Soccer Stud

Yesterday I had the day off from the store so I was able to go watch my "neice" play soccer. Izzy pretty much rocked. As her mom Lisa said, she was the Bobby Jackson of the team - super scrappy :-) She played like a champ and I was so happy to be there to watch her!

Of course, one of my alterior motives for going was that I haven't had a chance to use my new camera in action shots and haven't really used it at all since the trip. Enjoy some of these cute pics of the little star!

Okay, So I'm Bored...

Kelly loves to blog stalk and do these surveys. I'm bored so I thought I would do it too...

1. How many songs are on your iPod? 794 (I think)
2. What music would you want played at your funeral? "You are Mine" (It's a church song and I can never sing it without crying)
3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to? Scrapbooks etc, Creating Keepsakes, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Real Simple, Cosmo, Marie Claire, In Style
4. What is your favorite scent? Sweet Pea, Vanilla
5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? Spend a year traveling the entire world. Every country in Europe and then Australia. Maybe South America and Fiji. Then I might by a place in Santorini... Did I go over my million yet?
6. What is your theme song? Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson), Boston (Augustana), Not Ready to Make Nice (Dixie Chicks)
7. Do you trust easily? yes
8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? depends on the situation
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? please- turn on the news. Between the dirtbag CEOs getting nice paychecks instead of jail time, the whiny reps for the presidential candidates that won't answer a question... Then add to that trouble my friends are having...Life ain't easy...
10. Do you have a good body-image? ya right
11. Is being tagged fun? I suppose
12. If you had more hours in the day, how would you spend that time? sleeping
13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? Crystal Light packages, Cranberry Orange Scones at Star-yucks
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? She didn't tag me officially, but I think Kelly is super awesome. That's why she's been my friend for like oer 20 years...
15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?no idea
16. What’s your favorite item of clothing? either pjs or a skirt of some kind
17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? totally
18. If you had $100 to give away, who would you give it to? Hmm... Maybe like St. Judes or Make-a-Wish
19. What items could you not go without during the day? cell phone, computer, car keys
20. What should you be doing right now? cleaning my house and figuring out what to serve tomorrow at a get together.

That's How You Know...

... that you need a new job: When you walk in all excited to the VP and show her the flyer for a wksp you would love to go to (You know, since you are now a school librarian and have NO idea what you are doing and then find said wksp that is ALL about library) and her first reaction is, well, we don't have $200 for you to go to that. Awesome. Way to be a kill joy. Humor me. Say you'll look into it. Who cares if you never do. Ugh... Also, when you get so super excited about all these Reading Celebration ideas you find on line, but after each one you think, no, the teachers would never support this and your spirits are immediately crushed.

... that you need a new profession: When you are told that even though you have a 5th year Masters degree, that you will still have to do a CA 5th year in order to clear your credential. Is it just me, or is that total BS?

... that your life is a little to similar to a CW Teen Drama: Hailey James Scott (On One Tree Hill) says before walking into her class after one of the students had been shot, "I'm 22 years old and I'm supposed to make sense of this for them?" When I heard her say that it took me back to 9/11/01. I had been a 5th grade teacher for about 2 weeks. The world fell apart and I was supposed to make sense of it to the kiddos? Um, have you met me? Sidebar- I had every intention of posting a big remembrance that day. Never got around to it, and now it just seems weird to go back. But like everyone else, I will never forget a minute of that day. My brother was in NY and we were worried about getting him up to me in Boston, loads of BC kids worked in the WTC and I was all worried about my friend Brendan, and Tamara's from NY so loads of her friends worked right there... and again- I was supposed to calm the kids' fears. Sure thing. I will never forget the next day sitting in mass with these 22 children I barely knew and trying so hard to hold it in. At the end of mass I just was sobbing and one of the parents just came up next to me and gave me the biggest hug. She was the only one who like me that year anyway, but I just will never forget that... Sidebar end.

... that you have a caffeine problem: you do a happy dance in Raley's when you find a crystal light powder drink that contains caffeine so you can basically have OJ with caffeine. Nice. (Tastes like Tang, btw).

