Tagged

Hello everyone, I've been tagged by the lovely MissE of Adelaide, Australia, denizen of the "Waving from the Edges" blog to do this book meme...

Here is the task:

1. Pick up nearest book
2. Open to page 123
3. Find 5th sentence
4. Post next 3 sentences
5. Tag 5 people


The book nearest to me is: The Tao of Teaching: The Ageless Wisdom of Taoism and the Art of Teaching by Greta Nagel, Ph.D.


"Do what your insight tells you to do in terms of helping students to experience learning. Maria believes that the more her students read and the more they know about interesting subjects, the better they will be able to perform on tests. She makes one part of her program synchronize specifically with the standardized tests, and that is to have the kids come up with sample test questions each day." (pg. 123)


I tag: (names deleted... but you know who you are). (You can post your tag on the "comments" section of my blog, if you'd like). Even if you don't think you are named, participate anyway...

Interesting experiment... Let's see what happens.


Hope you are having a lovely day.
-- This Single Gal

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I have to admit, one of my biggest fears is to die at home, alone. And, because I am alone, no one notices I'm gone, and Daisy eats me as a midnight snack before anyone finds me. Disgusting? I know, but it happens, and I really do not want it to happen to me.

As I've been lying on my couch this week nursing the Pammy Plague, there have been times when I've thought my lung was going to explode or some other malady would happen and there I would be, dead and rotting by the end of the week.

Well, I have to say, even though I am single and (sniff sniff) seemingly alone in the world, during this illness I have been reassured that there are a lot of people out there who would notice if I kicked the bucket (in a timely fashion) and will help me if I need it.

There have been several friends who've checked in on me during the week, others who have offered to bring me food or other assorted joys, and then there is my dear friend Taryn, who actually did this:
That's right, friends, she sent me flowers.
So kind.
I wept.
For real.


I am starting to feel better, but I still have a way to go.

Hope you are all well and staying healthy.
-- This Single Gal

You know...

I could start feeling better any time. Annnny time, thank you very much.
I really hate being sick.

L.L. Crap J.

I know the entire daily line up of the CW station in Seattle. I watch the judge shows, I watch the talk shows, I watch the sitcoms and reality shows. For hours... for weeks...

I'm generally not a big TV watcher, but thus far, 2008 has brought me closer to my couch by servin' up a one-two punch of plagueries.

I've been sick.

A lot.

A freakin' hell of a lot.
And, sadly, at the beginning of the year, I made a New Year's Resolution to avoid taking antibiotics for the whole year.
Well...

Let's recap this Single Gal's plagues thus far this year, shall we?

ILLNESS #1: THE FINNISH DEATH PLAGUE

A lovely plague of dizziness, fever, chills, coughing, sneezing which was passed on to me during an 11 hour flight from Germany to the US.


As a result of the plague, I missed about a week and a half of work (and it should have been more.)

I thought I'd be fine if I rested, drank fluids, blah blah, but because my body sucks, while I was at home, I caught

ILLNESS #1a: THE PLAGUE OF THE LUNG
AKA bronchitis. Needed antibiotics for that one. Good times. Love me the z-pack.


My new year's resolution was DASHED by the end of February.

There were a few weeks there I was feeling groovy (well, if you don't consider my arm issue) and then suddenly, my entire family seemed to be in the hospital. Insert a few very stressful weeks at work... and then I took a trip back to the homestead to hang out with my post-surgery illin' momma.

Enter...

ILLNESS #2: THE PAMMY PLAGUE
My mother's name is Pam. She had surgery and had been to the doctor 2 days before I arrived for a follow up appointment. She was feeling "awful" when I got there. Her "awful" turned into a sinus infection. Which she lovingly shared with me while I was in town.


That's right friends, I'm on round 2 of antibiotics thus far this year. I blew my New Year's Resolution twice and it's not even May.


Tra la la.

Hey... I like this cough medicine...

Hope you are staying healthy.
-- This Single Gal

La cucaracha

I caught some sort of cold/flu/plague while I was in Iowa visiting my parents. I'm so angry about it, I can barely write.
I blame my mother.
I'm on vacation and I'm sick.
What a rip off.

As I've been laying around my house the last couple of days, I've been brainstorming about all of the magnificent home projects I want to do when I win the PowerBall: new windows, add a bathroom, redo the kitchen, create a proper laundry room...
laundry -- oh, crap -- and then I remembered I left wet laundry in the washing machine.

My washer and dryer are currently in the garage. Stylish, I know...

I lumber outside, laundry basket in hand, ready to do the switch over, and I see it -- a freaking cockroach. A DEAD cockroach lying on the floor of my garage.

Holy crap.

Nooooooooooo! All I need is another freakin' infestation in my house.

I've had a couple of previous experiences with cockroaches in my life...

FLASHBACK

The first -- occurred when I was a senior in college (paying $175 / month for rent, thank you very much). I was awoken one night by three lovely cockroaches in my room. They loved to run behind my Charlie Chaplin poster.

I killed them.

I ruined the poster.

My second memorable cockroach experience happened when I lived in Arizona. I saw it crawling on my bathroom counter.
I freaked.
I killed it by squirting it with Windex.
Ingenious? I think so.

END FLASHBACK

May the cockroaches stay far from your home.
-- This Single Gal

A photo tour of THE BIG CITY

Yesterday my father, my brother (The Fruits -- yes, that's his real nickname) and I went on a walking tour of Des Moines, Iowa (aka the BIG CITY). Here they are in their traipsing glory.

On our walk, we broke into Sec Taylor Stadium, home of the Iowa Cubs and the hot dog gun. Yep, friends, in addition to t-shirts and other crap, they shoot foiled wrapped hot dogs into the audience. People eat them. I have seen it with my own eyes.

This is the Iowa Capitol building. It is a really amazing place. The dome is made of gold leaf and you can go up into the dome on the inside of the building. About 10 years ago, Fruits and I walked around the building without being stopped or asked what we were doing. We tried to replicate our hijinks, but the door was locked.Another dramatic angle of the dome.
And the trains. My dad likes trains. Here are some train tracks.

Here is one of the many train bridges. This crosses the Raccoon River (I think, it might be the Des Moines River).
This is Terrace Hill, the governor's mansion.This is THE BIG CITY's skyline, taken from the Capitol Building. At night, the lights on the main street in the photo create the outline of a witch. Or, it did 20 years ago.

That street is also a crucial part of loop scooping. Teenagers drive a loop through Des Moines on the weekends. Many of them are farm kids (you can tell by their license plates which list the county the car is registered in), and others are, by Fruits' recollection, complete losers.

I scooped the loop.

And there was much loop scooping last night. Complete with screaming teenagers in prom gowns.

And they came to my hotel.

Where they partied like rockstars and kept me up until 4:30 a.m. (despite three phone calls to the front desk and a visit from the police). Good times.

I'm back in Seattle and happily so.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

-- This Single Gal

Random photo tour of my parents' computer

Greetings, friends...

I'm currently in Iowa at the family homestead. I'm here until Sunday to take care of my mother post-surgery. I borrowed my father's car today so I can cart her around to the doctor, pharmacy, blah blah.

Good times.

Have I mentioned my mother doesn't drive?

Never has, never will.

Oh, so much more on this topic at a later time... it has scarred me for life.

Ok, one quick story regarding the mother not driving situation... I was 5. In Kindergarten. I had a headache and the nurse sent me home. A cab came for me at school, and I had to ride home BY MYSELF in a cab. At age 5.

Scarred, I tell you.

Tra la la.

So here are some photos I'm snaggletoothing from my parents' computer... they'll be up until my brother finds out his daughter is on the internet and / or my parents freak out and make me take the post down. You just never know with these people...

My, my I'm depicting them as insane freaks. They are not, generally. My parents are good people, just a little quirky.

Yeah, that's it. Quirky.

So, the photos:

My niece Charlotte

Another of my fabulous niece Charlotte

My dad in his Colonel Sanders phase

And that is all...
Hope the day is treating you well.
-- This Single Gal

On hedge haircuts and cool ass treasures...

Hello everyone,

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven't updated my blog in awhile. It's been a challenging few weeks both personally and professionally, so I've been laying low.

All is generally well, though, and today life is especially fabulous. I'm happy to report I'm on vacation until April 27. Hooray!

I'm spending part of my vacation in Iowa, visiting my dad and my ailing (but getting better) momma. I don't necessarily consider going to Iowa a vacation, but I'm sucking it up. My mother's been through hell this year.

My brother and his wife have had a rough go of it lately as well. Their newborn daughter, beautiful little Charlotte, is struggling with several pretty large health problems. She had a tracheotomy last week, and will be in the hospital for another 2 - 3 weeks. My brother and sister-in-law are the most organized and practical people I know, so they are taking this all in stride. But it can't be easy. They have a lot to learn and deal with.

In anticipation of my trip, I spent most of the day attempting to do yard work, and cleaning up the house. I have a dogsitter (a former student who also ROCKS) coming tomorrow morning who will be taking care of Daisy while I'm kickin' it in the corn. She will be staying here. This means, of course, that I have to clean everything and make sure I don't appear like a slob to my house guest...

Ridiculous? Maybe.

There are days I wish I wasn't a perfectionist.

I'm fairly happy with the inside of the house, but the yard still needs some work.

And then there's the new hedge problem...

A new hedge issue? Yes, that's right folks.

It got a bad haircut.

I can't describe it to you... take a look for yourself.

Before:

and After.
Yeah, I wanted to cry, too.

Of course, I should not complain about the baldness of my hedge. A crew of about 15 of my pals rolled over to my house a few weeks ago and spent several hours hedge slaying and doing other yard work, complete with hauling 1000 pounds of yard waste to some yard waste land in the sky.

This is my friend Annie straddling the hedge and takin' it down! She was a maniac with the hedge clippers. These people rock.

So instead of crying over chopped hedges, I decided to plant some things.

In the backyard, I put in some herbal delights. No, not that kind, but some rosemary and lavender.

In the frontyard, near the fucking buzz cut hedge, I dug a hole for some heather.

Check out what I found in the dirt...

It is a handmade glass bead. It is really old. It is really cool.

I'm wondering how it got there, who it belonged to, what the story was. It was about 3" into the soil and there was no marker on it or anything else around it.

Any ideas? It's a hedgerific mystery...