And the survey says.....

Well, as anyone can see, I am not at all good at the blogging thing. I always get remotivated to do it after catching up on other people's blogs and then I crash. It's seems to be sort of like the working out thing. I had a remotivation this morning and walk/ran around lake Johnson. I hope this is the final time starting to work out! I am in a wedding in about two months and considering I bought the dress quite some time ago, I am going to try lose a few pounds before I try to squeeze that sucker on. Anyways, I saw this something cool on a blog and thought I would do it. To be quite honest, the only reason I really want to is to see what Samuel has to say.
About Him
1. He's sitting in front of the TV. What's on? Re-runs of Sports Center, American Idol, One Tree Hill, Lie to Me, and Grey's Anatomy (That's pretty much our lineup for the week)
2. You go out to eat. What kind of salad dressing does he get? anything vingerette or italian
3. What's the one food he doesn't like? mushrooms and lima beans
4. You go out to eat. What does he order to drink? diet coke with lemon
5. Where did he go to school? Matoaca High School, Chesterfield County VA
6. What's the one phrase he always says? I don't really no one phrase in particular, but he does always talk like Peter from Family Guy. It's not so bad when he isn't with his brother, but still he talks like him.
7. If he could collect anything, what would it be? guitars ( do you collect those?)
8. What's his favorite kind of sandwhich? Either meatball marinara with olives and banana peppers or spicy italian with spicy mustard olives and banana peppers (both from Subway)
9. What would he eat every day if he could? This is a hard one becuase he eats anything and everything, but I guess I would say Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza or seafood
10. What's his favorite cereal? Honey Bunches of Oats with Peaches... although he says he doesn't really like cereal because he ate it all the time on his mission
11. What would he never wear? kahaki pants, polo with a popped collar, or short shorts
12. What is his favorite sports team? NC State, NC State, NC State, NC State for college (duh!) and for professional sports... Washington Redskins, Braves, Hurricanes, and I have no idea about basketball
13. Who will he vote for? The Republican
14. Who is his best friend? I guess I would say me because he is always saying he doesn't have any friends. Besides me, I guess I could say Jason Brown, although he says they are just "friends by default." On the other hand he says if he lived out west him and Jake Boyer would be best friends. So yeah.
15. How many states has he lived in? Hawaii, Viriginia, and now North Carolina
16. Does he have any nervous habits? He picks at his cuticles
17. What could he spend hours doing? Playing his guitar and Playstation 3, also talking about education
18. What does he want to be when he grow up? Let's see, a rock star, a teacher, a translator, a baseball/wrestling/football coach
19. Five words to describe him are? strong willed, funny, hard headed, laid back, serious ( I know some of those may contridict themselves but they're true)


About Her
1. She's sitting in front of the TV. What's on? Ummm nothing becuase you're sleeping
2. You go out to eat. What kind of salad dressing does she get? Ranch
3. What's the one food she doesn't like? Seafood except sometimes you like seafood..... fish you don't like fish
4. You go out to eat. What does she order to drink? Water with lemon
5. Where did she go to school? North Davidson
6. What's the one phrase she always says? "I'm not sleeping"
7. If she could collect anything, what would it be? Yankee Candles
8. What's her favorite kind of sandwhich? I would say like Tuna salad from Subway
9. What would she eat every day if she could? cornned beff and cabbage (Wow, random)
10. What's her favorite cereal? you eat a lot of different ones, i would say Lucky Charms
11. What would she never wear? shorts
12. What is her favorite sports team? The Wolfpack
13. Who will she vote for? Conservative/Republican
14. Who is her best friend? Jodi
15. How many states has she lived in? one, NC
16. Does she have any nervous habits? you have like a hundred billion, cleaning
17. What could she spend hours doing? facebook
18. What does she want to be when she grows up? apparently a guidance counselor
19. Five words that describe her are? goofy, tierd, hungry, dedicated, caring


Well, that's about it for now. I think my husband may be taking me on a date to the $1.50 theatre to see Taken. :)

March Madness

So I have been thinking quite a bit the past few days about how ready I am for spring break. Most everyone, at this point, has had spring break because colleges do it much earlier. As for me, I still have a week and two days. Nonetheless, I am counting down each day until a few days off and getting to sleep late.

