Smells like an upset to me

I am very aware that for about 10 weekends a year I lose all sense of reality and throw everything I have into believing in my Baylor Bears. Well, this week will mark the half-way point for this year! It's only Monday and I'm already crazy-excited about what this Saturday may bring.

The #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners will pull into Waco on Saturday morning and I've got myself believing that an upset is on the horizon. Now, before you call me completely crazy, it is important to mention that in the last several years Baylor has put up a decent showing against the Sooners. While it may seem improbable, a win is certainly not impossible! Just hide and watch, my friends, hide and watch!

Did you know??

I was doing some research this afternoon for some lessons this week and I learned something that I don't think I've ever heard before. The moon has no water, no wind, and no atmosphere - thus, it has NO weather. Because of this lack of weather, the footprints left in the moon dust by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (totally almost typed Buzz Lightyear) are still completely intact and will remain that way for millions of years! Isn't that incredible?

Completely random

I was just sitting here reading about how my trophy ended up in Shellee's Trophy Case and I noticed something on my desk. It's just a pen, but I think it's my favorite pen. It writes so smoothly and makes me smile every time I see it! Here it is:


I don't know if you can tell, but it's a Napoleon Dynamite pen! In addition to being a smooth writer it also speaks to me. Here are some of the things it says-

"Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!"

"YESSSSS."

"I caught you a delicious bass."

"Sweet!"

"I told you, I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting Wolverines."

"Lucky!"

"What an idiot!"

It doesn't take much to entertain me! To continue on with the randomness of this post - this was the sunrise this morning:


It was amazing and the picture doesn't do it justice at all. I stood at my car for a few minutes just in awe of how beautiful it looked. I'm officially declaring Fall as my absolute favorite time of the year!

Finally!

Now that my good friend Haley has finally announced it on her blog, I can proudly share that I'm going to be an "aunt" again!

Awhile back when they found out it was a boy, Haley called me and this is what she said:

"Guess what? You're going to have another nephew!"

After recovering from my confusion, I realized what she was saying, and I'm super excited for her and Shad! Haley's a great friend that I unfortunately don't see often enough, but I'm beyond honored that she considers me an "aunt" to her kiddos. However, it does seem very weird to me that she's going to have two kids.

Haley, how did we get so old? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were 17 and hanging out by your garage on New Year's Eve, scared to death that we were doing something illegal? :)

The Bionic Woman & Robert Griffin the 3rd

My Mom's surgery went well yesterday! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. She's well on her way to being the Bionic Woman. She did let me know after surgery that she will NOT be my running buddy because she's not going to do anything that will wear her knees out too fast - she doesn't want to replace them again! I certainly don't blame her. On the schedule for today: sitting up and walking for the first time.

I must also tell the world that I "heart" Robert Griffin III.


This is Baylor's Freshman Quarterback who led the team to a 45-17 win last night! Incredible. I don't want to be a name-dropper, but as a freshman he is already being compared to Vince Young. And, hello, we all know where Vince Young took the Longhorns. I don't expect a National Championship, but with a spark like Griffin we are well on our way to finally rebuilding the program. I could definitely feel the energy and excitement from the few fans that were actually at the game - it's going to be a fun season. I am hoping to spend part of my Christmas break at a bowl game, we only need 4 more wins! Sic 'em Bears!

Where were you when...?

When I was younger I remember asking my parents the question, where were you when Kennedy was shot? They always knew exactly where they were when they found out the President had been assassinated. Little did I know that I would have my own, "Where were you when..." moment in my life.

I can't believe it's already been 7 years since terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. It's sad how much our world has changed in those seven years, how we treat people so differently.

I remember exactly where I was when it happened. I was one of what seemed like the only 20 people at Baylor who had an 8am Tuesday/Thursday class. My class was over at 9:20 and as I was walking back to my apartment I remember thinking how eerie it seemed on campus, there was no one out. When I walked through the door I found one of my roommates sitting on the couch glued to the TV, she was watching the Twin Towers burn. I went upstairs and found my other roommate totally unaware of what was happening. We quickly turned on the TV and we stayed there, mesmerized all day.

I remember realizing that I was witnessing history. I was watching on the TV something that has literally changed the world as we knew it. It's still terribly sad and I'm sure thousands of people are still hurting from their painful losses. I hope that in 20 more years, we'll be able to look back and say that while terrible, we've worked hard to make our world a safer, kinder, happier place.

