the big reveal

HA! Here is a ridiculous picture of me... with pretty much the same hair as ever, minus 2 inches and plus some shorter layers... which you can't really even see. You're welcome, internet.

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving at 4:45am with 40 juniors to spend the week in Washington, D.C.

I need to find a summer job.

Why is it still so cold? I need to plant some veggies & flowers, but I'm worried that it could still snow at this rate!

Um, that's all for now. My blog is so fascinating these days...

Edit: Check out this mash-up. Awesome. Okay, that's all.

suggestions, please

I'm getting a haircut tonight. I might not get any feedback before my appointment, but any thoughts about the following?

1. Kiera Knightley. I can't believe I'm putting her on my blog, especially with her token expression that annoys me to no end... but here she is.
What I'd do: Cut long bangs, add some layers.

2. Camilla Belle.

What I'd do: Cut bangs, trim my hair.

3. Rachel Bilson.

What I'd do: Keep growing out my bangs & add some layers.

Okay, go.

a summer breeze

My juniors are currently composing "Object Poetry" - that is, they must create a poem that describes something without directly saying what it is (except in the title). I decided to model this for them, and wrote the following little ditty.

a summer breeze

coyly curling quietly caressing
soft touch upon my skin
lightly laughing lethargically lingering
a whisper in my ear

delicately dancing daintily drifting
the waving, wondering grass
sweetly swinging serenely sweeping
the frolicking little birds

tenderly traipsing tentatively touching
as if to swathe in silk
warmly welcoming wistfully wandering
just a tiny, graceful gust

rcp 3.23.11
---

And also, because I get nervous sharing my writing publicly, a quick diversion. One of my students wrote the other day about "gardening angels" instead of "guardian angels" and today a student wrote about how "marawana" is illegal. Awesome!

do you see what i see?

Itty, bitty, baby buds.

knows the crinkly sound of the popcorn wrapper

Ah, yes. This would be what we call "crazy eyes". Usually precedes lightning fast, erratic body movement.

why i love(?) teaching, exhibit c

Our school doesn't have locker rooms for the visiting team; therefore, our teams humbly give up their locker rooms so the other team can change. Therefore... select teachers' rooms are used by our students as changing rooms. And my room was the chosen one for the varsity boys' basketball team this year.

All throughout the season, I've endured jokes from my students:
"I wouldn't sit in your chair! So-and-so changed there last night!"
"I hope you washed all of these desks! Our jerseys get really sweaty!"

You know, totally appropriate comments from teenage boys.

Additionally, the game plans are always left on my whiteboard. Written with my markers. Now, I try not to be possessive... but, we're a small Christian school in a tough economy. Those markers need to last me through the end of the year. And seriously? DO NOT MESS WITH ENGLISH TEACHERS AND OUR WRITING UTENSILS! (Okay, a little possessive.)

So, I walk into my classroom this morning, and the first thing I see is a board full of game plans from Friday night's game. Then I see that my beloved chair is not behind my desk. And on the floor, at the foot of my desk... is a pair of boys' underwear. Oh, correction - boys' compression shorts. Big difference! Some teenage boy's nasty, sweaty, basketball behind was in that clothing item that is currently resting on my floor! By my desk!

Naturally, I drowned my stress in verse.

Limerick #1
There once was a basketball boy
Who thought to fill my morning with joy.
So, the game being o'er,
He left his drawers on my floor.
Upon seeing them today, I exclaimed "Oy!"

Limerick #2
There once was a young female teacher
Who cheered on her kids from the bleacher.
Little did she know
One would bestow
His garmets where they almost could reach her.

.
Did I share these with my classes today? Obviously. Did the students love them? Obviously. Did they love even more the fact that someone's underwear compression shorts were left by my desk? Yes, yes they did.

Several of my junior boys on the team postulated various underclassmen as the offenders, but I assured them that I had no desire to discover the owner's identity. In the end, the athletic director donned some gloves and removed the item from my room, with the same precaution that one would handle, say, a lone opossum in one's apartment.

recent obsessions

1. coconut.

I made chocolate chip cookies with coconut and oatmeal - super yummy. Then I found a recipe for Samoa Cupcakes. Wowza.

My recipe here & original recipe here.

I also just found a recipe for homemade Samoas... and I will be trying those soon.

2. prison break

Oh no. I never had any desire to watch this show. Doug started watching it on Netflix... and I am hooked.

3. the bachelor

I've actually watched almost all of this season of The Bachelor, after having only seen 1 or 2 episodes in my life. It's addicting in a really sad way. I can't believe that people really sign up for this. I'm not nearly as interested in the show since crazy Michelle got kicked off, though.

4. mandi mapes

Seriously? If you haven't purchased her album yet, you really need to. Her voice is amazing & her lyrics are wonderful.

5. classical music

As a teenager, I was always annoyed when my mom had classical music playing in the car. Last Monday was the first day of school after break, and it was a long, crazy day. On my way home, I randomly flipped to a classical station... and I've done it every day since then on the way home from work. Plus, I had the revelation that before my mom had a cell phone, her 45-minute commute was the only time she was safe from her crazy children. But now she has a cell phone. So, Mom, you can run, but you can't hide.

6. the elliptical

Doug and I had a gym membership our first year of marriage, and I went like... once or twice a month. Yeah, we were those people. When we moved into our new house, we decided to try another gym membership. Confession: I've always viewed "gym people" kind of negatively. I'm not sure if it was growing up on a farm, or what... but I've always been annoyed with the concept of working out. So here's my public admission - I love "running" on an elliptical. LOVE it. I always feel awesome afterwards. Maybe someday I'll be able to say the same thing about running, but if my one season of cross country in high school is any indication, I doubt it.

For the record...

Things I am currently NOT obsessed with:

1. Snow. Don't get me wrong - it's incredibly beautiful when it frosts trees & sparkles in the sun... but... well... it's about that time.

2. Grading research papers. Get out of my life.

the day before today

Yesterday morning we were without power, which caused me a teensy bit of stress (perhaps a slight minimalization). Thankfully our alarm went off (at the wretched hour of 5:45am). I whined variations of "What am I going to do?! How am I going to shower?! My hair won't dry! How will I put on my makeup?!" and then Doug jumped up out of bed. I asked what he was doing and he said, "I'm going to get us some light."

At which point the power immediately came back on.

At which point I obviously screeched and laughed and said something about Doug being a miracle worker.

(And then the power went back off 2 minutes later. Bummer.)