whine whine

So, I'm a major blogger slacker and haven't really felt the need/desire to blog much in the past 3 months....but I'm bored and home alone on Saturday night, so I'll ramble a bit.

To quote a friend..."So there's this guy...." and he is totally "Not That Into Me!" I know this, and I accept this. And I never see this old guy, so I'm not pining or living on hope or any of that stupid girl stuff. But I went on a coffee date with this new guy today. We talked for 5 hours and he was intelligent and nice and attractive (I'm not talking Johnny Depp hot, but decent). It was nice.....but all I could think was that he wasn't as good as the "There's this guy" guy. Don't worry, I'll give this new guy a shot if he calls and asks me out again....but I HATE that I always compare guys to the old guy. Isn't there a cut off date after which a girl stops comparing new guys to old guy?

School is going well. I have a sweet, smart class and most things are fairly effortless. Its amazing what parent involvement can do. We've had a few rough days recently and I've had to remind the kids that I'm not their friend, I'm their TEACHER! I try to give them lots of choices so they feel like they have ownership of their learning....but I think they have begun to feel that they get to make ALL the choices and even make demands. All of the recent discord in the class is partially due to the need for a break and partially due to the time of year. Christmas is truly a fever for kids!

So my roommate lost her job and may be moving in January to go to seminary in Louisianna. I can't afford the new house on my own. So I either have to find a new roommate or a new place to live. Both of which are more stress than I want to bother with. Why can't I just get comfortable and stay still for a while and enjoy one place? I hate change. Its necessary sometimes. And even fun sometimes. But mostly its just annoying. Anyone want to solve this problem for me?

Up to Speed

So after the trip to Texas, I came home and slept in my own bed for 5 days and then left early Monday for Church Camp. This should have been a week with no major problems other than trying to remind the teens to "make room for Jesus" with all their new summer camp romances. Instead, we had drama to the max.

Before leaving, the youth group leader had his brand new car stolen and torched on Saturday morning. The pastor went to the emergency room with a crushed pinkie finger after a trailer/jet ski fumble. (Being the pastor's daughter's roommate, I went along until the wee hours of the morning.) And Sunday morning was the last day for the pastor (he had officially resigned 2 weeks prior and Sunday was his last day.)

We also had the extra drama of having 2 of our students get caught smoking pot in their dorm room on Wednesday. SHEESH! How stupid can you be. When you are surrounded by miles and miles of trees in the mountains of VA, you don't stay in your enclosed dorm room to smoke anything, especially pot! They were promptly sent home and we went on with the week.

On Thursday, the only existing keys for the church van were missing (and thankfully found the next morning).

On Saturday, Paige left her wallet in a Chick-fil-A in South Carolina.....only we didn't figure out it was missing until we were 2 hours away. So we had to think fast to figure out a way to get it since Chick-fil-A is closed on Sunday and she would be on vacation on Monday. (A friend in South Carolina helped out!!)

And on Sunday, I figured the week had so much drama and I had been at worship time every night for a week, so I slept in and totally skipped church!!

I have been back for a week. This past week I taught the Kindergarten Class of Vacation Bible School at my church every night. We had one of the teens from church spend the night most of the week. And the grand finale of this post....we spent most of Wednesday night "flamingo-ing" the pastor's house (his daughter's idea!)

The same night, we also toilet papered the youth pastor's house...TWICE! The first one was on Facebook before 2AM....the girls cleaned it up and figured that he would NEVER suspect that happening twice in one night....so they went back and did a more thorough job the second time! bahahahaha

That's my life in July in a nut shell. The next few weeks should be WAY more boring. :-D

Rental Car Companies

I wanted to go visit my mom while I was in Texas. It is a 6 hour drive from where I was in Texas to my Mom's house in Oklahoma. I went online, found a good rate at Enterprise Rental Car and reserved an economy car at one location in town. My friend drove me to the rental car place....which was not easy since the GPS directions were wrong and the rental company was located INSIDE a car dealership's service department bay.

