Christmas in Mind

The first graders at my school today had their Polar Express day today so they had a little parade through the hallway, complete with the music blaring over the intercom.  I always forget each year until I hear it, but this song is one of my favorites but it so easily gets stuck in my head and I will be humming and singing it all day.



I was singing the song all day, that is until my cousin posted this song on Facebook:



First off, I had no clue that David Bowie sang this song.  I love this song!  It was stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Warm the Soles 2011

It's that time of year again!  Our student council helped run a coin drive to raise funds for the Warm the Soles program put on by our local credit union to buy shoes for students in need in our area.  Last year I put up the picture of what we raised, here is this year's picture:

Leave a comment with your guess of how much we raised this year and I'll let you know who the winner is next week!

Do You Ever Feel...

Do you ever feel like you want to say something, but you don't know what?  That's kinda how I'm feeling right now.  I have something on the tip of my brain but I'm not quite sure how to say it or how to even completely form the thought.

Lately I've been observing friendships...current, past, long-lasting, acquaintances, etc.  How do some even start?  I look at some of the friendships I've had and have and some are just mind-boggling.  Like with  my friend Dirk and I, I've tried to figure out or pinpoint the beginning of when we really started hanging out and even when we started confiding in each other.  Then there's my cousin, Pam, we've been friends for forever.  Yeah, we're family but not all family are best friends.  Yet again, I can tell her anything and we understand each other.  We have a standing understanding that we can just call and vent and think nothing of the venting.  Then there are all of the friends that started as roommates.  We were stuck living together for periods of time, some were just there while others became lifelong friends.  I guess my best friends are the friends I feel I can talk to about anything and just feel comfortable talking to...that's not an easy thing for me to find or do.  I wish I knew the secret formula that makes a person someone I'm comfortable talking to.  If you know me and can think back to the first time we ever met, I'm sure you'd remember some awkward person, really quiet, somewhat intimidating to some degree (I don't know why, but I've heard that from quite a few people), etc. and you'd probably think the same thing...how did we ever get to be friends?  Not that I'm lacking in friends, but that I'd like it to be easier to have a relationship with others, not just for me to be more comfortable around new people but so that they're more comfortable around me.  What makes an acquaintance more of a friend?  And what makes a lasting friendship?  I've had some awesome friends, but not all of them have stuck around or really kept in contact while others I talk to on a regular basis.  I'm sure there's not a "secret" ingredient, but what is different about some relationships?

I guess that's kind of what I've been wanting to say, but, like I said, it's not fully formed and I feel it to be somewhat awkward in wording.  Again, I'm not lacking in the friend department, it's just been something I've observed and thought about lately.

Alone Time

Alone time is a necessity in my life and I don't think everyone understands that or its importance.  I need to be able to just be by myself for a chunk of time every day...like completely by myself.  It's not that I'm sad or angry or anything, I just need it as a sort of recharge or even reset for myself.  If I can be the first one home for fifteen to twenty minutes, I'm usually good for the rest of the day.  If I'm not the first one home, I usually have to lock myself in my room for about an hour.  In my old apartments, I would have to go sit in my car as I shared a room with someone.  I still do that on occasion if I really need to get away from everything, but now I usually end up going for a drive so I don't look like some crazy person sitting in the parking lot.  Don't get me wrong, I like to be around people, just not all of the time.  You could be my best friend and have tons of fun with me and talk the whole time, but eventually I will get cranky...just give me fifteen minutes to myself and all will be well.  Sundays are hard.  I love my ward and the people around me, but I feel as though I am in meetings non-stop and then there are small social gatherings and ward prayer and then game night, a lot of times I have to pick and choose what I go to so I don't burn out.

I'm glad my current roommates understand my "me time", others used to be so worried when I excused myself from the group for a period of time.  If my door is open, feel free to chat.  If the door is closed, try again later :)

The Christmas Season

I noted just the other day that it's starting to feel more like the Christmas season to me lately.  I was excited when I realized this but at the same time a little disappointed because I would've like to have had more Christmasy feelings earlier on.  The thing that started me going was the amount of lights I see up around my neighborhood and the one or two festive get-togethers I attended in the last two weeks.  I just realized the main thing missing from my holiday-feeling-ness...fog.  My hometown is foggy, like really foggy, this time of year.  We get a white Christmas, just not from snow.  I don't get to experience the fog we get at home here in Utah.  Yes, we get snow and it's white, but it's not the same.  Besides, it really hasn't snowed here yet.  It's been really cold, but it just doesn't look right just yet.

Late at Night

You never know what will happen late at night at my house.  Tonight was an interesting one...I'm not quite sure if I'm glad that no one else witnessed it to question our sanity or sad that you all missed out.  Either way, I really shouldn't still be awake...I have to work in the morning...like real work.

Tomorrow is my student teacher's last day.  She was very nice and did a pretty good job...I would hire her. It will be nice to get my class back and to be in control again.  I feel as though so much has happened with my students since I have been "away".  And what did I do during this time?  Well...I decorated the Christmas tree in the office, ran around Provo getting things ready for our faculty Christmas party, cooked tortillas, helped 5th grade make stained glass windows, tested many students in reading, fixed the computer in the little theater, hid and read a book or two, planned future lessons, helped write a portfolio piece, climbed on the roof, gave private math tutoring sessions, chased down small children, sang songs, danced dances, spent too much on eating out, and I'm sure so much more.  As much as I got done and as much as I have left to do, I really want to be back in my classroom.

Conundrum Solved!

The conundrum I mentioned about a month ago has been solved!  Not only did my friend take the time to figure out what it was, he also then granted my wish and took me to the event.  For those of you who didn't figure it out...I had always wanted to go to a production called Christmas Around the World put on by BYU's dance department.  It was an evening of folk dance and music from countries around the world.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself (even though I don't show my excitement on my sleeve) and loved every minute of it!  Thanks, Mr. T!

Who Needs Sleep?

Apparently I do not.  For some reason, my body has decided that three to four hours of sleep a night is sufficient.  I tell you that it is not.  Yes, I tend to go to bed quite late, but once I am in bed I expect to actually go to sleep.  This last week, I have spent many hours awake in my bed.  One should not see that it is 4:30 in the morning as they lie in bed.  Last night I even went to bed utterly exhausted but I couldn't sleep.  I was pretty much delirious, that's how tired I was, you could even ask my roommates, I'm pretty sure that they got a good laugh out of it, but I couldn't sleep.  There was one night that I did get to sleep fairly quickly, I just woke up every hour or so.  I usually sleep like a rock, what is wrong with me?

Ponderings

Sometimes life leaves me questioning things and why or why not some things happen or don't happen.  I like to ponder, but that may or may not always be a good thing.  I'm always looking for answers, but I don't always get them.

