Partying In The City Where The Heat Is On

Over Christmas break I went to Miami, Florida to meet up with a friend I met on the cruise I went on last year.  This has been a long time coming, but here are a few pictures from that trip.

I ate DELICIOUS food.

 Visited the Everglades and saw lots of alligators.

I had a fabulous time with wonderful new friends!

And I stuck my toes in the ocean. It was COLD!

I had a great time and there are more pictures on my flickr account.

I Like My Men In Tights...

...tight tights. Ok, maybe not. My taste in men in a whole other topic and not one I plan to expand on today. :)


 I am currently reading The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle.  I've got to say I'm getting a little slowed-down by the "Nay's" and "Now how much dost thou want for thy horned cattle?" and other jazz like that.  

I can't say the Mr. Pyle has grabbed my attention as much as Mr. Mel Brooks but I'll continue on.

*Type color has changed due to influences from above mentioned book and movie.

Every Snowy Day Need A Mythical Creature

Some interesting information you may or may not know about me is my love of snow and tacky unicorns. Yesterday, I got the best of both worlds!

I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing in my ear at 4:45 am. For most people this is not a great way to start the morning, but I count it as a blessing in my life.  I woke myself up, tried to clear my throat to get the "morning voice" out and smiled to myself as I said hello to my school secretary on the other end. She politely told me there is no school due to snow. I answered excitedly back thank you! Then proceeded to sleep for another two hours. 

Stella In The Snow

My Backyard in 4 Inches of Snow

Because I had a whole weekend already I decided I should be semi-productive and began washing laundry and making breakfast for my sister and I. Of course I couldn't spend a whole school-free day working so I pulled out my most recent addition to my Tacky Unicorn Collection.  My wonderful friend Christy gave me this "Song of the Unicorn" puzzle for Christmas and I couldn't think of better way to spend my relaxing day.

My Puzzle Completed With 22 Pieces Missing

The Original Box Cover

From HeLa to Who Done It

I finished The Immortal Life of Heneritta Lacks the other day, and sort of like a cup of hot chocolate it was good until the last word. I shed a few tears as I read the last few pages of the story, but I won't tell you why. I definitely recommend this book. Even if you're not a big non-fiction fan I think you'll enjoy it. Rebecca Skloot tells the stories behind the people, and you get the background of all the characters just like a made up story.


Now that I've finished a recently published book, I've headed back almost 120 years to a well-known street in England to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes  by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I'm not a big fan of mysteries, but I downloaded it free from Amazon.com to my Kindle (!!!!!!!!) and decided I had nothing to lose.  The first adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia" was a bit predictable but I found myself laughing and enjoying it throughly.  It was a bit like "Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, Girls go to college to get more knowledge."






I just hope that if I'm ever being followed by a private investigator, I'll be able to get back at him just as "The Woman," Irene Adler.

1. 

I'm an ebookworm

I haven't blogged in a while-obviously, and I don't know how long this burst of writing will last, but I'm writing now and that's all that matters.

I have been asking for a Kindle- that's the Amazon eReader in case you have been living under a rock, for Christmas for the past three years, and this year I got it! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) I wasted no time downloading some of my favorites, some not-so-favorites-but-they're-free, and a 2010 Amazon Editor's Pick, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

(My most favorite book ever written)

(My first favorite book)

(I've never read it, but I don't think I'll be able to say that much longer)

(An amazing story. The author really had to dig deep to find all the scientific and personal stories surrounding Henrietta Lacks, and the HeLa cells which have made such and impact on the medical world we know. I haven't finished it, but I'll let you know when I do.)

I was even a bit of a creeper and looked at what other people were reading in the airport and got free samples of their books.

Basically, my Kindle is everything I wanted it to be and more. Thanks to Amazon, and to my parents, and to the unknowing people in KCI who fed my hunger for new books.

How am I suppossed to come up with a title for such a random entry?

