ABC's of Kate

How did Katy know I would blog this if I were tagged???

A - Attached or single? Single. Right? Yeah, single.
B - Best friend? Jennifer, Amanda, Melissa... depends on the topic. =)
C - Cake or pie? Pie.
D - Day of choice? Tough one. Either Thursday or Saturday.
E - Essential item? Lip balm.
F - Favorite color? Purple!!!
G - Gummy bears or worms? Bears. Worms bring back memories of wanting to puke.
H - Hometown? Eagan, Minnesooooota!
I - Favorite indulgence? Katy, you're not alone. SHOES.
J - January or July? January. July is too freaking hot in this state!!!
K - Kids? Do my 90 students count?
L - Life isn't complete without? Family!! They are ALWAYS there for me!
M - Marriage date? Ummm... defunct.
N - Number of brothers and sisters? 3 sisters, 1 step-brother, and almost 2 awesome brother-in-laws.
O - Oranges or apples? Oranges unless they have a lot of skin on them, apples unless they're squishy.
P - Phobia and fears? I fear people don't like me. Then I realize, who COULDN'T like me? And if they don't, they're stupid.
Q - Quote? "I don't have an ego, I just love how awesome I am!"
R - Reason to smile? There are so many! Texas skies, Coda, family, hugs, friends...
S - Season of choice? Fall
T - Tag three people: Dagnabit, Katy already got Heidi. Umm... Alyse, Matt (yes YOU, Matt), and Jenny.
U - Unknown fact about me? Strange, but I'm going to go with Katy on this one... I like to sleep in my panties. Shorts and pj pants are not as comfortable as I would hope.
V - Vegetable? Bell Peppers
W - Worst habit? I talk VERY FAST.
X - X-ray or ultrasound? I don't care, just make me feel better!
Y - Your favorite food? Chips and salsa.
Z - Zodiac sign? Sagittarius. What that tells you, I don't know.

Lock Out

My dog locked me out of my apartment. You know that "security deadbolt" a lot of apartments have that only lock/unlock from the inside? She hit it while I was trying to get the other lock opened at 1:30 AM after a cast party. Poor Carol and Bill got to house me for the night, and they had to saw into my door today to get me back in! Crazy Coda hadn't made a mess though! And I missed the CISD Job Fair. My principal says I have the best excuse she's ever heard. =)

The Gondoliers

Tonight and Sunday afternoon, I'll be seen as 'Giulia' in Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta, "The Gondoliers"! Feel free to come on out to Colleyville to be entertained! http://www.regalopera.org/

Zebra

Heidi inspired me to post a photograph of my new shoes that I have been looking for FOR MONTHS! I am pleased to announce that Alyse and Mom were present at that location of, and purchase of my Zebra print heels. I'm in love.

Liam's Turn!

Liam turned 1 year old the day after Connor turned 2! Couple of entertaining photos for you...


By the end of the night the cake was all in his hair, too!


Watch out, Connor! It's the Kissy Monster!


We know. We're hott.

Go Dawgs!

Congrats to the Butler Bulldogs on winning the Horizon Championship! Onto the NCAA! And I totally made my students listen to the Butler Warsong today, while looking at a slide with the picture below gracing my screen. LOVE IT.

Connor's 2nd BDay!

Here are a couple pics from the party yesterday! I thought I'd better post them now rather than later considering Katy was chastising me via iChat yesterday about not updating. You'll see some more pics from Liam's party (tonight!) in the next day or two as well!
Enjoy!



Gran & Connor, loving those party favors!




Connor was all about his cupcake.




Connor tore into those gifts! I think he finally got it this year. These were HIS!

HP Printers

How excited am I that HP Inks come with a prepaid envelope for you to send them the old cartridge for recycling? PREPAID!!! Kudos to them for making me not cringe at my ink usage anymore. At least for the next 30 seconds.

Soulja Boy Teacher Style

You asked for it. The music's a little off, but not by too much.

Motherhood...

What does it mean when someone tells you you'll be a great mother... based on the way I "mother" my dog?

Tomorrow, I dance.

That's right. I will take on Soulja Boy with 15 other East teachers, and we will ROCK THE GYM! In yo face! LOL! Seriously though, the kids are going to die, it's so funny. I'm trying so hard to get it videotaped for you all. Don't worry, there will be evidence of this crazy routine.

