A few random things before bed…

I know I haven’t posted all my pics and I haven’t told you about my new ride…believe it or not I’ve been busy.

On the way back from the lovely humid Memphis, I watched (for the first time ever) Batman Begins. It was really good, not at all like the other Batman movies out there with the neon and horrific costumes. Why did I watch this movie? Well, besides the fact that a 20 hour drive is long and boring, The Dark Knight came out on Friday. Let me tell you, I love living in a small town. Bought tickets 10 minutes before it started and walked right in to the theater. Warning: the move is LONG. Very, very long. over 2 hours long. It was awesome. It held my attention the entire time. I’m so glad that I had just watched the first movie, because this one picks up where the first one ended. Loved it! Go see it. I don’t want to say too much b/c I don’t want to spoil it. Go, go, go! Oh, and take your man with you. He’ll appreciate it and you can probably get a chick flick the next round for being so nice and taking him. : )

Guess what I started today? No. I didn’t clean. No. I’m not giving up anything. No, not that either! Fine. I’ll just tell you. school. Not teaching, but attending. The tables are being turned on me. I’m in a Geometry class for a couple of weeks. It will help me become highly qualified and the credits go towards a pay raise. : ) BUT, I actually have homework, projects, and a final. Ugh! I feel like my kids. lol Did I mention that I have to go an hour and a half away from home just to get to school? that I have to be there at 8 AM? that I like to sleep? that I like to sleep late? oh, and that I have to teach high school geometry next year? ME?! I just started to love my Algebra I, but duty calls in another form.

I’ll leave you with a pic….

My hair is short and curly and Lucky is her beautiful self. She has such a natural beauty. : ) and so does her daughter…..

Hey Y’all!

The mountains missed me, but were very welcoming when I returned to Colorado! I have many things to do, and yes, one of them is to update. Here’s the short story…

I moved out of the basement.

Molly ran away from home.

I went to Memphis for a week.

I need to download pictures.

I need to organize my new closets.

I need to post more.

Just want to say thanks to my two bestest friends that keep jacking my blog.

It was really good to see Jana and Lovey. Oh, my goodness. You have no idea just how cute Lovey is until you spend some time with her. Her sweetness cannot be captured with a picture. Jana, I expect her to have a name for me soon. lol Love you both!

At KT’s house, I got some good quality time with Baby Boy. We curled up on the couch and rested. His brother ran around playing with his kong and his daddy seems to be doing well after his surgery. KT and I had some great one on one time together. Unfortunately, she and I did not get a single picture together while I was in town. : (  I think she should just come to Colorado and see me!

I traded in the Explorer Sport for a 4-wheel drive. It’s sweet! I’m thinking of calling her sweetness…

Pictures soon. Email me and harass me if I don’t update in a few days. Lots going on….

Happy Birthday, KT!

Happy Birthday, BFF! I am so lucky to have you as a friend. We’ve only been friends for a couple of years, but you have always been around to support me. We’ve held each other up through so many things. We’ve laughed together. We’ve cried together. We’ve stayed out late. We’ve gotten up early for our garage sale. We’ve shared ice cream. We’ve shared clothes. We’ve shared secrets. I am so happy to have you in my life. I look forward to many, many more years and memories together. I’m sorry that I am not there for this year’s celebration. You’ll have a little something from me when you get back from cheer camp. Ooh, I almost forgot about cheer camp! We’ve done that together, too. : ) I love you! I miss you!

So…

So, the presentation went well. I snapped a little because our faculty was talking a lot and I was ready to get started. (and our boss had already made it very clear that he was tired of it) After a very full day of activities and meetings, we went to another teacher’s house for a gathering. She lives in a quaint cabin down by the river. I fell in love with it. It has character and the relaxing sound of the river in the background. She’s moving to Arizona this summer and another teacher is moving in her place. I’m excited about that because I will still get to visit this awesome place, but it’s very sad to see her go. : (  She is an awesome part of our faculty and will be very hard to replace. While at this gathering I had the best guacamole I have ever eaten. Alejandra came over and brought it. She is so sweet and apparently awesome at making guacamole. I wish I had some right now.

