Spooky Season

 Tomorrow is officially spooky season. 

Did you know that you can watch a different Treehouse of Horrors each day of October and not repeat one single episode?

You’re welcome. Enjoy watching. 

Disney+ for the win. I started early. Don’t tell anybody. 

When the NFL Breaks Your Heart...

 Well, every football season brings the risk of heartbreak.  Being a Packer fan can be a rough go.  Today was a rough go.  I couldn't watch past halftime(although they did make an amazing comeback but fell short in the second half).   

But guess what I discovered?  The RugbyPass TV app.  And guess what?  You don't have to pay a million dollars to watch rugby like you do have to catch all of the NFL games.  And if you are like me and watched the women's sevens in the Olympics, you either learned how cool rugby is or were reminded of how much you love rugby(that is me).

You probably have heard of Ilona Maher.  She is one of the amazing beasts who plays on the USA Women's Sevens Rugby Team.  She also is competing in Dancing with the Stars this season. She is not playing in the WXV tournament that is happening right now.  She has said she may one day play 15s but hasn't committed to it quite yet.  But she will tell you that you should be watching this tournament right now.  She is right.  It is fun to watch.  WXV, by the way, stands for Women's 15.  It is a longer game, sevens is only 7 minute halves, 15s is 40-minute halves.  There are only seven players on sevens, in 15s there is 15 players per side.  This tournament is a qualifier for The Rugby World Cup which will be played in England next year.  

Anyway.  Free rugby for the next three weekends, what more can you ask for?  Especially, when pro football is lame and expensive to watch.

So, do yourself a favor and download the RugbyPass TV app.  USA played today(lost to the #1 ranked England team) and they play France next Saturday.  

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Happy Spooky Season.  

We got out the decorations today and date night took Reuben and I to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. 

If you liked the first movie, You will enjoy the second one.  With both Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton returning and giving true to the original performances is brilliantly delightful.   Add Jenna Ortega, who can be typecast in Emo-Macabre roles forever, and Catherine O'Hara who is hilarious in any role and it is complete.  

I highly enjoyed the movie and I now give you permission to start watching Halloween movies daily. I will be watching one of the 32 Treehouse of Horrors from the Simpsons daily and it will fill my soul with goodness.  The Nightmare Before Christmas will also play in my house soon, as well as the Hocus Pocus movies. Halloween is the best.  Just like fall is the best and it goes much too fast.  Enjoy the season my friends.

Highlight of the Campout

 

This ride was the highlight of camping and what made putting up with sassy teens worth it. 

I wrote a little more haiku about it when the kids were forced to as we ate lunch in Red Canyon:

Riding in Red Canyon

Zooming down the trail

Past trees, arches, and hoodoos

Only three crashes. 

Truly…what a ride!

Bryce Canyon School Campout

 I am thankful that I was chosen to be one of the teachers to go on our school’s fall campout. (Even if some students attending are knuckleheads without ears that function…so being paid to go helped) 

One of the good selfies

One of the mishaps of the trip was the size of the tent that was packed for me. The cot I was excited to sleep on stuck out of it by about two feet. Luckily, I am not too old and sleeping on the ground was only mildly unpleasant, mainly because we were gone two nights and the second night I was so exhausted from hiking that I slept through the night and didn’t notice the uncomfortable accommodations. 

Day one was filled with beauty. It is fun to see my students experience new things. Most of them rarely get the chance to leave town and they definitely don’t go to National Parks. I’m reminded of how fortunate I am and how I am building a very blessed childhood for my own children with all of our adventures.

Here is the beauty of day one:

Bryce Canyon is Utah’s hidden gem and less visited than the other National Parks here. Most people think of Arches and Zions when they think of Utah and miss the majestic formations that Bryce has to offer. 

The Navajo Loop Trail was only 1.3 miles but the views just kept getting better and better and it really worked my body. I may have had to stop 100 times climbing out of the formations to remember how to breathe, but with the whole 40% less oxygen at the altitude we were hiking I think it’s justified. Of course the teen boys who hiked it beat my group by 20 minutes but they didn’t see as much as we did as they sprinted through the loop. 

