Last week, I. . .

1. Antagonized my cat:
That is Jubjub unsuccessfully attempting to get into the second upstairs bedroom (a.k.a. The New Room). The guest room downstairs is a "cat-free zone" in deference to our houseguests with cat allergies and after the upstairs remodel, Paul and I starting keeping the door closed on the New Room as well. The upstairs was never as cool as the downstairs last summer with the new A/C so this summer, we wanted to open the door to increase air flow but still keep the cat out. So, we purchased two baby gates and put them up on the bedroom door. Jub stays out, upstairs cools off. (In the picture, Jub is sitting on some throw pillows that Paul had put along the bottom of the bottom gate in an attempt to thwart Jub's very persistent tries to get under the gate.)

2. Went to Texas where it was HOT. Triple-digit hot. And WINDY. But I enjoyed the short visit (Tues-Thur) with my grandparents in Amarillo and Sunray as well as Amy, Abigail, and Benjamin. I made this very quick visit because Summer School starts on Monday and I'll be tied up with that (minus our two-week vacation) until July 22. Hopefully I'll be able to make a longer visit at the end of July. And hopefully, it won't be 101 degrees when I'm there.

3. Drove home in a 45-55 mph headwind. But it wasn't a straight headwind--the wind was pretty much at the front quarter panel on the driver's side which we've discovered is the exact location needed with a strong wind to make the windshield wipers vibrate on the Subaru. Which they did. FOR FIVE HOURS. It was pretty much a solid high-pitch squeal for the first 30 minutes or so. After that, it was more intermittent--say every 30 seconds or so. Such driving conditions are one of the few times I really don't like my car. Oh, and when I got home, it was 68 degrees in ABQ.

4. Actually finished a honey-do project with Paul without arguing (much) and without spending an additional two (or more) hours on the project. We had to put stucco on some cracks on the back of our house under the living room windows. It's not that the cracks haven't been there for a while--my husband finally happened to notice and decide to do something. I'd mentioned it last summer but it fell on deaf ears--everything in it's own time. The back of our house faces west and our stucco has faded more than we realized over the past eight years. But we agreed that we could live with the end results (which is good because I'm not sure what we would do if it looked REALLY bad).

5. Started my first real knitting project. I'm currently working on a scarf for myself. I managed to successfully cast off my practice piece AND cast on the new project all by myself. My coworker had given me the basic instructions in April but at the end of the year, we didn't have a chance to sit down and work on my knitting. I bought the Klutz Knitting Book at the spring book fair--the instructions are very straight-forward and illlustrated. That is how I figured out the whole cast off/on thing again. I'm a quarter of the way finished and everyone in the family can probably expect a scarf in their stocking at Christmas. Now, family that just read that, remember to act surprised.

Summer school starts tomorrow. It's at my school so I agreed to to it and share the position with another librarian. I'm going to do afternoons next week except for Friday when I'll work all day. The next week, I'll only work Monday and Tuesday and we leave on Thursday for a little trip we're taking. After I get home, I'll work two weeks and the other librarian and I will split the remaining time. It shouldn't be too bad. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Why, yes, we do realize we're dorks

Donna sent me this lolcat:


see more crazy cat pics

When Paul and I got to the back of the church as a newly-minted married couple, we did our own Wonder Twins routine, touching wedding rings and exclaiming, "Wonder Twin powers, activate! Form of a married couple! Form of Paul & Carrie!" because we're nerdy like that. Hey, if Grape Ape or Hong Kong Phooey or Captain Caveman had had some cool slogan involving rings, we would have been doing that back there. There have been many many times in the past 8 1/2 years that I've been thankful we don't have the Wonder Twin telepathic powers--it's just better that Paul wasn't reading my mind although I'm fairly certain he knew *exactly* what I was thinking.

And I'll take Jub over Gleek any day. He's enough comic relief and not nearly as troublesome as a blue space monkey might be.

Finally getting around to that resolution from 2006

We had another round of Secret Pals at school that ended with the big breakfast and final gift-giving this morning. Even though I'm in charge of organizing this, I honestly had no idea who had my name. I have another person helping me who assigns my name and even though we keep a master list, I put it away and don't look at it so I can't see who's name is blank. And thankfully, I have the attention span of a gnat so I usually forget who is even participating.

