Dog Sitting and Other Things

After staying at our house last night, my parents left this morning for their anniversary trip. We're keeping their dog, Archie the Cocker Spaniel, while they're gone. There are two bits of information about Archie that could make this week interesting: 1) Archie has never, and I mean NEVER, spent a night away from my parents since they got him five years ago; and 2) Archie hates Darryl. I'll let you know how that goes.

Today I went to Buckhead to have lunch with my friend Casi at Maggiano's, and we spent a little bit of time browsing through Lenox Mall. After I came home, Darryl and I did a little bit of shopping for some new clothes for him.

I also need to buy some new clothes for school, but I feel like I'm between age groups. Clothes either look too "teenage-y/college-y," or else they look too "old." Where are the hip, affordable, work-appropriate clothes for women in their early 30's???

Cleaning House

I don't have too much to report about the past couple of days. My parents are coming tomorrow on their way to their anniversary vacation destination, so I've been doing some cleaning. You know how it is--"company's coming cleaning" is different from "normal" cleaning. I also made lemon bars and brownies. I always figure that well-fed house guests are happy house guests.

Hmm. That's about it. I'm still working on school stuff, and as always, I feel there is too much to do, too little time.

The Much-Needed Haircut

Today I FINALLY got a haircut. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had one until I came across the receipt from the last time I had it cut...four months ago!! I don't think I have ever gone that long without at least a trim.

So I ended up cutting several inches off. This isn't the greatest pic, but you get the idea.

I did a bit of reading for school today, but that was about all I could muster the energy to do. I don't know if it was the weather (HOT!) or the absence of my morning coffee (I forgot to pick up some at the store yesterday), but I felt sluggish all day. Oh, well.

Starbucks the Office

Forget the room in our house labeled "the office"--my office is really a table in Starbucks. When I was teaching in Louisiana, I discovered that I actually get more work done in a coffee house than I do anywhere else. (I must pay homage here to my favorite coffee joints of all time, the great CC's coffee houses that can be found on almost every corner in the Baton Rouge area.) Fortunately, there is a Starbucks not too far from my house, so for the past two days, I've packed up all my school stuff and my laptop to work on my lesson plans. The cool thing about this Starbucks is that wi-fi is free because the Atlanta Bread Company next door has free wi-fi. Aha!

Aside from the work I did on lesson plans, I don't have much to report about today. Oh, there was a brief exciting episode where I chased the garbage truck down the road (while pulling the gargantuan green garbage can, of course) to get him to empty our garbage. He came much earlier than usual, so the can wasn't out yet. Well, now that I type it, I realize it isn't that exciting. Maybe you should've been there.

Gilmore Girls Scoop

If you are a fan of Gilmore Girls, you might be interested in this report from Michael Ausiello at TVGuide.com. The article does reveal a few spoilers, so don't read it if you don't want to know what's going to happen, at least in the season premiere. Ausiello, a huge GG fan himself, has read the script for the first episode and describes it as "great." Some of the tidbits he does reveal makes me think that there may be hope for this show to redeem itself.

Mission Accomplished!

I had a productive weekend! Yay me! I actually completed two of the household projects I had mentioned--Darryl and I moved the bookcase and some books to school, and I also cleaned out the guest room closet. We even went above and beyond those projects; this "cleaning up and cleaning out" mode of thinking compelled us to clean, organize, and downsize our office space. We have this ridiculously huge computer desk that is falling apart from about, oh, six moves, and we don't have much use for it now that we have laptops. Our bargain of the weekend was a smaller computer cart that we bought on the sidewalk outside Office Depot for $12. (For some reason that Darryl, the tech wiz, can explain to you, we still need to keep our clunky desktop, but we can at least put in on this cart that takes up about a third of the space the huge office desk does.)

In addition, I finished reading Of Mice and Men. Granted, you may not be impressed because it isn't that long of a book, but it is still one I had to read for my pre-AP class. Next is Old Man and the Sea, and I must get back to Tale of Two Cities. Jen C has left me in the dust on that one! Fortunately, TOTC doesn't come up on the syllabus until November, but I would like to get a head start on it.

I'm hoping this weekend has given me some momentum to have a super-productive week.

