Girls' Night Out - Cousin Style!

We're still hanging out in Texas and last night we had a free evening (well it was free of short people) so Angela, Jamee and I headed out on the town to enjoy a hibachi dinner (thanks Mom and Dad, we all love you!!!).

We had a great time browsing shops (Charming Charlies is full of great fun jewelry and purses), Old Navy (which I decided I am just too old for I guess, because I am not a 13-year-old girl who can or should wear tube tops and see through blouses), and Target (75% off Easter fun, love that! And converse dress shoes, I am in heaven now, and I will be getting another pair ASAP).

Then we came home and hung out. Life is good in Texas. And tonight we're heading to a benefit at a diner called Hulabaloo to hear some good music! Yee haw!

Easter week

I've decided that I'll spend this Easter week (I'm looking forward, even though I know the holidays are all done now) counting my blessings. Here are just a few that popped into my head this morning as I ate strawberry chex (which leave pink milk in the bowl, my favorite!) and drank coffee with fat-free hazelnut creamer (might turn me into a coffee person just yet!).

1. Angela and I made it to Texas right on schedule. We left Yuma at 3:30pm Friday and got to Bryan, TX at 7:30pm Saturday, just in time for pizza and chi-chis (pina coladas) with the Bricks!
We had a pretty uneventful trip with stops for gas and food and lots of sleep and listening to a good book on the old iPod.

2. We had a great hotel room in El Paso. We were worried because the first 10 of so motels we stopped at had no vacancies but we finally found a room at a Marriott which was really nice for a good price. We slept well, and quickly, and then got on the road again bright and early!

3. We had a great worship experience with the Bricks at their church Sunday morning and got to praise God with a ton of others which is something I've been missing. Add that to the whole, God died and rose again for my salvation and I am truly blessed beyond belief.

4. We got to help the Easter bunny make Hannah and David's baskets and hide their eggs and attach yarn to the baskets to make a maze all over the house to lead them to the baskets. It was a fun night/morning!

5. We had a wonderful Easter lunch (and dinner) with the extended Brick family which included ham, pineapple dressing, asparagus, poke cake, and angel food with strawberries. I ate way too much and enjoyed it all!

6. I got the chance to have a long long nap Sunday afternoon which was a great way to recover from the hellish week I've already forgotten all about. Except that Friday I got a wonderful gift. A student of mine who's been very troubled all year, emotionally and scholastically, ran into conferences to present me with 4 books his family had purchased for my classroom from the book fair. He was so excited to give them to me and I was so excited he'd thought of me and the class. Very cool indeed.

7. Today I got to wake up to the sound of little ones watching Sesame Street and wanting to curl up with me in the lazy boy. As soon as bath time is over we're going to the Blue Bell ice cream factory for a tour and then we'll have a picnic lunch at a park. How much more blessed can I be?!?!?

8. Oh yeah, I am spending the week with one of my favorite friends, Jamee. I am so grateful that she and her family have opened their hearts and their home to Angela and I. I'm going to enjoy every single moment!

A blog slacker

I know, I know, I haven't been blogging enough. And I would be writing more except this week several things have been going on. One, I got sick. Again. I know! I am so done with sickness. It's the sore throat and a lovely phelmy cough this time. And then we have had three days of parent-teacher conferences this week. That mean Wednesday was a 12-hour day at school. Ugh. Today was only 10 and 1/2 hours but it was still long. And tomorrow we only have conferences until 2:30 so that's exciting. Oh yeah, and then we have spring break! WOO HOO!

Ang and I are leaving tomorrow at 2:30 for Texas. We're going to spend Easter and the following week with Jamee, John, Hannah, David, and Olivia. We can't wait!!!!

Okay, I've had some of Grandpa Mac's cough syrup and now I am heading to bed! Love you all.

