lucy says

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

and we're off to see as many family members as we can in the next four days.  i hope everyone else has a great day with family and friends tomorrow.  

'cuz i can't resist a cute dog video

too fun to resist, yall.

how did i celebrate the beginning of my winter break, you ask?

while most of my counterparts (with the exception of a few) had cleared out of the school by about 3:37 this afternoon, i was still there.  wow, sarah.  you must be thinking to yourself.  what a dedicated teacher you are to want to hang out with students crashing from their daylong candy-cane highs after the bell has wrung.  oh how i wish i were and that i could claim such a sentiment.

but yeah, no.  that is not why my little civic was one of the lone cars left in the lot after the last bus had left.  in fact, if you had driven by my school this afternoon you probably would have been perplexed to see the teacher standing on a chair in the middle of the parking lot digging through the recycle bin/dumpster.  that teacher?  yep.  you guessed it.  me.

i won't bore you with the details or an admission of how much of this may have been my fault.  instead, all you really need to know is that i had a box sitting near my recycling boxes today.  the box that was NOT paper for recycling was FILLED and i mean FILLED with the projects that my students had spent pretty much the entire week working on.  and oh yeeeeeeeeaaaaah!  i also had about $200 worth of curriculum materials loaded in that box as well . . . so you can imagine the freak out that occurred when i realized the students in my 7th period had taken THE WRONG BOX during their weekly save the earth mission . . . and why i absolutely HAD to go digging through the recycling bin this afternoon.

so probably not how many people would choose to celebrate a two week break from the insanity that is my job lately.  but that is how i spent my afternoon . . . 

in an unrelated note: my 7th period will be studying "common sense and how to find some" when we get back from the break.

__________________

 side note: all of the curriculum materials were found in my rummaging, as well as a good amount of the projects.  not all, but it'll do.  so thanks for the concern, but you can totally breathe now.

so that was unexpected

today was mani/pedi day.  i don't do these often, especially in the winter and usually not at all when i have been treating my hands as horribly as i have been lately.  but.  i decided i wanted to have pretty toes for christmas.  you know, since i'll be swathed in five or six pairs of socks each day in the arctic temperatures of okc/springfield/stl.  yeah.  yall up there better get prepared - in case you forgot, i'm a wimp.

so back to my self-spoiling afternoon . . . typically when i get my hair cut or my nails did i am pretty quiet.  usually it's because i get so relaxed that i don't want to talk.  today, though, the salon was really slow and for a while i was the only customer in there, so it would have been really rude of me not to talk.  and as i am talking to the girl painting my toes (color selection: star of bombay - it ROCKS!) i find out that she is a senior at our rival high school.  so, we talked about football for a little bit since said rival high school (reigning texas state champs) are NOT playing to defend their title on saturday.  so that was fun.  and a little unexpected, but not the point of this blog.

when she found out i am an english teacher, she wanted to know what books we were reading, so i told her . . . . somehow our conversation came around to the fact that she is in gt english, which i teach at my school . . . and then somehow she started talking about hamlet and then our conversation morphed into a discussion about shakespeare and maybe a tom stoppard play or two and how you just don't "get it" until you see them performed.  for pretty much the rest of the time i was at the nail salon.  was it nerdy?  totally.   will i be going back?  um, yes.

maybe by that time i will have actually finished pride and prejudice and i can spend the mani/pedi time talking about how all of you people who love mr. darcy are totally cracked.  

sticker shock

i had to buy new tires today.  i am now poor.  

that is all.

funk, not funky.

hey.  did you know christmas is right around the corner?  yeah.  my mind keeps telling me that, but nothing about my attitude seems to be reinforcing the information.  not like i'm being all grinchy and whatnot, well, i hope i'm not, anyway.  i just don't feel christmas, yet.  i also don't feel like blogging lately or like reading.  since all three of these are things i typically look forward to, i've been trying to figure out what is holding me back from breaking out the tree and wearing my jingle bell earrings (which are metaphorical by the way).

maybe . . . 

-it's because i was sick most of thanksgiving break and didn't feel very festive from the outset?

-it's because i couldn't find my emmylou harris light of the stable christmas album until this week when i discovered it in the wrong case?  i know to some of you that means nothing, but for me that album IS christmas, so without it, i apparently am not very yuletide-y.  it's been in constant rotation since i found it though, so maybe i'll catchup sometime soon.

-it's because it's been years since i got to go into laura ashley and look for my christmas dress?

-it's because they only let us sing 17 words of "go tell it on the mountain" today at church?

-it's because the semester doesn't really end on friday (we end in january) and most of my life has programmed me to fa-la-la-la-la at the end of the semester?

-it's because i live in tejas and we've only had two days below 50 in the last month?  (not that i'm complaining about THAT . . . )

-it's because lucy refuses to wear the santa hat i got her last year?

-it's because you can buy stuff like this at "respectable" establishments like borders . . . 

(yes.  that's glitter coating mary and joseph . . . )

none of these things are particularly serious, so i'm hoping that i move out of my funk and become more festive over the next couple of days.  if not for my own sake, then for the sake of all of yall who will get to bask in my presence here in the next few weeks.  ;)

things to avoid

in this last month of 2008, i've decided i should try and better myself a little.  in that spirit, i've made a list of things i need to avoid.  mainly - as you will see - most of these pretty much center on me not spending money.  that recession word is scary.

