Highs and Lows

I know I wax eloquent (or perhaps just long-winded . . . you be the judge) about how awesome my job is. And it is. But if I'm going to be honest, as one should be, it has its ups and downs and bad sides and all that jazz, same as any job. I've said it before once or twice, but working in an elementary school has got to be the best form of birth control known to man. Some days I come home ready to drag Luke to the hospital for an immediate vasectomy. Of course, other days I come home wishing I could have brought a couple of kids with me. Anyway, for those who might be interested, here are some recent occurrences.

~ I absolutely have to start with Aunt Sharon pulling me out of Katie's class for a moment on Thursday. Why? To inform me that she was my favorite aunt (so true) by handing me my pink ribbon!! YAY!!!! Apparently I checked the lost and found a few hours too early. On that note - so glad I blogged about it; I really debated it. Good thing I came to the conclusion a couple of years ago that blogging is cheaper than therapy, lol. And can I just say thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!! again . . . made. My. Month. :-) It may be totally shallow and superficial and childish of me, but it's the little things that count, you know?

~ It's so frustrating when you know a kid gets a concept but the wires aren't quite connecting in the right order. I was working with the sweetest little third grader yesterday, who shall go by Angeline because she is such a little angel, working on some time concepts. You know - hours in a day, days in a week/month, weeks/months in a year and all that. (side note: I'm pretty sure the weeks in a month thing was not covered when I was learning time. I distinctly remember picking up that little piece of trivia in high school.) She's got all the appropriate numbers in her head, but can't always attach them to the correct measurement. Example: I hold up a flashcard that says "How many weeks in a year?" and she rattles off 52 immediately. The very next card says "52 weeks = ____ year" and she was just certain that 365 was the right answer . . . which, technically . . . sort of . . . it is . . . just not the way she thought it was. She's so eager to please that I hate having to tell her she's wrong.

~ Remember Begat Boy? Firstly I have decided that he shall be known as Jehosaphat, because that's just fun to say. Secondly, he is one of the most adorable kids EVER. For starters he's got the cutest heavy accent ever that makes pretty much everything he says a little bit funny. Also, he's a little bit of a clown. And so enthusiastic about everything. He's among the kids I work with in that class who have a harder time with spelling. I start every day asking them if they remember the concept in the week's spelling list - for example, this week it was "oo" and how it sounds in "moon" and in "book." All six of the kids I work with have really improved, at the beginning of the year a lot of the time they couldn't tell me but now they usually can - YAY! Anyway, I'm all about matching their enthusiasm and stuff so when they get the right answers I always get all excited and high fives are had and fun stuff like that. And little Jehosaphat here has developed his own little celebrations when he's the one getting it right. When I ask him specifically and he gets it right he takes a little bow in his chair and says "tank you, tank you" . . . it's so hard to describe without pictures but he does the hand motions too - you know, one hand across the stomach and the other hand kind of out, and then switching sides. He'll switch back and forth up to four or five times, bowing and "tank you-ing" away. Darling! Then if I ask everybody and he answers first he jumps up (not much of a difference, he's pretty short still) and does that little dance where you move your fists in a circle while singing some variation of "uh-huh, oh yeah, I did it, I got it!" and so on. There are seriously not enough synonyms for adorable to describe this kid. He makes me laugh almost everyday . . . which of course he eats up and does whatever he was doing even more.

~ What a difference a couple of years makes! There is very little enthusiasm in my fourth grade class, and sometimes even open resistance. Crazy! There's one boy in particular - (Jared) whom I'm really at a loss for what to do with. I'm in there during math time, and each day I have a small group back with me working on a weekly assignment. During the course of the week the whole class is with me and does the same assignment, and the groups are, naturally, arranged according to their math skills. (side note: I can't help but wonder sometimes if by 4th grade the kids realize that's how they're grouped . . . ) Jared started out in group 3. Now, in groups 1, 2, and 3 I let the kids work at their own pace and help them as needed, and group 3 generally needs more help than group 1. Anyway, every week when Jared comes back he starts off by complaining that he doesn't want to do it, doesn't see the point of it, thinks it's stupid - all that fun bad attitude stuff that's really thrown me for a loop because seriously, shouldn't that not be hitting for two or three more years at least? Blargh. The assignment is the same every week, there is a chart with various numbers and pictures and such that gets changed weekly and the questions are the same. #11 is two numbers that you add and then subtract. #21 is a clock, you say what time it shows and calculate going forward and backward a set amount of time from there. There's money to count and numbers to round and all sorts of math related things. And every week Jared would come back and insist I had to tell him the answers because he didn't know how to do any of the problems. Which, of course, I know he does because 1) I correct his math homework and 2) these are the things that are being taught in the math lesson immediately before we split into groups and I hear him answering questions correctly and understanding the concepts. So basically I refuse to give any answers and eventually he'd give up and do the work, generally getting things right. Then groups were shuffled a little bit and among other changes Jared was moved to group 4. In group 4, everybody works together. We read the question together, I make sure everyone knows how to solve the problem, they do it on their own, and I check their answers right then instead of the whole sheet when they've finished. It's a bit slower, but it works for the group. Only now Jared has decided that he knows what he's doing and insists on going ahead. And the problems he doesn't do with the group tend to be wrong, and I make him redo them. The complaints have gotten more frequent, more vocal (he used to just whisper them to whoever was sitting next to him just loud enough for me to hear and him to know I did, but soft enough I could still pretend I didn't), and more specific. Now he doesn't just hate math, he hates having to do this specific assignment every week. Not being the "real" teacher I can't exactly do things like send him to the principal's office or whatever, and he doesn't seem to care about the things I have tried. Frankly I just want to tell him to shut up and get to work . . . which, you know, I kinda can't. But I'm pretty sure the shock of it might be effective, at least the first couple of times. Blargh.

~ Can I just say that little kids are pretty much the textbook definition of sweet? Rarely do I walk into my kindergarten classroom without at least one child jumping up and running to give me a hug. Same goes for the first grade class I subbed in for a couple of months when I pass them in the halls. All the innocence and pure love and gobs of candy-coated cliches of goodness really make my day. Going to kindergarten right after fourth grade can be a real pick-me-up some days!

~ It's also really frustrating when you know a kid can do something, but he won't. There's one kindergartener - (Donatello) who is just like that. I do progress monitoring in kindergarten, which is basically testing them every so often to see what letter names/sounds they know and if any more have managed to stick in their cute little heads recently. Anyway, when Donatello is in a good mood, he'll work with you and he knows almost everything you ask him. Sadly, more often than not, he's not in a cooperative mood, and you can totally tell the answers he's giving you is whatever happens to come out of his mouth because he's probably not even listening to you. Grrrrr. Things are going to get interesting when he's in first and second grade.

~ On the other hand, that same Donatello is one of the sweetest of the sweet in his good moods. Both Thursday and Friday I got multiple big hugs from him and Friday he held my hand taking me around the classroom showing me a couple of his art projects on the wall. So precious . . . talk about a moment of wanting to take one of the kids home with me!!!!

~ I was a little bit shocked back at the beginning of the month to hear that one of the third graders had been sent home for hitting a classmate with a baseball bat. (At least, I think that's what Katie said - the conversation was both rushed and hushed.) The action itself was not completely surprising - (Adam) is another one who's very sweet and hug-giving on good days, but prone to tantrums and freak-outs on bad days. But I had no idea kids were sent home. It makes sense, really, but I don't remember it ever happening when I was in school, so I never thought about it. I have to admit though, ever since I've been curious about the other times I've gotten to that class and he hasn't been there . . . I've always just assumed he didn't show up that day, but how many other times has he gotten himself sent home by 10:00 in the morning? I'm curious, yes - but I probably don't want to know.

