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

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!)

A

B

C

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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!

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!)

A

B

C

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 . . .

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

1

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?

2

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.

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

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 . . .

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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

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.