They're Back (and by "they" I mean "my shows")

One of the weirdest parts about working at a year round school was working when none of my shows were on. I’m a routine person. I’m used to working (or going to school in my past) and knowing on certain days that I had one of my shows to look forward to. When I was in college, watching shows with my roomies was always so much fun.

Being in school and then becoming a teacher has my body and mind believing that when you’re working or in school-shows should be on and when you’re off and relaxing-nothing good is on TV. However, I worked an entire 9 weeks with none of my shows to come home to.

I did feel my summer with some guilty pleasures like Toddlers and Tiaras and Keeping Up with the Kardashians (Don’t judge me…these “reality” shows suck you in. Just ask Lee about Jersey Shore)

Anyway…but now fall shows are back in full swing! In our house this equals a full DVR and occasional fighting over the remote.

One of my new favorites to watch is The Sing Off. These people have major talent and a capella is awesome! This was my favorite performance from the first episode.



The other competition show I enjoy, Dancing with the Stars is also back. Lee dislikes this one the most because it takes up so much recording time. I must admit that it won’t start getting interesting until a few more people have been eliminated and the competition gets tougher.


So far, he's been my favorite. He did a great job plus his positive outlook on life is inspiring.

Then, I have my “must discuss with bestie” shows: Glee and Vampire Diaries.

My one question from Glee is this: Why does the “cool” kid have a mullet?


The last show I’m watching is Desperate Housewives and I admit I’m glad this is the final season. This is one of those shows that I started watching several years ago and have continued to watch simply because I want to see how it ends. I’m ready to move on. This is also how I felt with Lost. It seems you can only keep a show interesting for so long.

So I’m glad to now have my shows to look forward to. Some may argue that watching these types of shows can be a waste of time and also that our lives shouldn’t revolve around our TV schedule. Lee and I have even discussed this ourselves. For me, though, these shows provide me with a chance to sit back and relax. It’s almost an excuse to sit down and focus on nothing else but being entertained (even though I often am doing something else while watching).

Pinning!

I have found a new website to be completely addicted to. I’ve had several websites steal my attention away from other things I should be doing over the years. I’ve wasted time on websites where I can morph two people’s pictures together, websites where I can give people makeovers, websites where I can read all about movies, websites where I could stick people’s faces on dancing people or creatures set to music, and websites where I can read all kind of facts about favorite book series just to name a few.

Up until recently there were two main websites that I would have considered myself “addicted” to. In my college years I spent long amounts of time on youtube. There are so many funny videos and video series. One video always leads to another because they make recommendations after each video. My roommate and I would enjoy sharing these videos with one another and sharing laughs over them. Some of our best inside jokes have come from youtube videos. (“You brought a snack?” and “Bring back the rofelmayo” to name a few) I also spend large amounts of time on facebook. I enjoy it even more now that I’m 10 hours away from home because it’s a great way to keep up with what is going on with everyone. However, recent changes are making me not like it so much.

In the last month I have learned about www.pinterest.com and I am now addicted. It is a place where you can share ideas and get ideas from others. For example, if I was reading someone’s blog and found an idea for making a cute Christmas wreath I could click my “pin it” button and it would put a picture on my pinterest account along with a link to the website. You can also view the website and see pins made by people you follow or pins made by anyone using pinterest. If you see something you’re interested in, you click on it and follow the link to the original website. I have found many great craft ideas and recipes on there. I have also found a lot of great teaching ideas, decorating ideas, and ideas for the future. One thing that’s great about it is every time you go to the website there are new pins for you to look at. It doesn’t show you the same page you viewed last time with just a few new pins added. I enjoy it because people find all kinds of neat ideas that I would never have found on my own.

When I first starting pinning about a month ago, there were only a handful of people that I know who were also on pinterest. For some reason, its popularity has boomed recently and I now have lots of friends using it. Be warned-if you start using it, you will spend a lot of time on there because there are SO many things to look at. Pinterest has just been one of the ways I have wasted time during my break from school.

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

It was not exactly a day like any other day. It was the second day of Headland’s Homecoming Week. Homecoming week is a big deal in a small, southern town. The whole town shows off their school spirit. Students of all ages anxiously wait for the SGA representatives to come around with Headland Ram goodies you can buy. Middle School and High School students enjoy dressing up for the different themes for each day of the week.

Tuesday, September 11th 2001’s theme was “Blast from the Past.” Headland Middle School students were walking around in their best outfits mostly from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. We were all anxious for Friday’s game and for some of us-we were excited about our Homecoming dates.

I was sitting in my 8th grade science class with Ms. Richards. I sat in the back corner of the room. We were in the middle of our science lesson when the principal came into the room and said that the World Trade Center had been bombed. Then, she left. It seemed very random. I remember thinking to myself What’s the Word Trade Center? and Why did we need to know it was bombed? Doesn’t stuff get bombed all the time? Then, class continued as normal.

We had break after that class. Students who were dressed up went to the front of the school to have their picture taken. I remember I was not dressed up because I did not go to the front of the building. However, I also remember one of my friends who did go to the front of the building came back telling us what people were saying about the World Trade Center. I admit, she had me more scared about this. I was worried our country was going to be attacked in more places and I was scared something was going to happen to us.

The rest of the day went by in a state of confusion. Looking back, I’m disappointed in my 8th grade teachers because no one stopped to explain to us what was going on. No one tried to get us a TV or a radio so that we could see or hear what was going on. We were living history and they just let the moment pass us by. Of course when no one tells us the facts, there are numerous rumors going around. I was getting a jumbled mixed up message of what had happened. It wasn’t until my last class of the day when I finally was told the facts of what had happened that morning. Mrs. Vickie Wells was my special interest teacher. She told us the facts of what she knew. She also had a radio playing the news so that we could be kept up to date.

That afternoon, I had marching band practice. We practiced for a little while and during our first break, Ms. Reynolds called us all around her. She told us that she thought it was more important for us to go home then to stay and practice. She told us to go get gas if we could drive and to go home. That was the moment that I really knew this was serious. Our band director did not cancel band practice-especially during the week of homecoming.

Ben was taking me home that day, so I got in the truck with him and we waited in a very long line at one of the gas stations to get gas. Then, we drove on to my house. When we got there, my mom had the TV on and it was covering the attacks. That was the first time all day that I saw the footage of the smoking towers.

That night, my church held a special prayer service to pray for those affected by this tragedy and for our country. My family attended this service. I remember earnestly praying for God to protect our country from further attack. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I was worried about what the future held.

I remember how patriotic we all became after September 11, 2001. I also remember how the nation turned to God by praying more for the country. Since that day, these feelings have faded. Ten years later, we’ve all gone back to our normal lives. We remember that day, but it no longer is affecting how we think and live. There are some changes that came about from this tragedy, but after 10 years, even those things have become normal.

Today, my thoughts and prayers have been with those who lost loved ones on this day 10 years ago. I also am in prayer for our country and for those who are serving our country today.

So, what’s your story? What were you doing on that day 10 years ago? How did it make you feel? How do you feel about it today?

Here's my Homecoming picture from September 14, 2001


My school had these shirts made after 9/11. The first picture is me and my friend, Dawn wearing them. It shows you the front. The second picture is what the back looked like.