I have to say that right now, I am the happiest I have been in a really long time.  I laugh a lot and I smile a lot, I missed that for awhile.  It mostly has to do with attitude changes, but it also has a lot to do with who I've been spending time with lately.  I have really awesome roommates.  My coworkers are really cool.  The friends I have around me are spectacular.  I even have a few people that I feel that I trust a whole lot more than anyone else and that hasn't happened in a long time.  I don't open up to many people so it really surprises me when I do.

Thanksgiving Break!

This last week has been so full of fun, I hope I can remember it all!

Tuesday: After getting off of work and officially being on break, the party started!  I got caught up on the TV show Once Upon a Time while I ate some delicious waffles.  When my roommates got home, we decided to get a group of people together and went bowling.

Wednesday: Aleisha, Sara and I went up to the Living Planet Aquarium to use my free tickets that I got at one of my banquets earlier in the year.  It definitely wasn't the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it was fun.

We saw little things like frogs

We got to pet the manta rays (they're kinda squishy)

There was a fish as big as me, but I didn't get a picture of it

We also got to see some penguins, glow in the dark scorpions, a giant anaconda, some upside down jellyfish, seahorses, lots of fish, and spiders.

After the aquarium, we went to The Cheesecake Factory--I surprised Aleisha by eating my entire pizza all by myself and then I had a slice of the most delicious cheesecake I've ever had (I ate my first bite and then started giggling and dancing in my chair, it was that good).  We then went shopping.  We checked out Crate and Barrel and decided that as cute as everything was, it was all really, really expensive.  We then went to H&M for Sara.  I wish I would have had my camera ready when she first saw the store, she was really excited!  It was so busy!  There were lines everywhere!  Lines to try things on and a really long line to buy things.  I bought a new shirt and a skirt.  I decided that I really like that store as the clothes fit me really well.  Maybe I'll go again when all the hype dies down.

We ended up shopping in a few other places like Nordstrom Rack and DSW and Pirate O's before we made it home.  We wanted to go ice skating that night but it was the only night the ice skating rink wasn't open, so we went to the Provo Beach Resort and did the ropes course.  We tried to get a group together, but everyone was either gone or busy.  We did get our friend, Steve, to go so that was fun.  Afterwards, we wandered around outside of the Riverwoods and then we went to Steve's house to watch a movie.

Thursday: I woken up by my brothers as Michael flew in that morning and they came over to eat waffles.  We hung out all morning while I made rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.  We ate at Aunt Marilyn's house.  It was the first Thanksgiving in a really long time that there were no children in attendance.  After dinner, the rest of the extended family came over for dessert and to play games.  I went home just before 11:00.  I had the apartment to myself as all of my roommates were with their families.

Friday: A pretty low-key day.  I slept in and then cleaned my bedroom.  I went shopping with Randi in the afternoon to find some shirts.  Randi and I took Michael to the airport and on the way, we stopped at Ikea to just wander around for a bit.  When I got home, two of my roommates had returned.  We just watched TV and I finished reading two books. (I only have 24 inches left in reading my height!)

Saturday: Another sleep in day.  So far I've cleaned my bathroom and just hung out around the house.  I'm thinking I want to watch White Christmas at some point.

So overall, a very busy but fun week!

Breaking the Stereotype

I find joy in surprising people.  Apparently people have a pretty good idea of who I am...quiet, reserved, etc., but they don't know me really all that well :)  I'm not saying that I'm not quiet and reserved because I am when you first get to know me, but there is so much more.  In the last month I've really put myself out there and surprised quite a few people.

 For Halloween, my co-workers and I decided to dress as rockers.  A few were surprised that I even had these clothes and knew how to do my make-up like this.  It was a fun way to dress-up for a day, but it took forever to get all of that eye make-up off!

Last week, we had a ward dinner and variety show so one of the girls in the ward thought to would be cool if we got a group of girls together to do some break dancing.  The ward was very surprised and even more so when I started rapping.  It was awesome!

Adventures With Free Time 4

Today started with quite an adventure...I got to chase down a student, literally.  There was a second grader who ran away from her classroom and when her teacher came looking for her, we volunteered to roam the halls.  We found her and she started running so Adam ran after her and I went around the other way to cut her off.  It was interesting.  After that we went to the grocery store to buy jelly beans and crackers.  Alece and I counted some fake money.  Lunch was pretty boring so I went and hid in a room in the school that not many use on a regular basis so that I could read a book for awhile.  I got to teach my class for about an hour about world hunger and gratitude.  The last hour of the day was uneventful.

I am now officially on vacation!  Maybe we'll get some real adventures in the next few days.

Adventures With Free Time 3

Today was very adventuresome and quite enjoyable overall.  It started off with Alece and I being quite productive in designing a lesson we were going to teach to our classes in the afternoon.  While working on the lesson, my principal came in and asked if I would cover kindergarten for a bit today.  The office staff was a bit worried about me going from 6th grade to kindergarten...I don't see why.  We made Indian headdresses and my class came in to buddy read with the kindergarteners.  I'm not sure who was more surprised to find me in the kindergarten classroom...my co-workers, the parents, the kindergarteners, or my 6th graders.  After chilling with the little ones, I was again working in the faculty room when the secretary came in asking for help in the office, that usually means one thing...they needed me to translate.  We had two new students registering and the parents didn't speak English.  I mustered up my knowledge from high school and did the best I could.  For some reason, the parents were really impressed with my speaking...it wasn't really that impressive.  After lunch, I got to teach my class about world hunger.  Somewhere in the day, I also found out that I am getting a new student on Monday.

Not sure where tomorrow will lead us, but it better be going somewhere or else we will be counting down the minutes before our Thanksgiving break starts.

Conundrum Update

I saw the first poster today.

The Weekend

Even when I'm not really working all that much, I still look forward to the weekend.  Friday night was interesting as I got to hang out with my drugged up roommate.  We watched a bunch of movies, I don't think she remembers or even saw the entirety of most of them.  Mr. T came over for a bit to hang out and then we went for chocolate shakes and eventually the claw machine.  Saturday was a day for sleeping in.  Sometimes I am amazed with my sleeping abilities.  I woke up around 10:30 and then 11:00, I finally got out of bed by 11:30.  Saturday was pretty low key with trips to the grocery store until we started practicing for our variety show performance for our ward that night.  I will have to post photos and the video when I get access to them as it was pretty awesome.  A very small group decided to do some break dancing and had me do some rapping as well.  I'm hoping I broke the typical RS president stereotype.  Today has been nice with only two meetings.  I'm currently baking some rolls for Thanksgiving dinner #2 tonight and just hanging out with my roommates.  I'm pretty sure I accidentally fell asleep this afternoon for about an hour, but it's been good.