Today was a great day though. We got to go to church and luckily, it was the 5th Sunday and therefore had a big Sunday school meeting which iincluded the youth teaching our class. That meant a break for a week. Don't get me wrong, we have some absolutely precious children in our class. Completely adorable ones. But we also have some that are quite a challenge. Let's just say that if I hear the words, "Doo Doo Jesus" or "Poo Poo Jesus" one more time from a four year old, I am going to scream. I will say no more about that. Anyways, when we got home from church, I immediatly went to change into the thing I could find that was closest to the Oklahoma Sooner's color. What did I end up with? A Virginia Tech shirt. ha ha ha. Samuel came out wearing a Carolina blue shirt claiming that every team he pulls for ends up sucking. (Atlanta Braves, NC State, the Redskins) He proceeded to cheer for the Tar Heels in hopes of them losing. Didn't quite work out the way we had hoped.

After watching a little basketball, cleaning the bathroom, and doing some dishes, I sat down in our new recliner and took a little nap. Now normally my Sunday afternoon naps range from 2-3 hours. Since we had friends over for dinner tonight, it only lasted about 30. Kind of bummed. Anyways, that leads me to the latest buy we have made. Our recliner. We had a nasty, ugly chair that we had given to us in our living room. Every once in a while you would sit in it and get a nice big whiff of something that reminded me of rotten meat. I could only tell that it came from the little skirt around the bottom which seemed to have a few stains on it. Well after a bottle of Febreeze and dealing with it for a year and half, AND finding mouse terds all in it, we decided it was time to bid farewell. Hence the new recliner. It is the greatest chair I've ever sat in. I also love it because it was cheap... we found it at the BL. Big Lots! All in all, we are pretty excited about it. We figure when we build a house, it will be a great piece of furniture to go in Samuel's "man room."