Once successfully locating the company, I went inside. There was another lady waiting. The only worker was on the phone and did not look up as I entered. When he got off the phone, he spoke to the woman who was waiting ahead of me. He had her sign paper work, he took her out to look at the car and then he came back in. He filed said paper work and typed on his computer BEFORE making eye contact or greeting me. He did NOT say "sorry for your wait"...just a cool greeting with a bad attitude. When I told him who I was he went on to explain that his location does not rent economy class cars (even though the website confirmed my reservation for this class of car!!). He had tried to call me but must have the wrong number......in the end, he reluctantly looked up the other car dealerships in town and made a few phone calls only to discover that NO ONE in all of town had ANY cars to rent. (I call Bull Shit on that one!)

He offered to call a company a few towns over....which would be an hour drive for me and out of the way. But since I didn't enter my phone number correctly, this wasn't his fault (he claims). If my number had been correct, he would have been able to cancel my request since he doesn't carry economy cars. So he is not responsible for making sure the other car rental person that is a full hour away and in the wrong direction gives me discount, deal or upgrade of any kind. "Sorry, You are Shit Out of Luck" was his attitude. I was FURIOUS! Enterprise will be receiving a letter from me for an ineffective website and a RUDE employee who doesn't know how to do his job!

THEN, we ended up in Texarkana. My friend was on a business trip....I had hoped to rent a car there. It would cut down on my visiting time with Mom by about a day, but could have been feasible.....however, the rental car companies refused to take my Visa check card. Apparently, they will not rent a car unless you have a credit card that is NOT linked to any other account. The fact that I have over $3,000 in my account doesn't matter. The fact that it has a VISA symbol on it and works as a credit card every where else I go doesn't matter. They will be glad to CHARGE my VISA check card when I return! But they are unwilling to secure the car rental with said card!!!! WTF?!? (I have a credit card, it just happens to be at home in VA and therefore useless.)

So no rental car for me. No visit to see my mom. After 12 hours of stress and worry and a few tears, I am sitting in a hotel room with lots of time on my hands and several books to keep me busy. I'll spend some of my spare time in the hotel room writing a letter of complaint to Enterprise!!

Vacations

I went to Chincoteague with Kim and had a great time. We left the day after school was over and stayed for a week. We did a lot of relaxing and a little bit of sight seeing....which was perfect for me. We walked around to see the ponies, we kayaked through the marsh, we sat on the beach, we ate lots of seafood, we bowled, we played putt-putt, we shopped and we ate ice cream almost every day. We also read lots of books, cooked a few good meals, tried our hand at catching crabs and watched some TV. It was a great chance to get away for a while.

Now I am in Texas. I came for 2 weeks with Paige and family. We stayed at her Dad's lake house for a few days and swam, played card games, played Farkle and read books in the hammock. Now I am in Texarkana. I was supposed to rent a car and go see my mom (see next post for details), but that fell through, so I am being lazy in a quiet hotel room while Paige attends a conference. I found a Books-A-Million and bought a few books and magazines. I will probably go back to the mall for a little shopping. And I'm sure I'll watch TV and nap.

I have enjoyed the LONG break from school. I have enjoyed the books and the relaxation. I have enjoyed the company. But I'm kinda ready to be back home and get some things done on my to-do list. I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and drive my own car. I'm ready to start the process of planning for a new school year and designing my classroom in my head........BUT after Texas is a week of Church Camp in North Carolina. So I have to hold out a little longer! God Help Me!

Reflection

Its the end of my 7th year of teaching. At the end of each year I look back and realize all the things I could have done better. The parents I should have harassed. The students I should have been tougher on. The lessons that were boring that need to be revamped. The students I will always remember....for good and for bad.

But this year as I look back, I realize that this time last year I wasn't teaching in a classroom. I was in South Africa. I was stressed about the lack of schedule and structure to my day. I was anxious to finish my job and get home. I was excited because my best friend was going to fly out to see me for 2 weeks. It sometimes feels like Africa was SOOO far away and in another life time. It is strange to think that living in Africa was something that was just ho-hum life at one point. It was no more foreign than teaching 4th grade! hahaha

A year in Africa and a year in 4th grade....2 strange, unusual worlds with their own unique culture. I'm hoping that the up coming school year will feel like putting on an old, favorite, comfortable T-shirt. I hope I'm not looking back at kindergarten with rose colored glasses. But I remember having more FUN with the little kids. I hope my memory serves me well, because its back to the wild world of 5 year olds I go. Praise Jesus and God help me!

