Random Stuff for a Friday

This is my new favorite website/blog/whatever. It's not totally true for me for all circumstances, but my word, it's funny. And, not surprisingly, I love some things that I had no idea I love. One of my favorites it expensive sandwiches. I wasn't aware of this, but I DO LOVE THEM! How did this individual know that?

BTW, you simply must check out the list of rap songs that white people love. It's true. After I read the list aloud to my sister, she reported that she went to a Wal*Mart where there was some sort of promotion and what were they playing? "Jump Around."

We did a boot camp at work today. Our graduation coach is a trainer, I like to call her Mrs. Olympia. Unlike most women, her upper body is AWESOME, but she puts up with people like me, who aren't exactly on fire for getting their body business together. We did lunges, push-ups, jumped rope, pull-ups, dips, back work, and abs. It was FANTASTIC. Hot Pants, Fiona, Senora, and another colleague participated. I'm already sore, but have agreed to the Saturday, 8:00 a.m. workout with Mrs. C., so I'll get a chance to hurt more! More running and elliptical.

Then Granny and Bubba, Sr. are coming to see The Child. I've got a TON of school work to do and REALLY want to get it done. Ugh.

I am ready for more people to get kicked off of American Idol. There's one person I REALLY like, and it's the little dread locks dude. His charisma just S*P*A*R*K*L*E*S! He sang an Andy Gibb song that took me back to around the second grade when I was MADLY in love with Andy Gibb. He is adorable. I am looking forward to hearing what the guy who sang the hell out of "Imagine" is going to do next week. He was surprising, but dread locks dude is my favorite.

Sidebar: I HATE the song "Imagine." I hate everything about it. I don't hate John Lennon , but I don't like what the song says. It's kind of like the song "From a Distance." For me, God is NOT at a distance, He's right here. He does care about the piddly things in my life because He created me. I realize that this will offend many, but I don't care.

Well, I'm tired and have a lot to get done.

Peace to you.

Tired + Ugh

Why do I feel like this? It's Wednesday and the bulk of the week is done. Next week I'll be out for training and we have a holiday Friday. What holiday you ask? Winter holiday, I think. Nice. Don't ask, just take the day off. It could be National Say Hello to the Man in the Moon Day and I'm on board.

Tomorrow is sit outside during FREEZING wind. School. Then tennis match and baseball game. AWESOME.

Energy to you all, and to me!

Happy Monday!

Wow! Today was really pretty good. I'm just very tired. It is rough working with tomorrow's future! Then, after school, we had the Georgia High School Graduation Test group. Fiona's group had a grand total of one attending, as did mine. Two kids will do REALLY well on the graduation test. Yipee! It's not for our lack of trying. What can you do?

I have got to get my lesson plans together. Ugh!

That and gym. #1!

Happy Monday!

Quick Info

Hi! I've been busy lately. We've had a ton to do at school and had a family party on Saturday. I left my computer at school on Friday, so I've not been in a communicative mode.

More later in the week. . .

More Randomness. . . I Have No Real Plan Here.

Cate Blanchette looked much better than this in the movie, Elizabeth, but wow, I was enthralled by the first movie. Snoopy has Elizabeth: The Golden Age and I was wanting to watch it. So, since it was one of my DVR collection, I went ahead and watched it. Ms. Blanchette is a wonder. I was also mesmerized by Geoffrey Rush. This movie was so interesting. I had very little English history in high school and college, so it's always a learning experience for me when I watch one of these period pieces.

Did I mention that I saw Capote this week also? Phillip Seymour Hoffman is clearly a genius. So funny was my sister, "How can you listen to that guy talk like that? I couldn't listen to that for more than five minutes without losing my mind." Also interesting was that Harper Lee was called "Nell" and that she patterened "Dill" in To Kill a Mockingbird after Truman. His clear obsession with Perry Smith was more than alarming. I've gotta read that book.

To-Do List Update:
Well, I had nine items on my list for yesterday. I did six of them. I love feeling as if I accomplished things. And, in a new record for me, I didn't add anything I happened to do after making the list. That's one of my favorite things to do. Sometimes I'll get sidetracked and do something that isn't on the list and go back and add it. Nope, I was glad to get some of those things done, but I didn't go back and put them in.

