Spring Break

Spring Break came upon us all before we knew it. To me it felt as if it couldn't possibly be spring break with dirty snow drifts lining the road, but hey, that's Iowa for ya. The week before spring break was full of excited chatter of all the different directions people were headed. Whether it be New York, Can Cun, Florida, California, or Chicago, everyone seemed to be going somewhere. Well, everyone but Ms. Scott that is..
Now I'm definitely not complaining about having time off of school, because that was AWESOME, but I might take a negative tone talking about the not-so-exciting places I went. It wouldn't be that bad, but the fact that I could have been in not three, but FOUR different states instead of Adel kind of bothered me. Now your probably thinking, wow Ellen, how could you possibly screw up four different opportunities for your senior year spring break? Well, if anyone was going to manage to do so, it would be me. My first option was presented veryyy early on this school year in art class. The art department was providing a spring break trip to NEW YORK CITYYY of all places. At first, I thought there would be NO way I would turn down this offer..
About a month later, I was in church and the youth pastor approached me about an upcoming mission trip that would take place over spring break. I couldn't help but think of New York, but the trip was planned to be in sunny Texas and I knew it would be a great experience for me. At that point in time, I was planning on attending the mission trip and hitting up the heavy Texas sunlight..
Then, about a week later, my best friend presented me with an invitation to Florida that would be with her and her mother. I grew extremely excited for this opportunity because it was in the dead of winter and just thinking about a ray of sunlight put a smile on my face. I hadn't committed to the mission trip yet but felt a bit guilty about "ditchin" the volunteer work for a soft, sandy beach. I thought about it for awhile and finally decided that I would be going to Florida with my best friend and have the time of my life. I knew it might take some work to clear the idea with my parents, but I had a feeling they would be okay with it in the end because, after all, it's my senior year.
So, just in case you have lost track of all the awesome places I could have been, we are now dealing with New York City, Texas, and Florida. That's right, there is oneeeee more place I get to screw up.
Well, anyways, I was planning on going to Florida untilll a college I was very much considering contacted me and wanted to have me come to their school and officially try-out for their volleyball team. At this point in time, I had no choice but to drop ALL plans and agree to try out because I had a good chance at getting an athletic scholarship. Of course, the coaches ONE open day to try-out was smack in the middle of my spring break week. I was ooberly bummed for awhile about not being able to go to Florida, butttt this just meant I could spend a week shopping in Kansas City! (where the college is located)
Okay, so here is the kicker. A WEEK before spring break I decided I will be attending a different college then the one I was going to go try-out for.. which means I had no reason to go to KC anymore. BUMMER! So guess who spent their senior spring break loading feed and picking up horse poop for their dad? Ms. Scott did. Move over New York, Texas, Florida, and KC.. 'cuz Adel, IA is what's up! ..and THAT would be my pitiful spring break story.

it was just one of THOSE days...

It started out a beautiful morning with the sun shining bright and the smell of fresh-baked pancakes lingered...NOT. Boy, do I wish I woke up on the right side of the bed more often. I have officially decided that I'm not a morning person. Today it felt like I wasn't a morning, lunch, afternoon, or night person. Let's just say it was a bit of a rough day...
I woke up rearin' to go to school in exactly what I wore to bed. My mop of hair was lucky to have even been collected into one, some-what controlled unit of hair. Off to school I went rockin' a whopping four hours of sleep! Thanks to an upcoming family vacation and volleyball tournament, I will be missing four days of school. That doesn't seem like much to handle, right? That's what I thought! Turns out Mr. Goodale LOVES being the devil and is making me finish my three-day CALCULUS test asap. Studying for this FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE test explains why Ellen only caught four hours of sleep last night. It wasn't that the actual studying kept me up, it was more so the nightmares of radical signs and pies chasing me (you heard me, PIES). Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but regardless, I did NOT get a sufficient amount of sleep and I now regret it. MUCHO.
I got to school and got "that look" from many people.. You know the look I'm talking about. The "did she even look in the mirror this morning?" look. I'm pretty sure I set the new record high for receiving that look today. Ha, it's all good.. right? WRONG. Right when you think your day is turning around, the breakfast line doesn't have your kind of muffin. UNACCEPTABLE! Okay, I do realize that it's absolutely pathetic that I would let a muffin take part in ruining my day, but I love my muffins people. I continue through the day attempting to keep my eyes open and failing miserably. I took a couple cat naps in a selected few classes, but the day truly took a turn for the worst when lunch came around...
I know what you're thinking.. it was a gross lunch, right? Actually, the worst part of my day was lunch because I didn't get to eat it! At all! You see, Mr. Goodale is a Nazi and makes us "derelict" children finish our tests in one period and lucky for me, my only open period was LUNCH. It didn't help that the first part of the test was only eight problems and it took me my whole fifth open to finish them (I'm not stupid, the problems are just reaaaaaaally hard....;). I have to admit, I did feel very accomplished after finishing the devil's version of mathematics.
The rest of my classes went well for the day and I soon started to get very excited for track and volleyball after school. I'm not one of those "crazies" that just lovesssss to run in circles, but I am coming back from being injured and haven't been active in almost a month and a half now! If you are an athlete, you understand just how depressing this kind of situation can be.. and trust me when I say ANKLES ARE OVERRATED! Anywhoooo, I got my ankle taped by the trainer and all was going well! I even did a side heel click out of pure joy ( not the smartest thing in the world). But ya know what sucks? I ran ONE measly lap and my ankle killed. How can that be? One freaking month later and I can't simply jog?? Ehh, I'll quit my complaining because I know that no one really want to hear it, but it crushed me.. absolutely crushed me.
Why I went to volleyball thinking it would feel better, I don't really know.. I realize now that a bum ankle means playing defense is near to impossible, hitting a good ball is a joke, and jump serving only happens in your dreams. If you know me, you know that I LOVE volleyball so you can imagine the mood I'm in now immediately upon returning from the biggest failure of a practice I have ever participated in. Just awesome! Oh, and as if things really couldn't get worse, I received a phone call on my way home about my grandma who has just been checked into her local hospital for heart complications. Catching a break seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it. Well enough of my moaning and groaning, I have CALCULUS to study for.. and a lunch to pack.