Well, school is in full swing. I had the most amazing summer of my life, and going back to school, I think I expected to feel something different... like maybe I would walk into my classroom never having looked at my notes and be able to impart all sorts of profound knowledge on my students and they would all leave my classroom with smiles on their faces thinking "wow, I feel so much more well rounded because of Mrs. Dodd". In reality, it feels exactly like it does every year. I am not saying this as a bad thing, just a fact. Whether a high school student understands or is lost in la la land, you get the same reaction - blank stares. My favorite project is coming up though, and this is one that I always get surprised exclaimations from my students - portrait drawings. I think so many people are so frightened of drawing a person, which I totally understand. But if you know the rules and let go of your inner editor, you can do it!
Probably the best story I have about something that has happened to me in the past two months happened about 3 weeks ago. Drew had parent night at school, so he was there late. While he was at work, he asked me to water the yard (looking back, it has rained nearly non-stop since this day, so I should have just stayed inside, watched tv and ate bon bons or something). Our regular sprinkler for the front yard broke, so I found one in the junk room that is the "industrial strength" variety - one that the ever popular sprinkler dance was fashioned after. I had moved it a few times in the front yard for maximum coverage and finally at around 8:30 went outside to turn the water off. This sucker moves fast, and of course Drew was on his way home and I didn't want to get wet while turning the water off. So, I did what anyone would do, I did a run/jog thing to get to the faucet so that the water wouldn't pelt me in the mean time. You know where this story is going, don't you? Yes, I fell. HARD. It all happened so fast. I did not even have time to brace myself. I landed flat on my chest and stomach - knocked the wind out of myself and bent my big toe nail all the way back. I had scrapes on my arms and thigh, and since I knocked the wind out, I really couldn't move for a while. I just laid there in my dark front yard, covered in mud, getting sprinkled on. It really was horrible. Looking back on it now, it is a very entertaining story, but at the time, I was really in pain and feeling fairly hopeless. I finally mustered up the energy to crawl to the faucet to turn the water off, and made it to the house by the time Drew got home. I wish I had a picture of what I looked like - mud from head to toe - in my hair, on my clothes, arms, legs, face, feet, etc...
Go ahead, finish laughing and then I will move on.
My favorite season of the year is here - State Fair of Texas. I love this almost as much as Christmas. For those of you who aren't teachers and don't get a free fair ticket (don't be too jealous, we get paid crap and work the equivalent of 10 full time jobs to get that fair ticket!), here is a blog which details some ways to get discounted admission: GO HERE.Drew and I plan on going on Sunday. I'll try to post some awesome photos of our adventures.
Also coming up in Dallas, the Urban Street Bazaar in Bishop Arts District. Although I have already bought a few Christmas presents so far, this is where I plan on doing a lot of damage to the shopping list! So many amazing local artists selling their work - everything from baby to dog to gifty things to pottery to jewelry to everything in between. If you have never been to the Urban Street Bazaar before, GO! Just about every day, I say "I should blog about that". So, now after 2 months, I have forgotten all the things I have reminded myself to blog about. Hope this will hold you over until next time! Which will hopefully be in less than 2 months!