Men at Lowe's

I have heard many times that the most popular non-bar places to find a man are:
1. The grocery store
2. Church
3. Lowe's

I happened to be going to Lowe's on Saturday to get a few things for the house. I put on makeup and didn't wear one of my stained T-shirts. Not really making an effort to look good, but making an effort to not look bad if that makes sense. I mean....you never know who you might meet right?

While at Lowe's I realized that it is the LAST place I will find a man. As I walked down the isles looking for an air filter for the house (which was in the plumbing section!) this is what I saw:
1. A cute guy as I was walking in one direction.....when I got to the end of the store and realized what I wanted was on the other end, I walked back by cute-guy-aisle and saw cute guy......his leg was cocked and he was busy scratching himself! Ewww.
2. The next aisle over I see a not-so-cute guy digging up his nose. Not just picking his nose....digging! Mining for gold!!
3. The next few aisle produced men pushing carts with kids in them as they followed around their wives.
4. The garden section produced a few more married couples, a bunch of women and one sickly sweet gay couple.
5. And to make it the best trip ever, all of the people who worked at Lowe's were either old enough to be my dad or young enough to be jail bait. Once again....Ewww.

I left Lowe's barely able to contain my laughter. This is the place I'm supposed to meet men? God help me! I may die an old maid!

It's Almost Over!

As a student, I remember thinking that the last few weeks/days of school were a waste. We watched movies and played and learned very little. As a kindergarten teacher, that was not the case in my class. Oh, we had fun, but I was assessing and teaching right up until the end. The last two days were cleaning and packing things, but even then we did some learning activities!

4th grade is a bird of a different color. All of the testing is scheduled to be done by the end of the day Monday.....which gives me 9 days where I have covered every required objective and have no set goals we have to meet. The kids know this! There really is no reason for them to want to do work after next week....its not going to affect them if they are lazy. I can't really give graded work the last week because the information has to be entered into the computer in time for report cards to be printed. So I'm faced with a FORCED week of fluff. Movies, games, extra recess and crowd control are my job for the last week of school. I will try to squeeze academics in where I can, but seriously....they are checking out on me at an alarming rate.

And just to make things more entertaining for us all.....throw in 150 fourth graders, one week of school remaining, lack of attention span, and summer fever.....mix it all together with FAMILY LIFE class for 2 days and what do you call that??? CRAZY! I have to talk about puberty and body changes with 4th graders at THIS point in the year? Who's dumb idea was that? I wish I could video tape it for your viewing pleasure. Just saying the words "family life" made the kids giggle and make crack comments.....what are they going to do when we split all the girls and boys and actually TALK about these things? Eish!

Lesson in Frustration

So, there's this guy....
Hahahaha Friends from college will truly get the humor behind that famous phrase.
But semi-seriously, there's this guy.....or should I say "these guys." Note the plural!
Are any of them serious in any way? Heck NO! But the possibilities seem to be growing.
So 1 guy at church. One guy I went to high school with (that is to say, we had classes in the same building, but never crossed paths enough to speak to each other until recently), and one guy my best friend is trying to set me up with.

Of these, guy 2 has my number and assures me he will use it soon. The other 2 are minor possibilities in a who-is-she-kidding, plot-of-a-bad-feel-good-romantic-comedy sort of way. But seriously, in my life the possibilities have often been few and far between. So to have several to day dream over has been fun. Is any one of them "THE ONE?" I doubt it seriously. But cute guys on the horizon are fun to think about.

I blame it on the 4th grade drama-seeking influence in my life. But honestly, a little drama in life is fun. That's why the 4th graders create it when life gets too boring! Life has been a little boring, so I'm hoping for a little drama. It's bad when the students have this big of an influence on their teacher!

