gate was close because as I went through they were calling for Passenger Hill to board the plane because it was about to leave. The rest of the trip was very uneventful. On the flight from Newark to Dallas I was sitting next to a student from the school district I substitute for, so that was interesting.
Anyway, fast forward to the past few days. On Wednesday we drove out to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. As we were driving through Dallas, I had the feeling that I should get my tires checked because it's been over two years that I've owned that car and I have never done anything with the tires. Well, when we got to White Hall I missed my turn so I had to get on the highway. There was a really weird sound as we were driving on the highway, but we thought that maybe it was just the road. But when I got on my exit, it became very apparent that it was my tire. It went very flat and had lots of holes in it. I'm not sure exactly how that happened, but oh well. We were only a mile from my parents' house, so they came to help us. Before they got there I was looking for my hazard lights, but I couldn't find the button to activiate them. Then a police car pulled up and asked what we were doing. I told the nice lady cop that I had a flat and couldnt' find my hazard light button, so she pulled up behind my car and turned her lights on and put a spotlight on our car so we could see. Then my parents got there and turned their hazards on, and then another cop came up and turned his lights on too. It looked like we were in trouble, so that was funny. :) The next morning we were planning on getting to the tire store right when they opened, but my spare tire went flat on the way to get a new tire, so we aired it back up and continued on our way. Then when we got to the store, the spare was low again. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late), I had to get 4 brand new tires for my birthday. Hooray. Thankfully, my parents bought two of the tires so we didn't have to spend $400 all at once.
Later on Thursday, we went up to Little Rock for my birthday dinner. A few of my friends were able to come, most of my family was there, and Rex's aunt and uncle that are on their mission and are serving in my grandma's ward were also there. It was lots of fun! Lots of laughter and loudness took place. :) Yesterday (my actual birthday) we got up and drove back to Dallas in time to go to birthday dinner at Chili's with Rex's family. That was really nice because all of his sisters were there with their families (except for the brother-in-law that is a police officer and was working the Rangers game) and one of my friends from work was also able to come.
All in all, I had a great birthday, and have had a great summer!

Summer Adventures

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year already. Sunday will be one year for Rex and me, and I love him so much more every day. We are going to celebrate tomorrow after he gets off work. I think we're going to go out to eat. We already got a cake to eat in case the top of our wedding cake didn't survive the year of being frozen. It's the same type of cake that I had a year ago, so hopefully it will all be wonderful!
Rex recently got his schedule changed at work so now he has Thursday and Friday off, and he works from 7 am-3pm. We get to spend so much time together now! It's awesome. We've been just hanging out at the house for the most part. We've gone over to the cousins' house a few times to go swimming, but we mostly just stay home and watch movies. I also just started my new position at the library so I get to spend a lot more time at home now. I'm going to visit my sister in Boston in a 9 days, and I can't wait! I'm looking forward to spending some time with her.
Today Rex and I went over to the cousins' house. We were going to go get some lunch before going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when Rex noticed that there was a flat tire on his car. We tried to get the car to a flat area (they live on a hill), but the tire came completely off the rim. So we decided to try to change the tire anyway. Rex got our jack out and had the car almost all the way up when the car rolled back a little and the jack broke. Not just slipped. Broke. As in, can't ever be used for jacking things up ever again. So then Uncle Walter came out and was helping us and brought out a hydraulic jack for us to use and a brick to put behind the tire so it wouldn't roll again. We had it almost all the way up (again) and all of a sudden the jack just collapsed and broke. Again. We decided to give it one more try (Uncle Walter has an insane amount of jacks in his garage) before just giving up. Luckily, the two (2) jacks that we were using were able to support the car and not break and they were able to get the spare tire on. Where was I and what was I doing during all this, you ask? I was sitting on the grass in the shade being moral support and playing Sudoku on my Zune that Rex got for me for our anniversary. :) It's really nice. I should post some pictures soon. Anyway, after we got the spare on we went back to the apartment and traded cars so we could have one that the tire wouldn't fall off whilst we were driving. Never fear, we made it to see the movie in plenty of time. It was my second time to see it and everyone else we went with's first time. I was a nerd and went to the midnight showing. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone there who was dressed up. Other than the people who work there and had to be dressed up. The guy taking my ticket was wearing the sorting hat. He declared me Gryffindor, just so you know.
In other news, I am on my last month of prescription allergy meds, so I decided I was going to give not taking any for a few days a try to see how I did. I failed miserably. I now am trying to fight off a sinus infection that resulted from the horrible horrible allergies that I still have even though it's July and most Spring allergies are over by now. I shall be going to the doctor to get a renewal of my prescription next week. :)

