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.

Absolutely pooped

Today was the first day back at school after the three week break. Twenty-three days off thanks to those three snow days and the weekend. I am positively exhausted. Tired enough that I'm seriously debating going to bed at 8:30. That bedtime would probably mean I'd wake up about 4:30, unable to go back to sleep but not wanting to get out of bed yet.

Just four more days and another long weekend with a chance to sleep in again.

The year in review

Here is the list of things I hoped to accomplish in 2006--you know, back before all hell broke loose and I was ready to run away from home. Honestly, the first half of the year wasn't too bad. I was happily pretending to be busy at work, Paul was busy with work, we took a little trip to CA, and life carried on. It wasn't until summer found me with too much time on my hands and that carried over into my work in August that I really hit that rock bottom. Thankfully, I recognized the need for help and sought it out. Even better was Paul's support in that decision and his willingness to help me be better and our work together to get things back on track.

But let's see what I was optimistically planning to do in 2006:
1. Learn to make a really good marinara. No but I did *eat* some very good marinara. That should count for something. I like the red sauce I make and Paul eats it without complaint. And I'm still trying to get our Italian neighbor to divulge her secret recipe with me.

2. And while I'm in the kitchen, I'd like to master one or two more recipes. Didn't do too badly in this one. While I haven't mastered the recipes, there are a few new things that I do make now (although it is often easier to just fix baked chicken for dinner. Again.).

3. Sign up for dance classes. This didn't happen in 2006 but it will in 2007 because we got a gift certificate for dance lessons at an auction. It's only 4 or 5 lessons but hopefully it will be enough to teach us more than the "high school sway" and help us learn to compensate for the terrible awkwardness our one-foot height difference creates.

4. Find a swimsuit I like. Eh. I'm not sure I'll ever be 100% comfortable in a swimsuit (and this year I didn't have a reason to even wear one). I did buy a new swimsuit that I like well enough that fits well enough. Since we'll be in Hawaii and Jamaica later this year, I'll keep trying in this one.

5. Have a book or two in the queue so I'm never without something to read. I think I did pretty well with this one--56 books started (I dropped two or three after a few chapters) and lots of magazines, catalogs, cereal boxes, owner's manuals, etc. I'm working on a list for 2007 and have a stack of books I pulled from my library waiting for me when school starts on Monday.

6. Finally figure out the International Date Line. Yeah, I've decided that this might just have to be one of life's great mysteries for me.

7. Get a passport. No, but it's on the list for 2007 because we'll have to have them when we go to Jamaica.

8. Mop more often. Or hire someone to come do it for us. Finally, one I did do. And Paul even put down "Hire Merry Maids or someone" on his list for 2007. It's probably a true mark of laziness when we're too lazy to call to have someone come clean our house.

9. Take more pictures. I should say "Take more pictures of things other than the cat." Lots of pictures of the cat but we were better about taking pictures of the "moments of our lives" too.

10. Be better about keeping in touch with friends I've got and be better about putting myself out there in making new ones. Yes and no. Our address book hasn't been inundated with the names and numbers of new friends but I did do a better-ish job of keeping in touch with friends.

11. Learn to knit. Nope. Still staring at that learn-to-knit kit I bought. It's been moved from the guest room to the living room and back several times. I still want to learn to knit--I think I need someone show me how to cast on. That was the trouble I was having when I have tried to knit (and it's a pretty big part of knitting).

12. Organize the past 6 years worth of photographs that are in a variety of boxes around the house. This one I did manage to do. Sorted, filed, organized thanks to Amy making me buy a big scrapbooking thing to do it. And then taking me to a scrapbooking crop with her. They cropped, I organized. Maybe soon, I'll do the photo album thing.

13. Clean out our closets that closely resemble Fibber McGee's. I have fully accepted that as long as I have a Paul in my life, I will have messy closets as well. But I did manage to sort/clean/organize the storage closet under the stairs, my closet and the closet in the guest room. His closet and the closet in the new room with all his stuff, despite my best-laid plans, are still stacked with treasures. And his trombone from 20+ years ago.

And it's a good thing too because I really need a nap

School was supposed to start back today after an already-long (but who's complaining) Winter Break. Mother Nature had other ideas with the recent snowfall. I told Paul on Monday that I wouldn't be surprised if we had a late start day today--just give everyone a little bit longer to navigate the still snow-packed side roads on their way to school and work. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear yesterday evening that school had been cancelled today. Of course, when we have to go that extra day in May, I won't be as happy. But today, it is good.

Probably my favorite picture of all from Christmas taken by my sister Amy. Click on the picture to enlarge it and fully appreciate the look on Abigail's face.

And it just dawned on me looking at this picture that my "normal" dance style and my Hoky Pokey are very similar.

Happy New Year!

We're starting 2007 off right--on the couch flipping between too many sporting events , movies on AMC and currently, the Rose Bowl Parade. When it's warmed up a bit, we'll tromp through the snow on our New Year's walk and eat our black-eyed peas with dinner tonight. The former is to get the year off on the right foot and the latter is because I've eaten black-eyed peas every year and I'd hate to consider what would happen if I didn't participate in that ages-old Southern tradition.

My only resolution this year is to work to make 2007 better than the year that just ended. I think it will be easy to do in some areas and in others, much, much harder. But it's definitely resolution enough.