I....in 5 minutes

I am listening to my daughter play as Hannah Montana is on in the background. I just finished dinner. I am exhausted. I am getting more and more tired as the school year goes on. I cannot wait for Spring Break. I am going to France for a week then, the beginning of April. I need to rest and get away for that week. I have one third of the school year left and feel like there is still too much left to teach. I think the school day needs to be longer. I am watching the cats play. I want to have free time to play like the cats (and like my daughter). I need time to myself, and that time seems fleeting right now. I don't have a book right now -- check that, I have a pile of books, but I haven't started one since I finished my last one. I bought a new dress and I love it. I am going to buy another dress from the same company. I am getting tired of starting every sentence with I. I am almost done, the timer is ready to ring. I can't be done soon enough!

This was a blog challenge -- to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes (I chose 5) and to write where my thoughts went. Every statement had to start with "I."

This says it all about me!

You Are Totally Anal Retentive

Yup, you're so uptight - people definitely have called you "anal." You're the type of person who's so OCD you organize your M&Ms before eating them. You have so many rules and rituals, it's hard for you to let loose and enjoy life. So go ahead and mix up your alphabetized CD collection. Live a little!

Are You Anal Retentive?

Page 123

Tagged by my blogging friend Heather. Here's the challenge...

1) pick up the nearest book ( one of at least 123 pages)

2)Open the page to 123

3) Find the 5th sentence

4)Post the next three sentences

5) Tag 5 people (which I can't do, I don't know 5 bloggers...)


In the car, however, beside the actual living girls, the boys realized the paltriness of these images. Inverse properties were also discarded: notions of the girls as damaged or demented. (The crazy old lady in the elevator every day turns out to be, when you finally speak to her, perfectly lucid.)

From The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eudenides

One thing this challenge made me realize is how rich the language is in this book. The word choice is fantastic -- paltriness, inverse, demented, lucid -- these aren't words one would normally use when speaking. And yet, when I read the book, I didn't notice the language being as rich as it is. It took this challenge to point it out to me.

And while I am doing blog challenges, here's one from Cups of Coffee....

What makes me wonder...

I wonder what would happen if I decided to pursue that EdD at USC

I wonder what my cats really think about me

I wonder if I will have to stay on this vegetarian diet for the rest of my life

I wonder what grade(s) I will teach next year

I wonder about the 'big' questions -- God and life after death and the meaning of life

I wonder if this is as happy as I'll ever be

Super Fat Tuesday

I got up extra early this morning so I could vote in the California primary on my way to work. I always like to get the "I Voted!" sticker to wear to school, so the kids can see that I take my civic responsibility seriously. I went to the church where the voting was taking place, found my polling place, and bent down to sign my name. And then I couldn't get back up. Oh my aching back! I have been in severe pain all day since then. The good news is that I voted and sported the spiffy sticker all day. In pain.

Another thing about this Tuesday; we had a staff meeting. It was the first one I have attended with our new principal. Oh my! She is an amazing woman. I love her! She is direct, to the point, and positive all the while. Such a change from the person who held that position before. She makes me (and everyone I've talked with) feel energized and ready to touch lives, to make changes happen with the students. I want to be a better teacher for her -- and that's saying something, because I love being a teacher.

I've been tagged by Chasing Butterflies...

Here are the rules:
*The rules are to link the person who sent this to you...and leave a comment on their blog.. so their readers can visit yours. (No idea how to do this, sorry Heather!)
*post the rules on your blog
*Share 7 strange/weird facts about you on your blog
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog
*Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blog...

I don't know that there are any strange or weird facts about me (or things that I consider strange or weird) but here goes...

1. I've been a teacher for 14 years and I've only worked at one school.

2. When I visit a new place, I tend to go back over and over until I've 'done' that place to death. Case in point -- in April, I'm going to Paris for the 3rd time in a little over a year. Obsessive? Maybe.

3. If the St. Louis Cardinals are on TV, I won't make plans to leave the house. And yes, I subscribe to MLB Extra Innings, so the Cardinals are on A LOT.

4. The same thing goes for the USC Trojans football team. If they are playing, I stay home. Period. I need to watch it on TV. And if it's not televised (horror of all horrors), I will listen to it on the radio. I don't go that far with the Cardinals, but there are a lot less Trojan games.

5. I NEED to have a book in progress. If I don't, I don't feel complete. Right now I'm in the middle of The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

6. I'm a vegetarian. I've toyed with this for a while, but in October I was hospitalized for a kidney problem. My doctor recommended giving up meat because too much protein can cause kidney problems. That was all I needed to hear. It hasn't been difficult because I just think about the kidney pain from October!

7. My mother is a hermit. Or would like to be. Is that a strange/weird fact about me? That's all I can think of right now!

And I don't have anybody to tag!