Just for Mama P

I am tired. Very tired. I'm subbing with resource teachers at my kids' school until Christmas. The work is fun and it's only half a day, but my body isn't used to being up and around and so busy that early in the day. There is another good reason that I am growing so tired, but I will wait just a bit longer to share that with you. But, I will definitely be heading to bed soon.

I just wanted to do a quick post, say hello, let you know I'm alive, and hope to post more soon. But I just couldn't let down my Mama P and not post a YouTube video or two. So, this one's for you...a couple of classics.

Snagged Meme

This is a meme I snagged off of Tiny Little Reading Room cause it looked fun.

Place you'd like to visit: I used to say London and then Ireland, but I've been to both. So, this one is for Mister...Venice. He's fascinated by the canals.

Favourite object: Books

Favourite Food:

Favourite colour:

Name of past pet: Cocoa

Screen name: Amisare Waswerebeen

Grandmother's name:

Major in college:

Tofurkey is Just Faux Turkey

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, I know we did. We had two of H's brothers over with their familes. The total was about 13 people in the house, from adult to newly arrived. We feasted on turkey (of course, no tofurkey here), yams, mashed potatoes with a LOT of butter, stuffing, deviled eggs, rolls, gravy, and plenty of desserts. I could only handle one plateful. I'm a lightweight. The kids ate and played and ran wild while the adults ate and chatted and passed around the baby (a new niece). It was a great time. This was only the second time I've made the turkey, but I felt pretty confident since the first one came out pretty awesome. This one did too. And I'm sure there was enough butter in the mashed potatoes to clog an artery, but hey, it's Thanksgiving.

After dinner, I made a fire in the living room and we watched "Blades of Glory", slowly saying goodbye to everyone. All four of us ended up passed out on the living room couch and floor, waking up at 3 a.m. to tuck the kids in and trudge to bed. The house is chaos this morning, a sign that fun was had by all (hee hee, Trippy). I would post pics of the aftermath, but I'm not that crazy. But I will go get dressed (yes, I'm still not dressed), clean up, and stuff myself silly with leftovers while thinking about just how fortunate I am to live the life I live, in the country I love, with my family that I adore, and to have enough work to pay for the bills that help keep us warm and fed. God bless you and yours.

As Promised...

Here are the invitations I made last night. Yes, I know some of them are pink. Those will be going to Mister's girl friends. I did them in many colors and had to make use of the only 5 markers I could find at 1 a.m.

Time Well Spent

I must still miss the hectic, up all night schedule from when I was in school, or I'm just a glutton for punishment. It is 2:45 am and I just finished making and writing about 32 birthday invitations for Mister's party. The invitations are shaped like legos; square with two round pegs on top. They came out pretty good and I am really proud...and VERY tired. I will post pics of them in the morning because I am too exhausted to even go downstairs and take pics of them.

So, why am I not in bed, you ask? Because a thought occurred to me and, of course, I had to share. I was thinking about how much of a toll all these late nights probably take on my body and realized something. When I am looking back on my life and trying to figure out where my youthfulness was spent, I will remember very late nights; writing English essays, cramming literature information into my brain, sewing/painting/inventing Halloween costumes, and decorating and hand-writing more than thirty birthday party invitations for the next day. Why? Because I get a smile from it, a thank you. And you know what? Though I might often wake up tired, have a darker shade under my eyes, or even gain a wrinkle or two........I LOVE EVERY FREAKIN MOMENT OF IT!

An Introduction to Legs

Oh, the drama that is the 5th grade. Mister has a friend that he's been hanging out with for about 3 years now. Let's call her Legs, cause she stands about 2 feet over him, as do most girls at this age. So, Legs and Mister have been inseparable most of the 3 years and have always been in the same class. You can usually find them sitting together on field trips and chatting after school. In all this blissful friendship, I lost sight of something very apparent...Legs is a girl. I know you're probably saying, "duh" or "so what?" But this fact, I have found, makes a difference. Boys are pretty constant. Unless they steal something from each other, beat each other up, or any other major conflict occurs, they are friends. But girls, they have moods.

I remember being in elementary school and knowing that just because a certain girl is my friend on Friday doesn't guarantee that she'll like me on Monday. Girls are finicky and emotional, not always constant. Unfortunately, Mister is experiencing the same thing. After H dropped off the kids at school this morning, he informed me that Legs was in front of the school with another girl and seemed to purposely avoid Mister by putting up her hood and not looking his way. This breaks my heart. I know what a sweet, tenderhearted kid he is (no, it's not just because I'm biased). I briefly felt upset toward Legs, but soon remembered that that's how it is at this age. As in times before, whatever the problem is, it will blow over and they'll be hanging out again in a week. When this happens, all I can do is make sure he knows that things will be fine and encourage him to hang out with others until this blows over. I wish I could tell him what I figured out pretty early in elementary school. Having grown up with my brother, I had a low tolerance for girly moodiness and silly games. So, if they decided I wasn't going to be their friend that day, I just moved on to play with someone else. By doing that, I weeded out a lot of drama from my life and found some real friends.

