A Good Tired

School went by fast today. I had quite a bit to do. I got started on my debate notes but didn't get finished. I listened to speeches in debate class, lectured in comm. app. and let my students work in the interp classes. During lunch, I went to Walmart and got lunch at Subway. I printed invitations for our Orators Banquet, but found out that the date isn't going to work. I'm going to have to figure out another date and correct the invitations. I still have to get substitute stuff ready by Wednesday. After school today, I started working on my flag routine. I have one written of sorts, but I'm having to modify it quite a bit. I worked for about an hour straight and worked up a good sweat. I am certain I'm going to pay for it tomorrow, but it really felt good to get such a workout. I really need to do it more often. I am going to have a nice bruise on my calf where I whacked it pretty good with my flag. I made some good progress. I have most of it figured out with bits and pieces of trnasitions that I need to work out.

I started dinner when I got home (mexican rice caserole) and ran to the store while it was in the oven. We got some good rain here and several of the streets were flooded. I've had dinner and now I'm watching t.v. and writing this blog. I have a feeling that I'm going to sleep well tonight. I'm thinking that it's going to be an early bed time for me as well.

Restful Weekend

Dinner on Friday was very good. Saturday morning I tried to sleep in, but the dogs wouldn't let me. My aunt brought her dogs which is fine because they're good dogs and one of them can't even bark (it's vocal chords were cut before she got him)... but they did drive my dogs (actually Mollie) crazy. She wouldn't shut up on Saturday morning. I finally got up and put her in my room which helped for a while. I then went back to bed for about an hour. I was up by 8:30 and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I took a shower and got dressed. We went over to my dad's shop to check out the kittens that one of his rescued cats had. There are three of them and they are very cute. There is a calico/tabby one, a himalayan, and an orange tabby. I'm glad Josh didn't go because he would want one of them. After that we went to the craft store and then to the mall. My aunt was going to buy me clothes or something but I couldn't find anything I wanted. I am feeling very fat these days and it sucks. I really need to do something about it. I did get some new underwear, however. My aunt also gave me some money to get something another time. I'll take it on my trip to Austin instead. As soon as I got home, I had to change and get ready for Church. I played for the confirmation Mass on Saturday. That meant I could sleep in this morning. Of course I was awake by 7:30, but I stayed in bed for another hour or so. I called my brother and found out that he was on his way to Canyon to go to Church. I would have met him there, but I didn't know until just before it started. I was happy to know that he and his sort-of wife are giving it some thought. After church, they came over and Tim (my brother) brought his pole saw and trimmed my apple tree, cut down the broken branches (after last winter's ice storm) from another tree, and then cut down another tree that I didn't want. (It looke more like an overgrown bush.) They left and I made sausage pizza for lunch. It was very yummy. After that, I was tired and went to take a nap. I needed to get some school work done today, but I don't think it's going to happen. I think I'll finish the book I'm reading and just veg out some. It's been a fairly relaxing weekend, which is a good thing. Next weekend I'll be in Austin and the following weekend, I'll be going to Albuquerque so my aunt can help me make my costume. I haven't even started on it yet. I haven't been able to work on my flag routine either. I did find my copy of the routine written out and I think I remember most of other than a few moves. I'll have to edit it some, but it shouldn't be too difficult. At least I'll be getting some exercise which is something I need. I hope all of you had a nice weekend as well.

No time for blogging

Sorry I did not blog yesterday. I had a full day at school, then I came home and started cleaning since I have company coming tonight. It really wasn't too bad. I did almost everything except vacuum which I did when I got home today. The guest bedroom isn't clean, but it's cleared enough. I still have lots of junk everywhere and maybe I'll get to it this summer.

Today at school was nice. I got to work in my room all morning. I was able to get papers graded and put together the stuff I needed for my comm. app. class when I'm gone next week. I found most of my debate stuff that I'm going to use next week as well. I just have to work on sorting it all out. This afternoon was an inservice that was actually pretty good as far as inservice goes. I intended to start working on my flag routine, but didn't have time. I'm going to have to get cranking on it soon.

I don't have much more to say. My life is very unexciting. Still no interesting people to write about (i.e. no dates) unless you count Josh who has been my only "date" of sorts for the past two years. At least we share the same taste in music.

