tan lines... what to do, what to do...

so today . . . i realized i am out of the habit of blogging every day.

but then, you already knew that, didn't you ;)

i'm not quite sure how this happened. i guess i can mostly blame it on my weakened physical condition, which weakened my mental capacities, which made it nearly impossible to blog!

i thought about it. a lot. but when it came time to put "words on paper," so to speak, it just didn't happen. but i did have a lot of thoughts, which even resulted in some blog attempts. which will probably show up in the future when my brain power is turned back on, and i can finish them.

but what worries me is being out of the blogging habit. i like to blog. i don't want to stop. but i am having trouble getting started again. so i am going to ease back into it by reposting something i wrote a couple of years ago on myspace, before i had a "real" blog. i chose this particular one to post today, because it was HOT! i know it is december, but it was over 80 degrees here. and let me tell you, when you are standing out on the playground, in the sun, waiting for your turn to go on a break, your mind kind of wanders...

this blog was originally posted on myspace thursday, march 13, 2008.

so today i am out on the playground, watching the kids in my class run around and annoy each other--because that is what they do. they call it playing, but it isn’t really--they just interact with each other until somebody does something unforgivable like touching someone’s hair, and then it begins: "i’m telling teacher" "sorry" "well, i’m telling teacher" "i SAID i was SORRY" "TEACHERRRRRR!!!" "SORRY! SORRY! SORRYYYYY!!!" so, you know, there are days that i just can’t listen to it, and i admit it--even though i am watching them, i mentally check out. There will be no help from the teacher today unless you are bleeding, so just go play! have fun! sheesh!

maybe i need a vacation.

ok, anyway, while all this was going on in the background, i was enjoying the sunshine. it was only supposed to get up to 74 today, but i am sure it was warmer than that, because even i felt hot. so i am standing there in my short-sleeved shirt (because it WAS going to be 74 after all) and the thought occurs to me "what if my arms get tan?" now normally you might think this would be a good thing with summer coming. but my shirt was not sleeveless--it had SHORT sleeves. so if my arms do get tan while i put in my time on the playground, my shoulders and upper arms are going to be white--and believe me that is the part that needs tanning the most! so now i don’t know what to do--do i just go with the lower arm tan and try to catch the rest up later, or do i go stand in the shade for now and wait until sleeveless shirt weather to hang out in the sun. you see, these are the sort of random thoughts that come to a person sometimes. i know there are other more important things i could think about, and maybe should, but sometimes i just don’t want to think about global warming (unless it is warming my face.) so my mind settles for dealing with the little questions that pop into my head, like should i go stand in the shade . . .

it is really easy for one's mind to wander when standing in unseasonably warm sunshine. there is just something relaxing (yes, even on a playground full of rowdy children,) and a little bit decadent about getting to wear short sleeves in the middle of december.

have i mentioned lately how much i love living in southern california...?

a baseball cap

so today . . . is the first day of my last week of school for this year.

i cannot even tell you how ready i am for summer vacation! because our school also provides daycare services, it is open all year. i am the only teacher on staff who gets the summers off--yes, i am special. the other day the kids were questioning me as to why i don't work in the summer. i told them it is so i don't get grouchy. i said if i had to work through the summer, i might be mean teacher ms. julie all the time instead of just once in a while. they smiled and said, "nuh uh!"

but it is true.

i honestly don't know how all the other teachers do it! i don't know how they come to school day after day after day and deal with a whole classroom full of other people's children with only a two week vacation! i need a beginning and an end to my school year, and a weekend is not enough! i get cranky just thinking about it!!

so in celebration of my upcoming summer vacation, i thought it would be fun to post funny kid stories all week. the only problem is, i don't have a funny kid story for today! we spent most of today in dress rehearsal for our graduation program. you know how i feel about preschool and kindergarten graduation, and yet still i am forced to participate every year. so the day of dress rehearsal is one of my least favorite days--let's just say i have the expression of a teen-aged girl most of the day. seriously, my eyes get tired of rolling . . .

but, lucky for you, i still have a few blogs from my days on myspace that i haven't shared yet. this one is from last year. it was originally posted on monday, december 15, 2008.

i am sharing a classroom with another teacher this year, which has it's challenges. one of those is that i can hear her when she is teaching (i'm sure she can hear me too.) sometimes the things i hear from the other side of the divider make me laugh out loud!

a few days ago she was teaching a lesson to her four year olds, and part of it required the children to identify some pictures. there was a picture of a baseball cap, but try as she might, she could not get anyone to say the word "cap." they just kept saying "hat," even though she had repeatedly said, "well, it is a hat, but it is a special kind of hat and has it's own name." most of our children speak a different language at home, so it is completely possible that they have never heard the word cap. finally, in desperation, she said, (in a somewhat commanding voice) "this is called a what!?!?" hoping they would say "a cap." one little girl, looking puzzled, said, "i didn't know that was called a what!!!"

dealing with language issues is one of the things i find both frustrating and fascinating about my current job. most of the children in my classroom speak mandarin chinese, tagalog, korean, vietnamese, or spanish at home. it always sort of jolts me when they speak to me in english and their parents in another language at the same time! i am stunned at their ability to process and think in two different languages at once. i occasionally have to correct their vocabulary or grammar, but they have amazing skills for bilingual five year olds!

one day i was talking to a parent, and he gave me some valuable information. he said that in mandarin, they do not have words for she or her--it is always he or his regardless of whether they are referring to a girl or a boy. this explains a lot to me. now instead of just correcting their vocabulary, i teach them the words she and her and when to use them. there are also no chinese words for turning something on or off--they say open or closed. so they don't turn the lights on, they open them. they don't turn the lights off, they close them. i no longer find it odd to hear someone say, "open the lights!" and yet, i have to be aware of it so i can teach them on and off.

but for this year, i am pretty much done teaching. we have graduation tomorrow night, our end of the year field trip on wednesday, and classroom clean-up for summer on thursday and friday. it is going to be a busy week. so now, i am going to "close" my brain and go to bed, because it isn't summer vacation yet. and i need to keep mean teacher ms. julie at bay for four more days . . .

who is in charge here, anyway?!?

so today . . . i'm an idiot. sadly, this is not the first time . . .

this may come as a surprise to some of you, but i am not in charge of the world. sometimes i think i should be, but i'm not. stuff happens, the kaleidoscope shifts, and everything changes.

i hate it when that happens.

here is a blog i wrote a couple of years ago when we were going through some major changes in our family. it was originally posted on myspace on may 26, 2008.

