Wednesday Hodgepodge - 2/15

1. George Washington-Abraham Lincoln-Thomas Jefferson...who would you most like to meet and why?

A very hard question to answer as a history teacher.  The Illinois girl in me immediately jumps to Abraham Lincoln.  But I could probably compile a list of questions for any of these three! 


2. What's your favorite chain restaurant?

I love any place with a really good steak, so Longhorn is pretty high on the list.  But I tend to prefer places that aren't chains, especially locally.  Those are the places that are really able to do something special.


3. I spied this question on the Bears at Home blog last week and she gave me permission to borrow it- When you look back on your life, do you imagine you'll think about the goals you failed to meet with regret? Or will you look at what you accomplished and say: it was good?
steal

I don't believe that regret does us any good.  I also believe that in general terms, our path works out like it is supposed to.  So, in the end, I hope that I can look back on my life and see just how good it really was!


4. Grapefruit-take 'em or leave 'em? Given the choice between an orange and a grapefruit which would you choose? Would you prefer it served as is or squeezed into juice?

Oranges are my absolute favorite things, but I like a good grapefruit too!  I would rather have the actual fruit and not the juice, though!

5. When was the last time you cleaned out a closet? Is there a closet in your home that currently needs cleaning? What are you waiting for?

As I was putting up the Christmas decorations, I cleaned my closet under the stairwell.  It's mostly storage boxes any way.  The not just closet, but whole room that needs to be cleaned is my back bedroom/storage room.  It's a fright!  But it has a lot of junk in it that I don't know what else to do with, so who knows when I will tackle that?!

6. You get to have lunch with three famous people...who would you like to see round your table?

Oh, this is even harder for me than the history question!  This probably changes day-to-day with me, but today I would say Adele and Zooey Deschanel, because they would make for amazing dinner conversation and Jude Law because he's nice to look at.  Shallow, but true.

7. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your ability to parallel park?

I'd have to go with a -1.   I am terrible at parallel parking.  Thankfully, I don't have to do it all that often.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm all for a mild winter.  But I need it to decide what temperature it wants to be for a bit and stay that way for a while for the sake of my sinuses!!

The One Where I Don't Write About Valentine's Day

I'm not on of those bitter girls who sits around thinking about how awful today is if you don't have a valentine.  Any holiday that encourages the giving of chocolate is okay by me.  But, in the same vein, this day isn't exactly different from any other Tuesday for me either.  For instance, these are my plans for today:  teach, grab quick supper, teach again, get grocercies, try to get to bed a decent hour.  Not exactly swimming in romantic notions over here.  However, I don't begrudge anyone else their due, so enjoy your hearts and flowers and whatnot. 

Meanwhile, I am thrilled to announce that vacuuming the carbon monoxide detector seems to have fixed the problems I was having with it over the weekend.  It also kept me from beating the crap out of it with a broom or having to purchase another one right now, so yay! 

The only other interesting (depending on your definition of that word) thing happening over here this week is that my students are working on their family tree projects.  I'm a little obsessed with the whole family tree research thing, and my students have really gotten in to this too.  Nothing makes me happier than kids coming in and telling me about all the things they didn't know before they started asking about their ancestors.  (I can't wait to see their final projects next week!)  Plus, we are watching Who Do You Think You Are, NBC's show where celebs research their pasts.  It's been on a couple of seasons, and this time they have expanded it to 12 episodes instead of just six.  I would be so cool to have a team of researchers and the funds to fly over to where my family came from!  Are any of you into genealogy?

Wishing you all a loverly day!  Back tomorrow with the Hodgepodge!

Monday, Monday...

I wasn't kidding last week when I said I would be pretty quiet in the blogosphere.  I barely had time to think, much less write (not that that much thinking goes into my writing, but whatever).  But, I should note that all of the festivities went as well as I could have possibly hoped, and though I am less some rest, it was well worth it!  But on to what's happening this week, which of course, is better in list form...

