Three Wishes

Ever wish you had a genie in a lamp? A little genie to grant you three wishes? Yeah, we have all had that fantasy.

I don't have a magic lamp, but for the next few days I am going to pick three things each day and make a wish. We'll see what happens.

1. No more H1N1 flu! We have had enough! Too many sick kids and adults with no real end in site. Genie! Where are you??

2. A magic pill that would melt away 20 pounds and motivate me to exercise and eat right! Yoo! Hoo! Genie!

3. No rain for the next 10 days! We NEED recess for a while! Genie is definitely not an elementary teacher!

Now, I am off to search for a little genie in a bottle. He has got to be here somewhere!

Frog Alley!

College football has begun and so has Frog Alley!

There is something electric about college football. I never experienced that while attending college, so I get to relive my youth at the TCU home games. Some friends and I do face painting during the two hours before the home games. Frog Alley is so much fun--or so I hear! We have a magician, face painting, bounce houses, bands, food, balloon art...lots of fun things to do. Not that I have ever actually seen any of that! For two hours I sit and paint faces--one right after the other! No breaks, no getting up...just constant painting! And, it is so much fun!

The coolest thing is the most of the kids come back year after year. This is my 3rd year to do this and I am beginning to see the same kids and families coming back. They are so cute! All dressed in their TCU attire, cheerleader uniforms, jerseys...school spirit abounds!

I will get Juan to take pictures so I can post them--maybe--if I don't get too frustrated putting the pics online! ha!

Oh, by the way, no, I did not attend TCU. But, when it comes to football season I really love my Frogs!

A New School Year Has Begun!

Well, bet you thought I had quit! No, just being lazy. Actually, I kept trying to post my vacation pictures and got frustrated so I decided to take a break.

The best time of the year is here--the beginning of a new school year! As a child I loved going to school. I did not like summer vacation. I missed my friends and the routine of being in class. As I got older I loved being a college student. At one time I thought being a professional student would be the best career ever!

As a teacher I looked forward to buying things for my classroom, planned out the furniture arrangement, and relished in the smell of the ditto machine (yes, I am old school!). I never slept the night before school started.

Now, as a principal, I have the same feelings. I spend my summer thinking of my back to school theme, working on pre-service agendas, finding door prizes and goodies for the staff and thinking of ways to make each year better. I still do not sleep the night before school starts.

Being an educator is one of the greatest gifts of God. Being able to touch the lives of children in a positive manner, mentoring and nurturing those in need, what more could you ask for? There are two kinds of teachers--those of the head (knowledge) and those of the heart (commitment). You can have all the content knowledge in the world, but unless you have the heart and soul to reach kids, unless you have passion for what you do, and a passion for student success, then you will struggle to be a real teacher.

There is truly no greater experience in the world than to have a first grader run up to you the first day of school, throw their arms around you and say, "Mrs. Nunez, I missed you!" What a way to start the new school year!!!

Here's to all my teacher friends, to everyone in education who makes a difference for kids--have a great year!!!

Vacation

We are in Navarre Beach, Florida on vacation! There are 10 of us who came to spend the week with Crazy Ray, who by the way, retired and lives on the beach! Tough life, huh?

Anyway, I am taking lots of pictures and will post when I get back....if I ever come back! OMG! This is the life!

Elm Street

Joy will turn 21 soon and we have been discussing her present for several months now. She talked about jumping from an airplane, we talked about taking a trip...then she finally decided...she wanted another tattoo. Not any tattoo, she wanted her entire upper arm area done. She had been looking as designs and searching for artists for quite a while, so when she told me what it was I knew she had thought it all out. She called the artist at Elm Street Tattoo, made the appointment and we made our date to tat!

We arrived around noon and Dean, the artist, was busy drawing her owl design. He took his time and sketched out a great design. An hour later he started and this was the beginning of a great tat.

He worked on her arm for over three hours, taking two breaks along the way. In fact, he "finished" twice before he really stopped. After about 2 hours, he stopped, wiped her down so she could bleed out and decided he was not done! He did this twice before he was satisfied. This man take his work seriously! Here he is working hard! Joy was staring at all the stuff in the room!
Voila! The finished product! I can't wait for the healing to be over and the colors to really show up. Note the lime green in the eyes...my idea!!! In fact, I think Dean added the green just to shut me up! Happy Birthday, Joy!! I love you!

East Texas Wedding

One of the most beautiful places in Texas can be found between Hwy. 37 and Hwy. 82...Clarksville, Texas! This was my mother's hometown and one of my favorite places to be! My cousins live there and we love to go visit whenever we can. Last weekend was my cousin Kevin's wedding. So off we went to Clarksville...well, actually we started our in Paris, wedding in Powderly then lunch with Grams on Sunday in C'ville.

This is Kevin and Erin Moore. Kevin is one of the nicest men you will ever met, and Erin is beautiful! They are very much in love. Erin's uncle let them have the wedding on his land, in his barn. It is so relaxing and beautiful! Look at this:
I love these ladies...Grams, Kari and Debbie!
It was nice to get away and spend time in the country with family! We missed Larry. He is Debbie's husband and Kevin's dad. Right now he is working in Kuwait and was not able to come home for the wedding. I am sure when he returns in the fall we will travel back to East Texas and welcome him home! Love you, guys!

Changes

I made a decision in January to eat healthier and get hopefully lose weight. Nothing new. Almost everyone makes these "resolutions" in January. I made my decision based on my health and age. See, every January 1st a new year begins and every January 2nd I have a birthday. Great combination, huh? Anyway 54 years old and weighing over 200 lbs. is not a good combination. Especially when your hips lock up, you can't walk straight is you sit for more that 20 minutes at a time, you can't climb a flight of stairs and you can't sleep at night because of your own snoring. Not a pretty picture, is it??

Well, I cut out fried foods, sugar, soda, candy...everything that we all know is bad for us. I quit eating take out food and started taking my lunch to school. Turkey on whole wheat with spicy mustard became my main meal. We ate healthy at night, too. Juan and Joy went along with all my changes and adapted well. Altering some meals was not easy, but we all got through it.

I did a herbal cleanse (thanks, Lori!) and started sipping on Spark energy drink. No coffee, no red meat, no dairy for 10 days!!! I thought I would die! But, 10 lbs. later I was elated!!! I was truly motivated now!!

Next Juan bought us an eliptical machine and it is awesome! I had to start out slow and work my way up...first 15 minutes, then 30, now I can do 45 - an hour! Still not at a fast speed and not using the ramp, but I'll get there!

Long story short...4 months later I have lost 25 lbs. My goal is 20 more by the end of June (not that I think I can do that!) before we go to Florida for vacation. I would be happy with 10 more pounds as long as I can firm up some.

You probably did not want to read about my diet plan. But, if you are like me you might need some motivation to get healthier. Maybe my story will help you. At any rate I feel better, I can move around easier, and my sleepy time is great!!!