Good Time to Start Over...

I was thinking as I drove to a good friends' house in Nashville (which is a very boring drive by the way...) that now would be a good time to start again at trying to be positive and focusing on the good in the days ahead. So...starting on the first...I'll be back! :)

Life is Good...

Ready for the random???

Good weekend...
This weekend was my first weekend off from volleyball in over a month. Finally! I can't say I did anything super exciting...but it was good to not have to spend the gorgeous day inside a warehouse gym!

Good Monday...
Monday definitely felt like Monday...but we only have four work days this week so it was a better Monday than normal...

Good stormy Tuesday...
In case you didn't see on the news, Dallas had some tornadoes touch down today. Everything missed Plano...but not before we spent a couple of hours with our 5th period classes. I'm not saying that I enjoyed that by any means! My 5th period class is my hardest class. Some of them are disrespectful, mean, not self-motivated, and immature. But some of them are just lovely! They actually all have their moments. However, after about an hour and a half I don't think any of us were very lovely. I not-so-quietly reminded them that they could be sitting out in the hallway on the hard floor leaning against a cement wall, but instead they got to sit in my classroom in a chair and play on the computer. The grass is always greener I guess. Anyway...what made Tuesday good was that because of the storm...volleyball practice was cancelled. A night off! Wahoo!
I had a lot of work to get done for some things I volunteered for as well as a lot of grading. Because of our stormy lock-down and now my night off...I got almost all of it finished!

So...so far...it's been a good week!
Life. Is. Good.

Good Spring Break...

I didn't spend spring break quite like I thought I was going to. Instead....I traveled a lot...and enjoyed most of it. Here goes my review of Spring Break.

I headed down to Houston the Friday we got out of school for a volleyball tournament.
The girls played well on Saturday but we didn't play again until Sunday afternoon. So...I got to spend a couple of hours reading and enjoying some coffee and treats before we had to head to the gym.

I got home late on Sunday night, I repacked a suitcase, and headed to bed.
I caught an early flight to the airport Monday morning to head to Arkansas. We didn't know how much longer my sweet Granny Joy had left with us. Long story short...I missed seeing her by about 5 minutes. But...I was able to stay in town until Thursday and have a whole lot of sweet family time. My sister wrote a sweet blog about Granny Joy the other day...try to read it here.
Monday afternoon my cousin's daughter had a track meet, so all (including Papa) went to watch Alex run. Little Sophie and Gabby played on my phone and created this picture...

So...Thursday afternoon I flew back to Dallas at Love Field. A friend picked me up at 5:45 and somehow (well...the Lord had to have just cleared the traffic) we made it to DFW by 6:30 to catch my 7:20 flight to St. Louis. One more volleyball tournament for Spring Break.

We didn't have the best tournament...but the girls had fun and I think we all learned a lot while there.

We got home at about 10:00 on Sunday night. And that, was my spring break.

Good Countdown...

This school year at times feels like it will never end...but then sometimes I feel like it is flying by! We are in the countdown for Spring Break. I don't know why I am not overly excited about Spring Break this year...but I think it might have something to do with the fact that Skyline Volleyball planned out my Spring Break for me. :) I get to head to Houston as soon as school is out on Friday for our volleyball tournament Saturday and Sunday. Then...so that I can see my family just for a little bit, I will head straight to Arkansas (yikes...that's gonna be a long drive...will have to make sure I get some podcasts downloaded to my phone before then!). I can only be there for about a day and a half...as I have to get back for a couple of volleyball practices...then it is off to St. Lois! Three full days of volleyball with my little 10, 11, and 12 year old girls. Crazy!

I have been missing home lately. My grandmother isn't doing very well, and I feel like I'm the only one that hasn't gotten to spend any time with her or my grandpa lately. So...I'll soak it in for the day and a half I get to be there!

Somehow (it must have been the Lord because I couldn't plan like this) two of my three different classes are working on a project that will take them the entire week. So...that only leaves planning for one class all week. Fabulous!

Anyway...it's a good countdown and fun to realize how close my "break" was!

Life. Is. Good.

Good Leap Day...

For some reason I had to write the date a lot today...and it just seemed weird to write February 29th.  But it was a good day...Life. Is. Good.

Nothing too great or anything that stands out...but it was a good day.
I like Wednesdays...

1. It means that I get to wear jeans for the next two days of the work week.
2. I have a scheduled run time with my training partner so I don't have to fight my own rationalizations as to why I'm too tired to go workout.
3. I love the 3 shows I record on Wednesday nights...not gonna let you know what they are...but I like relaxing and watching.
4. We are now on the downhill side of the work week.

Life is good on this Wednesday.

Good Tuesday....

It's was actually a great Tuesday considering how bad Monday was.
I have one class that is extremely tough. There are a few kids who want all of the attention. And because they require more attention, they take away from time I can spend helping the other students...

Long story short...one was extremely bad when he came into class, and eventually led me to taking up his phone, iPod, and headphones. As I was about to take up the paper he was working on, he decided to inform me that he was starting a petition to get me fired. Well...as a teacher we know not to take what teenagers say personally...but that one was a little tough. Maybe students don't really like my class, but I've never had a student want me to lose my job. I emailed his dad and let our Dean of Students know.

This morning I went in and talked to my Dean...she said she could keep him in ISS (in school suspension) for two days instead of coming to my class. My class worked so well...I got to go around and help individuals...I felt like a real teacher with real classroom management. I loved it. Let's just say...today was GREAT!

I was so tired yesterday that I searches for an engineering video for my engineering classes to do today...oh yeah...we watched a video on the engineering of roller coasters.

Life. Is. Good.

Good Sunday...

