Funny story! DARE is a drug awareness prevention program our fifth graders go through at school. During the recent 5th grade DARE graduation, the police officer was at the microphone introducing the essay winners when a parent's cell phone goes off with this tune:

"Ohh Boy you looking like you like what you see
Won't you come over and check up on it, I'm gone let you work up on it
Ladies let em check up on it, watch it while he check up on it
Dip it, pop it, twork it, stop it, check on me tonight."

I don't know if anyone else recognized the Beyonce song, but I couldn't stop giggling. :)

The truth be told...

My dear friend from college just got engaged to be married next November, and although I am so happy for her because she says she's happy, I'm not so sure about her intentions and the guy she's marrying. How do you tell one of your best friends that you think she's "settling" for someone just because her ex recently got married? Is it even my place to say something? When she was telling me about how they met and how their relationship developed, I was expecting uncontrollable excitement. But instead she nonchalantly shared how he had been asking her out for five years and she finally decided to give it a try. I mean honestly if I just got engaged, you wouldn't see me stop smiling for weeks. I'd be telling anyone and everyone how excited I was to be marrying the man of my dreams.
So I'm in a pickle! I'm in the wedding and I feel like I should be supportive but at the same time be the voice of reason that best friends should be.

I have decided to take a break from facebook for at least a week because it
a.) is a waste of time
b.) can really drive me mad sometimes
c.) it'll free up time for me to do more productive and meaningful things with my life
and do I really need to know what everyone is doing every moment of the day? I think not.

Kim's keeping me accountable and the deal is if I don't follow through, I have to get a tatoo! Oh you better believe I'm staying as far away from facebook as possible! So sayonara, FACEBOOK!!! See you on the flip side.

Haha look at what urban dictionary is adding:

crop dusting
farting while walking; walking while farting;
i crop dusted my way down the aisle at the grocery store

MIRF
(merf) noun. acronym for Mom I'd Run From. The opposite of a MILF. A mom you definitely would not want to do.
"I don't know where she gets her good looks, her mom is a MIRF!" "Your momma's so ugly she's not a MILF she's a MIRF!"

clapathy
When an audience grows weary of clapping, either at a ceremony or musical performance.
"That graduation ceremony was so long, I got clapathetic!" "I was clapping at the beginning of the song, but I quit when I got clapathy."

Reading others blogs has inspired me to become a better blogger, but I still can't seem to get into a routine or a good habit of doing it. Today I will try to be more reflective on the things going on in my life. I've only shared my blog with a few people, but I may even share my blog with others. Sometimes there's just so much to tell, I can't seem to organize all my thoughts!

The Break-Up with Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn is on for the third time this weekend and this is the third time I have had it on in the background as I'm doing stuff around the house. I love and hate this movie mainly because it reminds me of a relationship I had where we argued in the same immature way the characters of the movie do. It's funny how we find amusement in movies with plot lines that we would never find amusing if we were living it in our own lives. I love the line when Jennifer expresses what every woman thinks: "I want you to want to do the dishes." And although it seems an absurd thing to say, it's more that women every now and then want their men to love us so much they desire to serve us.

On Friday I unexpectedly accompanied a first grade class on a field trip to The American Village. If I had known I was going, I would have dressed appropriately and worn tennis shoes. However, it just so happened I wore a strappy shoe and the ants got to me again!! This time I got over 6-8 bites on my left foot and started to panic. There was no benedryl in the first aid kit and I needed meds FAST! A parent thankfully had one pill that I took immediately. Now I'm just waiting for the swelling to go down. My foot looks like an older, larger woman's foot that bubbles out of her old-fashioned pumps. (can you picture it? like minnie mouse's feet :)

Today's sermon at church was inspiring. Pastor Chris urged us to be passionate about life. This world can trap us to become complacent with how things are, but we need to always be thankful of where we are and how God has provided. We also need to be reminded of what more we can do with our lives. It was a most appropriate message for me to hear at this time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! You tube "bon qui qui" if you'd never seen it. It's pretty hilarous!