I think I'm going to go take a quick nap and then when Josh gets home we'll go to the mall to find him new shoes and then meet my aunt, uncle, brother, sis-in-law 0f sorts, their kids, my dad, and his girlfriend for dinner. We're going to Golden Corral.

Back to work

I got a good report from the substitute which is a good thing. Today was filled with filling out forms for our Nationals trip, grading papers, and catching up on everything. I had some students from the local university come up and work with my students that are going to state. I think it was very beneficial for them. Now if I can just get them to work on their stuff for the next week. I think I'm going to offer to have them perform for other classes just for the practice. I was at the school until 6:30 today. As soon as I got home, Josh and I headed up to the store for some groceries. I spent $47 which I think is a record for the lowest amount ever spent on groceries at Walmart. Generally I buy too much, but this time we're only covering the next few days until Monday since Josh will be leaving on Tuesday for state and I'll be going on Wednesday.

I haven't started cleaning house and I'm certain that I'm going to procrastinate tonight and wait until tomorrow. It's already fairly late and we haven't even had dinner yet (though it's in the oven finally). I need to do some laundry so I don't have to go to school naked tomorrow. I think I'll at least load the dishwasher tonight.

I'm tired. I'm going to turn on the t.v. and get my book out and veg for a bit.

Whirlwind Trip

My students and I left Hereford dark and early Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. We go to Dallas around noon and had to deal with lovely traffic delays due to construction. We stopped for lunch and then headed to Six Flags. Yes, I finally got another chance to ride some coasters. It was heavenly! It was a very nice day at the park. It was not very hot at all as it was very overcast. But it wasn't too cool either. The wait time for rides was around 15-20 minutes. We were able to ride 4 coasters in a little over 2 hours. I did some shopping and got a Marvin the Marvin bobble head. I now have a season pass so that I can visit other parks (hopefully) this summer. I gave my students "coaster lessons" at each coaster. I was amazed at the fact that they were completely worn out and they had to keep up with me. I guess just being at a park gives me an extra boost of energy.

We left Arlington around 5:00 and headed towards Austin. The drive was uneventful and amazingly I was able to get to the hotel easily. We checked in and I just had to be upgraded to a King room because there were no more queens available. Darn. The hotel was very nice. We then headed out to eat. We tried to go to Chili's but they were closing at 8:45 which is weird. We then went to Fuddruckers and got burgers. They also closed quite early. We came back to the hotel and I was able to soak in a hot bath which was quite lovely. I finished the book I was reading and went to bed around 10:30. The next morning I had a quick breakfast at the hotel. (I love the free breakfasts.) It was really quite good. They had eggs, potatoes, ham, sausage, biscuits and gravy along with pastries, cereal, yogurt etc. I had potatoes and sausage with some juice. We left around 7:45 to go to the competition. Amazingly, I found it with no problems. We registered and my students drew their speaker numbers which were 24 and 34. We had a long day of waiting as both students didn't speak until after lunch. We also found out that there was a hostage situation going on in a building just a few blocks from the place where we were. I started another book and read most of the day. They provided lunch - sandwiches from a local deli. My students did their speeches and then we waited for the awards. Neither of them placed in the top three, but they did get a $100 savings bond for making it to the state level.

We were out of there by 3:00 so we went back to the hotel so the kids could change. We went to a mall that was close by and hung out there for a couple of hours. (Mostly in the bookstore) Around 5:20 I heard from my friend Mary (the choir director at my church who was also in Austin at the time) and she was going to meet us for dinner. We headed to the restaurant (Pappasitos) and waited for her. She arrived and we enjoyed our meal and good conversation. When we left, the kids didn't want to just go back to the hotel and they wanted to try and find a movie theatre. I didn't want to just drive anywhere so I stayed on I-35 and there is not a movie theatre within 10 miles of our hotel in either direction. We played the alphabet game in the car while looking for a theatre (that we never found) so we just drove around the city for a while and then headed back to the hotel.

I took another bath (a luxury for me) and then got ready for bed. I watched a little t.v. but started to fall asleep by 10:30. I gave up and turned the t.v. off. I got up this morning around 7:30. I checked out around 8:30 and had breakfast again. We left Austin around 8:45. The kids fell asleep right away. Around 10:00, one of them was having a nightmare and yelled out waking everyone up. He said that he was dreaming about spiders and he hates them. It was funny. We stopped in Abilene for lunch around 12:30 and then got back on the road by 1:00. We got into Hereford around 5:30 and I made it home by 6:00.