Summer '09

I went to work at band camp for two weeks as a dorm mom. That was pretty fun. I missed Rex like crazy, though. The only thing that would have made it better is if he was there with me. :) I got to hang out with old friends, make new ones, see my family, all that fun stuff. I am currently missing Senior week of BC, but I'm trying to talk Rex into going to see the concerts with me tomorrow night. We'll see....
I got a new position at the library. I am currently a clerk, which means I do all the manual labor and such and only get paid $.20 more than minimum wage. I got the news at the end of Jr 2 week of BC that I got the job that I interviewed for right before I left. I will be starting as a Customer Service Assistant (or CSA) on Monday, July 13! That means that I will do the checking in of books and get yelled at by patrons who don't know how to return items by their due date, but I'll be making over twice as much money and only working half as many hours. I'll only be working 9.5 hours a week, but I'll make approximately $20 more on each paycheck. Good deal? I think so!
Rex and I went up to OK to his family's property for Independence Day. It was all right. I got bitten by chiggers on the first day so I spent a good bit of my time doped up on Benadryl. I love Rex's family most of the time, but sometimes they can be a little too......Republican. If that makes any sense. Or maybe it's not that they can be Republican, it's that they are severly anti-anything else. And I'm also don't really have anything to talk to them about since they mostly want to sit around and bash Obama and say how crappy a job he is doing in the White House. He hasn't even had 6 months yet, people! Give him a break. He's doing the best job he can with what he was given. But anyway, we're back now and I think I'll let Rex go by himself up to OK unless his parents and sisters are going to be there the whole time we'll be there.
That's about all that's going on with us.

We're off to see the Wizard...

I don't know why that title popped into my head. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. :)
I'm happy that I seem to have gotten over whatever was sickening me. I don't know what it was, but Rex got a little of it this past weekend. He seems to be doing better now.
So there is some construction on the road in front of our apartment complex. This construction has caused one of the two exits to be closed. This has caused several people to think that they can exit through the entrance, even though we have all received several notices not to do that. This has caused me to be rather annoyed at those people, which has led me to roll down my window as I am going in the entrance and passing these idiots and tell them that they are idiots and that they are trying to go out entrance and the exit is on the other side of the complex. That makes Rex rather distressed because he thinks that one day one of those people is going to turn around and follow me back to the apartment and stab me or something. Well, I have decided that instead of vocalizing my displeasure at idiots who don't know how to read I shall simply go to the other entrance if I see someone waiting to leave. Yes, it will add a couple of minutes to my getting home, but it will make my husband happier since I won't be antagonizing strangers. :) Hey, at least I say something when they annoy me instead of just keeping it inside and whining about it.
On a side note, there's only about 2 1/2 weeks left of school! Which means only 3 more Sundays that I have to work (until next school year). :):):) I'm excited about summer vacation, as always. It's going to be a bit different this year because I will still have a job that I have to go to, but it's only going to be 2 days a week. :) I have also confirmed my working band camp for at least the first two weeks! I'm very excited about being home for 2 weeks and seeing my old friends. :)
Today is a great day.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

All I can say is thank Heavenly Father for Priesthood blessings. I was very sick on Sunday, but thanks to a blessing given to me by my husband I have gotten much better. Still a little tired/weak, but I'm not dead yet! I can dance and I can sing. I am not dead yet, I can do the Highland thing. Lol....little Spamalot reference there for ya.
Anyway, I'm having a couple of friends over for a Cinco de Mayo girls' night. Fajitas and girly movies, anyone?