The info sheet contains all the usual questions--favorite color, music, general interests. I received all kinds of neat things from my secret pal during the past month--a Starbucks Chai Latte one afternoon, peanut M&M's and a People magazine during testing, a small bouquet of gerbera daisies, more chocolate. On the bottom is the question "Anything else?" I'd written that I keep thinking I should learn to knit. As soon as I saw my final gift I knew exactly who had been my secret pal. My final gift was nice knitting needles, a skein of yarn, and a note that if I wasn't joking, she'll teach me how to knit and already knows what she's going to assign as my first project. There wasn't time to start today but when we get back to school after Spring Break, I'm going to have my knitting lessons.

I can hardly wait.

And speaking of work, here is a little glimpse into my office. Here are the pictures I have on my desk: This picture of Paul was taken when we were on a cruise in 2004. This was his best attempt to look like a goofy tourist. I think he succeeded.
This picture of a teeny Jub was taken shortly after I got him. He still has blue eyes here--according to the vet, Jub was probably only a month old when I got him. I'm not sure what the thing directly behind him was but for comparison, the pillow is 12" square.
This is a picture from the ones we had taken last October. We gave this print to our siblings and as wallets. I normally dislike profile pictures of me but I liked that Paul's laughing and I like our hands so those trumped my self-consciousness about my nose. and this one made the cut.

I promise I haven't forgotten about this place

I don't know if it's a case of the don't wannas or what that's keeping me from writing. I've been busy but not *that* busy in the evenings. I have had a case of the sniffles but it's not been too bad--it's mostly made me have an overwhelming desire to determine the comfiest napping position on the new couch. After a short disagreement with Paul on Sunday, the cat has decided to start speaking to us again and he's right there with me in determining the coziness factor of the couch.

Paul is traveling quite a bit again. Currently, he's in Nashville for a contract review on what is his second trip of this very new year. Next week, he'll be at Berkeley for testing. I believe he has mentioned a fourth trip in early February. I think he's got the same cold I have but unfortunately, he's not able to join me and the kitty in our supreme laziness. We've discussed taking a short trips in the next couple of months but if he's traveling this much, I doubt we'll take those trips. We are planning a two-week trip to the U.K. in June, God-willing and the creek don't rise. I'll settle for just that trip if Paul's able to make it. I've told him that he has to let me know before the first part of April if he plans to bail so we'll be able to change the name on the ticket to someone else. I don't think he will bail but I've already had several offers for stand-ins--I've debated making it an essay contest to determine who would be Paul's stand-in should the occasion arise.

I have finally uploaded all the Christmas pictures--I'm always impressed/amazed with the volume of pictures Paul takes. But that is what photographers say to do--snap away and get rid of the ones that aren't good. The problem is Paul thinks all his pictures are good. . . I'll put some of my favorites up soon--there are some fun ones from our get-togethers with our families. Here's a teaser of what's to come:

In Jub's stocking this year, there was a little mouse that can be filled with catnip (woo!) and this mouse on a string. Because we're classy like that, we twist-tied the end of the string to the back of a dining room chair. Jub's method of attack is to lay in the other chair and whack at the mouse as it swings by. My cat is incredibly lazy with his playing. He's definitely not a mouser--that would require too much energy. (And in another classy decorating touch, we have old towels on the dining room chairs and upholstered chairs to try to save them from Jub and his fur. I try to remember to remove them before we have guests over.)

And I also finally got a frame for our portrait from our photography session in October (which also produced our Christmas card and several Christmas present portraits). It's an odd size portrait--10x10--and I was feeling cheap about how much it would cost to have it framed here in town. Using The Google, I found several places that do custom-sized frames for much, much less than what I'd pay here in town. I love a good bargain and was thrilled that it was only $50-ish with shipping for the mat, frame, mounting board, and UV-protected acrylic, all archival gallery quality. Go Me! (and go framedestination.com). Even though I can hang the picture, I'll probably keep it on the mantel with an easel. I've posted our wedding picture on this place before--it's one of my favorites from our wedding. My absolute favorite wedding picture is the one of us snapped as we were walking back down the aisle and we're both grinning from ear to ear. We didn't get the cropping quite right on this portrait--it was supposed to be more middle of my forehead and less of Paul's chin. While we were talking with the photographer, she showed us several different cropping ideas and we didn't get it back to the original one. I think this one is still good, though.

Finally, four days in Kansas in December and this week's cold weather has once again convinced me that I can never live where it's really cold for extended periods of time. Say, for example, Winter. I get whiny when the temperature dips to 65 degrees, cranky at 45 degrees, and down-right mean at 25 degrees. I just don't do cold--I need between 65 and 85 degrees with a moderate humidity level, say 40%. Then I'm a happy camper. Unfortunately, the temperature will be hanging at that mean mark for the rest of this week. If the meteorologists get it right, it is supposed to be about 12 when I leave for work tomorrow with wind chill in the single digits. I would like a Cold Day--just let me stay home until it warms up so I don't have to go outside at all. Just stay in my comfy spot on the couch with my slippers and blanket until mid-March or so. Basically, I need to hibernate.

Day 27: Three Days Left

I can do this. Just four more posts and then I can stare at the computer and not post if I decide I don't have anything to write about. Like today.

I was going to write something spectacular--I was thinking of doing another list of 33 more fascinating/fun/interesting things about me. But I've taken a rotten headache and could only come up with two.

1. I drive a Subaru Forester. I have no idea why I thought that would be a good car because I'd never ridden in a Subaru and only knew two people who owned them when we bought the car almost four years ago. I totally {heart} my car. It's not fancy or flashy or anything but it's the perfect "Carrie car." I talked it up so much, one of my coworkers decided to test drive one and he and his wife also bought a Forester.

2. I really, really dislike when people misuse the word "y'all" in speech or writing. Oh, and I really, really, really dislike when they misspell it. I think that's more theEnglish teacher in me rather than the Texan I am. It's a contraction of you all, people. It's just like is not becomes isn't and the appostrophe replaces the omitted letter.

Eh. Here's a random picture for today. Amy was a freshman and I was a sophomore at Tech and we'd gone to Lewisville to visit Donna one weekend during bluebonnet season. We had to stop to take a picture:

I still didn't have heat today--it hovered in the 50's in the library all day. The sun was shining today so it did warm up a hair--from 50 to almost 58. I had classes scheduled (they didn't stick around long) and students coming from classes to use the computers for work so I couldn't escape much. I love the coworkers who come in, recognize that it's cold, see me in my coat and gloves and then ask why I don't turn up the heater. I couldn't think of anything clever to quip back so mostly I just stared at them.

I did go to Target during the lunch break to warm up. I figured I could sit in the office or go shopping. Shopping won. My principal called maintanence again to tell them that this is unacceptable. Obviously that didn't light any fires under them. Hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow. The book fair is being delivered tomorrow and I'd hoped to set it up on Thursday for a sneak peek on Friday. I guess I can do that with no heat--it will just be a chilly sneak peek.

Here are two links that were shared with me today:

Greenpeace is naming to a pack of humpback whales. You can guess which one we voted for (it also happens to be the one in the lead).

Another teacher shared this one with me. Paul doesn't like to play word games or trivia games with me because I spend too much time doing stuff like this. But at least my newfound useless knowledge was gained for the good of the world.

Day 26: More Random Things

The picture of the cat is totally unrelated to anything I might post about today. It's a picture from one of the holiday parties we hosted last year. I wanted to post a picture and I haven't gone through the pictures from Thanksgiving yet.

Last week before we left for break, I told the secretary that my heater didn't seem to be working. We had a very slim hope that it would be fixed Wednesday, especially since there were the predictions for cold and snow. The former didn't happen but the latter definitely did.

