i really should be working ...

I had my gallbladder removed last week. (That's a post for another day.) My yearbook submission date was May 25, but I knew there was no way I'd feel like working on yearbook right after my surgery, so I got an extension from my yearbook rep. Now I'm back at work and feeling good, so it's time to buckle down and finish the yearbook. So tonight, I silenced my phone, turned on some music, and sat down with a stack of spreads to proofread.

That was three hours ago. In those three hours, I did manage to proofread three spreads. But I also ...

• Carried on a Facebook conversation with Blendy and Janae about The Bachelorette. I have somehow managed to be spoiler free so far this season, so I have no idea what's coming down the pike ... and I'd like to keep it that way! My top three right now are Arie, Doug, and Sean. And Kalon and Ryan so have to go!
• Perused this list of celebrity Republicans. I have no idea how accurate it is, but I always knew I liked Freddie Prinze, Jr.!
• Watched a couple episodes of What I Like About You. (Yes, Val, "Ground-Turkey-Hog-Day" was one of them!)
• Fell into that black hole known as YouTube. Seriously! What is it about being under pressure that makes terrible fan videos so appealing?
• Played "Words with Friends" on Facebook. I'm truly terrible, but I enjoy it—and I'd be willing to play any of you ... just send me a request!
• Fell into that black hole known as Pinterest. I am totally trying this tightlining tip I found!

And now, it's time for bed. Maybe it's time to start using LeechBlock again!

surviving yearbook

I have lived and breathed yearbook for the past four days. From Monday morning at 9:30 through Thursday evening at 6:15, I put in 41 hours and 45 minutes. (Yes, I kept a log.) And now ... drum roll, please ... all 84 pages have been submitted! I've discovered that when I need to work so intensively on a project, I need some things to help me out. Here's what got me through this time:

Dance Dance Revolution for Wii--This functioned as a great stress reliever; trust me, when I was fighting with the ridiculousness that passes for text wrap in our design program, I needed a way to work off my frustration!

An excellent, dedicated student editor--I don't know if I would have survived without Michelle. I certainly wouldn't have been able to submit everything a whole 24-hours early. She even spent hours working on the index, which is an incredibly tedious project. Plus, we get along really well, which doesn't always happen with editors and advisers. I wish I could clone her and keep her as editor forever!

Odd working hours--I am so much more productive at night. I've known this for a long time, but when you have to be at work at 8 a.m. or earlier, it's pretty much impossible to stay up late to accomplish anything. Thus the beauty of this week: I set my own hours! Each night, I worked until midnight or later and then slept in the next morning. The first day was rough--I worked 12 hours, which I'm absolutely not used to--but after that, my body adjusted beautifully. I'm not looking forward to going back to a normal schedule next week.

Lots of snacks and drinks--Yeah, I ate all the goldfish pretzels and animal crackers. I didn't drink the whole 12-pack, though!

Music--Upbeat for the sleepy times (this included lots of boy band music--because I still love me some "Bye, Bye, Bye"--"happy" country, Mike Tompkins videos, and a new fav, Anthem Lights), and cinemix for the "I really need to focus" times.

Antacids--Thanks to all the snacks.

Neck wrap--It's amazing how much this helped when I was feeling the stress in my neck and shoulders. (As a bonus, you can see how ancient the computer in my classroom is. I took my laptop in all week because my desk computer was so maddening. Anybody want to make a donation???)

A way to block facebook and other distracting sites--I used LeechBlock, which allows you to set times of the day to block certain websites. I turned off facebook, Google Reader, and ew.com from 8-4. (Remember how I was working odd hours? Well, LeechBlock usually helped for the first 4-6 hours I worked, but after 4, I had to--gasp!--use some self control. I was moderately successful.)

Now that I'm finished for the school year, it doesn't seem so bad, and I'm pretty impressed with everything that Michelle and I accomplished this week. To those of you who are my facebook friends, thanks for putting up with all my frustrated status updates over the last several days. I promise not to talk about yearbook again ... at least until the fall!

my day, facebook style

Becky

• can't believe it's morning.
• wishes she didn't have to scrape her car.
• remembers more US history than she expected and probably would have gotten at least an 80% on the juniors' final!
• is thankful for friends she can vent to.
• hates the computer in her classroom.
• wishes the yearbook deadline wasn't on Wednesday.
• hopes the predicted blizzard doesn't come!
• really could use a latte.
• doesn't enjoy tomato chunks in her tomato sauce :-(
  
• 's brain feels like mush.
• is shocked. Steph K doesn't know who Harrison Ford is! 
  
• wishes her students had turned in their spreads on time.
• can't believe how much the gift of a latte brightened her day!
• loves laughing with the Dockweiler boys.
• is taking home a lot of work tonight.
• opened her apartment door and was shocked at the sight of her living room--Stubes did a great job cleaning it!
• is trying (rather unsuccessfully) to edit spreads while Chrissy plays country videos on YouTube.
• had supper with the fam.
• is editing. Still.
• loves Landrigan cookies!
  
