"Well, it's come at last! The day I knew would come at last has come at last!" -Mae Peterson
At least, that's what she would say as a fictional character in the play! :-) The school play is finally finished for the year. My students impressed me thoroughly with their performance, and I hope that they impressed the drama teacher just as much. "Bye Bye, Birdie" was a smash hit, and we had great attendance and rave reviews from people who came to see it. Just... what next?
The last oh... 16 weeks have been chaotic, hectic, and a lot of fun, but I'm at a point now where I'm not sure what to do next. All of a sudden, I have to try and remember what to do when there is spare time! :-) What a great problem to have. It's kinda weird to be an adult. Most of my friends from college aren't around anymore, and the ones that are still in town are busy doing their own thing, too. Trying to squeeze in time to hang with others has its challenges! But, things are going well, and I really can't complain too much.
So, Thanksgiving was great. It was nice just to have people around!! The last two Thanksgiving dinners, Scott and Kristi have been doing their military thing, Robyn is in Denver, and so it's been mostly mom, dad, and me, plus some time with my Cooper cousins here in town. I got some sleep (yay!), ate some delicious food, and enjoyed spending some time with my family, including Grandma! I think I slept about half of the day away, but it was much-needed, and I feel good about it. :-)
Uhm... Let's see... I went on a date a few weeks ago. I took her to the cast dinner party in the auditorium because I had to be there for most of the afternoon for something. Anyway, it was fun. She had a date with one of my friends from school later in the evening, so we ate at the party, then we started play practice, she had to leave, and everything was fine.
Last week was our school's Thanksgiving Dinner. Traditionally, there is a dinner on the last day of school before the Thanksgiving break, and the kids decorate the tables, bring the food, and clean everything up afterward. My group of juniors decided on the theme "Camo," which meant they would put green paper on the table, then rip chunks of brown and black paper and put them on top. We had camo cups and some of them wore their camoflauge clothing to the dinner (it's also supposed to be a dress-up event). Although we didn't win any prizes this year, they were pretty good about taking care of business! I know for a fact that my advisory group cleaned up their area in record time and were out of there (collectively) very first, before anyone else was done cleaning up.
A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, tired, and ready to die on the carpet after play practice, so I checked into the hotel a few blocks from the school. That was super-nice. Scott packed a suitcase for me and mom brought it when she passed through town to head to a conference, and I went on over to the hotel. It worked out quite well for me. The room was quiet and comfortable, and I got a great deal on it -- $40! Since ski season hasn't started yet, they have a low price to offer guests who stay. My favorite part? I got to sleep in until 6:40 because I only have a 5-minute commute time from anywhere in town! :-) Normally, I have to leave Cedar by 7:00 for a 20-minute commute.
About four weeks ago, I made a treat to take to play practice. We had a couple of cast dinners during practices, and I decided one day that I'd make a pumpkin roll. Think of a pumpkin sheet cake dusted with powdered sugar, then topped with a cream cheese icing, then all rolled into a cinnamon roll style treat. It was amazing. The recipe I found turned out just like the ones I remember trying back in West Virginia. The people would make them all the time when it got to be fall, and most of the time, they were amazing! So, I made one. :-) Allrecipes.com has some good stuff on it, I tell you what!
That same day, I got a free trip to Enterprise, Utah. w00t! Well, OK, it wasn't all that exciting. My principal asked the arts department to go out and do a collaboration with the faculty at EHS. So, at 6 am, I went over to a gas station next to the airport and met the other teachers and the principal and we drove to Enterprise. Now, we got there a little after 7:00, and we went to their faculty meeting. I spent the next few hours with the music teacher. I got a lot of mileage out of the visit, really. He just graduated college, too, and is commuting quite a ways to get to the school (but his commute is longer! hah!), and is teaching multiple bands, choir, percussion, independent study, etc. Although... he does have a tech class he has to teach, where I get to stick with music all my days. It was just nice to be able to visit with someone who is in almost exactly the same situation!
Let's see... I think that's about it. I'll keep looking for cool happenings to put here for my next post, and hopefully, it won't be too long before I post again! :-)
