The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Tonight was our district's Women's History Program. Two of my girls gave Sojourner Truth's famous speech, " Ain't I a Woman? " It was great. I was so proud of them. It's a great feeling to see kids work hard at something and take pride in it. I wish I could post a picture I took of my girls, but you'll just have to trust me- they looked and sounded fabulous. I don't have much else to say. I got the mother of all pinches from Michelle today. It was a pinch attack. Gossip Girl annoyed me. What's with the whole Blair and Nate thing? I just want Blair to be with Chuck! But of course, it can't be that simple. Chuck kind of reminds me of Pete. That's not a compliment to Pete. I was excited to watch My Boys tonight. I really like that show. The mustache thing cracked me up. I need to get my dad to watch that episode. Maybe then he will see how ridiculous mustaches are. There is a Wii in the trunk of my car. It is a wedding gif

Just thinking about my schedule this week makes me feel like I can't breathe. The past few weeks have been like this, too. I have plans every night after work. Today I meet with my trainer and have Bible study. Tomorrow I am subbing for someone for homework centers, then have students performing in the Women's History Program. Wednesday I meet with my trainer and am taking my little sister out to dinner. Thursday I meet with a lady from the DAR. Friday I have a bridal shower. Saturday I have a bridal shower in Naperville, then I'm going to see RENT, then meet up with a bachelorette party. Sunday, I rest. Well, not really. Because I still have papers to grade and lesson plans to write and homework to do. So, I'm sorry that I've been neglecting friends so much lately. I am just so thankful that we only have about 2 months of school left. I can't keep up with this schedule much longer.

Last Monday I got a text from a guy from my past. We had a very casual relationship because his life was complicated. The problem was, the more I got to know him, the less casual I wanted it to be. But it just wasn't the right time. So I was surprised when he texted on Monday and said he wanted to see me, and the complications were gone. We made plans to go out for drinks on Thursday in my neighborhood. I almost didn't recognize him when I walked in the bar. It has been two years since the last time I saw him. He still looks so good. And he has changed; you can just tell he is so much happier now. So I had a good time. We went back to my place and made out, and it was great. We have chemistry like something in a romance novel. When he was leaving, I asked if I would see him again, and he said definitely, we'd do drinks or something. The next day I sent him the "Thanks again, I had a great time" text, and got no response. It is now Sunday, and he still

Today my coworker and dear friend gifted me with a mini version of this Ugly Doll, Moxy. She said it made her think of me. Her description says: "Moxy's got a lot of moxy. She's a real get up and go Ugly, with far more energy than her older brother, Ox. Moxy's favorite activity seems to be bouncing off the walls and jumping in and out of mischief. Her giant antennas are always on the lookout for a good time, and she can hear a party from miles away. She could hear you coming all the way from back over there! Are you a party animal? No? Would you like to take care of one? No? Well, that's ok because Moxy is here to take care of you. She can take care of pretty much any problem you may have... it's a gift of hers. For example, see how messy your room is? No problem! See? Moxy is on your side." I love it.

I got my letter today. I've been rehired. Nothing to worry about. One more year in this district, and then I'm done. Today I sent a letter to the Supernintendo asking to be considered for any available reading positions next year. By December I'll be qualified to be a reading teacher (which is kind of funny, since I already teach reading every day), and by the beginning of May I'll be qualified to be a reading specialist. My principal encouraged me to send the letter even though I probably wouldn't be hired for either of those positions because of NCLB. She said it is worth a try, and I agree. It would make me so happy to be a reading teacher a year sooner than I thought. I really really love learning about how to teach reading. Tomorrow I'm doing a professional development for my coworkers about comprehension strategies in the content areas. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about a lot of things. I've been praying and reflecting a lot lat

I feel like I should be blogging more often, but I don't have much to say. I have two new headbands from Target that I'm really excited about. They have bows on them. I was always kind of jealous of the cheerleaders in high school because they wore the cute ribbons in their hair. I never wore bows as a child, so maybe I'm making up for that. Friday night I had too many French martinis at The Spot. Maybe I need to start drinking things that don't taste good. Luckily, Nancy drove me home, made me throw up, gave me Ibuprofen, and got me to bed. Saturday I laid on my couch and watched Twilight. Saturday night I went dancing at DC's. This morning I went to church with Whitney and her husband and it was really nice. Then we had lunch at Kopi Cafe, which was also really nice. Then I fell asleep on my couch for two hours instead of going to the gym. Tonight I have worked on homework, cleaned, watched Big Love and Flight of the Conchords, and answered a hilarious crai

(This is really long. Sorry.) When I was like, a freshman in high school, my friends used to tease me and call me a Cookie Monster because I ate cookies ALL the time. (This was kind of cute then because I wasn't overweight; now, it wouldn't be so funny. Also, this is how I got my email address. It hasn't changed in 13 years.) I even ate oatmeal cookies for breakfast and convinced myself it was healthy. After all this time, my eating habits have not changed that much. This morning I grabbed a couple of fudge striped cookies on my way out the door for breakfast. I had a 100 calorie pack of chocolate covered pretzels at lunch (okay, I know those aren't cookies, but I usually do have cookies), and at dinner, I had 2 oatmeal raisin cookies from Subway for dessert. It occurred to me that that's a lot of freaking cookies. You would think that as I got older, things would have changed a little, but no. So my love of cookies will probably endure for the rest of my

Today was Day 1 of ISAT testing. Let's review today's events. 10 of my kids did not have calculators. That made the math portion interesting. Usually the school provides them, but I don't know what happened this year. So it wasn't just my class that was affected. But I certainly wasn't going to harass the principal about it; she wasn't there today because of her high blood pressure, which is work-related, I'm sure. K, my special little guy (as Marge Simpson likes to say) was having trouble staying quiet and in his seat. So I texted his mom after the first test to let her know. (That's how familiar we are with each other; we don't even have to call anymore.) He was pretty upset, and when it came time to take the math section, he refused to do it. 20 minutes in, I convinced him to get started. After a few minutes of trying, he gave up and said, "I can't do this." The problem was that he couldn't read it. This makes me so a

Sooo... things did not go as expected. My day at work was typical. Then the plan was to go out to a bar after class with the girls from my cohort. But class was canceled, so that plan fell through. And at the last minute, people were busy, or far away, or I just didn't want to inconvenience people by asking them to come hang out with me, since I'd just had a party over the weekend. So I went to a community meeting down the street that was interesting and informative, and then worked up my nerve to go to Simone's all by myself for a drink. Well, the bartenders were really nice. When they found out it was my birthday, they gave me this huge delicious shot that tasted like chocolate cake. Then I started talking to the girl next to me, who had actually also been at the meeting, and she was really cool as well. Meanwhile, I kept drinking Double Bubbles (it's like champagne, pear Grey Goose, and orange juice with Pop Rocks on the rim of the glass), and within a very

I'm watching a Cubs preseason game and they keep showing commercials for I Dream of Jeannie. I used to love that show when I was little. I was even Jeannie for Halloween one year in like second grade. You know what's funny? I would watch I Love Lucy once in a while too, but my mom didn't like me watching that because it was sexist. Now that I am older, I don't understand why she didn't think Jeannie was sexist. But she says it's because Jeannie was clearly all pretend, whereas I Love Lucy was promoting a sexist relationship. She also hated Friends, but loved Will and Grace. You know why? Because Friends promoted promiscuity, and tried to portray it in a realistic way. And she said real life could never be like that; sex is never that casual without consequences. But she loves Will and Grace because she said it was clearly unrealistic and just plain hilarious. She said that no one is that awful in real life. She loves Karen Walker. I love my mom.

As we waited in line for an hour and a half to ride Peter Pan's Flight at Disney World, Nancy suggested we make goals for 2009. I thought it seemed a little silly at first, because who actually keeps New Year's resolutions? But I do love to make lists, and I thought it would be good to have some general goals for myself that didn't have to be specific to 2009. So I made a list of 11 things, and I've actually stuck with it. Well, a little bit, anyway. Last week it occurred to me that my accountability partner and I have not exactly been accountable to each other recently. Or ever, for that matter. Back when our small group had like, 12 girls in it, we were assigned accountability partners. I specifically requested Whitney; I just had this impression that we would be good for each other. I think that truly was God giving me that idea, because I love that girl dearly, and I think out of all the girls in our group, she is the perfect one to be my AP. Anyway, an AP

My birthday is Wednesday, but we have a four day weekend, so I've been celebrating all weekend. Actually, most of the stuff I've done is what I would normally do on a long weekend; the birthday party was the only thing out of the ordinary. On Friday I went for a facial at University of Aesthetics. Since they're a school, you can get all kinds of spa services for cheap, and they do a great job. Then that night, my brother and I got tattoos. He got his initials the way he signs them on his artwork, and I got a tattoo for my grandma. Some people get commemorative tattoos when someone dies, but I wanted to get something for her while she's still around. It's a cluster of three petunias on the inside of my right ankle. (She used to call me Petunia. Also Emma Lou, which I could never figure out.) Under the petunias it says "Love you to pieces," which is what she always tells me. It's super cute and I'm so in love with it, but I don't want t