Have I mentioned how much I would love to meet Katrina?  I mean truly.  She’s one of those people whose blog I read and I just think over and over and over how cool and awesome and inspiring and just JOYFUL this woman is.  I’d love to fly out there and sit down with her for like a MONTH or well, a YEAR and pick her brain and learn all her secrets to a happy marriage and a joy-filled life and her beautiful devotion to God. Sigh.  And as I start to get all bummed because I have really nothing exciting in my own self to offer back to her in this very one-sided stalker-esque relationship, I see that she PICKED ME!!!  Woohoo!!!  She tagged me on her blog!!!  So…. First Things First… The Rules: You must post the rules.

• Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post
• Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
• Tag eleven people and link them on your post
• Let them know you’ve tagged them!

If you won a gift certificate good for a year’s service from either a maid or a private chef, which one would you choose? I’m going to go with the maid for a couple reasons.  One, and most obviously if you’ve ever been to my home, I hate to clean.  I mean, I do clean, I just really hate it.  I hate all the fur, I hate all the hair.  I hate all the dust.  There’s nothing to me that’s satisfying about cleaning, it’s just grossness everywhere I turn.  Plus, I’m fat enough as it is, so a personal chef would just be dangerous.  And, with the maid, I can cook all I want and s/he can clean it up!!  🙂 Name something you’ve done that was totally out of character for you. “>Oh, I could name a couple, but this is a family blog and so I won’t mention those. 😉  In the “safely mentionable” category, I guess I would say I once bought a Coach purse.  Even at the outlet store prices, and after using it for a decade, I cannot imagine whatever made me think spending that much money on a PURSE was worth it.

Imagine we discovered a life-sustaining planet and a way to get there in a five year space journey. If invited to go, would you be willing to leave behind your life on Earth to explore a new world? (Your family can go with you, of course.) ;Easiest question on the list: No.  However, that said, I’m sure I’d still have to say goodbye to Flash, as he’d be one of the first aboard.

If someone gave you $500 on the condition that you somehow use it to help someone in need, how would you spend it?  I can think of so many answers to this question right now.  While the list is long, I think I’d want to give it to the person it would make the biggest impact on – not just $500 towards medical bills that reach the thousands, you know?  I’d want that $500 to be exactly the life-saving or life-changing amount needed.  I guess I’d have to let God help me figure out the right person/cause.

What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?  Most recently?  Hands down, Horrible Bosses.  Before that?  The Piano. There have been many along the way.

If you lost your U.S. citizenship and had to relocate permanently to another country, where would you go? Why?  I have to rescind my previous statement that #3 was the easiest question on the list.  I want to live in Ireland.  I’ve never been there, but I just think I’m destined to retire there.  It’s soooo green, it’s so simple and country and fundamental instead of materialistic and “pop culture”  and loud.  America is so brash to me.  Plus that accent….sigh.

What’s your guilty pleasure?  – Besides food you mean?  🙂  Piesporter wine.

Who would win in a street fight between the Black Eyed Peas and the Fugees?  I have absolutely no idea.  Isn’t one of the singers of the Black Eye Peas a redhead?  I’m going to go with them.  We redheads are FIERCE.

If you could go back in time and change just ONE decision that you’ve made, what would it be? (I’m not talking about mistakes, but about a time you had to choose between two or more paths.)  I would not go to the college I went to.  I chose it because I wanted to be around people smarter than me (and boy was I!) but I think I would have benefited far more from having some fun in college and being in a more confidence-boosting environment than one where I always felt inferior.

What superpower would you like to have?  I’ve just finished Season One of Heroes and Flash and I have had several discussions about this topic.  I do not want to be a mind-reader, that’s just more information than I ever want to know.  I don’t want to set myself or other things on fire.  I think I’ll go with shape shifting.  Mainly because I love how the woman on Heroes suggests that she’s originally a rather large woman, but she gets to choose her appearance and so she’s now a hottie!  I think I’d like that!

Do you have a weird body quirk? What is it?  A quirky body isn’t exactly the same question, is it?  LOL  I gotta say, there’s nothing fun-quirky about me, no.  The only thing I can think of that’s a bit odd is that I get earaches instead of headaches or migraines.  I had never heard of anyone else getting them like mine until a couple years ago when my dad said he gets them too.  In the same ear even (although mine have started coming in both – oh joy).

