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.