Ohhhh Kathryn.

During Rec time at Uplift, a group of the teens, along with Kandy, John and myself, play phase ten.  Kathryn is one of the girls we play with. She is quite hilarious and had us rolling all weekend. We love her very much and thought these were some priceless moments: 

- "Hey, she doesn't have a man?" (This was to Kandy in secret regarding yours truly.) 

- "Wait, is the puppet talking, or him?"  (A ventriloquist was on stage) 

- "In God Time today, I learned that when a guy and a guy get together it's called a Bromance!" 

- "I had three hamsters and their names were Brian the First, Brian the Second, and Brian the Third. "   When asked why they were named Brian, she responded with:  "There was this guy that liked me that looked like a hamster. His name was Brian." 

- "Hey, I got 96, how bout you?" (This was regarding phase 10 scores, which are counted in fives.) 

- "You know, long distance relationships don't work." 

- "I think I'm ready to go home."   

 Why? 

" My Laptop." 

- "I have to listen to Ring of Fire every night because of my dad. You know, because the walls are so thin."  

- "And now you know what boys do in the dorm."  (In response to all the youth group boys hyped up on coke) 

Top 10 Reasons I love Camp Blue Haven

This week I am in Arkansas for Uplift. There's something about church camp that makes me think of my very own....   

My Top 10 Reasons for loving Blue Haven: 

10.  The Spring (if it ever rains enough) 

9.  Basketball during rec (minus getting hurt and the gay boot). 

8. The hour of rest -- Amen? 

7.  Mail Call (no one sends snail mail anymore!) 

6. Honey if you love me, smile.  (And the boys wooing the girls) 

5.  Hobo dinners (minus poison ivy)

4. Praying all day long... holding hands during each prayer.. and the ability to strategically place yourself next to someone cute. 

3. Hermit's Peak  (honey and peanut butter sandwiches and a nap under a tree) 

2. Marty Baker (My complete friend and Scraper King) 

.... DRUM ROLL  

1. T L C.    :)  (and everything that came with it... ) 

Sooo Not the Plan

Well, many of you that know me realize that this weekend was a bit full.  Perhaps that's the understatement of the year? 

My weekend is starting on Thursday, simply because I'm a teacher and I can do that in the summertime. 

Lessons Learned: 

1. Do laundry every week, instead of a bunch of laundry all at once. 

2. Don't procrastinate when you make necklaces. 

3. Toddlers need sleep.  

4. Adults need sleep. 

5. You know the french fries are good when grease spots seep through the paper bag... 

6. Midnight movies interfere with sleep. 

7. Brothers like crude humor. 

8. It's funny to you too... 

9. Family breakfast at the compound is worth it no matter how tired you are or how much you have to do. 

10. Pack a few days before leaving for a trip... 

11. Starbucks coffee is like a drug and will make life happier. 

12. The EZ tag is one of the best inventions ever. 

13. If you have a concert in your car while you're driving, the trip goes much faster. 

14.  Old friends make life worth living. 

15. You can't be in two places at once. 

16. You can't be best friends with married boys. 

17. Driving round trip in a day makes for a long day. 

18. Your puppy will still love you even after being alone for 13 hours. (don't turn me in, he had water and food) 

19. A mag lite and shoes will give the you bravery needed to go outside and flip the breaker at 2:00 am. 

20. You don't need a man, you can fix the air conditioner yourself! 

21. Learn to turn your phone off when you go to sleep. 

22. A wad of paper towels will grab puppy poop without it really feeling like it. 

23. You need stamps to mail a letter. 

24. 12:00-3:00 is an unnecessarily hot time to have a bbq in Houston. 

25. 50 years of marriage is quite an accomplishment. 

26. Cousins are most special. 

27. Sweat will ruin make up, hair and any good smells. 

28. Be sure to empty coolers before picking them up. 

29. Southwest will call you if your plane is delayed.

30.  12 year olds are a rare breed. 

31. People should not sing opera on planes. 

32. 7 minutes is enough time to change planes. 

33.  Sending a charter bus to retrieve 3 people is a little extreme. 

34. There should be clear exit signs for charter buses and their drivers. (Maybe neon flashing ones that leave nothing to question or speculation)

35. Parking levers can be manually moved up without the purchasing of a ticket. 

36. They come right back down before a charter bus can drive through. 

 I'm in the land of bare feet, kissin cousins and Bill Clinton. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Tree Roaches.. what?

