gone

The weirdest thing happened to me today...ok maybe not THAT weird but for me, it's different. For the last seven/eight months I've wanted one thing. I've focused on it, prayed about it, cried over it, and BEGGED for it and today I no longer want it. It's so strange to me that something I intently desired for so long is no longer what I want. It makes me think of Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires of your heart." God has transformed what I wanted and I am so incredibly thankful. :-)

ghetto

setting: A girl in my class was writing on the board without permission.

me: Stop writing on the board. Girl, what you think you doin? *pause* You caught me by surprise and my ghetto voice came out.

girl: That's not ghetto.

me: Well, look at me. How ghetto am I?

boy: a negative five

me: I'm a negative five on the ghetto scale?

class: *in unison* yes

Good thing the class didn't hear me listening to Timbaland, Jay-Z, & Kanye last night on my way to the coffee house; that may have bumped me up to a negative three...

daisy

As vanity seems to be creeping in on me, I've decided to reread one of my FAVORITE books of all time: The Great Gatsby. I have trouble explaining why Daisy is one of my favorite literary characters of all time--she's so intriguing. How can anyone lack such sincerity and be such a "prize" at the same time? I love that zero character development occurs for her. I love that she symbolizes so much about the culture of the roaring 20s. I love that she appears to have a moment in which she is capable of SO MUCH MORE but the next moment she returns to her true self. I love how I can't really draw any parallels with her but still LOVE her. I think I may love her even more than Jane Austen's Emma--which, if you didn't know, I am the most like her out of any other female character in any genre. There's just something about her...maybe this reread will enable me to articulate just what that something is.

dress week

Waking up yesterday was a piece of cake. :-) This morning was a struggle. To be quite honest, the only thing that really motivated me was the thought of wearing one of my new dresses. The weekend before Easter, I went shopping for a fantastic Easter dress. I work at my church so I had the mission of finding the greatest Easter dress of all time. Of course this was a self-imposed mission--they could have cared less what I looked like.

It's important to note I don't particularly like shopping. Coming from a town of 18,000 with limited shopping options, I never really got into the "mall craze" or "shop til you drop" set. Having a mission helped me out a lot. I decided I should start with my favorite & go from there. Banana didn't let me down--tons of dress options. I found the greatest Easter dress of all time plus a really fun spring dress.

I needed new shoes to go with the dress so my quest continued. I went into various stores and was pretty unimpressed until I came to the Gap. I found shoes and three more fun spring dresses! I was so excited. :-) When I went to church that afternoon I showed all of the guys my new dresses and they were very kind to feign interest.

I think the reason I went a tad crazy with the dresses is because I spend so much time with the guys at work. Don't get me wrong--I love it. They crack me up & it's like having four older brothers. I just feel like I need to assert the fact that I am a lady & I love being a lady!

This week has been dubbed dress week. I wore my purple dress yesterday & today I wore my striped dress. Tomorrow I won't wear a dress as it's warm up Wednesday aka the best day of the week. I may, however, wear a tennis skirt to keep the femininity level up. ;-)

sweet 16

The guys at church invited me to pick a bracket for March madness. I've never done this before so I went with my no fail oscars picking strategy: cool names & big biases. Sounds pretty good right? The team I picked to take it all is out...completely out. Apparently it would have been prudent to do some research before picking my entire bracket in less than two minutes. I'll know better for next year.

chips & salsa day!

Spring Break officially begins at 3:45 today. As this is our last day for a week (a beautiful, glorious week) some of the sweet office ladies decided it was important to go out with a bang. It's chips & salsa day!!! :-) Fresh, delicious salsa...spicy & wonderful...mmmmmm....

depeche mode vs. the violent femmes

I have a tendency to have a song stuck in my head on a weekly basis. Usually it tends to be a certain band that I can't stop listening to...*i go through music cycles--currently i can't get enough of maroon 5...but i feel a fiona apple kick coming on next* This week, however, I keep hearing 80s songs *2 in particular* over and over again. "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Blister in the Sun" are on a loop in my head. I'm very surprised by this.

I saw this band on Friday night called The Spazmatics. They are an 80s cover band who dress like spazs & do some ridiculous dance moves on stage. They are a total entertainment experience. This was only my second time to see them but they are quickly becoming one of my favorites. I love how much I laugh at their shows but more than that, I love that they're actually talented musicians.

I thought about singing to the students today in an attempt to get the songs out of my head, but then I realized I like that they're stuck in my head. They are great songs!!! I just can't get enough...I just can't get enough.