• I'm having some issues with a malfunctioning carbon monoxide detector.  My furnace has been checked and everything is fine, but the stupid thing keeps going off with no rhyme or reason.  (Like at 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00 on Sunday morning, but not a single beep the rest of the day.)  One of my friends said to try vacuuming the vent area, as maybe the sensor is just dirty, so I will try that.  If that doesn't work, guess who is getting a new detector on Tuesday.
• I am really excited about late this week and this weekend!  First of all, it's a much needed three-day weekend.  My friend, Tara, is going to be visiting with her daughter.  I haven't seen Macy since right after she was born so, I'm chomping at the bit to hang with her and her mommy!  Plus, we have a big baby shower this weekend for another Chick, and I'm hoping to get in a little snuggle time with my favorite newborn niece.  So, here's hoping this week flies by!
• I'm officially down to two jobs.  And while I am thankful for the opportunity to make an extra buck or two, I couldn't be happier to have just a little more downtime in the afternoons.  Just being able to decompress for an hour after my regular school day is such a blessing. 
• Despite my lack of sleep, I did stay up to watch the Grammys.  I am so excited for Adele!  Six Grammy wins and an absolutely victorious emergence from her vocal chord surgery?  What a night!  I couldn't help but get a little teary when she won the last award and kind of lost it on stage.  That must be the most incredible feeling!  Talent wins out over showmanship in the end (looking at you, Nicki Minaj)!  Also, I have to say that I was absolutely charmed by Taylor Swift's performance of "Mean."  She's come such a long way in her live performances! 
• And Jennifer Hudson gets her own bullet point.  To sing what is essentially one of the most difficult songs of the pop songbook, on short notice, while mourning the loss of someone whose music you looked up to?  That must have been so difficult.  But she handled it beautifully.  I'm of the opinion that we lost the iconic voice of Whitney Houston years ago, but it's still such a tragic end to a life. 
• Did anybody go see The Vow this weekend?  I will admit I really want to see it, but I can't seem to convince anyone to go with me.  So, chances are, I will have to wait until it comes out on video.  But I would love to hear your reviews. 

Anyone do something really fun or exciting this weekend?  I mean, beside chaperoning a dance or watching all of Season 4 of The Big Bang Theory (again) while battling a malfunctioning carbon monoxide detector.  Tell me all about it in the comments!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 2/8

1. What is something you are loving right now?

I am loving Milk Duds, Smash, and that we are halfway through Homecoming Week!

2. Paris, Venice, New York, and Rome are considered four of the most romantic cities in the world. Which one would you most like to visit?

I would really love to visit any of them, but I would really like to see Rome the most!  All the history and the gelatto...how could a girl resist?!?

3. Are you a romantic?

I am in some ways.  I love the idea of the fairy tale and being pursued.  I would like to be swept off my feet.  The problem is when a guy has tried to pursue me, they usually just annoy me.  I fear that I may have grown a little too independent for my own good!!

4. What's your favorite love story made for the Big Screen?

I am a really big fan of The Holiday!  The couples in that movie are so perfectly suited!

5. Everyone loves Pooh bear and friends...which character are you most like and why? Click here for help in answering this question.

I remember watching the live action show on the Disney Channel when I was a kid.  It was one of my very favorites!  I am a fan of Kanga and Roo.  The only other one even close was Tigger.

6. What's the best chocolate something you've ever eaten?

When I was in Washington, DC, we had dinner at this restaurant that has the best chocolate cheesecake dessert I have ever had in my entire life.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant or much else, but I vividly remember how good that dessert was!

7. Share a favorite quote about love.

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.       

-Emily Bronte

Seriously good stuff, right?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I don't know that I have a thought that isn't random right now.  I feel like I am running in a thousand different directions and my brain is just not doing a great job keeping up.  But the good news is that when this is all over, I will have one more major event done for the school year and I am that much closer to the glories of summer vacation!

Other People's Happiness

I'm going to say something that we've all thought at one point or another, but most of us (meaning people who are not me) are polite enough not to actually say:  Being happy for other people is sometimes really hard.  And I don't mean when you find out that slacker you went to college with, gave a free couch to and occasionally cleaned after is now a successful musician (to use a random example that is not at all related to my life).  It's perfectly okay to question the justice of the world on that one.  What I'm talking about being happy for people that you love and want good things to happen to, people who are an active part of your life.  Faking it just isn't enough for those people, but I will admit that I totally have.

