Wednesday, February 27, 2008

AIMS Testing

If there were an Oscar for procrastination, I'd be a shoe in! I'm sitting here blogging instead of grading the 80 or so essay type papers I have sitting on my desk. What can I say, it's the 2nd day of AIMS testing, my room is an ice box, and I know it's absolutely GORGEOUS outside. I'm in no mood to read about Beowulf, sod shanties, The Great Gatsby, or whatever else is in my "Stack O' Grading."

Last week, I took Haley to the zoo. I try to take her whenever I have a special day off from school. She was so excited! She talked all the way there about seeing the elephants, Simba (lions), monkeys, giant snake, and of course the "baby jaguar." Well "baby jaguar" isn't really a baby, in fact, she's 18 years old. However, when we finally found the jaguar pen, I discovered that "Missy" the jaguar had passed away a few weeks ago. Haley was so sad. I didn't really tell her that the jaguar had died, but that he wasn't there. That was not nearly enough of an explanation for her. She ended up accepting that "baby jaguar" and Diego were off on a special adventure together and so jaguar wasn't home. That was enough of an explanation to at least get away from the pen...then she saw the Safari Train. We ended up on the Safari Train trying to track down Diego and Baby Jaguar. Of course we never found them, but she sure had fun trying. She looked everywhere...she was so determined...I have some pictures of her looking in some very funny places.


This past weekend, I had the honor of attending the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix Youth of the Year Celebration. What a spectacular event! It was such an amazing event to take part in. It was a formal affair, so everybody was dressed beautifully. I even had my nails done for the occasion (haha). The kids were dazzling in their dresses and tuxes. Kids, who without the club, might have easily chosen a different path instead of one that will offer so many opportunities. One of my students from last year (amazing girl) who was a finalist for the award last year, had the opportunity to emcee with Mark Grace (yes, he's even more gorgeous in person) and Darron Sutton. I always saw her as such a shy girl, but WOW she really held her own with these two goof balls! She was stunning, well spoken, witty, and absolutely perfect! I'm so proud of her, she's overcome so much to be where she is today. The auction items raised $2,000,000. Talk about people with serious CASH! WOW! I kept my hands folded in my lap just to make sure I didn't mistakenly bid on something. The food was amazing (post salad). The "salad" was a little odd...pretty, just not my thing. It seemed to be more about presentation than taste. However, the taste picked up after that :-) The dinner was spicy mashed potatoes, fillet Mignon, grilled jumbo prawns, and french beans...so tender, so tasty. The dessert was almost too pretty to eat...but it was chocolate so therefore had to be sacrificed. It was an individual shortbread cake bowl stripped with raspberry frosting, filled with chocolate mousse, topped with chocolate sauce and topped with a white chocolate baseball and a white chocolate wafer with the B&G club logo. The dessert was garnished with raspberry sauce, whipped cream, blueberries, raspberry, blackberry, and a dark chocolate baseball bat. TOO CUTE and SOOOOOO delicious. It was an experience to say the least. I'm so honored I was invited to attend. (Side note...Mark Grace will always be HOT).






Life is good, always full of change and new experiences that help us to grow.

1 comment:

Karleen said...

Mandy, It is good to hear from you. Yoour little girl is adorable. It sounds like you are doing well.
Take care with love,
Karleen