- two words.  taco.  bueno.  just typing them makes me crave a party burrito.  and why?  it's not like they are really THAT good.  okay.  maybe they are.  whatever.  i just ordered two new pairs of jeans from the gap in a size smaller than what i normally wear because i am GOING TO BE ABLE TO WEAR THEM BY CHRISTMAS.  that means.  no party burritos.  dammit.

- vodka and/or margaritas.   see above.

- target.  well, any part of target that does not sell groceries that is.  what?  you expect me to go buy groceries at a real grocery store?  um.  yeah.  not gonna happen.  and neither will my crossing that line between grocery and soft lines/hard lines (oh yes.  i am so down with the target lingo.) be happening.  i hope.  some of you won't care that you aren't getting christmas presents, right?  because see, i have a problem in that store.  i cannot stop buying stuff.  that i don't need.  i get hypnotized by the beautiful red bull's eye.  and then the next thing i know, there is nothing left in my bank account.  (and parents who might be reading this blog - specifically MY parents - know that there may have been some hyperbole in this last paragraph.  some.)

- wal~mart.  but that is typical for me each month.  nothing special here, really.

- and finally.  kate spade.  i didn't even know this was going to be a problem until earlier today when i looked at the website and discovered these shoes.  yall.  i am so not even a shoe person.  there's a chance i didn't even remember that kate spade designs shoes.  but now i can't stop going back and looking at these.  and then my brain starts rationalizing and remembering that money i've been pretty good about saving over the last two years and NOT TOUCHING and oh my.  i fear that this may not end well.  but aren't they pretty?  and oh look.  there's a purse, too?!  who cares that they don't match . . . 

there will never be a sarah and nene

lucy's face up there?  i'm pretty sure that is a good representation of what my brain looks like right about now.

i've spent the weekend dog-sitting.  including lucy, that means i've been in charge of FOUR dogs.  to be honest (sorry missy) i was a little nervous about the combination of that many dogs and my meager amount of patience at this time of the year.  luckily, all four pups have been bitten by the hibernation bug in much the same way as i have and they were quite content to snooze for the majority of the weekend.  see that little spot between lucy and hunter up there?  yep.  that's where they allowed me to sit yesterday.  i thought that was very sweet of them.

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yet again, i've been reminded why i can never get cable.  i wish i were one of those people with will-power, which would have enabled me to turn off the junk i've watched over the last 24 hours.  but yeah.  i don't have that.  so instead . . . 

- last night when i ran up to penney's/sephora and petsmart i was hit with a fear that stacy and clinton were going to jump out at me and kidnap me for what not to wear.  sadly, last night, i would have had to agree with them as i was wearing a pair of cords that are two sizes too big for me (but yay!  right?), a pair of summertime sneakers that really should find their way to a trash can, and a sweatshirt - decorated with a variety of dog hair - that i may or may not have slept in at one point this week.  (hey.  i planned to hibernate all day yesterday.  my pajamas matched.  leave me alone.)

- i tried to watch something educational, but instead got thoroughly depressed while watching the jonestown documentary on the history channel.  (i did watch the whole thing and then, as is my habit, obsessed about it for the next hour and read and read and read stuff online about jim jones . . . )

- my escapism from the above compulsion: the real housewives of atlanta.  holy cow.  my fascination with this show ALONE is the reason i can't be a cable subscriber.  i even re-watched an episode.  to be fair, it was the episode that contains the clip below.  and i laughed again, just like i laughed the first time i saw it.  get to the last 20 seconds or so and wait for the question this kim lady asks and then the vocal coach's response.

- nene is now one of my favorite people EVER from a reality show.  

- now i am embarrassed i've written an entire post about my tv watching habits for the last 24 hours.

-whatever.  admitting the problem is the first step toward recovery, right?

i'm it . . .

so here's my day so far . . .

- woke up at 3:15 a.m. in edmond
- got in the car at 4:00 a.m. and headed to dfw so i could be at school by 7:45 a.m.
- sat in meetings all day long

i am, by all accounts, brain dead. since my aunt j "tagged" me in her blog, i figured i would take advantage of it and participate. and, i'll be honest, i'm participating because i love the picture that came up when i searched through my folders. the rules were: go to the sixth picture folder and post the sixth picture in that folder.

this is a picture of my dad taking pictures of jessica and me in new york running around a park on the upper east side in our graduation robes.  it's a pose i've seen my dad make for years, so this picture makes me smile.  also, i am watching guilty obsession #1 of the week and had to laugh when i looked at the picture and heard the familiar voice say, "hello upper-eastsiders..." question: why did i never see chuck bass whenever i went to visit my sister?

now, i have to tag people . . . jessica (not the sister), amy, tiffany, heather, and melissa in georgia.  i would link to your blogs, but if you remember the beginning of my post i professed lack of brain activity. now that's just turned itself into exhaustion.

grocery shopping, part deaux?

wow. we'll ignore the fact that a second grocery store post in less than a week may indicate my lack of excitement in the whole life thing lately and move on to my tale.