Not that I'm usually paranoid....

...but I seem to have a few flu-like symptoms. I've been excessively tired, sore throat, cough, headache, fever, achy, and stomach issues. And there is a confirmed case of H1N1 (also known as swine flu) at the school district I sub for. Yeah. I'm going to the doctor first thing tomorrow morning. I can't believe I slept for 5 hours today after sleeping 9 hours last night. Thankfully I have a priesthood holder in my home and he was able to give me a blessing today at church (for the 10 minutes we were there). I know everything will be fine, I just want to go make sure.

Updates and News

I've been sick for nearly a month. I've had a horrible cough that sounds like I've been smoking a pack a day for 20+ years, and then I can't breathe after I'm done. I went to the doctor today and she said that it's my allergies and Claritin isn't working anymore. So I got a shot for immediate relief, Allegra, and and inhaler and pills to relieve the coughing/breathing symptoms. It's a relief to finally know what's been wrong with me for so long. I also stopped by the local health food store and got some herbal tea and local honey so hopefully that will help even more with the stupid allergies. :)
Rex and I celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday. We both took the day off and just spent the day together. It was so nice to spend time with my husband for once! We capped the day with going over to his cousins' house for the Mavericks/Spurs game and birthday cake. The Mavs lost, but oh well. We'll see how the next two games in Dallas go. :)
There are only 5 weeks of school left, and one of those weeks will be taken up with TAKS testing. I'll be subbing as much as possible until school is out. I'm still waiting to hear from the Band Camp people again because I was asked several weeks ago to work, but haven't heard anything again. I would love to work, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get off for the weeks necessary to work them. But we'll see. There's not a whole lot I can do about it right now anyway, so why worry, right? I've been trying not to worry about things I can't do anything about. I'll let you know how that goes. :)

Howdy Strangers

I know it's my own fault for being a stranger. It's been forever since I've posted anything, so here's what's been going on:
-Rex and I celebrated our 7 month and 8 month anniversaries, as well as Valentine's Day. His birthday is in a little less than 3 weeks so I guess I should find something that will be a surprise to him, since he helped pick out his mp3 player. For the record, it's a black 16G Zune with waves and "the Rexy" engraved on the back. I've been working on putting some of his music on it so he won't have a lot of set-up to do for it.
-I have been sick 4 times since I last posted. I have had: 1) the flu, 2) strep throat, 3) food poisoning, and 4) a cold. That's what I have right now. I know I get sick a lot, but this has just been ridiculous. I also pulled my right thigh muscle a few weeks ago, making it more difficult to keep on the workout routine I've had for myself. In fact, today is the first time I've worked out since I hurt myself. I'm hoping I don't regret it later. I'm putting ice on it. :)
-I've been subbing for a band director at a middle school for the past several days. I'm very excited about this, especially yesterday and today. I actually got to work with the kids instead of just sitting and reading all day like I did last week. The director who is sick was planning on being gone for 2 weeks, but it looks like she'll be back next week. I'm really getting to be known at that school. :)
-I've pretty much decided that next year I will probably be subbing again. Rex and I have been married for nearly a year now and we want to start trying for kids in another year or so. I don't want to get a band directing job just to quit a year later because I'm starting my family. But it's still a little up in the air because it's not guaranteed that we'll even get pregnant right away, so it could possibly be longer that I would be working. We'll see. I do like having a day off whenever I want/need it.
-Rex is turning the big 2-7 on April 20. We don't have any plans as of yet, other than both of us having a day off together. That will be nice. :)
-We went to UT for Spring Break, and I met Rex's grandparents and went skiing for the first time. It's funny that we've been married for nearly 9 months and I'm jsut now meeting them, but oh well. They were very nice. Skiing was horrible at first, but then I took a class and it got a lot better. I stuck to the bunny slopes and Rex stayed with me except when I made him go do the harder runs so he would have fun too. He said he was having fun being with me, but I know he wanted to go out too. I'm so selfless! Or something. :)
-I have been called to the position of Ward Music Chairperson and Choir Director. I'm excited about this calling, because it's one I've never had before. I've gotten my parents' ward choir ready for Stake choir, but that's about it. My choral expertise is a little lacking, but I do know quite a bit about music so hopefully that will make up for it. I just have to decide which of my other callings I want not to have any longer.
I can't think of a whole lot else we've been doing. Just working working working for the most part. I'm looking forward to the days when Rex and I both will be off of work and get to spend time to gether. Marriage is great, the cats are cuddly and cute, and work is good. Life is awesome.

