Just checkin in...

I have a "Year-In-Review" to write and only 8 1/2 hours to get it handed in, so this won't be newsy, but I just wanted to post these adorable pictures of Lola that Randy just sent me.  They're both big Dolphins fans.  Here she is in her new jersey!

They love me, they really LOVE me!!

Just thought I'd toot my own horn for a minute.  I was nominated for a Brighton Parents' Choice of Excellence.  I didn't win, but there were only about 15 or so teachers who were chosen as nominees, then about 5 who actually won.  :)

She Turned Me Into a Newt!!

(This isn't my nose, it's a false one.)

This is my Halloween costume for school this year.  It's the witch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in case you didn't know.

I thought this would be a really low-key, easily-crafted costume, but you would not believe how hard it is to find a carrot nose and a black funnel!  I ended up ordering the nose from England (only $7 including shipping!) and painting a blue funnel black.  The rest was pretty easy to find.

Here's the quiz I gave my students today.... Enjoy!  :D

(So far the highest score is 7.)

1.              Halloween originated in which country?

a.     Ireland

b.     Scotland

c.     Romania

d.     Germany

e.     North America

2.              What was Halloween called before it got that name?

a.     All Saints’ Day

b.     The Day of the Dead

c.     All Hallows Eve

d.     All Souls’ Day

3.              The first “Jack-O-Lanterns” were actually carved out of:

a.     Radishes

b.     Turnips

c.     Squash

d.     Apples

4.              The Jack-O-Lantern” got its name from:

a.     Jack the Ripper

b.     Stingy Jack

c.     The Headless Horseman (who was named for a real man whose name was Jack O’Malley)

d.     Wandering Jack

5.              Why is Halloween celebrated on Oct 31^st?

a.     That was the day Jack the Ripper died

b.     That was the Celtic calendar’s New Year’s Eve

c.     That was the day the Catholic church decided to honor the dead

d.     That was the day the Pagan religion celebrated Lord Samhaim, the god of death

6.              How was “trick-or-treating” started?

a.     Village people would go door-to-door asking the rich for food donations for the village celebration.  If people would not donate, they pulled pranks on them.

b.     On a Halloween night long ago a blind man was out begging door-to-door.  Someone gave him bad cheese and moldy bread, so in return he set fire to the house.

c.     In the early 1800s beggars would send their children door-to-door in order to invoke sympathy and thus, get more money from donors.  Because of the religious affiliation with the upcoming Day of the Dead, people tended to be more generous on Halloween.

7.              Why do people dress up in costume on Halloween?

a.     Long ago people would dress like the rich people they were approaching so that they were more likely to give to them.

b.     To blend in with the dark night after pulling pranks.

c.     To blend in with the spirits believed to be wandering the streets.

d.     To disguise their identities and scare the victims of their pranks.

8.              What was the original date of “All Hallows’ Eve?”

a.     October 31^st

b.     November 1^st

c.     December 21^st

d.     May 13^th

9.              If it changed, who changed it?

a.     A Druid Sorcerer

b.     A Catholic Pope

c.     A Jewish Rabbi

d.     A Mormon Prophet

10.           During the famous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, how many witches were burned at the stake?

a.     0

b.     10

c.     20

d.     30

Answers are in the comments.

Calling all educators... and others...

K.  School starts tomorrow and I'm STILL torn about whether or not to cut the answer pages out of the backs of my students' new books.  The books come with a DVD with activities in it that they have to do.

Here's what I've come up with.  Please read the information, then vote on the poll.  I really want your feedback too, so when you vote, you must leave an explanation as to why you voted that way as well as any other options or suggestions you may have.

Pros: 

1. The students can check their answers right away to see if they got the answers correct and, ideally, learn from what they got wrong and watch the video again.  

2. That means less grading for me.  

Cons:

1. Obviously, they're high schoolers and likely to not even watch the video, but just copy the answers from the back of the book.

2. If they do that, they will not learn the information and since this is a beginning level class, they will not form a good foundation, which is something I as the instructor will have to deal with for the next two or three years.

Side notes:

1. If I don't cut them out, their homework would be worth less than it is currently (HW is 40%, will be 20%) and their tests will be worth more (going from 40% to 50%).  So if they cheat on the homework their grade will suffer because I will probably still use part of the video in their tests.

I'm leaning towards leaving them in for a semester and seeing how it goes.  I hope you guys get this and vote before I leave today!  :)

Hike, Take II - With Pictures This Time

So last time Randy, Spencer, and I tried to hike to Doughnut Falls, we didn't actually make it all the way to the falls because we had Lola with us and she was, well... BeIng a less-Than-Cooperative Handful. :)


This time around, I got a picture of the boy for you guys. Sorry it's not better quality.

Randy and Spencer at the falls.

