So much for a break

I had to go to inservice today. The state mandated a new law that states that schools cannot start earlier than August 27. In a sense, that is both good and bad news. That means that for the most part, we get a little bit longer summer. But it also means that there is not enough time during the year for the extra work days that we are supposed to have. So in order to have some other days off during the year, we had to come to two inservice days this summer. We had our choice for either doing it today and tomorrow or later in August. I decided it was better to get it out of the way. I did not want to take a break from the demolition going on in my house, but really had no choice. The inservice so far has been o.k., but not really very helpful. (No surprise.) They put us into random groups so I am sitting with teachers from elementary, junior high, pre-school, and special ed. I am not sure how this is really going to help me with my lessons on the high school level.

I have had some internet problems as well. For more than a day I could not access google or my blogger sign in page. Luckily it came down to an easy fix of just rebooting my modem and router. Now I am behind on reading blogs so I hope to catch up shortly. I should probably be ripping out the nail boards on the floor, but I just do not feel like it. I have not decided if it has been worth it to rip up the carpet. I think overall it is. I just hope that I can get a new floor in some time this summer.

Other than that, there's nothing new or exciting going on right now. Well I guess I'll go read those blogs.

Ripping out carpet

Ripping out carpet is actually pretty easy. It just takes cutting it in small sections and pulling it up. The carpet pad is barely glued down so it comes up pretty easily as well. Of course I've only removed about a 10X3 ft area, but it's a start. The real pain is the nail boards that the carpet is attached to on the edges. They have been nailed into the cement. I've been using a pry bar, mini pry bar, flathead screwdriver and a hammer to get it up. It is slow and tedious. The carpet won't take much time. The boards, however, may take the rest of the summer unless I can find an handier (stronger) person than myself to do it. (Yeah, right.) There is still laminate flooring underneath the carpets except on the edges where it meets the tile of the kitchen and hallway. I think it's in decent shape other than the glue spots, paint splotches and dirt. I have some cleaning stuff that will hopefully get rid of all of that. The laminate is supposed to look like stone which is o.k. I was willing to live with cement floors for a while. The best thing is that much of the smell is gone (hallelujah) and the dogs didn't pee on it last night. So today will be spent continuing to rip out carpet and pulling up the nail boards.

Josh and I had a nice trip to Amarillo yesterday. First we stopped by Sonic and he used his debit card for the first time. (He's really growing up!) He even bought me a coke. Then we went to Lowes where I got a carpet knife and some blades. We then looked around a bit and we both loved looking at the new front doors with glass in them. We looked at tile samples and got some ideas as well. Next we went to the mall so Josh could get a hair cut. I went to Penny's just because. He ended up getting his hair shaved which is a first, I think. He didn't want it to grow back too fast. (Hair in our family grows really fast.) At Penny's I tried on a few tops and a skirt but didn't buy anything. Josh, however, found a shirt he liked (that wasn't a t-shirt even!) and so I bought it for him because it was on sale. Then I bought him lunch. After that we headed to Barnes and Noble so I could find some ghost story books for one of my students that is going to Nationals. Next we went to pet smart to see if they had any of the patio dog doors in stock. They didn't have the medium size in stock and even if they did, it was priced almost $20 over what it was being sold for online at the same store. So instead, I came home and ordered it online. Shipping was free other than a $4.00 surcharge and even with tax it was less than what I would have paid at the store. As soon as it comes in, I'll call my brother and have him install it.

No, I haven't started on the garage but it would be pointless to do so until I am able to block the animals' access to it. But Summer, I would love to help you with your garage because then I would get to see you... maybe next summer? Well, I guess I better quit wasting time on here and get myself busy.

Dishes are mostly done

Well, there as done as they can get at the moment. I loaded it yesterday, ran it, and reloaded it this morning and am waiting to run it. I needed to wash some clothes as well and it doesn't work well to run both the washer and dishwasher at the same time. As soon as the clothes are done, I'll run the dishwasher. Like true summer-fashion I stayed up late last night and didn't go to bed until 1:00 a.m. for some reason, however, I continue to wake up around 8:30. I don't always get out of bed right away, but I did make an effort to get started somewhat early this morning. My goal today is to get up to Amarillo and get the things I need to start ripping out my carpet and get a pet door if possible. If not, I'll order it online today. And that's all the excitement in my life right now. I know you're jealous.

