tiredness!

I wish you could have seen me at the laundromat last night. It was
quite the specticle. I wore my duckie pajama bottoms and a very red
Wisconsin shirt. By that moment in my day I just wasn't caring enough
to send my very best. I had been running all over town looking for
fabric for my halloween costume and was frustrated because it was
already eight when I got to my favorite place. That was sarcasm by the
way.

I did not sleep nearly enough. I wish you could have seen me trying to
get ready this morning. I am sure that was a clumsy specticle. Let's
hope I will wake up soon and have a less of a groggy time.

--

Done!

I beat the lines and voted today. I bet you want to know who I voted for. Too bad, I don't tell people who I voted for. Well, except for the stranger in Church this Sunday who I told. Other than that, I don't tell people. I don't know if it is something I learned from my father or if it is actually me being scared of what all the other people around me will think because I may have voted against their candidate.

The days are going fast. Today just flew by. I am tired and I hurt my knee starting a new exercise program today. Silly. Hopefully, in the morning it will hurt less. Ouch. I think I am getting old.

Well, that is all I have for today.

Crazy Eights

One of my friends posted this today and seeing I am very uncreative today I thought I would follow suit.
8 favorite TV shows:
1.Hello...THE OFFICE
2.Wings
3.My Name is Earl
4.Cold Case
5. CSI(the original)
6. Chuck
7. Little People, Big World
8. House

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Went to church
2. Took a nap
3. Watched TV
4. Read blogs
5. Read Scriptures
6. Ate fabulous Pork Ribs
7. Talked to my mom on the phone
8. Left a message on my sister's phones...p.s. Andi I totally am expecting a call or at least an email!

8 things I look forward to:
1. The Office every week
2. Thanksgiving dinner
3. A trip to Manilla
4. Halloween and Trick or Treating
5. Carrie Underwood in Concert
6. Visiting Wisconsin in Dec.
7. Getting letters from my Grandma
8. Marriage

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Red Robin
2. Gandolfo's
3. Goodwood BBQ
4. Nicoitalia(even though I have been forced to boycott them!)
5. Bombay House
6. Burgers Supreme
7. Sam's Pizza
8. Apollo Burger

8 Things on my Wish list:
1. A trip to England
2. A wedding
3. Children
4. Grad School
5. Getting out of debt
6. Becoming a better cook
7. Wii
8. A house someday.

8 people who should do this tag: Erin, Morgan, Sarah, Caleb, Andi, Anne, Kent, Megan, and MBC
That is if you have a non-creative day. No pressure.

Pizza, Alisha, True Aggies, and Pumpkins. What a Good Life!

Went up to Logan this weekend for The Pumpkin Walk. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the fun. I made MB and Alisha got to my favorite pizza joint as always. The Factory is superb. We then went to the Pumpkin Walk. I love that; I guess that is why I go every year! We then hung out at our hotel room on campus and waited for midnight to watch all the Utah State students try to become True Aggies by kissing somebody by the "A" next to Old Main. It was a fun thing to watch. I am not yet a True Aggie. Maybe one day!

What else? This weekend I kinda just hung out in my apartment for the rest of it. It is Monday morning and I have no motivation to get in gear. I should be leaving but am still in my slippers. I guess I better get to it. Good thing we have no students today. I do not have my A Game on today! Sorry this is a bit shorter. I hope you all are getting educated and are going to vote next week. I am excited to see what will happen. History will truly be made. My vote doesn't really count in Utah. Hopefully in your state, if you are out of Utah, people are more educated and don't just vote straight party. I hate that! Enough of my complaining! Later.

Whatev!

You may or may not know but my life quote has been "Whatev" lately. Whatever happens, happens. You just never know! It is kind of a reminder to me to not take things too seriously and to just enjoy and live life. My wonderful friend, Marla, sent me this amazing mug because it reminded her of me. We have matching mugs, which is a cool thing, if you ask me! Marla is one of my favorite people on the planet and it isn't just because she sends me cool presents. She is always so easy to talk to. We can go weeks, months, or even years(that has never happened by the way) without talking and it is like we never missed a beat! I love that about her. (We even just talked for an hour on the phone tonight!) She is one of the few friends that I still have from high school and I think that is pretty special. Thanks for being awesome Marla.

Today was a day. After posting earlier, I taught some more and then put some grades in(the term ends Friday). After school, I worked out then went home and grilled some amazing marinated pork. YUM! Seems like time is flying this week. Good but at the same time I always ask myself: What have I done with my life this week? Hard to answer that when it is going so fast you can't even remember having a moment to yourself because it goes so fast. I wonder why some days drag and some just go by quickly. Weird life.

