We Went to the Zoo!

In case you don't already know, I have a little brother. My brother is ten years younger than I am. About a year ago I realized that by the time I was his age I had many more opportunities to do things than he's had.

So I decided I was going to do my best to help him do all things I had done.

#1 Take Sammy to the Zoo 

Here's a video of our adventure. I hope you enjoy! Many more to come.

How NOT to Buy a Boat

Back Story: My dad retired on Valentine's Day of this year. His ONE goal for retirement was to buy a boat and become a fisherman. On Tuesday, he found the one he wanted!

Here is my story of how NOT to buy a boat.

On Tuesday my dad received a phone call from an old work friend.  He said that he found a "great" boat for sale and my father should really check it out. My father being one to never turn down a friend made plans to go check it out the next day.

After checking it out and talking to the owner he promptly fell in love with the boat, but he was nervous. No one in my family has ever cared for a boat before. Sensing his trepidation, the owner (an avid boater) said that if my dad bought the boat he would take us out on the lake and show him how it's done. DONE! Say no more. He wanted THAT boat.

On Thursday the nice man came to our house and we drove to the nearest lake. It was time to learn! Good thing it was totally raining.

We learned all about how to launch a boat and how to load a boat, how to do preliminary checks, and how to make sure your trailer was far enough in the water. After all of that...it was time to go out on the lake. The nice man showed us what this wonder of a boat could do. He took us to its highest speed and it's lowest. Once we had gotten to a stopping point he traded seats with my dad. It was time for him to learn to drive his new toy. 

It went slow at first and more comfortable as we went along. As we were coasting my dad asked the nice man what would happen if he turned off the boat. The man said...go ahead. SO HE DID. My dad shut the boat off while we were in the middle of the lake as it was raining. The nice man was fully confident that this beauty of a boat he was selling us was absolutely going to start. But guess what? 

You've guessed right....it didn't start.  Something had happened in the two seconds between the boat running beautifully and my dad shutting it off.

We were stranded.

I had the foresight to not bring my brand new phone on the boat, and the nice man had no doubt we wouldn't be stranded so he was phoneless as well. It was all up to my dad to save the day. He was the only one with his phone and luckily enough the only one with the phone number to the marina. He called the head of the marina and asked very calmly for help as we were drifting towards people's houses and perilously close trees. Fortunately we missed the trees and landed at someone's personal dock.

It took about half an hour for a lake patrol man to get dispatched...AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID!?!?

He passed us up. He drove right on by us, it's not like we were just sitting there playing a really bad game of Marco Polo. There was yelling and screaming and waving coming from our boat. At one point my dad was even waving my brother's white shirt above his head while yelling. Then do you know what happened?

He drove right past us again!!!

Worst rescue ever.... It took the nice man, who was completely embarrassed that his boat stranded us, to run after the man on foot along the shore screaming after him to get his attention. Once we were finally able to get him to our boat and tied on so as to be towed to shore, the rescue boat wouldn't

start.

I can't even make this stuff up.

Turns out the patrol man was just not use to the boat, and was able to start it after a few failed attempts. We eventually arrived to shore safely and soakingly wet. The boat was wonderful except for this one major flaw. 

My dad told the nice man that if he could fix it, we would take it. (We were in love with the boat and were pretty sure my dad broke it anyway.) Later that night we got a call that the boat was all fixed and that he'd love to take us out again just to make sure.

The next day we went out. All of us were very jumpy every time something hesitated, but the boat ran like a top. A few moments after we arrived back on shore my family became new boat owners.

Moral of the story: We're all human, it doesn't mean it's a bad boat.

I'm almost positive not all boat buying experiences are like this, so this was my little tale of how NOT to buy a boat.

Livin' La Vida London

SOON!

It's down to a couple of weeks and the stress...it's a building. This is my very first trip that I have negotiated and planned on my own. It's a lot harder than I thought.

Right now, I am working on daily itineraries, and printing any available tube map I can find, and finalizing plans. I've made numerous packing lists. They've been edited, re-edited, un-edited, and given up on. Packing is almost complete except for the stuff I use every day. But I need one more thing...

I want to know what you think we should do?

Have you got anything that MUST be seen whilst in London? Let me know and I will document it just for you!

Leave any suggestions in the comments, and thanks in advance!

It's Been a While

Soooooooooooooo...it's been a while, huh? 

I told myself when I started this blogging adventure that I wouldn't take large amounts of time off. That was before my life took over. Lately it's been one thing right after another. New job, stressing about new job, sleeping as much as humanly possible, stressing about life, death in the family...etc, etc. I just couldn't keep up, and you can forget about getting inspired to write during all of it.

