Need to Process

I need to process, so this will go a few different directions I think. I really, really need to get the rest of summer pictures on here, what there was of it, anyway. It doesn't feel like we did a whole lot. I'm hoping there will be another month, at least, of nice weather.

I started back to work today. Didn't get much done. I really wanted to change up my seating into a more collaborative arrangement. I do a lot of small group work, so I wanted a better configuration for that.  I spent an hour or more moving my tables about, trying to find a way to get them into groups without having anyone sitting with their backs to the front. To do that, they had to be sideways. Kids would have to sit a bit sideways when looking up front, but doable. They weren't nice and neat and symmetrical, and that was making me itchy, but I was prepared to give it a try. But I couldn't make it work with traffic patterns. With bodies in chairs I wouldn't be able to move about the room hardly at all. I wasn't even sure if I could get back to my desk once you figure in backpacks and tall kids who are leg stretchers and whatall. So then I just put it all back to how it was when I walked in this morning. Waste. Of. Time. And now my back hurts and I probably have bruises all over my legs from pushing on tables. Oh well.

Lots of work anxiety. Lots. Hope it all goes OK. I'm teaching AP Language this year, which is new to me. The teacher who I'm taking over for has a really high pass rate, and I feel pressure to be as good as she is right off the bat.

I'm so sick of the way my classroom looks. I need to overhaul it, but who has time for that? I need to pull down all the posters and put up new artwork and blah blah and I don't have time. Boooo.

A while back, before the presidential primaries, I said that I didn't think Donald Trump really wanted to be President. I figured that he would drop out before he got this far because he was just in it for the ego and the notoriety, the press, and to be able to say that he could have beat everyone. So when he became the nominee, I went "huh". Weird. He seems like a guy who wouldn't want to be hampered by Secret Service, limited in where he can go and what he can do and what he can say, although, granted, he doesn't seem to worry much about that last one. He can't make any money while president, and as far as I understand he isn't allowed to own any businesses. But then, as the level of crazy has started to ramp up even higher, including such claims as Obama created ISIS with Hillary Clinton and alleging that President Obama paid the Attorney General of New York $15,000 "or some big sum of money" to investigate Trump University, I realized that I was right all along. Trump is just trying to figure out what it will take for people to stop supporting him. How crazy can he be, what outlandish claims can he make that will get people to finally realize that he cannot get anywhere near the presidency. He claimed he could commit murder out in the open in broad daylight and his supporters would still support him. I believe that is the truth. I think he doesn't want to be President, and that's why he doesn't calm down and start acting presidential. I also think he knows he's going to lose, and that's why he's started claiming the election is rigged. To save face. The problem is, he's creating a dangerous situation in which some American's will believe those lies and believe that Hillary somehow stole the presidency from Trump, and his base tends to be angry and scared. He's already called upon the "Second Ammendment" folks to stop Hillary Clinton. Scary.

Been watching the Olympics. That's always fun. Hoping to go to the lake on Sunday. My brain feels less cluttered now, so I think I'm done processing.

Life Goals

I love this. It's what I'm working toward. I think that she's right about self-reliance. It is really good for the self-esteem. Something to work on.

http://diydiva.net/2015/12/wherein-i-didnt-lose-inches-and-also-gained-perspective/

Catch Up

I really hate when I don't blog. I was going back into the archives looking for something the other day, and I was looking at all these pictures and reading all of these stories that I just don't remember. I hate that my memory is so terrible that I can't remember anything that happens (except for all of the awkward and embarassing and terrible things I do that I don't want to remember), so the only way for me to hold on to the good stuff is to write it down. Which I suck at doing. I also hate how everything is digital nowdays, which means that people like me have huge files full of pictures that will never see the light of day unless I do something like blog them. I won't scrapbook them or print them and put them in albums. They're just all jumbled in a mishmash on a hard drive. Ah, well. Best get to it, try to catch up some. I'm not going all the way back to the last time I left off. Too overwhelming. 

Spring Break 2016: Sand Hollow Trip

We went hiking in Snow Canyon again.  Josh climbed all the way to the top. I climbed up about half this high and it was too high for me. 

One of the few pics of us all where Josh is smiling. Sort of. 

The rest are variations of this face, and others.

We went the back way into Zion National Park, and it was snowing! Really weird. But beautiful.

We went hiking at Valley of Fire in Nevada. We hadn't ever been there before.We really liked it! There were some really cool hikes, and you could just climb all over the rocks.

These little "cabins" were built by the Park Service way back when the park opened in the 40s (I think?) for families to camp in.

View From Under My Awning at Sand Hollow:

Memorial Day Weekend: Bear Lake
It was fairly chilly there, of course, so we didn't do much playing in the water. We went up one of the canyons in Idaho to hike, and I fell in love with a piece of property for sale. I know just where I would put my house.

View From Under My Awning at Bear Lake

Lexi's 9th Birthday:
Lexi's birthday was the day we got home from Bear Lake, so it was pretty relaxed. She had some cheesecake, opened presents, and had her birthday dinner.

