A Boring Saturday Night

      Welp, here I am, Saturday night, after 11pm and I have not left the house the entire day.  No kidding!  I mean I hardly think a walk to the mailbox qualifies.  I did shower and do load of dishes so that's one step under semi-productive. Right? 
      Now, lets talk about this trip to the mailbox.  I open the door and put my hand on the screen door to open it, something moves on the other side of the door, I proceed onto the porch and turn to look at the door.  There is a giant brown spider running around.  He runs from me and just as he runs into the hinges of the door and out of sight EEEEEK!  I scream!  Something landing on my head!  I jump, dance, stomp my legs and swat at my head.  It was a grass hopper.  Where did it come from?  Why?  Where did the spider go?  All remain unanswered. 
      All of my friends are busy tonight.  So, I couldn't come up with any solid plans.  Trish and her baby girl (6 years old) stopped by for about an hour to watch iCarly and grab a quick bite to eat before they took off for a day trip to Sioux Falls.  I envy her spontaneity but just couldn't take a trip like that on a last minute whim but truly appreciated the invite.  Random interjection, one of my favorite commercials right now is the guy who starts sleep driving, and his dog goes to the foot of the bed to enjoy the fan in his face.  Very cute!
      It sounds weird but I actually feel like I don't have a lot to do because my classes haven't started for this semester.  I'm sure I will really regret that statement and envy this moment in a few weeks but it's true.  All summer, in every moment of downtime I was doing homework.  I think I mentioned in my last blog I'm taking School Law and School and Community Relations as well as trying to make head way on my 120 admin. hours and my giant research paper.  Plus, teaching Challenge World and Psych which are both grade intensive courses I've got to stay up on.  So, I'm sure I will be super busy soon enough.  So in the spirit of that, I put a few assignments in the grade book with down the road due dates to try to keep kids and parents looking down the road.
      Today I also registered a team to do the Alzheimer's 5k in October.  Our team name is The Unforgettables.  I spent some time making a shirt that I'll likely never print that I really would enjoy having.  A picture of me and Mamma on the front with our team name and a picture of me and Patt Summitt on the back with the words Never Forget This Moment.  On a light purple shirt.  My aunt made the first team donation today.  I can't wait to raise the money and have people join the team.  Not sure if anyone is reading this but if you are and you'd like to help out me, my team, or the fight against Alzheimer's in general check out my team website.  Thanks for any support you can give!
Walk to end Alzheimer's Page

10 minute storm

      Well folks, I missed a day on the blog.  In Kansas City we had a 10 minute storm that ripped through town and knocked out power all over the Northland.  My yard/trees held up solid however the same can't be said for all of my neighbors or my parents' neighbors.  During the storm I saw two decent sized limbs fall in the street in front of my house.  Right about 2:30 I realized a storm was moving in, walking through my house I had to turn lights on in the middle of the day.  That's unusual.  Here came the thunder, lightening, rain, and hail.  Whew.  I thought it was going to last a while so I went to the garage to move some stuff around.  I saw a giant spider and quickly looked around for something to kill it with.  I knew I only had one chance at killing it or the spider would be gone and possibly on me somewhere, creepy.  I couldn't handle that so I found a shoe.  I quickly debated between, smacking it or throwing it. Throw, but how?  I decided to throw the shoe like a tomahawk.  The spider sat on a cement board against a wall.  I positioned myself, jumping at a leaf that brushed my scantily covered feet.  Wind up and.... Direct Hit! Sweet!  So I'm cleaning, moving etc.  Tripper leaves the garage and I keep working.  CRASH!  A huge strike of lightening and thunder. Lights out!  Something about being in the pitch dark garage freaked me out so I practically jumped out of the garage.  Maybe I actually jumped because I tripped and lost my footing and ended up on my butt on the floor just outside the garage with my ankle shut in the the door, ouch.  I got up and hopped to the couch where I sulked for a while.  That was around 3pm.  It got hot in my house rather quickly and I didn't want to open the fridge or freezer for fear of losing the food.  I took about an hour long nap and when I woke up it was sunny as if it the sky hadn't turned black an hour and a half ago.  Well, I quickly realized how technology dependent I am.

In my folks' neighborhood

      I couldn't do laundry, dishes (thank you storm) I couldn't watch tv.  No big deal, I'll just play on the computer, it's all charged up.  Shoot, I forgot I don't have Internet.  This playing on the computer won't last long.  I was bored far too quickly.  I didn't want to sit around and didn't want to go anywhere because I'd be tempted to buy things I don't need.  Well, what now?  So, I went to Mom and Dad's, they had power but no cable.  On the way there a tree torn in half, half of the tree is bigger than most trees I've ever seen.  I kept driving a huge limb down, split across the street. Further still, an entire tree, uprooted and laying against a house.  Ouch!  I hung out with my mom for a while and left again, hoping the power at my house would be better.  No luck, still bored.  I found out I suck at Chess.  Played on super easy against a computer... lost, badly.  Finally, I reluctantly packed a bag.  I was going to have to sleep at my parents' house for the first time since 2007.  Weird.  I watched The Great Outdoors on a 10 inch tv, ten feet away from me.  I decided to go swimming late and swing back by my house... still dark.  Went back to the rents house and crawled in to a made for a hotel bed.  It was great!  I had to plug my phone in across the room so I was nervous I was going to miss my alarm so I didn't sleep great but laid super comfy.  Spa like shower and I was ready for my first golf practice of the year.  My mom was so cute!  She set out all of my cereal options, a bowl, spoon, bananas, and a cup for juice.  I felt bad that I passed on it all but loved the effort.  It was so so sweet!
      I went to golf practice, met the head coach, followed him around a bit.  Met the girls, took a online rules test, passed out gear, and took off.  Back home and YES!  POWER!  I had to go through the fridge and toss stuff out but I think the things in the freezer made it.  Which is great news!

My first piece of NKC swag, brand new, old, golf bag.

Tomorrow I pick up my minivan, which I get to drive for the whole golf season (Suh-Weet!)  I am nervous about the golf thing still.  Turns out the coaches all golf during the season while the kids golf.  That could prove to be embarrassing.  Maybe not.   

Anyway, trash day tomorrow so I have to do some round up.  I hope everyone has a great week! 
Talk soon!

****UPDATE****
       Went up to school today, organized piles you would not believe into file folders by unit for world history with a maximum of 2 copies of each different thing.  That is HUGE for me!  And should really help me feel more organized instead of stuffing things into drawers and never knowing where anything is.
      Met up with a favorite friend of mine from my year at MNU.  I absolutely love her!  She's hilarious and is still an athletic stud like never missing a beat!  Her daughter is so funny, with a great laugh, and is just gorgeous. I'm so glad I got to hang out with her.