haikuckoo

I open my home to my good friend Jimmie and what does he do? Not just once (first on my birthday, which was really the ultimate insult) but TWICE - he beats me at the Audience Haiku Challenge at the Live Wire! Radio show.

Me trying to be a gracious loser

We both wrote to the theme "Mothers."
Jimmie's entry:
I love my mother
But she didn't breastfeed me.
That is why I'm gay.

I was tipped off that including something about boobs might get me a winner, so I went with this:
The nice moms smile sweet;
But bad ones show some cleavage.
Join the P.T.A.!

Sigh. Then my secret Live Wire! boyfriend ignored me (though my favorite writing workshop teacher Greg Robillard who does not think I'm a stalker used his back for signing my poster) and my cleavage.

But I had a delectable dinner before the show at Berlin Inn, and my delovely friend Holly & her family saved front row seats, and everything else about the evening was enjoyable.

The young handsome young talented band
The Lonely Forest from near my hometown
made up for my disappointment

I might invite Jimmie back for the December show; I'll have crutches then to beat him with if he wins again.

self-righteous do-gooder

On the heels of dreaming about becoming an ass-kicking roller derby maven, I am here to flash my Upstanding Citizen card. Call me schizophrenic multi-faceted.

I did wait until the last day to fill in my squares (completely with blue or black ink) but I specifically did not leave my ballot to languish on the kitchen counter, race to arrive at the polling place by 7:59, nor park and allow my car to idle in the fire lane while I dropped my ballot in the box. Not that I'm judging anyone who happened to do any of those things.

But I am thinking about practicing my checking skills on those legions of moms who leave their engines running in the school parking lot every time I pick up my kids.

Okay, I'm judging.

rollergirly

I broke away from my Cowboys game a tad early [they had achieved the healthy lead I personally requested] to go see Whip It with my bff Lisa and her fabulously fun friend Erika. I came home wanting to join a roller derby team.

I know, I'm a big pain baby prone to whining BUT I can take it if I really want to, and there are cute outfits/shoes involved. So I visited the website of our local Rose City Rollers and concocted crazy visions of myself kicking a little ass in the rink; I even checked the clock when I read that they're starting a boot camp tonight...Then I got a little scared.

For now, I am buying tickets to bouts and shopping for fan gear. Maybe soon I'll get brave enough to put skates on my Christmas wish list.

In my school colors! from Bruised Boutique

boo

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

honesty

Fellow teacher & mom Alison of Hairline Fracture bestowed upon me [long ago - sorry to be so late in acknowledging!] a gracious "Honest Scrap" award ~ either she thinks I'm brilliant in my content/design or I have encouraged her; whichever, I am pleased & honored & grateful. Now I must pass on the love and tell 10 honest things about myself. I can easily find other bloggers I love; not sure I can think of 10 things you don't already know about me...

1. When I started college, I had high hopes of becoming an advertising executive
2. I was a "50s girl" for Halloween at least 3 years in a row
3. I watched "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" religiously as a kid
4. I have never read Moby Dick, The Grapes of Wrath, or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5. I actually liked reading The Scarlet Letter
6. Reading notes & letters by Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and John Lennon at the British Library made me weep
7. If I could go back in time, I would choose to be at Queen Elizabeth's court or in the literary circle of Mary & Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats
8. I have an embarrassingly stupid crush on Eminem
9. Biggest surprises of my life: having a daughter (I was convinced she was a boy when I was pregnant) and loving Paris (I thought it would be snotty & touristy & only marginally interesting)
10. Someday, I want to be a cartoon voice.

Rules to my fellows:

• Say thank you and give a link to the presenter of the award
• Share “10 Honest Things” about yourself
• Present the award to 10* other bloggers whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or to those who have encouraged you
• Be sure to tell the 10* bloggers chosen that you are giving them the Honest Scrap award and provide the guidelines for them

*Or a number that you can reasonably accomplish in whatever mental/physical state you're in

My brilliant encouragers:

Mama Milton
So Not Zen
Traveling Through Time and Space
Motherscribe
Fond of Snape
Juggling Life
Don't Touch the Cactus!
Who Put Me in Charge of These People?
Yesterday, Today and Forever
katydidnot

(I like how the names of these blogs together make an odd little story...)

it's time

1. It was a dark and stormy night, when I decided to wear my polka dot boots to get groceries & videos.

2. I discovered Grocery Boy & Geeky Cute Video Expert Guy got new jobs at the library, so I offered to take the books myself.

3. Rushing out, I forgot to grab my purse.

4. No money, no lip balm, NO iBoyfriend?? ...I think I heard a howl!

5. Shhhh...Best Husband Ever saves the day.

6. Arriving at home I playfully demand, "Give me something good to eat!"

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being less sick, tomorrow my plans include a haircut and probably more rest, and Sunday, I want to rest a little more, in front of football games on TV.

More spooktacular Friday Fill-Ins

sick day

The Teacher's Lament Haiku

Can do stuff sitting!

Thinking - I could go to school;

head spins when I stand...

I really, really hate not doing anything. And having other people do my job. But I keep telling myself staying home and resting is better than risking bodily harm [to myself & others...].

Stupid flu.

blech

I'm a terrible sick person.

First of all, I hate admitting I am sick. Second, as much as I enjoy random pampering any other time in my life, I am sheepish about accepting the loving gestures of friends & family when I actually need it most. I even get a little grouchy about continued queries into my well-being; I like to believe that's part of the being sick and not that I am simply bitchy. Whatever.

But last week our principal kindly admonished the staff to TAKE THE SICK DAY if we start to feel crummy. You might think educators would be on top of the whole "Don't spread illness" and "You can't do your best when you don't feel your best" thing, and I'd like to say it's because we're so committed to our jobs that we keep showing up (it mostly is, really). However, part of our unmotivation to call a sub is the need to write sub plans; sometimes it is just easier to tough out the day rather than try remembering to tell our replacement about all the weird little nuances of each class and/or student. As a former substitute who has delighted in brilliant notes and experienced mild anxiety over nonexistent ones, I am vigilant about writing detailed plans. And that takes a bit of time & energy, a couple of things I tend to be lacking when calling in sick.

Today, though, I had a moment during 2nd period when I felt the familiar symptoms of passing out, which would be Not Good with capital letters. After having some lunch & hydrating, I felt less like fainting but then my head started hurting. By the end of the day, every part of me was throbbing and I had lost all connection with sensible teaching skills. I drove home, fell into an alarmingly deep sleep for 20 minutes, felt okay enough to have dinner with my best friend across the street, then rallied to arrange for a sub & write up lessons.

I'll spend tomorrow dozing, trying not to worry about what I left out of my plans, in hopes of feeling better for Friday. And not just because there might be a Happy Hour gathering after school.

Guest post #?, crap, I don't remember

There are only a few songs that truly remind me of my wife. We don't really have "our song".

I always liked this song and the night I proposed to Stephanie, she gave me a compilation CD that she had bought from Nordstrom that day. We played it in my little truck before we went into dinner. She did not yet know she would be stuck with me from then on.

Our first dance at our wedding was to:



But the song that reminds me most of my wife is: (I know, I'm a pig...)



I put this as her ringtone on her new iBoyfriend when I call.

-Stu