Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Shrove Tuesday

Posted 3:59 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Well, today is shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras. I looked up the origins, and found out that it is traditionally a feast day, where all of the fats of the household would be used up in preparation for Lent. Pancakes are supposed to be a good way to get rid of butter, eggs, flour, etc, that were typically given up for Lent.

In honor of today, IHOP was advertising a free short stack of pancakes. So guess what I had for lunch? They were good! All I had to pay for was my drink. I'm also wearing a t-shirt that I bought in New Orleans. If I knew where my beads were, I'd wear some of them. Oh well, I think the shirt is sufficient.

I had a fantabulous weekend! I drove out to Eastland on Friday to rehearse with the kids. It was raining really hard, some of the streets were not marked, so I got a bit turned around. Luckily, I just happened to come across the street I needed to be on while calling Becky for directions. The rehearsals went pretty well, and I had a good visit with Becky while waiting for the last one. It's funny to think about how we met in band class, and now here were are, together with her band students.

The contest on Saturday went well, although one of my students was a no-show. I had a good time visiting with the other accompanist. About the time we were supposed to leave the school, Becky called my cell phone and asked if I was familiar with a particular Mozart piece. I wasn't, but know the style of Mozart. So I wound up playing the piano for a girl from another school. She plays the French horn like Becky, so that's how Becky knew the piece. I went in to the room, and the judge let us go through the piece. We told her that I was sightreading the piece. (UIL rules state that a instrumentalist must be accompanied by a piano during their solo. Why they can't use a recording, I don't know.) Becky turned pages for me and helped me keep my place during the piece. We ended together, so that's good. Overall, I felt I did well, for sightreading. It was fun!

I also enjoyed getting to spend time with Mike & Barbara. We went to Starbucks, checked out the sale at Dillards (got some cute clothes!), and went for manicures. Now my nails are all pretty! I also got to spend time with our cousin Rachel. She came over with a project to do, and we had a good time. It was a really fun weekend, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to visit!

Friday, February 24, 2006

Blogger Ate My Post!

Posted 8:33 AM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

That's right. Blogger ate my last post about the youth leader gathering and how I was going on the women's retreat. It was there yesterday, then when I logged on last night, the post wasn't there. I don't know, pretty weird. So anywho, bad Blogger for eating my post! (Oh well, it was a good post.)

The women's retreat was tons of fun! I'm in the process of putting pictures in my Church photo album, however, the photo album was going really slow, so not many have been added. I'll work on that. Anywho, I think 65 women were there. I was so excited about going, I woke up really early! I had to scrape ice off my windshield (booo) that morning, but oh well. I stopped by Starbucks before going to church. When I got there, at least half of the women were holding Starbucks cups. That's what happens when you build a church next door to a Starbucks. (I really think they ought to have Grace Avenue night at Starbucks. We'd bring in a bunch of money!)

I rode up with a woman I didn't know, but enjoyed getting to know her! It took maybe 45 minutes to get to the place, which was called Spirit of the West Resort. I'm trying to find the website, it appears to not work. (FYI, when I Google'd it, one of the listings that came up was selling tickets for Wicked. I was amused!)

We did icebreaker games, one of which we had a list of things on a paper, we had to find someone who one of those things applied to them. The one that applied to me most often was "Billy performed their wedding." In fact, when we started the game, no fewer than eight people ran over to me to get me to sign beside that statement. How did all of them know?

Our small group time was neat. The Scripture parable that we listened to didn't make any sense at first, then Laura read the last couple of lines and then we did recognize it. We had a very chatty group, it was fun. We talked about foundations for our faith, being pillars for each other, and found out silly things about each other.

Saturday afternoon, we had a time of pampering. We did a drawing for a free makeover, by one of the Mary Kay ladies. Someone brought a massage chair, someone else was doing Satin Hands, which is another Mary Kay thing. I knitted for awhile, then decided I couldn't talk & knit at the same time, so I put it away and socialized. Someone said I should do the Satin Hands, so I did, and it felt really good. My hands were really soft! Then someone else decided that I needed my nails painted. I picked a nice, conservative pink. She decided I needed red. So that's what we did. I'm not used to having dark nail polish on my fingers, but it was fun!

