|
|
Guilty Pleasures...
I have found a new guilty pleasure. I come by it innocently enough. I was merely flipping through the t.v. stations while making dinner tonight and I came upon it. Gene Simmons' Family Jewels. I know, I know. I should be ashamed. Not only is it reality t.v., it's the lead guy from KISS. The same guy known best for having an incredibly long tongue and wearing lots of make-up while dressing like a refugee from hell. But see, the show's actually really funny! In between most scenes they do cut-aways to interviews with different family members commenting on whatever's happening. In one episode his wife has dragged her teenage son with her to the drugstore while she buys a pregnancy test. She keeps sending him off to find really embarrassing products for Gene: Preparation H, anti-fungal creme. I haven't seen that many eyes rolling since I was in high school. What can I say, I have a juvenile sense of humor at times. I also discovered while at the grocery store that Entemann's has bowed to the diet world. They now have 100 calorie packs of their famous, soft chocolate chip cookies. MMMMMMM! Yes, I bought some. Yes, I enjoyed a pack as soon as I got home. And yes, they were very good. I know it's bowing to marketing and merchandising...but I don't care. If I don't have to worry about portion control? If I don't have to have an open box of the yummiest cookies ever sitting around? Then I'm a happy camper. So what are your new finds? C'mon! Share!Labels: happy times
Play time...
 Last night fellow Tiara, Kelli, hosted a Cookie Lee jewelry party. Along with Christina and Dona, and several of Kelli's friends, we spent a wonderful evening. Picture this:  good food, fabulous women and all the affordable jewelry you can imagine. I thought I was playing it smart by leaving behind my checkbook...until I discovered the representative took credit card. Oooh boy. Kelli, hostess extraordinaire, welcomed us into her  brand new home with a full compliment of hors d'oeurves and drinks. She followed up with an amazing pasta dish full of fettucine, mushrooms, garlic, broccolini and shrimp; as well as bread and salad. After more shopping she brought out her sweet treats: licorice, gummy bears, chocolate fondue, cookies, fresh fruit, marshmellows and fancy brownie bites. Once we were done with our shopping, we popped in a video and those of us not ready for sleep stayed to watch. Needless to say I walked out with two fabulous necklaces and an earmarked catalogue with birthday and holiday presents already in mind.  Labels: happy times, life
Seattle AIDS Walk 2007
It's that time of year again. Time for the Seattle AIDS Walk, and once again I'll be participating. The walk, for anyone interested, is next Saturday, September 29. Proceeds from the walk go to help the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, a non-profit organization helping people in our community living with HIV and AIDS. The organization serves many purposes, including (but not limited to) food services, transportation and counseling. If you are interested in sponsoring me for the walk, please go here, and search for my name. Any support you can give is always appreciated, whether it be monetary, or in good thoughts on the morning of the walk. Thank you!
Bits of randomness...
Found the phone. Don't ask where it was, it's too embarrassing.Made a fabulous dinner! I love good food, and the fact that I cooked it rather than sticking a meal into the microwave? Definitely worth notice.  I read a wonderful book over the weekend, Jane Porter's latest ODD MOM OUT. This might be her best book yet. I felt a very strong connection with the community Jane set the book in. Plus, one of the major storylines in the book is the daughter's goal of popularity...a goal I witness on a regular basis working in an elementary school. So go out, buy the book and enjoy!Thursday is curriculum night. I get to stand up in front of a roomful of parents and beg for one of them to become our room parent. Not fair! I've started revisions. They're going slowly during the week, but I'm hoping to make up the time on the weekends. Labels: books, random musings
Dude, where's my phone??
 I've somehow managed to lose my cell phone somewhere in my not so vast apartment. There are only so many place I would have left it, and I checked all them. I even tried calling myself, only like the battery saving genius I apparently am, I turned it off. I remember turning it off. I remember flipping it open at 10:08pm last night and pushing the button to shut it down. It's what I did afterward I can't seem to place. The really sad part is I don't even like phones in general all that much, and yet I'm going through some kind of withdrawal or something. But I believe in positive energy. I'm positive it's around here somewhere. So if you see my cell phone, please tell it I'm searching for it. I promise to treat it well, charge it regularly and only use it for the greater good...Labels: random musings
All praise him!
Ooooh boy, was this afternoon interesting. First off, I had plans to me my aunt for lunch. I was supposed to be at her place at noon, and left with what should have been plenty of time...any day but game day. Yes my friends, the Huskies played in town today. Which meant I was stuck in traffic for just short of an hour. I eventually made it to her house, and we headed to downtown Seattle for lunch at the Purple Cafe. Yum! After lunch we decided to wander downtown a bit, something I rarely get to do anymore, now that I live and work solely on the Eastside. In our wanderings we stumbled upon some kind of musical performance, so of course we stopped. We love live music! We also love people watching, and this crowd looked interesting. Did you ever see Stomp the Yard? We had our own personal demonstration going on in front of the stage full of female singers. The steppers rocked, firing up the crowd and getting everyone in the groove. Then the choir began to sing. There was much stomping, clapping and joyous music. So much so that it took me almost three minutes to realize what we'd found. A revival. Or at least the closest thing to a revival downtown Seattle was going to see. I also think it's safe to say my aunt and I were the only Jews in the audience. And definitely the only one's not praising Jesus. They choir was wonderful, the audience definitely grooving, and we? We were having a pretty good time ourselves, well, when we disregarded the subject matter that was. The clapping and singing I could get into though.And you thought it was safe to let us out in public.Labels: family, random musings
Two weeks down...
Well, I made it through the second week. My students really are funny. Maybe it's the age, or maybe it's that I've got a year under my belt so I'm more comfortable. Not really sure which, but I know I'm doing okay. I even made it to the gym three times this week. Probably one of the best moments came during a poetry moment. I've started using beats (snapping fingers, clapping hands) to get the students used to the rhythm of poetry. At some point we picked up the beat from Queen's We Will Rock You. I finally got them to stop by offering a purple ticket to whoever could tell me the original performer of the song. Remember, my kiddos are 8 years old, the extent of their culture is Nickalodean's Drake & Josh and Spongebob. For the next 6 minutes I was bombarded with the name of every teen/tween pop star currently making noise: Hillary Duff, Drake, Josh...someone may have even thrown in Brittany Spears, but I'm not positive. When I finally explained the group I was thinking of were around long before they were born, they came back with: The Beatles? The Rolling Stones? Yup, my class makes me laugh. We're having fun...Labels: teaching
Random thoughts...
- I have a new cd from Megan. Yay! Can't wait to listen
- The Buffy Season 8 comic makes me happy. It's not the same as a new show, but it'll do.
- New season of Grey's, Bones, House start soon. Yippee!
- Third Grade rocks! The kids are great, and the curriculum is right up my alley.
- L'shana tova! Welcome to a new year. This is one of my favorite holidays. Is it the apples? The honey? The big group meals? Maybe all of the above?
- There might actually be something to this whole go to the gym, eat right business. The vote's still out, but something might be there.
- Proxy votes are good, especially on Jewish holidays.
- September means the return of chapter meetings. Yay! Susan Mallery's talk about increasing productivity was inspiring. Now I just have to finish printing up the last 100 pages of my manuscript so I can get started on revisions.
Labels: Jewish musings, life, random musings
Jewish Guilt
A friend recently pointed out to me that I'm suffering from a major case of unnecessary Jewish guilt. I feel guilty that others are having problems with their writing and that things (in my humble opinion) are going in the general direction I want them to. Life's not perfect. I'm still unpublished. I still have to clean my own bathroom. I'm still single. I still wake up every day and go to work.
But life's pretty good.
So how did I get to the point where I feel like something's seriously wrong because nothing is wrong? I know I'm not alone here. I know other's have felt this way before.
And to make it worse? I feel guilty for acknowledging that life is pretty good. Well, again if you ignore the whole having to clean my own bathroom bit. Or the fact that UPS is all set to deliver a package on Monday that ISN'T MY PACKAGE! I've tried contacting the shippers to tell them they are sending me the wrong order, but thanks to Shabbat they aren't answering emails. Or phones (even if I called them). *sigh* And I feel horrible because it's a not-for-profit company, so they'll have to foot the bill for shipping to the wrong location.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we must be closing in on the High Holidays. Only Yom Kippur can bring about this amount of unnecessary guilt.
So Shana Tova to all of my fellow Jews. May this be a sweet and healthy new year for all. As for the rest of you? I'm ducking from the rotten tomatoes I know you're throwing my way.Labels: holidays, Jewish musings, life, shabbat
A quick note before I collapse in a heap...
 School started yesterday. For anyone keeping track, this is year 2. I'm teaching third grade this year, which means I actually stand a chance at most of the kiddos still liking me at the end of the year. I've got a great class who I think will be a lot of fun. They're a little silly, a little goofy, but what do you expect? They're 8!
Of course third grade curriculum is a lot different than 5th. We're getting through things very slowly right now, which means that all my plans have been thrown out the window the last two days. Pretty much sends me into a tailspin. So I spent the bulk of our early release afternoon in a team meeting, or planning for the next three days of class, foregoing the gym in an attempt to get to Target before all the 10cent notebooks went away.
Since I skipped the gym, I forced myself to take the bike out. Hey, it's still sunny and who knows how long that will last! So I hopped on the bike and pedaled my little heart out...only to find myself battling for the number one spot with a rollerblader, of all things! She and I chased each other one way, then chased each other back. Sadly, even pedaling as fast as I could, she beat me. I get the feeling she's been practicing.Labels: happy times, teaching
Yahoo!
 You may all join in my happy dance now, as we celebrate the completion of my fourth manuscript! Yes, yes, yes!! Of course, next up are revisions, but who cares? The book is done! And before school starts, which is the best news out of all of it. Yes! Wahoo!!Labels: happy times, life, writing
You must not know me real well...
It dawned on me the other day how well I've managed to fool some people. Most of you know me as rather serious at times, often intense and a worrier. You know when I'm nervous and need you to call me out on it. You know when to steer clear, or just steer me toward food. However I've clearly managed to fool my co-workers into believing I'm some kind of mild-mannered, easy going, go with the flow kind of gal. They think I have no worries and that everything is ready to go. Wow, they couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe it's because they are way more nervous than I am? Or maybe I've gotten really good at faking it? Or is it that I'm actually not all that worried about the first week of school? I'm really not sure which one it is, I only know I've got them thinking I'm full of confidence and utterly relaxed. Go me!Labels: random musings
Childhood flashbacks...or why you should all go see Transformers.
Yes, I realize the movie came out more than a month ago, so you'll have to forgive me for taking this long to go see it. I'd say it's not my fault, but who am I kidding? Of course it is. Still, it's been on the list and finally Ms. K and I made it out to see it. Verdict? Loved it! I'll be honest, I remember the cartoon but in the vague, dreamlike way...which means not very well. I remember I had some of the toys, too. But I was never a rabid fan. I can't quote the movie from the 80's, nor can I tell you all the plot lines of the cartoons. But I can tell you I laughed my tuches off at the movie tonight...and it wasn't only at the audience members who were laughing. Spielberg and the writers did a great job of setting up the "ordinary world" before turning everything on its ear. They created ordinary heroes we can relate to, while putting them in extraordinary situations we could never dream of. So here you go, my thoughts on the movie in no particular order: *Bumblebee rocked! I want my own.*Optimus Prime kicks some serious butt despite his penchant for long, drawn out monologues.*Jazz...so sad. *sniff* *The parents? Hopelessly clueless and utterly hysterical. I love when the mom questions Sam about what he's doing in his room all alone. Then her reaction when she meets Mikaela.*quotes galore! I will definitely buy this one when it comes out, along with the soundtrack. I can already see where the music from this one is going to definitely set some writing moods...Labels: movies, random musings
|
