Um, It's A Meme. About Me. Surprise!

Fine. Whatever. It's not like I had anything better to do, like grade papers or create grammar reviews or stuff like that.

Kathleen over at Treasured Chapters felt led to tag me in a meme, and who am I to resist being tagged? What am I, an uncooperative and ungrateful blogger/friend? Not me. So I will graciously allow her to tag me rather than hollering Ollie ollie in come free! and running the opposite way.

So, um, I guess 8 is the magic number. I will try to make this entertaining, as apparently my last meme was a little too straightforward and boring, and I do really want to avoid that. Y'all need to let me know if I get boring, okay? Rather than just surreptitiously discontinuing the feed or cutting me off the Followed Blogs list? Deal?


8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Slamming those Creative Writing seniors with an evil, evil final exam. That will fix 'em. Serves them right for being so dang snarky lately. I mean, who do they think they are? Legal adults who don't need to pass my class in order to graduate? Mwahahaha!

2. The gifts of gratitude--a.k.a. Cherry Coke and yummy lunches, since I keep forgetting to bring one--that my sophomores swear they will be bringing because I granted them great mercy and eliminated the major presentation assignment attached to their major research paper assignment. Not that my mercy had anything to do with looking at my lesson plans and realizing there wasn't a grasshopper's chance in an aviary of those presentations fitting in anywhere. Not at all.

3. Peeing. Seriously. The two cups of coffee I consumed for breakfast have arrived at the end of their travels and even my legendary teacher's bladder thinks maybe it's a good idea to take care of the matter. Yeah. Be back in a minute.

4. Whew. Okay, what's next? Oh! Having an afternoon that ISN'T filled with some sort of appointment, which means I can pick up the kidlets right after work and head back to the house in time for them to enjoy some time out in the sunshine AND for me to get more of my things settled upstairs.

5. Which leads me to #5, which is getting settled in the lovely, comfortable, comforting attic suite that I get to use now that my parents have left. I slept up there last night, and it was remarkably easy to relax and fall asleep lying in that bed gazing through the skylight at the trees and stars. Plus there's something so satisfying about settling in somewhere: putting things where they belong, figuring out the configuration that will work best, snuggling into a new space. Not that I'm good at keeping my spaces organized and neat, but at least they start out nicely.

6. The yummmmmmmy barbecue pork sauce over couscous that my beloved brother said he'd make for dinner with the leftover pork roast. He'll be using the family recipe that has been a favorite for decades. Mmmmmm. If you are very very good and leave enough sweet comments, maybe I'll share the recipe. What, you think I'd give away such valuable information gratis?

7. Playing World of Warcraft tonight, which I haven't done in a good week and a half. I swear, even if the guild is lame and doesn't gear up for a raid AGAIN, I'm gonna do something fun! Dang it, is there a Red Wings game on? Stupid finals.

8. Friday. Which I have off this week. No school, no work, and I'm not taking any grading home. What?!? you say. Isn't it already a three-day weekend? You get Friday off as well? Ah, but you must realize that in order to get that Friday off, we had to drag ourselves through the torture that is Parent Teacher Conferences--essentially two workdays crammed into one--in order to get a compensation day. I plan to sleep, rest, relax, and unwind. Not necessarily in that order. With perhaps lunch with a good friend thrown in.


8 Things I Did Yesterday: (Because yesterday was such a GOOD day for me, people. Gear up. It's gonna get ugly.)

1. Have two cups of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. My stomach was grateful. Usually it's just deluged with caffeine in an effort to jump start my brain.

2. Realize AFTER my prep that I had forgotten several items that needed to be ready for different classes. Spend the rest of the day (1) trying desperately to catch up and (2) pretending I actually know how to teach.

3. Tell my Creative Writing class that I'd really LIKE to say that I'll miss them (they're almost all seniors, so this is it, folks) but really, that wasn't happening at this rate. Maybe some of them. Maybe.

4. Skim through well over 200,000 words of student writing in order to get their final projects graded in time to report senior grades. Those projects were turned in yesterday, so this was a feat of non-procrastination. A few pieces were excellent. Some of them were decent. The rest of them...I'll be kind and keep my mouth shut.

5. Completely neglect to eat lunch because (1) I forgot to bring one and (2) see #4.

6. Try to compensate, poorly, for the lack of lunch by eating a chocolate Rice Krispie treat and half a double chocolate muffin.

7. Have a very difficult two-hour conversation with my husband fueled only by coffee and (mostly empty) carbs.

8. Finally collapse, after a very late but very needed dinner with my mentor (bless her for meeting me an hour and a half later than we were supposed to), in my new bed under a skylight, where I lay and prayed for the strength to make it through one more day.


8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Remember (and eat) my lunch more than once a week; get more than five hours of sleep per night. Between those two things and my constant dehydration because I don't drink enough water, I'm driving myself into the ground.

2. Turn back the clock and fix so many things that I have to lump them into one wish or this post would be a mile long and way TMI.

3. Teleport myself and my kidlets wherever and whenever I wish. Just think--an hour or two exploring the crystal waters of the Caribbean, then dinner with my parents in the Far Beyond of West Africa, then back home, with no need to get up quite so early in the morning since I wouldn't have to face that commute. Not to mention the drastic decrease in mileage on (or really, need for) my car, which has already surpassed its 3000-mile-hey-you-need-an-oil-change point even though the sticker suggests June 25th.

4. Get onto What Not To Wear without actually having to be quite such a fashion disaster, just so I can get that lovely debit card, trip to New York, two-day shopping spree, and makeover. The advice would be nice too. And I'd be So Good about following Stacy and Clinton's guidelines, I swear I would!

5. Get people to link to and buy from my aStore so I could get credit towards more books. Cuz I'm heading into summer, peoples, and that means I needs me some reading material! And I'm scared of the library. For reasons I'd rather not discuss. *cough* overdue fines *cough*

6. Find a travel coffee mug large enough to accommodate the quantity of coffee I need in the mornings. Cuz the regular ones aren't cutting it. Not that I have a caffeine habit or anything. I can quit any time I want. I just don't want.

7. Get my kidlets to stop whining because ye gods and little graces, they are driving me up the frickin' WALL.

8. Win the lottery. Without actually having to buy a ticket. (Hey, it said wish. Nothing about reality being a requirement in there.)


8 Books I'm Reading: (I'm cheating. It's supposed to be 8 Shows I'm Watching, but been there done that and see above, trying not to lose any more followers. Also, once upon a time I wouldn't have dreamed of starting another book when I hadn't finished one, but times they have changed. I feel positively MPD sometimes.)

1. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (Death as the Discworld version of Santa Claus--have I mentioned that I love this series? Pratchett is a frickin' genius!!!)

2. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (Second in a series that's getting me hooked: an alternative history set in England--mostly--during the Napoleonic Wars, only WITH DRAGONS. So cool and very well written.)

3. Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, Ph.D. (Technically I haven't started this, but my marriage counselor lent it to me to read, so I need to get around to it. So no comments yet.)

4. Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott (I'm taking this in sips. She's good that way.)

5. The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick (This is challenging, but hopefully worth it. Regardless of the outcome.)

6. Traveling Light For Mothers by Max Lucado (If you're a mom, read this. Seriously.)

7. Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent by Beth Moore (I know, I know, Beth Moore isn't everyone's cup of tea. But she can be very good. And this study is really good.)

8. The Bible (More specifically, the Psalms and Romans, currently. It's amazing to me that even though I've read this stuff so much in my life, it's as if it's all new to me. Shows what opening one's eyes, mind, and heart can do.)

OOF! OK, I'm supposed to tag 8 people. I dunno. I'll try. This post took me about three hours to finish, since I did it in bits and pieces, so it's up to them whether they play.

8 Bloggers I Tag:

1. Beck at Frog and Toad Are Still Friends
2. Heidi at Hortus Deliciarum (Sorry, I know you're not big into tags. But I loves you!)
3. oreneta at oreneta aground
4. GingerB at Gas-Food-Lodging
5. Beth at BurkinaMom in France
6. MommyTime at Mommy's Martini
7. Mackenzie at Blog Me (Her last post is an AWESOME poem, by the way. I'm gonna miss her.)
8. Eric at Property of: US Army (I think I just might miss him too. Snarkiness notwithstanding.)

Whew! Duty Complete!

(I'm kidding, Kathleen. I needed something to post without getting all weepy and such, since that's kinda how I am right now, and I wanted a chance to redeem myself for the last major meme I did. *hugs!*)