Flashmob

Friday was my first flashmob. Let me explain.

My school was having a fundraiser and at ceratin dollar amounts the students got something (lunchtime activities, extra time for passing period, etc.) Well, at $10,000 they got the principal Ms. Gough to dye her hair, the male vice principal Mr. Welch to get a mohawk (that they cut on stage) and the female vice principal Ms. Wing to get a hair cut (also cut on stage) and a teacher talent show (forward to 19:00 for my number)

One teacher, Ms. Lynn, sang "Mele Kalikimaka" while four male teachers danced; Mr. Bustin, Mr. Carwin, Mr. Talley and Mr. Carlsen.  They were dressed up in grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts with coconut bras over it, and silly wigs.  They even went out into the audience and put leis on students.

Four female teachers did a dance competition with the wii; Ms. Vittetoe, Ms. Kirkman, Ms. Murdock and Ms. Nebeker.  One teacher, Ms. Neff sang "All I Want For Christmas is You" (a la Mariah Carey). At the last minute a few of us acted as back up dancers.  We had no routine, just followed each other.

Mr. Carlsen sang Taylor Swift's "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and many students came up on stage with him to sing.

Then as a surprise final number the flashmob.  Mr. Talley is introduced as the final number.  He goes out and dances a bit (he did a number last year showing off his dancing skills and the students go wild for it).  Then a number of us join him on stage, and we are awesome.  Then, more teachers from the audience join us.  The students go crazy.  They are all standing, many have phones out taking pictures and filming us.  Lots of cheering, screaming, and clapping.  It was such a rush.  We did Gangnam Style by Psy.  The routine we used from Cornell University.

It was a rush and I'd love to do it again.

My First 5K

A coworker of mine convinced me and some other coworkers to join him in a 5K.  A few coworkers jog daily and planned to run the 5K.  Others, like me, planned to walk it.  I have never done a 5K and wasn't sure what to expect.

During times where I am exercising I would go walking and had gotten up to 2 miles and it took about 40-45 minutes to do that.  5K is 3.1 miles, I thought I could do it in 1 hour.

This race was called a Turkey Trot.  I think the winners of each age group got a certificate for a turkey.  We all got a race shirt.

I was in the Women age 35-39 division.  I placed 23rd in that division and 134th overall (but I don't know how many participated).  My time was 55:17.7 (55  minutes 17.1 seconds)

So I was under an hour.  I hope that this race will jumpstart me to exercising more.  I'd like to do another 5K and see how much time I can shave off.

Annual Pumpkin Party

Well the pumpkin party was a hit again.

I made: a Sweet Pumpkin Dip served with graham crackers, ginger snaps, and Nilla wafers; Savory Pumpkin Dip served with crackers and celery; Little Smokies in a pumpkin BBQ sauce; and a Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin.

Rachelle brought homemade pumpkin bread, Shelley brought homemade brownies with little pumpkins on top, Mitch & Jen brought pumpkin bread and muffins, Emma brought homemade Pumpkin Pie Pops, Dwayne brought a pumpkin pie, and Julie brought a homemade pumpkin dump cake.

There were also jack o' lantern sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

A station set up for pumpkin carving.  There were some awesome carvings.

A Pirate, a Werewolf, the Flash logo, Stitch an Alien

A mouse, a spider

Jack Skellington, A skull (which was the winner)

Another spider

A sun, Classic Jack O' Lantern, 2 Silly faces

A green pumpkin jack o' lantern (the token black guy)

Summer Thus far

Summer has gone by fast, but maybe it is because I've been so lazy.  We did get to visit family this summer.

We went to Denver, Colorado for a wedding.  It was a beautiful outdoor wedding.  The reception was awesome with fun dancing and delicious food.

We also got to go to Bandimere raceway to watch jet fuel cars.

We did our booth at Spanish Fork Fiesta Days.

Chloe was in the Children's Parade.

My parents came for a weekend visit.  We spent Friday at Trafalga.  We rode some rides, to some Dippin' Dots, and played arcade games.  Zane won 1,000 tickets on one game.


We spent Saturday at Price International Days to see a car show, then we played board games all evening.

Lazy Summer

So far my summer has been fairly lazy.  I sleep in, read, watch tv, do a little bit of housework like dishes or laundry.

I need to get my butt in gear and complete the projects I had planned: clean house, fix house, sell house, buy new house, get a dog, lose weight, buy a new car, take music lessons (guitar, violin or flute), practice languages (ASL, German, maybe learn Spanish) and go on a spectacular vacation.

I have gotten a start, I tackled a pile.  I think if I just tackled a pile or task or room a day that I should be fine.  We got a great start on cleaning out the garage.  We can actually park a car in there now.  Now Cooper and Chloe want to clean out their room in hopes of having a yard sale and getting some money.  Money is a good motivator.

I have been exercising, I try to go to Curves 3 times a week, Zumba twice a week, and R.I.P.P.E.D. twice a week.  I just need to get my eating in check.  At least I've maintained and my endurance is better.  I've been on a blood pressure medication for over a month now and my pressure has come down.

How have your summer projects been coming?

Wood Badge, Fox Patrol

I attended a Wood Badge course in Park City at Snydermill Lodge.  This particular course is lovingly referred to as "Camp Cush" because of the nice facilities.