Adventures With Free Time 2

Today brought some new adventures...

I got to sub in my own class today.  My student teacher had an observation so I got to go in for ten minutes to babysit my class while she was in the hall with her observer going over her lesson.  She did a pretty good job.  I played a game of Battleship with Alece (it was "research" for when we teach coordinate planes again).  I then got to flip a bunch of tortillas.  The 5th grade team needed help for their faculty luncheon so Alece and I were volunteered to help with the tortilla effort.  The lunch was good...I ate two helpings.  After we cleaned up, we decided we should help out the janitor by going on the roof.  It was Alece's first time.  We found a scooter on the roof, not exactly sure how it got there, but it was.  By that time we had about two hours left in the day so we hung out in the office while I read poetry.  I left a few minutes early so I could babysit my roommate who now has a couple offerings to the tooth fairy.

Adventures With Free Time

I can say that I did more today than yesterday.  I got to start out my day at school by rolling and counting coins for our student store.  While doing that, my principal asked my co-workers and I to drop something off at the post office.  We really enjoy taking "field trips" to take us from the monotony of the faculty room so we jumped at the chance to leave.  On the way back, we picked up a Coke for our co-worker.  From there I went to observe my student teacher teach a reading group lesson.  The secretaries at our school had a training meeting today at the same time our principal had a principals meeting, so I got to babysit the office and answer the phones.  We handed out three bags of ice for bumps and bruises and at least ten band aids in the two hours we were there.  Most of the people who came or walked through the office were surprised to see us in charge, like we don't know what we're doing or something.  After that, I hid in an office while I read aloud to my co-worker a book that our principal asked us to read.  With an hour left in the day, I found a few things to do and people to talk to and then I waited until school was out to go home. So, nothing too crazy but busy enough to keep me mostly entertained.

Student Teacher Time!

I have a student teacher now and she just started her solo time in my classroom so I am not supposed to be in my room for the next two weeks which means I'm hanging out in the faculty room.  The good news is that I have a lot more time to work on any projects and I have two of my co-workers to keep me company.  The bad news is that I really don't have any projects to work on right now.  I finally wrote down a list of things I should be working on, we'll see if I start any of them this week.  Tomorrow I get to answer phones in the office for a couple of hours while the secretaries are at a training meeting.  I guess I should learn how to transfer calls.

I think my family has finally figured out that I am hard to find on Sundays now.  I had four different meetings this last Sunday.  If I'm not in a meeting, I'm working on Relief Society "stuff" or taking a nap due to the early meetings.  So, if you really need to get a hold of me, you can leave me a message on a Sunday or try between the hours of 4 and 6 Monday through Friday and most of the day on Saturday.

As an update to my conundrum...my roommates and a few friends have figured out what the event is but nothing else has happened.  I've already decided to not plan on going again this year.  Also, I haven't seen any posters up advertising the event which is really odd because it's a pretty big thing.

Sunday Again

It's Sunday again, time to start a new week.  Sundays are a pretty good start to a week.

Right now, I'm the only one awake in my apartment and it's quiet, I miss quiet.  Last night, I got in my car and just drove around so I could experience quiet again, it was really nice.  I find that I need my own space and time where I can just be by myself and lately, that just hasn't happened since I have a student teacher and my classroom isn't my own any more.  This just means that I will be running away from home more often until the student teacher is done but that's not for another month.  What's really funny though is that as much as I run away to be by myself, I think best while talking out loud and that tends to work better if I picture talking to someone I know.  Many of you have probably had conversations with me that you didn't even know about...don't worry, I don't put words in your mouth and you don't ever really answer back, that would be weird because you're not really there (I'm not crazy).  You're all really great listeners when I'm by myself, so thank you!

Conundrum

I know that as soon as I tell you what my conundrum is, at least half of you will turn around and tell me, "well, duh!", but it really isn't all that simple.

You see, since I've lived in Provo, I have always wanted to do something that only happens once a year.  It's definitely something that would be a date or at least should be in my eyes.  Every year when it comes along, I long to go, but I never have.  I was really close once, tickets were purchased, the night was planned and then, well, let's just say that it didn't turn out and it definitely didn't end well.

It's that time of year again and tickets are on sale!  The conundrum that I'm having is that as much as I want to go, it goes against my principles in this matter to just go buy some tickets and find someone to go with me.  I guess I have worked this whole idea up in my head for the last x-amount of years that it needs to be something that someone takes me to, not me taking someone else.  In fact, I don't think it's even occurred to me until now that I could just go buy my own tickets and find someone to go with me.  It probably wouldn't be that hard to do, but it would be cheating.

I really want to go and time will be running out fast, but I just don't see it happening this year either.

I know, I know...you're all sitting there screaming at your computers, "What is it?!?! What have you longed to do for so many years?", but I'm sorry, I can't tell you...that would be cheating.

Fall Break 2011

I have really enjoyed my fall break this year even though I didn't really go anywhere special.  I was able to enjoy getting things done and sleeping in as well.  My break went as follows:

Wednesday night--
*Institute
*Racquetball with Aleisha--I ended up getting hit in the head several times and also hit myself with my own racquet...the bruise is still forming
*Watched the latest episode of the Sing Off at Mr. T's
*Played and won the claw machine
*Stayed up until 2 am

Thursday--
*Slept until 10:30 am
*Lay in bed until 11:30 am
*Lunch at Molly's (it's a restaurant) with Steven and Randi and one of Randi's friends--I had the brisket, it was delicious
*Laundry
*Cleaned my bedroom
*Cleaned the living room and kitchen
*Vacuumed
*Finished reading The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
*Went to a pumpkin carving activity--I spent a majority of the time at my house roasting the seeds

Friday--
*Spent two hours at the car dealership
*Finished reading Midnight Magic by Avi
*Cleaned the kitchen again
*Made three apple pies
*Delivered two of the pies to neighbors
*More laundry
*Watched Castle
*Went to Kohl's with Sara, Colette, and Laurie--we saved over $300!
*Ate dinner with Sara, Colette, and Laurie at Pizzeria 712--we swapped slices, I really enjoyed mine, but I really enjoy pizza
*Fashion show for Mr. T--I realized that the dude at Kohl's left the security thingy on my sweater
*A quick jaunt to the park to set up a date for someone else
*Denny's--beverages and claw machine
*A walk to the park to play on the swings with Colette and Mr. T
*Stayed up late talking to Colette
*Bed at 3:30 am

Saturday--
*Slept until 11:30 am
*Back to Kohl's with Sara to get security thingy removed and since we were there, we found a few more things to buy
*Realized I had pizza in the fridge--glorious!