I don’t know 11 active bloggers to tag, so I’m going to change the rules up a bit.  For all who read this, (ahem, this means all my lurking non-commenting readers) pick one (or more) of the following to answer in the comments:

1.  Your phone rings at 3am.  Who do you hope it is?
2.  With a budget of $1000, what household project would you tackle?
3.  If you could give your 18 year old self, one piece of advice (assuming your 18 year old self would listen) what would it be?
4.  What’s one thing you wish you’d never bought?
5.  What’s one food you wish you  liked that you don’t?
6.  What do you hope people say about you when you are 90?
7.  Would you rather go for a hike, go for a swim, go for a ride or go for a drive?
8.  If you could take one law off the record books, which law would you like to see repealed?
9.  I mentioned in a blog post long ago that I’m far too lazy to link to, that there are many everyday sorts of things that I just don’t understand (which make me feel so stupid).  My most current one is: why isn’t the coldest time of year on/around the winter solstice?  Why are our coldest days in January and even February and not mid-December?  What everday sort of thing boggles your  mind in a makes-you-feel-stupid sort of way?
10.  You just found a box in the basement/attic dated from your childhood.  What do you hope to find inside it?
11.  What word do you avoid using because you’re certain you’ll use it or say it incorrectly?

Our school is in our third and final year of learning some very innovative strategies for teaching reading.  I have learned a hundred times more about our language, our brains, about the learning process (and the teaching process) during these monthly inservices than in all four years of my over-priced private college education combined.  And I majored in Education and minored in English.

So it should come as no surprise to you that I spent many hours of my evening last night berating myself for misspelling a word in an email to my principal.  A stupid word.  A simple word.  The word ‘busses’.  I knew it didn’t look right when I first typed it (and even now, blogger is red-lining it for me) but according to all the rules we’ve learned, the ‘s’ should definitely be doubled and so I went with it.  And then I spent all night thinking myself a fool.  Worse than just sending an email to my principal with a misspelling was knowing that a) I teach spelling so, duh, and b) this email was going to be forwarded and I now looked like a fool amongst many instead of just by my boss.  (by the way, blogger doesn’t like ‘amongst’ either.  Humph.)

This morning, upon arriving at school, I am so bothered by my stupidity that I find myself opening up dictionary.com to provide further admonishment and guilt.  Only I find this:

HALLELUJAH!!  I was so overcome with angels singing that I nearly cried out loud!!  I wasn’t a fool!  It might not be the most common of the two spellings, but it is right there IN THE DICTIONARY.  HA!

But then as the day wore on, I convinced myself that even if I was correct, perhaps my principal wouldn’t know that was a correct option for the word, and would simply continue to think that I’m an idiot.  Or the people that the message was forwarded to, namely, the people at the BUS GARAGE might surely know better and have a good laugh that one of the teachers in the district can’t even spell bus in the plural sense correctly.

It wasn’t until the end of my day, when I received and unrelated email back from my principal, in response to a thank you I sent her for some help she had provided me with that I truly exhaled and realized all was still well with the world and I would not be looking for a less grammar-driven profession.  In her email, she wrote, “your welcome.”

Flash has had a good day.  Dishwasher has been emptied without nagging, the bathroom sink is void of shaving cream and blobs of toothpaste.  He was extremely helpful shoveling and starting the snowblower again this morning.

While working on a curriculum project and trying to watch the football game, I took a long shot and asked if Flash had happened to see my glasses.  “Yeah, actually,” he replied.  “I have them right here in my hand.”

Amazed at the miraculous response and quick reply, I stared at him for a moment with my mouth agape.  “What?” he asked.  “I just happened to be standing right by the table where they were sitting when you asked.”

“It just seemed like such a quick response to what I thought was a rather difficult request.  I couldn’t have told you where my glasses even might be.”  I explained.  “Since you’re so amazing at things today, do you happen to think you could help me with one more request?” I asked.

“I’ll try,” he responded confidently.

“Well, do you happen to know of a single guy, about 6 feet tall, dark hair, goatee, smart, funny, charming…”  I noticed Flash nodding his head with confidence while I rattled off my fantasy request.  My mind started racing trying to think of what he might be so smug about, when I thought to add, “…a guy I haven’t already dated….”

Ahhh, that was the important characteristic that wiped the smirk right off Flash’s face.

“In that case, no, Mom.”

Well, it was worth a try.

