Still Here

I survived the Blogathon!  Granted, I’m not feeling all that spiffy today (the day after — doesn’t that sound ominous?), but with a good night’s sleep, I’m sure that will change.

I just wanted to extend a super heart-felt thank you to everyone who dropped by, whether once or many times, to cheer me on throughout the Blogathon.  It would have been much more difficult to do without your support.

To all who sponsored me, I can’t say thank you enough.  You’re the reason I did this in the first place, knowing that your generosity for deserving children was the reward for my sleepless night of posting.

And to the “chat room girls,” a great big hug — I doubt that I would have made it without y’all.  You kept me laughing, and cheered me on when I struggled.  I only hope I did the same for you.

Much love and kudos to everyone who had a role in this year’s Blogathon.  There is no doubt in my mind that it was a huge success.

The State of My Union (Post #45)

Cats have slept the entire time I’ve been awake, so now they’re running and jumping all over the place, trying to kill one another.

Geek is technically still up — he’s sitting upright on the love seat, but his eyes are closed, and his mouth is open. No snores yet.

I am hanging on by a nearly invisible thread. I keep getting up to pee, blow my nose, stretch, shake out my legs, un-numb my butt… But none of it seems to be working for me. And what’s worse – the stupid Stickam chat room won’t let me back in to talk live with my friends who are going through the same struggle that I am.

I’m wondering if I’m going to make these last 2 hours…

The Hour Approaches… (Post #42)

Lynda asked, “What are you going to do after the Blog-o-thon?”

Since this is all that’s on my mind right now, let me tell you exactly what I’m going to do after the ‘Thon… I’m going to throw these clothes that I’ve been wearing for 22 hours in the hamper, slip on my nightie, and sleep until about 1 o’clock.  At that time, I’m going to get up, shower, brush my teeth, and moisturize.  I figure that about the time I get finished with all of that, my mother-in-law will be calling us to say that she’s bringing our daughter home.  Then I will attempt to fend off sleep the rest of the afternoon and evening; I will also try to not be snappish with my daughter, but I imagine that once we put the Littleone to bed, Geek and I will fall into ours just a few minutes later. (Yes, he’s sitting right here beside me… Hasn’t pooped out on me once, despite my telling him that he didn’t have to stay up with me.  But I’m secretly glad he has.)

What else?  …Can’t think of one damned thing.

Struggling (Post #38)

Somehow I am managing to continue to make posts, although I’m not quite sure how I’m doing it.  Quite frankly, what I’m really thinking is something along these lines: huminahuminabbbbbbrrrrrrrppppptttthhhhhppp

Thank goodness for the writers of Casablanca; I can steal a line that makes more sense than I do, even without a proper context: “You’ll regret it.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life…. It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three people don’t amount to much in this crazy world.”  Guess I could apply that to how I’d feel if I were to give up now and go to sleep.  But my bed sure did whisper sweet nothings in my ear when I passed by it a few moments ago…

With A Little Help from My Friends (Post #35)

I am once again relying upon the kindness of my blog friends to help me get through the next 7 hours.  Here is a question that came from Chatty: “Why did you become a teacher and one of English?”

I can’t remember a time in my life when I ever wanted to be anything other than a teacher, and I knew that I wanted to teach English by age 9.  In fact, I told everyone so.  I think it was the only profession I could think of in which a person gets paid to be bossy, and I’m damn good at being bossy, always have been.  I’ve also always had a rather large vocabulary (I read a lot), and I learned early how to draw on it in order to say what I want to say.  With the right words, I believe I can talk to ANYONE.  Furthermore, I’m a pretty good listener, and I’ve learned that this is a valuable quality in the classroom; but sometimes, listening is not enough, you have to be able to observe your students, and if they can’t get the words out to ask the question for which they want an answer, good observation skills can help you figure out what they’re trying to say.  All of these are qualities which I’ve learned and tried to perfect over my 33 years, and I believe they’ve all led me to my chosen profession.

Another Brilliant Suggestion (Post #31)

So, earlier this week when I was begging for post ideas for tonight, as I knew I’d run out of fodder, I was not let down at all. Several of my favorite regular bloggers came to my rescue. Chatty gave me this one, “Describe a blogger party and put your favorite bloggers on the guest list.”  This ought to be easy.

First of all, Chatty would most definitely be invited.  She and I not only teach the same subject (and now to the same age kids), but every time I read her blog, I find out more and more just how alike we are.  She is so cool!

Laci would be at my cool blogger party too.  She has the best attitude and the best smile to go with it.  She was my inspiration for doing this whole Blogathon thing.

Kentucky Girl would be a must at any party, as long as she brought her boobs with her (lol).  The woman is snarkalicious, too.