• just discovered SNC's Ryan Ahlwardt's solo music. Some of it is pretty good.
• will be up very, very late tonight.
• hopes tomorrow's Stuco event is a success.
• has listened to Ryan Ahlwardt's "My Strength to Jesus" repeatedly. He sounds a bit like Chris Rice here--in other songs, he sounds like John Mayer or Jason Mraz.
• :: James 1:19-20 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."
• just made Janae the best birthday present ever!
• isn't accomplishing much yearbook-wise.
• is getting frustrated and has to constantly remind herself of James 1:19-20.
• has complied quite the mental list of issues to cover in yearbook after Christmas break. Perhaps it's time to write them down!
• is glad that Janet is coming to spend Christmas vacation with her!
• still hasn't heard her most hated Christmas song! Here's hoping she makes it through the next four days without hearing it!
  
• :: Why is caption writing so difficult?
  
• decided not to put up her new curtain rod--the neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the sound of the power drill at 11:30 p.m.!
• just remembered that she still needs to make copies of the final she's giving in the morning.
• should stop blogging and start focusing on yearbook!
  

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!

i'm excited about ...

• my next book review blogger book: Green by Ted Dekker! I would have bought the book anyway ... but now I get it for free!
• taking my yearbook staff to the fall yearbook conference in Kearney tomorrow.
  
• Homecoming Week, during which I get to wear jeans to work every day. (I usually have to stretch things a bit in order to make jeans fit into each day's theme--for crazy footwear day a couple years ago, I pinned socks to my jean capris--but this year, each day naturally lends itself to jeans!)
• the start of Singing Christmas Tree practices! (October, I think?)
• watching more Fringe. I watched the pilot last fall, got bored, and didn't even finish the episode. A couple months ago, a friend who knows I love LOST asked me if I was into Fringe. I told her I wasn't, then she proceeded to tell me why I'd love it. So, I gave it a chance, getting the first disk from Netflix last week. She was right--and I have absolutely no idea why it bored me last fall!
• hanging with my family tonight, watching Friday's Psych and drinking delicious Sleepy Monk coffee.
• having my cousin claim my spare bedroom in a couple months.
• going to Indiana in less than two weeks!!!
  

today i . . .

• got up earlier than I have in months. Thanks, school.
• drank delicious French Vanilla coffee sent to us by Val's roommates.
• drank delicious Vietnamese coffee brought in by the principal.
• met with our new yearbook rep. He introduced me to an online design program that could make my life a whole lot simpler.
  
• googled a phrase I thought was from a Bible verse. Nope! It was from a song we sang at CCC!
• went to a Student Council meeting. Yup, the girl who never had any interest whatsoever in student government is now the StuCo sponsor!
• taught my first with-a-textbook reading lesson of the year. Drove one poor student over the edge--he couldn't understand the story at all!
• watched a really funny Reba episode. Seriously, if you need a laugh, find Reba!
• ate a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. Not as awesome as I'd hoped.
• went back to school for the annual back-to-school night where parents walk through their students' schedules.
• absolutely roasted in the gym. Decided to be thankful I only had to spend 20 minutes there instead of an entire volleyball practice.
• had a very awkward session with the parents of my 6th hour yearbook students. I went through my little spiel, answered a couple questions, then just stood there for four minutes while everyone looked through copies of last year's yearbook.
  
• came home to an unbearably humid apartment. Immediately turned on the air conditioning.
• finally, after putting up with the chorus of "Who Can Compare" running through my head all day, decided to buy the cd. Found it online--I thought I'd have to order it from the church--and downloaded it immediately.
• realized how much I miss CCC and decided that Val and I need to plan a trip to Winona Lake.
• looked at the clock, did the math for how much sleep I could get if I went to bed immediately, and proceeded to go on facebook.
  

two weeks later

I realized this morning that I haven't posted anything in two weeks. Here are some of the things keeping me busy, in (roughly) chronological order:

1. Working through my next Book Review Blogger book--Faith and Pop Culture (Christianity Today Study Series). This is meant to be done as a group Bible study, and I'm working my way through each chapter before writing my review. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and I'd love to do it in a small group setting.
2. Finishing the school year . . . and (sort of) completing the yearbook. I sent off the last pages, and I'll get proofs back in a few weeks. Then I'll need to make all the final corrections; I'll probably need to do a lot of work because I got so sick of staring at pages that I just quit proofing!
3. Seeing Wicked in Omaha! My mom, sisters, sister-in-law, and I all went together. It was amazing! I didn't take many pictures, but here's one of Susan, Steph, me, and Val in front of the sign (Susan and Steph didn't know they were in the pic):
   
4. Admiring the beauty around me. On the way to Lincoln to pick up SIL Susan for Wicked, we came through a crazy rain storm. Just as we got through the storm, we got our first view of the capitol building . . . and it was positively glowing! This picture doesn't quite do it justice--it was beautiful!
   