Saturday night, after dinner (pasta!) we had line dancing and karaoke. I knew some of the songs, but my voice was starting to go out on me, so I couldn't sing much. I did, however, get a kick out of one of our leading first sopranos. She was singing the guy's part in Summer Nights, which was really funny! The dancing was so much fun! We also did the chicken dance, the hokey poke, Macarena, and electric slide. I taught them how to do the electric slide, which is a scary thought.

Sunday morning, I was supposed to play the keyboard for worship. They changed the music at the last minute, since the music minister got sick. Oh well, it still worked fine. I didn't know the song very well, but by the third verse, it sounded pretty good. We also had a time of planning for the church. What were some groups that we thought should be added at our church? There were lotsa ideas, including a cooking group, a mentoring group, singles, parents of teens (would be called POTS), divorce recovery, working moms, newly marrieds (gee, who suggested that one?), so on and so forth. It was a really great weekend and I'm so glad I was a part of it!

This weekend, I'm going out of town again! My friend Becky is a band director at a high school about an hour east of Abilene. This weekend is their solo & ensemble competition, and I'm going to accompany some of their solos on the piano. Plus, the competition is in Abilene, so I'll be staying with David's parents! Yay! I get to play the piano, make money, visit with Becky & David's parents. Talk about a great weekend!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

A Day in the Life of a Student Clinician

Posted 1:35 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Here I am, in the UNT Psychology Building. I'm in the computer lab, working on stuff until my on-call hour at three. It's been an eventful day, to say the least. David was working overnight, and hadn't come home by the time I left at seven this morning. I don't sleep well when he isn't home, and last night was no exception. I decided putting in contacts was a bad idea today. Oh well, I'll look studious today.

My individual supervision hour went really well. We watched one of my therapy videos, and talked about what I did right. Luckily, there were a lot of things that I did well in this week's video. Hooray! We also outlined a plan for next week's session, as well as what was going on with my other clients.

Then I had a session with a client. I'm finishing up the intake interview. She's a talker (well, so am I), so it's taking a bit longer than usual. I did get the interview finished, now I'll watch the video and write the report. This afternoon I have my on-call hour. That means that I sit in a little room in the clinic and take phone calls for people wanting to get an assessment or therapy. I find out their schedule, and pair them with someone who fits their schedule. People don't call in all that often, although last week's caller was very interesting. I got to deal with my first crisis situation! That wasn't very fun, but it happens. I immediately had chocolate after I got off the phone with her.

After on-call hour, I have a bit of time, then it's group supervision time. We watch training videos, discuss readings, as well as clients. This week, I get to go home after group supervision, most Thursdays I have a client afterwards, but not this week. Which is good, I'm not sure I could make it through another session today. Then I'll go home and crash.

So that's a day in the life of a student clinician. I enjoy it, as well as the people that I work with. They definitely make my long Thursdays bearable!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

It's February 14th!!

Posted 3:38 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts











So far, this has been a decent week. Saturday night, we went out with our Sunday school class. Most of the class was able to come, that made 16 of us. We went to Trail Dust for dinner and dancing. I taught one of the guys how to dance, while David was helping his wife. David & I amused the others in our class with our dancing. They were impressed with it, and we even got some comments in next morning's class!

Sunday, I was teaching the Merry Music Makers, and one of the girls gave me a picture she drew, and her mom told me that I'm her favorite teacher. Yay! That made me feel good. When the parents were getting their kids after rehearsal, one of the dads told me that his daughter had used some of the dance moves I taught her at the Daddy-Daughter dance. That made me rather scared, as I have no idea what dance moves she learned from choir.

Last night, I began another knitting project. Instead of doing another hat, I'm starting on a blanket. Mom helped me pick out yarn & get started. Who knows how long it'll take.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

Posted 5:07 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

February 8, 1975. My mom & dad were married in Wesley Chapel at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. My mom made her wedding gown, and they had the reception at the church. After the wedding, they went skiing in New Mexico for their honeymoon. They met when they were both working at Pizza Inn. Mom was a waitress, and Dad was the assistant manager. It was here where he learned how to make his world famous pizza! They dated for a few months, then quickly knew that they were right for each other.

I went by my parents' house earlier today. I spent a little time looking through their wedding album, something that I've enjoyed doing for years. It's always fun to see the styles of clothing and hair and how they are different now. Growing up, I loved hearing Mom or Dad tell stories about their wedding day, and early years of marriage. Now, as a newlywed myself, it's even more special to think about.