... that your lack of a love life is a big fat joke: The Scene: Stanford football game, Saturday evening. The wack-o band was doing a pre-game show, but it was being narrated in Spanish. My friend Betsey and I had WTF kind of expressions going on. Well, her hubby, my old pal Hoddy, comes down from the press box to see us as the show is going on. Oh, btw, it features a giant paper maiche (sp?) rat... So after a little visit, Hoddy goes back up to work, and as he is about 10 rows away, shouts, "hey Casey, I bet the guy in the rat outfit is single!" Gee... thanks!

Take That Brett

Woo hoo! We did it!

The future Hall of Famer with over 250 consecutive starts takes the loss against the guy making his first career start since high school. Way to go Matt! Way to go Pats!

And by the way, something I forgot to mention earlier - one of the things that irritated me so much was all the NYers who go onto Boston message boards leaving messages about how great it was that Brady was hurt and how the division was theirs now (ya, how'd that work out so far?). Anyway, I don't really think that anyone should be cheering for such a horrible injury. But the thing that made me the most mad was how the silly NYers said something about how Brady is the only QB that anyone ever hears about. I'm sorry, but even when I was in Europe and we were given a little NY Times highlight paper everyday, it was NY's own Favre, not TB, that was in the headlines. So get over it NY. Your baseball team sucks and your football teams suck. I know, you beat us in the SB, but that was 100% luck. Play that game 9 more times and we win every one. I know, it's not the one that matters and we can never take it back from you. But one lucky game does not make you the best in the league. Too bad Tamara lives in NY and Broadway is in NY because I can't say I hate NY. But I really REALLY hate NY fans!!!!

Life Without Tommy

Every New England fan's worst nightmare came true this week. As mentioned in an earlier post, my #1 hearthrob, Tom Brady, was injured in the first game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs. Horrors. The worst 10 minutes of my sporting life - the last 2 minutes of the Super Bowl through the first 8 of the first game of the season. Ugh. On Monday it came out officially that my Tommy is gone for the season with a torn ACL and MCL. Ouch! Now I'm just trying to figure out how to live in a world without my guy.

A lot (A LOT) has been said this week about how well off the Pats will be without Tommy. The new guy running the show is Matt Cassel. Now, I've always thought him to be a worthy back-up in the looks department, so we'll see how his arm and football mind compare to TB's. The loss is certainly heartbreaking, but I'm still pulling for a good year. Regardless of if Tommy was healthy or not, we were going to lose some games this year. I mean, you just don't go (almost) undefeated in back to back years. But we also play a bunch of games against some of the worst teams in the league (49ers, Dolphins, Raiders... please). So I don't think the season will be a throw away. We'll keep our heads in the game and keep our chins up and see what the season holds. A few years back the NE QB was a guy named Drew Bledsoe. He got hurt and a 6th round draft pick back-up came in the game, won the starting job, and oh, just happened to lead the team to their first of 3 Super Bowl wins. So things didn't work out so badly. Now, i don't assume that Matt Cassel will be a team savior like TB was. Heck, we don't need a savior. We have a solid team and we just need Matt to be poised and keep us in games. We probably won't be blowing people out like last year, but that doesn't matter. I have faith in the team and I'm hoping for great things from Matt. His first test starts in a few hours against Brett Favre and the Jets. Really, I just hope Matt comes out and proves himself right away because I hate Favre. I hate the Jets. I hate their coach. I just want to see them crushed!

Good Luck Matt!

Algebra... Not what it used to be

The Scene: Algebra class, students taking a test.

Student is basically trying to get me to give the answer to question #2. Student had to write a function rule for a given set of information. Student had tried to find something to multiply by and divide by.

Me to Student: Ok, well how many operations are there?
Student: four
Me: Okay, well you've tried multiplication and division, so what's left?
Student: Plusin' and Addin'
Me: (rolling my eyes and trying to stifle laughter), Really? Plusin' and Addin'?

Students all start giggling.

