10 Days & A Break

So, I went 10 days without having pop. Then, I had some last night at dinner. It didn't even taste good. I don't know why, but I'm happy it happened that way. I have been getting caffeine, so I didn't get a huge buzz off of it, which is good because it's the buzz that I crave. So, I'm back on the tea this morning and kind of happy to not have urgent rushes to the grocery store to buy pop.

Movie of the Day: Dr. T and the Women (Awful movie, don't go rent it. It just sounded funny with T and tea.)

I Am Blessed

I read an Elizabeth Berg book a couple years ago about a nurse who does home visits and one woman that she visited was very sick, but repeatedly said "I am blessed." I loved that so much that I typed up "I am blessed." as big as my computer would let me and then hung it on my fridge.

It's true. And it's also true that I sometimes forget that I'm blessed and just focus on the things in my life that I would like to change.

I am blessed to have caring family and friends.
I am blessed to have a job indoors that does not involve anything too gross.
I am blessed to have good health care.
I am blessed to have more than enough food everyday.
I am blessed to have a roof over my head and shoes on my feet.

Movie of the Day: It's actually a BBC tv show that I found at the library on Wednesday called The Vicar of Dibley. My former pastor Michelle introduced me to it a couple of years ago. It's hilarious. Right before the closing credits, it says: Bless you for watching.... Cracks me up!

Slowly

I'm the kind of person who will see something in a store, think it's awesome, and then buy it. Well, at least I'm like this about craft items, maybe not about other things as much any more. However, when I see some stickers, or pipecleaners, or paint, or whatever else seems cool, I buy it. I don't have any clue what I'll use it for, but when the creative idea strikes, I'll be ready.

Sometimes, I do things that don't totally make sense, but just feel right. Then, eventually everything comes together and it all does make sense. The stars align or whatever cheesy thing you want to say.

I think and think and think about stuff (obsess, if you will) and then suddenly make a decision and follow through.

Right now, I'm wondering what I'm working on in the back of my mind, what stars are slowly making their way into alignment.

Movie of the Day: Stargate.

Babies Galore!

(This is not the deep topic I alluded to yesterday. That's still marinating in my head. However...)

There has been an influx of children in my friends' lives lately! Granted, some of them are Facebook friends who I haven't talked to in eons, but I'm countin' it. It's so many people that I have to write them down to keep track. In the last year, 9 (Nine) of my friends have had children and two more are on the way.

Movie of the Day: Babe

Getting Ready

I've started writing this post a couple of times now. What I want to say is deeply profound (ha ha) and meaningful, I'm just tripping over my words to try to explain it.

I have been sitting here for at least 5 minutes since writing the above and I guess I need more time to figure it out before I can pass it along. Drat. It's deep, too. Perhaps tomorrow.

For now, I leave you with a movie that I watched last night: The Go-Getter. It's a little edgy, so if you prefer movies like The Parent Trap or Little Lord Fauntleroy, this one might not be for you.

Day 7

Today is the start of the 7th day that I have not had any pop (soda, soda pop). This is a huge deal for me. I'm actually shocked that I've made it this long without cracking. I've been getting some caffeine from green tea, just to keep the people around me safe. The headaches haven't been too bad.

Movie of the Day: The Outsiders. Ponyboy and Soda Pop...

Things On My Desk

The items on my desk right now:

• a Van Gogh mug steeping mixed berry green tea
• my cellphone
• a plate I painted that has rocks and a candle on it
• a piece of amethyst
• my watch
• a coaster
• my horoscope from last weekend (it was good)
• cut up chunks of an old credit card
• a bead that might be too big for a necklace
• The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard
• a mini Etch-A-Sketch
• a lanyard I won't use because it promotes the Army
• a Scrabble dictionary
• the information to write the kid I sponsor in Haiti
• a partial list of the 2009 Sundance movies I want to see when they are in general release
• a container of pennies that I used to use for probability units at school
• a maze thingy that is impossible to do (silver balls in corners, etc. Ugh)
• a toothbrush (new)
• a stack of reward cards for ninth graders from about 5 years ago. I should give them to myself.

That's not even all of it, but you don't want a list of lists.

Movie of the Day: The Tao of Steve. Funny and mildly offensive. I should watch it again.