Summer is the best time of year. I can stay up late playing and not care about the consequences of seeing 4:00 am. Unless, that is, I am required to be at a training at 8. Sitting in a class sleepily is quite indicative of what college appeared for me. As a professional, I suck it up and appear alert, coherent and interested. This mindset is persuaded by the promise of an afternoon nap and time to kill. On this day, my pantry was quite bare; however, I had the ingredients for a Lipton rice packet. I made the rice and was quite excited about it. In the middle of the day TV choices are slim. I could watch soap operas or crap. I ended up finding a documentary on a volcano that was about to explode. This intensely intrigued me and my carpet picnic was turning out to be a fantastic event. All until I saw the shadow of a moving object. Hurley had been banished to his cage, therefore I knew it wasn't him. I leaned over on the couch to investigate. Crawling up my curtains was a biblically sized bug. I watched it's grotesque wings and spiny feelers move up the curtains. WAS THIS A ROACH? It looked like one.. but I sure hadn't heard of one quite this big. And crawling UP my curtains? The idea of squishing this creature was not appealing to me. Something of this magnitude would have quite the carnage to display and that would require a bit of cleanup. No thank you. I put on some shoes and grabbed my broom. (There's something about going on a bug hunt with no shoes that creeps me out). I snuck up to the curtains, opened the door and started to whack the curtains, causing the mystery bug to crash to the floor. I overdid it on my first sweep, causing the massive bug to slide across the floor like a hockey puck. It was lost under my chair. I took a deep breath, moved the chair and thankfully found it on it's back... it couldn't run at me! Calmer this time, I swept it out the door. I then closed the door and locked all 4 locks. See if it gets back in. I am the boss of my house.



Someone later told me those things are called tree roaches... excuse me!? I didn't know they a) could get that big, b) crawl up curtains and c) get in MY house!!!!!

Class Writings

Here are some stories we "published" in class...    

waggonersweekendwords.blogspot.com     

Critical Literacy

We are working on critical literacy in class right now. We are comparing various super heroes and practicing with perspective.  

I asked, "How would Superman be different if he grew up in Mexico?" 

The responses: 

- "He would speak Spanish!" 

-"He would wear a poncho!" 

-"He would have the swine flu!!!" 

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning.

I kind of think mornings are reflective of the night.

Last night I told my best friend I couldn't come to his wedding. I knew this would be upsetting to him, but I had no other choice. It hurt my heart to do it. My stomach was in knots all night and I'm sure this contributed to my morning events. I woke with a start at 5:10. I am supposed to be at the gym at 5 to meet Kandy. (Sorry!) I was frustrated that I had overslept. My morning workout helps me start the day off with energy and freshness. I set my alarm for 6 and went back to sleep, angry with myself. I woke up and took a shower, dried my hair and was about to put my face on when my aunt called. She wanted to talk about pictures before 7 am. What?! I quickly got ready, running a little late by now and feeling a bit out of sorts.

Today is Cinco De Mayo... so I chose a bright blue ruffly sun dress as my attire for the day and matched it with some fancy jewelry. I went into the kitchen, made my lunch, and went to blend my protein shake. Lastly, it was time to make my morning latte. Normally it makes the morning happy when I have a coffee cup in my hand. Being spoiled, I use an espresso machine to make my drinks. I put the coffee in and started her up. She was chugging along and I felt like the handle was turned funny, so I started tugging at it to make sure it was secure. (I'm not sure why I did this.) It gave way and before I knew it, scalding, boiling coffee grinds flew with the little pot all over my hand. In my alert I started shaking my hand wildly to free it from the volcanic searing. In doing so, the dark brown mess flung all over my pretty blue dress. Happy Cinco de Mayo to me. I stuck my hand under cold water and surveyed the immense mess of a kitchen I had produced. I cleaned it up, made my coffee and scowling all the way out the door, spilled coffee on the floor before locking the place up tight. I was on my way to the jeep feeling a bit defeated and eyeing my charred hand, when a woman wearing bright green and yellow said, "Morning!" with a smile. Through my teeth I said "good morning" back.

I made it to school just in time for the bell, throbbing thumb, speckled dress and wind blown hair.

To quote one of my favorite books: "It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I think I'll move to Australia."