Excessive Happiness

Friday, March 20, 2009

Day of Fun

Posted 8:49 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Today, David & I left our house a little after ten to have a day of fun! We started off at the Original Pancake House. I had some great French crepes, while David tried the ham and cheese omelet. We both really enjoyed our breakfast! After we finished eating, we jumped in the car to head to our next destination, the Dallas Arboretum!

I had checked beforehand to make sure that there would be flowers present this early in the season, and there were! There was also a lot of people there today. We walked around, saw lots of flowers, and I took lots of pictures of flowers. The weather was absolutely perfect for walking around outside! I remembered some of it from the last time we went, but other parts were new. Afterwards, we walked back to our car with sore feet.

After just cruisin' around for awhile, we made our way over to Rice Boxx for lunch. My mushroom stir-fry was really, really good! After a trip to Starbucks, we made our way towards home. Once we got home, I got in the car to go explore the Shops at Starwood.

One of the stores I went to was Pappagallo. They had clothes, shoes, jewelry as well as other accessories. I wound up with a really cute top and some adorable flip-flops! I love finding a good Dezi-store! I also explored The Cupcakery. I picked up a couple of cupcakes for dessert, and will be enjoying one momentarily!

I then went across the street to Halo Tea & Chocolate. After consulting with the guy that worked there, I tried some creme brulee tea, which was delicious! I will definitely be returning there in the future. All in all, it's been a great day of fun!

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Blizzard!!!

Posted 7:35 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Okay, so it wasn't exactly a blizzard, but it was a very interesting week, weather-wise. A week ago Friday, it was in the seventies, but Saturday, it got cold. It stayed cold the next several days, however, I got a surprise on Tuesday morning. I was preparing to leave the house, when I just happened to check my district e-mail on my iphone. (Yet another reason to love my iphone!) I got a message from the webmaster, stating that Denton schools were closed, due to the icy road conditions.

After verifying that with the news and the district webpage, I confirmed that the district was closed. Since I was already dressed for work, and the streets in Frisco were clear, I ran the errands that I had planned to run after work, came home and got into comfy clothes. In the evening, streets here started to get bad, and Frisco Community Band rehearsal was cancelled that night.

Wednesday morning, David told me that Denton schools were closed again, as were most of the districts in the area. He wound up going into work late that day, and I spent another day at home. I got out my yearbooks and spent most of the day scanning pictures and putting them on Facebook. Although it got warm enough to melt the ice, choir rehearsal was cancelled Wednesday night anyway.

Thursday was work as usual! And let me tell you, the day absolutely flew by! Between testing, scheduling ARDs and working on paperwork, it seemed like I had just arrived when suddenly, it was the end of the day! Thursday night, I went to a meeting of the Frisco Association for the Arts. They were discussing the new plan to issue grants to various arts groups in Frisco, including the Frisco Community Band. It was a good meeting and very informative.

On Friday, I went to the winter conference of the DFW Regional Association of School Psychologists. The topic was on Crisis Prevention and Intervention. It was very interesting and the speaker really knew his stuff. The best part of the conference was seeing other school psychologists that I knew, some I haven't seen in several years, so that was really neat!

On tap for this week, a Super Bowl party with some friends, then another typical week at work. I can't believe it's almost February, this year is already flying past!

Monday, January 05, 2009

Back in the Groove

Posted 8:44 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

After two weeks off for Christmas break, today was my first day back. It sure was a cold, wet day! We had a cross-battery assessment workshop in the morning, which was very helpful. The afternoon was spent scoring assessments and writing reports. My new Ipod Nano came in handy, I was jamming to the Wicked soundtrack while working on paperwork.

I came home and had enough time to change clothes and switch out the laundry loads before heading off to the Frisco YMCA for my first class! I wanted to attend the pilates class, but was unable to get home in time, so I chose the zumba class instead.

According to the description, zumba combines fast and slow Latin dance moves. I had no idea what I was in store for! Since David & I took dance lessons, which also included Latin dancing, some of the combinations were very familiar to me. Unfortunately, other combinations weren't, and it was a challenge for me to get my feet to do the steps differently than what we had been taught.

Finally, we definitely worked hard in the class! I didn't think to bring a water bottle, and had to duck out a couple of times to get water from the water fountain. I will certainly bring water next time I come! While the class wasn't the easiest, it was rather fun. I think I'll give it another go next week, provided I quit being sore from tonight's class!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Wrapping Up 2008

Posted 7:07 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

This has definitely been a crazy year in the Rollins family! It started out with David's knee surgery. It went well, and with regular physical therapy, he was on the road to recovery! In February, we bought a new recliner and couch for our living room. I wasn't sure it was the best choice at the time, but I've really grown to like them.

Spring came and went, I started sending out applications for a school district position. In June, I had my wisdom teeth out. The recovery process was probably the worst part, it was several days before I felt completely human. A few weeks later, and I hit a milestone birthday! We celebrated by having dinner with family and close friends. It was exactly the kind of celebration that I wanted.

A few days later, my best friend Becky got married. David and I were both in the wedding, David as an usher and me as a bridesmaid. It was neat to be a part of their celebration, and we have enjoyed regular get togethers with Becky & Eric since then! A few days after that (July was a busy month!), Mom & I went on a cruise together. That was a lot of fun, and we had the once in a lifetime experience of swimming with dolphins! That was an amazing experience, and I'm glad we decided to do it.

David & I then celebrated our anniversary. It seems like yesterday that we got married, but it has been three years! After that, I got some great news! I had some interviews with different school districts, and was offered a job as a diagnostician with Denton ISD! I was sad to leave the preschool, but really excited about the new job, which I truly love doing!