Mental Health

I am a big believer in the tenet that if your mind is not well, you are not well. Over the past few weeks I have been stressing. It's just life, and I realize this. It's my first rejection from film school, it's not knowing about the others schools, it's the realization that I am indeed moving to Los Angeles, in just a few months. It's work which is getting busier and exponentially more stressful - kids with drugs, pregnancy scares, black eyes, claims of harassment and bullying, kids running away, parents pulling kids out to home school them, etc. Add in the fact that I was sick for over a month and just now finally feel better and you've got the makings of a good, old-fashioned breakdown. Oh, and add in the fact that I can't seem to lose any weight and even with spinning 3 days a week and weight classes, nothing seemed to work. Not Weight Watchers, not anything.

So I took today off. I was feeling exhausted and beat down. I have been going to bed by 9pm most nights, physically exhausted after 10 and 12-hour workdays. Report cards were done Wednesday, we start AIMS prep with the kids Monday, golf is going well, so I knew today was the day. Luckily my trusty sub accepted the job and I got to stay home (of course it took me 2 hours after school yesterday to prepare for my day off but that's beside the point).

And I feel better. I feel as if my mind has cleared some. I got up and cleaned out my inbox, cleaned some of the house, emptied the dishwasher, walked 4 miles with my VHS friends, did laundry, rested, watched 15 minutes of a really dumb reality TV show, downloaded Sense and Sensibility on audio book, and began to write.

I am working on Molly's story, for those of you following the (slow) process of my novel's creation. And I feel like I've been at a standstill for a while with her but I think I'm getting through it which is awesome. For those of you who want something to read, let me know and maybe it'll provide me with the peer pressure I need to get going and finish it already!!!

This will be another busy week, I am not naive. And I know one day off won't take away all the stress in my life. But I feel better, happy, and I am glad for that. We have conferences next Wed., Thurs., and Friday so those will be very long days (12 hours for a few). And then we're going to drive to Texas to spend Easter and a week with Jamee and her family which I am so excited about. I know it will be just what I need to relax and enjoy life for a while.

Some other things I figured out today:
- I think I need to quit the YMCA. I've loved going there, and loved spin but my back has been bothering me a lot lately and I know I need to focus on other types of activity. So I am going to save my shekels (the Y's not cheap) and use my walking tapes and try to get to yoga class at the yoga studio once in a while. I wish there were more aerobic classes at the Y, I could take but they are mostly during the day when I'm at school. So we'll see what happens.
- I have changed my eating habits and I am thankful for that. While I ate mini eggs and jelly beans this week, and enjoyed pizza last night, I'm also eating fruit and vegetables and maintaining my weight (but not losing, we'll focus on the positive for today I guess).
- There are free audio books on iTunes if you go to iTunes University and don't mind that it's not a celebrity reader.
- I miss the people at my job when I'm not there, but not really the job.
- Diet Coke gives me headaches. I've been drinking a lot of it lately (it was really cheap a month ago and Ang and I stocked up) and I finally realized today that that's the cause. I've been working on it for a while. So no more Diet Coke, at least not in vast quantities, and not for a while.
- I miss having people over to my house so I am going to fix that tomorrow by having 3 girls for work over for dinner!
-That I need to forget about the bill and turn the AC on when it gets to be 92 degrees outside.
- That I miss golfing. Coaching has reminded me of the sport I used to love to play. The kids were great Wednesday, we had only 24 come back (I had to kick several off the team that afternoon at school for grade and behavior issues - and yes, there were tears, and yes, they came from boys). We sent 10 out to play the course and they came back with awesome scores. And we kept the 14 in and did driving range, chipping, and putting practice and they did so great. We had one girl's 7 year old brother join us too and we just had fun. We're off for 3 weeks (conferences and spring break) but I really can't wait for our next outing!!!