5. Cooking with my sisters. We attempted to make a "real" dinner one night last week. (By "real," I mean something that required a recipe, not one of our old standbys that we learned to make from Mom. I'm not saying her food isn't real, but it's not very adventurous.) We made Rachael Ray's Garlic & Oil Spaghetti with Greens, with a few modifications. Seems the local Hy-Vee doesn't carry swiss chard or scallions, so we substituted arugula. As I don't normally eat greens (ever), I have no idea if swiss chard and arugula are even remotely similar . . . but I know they're both green! Here are the results:
   
6. Hanging out with friends. A bunch of us got together to say farewell to Tricia, who is moving to Lincoln to go to UNL. We went to Carlos O'Kelley's (the greatest Mexican chain restaurant!), watched a movie, and just had fun being together.
7. Killing my African Violet. I'm not sure how it survived the Great Plant Holocaust of 2008, but I managed to keep it alive for over a year. Take a look at the "then" and "now" pics:
   
   I already have its replacement, a Sansevieria. Supposedly, it requires little light or water . . . so hopefully I won't kill it!
8. Taking some time off work. I realized at the end of last week that I still had five vacation days left, to be used by the end of June. So, I took last Friday and this morning off. Yay for vacation time!
   
   
   

chemistry!

When I walked into my classroom this morning, I saw this on my bulletin board, courtesy of my speech and yearbook kids:


Do you think they're trying to tell me something?

my (current) favorite things

• Spending time with family.
  My brother got married last weekend, and nearly all of my dad's side of the family was there, as well as my mom's siblings. It was great to see everyone, and I had a wonderful time at the reception! (It did get a little long, though . . . as you can see from the picture of me and Val!)
  

• Coffee.
  Yeah, this one is a negative, but I've been enjoying it. I normally drink decaf at home and at work--and I make a really good Irish Cream Latte using my Irish Cream syrup and my Magic Bullet--but when Val's home, that all flies out the window. She's my enabler . . . she just has to say the word "coffee," and I'm studdenly all about Starbucks. Or Barista's. Or even Scooters. And I never think to order decaf. On Sunday, we stopped at Lincoln Espresso (at Aunt E's suggestion) on our way to the airport. It was amazing. Good thing we don't have one of those around here--I would definitely be a regular!
• Tutoring.
  I've met with the girl I'm tutoring twice now, and it's going really well! She's close to my age and speaks English pretty well--she has trouble with verb tenses and pronunciation, mainly. I'm really enjoying getting to know her!
  
• Being alone.
  My sister is moving in with me after she graduates, and I'm really enjoying my last few weeks of living alone. When you live alone, you get to be really selfish. Don't want to do the dishes? Want to drink straight out of the milk carton? No problem! Plus there's the whole sole possession of the remote control thing. Don't get me wrong; I'm thrilled that she'll be here . . . I'm just making the most of these last weeks of solitude. (Oh, and if you drop by this week, you might want to stay away from the milk.)
• Yearbook.
  I can't even begin to tell you how much I love being the yearbook adviser. It's the best part of my job! Our final deadline is at the end of May--which means that all the students will be long gone by the time the deadline hits; however, I've found that I kind of enjoy the stress of finishing pages at the last second! (I also love the feeling of sending the pages away!) Plus, Val has already offered to help me . . .
  
  
  

my day (so far)

• oversleeping yet still making it to work earlier than I normally do
• giving myself a bad paper cut almost immediately upon arriving at work
• giving myself a cardboard cut (on the same finger!) a few hours later
• becoming horribly frustrated with Adobe InDesign
• becoming horribly frustrated with some of my yearbook students
• returning to the office for lunch, only to discover that the kitchen had changed the menu from hamburger helper (not ideal, but acceptable) to beef & bean burritos (completely unacceptable)
• listening to Jim Brickman's new cd while trying to fix yearbook pages
• running across campus in a downpour . . . in full view of the senior English class
• coming home to a very dusty-smelling house, thanks to the window I left open this morning
• discovering Phillip LaRue's new cd (thanks to Sarah)
  
• preparing to go back to school for an evening of winter awards (my least favorite responsibility as speech coach) and yearbook
  

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

• Val came to observe my yearbook class.
• Caught up on my daily Bible reading.
• Received my next book review blogger book--Rex: A Mother, Her Autistic Child, and the Music that Transformed Their Lives

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.

responsible teens

My yearbook staff has been selling ads during class for the past week. After they got back today, my mom took a call from one of the businesses some of the boys visited. My first thought when Mom told me about the call was oh no, what did they do now? I trust them, but still, they're teenagers, and I wouldn't put it past them to have a lapse in judgment.

But no. The lady was calling to let us know how professional and respectful the boy who had sold them the ad had been.

I feel like a proud mama bear :-)