English Canon

So I read an article online that discussed the "Canon" of books commonly used in high school English classes. The article was trying to say that it is a good idea to update the list. Add more modern great novels in and subtract some older, harder to understand, BORING novels. I agree that it is important to update and add more relevant books. I also think its important to keep some old favs. Wm. Shakespeare should exist in High Schools in poetry and play forms.

However, my disagreement with the article happened when they stated that Twilight and Harry Potter were BAD books. They are purportedly "immature" and have characters and audiences that do not seek to ever grow up. I disagree. I think that if we really want our teens to be life long readers we need to teach them to read....for the fun of it! Think about the novels read by the average adult. They are not usually "American Modern Masterpieces." The novels on the Top 150 lists tend to be novels for entertainment purposes. John Grisham, Daniel Steele, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Dean Koontz and Nora Roberts just to name a few off the top of my head. If we want kids to read for life, we need to teach them to enjoy it. Don't get me wrong. I think the teens need to see the flaws in Twilight. Analyze the story separate from the flawed writing style. Learn to appreciate how/why books would hit the Top 150 and weed out the ones that are full of fluff. But let's be honest. Fluff is good in its place and time.

So its not horrible to approach teaching from a "if you can't beat them, join them" perspective. Compare Twilight to Romeo and Juliet...aren't both star crossed couples from the outside? Aren't both couples dead at the end of the story? Compare Harry Potter to Oliver....Orphans who end up in better places. I wish I'd had more fun stuff in High School. I would have LOVED to write a paper on a book of my choice. I would have worked harder on it and known more about the plot. I wouldn't have had Cliff Notes (or the newly popular Spark Notes) to help me with a non "canon" book. Keep the canon, but allow room for popular fiction too.

And for Pete's sake, where is the non-fiction? Other than a text book, I don't remember reading biographies or non-fiction of any sort. Don't we have room for something other than fiction novels, short stories or poems?

Ok, the English major/Teacher in me is done. I've said my piece.

Proof Read!

I don't know if it's the English major in me or the teacher in me, but I am EXTREMELY bothered by the grammar and punctuation errors commonly found on the Internet. It seems every article or website I visit has glaring errors within its pages. I know that the Internet has become a casual, user-friendly, socially-oriented community that links many different social, cultural and economic groups. The Internet offers a plethora of knowledge for anyone willing to dig for it. But lets face it, the Internet is full of fluff and junk. It has become a place where there are no real guidelines, rules or overseers. Although this allows for enormous creativity and self expression, it also has created the WORST writing, spelling and punctuation know in the history of man!

OK, so the English Major in me is rearing her head and reminds me that throughout history, spelling has been fluid and open to frequent change and modification. Perhaps with the volume of things written in this technology-saturated age, we should expect a surge of new spelling, grammar and style of recording of information.

But the teacher in me is appalled at the laziness of people. How hard it it to use spell check? And if you write an article and expect it to be considered valid and worthy of note, how difficult is it to have a buddy proof read it for major grammatical mistakes?

I wish there was a business that paid people to proofread and check websites for errors. I like reading random articles online. I like telling people they are wrong. Let me combine the two and make some money at it! But alas, I fear our society has turned a new page. Not many people care about grammar/spelling errors. Many more than that do not even recognize the errors. Do we need to go back to to the days when hours were spent in class torturing children with the horrors of diagramming sentences? I will be the first to tell you that teaching parts of speech is frustrating and seems useless. But when a sentence is a fragment, run on, or makes NO SENSE at all, writers need to be able to recognize what is missing and FIX IT.

I'm willing to let a fragment, run on or misplaced modifier remain for the sake of the art of writing. But to commit these worst of writing errors unknowingly and without care is a bit cavalier. We need some order and structure to writing and spelling or else we will all become dumber and less articulate for it!!

My conclusion: I suggest you read material that is edited as often as possible. Save your brain!

Side Note: I checked for spelling and grammar twice before publishing this. I came back an hour later and found ANOTHER mistake. It seems that even the lowly English major makes mistakes....but at least I FIX them.