After our hike, Randy decided to vacuum his house. After emptying enough hair out of the cylinder to make at least two more small dogs, he decided to go directly to the source of the problem and vacuum Lola as well.

Havasupai Pictures

So some of those pictures allowed you to click them and make them bigger and some didn't.

I added a photo album on Flickr so you can check them out at full size if you'd like.  I also added a bunch I didn't put in the blog.

Enjoy.  :)

Havasupai

****  This is going to be a very long post.  Get comfy! :)  ****

This last weekend I went to Havasupai, in Supai Arizona with Rob (yes, my ex bf) and a group of his friends.  Now I know what you're thinking... "Who in their right mind would go to Arizona in late July?!?" Right?  Trust me, if I do it again it will be early June or sometime in September.

(As far as going with someone I dated, it was actually pretty cool.  No weirdness or anything.  Oh, and Randy was ok with it too.  And it wasn't Rob who invited me.  It was his friend, Devin, with whom I had ridden the MS 150.)

SO let the adventure begin.

Traditionally, people hike in in the middle of the night to avoid the extreme Arizona heat (and death) that occurs when wandering in the desert in the middle of the day.  We wanted to leave earlier in the day so we would arrive around 10 pm, sleep till about 4 am, then start our hike but one of the guys we were going with had to work till 1:30 so we didn't end up leaving SLC until about 2:30.  

We got to Supai around midnight or 1 am and even though we were all pretty tired, didn't see the point in setting up tents and stuff so that we could maybe get one or two hours of sleep in, so we just started out on the trail.

  This is the canyon once it started getting light enough to shoot pictures.

There are no pictures of the 8-mile hike to the Havasupai reservation village.  I think we were all pretty much just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.  From the parking lot to the village is 8 miles, then from the village to the campsite is just over 2.  I really didn't think a 10-mile hike would be as rough as it was but my pack never was situated correctly, so the pressure on my back/shoulders and just the one hip was killing me most of the hike.  

Also, for some reason I always forget how badly my knees hate hiking until I'm a few miles into any hike.  The tendons behind my knees absolutely felt like they were going to snap by the time I got to the campsite and I was walking like the arthritic old woman I'm probably going to be someday.  :(  

Just before the last little stretch into the campsite, you run into what used to be Navajo Falls.  

I suppose it still is Navajo Falls, but there was a flash flood that took out a lot of the ground around it last year.  You can see the tree line, I believe that's where the top of the falls used to be.  So sad.

When we finally got to the campsite and found most of our group members, it was too hot to sleep, so we got our swimsuits on and took the 1/2 mile or so to Havasupai Falls.  The water felt SOOO nice after all that hiking and cooled my joints down a bit.

 

Havasupai Falls from the trail leading down into the campsite. 

I know you're jealous of my hair in this one.  I only wish I could duplicate it.

 More Havasupai Falls.  I love the little pools at the bottom!  

Our campsite was right next to a river that came off the falls, so because it was too hot to do anything else, we spent the rest of the day just sitting in the river.  :)  

The second day we hiked about 3/4 mile down the river to Mooney Falls.

The hike there itself was very short and straightforward.  However, to actually get down to the falls you have to go through an incredibly steep rock tunnel with chains and narrow steps and all kinds of good stuff.  One of the girls in our group was extremely claustrophobic and afraid of heights but she managed it very well.

  The route down to Mooney 

After playing at Mooney for a couple of hours we were rested and feeling adventurous again, so we decided to continue on to the legendary Beaver Falls.

The thing with Beaver Falls is that many attempt it, but for some reason, few people actually get there.  It's about 3-4 miles beyond Mooney and you can either follow the river the entire way or take a mountain trail.  We decided to take the trail and I'm really glad we did.  

Even on the trail though, we met several people who had turned back before actually getting there, mostly just because of the distance.

 Some of the trail to Beaver Falls 

Right around this point Rob and Chris decided they'd rather go back to the village and get Navajo tacos, so they turned around and went back to camp.  (They ended up taking a nap, then waking up at 6:30.  The cafe in the village closes at 7, so they actually ran the 2-mile uphill path, and got there just when they had pretty much already closed the kitchen, so they still didn't get them.  Poor boys.)

One of the girls who were with us said that her friend had been to Beaver Falls before and that there was a big palm tree which people use as a landmark to know that you're on the right path and that you're very close.  (You have to cross the river several times, so it's kinda easy to get on the wrong path.)

 More of the trail to Beaver Falls. 

As you can see, the sights on the way TO Beaver Falls are gorgeous!  Which is why many people don't make it all the way.  They just play in the river and call that good enough, but we were determined.

We finally found the elusive palm tree!!!  :D

 Beaver Falls

 The descent into what is considered the main part of Beaver Falls.

      

On the way back we kinda lost the trail for a minute and ended up in the river for a section we didn't see on the way down.  It had some pretty cool little falls.  

  One of the pretty cool little falls.   

