Life List?

I was surfing the interwebs today and came across this post.

I like the idea. Those of you that know me, KNOW that I have lots of ideas, schemes, visions of grandeur. I have a lot of things in my noggin that don't always spill out my mouth---things that I will do or accomplish "someday".

I like the idea of writing them down---why....what a fabulous idea. I love lists. I love organization and perhaps it will help me focus on the stuff that I really want to do and not worry about the stuff that I think I want to do because I think other people will think it is cool that I did it. That is a pretty lame reason for doing something, but I think many people can get sucked into it. I recently had a convo with a good friend about living a more authentic life, being a more authentic me. Christ, it shouldn't be that hard, right?

I haven't shared yet, but so far I have lost 32 pounds. That's pretty awesome. Since April. Again, pretty awesome. I have struggled with this issue my whole life and there is a blog post somewhere in my head forming about it, but that is for a later day. Suffice it to say, I am re-organizing myself in more ways than one.

I am only going to work on this list for 5 minutes......I am curious to see what I come up with.

1. learn how to twirl a baton
2. go a national park
3. make beef bourguignon
4. knit a sweater
5. publish something
6. go to Italy with my husband
7. successfully train a dog to come when called
8. espalier a fruit tree or two
9. connect and use a rain barrel
10. re upholster some sort of furniture
11. go to Scotland with my mother in law
12. grow potatoes

Hmmm....that was harder than I thought! I had lots of things pop into my head that should just go on a regular to do list like "paint the living room". I also had things that popped up that I felt weren't specific enough or quantifiable like "get better at ______". You can always get better at most things, yeah? When do you cross it off your list then?

Five more minutes?

13. See Led Zeppelin should they ever reunite
14. get a pair of custom made shoes
15. go to Montreal
16. learn how to make chocolate
17. build our own house
18. learn how to make ricotta cheese
19. Learn how to make a hard cheese
20. make all Christmas presents one year
21. slow dance with my husband and not try to lead
22. go to Africa
23. sail
24. do the splits
25. take a spur of the moment plane trip to wherever is cheapest one weekend

That one took more than 5 minutes, but I wanted to round off at 25. I am going to keep adding to this. I like it. I like it a lot.

26. learn how to make soap
27. watch an Alfred Hitchcock film
28. go to Napa Valley
29. go to Paris again...with my husband, without 40 high school kids
30. live in Italy with my husband for at least 6 months

I guess I had a few more in there rattlin' 'round.

I Need to Evacuate the Randomness from my Brain.

Here is one way to do so: make a list. I think I have blogged about my undying love for lists. This is not one of those lists. I do love lists where I can cross stuff off. Sometimes it is just a one liner cross off. Sometimes, it is an all out black out so that you can't even read what was just completed. I really haven't ever used check-offs. Nor have I used squiggley wavy lines through an item. I must admit to having used color coding for items yet to do and items completed.

In some areas of my world, I am uber organized. Others.....not so much. Spice cabinet? Organized and labeled.
My office desk at school for the first six months after moving to a new office? Still in boxes. Meh.

1. I love when Lionel snores and dream barks. (Folks, this is a King size bed.)

2. I have lost 32.5 pounds since April as of last Monday.

3. I just got rid of one bag of clothes that were ratty and two bags to sell at the secondhand store. That was so much fun....new wardrobe to fit the new body.

4. I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree and the first lemon is forming with five more blossoms on the way.















5. It has been way easier to lose weight this time around. Like freak-me-out-easier.

6. We have an intricate system of moving colder air around our house. Window unit plus the "Hawaiian Breeze" fan on the first level. The Breeze may be Hawaiian in nature, but the sound is akin to a jet engine at take off. That sucker is loud.

7. I rarely have reaction to mosquito bites. Which is good in Minnesota.

8. I haven't done anything to prepare for school starting like I thought I would (And that is on my summer to do list....) other than put the school calendar dates into my planner. Oh, I also went to school and GOT the planner. See? I am accomplishing things....

9. I am completely fine with the level of accomplishments in number 8. I am enjoying my summer and nap schedule.

10. Sometimes, I don't recognize myself in the mirror---my face looks thinner. I do a little inner I-am-proud-of-myself-dance when that happens.

11. I am learning how to knit this summer. I feel like I am 72. But I really like it. I am making my second hat right now. We will not be discussing the first hat----felting incident gone wrong. So very wrong.

12. Benchwarmers was a stupid movie, but I cannot control myself at the part where the guy who hates the sun has to go outside to get the girl scout cookies....I am laughing out loud by myself right now. With the Samurai sword and the screaming and the sticking the hand out to test the sun. Who is that guy again? The butterfly guy from Chuck and Larry??

13. Still laughing.

14. I took a mozzarella cheese making class Wednesday. I thought it would be starting from "scratch" and milk. Nope. I feel a little cheated as it was started from mozzarella curds. Essentially, the instructor heated up the curds to melt them together to form a fresh mozzarella ball. I think it should be classified as less "making" and more "reconstituting". Truth in advertising, my friends, truth in advertising.

15. What was the point of calling cards in a social sense? "Hey, I was here."? It seems weird.

16. In the battle of Me v. Spiders? I am losing. I thought I got all the cobwebs last week....month? Turns out not so much. I tell myself: "The house is 115 years old, spiders are going to live in your house with you." (The truth is, I don't necessarily fear spiders....I just have Spider Karma Issues. Like if I kill one, all the Spider Buddies will gang up and come and crawl all over me while I slumber. Someone else in my house doesn't help matters by talking about laying spider eggs in/on me while I sleep....)

17. I made a Plum Crisp last night. It was pretty good...the plums were ripe.

Ah....more space has been freed in my head. And now, off to walk the beast before it gets Africa Hot and Carribean Humid.

Uhmmm....hi. Hi.

We got Lionel a year ago last Monday. I think he weighed 20 lbs? We are estimating he weighs 160-165 right now. I bet his head alone weighs 30 lbs. The dog is big. As I type, he is laying on the dining room floor meticulously unraveling and obliterating a rope pull toy.


You have to feel bad for the kid, he destroys almost any toy in five minutes. Stuffed animals with squeakers? Gone--3 minutes. I got him a stuffed alligator toy with 16 squeakers, half were non-functioning before we were out of the Petco parking lot. He loves--LOVES---tennis balls, but now they are too small for his maw. I am afraid he will choke. Kong Brand does make a bunch of bigger toys that are covered in the tennis ball fuzz. He loves to delicately peel back the fuzz with his front teeth. AND they have squeakers. He still has to be watched with those; he goes for the squeakers first, gets those out, then goes about chewing off chunks of the rubber. We thought he was just Cookie Monstering it (chewing and the pieces fall out the side of his mouth) but today I caught him chewing a sizable piece of the tennis ball like it was chewing gum.


The only, ONLY, toy that is has not been able to destroy is the black rubber Kong. The red one? Shredded.

Poor Form.

I procrastinated. I avoided. I meant to. I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. I thought it was maybe late October. I knew it was bad when I couldn't remember what my log in password was to Blogger.

Poor form.

Let's see:

-The test. Remember when I said I would be embarrassed if I didn't pass the test because it was all social studies content and I TEACH social studies and I should pass with flying colors and I don't need to study, it's social studies content for Cripes Sake? (Should it be troubling that I just read "sake" as Sah-Kay".....as in the Japanese alcohol and it is not even 8 am? Hmmmm.) Back to the test. Yep. Didn't pass. I thought I did just fine, the writing could have gone better (But I thought that about the GREs last spring and that was my best score, so I didn't get too wrapped up in beating myself up)...but the social studies content stuff I did fine. I think. I have also been meaning to send the fax requesting the test results to see just where I bombed it. There was other stuff on the test that I could have been more prepared for. Eh. I can take it again next year....and I don't know, maybe study for this next time? It will always be there.