Flash did a great job with Christmas gifts this year.  He had made a note, quite awhile ago, that I wanted an immersion blender and bought  me a beautiful Cuisinart hand blender for the holiday.  It’s been sitting on the counter, waiting for its inaugural use when Flash decided that chocolate malts sounded good the other night.  He decided this was a great opportunity to try out our new device.

Flash was concerned that I would be upset if I wasn’t the first to use it, but I assured him I didn’t mind in the least and was sure he could handle the simple wand functions.

From the kitchen a few minutes later I heard, “Crap!” with enough emphasis to cause alarm on my part.

“Everything okay, Flash?”  I inquired from the other room.

“Yes, but I owe you a mug.”  A sentiment reflecting the house rule that if you chip or break one of my new dishes, you owe me two of the same item in restitution.

“What?  You chipped a mug?!”

“Yeah, well, the blender is a bit tricky.  Where’s that big tumbler you had a few months ago?  The one with the polka dots on it?  That would be perfect.”

“Flash, I have no idea whatever happened to that tumbler.  Why on earth did you use a china mug to blend a malt in?”

“It’s the only thing I could find that the blender would fit down into.  Which, obviously it didn’t do well.  Maybe I’ll try a wide-mouthed jar.”

“Flash, there has to be a….”

“Oh, wait.  Ha.  Yeah, okay, so apparently the blender comes with a tumbler….”

Those darn tumblers just hide so well in the box…

We are working on a writing in our first grade classroom.  I’ve been reading books about winter and walks in the snow and my favorite, Owl Moon, to the class, to class to create visions of snow-laden trees and the sounds under our feet when we go walking through the woods in the winter.  I wish I could take them all on a little field trip as the whole concept seems to be completely foreign to all of them.  I remember vividly walking through the woods behind our home in the snow and loving the silence.

We started by just listing the things we might see, hear, feel and even taste on such a walk.  I had several try to convince me they would see dolphins and candy canes and even taste cookies.  We kept working on the concept.  One boy in particular was really struggling with the task, however.  Listed under what he might taste, he had written, “cheze its”.   I got down on my knees and asked him very quietly to close his eyes.  I asked him to dream about walking through the woods.  I talked him through the mental picture, the snow falling, the trees covered with white, silence and dark.  I reminded him of the books we read, of the animals they talked about, of the sounds they made.  I asked him to take a deep breath and then I asked in a whisper – what do you taste?

“Candy bars.”

“Candy bars?”  I said.  “In the middle of the snowy woods you might taste a candy bar?”

“In my dream I sure do!”

Well, true.  He probably does taste candy bars in his dream.  What was I thinking?

I want these curtains for my kitchen.  Badly.  I have been looking at looking at cafe curtains for my kitchen and I found this pattern and now I WANT IT.  The problem is that as far as I can tell, they are made in England.  They do not HAVE the 18 inch drop version (out of stock) that I need AND they are too wide for the windows I want them in.  They DO have a version on ebay, which would probably fit the other kitchen window beautifully, but then I wouldn’t have matching ones for my little kitchen windows.  Any creative minds out there have suggestions?

“Miss Eliza?”

“Yes, G?”

“I went to that thing where they put the babies in water.”

“Where they put the babies in water?  What do you mean, G?”

“You know, where you go and you watch them put all the new babies in water for the first time?”

[silence and a blank stare – from me this time]

“You know…we got dressed up and we went to watch my baby sister get put in the water.”

“In a pool, G?”

“Kind of.  Kind of like a bath tub.”
“Ooooh, you saw your baby sister get baptized, G?”

“Yeah!  That’s it!  Baptized!”

Had I made the connection that he was still thinking about our discussion of churches during the making of our stained glass window craft, I might have caught on a lot sooner to that one.

“Miss Eliza?  My dad calls my mom ‘Sarah’. “

“Isn’t your mom’s name Sarah?”

“Yeah, but I call her mom.”
“Of course you do, K, but your mom isn’t your dad’s mom.  She is his wife.  So he calls her by her name.”

[silence and a blank stare]

“K, you and your brother get to call your mom, ‘Mom’ because you are her kids.  But your dad is not your mom’s child.”

[silence and a blank stare]

“K, you know your grandma and grandpa?  That’s your dad’s mom and dad.  I bet your dad calls your grandma, ‘Mom’, doesn’t he?”

[silence and a blank stare]

“I just don’t get it Miss Wilson.”

“I think you should ask your mom, K.”