On the way back, we got talking about animals and how Australia is home to some of the biggest species of spiders and snakes in the world.  Just then I heard a HUGE movement in the bushes just off to my left, and this guy showed up seriously like 15 feet away from me.

  He was so stinkin cute, and it was amazing to watch his agility on the rock ledge.  

 I think he went up on this cliff just to pose for us.  Isn't that a great shot?

Of course, every adventure comes with its price.    We learned that duct tape stays better in water than moleskin.  My feet are the ones on the top.  My Chocos aren't that new, but they haven't had many water excursions, so I was still kinda breaking them in... with my ankles...

Luckily, the shoes I used to hike out had a different cut, so they weren't rubbing in the same spots I had blisters from the above trip.

They give you the option to pay $20 to have a horse/mule pack your backpacks out for you so you don't have to hike out (and up) with them.  That was the easiest decision I'd made the whole trip, I think, and the best $20 I've spent.

On the way back, I started getting attacked by this rogue butterfly.  Terrifying, huh?  It was.

Apparently butterflies are attracted by color and have no sense of smell, cuz I definitely didn't smell like a flower.  I finally stopped swatting it away and let it land on me and it sat there and stuck its little nose thing as deep as it could into my purple tank top!  It was so weird.

  Beautiful, but weird.  

As you can tell by the pic above, we could not hike out in the middle of the night because the horse people don't load and pack in the middle of the night.  So while we didn't have to carry our packs out, we did have to hike in the heat of the morning.  I ran out of water when we had about a mile and a half left of the steepest part of the hike, so I got a touch of heat exhaustion on by the time I reached the top and was not feeling very well.

They did have a trailer up at the parking lot where you could spend $2 for a bottle of water or $3 for a popsicle, which I also thought was a steal by that time.

When we got to the top, we learned that one of the horses that had been carrying two packs from our group had broken away from the owner and he had gone to look for it...  After about an hour of worrying that we weren't ever going to see him or the packs again, he showed up, extremely apologetic.  We were all just happy to finally be able to get on the road and get home!

SO, would I do it again?

Yes.*

*So long as I either conditioned my knees and situated my pack better, or took the option of helicoptering/horseback riding in.  

If anyone would like to join me, I'd always love adventure companions!  :D

The apple and tree and all that...

This is just a cute story that I thought I'd share.

So any time when we're walking into a restaurant or on a hike or just anywhere, really, Randy will often stop and pick a flower for me.

As I've mentioned before, Randy's boy, Spencer is here visiting and a couple weeks ago we went on a hike.  

While we were walking along, Spencer kept gathering flowers and giving them to me.  I thought it was cute but wondered if he understood, so one time when he brought me a flower I said, "Ah, thanks but you should give that one to your daddy." 

He looked at me like I'd just grown a second head and said, "He's not a girl!"

Superstitions

So the other day I was driving along and I saw a couple of pigeons in the middle of the road.  I always think it's weird when people swerve to miss birds, I mean, they've got wings!  They can get out of the way if they want to, right??  So yeah... I didn't swerve.  And he didn't fly away.  When I realized he wasn't going to get out of the way I did swerve to try to at least make him go under my car instead of under my tire, but he was a little taller than I had anticipated...

After a soft thump and a tuft of feathers in my rear view mirror, I watched to see how he had come out.  He was still walking on the road, albeit a little quicker than he was before...

I really really felt bad.  Really. 

Then later that day, I was driving along and a couple of little sparrows were flying around pretty low and I thought I heard one of them hit my bumper...  I can't be sure because there were no feathers flying around or anything that time.

Seriously though, two birds in one day?!?

I decided today to see if that's bad luck.  I didn't see anything related to hitting birds on this website, but I did think some of the other stuff was interesting, so I thought I'd share.

Enjoy.

Funny video

I posted this on my facebook page but I've heard that not everyone checks it regularly, so I thought I'd post it here.  I just found this amusing and it reminded me of our family.

Video

MS 150 turned 170-ish

I'm a few days late in reporting, but I think I probably should document this experience in some way.

I completed the MS 150 bike ride last weekend in Logan.  Randy used to work for Hammer Nutrition, so he sent me with all kinds of powder to make shakes and pills for electrolytes and stuff like that, along with eating instructions.  

The first day was the century ride.  You were given the option of completing the 40, 75, or 100-mile route.  Of course I was determined to do the 100-mile route.  I didn't eat much for breakfast, per Randy's advice, and kept fueled with the stuff he'd given me.  It actually worked out really well.  

I went up with Devin (Rob's friend who does this ride and has organized a group every year for the last 7 years) and his friend, Jared.  Jared was really struggling at the 50-mile mark and ended up just taking the 75-mile route back.  Devin had a time goal this time around, so that's right around when I told him to go ahead without me.  

