Sport of Champions... and rednecks

So today Riley and I GPS'ed a Frisbee Golf course at Will Rogers Park in good ol' OKC. Wow! A whole world has opened up to me that I never knew existed! I tried to pay close attention so that maybe someday I may be accepted into this amazing sport. Here are some things you will and will not need if you decide to take up frisbee golf:

Must Have:
-Beer- must be canned, the park doesn't allow bottled beer, so you are guaranteed to have something cheap and crappy (my apologies to those of you who enjoy a good Natural Light).
-Cigarettes- you can actually hold a frisbee in one hand while keeping your cig lit in the other.
-Tattoos- you may be hurling a small round piece of plastic through the air, but no one will make fun of you cuz you've got all those cool tats!
-A bag to carry your frisbees. A true frisbee golfer has multiple frisbees so you will need something to carry them in. If you are really ghetto you can just use a Walmart sack. If you are hard core you have a special carrying case complete with backpack-esque strap and multiple pockets for your beer (though if you run out of the beer never fear, there is a gas station across the street from hole 12 where you can restock before moving on to 13)
-A severe twang- 'nuf said

Not necessary:
-A shirt- you're out in the great outdoors! If you got it, flaunt it!
-Proper grammar- screw your sixth grade English teacher, double negatives just sound better!
-A trash receptacle- If you have trash, just leave it on the ground with the rest of the beer cans and plastic bags, who needs wildlife?

And just in case you are wondering what one wears while frisbee golfing, here are a few tips. Ladies, even though you are doing something active, there is no need for sweatpants or spandex tops. Just wear some jeans and whatever top you usually wear (tight, low-cut, and midriff are all okay, also feel free to wear anything that salutes Harley Davidson). Guys, anything goes. Just pull something out of the bottom of your hamper, no one will smell you, you are outside!

Now, I should probably make one of those statements about the views stated in this post do not necessarily reflect the stance of everyone at this site or our supporters... you get the picture. So if you are an avid frisbee golfer and are slightly offended by my color commentary of my experience, please realize that this may be specific to the area I was in, it may just have depended on who was off work that day, and the fact that most of the good folks out there were very friendly and could easily have kicked my butt at frisbee golf.

So if you find yourself with some time on your hands and the weather is nice but you don't have the cash to go real golfing, just grab yourself a frisbee and a Bud and try your hand at this exciting past time.

Ang

The Holidays...desert style.

I am not sure if I love the week after Christmas, or hate it with my whole heart. It's one part exciting because of the coming New Year with all of its possibilities for self-improvement, (not to mention the fact that New Years is the one holiday that greatly increases the chances of us poor single souls getting some lip action.) But it's also one part incredibly sad because Christmas lights and decorations come down, people go back to work and holiday spirit takes a nose dive. Either way, this week is unavoidable so instead of dwelling on my mixed feelings, I will relive holiday happenings here in Arizona.

The last week before school was surprisingly pretty fun! My kids were really well behaved compared to last year. Our Christmas party went off without a hitch including ice cream cone Christmas trees and hand painted ornaments for my kids (puff paint rocks my face). I didn't waste any time after school was over though. Bright and early Saturday morning myself and 5 other girls loaded up and headed to the happiest place on Earth for a girls getaway!

If there were ever a place to get you in the holiday spirit, it is Disneyland. We had an absolute blast and took many a cliche silly face picture to prove it. My highlight was getting the super cute guy working at the Monsters Inc. ride to take our picture. I almost went back to take a picture of him, but alas he had moved on to bigger and better things...perhaps the Jungle Cruise? Our day at the Magic Kingdom ended far too quickly but it as totally worth it and I hope it becomes a tradition. We came home just in time to do some last minute shopping for the parents and to gear up for Christmas.

Christmas day was divine. We woke up at about 9:30, sat and chatted around the digital Yule Log on TV complete with crackling noises to make it feel authentic, finally decided to open presents, and then hung around until an afternoon movie. I love my family dearly, but it was fantastic to just sit and do nothing all day! Some notable presents included: a heated blanket (for those freezing 60 degree cold fronts that come through AZ), a bunch of great movies, gift certificates, and a hotel style bathrobe that is so fantastic I'm pretty sure my parents snuck into the Hilton and stole it from Paris herself.