7 Mile Run...check!
Fabulous Word at church....check!
Great lunch with new and old friends....check!
Good update from my grandfather....check!
Productivity and too much money spent...check!
Clean apartment...check!

Now to finish watching Amazing Race and the Oscars...now that's a great night!
Life is good.

Good Weekend...

The weekend started on Thursday night as I headed south on I35 to Austin. Some fellow teachers and I were heading south to attend a conference about the engineering course that I have been teaching. Engineering...sounds pretty boring...but we actually learned a whole lot, laughed a lot, and of course got a little bored. After spending the day on Friday with a bunch of engineers (or engineering teachers), I headed down to New Braunfels to visit some friends. I love it down there...mainly because those friends are about of low-maintenance as I am.

We went out to dinner at the Gristmill in Greune, TX....So great!

We talked and told stories over dinner for a couple of hours. Then we went back to there house...played a game (Q-Bitz...try it!) while a couple of the girls started filming their "documentary"...I'll let you know when that movie is released. Hee Hee

We then stayed up for a few more hours telling extremely funny stories and convincing one of the girls to write a book on all of the funny stories. There were many hours of laughter!

This morning, we stayed in our pj's, played a few rounds of Survivor Trivia (at which I was terrible!), and finally got ready to go out to lunch at about 1:00. Such a good lazy Saturday.

Life is good...and it was such a good weekend!

Oh...and I still have Sunday to go! :)

Day 189-199...Grateful for a Lot...

So Papa...here's the recap.

I realized today how long this past week has been...and how not that long ago I was at home for Christmas. Gosh...it seems like a long time ago.
Here is a breakdown of how my last 2 and a half weeks have been.
First...just so you know...I hit a stressful time with basketball and club volleyball...so coming off of that, here's my grateful list.

Day 189...Grateful for my good college friends. I got to meet up with some girls from college while I was home for Christmas. I actually crashed their dinner plans...but I loved getting to visit with them. It was so great to get to see them and catch. We laughed a lot. It was good.

Day 190...Grateful for my family. I think my grandpa counted 25 people gathered in his house on Christmas Eve. It's always a fun time...I love visiting with everyone, hearing about the kids, and laughing and eating a lot. I realize that not everyone gets together with all of their extended family each year as we do...and I definitely feel blessed. Somehow we still all fit in one end of my grandparents living room for a picture. Here is the 2011 family Christmas picture.

 

Day 191

Day 191...Grateful for family...again. We spent Christmas day in pajamas, playing with new toys that Caleb received, and one at a time catching a cold from Caleb! It was a great relaxing at home.

Day 192...Grateful for Dad! My dad's birthday is on New Years Eve....Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

Day 193...Grateful for a New Start. A New Year means a new start...not that I feel like I need to start anything over...it just always kind of feels like you are turning and page, breathe a sigh of relief and start again on a brand new year. I'm grateful for that new start.

Day 194...Grateful for hot water. My hot water heater went out on the 31st. Because of the holidays, most people, other than teachers, were off on the first and the second of January. So, my apartment complex' office was closed. So...I submitted the maintenance request to be taken care of on that Tuesday. Well, somehow the message got sent to the maintenance guy that it was my heater. I received a voice-mail explaining how I need to turn the heater up higher than the temperature in my apartment in order for the heater to come on. Oh....THAT'S how it works. Duh! I called him back. He said he was going to fix it. I cried when I felt the water the next morning. Ice cold. Well, I immediately called the apt office...and needless to say...I had hot water when I got home. I was so thankful!

Day 195...Grateful for the fire department. It was actually the same night that I got hot water back...someone on the other end of my building broke the sprinkler on the walk-way. Fire alarms going off all over the building. We were only standing outside in our pajamas for about 10 minutes before 2 fire trucks showed up. Thank you fire men.

Day 196...Grateful for a sick day. I caught Caleb's cold while at home for Christmas. I couldn't shake it. Finally...the sinus head ache was too much. A sub picked up my sub request and I got a sick day! Steroid shot. Antibiotics, Steroid pack. A day to relax. And now I feel SO MUCH BETTER.

Day 197...Grateful for a Razorback win! I love watching the hogs. I love getting to tease all my students at school about how good my team is this year. Also, during the game, one of my former students posted something on Facebook about the hogs (WPS or something like that). Two of them kept doing that each game day. So I commented back and asked why they cheer for the hogs. Here's the dialogue.
Student: WPS
Me: Why do you and --- cheer for the Hogs?
Student: --- went to Arkansas because of you and I didn't go there because of my Multimedia teacher.

We continued to comment back and forth throughout half-time. I was the Multimedia teacher and they were some of my favorite students. It was fun to hear from them and then end the evening with a Razorback win.

Day 198...Grateful for a good run. I'm doing a half-marathon training program with a friend. We are doing a run-walk program for the Dallas Rock and Roll Half Marathon. We are only on week 3...and I was only able to do one of the runs during the week because I wasn't feeling well. However, Saturday morning we had a fabulous 4.5 mile run. We both felt great and I felt great afterwards.

Day 199...Grateful for Scott. I mentioned stress with Club Volleyball. The girl that I was supposed to be "assisting" on a team has been sick...really sick. She hasn't been there yet and we started the first week of December. I didn't want to be head coach, the parents didn't want me to be head coach (only because they love Amber so much), and they kept hoping Amber would be back each time they showed up to practice. Well, they had Scott take over the team for now until Amber gets back. Scott didn't know any of the kids or parents and is a great head coach. The girls were excited to have a "named head coach" and so were the parents. We had our first tournament this weekend. The girls played great for their first tournament...and Scott was great. There is no way that I want to be the head coach...and Scott is doing a great job with the girls. I'm pretty grateful for his help.

And there is my super long update on my last few weeks.