It’s finally Friday

What a crazy week. What a crazy January. It’s going to be a crazy February. Thank goodness it’s Friday. Most of you will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. I’m going to be shooshin’ through snow in Tahoe. Woohoo! Oh yeah, special thanks to the parents for watching the doggie again. You won’t have to take him next weekend though. We’re going to take him to Mammoth with us!
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istockphoto update: my “broken glass” photo just hit 50 downloads and I’m at $85.90. I’ll be able to cash out my first $100 in no time!

*tap tap* Is this on?

I gave an inservice to the Instructional Assistants today and I had a “sucky comic” moment. I expected much of my presentation to be interactive and I was hoping for active participation and critical thinking from my audience. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly what I got. For example, I asked a simple question like, “what kind of activities can you do to build hand strength?” Not a single hand went up and instead I got blank stares and heard crickets in my head. *chirp chirp chirp* Actual crickets in my head like I was on some sit-com! I was thinking either these ladies weren’t understanding my question, didn’t have a clue how to answer me, or didn’t care. My 45-minute presentation was pure torture. By the end I had a little more participation but I walked away with a really confused feeling. So, I walked back to my portable with my head slumped and I assumed my inservice was a complete waste of time…as if I needed another blow to my fragile ego. Luckily, some of the teachers stopped me to tell me that they got a lot of positive feedback from their IAs. Apparently, they learned a lot and found it very helpful. Phew! Maybe I don’t actually suck…maybe.

I’m sweatin’.

We went to Snow Summit for a half-day and surprisingly the snow conditions weren’t bad. It was just a little strange to see NO SNOW along the roadside on our drive up the mountain and it was 45 degrees outside!! I don’t think people expected it to be so warm out because it seemed like everyone was peeling off layers of clothes, tying their snow jackets to their waists, and I was sweatin’. Is it still January? Because if I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was already Spring.
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Anyway, we also met up with Jes’ co-worker, his wife, and 3 kids. The little ones were on the bunny slope learning how to ski and snowboard and was really fun to watch. I even went up the “magic carpet” which is a conveyor belt that you stand on to take you up the little hill. I thought that was so cool compared to the rope pull that I had to endure back when I was learning. Anyway, it’s so fun to watch little kids learning new motor skills. Little Chloe is only 4 and can snowplow down the little hill already. I can’t imagine what she’ll be able to do when she’s 14!

so mean…

Y’know…you think you’re doing a good job at work and then someone has to come along and crush you. I’m still talking about the family that “beat me up” last week. The reason I’m still hung up on this is because last night I received an evil email from who I will now call “Evil Mom”. What a way to start my weekend. It made my heart sink and gave me a twinge of nausea. Ironically, I just finished a 2-day course that may directly impact “Evil Mom’s” little girl who happens to be, in fact, a very sweet girl. If I ever become a psycho parent like that, someone needs to slap me. I give you permission.
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By the way, for the new moms reading this…if your little girl or boy is having any picky eating issues or if you just want to know what the typical developmental stages are for feeding, let me know. My brain is fresh with information right now and I have nifty little handouts for you. 🙂

sharing

When we were in Thailand, I updated my blog as often as I could. Since my brother and I were doing the same things and taking photos of the same things, he didn’t bother posting much on his site. Instead, he referred to my blog for updates. Well, now it’s my turn! Johnny just finished the slideshow that he was working on during our trip and it’s up and running. I’d say it captures a lot of what we did while highlighting the most interesting parts of each photo. Good job, brother!

…so the season begins.

As soon as we got back from Thailand, I was ready to hit the slopes. Many of you have probably gone once or twice in December but I’m just getting started.
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My first trip was this past weekend with Jesse, Johnny, and Cat and we went to Mammoth where it has been dumping. What a great way to start! The conditions were great: plenty of powder, no wind, and sunny skies. We covered the entire mountain in one day and even took the gondola to the tippy top for some bigger runs. Unfortunately, I had one little spill. The back of my ski got caught under a mound of powder, snapped off, and I hit my head on the way down. After I shook off the stars and birdies, I had the arduous task of climbing back up the mountain to retrieve the ski that snapped off. *sigh* The rest of the day went well and I came home with just a little whiplash. The brother was brave enough to take his SLR up the mountain and posted some photos on his site…check them out. Next trip…Tahoe in two weeks. Happy Snowing!