Friday Afternoon

Well, I survived the first full week. It helped that the seniors were gone today, and my afternoon had two classes finishing movies. Now I have my prep period, and aren't I being productive? :)

Both vb teams won against Kickapoo last night -- even with three girls missing. Two were out with flu-like symptoms (lots of that going around), and one girl had been stung by a bee in the afternoon. Not usually a big deal, but her hand swelled up to about 3x its normal size, and was red and hot. She was sure, however, that she could still play. Ummmmm..... No.

Each team won all three games, so that was pretty exciting. We actually have practice today, all by ourselves. It's been awhile since that's happened. Last time we had to share with the JV, and that just makes it hard to accomplish much.

Have a great weekend! I'm headed to BRF on Sunday -- my mom's cousin Mary is visiting from the west coast. I'm going to hit her up for a place to stay when Jen & I go to the Olympics. We have a place in Victoria, but we'd like to spend a few days in Seattle, too.

A full week? What's up with that?

So, this is the first week of school that is an ENTIRE week! I have to come to school all day, every day. Who thought of this??? I am not so excited about it. However, all the seniors will be gone for an English field trip tomorrow, so that part won't be too bad.

It has been a long week already. Monday night I attended the school board meeting as the teacher rep. It was kind of interesting, and I had some of my students there. I am now requiring my civics class to attend one meeting per semester, so I figured if they had to be there, I should be, too. Then, Tuesday night we had a volleyball game in Ithaca. Neither team won (they are kind of on a down streak), and we didn't get back to school until 10:15!!! We had traveled with the varsity and then stopped to eat on the way home.

So last night, I got home about 5:15. I laid down and took a nap til 7:00! Good lord I'm old now. I was still even able to go to bed at 10:30! Wow.

We have another game tonight. Home, though, vs. Kickapoo, so it shouldn't be a late night. We have a few kids out sick (lots of that going around already). Wash your hands with soap!!! Lots!

Monday, Monday

Mondays are long no matter what. But, today seems especially long! A) It's colder than it has been and I'm just not ready for that. B) I had a bit longer weekend, and just didn't want to come back. C) It's 5:40 and I'm still here. D) I have to be the teacher representative at the school board meeting tonight, and that doesn't start til 7. E) I didn't know I was going to be the rep and so didn't pack any food. I'm eating my dinner of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies as I type.

So maybe I'm complaining a bit, but on the bright side, I did wear my Chicago Bears sweatshirt to school today. How fantastic was yesterday??? A Bear win (when they were picked to lose) and a Packer loss (when they were picked to win by 9 1/2!) always makes my day.

Happy Fair Day!

Today was early release (kids out at 11:30) because it's the Vernon County Fair! We have the last county fair in the state, and I love it that we get a half day off from school! Teachers were done, too, but I had vb practice. My 7/8 team scrimmaged the JV, and held their own. We just finished up, and I have a couple of errands to run, then I'm headed to LaX for a fun night with T-Ford and Natalie. We haven't gotten together (just us) in forever! Lots of laughs, snacks, and beer! Hooray!

This week both the 6/7 and 7/8 teams won on Monday at DeSoto, and then both got killed Tuesday at North Crawford. Our next game is Tuesday at Ithaca. MSVB only has one month left! I'm not sure how that happened!

We Are the Champions!!!!!

I love to WIN!!!

Both the 6th/7th and 7th/8th grade teams took First place at the Kickapoo Volleyball Tournament today! I coached the 7/8 team, and we won all 6 games. Heidi, my assistant, coached the 6/7 team, and they won 5 of 6 games (they lost the last one 26-24!). It was SOOOOOOOO fantastic! Both teams play very well. The 7/8 team even had a few spikes! It's great when they play as good as they're capable of.

On Monday, we're off to DeSoto, then Tuesday to North Crawford. We will finally get another practice on Thursday (we've only had three all season). Imagine how good they could be if we only practiced regularly!

And the winner was...

We had our first msvb game last night. We went to Wauzeka, and, after 9 years, I finally made it to the school there! The sb field is nowhere near it, so even though I've been coming to Wauzeka forever, I had no idea where the school actually was! Amazingly, it's right across the street from the gas station we always stop at... apparently I'm not good with details.

It was a long ride there, too. We went with the high school, since Wauzeka is big enough to have two gyms. The bus was CROWDED! I had 17 players, 3 managers, and 2 coaches. High school had 15 players, 2 managers, and 2 coaches. Luckily, I have some really tiny girls who do fine three to a seat. :)

Anyhoo, I didn't have very high hopes for the teams last night. We'd only had two practices, so I wasn't real sure how an actual game would go. But, the 6th and 7th grade won all three of their games! I was so excited for them. They are still a lot of fun at that age -- I wouldn't want to teach them all day, but vb is great. The 8th grade games were not nearly as good. They lost all three. Apparently, the girls who were my strongest servers last year can no longer get the ball across the net, or if they do, it goes out of bounds. Grrrr! I ended up playing the 7th graders to

serve. Good thing we have more practices before our next game!

Oh, wait! I forgot where I was. No practice today, and our first home game tomorrow. Then, a practice on Friday and a tournament on Saturday. Ah, well. At least it's only middle school and no real pressure.

School is going pretty ok, too. Today my local history class went out and took pictures of Main Street that we have photos from 1909 and 1950. If you turn today's photo black and white, it's nearly the same. Weird!

One week down, and a free weekend!

The first week of school went pretty well, I think. I like most of my classes, and I have 17 girls out for MSVB! I'm teaching History vs. Hollywood this semester (I usually have it in the spring), and the kids picked out some movies I haven't seen yet, and ones I haven't watched for awhile. One kid did pick "Dances With Wolves," though. YUCK! He's one of my special ed kids, though, so I couldn't come up with a good reason to tell him no. Grrr.

Local History should be fun -- I have seven kids in there who actually seem interested in what we're planning to do! I have a couple of people organizing some old photos of LF for us to use. We looked at two on Friday and they really got into trying to figure out what was in each one.

I am glad it's the weekend, though. It was a long four days, getting up early every morning! It takes awhile to get back in the groove. Luckily, this next week is only four days, also. Hooray for Labor Day! And, to make it even better, I don't have any real plans! I've pretty much lazed today away, but I've loved every minute! I'm busy lots of weekends coming up, so I plan on taking advantage of this one.

First Day of School

Well, today was my first day of school... again. I can't believe that this year is year #10 at LF. How can that even be possible? Didn't I just live in EC and work at the Griz? The good one, I mean? Time flies.

Today went pretty well, except for the fact that I was up way too early -- like 3:00! I had to pee, and then I had a million thoughts running through my head, and then... well, I was up. So, today has been long, and it's not even close to being over!

I like all of my classes so far. One day does not a semester or year make. But we're off to a good start, I think. In about 10 minutes I will start middle school volleyball, too. I should have a big group of girls, and it's always fun. Then I'm doing the book for the JV and varsity volleyball game tonight. Long day.

On the plus side, I didn't get a pimple or my period on the first day of school. First time that's happened in a long time! :)