What's in a name?

Here’s my response to MamaKat’s Writer’s Workshop. This week didn’t require too much creative though so I figured I’d participated. The prompt was to explain the meaning behind your name. I get asked this a TON (the curse of having a unique name) so this is a piece of cake….


My name is Keagan….not Kegan or Keegan or any other derivative, but Keagan with an A. I can honestly say I’ve never met another me with and a, and usually the Keagan’s that I meet are boys. So I’m unique.
Depending on where you look my name means different things, but the most common meaning I can find is that it’s a Gaelic name meaning “little, fiery one”. I guess this kind of suits me. I don’t have a fiery temper or anything, but I like to think that I can be a bit fiery. I have a passionate streak that comes out from time to time and can be pretty intense. Not to mention, that I must not be too mild if I can command the attention of 25 high school students 2 minutes before the bell rings  As for little, welll….I used to be

As for how I got my name, that’s a less exciting story. Apparently I was almost a Stephanie, but my mom saw Keagan as a last name and thought it would make a cute girl’s name and changed her mind after I was already born. And thank goodness she did! I LOVE having a unique name. People remember it. I’m convinced that it has helped me get jobs or awards simply because it jumps out at you.
On a cute sidenote, I am one of 3 siblings and we all have K names (Keagan, Kiersten, and Kyle) and my husband is Keith and his brothers are Kevin and Kenny. I also have a cousin Kim whose kids are Kallie and Kaeden…hmmm….

How about you? Any interesting name stories?

Creating my bubble...

So I walked into work today and was instantly bombarded by negativity. I really, REALLY hate that. No good morning, no how are you doing….just blah. So considering that I have to be here until 9pm (super yucky) I figured that I mind as well make an attempt to create my own little bubble of positivity. I have my earbuds in with some kick-butt, feel good music going on and have buckled down to work, but I’m still feeling a bit negative. I figured maybe if I make a list of things that are making me happy on my blog I can refer to it throughout the day….so here goes.

•  My new bracelet is really fun and I keep catching glances of it as I type…fun!
• I have an amazing cup of French roast coffee thanks to the office Keurig that I didn’t pay for (oops…)
• My dad just finished the new Agassi book the other day and passed it along to me so I have that to read when I get home this evening.
• We just got a wedding invitation in the mail yesterday for a few good friends. Can’t wait for that! Plus, going to weddings after you’re already married is phenomenal because I don’t keep looking at everything and making mental notes )
• My kitties are perfect. I fell asleep last night with one purring away on my chest and the other snuggled up between my feet. Why do I keep the hubby around??
• Oh right, because he’s great, too! He not only finished all of our trim work in the house, but also hung the blinds and went grocery shopping with me last weekend (to 2 places none the less….good boy)
• I’m a homeowner. This really just hit me as I was walking in the other day that I own all of the wood, and nails, and appliances, and land that I was around. Pretty cool feeling!
•  The Olympics are almost here! I absolutely love the whole Olympic spirit (most likely because when I was younger I was convinced that I would be in them….not so much). I love watching the faces of all the athletes at the Opening Ceremony, especially the ones from little countries that no one’s really ever heard of. They always look so happy and proud.

Alright, I’m sure there’s more….but I feel fairly positive now, so I’m going to ride this little wave of positivity for as long as I can. Happy Hump Day Everyone

The other two co-workers...

Alright….this post has been a while coming and I’m not feeling super creative, but I owe you all this post. A forewarning that it may be a bit lengthy.


A few posts ago I began to introduce you to a few of my co-workers, in particular The Boss and The Gopher. As strange as these two are, my other two co-workers are just as bad. Let me preface this by saying that I realize that I am not the only person who works with some odd ducks, nor am I whining. I tell you this for the simple purpose of humoring you…and for the potential stories that are to come from these four intriguing persons. So here goes nothing…


We’ll start with the Loud Talker. He is the middle aged man who works in the cube that is attached to the other side of me (so I’m sandwiched between him and the Gopher…oh yeah). Anyhoo, he is ex-military, though I’m not really sure what kind of function he served there. After the military, he began teaching….and that’s where the loud talking comes in (I think anyways). Normally he’s relatively soft spoken, but if you get him talking about something related to his fields of expertise he begins talking louder, and louder and LOUDER until you feel like every other person in the office is cursing you under their breath for making him talk! He talks so loud that I find myself responding to him in increasingly quieter volumes until I’m practically whispering…not that it helps. In addition, he’s a bit smug (a classic, “Oh, you didn’t know that? Well…” kind of guy) and he drives a sky blue Volkswagen Bug Convertible. ‘Nuff said.


And last, but of course not least, is the Annoyance. That’s really the best way to describe her. She is fresh out of college and if you ask her about it she’s sure to stress that it was Ivy League (well, lah-dee-dah). She’s a mechanical engineering major with no education experience who is attempting to teach things to students….and she thinks they all should be as smart as she is and as motivated as she is, and as perfect as she is….whoops, got a bit carried away there. If that weren’t enough she is possibly the most socially awkward person I know. Remember those girls in high school that told all the boys about how they liked to kiss people? Yeah, that’s her..at 23 years old. And those awful forced laughs….again, that’s her…I’ll stop there.

To cap off this lovely posting, I’ll share with you their two stories from today.

First Loud Talker came in to work today hacking up a lung..ew. He finally went home, but only after he informed that he coughed up something green so he figured he probably should not be in the office. Really?!? Why do I want to know this.


Then the Annoyance decided to argue that the only way she would go to a very expensive dinner next week (that we were all asked to volunteer our time for) was if she was paid. Right. Because your ivy league education miraculously made your time more valuable than mine…..nice….

