Book Club

So, I don't think I've managed to sit down and discuss my second book club. I love this book club. Mainly it involves choosing a spot around town and then chatting it up with my three friends, k,h and kt. Henceforth to be referred to as hekkt (heck book club : ) As you can see, this is a more relaxed book club than the one with the Park Cities moms. We don't meet again for two weeks, but I came across this picture with KT and I thought I would add a note.

Books, books everywhere

So, I have sooo many boxes of books it is not even funny. Sunday I decided to start going through the boxes and figure out what books I could bear to part with and what books I could figured could sit out and about. First, arrow A points to Buddy's butt. Lovely sight, I know. B. empty boxes. I managed to find four or five. C. The high stack of boxes that remains because I have a whole lot of books any way I look at it. D. The many colors I have contemplated but not chosen for the dining room. Although the whole reason I took the stupid picture was to show the books on the stool and may I add under the stool. On grandmama's dresser several books . . . underneath the nightstand a stack of books with the flower Aunt Wendy painted, oh, and the stupid clock that I love but can't get the back open to change the time . . . The many Biblical books and some feng shui (they don't exactly go together) . . . a little Byron for light reading . . . Some books under the lamp and, if you look closer, then you can see even more on the corner cabinet. . . a whole set of books by what is now the guest bed . . . a few books the book club will be reading this year. . . close to the TV in an effort to get myself to read instead of watch TV. . . Books on either side of the mantle place mirror . . . and a few by the front door. And do you know what? THERE ARE STILL 14 BOXES OF BOOKS LEFT . . . Grrrr.

More Balloon Pictures

The wife of a passenger took some pictures during the balloon festival. She showed me this photo afterward, and I begged her to send the picture to me. Certainly, it shows how the average photographer can shoot amazing photos. I'd love to enlarge it and hang it on the wall. I love how close the burners look to me, and that I could be any person. Oh, and my arm fat isn't too noticeable. She also sent a distant photo so that you can see me and the balloon and then one as we took off - if you look carefully you can see that I'm actually in the balloon at this point.

Life after gall bladder surgery

I started cruising the internet looking for info on what others have gone through. I found this crazy web site that says your diet doesn't have to change and that there is no after effect. HA. HA HA I say.

I'm stiiillll having to be very careful about what I eat. Every once in a while I won't take the medicine that keeps the food from flowing through me and, boy, do I regret that.

Ok, that is my gall bladder update.

The book from Hell

So, my friend Vickie at the Jostens Plant in Topeka, Kansas lovingly wrapped up the first book off the press to send to me. Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't the coffee table book look amazing on the coffee table? I thought you might enjoy seeing it opened to one of the spreads. Isn't it pretty? oooohhhhhhh I say pppprrreeeettttttyyyyy. Little did I know that part of her excitement was because she had a special note for me to read. Not a note, so much as a poem. How is that? How many people get books delivered with poems? I told Tread I'm expecting a poem from him when this year's book arrives. He told me fat chance. Actually, I have a better chance getting a poem from John (He worked with the girls this summer and fall coming up with ideas and such for designing). He's artsy, but could it equal this poem ? I say no.

So, without further ado the poem from Vickie:


Here it is the book from hell.
But of course you know it all too well,
We have printed it, reprinted it, and printed it again.
It was so much fun, but certainly not part of the plan.

It has 21 tip-ins all inserted with love
And trimmed to perfection and watched from above.
While it is nearing the end, it is not quite done.
I just wanted you to be first since from you it has come.

All your blood, sweart and tears all rolled up into one
The most fabulous book under the sun.
Here's a hint for the very next time
You even consider doing this or taking one single dime.

Don't go there my friend,t he cost is too heavy
It would have probably been easier to make a Chevy.
Write a novel, a kids book or just take notes
Or better yet, go on vacation and take a boat.

But whatever you do don't call me.
I will be in Hawaii or just having tea.
Either way it goes, this book on the table,
Will be a constant reminder of how we were able

To risk it all and still keep our cool
An ending up with a book that is beautiful.

The Friendship Garden

Well, I can't begin to describe how much fun it is to see my front yard now. I wish you, the reader, could appreciate just how unbelievable crappy the front of my house looked before the make over!! Now, voila, it is a work of beauty. The reason it is called the friendship garden is more than the fact my dear friend, Helen and then her husband, helped me to create the flower bed. First, I happened to have a gift card that enabled me to purchase the pansies and roses. Helen brought lots of plant stuff, Mexican something or another, Black-eyed Susans and stuff. Jackie, who works at the district, gave me bulbs that I planted. I can't wait for them to come up in the spring. The varigated stuff I got from my backyard and such. It's exciting. My big sister is going to give me more in the spring, some of which I hope to be able to put in the back yard. . . again a disaster area. I'll always be able to think of the people that helpd to create my garden.

I totally love it. I got up at the crack of dawn this morning, watered my plants first thing and then proceeded with my day.

Driving to school, I had to stop and pause to look at how lovely my front looks (minus the grass which is half dead and looks like crap. I'm totally ignoring the grass which will all be dead once I kill the weeds because that is basically all that survives when you stop watering the lawn for an extended length of time. On the up side, my water bill was pretty good all summer.)

The Palette

The air is filled with anticipation as Monday comes closer. Monday, is the day that my dear friend Helen comes over to help me with what she now refers to as the "friendship garden." Similarly to how it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a buttload lot of people to fill a freaking big flowerbed since I have no money to buy flowers etc. My parents are contributing, my sister, Helen, and perhaps several others (some who may not even know they are contributing ; )

So, the palette is prepared. Actually I have a little bit of tilling the Earth left to do, but at least the weeds, annoying holly bushes and grass are all gone.

If you find blank spots in your garden suddenly, "I'm innocent I say, I'm innocent." I was recently going through my old blogs and saw a picture of my backyard. I used to have grass. Everywhere. Of course the grass in front isn't that great either. It seems to be because of the lack of watering. I'm gonna have to work on that.

Oh crap

I think I just gave myself a brain aneurysm using the netti pot.

Enterprise and Sex

Recently while I sat staring at the tv prefer to go into a light coma over doing any number of things that I need to be doing, a commercial came on that intrigued me. I tried to find it online, but alas no success. I doubt I can do it justice, but I'll try.

It starts with a couple packing. The wife pulls out a black lace teddy and a red lace teddy while asking her husband which to bring. He, of course, tells her both. Then we cut to the hotel room where they are obviously about to get it on, the door starts to close and we see the do not disturb sign. Then the announce comes on and says let enterprise be a part of your romantic weekend.

There we have it, folks. Freud had it, make it about sex. Whatever it is, sex sells. Sex sells rental cars. I'm assuming they would prefer people not to have sex IN the rental car, but on the other hand, they might not mind that much if people are actually renting the car. Yuck. Double yuck.

Confession

I had only planned on posting a wee bit tonight, but I can't stop myself. Every time I post the next thing I check it online to see how it looks. I'll be damned if my sister hasn't posted a comment. Now I have to keep going to see if she is still reading. Ya, sure I could call and ask her, but that isn't anywhere near as much fun.

It's like slug bug. We enjoy playing this game immensely. In fact, I have found no one else that enjoys it as much as we do. Occasionally I can rope people into investing slight energy in the game, but no one does it with as much gusto and joie de vive as my sister, Fran and I. Did I mention that we don't live in the same city? (I have to add she has an unfair advantage since she lives in Austin where all the tree hugging, liberal vw loving hippies that don't live in San Francisco live).

At any rate, back on topic, we recently upped the ante and now we have to come up with adjectives for our colors. So today, for instance, I received texts that read, cherry red, blue m&m, blackberry, cafe au lait. Plus she spotted a couple while we were talking that I can't even remember. I'm having a hard time keeping up in the gas guzzling, hummer driving, egocentric, money loving center of Dallas.

