hey yall

crutlets

2011-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

hey everyone. (or whoever in the great vastness of the internet might stumble across this.)

i'm blogging again, just not here anymore. check me out on the new blog i'm sharing with the mister. you can find my blog by clicking here. see ya around!

getting all domestic

2010-11-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

i am trying to convince myself that i like to cook. somedays i am totally in line with that thought, but most days, not so much. but. i am trying to cook MORE and for the most part, i've done pretty well for the last couple of months. to keep me motivated and accountable, i thought i might flit back here to the ol' blog and use it as a place to post my weekly menus. you know. for the three people who still remember to check to see if i've written anything in the last 6 months.

plus. i miss writing. so maybe this will kick start me a bit.

without further ado......

monday dinner

pita pizza and spinach salad

whole grain pita, with a tad of ragu homestyle pizza sauce, topped with a bit of mozzarella cheese and whatever veggies i have on hand. um. patrick and i are obsessed with these. and even better? they are less than 300 calories . . . way less if you go easy on the cheese. um, they also taste better than any frozen pizza you can buy. trust me. i'm an expert on those.

tuesday dinner

white veggie chowder and spinach salad

earlier this fall, i joined e mealz for like a measly 15 bucks every three months. you get a menu and shopping list at the beginning of each week. i pay for the points menu for two people. usually, i pick one or two recipes every week that i plan to cook. so far, i've only made one thing i didn't like. this soup is a new recipe, but i'm excited about it.

wednesday dinner

whole grain pasta with light alfredo sauce and chicken and mushrooms.

we'll see how this one goes. i was shocked at how little calories the alfredo sauce has in it. i hope it tastes good.

thursday dinner

leftover chowder

friday dinner

no idea. i'm not in charge that night.

also new? my weekly goal statement. this week's? exercise m-f this week and stick to my menu and ignore the butterfingers in the candy basket in my classroom. three goals, but all essentially the same.....

8 lessons from puerto rico!

2010-06-25T11:03:00.001-07:00

a week ago today i was getting off a plane at the houston airport. not hobby. the other one. the one with a great food court. where was i flying from you ask......why PUERTO RICO of course!

patrick and i have traveled a little together (branson, fort worth, kc, wichita), but this was our first 'real' trip together (like just us for 5 days . . . no charming family members to entertain us!) here are some of the things i learned . . .

1. if you call my name while we are walking and i turn around and you snap a picture of me, chances are i will look drunk. this would be okay if it were true. in the picture below, it is NOT.

seriously. what is wrong with my eyes?

2. bobby flay is just as hot in puerto rico as he is in my living room in oklahoma.

i have a feeling patrick is more interested in the hot dogs bobby is cooking than he is in bobby's hotness. yes. we watched the food channel while we were on vacation. more on this in a bit.

3. um. i'm short compared to a lot of people. but especially when compared to patrick. (on a nerdy note: we watched the nba draft last night and decided to measure our wingspans. mine is a WHOPPING 5'3". patrick's? 6'8". crazy. i like this because i can always find him in a crowd. except a NASCAR crowd. there are a ridiculously large number of very tall NASCAR fans. um yes. i went to a race. another story....)

but kind of just the right height to annoy him when he is trying to take pictures . . .

. . . and i hold my camera up to get the "high" shot.

4. it rains. even in puerto rico.

5. san juan is VERY touristy. especially old san juan as it is in easy walking distance for the cruise ship crowds when they dock.

but even in the midst of tourist central you can find some great places to eat. our absolute favorite meal was at cafe berlin, which you can kind of see behind the statue of christopher columbus. so. if you go on a cruise and your ship stops here walk a little further up the hill, past the hard rock and senor frogs and harley shop and find this place instead. it's apparently an amazing vegetarian establishment . . . i wouldn't know. we ate meat. and it was goooood. their hummus was fabulous, too. (don't you think i should be a food reviewer? so eloquent with my descriptions of taste and such.)

6. now. there's a chance i have some pretty radical statements and opinions about food. but. such is me. one food i've never been a huge fan of is coconut. the texture scares me and the smell/taste is way too close to hawaiian tropic for me to consider ingesting it. but, since i was in a tropical locale and everything is served with coconut and rum (something else i've never been a huge fan of), i decided to forget my biases and dive headfirst into a pina colada.

now. maybe it's because i drank it on the beach while i was slathered in hawaiian tropic (which ironically IS one of my favorite smells), but i rather enjoyed my first pina colada experience . . . and my second and fourth and fifth . . .

7. we have not mastered taking photos together.

exhibit a - the camera was on zoom when a nice lady tried to take our pic for us.

exhibit b - the WIND!!! like there's A LOT on the beach at night!

8. this was my first real vacation. ever. my family and friends live all over the country, which for the most part (other than the not getting to see them enough part) i LOVE because it means i get to travel to some really great places to visit people i care about. being a teacher has made that even more plausible because i have a big chunk of time to do that traveling. but, being a teacher has also means i don't always have the funds to do "other" kinds of trips. yes. i've done england a couple of times, but i don't really consider that a vacation because, well, i was either in school or traveling with cody. (with LOVE! i say this with LOVE!) she doesn't really stay still. and also my sister and cousin, erin. who also don't really stay still. so yes. i've traveled. but i haven't really vacationed. and that's what we did. and except for our flight back from puerto rico every single part of our trip was relaxing. and chill. and just what i wanted it to be. no real plans. just hanging out together.

even if that meant watching throwdown with bobby flay randomly in the afternoons while we were trying to stay out of the heat.

if these walls could talk

2010-04-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

april is here.

and this means i've been in this house for 9 months.

9 months of hitting my head on the shower nozzle in the morning because it is seriously JUST MY SIZE....which as one of my kids told me the other day is "fun size." god, i love 7th graders. but anyway. 9 months of making this place my home. it still isn't quite there, yet. but that is what summer break is all about. apparently. now that i'm old.

but everyday when i get out of my car, i'm reminded just how insignificant my 9 months in this house really is.

it was built in 1955. and when it was built, my street was as far south as you could go and still be in town. now "town" is one of the biggest 'burbs around. at closing, beverly - the original owner - told me the story . . . she and her husband got married on easter weekend. her daddy bought this house for her and her husband on that saturday and they moved in on sunday. with two suitcases and some bedding. and when he came home from dinner on monday she cooked him their first dinner together . . .

she owned this house for 55 years.

i don't know why that strikes me like it does. maybe because as i've made it my own, i've discovered pieces of their story . . . like the wall paper in each of the front bedrooms that had just been painted over years and years and years ago. wall paper from 1950's children's rooms. the random bullet i found in the back of a drawer. the draperies from the 1978 jc penney's catalog that dominated me when i took them down on night one. beverly's husband's grave marker out in the shed . . .

but my favorite part of their story is in the garage. it's what i get to see every day when i am leaving and going.

one wall of the garage is filled with all of his notes about the maintenance he did on their cars.

again. these notes strike me.

it makes me happy that beverly had someone who took such meticulous care of her.

there's love on the walls of my garage.

not many people can say that.

music note

2010-04-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

(so i'm going to pretend that i haven't NOT blogged in over two months and just jump right into things...)

last weekend? i realized i was old.

it all started about a month and a half ago when my sister called to tell me that patty griffin was going to be playing in lawrence, kansas sometime in march. would i like to drive up with her and go? and when ica called with such an offer (i'll explain the awesomeness of it in a bit. trust.) i had yet to realize how old i was, so i quickly said yes and my inner hippie/folk music loving soul glowed for a while. because....i was going to see patty. live. in lawrence. my favorite singer in one of my favorite towns with (obviously) one of my favorite people....

but then? the oldness set in. i think it started to take place toward the end of spring break. a couple of "traumatic" things happened: it SNOWED! on SPRING BREAK! in OKC! my cowboys lost in the first round of the ncaa tourney. my jayhawks lost in the second round of the ncaa tourney. i had to go back to school knowing full well that summer is still 2 months away. all of these things combined to drag me down. not the best way to go back to work. and then work. yeah. kind of stressful right now. and that's all i'll say about that.

so these things together, plus my general laziness that seems to abound from december until, um, now?, just kind of made me dread getting in a car and driving 5 hours. for a concert. why did i agree to this?

but. screw being old.

because patty? well, she's enough to make you forget about the snow, sad basketball games, work stress, and everything else. for me, at least, she is. i discovered her music not long after i moved to texas after round one of college. i heard a song over the speakers in the music section of barnes and noble and went to ask the guy at the counter who he was playing. he launched into his adoration of patty and within 25 seconds of his superlatives i'd purchased her cd.

so for the past ten years, i've listened to patty. to be somewhat cliche, her music has been my soundtrack for the last decade of my life. she's helped me drive more miles along i-35 than i can even bare to add up. i lost my voice on a weekend road trip to houston because i sang along with her cd's the entire way there and the entire way back. i've discussed the philosophy in her lyrics with friends, listened to the raw emotion her voice is able to convey through a simple recording, and ignored my claustrophobia to sway in an audience at nyc's webster hall with my sister while we listened to her live.....

i could go on. i don't think i'm making much sense or am even explaining myself very well at all. i just know that, yes. i felt old last weekend.

it was rough.

it was worth it.

because when i listened to patty sing i heard her through my "old" ears.

and songs that have always been beautiful to me sounded......

......different.

to the old me i've become.

to the old me i'm starting to like.

so thanks for helping me grow up, patty.

_____________________________________________

here are a couple of videos.....the first is my favorite favorite favorite song. and that's saying a lot because it's ridiculously hard for me to choose between so, so, so many.

the next video is from an audience member. it's another of my favorites and i cry every time i listen to it. last saturday when i got to hear her sing it live was probably one of my best musical moments. also. um. if you are a singer? you should be able to sing live. case in point:

so a lot of patty's songs get covered by other artists. the dixie chicks did "fly" and it is (in my opinion) one of their best songs. below two of my favorites sing "up to the mountain." just another version of such a GREAT song.

winter storm warning....

2010-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

so last night when i went to bed it was 54 degrees, but several schools had already closed because of the impending weather. my district? not one of them.....so i still had to deal with my alarm this morning.....until i finally got the call saying we were out. and it still hadn't even hit freezing.

normally i would scoff, but i've been obsessively watching the weather radar since 6:30 and i am applauding the school districts for closing before anything is on the ground. it's getting ready to get bad here and fast, i believe. okies thinking ahead? wow. (with love people. i say that with love!)

that said. OMG I AM BORED. i'm going to do some laundry. and maybe clean a little. but then? that's all i've got. i guess i'll do some treadmill time, here in a second, but seriously. it's going to be a long day. probably two. and maybe even three.

a and b

2010-01-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

so yeah. i've got some new years resolutions. most of them revolve around the fact that i am *hopefully* going to be beach bound for a week in june. more on that later.

but randomly, i also decided that i want to accomplish two physical feats this year. hopefully by june, but whatever. and they are a) i want to be able to do AT LEAST 25 "real" pushups. and b) i want to be able to do a cartwheel again.

for the "a" goal this would be a big deal and would probably say a lot about how i'm doing on those other resolutions i mentioned in the first paragraph. i kind of have always felt bad about having no upper arm strength at all. yes. i know this is excused because i am lacking the y chromosome, but still. but then, one of my friends who is like crazy active and played sports her whole life told me that she can't do "real" pushups, either. oddly, that made me feel better, which in turn made me feel like i should take this on as a goal.

or something.

now the whole cartwheel thing? am i alone in this? at what point does one lose the ability to do a cartwheel? cuz, like, i use to do them all of the freakin' time. and then somewhere along the way - i'm gonna blame middle school - i just stopped. and lost the ability. and to be quite honest, now the thought of going upside down kind of terrifies me in a mild sense.

so i'm like throwing down some sort of gauntlet. to myself? is that how this works?

omg why do i suck so much?

2010-01-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

okay. so. last year? i got super motivated and started running and eating like a pound of broccoli a day and drinking only water and iced tea and the occasional triple grande nonfat latte with cinnamon powder on top from starbucks. and tonight? i ate bueno. and guess what? it wasn't even the first time i'd done that in a while. also guess what? it was not very good.

i may have also had two - or three by the time i've written this blog - glasses of wine (red diamond merlot, which is SO SO SO yummy and makes me feel classy because i am drinking red wine. shut up. i know drinking it with bueno kind of takes away the class. but still it was good. and kind of made me forget how crappy my party burrito tasted.).

anyway. i don't know what my deal is, or has been, for the last four months or so. because i really liked the changes i made last year. i felt good. i was starting to look kind of good. that may have been the tan, but whatever. i'll give the water and broccoli some credit here. and also. the best part? i had TONS of energy.

most of those things are gone right now. and i am not stating that to be whiny or melodramatic. because you know what? some of those have been replaced by some really good things. and i am actually really content with a big part of life right now. which is probably why those things have kind of shifted to the back of my focus.

but yeah. i need to get some focus back. i'll let you know how that goes....

happy anniversary!

