Eight Things...

About a month ago Christy tagged me for this "Eight Things" meme. It's taken me forever, but I've finally finished. For some of these I really had to struggle to get eight. Here they are – in no particular order:

Eight things about me:

• I’m short, only 5”6’, but I have size 10 feet.
• I’m a total geek.
• I can remember almost anything set to music.
• I love pizza.
• I could drink Diet Coke pretty much constantly all day long - if I could afford it.
• I read fast – averaging about 100 pages an hour.
• I like Star Trek.
• I have to wear custom made orthotic arch supports in my shoes. Combine that with the size ten feet and you have very limited footwear options.

Eight TV Shows I watch:

• Mythbusters
• Intervention
• What Not to Wear
• NBC Nightly News
• Battlestar Galactica
• Judge Judy
• Stargate SG1
• House

Eight restaurants I enjoy:

• The City Park Grill (Petoskey, MI)
• The Jockey Club (Mackinac Island, MI)
• The Mustang (Mackinac Island, MI)
• Chee Peng (St. Ignace, MI)
• The Pier (Harbor Springs, MI)
• Tokyo (Petoskey, MI)
• Tony’s (Birch Run, MI)Pretty much any restaurant that isn’t one of the three on the island that stay open year-round.

Eight things that happened today:

• I dried the condensation on all my upstairs windows.
• We took the kids out for a special breakfast and we were the only people in the restaurant.
• I had about five cups of coffee. Which was way above my normal caffeine intake.
• I fed live meal worms dipped in calcium to a friend's lizards this morning.
• Before noon I had already done five loads of laundry.
• I watched my husband's new toy, a Roomba, vacuum my living room.
• I sang and danced to Harry Belafonte tunes with my son and daughter.
• I crossed the ice twice - shuttling friends so they wouldn't have to leave their snowmobiles on the mainland.

Eight things I look forward to:

• Time with my husband and children.
• My trip to Egypt in 11 days. (More on this very soon.)
  
• Uploading and viewing my photos.
• Sewing time.
• The new Meijer opening nearby (only an hour away) this summer.
• Spring!
• The new Star Trek movie coming in May.
• The Harry Potter movie opening in June.

Eight things I wish for:

• The end to these hard financial times.
• To have my house paid off.
• Good health for my family and friends.
• For my children to grow up into good people.
• To lose 10 pounds.
• That no child on Earth knew about hunger or war. To have my house magically clean itself while I slept.
• For all my students (and their parents) to care about their schoolwork.

Eight songs I just listened to:

• Mary Miche – Kookaburra
• Mary Miche – Dirt Made My Lunch
• Sister Suffragette (From the Mary Poppins soundtrack)
• Brothers and Sisters (From the Free to be You and Me soundtrack)
• Song of the Lakes – Benzie Rover
• Barenaked Ladies – The Old Apartment
• Barenaked Ladies – Wind it Up
• Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance

Eight favorite Movies:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Witness
• Ever After
• The Piano
• Mulan
• The Hunt for Red October
• Apollo 13
• Sleepless in Seattle

Eight people I tag:

Since the cube root of eight is two, the math geek in me hopes only tagging two people is OK.

Brenda

Kate

Meet the Teacher

Tonight was Meet the Teacher Night at my school, so lots of parents got to know me a little better. Now it is your turn... I'm finally getting to this tag from Muralimanohar, over at Miscellany of Me. Since you don't need to know about my classroom website, student podcasts or homework, I'll stick to my quirks. I am rather quirky so keeping the list to six is going to be difficult for me - I have way more quirks than that!

First the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So, here they are in no particular order:

1. I like things to by symmetrical, lined up, etc. I sometimes have to purposely make things really off kilter, because if they are close but not perfect, it will bug me. Like my bulletin boards at school. My writing is usually purposely not centered and not parallel to the top of the board. Remember my welcome back bulletin board? Torn paper is a great way to make things look completely imperfect yet nice. And have you noticed how I like things justified to both the left and right?

2. Buying pants is hard for me because I have huge calves and a big waist. In fact, often my pants are too big on me everywhere else. It is all that walking and biking since cars are illegal here, (oh yeah and having children.) All that exercise is good for the heart but frustrating when you just want a pair of pants to fit well. My friends tease me and say that they want to put me on TLC’s What Not to Wear. I say that’s fine, but Stacy and Clinton have to work in my rules too:

I have to be able to ride a bike, ride a snowmobile, or walk a mile in every outfit. I have arch supports that have to fit inside the shoes. I can not go without them. Nothing can be “dry clean only” since there is no dry cleaner on the island.