The Damn Garage

I knew my comment about the garage would get a reaction from Summer. She knows of my harrowing experiences with cleaning it out. I have actually had it clean probably 3 times since I moved in here two years ago. When I first moved in, it was packed almost from floor to ceiling with my parents junk. It had ceramic molds, garage sale stuff, boxes of papers, everything. I spent several days or maybe weeks getting through all of it, but I eventually got it mostly cleared. I shoved boxes of old bills and paperwork and such in my mom's old car that was parked out on the street. Eventually, my dad moved it when it got a notice that it would be towed. My dad had built a nice large section of shelves along one wall of the garage and I've slowly tried to keep the clutter down to a managable size. When I had my free garage sale, I finally accomplished that for the most part, but it's still not clean. I think Mollie has corrupted my dogs. They used to understand the concept of going from the kitchen to the garage via the pet door and then out the other door from the garage to the yard to do their "business." But I think something has happened where they can't seem to get themselves out to the yard and they had turned my garage into their bathroom and it's horrendous. I am not home enough to monitor their every move and with three of them I can't keep up with their habits most of which probably occur at night. So my solution now is to cut off the garage from them. I am going to get a patio dog door that will lead directly from the living room to the back yard. This is what I had at my old house and there was never an accident inside. They prefer going out this way and will wait for me to get up and open the door for them. I am hoping this will solve the problems. Once it's in, I will close off access to the garage and from the yard to the garage.

When I did all the garage cleaning at one point, I also cleared the attic which was full of more junk. I am proud to say that my attic is completely empty except for maybe two boxes. I have been trying not to clutter it up as well, but I think I will put a few things up there just to make the garage space more manageable. My goal this summer is to do a clean sweep of my house and part with those things I don't need and make everything a manageble space.

I guess in order to do all this I'm going to have to get out of my funk and be productive. I'll start with some baby steps. Today's job is to get the kitchen clean. I'm not going to go through all the cabinets yet, but I just need to get it clean. I will report back on my progress. I cannot post again until the dishes are done. So there. I'm really going now. I mean it this time. Really. I do.

Vegetative State

That's what I've been in today. I went to Church but I just felt out of sorts altogether. I can't explain it. Almost a bit of depression it seems. I was happy to see my brother and his crew at Church again, however. I think it's great that they're taking an interest in it. I came home after church, changed clothes and made some lunch. I'm having one of those weird monthly things where I'm eating everything in sight. So much for my plan to lose weight. Maybe that's part of why I feel so moody right now. I don't know, but I hope it passes soon. I haven't done anything productive today other than making supper which took all of five minutes. I have watched two movies and now I'm watching the Monk marathon. I've been on the computer non-stop. Well, I gotta get back to doing nothing, I guess.

Feeling restless

I don't know what it is but I'm feeling very restless and unsettled. I have several things I need to start doing around here, but can't get motivated to start doing them. I keep having fantasies of moving away and just starting over. I don't know where these ideas are coming from, but they're swirling in my head. Maybe I'm watching too much HGTV. I keep wanting to get a new/old house and fix it up. I need to work on my own house, but I like the idea of a fresh canvas I guess.

Yesterday I did nothing other than go to the grocery store. I slept late. Got up and either watched t.v. or got online or both. I googled people from my high school to see if I could find out any information on them. I did get a few hits here and there. I looked at houses for sale in places I might want to live. I checked into what it would take to get my master's degree. I actually have been considering the possibility, but I realize that I can't do anything for at least two more years. I can't get a loan because of my credit history. I keep thinking about what I really want to do with my life. For now, my job is o.k. I like it enough and it's been good so far. But I still think that perhaps this isn't what I want to do for the next 30 years. Well, maybe when Josh graduates in two years, I will have more options.

Someone asked me what my plans for this summer are. Here's a few things I have in mind so far:

Rip out the carpet in my living room and hallway.
Install a patio pet door.
Clean my house and garage (again).
Possibly play in summer band.
Go to Nationals in Wichita
Help with speech camp
Take a trip to Alabama and Georgia to see Andrew and ride some rollercoasters. (if Andrew doesn't mind)
Lose weight.
Read
Make rosaries
Sleep late
Watch t.v.
and find at least a few days to actually relax.

Well, I gotta get ready to go to Church. I'll try to write more often now that I'm home for a while.

Nap Time

Well, I'm almost free for the summer. This morning I got to school by 8:00 and did what I could to keep myself busy for an hour and a half until the meeting with the seniors. (I'm a senior sponsor this year) My room is cleared and ready to be cleaned. I brought some things home that I've been meaning to all year.... now I'm sure I'll ignore it all summer. After the graduation practice I went to our end of year luncheon and then finally came home. I feel very tired and I think I'm going to take a nap for a bit. I have to go back to Hereford around 6:00 for graduation. I'm just ready for my break!