Today's list has seven items, three of which are to do lesson plans. So, I'd better get on it!

Randomness

I've been enjoying my 4-day weekend. Today, I've done a good bit of home-keeping. I hate this. But, I watched something on Fine Living yesterday that I'd DVRed ages ago about cleaning and clutter. I also got a dose of How Clean Is Your House yesterday where Kim did a 5-minute clean up in a clean kitchen. I've got to get this place under control. I just don't have enough room, but am not in a financial position to get more space. So, I've got to get a handle on what I have here, perhaps getting rid of some stuff. Why is this process so painful? In the course of the past 10 years, I've moved from a 4-bedroom house to an apartment with a large downstairs living area and kitchen with the bedroom upstairs to a room, basically. I live with my sister (Supermom) and The Child. I love living here, but unless I am able to cull some more, I'm going to lose my mind. I suppose I should get the new book by Peter Walsh. I loved him when he was on Clean Sweep. This is a major issue that I seem to have going. Clutter is everywhere in my life, both at home and at work. My car isn't so bad, but then I'm riding with Dude a lot, so I'm not having an opportunity to junk it up.

I made a to-do list for the first time in a L-O-N-G time last night before going to bed. I am going to try to do this routinely. I know that this sounds hilarious to some folks who do this routinely. I am a procrastinator extraordinaire. I have managed to get several crossed off the list today. That is a very good feeling.

Well, along those lines, I must go now and finish up several of the items on my list.

The Grant Has Been Sent Away!

Why is this such a joy to me? I can think about getting my life back on track again. Yee-haw! No more grant until they tell us whether or not we get it. I don't think there's more that we could have done to a higher degree.

Well, just to get through Thursday and then a Friday and a Monday off! Go us!

I'm gonna go now and sleep.

'Night.

Ben Stein Is WAY Better Than I Thought

Check out this link to Ben Stein's commentary. It's really worth watching the stupid commercial to see it. He is precious. And he loves his wife beyond words. He's a lucky, lucky man.

May you have the same quantity, if not the same quality of love in your life.

An Interesting Situation

I put the photo of these two on the right, just to be a tad bit obnoxious. (I guess you could say it's their left.) Regardless, I think this is a fantastic thing that is developing in the race for the presidency, especially on the Democrat side. Obama is for real. Hillary has got to be scared. I haven't heard what happened today in the caucuses. It is so refreshing to hear that so many people are participating in the process. I don't think that I could vote for either one of these people. Actually, I don't know if I can vote for John McCain, but I'll come closer to doing that than I will voting for one of the Dems. I am excited that people are excited about voting, though.

It even looks as if the conventions may become very important. I have to say that I don't like the "superdelegate" situation, but it's not up to me.

I've spent most of the day working on a small part of the grant documentation. UGH, it won't go away. It's like that horrible monster in the horror movie that you think is gone, only to return to make you wish you had chosen to "get back into life with Depends." Monday will be our last day with it, really. It's our hard deadline. Please let that be true. I never want to see another grant-proposal rubric as long as I live. But, I suppose that since this will only help my students, I should be thankful for the opportunity.

Meme? What? Chain Letter of Blogging. Blech.

The rules are:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages
2.Turn to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences
Tag five people.



I won't be tagging five people, but because I LOVE Hippy Chick, here goes:



"The three Marys were considered as dangerous as high explosives to have about the kitchen, yet they were such good cooks and such admirable housekeepers that they never had to look for a place.



The Vannis' tent brought the town boys and the country girls together on neutral ground. Sylvester Lovett, who was cashier in his father's bank, always found his way to the tent on Saturday night."

Excerpted from My Antonia by Willa Cather

And a big GRRRRR to Hippy!

Good Grant News

Well, today we had an endurance-test type meeting with a techno-resource person. It went really well. It was much better than ones we've had in the past. All of us who are on the team have a grand total of NO grant-writing experience. It's one of those things that is very odd. It seems that it's a very peculiar type of writing. I just don't understand writing to answer a rubric. I can do the unadulterated BS or just very matter-of-fact, but doing the hybrid which seems to be grant-writing. So, the breakdown is that we should be handing the grant over to our technology person this weekend and then hear sometime around April 15th or so. It'll be good to get it out of our hands.

