Year in Review

Friday, December 31, 2010
Year in Review
*Stolen from Holly, because I can't admit I stole it from Andrea*

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
I taught summer school .

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't generally make new year's resolutions but I resolve to get in good enough shape to do some hiking around Phoenix in March.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. But I can't wait for Cheng to have her bobo:)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not anyone who I would consider " close ". Not within 500 miles anyway.

5. What countries did you visit?
The United States of America. And Franklin & David's.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Less stress.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 15th. Jessica graduated from UMD WOOT!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I remained relatively balanced & centered even though I had so many things going on in my life that were out of my circle of control. ( ok. barf) out of my control.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not voting in the primaries. I'm afraid many of us failed to do this and as a result Dayton is our governor. Live & learn I guess.


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Other than a cold during the summer, no. Thank God.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well, I'm hoping the Garmin GPS 255W due to arrive any day is.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Jessica's behavior always merits celebration. She's fit, she's happy, she's resilient, she's..... waiting :)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Sarah Palin's behavior made me appalled.

14. Where did most of your money go?
I don't know. But I stopped buying scarves at Dan's request.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I got excited whenever I went on a group motorcycle ride.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Something by Michael Jackson I suppose.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? About the same.
c) richer or poorer? Poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I really wish that I would have taken more advantage of the social opportunities my WOW ( Women on Wheels) group offered. Something for both Dan & I.. it is open to spouses too. A place to start anyway.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Sit on my butt.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Here at home with all the fam. Meyer Christmas is tomorrow.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Yes. I fell in love with Buster in a much more profound way now that he helped me get through an unusual year.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Well, I just discovered The It Crowd and it made me laugh multiple times in 10 minutes... a good sign for 2011.


23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope. Hate is too energy-consuming. I feel disdain for some people, but I don't give anyone the satisfaction of being hated; that would mean I care.ooooooooooooooooooo GOOD ANSWER HOLLY! I'll go with that!

24. What was the best book you read?
Cripe. I read ONE book & it was this week. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. I need to return it to the media center at South.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Schnaser got me into Mozart.

26. What did you want and get?
A brand new pair of Teva sandals and tickets to Phoenix.

27. What did you want and not get?
I'm supposed to get a new set of tires but they haven't appeared yet.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I only went to one movie... no two. Eat, Pray, Love & Due Date. I liked Due Date better.


29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 54 and I taught day #2 ( I think) of the 2010 school year. Dan always gets me flowers for my B Day :)

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Jessica getting accepted into PT school but I realize that things happen for a reason.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
My fashion concept encompasses two strategies #1) Stay cool #2) Add color

32. What kept you sane?
Lori Flint my Massage therapist & drugs.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Fancy? Hmmm. I guess Michelle Obama.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Education "reform" in stirred me in a negative way I suppose because it impacts every decision made in my professional life.


35. Who did you miss?
My sister. My Grandma Puckett. Dan's Grandma Loehrer. My Mom. Danielle.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I met some pretty cool ladies at my WOW group. I held the most meaningful conversation with one who teaches at the Vo Tech now but retired from teaching in the prison. I liked her hat.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
I learned that there are valuable life's lessons from here to eternity. I guess I learned that the older I get, the wiser I feel, but the more tempting it is to dismiss other's feelings and that that is wrong & something I want to watch out for in the future.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods?
And everything there feels just as it should
You're part of the life there
You're part of something good
If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods


Brandi Carlile

Fourth alternate and a couch full of girls and one boy.

Jessica is now officially on a 4th alternate list. This time it is St. Kates. Lord ( I think that is appropriate here) , she now calls herself Jessica A. Meyer.

When she told me, I said, "alright!!!!" and she hesitated , looked at me and said, "MOM!! I'm an ALTERNATE!". And I looked at her and said , "I KNOW!!! ALRIGHT!!!". Seriously. I am very proud of her. AND!!!! It keeps her spirits/ dreams alive & so ALRIGHT!!!!

She is such a dufus. :)

Flash!!!

'Twas the night before Christmas

and all the parents are doing this.... and I get to watch & have an eggnog with spiced rum. Man. I like this picture :)

You know you're getting older when....