I wonder if Stacy and Clinton are up for the challenge...

3. I notice people’s teeth. Not whether or not they are straight, but whether or not they are clean and well maintained. You can tell a lot about a person by how they take care of their teeth…

4. I’m deathly afraid of being stung by a bee, wasp, or whatever. Pretty funny considering that my husband has thousands of bees in the back yard.

5. Commitment is hard for me. Not commitment to people, but to decorating. What if I change my mind – or get new furniture? Why paint now when I’ll just have to redo it later. We’ve been in our house almost four years and I just painted my first room a color (other than off white) this summer. My living room still doesn’t have window treatments since all my furniture is hand-me-downs (thanks Mom) and I don’t want to match curtains to it since it will be replaced. I know – it’s kind of pathetic. I’m working on it…

6. I read really fast. I read each of the last three Harry Potter books in one evening (one evening per book.) I think I often average about 100 pages an hour when I am really into something. Drives my students crazy…

There. Six of my many oddities. Let me see… who is next?

I tag:

Maggie – Maybe this time she’ll play along (hint hint)

Katie

Marcia

Amy Jo

Susan

Crystal

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Well, for me anyway...

A while back Jeanette over at Keep Me in Stitches tagged me for this meme, so I thought I'd play along.

Name: Elizabeth. That's all you get - just Elizabeth. Sorry - I'm just not comfortable giving my middle or last name out, given that I live in such a small town. I will tell you that no one calls me Elizabeth - not even my mother when she's made at me.

In kindergarten I discovered that all nine letters of Elizabeth took forever to write, but Liz was much quicker. So I'm Liz; all three-easy-to-write-block-letters Liz. That's my birth announcement. I was born in the US so why my dad used kilograms I don't know. (2.66 kg = 5 lbs 13 oz in case you were curious. I would be...)
Born: Grosse Pointe, Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. Grosse Pointe had fantastic schools and I'm so glad my parents decided to move there. Growing up in such a wealthy community when my family wasn't quite so wealthy was challenging at times, but getting to go to G.P. South High School made it so worth it! It is hard for me to believe my 20th reunion is coming up this November. (GPS always has them the Friday after Thanksgiving since many people will already be in town. )

Photo Credit: http://www.eteamz.com/michhockey/images/gpsfrontview1Resized.jpg

Favorite Color: I love blue. Light blue, navy blue, colonial blue… you name it, I love it.

Photo credit: http://k43.pbase.com/v3/29/336929/1/45169252.QET7990IndigoBuntingVertPort.jpg

Favorite City: That is a tough one… there are lots of cities that I haven’t visited yet. Probably, right now, I would have to say Dublin, Ireland. I spent the summer there when I was 15 and spent a lot of time with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Felicity. They are both gone now… Dublin will always have a special place in my heart because it reminds me of them. (We use to walk over this bridge to get to my Uncle's shop.)

Photo credit: http://www.chl.ie/dublin.gif

Places I Want to Visit: Right now Colonial Williamsburg is at the top of my list.

Photo credit: http://z.about.com/d/gosoutheast/1/0/q/2/-/-/WilliamsburgCourthouse_vtc.jpg

Bad Habit: I have so many… Probably my worst one is being a big worrier - usually about things over which I have absolutely no control.

Photo credit: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/RIC/2300-8232~Einstein-Do-Not-Worry-Posters.jpg

Favorite Animal: I must admit, I am a turtle fan.

Photo credit: http://www.wanderingturtle.com/baby_turtle.jpg

Past Love: hmmmmm… Not quite sure how to answer this one, so I won't...

First Job: babysitting at 12 – which was too young. Especially divorced parents who did not get along at all. The dad (the custodial parent) told me not to let the mom speak to the kids; take a message and tell her they'll call her back tomorrow. When I wouldn’t let her speak to the kids, she called the police. I was so scared when the police rang the bell and asked to see those kids. Needless to say I didn't babysit for that family again. That's me in elementary school - not twelve yet though. I couldn't find a middle school picture...