Well, have an awesome day or night depending on when you are reading!

Good Kids!

I just wanted to point out how much I love my third hour class.  We have been testing at school this week, so our third hour Leadership class is an hour and a half long.  (I could never do the block schedule!)  It is long and with my kids who I already lose patience with, it can seem very,very, very long.  Today though, they were really easy and a few of them helped create the door decoration you will see in the picture.  Didn't they do a superb job?  I thought so.  I also thought you might like to see a picture of me in my office wearing a hat.  It is Red Ribbon Week(a.k.a. drug awareness week) and we get to wear hats all week.  I love it.  Not having to deal with my hair is awesome and I am always in a hat outside of school anyway!

I haven't been up to much this week.  I did carve another pumpkin with Janette on Monday night and have been putting some of my DVDs on my Ipod as I have figured out how.  I am a little angry about the fact that you have to keep all the files on your computer that you want in your Ipod or they will be deleted the next time that you sync the Ipod with the computer.  That is the only lame thing I have found so far!

Well, I better get off and grade some tests for Health.  They are having a make-up day at the end of class and these tests from forever ago need to be on their grades.  Go me and my procrastination once again!!!

Later,

A

P.S. I always feel like signing these posts because really it is often like I am writing each of you a letter!

Vegas Photos!

Here are some pics of the fun this weekend!

What a fun weekend. Now I will need a few days of rest to get back in the swing of things. I got to hang out with Alyssa, Leslie and of course the Hageys. We had fun "gambling" which meant I played the crane game and the boys rode rides at Circus Circus. Morgan and Derek are so good to me. They were great hosts and I am glad I have such a fun place to stay in Vegas. I had a hard time leaving the boys, Henry and Spencer. They are so cute. It was so nice to have people so excited to see me awake in the morning. I could use a cheering section like that everyday. It was also nice to see the Belagio Fountains a few times. Morgan and I went to see it again last night!

The Browns(Alyssa's Family) were also good to me. They fed me great food and let me play Guitar Hero. They also let me make a huge mess of their kitchen counters!

I was so glad to see everybody.

The drive home went quickly which was nice. I only made a few stops including stopping to see Janette's Mother's grave. I have always loved cemeteries! So peaceful.

Well, I am tired. Must go sleep. I haven't slept too much this weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a long day I foresee!

Last Full Day In Vegas

Well, today was it. I got to spend more time with Alyssa and Alexa and the Browns. They were so nice to have me. They made sure there was good food and times. Alyssa and I went to watch Alexa at both gymnastics and soccer. If you have not seen three year olde do these things, you need to. They are so cute and funny. Then we went to look for Halloween costumes and bought pumpkins to carve. We played a little Guitar Hero again then got to work on the pumpkins. After we had fun creations, I headed back to Morgan and Derek's where I had fab tacos...yum! Morgan and I then went to see the fountains at Belagio again so she could see them in the dark. I love those fountains if you hadn't figured that out by now. We then came home and "watched" a movie(I fell asleep like often happens). I am so tired; being a tourist is tough work!!!

whole lotta stripin' going on

spent most of the day on the strip with Morgan and derek and the cutest boys on the planet. We Did some shopping and saw the fountains. Do know that there will be a lot of pictures and one cool video to come. That is the only down to my toy, it does not have uploading capability. See Morgan's blog again for pics. She is being a dilegent blogger while I have been in town. Henry said something cute at McDonald's today while eating a Sunday. He said: "mom my stomach is cold" cute.

Tonight I am staying with the Browns. You remember Alyssa and Alexa. Alyssa used to teach Math with me at Independence. Her family is cool and nice. Too bad Alyssa had some sort of alergic reaction after dinner. We did not get nearly enough Guitar Hero in. We did get to play hide and seek with Alexa which was hilarious. Have I mentioned that I love kids? Three year olds are so cute and funny.

I have no concept of time. I thought it was Saturday today. I am glad it is not because vacation always goes too fast. Well off to sleep I have some soccer and gymnastics to watch tomorrow.

P.S. Just for reference the ruben I had there other day came from Jersey Mike's not Jersey Joe's

much too late but it is vacation after all!

