May already??

Before leaving work this evening, I had to switch my calendar. This is what I put up...

No- I didn't miss a month. It's true. . . I don't have to be back to work until MAY! Five weeks off! Whatever will I do to fill my time??

While at work. .

The kids at school get the chance to make "privacy folders" at the beginning of the year. These folders are used whenever we are testing so that cheating doesn't occur, and so that kids can just kind of get in to their own little "zone" One little girl in my class doesn't really do so hot on tests and I decided that maybe I wouldn't do so hot either if this was sitting two inches from my face every time I tried to concentrate on a test.

Kinda spooky...

Surprise!

Being that my school is on a year round schedule, there is always one "track" of kids not at the school for a few weeks at a time. Though I like the sporadic breaks here and there, a small void is always felt for those fellow teachers you work with that are gone for a few weeks. So a few times this school year, a group of my work friends have met up at the Cheesecake Factory for random visits with friends that we have been missing at work. Last week, a Cheesecake Factory trip was planned for this week to play catch up with some of our dear track 4 (off track) teachers. . . or so I thought. . .
I should have been a little suspicious when one teacher wished me a happy birthday today at work. . .." uhhh thanks. . . but a few weeks late! Where are you getting this information?" Well. . . my brain got a thinking, and sure enough. . . I found myself at Cheesecake Factory dinner not in honor of missing our friends (though I think that is still a big part of it), but rather for a Happy Birthday Shawna dinner!

The food was good, the dessert was even better, but the company was by far the best! These ladies have truly become some of my favorite people that I can go to for a laugh or a cry during a time in my life where I have no super close friends in proximity. Today was by far a rather crappy day at work, but who can understand what Im going through better than this group of people? They really know how to make a person feel much better about themselves. Who would've guessed that a two week late birthday dinner could be such perfect timing??
By the end of the night I even got one of them to agree to become a garbage man with me as long as I drive and let her ride the back! Awww. . . now that's
what friends are for!

Agh!!

A friend of mine came into town for a night so we wandered the strip like most tourists like to do. He insisted that we not only go to the stratosphere. . . but that we walk there! From where we parked (way south LV) it ended up being quite the hike. . . especially since the WHOLE time I was insisting that I would NOT be going on any of the rides there. He assured me that it was fine, he just wanted to go to the top to see them. Well. . . when we finally reached the casino and got in line to buy tickets to go to the top, and he sporadically bought two ride tickets as well. I have never seen pictures of these rides, but I have heard about them, and I was definitely NOT a happy camper. We waited in line for quite some time to take the elevator up to the 108 floor, which gave me plenty of shaking/nervous. Then, upon arrival, I had a little more "thinking time" while we waited for another elevator the take us up to the remaining floor. We got tickets for the X scream ride which the only thing I really knew about it was what I saw on the small diagram hanging behind the ticket box. I thought I would have time to take a look at the ride before committing to actually go on it. But as we exited the building to go take a gander, there was not ONE person in line(where did all those people GO?) and before I knew it I was strapped in to the front row of a scary ride at the top of a 109 story building having NO idea what was even going to happen!
Well-- I survived! Basically the whole track lifted up, then sent you forward a bit, then tilted way down before they sent you flying off the edge of the building! It was quite freakish. They stopped you there, kind of dangling, then kind of dropped you up and down a wee bit, before sending you backwards to repeat the whole process once again. After all is said and done, it really wasn't super scary. It wasn't a steep or fast enough drop to give you that terrible drop in your stomach, it was more scary in the sense that you were hanging over the edge of a building with thoughts running through your mind of the potential derailment factor. I was definitely shaking when I got off, and though it wasn't the most terrible thing in the world, I highly HIGHLY doubt I will ever go back. I am a WIMP for those kinds of things!

The picture is after we got off, so I am able to smile once again. Behind us is a picture of the coaster before it tilted off the building.