The rest of the day...TBD

Updates

I was hearing some complaints recently that I haven't updated the blog in awhile especially with any "real" news, it's only been two weeks, people.

In the last two weeks...

I had a birthday!  It was a nice birthday, nothing too big or too little either.  I'm pretty sure I bugged my roommates because they kept asking what I wanted to do for my birthday and I didn't have any real plans or wants.  I woke up to my roommate making me some breakfast and, as usual, I was walking out the door as late as possible, so she put it in a container and sent me on my way.  My students gave me some balloons with a little gift bag of random items they know I like.  My co-worker treated me to lunch with Jimmy John's.  I was able to talk to a few family members on the phone and some of my best friends (Laura and I ended up talking for an hour or so).  Once all the roommates got home, we went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (my favorite place to eat--I've had at least 2/3 of all of their pizzas).  We each got a different pizza and swapped some slices.  We even got their chocolate souffle cake with a vanilla bean sauce--I don't normally ever get dessert at a restaurant, but ever since I tried this one, I get it every time!  So now I'm another year older and wiser too.

I finally got my car last Friday.  I'm still getting used to it, but I'm really loving it.  I'm still working on a name for it, but Aleisha suggested "Toothless" (like the dragon), I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards that one unless something else pops out when I get the license plates.

School is still going well, but I'm now counting down the hours until Fall Break.  I really like my class this year, but I get real frustrated with math every now and then which is sad because that's my favorite subject to teach.  We're still working on it and things are getting better, hopefully--we'll see how they do on their test tomorrow.

I have a new calling...I'm now the Relief Society president in my ward.  This last Sunday I spent six hours at church and then immediate came home and took a two hour nap.  It's a good thing that not every day is like that.  I'm excited for the calling, I have a bunch of ideas popping up.

I had a plant marble fight with some friends in my ward.  We had about nine gallons of marbles and filled up a small kiddie pool...maybe I'll get some pictures soon.

Dead Monkeys

I had a little girl at my school drop off a note from her sister who was in my math class last year.  This has to be one of my favorite letters I have ever received from a prior student so I just had to share it.  I know you will all be really confused as to what she is talking about, that just makes it even better!

Doesn't that just make your heart happy?

Neighbors

Both my upstairs and downstairs neighbors moved out a few weeks ago.  I hadn't noticed how quiet it has really been until last night and right now...the upstairs neighbors are moving in...they're not very quiet.

Not Dead

Don't worry, I'm not dead.  I've realized recently that I need a secret blog.  There have been quite a few occurrences that I've wanted to blog about, but then I realize that my blog could be frequented by a few people that should not hear what I want to say.  They're not necessarily bad things, but also not things I want mere acquaintances to know.

I have had more things happen to me in the last month that are so "secretive" but they've kept me busy enough to not have time to blog as much.

1. Car shopping--It's atrocious.  It took me a couple of weeks to figure out what I wanted to buy.  I drove many cars and visited too many dealerships.  I finally chose the Hyundai Elantra the only problem is that they are so popular that they can't keep them on the lot.  I've been waiting two or three weeks now (I don't even remember anymore) for mine to come in.  In the mean time, I hope and pray that my Jetta behaves so I don't have to put any more money into it.

2. School--I have a good class this year.  They are fun and I don't feel as though I have to get after them nearly as much as last year's class.

3. First school dream--I finally had my first school dream of the year just last week.  It was weird but also "scary".  In real life, I have crossing guard duty after school once a week.  In my dream, I was going out to perform my weekly duty when I realized I was late.  I grabbed my stop sign, but not my fashionable orange vest.  As I'm running out of the school, I notice a group of 20 to 30 unfamiliar 6th graders with their two teachers/advisors/whatever-adults and they're just standing in the middle of the crosswalk mostly blocking traffic.  As cars are whizzing past them I run up and ask what they are thinking.  Apparently, this was the group we had been waiting for for an assembly and they weren't sure where they should go to wait for the assembly to start whether they should wait across the street or actually come into the school so they decided to just wait in the middle of the street.  I started yelling at them to get out of the road and go into the school as I was desperately trying to get cars to stop, the group was hesitant and wouldn't move.  Drivers decided to ignore me and wouldn't listen or even notice me waving the stop sign in their faces.  It was very frustrating and bugged me to no end that no one was listening to me.  The worst part was that it caused so much anxiety that it woke me up at 4:30 am and then I couldn't get back to sleep.

4. I'm sure there is more, but nothing is really coming to mind.  I guess I should just get back to blogging more often.

Car Troubles Part 3

I finally have my car back!  I wasn't expecting to have it back until next week, but I'm not complaining at all.  It was pretty crazy trying to get to work and back and I have some awesome friends who were super willing and able to help me out, but it's so much nicer to have my own car again.

Let me educate you on lifters with a few pictures:

This is what a lifter is and what it's supposed to look like (minus a few scratches).  A lifter lifts the cam shaft.

This is what one of the lifters in my car looked like.  This is the culprit.  You see, a cam shaft went through this lifter.  They're not supposed to do that.  The cam shaft was damaged and that was the expensive part.

So, you can see by comparison, that this was a bad thing.  The mechanic said he's never seen anything like this before.  Maybe if I didn't have any oil in my car or maybe if the timing belt was destroyed, but both of those things did not happen.  Hence, I am buying a new car.

Car Troubles Part 2

I finally got an estimate as to when I will probably get my car back...1 1/2 to 2 weeks.  It will take that long to get the part needed to fix it, once they have the part they can be done in 3 to 4 hours.  In the meantime, I am trying to figure out how to get to work.  My roommates are awesome and are willing to drive me to places so the only problem is getting to work.  It used to be that quite a few of my co-workers lived in Provo but that is no longer true so it makes it more difficult to find someone I can catch a ride with.  I'm contemplating just renting a car, it would make transportation a lot easier but it's expensive.

On a more positive note: I test drove some cars yesterday!  I started at the Hyundai dealership and drove the Elantra and the Accent.  Both were good, the Accent is nice because I could get it in a hatch back, but the Elantra has a smoother ride and is a little zippier.  After that, I made my way over to Toyota to try out the Corolla.  Apparently, when the salesman saw two girls get out of the car he figured he could make a sale based on color as that was the only question he kept asking.  I got really frustrated with him and only drove the car around the block especially since he wanted me to drive out a different way so I could check out the color on another car.  He finally realized that I didn't care about the color (I had only told him that three or four times) and when he also realized he might not be winning me over, he decided to ask me what I was looking for and what I really cared about, he was a little shocked when I said the engine and driveability of the vehicle.  The last stop was the Ford dealership.  I wanted to drive a Focus.  The only ones they had were the sport versions.  It was really fun to drive and made me happy to drive, but the price tag for the Sport didn't make me happy.  So from my trials yesterday, the Hyundai Elantra is at the head of the pack.  This week I will do some more research and see if there is anything else I might want to try out.