Today, it was about 5o degrees in my library all day. I told the secretary that I was going to stay in the office until I got in trouble for loitering. I spent most of the day doing work in the library for an hour or so and going into the main office to warm up. The principal came into the library during 3rd period to make copies in the workroom. When I'd mentioned during 1st that the library was cold, she thought I meant it was cold because I'd turned down the heater over the break not "Holy cow, it's freezing in here! Why is there no heat?" cold. She put in a service call directly rather than the remake the request via computer. It didn't make any service people miraculously appear but it made us both feel a little better. Not any warmer but at least she understood the reason I was just hanging out.

That's about the extent of my day and brain power today. I should have gone to the gym but I didn't. I do need to go to the grocery store because there's no food in the house aside from a vast assortment of crackers. Paul and I are both snackers and crackers fill the bill. We're cracker snackers. HA! There are honestly seven types of crackers in our pantry although none of those are saltines. Strange.

And finally, our new heater at home works fabulously (which is great since I was frozen by the time I got home). It's very quiet as well. Two thumbs up for that home investment.

Day 18: An Assorted Post

1. I spent the better part of the afternoon addressing envelopes for our Christmas cards with the intention of getting them in the mail when we get home from Thanksgiving in Texas. We opted to go with photo cards this year--our smiling faces will greet everyone opening the envelope this year. And there will be a lot of them. We could order 50, which isn't quite enough or 100, which means everyone and their dog will be getting them with plenty left over for the mailman, the trainer, the hairdresser, a coworker or two.

2. Texas Tech beat Oklahoma yesterday evening. Woohoo! Always nice to end the season with a win, especially when the other team is highly ranked and has annoyingly conceited fans like OU does. I will be wearing one of my Tech shirts to school tomorrow and making certain to chat with my coworker who is an OU alum who always asks me if I went to Texas (nevermind the two Tech things on my car, my Tech purse, my Tech t-shirts, my trips to Lubbock for Tech football games). This is the same coworker, who after 8 years of working together, still does not spell my name correctly. She's irritating like that. I'll have to ask if she went to OSU.

2a. And Donna, never never never text the final score of a game to someone unless specifially requested. :) We had DVRed the game and were just to the 4th quarter when I read your texts. I was trying to respond to the first when I got the second. Paul laughed because I was still worried both times OU scored.

3. Paul's mom and her siblings have moved his grandparents into an assisted living apartment. His grandmother was still in the hospital at the end of the week as the doctors regulate her medication. I really hope the weather holds over Christmas break so we can make a trip to Kansas. I'm not sure how many more chances we will have.

4. For some reason, I'm really excited about Christmas this year. I'm almost done with shopping--I only need to find something for Benjamin, Paul's dad, and a few more things for Paul. We plan on having our annual neighborhood party again this year and are thinking about hosting a holiday open house for our friends and coworkers. I've debated putting up the tree before we leave for Texas but Paul said that might be overkill. We do get home mid-morning on Sunday so I'll have plenty of time then.

5. It's harder than I expected to come up with something to write about every day. Twelve more days and I'm not sure I can muster posts about what's for lunch. Soon, I'll be reduced to writing the Ode to the Pudding Cup.

Day 10: Trouble

Them there's some pigeons. We've got another flock in the neighborhood. We haven't had any in a couple of years. Thankfully they haven't made there way over to our house as we no longer have the swamp cooler which, apparently, is a faboo housing choice for pigeons. Here's hoping they don't find their way across the street although it would give Paul a chance to try out the pigeon gun (which is a whole post in and of itself).

Someone's missing this

When I got home from the grocery store this morning, this was in one of my bags.

Fillet of Herring in Real Sour Cream. Blech. It could be great stuff but blech. As I have never had an overwhelming desire (or any kind of desire) to sample herring in real sour cream, I'm fairly certain the person in front of me at the check-out is now missing a portion of his/her purchase. When Paul saw it, he declared it the "Most Disgusting Looking Stuff Ever." I'm tempted to try it just because but Paul has vetoed the idea of even opening the jar. (And I was trying to think of some clever/witty joke about red herring but couldn't do so. Please feel free to do so yourself.)

And just in case you've ever been sitting around wondering just what, exactly, is in the refrigerator of Paul and Carrie, behold:

I know your life is a little more complete because you've seen this. We have an Amana bottom freezer and way too many condiments. When we purchased our fridge seven years ago, these were fairly new on the market. I wanted one because I remember my grandparents having one when I was a little girl and Gran loved it. Plus it does make more sense to me to have the fridge part on top. Paul wanted this refrigerator because he liked the commercial. It was something about eating more grapes because the grapes were where you could actually see them. He still doesn't eat the grapes.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I went shopping this afternoon to see if I could find any clothes for our upcoming trip to Hawaii. Have I mentioned we're going to Hawaii? Less than a month now. . . Anywho, we haven't been on a vacation in four years and so I haven't bought anything for summer in as many years. I have, like, three summer outfits. I'm honestly the worst dress person in the world during June and July. I think I only wore my workout clothes last summer. I don't even own many t-shirts that should be worn in public. As I'm not a shorts person, I usually were these terribly comfortable and terribly unflattering cotton drawstring pants from Target with the ugly, worn-out t-shirts. I'm a sight, really. My mother would be so proud.

All of that was to say that I went to Old Navy today to purchase some suitable-for-public t-shirts and capris or skirts. In the dressing room, one of the little helper people was showing me to my room and had to write my name on the white board on the outside of the door. Normally I spell my name but this time I didn't. So today at Old Navy I was "Keri" with the i dotted with a circle. I feel so much cuter now.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Further proof our cat wouldn't survive on his own in the great outdoors--I bought food for His Royal Highness today. As I was pouring the food into the plastic container where we keep the cat food, a few pieces of food fell on the floor. Jubjub walked over to the food, sniffed it, and walked away. Apparently, he is too good to eat off the floor. (He does this with food from his dish as well--he's a messy eater but he won't eat any of the stuff he drops on the floor.) I'm sure I did something to make him this way but good grief, that cat is spoiled.

Projects

I ordered one of these last fall with our last name (um, duh) and recently decided to get all decorator-y and hang up family pictures around it (combining what Paul says are two of my favorite things--pictures and putting holes in the walls). There are two single-matted frames, two double-matted frames and one triple-matted frame. It was hard to narrow it down to just nine photos--I'd still like pictures of us as children, ones of our nephews since we selected some with our nieces, maybe one with Paul's brother. Paul said we could always rotate these pictures out. I thought we could just add a few more frames (you know, to put a few more holes in the wall). I'm thinking two or three more on either side of the ones I now have hanging. Maybe do 5x7's or even go crazy with the 8x10's. Dunno.... Anywho, these were copied into 4x6 black and whites and framed in black with white mats. For family/those who have been to the house, I've hung these on the hallway wall just opposite the kitchen. (It's a hard place to get a decent photo because of the angle--just use your imagination).

A "classic"--Paul and Jeff ham it up after Alan and Julie's wedding. This picture is totally staged--neither of them sing or play a musical instrument.
From our trip to CA last March. This is one of my favorite pictures of Paul because he's really smiling which is hard to get him to do when there is a camera around.
I like this picture from Abigail's first birthday because it's the women in my family--from left it's Grandmother, cousin Emily, me, Mom, Gran, Donna, and Amy. The birthday girl (who's 4th birthday was Wednesday) is on the table, sticking her foot in the cake. Yum.
In Lubbock on the Texas Tech campus--in front of the statue of Will Rogers and Soapsuds on a football game day. (For those non-Techsans, the statue is always wrapped in red crepe paper before every home football game. And the rear-end of the statue supposedly angles toward Texas A&M. Because we hate the Aggies.)
Of course I had to include a picture of this guy.
A favorite picture of an 8-month-old Abigail--it always makes me laugh.
My parents at the 2000 Balloon Fiesta--the hat over my Dad's shoulder belongs to Paul. (I think I'm going to trade this picture out for one take more recently--the one of you and Dad on the cruise, Mom.)
Paul's grandmother and our niece Sarah at the 70th wedding anniversary celebration last June (we could also call this one "what Sarah will look like in 87 years").
Paul's parents in Austria with the church choir a few years ago. Paul asked them to bring him back a boomerang--I think they thought he was seriously confusing Australia and Austria.

My other project (well, one of many but the one started today) is taking down the doors on the cabinets above the stove/microwave to create a bookshelf for my cookbooks. We'll have to get Paul's dad over to help us, though. The center bar was both screwed in and glued in. We don't want to damage it in case we need/want to put it all back together some day. So, it's FIL to the rescue.

Next up, finally put on the knobs and pulls we bought for the cabinets, oh, two years ago. We definitely cannot be accused of getting in a hurry about projects. Also in the queue, I had enough fabric leftover from the dining room chair project so I'm going to sew a cushion for the bench by the front door. And maybe, finally, do the window covering project I've been mulling over for a while. I'm also on the lookout for new bedding for the guest room, which I've been updating a bit because that repainting project I did when Paul was out of town? Yeah, it didn't work. It was a cheap, cheap, cheap side table I was painting so it's not a real loss. Last weekend, I bought a new side table, which lead to some new accessories, which eventually result in new bedding.

After my recent guest room shopping spree (which really wasn't a "spree"--more like a "sp"), Paul asked if I'm OK--I think he's worried that this recent burst of activity is because I'm feeling blue again. I'm not. Although the recent worry/stress in life has caused interesting dreams, I'm actually feeling good. I'm happy. Some days are better than others for Paul and me but I think that's typical for any marriage (heck, any relationship). But I'm not needing to keep busy because I've got the overwhelmed feelings of last fall. It's just a burst of energy to get some stuff done around the house. I could probably sit on the couch for a few minutes and it would completely pass. But, darn it, I finally want to get those knobs on my cabinet doors.

More dream wackiness

In addition to the stress and worry I've been feeling as a result of things surrounding Paul's company, I've been a bit under the weather the past few days. Yesterday was nothing but craptastic (felt crummy, was annoyed by several coworkers before 8:00, started the day off with a long (2 hours) staff meeting/inservice) and by 11:00, it was pretty much confirmed that I just needed to go home and start the day over.

All of this was projected into wacky sleeping behavior and odd dreams last night. The strangest thing last night was that when I roused up around 11:30, I decided I should be wearing a sports bra. Not something I normally do when sleeping but last night, I managed to not only find one but I also put it on correctly. While still asleep. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with my asleep self--I can't always get a sports bra on correctly when I'm awake.

As for the actual dream part--well, even I can determine the meaning behind it. I'm the yearbook advisor and yesterday morning, I was visited by the yearbook rep. He had a payment plan for me to sign. It seems that we hadn't paid our bill for last year's yearbook (to the sum of about $8000). For whatever reason, our bookkeeper is always late in paying the bill. The 2005 book wasn't paid until August 2006. Frustrating but there isn't much I can do but keep handing her the bills and giving her the deposits. The principal was in the library when the rep. was there. I introduced them and gave the principal a quick overview of the situation. I was then called away by my student aide who needed help. Later in the morning, the principal came over with the bill showing the 2005 and 2006 amounts (about $14,000) and informed me that there is only about $1100 in the account. Knowing that I have sold about 300 yearbooks at $30 each for the past two years (last year, we sold out of yearbooks ordered--about 450 which includes the 150 or so preordered ones), I think there should be MUCH more money in the yearbook account. Definitely enough to cover the bills for the past two years. I don't know what kind of shady accounting has been taking place, and I'm not accusing the bookkeeper of doing anything, but it seems that she might have been moving money around and out of my account. I've been informed that I am to give any yearbook deposits and any more bills that come in directly to the principal. Completely bypass the bookkeeper and give them to her. (It was easy to see that the principal was both perplexed and irritated by the whole situation.) Last night's dream involved me walking outside, seeing a bunch of people staring at a huge black cloud. Lightning was coming out of the cloud and was starting small fires that then started burning out of control.

Yep. A little stressed.

I hate to admit that she might have been right...

Apparently, my older sister was on to something so many years ago. Who knew the dangers of 60 watt bulbs? But since my Christmas wishes where thwarted once again, I don't need to worry about this particular safety recall.