So this turned into a really long blog, thanks for listening:-)

100, 43, 39, 30

These numbers have been significant the past two days. Here's why:

100 - We started our golf season Tuesday at lunchtime with a meeting. Over 100 kids showed up to my classroom that usually seems insane with 30 people in it. We managed to get rid of about 40 kids by the time the meeting had ended. We sent kids with failing grades and without afternoon rides back to class. Then we shouted over the others and tried to scare them into deciding if golf was really for them. Most decided it was. Even the kids we fight with every single day. So Ang and I got ready for our first practice with much anxiety. How many would show?

43 - It turns out that some of the group really was serious. Yesterday we had our first practice at the course. When we got there at 1:45, there were already 10 kids there. Some with golf clubs and championship t-shirts. Some with baggy pants and iPods. All had a lot of energy and loud voices. By the time we got started just after two we had 43 kids around us. We ended up sending 4 home, they'd walked to Jack in the Box and hitched a ride with another parent and their own didn't know where they were. These are some of our troublesome kids so we were not sad at all to see them go. That left us with 39 kids and 2 adults. On a public golf course that was swarming with snowbirds. Yeah. But it went really really well. We split up into 3 groups and had the returning 8th grades take one group to the putting green to do a little putting clinic. Then Ang took a group and went over etiquette while I took the group who'd never been on a course before. I told them about clubs and balls and tees, they all got to hold a club and practice gripping it. Then we took a walk out to the first hole and explored a little. They were surprisingly excited to be out there. What surprised me the most was a few of the kids who I never thought would come out for golf.

There was Eric - my student who dresses as if he's straight out of the 1950s. He cuffs his dark jeans and rolls his white tee-shirt sleeves. And he secretly likes being called a greaser. He wore a Johnny Cash t-shirt to the course and a hat that I'm sure my grandpa wore 40-some years ago. And the pickup truck his greaser brother picked him up in was straight out of the 50s. Then there was Kevin - Ang's kid with the mohawk who I met Monday in detention where he wrote an excellent essay about skate park rules. Then there was my student Kayla who I didn't even realize was at golf meeting. Apparently she's been playing golf since age 3 and has won several city championships. Yay girl power! Next was Derrick, a special education student I knew only from the constant reprimands I seemed to have to give him during our hour and a half together. However, as we waited an extra half hour for his ride (and others), Ang told me what a good kid he was and we got a chance to talk and I realized that one-on-one, he really calmed down and seemed super sweet. There there were the only other 2 girls who showed who have never touched more than a mini-golf putter. And on, and on....I can't wait to see who sticks it out and who comes back next week.

It was also great to see our 8th graders who have grown up a lot in the past year. They acted very proud when asked to run the putting clinic. But my favorite was when JD came over and said, "Ms. Knapp, the one in the orange shirt just won't listen to me!" I secretly smiled and hoped they now realize a little of what it's like to be the one in the front of the room yelling all the time!

30 - that's miles per hour, as in how fast the wind was throwing sand at us while we were on the course. I could barely hold onto my etiquette packet or clipboard of permission slips. Needless to say, I went home and straight into the shower!

So yeah, golf season has begun. And were counting on adding another trophy to our collection!

My first film school response...

"Dear Sarah, We have concluded our review of applications for the Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting program at The University of Texas at Austin. We regret that we are unable to offer you admission for Fall 2008. The applicants for our program were exceptionally competitive this year, resulting in many well-qualified applicants being turned away. Our decisions are the result of an extensive review of all the applications and supporting materials, assessing qualifications as well as fit for our program. We wish you well in your future pursuits. Thank you again for your interest in our program."

This is the email I got yesterday, almost a month ahead of schedule. There were transcript issues, them not getting them six months ago but I placed calls and emails and who knows whatever came of all that. I never actually got to talk to a real person. Also, they had a lot of hoops to jump through and by golly, I jumped, well I thought. But in the end, they didn't want me. Simple as that.

I was sad when I read the email though when I saw it in my box, I guessed what is was. I figure if I get an acceptance it'll come via post. But who knows. Austin had been forth on my list of four schools but it still would have been nice to have been wanted by them.

Three more schools to go, here's hoping I don't get three more letters like this one...