Last Day

Well, it's officially my last day of school. No kids today, I have to go up and pretend to be busy for a few hours. I have everything on my checklist done except the attendance thing which is always last for whatever reason. This morning I'm supposed to help with the seniors. I'm one of the senior sponsors and we have to help with all the graduation stuff. Oh joy. That means it will be difficult to get the few things done that I need to before I leave to go to the junior high and practice.

Last night our speech banquet was very nice, but also very long. I should have limited the kids to how long they had to speak during their good-byes perhaps. But being speech kids, everyone had something to say about everyone else. There was a lot of laughter and some tears, but I feel lucky to have such a great group of kids to work with.

I'm sitting here procrastinating this morning. I did not want to get up, but luckily I will get almost a whole week off before I have to get up early again. I think I may take it easy for a few days before I start in on summer stuff. I think Josh may go to Albuquerque to earn some money. Well, I better finish getting ready and put some make-up on. I'll be home this afternoon for a few hours before I have to head back the Hereford for graduation. Please pray that it doesn't rain, otherwise graduation is going to be a mess.

Progress Made

I accomplished quite a bit today at school. I gave my debate test to second period. All of them failed the test, but they all passed for the semester. I got my room cleared and things put away for the most part. That was a daunting task. I had piles everywhere. I finally just put the stacks of papers in boxes sorted by debate, interp, and comm. app. I cleaned out my desk and moveable shelves since they will take everything out of my room during the summer and do a somewhat deep cleaning. I had to move and organize stuff on my computer because they're going to do work on the teacher's stations and anything on the "C" drive will be wiped out. We have an "I" drive on the server where we can keep stuff, but I keep filling it up. I am going to back up all the files on there before leaving just in case, however. All my documents, tests, worksheets, etc. is on that drive right now and it worries me. I did back it up to my jump drive, but to be safe, I'm going to also burn a CD. I also had to clear all my emails because I'll lose all of those messages as well. I emailed a few things to myself at home but the rest I just deleted.

Tomorrow I have to start getting my signatures so that I can be done by noon on Friday. The only things that I can't finalize right now is the attendance stuff and my gradebook. I think everything else is done. I don't have any students testing during the first class tomorrow, but will have 3 at 9:45. Tomorrow is also our speech banquet so I have to take all my stuff with me. I am not sure what I'm going to do for 5 hours after lunch, but I'll think of something. I need to make a list of the things in my storage room that belong to the business dept. so that we can determine what can be thrown out. I guess that's what I could do during that time. I also have to label all my stuff in my room so it gets put back. I need to get a few things for one of my seniors that I almost forgot about. Well, I guess that's all for now.

Procrastination

I'm very good at it. If something really needs to be done, I can usually find something else to do. Take right now for instance. I should be cleaning my room and sorting through the piles and piles of papers and whatnot that has been left behind, but I'm not. Instead, I'm blogging (obviously). I am slowly making progress, there's just several things that I cannot do right now. At the end of the year, we have a long checklist of things we have to complete before we're allowed to officially "leave" for the summer. I have to turn in a gradebook, failures, fines, etc. and different people have to sign off on all these things. Several things you really cannot do until the last minute and I will wait until then and just get all the signatures at once. I do need to spend time in my room and get things cleaned up. I basically have to clear it of most things because the custodial stuff usually takes everything out and shampoos carpets and does more deep cleaning. I also have to label everything to make sure it gets put back in my room. So instead of doing all those things, I'm blogging, reading blogs and checking email. I guess I should just quit procrastinating and get busy... maybe after I get a coke.

Anxiously Awaiting

The end of school. My room has so many piles of paper right now, I just don't know where to begin. I am caught up on grading for the most part and just have to give a few tests this week. Tonight we had a reception for the UIL participants so I had to stay after school for a while and then help set up for it around 5:15. I didn't get home until 7:45. Josh fed himself so I'm scrounging for something to eat. I usually don't drink much these days, but tonight I decided I really could use a bloody mary. No particular reason, I guess maybe it's to de-stress a bit. I'm going to enjoy my drink and fix a quick bite and head to bed early tonight.

Today was the last official day of school. The rest of the week is semester testing and the only students that I'll have are those that weren't exempt from my test. We still have our speech banquet on Thursday evening. Friday is a half day of work, but then we have graduation that evening at 7:30. I either have to stay at the school for several hours or go home and come back wasting the gas. The following week I have two days of inservice on Thursday and Friday. Then I'm off for the summer... sort of. Well, I've got to put dinner in the oven so I'll catch ya'll later.

