Been on land 14 hours and my ears still haven’t popped yet.

5 more days!

10. TSA is quite easy to fool. I smuggled a tube of that “oh-so-dangerous” lip gloss from Christmas through security in my pocket. HA! Quart-sized bag, my ass!

9. Playing “name that animal” gets a little old after being woken up by something howling outside my window every morning at 6. One day it was turkeys… one day a coyote… never did figure it out the last morning. I SWEAR it was a bear!

8. It doesn’t matter where or when… you cannot enter a Wal-Mart without being assaulted by the sounds of a screaming child. through. the. whole. store.

7. When my sister doesn’t bring the kids, I actually get treated like a human and get to sleep in a REAL BED! Not a fold-up couch contraption, not a cot, not a blow up thingy… a real bed! *feels special*

6. I got caught up on the latest issue of Betty & Veronica’s Double Digest. I was desperate for reading material… but I have always loved Archie comics. For those of you who care… there’s a new girl in town and you get to vote on who you think her boyfriend should be online! ROFL

5. I learned that a “little hike” to my uncle actually means a 6 mile trek up Mount Martha. Never again.

4. My family has horrible taste in television shows. Seriously… I’m going to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon the next time I’m subjected to a conversation about Dancing with the Stars.

3. I’m becoming more and more like my dad… it’s scary. At least it’s not my mom, though! LOL

2. Chicago has the worst travel weather in the world. It doesn’t matter what time of year… you will always be stuck in an airport waiting for a storm system to pass. Always.

1. I got to check out my burial plot in the family cemetary… can’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon. I’m thinking a little Hello Kitty motif on the headstone might be fitting. “Here lies Snarky Kitten… get off me.”

My students have been researching an animal of their choice and using the information to plan and write an expository piece.  I have some really great writers who have done a great job with the project.  They’re writing paragraphs and paragraphs for me.  They’ve loved the quest for info and the independence of it all… they feel very “grown up”.  One of my more needy students was very proud of himself when he showed me his first draft today.  And really, he should be… he’s made a lot of progress this year.  (Still a long way to go..)

Anyway… he wrote the following piece entitled “beers”:

beers live in the forest.  beers are brown and white.  beers eat plants.  beers make babies.  i like beers.

Of course, I giggled to myself right at the title.  Clearly this child knows his audience… his teacher really likes beers.  LOL  Anyway… he was actually writing about deer.  He gets his d’s turned around a lot.  So the whole notion of beers living in the forest etc. really cracked me up.  (And LOL @ “i like beers.”)

But the part that has had me laughing allllllllll day is, “beers make babies.”  ROFL  Ain’t that the truth!  A wise warning from an unexpected source!

YES! I’m still alive! A few updates for this random post (kind of a month’s worth of posts in one):

1. Although I’ve done MORE than my fair share of whining in the last month, I have managed to survive the rib incident (shhhh… let’s not talk about it). I’m feeling much, much better… and best of all, I can sleep again! (Most nights I spent whimpering to myself until the drugs finally knocked me out! LOL)

2. My work-issued iBook finally bit the dust. Not sure who really won the battle. I lost everything on it! (Insert hind-sighted advice on backing up files here.) But really… no big loss. Glad to be rid of the beast… my nemesis… hmmm… maybe I won?

3. I finally hit 70 a longggg time ago in Warcraft. At first I thought “then what?”… but I’m finding there’s so much more to the game once you get to 70. Too much, really. LOL Although the new stuff is fun, I do miss the old questing days, too. *tear*

4. April was a very fun month as anticipated… it’s a good thing birthdays are only once a year.

5. My partner in crime at work and I came up with a brilliant idea to get rich quick. We’re looking for investors if you have a little extra cash! LOL Keep in mind this brilliant idea came after we both had several popsicles… and the shakes were setting in. Let’s just say I’d like to put two good things together… popsicles and liquor! (I really didn’t learn my lesson from the rib incident, did I?)

6. 15 days of school left! Summer here I come!

Now to attend to a month’s worth of stuff that I’ve been ignoring… *sigh*