My aunt called and she and my uncle are coming to stay this weekend. That means I have to clean my house. Oh well... I needed an excuse anyway. I caught up on blogs and then I called in dinner. I just finished a short while ago and now I'm going to take it easy for a while.

A Laugh from Google

I printed out maps for our trip down to Dallas/Austin tomorrow, but did not print maps for the trip home. It's not that I can't find my way back, but I like to have the maps just in case. I decided tonight to check the possible routes. I went to google maps and typed in Austin, TX to Hereford (but I hit enter before I typed the TX) Instead of taking me to Hereford, TX it gave me directions to Hereford, UK. Below is the map it gave me.

I don't know if you can read it, but on the directions it says "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,452 mi."

I needed a good laugh today!

To Do List

It's been another long day. School until 4:00 and I didn't finish what I needed to get done. Came home, went to the bank to get six flags tickets and cash the check for meal money. Then I came home to get ready to go to the symphony. I had to iron Josh's shirt, put on make-up, and get dressed. Josh and I went to eat at Olive Garden. It was quite yummy and very filling. After that, we went to the Globe News Center and picked up our tickets. We took our seats around 7:35 and the concert started at 8:00. The first half was good. They had four guest vocal solists that each sang a song accompanied by the orchestra. I think it was in french and was written by Berlioz. They had the words translated on a large screen, but to really see it, I had to crane my neck since we were so close. (2nd row from the stage) But after intermission was Mozart's requiem and it was amazing. I may have to go find the CD or download it at some point. Now I'm thoroughly exhausted and it's waaayyy past my bedtime. I used to be such a night owl, but I guess I'm just getting old.

Here's my to do list for tomorrow:
Sleep late - done
Contact rhapsody about my account (when I tried to update to my new email, I mis-typed it putting .com instead of .net and now I can't access my account.) - done
Go to school and finish grading papers and leave my sub information
Do laundry and pack
Go to the 5:00 Mass since I'm leaving early on Sunday.
Go to grocery store so Josh won't starve
Pay bills for the month

I'm sure there's more, but that's all my brain can handle at the moment. Good night.

I can't think of a headline

Today was a rather mundane day. It was another day of TAKS testing. The students finished early and I got some puzzles out for them to pass the time. I ate lunch in my room as always. (Frozen dinner of pasta and chicken) I should have graded papers and got things ready for my sub, but I didn't. I guess I'll do that tomorrow. When I got home, Josh and I went to the grocery store to get dinner. We got some ribs and chicken along with some garlic mashed potatoes. Josh had to be at school early for a performance so I didn't really have time to cook. I went to watch his show again tonight. To answer Susan's question... they're doing Taming of the Shrew again, but this time the director got the adaptation approved ahead of time. It is such a cute and clever show. They had a good audience tonight.

Now I'm home and I hope to go to bed early. I was tagged for a meme so I guess I'll go ahead and get that done.

What I'm reading now:

Currently I'm about halfway through a book called "The Amber Room" by Steve Berry. It's getting pretty intriguing right now so when I read, I hate to put it down. Most recently I read a book called "Hide" by Lisa Gardner and I really enjoyed it. I discovered this author a few years ago and I have thoroughly enjoyed her books.

I have a few more books sitting around that I may get to, it just depends. I am waiting for Janet Evanovich's next book that will come out in June. I plan to re-read the Harry Potter books this summer just before the last one comes out on July 21.

I wish I had more time for reading. I have been able to read more since I've been going back to tournaments. I'm going to have to have something to read on Monday while I'm in Austin. Well, that's it for tonight.

Getting Crafty

Well, I'm going to make an attempt at least. A few months ago, the principal sent out an email requesting that teachers with some kind of "talent" volunteer for a talent show for the students that pass the TAKS test. Well, the show-off that I am immediately volunteered. Of course I couldn't decide if I want to play my clarinet, do a flag routine or perform an interpretation piece. I decided on a flag routine. The talent show won't be until May 21, but I have to start getting ready. I have some ideas for a routine. (I'm probably going to use one I've done before and adapt as necessary - I have most of them written down.) But then I started thinking about what I should wear. I have decided to make my "costume." I went to Walmart tonight and found a pattern that I liked and even found material on sale for it. I am hoping I remember the few sewing skills I learned the last time I made something which was ... oh about 16 years ago. Well, if I don't remember everything, my aunt or sister could probably help me out. I'm kind of excited about it. I really like the material. The top is going to be a dark teal color that is kind of crinkly. The pants are a kind of crinkled crushed velvet. I think it will be quite classy. I just hope I'm up for it!

