Moving, Work, Unpacking... OH MY!

Well I have diligently been working on getting some of the clutter out of my apartment every night when I get home from work, but so far I haven't noticed much of a change!

I think that I am going to enjoy my job in Claremore, once I get over these new terms such as RED meetings and MEETS meetings and CARGs and whatever else terms Oklahoma uses that are so foreign to me! I am starting to make some friends in Claremore and even some new friends in Tulsa! The girl that I am going to work with (there are 2 SLPs in our building) is completely crazy and awesome! She cracks me up all the time!

We have been going through materials in our classroom... what treasures we have found! I found a 1948 copyrighted version of on eof the DICK & JANE books on our shelves!!! Not to mention the Speech-Language textbooks that were left behind that are all copyrighted between 1937 - 1952... think those have the most up-to-date techniques in them??? We are trying to figure out what to do with these old textbooks... one thought has been to go on the Antiques Roadshow to see if they are worth anything!!! We have repainted our classroom, and moved everything BACK into our room and sorted through stuff once... with intentions to purge more really old materials in the near future.

Other fun stuff in my life includes receiving a letter from the State Dept of Education notifying me that they did not have my test scores from the National test that I took before I graduated... According to everyone I have spoken with, it appears that my scores were never sent out to the locations that I designated on the form when I took the test back in 2004! So now I am frantically trying to find MY copy of the test scores so that I can fax them to the state to get my temp license before school starts on Thursday! The problem is that I can't find my current state (Tx) and National (ASHA) license cards, or my folder that has all my credential stuff in it from college! I think they were left in Texas, or at least it appears that way to me still!

Pictures of my apartment are still to come... haven't made it that far yet in the process of sharing with everyone!

Moving Stinks!

Well... I finally managed to get about 95% of my stuff packed on my own with no thanks to the lack of help from my closest friends who all said that they would help me... (I'm over it now...) Trevor drove the trailer up to Tulsa on Friday and arrived about 10 pm, while I drove up earlier in the day.

Saturday we spent most of the morning with my dad unloading the trailer. It is coming along. I think I am going to like it, despite the lack of cabinet space in the kitchen and bathroom... I think I had more cabinets in my one bedroom apartment in college... maybe I should have requested the bigger apartment... hmmm... but for now, 630 sq ft is fine for me... I will just be creative as to where I put my baking pans and my rubbermade storage containers... and my blow drier... and....

I will post pictures of my new place as soon as I have more than just the bed made and the couch/loveseat in place!

It started when she bought a shower curtain...

So Tuesday Jen and I set out on the adventure of finding me some living room furniture for my new apartment. We ventured to Dallas to the RoomStore clearance center. Found furniture that I liked then headed to the BIG LOTS store that was down the strip. That is when it all happened...

It started when Jen picked up this shower curtain and said, oh so innocently I might add:

J: This would be cool in the guest bath room don't you think? Especially since we both travel so much...
T: It is cool...

Hindsight being what it is you know... 20/20... I should have probably chosen different words... especially if I had known what was going to take place once we got home...

Now, you know... when the boys are away... the girls will play... which is EXACTLY what we did...

We got home and put up the new shower curtain... NICE... looked great... looked up and realized that the flowery border did nothing for the shower curtain or the room... so... Jen gets the ever creative idea of putting some airplane pictures up in the bathroom. Not a big stretch for her since she IS a flight attendant and her husband a pilot... cool... no problem... well.... actually problem... flowery border... which lead her to this suggestion...

J: We could take the border down and put new border up... think we could find a border with airplanes in it... that would really tie the room together...
T: OH yeah... that should be easy... we can go to Lowe's when we go get our pictures...

An hour later we returned to start our "project..." Here is where the playing came into effect...

We started to peel the border off of the wall. All is going well until we got to the long wall that is across from the sink/toilet/cabinet... Me being the ever creative person that I am, thought it would be wise to stand on the toilet (the lid was down) and put my foot on the towel rack across from the toilet...

As you see here... I am about to fall off of the toilet and through the wall... why might you ask? Well... because as I was usin the towel rack for balance... the bar fell... and broke... so here I am, laughing as I caught myself on the wall...

And here I am using the edge of the rack to balance myself while I pulled a really long strip of wallpaper border from the wall...

I must say this at this point... I HAD NOT BEEN DRINKING AT THIS POINT...

But since the towel rack broke, we had to go to Wal-Mart at 11:00... must replace the towel rack that I broke... I'm a good person like that!

Here Jen and I posed for a picture while both standing on ONE chair...


Jen was very proud of herself... She was getting the yucky border off the wall... with little problems!