Ah yes, good times with the 8th graders :-)

A Magnet

Yesterday Kelly and I had a lunch and craft shopping date all lined up. We went to Fresh Choice- our favorite from the old days- and to the opening day of the new Joann's craft store. I had been eagerly anticipating the opening since it's much closer to my house. However, after one stop in there, I may not go back. Now, I get that it was the first day, so I was trying to cut them some slack. But even Kelly got to witness the sheer stupidity, and that I am not making this stuff up. First of all, the store isn't even very nice. It's very claustrophobic. The aisles are way too skinny and the scrapbooking area is fairly small. I was very disappointed. Anyway, we went up to check out and the guy was having trouble with my coupons. I had 3 40% off coupons plus a 15% teacher discount. After scanning the coupons to no avail he was basically just standing there waiting for someone to rescue him. The manager lady was at the next register trying to (unsuccessfully) solve another issue. Well, there was no being proactive AT ALL. Meanwhile, Kelly was at the end of the row of registers laughing at me. She and Jill made a little card at the craft table and everything while I was still waiting. Funny that her coupons had no problem. So finally I told the guy to remove one of the books and just ring it separately. Well, he couldn't figure that one out either. Eventually the lady came over (finally) and the kicker was when the guy explained the situation and she (the manager) says, "well why won't it work?" I started laughing and said- that's why you're here! So anyway, Kelly came over and had the best line. She says to me, "You really are a magnet, aren't you?" Me, "for stupidity? yes." She and Jill left to go pick up Noah and I just gave up. I said, you know what- forget it. Manager lady said, well I'll just start over, if you can just give me 5 minutes... Um... not so much. I walked out without my purchases. It was ok though, I didn't need any of it anyway! But yes, that's me... a magnet for stupidity... I couldn't have put it better myself.

Pain and Pride

HORRORS!

Oh dear God... My poor Tommy was injured in today's game against the KC Chiefs. Matt Cassel had to play the majority of the game. He actually did pretty well. We won 17-10, but we should have won by plenty more. I just hope Tommy is ok! No info has been given on his status.


In other, happier, football news, Matty "ice" Ryan threw a TD pass on his very first NFL pass and led his team to a 34-21 win over the Lions. Way to go Matty!

I Win Another Battle Against Corporate America

Back before I left for Europe, you may remember this post. I was super irritated, but didn't really have time to get into why. Well, one of the main reasons was that I had been battling with American Express and I was, in a word, pissed. Well anyway, put one more on the score card for me! I WIN!

I had received a rewards card from the store for some contest that we'd run. I was saving the card, along with one my friend gave me, and 2 Macy's cards for a Coach bag that I was planning on buying after the end of the school year. Well, I decided against the bag, so I went to use the card somewhere else. The person at the store told me the card had expired. Well, since gift cards can't expire in CA, I was a little confused. And so began a battle that would wage on for at least a month. I found the people at the AmEx Rewards center to be rude, unhelpful, and stupid (and we all know how I feel about stupidity, don't we?). Basically my point was that even if I had read the fine print, in CA cards can't expire, so I wouldn't have paid it much attention. It was a $25 card that had expired about 2 weeks before I tried to use it. It didn't really seem like a big deal to replace it. It became a bigger deal the longer I dealt with these people, because they said things like, well some of our cards follow that rule and some don't. Hmm... and your customers would know that how exactly? Anyway, the night before my trip, while I should have been packing, I was sitting addressing 5 letters to the CFO, CEO, Customer Service VP, etc. The letter spelled out my frustrations, their inconsistencies, and what I'd been told. Anywho- when I got back, there was a letter saying that they needed the number on the card to investigate further. I finally got around to calling the lady, and yesterday she called me back. She said that they would be reissuing the card and I will have it in 7-10 business days. Woo hoo. Go me. I'm not going to lie, I do love me a good corporate battle!

Hillariosity

On the first day back at school, my friend Amy offered me a bet. Our alma matters were to play in the first college football game of the season. She said we had to make a bet. Okay, why not. She said she knew her team would lose, but I had to give her 14 points. Sure. Whatever. The Eagles prevailed 21-0 and I won the bet! The prize I had to look forward to? A case of Diet Coke.




Despite being able to see Amy's classroom from my library, I never get to see her. So imagine my surprise today when I walked in and this greeted me at the door:



That's right friends, I was to find the 24 cans of Diet Coke hidden throughout my library. I laughed so hard, then got to work (I still had Algebra tests to correct!)

Here are some of my favorite hiding spots:

In my candy jar, surrounded by candy

In my mailbox in the teachers' room

Among the books... Low...

... and high!

Hidden in her class's basket of folders

Success! I found all 24 (barely) despite a snafu with one behind the tv that I found, then forgot.

Thanks for a fun start to the day Amy! It was a crack up!

I know, I know...

Ok, I know I said I wasn't political and I'm not going to go out there on the issues. Still don't really care. I do have to say, I found myself last night watching C-Span as I went to bed to see what I had missed of Gov. Palin's speech (I got hope halfway through). I have to say- she rocked. She made me laugh and I loved her spunk and, of course, her sarcasm. But what makes me love Sarah Palin the most is her youngest daughter Piper. I know I questioned the names a few posts ago, but I'm so on board with her. She is adorable. I loved, LOVED watching her last night. How cute was it when they were introduced and she stood right up. She looked at her siblings like, c'mon, get up. Holding her baby brother and licking her hand to smooth his hair - so cute. How can we not love this little girl? So Piper, no matter what the future holds for you or your family - you've got a fan in me!

And by the way, turns out McCain's boys are kinda hot. Who knew?

The Void

What Should Have Been

What Was

Last February I headed with my dad to Arizona to watch history unfold. The beloved New England Patriots were going to wrap up the perfect season. We were one game away from being the first 19-0 team in history. But we lost. To this day, about a week over 7 months have passed, and I'm still not over it. It's just a game, I know. I cringe when I see Eli Manning. I turn the station when they mention the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. I basically shudder in horrified disbelief whenever that day is mentioned. There is a terrible void that I still cannot fully accept. Imagine what could have been- Boston would be the reigning world champs in baseball, football, and basketball, causing haters to hate even more and Bostonians to be, well, even more Bostonian. But instead I can only look back and wonder what if.

Tonight was Opening Night for the NFL. I'm so excited for football to be starting up. BC got underway with a win, and now I'm hoping for the best with the Pats. Usually I would celebrate opening day. I'd watch at least part of the game for the sheer excitement that football is back. Historically (well, at least since I've been paying attention, aka- not long) the Opening Night game features a great match up between the defending SB champ and one of their rivals. I just couldn't do it tonight. I will have to wait until Sunday to celebrate. I just could not stomach watching Eli and his boys. I just couldn't. I hope someday I get over this loss. I never knew I had it in me to take one silly game to such a personal level and to care so much. But I do and I probably always will. Now, Tommy, Bill, Randy, team - get out there and show the rest of the world what you've got!

Okay Tommy, Let's go. One game at a time.

In other opening week news, my other qb bf, BC's own Matt Ryan, won the starting job with the Atlanta Falcons. While I can't imagine ever having another team to love as much as my Pats, I will certainly be paying attention to Matty Ice as he takes the team on his back and gets ready to go. I wish him so much luck and I hope he gets started with a W.

(Really, I swear I'm not 13)

Among my guilty pleasures (like I could get more guilty than my love letter to BH 90210 - as opposed to the new 90210) is the ABC Family show "Greek." I missed it last night while watching 90210 so I'm watching it in another window on-line. Apparently, I'm Ashleigh. Within about the first 8 minutes of this episode I have discovered that I am a tv character. Proof - Ashleigh made some crack about how she's going to grow old with nothing to live for but her love of scrapbooking... hello! (but really, she's only in college, what's she worried about?) Proof - she professes that her one true love is a guy she met for only a minute and has no idea where to find him. Her best friend - Casey - reminds Ashleigh that they only met once, to which I (I mean Ashleigh) reply - once was enough. This is close enough to the truth for it to be proof. Although, through the use of alumni internet stalking, I do know mine's name and where to find him. It just happens that he's 3000 miles away, and apparently not interested since he never responded to the email I sent. Yes, you read that right. Met a boy. Loved him. Mom loved him. Stalked him. Emailed him. Never heard back from him :-( Sad, but true...

