My First Meme- Fabulous Fours!

TAG- I am it! My friend, Natalie, tagged me...oh what fun! I was on my way to bed, and could not resist another post before dreaming...



4 jobs you've had in your life.
1. Mother (oddly, I had this one first, before ALL others.)
2. Peer tutor in college (tutored French of all things.)
3. Teacher
4. (not sure what I will be when I grow up...still waiting to discover!)

4 movies that you would watch over and over.
1. The Fisher King (a must watch with very best friend in the whole wide world= "VBFIWWW", Sally)
2. Shawshank Redemption (LOVE Morgan Freeman...the beach...the stones...the end..)
3. Chocolate (ANYTHING with Johnny Depp in it)
4. Amelie (adorable French film)

4 television shows that you love to watch (or used to watch).
1. LOST (Just watched a NEW episode tonight! Yippee...)
2. Gray's Anatomy
3. Criminal Minds
4. Gilmore Girls (used to watch religiously with the daughter...)

4 places you've been on vacation.
1. Jekyll Island, GA (most favorite place to go with VBFIWWW)
2. Bahamas
3. Costa Rico, Panama andMexico (same trip=cruise)
4. France
(I LOVE to travel...had trouble limiting it to 4!)

4 websites you visit daily.
1. Local school system site
2. Local news site
3. http://thebensonfamilyandotherstuff.blogspot.com/
4. Various other bloggy acquaintances through Nat's site!

4 of your favorite foods.
1. Cake (cake addiction, especially WEDDING cake!)
2. Chicken (cooked in almost ANY way)
3. Ice cream
4. Chocolate
(Gosh...no wonder I am fat. Other than chicken, I do not like anything healthy...not true really. I just shared my favorites.)

4 places you would rather be right now.
1. Near any ocean...not too far from the beach...the sand between my toes...the waves crashing...the wind whipping through my hair...the cry of the gulls...BLISS.
2. Roadtrippin' with Sally (we often enjoy the ride more than the location)
3. Snuggling my husband and cats in the BEST bed in the world
4. At a spa, getting a deep tissue massage

5 people I am tagging.
1. Consider yourself tagged if you are reading this, and you have not responded yet!
2. I do not know very many people well enough to ask...
3. Please let me know if you are playing along, so I can read your answers!
4. Thanks for reading mine!
5. Nat, thanks for tagging me. This was fun ;)

Goodnight, all...off to the BEST bed in the world for snuggletime and dreamland.
I will post "old photo Friday" when I get home from work today.

Thursday Theme: Focus

Whew. What a week!

It has been so busy for me that I have had very little time to spend on anything except school work. As a teacher, MANY things divert my focus away from my family and home. Lesson plans, meetings, paperwork, parent conferences, etc. Even though middle school dismissal is at 2:40 every day, many evenings I do not get home until 5:00. Even then, I oftentimes bring more work home with me... I adore what I do, but I am usually exhausted and kind of cranky when I get in.

When I arrived home Wednesday evening, the sight below is what greeted me. (This bin is where I store my winter scarves...by the door, in the area we refer to as the breakfast room.)

I have a shadow; his name is Horatio. When I am not home, he finds something of mine to snuggle, or he sleeps on my side of the bed, waiting for me to arrive and give him some attention. If I am at home, he follows me from room to room, sits right on top of whatever I am doing (books, papers, keyboard, phone book...), and sits not just in my lap, but sort of on my chest trying to get closer to me than just on my lap. At night, he snuggles my left side in the crook of my arm at the elbow or he rests on my pillow with his paw on my head. I have a shadow.

You might need to know the whole story to really understand.

We have five cats. (Yes, I said five.) Somehow, THEY have become our focus...I never considered myself to be a pet lover. (I used to make fun of people who treated their pets like family. Sorry...but it's true.) Now, I have five other members of my family, and people most likely make fun of me. (It's ok. I can take it.) You might be wondering how this happened to someone who did not really like pets. Well, Horatio happened. He is my heart...I ADORE this cat. We got him for my daughter, when she was much younger and was begging for a sibling. (After having our daughter when I was 17, I did not want other children while I was still so young, and then when we finally decided we wanted others, I found that I could not get pregnant.) Hence, the cat...something for her (the daughter) to love and take care of...except that this cat REALLY loved me. I became his focus. Seriously. To try and make this ridiculously long post shorter, I will just say that we got the other four cats trying to find one that would focus on our daughter. Evidently, I am a cat magnet. (Now, the daughter would like a dog.)

What I love is that when I return home after a long day, with my mind elsewhere, this sweet cat can be my focus. He loves me no matter what I have done, or not done. He does not really want anything from me just my attention (except for food...he has an eating disorder...he overeats like me!) He oftentimes makes me smile. Just like those of you that have multiple children, I love ALL of our cats. Really I do. But somehow, Horatio has stolen my heart...and my focus.

Need more focus? Check out Stacy's lovely photos and comments. Also, drop by my dear friend, Natalie's blog for a fantastic giveaway!

BSM

Streaming warmth...the first rays of a new morning...my field of vision from our kitchen window...causing me to day dream as I wash dishes...

For other BSM, visit here.

Phrase Friday

I do not have a little one, so any phrases that I heard today most likely came from middle schoolers, and sometimes they are just not cute...those phrases could be downright offensive. Today, though, I heard the most hilarious story involving one of my favorite phrases.



J (7th grade boy, one of the most disruptive): Ms. G, you better come see about Ms. D's sub.!!!



Ms. G: What? Why J?



J: Well, she went nuts and is laying in the grass crying!



Needless to say, Ms. G called the office for help. The sub had gone out of the classroom during class and stretched out on the grass and was crying! This particular lady has never been a sub at my school before, and obviously she was having a really bad time. We are still not exactly sure what happened. I just could think of so many other things that I might do if I decided to "go nuts" at work one day...I would NOT lie down on the grass and cry! I felt sorry for her, but I could not help laughing...tears came I laughed so hard.

By the way, my cluster leader sent me to Ms. G's room to hear this story so I could find out if she was going to be my sub for Monday and Tuesday when I am at a workshop...LOL!

(She's not.)

Have a GREAT weekend...go nuts...but enjoy yourself!

This place

This photo challenge was left by a visitor named Mike on Natalie's blog.

The challenge? There are no rewards, no contest, just fun.

The challenge is simple: take pictures of letters where they might not be expected.

I was intigued when I read the instructions and instantly saw this photo in my head. This is one of my favorite places in the world...a place I long for on a hard day at school; a place where I am most comfortable, where I can relax warmly in the most luxuriously soft sheets (an anniversary gift to my husband last year...800 thread count!) This is the place where I read, lost in the pages and lives of amazing characters...where I snuggle my sweet husband (some lazy weekends we have what we call "marathon snuggle time") and most importantly, this is where I dream.

Thursday Theme- Books (the Coffee Table variety)

I would so much like to play along...I am NOT a photographer. I have what my friend Natalie called a point and shoot camera. That makes me laugh, as if just pointing and shooting would allow me to take fabulous photographs. Well, it seems I can mess up just about anything!

Anyway, I wanted to participate, so here it goes.

I am a coffee table book junkie. We have WAY too many huge books that were loads of fun when I purchased them, but are too big to go on the shelves with all of the other books. This photo is just of the coffee table now, not the stacks of other books that are nearby. Something appeals to me in an oversized, glossy, specialty book...we have topics ranging from tropical homes in the Philippines to why cats paint, from Marvel comics to Impressionism...a nice ecclectic bunch of enormous good-for-nothing books.

Some days, a sob story

She is 18...sometimes the reality of that hits me as if I have been punched in the stomach... and brings tears in the same way. Other times, I am fully aware, and can sort of deal with it. Days like today, I just look at her...REALLY look. at. her and wonder. Where have all of the years gone? How could 18 YEARS have passed by so quickly? What was I doing while those years evaporated away? Was I a good mother? Was her childhood everything it could have been? Have I taught her to value herself so much that she will look for a boy, a man who will cherish her? What path will she take in her life? Where will it lead her?
I have so many questions spinning around in my brain that it almost makes me dizzy...some days. I always imagined that it got easier with each birthday as if somehow the years would miraculously add knowledge to my parenting. The bold face truth is that I have been doing the best I could, fully recognizing that I could have done better. I will continue on with this fact, hoping for the best in the years to come...hoping that I can hold on to her for just a little bit longer.
My baby girl is 18. Just wait...one day you might need a tissue too.

This mourning

On this, my very first post, you are most likely wondering what it is that I have to mourn...well, I assure you, nothing too serious. Really. My husband told me years ago that he believes I LOVE to cry. I used to try and defend my weaker tear ducts and say that I just could not help the tears when they fall; how in the world could I possibly control something like that after all!? "I am just sensitive;" I would lamely argue in a rather defensive tone. I would get embarrassed when someone would "catch" me crying at a commercial, a movie, or when re-telling a sad story...Now, in the years that have passed since he made that dreadful accusation, I think he was most likely correct. I have decided in these last few years that I have nothing to hide. I will boldly tell the world: I LOVE TO CRY!
I have noticed that I tend to select THE saddest songs, books, stories, and movies with which to surround myself. Almost as if by instinct, I can select them from the shelves without much effort. My ears are tuned in to the most melancholy notes when I hear them, and I just NEED to know who is responsible for that moving music...I decided after my last good cry, that I actually felt BETTER, in spite of the puffy, bloodshot eyes and runny nose. I let go of some stress, and I felt as though I could think clearly again. So, have a GOOD CRY...you'll feel like NEW again!
By the way, my husband and I are both off from work today, and we have spent this holiday lazily snuggling on the couch, watching movies in front of a blazing fireplace. Nope...no sniffles... not a tear in sight...dry eyes for me...as you see it was HIS birthday Saturday, and I let HIM select the movies! We had a bit of kung fu, shoot'em up action, and (yawn) a battle between street gangs. Ha, ha.
I will post again soon when I really have something to lament.