Good Hair Day

So I left school at 4:00 (HAVE to stay til 3:45, I'm usually there until 5:30). I'm happy cause I'm out the door early. I'm headed to an initial evaluation from a chiropractor. On the way, I reach over to grab a bottle of water. I stick it between my legs to hold it still as I drive, and I twist off the top. Only its one of those NEW 50% less plastic bottles. So as soon as the top is loose, water comes gushing out of the top! Now my jeans are wet....on the top and the bottom! WET SEAT! EWWW. So I use some McD's napkins to mop up some of the water as I dodge oncoming school buses. The McD napkins start to ball up and leave little white papers splotches on my dark colored jeans. So I then brush at the napkin wads to remove them. THEN I look at my hands and realize there was a reason these jeans were on sale at Wal-mart for $5!! THEY LEAK DYE! So I have wet pants with napkin balls and blue hands. AIN'T NO WAY this chic is going to a doctors appointment looking like this. So I go to call the Dr Office....and the number/business card is AT HOME! Great. Now I am a no-show-with-wet-pants-napkin-balls-and-blue-hands girl!

BUT, it was raining ALL day, so its a good hair day for me. Lots of curl! I embrace the good hair, shed the nasty jeans and joyfully type as I have unexpected quiet time at home with no papers to grade! God is good...even when my hands are stained blue!

Loving Trouble

Are teachers supposed to be happy about a student being suspended? Cause I am!!
Here is the deal....I have a student who walks the line of acceptable. He frequently falls on the wrong side of the line. Not typical "kid making mistakes" kind of falling. Its a "let me see what I can get by with this time" kind of step on the wrong side....ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. And his grandmother who is raising him sees him as angelic. I've "labeled" him. All the students are making up things to get him in trouble. She believes every lie he tells to get out of trouble!!

For weeks, months, perhaps the whole year, the students have told me that this kid cusses and calls me horrible names behind my back. Having multiple witnesses and multiple offenses was never enough for Grandma to believe it was actually happening. So I learned to ignore it and told the students to just tell him to be quiet and ignore him.

Today he made a nasty comment when he was supposed to be sitting quietly. When I asked him to keep his negative comments to himself he replied loudly with "WHATEVER!" and then as I began to turn around he mumbled "B-----" under his breath. I almost danced and shouted with glee!! CAUGHT!!! Red-handed, no getting out of this one, I was a witness!!! I promptly wrote a referral and nearly skipped down the hall in joy!

Is it bad to be happy that I caught a kid calling me a cuss word?

WOLVERINE

So I have always been a fan of the X-Men. The Carter boys were obsessed with them from a young age. Between X-men cartoons, trading cards and comic books, I think I am better informed on the X-men than most women of my age. The character of Wolverine has always been attractive to me....the strong, silent, loner with a big heart.

We went to see the new Wolverine movie. It was pretty darn steamy. I like Hugh Jackman to begin with. He is attractive and always has an air of confidence. But Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is AMAZING! He is so darn hot I could drool.

He is a man! A manly-man. You dont look at him and wonder if he is gay. You don't have to wonder if he has an ass under his baggy pants. You don't look at him and wonder if he is good in bed. You look at a man like him and KNOW that he is straight, has a great ass and is great in bed. Its just something you KNOW about a man like him. That's what I want. A real man. A man who has confidence, a nice butt and knows his way out of a fight.....even if it is all a lot of acting, I'd take it any day.

I think the whole manly man, take care of myself, tough guy thing is what draws me to Jacob in the Twilight books. A little bit of rough and tough goes a LONG way. A little bit of wild in a man makes you want to hold on to him even more....as if you could tame some part of him.

