%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Welcome to Whatsit's Wild World. |
|
Sometimes I think we're all tightrope walkers suspended on a wire two thousand feet in the air, and so long as we never look down we're okay, but some of us lose momentum and look down for a second and are never quite the same again: we know. ~Dorothy Gilman The Tightrope Walker |
| I spent yesterday at the hospital. Sam and I both wound up with a stomach virus - he had it a lot worse than I did, so I took him to the emergency room. I can't STAAAAND going to the ER, you have to sit around at wait HOURS for anything to happen, but it was better than listening to him moan and groan. Both of us feel somewhat better today, but we aren't quite up to snuff, so we took today off too. Plus, we didn't have any business exposing our co-workers to it. My mother took the kids last night. I think it's the first time ever she's done that. It was nice, not having to fix them supper and give them a bath, plus I didn't have to get up and take them to school. Sweet! Not having to fool with children is a big contributor to the getting-well process. My to-do list for today: perpetrate some serious laziness. |
Things I have done that make me feel smug I took over the finances back in the fall. They are in much better shape than they were. I paid off two credit cards and got caught up on several things we were behind on. This month, we actually had some extra money. My mother's dog keeps biting her on the hand. He did it again Friday. Her hand is swelled up and she had to take antibiotics. She won't do anything to him for biting her. That's not what makes me feel smug, this is: he bit me one day when she had asked me to dog-sit while she wasn't there. I took care of the problem, and he doesn't so much as breathe loud when I'm around. I'm a big dog lover, always have been . . . except for this dog. If you see a black poodle sailing over your house, you'll know he bit me again and I knocked hell out of him. My assistant is always bragging on how well she copes with our students. Don't get me wrong, I like my assistant, but this IS something she does. Every time I'm out, she brags on how well the classes behave in the library, even the ones that usually try to act up, with the implication that she gets them to act much better than I do. She got to bragging this morning on how well she gets along with our obnoxious fifth-graders. So, I decided to let her put her money where her mouth is. A notoriously talkative fifth-grade class came in today - or I should say, they CAN be talkative, but not in the library most of the time because we make them keep a lid on it. Once I passed out the work and got them working on it, I got in the background with my mouth shut and let her handle it, which is something I don't usually do. They were much louder than when I stay on them. I hope this shuts her up on the bragging. Emily is eleven. Puberty is around the corner. I had a minor version of "the talk" with her, the one about becoming a woman. I don't think I did a bad job. It was uncomfortable as all get out, but I have found that with sensitive things it is best to present it matter-of-factly, not as if there is anything to be embarrassed about. I've started eating vegetables, even the ones I don't like. I ate a bunch of broccoli the other day. Well, a bunch for me is about five stalks. I'm also back to taking vitamins - a multi, and a Vitamin C. Plus I bought some V-8 juice, which, oddly enough, I love. It's the only vegetabley thing that I do like. It's surprising what a difference it makes - I have energy coming out my ears. |
| Weird things Around seven in the morning I was on my way to work, and had to stop at Wal-Mart, which was on my way. I needed gas as well as something from inside the store. I decided to go inside the store first, and then get gas. I was only in the store around ten minutes. By the time I came out, the gas had gone up four cents a gallon. I was got off with Wal-Mart, believe me. All the kids have a hamper for their clothes. Matt calls his a "pantry." I can understand a little kid getting his words mixed up, but why "pantry"? It would seem like a cross between laundry and hamper, almost, but not quite. When Emily was two, instead of magazine, she said mazagine - she got the z and g sounds mixed up. To this day when I say the word magazine, I have to stop and think which one is correct. Before Emily getting them mixed up, I never had to - it was her putting it in my mind that messed me up. She also said wagon station for station wagon,. which was the type car we had at the time,. but my mind didn't get mixed up on this one for some reason. There is a little boy at my school who shares Matt's middle and last names. He also has my birthday. The people who we bought our house from have a little girl who was born the exact same day as Emily. Emily has a best friend who has a little sister who was born the exact same day as Anna Claire. When I was still working at the juvie jail, I took a day off to interview for my current job. About two weeks later, one of the security guards from "up the hill" let me know that the principal who I interviewed with had called him to check on me. I kind of looked at him funny because I had not put him down as a reference. It turned out that his wife is the office manager at the new school. I was looking forward to meeting her, but I don't like her near as well as I like him. He's extremely nice, but she's abrupt and snobby, although she can be nice if she wants to. What makes nice men marry heifers like that? |
| Report on Spring Break I just wanted to let y'all know that I hadn't croaked - I just had a really busy Spring Break. We went to see my father-in-law, three hours away. That took one whole day. We didn't spend the night. Paw-in-law didn't have room for us, and we were too stingy to pay to spend the night anywhere. That wide-spot-in-the-road town he lives in doesn't have a hotel anyway. He did take us to a good place to eat, called Jake's Restaurant, in Chatom, Alabama. Just to look at this place, it wasn't much, but the food was delicious. Also, some of our church members had pulled their RV up to a campsite at Roosevelt State Park, about thirty minutes from us, and we spent the day with them. Hubby and the kids fished, and I read. Matt caught a fish! He was so proud of himself. When his teacher asked what they did on Spring Break, catching the fish was what he reported. Then that night, their nephew, who had another campsite not far off, had a fish fry with fish he had caught himself. Yum yum! And no, we didn't eat the fish Matt caught. After supper we had music - one man had his guitar, and they had asked hubby to bring his fiddle. Sitting around the campfire listening was nice. We had a bunch of errands to run that we had saved up for our week off - getting insurance business taken care of and stuff like that - and we spent a couple of days doing that. So much for the rest I had looked forward too, but still, it was nice. Let me ask you a question . . . Do you think the State of Pennsylvania will ever be the same after that crew gathers up? I thought about calling the Governor's Office and warning him about it. They will never be the same after this week. What would you do in this situation? My assistant told me of something that had happened to her, which I thought was hilarious. At the same time, I was glad didn't happen to me. She and a friend of hers went to the "adult novelty" store, as she called it. When she walked in, there was her college-age daughter. I said that she couldn't say anything to her daughter, since she was in there herself. She just grinned and agreed with me. I could only laugh and be glad it didn't happen to me! |
My internet at home hasn't worked since last weekend. The repairman finally came this morning. He climbed up the pole outside our house and discovered that a squirrel had chewed on . . . I don't know what the squirrel did chew on, but I hope he enjoyed whatever it was. One time years ago, when we lived in a different town, our electricity went out because a squirrel had chewed something up in the power line. Today is the start of Spring Break. Hooray! The kids and I are going to a movie in a few minutes. One of the elderly ladies in our church died over the weekend. Of what, I'm not sure - general old age, I think, since she had several things wrong with her. They called hubby Saturday to see if he could preach the funeral today at two. He told them his classes didn't end until two, and would three be all right? I asked him what classes was he talking about, since he's having Spring Break too. He hit his head in an "I'm stupid" gesture, and went to call them back. My mom is sick with a sinus infection, or at least that's what I think it is. The fruit stand across the highway has opened back up for the spring - hooray! - so I went over there to see what I could find to take her to make her feel better. I wound up with a plant and a bag of tomatoes for a 'mater sandwich. Then I threw in a tape of The Sound of Music that I got at a garage last weekend, unopened. (I suppose you can tell you're a redneck if you take your mom gifts from the fruit stand and a garage sale.) When I got over there, my grandmother told me she had gone to the doctor. I felt deflated. Oh well, we're going to take them over there after the movie. My husband had nine hundred of his things scattered around my family room. On the couch, all over the piano, on the computer desk, on the floor by the recliner. He had been promising me he would clean it up. For MONTHS. Last night I threw the whole caboodle in a great big box and put it in his closet.  |
| Playtime Remember Spirograph? Here's the online version: http://wannabe.guru.org/lynn/apps/ I've had a big time sitting here at my job playing with it. Yep - the tax dollars of Mississippi at work. My behind-the-times moment of the week I have just discovered George Carlin. I've known who he WAS my whole life, and I've seen him on TV a couple of times. Friday I got off work a little early and went to the bookstore, and one of the things I picked up was . . . well, I'm ashamed to say I don't remember the name of it, but it contained a lot of what he said. I kept embarassing myself by laughing out loud - I was wondering how I missed out on this over the years. I Googled George Carlin, and here are some of his quotes. I am completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence? I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it. I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work. Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit. Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did. One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like. The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept. When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day? When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat. It's never just a game when you're winning. Politically Incorrect I am about to complain about a student at work. Some of our children aren't really what you would call bad, they just have issues. They're very annoying, but you can see by the vacant look in their eyes that they can't help it. There is one girl in first grade who comes to the library with her class on Tuesday afternoons. Since I see every child in the whole school every week, I can't remember their names, so my assistant and I have christened this child Little Big-Head Girl, because . . . well, that's exactly what she is. Every week when she comes to me for library, I am thankful that my personal children are normal. I'm sure parents would be irate if they knew some of the things teachers at their childrens' schools said about them, because we certainly do talk about them, especially the naughty ones. We can't help it! It gets it out of our systems. As my assistant says, there's nothing wrong with them a good butt-whooping wouldn't cure. |
