Old Men and the Sea

Well - I always knew that girlfriends remained close no matter the time or distance - some of you can vouch for that, too, right? But, apparently, guys do, too. G is off on the ultimate guy trip. He and four childhood/high school buddies are in Costa Rica for a fishing extravaganza. He left this morning via private jet - flew out of the the MillionAir club here in town. They will be spending their days on a Viking sport fishing yacht. Somewhere in there will be a helicopter ride over the mountains.

Seeing all 5 of them together this morning was pretty cool - 5 ordinary men, but all linked by a multitude of memories of little league, swimming in the Teche, bike riding on skeleton hill, high school football and so much more.


I know he is having a great time - probably all will be sore from all the laughing they will be doing. Probably all 5 will return home a little more like the 15 year olds they used to be. Definitely, though, all will return home with another set of memories to add to their stash, so that the next time these guys get together, there will be plenty more to laugh about and reminisce.

And maybe next time, the guys will decide to take the wives, too :)

8th Place - WORLD FINALS

on top of the world :)

looking down from their dorm window

Last week P and his team of 6 other 6th graders traveled to Ames, Iowa to the Odyssey of the Mind World Competition. They had been practicing all year - came in 1st at regional, and 2nd at state, which meant they had qualified for the world competition. I went along for the ride :)

Little did we know how big a deal this was - there were over 870 Odyssey of the Mind teams there, from just about every state and many foreign countries, too. It was a great experience - the kids stayed in dorms on campus, ate in the campus dining halls, and performed on campus.

here they are waiting to fly out last Tuesday - for P and at least 2 or 3 others, this would be their first time in an airplane - -what a great first for them!

and now they are in the lobby of the dorm - on their way to first day of rehearsal.

For those of you unfamiliar with OM it is a competition of creativity and the ability to think on your feet. Each team must find a solution to a long term problem - ie, a skit...they had to write their own skit explaining a "lost" 13th labor of Hercules. Everything in the skit needed to be original, and they were judged on their "style" of creativity and individuality. Our team coach was sooo proud to learn the fact that of the other 64 middle school teams we were competing against, we had the highest score for style! In addition to this long term problem (skit) they also have to solve a spontaneous problem...this time it was building a vessel that would float in water, and hold multiple items...each one worth a certain number of points. Again, creativity is important, plus the actual points earned from the objects in the vessel. Building this was right up P's alley...in fact he came out of that very secretive competition saying it was his speciality!

after their performance - all their costumes were hand made by the team...they even used corn husks for many costumes & props as a way of paying recognition to the host state of Iowa.

It was a week full of rehearsals, prop adjustments and scoping out the competition. But, last Saturday night we sat in a college basketball arena with thousands of other teams, coaches and parents and waited for the announcing of the winners.Unfortunately, we didn't place in the top 3 and receive a big trophy to bing home, but this team of seven 12 year olds, competing for the first time agianst other teams of 6th, 7th & 8th graders won EIGHTH PLACE! We were so excited and proud of our kiddos! We, as parents know they are pretty bright, but this confirmed it for all to realize, as well. So - here I am, bragging about P and his team of friends, and two very devoted coaches, who have given him an experience that will be one he remembers forever. Thanks, Ms H and Mrs D!

opening ceremonies - Texas is near the bottom right corner...look for aqua shirts and cowboy hats :)

Running just as fast as I can...

This always happens...February ends, March begins, the sun shines, and before I know it, mid-May is here and I don't even know what happened to April. Between school - the one I where I am the teacher, the other school - the one where I am the student, live-arm baseball, coach pitch baseball, 12 and under soccer, throw in a birthday party, G's track season, laundry, and life, I seem to miss the idyllic days of spring - not to mention completely ignoring and neglecting this blog.

Well, at least May does bring some guarantees - -less than a month of school (high school, that is), my last graduate class (whew! why didn't I stay in school at State back in the 90s when I had the chance?), and only a few more weeks of ballgames and practice.

Its a good thing I have summers free - well, relatively free. I need the time to recoup, rest up, and rejeuvenate, so that I can get a running start for next August, and keep that pace going all the way through until NEXT May!

And, hopefully, I will be much more regular with my updates and comments here on the blog.

In Character

I am discovering, in a wierd, self-inflicted torture kind of way, that after 37 years of life, I am now allergic to strawberries. How does that happen? What little switch flipped in my body to suddenly revolt whenever I come into contact with this fruit?

It all started back in December -a wierd outbreak of pimples (more than I ever had when I was 16) and then the dryest skin ever. Over the past few months I have experiemented with changing everything that touches my face - make-up, cleanser, moisturizer, laundry detergent, etc - and now I think I have narrowed it down to strawberries. Monday night I sliced some for the boys to eat with the hamburgers we had for dinner. Tuesday afternoon, I ate 1/2 of one as I was cutting some for M's snack.

