Why Me?

Sick day. Again. Except this time I am really sick. Last time I was just a little bit sick. There are only three days left with students and I am sick. I haven't decided if I actually want to be there or if I am glad to be sick. I haven't decided if I should go to the doctor. I don't want to go to the doctor.

I have exciting news! John and I went to this cookout on Sunday with some girls we know from church. And at this cookout, we met like 15 people around our age and most of them are actually really cool. This is a breakthrough for us, as we have had extreme difficulty making friends here.

We went shopping, too. I got a new pair of sunglasses. Really psyched about those. I can actually see now when I'm outside. No more sun-induced headaches!

Queen of All Things

John's brother, Mark, moved to Ohio. Which means his cat, Alfie was placed into foster care with his former owner, John's mother for a month. She didn't want a third cat of course, so I asked my tutor if she would like a free pure-bred cat. Of course she said yes. I mean, who would say no to a free cat, pure-bred or not? Not me. So I took Alfie from John's mom's house in order to bring him to work with me the next day.

Well, this meant that Alfie (who is Rosa's full-blooded brother) had to spend a night at our house. Rosa practically had apoplexy over the ordeal. Rosa is queen of our home. She even has us trained to serve and spoil her, so it was only a natural reaction. However, Alfie is almost twice her size, weighing in at a full nine pounds compared to Rosa's five. Despite that fact, Alfie was intimidated by our dear Rosa, spoiled brat of the century. He spent the evening hiding from her. She spent the evening with her claws bared, guarding her territory.

That's all that's been happening in our household. Slow news day.

Of course.

I found a trick, I think, to making my curly hair look cute. At least for today. And we're even going to church, which means my hair doesn't look cute for nothing.

John's dog, which he's had since he was about ten/eleven, is dying. She's at the pet hospital right now, and probably will not make it.

I don't quite understand why humans have such a strong connection to pets, but I know it certainly does exist. If I even think about Rosa dying I tear up.

Tomorrow night, we will be having a little cookout at our place, which will probably end up being a celebration of the life of Sadie, John's second favorite female in all the world. The first female to cuddle with my Johnnie as he fell asleep each night. Thank you, Sadie, for watching out for him. I'll take over from here.

It just has to be this way.

I decided last week that I needed to take a sick day, so today was the day. It's a beautiful rainy day, perfect for reading. I've read a lot so far, watched three Nickelodeon cartoons, and spent an hour online. Not bad. Now I need to take a shower and return to the real world. Go grocery shopping. Do some laundry. And now, as it turns out, I'm starting to feel sick...

Like I seriously will throw up any second.

I have to call three doctors to schedule appointments for June, my month off. Yay :)

I wish I could go to the spa for the day and have them do all this stupid polishing, shaving, facial and hairdo crap for me. Man, I am getting sick of all that. And someone to do our flippin' laundry. It wouldn't be so bad except our water pressure completely sucks, which means you have to do one load every day, and not during shower times or dinner times. That's just not my preference. I would rather do it all at once.

There are butterflies in our house. At school, we get caterpillars and watch them metamorph (?) into butterflies. Since I was planning on staying home today, I figured it would be best to bring them home with me.

Butterflies are very blessed with beautiful wings, thank goodness, or else everyone would hate them. Their furry little bodies are kind of...frightening.

What's New?

We started recycling last weekend in honor of Earth Day. We recycled before, but now we are really, seriously recycling. It's kind of easy because we were given two of those big trash cans with wheels by the county, one for recyclables and one for trash. So on Earth Day, we went out and got a new trash can for our kitchen. A very small and very cute trash can with a flippy lid for our trash (not recyclables). And we still have our big trash can for our recyclables. It's amazing how much we can recycle. Since we don't have a garbage disposal, we can just throw our food and yucky stuff in the small trash can and throw it out every day or so, so that our kitchen doesn't get smelly and buggy.

I felt I should begin recycling because I taught the kids all about it and was beginning to feel a bit hypocritical. And you know what? It does feel kinda good to recycle :)

Other civil duties I've accomplished this week include writing to senators about education bills and writing to the newspaper about sea turtles. :) I know, it's a little weird.

"For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." -Psalm 139:13-14

Here's to all the women out there. You are beautiful. God doesn't make mistakes.

You may begin.

I'm beginning to study for the GRE, so don't be surprised if you start seeing some big words in my posts. I'm just trying to remember some of them.

John and I are having a normal weekend so far. On Fridays we usually go out to eat (nowhere fancy because I look like a zombie). Our favorite cheap restaurant is probably Moe's Southwest Grill. Then, we usually go to Border's. This is where I came across the GRE section. Every weekend we go to Border's, I pick a different section to occupy the next two hours. This time it was the GRE and searching for jobs section. Last time it was the "literature" section. The time before that it was the children's section. The time before that it was the cooking section. The religion section in Border's is kind of weird. It has a bunch of Bibles and a buttload (nice GRE word, eh?) of The Purpose Driven Life copies.

