Spring Fever

Week of: April 26 - May 2



First of all - how did last week turn out?
- Our girls didn't perform as well as I had hoped they would at the District Championship meet. We had a few valid injuries and the girls just didn't have it on the day of the meet. Regardless, I was still proud of them and happy to wake up on Wednesday morning and know that I could actually leave school at 4:15 for the rest of the school year.

- Thursday night, Craig and I took our good friends Doug and his wife Linda to the game 3 of the Mavs-Spurs play-off series. It was a blow out for the Mavs which made us happy but unfortunately, our Spurs loving friends were not so excited about the outcome.

- We had dinner at my parent's house on Friday night with the whole family plus my mom's college roommate and her husband. My mom made a big batch of lasagna which was absolutely delicious. It was a lot of fun and even more fun when Dwayne and my dad decided they wanted to go to the Mavs game on Saturday so Craig worked his magic online and got them two great seats for the game.

- On Saturday, Craig took off early from his tournament and met me at the house around 1:00 and then we were off to another Mavs play-off game. It was a long game, but the Mavs came out on top 99-90. After the game, we headed over to Doug's house for crawfish and beer which was a lot of fun until around 9:30 when I suddenly got very tired. I was asleep before Saturday Night Live came on.

- So all in all, it was a great week but it was very busy and now I am exhausted. I think Sunday mornings are my favorite time of the week because I get to sit in bed and listen to my iTunes, play on the computer and drink my coffee. Sigh...



I am looking forward to...
- My friend Jennifer coming to stay with me on Saturday!!! She lives in Ft. Worth, which on a map isn't that far away, but with all the traffic it would take close to an hour, if not more to get to her house! Her husband is going out of town and she doesn't want to stay in her house all alone so she's going to drive up on Saturday morning and we're going to go shopping, lay out by my pool, eat a scrumptious dinner and have some drinks. Plus...she gets to see my house for the first time!!

- Considering the doctor's diagnosis last week, I'm going to take a stab at playing volleyball again on Wednesday night. It truly is my release that gets me through the week...both by looking forward to it and reveling in the awesomeness afterwards. I think it will also be a great test for my body and my knee. It's been feeling better, but at the same time...I have definitely been staying off of it. The weird thing is...it hurts most when I'm driving for a prolonged period of time. I guess it's something about the position. Hmm...weird.


I wish I could fast forward through...
- I have four days of TAKS testing this week starting on Tuesday and finishing up on Friday. I'm only testing on two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) but I will have to be "actively monitoring" which means up on my feet walking around making sure there everyone is acting and testing appropriately. Ugh. It's just mindlessly boring and strangely exhausting. All in all, it's just a long week that leaves the kids absolutely pooped at the end of the day as well as unmotivated to do or learn anything else for the rest of the school year.

- The remaining five weeks of school. I had the revelation last week that my kids don't want to do anything nor do I want to teach them anything. Brilliant. But, unfortunately, I still have to fill about four weeks full of meaningful learning experiences without losing my mind or creating a riot in my classroom. So, my plan is to do everything fun. We'll talk about South America, but instead of doing worksheets and taking tests, we're going to create a soccer ball full of information about a certain country in South America. Instead of reading and answering questions about Antarctica, we're going to read a short description of the weather and then create an outfit for someone going to live in the frigid climate conditions that exist in our southernmost continent. It's a lot more fun for them and a lot more hands-off for me and hopefully, I'll be able to keep their attention a little bit longer.



Right now I'm obsessed with...
- Picturing Craig as my husband. All through this wedding planning adventure so far, I've focused all my energy on my mantra: "At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what happens, good or bad, because Craig and I will be married." And I've been really envisioning that lately. I truly never thought I would find someone who I am so incredibly compatible with and I'm really starting to get excited about the whole marriage thing. Obviously, we live together and it definitely feels like we're married...but I can't wait to see the ring on his finger. Sigh...I know that March 13, 2010 seems really far away, but I also know that the months are going to fly by and all of a sudden we'll be on our honeymoon and it will all be over.
- Coffee in the morning. As the school year winds down and the days get warmer and longer, it takes a bit more energy to get out of bed and ready for work in the morning. In fact, there are only a few things that really inspire me to get up and at 'em (like my mother used to say). Those two things are my morning coffee and the cute spring dresses, skirts and flip flops hanging in my closet. I believe it to be in the best interest of my coworkers and students if I have both of these things in or on my body before going to work - I will be in a much better mood.


On my mind...
- As with many twenty and thirty year-olds around the world, Craig and I bought our U2 tickets last week. Their Dallas concert is on Monday, October 12th or 13th (can't remember exact date) of next fall and we are absolutely 100% pumped. I've never seen U2 in concert, but it has been on my bucket list for a few years now. I love U2, but mostly their older stuff because that's when they were actively writing music that reflected the chaos and violence that existed in Ireland during the 1980s. In a way, they remind me of the hippie generation of musicians that used their lyrics to promote a particular point of view, or to make a statement about situations in the world. So I'm a big fan...but Craig is a MUCH bigger fan. In fact, for the last tour he followed them to New York City, Dublin and Hawaii...in addition to the Dallas concert as well. I told him that we will be unable to do that this year because, as much as I love U2, I love my wedding even more. U2 and their songs mean a lot to Craig because I think he is able to express how he feels about something in his life without putting having to put it into his own words which is very difficult for him. Just watching his physical response to certain songs of theirs can give you great insight into his very protected psyche. Anyways...we're super stoked about the concert and I'm even more stoked about hearing their played at our wedding. If only I could find a way to actually get Bono TO our wedding to perform...hmm...I might have to send him an invite...