a few years ago...

...my friends and i came up with something called the "Adventure Squad" ("A-SQUAD"). the whole idea is to soak up as much life as possible. here it is again, with some amendments:

in no particular order:

"EXTREME STUFF":

skydiving (done--amazing!!)
ride a mechanical bull (DONE, as of 2/23/07) funny!!)
karaoke (this frightens the pee out of me) - haven't done it yet
line dancing (done...i'm tall and awkward, wasn't pretty)
mud volleyball - still waiting on an opportunity
rock climbing (outside, on actual rocks) - making progress toward this
hiking (semi-done...but i'm talking LONG/HARD hike. and i want to do this pretty much every day)
visit all 50 states - I think I'm at #30.
Africa - soooo close. maybe next year.
Australia/New Zealand
climb a mountain (done, as of June 26, 2007. in alaska...amazing. will do much more)
White Water rafting (done, as of June 26, in alaska...yes, big day...yes, it was unbelievable...and yes, i will do it again!)
long bicycle ride (100+ miles)
unplanned road trip (done)
race car driving
run a marathon (DID IT, June 23...in alaska!!)
Las Vegas (done it...overrated)/LA
tomato fight
pie fight
Grand Canyon camping (would this constitute canyoneering??)
compete in a beach volleyball tournament on a REAL beach
adventure racing -- would have to get in shape to run
"boot camp" – a vacation to do action-oriented fun stuff while toning our muscles
visit a dude ranch (ya know, like that old-school show on Nickelodeon, "hey dude")

"Lesser EXTREME stuff":
skiing (done it, just want more of it)
biking (same...)
photography scavenger hunt
adventure night
host theme parties
Habitat for Humanity
see another play (Wicked was amazing!)
scooter/moped rides with knee and elbow pads, along with hideous helmets, neon leggings, and slouch socks
extreme sledding
salsa/dessert rankings – visit as many restaurants in springfun as possible and rate their salsas, desserts, etc.
test drive night (similar to above, only with cars…fun!)
wine-making (you squash the grapes in your toes. well, i'd say that's kinda gross, but then, I'm not drinking it so I don't mind…)
kickboxing
go see a huge sporting event (aka...olympics, world series, etc.)
milk a cow in Oklahoma, or maybe just Rogersville...don't ask.
start my own business.

Not even vaguely EXTREME:
visit more art museums
visit a few more historic towns
learn to garden
movie marathon nights (watch old movies, etc…)
painting party (we actually do this a lot)
take fun classes (photography, cake decorating, sign language, web site design, pottery, etc.)
visit historic churches
carve soap -- what? yeah, that's random.
bake day
tree climbing (should do this at least once a week)
visit more farmers' markets
train ride through US
sew well enough to make my own stuff

STUFF I MUST DO SOON:
get a new job
sell a house in rogersville


listen, i know i'm a dork, but i'm ok with that...

that settles it

there are far too many crafty things out there that i should be trying in the off-season between volleyball and track, so i'd better get busy. for starters, maybe this floral pillow from martha stewart via http://cheapchicdaily.blogspot.com/. doesn't look too hard...

then there are these wall silhouettes i'd love to see in our house:

from janicewagner.com




from thedirtonpregnancy.com

from myhomeideas.com

decal from pottery barn.

mural painted by Jeff Robinson, featured on ApartmentTherapy.

or maybe something like this, from cheapchic:

ps...do not let the bassinets give you any ideas. you would be wrong.

8

=the number of weeks until we leave for senegal, africa. i saw pics last night. beautiful little children with bright eyes and big smiles. i might not come back.

a few things we learned at the meeting:

1 -- women on the trip will be helping the women from the tribe make food, wash dishes, clean, and care for the babies.
2 -- the men will be sitting under a tree drinking hot tea. "men" here refers to coacher. he's the only man going from second. poor man.
3 -- the babies don't wear diapers, so it's perfectly normal to be pooed on.
4 -- coacher and i have chosen to stay in the village, which means we will have no electricity, no running water (bucket baths), and no toilets (we will use the "squatty potty" out back.)
5 -- we must take our own toilet paper.
6 -- they are deathly afraid of snakes. this is because their snakes are deadly.

oh, the adventurous life..how i love it!

26

that's not my age.

that's the number of referrals i wrote in the first quarter of school. (there were actually more than that, but i threw some away because of the following situation...)


4 (or more)

that's the number of referrals that got sent back to me by a certain assistant principal because i did not call the student's home before writing a referral. i'm sorry, but i did not have time to call the student's home while he was pushing shaniqua out of her seat, talking nonstop while people were trying to read silently, then cussing at me because i told him to stop and he hates me, my class, and everything else dealing with school or authority figures. i will also be sure to attempt to control the other 7 kids in class who cannot control their own talking, and i will put their names on an ever-growing list of students whose parents need to be informed that their kids cannot control themselves in class.

next time, i will be sure to press a pause button so that i have time to call home and hear the student's mom ask me if i've ever heard of bipolar--because everyone in the family has it--and then ask me if i knew that one manifestation of bipolar is the inability to control the amount of talking coming out of the mouth. "we just can't control him...haha."

sure, i have plenty of time for that and 7 other conversations like it.

i understand. high school kids, who can drive and get jobs and make babies, shouldn't be expected to follow rules or be held accountable for their own actions.


i'm sorry. it's been rough...

logical fallacies part deux

here's another logical fallacy for you:

1 - we are teachers.
2 - we are still paying two mortgages.
3 - we are going to AFRICA over Christmas (the oppositve of cheap) to spread very good news.

but they do speak french there, so i will finally have a chance to put those 4 years of high school french to good use. (i remember about 5 words, which i will probably accidentally combine with spanish phrases, so i'm sure that will go over well. "bonjour, como esta? Je suis bien es fatigue).

i guess i will begin accepting tattoo ideas.

Salut!

logical fallacies

i know only 3 things about potato chips:

1 - i don't really care for them.
2 - they aren't particularly good for you.
3 - if i happen to be in a car with a bag of them when coming home from school/volleyball/south dakota/etc. i will end up eating them at some point.

this does not seem logical to me.

uh oh

this is on the second baptist church missions blog:

Christmas Mission Trip to Senegal, West Africa

9.9.09

December 21-30,2009

What a great opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Jahanka villages of Senegal, West Africa. Imagine sharing the Christ of Christmas at Christmas among people who have never heard the Gospel. If you are interested in participating in this trip, please attend an upcoming Informational Meeting Sunday, September 20 at 5:00 pm in room 209.




yes, that says AFRICA!! i might need to start looking at tattoo designs, per my promise last year. we shall see.

carry on.