NOW WE WENT TO WAL-MART... and upon our return... Jen made lemondrop martini's for the two of us... remember that I do not partake in the drinking scene very often if at all...
My second (and last) drink of the night... didn't need any more since I was getting to be quite silly... Scott, the husband, was getting a little jealous since I never drink when he is around!

Here I am applying extra paste to the back of the border... better safe than sorry! Even with my impaired state of mind I had the common sense to add more paste!!!!

Yea, she is a natural blonde... (and I love her for it!) She looks like she is trying to advertise for the paste company!

The LAST section of wall paper in the front bathroom... notice the use of the word FRONT or GUEST bathroom... The time was approximately 2 am... and I was really tired and tipsy... I nearly tripped over the edge of the tub trying to stand up on the edge and then proceeded to almost hit my head on the shower head when the paper fell on me!

Jen wanted to be sure that we didn't leave any bubbles or "pimples" in the paper before we went into the OTHER bathroom... Yes I did say OTHER... we proceeded to go into her master bath and put up the remaining paper on two walls. It looks really good in there with the decor she already has up!

Before admiring our finished product... Jen and I thought we would attempt to put up the new towel rack in the guest bathroom... I caught Jen in the act of trying to figure out exactly what the orange "L" shaped thing was in the hallway...


Here she is examining the instructions for the towel rack. I think she gave up just from looking at the template!!!!


Now she is wondering what the orange thing is... and to think she was bragging to me earlier about how she knew how to use power handtools!!!! :)


Oh wait... it works better with a battery in it!!! Actually the battery never charged, even after being plugged in over night! We had to have the neighbor come over with her big girl tools to install the towel racks!!!

After this adventure we went out to get frames for the pictures that we were going to put on the main wall of the bathroom. We decided that the two frames we made last night were going to go above the toilet... and the third frame was going to go in the hallway. We went to my house and uploaded some vintage airplanes that Trevor and I saw at different airshows and a few pictures that one of my friends has taken in the Navy. These prints turned out awesome!!! Except... I broke the glass in one of the frames...

I'll post the final pics of the frames much later in the day. At this point, the 28 min nap I managed to squeeze in today is starting to wear off and having only had a few meager hours of sleep over the last few nights... I think I should sign off now...

GUYS: Remember... that when you go out of town and leave your wives/girlfriends/whatever you want to call the lady of your life at home... you may come home to some new decorations and a slightly higher credit card bill... so....

MORAL OF THE STORY (for the guys): ALWAYS take the time to take your significant lady with you when you go on trips.... at least attempt to make the effort to include her... don't tell her it is too inconvenient to pick her up at the airport if she has to arrive after you... PICK HER UP... unless you don't mind coming home to find your furniture rearranged, your bedroom a different color, new wallpaper in the house... and possibly even a different car in the driveway... :)

Blessed

I feel so blessed... here it is nearing the end of July and what am I doing at almost 9:00 am... I am still laying in bed relaxing with no intentions of getting up anytime real soon!

In all seriousness, I feel blessed because of the people that are in my life. I have been laying here for the past hour looking at my friends profiles on myspace and reading blogs and comments, as well as reading the blogs of my friends on here. I love being able to look at the pictures of the kids and everyone that are posted. It makes me realize that I am truly blessed... I have the best friends a person could ask for!

I am blessed because I am not only part of the Barnes family... I am part of the Blakemore extended family... part of the lives of such wonderful people that support me unconditionally. I am loved by so many people that don't have to love me! And they love me because they want to!!!! I know this sounds sooo corny and cheesy, but it makes me feel blessed.

So to my other family and my friends that read this blog, THANK YOU for blessing me and touching my life in all the ways that you do!

Toothless Friends!

What an exciting week we had last week! I watched Ana several days during the week and guess what happened!?!?!?! Her mommy went out of town and she FINALLY lost her tooth!!!! As promised, I took pictures for Ronda and here we see Ana smiling her toothless smile! She was very excited to show me that she lost her tooth while I was gone for the afternoon!!!!

Then a few days later while my nieces were over at the house playing with Ana, Kenzie lost her tooth that had been loose! So of course, Aunt Tracey being the good and wonderful aunt that she is, had to take pictures of the girls goofy grins together!!!

I can remember a time when Kenz was taller than Ana! Now Ana is taller than Kenz! The girls are so cute together! The bond that they have is very special! The two of them will probably always be good friends, kinda like Ana's cousin Jami and me!
Here the girls are posing in their ballet outfits! Yes we are at the age of dress up and dancing!!!

Flashback a few years...