So here I am a few days before New Years blogging trying to avoid the looming report cards that are piled up on my desk. I am excited for 2009...who knows what fun blog-worthy things it might bring.

So...Adios 2008, and Bonjour 2009! (Didn't you hear? 2009 is the year I become tri-lingual.)

-Kare

Wii!!!

So the last few days have been spent discovering the joys of our new Wii. There are just so many possibilities!!! You can "work out" on the Wii fit (don't knock it 'til you try it), search for the Ark of the Covenant on LEGO Indiana Jones, get Wii-bow playing Wii tennis, snowboard with Shawn White, or just sitting around making various celibrities and friends into "mii's" (we already have my whole family, Jack Sparrow, Hannah Montana, Mr. T, Harry Potter, Snape, and our favorite, Michael Jackson). You have to be careful though, Wii-ing is not for the faint of heart. For example, if you create a profile on the Wii fit you have to be willing to proclaim your age and weight. And if you register as "overweight" your mii is given a rather protrusive gut. Then if your electronic trainer thinks your athletic performance is not up to snuff, you only get one (out of four) stars and are labeled things like "couch potato". I try not to take offense, but you really have to take your confidence pill before you begin.

But even though it is enjoyable to sit by yourself and waste your time pointing a white piece of plastic at your TV (or hurling it at your TV if you aren't careful, I would highly encourage the use of the wrist strap), it is way more fun to do it in a group. I have had many a belly laugh watching my family try to figure out the complex inner workings of the latest in gamer technology.

Here is dad snowboarding

Riley is showing us how he can mimic the picture on the game.

Of course if you are tired of staring at your TV, you can enjoy your Wii just by talking to your friends about it. You can tell your friends you "spent all afternoon playing with my Wii" and they can snicker quietly to themselves. Or you can enjoy your friends' reactions when you ask them if they would like to come play with your Wii. You may even find a good place to throw in a "That's what she said". And yes, we do still have the mind of a middle-schooler.

Oh, and here is a cute Christmas picture of Riley and I.

Ang

Christmas etc...

I know I have been a blogging bum lately so I will at least list some things that have gone on recently.

1. School is over. The last day of school before the break was surprisingly peaceful and relaxing. I gave each of my students a clipboard with their name on it. They were thrilled. Why is it that kids can have every elecronic gadget known to man and yet be tickled pink over a clipboard? I don't know. Anyway, the day was good. Tessa joined me during the afternoon and was asked for her autograph on many of the clipboards.
2. We are now the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii. Riley found one at Walmart and was ecstatic. We then came across a mom at school who had an extra Wii Fit that she sold us so now we are all set to go. We are also rather sore. The Wii controllers activate all kinds of previously unused muscles. For example, I did some lunges on the Wii Fit and now I have almost been reduced to a limp on my right leg. My quad is so sore I almost feel as if I have pulled something. Oh well. At least I am exercising. My parentals and sister came over to play on it the other night and now they have purchased one of their own.
3. Our heater is on the fritz. The last few weeks it has had a hard time keeping up with any sort of drop in temperature. Our last electric bill was double what is usually is due to our heater running constantly. Then about a week ago we started waking up to temperatures in the 50's (inside our house). This made it rather difficult to get up in the morning. During the day the temperature would gradually inch its way up to 67 but that was it. Then Tuesday evening I got home to find the temperature at a balmy 48 degrees. Not acceptable. No more denial, our heater is broken! We finally just turned off the "heater" since it was blowing out cold air, giving our borrowed space heaters a chance to catch up and our house is now almost in the seventies. Hooray!
4. I am tired of writing and I have a headache from watching the LEGO Indianna Jones on our new Wii game jump all over the place. Must go now.

