Yay! I get to blog again!!!

I am pretty dang excited by this silly piece of acrylic.

When I typically give speeches, I prep them for anywhere from a week to a month, give it and then never really give it a second glance until its time to turn it in for a new certification.

Competition is such a great learning opportunity. My past wins have been with evaluation contests which are impromptu speeches. I love the flexibility and vitality of extemporaneous speeches.

This International Speech can be about anything. Educational, Humorous, Emotional, Inspirational, or Popular themed.

I wrote my speech and then gave it to my club. They gave me feedback where I could rewrite and add things that would make it better. I've given it four times (not to mention the countless times I've practiced in my closet).

I'm tempted to give a different speech at the next level on the 16th.

I am one speech away from my Advanced Communicator Silver certification, but the last speech, I have to use the Internet. Oy! We don't have meetings at Kid's Inc anymore where we can use their projection equipment and they don't have Wi-Fi. We meet at work, and they won't let us use the work system for fun. So I was thinking of doing screen prints and them print them off. It will be lame, but what other choice do I have?

We are having a garage sale on the morning of the 9th and we hope to raise enough money send three of us to Santa Fe Regional Conference. My VP of Membership, VP of Ed and the prez (moi). We are thrilled and I know this will be just what we need to give us the energy to make our club successful for yet another year.

We are desperate for members this year. We need at least 4 more members, but I know we really need more than that, cuz we've just had dues again and I don't know who has renewed. Things are tight, I know that. (BOY do I know that), but the long term rewards of Toastmasters make it worth it to me. Not just the break in the middle of my week, but to learn how to communicate effectively is a dieing art.

Miss Amarillo is our guest this coming Thursday. I'm excited about having a guest! We put on our best show for the meetings with guests. She wants to learn to communicate better and maybe she will join! (Wouldn't that be awesome!!!)

Please let any of your friends know about our club. You never know if they might be interested. We do Leadership training as well. Great for career development.

So many things, so little time!!!

Who knew how awesome I would feel after this? I won't go on and on like I could about how the whole thing happened, but I'm still feeling amazingly great. It was worth the agony.

I won first place in the International Speech Contest (Club level) and this weekend I will compete in the Area level. I need to practice my speech again, and yet I blog.

We are having a garage sale on the morning of the Ninth of April to raise funds for the trip to Santa Fe.

Let's see... my hearing aids are amazing!

I went to a meeting today to learn about Assistive Listening devices. If we can make this one system work with the phone at work, the state (DARS) program will pay for it. That means, I will hear better in meetings and even hear the TV better.
I am keeping a journal of my hearing aids just so I can better record the times I hear better and the times I could still use help.



We will just say, work sucks and leave it at that. My employer will have a special Self-Development breakfast this Thursday and I'm really looking forward to it. We get a half day certificate, free breakfast, and time paid away from work to go to the Drury Inn. I get to go because I achieved my Advanced Communicator Bronze Certificate in 2010 for Toastmasters. (This year I will have my Advanced Communicator Silver... I am one presentation away).

I am doing my best to enjoy each day as it comes. I am still dreaming of Frazzelberry, but I figure that will happen eventually too. I paid all my bills this month and we have food in our tummies. What more could I ask for.

TAKS (Texas Asks Kids to do Stupid things) tests are soon. Yuck. I feel bad for Zee. I don't think I remember 9 being such a sucky age, but the more I think about it I guess it was. I loved 4th grade. I just keep praying it will be that way for him. He deserves to love learning.

Tzipi and I watched Beauty and the Beast on Sunday and I got such a chuckle when Belle was going into the West Wing and was just about to touch the flower and BOOM! Tzipi jumped when the Beast caught her. I love that she is still so innocent.

We're trying to pinch pennies wherever we can, so I made only veggies for dinner. Garlic Sauteed Yellow squash and sauteed onion rings in butter sauce with Couscous. For "dessert" we had sweet potatoes with brown sugar and cinnamon. This will be the plan all week. Zee and Abba were great sports but Tzip... not so much. She wasn't very happy. She wanted cheese.  I don't think she could ever be Vegan. She loves dairy far too much. Oh well. I'm just trying to keep us healthy while saving money.

Well, I wanna go read all my favorite blogs, check Facebook, email and watch and episode on HULU all before Avi comes back and takes the laptop away.

Thank goodness I have a Blackberry. I probably would have hidden the laptop and never let him see it again. He has cigarettes, I have the internet. So there.

Too curious!

OK, so I have this friend from Toastmasters who says that he checks in at Frazzleberry ALL THE TIME! I can't imagine wanting frozen yogurt all the time. So far, I've noticed that he goes almost every day. The reason he posts publicly, I've learned, is that he gets 10% off each time he puts it on Facebook. But from the stuff I've read, once you try it---you will be hooked.
So I want to try this out. It's no where near any place I go on a regular basis however. It's on Hillside road in between Bell and Coulter. I'm so curious that I've done research, read reviews and even seen pictures of the frozen yogurt (which is not pretty btw). They charge by weight. It can be pricey. It's fat free frozen yogurt that comes directly from a cow, not processed powder. It sounds pretty yummy, but when am I going to have time to try something so special? Maybe I can eat my lunch and THEN clock out and try it. So my Lunch would technically be Dessert, but surely it would be worth it.

That said... my kiddos are on their way to Grandma's house. They should be there a few minutes from now. I am all alone (with three kitties).

Avi's at class and I got to finally catch up on all my "House" episodes. I think I like that show not just because of the medical drama (which is for some reason cathartic) but also because in some ways, Avi is a lot like the character, House. It helps to see Cuddy deal with him and yet understand him when no one else does. I like the fact that their relationship is so messy and painful. Too many times the relationships on TV are just too idyllic for me. It's not always like that. And most people don't even let it get messy. As soon as it does, they call it quits. I'm not saying that divorce is wrong all the time. I just think that people expect way too much from each other.

Off my soap box.

Health wise: dizzy and pain level at 6 because I'm not moving. I'm by no means comfortable, but at least I'm not in a huge amount of pain.

I get my hearing aids tomorrow. I'm nervous but happy all rolled up.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow. Ugghh.. Work is so yucky right now. Hopefully it won't stay this way. They turned our perfectly perfect team of 13 into a team of 9. I HATE involuntary moves. It is awful. I'm just kvetching because I'm so upset but I don't really have any way to complain about it. I just want to cry when I think about it.

My hope is that since the kiddos are gone I can :
A: Go visit Tina and the baby (Oh yes, John and Randy too)
B. Spend some time with my nephews.
C: Go to the movies with Avi.
D: Enjoy my time with Avi and not run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to dress children, feed children, comb children's hair, wash faces, etc...At least for 5 solid days.
E. I'd like to make Hamentaschen for Purim this Saturday.
And whatever else might happen...

Yippee I got to blog!