I was actually pretty impressed by my pace and how good I felt right up until about mile 85, then I was just beat.  I met a lady and got talking with her, which helped both of us get through the last few miles.  Seriously, the last 5 were the hardest I've ever done.  Right around then I kept trying to remind myself that I was grateful to have a body that allowed me to push it that hard.  Grateful to have my good health and kept thinking of those people who didn't have that.  It felt SO good to cross that finish line and know what I had just accomplished.

The next day we were also given the option to do a 40, (unofficial) 50, or 75-mile ride.  Devin said that normally they take the 50-mile route, which was supposed to be a pretty easy recovery ride up a canyon.  I started out with Devin and his chiropractor partner, Jay.  (Partner in their chiropractor business... not his partner who happens to be a chiropractor... Just wanted to clarify)  

So anywayzzz, we started through the city, following the route to the canyon.  Devin had to leave early, so he took off ahead, rode for a bit of the canyon, then headed back.  I rode most of the route with Jay, got to the turn-around point, and he said he needed to get a ride back to the fairgrounds (the start/finish and where we were camping) early, so I took off by myself.

I got back to the city but didn't know which way to go.  Long story short, I found some bikers and thought I was on the short route back to the fairgrounds.  I kept asking people if this route led back to the fairgrounds cuz I did NOT want to do the whole 75-mile route.  One guy told me that I was on the 75-mile route and that I might as well finish it out cuz it was the quickest way back to the fairgrounds at that point.   I thought he was joking.  

Turns out he wasn't.

So there was one section of that route that I believe I skipped, making my route about 70 miles instead of the full 75.  It would have been ok, except I kept thinking the end was right around this next corner and I also hadn't eaten to prepare for that long of a ride.  We had a kind of heavy breakfast and because I kept thinking the end was right around the corner I didn't take all the rest stops available.  I even saw "4 miles" spray-painted on the road at one point, so I thought I'd finally made it.  That must have been for something else, though, cuz I still had about 15 miles go to at that point.

I did finally make it back and luckily (for me) Jay had had car problems, so he was still there when I arrived so he was able to give me a much-needed adjustment before I left.

My final conclusion- Road biking is boring.  I do not see why people would do it outside of a competition except maybe to train for one.  I can see the appeal of the event, but I am still undecided on whether or not I will do this again next year.  Maybe if actually train in advance and I can convince some more people to join me I will...  Any takers?  :)

Randy's first mountain bike ride!

So I took Randy mt. biking today. Our goal was to do a very popular "beginner's" ride. It's a 7-mile out-and-back route up Millcreek Canyon. It's part of the Pipeline trail, but the section we were planning on doing was called Birch Hollow. If you follow the Pipeline trail further down, there are several different shorter trails you can do as entry points. One of those is called Rattlesnake Gulch.
Here's what the website says about it, "While most of the Pipeline is easy cruising, we wouldn't recommend taking a newbie down Rattlesnake Gulch. This descent is advanced technical. When the dust gets deep and slippery, Rattlesnake can be a white-knuckle slide for the best riders."
We drove around for a bit, looking for the entry to Birch Hollow. Instead, I saw a sign that said, "Pipeline" and decided that was it.
You guessed it, we had arrived at the base of Rattlesnake Gulch.
So after struggling UP this ridiculous down-hillers' trail for about 20 minutes, I realized we may be in the wrong area. We rode back down it, THEN noticed the sign. Oops. :)

Anyway, long story short, we found the right trailhead, road Birch Hollow down to one of the other entry trails (not Rattlesnake) and headed back to the car.
We were seriously like 100 yards from my car when a car came up from behind us and wanted to pass. Randy was behind me and was riding as close to the edge of the pavement as he could so they could get by. In doing so, however, he caught the edge of the pavement with his tire and supermanned off the bike. When the car got to me, the driver and passenger both had shocked looks on their faces and pointed for me to go back.

Anyway, luckily Randy's ok. He just cut his chin, and scraped his nose, shoulder, a few fingers, knee, and leg... Overall, I was very impressed. Especially how he handled Rattlesnake, PLUS he agreed to go with me again some time! :D

Oh, btw Marty, the bike's fine... After some minor adjustments... :)

Below are photos of the carnage, also added to my Facebook account.

Bless his heart. :)

Randy's new addition! Oh, and a random guy at D.I.

So I was talking to Kryn and Gregan last weekend about my blog and how I never have anything interesting to blog about.

Well, this weekend was definitely different.

Friday afternoon I made some incredible homemade bread, thanks to Dad's advice and Mom's "Tried and True" recipe book. Randy was thoroughly impressed.

Then we went to D.I. to look for a dresser for Randy's son who lives in MT but is spending pretty much all of July out here. (By the way, Randy has a 6-year-old son) :)

Randy had never been to a D.I. so I was excited to show him all the random treasures and see his reaction to the always-interesting crowd that accompany D.I. As we were walking around, taking it all in, looking at the dressers we heard a huge crash and breaking of glass. I turned around to see a guy jumping up from a broken table with a look of utter shock on his face.

A D.I. employee happened to be walking by just then and his face most definitely had, "oh, jeez, do I really have to go over there...?" written all over it.

So he walked over to the guy and asked if he was ok and the man said, "I think I have glass in my butt." With that, Randy and I had to slip around the corner before bursting out in uncontrollable laughter. Yeah, we're mean.

After D.I. we decided to go look at pets at the Humane Society. I'm not sure whose idea it was, but I'm pretty sure Randy had been wanting a pet for a while and I just wanted to go play with puppies. The whole way there Randy just kept saying, "I'm going to leave today with an animal! I can't have a dog in my house... I can't get a dog..." But his tone said that he was actually trying to work out a way for him to keep a dog in his house.

First, we looked at the little dogs, since that would be the most logical for his one-level condo, and cuz I wanted to play with the puppies, of course. We saw a few hyper-active chihuahua mixes and a poodle from an apparently infamous "poodle house" http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_12594477 (very sad story) but none he was really interested in.

Then we looked at some cats. He didn't want to have to clean up after a kitten or a puppy, so he was looking for something that was already housebroken. In my opinion, the only reason anyone has cats is because they were at some point an adorable kitten. I don't see the point in buying one past that stage.

We then moved on to the bigger dogs. There were 3 different black lab mixes that we just fell in love with right away. One of whom, was Lola. At first, we thought she was not the smartest duck in the bucket cuz she has this look (as pictured) that she does any time you talk to her where she cocks her head to the side and stares intently. Turns out, though, she's one of the best fetchin' dogs I've ever seen. She's an athlete and she LOVES to play. Isn't she adorable?? Her favorite games are fetch and tug-o-war and she already knows "sit" and "stay."

Right when we got her home we gave her a bath. She didn't love that, but she was SOO well-behaved. Didn't even shake off till we were done rinsing her. After her bath we went for a walk... She's not so good on a leash yet...

Randy got her a big wire kennel to sleep in and he said she slept all through the night without even barking or whining!

Today I'm dog-sitting while Randy's at the dentist. She's been kinda sick though. She has had a runny nose and cough this morning and has been asleep for about the last 3 hours. While she was in the shelter she had developed and gotten over something called kennel cough, and the workers there said there's a chance she could get it again. He's taking her in today or tomorrow to have it checked out. Poor thing's exhausted but she's just so sweet.

Gregan thinks we should arrange a play date for Spiche and Lola. Once she's feeling better and I know she can't get Spiche sick, we'll make it happen. Don't worry, I'll document it for you.

*Update*

When Randy got back from the dentist we went to the dog park. She's great with the other dogs, but she absolutely LOVES chasing and catching balls. Even if she had one in her mouth she would drop it and go chase after the balls other owners were throwing for their dogs. She's super fast and she's got mad hops, so the other dogs don't have a chance. She's so sweet though, they couldn't even get mad at her.

After the dog park I took her for a walk using some leash-training tips we found online and she's practically trained already. She's seriously one of the fastest learners I know, and I'm a high school teacher! ;) Hahahaha

Here's Lola!!

This is the look she gives when you have a ball in your hand and she's DYING for you to throw it. Otherwise it's cocked to her left, as shown below.

This is the look she gives any time you talk without a ball in your hand. The higher pitch your voice goes, the higher her right ear goes. She's adorable. :)

This was a long one, but I've been overdue for a while. Thanks for hangin in there!

One more great time-waster

I actually found this one as a result of surfing Jaron's "99 sites you should've seen by now" list.  So have at it, Gregan and thanks, Jar!

http://failblog.org/

There are some great ones on there!

How I'm procrastinating now...

I went to dinner last night with a friend who told me about this website:

http://funnyexam.com/

I'm already feeling antsy with the end of the year coming up, so it is really a bad time to be introducing new ways to waste time, but I thought I'd pass it along.  There are some pretty funny ones.

Enjoy!  :)

Poll Results

Results are in, and apparently I'm supposed to make a new blog about it.  (Thanks for the info, Kryn, I had no idea!)

Wow, I'm surprised so many people voted for Education! Actually I'm not, but I'm pretty sure you all only voted for that one cuz I'm a teacher and it seems like a logical step.
In reality, one reason I'm thinking of getting my master's is so I have something to do if I decide not to teach for the rest of my life.
I've been contemplating speech language pathology, but really ears interest me more than swallowing and stutters. Being an SLP would be cool, though.
I'm surprised no one chose Math, even as a joke.
I keep going back to linguistics myself, though. I really like the study of language and how language develops. The big question, however, is what do I do with a master's in linguistics?

What finger?

I guess this is what we get for asking a random stranger to take a picture for us.

