Miscellaneous Missives

This morning I am drinking my juice and thinking I can finish this week because of students like JP. Yesterday as I was walking through desks making sure everyone was working on the beginning exercise, three students ask if they can go get materials from their locker. "No," I respond to each student trying to start class. "Rule #3," says a little girl in the back. "What?" I ask puzzled and wondering if she is talking about the exercise we're doing on conventions (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc.). "It's rule #3," she says obviously frustrated yet trying to tell me something. "What is rule #3?" I ask as I sit down next to her group. "Prepared. It's rule #3!" she answers with her angelic smile. "I'm teaching back here with the smart kids," I reply chuckling to myself. If only life were this easy. I go to my cupboard, toss JP a piece of candy, smile, and continue class. We have class standa...

An advantage of these long dark days... My Christmas cactus is blooming!

This morning I was listening to the radio on my way to work. A story caught my attention. It seems a lady in Colorado hung a wreath in the shape of a peace sign and irritated others in her homeowners association. She was asked to take it down or pay a fine of $25 a day. They said it was divisive. How can a peace sign be divisive?!

My Dad is starting to build a house for himself on his small farm in Iowa where I grew up. I talked to him twice after work today. The first time he told me he talked to "my friend" who was able to get him a permit. Later he called back because he forgot to tell me he also talked with LT (not LaDanian Tomlinson or Lawrence Taylor) another name from the past. Both of these gentelmen asked Dad about how I was doing. It's ironic that I know both of these men because "back in the day" they were friends of my romantic interests. Because of my romantic interest (each at a different time in my life), I spent time with these two guys. It's somewhat entertaining that my father talked to both of them today. I really don't think he'll be finding anymore friends of a romantic interest while he is building the house. Right?!

This weekend I read Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. The premise is basic in the fact that people should pay more attention to what they put in their body. After all eating is more important than sex (his idea not mine). From the beginning I learned information that I should have already known especially growing up in Iowa. In fact in the first section which explains how virtually all of our processed food contains corn I actually called my father to check Pollan's comment about the corn welfare. Even Dad who has a small corn crop agreed that the checks were basically welfare checks. I was thoroughly intrigued by the first section as I know processed food is not the healthy. My struggle is with the alternative (knowledge, cost, and time). The second section talking about organic food was equally informative. Lately I have been purchasing more organic food at Whole Foods (again availabity and time). Although it is still probably mo...

Today I wore this sweater to church. "You look so Minnesotan in that sweater," commented S. "I love your sweater. It looks so nordic," said the next lady who sat by me. Maybe after living in Minnesota for over ten years, I'm starting to "look Minnesotan." Is this an insult or compliment?

It wasn't until I looked at Treehugger.com this morning that I realized yesterday was " Buy Nothing Day " In my opininion not buying anything yesterday wouldn't really accommplish anything. The important thing probably is buying less during the holiday season. I am guilty of buying more than I should each holiday season. This year I probably have done better since I am trying to save money for my new condo. For example, some people at work will not be getting the small (or any) gifts from me this season. My only lapse in trying to purchase less this year came with my brother and Holly, but they deserve to open some small fun things as well as the gifts requested on their lists. Overall, I fairly proud of minimizing my spending and amount purchased. I am also quite thrilled that I did 90% from my living room, used only one "big box" store, and paid little for shipping! The best news is that I am basically finished with my shopping. All I need to do ...