Still at home...

I just can't seem to find the inspiration to leave...

I've gone through some more boxes of stuff from my childhood and I've given away and thrown away quite a bit... but I'm still hanging on to a lot...

I've got some lesson and unit plans waiting for me in Colorado (incentive enough to stay in TX). But I'm not in a big hurry to go back.

Whilst browsing through Facebook this afternoon I stumbled across a thread posted by a fellow high school classmate... Apparently this season's "The Bachelor" (a show I never watched) is a guy named Jake Pavelka - and apparently he was on "The Bachelorette" (another show I never watch). Maybe I should start, because I went to junior high and high school with him and his dad was my dentist.

Odd. I remember him as being a nice guy, but it's a vague memory - we didn't hang out together at all.

Got snow again 2day - bout an inch. That's twice in one week. Crazy TX weather! Post-poning trip back one day. Hope roads clear up.

White Christmas

Merry Christmas - and a White Christmas at that!

Once-in-a-lifetime event in Texas!

3-4 inches of snow yesterday and it stuck through today!

Great time with both sides of the family, but I'm exhausted.

So....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

The Last Week

Monday was ok.

Tuesday I stayed late, as usual, to help with after school tutoring... so that was a long day.

Wednesday was ROUGH and included an early morning meeting that focused on the budget for the next two year - very dismal. There's a definite chance of people losing jobs - one techie job was just cut. I'll be hoping and praying until March, when they finally tell us who/if/when. That was immediately followed by me telling a kid to "Shut up and get out of my room" because he was yelling at me... yelling... full-on, yelling... while I was trying to talk to another student. Kind of lost my temper a bit... but really? Yelling at a teacher... /sigh The rest of the school day was rough, but it picked up at Trivia. We won and celebrated afterward with a game of pool - which I won... I think my friends were being really nice to me because it was only my 3rd game of pool - ever. That was so much fun we decided to go play shuffleboard... I lost my first game ever and won my second... more proof that they were just being nice.

Thursday/yesterday had its ups and downs. The kids were reallllly ready for the break, but they hung in there for the most part. I got a newer/newish laptop from work - this is my first blog posting with it! And our staff party was last night. That was a lot of fun. I hung out with the adults for most of the night - and the White Elephant Exchange was hilarious. I went downstairs for the last hour and hung out with some of my students/teacher's kids. I rocked out on guitar and singing for Rock Band... Did so-so with Air Hockey... Got *schooled* on my 4th-ever game of pool. I sunk quite a few balls, but when it came to that elusive 8-ball... I choked... course the kids were egging me on! Ah well. It was fun and now they have a story to tell about Ms. E when we go back to school.

Today I'm about to head into Denver for yet another allergy doctor appointment and then tomorrow Kaylee and I are going back to TX to see family.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Bowling and Basketball

Last night was my first night with the new league, in a new town, with new group members.

Turns out I wasn't joining the team of the lady I knew, I was joining a completely different team - a husband and wife team - total strangers. They seem nice. We still need one more guy, but they were happy to have me to fill the open female spot.

I was super nervous to begin with, but everyone was so encouraging. I bowled somewhat close to the average I used to have in league... it has been 2 and a half years since I was on a league and a year and a half since I'd picked up a bowling ball.

It feels good to be bowling again.

The alley is OLD school... hand written scores with Elmo-like projectors to shine the scores up on the wall. There are only 6 lanes and the floor has spots where it has literally been worn through. I'm choosing to see it as "character."

This morning I worked for 5 hours at the Middle School Basketball Tournament. I ran the clock and kept score. I learned a LOT about basketball, got paid, and got a free lunch.

I feel like a stuck pig...

Even though I didn't bleed like one...

I *tried* to give blood today. I went through the entire ordeal - filled out the paperwork - got stuck in the finger - etc.

When I sat down in the chair I warned the guy that my veins are hard to find and he said it wouldn't be a problem.

He stuck me in the left arm and dug around for a while (boy did that feel good). Then he gave up.

