this and thats of my weekend.

this past week at school was long...i never thought it would end. full moon for the last couple of nights of the week and i could tell by how my kids acted. Friday night was a good time. i played volleyball after school with some co-workers and worked off some of the stress accumulated from the week. Than i headed over to NWC to sit in on basketball practice. gosh, it was fun to see the girls play and practice...i miss it! from there Linda and I went on a walk to catch up on life and than we met up with Al and Taylor (Linda's family) to hit the Seussical (a musical about Dr. Seuss). It was very cute- solid watch.

Saturday i slept in...it was amazing. i didn't set a alarm and just told my body to sleep til it woke up...and i slept til 8:15! now, some of you may think....'thats not sleeping in!" to me it totally is sleeping in. i usually wake up around 5:50 or close to that...so 8:15 is a kick butt sleep in. from there i spent the next 25 minutes reading my bible; in my bed. i didn't want to get out cuz it was freezing cold in my house and i had my bed warmer on ( thanks Linda for that gift...man, one the the best gifts I've ever gotten)! from there i got up, made coffee and of course spent the next hour or so drinking coffee. yummmmy!

After that i went over to Fawn's house and helped her move out of her apartment and into her new one about 5 miles down the road. i have never in my life seen a women have more stuff than Fawn. i think we went on at least four trips with 2 trucks and 3 cars...and one had a trailer. she had mounds of stuff. it was fun though; fantistic workout. i have grown to highly enjoy Fawn. she makes me laugh.

than i bolted over to Nicki's house to say hi to her and Dustin. haven't seen them in along while. while i was visiting i asked her to dye my hair. was getting really gray again...so gray that one of my students made a comment on it last week...when that happens i know it's time for a dye.

from there i bolted to the Crowne Plaza in Brooklyn Park where my brother was d-jing for a friends wedding. i went over to take the boys swimming in the pool so they didnt have to sit bored during the reception-it was great! so good to see them. it's amazing to have nephews that are so cute and so fun to hang around.

Sunday was great! Pastor Dave is speaking on Matt. 5 and talked today about how to comfort those who are mourning. it was great insight...great stuff. stuff i didn't know. stuff i can apply to life situations. stuff that will help me become a better person. it was good. i suggest you go to http://www.thedoor.org/ and take a listen. Than after church Sara and i spent the afternoon playing around. we went to lunch, than to Barnes and Noble. we looked a children's books and laughed at them. than spent some time looking at cook books, travel books and just books.....than we moved to the games and i ended up buying one. the 'Would you rather' game. so than we sat down at the coffee shop and started to play. we laughed our heads off....it was great. seems like a solid game. than i spent a little over a hour at home correcting paper until Jen convinced me to get in my car, drive 20 minutes to Andrews house just to eat some homemade Chinese food. which was fantastic. Andrew is quite the cook.

Now i am home again, waiting from my bed warmer to heat up so i can climb on in and fall asleep all cozy like.

I HATE GRAD SCHOOL....THATS ALL I'VE GOT THIS FINE FALL EVENING.

BEST WISHES TO YOU.

Luc Line Trail

This past Saturday Anna, Jen, Andrew and I packed up our bikes, our warm clothes, our biking rear, some H20, and went to Plymouth to get on the Luc Line Trail. Our intentions were to bike west to Watertown MN, have some coffee, and than bike back. The round trip totalled 40 miles. We had amazing weather- the best day in a long while; we were so thankful. We dressed warm and had to shed the clothes as we peddled, and peddled and peddled some more. The colors were amazing, as you can see in the picture. And of course we had a great amount of time to chit-chat. We averaged about 14 mph; but at some point we were only going 9 mph and at others 25 mph. Andrew tried to teach me to 'jump' my bike and than he encouraged me to bike 'no handed'. I don't think i have tried to bike with out hands since i was 10. i did it perfectly for a long time while coasting down a big hill...otherwise i couldn't seem to get the balancing part down. we stopped on our way there to take a butt rest and to play in the corn field, and take some pictures too. it was a much needed break- out butts were sore. We got to Watertown and the Crow cafe' for some much needed coffee, some chocolate drink and water too. We sat there for an hour or so drinking up some good coffee and than got back on our bikes and back on the trail. On the way back we also needed another break and decided to play on a old tractor that was near the side of the trail. it totally reminded me a tractor my dad has. there was a key in it and Andrew was really tempted to try and start it. I am not sure what the owners would have done if we actually did start it. the last 8 or so miles of our trip Anna and I decided to kick it down a notch (16 mph) cuz we really wanted to get off our bikes. my knees were killing me and... simply, i wanted off the bike!!!! Jen, who bikes once a year (and that once a year would be this bike trip) was biking at a solid 12 mph, but for me.... i needed off my bike and 12 mph wasn't getting it done; so had to pick up the speed a little. Anna and i got back to the car about 10 minutes before Andrew and Jen. Overall it was great time with great friends, in great weather with great colors, on great bikes, and we got a great workout in, Bonus!