-We put up a fence. You don't even know---well, some of you do---how gleeful this makes me. A bit of privacy from the many, many, many children that live in the cul-de-sac we share with 8 townhomes. Don't get me wrong....I like kids (teacher---remember?) but not 25+ screaming and crying and whining and yelling and crashing bikes and trying to destroy anything and everything with a plastic baseball bat.......all 20 feet from our house. Personal fave: Playing Frisbee with a metal garbage can lid. I kid you not. If I wanted that, I would have moved into a house next to an elementary school. Or a penitentiary. So, a privacy fence to block sight and much of the sound-----the true test will be this spring when it warms up-----does a world of wonders.

-Lionel is huge. He is almost 8 months and we estimate just under 100 lbs. Leviathan. He still tries to walk under the dining room table even though he clearly can walk up to it and his chin is above the table top. There is zero struggle to rest his chin on the table or take something from our plates, should he so choose to do. We are thinking he will stop gaining height soon and just start filling out. He is lanky. He also celebrated Thanksgiving the traditional way by getting neutered. You're welcome?

-School seems to not be kickin' my ass so much anymore. We may or may not have had a conversation about "not having to hit a homerun everyday" with school. MY response was "Oh, believe me, I am not trying to do that. I am just trying to keep my head above water and not give worksheets and show movies everyday." I think something sunk in, or I got into a groove, and it doesn't seem to be taking all my time. Many changes this year:

1. A new schedule going from 3 class periods to teach to five class periods (60+ more students' work to grade)

2. 2 brand new classes to teach that I have never taught before, and 1 class I have taught before, but not on this schedule (Also switching the pacing from semester to full year classes) and not with the new textbook. This is the largest part of the the time commitment. Planning is fun, but not all the time. I mean ALL the time.

3. Teaming where four teachers share the same 150-ish kids. So, we have lots of meetings about our kids that are struggling, misbehaving, going through traumatic experiences, meeting with parents, meeting with the counselor, meeting with the administration.

There are lots of meetings.

4. Freshmen. New to our school, previously we were 10-12, now we are 9-12. Three classes of them. On a good day, in a good mood, I love their energy and enthusiasm. I love their puppy-ness. Lanky, awkward, goofy, sweet, insightful, still "get into" school, naive, fresh. On a not so good day, when I am in a not so good frame of mind, they bug. That lanky and awkward turns into clumsy and accident prone, goody become irritating, sweet becomes not so, and so on. They become less fresh and become more of energy vampires. I have said a lot of things I never pictured myself saying while teaching high school. For example:

-"Were you unaware that he was coloring your arm yellow with a marker?" (Literally, the entire arm was colored yellow from a sharpie. Fingertip to ELBOW. The response to my query: "I wasn't really paying attention." SERIOUSLY?!?!?! You have no space to complain about it unless you are numb from the shoulder down. In which case, a yellow arm is the least of my concerns. Go to the nurse.)

-"At what point did you all agree that it would be a good idea to play "Ninja" in my classroom?"

-"There is NO air shanking in World History class! Period."

-"No, you actually are not allowed to cut her ponytail off."

-"Seriously. Even if she says it is okay. No. End of discussion. This is a World History class room, not a hair salon."

-"SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?" There are lots of these. Not that I would ever picture myself not saying this......it is the frequency with which I say it and the tone of actual (not fake, just for effect) disbelief that is adopted upon utterance of said phrase.

-"Alright. Who is carpet bombing my room with flatulence?" Lies; I didn't ACTUALLY say this. But, believe me, there has been a stretch of two weeks here where some has had some serious gastrointestinal issues. I know who it is, but how do you have that conversation??? I know, because they have been audible---during the time I am lecturing and they are all blessedly quiet----so I know who it is by the studied, rapt attention of the perp as well as the tittering going on in the immediate vicinity. (You want to make an entire room of 14 year old boys giggle? Have someone fart. Done and done.) My response: "Alright, enough. I am aware of it. Let's move on." Everyone else who is unaware of what is happening (very few of the students): "What? What happened? What are you talking about?" And then all looking around like prairie dogs popping out of their holes.

Pray for me. Just.....pray for me.

Hmmmm...

So. I registered for the foreign service exam....step one in a process of a lot more steps.

An intriguing option for a new career path. Living overseas again intrigues me. I was invited to take the test which is a good sign. The test, from what I have read, is pretty heavy on Social Studies content---US History, US Economy, World history, current events, geography......it really shouldn't be a problem and if it is I should be embarrassed to not have passed it. There is also a writing portion, again, not worried about it. I took the GREs last spring and writing was my best score.

We shall not discuss my math scores.

Test date is October 3rd. I am excited to get moving on it.

People. It's Power to the People Time...Just Do It Before Sunday.

Folks, I need your help. I have a great friend who has been working hard at setting up her own business. She works out of her home, she works hard and she works a lot. Now, many people hate when others ask for this kind of help, but I can vouch for her, she is top notch.

She has been working hard the past couple years, and is doing okay, but this vote could really help her out. It is through American Express and NBC. The winner can get $50,000 in marketing money to help support their small business efforts in these tough economic times. It is really difficult for small businesses to get grants. And that is what this is; it's not a loan, it is a grant. To a small business owner, manna from heaven.

Here all I need you to do:

1.) Go to this page: (Sorry for no hyperlink, for some reason, it shows up when I am editing, but not when I publish the post. My sincere apologies.....you'll have to do it the old fashion way: copy and paste.)


http://shinealight.ivillage.com/sbo-profile/?ProfileID=8283

2.) Do the quick registering in order to vote, up in the upper right corner of the page.

3.) Go back to the "simply homemade" (The same link above) page and click on the "Endorse now" button with the flashlight at the top of the column on the left.

That's it. Clickety-Click-Click.

So simple.

If you want to check out what she simply home makes, just to make sure it isn't some lurid site specializing in niche market porn, there is a link to her website on the page linked above.

I assure you, it's all above board, people.

Power to the Peeps. Here is your chance to make your voice heard. Don't squander it.

Seriously? I am so in love with this dog. Someone in our house has made the comment, "You really like taking pictures of his snout, don't you?"

Yes, yes I do. I am not really sure why.
The jowls?
The whiskers on the front that tickle you when he comes in close to sniff you?
It doesn't matter. I like it all.


He is growing so fast. He is still all legs and paws and ears. People think I am starving him because he is so skinny; not true people. Giant breeds have really delicate joints, especially when they are puppies. You can't let them pack on the pounds too fast because it can do serious, permanent damage to the joints. Also, too much running and gallivanting around.

With him? Really not a problem most of the time.


I mean, he IS still a puppy. He likes to play. He likes to chase after moths and catch them (it is hilarious---he really stalks them and gets a hunter pose, even though mastiffs are not hunters, per say.).......when he does catch them, he is as surprised as we are and he dutifully eats them since he has them in his mouth anyway.


He is still a puppy and figuring out his world. Sniffing is huge. In this picture, the neighbors were having a pool party....some new smells. 13 and 14 year olds. Lots of them. Lots of squealing--a noise he had been unfamiliar with coming from this side of the house. The other side? He's got those neighbs down like a textbook. Lots of kids, lots of high pitched screaming and shrieking from those kids. He doesn't even bother turning his head. When we are outside, he will just look at them when they are making noise and then look at me like, "Why, mama, why?"


And his is a total doofus. He still sleeps on his back, but now his jowls flap open to expose his new white big boy teeth.


His paws are huge. They keep getting bigger and he can't catch up.


And then.........the crash. The drugged out look when he can no longer go on. The dropping on the floor or yard wherever he is and instantaneous sleep. He fights it most times, especially if he is having fun.


He is getting really mastiff-y. I love with puppies sit on their butts. I hope he always does this because it slays me everytime.


He is growing into more of his brindle. He will be mostly black, like his dad, but he has gotten more of the fawn color.



He does love laying in the sunbeams in the morning. Sniffing...surveying his kingdom.

School starts tomorrow. I am gonna miss hanging out with him during the day. That, I know for sure.