For those of you keeping score at home

1. We bought a new candle topper.  Goodbye scarecrow children, hello leafy vines.  Having the one I hated but using it anyway was some sort of metaphor for something?  Oops.  Sorry, undefined metaphor.
2. So I drive a boat now, a Dodge Charger.  It's bright red.  I just got a call updating me on Operation Bumper status, saying that the Suze now needs a "quarter panel" and she'll call me back soon to update me on when that might be able to happen.  Isn't that what the estimate was for?  I want to spend as few days as possible desperately trying to maintain a 13-foot radius when I drive.
3. In two distinct instances recently, I was completely outraged and furious at some outside force.  As soon as I thought I was at a complete loss, or that I couldn't get any furiouser, these things changed completely of their own accord such that they were better than what I could have hoped for, even in my most furious.  God: Thanks and sorry I yelled so much.  :(
4. One of my kids told me today that a boy in her class likes her.  I am the coolest teacher.  Also, the other day she said, "Is it true you're a teenager?"  
5. I am becoming rather competent in my employment!  Woooo
6. Can we talk about how obsessed I am with the Old Spice commercials, featuring the man my man could smell like?

Just look at me now!

Oh goodness!  Wedding Weekend Extravaganza meant writing checks for invitations (officially ordered, proof in two weeks!), favors, and cake.  So much accomplished before 3 pm!  And at school, I definitely held my first (low pressure (aka, parentless)) IEP meeting.  I'm so... official!

Another list for you:

1. I love that the universal signal for 'go ahead' is flashing one's brights.  There has been a lot of pulling over for each other now that we have like .75 lanes per street, and I find this courtesy and the communication thereof completely adorable.
2. Isn't it weird to think, in general, that driving involves a significant amount of reading other people's minds?
3. The fiance just signed up for Mint!  Rob came swing dancing!  I am spreading my influence far and wide.
4. This one brought to you by the fiance himself:  Isn't it kinda stupid that one of our defining characteristics as mammals is having body hair?
5. I hate when people don't pick up their feet when they walk.  Or just when they walk really heavily in general.  Tread lightly, friends.  Sprightly.

Hooray!

Happy V-Day, friends!  I find it strange in a touching way that this is my most "serious" Valentine's Day but also my most low-key one.  Really, usually [insert boyfriend here] and I fret and worry about plans, cards, cookies, flowers, presents, how much are you spending, how much are YOU spending?!, are you getting a funny card? or a sweet card?.  Don't get me wrong, that's fun in its own right, but it is nice to be comfortable and settled and it's not a big deal.  (Now, fiance, that is not my position for the rest of our lives...)  Most of my newfound calmness about this holiday of love is circumstantial, what with several feet of snow and all preventing us from making plans or buying cards and whatnot, but I still think it's pretty sweet that we resolved to make each other belated cards.  Our one "date" today is also kind of an accident but also kind of perfect - we have an appointment with our coordinator at our venue!  Wedding details and the menu, on heart day '10!

In other news, for some reason I'm super excited that when the State Farm Select Service Auto Body Shot repairs the Suze's bumper, they will vaccuum and wash her!

Oh ps

I have ALWAYS hated Alex Trebek.

Running out of things

1. solitaire
2. war (card game)
3. past War of the Roses from the Hot 99.5 radio website
4. The Golden Compass
5. looking outside
6. videotaped documentation of profound boredom
7. poking around FMLs, Facebook, Awkward Family Photos, Twitter, Buzz, Reader, and Mint
8. The Middle, HIMYM, Modern Family
9. two-hour nap
10. planned the wedding ceremony (five months away)

There's a lot of hours when you're stuck inside.  My big idea is to write a play that the fiance and I can put on.  We can even tape it.  It could even involve housemates.  But, since I'm not actually 12, it's hard to think of what to write about.  But let me tell you what, being stuck inside for days upon days does wonders for my debit card.

Still taking ideas for things to do.  Keep em comin'.  We've still got Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday without having any idea when we'll see a plow.

Goodbye civilization

So the news is repeatedly saying not to leave one's house except in cases of emergency.  And they are Not Kidding.  The wind is ridiculous, the snow piled on those already formed sheets of hardened snow and ice makes for a deathly combo.  Friday's Professional Development day was just cancelled, so that officially makes it a Snow Week.  Usually snow days are excellent for getting back on top of the real world, catching up on scheduling personal appointments and emails, all the stuff you consistently put off because guess what, you have work hours the same time everyone else does, except when the school system freaks out a little more easily about the flurries.  But this time.  Oh, this time.  I'm sure insurance people, if they're in the office, are absolutely flooded, so Operation Suze Bumper Replacement is on indefinite hold; there are many wedding vendor appointments we'd like to make, but they're not answering their phones either, we're all just emailing and hoping that our appointments for Saturday and Sunday still stand; Blizzard of '10 also means that there won't be mail for another three and a half weeks or so; I better still have my dentist appointment at TWOTH-HURTY on Monday!  O the horror!  We have enough food, but only for a few more days.  Did anyone else hear about the roof collapsing on the (empty, thank GOD) daycare center?  Bad news bears, for sure.  It's like the freakin Donnor party out here.  Maybe I'll sew us a quilt out of old clothes and sheets.

ps, Oh my gosh, I was going to label this 'preemptive mourning,' how terrible would that have been

Day 6.

It's official, Wednesday and Thursday are cancelled too.  And employees are to check back after 4 pm on Thursday to see if we'll still have to go in for our previously scheduled Professional Development Day.  Yo, students are going to have no idea what school was anymore by the time we all get back from this crazy mess (next Tuesday, after President's Day). 

Here's where you come in.  O three readers of mine, please give me/us some ideas for things to do.  Keep in mind all we've been doing is eating, and we have to ration what we have anyway, so baking or cooking extravaganzas sound really fun but are probably not the best option.  I've started to read The Golden Compass, which promises lots of fantastic fun, but there are a bunch of other hours where I'm not reading.  We have a lot of wedding stuff under control, and we've emailed everybody who needs emailing.  This should be somewhat obvious, but we can't go anywhere.  The roads are beyond ridiculous.  Similarly, ordering anything online would take a while to get here.  I've even organized all my new paperwork into three separate 1" binders (entitled "IEP Extras," "Important but not Urgent," and "The Big One").  The fiance (when you read that in your head, leave that extra "-eh" sound off the end ("fee-ahnts"), it's my catchy nickname) and I have resorted to bouncing a ping pong ball across a table at each other, trying to land it in a cup in the middle of us.  Now, we think it's really fun, we even developed a scoring system, but the point remains, we need something semi-real to do.  Help?

I can officially die a happy death.

I just scheduled a dentist appointment for next Monday.  I haven't been since November of 2008, when I was so happy to have real insurance but somehow I found out too late that there was no dental plan and I paid like $500 to have my teeth cleaned and x-rayed.  But that was then.  I resolved (oo in a post right before the new year!) to go, and to go soon, and here we are.  Gettin' stuff done on snow days!  So.  The dentist himself answered the phone, because his assistants couldn't make it in today.  He was the nicest man!  But listen.  A happy death.  You're going to think this is a joke.  But I promise you, it's not.  My appointment time is actually, in real life, truly, for 2:30.

Grammatically speaking

I just cannot come to terms with the state of grammar (and, coincidingly, the acceptance of the lack thereof) today.  I know that's young and naive and old-fashioned of me (all at once!), but it comes up in so many different forms all the time, and they all make me very sad.

Two important ones:
1. You and your business.
I would probably be very interested in what you have to say.  In fact, there's a couple of you out there where I AM VERY interested in what you have to say.  I am obsessed with your product.  But you don't know the difference between "its" and "it's," you misspell common words, and forget about correct comma and apostrophe usage.  And that makes me profoundly sad.  I know grammar is going out the window, especially with all these standardized tests in public schools that don't test grammar, especially with the internet that doesn't care about convention, just straight text-to-speech where no one cares how it looks, as long as it's understandable (which, you know, it is).  I just know that in a simpler time, in the good old days, we wouldn't patronize a business that didn't appear educated.

2.  Um, a legal document.
So there's this thing called the IEP.  Individualized Education Plan.  The end-all, be-all legal document that details a student's special education accommodations, modifications, services, testing, goals, and progress.  And yes, copy-and-paste rears its ugly head, and we have dudes being called by ladies' names and pronouns and vice versa.  That is careless and unprofessional.  But what crosses those lines into unforgiveable are things like "ciculator," "multiplicatin," and "Although [student] has som good calculation skills, he nedds to be reminded to apply them. He quite frequently rushes through and does not check his work. often, his poor test grades reflect this test taking behavior."  Not a joke.  Straight from the IEP itself.  The kicker to this gripe is that I was advised not to fix this.  Now.  This document lives.  It is passed among many hands: teachers, therapists, parents/guardians (frequently grandma, uncle, etc).  I offered to fix what I saw, but I was told to leave the wrong ones and make sure mine were fine.  Mine will always be fine, and it broke my heart that the system wouldn't want a united, correct front presented to parents but that vicious 'every man for himself' mentality.  It continues to blow my mind that teachers are so frequently incorrect.  Not that we're superhuman, but I firmly believe we are and should be held to higher standards.  We instruct.  Shouldn't the instructors be the best at the subject at hand?  It seems obvious for the high school and AP teachers among us.  But shouldn't elementary school teachers be the most correct and the strictest about the big concepts as well as the important details?

Advice

Try to outgive each other, and you'll have a good marriage.
-RAR

Oh my goodness gracious me.

Thank you, Ryan North, for seven years of Dinosaur Comics and also for pointing out www.axecop.com.  And thank you, Nicolle brothers, for existing.

xkcd (specifically, the Spirit one from 1/27)

Sometimes, I think they're intended to be funny, but I find them amazingly, desperately sad.

Four things without anything in common

1. I said something awesome last night catching up with friends at a Caribou Coffee, and the 30-something stranger behind us overheard, laughed, and put it on his facebook page.  I have rarely been so honored.
2. I hate when people say that they "could care less" about something.  Then you still care, bucko.  Probably the opposite of what you're trying to convey.
3. Don't those new-ish cars that are one color (looks best when they're white) and have almost no seams remind you of Macs and Google?
4. I know this feeling will go away some year, but I love doing my taxes.  Federal yesterday, MD on deck.
5. Perpetually excited to dance.
6. Twenty-eight hours!