Cozy Up

It's rainy. It's windy. I'm heading to my couch, with a nice, warm blanket and a movie tossed in. Maybe I'll do some homework. Maybe not.

Then, I'm off to the store (if I can get myself to get movin') and then back home to my couch.

Yesterday, two people e-mailed me and used the phrase "a lot on your plate." How odd. I never think of my daily schedule as a plate. Usually, I'm excited when there is a lot on my plate, especially if I'm at a church potluck. Using the metaphor, I typically like that full too. I just wish I could make a dent in it some times!

Luckily, it's only one week before Spring Break!!! WOO HOO!!!!!

Rainy

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

Movie of the Day: Amazing Grace. It was awesome!!!

Big Day

Today, I am 33.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333.... years old. Now, some might think of this as one-third of a century (as I just did), but that's too freaky for me. So, I will just think of it as my favorite number over and over and over. Hmmmmm.... nothing like a little math before 6 AM.

Movie of the Day: Well, it's actually a TV show, but it's worth recommending: Numb3rs. Good show.

Do You Have Math Homework?

I've been in the market for some cheap calculators as of late and hit a jackpot last night at Walgreens. I found decent calcs for $1. Yes, only a buck. So, I bought 12. I only need about 8 more (good thing we have multiple Walgreens around town).

When I went to check out, the lady said : Do you have a lot of math homework to do? It didn't even click that that would imply that I was a student. Nice!

I usually don't go to that store on a Saturday night; there were a lot of students loitering in the parking lot or around the aisles. I think it freaked them out to see me. Poor things. I'm usually there around 7 AM while they're still snoring.

Tired

I've been kinda tired for oh.... the last month. Today was the day I've been looking forward to for weeks: The Day I Can Sleep In!!!! And I did. Until 2:15 PM. Yes, PM. I went to bed at 1:30 AM, so that gives me almost 13 hours of sleep. Whew.

I feel much better, though a little sad at losing most of the day. Oh well. Today's awake hours will have to be about quality, not quantity, I guess.

:)B

The Incredible Shrinking Snowbank

The dingy snowbank outside my house waits. It waits for the weekend, though not like you or me. It waits for the weekend with dread and fear. Yes, it heard some "walkers" discussing the weather forecast and now it's crystals are shaking. Its days are numbered. It knows it's doomed in 58 degree weather.

Poor little snowbank.

Early

I was going to write that I'm up at the crack of dawn to head to a workshop in Bloomington today, but really, it's still the middle of the night. Not even the crack of dawn.

If I were a teenager going on this trip, I'd have a blanket, pillow, and headphones for the 2.5 hour ride. Since I'm older and carpooling with some friends and some acquaintances, I feel like I have to be social and stay in the conversation. Drat.

Movie of the Day: Night at the Museum. Be careful.

Antsy

I woke up this morning antsy/restless/ready for some fun.

This is an improvement over my urge to run away screaming and flailing my arms yesterday.

A couple days ago, I said to a kid "I need a vacation." He responded by, "You just had one." What kind of kid is that??? He meant Paris. I meant a snow day or some sort of national holiday that let me sleep in.

Movie of the Day: The Sentinel. Good.

Dancing: A Generation Gap

I went to a dance Saturday night at the youth conference. I think it's interesting to watch how "school" dances evolve. For this group, there was a lot of vertical jumping in the "dance steps". When I would go hear bands at UMD a couple years ago, the college students would only nod their heads to the beat. When I was in high school, we would sit on the bleachers (not all of us, of course, but my group did). When I was in junior high, we would head-bang.

What's next?

Movie of the Day: Dances with Wolves.

Picture Challange

Our local paper has the Life magazine in it every Friday and my favorite part is the last page where they have a real picture and an altered picture. I seem to give myself a time limit (so as not to be late for work). If I can't find all of the changes within minutes, I give up and read the answers. Somehow, it seems like a math puzzle. I'm not sure why. I've noticed that they never mess with people, which is very honorable. They might change something that they're wearing, but never their actual person.

That's cool.

Movie of the Day: Picture Perfect. Tee Hee.

Topics

Tomorrow I will be chaperoning a group of high school girls to a state-wide church youth event. We are going to have at least 4 hours in the car together over the weekend. Any suggestions for topics of conversation?

Movie of the Day: Grease. The ultimate high school movie.

I Love Pi

Today is Pi Day (3/14 = 3.14). I don't actually LOVE pi, but I like it as a friend. Some math teachers go all out for Pi Day, bringing pie, having contests, decorating the school. For some reason, Pi Day always sneaks up on me and I'm left with "Oh crap. Tomorrow's Pi Day" thoughts on the 13th. Oy. Oops. Maybe I can come up with something interesting for today.

Movie of the Day: Pi. Ha ha. Warped movie. Beware.

Pile O' Nuschler

I spent the late afternoon yesterday hanging out with my sister and watching Gilmore Girls in her basement. Sara and my brother-in-law have a HUGE (111-lb) Golden named Nuschler and he and I have an interesting relationship. I try to stay out of his way and he tries to lick all of the salt off of my hands (and feet if he can get to them).

Yesterday, he met me at my car in the driveway and escorted me across the yard. Usually he tries to get inside the house, but he decided to stay outside and enjoy the nice weather.

Well, Punky (brother-in-law) arrived home and started playing with Nuschler around the house. At one point, he lifted (or should I say "tried to lift") Nusch onto my lap. He's not a lap dog and I mainly just got a pile o' Nuschler.

Plunk Plunk, Plod Plod

Last year, I suggested that March be renamed to Trudge, because it's so long and seems to take even longer to get through than other months. This year, it's flying by! It's already the 12th and I've just barely learned to write 3/___ on hallpasses and checks. Weird.

The weird weather (tons of snow and now tons of melting) combined with an early daylight savings time, might affect my students in ways that I'm not anticipating. Senior Slide seems to hit kids earlier and earlier (like sophomore year!) these days.

I'll keep you posted.

Movie of the Day: Timeline. Cheesy.

Think

I want you to think of something that has been weighing on your mind. Take a moment. Now, once you have something in mind, I want you to think about what it would take to work toward a solution to your issue. Me, I finally did my taxes and wrote a survey for school that should have been done weeks and weeks ago. The psychological relief is immense! I'm ready to start thinking of other things that have been bugging me and tackle them too!

What's weighing on you?

Movie of the Day: Stick It. Saw it Wednesday. Funny. Good message.

Introducing Melvin

I'm not good at pets, but I think I might have found one that I can keep "alive". Actually, I've had Melvin for a couple years. He hangs out by my side door, waiting for me to come home. Well, that is, until Wednesday night when he was kidnapped and went on an adventure with my two friends Susie and Donna. He spent some time wandering UMD, tasting freedom from my back hallway. His adventures were well-documented and lovingly shared in a photo album. He's now home.

May I present....Melvin.

Favorites

So, Michelle's question about the one experience, etc. that I am grateful to have had on my trip is just too tough to answer. Therefore, I will give you a list of favorites instead!

French people: Claire, Laure, and the adopted Nathan (who is really a Duluthian).
French food: chocolatine (croissant-ish pastry with chocolate inside)
French museum: Musee D' Orsay with it's Monet collection.
French sport: stair climbing.
French Creep-out: the Catacombs.
French TV commercial: For instant mashed potatoes. Very entertaining.
French word that I learned: The response to a sneeze which I only know how to say. Phonetically, it's "Ought Eh Sway".

British people: Flight attendants who said "Cheers" a lot.
British food: food at Spice of Life pub
British museum: Crown Jewels at the Tower of London
British sport: Long-distance walking.
British Creep-out: lots of "off-with-their-heads" locations.
British TV commercial: didn't see any.
British word that I learned: to say "Cheers, Mate" instead of thanks.

Tracey's Question

Tracey asked: What was the most interesting experience you had with a person in your everyday flow - ie. server, clerk, public transit person.

I would have to say it was at the Musee D'Orsay when we tried to go the second time and found that the museum was free because the workers were on strike. We went through security (had our bags checked and went through a metal detector) and then went through a crowd of striking workers. I put a couple Euro in their donation box "Help the Workers" and went in. It wasn't a "conversation" exactly, but it was definitely an "everyday" type thing that you don't usually encounter on a trip.

The Ordeal, Take 2

Okay, I'm going to try to summarize The Ordeal, Or How I Got Home

• Took wrong elevator in train station and had to go back upstairs and find the right one.
• Went to the wrong terminal in the airport and had to haul-butt across two terminals.
• Gave up my seat twice on the plane.
• Customs took so long in Detroit that we lost track of time and had to RUN from dinner (left half-eaten and rushingly paid for) to gate 68 only to find it was moved to gate 74. More running. Then, found out it was delayed by 45 minutes.
• Once boarded, we sat on the plane in Detroit for 2 hours waiting for Minneapolis to give us a time for landing, thus a time for take-off.
• Get to Mpls. 3 hours after our connecting flight.
• Wait in line an hour for a new flight.
• They said (at midnight Saturday) : I can get you on a flight Tuesday.
• Waited around luggage claim for 6 hours until things opened up again. Didn't get luggage.
• Paid $40 to get to Amtrak station.
• Waited another 3 hours without tickets, HOPING to get on the bus.
• Sat on bus for 4 hours.
• Were picked up at UMD by my folks and taken to airport to get luggage.
• Only one of Jean's bags showed up. Mine were AWOL.
• Dropped Jean off at her friends' house and got stuck in the driveway. Had to be pulled out.
• Finally got home!!!!
• Had luggage by noon Monday.

Questions

I'm not done posting about my trip, but since I'm short on time this morning, I thought I'd pause and ask for questions. What would you like to know about my trip?

Theatre Tickets

My theory is that I will give you little "flashbacks" to my trip since my daily life is no where near as exciting as my first trip to Europe. Today's flashback: the theatre.

When we arrived at Heathrow Airport, there was a display of play fliers and I was almost giddy when I saw that Spamalot was there. I tried to control myself and rationalized that it was sold out because I'd heard that it sold out in New York.

We talked to our concierge and he said that the cheapest way to get tickets was to go to the half price ticket booth or the theatre itself. So, we hop the tube and head to the West End.

For some reason, we could not figure out the streets in the area and kept walking in circles (not literally, but we kept ending up where we started). Any way, I gave in and asked someone on the street for help. He was very friendly and actually kept thinking of better directions and stopping to tell us where to go. It was almost to the point where I invited him to join us! (Okay, so he was cute. I confess.)

We finally got there and this cute old couple was behind us. I started talking to them and they told us to mind our purses because the woman had gotten home without hers once. They were very sweet.

Well, this ticket place didn't have any Spamalot tickets, but did have Les Mis tickets, so we settled on that....

More on our theatrical adventures in the future....

Kids + Museums = Humor

Okay, so when Jean and I were wandering around museums in London, there were a lot of school groups with little kids. We're talking 6-9 year olds, mostly. Any way, we were in the British Museum and there were heaps and heaps of kids wearing school uniforms. Every so often, I'd hear some of them talking to each other.

Two situations come to mind: boys and girls.

The boys were looking at a bust of a woman (literally the bust) and commenting about eyes being poked out. Then, they would call another boy over to hear their comment. This was done in a cute British accent, of course.

A couple minutes later, I notice a group of little girls around another display case. "There's the dodgy one!" I look and it's a piece of pottery with a naked guy on it. Ha! So funny! And very, very cute.

Catch My Drift, You Can Keep It

I have snow drifts. They're pretty if you don't have do go anywhere for a while. I'm home today.

Movies I want to rewatch after going to Paris and London:

Elizabeth
Notting Hill
Amelie
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
French Kiss (which I didn't do while I was there, drat).

I think there are going to be a lot of cooped-up feeling people today. The mall is closed. No mail service. Plows and my neighbor men are out playing with the snow. I kind of think of it as Big Boy sandboxes or something. I just don't have the urge to go out and push it around. Although, I would like to make a snowman or dig a fort. That would be more fun with kids, though.

I Tried

Okay, I spent an hour writing about my return home and it wouldn't publish. GRRRRR!!!! Any way, maybe I'll try again later or another day. For now, I'm home on a snow day and we have another one tomorrow. Woo Hoo!!!

I might actually get a lot done this weekend!