My Teams

Alan got me a kindle for my birthday. Funny how I can make time to read now that I have a fun little electronic to do it with.

But in case you don't think of Alan as the type who can be frivolous or spontaneous, get a load of what he was trying to arrange for my birthday. The Braves have made it to the playoffs, and their first series started in San Francisco. Since SF is one of my favorite places, he was trying to plan a weekend out west to watch the Braves play the Giants. How cool would that have been? But they weren't playing on Saturday and having to take off on Friday would have been bad timing for me with that whole teaching thing.

Still, what a cool thought. At least we can say we've gone to a Braves game in Atlanta before Bobby Cox retired. So that makes two sports-related items I can scratch off my to-do list: saw the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was still playing, and saw the Braves a couple years ago. Now it's time to see a Cowboys game. Hard to believe I've lived this close all these years and have never gone. Okay, so I've talked myself into it - I'm adding that to my list.

Dig it

I wish everyone could experience a varsity girls volleyball game like the ones around here, just once. I think you'd be a volleyball fan after the experience. The crowd is wild, the noise is deafening beyond belief, and the action non-stop. There's also a huge following of teenagers that show up, some complete with painted bodies and costumes, and they keep things going as well. But the real entertainment is how amazing these girls play. If you live in West Texas, you're crazy if you don't attend at least one Tuesday night game.

Between the excitement of the Cowboys game Monday night and the volleyball game last night, I'm not even missing the Braves right now.

If you hate the Cowboys

Sucks to be you. ha!

One perk to living in West Texas....

...is Friday night football. It's homecoming for the Midland Lee Rebels, so that's where we'll be tonight.

Marathon Update

Alan just finished 21 miles in 3:09:47. He left around 4:55 this morning. The race is three weeks from tomorrow and he's right on target!

By the way, if you're looking at my posted time and thinking that doesn't jive, that's the time I clicked "new post" and not the time I published. Good ole Blogger...

TotaLEE cool

Bailey made the freshman volleyball team this week, and they're wasting no time. The first scrimmages are today, followed by a couple more tomorrow. I'm trying to curb my enthusiasm, but it's pretty cool to me that she's playing for the Lee Rebels.

The headaches are getting out of control. I've had to make sure that I get as much accomplished in the mornings because I know I'll have a headache shortly after lunch. At least it's predictable and therefore I can plan. But seriously, what is up? I don't want to pay for a comprehensive doctor's exam - I simply don't believe they'd be able to figure anything out or worse, that they'd tell me I'm allergic to EVERYTHING. Mostly though I just don't have faith in doctors around here. I guess I've become cynical, maybe unfairly, but I only have to look at my mother and her years of procedures, surgeries, and prescription drugs to believe that some doctors appear to be figuring things out as they go. I want them to know their business.

I could also skip the whole exam and just go for the pain pills. But if the solution is to take a pill every time, then I'd have taken a good 30 pills in the last 40 days and that's just not for me. Something tells me the problem all these years has been food allergies...I'm not sure I want to have that confirmed. So stop complaining then, right? NOPE. It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. :-)

Those crazy marathoners

It's been cool lately (finally) to be able to go for a run, and as long as I've done my stretching beforehand and afterwards, not spend the rest of the day wishing I could cut my legs off at the knees. And then there was today. Ouch. This morning's jog has left me with the knees of an 80-year old. Not sure what's going on, but I'm not going to let it stop me either. Not yet anyway.

Alan is about 8-weeks away from his marathon in Albuquerque. Tomorrow he has a 10 or 11 mile run, and every Saturday from now until the race he'll be increasing that amount, with shorter runs on the days in between. Living in Midland, he doesn't have the luxury of having a running group to train with, so this is something he's doing completely on his own. Personally I think that makes this accomplishment all the more impressive. Luckily though, Alan has a couple people he knows that have done this and can offer great advice, particularly Heather who just completed hers in April and won 1st place (I think) in her grouping.

I'm going to tag along to the marathon and do the 5K portion at the end. I can't wait to be standing at the finish line when he crosses. How cool!

Too much TV

The Braves have really sucked this week. You know your team is sucking when the highlight of the game is all the Sonic commercials. I'll stop dead in my tracks if I hear the Sonic "Full Throttle" commercial where the guy is totally high on the new Sonic energy drink but denies he's had any. It's so hilarious, but Alan says I like it because it's that awkward humor like that of The Office. By the way, if you didn't see the "Women's Appreciation" episode of The Office a couple weeks ago, you really need to see it during reruns this summer. A MUST.

The floor is almost done!

Abrupt changes in subject

I did take care of a couple things this week, employment-related. I updated my resume again, scheduled my screening interview with the district office, and called the principal at the school I've been working at to get a feel for openings. She COULD NOT have been less interested in me. There are third grade teachers there campaigning to get me hired on with them, and she sounded like she was talking to some random candidate whom she's never met and certainly not someone she's seen in the hallway everyday for the past semester and a half. It was so bad it was funny.

We're off to the Big D this weekend for Bailey's last volleyball tourney. Should be tiring but fun. She just got braces yesterday and is in a world of discomfort, but hopefully she'll still have a good time this weekend. We're playing at the Dallas Convention Center in a tourney with 143 other teams. That's only our division - there are three others. How cool is that going to be?!

I finally figured out how to get my profile pictures smaller. The new one is Junior being camera shy and trying to get me away from his face by giving me kisses. He does have an occasional sweet side. It's usually when he's sleepy or wants a treat, but we take what we can get. We're his bitches.