2010-01-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

so it was pointed out to me by the author of THIS blog, who herself has been m.i.a. when it comes to writing over the last few months, that i hadn't written anything. like in forever. because i suck. and since everyone has probably quit reading my blog entirely this post is probably just going to fade away into the ether of the internet.

but since it is the new year and all and i actually do get a kick out of writing i'm gonna clack away on the keyboard.

and all to celebrate a very special anniversary.

a year ago - give or take a week - i became one of thoooooooose people. you know us. we annoy the hell out of you if you aren't one of our kind. you get annoyed any time we mention an "app" and you could care less about our capabilities to check email, twitter, and facebook ANY TIME WE WANT (even if we are teaching. shh.). mmhmm. i got an iphone.

and i love it. and i know i am part of a cult. and i know it is just a gadget. but oh boy how i love it.

so to celebrate....i'm just going to share some of the random pictures i've taken on my phone over the last year. trust. they are not that exciting. but hey. neither is my life.

also i am lazy, so there's a chance - pretty much a 100% chance - that there will be like no order to these pictures and how they are uploaded into the format....

also i just finished uploading pictures. i apologize now that there are so many. i could have put even more up, though, so yay for restraint!

see. like i said. totally out of order. this was a drift on the side of the road heading out to patrick's on christmas day. a day later than we were suppose to go. thanks oklahoma christmas eve blizzard of 'o9.

also a december picture. yay for friends who get married! the other side of this said "as you wish." if you are in the know, you will understand why my friend joy and i squealed and deafened our boys who happened to be trapped in a car with us at the time.

my tree! without many presents under it! but my paper was pretty!

the best picture i have ever taken in my life. seriously. hey baby drake!

lucy of course!

smiling.

damn i love this dog.

when you see the next picture you will understand why my dad (especially those of you who know my dad) was a tad concerned that this might become a new habit.

4-wheelin'. in the snow. wearing camo.

and LOVING it!

even the snow!

someone playing in the spices at central market.

and no. i'm not talking about the small child in the foreground of the picture.

the giant traveling candy store at the oklahoma state fair. kimmy. this one's for you!

i bought a grill this year.

i make awesome kabobs.

i will cook for you if you come visit.

ikea. frisco. i want to do this in my den.

this sign seriously made me sad for the "modern child."

patrick was in a wedding this summer and he sent me this picture via HIS iphone to demonstrate juuuuuust how pink the wedding was. but then we were both like, "oooooh cool picture." and it is.

bob schneider. chicago. june. which of the following did i consume that night? beer, straight vodka, margaritas, beer, sangria, beer. yeah. worst. hangover. ever.

(erin, i think i still owe you some money for the get better supplies the next morning!)

8 years of teaching. all on one cart.

lucy in her new backyard.

happiness.

my birthday dinner with cody. who gave me the best gift ever. i'll write about it another time. also. random encounter with two people from my amarillo childhood who were sitting at the booth next to us. whom i hadn't seen in FOREVER. it was a great birthday.

oh. i was born in '78. so i thought it was super cool that our number was '78.

oh. this place had frozen screwdrivers. yum.

i keep typing hoping the name of the restaurant is going to pop in my head, but it won't!!!!!

it was in the hospital district in fort worth, though.

callie. she says my name now and it is the awesomest thing ever!

you would not believe how many pictures i have of her crazy hair and her sister's crazy hair. i take that back.

if you've met them, you'd totally believe that.

i apologize for the profanity, but this was the wall of a bathroom at a bar in downtown tulsa by cain's.

it made me laugh. before pabst even.

still the grossest thing i've ever had to think about. no wait.

the bacon flavored jelly beans i was forced to taste may top this.

oh and my nails look pretty in this picture. i need to quit biting them again.

so. there is my odd scrapbook for 2009. maybe if i write more this year i can do this as i go and not cram it all into a post that takes me nearly an evening to write. (so new goal? to stop writing like a 1980's valley girl. yikes. apologies again.)

now if you'll excuse me, my iphone and i are going to go cuddle up and play some "words with friends" before we crash for the night.

a quest to be better people. and hotter, too. does that make us selfish?

2009-11-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

the 30 week challenge. that is what missy and i are calling it. we both have quite a few things in our lives that we want to change . . . some physical, some mental, some spiritual, some financial, and all of the rest. but daily life gets overwhelming sometimes.

now. sometime later this week ima gonna write me a gratitude post. or maybe a couple. but one of those posts is definitely going to explain why i am so thankful for a friendship like the one i share with missy. and trust me. it involves a lot more than my fascination with her ability to throw the term "titty baby" around like it's nothing, although, if i am being honest that might just be why i decided she had to be my friend!

last january at missy's shower for benjamin!

she - obvs pregnant. and supercute pregnant!

me - about 20 pounds ago. still a ways to go!

for tonight, though, let me just take some time and explain the 30 week challenge. because like it starts now.

the purpose is multifaceted, yo. weekly goals don't seem so daunting. obviously there are some things each of us want for ourselves and the people around us by the time this "quest" is over, so yes. there is a BIG PICTURE. but you've got to take smaller steps to get there sometimes, right? right?!

um, we are teachers. we totally believe in rules. duh. but since we are GOOD teachers, we totally believe in as few rules as possible wherein we can still get our point across and don't have to have an entire wall filled with poster board stating said rules. (sorry. just had a flashback to my first classroom.) so. as good ol' harry wong suggests....here are our fast five.

________________________________

FAST FIVE OF THE 30 WEEK CHALLENGE

1. every sunday, post 3 to 5 goals for the week. 1 goal MUST have to do with getting physical. 1 goal MUST have to do with eating habits. the rest can be as deep and philosophical as we want. or they can be totally shallow.

2. at the end of the week, if all goals are met, deposit 10 bucks in the piggy bank.

3. when it comes to eating habits, we are allowed one cheat day a week, if needed.

4. if a cheat day is not used, deposit 2 to 3 extra dollars in the piggy bank.

5. communicate and be reflective. we will be doing that publicly on this here blog, as well as lots of email and chatter between the two of us on a daily basis....which is really nothing new, now we've just got more to talk about!

________________________________

yeah. so there is money involved here. the ultimate goal is that by the week of june 7th - the end of this 3o week challenge - the two of us will have saved enough money to reward ourselves with a fun girls weekend. just in time to celebrate being out of school.

and our new hotness.

the before!

forgive me missy, but this picture always cracks me up

and now i actually have a reason to post it!

normally, goals will be posted each sunday....this week we'll post monday!

yeah so seriously

2009-10-03T14:11:00.001-07:00

i totally suck at blogging anymore. there was a bit of time there where i thought i was kind of getting good at this.......and then the job search became an excuse to take a break and then the summer of insanity began and then i posted OVER A MONTH AGO about how i was back and was going to write and yeah. not so much.

but it's saturday afternoon. and for like the first time in three months it is actually quiet and still and there's not a lot going on. which of course means, i have used my time wisely and been productive, i.e., i've spent the afternoon roaming the internet. well. not really the ENTIRE internet. instead, the majority of my time has been spent on this crockpot cooking blog. because HOLY COW - there's a lot you can do with a crockpot.

and i have one.

and only work a block from my house.

um. what?

yeah. in MY mind that makes perfect sense. because in case you were not aware, i can be a little neurotic about things. and by "things" i mean absolutely nothing that really has bearing or importance. for example, i spent 25 minutes the other day working on a powerpoint trying to make the orange in my pistol pete clip art match the orange of the text. because, you know, 6th-7th-8th graders TOTALLY care about shit like that. also, there's a chance i drove back to my house three different times the other day to make sure i had closed my garage door....and there's a chance those drivebys all happened within 5 minutes of each other. and don't even get me started talking about my straightener. (by the way, thanks mom, for this genetic trait you've passed down to me! ;p SMOOCHES!)

anyway. what was i talking about?

i've always been amazed by the crockpot, but also a little afraid of it because it is an appliance - that is hot - that you leave plugged in. all day. unattended!!!! um. hello? that could be DANGEROUS. so. in the past. i have done the crock pot cooking. but usually, i am home all day. or, in the rare instances where i've put something in in the morning and then gone to work, i have worried about it all day long. ask anyone who has worked with me.

yeah. i know. my brain is annoying.

so. now that i live a block away, i come home for lunch every day. which means, i can check to make sure all is well and secure and not scorching. so YEAH!!!! crock pot cooking will DEFINITELY happen a lot this fall/winter. (which by the way, be prepared for a lot of me writing about how freaking cold oklahoma is. all starting here in about 4 weeks. don't say you haven't been warned.) (wait. that means i am intending to do some actual writing, i guess. huh. funny.)

okay. so. those of you who've known me for a while might be curious about this thing called "cooking" that i seem to have discovered. and trust me. i'm just as weirded out that i am participating in it as well. like on purpose. and with regularity.

but that's another ramble-y, ADD blog for another slow saturday.

and don't worry. one of those won't be here until after christmas.

let's try this again.....

2009-08-31T14:33:00.001-07:00

so here’s the deal. taking a break from the blogging stuff - way back in, oh what was it? april? – seeeeeeeeeeeeeeemed like a fabulous idea at the time. but now it’s, um, turning september in less than 8 hours and there’s hardly been a blip on the screen from me.

i’d make some excuses here, but really? i just didn’t want to write. no offense to anyone who cares that much. (and yeah, if you do, chill, plz? ‘k. thx.) A LOT happened this summer. some spectacular stuff, some funny stuff, and some pretty stressful stuff. and it’s all stored somewhere deep and comfortable in the caverns of my brain. and maybe someday i’ll write about some of it and bore you with my ramblings then. but for now….i’m just going to start with today.

because today i got to analyze testing data. all. day. long. after i spent the entire week last week doing the same thing (on my own, mind you. who says i ain’t a self-starter?). i finally had to laugh to myself because who knew that looking at numbers and state reading objectives could make a girl soooooo incredibly homesick. because that is what happened. and those of you from the life i just moved away from will get a kick out of this: i missed data groups. and continuous improvement. and, dare I say it? okay. i'll whisper it...taks. (if you are reading this and suddenly feel clueless, please don’t fret. your justifiable ignorance - a word i use with only the most POSITIVE connotation - really is a strong indicator that i should have a life away from those three things. because seriously? they should not be the topics of 94.6% of my conversations.)

please laugh now.

trust me…..this nostalgic feeling will fade very quickly. as in, just because i got all misty-eyed at how much easier all of this use to be for me, it doesn’t mean it’s worth it to come back to.

and maybe…..maybe it was just easier today to admit that i missed the “easiness” of the Texas numbers game (seriously. i heart the okies, but they need to get some of their shit together when it comes to this) instead of the people. because somedays it’s harder to explain why i left them.

to them...

...and to myself.

i be back

2009-06-10T20:50:00.001-07:00

okay. it's summer. i have a job for the fall. i am more than 3/4 of the way through the entire moving process. i'm on vacation. no more "i be busy" types of arguments.

so, i guess, i'll come back to blogging.

oh. and one other thing.....there is now a house. a house that will involve renovations. a house that will bring sarah (me!) closer together with john and karen (the 'rents!) because oh yeaaaaaaaahhhh. WE are doing the renovations. and guess who gets to read about it? yep. yall.

before i do much writing, let me show you the photographic evidence of day one. i'm sure there will be stories to tell as we get further along, but right now the newness is still a-shimmer and the cynicism, i mean, story-telling will commence later.

picture 1 - living room from the dining room. still attached: beverly's (previous owner) jcpenney's drapes from 1979. oh. and the carpet.

picture 2: karen and lucy getting ready to check out what the heck is underneath the carpet. (also from 1979). look how handy my mom is.

picture 3: LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!!! and can i get a hallelujah??? the floors freakin' rock!

picture 4: we got so excited about the floors that we just decided to rip up all of the carpet up. because seriously. can you see those floors? the only issue. can you see the line up the middle? those are all tacks. and there are a lot of them because there is a lot of floor. so pretty much? if you come to visit me the next couple of weeks? yep. you're going to be assigned tack duty....

picture 5: trash. leftover from all of the carpet pulling up. and this was after one room. ick.

picture 6: john. he was awfully excited to mow that grass. i have promised him that will not become his job. just gotta find me a mower. (hint, hint lissa and jerms.)

picture 7: and me. like a super sexy hot picture of me. wouldn't you agree? this is after the battle with the carpet AND combating the 1979 drapery machinations that were everywhere. new annoyance: window treatments.

picture 8: and you too can achieve super sexy hotness. just move into a house with a broken a/c and then decided to rip out all of the carpet. oh. and remember. it's summer.

picture 9: my first house-warming gift. it's there as a beacon of what will come when everything is finished. unfortunately, that probably won't be until football season. that's aiiiight. margaritas and football? i think that has a nice ring...

who knew, pt. 2 and current events via 14 y/o's

2009-04-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

so thanks for participating in the voting in round 1 - if you did. if you didn't, um, i kind of think you suck. :) but not really.

it looks like choice A won out. it also looks like i will never be able to share a SECRET with my SISTER without FEAR of her announcing it on the internet. FOR THE WORLD (i.e., our mother) to see. there is no tattoo. she is mistaken. i was just TALKING. geez.

round 2: shiny stuff

(vote in the comment section, again!)