I've had my whole life to see an example of a good marriage, thanx to my parents. I really learned a lot about relationships from watching them, and hopefully took some of that with me into my own marriage

Congratulations to Mom & Dad. I admire & love you very much, and could not ask for more loving and wonderful parents. I look forward to the day when David & I are celebrating our thirty-first anniversary! Here's to thirty-one years of marriage, and to another thirty-one years full of happiness and love.


Monday, February 06, 2006

I Do Not Exist

Posted 5:02 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

According to the UNT Library system, I do not exist. Never mind that I have been attending UNT since 1996, when I first started as an undergrad. Ever since I changed my name, I'd been having problems with my current student ID and checking out library items. Since I kept my old ID card, I'd hand them that one and it worked.

Last month, the guy at one of the libraries said he knew how to fix the card so that I could use my new one. Well, I don't know what he did, but last week when I needed to get a video for our supervision, I couldn't check it out, and he said my name wasn't in the system. I told him to try my maiden name, that didn't come up either.

So I was told to go to the registrar's office. So, today, that's what I did. My card ran through the system just fine, although they told me to go to the student ID section to have them check it. Fine. After getting the all clear, I went back over to the sci-tech library to check out a book for practicum. No go. I told the guy at the desk that I had been to the registrar & ID desk, he of course had to call, and they were checking on it. I was told to come back in thirty minutes.

To give them more time, I came back an hour later. I was then told I that my name was not in the system, and I could not check out the book. (Well, DUH!!!!! That's what I had been saying!) I then had to go to the main library and talk to them. At that library, I was told the same thing. However, she did something in the computer, and now I could check out stuff. I had her try the card in the system, just to make sure.

I went back over to the sci-tech library, where they were holding the book for me. I checked out the book with no problem. So now I exist in the UNT Library system. At least until next semester. And now my feet hurt from having to walk all over campus. I'm all for walking and getting exercise, however, these shoes that I'm wearing aren't really good for walking all over campus. Oh well. At least I have my book.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Pilates Princess

Posted 10:03 AM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Recently, I have decided to start doing Pilates. I would like to tone and build up strength in my body. Somebody told me to go look at videos & books at the library. Except for one book, they were all checked out. Groan! I even checked the Carrollton library as well, since I still have my library card from there.

Sunday night, David & I went to Half-Price Books after dinner. (We went to a really good Indian food place. Yum!) I found a three-pack of Pilates DVDs. They actually had two different sets, but the other one was for weight loss, which is not what I'm looking for. So the price was right and it looked like it would be good for me.

The first DVD focuses on cardio. The second, firming & flexing and the third, toning. Each video has three workouts on it. I've done one on each video. I tried the firming & flexing first. I did okay, but almost fell over a couple of times, and actually did fall once. Hopefully Pilates will help me with my balance. (David was sitting in the room as I was doing this, he didn't see me fall over, and that's a good thing.)

The cardio video moved fast, but it was a lot of fun. It combines Pilates, dance and a little bit of Yoga. I'm not the most coordinated person, so I was glad I was alone while doing this video. If Ash had been able to talk, I'm sure he would have been laughing at me! Oh well, I'll get the hang of it.

The toning video, I tried this morning. My arms & legs are still sore from it! I think this video will also help me be more flexible. I considered myself to be pretty flexible until I tried this video. Oh, well, I can laugh at myself. All in all, I like these videos (and not just because it has conga drums playing in the background, although that's a definite plus) and am enjoying the workouts from them!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

A Fun & Cool Job

Posted 5:14 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

I've heard a lot about mystery shopping lately. There was an article in the paper recently, as well as hearing people talk about it. I found a list of reputable mystery shopping companies. I thought it might be a fun way to earn a little extra money.

I signed up with several different mystery shopping companies, and received my first assignment on Monday. Since I only had appointments early in the day, I decided to perform my assignment this afternoon. Wow, it was fun! And I will receive reimbursement of what I spent today, as well as ten dollars for performing the assignment. Not a whole lot of money, but it's something. I like opportunities to bring in money, even if it's not a lot. After completing the assignment, I had to fill out a survey about my shopping experience. It definitely requires me to pay more attention to things that I normally would not. I'm excited to find out what my next assignment is!

Here are some websites related to mystery shopping:

National Shopping Service
Sassie Shop (this one has several mystery shopping places on the site.)