First Day of April....Aaaaahh.

Finally this morning I can see some light. Between grades being due, the refrigerator going out, and the volleyball tournament (for which I reluctantly volunteered to help out at), it's nice to know I have a full day today to catch up.

Submitting those FINAL grades was a weird experience. There is some finagling that goes on, more than I realized, but always to the student's benefit. Some kids will have happy parents and some....who knows what will happen. I wasn't about to tinker with grades to the point that a kid gets a grade undeserved. So will they be grounded, spanked, ignored, or will pissed off parents be at my classroom door the day after report cards arrive? Guess I better be prepared.

We have a new refrigerator, and the kitchen is a happy place again. Today we get to make a monster-size grocery run to fill it back up. It might be the one day I enjoy grocery shopping.

It was a long day yesterday at the tourney, but still a good one. I griped way more than I should have about having to help out, but I still don't like volunteering. Bailey's team voted her MVP. Alan and I were puzzled at first - not because she's not a great player, but...MVP? We think it's because everyone just really likes Bailey and there were a couple other girls on the team they were determined NOT to vote for. She shows up for practice, she plays hard, she's very likable and nice to everyone, and when her serve is on she can't be stopped. Still, I'm happy that her teammates recognizes that SHE ROCKS. :-)

Back from Cowtown

Got back Sunday around midnight from Ft. Worth and had to get up bright and early yesterday morning. I'm really not sure where Bailey's team ended up in the standings, and honestly it's best not to know. Bailey totally lost her serve this weekend, but otherwise played fine. We go to Lubbock in less than two weeks, so hopefully she'll have it back by then. Other than the matches, the weekend was fun hanging out with the other girls and parents.

Yesterday I started my long-term sub assignment, so I'm the real thing for a few weeks. I think I received a great initiation on my first day when a student vomited on the carpet in class, and a parent got pretty confrontational with me after school. Nice way to start! And today we administered the state academic test, which meant no sitting down for the teachers except the 20 minutes or so at lunch. I'm looking over at the couch right now and thinking of bon-bons and a nice nap. It won't happen.

Okay, here are some photos for now:

Find happiness where you can

Meringue cookies - where have you BEEN all my life? It still amazes Alan the foods I don't know about or were never exposed to in my upbringing. So this new discovery has me thinking that from now on when we make our big grocery runs, I'm throwing something new in the cart to try. I have been trying the last few years to make a concerted effort to try new recipes, new spices, whatever - just to make sure I don't get stuck in my (or my family's?) ways.

"Stadium Arcadium" - Alan got me the new Chili Peppers CD set for Valentine's Day! I can't wait to listen today, plus we'll listen to it on the way to Ft. Worth tomorrow. I rarely buy music - it's just one of those things I tell myself I will splurge on someday.

Nelly Furtado's "Say it Right" - I am fascinated with her, the video, the song, the lyrics, and Justin Timberlake's dancing ain't too shabby either. Wow-wee.

Beauty and The Geek - If you didn't follow this show, you really missed out. It is very well done, so sweet, and so classy compared to some of the other reality/contest type shows. I fixed a big Valentine's dinner for Alan last night, but we made sure to be finished and camped out in front of the TV by 7:00 for the finale. It was great!

Volleyball Tourney - We're heading to Ft. Worth this weekend for another tourney. They're lots of fun, and of course being in Ft. Worth means two other very important things: Krispy Kreme doughnuts and La Madeleine! Oh yeah.

Football and Volleyball

Alan looks less than amused that I was taking our picture last night. Just had to capture the excitement of our super bowl party - the party of two, I mean. I was happy that the Colts won, but it seemed sort of anti-climactic at the end. The Colts/Patriots game was way more exciting.

Well I'm off to make Bailey's lunch. Speaking of Bailey, here's the video that Google finally "processed." It's nothing phenomenal, but I wanted to film Bailey serving at practice since I didn't get any good videos from the tournament. Her serve has been known to pull teams out of close wins, and it's funny to hear the murmurings of anticipation from other parents when it's Bailey's turn to serve. This is just from my digital camera, so the quality isn't superb:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4587142754464025832&hl=en

Ruidoso, NM

The tourney was fun, and the change in scenery was awesome. Bailey played great, and a couple of parents even commented that she was a critical player for our team. We had the tourney all day Saturday and then went tubing Sunday before heading back home. We had a great time! Click on the pictures for larger views.




The Ruidoso High School gym was really nice.








Bailey and her best friend Marle were so crazy and so much fun to be around.

Alan and I riding the tube lift:

After tubing, the girls just wanted to play in the snow. When Alan joined in, it became a snow fight.

Ruidoso at night was really pretty - they still had Christmas/Winter lights up in Midtown, so it looked very festive. Much more so than showing in this photo:

On the drive back home I had to get a picture of aliens in Roswell:

It was a fun but short trip. Lastly, here's a video of when the four of us hooked together and rode one of the tube runs. (I couldn't get Google to post the video, so hopefully the link will work instead.) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8053255165352757624

Super Bowl party anyone?

I wonder how many posts this morning are about the Colts/Patriots game last night. This will be the first Super Bowl in a long time where I'll finally be more interested in the game itself than the commercials. Go Colts!

Ouch

I don't consider myself a devoted Dallas fan, but I am a fan of sorts and will pull for them against just about anyone (although it was hard to choose during the Colts game) and will continue to be a fan despite TO's presence. Anyway, last night's game was pretty heartbreaking. The only other person that's probably hurting as much as Tony Romo is his mom.