School Supplies and Things to Do

As most Georgians know, the governor is issuing a $100 gift card to each teacher to spend on school supplies during tax-free weekend (August 4-6). Can I tell you how much this excites me? I love buying school supplies, and I've been making a list of things I should buy. These are some things I'm considering, but I'd love some input--especially from the teachers out there:

1. A new electric pencil sharpener (actually, this is a "must buy")
2. Pens
3. Pencils
4. Post-its (perhaps a cheaper, knock-off sticky note) for my honor (and maybe my regular) students to make notes in their books
5. Large writing tablets (you know--the big "display" kind)
6. "Alligator" clips
7. Fresh paper/border for my bulletin board

Any other ideas?

Now, about things to do...I really want to have a productive weekend. When I think of all the things I need to do before school starts, my heart rate begins to speed up. I still have a couple of books to read, and I need to plan out my pre-AP class for first semester. I also have some projects that I need to do, such as cleaning out my closet, sorting through my books and cleaning out a bookcase I want to take to my classroom, and cleaning out the guest room closet. Of course, not all of that is going to get done this weekend, but I resolve right here and now to 1) read; 2) work on my class planning; and 3) do one of the three home projects.

Let the weekend fun begin!

The workshop blues

Well, my appreciation for this AP workshop is starting to wane. Because I'm new to this AP stuff (and technically, I'm "pre-AP"), the information has been helpful, and the teacher has been good--I mean, I've been sitting in a desk for seven hours a day, and I haven't nodded off once. But now I'm tired: my hands are tired from taking notes, my rear is tired from sitting in a plastic chair, and my brain is tired from thinking up new strategies and analyzing literature. I'm done.

And that's all that's going on in my life this week. Once I get this workshop done, I have to work like a fiend to plan my pre-AP class for this semester.

And Jen, if you're reading this...Tale of Two Cities is currently collecting a thin coating of dust on my nightstand. :(

Posting may be scarce this week...

I am attending an AP workshop this week, so you can assume that's pretty much what is consuming my days and my energy. It has been refreshing to be in a workshop where I'm learning things I can actually use in my classroom. (Those who have heard me complain about the courses I had to take to become "highly qualified" know that I am really over-tired of classes, workshops, lectures, whatever that are useless and boring.) Max and Tim are in another class at the same location, so it has been great having them as lunch buddies.

Tonight they were dinner buddies as well. After our workshop, we went to Piebar, where we had a delicious antipasto platter, fried polenta (a new food for me, but yummy), and pizzas of various kinds.

And about D's new job--even though he says it is overwhelming, he thinks he is going to like it. Yay!

The weekend and the week ahead

It's been a good weekend. I did some much needed cleaning while I watched VH1's World Series of Pop Culture. VH1 always has the ability to suck me in to whatever they are showing; I can't tell you how many times I've seen I Love the 70's or I Love the 80's, and yes, I've even seen I Love the 90's.

Last night, Darryl and I met Darryl's Uncle Sandy and Aunt Carol Sue, who are in town from Florida for a few days, Fleming's. We really enjoyed seeing them, and the food was good, too.

Today I did a little shopping and ran some errands. This week, I'll be attending an AP workshop, so today's routine reminded me of my typical Sundays during the school year: doing laundry, buying lunch meat for packed lunches, setting the coffee maker to go off at 5:15 (ugh), packing my school bag. I hope The View can survive without me this week.

This is also a big week for Darryl, who is starting a new job tomorrow. We're both really excited about this; the work is more in line with the kind of IT work he likes to do, and his commute time has been cut by at least two-thirds. Go Darryl!

And this is random . . . but I am in SERIOUS need of a haircut, and I don't really have a good answer for why I haven't gotten one yet. After a while, I realized that I'm so close to the beginning of the school year that I might as well wait another week or two so I can have that "fresh" back-to-school haircut. The other option is to continue to let it grow and then make a long braid so that I can be "that weird teacher with the long braid." Shouldn't every school have one of those teachers?

Hemingway

I finished Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms last night. Most. Depressing. Book. Ever. But why should that surprise me? It's Hemingway, after all. Let's see...how many of Hemingway's characters drink cognac for breakfast and appear to be shells of an empty existence? But that is one of the reasons I like Hemingway: There's something about the ominous sadness and desperation in his novels and characters that intrigues me.

I haven't read Hemingway in a while, not since grad school. I had a professor at West Florida who was (and still is) very passionate (some would say "obsessed") about Hemingway, and I took this professor's course--probably to fulfill an American Lit requirement--and the whole course was Hemingway. And I enjoyed it. This professor's quizzes were ridiculously nit-picky (I think I made a 20 on the first one), but he taught me an appreciation of subtext, how Hemingway implies something much deeper in his simplistic dialogue and descriptions. (One of my favorite short stories that is a more overt example of this is "Hills Like White Elephants.") While I certainly had some complaints about the professor--he was a bit of a chauvinist and he made us watch way too many videos about bullfighting in Spain--in the end, he cultivated in me an appreciation of Hemingway that continues still.

New Book Club Selection and Other Things

Today my book club met to discuss Anita Shreve's A Wedding in December, a book that I gave a "thumbs down" to in an earlier post. As a group, we gave the book a C-, feeling that the characters were annoying brats. A couple of ladies in the group had read some of her other books and felt that this one was very poor in comparison. I haven't read any of Shreve's books except this one. Our next book is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, but I told the group I might have to bow out on that one in order to finish reading some things I need to read for school.

On a different note, last night I had dinner with Lisa, a friend from a law firm I worked at when Darryl and I first moved to Georgia several years ago. Anyway, I hadn't seen Lisa in about six months (too long!), and we had a great time chatting it up at Monterrey's, a Mexican restaurant that used to be one of our favorite dining spots. She's getting married in November (yay!), I enjoyed hearing her plans. I can't wait for the big event!

And one other random thing...if you are a fan of Food Network, you HAVE to watch Paula's European Vacation. It's hilarious! I've decided I want to go to Europe with Paula because we seem to share a common belief: traveling=eating. Seriously, you need to catch it--it's a hoot!

Latest Pet Peeve...and More about the View

I don't know if this is something new or if it is something that has been going on for awhile and I just haven't been subjected to it before, but my latest pet peeve is doctors' offices leaving appoint reminder voicemails that request I call to confirm I received the reminder. What happened to the good ol' days when the office just left a reminder? Now I have to call to say I got the reminder? This has happened to me twice this summer, and both times were a hassle.

Earlier in June, I had this happen with my dentist. When I called to confirm my reminder, I got a voicemail that told me NOT to leave a message, but to call back later. After about five tries throughout the day, someone finally answered the phone. Then yesterday, when I called to confirm a different doctor's reminder, I was transferred to five different departments, including the ER! Then when I finally got to the "right" person, and I just told her I was calling to confirm, she said, "Okay," to which I replied, "Don't you need my name?"

I'm sure there is a good reason why doctors' offices are doing this now--maybe too many people weren't showing up and were insisting they were never reminded...I don't know. But if the offices have to do this, the least they can do is have a system in place to receive the call. That's not to much to ask, is it???

On a completely different note...I am addicted to The View now. Listen, if you want some daytime drama, don't turn on the soaps--turn on Barbara Walters's debacle. I'm convinced that there is a plan to replace the youngest member of the team, the conservative Elisabeth Hasselback. I'm sure guests are booked weeks in advance, but since Star's departure, it seems that the guests have been one super-liberal guest (like Sandra Bernhardt) after another, and super-conservative Elisabeth takes the bait every single time and ends up getting into a little catfight with each one--and BW has to intervene every time. I can't wait to see what happens when Rosie joins this group!

Even though I've never been a big View fan--well, at least until now--one of the things I did like about the show is that the panel was made of different women from different walks of life who offer different--dare I say it?--views. I just think that to make the youngest (and more inexperienced) one the "conservative" one is like leading the lamb to the slaughter. I've also noticed that whenever the ladies are seated on the couch with a guest and there are too many people to get in the camera shot, Elisabeth is always the one cut out of the shot. Coincidence? I think not. I'm betting the Elisabeth doesn't make it through the year.

Movie with Friends (and a little about TV)

Wow--I'm really original with my titles, aren't I?

Today I saw The Devil Wears Prada with my friends Tiffanie and Sheri. I enjoyed the movie--it was fun, light, good--and even though there were some key differences between the book and movie, I didn't walk away thinking, "Oh, the book was sooo much better." I thought the changes that were made were interesting, and I definitely recommend seeing it (and reading it, for that matter).

Speaking of viewing pleasures, I have made it a practice to watch some vintage Gilmore Girls episodes while I'm cooking or cleaning in the kitchen. Right now, I'm in the middle of Season 2, and I'm reminded of how good the show really used to be and how much it stunk last season. I'm loving Rory in her days at Chilton, pink-faced and bright-eyed with her mind set on Harvard. I'm hoping that the 7th, and likely final, season will get back on track and end on a high note.

And now that ABC is reairing Season One of Grey's Anatomy, I've been watching that. I feel like it is one of those shows that the rest of the world is watching except me. I've watched two episodes so far, and I liked them. I may have to put this show on my Fake TiVo Season Pass.

I'm also reading A Farewell to Arms...and I'm not hating it.

Happier Now!

I'm not sure what Darryl did to my laptop (I was still asleep this morning when he worked the miracle), but he somehow got it running long enough to retrieve all my pics, data, and iTunes! He says I still need to get a new hard drive because mine is shot, but words can't express how thrilled I am to have all my stuff! Thanks, Darryl!!!!

This Weekend

Well, the low point of this weekend is happening as I type. I'm on Darryl's computer because the hard drive on mine is apparently fried. This is not good. Darryl says it is possible to send off the hard drive to retrieve everything on it, and I'm going to have to do that. I have tons of pictures (this is what I'm most upset about), school documents, and other stuff that I do NOT want to lose. And, of course, I'm mad at myself for not backing all this up. Aarrrgghh.

Other than that, the weekend has been pretty uneventful. Darryl and I have just hung out, going random places like Barnes & Noble, TJ Maxx, Publix, Borders...just killing time. Tonight I fixed the crockpot BBQ featured on Max's blog, and it was really good. Sometimes weekends spent just piddling around are nice.

Until the computer crashes.

Random Ramblings

Rambling Point 1: I am gullible. I fell for a big ol' gimmick. A few days ago, I received a call telling me that I had won a 3-day, 2-night stay at a luxury resort, and all I had to do was go to KIS Golf at Discovery Mills to pick up my prize. The lady on the phone told me that there was no catch, that I had genuinely won this vacation, that I was under no obligation to buy anything, yadda yadda yadda. Now, the reason I thought I might have actually WON something was that I had filled out an entry form for this prize at the mall. (The grand prize was a pimped-out golf cart that I was planning to sell on e-bay if I won.)

Well, after watching a 45-minute video about KIS Golf (which is basically a company that sells custom-made golf clubs, golf simulators, and travel club memberships) and getting a 45-minute hassling from a sales guy, we got a pamphlet about the resort weekend, which involves so many hoops to jump through, it isn't worth it. We also got a $25 gift card to Outback, which we used immediately to get some dessert. (I'll talk about the dessert later.) We weren't really angry about it (Darryl, I think, knew we were in for a sales pitch but went along to humor me) because the whole presentation was just so funny. The film was like a classic infomercial--our favorite part was when they said the golf simulator doubled as a home entertainment systerm. I don't know if everyone is familiar with a golf simulator (I take my golf lessons on one), but it is basically a big film screen that you hit the ball into, and it tells you all kinds of stuff about your swing. Well, just imagine a big film screen and video projector, not unlike a regular film screen and projector you would see for any kind of presentation, as your home entertainment system. What an eyesore! What a hoot!

Rambling Point 2: If you haven't had the Chocolate Tower at Outback, try it. It's delicious--moist layers of chocolate cake with rich chocolate filling. Yum!

Rambling Point 3: I have got to get this diet under control! No more Chocolate Tower! I have a month to get the scale to go in the other direction.

Rambling Point 4: I finished Anita Shreve's A Wedding in December. I hated it. The characters were annoying, and the whole plot was about "what might've beens" instead of the "here and now." I know there are some passionate Shreve fans out there, so I'm hoping that her other works are better. I'm not inclined to give them a chance anytime soon, though.

Prada, Fireworks, and Golf

This is what I've been up to since we got back from Orlando:

1) I finished The Devil Wears Prada. I liked this book. Like Jen C, I felt it was slow in a few places, but overall, it was an entertaining read. I plan to see the movie with a couple of girlfriends next week.

2) I saw fireworks. Our town (not the play, but our actual town) does fireworks on the 3rd, and we saw them. They were good, but they needed music--they're just not the same without Ray Charles singing "Georgia" and "America the Beautiful"... and, of course you have to have Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." :) One day, I want to brave the people and the heat and go to Centennial Park for the fireworks.

3) I played my first game of golf. Granted, it was just nine holes of a Par 3 course, but it was a game nonetheless. We didn't keep score, but Darryl very obviously won. I have to say that I'm really, really bad, but I did get more of a feel of the game with each hole; I'm hoping I'll get better the more I play. The highlight of the game was when I made a 35- to 40-foot putt. Anyway, here's a picture of me at the very first hole, my first hole of golf ever. When I'm touring with Annika on the LPGA circuit, you can print this out, and I'll autograph it for you to sell on e-bay.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Nope, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but I've been to "the happiest place on earth"...Disney World! Darryl and I went with Darryl's family to Orlando on the first ever family vacation. There were ten of us: Darryl and me; Darryl's dad (Benny); Darryl's brother (Dayton), wife (Daphne), and their two kids (Cameron, 8, and Savannah, 5); Darryl's sister (Ashley), her husband (Wayne), and their daughter (Madison, 16 months). Got all that?

We had a great time staying at the Pop Century Resort at Disney World. Let me tell you, if you are planning to go to DW, even for just one day, it is completely worth it to stay at one of their hotels. Even though our hotel was not close enough to use the monorail system, we did have the use of a bus that took us anywhere we wanted to go on the Disney property, and the day we went to the Magic Kingdom, we really enjoyed whizzing past the cars and being taken right to the gate.

Thursday, Darryl and I drove to Florida and met up with his family in Lake City. The trip was pretty uneventful until we got about 50 miles from Orlando, where the traffic was stopped for about 45 minutes because of a tree that fell in the road. This is a picture of Cameron and Savannah passing time in the car until we could start moving again:

Once we (finally) made it to Orlando and checked in at the hotel, we went to Downtown Disney. Darryl got into the Disney spirit a bit early and (reluctantly) agreed to let me post this pic:


Friday was our big day at the Magic Kingdom. Here's a picture of all of us in front of the oh-so-magical Cinderella's Castle:

And here we are on Splash Mountain. (I am actually riding with my niece Savannah, but you can't see her because she chose to "enjoy" Splash Mountain with her face buried in Aunt Amy's knee.)


Here are some other various shots of my nieces and nephew--I'm just showing them off because I think they happen to be pretty cute:


One of the things I realized about Disney World is that it is one of those places that seemed much bigger when I was a kid. Now it doesn't seem nearly as overwhelming, and rides that were once thrilling to me, such as the Peter Pan ride, seemed kind of, well, dinky. That being said, however, I have to say that it was fun seeing the kids get really excited about everything. One of the thrills for me was that I rode Space Mountain (twice!), something I had never done before because I was too little the last time I was at DW. And I'll never forget how little Madison danced and clapped her hands and oohed and aahed at "It's a Small World," which is still great, by the way. I also was surprised that the park wasn't as unbearably hot as I was anticipating, and I think the longest we had to wait for a ride was about 20 minutes--not too bad.

Saturday, we went to Sea World. If you haven't been there lately, it has changed a good bit. Sure, Shamu is there as well as all his other sea friends, but there are now a couple of thrilling rides (such as the roller coaster Kraken, which was pretty much was the conclusion of Wayne's and my thrill seeking for the trip because of its nauseating effects, if you get my drift). I do have some good Sea World pics, but I'm tired of loading pics to my blog. I may post some more tomorrow.

Anyway, we came back today after a really fun time with our family. I'll leave you with one last pic of Madison as she was leaving the hotel pool. That girl LOVES water and is already really good at kicking her legs and propelling herself where she wants to go. This picture is so cute I couldn't resist posting it: