Cheshire Cat

One thing I'm going to miss in 7 days is my daily serving of hot chocolate. The Life Skills class at school brings around hot chocolate and coffee to us every morning around 10:30. In exchange for their services, I pay them with a "$1 bill" printed on a sheet of paper. They collect this money from alllllll the teachers and then are able to use it to purchase things in their own little community! My love for this process is two-fold:

1. I get hot chocolate no matter the outdoor temperature!! (watered down and soapy tasting as it might be)
2. They bring me the money to pay them with. And I don't even technically work for it!! (I like to pretend it's my own trust fund. Provided by the LMS Life Skills students.)

For some unknown reason, they have begun drawing designs on my styrofoam hot chocolate cup. It's always been labeled with my name. BUT NOW is has a picture of.......wait for it.......the Cheshire Cat!!! (I know what it is because they always label their pictures.)

Only problem: I can't for the life of my figure out what this animal has to do with me or my hot chocolate. Any ideas?

(If I'm supposed to be offended by this, please enlighten me.)

Memphis Tiger Basketball

If there's one thing my hometown loves, it's Tiger Basketball. This love of mine has been well-documented here, so I know this comes as no surprise. One of my favorite Commercial Appeal columnists, Geoff Calkins, has a pretty entertaining story about the city's love for their Tigers. This is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

One hand in my pocket

After leaving school today, I realized that my pants pockets were still stuffed with school junk. I normally make a habit of clearing out my pockets before I leave, but that simply didn't happen today. What had my pockets overflowing, you ask? Well....

• 2 paperclips
• 2 Sharpies (one confiscated, one of my own)
• a pink polka-dotted pen (it's the only writing utensil the boys won't steal off my desk...bwahahaha)
• 11 USA State Bingo cards (did you know that New Hampshire markets itself as "The Granite State"?)
• 2 blingin super-cute earrings (mine)
• a similarly as cute blingin ring (mine)
• annnnnd quite a bit of pocket lint.
  

These contents pretty much sum up my life. You know it's true.

Mamaw and Papaw

Got to see them today. They are the happiest homebound elderly couple I know. Sure, they live about 10 miles from civilization, but when their *favorite* granddaughter shows up to take Mamaw to Wal-Mart, they perk right up.

I know you want to go visit, so here are the directions:

1. Turn left off the interstate.
2. Turn right between the John Deere and Case dealerships.
3. Go until it dead ends.
   
4. Turn right.
5. Take the bypass toward Jackson.
6. Turn left at the giant blue warehouse.
7. Take the second gravel-like road.
8. Theirs is the square house with a tin roof in the middle of the field with no trees (but sometimes corn, cotton, or wheat).

Cracks me up every time.

They chose to move out there about 15 years ago to live on the land my Papaw grew up on. They didn't know at the time that he would become unable to drive within 5 years of their moving there. Now, they rely out my Papaw's second cousin, my uncle, and my family to get to Wal-Mart and doctors' appointments. I don't get to go very often, but when I do, I'm always glad I did. Even when it takes my Mamaw a billion gazillion years to get through Wal-Mart.

Even though Papaw usually doesn't watch TV during the day, he let me watch the end of the Miss. State-Kentucky game (WOW!), all the while informing me that he typically watches five hours of television at night. As we speak, he's watching HeeHaw, Crook and Chase, and probably an episode of Baseball Tonight (it's genetic). This nighttime TV watching is strangely important to him. He's earned the right to have strange habits, so I'm okay with it. He's been around the block a time or two.

Big shout out to the g-parents!

Generosity

Backstory: My friend Lauryn teaches first grade down the street from me. She is one of the most patient, calm, devoted teachers (and people) I know.

Lately, Lauryn and I have spent our infinite snow days discussing the generosity of others. We both teach underprivileged children and are always looking for ways to make their lives better. Try as we might, we can't do it all ourselves.

You know all about my DonorsChoose page. OUR PROJECT GOT FUNDED!! I don't even know how to properly thank everyone who donated to this endeavor. Our supplies arrived on Wednesday and I stayed there until an ungodly hour to unpack and organize everything. My students oo-ed and ah-ed over the transformation of our supply cabinet. They are so excited to start using their own supply boxes and to have access to everything they need! Pictures to come!

This morning, I went to LP Pencil Box to shop for free school supplies. The Pencil Box allows teachers to come once a semester and pick up a few things that are needed to keep a classroom running. Though there are limits on how many items you can take, this is a fantastic resource for teachers. I left there with somewhat of a holy grail: pencils and three-prong folders, scissors and magazines. And BOOKS. These are precious commodities in the middle school classroom.

I sent out a plea for magazine subscriptions back in November, and the response was beyond what I could have hoped for. My kids are reading everything from Sports Illustrated to Discover Kids. Great to see!

Lauryn's students got to have a Christmas party with the Vanderbilt student-athletes and experience their first pajama party thanks to a friend of her family.

The generosity is astounding. It's good to know there are amazing people out there. You rock. :)

What're you?

A list of my favorite holidays (in order of favoritism):

1. Independence Day
2. Christmas
3. Thanksgiving
4. Opening Day (for baseball, of course)
5. Homecoming
   
6. New Year's
7. Easter
8. Labor Day
9. Memorial Day
10. MLK Day
11. Valentine's Day
12. Last Day of School
    
13. President's Day
14. Columbus Day
15. First Day of School
    
16. Halloween

So, it's really no surprise when I was less than pumped about Halloween. I feel so much pressure to come up with a great costume! I had two stipulations for a costume: (a) must be readily apparent what I'm supposed to be and (b) must be free. After quite the quest (including the ideas of being Alice in Wonderland and Beth Chapman), I remembered something that my friend Kayela dressed up as for a theme party in college: a Trophy Wife.

Decision. Made. With a little help from Nan's 6th grade basketball skillz, Meghan's blingin' ring from a previous theatre production, and my previously-assembled Vandy girl wardrobe, we had a costume!

All in all, it turned out to be a glorious weekend!