Ang

You know it

Spelling bee

Just thought I would share my tear-jerker moment of the day. Every once in a while you have one of those moments that just makes you feel good about what you do, and this was one of those instances. Thursday we had our class spelling bee. The first and second place winners qualify for the fifth grade spelling bee in January. The third place winner is the runner-up. So we started our spelling bee and the first couple of rounds go well. I would also like to mention that I have an autistic child in my class this year. He gives me some extra challenges and makes me smile quite a bit. He is very high-funtioning but the other kids help him with things like staying on the correct page, understanding directions to our class work, knowing where I asked him to stand in line, etc. Well, this child survives the first few rounds of the spelling bee, which shocked me a little, and every time he got a word right the rest of the class cheered loudly for him and some even walked across the room to give him a high-five. About the fourth round I realized that he was close to being a finalist. He ended up one of the last three kids "alive" and I wasn't really sure what to think. Long story short: my autistic student placed second, qualifying for the fifth grade bee in January. My class went wild. They were cheering and high-fiving all over the place. They told him that he got to go to the fifth grade bee so he got up and started walking towards the door. They quickly explained that the spelling bee wasn't until January. I discovered later that the boy sitting next to him even wrote a note in his agenda for him telling his parents what had happened so they would understand. I almost cried. Maybe teaching is really worth the effort.

I love my job.

Okay, okay...I know I'm a bad blogger. Poor Ang has been holding this thing up on her own. Sorry friend, I'll try to do better.

But I did finally find something I felt was blog-worthy. This week we had to do a school-wide writing prompt. I found this jewel of a response and just had to share. This is why I love my job.


Tell about a time when you did something exciting:

Joey Age 10
An exciting time is when we found out that our dog Oreo was having puppies.
Did you know it takes 4 months for a dog to have puppies? I sure didn't. I thought dogs had puppies just like humans. I thought it took 9 months for a dog to have puppies. Well 3 months later Oreo started puking on everybody's bed and floor. A week later she kept falling down and couldn't get up. It happened to her every day.
One afternoon when we came home from school we heard a dog scream. We ran into my brothers room and there was Oreo, she was screaming her lungs off! She was having puppies. She was screaming because it was her first time having puppies. After she was done having puppies she ate the after birth. It was disgusting but she needed to eat it for her fiber.


Who knew that afterbirth was such a good source of fiber! :)

-Kare

Rock Star

For those of you who are connected to my bi-monthly twitter updates, you are aware that I got to go to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert last night. Totally amazing, I was (for the third time) blown away by the whole spectacle. What really entertained me was the style of all the performers. They were inhumanly talented as well as… well… cool! I made careful observations and here is what I have gathered for those of you who would like to be just like them someday.
If you want to be a rock star:
1. You must be beyond-fantastic in your field: instrumental or vocal. We are talking major virtuoso here.
2. You must have lusciously long hair that is styled in such a way that it will cascade down your shoulders and in front of your face at the slightest movement of your head, and then throw itself back into place with the easiest of head jerks. This goes for both men and women. (*WARNING! When trying this at home, be sure to stretch first so you don’t start your rock star career at the chiropractor).
3. Assume the rock stance: feet double shoulder width apart (slightly less if you are a girl), one forward and one in back so as to stabilize yourself since all the hair flicking and general rocking may throw you off-balance.
4. Begin to play, rocking back and forth to a slow rhythmic beat while effortlessly tossing your mane in a seductive kind of way.
5. Move around a lot. It’s a big stage, don’t be afraid to visit every part of it. Also be sure to visit your other musician friends on stage so you can rock together.
6. When rocking with another musician onstage, stand back to back and hold your instrument higher than normal while you play.
7. When standing near the edge of the crowd, point your finger, bow, or entire instrument at the crowd nearest you so as to achieve a higher level of noise and excitement.
8. For optimal cool points, you must be raised into the air or lowered from some high point somewhere in the show. Be sure to give yourself a solid rock stance to maintain balance, and don’t forget to keep flipping your hair around.
9. Wardrobe: Good rockers are well dressed. Men must wear a classic black suit complete with tails, and women must squeeze themselves into some sort of black stretch fabric. If you are concerned about unsightly curves, just pull your skirt up shorter or let that neckline plunge, no one will be looking anywhere else.
10. Finally, be prepared to endure extreme conditions: seizure-inducing strobe lights, tongues of fire, brain-rattling sound… a true rocker will take it all in stride.
-Ang