Car Troubles

My car decided it didn't like me this weekend.  Aleisha and I were on our way up to a spa day when we got stuck in traffic and then my car started making weird noises then really bad noises.  We stopped to check things out and then turned back towards home and my mechanic.  A few minutes away from the mechanic, the check engine light came on.  I had to leave my car there over the weekend and found out yesterday that one of the cam shafts broke through a lifter.  Normally it would cost $200 for a new cam shaft but I learned yesterday that I apparently have a special engine and so my part will cost $1200 and they can't find it anywhere without ordering it and taking a few days.  The mechanic is contemplating replacing the top of my engine as it would probably end up costing the same if not less.  This all just means that I am without my car for while...too bad this didn't happen in the summer when it wouldn't matter as much.  Steven has let me borrow his car the last two days and I have another offer for this week as Steven will start work tomorrow and will probably need his car back.  Because of the cost of repairs for my special engine, I'm planning on selling my car and buying a new one.  Any suggestions?

Home Makeover

In having roommates again, I decided to finally jump on all the projects I've been wanting to do around my house for awhile and a few other projects as well.

I've wanted to paint my main bathroom since I first moved in, but just never got around to it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 The front bedroom got a little of a makeover last November, but I had a few suggestions to paint one of the walls gray, so I did:

I didn't put the rest of the decor back because the new roomies were starting to move a few things in, such as:

Aleisha and I took a bunch of spray paint and turned an old dresser into this lovely beauty!  DOn't worry, we have since bought washers to straighten out the handles in the center drawers.

There are still a few projects I'm working on: 

 This will eventually become a chalkboard.  I have already painted the frame, I just need to paint the center now.

 This ugly light fixture is found in the front bedroom.  I have already taken steps to transform it into something wonderful.

The Last Day of Summer

Today is my last day of summer, my last day of freedom.  This has been the first summer where I'm not counting down the days as I look forward to school starting again because it means something specific to do, a routine to follow.  This year I have had so much fun, have gotten a lot done, and I have so much more I could do!  As I have work to look forward to tomorrow, I sit here and look back at my summer:

* 2 trips to California
* 3 new roommates
* 10 days spent in training meetings
* 2 funerals
* 1 room to shove all of my stuff into
* 2 rooms painted
* 1 sleepover
* 5 houseguests
* 10 books read=10.35 inches

The trips to California were to attend the funerals of my best friend from elementary through high school and my grandmother.  The first trip was extended to include a family reunion as well.

Three friends of mine moved in with me this past week.  Because they think they need rooms to sleep in, I had to move all of my "stuff" back into my bedroom.  I can fit a lot in my room!  We've become organizational gurus in the process.

The ten days in training can be described all the way from excruciating to decent.  Four of the days were spent to train me to train others in the new national math core our state adopted.  Four days were spent training the other teachers.  The remaining two were to teach me how to administer a reading test to my students.

My parents came into town just over a month ago to work on their four-plex and they decided to stay with me.  A couple of weeks later, my aunt and two of my cousins stayed with me as they passed through on their way to Boise.

I was able to read a bit this summer but not as much as I would have liked.  I'm still working on reading my height in books and this summer's list gave me another 10.35 inches.  Added to what I had previously read, I now have 34.8 inches left to go.  Since some of you will ask, these are the books I was able to read this summer:

Coraline

The Neverending Story

Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge

Magyk

The Graveyard Book

Ranger's Apprentice: The Icebound Land

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones

The Thirteenth Tale

Shiver

Teacher Dreams

Recently most conversations with friends and relatives involve them asking when school starts again.  This is the first year that I keep forgetting what day I have to be back at work.  By this point with most summers,  I can't wait to have a routine again and actually have something to do that I just about count down to school starting.  This summer, I have had so much fun and achieved so much that I don't want school to start just yet.

With tonight's conversations, I ended up talking to a friend and I got on the topic of the crazy dreams I usually get just before school starts.  I haven't had one yet this summer, so maybe you'll get an update later. In the meantime, my friend was laughing so much at these dreams he told me I should write them down and I figure that if I teach long enough I could probably write and sell a book.  I realized later that I have written down most of the dreams in posts so here are a few flashbacks to my awesome teacher dreams:

* 2010 Beat boxing teacher

* 2009--1st and 6th grade

One that I have not written down is I think my very first teacher dream--Background: I was hired on as an intern to teach 3rd grade and already knew most of the curriculum and what to expect from a 3rd grader.

In my dream I showed up at the school on the very first day, ready to go and excited to teach.  When I got there, the secretary showed me to my classroom.  The room was in the basement and was very tiny.  The secretary tried to pass it off as a classroom but I knew it was more of a large supply closet because of the size and because it had a bunch of PE equipment all over the place.  There were no desks but the secretary told me that we would be getting some tables soon.  I tried to say something but before I could, the bell rang and the secretary told me that my class was coming in from recess.  I was expecting about 25 3rd graders, but the students running in were most definitely NOT 3rd graders, they were more the size of 6th graders and all seemed to have severe cases of ADHD.  Before I could object, the secretary was hurrying out the door and telling me to have a nice day.

Wanting

As tonight goes on, I feel as though I am wanting something but don't quite know what it is that I want.  There are definitely some things that I continually find that I would like to have, but after some quiet introspection, what I really want hasn't been identified.  It could be a combination of things or something I just haven't thought of just yet.  It's almost like the feeling you get when you feel as though you have lost or forgotten something but can't figure it out...especially when you know there isn't anything to be lost or forgotten.

Another feeling I have had in short amounts over the last few weeks is that of anxiety.  It comes and goes, but for no reason.  Sure my vacation is coming to an end and school will be starting soon, but no biggie, I've done that before.  Yeah, I'm getting three new roommates and it's been awhile since I've lived with anyone else, but I've done that before and I like the girls that are moving in.  I had a training meeting I was in charge of, but just like my Sunday School class, I knew what to expect and knew I would be and do just fine.  So why am I anxious all of a sudden?

Delta 4th of July

For this year's 4th of July I went to Delta with a few friends of mine.  

We decided that we wanted to enjoy a small town's celebrations.  We drove down on Sunday night, spent the night, and woke up the next morning to watch the parade.  Afterwards, we walked around town, visited the park, had my first ever funnel cake (delicious!), stopped by a friend's house, had a BBQ and then took a nap.  That night we went to the main attraction: 

the demolition derby! It was my first and we were excited!  