Times they are a changin'...

I'm back baby! And I'm preparing for my return to the UK in just under three weeks! It's so close that my pre-packing stress is starting to sneak in. 

Be prepared for more posts, packing lists, and shorts vlogs/ random diary updates from my trip. Until then thanks for waiting for me. I promise to be much better now.

Here's a picture to apologize for my naughtiness. Happy Summer!

It's a Pizza Burger from Tik Tok Diner in New Jersey. It's a regular hamburger with pizza sauce and mozzarella as toppings. I'd never had one before but you can bet that it'll be the only way I take my burgers from now on. 

DIY Bleach Design T-Shirt

It's DIY time!

I'm getting ready for an upcoming trip and I needed some new, really cheap, but still cool shirts to pack. Here's what I came up with. It's easy, creative, and you only need a few supplies.

If you want to learn how I made this Doctor Who inspired shirt, just keep scrolling, scrolling...scrolling.

What you will need:

• 1 cheap 100% cotton t-shirt (color of your choice)
• 1 Bleach pen
• Clear contact paper (optional depending on your design)
• Stencil (It's very easy to free- hand a design, but this one required a stencil.)
• Running water
• Exact-o knife

Step 1:

Cut out your stencil and place it on the contact paper. Tape it down so that it won't move around. Once you have it secured, start cutting your design into the contact paper using your Exact-o knife.

Step 2:

Peel the paper backing off of your cut-out stencil and place onto the t-shirt (sticky side down.) Make sure the stencil is firmly stuck to the t-shirt.

Step 3:

Use the fine tip of your Bleach pen to outline your design and fill in any open spaces. Wait 30 minutes after finishing before washing off the bleach. The longer the bleach sits the lighter the design becomes.

Step 4:

Quickly wash off bleach with cold water, this is so the bleach doesn't run. Use hand soap to wash all remaining bleach off. Then wash separately in cold water with washing detergent. Let it dry, and you're done!

Tada! All done!

If you tried this for yourself, please send me pictures!

Miscommunication is Key

I used to never subscribe to the thought that everything happens for a reason. I just thought we made the good that came out of every situation. I've always thought this way until recently...

Here's a little back story:

I recently switched from iPhone to Blackberry. In the process I've hit a wall with Apple sending all text messages to me through iMessage and therefor not sending me text messages at all.

Miscommunication is key:

Last Saturday I had planned to go to lunch with a couple of friends that I had not seen in months. Unbeknownst to me there was a group text message sent out, a week prior to the event, cancelling our meeting. Did I receive said cancellation? No (gashdarn you Apple!!!)
It just so happens, I didn't find out our outing was cancelled until I was half way to our meet up. I was really bummed and refused to let Apple ruin my day. So, I sent a text to another friend in the area that said I was free, and this is what happened instead...

We went to an air show.

I had my very first helicopter ride.

View from above.

We went hiking around an island in the middle of a man made lake.

Did a little caving,

and saw some intense wildlife...like this turkey vulture.

We ended up going to an air show nearby where I had my very first helicopter ride and made a new friend, got lunch at a really good barbecue place, ate by the water, and had a few epic run ins with wild life.

It was pretty much one of the best days of my life. I'm glad that everything does happen for a reason.

Things They Don't Tell You About Being a Teacher

•  As soon as you start teaching you will become at least 40 years old to every student, regardless of your actual age.

• Sometimes your most troublesome students become your favorite success stories.

•  Sleep becomes a distant dream, except for School Holidays, where sleep becomes your only plans for the three day weekend.

•  Students will do just about anything for stickers...especially high schoolers.

• "Free Days" are a double edged sword. Weigh your options carefully. Is a day outside really worth hearing "Dooooooo We Haaaaaaaaaaaave Too?" or "Can't we just go outside?" every day for the rest of the semester?

• The school secretary is your best friend. They will save your life millions of times. Just start buying double Mother's Day cards from now on.

• Don't show weakness. Students to weakness is like dogs to bacon. They can smell it from a mile away during a tornado on a dairy farm. Fake it till you make it, just don't show weakness.

• You don't actually get summers off. Sorry about this one. Really and truly I am very sorry. You know all of this professional development that you have to do? Guess when it takes place. That's right! Summer time. Also school starts almost a full week earlier for teachers at the end of summer. Oh, and who do you think decorates the classrooms? Yep...that'll be you again. Enjoy your maybe three straight weeks off, where you will undoubtedly be unable to sleep anyway.

• Teacher work days are a joyous occasion, staff development days are much less anticipated.

• Some days you will have moments where you see all your hard work make a difference. When you have a moment, you'll know.

• You made the right choice becoming a teacher.