I have so enjoyed getting to know Sodapop and Monique and Lucy and Frankie tonight in our Blogathon chat room, so all of them would have to come to the party.

Saintseester would be a blast at a bloggers’ party, no doubt.

Oh, and what would a party be without the ultimate pimp machine, Mr. Fab?  And, wouldn’t he love being in the midst of all these female bloggers…

Mrs. Chili would certainly keep us with plenty to talk about.

Amy and J. (Talking 2 Myself) would keep me laughing all the time, I have no doubt.

And last (only because I’m running out of time here) I would want HoosierGirl to come to my bloggers’ party.  Any woman who has 4 children and a full time job DESERVES to party!
*I’m sorry I didn’t link everybody here… I’m getting much slower putting these posts out as the night goes on.

Prized Possession (Post #25)

Mrs. Chili earlier this week asked, “What is your most prized possession?”  Good question.

Sad as this may sound, or perhaps I should say, as geeky and shallow as this makes me sound, my most prized possession at this moment in my life is my laptop.  I love it so much.  I use it in my job (it was nice not having to write all my tests at home this past year); I use it as my journal, my place to vent; I use it to socialize with my blog friends (very important); I use it to keep up with family and friends (I hate the phone); it has saved me time in dealing with parents who would otherwise take up loads of phone or meeting time; I use it for downtime, when I want to play Sims 2; it has all my pictures from the past few years on it, and it has all of my music in one place; and I’m sure there are myriad other reasons I could come up with and expound upon about why my laptop is my most prized possession. But, I think you all get the idea now.

Suffice it to say that if my house were on fire, I would do my damnedest to grab my darling laptop on the way out.

Bear With Me (Post #22)

This is a post, so I’m meeting my requirement, but don’t look for it to be a a good one.

I’m eating my supper right now — Greek food, second only to sushi in the yummy factor — so my mind is not on this post; it’s on my food.  I’m the kind of woman who turns into a total grizzly bear when I’m hungry, and I’ve got a long night ahead of me, which will only get more difficult if I’m in a bitchy mood.  So, eating is my top priority at this moment.

If anyone’s reading this, just put up with me on this one, and I promise I’ll try to do better on the next post.  (No guarantees, though, once it gets late.)

I Don’t Get It (Post #18)

I really don’t get the things that men like to watch on TV… Geek is presently watching some boring Al Boreland (a la Home Improvement) looking guy shaping wood pieces on a lathe. The host of the show (???) hardly even talks, and when he does, it’s sleep-inducing. Why in hell is he watching this?! Geek doesn’t make his own table legs, nor does he possess the tools to do so… Then, why bother?! But, he is enthralled.

He also likes to watch shows about Mars and all the other planets and meteors and stars, and I find them excruciatingly dull. And what about the shows about dinosaurs? They’ve been dead for millions of years; let them rest in peace! Oh, now Al Boreland is making a baby rattle out of wood. How fascinating.

I wonder which shows that I like to watch which make him cringe. I’ve never heard him complain that I can remember. He does get upset at my need to watch the news; it just pisses him off, but I like to feel somewhat connected to what’s going on in the world. I know he gets tired of the constant barrage of kids’ shows to which we subject ourselves in order to keep the Littleone happy, but so do I. I don’t subject him to girly soap operas or tons of sitcoms or Big Brother. He ought to be happy with me, huh?

Fear (Post #12)

Let’s talk about fear for a moment, shall we?  I find that the older I get, the more fearful I become.  And it seems it’s only gotten worse since my Littleone was born 6 years ago.  I think my biggest fear is of something happening to my family.  Every time Geek and Littleone are together and I’m not with them, I am almost consumed with the fear that they won’t come back.  There have been times when I’ve brought myself to tears, just thinking about it.  It seems silly.  I mean, if something were going to happen to them, there’s not a whole lot I could do about it, but nonetheless the fear remains.

My most irrational fear is the terror that grips me when I see a roach.  I HATE roaches.  And what’s stupid about this fear is that logically, I realize that I’m about 20 times bigger than they are (most of the time), but it doesn’t matter.  I can’t bring myself to squash them, or if I’m the only person here and I have to, I find the heaviest shoe I can and scream the whole time.  And fuhgeddabout picking up their remains.  Ain’t gonna happen.  I don’t know what it is about roaches… I think the whole thing about their being able to survive nuclear holocausts and the fact that they hang around filth bothers me.   A couple of times I’ve had them get in the bed with me, and even scalding hot showers couldn’t make me feel better after that.  And when I was about 7 years old, my mom and I lived in a nasty apartment, and every time we opened a drawer in the kitchen, about 10 of those buggers would come running out.  Maybe that’s where the fear came from, and no matter how irrational, it’s still there.   I think that’s what sucks the worst about fear… There’s no good reason for it.

So, what are your fears?