Victory and Defeat

Last Sunday Todd and I, along with his good friend Jeff from Springfield, went to our very first pro football game. As you can tell from the picture above, our seats were WAY up in the top section, but they actually turned out to be pretty good. Aside from the people sitting around us, the seats were great! We could see all of the action, and with the use of our zoom lens, were able to get some decent shots. This is a picture of the two of us near the end of the game. I had told Todd to get us tickets for a game when it wouldn't be too cold, and I think God took me too literally in that request. It was HOT!!! We were all sweating and melting into each other by the end!

The Chiefs had been on a losing streak since oh...December of LAST year (I'm not sure it's been that bad, but it has been pretty dang sad.). Guess what?? The game we see--the Chiefs WIN!!! I told Todd maybe we needed to go see every home game to ensure they win every time. I don't think he bought it.

I just had to take this next picture for Todd's friend Jeff. The Chiefs were playing the Denver Broncos and Jeff is a HUGE Broncos fan! I thought this guy was just too funny to pass up.

During the game, we also had some entertainment besides the plays on the field. We were sitting directly in front of a row of Denver fans, and of course, directly behind them was a guy who is a poster-child for contraceptives and alcohol-free events. This guy kept egging on the Denver fans, but he just wouldn't ever quit. It got so bad at one point that someone called the security on him. He left but was let back in. Not two seconds after he came back, the real security police came by and escorted him out. We clapped as he was leaving! See ya!

Todd and I both really enjoyed having Jeff up here as a houseguest. We'll take all of you someday (just not all at once!).On a different note, I have spent the last 3 days at home sick. It started Tuesday or Wednesday with just slight sinus trouble, but by Wednesday night, I couldn't breathe, lay down without coughing, and on top of it all, I had a fever. I didn't want to miss work because I know I don't have many sick days since I am new to the district, but there was no way I was going to be able to function. I spent Thursday and Friday laying on the couch, watching TV and sleeping. I did end up going to Urgent Care for meds yesterday, but so far, they have not really kicked in. Today I woke up to even more trouble with coughing so hard that I threw up--TWICE. Not fun in the least! I am desperately hoping to be better tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be better by Monday. Hopefully the meds will do their job by then! I'm sure you all had a better week than I did. I'm hoping next week will be better for me!

Comedy Club Central

Last night Todd and I experienced our very first comedy club. Man, what have we be missing?? I use the word experienced because it truly was just that. We didn't "go" to a comedy club; we didn't "attend" a comedy club; it was definitely an "experience." Todd won tickets to the show from JACK FM radio station, and since we had wanted to go for a while, we thought it would make a great evening. It was a FABULOUS evening--I laughed so hard at some points that tears were streaming down my face! Craig Gass was the headliner comedien, and he was freakin' awesome!
Craig has done so many national stuff--he's roasted Gene Simmons and Tommy Lee on Comedy Central, co-hosted Howard Stern (he's still the sound guy on Howard Stern), does so many impressions, but I know him mainly as Miranda's Weight Watcher-donut-loving boyfriend in an episode of "Sex and the City."

Craig's show is DEFINITELY R-rated and is not suitable for children of any age or adults who easily get offended. His impressions were uncanny--Al Pacino, Sam Kinison, Adam Sandler, Christopher Walken (the best I think), and Tracey Morgan.

I gotta run because we are meeting Todd's parents for dinner, but if you ever get a chance to see this guy in action, go do it. Just leave your children and morals at home!

Basement Part 1

When I looked at the last date I had updated this blog, I couldn't believe it!! Has it really been three weeks? I've been in school now for three weeks and yes, reality is kicking my butt. I'm at school from 6:50 or so in the morning until 4:30 or 5:00 in the evening. I come home, eat dinner, veg, and go to bed by 9:00. That's not a life I'm used to by any means. Where did my summer go? I miss those days...The only time now I'm even on the computer is on the weekend. When I check my email now, instead of having 15 messages to scroll through, I have 136. I have a week of reading through my Soapzone message board, plus reading all the blog updates from my friends. Who knew reality would be so cruel?? :)

My mom came up to see us last weekend. I was so happy she was able to make it before her original visit date in October. She had not seen our house since it was empty, and we spent the weekend painting way back even before we moved in. Now our upstairs is 99% finished, and the basement is 50% finished. We (including Todd's parents) worked extremely hard to get Todd's "man cave" and my scrapbook room finished before Mom came to see us. I wanted to surprise her with it. These are pictures of my scrapbook room. It's decorated completely in Disney, of course, and the only real thing missing from it right now is a small TV that I want mounted on on of the walls. Christmas Mom???

The black file against the wall is my 12x12 paper holder. It's one of the best things I have purchased for my scrapbook room for organization. Each color or theme has its own slot. When I want paper, it's just a reach away!

The table is usually not so cluttered. I have to be able to spread out, right?? For now, anything that doesn't have an exact place is just laying on the table. I'll fix that when I start working down there.
This white shelf contains all of my scrapbooking magazines for ideas, paper towels for clean up (those darn stamps!), my stock of CM scrapbook pages (I still have one more CM album to finish.), plus my current pictures to put in albums.

