Early
I cannot believe I've celebrating that I got home at 6:40, but since I've been coming in after 8 for the past few days it feels heavenly. Hail, hail Catholic Schools Week.
All things considered the week has been going well. I'm sure to get fat off of the goodies the moms bring us every day, and everyone is in a fairly jovial mood.
I got a big ego boost last night at Science Night. Several parents went up to my boss to tell her how much their children like me. I almost cried.
Most of my day is chaos, and kids seldom seem gratful, but every once in awhile people surprise you and rock your world.

Life in the AR
Some days it seems I"ll never get out of the "A" section. I still have another 21 pages of them to go, and the prospect is rather daunting. Then an equally big "B" section. As I see it, my first real break will be in the "J"s if I live that long.

If not for my last period, the day really would have been a wash. Then we had Exploratory, which is an elective that meets once a week, and my faith was restored. I"m teaching a class called Exploring Shakespeare, and I have the 12 best kids in the world in my class. It reaffirmed why I like teaching to begin with.

I was also a sucker and stuck around late to watch the St. Mark's team cream our girls' basketball team. Sniff. The girls were happy I showed up which made getting home at 8 p.m. worth it I suppose.

Eric just called from the store because he wanted to know if sweet potatoes also went by "yams." It's a good thing I love him so much.

Take the Long Way Home
I know I've been this tired before. In fact I am pretty convinced that I have been more than this tired on several distinct occasions. That being said I'm ridiculously sleepy. We were out with Petey, Claire and her friend David until quite late, and then we had to get up at 7 to drive back to Dallas so I could show up at school to be emotional support for a student at Mass. I clocked well over 60 hours this week yet I feel completely unprepared for class this week. I'm trying not to think about it at the moment.
We did see Lando's band, Call the Circle, and they were pretty rockin', check them out. We also celebrated Erin's b-day. Altogehter a successful trip, now I need to snuggle with my kitten and finally sleep.

Apocalypse
That was the last word I read in the dictionary, and with all of the chaos this week I feel it is appropriate. It certainly feels like impending doom.
Let it be known that I hate Catholic Schools' Week. I do not use the word lightly, but here I really mean it. This is quite possibly the worst week of the entire year.

My principal has gone crazy, demanding that every piece of paper be hung at percise angles and that there be no item out of place. Perfection, nothing less. She sent me an email today saying that my blinds were askew. Who does that? Anyway, I've given up my job teaching and have been spending all available time doing ridiculous things like hanging work and rearranging my classroom twelve times. I cannot wait until all of this is over. Then tonight I had to go to a meeting at 7, so I did not get home until 9:15. Long frickin' day. Very. Very. Long.

We're heading to Austin this weekend. Hopefully I will be albe to leave all this garbage behind--at least until I have to report to the church at 12:30 on Sunday. sigh.

Pre, Post, and other Roots
As I drove home after my 13 hours at work, I stewed, fretted and tried to compose the perfect blog entry to describe the crappiness of the day. It was a day filled with battles both essential and ridiculous, including a fight over the proper distance to hang mounted student works in the hallway. It was a day where I felt nothing I did was right and questioned my ability to teach. These were some of my thoughts as I drove/sniffled my way home.
Intervention came by way of my husband who made me realize everything is good and new. As soon as I got home, he whisked me off to dinner (and a couple of glasses of wine), and when we returned he prepped the hot tub. After 2 glasses of wine and an hour long soak, my former battles seem pretty damn small. This has made me realize two things: first of all my husband is my best thing, and secondly, it's all good even when it seems all bad.

Jonly
It is far too early on a Sunday morning to be writing, but we were awakened with a giant crash this morning. Clementine decided to knock everything off the dresser with a single well-timed slide. If I hadn't been so angry, the feat would have been quite impressive.
We had an uber-yummy dinner at Houston's last night with Jen, Jay, Evangeline and Anthonywhich was truly faboo. Who knew that braised red cabbage with a little goat cheese could be so amazing? I think I just drooled a little thinking about it. Then E and I went to see Henry Cho at the Improv. At one point I thought I was actually going to hurt myself laughing, which, if you think about it, would not be such a bad way to go. We have to get our butts there more often, because there really is so much laughter out there waiting for us if we look carefully. It was nice to spend the evening grinning and howling like a fool.
Now I"m preparing to enjoy my delicious, yet fake, breakfast: egg substitute and soy bacon! At least the coffee is real.