One a.m. Two a.m. Utah time. Sleepy. We had fun just hanging out today. We played outside with the cute boys, Henry and Spencer. We also had fab sandwiches at Jersey Joe's. I do not know Joe but he makes a good Reuben and those are hard to come by out West. While Derek was working, we took the boys to the Casino. Ok, so we took them to a casino but to the kid friendly part of Circus Circus. Henry had a fun time riding the kid rides and playing games. I got in on the action and played the crane game and hit the jackpot. I had mentioned to Morgan two things I needed to do in Vegas: see the fountains at The Belagio and get a large beach ball for my girl's PE class to play volleyball with. Well as the universe would have it there were these cool balls in the crane game. I won three on five tries. To see the fun pics, check out Morgan's blog, the link is in the side of this page.

I also got to see Leslie from Wisconsin. She is so sweet and her birthday is Sat so Morgan and I baked her a cake. Granted the cake was a little dry because of a lack of eggs but it was good. It was so nice to see Les again she is so cool. It is also awesome to hang with Derek and Morgan and the boys. They are so fun and nice to me. We are going to play on the strip tomorrow. Good times!!

I am also going to spend tomorrow night with Alyssa which I am looking forward to. We are going to play Guitar Hero and have a sleep over. I don't think you ever grow out of those. Now off to dream about the soothing sound of the slots. :)

Viva Las Vegas!!!

I have made it to Vegas. It is officially Fall Break. I am getting better at typing on this new gadget. I was glad to have my Mom congratulated me on my purchase. One of my friends judges me on my buying. She just doesn't understand me and that is ok. This is a toy that I know I will use every single day. I am staying with Morgan and Derek and Morgan was picking on me for playing with my "iPhone." Silly it is an itouch. My Students also called it a phone and told me to put my phone away because they are not allowed in class. Silly kids thinking the adults have to follow the rules! I thought it was so handy to use my Touch to take attendance during PE today. I can totally write this off as a business expense now, right? I think I need to get a life if I am so excited about a piece of electronics.

I loved driving into Sin City. I am a sucker for the lights of the strip. I also enjoyed my In-N-Out Burger for dinner. I love burgers lately. I am excited to have some fun with friends. I am also looking forward to the Belagio fountains. I have been here enough to be over the Strip, but I always love the Belagio experience.

Well, I better get some sleep. I LOVE Fall Break!!

Spoiled Brat

Me and my new Ipod Touch. Notice that it is actually on my blog site.

So I caved in and bought an Ipod. Say what you will about me seeing I have complained a lot about Apple and their lack of compatibility. I guess their amazing marketing ploy worked on me. I did get a great deal on it and am glad I bought it even though I know it will now consume my time now that I have to get all my music onto it which will be challenging with my compatibility issue. Well, not mine but my other mp3 player's. I told a friend last night that I am jealous of myself now like I have been of the guys at work who all have Touches. It is so cool. I am posting this on my new toy. I know you are impressed. Just hold your jealousy! :)

Winter Already?

We got this cool tile from our retreat. I like it!

Hi. It is cold here right now. I have had the heater running the past few days. It is weird. Mentally, it is not time to be cold yet. Luckily, this little storm will be moving through and we will warm up again next week. I am not quite ready for winter, but it was pretty to see some snow this weekend.

Friday night I went with my friend, Kerri, to our Relief Society's retreat up in Kamas Utah. On the way we got some wonderful shakes at Granny's in Heber City. We got there just in time too, because they were closing ten minutes after we got there. We then headed to the cabin where the retreat was. Luckily, we found one of the members of our bishopric who was also lost because we could not find our way. The directions we had cut off about five steps in the directions. We got to the gate(it was like a gated community of cabins, odd) about five minutes before they would have locked us out. NICE. It was a nice time in the cabin. I got to know a few more of the girls in my new ward. The Relief Society President talked for a bit as well as the wives of two of the counselors in the bishopric during a little spiritual program. It was a great message about having a good attitude based on the scriptures in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 in the Bible, which reads: Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God concerning you." That is a great bit of counsel and I really have been thinking about this concept a lot lately. Really, we are here to "rejoice." I truly believe that our Heavenly Father has put us here on this earth in order to find joy and be happy. I also know that this does not come unless we decide to be happy. I have noticed in my life that attitude is indeed everything. If I choose to have a good day, then I will have one. If I chose to look on the positive, then life is good. If not, the opposite happens. I am not saying that I am perfect at this but so far this year, I have been having a good time with my students because I have adjusted my attitude a bit. Being thankful is also a part of this. Dwelling on what we don't have breeds negativity. Being happy with what we have and being thankful for the small stuff helps us stay positive. It was nice to have this reminder while up in the beautiful mountains of Kamas.

