Wednesday, October 29, 2008

18 years and counting

So, Nov. 8th is my 'little' brother's 18th birthday. I will actually get to see him on his birthday this year, and I'm desperately trying to be a cool older sister and get him an awesome present. But I am at a loss. I have less than 2 weeks to reach 'cool' status, so I realized I need to reach out for help.


He is active, loves lacrosse, all sports, being outdoors, sailing, but does do the video game thing. Hmm, sounds like a typical boy. He goes to boarding school (like me, and our older sister!), so some things are off limits (like someone suggested I buy hime some alcohol... NOPE). It's so hard to think of him as 18, and not my little brother. I coach girls younger than him, and yet feel like I treat them older. But he'll always be my baby brother... as much as he would roll his eyes and mutter something under his breathe if he heard me say that.

HELP!!!


PS: this picture is about 2 years old, but he is that much taller than me, a solid 6''1'!! And still wears the hippy hemp necklace, as preppy as that boy is, he throws some curve balls in every now and then ;-)

Friday, October 24, 2008

National Kids' Voting Day!!

In honor of the impending day, at school today we are having our election. Now, the upper grades (2-5) are voting with ''real'' ballots for President, etc etc. In Kindergarten however, we were simply asked to talk about the roll of President, who is running, and then hold a vote for anything ourselves. When asking the students who the President was, one student immediately raised his hand and exclaimed with great enthusiasm....

"Barack Obama!!!!"
My heart sank and it took me a moment to get my breath back.... I don't know if I'm ready for November 4th....
I liked the results for our vote. "If Ms. T was to get a puppy would it be named 'Riley', 'Parker', or 'Porter'? It was a close race, but Porter pulled out on top.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Packed up (sorta) and moving out (mostly)

So I mentioned awhile back that I was moving (again) and today is a big day! My parents and 'little' brother are here in Raleighwood for the weekend to help me move! My papa and his big Landcruiser are here to transport things like furniture and other pieces that just wont fit in the Volvo. This way, I can get most of my stuff out of house A and into house B, but still have a couple weeks (through the end of the month) to finish packing up and cleaning as time allows. Apparently the landlords are VERY particular and want it spotless upon moving out. Our next door neighbors, who moved in after, had to face a ridiculous deposit amount since the people that lived there before did not leave it exactly spotless. So the landlords have upped the ante. I have no idea if that's how you would spell that phrase, but you know what I mean, right?


Anyway, last night at dinner, PT (the little bro - senior in highschool) asked if I thought I'd ever move back to Virginia. I thought about it for a second, as many have asked me that actually. As much as I love Virginia, I've been rather nostalgic as of late too, I don't know if I'd go back. Knowing my parents are there, and that PT will most likely go to college there, I have reasons to go back, to get my fix. I love it in Raleigh... As far as I'm concerned, I'll be here unless a man makes me move. Seriously, I'll be going back to school in January, the school systems in Wake Country are wonderful, I've really begun making a life here, it has everything I have ever wanted. I sometimes wonder what about Richmond, or Charlottesville, or Charleston.... but for now, I'm stuck. So I'm asking you, if you live in Raleigh, what is your favorite thing about living here (or one of them). One of my favorite things about Raleigh, is that it's big enough to meet new people every day, and yet, if you want, you can run into people all the time at the grocery store, the bars, etc. I love, that it's beginning to really take off and grow, and that I can say, even in the short 2 years that I've lived here "Remember when blah blah blah wasn't there?!".


But I think my all time favorite thing about Raleigh, is that it's the City of the Oaks. When I was little, when we lived on The Farm (I'll talk about that later), I planted and oak tree. Dug a little hole, I could still show you where, and up came a little tree. When we moved, I just HAD to take that tree with me. I was very attached to this tree and refused to leave it behind. It was quite small still, maybe a foot tall, so along with Bert the beagle my favorite stuffed animal, and my little red "Going to Grandma's" suitcase, my little oak tree was one of my prized possessions. 20 years later, that little sapling is a full blown hunk of a tree. I told my parents they could never move, because I just don't think we'd be able to dig my tree up and take it with us this time.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

picking back up old habits

An old habit I've recently picked back up, thanks to LSL (a fabulous old family friend who got married and moved to Raleigh, woop woop) who gave me a book to read, and then pass along, is reading before going to bed. To be honest I'll spend countless minutes (ahem, hours) on facebook, sending emails, reading blogs, etc, right up until I crawl into bed. But instead of staying up late watching tv, then getting on the computer (I'm writing fast I swear), I'm getting into bed, well, not as early as I'd hoped, but reading.. a book. It's so much more relaxing and good for your brain (so they say). SO, when I'm done with the book I"ll let you know what I think and hopefully I'll find someone good to pass it along to.

Thanks LSL.. I like it so far ;-)

What fun books are you reading? I don't want my good habit to end with this book!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

eckanayszha????


***
For about 30 minutes today, a fellow Kindergarten compatriot and I were discussing my immune system, or what seems to be my lack of one. I have come down with one nasty cold. Yes, this is a mere week after getting the stomach bug. I have promised myself this fall, I would not fall prey to any kind of health problem. 2 years ago, October 4, emergency surgery to remove my days-until-failure infected with ganggreen gall bladder, out for... well, not long enough.. 2 weeks plus lots of half days. 1 year ago, November 14, Pnuemonia, missed Thanksgiving, out for 1.5 weeks, plus lots of half days (I have a hard time staying home and away from school for as long as I'm supposed to... perhaps some of the reason why I get sick a lot... I don't know when to quit.. hmmm... anyway). So this year, I backed off from working at the toy store as much, I'm trying to eat better, be good about taking vitamins, washing hands, etc etc. I wanted a healthy Fall. This year, thus far, I have had 1) ear ache 2) cold with bad cough 3) stomach bug 4) cold from hell. This current cold, has me coughing, both ears achey, breathing through one nostril at a time, and to top it all off, it seems to be focusing it's energy in my neck. Yes ladies and gentlemen (do I have any gentlemen readers??), I have a cold in my neck. Actually, it's a viral thing going around apparently, and my neck hurts like (excuse my language) crap. But it comes and goes in waves. So I've been taking cold medicine which has only reminded me of the many reasons why I DON'T take cold medicine. I had to have people repeat things multiple times, have students remind me what I was talking about, and I was walking the halls like a zombie. I still felt like poo, the only difference, I didn't really care! Hahaha. I was almost a complete waste of space today. Don't even get me started on how much fun the girls made of me at practice. Good times had by all :)

So those of you out there, that aren't graced by the presence of 20+ runny noses in your face on a daily basis, love your health, build your immune system, and send me healthy vibes...

OH WAIT.. The WHOLE point of this post had to do with ecanasha (which is the correct spelling, not the post title). So, my teacher friend and I were discussing even more ways to boost my immune system and we couldn't for the life of us thinking of ecanasha. We were saying eucharist, eckshell, and so many others except ecanasha. Then finally, sitting in silence on the playground, we literally all of a sudden turned towards each other and screamed 'ECANASHA!". After the laughing stopped, we were silent again, and I asked.... "Now how do you spell it?"

***The above post is a very good example of why I should not take any type of cold medicine. I apologize