Progress report, day 3

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo! Whew.

I already am loving "101 things." The only one I've actually accomplished is No. 71, so far inspiring one person (Gail) to make a list of her own. Several other people have said they might do the same, or at least are going to join me in some of my resolutions. Fun.

Selfishly, my favorite thing about the list so far is the outpouring of offerings to help me reach these goals! Lib's offered to lend her sewing machine and join me for No. 65 (learning to hem). Gail wants to help with No. 47 (Dad's retirement party). I'm going to visit a Catholic church with Kaitlin (No. 18). Amanda surprised me at the office yesterday with FOUR books on learning shorthand (No. 37) AND a glow-in-the-dark book about constellations and their mythology (No. 64). Lauren's going to teach me how to drive a stick shift if I can find a car to practice on, and Kaitlin wants to do this with me.

I've come close twice already to getting to the bottom of those blue butterflies (No. 1).

On Tuesday I was going to ask a woman who was sitting in her blue-butterfly car in the gym parking lot, but she was on the phone forever and I started feeling like a stalker waiting for her to open her door. Then this morning I wound up in the lane next to a blue-butterfly car and I was going to try to catch the driver's attention, but I hesitated and then got a green arrow and had to turn.

Also this morning, I got fed up with my hair and called my hairdresser, who miraculously had a cancellation for an hour later, and now my hair is very nearly too short for a pony tail (No. 6). I figure I'll get it cut about an inch shorter in January and check that one off my list.

Worth the wait

I am now so happy that our house closing was a little delayed, because interest rates have been dropping this week and we're going to be able to refinance the permanent loan with a rate of more than half a point lower than the original one, saving us almost $100 a month for the life of the loan!

Sharing the wealth

One of the best deals I've found recently is at Restaurant.com, which was advertised in the CouponMom.com newsletter.

I happened to get that newsletter the morning of a dinner date with Granny and Granddaddy at one of the restaurants featured on Restaurant.com. It sounded too good to be true, but I figured it was worth a $5 gamble. I typed in my ZIP code, chose from the participating restaurants (there are only TWO in our area), paid online and printed the gift certificate.

And it worked! Thanks to Restaurant.com plus an additional 50-percent-off code from CouponMom.com, we paid $5 for a $25 gift certificate.

It's definitely worth investigating for anyone who likes to eat out. These cheap certificates also would make great Christmas presents. For the most savings, use the code THANKS through Nov. 30. But even without a special code most of the certificates cost $10 and are worth $25.

(FYI: I paid for the first certificate through PayPal and it went through with no problem. But the next time I tried to use PayPal to buy one it didn't work -- it charged my account but wouldn't let me print the certificate. I called Restaurant.com and got it straightened out within about two minutes, but they said they'd been having some problems with PayPal, so in the future I'll probably just pay with my credit card.)

Decking the halls

As planned, we got our Christmas tree tonight.

We were having trouble getting it to stay straight and eventually we realized it was too heavy for the tree stand.

I proposed piling the heaviest thing I could think of (our cast-iron pans, because Stephen has Matt's weights) on one of the tree-stand legs. It didn't work.


Matt proposed nixing the pans and sticking books under a couple of the legs. That worked a whole lot better. Times like this I know that engineering degree was not for nothing.

Right after the books epiphany, Matt poured us each a glass of wine -- the same amount in each glass and he wasn't even trying. My husband is brilliant.

And right after that, he realized our tree truck had split nearly all the way up. Why? I don't know. Is this condition fatal? I don't know. We might wake up tomorrow and find it dead.

Matt pulled out a heavy-duty flashlight and investigated the situation. "It's like I'm a tree doctor," he noted.

Here is our tree skirt. We bought it at the same time as our $2 tree-topper star. It is made of green felt. Me: "We have the absolute ugliest tree skirt in the entire world, and I'm not even exaggerating." Matt: "Agreed." We decided to do something about it next year.

These pictures do not capture the sparkle of our star's elegant puff paint.

Amanda taught me how to use my camera's self-timer. A whole new world!


Merry Christmas in November!

101 things in 1,001 days

I'm really excited about this!

It's no secret that I love a) resolutions, b) goals, c) lists and d) accountability. So when I stumbled across this site, of course I was thrilled. I've been mulling over this for three days now.
Some of these list items are, for me, pretty ambitious (become fluent in Spanish) and others are freebies (get a massage), but all of them are things I always say I intend to do -- or do again -- "some day." When I complete a goal, I'll mark through it on this master list and write a blog post about it.

If I actually accomplish every one of these things in the next 1,001 days, you're all invited to a party at my house on Aug. 25, 2010. Save the date.

Here goes:

1. Find out what those blue butterflies on cars stand for. Dec. 5, 2007
2. Memorize the Book of James.
3. For all of 2008, send a snail-mail birthday card to everyone I love.Jan. 9, 2009
4. Join or start a book club. June 3, 2008
5. Learn how to apply eye makeup.
6. Cut my hair too short for a pony tail. May 2, 2008
7. Know the names and faces of all of our neighbors on our new street.
8. Travel to another continent.
9. Find a gorgeous antique stained-glass window to go in our next house. Feb. 13, 2010
10. Establish a grocery-shopping, coupon-clipping system that works for me.
11. Get published in a non-local magazine.
12. Learn to speak and understand Spanish well enough to be considered fluent.
13. Learn how to work our TVs and assorted remotes. Dec. 9, 2007
14. For three months, go to Body Pump twice a week. (February, March and April 2008)
15. Sell something on eBay, Etsy or Craigslist. Feb. 28, 2008
16. Spend $25 in one morning at yard sales and thrift stores and try to make $100 selling those items at a consignment store.
17. Learn to drive a stick shift.
18. Attend a Roman Catholic church service. Dec. 24, 2007
19. Learn how to make yeast rolls.
20. Join a tennis league.
21. Make more money in one month from journalism than from real estate. December 2007
22. Write an opinion letter to our local newspaper.
23. Write letters to 10 people, businesses or community groups that I'm thankful for. (8/10: Chick-fil-A, Stein Mart, Deputy John Robinson, Jada, Angie, Tripps, Susan, Marcia)
24. Write a letter to Pizza Hut outlining suggestions for improving its lunch buffet. Dec. 14, 2007
25. Buy or borrow a keyboard and learn to play.
26. Have my legs waxed before one swimsuit season. May 17, 2008
27. Have a baby in my belly.
28. Learn to really understand (and like?) football.
29. Go on a fun trip with Mom and Amanda. April 9-12, 2008
30. Pay off our rental house.
31. Digitize all of our hard-copy photographs.
32. Put our wedding tape on DVD.
33. Visit three out-of-state cities that I've never been to before. St. Simon's Island, Ga.; Greenville, S.C.; Fredericksburg, Va.
34. Try 10 local restaurants I've never been to before. (Coach Light Cafe, That's a Deli, Caterino's Bakery, Sizzlin' Steak 'n' Eggs, Flynne's, Dog Nation, Chris' Family Restaurant; The Darling House Pub; La Poblanita; Blake's Restaurant)
35. Finish reading "Anna Karenina" once and for all. Sept. 1, 2008
36. Go to an amusement park.
37. Learn shorthand.
38. Give blood at least five times. (2/5)
39. Get a one-hour massage. May 6, 2010
40. Keep Kaleigh and Trevor one weekend so Mel and Thomas can go out of town.
41. Have my eyes examined. May 19, 2008
42. Shop around to see if we can get a better deal on auto/home insurance. April 28, 2008
43. Figure out a way to get paid for blogging that doesn't involve ads.
44. Start praying out loud in the shower. December 2007
45. Work up to praying out loud in front of other people without feeling like I'm onstage. March 22, 2008
46. Start keeping a list of every book I read. Dec. 1, 2007
47. Throw Dad a great retirement party. May 16, 2008
48. Start keeping decaf coffee, tea and Coke at home. December 2007
49. Watch all of the "Godfather" movies with Matt. Jan. 27, 2008
50. Suggest that our church's budget be posted on its Web site. April 27, 2008
51. Put together a construction portfolio for our work Web site.
52. Take a pottery class.
53. Surprise Matt with a gift he loves. Dec. 25, 2008
54. Eat for one week entirely out of our pantry, refrigerator and freezer.
55. Learn how to wrap presents attractively.
56. Plant a tree every Arbor Day. (1/3)
57. Learn CPR. March 1, 2008
58. Make a list of all the words I still don't know how to pronounce and look up their pronunciations.
59. Go through my closet and donate all the clothes that don't look good on me.
60. Persuade Matt to join me in not watching TV for a week. Dec. 23-30, 2007
61. Keep a maintenance log when I get a new car.
62. Have the couch and love seat shampooed or re-covered, and buy new covers for the pillows. April 24, 2008
63. Use Wikipedia's random-article tool to learn about 10 new topics, and then write blog posts about them. (1/10)
64. Learn to recognize at least five constellations that are not Orion or a Dipper.
65. Learn to operate a sewing machine well enough to hem a pair of pants.
66. Learn to identify at least 10 previously unknown (to me) trees and plants.
67. Book a last-minute trip on Travelocity the day before flying out.
68. Become a competent, confident parallel parker.
69. Figure out how to make use of the last slivers of bars of soap. Jan. 22, 2008
70. Go vegetarian for two weeks.
71. Inspire at least one other person to make a "101 things" list. Nov. 28, 2007
72. Read at least five banned books that I haven't read. (3/5: "The Bluest Eye," Toni Morrison; "The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger; "Animal Farm," George Orwell)
73. Read at least 10 books that I own but haven't read. ("Love, Again," Doris Lessing; "My Antonia," Willa Cather; "The Reader," Bernhard Schlink; "Hard Laughter," Anne Lamott; "Joe Jones," Anne Lamott; "The World According to Garp," John Irving; "The Robber Bridegroom," Eudora Welty; "The Foreseeable Future: Three Stories," Reynolds Price; "Sad Girl Sitting on a Running Board," Michael McFee; "The Bridge," Doug Marlette)
74. Read at least 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning books that I haven't read. ("Middlesex," Jeffrey Eugenides; "Independence Day," Richard Ford; "The Stone Diaries," Carol Shields; "Angela's Ashes," Frank McCourt; "The Good Earth," Pearl S. Buck; "The Optimist's Daughter," Eudora Welty; "A Summons to Memphis," Peter Taylor; "The Edge of Sadness," Edwin O'Connor; "The Shipping News," Annie Proulx; "A Thousand Acres," Jane Smiley)
75. Get rid of my toenail fungus.
76. See a movie at the Sunrise Theater. July 10, 2008
77. Get Mom and Dad's land under contract by the time they start building their new house.
78. Write a letter to the family of Mom's liver donor.
79. Take a road trip from Murphy to Manteo or vice versa.
80. Try every type of class offered at the gym at least once. (Body Pump, Body Step, RPM, Turbo Kick)
81. Memorize the location of every country in the world and what its capital is.
82. Memorize the location of every major body of water and mountain range in the world.
83. Put all my music on iTunes and create a perfect playlist for treadmill runs. Jan. 7, 2008
84. Complete a New York Times crossword puzzle. Dec. 12, 2007
85. Take a photo- or video-inventory of our personal property for insurance purposes.
86. Learn how to make mouth-watering fried-chicken gravy.
87. Become more intentional about observing Advent.
88. Have lunch with three high school friends with whom I haven't really kept up. (Angela, Scarlet, Katherine) (July 29, 2008)
89. Finish off my Clinique Happy Heart and find a new favorite perfume. May 24, 2010
90. Win some kind of luck-based contest. Feb. 15, 2008
91. Go camping with Matt (sleep in a tent and have a campfire). April 24, 2010
92. Go a month without drinking soft drinks. January 2008
93. Back up my computer hard drive at least once a month.
94. Write a blog post that draws at least 20 comments, even if I have to beg. Dec. 4, 2008
95. Get a copy of the CD mix Amanda made for our trip to Charlotte in September. Feb. 2, 2008
96. Visit someplace with a whole lot of snow on the ground.
97. Participate in NaNoWriMo.
98. Memorize the 12's times tables.
99. Decoupage one or more chairs. June 9, 2008
100. Donate $10 to World Vision for every item on this list not completed by Aug. 24, 2010.
101. Have a new "101 things" list in place to begin Aug. 25, 2010.

12/3/07: Check out Amanda's list.
1/15/08: And Brody's list.
7/29/08: And Lauren R.'s list.

Christmas bells are ringing

Observant readers may have noticed that we were supposed to be moving into the new house this week and yet we aren't. Now we're hoping to be in before Christmas. It will be close.

There have been a few setbacks but the delay is mostly because our house is on the back burner. The house that's been getting all the attention lately is closing on Thursday. Its owners have been living in a camper for two months, so it's impossible for me to complain.

This is going to be a great week for our house, though. It's being painted, plumbing and light fixtures are going in, trim is finally just about done and the garage door was installed today. We cleaned up the back yard a little so we'll have room for some grass in one area (but we left all the trees between us and the neighbors).

Since we won't be in the new house in time to decorate for Christmas, we're going to get a Christmas tree for this house. We'll have to take it down before Christmas in order, I HOPE, to move, so we're going to get it on Wednesday even though we usually wait until we're a week or two into December. We have to get our money's worth!

I love the way Christmas trees smell and look. I love the night of playing carols and decorating the tree and then curling up on the couch to admire our handiwork (and this year we can incorporate drinking coffee!). We have so many good ornaments, many of which date back to our childhoods.

We bought our tree topper for $2 at Target the first year we were married. It's a silver star dotted with glittery puff paint. I love it. It was never supposed to be permanent, but every year pulling it out of the box makes us laugh. I think we'll be using it until the puff paint falls off.

Also, that girl from 'Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken'

I have to admit I'm going to be glad when NaBloPoMo is over. Sometimes (like right now) I just don't have much to say! Thus, a celebrity look-alike collage:



Despite these results, Sandra Bullock is the only famous person I've ever been told I resemble.

I did, however, used to have a non-celebrity look-alike in town. We went to different high schools but were the same age and knew some of the same people, and all through high school and even college (she randomly lived in Matt's dorm freshman year) people used to tell us we looked like each other. Basically we just had the same coloring, body type and hair length, but I guess that was enough.

I am happy

I'm sitting on our couch with my feet propped on the ottoman, bundled in layers of pajamas, a robe and a sweatshirt blanket. My second cup of great coffee is within reach and there's more in the pot. I just ate the last of Granny's scrumptious fruit salad.

Matt's on his way to the State game with his guys. The house is quiet and clean and warm and sunshine is streaming through the blinds.

I'm going to sit here for a couple of hours and knock out most of the Alabama story, and then I'm going to take a break to eat some of Mom's turkey soup. I'll start cooking something delicious for dinner in the crockpot, and then I'm going to do some touch-up painting on our end tables while I listen to bad country music, and then I'm going to have a long run.

After a hot shower I'll get back in my pajamas and return to this spot on the couch and try to finish "Slaughterhouse-Five" before Matt gets home.

Happy me.

Or just flip a coin

In going through a pile of long-expired coupons, car air fresheners and bottom-tier refrigerator magnets I came across this e-mail printout Lib sent me several years ago.

During the year we lived in Fayetteville I was editing a tiny online journal and when the publisher decided to expand to the Greenville, S.C., area, I suggested that he interview Lib. (I don't even remember the job description, Lib -- do you?)

Somehow during the course of that interview he wound up outlining this decision-making model for her and she then passed it on to me. (He offered her the position, but she declined, which was definitely the right move, especially in retrospect.)

I think it's a handy guide and I'm glad I found it.

Decision-making model

1. Define your life purpose. This can and should be really broad.

2. Answer the following three questions with as much detail as possible:

• What do I want to achieve?
• What do I want to avoid?
• What do I want to maintain (e.g. relationships, proximity to family, etc.)?

3. Rank these answers: mandatory, high priority and low priority. Mandatory likely will steer your decision.

4. Look at your options and consider them in light of your answers and rankings. If all three meet your mandatory, go to high priority and then, if needed, low priority.

Gobble gobble

Today, I'm thankful for Granny's fruit salad, family and friends all around, four helpings of green beans, a walk through the woods, a juicy, deep-fried turkey, a church fellowship hall full of food and cute McKenzie sisters, perfect running weather, the tip of Mom's other thumb, comfortable couches, dozing during football, Fresh Market coffee, memories of Dunedin, few leftovers, paisley placemats, season one of "Brothers and Sisters" on DVD, kids dressed like pilgrims, pajama pants with an elastic waist, learning last names, fall leaves, getting caught up on newspapers and laundry, Mom's pecan pie recipe, three more consecutive days of relaxation.

I hope you, too, had a wonderful day surrounded by people you love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving countdown, day 2

I am more thankful than I can say for Mom's successful liver transplant.

It's truly amazing that organ transplants are even possible; just a couple of decades ago, they were much riskier and much rarer. I'm thankful for the generosity of organ donors, for the graciousness of their families, and for the skills of the medical staff who work together to perform these miracles.

I'm thankful that Mom was still relatively healthy when her new liver became available. She had had to retire, napped twice a day and required five daily doses of medicine to make up for her liver's lack of function, but she wasn't incapacitated or close to death or too sick to survive the surgery, as many people on the transplant lists are.

I'm thankful that I happened to be with Christy and Carrie, who are practically like sisters to me, when Mom called to tell me she was on her way to the hospital, and that they were there when it really hit me about 30 minutes later.

I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family who sent cards and care packages and freshly baked bread. Some people gave beyond what they could really afford to give, and it was humbling to be on the receiving end of such selflessness.

I'm thankful for excellent health insurance.

I'm thankful that Mom never spent a night alone, and for the way our whole family pulled together to make that possible.

I'm thankful for a husband who never complained about eating and sleeping alone every third night, who never mentioned the work I was missing, who passed along updates on Mom's condition so I wouldn't have to, who drove three hours roundtrip late one night to bring her vegetable soup, who never even implied that our visiting schedule was overkill.

I'm thankful for the smart, compassionate nurses who treated Mom with unfailing kindness and respect. I'm thankful that they let us be with Mom constantly, although I'm sure we sometimes got in their hair. Speaking of hair, I'm thankful that they let us wash hers in the bed when she couldn't get in the shower because of all the tubes.

I'm thankful for the green chairs that stretched out for overnight guests, for the hospital's wireless Internet access, and that most of her rooms had a private shower and toilet.

I'm thankful I didn't turn into a pizza despite eating it twice a day for two months.

I'm thankful for the timing of the transplant: It took place the week before Amanda and Stephen's scheduled move back to their hometown, so Amanda just arrived a little earlier than planned. I'm thankful that Mom did not get the call exactly two weeks earlier, on the morning that she was in South Carolina cheering me on at my marathon.

I'm thankful for our family's proximity to the hospital, which made our schedule much more manageable than it might have been, and that over all those weeks and miles none of us fell asleep while driving.

I'm thankful that we didn't know beforehand how long and complicated the recovery was going to be, and for Mom's faith and feistiness, which helped her overcome every bump in the road.

I'm thankful for the people who prayed for Mom, sometimes without knowing her, sometimes without any direct connection to her at all. I'm thankful for the way the whole experience gave me a new appreciation for the concept of praying without ceasing, and that through it all she was in the hands of a sovereign God.

I'm thankful that, as Dad looks toward joining Mom in retirement, the next 50 years are wide open for them. I'm thankful that my children and maybe even my grandchildren will know Mom.

I'm thankful that Mom reacquired her taste for coffee.

Thanksgiving countdown, day 3

I'm thankful for paint, without which none of the furniture in our house would match.

From where I sit as I write this, I can see our eBay dining-room table; our Freecycle end tables; our Goodwill mirror; one of three yard-sale bookshelves; and our rescued-from-the-dump TV cabinet. Thanks to paint plus sandpaper, primer and Golden Oak stain, everything goes together pretty well.

I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law who, in addition to many other wonderful qualities, taught me everything I know about faux-finishing furniture (she used to do it professionally). She deserves a big chunk of the credit for my bargain finds' looking better than they ever deserved to look.

Paint (and three coats of polyurethane) makes it impossible to worry about whether anyone's using a coaster. It adds life to a room with little time and even less expense. It's a rare form of immediate gratification in which you can indulge without negative consequences.

I like to spread out my paint-splattered sheets, pull on my paint-splattered clothes and get to work on a new project. I'm thankful that I can do this because painting furniture is one artsy hobby that truly requires no artistic talent.

When baseboards are hopelessly scuffed, there are dead-bug stains on the wall or I'm trying to sell a house that smells like smoke, I'm thankful that there's an easy remedy: paint.

I like paint's knack for bringing out the potential in even the ugliest pieces of furniture -- and the fact that the uglier they start out, the less they cost me. I like the seemingly infinite finishes and colors and combinations, and the way they encourage experimentation. I even like the way paint smells.

And I'm thankful every time I walk into a chic, upscale shop, spot a gorgeous faux-finished buffet and know I could duplicate it for 5 percent of what the store is charging.

Thanksgiving countdown, day 4

I'm thankful for recipes.

I love to eat but have an unfortunate, contradictory aversion to experimenting in the kitchen and trying new foods. So when I do stumble upon a scrumptious new dish, I'm thankful that I can sweetly request the recipe, follow the instructions, tweak it to my exact preferences, and then enjoy it as often as I like.

And, I might add, I would be very thankful if anyone were to give me a good recipe for yeast rolls. I've tried and tried again, to no avail. It's a tragedy of my life that I have to rely on Golden Corral for this deliciousness.

I'm it

I've been tagged by Rachel. The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.


• Share seven random and/or weird things about yourself.


• Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.


• Let those people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Fortunately, I seem to thrive on posting random/weird things about me for all the world to see. Here goes:

1. I just found out I get to interview Randy Owen, Alabama's lead singer, next week for a magazine article.

2. I never had braces.

3. I spent the first 11 years of my life dreaming of the dangly earrings I would wear when I was finally allowed to pierce my ears, and now I've spent the past five or so years wearing nothing but diamond studs or, when I feel like something different, pearls.

4. When I was little I read a story about a girl who got chicken pox and had to wear gloves to keep from scratching herself, and after that I sometimes wore gloves in an attempt to build my endurance for resisting itching in the event I ever got chicken pox.

5. This picture, of my recycling can at work, says all there is to say about why most of my pants are too tight at the moment.

6. I don't remember the last time I watched TV by myself.

7. I love tennis even more than I love running, but I haven't played since college because I don't have anyone to play with. Tennis is a sport that, to me, really is fun only if a) you're pretty good and b) you're playing someone who's about equally good. Next year one of my resolutions might be to join a tennis league.

I'm tagging:

Amanda
Lib
Kaitlin
Lauren
Lisa at Mix'd Equally
Ally at Carpe Diem
JR at Face Down

Thanksgiving countdown, day 5

I'm thankful that today we finally got to meet the absolutely adorable, three-"word"-speaking, delicious-smelling, sweetly smiling, utterly kissable Emma. Dinner and discussion were excellent as always, Hemphills. We love y'all!

Thanksgiving countdown, day 6

I'm thankful for the downtown in which I work, on a bustling, tree-lined street. Our office is less than a 10-minute walk to many of the components of our vibrant community -- art galleries and bakeries, eclectic shops and restaurants, schools and a park, churches and coffeeshops, the library and an independent theater.

Not to mention that crazy museum with free fudge and a big stuffed bear in the basement of the Christian bookstore.

Virtually all the businesses are locally owned, and civic pride is evident in the well-maintained buildings, ubiquitous flower boxes and litter-free sidewalks. Drivers are (usually) courteous to pedestrians.


I'm thankful for downtown's abundance of gorgeous restored old houses, and for the small but good bookstore, with its emphasis on regional authors. I like that lunch at the ice cream parlor often is accompanied by the sound of ballet students dancing overhead.

I'm thankful for that ancient little woman, always in a sweatshirt and with an umbrella by her side, who camps out on the post office steps selling newspapers. And for the preschool class that walks around our block most mornings. And that, when it stays light later, downtown is the perfect setting for after-work runs.

I like that a railroad track runs through downtown, except when the train comes and I'm on the phone and I can't hear myself think.



I'm thankful that we know people who work all around us and they frequently pop in to say hi as they're walking to or from their own office. I like that people held a vigil for the 80-year-old cedar tree that was cut down last week; I think the protesters took the whole thing too far, but I'm thankful to live among people who care and who practice community activism.

I'm thankful for talks of a downtown farmers market. I'm thankful for all the sidewalk benches, which encourage conversation and procrastination. I'm thankful there are no parking meters.

And I'm thankful that part of my job is to help newcomers explore this charming, unpretentious gem of a town.


(Thank you, Lib, for the inspiration.)

The inimitable Mr. L.

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” - Theodore Roosevelt

It probably isn't news to anyone who reads this blog, but in case you haven't heard, this is Dad's last year of teaching! He recently announced that he will retire at the end of this school year, his 33rd.

I am THRILLED for him (and for Mom). Still, when he told me the news, I couldn't help but be sad for all the future third-graders who will never experience the magic of his class. Of course, as he reminded me, even now he teaches only 20 percent of the third-graders at his school. For thousands of other kids across the county, third grade is just another year, and most of them don't even know what they're missing.

I was going to write a limerick in honor of his retirement. It was harder than I expected.

On my first try I got as far as:

There once was a much-loved man
Who taught school in the hills of sand ...

Round two brought this:

There once was a third-grade teacher
Whose classroom was full of adventure.
Jack Tales and constellations,
Snake shows and the Declaration ...

His limerick-writing genius must have skipped a generation.

But then, I thought, it's just as well. How could I adequately portray the Mr. L. third-grade experience in five short, witty lines? What would I edit out?

Time spent on the nature trail, meandering through the Graveyard of the Pines and on toward the Black Lagoon (and maybe catching a black rat snake)? Eng Lang Pla, with its studies of tongue-twisters and palindromes and anagrams?

"The Hobbit" or "High Feather"? Meteor showers or mythology? The Christmas elf hunt? Field trips to the House in the Horseshoe? Reading on the magic carpet?

I can't speak for other former students, but a few of the highlights of my year in his class were sing-alongs; Aha!'s; becoming a master of multiplication and burning my times card; signing the classroom Declaration of Independence; and writing a five-star story (Dad's version of highest honors).

I'll never forget the time he hid that story inside the cover of a big book and read it to the class, who laughed at all the appropriate places -- and how proud I felt when, at the end, he revealed that I was the author.

He's the only teacher I ever had who got just as involved at recess as the students did. Remember the blob? And four-square tournaments? And those socks with the tennis balls inside them? At some point he's probably going to require knee-replacement surgery, and all those hours on the playground will be partly to blame ... not, I think, that he'd have it any other way.

"The highest function of education is to bring about an integrated individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole." - J. Krishnamurti

In a field overflowing with uninspired, overworked, underpaid, slaves-to-EOG-tests teachers, Dad's energy and imagination and commitment to holistic education are nothing short of heroic.

He breaks all the rules and gets away with it thanks to a wonderful, supportive principal and results you can't argue with -- reflected in students' test scores and, equally important, the intangible ways in which they flourish under his guidance. When I meet a former student, or a parent of a former student, and introduce myself as his daughter, their eyes light up and I'm an instant celebrity by association.

(Carrie, my sister-in-law and an alumna of Dad's class, recently told me that she wasn't nervous about meeting me for the first time. "I knew I'd like you because you're Mr. L.'s daughter," she said.)

Though he's won every award out there, I believe his success is best measured by the students in whom he's instilled the beginnings of a lifelong appreciation for literature, personal responsibility, history, integrity, nature, critical thinking, logic, creativity, independence, writing, respect for others, language, music, perseverance ... the list goes on.

Here's to the most original, gifted, passionate teacher our county may have ever known. I love you, Dad!

Blah blah blog

Taken from Carpe Diem:

Four jobs I have held
Nanny
College tour guide
Editor
Real estate broker

Four movies I can watch over and over
Rent
Closer
Office Space
Steel Magnolias

Four places I have lived
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Wilmington, N.C.
Queens, N.Y.
Ashland, Ky.

Four television shows I enjoy
The Office
How I Met Your Mother
Studio 60 (never should have been canceled)
30 Rock

Four places I have been on vacation
Aruba
Whistler, B.C., Canada
Boston
Santa Monica

Four of my favorite dishes
Mom's paprika chicken and rice*
G3's (RIP) turkey panini with homemade chips and ranch dressing
Farmers market strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and peaches with whipped cream (I know that's cheating)
Tripp's ribeye

Four websites I visit daily
The MLS
Moore County Government
Salon.com
APStylebook.com

Four places I would rather be right now
On a trail, running
On a porch, reading
At a coffeeshop with wireless Internet and free refills
In a city I've never been to before, shopping

* Mom's Paprika Chicken and Rice (tweaked to my tastes)
Combine 2 cans cream of mushroom soup and 2 cans mushrooms (drained) in slow cooker. Add in two boneless chicken breasts. Sprinkle entire mixture with a little salt, a lot of pepper and a whole lot of paprika.

Cook on high for 1.5 hours or so, then mix in 16 oz. full-fat sour cream (reduced-fat sour cream can be used, but it changes the consistency). Sprinkle on some more salt, pepper and paprika. Cook for 30 more minutes. (Important: Do not cook more than 30 minutes after adding the sour cream.)

We eat this with rice or mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and rolls.

Triple the fun

I forgot to mention that last week, inspired by all the talk about saving money on groceries, and informed by Amanda of triple-coupons at Harris Teeter, I jumped into the fray. My only goals were to use up some of the coupons that Mom is always giving me and to stock up on things we use all the time (various cream-of soups, canned vegetables, etc.); I didn't go with a month's worth of menus or anything like that.

I also bought several household items that we were going to run out of by the end of this month (laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner, bathtub cleaner, toothpaste) because I refuse to make a separate trip to Wal-Mart for them even if it would save a few dollars. I figured I could at least buy them during triple-coupons to somewhat assuage my guilt.

Only coupons with a face value of under $1 were eligible for tripling, so I didn't even take the $1+ ones with me since I can use them anytime. Besides, there was a limit of 20 coupons tripled per trip through the register and I didn't want to waste any spots on non-tripling-eligible coupons. (Pause for air.)

Once I got to the store I decided to buy only items for which I had a coupon and that were on VIC special as well, with a few exceptions: loaf bread, pimento cheese and produce for making vegetable soup that night.

The store was a ZOO. It took easily twice as long as usual to do my thing. I bet I stood in the check-out line for 20 minutes. When it finally was my turn I asked the cashier when was the best time to avoid the crowds. She said there was no such time during triple-coupons. (I got there around 3:30 on a Thursday.)

In fact, it was so crowded that all the regular shopping carts were taken so I had to use one with a baby seat. I saw two people I knew who did double-takes, but it turned out to be a handy place to keep the coupons organized.

The Quaker Oats were out, which was really disappointing because they would have been free after the VIC savings plus the tripled coupon. That's another brand I prefer over store brands, and I make oatmeal after every cold, long morning run. And yes, I know there's some way of getting a raincheck, but I didn't feel like dealing with it by the time I checked out -- I decided to just save the coupon and use it next time Lowe's triples them.

After only a few minutes I started to feel competitive with the other shoppers and realized how easily I could get addicted to this. However, hassle is a major negative to me. I am willing to pay (a little) more if I can zip in and out of a store. So I'm going to work on figuring out a less-peak time to shop. Or maybe dealing with the crowds is as simple as drinking a beer first, a la Lib. But Harris Teeter last Thursday felt eerily like Wal-Mart.

Anyway, drumroll ... My bill before coupons was $81.78 but I saved $26.26 in coupons and VIC specials so I paid $55.52. I was happy with that but I know I could have done a lot better with planning.

Kum Ba Yah

Last night in lieu of studying the Bible our Bible study had a cookout at a camp where three of our group's guys are current or former chiefs. It was fun -- perfect weather, hot dogs and marshmallows stuck on the end of a stick and burned over a fire, a darts competition, a walk through the woods to a lake, a cute baby and a cuddly cat, chitchat under a big sky.

We did NOT sing "Kum Ba Yah" while gathered 'round the campfire.

My personal favorite part was the way all of the guys showed up with their camping gear circa 2002 (or whenever they graduated from college). Two of them wore those headlamp things like you use for spelunking, and Matt actually carried his Leatherman and Maglite on his belt. Pretty much everyone wore the requisite fleece and Merrell hiking shoes. We were about 30 feet from our hosts' house. It was funny.

Ultimate indignity

We own four travel coffee mugs, and this morning three of them were in the dishwasher, so I got stuck with the Duke one. It makes my coffee taste dirty. I suppose this is how Matt feels when he uses our Carolina cups.

Snap crackle pop

We had a little house drama over the weekend when a big section of granite broke in half while being installed in the kitchen. It was a huge slab and probably should have been in two pieces, but they were trying to avoid a seam.

Luckily, more of the same slab was in stock and it was installed (in two pieces, with a seam) the next day.

The bathroom granite went in without a hitch.


We happened to be there to watch some of this, and Lib, I have new respect for Jorge's strength. Granite is HEAVY!

Charmed, I'm not

Very, very close to the top of my pet-peeves list is being whistled at, winked at, hooted at, hollered at, honked at, ogled or otherwise put on the spot by disrespectful guys. Someday I just want to chase one of them down and demand a peek into their thought process.

"Do you honestly believe that [whistling, winking, hooting, hollering, honking, ogling] is, by ANY stretch of the imagination, attractive? Has ANY decent woman ever responded positively to that tactic?" I'd like to ask.

"What would you think of someone who treated your daughter that way? And on a scale of 1 to 10, how clever and original do you think you are?"

I don't routinely flip people the bird but I sure did the summer I lived in Kentucky. For three months my peaceful, stress-relieving runs invariably were interrupted by nasty, toothless cat-calling dudes flying by in pickup trucks.

Just to be clear, I was not/am not that girl prancing through the streets in a sports bra, tiny shorts, tennis bracelet and fake bake. I'm not a cute runner. A guy I ran track with in high school wrote in my freshman yearbook, "Jennifer, you look like a monkey. You run like one too. P.S. Just kidding! You run like a cheetah."

Just for fun, here's evidence of red-faced, sweat-covered, crazy-haired, all-around-gross post-run me from after last year's Turkey Trot:


So I wasn't "asking for it," and I wasn't even being innocently pretty. But apparently this is no deterrent on the roads of rural Eastern Kentucky. Thus, the bird flew.

When I mentioned this habit to Matt he made me promise to stop -- he was worried that one day one of them would turn around and come after me. So no more birds. (Also, he bought me a pepper-spray keychain to start running with.)

These days this is not as much of an issue because a) I run alone less often, b) when I do run alone it's in a non-sketchy neighborhood and c) Pinehurst is a much classier town than Ashland is. Plus, my thighs are more jiggly than they were six years ago.

But occasionally I still fall victim, usually when running past a construction site (not one of ours!) or waiting to cross the street at our office. And once, last week, when stuck at a traffic light beside a packed fire truck. THAT was disheartening.

I try to portray my disgust with a withering glare, but it's not nearly as satisfying as the flip of my middle finger.

Random hilarity from the weekend

Matt: If my wife knew about you, she'd kill me.

I love this guy.

Getting my Kaleigh and Trev fix

Melissa and her crew came over this afternoon. HOW cute are Kaleigh and Trevor?!

(They were pretending to be dogs. I had to let them drink from a bowl of water on the floor, play fetch with them and refer to them as Buster and Christina.)



(He just got the hang of winking. Ladies, you've been warned.)

Eleventh hour (almost)

I have officially reached the height of pathetic-ness. Pathetic-ism? Whatever. You can thank/blame NaBloPoMo for this post. I have to post every day in November or I'll be disqualified from winning one of the prizes. Luckily, I'm not required to write anything of substance -- I just have to show up -- so here I am.

Jordan and Mark's engagement party is winding down and we're going to go out from here so I have snagged Jacob's laptop to do the daily post. This party's been fun. Thanks again to Lib for delivering 16 bottles of Two-Buck Chuck from the Charlotte Trader Joe's.

"Rent" last night was phenomenal -- it hardly could have been better. We did not get to see Maegan et al. because they're out of town, but we made plans to get together with them next weekend. We went shopping just for a little while this afternoon but didn't make it back home in time to see Grace and her baby at Liz's open house. Hopefully we can get together around Thanksgiving.

That is all for now. Good night!

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Tonight we're going to see "Rent" -- my all-time favorite musical -- with Christy and Stephen. I'm mucho excited. There's no other soundtrack that I can listen to over and over and over again.

Last year we saw "Cabaret" at this same theater and it was a big disappointment. Debbie Gibson was sick so her understudy replaced her and she wasn't very good. But even when things like that fall a little short of expectations, it's still fun to get dressed up and go out afterward.

We'll stay with Christy Christy tonight and then hope to finally meet Emma Hemphill tomorrow. I'm also going to take my Pottery Barn 10 percent off coupon and maybe we'll check out some beds and area rugs while we're close to a mall. Then we'll head back home tomorrow night for an engagement party Carrie and Jacob are throwing for Jordan and Mark.

By the way, anyone in our area should drop by the Lizzart open house Saturday morning. She's really talented and it's a great way to get a head start on holiday shopping. I hate that we're going to miss it (although our house already has the feel of a Lizzart gallery).

Finally, great good luck to the amazing Kaitlin, who's running the Richmond Marathon tomorrow!

Not a total spendthrift

The point of this post is to make myself feel better about my spending habits after Monday's post about my grocery-shopping woes. I in no way claim that any of these list items are original or earth-shattering, but they do ease my conscience.

In order to save money/not waste it/earn extra, we:

• Usually order water when eating out.
• Never pay retail for books without a gift card. (I find tons of good books at yard sales, thrift stores and used bookstores, and am a public library VIP.)
• Get all of my magazines from friends or recycling bins.
• Turn off the water while brushing my teeth and washing my face.
• Turn all the lights out and turn the air way up or down (depending on the weather) when we aren't home.
• Buy running shoes on eBay or on clearance at the outlets.
• Buy store-brand groceries unless we have a definite preference for the name brand (e.g. Lipton onion soup mix, Kraft cheddar cheese, Dixie Crystals sugar).
• Refill water bottles with tap water multiple times. (I've been using my current bottle since Amanda and I visited Lib in Charlotte in ... September? Has it really been that long?)
• Won't buy a new-to-me car for me this year even though I could probably justify it. (Instead, I drive Matt's new-to-him car when I have clients in town.)
• Sell clothes and household items at consignment stores (after offering them to friends).
• Earn extra money editing and writing.
• Have high insurance deductibles (and thus lower premiums).
• Don't have long distance, caller ID, call waiting, voicemail, three-way calling or any other features on our home phone.
• Use our credit card for almost everything so we earn cash back. (And pay it off every month.)
• Make coffee at home rather than buying it at a coffee shop (with one very worthwhile exception: my weekly coffee dates with Mom).
• Keep only enough money in our checking account to keep checks from bouncing, and let the rest of our cash earn interest in a high-yield credit-union money-market account.
• Decided against a lot of upgrades in our new house (brick-and-vinyl rather than all-brick exterior, no irrigation system, no smooth ceilings, faux-marble rather than granite counters in the guest bathrooms, white cabinets rather than wood cabinets in all bathrooms, concrete rather than brick or tile porch floor, middle-of-the-line appliances and fixtures, etc.). It would have been easy to spend an extra $50,000 or more.
• Pay all of our bills through automatic draft (saving lots of stamps and guaranteeing we never pay late fees).
• Don't buy things we don't need just because we have a coupon.
• Try to buy big-ticket items only when we have a coupon.
• Never pay loan-origination fees for personal mortgages (a nice perk of being in real estate).
• Put at least 20 percent down on our personal mortgages so we don't have to pay PMI.
• Pay extra toward the principal on our personal mortgages every month.
• Return movies and library books on time and avoid late fees.
• Stretch out the time between haircuts (every 10 or 12 weeks rather than the standard six).
• Never splurge on $70 massages, $35 pedicures or even $5 lattes (though gift certificates for all of these are very welcome!).
• Get a discount on our electric bill because our house is energy-efficient.
• Don't smoke.
• Always ask, when renting a car, staying in a hotel, etc., "Is that the best price you can give us?" and "Do you have a Triple-A discount?"
• And then we ask whether we can get an additional discount if we pay cash.
• Belong to the local Freecycle group (best find so far: two Broyhill end tables that I refinished).
• Unplug rarely used appliances and lamps.
• Replaced our incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones.
• Collect rainwater and use it to water our plants.
• Filled two water bottles and put one in each toilet tank.
• Don't play the lottery.
• Use regular unleaded gas in both of our cars (Matt's owner's manual recommends using premium, but we can't tell a difference).
• Have "preferred customer" cards from everywhere -- Staples to Hallmark to Borders to CVS and, of course, all the grocery stores.
• Use grocery bags as trash bags in the bathrooms.
• Live in a town without a mall or any of my favorite stores.

What are your best money-saving tips?

P.S. A special thanks to the anonymous commenter who told me about The Coupon Mom as a (free) alternative to The Grocery Game. I'll be checking that out. Thanks also to Lib for posting her grocery-shopping strategy as a model!

It's its there their they're

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Really. not. smart

WOW. That was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done.

Since the time changed and it gets dark just after LUNCH I've had to resort to running on the treadmill the past few days. I'm not a treadmill fan by any stretch of the imagination, but it gets the job done and is bearable when accompanied by music or TV.

Yesterday I went home a little early so Matt and I could both squeeze in a run (Tuesdays we're always tight on time because of Bible study). I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to run barefoot. On the treadmill, that's right.

All went well for a few minutes, the main discernible difference being that each step was really loud (THUD! THUD! THUD!) compared with when I'm wearing, you know, shoes. Around mile 2 Matt, drawn by the pounding noise, walked in, looked at my feet, looked at me, looked back at my feet, shook his head and walked out.

Around mile 3 my feet started to feel like they were on fire. I decided to push through the pain for 10 more minutes. I know, I'm brilliant.

I was going to post only these pictures, of my feet immediately following the run:



But these pictures, taken after a shower, are better because they show that my feet weren't only filthy -- they're blistery. As I said, I'm brilliant:

If you notice me walking around on my heels for the next week, now you know why.