~ It's so fun chatting with the fourth graders a little bit as they work on their math. If I could get away with it, I'd take a tape recorder to work and start my own web-based version of "Kids Say the Darndest Things" because they're always making me laugh. I like to think I surprise them too, a bit. This week in one of the groups we were talking about last week's long weekend, and that drifted into talking about summer. One girl quoted the first line to the theme song for Phineas and Ferb, I'm pretty sure just to try and impress me with the fact that she knew offhand how many days there are to summer vacation. I quoted the next line just as offhandedly as she did . . . and everyone stopped working and looked at me with wide, shocked eyes. It was awesome. :-) I think I may have achieved cult hero status by telling them that song was one of six P&F ring tones I've recorded for my phone. Good times.

~ And finally - Star Wars-loving Eric? Totally another hugger. He was in my second grade class last year, so I've spent about a full year now trying to decide if he has a crush on me, or if he's just crafty enough to try and milk the fact that he knows he's adorable, attempting a five-minute long hug to get out of whatever little thing he should be doing like clearing his desk. Last year he was always begging me to pull him out into the hall to work with him like I did the other kids, but he's quite simply too smart to need to extra help. Yesterday as I was pulling a few kids out he started begging again, saying he "just wanted to see what it was like." I laughed. He pouted. I laughed more. He giggled. Whatever class he's in next year, I hope I am too . . . he's such a character!

So there you go. Good times, bad times . . . the good generally outweighing the bad. I've confirmed what I've always thought - I couldn't stand being an "actual" teacher . . . no way do I have the patience to spend all day in the same class with the same kids! But my job? Is awesome. Here's hoping I can come back again next year!!

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So wish I'd been there for this!! Must have been a day I was working instead of hanging out with all the other Star Wars geeks . . . also - while I don't know this Darth Vader, I do know a Darth Vader.

This Is So Me

Haven't figured this one out yet, but I think I'm going to go with "that's just sad."



Remember having reasons to getting dressed up? I'm not talking fancy ball gowns or dressy dressed up . . . just cute-ified. "All dolled up" as opposed to "fancied up." I remember making an effort to look cute in college - you never know who you might pass on campus and all that jazz. Working at Disney the costumes are specifically tailored to make everyone look ugly (which is probably why they don't care about labeling them with the correct size . . . which I'm still a little bitter about . . . ) but whenever we'd go to the parks as guests or head out to spend the night the clubs at PI it was always fun to get all dressed up. It was also nice to feel like an actual human being, instead of an advanced audio-animatronic figure, but that's a little beside the point.

So it's been a little depressing to never have any real reason to get all cute-ified these days. We don't go anywhere other than the mall . . . couldn't afford to go anywhere "fancy" anyway. And I tend to doll up a little for book club just because that's as good as it gets lately. (and that is not, of course, meant to be disparaging about book club!)

Anyway. I just plain felt like looking a little extra cute today. Which meant some wonderfully jangly hoops, my Hannah Montana necklace (so called because it's the one I bought partly because it was perfect for the costume. random: every time I wear it the kindergarten teacher greets me with "Peace!" and a reference to hippies and such because one of the charms is a peace symbol. I love it, partly because I think she may have been a hippie back in the day. And I find that kind of awesome.) and a ribbon tied around my ponytail in a great big bow '50s cheerleader style. I felt pretty awesome leaving the house this morning . . . so I'm sure you can imagine my horror at finding, as I tightened that ponytail a little more than an hour into my day, that the ribbon was gone!

I have no idea what happened. I retraced my steps, and texted Luke (slightly frantically, I will admit) to see if maybe I'd gotten lucky and it had fallen out before I'd even left. Yeah . . . no. It's gone. And I'm a little bit brokenhearted about it. This was no ordinary ribbon. It actually came as a belt with the sweater I wore today, so instead of satin or whatever it's a poly/rayon knit the same pinkest-of-pink-roses pink that's just a happy color and perfect to wear right around now when you're so completely sick of winter but you're inside and wearing pink so you can pretend to yourself for a little while that it's actually spring outside - until, you know, you look out a window or something and are confronted with the harsh reality of stupid Puxatawny Phil being a big fat PHONY! Grrr. Anyway. My awesome ribbon is gone, and it probably fell out somewhere in the halls and got picked up and in a few days I will see some adorable little girl wearing it in her hair and I will have to resist the temptation to yank it out whilst yelling "hey, that's MINE!" because, at least in theory, I am supposed to be the adult in this situation.

Man, being the adult SUCKS.

Worst part? This is totally the story of my life. I have an amazing (and by amazing I mean pathetic) track record for losing accessories. I hadn't lost any for a couple of years so I thought I'd FINALLY grown out of it or something, but . . . yeah, no. Apparently.

Seriously. I've lost easily a dozen rings or more. I lost my first "real" CTR ring (and by real I mean not the ones they give you at church when you're 7 and then they turn your finger green) when it dropped down the seat belt housing thingie in our van. (the gray one . . . we're talking way old school . . . ) It's probably still there. I lost three more in high school - mom finally quit getting me replacements for my birthday. I've lost probably half a dozen bracelets. And whoever came up with the brilliant idea for selling fish hook post earrings without backs - figuring, naturally that the post itself is long enough to make losing one unlikely . . . well, clearly they did not have me in mind. Because I've lost those too. And always, ALWAYS just one of a pair. Really, why couldn't they just both fall out and save me the misery of having the not lost one glaring . . . or maybe gloating . . . up at me every time I open my jewelry box. I suppose I should have just given them to Shayla, she wears mismatched earrings all the time. (well, she did . . . don't know if she still does.) And don't even get me started on hair accessories. Clearly I should have learned by now that that category is a lost cause.

I just don't get what's wrong. What is it about me that makes me incapable of holding on to accessories? I am going to lose my wedding ring one of these days. I see no way around it, it's just going to happen. I should probably take a leaf from Aunt Tawnya's book and get a bunch of cute, cheap rings to wear instead and switch them out all the time . . . except I love mine! I was absolutely terrified I was going to lose Luke's grandma's ring during those couple of months I wore it. To the point that I got into the habit of checking that it was still there about every fifteen minutes - and even more often if I was working at tank or LMA. It was actually a relief to get my ring because if I had lost that one I would still be devastated and guilt-ridden now, three years later. But now I admire it in my jewelry box and hope that any daughters we have manage to avoid this apparent accessorizing curse of mine.

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Today's video is purely a cheer-me-up. I know I've posted it before, but it always makes me laugh. And for those of you who haven't seen it before - we totally know Belle.

Stuff to Get Excited Over

Little things, since it turns out being adult is so often pretty boring and monotonous.

~ Eight pieces of jewelry heading my way. Hooray for success!!! . . . even if it was mostly Ashli's friends who came.

~ I went jacketless a few days last week. And didn't freeze! Also, the six inches of snow that fell Thursday night was the light, fluffy, pretty kind. And it's already mostly melted. Spring just might come again this year. Someday.

~ The Valentine's candy may be gone . . . :-( . . . but THE CADBURY CREME EGGS ARE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ I got a new wallet! And while it's not nearly as fabulous as Aunt Sharon's (or as shiny), I kind of really adore it.


I'd actually wanted a new wallet for a while, and I've been looking for one for months. Even chose this style as soon as I started looking (because seriously, isn't it awesome?) but I just couldn't find a pattern/color/style/whatever I really liked. Then on our weekly trip to the mall a few days ago we - well, I - randomly decided to pop into Vanity to look around. And what do you know - voila! The perfect wallet just waiting for me to show up and take it home with me. Yay! (and if anyone else is looking for one, they've got a bunch on clearance for five bucks . . . not this one, sadly, but some other really cute ones!) I especially love that it's got a soft textured leather feel to it . . . which you totally can't see in the pictures, but was the deciding factor between getting this one and the other one I really liked.

~ Vanity was having a buy one get one half accessory sale - YAY! So I took what was probably a very long time - but who notices time passing when you're having fun accessorizing? - trying to pick from all their awesome stuff, and finally ended up with this:

Isn't it pretty? It's really shiny too, so much so that when I took a picture with the flash you could hardly see what it looks like. I thought the chain was a bit longer than it actually is, so I need to get an extender, but I can't wait to wear it all over the place and offend people who have nothing better to do with their lives than get offended and judgmental at stupid little things that don't actually matter in the grand scheme of life. It's so weird that crosses seem to be hugely and suddenly in style now . . . I may have to get a couple more, although Luke has vehemently vetoed any that look like belong around the neck of an uber-Twihard. Kind of sad, because those are some of the prettiest ones, but they're also a tad much for my general style, so I'm rather okay with it. I'm all for the simple elegance sort of thing.

