"Welcome to Nuts"

When last we caught up with our heroine, she was flying back from her trip to Europe. It was June. And she had a long list of things to do that she declared would make her nuts if she didn't get to doing them... hence the welcome to nuts, cause I have not actually been the productive machine I needed to be.

For instance, this was supposed to be the week of working on the latest material for The Book aka the bane of my existence. To date, I have done nothing. Well, I went to lunch with the boys on Tuesday to tell them I would have everything for them next Tuesday. Huh. Kinda wishing I hadn't done that.

I did get to go over and hang with my friend Anonymous. She made the huge mistake of thinking pregnancy was going to have a soundtrack of happy music and flowers...yeah, turns out her body is not as enamoured with being taken over by a growing lizard as others. We're praying that everything settles down soon, but as always we had a marathon talk session that made me delightfully happy.

I have seen Knight and Day (totally cute movie) and Killers. Sense a theme do you? So I like my love stories mixed in with a little humor and bang, bang shoot 'em up.

I got to get together with my friend PhD, PR, Sergio and a couple of others. So, on the social front I guess you could say I've done a lot.

But on the getting shit done list, not much at all. I can hardly get out of bed in the morning. I get like 2 things done a day. AND there are only 45 days left of summer. Ok, when I see that I think it might look churlish to those of you with yearlong jobs that I'm whining about having 45 days before I go back to work, but trust me when I tell you I need each and every day to get the stuff done that I have to get done so that I can go 9 months without getting anything done.

Stalkers have game; and creepy can be helpful.

So, recently I have mocked and belittled my dear sister for her desire to search shit out on the internet. Now, as it turns out, I'm pretty sure she didn't know that I had mocked or belittled her regarding this issue until just now. I now reveal this information because, as always, God has chosen to smite me with my own words. I hate it when He does that.

Recently, I received a note in my mailbox from disgruntled neighbor DogHater regarding, of all things, my dogs and their love of a good bark.

I called DogHater and left a message that I was terribly sorry, but I am working long hours, it really won't be for much longer and there will be no more problems, so sorry, goodbye.

Then I received a second note from DogHater's Roommate. She didn't leave a lot of room for conversation. She said she worked odd hours (I'm going with stripper myself) and she required naps during the day which were being made difficult courtesy of my bad dogs. In fact, it wasn't so much my dogs as my dogs starting shit and going inside to let all the other dogs in the neighborhood bark. Yeah, that sounds like them.

I responded with a I am so sorry. As I said "Blah, blah, blah" I will keep them in until 3 in the afternoon at which point I'm letting 'em out cause we all gotta pee sometime lady.

Last night, DogHater left a message on the school phone (cause I sure as shit am not giving them my cell number). I called back - no answer, so I hung up.

But then, I thought, I'm gonna do a little Googling research on these girls. So, channeling my sister, I got busy. Actually spent a pretty good amount of time looking these girls up. Time, I might add, that really needed to be spent doing things like finishing yearbook pages, proofing the pages that arrived today and determining the freaking yearbook staff for next year. Anywho boy, oh, boy, is there a lot of info on the internet people. Try looking yourself up. I know when DogHater was born, where she went to school, her dad's name, what her jobs have been, where she lives exactly, etc. etc.

That, of course, got me thinking about my own info. Let me tell you, thank the dear Lord there is an actress with my name. Cause you can try to find the Diva, but you'll have to go through 40 or 50 pages of listing and still in the end find very little about me. HA.

So, sure, this is probably information that will do me almost no good. But can you imagine how badly I can freak her out if when we finally talk, I throw out where she went to school, or quote something she wrote in her blog 4 years ago???? Heeby. Jeebys.

The Funk

I've been quietly sliding into a total funk for a couple of days. Ok, quietly may not be the right word, but I haven't been blogging. Seriously, there is no part of my life that I don't look at and think FML. (great website, you should go there. And it has the ability to make me feel slightly better about my own sad existence.)

In addition, I think everyone else in the world seems to be having seriously good karma while the good Lord looks down and smacks me around. Why?

I have no idea. But I am fairly certain if I don't figure it out soon, He's going to choose to smack me around some more.

So, last night my eye was caught by a book the BFF got me a while ago. It's a book on gratitude. There was scientific research done on what gratitude is exactly and how it can change your life. I just started going through it more closely than I did last time (Ok, I perused that time, I'm reading the whole freaking thing now.)

This, my friends, might be what we call a sign. I'm still in a funk, but I'm determined to not think about it. Tricky.

Oh, and spring break is in 2 days. Surely I can make it that much longer without falling apart right?

Wet ground, wet paws

This shall be short and sweet. The backyard is a mud pit courtesy of the rain, and the kitchen is a mudpit courtesy of the dogs.

I will take the dogs to be boarded tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon I shall jet off to New York City with 14 students and the Stu Co sponsor.

I'm not quite packed yet. I need to eat dinner but that requires going into the kitchen where the dogs are currently residing with their muddy paws and wet backs.

Oh well, here goes nothing.

How do we get anything done?

I walked out of my office yesterday to this:
It is amazing, as always, that we manage to produce the largest yearbook in the country. How do we do it? Cause, really, we aren't doing diddly most of the time.

The dating poll

This has potential to be a really good time, but I have to admit only if I have readers. As it is, with my world of 3 readers at best, this is going to be a disappointment. But talk about an interactive blog!! Go me.

Create your own sms poll at Poll Everywhere

Build television sms voting polls at Poll Everywhere

There are two different ways to poll. One is by having people click the other is by having them text their answers in. I think I will stick with the clicking.

In addition, there is a "free response" poll. So you send a text to: 99503. Start your message with 40188 and then type your message. Then everyone's responses will be here.

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

Learning to Gab

Gabcast! Learning to Gab #1

Jewelry making

So, in July or August I went to a cool bead store called Splendor in the Grass, got caught up in the thrill of beads, but a totally expensive necklace, a bunch o beads to make a necklace for my mom and one for me. This is how I spend money I don't have. sigh.

Ok, so at any rate, I failed to do anything with the beads. My friend, Roseanne, actually made the necklace for my mom. (It was two necklaces that could be worn separately or together. Very cool.)

I finally attended a bead making class Saturday morning. There were six of us. I was definitely the youngest one by a good bit.

First, I would like to discuss the supplies. There were quite a few required.

1. Some kind of pliers. Very specialized and absolutely important.
2. Pointy thing for pulling out "mystery knots". Turns out this actually is important especially if you are prone to bad knots.
3. Small pointy scissors. Very specialized and so terribly important. (Pretty certain small scissors can be bought anywhere, but maybe that's just me.)
4. Another pair of pliers. Also terribly important, blah, blah, blah
5. Two wooden sticks used for "stretching" the string. Absolutely fabulous and a must for everyone to own. Sigh.
6. Six ft of string post stretching and with one knot. I am very good at knot making I would like to add. I feel it is because as a young child I had deep love for buttons. So much so that I would sew buttons onto clothing for hours on end. If you don't believe me, ask my mother. She'll tell you.
7. So small you can hardly seem them . . . even in reality. The little hooky things that go on either end of the bracelet to hold the thing together.
8. Pages and pages of instructions. Most of which even after the class I don't think make a lot of sense.

So, as you can see, the class seems to require a lot of specialized stuff. I think that is tiring. I know it is in the store's best interest to suck us in and get us to buy a lot of extra supplies etc, but first, I'd really like to determine if it is something I really want to do. Know what I mean?

The knotting process is the basic knot but it has to be very tight and right against each bead. See exhibit 1. I had to draw attention to the specialized gold small sharp scissors because although I was fairly certain I had a pair of sharp small scissors at home, I couldn't resist purchasing the pretty gold ones for myself. Besides, if I ever decide to poke my eyes out, this is the pair I'll be using because they are really, really sharp. I had to get a close up shot of the string with knots. It was a two hour class and basically the entire time was spent on learning how to knot properly. Then, voila it was done. The beautiful bracelet. I would like to add a small note at the bottom. The entire reason I took this class was so that I could make a necklace just like the one I had bought. When I went in the store in December I clearly told them that is what I wanted to do. So, when in class I asked how to I make an endless necklace that doesn't have a clasp or anything, I was informed that she couldn't teach me that because that was taught in the NEXT class. I would need to take the next class to be able to do that. To say the least, I was pissed. I spent a ton of money on the stupid beads. I paid to take the stupid class. I bought SOME of their stupid supplies. I went ahead and bought some stupid clasps that can make it somewhat endless since I don't know how to do exactly what I want. Bastards want even more money?????

So, I studied other necklaces and I think I have figured a way to make it work. I'll let you know how it goes.

The problem with blogging

I frittered yesterday away so thoroughly blogging that I thought for sure I could do it again today. Alas, I have nothing to say today. It may not be the problem, per se, with blogging, but it is the problem with planning to blog every day for 30 days AND the problem with thinking that when I am bored I can just blog. Sure, frequently I think to myself, "Ah, self, that is a good topic for a blog." but I assure you that if I don't write it down, then I don't remember it long enough to walk over to the computer, let alone, long enough to blog about later that day, or Heaven forbid, the next day. Well, like George Bush after a hard question, I find myself scratching my head and thinking hmmmm.

Off to The Book release party this afternoon. TTFN

Work Avoidance and Killing the dogs

Today did not begin well. Sabrina, that wretched piece of shit dog, began the morning barking. . . and barking . . . and barking. In fact, she barked all morning except for the short period of time when I took her and Buddy on our "hunt for food" walk. I have a migraine. Lights are out in the room, and I've had two of my magic pills, as MB likes to refer to them.

As you might imagine, I am not much use to anyone at the moment, so I have been blogging and reading other blogs. Actually, I really like to go to my sister's blog because she always makes references to other people's blogs. (It's like a dating service - hundreds of men out there, but the dating service weeds through some of the crap, so you have a smaller and hopefully, better pool from which to choose.) At any rate, she sent me to Noodleroux that I am totally in love with because she is very funny. (Her heart is bruised right now and it was almost surreal how quickly I remembered the terrible pain of breaking up with someone I thought was Mr. Wonderful. Sigh.) She then sent me to Diary of a Dying Mom . Maybe not the best choice because crying doesn't ever help a headache. It made my heart ache and reminded me of how important it is to live life as if every day matters and what we do matters because she got to prepare for death and was totally aware of how much meaning there is and most of the time we aren't prepared and forget.

Actually, Sis and I have been discussing the many and various workings of the blog world. For instance, we both have noticed that when you link to some people's blogs they will then comment on your blog. Hmm, I say interesting. Wonder how she knew I did that when I see a comment from Mrs. G . . . .and then off I go doing something else. Not sis. She contemplated. She wondered. She researched. She figured it out. Go Fran! So, although it isn't why I link. I link (and probably she does too quite frankly) cause I want you to follow my train of though (I realize I jump the tracks sometimes, and I don't want anyone left behind.)

That's all for now, folks!

55 minutes to go

For fear, that the last part of the day may kill me, I am blogging now so that I can call it done. I still have a butt load o proofs to go through and check. I have an ads manager that I think is determined to give me a stroke and I'm fearful that the kids are under the impression I'm ok with working 3 or 4 hours after the bell today. That would be wrong because all I really want to do is lay down and sleep. I'm tired. I'm annoyed. I'm cranky. I want to take my shoes off (although they are darn cute.)

It is so quiet, it is eery

Ok, so I started to write because I can hardly believe I have the classroom to myself. I have 4th, 5th and 7th open, but 4th I'm in student council and there are ALWAYS kids in the room 5th and 7th. If there aren't kids in here 7th, then I'm usually meeting with Mr. H planning out student council stuff. He's at a workshop for three days, so I sit alone. I almost don't know what to do with myself. (So rather than get school work done, I'm blogging. Perhaps not the best choice, but keeping that stupid 30 posts/30 days thing in mind, I thought it would be a good choice.)

However, with the decision to write about the eery quiet came the realization that I don't actually know how to spell eery. Sure, I could call Dad again to ask how to spell it, but I've already called him once today for a spelling issue. I went to dictionary.com, but when you are really far off on the spelling, even dicitionary.com has trouble assisting. Sigh. At least I got it eventually. Remember the standardized tests we would take in school that told us how we ranked compared to all the other children in America on our writing, math, spelling etc? I would score really well in everything but the stupid spelling.

I am leaving school early today to run to a doctors appointment ( I have three in a two week period because all of my annuals are at the same time. It's unfortunate that I am teaching an 8th period class, because I scheduled all of these appts last year when I foolishly thought I'd have 8th off again.) Unfortunately we have about 300 pages of proofs in at the moment, so I'm going to have to come back to work after the drs. appt.

In case you haven't figured it out

I am now completely in denial of the work I need to be doing on ye old real estate book. I've been watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent for about 5 hours now.

Oh, and after many hours of watching the commercials for the aqua globes. I bought a set. I'll let you know how they work after they arrive.