Heart Attack

I missed updating last week because I made an unexpected trip home to Mississippi. My dad had a heart attack Wednesday night but didn't decide to go to the hospital until 3:00 the next morning. I don't know what he was thinking! Anyway, the doctor put a stent into the offending artery immediately; however, he also found three more blockages to be dealt with later. When I decided to fly home, we didn't know yet if Dad we need bypass surgery ASAP or not. It turned out that his heart was not strong enough for more surgery right away, so they will monitor him for about six months and then check again. In the mean time, he is supposed to eat healthier, exercise more, and stop smoking 3 packs a day! So far he seems to be making better food choices, can walk a little over a mile, and is down to 5 or 6 cigarettes a day (instead of 50). Yay for progress! :)

Thanks again to all of you who prayed for him and my family. Please continue! :)

15 Before 28

Since I just had another birthday, that means it's time for my annual to-do list. :) If I were to continue the format from years past, I would be creating "27 Things To Do Before 28." Let me go ahead and tell you - there is NO WAY I can/want/will come up with a list of 27 things. However, I do have "a couple, two, three things" I want to do this year, so without further ado, here's my list:

1. Take a snowboarding lesson. (Yes, it's still on my list! Don't judge me. LOL.)
2. Create a scrapbook for my first five years as a teacher. (See parentheses above.)
3. Blog weekly, even if it is just a "week-in-review" type post.
4. Lose 15 pounds by July 1st, 2011.
5. Serve on the Guatemala 2 short-term mission trip.
6. Install new countertops in my kitchen.
7. Replace my laptop.
8. Visit Eileen.
9. Visit Amy B.
10. Visit Bess & Nick.
11. Save $10,000. (Not sure how I will do this because of #6-10!)
12. Finish the guest bathroom makeover.
13. Downsize by donating/recycling/throwing away at least 5 bags/boxes of "stuff."
14. Go roller skating again. :)
15. Become a Little Village volunteer.

Wow! This list might actually be doable. Wish me luck. ;)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Before the month of March is over, I figured I needed to write a post about my birthday which was on the 1st. It was AWESOME. :)

Well, having to proctor the English TAKS test (our standardized state test, for you non-Texans) wasn't exactly awesome, but the rest of the day sure was! Megan started the day off right by giving me a McDonald's gift card to buy my birthday breakfast. How fun is that?! Then I went to school and stared at the walls, out the window, over my students' heads, etc. until about 2:15. Boo. (One of my sweet PACE kids did bring me brownies, though. Thanks, Sergio!)

After school I went home and took a nap because some of my fun friends were coming over at 5:00. Daniella was on pizza patrol, and I just mingled with people and ate my Totino's pizza. I am still totally on a Totino's kick, by the way. For dessert, the roomies presented me with a super fun cookie cake with - wait for it - a big roller skate on the top! That's right, people. My 27th birthday had a roller skating theme. Don't be jealous.

Once we had a sufficient sugar high from the chocolate chip and M&M cookie cake, most of the party crowd headed to the local skating rink. I was fairly concerned that we would be the only people over the age of 12, but thankfully, I was wrong. Oh, I skated my heart out! It was such a fun party. I am so thankful I have great friends who will put on skates and act like a bunch of ten-year-old hoodlums for me!

When the roomies, Melissa, and I got home from the skating rink, I was finally allowed to open my gifts. EVERYTHING was great, and I loved it all! I received way more than I deserve, but I am truly thankful. This was one of my best birthdays ever!

Snowcation 2011

This is what our house looked like the morning of Tuesday, February 2nd - after I received a call from my principal at 5 AM telling me school was cancelled.

Then school was also cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. :) Don't worry, though; we found plenty to do around the house! On Tuesday, I steam-cleaned the carpet, caught up on TV-viewing, and took a nap. On Wednesday, we ventured out to Target, Panda Express, and Hobby Lobby. While at Target, I found this:

Oh, we spent many hours playing Nancy Drew! It was glorious, and we still haven't beaten it yet. That's on the schedule for this weekend. :) One day I made I made some chili. It was quite yummy, and I froze what we didn't eat for later.

On Saturday, we had our home group over for Bible study. This meant we spent all of Saturday morning cleaning, and Deanna made Rotel (cheese dip to Megan). Most of us went to the 5:00 service, and a few of us continued on to dinner at McAlister's. It was nice to be out of the house.

For Super Bowl Sunday, Deanna made homemade salsa and Daniella made soft tacos for us. Megan couldn't be there because she was dogsitting at her parents. :(

This was probably my favorite meal of Snowcation 2011, even though Deanna's salsa burned off my taste buds! ;)

So...about that blogging thing...

Why is it so hard to blog after a blogging hiatus?! I swear any time I go a few days without posting on here it turns into a few months. Then I feel like my "comeback" post has to be GREAT, and then I'm totally overwhelmed, so I continue to, you know, not post. Boo on that!

The only interesting thing that has happened in the last few weeks is that I had the flu, a sinus infection, and an upper respiratory infection AT THE SAME TIME and missed two days of school. The most interesting thing (well, at least the most FUN interesting thing) in the month of December was going to Disney World with Deanna, Megan, and my cousin Jessica. That was pretty sweet. Way sweeter than the flu! :)

I need to be better at documenting my life, so I am going to make a serious attempt to post more often. Wish me luck, leave some comments, and say a prayer or two (or three...or four). ;)

One Warm Coat

My campus is hosting a donation drive for One Warm Coat this year. Basically, we have several bins around the school where we can drop off outerwear and belts until December 8th. I will make my donation tomorrow, and if your area is having a drive like this, I encourage you to find something to donate as well! :)

We have lots of students at my school that need warm coats, too. This year, one of my favorite team members, Tom, took matters into his own hands. He noticed two of his law girls, SG and LC, had gone without coats the past two years and assumed this year would be the same. A few weeks ago, he asked if I would deliver the coats to the girls without mentioning where they came from. He said he was bringing two coats that his own daughters no longer wore. I told him I would be happy to figure out a way to deliver the coats and promptly forgot.

I parked next to Tom this morning, and he promptly thrust two brand new coats into my arms. So today during my conference period, I hunted down SG. Y'all! It was awesome. I don't teach her, so I introduced myself as her team leader, congratulated her on her professionalism, and presented her with the coat. (I tried not to make it seem like a handout.) She was ECSTATIC. She just kept repeating, "But it's so pretty!"

Wow. Merry Christmas, SG. Merry Christmas.

Go Read Callie's Blog!

As most of you know, my friend Callie has been blogging about her life with brain cancer for the past year. In her most recent post, she links to two other blogs: one belongs to a Holocaust and cancer survivor and the other to a college friend who had a massive stroke. Take a minute to visit Callie's post and check out the links. I just spent an hour catching up on Katherine's story.

It will make you grateful, I promise.