Where did I start with this? Oh, yeah, the game. It's about the love of the game. Can I blog longer than she can read? (I doubt it. The girl has endurance.) Will I run out of things to say before my eyes wear out and start to glaze over (Already starting to glaze.) Will my legs catch fire from the heat of the stupid laptop before I reach the end of this post? (Possibly not, but I am seriously sweating.) Will my congested nose send me to the extreme of using the stupid netti pot BEFORE I finish all of my posting possibly causing a short when I lean in too close to the computer screen forcing the salt water to come pouring out of my nose? (Pretty good chance. Hard to tell though.)

I still have a little more fight in me. Onward to the next post.

Don't you watch animal planet??

Tonight is the night I decided to get caught up on ye olde blog site. As I have been writing I have also been watching. This evenings entertainment was Chuck. A fairly stupid comedy that I find highly amusing. At any rate, at one point a new manager of a store is having trouble keeping the troops in line. He is asked, "Don't you watch animal planet? Find the wounded gazelle and pounce." Made me think of teaching.

Some days, I love my job. They keep me young. I have a good time. I couldn't imagine a better job. And as a reader of Mrs. G's blog, I say to all of you that allow me to teach your children. Thanks. They make me laugh.

Other days, I wish you would keep the little beasts home. So, here are five reasons why the children gave me wrinkles today as I cursed them and wished them home with their parents where they could torture the ones who made them rather than me.

5. "Sally, please take this list and start calling the parents immediately reading this little speech I've written up for you to read." An hour later when the next class starts I go to the pad where I instructed Sally to write the names of each parent she calls, their number and what happened. Any guesses as to how many people she called? . . . that's right one hour, one call.

4. "Becky, I need you to continue calling parents from where Sally left off." Walk by her five minutes later, "Becky, I meant now." "Yes, ma'am," she says. Twenty minutes later I walk by and she is checking off sheets that kids have been turning in. "Sally, why aren't you calling?" "Well, I thought I should check off the sheets." "Why Sally? When I very clearly told you what I needed you to do? Did it even occur to you to discuss that you felt you should do something other than what I specifically asked?" No response, deer in headlights look only. Sigh.

3. "June, I need you to take this list to Mrs. K and leave it with her to check to see if she knows any of these kids." "May I take it on my way to 2nd period?" "Absolutely, no problem." I amble by Mrs. K's desk an hour and a half later . . . No list, no where. Why me, Lord?

2. Student walks into my office holding a very nice digital rebel camera. "Hi Perkins, I found this camera by a chair, do you want it?" Only if I get to shove it up the nose of the little twirp who couldn't be bothered to hang on to it for more than 15 minutes.

1. I could give more, but the number one reason why they were killing me is because this all happened before THIRD period . . . before 10 am. It is a miracle I don't keep a flask in my desk.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have five reasons why the little buggers charm me. Not today, my friends, not today.

The netti pot

Exhibit A:
Many people extol the virtues of the netti pot, perhaps you have used it yourself. I can only say that I have no such love affair.

In fact, I feel a little like Olivia the netti pot virgin. Only I don't feel like it is coming out of my eyes, I know it comes out my nose, sometimes hours later, when I forget that there is a subterranean lake of salt water in my head and bend over to pick something up. "Oh," I say, "please excuse the salt water POURING OUT OF MY FREAKING NOSE." How can I possibly have that much salt water left in my nose without sloshing when I walk??

As I write, I am thinking to myself. I am getting congested. Would I rather snort the nose stuff that will dry my nose out possibly causing nose bleeds when my addiction becomes too much for the thin membrane in my snoz or would I rather snort a cup of salt water and have it pour out of me hours later. Not an easy choice I say.

AND whenever I discuss congestion, sinus headache, antehistemines, decongestants or anything else some sorry bastard is always suggesting the stupid netti pot. . . And the worst part, I'll use it again and again always thinking THIS time it won't be a problem, I'll blow my nose until all the water is out. Oh, the foolish naivete of the desperate young

Working hard on the home front

First, let me say, that I am the only one working hard on the home front. The dogs continue to act like prisoners, as they bark out "help us we are trapped like rats." That is when they are not lolling about sleeping. I, on the other hand, have been working hard. For instance, Dad brought a huge trash can and four buckets of Bull kaka. Now, I ask you could a father love a daughter more than to go harvest the bull kaka to be used in her garden? I say No. That is a testament of love. I have pulled all of the grass from the garden, pulled the two very unweldy bush roots from the garden. I have tilled the soil, and I am ready for any and all plant donations. . . But I must confess I have had some fun . . .

For instance, Randy and Diana had a mojito party one Sunday. It was lots of fun. In fact it was probably two drinks more fun than I should have had. Party ended at 5, but it took a little while for sobriety to win out on the mojitos. So R & D and I hung out and danced. We had a great time. I think we all agreed the after party was more fun than the original party : ) Less fun, but still the makings of an interesting day is the Friday I took off to take my friend R to have a quick hospital visit. Sadly, although the procedure only took half a day, I ended up with a massive headache and took a nap until it was time to work the football game. . . ok, so that wasn't all that much fun, but I had a picture so I had to include it some how. And so ends this little tale . . .

Thursday Night at the Arboretum

A couple of weeks ago I went over to check on Jim, Pam's widower. He's still pretty sad, but all in all I think he is doing well. I think he likes the idea that I was Pam's student and so close to her. It makes him feel closer to her.

At any rate, I invited myself to a party with Jim and his son, Tom, a senior in high school. I know it was wrong, but it was at a really cool warehouse that they turned into a house. Thursday we went to the Arboretum for the concert in the park. It was really cool. I'd never been before.

It was a long walk through the park to get to the outdoor theater. We passed a flower shaped like a pumpkin and then a house made of pumpkins. I can't remember the name of the band but they sounded a lot like Stevie Ray Vaughn. The problem is that it sounded like they played the same song over and over. But it was still a lot of fun. We left before the band finished playing because I had to work in the morning. Right behind us sat a group with a seeing eye dog in training. Very cute dog. Do we know anything about training seeing eye dogs? Are there a list of things that dogs must learn how to do? How long are they trained before they are sent to live with their blind person? I may have to research this. These questions plague me. I had to take a picture of the lake from where we sat. It was really pretty. At one point a bunch of people brought their sail boats and canoes and listened from the lake. How pretty is that?!

Hard to keep up with such an exciting life

A few weekends ago the Plano Hot Air Balloon Festival occurred. It's been ages since I got to fly. I had forgotten how much fun it is to fly. I joined Randy's hot air balloon crew about 15 years ago. Back then he had a balloon called Sky Check. It was a great balloon, very pretty and very easy to distinguish from all of the other balloons. That balloon wore out, and it was time to get a new balloon. We call it the Peacock. It looks a lot like the channel 5 NBC peacock. . . but it also looks like a gazillion other balloons. It's a total pain in the ass on the eyes to decipher which is our balloon. I flew with Randy on the morning of a competition, so we took off from the P.E.S.H. parking lot with a whole lotta other balloons. It was beautiful. As we took off, we waved to the poor souls left on the ground. Admittedly, I have an urge to spit on them, but that is three years of teaching middle school still wrecking havoc with my abilities to behave like a grown-up speaking. My bad. There were lots of fun balloons flying, but my favorites were the dragon . . . grrrr and the flower. It took off, landed, deflated? then reinflated and took off again. Very cool. It is amazing how small everything looks from the air. Admittedly the pink jeep actually was a mini vehicle. Some kid left it out overnight, so when we flew over at about 7:30am, there it sat in the circle with a couple of real cars. Do you remember the old Twilight Zones? There was one where the camera starts on a man who is running around a town when he finally realizes the town and houses are all part of a "dollhouse" town playset for a kid who is 80 times the size of the original guy . . . .There are lots of neighborhoods in Plano that alllll have manicured lawns, fences, perfect yards and pretty pools. My picture fails to do justice to the Twilight Zone atmosphere of the town as we sailed over.