You THINK about ... no I mean you really THINK about that slick icy spot because you KNOW that your bones are not as strong as they used to be.

You DON'T think about having that second beer because either a) the top button of your trousers is about to pop off or b) you really don't feel like getting up to pee in the next half hour.

You wonder if you have that peach fuzz on your face that you always used to noticed on "older" women.

You are conscious of the amount of hair on your head that falls out when you comb it and you wonder if those particular follicles will ever give birth to another strand.

You realize that it is TRUE that it is much harder to maintain muscle mass as you age.

You look at 30 year old women and think that they are really "cute".

You have hemorrhoid cream, diarrhea medicine, aleve, and an AARP membership card in your desk drawer.

That is all for now.

Flash.

I've got a student story for you.

Last week I started a new unit , needed something active & different to mark the transition from my student teacher teaching to me teaching again. In order to settle my nerves ( yes , after all these years I still get nervous when getting back into the saddle again!) & mark the change I had some exploratory time at the beginning of each class.

I put out all kinds of real skulls, bones,set out broken synthetic pieces of ex- human skeletons, a few bison bone vertebrae with cow vertebrae for comparison etc etc. I just love doing this. The kids love it too. They have free rein to pick up whatever bone they see, they'll put the human mandible under there own and act like a vantriliquist, they put antlers on their heads and act like a buck... they look inside the turtle shells & realize that the backbone is fused to the top shell & marvel at that , they play fence with the cow ribs... I thought I'd seen it all until last Thursday.....

I was walking by a student who was admiring a deer skull, he looked at me with an incredulous expression and said, "someone found this at STARBUCKS?" At first I was confused and wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about and so I took the skull from him and saw written on the skull "found in Starbuck, MN 1998". So I put the skull down on the counter and asked the kid, "So you're wondering if this skull was found in Starbucks... the coffee shop?" and still with eyes wide open he replied "yeah! Did someone actually find that at Starbucks?".

Man, I got a good laugh out of that one. I have used those skulls for years and of course John Anderson's farm is in Starbuck, Mn so that is where they came from & John marked them, but this is the first year a kid mistook Starbuck, MN for Starbucks. I giggled pretty good at that one:)

Flash!

A weak moment for Grandpa.

My husband Dan is not a compulsive shopper; not by a reeeeeeal long shot. His idea of the perfect present is something practical like the new set of tires I will be getting for my car for Christmas this year. Or the classic "I got something we both can use" which inevitably is something like a power auger for drilling holes in the ice for ice fishing or a rifle or a set of pots and pans.

But today he spent $60 dollars on a pair of snowshoes for Connor. I think that is very endearing. And I am now especially looking forward to snowshoeing with the fam again this Christmas! Everyone will be home!!!

F

We made it... there AND back!

And we weren't one of the 40 or more cars in the ditch.... not even close!! Nap time zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

F

Over the river and through the woods

to Mommy's house we goooooooooooooo...WOOT!! Took Monday off so Dan & I and Buster are leaving Saturday morning for Adair , Iowa. A 7 hour drive. I can't wait. Boy was Mom surprised!!!

Yeah. I got the perverbial hair up my ass to go see my mama & especially to see Bill. I can't wait to see him play his geeeeeeeetar. I'll bring a camera.....

Flash

I want to eat:

A grilled cheese sandwich ( NOT with Velveeta) that I make. A grilled cheese sandwich is one of the very, very few things that I think I can make better than anyone else in the house..... and yes, that includes Dan. He would NOT put enough butter on it.

An Arbys RB ( no cheese) with horsy sauce. Curly fries.... small order please.

Two fried hamburger patties with gouda cheese melted on top. Dan can make this. I will eat one with catsup and one without.

A DQ sundae... small. Not sure which sauce ( not hot fudge though) and definitely with pecans on top...NOT walnuts.

2 mild pepperoni sticks made by our neighbor, Virgil.

Is it normal to have a protein crave rather than a carb crave? What does this mean?

Hungry bear!

Beautiful sunny day.

Word.

Flash!