June 2016: Pineview
We went up camping the weekend school got out. In fact, when we got up there I had to put on a dress and drive down to Ogden to attend graduation for my school. Then I came back up and we had a nice weekend. Our site was really shady and cool, and it was very relaxing. There was almost no beach this year, so our chairs were half in the water.

View From Under My Awning at Pineview

This summer has been weird. Courtney broke her ankle Memorial Day weekend and had to have surgery. We've hung out over there quite a bit while she's gotten adjusted to doing things without being able to walk. The kids have been doing quite a bit of golfing. Lexi is in her second week of lessons, and Josh golfs once a week with the Junior Golf Club. Debate Nationals was the second week of summer vacation, so I was tied up with judging for that. It feels like we just haven't really done a whole lot this summer. I have a lot of work worries and stress hanging over me, and that's bringing me down, I think. I don't know. My house is hot. We bought new bedroom furniture. And a paddle board. Hopefully we can go out and paddle about a lot this summer. I have terrible balance. 

Song of the Day

Love this! Love Justin Timberlake. Love that it's full of regular people who dance like me. It's just happy and fun. Good Thursday night music.

Karma

This post shall contain swears. I swear A LOT and quite colorfully in my head and under my breath, but I usually try to employ a wider range of vocabulary for out-loud speaking and writing,  Not today. Nope.

We all know that the universe hates me, and karma's a bitch. Especially to me. Yesterday, I went grocery shopping at Smith's. The cashier missed one of my hand soaps. I didn't hear the beep. By the time I looked at it closely to see if he did indeed miss it, it was down at the bagger. Normally I would say something, and I was about to, but then for some reason it just seemed like too much effort. Weird, because usually I am very honest about things like that. But I was like... eh... I've been shopping here for 15 years, I'm super loyal to my Smith's, I spend a crap ton of money in here, it's only $1, I'm sure that they've overcharged me in the past and will again in the future... it all comes out in the end. I don't need the $1... I wasn't trying to get something for nothing... it truly was a case of not feeling like interrupting whatever the cashier was saying and getting it back from the bagger. It was a sudden case of the who-cares.  Twelve hours later, some shithead stole Sean's wallet and was in Wal-Mart trying to charge up our cards. Luckily our credit union has good fraud detection and only one charge out of the multiple times they tried (at two Wal-marts) was put through. Seriously, universe? I passively cheated Smith's out of $1 and my retribution is this? Another weird thing I just thought of... Sean and I were watching My Name Is Earl reruns last night, which is totally all about karma and making up for the bad things you do. Do I need to go into Smith's today and give them a buck? Will that fix my karma?

I was planning to go back to work today ( I don't have to be there until Wednesday, but I need to be there today) but I have spent the whole day dealing with this garbage. Had to make calls for multiple cards and accounts and be on hold, go into the bank and fill out paperwork, talk to 2 different police departments... Both police departments were fabulous, but they give your info to an officer and then you have to keep the line open waiting for the officer to call back. Then just making the regular appointments and phone calls that I needed to make today, being put on hold with each one. So frustrating.

On a sort-of related note... I have an overabundance of yellow squash. My neighbor has a bucket in his driveway that says "Free Squash." I was going to sneak over in the middle of the night and put mine in there with his hehehe, but now I'm scared. What kinds of punishment will karma smack down upon me for that?

Rodeo and Toby Keith

Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo.

Those 2 cute kids behind Sean are a couple of my students. Great kids.

Toby Keith concert

Toby Keith was... interesting. He started the opening number and I turned to Sean and said, "He's drunk. He looks like shit. He sounds like shit. He sounds like he has a cold." He finished the song and said, "I've had a cold for 4 days."  He did OK, considering, but it wasn't as fun as it could be. A lot of the people in our section were sitting, which I don't care about, but then you feel like the people behind you wish you would sit down, and what's fun about that? This couple sat in front of us, and she wanted to stand, but he got her to sit down, and then he asked the two people in front of him to sit down so he could see. No way! I wouldn't have done it. Sorry. They ended up moving to some empty seats so they could stand up and dance. It's a country concert, not the symphony. People all over the place are standing up and dancing... just our little area was weird. So anyway, then these drunk people a few rows in front of us got in a fight. A lady threw beer in a man's face. He was older and wasted, and when he started towards her, a young kid shoved him hard, and he stumbled backwards into the aisle where he fell and cracked his head. He didn't get up and he was bleeding, so Sean and another guy ran down there to help him until the medics and police showed up. I thought we might get through a concert without Sean having something weird happen with a drunk person, but nope! Not at Usana. Anyway, just a kind of weird concert and not in my favorites. Luckily tickets were cheap.

Lava Hot Springs

Sean took the week of our Pineview trip off, and we wanted to make the most of it, so as soon as we got home from Pineview we unpacked and cleaned up, then packed up and took off for Pocatello and Lava Hot Springs.

After Lava Hot Springs, Sean and I went out to Wendover to stay overnight and catch a Lonestar concert. It was a great end to a great week.