Other things to consider...
The name of the show is "Greek." I met dream boy where? Greece.
Like I said, bff's name- Casey. Yes, I realize that is my name, not my bff, but still... close enough for me.
Ashleigh's dream boy? The boy Rory (I mean Alexis Bledel) dates in "Sisterhood...2" before she gets back with (spoiler) Kostos. Where did Rory, I mean Lena, find her soulmate- Greece... Santorini to be specific. My dream boy may not have been Santorini, but close enough as I was there the next day. (Ok, it's a stretch, but please, if you've taken me "seriously" this far... go with it)

Anyway, this episode (that is currently frozen so will have to wait for another day) is all about a crush party. It brings back fun memories to when my friends hosted a crush party when we were seniors at BC. It was super fun. All us girls got a few (or more for the boy crazy among us... ahem) bright pink invites to send out to our crushes. What fun! At that point I do believe I had a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior crush, though sadly I can't really remember who the soph and jr were... So of course I put the notes in campus mail to those I could, had friends take them to tables in the Eagle's Nest (deli) to those I saw, and took them personally to my best guy friend and his extremely funny and totally random roommates upstairs. I'm having hazy recollections of the night (due to my horrendous memory, not alcohol, btw. I was still scared of alcohol at that point I'm afraid. The story probably would have been a lot better with a few drinks in me!), but I do remember the funniest part. I'd had a great time hanging out with my friends and the upstairs boys, when towards the end of the night my freshman crush showed up. It was pretty hilarious, because I had invited him as a joke (even though he was a hottie) because imagine the thrill of being a freshman and getting your very own personal mystery invite to a party in the seniors' housing. How great would that have been? So I wanted to give him a little thrill. Eventually I'm sure he figured out who sent it, even though I never talked to him (how lame am I?) because he was in a singing group with my best guy friend and it was widely known that I thought he was a hottie. Besides, I'd invited like 10 crushes, and most fell within the same circle. Always the slick one I am. Anyway, that's just a little trip down memory lane, all inspired by my alter ego Ashleigh, and yet another guilty pleasure.

Have I Mentioned I Hate Politics?

According to friends' status statements on facebook last week, I assume many of my friends to be in camp Obama rather than camp McCain. I'm somewhere in camp Who-Really-Cares. Yes, that's me, I've said it... I could really care less. Basically (and no daggers please) I pretty much vote for whoever my dad tells me to... Republicans. I think it's great that Obama is breaking barriers and I do respect McCain's past. As far as my political opinions, that's pretty much as far as it goes. I do have a question and a thought (or 2) to share...

Ok- this whole Gov. Pailin thing... Mom and I were discussing at dinner. I could really care less that her daughter is pregnant. Whatever. I feel bad about it for one reason- did you see the picture circulating of her? It's terribly unflattering. Couldn't they have done better? Yes, they could have. The other thing I feel bad about is, geez - she's 17... is it really any of our business? Let the girl live her private life. Her mother made the choice to be in politics, don't make her live in the public eye if she doesn't want to. I know the Bush girls were hounded while in college, and I hate that. It's just not fair to the children. Leave them alone. Of course, in saying that, let me just add- what was the Gov. thinking when she named the kiddos - Track, Piper, Willow, Trig, and Bristol? Fortunately I found a site where it lists reasons... at least she has some!

Now here's the question and I'm looking for opinions from those with kids, no matter your political leanings. Today at Barnes and Noble I was in the kids' section (as usual). Well, there are 2 picture books for children- 1 about Obama and 1 about McCain. I was thinking of buying both of them for the library at school so the kids would have a way to perhaps learn a little more about the people running for president. I just don't want any gripes from parents. So tell me, if I simply make them available and I have both candidates represented, is there any way that parents can throw me to the lions?

Uh oh...

If AOL frontpage has "Leos beware of Sept. 8" highlighted on the front page, do you think that allows me to legitimately call in sick to work? and life?

9021 - 0 ya!!!

It's back! It's back! I'm SO excited about the return of 90210. (This comes from the girl who spent all weekend in a Gossip Girl - a -thon, and owns every season of the OC and Dawson's Creek... so consider the source).

