I'm sure you've seen this

and even if you have, you should watch it again.

Believing in my dreams.

A question.

How do you feel about this?

I cannot begin to tell you how proud this makes me...sigh

In response to the Clarion Ledger's article, "Jackson Mayor's Aide Arrested at Parade," Avenger had this to say:

I have never seen this type of mess in all my years on this earth. Black people struggle, fought, suffered and die so that Black People could be treated as equals and now we have Black (Blacks for Profit) in leadership positions acting like they are above the law. These people are the same as the Ku -Klux-Klan on difference is that they do their dirt in wide open day light and only against other Blacks people. Just look at the fact's accused people of comitting crimes all Black, trying to close night club, owned by Blacks, they destroy a house that is own by a Black and a Black Person live their. Can't you see these people are out of control!!! These people need to be shipped to Iraq because they are trying to do the same thing Hussein did there, forcing their leadership on all the Black people like we don't have the sense to stand up for our rights. We didn't ask them to be our slave masters!

Movie Monday

This week Steve and I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
I liked it! Jack Nicholson has this wonderful crazy-beautiful thing going for him.

Rent it.
Netflix it.
You should see it.

Oprah is full of crap.

Really, is c-r-a-p offensive? Sometimes I spell it out because in my mind that makes it less of a "bad word." Mr. T is most likely going to tear up that statement because he adopts a strong belief system about "bad words" and what makes them "bad". Anyway, my third grade students firmly believed that crap was indeed a bad word. I know, I know, what kind of adult would say crap to a classroom of third graders--well, me, but only once, er, or twice.

This is NOT what I intended this post to be about. At all.

How weird.

Amanda is jumping in Italy. I am sneezing in Mississippi.

I'd rather be sneezing in Italy. Or drinking wine. And eating PASTA. Oh, pasta, how I miss you---more on this later; there's a new diet in town.

Check out these people.
They are debt free. I'm impressed. Steve says it's because of child labor. Either way, pretty cool.

My students in first period today were talking about Bonsai...the restaurant, not the tree; although the trees are pretty cool.
I killed a Bonsai tree once.

Fun fact: Steve and I went on our first "date" to Bonsai. We were in eighth grade. I wore an atrocious green polo shirt. And PoFolks on Ellis Avenue burned down that day.

“Is it weird in here, or is it just me?”

Today I was walking down the hall at school with a banana in my hand and had the strongest urge to hold it up to my face like a telephone. And I did.

I can only play two songs from memory on the piano...the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Star Wars Ceremony theme. And I don't even play them in the correct rhythm.

Today, I also slipped on a student's backpack (my foot went through the arm strap and I skidded across the floor making some squealy, startled noise--students love it when this happens) as I was walking around my classroom, and I pulled something in my back. It's getting stiffer by the minute!

One day I hope to be able (read: to afford) to make things organically and from scratch--pizza sauce, biscuits, pasta, and other random delicious things, not because I think they are healthier (which they probably are), or because I want to be "granola" (a term I just heard recently), but simply because I CAN. (I do kinda want to be granola though; hence my mission to grow out my long, wavy hippie locks again.)

Oh. my. gosh.
I just realized what a "BLONDie" is! It's (kinda) the opposite of a BROWNie!
I'm a genius.

The printer in my classroom HATES me. Boo.

Read it.

As a child I loved to read. As an adult, I still do, but it makes me sleepy. I'm trying to read more.

Here's what's in the forecast:

Right now:
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn

Coming soon:
The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Animal Farm by George Orwell (blech!)

A new plan

If I get the idea of starting a new plan, be it a "diet," an exercise plan, or some sort of bettering agenda, I can never seem to begin in the middle of some week. I must always wait for the beginning of a month OR a Monday.

So weird.

Well, tomorrow is Monday.

I tend to over-set my goals. I think I just made up that term, but anyway...
I want to be healthier. Always. So if I make a goal to exercise this week, I will also make a goal to eat healthier, which really means to eat less. BUT, when I exercise, I want to eat MORE.

It's such a horrible cycle.

It will never work, but tomorrow I will try (again and again) to exercise more and eat less.

I have recently learned that a few specific goals can help one achieve her desired results more easily because of some psychological mambo jambo, so here it goes...

Specific goals:
1. Eat fewer carbs ( I can already here Steve: carbs aren't bad!. Yes, honey, I know. But Erin + carbs = balloon effect. Not lovely. Plus, I said FEWER, not ZERO.
2. Exercise for at least 30 minutes each day. Now, this seems like crap, I know, but I have to start small. I just do. I dream of P 90 X, but we'll see.
3. Limit myself to one sweet item each day. I could probably cut this to one every other day, but I'll wait until next week for that.
4. DRINK WATER! (I do this, but sometimes I forget and get a diet coke from the drink machine. Mmmm, diet coke, how I'll miss you.)


Wish me luck.

And one more for the road

Every Monday Steve and I watch a movie.

We call this MOVIE MONDAY.
I LOVE movie Monday.

Thanks to Netflix we are broadening our feature film horizons. We sometimes go in themes such as Oscar-winners OR movies Erin should have seen by now. (I can go ahead and say that most movies fall under this category.)

Steve usually gets to pick the movie for two reasons:
#1-As previously stated, I have not seen many good movies.
#2-If by some small (very small, I assure you wink, wink) chance I fall asleep during the movie, Steve is still happy.

In the past few months/years, I guess--we began this way before getting married or even engaged--I snoozed through the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Star Wars trilogy, I Heart Huckabees (yuck), Lost in Translation (good nap there), and so on and so on... I did actually stick with the LOTR and Star Wars until I watched every second of each movie (not necessarily in one sitting). I REALLY liked them!

Steve has a super-long list of movies that I will be attempting to watch.

This Monday we watched:
The Gnome Mobile

Erin's rating:
Eh, it was good. Apparently it's a kid-classic. How can I not like a classic?

A letter to Amanda

Dear Amanda,

So I was thinking, if by some chance you need to go to India for your 30th birthday trip, I am willing to sacrifice myself and escort you on this venture. I know, it will be tough to take off of work or even find the funds to support this astronomical event, but I might be willing to sell my car.

Umm, kay. That's all.