I have 19 more school days! Yeah! Ashley and KT, don’t even rub it in. I started school later than you. I signed up to teach a small class for one week over the summer. I hope I get enough students that want to participate in it. It should be a fun physics class. Yes, I said physics. I love Science.

Everyone say a big congrats to Aunt Barbie! She graduated from Ole Miss today and my mom is throwing a graduation party at her house. (Wish I was there.) I’m very proud of her earning her degree while working full-time and raising her son and husband. Way to go, Aunt Barbie!

I’m thinking about going back to school. I need to get my master’s and I should do it now instead of putting it off. I just need to find a school on-line. The closest university is an hour away. Any suggestions?

Enough rambling for the day…have a good one!

Reliving Vegas and School Stuff

That is what I am doing tomorrow. No, I’m not getting to go for another visit. We are presenting all of our knowledge and learnings to our staff. We have to present for something crazy like 3 hours. We put together a power point and some fun team building things. I hope all goes well. The best part about tomorrow is that breakfast and lunch are both provided for us. I love not having to worry about what is for lunch. And, I love food. I love to eat. I know it doesn’t look like it, but I do. I miss being in Memphis and having such fantastic chefs so close. I could pop in a few different places and have a fabulous meal in no time. Here, not so much. I have only found one restaurant that I love. There are a few others that are okay or even good. It’s just not what I’m used to. I’m adjusting. The restaurant that I love is Juicy Lucy’s. They have awesome steak and seafood. I’ve only eaten there twice. It’s a little pricey, but it is a steakhouse. I should go again soon. Maybe I’ll find someone that wants to take me out for a date. I could suggest it. Of course, if I do that on a first date I might not get asked out again.

Yesterday, I left school on my first break to take my mother’s day present to UPS. (Mom it will be there Monday. I’m sorry and I feel bad, but I refuse to pay $45 to get it there by Friday. I wish I could be there. Love you!) I was feeling bad about not getting Mom’s present to her in time and decided that I needed something good to eat to help lift my spirits. (wow, this post is all about food) I stopped at the local sandwich shop at 10:30 in the morning. We eat lunch early in 8th grade. Luckily, they were selling lunch and just stopped serving breakfast. I decided to be nice to someone else to make me feel better. It works. The guy working, possibly an owner or manager, strikes up a conversation. He is a former teacher and is ready to get back into teaching. And that has nothing to do with what I was saying. Um, okay, I went back to school with my turkey and an Italian for Jamie. He loves that sandwich. I ran in his room and said, “Italian. I’m just going to put it on your desk.” He stood there with his mouth gaping open. I replied with, “Just thought I would make your day.” That was not the right thing to say in front of a group of 7th graders. Jamie said thanks and I left the room. I was about half-way down the hall when I heard the ooh and ahh and cooing from Jamie’s room. I walked back, threw open the door, and told his class to get over it, boys and girls can be friends. They laughed, pointed at Jamie and told me how red his face had just turned. It was really hot in his room and so I pointed it out to his students. They always give him a hard time. So far, he has been accused of having the following teachers as girlfriends: me (but this is actually the first time since football season), Kristen, and Suzanne. I guess in the minds of 7th graders anyone they see you talking to must be your girlfriend, your wife, or your crush. I will have to remember that.

We have three more weeks of school. It’s hard to believe. We have so much going on on. Three work days for our end of the year project. A field trip to the Caverns. (I’m sooo excited about this.) We have a service learning day where we are going to clean up some local parks and help a local church with some yard work. The last week of school (not included in the three weeks above, so that is actually 4 weeks) all of the students come on Monday and Tuesday and then, the 8th graders will come in groups to complete their interdisciplinary project. They will be giving 45 minute presentations on various topics. It will be a long couple of days for me, but I am very excited to see them. They started working on them in January and have many great ideas.

Going to finish watching Gray’s…..or talking to Jason since he just called. Now, I’ll have to watch it on the web.

