Saturday Six-Pack

Because it seems I rarely have time or energy for full posts anymore, especially during the week, I've decided to try a variation of something that I've seen on other blogs. Maybe it's a side-effect of the fever and other ickiness I have going on right now, but it sounds like a good idea. You guys let me know what you think. (How could a six-pack on Saturday be BAD?)
---------------------------------------------------------
1. We're studying verbs in my 7th grade language arts classes right now. I'm a geek, but verb conjugation is one of my very favorite things to do (along with diagramming sentences, but that's a different story). I had to laugh yesterday when a girl insisted that the past tense of the verb spend is "spund." I had to laugh even harder when a different girl, working backwards to find the the present tense/infinitive, said that "I am here!" was the present tense for left. Okay, maybe you had to be there. It lost something in the translation.

2. Andrew and his daddy are headed to Lowe's this morning for the Build and Grow Clinic they host for small fry. Last weekend, we were there picking up paint chips and primer for the living room, and one of the customer service people encouraged us to stop by the paint desk to pick up a leftover kit from that day's workshop. It was a cute little balsa wood garage kit with lightweight nails that little kids can build (with help). The coolest thing about it? They gave Andrew a pair of safety goggles and Lowe's apron, complete with pockets, and a project patch for completing the garage to sew onto it. The idea is to come back each Saturday to work on the project there and get completion patches. Today's project is a snowman picture frame, and in two weeks, it's a gingerbread house. What fun! (PS...when I'm finally burned out from teaching, my next job is going to be at Lowe's. I LOVE IT THERE!)

3. We saw Jimmy Buffett in concert in Charlottesville Tuesday night. I'll try to get pictures up later, but cameras weren't allowed inside, so the only thing I have is cell phone pictures. I can't guarantee quality, and I haven't taken the time to send them from the phone yet. We had really high seats, as in, I could almost touch the ceiling, and I've decided I just can't do that anymore, cheap seats or not. Much like U2, I spazzed out about the height early into the show. A kind older gentleman usher found us some much lower seats that no one showed up to sit in when I asked him if I could just stand by the entranceway. Next time, we just pay for the better seats and avoid the panic attack altogether. The highlight of the night: picking up an on-duty University of Virginia cop for my sister. They've been talking all week and it sounds promising.

4. While Jimmy Buffett was great, don't get me wrong, I was most impressed with his ukelele player, Jake Shimabukuro. The ukelele has never struck me as being a moving instrument, but I was wowed by this guy. There are some video clips on his website that show his amazing talent; check them out!

5. I'm sick. We came home the other night from the Buffett show, and my dad left for home after a night of babysitting. Not fifteen minutes later, Andrew was puking all over the bathroom floor. He was up and down all night, every hour or so, and we ended up staying home on Wednesday to allow him to recover. He never had a fever or anything, and actually didn't even seem to feel bad, other than the pukiness. Yesterday morning I woke up with a not-so-hot feeling in my stomach, which continued through the day. The afternoon and evening brought chills, a fever of 102, and a general feeling of UGGGH. I'm feeling slightly less like I'm going to die (although my stomach doesn't know it yet), but I plan to go back to bed right after this post is finished.

6. Every so often, I'm a complete klutz, which loved ones and friends love to give me a hard time about. I don't break things. I don't drop things. I fall. I fall down hills in lawn chairs. I slip on ice and fall on my ass. I fall down the steps. I don't know why; it just happens. Thursday night, after bragging earlier in the day that it had been a whole year since I had fallen (right in the middle of the classroom floor, by the way, with 44 kids and my co-teacher/friend watching), I went running up the steps, got my right big toe caught in the cuff of my left pants leg, and fell down hard on my knee, elbow, wrist, etc. I fell HARD. So hard that I dented my leg where the edge of the step pushed the fat away. So, I woke up sort of sore, on top of the queasy stomach. But it gets worse. In the office at school later that morning, the heel of my shoe slipped on the floor. My left leg splayed out in front of me, and my right leg bent under me so that I landed on it--the very same leg. Fortunately, no one really saw me fall, as they were all inside their little offices within the main office---but they heard me yell and came running to see if I was okay. Ugggh. Everything but my pride. So today, on top of being sick as a dog, my hips hurt from my inadvertent "split," my right big toe hurts because I jammed it in the step incident, and I have a growing bruise on my right knee/shin. Oh! I almost forgot! When I picked up Andrew at preschool yesterday, they had turned off the hallway lights because the kids and teachers were all outside on the playground. His preschool is in a church basement, so it was really dark. As we carefully made our way to his classroom to get his stuff from his cubby, I tripped and almost fell over a pint-sized classroom chair that was sitting against the wall in the hallway. It was just the perfect size to hit me right in the same spot on my leg. I think I might need some bubble wrap to make it through the weekend.