blogging delay and two very big announcements!

Normally if I ever have a week like last week, I would have blogged about it long before now. But my computer at home seems to have caught a nasty virus, so until I can find a way to get that fixed, I'm limited to school computer use.

So this post is just to say that yes, I did return from DC unscathed with many a tale to tell. All I can say now is that it was ONE FOR THE BOOKS. On MANY levels. Three words will have to do for now: Sequined Obama handpuppets.

There are just a couple of things right now that cannot wait for the virus to be cured, so I am blogging from school.

Two BIG congratulations -

1. Dear friends Hunter and Emily Jones had their baby boy, William Woodrow, IV, on January 20. He is an absolute doll, as you can see. I think he looks like Hunter, but that may be because I think I've seen Hunter make that face. Head on over to their blog to see more pictures and offer your congrats!

2. Also dear friends Stik Dixon and Katie Fanning tied the knot this past weekend! Their wedding was beautiful and all the festivities a great time. I don't have pictures on hand to share, but check out Stik's blog for future updates and photos. They're on their honeymoon right now in the Dominican Republic. Congratulations Dixons! I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

That's all I have time for right now, sadly. Still so much more to share. Hope you're all well. The weekend's almost here! I'm looking forward to it more than cowtails on a hot summer day.

welcome, mr. president

My absence from the blog has been so long, I feel like I need to re-introduce myself.

Blog readers, this Tuesday, January 20, 2009, yours truly will be among the 1 million + people surrounding the US Capitol building for Barack Obama's inauguration.

Pray for me.

I just hope I live through it. We're taking 40 8th graders on a field trip to D.C. for the event. While I am really excited to be there for the ceremony, I don't like crowds very much, and I don't think there's any way to mentally prepare myself for a crowd of this magnitude.

Then there is the issue of temperature (hello, thermal underwear), and the hours and hours of walking and standing in this weather. I'm not going to lie, I'm concerned.

We are leaving tomorrow at 7 p.m. to drive through the night on a charter bus. Again, with 40 8th graders. Not sure I am mentally equipped for this either. But bring it on! I'll make sure to bring a detailed report back for you when I return.

No other updates, really, except that I picked up another little side job (for those of you who may not know, I quit the Anthropologie side job awhile back, and haven't regretted it a bit.) Ladies and gentlemen, I'm teaching an ACT prep course. Just the English, reading, and writing portions, that is. This is incredibly ironic - me and the ACT NEVER got along very well. I would go as far as to say that the ACT was my worst enemy, in fact. I thought a few of you might get a good laugh out of that.

I'm off - here's to hoping I live to tell of this historic adventure.

Ya'll have a good week.

confession.

I have, in fact, fallen prey to Twilight. I can't believe I am reading vampire books this Christmas. I'm almost finished with the third book. It's all in the name of being a better teacher, right? Being familiar with adolescent literature?

Can't lie - that's just my cover. I really think they're good. I can't put them down. I'm 27 and into vampires. Go on and laugh.

i am thankful

I'm thankful for a whole lot this year - for many things, big and small. Here's a sampling of those things this Thanksgiving week:

1. I am thankful for the truths in this passage, and for a God of whom this can be written: "If thy mercy make me poor and vile, blessed be thou! Prayers arising from my needs are preparations for future mercies; Help me to honor thee by believing before I feel, for great is the sin if I make feeling a cause of faith." (from The Valley of Vision")

2. I am thankful for coffee and tea.

3. I am thankful for good books and cold weather.

4. I am thankful for my little kitten.

5. I am thankful that I am going to have a niece born in April.

6. I am thankful for my roommates.

7. I am thankful for a job that is a source of joy to me.

8. I am thankful for fall and winter.

9. I am thankful for hot showers.

10. I am thankful for my family.

11. I am thankful for sleep.

12. I am thankful that I love where I live.

13. I am thankful for energy and good health.

14. I am thankful for red wine.

15. I am thankful for Dwight Schrute.

observations

Back from San Antonio. It was a really good conference. National Council of Teachers of English. I like to say it was akin to a teacher's equivalent of a combo crack house/chucky cheese/casino. I was surrounded by books, a lot of free stuff, and not many windows, and I am the dork who LOVES that kind of thing. A few observations:

1. I didn't see much of the city, but of what I did see, I can say that it didn't look like there was much more there than water, birds, and wind. A LOT of birds that just sat in huge numbers in the trees and stared at you.

2. I don't think my hearing is very good. I was taking a bunch of free books up to a teacher friend's hotel room so I wouldn't have to carry them to dinner, and she handed me her key and told me her room number. I went up, put the books down, and used the restroom. Guess what? It wasn't her room. When spoken aloud, the numbers 1750 and 1715 sound exactly alike. I was in 1750, hers was 1715. Key worked in both. What if the person habitating that room had walked in when I was using their toilet?

