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...