Miss Independent

I love America, even if it is a gluttonous place.

Joey Chestnut set a world record today with his 68 hot dogs in the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, defeating eating phenom Takeru Kobayashi for the third straight year. I'm going to go ahead and state the obvious: that's a heck of a lot of hot dogs!

This event is by far one of the most disgusting things to view, but I make it a yearly tradition to watch it on my beloved ESPN. The commentators throw in some witty remarks, and the whole thing becomes a fun, fairly comical event. However, it's also downright serious. These eaters mean business. The top two female competitors, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas and Juliet Lee were even compared to the likes of Venus vs. Serena, Clinton and Palin and other famous female rivals. Ridiculous. Awesome.

I love the Fourth of July. It really is such a great holiday, and I'm glad that so many people get together with their families and just have some quality fun. Even if we are becoming a fat nation, at least we still have our freedom to be fat.

Also, big shout out to the troops fighting for this great country. Especially Dane. Come home soon!

Happy birthday, America!

Living like a bum

As the title might imply, I have been feeling rather useless lately.

I have discovered that the summer life of a teacher can be a whole lot of, well, nothing. Sure, I am working part-time at RunOn!, but that only keeps me occupied a couple days a week. And, to be quite honest, I have enjoyed not having much to do lately.

The school year held stress and fatigue, so it's more than refreshing to be able to catch my breath this summer. I've spent more than just a few afternoons at the pool reading, and I've gotten to run farther and faster. And I've been running more races recently, which I love!

I have also discovered that I am a better napper than I ever thought possible. It's as if all the sleep I did not get throughout the school year accumulated and finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I'll tell you, a nap sure is a thing of beauty!

Lest I should sound like a complete waste of space, I have also still been coaching at RunOn!, and I've been giving a few private swim lessons a couple times a week. I also did some cleaning the other day, which was more than needed. Let's just say that it had been a long while.

Man, summertime as a teacher sure does rock.

The Inspirational Squirt

My sister is seriously the coolest person you will ever meet.

No joke.

There was a time—long, LONG ago—when I questioned my parents' good judgment for not stopping having kids after me. I later realized that my life would truly be incomplete if they had. But, when you are a little kid, everything is about you, and a little sister just gets in the way of you getting your way whenever you want. After all, she's trying to get what she wants at the same time. And the word "cooperation" really isn't in your vocabulary, nor do you want it to be.

It took a lot of time and many scars—physical, of course—to get to the point where I thought my sister was "cool" enough to hang out with me. Now I know that there is no way on earth I am cool enough to hang out with her, but she lets me, anyway. And she has become one of the people I admire most in this world. It's funny how time and God change us and change our perspective on things.

I can't even begin to put into words how proud I am of this girl. Is she perfect? Absolutely not, and she will be the first one to tell you that. But she knows she had God's grace and mercy, and she knows she doesn't need much more to make it in this crazy world. And she is learning daily from Him and seeking to serve Him more in all she does.

Right now she is at Sky Ranch, helping young children and teens grow closer to God and know what it means to live for Him. I know she is changing lives out there, while she is being changed at the same time. Just in the brief conversations I've gotten to have with her, it's so apparent that her maturity level is deepening, as is her relationship with the Lord. I honestly sit at the other end of the line in pure amazement at the work He's doing in her life. How am I so blessed to be able to have this incredible woman as my sister? I may never know the answer to that, but I will forever be thankful.

I've seen my baby sister go through various stages in life—the highs and lows that this world often brings—and I've watched as she came out stronger at the other side of each one. She's living her story, and she's doing it with such courage and trust.

She also does it with a tremendous amount of spunk.

In a crowded room, my sister is one of those people who stands out. There is just something about her that shines and draws others to her. And once you spend time with her, you walk away a better person, knowing you've just been in the presence of some who will truly leave a legacy.

When I ran my first marathon, my sister woke up early (she is definitely NOT a morning person) and spent the entire morning cheering for me and then helping me with whatever I needed when I finished. When I had to go to the hospital one night my sophomore year of college, she drove the three-hour trip with my mom in the middle of the night to come be with me. When I was crazy enough to participate in a freezing-cold mud run earlier this year, she was right there at the start line to support me. And when I was suffering from mild hypothermia after the race, she practically dressed me all by herself in the middle of the parking lot (since I was pretty much useless because of the chills at that point).

And those are only a few things she has done. The complete list is actually pretty endless.

I can't wait to see what this girl is going to do in life. Beware, world. The Runt is definitely ready for you.

I'm a Survivor

I officially survived Year One.

Yes, I made it through my first year of teaching. I know that this is something that a countless number of individuals have done, but I cannot begin to describe the sense of combined pride and relief I have in being able to say this. And, in spite of the fact that there were definitely moments when I thought I was on a road heading towards padded walls, I really enjoyed the school year.

I know that I am right where I am supposed to be.

This year really helped me grow in so many ways, and I learned my own lessons in life right alongside those students. It's incredible to be able to find those lessons in places you never thought you would and from people you thought you were teaching; but, at the same time, they were teaching you.