I have a new nickname now: Goldilocks.

3. How can gum advertise "that just brushed feeling" when the flavor is watermelon mango?

4. I caved and started reading the first Twilight book by Stephanie Meyer. Against my will, mind you. I have a goal to read a certain number of books in the adolescent literary genre in the name of being able to put the right books in the right kids' hands to get them to read (Really, I miss The Baby Sitters Club). Since no one can stop talking about Twilight, including my students, I decided I should know what it's about. The idea of reading a vampire love story does NOT appeal to me, though. But, here goes. Since it appeals to ages 13-50, I figure it can't be a total waste of time.

5. I recently ate at Denny's for the first time. My friends Miranda and Jon, now married with a child, went there on their first date in high school. I couldn't stop thinking about them when I was there :) I ordered pancakes for dinner off the senior citizen menu, and they were excellent.

6. Did anyone see the 24 movie that came on TV?

7. Did anyone else hear on Rick & Bubba last week that the new word voted into the Webster's Dictionary is "meh?" Who, exactly, votes on these things? And how can I be a part of it?

tagged

msk(s) tagged me with this blogger award, and I have to share 6 interesting things about myself and then tag 6 people to do the same.

1. I have chronic and violent allergies, evidently to everything. This is not interesting except for the fact that never in my life have I had any kind of allergic reaction to anything. The closest I ever got was drinking a whole carton of grape juice as a child, throwing it up, and assuming I was allergic to grape juice. I believed that for years. Wasn't true. But ever since I moved to Birmingham, I haven't been able to get it under control without constant medication advised by a doctor upon several visits. Hailey, I think you were right - I have black mold growing in my lungs.

2. I've never been to New York City. I still claim it as my favorite US city, because I'm 99% sure it will be if I ever go. I have wanted to go to New York my whole life, preferably in the winter. Maybe next year.

3. I LOVE an efficiently loaded dishwasher. And I love to LOAD the dishwasher efficiently. It's a little like putting together a puzzle. In my opinion, a perfectly loaded dishwasher could not hold another single item, though it is not so stuffed that the dishes won't come out clean. It's kind of like a puzzle. I realize this is odd. Also, I don't understand why people wipe or sponge up excess water from dishes with a dishtowel. It's only water, and it will dry in the cabinet.

4. I have always had a hypnotic effect on animals. Hamsters, dogs, cats, they all turn to noodles and mush when I hold them/pet them. They really do go completely limp, and I could roll them around or hold them upside down and they're not fazed. Maybe it's the way I smell?

5. I love cheap, and what most of you would consider disgusting, candy. Now, I don't ever eat it in my adult life, but mind you - I do love it. Circus peanuts, cowtales, Necco wafers, the cheap jellybeans and gumdrops, those chalk-like candy cigarrettes, I love them all. I DID eat circus peanuts for breakfast on my 27th birthday. Thanks, yaya.

6. For the majority of my life, I have wanted to be in movies. I am still trying to swallow the fact that my train to stardom has most likely passed, unless I have a Barbara Streisand future ahead of me. In which case I decline.

That's it, and most of you who read this already knew all that anyway. My apologies for wasting your time :)

I have lofty aspirations of picking up the blogging pace here pretty soon, but I'm off to San Antonio in the morning for a conference, so it'll be a few.

Mere, you sure you don't want to take a jog out there to have coffee with me?

Oh - I almost forgot! For the Kreativ (do we have to spell it that way?) Blogger Award, I tag:

1. Krystal
2. Marty Party
3. Sally Ray
4. Meaghan Gordon
5. Hailey
6. Anna Duggan

You're it!

NOT ME Monday!

I found this really fun idea on this woman's blog whom I DO NOT know, but keep up with faithfully. It's called "Not Me! Mondays." "MckMama" made this up, and I love it. It's a lot sarcastic and a little therapeutic. You should join me!

Here's mine for this week:

1. I did NOT swallow a Lysine amino acid supplement this morning and almost call 911 because I couldn't breathe. All in the name of getting rid of a fever blister. I hear amino acids help with that. Anyway, at least I DID NOT forget how to swallow a pill this morning.

2. I DID not eat the following combination for dinner: tortilla chips/cheese dip and a biscuit. Puhlease. I would never do that. But, hey, at least my roommate DID NOT eat THIS combo for dinner: crushed up boiled eggs, broccoli, GOAT CHEESE, and soy sauce. It COULD be worse.

3. I DEFINITELY did NOT decide to light a candle in my classroom and, when I couldn't get the lighter to work, ask my class (of 14 year olds), "who's good with a lighter? I need your help." Nope. NOT ME.

4. I did not just decide what all of my children's names will be. NOR did I just decide the genders, origins, and nationalities of my children. (two boys, two girls. two biological, two adopted. want to know the nationalities and names? stay tuned.)

That's really all I have for this Monday.

I don't have school tomorrow!