Rosa and I are both growing more zaftig every day. Our new sobriquets are going to be Porky and Wilbur. I'm even having a chocolate craving right now and there is not a scintilla of chocolate to be found, besides the stuff from who-knows-when that has ossified in my desk drawer. Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

As a Child

After sharpening my pencils, I always took a big whif of the tip. Newly sharpened pencils have an odd smell, like a dentist office. Since I partook of this obsession every day of my student career (until electric pencil sharpeners invaded our classrooms), I figured it would ultimately lead to a career as a teacher, where I could smell that strangely delightful scent all of my working days. Or maybe I could be a dentist.

Anyway, the past two weeks have been excellent. We've done some really cool experiments having to do with insects. You know all the kids in my class at our school. They're the ones making sure all the ants have heads, thoraxes, and abdomens. They're the ones waiting for the butterfly's proboscus to unravel for some juicy nectar. They're the ones with baby powder on their shoes, saying it's pollen, trying to pollinate chalked flowers on the sidewalk.

This is why I teach. I love handing children a bendy proboscis (straw), to drink nectar (fruit punch) out of a flower (a paper cup) and overhearing conversations like this one:

"Mom, today we were butterflies and we pollinated flowers with baby powder and we drank nectar out of flowers with our probobbles!"

Tomorrow...we're making treats out of honey. The wonderful world of insects.

Le Chat de Pavlov (The Pavlovian Cat)

It was simple training Rosa how to play fetch, but now she has played into our other routines and habits in order to earn extra prizes.

Because brushing is such an unpleasant experience for Rosa, I figured I could subconsciously make it more pleasing by rewarding her with a treat or a full bowl of food after brushing. This, however, has resulted in a routine every day:

I come home from work. I get the brush. I brush Rosa for about 30-60 seconds. She jumps down and runs to her food dish.

Also, Rosa knows that I feed her every day when I wake up, and John feeds her every day when he gets home from work. So this is what she does.

Rosa meows and meows for food when John gets home, she eats it quickly, and when I get home, John is usually in the shower. So Rosa's bowl is empty, she's meowing like crazy, and so I feed her again, thinking she hasn't been fed yet.

When Rosa wants a treat (even if we don't throw her toy to fetch it), she just goes and finds her toy and places it by the cupboard with her treats inside. When Rosa wants food in her dish, she takes her toy over to the bag of cat food.

It's really weird.

Our cat has trained us.

Key West Pictures!

Just beware...I know I look really dumb in capri pants with Nikes...but we had to walk so far and it was sooo hot...but my legs are too white for shorts! And John has a glass eye now (just kidding)! Also, I was going to go back through and edit my many typos. That would take too long. So deal with it.

This is the Key West Aquarium. It looks cheap because...it is. But we got to pet a shark.  

This is the old customs house. It's now a museum. Don't visit there...it's really boring. 

This is what a lot of the homes, guesthouses, and other building look like in Key West. Notice the cool trees.  

Ernest Hemingway's Key West home. 

Ernest Hemingway thought it would be drive his wife crazy if he brought an old urinal into her beautiful garden...she redid it with Spanish tile to disguise it. I couldn't find the modern restrooms... 

John eating those weird little bananas at the Hemingway House. 

Here's John at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Hi! That's me standing outside our room. 

GOD HELP ME!

Oh man. I have the worst, worst, worst ever problem.

Here is my phone. Sitting beside me. Waiting. It has the doctor's number programmed. All I need to do is press the green button. Gulp.

I think I'm going to cry.

You see, my birth control prescription has run out of refills. So, I have to call and ask for more. But will they make me schedule an appointment?

The secretary there is kind of mean. She's one of those monsterous, tough, independent woman types who HATES little girls like me. Oh dear, I am such a female. I have every female characteristic, good and bad. I should be proud to be a femalish female. Well, not when I'm faced with that mean, lesbian face of doom!

This is what I want: 2 refills on the prescription, an appointment in June, and a new birth control method then, because this birth control has some bad side effects. So I feel like I'm being too complicated. So i should just say, in my strongest New York accent (which will, no doubt, come out half-British sounding), "Hey lady, I need a coupla refills on my prescription, so call it in to Wal-Greens, lady, and I'll make an appointment lata.

Okay, I am overanalyzing a bit (female trait?). I'm calling right NOW.

Shoot. That's the wrong number. Try again.

Okay. I got it. I talked to a nice lady, too. She made an appointment for me in June, just like I wanted. Hey, that was easy! I panicked for nothing.

This blog would make a great children's book.

Did I Predict This or What?

Saving Jane: Buy it today at any store, anywhere (not WalMart).

HUGE add at Target for Saving Jane, right on an end cap. Way to go!

Give it a listen:

www.savingjane.com