Yesterday, I woke up to see a stranger in the mirror! Red splotches, little bumps - not a pretty sight. I packed on the moisturizer, and laid off the make-up, hopeing it would all clear up quickly...nope. So, last night, I loaded up on Benydril lotion and pills...anything to help the new additions to the landscape of my face. Needless to say, all the Benydril knocked me out - -I think I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow, and didn't move all night long.

This moning, I overslept - thanks to the benydryl, I'm sure - and raced into the bathroom to get ready in a flash to make it to school before 7:00am. My new blowdryer packs quite the punch, and I haven't yet mastered the art of wielding all this power at such an early hour. So, I am trying to camoflague the remians of the strawberry rash, style my bed-head, and get to school on time. Guess what? I end up singeing part of my hair because I am holding the dryer too close! A nice-size chunk sort of falls off as I ran my hands thru that part of my hair! Now, I have the burned, broken hair to go along with the red face and look just like the Bride of Frankenstein. How appropriate that I have adopted this new look, just in time to introduce the novel Frankenstein to my seniors as their final novel assignment of high school. Boy - the things we teachers do just to engage our students and capture their attention!

...maybe next spring Ishould consider reading something a little less frigtening - and definitely stay away from the strawberries!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

...often go awry.

OK, so much for bragging about my leisurely Spring Break plans, or lack there of. As I was complacently contemplating a week of bliss and relaxation, I didn't realize what actually lay in store for us this week. ...a new deck.

G and I have been talking about, drawing plans, making lists, etc for a while now for a deck for our back yard. Ever since Ike came through, our once serene shady backyard has become a barren desert of grass and weeds, desperately missing the shade and personality of the 80 yr old pecan tree that became a casualty of the storm. So, some time after we got home from church on Sunday, G and I were talking about the week ahead of us, and somehow we decided that it would be a good idea to begin our deck. It was Sunday, after all, and we had the whole week ahead of us. So, we started by ripping out the old brick patio under our lone oak tree, whose roots have buckled the bricks worse that poorly laid carpet in southern humidity. That chore took all of day 1. On the bright side, G got to enact some of the boys' favorite folk legends....he was John Henry as he swung the sledge hammer to break up the concrete under parts of the patio, and Paul Bunyan as he carried countless 1x6s into the backyard.

After this first day of hard, but productive work, we thought the rest would be downhill. Then, reality set it. The delivery on day 2 came at 5:30pm...almost too late to do much good. Day 3 was interrupted by dr's appts - - total of 6 shots, and most took it like a man :) - - and then day 4 was my day out with friends. Throw in a dentist appointment, two baseball practices, and G's track practice everyday, and time soon became a precious commodity.

So, here we are on Thursday, the deck is about 85% completed, and the week is 90% over. What happened to my rest and leisure?..maybe my sore muscles, broken fingernails, and scrapped shins give away the answer.

I guess I'll just have to spend some time relaxing on the new deck ( when it reaches 100% ) and find that leisure and bliss that I missed this past week. In the meantime, though, I think I have some shopping to do, to make this deck a new source of serentity for our backyard.

Spring Break '09

S -sleeping as late as I want to
P - probably going to the zoo one day
R -realxing at home
I - ice cream eating
N - new clothes shopping
G - going for a pedi and sushi with the girls

B - breakfast at 10:00am
R - reading just for fun
E - eating dinner on the back porch
A - allowing everyone to stay up too late
K -knowing it is only a sample of what is to come in June

ahhhh, I love being a teacher.....for so many reasons :)

Take it Like a Man

I am blessed with healthy kids...we don't catch the flu, rarely have colds, and have, thankfully, outgrown ear infections. So, we rarely go to the doctor. In fact, we have even gotten out of the habit of annual check ups, or well visits. So, being a mom, I figured it must be something we should take care of and made appointments for all three boys...probably mostly to allieve my conscience.

Well, I was telling the boys about their pending medical rendevous, and someone asked if there would be shots involved. Trying to be positive ( because noone here has outgrown their adamant dislike of injections and the pain they cause) I said I wasn't sure, but if we have to get them, we would grin and bear it and "take it like a man." That was last week sometime.

Yesterday in the car, we were discussing our plans for next week, and I reminded them that we had Dr. appts next Wednesday. M, in a kind of small voice from somewhere in the back seat asked "Could you tell them to keep it turned to child, instead of man, until I get just a little older?" I was confused...turn what where? What was he talking about? Then I realized...when I told him he was going to take the shot like a man, his 7 year old brain conjured up a man-sized needle! So, I explained to him what I meant, and that he wouldn't have to take a super-sized shot. Needless to say, he was much relieved.

Now, let's just hope that between the three of them, noone needs a booster shot......but chances are, some one will be taking it (somewhat) like a man when the nurse comes in with the needles and bandaids next Wednesday.