Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

remy zero said it best ...

... when they sang "Somebody save me!"

That's how I've felt over the last two days--like I needed someone to save me from the insanity that surrounds this last week of school. If I had made a "to do" list yesterday, it would have looked a little something like this:
  • write ESL final
  • do powerpoint for Awana Christmas program
  • enter grades
  • proof/edit yearbook pages
  • read Saving Cicadas (my book review blogger book--I really want to finish it because they now have a book available that I'd love to read--I can't remember the name, but it has to do with Lost!)
  • practice Singing Christmas Tree music
  • attend Awana Christmas program
  • practice Festival of Lessons & Carols music (this practice will be with the conductor--and he's going to be able to tell that I don't know my music at all!)
  • meet with speech kids
  • figure out what StuCo is doing for Christmas
  • clean my apartment
  • go to Festival practice (all day Friday)
  • go to the last four SCT concerts
  • call the chiropractor
  • submit 16 yearbook pages (due next Wed!)
I honestly can't remember the last time I've been so stressed out (but I bet it involved yearbook!), and I really let the stress get to me. I was not fun to be around at supper last night, that much I'm sure of! This morning, I was on track to be just as stressed ... I had overslept, probably largely due to my inability to get to sleep last night as I continued focusing on everything I needed to do, I got to work late, and I was just plain grumpy. Then I read Jen's blog. She wrote about all the things she was looking forward to this Christmas season. She has had a lot of stress in her life, yet she was choosing to focus on the good things. 

Now I'm choosing to do the same. This week will undoubtedly continue to be stressful, but I can choose how I respond to the stress. I may have a zillion things to do this week, but I can be joyful while I do them, and I don't need to panic when things happen that are beyond my control. Before I know it, this week will be over, and it will be Christmas!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

snow day #2

I don't know if I've ever had two snow days in a row before. I suppose it may have happened back in the day, but I certainly don't remember it. And, as a nice little bonus, we also have a late start tomorrow!

I woke up this morning to the smell of gasoline. My sleep-addled brain finally determined that the smell was coming through my heat ducts. I opened the door to my utility closet, and the stench slapped me in the face. My first thought was to call my landlord. My second thought was to shower before calling him (as I didn't shower yesterday--yay for snow days!), just in case he was already on site and decided to come right over. While in the shower, it occurred to me that the smell might not be coming from my furnace but might instead be drifting up from the laundry room and/or utility room, both of which are directly below my apartment. When I checked out the utility room, I determined that the smell had originated there. Perhaps my landlord had problems with the snow blower this morning? I turned my heat way down so the stench would not be transported through the apartment by my heater. Then I closed all the other doors in the apartment, opened the utility closet, sprayed Febreze, and turned on a fan. After several hours, the smell dissipated.

When I ventured down to check my mail around noon, this is what I saw:

I don't know how many inches that is, but I know it's a lot! Later, after my neighbor and the Bobcat man were finished moving snow, this is what the front lawn looked like:

Notice the SUV in the background--the snow practically obscures it!

I spent my afternoon cleaning my bedroom. I've discovered that I sleep better in my spare bedroom, so my room has been quite neglected recently. However, one of my students is staying with me over Christmas break, so I'll have to move back to my room. Hopefully having it clean will make it a little more inhabitable!

I ventured out to do some laundry at my parents' house, and then I got a haircut (which was rescheduled from yesterday). Val said she liked it, but Blendy said she prefers it when it flips out. Well, it will probably be flipping out tomorrow--I don't really possess many hair-doing skills, and letting it flip out (or basically go whichever way it pleases) is the easiest!

We had Awana tonight, despite the fact that both NC and the public school were closed today. Next Wednesday is our Christmas program, so I guess it was pretty important that the kids were there to practice. We only had nine Sparks, so our practice accomplished a little, but not a lot. Hopefully more will be there next Wednesday!

After Awana, I watched the end of Edward Scissorhands while munching on some delicious cinnamon popcorn that Sue, my Sparks co-director, brought for treats tonight. (Shocker that Sue would bring popcorn!)

A glimpse of both the new haircut and the popcorn ... as well as my styling flip-flop pajamas!