Honesty Pays

For the most part, I've always been an honest person. I am never brutally honest to people; generally I keep my mouth shut if something is going to hurt someone's feelings. I rarely lie and I don't take advantage of others. One of my responsibilities this year is keeping up with money and budgets within the speech department and team. I've always made sure that I return extra money leftover at tournaments and always write a receipt for money I've received. It drove me crazy when I discovered that I was $10 off with our stock-in-talk fundraiser. I worked for two hours going through receipts and matching them to the my excel file until I finally found the discrepancy.

Earlier this year, I received some prose and poetry books to review. If I wanted to keep them, I was to send a check to the company and the books were mine. If not, I could send them back. In addition to the books, they sent along a DVD that was free if I paid by a certain date. If you know me, you know that I didn't really do anything until well after that date. I finally decided to keep the books because they had several potential pieces for my students and so I had a check cut to send them. I sent back the DVD that I didn't even get a chance to view (it ended up in one of my piles) because I had missed the deadline. Today, I got the DVD back in the mail. With it was a thank you card that had the following message written:

• While wrapping up this year's record keeing responsibilities I noticed something interesting. You placed an order for two books, Prose To Be Read Aloud and Poetry To Be Read Aloud, but sent back the DVD. Your order form and handwritten note is enclosed. You are the only person who did this! Others simply paid for the books after the review time was passed without sending the DVD. Thank you for your honesty and integrity. Please accept the DVD enclosed as a gift for me.

How cool is that?

Just general stuff

Today was the first day of TAKS testing. What a joy! Really, it wasn't too bad with my small group of 6 students. I found out that the reason why I have so few is that these students are those that can request oral administration of the test. That means I can read the questions to them out loud if they want. But none of them asked me to read any questions to them today. It was pretty uneventful. Tomorrow morning I will get a work day in the morning which will be nice. I test again on Thursday and Friday.

On Friday, Josh and I are going to have a touch of class and go to the symphony. Although I heard it was sold out, I was able to get tickets today. We're going to hear Mozart's Requiem which is what he was writing when he died and had to be finished by one of his students. I think it will be cool. It's being performed in the new Globe News Performing Arts Center which is kind of a funky, yet cool new place that opened up last year.

I found out today that I'm going to get to meet Abbagirl this summer. I'm traveling to Kansas for our National speech tournament and we'll get to meet. I am also hoping to see Andrew as well; I'm waiting to find out if I'll have some money left over in July.

Well, I don't have anything else to share. I have to figure out what to make for supper now.

An embarrassing moment

I went to the store today because we were almost out of food. Josh was with me and we got the basics and the total came to $65. I ran my debit card through the reader and it was declined. I tried paying partially in cash thinking that maybe I was off in my head calculation of what was in my account and tried again... still no luck. I had no other form of payment with me. No checks, $9 in cash, and that's it. I had to leave my groceries in the cart so I could come home and adjust my bank account. (Which was really stupid because I realized after the fact, that I could have just gone to the ATM located IN the store.) So I came home and checked my balance and there was some things from last week that didn't go through until today. I transferred money from savings to it, but when I went to my bank's ATM it still showed insufficient funds. So I just took the money out of savings, then went back to the store and had to go through the line again and have the groceries rung up again. I technically had plenty of money in the account. SSI deposits Josh's money early, but doesn't make it available for several days... which is ridiculous. I also had plenty in savings and you'd think my bank would automatically take it out of there when I'm short... but that must be inconvenient or something. Oh well. I now have groceries and enough money in my account.

Josh's money will be "released" on Wednesday and payday is Friday. Josh needs new shoes and he wants to go see Mozart's Requiem this weekend. I'm also leaving for a state trip to Austin on Sunday. My students want to stop to ride some rollercoasters on the way down. O.k. maybe I put the idea in their heads, but they want to go. I'll be gone Sunday through Tuesday, but I'll probably take my computer with me. Then the week after next, I'll be going BACK to Austin for UIL state. I'm excited that Josh will be down there too for One Act.