~ FOUR DAY WEEKEND!! YAY!! Whoever scheduled parent/teacher conferences the Friday before President's Day is seriously a genius.

~ As you may have heard via facebook we had goose for dinner yesterday. It was a somewhat fresh goose too, since dad only killed it a month ago. It was a little intimidating to cook since neither of us had ever even eaten goose before, but it turned out pretty tasty. Also - all those literary references to goose skin crackling over the fire or when you eat it? Totally accurate. Which was pretty cool. Naturally, cooked goose jokes were made ad nauseum because that is the flavor my husband's sense of humor takes . . . mine too, although not quite to the same degree. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the duck we got when we got the goose. I'd love to try and recreate the duck soup they make at Kamin (fabulous local Thai place) because it was seriously YUMMY, but I imagine that's a little ambitious. And probably expensive, filled with spices I've never heard of, much less know where to get. Any suggestions? It's not a whole duck, or I'd just roast it like we did the goose.

~ The Logan Borders is officially one of those closing . . . sale started today, and I'm totally hitting the place up Monday. I'm torn about being excited over this one, since that means there is now only one bookstore in town. (I'm not counting Deseret and Seagull for lack of variety and I no longer much care for their selection reasons.) On the other hand . . . going out of business sale discounts! Not only am I going on Monday, I shall be going more or less weekly until they're closed to milk the higher and higher (theoretically, at least) percentages off. Someday we will have a house, and in that house the decor will be mostly books. And I haven't yet given up hope of someday having a room that looks like this.

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So last month I won a book called How Music Works. And it was really interesting. Among the things I already knew and the obnoxious mathematical equations explaining just how the differences in notes are created that I wasn't interested in the least, there were a lot of interesting things that I learned. Among them, just why Eastern music sounds so different from Western. And it mentioned bunches of youtube videos that illustrated whatever point was being discussed, which was really great. Among them was this one, and if I didn't already love Eastern music I would after listening! It's long, but worth it. I totally added these guys to my "everything plus the kitchen sink" Pandora station and the entire time I've been writing I've been treated to some BEAUTIFUL Indian music. Enjoy!!

Vamlumtimes Is Serious Times

Some random thoughts for today:

~ I've always been pretty neutral when it come to Valentine's Day. No raging hatred, but no oh-my-gosh-give-me-flowers-and-chocolates-NOW! either.

~ Ellis does Valentine's right too. Everybody gets all dolled up and parties just enough to re-induce Halloween's sugar coma. Me, I'm totally kicking myself. I had big plans gorgeous red formal from high school (never worn) that still fits - actually, it might even fit me a bit better now! - my wedding tiara, the whole nine yards. I forgot. Doh! I've been kicking myself all day, along with comforting myself with the fact that I can save the outfit for next year without worrying about how to top this year's.

~ I got Valentines again!! Yay!! Not quite as massive a haul as last year, but it's so nice to feel loved. Also: five large homemade oreos from the kindergarten teacher MORE than makes up for the smaller overall haul! Also also: they make smoothie flavored jolly ranchers. I have just discovered another level of Nirvana. Also also also: scratch'n'sniff Valentine's card. Need I say more?

~ Listening to third graders having a Valentine's-vs-Valentime's discussion it was all I could do not to completely crack up. Because I totally had "tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiines . . . Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiines . . . TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINES . . . TINES!" in my head.

~ This one requires some back story:

K, so my three favorite animals are (in no particular order) dolphin, koalas, and kiwi birds. And a while back Luke and I decided that our kitchen is (someday) going to be decorated with a kiwi/koala/kangaroo theme and the bathroom is going to be dolphins. Actually, the bathroom thing was decided long before Luke was in the picture. Good thing he was cool with it. :-) Anyway, I was working on slowly acquiring the entire Walmart line of dolphin bathroom decor (very slowly, being the poor broke college student and then CM that I was) when suddenly said bathroom decor line disappeared. Which is highly disappointing, because that means we'll have to look harder and probably pay more to get it all. On the plus side, Walmart still sells dolphin shower curtains. But they can totally stop selling them now if they want to because that? Was/is my Valentine's present this year. Normally one would file "shower curtain" under the list of gifts as bad as (or possibly worse than) small appliances and movies you don't like but the giver does but in this case . . . I kind of melted. *insert gushing mushiness here*

Almost completely unrelated: Thanks to the Store o' Awesomeness I recently completed my animal sock collection. I've had dolphin and kiwi socks for years. Now I have koala socks too. YAY!!!!!

~ Keep the crock pot recipes coming! (and thanks for all the ones that have already come!) they kind of rock. Or should I say they "crock"?

Clearly, my sense of humor is already on its way to being as warped and weird as Grandpa's. Good thing I enjoy his, eh? :-)

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Another one I might have posted before. But the awesomeness never goes away.

I've Been Domestimacated

I believe I've mentioned once or twice that I'm not much of a cook. Actually, my cooking skills pretty much parallel my French-speaking skills - what I can make I make well, but I don't have a very large recipe repertoire. That said, I do pretty much all the cooking around here because Luke . . . well, up until two years ago Luke was living off cold cereal, tuna, and anything that could be cooked on a George Foreman grill. How's that for variety?

Anyway, we've both been getting a little bored by my ten(ish) tried-and-true, this-will-be-edible-when-it's-done concoctions and wanting to branch out. And it's possible I've mentioned this before, but supercook? Is awesome. Except for those times when it tells me I have everything I need except these weird nasty things called vegetables . . . or some crazy spice I've never even heard of. Because let's be realistic here, if Walmart doesn't carry it, I'm generally never going to see it. It sounds so white trashy, but hey, we're not exactly rolling in dough over here. Well, cookie dough sometimes. Like yesterday. I made snicker doodles. And they were a huge hit. Seriously, people (and not just Luke!) going on about how they were some of the best they've ever tasted - and I didn't even do anything special to them! (well, there was the "special" ingredient, lol . . . kidding!) Yay!

But I digress. Moving on . . . another thing - the whole "Lacey comes home at 1:00 and Luke goes to work at 3:00" thing doesn't exactly leave much time for making something to eat that takes longer than good old mac'n'cheese. So as part of a sort of joint NYResolution to eat healthier and have more variety I bought a crock pot. And can I just say that nothing makes you feel more adult and established and whatever than buying kitchen appliances you would have rolled your eyes at five years ago? I mean, in college it was "why start cooking dinner at 8:00 in the morning? We'll just order pizza again or something!" and in Florida I often considered it lucky to be awake enough to grab pop tarts on my way out the door and at dinner time if I wasn't out with people I was too tired to eat more than pop tarts again before bed. Generally speaking.

So buying this crock pot was really quite the little rite of passage. As was realizing that neither of us really know what to do with it. Hastings has a big fat crock pot cook book that I will probably be buying soon, but for now, while we're learning, we're going to stick with the handful of recipes that came in the instruction manual. And that, of course, means starting with the most obvious of crock pot recipes: beef . . . stew. Made it on Thursday. Well, and Wednesday. I chopped the vegetables up Wednesday night so there would be less prep work involved Thursday morning before leaving for work. I have to admit I was a little nervous as I left because if anyone can screw up such an idiot-proof undertaking it would be me. But lo and behold, five hours later I come home and the place smells FABULOUS!! (not fabulous: coming home from work Friday and swearing that the beef stew smell was stronger than it was Thursday. Good thing we have a candle warmer!) So I threw some cheater biscuits in the oven - because if I'd tried to make them from scratch I would have screwed something up . . . royally! - and we ate. And it was awesome. Delicious. Awesomely delicious. Deliciously awesome. We're totally going to have to use this crock pot thing again sometime.

