Beginnings

Well, after much encouragement, Matt and I decided it was time to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Hopefully this will be a great way for us to share what is going on in our crazy, busy, over-scheduled life! I know this will be quite the endeavor for me to write just once a week, since just finding a name for our blog took much longer than I expected. Our final decision came from a friend, Chris Tanner, who is quick to remind us that Matt and I run on our time schedule, which he affectionately calls "Tanner Time." It only seemed fitting for the place where we would share what is going on in our lives.

As I write, it is a typical fall Saturday in the Tanner House. Football is on the tv, ungraded papers sit next to me in stacks, and I am still in my pajamas. Matt recently bought a new laptop to work on some of his other design projects outside of work, so it looks like a day that will be mixed with work and play for both of us. The unusual happenings are outside. Along with the strange 50 degree weather for mid-October, it is quite noisy outside. After Matt has owned this house for close to 3 years, we are finally having the house painted! The crew arrived this morning and are pressure washing the house and starting some of the repair work on the windows and exterior. I can't wait for the day to come this week when I will arrive home and the house will no longer be a blinding white with deep stained cedar shingles, but a khaki color that actually compliments the brick. Other than the kitchen updates and repairs, this is the other big house project I have been waiting for! I will be sure to post pictures of the final product!

The homecoming dance tonight will wrap up a crazy week for me. It was homecoming week at the middle school - that means dress up days, door decorations, pep rally, football games, cheer practice, decorating for the football players, hyper children - all the things that drive teachers crazy. The dance tonight means I have made it through all that. The highlight of the week came on Thursday - as I relived the 80s and danced with several other teachers at the school pep rally as Michael Jackson during the song "Beat It" and then sitting through 2 football games in the pouring rain while I watched my girls destroy their new white uniforms in the mud. It has been quite the week and I have not been so thankful for a weekend in a while!

In other pursuits in our lives, I have taken on National Board Certification as well this year. While this is such an important certification for teachers (and also means a raise), it does not come without a lot of work. I have already been in classes on Thursday afternoons between school and the football games. There is a lot of reading, a lot of preparing, and a lot more work ahead. Matt and I knew this would not be easy and would mean a lot of work, but hopefully it will pay off in the end. Since Matt has had to sell most of his Auburn season football tickets for me to stay home and study, he is also hoping it will be worth it in the end!

Now it is time for me to grade papers, get ready for the dance, pull the Tide through a homecoming victory, and making our chili for my starving husband......