The 8's

Katy tagged me. Dagnabit. Now I have to be insightful...

8 Things I’m Passionate About...

1. My Family
2. My Dog
3. Singing
4. My Students
5. Shoes
6. Laughing
7. Pasta
8. Learning New Things

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die...

1. Travel to Spain
2. Marry Someone who... there's a list. How about someone I won't divorce?
3. Become passionately involved with a charity
4. Have a lasting (hopefully positive) impact on my students
5. Own a HOME
6. Be a mom
7. Be a grandmother
8. Be satisfied with me.

8 Things I Say Often...

1. Totally
2. 'Sup
3. Is it naptime?
4. Good question! Why don't you answer that for the class?
5. Don't even...
6. Coda... NO!
7. Coda... OW!
8. Huh?

8 TV Shows I’ve Recently Watched...

1. Mythbusters
2. Dirty Jobs
3. CSI
4. The news
5. House Hunters
6. Designed to Sell
7. ColorSplash
8. Anything educational, really.

8 Songs I Could Listen to and sing (my own insert there) Over and Over...

1. Defy Gravity from Wicked
2. There's a Fine Line from Avenue Q
3. Waitin' for My Dearie from Brigadoon
4. That Sunday, That Summer
5. Online by Brad Paisley
6. Stay by Sugarland
7. A song by Sheryl Crow that I can't remember the title of...
8. You May be Right, I May be Crazy by Billy Joel

8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends...

1. Their humor.
2. Their willingness to laugh at themselves and incite that laughter.
3. Their ability to listen
4. I trust them!
5. They put me in situations and expose me to new things that I may not have tried by myself.
6. They aren't afraid to question me
7. They make me smile!
8. Their love for others.

8 Things I’ve Learned (or been reminded of) This Past Year...

1. It CAN be all about me.
2. I've learned that LIFE can be summed up in 3 words: It Goes On.
3. Music is how I feel most connected to God.
4. "God" is only one title or name
5. I love my family.
6. I love to sing in front of people.
7. I love to laugh - belly laughs
8. I've learned (and been reminded of how) to prioritize.


8 People I Think Should Do “8”...

1. Mom
2. Bob
3. Alyse
4. Stacy
5. Heidi (already did it)
6. Kyle
7. Matt
8. Amanda

Coda + Boxer = 110 Pounds

110 pounds. Think about it. Think about it coming straight at you, below the knee line, and as you try to move out of the way while bending your knees for hope of some stability, they hit. A witness said, "I looked and you were midair". That's right. Upper butt/lower back hit first, then my head. Two days later I have no bruises to sport (grrrr), my neck is killing me, and I can't walk around or sit without wincing. Good news? I met some nice people. And this one guys dog is named (get this) PAVLOV. How cool is THAT?!?!

I love my puppy. And she loves to run into me.

Soulja Boy

O. M. G. At our next pep rally, a group of teachers will be performing the Soulja Boy dance. That's right. Yours truly, the pastiest and dorkiest of them all will dance in front of her students, faculty, and parents in a dance that is sure to haunt her the rest of her life. I am PUMPED UP! And I'll try to get the video on YouTube, so the rest of you can enjoy it as much as my kiddos.

Check it out...

Coda Pics

I found these pics of Coda and they made me laugh. Check out her tongue!

Auditions are Funny

No, I do not know why my Albuquerque pictures suddenly decided to disappear. I tried fixing it once, and will try again, but I don't know what's up.

Otherwise...

School is back and going full-blast. 9 out of 14 of my kiddos that auditioned made the Region and Honor Choirs! I am excited for them - they will sound awesome! Coda gets to try a new dog park today (after it warms up a little bit), and I get to read a lot of a book by Ruby Payne about the socioeconomic influences on the lives of my students and in education. It should prove interesting. Now if I can just find my copy of the book in my apartment... I really hope it's not at school.