apparently there are a few of you who notice when i go for a while without blogging! i appreciate that-i didn't know you cared here's the thing--sometimes life throws unexpected circumstances into your life, and suddenly it seems as though everything has changed. sometimes that change is for the better and sometimes it is not, but regardless of how you feel about it, adjustments have to be made. there are times when these changes happen as a result of choices we have made, but there are other times when it is a result of the choices of others. as i've considered this, i've decided it doesn't really matter who bears the responsibility for the circumstances--they are what they are and we must adjust. i'm not saying that people shouldn't take responsibility for their own choices and how they have affected the people around them. i'm just saying that those choices have been made, the circumstances are what they are, and we have to deal with them. yes, there are times when it would be nice to have a time machine that would allow us to try again without having to live with the consequences of our actions, but that is only found in science fiction. we have to live with the consequences. we can't go back. things that have been said and done cannot be unsaid and undone--and so we have to figure out how to deal with today. i haven't been blogging lately because i have been busy dealing with some circumstances. it occupies my mind much of the time, so i'm not thinking about other more entertaining things. i'm sure as these new circumstances become more normal, my brain will go off on its odd little tangents again. in fact, just today i was thinking about fish tacos . . .

unexpected circumstances can be complicated. today it was pointed out to me that i always look on the dark side. i don't think of myself that way, so it was shocking to hear, but sadly i think it might be true. i always expect the worst, and that affects my reactions--i make decisions based on the worst case scenarios rather than looking ahead to wonderful possibilities.

today, that almost destroyed a relationship that is important to me. i was reacting based on what i thought other people would think, rather than looking for the good in the situation. the good was definitely there, i just chose to look instead at the impending doom of public opinion--or rather, what i thought public opinion might be. i was an idiot, and i was headed back to my black hole to set up residence.

and then, inexplicably the light started to go on. i began to realize that the serenity prayer is true, and that my problem was, i didn't know the difference between the things i could change and the things i couldn't. or shouldn't. and that the relationships with the people in my life are so much more important than public opinion--because really, public opinion never has all the facts anyway!

i turned away from the black hole and made a decision to try to be more positive. that's really why i started this blog--i wanted to shift my perspective from the mundane stuff i deal with every day to things that were funny. but lately it's been a struggle.

the truth is, my life is good, and it is time that i smack myself up 'side the head and remember that! i have a husband who loves me and thinks i am amazing (i was going to make a snarky comment about myself here, but that wouldn't fit in very well with my being more positive, now would it . . . ) i have an awesome daughter who is smart, funny, talented, strong, and unafraid (i wish i was more like her sometimes.) and two goofy dogs.

my life will never be perfect--i know that. it will just be what it will be. as much as i would like to be, i am NOT in charge of the world. my control is limited, which is probably a good thing. we are all just doing the best we can here, trying to make good choices as we take the next step in our lives. it is hard enough to figure it out, without worrying about what people will think. people will think what people will think. i can't change that. and i don't need the added stress of trying to make everyone think i am perfect . . .

. . . because if you have read very many of my blogs, you already know that i'm not.

a retreat?!?!?!

so today . . . i am not home, i am at murrieta hot springs for women's retreat. i am actually writing this on thursday night and scheduling it to post on friday, because i am pretty sure i will not have internet access all weekend! but my blogging has been somewhat sporadic lately, between battling evil viruses and feeling cranky instead of funny, and i didn't want you to go all weekend without any new posts. however, since i am writing this on thursday night, i don't know what will happen to me over the weekend, so what to write, what to write . . . i thought about making something up, but then i remembered about last year . . .

usually women's retreat is fairly uneventful for me. i work friday morning, eat lunch with rollie, sit in bumper to bumper weekend traffic for three hours (to make a one hour trip,) arrive at the retreat location, stay there all weekend, and come home on sunday afternoon. and then my weekend is gone. because although we call it a retreat, i usually come home more tired than when i left. while most people think of a retreat as being in a quiet, secluded place where lots of resting and relaxing happen, that has not been my experience. it seems like most of the "retreats" i attend are not restful at all. actually, it would be much more restful for me to stay home . . . but i digress . . .

anyway, last year was not restful (as usual,) but it was eventful. and i blogged about it the following tuesday, on october 7, 2008. here's what happened...

so, this weekend was our church's annual women's retreat. while i am not much of a "let's get all the girls together" kind of person, i usually enjoy it once i get there. this year, however, there were a few bumps in the road on my way to a fun weekend.

it started off great! beautiful weather, a chance for a road trip in my convertible, loud music on the stereo, and leaving early enough to avoid most of the traffic (my usual lunch with rollie being sacrificed on the altar of a quick trip.) my plan was to eat after i got past corona and most of the traffic--i had my book and i figured i could spend a while eating, and reading, and refilling my soda cup. then i would head on down the freeway a few miles and spend some more time at the outlet mall before arriving at the retreat center in time for dinner. it was a perfect plan!

and then i missed the exit--the one with all the food places . . .

it is a little hard to exit when you are zooming along in the far left lane, which is where i was.

ok, plan b. i will just eat at the dairy queen at the outlet mall. but then i almost missed that exit too! either i needed to slow down or start driving in the right hand lane where all the exits were! (when you only go someplace once a year, i guess you kind of forget where things are . . . ) thankfully the traffic was light, so i just quickly cut across three lanes of traffic and made it off the exit at the outlet mall.

ok, mission accomplished. i ate at the dairy queen, but without my book, because i didn't want to schlep it around all afternoon. so lunch wasn't quite as relaxing as i had pictured, but the cheeseburger was still good and there was still shopping to be done!

and then it happened. for the first time EVER, i did not find anything to buy at the gap! nothing!! the gap is my go-to store at this outlet mall--i ALWAYS find great stuff there at ridiculously low prices. always. so it was a little disorienting, but i soldiered on and did have some success at old navy and the guess store. still, nothing from the gap--this was not an auspicious beginning . . .

i checked in at the retreat, unloaded my car, had dinner and went to our evening session--all good. but before i went to bed, i decided to go out and get the new jeans i purchased at old navy to wear the next day. and guess what i found? my car battery was dead!!!

now my car is only two years old, so i'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this, but it is the only explanation i can come up with for why the beeper won't unlock the car. so i went back inside to get ready for bed, without my new jeans, and wondering about my car . . .

the next morning my alarm didn't go off, as i had set it for sunday not saturday, so i got a bit of a late start but still managed to make it to breakfast. and then our morning session began. i saw someone without a chair, and since i don't mind sitting on the floor, i picked up my chair to offer it to them. and managed to tip over my diet soda onto the carpet in the process. i rushed to the ladies room to get paper towels to clean up the spill, but the dispenser didn't work. so i knocked on the men's room door, and when i got no response, i bravely entered and retrieved a handful of paper towels. of course by now most of the soda had soaked deep into the carpeting, but i did the best i could (thank goodness for dark carpets!)

i finally settled down on the floor at the back of the room to listen to the speaker. she was very good by the way (but she had these really cool glasses on that kept distracting me!) pretty soon i was not feeling too good--i got really hot and sweaty and thought "i should probably go to the bathroom now" which i did. and i got sick! and it wasn't fun! i finally came out and laid down on the stone wall outside the building we were in and waited for someone to help me back to my room. there was no way i was going to get there under my own power. and the cold stone of the wall felt so cool to my hot head . . . soon someone realized i had gone missing and came and found me nearly asleep on the wall. security was called, and they came and rescued me. in a golf cart.

a few hours later i was feeling better, which was good, because i still had my dead car to deal with. fortunately we have AAA so i called them, and they said a truck would be there within the hour. fifty-five minutes later the truck arrived. he checked the battery. he jump started the battery, and then he checked it again. the car was running, but he informed me that it wasn't charging and if we shut it off, it probably would not restart. i needed a new battery! luckily he had a battery that would work, and he would be glad to install it for me. so i pulled out the plastic and soon my car was running again.

i went back inside and took a nap.

i managed to eat dinner without incident and made it through the whole evening session without getting sick. thank goodness.

then it was time for me to go home--i was leaving early because i have responsibilities on sunday morning. i'd been looking forward to the trip home, as i really enjoy driving my car at night with the top down. but guess what? it had been raining! the ground was wet and the air felt damp. and it was dark and i couldn't tell if there were clouds in the sky or if it would rain some more. so i got in my car, cranked up the heat, stopped for a giant soda and headed home.

i kind of think i've retreated enough for one weekend.

let's hope that this year is less interesting . . .

oh, fiddlesticks!

so today . . . i am reposting my favorite myspace blog of all time. that's maybe not saying a lot, since i only blogged a little over a year there, but still . . .

this is the very first blog i ever wrote, before i even knew about internet blogging! but interestingly enough, you will notice how it starts . . .

part of the humor from the story comes from the fact that the punchline was delivered very innocently by a very quiet little boy who has wonderful, calm, loving parents. but that just made it all the more unexpected and hilarious.

this was originally written on friday, may 25, 2007

So today I was reading a story to my class of kindergarteners. It was a funny book about a family of foxes and part of the fun was that most of the words began with the letter "f." But to make this work, there were a lot of words that were somewhat obscure and unfamiliar to the kids. They kept stopping me and asking "What does that word mean?" At one point someone asked what the word "fiddlesticks" meant. I was trying to explain that it was an expression someone might use, for example, if they were frustrated. One little boy frantically waved his hand in the air and said, "You mean like 'oh crap'?"

i couldn't help myself. i laughed. and then i said, "yes, exactly like that."

i find it hard to believe that either of his parents would use that particular expression, but obviously he had heard it somewhere. if parents only knew half of what their little darlings tell their teachers . . .

"it's a surprise!"

so today . . . i'm going to repost a funny story from the end of last year, because yesterday i ended up writing a new post. and this is an "end of the school year" story . . .

so, as i said yesterday, the end of the year is a time when parents tend to show their appreciation for their child's teacher by sending a gift. teacher gifts are an unpredictable entity. you cannot predict who will bring a gift or what it will be. i have been surprised more than once on the last day of school. my gifts in the past have ranged from a box of tea bags to a beautiful shiny red "guess" tote bag, but the majority tend toward lotion or gift cards. which i love--you can never have enough lotion, and gift cards let me shop in the summer when i am without a paycheck!

the kids are usually just as excited as i am to see what is inside when the wrapping paper is ripped off! i find that generally they have no idea what will be revealed. mom shopped, purchased, and wrapped without their knowledge. then, right before they walk into the classroom on the last day of school, mom puts the package in their little hands and says, "take this in, and give it to your teacher." it has to be kind of disappointing for a 6 year old to have a lovely gift handed to them, only to have to give it up two minutes later. but since they love me (yes they do!) and once they see what is inside, they are happy to take the credit for the thoughtfulness of the gift and wonder why their teacher is so happy to get a candle . . .

this blog was originally posted on monday, june 9, 2008. i had 16 students last year, and it seemed like there was so much paperwork that had to be completed before we could close the school year. graduation was coming up on wednesday night, which meant a good portion of the next few days would be spent practicing for that. and then our class field trip would take all day thursday, with friday being my last day of school. so i had a lot to do and very little time in which to do it. i was somewhat distracted by that . . .

so today i am sitting at my desk, swamped with end of the year stuff, trying to sort it all out before friday. and i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and hopeless. then one of my little dumplings comes to my desk and says, "i got you a gift." now i like presents, so she's got my attention, and yet kindergarteners sometimes live in their own little imaginary worlds where "i got you a gift" really means "i would get you one if i could, and i thought about it, but i can't drive so how would i get to the mall, even if i had any money?!?!?!?" and i don't want her to feel bad if that is the case. so i say, "oh how nice." i think that is noncommittal enough that if it turns out the gift was all in her head, she won't feel like "aagghhhh, my teacher expects me to bring her something!!" then she says, "you know, like a present." so i say "how thoughtful of you." meanwhile i continue shuffling the papers on my desk, because if the gift does exist, my guess is that she is not supposed to be telling me about it today. but she persists--"it's a necklace." "oh" i say, "i like necklaces." and now i'm thinking that this is getting pretty specific, so maybe this gift really does exist, and i'm pretty sure she shouldn't be telling me about it--but now my curiosity is piqued. she says, "do you want me to tell you what color it is?"

ok, i admit it--she's got me! so i stop moving the papers around on my desk and look at her and say, "sure!"

to which she replies, "i can't tell you! it's a surprise!!"

top ten reasons why it shouldn’t rain in southern california

so today . . . something unexpected came up. i had a plan for today, and it was going along pretty well, until i got the phone call. it wasn't a big deal, just something i needed to do. but of course nothing is ever easy, and there were complications. so a job that should have taken about 45 minutes, ended up eating three hours of my time--time i had planned to use for other things, including blogging.

so, you are going to get a myspace repost. the good news is, this is one of my favorites. i have been waiting for just the right time to use it, and today is the day.

for the last week our weather has been strange here. rollie watches the news (i do not,) so he explained it to me today--something about a low pressure system sitting off the coast spinning around. and because it isn't moving or dissipating, our weather is somewhat unpredictable. a slight change in the direction of the wind brings us either warm sunshine, cool clouds, or light rain.

i've been waiting for a rainy day to repost this blog, but it could be weeks before we get a really good rainy day. and besides, even if it is raining here, it might not be raining where you live. so i've just decided that it's close enough--there were some sprinkles today . . .

this was originally posted on monday, february 04, 2008

we have had quite a lot of rain lately--more in the last couple of weeks than we had all of last year! and it is beginning to annoy me so i have been inspired to write the following list!

top ten reasons why it shouldn't rain in southern california
10--they don't close the schools
9--the roads get slick and accidents happen (although accidents also happen when the roads are dry) 8--we have to go outside, in the rain, with our dogs to get them to do their business, but
7--i can't take the kids outside for recess!
6--our suede shoes and jackets get ruined (unless they are uggs--then they are supposed to look like that)
5--the birds don't sing
4--it dominates the news, taking time away from such important matters as who went into rehab or got arrested
3--my hair goes flat (now i know why it always had to be shorter in oregon!)
2--at night you can't see the lines on the roads, which is kind of dangerous and the number one reason why it shouldn't rain in southern california:

I CAN'T DRIVE MY CAR WITH THE TOP DOWN

ok, now this is for wendy:

top ten reasons why snow is better than rain
10--snow is beautiful; rain is gloomy
9--snow makes everything it touches more beautiful; rain makes everything it touches wet
8--in snow you can ski, snowboard, or sled; in the rain you can . . . play professional football, i guess
7--a walk in the snow is peaceful; a walk in the rain is just wet!
6--in the snow you can build a snowman or a snow fort or throw snowballs; in the rain you can build . . well, it's hard to form rain into anything--it just won't hold it's shape
5--when it snows we send the kids out to enjoy it; when it rains we keep them in where it is dry
4--in the snow you might get some adorable photos of your dog or your daughter; do you even want to take your camera out in the rain?!?!?
3--when it rains, people still have to go out and do the stuff they normally do, but when it snows people stay home where it is warm and safe, so
2--when it snows you can use your four wheel drive to go shopping (at the mall of course) or go to the movies without the crowds

and the number one reason snow is better than rain

THEY CLOSE SCHOOL FOR IT! (which means a day off for us--WOOHOO!)

anyway, whatever your weather is today, i hope you find a way to enjoy it. for me, if i can't drive my car with the top down, then a large diet pepsi and dark chocolate M&Ms will have to do the trick!

wednesday bonus blog: a friend in need has two friends indeed!

so today . . . is going to be a busy day. wednesdays always are--that's why i stopped blogging on wednesdays. and then i had the brilliant idea of the bonus blogs, so now i still have to find time to post those--which wouldn't be so bad if i didn't feel the need to "introduce" them, and then add final thoughts at the end . . .

oh well, here goes . . .

this blog was originally posted on friday, june 6, 2008.

how can you tell if a person is your friend? there are a lot of people in my life, and while i like almost every single one, i wouldn't necessarily say they are all my friends. or maybe they are, but just at different stages of friendship.

first, there are those people that you are just getting to know. you may not see them often, but when you do you have short conversations with them. the silences are awkward though. you talk to them when your paths cross, but don't spend much time together, because what if you run out of things to talk about? you are learning a bit about each other, slowly, but you are careful about what you say. after all, you don't know them well enough yet to let them see who you really are. i call these people possible friends.

next there are those people that you have talked to enough that you now know what interests and viewpoints you share. you enjoy your interactions, partly because you kind of know what to expect and partly because there will still be some surprises in your conversations. you feel comfortable enough to maybe go to a movie or concert together--those activities that don't require much conversation--and afterward you talk about what you've just seen. you may let them see a little more of who you are. then, if they don't run away screaming, they become new friends.

then there are your everyday friends. these are the people you spend your day with. they know you pretty well. they may be your co-workers, the people you go to church with, your neighbors. they pretty much know what is going on in your life, but maybe not all the gory details. you are comfortable with them and might invite them to go out to lunch or to a ball game or the mall. your conversation is easy. this is where many of the people in our lives are. and this is a good place to be--a friendship without a lot of demands or expectations.

and then there are those friends that you know you can count on. some people call them their best friends, but i prefer to call them my real friends. these are the people who really know me. they know i'm not anywhere close to perfect, although i try to look like i have my act together. they know why i don't play sports, but love words. they know i probably have skeletons in my closet (along with suitcases, too many shoes, and the perfect hangers) but they choose to like me anyway. these are the ones i know i can call in the middle of the night if rollie is gone and my bathroom is flooding or my clothes dryer burns up. they are the ones who will listen to me whine or rant or fall apart without making any judgments. these are the people i trust.
i started thinking about all of this last week when we ran into problems with our internet. rollie is usually able to handle all of our electronic issues, but this time even he was stymied. so we asked our friend james for some help. without hesitation he agreed to come over and see what he could do. well, he worked on the problem for four hours that night with no success, and then came back the next night with another friend and worked for three more hours before they finally had our internet running properly again. they gave up two evenings just because we needed help! so i just wanted to say how grateful i am for friends like that. neither james nor walter (his friend) will read this--i'm fairly sure they are not on myspace--but i was inspired by them this week. i wish i was that kind of friend, but i am afraid that maybe i am not. i'm going to try harder though, because how we make people feel is important. and this week my friend james made me feel like somebody cared . . .

i'm not very good at the friend thing--i tend to be more of an alone person. given the choice between going somewhere with people and staying home by myself, i will almost always choose being by myself. once i get home from work, i do NOT want to go out again--unless i am lured with food. i find that most of the things i enjoy doing are solitary activities. it isn't that i don't like people--i do. it isn't that i can't function in a social situation--i can. and it isn't that i'm not thoughtful of others--i am. it just that that isn't where my natural personality lives. and sometimes i just seem to be immobilized by inertia. for example, i never forget a birthday! but everyone i know probably thinks i don't have a clue, because i cannot seem to get a birthday card or gift out on time (or even close to on time) to save me!

so i am very thankful for the few real friends that i do have, because they love me anyway . . .

wednesday bonus blog: "i thought we were pretending!?!?!"

so today . . . i am going to repost the blog that gave me my first experience with negative comments.

generally, i don't like negative comments. what is the point? when someone blogs, they are just sharing their thoughts and opinions. if you don't like those thoughts and opinions, then stop reading the blog! there are probably millions of blogs out there--enough that certainly everyone should be able to find several that they enjoy reading. and that is what the blogger wants to hear--what do you like? what did it make you think about? what made you laugh? negative comments just start a war in the comment area, and everyone ends up feeling irritated.

when i wrote the following blog, i thought it was a funny story, so the comments surprised me. i thought, "no wait--they have missed the point of the story." but read the original blog first, and then we will go to the comments. i originally posted this on sunday, october 19, 2008.

preschoolers--their minds just don't work the same as ours! so one morning last week before school really started, i was watching the kids play. i was sitting at a table watching 3 and 4 year olds trying to master scissors. (you would be amazed at how many ways there are to hold a pair of scissors!) one little girl came clear across the room from the "kitchen" area to bring me a cup of "coffee." now i am guessing that the adults around her would be delighted with a cup of coffee, but since i do not like coffee, my response probably perplexed her a bit. "yuck," i said. "i don't like coffee. can you bring me something else to drink?" she looked at me blankly, and then went back to the kitchen. a few minutes later she returned with a cup of "milk." "yum," i said. "but you know what would be really good? if you took this cup of milk back to the kitchen and heated it up and added some chocolate and sugar. then you know what we would have? we would have hot chocolate!" now i am feeling pretty proud of myself and how i have turned this simple little interaction into a learning opportunity, until she looks at me and replies, "we don't have any chocolate or sugar in our kitchen!"

when i wrote this blog, i thought it was a funny story. i thought people would read it and laugh. but here are the comments i got . . .

--"ok. you're just being demanding. i'm surprised your little girl didn't take your order into the kitchen and "spit" in your hot chocolate..."
--"That's what you get for not liking coffee! How could anyone not like coffee? And in the end who got the education? I agree, I would have spit in your milk! Ahahaha!"
--"UH, teacher, I was just pretending....can't you PRETEND to like coffee."
--"I understand how you don't like coffee :) And I understand how you would want to make her think outside the box a little... granted, I work with teenagers. So maybe I don't count."

i have to say, i was somewhat surprised by these comments. now these were all made by people i know and like, so i am pretty sure that they were just giving me a hard time . . . but still, it kind of made me feel annoyed. (probably i was feeling cranky already when i read the comments, which didn't help!) so the next day i posted this:

ok, judging by your hostile comments, i think that some of you MISSED THE POINT of my last blog. yes, i could have just said "thank you for the coffee" and moved on, but i was trying to get her to do something different than what she usually does when she plays in the kitchen--because that's what teachers do--we help to expand a child's mind. but judging by some of your harsh remarks, i guess next time i will just say thanks and move on . . . sheesh! i have two more funny stories, but now i'm not so sure you will enjoy them. i guess you will just have to wait and see . . .

and then i spent a few days recovering my usually pleasant disposition before writing again . . .

here's the thing--i want my blog to be a fun and safe place. so keep that in mind when you comment. i do have a couple of friends who like to torment and mock me, because it's just how we show love :) but they always put their names on so i know it is them. i will probably start being a little more selective with anonymous comments if they edge into unkind areas. i want to "share the love" not the snarkiness. but keep the comments coming . . . just like you look forward to reading my blog everyday, i look forward to reading your comments!

and maybe next week i will post the other two stories--my five year olds are really funny!!

wednesday bonus blog: who reads these things?

so today . . . i was thinking about how knowing who reads my blogs affects what i write.

as i've said, i write mostly because it is fun. and as i'm writing, i think about how my mom will react, or if it will make wendy comment or sherry laugh. if i mention real people, i am conscious of how they might feel about what i have written. i never want anyone to feel hurt or belittled, or like i have just used them for a laugh. so as i'm writing, i think about all these things.

and so, i haven't really told the people who are part of my everyday life about my blog--except for my family. it's just too many people to think about as i write each day, because no matter how careful i am, you just never know how someone will react. i mainly write for those of you who know me but live far away, or those of you who only know me through what you read here. i guess it is because my blogs show who i really am, and sometimes in my real life i have to pull my punches just a bit.

the following blog was written the first time i thought maybe someone might be offended by things i had written. i decided to share my blogs with a new acquaintance whose life had intersected with mine several times, but not to the extent that we really knew each other. and when reading a blog, if you don't understand the perspective from which it was written, it can be misunderstood. so i was starting to have second thoughts . . .

this blog was originally written on Friday, May 9, 2008.

ok, so this morning the dad of one of our school kids asked me how to find my myspace page. so i told him. i mean, i think my page does a pretty good job of revealing who i am, and i try to make it "interesting" by adding stuff (although i know i need to update my pictures more often.) so i was glad to tell him how to find me. but then i got to thinking about my blogs . . . i love to write blogs--it is so much fun, and i try to make them entertaining. sometimes when i write i am thinking about diandra reading it, so i kind of write towards her. sometimes when i write i think about wendy reading it, so i write in a way that i think will make her laugh. and so on . . . well i went back and read all my blogs, and it was a lot of fun--some of it reminded me of stuff i had kind of forgotten about. but you know i do occasionally write about things that happen at school, and usually it is funny stuff. however there are days when i feel frustrated, just like most of you have days when you are frustrated with your jobs. and that was revealed in a couple of my blogs--like i said, my page reveals who i am, on good days and also on not so good days. so albert, when you read those blogs i hope you will understand that i do love my job and i do love my students, but there are days when i would just like to go to jamaica!

so in the future, if something i write offends you, i am just going to apologize right now. that is never my intent. and i hope that after reading this post, you will understand that . . .and keep reading.

happy mother's day!

so today . . . is mother's day. i'm going to take the day off and repost the blog i wrote last year on myspace for this special day. i am doing this for two reasons: 1-i think it would be odd for you to read this on some random wednesday this summer. i mean, it was written for mother's day and should be read on mother's day, and 2-i think it is a great post, and i'm not sure i could improve on it this year. although, i am going to add something new at the end . . .

so here it is. this was originally posted on sunday, may 11, 2008.

mother's day--an interesting "holiday." actually, i'm not sure you can call it a holiday if you don't get a day off work, but maybe i am nitpicking. now don't get me wrong--i think moms should have a day (or a whole week!) when they feel appreciated for all they do for their families (including dads!) and the sacrifices they make to take care of their children. moms are amazing and should be recognized as such. and if we need to designate the second sunday in may as the time to show our moms how great we think they are, then i guess that's what we should to do. so here's how mother's day works--when your children are small, it is up to the dad in the family to be sure that something great happens on mother's day. and as moms, we all recognize that, and we enjoy the lovely gifts that the dads choose and then give to us "from junior." then the children grow big enough to either make mom something "special" or choose their own gift, which could just as easily be gummy worms as godiva chocolates. and we enjoy that, because we know they are learning to give from their little hearts. then they grow into teenagers, and it becomes a 50/50 chance whether the day is made special by dad or the kids, but hopefully someone will remember . . . and then the day arrives--your first mother's day when all the kids are grown and out of the house. what happens then? i mean, you are still technically the mom, but there are no children at home to take care of any more. so should you still celebrate mother's day? i mean, you're not actively mothering anyone, and it seems they don't need you any more. they have hopefully grown into competent, responsible adults (finally) and so dad is probably not going to remind them that "sunday is mother's day." so where does that leave you? this is the year that i felt that way. maybe we wouldn't be doing much celebrating on mother's day. i mean, how much mothering had i really done this last year. my darling daughter HAS grown into a competent, responsible adult. and i am in her head, so she really doesn't need me anymore. and it was also rollie's birthday. (do birthdays trump other holidays like mother's day? we really need the answer to this, since all of our birthdays fall within a day or two of nationally recognized holidays . . .) i am one of the lucky moms who has a daughter that is good at showing how much she loves and appreciates me--all the time. she calls me, she texts me, she writes me notes on myspace. so of course she wasn't going to let this day go by unnoticed. we went to lunch after church (for rollie's birthday) and then she and i went to the mall where she introduced me to a wonderful store where we spent the afternoon shopping--and she bought me an outfit! since i am usually the one buying her an outfit, this was a lovely surprise! we had a great time, as we always do when we are together. my daughter is awesome! when i got home i called MY mom. she is one of those great moms who made the transition from mothering to mentoring to friendship easily--at least it seemed to me like she did it easily. i am sure there were times when she would have made different choices for me than i did, but she supported the choices i made anyway. she has let me live my life my way, but has always been there when i needed her. we live 1000 miles apart now, and so i only get to see her a couple of times a year, and i miss her, especially on my birthday. but thanks to sprint, i can call and talk to her for free on weekends, so i do that every few weeks. and today we talked for an hour and a half. my mom is awesome too! i feel so fortunate to be stuck in the middle of these two incredible women! i should thank God every day for them, and some days i do! they both enhance my existence in such different and wonderful ways. in some ways i am like my mom, and in some ways i am like my daughter. and in some ways i am very different from both of them. they are both smart and beautiful and fun to be around. and i am so glad, that although one calls me mom and one calls me daughter, they both call me friend.

i just wanted to add that in the last year, i have learned something from each of these amazing women. from my daughter, i have learned courage in the face of seemingly devastating circumstances and seen that it is possible to overcome situations that threaten to overtake us. she has had a very tough year, but has emerged from it whole and strong and optimistic about her future.from my mom, i have learned that friendship means being there, regardless of the circumstances, being supportive by listening endlessly, and sometimes letting go of your own plan to be there for your friend. my mom does not give up on a friend easily--she will hang in there with them whether the circumstances are fun or difficult. she is the kind of friend we all wish we had . . .(this would be a much better picture if i knew how to crop!!! and btw, this photo was taken by my 5 year old nephew with diandra's expensive camera--not too bad, considering my mom HATES to have her picture taken and will usually avoid it at all costs . . . )

so happy mother's day to both my mom, and my daughter (who made me into a mom!) i love you both very much!!

wednesday bonus blog: california kids

so today . . . the bonus blog is about the weather. i was reading some comments on facebook today lamenting the lack of spring weather in some places. i thought about it all the way home, after tossing my sweater on the passenger seat and feeling the wind blow my hair into my face (yes, i know it is kind of a driving hazard) and enjoying the warm sunshine . . .

i used to live where it rained a lot. i also lived for a while in a place where there was snow on the ground most of the winter. but i don't anymore--now i live in the land of perpetual sunshine (and yes, traffic and occasional smog and lots of concrete--but it's still paradise!) while we enjoyed the weather from the very beginning, we were often amused by the way people here reacted to the weather--especially any sort of WET weather.

i also had to change the way i teach some things. it is hard for kindergarteners to understand the sequence of seasons when they live someplace where there aren't any. and frost on the windows? it just doesn't happen here. so in the beginning i blogged about the weather a lot--almost as much as i now blog about food!

this blog was orinially posted on myspace on thursday, october 2, 2008. you would think after living here for 7 years i would have adjusted enough that i wouldn't even think about the weather anymore. but you would be wrong. there is still just enough oregon in me that i wake up every day wondering what the weather will be like--even though 98% of the time the answer is going to be "sunny and warm."

southern california is unique for many, many reasons, not the least of which is it's weather. when we first moved here, i was continually amused by the "storm watch" reports that would usually be followed by a cloudy day. having grown up in oregon and driving in rain so heavy you can't even really see the car that you THINK is in front of you, i laughed at what passed for rain here. monday was one of those "rainy" days. we were out on the playground for recess and there were a few clouds hovering about. pretty soon the kids started shouting, "it's raining! it's raining!" and scrambling for cover. technically it WAS raining--i did witness a few damp spots on the sidewalk and even felt a drop or two on my face. but here is the proof that i am becoming a california person--my first instinct was NOT to say something to the effect of, "are you kidding me? this isn't rain--it's just sprinkling." or another favorite phrase, "what? are you made of sugar? you won't melt, now get back out there and play!" oh no, not any more! now my first thought was "oh no! my car!! it's going to be all rain spotted" which, of course, it was!!!

i say all of this to remind you that california kids don't really know about the weather. here we have sunny days, with an occasional "rainy" day thrown in to keep us from being bored, i guess. even in the winter it rarely dips below 60 degrees. in fact, i used to have a "weather bear" at school that the kids could dress appropriately each day according to the weather, but they got kind of tired of always having to choose tank top or t-shirt and shorts or jeans. you would be surprised how often our weather bear was forced to wear a winter coat and rain boots just "because they're pretty," which kind of defeated the purpose, so we don't have a weather bear anymore. but i digress . . .

so anyway, whenever our curriculum (which was not written in a southern locale, by the way) uses weather to teach a concept, it can be hard for my students to understand. on tuesday we were talking about community helpers in social studies and were focusing on doctors. on their paper there were drawings with explanations of things they could do to stay healthy. the first picture showed a little girl wearing ear muffs and a wooly scarf around her neck and it said to dress warmly when it was cold outside. as we discussed this, i asked how they could tell that it was cold in the picture. one little girl raised her hand and said, "oh! oh! i know! it's cuz she's wearing glove ears!" i thought that was a pretty good way to describe ear muffs if you had never seen them before.

yes, glove ears . . .

wednesday bonus blog: being sick sucks

so today . . . i've been thinking about the swine flu.

i don't watch the news or read the newspaper, because frankly, it is just all too depressing. so the only news i get is when someone says to me, "did you hear about . . . ?" to which i usually reply, "no." and then they will tell me. i figure this way i hear about the news that the people around me think is important, and i don't worry about the rest of it--if something major happens, i am confident that someone i know will tell me about it. this is how i learned about the swine flu.

one of the teachers at my school just returned from mexico. her grandfather died a couple of weeks ago, and so she travelled down there to be with her family. while she was there, the swine flu break-out was reported. her family decided to come home a little early, but had a hard time getting an earlier flight out. and by the time they got to the airport, everyone was wearing surgical masks. she said it was a little unsettling. and then she arrived home early only to be told to stay home for two more days--just in case she had been exposed.

i understand taking precautions. someone asked what we were doing to address the possible encroachment of this sickness in our school. apparently the health department recommends washing hands often and for at least three minutes each time. "do you realize," i said to our director, "that since we have only one sink and 15 children, it is going to take us 45 minutes for every child in our classroom to wash their hands for 3 minutes each JUST ONE TIME?!" that is what i SAID. this is what i was THINKING "good grief! all we will do all day is have kids stand in line to wash their hands. maybe we should just all take a week off, and let them stay at home where their exposure would be more limited." someone suggested using hand sanitizer, but we were told that it wasn't strong enough to kill these germs. so maybe the best i can hope for is that the dreaded virus will get lost on it's way to destroy us . . .

anyway, in response to the swine flu epidemic, i am posting a blog about being sick. actually, i wrote a couple of sick blogs, but this was the first. it was originally posted on february 8, 2008, which happened to be a friday.

ok, so rollie has been sick for most of three weeks. he got sick suddenly and was sick for a week. then he felt a bit better, so of course, being a man, he went back to work. he worked for a few days, and then got sick again. he has been down this time for 10 days! now i am not complaining about him being sick, because he is NOT one of those whiny crybaby sick boys that some of you may be familiar with. he still takes a shower every morning and shaves and brushes his teeth no matter how sick he is. and all he requires of me is to bring him food once in a while. so again i am not complaining about him being sick.

now go with me to my job--a kindergarten classroom. you would think that parents would keep their precious darlings home when they have a sneeze or a sniffle--but NOOOOO. mom and dad need to go to work, and OF COURSE the kids want to come to school (because they love me--even when i yell) so they come and blow their tiny noses and cough amazingly huge coughs, and then they touch things that i am also forced to touch, like pencils and staplers and zipper pulls.

the result of all of this exposure to GERMS is that i am sick. and it is supposed to be a beautiful weekend. and i can't breathe. and my nose is so sore. and nothing tastes good. and my head hurts. and it sucks.

whine whine whine

last week i was downstairs (watching something vitally important, like american idol) when rollie called to me from upstairs. he was headed for bed and was watching the news (he is one of my sources) and they were talking about the swine flu. he said they had quarantined a family in texas. and as he is telling me about it, he gets this faraway look in his eyes and says, "wow--wouldn't it be great to be quarantined?! you would get to stay home for several days, rest and recuperate, people would bring you food and no one would bother you . . . "

yeah, he is wishing for the swine flu--i think he needs a vacation . . .

wednesday bonus blog: "black is beautiful!"

so today . . . is the end of the story of my quest for a new car. actually, it was a very short quest. when you no longer need a back seat, and you get the chance to drive the coolest looking car on the road, and you live in the land of perpetual sunshine, and it is a convertible, and it goes zoom zoom, it shouldn't take too long to make a decision. even if it is black.

the following blog was originally posted just two days after last week's. i told you it was a short quest!

so yesterday i got online to look at cars. i had already read the reviews on the mazda and was amazed at it's performance. i knew i wanted an MX-5, so now it was just a matter of finding the right one. well, even in this metropolitan area there were very few to choose from. i was looking for one that was just a year or two old. i found one i liked, but you never know . . . there might be a better one out there. so after i did some checking around i went back to it, and it was sold! i found another one i was interested in and called about it, and it was gone as well. when i happened across the black one i had already test driven, the online price was $1000 less than was listed on the lot, and i started to worry that soon it might not be available either. so i went back and drove it again. i took it out on the freeway, took some corners really fast, and accelerated quickly from a red light or two. (i think the salesman was relieved when i headed back!) and by the time we returned to the lot, i was in love! it was so wonderful to drive!!! and the more i looked at it, the cooler the black looked. (a word about the color--they did have a brand new red one which i considered, but the red was so bright and was just flat--no sparkle. it made the car look like a toy and was a little too "look at me! i'm having a mid-life crisis!") so i took a deep breath and said, "let's get it." after another hour filling out paper work and waiting, i drove off with my new black car.

driving to work this morning was so much fun, i almost wished i lived further away! and for those of you who are worrying about how i will transport grandchildren without a backseat, don't worry about it. i have a plan . . .

after driving "the batmobile" for a year and a half now, i can say it is the best car ever! it gets better performance reviews than both the bmw z4 and the porsche boxter! it will go as fast as i want it to go, can stop on a dime, and corners like it is attached to the road. not that i drive that way . . . but it's nice to know i could.

and it may be shallow, but driving that car makes me feel happy! (i can't explain it, but when i get in my car, i suddenly feel like i am one of the "cool" kids--even though i have no idea how that would actually feel.) no matter what my day is like, when i see that car waiting for me in the parking lot i can't help but smile--all the way home! AND you can never have a bad hair day--you just have to adjust your standards.and as for the color? well, it does take some maintenance to keep it shining and beautiful, but it's worth it. as i said, it is the coolest looking car on the road!

wednesday bonus blog: "but it's black!"

so today . . . the bonus blog is about the agony i went through when it was time to replace my 1994 honda civic. i loved that car! in fact, when it was new the plan was that rollie would drive it. since we lived right by the church he didn't have to drive every day, while i had to drive about 15 miles each way to work. so it seemed logical that we would continue to let the miles stack up on the older car. it was a reasoned decision, and it was my idea--in fact, i wanted to just leave the new car in the garage where it would be safe and stay pristine. but after a couple of weeks, i found i was cranky. a lot! i wanted to drive that car, but i didn't want to admit it. rollie, being the smart guy that he is, figured it out and said, "for goodness sake, drive the new car!" so i did. and every time i got in that car i felt happy! it was brand new. it was peppy. and it was purple! i loved it!but 14 years and over 200,000 miles later, it was time for a change. it was spending too much time in the shop. i kept thinking, "ok, after we get THIS fixed, my baby will be as good as new." but it wasn't. i need time to process stuff like getting a new car, so i was not really comfortable with having to make this decision so quickly. but the fact is, i could no longer count on my honda to get me where i needed to go and back again safely. the blog i am posting today shows my initial ambivilence about the situation. it was originally written on october 14, 2007 on a cloudy sunday afternoon.

OK, so today after we finally got home from rescuing my honda from the church parking lot where it had stranded me for the third time, rollie said "it's time for a new car!" now this might sound like fun to most of you, but i don't want to have to make car payments again! my precious, but old honda is paid for! and it is comfortable! and it runs just fine most of the time. and it has enough minor dings in it that i don't have to worry about where i park it or if a grocery cart crashes into it. in fact, i was kind of thinking that if someone would just run into me while i was driving THIS car, i could get a new paint job and it would be as good as new! finally i said i would think about maybe looking at another car, just to get him to stop talking about it and let me go watch something on my tivo. but that wasn't good enough for the persistant man. he insisted that we go test drive mazdas TODAY--(he knows how i procrastinate!) my brain was still kind of in shock even thinking about getting another car, and i really didn't want to go drive anything today. besides, i hate going onto a car lot, and i REALLY hate test driving cars. however, saying no apparently wasn't an option, so off we went.

i have to say, that while it wasn't a totally horrible ordeal (the salesman did buy me a diet soda from the machine while he went back to 'run the numbers,') it had it's moments. i do not like driving a strange car, especially with a salesman riding in the passenger seat. every car feels different, and it's nerve-wracking to try to find where the gears are while someone you don't know is watching you . . . and thinking things . . .

rollie wanted me to start out by driving a miata, since his car is so much fun to drive (at least when i am not being rear-ended by a monster truck!) so i drove the only used one on the lot--a black 2006 MX-5 convertible. it is pretty nice, but it is black, and you know how i feel about cars that are black, white or silver . . . so i came home and did some investigating online and found that it is a very good car, mechanically speaking. however, it is still black . . . but it is the only one within a 300 mile radius, according to yahoo cars . . . and it only has 16,000 miles on it . . . and it has the pre-owned certified warranty . . . but it is black. so i don't know . . .

i hate to make car payments again, but it would be fun to drive. i just don't know if i can get over the blackness of it. so i am thinking of maybe going back tomorrow and seeing if they will let me drive it around a bit more. of course, i may go back tomorrow and it will be gone. how would i feel about that? i don't know. it took me months to choose a new camera, and i might still not have this laptop if rollie hadn't made me sit down, go on the internet, and choose one RIGHT NOW. (that is referring to my last laptop--the one that recently died.) i know i need more reliable transportation, but i will have to drive this next car a long time, so i want to be sure it is the right choice. i think my head may explode . . .

next wednesday i will post the follow-up blog.

wednesday bonus blog: "dinosaurs eat what?!?"

so today . . . i decided to post a bonus blog.

this is why. last week when i posted a blog i had previously written for myspace, i got grief from my friend albert. (i should mention here that he is one of a handful of people who actually look forward to reading my blog every day.) albert is also on myspace, so he read the blog when it was originally posted and i think he felt cheated that so today . . . was a repeat. as i explained to him, most of you are not on myspace, so it would be new to you. but i got his point. i am always disappointed when i go to one of the blogs that i read regularly and there is no new posting--i guess a "rerun" could be equally disappointing.

but i wrote some pretty cute blogs over there on myspace that i want to share.

so here is my solution. occasionally i will re-post those blogs on wednesdays (a day i don't usually blog) as a bonus for those of you who aren't on myspace. since that is a day you usually don't get any sparkling thoughts from my brain, it will be a nice surprise when it happens. and albert (and the other myspace people) won't be disappointed, because that is not a day they are expecting a blog.

i think it is a good solution. we will see what you think.

anyway, here is the first wednesday bonus blog. it was originally written november 22, 2008 and titled "dinosaurs eat what?!?!" enjoy!!

so the other day we had a little extra time before recess, and i suggested that my students look at books until we went outside. joshua always picks either a shark book or a dinosaur book, and this day he chose dinosaurs. now this was not a factual book about dinosaurs--it was one of those "cute" books where dinosaurs talk and do all sorts of undinosaurlike things. on one page the dinosaurs were eating (at a table off of a plate, of course) and the plate was covered with tan blobs of food. so, trying to teach SOMETHING during this time, i said, "what do you think those dinosaurs are eating?" Candice said, "chicken nuggets!!" and looked at me like "duh! why are you even asking us this!" while i was sitting there trying to comprehend how anyone could think dinosaurs would eat chicken nuggets, joshua saves the day (i think) by saying, "no, they didn't have chicken nuggets then." i think "aha! now we are getting somewhere." and then joshua says, "it's sushi!"

virtual pets--part 1

so today . . . i spent WAY too much time on facebook playing with virtual pets and trying to figure out the whole gift system. i have a blog percolating about it, but i think i am going to save it for tomorrow because first, i want to re-post a blog i wrote on myspace a while ago about virtual pets. i had just added a monkey to my page. it was fun to play with, and i was kind of excited about that! so here it is--my first retro-blog from myspace.

so the other day i was cruising around myspace as i do sometimes when i have nothing better to do, and i happened upon someone’s page who had a virtual pet. now you all know that i have two very real, very weird dogs that shower me with love and attention and ask very little in return--well ok, i do have to rub mia’s tummy while she is standing up, and milo needs a certain amount of time to lick my face every day (wendy, i know you are going EEWWWW, but that’s how he shows love--i think . . .) so one would think that would be enough for me. but the truth is, i love animals--well maybe not cats so much--but i need to have a pet. when our last dog, taffy died just before christmas a couple of years ago, we decided to wait until summer before even thinking about getting another dog. but the house was so quiet and empty when i came home from school. and as much as rollie loved that dog, it soon became clear to me that he needed another dog even more than i did. so he and diandra went to the pound and in a few days we added mia to our household. milo came to us several months later, but that is another story.

anyway, back to the virtual pets. when diandra was little and handheld electronics were just becoming popular, we bought one for her. we thought it would be fun--you know, she could carry it in her pocket and it would almost be like having a tiny little pet she could take with her. i mean, she didn’t have any siblings to play with when going someplace in the car, or waiting on her parents, so we thought this would keep her occupied during those times. it wasn’t that high tech--the tiny screen wasn’t color and the graphics were pretty basic, but we all thought it would be fun.

well it was fun at first. we were all interested and she seemed to enjoy "feeding" it and playing with it. but as the days progressed, it got less and less attention, and then she put it in a pocket and kind of forgot about it. well, you know what happened--it "died." and no amount of "but it wasn’t real" helped, because it had kind of become real.

our next attempt at virtual pets was a computer program called dogz. this was sooo cute! you adopted these darling little dogs and they cavorted around your computer screen. they would whine and bark and pant. you could "buy" toys and treats for them, and then play with them. you could train them to do tricks. they were in full color and were a lot more real and fun than the handheld version. the problem for us was that at that time we only had one computer in our household which we all had to share, and while diandra and i were in love with the dogz, they drove rollie crazy! you see, even when you were doing something else, the dogz made noises and wanted attention, and he was not a fan! so when we replaced our computer, somehow the dogz never made it onto the new one . . .

and this finally brings me to mookie. as i said, i saw the virtual pets on someone else’s page and thought it was pretty cute, but due to my past experiences with virtual pets, i was a little hesistant--i did not want to end up with a virtual pet who was virtually dead on my page! but i went to the site anyway to find out about them, and guess what? they won’t die! isn’t that great?!?!? and there are several to choose from and you can make them any color you want and name them, and did i mention that THEY WON’T DIE??!!?! plus, they are kind of fun to play with. if you click on the monkey and then click in different places on the tree, he will move around. if you click at the bottom right corner on that box (i can’t remember what it says) you will get a banana that you can put on the screen and he will go get it and eat it. doesn’t that sound like fun? ok, maybe i spend way too much time on here, but i always wanted a pet monkey and now i have one. and you can have one too--or a virtual hamster or a virtual HEDGEHOG (diandra) or a virtual dog or cat. there are other choices too . . . anyway, let me know if you get one. i would love to visit and virtually play with your virtual pet.

more tomorrow on my new virtual pet on facebook, and the crazy "gift" system. you will not believe it!