Prepping the arena

All the cars BEFORE

DURING

Don't worry, these guys weren't in there the whole time, they only came out to turn a car back over

AFTER

At one point it started to rain a bit and the wind picked up so we had to use the blankets that we brought to sit on to block the wind and dirt blowing in our faces.  After the derby, we watched the fireworks and then drove home.  It was a great weekend and fun was had by all!

Happy 200th Post!

It's been quite awhile since I last posted and so many things have happened, but I had to find the perfect post for my 200th (because that's a big number).  I thought about making "best of" lists, having a give away, pretending I didn't know it was the 200th, etc.  A couple of weeks ago I came across the best topic and it's taken me this long to take time and sit down and post it.

Two weeks ago I got to teach the Sunday School lesson for my ward on the atonement of Christ.  I was a bit intimidated by the importance of the topic, but in the end I learned a lot and my testimony grew.  I learned more about our Savior's character, love, and eternal perspective and have come to know him better.  I know He died for us so that we could be released from our sins, so that we can have comfort in our times of need, and so that we can return to Heavenly Father.  I know that He died and that He lives again.  He knew the importance of this act and He could have chosen not to do it, but because of His love for us and the knowledge of our father's plan, He accomplished the infinite Atonement.

Car Shopping

I went car shopping with a friend today, I tried to be the voice of reason but also to point out the fun things as well.  It made me want to buy a car, but I don't think I can quite justify the purchase.  If I were to buy a new car today, it would most likely be another Jetta.  I have really enjoyed my car and its performance.  I have fun driving my car around and it has amazing trunk space.  I would probably even buy the diesel Jetta, but as I was saying, I'm not planning on buying a car anytime soon.

Back in Utah

Well, I've made it back to Utah.  I was home for two weeks and had a pretty good time.  My parents heard from my brother that I was in California so they weren't surprised when I picked them up from the airport.

Since my last post, I did the following:

* Helped my mom clean and rearrange the house as our family reunion was quickly replanned and moved to California so we were going to have a house full of people.

* I read two books.  I never knew that The Neverending Story was originally written and German and that the first movie was only the first half of the book.  The second movie is the second half of the book.  I could have just read the first half and been content, but I'm trying to read 50 books by the end of the year and my height by the end of the summer.  I also read the second Ranger's Apprentice book, it was very good and I'm itching to get my hands on the next one, I've been left with quite a cliffhanger!

* I got a couple more doughnuts...they were delicious!

* My family went to Boomers for four hours.  I got to hang out with my niece, she's four years old and too short for the rides, she's also a big chicken and is scared of anything too fast.  I was quite surprised when she kept begging me to take her on the go karts.  I also discovered that miniature golfing with a two-year-old, a four-year-old, and an eight-year-old is quite taxing and no rules should be followed to keep all engaged.

* The family also went bowling, we took up seven lanes.

* Family swimming at my uncle's during lunch.  My niece begged me to take her swimming.  The chicken returned as she had a death-grip around my neck.   I got a nice sunburn across my shoulders.

* I decided to drive back with my brother, cousin, and cousin-in-law instead of using the other half of my plane ticket.  I can save the ticket for later and will be using it for Christmas or something later.

Now that I am back in town, I have to go to work.  I went to the first day of a four-day training workshop so I can turn around and help train the 6th grade teachers in my school district.

I'm exhausted.  Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight.

Libraries and Yard Sales

I went yard saling with my sister this morning.  I only found an old license plate for one of the kindergarten teachers at my school..it's kinda neat, I almost want to keep it but I have no use for it.  I'm sure she could use some more license plates if you have any you want to get rid of.

We also went to the library today.  We checked out some books.  Small libraries always make me appreciate the bigger ones I have access to and apprecaite the one I grew up with.

California has awesome doughnuts so we bought a dozen.

Yesterday, we went to the Hilmar Cheese Company to check out the cheese tour and get free squeaky cheese samples.  The samples were all gone and they were setting up for a wedding so no tour and no cheese!  We ended up taking pictures around the grounds and bought some cheese.  Some lucky person will also be receiving a cow postcard in the mail this week so check your boxes to see if you're a winner!

Costco provided the samples we were looking for and then we had smoothies.  Did you know that all Costco employees are required to be CPR and heimlich certified because of their hotdogs?  My sister's friend has had to provide her heimlich services to five different people while working at the membership desk at the local Costco...good job, Vanessa!

We have also done a few things around the house such as picking up rocks, sanding windowsills, pulling weeds, sweeping the floor, and lots of laundry!

I pick up my parents from the airport tomorrow, they should be pretty surprised to see me!  If you're in Copenhagen and happen to see them, please don't spill the beans!

Luggage

I had a layover in Vegas, apparently my luggage had a layover in Phoenix and arrived twenty minutes after I did.  The airline owes me $4 in parking fees that wouldn't have happened if I didn't have to wait for my luggage to catch up.

So far, I have gone to a zoo where I got licked by a goat, ate at a BBQ place and had pork and beef ribs (the cow was better than the pig), been to Lowe's and bought a boy (really, we bought a board but my niece thought we said that we were buying a boy), helped to cut a hole in the cupboards, helped filli n part of that hoe, wired a dishwasher, drilled a hole in the remaining cupboards, pulled weeds, picked peaches, went to the movies, ate Columbian chicken and drove around town.

It's been good so far.

Sleepover!

I had a sleepover at my house last night.  Just the perfect number came, not too few or too many...perfect!  We made pizzas and breadsticks and chatted and listened to music as we waited for them to cook.  A doggie pile of cuddling occurred at one point followed by watching a movie called Sleepover.  After the movie, we played Truth or Dare, but mostly just Truth.  My friends definitely learned something new about me with that game!  We kicked the boys out then and chatted a bit more before turning off the lights and then chatted some more before we fell asleep around 3 am or so.  The highlight after that was when two of the girls had a very brief conversation in their sleep.

In the morning, we had pancakes, bacon, OJ, and grapes while we watched some real Saturday morning cartoons, not the stuff they have on nowadays...poor kids don't even know what they're missing.  We watched some Anamaniacs and some Tale Spin.  Some of the girls stuck around to chat, they went home around 3 pm.

I've realized lately what a great group of friends I have right now.  We have fun just being around each other and at the same time, we look out for each other.  We're all comfortable enough to talk and just hang out.