I can be selfish and petty and mean, and I've found that social media tends to cultivate some of this in me.  Trust me, this is not one of those times when I blame Facebook and Twitter for my problems, either.  It's just that not too terribly long ago, when someone was getting married or having a baby, you found out the old fashioned way--through the gossip lines via your mother.  And then you didn't go on Pinterest and see 15,000 pins about it or get weekly (sometimes daily) updates on which piece of fruit is the size of the baby.  You weren't confronted with an all-out media assault of what someone else has that you don't.  (Did I mention jealous in my list?)  It's much easier to adopt an "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy when you only hear about it if you run into someone at the grocery store, rather than every time you turn on your computer.

Believe it or not, this used to be a much bigger problem for me than it is now.  Oh, I was a pro at loooking the part of happy at the announcement of the news.  But then, I would promptly go home and cry and wail and generally lash out at God for allowing someone else to have the things that I wanted so badly and couldn't have.  And it's not that I am completely cured now, trust me.  It's just that I finally came to terms with the hard cold truth that it wasn't all about me.  (How disappointing!)  God grabbed me by my face (not really, but He might as well have) and reminded me that He wasn't punishing me by giving someone else something wonderful, and it was high time that I put on my big girl pants and embraced the happy.  Also, when a friend has suffered an unimaginable hurt in their life, you find yourself wanting happiness for them more than you've ever wanted anything for yourself.  (Trust me on that one.)  The kind of joy you feel when that happiness finally comes eclipses any of the other less pleasant things.

I don't guess that this is just a single girl thing, but I would say that it's something single girls definitely have to deal with.  So, I'm curious...how do you deal (single or not)?  Are you one of those selfless wonders who can put other's happiness first?  (Because seriously, high five to you!)  What lessons have you learned about this?  I would really like to hear from some other people on this one, so comment away!

Oh, Friday! Where Have You Been?

First of all, thank you for all of the sweet comments on The Fear post.  I try to be as open and honest as I can be.  Also, yesterday I had to practice what I preach, hence no post.  But such is life. 

Today is Friday, though---the light at the end of the tunnel that was this week!  I have no real plans for the weekend, short of a little Super Bowl get together.  (Though I have no real interest in either team, well except for their cutie quarterbacks!)  I'm mostly going to snuggle my niece, hang with my family, and watch the commercials. 

However, I am pretty excited about the premiere of Smash on Monday night.  I have been wondering about this show since the set-up leaked last spring, and I'm really hoping it's as good as it seems.  I love the cast (Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston? I'm in!) and it's all about Broadway, which we all know is close to my heart.  I'm sure I will be talking about it next week.

Speaking of, it'll be a busy week around these parts, so I'm not sure how much I will be blogging.  But once Homecoming and all of its insanity is over, my year is pretty much downhill.  I can't believe it's already February.  It will be May before I know it!  (And we get out a little earlier than usual this year, so it will all come even faster!) 

Wishing you a great weekend and an even better week!

The Fear

For as confident as I would like to pretend to be, I must confess that I am really not.  And every so often, through a million little cracks in my armor, the Fear comes in.  It says that I am not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, funny enough.  It makes it way into my homelife (Will I be the kind of aunt I want to be for Maddie?), in my worklife (Does my boss think I am doing a good job?).  It permeates everything I am, and leaves its stench all over me. 

And I know better, I really do.  But the problem is I can remember every bad thing anyone has every said about me.  When the Fear takes hold, they all come back up like bad Mexican food.  It's not pretty.  Somehow I find myself believing that because someone once said I wasn't whatever, I'm not.  I carry those actions and words around with me all the time, and whoever tries to say that words don't have power has never been leveled by the weight of someone else's opinions.  I'm not sure why I give those people that kind of power, but I do.  The world doesn't really know what to do with me, so it tries to shame me into some other category.  My own insecurities try to tell me that it's for the best. 

But, I'm here to say that it's not.  I'm here to say that Truth is stronger than Fear.  That each and every insecurity I feel is meant to keep me tender and humble.  It's meant to remind me that we all have doubts, but that it's a common thread, not a singular peculiarity.  That those things that are the hardest to carry are some of the very things that students tell me gives them a measure of hope that they can make it through the maze of adolescence.  That there is something more.  That I am something more. 

I'm writing all this down because on the days that the Fear is winning, I want to be able to go back and remember that Fear has no more power over me than anything else.   And that in the times that it seems like too much, I just have to remember to choose to believe what I know to be true over anything else.