Still Blogging

Sorry Mago... I am still blogging and here's the latest updates:

Friday night I went to the band banquet with Josh. They served Mexican Pile On and during the awards, they announced Josh as one of next year's drum majors as well as for making all-state band. Josh also received one of the outstanding sophomore band students award as well. (He also received it last year as a freshman.) We got home around 8:15 and I watched the season finale of CSI Vegas. After that, I piddled around a bit and then went to bed.

On Saturday morning I slept in (woo hoo!) and then got up and headed to Amarillo. I went to Hobby Lobby, Joann's Fabrics, and Michaels in search of beads to make rosaries for my senior speech team students. I also went to the Catholic bookstore to get the additional rosary pieces I needed as well as some other things for my non-Catholic seniors. I had to go by Toys R Us as well because in addition to the rosaries/religious gifts I'm giving them, I also have a silly gift for them as well. I stopped by Taco Villa for my favorite lunch (a meat burrito grande) and then headed back to Canyon. I went to Walmart to get groceries and then came home. I started to take a nap, but then my aunt called. After visiting with her, I started to get ready for Church since I was scheduled to play for the 5:00 service. It was for the first Communicants and it was a very sweet ceremony. The kids were all dressed up and it was very cute. I basically sight read my music but did o.k. There were a few slips here and there, but overall it was o.k. I still don't have the stamina I used to and I was worn out quite a bit. I had to sit out for a refrain or verse from time to time because I just couldn't keep my embrochure up. I wore my out that I originally made for the talent show to church and got several compliments on it. It is actually pretty dressy. I'll try to get a picture posted of it soon. I had to pin the middle of the blouse so it wouldn't gape open, but I think it looked pretty nice. After Mass, I went with my friend Carol over to the hall to have cake and punch and then we went to dinner at Feldman's. We both ordered cheeseburgers and had a very nice visit. After dinner I came home and started working on the rosaries. I realized, however, that I didn't have any crimp beads so there was only so much I could do. I finished what I could, then went to bed around 11:00.

This morning I slept in again and then got up and went to get donuts. I also went to Walmart to get the crimp beads I needed. I came home and started to work on the rosaries. I finished the three for the students and now I'm working on a few others since I had extra beads. I am hoping that Josh will go out and mow the back yard sometime today. It's getting to a jungle state again.

I don't have any other plans for today except eventually doing the dishes and cooking dinner this evening. I also need to do laundry at some point. I wish I had more exciting things to share with you, but that's it for now.

Irritation

After our lock-down situation at school a few weeks ago, we received an email from our principal with this statement:

As of today; please make sure your classroom doors are locked at all times (no exceptions to this directive).

Maybe it's my interpretation that is wrong, but when I read this I assumed that meant that our doors had to be locked so that we could shut them quickly and be safe without having to fumble for keys, etc. - but we could leave them open. There is nothing in that statement that says "Keep your doors locked and SHUT or CLOSED at all times." Of course I guess I am misinterpreting it.

My principal actually wants the doors to be locked and closed despite his poor wording. I find this to be a royal pain and I really don't see the point. But let me explain.

If I have to keep my door locked and shut, then every time I have someone come to my class to deliver a message from the office or another teacher then I have to stop what I'm doing and open the door. If I let a student leave for any reason, I have to also let them in when they return. So far in a day and a half, I have been interrupted 26 times. (Yes, I am keeping track.) My room has also been very hot the last few days. The air-conditioning is not working and I have no windows that I can open (they're all sealed shut) and I cannot get in any of the cool air coming from the hallway if my door has to remain closed.

I can try to understand their reasoning to this. They think that if the doors are locked and closed, then there's less likelihood that something tragic will happen because a perpetrator will not be able to get into the rooms. There are several flaws with this concept, however. This only helps if the person from outside the school is the attacker. If a student knocks on my door or any other adult for that matter, I still open the door to see what they want. I may glance to see who it is, but if they look "normal" I open the door for them. Unless they are specifically dressed like a mad-person and they're weilding a gun or other weapon is when I would typically choose deny them entrance to my classroom.

In the last ten years there have been 35 school shootings (non-college) in the United states. Of those, only 4 were from adults outside the school. The rest came from either students within the school or school-aged students. If a student is going to go on a rampage, then they are not going to let locked doors stop them. They are either going to open fire during passing periods, in the cafeteria or when students are gathered outside. If they are going to target a specific adult, then they are going to get them in whatever way possible. All they have to do is knock on a teacher's door and the teacher is going to open it for them giving them point blank access. It's not like they're going to hold up their gun or whatever weapon in the window for the teacher to see. If students are in the halls when a lock-down occurs, then they have nowhere to go if all the doors are locked. They become sitting ducks for any gun-weilding attacker.