The bottom white drawers hold bulk pictures/memorabilia that I either need to put in albums or extras that have already been finished. The red shelf is mainly for Disney decorations, but I do have my sticker supply on the bottom shelf. Since I don't use those as much anymore, it'll do.

I love the quote Todd put on my scrapbooking walls in red vinyl: "I only hope we don't lose of one thing--that it was all started by a mouse." --Walt Disney

These are pictures of Todd's Man Cave. I love how we did the Red/White/Black sections on each wall. I'm sure you all know where these colors came from--Nebraska Huskers!!

We just bought a coffee table yesterday at Target for this room. I think it will be really cool--it's square with holes in the middle for baskets. We bought two red baskets to put in it, and Todd will fill the other spaces with his sports books and video game magazines.

Well, hopefully I will get back on here before another three weeks are up. If not, you'll know why!

Back to life...back to reality

During my commute to school this morning, I kept singing one line from a late 80s/early 90s song, "Back to life...back to reality...." That's it! Those are the only lines I remember, but I thought it was fitting since today was the first day of school for me and the thousands of others up here in KC. Technically, I have been back to work for two weeks now due to new teacher meetings and then all staff meetings. I have to say that I am LOVING my new school here! No offense to KHS because I do miss that school and most of all my friends at that school. However, here's a list of the things at WCHS I do enjoy:

1. Even though we start at earlier at 7:25, I am out of school at 2:11!! I would still have 50 minutes to go at KHS.

2. *Most* of my classes are much smaller than they were last year. My largest class is 26, and my English III classes are tiny at 13 and 18.

3. Power of I--this is such a cool concept!! As a "Power of I" (Incomplete) teacher, my students do not earn Ds or Fs. If their grade is below a 70%, they have an I in the class. This I never changes to an F--it stays Incomplete until they make up the work. What does this mean for me? I don't collect pidly daily assignments--I group them together. Students are REQUIRED to do EVERY assignment for the class. There is NO such thing as NOT doing an assignment. WOW! What a concept!! These kids are well-trained! They stay after school for mandatory tutoring if their grade becomes an I, and the parents support it.

4. This school has BEAR time--Become Excited About Reading. Every M/T/F during the first 15 minutes of 5th block, the entire school stops and reads. PE, music, science, etc. They all do it! You know I am loving that!!

Now for the not-so-cool stuff:

1. I hate my parking spot. I love the idea that everyone is assigned a spot, but I have to parallel park for mine!! YIKES! I'm just hoping that I'm the first one in my line to arrive every day so I can just pull on through.

2. My room (Yes, I did get my own room!!) is BLAZING HOT!! The air is on and it's 80+ in my room. I've been told it only gets worse when the heat is turned on. Today I bought a personal fan to sit at my desk or file cabinet. We'll see if that helps.

3. I'm teaching six classes--two each of English I, III, and IV. The classes went incredibly fast today because the first day was only a half day, but I know it will take a while to adjust to this new bell schedule. I thought KHS's bells were weird--WCHS's are even weirder. M/T/F we have 7 classes, W is 1, 3, 5, 7 and R is 2, 4, Focus (like Chief Time), 6 with an early release for teacher collaboration. SO, what does this mean for me? My conference time is 4th block. Notice there is no 4th block on Wednesdays. Wednesdays will be an incredibly LONG day for me with no break at all except the 21-minute lunch!

I'll leave you will pictures of my room--both Before and After shots.

Mamma Mia!

For my final "free" day before the school meetings begin on Monday, I treated myself to a movie--"Mamma Mia!". I have not seen the musical live on stage, so I have nothing in which to compare this movie. However, if the stage version is anything like the movie version, I HAVE to see it!! The movie was so good--great characters (powerful voices), AWESOME ABBA songs, meaningful conversations, and a lesson learned by Sophie, the daughter. When I was watching the movie by myself, I just kept thinking that I needed to see this with my Mom. This would have been the perfect mother/daughter movie, and I wish I could have spent this day with her.

One of the lessons Sophie tries to learn in the movie comes from finding out who her father really is. She desperately wants to learn his identity and thinks that by finding out who her dad is, she will then learn who she really is. Towards the end of the movie, this message began to hit me--my dad lived long enough to walk me down the aisle, see me graduate from college, but he won't be around for all of the other big stuff in my life. He won't be around to witness the birth of a future grandchild, and in turn, his future grandchildren won't know him. I don't know why, but I was really missing him while I was watching Sophie up on the big screen interact with her would-be dads. I guess the pain will go away, but hopefully my memories of the good times with my dad won't.

On a COMPLETELY different note, I found out yesterday (and it was confirmed today) that I will have my own classroom for this school year! I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be sharing a room and traveling to different rooms to teach. I had even set up a mini-classroom in the garage to house all of my stuff that I will need this year but wouldn't be taking with me. NOW I have to pack all of that stuff back up, find boxes, and haul all of it to school with me next week. If I had known this, I would have done all of that this week! Yikes! It doesn't look like my room will be perfect for the first day of school--there is no way I can do all of that between now and when school actually begins. Wish me luck!!

