Must be the anti-wrinkle facewash :)

So the softball team I coach decided to take a trip to Florida for Spring Break this year. Now, I can assure you that even though it is my senior year of college....again...there is nothing I'd rather do than drive two 14 passenger vans loaded with high school girls and gear for 24 hours.

We've been looking into all kinds of options and finally found a great field in Florida to go to for a reasonable cost. We looked into hotels, food, prices, etc. and the only thing left to do was look into getting our two vans so the other coach and I could drive the girls down. After two hours of calling I finally found a place that had two available in Madison! It finally looked as if it was all coming together until we came across a slight glitch...

I am too young to rent a car!

I'm glad it's ok for me to take 14 underage girls out of state as their guardian for a week, just not in a rented vehicle.

On to plan B...stay tuned :)

Hey FOLKS!

SOOOOOO, it's been a while....like half a year. But, I decided to throw one out there on this rainy day!

Things in Madison are going well. I'm student teaching 7th grade at Hamilton Middle School and totally loving it. I would LOVE to get a job in a middle school next year but we'll see how things go.

I also just got a job at the one and only SUPERTarget in Fitchburg so I'll be working there in the meat department. Rock on! It's as close to Walmart and Kwik Trip as I can get right now so I'll take it and hope to move up ;)

Anyways, in 6 months, that's about all I got. Later folks!

Spring Break= Girl Gone Wild!

So, my cousin CC requested that I dedicate a blog specifically to the crazy spring break I have planned next week. Let me tell you, it's a doozy! As you will see, I plan on doing all your typical Girls Gone Wild things...... just in my own way since I have to student teach in Madison over break :) Woooo-hooooo let the fun begin!



Day One:
1. Student Teach
2.Soak up some rays....by hitting up the local tanning bed. No waiting since everyone else actually IS on break getting tan!
3. Softball practice.

Day Two:
1. Student Teach
2. Act like a star by going to the spa for a hairstyle...by using my $5 haircut coupon at Great Clips!
3. Softball Practice.
4. Curl up with a hot firefighter in bed.....by watching my latest Netflix delivery: Rescue Me- Season Two.

Day Three:
1. Student Teach
2. Celebrate my spring break with loads of alcohol....by downing a bottle of Nyquil to kill the cold I probably got during day One or Two from one of my students.
3. Softball Practice.

Day Four:
1. Student Teach
2. Strip down to my underwear....so that I can do my wash across the street since our washer's spin cycle broke.
3. Softball Practice.
4. Gourmet steak dinner....since Healthy Choice had a $2.50/unit sale at Wal-Mart this week!

Day Five:
1. Student Teach.
2. Bed...to recover from my wild and crazy Spring Break!


Don't you wish you were living the crazy college life like me?!?! I thought so!!!! WHOOOO-HOOO!

Kwik-y

Aunt M.C.- Let me know if this was an acceptable blogging topic approved for your list you provided me with :) You do know you can call me, too, to get the scoop.

The big news is I got a new job...at Denny's! I quit 2 days later. Now, let me clarify. I have never before quit a job so this was new territory for me. I made a list of things I wanted to do in 2009 and getting a waitress job was one of them. Quitting was not. However, long story short, when the manager told me they wouldn't serve black people I kindly told them I subsiquently would not work there. Easy come easy go...I'm still babysitting, tutoring, and working in the school of ed. office.

Next on the 2009 to-do list...running a half-marathon. I just paid my fee yesterday and start training tomorrow (Fat Tuesday and running just seem like a bad idea!). Anyone up for a race May 24th?!?! COME ON DOWN to Madtown :)


And the BIG news is I got another new job: talk about how everything works out for a reason.... I'm officially the assistant Varsity Softball Coach at Madison West! How cool is that?!?! I am very excited and the season starts in 18 days...not that I'm counting or anything :) The team has a pretty poor record but then again they've never had a Curtis in the program!

Anyways, that's about all the news I've got. No Spring Break plans b/c I don't have a spring break; UW and the Madison School District are on two different schedules. BUT, I am totally enjoying student teaching. My class is awesome and those kids have given me enough stories to last a lifetime.

Hope you're all well in LaCrosse...I mean everywhere! :)

Tagged

My cousin Katie tagged me....so I'm in:
This is a picture of my friend Jordan and I on the eve of election night.

Here's the game:
1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

Tagged by Me:

1.Margie
2.Colleen
3.Karen Konkel
4. I dont read any other blogs beside people who have already been tagged.