At first I wasn't too sure that I wanted 90210 to be back. Why mess with the best? However, I know this new spin will be quite different than my old beloved friend. Again, after immersing myself on the season of Gossip Girl I missed, I expect it to be, well, not that much different, except the whole CA angle. There was just so much to love about 90210, I simply can't put it in words. I will tell you that Fox needs to capitalize on this new version and finally release the last 5 seasons (I think only 5 are currently available) on DVD. I will be one of those freaks who goes out the first day and buys the entire season. (Note to self, stop buying clothes, start saving up for DVDs).

My freshman year roommate, Reenie, and I were not exactly what you would call buddies. We came from vastly different worlds. The first thing she said to me, "can I see your fake ID?" I'm sorry, my what? Anyway, it was difficult for us to bond. The one thing we did share was our love of 90210. Weds. was the best day of the week, because not only could we watch the new episode in prime time, we could also watch 2 reruns leading up to it. Woo hoo! One thing I specifically remember was during the season with Dylan and Noxema Girl (still don't know her name on the show- Rebecca Geyheart - wife of Gray's hottie Eric Dane, aka, McSteamy... although I'm sure if you've read this far you probably knew all that from "Noxema Girl"), we kept missing the episode where she gets shot in the car by her dad's henchmen. It became quite the quest to make sure we didn't miss it since it was probably the only episode we had not seen!

I can't pick a favorite character and I don't have a clear enough memory to pick a specific episode (when I Netflix/ buy all the DVDs I'll let you know). I will tell you a quick little story about my best friend Kelly. Well, rewind about 9ish years to when she was pregnant with her eldest son. We were discussing names, and I think this was about a year after the final season. Well, she told me she wanted to name the boy Noah. Now, those who know Kelly's fam would not be at all surprised by the use of a biblical name, as her mom is very religious. I'm here to tell you the truth. My dear little friend Noah is not named for the dude with the animals... no- the boy that lived on the boat and dated half of Beverly Hills is his namesake!

It's nice to hear the familiar theme song (that, more that once, I have considered using as my ring tone. Now, I think that would be a little weird). So as I sit and enjoy, my thoughts...

Ok, Annie is like way the prettiest- why are all the other girls being so mean to her? Jealous much?

Naomi looks a little too much like Elizabeth Berkely in her Saved by the Bell days for me to be comfortable with her as the Queen Bee/ Blair Waldorf character.

Love having Aunt Becky as the mom. Genius - love the shout out to the late 80s/ early 90s. Intentional or not.

Seriously, you're going to give a term paper to someone you just met and NOT expect them to plagiarize? dumbass...

Why is the principal starting a week after school starts? That's lame.

(Sidebar... why do these shows have to use text messages as story points. My eyes are just NOT that good... grr)

I love how worried Naomi's mom is about her stupid party. Good times. This is the kind of crap I deal with. Though, well, not exactly the same...

Am I the only person totally horrified by the amount of teen drinking on tv? Gossip Girl, 90210, the Hills (before they turned 21)... so much drinking, no one even blinking an eye.

Ooooh- who is Kelly Taylor's baby daddy??

Yes- everyone into the ocean in your ball gowns! Great idea... Is anyone else waiting for "This is how we do it in the BH, bitch?"

I know they are only supposed to be 16 so maybe this is wrong to say, but none of these guys are even remotely hot. Huh? Well, other than the principal/dad of course. Sad that I'm to the point now where I have to decide that the "adults" are the hot ones.

So true that the kiddos can name the characters from the movies, and not the state capitals. Geesh.

Sidebar - does anyone else absolutely shudder at the thought of having had blogs/ text messages/ heck, cell phones in high school? I wasn't popular, I wasn't cool, but I'm absolutely horrified about what it would have been like!

Sidebar sidebar- OMG- "Confessions of a Shopaholic" coming soon to a theater near you. Can't wait. I heart Becky Bloomwood!

This dinner trip to SF is a little too "Pretty Woman" for my taste...

Yay- Brenda and Kelly- BFF! Back together again :-)

Reaction to gma's accident? I'm sorry, did she even know her grandmother? Annie doesn't even look like she remotely cares!

Ok, sorry- I got bored... please leave any 90210 related comments... let's discuss...