so.  when cousin erin was here a few weeks ago, i made her eat dinner at the grocery store not once, but twice.  now.  this isn't your normal grocery . . . think whole foods, but add a whole lotta texas pride.  well, and the cafe with free wifi access.  and ice cold dublin dr pepper.  and live music.  it's pretty much heaven.  it's also my new favorite place to grade.  

yesterday - the day after the horrible day of college football - lucy and i hung out at the park and celebrated north texas and its touches of fall (finally!).

well, fall-ish . . . but isn't lucy pretty?

see!  there's fall.  stop laughing, you people with seasons.

i should probably not let her do this, but she takes off toward the water fountain 

when she sees it and i would kind of like to keep my arm.

okay.  so after the day at the park, i decided to hang out at the grocery store cafe.  it was great: i ate sushi and fresh fruit, drank a root beer, graded book reports, and played around on facebook.  then, i decided to go get my fruits and veggies for the week.  and this, dear blog readers, is the entire reason i am posting this.

here's me.  choosing a tomato.  (because if you have ever had to shop with me when picking out a tomato or avocado, you might know that it takes me ages.)  and i notice a girl/chick/lady about my age.  i noticed her because a) she had super cute pink glasses which i immediately coveted and b) because she was my age and had like a 6 year old and a baby baby (and yes, i know this is not really abnormal anymore, but 6 years ago i couldn't even wake up on time to get to work.) and c) she was having a very loud conversation on the phone with someone whom she "loved, too."  but then, her little girl - who was totally decked out with blue glitter eye shadow and bright pink lipstick - distracted me because she was running around picking up every single piece of produce she could touch, saying things like "mom, we need a papaya."  and all the while i am still trying to decide between roma or vine tomatoes.

then i notice blue eyeshadow girl head toward the grapes and grab a bunch of them and run them to her mom's basket and plop them in.  and her mom FREAKS out and says "NO!!!  THESE ARE NOT ORGANIC!!!"  to which i automatically rolled my eyes, cute taste in glasses be damned.  and then, 6 year-old blue eyeshadow girl says very loudly and with all of the adolescent she could muster, "WHO CARES, MOM?"  and yall.  it was the funniest thing i had heard in a very long time . . . 

the funniest thing i saw was 10 seconds later when she carted her NON-ORGANIC grapes back to where she found them and then she took two, TWO! grapes and popped them into her mouth and walked back to her mother with her hands on her hips.  oh boy.  those two are gonna have fun starting in about 5 years.

@$%^ !!!!!!

so here are my more innocent thoughts in watching this football game . . . 

- the abc commentators should really just make out with graham harrell and get it over with.  this love-fest is nauseating.

- also the abc commentators should learn what the word "consecutive" means.  tech did NOT score four consecutive touchdowns in the first half.  we scored.  they scored thrice.  we scored again.  then they scored.  but yeah, that is NOT what consecutive means.  idiots.

-okay.  maybe the commentators just need to learn to count.  but really, they kept saying "four consecutive touchdowns in the first half."

-i can never watch a sporting event (that matters to me) at missy sue's house.  sorry, friend, but the superstitions have now kicked in.  also i can never wear my volcom sweatshirt (that i love) on game day, my holy jeans, or my favorite teva flip flops.

-i remember now why i took last year off from watching football.  i get way way way too emotional about it.  i also swear too much and crave vodka/tequila/beer/tylenol p.m.

-seriously, this football team has been fun to watch this year - the few times the texas airwaves have allowed me the pleasure.  what happened tonight?  

-i never want to go to work on mondays, but this week especially it will be hard.

- dear state of texas: i am done with you.

-dear state of oklahoma: find me a job so i can come back north of the red river.

-does this mean i now have to cheer for sooners when they play tech?  that might make me cry even more than i am right now.

-i am still a very proud GRADUATE x 2 of the STATE'S university.  i am sad right now, but i will be sporting orange on monday because this is the most exciting football season EVER and i love my cowboys and bullet and mike "i'm a man" gundy and joe's and mr. iba and murphy's and morrill hall and the "magical sidewalks" on monroe and highway 51 and t boone, etc.

ORANGE POWER!

GO POKES!

grocery shopping

i don't know how i spend so much money at the grocery store.  this should be one of the benefits of not having to cook or prepare meals for anyone else, right? (ha!  i know that sounds funny for me to say, too.  poor, poor future family.)  cheaper grocery bills?  but seriously.  so much money.  each week.  and we won't even discuss the amount that gets thrown out because i try try try to eat fresh veggies - there is, though, only so much squash a girl can handle.

anyway.  for the second time in three days i ran to the store after i kicked the elliptical's ass at the gym tonight.  (side note: if you like to watch crappy reality tv - like america's next top model - but have a severe guilty conscience about watching such shows, watch them at the gym!  you totally don't feel AS guilty.  why did no one tell me this before?)  i had to go to the store because i was out of milk.  and as i was reaching for the milk, i twisted weird and hurt my knee.  fo' reals.  it is better now.  the throbbing has subsided.  but all i could think about was how i survived climbing up on that machine tonight and didn't fall once or bruise myself randomly, but then i showed up at tom thumb and hurt myself.  really?  when will i grow out of this awkward stage?  doesn't grace show up eventually?

and my point?  yeah.  there isn't one tonight.  

prove us right.

november means . . .

i get to publicly tease my little sister.

because yesterday - the day after halloween - was her birthday.

and it's what i do.

and i'm lucky, blessed, thankful, happy to have a sister who lets me.

 and still loves me.

she is obviously the sophisticated one.