| I am at work. One of the local churches, Broadmoor Baptist Church, volunteered to do some work around our building, so our principal wanted the staff to put in an appearance. We don't have to help with the work, we just had to show our face. It's kind of nice to be in my room getting stuff done. I brought Anna Claire with me, and she is enjoying reading and coloring. And guess what? Evidently one of the prominent news anchors from the Jackson area goes to Broadmoor. I saw him outside helping with some landscaping when I drove up, and I pointed him out to Anna Claire. When I got out of the car, he came up and introduced himself to me. Exciting! It gave me the big head that Mr. Famous Man would come meet me. Here is a link: http://www.wapt.com/newsteam/2686021/detail.html Isn't he a hottie? |
| Unusual coincidences: When I was working at the juvie jail, I was holding another teacher's class while she was out. While I was in her room, I wanted to get on her computer, probably to come on WdC. The problem was I didn't know her password. I kept trying things I knew applied to her, like her kids' names and stuff like that. Finally I tried the word "password" and it worked. When I was a teenager, my church youth group went on a retreat and stayed in some cabins. I turned the shower on, then went out of the bathroom to get something, at which time I accidentally locked the bathroom door and shut it behind me. So there I was looking at a locked door with the shower running on the other side. It was 11:00 at night and I had my nightgown on, so I really didn't want to get dressed to go find somebody. I decided to just try the keys on my key ring. One of my keys opened the door. There is another coincidence involving keys. In the early nineties, my mother had a Buick and I had a Chevrolet. My door key would open her door. However, her door key wouldn't open my door. My maternal grandfather and my father's sister's husband had the same name: William Lowry. My grandfather lived in Mississippi his entire life except for a few years in Memphis, Tennessee. My uncle had been an orphan and lived in Long Beach, California. We have no idea if they were related or not. My grandfather went by his middle name, Wallace, and my uncle went by Bill. The letters that end my first name begin my husband's first name: Lisa and Sam. The letters that end his middle name begin my middle name: Lamar and Marie. That's my list of five for today. |
| Work I sent a child to the Assistant Principal for being disrespectful, as well as being a general nuisance. The Assistant Principal is much tougher than the Principal - I love sending my general nuisances to her, because they tend to act much better afterward. She made today's general nuisance call his mama and tell her what happened. Later on, she assured me that, as a result of the conversation with mom, it wouldn't happen again. What I'm Reading to my students Corduroy by Don Freeman The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Doctor Seuss - yesterday was his birthday, which has been made into Read Across America day. Kids Emily and Matt had soccer games last night. Both won, but dadgum it was cold. Anna Claire and Matt are selling chocolate-covered almonds. Or I should say, Mama and Daddy are selling them. Matt had dress-up-as-a-cowboy day at school Monday. Oooh-wee, he was too cute. He said that they had a little parade just for the other classrooms. He has a program coming up next Thursday, so I'm looking forward to that. Interesting tidbit We have a lady custodian named Renae, and I just found out she belongs to a motorcycle club. I almost fell out of my chair - it tickled me so bad when she said that. You never know about people, do you? |
| Something that has been flopping around in my brain lately: what is love? It's hard for me to say what true love is. It's a little easier for me to say what true love isn't. Love is NOT: - A feeling. True love should go farther than this. I consider love to be an active verb, not just a sweet sensation somewhere in your middle. Love is something you do, not something you feel. Someone who says "I feel love for you" doesn't have love, they have infatuation. Love is NOT: - Unforgiving. If you are hanging on to something that the other party did wrong so you can throw it at them periodically, you do not have love for that person. What you do have is an obssession. Love is NOT: - Always asking for changes. Constructive criticism is okay. Handing out ultimatums is not. "Make this change or else" is not love, it's manipulation. Love is NOT: - A convenience. There are some who have something they are constantly doing to the exclusion of everything else - work is a prime example. They emerge periodically when things slow down or they suddenly feel the need for a break, and expect their significant other to be sitting there waiting on them. This isn't love - this is seeing someone as a possession, no more than a dog or a cat. This is something we have had to work on at our house lately. My problem is letting down the great big brick wall I have set up. This is another thing love isn't - keeping the other person out. But it happens to be my particular thing that I do. The easy route would be saying that I do this out of self-defense. The honest route would be saying that I need to quit if I expect our relationship to continue, or if I expect either one of us to get any enjoyment out of it. Got any ideas on what love IS? I'm taking suggestions at this point. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Well, it is the time of miracles I guess.