Home Sick

I think I have bronchitis. I'm obviously not at work today, which I hate! It's still a few hours until my doctor's appointment, so I'm just resting and pittling around my apartment. The cats are racing around and chasing each other. I could yell, "Stop that running!" but with what voice? Ha!
I made it through the workday yesterday (barely) and made the decision to take today off. Having been a substitute teacher myself, I can honestly say that I know how hard it is to be in a room with 28 strange 12-year-olds who look like they hate you!
Now I'm on the other side of the coin, as it were. I don't know if it's because I'm sick or what, but I was in my classroom getting ready for my sub until 8 P.M. last night! I just think that's hilarious! I had no idea when I subbed how much work went into leaving plans to follow or whatever. And honestly, it's really never quite taken me that long. Just goes to show that teachers shouldn't get sick. We should be men and women of steel because if we show weakness for a moment and catch the kids' nasty little germs, it's over with! We're stuck at home praying that the day goes well for the poor person stuck filling in for us.

Fall Festival!

Our school's annual Fall Festival was tonight. Each hallway had a different theme and all the teachers and students wore costumes. My team's hall was the Spooky Sports hall, so all of us wore athletic uniforms. As if today weren't crazy enough at school, we were allowed to dress up all day today. I literally spent the past 14 hours dressed as a middle school football player! Like my students are really going to concentrate on adverbs when I'm in shoulder pads and look ridiculous! Ha! Here, the blind ref, rival football players, soccer player, and nerdy commentator get my classroom ready for all the fun.

These are the vice principals of my school... this picture sums it up! They definitely have a good time at CMS.

Sarah and I as rival football players. We are also supposed to be "spooky" so we have fake injuries and black eyes.

My room hosted the Spooky Soccer Kick. After my "terrible" play, I am interviewed by the nerdy commentator and ref a.k.a. football coaches Andrew and Mac. They helped me put the uniform together and made fun of me that I could wear a 7th grader's uniform!

Sarna had scooter races in his classroom. This was a hit with the kids, and he's all decked out for the racing action.
My friend, Jamie, who is the new band teacher this year. Her team's hallway was western. Cute!

In my room posing with the inflatable goal post! This is coming with me to the Chiefs game this weekend!
My fellow team-mates from L to R: Andrew (History), Sarah (Math), Sarna (Math), Carolyn (PE), Maria (Science), and Edna (Reading). We are definitely ready to go home after such a long day. It amazes me how much time we put into planning an event, and then it's over so quickly. More to come soon, but it may be a few days before I'm rested!

A Little Taste of Home

I've discovered a really fun Sunday activity. There is an actual group of people in Dallas called the Chiefs Fans of DFW that meet together every game day to watch the game. A co-worker invited me, and I was expecting a few die hard fans sitting around watching a little tv in the corner since most people in Dallas are extreme Cowboys fans. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw when Megan and I got to the game.

Yes, I am really excited that there are LOTS of chiefs fans that live in the area and watch them loyally every week. Even when they play terribly. What was most exciting wasn't the fact that we were actually watching a football game, but that it felt a lot like home. There were well over 30 people grilling and tailgaiting in the parking lot of Wizard's, all of them decked out in their KC finest. It was actually really nice to see after months of being away.

This was one of the first things I saw when I pulled up, and it made me miss home so much!


Some of the fans discussing how bad of a coach Herm Edwards is, and how badly the Chiefs lost! It was put to a vote and I am officially invited back next week for some more Kansas City Chiefs fun with the whole gang. I'm looking forward to it and am so glad there are others who have relocated and are keeping some KC traditions going!

Space Monkey Band

My friend Jessica's husband has a wonderful cover band called Space Monkey. (Don't ask, I don't know where the name came from!) They perform all over the DFW metroplex a few times a month, and are so much fun to see. Here me, Ariana and Jess are posing during a break in the set at Pour House in Ft. Worth.

The shows are really a family affair for Jessica and her husband AJ. He is the drummer in the band (at the far right) and his parents usually show up to see them play. His mom decided to take a picture with the group. She's so sweet!

This picture cracks me up! After we took it, I noticed that AJ's mom was in the background smiling away.
Ariana and her hubby, Sean, enjoying the music.

Jess and I went to see Space Monkey a few weeks ago at UNT in Denton for Friday nights at Clark Park. It's a mini-pep rally that the campus hosts before Saturday games. Since my college campus was so small, it was nice to see what bigger campuses do before their football games!

No, these aren't aliens. UNT's color is green, and everyone had glow sticks. I laughed when I saw how this picture turned out, but it's kind of cool.

Space Monkey performing on the stage at UNT.

Tuesday Night Lights

One of my students, Julius, scoring the winning touchdown. We beat Ariana's middle school 34-7!
(Sorry, Ariana, but I have to brag a little!) If you think football is my life right now, just wait till basketball season starts! Yikes!


Ah, the magic of football season is upon us at CMS. Go Cougars! My 7th grade boys (who I am so proud of) play very well and the Cheerleaders have a blast performing at the games. Tuesdays are always super busy, but a lot of parents and students come out to support the teams. It is Texas, after all. I love this picture of the guys running through the banner. It turned out really well.

Gunnar's Long Day

This past weekend, Gunnar got his first set of vaccinations. He slept all day long and didn't feel like doing anything. I felt so sorry for him...it was quite pitiful. About 12 hours after the shots (this was around 11 P.M.) he started getting very sick. I was afraid he might be having an allergic reaction to the shots and decided to take him to a 24-hour emergency vet. It turns out that he was ok, just in a lot of pain. So, an hour and a half and eighty dollars later, we headed home. Luckily, I didn't have to work the next day!


This is Gunnar pre-shot, and as you can see he is quite the active boy.

This is the normal routine for Gunnar and Grace. She'll grab one of her toys to show him that its HER toy, and he will sit and play with it too. Both cats really enjoy playing with one another. They enjoy it so much that I have to kennel him up at night so that they won't chase each other around the apartment noisily... gotta love having a kitten in the family!