All in all, it's been an excellent two days off!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

a week of craziness

Monday
  • Went back to school. Because we had a snow day on the day that was to be our last day before break, we ran our test block schedule on Monday. Only one of my students was back, though, so I didn't give my final.
  • Had my big toe vaccuumed. Seriously. Val was vaccuuming, and I lifted up my foot to get it out of the way. She lifted up the vaccuum and charged my foot. She thought I was watching; I wasn't, so I didn't know I needed to move my foot. Let's just say that getting your big toe vaccuumed isn't a plesant experience!
Tuesday
  • Learned my reading class would be no more. Got three new students in my Intermediate ESL class, which will now be a writing class.
  • Met with my speech kids. Found out I'd have eight entries for the meet on Saturday. (I thought I'd have two or three, so this was quite encouraging!)
  • Stayed at school late working with speech kids.
  • Stayed up late watching Jon & Kate Plus 8. (I get started watching episodes, and I have such a hard time stopping. And the show only appeals to me when I should be going to bed. I don't know why.)
  • Missed my daily Bible reading . . . so I made it through 5 days before "falling off the wagon." Knew it would happen, but not so soon!
Wednesday
  • Got home from work with only an hour and a half before I needed to be at an Awana directors' meeting. Opened up my lesson book and learned I'd need brownies for an illustration in the lesson. (Yes, I should have looked at my lesson earlier . . .) Since this year's book is on Bible heroes and goes in chronological order, I couldn't really skip the lesson. So I hurredly made box brownies while trying to cram the lesson into my brain.
  • At Awana--our Sparks secretary couldn't be there, which always makes things a bit crazy. I made one girl cry during lesson time. After I announced that I had brownies for everyone, not just for the girl who got one as part of the lesson, the kids tuned me out completely. Plus, we didn't have a sound system like we normally do, so I had to try to yell the story. It hadn't occurred to me to put the brownies into plastic bags, so as the kids took them, they created a trail of crumbs going down the church hallway, and I had to apologize profusely to the church custodian.
  • Val came over after Awana, and we watched Poseidon. It's not a very good disaster movie--Richard Dreyfuss shouldn't have a face at the end of it, part of it is a blatant rip off of Armageddon, and how on earth is there a life raft--with oars--just a few yards away from the overturned ship?
Thursday
Friday
  • Got an email from my yearbook publishing company. Evidently, the cd of our pages that I sent them before Christmas was blank or broken. After a very stressful hour and a half, I got a new cd burned, and Val mailed it for me.
  • Completely slid through a stop sign on my way home. Fortunately, no one was coming.
  • Jon, Beth, Val, and Steph came over to watch Psych. (You really should be watching this show.)
  • Made coffee for all. It was supposed to be cinnamon but kinda smelled like smoke.
  • Framed my cross-stitch project.
Saturday
  • Got up at 4:30 to get ready for our first speech meet.
  • Spent all day at the meet. I judged twice--serious prose and poetry. I really love judging! My kids did well. I ended up having seven entries, and four of them placed! And our OID beat Minden's . . . which will probably never happen again, but it sure felt good!
  • Didn't eat all day (until I got home), other than a piece of cheese at 5:30 a.m., a Kudos bar at 8 a.m., and some cheese crackers at 9 a.m. I was too busy judging and/or watching my kids perform. (That doesn't usually happen--I can only think of one other speech meet when I didn't really eat . . . normally, the coaches and judges are fed well . . . and I'm sure they were at this meet, too--I just never made it into the coaches/judges lounge!) I also didn't have caffeine all day, and I surprisingly never got a caffeine headache.
  • Crashed on my couch after arriving home. Watched several Monk episodes and knitted a little.
Sunday
  • Took Val to church with me. We sang one of my favorite worship songs ever--"You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)". Also, Pastor Paul played the pan flute.
  • Went to Ritta Christmas, Part 2. We played this game where we all got presents that had a phrase from "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on the wrapping paper, and when our phrase was read, we had to yell "ho, ho, ho" and open our present, which Gram specially chose for each of us. I got a box of books and this note: "Becky, I know your love for reading. Maybe you can find some books here you haven't read. Enjoy. Maybe you can blog about one of these." Well, Gram, I'll do ya one better--here's a picture of all of them! And here's the wind chime I got from cousin Shawna--I love it!
  • Stayed up way too late blogging.