One Foot

Today, we will have one foot in Semester 1 and one foot in Semester 2. Yes, we have ONE final left to give in order to complete Semester 1 (and make up for two cancelled days last week). Then, we have a brief homeroom and leap into Semester 2.

Movie of the Day: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He had to make a step of faith (to get the grail).

Comfort

I'm looking for comfort. It's January. It's cold. There aren't a lot of things on my calendar and what I would like is a mix of exciting things to do and warm cozy blankets on my couch. Is that weird? Do other people feel like this too?

I felt like I should blog about the inauguration today, but everyone is inundated with it right now. So, I'll leave you with: Let's hope things get better. Let's help things get better.

Movie of the Day: Gran Torino. I haven't seen it yet, but MANY people have been suggesting it to me.

Ritual Continues

If you follow this blog regularly, you will recall that last October, Little Baby M was nearly born in my livingroom. M's mom L and I have a ritual of ordering Sammy's pizza (usually with pineapple) and watching a movie. Little M interrupted our last attempt at watching a movie, but tonight, she joined in the fun and survived the whole evening! No rushing off to the hospital this time!

Food: Sammy's Pizza with pineapple. Cherry Coke Zero.
Movie: Lars and the Real Girl

Little M is one of the girls now.

On a side note, Sundance 2009 is going on right now and L (mother of M) and I were in Park City for Sundance 2006. Things sure have changed!

A Wee Bit of Snow

Okay, I think I've gone crazy. Why? After finally being able to leave the house without packing a spare blanket and checking in after every stop, I was so happy to be outside that I offered to help my folks clear snow off of their deck. It's been on there for over a month, so it's not like it was an urgent task. Yep, I'm nuts.

Then, I went inside and finished sewing a blanket (third? fourth? I've lost track.). There are 10 blankets nearly ready for donation now. My mom has done most of them. I'll use the "She's retired" excuse.

Now, I'm home and ready to tackle a few more projects. Uff. I've gone crazy.

Movie of the Day: Anything cheesy on Hallmark. My mom is addicted and she's dragging me down that slippery slope with her!

Chef Becca HA HA HA

Okay, I tried cooking again. Let's just say the final line of this little episode was my mom on the phone saying, "Try again. Well, not today, but..."





What I've learned:

• The battery on my smoke detector is functioning.


• It's really cold airing out a house when it's -20 F.


• Omelets can burn very, very quickly.


• My career at Perkins is on hold.


• Salad and pasta make a nice lunch.

Here's a picture for posterity:

Will They? Won't They?

It's cold out. Really cold out. We trudged to school through two cold days and they have announced that it's closed for tomorrow! Now, as a teacher, I am an advocate of education. I also like to sleep in. It's a conundrum some times. Tomorrow, sleeping in wins out. Unfortunately, it is a Final Exam Day that will need to be rescheduled, pushing back the start of the next semester. Uff. Oh well.

For now, I'll just be happy to be snug as a bug in a rug.

Movie of the Day: Junebug. A bug in June would be warm. Hmmmm....

Slow Start

I've been reading a book for a couple years now. No, I don't mean that I reread it each year. I mean that I started it over two years ago and I'm still reading it. Sure, it's 548 pages, and sure I say I'm a slow reader, but it's not THAT long and I'm not THAT slow of a reader. I just didn't get into it when I started reading it two years ago. I put it down. Then, I started again. Then, I put it down. Then, I started it a third time. Finally, I am on page 418 and I think I'll be able to finish it this year. Perhaps even this month! This deadline coincides with the movie coming out at the end of January. What book you ask? Inkheart.

Care Packages

It was wonderful to receive care packages in the mail while I was in college. I think it would be fun to send care packages to my friends now. Anyone interested in starting a care package revival?

Movie of the Day: Adaptation. Weird movie.

Gingerbread Houses

Okay, they are actually graham cracker houses, but you get the idea. Sugar High!

Snowshoeing

One in a Million Saras took me snowshoeing today in the lovely field near her house. It was my very first snowshoeing experience and I really liked it. I was borrowing my brother-in-law's equipment, which was a bit too big and manly for me, but I feel like I got the gist of it enough to know that I'd like to try it again. Very cool.