With the new job, the second half of the year has absolutely sped by! We added on to our family in mid-December, with the acquisition of Max, a short-haired domestic cat. We're still waiting for Roxie and Max to get along, but I'm sure that will happen.

As far as plans for 2009, we have a couple of trips planned, as well as hopefully adding on to our family. We shall see! Have a wonderful New Year!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Weekends of Fun

Posted 10:29 AM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

Two weekends ago, David and I went to Barktoberfest. I was there working at the Frisco Dog Park, Inc. table, selling various pet items that were donated by people. David and Roxie came up towards the end of my shift, and we walked around looking at the various vendors.

That night, I got all dressed up and went to the Frisco Arts Gala. As a member of the Frisco Association for the Arts, I had signed up to volunteer at the Gala, which is the annual fundraiser for the association. Proceeds from the Gala go towards grants and scholarships, one of the grants goes to the Frisco Community Band.

So I got to get all glamorous and hobnob with various Frisco arts patrons. One of my jobs was to help people find their assigned seats in the ballroom/dining room. Since one of the tables was almost empty, some of the volunteers claimed it and invited me to sit with them. It was neat to put faces with names and enjoy some great food! When they brought out the main course, I requested a vegetarian alternative, which was scrumptious!

The Frisco Jazz band was there as the musical entertainment, they sounded great! After dinner, my other duty was to hand out the appreciation gifts as people left the Gala. The gifts consisted of a Friscopoly game as well as a box of two cupcakes from The Cupcakery. The best part, is that they had many extras, so I got to take cupcakes and a game home, too!

Last weekend, I met Becky out at Henkfest. It's a big Oktoberfest celebration held at Henk's European Deli the first Saturday in November. Several of my family members go, there's a polka band, and it's a lot of fun. Becky came last year, and we made it a tradition. After Henkfest, we went across the street to the big Half-Price books, sat in the cafe and had a great visit.

Last night, David and I drove out to Lake Dallas for a football game. Heather's brother Ryan was playing his last game with Lake Dallas, so we wanted to see him play. It was a bit chilly, but we had a good time. I feasted on a wonderful pickle, which is my tradition at Ryan's sporting events. They were playing The Colony, and I had a difficult time not cheering for them. I told Heather I was going to be happy no matter who won, since I like both teams. The Colony wound up winning, so good for them! It was a good game for both teams, though.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Crazy Week

Posted 7:52 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

This week was absolutely crazy! We have something called October count that was due today. This count is how we get money for the program.We have to have all of our paperwork for the year updated and turned in to the records department by today. We have to make sure that all of the ARD dates are current. This makes for a lot of paperwork.

Especially since I'm new to the position, this was rather stressful, but I have some great support! I started taking files out to records last week. Between working on files electronically and staying really late on Wednesday night, I managed to get it all done! Whew! Talk about a load off my mind. The good news is, now that I have a system down, the process will be easier in the future!

Yesterday, I decided to partake in my patriotic duty, and I voted. There was a big crowd at the poll, and I stood in line for close to an hour! I'm glad I went early, the polls are going to be an absolute zoo on Tuesday! Tonight we're hanging out at the house, and answering the door for trick or treaters. We haven't had a huge crowd, but we have had more than last year!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Out of the Pot, & onto the Floor?

Posted 3:22 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts

The first Friday of the month at one of my campuses, a designated team is assigned to provide lunch for the staff. Yesterday was the special education team. We had agreed last month that some of us would bring soup in a crock pot, other brought corn bread, chips, dessert, etc. I volunteered to make Can in a Pan soup for the luncheon.

I was worried about it making a mess in my car, so I brought all the cans along with the crock pot up to school, went to the teacher's lounge, and proceeded to make the soup. That was all fine and good, I checked on it a few times, stirred the soup, made sure it wasn't burning.

Lunch was very good, there were a lot of different soups there! Everyone commented on how great everything smelled and tasted. I had to run some files out to our records clerk yesterday afternoon, so I unplugged my pot with plans to return and take it home. Once I came back, I emptied out my pack & roll so I could fit the crock pot in.

Since the pot was about 2/3 full, I was very careful in wheeling it towards the office. I was trying not to tilt the pack & roll too much, so the soup wouldn't spill out, but a little did anyway. I was to the front door of the office, when someone stopped suddenly right in front of me. The lid to the crock pot was jostled and fell into the pot, causing a bunch of soup to spill onto the floor and inside the pack & roll.

Several people grabbed paper towels and we scubbed the floor. When we had soaked most of the soup up, I moved the pack & roll over, only to find a new puddle underneath! Needless to say, I was unthrilled. We cleaned the wheels so it wouldn't leave a trail, and I went on my way, until the lid fell again, and spilled more on the sidewalk! I wound up leaving a soup trail all the way to my car.

Then I had the conundrum of getting the whole contraption in my car. I typically fold up the pack & roll, but the inside was a complete mess, so that wasn't an option. Along with the help of a co-worker, we manuevered it into my backseat. I shoved the sun shade underneath so if it leaked, it'd get on that. In the process of getting it in my car, I got it all down the front of my pants and on my shoes.

Once I got home, I took the pack & roll, crock pot and sun shield into the backyard, setting the inner pot on a towel. I hooked up the hose and sprayed down the outer pot and pack & roll. Apparently I also did not hook up the hose to the faucet as tightly as I could, so water got all over me as well. Before I pulled my car in, I checked the backseat, which also had soup on it. Grrrrr!

I seriously considered throwing out the rest of the soup, but I didn't want to be wasteful, so I cleaned off the inner pot and put it in the fridge. I then took a long shower and ate some chocolate! Needless to say, I was not in the mood for Can in a Pan last night, so David finished off what was left after my shenanigans.

And to top it off, I really wasn't feeling well yesterday!