In other news, my Mom is having surgery tomorrow. She's getting some new knees! She's very excited about living life pain-free. I'm thinking that in about 6 weeks, I'll have a new running buddy! :) Just kidding, Mom, I'll give you about 8 weeks. While she's looking forward to the end result, there will be lots of hard work and probably lots of pain to go with it. I still don't know how she's going to walk by Saturday with both knees all sliced up, but I'm sure she'll do great!

I'm taking the day off tomorrow to be at the hospital and I didn't realize how badly I might need a day off. Don't get me wrong, things are great. But, tonight I walked into my parent's house which caused the dogs to bark uncontrollably. They are loud and I wanted them to stop, so I said, "No talking." Something I believe I said approximately 8,496 times today. :)

I love my job

It's way past my bedtime :), but my head and heart are full and I feel like I'll sleep better if I let some stuff out...

What in the world was I thinking when I gave up teaching Math last year? I had such a fun day teaching today, and it was really quite ordinary. We were learning about rounding today so we began with a great song (thanks Mrs. Roark), then I told the "True Story of Rounding" (totally made it up as I was going- it was much better the second time around), and we finished by playing "The Rounding is Right" (another in-the-moment creation). Somehow we ended up with a piece of paper stuck to the ceiling!! And I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids!

It's always nice to feel like you are right where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. All my worrying, of course, was for nothing. God has blessed me abundantly. Instead of worrying so much about the "now" and the future, I'm trying to remind myself of truth - God has plans for me, plans to give me a hope and a future. He has never led me astray, He has never left me or forsaken me. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is good.

That's all.

It doesn't take much

I received a couple phone calls today that completely made my day, and we all know how much I love talking on the phone! It went a little something like this:

Ring, Ring, Ring
Me: Hello
My good friend, Luke: Miss Estes, I just wanted to know, do you like TCU?
Me: (not wanting to tell him what I really think) Ummm, well, ummm, I guess they're ok. But, they're not really my favorite.
Luke: Ok, we're about to go to the game.
Me: Have fun, say Hi to the big frog for me.
Luke: Ok, bye.

Then, I hear Landry in the background - "I want to talk to Miss Estes." Luke had already hung up the phone so just a few minutes later I got another call and got to talk to Landry too.

I've seen Luke a couple times at school and because he's working so hard to do what he's supposed to be doing, he won't say Hi to me. And I saw Landry on Wednesday but I guess he wasn't really in the talking mood, so their phone calls today really made my day. Apparently, it doesn't take much.

She's funny!

I was just doing some work on my computer for school next week and decided to listen to Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention last night. I must say, she's one funny lady! I can occasionally get fired up about politics and I can honestly say that before McCain chose Palin as his running mate, I didn't really care that much about this election. It just didn't seem like there was going to be anything but negativity for the next several months. I still think there will probably be nothing but negativity for the next several months, but I also think that Sarah Palin brings something interesting. She's a real person - a real mom with real kids, kids who sometimes make mistakes, kids who grow up to serve in the military, kids who have special needs. I think for the first time in a really long time someone who actually "represents" the people has a chance to do just that.

Already??

I can't believe it's already Wednesday night! This week is flying by.

I thought I should update everyone on my "crazy" status. I don't know if I'm just thinking the Vitamin B is already working in my head or if it really is already working? My vitamin is HUGE and does seem to have an interesting side effect, but I think I may be cured of whatever it was that was ailing me. I feel like I have much more energy and have been more productive in the last several days than I think I've been in the last couple months put together. It's almost scary! :) Yesterday I noticed that at about the time I took my vitamin the day before, I felt like someone had flipped a switch and turned off my energy. Then, I remembered that it's a 24-hour time release thing and I think it had literally run out on me. I guess I've yet to build up enough B12 in storage to keep me level.

My sleep issues also seem to have been cleared up. I've been able to fall asleep much more easily and wake up a lot easier. It's amazing. In fact, the last two mornings I have woken up BEFORE my alarm went off. Tuesday morning I woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm at 5:30 and then this morning I woke up again and thought, "cool, I'm waking up at 5:30 all by myself now!" Well, just for curiosity's sake I got up and checked the clock (I don't have a clock by my bed on purpose) and it was 3:19 AM!! And, I was wide awake. It was kind of annoying, but I did enjoy a leisurely morning, doing things I wish I had time to do in the morning.

Tomorrow's Thursday, which is double specials day, which automatically makes it a great day! :) I must say, I'm really loving teaching Math again and I've been blown away by how great my class is. I almost feel guilty about it, they're so well-behaved and fun to be around! Here's hoping I don't regret saying that! :)