Fun side notes? Made some new friends at Region auditions yesterday! Found out I am not the only one who says stupid things to their classes unintentionally (like starting at rehearsal letter F and saying "One, two, F-'n Go!"). At least I didn't call a girl a ho. =) Or make my AP leave the room crying they were laughing so hard during an evaluation because my class said (and they were supposed to) "ti-ti". Most of our auditioners were great yesterday. In fact, they all knew the music (the kids I was judging), they just didn't all sing on the right pitches. One girl made my day when she sang the entire second half of the audition up about a fourth from where she should have been. I know, I know. Poor girl. That's what I said. Then I looked at another judge and they were crying they were laughing so hard. You think we're mean, but you sit on your ass all day and listen to 55 girls sing the same 2 minute cut of 2 pieces ALL DAY and try to rank them accurately.

Alright. I'll keep trying to repost my ABQ pics!

Smash In

I can't call it a break in. To me that implies something broke. And when something breaks, you can either fix it, or it's easily replaced. Nothing about someone smashing my car window and ripping out my stereo (yes Heidi, the one from 4-5 years ago that our parents got us for Xmas for our "new" cars) was easy. That was 2 nights ago and I STILL don't have the glass vacuumed up yet. New window? Great. An auto glass company came out to my school to replace it for me, but we couldn't find an accessible outlet on the outside of the bldg. for him to plug in his portable vacuum to clean my car. And since it was pouring rain yesterday, extension cords were out of the question. That's right. I come out to go to school and think 'What is all over my passenger seat?... SHIT'. That's pretty much the thought process I had Wednesday morning. Then I called the police, the apt. complex, and school to get a sub for the morning while I spent the AM attempting to get someone to replace my window in the rain so I could drive without the hazard lights and go more than 20 MPH trying to hold a tarp in the car while keeping the rain out.

Aside: Anyone notice that I'm pissed? And depressed. Seriously. I do not understand. I don't get it and while I know there are stupid bastards out there that go and do these things (especially at the holidays according to my SRO), I DO NOT GET IT. I don't want to, honestly. What mostly bothers me is why I feel so sad about it. I'm Okay. Coda's Okay. No one is hurt. They didn't steal the valuable items, even though they defaced my car. My apartment in intact and nothing lost there. I do not like this feeling though.

Friends have told me they got upset because of a sense of loss and violation. I don't know if that's it with me. It doesn't help that my students have had performances out their wazoos this week. Field-trip Tuesday with 3 performance stops. Pep Rally performance today (that I ended up in as one of my kiddos is out sick), and 2 more gigs tomorrow, including our Winter Concert. And our fundraiser products showed up yesterday. And I had to find someone for my car. And I can't stop crying about it! Dammit!

I do count the blessings. I do look at the bright things. I do appreciate the things that ARE Okay... and better than Okay.

I do not like idiots who feel the need to gain from causing others loss.

My calendar seems to get more and more filled up as December is continuing. Scary, but true. Holiday season = performances. The more the merrier! Right? Riiiiight. At least I'm enjoying it as are my students.

What am I really looking forward to though? Albuquerque with the family. About a week just hanging out and enjoying the company of my sisters and parents! It feels like it's been forever! The fam is going to be a welcome relief and time of enjoyment!

So what's been going on with me? Kyle's in Colorado now, I'm with Coda (yay for my puppy!), and I'm making friends! Who-hoo! Come by any time. Coda needs help getting a start on a big bone I got her. AWESOME.

This was random, and I hope you enjoyed.

Solo & Ensemble

While teachers have to spend lots of time working for their students outside of the "regular" workday, it does have it's rewards.

23 out of 24 of my students who competed in Solo & Ensemble Saturday received the highest rating of a 1. Aka Superior. Who-hoo!

Celebration aside, how difficult is it to tell the one student who got a 2 that they're the only one??? Not that you say that, but it's rather obvious. Granted, she skipped a line in her song (I was accompanying - freaky on more than one level) and I understand the judges scores. I have no argument, I just feel bad that she's IT.

Otherwise, I'm still thrilled about my other students! They excelled in every way that day, and I'm proud of them! So here's to my Broncos!

Tiger in the Complex

I pet a tiger. A real, live, 6 week old tiger in my apartment complex. This guy's son and daughter-in-law rehabilitate exotic baby animals, and he was watching their 6-week old siberian tiger. I got pictures and will post them as soon as I get them off the camera. She made a chucking noise, which was her "purring", and she was roaring! I can't wait to show you from the pictures!

OK. That's all. =)