Anyway, I went to Moab this last weekend and had a swell time with Aubree, Jeanette, Martin (the one Kindy went out with), and his friend, Jana.  Fortunately, this is the only interesting picture I will be posting from this trip!  The girl in the middle (black shirt) took the beating for me...  She fell off her bike right at the beginning of the ride and scraped her knee up a bit and possibly sprained her toe, then just shortly after this picture was taken her front wheel fell off and she ate it again, getting a huge bump and bruise on her hand, other leg, and knee... I'm just glad I'm not the one who put her wheel on after taking it out of the car.  We won't say who the guilty party was though, in case he ever decides to read my blog.  :)

Anyway, the trip was fun.  It was the same weekend of Jeep Safari, so we got to see a bunch of jeep-crawling too which is always fun to watch.  Not as much prime people watching as last time I was down there at this time but it was still interesting.

Master's

So I've been thinking that I should start thinking about continuing my education to get a master's degree.  After all, a master's is the new bachelor's, am I right?

Now I just have to decide what to major in, so I'm asking you.  I'm pretty sure I already know what the results of the poll will be, but I thought I'd see if you have anything more to add, like what KIND of math.  (I hear there are different types...)

Officially...

Tonight I officially registered for the 5k in my other blog, but more importantly, I also applied to take my interpreter certification exam.

My test date is Friday, May 15th, the day before the 5k.  I'm sure I'll write the night before asking for prayers, good juju, or positive karma... Whatever you can send my way, really.  If you never hear about it again, consider it failed and I don't want to talk about it.

Otherwise, we'll have a blog party to celebrate!  

5K Training

This really isn't that cool, but evidently mom doesn't think I post often enough, as she forgot that this blog even exists.

So I was online the other day, avoiding some grading that needed to be done, and a friend/fellow ASL teacher got on MSN Messenger.

She told me about this race (www.signsonthetrail.com) that she was running in and asked if I'd run it with her.  I told her I would.

So I started "training" yesterday.  I also discovered how out of running shape I am.  

I've offered my students 20 points of extra credit if they run it, 25 if they beat me :) and 50 if they work the race as a volunteer.

If anyone wants to run it with me, that'd be sweet!!!  :D 

(And yeah, my dreams have actually been pretty normal lately, although I did dream the other night that I had made a habit of dressing up as a bear and breaking into people's houses to steal their food...)

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Here's a quiz I made for my class for Tuesday.

I'll post the answers later... Or maybe as a comment...  See how many you know though!

(I already know I'm a geek... I'm ok with it...  Humor me)    :)

1.  St. Patrick was born in

a. Ireland

b. Britain

c. Germany

d. France

2.  St. Patrick was born in the year

a. 718

b. 683

c. 412

d. 387

3.  St. Patrick's birth name was

a. Pateritius MacDell

b. Artagon Sweeny

c. Maewyn Succat

d. Patrick O'Harra

4.  The tradition of wearing green on St. Patrick's day originated

a. Because St. Patrick's "saint color" was green

b. Because Ireland itself is very green

c. To remind people of the shamrock and thus, remind them of God

d. B & C

e. All of the above

5.  Why is the shamrock affiliated with St. Patrick?

a. He used them to make what is now a traditional St. Patrick's Day stew

b. He planted them all over Ireland as he proselyted 

c. He always wore one on the sleeve of his shirt

d. He used them to explain religious doctrine

6.  Why is St. Patrick's Day celebrated on March 17th?

a. That is the Catholic church's first day of lent

b. That is the Catholic church's last day of lent

c. That is the day St. Patrick was born

d. That is the day St. Patrick died

7.  T/F Aside from zoos and pets, Ireland has no snakes.

8.  T/F St. Patrick was deaf.

9.   T/F St. Patrick's Day was originally in December.

10. T/F The first St. Patrick's Day parade was in Ireland.

MS 150... er... 175...

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE playing outside and being active.  I just feel so good being outside in God's playground.  I love being winded and exhausted at the end of a day of hard play.  I realize how fragile and yet how resilient the human body is and recognize that I have done absolutely nothing to deserve the good health that I enjoy everyday.  So many people don't have that blessing and they've done absolutely nothing to deserve the health problems and limitations imposed upon them.  

I started volunteering with Splore, which is an organization that provides adaptive outdoor equipment and experiences for people who have disabilities who may not otherwise have access to many of the activities I love.  I haven't done much with them yet, but plan to do more in the future.  

I've decided that volunteering and doing things like this are the best ways I can show my appreciation for my health and able body.  

I am officially registered to ride in the MS 150, which is a 175-mile road bike race fundraiser for multiple sclerosis research and aid to those who are currently living with MS.  

I think I'm excited, but mostly I'm still a little hesitant about going excessive speeds wearing nothing but spandex and a helmet...  

Anyway, I need to raise at least $250 by the end of June and could REALLY use your help.

