Our job is to put ourselves out of business.

^ Straight from an all-day training on writing IEPs.  I actually think that's a really sweet way to describe teaching.  Also especially because it was said in the context of not giving kids more accommodations than they actually need, and the idea is to bridge the gap, not make school easy for the rest of their academic careers... don't you worry, I still have PLENTY of conflicting opinions on the whole thing, but I did like that interpretation of teaching.  It reminded me of parenting, that ultimate goal of being unnecessary.  Except then it was kind of deflated when I saw some student's work hanging in the hallway where the teacher crossed out and corrected something that was correct, SIGH.  ("Pieces of rock and soil are what cause erosion"... she crossed out the "are" and wrote "is."  Really?  Really?) 

And oh!  It's Earth Day!  I am going to plant a pumpkin for the first time in many years.  I am also going to plant a tomato for the first time in all my years.  Time to go green... for my thumb.  And some of the most delightful stamps EVAR CREATED are being released today!  I will not rest until I own at least seven sheets of these darlings. 

PS: How devastated am I about Tim Urban?  Extremely.

SO MANY THINGS

1. You guys.  Groupon.  Why didn't any of you crazy kids tell me about this?  Whenever I saw GET DC FOR 94.5% OFF on the side of facebook, I thought it was just one of those spam gimmicks that make you sign up for $39.99 monthly subscriptions before you can do anything ("WE ARE LOOKING FOR TESTERS IN THE DC AREA FOR THE PURPLE MACBOOK").  So far, I've hooked us up with groupons for tapas, a deli, and photography.  I've been tempted to hook us up with groupons for many, many other things.  Really.  Do this wonderful thing.
2. I have made it my life goal to be obsessed with Ludacris.  I do hate How Low, but overall I am just so happy that this absurd early-aughts rapper has come out of the clear blue sky collaborating on like 17 hits that are so hot right now.  Oh AND, I happen to LOVE when singers introduce themselves before they start a song AND when they're featured on something completely outside their element.  So imagine my joy at "LUDA!  When I was thurrteeeen, I met my furst luuve."  Oh man.
3. Let's slow it down for a second here.  Let me tell you about one of my kids.  I'll call him Ryan.  Now, it's not in his IEP, but Ryan has something profoundly debilitating.  He's the kind of kid that's so disabled, to see him in his motorized wheelchair or standing contraptions (seriously.. for lack of a better word - he's more or less strapped and padded into a standing position for maybe half the day) and his bent arms and curled fingers that can't hold a pencil is more than a little ... intimidating.  There's a slight aversion, of course, a sort of fear that's jarring when you first see something like this.  Then you realize that if you listen closely, you can actually understand the words he says.  They're a little awkwardly paused or broken up, but he does speak in sentences.  Intelligent ones.  He correctly explained how something "impacted" something else recently, without hearing that word spoken by someone else prior.  He has huge eyes and huger eyelashes, which he bats flirtatiously and he knows it.  He smiles with a bizarre awareness, somehow his smile and his twinkling eyes convey that his degenerative condition is an inside joke and he's in on it.  With that smile and twinkling eyes he asks me what I had for lunch, or can I explain two-digit by two-digit multiplication to him again.  Roughly three billion articles have been written with the thesis either "disabled kids are just normal kids" or "disabled kids are way better than normal kids," and I'm not trying to say either of those, just a few crazy things that hit me both immediately and gradually. 
4. Also: How adorable is Tim Urban?  Ridiculously.  
5. Also also:  Totally validated.

Return of Itemized Thoughts!

Well hello friends!  Let me tell you a story.  A story about the time that my dance card filled more than I could have possibly ever expected, and throughout I had various thoughts.  Let me share some of those with you!  In my favorite format.  Numbered list.

1. Baseball uniforms are the most classic, yet the most unattractive sport uniforms.  Athletes per sport have such specific body types, but the shapelessness of baseball uniforms means we'll (as in, you know, the general public) never know what the baseball body type is. 
2. You will never understand how sad I am that facebook deletes wall posts and wall-to-walls after a given time (months? years?).  Trust and believe, I am devastated at the loss of some of the wonderful, heartwarming things that were once written there.  The deletion stings even more because like most post-college facebook users, my wall is used like 1% of what it used to be, so I don't get new adorable things either.  It's even worse than how I feel about cell phones not saving messages! (NB: everyone, call me on my google number!  it will save your message which i know will be wonderful and heartwarming!)
3. Speaking of facebook's grievances, does anyone else think we are drowning in pictures these days?  Even separate from the instant-notstalgia argument, there are just too many.  There are too many posted, even outside of facebook, there are too many taken in the first place.  Pictures used to mean something...!
4. The fiance and I bought and put together an IKEA dresser!  I am very proud of us.  Next up is a couch on loan from his dad so we can stop sitting in The Least Comfortable Futon of All Time.
5. You guys.  Modern Family.  I don't know that I have ever watched a show where I love, I mean LOVE, every.  Single.  Character.  Seriously, Modern Family.
6. There need to be more Catholic churches that feature cry rooms and friendly priests.  I try to be patient and compassionate, but screaming, rambunctious children and midstream reminders about letting down the kneelers gently and please don't put your gum under the pew really take away from the Mass.
7. One of the main highlights of my life thus far happened on the way out of The Last Song yesterday.  If you know me, you know that I am pretty much mainly about vanity plates that say something.  Anything, really.  If a car's tags say something, I am extremely stoked.  Parked in the movie theater's extremely crowded lot was a car.  A car with the license plate that said only "KISS".  I wanted nothing more than a stranger to take our picture kissing in front of the KISS plate (or maybe sticking our tongues way the hell out, rock and roll signs and all).  But, you know.  Debilitating embarrassment ensued, and I chickened out before even fetching my camera from the car.  :(
8. In Lents past I gave up pretty serious things (chocolate, facebook, elevator, music, elevator music, etc), but this time, my main thing was to reflect prayerfully.  Oh, man.
9. We're officially inside 100 days!  If anyone sees fun shoes, flat to maybe an inch high, let me know.  Nothing I look at seems fun enough.