Verbage

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Michelle

Check this out. Seriously. Just check this shit out. Crazy, huh?

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Spent hours yesterday looking at different towns, different countries. Imagined ways I could get rich, pay off house and move out of town. Go back to where friends are, go to where friends can be made. Run, basically. (But not to Flint.) I’m not whining anymore. But this is painful, living here. The house didn’t fix anything.

Has crossed my mind that the meds the doc gave me have induced clinical depression. Perhaps things just suck. Am not sure.

Discovered perfect way to exercise. One episode of The Office on Netflix (no commercials) equals one mile on the treadmill. Am living in the lap of luxury. Felt better after getting off couch, away from computer and promises of better life as expat in Costa Rica. Maybe things here can work. Maybe.

Being trained on how to teach gifted and talented children tomorrow. Have taught 14 years. Did not know how! Was teaching creative children who like spray paint about Banksy. Not really.

Do not like job very much because is not really teaching. Think this way every summer. After one month, like job again. Like students’ sense of humor. Cannot admit to this.

Found a blog that makes me laugh. (The Customer Is) Not Always Right. Have read 22 pages.

Don’t know how long writing will not have sufficient pronouns. Am having fun.

Password Protected

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Michelle

I’m putting the whiny, personal posts under a password. Email me at mizchulita at gmail dot com if you’d like it. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of the blog, sans whining!

Protected: Alone

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Michelle

Meat Peddlers

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Michelle

Last night, I was asleep when Salsa started barking uproariously. I stumbled out of bed to see what was going on and found Greg on the front porch, reading. I asked him why the dog was having a fit. He told me that a man had just came up to the porch, pulled one steak (still wrapped) from his front pocket, and asked him if he wanted to buy it.

“No man, I’m good,” is what Greg said.

The man left.

I remembered this incident in the morning, and had difficulty distinguishing it from some sort of weird dream. Later on, I asked Greg, “Who the hell buys stolen meat from people in the middle of the night? I mean, is there actually a market for this stuff or what?”

Sky spoke up and let us know that his roommate Zack had scored the household 20 steaks (for a dollar each) from just such an exchange.

This is such a weird place sometimes.

Chillin’

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Michelle

Have you ever felt as though you actually did something right as a parent? Getting a hammock for Sage’s room feels like one of those times. It was inspired by the fact that apparently someone else had already done so, and left some really heavy-duty eyehooks in the wall. I bought a huge (holds 750 pounds!) hammock that comes from somewhere in Mexico. It is so comfortable!

Sage decided that he was going to sleep in it at night. Last night, he was swinging away, tucked in there with blankets and books. Here he is this morning.

He did not want to get up at all. The whole thing reminds me of when he was a year old and the only way I could relax with him was by taking him outside and swinging with him in the hammock there. I think it still chills him out in that same way.

The blue blankie is how Varmint gets chilled out. She will go to whoever has the blanket near or on them. It is really soft and fuzzy. She always starts making biscuits…it’s like her blue blankie mama or something.

On another note, I dreamed I was a lion last night. I was creeping through the grass and woke up from adrenaline when I lunged at another lion. I’ve never dreamed I was another species before! Perhaps Varmint’s dreams are somehow influencing mine…

And How Do YOU Influence Reality?

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Michelle

I just love this stuff. If you have the slightest bit of interest in quantum physics, then check this out! Be sure to watch it all the way to the end. (5 min.)

It really begs the question of how we, as observers, influence our own reality or reality in general. At least, that’s what I get out of it. You?

Lovin’ the Farmer’s Market

Posted on July 6, 2008 by Michelle

I’m really enjoying our farmer’s market. After years of disuse, the site has been turned into something hoppin’. Best of all, the vendors only have to pay the city $5 for the use of a booth! How cool is that?

We go every weekend, because there is live music and some really good stuff to eat. Right now, since it just started up about six weeks ago, there aren’t many vegetables, although I always manage to get some squash and a few other things. Once I even got asparagus.

Sage was delighted to see his day camp counselor selling homemade bread and jam. It’s really, really good, especially to Sage! It’s like she’s now a magician or something…

I always get a bouquet from a lady who grows the most amazing variety of flowers. Every week, the bouquet is totally different. If you return the Mason jar, you get 50 cents off the five dollar price.

It’s things like this that make life so sweet.

I just realized that the first person to comment on this post will be my 1000th commenter!

Awful News :-(

Posted on July 5, 2008 by Michelle

I’m so angry/sad right now. I found out last night that the wife of one of my colleagues died. She was one of those women who looked perfect at all times. I felt jealous of her and of her size 6 wardrobe. She had a great sense of humor. Her death was a surprise.

It was caused by complications of a prior gastric bypass surgery. I never knew she used to be fat. What a price she paid in her efforts to fit into this this town.

We have billboards everywhere advertising bariatric surgery, laser hair removal, facelifts, the works. This is a town of 30,000, so it seems a little much. But, appearances are everything here.

This woman leaves behind 9 year old twins with chronic health problems, her husband (who just transferred to another school district–what a time to start a new job), and a 16 year old son, whom I taught when he was in 7th grade. He’s a sweet kid–all the kids are–and my heart just breaks for this family.

I need to go to the viewing to show my support. I hate viewings. I don’t want to see someone dead. I feel so bad that this whole thing happened. It is so tragic in so many ways.

The thing is, people shouldn’t have to have surgery to fit in here. People shouldn’t have to feel the need to look perfect. I wish our town made people feel welcome and loved regardless of which hairdresser they use. Really.

I know several other people who have had gastric bypass surgery in my town. This is weird, since I didn’t even know one person who had had it in Austin, and I knew a lot more people there. Three of the people I know who have had it have been hospitalized in the past year for problems related to it. One of the people who I know who has had it is my new principal. She seems to be doing fine.

I’m just so upset about this whole thing. I also want to know who the woman’s doctor was. She was treated for an intestinal blockage when it was a kink in her intestines. The blood supply got cut off and it got all horrible–she died of septic shock.

Lawsuit?

I just don’t know what else to say about this.

Happy Fourth!

Posted on July 4, 2008 by Michelle

Obviously, I should not start a cooking blog. Even though they stuck to the baking sheet, breaking many, Sage and I had fun making them. They look a bit like red and blue starfish, don’t you think? I just need to stick some cute little eyes on…

No flags here. I have “issues” with both flags and the pledge. I mean, think about it. With who’s running our country, do you really want to pledge allegiance? I think our allegiance should be to a higher power, not to artificial boundaries, political ideas and war. Just sayin’.

Grown Men

Posted on July 2, 2008 by Michelle

I’ve been having these little anxiety attacks for two days. They started yesterday, the official day that Sky turned 18. I know that it is most likely related in some way, although how, I’m not quite sure.

I operate using the philosophy of “if you love something let it go, and if it loves you (or is totally broke) then it will come back to you”. This has not worked out well with men in general, but it did with my son, and he didn’t even have to be broke to decide he wanted to live here again.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’ve already done the whole moving out thing–a year early–and he came back, and is still living here, so I don’t get what the big deal is. Maybe it’s the whole “OMG I’m the mom of a grown man” thing. I really don’t know.

I just dropped him off at the bus station so that he could go to San Antonio to visit his ex-girlfriend that gave him a pregnancy scare a couple of years ago. He won’t tell his dad he is going because he knows his dad will call him a fool. Yes, it is a foolish thing for him to be doing, but calling him foolish is not going to stop him from doing it. We talked about it, and he knows he is doing something stupid, but feels compelled anyway. It’s difficult to watch kids go through these things. At least she’s shipping out with the Navy in a week.

I’m done thinking about this, at least for the moment. I took some photos this morning. Here is a cute kitty picture. Varmint spent half the day under the house yesterday, and came back so happy and content. All she needed to do was return to her trashy wild kitty roots instead of living in a sterile apartment to be happy…

Here’s one of Sky and Sage. They love each other so much it blows my mind. No competition or ugly stuff–just admiration and love.

And here’s a pot of flowers. I have one on each side of the front steps going up to the porch. I bought the pots and flowers before I even got paint to start fixing up rooms in the house. A girl’s got to have priorities, and they make me happy.