It has been even hotter than usual lately in Texas, so it is pretty uncomfortable down here. I have been uber-busy with getting ready for the next school year. I trained for two weeks in the use of Lego RoboLab in the classroom, and I did another few days on language-arts curriculum improvements. I've also been house/dog sitting, and I have a friend in town for a couple of weeks, so I've been REALLY busy.
Punkin is great, although he is growing WAY too fast. Also, we found out last week that my best friends, the Happy family, are having a boy. Yea!
Thanks in part to the One Campaign, major changes are heading to Africa. Another yea! I've been thinking a lot about preparing for foreign aid/mission work in Africa in a year or two. Please pray for me to recieve strong guidance from the Lord.
On a final note for the day, I send my very best, most peaceful, loving, healing thoughts and prayer to all those effected by the London bombing. Go in peace.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Here Kitty, Kitty...
I am finally an official Mama. I brought my new kitten home on Tuesday, and he is so cute! He is an orangey-blond with pale stripes on his back and little pale spots on his tummy. He is about eight weeks old, so he is still a baby. After a few mishaps, he is now using his litter box like an old pro. (Thank God!) He purrs like a little warm motor. I think I'm gonna like having a kitty. His name is Pumpkin, which in Texan is Punkin. When he's being good, I can coo over my little Punkin-head. When he's bad, I can call him a little Punk. As soon as I get some pictures, I'll post a pic.
In other random news, my interest of the week is Airstream trailers. The main character of one of my favorite series, Wonderfalls, lives in an Airstream that looks like the inside of Jeannie's bottle. I went to an RV dealer the other day to see what they're really like. They are awesome!! Cute, distinctive, roomy.... so cool! I could absolutely see myself hooking a trailer up to a truck and hitting the road. There is so much of America and Canada that I would LOVE to see. Ahhhh.... Maybe someday, when I can be a writer and work from anywhere.
Speaking of great writing, Wil wrote a great post called "the seat with the clearest view" on video games and his youth. He is such a good writer! Also, check out Amanda's new British roadster. Wow!
I've been using Netflix to relive some old TV shows. Right now I'm watching Popular and Freaks and Geeks. I'd forgotten how good they were. I love how many series are on DVD now.
Have a great 4th of July!!
In other random news, my interest of the week is Airstream trailers. The main character of one of my favorite series, Wonderfalls, lives in an Airstream that looks like the inside of Jeannie's bottle. I went to an RV dealer the other day to see what they're really like. They are awesome!! Cute, distinctive, roomy.... so cool! I could absolutely see myself hooking a trailer up to a truck and hitting the road. There is so much of America and Canada that I would LOVE to see. Ahhhh.... Maybe someday, when I can be a writer and work from anywhere.
Speaking of great writing, Wil wrote a great post called "the seat with the clearest view" on video games and his youth. He is such a good writer! Also, check out Amanda's new British roadster. Wow!
I've been using Netflix to relive some old TV shows. Right now I'm watching Popular and Freaks and Geeks. I'd forgotten how good they were. I love how many series are on DVD now.
Have a great 4th of July!!
Friday, June 17, 2005
Africa
Years ago, I read I Dreamed of Africa and The Poisonwood Bible, and I became enthralled by this vision of Africa as a hot, dangerous, beautiful land. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series is also fabulous. For years I have been planning my future trips to Kenya and Tanzania to climb Kilamanjaro and go on safari. After watching The Endless Summer, I also want to go surfing in Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa. Africa seems beautiful, and parts of it are, but the reality of what the majority of Africans face every day is horrific.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to east Texas for a week to chaperone a group of about a hundred junior and senior high kids from my church at Student Life Camp. We had a great time, and I think I got as much from it as the kids did. One of the things that really affected me was a video we saw by an aid group called Compassion International. The video showed the work that Compassion does in Africa, and it was amazing. Not long after, I saw the Brad Pitt interview with Diane Sawyer that focused on the One campaign. The more I learn about Africa, the more my heart breaks for these people, especially the millions of children caught in the crossfire.
I can't do anything for at least a year, but I am seriously comtemplating mission or foreign aid work in Africa in the next few years. We have SO much in this nation. Even our poor are the richest poor in the world. Please visit the sites above, as well as the One campaign's partners page to see how you can help. Even small donations make a big difference.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to east Texas for a week to chaperone a group of about a hundred junior and senior high kids from my church at Student Life Camp. We had a great time, and I think I got as much from it as the kids did. One of the things that really affected me was a video we saw by an aid group called Compassion International. The video showed the work that Compassion does in Africa, and it was amazing. Not long after, I saw the Brad Pitt interview with Diane Sawyer that focused on the One campaign. The more I learn about Africa, the more my heart breaks for these people, especially the millions of children caught in the crossfire.
I can't do anything for at least a year, but I am seriously comtemplating mission or foreign aid work in Africa in the next few years. We have SO much in this nation. Even our poor are the richest poor in the world. Please visit the sites above, as well as the One campaign's partners page to see how you can help. Even small donations make a big difference.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
You did what?!?!
I can understand certain mix-ups, like mistaking sugar for salt or pyrite for gold, but hydraulic fluid for surgical detergent?!?! You've GOT to be kidding me!
Spam Lady Blitzes Homes
Heather Simpson, star of that creepy teacher Spam commercial, and sister of my friend Jen, is now hosting a show on CMT called Home Blitz. Heather is really enjoying getting to work with country music stars while she gets to help families receive a home from Habitat for Humanity. She is a great girl, and the show is pretty good. Give it a look!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
School's Out for Summer!!
Today is the last day of school. Yea!! It will be so good to have a break. My current teaching situation is a very poor one, and I am so excited because I have an interview in a much better district on Friday morning. I want this job SO bad!! Wish me luck! On a darker note, some sort of virus has hit our school today. About 30 kids went home today with a stomach virus, and several teachers are sick. They think it might be the Norwalk virus. Fun! :) At least I'm not sick - yet. I have to at least make it through the Lost finale tonight. I hope Sawyer doesn't die. He is so hot! I haven't mentioned that before, have I? :)
Friday, May 20, 2005
The Boys of Stand By Me
A week or two ago, I rented Rob Reiner's Stand By Me. I have seen pieces of the film several times, but I'd never really sat down to watch the whole thing. I was amazed at the way Rob Reiner took four green kids and created such a masterpiece. As I've soaked in pieces of the film over the last few weeks, I've thought of the boys of Stand By Me and the effects they've had on my life.
Corey Feldman - When I was growing up, I always was a sucker for the tortured, misunderstood bad boy. Even now, I live to see Sawyer on Lost. My favorite New Kid was Donnie, my favorite 90210 boy was Dylan, and my favorite soap hunks were Port Charles gangster Sonny Corinthos and Days of Our Lives', Steve Johnson, aka Patch. I had major crushes on Christian Slater, during his Pump Up the Volume rehab years, and Corey Feldman around the time License to Drive came out. The story of the Coreys was really a cautionary tale to my generation. The two Coreys were on top of the world one minute, and unemployable addicts the next. Showered with inappropriate attention as children, their perceptions of the world around them became so skewed that they became unable to function in normal situations. Feldman was on The Surreal Life a few years ago, and he really made me sad. How can someone with so much talent follow such a bizarre path in his life?
Jerry O'Connell - OK, the boy is just hot! Who would've thought that fat little Vern would grow into such a hunk? He's beautiful, he's talented, he's goofy, and he's single (for now). Could he be any more perfect for me? Come on, Jerry, give me a call.
Wil Wheaton - As we all know, I am a big fan of Wil's blog. He is a great writer, as well as a talented actor. He also seems to be a good husband and father, which is better than all the rest, in my book.
River Phoenix - What can you say about River? He was amazing. He was so talented! I have been watching a lot of his films, and they make me so sad. He could have been phenomenal - one of those actors whose longevity and diverse body of work become touchstones for those who follow in their footsteps. Instead he chose drugs, which ended his life at 23. I never understood how someone who was a strict vegan and nature activist could put such poison into his body. River's family has a tribute site that is pretty sweet.
Both sweet and sad, the lives of these boys, now men, in some ways reflect the tone of the film. The boys without guidance self destructed, and the others contine to live good lives. Throughout the journey, we all just want to belong somewhere. Triumphant or tragic, or somewhere in between, each of these boys are a part of my life and of our collective experience.
Corey Feldman - When I was growing up, I always was a sucker for the tortured, misunderstood bad boy. Even now, I live to see Sawyer on Lost. My favorite New Kid was Donnie, my favorite 90210 boy was Dylan, and my favorite soap hunks were Port Charles gangster Sonny Corinthos and Days of Our Lives', Steve Johnson, aka Patch. I had major crushes on Christian Slater, during his Pump Up the Volume rehab years, and Corey Feldman around the time License to Drive came out. The story of the Coreys was really a cautionary tale to my generation. The two Coreys were on top of the world one minute, and unemployable addicts the next. Showered with inappropriate attention as children, their perceptions of the world around them became so skewed that they became unable to function in normal situations. Feldman was on The Surreal Life a few years ago, and he really made me sad. How can someone with so much talent follow such a bizarre path in his life?
Jerry O'Connell - OK, the boy is just hot! Who would've thought that fat little Vern would grow into such a hunk? He's beautiful, he's talented, he's goofy, and he's single (for now). Could he be any more perfect for me? Come on, Jerry, give me a call.
Wil Wheaton - As we all know, I am a big fan of Wil's blog. He is a great writer, as well as a talented actor. He also seems to be a good husband and father, which is better than all the rest, in my book.
River Phoenix - What can you say about River? He was amazing. He was so talented! I have been watching a lot of his films, and they make me so sad. He could have been phenomenal - one of those actors whose longevity and diverse body of work become touchstones for those who follow in their footsteps. Instead he chose drugs, which ended his life at 23. I never understood how someone who was a strict vegan and nature activist could put such poison into his body. River's family has a tribute site that is pretty sweet.
Both sweet and sad, the lives of these boys, now men, in some ways reflect the tone of the film. The boys without guidance self destructed, and the others contine to live good lives. Throughout the journey, we all just want to belong somewhere. Triumphant or tragic, or somewhere in between, each of these boys are a part of my life and of our collective experience.
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