When we woke up the next morning, there was snow gently falling. It actually was very pretty. I was only worried about the driving in the snow so we didn't stay too much longer. It wasn't too bad to drive in but it was predicted that there would be a foot of snow in that area later that day. It was weird to get the snow brush out and I don't know why. I guess it isn't too strange for snow to come in October. Maybe time is just going really fast for me and mentally I am back in August. Luckily, the snow did not stick here in Provo. I can handle cold but I need a little while more to mentally prepare for snow! Like Kerri said though, I really need to find the positive in snow. I guess it is nice because it actually brings us water in the spring and helps us not have droughts next summer and it really is pretty to see it falling! I guess you can find the positive in everything. I will have to work on it to find the positive in the little leak I found in my hot water closet this morning. That is still hard. It is okay though because it wasn't too bad. Just a little water on my floor and vacuum. It could have been worse I guess.

This next week of school is only three days long. We have Fall Break on Thursday and Friday. I am heading down to Vegas to hang with some friends. I am looking forward to a fun break. It will be relaxing and needed!

Well, I hope you are having a fabulous Sunday. I am off to get ready and go to church.

I should be sleeping Alice right now.

Thursday. Special Day. The day The Office is on. It was an okay show. Kind went to fast if you ask me. I hate when it is only thirty minutes long.

I am tired. I should be sleeping. I don't want to sleep. Weird. Usually, I am good at going to bed. Not tonight. I am writing very short sentences. Peculiar.

I don't have much else to say, so this is it. I hope you had a great Thursday.

If you really knew me...

I did this during third hour today.  I made my students do a silent "If You Really Knew Me..." for two minutes and this is what I typed:

IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME….

 You would know that I struggle with my third hour .

You would know that I get tired of yelling at them

You would know that for a while I gave up on "challenging"  them because they complained too much.

You would know that I know it is more than just not wanting to share feelings but that it is hard to share feelings.

You would know that I haven't been living up to the challenges I made for myself in July at Next Step, but I really want to turn around

You would know that I have great days when I decide to have great days.  Attitude is everything.

You would know that I really want all of my students to succeed but I don't know how to do it and that makes me really sad and disappointed.  What is the secret answer?

You would know that I am glad I was able to do if you really knew me because I missed it.

If you really knew me you would know that I hate to cry in front of people and it is always easier to keep that in and be tough but I have learned that that doesn't help me.  I need to cry sometimes.  I wish we would teach people that it is okay so that when people were crying they wouldn't be judged as weak or weird.

You would also know that I wish more people around me would actually be more real about their emotions because I know there are people in my life who are hurting real bad but won't reach out for help and I want to be there for them but it is hard when they won't reach out and admit that there are things that hurt.

You would also know that this has been the best start of a school year I have ever had because I have chosen to make it good.  Each day I try to figure out who I can reach out to and help and I LOVE all of my students,  even those ones who get under my skin and make me want to throw things!  I am so glad I have found this key to make it through every day because life is hard but so worth it!  Yipee!!!!!

Happy Birthday, MOM!

It is my Mom's birthday today. I am very glad she was born! This is not only because if she were never born then I would have not been born, but it also has to do with all the many ways in which she is awesome.

1. My mom would do anything for anybody. People wouldn't even have to ask her for help. She knows when people need her.
2. She is hilarious. Case in point: see picture from San Francisco above. She was very nervous about my friend and I riding on the side of the Cable Cars. We decided to take her picture while the Trolley was not moving. Guess what happened as soon as my friend was taking this picture? Yep, movement. Funny story.
3. She is one of the kindest people I know. Everybody who meets her falls in love with her and her kindness.
4. She has made me into who I am today. I am so much like her and that makes me happy. Each time I look at my hands I think of her.
5. She supports me in anything I do. She always writes nice notes about me in cards. She also listens to me and gives great advice and even loves me if I don't take the advice!

There are hundreds of other reasons but I am tired. Sorry for that!

Today there was a hilarious story from my eighth hour Health class. We are learning about Stress Management so today was a day to relax. We were doing mental imagery and "going on vacation in our heads" as I would prompt them to think of different things. You know, the classics like the beach and palm trees. Anyway, in the middle of this I hear snoring. I tried to keep my composure and keep the rest of the class relaxed when the snoring got so loud I just couldn't keep from laughing. So I did which made everybody lose focus. We didn't know who was snoring because two students were in the area where the snoring was coming from. We finally found out who it was as one of the student said: "Shut up guys!" as we were laughing at him. He then said: "This was the best Health class ever!" He also thought class was over and tried to leave with seven minutes left. It was funny to see him so disorientated. Hilarious. You may not find this funny, but it made my day.