Movie of the Day: I will be working on the second half of the blanket I started a week ago and watching Hollywoodland (I believe) tonight. I'll let you know if it's worth a look.

Slang

I pride myself in knowing the meaning of the slang that my students use in class. I don't know all of it, but when I hear something that I don't understand, I try to figure it out or ask. Mostly, it's so I can call them out on it, if it's inappropriate.

My main red flag: someone says something that seems out of context and then usually one gender of students starts giggling.

Oy.

An example: "whale tail" is when a girl's specific type of underwear is showing above the waist of her jeans.

Movie of the Day: The Whale and the Squid. (On my list of movies I want to see)

God Rocked

I saw a movie last night (while ditching choir, "Sorry K."), which was funny and scary in a satirical kind of way. The movie was filmed in Duluth and it was fun to recognize local haunts. It's called God Rocked. I don't think you can rent it locally (which sucks), but it's on NetFlix or you can contact the director and get your own copy!

Wander Lust

The snow is piled high in my yard.
Final exams are next week.
My house is a cool 64 degrees.

And I want to escape!

While pretty much anywhere would be exciting right now, I decided to hit the school library and pick up some books on different countries that might be fun to visit. I started with a few books about the places below.

Places I would love to see:

Scotland (castles!)
Emerald Lake in Canada
Machu Picchu
Egyptian pyramids
Italy
Greek Islands
Israel
Japan
South Africa
Costa Rica
Finland
France (again)
England (again)
Norway
Sweden
Russia

I could keep going.

Huh? What?

Yesterday was a tough day for my ninth graders. I jumped right into the thick of Chapter 6 and all of its equation forms and then reminded them that they have finals next week. Yes, the semester is almost up and they are going to have some serious tests soon. It was like they were blindsided by it. This is the first time in their lives that grades really matter toward graduation. Some of them have messed up their grades beyond repair and are just waiting out the semester. We'll see what we can offer them in the second half of the year for some grade recovery.

As for the rest, good luck!

Magazines

It's good to try new things, right? Usually, I read magazines like Oprah or Real Simple. I used to buy Premiere (how I miss that one) and US Weekly or People. I gave up buying the celebrity stuff when I started getting sick of hearing who was going into rehab and who was wearing what dress. Does it affect my life? No.

However, over break, I've started reading two different magazines that are great! The first one, I found at Northern Lights Bookstore while buying David Oppegaard's debut novel: The Suicide Collectors. Dave is "Blogagaard" in some of my old posts' comments. Any way, while I was checking out, I found the magazine The Sun. It's mainly creative writing on a different topic each month! There are no ads. It's fascinating. I might have to subscribe! It's website is www.thesunmagazine.org

As for the second one, my friend's mom gave me a MAD magazine since she heard I'd never read one. It's hilarious! I've been missing out.

School starts back up today. Wish me luck!

Time for Some Research

It has snowed quite a bit this season and after going outside to assess the shoveling needs, I've decided that I need to do something about my mini wind tunnel of a driveway. I'm not sure what to do or even if there is anything to do to help the huge drifts, but I'm going to start researching it. Some parts have less than an inch of snow on them and others have over a foot.

I've called for a ride to church, which makes me feel wimpy, but I console myself that I didn't just go back to sleep.

Movie of the Day: A Mighty Wind. :)

Button

I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yesterday and it was wonderful! It was so good that I didn't notice it was 2.5 hours long! The movie follows the life of a man who is aging backwards. He's born old, small, but old. Slowly, he loses his arthritis and turns into a young man and then a child. It's fascinating to watch him learn about life in the opposite direction.

And no, I did not have a fleece blanket to sew in the theater. :)

Free Time

So, you would think I could have blogged yesterday, but some how it slipped my mind.

I've been watching a lot of movies and sewing blankets. I'm almost done with my third fleece blanket (trimming the edges by hand) and I've watched the following movies over break:

• Thumbsucker
• Millions
• Birth
• Wild Hogs
• The Duchess
• Marley & Me
• Amazing Grace

I think it is more movies than I've watched the whole first three months of school. I'm sure I'll be seeing at least one more today. (More on that tomorrow!)

DRAT

I missed yesterday. Grrr.....

Happy New Year!

Movie of the Day: Marley & Me. So sweet and sad. Make sure you have tissues with you.