Holocaust Awareness Week

I don’t know how many of you realized that is was Holocaust Awareness Week. Our fabulous Language Arts teachers in 8th grade are completing a unit on the Holocaust. They are comparing stories and books. The kids are really getting into it and hopefully, it will make them think about their own behaviors. The students all wore paper clips everyday and made sure to offer them to other students and adults that didn’t have one. You can read about the paper clips here. On top of all that, they decided to make a visual representation of those that lost their lives.

In case you can’t read it, the blue flags represent non-Jews and the yellow flags represent Jews. One flag represents 10,000 individuals that died in the Holocaust.

The kids did a great job and were all so proud! There were a few more posters out there with explanations and several with pictures and stories of victims.

Dance with me….

I drove to Vail the Saturday before I flew to Vegas for the Ben Harper concert. It was (of course) freakin’ amazing. I met up with my friend Kristen (KK) and her boyfriend Ryan.

It was cold and snowing in Vail. It took a while to find a parking spot, but I finally did in the garage. The walk to the concert was slippery. I skated and attempted to walk on about 3 inches of packed snow. Who am I kidding? It was pretty much ice and I almost fell about four times. I did stop and take the picture that is above. I love to see snow on the river. I don’t know why, but water is always beautiful. A lake, a river, the ocean, you get the point. And before some smart ass comments, water in nature is beautiful. Water in the toilet bowl is not. Moving on.  At first I was a little scared about standing outside in the snow to listen to KK’s crush. I’m a little thing. I get cold. But, once you get in the middle of a crowd and have a beer…it was very comfortable. And there was fire because people had to light their pipes and joints. This is the third time that I have Ben Harper since I moved to Colorado. The first time was at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Festival. I met up with another teacher and her parents. I think I had a contact high that night. Wow! Welcome to Colorado! The second time was in October at the Orpheum in Memphis. I remember being a little upset that people were firing up IN the Orpheum. I love it and want it to always be beautiful. So, I wasn’t surprised that I felt a little funny when leaving or that KK lost her phone. Anyway, Ben Harper is amazing. If you ever get the chance to see him, you should. I leave you with one last picture from the concert. : )

PRAY

Saturday morning of my trip home was spent catching up with friends at PRAY for a Cure. The morning air was cool, but we all set out to walk our three miles to support Stephanie’s cervical cancer foundation. About half way through the walk the wind shifted and the sun came out making the day very enjoyable. I had the privilege of carrying Ryan for about a mile and a half. She was tired and went to sleep in my arms. She is such a happy little girl.

My trip Part 1

Friday was a frustrating day. It started early in the morning when I woke up and went to take a shower. Someone was in the shower upstairs so I waited..and waited. Finally, I decided to jump in and just deal with the lack of water pressure that I have when someone upstairs is in the shower too. I washed my hair and was just putting the conditioner in my hair when the water went ICE COLD. not fun. So, I wrapped my hair in a towel and waited for someone to get out of the shower and the water to warm up. It didn’t happen. At 7:15, when I normally leave the water was still cold. I had to rinse my hair in my itty bitty kitchen sink because I could not bring my self to get back into the shower and I don’t have a tub. I was a little late for school. The kids were great! I was surprised since it was the last day before Spring Break. I had another teacher cover the last few minutes of my last class so I could get on the road. I raced home to finish packing since I didn’t get to do that in the morning thanks to the cold shower. On the road….

I put in my audio book of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and headed to Denver. I was starving, but wanted to be on the road a little longer before I stopped. It started snowing as soon as I saw the sign for Vail Pass. Traffic slowed, but was still moving. The snow cleared and I started seeing signs that traffic was slow ahead and to expect delays. I decided to stop and grab some food. I was really hungry and knew that I would be grumpy if I didn’t. Bad, bad idea. It was a 35 minute stop because of all the traffic. Back on the road and making good time for another 20 minutes and then traffic stopped. People were out of their cars and chatting. I couldn’t see how far it was backed up in front of me or behind me. I don’t know how long we sat there. But, I did not have much time to make it to the airport. I frantically started making phone calls. Finally, I made it to the airport and parked at 7:50 pm. My flight was at 8:45. I jumped on the shuttle and made it to the Frontier counter at 8:05. Five minutes too late to guarantee that my bags would make it on my flight. FIVE minutes. I grabbed my clothes and shoes for the walk on Saturday and shoved them into my carry on. I couldn’t grab my make-up or other necessary items since they couldn’t go through security. What am I really going to do with my deodorant? Seriously. I then ran as fast as I could in my cowboy boots to my gate. AND the plane had just arrived. They were unloading. I guess that was good for me, but damn, why did I run? We loaded and had to wait on a passenger and their luggage. All I kept thinking was if we are waiting, please go get my bag and throw it in. please. please. I sat next to a very nice man that spilled over into part of my seat. I guess he was lucky that I’m so small because the plane was full. Good flight. We arrived at midnight and my luggage made it! I went to bed around 1:30ish, just to get up at 7 for the walk.