Today was uneventful. I did find out why I only have 6 students testing in my room. These are the students that can request having their test read to them. If I have to, I'm required to read the questions to them. The only thing I can't read are numerical answers for math questions. But the counselors said that despite them having this modification, they most likely won't ask me to read the questions to them. Oh... and get this. Usually the school gives us water and mints to give to the kids on testing day. We got a note from the counselor stating that they would only send water because the mints do not meet the TEA standards of foods with minimum nutritional value. Teachers, can however, provide mints for the students... as long as it's not officially sanctioned by the school, I guess. I wish that the state would simply let the teachers get back to actually "teaching."

Well, I'm going to take a shower tonight so I get a little extra sleep in the morning and I'm going to try to go to bed early. I did not want to get up this morning. But... on the bright side... only 6 more weeks of school!

Lots of big news

I am still curious as to when everything is going to fall apart. Maybe it's my cynical nature that I still haven't been able to quite let go of. I am just amazed at the good things happening in my life. Maybe it's just my turn to have things go well. I can't say that life is perfect, but it's really quite something right now.

School is going well. My classes have been doing well with my students passing and everything. Next week is TAKS testing at school and I found out that not only will I get to stay in my room this time, but I will only have 7 students in my room.

The speech team is still doing an amazing job. At regionals this weekend, four of my students made it to finals and three of them are now going to be competing at State. The other is an alternate.

I'm still not raking in the dough, nor am I debt free, but I am able to pay my bills each month with a little left over. And today, out of the blue, I got a notice from Social Security that said they reviewed Josh's benefits and are increasing his benefit amount starting in May AND they are sending a check for $1500 in May as well.

Now, the house on the other hand... it's a mess again.. but that is pretty much the status quo around here. I still haven't had a date or any prospects.... but my Cosmo horoscope says that I'm meeting my potential soul mate in September. (LOL) But regardless of a few things not being perfect, I feel as though I've been especially blessed this year and question whether I am deserving of it all. I still wonder if a big let down is coming up. I hate to even seem pessimistic because I'm really not that way these days, but it's hard to go with the flow and tell myself that I deserve to be happy. But maybe after 2004 and early 2005, maybe I deserve just a little bit.

So what's not perfect? I still wish that I had more friends.... real friends and not just acquaintances. I want someone to go shopping with and go to the movies. Someday, I do want to get married again, but right now I'd still settle for just a date. A real date... not some freak I meet online. (No offense to the handful of normal, nice guys out there.)

Well, these are just some rambling thoughts. Life is pretty good and I can't complain.

Gone until Sunday

I am leaving for regionals dark and early this morning and won't be back until Sunday. I've decided to not take my laptop because I don't want to carry it around. I've got my mp3 player and some books to keep me occupied.

I will post again Sunday evening. Have a great weekend!

Well, it's sort of Friday

...in terms of school that is. Today is my last day for the week as we are leaving at 7:30 a.m. to go to regionals in San Angelo tomorrow. I've gotten my sub instructions ready (believe it or not!) and a worksheet prepared to leave for my comm. app. class. (Really the only class I worry about when I have a sub.) Now I need to get my desk cleaned which seems like an impossible mission at the moment. At least I can stay after school today if necessary since I didn't carpool this morning. In a moment, I need to run to walmart to get some index cards for my extempers. I also have to pick up lunch since I didn't have anything to bring today. I'm getting pretty hungry.

In 5th period today we are having my music appreciation lesson. They're learning about listening this week and I'm covering appreciative listening today. They also started 24 hours of silence yesterday so it will be nice and quiet (other than the music) today. I have 52 different styles of music I play for them from classical to grunge to rap to african.

Last night I didn't do much. I made spaghetti (my favorite) for supper and then watched t.v. and goofed around on the internet. I still only have one my space friend. Poor me.

Well, I better head out to Wally world and then get some lunch. If you haven't already done so, head over to Andrew's place and wish him a happy birthday today!

General Ramblings

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Immediately after school I went with my students to a school in Amarillo so they could get some practice in on their pieces before Regional contest this weekend. Another coach listened to them and gave them critiques which was very helpful. You know how it is... your child (or students) might not listen to you, but when they hear it from someone else, they "get" it. Hopefully they'll be ready by this weekend. After the practice I went by Taco Villa and got dinner. I headed home and became a vegetable the rest of the night. I sat in front of the t.v. with my computer in my lap all evening. I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time on the internet.