Four days left of my summer

That's right...only four days to go before I head back to school for meeting, more meetings, and just possibly more meetings. I have two weeks of meetings before school even begins on August 18th. Where has my time gone? Why are there so many meetings???

In honor of going back to school, I went shopping for my usual "back to school" outfit (or two), plus I did a little something to my hair. I've wanted to color it for a while now but didn't really know what I wanted. So yesterday I took the plunge. I still didn't know what I wanted until the hairdresser and I just started talking. She showed me different colors and talked me through the process. Once she started, I was ready to roll! After two hours, I walked out looking like a rock star!! I don't think these pictures do my hair any justice--it was late, we'd been painting all night, and I was tired!

On a sadder note, I received word this morning that my good friend Kodi and her husband Trai had to put down their dog, Max, last night. I cried when I heard the news, and I cried again when I read her blog dedicated to her buddy Max. I know how much that dog meant to her family (they gave him a home when no one else would), and I cannot imagine the pain they are in today. Apparently, his stomach turned inside out and upside down and sideways due to "bloat." They put him down and buried him in the backyard underneath his favorite tree. To Max! I love you Kodi!

Disney memories

While Todd and his dad work on our basement, I wanted to get a new blog out today. You might want to sit back and relax because this may turn out to be a LONG blog. I just finished scrapbooking our Disney World trip from LAST summer (bummer we didn't go anywhere this summer...) this weekend, so I wanted to show off some of my favorite pages from the album. This is my first album of completely no Creative Memories materials, with the exception of some paper, adhesive, and a few (very few) stickers. I am trying out a whole new world of scrapbooking, complete with chipboard, stamping, brads, eyelets, etc. This album even became an ABC album, even if a few letters were represented more than once!

Creating this album really made me miss my Disney World, and when Todd and I talk about going back, our faces just light up like we are two little kids. So...we've decided we are going back next summer for our 10-year anniversary, staying on-site in a nicer hotel in which we've stayed in the past. Todd is going to work his butt off to make enough commission so we don't have to pay for any of it out of our own money. Can it be done? If Todd has anything to say about it, he will work, work, work.

Sorry about the picture quality--I'm not quite sure how to take GOOD pictures of my pages yet.

This is the intro page to the album:

The second page is one titled "You Know You're Obsessed With Disney..." and includes several items like "when you have a Mickey Mouse tattoo and want more."These pages are part of a two-page spread for our dinner out to Chef Mickey's. I included the receipt because I wanted to remember that we paid $60.00 for two dinner buffets!

I am particularly proud of my Epcot page because it is my first true attempt at sewing on a scrapbook page. Thanks to Kodi (Thanks Kodi!!), I know how to draw my stitching first, and then sew on top of it!

I "scraplifted" this idea for the Everest rollercoaster page from one of my magazines. I don't remember who/what magazine it came from, but I loved the idea!

Over the course of our vacation, we found 27 "hidden" Mickeys out of several hundred! I know we will be on the lookout from now on when we visit, but for now, these will have to do.

I tried my sewing technique on this page, but I'm thinking after completing this one over a course of a FEW days, I won't be trying it again any time soon. It was a cute idea, but it took FOREVER to finish!! I wanted to it to look like it had been done sloppily on a machine instead of painstakingly by hand. Did I accomplish my goal?

I love these two pages simply because they are all about the castle! I don't care how many pictures of Cinderella's castle I already have, I will continue to take pictures of it every time we go! (That's also one of my "You know you're obsessed..." items too.)

When Lisa and I went to Disney World last summer for the Reading conference (Thanks Springfield School District!), we watched Mickey's show at Magic Kingdom. Todd did not want to stop and watch it, so luckily for me, I'd already taken several pictures!

For some reason, I just love these two pages of Nemo -n- Company. The colors just popped out at me, both in the pictures and characters. (It doesn't hurt that Finding Nemo is one my favorite Disney movies either!)

I love this page because when we rode "Pirates of the Carribbean" I took a nice picture of Johnny Depp's character, Jack Sparrow. Another nice touch is the Pirate Mickey!

Another sewing job on Mary Poppin's page--this time I used the stitching as my journaling lines. I was/am proud of myself on this one because the idea came from my own head!

I wanted to include the Tower of Terror page just because of the picture. If you can click on the picture to make it bigger, look at the woman in the second row! Classic!

Probably like most people, we had random pictures of different spots at Epcot. I made a collage with five pictures and surrounded them with flags of different countries. Although it's one of the busiest pages in the album because there's no white space, I liked the contrast to other pages.

Our last page in the album is a "Top 11 Things We Learned on Vacation" list. Hopefully you can click on the page to read the list.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our Disney scrapbook pages. I guess now it's time to move on to the family album. I'm so far behind in it that I haven't scrapbooked anything since Dad's funeral. Yikes! Maybe if we can get my scrapbook room downstairs finished, I'll get some more work done.