We just had a firedrill. A giant cake was delivered for a baby shower afterschool. I have sweet tea. Could this be the best school day ever? It just might be....

ahhhh shucks!

Faculty and Staff,

I have been waiting for a certificate frame to arrive so that I could announce your teacher/staffer of the six weeks.

You selected Sarah D! This morning in the front office, I presented Sarah with her certificate. Please congratulate Sarah when you see her this afternoon.

Here are just some of the wonderful compliments that people wrote about Sarah.

Sarah is always willing to take the initiative in carrying out her duties. She goes above and beyond in helping in the office, with parents, and with students.
Sarah is the sweetest and most helpful person. She always jumps in to help in the front office without even being asked. She is awesome!
Sarah's enthusiasm is contagious! She always has a smile on her face. We need more people like Sarah in the world!

Congratulations, Sarah!


Melanie B

NO WAY!!!

The last Friday of the six weeks we have a faculty breakfast to celebrate another step closer to the end of the school year. At this breakfast we recognize the teacher of the six weeks for their outstanding commitment to their students. Our last breakfast we didn't recognize anyone due to a staff meeting that morning.

Today I found out that I am the teacher of the six weeks. I turned bright red & kept saying, "no way. really?" I was completely surprised & taken off guard. I didn't think we were doing one for that six weeks but lack of document frame prevented the award from being given.

This is a total surprise. :-)

work day highlights

*Shelly brought a super moist cakes magazine to work today. It might be my new favorite magazine. I find myself absentmindedly looking through it...imagining different cakes for different occasions. I made copies of some of the recipes. I look forward to talking these awesome cakes in the coming weeks--ie I'm going to have to have some parties so I can show off the incredible cakes. :-)

*I love running errands during the work day. It is almost like an adult field trip...except my errands never take me to the zoo or an art museum. Today I found a killer restaurant that serves pescado tacos & the glories of hispanic grocery stores.

*My passing out story has been a topic of conversation--I've moved out of the embarrassed phase & into the this is a "new odd story" phase. I think this will come in handy for classroom two truths & a lie game.

*Alissa's baked spaghetti at lunch...delicioso!

*Early dismissal...thirty minutes & counting!

*No more fog outside--wahoo! I don't think I'll ever live in jolly old England after this morning's commute....France on the other hand is still a go--and by go I mean I really want to return.

*Emily bringing me popcorn. Word in the halls is I don't weigh enough & that's what caused me to pass out...personally I don't agree with that but I will gladly take the snacks. So far today I've gotten the popcorn, a pepsi, and a dark chocolate milky way.

*One of my students told me I was her "cuppy-cake" which is apparently a very good thing.

Ahhh...Tuesday is always a great day of the work week!

blood donating

The Funk is officially gone...it only lasted about a day. :-)

I have this thing about donating blood. I love it! In high school, I volunteered to help with them as well as donated. In college I gave every semester (and not to get money for going out). I always think about helping out some poor little seven year old boy who has a+ blood.

Today we had a blood drive at school. I was so excited to give. I had chicken strips for breakfast at ten, continued to eat when I wasn't hungry at lunch, and drank plenty of water. I had my protein, my id, and I was ready to go!

I lay down & keep thinking how wonderful this is. I haven't given in three years--as much as I love to give, I need a blood drive to motivate me. I gave my pint of blood in FOUR minutes. When the Carter Blood Care lady had me raise my hand in the air, she asked me how I felt. I responded a little light headed. The next thing I know, I'm waking up & thinking, "why am i in the library instead of bed?"

Deanna saw the whole thing go down: apparently ALL of the color drained from my face, my body started to shake, my eyes rolled back in my head, and my head dropped down to the pillow.

I apologized to the workers when I woke up...repeatedly. I couldn't believe I had passed out. They told me it wasn't a problem and brought me cookies. Although I wasn't hungry, I ate them. The rest of the day I was asked if I was ok & escorted anywhere I went.

In a couple of days, CBC will call to make sure I'm feeling ok. I will, of course, be feeling back to normal. I just hope they'll not through away my blood--what a waste that would be.

I think the lesson to be learned from all of this is: never give blood on the Monday after spring forward.

my deal?

I woke up in a very weird mood. It's almost as if my filter had fallen out during the night. I was eerily confident. All day I was very unsocial which is NOT me at all. I didn't really care to visit with folks.

I didn't really want to do anything typical...so my question is: what's my deal? Am I in a funk? Or is it just lack of sleepy rearing its ugly head?