t.g.i.f.

No, faithful readers, I haven't forgotten about you. I've thought each and every day about posting something new and exciting for you to read. And it just didn't seem like there was much of anything new and exciting to tell you about. Until I sat down tonight and thought about all the craziness of the week. It really is crazy when you put it all together.

It all started Tuesday when we were making booklets for history called My Place in Space. We've been talking about where we live - planet, continent, country, state, city. I listed by categories on the board possible answer choices. Like for planet their choices were Jupiter, Pluto, Earth, Mars. Countries were Mexico, France, Canada, United States. And the states I listed were Ohio, Florida, Oregon, Washington. I thought the answers were VERY OBVIOUS, they were written in nice neat columns, and if they had paid only a minute bit of attention during class discussions, they should be able to figure it out.

Of course, I was wrong. One child, new to the school, filled in the blanks like this. She writes (and I quote) I live on planet Mars. I live on the continent of North America. I live in the country of Mexico. My country has 1,000 states. I live in the state of Florida. I live in the city of Oregon.

You can only imagine my internal reaction.

I looked at her and I said, "K., do you really think you live on the planet Mars?" She looked back at me just as sincere as she could be, nodded her head, and said, "Yes." I said, "Well, you don't." And I grabbed my trusty old eraser (AKA Big Green), erased her mistakes, and told her to go back and try it again. Just call me Annie Sullivan, because I'm going to have to be a miracle worker with this one!!!

Thursday was picture day at school. Besides the disruption it brings to the day and the fact that you never know at what time you'll be summoned, there's the whole fear of some kid losing his picture money envelope and some parent hating me the rest of his life because of it. And of course, being a staff member, I get a new ID card about 10 seconds after my picture is taken. The photographer hands me mine. Bleh. Like I want to wear that thing around my neck all the time to identify myself. I thought the self-portrait I took before I left for school turned out way cuter. Of course, it took me about 25 shots to get the few that I liked. (Maybe I should've explained that to the photographer.) Yes, Facebook friends, this is the same new profile picture I just put on there.

To make myself feel better about my yucky ID card which has the same picture that will forever remain in the 2008-2009 yearbook, I decided this morning to forget about getting to school early to prep for the day and made a stop at McDonald's to try out one of their new fancy schmancy coffees instead. I got a mocha. It wasn't too bad. They used the same kind of syrup all the other gazillion coffee shops around here use. AND they added whipped cream. Which kind of cancels out the fact that I asked for nonfat milk. Not the greatest mocha I've ever had in my life, but for $2.39, it did the job. Grabbed a sausage biscuit too. The only thing I actually enjoy eating at McDonald's. Well, ok, besides the French fries and the caramel sundaes.

Kept telling myself I should wait until I get to school to try out the coffee, but the smell made me do it. That and the cold and the fog. Cripe, I just wanted to be warmed up. Went over a bump in the middle of an intersection about 3 blocks from school and spilled coffee on my white V-neck T shirt. Yah, white. Now new and improved with a big coffee blot!!! Lovely.

Today was also head lice check day. Some parent volunteer that I don't know came in to take kids 4 at a time downstairs. Then came back to get 4 more. All the way until 22 kids had had a head lice check. Now tell me that doesn't ruin any plans you could have possibly made for the day. I know it has to be done, but it's annoying. And, of course, they can't come back into the room quietly. No, they've got to announce things like, "Man, that lady pulled my hair hard. . ." or "That felt good on my head, like a massage. I love it when they check for head lice. . ." or "My head itches now." Yah, I heard stuff like that ALL MORNING LONG, my friends.

As far as I know, no second graders have head lice. PTL.

Phil and I are members at the YMCA. I can't say that we're faithful members at the YMCA. But we do pay our bill faithfully each month. We went Wednesday night and had a grand old time reacquainting ourselves with the ellyptical machines. We thought about going last night. I even packed my workout clothes and took them to school with me. But. . .we didn't go. Hey, I had to get ready to watch the season premiere of The Office. (Yeah for Pam and Jim getting engaged!!!)

So we said we'd go tonight. We practically made an oath. But. . .it was an absolutely gorgeous day and I had the sudden urge at 4:30 to take Phil somewhere by the water and have a picnic dinner. It was a spur of the moment thing, probably brought on by the fact that I'd been cooped up all day long in a classroom with 22 kids picking their noses and sneezing and coughing all over the place. (Don't worry, we cleaned off our desks this afternoon. Disinfectant wipes are proudly placed on my class supply list.)

I figured since our day had already been ruined by my coffee spill and lice checks, we might as well go outside and soak in some vitamin D while the sun is still shining. And that must've been my inspiration for the picnic.

We stopped at KFC, got some dinner, and started to drive to the park. The park that I'm imagining must be somewhere down by the water. And I'm thinking large body of water - as in the Columbia River. We finally make it to the road that runs along the river, and do you think we can find one single dad-blamed park in Vancouver or Camas? NO!!! And why, you may be asking? Because all these people - who at one point thought they were rich but really weren't - who probably now have mortgages that are days away from foreclosure - which has forced the sale of our bank Washington Mutual - have built these houses that are entirely too big on the waterfront. Leaving absolutely no space for river front parks for poor apartment folk like us who want to get the heck away from their really annoying downstairs neighbors. And that irritated me.

We drove around and around looking for some place to eat our measley little chicken strips and potato wedges, and ended up in a middle school parking lot watching a soccer practice for 5th and 6th grade boys. Well, we did have a pleasant view of the very top of Mt. Hood too, peeking over the hills of Camas. It's getting snowy white already. And on our way home, we also enjoyed a lovely sunset. Love those clouds. It got even better the closer to home we got, but there were too many electrical wires and telephone poles in the way.

As we got back into Vancouver, we passed by the Nautilus Company (and no, it didn't make me feel bad about not going to the YMCA) and I finally got my water. Not as big as I wanted, but a water feature none-the-less.

And that, my faithful blog readers, is why I'm Thanking God it's Friday. And tomorrow Dr. Phil and I will be heading back to the YMCA to see our friends Mr. and Mrs. Ellyptical again. That will be after I do a google search to find out where all the stinkin' parks are in this town.

Kuddos to you if you've made it all the way through this ridiculous blog post.