Congratulation Graduation

I went to a graduation ceremony tonight……not for the class of 2011…..for the class of 2024!  My twin grandchildren graduated from preschool. I guess it was a practice run for the real thing thirteen years from now.

Oh yeah…they had the caps and gowns and the whole she-bang!  Brady (the blue twinkie) has been excited for weeks.  “I’m going to have a congratulation and I get to wear a congratulation gown!”

Congratulation Gown

Honest to goodness, I found this on a website….

What’s next……preschool class rings?

Okay, you know I am just being facetious.  I enjoyed the evening just like I did when my own kids graduated preschool years ago.  The only thing that worried me was the fact that the twins were caring a sign that said this…

Congratulations on congratulating, Brady and Brandy!

The Pink and Blue Grads

Happy New Year!

I know! I know! It’s not January 1st.  But I still have enough teacher blood in me that Memorial Day marks the end of a school year and the anticipation of the next.  To me, it was always a time of reflection……

What went well? 

What was a disaster?

What would be my resolution for the New School Year?

But over the years I realized that no matter how hard you plan ahead, nothing works out as you want it to….

This struck home to me this morning when I was watching the Today Show.  They were talking about the reason why we TRUELY celebrate Memorial Day……to honor those, past and present, who gave us the opportunity to buy llamas and visit pubs in Ireland and go to Manager’s Special in Charleston and blog about silly things if we want to…

We never know what tomorrow will bring. 

In the words of one of my favorite authors, Erma Bombeck:

 When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.” 

We can all give it!

Happy Memorial Day.

The New Goat

Living outside of the city limits can be interesting at times.  Because there are no city ordinances, unusual occurences are not rare.  For example, there are the people who like to harvest tires…

or cars….

I am not sure what fertilizer they use, but they do seem to grow bigger every year.

Anyway, I thought I had seen it all when, yesterday, I pulled off the highway onto the road that leads to my house and I did a double take.

There were two llamas in one of my neighbor’s yard!  Not ONE, but TWO!

Did I take a wrong turn somewhere and end up in South America?

Okay, once my surprise wore off, I started thinking….is some people’s lifelong dream to own llamas or do they just get up one morning and say, “Hey, I think I’ll go out and buy a llama today.”

This isn’t a decision to take lightly.  The lifespan of a llama is 20 to 25 years.  I’m sure glad I’m not on the receiving end of that estate!

The height of a full-grown, full-size llama is between 1.7 meters (5.5 ft) and 1.8 meters (6 ft) tall at the top of the head. They can weigh between approximately 130 kilograms (280 lb) and 200 kilograms (450 lb).  

Llamas eat mainly hay, grass, and grain when in captivity. Llamas eat grass??? 

 

 

Hey, maybe these people are not so crazy after all!

The Schnauzermobile

Today there was a car parked in our lot at work that attracted just a little bit of attention.  On the outside, it was fairly unremarkable….an older model white Buick Skylark.  It was the inside of it that grabbed your eye.  The only seat not totally covered with stuff was the driver’s.

There were shoeboxes and empty water bottles and notebooks and blankets……

It was obvious from the bumper stickers that the owner of the car was a dog lover.

Well, all I can say is no schnauzer in his right mind would get in that car!

Okay, my car is not squeaky clean inside, but I can see through the passenger window, for goodness sakes!

One good thing that came out of this experience is that I think I solved a missing person case

I swear I saw him in there!

Let Me Keep My Lexicons!

Lexicons may seem like a strange blog topic but I became fascinated by the topic while driving home from Ann Arbor.  I said something to Lindsey (who is 20 years younger than me) about “booze” and she cracked up…..”I just love it when you say the word ‘booze’ “!

What?  Booze is booze.

“No, she said.  “It is liquor.  No one says the word “booze” anymore.”

Well, I felt about 109 years old!

In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. When linguists study the lexicon, they study such things as what words are, how the vocabulary in a language is structured, how people use and store words, how they learn words and the history and evolution of words.

Lindsey went on to say that her boyfriend’s grandmother will often ask to go to a “beer joint” for lunch because she likes the food.  In today’s language…….”Let’s go to a pub for lunch.  I’m in the mood for some bar food”.

Well, grandma just used different words, but she meant the same thing….

How “cool”  is that?

Boys vs. Girl?

A while back I posted a blog about a little rural school I work with that has one teacher per grade level.  Well, I was back at that school today.  During one classroom visit I felt like something was strange but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until finally it dawned on me……there was only ONE girl in the class!

I thought to myself  that surely there were more girls….they must be absent today, but the secretary later validated the fact that, yes indeed, there was only one girl in a classroom of boys.

What is even more amazing is that it was a second grade classroom, meaning that if no other girls of that age move into this small rural town, this girl could spend the next four years in the same predicament.  I don’t know about you, but I think this constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.  Can you imagine facing this alone for 180 school days?

Perhaps the county should seriously consider busing in girls from nearby towns….

Or at least give her a little space of her own during the day..

Hang in there, Sweetie and when times get tough, just keep reminding yourself…..

“A Squared”, “B Squared”, “F Squared”

Okay, I guess you can tell I have been working on way too many math projects!

This week’s math project took me to Ann Arbor (“A” Squared).

Ann Arbor is the 6th largest city in Michigan.  It was founded in 1824, with one theory stating that it is named after the spouses of the city’s founders and for the stands of trees in the area.  During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an important center for liberal politics. Ann Arbor also became a focal-point for left-wing activism and served as a hub for the civil-rights movement and anti-Vietnam War movement, as well as the student movement.

I don’t know about all that, because I was on the hunt for other things…..

The 2010 Census places the population of Ann Arbor at 113,934.  But those of us from WV know that it is now 113,933 because one citizen is now missing….

We stayed at the greatest Bed and Breakfast in Ann Arbor (“B” squared).  The Ann Arbor Bed and Breakfast is a delightful place located on the campus of the University of Michigan.

The place has nine rooms with en suite bathrooms and most of the rooms have balconies or decks (smokers delight)!

Each room is themed and is decorated ala funky!  Lindsey stayed in the Charleston room which had everything Charleston, South Carolina.

 

I stayed in the Jamboree which was wild and crazy……need I say more?

Speaking of Lindsey, that brings me to “F” squared…..Fabulous Friend!  We filled our free hours sightseeing, eating, pubbing and surprise, surprise……shopping!

“A” squared….

Things to Think About While Waiting for the Grass to Dry

The other day I went to the store because I was out of dog and cat food. $61.00 dollars later I returned home with a mission in mind…..

“It’s time for you guys to get a job!”

And I have the perfect one in mind….

It is all over the news that some people are proclaiming today to be The Judgement Day. And guess where I will be? You betcha….mowing! Not exactly my first choice of things to do on my last day on earth.

If I really believed today was going to be it, I would park the mower and do this…

It would be just my luck to get to the Garden of Eden and discover it too had to be mowed.

And it would be my job!

B as in Bee

Every year I get to be a judge at our regional spelling bee. 

It’s my job to tell the kids they are correct or (sigh) incorrect.  Telling them they are incorrect breaks my heart. 

My boss is the Pronounciator which should keep him busy enough, but last year he kept usurping my job and telling the kids when they were right or wrong.  I had to set him straight on who was in charge of bell ringing.

Two years ago, I kinda lost my attention span and missed the fact that a kid had spelled a word incorrectly.  The other judges kept trying to get my attention.

I was afraid they would take my job away from me the next year, but they gave me another chance.

Tonight, my bell was busy.  The words for the 7th and 8th graders were extremely hard.  They went down like flies…..or bees

As a matter of fact they ALL went down on their first words so we had to bring them all back up again to start again.

Finally we were down to two.  But when it looked like one of them was going to win, they would miss their second word and we would have to start all over again.  Even the parents were rooting against their own kids…..anything to end this!

Finally, we declared a winner…..to a standing ovation!

Congrats to all!  It was a long, but phun evening!

The Last Resort

If anyone ever experiences “bloggers’ block”, just go to Embassy Suites during Manager’s Special. Tonight, a colleague was relating her experiences during a recent trip to Fayetteville, WV.  It was an overnight trip and she wasn’t familiar with the area so she googled lodgings in the area and her number one result was:  “Opossum Creek Cabins and Resort”.

Is there something weird about the word “opossum” and “resort” being used in the same title, or is it just me?

I think I will pass on the massage….thank you anyway.

On the drive to the “resort”, my colleague finally confessed to her group that the place had no formal check-in procedure.

“What do you mean”? They asked in aghast.  “How do we get into our cabin”?

“Well, er, they just leave the key under the mat”.

But when they got there, they discovered that the key was NOT under the mat.  Instead, it was here….

But do you know what was waiting for them on the kitchen counter?  A hand written welcoming note along with a plate of homemade cookies.

I don’t know about you, but this says luxury to me.