I have been over at Blake and Ana's this week watching my little munchin while her mommy is out of town and her daddy is at work... I have had the fun chance to look at pics on the computer and remember the past few years... My how time has flown by!!!

Here Ana had just turned 2 a few months before... we were taking our own pictures that night while Blake was playing basketball!!!
This is a picture that I will be sure to put in Ana's SR year yearbook!!!! I remember that she got sooooo mad at me and threw the biggest fit ever when we ran out of barrettes and ponytail holders! She wanted more ponytails and barrettes in her hair! She kept signing "more" to me!!! To think, at one time this child didn't like her hair pulled up...
Here is a picture of me and Blake at his Surprise 16th birthday party... how young and innocent we were...

More flashback pictures to come!!! :)

Claremore here I come!

I made my decision last week... I am taking the job in Claremore! I will be working at Claremont Elementary School! I am now in the process of looking for an apartment or house to rent in Owasso... A nice middle point to work, Tulsa, and my parent house!

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense! I will update with pictures from the fun I am having here in Oklahoma!!!!

F is for... FRIENDS!!!

Friday night found me and Trevor getting all dressed up to go out to dinner with our friends Jenny and Scott. Jen and I got this brilliant idea a few months ago that it would be fun to get dressed up and go to dinner with the guys... since Scott and Jen are getting married next weekend (and I am coming home for a while...) we decided that there is no time better than the present to get dressed up for dinner!!! We decided to go to this quaint italian restaurant in Irving called Cafe Cipriani's. It is really good, I liked the atmosphere a lot!

Here is a picture of Scott, Jen, me, and Trevor after dinner. What fun we always have together!!!

Here is Jen and Scott together... he isn't the cameraphobe like some of us... so this picture was like pulling teeth to get him in!!!

We are two peas in a pod! Her dad says that I remind him of Jen when she was my age... look out world... there could very well be two of me out in the world!!!!

Trevor and his two blondes... what guy could ask for anymore????

More pictures to be posted later as our dinner guests have arrived and I think that we (hopefully) will be eating soon.

Moving???

Well I am starting to wonder whether or not I should even contemplate moving back home to Tulsa after all... I have sent in my resume to just about EVERY school district within 45 minutes of Tulsa and even applied at most of them and have heard nothing back... the one school district that I had talked to, after talking back and forth for a month, emailed me (after neglecting to email me a week earlier with directions) saying that they felt bad because they didn't email me back to let me know that they had filled the position... I find out later that the position was filled by a recent grad (of 2 weeks) whose mother works in the building... why on earth would they talk to someone for a month, schedule an interview with them and then contact them a day before their interview to say - oops... nevermind... Then I interviewed with our Early Intervention program through the state. Once again after talkin to the clinical director, she made it seem like after meeting me we would be signing the paperwork and I would have the job. A position that has yet to be filled for the past year... I interviewed for the position, thought that it went well... got a letter today saying that the position was filled by someone else that they had talked with but that they will keep my resume on file... yeah okay... I don't understand where I am falling behind the recent graduating class. I am happy that they are finding jobs, I was in their shoes not so long ago... but at the same time, I have 3 years of experience on them, I have completed over 125 hours of continuing education in various fields, I have good references... what is wrong with me?

Weekend fun in Tulsa

This was a fun weekend in Tulsa! I drove home on Thursday to have dinner with one of my friends who is very difficult to contact and make plans with! We had a great time at dinner, and I am looking forward to many more fun nights this summer with this friend...

Friday night I picked up Syrina and Kenzie from their mom and we went home to grammy and papa's house. Kenzie had a special surprise when Davie came over!!! We played SWAP and then read books before going to bed. Here Kenzie and Dave are reading "Little Bunny FooFoo" while Dad and Syrina are reading "SOCKS"

Saturday morning Kenzie was excited about going to John and Patty's to see the new baby donkey! Lucy had a baby two weeks ago and Kenzie thought that a good name for her burrow would be Little Ricky since it is a boy. But we have now decided that isn't a good name after all. We just don't know what to name the little guy!
Here is Kenzie with lil' burrow and Lucy. The donkeys like peanuts just as much as they like carrots!!!
After playing with the baby donkey, Kenzie and Gavin drove around in her Jeep. She attempted to let Gavin drive but after he ran them into a ditch and overturned the Jeep she decided that maybe she should drive from now on! They had a lot of fun in the Jeep! Too bad the wheels are hard plastic and not soft rubber, she could really get up and go!!!
This was the first time that Kenzie has ever completely ran the battery out in her Jeep!!!