Anyways, 7 days of school to go.... 7 days..... I can make it

Family

So this weekend, I will have to say was one of the best weekends that I have had in a long time. Not that my weekends spent in Raleigh with Jodi and Jason aren't fabulous, but this one was just perfect and the timing was better than I could have picked. My dad's birthday was last weekend but Samuel and I decided to go to the beach instead of go home. Kind of sad huh? Well I love my dad more than he knows and so we decided to go home this weekend instead. To make things even better, my brother was home for spring break because Virginia Tech had their this past week. So anyways, we left as soon as we could on Friday afternoon which ended up being about 4 on Friday afternoon. We made it home in great time, say around 5:45. When we got there, mom had dinner just about ready. There was this tradition that my mother did growing up where every St.Patricks day, she made corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. It was like our little Irish meal and she made it every year. Along with this, we ALWAYS had Lucky Charms for breakfast on St.Patricks day. I guess I get all my little weird traditions and having to celebrate everything from my wonderful mother. Anyways, we got there and dinner was about 5 minutes from being done. I gave my dad his birthday card and present (a lighter for making my lots of fires in the fire place this weekend) and then we sat down for dinner. Dinner was fabulous followed by lots of exiting conversation :). After dinner, we all started cleaning up and of course had the ACC tournament going on the TV in the living room. Dad immediately started the fire and we all gathered in the living room. I don't remember the last time my family just sat around and talked. I mean when I go home, we always spend time together, but very few times does it include everyone. Normally dad is asleep or out in the yard, Paul may be downstairs with the dog or preoccupied with something on the computer, and Mom and I are in the kitchen yapping away while Samuel just watches TV or something. Anyways, we all sat down in the living room for a nice few hours of talking and catching up on life. Most of it consisted of drilling my brother about his personal life in terms of dating, school, and job searching. As for me and Samuel, the conversation quickly died as all we had to share was our newest kick for graduate school. I have to say that I absolutely enjoyed Friday night more than anything I have in a long time. Saturday was also full of spending time with my entire family. I guess I got lucky that it rained all weekend because my dad couldn't do any yard work. Saturday, I woke up about the time I do during the week but forced myself to lay there until around 8. At 8, I proceeded to go down stairs where my dad had just gotten in from feeding the sheep. We sat down on the back porch and talked for about an hour and half before everyone else got up. It is so great to be able to sit and talk to my dad like I did that morning. He just gave me some advice, listened to many stories, and shared some of his own. I have the most amazing father in the world and the older he gets, the more tender hearted he gets. I can't tell you how much I love that!! When everyone else got up, we decided nothing said fun like going to Wal Mart. So all 5 of us got in my Jeep (because I needed gas) and headed to Wal Mart. Of course, we all voted for a detour to the bakery downtown and got apple fritters and cupcakes!!! YUUMMMMYYYY!!! My very favorite cupcakes in the world! Saturday night, my friend Savanna came over for dinner and we just all sat and talked and played Cranium. Dad made it until about 9:45 and then had to go to bed. Savanna stayed until almost 12:30 and it was so great to just listen to her talk about her future and coming to grad school here. It sure is interesting how the Lord works things out. Saturday night was also another fabulous night. (And plus, mom let Copper stay in the livingroom with us all weekend!) Sunday, we decided, was a great day to just be together again. So much so that we bailed on the church scene. As terrible as it sounds, we just needed a break. Our schedule Sunday consisted of more conference championship games, Man vs.Wild, Final Desination 2, Planet Earth, and Saving Private Ryan. Needless to say, we got our share of TV time. Last night, we got back around 11:30 and went straight to bed. All day today all I could think about was how much this past weekend meant to me. Living away from my family makes me appreciate them so much more. I talk to them on a regular basis, but being with them is another story. I am sure many find this a boring thing to read, but I had to share. I had to say that I have the most amazing family in the world and I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father hand picked them for me! Well, looks like I am in for a little Rock Band tonight before One Tree Hill. Samuel is already jamming away to "Livin' on a Prayer." Better get going!

P.S. I will be eating Lucky Charms tomorrow. You should too!

So, it's been awhile!

Wow! I obviously am not very good at this blogging thing and have room to improve on how frequently my updates happen. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a continuous cycle of blogging. Anyways, as sad as it may sound, not much exciting has become of my life since the fall. Other times, I think I should count my blessing for life being clam and very easily predicted. The years of hell we went through recently were enough to last me the rest of my life, although I am sure they are just the beginning of much to come. So let's see... what has been new news in the Nussman house hold? I am finishing my very last two classes at State this semester and will finally graduate May 9th. Up until the past few months, I bragged of my "job security in education." Everyone knows that they will never cut back on teaching positions, especially in a state that pays next to nothing for it. Well, i guess I spoke too soon. Wake county has decided that they will have to cut positions next year due to the downward spiral of our economy. What does this mean for me? It means I am crossing my fingers that something works out. I was banking on a job at the school I am currently working at, but I have come to the realization that I have to take whatever I can get. I am applying to Johnston and Chatham county school systems to open up more possibilities. We will have to see what comes of it. In the mean time, I am enjoying the days I have with the precious first graders I work with. I can't begin to imagine my life sitting in a cubicle working on a computer and having very little interaction with people, especially 6 year olds. I miss kindergarten tremendously, but love these kids just as much as I ever loved my kids last year. For example, I came home very upset last Friday due to the following story:
Recently in our dining room at school, behavior has gotten completely intolerable. For this reason, the admin has asked that the TA's begin sending children straight to the office with referrals so we can begining improving behavior. One child in my class had a hold of my heart so bad it isn't even funny. He is extremely hyper and seems to be constantly gazing off into space. I had reminded him several times about sitting on his bottom and not screaming across the table. Finally, after the 3rd warning, I knew I had to send him to the office. I called him over, sat him down, and began filling out the paper. The tears began coming uncontrollably. He was swearing he would never do it again and that he promised if I just let him go sit back down that he'd "be good." I went through with the referral and sent him on his way as my heart felt like it was breaking. About an hour later when I got off duty, I returned to the classroom where I fully expected to see him sitting with all the other kids like nothing happened. Well, he wasn't there. Another half hour went by and he still wasn't there. All I wanted was for him to come back so I could hug on him and love on him and tell him how "sad it made my heart to do that but I had to because I had reminded him too many times." Tiffany then asked me to take the class to recess so I did. I stood outside waiting for him to return and he never did. Finally after 2 hours of being in the office and with 10 minutes left of recess, he walks out the door. I asked him to come over to me, gave him a huge hug, and told him the above speech. I asked him what happened in the office. His response? "I don't know. They told me not to sit with Nick anymore, not to scream, and then they made me sit in this chair and........ ummmm......... fuu... fulect... no flect...no frect... no.... I don't know! It's when you have to sit in this chair and think about what you did."

Needless to say, I wanted to eat him up! But the precious things that happen with these kids everyday make me so happy to be in education. Regardless of what my job is next year, I know I will be with children and that's all I care about.

I guess something that has become quite the exciting topic in our home is our plans after Samuel graduates next May. Before now, we just assumed we would stay in Raleigh for a while before we headed back to Davidson county to build a house. From there, I may teach a few more years before a masters as would he. The latest draft of our plans for the next years consist of us moving next summer for my to start a graduate program somewhere. That's right, somewhere. As of right now, the programs I am most interested in are UNCC, Wake Forest, NC State, UNCG, and as horrid and despicable as it is to even type with these fingers, UNC. I can't help it. Their masters in counselor education looks incredible. Obviously, we will see what happens, but those are the current thoughts floating around right now. The one thing about UNCC is that they offer a masters of spanish in translating and translation studies. Samuel seems to be quite drawn to that as an option for grad school. We shall see!

Well, I guess that is, in a nut shell, some of what has been going on here in the wonderful city of Raleigh. We love it here and I get incredibly sad thinking of the day we leave here. It truly holds some of the most wonderful memories of my life! Well, off to watch the Pack play in the ACC tourney.... Let's Go Pack!

Sunset in October

So it's fall break and I am sitting in a beautiful house at Sunset Beach with my family. This break could not have come at a better time!!! I was extremely exhausted and needed a break and time to spend with my entire family. Mom and Dad and Paul came to our apartment last night and stayed the night. Just having them there makes things feel so different and I love it. It makes me miss the Old Garden Road. Anyways, they came around 7 last night and mom brought me lots of fall/halloween decorations for the Halloween Party. I am super excited to get everything set up and ready for my little get together. She also brought my an anniversary present from my Memaw and Papaw. When I opened it, I about fell out on the floor. My Memaw made Samuel and I stockings!!! Now a lot of people might not appreciate this, but I was competely shocked. You see, all the stockings for our family were knitted by her and when Samuel and I got married, it stunk having a random stocking on our mantel for him. Mom asked Memaw to make one and instead she made me another one and one for him to use in our own home. My word she is an amazing woman. Things like that make me miss living at home and being around my family. I realize, being away and older, that I never understood how blessed I wasa to be so close to my family. Just as Samuel says, "I grew up in candy land!" It was a child's dream to live there......

But back to the beach... we are down here for the weekend and mom found a gorgeous three bedroom house! We are getting ready to go to the Boundary House for dinner which is one of my favorite places to eat. As for the rest of the weekend, we are just going to relax on the beach and watch football. It is kind of wierd being here during football season and having games on while you are at the beach. But this is the most beautiful time of the year to be here... the weather is not too hot, not too cold and it isn't crowded.. and besides, its one of my favorite beaches (besides the Carribbean, which can't be beat!)

Fall

I love fall. I love everything about it. Last week, I went shopping to pick up a few decorations. The dollar section at Target had just about everything I needed. I now have two pumpkin candle holders, a spider candle thing, a pumpkin waiting to be carved, and an autumn leaves candle. As anyone could tell, I am obsessed with candles. I have to say that I get that from my mother. At any time in my life at my house, you would find at least 5-6 candles going in the evenings. It just makes a room/home so much cozier with candles. Anyways, I love the weather too. It's been a little too hot this week but they say tomorrow through the rest of the week should be gorgeous. Having the windows open is a definite plus because then we don't have to run the air... and saving on the electric bill makes me very happy. But yeah, I got my October Southern Living Magazine this week and it just got me really excited and ready for October to start......and it is only a few hours away

So yeah, for the second Monday evening in a row I have had an emotional break down over my RIDICULOUS Environmental Ethics class. The quizzes I have taken every week on my readings are getting more and more outrageous...... I mean after 100+ pages of reading, how am I supposed to remember what the population did between 1963 and 2000....... With that said, I did get my first paper back today in class.... he started by telling everyone how terrible the papers were and how he couldn't believe, with as much discussion as we had, that people did so bad on this paper...... one girl raised her hand to ask what the lowest grade was which he responded quickly, "A 10!" Following that someone asked for the highest grade to which he responded "A 98!" So I am sitting here praying that I made a 75..... I convinced myself that I would be happy with a 75.... considering my quiz grades for the past weeks (80,70,65), I figured a 75 would be good for me....... well I get the paper back and I GOT THE 98....... I was absoultely shocked!!!!


Anyways, The OReilly Factor is coming on........ looks like I'm done for today....

Almost A Year

So I have to start by saying that I absolutely love blogs. I love to read some of my friends' blogs to see what they are up to. I have been thinking for a really long time that I wanted to start one and it looks like today is my lucky day. Trying to keep up with this will be quite a challenge since I am working full time and going to school at night but I figure it is worth a shot.

Anyways, I am sitting here on the laptop and Samuel is currently watching the NFL and I am wondering how on earth the weekends go as fast as they do. I love my job, don't get me wrong. I can't wait to have a classroom all to myself, but for the time being, I love being a teacher's assistant in first grade. But I also have to admit that I live for the weekends. By the time I get to Friday night I am exhausted. I can only imagine what it must be like to have a family to come home to and take care of!

I am really looking forward to this next weekend though. There is so much going on. Samuel and I are in the Wolfpack Club and find ourselves consumed with attending all the events we can. Since this weekend is homecoming, we are going to be in the homecoming parade on Friday night. Hey, we get minutes for walking down Hillsborough Street! Saturday is the game and we will tailgate that morning with Jodi, Jason, Tish and Steve. Sunday is our one year anniversary and we are trying to figure out when we can go out to celebrate for that!

That's right! It's been a whole year. I am in total shock that we've been married almost an entire year. I know in the big scheme of things one year isn't long, but it is a big event! I love being married. I have loved it since day one. Sure we have our days where we bother each other and drive each other crazy, but my life is amazing. I love having someone to come home to. I love having someone to listen to me cry over some really ridiculous stuff. I love being able to sit down for dinner and look across and see him there. I love waking up at 12 o'clock at night and feeling him crawl into bed. I love how he eats anything I cook (even stuff I won't put it my mouth after the first bite!) I love how he plays the same songs over and over and over again on his guitar. I love how he always picks on me when my clothes cover the entire side of the floor by my side of the bed. I love how he does the dishes when he knows I've had a long day. I love how he turns on country music in the car to show me that he loves me (HE HATES COUNTRY MUSIC) Most of all, I just love that he is my husband. I always love the line from a song by the Avett Brothers that says "Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name." I am so thankful to be married to my best friend. I can't wait to experience the years ahead with him standing by my side.