A quiet day at home...

I have a bad cold - thanks to Nigel. He had it last week and now it's my turn. I'm hoping Chelsea will escape it! I felt so bad yesterday I had to leave school early. I came home and slept for about 2 hours! It's one of those colds that make my sinuses hurt! UGH!!
So I decided to take one more day off of school, so I am at home relaxing and doing laundry. :-)I made Chelsea get up on her own today and catch the bus. I usually take her to school on Fridays. She is pretty good at getting herself up and out the door!

We have not had swim practice all week. The heater went out last week. We swam 3 days in freezing cold water, but the weather was very warm still, so it wasn't too bad. But this week the weather turned cold - high 30's low 40's at night! So we have been doing dryland training and running this week. It looks like the heater will be fixed on Monday so we should be able to get into the water on Tuesday. Which is a really good thing because our first meet is on Thursday!!!!! The new kids will be a little lost since we have not had chance to work on turns or starts, but it should be a good meet anyway. The veteran swimmers are looking forward to this! It's at times like these that I wish we had our own pool at school..... Maybe someday.....

October in Tennessee

I like where I live this time of the year. I love how the trees change color and the weather finally cools off - low 50's high 70's. I guess the only thing that I don't like is all the leaves we have to rake! hahaha. Those of you that have been to my house know what I am talking about! We have lived here for 4 1/2 years now and only last year did we discover an amazing thing....the city picks up leaves for us!!!!! So now all we have to do is blow them into a pile at the end of our driveway and once a week or so the city sends a truck around to suck them all up. No more bags, no more rakes (well, we still rake some), no more dirty hands, and a whole lot less time!!!! YAY!
We finally got some grass to grow where we had our pool up. That will help keep the soil in check when it starts raining more...
I think we will have to mow one more time this year, which is nice. :-)

At school, the students have been playing flag football. It is quite fun to watch the girls figure out how to throw and catch. :-) Of course, being girls, they have to discuss each play in detail before it happens. This makes for lots of standing and waiting. So last week I had them create plays and name them so when we play this week, that should speed things up a bit....I hope.

On the Volleyball front - our Varsity team continues on toward their bid for a STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! Last week they placed 2nd at the Regional tournament. That gave them the right to host a "Sub State" game at our gym yesterday. They beat Ensworth 3 -1 so now advance to the STATE Tournament on Wednesday. It is a double elimination tournament so they will play on Wed and again Thurs for sure. They need to win one of those games to keep playing! Go Eagles!!!!

Swim team is going strong. Some of our soccer girls have finally made it to practice - their season has ended. We are only waiting for cross country to finish then we will have our whole team! :-) I took some pictures before they put the bubble up.

And here are some of my team members:


We are a great group of mostly dedicated kids that are sometimes kind of whacky!:-) I love it! Swimming is such an individual sport until you go to the meets and have teammates cheering you on! And the relays - well, let's just say the kids live for the relays! I know some of you former swimmers out there know what I am talking about... :-)

A few days without Nigel

My hubby is in Dallas for a couple of days. It is so quiet around here. Chelsea is upstairs working on homework and I'm sitting here in front of the computer, playing games. What a life... :-)
Chelsea cooked dinner for us tonight. It was VERY GOOD. Tator Tot casserole -mmmm!And she even cleaned up afterwards! Life is good... :-)

Swim season has really started now - it's been 2 weeks and we've had 7 practices. Today was the last day in the outdoors. On Saturday they put up the bubble. It's kind of sad in a way. The weather is definitely weird around here. Yesterday was a beautiful day - sunny, about 82 degrees. I had to put on sunscreen, shorts, flip flops and loved waling up and down the pool deck. Today a front came through - drizzle, windy, 55 degrees. I had on sweat pants, sweat shirt and an umbrella! Not quite as fun on the pool deck... hahaha. So now on Tuesday, we'll be "inside".

It is our fall break this weekend. The students have tomorrow and Monday off. We, the teachers, have to go to an in-service day for the whole diocese. It's one of those long boring speaker/workshop/mass that will last 1/2 of the day. But then I will have the afternoon off! YAY!!! Then we all have Monday off!
My days off will begin with taking Chelsea to school at 6:30am! UGH!!!Then Monday I get to go to the dentist! Bleh.... I'm not too fond of going.... :-(

So that's it for a while. Time for some TV and relaxing.... ahhhhhh.....

A great day!

Today was absolutely beautiful! Highs in the mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky! Luckily, our school let out at 11:45 today, so I got to enjoy the afternoon outside! The school where I teach has a large fund raiser every year and tonight is the night, so we had to vacate the building so the parents could decorate. We were all so dissappointed - NOT!!!
I decided to go to Shelby Farms, which is a local park located about 5 miles from my school. I walked/jogged on the 3 mile trail there. It was fantastic. Not too many people around, lots of birds, turtles, squirrels and even buffalo - yes, buffalo. There is a herd that grazes there. There were a few people playing frisbee golf, a couple people passed me on bikes, and I even saw a few fishermen in one of the many ponds/lakes in the park.

Here is some information from the website:

Shelby Farms is the one of the largest urban parks in the United States. At approximately 4500 acres it is five times larger than New York City's famed Central Park. Originally Shelby Farms was a working penal farm dedicated to the rehabilitation of prisoners. In the 1960's its role as a penal farm ceased and a decade later the Shelby County Commission approved a plan for recreational use of the lands.

Today park visitors enjoy walking, fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding and even inline skating. With plenty of open areas visitors can put down their blankets and watch kites floating on air or kayaks and small sailboats gliding across Patriot Lake. The Lucius E. Burch Jr. State Natural Area comprises approximately 700 acres of wetlands and hardwood forest located in the southern portion of Shelby Farms. Covered pavilions and picnic areas dot the Farms and there are public rooms available to groups in the Visitors Center.

Each month Shelby Farms Park hosts community events. One of the biggest is the annual 4th of July Star Spangled Celebration. Additional information on Shelby Farms can be found at the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy web site at www.shelbyfarmspark.org

The best part was just being alone with my thoughts and really doing something for me. I guess that sounds a little selfish, but sometimes you have to just take care of yourself, so you can be of use to others! I partake in exercise at school, but somehow it is not the same. I did find it difficult to jog with this extra 12 pounds I'm carrying around!!!! UGH!!! Hopefully, I can find the time to do this more often after Volleyball season is over. (Tuesday!)