Prada, whatever will I do with you?

Look at Prada's handy-work. She thinks for some reason it is her main mission in life to find paper of some kind, and shred it to pieces. Mind you, this cat has no front claws...so this damage is caused solely by teeth.  Thankfully, she does not deem it necessary to do this lovely little art work all of the time, only on special occasions. This occasion must have been, "It was not snowing outside yet, so I thought I'd make it snow inside." Good thing I love her furry little white butt.  

For Love of My Londy

I love this child so much.

My niece, London is so darling. She made this little note for me when I was at home for Thanksgiving. My lazy bum just got around to unpacking my suitcase (hey...I've been busy!) and I found my note waiting there for me. She wrote this all by herself, and she is only 5. Her dad helped her sound out most of the words, but in general, she did this on her own. I think perhaps she has better handwriting than a few of my 6th graders!  Of course, it is not my birthday, but this note made me happier than all the gifts in the world on all of my birthdays could bring me. London, your Auntie Meggie
 thinks you are the sweetest, most brilliant child in the world. Your cute smile and ultra-sassy attitude make me love you more and more every day. I can't wait to see you, and those funky pigtails very soon.

xoxo

Making the Grade

Grading. It really bites.
I can describe the bite as the kind that starts off a little painful, and then begins to fester after some time due to the toxins within that which actually did the biting. Ugh.
This week, I have had HOURS worth of grading. I thought I was doing a good thing by assigning a project so close to a holiday, because I thought I was going to be home alone for Thanksgiving. Me, sitting on my couch, all alone. What a better way to fill a break, than by grading, right? Well... my mom decided she needed me home, and generously purchased the majority of my ticket to the Valley of the Sun. Me + sun and warmth + my family = very little grading. Of course, I graded when I had a free moment, but most of those moments were at 2 or 3 in the morning, so alas, grading was postponed.
Today I graded. I was a grading fool. I think about 4 hours straight of grading is an accurate time line. One would think I was done...but OH NO...I teach English, and English teachers get the shaft when it comes to complete grading.
So here I am at 11pm blogging. My eye balls burn, and I am dreading the hours of paper work that will be brought back to my desk tomorrow. Why am I blogging and not grading more, or going to bed? I needed a break. Sometimes, just writing makes things all better.  Now that I feel better, I best go and nurture that bite wound some more.

Bugs

I have been suffering from a case of the bugs the last few days. Teaching puts you in the direct line of fire when it comes to illness. It seems as if it is a never-ending revolving door of disease at my school. This year, it seems worse than previous years. I would expect major sickness for elementary schools, but not so much for middle school. If we keep getting annihilated, then we should be put on the priority for the H1N1 vaccine. We have had major colds, H1N1, Influenza A, stomach bugs, strep, and now it seems if the stomach bug is back again.
This week, I caught a virus of some sort that attacked my vocal cords. On Wednesday afternoon, during my planning period, I started to feel off. By the end of planning, I was losing my voice, and feeling plain gross. I decided it was best to go home, sleep, and rest. Since I live alone, I do not have much need to talk to anyone, so I did not do much talking. If I would have tried, I would have noticed that my voice was going. I went to bed as usual, got up, got ready for work, and went through Dutch Bros. and realized I had no voice. How can I teach with NO VOICE? Well, through notes, kids helping teach the class, and books on CD, I made it through the day. All I had left was 4 hours of parent-teacher conferences. How I made it through that is beyond me. I had a raspy, squeak that would come out enough if I forced it, to have parents kind of understand what it was I was saying. By the end of 4 hours, I was miserable. Needless to say, I think I did more damage than good, because by Friday, I had NO voice, as an, NO SOUND came out. Again, no big deal, since I took a sick day, but I began to be severely annoyed. If Prada got into something, I could not scold her. If Prada was downstairs crying for me, I could not call for her to come find me. If I wanted Auggie to take a nap with me, I was not able to holler for him. By the end of the night, I was going insane. I am a talker, a big-mouth....I like to sing to myself, talk to my cats, and yes, talk to myself every once in a while. I do not know, but it drove me nuts knowing I was not able to produce any sound.
Today is day 3 with this bug. A little sound comes out now, but I sound like Foghorn-Leghorn. Did Ursula the Sea-witch come and steal my voice away?  Can the magic spell be released so I can start running my mouth again, PLEASSEEEEE?  Honk, honk!

Trannies and Tequila

Far be it for me to deny the fact that I am addicted to the upper-east side teeny-drama that is Gossip Girl. What is worse? Young girls dressed up to emulate fashionistas, or young girls dressed up as fashionistas that somehow look a tad transvestite? The headbands? The three-piece suits? The uber-sophisticated langauge that only well-bred, highly educated society use? Tisk-tisk my haute coture friends. What makes this show maddening addicting is the nineteen year olds who don speakeasies, drink martinis, and have sex in every crevice from uptown to midtown. What is it about this trash that makes everyone from B to Z say xoxo?  I'm not quite sure, but I am slipping in to my Louboutins and Lagerfeld to find out. 

Hop, hop, hop on socks

What do you strut your stuff in?  For me, it is crazy socks and cowboy boots. This post?  My Socks!

When I was in California, I found this sock shop that sells mis-matched socks. You buy them in "pairs" of three. The purpose of this, is to never match. What a cute concept, right? RIGHT!  The problem is, I am severely OCD, and this mis-matched look all of the time does not work for me. Solution? Buy two packs, and voila!, three matching pairs of knee-high toesies. After a long day, when it is cold, I come home, but on the socks, and instantly grin, because my toesies are quite cozy.

Added bonus? The Injinji sock is a toe sock made to run in. So now I can have wrapped toes for all occasions. Strut on y'all, strut on!

Hair Today...

It is no secret that I like to change my hair. Some changes are good changes, others are "hair-brained" and somewhat questionable. I decided to post a small journey of my hair through the years. I believe I began in 2003-2004 ish and ended up in September of this year (2009). Trust me folks . . . these are the good, the bad, and the FUGLY.

{I believe I called this...drinking you under the table} {Ghetto thuggin' at a hash}
{brownish}
{got bored, now I have more highlights}

{bored, fried, and chopped}


{This is one of those "what was I thinking?" 'do's}
{I wanted red, and this is what I got}


{same cut, but faded and bangs}

{Bangs and RED. I got it this time. Woof}


{Westside girls are faded}

{Tired of the red, so I wanted blonde...this is what I got below}
{TWINKIE! Could this be any uglier?}

{The twinkie would not die, so I cut it all off}


{short n' brown}


{Now, it needs to be lighter, and longer...boy, do transitions suck}


{FINALLY...a good blonde!}

{curled...just playin'}


{getting longer...still blonde}

{Finally...me today}

As you can see, I have been through quite a lot of hairdos. I am still loving the blonde hair, and for me, that is a miracle. I believe I've been blonde since April, which makes an astounding 7 months. I'd like to thank my current stylists, Katelyn and Bri for keeping me Twinkie free!

Now, I do not plan on changing my hair anytime soon, I only want it longer. I want it longer NOW! What do we think of extensions?