senior season

A big Shout Out to my 18 year old at the beginning of his senior tennis season:

Madison
If coach Mark Vidmar has a problem in regards to numbers, it’s that he has too many players. The upside of that is he has 25 players on the roster. The downside is that just four of them have varsity experience.
The four Blue Streaks with varsity experience are Brandon Ortiz, Patrick Barton, Chris Campbell and Billy Gibson. Ortiz, Barton and junior Jacob Schauer will be important cogs in the singles aspect of the game. The other 22 players will provide depth and much-needed competition on the practice courts.
“Consistent play from Brandon Ortiz, Patrick Barton and Jacob Schauer in singles (will be key to our success),” Vidmar said. “Depth in doubles should make us competitive there.”
The road to the PAC title runs through Geneva. After that, it’s anybody’s guess.
“Geneva should dominate with the rest of the league being very competitive, especially at first singles,” Vidmar said.

 That's from the Star Beacon ~ and Mike had to pause as he read it to me.  Pretty proud of our Patrick Barton.

#7

The first book of Spring Break (since I finished it on the bus home from DC AFTER 3:15...which is when spring break officially started)  #7 is Nora Roberts Blue Dahlia.  Gotta love a Nora Roberts romance ~ sweet, romantic, a little sad and a little sexy...and a little 'otherworldly'.  The ghost in this series is a little much ~ so we'll see how that plays out in the next two books.  I like the garden theme ~ as it's spring & I'm waiting for it to stop snowing so I can go out in my gardens!  The love story between Logan and Stella is good and I love the relationship building with the two little boys.  A perfect spring break read :)
good quote:
p115 ~ Planting a flower's like opening a book, because either way you're starting something.  And your garden's your library.
fl: Birthing a bastard wasn't in the plans.  ll: In the house, in the air perfumed with flowers, another walked.  And wept.

New Shoes

If I were totally rich ~ Queen of the entire world ~ I would run in new running shoes every 75-100 miles.  My old shoes had around 350 miles on 'em & being that I know Camp Stig is coming, I wanted to have some miles left on 'em to run in the mud.  Saturday, after my 10 mile training run {two really awesome long runs in a row! ~ feeling pretty amazing about my training} I went to Second Sole and bought new shoes.  Still an Asics Girl ~ I almost switched to Brooks {boy are those Brooks cushy!}But I just couldn't leave something that has been working so well for me.  Left behind the white & blue for black with pink & blue.
And today, on my EZ 3 mile jog...they felt AMAZING.  The JOY of running on fresh padding!  I wish for that feeling everyday {but at $110, I'll have to go 400 miles between those first run feelings}

IDK

I think I know what my student feel with they write IDK as an answer ~ {DRIVES ME UP THE WALL ~ which is what type of figurative language? IDK ~ actually I do, it's an idiom...}  HOWever, after our special education scheduling meeting, IDK how I feel about my job.
IDK how I feel about education.
IDK how I feel about the future.
I think there are many people making decision at the state level who have not set foot in a classroom.  I think there are lots of things I need to relearn about what is best for kids.  I think I am afraid I will struggle to do my job next year to the level it will need to be done.  We are going to have to be our A+++ game in order for our colleagues to think we are doing C work.  And that makes me scared.  We need buy-in, when I think there will be very little.
Here's my promise to myself:  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  That includes being the best teacher I can be...even if that teaching is not necessarily with students.  {which I will miss greatly}

IDK

#6

Strange story for book #6.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is the story of two, very unlikable characters with a really messed up marriage.  I spent most of the book trying to decide if I could 'side' with either character.  There are moments that you feel sorry for each one, but their misguided, self-absorbed, sociopath behavior shines through & you realize that neither is worth feeling sorry for ~ the only 'bright spot' is that they both end up getting what they deserve.  Water sure does seek it's own level.
Is this a message about marriage ~ the people we choose to be with are really just  reflection of ourselves?
Is this a message about human nature ~ we all just want what we want and most of us will figure out a way to  get it?
Is this a message about the state of the world ~ we are all out for #1, to hell with the rest of you?
This would have been a good book to read with a group...lots to discuss!
Quotes:
p4 ~ "Should I remove my soul before I come inside?"
p235 ~ ... watching her husband and me trade cash for keys. (That is the correct grammar, you know; her husband and me.)  {LOVE the grammar lesson!}

fl: When I think of my wife, I always think of her head.  ll: I don't have anything else to add.  I just wanted to make sure I had the last word.  I think I've earned that.

#5

Good old Maisie Dobbs.  #5 for 2013 is Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear ~ the fourth Maisie Dobbs novel.  Just when you think you know a character book four comes along...and thankfully, she is fresh and dynamic.  There's a little too much sadness in this tale for me.  I'm not happy she ended her relationship ~ that she had to choose between a mate and a career.  There was so much wrong with the world at that time...and, when I think about it, there still is.  We learn some from history, but not enough.  It seems humans have to learn on their own.
Good quote:
p 309 (this was actually a real live, I had to turn the page, book) ~ It occurred to her that the ritural of her final accounting was rather like closing up a house, for wasn't she checking each room before securing the door, looking out of a window to recall the view and then moving on?  And wasn't there always a new case, a new challenge, something fresh to ignite her appetite for excitement...
{I certainly hope so, Maisie, I certainly hope.}

fl: The taxi-cab slowed down alongside the gates of Camden Abbey, a red brick former mansion that seemed even more like a refuge as a bitter sleet swept across the gray, forbidding landscape.  ll: It was time to move on, to dance with life again.

Artsy

Today, me & a my dear friend, Anita {Bean Dog} went to the Cleveland Art Museum.  I had not been there since the reopening ~ and it is beautiful.  The Atrium is HUGE and beautiful and, according to the cutest little boy wearing khakis and a sweater vest, "The escalators are AMAZING.  And there's art over there."  We went on a highlights tour & saw birds.  It was interesting to see different parts of the gallery and hear a little history of some of the pieces of art.  We are so fortunate in Cleveland to have a quality art museum that is FREE to the public.  I loved to take the kids there to see the armor room after we'd spent the morning at the Natural History Museum {or Dinosaur Zoo, as Patrick used to call it}.  We shared a little lunch, toured and then wandered on our own.  Anita really likes the contemporary stuff.  I like some of it, but there are things I told Bean I'd make her for Christmas.  She didn't think that was very funny, but I did.

Then we went for ICE CREAM at Mitchell's.  I had peanut butter and chocolate covered pretzel yogurt {that was really ice cream} OH SO WORTH the calories.

Love spending time with my girl.

That's mine on the left & Bean's Caramel Sea Salt on the right.