one of those days!

have you ever had one of those days where you wake up, sit on the side of your bed and wonder...'huh, i think today is going to suck so bad that i should just go back to bed.' well yesterday was one of those days! it was crazy the things that happened. i was telling my friend jen about it and she told me i should write it all down...so- here is goes.
ONE OF THOSE DAYS!
-thought i pressed the snooze button- but didn't...so woke up 35 minutes late.
-spilled my steaming hot oatmeal on the top of my foot and burned my toe...plus, i didn't have time to make more, so i went with out breakfast
-spilled my coffee all over my car...plus, i didn't get coffee that morning.
-the pool was yet again closed due to a pump problem...so, had to cancel my swimming class again and wing it; again!!!
-tripped over my feet about 15 times through out the day, and i am seriously not kidding!
-smashed my finger in one of the weight machines while trying to fix it for the 4th time and swore in front of my students. major whoops!
-forgot my lunch, so had to eat school lunch- yuck!!!
-forgot my water bottle
-got yelled at by one of sectaries at school for forgetting to send her a list of students that need to take re-take pictures
-got a massive headache a little after noon...and it lasted til i went to bed.
-was about 4 minutes late to my 7th hour cuz i forgot i had class.
-coached a volleyball game that afternoon; that part of my day was actually the best part. we won, but wow....it was painful on my head!
-anyways- that's at least the stuff i can remember...i am sure i am missing some stuff. it was a weird day. one of which i wish i would have crawled back into bed and stayed at home. again- jen (my friend) asked me if i ever took some time to pray about my day and i didn't. man, it is so crazy how we can do a bad day like that and not even think about taking a couple minutes to pray about it. jen reminded me that sometimes it's about taking time to sit before the Lord instead of just trying to get through the day alive!!!! crazy!
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Feed My Starving Children

I know it has been forever since i have last posted...but i promise this is a gonna be a good one to read. This past Tuesday I got the pleasure of taking 27 of my 7th graders to Feed My Starving Children, a place where they package food for starving children around the world. it was one of the most humbling, yet joyful experiences i've had in a long long time. In health class we often talk about how our environment can affect our health... and going to feed my starving children helped my sweet, young, impressionable 7th graders understand that their world is pretty good compared to most other children's worlds. These kids worked their butts off packing up bags of rice mixed with soy, dried veggies and a chicken mix to add flavor to the food. it was so fun to watch these kids have a riot packing food. they sang songs, made up chants, chattered with one another, and laughed alot. we feed 6,048 starving children and only worked for 1.5 hours. The kids were super fantastic!!!!!!! They were shocked that in that small amount of time they feed and totally changed the lives of that many children. All of our food is headed to a orphanage in Haiti. Most days I am pretty proud to be a teacher...but today- Proud wasn't the word...i was in tears a couple of times just watching what a difference my kids were making! it was awesome.

On a more personal level, i made an instant connection with our team leader; Ann. She did a great job informing my kids and showing them what a difference they can make. Feed My Starving Children is a group the runs off of donations and most often sends their food out though missionaries or Christians ministries. Ann and I spent a long time talking about missions, church and our jobs. I started to ask questions about positions at Feed My Starving Children, and i think i might end up getting a part time job there. I really dont have a lot of time in my life to take up another job (even if it is part time)- but...it was a place that i felt connected to instantly, a place that i have yet to stop thinking about and it makes me smile alot when i think about going back. so...i have yet to call Ann back, but she said it was pretty likely that i'd be able to pick up some hours on Saturdays, and if i stick it out could possibly turn into full time work over the summer. Which would be super cool. It also gets me pretty excited to think that i would be working around and amidst Christians! anyways- it was a really cool outing with my students and i cant wait to go back!!!!!!

nice work NVJH'ers!