Don't have a blog?...GET ONE!!! We want to stalk you too :) haha

It may not be Kwik Trip but....

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of NKHASO or Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Organization, Inc. In our two years, HIV/AIDS rates at the site have dropped to just seven percect, twenty-six percent below the national average and twenty-three percent lower than our first month of testing. Nearly 800 people were tested this quarter alone and nearly 2,200 people in the community were educated by the organization. Clean water has reached 30 homes in the past month and 6 latrines were built. There are now SEVEN Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Org. clinics in the area, six more than the original site. We've distributed 10,000 condoms in the past three months and over 3000+ informational handouts to locals.

However, despite this progress, there is still much to be done. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please consider a donation to NKHASO, Inc. Anything you can contribute will help as our projected budget for the next three months is nearly 800 dollars...a small cost when you consider all the lives this will save.


Any donors please contact Bailey at bcurtis@wisc.edu


Here's some quick info to show our progress:

Nkhata Bay AIDS Support Organization, Inc.

Unofficially established Dec. 2006 in Malawi (33% positive)
Legally established in Feb. 2007 in Malawi
Legally established in July 2007 in Wisconsin



Biannual report summary for January-June 2007 (19% HIV positive) 14% < Ntl Av.

•131 clients by June, death rate lowered from 60% in January to 11.4% in June
Due to increase ARV medication distribution to HIV positive individuals
•Only 2% absconder rate by June 2007
•Area population of 35000, only 3321 tested from 2000 to June 2007
•30 people trained this term for Home Based Care (Care Givers PLWAS by National AIDS Commission)

Programs established this term:
Established Home Based Care Program (care/nutrition for those with AIDS)
Resource Center (library, handouts, etc)
School Travel for Youth Education


Quarterly Report Summary for Sept- Nov 2008 (7% positive) 26%< than ntl average•SIX Outreach clinics established in area, up six from original one clinic in Jan. 07
•739 clients tested, 47 positive down- 12% from June 2007
•Youth Advocacy- 8 in school programs, 6 out of school programs
•Condom Distribution – 10,000
•Home Based Care Program- 47 registers, 21 on ARVs, 10 supported with food
•Water Purifying Solution- 30 houses reached, 6 pit latrines constructed

Session offered:
HIV/AIDS-15 (603 attendance)
TB- 5 (310 attendance)
Malaria-9 (478 attendance)
Nutrition-12 (310 attendance)
Diarrhoea-8 (458 attendance)

Material distributed:
oHIV/AIDS- 1171 brochures
oMalaria- 964 brochures
oDiarrhea- 566 brochures.
oNutrition- 423 brochures
oTB- 291 brochures



Projected budget for next quarter-800$ or 94,500 Kwacha
Counselor Allowance- 54,000K
Transport- 3,200K
Rubbing alcohol- 4,500K
Condoms- 14,400K
Medical Personnel Allowance- 3,000K
Email and mail fees-6,000K
Contingency- 2,000K

If I write a blog on Kwik Trip, I know you'll all read it!

If you're reading this, you probably are related to me. If you're related to me, you probably think one of the greatest place created by God himself is the local Kwik Trip....am I right?!?!? I mean how else can you explain a place that sells sixty-four ounce sodas for $1.29 and three hot dogs for $1.19??? Got a K.T. card?? Well you just saved yourself up to 8 cents a gallon on your gas, thank you very much! I love it. And so do all Curtis'. So when I was driving back to Madison from Up North with my friend Clare last weekend, it should come as no surprise to you all that I made her stretch out her bladder from Wausau on down just so we could stop at the Kwik Trip in Stevens Point. You know the one, don't pretend you don't! So as I'm giving her my explaination of why this place is so great, I happen to mention how most of my family feels the same way. I mean, come on now, some of my fondest childhood memories involve my uncles and cousins taking me to get a 64 oz. slushie the size of my head and 3 hot dogs to top 'er off (maybe a Mr. D's on the side if there was time). Picture this now: Clare and I walk (some faster than others) into the K.T. and being a Curtis I get so excited I have to go to the bathroom. So when I came out of the bathroom at the Kwik Trip and saw Clare hamming it up with the guy next to her at the Cafe Karuba machine, it wasn't a shock to me that the guy she was chatting up was my uncle, TERRY CURTIS. I swear to you, my family is the only one who could bump into each other in the middle of the state at a Kwik Trip!


The family Reunion at the place that makes Wisconsin proud!



Home for Thanksgiving and obviously not growing.


It could be worse if I took a picture next to this giant...