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"chance makes our relatives.  choice makes our friends."

- jacques delille

finally.

the last 48 hours.

go vote.

you may also wear orange this week in support of my osu cowboys. GO POKES!

politics, long but not preachy - i don't think anyway

today i went to vote. i left school early because i had heard the lines at my early voting place were out of control yesterday, but when i got there it was actually very peaceful. MUCH more peaceful than work was today, so it was kind of a relief to stand in the quiet and among the whispers. (i still didn't get one of those stinkin' stickers. this is my 4th presidential election to vote in and I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN ONE! okay. sorry. so not on the topic.) 

i was by far the youngest person in line at the time, but the lady behind me was more nervous about voting than i was. she was probably in her early 60's . . . and had never voted before in her life. never. i overheard this as she was talking to someone in charge, so the info kind of came from eavesdropping, which would have made it very improper to question her. not that i wanted to know who she was voting for . . . i just keep hearing about people like her on the news and wanted to ask her what made her care so much this year.

say what you will about this election, for a politics junkie like me it is thrilling to hear so many people talking about voting and being active. i've taught during three different elections and (i think i've mentioned this before) never before have my students been so interested and excited about an election.  (my 4th period class is determined to trick me into telling them whom i'm voting for . . .)  i'm excited for them; it was the mike synar/drew edmondson state race in 1992 that got me interested in politics - something that has stayed with me my entire life.  so i hope that is the case for my students.  heck.  i hope it's the case for anyone who has been 'bitten' this year.  (for a really interesting piece about the power of voting, check out sarah vowell's open letter to mike synar written 8 years ago - a few year's after he passed away.)

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speaking of politics, can i sound off on something that has been bothering me since i went to a meeting waaaaaaaaay back in august.  i can?  well, thank you very much.  (trust me.  this doesn't really have to do with the election.)

so back at this meeting, we were doing a miniature version of some sort of personality test . . . there wasn't really a test, rather we read the description of 6 different personality traits and chose the three that we felt most represented who we were.  all 6 of the traits were admirable and hopefully included in all of our personalities, even if just a little bit, so nothing was really an "insult" on the list.  for one of my traits i chose "open-minded."  and yall, this is by no means me saying i always accomplish the open-mindedness, nor is it a trait i've always possessed (as much as i would have liked to believe i did).  BUT, it is something i try very hard to achieve.   

 very hard. 

 i honestly believe i'm a more tolerant person because i've spent the majority of my life surrounded by people who do not share my social views, religious views, and especially not my political views.  and you know the "funny" thing?  i am very close to and respect a lot of those people.  so when i say "open-minded" i'm not just talking about my beliefs on california's prop 8 or being interested in learning about faiths different from my own . . . i also mean being open-minded (finally . . . after much maturity and many hard lessons learned) as it applies to talking and discussing politics and other social issues with people to understand why they think the way they do.  for me, it's a big part of my Faith.  "the greatest of these is love" and all of that.  because, in my heart, what is a greater sign of love than working to understand someone else?

really.  this all does have a point.  just wanted you to see where i'm coming from.

so.  me: constantly working toward, often times failing at, but always hoping to be open-minded.  it's a huge part of what makes sarah sarah.  so maybe you understand a little why i was offended when one of my table mates, who had chosen "principled" as her main trait, looked at mine - and with no recognition of how she sounded - said, "wow.  it looks like we are polar opposite."

huh?

i knew exactly what she meant.  she selected "principled" as a means of describing her Faith  and yay for her!  we probably believe a lot of the same things.  but where we differ is this: her "principles" led her to believe that someone who considers themselves "open-minded" is someone she would find (i.e. judge) immoral.  but for me, being "open-minded" is a principle - a moral - by which i try to live my life.

but that small turn of phrase she uttered has really stuck with me, even though i can't remember even what that meeting was about now.  maybe a part of me wants to shake her and show her just how open-minded i can be.  another part of me has just been very philosophical about what she said and my reaction to her, maybe even a little proud of myself.  because in my past life (ages 15-25) i probably would have gotten into a huge "discussion" resulting in intense tension with her that would have made our department meetings oh so much fun this year.  

so i don't know.  for me this election is about change.  but not just with the person i'm voting for . . . also, a change within myself . . . see.  we can grow.