I'm very tired, so I'm going to do a little work for school and get to bed.

Keep on keeping on, everyone!

This Is My Guy

This is the dude I voted for. I LOVE voting day. Kudos to you if and only if you voted (that's only appicable IF you had the opportunity/honor of voting today)! I was racing to the polls at 6:30 tonight and they closed at 7:00 p.m. It was the scepter of Susan B. that spurred me on to my destination. She never got to vote, so I owe it to her to vote EVERY time I have a chance.

Today was good. My classes are SO good. My 4th block yelled at me when I told them that I'd be gone tomorrow for a textbook adoption meeting. They wanted me to be in class! Can you imagine!?! They like me; they really like me! They asked me how they were supposed to do well on the end-of-course test if I'm not there. Wow!

The Child and I watched some Ernie-Bert on YouTube. We LOVE us some E/B. I HIGHLY recommend the one in which Ernie tries to count sheep to get to sleep and the one in which Bert accuses Ernie of stealing his cookies. The Chris Brown/Elmo "See the Signs" video is awesome as well.

Tomorrow, textbook adoption meeting!

Added 02/09/08: Yeah, this dude is Mitt Romney. Evidently receiving my vote was just too much for him. He's pulled out of the race. Thanks, Mr. Romney! Trying to get a little leverage to get the VP spot for McCain? UGH. And his hair is SO presidential.

I've Been Telling Half-Truths

Here are the Mannings: Archie (Pops), Peyton, Cooper, and Eli.

I had been so happy for middle children everywhere, what with Eli's working with the Giants to win the Super Bowl. Only a tiny problem-- Eli isn't the middle child. He's the youngest! Sorry, Hippy Chick for the misinformation. The Super Bowl win for the New York Football Giants WAS super, though. Why did Bill Bellichick tempt fate by wearing that lovely, formal RED sweatshirt that had the sleeves removed? THAT, my friends is what ruined perfection for the Patriots. It's all about the shirt. They gray had worked so well, why? Fortunately for me, I could be happy with either win.

The grant is going to be okay. The grant is going to be okay. The grant is going to be okay. Actually I can't wait until the moment that we turn this thing over to the powers that be. It's sucking the life out of me. Ugh. And I'm not even the one primarily responsible. Ugh again.

How about the back-to-back Manning MVPs? I say that's pretty cool.

Sunday and I'm Exhausted!

Well, the big news in my world is that dear friend and colleague, Snoopy completed the Tybee Island Half-Marathon yesterday. I am SO proud of her. She estimated that she'd take 2 hours and 30 minutes. Her time was 2:29! She SO rocks. It's truly awesome. Really awesome, not just me throwing around the word awesome indiscriminantly. I'm so impressed, I think I may be getting ready for a 5k. Just a 5k, I'm not interested in a half marathon for myself.


Also, on the way back, (Did I mention Fiona & I accompanied Snoopy to the race?) we stopped by the mall. Barnes and Noble damage! But the best thing ever is my new bag. I've been searching high and low, mostly online, but nothing I liked that was in my price range. I went into Belk at the mall yesterday, walked through all the Dooney & Bourkes, Aigners, Coaches, or whatever. Then, I saw it. A minty green satchel. It had light shining from above on it. It was the only one left. I swear I heard angels singing when I saw it. It had SILVER hardware! And the minty green was so light, it's a neutral. WOWSERS! I knew I had to have it regardless of the price. The bag was a Nine West, so I knew it wouldn't be outrageously priced. I checked the price tag: $75. Well, that was a little more than I wanted to pay, but $75 is not bad for the PERFECT bag, right? Well, I saw a sign that had this glorious information on it: Handbags 40% off! So, for under $50, I got the perfect bag. Color me ecstatic.


The grant proposal is still out there. We're still working on it. This thing is WAY difficult. I am NOT enjoying this. I am just repeating to myself, ELMO, ELMO, ELMO, Smartboard, Smartboard, Smartboard. These are my favorite items of the bounty we will receive if we get the grant. If we don't get it, then we don't.

Well, I went off the rails last week with eating AND with exercise. I'm going to try to get back on track today. Will do cardio and BodyPump.