Current Job: I teach in a very small K-12 school on an island in Northern Michigan. I teach 4th - 7th grade math and science; so I have the combined 4th and 5th grade class (seven students) for half of the day and the combined 6th and 7th grade class (fifteen students) for the other half of the day. I love it. Tagging: Katie and Maggie

Liz of Green Gables?

My house may not have gables, but I can imagine it does...

Megan Follows as Anne of Green Gables

BoufMom9 began a Biblical Meme a few weeks ago, she invited Mum-me to play along, who invited me to play along. So here goes:

As my friends know, I am not really a biblical person. So I’ll have to go with literature on this one…

The classic literary character I am most like is Anne of Green Gables. (She is one of my all time favorite characters!) Anne is head strong, hard working, imaginative, and one of those girls others perceive as just a wee bit different. She adapts quickly, is full of joy, she lives on an island, and she hates her hair and her freckles. Anne always seems to get herself into trouble (though unintentionally) but things always seem to work out in the end. Then, there was the time Anne broke a slate on top of a boy’s head after he teased her; I used a social studies book instead...

Here are the rules of the game:

1. Choose a person in the Bible or classic literature who most represents who you are.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration, scripture or story if you like.

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4 .Tag five more blogs with links.

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

I'm tagging Katie, Maggie, and Susan. I know that isn't five, but it is the best I can do today...

Image from http://greengables.tripod.com/

Smiling

Miss Chris over at Pink Picket Fence is posting things that make her smile this week. Right now my gardens are making me smile...

this morning's dew

coral bells

a molting fish fly

a wee daisy

Plus I have 13 people coming to stay with me this weekend for the fort reunion. That will make a total of 18 of us, nine adults and nine children, in my four bedroom house. We may be sleeping like cord wood, but we are going to have so much fun! I hope you have a great weekend too.

Seven Things

Image borrowed from
http://cultureofbeer.blogspot.com

A couple of weeks back I was tagged by Michelle over at The Mama Chronicles for a Seven Things Meme. I was so engrossed with the senior trip I had to put it off for a while, but I am back so here goes...

According to Michelle these are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven Things About Me

1. I am a total science geek. I love knowing how things work and why things are the way they are. I'm a math geek too, but not as much as science. I guess it is good that I became a math and science teacher... I try really hard to pass on my love of learning to my students.

(Deer heart awaiting dissection in my classroom)

2. I know American Sign Language. I met a deaf girl while I was in college and decided I wanted to be her friend. With her help I learned to sign. I used ASL with both my children before they could speak and it was amazing; it cut down on their frustration so much. Plus now I can cue them to say "please" and "thank you" and 99% of the population does not know it and think they are very polite children. (You'll keep my secret, won't you.)

3. I'm 38 years old and I have never been drunk. Really. I guess I'm just kind of boring... though my friends liked always having a designated driver around.

4. I’m afraid of color. Yep – a quilted who is afraid of color. I have to see the combination somewhere and like it – because I can’t match things on my own. Due to my fears, my entire house is painted off white. That way I’ll know the curtains, etc. will match the walls. Though, I must admit I am getting better in this area. My friend Julie came over and picked paint colors for me this winter. We went through he house and she picked colors that went with the things I already had in the rooms. I’ll post pictures after things are painted…

(Some of my completed quilts)

5. I am an auditory learner. Like amazingly so... In college I would, much to my roommates dismay, record all of my notes and listen to them as I studied. I constantly amaze my husband because I can pick out actor's voices when I only hear a couple of words, I can quickly mimic accents, and I can pretty much remember anything set to music.

6. I love to travel. I've been to Canada, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Ireland, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. My mother was a firm believer that traveling to other countries was important. She made sure both my brother and I saw as much of the world as we could.

7. I can sing a children’s song about almost any topic. I use to teach preschool and kindergarten and being so auditory myself, we sang a lot. My friend, Katie, use to challenge me by looking at me and saying a word, like cirrus cloud, and I had to come up with a children’s song about that topic or containing that word. 95% of the time I could do it… I can sing all the nations of the world, too. One summer my friends Michelle, Katie and I decided to learn the Animaniacs song. It took a lot of practice but we managed to do it – back in about 1995... I can still sing it. (Did I mention I was an auditory learner?) Whenever my students complain that they can't memorize something I have assigned , I break out into song. By about the third time in September, they stop complaining...

I am tagging Maggie, Shannon, Katie, Jada, and Lesley. I'm hopeful that ya'll will be willing to play... if not I sincerely apologize.