_______________________

yeah.  i put my degrees to work today as i stared at kids testing for FIVE hours.  so i needed to have some intellectual thoughts going on here . . . please pretend that is what you just read.  thanks!

be looking for: erin and sarah - autumnal extravaganza 2008.

oh collin county

saw this sign while in plano. it is too funny not to share. am curious why they aren't billed as tina fey's? oh wait. that's right. because this is TEXAS.  palin sells.

hey yall.  VOTE.

nkotb (part 2) - by request. for my sister.

after reading my last post, good sister ica asked to see this video.  so here i am.  sharing it with yall.  forgive my quite obviously absent cinematography skills.

nkotb (finally) - because i am in need of some serious distraction

the chips and salsa aren't doing it. the shiner hefeweizen isn't doing it. and now i have just realized that i never really wrote about the Experience i had last weekend. maybe WRITING will do it. cuz holy shit (sorry non-swearers, but it's football - my censor button is off). this game (um, if you don't know, my beloved pokes are playing the hateful longhorns today.  we haven't beaten them in TEN years.) is only an hour gone and i am freaking out.

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top ten thoughts 

(well i guess, mainly questions, but oh well, you understand) 

i had while attending my first ever nkotb concert 

10.  why would the concert promoters think that the 99.7 % female audience attending would find the wanna be rihanna/jamaican stripper to be entertainment?

and apparently, jessica and kelly are as perplexed as i was at this decision.

9.  my sister is kind and loving.  she stood in the lines of mass hysteria to purchase the shirt below for a "friend."  she even excused this claustrophobic blogger from standing in the line.  a giver, my sister is, fo' sho'.

well.  she said it was for a "friend," and i hate to doubt her, but really.  look at that excitement.  it's got me wondering if this is stuffed into her closet.  behind the hanson shirt, circa jan.

8.  i would pay to see natasha bedingfield in a solo concert.  she was the second "opener" and really was a lot of fun.  the doubt i experienced with the selection of the jamaican stripper previously in the evening waned as i danced and sang to "unwritten" with all of the other 25+ year-old ladies in attendance.  sadly, i have nothing silly to say about this. i enjoyed it.

7.  why can't i dance like this?  and why can't i have silver shoes like joey?

6.  well, okay joey, since you asked so nicely and in such sweet falsetto, i won't go.

5.  do i know this person?

why yes, yes i do.  (i may or may not have been in her wedding.) and she appears to be quite excited about this concert.

4.  is donnie still hot?  yes.  dude the boston accent does something to the female species.  is he as hot as his brother.  um.  no.  c'mon.  could that even happen?  and also, do you think i should have asked donnie if i could borrow his outfits for "bling day" at school this week?  (none of my pictures accurately show just how sparkly his outfits were.  and they were.  very.)

3.  was danny there?  oooh.  and more importantly, can joey still fit into his smiley face jacket?

yes.  danny is the one in the white muscle shirt.  he break-danced for us.  i'm not gonna lie.  it was kind of sad.  but we appreciated the effort and screamed and cried with the 50,000 other chicas in attendance.  and joey and the jacket?  well.  kinda?

2.  just how many pregnant chicks were at the last nkotb concert in 1990?  just how many were at the concert last weekend?  (check out the girl just to the left of joey's head in this picture.)

i don't suppose we will ever know, but my novice statiscal knowledge says about 23% of the crowd was knocked up.  including one of my crew.  yay missy!!!  (see picture in #5.)

1.  was it worth it?  um.  yes.  it really was.  have i forgiven my mother for not letting me go when they played t-town when i was 12?  well.  i'm working on that.  if m.c. hammer and vanilla ice do a reunion tour and i have the chance to dance along to "you can't touch this" LIVE, then i think all will be forgiven.  but yeah.  back to the concert.  other than the last 15 minutes when my severe cold reared its ugly head and i couldn't breathe so i had to leave before they did "the right stuff" and "hangin' tough," i had a blast!  and i wasn't really sure going into the evening what to expect.  i was kind of a-feared that the nkotb would take themselves too seriously, but you know what?  they didn't.  which totally made the whole experience just, well, fun.

and worth waiting for, well, "forever."

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okay.  so.   it worked.  i was distracted enough for the second half that i didn't work myself into a tizzy.  we lost.  BUT.  we still played ut better than ou did.  and MUCH better than mizzou did.  so yeah.  domination?  didn't exist today, my dear longhorn friends.  and you know what?  i'm okay with that.  even though it would have been KILLER if that last pass had made it.  just sayin'.  oh well.  when we beat you next year - in stillwater - it will be even better, since, you know, i will be there with my SEASON TICKETS.  yeah.  just decided.  i'm getting me some next year.  t. boone, you worked your magic on me.

alrighty.  it's senoritas and margaritas night.  jealous much?

just a taste

of what i will write about soon . . . 

dear students

yes. i know it must be odd to get a letter from your teacher as she is out sick today. yesterday, many of you pointed out that i looked "awful" and that i needed to "get some sleep." several of you wondered out loud why didn't i "just stay home?" well. i have taken your advice today. thanks for the sweet words of encouragement (?) yesterday.

and i know a few of you saw me running around the halls this morning and are probably confused as to why i was up at school on a sick day. i have yet to figure that out myself. did i really need to be there to usher my WRAP kids into their yearbook photo? nah. jb had that under control. was it really important that my 4th period's homecoming poster got hung up today? nah. we all know it ain't gonna win. and honestly, do you really think i am going to grade the big bag of your work that i loaded up and brought home with me? ha. laugh with me here, because we know that is definitely NOT gonna happen. so why was i there?

