5/31/08

I am a winner!



Howdy. That picture is of me and my new Discover Card gift card I got for entering a drawing a while back. It is actually from the Arena Football League. I actually entered a contest and won something, quite nice! A hundred free dollars is a nice surprise. It is going into the Wii fund by the way! :)

Today we had our last Red Robin trip for my co-workers. It was actually very nice. I sure do love those people. It is hard to say goodbye for the summer and for a few of them for a while!

I also saw the movie Ironman. I was very impressed seeing I wasn't too excited to see it and had no big expectations. It was a great movie. Very action packed and fun!

I am sleepy. It is nice to not have to worry about work, but at the same time I find myself not knowing what to do with myself. Funny!

5/30/08

School's Out for Summer!




It is official. No school. I checked out of my classroom today. It seems so weird because, seriously, it still feels like it is somewhere in December. Crazy. Not that I am not excited or glad that I am not teaching until August. I am actually quite stoked about that. Good stuff. This year just went real fast. It was hard to help my friend, Alyssa, get all her stuff into her car and out of her classroom. I truly am going to miss having her around. SIGH!

Like the pic? My softball team here in Provo is called The Menaces. Our coach is named Dennis. Cleaver, huh? I think we are a menace to winning because we have only won one game so far out of six. It is sometimes depressing. Tonight I had fun even though we got hammered again. I think it is all about attitude sometimes. I am content sometimes just taking the field and being able to play. Other times I am horribly angry that I can't hit except to people's gloves. It all depends on the week. SIGH.

Well, that is about all I have to say. I am glad to be moving on Tuesday! YIPEE! I do hate the whole process though. SIGH.

I just wanted to end each section with SIGH. SIGH!

5/29/08

Guitar Hero Anyone?

School is over!  No students for two months.  I just sighed.  Today was yearbook signing.  It was awesome.  I sure do love my students.  I think even though I complain a lot, I really do love them.  We also had a big bbq with all the teachers and we pretty much played Guitar Hero all day.  It was awesome.  I work with cool people.  

Now I am heading up to Salt Lake to see a Minor League baseball game.  GO BEES!  It will be fun!

Later,
Alice

P.S. There are more pics of today but unfortunately my computer is being stupid.  More later! :)

5/27/08

O.O.S.



Out Of Shape! Three words that are basically making me want to puke when I am riding my bike in the canyon. I did not feel youthful at all today on my 12 miler. I need to do something about this spare tire so I do not have to carry an extra 20 pounds when I ride. I was having a lot of fun with my camera at Vivian Park. I hope you enjoy those photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Only one day left of school. That is insane. Classes are 22 minutes tomorrow. I do not know if I can make it! :)

That is pretty much all I have today. Worked, snoozed, biked, walked, watched t.v, blogged, now I will sleep.

Later!

5/26/08

Happy Memorial Day!



Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays, not only because I have off of work either! My dad always instilled in me a great love of my country and a great appreciation of what the men and women, who have served in the military, have done for all of us. I always get up and head to the cemetery to see the services. I always enjoy the service and today was no different. I was proud of my students in JROTC who presented the colors and also gave the 21 gun salute. I was also moved by the story a veteran shared about his experiences in Vietnam and how one of his fellow soldiers gave his life to save members of his unit! It is amazing what people will do when they are under fire and how true heroism comes out in such situations. I am so grateful to live in this country where I am able to make my own decisions and have so many freedoms. Thank you to all you Veterans!

Not much else today. Okay so I did a lot, including Guitar Hero for hours on the Wii. I also was able to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was wonderful. I also spent some times with the Sandy Family! Good times.

I love days off. Only two days of work. I better get to bed. Love it!

Later,
A

5/25/08

Addicted!


I am addicted to the Wii. I love Guitar Hero and Mario Cart. The unfortunate problem with this addiction is that in a few weeks my friend, who has the Wi,i is moving away. Then I will have no way to feed my addiction. The other problem with this addiction is that in order to buy a Wii, I would have to pay 250 dollars and I am not very rich right now.

So, if any of you were planning on buying me any presents or giving me money anytime soon, it can all now be for the Wii Fund! :)

That is about all I have right now. I am glad to have the day off tomorrow. I will go to Memorial Day services at the Provo City Cemetery and then I will go watch Indian Jones with the Bills crew. Should be a good day. Oh yeah, and I will be playing the Wii in the evening! :)

P.S. Two days left of school!!!!!

5/24/08

School Assembly, Friends, and Fun!



Well, I have made it through my last full week of school. Next week, we technically only have two days of class. It usually is a joke too, because we don't want to work as teachers and the students definitely are done being students. As much as I complain about my job, I seriously love it. I love the kids I am able to work with! They are awesome. Just like Olga(see pic). She is hilarious. I have lots of silly quotes from when she was in PE with me a few years back. One real funny one is when I had just blew my whistle (which is a perk of being a PE teacher btw!) she said, "You're going to make the drums come out of my ears!" Another time we were playing dodgeball and after she was hit by a ball said: "I'm not even doing anything and he comes and dodges at me!" Silly, silly girl. She was in charge choreographing a dance for the assembly yesterday and had a blast doing it. She got me a bow for my hair(she used to always want me to wear a bow in my hair when she was in my class too. I think she thought that would make me look a little more girly, which is something she loves doing!) and made it look like it does in the pictures. I did not know what she was doing when she put it up so high and when I looked at my reflection kinda freaked, but I went with it! A few female students and a lot of the female staff danced to a song in the assembly. It was fun.

Last night, there was a dance at the school. It was fun to just be silly and dance. Before the dance, Janette, Alyssa and I went to dinner and played the Wii. We also had fun taking some pictures of us in our bright shirts that we wore for the assembly. I think the camera on this computer from school is a little too fun sometimes! Those two girls are awesome though. I am very lucky to work with such cool people and to also get friends from that experience.

Today is a lazy day. I haven't done anything except eat breakfast, watch "The Office," write in my journal and of course get that slide show together and post this blog. I really just have been so very lazy these days. I am a slacker but even feeling guilty about it doesn't make me want to change! I do plan on going for a walk in a minute. I will also head up to Salt Lake this afternoon to go to dinner and then watch the last Blaze game. Well, at least it is the last game for me. It has been fun being a season ticket holder.

Well, I better get some motivation. Later!

5/22/08

Senior Banquet!



I have a great friend named Alyssa. You may have read about her before. Anyway, she wanted to do my hair for the Senior Banquet tonight that we had at school. After I agreed to that, she also asked if she could do my make-up. So silly! I actually agreed which was shocking to Alyssa. But I think it turned out well. I made fun of Alyssa because my hair pretty much looked like her twin hair except the part was on the opposite side. I guess that is because she did it like she was looking into a mirror and that makes sense.

Senior Banquet was awesome. Basically, it is a night to celebrate the students that will be leaving us. We get free food and then read a tribute that we wrote about one of the Seniors. I love both of the students I highlighted tonight. It is always an adventure to get in front of a room full of colleagues, students, and their parents.

It is still hard to think that we are at the end of the year. It all seems surreal. It is like the end of the school year is months away when really it is days away. I do not know where the time went this year. I guess that is why it has not sunk in yet that Alyssa is really moving to Vegas. I feel as if I should be more sad but it just doesn't seem like she is really leaving. It also doesn't seem like I am leaving in a couple of weeks and that school is soon to be over. All very weird feelings.

I have been up past 12 three night is a row now. Naughty Alice is here again.

I guess I should put naughty Alice to bed now. Night!

5/21/08

Wii....need I say more?

I just got home from playing the Wii with my friend, Alyssa. It was completely fun. We played Mario Cart for a while, then went to dinner. After dinner we played Mario Cart and then Guitar Hero. Alyssa totally beats me every time. I like to play though. I think I am now addicted to the Wii. I think I may purchase one soon. So fun!

Not much else today. Tried to get caught up on grading. No luck. Got a bit done, I feel bad for my students because grades are almost done and they really don't know where they stand. Oh well! Maybe tomorrow! :)

Late, late, late. So much for sleeping more! :)

5/20/08

I Am Not Dying!


The trip to the doctor was bearable. Of course, before I even went, I was feeling better.

My doctor told me the hiccup of my heart was something that about 33% of the population has and that I shouldn't worry about it unless it hiccups a lot at once. He also said all of the things I was complaining about could be do to stress and lack of sleep. Hello...end of school, move coming up, and I never sleep enough!

The week is going slow. I guess that is because it is the end of the year. I really have nothing of note to tell you about life except the trip to the doctor. Thrilling isn't it?

Well, off to bed. I can now count the number of school days on one hand. Excellent!

5/19/08

Can anybody say Hypochondriac?

Tomorrow I am going to the doctor. I have been feeling faint on occasion and my heart does some weird hiccuping sometimes. Of course, I automatically think I am going to die and start looking up all sorts of symptoms on webmd. Then I start to have all the signs of a heart attack because I envision myself having one. My arm started to hurt and be numb. This could be because I took my blood pressure a hundred times in the space of two days because of the lightheadedness and worrying it had to do with low blood pressure. It also could be that I slept on it weird. Silly hypochondriacs. We will see if there is any major problems tomorrow. Hopefully, my mother is not too scared and worried about this. I told her about it last night.

Today was good. I am being a horrible teacher. I start things with the kids and then don't finish them. Bad Teacher. I got to go bike riding this evening. It was beautiful. It has been hot here lately. The A/C was running again tonight. Funny how I complain about cold all winter and now complain about hot. Crazy.

Well, six days left to wake up early. Hot diggity dog! :)

5/18/08

Lovely Logan!


I had a spectacular time in Logan as I always do. I got to spend time with one of my favorite friends from college who will soon be getting married. Kinda like one last single party! Too bad she was sickly and I didn't feel all that well either!

I also got to see my friend Alisha. She was very excited to be a part of my blog. In fact, if you read the comments you will see that she is waiting to see that I quote her. In fact, let's do that right now. We were talking about my blog for some reason and she said this:

"Will you quote me?"

She also wanted me to write it basically like this:

"Will you quote me?"
-----Alisha Gilbert

So there you have it girl. I can't even remember what else I was supposed to quote her about. That is how much I am like a geriatric patient. Sigh.

7 days. But nobody is counting around here!

It is hot. 85 in my apartment right now. I am a pansy when it comes to heat so the air conditioning is on. Sorry all you environmentalists out there would would just open all the windows and sleep with no clothes on. That doesn't work for me. I have to be in a cooler place. Dang warm weather! Funny how I complain about the coldness so often but then have a cow when it first reaches 90. Weirdo.

Well, happy Monday to those of you tuning in then. Let's have a good week shall we?

5/15/08

Favorite Place.


Vivian Park. That is where I am in the sunglasses picture. I ride my bike there sometimes. It is a cool place. Wish you all could come there.

Got tickets to go home in June. That is pretty exciting news.

Am way tired. Don't have much else to say. I am going to say I am glad the week with students is done. Seriously, they are getting to be pretty crazy near the end!

Love the season finale of The Office. So good. I can't believe those writers can keep coming up with such great stuff! Left lots of things for next season. LOVE IT!

What will I do now without Thursday Office nights to look forward to? SIGH!

Caution!

Just a funny quick post while I procrastinate working.  

That pic is a sign on the weight room at work.  One of the kids of another teacher read the sign and said:  "Wow, are those weights really that heavy that you have to have a partner to lift them?"

I thought that was very funny and you should too.  Goodness, get a sense of humor already!

I will now go back to work.  I am tired and that makes me just want to stare at the walls.  Too much Wii Mariocart and not enough sleeping!

Later,
A


5/13/08

Not Counting or Anything!



Each night, when I sit down to write my blog, I have every intention of writing about these wonderful letters I got from a few of my students as part of Teacher Appreciation Week. But what then happens is I realize that it is already 11pm and that I should be sleeping and then I decide to just write about something shorter.

So, here I am at 11pm and just writing a short blog.

Today was a good one:
1. Short day at school and test day in Health
2. Went biking in the canyon and the leaves are actually on the trees finally.
3. Went with friend to babysit her nieces and nephew.
4. Watched House. So good at the end of the season! :)

So that is it. I must now shower and sleep. Maybe tomorrow there will be more about the letters. :)

5/12/08

Only One More Monday! Yipee!


Today marks only 10 days left of school. I am not excited or anything! And I am definitely not counting! :)

I will only have to wake up for one more Monday this school year. YIPEE!

I have no patience for bad behavior these days and the trouble with that is that the kids exhibit bad behavior a lot at the end of school...SIGH.

Highlight of the day....walking with a friend.

Pretty much just an average Monday.

Later,
A

P.S. That is not a gang sign. And yes, my hair does look like that after exercising. I can only be so beautiful all the time, you know.

5/11/08

The Blaze Won!



Well, The Blaze actually won a game that I was in attendance for. It is much more fun to go to the games when they win! It was awesome.

Today, I went to my new ward. It was better than I expected it to be! I also went up to Sandy for Kelsey's birthday. She is now 20 and I feel OLD! SIGH. It was a good Mother's Day too. I hope all you mothers had a great day because you all deserve it.

I must sleep now!
Later,
A

5/10/08

It's Official!



I will be moving come the end of this month. Rent will be the same and it is a little one-bedroom house just behind the house I currently live in. I have been complaining about my neighbors for a while now and I figured that moving to my own place with no neighbors will be the right choice. And seeing that I can't quite afford to buy my own house and I am not sure how long I will be in Provo (yes it has been six years but I still don't quite consider myself permanent!). I hate moving but I think it won't be that hard with a little help from friends and it will be well worth it. Too bad I just got a bunch of labels free with my current address on them. It does make me happy inside though to know I will not have to listen to people yelling at their kids, or those kids running up and down the stairs screaming in the middle of the night, or people playing video games at high decibles at all hours of the night. I will be in my own little place. It will be nice. I wanted to do this last year but my landlord convinced me that the apartment I am currently in would be better and granted I have lots more storage space in my current place, but I will LOVE having a separate place where I don't have to worry about other people. I think I am starting to hate people in my old age. That may not be very healthy. I do often say "Stranger Danger" when I don't want to deal with other people. Like at movies, I do not like to sit right next to people I do not know. It just makes me feel awkward. I do not know why people think that they need to sit in the empty seat next to me. Seriously, if I wanted to be friends with them and go to the movies with them, I would have called them. Anyway...that was totally off subject. I apologize.

Last night we lost our softball game yet again. I wish I were coaching. I would have switched pitchers much sooner than my coach did. She was struggling and just because you want to be nice to somebody doesn't mean you should leave them in when they are loading the bases all the time due to walks. It was irritating to me! I think my team is getting sick of losing. They don't even show up to practices anymore! It is kinda sad. SIGH. Oh well. I will be leaving in a few weeks and playing on my favorite time anyway! :)

Tonight I am going to a Utah Blaze game. They actually won last week so they maybe they will actually win while I am watching. Who knows. Maybe I am just bad luck. I love my season tickets though and arena football is one of my favorite things! I do not know what I will do next year when my friend will no longer be in Utah. I don't think it would be too much fun to go by myself all the time! :)

Well, not much else going on here. I am enjoying the weekend and procrastinating actually cleaning my bedroom but I should get on it seeing in a few weeks they will start showing the apartment! Enjoy you weekend!

5/7/08

Wednesday.



Hi. Happy Midweek.

