Losing the Waiting Game

I'm blogging during the Tennessee-Alabama game. Things are not going well. But to be fair, the only teams we have lost to are top ten teams. Tough break when your conferences is exclusively top ten teams.

I could draw a giant metaphor between my life and the Tennessee football team right now, but I won't. I'm not sure if my readers have crossover interests between football and emotional things. I'm not sure I have readers.

I'll just say that I'm up against a lot right now.

I've been playing the Waiting Game for quite a while now, and I'm pretty sure I'm losing. I didn't realize you could lose the Waiting Game until now, but you can. My patience is very short. I've waited, and it should be my turn now. But it's not.

What makes this ridiculous is that I actually know when the Waiting Game will be over, and I'm still losing. ?!  Chris will graduate in 2014. Then we'll be FREEEeeeEEE!  (That's how you type words that you sing, right?) I should start a countdown. Every time that number gets smaller, I can metaphorically punch the Waiting Game in the face. (I told you...my patience is very thin.)

So things are not great, but just like how those refs gave Tennessee a huuuuge break by calling back a Bama touchdown, there have been some wins recently. (Sorry, I made the metaphor. You'll have to learn about football now.) Chris' summer semester will be starting a week later in 2013, so we get 4 WHOLE DAYS between my school ending and his beginning. Vay-cay!

We have had the chance to go to Knoxville a few times this fall. Our friends Adam and Megan got married last weekend, and it was a gorgeous fall wedding!

My roommates from college (and beyond) had a Nashville reunion weekend! We shopped, ate good food, and saw a movie about a college a capella group. Sounds about right.

Catherine left too early for pictures. Boo vet school.

So I'm trying to focus on those small victories and forget about the big picture for a while. Random cheesecakes delivered to my door could help. Just sayin.

Derek Dooley Gets Pumpkin Roll'd!

It's been quite a while since my last blog, mostly because I've been awake for 34 days straight. The 2012-2013 school year has started; therefore, my 2012-2013 life has ended. Except for an obscene amount of testing, the school year has been pretty good. There are challenges to any job, but I am very grateful to have a job at all. God continues to provide for Chris and I in the midst of a very challenging season of our life.

This week is fall break, hence the blogging.

I'm very grateful that my school system gives us a week off in the fall. I can't tell you how much we need it. Chris and I have not been on a vacation since our honeymoon 2 1/2 years ago. So these breaks are my chance to pretend I'm on vacation. Every morning, I wake up and put sunscreen on. Then I turn off the a/c and pretend I'm at the beach.

I'm just kidding.

But I seriously have been enjoying sleeping again...and baking...and doing dishes...and hanging out with long-lost friends. I even had lunch with a new friend today! I'm so jealous of people that get to meet friends for lunch. But that is neither here nor there...

Let's catch up for a bit. Chris and I went to Knoxville in September for the UT-Florida game. We didn't quite pull that game off, but it was so great to see our friends and be on campus again.

We had lunch at the UC. Petros are the bomb. (Excuse the college lingo from my era.)

ESPN's College Gameday was on campus for all the excitement. This is the back of the setup.

We found Elvols. I think he had been at Gameday. He was sweaty.

We went to the Vol Walk and cheered on Coach Dooley. We were also right behind one of the Orange Men. Awkward....

We couldn't get into the game, mostly because tickets were $300...each. So we watched it from the strip. We were fairly happy with that decision.

This fall break, I have gotten back in touch with my womanizing roots. (That doesn't sound right. Oh well.) I actually made plans for meals and went grocery shopping for all the applicable items. 

I did get one item that was not on my list.

You buy the cookies, and they will GIVE you free Pizza Rolls. FAT. KID. WIN.

I MADE A PUMPKIN ROLL FROM SCRATCH. And so many of you worried I would never be able to make anything except frozen chicken tenders...

I also have time to make all the recipes on Pinterest that I've been saving since July. These are healthy cheeseburgers! We don't have a grill, so we haven't had homemade cheeseburgers since...ever. But these taste exactly like cheeseburgers, except they are grilled on a George Foreman in a tortilla. You can get the recipe HERE.

When we pulled out our old, rusty George Foreman, we found this note inside it. I don't even know the story behind this anymore, but it takes me back to Chris's Head Resident days during college. Obviously, we haven't used it since then.

So that's my fall break so far. I'm looking forward to hanging out with more friends tomorrow and most of my FELLOWSHIP HOUSE girls this weekend! THAT surely beats the mean old beach any day. Unless we were on the beach, and then THAT would be the bomb. ....dot com.