Susan

I found out on Tuesday that one of my best friends passed away this last weekend.  Susan came into my life in the first grade.  From the moment she walked into our classroom, I knew we would be friends.  We shared so many memories and even a few secrets that we decided to never tell anyone about (mostly our doings when we were younger).  We gathered quite an eclectic group of friends.  I don't ever remember fighting or arguing with her.  We walked home from junior high with each other.  We both had embarrassing pictures of each other that we promised never to show to anyone else.  We were in choir together.  In the fourth grade, we built a model of a California mission out of styrofoam.  We shared two trips to Disneyland together.  We participated in science and academic competitions.  She is one of the smartest people that I know.  She looked out for me when we were talking about our future life plans, she knew I could be more than just a school teacher, but also supported me in my choices.  She accomplished so much in her life.  I regret that we grew apart a bit after graduating high school, but we still kept in contact through email and Facebook.  The last time I saw her, we met up for lunch in our hometown one Christmas.

It still doesn't make sense to me.  I don't think it's really hit me yet as it doesn't seem real.  Tonight I realized that this will be the first funeral I will attend for someone my age...that isn't supposed to happen.

I Thought I was on Vacation

I have been busy, busy, busy this last week, you'd think it was a full-time job almost.  I told myself I was going to just sit and do nothing last Friday and I really did, other than my trip to Home Depot for the paint (still super excited about that, but I have had to postpone any painting for now).  Here are my happenings since then:

* Saturday--I went shopping at the Park City outlets and ended up with some killer deals (that might just be its own post later) and then had an awesome time at a friend's game night

* Sunday--I finally got to sleep in a bit, prepared my Sunday school lesson, taught the lesson, had dinner at a friend's house with other friends, got some visiting teaching done, attended ward prayer, and went to another game night

* Monday--I drove to Kayesville with another friend, went hot tubbing and swimming with a few friends, went to a movie with more friends, got to visit with another friend who had just gotten back from a very long trip, watched someone get their hair dyed, then walked to go get some Slurpees (I had been wanting a slurpee for quite some time)

* Tuesday--I was going to go down to my classroom to organize two ginormous cupboards full of books, but I slept in and had another "appointment" later that day and didn't want to limit my time too much so I just hung around my house and cleaned up a bit.  I went to the zoo with another friend (gee, I sure do have a lot of awesome friends that like to play, awesome!).

* Wednesday--I finally got to go down to my classroom.   I probably spent close to three hours rearranging and throwing away stuff (I've been on a throw-away kick lately, it's very refreshing).  After I came home, I vacuumed and finally folded my pile of laundry.  That night I chatted with a friend as she made cookies

* Thursday (today)--My cousin, Pam, called me this morning asking if I'd come up to her house to help her get ready for carpet to be installed in her house tomorrow.  We spent the morning unloading bedrooms and moving large pieces of furniture (there were a few times where I thought a picture would be interesting as two tiny people were moving things much larger than themselves).  I'd say not to worry, that no one got hurt, except that I jab my elbow on a metal rod/shelf support thingy, but all is well, I didn't even need a bandaid.

This week has been pretty amazing and so full of wonderfulness that it almost feels as though I've been out of school much longer than a week.  So far, I think this has been one of the best summer vacations ever and I'm only a week into it!

I Bought Paint!

It's official, I bought paint, I will be adding some color to my home :)

I went to Home Depot this afternoon and picked up 2 1/4 gallons of paint.  The wall in the front bedroom will be "Anonymous" (no really, that's the name of the paint), my bathroom will be "Mother Nature" and the vanity will be "Bison".  In case you'd like to see what those colors look like, they are all Behr brand paints.

I'm super excited!  I want to just start painting right now, but it's really not the best time to start.  I think I will attack the bedroom on Wednesday and the bathroom will have to wait until the middle of June due to vacations and company staying with me, that and I still need/want to pick out some new lights and possibly even a mirror and those may affect where I will be painting.

Excited!

Let My Summer Begin!

Today was the last day of school.  It was fabulous!  Normally, I put off all of the checkout procedures for staff until the very end, but I was done and had all of my signatures done before school started today.  I also usually stay until 4 o'clock to get my room cleaned up enough to leave it for the summer but I had it done and was gone by 2:30.  As much as I've gone through all of my end-of-year "stuff", it still doesn't feel like today was the last day, it feels more like the middle of March or April.  All of our testing is done, we've gone through all of our normal units and more, and yearbooks have been signed.  I almost feel like I will wake up in the morning and realize the last two and a half months have only been a dream (maybe bordering on nightmare) and I'll have to start over and do it all again.

To prepare for my summer, I have already started a list of things for me to accomplish, so far I have included:

1. paint wall in front bedroom/office
2. paint and "redecorate" front bathroom
3. finish getting gross adhesive off of front porch
4. finish reading my height in books
5. plan and give training on 6th grade math core
6. Play, play, play

I have already gone to the library and gotten six books for me to read over the next two weeks (the question is, which do I read first?), Home Depot has a sale on paint this weekend so I will be buying paint tomorrow, and I've already read 11 inches of books, only 45 more to go!  It's a good thing I already have some awesome friends who will help me out with the playing :)

The Teachers Win Again

Yesterday was our annual teachers vs students kickball game.  The last three years, we've played 3 to 100 and we've won each time.  We decided to share and invited a few other teachers to play with us, mostly office staff and special ed teachers since they weren't doing anything.  We won again this year.  The students got another slice of humble pie and my co-workers and I get to brag it up.

The Last Week of School...

The last week of school is kind of pointless...fun, but pointless.  For example, this is our schedule:

Today: Kickball, recess, more kickball (except it rained so we talked about propaganda used during the world wars), lunch, rocket launching, twenty minutes of writing, game

Tomorrow: bowling, lunch at a park, recess, water party (except it's supposed to be cold so we're just having a party...kickball will most likely be played if not raining)

Wednesday: kickball, recess, probably more kickball, lunch, yearbooks, kickball 6th grade teachers vs 6th grade students (we have won the last three years even though it's 3 vs 100)

Thursday: party, goodbyes, graduation, lunch, 30 minutes of whatever with whoever is still around

2 1/2 days left!

friday

Today we played kickball in the rain and then we built rockets to launch next week.

All assignments were due today in order to count on the report card.  I still have three students with more than ten missing...I kinda worry about sending them to junior high next year.

I decided today that I want to have ice cream and root beer at my retirement party.  The question is do I retire after working for 30 years at the age of 51 or do I wait until I'm 67 years old after 46 years of teaching?

Thank you, Laura!

Thanks to my dear friend, Laura, this is able to happen:

Something to Talk About

School is almost out for me which is a good thing because the last few weeks have really taken it out of me.  I have been so tired but at the same time I just want to play and have fun, but then I don't get much sleep so I'm tired...it's a vicious cycle.  There have been many opportunities that I wanted to just stay home, but I have a group of friends that I have been getting to know better lately that are being really good friends and not letting me stay home and do nothing.  I appreciate them and what they do.