it wasn't really the brightest decision on my part, especially since it meant that i got to meet the substitute. yes. you've all met him by now, too, i am sure. so you no doubt understand why it was all i could do, after a 2 minute conversation with him, to restrain myself from telling him (with the faint and croaky voice i can squeak out), "you know what? i'll just stay." i am sure you have wondered to yourselves by this point, why someone who hardly speaks english*, let alone reads it, felt that the best place they are most qualified to serve the community is in an 8th grade ENGLISH classroom. with EIGHTH GRADERS. who, if you are quite honest with your adolescent selves, are not the easiest group of students to wrangle. and that's coming from someone has spent 8 years of her life with your kind and has learned to keep the panic and terror out of her eyes when conversing with you. something your dear sub has not yet mastered, which means you have probably quickly found a way to torture him and scar/scare him for life.

so there isn't really a point to this letter. it's not like i can control what happens in my classroom today. instead i just have to hope that the majority of you step up and show compassion to this man (and your sick and obsessing teacher trapped at home) and refuse to allow your classmates to take advantage of him. if anything, just please, keep the floor clean.

thanks. i'll see you monday.
-miss h

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*i say this as someone who has an extremely liberal stance when it comes to english as our national language. i'm normally not one to say, "why can't you just speak our language?" but let's just say, three days of the nyquil diet has left my patience very raw. and yall. i leave things color-coded for subs. he didn't understand the color-codes!

pour me another . . .

yes. it's that time of year. the germs have seeped into my normally healthy protective barrier and i am walking around with my eyes all watery and my voice sounding like the oldest frog out on the pond. and while i hate to be sick and detest the whininess that suddenly (well i hope suddenly) takes over my personality, i must admit that there is one plus to colds.  and that is that i no longer have to hide my love for the joys that nyquil brings.

i don't remember ever taking nyquil when i was growing up. but. i do remember the first time i ever realized how awesome it was. sophomore year in college. drummond hall. osu. roommate julie and i both came down with the flu during "dead" week. i had like a million papers to write before the end of the semester because someone somewhere went crazy and decided to advise me to take a philosophy class.  (if you knew me when i was 19, you would understand why this was a VERY bad idea.)  the only way i was able to breathe was by swiping julie's dayquil. and then, once the papers were all done (i distinctly remember writing about a seurat painting and connecting it to something that descartes wrote - and yall, seriously, i don't know how that memory has survived the obvious eroding of my brain brought on by america's next top model, big brother, super nanny, etc., marathons) and i still couldn't breathe or sleep through the night, someone said, "here sarah.  try this.  it will make it all better."

and my addiction was born.

now if you'll excuse me, i skipped out on two meetings this afternoon so i could come home, find that little bottle in the medicine cabinet and make my way to a nyquil induced coma before cycle 27 of ANTM comes on tonight.  8/7 central.

best weekend ever?

well. maybe not ever, but yall, it's come pretty damn close.

friday evening.

missy and i had some quality bonding time - you know, because we never see or talk to each other.  since she got herself knocked up, our bonding time can no longer involve this or this, so  we've had to resort other forms of (non-liquid) entertainment.  luckily, we were both obsessed with so you think you can dance this summer.  and luckily, missy thinks ahead and made sure we would get to bask in the amazing talent of season 4 when the tour came to the G-P.  and ohmygoodness was it worth it.  first of all, i am jealous of people who can remember all of the moves to the cotton-eyed joe, so i imagine how amazed i am by those who can dance.  like "4 real."  (just a little sytycd humor for those of us in the know . . . )  to top it off, we had crazy awesome seats.  just to prove it, here are a couple of pictures of the dancers.

mark - ica's favorite

katee and joshua after their "no air" routine.  

joshua was the winner and he is a southwest fort worth kiddo, so the crowd was super pumped to see him.  including missy and me.  katee is just freaking amazing.  

so yeah.  one heck of a start to the weekend.

saturday.

i have a three-day weekend to 'celebrate' the arrival of smallpox in america, AKA christopher columbus day.  this little fall break always falls (coincidence?) on texas and ou weekend in dallas.  and i always leave town.  i hadn't really made any plans for the weekend, so i called my parents on thursday night and said, hey.  i'm coming home.  because if i don't come home this weekend, you won't get to see me until thanksgiving and how sad for you.  (plus, gas was CHEAP this weekend.)

sooooo.  i left early - after a mad search for my cell phone that made me run around my apartment complex thinking it had fallen out of my pocket, when really, i had never unplugged it from the charger.  but whatevs.  i got home just in time to watch a little of the first half of the red river rivalry.  but uncharacteristically, i didn't really feel like watching it, so my mom and i went shopping instead and i somehow forgot about the insanity going on at the cotton bowl.  until i got the following text from rena: congratulations on this a tragic day.  rena is a sooner, so i used my powerful skills of deductive reasoning and realized that the longhorns had just made me a very happy person.  cuz yeah.  i do not like ou.  at all.  ever.  and any day they lose, well, that's a good day for this cowboy fan.  