Major perk - this is probably obvious, but the crock of our crock pot (or is it the pot?) is removable thank heaven!! I have no words for how much of a pain it is to wash mom's non-removable crock pot. In fact, that might be part of what put me off getting one for a while. Talk about unpleasant memories . . . I have no idea how that thing did not get dropped/broken/water damaged/otherwise completely ruined over the years of all of us trying to wash it in a sink that just isn't big enough to maneuver the thing and being careful about not getting the cord and stuff wet. Obnoxious! I agree with Luke - why the heck did it take people years to come up with the whole detachable part?!

It's so crazy to think I'm that person - one who cooks actual meals . . . and from a crock pot sometimes! Who would'a thunk, you know? (not me!) Sometime I feel so June Cleaver-ish, and it's really bewildering. Sometime soon I'm going to have to make something all fancy and wear some elaborately embroidered and be-laced apron. Along with my new pearls. Because I totally got my pearls last night. :-) YAY!

(side note: if you weren't there and you want anything, you have until Tuesday. Let me know.)

Back in high school we used to joke that we were getting edumacated. Because that's about the quality of a Bear River HS education . . . generally. Now it appears I've also been domestimacated. Should I be excited about this? Worried? I mean, seriously. It starts with crock pots. Next thing you know I'll be decorating cupcakes . . . taking blurry pictures and saying I blurred them on purpose and calling myself a professional photographer . . . bragging about kids who started walking and talking at four months (even though everyone knows I'm full of it) . . . great merciful crap, what is this road I've started down?! HELP!! ;-)

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A friend of mine posted this on facebook today. Talk about the perfect video for a Saturday morning!!

Another Conversation

Say it with me kids: Ep. Ic. I want the second one on my wall. Right next to this one.



Anyway. This one took place a couple of days ago walking down the hall before just before school started. I ended up walking with a third grader who shall go by Eric.

Eric: Miss Leslie, what year were you born?

(side note: it's a good thing I've been answering to Leslie since practically before I knew my name was Lacey!)

Me: Guess. (one day I will finally learn better than to ask this question - but the ego boost when they say 16 really outweighs the blow when they say 45! Also - this would be the point where I worried briefly that this one would go the same way this conversation went last year.)

Eric: Nineteen . . . ninety . . . five?

Me: (laughing) No . . .

Eric: Ninety-two?

Me: (insert actual year which I'm not stupid enough to put online like this here)

Eric: (gets all excited and hopeful sounding) So you were alive when the first Star Wars movie came out?!

Me: Well, no, that was in 1977. A few years before I was born.

Eric: (all disappointed) Oh. But you saw them when you were a kid, right?!

Later in class we had to talk about how Episode 4 was the first one to come out. I knew I liked this kiddo for a reason. :-) Does it count if the person who thinks you could pass for 16 is a 9-year-old?

Seriously, I love my job.

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Just to complete your Star Wars overload. My fellow nerds (and you know who you are) will get a kick out of it just like I did.

An Infomercial

Can't say you haven't been warned - I'm going to sound even more like an infomercial than last spring when I raved to Sarah about how awesome Goodreads' First Reads book giveaways are. (but seriously, can I just say - winning seven books in a year? Yes, please! Of course, to put it in perspective I've entered nearly 200)

Anyway.

So Ashli and I and having a party next Friday. A Premier Jewelry Party. And it's going to be awesome. And you're invited. Yep, you too. And you. You . . . well, I guess so. :-)

What is Premier Jewelry, you ask? Good question, because I'd never even heard of it until Shay had a party back in October. Basically, it appears that home sale businesses for women who feel guilty working outside of the home (or enjoy feeling superior than everyone else when they say they don't) has expanded beyond the tupperware-and-make-up variety. I suppose you can only have so many people who sell Mary Kay on one block, you know?

Anyway. Testimonial time - The stuff is seriously awesome. TONS of variety, absolutely TONS of stuff. Very stylish, a lot of it's very chunky . . . which I have to admit, is not really my style to wear, but I love looking at it. I'm a pendant person myself. And it's SO cool - they have these things called enhancers, where you get a pendant with a chain and the pendant itself is magnetic so you can totally take it off, and then you buy MORE enhancers and snap them on and you've got a million different necklaces but only one chain so they don't all get tangled. And holy crap, tangled necklace chains are the bane of my existence.