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. : )

MeMe From Joye

Before I go into my list of things to catch you all up, Joye tagged me for a meme. : ) We know each other from high school and we both teach meddle school! She’s a fun person. You should totally check her out. Oh, and I learned that we both have a female, tortie demon cat.

Here are the rules…(I didn’t make them up.)

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post these rules on your blog.

3. Share six unimportant things about yourself

4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry.

Six unimportant things about me…..

1. I love Hostess chocolate cupcakes. They are so yummy. I always eat two and I eat them upside down. They start to crumble and the icing kind of helps keep them together.

2. I have only owned 3 cars in the past 12 years. My first car was a Grand Am. Part of the bumper was taped together and the head liner was falling when I sold it. My second car was a Sunfire. It was very basic. No power windows or locks. It was a stick shift like my Grand Am. I paid it off and planned to drive it for as long as I could. I did. It got smooshed when I was rear-ended in 2003. I bought my Explorer to replace it and it will be paid off at the beginning of next year. I don’t budget as well as Jana to pay my vehicles of early. ; )

3. I get very annoyed when people ask me if I want a regular or diet drink. Um, hello! Do I look like I need a DIET anything? I didn’t say diet, why would I want a diet? urgh. It’s kind of like my milk, full fat, please!

4. I have taught 7th grade LA, Enriched LA, 6th Science, Enriched LA, Math, a few weeks of SS, and 8th grade Algebra I and Linear Algebra all over the course of 3-1/2 school years. whew! I’ve been busy. I don’t know what was my favorite class. I teach students not subjects. : )

5. I used to fly once in a blue moon. Not anymore! I have been flying a lot more lately.

June - trip to Aspen    October - MEM  November - MEM   December - MEM   March - MEM

April - VEGAS! I know some people fly ALL the time for work, but I never did. You would think I would have a ton of frequent flyer miles. Nope. Different airlines most of the time. I love Frontier and hope that they hang on.

6. I always keep my toes painted. I love to bare foot or in sandals and you have to have pretty toes. Speaking of toes, I have long toes. Ask any of my friends and they will confirm this. I don’t know from where they came, but I sure got them. I’m glad that Spring is finally here so I can pull out my sandals. : ) It was great in Vegas.

Breaking the law, breaking the law

I’m not going to tag anyone since I’m so late in doing this and I haven’t finished reading everyone’s blogs from being out of town. So, if you love me and you haven’t done it…DO IT! or I will come after you with (insert one of your own fears). Not really that might mean I have to jump on another plane and I just can’t afford to do that right now.

Awesomeness First

I asked for a topic and I got a couple. : ) Thanks, everyone! My first post will answer the question…

“Why are your friends Joseph and Ashley so awesome?”

Where oh, where do I start with this couple? I guess I have to start with Ashley because I’ve known her longer than her awesome husband, Joseph. Ashley and I attended the same high school and lived in the same city growing up. Notice I said attended. I knew who Ashley was in high school, but we didn’t run in the same crowds. I, of course, was attached my brother’s friends the first two years and then Stephanie and Jana for the last two years.(Yes, I had been with Jana and Steph since middle school.)  Moving on…after high school I attended State Tech and eventually graduated with an Associates. I ended up at PHG and loved so many things about working there. BUT, I still thought about teaching all the time. Jana convinced me to go back to school. She may or may not have even threatened me. (I know, Jana! ha!) I took her seriously and enrolled at Crichton College. I was in the program that had class EVERY Wednesday night. Guess who was in my group?! ASHLEY!! I remember seeing her and thinking something like oh, great, some girl from high school. At this point in my life I wasn’t ready to revisit my high school days. It turned out to be great. We spent almost every Wednesday night together for 2 years. After all those lectures, projects, heartaches, and joyous events we became really good friends. I remember saving her ass with a few teachers. What are friends for? lol Somewhere in all of this I met Joseph. I realize now that I know Joseph, but I feel like I know him more than I do from Ash talking about him. He’s a fun-loving, beer drinking (and brewing), honest, funny guy. Oh, and he’s bald. (by choice) We had some great times hanging out as a foursome. (Ashley and Joseph. Jason and Me) But, I still haven’t answered the questions as to why  they are so awesome……

