Thursday, February 15, 2007

I'm it!

I got my first tag ever, from Kelli. So here goes!

Available/single?: Happily married for a year and a half now.

Best friend?: I am blessed with many friends that are dear to my heart.... however, there is one that has been there since third grade, through all the ups and downs that life throws at a person: Ness.

Cake or pie?: Do I really have to choose? I like a good apple pie, warm with ice cream. But I love the fruity cakes my sister always makes for my birthday too....guess I can't choose!

Drink of choice?: Hot tea in the morning, water with lemon throughout the day, juice at night. When I'm sick- Canada dry ginger ale. A nice glass of red wine or an apple martini is pretty yummy too.

Essential item you use every day?: A pencil. (I do teach third grade after all!)

Favorite color?: Yellow....and red.

Gummy bears or worms?: Bears definitely, although anyone who knows me well knows that I love gummy peaches best of all. Oh, and those gummies you get at Jerry Sans sushi when your meal is over.

Hometown?: Woodbridge, CT

Indulgence?: Anytime I ignore the piles of school work and read or watch T.V. is pretty much an indulgence.

January or February?: February, I have a vacation then.

Kids and their names?: Don't have kids yet, although we do have names but you'll have to wait, we're not sharing.

Life is incomplete without?: My husband, our families.

Marriage date?: July 16, 2005

Number of siblings?: 2, older sister, younger brother.

Oranges or apples?: Apples.

Phobias or fears?: Huh. I guess I don't really have any big ones. I hate moths. I used to be afraid that my Nonnie wouldn't be alive when I got married, but I was blessed to have her at my wedding.

Quotes?: This is a tough one too. I don't really have a favorite, but here's one I like:
"The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require." Parker J. Palmer

Reason to smile?: There are so many reasons! Waking up next to the man I love, the smiles and hugs I get from my nieces when they see me, eating a good dinner with family, when my cats snuggle up next to me, hearing my students get excited about something I'm teaching them, waking up to a day of sunshine and blue skies, vacation, looking out my window and seeing the sun set over the lake in our backyard...I could go on....

Season?: Summer. Definitely!

Tag people?: Tina, Dianna

Unknown fact about me?: My biggest pet peeve is when windshield wipers are left on, long after it's stopped raining. Apparently this even bothers me over the phone, as my husband and I discovered recently!

Vegetable you dislike?: Broccoli rabe. Too bitter for me. Fennel also.

Worst habit?: Picking my lips.

X-Rays you've had?: Just the standard ones at the dentist.

Your favorite food?: Hard to pick just one, but I'd have to say my Mom's homemade sauce. I like Filet Mignon too.

Zodiac sign?: Leo

Monday, February 05, 2007

Cruising along

My husband and I are going on a cruise in twelve more days. That's right, twelve more days and we will be sailing through the western Caribbean, stopping off at Belize City, Cozumel, Grand Cayman.....turquoise water, sunshine and blue skies are all just a few short days away.

The cruise, in its initial planning stages, was meant to be our last vacation before we had our baby. Seeing as how things aren't working out the way I'd prayed, it is just going to be a vacation for vacation's sake. A trip we gifted to ourselves because darn it, we work hard and we deserve a vacation.

Funny thing, pregnancy. I naively thought it would be easy. Why wouldn't it be when I have overwhelming evidence that it is easy. So many cousins, on both sides of my family, who seemed to get pregnant without any trouble at all. I thought we try, we are blessed with a baby. Then again, this naivete might be something that, at some point in my schooling, was drilled into my head--you know, the health class in high school where the boys are rowdy and making all sorts of inappropriate comments and the girls are sitting straight and tall, trying to act more mature than the boys (said with disgust and a shaking of the head). I seriously believed it would be that easy. I seriously believed one month, maybe two, and then I'd be on my way to being pregnant. No one ever tells you the other statistics....not until you actually start trying. Then all of a sudden, there are all of these facts that you've never heard of before. What do you mean it takes an average of nine to twelve months to conceive? That's not what they said in high school health class. No, no, no, it only takes one time to get pregnant.

Well....apparently it does take nine to twelve months. Apparently it doesn't work out the first time you start trying. No matter how much you are hoping and wishing and praying. No matter how many ovulation predictor tests you take, or cycle calendars you print out... Know what else they don't tell you? That it doesn't get easier. You want it to. You want to not be sad every time you discover you aren't pregnant. But somehow, in some deep corner of you, you are sad. And just a little bit disappointed. And just a little bit guilt-ridden.
Luckily, I am a glass half-full kind of person, so all those feelings don't last long. And I return to my usual cheery disposition, with the knowledge, no, the faith, that I will get pregnant. It does only take one time. One miracle.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Peace.

My husband is sitting on the couch with his best friend, strumming on his guitar and singing the song that he sang to me on our wedding day.

Cookies are baking in the oven.

Our two cats are snuggled up on nearby matching chairs, not hissing for once.

We had a successful day of shopping for clothes--including a new suit!- for our upcoming cruise (only 14 more days!).

It is simple moments like these when I look around at my life and I feel at peace. All is right with the world and I, I am so blessed......

Why I'm called Wednesday....

So, when I was a child, my parents nicknamed me (among other things) Wednesday. I'm sure it had something to do with being the middle child, always wanting to be in the middle, being the non-confrontational one, being the peacemaker....all of these things. A recent example to illustrate me being my Wednesday-ist (I just invented a word I think!) went something like this:

We are sitting in church, my Mom, Dad and I-- this is a weekend event for us and one that I cherish. We've (surprisingly) managed to get ourselves there early enough that we have a few minutes to sit quietly in the pew and my Mom decides to try to convince me to come out to breakfast with them after church. I am, of course, sitting in the middle, so I lean over to my Dad, after agreeing to the breakfast, and whisper, "Mom wants to go to breakfast after church." My Dad, who knew that the initial plan was for me to go to church then head home so that I could return to their house later in the evening for dinner, whispers back, with a grin, "She's a force of nature, isn't she?" I smile at him while my Mom nudges me and asks what he said. Without missing a beat I lean over and say, "Dad's excited about breakfast." My Dad, of course, starts laughing, while my Mom insists that it didn't sound like that's what he said. My turn to smile as I say, "I translated for you!"
See? Wednesday.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Add weather forcaster to my job description...

The other day I walked down the hall with a colleague lamenting over the atrocious behavior that seems to be occurring with some regularity lately and wondering aloud what was going on. Had I taken the time to think about it I would have figured it out really quickly: it's a full moon.

Teachers are known to be a mom, a counselor, a cheerleader, a mentor and a nurse among other hats that we wear....well, you can add weather woman to that list as well. Any teacher will tell you that their students are directly impacted by the fullness of the moon and the onset of any large weather system. With a full moon AND the potential for our first "real" snowstorm on Friday I would have been better off throwing in the towel before the week began. Needless to say, it's been a week of The Lecture. You know the one I'm sure. Or you could remember it if you thought back to your own elementary school days. The ones that silenced the room and caused everyone (for five minutes at least) to tiptoe around whispering. There is never yelling....but don't you agree it's almost worse? Nope, just the Firm Voice. The I'm-Not-Joking-Around-Voice. It usually does the trick. But not on a full moon week. Forget it.

Just wish me luck for our lock down drill tomorrow....who knows what a rambunctious bunch of third graders will do when told we have to lock ourselves in our classroom and stay quietly away from all windows and doors. Oh wait, our whole WALL is windows? That's right, I meant, stay quietly huddled in the middle of the classroom.....like I said, wish me luck.