Toasty

While we haven't been as cold as parts of the country, this recent bout of winter has definitely made me long for the warmer days of spring. Or even temperatures in the more moderate normal winter range. Because it's hard to argue when the normal temperature for January is 45. This below-freezing and snowy stuff is for the birds.

I think I found the solution to my chilly woes. And paired with one of these.* With all that fluff and fur, I'd never be cold again.

Growing up, my sisters and I would beg our parents for something from the Overland Sheepskin Co. We would stop at the store on family ski trips to Taos but our pleading, begging, and whining was always in vain. Each stop always resulted in us leaving empty-handed. When my oldest nephew was born some 15 years ago, my dad bought a pair of shearling booties for Preston to enjoy while in the 0-3 month range. That purchase caused my younger sister and I to flounce as only teenaged girls can flounce. We huffed, we puffed, we pouted, we glared, we gave the silent treatment. It was all in vain as nary a shearling scrap was purchased for us. I think we're both still a little bitter about that.

Fifteen years later, I decided there are some advantages to being a grown-up:

Being able to buy my own sheepskin slippers and have warm toes is just one of them.

*And I actually own a shearling hat but it doesn't include any large fur cuff. It is much more understated bucket hat. Very unflashy.

And now we know what I'd sound like describing the tornado that came through the trailer park

I happened to turn on the television around 7:30 this morning, hoping to catch the day's weather before leaving for work only to see my place of employment in the live report. There was a broken water main in front of the school this morning. Apparently, it was a slow news day here in ABQ because one local news stations was next to the burbling mess throughout their morning broadcast. The other two stations and a Spanish new station were there at noon.

Because the water was freezing and generally causing problems, through traffic was blocked off on the road in front of the school. I would have been able to drive past the road block and park in the staff parking lot but just as I was pulling up to the intersection, an older gentleman pulled up, got out of his car, and started chatting up the police officers. Instead, I went around to a back street, parking across from the school and on the same street as the news broadcast. As another teacher and I were walking up the street, I joked with the newscaster about jumping around in the back of her shot--"woo! we're your kids' teachers! woo!" She laughed and after confirming that I was, indeed, a teacher, asked if I would mind being interviewed.

And that is how I ended up on the local news this evening, describing the gushing water flow in front of the school. Paul asked if I managed to include the word "y'all" in my 5 second clip. Happily enough (but probably more surprisingly), there was not one use of that word and as I was able to avoid the use of the long I sound and most gerunds including the ever-popular "fixin'" while describing water, I didn't even sound too terribly hick/Texan. However, I could have used a bit more blush this morning and my coat makes my hair do this weird thing in the back that I didn't know about until I saw myself on TV.

My friend Devlyn left a message for me that her mother had called her when the report was airing at 5:00, letting me know she recorded my fleeting bit of fame. Paul and I caught it at 6:00 (and also recorded it because we're dorks like that). If it didn't have all kinds of identifiers about me (last name, school name) that I'm not willing to divulge to the blogging world, I'd share it here. But since it does, everyone here will just have to imagine the dorkiness that was my brief moment in the spotlight.

Thursday update: I had an email this morning from another friend who saw me on the news last night. Two teachers stopped me when I arrived at school to let me know they'd seen it. Another teacher recorded the bit and showed it this morning at our staff meeting. My five seconds has now stretched to 5 minutes of celebrity.

Doom Buggy

Or perhaps I should call this post "Something's been bugging me..."

Yes, I realize that I sometimes find myself funnier than others do but as Paul often says to me, just because you're not laughing doesn't mean it wasn't funny.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was watering the plants in the backyard, I discovered this big fellow. Thankfully, it didn't jump because the little grasshoppers make me hurt myself trying to get away. I probably would have needed medical attention if this one had moved.


I wanted a size comparison but it was with great trepidition that I put the sprayer beside that thing.

One of those things in life we'll never understand

We came across this after the Royals/Rangers game in Kansas City. Yes, it's microwave oven left inexplicibly in the parking lot with no electricity to be found.



It looks quite a bit like the first mammoth microwave my family had in the mid-80's.

Summer