He stuck me in the right arm and dug around for a while (that felt good too). Then he gave up entirely.

He apologized profusely and had to send me on my way without taking any blood.

Oink, oink.

Deja Vu

Trivia went really well tonight. In the second round we were in a four-way tie 1st place and I went up to do a tie-breaker. I tied with another team and we did a second tie-breaker and I won! So that was awesome! We won the 2nd and 3rd rounds and overall! Yay!

Also... I've finally found a bowling team to join! My first night is this Friday. I'm kind of nervous... but I did warn them that I'm not very good... so we'll see how it goes.

Trivia team AND Bowling?

Those were my two big social activities back in MN and I LOVED them. They're different here. Different nights. Different people. Different feel. But I still love going to Trivia and hopefully I will love Bowling as well.

It feels good to get back to my familiar/well-loved hobbies.

Wake up!

I woke up this morning with a lick on the ear from Kaylee. Apparently she had to go potty. I guess I prefer that to her barking or that god-awful wine she has. Plus, it was kind of cute.

I stopped by the vet yesterday to get some food for Sheba and I took Kaylee with me. He said she's healing nicely. I'll taker her in on the 14th to get her stitches and staples taken out.

As for the vet bill... I had $78 remaining to pay for her stay at the boarding kennel and they waived that amount. The vet charged me $80, which is RIDICULOUS! I mean seriously! If this were any other place I have lived, an emergency vet visit on a Sunday with stitches and staples would have been a MINIMUM of $500!

Lucky.

I am SO lucky.

Kaylee is so lucky.

It could have been so much worse.

So... the amount the kennel waived pretty much covers the vet bill and I'm not going to make a stink about it.

I'm just happy it's paid and she's going to be ok.

MN has snow. TX had snow this morn. CO, where i live, next to 2 ski resorts... no snow... that's just wrong!

Emergency Vet Visit

I got back last night... made it home with my luggage and everything.

I had to wait until 4pm today to pick up Kaylee...

I got a call 5 minutes before 4pm, while I was getting my stuff together, from the place that was boarding Kaylee. Apparently, while out in the play yard, an 8 month old black Lab attacked her. It happened 10 minutes before pick-up time. He was calling to tell me he was going to bring her to the vet because she needed stitches. I rushed right over to pick her up, but we had to wait an hour and a half before the vet could make it in to the clinic.

She has a (fang) puncture mark on her right should and a big gash on her left shoulder. He gave her several shots to kill the pain and semi-knock her out. She got 3 staples and 7 stitches. She's pretty out of it and I'm going to leave her sleeping in her kennel for the night.

Poor baby.

Very bad situation. Dreading the vet bill...

Sitting at MSP airport, wtg 4 connecting flight 2 Denver. Airport just paged "Legolas Silverbird" to retrieve a lost item....... hehehe.....

VERY short, but most excellent trip back to MN. Landyn is adorable and it was great to see my friends again.

in twin cities @ airport, wtg 4 connecting flight. flying w/headache = not fun. flight attendant who looks like Tom Jones = a little funny.

/sigh. nasal rinse. 4 nasal sprays. 2 types of oral meds. and another appointment w/allergy doc next month. awesome.

i've been sung to, hugged, fed cake and cupcake, surprised, given cards and silly stringed.

31 Candles

Hmmm... doesn't have the same ring as 16 candles... but it is what it is :)

Off to work. Then trivia. Then bed. Then work...

Life goes on.

Rough Day

Rough day today...

Fortune cookie says: "School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside."

31st Birthday Party

I've just finished saying goodbye to the last guests and cleaning up. A total of 10 people (plus Sheba, Kaylee, and myself) - that's a lot to fit in my little apartment, but I did it!

My work friends and my trivia friends met and all was well. We even played Trivial Pursuit - 90's Edition for a while.

I'd say it was definitely one of my best parties.

I'm very happy and very tired.

Time for bed.

Oh yeah... I was sung to in 4 different languages (English, French, Spanish and Hebrew).