Well, it made my day beside hanging with my friend Mel and her baby. That baby is one cute kid. I like babies. It is fun to see them grow up! It is still a bit weird to think my friends have kids. Fun though! Check our her blog on the side of my blog under Melanie and Michael.

I like Fall!

My house is 60 degrees. This makes me very happy inside. I slept so well last night with the cooler weather. I love Fall; it makes me happy. Too bad it has to be followed by winter!

Today was good. Went fast...that is always good!

What else?

I went grocery shopping and watched Chuck. Thrill of the day!

I hope you had a great Monday. I don't have much else.

To Be or Not To Be?

Even though The Packers have lost the past three games, I am still a fan. Even though Brett Farve has been doing very well with the Jets and even had 6 touchdown passes in one game(a personal record), I do not like him. I am one of those fans that thinks he is an idiot and made a whole lot of drama injuring his image and The Packers. So when asked: To be or not to be a Packer fan? The answer is: TO BE! How many seasons in my life have The Packers had a losing season? More than I can remember them having winning seasons, actually. I have stuck around for 31 years, I think I can make it another season!

Well, enough about The Packers. I don't know what else to write about. I guess I will give you a run down of the weekend. Friday, I went to burger Friday with friends from work. Yummy Red Robin. Then I went for a Gallery Stroll of downtown Provo with some friends. The highlight wasn't so much the art as it was the random grills for roasting marshmallows. We had a fun time roasting and playing with fire. I then went to my friend Christine's house and had a sleep over with her and her five year old, Aiden. We slept in a tent in their front room. I really didn't sleep much with five year old foot in my back but it was a good adventure. We had pancakes for breakfast and then I went home to watch General Conference for church. It was good but I was pretty much sleepy and didn't' get a whole lot out of it. Good thing they publish the talks in a week online. Check it out at lds.org.

I headed up to Sandy last night and have been hanging out with the Bills since. We watched Ironman last night and got Astro Burger for dinner. Then we just hung out today and watched the Sunday parts of General Conference. I was a bit more awake today even though I was woken up several times last night by Sarah's miniature donkeys that were in the back yard. She bought them yesterday and took them home today. They are cute and we came up with lots of fun names for them. One could be Jack the other Whoop. Funny. We had lots but I probably shouldn't write them all and corrupt all of you. Right now we are watching Stranger Than Fiction, a wonderful movie. If you have not seen it, you should. I love Will Farrell. He is amazing. I don't want to think about going back home and the weekend being over. It goes to fast. Only 10 days until Fall Break, though. Vegas here I come soon!

I Survived

We had a field trip for our Juniors today.  I survived.  It was very stressful because I am the Group Leader of my team of teachers for Juniors.  I did a lot of the getting ready for the trip.  Like setting up the lunches, which was the most stressful.  We did it.  

I was so scared because these are the same kids we tried to take on a field trip to a movie as Freshmen two years ago.  Well, they stole candy and made a mess so we had to take them back to school without finishing the movie.  I think this is where my anxiety came from; I was very worried they were going to again prove to the public mind that our students cannot do the right thing, that they are immature and cannot behave or learn.  They did a wonderful job of doing what they needed to.  They may have even earned another field trip for this year.  Yipee!

I am tired.  I am glad it is over and that I get to go to Burger Friday tonight.  I also get to have a sleepover with my 5 year old friend, Aiden.  We are camping out at his house with his mom.  Should be a good time!

Chow!

Thursday Morning.

Creative title, eh?

I woke up and decided I should write. Last night I thought about blogging but it was ten-thirty and I was semi-conscious. I guess I am again semi-conscious, but I feel a little more coherent right now.

Not much happened yesterday. I did have a fun time in a co-workers classroom after school eating a fabulous Mexican pastry. Shule always hooks me up with this great treat. She found out I like them and now always thinks to buy me one whenever she is in a Mexican bakery. Yummy stuff. We took some crazy pictures. I hope you enjoy them. They are silly.

Well, today is going to be a long day. Parent-Teacher conferences are from 4-8pm. Makes for a long day. I do get to leave to play softball in the middle. I am lucky and feel kinda silly that my principal actually is letting me go. She is so nice to me. She said I should go because it is something I am passionate about. Nice!

Well, off to the long day. Later