A list of things I have in common with these two or just things that make them awesome

• We have a deep love for the UT Vols!
• No matter where we live, we are all proud to be from The South.
• We all have a soft spot for children and dogs and cats.
• We have all recently moved. They moved to STL in May. I moved in August.
• We’ve all attended small colleges.
• We are all very loving and forgiving.
• Joseph and I love beer. : ) He would be so proud of me for trying so many new one

Another reason this couple is soooo awesome is that they love people. This summer before the move to Colorado, I spent a weekend with them in St. Louis. I should really rephrase that…They put up me, my mom, my cousin and her baby in their townhouse. Ashley only let us take them to dinner once. She cooked for us and made sure we had everything we needed. Joseph had school and Ashley had to work, but they were more than willing to open their home to us. We had a great time in St. Louis. I had the opportunity to see them quickly at Christmas. They came by Mom’s house to visit. And, the last time I was home we all met at the walk. Then, they were cool enough to come to KT’s house for the stock the bar party that night. They brought the moonshine. No, Joseph didn’t make it. It was a hit and scared me to even smell it. Joseph and Ashley are two of the nicest people I have ever met. They would do anything for anyone. They have a great relationship together. Yes, they get irritated with each other, but you can always see the love between them. They have always supported me and been true friends. How did I get so lucky to have them in my life?

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Hanging in there…

I’m still sick. I feel much better after spending a day outside in the fresh air. I have pictures and I’ll try to update about that later. Tonight, I’m just too tired to sort and make sure I don’t show any of my kids faces. I hope everyone is doing better than me. For now….

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I can’t believe all of the things we have gone through in 16 years. I’ve known you longer than I have not known you. You passed BFF status so long ago and became my sister. I love you!! (and I love that we are still such dorks together) No middle school picture, but only because I don’t have a scanner. Here’s one from a couple of weeks ago….(sorry, KT, I cropped. I love you, too. It’s just not our anniversary.)

My Trip Part II

Saturday evening was spent at KT’s house. We had a grand party with lots of friends and liquor. It was a stock the bar party, so there was plenty to choose from. It was great to catch up with everyone. (even if I don’t remember having a few pictures taken or something about a video???)

Sunday was Easter and the family always gathers at Mom’s house for lunch. I sat in the dining room with Alison and didn’t move the entire day. I fed her yummy sweet potatoes and we played all day! Aunt Chrissy & Alison

Monday was spent sleeping in a little, not a lot, just a little. I then when to lunch with some friends and went shopping and wandering around downtown. It was fun to have no agenda, but to just walk around and end up on the river. Monday night was a family dinner. Lovey and Alison had a grand time playing together, until they had their first fight. It was so cute to watch. I went home with Marshell and Sara for the evening so I could keep Alison on Tuesday. We had a big day of shopping planned. (or so I thought) We made it to see everyone at Sara’s work and they all told us how beautiful she is and how much she looks like Marshell. She does look like her daddy. I took her to my old job at PHG and visited with some friends. We went home for lunch and a nap, made it to the mall, and then back to pick her mommy up. My last night in town was dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant and then hanging out with KT for about an hour.

I got up EARLY the next morning for my flight. By early, I mean 4 AM. My flight was at 6. It was pretty empty on the flight. I managed to sleep about 20 minutes before we landed and I began my 3 hour drive home. The drive was beautiful and not nearly as scary as the one in December. I was exhausted and took a nice long nap that afternoon. : ) I don’t know when I’ll be back, but KT is trying her best to get me to go to Destin in August…..

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Wish me luck tomorrow! We are taking 100 middle school students to a mountain….putting them in cardboard bobsleds held together with duct tape…and letting them race down. (and they think we are rednecks in the South!) I should mention that the kids engineered the sleds all by themselves after watching the movie Cool Runnings. I will definitely have my camera with me!