So as I left the theater I wiped the drool and committed to a trip to Texas with my friend Paige....on one condition...we HAVE to go to a rodeo while we are there. A rodeo in Texas is sure to have hot, jeans-filling, manly men who are a little closer eye candy than a man on a screen. ;-)

30 Things...

Ok, so on Facebook, I was linked to a note someone had written. The whole concept of this “note” was to write 30 things you would say to people without being specific about whom you were saying them to. Here were the “rules:”

RULES:
*Write a statement about someone that you've never said to them.
*Use as many people as you want!
* DO NOT indicate to anyone who these statements belong to!
*Try not to repeat a statement
*Have fun... be serious, nerdy, horny... whatever... just do something!!
* This can be very therapeutic!

The concept intrigued me, so here we go:
30 things I would say…..

1. You were wrong. So HA!
2. I never told you the effect you had on me because I didn’t want you to carry that burden simply because you were careless. But, NEVER tell that to another child! You did a lot of damage.
3. I wish you didn’t have to try so hard to make it work. You deserve better.
4. That is not your battle to fight! It's not mine either.
5. I criticize you, but I’m more like you than I want to admit. I want the same things you do. Please stop trying so hard. Stop convincing yourself that this shadow of what you want is the real thing.
6. I’m so happy for you. You got what you never expressed that you wanted. I hope it is as perfect as it seems.
7. You made a stupid choice. Why did you give up? What did you think you were getting? Is it worth it? Do you regret it at all? Did you ever think how your actions would affect others? Did you care?
8. I’m sorry I didn’t take the chance to say “I love you.”
9. I want my future husband to be like you. You are my hero.
10. I pray you will see the real God, not the “church” God you have always been exposed to.
11. You stepped into my life when she stepped out. I will forever be greatful for that.
12. You are fighting for what YOU want and not what God wants for you. Please hurry up and see how great His plans are for you. You’d be so happy! His plans are good. Your plans always seem to make life harder. Get a clue. Aren’t you tired of fighting God’s plan? I’m tired for you.
13. I miss you. I think of you often. I wonder what would happen if I contacted you. Why didn't you call?
14. I always read about friends like you, but never dreamed it was real. I thank God for you! I pity people who do not have friends like you.
15. Stop trying so hard. You are awesome just the way you are.
16. I wish we could spend more time together. We are all so alike.
17. Step up and prove you want it. I wish I could light a fire under your butt.
18. I hate to think about what you are going to be like when you grow up. You have had such conflicting messages in your childhood. You always want to push the limits. You are searching and will never find what you want from anyone on this earth. Oh, I pray God will snatch you up and put you where you need to be. I pray He fills in your holes and shows that He is all you need and want.
19. You pretend your past doesn’t bother you, but it constantly haunts you. Your fears all stem from your past. Do no pass them on to your kids.
20. I worry about you and do not want to clean up the mess you will leave behind.
21. I will always remember you as the wicked witch. I’m grateful you were not a larger part of my life. Your influence will not be passed on through any more generations if I have any control over it. I wonder what YOUR childhood was like, but do not think that gives you a free pass for what you did.
22. You need to let go. I don’t understand why you do that every day. I can’t begin to fathom what you get from it. How does it help you? She’s gone!
23. You missed a lot. I know you regret it. Please don’t let it be guilt that drives you now. Let this be real and not regret.
24. You just keep going. When your plate is full you seem to add more. I’m scared you are just going to stop one day. Your stress level has got to be high. You handle it well, but I worry it will begin to handle you.
25. Your world is so small. You follow all the rules. You are a sweet, kind, goodhearted person, but you are missing the best parts of life.
26. I know you love me, but you sure don’t speak in my love language. I think you are stuck in your ways out of fear…maybe it’s just age. I love you very much and wish we communicated better. I take fault for some for it, but hope you do to.
27. I’m not as content as you think I am. Please stop trying to fit me into a simple box.
28. I had always read about it, dreamed about it, seen it in movies and wanted it…..but never believed it was real until you. You have raised the bar high. Sometimes I wish you hadn’t.
29. I miss you, but I think I’m a better person without you. I know my world is small compared to yours….but only because I choose it. And I know you struggle with why someone would choose to make their world smaller.
30. Being right and doing the right thing are not the same. Do what is right, not what you have the right to do.
    

