Taking a Breather

If you are wondering why I haven't written lately it is because I've been busy with Science Olympiad. Science Olympiad is an extra-curricular competition that my students compete in each year. There are 23 events to coach between myself and three other coaches (science teachers), which this year, two of them are new to the event. Needless to say it is a lot of extra work beyond my regular biology class, but the kids love it. Usually, I'm a very tidy person. I don't like messes. However, as you can (or cannot) see, this is my desk at work......

Yeah, you can't even see my keyboard! That is why this weekend, right after our Science Olympiad Competition, I got out and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Saturday got an A+, with temps in the low 70's! Is it really January? Sunday, still warm, however, the Kansas wind was a blowin! I was still able to get with some girls from my Tri-training group and ride outside! It had been 9 weeks since I was on a bike outside! Wow! Was it good to be back! Here are the girls, Heidi, Ria, and Karlene, coming up a hill (into the wind).

Please Spring, come soooooon!!!

Weekend Fun

After a crazy week, it was nice to just hang out with the kids and have some fun. We visited Great Grandma's house this weekend. She got out the dominoes, which Harrison and Maddy enjoyed putting up and knocking down over and over again! Harrison laughed so hard! Ahhh, simple pleasures!

One of the nice things about the weekends is sleeping in late. Shown below is the small zoo of animals that Harrison has to sleep with each night. Since he is my early riser each morning, he comes into my room to get in bed with me and snuggle. This is one of my favorite things about the weekends. However, you'll notice that one of the items that he likes to sleep with is a plastic snake! Yes, a plastic snake accompanies him to bed each night. When Harrison makes his trek into my room, he brings ALL of these guys with him! So, I awoke Sunday morning to two warm snuggle buddies (Maddy too), a fish, a car, a dog, a bear, and a plastic snake! Good morning!

Craziness!

This has been quite the week so far. I'm totally swamped at work because it is commentary time for the students. This means I send home their grades and comments in regards to their progress. It takes me a long time to do these, and we do it six times a year! If I had a day off for this particular event every time it rolled around, my life would be so much easier. I worked through the weekend on my other school project: Science Olympiad. While being a great thing for students, I am finding myself tiring of this yearly competition consisting of 23 events to get together. It is quite a chore. Enough complaining. Thankfully, I have this to keep me going...

Besides me being crazy busy at work, I also have had to deal with both Harrison and Maddy misbehaving at school this week! They have been doing a lot of "apology artwork" to take to their teachers. Hopefully, this is only a phase. The weather is changing once again to blah and cold, so this may be why they are acting this way??? That is my reasoning.

I won't go into the other reason that this week has been so awful. Let's just say it has something to do with money, or the lack of it. Luckily, I have (had) a savings account for "rainy" days. Enough of that. Luckily, I'm rich with many other things. Like family and friends.....

Thanks for listening, James.

The Olan Mills Challenge

My friend Denise issued the challenge to find those old, Olan Mills photos. Well, I was able to locate one. I know there are others out there, but either my family has them or I've hidden them really well, so no one will ever find them. That is how goofy I looked back then! This one is so old that it is permanently stuck to the glass, which meant I had to do some clever photography to capture just the picture and not my reflection. It wasn't easy and you can still see some reflection...right down the middle of my face! This was the best one I could come up with though! This is my mother, father, little brother Jeff, and myself circa 1975 or 1976. Love the fake books!

Fun at Work, Fun at Play

I am one of those fortunate people who loves their job. This wasn't always the case. I worked at a boring bank job for a while. I also taught at a public school that almost made me want to quit teaching all together (and it wasn't because of the kids). It was a phone call from a lady named Bunny that changed my world one summer evening in 2000. Now, eight years later, here I am, in a career, and school that makes me happy. Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't some cushy, do-nothing job. I live and breathe this job during the school year. My co-workers are more like family members. We take care of each other and bug each other just like real family members do from time to time. I also don't just have two children. I have 70 children...all adolescents! It really is a fun job. So, here is a special thank you to my co-workers that have mentored, guided, supported, and pushed me for the past few years to be a good teacher and greater person. The group shown below is the 7th Grade team at my school. We ARE the best and funnest team in the middle school! In this photo we are in our daily "meeting" where we discuss problems, successes, students and plan units. Pictured is Dave, our "Tennis God" and History teacher (Maddy LOVES Dave who coached her in tennis last summer); John, our Latin instructor; Devon, our math teacher and team leader who always keeps us on task! ;); and Cindy, our English instructor. What a group!Now, when the work day is done, the people below help push me and mentor me in other ways...on the bike and through running. I had so much fun last fall hanging out with these guys, that when I was asked if I wanted to be a mentor for the Team In Training Cycling Team, I couldn't resist! Go TEAM! As you can see, it is strictly business at our meetings here too.

What Makes Us Happy!

Life is pretty simple for the young. Harrison was overwhelmed with joy when I found James, a red train from the "Thomas the Tank Engine" train collection. James had been hiding behind the bed for a few weeks. For Maddy, all it takes is a little paint on the nails!

As for me, I wrote all about what makes me happy in a blog titled, "My Passion" but I can't seem to get it to come to the top of the blog list. Remember, I'm new to this blogging thing. So, scroll down to December 21st and check it out. (To all my experienced blog friends, help me out here...any suggestions?)

Taking 2nd on January 1st!

One of my favorite things to do is run the various road races around town. I started off the year doing a fun one, the YMCA's Frosty 5K. This is the first year that I have done it and really felt like it was "frosty"! The temperature was 26 degrees when the race started and the wind was out of the north. We finished running the last half of the race running into the north wind! Brrrrrrrrr! I was running this one to have fun and get a decent run in while Vicky and Kelly watched the kids in the warmth of the car. They were there at the end to cheer me on to the finish. I ended up placing 2nd in my age group. Not bad. I'm looking to be much better this spring and summer. This picture shows me coming around a corner with a guy right behind me. He was about to pass me at the end and I sped up. He then told me that he "let" me win and to have a happy new year. How nice of him?!

I've been training twice a week with Troy, the football coach at my school and Coach Montgomery, a weight-lifting trainer. Together, they have spent numerous hours researching a good training regime for me to prepare me for my upcoming races, the next one being the Texas Motor Speedway Duathlon in February. I'm really looking forward to this race. It will be my first race as a registered USA Triathlon (USAT) member! Yes, that is right. I'm getting serious! Not really. This is strictly for my own interest. I will be able to see exactly where I rank among other members of this club across the U.S. I just thought it would be fun and maybe even motivating to try. My big race will be the Philadelphia Triathlon in June. Once again, I'll be raising funds for the Leukemia Society (don't worry, I'm not asking family and friends this time) to participate with the Team In Training group. If you haven't heard about my experience with the Team, stay posted, I'm going to blog about it soon. I absolutely loved it, am addicted to it, and will do it as many times as I can! But, that is another blog.

Ultimately, my 2008 goal is to get stronger, faster, and better at racing than ever before. I think I've started off pretty well. Happy New Year everyone!