Wednesday 18 November 2015

A Week in Review (November 7-14)

A Week in Review (November 7-14)

Watched: Everyone go crazy for our ball maze.  I am not sure what it was, but they all had a blast trying to get it done.  Our friend Ryan aced it on his second or third attempt.  I thought that was pretty impressive.  The kids realized there was a short cut that you could take that would help you more easily get your ball into the finish section without going through all the levels.  All the kids were very interested in how it was made.  I suggested to Jack that they should write in to the show and put that as a suggestion.


Read: Go Set a Watchman, which is Harper Lee's rough draft that her family released without her consent. If she only wanted to give one book to the world, I am glad it was To Kill a Mockingbird. Go Set a Watchman may shed light into the minds of southerners in the 60's. There were several times that I really identified with Scout. It is so hard to know that your beliefs stand in direct opposition to those you love. I hope that she comes to find peace with those differences.  Next I began, After You.  I have barely begun it, but I am still hoping to have a review by next week. 

Listened: One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd.  My book reading list is all coming off holds at the same time, but I had wanted to read this book during Native American Month.  I wasn't sure how I was going to fit them all in, so I decided to see if I could find the audio book to listen too.  Luckily, our library had it and I was able to begin.  Because I had so many things to do for Fall Festival, I was able to put on the book and listen to it instead of having the TV on for background noise.  It is quite the story and I am enjoying it.  It is centered around the Brides for Indians program that actually occurred.    I am hoping to have it finished by next week.

Made: My life this week pretty much revolved around the Fall Festival.  Jack's school hosted it's first school carnival and I headed a lot of it.  I was really nervous that everything would turn out well.  I didn't want to throw an event that left people feeling disappointed.  I tried to think of so many various scenarios and plan for them.  I am very thankful for all the big bashes that I have thrown for Jack and doing the parties for Trinity when I worked there.  It did help me plan things better.

Felt: Amazed at Fall Festival.  When had done a decent amount of money in pre-sales, but it was no where near what we did at the door. There was just a huge line of people coming in that night.  We even ran out of change and had to issue people IOU's while I ran to the bank inside Wal-mart and pleaded with them to do their civic duty and give me change even though I was not an account holder.  I am happy to report that they did help!  People also had a great time playing the games that were out.  The teachers mostly ran the games their grade created and were a lot of fun for the students.  We had an overwhelming demand for pizza.  When I started, I was hoping that we could clear a little money.  Luckily, we cleared a lot more which will really help the PTA's operating budget.

Planned: A whole list of things to do for next week.  I am going to try and insert some wire to make our Elf a bit more poseable.  I am planning to get our car tags switched over to Colorado.  I am going to try and get all our Christmas books wrapped.  I am going to everything back in place after the disorder that Fall Festival called.  I need to work on the school improvement plans for my DAC meeting on Tuesday.  I also have to help with the Pride Assemblies and Volunteer in Jack's room a couple times.  It should be a full week.

Loved: Watching Jack take his first gold.  He was finally in a class with all other C wrestlers and was able to take first.  It really boosted his confidence and made him willing to work even harder.  All of his coaches note that he doesn't quit when he is out on the mat and they are quite proud of his tenacity.  I think this is one of the best lessons that wrestling teaches.  Even if you are down, you can still come back and win it if you just keep trying.

Here are the pics for the week:

Ryan showing off his accomplishment!


Jack with his gold metal 

Tuesday 10 November 2015

A Week in Review (November 1-6)

A Week in Review (November 1-6)

Watched: Royals win Game 5 of the World Series on our TV and Denver play the Packers on my iPad. I couldn't believe that the two events collided.  It was a great night since the Royals won the World Series and the Broncos whopped up on the Packers.  The joy that was present on the players faces totally made the win.  I know that I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Read: Dead in the Family.  Overall, I gave it three stars.  This book didn't have quite as much climax as I was expecting it to have.  It was good to catch up with Sookie and all of her side characters.  I have to say that I am rooting for her and Sam to get together.  They just seem like the best match, but knowing Sookie, she would mess it up.  I am sure I will come back to the series in the new year.

Listened: To so many friends debate on whether or not to attend the parade in the Royals honor.  I also listened to some people complain that school was let out for a "blue" snow day so that staff and students could attend.  Then on Tuesday, I saw post after post from the parade.  It was amazing to see the city turn out in such huge numbers.  It is estimated that almost 800,000 people came out to watch the parade.  That is almost twice the population of Kansas City, MO proper.  Best of all, it was a relatively drama free for those who were brave enough to go down there.

Made: The change in decorations from Halloween to Thanksgiving.  I have a pretty good collection of art from Jack over the years.  It really makes me happy every time I walk by it.  That wall was empty for about a day during the transition and I didn't like it all.  It felt way to empty.  Who knows what I will do after Christmas?

Felt: Surreal about boy coming down dressed up when he realized that his babysitter for Saturday night was an older girl.  What???  How can it be that my boy is growing up enough to care about what the ladies might think and to think that he might have a chance in that department.  He actually wore jeans!  He usually thinks of jeans as the worst possible clothing solution out there.  In the end, he wasn't impressed with her, but I am just not sure that I am ready for this next stage of life.

Planned: On a normal bracket for Jack's tournament for his tournament in Castle Rock.  Instead, he ended up in a six man bracket.  That is two more wrestlers than normal.  One kid was added to his bracket that was a B wrestler because he didn't fit well into any of other brackets.  Jack ended up beating him.  :)  He only lost one match and took second.  He and the B wrestler each lost only one match, but the other kid had two pins where Jack only had one from his matches.  It was fun to see him get better with each match with the coaching that he received in the middle.  He really has a won't quit attitude that helps him tremendously in wrestling.

Loved: Going to All Colorado brewers beer fest with our friends.  We opted for early entry tickets which allowed us to get in an hour earlier.  That was nice because we had access to all the best swag and their really weren't any lines for the beer.  Nick found a couple beers that he really liked Ironbird's Deadstick, which is a double IPA and a Green Chile Beer from Rock Bottom Brewery.  You can see by my attempt at self (with an awesome  photobomb by some random passerby) that he got his moneys worth of samples.  I was a DD so didn't partake in the samples, but had a good time all the same way.

Here are the pics for the week:



Jack's just goofing around while Nick gave him posing guidance.

The silver medalists.


Big Jenga.  Nick may have helped Sherry win by given Ryan a little nudge.

Didn't she get a great photo bomb in?


Wednesday 4 November 2015

A Week in Review (October 25-31)

A Week in Review (October 25-31)

Watched: The final episode of Scrubs.  I am so glad that I read the review that suggested looking at season 9 as a spin off.  They did such an awesome job wrapping up the show at the end of Season 8 that I couldn't imagine them beginning again.  They really didn't.  The show creator wanted to call the show Med School and I think it might have done better if people had seen it as its own show.  It didnt get the series finale that made you feel good since it only last a season.  I think I am going to start watching Modern Family for my next series.


Read:  Last week I started One More Day.  I chose this book randomly off my book case and ended up with a "ghost story" in October.   This book really makes you examine how we should spend our time and what we should give our energy too. It also causes you to reflect on the life beyond what we see on the surface of other people's lives.   Good if you are looking for a quick read.  When I was finished I started reading Dead in the Family which I am also listening too.

Listened: Dead in the Family.  It had been almost six months since I read about Sookie and her crew and the Halloween season seemed like a good time to pick it back up.  I am enjoying the series.  I checked it out on from the library in MP3 format, so it makes it easy to listen to when I am doing things in the house as well as driving. I am sure that I will have it finished up by next week.
Made: Frames for Jack's school Star Student wall.  As you know I agreed to take the pictures, and I just had to take it a step further.  I wanted something that would like nice and still be able to change out every month.  I think I found a great solution choosing photo corners.  There was quite a bit of trial and error, but I am very pleased with the end result.  It really pops when you walk into the school.  I know the kids loving having their picture up there too.  Jack was even selected as a Star Student this month by his teacher for the character trait of Responsibility.  I was very proud of him.

