Slacker

I have been such a slacker about blogging. I'm sorry!

I broke down and went into school yesterday to start setting up my room. I took some things out of storage and covered 1.8 bulletin boards. I ran out of paper. I'm going to improvise the rest. Not worth $9 to get one last strip covered.

Now, I'm home with a day completely void of commitments. Weird, I know. Even weirder, I raked. Yes, I took a rake, some gloves, and a face mask and raked up bits of my back yard. I should really get my head examined, eh? (The above picture is actually in Winnipeg, not my back yard.)

Any way, has anyone seen any good movies that they could recommend for my last homework-free weekend in a while?

Movie of the Day: Becoming Jane. Saw it on Saturday. Very, very good. If you like that kind of thing.

Photos From Winnipeg

Theme Songs

One in a Million Sara's and I were riding home in the back seat of our folks' car yesterday, tired out of our minds from shopping and seeing old friends. We started singing old sitcom theme songs from the 80's. The game began with us thinking of a song and the other one trying to sing it just by guessing. It worked once. Then, we just started singing songs. Luckily, we were pretty close to home and Sara could look up the shows we were stumped on : Growing Pains & Family Ties.

Funny.

Movie of the Day: For Love or Money. You gotta love Michael J. Fox.

Sunday Night

Growing up, Sunday night was always a sort of Gloom and Doom time of the weekend, heck the whole week. By six o'clock, Life Goes On would come on with it's "Oh blah dee, Oh blah da..." and I would know it was all over.

We usually had dinner while watching it and then it was time to put the finishing touches on my homework and succumb to the fact that there was school in the morning. I pretty much liked school. Honest. I think the gloom came more from worrying about what might happen than what ever really happened.

Right now, at age 33, I am still feeling the Sunday Night Gloom and Doom. It's in the form of late August and it's that feeling of a whole school year looming overhead. What will my kids be like? What kinds of craziness will happen this year? Just how many kids do they think they can fit in my room? (Right now, the highest roster number is 34.).

I'm gonna try to worry less. Wish me luck. Oh blah dee, Oh blah da. Life goes on....

Movie of the Day: Not really a movie. My brother, Matt, loaned my season one of dead like me and it's awesome! I watched 6 episodes yesterday!

Canada Sends Its Love

I just got back from a mini vacation to sunny Winnipeg. It was lovely weather up there (sunny and breezy). We went to a park, a zoo, the science museum, the planetarium, the history museum, and their equivalent of Canal Park. It was quite lovely. We also had time to take in Hairspray and The Bourne Ultimatum.

On the way there, we stopped to see Dora (see previous post) and right away she asked if we had driven up from Duluth! Pretty sharp. I think she has her good days and bad. She recognized us, but both times that we visited, had asked us about other relatives who have passed away within the last five years. It's so awful to have to break the news to her that someone is gone. Her response was "We're all getting older!". Nice perspective.

On the way home, we stopped in Fargo to see my brother and his girlfriend. Did a little shopping.

Movie of the Day: The DaVinci Code. I like puzzles.

Ideas

I'm having a low-key kind of day. Went to breakfast with a friend and now I'm home to pack. Yes, I'm leaving town again. This time, for the sunny sights of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I'm pretty psyched.

On our way, we are going to top in Baudette to see my dad's cousin who is in a nursing home. I think she's about the size of a breadbox (do people even know what breadboxes are anymore?). Any way, I was trying to think of a gift to give her and decided on a necklace. My mom's response was that Dora (the Explorer???) might not even be getting out of bed these days. I figure that is the time to accessorize the most!!! I hope she likes it.

Dora was the kind of relative who would place herself at the kids' table in the kitchen while everyone else was in the dining room. I'm not sure if it's because she wanted to be with us or away from them. Either way, she was fun. I'm sure she's still fun.

Movie of the Day: Star Dust. A fairy tale.

Email Withdrawl

I'm sorry. Becca has stepped away from her computer.

Yes, that's right, I went on a trip and left my poor computer at home. I went to Chicago for a work training and our hotel charged $12.95 a day for internet. Now, I don't even own a laptop, but my roommate had one and we decided not to use it.

I'm an email addict. I'm the first to admit it. Some people don't understand why I would like to read my email at least once a day. Maybe that's because they only get work emails or forwards or something, I don't know. Me, I email friends, some who I haven't seen in years and some who I see at least once a week. If I can sustain friendships and feel connected over email, then of course I'm gonna wanna check it!

Any other addicts out there?

Movie of the Day: (I'm switchin' it up and giving you a "Play of the Day": Wicked. Amazing! Awesome. Beautiful.)

What To Say?

How can I write about what happened in Minneapolis? It's so hard to wrap my brain around it and it amazes me that hundreds of people survived. I feel awful for the families who lost a loved one and yet rejoice for so many near-misses.

My friends in my Covenant group laugh when I come up with prayer requests like "Joy," "Silliness," or "Soul-Laughter," but this is truly what I want. I want everyone to find a way out of despair and pain and into joy, silliness, and soul-laughter. I know I'm naive. I know that. But, I also know that we need to hope for something greater, something sweeter than what we have.

My problems are small. My students (yes, I've started thinking about school again, grrrr...) see so many more problems every day that I don't even have a clue about. I've always had a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and parents who love and support me. How can I help people to fulfill their basic needs so that they, too, can find joy, silliness, and soul-laughter?

Sweat Gets In Your Eyes

I'm a cool weather person. That's why I live in Northern Minnesota (or maybe it's because I live here). Any way, when it's 90 and humid, I'm pretty much useless.

Yesterday, I needed to find a AA battery in my junk drawer. It took some digging and I broke into a sweat.

Last night, I played a word game on Yahoo and again broke into a sweat. Oy.

Three times in the past week, sweat has dripped into my eyes. This is not acceptable in my world. Ugh.

Movie of the Day: The Bourne Supremacy. I watched it last night to prepare for The Bourne Ultimatum which comes out Friday.