This was an unusual training because it is the first ASL integrated course.  (You can check out the Salt Lake Tribune article here).  There were 2 Deaf patrols.  There were 3 interpreters and many instructors who know some ASL.  It has been great for me because the ASL I learned at BYU started to come back to me.  I've been able to help interpret a bit between hearing and deaf scouters.  I've taught my patrol some signs and phrases, such as 'nice to meet you,'  'good morning', and of course most important, 'bathroom'.

My patrol is the Fox Patrol.  There are 6 guys (Dallin, Ryan, Daniel, Tony, RJ, and Jeremy), me, and our troop guide Jay.  There are a total of 8 patrols.

We had kitchen duty.  Here is proof that the guys do dishes.

We got to make a rocket and shoot it off.  It was very fun, though our rocket didn't fair so well.

Here we are balancing nails on one single nail.  Can you feel how excited we are at our accomplishment?

The guys doing their Captain Morgan stance.  From left to right is RJ, Daniel, Jeremy, Tony, Ryan and Dallin.

On the last day we did not get in our article for the Gilwell Gazette so the scribes wrote it for us.  They had put that people could get their picture with us for a reasonable price.  So here is a pic of Dave the Scribe and Daniel.

I had a great time at Wood Badge and had a great group of guys.  They were such gentlemen taking care of me: making sure I was OK while hiking, lending me a jacket when it was cold, escorting me to my tent late at night, and Daniel even killed a spider for me.

We got along great and really bonded, we are like a fraternity and will be lifelong friends.  We are planning to get together often in the future.

Overhaul

So today I went to the doctor to have some things checked out.  I needed a physical to attend Woodbadge for scouting and had some other issues I needed looked at. At the end, I felt like a car taken to the shop to get its engine overhauled.

The last four times I've tried to donate blood I've been turned away because my blood pressure was too high.  Sure enough, it was high at the doctor's too.  So he's put me on a hypertension medicine called Zestoretic.  I hope it helps.  Oh, they also did an EKG for a baseline.

I also had blood drawn and they will check it to see if I have diabetes or hypoglycemia.  They'll also check my thyroid.  I was also given a tetanus shot (since I couldn't remember when I last had one and they didn't have any record of giving me one).

Bottom line, I could remedy many of my issues if I lost weight, lots of weight.  Hopefully my blood pressure will come down, I can keep Type II Diabetes away, and my knee joints would be relieved of some pressure.

A day in Salt Lake City

So today is the first day of my Spring Break.  I tried to sleep in a bit, but was getting the kids off to school.

I hung around the house, caught up on some TV shows on the DVR.  Then went to run errands in Salt Lake City.  First I stopped by my sister's house to drop off a tool for her to take to my dad's house in Nevada.  Then I went to Simmons Media Group offices at Trolley Corner to pick up the T-shirt I won.

Then I took myself to lunch.  I had heard about a German deli called Siegfried's Delicatessen.  I had their special for the day, knackwurst and 2 sides.  I chose sauerkraut, and spaetzle with gravy.  I had Almdudler Limonade to drink, and a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert.

It was all very good.  I'd like to go again and try other things on their menu.  They had many things for sale: kinder chocolates, marzipan, noodles, cookies, pickles, beets, crackers, mixes, candies, mugs, t-shirts, deli meats and cheeses, and fish.  I bought a slice of black forest cake to take home to Kyle and some Hungarian style pickles.

Daylight Savings

I got this in an email and thought it was great.

My students and I had a hard time adjusting to the new day.  I even went to bed early to compensate. I ended up just lying there thinking, "Go to sleep.  You need to get drowsy.  You have to get up early for work, go to sleep."

It seems willing yourself to sleep is hard.  It is easier to fall asleep when you are fighting it.

Stress

Lately I've been under a lot of stress.  It has taken a toll on my body.  In general I feel OK, but my blood pressure has increased greatly over the past year.  I've tried to donate blood and all four times have been denied because my blood pressure is too high.

I guess it is time to make an appointment and get lots of things checked out: blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, knees, hips and feet, etc.

I'm an everything eater.  I eat socially (dates, parties and gatherings), absently (like while watching TV), because I'm bored (like while on the computer), emotionally (like when I'm sad because ice cream makes everything better), and with stress (usually caffeine and chocolate).  I've been trying to exercise more to work off the stress instead of eat my problems away.  I wish the following statement were true.

A New Semester

This week was the end of the first semester at the middle school where I teach.  I can't believe we are already halfway through the year, on the other hand, I can't wait for summer.

I have 12 special needs students.  Then I have peer tutors who are general ed. students that come in and work with my students.  Peer tutors are an extra pair of hands to help with worksheets, run errands, get my group to lunch or the bus or assemblies.  I of course have a few that are my favorites, and then there are those that drive me nuts.  Let's just say I am definitely ready for a new batch of peer tutors.

I feel like I am looking at the first semester as a trial run.  Yes I taught last year, but that was at a high school with a different set of kids, curriculum and expectations.  This year I am starting over again.  I have figured out what kind of things I want to do differently for the second semester.  Hopefully this will help alleviate some of the problems from first semester.  And as always, personality plays a big part.

I had some peer tutors that just got right into the swing of things.  They buddied up with one of my students and developed a friendship.  Then there were other peer tutors who hung around the perimeter of class and waited to be told what to do and who to do it with.  I would make comments like, "this isn't an 8th grade dance where you hang out by the wall, pick a student and help" or "this isn't peer tutor social hour, get with a student and help."

Maybe its their age or maturity level where I have to invite them to participate in class.  Hopefully this new batch is better.