Well crap

Stupid Whedon-Hating-Fox.

They've gone and canceled Dollhouse...

I mean it's not his best work to date, but it had it's moments... and it was definitely headed somewhere.

/sigh

New Clash

The first trailer for the new Clash of the Titans movie. Looks to be a bit different from the first, at least as far as special effects!

I'm an Auntie!

Congrats to Aya & D - a new baby boy! 9lbs 1 oz. =0)

Welcome Landyn!

Still waiting to hear about Aya and Baby.

Last I heard was from her - she gave up after 12 hours of pain and asked for an epidural...

That was 4:30pm Central...

Baby inc! woke up 2 find a voicemail from Aya's mom saying "we're having a baby today!"

It's moments like these...

We've just finished up the first quarter (year number two) and I've got 2 good student quotes to share. They were several weeks apart, but both came from the same class period (different students).

Quote 1

Student: "What is Bluetooth?"

Me to class: "Does anyone know what Bluetooth is?"

Student: "It sounds like bad dental work."


Quote 2

Student 1: "Hey Ben, are you afraid of heights?"

Ben: "No... Why?"

Student 2: "Because your fly is."

tailgating in 20 degee weather w/snow collecting $ at hs football game. brought kaylee w/me. cold and dark. glad 4 company.

back at trivia tonight after a LONG absence. good to be back!

Space... the final frontier

Ok... so a former NASA Chief (Mike Griffin) says:

"If we in the United States make the decision to step away from space exploration then in the long run the solar system will belong to others and we will be watching from the sidelines."

I've got a couple of problems with that.

1. Space/the Solar System doesn't belong to anyone - neither does the moon - even if we got there first and blew a big hole in it.

2. Should we continue to spend BILLIONS of dollars for space exploration when our country is TRILLIONS in debt? When we have SO many other problems/things we could be spending money on?

Hm... #2 is more of a question for myself, but #1 is a very strong belief.

All those years of being a Sci Fi fan has brainwashed me to point #2... will have to think about that.

The Allergy Test

So I left home at 6am - drove 2 hours - spent 3 hours getting poked, prodded, and waiting around at the Allergy specialist. They poked me in the back about 50 times with a plastic-toothpicky-type thing and let it sit for 15 minutes. There was itching involved. Then they poked me in each arm 9 times with 9 different needles and let me sit for another 15 minutes. There was itching involved.

The results?

I do have allergies, but they're "not broad enough or severe enough" for me to begin taking allergy shots - which would most likely have eliminated my allergies (eventually). Instead they want me to take two different types of nasal sprays and a "rescue inhaler" to help me breath better.

And what exactly is Aspen E Tall As A Tree allergic to?

I'm so glad you asked...

Grasses and trees.

Yes, I said trees.

The irony is not lost on me.

Specifically:

Trees - Western Cottonwoods, Gambel Oaks, Chinese Elms, Silver Maples, Russian Olives, Oneseed Junipers, and White Birch

Grasses - Kentucky Blue, Timothy, Johnson, and Perennial Rye

They didn't test for aspen's, but cottonwoods are closely related (poplars) so who knows...

Trees.

Trees and grass.

Those should be easy to avoid.

*snort*

After the doctors appointment I made a trip to Target, ate lunch, drove 2 hours home, plopped down on my recliner and let loose a great big sigh.

Just watched Glee and now I'm going to watch Flash Forward.

i ran after-caught her-carried her home-explained while discrimination IS bad, no "wild" friends allowed-only domesticated ones. sorry.

took kaylee 4 walk 2nite no leash. she made new friend - ran off w/a fox. chased each other around playing and he came w/in 10 ft of me.

Back to school

I went back to school today and I survived. I'm really tired, but I made it through the day.

Of course almost 1/4 of the kids were out sick... I sent at least 3 kids to the office who wound up going home sick.

I also kicked four kids out of the room and gave them lectures - one I sent to the office.

Oh and I emailed a parent about problems I've been having with their daughter.

