Century Football

I have always been a big fan of high school football. When I was in elementary and middle school I would beg my dad to take me to all of the JM home games. Now that I'm back in Rochester, I still try to go to Century games when I can. Matt, Kari, and I even drove to several of the away games last year. I have been to 2 of our games so far this season, and we've won them both. Last night, we beat Owatonna 40 to 6.

It was a great game and I had a blast! We sat with Laura and Matt in the Owatonna Tailgaters section. I had a good time. I am sorry that Century had to crush them for their homecoming game, but I think they kinda saw it coming.

I have high hopes for the Panthers in the Big 9 this year. Before the season started everyone was raving about how good Mayo would be this year. The Spartans are now 4-1 with a loss last week to Mankato West. We're the only undefeated (5-0) team in the conference! Whoo hoo! Mankato West is also at 4-1. Their only loss was to Century. Then JM, Owatonna, Faribault, and Mankato East are all at 3-2. Austin, Albert Lea, and Winona round on the conference, all at 0-5.

With only three games left in the regular season, I'm expecting great things from my Panthers! We still have to play JM, Winona, and Mayo. Both of our cross-town games are at home, so that should be fun! The best part is that I know our star player. He's the student conductor for the Concert Choir so I got to meet him when I subbed up there. It's quite exciting :)

Go Panthers!

Today's Tidbit: I really don't miss living in the dorms. I spent the night in my brother's dorm room last night. I did not sleep well, but that's okay cuz I had fun anyway!

Pac-Man Fever

After reading Jodi's blog about playing Nintendo, I was in the mood to whip out the PS2 and play some Pac-Man Fever. I haven't played it in a while, so Beth and I dug out the controllers and started a game. It was pretty fun. I still own at Bell Tower Climb, Raise the Flag, and Ghost Whackers. Beth is pretty good at Homerun Castle, Cannon Tac Toe, and Dart Toss. We go both ways on Vend-A-Fruit, Cart Dash, and Fruit Mash.

I won the game, but barely. We were both on the last space so we knew that whoever won the last game was going to take it all. The game came up as Card Dash. I hadn't won that all day and she'd been doing pretty well. I figured I was toast. But then I came through and played the best game of that I ever had, so I was crowned champion. We played the Pentathalon twice and the Decathalon once after that and then put the game away.

Today's Tidbit: We took Howie on a walk with his new gentle leader. He did so well. It was the first good walk we've been able to take him on. Yeah! Now I can look forward to walking the dog :)

Fall TV

Well, it's time for my report of all my shows...

Sundays - Race, Case, and Trace Night on CBS!
All three shows have started and I am impressed with them all. Of course, The Amazing Race, is amazing! I was a little disappointed last year, so I'm glad that we're back to higher standards again this year. I'm pulling for Peter & Sarah and Tyler & James.

Mondays - The Class and CSI: Miami
We watched The Class last week just to see what we thought. It was pretty funny, so I think I'll keep watching it. I honestly don't know why I watch CSI: Miami. It's my least favorite of the CSIs. It's usually so cheesy. And H drives me insane! Gah!

7th Heaven premiers this week and I think Beth wants to watch the show Heroes too. We shall see about that one...

Tuesdays - Dancing with the Stars, Gilmore Girls, Law & Order: SVU, and Miami Ink
Dancing with the Stars is off to a good start already. I've been pretty happy with the two who were already voted off. My favorites are Joey Lawrence and Emmitt Smith right now. Gilmore Girls actually doesn't start until this week, but it's one of my all-time favorite shows, so I'm sure it'll be good. SVU started off with a bang last week. I loved it! And Miami Ink is always entertaining :)

Wednesdays - CSI: NY, Bones, and Justice
I loved the premiere last week. I really love Lindsay on the show, I'm so glad she came on after her wonderful guest appearance on Without a Trace last season! Bones if off to a good start. Although, I really hate the new boss lady. I hope they get rid of her soon! Justice is a great show. Although, I keep waiting for the episode where I'm disappointed because an innocent person is found guilty or a guilty person is let off the hook.

Thursdays - Survivor, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and ER
The whole racial twist on survivor is kind of annoying. But it's new and different, I suppose. I like the Asian team the best right now. CSI was pretty good, I wasn't overly impressed, but that's okay. I haven't had a chance to watch Grey's Anatomy or ER yet, but no worries. They're on the DVR! I think we're also going to watch Ugly Betty when it starts this week.

Fridays - Close to Home, Numb3rs, and What Not to Wear
The Season of Close to Home started with a very sad case, but it was a good episode. There were some surprises that even I wasn't ready for. Numb3rs was alright, left me up in the air with a TBC episode. Dang! And it was weird for me to see David Gallagher in a role other than Simon Camden... And What Not to Wear is always great. I want to be on that show :)

Today's Tidbit: Our DVR records 34.5 hours of TV every week. At least it's not all stuff that I watch ;)

Llamas

Well, I'm dead tired and heading to bed, but I wanted to leave you all with a little something. I was subbing for an art teacher today and we were making books. One of the 4th graders wrote her book about llamas. Apparently she really loves llamas. Her book was all about how llamas were attacking the world. I think they attacked Riverside Elementary School first, then the Mayo Clinic, then China, and then New York. I found it mildly entertaining :)

Today's Tidbit: I taught the same lesson 6 times today. Only 11 more to go in the next 2 days! I guess I'll be a pro at it by Friday afternoon :P

New carpet and new puppy do not mix...