Spring is coming....

I can tell because my allergies are starting to go crazy. I know I'm being whiny, but I'm feeling like crap right now. It's so much fun having a headache for two days in a row and nothing I take for it (that doesn't knock me out) works, including Pamprin, which is one of the best OTC pain-killers out there. I also now have a fever of 99.3 degrees. That's not that high for most people, but my normal body temp is around 97.4 so it's like a 100+ fever for most other people. It's also really fun to always be on the look-out for nosebleeds because the pollen or something irritates the insides of my nose so much that it will randomly start bleeding while I'm in the middle of something. Such as this past Saturday when I was trying to put a cart together to shelve some books and all of a sudden my face was covered in blood. Hooray!
Anyway, I've been so busy with work this past month. I've managed to find time to hang out with some of my new friends from the library and squeeze in some QT with the husband. It stinks that we don't get to see each other very much because of our work schedules, but it will get better eventually. I'm looking forward to that day. :)

Better late than never!

So it's been almost a month since I've posted on here. I guess that there hasn't been too much exciting stuff happening here. Or something. Anyway, this is what we've been up to:
We drove down to AR to visit the family (mine) the weekend before Christmas. Good times were had, lots of crazy cat lady stuff was given to me, good food was eaten--it was a pretty typical Christmas. :)
We had to get up insanely early to drive back to DFW for church on the 21st. We made it just in time for the extra practice we squeezed in before Sacrament meeting. Anyway, right after church I went to work, then got off from there and we went to Rex's family's Christmas party. That was tons of fun with good food and a White Elephant gift exchange.
After getting some much-needed sleep we spent Christmas morning at our apartment before Rex went to work. We exchanged presents: I gave him all 4 seasons of House and tickets to a Mavs game (this Saturday!!!) and he gave me a beautiful necklace and a new leather jacket. :) Then he went to work and I went to his sister's house for Christmas dinner there.
It was around this time that I came down with a pretty nasty cold. It's been around 3 weeks and it's still dragging its feet about going away. Blech. At least I haven't lost my voice this go-around. That's happy, anyway. :)
I'm reading the Harry Potter books again. It's amazing that I can catch things that I've never caught before when I re-read something. I'm on the 6th book and I can't wait to read the 7th book again!
Ummm....I went to my work New Year's Eve party. That was pretty fun and interesting....there were several people who were partaking (including my boss at the library), but a lot more who were not. We chose to leave right after midnight so we wouldn't encounter crazy drunk people on the road.
I celebrated New Year's Day by going to see Twilight for the 3rd time. I went with 3 of my friends from the library and then we came over to my apartment afterwards and just hung out and watched Mamma Mia! and sat around having girl time. That is definitely a tradition worth keeping around! I'm excited to be making friends at work and at church. It makes the evenings when Rex is at work much more enjoyable when I'm spending time with friends instead of all alone with the cats. :)
Since then, it's just been work and church and trying to get over this silly cold. So yeah.....nothing too exciting. Just life as usual.