Words so true

From Amanda's blog (I hope she doesn't mind)

"This past year, on more than one occasion I also heard something that I have found too be true...you are most like the 5 people with whom you choose to surround yourself. These words are so so so true. I once walked as a victim of circumstances I could control. I chose to stare in the face of wisdom and make the choices I knew in my heart to be wrong. "

The great thing about letting your pet sleep in the bed with you is that he keeps you warm on cold nights like last night!! I have refused to turn on my heat to try and save money so last night I layered up in velvet pants, long sleeves, socks, and two comforters before bed. Socks are key to keeping you warm!! My long and boney would never survive through the frigid night!! Hats are pretty good at keeping you warm too, but I haven't yet resorted to putting on my snow cap before I call it a night!
When I woke up this morning and got out from under my pile, I was freezing, the temperature read a cool 63 degrees so I went and did it. The heat is on!

We are out of school today for Veteran's Day but it seems like everyone else has to work! Plus it's a tuesday so it's not like i could go out of town. It;s just a "stuck in the middle of the week day off"but I'm still going to enjoy it. :)

The life of a teacher

Children are brutally honest. I recently got my hair cut and was prepared for the honest to goodness truth from all 600 kids that I teach. Here are some of the things said and overheard:

"Hey, look at Miss Yau. She looks different."
"She did her hair different."
"No, she got a haircut."
"Miss Yau, you got a haircut."
"I like your haircut." to which another student responds...
"I liked it better long."
"Yeah you should have kept it long."

If you're having a bad hair day, just know they'll all tell you.

So speaking of hair, the first week of school we get news that 3 kids in the school have LICE. Just talking about it, thinking of it makes my head get itchy. I bet your head's feeling a little itchy right now!! I end up paranoid all day scratching my head and I look like I have a nervous tick. It reminds me of Lion King when the hyenas shutter at the name Mufasa..... LICE (scratch, scratch) LICE (scratch, scratch)

You're so obtuse!

This weekend we went to see the Shawshank Redemption at the Alabama Theater for the summer classic movie series. For those of you not familiar with Birmingham, it's an old theater downtown that is ornately decorated from ceiling to floor. I think the only uses for it these days are dance recitals, piano recitals, and the summer and Christmas movie series. We get there and find ourselves among senior citizens and blue-haired friends. No biggie. I like most old people, with the exception being the old lady that hit me while playing BINGO at the nursing home. As usual, I yawn right before the movie starts. However, I stayed awake the entire time and thought it was a wonderful story about hope and a man of integrity. I absolutely loved it! I sat on the edge of my seat the entire time!

The Dark Knight came out this weekend too and I'm looking forward to seeing it soon. I love, love, love Christian Bale and am intesrested to see why all the critics are raving about Heath Ledger.

To explain my last post, I was going to write a brilliant post but all my thoughts left me. My favorite pen also died recently and I still haven't found the right replacement. G2 finepoint 0.5 mm pens are amazing!

I went to school today and tried to work on getting my room ready for school but the air condition has been turned off all summer long for construction. Plus my room has no windows so when my t-shirt started sticking to my back and my bangs were plastered to my forehead, I knew it was time to go. I'll just put it off until tomorrow... my favorite thing to say!

John and Kate plus 8 is on. It's a great day. Try to stay out of the HEAT!! Don't be obtuse!

I am looking for a leaning ladder bookshelf. Let me know if you know where I can get one!

The Pen is Mightier!

Ponder this until I get past my writer's block.

Reality TV Obsessed!

I am obsessed with reality tv. It's a sad addiction that I wish I could break, but with DVR, it makes watching them so convenient. Here's my take on all the reality shows that I watch religiously. I know... i really don't have a life!



Sunday- The Next Food Network Star: I'm so glad Nipa, the Indian girl, is gone! I couldn't stand her and her poor attempt to cook everything curried! I'm rooting for Kelsey, the young, cute, blonde to win. I'd watch her show if she had one!


Monday- The Bachelorette: Okay, so the only reason I watch this is because I watched the Bachelor when DeAnna was rejected. Anyhoo... I love Jason! He's my favorite but i think the kid thing is gonna throw her off, and I cannot stand little goodie two shoes Jeremy. It's obvious she's not picking Jesse and I think she made a huge mistake by letting go of Graham.

Monday- Jon and Kate Plus 8: My newest infatuation!! A marathong came on Sunday and I DVRed and watched every episode. The kids are adorable and the interactions between the mom and dad are hilarious. Good for some laughs and an appreciation of peace and quiet.


Tuesday- Hell's Kitchen: I want Christine to win! Even though she's young and sometimes arrogant, there's something about Petrozza that rubs me the wrong way. He's messy and never wins any contests. It makes me love cooking even more!

Tuesday- We've recently begun watching Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show at ou Supper Club. Both are quite odd!


Wednesday- So You Think You Can Dance?: Amazing dancers and choreography! Mary, as annoying as her scream may be, makes me laugh. I love Chelsea Hightower (I think that's her) but I think one of the guys will end up winning. Last week's dance to "Bleeding" was so awesome!

Thursday- So You Think You can Dance? Results Show: The whole group choreography is always really neat to watch.

Friday- hmmm I can't think of anything. Maybe I do have a life!!

Saturday- Can't think of anything!

Time to go make a poster for my grad school class. No I am not kidding, a poster!

Tiger is amazing!

Happy Father's Day!!

I am stuffed! I'm also procrastinating! I have an article critique due tomorrow and I've just barely read the first page. I know I have to get it done tonight because I'll be at AMSTI all day tomorrow and then class at night. Pretty much for the next 2 weeks, I'll be at AMSTI from 8-3:30 then class from 5-8. UGHhhhhhhhhhh. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

I actually watched a lot of the U.S. Open and Tiger was amazing!

Alright, I just had a brain fart.... i can't remember what i was saying... i better get back to work.

:)

At your request!

Hi!! Here is my blog since I was told through a text message that I MUST UPDATE!! (luv u amanda!)

The last few weekends I've been beaching it up!! You can now look directly at my legs without hurting your eyes or wearing sunglasses! :) A few weeks ago, Kevin and I went to Destin with 5 couples. You would think people would know that when they're going to be sharing a house with 11 other people, you won't always get your way, and we won't always put up with your crap. There was only one isolated event the first night. The rest of the weekend was fantastic with an amazing shrimp boil thanks to Travis. Yay!!! Last weekend we went back to the beach with K's family and stayed in a condo in seagrove. We also saw the site where The Truman Show was taped. On the way home, I begged Kevin to stop at Priester's Pecans somewhere off 65N. It was like the Cracker Barrel store on steroids and I was like a kid in a candy store!! Weeeeeeeeee
I about ate the bowl of cheese straw samples up!!

I have begun reading The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman for a few reasons. I heard it was written similar to C.S. Lewis and Tolkien stuff which I love, the movie came out last year, I have some summer reading time!, kids at my school were reading it, and I was interested in the supposed anti-religious themes. So far, the story is quite captivating and mysterious with each character accompanied by a daemon, an animal representative of each character's soul. Then there's this mysterious Dust that we know very little about but it seems the main character is searching for an explanation of it. And last, the golden compass, also called an alethiometer that Lyra, he main character inherits. The compass supposedly seeks out the truth.
Oh, also the title of the trilogy, His Dark Materials, is from a line in Milton's Paradise Lost

Into this wilde Abyss,
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixt
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever ight,
Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more Worlds,
Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,
Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith
He had to cross.- Book 2, lines 910 - 920
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

I would love to go to culinary school!! Watching Hell's Kitchen, Iron Chef, and Rachel Ray makes me think "Hmmm I bet I could do that!!"

Funny story... Yesterday, when I arrived at school to work on my classroom I casually glanced in my backseat as I was getting out of the car. To my surprise, I found a very unusual combination of things: mardi gras beads, a strapless bra, a Bryan Adams CD. WOW, what a message that must send to passersby! :O

Stormy weather calls for blog!

It's stormy weather in the ham and the only thing that's on tv is the same weather man that's been talking for the last 2 hours. They keep showing "storm chasers" trying to video coverage of the tornado and this totally intrigues me. Who wouldn't want to be like Helen Hunt in Twister trying to launch "Dorothy" into the storm and then run like mad for safety? I actually think I had a dream the other night that I was storm chasing and had to run with the tornado on my heels. I also had a dream Kevin proposed and the ring was copper with a bird's nest design on top but that's a totally different story.

There they go again. This is the fourth time I've heard the sirens going off. Hmmm I wonder if I should be taking cover. I guess the safest place for me would be in my walk-in closet. It could probably use some rearranging while i'm in there!! During the last storm I had just made it home before the hail came down. Having never seen hail, in my curiosity I opened the front door to sneak a peak. It flew wide open and hail started pouring! Yep, to hell with the hail!!. Then I started to worry about damage to my car and then remembered that I drive a 2002 Honda Civic and didn;t give a poop.

Rusty is unusually calm for a storm. I think he's more worried about when he's going to get to eat today or where he should pass out and nap: the sofa or my lap.

So lately i've been in a few bad moods and I've been trying to figure out what the deal is. School's not really stressing me out but all the stuff I have to do this summer is really getting to me. It might be cause I haven't seen the inside of Planet Fitness in about a month or that i've told my dvr to tape just about every show that airs. I've even resorted to DVRing the Tyra show. Yep, this realization is a sad one!! Time to change!

All in all, you should notice that Pam is going to be so much more upbeat, energetic, lively, fun, silly, peppy, chatty, like the Old Pam used to be. :) Watch out... you're not going to know what to do with yourself. Here are some pics from after the wedding and one of how Rusty sleeps. His thoughts "Why are you interrupting my sleep!"

Spyware is spying!!

I have been hit by some spyware called Awola that keeps telling me my computer is infected. I can't get it to go away!!! I guess this is what I get for never renewing my Norton antivirus. Everytime that little window would pop up reminding me to renew I would nonchalantly hit the "remind me later" button. Boy am I regretting that decision now!!

I watch too much tv and don't exercise enough. This is all the DVRs fault!! and reality tv!

Hello Spring!! The weather is absolutely perfect.

AHHHHHHHH the spyware keeps attacking... I have to get off to escape.

It is impossible to skip and be mad at the same time. Try it...

I still have refused to turn on the air conditioning. After last months $34.oo power bill, I'm just going to suffer through he heat.

Everyday I'm going to watch the mailbox for my rebate check. Then I'm heading straight to the bank.

There is apparently a pill you can take to lose weight. The small print at the bottom of the ad says it recommends a diet and regular exercise to see results.

When I recently went to the flea market, there was a booth set up to detox your body. You put your feet in a tub that draws out all your toxins and turns the water brown. It was completely disgusting and totally a scam.

Decks are expensive!

Today I met with the man who will be building my lovely fence so Rusty can run free through the back yard. I also had him plan some decks and found out they are pricey little things! I've been dreaming of lovely summer days laying basking in the sun on the deck, grilling out on summer nights on the deck, and trying to plant flowers to spruce up the weeds on the deck. All these things require a deck!! I'm debating whether or not to get one built which would mean I would be living off ramen noodles, hot dogs, and other cheap foods for the next year.
I need to check out the nutrition facts on the ramen noodles and then I'll decide.

Rusty barked for hours on the way back from Memphis. He was so tired when we got back, he completely passed out on the sofa. Good boy!

Deathly allergic to ants! Oh my!

Now if you know me, my thumb is far from green, and every plant I have owned ends up being neglected, drying out, and dying a miserable death. So when my front and backyard turned to foot high weeds and Rusty wouldn't go further than a few steps into "the jungle", I figured I better suck it up and do something about it. In an attempt to try to de-weed my yard this weekend I noticed two huge ant beds or hills or whatever you like to call them. So I took my Bengal bug spray and poked the straw into the hill and began spraying. It was quite amusing to watch the ants scurrying out of the hole in a panic. One managed to make it to my toe, and in his anger bit the crap out of me. I am deathly allergic to ant bites. I get swollen, red, hot, weak, and once in Moundville, my throat began closing after being bit by several ants. So now three days later, I am still taking benedryl, my foot is still swollen so much it looks like I have elephantitis, and that ant got the revenge he was seeking.

It feels weird when I'm driving and I'm not on the phone. That is a bad thing!!!!!!

It hailed on Friday and scared me silly.

When planning a trip to Memphis, the first thing I think about is what food I'm going to eat while I'm there. Then I begin to think beyond meals.

Spring is here!! Get excited about flowers, laying out, open sunroofs, beach trips, baseball games, tennis, sunglasses and sundresses and of course FLIP FLOPS!!!

A woman of many lists!

Before Spring break, I made a list on my computer of all the things I needed to accomplish on my 7 days off. I have this really cool post-it note program that places post-its on your desk top. Anyways, after spring break I evaluated the list again excited about crossing stuff off. I am indeed a woman of lists. I love to make them and love even more to cross things off. I laughed when I noticed I could only cross off the FIRST item on my list. Woohoo! Here's roughly what my list looked like:

1. PARTY!
2. AL Taxes
3. Put up fence
4. Work on grad school project
5. Buy Rusty's meds
6. Wash and clean car
and so on.... you get the point.

I have an extremely keen sense of smell which some may think is a good thing but when I'm the first to smell body odor, burbs, farts, and other nasty smells that people let out and try to get by unnoticed, I begin to think its more of a curse.

I caught the bouquet at Grace's wedding the second time she threw it! The first time she overthrew it and I started running after it then realized how ridiculously desperate I looked and tried to walk away unnoticed. I didn't realize it was all caught on tape!

Let the sun shine.

Grace's wedding is in about three weeks!! Crazy! I've decided to get a tan so my pastey, pale white legs don't scare the guests . I've always kind of been against tanning beds but my gym has free tanning so I decided to try them out. First of all, the idea of lying in a closed in space makes me feel queasy and claustrophobic. Second, lying where some girl or guy had probably laid completely naked creeps me out. Third, I know if used repeatedly, it can cause serious skins problems. Thus, my first tanning experience was a tough one and the lady at CVS made it all worse. I went to CVS to buy tanning lotion with at least some SPF in it. I figured if I'm going to do this, I might as well use a little protection so it won't be so bad and I'll have a little peace of mind. I bought Hawaiian tropics dark tanning lotion with SPF 4 and took it to the counter to pay. The old lady jokingly said, "Trying to get a tan today?" and pointed to the overcast and cloudy sky. So I kindly corrected her and told her I was headed to the tanning bed. After hearing tanning bed, she lectured me for a good 5 minutes about how dangerous and bad they are while I tried to interject that this was the first time of only a few I would go. She didn't want to hear it, gave me an ugly look, stood there not ringing up my item, and almost refused to let me buy my lotion. I left and laid in the tanning bed squirming around and paranoid about how I was slowly dying. I hope the sun comes out soon.

Spring has Sprung!

Wooo hooooo! Spring Break 2k8 has finally begun. I could not be any more excited about having a week of amazing weather, St. Patrick's Day, and a trip to Atlanta. For St. Patrick's day, I'm actually making corned beef. It is a delicious meal to be had once every year, and I'm trying to convince Kevin that it's good, he's never had it.

I'll also be spending my week working on my final project for grad school, exercising, hopefully getting a tan, and enjoying my NEW sofa!! It's a sectional with a chaise and an enormous ottoman on wheels. The ottoman opens up as a storage space and it's already been suggested to fill it with ice and shrimp cocktail for my next party. Interesting thought. The corner seat is by far the best seat in the house! You can face the tv and stretch your legs out across the sofa. Splendid!

And did you hear about the lady that sat on the toilet for 2 years? It happened in a trailer somewhere in the midwest. She sat there so long, her skin attached to the toilet seat and began growing around it and her legs began to atrophy. Apparently she was even married and her husband would occasionally ask her, "Honey, would like to come out of the bathroom today?" She would respond, "Not today."

Rusty has found a lady friend down the street, a ten year-old dachshund named Ginger. Rusty likes his ladies much older!!

So I'm not very good at this blogging thing seeing as how I let almost 2 weeks pass before posting another entry. I can never seem to find the time to sit down and blog. Ever since I bought a house, you can usually find me cleaning, doing laundry, cleaning, in class, cleaning, watching my shows I DVRed, cleaning, working at JCREW, or cleaning. Those darn dust bunnies keep popping up everywhere!

Speaking of DVR, whoever came up with the idea was genius.

New Blog!

Hello!! Welcome to the new blog. I've abandoned livejournal and I'm jumping on the Google bandwagon. If I could only find a way to get rid of the hundreds of Chinese emails that come into my gmail box I'll be happy. How do junk mailers know I am Chinese?

Blogger seems so much easier, safer, and convenient, and I don't have any lurkers spying on my life. It's so easy to add pictures, too! Can you tell I'm very excited?

This is going to be a VERY busy week to come. Every night I have something going on not to mention I teach all day. But my load at work isn't bad at all. We're doing a lot of fun activities this week and my K and 1st graders are making Instant Snow. It's definitely a hit for 5 and 6 year olds.

Let me tell you a little about the gym I joined. Here's a little PR for Planet Fitness. I only pay $20 a month, I can always bring a guest for free so the twenty bucks covers Kevin and I, there are plenty of ellipticals and bikes, an ab room, a circuit training room, FREE massage chairs, and FREE tanning beds. And tonight, the first Monday of each month, they have FREE pizza!!
Gotta get ready for the hot tub in Mentone!