More to come.

How about those VOLS!!!!

Number 1! I am soooooo excited to say the least. I don’t know if everyone knows, but I can.not.stand Memphis. I’m not really all that into sports, but I’ve had a strong dislike for Memphis for a very long time. The main reason is my personal experience when I decided to attend school there. Rude to say the least. I know they have great programs and yadda, yadda, yadda. I’m reasonable. I forgive. But, there are a few experiences stick with me and I just don’t get over them. That was one of them. (The other was a particular politician coming to my high school my senior year. I still don’t like him.) Another thing I have against Memphis is some of their fans. Stop. Re-read the sentence. I said some not all. Some of their fans are such buttholes. I’ve witnessed more Memphis fans go against their team when they are down than I care to remember. When it comes to football, Memphis fans still talk about the one time they beat us. (It’s been over ten years.) Getting over all of that stupid stuff that makes me dislike Memphis…I was molded into being a UT fan. It started when I was in 8th grade with a boy and he continued to influence me. So, here I am sitting in Colorado singing Rocky Top by myself. I could call Jamie. He would sing with me. I could call some Memphis fans I know and rub it in, but I’ll run into them soon enough. (and I promise I will be polite) When I come home, I’ll have to purchase some more UT attire and more stickers for my truck. I wonder if I can find an orange snowboard? lol I really don’t have much UT stuff. I am very pleased with the game. It was hard to watch. I was standing and yelling at the tv at times. I don’t know the people above me thought I was doing down here. Both teams played hard and were exciting to watch. Good job, little brother. If someone had to break your streak, I’m glad it was UT.

On ESPN’s website you will find..

Memphis pushed hard late in a give-and-take game, but Tennessee pushed back. The No. 2 Volunteers closed out a 66-62 victory with an 8-1 run, and the top-ranked Tigers were unbeaten no more.

To brighten your day…

Here are a few more pictures of Colin. He is such a cutie. I can’t wait to meet him in person.

I know. You just want to kiss him, don’t you? Speaking of meeting this new addition to our family…. I will be home on March 21st!! Actually that’s not true. My flight gets in at 12:05 AM, so technically it will be March 22nd. : ) I will be in just in time to catch a few hours before heading out to race. If you haven’t signed up yet, here is the website with all of the information PRAY for a Cure .

Come out and see everyone. If you can’t make it, give the money and get a T-shirt. You know it’s a good cause. : ) I’m coming in town just to be there. BTW, I was so excited the other day. One of my girls wasn’t in my literacy class first thing in the morning, but made it to school for my Algebra class. I casually said something about missing her first thing in the morning and that I’m glad that she made it to school that day. She replied by telling me that she had been at the doctor getting her shot and thanked me for telling her about it. I often wonder if I share too much with the kids, but this told me that I didn’t. One of our teachers has a small group of girls that meet once a month for lunch. They met today and asked if I would come in next month to share Stephanie’s story. They want to see all of the news casts and hear about her website. I’m excited and can’t wait to share with them. Plus one of my girls makes awesome brownies and I know she’ll bring them.

I don’t know what my plans are for the weekend, but I will give you an update later.

I’m alive!

Hello, Everyone! Something is going on with my wireless service at home. I can get on with the neighbors, but not with my own wireless router. It’s strange. The airport shows a full signal, but there is always a “problem loading page” error when I go to any website. I’m hoping the signal from the neighbors will last long enough for me to finish this post and publish it.

Here are a few updates from the week: (I know a lot of you have talked to me, so you already know. Just play along.)