I got a lovely surprise this morning from the puppy... He ate a pencil. Literally, the entire thing! I walked out into the other room to find a few splinters and a nice pile of black vomit. Oh, I thought I was going to die. So, I got the wonderful job of cleaning the carpet. First, I tried my carpet cleaner. It was pretty clear that it was not working at all! Beth started researching online and found that people mostly recommended using dish soap and warm water. Let me tell you, that worked amazingly well! You can still see a little tinge of gray in a few places, but it's mostly clean.

While I was in the midst of cleaning the carpet, I happened to glance up at the love seat. There was a nice, big red stain on one of the cushions. Gah! Kool-Aid! So now we have to try and remove that stain too. Boiling water is our next move...

Today's Tidbit: I was artsy today... I actually drew a picture! This is new for me :)

Lowen & Navarro

It's 2 in the morning and I'm just getting home from my parents house. We had the 2nd annual Lowen & Navarro concert out there tonight. It was amazing! I just love these guys. I love their music and I just can't get enough of listening to them. One of my favorite things is that they record the concert and then you can buy the 2-Disc set and take it home. It has all their banter and stuff on it, plus all the songs they sang. It's really great.

My parents made specialty wine, which they named the Seven Bridges Merlot. They gave the bottles away with a suggested donation to the Eric Lowen Trust. Eric has ALS, so we're raising all the money we can to help. They only made 100 bottles and they sold pretty well. I mean, not sold, were given away. Julie did the label with an amazing drawing of Dan (Navarro) and Eric. I get 2 bottles. Numbers 21 and 82. Whoo hoo!

We also made buttons for the people who had the meet and greet tickets. They had the same artwork on them. I am just so impressed with how everything turned out! It was a great night. God willing, we'll have them back next year. You should all come!

Today's Tidbit: My favorite Lowen & Navarro song is "Walking on a Wire". But I have to say, when they played "Learning to Fall" tonight, I was in tears. Great, great song!

Pet Peeves

I need to vent. I really hate it when people lie to me. It's so hurtful. I mean, they might be lying to me to make me feel better. But then when I find out the truth, it's way worse than it would have been if they hadn't lied to me in the first place.

Of course, I do have to blame some here. I am way to competitive for my own good. I hate it. Why can't I just accept the role I play and be content with that? No, I want to be better, even the best, at everything. I keep praying that God will help me with this one, because I know that I cannot do it alone. And maybe I'm getting better, but it's so hard. I hate that I'm like this. I end up pushing so many people away from me because of it.

Anyway, I'm determined to have a good weekend despite all of this crap going on. Matt's coming home tonight. We're going to go to the Homecoming game. It should be a good time. Just like all the games we went to last year... Sitting in the student section :) Haha! Then tomorrow is the Lowen & Navarro concert at my parents house! My friend Sarah was suppose to come with me, but she moved to Eau Claire :( I guess I'll just go alone, again... It's okay though. Matt and Kari and Beth will all be there too. Plus a ton of my parents' friends. And then, of course, Sunday is the TEC 65 Leadership meeting. I can't believe it's finally here!

Today's Tidbit: I was so upset last night that I didn't go to sleep until 6:30 AM. I am usually waking up around that time!

The joys of being a high school choir teacher?

So I subbed for the Century choir teacher again yesterday. I had a great day, it was so much fun! I wish I could sub there every day. Here is a rundown of my day:

7:25 - Arrive at Century and check in at the office
7:30 - Sit in the choir office and read my book
9:30 - Listen to Lucy conduct the Treble Choir
10:30 - Listen to Leon conduct the Concert Choir
11:30 - Sit in the office some more, eat my lunch, read my book... Listen to the pop choirs rehearse for their upcoming shows and listen to Katie and Bryce practice for Katie's dad's wedding
1:30 - Listen to Drew and Katie conduct the Panther Choir (aka the freshmen choir), talk to Lucy for a while, and talk to other Concert Choir students who come in during their open hour to help out
2:30 - Prepare a note of how the day went for the teacher and read some more :)
3:15 - Head out for the day

It has got to be one of the easiest jobs ever! The student conductors are awesome and now that they're getting more comfortable with me, it's super fun. I really hope I get to sub there again! Plus, I love listening to everyone sing. I think I'm going to go to their fall concert since I've heard them practicing their pieces for it. I cannot get this one song, Voice Dance, out of my head. I love it!

Today's Tidbit: I caught two students making out behind the risers. It was a little on the awkward side. They didn't even care that there were about 8 other kids in the room or that I walked in. They just kept right on going.

The death of me?