I was on a roll.

Update

Uh oh. Sharon's after me to update...

Sorry... I'm a bit under the weather at the moment. My sinus infection has a friend over to visit... Mr. Flu. And they're having a gay old time in my head.

I'm drinking tons, taking an anti-biotic and Advil for my record high temps. I went back to the doctor today and they clocked me at 104. I've never had a fever that high. Ever.

Other than drinking, sleeping and drug taking... I'm just completely miserable. The best way I can think of to describe the feeling is that there's a little guy with some 4th of July sparklers running through my sinuses - it's a burning, aching, stinging, pressure-filled pain in my head.

Remind me not to invite either visitor back.

Kaylee and I made it to Taos for the big Wool Festival. Took diffferent route... prettier, faster, more mountains, and less wind. LOVED it!

ready 2 go. kaylee has no clue about BIG adventure, SO many new dogs-so many new smells! sleep now. road trip 2morrow. Taos here we come!

Pictures from Friday

Hung out with D's parents and sister-in-law. Went a couple of familiar places and a couple of new places. First time I've ever seen the elk bugling... cool :)

The valley I live in.


Pelicans


Beware the moose!

K & T's Wedding

The wedding was beautiful - outside, on a hillside facing the mountains. The sun came out just as the bride walked down the aisle and stayed out for the entire ceremony before returning to it's hiding place behind the clouds.



I actually laughed during the ceremony - several times - and that was a pleasant change. They wrote their own ceremony and their own vows. Their dog was the ring bearer.

The reception was beautiful too and they had a couple of genius ideas:
1. The party favors for the guests were Moon Pies, repackaged with the first letter of the last name written in icing.

2. They had a Photo Booth for the guests and there were even fun hats, sunglasses and feather boas. Everyone had a blast getting dressed up and posing for funny pictures. The guests could get up to two copies of the pictures and the guys running the booth kept one set of pictures and added it to scrapbook pages for the bride and groom! Genius!

i don't think there's a word for how tired i am. good day, but i'm exhausted.

Week 3/Field Trip

Week three is almost done and I've got my first field trip tomorrow. We're taking the 8th graders to the local YMCA for a variety of activities, including: high ropes, zip line and a fun personality test.

Should be a good day - but I predict I'll be completely exhausted by the end of it.

Not really a stretch considering I'm exhausted at the end of every day :)

Mustang Sanctuary

went 2 c mustangs again 2day. only 1/2 as many in herd after they rounded them up last year, but i still saw bout 30. lotsa pics too - will share.

Week 2 Done!

Survived my second week - BUSY - but it has flown by.

Yesterday I hand lunch duty and I helped another teacher out with her class during my plan. I never realized exactly how much that 45 minutes of silence helps me survive my day!

Trivia last night went well.

Book club at my house tonight - just a get-together to catch up after summer and decide what our next book should be :)

Overall... I'm good.

Dreams

Weird dreams last night.

First I met a bunch of former Dallas Cowboys - went to a party at Troy Aikman's house.

Then came the Buffy - Star Trek cross-over dream... odd.

It started out with us (faceless friends and myself) fighting vampires in an underground tunnel. Then we popped up in someone's basement, stole their Wii and battled some demons. In the process of our escape we were running through a forest, during a lightening storm, when an invisible musical chorus started singing "Khan! Khan! The wrath of KHAN!"

Then I woke up.

Very strange.
Very vivid.

finds it sad that Lucky Charms shrank their marshmallows. They aren't as magically delicious now. = (

WOOT! 1st place at trivia! Finally! We won the first 2 rounds. 2nd place in 3rd round and won overall!

2nd year. Day 2. Survived. Wonky tech problems and all.

Back to school

Teachers were back in session today and we've got a week of trainings, registration (day), meetings, and getting ready before school starts next Wednesday.

I'm way more mellow than I was this time last year - I was pretty stressed about all the unknowns that were waiting for me.

I'm actually kind of excited to be starting my second year and super excited about my new classroom (pictures coming soon).