• Last Friday, Granny had back surgery. It was longer than expected, but she came through very well. She was released from the hospital on Tuesday and is now at a rehab facility. Mom said that Granny is doing great in rehab. We don’t know how long she will be there yet. Maybe one week, maybe two.
• My little taller, just younger cousin, Jenifer, had her second baby on Tuesday. (It was a busy day for my family.) Christopher Colin came into this world weighing 8lb. 1 oz. and was 20 inches long. His brother was much bigger, but I hear that they look A LOT alike. Mommy and Colin are doing well. Just say a prayer that they will remain healthy. Dad is sick and Mommy has had a cold almost the entire pregnancy.
• I have no new snow to report. It’s kind of strange.
• I need to send out a big congrats to the Heisser’s! They found out today that they are having a little girl!!! Sonya is our 7th grade LA teacher and Jeremy is our tech teacher. They are an awesome couple and will be fantastic parents. : ) Sonya is due in July. (pronounced with a long o)
• I am about 20 pages short of finishing a book I started in January. I’ve been very busy, because I should have knocked it out a long time ago.
• My kids and I discussed gambling today. I was teaching them about probability and next thing I know we were discussing casino games. I rock as a teacher. Don’t judge. They were awake and they were listening. Don’t get me started on how I was able to relate slope-intercept form to get married and having babies. y=mx+b
• I watched Ratouille (or however you spell it) last night. Very cute movie. I enjoyed it. I took it upstairs for the girls to watch.
• My compaq laptop is sitting in a Fed Ex drop box. I managed to miss all of the drop off times in this town. The latest is 4! There is not a store to take it to, so I dropped it in the box and said a little prayer. It will be picked up by 3 tomorrow and on its way to Tennessee. Hopefully, it will be fixed quickly and shipped right back.

I leave you with the only picture that I have of Colin right now. It’s from a phone camera, so it’s a little fuzzy.

I ride goofy!

I have a new love. I went snowboarding for the first time. It was awesome! I’m so freakin’ sore and I know I’m going to feel worse tomorrow. I can’t wait to go again. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to until after my trip to Memphis. : ( It will be great to see everyone, but I’m really going to want to go up a mountain and glide back down. I pretty much had a private lesson, since it was Thursday and most people were working. My instructor rocks!! He was supportive and everytime he praised me, I messed up. If he jokingly told me how horrible I was I did even better. We danced down the mountain and went right back up again. (That’s how they teach you.) The majority of times that I fell were on my own free will. I would get going too fast, start laughing, or just get tired and decide to sit down. Jon, my instructor, would turn around and laugh at me. We made snow angels. We watched other snowboarders. It was very peaceful to sit on top of a huge mountain  on the side of the mountain with the little hills with it snowing. A bunch of my kids were there. They were very polite and stopped to check on me. They really wanted to do a run with me, but I’m no where near their level yet. I need to master getting off the lift first. I’ll get better at this once I put my stomp pad on my board. My back foot kept sliding off when I would stand up.

Oh, and to explain my title. I ride like a lefty. My right foot leads. You either ride regular or goofy. I guess everyone should have known that I would be goofy. lol

Secret Santa Day 1

Well, I didn’t think she was going to make it. I waited all day to hear her voice on the intercom. Finally, at 3:00 she came on announced choir practice after school. She was down to the last 5 minutes of school and was going to receive poop, but she made it. I grabbed a 6th grader out of class and had them deliver the package. The little girl was very sweet as I threatened her to not tell Loree where the gift came from, what grade she was in, or what class she was in right now. Of course, Loree questioned her. The girl didn’t budge, just said she had been sworn to secrecy. : ) This is so much fun!!

Tomorrow’s adventure - I made you a sign. You are sure to look fine and it will warm this heart of mine. : - )   I made a sign that says “My secret santa loves me!” It has little ornaments hanging around the bottom and is made of poster board about 5″x5″.

On the Road again….

It is now Wednesday, the big travel day. I’m headed back to Memphis for turkey and dressing. I’m typing this ahead of time because I know that I am going to be exhausted on Wednesday. Here’s a run down of my agenda for the day….

5:30 AM (ouch!) Head to Denver and hop on a plane.

10:25 Plane departs - grade papers, listen to my ipod, read, write, start a Christmas list

1:40 Plane lands - hug KT, since she is picking me up at the airport.

No idea what I’ll do that afternoon. Hopefully, I’ll eat, visit, rest. Then, I’m headed downtown for a concert on Wednesday night. Should be fun. We’re going to see a band that Jason and I used to support a few years ago. I’m excited to see if they have changed at all.

The only other plans that I have set in stone are eating lunch at Mom’s house and playing with my nieces. : )