Life is good; I keep telling myself that today. I am not the homeless person living down by the river. I am not the person who has lost a loved one. I am not the person who lives in a one bedroom apartment with 8 other people. I have it pretty good. If I ever sound like I am bored or not happy about my life, it isn't true. I need to have a better attitude!

I love driving into my driveway and seeing my tulips in bloom. That is one 20 dollar investment that was well worth it. They are so pretty. I cut a few off today and put them in my apartment so I can enjoy them lots and lots.

Do you love the picture of my nephew and his family's new puppy? So very cute. I was talking to my sister yesterday and told her that I was excited to meet the puppy. She told me she figured the dog was higher on the totem pole than my actual family members. That is not true but I love puppies. Seeing E in that photo made me think: "Man, E is so big!" Those kids are growing so fast. I am glad that I still get to go see them every summer. Funny note about the puppy. My brother-in-law convinced my sister that they needed a puppy so there would be at least one thing at the house that would greet him happy and be glad to see him when he came home. So funny!

I also put a picture of my pussy willows. I used to go and gather those at my Grandfather's farm. My memories of those times, on that farm and in the woods surrounding them are so rich and special. Bringing home those willows brought back so many of those memories and I am glad I said yes to the three dollars. As my mom would say, "They just make me happy!"

Well, off to bed. Much too late.

5/6/08

The Inbetween



Please do not become hypnotized by the changing of my picture. Here is what happens the last few nights around 10:30pm.: 1. Alice is trying to catch up on some TV via her DVR. 2. She falls asleep in an uncomfortable position on her futon. Oh the joys of being Alice!

Another thing that happens the last few nights: Alice really has nothing to blog about. She sits down and reads the last blog from three nights ago and thinks to herself: "Man, I really have nothing to say about today!"

There is just this blah of nothingness between yesterday and today. I guess I am just in the inbetween.

In other news: Maybe Alice will come up with something creative to write tomorrow. Keep posted! (Get it, posted! This is a blog and it is considered a post when I write on it. Hah)
Goodnight.

p.s. Alice seems to love the use of colons tonight. There are actually three of them in this very blog.

5/4/08

Spring!



Well, it may be officially spring now in Provo because my tulips are finally blooming. Yea! The leaves on the trees are also coming out and my eyes are puffy thanks to it. I can handle the allergies in order to get a bit of spring around here. I think everybody has been crabby because it has taken so long. I think I am the most crabby! Luckily, I have slept pretty well this weekend so I am happier.

Yesterday, I went to my friend and co-worker's wedding reception (She is both a friend and co-worker it is not a friend who married a co-worker! :). It was held at the Provo City Library and was just plain awesome! It is always a breath of fresh air for me when somebody around here does a reception that isn't like all the other thousands of Mormon receptions. Basically a traditional Mormon reception is held in a church gym and there is a line of wedding participants that the guests greet as they come into the gym. After shaking the hands of about ten people(most of whom you do not know), you then go and have some cake and punch and then leave. Shule's wedding actually was a party. They fed us a yummy chicken dinner and as we were eating a mariachi band came in and played. About 15 minutes later the bride and groom entered and greeted most of their guests. After all the food, there was dancing and musical performances by various relatives. It was so fun!!! Now, don't get all mad if you have had a typical Mormon reception or plan on having one. Those are perfectly okay and I see how they save money. You are okay and should not be mad at me. My preference is for a little party! :)

Today, I am preparing a lesson to teach in church in about two hours. It is not quite ready but it will be okay. It always is.

5/1/08

Hooked on Phonics and The Fall of Troy.


Quick funny things kids have said in the past few days.  What is up with them being funny lately?  I really enjoy being around them of late!

First, yesterday one of my students just randomly said:  "I am hooked on Phonics."  It sparked interest so I said:  "Really has it worked for you?" and then the student said:  "Yeah, but don't worry I am on the patch!"

Today in first hour one of the students fell down while playing soccer and another student said to me:  "Hey Alice, that was just the fall of Troy, get it!"  It as quite hilarious!