Please just copy/paste the address below into your web browser and donate if you can.  Any amount helps!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=5193648&pg=personal&fr_id=9532

Thanks guys, and wish me luck!!  :D

Skewered models??

K, I'm still putting this one together, so hopefully I can write it in a way that makes sense...

It started out that my friend, Bonnie, was moving in with me.  The first thing she insisted on doing, though, was tearing out the wallpaper in the kitchen and painting one wall pink, for Valentine's day, and the other one creme colored.  

So we started remodeling and we got about halfway done, then she was going to go do a cooking show.  I went with her to this kitchen set and the lady she was working with was doing a show about how to make cheese pie things...  They were actually different kinds of soft, malleable cheese formed into pie-piece shapes and put into a mini pie tin.  

After Bonnie made a couple of these and placed them into the tin, they started poking those long toothpicks into the cheese pie pieces.  Once they started poking them though, suddenly the scene changed and I think I was miniature and standing in the pie tin...  (Yeah, up till now you were probably thinking, "this doesn't sound like a Tressa dream at all...")

So I was standing in this tin and the cheese things became girls... Models to be more precise.  They looked like they were in these layers of blankets that looked like different kinds of cheesecakes... Chocolate mousse and stuff like that...  These toothpicks were actually being stuck into the girls though, and the less firm the dessert blankets were around these girls, the more angled the toothpick had to be stuck into them.  So if they had a firm cheesecake-like surrounding, the toothpick was stuck straight up and down, but then there was one who basically looked like pudding in a pie shape and the toothpick was basically going straight in from the side and through the girl like that...

Yeah... Then I woke up...  Kinda craving cheese...

Body-Checking and Toe Picks

I just now realized I never posted this... It's cuz I wasn't able to e-mail the pics to myself like I normally do in order to save them on my computer and then load them on here.  That's the primitive process those of us without real cameras have to go through in order to post pictures online.  

Tonight I went ice skating.  Normally I get hockey skates but the ones they gave me were not fitting right and were absolutely killing my ankle, so I got figure skates instead.  

As I was putting my figure skates on, the friend I went with was saying how the toe pick was going to get me and when it did he was going to skate right by, laugh, and say "Toe pick!"  In a high-pitched "Cutting Edge" voice.

I was doing very well, I must say, but he gave me some grief about some close calls with a couple of 5-year-olds saying how I was trying to body-check them.  So (to be funny) I started skating really fast right towards this little girl who was probably right around 5 years old, hunched down like I was going to take her out with a shoulder, but then went around her at a reasonably safe distance.  (Just so you people with kids know, her mom was right there and she didn't even suspect anything... That's how far away from actually hitting her I was)

Anyway... I went around her, but then while doing a little cross-over to round the corner, sure enough, that stupid toe pick on my left (back) foot caught the ice and pulled me down.

So now you have to put all the pieces together.  

Accelerated speed + cross-over + toe pick = incredibly awkward fall.  

I really wish I could've seen it.  At any rate, I got the wind knocked out of me a little bit, got a huge bump/bruise on my right knee, scraped my left hip, and totally slid a few feet Superman style.  

And yes, my friend kept his word about mocking me, but only after making sure I was actually ok.  

Anyway, like I said, I haven't been able to e-mail my pictures, so you're just going to have to use your imagination.  It was a very colorful bruise.

Most Disturbing Yet... Sorry, Jaron.

Just to let you know straight up, I do not in any way injure or kill Jaron in this dream.  

Now that we have that clear, let me tell you what I remember from this one.

The beginning of this dream is set in a golden field of wheat.  Jaron was there and he was having an argument with someone.  This other person started running away and Jaron pulled out a gun and shot him in the back.  

I screamed and Jaron turned to me and raised his gun again.  I begged him not to shoot, but he put the barrel of the gun up to my mouth and pulled the trigger.  I kept telling him to stop but he kept shooting.  The sensation was really weird...  My teeth and lips felt numb like I had just gone to the dentist.  Then he put the gun under my chin and squeezed the trigger again.  Instead of a bullet though, that one sent shrapnel through my chin and neck.

Just then the rest of the family appeared and I went through each member (including Jaron even though I was still mad that he'd shot me) and told them how much I love them as I lay there dying.  

Kindy suggested that we go to the hospital and see if they could save me.  I agreed to go, so we hopped on our bicycles and started down the street to the hospital.  After a few feet though, I was so dizzy it was clear I couldn't ride my bike all the way to the hospital.  I told Kindy that and she said, "ok... I guess we can take my car then."

Then I woke up, very disturbed.

Mermen and Shoot-outs

K, let's see how much of this I remember at the end of the school day.

It started out like I was watching a movie.  There was a lake or river or something with a traffic bridge over it.  The bridge started to raise in the middle but there were two cars that were headed towards each other.  They flew off their respective bridge sections and almost smashed into each other, head-on, but then at the last second they missed and landed in the water.  