I just got back from a ward function and I'm already zoning out but I don't want to check out for the evening either.  No one has blogged in the last two hours so I am taking it upon myself to write something down...these are the random thoughts that come to me tonight:

Why does meeting someone new have to be so awkward?  You are both pretty much in the same situation in that you don't know the other person and you probably want to know more about that other person or else you wouldn't be meeting them, so why can't two strangers just talk to each other without being awkward?

I emailed my science teacher from my freshman year in high school today.  She asked my dad (he teaches at my old high school) to pass along a message to me that she says hi and would like to hear from me. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen her since I graduated.  It is nice to have people from your past want to reconnect with you and see how you are doing.  I was very happy to report all the good things in my life such as my career and the recent near-win of the PAEMST to her as she played a part in my education which brought me to where I am today.

Today is my brother's birthday.  He got a 4 DVD set of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it came with the four turtle masks.  We had fun wearing them and taking pictures.  I was Leonardo.  I want to make that picture my facebook profile picture but it is on my phone and I haven't figured out how to transfer from my phone to my computer yet.  It's awesome.

I can't wait for school to be over so I can play every day, all day and have it be ok.  I want to play...and by play, I mean: paint my bedroom, paint the bathroom, sew stuff, bake stuff, read, read, read, hang out with friends, go to the zoo, go to the aquarium (I have two tickets, who wants to come with me?), clean my house, reorganize my house, go jogging, swim, play in the dirt, yard work, etc.  This will be a great summer!

The Original Chain Letter?

One of my students gave me an Amish Friendship Bread starter last week.  I was really excited because I like the stuff, but after I thought about for awhile I realized the implications of accepting it.  Not only do I get something to look forward to doing every day for ten days (it's like having a short-term pet) and some yummy treat (not that I eat my pets), but I also have to then keep it going and find at least three other people to pass it along to.  I realized how this cycle will never end unless I throw away the extras or make three batches of this bread.  Upon this realization I then questioned, "Did the Amish invent the chain letter?"  Really.  At least they didn't give any death threats or promises of misfortune if you didn't continue the passing to other friends (aka victims, depending how you look at it) like current chain letters and now emails, blog posts, notes, tweets, statuses, etc.  It also means that it doesn't promise any of the random good things some also promise/threat.

That said...would anyone in the area like a starter? I have a few I can pass along... or throw away...or make into bread...?

Idea Shopping

I went idea shopping today...it was a little spur of the moment as I found myself on the side of town with Home Depot so I just stopped in.  Stay tuned for more details and so you can tell me your opinions and suggestions, but these are the main ideas I was working on today for this summer's home projects:

* Painting one room in my front bedroom/office gray (w/ some accents of course...maybe white stripes)
* Painting the front bathroom a sagey type green
* and possible painting the vanity in said bathroom a dark brown
* Potted flowers on my front porch
* I looked at spray paint for future frame purchases...just need to find the frames

I have a stack of paint chips and a mind of ideas so we'll see what comes from it all.  Maybe I'm overly ambitious for this summer, but I found over my spring break that if I didn't have a list of things to do, nothing got done.

Rock Chip from...

I am so angry right now.  I left work not happy but ok because I have to figure out a problem that a parent just threw out to me, that's not why I'm angry.  I'm angry because to add to that I had this happen:

I felt the impact and I was only going 45 mph at the time.  I didn't see where it came from so I'm blaming it on a rock.  There was someone hauling a trailer full of wood/scraps/something in front of me and he didn't have it covered so something could have flown out, but I didn't see it as it's on the passenger side almost behind the rearview mirror.  I'm blaming it on a rock because I figure it's better than blaming a person especially falsely blaming a person.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture or not, but the circle is about the size of a baseball and the point of impact is in the very center but with nothing coming off of it.  I am so mad.

Lists

I have a few friends that have made lists of things to do before a certain time like 101 things in 1,001 days or # of next birthday age things to do by birthday whether it be started from one birthday to the next or from this point on.  I think these list things are cool and good to get you doing things you wouldn't normally do if you hadn't set the goal and given yourself a deadline.  I keep thinking that I want to create such a list but I feel like I would be a copy cat and I wouldn't be able to successfully complete the list.  I also worry about finding a big list of things I should do or how long I should take.  I think the goal I will set for myself to work on for right now will be coming up with a list then maybe I can decide how long to give myself.  Any ideas or suggestions?

PAEMST Results

I got an email this week from the National Science Foundation letting me know that I was not selected for the PAEMST award.  I know a lot of people are disappointed for me and I guess I am as well (because, really, that would have been cool to say that I won a national award and got to go to DC), but at the same time I am kinda relieved.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I applied and was selected as a finalist and all, but at the same time, there is a silver lining:

1. I don't have to go to DC in a few weeks which means I don't have to write more sub plans
2. I wouldn't have to sit through meetings that would most likely be boring to me (I really love teaching, but I can only handle talking about teaching for so long)
3. I don't have to worry about what to wear...it's supposed to be a pretty fancy and professional thing and it's all week...day and night...that's a lot of outfits!
4. I don't know how to get this point across without sounding weird or bad or whatever so let me just mention a few things and I think you can figure it out: As I was going though the application process I had to tell about my experiences, professional development, and outreach to the community, etc.  Yeah, I'm a pretty awesome person and I've done some great things, but I really didn't feel all that qualified having only taught for 8 years (at the time it was only 7) and knowing that I could be doing more.  In going to the banquets in February, I realized that the others that were finalists were like crazy involved even in other countries.  Hearing all the things they did and were doing, it felt way too stuffy and I kept thinking "don't you know how to have fun?"  So, I guess, I feel like I'd be around a bunch of people I couldn't relate to if I went to the big thing in DC...maybe I'm too young or not grown up enough, but that's how I feel.

I'm sure there's more than that, but those were my biggest points of relief.  Yeah, I'm sad I didn't win, but it's ok, if anything it shows me that I am pretty awesome to get as far as I did and that I also have some areas I can focus on now.  Everyone keeps encouraging me to reapply next year, but my response is no thank you.  It's quite the application process and there are definitely some areas I would want to work on and strengthen before I try again (if I try again...once was enough to say that I did it).

PAEMST Banquet

I got a little surprise in my mailbox at school today.  I had a manila envelope with an 8x10 photo that was taken at the banquet I attended in SLC in February for my PAEMST award (no, I have not heard any final results yet...still waiting).  I also got a CD with all/most of the photos that were taken by a professional at the banquet.  I decided I should share a few with you.

They spelled my name right.

We were in the Joseph Smith Building...very pretty.

A very elegant dinner starting with this lovely salad, then salmon, and ending with a fruit tart.

This is Dave from the state office of education...he's introducing me.

My handshake.

My entourage...can you tell I'm not feeling well?  I know what you're thinking...I clean up nicely.