So this whole subbing thing might be the death of me... It's almost 1 in the morning and I'm getting up in less than 5 hours to go sub at Century again. It's sort of a lose-lose situation. I could have gone to bed at a normal hour, but then I wouldn't have found the job because it got posted so insanely late on SubFinder. Anyway, I am now going to go to bed! I'm subbing for the same teacher tomorrow, choir... It's all day this time, so we shall see how it goes!

Today's Tidbit: I have a new favorite song... I heard it on Gary's show last Sunday. It's by Stellar Kart and I thoroughly enjoy it!

Do you people know the difference between rockets and rockettes?!?

Well, I finally did it! I took my first subbing job today. I kept hoping for "the perfect" job to take for my first time. You know, I had it in my head that it would be 1st or 2nd grade and it would at a school I like. Something like that. I turned down 2 subbing jobs last week. One was for elementary phy. ed. and one was for high school choir. I had told myself that I would sub this week, no matter what.

Well, last night a subbing job showed up on SubFinder. Ugh, high school choir again... I knew I had to decide fast! I was talking to Laura on MSN so I asked if I should take it. I knew what her answer would be, but I needed the encouragement. As soon as she said to take it, I clicked the little "accept" button and was in. I called into the system to hear the "special instructions" and found out that I'd be subbing for only one period, the Treble Choir.

I didn't sleep a whole lot last night. I did a lot of tossing and turning. I got up this morning, took a shower, got dressed, and headed up to Century. It was weird being back in the building as a teacher and not as a student. I talked to Lori in the hall when I got there, nice to see a friendly face. Then, I headed into the office. The first person I saw was my speech and debate teacher from high school. I loved her! She greeted me with a hug and I started to feel more at ease. I got my folder and a key and headed toward the choir room (which, I had never been in before!)

I was in the room and situated about 30 minutes before the class even started. Haha, oh well! I looked over the class list and noticed that one of my swimmers was in the choir. That helped too! The kids came in and were pretty quiet. The student director was really good, I didn't have to do anything! I felt so bad for her though. She didn't know that the teacher was going to be gone today, so she wasn't prepared. But she really did a great job! The girls were good and paid attention pretty well. I got to sit there and listen. The funniest thing was that the piano player is my old piano teacher. So I got to catch up with her.

When that class ended, the teacher still wasn't back. The Concert Choir kids started coming in. The student director for that choir is one of our football players, so I knew of him. He did a really good job of getting everyone settled and into warm-ups. Another couple of students helped me take attendance. I stood there and listened as they started practicing their first song. They were amazing! Shortly after that, the teacher came back and I got to leave.

It was a pretty easy first day. It feels amazing to have finally done it! I think it'll be easier the next time, and then hopefully even easier after that! Thanks to everyone for the prayers and encouraging texts last night and this morning. I cannot tell you how much that meant to me!

Today's Tidbit: The Treble Choir sang the Star Spangled Banner. Lucy was trying to get it into their heads to say "rockets" and NOT "rockettes." It would kind of change the meaning of the song, now wouldn't it?!?

Arlington Pictures

I finally got my pictures from my little road trip to Arlington :) Here are some of my favorites! I learned how to skip rocks (although I'm still pretty much horrible at it) and Nate and Curtis climbed around and threatened to leave us... Anyway, it was a great day!

Me & Laura

Matt & Shayla

Me & Emmalee

Laura, Shayla, Trisha, Emmalee, & Matt

Curtis & Nate climbing around...

Words of Wisdom

The day finally came... I had to move my brother into college. You will all probably, hopefully, be impressed to know that I did not cry. Not one tear was shed. Although, I truly expected to bawl and have no idea why I didn't. Anyway, it was a pretty fun day. Minus the waking up at 6 to drive to St. Cloud and then the doing nothing for 3 hours because of how early we were. Thanks Mom!

We did eat lunch at Space Aliens. I love that place! And I bought some super fun stuff. Matt's room is about the smallest dorm room I have ever seen. It was so dirty too! Our family has had 8 move-ins before this one. We had never seen a room that small, and definitely not one that disgusting!

I got off the hook and only had to take up two loads of stuff. After that, Beth and I stayed in the room and organized, made his bed, things like that. It was great fun :) Matt's roommate, Jamie, is nice. His parents were funny and nice too. I think it'll be good. Jamie swims too, so they'll be there to get each other up for their morning practices.

Before we left, Beth took Matt's magnetic message board and left him messages with the College Magnetic Poetry we bought for him. Most of it is "advice" for him, some are just random. I am now going to share them with you. Bear in mind a few things. First, my sister came up with them. Ok, yep, that's pretty much all you need to know. If you know Beth, I think you'll understand :)

- inhale philosophy, not weed
- never sleep with a call girl
- my brother is smart
- do not drink tequila naked
- pizza is life
- live for vacation
- I am drunk
- kegs are food
- learning hurts
- come to class; skip an exam
- a good roommate will smell like beer
- your sisters love you (usually)
- stay in bed late
- study or dance
- ace the test
- borrow money
- more brain than jock
- write a research paper on a sorority hottie to graduate

Today's Tidbit: Matt won me 300 tickets at Space Aliens so that I could get a 5-foot tall inflatable alien :D