I am also incredibly fortunate for the awesome coworkers I have. I had so much fun getting to know them and learn from them, as well. It's a funny thing about being a teacher: as you are working so hard to teach others, you are constantly having people all around you pour lessons into you.

Sure, there were times when I really questioned why I went into this profession, but I think that can be the case with any job. It's hard to find something that is beyond perfect. By no means is teaching a perfect job, and by no means am I a perfect teacher. But it's quite apparent that this is the perfect thing for me. I absolutely love it.

However, that being said, thank God it's summer! Sure, we may love our roles as educators for the future of America, but we sure do need this time off. I'm pretty sure it's the only thing that keeps us sane.

Well, that and rolling chair races down the hallway on the last day of school.

My Bloody Strength

The other night, I discovered that I have superhuman strength.

I should preface this story with the fact that I don't use my dishwasher. I lack many domestic skills, and finding just the right amount of dish detergent is one of them. So, in order to avoid having not-quite-clean or soap-stained dishes, I hand wash everything I use. To avoid this task, I usually buy paper plates. (I know, I know: Go Green.)

But on Tuesday night, I was out of paper plates. And I needed a quesadilla.

Fast forward to a bit later in the night, when I decided I needed to wash my quesadilla plate before I went to sleep. Well, there was a little cheese stuck on the plate, so I knew I would have to take the sponge to it. And I did. Cue my Herculean power!

I made one quick stroke with the sponge, and the plate broke in half in my bare hands! I felt the pain in my hands from being sliced by the plate, and I saw the blood gushing into the sink, but I made no reaction for a brief time as I stared down at what had just happened. I was just so flippin' amazed at my brute strength!

It dawned on me that I should tend to my wounds, so I finally went to wrap my blood-gushing hands and cover them in bandages. I used Spiderman, Batman and neon Band-Aids, of course (yes, I needed that many). I'm not going to lie: it hurt pretty badly. I'm still missing that chunk of skin on my index finger that departed so suddenly.

These injuries have put quite a damper on certain parts of my life. Typing on the computer sure has been a bit more challenging than usual, seeing as how my multitude of Band-Aids slow me down and cause more typos. Then, when people see my awesome bandages, they naturally want to know why I'm covered in them. It's hard for me to stay humble in such situations. I mean, how can I not brag about how much of a beast I really am?

Needless to say, I'm buying more paper plates when I go to the grocery store this weekend.

Nap? Yes, please.

Obviously the Mavs are in some trouble right now.

We are down 0-2 to the Denver Nuggets, and I am not quite sure how the series will pan out. Sure, I love to have faith in my boys, but, let's face it, things are looking rather grim right now. I also don't like the fact that we went 0-4 against Denver in the regular season. Let's just hope this doesn't get even uglier in game three.

I also need Josh Howard to stop getting hurt. That would be super. We've dug ourselves into a hole, and he is one of the key components to help us climb back to the top. After all, as Miley Cyrus so poignantly tells us, "it doesn't matter how fast [we] get there, doesn't matter what's waiting on the other side; it's the climb."

In other news, I really want to get my book published. It's been about a year since I met with a publishing company, but it was a private one that was asking for way too much money. I am thinking maybe the best way to go about this would be to hire an agent. Hopefully there will be updates to come on this soon.

For now, I am just going to hope I make it through the day without falling asleep. I stayed up late for those Mavs, and all they did was disappoint me (well, that and leave me sleep deprived). At least it's already Wednesday, right?

Less than one month until summer vacation. What, what?!

MAYfulness

I survived my first TAKS experience.

I'm really not sure what else to say about that, and there are so many legalities involved with standardized testing, so I am just going to leave it at that. It is finished...well, for this year, anyway.

I'm watching the Rangers game right now. We had a 3-0 lead on the White Sox, but it's now tied at 3 in the bottom of the sixth inning. I always put faith in these guys, and there always seem to disappoint me. But, again, I am hopeful this season. Plus, if Ian Kinsler weren't married, I think we might have a future together. Too bad I missed out on that one.

Speaking of potential husbands, I plan on attending a lot of Rough Riders games this summer. It might be better to go for a minor league player, anyway. Although, I really don't know if I would ever date a baseball player, because I would constantly have a hidden fear that he was doing steroids, so maybe I will just scratch that idea altogether. But I still plan on attending those games.

I did a 5k last weekend, and I was very displeased with my performance, so I think I'm going to do another one next Saturday (not tomorrow). I need to redeem myself, and I love racing.

I can't decide if it's normal that it's a Friday night, barely after 8:30, and my eyelids are becoming very heavy and very droopy. I guess it's something that comes with being a first-year teacher.

Wow, Ian Kinsler just made ANOTHER infield error. Good thing that relationship didn't work out. That was just plain awful. And Derek Holland was just called for a balk. Here we go again, Rangers. Here we go. (On a side note, I must give props to Holland for having the same birthday as me.)

Happy Friday!