I've joined the My Space bandwagon though I'm still not certain why. My students have been telling me that I need a my space. I put one together, but I haven't told them yet. I'm not sure that I am going to right now. I have been looking up people I went to high school with, but there's not even a handful of them on there that I actually "knew" in high school. For now, it's just a passing fancy. I intend to keep the my space thing as a separate identity without links to this blog or my website. I'd rather not have students reading this blog. I'm sure if there were some that knew I had a blog, they could find it easily, but I don't mention such things.

I suppose I should get some papers graded or something. That's an idea! Stay caught up on grading so there's not mounds of papers to grade at once! What a concept. Or I could just put it off like I always do and find something else to distract me. Hope you're having a good day!

Another Day, Another Dollar

I was tired this morning. I'm still catching up from the weekend I think. There's not much to report. I went to school. Taught classes. Came home. I didn't make supper; Josh already had a "snack" and then had to leave for his show tonight. I took a nap when I got home. I got up and got something to eat and then have sat in front of the t.v. and computer the rest of the night. I have discovered HGTV and have been watching it quite a bit. I just love seeing the house shows where people are buying new places or fixing them up. I have so many ideas for my house, but I either don't have the money, the time or both! My next big idea is to get rid of the carpet in the living room. I really want to put tile in. Well, maybe some day.

Now that I'm back online, I find that I still don't have much to say.

I'm baaaackk!

Well, the season of Lent is finally over. I can now post regularly (but it doesn't mean it will happen.) I am more happy about the fact that I can stay caught up on my friends blogs. I should be reading them right now, but I feel a nap coming on. It has been a wonderful few days of celebrating the Easter Triduum, but I'm exhausted. I didn't get home last night after the Easter Vigil service until midnight. I had to be up by 7:00 in order to get to the church by 8:00 a.m. I sang at the early Mass, then played during the second Mass. Josh and I went to the Donut Stop during the time between Masses. My brother and his girlfriend and the crew came to the second Mass. After church, we went out to eat at Feldman's. I had the petite sirloin with a loaded baked potato and corn. It was quite yummy. My brother even paid for the lunch. We had a very nice visit and now it's time for a nap. I didn't sleep well last night. I think I was still hyped over the Vigil service which was amazing. I can't believe that I've been Catholic for a year now! It has been an absolutely wonderfully blessed year. I can't even begin to tell you what a huge difference it has made in my life. I wish everyone could experience such joy! We had 14 people come into the Church last night and had 4 Baptisms (one of them fully immersed).
I will try to write more later and I'm going to be playing catch up on all my favorite blogs. Hope you're having a Happy Easter and I hope it is warmer where you are than it is here!

I'm dreaming of....

(In Bing Crosby's voice) ...a White Easter. Just like the ones I never
knew. Where the tree-tops glisten and children listen... to hear bunny
hops in the snow. I'm dreaming of a White Easter... with every Easter
Card I write. May your days be Cheery and Bright and may only your
Christmases be white!

In guess you didn't guess... it's snowing here. Snow! On Easter! I
guess I'm just going to have freeze wearing my new light and springy
Easter outfit!

Happy Easter everyone. And just so you know... Lent ends tonight after
the Easter Vigil. I should be back posting regularly tomorrow. I am
glad, however, that I learned how to post via email!

Time to get busy again

The rest of the week and weekend are going to be quite busy. Today I'm trying to get caught up on grades. I'm not really behind except I'm a bit perturbed by a student in my first period class. Today was the last day to perform their Reader's Theatre performances. This student is in both a small group and the large group (entire) class performance. He wasn't here today. He won't be here again until next Thursday because of Tennis and Choir. He has put his classmates in a bind because of being absent and what upsets me the most is that he was at school during 3rd period. At least it's not as bad as what has happened to my fellow teacher that is in charge of the one-act play. She had a student quit today that is in one of the lead roles and they have contest on Friday.
Tonight I have choir practice and I also have to get to the grocery store at some point. Tomorrow I have to tally the cheerleading results for a local school. (It's a long story, but they pay me every year to do it.) Then immediately I have to get to Church for the Holy Thursday services. Luckily there is no school on Friday but some time that morning I have to go watch Josh perform in the One-Act play for his school. Then I have to go to the Good Friday service. Saturday evening will be the Easter Vigil and then on Sunday I have to go to both services because I'm singing at 8:30 and then playing at 11:15 (but I'm getting paid for the 11:15 service).
Luckily Lent is over this weekend so I can once again post regularly and stay up to date with all the blogs I read. Well, I better getty ready for 5th period and finish putting grades on their speeches. They're going to be having an Easter Egg hunt this afternoon. (It is a test review for them - each egg has a question in them and if they answer it correctly, they get a piece of candy. - Yes it's cheesy, but even as a high school student, they love it.) Problem is that I'm a very good egg-hider and they don't seem to be very good finders.

