Clumsy

I'm officially a dork. I was close before, but I now have the title.

Last Friday, I went outside to watch the kids play soccer during PE, which is during my prep time. First mistake. I should have been grading or prepping for the following week. Well, whatever. I conform when I absolutely need to. I should have.

The ball went out of bounds (I don't know, about...5 feet from me?). So I run up to the ball. Actually, wait. The thought process went like this:

1) The ball gets kicked out of bounds-I process this.
2) Ah, I'll be cool and get it so the kid doesn't have to run so far.
3) I'll run, trap the ball, and smoothly (with perfect direction) kick it back to the kid that is gratefully waiting for it.
4) I'll hear, "Ah, thank you Ms. Sarah"
5) Then I'll finish watching the game

This is how it actually went:
1) The ball gets kick out of bounds-I process and think of the above.
2) I run to the ball. (Said ball is slightly deflated so they don't kick it over the fence)
3) I try to trap the ball. Instead, I step on the ball because it is deflated.
4) Instead of kicking it back, my foot decides to roll over the ball.
5) My body then chooses to go with my foot (not that it had much choice)
6) I go flying through the air. Not really. If you played softball as much as I did growing up, you will recall learning how to slide...head first.
7) Yes, those instincts came back. I was basically pitched forward, ergo, sliding head first into...no base...just more dirt and rock.
8) So I fly through the air, gracefully, I hope, in front of 5 staff and 28 kids. Lovely.
9) I finally hit the dirt, and I lay there for what seemed like 5 hours before the staff came to see if I'm okay. I'm basically wishing I were anywhere else on the friggin' planet.
10) After making sure I can move, I am almost 30, you know, I grab two outstretched hands of two very caring staff. In this process, I practically trip one of the staff on my way up. She doesn't fall, thank goodness. That would have put me into tears for sure.
11) I dust myself-screaming at myself (in my head) to NOT cry. I assure everyone I am okay. Hey, it was funny right?
12) My kids get led back to the classroom to prepare to go to lunch. As they pass me, they shake my hand or pat my shoulder saying "pobrecita", or "you okay miss?" Ugh. Tears start to fall.
13) I drive home to change. Literally, I looked like Pig Pen.
14) I finish the day off without falling again or tripping anyone.

So, there's the thought process versus reality. Reality does take a lot longer, doesn't it?
Anyway. I was COVERED from head-to-foot in dirt and dust (is that a redundancy?). My forearms are bleeding a little. (Note: when you slide in softball, they teach you to keep most of your palms up from the ground, especially your fingers-don't want to jam them on the base!) It was basically my forearms, a bruise on each knee, and one scraped knee. Thank goodness I was wearing jeans. Oh yeah, plus the humility of my clumsiness.

Watch out for deflated balls.

Hail in Glendale

I know. Sheesh. I know. I haven't blog in a long time. In fact, I wanted to share the weird hail storm we got earlier in October. I think it was October 5. Or 6th. Uh....Nope. The 5th. I just checked. So anyway....it was really, really weird.

About 12:30 or so that afternoon, I had gone to get some lunch on my break. I pulled onto the side street where my school is and all of a sudden, it started to hail. No biggie, I thought. I've seen hail here before. No problem. WELLLLL.....it really started to hail! About pea to marble size, it started coming down. Before I knew it (I pulled to the side of the street), it was a ....... whiteout. That's the only word I think of to describe it. It was completely white outside. It was so bad, I couldn't see my hood, let alone my side mirrors. So I just kept my foot on the brake, hoping that some crazy person thinking they have whiteout x-ray vision wouldn't hit me. Thankfully, it only lasted about 5 minutes. 4 minutes too long, mind you.

Okay, then.......My mom drove me home later that afternoon (my car needed to go to the shop, so I borrowed hers, then she drove me home.)---Got it? Moving on. I drove into my driveway and waited while she finished talking to my grandma on the phone. When she was done, we chatted about what was going on with Grandma when all of a sudden, the hail turned into slightly smaller than golf balls, and began POUNDING the car! I swear, it sounded like someone beating the car with a hammer. Or baseball bat. (Note: I have never had anyone actually hit my car with these things, but it is what I imagine those objects would sound like.) Anyway. Another whiteout. It was hitting so hard, my mom and I couldn't (or rather, wouldn't) get out of the car. It was getting so bad that we put up her sunshade and covered our heads with our hands!

Here are a few pictures of the aftermath. (None of the car, unfortunately, but more about that in a sec)

This is actually after they melted a little.

See the canopy on the left? That's the neighbor's-behind us and to the left. See the canopy on the right? That's my neighbors that live right next door. It flew from their porch, over the fence, and got caught on the other one.

Our flooded street



And of course, a pretty double rainbow to finish off the weird storm.

So anyway, many roofs need to be replaced, along with window, and A/C units. Yes, the storm took out many windows of houses. Mine was really lucky. Of course, I also need a new roof, most likely a new A/C unit, and a new patio roof. (When it rained, my ENTIRE porch was soaked as if I didn't have a patio roof at all. Many cars have been totaled, many racking up damage charges of around $4,000. What a storm!