_______________________

so the paranoia in texas is annoying this week. such paranoia has found its ways into the halls of my school. lemmejustsay, the best part of teaching 8th graders when anything MAJOR happens in the news is that i get to hear them wax prophetic about the state of world affairs . . .

over the last few days i've been told these gems:

- i need to be careful not to get slime disease.

- you can only get slime disease from eating pork.

- the world needs to be helping mexico because the flu is in their water and we need to help them stop all of the diseases that regularly inhabit their country. (which lemmejustsay, poor mexico. they are taking the brunt of this. which REALLY sucks.)

- the euro is the mexican dollar.

- the government should just print more money and the depression or whatever or recession or whatever would just stop.

and i laugh at my kids and find them charming and tryyyyyyyyyyyy to set them strait. which, lemmejustsay (is that annoying yet? i'm hoping it is!) trying to convince a 14 y/o of anything if you are over the age of 19 is pretty much damn near impossible. that isn't obnoxious AT ALL. but also. i bet if we look at that list of information up there most of you could find someone in your life - friend or no - who pretty much has the same line of thinking.

yeah. sad.

26 more days until summer.

not sad.

who knew, pt. 1 - VOTE!

2009-04-26T13:59:00.001-07:00

my sister laughed at me yesterday when i made a comment about wearing a watch. she said - to quote her exactly - "since when have you ever worn a watch." and it was like that. a statement. not a question. ica is very specific in her speech.

anyway. as any good taurus would do, i took that as a challenge. (yeah. i don't really know if "tauri" take things as challenges. there's a chance i am making up any knowledge of astrology and sign characteristics. but. whatever.) yes, a CHALLENGE! so maybe i will get a watch. but if i am going to get something that my inner sarah will rage against and if i am going to wear something that will surely cause a rash on my left wrist, then it's gonna be, well, fab.u.lous.

round 1: leath-uh

(vote in the comment section!)

the irony in the images above . . . i whittled away a good chunk of, ahem, time looking them up when i could have been doing something more productive. but that's the charm of me, right? a watch wouldn't change that.

surely.

while you were out . . .

2009-04-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

in case you didn't know, i took a break from blogging while i was searching for a job. (what? yep. totally did. i haven't blogged since march 1.) i think there was some sort of professional reason i did, but i'm gonna pretend it was for the betterment of humanity and say i totally saved you from having to read my constant fretting about not knowing WHAT ON EARTH WAS HAPPENING IN MY LIFE. but now i've got more of a clue. about at least one thing. so that's nice. you don't have to read my whining.

here's a run down of things i probably would have blogged about if i had been blogging . . .

1. i am on probation now. like for serious. i turned right on red. got a ticket. paid the ticket. and am now on probation because it keeps the ticket off my record (i.e. won't up my insurance for something INCREDIBLY STUPID) as long as i don't get another ticket between now and july 1. but c'mon. i sound incredibly tuff (that's right. i spelled it wrong. and what?) saying i'm on probation, right? grrrr.

2. same police department. different officer - pulled out of the police station right into me. seriously. right in front of him. the result: i got to drive around in a dodge charger for about 2 weeks, which totally upped the whole tuffness thing mentioned above as i generally drive around in my sexy civic. also, the body shop that dealt with my car has magic skills in vacuuming dog hair out of said sexy civic.

3. lucy lived in oklahoma for the last month. life was empty. (and not as a hairy.)

4. why to number 3? because since spring break, i have driven back and forth between dfw and okc 7 times. 7 times. on i-35. ON I-35. dude. if you don't get why this is awfulness defined - feel blessed.

5. went to austin. stuffed my face. here, here and here. spent some money. here and here. bought the shoes below. um, yeah. LOVE them. and hung out with my girls cody, erin, and ica. (plus new friend holly from canada who has never had a corn dog. crazy.)

6. held baby ben. but not as much as i'd like.

7. got a mullet. not intentionally. i've kind of adjusted to looking like billy ray before miley came along.

8. have learned how to function with limited mobility in my left knee. dr. lissa (my friend the pediatrician whom i may or may not use for free medical advice) is now refusing to diagnose me since i told her i referred to her as "my doctor" when explaining to the school nurse why i kept sending students down to get ice for me one day. apparently i am too old for a pediatrician? discrimination, right?

9. talked about how amazing i am to lots of people who pretended to care. :) i kid, i kid. but holy crap. this job application/interview thing is killer. the other day during an interview i almost said "no shit!" in response to a statement. i think that means i've hit a disturbing comfort level with the whole interview process, don't you?

10. so it's probably good that i got a job today. especially good since i resigned from my current job 3 days ago. faith yall. i try to have it. but yeah. job. YAY. doing what i want to do. even more of a YAY.

and now my 6-week intimate relationship with cardboard boxes and packing tape is set to begin. i will of course be sharing that hotness with yall.

a mini-rant: in two parts

2009-03-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

so at my apartment complex we can be lazy and take our trash down to our parking spots on tuesdays and fridays and "they" will pick it up for us. i think this is lazy because my parking spot is about the same number of steps from my door as the big trash can is - just in opposite directions. since i have a four-legged roommate who has to be taken outside a few times a day, i use that time to take the trash out as well. huge news, i know. in my little courtyard unit everyone places their trash in the little walkway between our cars. typically not a problem as it is only two days a week that anyone really needs to do this. but. one of my neighbors missed the "pick up" time on friday, but took their trash out anyway. so for the last three days it has been sitting there next to where we park our cars and looking, well, trashy. now. i am not the most punctual person on earth, so i completely understand getting my trash down too late . . . but i am mildly considerate and i believe that if i had gotten home from work on friday and seen that my trash didn't get picked up with everyone else's, i would have gone ahead and walked it on down to the actual trash can. but apparently not this neighbor (and i totally know which one it is because, well, it's obvious mr. frat boy across the walkway). nope. this neighbor has come and gone all weekend, having to walk by their trash (like the rest of us have had to) every single time they have gone to their car and gotten back home.

and yes. i know i could pick it up and walk it down, but that's not really my point now is it?

it's tax season. yay. there are several reasons i don't like doing taxes, but one of them is that all of those little places in the strip malls that will help you do your taxes (liberty tax, specifically) hire people to stand outside along the street in various patriotic costumes waving to cars as they speed by. my issue is this . . . i feel like they are guilting me in to wanting to use their service because everyone they hire just looks pathetic standing out there waving for hours on end. and i live in texas. where it is relatively warm for most of the tax season. but i feel for these people who have this same job in colder places like, oklahoma and kansas and colorado. and they never seem to be wearing coats. it drives me crazy. so crazy in fact, i can't really seem to write coherent or interesting thoughts on the matter.

just so you know, i purposefully wrote this blog BEFORE the walmart grocery trip. because after that experience this wouldn't have been a mini-rant or one that includes only 2 parts at all.

you. are. welcome.

wasting time.

2009-02-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

if you have ever checked out the blog roll to the right, you will have noticed how about orange. i LOVE this site. yes . . . the orange is the obvious reason, but she also has really great DIY tips that i bookmark like crazy for that day i have a house with walls i can paint and build things into. anyway. she posted a link to this quiz today to see what your decorating style is. i've seen lots of these, but this one is my favorite. plus, i think it got me right on . . . with a nearly three way tie of classic, cottage chic, and rustic revival.

a purge

2009-02-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

so i don't write tons about my job on here. for a variety of reasons. but mainly because really the only people who like to talk english teacher stuff are, well, other english teachers. and also - i don't know if you know this or not - but when a teacher gets going, they can really get going and some might perceive such "venting" as "whining" and that really isn't the case at all. for me anyway.

most of the time.

but for the sake of honesty, let's just say this hasn't been the easiest year for me when it comes to doing what i normally do best - connecting with my kiddos. and i know that everybody has years like this. ebb and flow and all of that. it's just, i HAVEN'T for a long long long time (like maybe since 2001-2002?). and for me, if i don't feel like i'm connecting then i also don't feel like i'm teaching at the same level that i hold myself up to. and for a perfectionist (don't laugh. i hide it very well.) that is extremely hard to deal with. so my reaction hasn't been probably the best one i could have. i feel myself pulling further away from my kids instead of working to build relationships. and i also find myself blaming my students - for being too cynical, for not being very open, for being apathetic . . .

and then the guilt sets in because i have three weeks like i've just had. when every. single. day. i learn something new about a different student. and yall, these new pieces of knowledge are things i wish i didn't have to know. simply because NO child should have to have these experiences in their story. and again, for the sake of honesty, there's nothing i can do to FIX anything. and THAT is hard to admit.

why am i writing about this today? i don't really know. other than maybe it is a means to explain why i haven't been writing much of the fluff lately? it seems trite to hear what i hear during the day and then come home and write about slicing my finger while cutting tomatoes or to write about my new obsession with napping . . .

___________________________________________

and even though they aren't really connected, but are somewhat related, i guess now is the time to address something else: hopefully in the next few months i'll be able to tell you i am employed in oklahoma. cuz yep. it's time to get on the road again. most of you who read this already knew this was coming, but nothing's a secret now. i've let the appropriate people at work know, so now i feel like i can freely share all job-related anxiety with the "masses." i am in the process of retrieving all of my transcripts (note to the young'uns - DON'T TAKE SUMMER SCHOOL FROM A DIFFERENT COLLEGE EVERY SUMMER) in order to process my oklahoma certification. i'll find out about my test on march 6 and will have another chance to retake it if i need to in april. so. if you are a pray-er please keep this whole job hunt thing in mind. i'm ready to be closer to my family (hi ica and j and k!) and my okies and to have season tickets to osu football (yes. a little facetious here. but not much.). this is a decision i'm very confident in. as you can tell from above, i'm probably in need of a change.

test

2009-02-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

so i haven't been in a writing mood lately. if you are someone who reads this who also emails me on a regular basis, you will definitely agree. this week i have an excuse . . . i've been consumed with this test i am taking this afternoon. and also. i got sick.

again.

where did my immunity go? typically, it's one really bad cold a year for me, but this year, i swear, it's been like one a month. and yall. seriously. it's old.

but whatever.

the test. yeah. i finally kind of admitted to myself that after 8 years in the classroom, i am ready for a change next year. so suddenly this specialist exam means a whole lot more to me than just a few extra bucks in the salary department. i'm not a good test taker in general - i mean i typically do okay, but i over analyze EVERYTHING (hello! english major in college!) - so then when you throw in the impact this could have ON THE REST OF MY LIFE. geez. stress.

but. i've been promised margaritas this evening. coupled with the nyquil i am taking all thoughts of this test will be long gone by about 7:30.

manic monday #2

2009-02-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

maybe all mondays are going to be like this for a while . . .

so here is this week's running mix. my brain is tired, so even though i feel like i should maybe write more, i also feel like anything i write is going to sound somewhat stupid . . .

so yeah. the list.

penny on the train track - ben kweller (who like at least 7 people told me to check out last year, but i ignored them and now i'm all, why did i ignore them? since saturday, i've become OBSESSED.)
the long way around - dixie chicks (this is off of their sassy last album and it is my FAVORITE song even though "not ready to make nice" got all of the attention.)
think - aretha franklin (dude. did you hear they want to put the hat in the smithsonian? and she is still DEBATING?! does she not realize her hat could be alongside the fonze's jacket and the ruby slippers and archie bunker's chair? oh and yeah, some flag, too.)
if i were a boy - beyonce (or sasha fierce? i don't understand the title of her new album)
devil town - bright eyes (nothing smart to say here. just a damn good song.)
shout out loud - amos lee (see above.)
a long way to get - bob schneider (bob is hot. why would i not include his tunes?)
what a catch, donnie - fall out boy (i think this title sounds like a billy joel title, which is probably why i like it.)
halfway home - jason mraz (from his live at java joe's cd. if you don't understand the appeal of the mraz listen to this cd. boy can sing. and this song is the best example of it.)

i just realized i put nine songs that i like to sing along with all on the same playlist. oh, the poor little old ladies that work out with me and who already think i am crazy for running are going to get a kick out of their nightly concert now.

oh. and ben kweller. this is the video of the song above. it features his grandmother. like really features her.

starbucks on saturday

2009-01-31T10:43:00.000-08:00

today i went to starbucks to get coffee. this is unusual for me on a saturday morning because typically i view a triple venti skinny latte with cinnamon (the real stuff, not that horribly syrupy shit that makes me sick) as a treat or relief during the week, i.e. i make a starbucks run when i MUST GET OUT OF THAT BUILDING. usually, it helps me survive. (seriously, yall, i like my job, but sometimes - and i'm sure everyone feels like this - those walls feel very tight and confining and on those days i NEVER feel guilty for using my planning period to run around in the fresh air...)

but this morning i have been up and running, so i decided to swing by. i got my drink and actually remembered to read the quote on the side. it is one of the best i have ever read off of a cup and it may, just may, be the best representation of my life philosophy. i may have to steal it for a future resume or job application. do you think it would be looked upon poorly to quote a starbucks cup when trying to get a new job?

our prejudices arise from the fear of things we do not understand. if my generation has a single goal, it must be to promote education - education that advances us not only technologically, but also intuitively and emotionally. in today's fast-paced world, advancing has to mean more than scientific discovery; it is our responsibility to force ourselves beyond our comfort zones and become knowledgeable about the people around us. - jessica arden ettinger

___________________________

THE reason i am up and going today is that i got a call from haverty's at 8:30 that they would be at my door in 30 minutes . . . and they were!!! so i've gots a new bed. now i am feeling quite motivated to hang up all of the stuff on the walls in my place. you know, all of that stuff i've had for like a year that is still just leaning up against furniture? yep. that stuff. maybe by the end of the weekend it will look like i live here again.

not that you REALLY care, but here is my bed . . . and it is MADE.

here is the foot of my bed. i don't quite know why.

and here is what my bed will look like on a regular basis.

tres vestidos

2009-01-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

it was an "ice event" here in north texas today. for me, that means i slept in and then spent the rest of the day cleaning. it doesn't matter that you can't really tell i cleaned . . . that tends to happen when you drag everything out of your closets to decide what to keep and what to give away. i'm giving away a lot. this is a good thing, i have to keep reminding myself. to feel better about clearing perfectly good clothes out of my closet, i am looking for clothes i would rather have on this magical land of the internet. in just under 5 minutes i found these three dress from anthropologie. i don't know if i will actually buy any of them - i tend to turn very practical when i walk into anthropologie and can't seem to shell out the money . . . but i may just have to break down so i can have a summer frock this year . . . or drop a big enough hint toward my people who sew . . .

_________________________

the last one is my absolute favorite. i don't know if the detailing on it will show through here or not, but i HEART it.

a lot.

time for bed before i drift over to j. crew.

manic monday

2009-01-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

it's been a day. i'll just leave it at that. such a day, that it's not even 7:30 and i've already been to the gym and am back curled up on the couch. usually, i'm just now getting ready to head out, but i've decided sleep will be a necessity tonight to deal with the twitterpations of 7th and 8th graders (and their teachers! yes, me included!) hoping for a "snow day" on wednesday . . .

hey! did yall notice the new changes on the blog? i decided to go all white and use my favoritest colors (orange and green - duh!) more obviously. the "old" look was almost a year old and it was time to retire the very cool masthead that jessica not the sister made for me when i moved the myspace blog out into the public. since i am still completely ignorant in all things photoshop, this time i hit up cody to help me out. i sent her the link to my new favorite website (yeah, i don't know where this started, but let's just say i can't wait until i've got more cabinet space...) and told her some of the patterns i really liked and she used her graphic design skills to help me out. so thanks friends!

_______________________

so i've decided that on mondays i'm going to start a new happening here on the blog called "music mondays." really, this is for two selfish reasons: 1 - it will make me write at least one thing a week and 2 - since i'm planning to post my weekly running soundtrack, it will keep me motivated in that direction. also, i've gotten very lazy with the musics lately and am not searching out new and good stuff. so, um, maybe this will help? i dunno.

okay. i decided last week that i needed a new running playlist when it dawned on me that i was probably the only one in the gym running to old billy joel songs. (and what? i'm not apologizing. it had just been about 6 months since i'd updated and i do love me some billy joel circa 1984.) feel free to suggest any songs you think i need to include in my playlist for next week.

1. i try - ben taylor*

2. girls just want to have fun - greg laswell

3. paper planes - m.i.a. (there is another version of this on the slumdog millionaire soundtrack that is really great . . . just a little too long for my playlist)

4. heartless - kanye west

5. my life would suck without you - kelly clarkson

6. hate that i love you - rihanna and chris brown (rihanna is always on my list.)

7. get silly - v.i.c.

8. always be my baby - mariah carey (yeah, i totally had a flashback to high school and driving in jenno's car after school)

9. love lockdown - kanye west

* so the new genius on itunes suggested ben taylor's cover of macy gray's "i try" to me. usually, i ignore those suggestions, but i'd always been curious about ben taylor (he's the musical spawn of james taylor and carly simon) so i fell for the suggestion. i am SO glad i did. check out the somewhat creepy fan video below. i tried to find a good video of him singing, but 'twas not possible.

sleep over sight

2009-01-24T14:39:00.001-08:00

i went to the eye doctor this week because i am convinced that i'm becoming nearsighted. or developing nearsightedness? hmm. not sure how that should read. anyway, according to the eye doctor, i still just have a mild astigmatism. and he didn't seem all that pushy about me needing glasses or anything - even for reading. i have my prescription and have decided that if i stumble across any glasses i love, i'll get them. but, since i don't get headaches from reading and grading and driving like i use to, i'm in no hurry.

that brings me to my point. apparently, since i don't need glasses immediately, that means i can spend the money i'd set aside for said glasses on something else.

so i did.

a bed! this bed, to be exact . . .

it gets here next weekend and i am so excited. i'm even pumped enough to go clean my bedroom out and actually take all of those bags of clothes to goodwill like i've been promising. for someone who typically plans big purchases out like this, i've lucked out with my two-day spontaneity. first of all, haverty's has free shipping this weekend. AND now that i've gotten home and read the online reviews, i'm even more excited because this bed has great reviews AND they are going to put it together for me. SCORE!

____________________

sarah's steps to becoming an adult . . .

1. buy washer and drier - check

2. buy "grown up" furniture instead of relying on the kindness of hand-me-downs - half a check (still gotta get that new couch this summer)

3. buy a house - eh . . .

4. buy a piano - someday . . .

so i'm kind of half-way there, right?

letter trio

2009-01-22T16:30:00.001-08:00

dear neighborhood old navy (henceforth known as n/o/n) -

you are one of my favorite o/n stores and trust me, i have visited quite a few. for some reason, your store seems to be well- organized (like today in the clearance section how everything was organized BY COLOR - kudos n/o/n and your j crew-like ways!). generally, you are also able to avoid looking like yall just dumped the recently delivered sweaters onto the tables and said "screw it" to folding them since they are going to get unfolded within a few minutes anyway. so typically, i like walking around to see what all i can gather in my arms. and today, trust, i was doing quite a bit of gathering (yoga pants are SUPER cheap this week, how could i not?) and was having quite a good time . . .

until i was accosted by your overly enthusiastic salesperson, dan. dude. dan. when you asked me (okay, honestly, you SCREECHED it at me) the first five times "if i was having a pleasant shopping experience" and i answered "mmhmm, yep, yes" or just simply nodded i was being honest. but when you asked me for the 11th time, i'll be honest, my answer was a bold-faced lie. but it was a lie i felt like i had to tell because if i said no then HOLY CRAP you might want to HELP me and dan, dan, dan, that just wasn't going to happen. and hey. did you notice when you asked if i wanted to sign up for an o/n-gap-banana card how quickly i ran to the front of the store to get away from you? oh wait? you didn't? that's riiiiiiiiiiight, 'cause as soon as i said no, your head whipped around to the poor lady next to me and you started the whole accosting experience over with her.

so in conclusion n/o/n, i do not plan on boycotting your store. (um, hello? your yoga pants are my fave!) but if you could, please, just post dan's schedule so i know when i should avoid dropping by.

thanks ever so much,
sarah

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dear chipotle man #1,

i love me a meal from chipotle. i do! and maybe since i go way too often (thanks missy!) it is more of a statement on my character that i can spit my order out and be in and out all in 3 minutes. but seriously my friend, i have NEVER waited behind someone so freakishly picky about their order in my life. and you were RUDE to the chick making it even though she was trying her hardest to make sure she followed all 138 of your directions.

also. you never said thank you to them. even though they spent 12 1/2 minutes waiting on you.

boo.
-sarah

________________________________

dear chipotle man #2,

first of all, let's get this straight, i was here first. wait in line, buddy. you are creeping me out a little when you come stand directly behind me, 'cause sir, that ain't how it works at chipotle. stand to my left, please. preferably at least 12 inches away. oh. or 2? seriously - creeping me out.

secondly, yes, i know that man #1 is FREAKING ANNOYING and slow, but just because i agree with you, please do not make it look like i am in cahoots with your verbal (and grammatically incorrect) assault on his pokiness. and c'mon people! what is with being rude to the workers today? making them dump your "carnitas bowl" (with no rice? what is that about? it's the best part of chipotle!) and start over because in the 30 seconds it sat there it got cold? whatever. also. that guy behind the counter? he speaks english. better than you, actually, so please quit talking to him like he's an idiot.

again, no thanks to your burrito maker? you suck.

-sarah

________________________________

editor's note: i would like to add that neither of the experiences to either of these establishments will prevent me from spending money there pretty much every thursday. it's what i do.

welcome back . . .

2009-01-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

kelly clarkson!!!

my car stereo has missed you. but just one song? really? please finish the album so i can proceed to embarrass myself in traffic as i perform concerts for my fellow drivers.

also, can we be bff's? 'k? thanks.

a tagging

2009-01-18T16:41:00.000-08:00

i've had a few people tag me with the "16 random things" post that is going around. i just spent quite a bit of time driving up and down i-35 and part of the way i entertained myself was to think of things i could includ on this list. so here we go . . .

__________________________

1. i once heard maya angelou speak/sing ('cause she sings a lot) at the brady theater in tulsa. ten years later, i got to hear s.e. hinton and amy tan speak (they did not sing) in the same place. all three of these women wrote books that changed my life.

2. i'm fascinated by names and own no less than three baby name books.

3. i was tattooed by a man named troll.

4. due to watching a quantum leap episode about the l.a. watts riots when i was 12, i have had a strong/obsessive interest in anything and anyone associated with the civil rights movement since.

5. in college, a guy i dated was told by one of his church leaders that i was "satan's temptress." true story. i was HORRIFIED and HUMILIATED by this and all it implied . . . i've since decided it was most likely because i had a brain.

6. when/if i get married there is a strong possibility i will not change my name. there is also a strong possibility i will blame this on being a feminist when really it will mostly be because i am lazy.

7. i spent every morning of my childhood summer days at the feedlot "helping" grandpa, richard, larry, and robert feed the cattle by riding around in the truck and getting to push the red button that did something SUPER-SPECTACULAR . . . i'm still not sure what, though.

8. i'm claustrophobic in crowded places. surely this has absolutely nothing to do with being in washington d.c. for the 4th of july in 1988 and walking back to our hotel along with 500,000 other people and being terrified i was going to be separated from my parents and sister.

9. for someone like me (issue from #8), visiting the empire state building in new york city was pure torture. skinny hallways, long long long lines, people pressed up against you, riding up 1000 floors or whatever in a tiny elevator with at least 50 other people crammed in when really it should only hold 5 . . .

10. um, yeah, but looking back the empire state building is something i am very glad i did.

11. when the horse died in never ending story, i stood up on my chair and wailed and had to be carried out of the theater.

12. i once was booed at a 7th grade girls "c" team basketball game because i was trying to run the clock and maybe kinda slightly screwed it up.

13. one of my proudest moments of teaching is when a team member told me that he had overheard several students (and yall, this was the ROUGHEST group of kids i have ever had, which is actually saying a lot) talking about how mean and tough i was in class. i still don't know how i tricked them.

14. another moment of teaching pride: when i watched that class graduate from high school.

15. my closet and much of my life may not be as organized as some would like it to be, but my computer files - on all three computers, mind you - are impeccably organized and it drives me crazy to be on someone else's computer that is not so. seriously, how do you people live? ;)

16. my toenails are painted blue right now.

i was gone, now i am back - aka the top 11 things i learned over christmas break

2009-01-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

so yeah. long time, no blog. i'm sure you had gone into some sort of life low in not being able to read my ramblings. not to fear - sarah is back to the babbling. so thanks for stopping by.

before christmas, i was having a hard time trying to focus on writing and i'll be honest, the lack of focus has only increased in the two weeks i haven't written ANYTHING at ALL except for facebook status updates. some of those, though, have been masterpieces . . . but i need to get in the habit of writing more because - as always - one of my new years resolutions is to, um, write more. last year, i actually somewhat accomplished it via this here bloggy thingy. this year, well, not such a great start. but i'm BACK!

and i think here on this bloggy thingy i have kind of started a trend/habit/tradition of listing what i learned when i've gone somewhere for vacation or something. well, i mean, i know i did it that one time. so because i do want to write about my 2 week respite from junior high kiddos, but also because of the whole inability to focus thing, i am going to fall back on the ol' "what i learned" format. catch ya on the flip side.

(not quite sure why on earth i just wrote that last sentence.)

_____________________________

the top 11 things i learned over christmas break

(someday i will figure out a more creative way to title these entires. promise.)

1. i have will power. it's been a while since i had been able to find it, yall, but let the fact that i did not eat a single piece of aunt sylva's cherry pie (made by mi madre just for me) illustrate the fact that will power does exist in my dna. also, i ran-ish. a lot-ish. even when it was COOOOOOLD in the arctic tundra that is oklahoma/missouri.

2. number one is not always the case when wine is involved. basically all you need to know (and really i'm just telling you this so you don't worry) is that wine + sarah = sleep.

3. i heart steve nash. and that will always be the case even if i am made fun of for having such a crush. but yall i do have to say . . . watching nba basketball in oklahoma city was SURREAL. i'm not knocking oklahoma at all in pointing this out . . . it's just, i guess, something i never really expected?

4. you can find a lot of random crap at wal-mart. especially a wal-mart in springfield, mo. (and by random crap, i do NOT mean jan.)

in case you cannot tell, yes, that is an ENTIRE display of mizzou paraphenalia . . . purses, headbands, bags, scarfs . . . it was terrifying.

5. i still like springfield, mo (despite the above horribleness available at their local establishments. and by above horribleness i do NOT mean jan.) and the people i know there. (hi family!) who knew we could laugh so hard about stealing gift cards to bookstores and bar-b-cue restaurants from one another?

6. i am apparently the shortest person in my family. i'm sure this has always been the case, but for some reason just now this christmas, i actually noticed it.

seriously? what is that? like 6 inches? HOW COULD I NOT NOTICE THAT IN THE LAST 12 YEARS?

7. my cousins make some cute babies. (is that risque? gasp!)

evidence #1 - joey! (also, honesty time here . . . i took like 123 pictures of this kiddo and this is pretty much the only one that wasn't blurry. obviously, i need to learn how to use my camera.)

evidence #2 - lizzy! (another round of honesty - i took like 53 pictures of my dad holding lizzy and this is pretty much the only one where her eyes weren't red. or where she wasn't flipping me off. again. must learn to use camera or convince this child to like me.)

8. it's easy to fall into old habits. i'm not going to elaborate on this one. just know that it has nothing to do with the wine mentioned above. not that that ever was a habit. really.

9. it's okay to let go . . . of control, of things you think you absolutely have to do because you always do them and oh my god if you don't do them then life will end, of assumptions, of . . . yeah, so i kind of got some thinking done . . . again, no elaboration, but know that all is good. very good.

10. i have had my fill of i-44. no offense dear stl fam and no offense s-field fam, but it might be a while before i hang out on that glorious stretch of road between tulsa and where you are . . . please do not take it personally . . .

11. i am very blessed. with friends. with family. with opportunities. i didn't really need to LEARN, this, per say, but i think God likes to remind me in obvious ways since sometimes i don't stop and pay attention to the obvious. see number 6 for evidence if you must.

lucy says

2008-12-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-22T16:19:00.001-08:00

too fun to resist, yall.

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

2008-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

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

that is all.

funk, not funky.

2008-12-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

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.

_________________________

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 . . .

2008-11-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-10T20:18:00.001-08:00

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.

@$%^ !!!!!!

2008-11-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

november means . . .

2008-11-02T12:52:00.001-08:00

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.

__________________

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

- jacques delille

finally.

2008-11-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

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.)

_______________________

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

2008-10-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-10-26T21:30:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

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."

____________________

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

2008-10-19T23:18:00.001-07:00

of what i will write about soon . . .

dear students

2008-10-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

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

____________________________________________________________

*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 . . .

2008-10-15T14:15:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-10-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-08-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

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.

things i won't

2008-08-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

jannie sent me this website . . . check it out. i made mine from an earlier post on here at HMP.

creepy

2008-08-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

yes, i should be cleaning my kitchen. yes, i should be doing laundry. yes, i should go to the grocery store. instead, i have been playing on yearbook yourself. no, i don't know why.

but here you go. me in 1978 . . .

me in 1966 . . .

and the kicker, and a somewhat creepy moment. anyone want to guess why? me in 1968 . . .

and so it ends

2008-08-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

welcome to the end of my most unproductive summer ever. i don't know if that is really the case or if i am just not sure how to deal with not moving to another apartment, not moving to another state, not starting a new job, not going on any kind of adventurous trip (sorry yall, but oklahoma, missouri, and kansas don't qualify, even if i did have a great time), not taking any kind of real classes to make me a better teacher or at least a better human, or not making any extra cash to justify the ridiculous amount of money i seem to spend during june and july.

tomorrow is friday, yet i must start back to school on a friday. now i know that complaining about going back to work after such an extended amount of time off is really quite tacky. i KNOW this. BUT, seriously? why a friday? it honestly makes it hard to have any kind of excitement or energy at all about returning to work.

oh. the point of this griping blog is to share the following video clip i just saw posted on que sera sera.

and i know i'm not working for BIG BUSINESS, but, yeah. still. i related. did you?

dear best buy

2008-08-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

after researching digital cameras, i was excited to find that the product i decided i wanted to purchase was listed at a very good discounted price on your website. i double-checked to make sure that the pricing would be valid at the store before i went to buy it. nothing indicated that it was an internet only price. however, once i did get to the store, the camera was not marked with the discounted price. when i asked the sales associated about it, he pulled up the website and found the on sale price as well, so (as he should have) he sold me the camera with that price.

i am concerned about this pricing discrepancy. the difference was close to $70, which is significant. i feel that such a price difference is quite dishonest to your customers. if i had not looked at your website, i would not have known of the cheaper price because the camera did ring up at the full price at the register. due to this dishonesty, i will avoid shopping at your store in the future. i will also make sure all of my friends and family are aware of the pricing differences between your website and stores so that they will not be taken advantage of either.

thank you,

sarah

________________________

yeah. this is a REAL letter. i'm printing it and mailing it tomorrow. (well, i'll probably edit a little bit and add some capital letters - ha!) a SEVENTY dollar difference between online and the store is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous. so yall. double check before you go shopping there . . . who knows, other stores are probably doing this, too.

BUT, i did get a new camera. it was time. below are three pictures taken last weekend, which are pretty good indicators of that. i would like to point out that a different person took each of the pictures, so it wasn't just me and my lack of photographic ability.

so yeah. now i just have to find something other than lucy to take pictures of. speaking of lucy - here is one of lucy and ella together last weekend. (also a really good shot of my favorite pair of flip flops!) i doubt the size difference will stay that way much longer.

in all seriousness, i'm a little stressed out.

2008-08-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

earlier this summer i bragged about how good i am about getting things accomplished during my time off. if i were giving myself a score on a scale of 1-10 on productivity THIS summer, i think a 2.5 would be acceptable. technically, all i really need to do i can cram into four days next week and be ready to face reality on august 15th. or. i thought i could.

then i had the following conversation with my principal via telephone this afternoon.

principal: hey sarah. we need to cut an english class this year during 7th period.

me: okay.

principal: so i'm thinking of giving you an exploratory elective with the rotating 7th grade class.

me: okay.

principal: and i know you would love to teach creative writing, but ************* did it last year, so we are going to keep her teaching that.

me: okay.

principal: so. you can create your own class. whatever you want. i know you had wanted to do some community service stuff last year, so maybe a class involving that? but you don't have to.

me: okay.

principal: so let's meet sometime before school starts to see what ideas you've got.

me: okay. (don't you think she is glad she has me teaching language arts? my vocabulary alone is extraordinary!)

-click-

yall. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. seriously. i've been thinking since 1:30 (with the exception of my viewing of SYTYCD) and have now worked myself into a panic. here's the deal. the class is only 6 weeks long. that is NOT a lot of time to accomplish much. PLUS, there is quite a bit of pressure in the idea that i can do whatever i want because what if whatever i want doesn't work? that's public failure and i'm not so good at that. (remind me to tell you about the time i melted down at all-state tryouts my junior year.)

here are a few ideas so far . . . my sister came up with a few. which of these do you like or think would work? any other suggestions? leave 'em in the comment section. (sorry this is kind of like my brainstorming!)

community service: this is DAUNTING because i don't really know how it would work with a) students who didn't necessarily volunteer for the class and b) 6 weeks does not sound like a lot of time to get much organized and accomplished. could be cool because i would let the kids create the curriculum, which is something i have ALWAYS wanted to do.
leadership: i don't really know what this would involve, other than all of the cool team-building games we played at church camp and stu-co things.
humanities (music appreciation, art appreciation, performing art appreciation, etc.): resources would be a challenge here as would limited access to field trips. but, this is something really lacking at my school and something important to me AND i could so do something on american music . . .
media awareness: this might be stepping on the toes of another class, so i'd have to see.
careers: ditto the above.
current events: this would be fun for ME because it would be different every single six weeks and God knows i can't do repetition.
another creative writing class: because i am selfish.

AUGH. so see. the consequences of a 2.5 productivity rating are manifesting now . . . how am i going to get all of my other stuff done as well as plan a curriculum next week???

p.s. SYTYCD??? ANYONE? funky town is represented tonight! :)

babies!

2008-08-06T17:02:00.001-07:00

this is my little cousin lizzy. go give her a high vote HERE. there are lots of cute kids, but let's help lizzy develop the familial competitive gene she surely inherited from her mother.

maybe by this time tomorrow i will have a link to my newest little cousin, joey. sending some good thoughts to the STL.

will you still respect me in the morning?

2008-07-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

i am a girl with convictions, people. not saying that i always stick to everything i proclaim. for example, i use to think that it was horribly mean and unfair to big dogs to keep them in apartments. ha. yeah. i so don't live by that now . . . although i would say that i believe that it depends on the dog. blah blah. anyway.

but for the most part, when i do feel strongly about something, my taurus stubbornness becomes pretty obvious. here are a couple of standards that have remained pretty consistent for me -

i don't eat any kind of pork products if i can help it. (blame 9th grade biology and coach hedge.)
other things i won't eat: shrimp, whipped cream/cool whip, cake with icing, meat on pizza...and that is just a small list. (and yes, i know that those of you who have known me forever are feeling like this is a rerun, but stay with me for about 100 more words.)
you'll never see me wear gold and silver together.
i will never purchase music by the following bands: u2, coldplay, radiohead, or metallica.
and just because i am an english teacher, that does not mean that i have a shrine to jane austen hiding in my closet. in fact, i have gone the complete opposite direction and have avoided all things jane.
mizzou sucks.
ou sucks.

but the last couple of days, i've kind of been having an inkling that goes against ONE of those items above. so what happens if i change my mind and fail to uphold a conviction that i have, to be quite honest, been extremely vocal about? does that make me a hypocrite? will i be mocked? do i care?

and that's where i am now. i've decided that i'm gonna 'man up' and be honest about this change i am making, instead of sneaking around hiding it from people.

so here goes: i am going to read a book by jane austen. nowhere in that statement do i say that i am going to LIKE the book i read, but i am going to actually pick one up and muscle my way through it. i'm torn, though, in deciding which book to read. i do know it will be one of these three: mansfield park, emma, or pride and prejudice. (it will NOT be sense and sensibility - no, don't even try to get me to change my mind - since being forced to watch that movie for credit in senior english was the equivalent of me pulling out my eye lashes one by one.)

omg. if i'm willing to start changing, even just a little bit, does this mean i might vote republican this year?

and this might be why you shouldn't flip people off

2008-07-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

i know that i have spent most of my life living 'citified' or 'suburbanized,' but i don't really consider myself either. part of that may just be because i don't want to admit reality, but some of it comes from growing up in a small-ish community (claremore) and from spending large amounts of time in osborne county. sometimes, though, the influence of my rough and tumble years of driving the mean streets of the dfw metroplex seep into my behavior behind the wheel on the bricks of main street in osborne.

like yesterday.

mom and i were backing out of our parking spot on main. stupid me parked next to a VERY long pickup truck and a little too close to the main intersection in town (there's no light, let me remind yall). anyway. it was parade day, so there was quite a bit of traffic in town and i was taking my time backing up. this was especially necessary since i couldn't see around the truck next to me. i had to wait for FIVE cars to pass by before i could back all of the way out. (and in capitalizing FIVE, i'm in no way mocking osborne, rather my impatience over something so silly. 'cause really? what was my hurry???) so i've waited. i'm clear. i continue backing out and here comes a car whipping around the corner. since i'm already pretty much out of my parking space, i decide that i have the right of way. i also assume that since this is sweet, kind, peaceful osborne - the place where everyone literally knows my (mom's) name - i'm good to finish, put the car in drive, and move on my merry way. and THAT'S when i notice that said car has zipped around me as i am continuing to back up . . . inches away from me backing into them.

so. my reaction. i'm pretty sure that i raised my hands up in disgust. i know i did my typical glare at the driver as they went by. i think i said something like, "SERIOUSLY? WHAT IS THAT?" but in my mind i had to talk myself out of saying the words i would typically say to that car in a dfw traffic situation. this editing did not take place because i suddenly became a better person. nope. mi madre was sitting right next to me and i'm pretty sure the last time i said those words in her presence i found soap in my mouth not long after. anyway. crisis missed. we moved on down main street toward dollar general.

juuuuuuuuuust like the car i almost backed into. i parked as far away from them as i could in order to avoid any kind of awkward conversation or glance. mom "ran in" to the store to get a gift bag saying she'd be right back and leaving me in the car to listen to the radio. but that's when i notice that the driver of the car is walking toward my window. and yes. she is signaling me to roll it down. (how sad is it that my first reaction was one of anxiety and my second reaction was to get my attitude ready? yall, i think that means i need to get out of the metroplex.) so i do the slow roll down with the window ready to call upon my inner 8th grade girl and react with eye rolling and whininess to the lecture i'm about to receive on how to drive in osborne. but. no lecture comes. instead. this woman apologizes for our almost incident. she apologizes. several times and ways. sincerely.

and in so doing, she may have restored my faith in humanity. at least until monday.

oh wait. did you think this story was over? yeah. SO not. because again. let me remind you. this is osborne we are speaking of.

i am sitting in my car waiting for my mom to come back from the depths of dollar general. in my head while i am waiting, i'm waxing poetic in my head about the joys of small towns and how much better people are and why would i ever want to live anywhere else (i.e. the concrete sprawl that is dfw). then my mom comes back out quite a bit later, but i'm not even bothered by her 20 minute-one purchase shopping spree, so happy am i still about the apology from a random stranger.

and here's the moral to my little tale . . . there are no random strangers in osborne, population 1600. mom came out laughing because of COURSE she knew the lady from the other car who of COURSE knew about me because she has known me FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE, we just didn't recognize each other without my mom around. (for those of you in the o-town know, yeah, it was larry p's wife, vickie. for those of you NOT in the o-town know, her husband grew up down road from my mom and aunt j, worked for my grandparents forever, and then bought the feedlot AND helps to farm our wheat to this day . . .)

and now, i am rather thankful for whatever it was (conscience? decorum? fear of my mother?) that kept me from flipping off that "other driver" because OH MY GOODNESS i can't even imagine the level of embarrassment i'd be suffering from right now if that had been the climax of this story.

also. if you are kind of wanting to flip me off right now for making you read such a long post, go right ahead. i probably deserve it.

introducing ella

2008-07-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

i have not done a very good job of doing the whole writing every day 'thang.' eh. i've got some things i'll blog about soon, but that'll have to wait . . .

ica finally decided to add some stress to her life and she has adopted a puppy. one of her co-workers found four abandoned puppies last weekend and they needed to find homes for them. enter my sister. we went and picked her up tonight (yes, i'm here in t-town . . . still) and the poor lil' thing is pooped. here are a few puppy shots of little miss ella.

dear "emo" kids at the pool

2008-07-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

yes. you. don't you remember? you're the ones who didn't even come to the pool wearing swimsuits and instead jumped into the water (thus splashing everyone around you who was trying to bask in the glorious texas sun, i.e. MY BOOK, MY iPOD, and ME) wearing cut off shorts and white tank tops and your requisite stud bracelets and necklaces and chains and jelly bracelets stacked all the way up to your elbows. you're also the ones who must have just discovered how much fun it is to say a variety of F words at the top of your lungs so that people working at sonic a 1/4 mile away can hear you. you're also the ones who secretly have a hannah montana poster hanging in the back of your closet and know all of the words to SOS by the jonas brothers. ahhh. now you know i'm speaking about/to you.

yeah. hey. i just wanted to thank you for reminding me how short six weeks really is and what will be waiting for me at the end of those six weeks. i REALLY appreciate it.

-sarah, the chick who is probably going to be your english teacher next year. lucky us.

________________________________________

so apparently this week is the week of letters? not really my intention, but hey. it works.

dear t.s.a.

2008-07-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

to whom it may concern:

typically, thanks to my 2 months of table waiting experience (CHIMI'S!) and 4 months combined of bath & body works and target retail experience, i am typically quite patient and compassionate and grateful toward people who deal with humanity en masse on a daily basis. in my experience traveling, i have never really had an issue with any of the people who work security at airports, nor have i really found a reason to complain about the controlled chaos generally surrounding checkpoints. is it annoying? yes. do i understand? for the most part.

i do believe there are two reasons why i have never had any problems with t.s.a. 1 - i follow the rules. 2 - i have travelled quite a bit and am not as befuddled as some meandering through your lines. however, this morning while making my way through the tulsa airport, my past pleasant experiences in dealing with your employees faded away. when i approached security in tulsa, i READ THE SIGNS LIKE I ALWAYS DO (remember, rule follower here . . .) and saw clearly what my two line choices were. to the left was the "expert traveler" line (which was NOT clearly marked due to the chaos generally surrounding your gates as mentioned above) and to the right was the "casual traveler" line. now, i realize that i was not on a business trip this weekend, but just because i was on a "vacation" does not mean that i am no less the expert in traveling. because i am a rule follower, i didn't just choose the shorter/faster line (expert traveler). instead, i read the sign to make sure that i was going to the right line so that i would not be a burden to my fellow travelers. the expert sign listed these three criteria - understanding security procedures, traveling light, and fly often. i went though my own mental checklist: all gels and such sealed in a ziploc bag and ready to put in the bin, shoes easy to remove, no water bottles, no laptop, etc. judging from the five business men in front of me who had SUIT JACKETS ON, MUCH LARGER SUITCASES, and LAPTOPS, i decided i was traveling much lighter than these "expert travelers," so i followed them into line. i was in this line for about 7 minutes and then i met the t.s.a. worker i will refer to as THE JUDGE. the judge looked at the five men in front of me and allowed them to continue into the expert line. then, the judge put HER HAND ON MY SHOULDER and started to PUSH me toward the "casual traveler" line that was (by this point) FIVE TIMES as long as the line i was already in.

now. i would go into further detail about the conversation i had with the judge, but it really doesn't have to do with why i was frustrated after my encounter with her. (in the end i did switch lines, but that is because i am a KIND AND GENEROUS person and i realized that there were 300 people behind me waiting to meet her judgement as well, so i didn't want to cause a problem for THOSE people - also, i may have been a little scared of the amazon woman you dispensed to judge us as 'expert' or 'casual.') but as i stewed in the casual traveler line, offended because the judge had pretty much done two things that irritate me more than anything - treated me like someone who was clueless (which i am not!) and like i was guilty of something - and stressed because i kept hearing them call my flight's final boarding, i started to notice a trend. nearly 93.4% of the "expert traveler" line was made up of males. honestly, i am not one to wave the discrimination flag around. i take it very seriously. but, i am bothered by how rash this judge was to assume that only males would have somewhere important to be and that they were 'experts.' by deeming them so, she allowed them all to get through security much faster than the rest of us. those five men who were right next to me initially? you remember, the five who had way more "stuff" to be x-rayed than i did? all five of them were through security THIRTY minutes before me. none of these 'experts' had to run through the airport to board their flight just 15 seconds before it pulled away from the gate.

apparently, the next time i fly i need to remember to bring my list of how many times i have been through security within the last year. will that grant me "expert" status like the boys?

sincerely,
sarah - rule follower and quiet feminist

_________________________________

not all of the trip was bad . . . yay jan and paul! yall better get busy making me some ice cream. also, just to prove that i don't hate everyone in the service industry, i'd like to suggest (to frequent dallas flyers) the parking spot at lovefield or your local airport. it is my new favorite place to park and osmar, my shuttle driver, almost made up for the amazon judge who started my morning. almost.

now, if you'll excuse me, i'm gonna go cuddle with my dog who scored "anxious" on her report card from the boarder. this makes me sad for her.

2008-07-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

i don't know when the exact moment happened, but one morning i woke up and decided that my sister was not evil. since that day, for the most part, we've really kind of liked each other.

when we moved to owasso, ica was pretty pissed. to make the move easier for her, my parents let her choose what color she would paint her room. she chose red. now, if my sister had been one to wear black leather skirts, big pouffy hair, a cheerleader uniform, or even makeup (at that time), then the red would have fit her. as it happened, though, we were all pretty shocked with the color selection. looking back, now, though, that red room and the shock and awe of it were a perfect fit for her.

jessica is a mess of surprises. my most favorite thing about my sister is how diverse she is. if she used itunes (which she doesn't because of some strong feelings she has about steve jobs and all of his wonderfulness) her "party shuffle" would be quite the collection - bon jovi, puccini, kanye, cat power, corigliano, nickel creek, mark ronson, jill scott, alicia keys, damien rice, keith urban, and so many others i can't even being to imagine

yes i'm writing about a freakin' blanket.

2008-07-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

okay. so. i'm having a hard time trying to write ANYTHING lately. even my texting has become simple and lacking. today, i was reading sarah dessen's blog and she mentioned laurie halse anderson's july challenge to write for 15 minutes every day during the month. since LHA's book, speak, changed my life (another day, another blog) and i want to grow up to be sarah dessen, i decided that maybe i should follow their lead. i'm starting a day late. i'll double up somewhere soon, but the writing below stems from LHA's prompt (for people like me who are stuck) about a picnic. before you read further, let me just say that i followed the advice i give my students who can't think of anything to write and just WROTE. there was a little bit of editing, but i didn't plan anything out, which is painfully obvious rereading it. so i guess, bear with me? i'm hoping this simple exercise will get my mind working and i'll start being creative sometime soon . . .

