new school

alas, above is a picture of "the white building," the original building of my new school. anyone who knows me knows that i'm mostly obsessed with school. let me assure you, i'm obsessed with my new school too. we just finished our first five-day week and i have a wonderfully dynamic group of 3rd and 4th graders. i am fortunate to be surrounded by an incredibly talented faculty, all dedicated to the wellness and achievement of their students. and, i'm totally feeling welcomed and embraced by the community at large---not just my grade level and school community, but even my new neighborhood in bolton--we had a terrific dinner last night at the cider house in waterbury. life is good!

118 Thatcher Road

our newly rented home in Bolton, VT:








on the map below, you can see our house...it's on the "corner" of thatcher and gardiner lane, and it has a v-shaped walkway.

View Larger Map
we are thrilled! welcome home, sarah, mandy, cleo, jack & lily!!

new member of the family, new blog

so, jack arrived last friday. he is a beautiful black lab. he has his own blog at http://justjackblack.blogspot.com
it's worth reading. that's where i've been spending most of my time.
just fyi i saw baby mama and almost peed my pants. i did cry through many scenes (tears of laughter, of course).
only 30 more days of school...no new job yet...days have been long and rough, but we'll get through it.

baby mama/spring cleaning

i started cleaning today...kind of a spring purge. i cleaned out our closet and stored winter clothes and set aside lots of clothes that have not been worn in many seasons, and they (thanks to mandy) will be picked up tomorrow by a woman from voices against violence. it feels really good to know where the things you're giving are going---and that is such a great place.

we cleaned out the guest room closet, sorted through bedding, and went through all of the tubs from when i moved. spring cleaning at its best.

i'm really looking forward to many changes (although they're a little scary to me)...new job, serious house hunting, finishing this semester and student teaching, moving out of our apartment, as well as two new movies coming out...baby mama (see above) as well as the funniest ellen page movie coming out on friday.

lots of fun spring things coming our way.

note mr. twit

we are reading this in guided reading right now. notice the collection of weeks' worth of meals in his beard..

calling home

i went through a long period of not calling home. let me clarify this. not calling my parents. now, after a lot of difficult conversations, i call my parents about once a week. today was the day.

mandy and i went antiquing yesterday and found lots of great treasures. i got some early christmas shopping done, and we found 3 vintage fiesta plates, as well as, a fiesta teacup and saucer. during our adventure, we came across a "vintage" uniden cordless phone. mostly, it is like the first cordless phone, ever, with a metal antennae that extends at least 4 feet in the air. this reminded me of the fact that my parents probably still have this phone. dad was happy to reminisce about the phone.

so, i called dad. he proceeded to tell me about the very exciting weekend they've had. for starters, a tree fell on the house (they rent) next door. it actually came crashing through the roof and ceiling of my old bedroom. fire.

next, i talked with mom. she said she's started using craigslist as a means for "unloading." however, as she was reporting this to me, mandy went on new york/albany craigslist looking for postings in niskayuna, ny. "is she selling your american girl dolls?" mandy asked. what? mom, i want those.

thus began the craigslist war. hmmm. when selling something that belongs to someone else, please ask before you sell!!!

calling home is always an adventure.

the four things email

so i just wanted to share a)some of my reponses to the "4 things" email, and b) in contrast, some of my sister's responses. here goes:

Four jobs I have had in my life: lifeguard, florist, crew coach, teacher

Four movies I would watch over and over: Love Story, Imagine Me & You, Garden State, and When Harry Met Sally

Four TV Shows that I watch
90210 reruns on soapnet
CSI (Vegas only); reruns on spike
today show/morning news while i get dressed
the L word

4 Places I have been:

San Francisco
Zurmatt, Switzerland
Texas (yuck!)
Paris

Four places I would rather be right now:

still asleep
laying on the beach in the sun
Disneyworld
California

Things I am looking forward to this year:

going to san diego
moving to vt
starting a new job
buying a house....wow what a year!