While I know this will take care of itself, it does make me realize though that, if they remain friends, it will only get more complicated with age and hormones. Heaven help us.

Uncovering America by Horseback

I came across this news story on Yahoo this morning and was thrilled by it. Bill Inman, an Oregon rancher, and his wife decided that they were tired of hearing the daily media's focus on the negative things in the world. They wanted to do something that would put the focus back on the positive. So, they are on a cross-country trek from Oregon to the East coast, collecting stories and experiences from good, honest, hardworking rural Americans along the way. If that wasn't awesome enough, they are doing it on horseback. Bill is riding his 16-year old thoroughbred, Blackie, the whole way. His wife, Brenda, drives ahead of him in the truck and horse trailer with their two dogs and a documentary crew. He averages about 20-25 miles a day and they have met some great people along the way. I love what Bill says of their using their life savings (about $45,000) to finance the adventure.

"It's probably the stupidest thing I've done financially, but I truly believe in it."

I think that is truly amazing, especially because he is a man that has earned every cent through hard work; herding, ranching, selling horses, auctioneering, and shoeing. They rely a lot on the kindness of those they meet along their journey. They have been given food, shelter, and, I'm sure, some great stories to write about in their planned book. It's truly an amazing story and I can't wait for their book to be published. There will also be a filmed documentary produced. If you want to learn more about them and their journey, you can check out their website, Uncovering America by Horseback. Currently, it's running a little slow due to the media coverage, but I'm sure it will back to normal soon.

Bill shares that they've been through many extremes; freezing to scalding temperatures, water shortages, and rugged terrain. However, he's quick to point out, "I haven't run into any bad people." That makes me proud to be a part of this country.

Deep Arm Chair Dreams

You know, I remember when you could check out 20 books from the library, keep them for two months past their due date, and still end up only owing 25 cents. (I just realized that there is no symbol on the keyboard for cents. Wow.) Ok, maybe I exaggerate just a bit. But I do remember that if you lost a book, they didn't aggressively pursue you and your next of kin to collect the fees and cost of said book. They definitely didn't report you to a COLLECTION AGENCY and threaten your credit. It seems that librarians have gone from this:

to this:

Ok, I know it's not the librarians. It's the city/county that wants their money. I think my highest library fine to date was around $80, and that was after they cut me a discount. That was when our family banned checking out movies and music from the library. Books only. Over due DVDs were costing us a dollar a day and CDs were 50 cents a day. And that can really add up fast.

Seriously though, I LOVE libraries! Like bookstores, I could spend an entire day just casually perusing the shelves, reading leisurely, and reluctantly tearing myself away at closing time. However, bookstores have one slight advantage over the library...deep cushion arm chairs. Sure, the library is free and your not pushing your credit card limit when you take home 20 books (unless you return them late), but nothing beats a comfy chair when reading. I know, some libraries have this luxury, but not many. I believe my ideal home library would have a wall, or two, covered in books, large and small, paper and hardback, from floor to ceiling. It would have two deep armchairs and at least one down-filled couch with supple pillows and throws. And all of this would, of course, be surrounded around a large, roaring fireplace and there would be just enough sunlight streaming through the heavy drapes to illuminate the pages of my book and warm the room when I doze off. Oh, to dream.

I need to figure out how to occasionally make two of me

Good news: I was invited along to a Books and Authors Luncheon with a friend today where they feature great authors and books.

Bad news: I had to decline the offer because I was stuck in, er, I mean, substituting a 6th grade class full of the most talkative, wild kids I've had the (dis)pleasure of teaching since a group of kindergarteners a while back.

I was sooo tired at the end of the day, counting down the minutes until the bell rang, and saying to myself that THIS is the reason I haven't decided on going into teaching yet. I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing the insides of that classroom again anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, the kids were good kids, individually. But, get more than two together in the same room, and you have chaos. I'm really glad that I don't teach tomorrow.

So, tomorrow night, I'm meeting up with 3 of the other 4 LonDolls to go see "The Jane Austen Book Club" at the theater. I haven't seen two of them in a few weeks, so it should be great. Saturday, the kids are going to attend a church activity and then have some friends over to play. And, of course, Sunday is church. I'm hoping for a nice, relaxing weekend. Think it'll happen?

Busy and Tired

So, I guess I've been pretty busy. I've been subbing a lot lately at my kids' school and I have 4 weeks worth of subbing to look forward to between Thanksgiving and Christmas for a teacher on maternity leave. I may also be set up to do another 4 weeks with another expecting teacher. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. But it's really nice to stay busy and I really like the school. So, if my postings are scarce, you'll know why.