No Rest for the Weary

I'm not sure what it is... maybe the cold weather, maybe all of the dreary rainy days, maybe the 100 little germ factories that sneeze all over my pencils and desks... but so far this week, I am just literally exhausted. I don't really feel sick, but I'm just really worn down. I'm tired of "fighting" (getting frustrated, really) with my kids to do their homework and bring their supplies to class... I'm tired of the consant TAKS pressure... I'm tired of endless meetings and athletic games and practices. Really and honestly, I'm just tired. Usually these things wouldn't be much of an issue (ok, the homework and pencil thing is ALWAYS an issue), but this week, everything just seems like it's too much to handle. Here it is, 10:15, and I can barely keep my eyes open. Did I grade all the papers tonight? No. Will the world come to an end because I didn't? No. I guess I'm finally starting to realize that it's okay to push some things off until the next day... especially when you're as tired as I am!!

OK, did that post just make any sense? I'm not really sure that it did... but hey, at least I kept up with the New Years Resolution for one more day! :)

Finally! A WII!!

OK, after months of hoping for a Wii, Todd and I finally found one today! We stood in line at Target for about an hour just to be told they didn't have any... then we went over to Circuit City, stood in line for another hour or so, and got #5 out of 18 at their store. Woo-hoo! We plugged it in and tried it out tonight, playing the Wii Sports like tennis, bowling, boxing, and golf. It's so fun! The boxing is pretty much like a kick boxing class... it TOTALLY kicked my butt. Seriously... my arms are totally sore. They also have a cool thing called "Wii Fitness", where it takes you through a series of fitness tests every day to measure your fitness level and monitor your progress as you go through the program. Kinda like a Wii Workout... hey, it's worth a shot!!

Todd and I also decided today to totally re-do the game room... we were planning on doing it in a few weeks when he moved his office downstairs, but for some reason, today just seemed like a good time to do it. We painted, bought some furniture, and set it all up tonight. We have LOTS of stuff to go through and find a place for, but since we love to decorate, we had a lot of fun. I'll post pictures when I find my camera again! :)

It's been forever...

OK, I know, I know, it's been forever. Pretty much the last time I blogged was LAST YEAR (hehe... I teach junior high, that joke never gets old for us). Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know I'm still here and I promise I'll start making more regular updates again. Where to begin...

Christmas

As you can tell, our dog Toby was NOT very thrilled when I dressed him up like Max from How the Grinch Stole Christmas... I thought he looked adorable! We were dressing him up to take "theme" pictures for a Christmas calendar we made for Todd's mom. I was really hoping Santa would bring me a Nintendo Wii, but no luck... instead, he brought me a gift card that I can use when I eventually find one. We got to go home for Christmas, which was really nice, and we also went to our friend Eric's wedding where we saw some old friends and danced to Love Shack. Good times were had by all!

New Years Resolutions

Yeah, we all make them. For the first time in my LIFE I kept my resolution last year (paying all of my bills online), so I'm excited to start another one and see it through. Here's my list this year:

1. Start a new hobby (status: started. Taking pictures of cool ornate churches is my new thing so I can use them as decoration in our house!)
2. Lose weight (status: getting started... this one is hard :( )
3. Clean out the clutter and donate it (status: done for this month! We are taking like 7 bags of clothing to the Salvation Army tomorrow as well as quite a few pieces of furniture we're just not using)
4. Keeping up with my blog (status: um... started... with the best of intentions!)

School

School has been going well. I have a full semester under my belt, but I feel like I've gained YEARS of experience when it comes to dealing with junior highers. I'm determined to make sure that when they leave my class, they might not know fractions, but they will know to bring a stinkin' pencil to math class. Come on, it's math class. Of course you can't use pen. And no, I don't have enough pencils to give everyone a new one every day. On the whole, it's been such a fun year -- I work with such great people, and even though it's a long long drive each way, it's totally worth it when I make a connection with a student. They definitely think I'm crazy, but that's okay, because I definitely think they are too!

We are also doing a "Biggest Loser" challenge among the teachers at school. We had to pay $5 to join, and the winner at the end will win all the $$. We have to weigh in every week (starting this week... ugh), and we have to pay $1 for every pound we gain from now until May. What a way to keep me honest about losing weight for Raegan's wedding! A lot of my friends are doing it (even the really skinny ones -- at least I know I'll beat someone!), so it will be fun to challenge each other and help each other along. Wish me luck!

The ICE STORM

For those of you outside of Texas, we had a major ice storm this last week... it was so bad they closed all of the highways and most of the other roads in our city on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. School was cancelled (yes!) for two days, but we have to make them up later (boo...). I don't know if I've seen that much ice in a long time... my doors on my car were frozen shut! We took some pictures...

I know that may look like snow on the houses, but it's solid ice.

Here's an icicle we broke off of our back porch on Monday night. This is south Texas, people... things like this just don't happen here very often!!

Well, I think that's a pretty good update for now. I PROMISE, once again, that I'll keep this thing updated a little better than I did last year... hope all is well with you and yours!