Yesterday I stayed late after school and left said building without my computer. Guess what...I survived! :) While I'm very glad we have such advanced technology now-a-days, the feeling of being "unreachable" is somewhat refreshing. I've heard people say this type of thing before, but didn't ever think those words would cross my mind or escape my lips, or pour out from my fingers onto a keyboard. Tonight, however, life is back to normal-at least in the technology sense.
Even though I clearly stated in my last post that I would not be sleeping in, I slept in. If you are reading this and you know me, I know you are not surprised. I just can't help the fact that I love sleeping. Willoughby wakes me up every morning and sits on my chest and just looks at me with his half open eyes that say, "just five minutes more...please?" Either that or it's "If you move one more time, or that stupid phone alarm vibrates even for a nanosecond, my claw will be ripping your face apart." Sometimes it's hard to read cats' expressions.
After a late, shaky start to the morning, I headed to school. The day was a normal Tuesday and I stayed after school until 5:30 working on random items that needed to be taken care of before the next day. Basically, I live the same life everyday. It's boring and routine, but I think that makes the simple non-routine day seem extraordinary. Maybe that's why I get so excited just to go to Hays to go grocery shopping. Why I look forward to seeing friends and family three hours away. Maybe it's also the reason that I look forward to coming home after long trips.
I've pretty much decided that I'm staying in Ransom this summer. It's going to be a lot different from last year when I was constantly traveling, but I think it'll be good for me to stay put for a while.

Positive Count-Up
98) My big blue towel
99) Q-tips
100) Reaching my 100th Resplendent Moment already!
101) Washing machines
102) Dryers
103) Completing almost all of my to-do list, for the time being
104) Janitors
105) Crossing off to-do list items
106) My pretty new notepads with special designs for every month
107) Microwaves
108) Civil conversations about students with a parent
109) Receiving a compliment from parent mentioned in #108
110) Students making new discoveries
111) Tuning forks and the questions they cause you to ask and answer
112) Advil, greatly needed after fifteen students made new discoveries with nine tuning forks
113) Watching high school basketball footage of Travis
114) "The Unraveling of Santa Claus" by Todd Vogts, proofed by Travis Schafer
Todd, you'll have to comment about how my lovely blog readers can find themselves a copy of your book, so they too can learn, "How Obama drove Santa crazy."

I had over 16 resplendent moments yesterday and today.

Insert somewhat funny "Monday" pun here...

Before going to sleep last night, I was a little worried about how well my early morning would go today, after sleeping away my mornings over the weekend. I did not get up at 6:25 like planned, it was more like 6:40, but the important thing was that I got to school on time looking decent. Check and check. Actually I would give myself more than a check, I think I might have earned a smiley face for having a good hair day. :) There, that's better.
I helped Shellby in the morning because Monroe had to leave daycare. I love small schools. Shellby drove the sick girl, the daughter of the daycare provider, home and then brought her daughter back to school until around noon when Troy came and got her. I think I'm going to miss the small town school atmosphere when I finally move. Heck, with all the consolidations across the board small town schools won't be around for much longer. I guess I'll enjoy the freedom and closeness as they go the way of the horse and buggy.
I can't say that I was all that productive today. I made a fabulously long to-do list and was able to mark cough! cough-one! cough! item off my list. This just means I'll be staying later tomorrow to get everything accomplished.
I tried out a new recipe tonight and it was a success! I paired it with a salad I discovered, made, and loved around Christmas.
It's late and I've got to get some sleep. The shower will be calling my name in the morning, so none of that 6:40 junk.

Positive Count-Up
82) Five-minute snooze on two alarms, give me only 2-3 minutes to fall back asleep between the buzzing
83) Monroe playing with her toys in the library-So cute in here little dress & tights
84) Microsoft Office without it, I would be writing every lesson plan
85) Copying notes on colored paper, it's much more interesting than white
86) My students being so excited about a school social studies project
87) Denise playing FarmVille can we say addicted?
88) The inquisitive minds of my kiddos as I read aloud, they come up with some of the best questions
89) My hair straightener which flipped out the ends of my hair so prettily
90) Cleaning up Christmas in the classroom
91) Marking at least something off of my to-do list before leaving school
92) Realizing again that concession stand stuff is almost finished for the year! We've made almost $3,000 more this year than last.
93) New hamburger steak recipe is a success!
94) Broccoli Cauliflower salad
95) Going outside for recess, it was beautiful
96) Giving my dad information for my new shelves in my bedroom. I'm going to need someone to help me hang them though.
97) Mr. Frank talking to three of my students about how well behaved they are this year. That's pretty amazing.

I had over 15 resplendent moments on January 11, 2010.