(side note: I have upwards of 40 necklaces, and although Luke bought me an absolutely GORGEOUS Chinese jewelry box for Christmas a couple of years ago, there's just not enough room for necklaces so they still get tangled sometimes. Grrr.)

Back to the enhancers - Shay got this super pretty necklace of big turquoise beads . . . again, not my style but I love it. Then she's got this enhancer which is a huge turquoise pendant, so it's like she's got two necklaces because they really are two very different looks. So cool!

Gotta say though, the thing that convinced me that I had to have a party is their pearl necklace . . . their NINETY INCH pearl necklace. Yeah, you read that right. How's that for crazy? I tried it on as a single strand and it nearly hit my knees. I'm not really a pearl person either, but as soon as I saw it I could feel the covetousness developing - if I get nothing else, I am getting that necklace. There are, like, 40+ different ways to wear it . . . I think it comes with an instruction manual! (random: I suppose it's possible I want it because my subconscious mind is still looking for a way to top my Halloween costume next year - I could totally be a flapper girl! Fun!! even more random: I still get the occasional comment about my awesome Halloween costume, mostly from the fourth graders. Usually along the lines of "Miss Lacey, remember how for Halloween you dressed up as Hannah Montana? That was so cool!" and I have to remind myself that a sarcastic "I'd totally forgotten about that! Thanks for reminding me!" may not go over as well with 9-and-10-year-olds as it would with people my own age.)

Lest you think this is all about the jewels-of-the-neck, they have earrings, bracelets, rings, pins, and watches too. And lots of them come in matching sets. The company also seems to be pretty big into being a "Christian based" company so they have a good selection of cross jewelry. And I may have to get one just so I can wear it around here and see how many people I can horrify. And because, you know, I think they can be pretty. (side note: we went to Maurice's last week during our weekly excursion to the mall, and they currently have some great cross necklaces. This party was seriously the only thing that stopped me from buying one . . . or four . . . )

Okay, done raving. Let me start buy admitting that the whole reason for doing this is because it's all about the free jewelry for me. You buy = I (and Ashli) get free stuff. That said I absolutely don't want anyone to think I'm trying to make a sales pitch here in order to get free stuff. I have never heard of such a generous home-sale business in my life. We get a chunk of money for not changing the date after we schedule. We get a chunk of money for people showing up. (so here's my sales pitch - COME!!) We get a chunk if people schedule their own parties at our party. And on top of that we get the typical percentage of whatever people buy. Say it with me folks: Awe. Some.

Sadly, they do not have a website (and how behind the times is that?!) otherwise I would be really psyched to do a bunch of cross-country selling. That said, I have catalogs, and if anyone is interested I can absolutely scan in pictures so you can at least sort of check things out.

This is probably the part where I tell my sob story about how I've had two Mary Kay parties and nobody showed up to either of them. I kid you not - well, Shay came to the second one. Yeah. Sooooo did not help with the whole people-just-pretend-to-like-me self esteem issues. Which is actually why I kind of made Ashli co-host with me . . . I knew that way there would actually be people there.

So. Anyway. Jewelry party. It's totally gonna rock. And you should totally come. Next Friday, February 11. If you want more details and we're not facebook friends leave me a way to contact you . . . because I'm kind of not about to put our address on a blog. If we are facebook friends . . . well, you've probably already been invited, but if you haven't let me assure you it's not because you're not invited, it's because when you have ten friends named Jessica it can be hard to remember which one's your cousin, which one's the college roommate, which one's the fellow CM, and blah, blah, blah. And I have a lot of friends who share first names. It gets confusing. And I seriously still do a double take every time I see Leza (my pregnant cousin-in-law) with her ultrasound profile picture because my mind always reads her name initially as Lexie (my 14-year-old cousin). Seriously people, what is up with this whole making Lacey think thing? Do you enjoy watching the smoke pour out of my ears or what? :-)

P. ost S. cript
This = not all that recent, actually. How's that for crazy? I mean, I remember 1994! Also: I remember when @ meant "about."