my excitement was short-lived, though.  i knew that my pokes would be taking on a mizzou team (how i feel about ou?  yeah.  pretty much the same when it comes to mizzou.) that would know that if they beat us then they would be #1.  yikes.  to distract from the stress, the 'rents and i moseyed on over to the most osu friendly establishment we could think of - hideaway!  and proceeded to watch the first half and stuff our faces with the pizza of the gods. (which by the way, if you haven't tried the 'new' 1957 crust at hideaway, DO IT.)

and holy crap.  i just realized how long this post is getting.  so let me fill you in quickly.  those cowboys?  the ones who EVERY SINGLE ANALYST said were going to have a 'wakeup call' in columbia?  the ones who had an "over-rated defense"?  yeah.  those cowboys beat mizzou with no flashy plays or flukes.  not only did they beat mizzou, but NOW they are undefeated and in the AP top 10.

it was a good day to be wearing orange.

sunday.

family time.  ica drove over with ella the puppy.  we had aunt sylva's cherry pie.  the other cowboys are winning.  i've got good music to jam to as i drive home.  the sun is shining - i'm wearing a sweater and flip flops, which is my FAVORITE type of weather.  and i don't have to work tomorrow.

all of this goodness makes it entirely bearable to drive down i-35 here in the next hour or so.

as will my last dr pepper from sonic.

dichotomy

when people ask me how i can teach junior high, my typical response is that i like the challenge of the diversity that accompanies working with 12-15 year-olds in my day. case in point . . .

i had to keep a student late after 7th period today to have a 'conversation' about the random whistles that seem to escape his mouth at inopportune times during class. he has absolutely no impulse control.

barely 45 minutes later, i was leaning back in my chair, feet propped up, having a mature literary discussion over the worth (literary or otherwise) of running with scissors by augusten burroughs with another student. if you don't know anything about that book, let me just say that, um, yeah, it probably isn't really junior high reading material.

the end.

why i heart ica

so for those of you who don't know my sister, let me explain something - my parents somehow raised two very opinionated daughters.  of course we both care about important things - politics, the environment, our dogs, and the jayhawks - but we also have some passions about things that maybe aren't so important to everyone else.  now since this is my blog, i've already shared a little about my opinions (here and here).  

i sent the following video to my sister yesterday . . . 

and her email response was classic jessica: "her favorite artist was james galway?"  trust me.  in ica's world this is NOT a compliment and palin has not earned any extra points with her musical selection.

okay.  so i can be diplomatic; i won't just pick on saraH palin.  i found the video above when i was watching this video that jason sent me.  it's creepy.  and i can't tell if it is satire or not . . . 

__________________________

question:  why are biden and palin breaking the rules in this debate?  c'mon gwen.  get 'em to answer the questions!

two funny ladies

i am too old to stay up for conan anymore, so i was happy to see this video today.  it makes me smile.

no words for you

i'm stuck, yall. i have things to write about, but don't like any of the words i put on the screen. maybe i'll get inspired later this week, but for now here is a tour of my camera the last few weeks.

bass hall in fort worth

heather gettin' ready for her big day

old and new friends

the newlyweds!

bubbles . . . 

i-35 entertainment needed

i think that the reason a lot of people (me) became teachers is because they may be a little bit on the control freak side. so, when you are going to be gone for two days in a row and those two days happen to be a friday and monday one might say the control freak side of you might be getting a little stressed out.

so if you are one of those people (me) then perhaps you should do something to keep your neurosis at bay. lately my escapism has been making playlists for the trusty ol' iPod. this is not a fruitless task right now, either, since i will be spending a crazy amount of time in the car over the next four days. but this is where yall come in. i'm tapped out. i never thought i would say this, but i may be a little tired of singing rihanna songs at the top of my lungs while driving up i-35. it may be time to update the selections available itunes. YALL should help. give me some music suggestions. i feel like sending some more money steve jobs' way.

how i entertain myself on sundays when the cowboys play on monday night

church.  i can't get "how can i keep from singing your name" out of my head.  i'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that i came home and pulled up the chords to learn how to play it.

lunch with friends.  oh, uncle julio, how i love you and your chicken fajita meat on a salad.

cooking this week's lunch: chicken stroganoff in the crock-pot.  i have to make it while i am at home because i get weird about leaving the crock-pot plugged in while i am at work all day.  and yes.  you read that right.  i am cooking.  for like the millionth time this week.

watching even more of season 1 gilmore girls.

waiting on the ipod to charge, so i can go to the park to run with lucy in our post-ike BEAUTIFUL weather.

made a new running playlist for the afternoon:

• me and mr. jones - amy whinehouse (i know, i know, i should quit supporting her, but i LOVE this song!)
• yield - indigo girls
• rock & roll - eric hutchinson (live)
• calabria 2007 - enur (yes, it's the song from the target commercial)
• leavin' - jesse mccartney
• church - t-pain
• the longest time - billy joel (i don't know why, but i've been on a billy joel kick lately.  odd.)
• woodstock - alice smith
• in the ayer - flo rida (oh hot damn.  this is my jam.)
• hate on me - jill scott
• mercy - duffy
• scar - missy higgins
• take a bow - rihanna
• taxman - nickel creek (the BEST cover EVER)
• suga suga - baby bash

also, apparently, posting pointless blogs like the one you have just patiently read.