PICNICKIN'

i hope the 'rents can forgive me for posting a picture of them in all their 1981 glory, but when i was trying to think of how to respond to the "picnic" prompt, i immediately thought of this picture that has been gracing my myspace and facebook pages for a while. i think we picnicked a lot when ica and i were kiddos, although my 30-year-old brain is getting a little foggy on specifics. i know for a fact that any time we went on a road trip - when one set of grandparents lives nine hours away and the other lives eleven, you road trip quite a bit - that we very rarely stopped at fast food places. instead, john and karen would pack up a grocery bag (as seen here in this photo) or later, the red cooler that still makes an appearance every once in a while. i do remember a lot of time on concrete picnic benches with a shasta soda and a cheese sandwich and pringles.

but when i look at that picture above, one item stands out to me. no it isn't mom's smart kerchief or ica's sort-of mullet - it's that harvest gold blanket. it would be an interesting project to go through all of the photographs from the last 30 years and see how often that blanket pops up. i'm betting it's in at least 48% of them. we used it FOR EVERYTHING. picnics, forts, dog bed, car seat cover, etc. hmmm. maybe i'll do some anthropologic research on the gold blanket and see if i can learn more about it, like where it came from and where it's been recently . . . maybe we need to plan a family picnic, soon . . .

supa' models

2008-06-24T20:36:00.001-07:00

let's analyze this picture that cuz e emailed me last night.

to the right we've got cuz e, who seems very unsure of whomever is snapping this photo. in the middle we've got my little sis, ica, who is already practicing her "new york elbows." she, too, does not seem comfortable with the idea of this picture being taken. (i'm wondering what kind of torturing/bribing took place to get them to actually stand there and pretend to pose.) you'd think if two people were not quite certain about the picture taking, then surely the third would catch on. but nope. i'm all "um, camera, look at me and my swwwwwweeeeeeeeeeet plastic charm necklace."

but seriously. if you had that necklace you know you'd be posing with it, too, even if the background was the monkey cages at the amarillo zoo. also. check out my tan. i started young, folks.

30 things

2008-06-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

my friend amy posted a blog similar to this earlier this week. i liked the concept so much, i stole it! so below, you'll find 30 things i have learned in the last 30 years (yikes. it still is weird to say that.). quite obviously, i've learned so much more than this . . . i tried to stay away from being melodramatic and cliché, but i am ME, so i'm pretty positive some of that seeped in.

i should have paid attention when my mom tried to teach me to sew
i wasn’t cut out for a small college, but i wish i lived in a small town.
wheat bread is better than white bread. always.
crock pots could quite possibly be the best invention ever.
waking up to 'help' feed cattle with your grandpa is always much easier when gramma has the malt-o-meal and brown sugar waiting for you at breakfast.
chili and chili soup are two different things.
cobbler and crisps are two different things.
it was okay to be a band nerd.
pie will always taste better in osborne.
green beans will always taste better if nana made them.
tell people they matter to you.
sincerity is imperative.
my mom has a ridiculous amount of patience.
as einstein said, “never stop questioning.”
poetry doesn’t have to rhyme. poetry doesn’t have to be analyzed.
it’s okay to have standards, but don’t let your standards limit you.
npr will always make me think of tuesday afternoons with my dad driving between owasso, claremore, and pryor.
owasso’s bueno is the best, hands down.
sometimes people don’t really want to hear your opinion. you'll probably stay friends if you can figure out when those times are.
reconnecting with your past helps you move into the future.
you don’t always have to go out on friday and saturday nights.
saying “i want to punch them in the face” is strangely satisfying, even if you are just saying it to yourself in an empty car.
treat the “new kid” at work or school the way you would want to be treated if you were in their place instead.
go on dates with yourself. (i’ll explain later.)
don’t participate in the politics at work, school, church, etc.
do participate in the politics of voting.
music is always better if it is performed live.
it’s okay to like things that are popular or trendy.
wal-mart isn’t always the spawn of satan.
the rose parade is over 5 miles long. even longer if the disneyland float breaks down.

and for the single ladies - cody just called while i was writing this to inform me that apparently liquor stores are where we should be hanging out to meet men. so, i thought i'd add that as a p.s. here. she did not really elaborate on the quality available, so shop at your own risk, i imagine.

how are these things the same?

2008-06-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

chicken tacos.

strawberry kabobs.

spinach, feta, and tomato pizzas.

peach cobbler.

baked ziti.

any guesses?

hold on to your hats, people. some of you may have a hard time believing this, but i cooked ALL of those items within the last few days. yes! me! and, and, and - none of them came from a lean cuisine box! i KNOW! crazy, isn't it? i even took a few pictures as proof to those of you who are not believing that i strayed from my summertime menu of turkey sandwiches, strawberry yogurt, applesauce, and carrots.

strawberry kabobs

(whipped cream added by mi madre - lord knows i wouldn't have!)

baked ziti

(and a clean kitchen? um, yeah. i'm AWESOME!)

and you know what else?! i made the ziti from SCRATCH with LEFTOVERS and things in my PANTRY and i added spinach to the sauce to make it HEALTHY. it's kind of like i've grown up. even if it was just for the last few days.

so here's a shock. i'm a procrastinator.

2008-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

i have company coming into town starting tomorrow evening. there is a lot to do to prepare for these lovely people, not the least of which is figuring out how to make it look like a golden retriever doesn't lounge around this apartment all day long. if i were creepy and distrubed, i could save all of her hair for one of these lovely creations. thankfully, i am neither. plus, it wouldn't be that useful to me as it never really gets that cold in tejas.

naturally, since i have so much to accomplish, i've decided my best line of defense is putting everything off as long as possible. here are some things i have done in the last 48 hours INSTEAD of cleaning, laundry, de-lucying, etc.

looked up recipes for the weekend . . . seriously. stop laughing. i'm cookin' for these people. i must really like them.
taught myself to play kasey chambers songs ("the captain," "bluebird," and "for sale") on the gee-tar. you can too!
using these three songs and quite a few others, i had a mini-recording session playing with the garage band function on my new computer.
harassed cuz e, jtn, and cuz j on messenger way too many times and claimed to be bored.
sang along with the entire wicked soundtrack hoping it would motivate me to do laundry.
pool time. obviously.
talked on the phone. a lot.
agreed to be maid of honor for one of my favorite people ever. (i would have said yes anyway, but the kicker was this group of words, "you can choose whatever dress and whatever color you want.")
became OBSESSED with good reads.
found three new blogs that i really really really really like and proceeded to read ALL of their posts. (sarah, brittany, and matt. warning. the last link is a very sad and powerful blog. i cried the entire time i read it.)
googled african swallows.
ran. see. i can be productive, too.
started (well, re-started, since i tried this last week and then couldn't walk for two days afterward) my 30-DAY SHRED. grrr.
blue mesa.
read a crappy book.
started reading a fabulous book.
um. wrote this blog . . .

and now, zero hour is upon me.

new obsession, part deux - or why my sister is evil

2008-06-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

warning - this is a very girly entry

so this is suppose to be the summer i "debrand" myself . . . i've mentioned this one other time, but have yet to accomplish it, or explain it, for that matter. hopefully, after my houseful of visitors this week, i will be able to get down to the business of said debranding. initially, i thought it wouldn't be a big deal to stop pouring money into the beauty industry. and maybe if i had started the process a month ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal. unfortunately, two things have happened in the last month. two things i will gladly blame on my sister.

1 - while living in nyc, ica started collecting various EXPENSIVE (like sephora expensive, not barney's expensive) bath and body products. (she says she got them from leftover goody bags from her job. yeah. right. i've seen this girl in action at sephora and anthropologie.) anyway. she has had the bliss vanilla and bergamot body buff for a while, which means i get to steal it when i visit. well. i finally went and bought my own (thanks, nana!). I LOVE THIS STUFF. just thought i would share . . . i have a really hard time not using it every day. the one downside is that it doesn't feel fabulous on a sunburn.

2 - even though she was doing a kind thing in gifting me with kiehl's creme de corps lotion, ica may have awakened a sleeping monster. i've never understood how people can pay more than $4 a pop for lotion. vaseline and jergen's do a fantastic job, in my opinion. but. now i see. i think i've already used half of the bottle of this stuff, which is not good because $4 a bottle it is not.

so the point is, now every five months or so BECAUSE OF ICA, i'm gonna HAVE to shell out a ridiculous amount of money for these two products because seriously, i don't think i'll ever be able to live without them again.

twinkle toes

2008-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

so this morning i woke up (kind of late for me) and turned on the today show to be greeted by the screams of teenage girls. ahh. only one thing that could mean - the summer concert series has begun. and then i remembered the promos i've been seeing all week about chris brown kicking it off. i have developed an affinity for chris brown the last two years mainly because the majority of my girls LOVE him. i don't know if i can fully explain their passion for him, but know that it includes binders and lockers covered with his pictures, writing out the lyrics to his songs in their most creative lettering and passing them to each other, signing all of their papers with the addition of "AKA MRS. CHRIS BROWN." so many of my kids can come across as hardened and overly mature that it makes me smile to see that sometimes being 14 is still just being 14. so chris brown, i don't mind.

but watching him this morning i got a little jealous. why can't i dance like that?

which brings me to my new summertime fascination that reared its head last year and is back full force this year. so you think you can dance. yay! the REAL stuff starts next week and i can't wait. the amount of creativity and energy the dancers and choreographers have amazes me. here are my two favorite performances from last year . . . just thought i would share.

pretending to be creative

2008-06-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

for mother's day, i headed up good ol' i-35 to hang out with my parents. my sister was the bad daughter that weekend and abandoned us to go to kc for a wedding shower instead of spending time with the family. kidding! (sorta.) even without jessica's awesomeness, mom, dad, and i managed to have a pretty good weekend. saturday afternoon, we spent some time at the okc farmer's market exploring the antique stores and the fresh veggies and bedding plants. if you've ever spent time with dad, mom, or me, you know that any one of us could take up a good chunk of an afternoon doing any of these things . . . imagine our powers combined. it was a day of new okc experiences for me. we also had the BEST STEAK EVER (or at least this year) at cattlemen's. i'd been there once before, in college, when i went with the entire town of alex, oklahoma before the state championship basketball game in 1997. sadly, i think i was in my no red meat phase at that time and only ate a salad. annnnnnnnnnnnyway. all afternoon, i was entertaining myself with my camera. yesterday in an effort to entertain myself and avoid the massive amounts of organization i need to do, i decided to mess around with some of the pictures and see what my new computer could do in the ways of making me seem more photographically inclined than i actually am. here's what i came up with . . .

and just for you aunt janet, a picture of the steak . . .

frenetic thoughts on this, my first official day of summer: a bulleted list

2008-05-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

so i finished my 7th year of teaching on thursday. it should have been my 8th, but i took my little detour in 04-05, so i'm behind now. all in all, it was a pretty good year . . . i love how i always say that in may, but if you had talked to me in february i would have sworn to you that i hated my job and everything involved with it. but now that the year is done, i'm like, okay. yeah. i can totally do this forever. (totally not saying i will, but that's always how i feel at the end of school. weird.)
speaking of 'forever' - i retired my second principal this year. i've worked in three different school systems and have been really blessed in two of them to be led by people like mr. a and mrs. c., two of the most caring and compassionate individuals i have EVER known. in both cases, they each worked in public schools for over thirty years. i can't even fathom that . . . i'm hoping i make it to 10 before i follow another adventure somewhere else.
speaking of somewhere else - as a lot of you know, i was kind of looking to move to a different school next year. two very unique possibilities popped up at about the same time, so i thought i would explore them. as i told my principal, me looking into moving had absolutely nothing to do with my school now. i actually am very content where i am. (stop laughing. really. i found out it's possible for me to achieve!) but, i just felt like neither of these two possibilities were things i could ignore (one was teaching with melissa at her school and another was moving up to a high school in oklahoma to work with joy - both are things i would love to do at some point), so i dove right in. for the last couple of months, my whole prayer has been for God to make it very clear to me where i need to be next year and that i would go there. (sometimes my selfishness gets in the way and i don't really pay attention to that kind of "stuff," thus the request for clarity.) i suppose you can't get much clearer than not hearing back from either option, can you? God cracks me up sometimes. so. i'm sticking around for at least one more year and i am good with that. from what i can tell, next year's bunch of incoming 8th graders will probably lead to a lot more prayerful conversations, though . . .
my thoughts are actually much more organized - and WAY longer - than i thought they would be when i sat down to write . . . maybe i should change the title of this blog? it's not really turning out to be frenetic. but dude. i love that word.
so every summer, i make a list of resolutions. i'm MUCH better at sticking to these than i am to anything i come up with in january. the two i'm most excited about are de-branding my bathroom (trust me, more on this to come) and hanging out at a coffee shop or the library at least 4 afternoons a week to actually WRITE. i've decided i am going to have to leave my house to avoid distractions, so i can actually accomplish something.
my complex better figure out the pH balance at the pool this summer . . . my skin STILL smells like chlorine from earlier today and it has been scrubbed and polished since then.

a new obsession

2008-05-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

chris jordan's photography. a little depressing, but i think his images are amazing and powerful. yeah. i should be able to say something much more eloquent and intelligent, but it is monday and i just woke up and have not had coffee/diet coke/iced tea yet.

top 6 things i learned on my trip to chicago (a little late)

2008-05-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

1. i found where i want to live if i ever suck it up and move north of the mason-dixon line. wicker park is pretty much awesome. i could have walked and walked and walked around looking at all of the stores and sat and sat and sat outside at all of the different restaurants all day long. there were a few national chains represented, but for the most part, all of the stores and eateries were locally owned and independent. YAY! THE best store, by far, was paper doll. the cuz, sis, and i spent at least an hour exploring all of the cards and bags here. i even found a great new bag to cart around my computer this summer when i decide to get out of the house and go people watch.