Bienvenidos a Miami
I have passed the day in the ultimate lazy, hedonistic way. I was curled on my coach, cuddling with my cat watching CSI Miami because I did not want to get up. David Caruso's horrificness is rather addictive. Found this on You Tube which about sums up my day.
This is why I must work for a living.

White Out
From the reports on the news, you would think that we were preparing for 5 feet of snow and no power for a week. as it is there is about 1/2 inch of snow on the ground, and all of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex has shut down. For the second time this week I am home and cold. I actually wanted to go to work, but it's all good. Today was the big Spelling Bee--some very exciting stuff. Eric did crawl his way to work this morning, and the normal 30 minute trek took him well over an hour. He's far too dedicated for his own good. Still I plan to devote my day to reading, napping, and drinking tea. Yep, it's a really hard life.

Medium is the Message?
I am most likely slaughtering Marshall McLuhan's idea, but I feel this strong desire to post, to slap something up into this web world. As strong as my desire is to post, my lack of anything to say is even stronger. I feel somehow obligated to use this outlet, yet I sometimes lose sight of the fact that the purpose of communication used to be getting a point across. If there is no point, is communication important?
As I sit and muse Eric is watching some horrible movie with Christian Slater and Tara Reid. So much for any attempt at depth.
I need to get my daily dictionary fix in.

Ad Rem
The above means "to the point" or "to the heart of the matter," as I seldom speak to the point, I thought I would take it as an inspiration.
What, you may ask, am I doing home at 8:30 on a Monday? Once again the unpredictable Texas weather has given me a perfectly lovely day at home. There is ice all over the roads, and we're staying put. Actually the students did not have class today; it was supposed to be parent conferences. I must say I am gratful to miss those. Although I have some wonderful, supportive, and amazing parents, I really prefer to deal with students. I am graftul, however, that I took home a bunch of work on Friday, because I was planning to devote the day to work.
Now I can work and watch Magnum P.I. at the same time.
I think I have turned the corner in my dictionary quest. I have decided to keep a notebook by me and write down all of the new words (minus some of the chemical names which I really do not care about). I must shamefully say I will continue to be ignorant of much of the fields of Chemistry and Botany which the makers of the dictionary seem to have a jones for.
Some of my current favorites:
Adstratum--a language responsible for changes in another language.
Adulterine--refering to a child conceived by adultery
Adultescent--an adult who tries to act like a teenager
Adzuki--a red Asian bean. I just like the way it sounds.
Aekfric--a monk and grammarian also known as Grammaticus
Alluenza--a psychological malaise of young, wealthy people (in my line of work I can totally see this one.
Affrilachian--(my personal favorite) an African American who lives in Applachia
afreet--a Muslim jinn or demon
agglutinate--to firmly stick together into a mass
agouti--a long legged rodent, similar to the guinea pig

I've made it through agreement, which does not really sound like an accomplishement, but considering there was close to an entire page on the letter "A" I choose to be proud.

Lost and Found
It is almost 1 a.m., yet I cannot go to bed until I have my say.
You must go see Pan's Labryinth I haven't hung on every frame of a movie in a long time. Magic.
And with that out of my system, I plan to settle in for a long winter's nap.

--Ade
I have forged ahead to --ade in the dictionary. I am not sure yet what this is getting me, but I think it is a worthwhile project, even if it is just an exercise in willpower. Still, one can do worse than be surrounded by words every day.

I've become very boring--work, gym, home, then repeat. Eric just turned on the hot tub, so there's that too, even if I"m not to "bubbles" in the dictionary.

Before and After
Every part of my body has two things in common: first it is covered in paint, and secondly every part aches. I also spent the day with 13 year olds who all had to tell me that I had paint on my body. At 1st period I understood, but when they were still letting me know at 15 till 4, I was not amused.
Anyway, after all that, here are before and after pics.

Not to Brag. . .
. . .but I must say I have the rockingest kitchen ever! It looks so much nicer! I will post pictures later. For now I must take a scraper to my body and try not to move.

Upside the Head
If I ever think that painting kitchen cabinets is a good idea, someone needs to take a frozen halibut and beat me upside the head and then sit on me for good measure. Every part of my body hurts and we are no where near done.
That being said, I really just wanted to share this:

5.4
Okay. I just did some calculations and at only 1 page a day it will take me 5.4 years to finsih the dictionary I might have to step it up a little.

Abnaki
I have diligently made my way from A to Abnaki (a Native tribe) in my pursuit to read the New American Oxford Dictionary. Tonight I will plow through to Abp. which is apparently the abbreviation for Archbishop. Who knew? Anyway while I do not claim to memorize the dictionary, I dig learning.
For some reason an inordinate number of Danish cities start with AB. In addition, while everyone has heard of the aardvark, how many know of it's relative the aardwolf? Incidentally aard is the South African Dutch for earth. Vark means pig. See, you learn something new every day.
You can also enjoy telling someone to go to Abaddon. Very satisfying.
Finally the change in vowels in a verb like sing, sang, sung is an ablaut. You gotta love the German words.

I am glad to be back at work. Suddenly my mind has opened again.

Needed an Outlet
I passed a perfectly lovely Tuesday at the Allen Outlet Mall with my momma yesterday. We got some amazing deals, yet unlike most of those places it was not crowded at all. In some stores we were the only peole there. The only reason I mention the whole trip here, however, is to say that everything I bought was in a size 8! The last time I wore a size eight was when I was a freshman in high school. It was a small victory of sorts. Wait, no. It was a frickin' huge victory, validating everything I've done over the past few years.
Today is my last day of vacation, and as much as I've been enjoying the whole sleep in and drink my coffee in an actual mug thing, I'm ready to go back. I miss the kids, I miss having a place to go in the morning, I miss the feeling of having a purpose. That being said, I am enjoying my last episode of Magnum P.I. He's the only man I know who can really pull off a tank top and shorty shorts. Um.

2006 Pages
In the interest of posterity, I've decided to compile a list of 2006 reads. I'll be updating over the next few days to make the list as comprehensive as possible. The books are in absolutely no order.
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Black Notice by Patricia Cornwall
Snow Garden by Christopher Rice
Fortune's Rock by Anita Shreve
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Labryinth by Kate Mosse
The Art of Detection by Laurie King
Locked Rooms by Laurie King
Night Work by Laurie King
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Eragon and Eldest by CHristopher Paolini
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
All 13 Lemony Snicket books
Something's Rotten by Jasper Fforde
The Know it All by A.J. Jacobs
Odd Thomas Forever Odd and Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
The Cell by Stephen King
Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
Dress Your Family in Denim and Courdory by David Sedaris
Sole Survivor Derek Hanson
The Man Who Wasn't There Pat Barker
Dracula Bram Stoker
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Lord of the Flies William Golding
Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather
Goodbye, Mr. Chips James Hilton
Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt Anne Rice
The King of Capri Jeanette Winterson

If anyone has any suggestions for good reads, leave them here.
My book club is reading The Picture of Dorian Gray this month--I love getting Wilde! I will also be reading a yummy book on Coney Island. In addition my mom bought me the first three Stephanie Plum bounty hunter books for a good guilty pleasure.

The Montreal update really is coming soon--I just need to get my thoughts in order, plus Eric's computer has died and with it taken our pictures. There are always obstacles I suppose. Incidentally I was just reading Wil Wheaton's blog and he reminded me that he did a reading at Chapters which was the same bookstore in Montreal that I found so completly rockin. Indeed my cheeks my have been on the same chair he sat in. I can dream.

Your results:
You are Green Lantern
Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.
Green Lantern		80%
Spider-Man		70%
Wonder Woman		70%
Superman		55%
Iron Man		55%
Robin		52%
Supergirl		50%
The Flash		50%
Hulk		45%
Catwoman		35%
Batman		25%

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