of course, all of these are being done because i am tired of grading.  unfortunately, reality is going to set in soon.

lazy saturday

blogger hates me today. i have tried to post this several times and in several different ways. each time i do, the format of my entire page gets screwed up. boo.

so. the point i was trying to make is that for those of you who care to read it, i FINALLY updated the nerdy book blog. click on the link at the side to check it out.

also. my dad was here this morning after picking up his new car down here in dfw. this was our fun little joy ride this morning with lucy in tow.

will write more later - no. i lied. i won't.

i am on my way to work, but i had to share this link to mama pop.  i'm going to write more later, but after i do, i'm done with politicking and feministing for a while.  but let me just say this: i am DISGUSTED by the comments i heard yesterday from "feminists" who were questioning whether or not palin can do a good job while being a mother at the same time.  WHAT?  i'm sorry.  did i misunderstand?  i thought that was what the feminist movement was about . . . that women can do whatever they want and be whatever they want.  we have a choice.  that's what i've been taught my entire life, so why are people - aka "feminist" women - trying to suddenly take that away?

okay.  seriously.  i'll write more later.  you don't have to read it or agree with it.  that's your choice. - actually, i've decided i'm done writing on this topic.  :)  movin' on.

p.s.  i'm too young to remember 1984's election, so unfortunately all i've seen are pictures of ferraro.  so for me, seeing a woman accept the nomination for vice president OF ANY PARTY was incredible last night.  just saying.

can you believe i walked out of a NOW meeting in college and never looked back?

i try to avoid writing about politics here on the ol' blog for several reasons, one being (mainly) my fear of saying something stupid and then, of course, being ridiculed by people who are way smarter than me.  but, since the olympics are over and i don't get to stare at this guy anymore -

i now have the brain space to pay attention to politics again.  and what a week i chose to dust off my bejing '08 coma and watch some actual news.

so i might not be the passionate obama supporter that sat glued to the convention last week with tears streaming down my face every time "yes we can" got fired up, but i do have a couple of things to say about mccain and his new vp candidate, sarah (i wish i could like you just because you've got the coolest name ever and SPELL it the rigHt way!) palin.  and those things are ....

• do i kind of wish - as much as it hurts my heart to say this (as someone who totally respects hillary but was was ADAMANT in the fact that we need someone other than a clinton or bush in the white house next term) right now - that hillary had been the vp obama chose?  um.  not quite sure on this one, although i am bothered by one (quite sexist) point i heard made somewhere yesterday when someone pointed out that palin was a good choice, if for the only reason being biden couldn't be his normal rough and aggressive "bulldog" self in the debates because he would be going up against sweet, charming, been in vogue GIRL.  so if this was in anyway a possible part of the reasoning in mccain selecting palin, then BOO.  give the lady some credit.  from what i've seen of palin she seems like she could at least temperamentally hold her own with the boys, so here's hoping no one (joe, i'm talking to you) holds back.  but back to my original point . . . if hillary HAD been the nominee, then holy sweet pickles, those debates would have been something because yall know hillary (even those of you who don't care for her) ain't holdin' nothing back when it comes to fighting with words.  here's my prediction: you are going to see hillary A LOT more on the campaign trail over the next couple-a months.
  
• mccain may have had my vote if he had chosen kay bailey hutchinson to run with him.  (dude.  she was a former UT cheerleader!  how much of an AWESOME image is that to little girls?  "seriously girls, you can be anything you want . . . i was a cheerleader AND vice president, so be smart, stay in school.")  i'm crossing my fingers that she turned him down and is planning to mount the attack against rick perry.  the day she does will be historic . . . i will vote for a republican.  on purpose.
• the selection of a woman is OBVIOUS pandering.  (not that my dems have been innocent of this.  trust.  i know.  i'm objective, i.e. cynical.  really.)  so my hope is that all of us women voters (well not me, since i live in texas and my vote isn't going to really matter, but all of you women voters in new mexico, ohio, colorado, pennsylvania, missouri, wisconsin, florida, georgia?, etc.) USE OUR BRAINS.  if your brain leads you to put a mark next to the elephant on your ballot, then so be it.  BUT.  do think about this (as my mom and i were talking about yesterday) - how much of an insult could it be to women - especially hillary's supporters (lil' sis, i'm talkin' to you) - to think that we would vote for mccain JUST BECAUSE he selected a woman as his running mate?  is there something derogatory implied in his choice?  i guess this kind of thing always happens in politics.  it's like choosing a running mate of a certain religious leaning just to get those people to vote for you.  i've just never been the intended audience, so it makes me think a little harder.
• more than ever, i will miss tim russert when i skip church tomorrow to stay home and watch meet the press.
• whatever the outcome, there will be a first in the white house, which is almost as good as watching the phelps, et al, beat the french in the relay a few weeks ago.  almost.
• um.  palin is from alaska.  mccain is older than the state of alaska.  i'm sorry, but you have to laugh at that no matter what color you bleed - red OR blue.  so now, let's all get together and link arms and sing "we are the world."

 wow.  i've used my pretty little head a little bit too much more than i like to on a saturday morning.  i need something else to think about.

thanks, aaron.