Out in the water there was a small boat with a crane on it, fishing for the cars that had just fallen.  The passengers in the car closest to me were both in the water, conscious and yelling to get the boat's attention.  The crane operator had just started to lift the car out of the water, when one of the people near the car started screaming at the top of their lungs in anguish.  Then they realized that the crane was actually pulling this one passenger up and was hooked just under the mastoid bone (behind the ear) where the skull attached.  They got the person unhooked, then the scene changed.

I was in my roommate's room and she had all these elaborate kerchiefs and wooden dolls hanging on the bedpost on the foot of her bed from all the different countries she's visited.  I remember one doll in particular.  He was a very Scandinavian-looking doll with the red, pointy nose, cheeks, and chin.  His upper body was dressed in a white dress shirt and his arms were attached at the wrists so that they were always folded on where his knees would have been but his lower body was a fish.

I left that room and started feeling funny.  I asked someone if I had a scar under my ear on my right side because I think I may have gotten a hook stuck in it earlier but I wasn't sure... It could have been a dream or something...  She told me there was a scar there and asked if I was ok.  I told her I was and kept wandering around.  So apparently the person getting dragged out of the water was me.  Good to know.

Then the scene kinda changed again and this part is kind of fuzzy.  I was still feeling funny from having been lifted up by the skull with a crane, but I was with a group of about 3 people I knew somehow in a mall or something.  They were family, or step-family, but I don't know who they were.

Anyway, the woman in my dream who was like my step-mom pulled out a gun and started shooting, but it turned out to be a toy gun.  I stepped in as back-up and threw her mine (I think I had taken it from my roommate's room) but I think it turned out to be a toy as well.  

Embarrassed and scared, we jumped into our tight little Audi TT and took off.

Then I woke up.

"You are everything I hope to become someday"

Today I got the sweetest note from one of my students.  She seems like more than a student though.  She's had somewhat of a rough young life and had to mature more quickly than normal because of it.  I've kind of taken her under my wing and let her vent to me and I to her more so than a typical teacher/student relationship would allow.  I think she needs it though, and I'm sure I do too.  At any rate, she spends a lot of time in my classroom and we see each other at Deaf Community events.  We've even gone bouldering together. 

Today she gave me a Christmas present and this note was with it.  The title of this blog is a line from that note.  I can't help but to feel like she doesn't have her sights set high enough.  

Isn't it interesting how other people perceive us?

To her, I'm a successful, independent, active woman who has everything together.  To me... well, that line just makes me laugh.  I mean, I definitely enjoy my life and I'll admit I'm not a complete screw-up, but I am far from the end product I hope to become.

It makes me think, though, about the people I admired growing up and those I look up to now.  It's so interesting that they're just people.  Now it makes sense why, any time I said something like that to a neighbor or friend's parent or anyone really, they would roll their eyes, blush and say thanks and usually refer back to their messy house or undone hair.  

Spiders and Catholics

So I had kind of a weird dream last night.

Actually it had two parts.  What I remember of the first one is super short.  I dreamed that there was this little brown spider and I was with one of my friends who told me that I should play with it cuz it wouldn't bite me.  I told them I didn't believe that it wouldn't bite me so I picked it up and put my finger right on its mouth and held it there for a little while until it totally clamped down and I couldn't get it off my finger.  It hurt like hell but at least I'd proved my friend wrong.  :)

Then I had a dream that I went to a catholic priest (I JUST now realized that I got a message from a guy last night who had a priest collar on!  Now it all makes sense... Kind of...) and he told me I had to do 30 Hail Marys but didn't tell me how.  I knew that I needed to kneel on a bible and one of their prayer books but I didn't have one of those so I used a bible and a book of Mormon.  I knelt down and said (in my head) "Mary, mother of God," crossed myself, kissed my thumb, then kissed the ground.  I did that 30 times but I still didn't feel like I was forgiven.

Then I met this woman in my mom's ward and I asked her how to do it.  She laughed and said that I was close, but that after the beginning I needed to state my sin and end with "Amen."

I was a little put out because I had just done this mini version 30 times.  I tried the longer version once but then got distracted.  I decided it was too much work and thought maybe I'd just go to a Mormon bishop or something.

Meanwhile, the relief society was having a pilates/yoga/kickboxing workshop and there were all these different rooms where people were doing these things and I was wandering from room to room looking for that lady again to ask her if I did it right.  (I didn't want to do 30 of the wrong ones again...) 

In each room I would sit down and watch people for a few minutes and make comments to myself out loud about what they were doing and then get surprised that they had heard when they responded to what I had said.  

After a while, Alicia, mom, and Kindy came out of their classes went to the dessert tables outside.  There were two tables.  One with chocolates on them and one with banana-flavored stuff.  I woke up still trying to decide which one I wanted...