Felt: Overwhelmed when I walked into Jack's school Friday morning.  I had realized Thursday night that I had doubled book myself and was supposed to both deliver popcorn to students for Popcorn Friday and meet with the principals to discuss the budget review for the District Accountability Meeting.  It was also the Halloween parade.  When I walked in, I was immediately met with a problem.  They had forgotten to hand out the order forms and the teachers were freaking out to the poor office front staff.  It was also then that I realized I was the only person there to do anything about it.  I saw another person who I know does some volunteer work and asked her to please help me.  We really don't jibe, but at that point, I knew I needed to take what I could get.  I walked around the order forms and let the teachers know popcorn would be later than normal, but would get to their class before lunch.  Then I hurried and watched Jack in the parade, which I didn't get a great picture of.  Next, I went back and tried to figure out the popcorn mess.  We finally finished about 2 hours later.  Then I realized the machine needed cleaned.  I was in my costume so I had to go home, change, and come back and clean it.  Phew!  Less than two hours later, I got a call from the front office saying Jack had threw up in the classroom.  Apparently, he coughed so hard that he gagged.  It wasn't the best way to end my day.  Luckily it was just a cold and not the stomach bug that is going around the room too.

Planned:  For Jack to wrestle on Saturday morning.  While I knew he had a pretty bad cold, I felt that he needed to wrestle through it.  After all, wrestling season is all cold season long.  Better just to buck it up.  He woke up coughing more than I would have liked, so I ran and bought him some Dimetapp thinking that it had the best flavor so hopefully he could get it down.  We did, his friends met us out our house so we could travel together, and we made it.  It was already pretty busy, but we are able to find a spot that wasn't too far away.  Luckily we came from the north of the gym, so we found that spot to the north as well.  Now you may be asking yourself why that matters.  Well, it wasn't but 5 minutes after the wrestling started that the host came over the loud speaker and told us that we were on Lock Down.  You could not re-enter the gym if you left.  And too be honest, I don't think they would have let you leave.  They didn't say anything else.  Well, of course, I googled and it said there was a shooting near the intersection of where we were.  About an hour later they lifted the ban, but said if you were parked to the south, you would not be able to get to you car.  When we walked out of the gym, there was immediately crime scene tape blocking off the whole area to the south.  Apparently, a gunman who had set fire to his place and killed three innocent victims had his shootout RIGHT outside the gym.  It was so loud that we didn't even know.  I am so thankful that we were able to stay in the dark about it.  I have, of course, been following the story.  I thought THIS was a good post what happened.  One interesting thing I read was that his neighbor called 911 saying he was walking around with his gun looking distraught, but was told open carry was legal and there was nothing they could do about it.  Not exactly sure how I feel about that.  

Loved: All the fun things Halloween brings.  We carved pumpkins Sunday before Jack headed to a neighbors party. He made a bat hanging from a tree.  Nick carved a Minecraft pumpkin and I went for a Dracula silhouette.  Jack wasn't thrilled that we made him work on scooping his out while we were finishing carving ours.  Halloween night was absolutely beautiful weather wise.  We started out handing out candy to some of the earlier trick-or-treaters.  Then we went up and down the block in our matching costumes.  I was Gwen from Spider-Man and he was Spider-Man.  Normally, I would have spent the whole time out with him, but the Royals game 4 started at 6:07.  Luckily, he met up with some his neighborhood friends and Nick took them around.  After they got back, our friends who live quite a ways away made it to our house.  We invited them in for a break and beer for the dad.  We watched the Royals game and the kids played together.  We had several more trick-or-treaters that Jack was able to enjoy passing the candy out too.  Now its time to bring on Thanksgiving!  

Here are the pics for the week: