For Immediate Release: The Highly Anticipated Second Video Hit
Later today, I'll be guest posting over at Karl's place. Mr. BBM, Big I, and I practically pulled an all-nighter to get it done on time. So later today you'll want to check back for a list of FAQ' s about the video and the link to the post where you'll find the triumphant (I hope) return of the lip syncing fool.
(I guess posting this means I actually have to follow through and post it later. Lord help us all.)
Anyone have a guess which song I chose?
Starting Again and a New Gig
Filed under: Back in the Classroom, Fantasy Football, Shameless Promo, Weblogs
Today was my first day back on campus. I started bright and early at 8 a.m. and like last fall, most of my students were already in their seats when I arrived at 7:55 a.m. My first class is all freshman and they came sleepy-eyed and semi-excited, but with a good deal of cautiousness as well.
I thought things were going great and then I asked if there were any questions and one of my students shot her hand straight up in the air.
“I live really far away,” she said, “so if someone dies or something at home, I won’t be here for a couple days.”
The other students looked around uncomfortably. Truly this was a weird “question” to have.
“Well,” I said, “it’s kind of a bad idea to start planning excuses to miss class and/or deaths to miss class on the first day of class. How about we just play it by ear and see what happens?”
Her face flushed a little bit and everyone chuckled a bit. I didn’t mean to call her out but what was I supposed to say? “Well, if someone dies, then by all means, miss as much class as you want.”
I mean seriously. Already we’re starting with the one dead grandparent per semester. The first day? Really?
My speech class arrived next and they seemed like an interesting and fun group right from the start. We did a silly getting-to-know-each-other activity and one of my new students stood up and demonstrated the oddities about his body. He showed us what ribs look like when you break them and don’t get them reset. One word: weird.
He showed us how he doesn’t have muscle up in his left pec area and when he pounded on it, he sounded almost hollow. Stranger yet.
He also showed us that he can throw his knee completely out, and then he proceeded to hop in a circle almost completely around his now-thrown-out-kneed leg. Having recovered from an ACL reconstruction and watching that much motion almost made me have to put my head between my knees and find a paper bag or something. Thank God he had jeans on when he did it or I would have been on the floor.
It is definitely going to be an interesting couple of months and not only for those reasons.
A friend of mine started a new blog called Bullsnballs. It’s not about bulls balls, so don’t be scared. It’s actually about sports and stocks, and yours truly happens to be writing a fantasy football column over there as well (to be debuting soon). Please go visit and say hello! Even if you have no interest in stocks and sports, you have to go just to see the design of the site, which was done by my fabulous designer as well. Feel free to link to him with reckless abandon.
And don’t forget to go vote for me today too! Please and thank you!
On NOT Bringing Back the 80’s
Today I visited campus to make copies galore and hunt for my new classroom location. I start teaching tomorrow at 8 a.m. and didn't want to have to find it while exhausted. I found my room and was very disappointed to see that I have chalk boards. Um, hello, it's 2009 and I wear black all the time. Last year I had white boards and loved it. I think I'm going to just have to teach off of Power Point this year or an overhead because chalk and I are not going to get along. What are the kids going to think when I scratch my nail on the board and vomit right there in the classroom?
My, my, we're off to a good start.
After spending an hour on campus, I took the girls to a couple clothing stores. We were trying to scope out the good ones for our school shopping excursion on Friday with my Mom. Big I has been bugging me to shop at "Justice for Girls" and I've been steering her to Gap, Gymboree and Children's Place instead. She tells me all the kids are wearing "Justice" and that the cool people wear it.
Dude, she's going to third grade. They are too young to be "cool." It's the year that, if she follows in my footsteps, I should cut her bangs really short, dress her in apples and stretch pants with hand prints on them and call it a day. I'm so not ready for "the cool kids wear it" crap.
We browsed through the aisles at Justice and all I could think about was Punky Brewster.
Except looking at Punky Brewster now, I realize she was not even as bad as Justice. Today's Punky, wearing Justice attire, would be like Punky on crack. Justice is just plain insane. There are fluorescent polo tops with attached hot pink ties around the neck, vests in obnoxious colors and jeans that look bedazzled from waist to toe. The colors are blinding and seizure inducing. The graphic t's are near unbearable; and I am so not planning on spending money in that store.
I allowed her to look around, and she pointed out some shirt that looked like a long sleeved white t-shirt underneath an electric blue halter top with silver glitter on it. I almost threw up right then and there. She asked me if I liked it and I said, "no," choosing instead to hold up and smile at a pale blue shirt with only pale blue on it. Very plain, classic, wearable, and not laughable.
Later, on our way to ju-jutsu, I asked her, "So Big I, would you like the clothes at Justice so much if the store was called 'Gymboree' instead?"
She thought for a minute or two and then said, "You know what Mommy? When I got in there, I didn't like it all that much. It kind of looks like rock star stuff, like a costume almost."
Oh Thank God.
On Friday, we're heading to the Gap outlet where I will happily spend money on normal jeans and cute t-shirts and sweaters.
Punky stayed in the 80's for a reason, a damn good one.
***If you're feeling clicky, please go vote for me because I totally don't look like Punky in my pictures.
Summer Serenade Winner
With a winning tally of 17-8, Karl of Secondhand Tryptophan is the Summer Serenade winner! I'll be in touch regarding your prize soon!
Thanks to both Karl and Adam for entering the contest and thanks to all of the voters as well!
Congratulations Karl!
The Time Suck That Is IKEA
Mr. BBM flew home Thursday night on the red-eye from California and I got a sitter for Friday afternoon and evening. Big dinner out? Romantic night at home?
Not quite.
We went to IKEA.
We arrived at IKEA around 2:30 p.m. and I figured we'd be home in plenty of time to meet our friends at Happy Hour at 6 p.m.
When 6 p.m. rolled around, we were sitting in the cafeteria at IKEA, nursing two very grumpy attitudes because we had still not decided on what we were getting.
Despite the fact that I had spent hours measuring the playroom/office/extra guest room, despite the fact that I had spent the entire morning on the IKEA room planner website, we were still undecided. Mr. BBM and I made it our mission to make the IKEA experience a bit more real. So instead of a beautiful display room featuring only furniture that looked like it was lived in, we made sure it was more realistic as we sat on the sofa's and argued over what we were going to get and how much we were going to spend.
Once Mr. BBM had some food in his stomach, however, his mood changed and we were on a roll. . . literally.
If you've been to IKEA for larger items, then you know that IKEA believes in making their carts with four wheels that spin 360 degrees to mess with people. When you load those carts up with mounds of bookshelves, desk legs, desk tops and extender shelves, you've got one serious challenge on your hands.
I couldn't stop cracking up laughing at Mr. BBM whose cart only seemed to want to go left; and then he couldn't stop laughing at me and telling me how ridiculous I looked trying to push the cart at a reasonable speed and then slow up before running someone over with about 500 lbs. of bookshelves. It's not easy. You basically have to pretend you're a stubborn dog and straighten your legs and decide you won't move. Sometimes you move anyway.
The biggest joke of the night was that we were at about twice what we had budgeted and Mr. BBM held up the window squeegee that he had grabbed at the price of $1 and said he thought we should put it back to save money.
After getting through self-checkout (Seriously, IKEA? Cheap much?), we made it into the elevators and down to the parking garage only to argue for a good 30 minutes about how to load the van.
Me: You're going to have to pull the center seat out.
Mr. BBM: I can't. It won't come out.
Me: Well, it does so it's going to have to come out if we're going to get this stuff home.
Mr. BBM: Well it doesn't COME out.
Me: (Mumbles under breath and proceeds to pull the center seat out in exactly 10 seconds.) Then I'll do it. Freaking men.
Mr. BBM: Well it wouldn't come out for me.
Me: Whatever.
He then realized the Tetris master that I am and allowed me to direct how we were going to get the rest of the stuff in the car. We drove about 10 mph around corners and said silent prayers the whole way home that our tires wouldn't completely blow out on the way home since we knew we had exceeded the weight limit by about a ton.
After spending the ENTIRE day on Saturday building, including removing all the baseboard trim from one entire wall, we finished up last night around midnight, hidden cabinet lighting included.
Tomorrow, Mr. BBM has to go back to IKEA to return cabinet lights that didn't work and exchange them for more cabinet doors which we decided are a must have for the lower kid-friendly shelves.
I did not know that putting in a built-in type bookshelf look in the extra room would result in a major and massive reorganization of the entire house, but it did.
Tonight, Lil C's room is completely organized. Weebles are with weebles and trains are with trains. Most importantly, all her dirty clothes that she stashed in the back of her closet is now in the laundry. It feels good to get organized. It feels even better to know that Idon't have to return to the time suck that is IKEA for a very long time.
***Over the weekend, my Love your Body entry got a #2 on it. I was in the top 50 the last time I looked and that is largely because of you, my awesome readers and voters. Please continue to click here and vote for me until the contest ends. You can vote once per day! Thanks so much!!!
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