The past few weeks in my freshman English classes we've been reading Romeo and Juliet. I love that play. I hadn't read it in a while before this year, but I love getting the students' first reactions to it. My fifth period class has decided Romeo is emo (which is a stereotype that didn't exist when I was in high school so I had to have it explained to me). My favorite thing to hear is when they're disappointed when we have to stop because they want to keep reading and find out what happens. I think I have a special group of kids this year...I like them a lot and they make it worth coming to school on days when I don't feel like it.
I'm thinking about starting grad school this summer in English at ACU. Brandon gets a family discount but only for 3 hours a semester. Since I'll still be teaching while in grad school, that's probably the most I would want to take at once anyway, but at that rate it will take me about 3 years to finish. I hope I remember how to be a good student. It's weird that I feel old when I go on ACU's campus now. I expect to run into people my own age and instead see my cousins who were in middle school when I was in college. 4 of my cousins are at ACU now and have lunch together once a week. One of these days I'm going to take a day off of work so I participate in Cousins Lunch.
I'm ready for Christmas break. First we're going on a cruise with Brandon's parents and family friends, then we're going on a trip to Austin with my family. I'm looking forward to lots of time to relax, read, and be with family.
My girlfriends are planning our annual MLK weekend trip together. This year everyone's coming to Abilene. I'm really excited about catching up with everyone because a lot has been going on in our lives. There are new babies, pregnancies (even twins!), jobs, moves, and healing...so much to talk about!
Any good gag gift ideas? I've got 4 Christmas parties in 3 days next week and each one involves a gag gift exchange. So I'll probably be doing my Christmas shopping tomorrow at garage sales and Goodwill. Maybe I'll find some great, obscure, unique gift for my Dad while I'm at it.
