What was I thinking?

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but since school has started it has been CRAZY busy! Teaching Algebra and now Geometry (ugh) is certainly keeping me on my toes. I am also trying to get the hang of the new Pre-Algebra text. Three preps on top of a one hour commute each way makes me feel like there is no time! Field hockey has finally started to get better, we are now 1-1-2. We travel to Saco Middle School today. This week I feel like I can finally breathe and slow things down a bit, because the students have testing all day. So, that is why I have some time to blog. So, I thought I would share a funny little story about an adventure I had here at MMS. Oh, the things I am willing to do for my students & literacy. What was I thinking???!!!

At the end of September we had an all school assembly to celebrate summer reading and literacy. We had volunteered one of the teachers on my team to be the leader at the assembly, and when I came into the gym he asked me if I would help. Little did I know, he was tricking me into being the leader.

During the assembly the principal would ask questions related to the summer reading books, and it was my job to get the answer from my students. If I was called on I would share the answer and our team would get a point. I knew that the top two teams would be competing in the end for a prize. So, I tried to raise my hand slow and avoid being called on, but my plan did not work, because my team was seated at the front of the gym. We ended up winning and I (as the representative of our team) would be going up against the other 8th grade teacher. Thankfully, the 7th grade team lost or I would have been going against the wrestling coach!! Here is what the team competition involved...IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!!!

We had to race across the gym floor in these ridiculous, smelly, gross costumes. The best our of three runs was the winner. I won the first one, and then the second one they put us closer together to make it easier to push each other down. I decided (stupidly) to make it a little more entertaining, so I dove on the floor for the book (and won). Then I couldn't get up and everyone was laughing/taking pictures instead of trying to help. Finally, they made us spin around and then try to find the book, and the only reason I won that round is because the other teacher dropped the book. So, in the end the 8-White team won!! But, wait the story gets better...

After the assembly I proceeded to teach my classes, but my neck/back started to ache. I soon realized that I had seriously hurt myself when I dove for the book. The costume had sprung me back when I landed on the floor and my head snapped back, causing whiplash!! I actually had to fill out workman's comp paperwork and iced my neck. Ridiculous! Oh, but it gets even better... at the end of the day I was looking back at some of the photos and noticed an unfamiliar person in the background. When I asked who he was, I was told that he was from Foster's Daily Democrat! AHHHH! A small article appeared in the newspaper about 4 days later. As if I wasn't humiliated enough - what was I thinking?

Honeymoon

After the wedding on Saturday and then all of the loading, packing and moving we did on Sunday, we were looking forward to the honeymoon. We left Mike's parents early in the morning and they dropped us off at Logan Airport. By 8:15 we were in the air and headed to the Dominican Republic.

The airport in Punta Cana was all open and looked like a bunch of huts grouped together.  It didn't take very long to find our luggage, but just as soon as we had it in our hands there were workers there to grab the bags and whiz around the airport looking for our transportation.  We just tried to keep up with the guy, as he wheeled our stuff to a bus that would take us to the resort.

Our room was not available upon arrival, so we tested out the buffet and lounged around for a few hours. It was of course very HOT, which I enjoyed (Mike not so much). That night, once it had cooled down, we walked around the resort a bit, tested out the train system, viewed the casino and then watched a magician show. When we got back, Mike tried to fix the alarm clock and accidentally tripped the power. We had some difficulty communicating that to the staff at the front desk - that we needed lights, they thought we needed towels. Unfortunately, they did not show up to fix the problem until the morning, so we spent the first night without AC.

Tuesday we enjoyed our first cocktail, while waiting for our meeting with the transportation Co.  They gave us info about the resort, the activities and of course the excursions available. We decided to book the ATV/Buggy experience. Later in the afternoon we headed to the beach for the first time. Mike of course spent time under the shade of the palm trees, while I soaked up the sun and the water was pretty warm.

On Wednesday was the excursion.  We were the first to be picked up, so we spent about an hour on the back of a pick-up truck, with not very comfortable seats.  When we got there they explained the safety guidelines and agenda for the day.  Unfortunately, we only had $5 with us, so we could not afford to buy the bandannas needed to cover our faces.  So, we resorted to using our t-shirts!  Our buggy was not very good and we ended up stalling 3 times.  The scariest part was when it happened, but the rest of the group kept driving.  Once we were started again, we had to try and catch up to them, while driving on the side of the road, with regular Dominican traffic whizzing by. 

On the buggies and ATV's we visited the beautiful Macao Beach and a cave with a swimming hole.  Then we returned to the ranch and had the opportunity to go horse back riding.  Mike of course ended up with the smallest horse and it refused to go anywhere.  One of the guides had to keep hitting the horse to get it to catch up with the rest of the group.  I thought my horse was going to be stubborn as well.  But, once the guides started going, my horse took off and at least stayed with the group.  It was quite the experience! 

For the rest of the honeymoon we spent time at the beach and in the pools. Again I spent my time in the sun, while Mike relaxed in the shade.  We of course took full advantage of the swim up bar.  We also experienced the flea market, which was quite stressful. The people would follow us around waiting for us to buy something.  However, we did not see anything we liked, so we bought all of our souvenirs at the local mall.  It did actually rain the very last night we were there, but it only lasted about 10 minutes.  

The food was the most difficult part of the whole trip.  Each night we had to call and make reservations at one of the restaurants.  The first few times Mike thought the staff had hung up on him, after finally getting through.  We realized later that he was just put on hold, so that they could get someone who could speak english to take our call.  We tried the Thai, International, French, American Grill, and the Italian restaurants.  We were certainly full each night, because of all of the different courses, but the food was not very impressive.  We would rather stick to the breakfast & lunch buffets.  Oh well.

Overall, we had an enjoyable, memorable, and relaxing time, but we were of course anxious to get home on Sunday. Phil and Jane picked 

us up and we headed back to Mike's parents. Sage was of course very excited to see us. We enjoyed a nice dinner, made a plan for the 

morning, and then went to bed. It was going to be another early morning - heading back to Scarborough to close on the house. 

I Think I Can, I Think I Can.

I have finally decided to face my FEAR and get back on the treadmill! I have been trying to get back into a gym routine and being more active. On Monday nights I have indoor field hockey, Tuesdays a dance aerobics class, and I try to go to the gym on the other days. But, I am getting bored with the same routine all of the time. So, I found this walking boot camp that I want to try - but I just can't motivate myself to go outside in the cold. Yesterday, I convinced myself that I could and would be okay on the treadmill. This was the first time I had been on a treadmill since middle school/freshman year of high school. Which brings me to the whole reason I am terrified of them.

Around my freshman year, I went with Sarah to visit her Aunt & Uncle in Waterville, ME. For some reason I decided to listen to her when she said to get on the treadmill and see how fast I could go. As I was walking along she would slowly increase the the speed. I eventually had to start jogging, which turned into a run, and then very quickly became a full sprint (which I could only do for so long). The end result was that the treadmill did not slow down fast enough and I fell. However, t I did not want my face to hit the track and get burned or scraped. So, I decided that the next best thing to do would be to hold on until Sarah could get the track to STOP! Unfortunately, while I was holding on my knees were touching the track and the treadmill was still going, until FINALLY it slowed down enough so that I could let go. I ended up with REALLY bad, painful burns on both of my knees. The good news was that they were not on my face!

Sarah and I proceeded to go upstairs to find Nancy (who is a nurse) to find out what to do. Unfortunately, the answer was to pour peroxide on the wounds, which was VERY painful. Then for the rest of the day I tried to stay still as much as possible. Getting home was another adventure, because I couldn't really bend my knees to walk around, let alone sit in a car for 45 minutes.

Since then (about 13 years) the scars have slowly faded away, and have avoided going anywhere near treadmills. That is until yesterday! I decided to try it out. I was very hesitant to increase the speed at all, but I thought it was a huge accomplishment to even try. I can't say that I really went as fast as I possibly could, but we'll get their someday (maybe). If the speed even went above 3 mph you better believe that I was holding on for dear life! We'll see if things improve as I go through this boot camp! Hopefully it will be worth it!