We also went back into the park after an afternoon rest to learn about photography and Rainbow Point and Natural Bridges did not disappoint. 

This tree is the tree of the day(besides the one at camp that held my towel so nicely) because it seems to embrace every fall color all at once:

It’s backdrop also wasn’t so shabby:

The frustrations of a tiny tent and children who don’t use the listening function of their ears definitely didn’t overshadow how rad being here was!

And seriously, you should come visit me in Utah. I’ll show you how pretty it is! 

A Typical Day in the Life of…

 What does my day look like most workdays?

1. 5:55am alarm

2. 6:05 lay in bed until I really have to go to the bathroom. While laying, do Wordle, Connections, and Tiles puzzles on NewYork Times’ app. 

3. 6:30 bathroom. 

4. 6:40 ride peloton and become extremely sweaty. 

5. 7:15 cook eggs for me and Ellis. Sometimes Zarah. Make lunches. Scrape stuck eggs out of pan.

6. 7:30 shower, slap makeup on face, pick out shirt of the day, brush teeth. 

7.  8:00 gather all the things. Lunch, keys, bike battery. 

8. 8:10 ride bike to work. This also could be 8:15 when I like to live on the edge and almost be late. 

9. 8:19 park bike, put lunch in refrigerator, get computer, go to weight room. 

10. 8:25 weight conditioning class. Lift weights, remember how old I feel, chat with teens. 

11. 9:19 participation skills class. Either walk, referee a sport, meditate, grade papers while encouraging students to work on said papers. 

12. 10:13 advisory class. Make students fill out grade check that I probably won’t grade, take good students on a bike ride, or help kids pass my class. 

13. 10:55 Fitness for Life. Same as 11 but different papers on Fridays. 

14. 11:48 lunch. Stare at office wall or do some task needed for teaching that day. Eat lunch while either tolerating faculty lounge or by avoiding it by eating in one of our office staff’s office. 

15. 12:21 bike class. Either go for a ride or work on bikes. 

16. 1:15 health class. Be extremely off on tangents while discussing various health topics. 

17. 2:06 prep hour. Stare at wall. Be distracted. Attempt to prepare for the next day. 

18. 3:14 phone call from son. Pack up and head home

19. 3:20 meet son at home. Make snacks. Remember it’s time to pick other kid up from choir or orchestra. 

20. 3:44 school pickup. A less stressful version. 

21. 3:50 home. More snacks. Get ready for dance and sometimes soccer practice. 

22. 4 or 4:45 drive to dance, or hang out being excited it is one of the rare days we don’t have to drive to dance. 

23. 6:10 or 7:10 home. Dinner. Water garden. Stare at wall. Fold laundry. Read. 

24. 9 or later bedtime. Fight with children to stop fighting and go to bed, say goodnight to husband and be envious that he just gets to go to bed  

25. 10 or later wake up on uncomfortable ikea chair, brush teeth, pajamas, bed. 

Rinse and repeat. 

Dancing with the Stars

 

Picture from @dancingwiththestars Instagram 

This show has been on TV for 33 seasons. I have watched a total of zero seasons.

…until this season.

Why?

Because I like rugby.  I was reminded of that during this last summer Olympics.

I was introduced to this beast:

Ilona Maher. Picture from her website: www.ilonamaher.com

 I didn’t know how delightful it is to watch the show. I’m learning. 

More to come on Ilona. 

100 Days of Blogging

 Well. There are 100 days left in the year. I have a friend who reached out on social media and said: “What will you commit to do?”

A few things went through my head. The craziest? Blog for 100 days. I have done a month of blogs before but this may be insane. 

Posts don’t have to be always long or always poignant even though that is where my mind always goes when doing a consecutive post rally. 

So, here is post #1. Who’s reading? Who has ideas for subject matter? Comment please. I love to hear from y’all.

Here is a picture taken to make me look like a writer.
Maybe one day it will be on the dust cover for a novel.