Leap Day

I should've done something awesome today, something that would involve me taking a leap of faith. I like the Irish tradition/ custom/ lore that women and propose marriage to men on this day so if I were in a position to do that, I would.

I wish I would've had my tax return by now because I would've probably done something totally frivolous and just blew it all on a plane ticket to Ireland and stayed as long as I could afford to. I would totally leap before I looked and just go.

I miss Ireland.

I was there once, for 4 weeks, and it was this time of year when I was there. I think if I were able, this time I'd like to go to Northern Ireland to the sea, and maybe into Ireland, to County Cork.

Maybe I should go somewhere more exotic but I can't afford England and I only want to go to Venice with someone special (I knew a guy once and he and I always said we wanted to go to Venice together so I always think about him and that city together and wonder if I'll ever go if I can't go with him.)

But alas, it's just a regular Wednesday and I'm just at work and nothing special is happening and I'm not going anywhere, except to get more coffee...

No leaping,
Mags

Cookin' with new stuff!

We've been eagerly awaiting the new range that I wrote about here a few weeks ago. We've been cooking with everything under the sun: a George Foreman grill, a toaster over, a mini microwave, an electric grill, and electric skillet, a waffle maker and a sandwich machine thingy. I am SO happy for the new range and microwave to be here and it's so awesome- like a space age cooking experience. I realize we weren't pioneers cooking over an open flame but after not having stove burners, an oven or a decent microwave, it sure felt like I was living Little House on the Prairie!

Well, that's my 2 cents; I was going to write a more detailed post about this but Daddy-O did such a good job, I can just link it here!

YAY OVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mags

Not feeling the work love

I'm so irritated by work today. Actually, more than just today- it's been a building thing and I am so frustrated. I'm going to have a chat with my boss tomorrow because something has got to give.

Last week I proctored a series of tests. I didn't mind doing it. I really didn't But I closed the library for 2.5 days to the kids. It wasn't the end of the world but some other teachers were shitty with me about it.

Also, the printer in a few of the classrooms has died. The building's central printer is located in an ante room right off the library so now I have a couple teachers who call me 3-10 times per CLASS PERIOD to see if they send a student down to get copies, will that be okay? I'm so fed up with that. We have a teacher who is a HUGE abuser of this and I'm fed up with it. It's not like a regular school where it doesn't matter but I have to note the time she calls and then if the student hasn't shown up in 1 minute I have to call her because we aren't supposed to have kids in the hallways. I have to check the copies to make sure the kids take only their stuff and not someone else's, AND that they don't sent personal letters. It's a huge pain in the ass.

So today I had to catch up 2 students on testing. I babysat a class while the regular teacher went to an IEP meeting. I had PE locker room supervision because the PE teacher's are men. I also got copies from the copier about 20 times today. I watched a class while the 'real" classroom teacher had to leave for 15 minutes for personal business. I had a meeting where I was asked if I could have a student in my library 1 period a day for a few weeks due to a scheduling conflict. And my work study student had her hours changing which involved a meeting and some paperwork. Oh and I had to give up my lunch hour for a staff meeting that was pointless- every thing in that meeting had nothing to do with me, the library or my duties.

Oh the library- that's right. I was hired to be the school's librarian. Ummm, I think I checked out some books to kids today. Uh, yeah.

I'm going to have a meeting with my principal tomorrow to talk about my duties. I just can't do all this crap and still get my OWN JOB done! Does anyone thinks I have a right to complain or am I just in a really bad mood?

I'm really tired tonight. And apparently grumpy.
Mags

When Madeline Was Young

When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton was my first Nook book. It had nothing to do with the Nook but I didn't care for the book. It was one of those that had HUGE potential to be amazing, but it fell short. I wanted to like it- obviously if I was willing to actually pay good money at full price for a book- I really wanted to like it.

The concept: Madeline is beautiful and she married the quiet, nerdy academic Aaron and them tragedy strikes during their first year of marriage. Madeline is in an accident and she is left with the mental abilities of a 5 or 6 year old. Instead of divorcing her, Aaron arranges for her care and then Aaron falls in love with the nurse. He divorces Madeline and marries the nurse and he and his second wife then care for Madeline like one of their own children. awesome idea, right?

Well, in my review reading I don't know where I missed the part that the story is historical fiction. It takes place in the 1950s and then into the 1960s. This is significant only in the medical technology that is not available to Madeline at the time of the accident as well as people's response to such a famile makeup. Also, politics of the era are a huge part of one of the many subplots intersecting this story.

Also, I must have glossed over the fact that the story isn't told by Aaron nor his second wife or even the childlike Madeline, but by Arron and his second wife's son, Mac. And the focus isn't really even on Madeline. Oh yeah, she's an integral part of the story obviously, but from the synopsis and reviews I read, I thought, for some reason, it would be Madeline's story and it was really Mac's story, his reflection on his life and how his strange family shaped who he became as an adult: a nice guy, a nice dad, a nice doctor, a nice son, a nice nephew, just a plain old... nice guy.

The story jumps around all over the place from Mac's early childhood, to his present day life, to his early adult years, telling his story, Madeline's story, his mother's story, his aunt's story, his sister's story... It bops around and is often hard to follow because we have a flashback within a flashback.

I love my Nook but this is a book that had I had a paper book with pages, I would've flipped back and forth to refresh my memory of the characters and who was doing what with whom because of the jumping around story telling style.

I expected something completely differently obviously. Instead I got a sort of coming of age story rather than a tale of a woman child's survival. I've read better and much worse but I'm not really sure I would recommend this to anyone else. I would recommend a Nook, though!

The Happy Huntress

I was on a different GeoCache but on the same day as the last one, that I wrote about here. It wasn't as fun as the first one. I think the first one in the cemetery was more exciting because it was in "nature" rather than in a historic downtown. But I wanted a chance to do a nature sort of one and a town one to see how creative people can be in stashing the stash. So after getting some sustenance and making the drive from one location to the other, we were ready.

(Sustenance= Snickers)

When the longitude and latitude were put in the GPS it gave an actual address of a business. So that was easy enough.

But when we arrived and started finding the actual, specific L and L, we were stumped. We reset the devise and tried again but still found the same results:


I was not going to dig up a sidewalk. I figured that might get us in a spot of trouble. And if other people found it, then obviously then didn't dig up the sidewalk. We walked it over and over again and still, this was the X that marked the spot.

We were in front of a business so we looked in the flower pot by its door and around the parking meter and a stop sign that were near. Then we saw this:

It looks like a mailbox, right? Well, I've done some maybe not entirely legal stuff in my life but I can say screwing around with someone's mail or mailbox is not one of them! So I never thought to look in that box. Well, Mr. Man I was with is taller than me and just peeked inside and lo and behold, that was the stash!

It was found in this canister. It was soaking wet and smeared and just plain yucky. We couldn't sign it! I was having none of that because it only counts if you sign the forms. We rummaged through the car to find a small piece of paper and signed it, and a couple of small plastic bags (yes, we had bags from the tool box in the trunk) and fixed it all up and put it back.

It was still fun and I plan on going on more hunts. I've learned though, that I want to bring ziploc bags, paper, prizes to leave and have paper with me. I also want to make sure I have a camera for pictures. And one BIG plus of GeoCaching is "cache in, trash out" meaning, if you take a prize that's left, leave one for the next hunter, and gather up the trash to help keep the world clean. I like that.

If the weather cooperates, this weekend might take me on a hunt, either alone or with someone I can manage to get to agree to go along!

happy hunter,
Mags

Footloose-vs-Footloose

I'm a huge fan and lover of the original Footloose movie. It came out when I was in high school and it a significant part my teen years. Even as an adult I own a copy of it on DVD. I was a naysayer when the remake came out last year because I felt no one could ever do such a classic justice.

Mac begged me to watch it with him and I was just dragging my feet. I had no desire to see something my my childhood ruined. Then I figured out that Mac had never seen the original but he saw the remake! So I made a deal with the Devil and if Mac watched the Classic I'd watch the Remake.

Now, I still think the Classic is the best and still will beat the old one in any dance off. No one can touch the excellence that is Kevin Bacon- not even close. But, I will say the remake didn't do anything other than just pay homage to the great Classic.

What follows are spoilers. You've been warned! SPOILER ALERT!

There are some things I did like better in the new version. I know that's hard to believe but it's true. The list is small, but there's a list.

In the old version, we only know about Bobby and his friends dying when Kevin and Company are coming home from the out of town dance club and Ariel reveals all as they cross the bridge. In the old version, as the intro credits roll, we see dancing feet in different shoes while the song "Footloose" plays in the background. Now, in the new version, Bobby and his friends are partying while the intro credits roll and we get to see lots of dancing feet shots while it cuts to the party and the drive home and the crash on the bridge. All while the song "Footloose" plays in the background. I thought this made a bigger impact of why the town went nuts in passing all the crazy laws.

I like that in the new version there was no book burning scene.

In the old version, Ariel gets beaten up by Chuck when she breaks up with him and when Ren comes to save her, she gives him a music box. Then late in the film, Ren is getting ready to face the town council to beg them to change the dancing law and Ariel gives him a Bible with verses about dancing marked. I always, always, ALWAYS wondered why she didn't give him the Bible instead of a music box. Well, someone somewhere felt the same way I did and actually did that. I was stunned. (It's cool when i see my ideas on screen.)

The last thing I liked better in the Remake than the Classic is that Ren's uncle was nice and kind and understanding; he was supportive and on Ren's side.

There are some things I liked just as well: I thought Willard in both movies was great, as well as Rusty. I liked that some of the same dialogue was used. I think they used the same VW Bug in both movies, which cracked me up. I thought it was cool to give Ren a hand in fixing up the car. The prom dances were both fun, too.

There are things that didn't even come close to being any good in the Remake, compared to the Classic. In the Classic Kevin Bacon is the best Ren, no question. The music in the old is much better- much, much better!!!! Dennis Quad sucked as the Reverend- and he looked so weird, like he was shot through a fisheye lens. Andi MacDowell is no Dianne Wiest, who was the best Mrs. Minister. The dancing was better because in the Remake is full of dirty dancing. The Kevin Bacon's angry dancing scene is a millions times better than the new, as is the tractor chicken game, and Ariel's big act of defiance when playing car/ semi chicken in the old is much better than her slutiness in the new. Willard learning to dance was cute in the new one but I still thought it was much better in the Classic.

I'm glad I watched both and it was certainly a tribute, more than anything else. But I still say that Kevin Bacon and the original cast and music still stands as the best.

Maggie

Random! Random? Random.

I still haven't been called to sub tomorrow and I think, since it's 11pm, I'm going to make the executive decision to NOT sub. I think I just want to chill at home tomorrow. I might read, I might make cards (Archiver's has some cool idea for using glitter!!) or I might watch TV and nap. Choices, choices...

My fingers are crooked, and lately I think my hands look old.

Remember the girl I who threw the book at me and told me to suck it? Well, she didn't hold a grudge. I told her she had a pretty scarf, and she said she knit it herself. Then the next day she brought me the directions so I could learn to make it. She hand wrote these herself and it was 4 pages worth! I thought that was really sweet of her! Go figure!

Big Bang Theory is one of the funniest shows on TV- ever!

Friend of mine is hunting for a new apartment in our state's capital and he thinks he found the perfect one in a historic district. I'm so jealous because it's around the corner from a Starbucks and across the street from a library and next to a vintage clothing store, in an old brick building. It's in a 'neighborhood'; like people say I live in Beacon Hill or Tribeca or SoHo or Georgetown or Belltown.... you get my drift. It's a BIG DEAL area in the city. Oh man, I hope he gets it so I can visit!!!!!

I'm either freezing or sweating all the time. Weather? Flu? Menopause?

We have a teacher at school who is "bullying" kids. There will be an upcoming post. I'm so pissed and upset I can barely see straight over it.

I'll be tweeting the Oscars on Sunday. I'm just warning you so if you're one of my 8 followers you can be prepare for me to blow Twitter up!

I love my yoga pants waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. Yes, I got a pair. very simple: just plain black. I haven't left the house in them yet, not even to go to a yoga class, but I could see myself having many pairs. Just to lay around the house, of course!!!!!

Mags