and now, some of sammie's...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
express
medical receptionist (riverview oncology)
jcrew
rira (hostess, waitress, bartender, manager)

Four movies I would watch over and over:
the break up
big fish
steel magnolias
supertroopers

Four places I have lived:
Niskayuna, NY
Burlington, VT
Medway, MA (one month)
Burlington, VT

Four TV Shows that I watch
Today Show
Jepordy
America's Next top Model
The E! channel

4 Places I have been:
California (san fran, san diego)
Paris, France
Key West, FL

Accross Country

Four places I would rather be right now:
on a runway
boat
moracco
on tv

Things I am looking forward to this year:

leaving my job
killing jenney
getting a dog? just kidding
i have nothing to look forward to....

we are family.... so why premeditated murder? where will you work? what type of runway...at an airport, or in paris??

so this weekend, we'll be in new hampshire with jake (mandy's brother), and i have copious amounts of work to get done, and hopefully the weather will continue to be spring-like and maybe i'll even spy a snowpea. ellen was in boston for an appointment yesterday and mentioned she saw a snowpea in full bloom. ah....the first flowers of spring...always something i look forward to.

sorry, b, that this blog is posted on friday, not thursday, i did fall asleep with my laptop on me...

my new crush

so, this week wasn't the best week ever. even though i didn't have night classes, i didn't seem to have enough time for anything. i spent a couple of hours at barnes & noble reading and relaxing (one of my most favorite pastimes) this morning while mandoo was at work. then, we came home, ate lunch, and napped for a few hours (both had headaches and felt like we smashed into brick walls). bummer.

high points of today:
1. my newest crush: yep, ellen page...hosted snl. love her.

2. an 11pm run to cvs to pick up my meds was actually quite an adventure. interesting characters at cvs at that hour.

3. online shopping with gift cards...crate & barrel and ikea anyone?

4. reading b's blog. i love you dearest friend.

5. reading dorothy surrenders' blog. she makes me laugh out loud. b: check it out for e.p. references

6. the most delicious dinner ever: chickpea & avocado tacos! in vegetarian times last month. i'm sure the recipe is online.

7. mostly, spending snuggle time with mands.

8. people watching at barnes & noble...very interesting

9. realizing that i'm doing the best i can, and not everything can get done on time. oh well!

10. the anticipation of the lword tomorrow night...how exciting.

naughtiest event of the day (g-rated): lily throwing all the hats, mittens & scarves out of the basket in the entry way and onto the floor. reddest.

best new song: sweet pea, apple of my eye from the commercial

tv show i'm loving: snl

best thing i ate today: taco dinner, ice cream cake dessert...

best feeling today (g-rated): snuggly nap in bed

looking forward to: morning trip to ikea tomorrow; clean sheet sunday

lunar eclipse of the heart

voilla! right now, we're having a lunar eclipse. with a lunar eclipse and an a 29th day in february all in the same ten days, 2008 must be a very special year.

cleo and lily are mostly the naughtiest pair. as mandy and i drove home from class/dinner with debbie & clarkie tonight in nashua, i said, "oh...i hope they didn't get into my leftover salad that's still on the counter..." and mandy said "i thought i brought that down to the trash."

envisioning the worst case scenario as we crept closer and closer to home, we were pleasantly surprised to see the lack of mess when we entered the kitchen. but alas, we spoke too soon. as we entered the dining room we saw that a) mandy did not bring the salad to the trash, b) not only did lily push the styrofoam container from the cheesecake factory full of day-old cobb salad to the floor (for cleopiggo to devour) but also c) the "empty" container from my leftover cheesecake was pushed to the floor as well. pigolicious. lilly had some dry food for dinner but cleoswine got nothing.

it's hard to imagine a day when we didn't have the two of them to look after...they are, after all, our favorite and our best girls when it comes down to it. just a little bit red, that's all.

control freaky

mostly, i've been sitting in bed with my laptop since i awoke around 9. i know, sounds like the high life. i've been doing a little advance-independent-work on my "group project" for class tonight. alas, when asked, "why are you doing this at home if it's supposed to be a group project you're doing in class?" i respond, "because people write stuff like this [enter terrible goal written by one of my classmates]."

alas, when you do work ahead of time, some say, it makes you seem like a control freak.

i just like to do a good job and get my shit done on time. if that makes me a freak, controlling or otherwise, so be it.

on a much lighter note, i had the most lovely day with mandoo yesterday. we did some very noble deeds, to include:
1. a sizable donation of books to the men's prison on the north shore (delivered via a man who works there)
2. additions to our enchanting collection of sea glass from the beach in rockport
3. saving a black and white spotted dalmation-y great dane from what could have been an unsightly disaster at a four way intersection
4. tipping the man who pumped our gas with two very exclusive dollar coins
5. enjoying dinner at the cheesecake factory with dan dan noodle, toni, hannah and chris

i am excited to travel to maine this weekend. oh what fun we shall have.

i have been looking at other bloggertons around and have enjoyed what i've been reading. i may propose the 'blog' to be added to the writing curriculum as a genre of interest. is 2nd grade to early to start blogging?

many women and lesbian couples have documented their experiences with alternative insemination...it's been interesting to read the trials, tribulations, and successes of others who have already traveled this road.

i love you mandy leaning on my shoulder and looking at me with beautiful brown eyes...

the l word

so mostly, i am a little intense about the zwieback with, the l word. it's just so good. we watched last night's episode tonight, while eating some quiche and veggies. sometimes, even if this is a little weird, i feel like they are my real friends.

unsolicited responses to this could include:
a)get a life, it's a tv show and they're not real people
b)i know i wish they were my friends too or
c) what's the l word?

i guess i have too much time on my hands today, not feeling well, i have logged and blogged many hours and have become very connected with my laptop. mandy filed both of our taxes today (woohoo!) and i applied for an administrative position in shelburne (math coordinator--would be most exciting to interview for), and that is about the extent of my accomplishments.

anyway, to sum up the past many days, i'll do just about anything to procrastinate from doing the work i have due on wednesday.

reddest throat day

monday, 3:30
sitting on couch, listening to feist, still wearing pajamas, snuggled in my i love you blanket, drinking vanilla honey chamomile tea
sore throat, clogged head, body aching
a little bitter because my special thermometer broke this morning. the memory won't recall this morning's temp. FIRE.

10 things that are most important to me right this minute:
mandy
my i love you blanket
cleo
lily
my laptop
knowing someone reads my blog!
music
not having a migraine
knowing i'm skipping class tonight
ollie

luckily i slept most of the day and this will not interfere with our visit to maine. mostly.

i want to be a little bit bad

today mands and i went to nh to see a dinner theater with many of her and her mom's dear friends. ok, actually it was brunch theater. anyhow, we had a good time but it made for a long day...we were in nh by 10ish and just got home fifteen minutes ago (it's almost 11). the brunch was mediocre and the play was so-so, but the company was great.

after brunch, we went to A market looking for raw milk (where on earth can you find it?!?) with no success, and took grammy home and visited with her for a few minutes. then we headed to missy's house (missy didn't come because she felt absolutely terrible today). we spent time with her (ordered a pizza and watched several episodes of csi after disclosing all of our recent news...basal body temperature, meeting with the lawyer, things going on at school, looking for jobs in vt...) and then jonah came home accompanied by several friends, and before you knew it, the house was full of smoke. no, there wasn't a fire. so, i had this sneaky desire to smoke with them...it's been a while and i just felt like it. but i was too nervous to go out there, and mandy wasn't up to even hanging out with them, so i didn't. two nights ago, i was driving home from school and i just wanted to stop at the liquor store and grab some beer. totally out of character; i didn't because i didn't have any cash on me. last night, mands and i went to dinner with jesse & di at margarita's; i drank two margarita's and felt a little tipsy, then the 4 of us went to "amazing" the sex/toy store three doors down. no purchases for any of us, but mandy and i got home and took cleo for a walk and smoked a clove. wow. badass.

why did i have the urge to smoke tonight? why do i want to be a little bit bad these days? i feel overwhelmed, a little bit on edge, and more anxious than i've felt in a while. i fell asleep at mandy's mom's house and had unnerving dreams about not getting the kids' spelling ready for monday morning. it is vacation. wtf?

BODIES

so last night, mandy and i watched a special 20/20 on the BODIES exhibit that's been traveling around to major cities. it had spent some time in framingham/natick, but is no longer in our area. a colleague of ours who had been to see the exhibit had mentioned weeks ago that all of the bodies were asian. that made mandy and me slightly curious, and we didn't end up visiting the exhibit at all. basically, there are lots of speculations that the bodies 1) did not all die of natural causes, 2) weren't donated or released for science/exhibition purposes and 3) may very well be those of executed chinese prisoners. scary. there was a lot of footage suggesting that the company, premier exhibitions, is not exactly ethical in their business workings and there seemed to be a lot of gray area (and gray matter) during the interviews with 20/20.

http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/

mands and i went to dinner with jesse & di tonight. we went to margarita's and really had a great time. it was nice to connect with them; as it's been almos 3 weeks since we've seen them. we were excited to wishe them a happy valentine's and catch up on old and new news.

in other news, mandy and i spent most of the day sorting throught books and bookcases. it was actually most productive. we had a good time sorting through what we would donate, and filling the bookcase zachie made us for christmas. pictures to follow soon.

ok, i'm getting sleepy. ttfn.

btw, glad you can comment now...

finally friday...finally vacation

so, today was the last day of school before FEBRUARY VACATION! mandy and i are so tired; its been a rough week. valentine's day, a snowday, betsy my assistant was sick thursday and friday, and the kids were off the wall in anticipation of the weekend. i sent mandoo a most beautiful bouquet of flowers from winston's for the holiday of valentino.



i looked for a picture of the bouquet on their website, but alas they've already removed the valentine options. so here's a beautiful arrangement instead.

anyway, looking forward to visiting the macdonalds this upcoming week, and i'm now tuning into 20/20 and a special on the BODIES exhibition.

reddest professor...and my temperature

so i'm taking this class, diagnosis I, to learn all about testing. my professor is a ding dong who clearly has no sped background and feels high and mighty teaching a graduate class as an adjunct faculty member. she spent 2 hours and 15 minutes reviewing what i could have learned from mandy or anyone else who knows what they're talking about in special ed in fifteen minutes. she let us out fifteen minutes late...AGAIN...and spent the entire time going painfully through every single element of administering the woodcock subtests 1-11. fuck the fuckin' woodcock, that's what mandy says. i hope this post doesn't get flagged. actually, i think B's the only one who reads it anyway. sometimes i love that i'm back in school; other times it is the reddest, and simply the bain of my existence.
on a much lovelier note, babies, today was day 2 of temperature taking. my basal temp was 97.39 at 5am. i'll keep you posted. three months of this business ...aaaaaah! i can't wait to move to vermont.

everyone is pregnant on tv

have you ever noticed that when you're hungry, all you see is advertisements for delicious delectables? if you're really wanting to have a baby, there are babies all around, and when you can't wait to be pregnant you see dozens of pregnant bellies on tv.
tomorrow morning i will start charting my basal body temperature. this is the first step: three months of charting, before we can enroll in an alternative insemination program. mandy's promised to help me...we are the best team.

the un-super bowl

I'm watching the superbowl...2nd quarter, 2nd down and 11 yards for the Giants. I must admit, this is my least favorite television programming of the year. What would I prefer watching? The CBS annual broadcasting of The Wizard of Oz...this week's episode of the L Word, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade even. Just not football.