A Holiday Recap

Goodness gracious…I disappeared for a little bit there. Sorry bout that.
The holidays have a way of getting the best of me and I simply found myself too busy to keep up with my blog. So here’s a catch up…
I know that I still need to update you on my other two co-workers, but that’s for another day as I am not feeling very creative today.
Hubby and I had a fantastic New Years and hosted our first actual party at the new house. No, this wasn’t the elegant dinner party with a few close friends…this was the “I’m almost 30, but I can still drink like I’m in college” kind of a party…and it was fabulous. The hubby grew up at a campground during the summer and ended up with a fantastic group of guy friends that are more or less like brothers to him. They have all found equally fantastic women to shack up with and we have formed quite the close group over the years. New Years is traditionally a campground event, but as we have all settled into actual houses the idea of heat, kitchens, and working bathrooms has taken over the rustic campground charm. The campground traditions have still followed, however, which mainly consist of beer die, a drinking game brought to our little corner of CT from Maine, perfected, and distributed around the country  Needless to say our New Year’s consisted of massive amounts of drinking games and food, followed by 13 people passing out in my house, and then followed by me cooking 13 people breakfast. It was fun.
The next night turned into another night of playing hostess and the following day turned into a day of cleaning and lounging on the couch. Sunday I was mentally prepping for coming back to work…and now here I am.
Other than that, not too much exciting happened. Hopefully you all had a restful holiday season…

A Repost...go ahead and do it to....

Just saw this on Gidget's blog and needed to repost this.  I agree with the power of positive thinking so maybe we can all help out here...
I saw this on someone else's blog this morning. It warmed my heart, even though it's sad. It's the holiday season, y'all. Help a bleep in need.


______________________________________

My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

A boss, a gopher, and all around craziness...

I owe you, my dear bleeps (all 7 of you), an apology. I have been holding things back from you. In my defense I’ve been holding back this information because I didn’t want to whine and complain to all of you. I now realize, however, that by depriving you of my whining I am also depriving you of some pretty hilarious stories. So here goes nothing…


I work in a loony bin.

First, a bit of background. I have always worked in loony bins. I taught high school science for gosh sakes! Last June, to my dismay, I was laid off from my job and was left unemployed about two weeks away from my wedding. Sweet. Now, my master’s degree is in curriculum design and I was a bit jaded about the whole laid off thing, so I decided to take a job that involved me being out of the classroom designing curriculum and programming for teachers. I thought it sounded amazing. I pictured myself brainstorming with equally excited teachers to develop kick ass programs. I saw myself kindly guiding teachers through these programs and helping them to become better teachers. I saw lots of excited students involved in these programs. It was heavenly.

Fast forward to today….I work in a cubicle (I should take a picture) in a small department of 5 people (including myself) who are possibly all certifiably crazy….with the exception of myself, of course . I figured today I would just give you a brief introduction to two of the cast so that as stories come about I can tell them to you quickly and hilariously (because if I laugh at them it seems so much happier around here). I’ll introduce you to the other two cast members tomorrow so that this doesn’t turn into a super long post.

First there’s The Boss. The boss is a bitter woman who is approximately my mother’s age. She has kind of been in education most of her lift, although she has never taught. She mostly dealt with their technology setup….and now she’s giving the green light (or more often the red light) to our programs. She is most famous for bellowing from her office when she needs one of us. If you don’t answer right away, she doesn’t get up, she just bellows louder…in her deep, somewhat manly, voice. She is also notorious for her high standards…that change on a daily basis. Put together a fantastic summary of a program for her that she throws praise at on Monday and on Tuesday it’s a virtual piece of poop. Never can tell what you’re going to get with the boss…

Then there’s The Gopher. The gopher has been with the company for longer than any of us with the exception of the boss and is kind of my superior (though that’s never been totally spelled out…just a notion that I get). The gophers cube is directly behind mine and no matter how I angle my computer he can see what I’m doing…if he pops his head up…which is all the time (hence the name). In his defense, I think he’s just lonely. He’s in his late 20s, lives by himself, and spends every weekend at his mother’s house. And judging by the amount of time he talks, he must not have anyone to talk to at home. Kinda sad. What’s even sadder (more sad, whatever) is that normally I love to talk. But with the gopher you can’t get a word in edgewise. If you could manage to get a thought out in the middle of a conversation with him, I’d pay you lots of money…because it just doesn’t happen. So you just kind of sit there, smile, nod, and think about what you’re going to be doing after work that day.

Stay tuned tomorrow…for the second two cast member who are equally (if not more) bizarre.

I Heart My Hubby

For lots of reasons, but this weekend has been one for the books.  Hubby and I tend to take on a bit more traditional gender roles...not that I mind.  So this weekend has been filled with gift wrapping, cookie baking, cleaning, and cuddling with the kitties in my nice, warm, cozy house.  For hubby this has meant braving the outdoors.  We got some snow last night and as we speak this is him...

I on the other hand am plunked in front of my computer, coffee in hand, pjs on...hmmmm.  And yesterday my dad and hubby installed new garage doors for us.  Here's the before.  They were original to the house (so 1965....or 56...my dyslexic tendencies are kicking in) and were in pretty rough shape.

This is dad and hubby working on the new doors in the frigid cold.  Really.  The temps were in the teens and they were handeling metal...with their bare hands.  What men!

And thanks to their hard work...we have beautiful new doors....

I just re-read this post and realized that I sound like a complete lazy a#@.  So in my defense I did do quite a bit of work inside and cheered on my tough guys with soup and hot chocolate along the way.  And as a side note, if you're in the CT area and are looking for a good garage door guy, I could easily recommend one to you...he does good work!