If there’s one thing Southern gals know how to do, it’s gab. Silly or serious, all it takes is a glass of iced tea and time. Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, and make yourself comfy…get ready to dish!
Carb Coma
Today we had the second annual “Lasagna Throwdown” to benefit the music department at the church, and we’re all comatose from the great food! Mexican lasagnas, traditional lasagnas, seafood lasagnas, sauces, more pasta, desserts…the South Beach people would be appalled. But we were happy!Even more fun, some of us performed the Silent Monks’ version of the Hallelujah Chorus. I was the “of” in “King of Kings,” DH was “lu,” and Frick was the short monk. Check out this version,...
read more10 Bad Habits You Can’t Break
ProcrastinatingChewing my cuticlesRelying on deadline adrenalineAvoiding financial issuesNot carrying cashFacebooking too muchDitto with infosnackingLetting the laundry pile upAvoidance behaviorsNot exercising
read moreMuch Ado About Nothing: Presidential Speech Edition
Just in case you’ve been camping on the moon for the past couple of weeks, today President Obama delivered his socialist agenda brainwashing speech to innocent children, better known to those of us who actually use our brains to think as a Presidential Back-to-School address. Seems President Obama, who knows from both his and the First Lady’s backgrounds that a solid education is the key to success, wanted to remind the kids that their futures were in their own hands, and their job is to work hard in school, persevere, and watch...
read moreR.I.P. Reading Rainbow
Book lovers, get out your black armbands. Today was the last broadcast of PBS’s wonderful children’s series Reading Rainbow.For those of us weaned on The Electric Company and Sesame Street, the advent of Reading Rainbow occurred after we’d progressed from picture books to chapters. Even so, it was easy to get sucked in when a younger sibling or eventually a child of our own sat, rapt, listening to LeVar “Geordi LaForge” Burton (or even Kunta Kinte, for those of us old enough to remember watching all seven nights...
read moreWhooooaaaah…Back on the Chain Gang!!
Not really, but today is the first day of school! Kids are in and excited, and my feet are *killing* me!! That’s what I get for wearing cute shoes with my Day 1 outfit, though. It’s all my fault. I’ll be back in Crocs tomorrow (the ladylike ones, not the clown shoes).So far, pretty good, if you don’t count the network crashing halfway through the day so we couldn’t do attendance or anything. The kids were nice, I eased through the “wah wah wah wah” Charlie Brown’s teacher monologues about the...
read moreDumbass, Party of One
Ever have one of those days? Today was mine. I’m ferrying Frick and Frack and a friend to a skating party on an end of town I try never to explore, if I can help it. Then, while trying to get turned back around in the second most badly-designed parking lot in the world, I get distracted and WHAM! I hit a curb, Inga lurches unbecomingly, scrape, curse, I manage to cut a hole in the sidewall of my tire. Hole in the sidewall means I have to buy a new tire. Let me remind you, August is ramen month for teachers. I don’t have $136 and...
read moreBlowout, Schmowout
Got my fresh back to school haircut today (yay!) and decided to let Ms. M, my hilarious Sicilian/Greek (how’s that for a nice, quiet house to grow up in?) give me a blowout. mimi is usually all about the curls, but today, why not something different?Know what? Me no likey. It feels fun, but MAN, is straight hair annoying. It’s In. My. Face. In my eyelashes. In my mouth. Hanging over my eyes. And, since this is Florida and there’s about as much water in the air outside as there is in your normal shower, it’s already...
read moreNewbery Update: 1940s
I’m noticing a shift in the kinds of books being selected for the Newbery Medal. Perhaps because WWII dominated the early forties, the books are much shorter than some of the ones I’ve already read. Also, there seems to have been a nudge (deliberate or not) to balance the list toward more “boy” books than the slew of girl-focused titles chosen in the 1930s, like Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, Invincible Louisa, Caddie Woodlawn, and Thimble Summer. That said, here’s what bubbled up in the ’40s:Daniel Boone...
read moreBest Seller ≠ Best Writer
mimi is obsessive when it comes to her reading. If I pick up a book, I generally finish it. Of course, that takes some vetting. I’ll browse an opening chapter or back cover copy before I commit (mimi is not a reading ho). Once I commit, though, I’m in ’til the end. Normally, this is a good thing. Unfortunately, not so much with the book I finished last night.The book in question was a paperback original by a New York Times bestselling author. I’ve read books by her in the past and enjoyed them. I actually got to meet...
read moreI <3 School Supplies!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been way more excited in the Office Depot or the Staples than I have ever been in the shoe department. Yes, I’m warped. But still, there’s something about fresh, new Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, Pink Pearl erasers, and riffly sheets of notebook paper that just gives me the shivers. New school supplies mark the beginning of an unblemished school year, where I can teach everything perfectly and all my students soak up the learnin’ like baby sponges. One week in, and it’s...
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