We went home from our exciting morning and got all pretty to go watch AnaRae dance at her recital! Syrina and Kenzie had fun at the recital, and enjoyed getting to watch Ana dance!!!

Zeke's day at the park

A week ago Friday I had the privilege of going on the Kindergarten field trip to the mini-train and the park. One of my friends, a former teacher at our school, brought her adorable little boy to the park to play with us!!! Here are a few pics of Zeke at the park!!! This one's for you Trish!!!

Bummer

Well I received an email this evening letting me know that Sand Springs has offered the position to someone else... they will "keep my application on file if another position opens up..." You know the drill. I still have the interview with Sooner Start on Friday afternoon. I am a little bummed because this was the ONLY school district to show any interest in me since I have started sending out my resume. However, I am confident that something will open up for me that is what God wants me to take... Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Updates

Hello again!!! I wanted to update everyone on the upcoming interesting events in my life... I know that I have asked for opinions as to whether or not I should move back to Tulsa or stay in Texas... I know that I am responsible for whatever decision I make. I have pretty much made up my mind, now the task is to find a job. (Does that answer any questions as to what I am thinking of doing?)

On the note of finding a job... I have an interview with Sand Springs Public Schools on Friday as well as with Sooner Start ECI... I have placed my application online to Broken Arrow Public Schools and Jenks Public Schools. I hope to fax my application in tomorrow to Owasso Public Schools. I am also attempting to contact an outpatient therapy company known as Therapy Works in Tulsa.

I am not choosing to move home for one person or for a guy... although there is someone (or someone(s) ) special that I am looking forward to spending time with this summer. My decision will be based on whether or not I find a job and if I will be happy doing. Missing out on the life events of my girls is making it hard on me to stay in Texas. I missed Ana Rae bridging to being a Brownie Scout, I missed Kenzie's kindergarten program, I have yet to get to watch Kenz play t-ball!!! My friends have had the privilage of watching Kenz play t-ball, but I haven't... I want to be able to celebrate with my girls (and when I say girls, I am not just meaning my nieces, I am including my extended Blakemore family) and boy, support them with school and in sports, to get to watch them grow, and not just through pictures on a blog. I know that I will miss my friends here in Texas, but they all have access to airplanes (commercial and private) and they are all old enough to send me messages on the computer, things that my kids can't do...

Please keep me in your prayers that I am able to find a job and a place to live. Moving home is going to mean some cutbacks with salary, but with what I will be gaining from being closer to my family money will never be able to replace...

Tulsa

Well I have been thinking seriously about moving back to Tulsa for sometime now... I have asked for opinions on my moving on my myspace blog and had some interesting responses... I asked my friends on myspace to weigh in on what THEY THINK I should do, stay in Texas or move back to Tulsa. and five reasons why I should do either... Most of my responses were that I would have to make the ultimate decision myself and that everyone would support me whatever I decide to do...

So... for you, my family and friends that read this blog- it is your turn to weigh in and tell me what YOU think that I should do and give me YOUR reasons why I should either move home to Tulsa or stay put in Texas...

I'll be looking forward to reading the responses from my extended family (yea that's you all you Blakemore family members...) and random high school friends!!!!

More details to come about the applications that I have completed online for Broken Arrow and Jenks. As well as the interviews that I have scheduled with Sand Springs and Sooner Start. I am also submitting my application to Owasso and Therapy Works. Cross your fingers and say some prayers for me. I keep hearing that there is a shortage of SLPs in the area... but so far haven't had anyone come calling me in response to the applications I have been completing online...

Formal Cruise Pictures

Note: These pictures are very much posed... they do not indicate that things are on the up-and-up... just that we had a good time on the cruise and took pictures together...

These first three pictures were from the first formal night on the ship. The second set of three pictures are from the second formal night, which happened to be after the scuba incident in Grand Cayman. Everyone thought that it was so cute that we matched both nights, the matching was sheerly coincidental as we both like blue...

Friends

Trevor and I have some good friends here in Texas. Last year one of Trev's acquantances (he is technically a repeat customer but in a different way) was going to meet up with us at this event called "Taste Addison" (kinda like Tulsa's Mayfest, only in one area, with better food and music, and not as much stupidity- then again we left rather early if I recall...). He had just started to date this girl so he brought her along. Little did he know, she and I would hit it off! Since that evening Jen and I have been pretty much inseperable! To my parents relief, he got her a CINGULAR phone so that both his minutes and texts as well as mine would be safe from going over!!!!

These guys are great! We always have fun with them. The "boys" (as we sweetly refer to them) talk shop about airplanes, avionics, boats, and their RC helicopters, while we usually talk about anything and everything under the sun! Apparently I am Jen's twin when she was my age!!!