Now, are you wondering if YOU inspired one of those? ;-)

Fish Hawk

I went fishing on Sunday with my Dad and older brother. I hadn't been fishing in years. I LOVE fishing with my dad. He baits the hook and takes the fish off. He gets my hooks out of the trees (hey, he got his stuck sometimes too!). And he seems to be happier when I catch a fish than when he does! It's always an exercise in pampering. Who would ever think fishing is a time when a girl would feel pampered? hahaha

While we were fishing, there was a Fish Hawk flying over head. As we watch, it plummets through the air and SMACKS into the water. Not a dive but a solid, loud CRASH! Then it flaps once or twice, rises out of the water with a fish in its talons and goes on its merry way. The Fish Hawk did this 3 or 4 times. Circle, swoop, SMACK, fly away with a fish. It was fascinating. If I smacked the water that hard it would HURT. This bird definitely caugth more fish than I did.

Beautiful

Today was the PERFECT spring day. I had nothing planned, no where to go and lots of sun shining all around. Trees are blooming, daffodils are up. Tulips aren't far behind. The house didn't need AC or heat. Short sleeves have replaces long sleeves and a sweat shirt. After a few days of rain and mud and deariness, the sun was very welcome. March just might go out like a lamb after all. I sure hope this is Spring putting her foot down and demanding that Winter back off and stay away until next year.

I should have worked in my flower beds. I should have graded papers. I should have washed my car. Instead, I ate lunch with friends while kids ran around outside. I took a long walk with a friend in town. I sat in a chair in the sun and worked on lesson plans. I had a great day! I want to do it again tomorrow!

Music Magic

I have often thought that music is akin to magic. Think of all the things it can do:

• inspire patriotism
• calm a baby
• advertise a product so that its never forgotten (My bologna has a first name....)
• change a mood (for better or for worse)
• express things that otherwise are unable to be expressed
• bring back a memory
• tell a story
• help you remember information (ABCDEFG....)
• make you fall in love
• tell about how you fell out of love
• bring you to tears
• get your pants off
• help you exercise

......and I could keep going and going. Music is so good for so many things. What is it about the human brain that makes us wired for sound.....literally?

There are certain songs that just make me feel like everything is ok. They remind me of a wonderful, warm, lazy summer. They calm me physically, emotionally and mentally. No matter how many times I listen to a song, no matter how many different contexts in which I hear the song, it always brings back a specific memory or a special place and time.

Examples:
Santana's "Smooth" reminds me of college (Junior Year?)
Rascal Flatt's "Where You Are" reminds me of a boy and a summer in the 'Burg.
Cademon's Call's "High Country" reminds me of a drive through South Africa's mountains.

If I were a really smart scientist I would do a study on brain's and prove that music is like a drug to our brains. I'd win a Nobel prize and be famous!

There's this guy....

Ok, so I never ever post on here anymore. I'm pretty sure no one looks at it any more. But if for some reason you ever look on here....here goes......

So there's this guy! hahahaha
DETAILS:
Age--unsure....late 30s?
Divorced, 2 kids
average height....6'?
average build
grey hair (salt and pepper with lots of salt)
drives a motorcycle and a convertible
Works 2 jobs...Bass Pro Shop and a Gov't Contracting Company that repairs/paints gov't trucks
He's a real man, not one of those metro-wanna be sorts!


Interesting facts: I taught his son in my kindergarten class 6 years ago.
His kids go to my grandma's day care.
He brings his kids to my church so I see him about twice a week if he has the kids for the weekend.
I've semi-noticed him being more awkward around me the past several months but never knew him well so assumed he was just a little weird in general.

Good News: A reliable source was trying to "set us up" and during her conversation with him she found out he is kinda interested in me. I'm "cute and have a good soul" (his words!) And he was indeed being more weird around me than around other people.

Sad news: He is currently seeing someone else.
Is it bad to pray that she was his rebound after his divorce and that he will now realize I'm interested and dump her and move on to me? hahaha

And that's how my life goes! Too little, too late. That was my excitement for the week.

Funny Wedding Photos

Ok, long story short....some of these photos are hilarious. Check them out!