fiddle - farting around

this post title refers to one of my dad's favorite expressions when we were growing up. he would tell us to quit fiddle-farting around when we were goofing off, stalling to get out of work, or simply not doing what he wanted us to do. using it now as an adult, and thinking about it...it really is a WEIRD thing to say, eh?

but alas, i am indeed fiddle-farting. i should be working on an IEP, but instead, i am posting stuff on my blog. so, here we go...

okay, these pics are just WRONG in so many ways, but they are also HILARIOUS. (and in case you can't tell, those are ian's little chicken legs poking out from underneath juj and taylor.)

here is a photo of my little miss thang (kate). and yes, the title "little miss thang" is wildly appropriate for her.

kate took these dizzying photos of ian shooting nerf basketball in our living room.

and lastly, i took this picture this morning by cranking open my bathroom window and leaning outside...

music picks from the past few weeks

lots of great performances at the grammy's last night. my favorite was this one by the dave matthews band. simple. not a flashy production number. no ridiculously costumed dancers. just dave. and musicians. and back-up singers. it made me happy. (i love the lyrics too.)



jules texted me when this performance by mary j. blige was taking place at the "hope for haiti" telethon. she was blown away and insisted i listen to it. i'm just now getting around to it. and yep. mary's got THE pipes.



i love, love, love jennifer hudson. her performance at the haiti telethon was exquisite.



okay, and now for some fun...here is will ferrell singing lead on lynard skynard's "freebird". with conan o'brien on the ax, ben harper, beck, and billy gibbons from zz top. this closed out conan's last episode.


Conan's 'Freebird' Farewell - These bloopers are hilarious

"one great use of words is to hide our thoughts." - voltaire

it seems that over the course of the past two weeks (since julie's messages about the power of words), i have been abnormally subjected to some really bad ones!  while trying in earnest to watch my own tongue, and often doing a pretty lousy job of it, i have, at the same time, become increasingly aware of the truth behind the following:

"great talker, great liar."  ~ french proverb

i was told once that liars never stop talking.  a gentleman i know who used to work in law enforcement stated that the "guilty ones" always refused to shut up.  perhaps while trying to convince the authorities of their innocence they were trying to convince themselves as well.  i've seen this alot lately.  my students are bad about it, of course, and so are my own kids.  yes, i do it too.  we all lie.  but i've experienced this recently with someone who's a real pro. and he/she (i won't say which) scares the bejeebers out of me! 

"flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.” ~ adlai stevenson

my mother told me once when i was in college to "beware the flatterer".  well, amen, mother.  i get it.  i totally get it.  words definitely have the power to inspire confidence and esteem; i love to compliment others (perhaps because i like to be complimented myself), but there is certainly a fine line between building someone up and being a complete phony.  honestly, don't we all realize when someone is insincere?  sometimes, don't we just want to say..."thanks, but i'm not inhaling this time". 

"it's not what you say.  it's how you say it."

ouch.  this one hurts me the most.  hey, i'm not innocent of committing this crime.  i'm probably at my worst with my own kids.  but man.  i don't take a disrespectful tone with my peers because they are...well...my peers.

so perhaps the childhood adage of:

if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, is still the best way to go.

 i'm still working on that one, too.

probably a boring post for you but i couldn't be happier!

just when i was getting ready to pull up the pumpkin plants that seemed to be dying, i found these three gorgeous little fellas! hooray!

random thoughts on a sunday evening

• what is the filmy residue that builds up on the inside of the front windshield of my car? does anyone else have this?



• i heard the song "rock of ages" by def leppard a little while ago on xm radio. it reminds me of you, d.j. owens.



• i would like to create a web site just for people who can't sleep in the middle of the night. that way, insomniacs (or people who are just plain full of anxiety) can log on, chat, and know they're not alone.



• ian has started referring to his genitals as his "willy wonkas". i have no idea where that came from. he usually just refers to them as his "boys".



• have any of you seen the "coming home" series on ESPN that's hosted by rick reilly? excellent show. i've seen it twice, and both times, rick has featured christians: kurt warner and josh hamilton. leo wants me to email rick and see if he'll do a special on chuck ealey.



• my kids are currently dancing/jumping up and down on my bed while watching zac efron sing "lady's choice" from the movie hairspray. zac is awfully cute, if i do say so myself.



• philip burguieres is one of my heroes.



• when my sisters and i were little, our father would make us be quiet during the opening themes of tv shows so he could tape them on his tape recorder. i can still remember him shushing us and holding the white, rectangular microphone up to the television. (he only did this during the 1970s.) my personal favorites are here, here, here, and here. in the 1980s, i fell in love with this, this, and the best tv opening of all time: this.
  


• have you ever had a paranormal/ghostly experience? i have smelled my grandmother's cigarette smoke a few times since she died in 1991.
  


• true or false: "you can't control how you feel."
  


• what song do you have stuck in your head, right now?
  


• i love comments. leave some comments. nice comments.

bird poop and renegades

much to the chagrin of their momma and poppa, i climbed a chair and snapped these updated photos of our baby barn swallows. look how they've grown! i definitely count five heads, but i'm wondering if perhaps one more is packed in there among its brothers and sisters somewhere.

and, as you can see below, they're pooping up a storm. :(

also, i discovered this year's versions of "renegade" produce this afternoon. for the past two summers, we've had pumpkins and gourds sprout unexpectedly in our side yard. i'm almost positive these three little fellas are gourds. we'll just have to wait and see. even though we've (intentionally) planted pumpkins this year, it's always exciting when the unexpected occurs!

at last

today felt like the first actual day of summer vacation. i think, for the most part, due to the combination of smells (i cut grass this morning), sleeping in, and heat. oh, and the flowers. things are actually growing around here.

this red verbena is an annual. the violet verbena is perennial. both are gorgeous.

i bordered my round flower bed with red salvia this year in honor of my grandmother. leo said he digs it.

and sprouting here are pumpkin seeds. last year's pumpkins fell prey to the horrific summer drought. i'm hoping these babies make it.

10th generation barn swallows

for at least the past ten years, barn swallows have made a nest above the light on our back deck. every year, after the babies fly away, and the nest is deserted, i power wash it down and clean the poopish what-not off my siding and deck. and every year, the swallows come back.


the only way i know these are barn swallows is because julie told us they were. (she's an ornithologist extraordinaire.) juj also explained the cloacal kiss to me this spring ~ i was always curious as to how birds actually had sex (uh, that sounded a little strange). at any rate, here are the little by-products.


last year, one of the babies had not mastered the art of flying, and died about two feet from the nest on our deck. i'm curious to see how long before all of our babies fly away this year. kate and ian are always a little sad to see them go.

macro

i'm an incredibly inept photographer. point and click. that's me. and i usually point and click with shaky hands. for years, leo has tried to help me with the basics of taking a "good" picture, and i'll be danged if i just don't have the knack. it's become our own little joke...and after 17 years of marriage, if i take a "good" picture, leo sweetly patronizes me by saying, "you're getting better".

we own a little cannon powershot. nothing fancy, but it is an upgrade from our previous camera that was held together by masking tape after i dropped it the first time, and then died altogether on christmas eve when i dropped it for the last time. i now understand why that little wrist strap is there, although i still fail to use it.

so anyways, i was playing with the macro on my cannon last night, which is a pretty big deal for me, and these are what i came up with.

this poor bleeding heart. she's the last one to bloom, and the only one left to photograph. her color has faded, and she's starting to wilt. (can anyone identify?)

an unfortunate truth

sick day

i've been home the past two days with a sinus infection and laryngitis. yesterday, i laid on the couch all day, feeling as if someone had hit me square in the face with the back of a frying pan. today is a little better. i'm still fighting the urge to actually get some work done around here. i have serious issues with resting and doing nothing else. all i can see is clutter that needs to be picked up, laundry that should be thrown in the washer, and beds that need to be stripped and changed.

charles shultz wrote the following in his 1967 book about happiness:

i discovered yesterday that daytime television pretty much stinks. thank goodness for the bob ross (joy of painting) episodes i have on dvr. i pressed 'play'on those and never looked back...

today i've been grading papers and trying to work on lesson planning for next week. piddling on my blog is my break for now. so i'm going to spend the next few minute posting a little bit of this and that...

here is my adorable husband around the age of two (with my mother-in-law, martha):

what a cutie! this is the same man who sent me a dozen roses last monday, who convinced me to stay home and take care of myself this week, and who left the following note for me yesterday morning: not poetry, perhaps, but the thoughtfulness and love behind it have caused me to tuck the note away in a special place.

speaking of poetry, i recently rediscovered the poetry of robert creeley. my three favorites: for love , the rain, and the hill. i'll close this post with both the text of the hill and an invitation for you to comment on any of creeley's work.

It is sometime since i have been
to what it was had once turned me backwards ,
and make my head into
a cruel instrument .

It is simple
to confess . Then done ,
to walk away , walk away ,
to come again .

But that form , I must answer ,
is dead in me , completely ,
and I will not allow it
to reappear -

Saith perversity , the willful ,
the magnanimous cruelty ,
which is in me
like a hill .

completely random

* not feeling like much of a blogger lately

* every breath you take by the police just might be the most overrated song, ever.

* sometimes, i think i smell my grandmother's cigarette smoke (she died in '91)

* why do i receive "friend requests" on facebook from people who won't acknowledge me when i see them in person?

* why do you need a ticket to go to the inauguration? will authorities actually be checking the tickets of the cajillion people on the mall in d.c.?

* i think the office is going downhill. bummer.

* i wish i had a dozen chocolate creme-filled doughnuts from crispie creme in chillicothe.

* leo and i are still working on our 2000 piece puzzle of times square that we started on new year's eve. it's almost done...

* i think pms affects the way i view my outward appearance.

* how do you "get away" from people who truly don't know when to stop talking? you know,the ones who don't understand your verbal and nonverbal cues that you need to move on. sometimes, and i know this is bad, but sometimes i just avoid those people altogther.

* and, sometimes i avoid conversations with people because i feel like my life is so generic that i don't have anything interesting to say.

* my amaretto sour at max & erma's last night was heavenly. ice cold. yum.

* i need new carpet for my house. and a new refrigerator. and stairs leading to a second floor.

* i often wonder if the way i see myself is how others see me too.

* i hope my kids don't inherit my depression.

* sometimes, i want it to be about me.

masking tape won't work this time

i dropped my camera on christmas eve...on my parents' hardwood floor. the lens is completely broken. :(

i need a new camera.
nothing fancy.
nothing toooooo pricey,
because knowing me...

i'll drop the son-of-a-gun.

happy thanksgiving, memories of grandma, and other ramblings

i haven't blogged anything of substance in a long time, mainly because i've really been wondering about the potentially narcissistic bent of my posts. but hey, it's the holiday season, and i've received emails from some of you wondering what the heck is going on in my world...so here you go.

monday night, kate and i went to the ohio theater to see my cousin jonathan and the OU marching 110 perform. talk about amazing ~ wow! first of all, i am so incredibly proud of jonathan for the fabulous young man he has become. he is so loving and affectionate and grounded. and the music...honestly, i don't know how the people around us remained in their seats. (julie and i had to get up and dance at one point). the 110 are cool in a way that the OSU band is not. they are unpretentious and look like they're having the time of their lives. if you ever have the opportunity to see them perform, do it. (for a clip of jonathan and the drumline on youtube, see the post below.)

i won't say how, lest my mother reads this post, but i recently "stumbled" upon a box of photos that belonged to my beloved grandmother. i'm not quiet sure, but this just may be the view from heaven:

this picture was taken from my grandmother's back porch. the shade of the apple tree unseen to the left) is casting a shadow across the back yard. my grandfather usually planted his garden on the left side of the walk only; the other side of the yard was reserved for serious badminton playing.

at work this week, we were talking about thanksgiving traditions. a tradition that julie and i had for many years was setting grandma's thanksgiving table. even during our college years, we would go to her house the night before thanksgiving, get out the china and flatware and beautiful pink goblets, and set the table. then, we would hang out in the kitchen, drink coffee, and listen to her talk about the menu for the following day, which never changed, and was always scribbled down on the back of an envelope (or so it seemed). i'm not sure when the photo below was taken, but this table was definitely set for thanksgiving, and it was done with love by two devoted granddaughters.

i've been thinking alot about everything i have to be thankful for this holiday, and perhaps it all sounds so trite: i have a beautiful family with two healthy and happy children, and i am blessed with a job i truly adore. but maybe, what i'm most thankful for this year is that i have a memory that is sharp and clear and filled with cherished remembrances of a relationship that provided for me the most well-defined meaning of unconditional love that i have ever known. i mean seriously, who couldn't love this...


i was definitely a girl built for relationship. but i must admit, i have done a very sloppy job of cultivating and making time for my friends this year. i am blessed to know beautiful, warm, loving, and funny women who i adore spending time with, but it seems that i allow work, and the overall "busy-ness" of life to get in my way. i need to improve on this. and for those of you still hanging in there and counting me as "friend", thanks. i owe you.

as i just stated, work has been rather overwhelming for me this year. i am team-teaching another class and not taking any planning periods throughout the week. if i take a planning period, i'm letting someone down. i can't be everywhere at once, and most of my co-workers understand this. my principal has been wonderful about me insisting that i take a break when i need one, but it almost seems easier during the day to not stop, to not lose momentum. i must admit, i'm feeling a little more "fried" than usual. but i love my kids. yes, they are a challenge, and i could tell you stories about the most horrific child abuse and neglect and parents in prison and lice infestation and drug use that would bring you to tears. but man, i love those kids.

kate is growing. a lot. the girl is a TREE. she's grown almost two full inches in the past five and a half months. she's also becoming more beautiful. that red hair of hers, though, is no lie. what spunk. i wonder where she gets that from? (see picture above). ian is, quite simply, a stud (yes, he's only 8). kind-hearted, a total cutie, and a fantastic athlete, he is the apple of my eye. i hope to post some up-to-date photos of them soon.

i'm going to close this post with a little silly and a little serious. first of all, as a final thanksgiving wish, i am going to leave you with this clip from the funniest thanksgiving sitcom episode ever: wkrp in cincinnati's "turkeys away", in which the station inadvertantly killed turkeys by dropping them from a helicopter. to quote mr. carlson: "as god as my witness, i thought turkeys could fly."

WKRP in Cincinnati: Thanksgiving Turkey Bomb! @ Yahoo! Video

and lastly, julie used this quote from her message last sunday at church, and it has really hit home with me. i'm seriously thinking about mounting it above my computer at work as a daily reminder of my own need for more humility:

"Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled? You are the one who must grow up." - Dag Hammarskjold

my thanksgiving prayer is that God will increase the size of my heart and hands, and give me the vision to see others for who they really are. i do, indeed, need to grow up.

do you ever wonder

what a deleted comment might have said?

hmmm.....

summer lovin'

one of the joys of summer is staying up late. as a result, i have been watching the late,late show on cbs and am now CRUSHING particularly hard on craig ferguson. he's got that uber-sexy scottish accent and self-effacing sense of humor. yow-za.

the other thing i love about craig is his honesty about his past issues. i'm sure most of you heard about the monologue below when craig delivered it about a year ago. but if not, check it out...and if you have time, watch it all the way through.

i wish i had one that wasn't held together by masking tape

referring again to my camera. because these flowers are just so darn gorgeous. (clicking on the photo and viewing large is pretty cool, however.)



oh, and while i'm posting, i want to show you this photo:



this is a planter that contained petunias last summer. i didn't bother to pull them out of the pots in november, and now they have reseeded themselves and are growing! i've never had that happen with annuals before. have any of you?

livin' with deepak chopra

i don't consider myself a pessimist...but lately, by comparison to my husband, i certainly sound like one.

the 17-year locusts, or periodical cicadas, are in town...or rather, i should say, in the woods. and they are annoying as H - E - DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS. i know what you city folk are thinking: they can't be that bad. oh yeah...they be that bad.

do you remember when the grinch (you know, the one who stole christmas) griped: One thing I can't stand is the noise, noise, noise, noise! good grief. dude hit that one on the head. seriously guys. i am not exaggerating...it sounds like a spaceship is landing behind our house. a LOUD spaceship. we sometimes have the radio on by the pool while swimming ~ we can't hear it over the cicadas (yeah, we have the volume turned all the way up). supposedly, the cicada chorus is known as the "song of summer". not.

while mowing the grass today, three separate locusts flew into my hair. these suckers are big. and UGLY. and after doing some research, i've yet to discover what purpose they serve in life.

i'm not going to bore you with details on the life cycle of the cicada ~ you can click on one of my links and do that yourself. but i will tell you that they are aptly named; their eggs have been burrowing and maturing underground for 17 years. a fact, my husband thinks is absolutely magical. leo's become uber-spiritual over the past year or so, which don't get me wrong, is a magnificent thing. but he's so darn optimistic all the time. while i was bemoaning the cicadas, leo described how fantastically miraculous the entire experience is, and how god is in the details, and isn't it amazing, "we'll be 58 years old the next time they come back."

nope. i ain't buying it.

ick.

from a to z

a- is for the apple pie i was craving last night at 8:30, which prompted a 16 mile round trip to buy one (an apple pie, that is) and a gallon of bryer's extra smooth vanilla ice cream. yum.

b- is for blogging, which i'm finding difficult to do lately. it's a time thing...there's simply not enough of it...

c- is for the columbus dispatch crossword puzzle which i will be doing when i finish this blog.

d- is for the darvocet (4 darvocet, to be exact) that one of my students ingested before coming to school last monday. i didn't ask him IF he took anything, i asked him bluntly WHAT he took, and he told me the truth. he wound up in a hospital later heaving up charcoal (used to induce vomiting) and the darvocet.

e- is the for the eighth grade promotion dance that i will be chaperoning this friday. "e" is also for the electric slide which i WILL do at said dance, much to the chagrin of my 8th grade niece, taylor. :) heehee...

f- is for fast-pitch softball, which kate is playing. she's learning how to pitch...and we're gonna need ALOT Of practice. :)

g- is for "grey's anatomy". it's back. 'nuf said.

h- is for happy bunny. while some of his stuff is too edgy and sassy, his other sayings crack me up.

i- is for ian, who knows he's a charming looker, and uses that to his advantage.

j- is for "juno", which i watched over the weekend. great, quirky script.

k- is for kate, my bonny red-head, and also my date for the 8th grade dance.

l- is for "lars and the real girl", which is next on my dvd rental wish list.

m- is for mowing the lawn, one of my favorite things to do in the whole world...but man, with the price of gas, it's going to be an expensive pleasure! (phyllis, i haven't forgotten about you, by the way ~ i will mow this week, i promise!)

n- is for new balance tennis shoes. when leo saw my comfy orange and white "dogs" a few weeks ago, and noticed the "N" on the side, he asked me: "since when do you wear ZIPS? i didn't even know they still made those!" uh, turn the "Z"over there babe...it's an "N".

o- is for the ohio achievement tests, which my students are taking (two weeks late) starting tomorrow. it's a long story, so here's the short version: the ODE screwed up. royally. click here to read the long version.

p- is for my favorite perfume which i just ran out of...dolly girl by anna sui. julie got me hooked on it. (i gots to get me to a victoria's secret, asap!)

q- is for the quintessential stupidity of NCLB (no child left behind), which is ridiculously obvious during OAT week. my students are mandated by law to have an IEP, an INDIVIDUALIZED education plan. the law says, you have to provide special services for these kids who have learning disabilities...these kids who are DIFFERENT. but THEN the government says you have to test them all the same way ~"one size fits all". can you spell C-O-N-T-R-A-D-I-C-T-I-O-N? governor strickland, if you're reading this, i officially invite you to have a cup of coffee with me sometime...we need to talk.

r- is for the reds (cincinnati, you know, baseball) who are in a terrible skid right now. :( time to go buy some talent, boys.

s- is for snoopy, who is all over my classroom...comic strips of snoopy, greeting cards with snoopy, my snoopy mouse pad, snoopy computer wallpaper, snoopy posters, snoopy name plate outside my door. snoopy is sly, smart, and sarcastically lovable.

t- is for teacher appreciation week, which is may 5 - 9. my favorite teachers in school were mr. robert "gene" lewis (7th and 8th grade science), mrs. zoa craumer (algebra I, II, and trig), and mr. richard craumer (chemistry and physics). maybe i'll be on someone's list of favorites someday...

u- is for underwear. i need new underwear. i'll buy it when i pick up more perfume at victoria's secret. (see "p" above)

v- is for my new vera bradley purse. :) yay! raspberry fizz pattern. libby style. right on!

w- is for the whippoorwill ian correctly identified calling in our woods last week

x- is for xm radio. how did i ever drive a car without it? my kids are now able to identify some great 80s songs. their current favorite: "should i stay or should i go?", by the clash.

y- is for yerramilli. smita yerramilli, a former student who sent me a graduation announcement this past friday. i have several sweeties graduating in a few weeks whom i will miss terribly. you can see the lovely smita by clicking here.

z- is for the unexpected zzzzz's i took this weekend. i napped. what's up with that?

and that's a magic number

9.

yes, nine. nine automated political messages left on my answering machine tuesday between 5:00 and 8:30. and unfortunately, we have one of those machines where you have to listen to the message before you can delete it.

i hit the "play" button and walked away...

and yes, i voted for barack obama. shockingly, i was reminded at school on wednesday, that prejudice is alive and well here in rural southern ohio. one of my students said that his father voted for hilllary because "he'd rather die than vote for a nigger". oh. my. gosh.

unbelievable.