Here is a picture of Jen and Scott from when we went to see Larry the Cable Guy in Dallas between my Germany trip and cruise.
Here's me and Trevor... He wasn't really wanting to cooperate with the picture taking process.
We always have a good time when we are out with these two, which is just about every weekend and depending on the week a few times in the week!

It is good to have good friends that you can depend on!!! :) Thanks GUYS!!!

Cozumel

Cozumel, Mexico... We had fun here... This is a picture of me with Senor Frog. This time he earned a kiss! Trevor thought it was pretty funny! Typical Tracey, hitting on guys in foreign lands! First it was the Caveman in Arkansas (and yes Arkansas IS a foreign land), then the pirate in Grand Cayman... and the othe Sr. Frog... look out guys... Tracey is SINGLE again! :)
This is a picture of Trevor standing between the Mexican Marina people. I took the picture in a hurry as our names were being called from the loud speaker on the ship. Apparently we were about 40 minutes late for boardin the ship and the ship was about to leave us behind!!!!
Our excursion was a see through kayak (that resembled a canoe more than a kayak) and then snorkeling. I had to take a picture of the coral to show everyone what to NOT bump into when scuba diving... notice all the "pretty" brown textured stuff on this rock... that is CORAL... DON'T ever touch it!!! (See previous blog) But look at the pretty colors!!!!
Here is a picture of Trevor in the ocean snorkeling. The salt water leaves quite a bad taste in your mouth! Yes, we know you AREN'T supposed to drink the water while snorkeling. You can't help the water that comes into your tube from the waves!!! I enjoyed snorkeling a lot! :)

We had a lot of fun on this stop. I had a braid put in my hair that started on one side of my head and wrapped around to the other ear. It looked pretty... but wasn't what I had requested. Maybe I need to brush up on my spanish skills before I go back!!!

Grand Cayman

Back to the posts about the cruise... In Grand Cayman Trevor and I decided that we wanted to try our hands at SCUBA diving... Of course, the ships paperwork specifically stated that if you had ANY sortof respiratory or cardiac problems that you could NOT participate in THIS excursion... we pretended that I did not have asthma... wink wink wink... not to mention that my inhaler was left in my living room floor when I did my final walk through of the house before leaving to fly to Houston... Scuba diving was really cool and fun once I got over my two (or three) panic attacks in the pool! I should probably back up here and state that in order to "maintain proper buoyancy" I needed a 6 lb weight belt on top of the 50 lb or so air tank that was on my back and however much the other equipment weighed that was attached to the vest thing I was wearing... It was kinda eery for me to hear myself breathing at first in the pool! It sounded like Darth Vader!!! I was somewhat afraid that I was going to use all of my oxygen in the tank before I got into the ocean! When we got out of the pool my adventure began! Going down the second step from the pool to the sidewalk my tank dropped down on my back... had to have it tightened. Started walking (not the easiest task as I had half my own body weight added to me on my back) and managed to get about 10 feet closer to the boat slip where we were supposed to get into the water when my tank dropped yet again... this time the instructor tightened it up and moved it higher on my back, so that the hoses were directly behind my head. In the ocean I had quite a bit of difficulty floating in the "middle" of the water space... I was either snorkeling on top of the water or hanging out with the coral at the bottom. I do not recommend that at any time when you go scuba diving that you hang out with the coral unless the wetsuit that you are wearing is a full length pant and long sleeved one... not shorts and short sleeves. I was attacked by the coral more than once. Yes, the coral attacked me not the other way around! I ended up holding on to a 2 lb weight with my life for the remainder of our dive!!!
I did manage to take a few pictures while on our dive between snorkeling and sinking... here is a picture that Trevor took of me during one of the few times I was where I was supposed to be!
Here is Trevor after we finished the dive. He looks like Scuba Steve to me! He had a blast and of course was a natural at the task!!!!

This is the oh so handsome pirate that we saw on our walk back to the town after diving. Isn't he absolutely adorable!! I think he liked me... ;)
Here Trevor decided to join me with the pirate. Guess he wanted to the pirate to know who was boss! :)
Senor Frog... what more can a girl say about Senor Frog!!!!

That night on the ship was the second formal night... I managed to not take any pictures of me and Trevor dressed up on my camera. I don't know HOW I managed this, but I did! The formal pictures that we purchased on the ship were really good, I will have to find the time to scan them and add them later! I had to stand so that my coral marks didn't show so badly in the pictures... teach me to wear a short dress with red marks on my legs!

My girls at the wedding