2. listen to your mother and pack socks. while saturday was PERFECT, sunday was freakishly cold. now i know a few of you (jan and joy) are rolling your eyes at me right now and saying, "was it really cold or just sarah cold?" um. even all of the chicAAAHgo people couldn't stop talking about it. this was (of course) the day we spent at wrigley for the cubs game. my mom had warned me about how cold she had been when she went to a game a few years ago, but being me, and it being FREAKING MAY!, i ignored her and did not take socks. but, i am now the proud owner of a cozy cubs thermal and some cubs socks. i can't remember the name of the store where we all stocked up, but other than the guy behind the counter who may have yelled at erin, it was a pretty good shopping option . . . not very crowded and rather inexpensive for having doors that faced wrigley.

3. even though i am now officially old, i will STILL get carded. (it's almost a blessing now . . . not quite, but almost.) the 'bouncer' at cubby bears asked me - and only me - to show him a second form of i.d. to get in. no one else in our group, not even my YOUNGER sister, had to do this. my only other picture i.d., though, is my teacher i.d. - will i go to teacher hell for using my **** junior high school picture to get into a bar? when i showed it to him, i did get the traditional gasp of "wow. you teach junior high?" to which i got to say, "yes. that is why i am here."

4. i like tapas. maybe the best birthday meal (not cooked by mi madre) ever. (that could change in 90 minutes as melissa and kelley are taking me to uncle julio's for lunch.) but right now, i truly believe it was THAT good. i think it also helped to go with uber-sophisisticated erin and jessica who knew what the heck was going on. it may have also helped that we spent the hour wait to get into evanston's best tapas restaraunt at ethel's chocolate.

5. my sister is a walking t-shirt generator. without meaning to, jessica comes up with some lines that erin and i have decided should be placed on t-shirts that we force her to wear for our own enjoyment. our two favorite ica-isms (you like that sis?) were "cotton candy is my beer" and "yeah. at the kanye concert . . ." if you don't know my sister, these are probably in no way any kind of amusing to you. but those of you do are probably laughing so hard right now you fell off of your chair.

6. i am really lucky to have an erin and jessica in my life. thanks yall. it was SUCH a great way to spend moving into the next decade.

when did i become this person? (so not as serious as it sounds)

2008-05-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

so the flying thing is no better. when did this happen? i don't ever remember getting nervous about flying and the only time i remember feeling sick on a plane there's a chance i could have had help in that direction from a little something called beer. but, nope. yesterday. i got on the plane. i was feeling fine. i was a little amped up about getting to take a mini-vacation. i was jammin' to some eric hutchinson on the trusty iPod and reading my better homes and garden magazine (yeah. did i mention i am old now?). then we start heading down the runway and i suddenly want to leap out of my seat and beg the flight attendants to let me OFF OF THIS HORRIBLE TUBE OF METAL WHERE I AM TRAPPED WITH 100 OTHER PEOPLE. I DON'T WANT TO GO HURTLING THROUGH THE SKY AT A MILLION MILES AN HOUR. PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME!

luckily. i am cool under pressure, so i didn't do that.

i finally calmed myself down. i wasn't able to sleep, which was NOT fun. but like a big girl, i sat back and dealt with my 2.5 hours trapped in the very nice midwest airlines leather seats and i ate their warm chocolate chip cookie when they brought it to me. so i figured all was well. and then we started our descent. i'm not even going to discuss the turbulence. nope. our pilot came over the speaker to tell us we were nearing milwaukee (i flew into milwaukee because it is just as close to erin in drive time and i got a better deal). so i start preparing for the landing, which HAS always been my least favorite part of flying. anyway. i start looking out the window at what i KNOW is the city of milwaukee. i even chuckled at myself because i completely forgot it sits on the shore of lake michigan. but then i noticed we weren't getting any lower. in fact, i felt like we were climbing again. and then the next thing i know we are waaaaaaaaaaay out over the lake and i couldn't see any land. instead of using ration and realizing we were probably going to loop back around and head toward the airport, i completely believed for like 15 seconds that our pilot was lost. or that he was trying to kidnap us.

but. he didn't. or he remembered where he was going. whatever. we landed and now i am snuggled in erin's guest bed wondering where she got her sheets because i really like them. also. i'm debating the eternal question: capris or jeans?

we're meeting up with jessica sometime later this afternoon down in the lincoln park or wicker park areas. happy weekend everyone!

if only . . .

2008-05-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

i was going to wait to write and post something tonight, but then i woke up and saw this . . .

um. if only this would have been NEXT sunday instead of yesterday, i would have been there in PERSON. just sayin'. here's hoping the cousin, the sister, and i get to witness something equally as horrific and entertaining!

and now i want one . . .

2008-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

so this afternoon i was at the WRAP club (writing, reading, and poetry) meeting. i 'help' sponsor this group of 5 or 6 kiddos. i say 'help' because i think my main function is to get them off topic and frustrate the other sponsor. i seem to be pretty good at fulfilling this role. it's actually pretty easy - they are 7th, 8th, and 9th graders, after all.

seriously.

all i have to do is utter two words: edward cullen and ZIP! they are off. usually, i like to utter those words with a few others like: "is a loser" (smart, i know) or if i'm feeling really verbose and daring, "sucks." (if you have no idea what i am talking about, i secretly envy you.)

anyway. today, i kept them away from the world of forks and bella and edward and JACOB! somehow i got them talking about the names they chose for their spanish class. this, in turn, got me thinking about the name i chose for spanish waaaaaaay back in 10th grade. i shared it with my kiddos this afternoon. they didn't really understand my maniacal cackling when i remembered what i had chosen. perhaps you will. it's a little telling.

margarita.

oh geez.

that song in my head

2008-05-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

i have been singing show tunes all day long. i borrowed a friend's wicked soundtrack earlier this week and started listening to it early this morning . . . that morphed to the following list of tunage throughout the day.

on my own - les mis
the rose - the rose
maybe - annie (forget any other song from this show . . . THIS is the best one!)
glory - rent
wind beneath my wings - beaches
part of your world - the little mermaid
little drop of rain - les mis
popular - wicked
defying gravity - wicked

. . . and so many more. oooh. now that i'm looking at that list, it looks like a pretty good iPod playlist. i also just got an image of me singing along with said playlist at the top of my lungs at the gym.

and, in reference to my previous post . . .

. . . i present hunter, charlie, and lucy.

and, p.s. - he may not be my favorite person, but i'll admit i am pretty impressed by our prez with this incident. but, i'm even more impressed by the people of greensburg. how awesome are they?

3 dogs and a lady

2008-05-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

charlie is sleeping on my leg. lucy is curled up as close as she can to me. hunter is sprawled out on the floor next to the couch. i finally figured out that if i turn off all of the lights and put the television on mute they will all be quiet and still at the same time. in fact, i am typing this as quietly as i can so that i don't accidentally wake one of them up.

this has been an exhausting three hours.

crap. they are all awake again.

notmuch to say, really

2008-04-27T22:11:00.001-07:00

but, i do have a video to share with you. um. so, yeah.

a new era

2008-04-24T16:42:00.001-07:00

woot woot!

lucy is not impressed.

only in texas - rated pg for mild language

2008-04-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

part one:

i was at weight watchers this morning with melissa. the topic was how to get past all of the excuses we give about not exercising. (honestly, kind of a topic i needed to hear lately, as the 'my foot hurts' is getting to be a pretty thin reason for not running. even though it REALLY DOES hurt.)

anyway. we were coming up with a list of common excuses and people were calling out things like "tired" and "no time" and "i don't like to do it" and "my foot hurts." then, the lady next to me - not melissa - calls out, "i don't want my hair to fall." yes. you read that right.

texas = big hair.

(and yes, i know my title says "only in texas," when really that statement probably could have been uttered anywhere in the south and probably in some parts of new jersey. still. it is funny.)

____________________________________________

part two:

one thing i've learned working in middle schools is that for some reason 7th and 8th grade boys CANNOT keep their hands to themselves. (being that i was never a 7th or 8th grade boy and that i was probably too shy to talk to any 7th or 8th grade boys, i honestly never knew this about the species.) with the end of the school year coming so quickly, i think the hyper-tactile gene/neuron/somerandombiotermhere has kicked into overdrive. everywhere i turn they are picking at each other, which is just what was happening as i came to my classroom after lunch yesterday. instead of just saying, 'no no stop that' or something similar, i unfortunately had to, like, be a real teacher/adult when one of the offending kiddos said, 'what the hell?' to the other.

sigh.

so i put on my mean face and had a 'discussion' about how inappropriate his response was. his teacher, my next door neighbor, kaci, joined in on the 'discussion' that was turning rather lengthy because this kiddo was trying to explain to me that 'what the hell' was not swearing. kaci, being much cooler and more on-the-ball than i was at the moment, asked him to explain when it would be appropriate to use the word HELL. without missing a beat, this young ruffian (sorry - kiddo was getting old) said, "well. you could use it to describe a weather event."

yall. he meant this -

what makes this even more hilarious to me is that kaci - who not only is awesome, but who has also spent her entire life before teaching in dfw living in WEST TEXAS - knew exactly what he meant, didn't even flinch, and kept on going with the 'discussion' like what he said was perfectly normal, whilst (sorry, in the middle of teaching shakespeare) i stood there trying not to laugh in this poor child's face.

*full disclosure: yes. i am completely aware that i often affect the same accent. there is no need to remind me of this. my fourth period does on a daily basis.*

yumminess illustrated

2008-04-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

this is random.

tonight i was over arlington. i never go 'south' very much anymore, which is so weird to me because my first go around in dfw i never came 'north.' anyway. i was near whole foods at supper time, so i thought i'd stop and get a salad to take home.

the first thing i saw when i walked in was the display of oranges. not just ANY oranges, but oranges peeled and sliced for you already. i LOVE fresh oranges, but i HATE peeling them. oddly, the whole peeling part grosses me out so much that i can't eat the orange once it is ready. because i am bored/boring, i decided to take a picture of the amazingness that accompanied my dinner and will find a place in my lunch box tomorrow . . .

it's the little things like this that make me forget that i still have 6 whole weeks until summer.

also, i discovered a new brand of frozen pizzas. i'm pretty good at eating healthy during the weeks i make an effort to, but frozen pizzas are my downfall. i like the 'high dollar' california pizza kitchen goodness that line the freezers at target, but i also have no problem shelling out my 97 cents for a good ol' totinio's cheese pizza. i try to stick to the lean cuisine 'healthy' versions, but they really don't cut it. BUT. PEOPLE. i've found the solution: Life Choices and Living Right Foods. (yeah, i know. kind of a youth group devotional sounding name.)
i got their mini-cheese pizzas, which come 4 in a box. i don't think i will go back to eating the lean cuisine or weight watchers pizzas when i need my fix. these are SO yummy. AND healthy. i counted up the ww points and the entire mini-pizza is only 5! fantastic. also . . . absolutely no preservatives, which is REALLY hard to find in the frozen food aisle. next week, i'm going to check out their chicken strips . . .

wow. i'm pretty embarrassed i just wrote an entire blog about oranges and pizza.

i am not mike huckabee

2008-04-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

i am not an anti-income tax person, but seriously. who likes this whole april 15th tradition? anyway. i was addressing my kansas tax stuff today (shut up. at least i didn't wait until tomorrow!) and i did have to giggle at the zip code my $68 bucks are zooming to: 66699.

i maybe laughed a little harder than others at this coincidence. but i swear, that has NOTHING to do with the fact that the stinkin' kansas forms were the source of all taxing frustrations this weekend.

okay. leave me alone now. the bachelor is back on. (yes. VERY guilty addiction. really i just watch so i can read this every tuesday.) anyway. the host keeps teasing THE MOST DRAMATIC FIGHT IN BACHELOR HISTORY. dude. i love me the DRAMA. ooh. there's hand clapping!