Just some pics

I haven't been able to post pics for a while since I can only post on Sundays. (During the week I post via email) Here's some pics that have been sitting in my camera.

Storm clouds in the sky. We've been lucky to not get tornadoes but we've had LOTS of rain so far.

Here's the new hair cut with it styled.

This is the apple tree in my back yard. It needs to be trimmed badly. This is when it first started to sprout leaves.

Apple blossoms started to appear this week.

This is the view of the back of my house. It's not a bad place, just needs some work here and there.

This is Roo in the jungle of the back yard. Josh is going to have mow soon.

Queen of Shopping

I went to Mass this morning but had to be there early to warm up for choir. The congregation met in the Parish Hall and then processed into the Church singing "The King of Glory." It was really cool. It was a longer Mass since we read the Passion of Christ so it didn't end until almost 1:00. After Mass, I had to stay to rehearse for the Easter Vigil service. I didn't get home until after 2:30 and I was starving. I decided that today would be one of the only chances I would have to go shopping and try to find a new Easter dress. I headed to Amarillo and stopped at Taco Villa to get my favorite - a meat burrito grande. I scarfed it down and then went to the mall. I started at J.C. Penny's but I couldn't find much that I really liked. The was a sun dress that I tried on that fit very well but I couldn't wear it at school because the straps were too thin and it would show my tattoo. It seems that the much of today's style does not mesh with mine. Not that I have a style really... but everything seems to be going retro with funky colors like pink and brown. After Penny's I headed down to Sears. I spent the majority of my time there and got some good deals. After trying on several skirts and top combinations I found one that I could live with. It is a pretty green and it was on sale for 40% off. It was about what I was willing to spend for a dress so I decided to get it. I didn't find any dresses that I cared for. I also ended up getting another outfit just because. I bought a pair of capri pants and a cut-out t-shirt with a flower design in front. It was also on sale. The best deal, though, was a Land's End jacket that was originally $80 that I got on sale for $10. It was marked down to $19.99, and it was 50% off. It has enough of a lining to wear during cool evenings or for cold rainy days like we had on Friday. I thought it was a very good deal. After that, I had to find shoes to go with my dress. I had some I thought might work at home but they are a little big for me so I decided to see what I could find at the Shoe Dept. I found a pair of comfortable beige/cream pair with a low heel that seemed to do the trick. They were also on sale, but not as cheap as I would have liked. I decided to go ahead and get them because I had other outfits that they would work with. Then I headed back to Penny's where I parked. On the way out, I stopped to look at men's shirts and found a really nice green dress shirt and a tie for Josh. It was another great find because I only paid $14 for both! That was enough shopping for the day!

I know I haven't posted in a while. I haven't had much to share. I slept in on Friday which was quite lovely. Then I went with my dad to his bank to try to set up a bank draft so that my check to him can be automatically taken out of my account. Once we got there, they said that it would have to be set up through my bank, but my bank had told me that it had to be set up through his. In the end we decided I should set up through my bill pay and have a check mailed to his bank. After that, my dad took me to lunch at Red Lobster. Since it was Friday and I couldn't eat meat, I had the seaside shrimp trio which was quite yummy. I brought half of it home and had it for dinner as well.

Saturday I went to a retreat at Church for the RCIA class. It wasn't too bad. I think it was a little better than last year's. Lunch was quite yummy, they served us Mexican pile-on. After the retreat, I was pretty much a bum. I came home and took a nap and then just watched t.v. and played a game of rollercoaster tycoon since I couldn't surf the net. (Only one more week!) I tried to call Andrew and see what he was up to, but he was gone again.

Tonight I'm going to be making my famous Cashew chicken. Well... I better get busy! Hope y'all are having a great weekend or what's left of it at least.