And cuz it's funny:

Do you wanna date my avatar? - from the creator (and cast) of The Guild.

there's something magical-fascinating bout huge chunks of rock travelling thru space 2gether only 2 meet their end in a fiery blaze

beautiful, clear night. perfect 4 watching a meteor shower.

< 4 hrs sleep. in the middle of nowhere. 7+ hrs from home. rocking out 2 Tommy, puppy snuggles & LOTS of coffee.

Fun & Unexpected

I've really enjoyed catching up with my old MN friends.

Kaylee spent one entire day being nagged by a 10 week old puppy, but she never lost her patience with him. This little guy, Riley, WORE HER OUT! He kept nipping at her ears and tackling her and she put up with him. She showed more patience than I would have thought possible and even managed to herd him away from an older dog - one that would have snapped at the little guy. She's a good momma dog!





We spent a couple of days on the North Shore with Chris & Ash where Kaylee enjoyed playing with their dog, Chamber. She didn't show the same patience she had with Riley. I'm guessing it had something to do with Riley being 1/2 her size, while Kaylee is only half Chamber's size. Plus Chamber is a year old and Riley is only 10 weeks. I guess she only has so much patience... she put Chamber in his place a couple of time, sending the big dog whimpering and running back to his human momma.


Kaylee was nice enough to pose for a pic by Lake Superior:


We also spent a couple of days down in the Twin Cities with Chris and Doug. I miss my old RA friends!

Kaylee and I (and several of our human friends) went to the county fair and resisted the urge to try the "Oofda Tacos" (only in Minnesota!)


Monday night, at trivia, I ran into Mr. Froyd (soon to be Dr. Froyd). That was... unexpected.

This Saturday I'll be attending a wedding celebration and Sunday we've scheduled a big breakfast with friends... then back to Colorado and my responsibilities!

Monday I'll pick up my sweet little kitty cat... Boy she is gonna be SOOOO ticked off at me... *cringe*

sitting on the shore of lake superior with two friends. wtg on food. enjoying great view and company.

i can take a hint. kaylee says she's been stuck in car way too much. she chewed thru the laces on my rt shoe. need 2 spend more time w/her.

Minnesota

I've been busy hanging out with friends, catching up with them, and throwing a baby shower.

We had lots of fun activities for the party goers. If you're in need of some ideas, here's what we did:

1. Potty Humor - newborn diapers and a marker for people to leave funny sayings on the diapers - "Leave a message for Mom and Dad to help get them through those 3am diaper changes." (Example - "This one's for you Dad!" or "I love you!")

2. Recommend Baby Names - just a piece of paper and a pen for people to share their ideas.

3. Baby Trivia - I found a questionnaire (20 questions) online about babies/pregnancy and the person with the most right won a prize.

4. Bottle Count - Guess how many M&M's (or other candy) are in the bottle. We had 5 bottles with varying numbers of candies. Mom and Dad got to keep the bottles and the winner got to keep the candy (and choose a prize).

5. Baby Advice - Note cards and a pens - a chance for party goers to share their advice with the new Mom and Dad.

6. Baby Wishes - Scrapbook paper and pens - party goers can leave wishes for the baby to be placed in their baby book.

having brunch with friends/adopted family. baby shower today. lots of prep left to do.

made it to b-town safe and sound. yaaaaaaaaay! good to be back with my peeps! missed them SO much.

Oofda. My brain hurts. I get enogh of that during the school year. This is cruel and unusual punishment! But kinda fun too...

at resort 4 a conference/training. shwanky. 2 hrs 2 kill b4 it starts.

MmmMmm! I love me some Olive Garden! In Denver enjoying one of the luxuries of big city life.

More pics from Mom's trip

Deer in an aspen grove:


A view up high:


More Rocky Mountain National Park pictures:







And a marmot in RMNP - I love these guys!


Horsies!


A columbine in my front garden:


Kaylee and Sheba playing:


And after she left... a rainbow as seen from my back yard: