Goodbye, 2006!

This is my last post of 2006.

Darryl and I are really kickin' it up over here--we've been cleaning all day, and by cleaning, I mean CLEANING. (Darryl was washing the intake air vent of our bedroom with soap and water, if that's any indication.) We "super-cleaned" two rooms, and I'm in the midst of doing just a good dust, vacuum, and straighten in the other rooms. Boy, do we know how to party like it's 1999!

I do have a couple of resolutions I want to put out there. Maybe posting them here will help keep me more accountable. Any chastising or tsk-tsk-ing is welcome if I get off track:

1. Like many Americans, I want to be more in shape. I've decided to try a new approach and simply eat less (or fewer calories) and move more. I don't want to get obsessed by the number on the scale, but go more by how my clothes fit. I want to drink fewer diet cokes, and I would really, really, really like to get to the gym 3 times a week. (To a real gym rat, 3 times a week seems like nothing, but trust me--it is a whole heck of a lot better than the ZERO times I'm going right now.) I think the gym thing will help me with my stress level, too.

2. I want to make better use of my time. I don't really think I lie on the couch and do nothing all that much, but I think I could be more productive with smaller chunks of time. This is especially true when it comes to grading papers. I typically think I need a big chunk of time to grade, but really, when I have just ten minutes, I could at least knock one paper off the stack.

3. I want to focus on the positive. This really concerns my teaching. I have a tendency to cling to the negativity some students project towards me ("I hate this book" and "This project is stupid," etc.) and let it outweigh the positive things that happen ("Shakespeare is awesome" and "Class was fun today"). I had been getting better about this, but lately this has been my Grendel. Resolution #1 might help with this, too.

I think I'm going to stick with just three--I don't want to overdo it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2007...and I hope you are spending your New Year's Eve doing something more exciting than cleaning!

Dreamgirls

If you haven't seen Dreamgirls yet, you must go. Jennifer Hudson will knock your socks off. When she finished singing "And I Am Telling You," the movie audience applauded and one woman yelled, "You go, girl. You tell 'im."

I haven't seen the stage version; I'm not sure how this compares. (I really didn't like the movie version of Rent because they changed some things--unnecessarily, in my opinion--from the stage version.) I would recommend seeing Dreamgirls in the theater, though, so you can get the full effect of the sound and big screen. This is definitely not a rental. See. It. Now.

Official Post-Christmas Post

Darryl told me today that he "couldn't believe" I hadn't done a Christmas post, so here it is.

Christmas was good. Darryl and I went to Florida to spend time with both our families. We're both from the same town, so the good thing is that we get to see everyone when we visit; we don't have to decide when to spend which holiday with whom. However, the downside is that we feel that we have to split our time, doing a few things here and there with this family and a few things with that one. Oh, well...no perfect scenario there, I guess.

It was good seeing everyone. Here are a few highlights from the trip:


Darryl desperately wanted to open his new camera on Christmas Eve so he could take pictures the next day. That was a good idea in theory...if only his wife hadn't forgotten to pack the special memory card with it. Oh, well. (By the way, the surprised look on his face is completely fake, as he already knew what he was getting.)

Here are our nephew and nieces (L to R): Madison, Savannah, and Cameron.


Christmas afternoon, Darryl and I drove to Tallahassee to visit with Darryl's Uncle Sandy and Aunt Carol Sue. We took them a fried turkey. (Side note: Darryl ended up frying 4 turkeys over the weekend.) While I don't have a picture of Sandy and Carol Sue for some reason, I do have the only picture of Darryl and me on Christmas, taken in front of their tree.


Another big highlight of the trip was seeing Darryl's Uncle George and Aunt Miriam and their two daughters, Malorie and Camille. The last time I saw them, they stopped at our house to spend the night on their move to the DC area, and Malorie was about to start her freshman year of college. Now, Malorie is a senior who will graduate in May, and Camille is an exceptionally talented ballerina-in-training who has apparently grown a foot since I saw her last. Wow.


Santa was pretty good to us this year. I have lots of new kitchen gadgets (I love kitchen gadgets), and Darryl has been taking pictures with his new camera...now that he has his memory card. I understand now why celebrities get angry at the paparazzi--I think Darryl took 15 pictures of me eating a grapefruit last night. Nice.

Christmas and Cookies

Darryl and I are leaving this afternoon for Florida so that we can spend Christmas with our families. While I'm not looking forward to packing for the trip (packing clothes for crazy Southern weather, making sure all the presents are packed, taking along things that might be needed like Christmas movies and CDs, packing a turkey fryer, etc.), I'm looking forward lots of fun, good food, and good times with everyone.

Speaking of good food and good times...my favorite thing to do this time of year is bake goodies while watching Christmas movies. If any of you like to bake sugar cookies, let me suggest this recipe by Alton Brown. I've tried several sugar cookie recipes before, and I've settled on this one for the past few years. The dough is super easy to work with if you want to cut shapes with it, but it isn't a super sweet cookie; I suggest topping the cookies with icing or decorative sugar. This week I've also made Pecan Pie Bars, Magic Cookie Bars (a classic, but I love them--very similar to your Hello Dollies, Tim), chocolate fudge, and peanut butter fudge. The diet starts after the holidays.

Anyway, I'm not sure how much I'll get to post while I'm gone, so just in case I don't get to post again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful one filled with laughter and the people you love. Happy Holidays!

Beginning of Vacation

I'm enjoying the beginning of my much-needed Christmas vacation. This semester was a bit challenging--I've felt a bit "off my game" for much of it--and now I'm just tired and enjoying the break.

Yesterday I went to see the movie The Holiday because A) I was in the mood for a romantic comedy, and B) I thought it might boost my Christmas spirit, which seems to be wilting in the 75 degree weather. (People who know me well know that I detest hot weather at Christmas time.) I didn't really care for the movie for a multitude of little reasons--too long, Jack Black's unnecessary character, and so on. However, I am very excited about one of the movies featured in the previews called Because I Said So, featuring three actresses I love: Diane Keaton, Lauren Graham, and Mandy Moore. I cannot wait. One of the other previews was for We Are Marshall, a film I have been anticipating ever since its highly publicized filming in Atlanta. I'm hoping to see that one next week, and I plan to see Dreamgirls next week as well.

I've also caught up some on my TV watching. My fake TiVo was loaded with episodes of The Office, Everwood, and Gilmore Girls, and I've watched all of those. Plus I've baked some Christmas goodies and wrapped all my presents, so I've been somewhat productive...if that kind of stuff counts.

And, in all my laziness, I forgot my dental appointment today. I have NEVER forgotten a doctor's appointment. Fortunately, I was able to reschedule for tomorrow, but I feel completely stupid about that one. Someone out there please tell me that I'm not the only person to do that.

Christmas with Casi

Casi and I have been friends since my senior year of high school. One of my favorite holiday traditions is our annual "girls' weekend," when we Christmas shop, bake sugar cookies, watch movies, eat good food, and just enjoy spending time together. We also buy an ornament each year to commemorate the weekend, and now I have a collection of nine "girls' weekend ornaments" on my tree.

This weekend is a permanent fixture in the calendar; we've managed to do this even when separated by many miles, and we even were able to fit it in the Christmas Darryl and I moved to Atlanta...although that weekend included more box unpacking and less movie watching. Anyway, we had a great time this weekend, as usual.

Darryl was away for the weekend, fly fishing in Louisiana, so I had to use the timer on my camera. The picture above was no small feat, but we managed to get it in three tries. Here's the first try. Abby wanted it to be noted that she was part of the girls' weekend as well.

Christmas in Opp

Last weekend, Darryl and I went to Opp, Alabama, to see my dad's side of the family for the annual Christmas gathering. Even though it was a really long drive for us to tackle in one day (four hours each way), spending time with family I don't get to see that often made the long trip worthwhile.

Lunch was delicious--smoked ribs and chicken with all the fixings, various desserts, and Christmas goodies. Afterwards, we played "Dirty Santa," also known as the White Elephant exchange. All I have to say is that I learned quite a bit about my family as a bottle of wine became the hot ticket item for people to steal. :)

Anyway, it was a great time, and I was glad I was able to spend some time with everyone. Below are some pics from the day.

Here are Leigh (my cousin Andy's wife) with her daughter Lily and cousin John:


Here are Uncle Joe and his family. His son Jody (now 6+ feet tall, wearing the cap) and I shared some fun adventures when we were wee younguns, adventures that primarily included my throwing him off the back of go-carts and 4-wheelers. I never could grasp the idea of accelerating slowly. Anyway, also in the picture are my Aunt Judy, Jody's wife Melissa, and their son John.


Here are Uncle Tim and his family: Aunt Winifred; my cousin Andy; Andy's wife, Leigh; and their daughter, Lily. (I can remember when Andy was born, and that makes me feel REALLY old.) My parents and Uncle Tim's family have become very close over the past couple of years, meeting every Friday night for dinner. I'm hoping Darryl and I get to see them again when we go to Florida for Christmas next week.

Here are Darryl and me with my parents. You've already been introduced to them. I enjoyed seeing them, too. (I tried cropping the pic so that the shadow wasn't in the bottom right, but my results were always blurry. Oh, well. Here we are with the shadow.)

And here is the last pic--my dad and his siblings. Poor Aunt Azalea...I'm sure being the only girl in that house of boys was quite the adventure.

So there you have it--Christmas in Opp. Have any of you ever been to Opp?

Busy week

The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy for me, as is the case every year before the holidays. I've had to finish up my grading, type up exams, and so on. The end is in sight, though--our vacation starts tomorrow.

Yesterday I did something that I haven't done in at least five years: I overslept because I forgot to turn on my alarm. Darryl woke me up at 6:00--an hour and fifteen minutes later than I ususally get up. I had to forego my shower (gross!) and morning coffee. I truly felt "not all there" all day.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. My friend Casi is coming up this weekend for our traditional Christmas shopping weekend, and I plan to get it all done then.

I will try to have a legitimate blog post up soon, complete with some good pics of my family gathering last weekend.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far.

I'll post again soon!

Overdue Thanksgiving Post

I've been meaning to post for over a week now, but I have been super busy. I wanted to tell you a little bit about our Thanksgiving, though.

This was the third Thanksgiving in a row that we have spent with our friends from Louisiana, Damian and Rebecca. They arrived Wednesday night and stayed through Sunday, and we really enjoyed spending time with them.

I really love to cook, so cooking Thankgiving dinner was lots of fun. I've realized, though, that even though my mother made it look easy, preparing the meal requires much "thinking through." Math certainly isn't my strong point, so I had to resort to pen and paper to calculate my cooking times.

Darryl and Damian fried a turkey (delicious!), and we also had dressing (my best yet!), sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, green beans, pineapple casserole,
rolls, pecan pie, and sweet potato pie. Here's a picture of the table. It's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Later that evening, we went to Lake Lanier's Magical Nights of Lights. Even though the lights are pretty much the same every year (and the admission charge has gotten to be ridiculous), Darryl and I try to make it out there--it's becoming tradition, I guess. Anyway, Rebecca and I rode the ferris wheel. (Two years ago when we did this, the weather was extremely cold and the frigid wind blew up the legs of our jeans whenever we hit the top. Fortunately for us, the weather wasn't quite as nippy this year.)
We also took stuff to make s'mores at the "campfire" (really a gas-fueled pit of coals). Anyway, here are the four of us after all the ferris wheel ridin' and s'more eatin'.
Rebecca and I have made a tradition of participating in the "after-Thanksgiving shopping" madness, and we really took the sport to a new level Friday. Of course, we are supposed to be Christmas shopping for other people, but we somehow end up Christmas shopping for ourselves. All I'm going to say is I have not one, but two pairs of really cute shoes that I can't wait to wear. Darryl and Damian, of course, were avoiding the malls as much as possible and were content to watch the LSU-Arkansas game (Geaux Tigers!) and the FSU-Florida game (Darryl wasn't happy about that one).

So there's my long overdue Thanksgiving post. I'm judging from other people's blogs that it was a good holiday for many. While I'm thankful for many things I've been blessed with, I have one more thing to add to my list: I finally finished grading those blasted Grendel papers.

Additional Note: Now that I've "published" this blog, I really hate the photo arrangement. However, I've been uploading photos and trying to get everything "just so" for about 45 minutes now (I accidentally deleted some text once and had to rewrite), and I just have other things to do...like put up a Christmas tree. Oh, well.

Papers and Stuff

Confession time: I am grading a set of papers that my students turned in a month and a half ago. How bad is that? I'm to blame for this, of course, but part of my procrastination is brought on by the fact that I know that my 125 papers are full of little jewels like this:

"The dragon scared Grendel so much he wanted to pea himself."

This student also used "thank" every time he meant to say "think."

So much for academic tone and homophones.

Aside from paper grading, I'm still cooking up a storm and fighting the urge to lie on the couch and watch Grey's Anatomy all day long. Seriously, if you're like me and you are joining Grey's late in the game, don't rent Seasons 1 and 2 unless you have the time to devote to it; it's too tempting to watch episode after episode after episode...

And another random note: I'm sick of Tom and Katie. I enjoy celebrity news as much as anyone else, but I was a little repulsed by how ET camped outside the castle in anticipation for the "wedding of the year." Whatever. Who cares?

And one more random note: I can't wait to see the movie Dreamgirls. Oprah had the cast on her show yesterday, and the clips she showed were really good. I've never seen the musical before but am familiar with many of the songs from the show...I think I know what I'll be doing December 26.

Cooking and Grey's--Both Delicious

Okay, my title for this post is hokey.

It's Thanksgiving week, and I am in complete cooking mode. Last weekend I was a bit under the weather and ended up watching two solid days of Food TV. Over the past couple of weeks, I've bought just about every holiday cooking magazine I could get my hands on (plus a couple of cookbooks), and this weekend, I made scones and lemon bars, and I also tried a new dressing/stuffing recipe. (I consider good dressing a "must" on the Thanksgiving table, so I did a "trial run" before Turkey Day. I'm glad I did because the new recipe was GROSS.)

To make my time in the kitchen even more fun, I rented Grey's Anatomy Season One and the first disc of Season Two. I started watching Grey's towards the very end of last season, so I have some catching up to do. I've really enjoyed stirring, chopping, and baking while watching what is quickly becoming my favorite TV show.

Congratulations, Lisa and Gordon!

Last night, Darryl and I were honored to attend the wedding of Lisa and Gordon. Lisa and I worked together for a little over a year when I tested the waters outside the world of academia. We quickly bonded when we discovered we were both English majors working outside our element, and we've been friends since. I witnessed the very beginning of this relationship, and there was no doubt that from the very start, Gordon was the one for her.

The ceremony was beautiful and intimate, set in the Primrose Cottage of Roswell. I liked how Lisa's and Gordon's families were incorporated into the wedding--many of the attendants were relatives, and their moms each read a poem ("i carry your heart with me" by e.e. cummings, and the Apache Wedding Prayer "Now You Will Feel No Rain"). There was lots of laughter and tears during the ceremony, and the feeling of love and support for Lisa and Gordon was apparent.

I wish them lots of love and laughs in the future. Happy Wedding, Lisa and Gordon!

Me at 33!

Happy birthday to me!

It's been a good day so far. I started off my morning with a trip to Starbucks for a "birthday latte" and cinnamon doughnut. My students were pretty good today; once they received word it was my birthday, I was showered with many well wishes and ornate whiteboard decorations. (Just give students a clean whiteboard and an array of marker colors, and stand back and watch the magic. If only they were as creative on their papers!)

Darryl has gone a little crazy with the birthday gifts this year. He brought me tanzanite earrings and a necklace from South Africa, but after seeing how much I loved his satellite radio, he surprised me this morning by telling me that he is having it installed in my car, so I'm really excited about that. Awesome! The 80's station all the time, y'all! (I gave him two shirts and a pair of Crocs, so I think he got the short end of the stick.)

We're having dinner tonight at Morton's. I've never been there, but I've heard it's good. I'm planning to eat lots and lots...and not feel guilty about it at all.

Here's to 33!

Rudeness

I've had enough of rudeness for this week. It has reared its ugly head in all kinds of colors and shapes, but these are the three that have really griped me this week:

1. Rude trick-or-treaters. What's up with that? Seriously, Halloween night, this group of 3 or so kids came to the door, and I gave them each a generous handful of candy. Then this kid told me that he wanted another Kit Kat. Seriously? Since when did trick-or-treating entail demanding a certain type of candy? I handed over the Kit Kat, but later I wished I had just reached in his trick-or-treat bag and grabbed a handful and put it back in my bowl.

2. Rude drivers. Today as I was driving home from school, a lady in a new car in front of me stuck her hand through her sunroof and let go of her cigarette stub--and it hit my windshield. This was after she went ahead of me (out of turn) at the 4-way stop. Who does she think she is?

3. Rude students. These are really yanking my chain these days. From asking "did you bring us some candy" upon entering my classroom on Halloween day, to talking while I'm talking, to leaving candy wrappers and CHEWED GUM on the floor, to complaining about every single thing I ask them to do...I've had enough. I love teaching, I really do, but these past couple of weeks have been tough. I'm chalking it up to not having our usual Fall Holiday. It's time for a break. Still...are manners and common decency to much to ask for?

I apologize for the rant, but I do feel better. And just think...this blog therapy is FREE. :)

Happy Birthday, Darryl and TimShady!!

Happy 35th Birthday to Darryl! We've had a fun day so far. First, he opened presents and had some delicious fruit tart from Whole Foods (I haven't been brave enough to attempt to prepare a fruit tart yet). We had lunch this afternoon at the Smith House, and we decided while we were in Dahlonega to visit a couple of wineries--Three Sisters was by far the better of the two . It was a perfect day to go--the weather was beautiful and the leaves were shades of red and yellow. Maybe it wasn't Napa Valley, but it had to be close. We definitely recommend going. Tonight, we're having dinner with our friends Blake and Jessica, and we're looking forward to that. I think the 35th has been a good one for Darryl.

Happy Birthday also to TimShady. It looks like, from Max's blog, that they celebrated with not one, but TWO desserts. (I hope Darryl doesn't feel slighted by just his one fruit tart.)

Hope it's been a good one, guys!

The Husband, The Truck, TV, and More

Wow--I didn't really mean to go this long without posting. I don't have a ton of news to write of, but I do have a few things that might be of interest:

The Return of Darryl
I didn't "advertise" this on my blog at the time, but Darryl was gone for 3-1/2 weeks to Capetown, South Africa, to do some work for the company he works for. Now, I'm a person who likes to have my "me time," (I completely chalk that up to my only-childness and the fact that I could entertain myself for HOURS with reading or playing with Barbie dolls when I was a kid), but three weeks is a little too much me time. Anyway, although I'm glad he had the opportunity to travel somewhere interesting and have some cool experiences, I'm really, really glad he's back.

Darryl's New Truck
It would be a really cool story if this truck had been sitting in the driveway when Darryl came home from his trip, but that isn't what happened. I'm not that good of a wife, I guess. :) Darryl had been wanting a truck for a while, and his CRV that we bought about 8 years go was starting to cause more problems than it was worth. We went back and forth about what kind of truck to get for probably six months--all the trucks Darryl liked were too big and very possibly wouldn't have fit in our garage--but this Ford Explorer Sport Trac was something we both liked. It's a good size for hauling things like mulch, plants, fishing stuff, etc., but it isn't so massive that it feels like a big rig. And both vehicles fit in the garage. What I like most about it, though, is the 6-month free satellite radio that comes with the truck; the 80's station ROCKS, y'all. It also has a jack that allows for an iPod to be plugged in straight through to the radio. Awesome.

My Dad's Retirement
After being a working man for over forty years, my dad retired. What I think is cool about this is HOW he retired. Now anyone who knows my dad knows he isn't known for his spontaneity. He likes to plan things in advance and be very, very certain before he takes any kind of action. Well, one day a couple of weeks ago, he just decided he was done. Things were taking a bad turn at his job, and he just decided it was enough. You know how we all have those days when we fantasize about telling the boss that we're "outta here"? Well, my dad pretty much lived that fantasy. He and his boss ended on good terms, but now my dad is enjoying doing what HE wants to do instead of--in his words--"working for the man." It's about time, I say. Good for him.

My Parents' Visit
While Darryl was gone, my parents came up for a visit. We went to the Apple Festival in Ellijay, and my mom and I did some shopping. I had to do something with all the apples I bought, so I've made apple crisp, Paula Deen's Caramel Apple Cake, and apple pie over the past couple of weeks. Anyway, it was good seeing them, and we all had a fun time.

My New TV Obsession
I'm hooked on ABC Family reruns of Everwood. Man, I love that show.

Teaching Highlight of the Week
My seniors are reading Much Ado about Nothing. These seniors really fought against reading Shakespeare, but what can I say? Not only is he "curriculum," but I think he is a must-read as well. Anyway, most of the students are getting a little more into the play now, and the other day, one of my students went as far as to say (and he was being serious), "Wow--Shakespeare is awesome." Smile.

On another school note...while my seniors give me sympathy laughs for many of my attempts at humor, my 10th Grade Honors (Pre-AP) students think I'm hilarious. I think I've found my audience. Who knew? (And what does that say about me?)

Um...I will write again. I promise.

I know I haven't posted in a while. Things have been crazy the past few weeks--not bad, just crazy busy. Adding a catch-up post to my blog is on the "to do" list for the weekend, though.

I'll get back to you soon!

Fried Chicken and Waffles

Yesterday, I went with my friend Casi to Gladys & Ron's Chicken and Waffles to celebrate her birthday (a month late). We had been there once before, and this time we enjoyed it just as much.

We ended up doing some creative maneuvering of menu items, but I ended up getting what I wanted, which was a fried chicken breast with half a waffle, a side of mac n' cheese, and a corn muffin, and Casi had the smothered chicken on rice, mashed potatoes, half a waffle, and a corn muffin. I'll confess that I've had better fried chicken (my mother's), but it was a good meal.

In fact, I wish I had all that to eat right now.

Afterwards, we strolled around Atlantic Station, which is a fun place to shop.

I didn't get much graded this weekend. In fact, it was an unproductive weekend as far as work goes, but I did find a pair of jeans (in a size smaller than I was buying at the end of the summer, thank you very much), so I consider that a huge accomplishment. :)

Time for a blog update, huh?

I haven't updated recently because, well, not much is going on. I'm in one of those modes where it feels as though my life is like this: get up, go to school, come home, prep for the next day, grade, go to bed, get up, go to school, come home,...

If I were one of "those" teachers, I would slap a movie into the DVD player for two weeks straight and catch up on my grading. However, I try really hard not to be one of "those" teachers, so I guess that isn't an option.

I have found that some things are easier to teach than others, and I've had some real challenges lately. My seniors finally finished Grendel and wrote essays about it (add to the grading list, check), and now we're about to do sonnets. I love sonnets, but if anyone out there knows how to help high school students love them too, I'm up for hearing suggestions. My Pre-APs just started Julius Caesar, and I'm managing to stay about an act ahead of them in my teaching preparation. Sigh. (I'm actually in the middle of making up a quiz for Act I.)

So, that's about it for me these days. I have managed to have some fun here and there. This past weekend, I went to a great high school football game--our school versus what was supposed to be a big rival--and we won. I went to a cool Fall Festival in Duluth with my friend Jessica on Saturday. I've even managed to watch some of my favorite TV shows.

Yeah. That's it. I'm done.

The Week in Review

This post requires subheadings.

School
This week at school has been a rough one. Nothing bad happened, really, but my students just were over-the-top annoying. I love teaching--I really do--but this was just one of those weeks. We all have them.

The seniors have finally finished reading the novel Grendel. (They are writing an essay about it still, but at least the reading is over.) This was the first time I had taught the novel, and I'll be honest--I don't think I did a very good job teaching it. I can be a bit hard on myself about my teaching sometimes, but one thing I have learned to do is just to accept that sometimes things just don't go as planned, especially when it is the first time attempting something. The major problem with teaching this novel is that I assigned it for my "regular" seniors , and it was too difficult for many of them to read on their own. ("Regular" at my school just means they are not AP, so regular includes many levels of students, from very capable "should be in AP" ones to some who probably won't graduate.) I had to revise my schedule so that we were reading much of it in class, and let me tell you, after reading a chapter five times a day for twelve days...I'm so over Grendel.

The upside is that some of the students liked it (mainly because of details like "blood spurting like a geyser"). I don't know--if I want to do this in the future, I just need to rethink how I'm going to do it.

The Pre-AP 10th graders are good. Silly, but good. They are definitely a bright spot in my morning. Both my 1st (seniors) and 2nd are good classes, so I like starting the day on that kind of note.

Enough school talk.

TV
I have a good bit of grading to do this weekend because I took some time over the week to watch some of the new TV shows. My guilty pleasure is Dancing with the Stars, but I'm just not enjoying it as much this season. I don't think the celebrities have as much charisma as in the past, and some of them I haven't heard of.

I loved The Office. I think that show has quickly become my favorite.

I'm now watching Grey's Anatomy with the rest of the world. I find the main character, Meredith, a bit whiny, but I like the show overall.

Thursday night, I couldn't sleep, so I watched the last half of ER, and all it did was remind me why I stopped watching this show three seasons ago. Seriously, can anything good happen to any of these characters? Spoiler alert: Luka (who long ago lost his two kids and his wife to a bombing in Croatia) and Abby (who has a bipolar mother and has struggled with alcoholism) are excited about the birth of their baby (finally, some happiness!), but when a gunman opens fire on the ER (yeah, okay), Abby falls on the floor, which somehow causes her to go into early labor. Of course, she has to have the baby early. Of course, the baby is extremely tiny and may not have full brain function if he even survives. Of course, Abby can't stop bleeding and must undergo a hysterectomy. I know life is hard, but c'mon ER! Can't someone on this show be happy for once?

And in closing...
I didn't mean for this post to be this long. I guess I just had a lot built up inside me, just waiting to be vented through a post. While I'm on it, can I also say that if I hear the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield (sp?) one more time, I'm going to pull out my hair? That song gets so much airplay it is ridiculous.

The end.

Food and Football

This weekend was filled with a lot of both. Unfortunately, this was not a good football weekend for us--LSU's loss to Auburn followed by FSU's loss to Clemson. (I cared more about the first one, Darryl more about the second one.)

We did have some good food to console us, though. I made Chicken Parmesan from a recipe that had five stars from FoodTV.com, and it was really good. Then I made apple crisp from a random recipe I had stuck in my recipe file. It was delicious also. I've really been trying to eat better and exercise more (I went to the gym three times last week and went jogging on Saturday--go me), but I kind of let it all go this weekend.

Oh, well.

This sounds unpleasant

Darryl and I were driving around our neck of the woods the other day and passed this sign outside a doctor's clinic. We thought we read it wrong, so we circled the block just to make sure. Nope, we were right:



Isn't that something that you just kinda know? Is it really something that has to be screened? And what is that screening process, exactly?

Gross. But funny.

9/11 and "Babylon"

Over the weekend, my Pre-AP English 2 students were assigned to read Stephen Vincent Benet's "By the Waters of Babylon." Just in case you aren't familiar with the story...it is a story of a young boy growing up in a post-apocalyptic civilization that is quite primitive from the way we live now, and he takes a journey to a sacred city--now demolished--that is believed to have belonged to the gods. At the end of the story, we find out the sacred city is New York.

The story was written in 1937, before nuclear threats, before terrorists took over planes and crashed them into skyscrapers. But in this passage, the young boy has a vision of what happened to the city of gods:

I have seen men die. But this was not like that. When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was the time of the Great Burning and the Destruction. They ran about like ants in the streets of their city--poor gods, poor gods! Then the towers began to fall. A few escaped--yes, a few. . . . I saw it happen, I saw the last of them die. It was darkness over the broken city and I wept.

Wow...the power of words.

Fortunately, the story ends with a message of hope: "We must build again." I'm not really sure what I was expecting on this fifth anniversary of 9/11. I've seen the video coverage of the appropriately reverent memorial services conducted in various parts of the country, and my school--probably like many schools--observed a moment of silence. But in many ways today, life went on as usual, and perhaps that is the most appropriate 9/11 tribute of all.

Labor Day Weekend

I enjoyed my grading-free Labor Day weekend. Leaving the Canterbury Tales projects at school was a good idea; if I had lugged them home, they would have just sat there, unattended, while I was consumed with guilt for not grading instead of watching TV. By leaving them at school, I was spared the guilt. Nothing but a clean conscience here!

I did get some class prep done, and I cleaned my house more thoroughly than I planned--I actually pulled out the mop.

Other weekend highlights:
--I went shopping and ended up with two shirts.
--I saw Little Miss Sunshine. I thought it was funny, but Darryl thought it was horrible. I like dry, dark humor, though, and Darryl does not. (Darryl also dislikes The Office. How can someone not like The Office??? And he told me this after he saw one of my favorite episodes--the one with the drug testing. Sigh. I'm just telling you this so you'll know how seriously to consider his opinion of Sunshine.)
--I caught up on my fake Tivoed Project Runway episodes.

Ah...why can't long weekends last just a wee bit longer?

Plans for the weekend

After grading, grading, grading every day for the past week and a half, I've gotten my stack down to just Canterbury Tales projects, and that's amazing. I made the bold decision not to bring those projects home, so I'm not doing any grading this long weekend. So there.

I do need to get a jump ahead on some class prep, but I'm waiting until Sunday or Monday to do that.

Today, I'm going to take it easy. Darryl plans to watch football, and I think I'm going to clean up around the house (not a major clean, but a "straighten up" clean) and then maybe go to a movie this weekend. I really want to see Little Miss Sunshine.

Thanks to TimShady, I've also gotten into the show Project Runway, and I have a couple of those TiVoed. I'm watching some of the earlier episodes of the season.

So yep, I've got a big day of movie/TV watching ahead of me. I'm excited.

Martinis, Mashed Potatoes, and Matrimony

Saturday night, Darryl and I went to Russell and Tiffiny's wedding. Darryl and Russell used to work together, and one of their favorite things to do was to go to good (and fattening) places for lunch. Darryl has told me more than once about Russell's LOVE for The Varsity. It seemed only appropriate, then, that this would be his groom's cake:

Well, back to the wedding itself...

The wedding was extremely elegant (I loved the black strapless bridesmaids' dresses!) and was held at the beautiful Christ the King Catholic Church. Afterwards, we all went to Wimbish Mansion downtown, which apparently belongs to the Woman's Club of Atlanta. You know that when a server greets you at the door with a peach martini that you are in for a good time.

Anyway, we had a good time mixing and mingling with Darryl's friends from his old job, and the food was fantastic. (Some of the fare for the evening included mini meatloaves with dollops of mashed potatoes, fried green tomatoes, a mashed potato bar, pecan-crusted chicken fingers, some kind of delicious flank-type steak, salad, and more.) It was one of the few weddings I've been to where the dance floor was absolutely packed. Darryl managed to snag a picture of his friend Chris working his dance floor magic to, of all things, "Play that Funky Music":

It really was a fun and sweet wedding, and we wish Russell and Tiffiny a very happy future together.

Still not at the finish line

Well, between the Braves game, the wedding we attended Saturday night, and chores around the house, I was able to make it only through part of my grading stack. I finished the five sets of in-class essays from my seniors, and I feel pretty good about that. I was insane to think I would have gotten all those graded, anyway.

Grading Marathon 2006

Darryl and I have already gone to a Braves game (see post below), and tonight we are going to a wedding, but the rest of my time needs to be spent grading this stack of papers. It isn't that tall, but this stack contains the following, ranked by priority:

1--4 sets of in-class essays from my seniors (this would explain why the stack isn't that tall--most of my seniors think that "multi-paragraph essay" means two paragraphs). While I have many of these--about 100--they shouldn't take long to grade. They aren't a major grade, so I'm spending just a few minutes on each one.

2--1 set of in-class essays from my Pre-AP students. I have 14 of these, but they will probably take a while to grade as I adjust to the AP grading rubric I borrowed/adapted from TimShady.

3--5 sets of short essay responses from the seniors' Canterbury Tales test. I can do these quickly.

4--1 set of vocabulary quizzes from my Pre-AP students. These should be easy to grade.

If I can get ALL of this done (I know--dream on, right?), I will be in GREAT shape at the beginning of the week and will not get anything new to grade until Wednesday, when Canterbury Tales projects are due. :)

I just heard the shot of the pistol, so I better get on my way...

The Braves

Last night, Darryl and I had some great seats--the top part of the lower level, behind home plate--for the Braves game. Darryl's friend Chad got the tickets from one of his clients (or something like that), so the tickets were free. That's a good thing, I guess, because Darryl and I paid plenty of money eating hot dogs (is it just me, or is there nothing a like ball park hot dog?), nachos, and snow cones.

When the Braves blew their 3-run lead, we turned our attention to this guy, who had become much more fun to watch than the game:
Not only did this guy like to holler incomprehensible things all through the game, but we noticed that whenever the Braves played defense, he put on his fielder's glove, and whenever the Braves were at bat, he took off the fielder's glove and put on his batting gloves. Occasionally, he would take a pitcher's stance right before a pitch, and sometimes he swung an imaginary bat. He was hardcore.

All in a weekend

Okay, so it's Tuesday, and I'm just now reporting on the weekend. That's pretty much how my life has felt lately--a bit behind schedule. Anyway, here goes.

The Chocolate Fountain
Saturday, Darryl and I went to a surprise party for our friend Blake, who turned 40 years old. The party was fun, with lots of good food, 80s music, and good friends. (Okay, technically, these were Blake and Jessica's good friends, but we did know a few people there and enjoyed talking with them.) I also enjoyed spending lots of time--too much time--at the chocolate fountain, and I also realized that my favorite thing to dip in the fountain was pretzels. Yum.

The Perfect Coffee and End Tables
Darryl and I had been keeping our eyes open for a new coffee table and new end tables. Our old coffee table had a bottom shelf on it that was a couple of inches from the floor, and unfortunately, that bottom shelf had endured seven years of two dogs sliding across it over and over again. (And on a selfish note, Darryl and I were tired of having to retrieve the dog's ball when it got stuck under that shelf.)

A few weeks ago, Darryl and I found a coffee table we really liked at Costco, of all places, but they didn't have the matching end tables, so we didn't buy it. (We liked these tables because they reminded us of some tables we liked at Crate and Barrel, but at about a third of the price.) Sunday, on a whim, we went into a different Costco that had one end table. We asked one of the clerks if another end table and the coffee table were available at any other Costco, and apparently the quickly selling tables were available at the Costco in Morrow. Soooo, we ended up going to Morrow, and we easily spotted the coffee table. The one end table they had in stock (the "display" table) was a bit harder to find. The clerk looked in the back. He looked in the returns. He looked again in the back. Finally, Darryl , who was just browsing the aisles while waiting for the clerk to return, spotted it on a random shelf above something like canned tomatoes. Only in Costco. :) Anyway, we have our tables. If I had more energy, I would take a photo. I'll try to do that soon. They really are cool tables.

A Good Movie
The movie Ladder 49 had been sitting around on my fake TiVo for about a month, and I finally decided to watch it. I highly recommend it. While the movie does have several "big fire scenes" and the obligatory "close call" scenes, it is primarily about the type of person it takes--as one of the characters says, and I'm paraphrasing here--to run into a fiery building when everyone else is running out. It didn't seem over the top or grandiose; I suspect that the emotions, struggles, and glories were quite accurately portrayed. I made the mistake of watching it before I went to bed, and I had trouble sleeping that night because the movie just affected me that much.

The movie also made me realize how much I like Joaquin Phoenix as an actor. I haven't seen that many movies of his, but I loved Walk the Line (probably my favorite movie last year), and he was just as impressive in this movie. I'm not an acting pro, so I'm not sure if I'm using the right terminology, but he just has a certain intensity about him that gives his characters some intrigue and depth. John Travolta is good in this movie, too. I'm kind of hot and cold on Travolta; sometimes I like him and sometimes I think he's a goofball. His role as a fire chief suits him well, though.

And one more thing...
I went to the gym last night...for the first time since school started. Go me.

I'm still here

I haven't given up the whole blogging thing. The beginning of school always reduces me to this distressed state of thinking that I have too much to do with too little time to do it, so the blogging has fallen a little bit in the priority list. I do plan to post again VERY soon (maybe tonight?), and I can tell you all about my one night affair with a chocolate fountain, Darryl's and my quest for a coffee table and end tables, the moving movie I saw over the weekend, and other random things.

And, just to let you know, I am surviving without power naps.

Jinx

I'm probably jinxing myself, but so far, school is going very well. I haven't graded any significant work from these seniors yet, so I can't really judge their academic abilities, but as far as class behavior goes, they are fairly low maintenance. (I did just jinx myself, didn't I?) I have only one class that presents a real challenge, and their problem is just that the class is big and they really, really, really like to talk. The class is mostly made up of some rowdy (but basically good) boys...and they all have chosen to sit on the front row!

Today, we read "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales. For those of you not familiar with the story, I'll spare you most of the details, but at the end of the story, the knight is presented with a choice: the old, ugly woman he is obligated to marry can remain old and ugly, but faithful, or she can be young and pretty, but unfaithful. The knight tells the old woman that she can make the decision, and as a "reward" for letting her make the decision, he gets the best of both worlds: she is young, pretty, and faithful. At that point, one of my rowdy boys piped up and said, "He won BOTH showcases on The Price is Right!" Hey, at least he was paying attention...

My Pre-AP sophomores are doing well. They are a bit silly, but I like them. The down side is that the class is killing me as far as prep time goes; most of my evenings are spent researching and thinking up different class activities.

Speaking of that, I better get back to it...

The Daily Grind

I'm having a difficult time getting back in the swing of things, and this would explain my lack of posting over the past few days. I had to take 30-minute power naps both Thursday and Friday afternoons--the first two days of school--and I went to bed by 10 Friday evening.

Anyway, here is the nutshell version of the past few days:

• Saturday was a productive day for me. I spent about four hours grading summer reading assignments, split into a morning shift at Atlanta Bread Company and an afternoon shift at Starbucks. Somewhere between the two shifts I enjoyed a power nap and lunch. Oh, that evening, I watched Shall We Dance?, which had been sitting around on my fake TiVo for about a month. I wasn't sure I would like the movie--I'm not a J.Lo fan--but I really found myself enjoying it. I think many people can relate to the need to find a passion for something, and I also felt that the movie gave a poignant--and dare I say almost realistic--portrayal of marriage. And on a trivial note, Richard Gere was especially hot in this movie. (There was one scene beween him and Lopez that made me gag because it was so cheesy, but what "dance" movie isn't complete without the token "sexy" dance scene?)
• Sunday was a day of errands, for the most part, but we did end the day by going to a great "Honey-Do" wedding shower for a friend that Darryl worked with at his old job. The house was beautiful (I want a front porch like that one day), and the food was delicious--chicken skewers, mac n' cheese, squash casserole, deviled eggs, and salad.

Other notes:

• Today was an "off" teaching day for me. I kept getting tongue-tied, and I just felt off my game. I've gotta mix it up tomorrow. Even my Pre-AP class, which has been a delight so far, seemed disorganized and flailing. Geez.
• I'm excited about the return of Celebrity Fit Club on VH1. This is one of my guilty pleasure shows. I like the group this season, pehaps because they include some nostalgic favorites: Tina Yothers from Family Ties, Carnie Wilson from Wilson Phillips (yes, back in the day, I loved me some Wilson Phillips--I had the cassette), and Ted Lange from Love Boat. Awesome.
• My computer has died again. I think the "fix" last time was just a band-aid to get my stuff backed up. While I do feel a bit lost typing this on Darryl's Dell, I'm not as distressed this time around because I learned my lesson from the last crash and saved my stuff on either CDs or a jump drive. I miss my Mac, though.

Time to fix dinner. My goal is to make it through the day with no power nap.

First Day of School

The first thing I did to commemorate the first day of school is I pulled out my "Have coffee, will grade papers" mug out of the back of the cabinet where it has been on "vacation" for the summer. Today it was time for us both to get back to work.

The first day was good, but long. We're trying this thing now where we have advisement every day for ten minutes; today, tomorrow, and on special days like "progress report day," we meet with our advisees for thirty minutes. It seriously felt like another class added to the day, and we already have seven periods! Maybe the ten-minute segment won't seem too bad.

All of my classes were pretty good; one (4th period) has me a little concerned because they were a bit...loud, but at least they weren't "bad"--just loud.

So it was a typical first day--new names, new faces. And I already have a stack of summer reading assignments and summer reading tests to grade for my Pre-AP class.

'Twas the Night Before the First Day of School...

...and I'm hot and tired.

I don't have much to report. Last night we had Open House, so I was able to meet some students and parents. I've been informed by my soon-to-be students that my fourth period will be loud but entertaining, and my seventh period has been described by several people as "interesting." I've had "interesting" seventh periods for two years now--one "interesting" in a good way, one in a not-so-good way. We'll see what this one will be.

I'm also teaching one sophomore Pre-AP class. This is the youngest group I've ever taught, and they just seem so little compared to the seniors. I'm excited about this class and am eager to see what they can do.

Well, I better go...I have clothes to iron and a lunch to pack. Let the fun begin!

Of Pageants and Planning

Saturday I went to the Miss Cobb County Pageant with Max and Tim. While Tim tended to his duties at the judges' table, Max and I got into the pageant spirit by making our predictions and enjoying the festivities. Max has good post about the evening at his site, so I'll just direct you there. I do think our cheesy pic is worth posting again, though.


Yesterday and today have been busy with school planning. Over the weekend, I spent my $100 gift card for teachers, and now I am well stocked with an electric pencil sharpener, my favorite grading pens, a storage bin, post-its, Sharpies, file folders, and dry erase markers. (I didn't get the white board stuff, Jen C, because I thought it might look "suspect" during the audit of teacher purchases that is to take place later this year. I might get that with my own money, though.) Today, our second day back at school, was basically one meeting after another, so I didn't get much work done for my classes. Sigh.

First Day Back

The requests have been pouring in for me to talk about the first day back at school. Well, okay, Jen requested that I talk about the first day back, and who am I to disappoint a reader?

The Highlights:

--I enjoyed seeing everyone--well, almost everyone--again.
--At our annual system-wide meeting, we watched a video about the Code of Ethics by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, complete with over-the-top "reenactments" of situations like teachers making out in the supply room, teachers making sexual advances towards students, teachers climbing out the window during class, and teachers drinking alcohol during class. Certainly we would all agree that these situations are WRONG, but seriously, the whole presentation was like a spoof of a very bad PSA. The whole room was rolling!
--Tim's won the big door prize at the annual Kiwanis teachers' luncheon, which you can read about here.

The Downers:

--I'm not sure who may come across this blog in the future, so I'm not going to say all that I'm feeling about this, but none of the English textbooks or novels were ordered, and who knows if or when we'll get them? (I'll just say that everyone in the English Department did their part as far as this is concerned, so the blame falls elsewhere.) We have textbooks now; we just needed extras. The novel dilemma, though, is making me have to come up with a Plan B for my seniors, as one of the novels, Grendel is scheduled just a few weeks into the semester.
--I discovered that the "work days" before Thursday are really just days packed with meetings.

Not a bad first day. I do have a good bit of work to do still, so I better get back to it.

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Happy 40th Anniversary to my parents! Darryl and I enjoyed getting to spend the evening with them, eating delicious Italian food at Ippolito's followed by wedding cake at the house.

I think being married forty years is extremely impressive; it really requires a depth of commitment that we don't see very much these days. I can definitely say as someone who has been around for 32 of those years that my parents have always demonstrated tremendous respect and love for each other, and I wish them many more happy years together. Happy Anniversary!

The Good Ol' Days of Summer

My summer vacation has officially come to an end. Tomorrow is the first day back for teachers, and next Thursday, the students come.

Here's how I spent my last day of summer: I drove through the Atlanta traffic for a doctor's appointment (fun!); I tidied up around the house; I had lunch with my parents, who are staying a couple of days on their way back home from the mountains; I took a power nap; and my mom and I met my cousin Vicky for a "girls' night" dinner at Outback. Oh, and I topped of the day with a slice of the key lime pie, which is delicious.

So let me reflect on the summer. I originally had set some goals. Let's review:

1. Lose 12 pounds. This didn't happen. In fact, I put on a couple. I'm not thrilled about this, but oh well.
2. Go to the gym/exercise at least 4 times a week. Oddly enough, I did do this most weeks unless we were out of town. I guess I could look at it like this: imagine how much weight I would have gained if I HADN'T gone to the gym at all.
3. Read the books I needed to for school. I mostly accomplished that goal. I left Jen C hanging on Tale of Two Cities, but I did finish all the summer reading books and 1984, and I'm currently reading Grendel and should have it finished over the weekend. I also read several books for fun.
4. Spend time/have good times with friends and family. Check. I did this. From trips to Florida (including Disney World) and having lunches with friends here and there, I do feel I had some great times with everyone this summer.
5. Clean my closet and the garage. Well, I cleaned my closet and the guest room closet, but Darryl and I both agreed that it is just too hot to tackle the garage. We're making that a fall project.

Not too bad. The only one I completely crashed and burned on was the losing twelve pounds thing, but overall, I think I did well.

It's not really the start of school that I'm dreading, but that feeling you get about two weeks in when you are counting down to Labor Day. I guess you can say I'm dreading how I'm going to feel in a few weeks. Maybe I shouldn't think that way, and I should be more positive...maybe I'll have students who love learning and look forward to my class and read with enthusiasm and write well and always have paper and pen and...

We'll see.

Key Lime Pie

Tonight I made Ina Garten's Frozen Key Lime Pie. Max and Tim swear this pie is incredible, so I can't wait to taste it tomorrow. I've been wanting to make it for some time now, but I try to save the desserts for whenever company comes so that Darryl and I don't consume all of it ourselves--neither of us is very good when it comes to moderation and desserts. Let's see...in a week's time, I've made lemon bars, brownies, and now the pie. I have issues.

Movie Endings and Six-Toed Cats

I came across two interesting articles in USA Today.

One is about the Top 50 movie endings of all time, and the other, for you English teacher out there, is about Hemingway's six-toed cats and their fight for freedom. :)

Shopping Progress and Closet Cleaning

With the exception of buying a needing a pair of black shoes, I am pretty much finished with my back-to-school shopping. Ladies, I had some luck yesterday at Stein Mart, where I bought some basic black pants and a really cute/trendy shirt. I also had some luck at Ann Taylor Loft, where there was a MAJOR sale going on. (Thanks for the tip, Kristy!) There, I was able to get a pair of nice khaki pants, a skirt, and a t-shirt to go with it...all on sale. (I know I mentioned in my last post that I've been in a black pants/khaki pants rut for the last several years, but I do consider them to be staples in a wardrobe.) In the middle of all my shopping frenzy, I was able to have lunch with Darryl at Pepperoni's Tavern, a cool place Darryl has discovered since he started his new job. They have delicious pizza.

I was so inspired by my new purchases that I cleaned my closet, and now I have three garbage bags to take to Goodwill. My basic rule of thumb is if I haven't worn it in the past year or so, it goes, with the exception of a couple of things like basic dress suits and dresses. Anyway, my closet looks much better. I could have done before and after pics, but I was too embarrassed over the state of the "before" situation to do that.

Today I need to get a lot of work done for school. I also have to go to the school because I was assigned as a mentor to one of the new teachers, and I have to go to a meeting for that. Fortunately, my mentee was a long-term sub last year while a fellow English teacher was out on maternity leave, so he should be fine. TimShady was my mentor my first year (two years ago), and not only was that my first year of teaching at our school, but it also was my first year of teaching high school, period. I would argue that Tim is still my (unofficial) mentor, as I bombard him with questions all the time. What patience!

And on a random note...what's up with Mel Gibson????

Separate Peace and Far From Heaven

Yesterday, after my couple of hours of shopping, I did some hardcore class prep for the 10th Grade Pre-AP class. I went back and reviewed A Separate Peace, and man, do I wish we were reading that book during the year instead of just reviewing it as summer reading. That is such a great book, and I can't believe I hadn't read it until the beginning of this summer. I'm very curious to see how the students liked it. If they hated it (and how could they?), I'll be crushed. I found some cool things online to share with the students, such as an essay by John Knowles in which he talks about his own experiences at prep school and how they contributed to the novel. Cool stuff.

I also rented a few movies from Blockbuster. (Listen, if you go to Blockbuster frequently and you aren't a rewards member, you need to become one. I rented three movies for the cost of one.) My choices should show you that I wasn't really "sold" on any movie when I went there: Zoolander (I've never seen it--gasp!--and I was kind of in the mood for a goofy Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson flick), High Fidelity (another one I haven't seen--double gasp--and I love me some John Cusack), and Far From Heaven, mainly because I either read or saw an interview with Julianne Moore recently where she said that it was perhaps the movie she is most proud of, and I'd never seen it before. I ended up watching Far From Heaven, and I thought it was really good. I remember that Julianne Moore was nominated for an Academy Award for this movie, and that, in my opinion, was a well-deserved nomination. I also thought that Dennis Quaid was wonderful in the movie as well. I recommend it.

The Way of the Skirt

I did some back-to-school shopping yesterday and managed to find a skirt, and I also bought a few v-neck t-shirts that can go with everything (including the skirt).

I think I'm going to wear more skirts because this is what I've discovered: they are much cooler than pants, especially in 90+-degree weather. A couple of weeks ago, I found two other skirts, and I really like those. This will also get me out of my khaki pants/black pants rut that I've been in for oh, like six years. I'm assuming that these skirts are "in," considering that I see them at about every store I go to.

I still need a couple more things, so I think I'll tackle the shopping again today.

Judging from the comments on my last post, I'm not the only one suffering from fashion woes. Ladies, maybe we should open a shop for the late 20's/early 30's crowd.

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.