I know that they want the kids in this school to be safe, but treating this school like a prison is not the answer. The only way to truly keep such violence out is to stop it before it escalades. They have to be aware of those students that are on the verge of cracking or have many emotional problems. And sometimes there's nothing you can do. But you have to consider the fact that the probability of a student being hurt or killed in a school shooting is miniscule. The annual probability of a school experiencing a student-perpetrated homicide is about 1 in 11,520. I think that they need to concern themselves more with creating an uninterrupted learning environment and a more pleasant school experience for the students instead of acting like an overprotective parent.

Who is Marty?

I realize that I do have several new readers to my blog that probably haven't been through the Marty saga. I'll try to give you a fairly brief recap, but if you want the entire story you can read through the Marty blog entries. I went through today and labeled most of my posts dealing with him, but I have probably missed some here and there. To start at the beginning you'll have to scroll to the bottom and go to "older posts" and then go back through several pages as there's 127 posts and they only show 20 per page.

Here's the recap:

Marty was my high school boyfriend for a brief period of about a month. He asked me to homecoming the night before the event during my senior year. After high school we briefly hooked up again and had some make-out sessions. But soon after, I moved on to my college life and he joined the coast guard and left town. Over the next 14 years we were in touch a couple of times. In January of 2004, however, he contacted me through classmates.com. At that time I was separated from my husband and was filing for divorce. He had just been divorced for about 6 months. So since he was single and I was basically single, we started conversing quite a bit and struck up an interest in each other.

He came to visit me in February of 2004 and we had some fun together (if you know what I mean). He stayed a little over a week (I think) and then returned to Connecticut where he was stationed for the Coast Guard. I enjoyed the time with him, but I wasn't set on dating him at that point. I had some concerns and some other interests including a band director in Michigan. Eventually I decided to try to find a local love interest and ended up dating Patrick. He is the one that got me started with blogging. Patrick was a very nice guy but it never really clicked for me with him.

Marty came back to visit in July of 2004. At that time something happened. A spark so to speak and by the time he left I started to fall for him. He had started falling for me during his first visit, but I held out for a while. But when he had to leave to go back home, it hurt and I knew that was it for me. We decided to give a relationship a try despite my best efforts to fight it for a while. I let go of the other guys that I was seeing to some degree and focused on Marty.

It started out wonderfully. The long-distance sucked, but with IM and free long distance on my phone, we managed pretty well. Marty was back in August to visit his parents in Austin and I went down and stayed with him/them. That is when I started falling very hard and he did as well. That was our first "I love you's" He came back in September for a family reunion in Hereford and I spent that time with him and his family as well. That is when my interest in Catholicism was sparked. His entire family is Catholic and it got me curious about it.

I went to visit him in October and that's when things started to change. I noticed a difference in him up there but I tried to ignore my concerns. In the fall that year he found out that his job in Connecticut was being dissolved and he would have to transfer elsewhere. We got a very hopeful moment when there was an opening in Boise City, OK which is only three hours away from here. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out because he got a bad report from his chief that he didn't get along with. Ultimately he decided to go to isolated duty in Alaska for a year so that he wouldn't have to go to a boat. I didn't like that, but I tried to accept it. I figured that we could survive a year and that would mean that he could get his choice of locations when he got out.

Things just went downhill however. I don't have any explanations as to what changed in him, but something did. I never got any answers from him about it and that was probably the hardest thing to deal with. I knew something was wrong for a long time, but he would never open up and be honest with me about it. Eventually he flat out said (with much cajoling) that we were in different places and things had changed for him. This happened days before I was supposed to meet him in Austin for a final good-bye before he left for Alaska. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I had to accept it.

During the time he trained before his Alaska jaunt, I started going to the Catholic Church. I started changing and when I was hit with loss of the love of my life I decided that it wasn't God's will for us to be together at least at this time. I felt that Marty had served a purpose to help me find my faith and his job was done. I still hurt terribly, but I accepted it. I went to Austin anyway to have my bit of closure. Although technically I was going to officially break-up with him, it was really just me having to let go of him.

It was probably one of the most painful and most accepted break-ups I've ever been through. I had fallen very deeply. It hurt more to lose him than it did to lose my husband that I had been married to for five years. It took a great deal of time to get over him. We've stayed in touch to some degree, but I had to force myself to keep my distance for a long time because the pain was too much. I removed him from my IM list because I couldn't stand to see him online. I knew that I would be too tempted to maintain contact and I would end up being hurt because of it.

It helped that he was in Alaska and there was no way I could see him. During that year I heard from him a handful of times. When he got out he was stationed and still is in Key West, Florida. We're still on friendly terms and once in a while he'll pop up with a message or a phone call.

I finally got over him after about year. I have had moments where I still think about him and his name just flashes in my head every so often. I tend to push most thoughts out of my head. Sometimes it hurts. Mostly it's tiresome. I realize that perhaps we weren't really meant for each other.

I can't say that he simply broke my heart. I played a part in it with my insecurity. I had just come out of a marriage where my self-esteem had hit rock bottom and I had a hard time letting go of some bad habits. I am in a very different place now but unfortunately in life we don't get second chances. I don't know that I really want one with him because there are some issues with him that would be difficult to deal with. But at the same time, we had some magical moments and I had never felt more loved (if only briefly) in my life. I wonder if I will ever find that again.

So that's it. That's Marty. Hopefully that answers your question... and then some.

A surprise IM

Guess who I talked to tonight? You get just one guess. O.k. it was Marty. He sent me an IM out of the blue. Had a nice brief conversation. And that's it. Not much more to tell. He took a test for becoming a chief and he's thinking about going back to Alaska to avoid being on a boat. I had a kind of conflicting feeling chatting with him, but I'm not sure what to say about it. Maybe I'll write about it later.

Other than chatting with Marty, it's been an uneventful evening. After school I took Josh to my bank and opened up a checking and a savings account for him. We got some extra money this month. Josh left immediately afterwards as he had a theatre thing at the school. I picked up Thai take-out and have sat in my easy boy recliner for a while. It's bed time and I guess I better head that way so I won't be a zombie tomorrow.

Counting down the days

O.k. not really... I am anxious for school to be out, but there's just so much that I still need to do. I stayed after school today and I did things other than what I really needed to do. There's nothing like distracting oneself with non-essential things. I needed to grade papers in the worst way, but instead I finished organizing the award poetry list for next year. I even created a website. I put together a list of over 800 poets that have won awards. I finally got some work back from a student that was in the alternative education placement LAST semester. Now I have to spend time grading those papers as well. I should quit giving so much work, huh? Actually in some of my classes, I'm struggling to get enough grades. I did get my semester tests finished and now I just need to create review sheets for them. As soon as I got to town, I ran by the store and got stuff for dinner.

We had thunderstorms roll through last night and this morning. Of course they woke me up both times so I'm exhausted. Well, I don't have anything else to add. Life is pretty dull around here.

Yet another long day

I had to stay after school to go to an insurance meeting. I finished work on one of my semester tests and headed home around 5:00. I called Josh and he told me that his English project was missing four pages. This is after we spent almost 25 minutes yesterday at Kinko's to have it bound. I had the receipt in my car so I rushed home to pick him up and headed back to Amarillo. They guy that did the binding yesterday was there and he knew we'd be back because he discovered the pages after the fact and was very apologetic. They reprinted the entire project on the fancy paper and rebound it for us. They even refunded our money. I thought it was very nice of them especially since it cost me around $5 to make the trip back to Amarillo given the current gas prices. We left Kinko's around 6:15 and picked up a quick bite to eat and then had to get back so that we could go to a special awards ceremony at the school. Josh received a superintendent scholar award. He earned at least a 95 average in all of his core classes. So we did that and then finally got home around 8:00. I needed to go to the store tonight, but it just didn't happen. I had to feed the dogs and then I collapsed in the chair. Now it's almost bed time.

Oh... and after all the effort I made to work on a flag routine and make an outfit, the talent show has been cancelled. When I get a chance I"ll post a picture of the completed outfit even though I won't get the chance to wear it. Geez.

A Nice Mother's Day

We finally finished the outfit last night around midnight. It was a royal pain and the instructions were horrible. Luckily, my aunt knew more than I and she was able to do most of the blouse. I'll have to pin it in the center so that I don't flash the audience, but I think it's going to work and it looks pretty good. This morning I got up and got everything packed. My aunt gave me some money for gas and then I headed into ABQ to go to church. (My aunt lives in the mountains outside of ABQ) I went to a pretty nice church although they did some things differently so it was a little strange. They don't kneel at all during the Mass. They just stand during the consecration and then sit after communion. They also didn't have a recessional. When Mass was over, everyone just left as the choir sang. I guess you could say it was a more modern Catholic Church. They didn't have any hymnals and all the music was on a powerpoint thing. But I was glad to go and I headed home as soon as it was over.

When I got home, I discovered that Josh had mowed the front lawns which was a nice surprise, but even more so was the fact that when I walked in the door, he had a card and present for me. He gave me a very pretty cross with the story of Christ's resurrection printed on it. He got it from the Catholic bookstore of his own accord. I am constantly amazed at how thoughtful he really is. You'd think that maybe a teenage boy in high school might not be that way, but I guess I did something right in raising him.

Well, just two more weeks of school left. Really it's only a somewhat regular week and then the following week is mostly testing. I have two days of inservice the week after that and then I'm sort of off for the summer. Well, I don't have anything else to say. Have a good night.

Sewing Instructions

are just plain stupid. I'm now ripping out a reinforced seam because the instructions aren't clear. I knew that is why I had to come here so my aunt could help me. Luckily she has sewn a lot more than I have and she can hopefully figure it out despite the instructions. We have all the pieces cut out and I'm ripping the seams between typing and watching stupid cartoons. Maybe it's me, but cartoons simply aren't as good as they used to be.

This evening we're going out to eat at Red Lobster (I'm thinking of you Andrew!) in order to celebrate my aunt's birthday. She's turning 69. I haven't decided when I'm leaving yet. I either have to find a church to go to here in the morning or leave in time to go to church back home which is either leave by 6:00 a.m. to go to my church or by 1:00 and go to church in Hereford. The problem is that Josh needs to go to Kinkos and get something printed and bound for school and since I didn't leave him any money, I'll have to get back in time to do that. It might be easier to go to church in ABQ around 9:00 and then leave to go home around 1:00.

Well, I better get back to ripping out the seams. What fun!

Lacking Creativity

Maybe it's just been so long since I've done flag work, but I'm having a hard time finishing my routine for the talent show. I spent my conference period today working on it and I'm just out of ideas it seems. Maybe I'm just old and tired. It is good exercise at least and I do get worn out.

I was cleaning out my car this morning and I hit my shin on the edge of the car and it hurt like heck. It's been sore today and I'm sure a nice big bruise is going to come out of it. Immediately after school I'm leaving for Albuquerque. I went and filled up my car at lunch today and it cost fifty-two freaking dollars. I am flabbergasted! I didn't want to have to carpool next year, but I may have to.

I am getting so very ready for school to be out. I have to survive just two more weeks. The kids are pretty apathetic and I'm being a mean teacher that is making them do work for another week. Well... I gotta go get ready for 5th period. I'll try to blog while I'm in ABQ. Luckily my aunt finally got into the digital age and has a computer with internet at home.

I have to brag

I don't have any other friends so I have to do my bragging here. My son is going to be one of the drum majors next year. Woo hoo!

I finally took a benadryl, now I'm waiting for it to kick in. That's all the excitement in my world right now. Maybe I'll post better while I'm in Albuquerque... if I have the time.

Not Much Better

I hate being sick. I especially hate being at school when I'm sick. Sure, I could have taken the day off, but that would cause more misery trying to get ready for a sub and then having to deal with the aftermath. Yesterday I got in bed around 5:30p.m. and slept until around 8:00 p.m. I got up since I didn't want to be awake at 3:00 a.m. and I watched t.v. until after 10:00. I went back to bed and slept for the most part until it was time to get up this morning. I'm sneezing today with watery eyes and it's just miserable. Josh has drum major tryouts today so he won't be home until later this evening. I guess I could take a nap until he gets home. Of course I'd have to be home right now myself. I'm still stuck here at school. My carpool person now doesn't want to leave until 10 after 4:00 when all year he's wanted to leave as close to 4:00 as possible. Oh well, I'm just going to stick it out for my 30 minute ride home and then hit the covers, I think. I hope.

Just miserable

I don't feel like blogging. My cold is hitting full force now and I am going to go to bed way early tonight. I'm cooking a frozen pizza for dinner. When that's done, I'm going to knock myself out with drugs. I hope to be among the living by tomorrow.

Tagged Meme

Abbagirl tagged me, so here's my meme answers.

5 everyday favorites:
1. Reading Blogs
2. Checking Email
3. Sleeping
4. Eating
5. See my students be successful

4 mood-lifters:
1. Rollercoasters - the BEST mood lifter.
2. A good meal
3. Watching a funny show
4. Getting flowers

3 reasons to get out of bed:
1. Josh
2. Work
3. My pets

2 people you love:
1. Josh
2. Myself (it may sound selfish - but it took a while before I could actually say that I love myself - flaws and all.)

1 thing you love about yourself:
1. My intelligence

I tag: Susan, Patrick, Tiffany, Summer and anyone else that wants to participate.

In and Under the Weather

We're having a nice spring thunderstorm going on right now. It's nothing major... just quite a bit of rain and little bit of thunder and lightening. It's kind of cool out so I don't think there's any tornado threat. The forcast showed that we were supposed to get isolated storms yesterday and last night, but nothing came through our area. It's one of those days where I'd much rather be curled up under a blanket in bed. I think that one of my students got me sick during the trip. He was coughing and not feeling well most of the time in Austin and I think being stuck in a car with him infected some of us. Another student that was on the trip was sick yesterday. I started feeling it last night around 8:00. I've got that scratchy throat thing going on with a little soreness. I can tell that my sinuses are starting to act up and I'm feeling a little blah. I left during my lunch hour to run to Walmart and get some tylenol. (I only took two, Summer) Hopefully that will get me through the rest of the day. I planned on staying after school to work on my flag routine, but I may have to wait on it. I picked up Subway while out and just finished lunch. Now I'm enjoying a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. I think maybe I should have gotten two cookies. I don't know if I'll post tonight... I really won't have much more to say and I'm probably going to go to bed early.

Time for updates

We made it back from our trip to Austin safe and sound. We thought we might hit storms on the way back, but we only had a brief instance of rain of about 5 minutes. My students did pretty well, but were a little disappointed in their rankings. One of them placed 6th in poetry and the other placed 4th in prose. They had good ballots so they knew the reason behind the ranks which is good. Now I can almost rest. I don't have any more speech trips until June (a week for Nationals in Wichita where I'll get to meet Abbagirl in person!) I am, however, going to Albuquerque this weekend so my aunt can help me with my costume. I need to get busy on my routine again as well. There's just so much to do in a short period of time. I have to get final tests made by the middle of next week. My carpool person wants to continue riding together and I really need to spend more time after school getting things done. I'm probably not going to carpool next year. Although the gas prices are getting quite outrageous, I really need to have more flexibility to be able to work and stay after school when I want to.
I didn't have a very good report from the sub and that put me off today. I yelled at first period, but then calmed down after that. I had to call a parent about a student (which I hate doing) but it was necessary. I did put together a list of poets for our new poetry category. Now I'm incorporating it into a database. Just one more thing to add on top of everything else.
I have no idea what I'm going to do about supper tonight. Josh isn't home and he isn't answer his cell. Usually he calls and lets me know what he's doing. Now I don't know when to expect him. I'm getting hungry since all I had for lunch was soup today. I guess I'll go find something to snack on.

State Update

So far it has been a pretty good trip. I think that perhaps this hotel is jinxed or maybe it's us. When we stayed here last year, the hotel lost power after a major storm rolled through and we had to check out and move to another hotel. So far that hasn't happened, but yesterday morning as I was reading blogs and such, the fire alarm went off. I hurriedly shut the computer down, threw it into my backpack, grabbed my things and headed out the door walking down the 3 flights of stairs. It turns out that it was a false alarm, but they sounded for 10 minutes.
Yesterday's competition was some sweet success and a bitter defeat. Two of my three students qualified for finals. That means they are in the top 6 in their division at the state competition. My other student missed it by one place. They take the top 3 from prelims and she was fourth. Today is the final competition and then the awards will be at 3:00. Tonight we're going to Esther's Follies for fun.
Well, I need to get going. I'll try to report how my students did later. I am quite proud of them.

Like a fish to water

I love swimming. I honestly can't remember the last time I went swimming. But I love it. Tonight we are in Early, Texas. We're on our way to Austin for the state UIL competition. We had dinner (a club sandwich and seasoned fries and free cake for dessert), went to Walmart (bought a Reader's Digest) and came back to the hotel. I decided to take a dip in the pool and it really was quite lovely. I used to swim all the time when I was a kid. I taught myself when I was about 4 or 5 years old. When we moved to Amarillo, we lived in an area that had a large community pool and my parents always bought me a season pass. I would go every single day in the summer. I loved the diving board, swimming laps, doing handstands under the water, and seeing how far I could go with one breath. I was the underwater swimming champion at band camp for many years. (I almost went the length of an olympic sized pool) I loved to do somersaults in the water backwards and forwards and see how many times I could go around in one breath. I dove for pennies. As an adult, I find that I rarely get the opportunity to swim any more. Most hotel pools are rather tiny and I'd really love to swim laps and have a nice bouncy diving board. Ah... such bliss.

Today was an interesting morning at school. We had a lock-down situation that wasn't a drill. A student had a fight with his mother this morning and pointed a gun at her. He left and she notified the school because of the gun. We were put in a lock-down (stay in our rooms until otherwise directed) for about 30 minutes until they arrested the student and found the gun. The gun was not on campus and was found in a nearby park in a rest room. The student was one that I had in my class last year. I'm not sure if I would have pegged him as the type, but I can't say I'm totally surprised. You can read about the story here. The lock down put us behind in leaving. We were about to leave when it happened so we were delayed for quite a while.

Well, I'm going to go take a shower and get the chlorine out of my hair and then probably call it a night. Hope all is well in your world.