What I'm Thankful For (2011)

As I sit on my couch eating rather stale Tootsie Rolls I found in a plastic baggie at the back of the shelves in the kitchen, it is taking both of my arms and one of my legs to fend off my overly affectionate cat. Since I was out of town for (American) Thanksgiving, she apparently missed me and insists on sitting on my neck or face or shoulder or something, even though I am sitting bolt upright. If you use your imagination, you can see where we might be having some problems.

But other than fending off Squeaky, I also have a couple of minutes to belatedly devote to thinking about what I am thankful for. As an elementary school teacher, I am going to present them to you second-grade-style using standard sentence stems. You'll need to continue using your imagination and pretend that each of the following sentences is written on a construction paper turkey feather sticking out every-which-way from a lopsided construction paper turkey.

I am thankful for my decent health and strength which allows me to work, play, and live comfortably.

I am thankful for my family who supports me and tries their best to understand me.

I am thankful for my friends who make me laugh, counsel me, and take me just the way I am.

I am thankful for a cat who is healthy even in her old age and who brings such entertainment, love, and humor to my little apartment.

I am thankful for my job which every day brings challenges of different sorts, provides me with my living, and gives me the opportunity to interact with and learn from some amazing people.

I am thankful for my students who amaze me, make me laugh, make me proud, and even make me adore them when they have me pulling my hair out and twitching.

I am thankful for a safe, comfortable home where food is always available.

I am thankful for my sense of humor, because without it, life would be much more difficult than it needs to be.

I am thankful for the man who loves me, who makes me laugh, reminds me it is alright to slow down every once and a while, and seems to think that I am someone special. In fact, he does a rather good job making me feel that, despite my quirks, I am a good person.

I am thankful for the ability to play the piano as it brings me and (occasionally) my family such joy.

I am thankful for literature, because without books, I would be lost. As the cover to my nook says, "Books are a finer world within the world", though they are no replacement for your own life, rather to be used as an enhancement.

I am thankful for the educational opportunities I have had that have helped shape me as a professional, educator, permanent student, citizen, and human being.

I am thankful that I am alive because even the days I spend more time crying than laughing couldn't be traded for anything better.

Possible Titles for my Fascinating Autobiography

Tea, Popcorn, and Cats:
The Ivy McDougalhopper Story

How to Survive After You've Lost your Mind:
The Ivy McDougalhopper Coping Strategies

Mean Things Children Have Said to Me:
Being Bullied Even as an Adult

Guide to Sub-Par Television
What Not to Watch and When to Watch it

Teacher Puns and Nerdy Jokes:
How Ivy McDougalhopper Spends the Day Laughing

Ice Cream for Breakfast, Popcorn for Dinner:
The Ivy McDougalhopper Diet
 

Because I'm Awesome (#5)

• When I try to sleep in, I only make it to 7:30am.
• I bought a nook as a present for myself. After working all summer, and then getting a job for the fall, I thought I should reward myself with a fancy present. In my life, a nook is an exceedingly fancy gift. While a book person deep down in my heart, the nook is convenient for travelling. I spend a lot of time between Rochester and the Twin Cities, as well as Birchwood, WI, and moving books back and forth is always a pain. Unfortunately, I am mildly annoyed with myself after discovering how much I truly enjoy my new nook.
• I went to "Arti Gras" down by the river yesterday and considered buying a ceramic fish to hang on the wall.
• After patching the holes in my wall left by the previous tenant, it is now necessary that I repaint. Unfortunately, I am unable to commit to any one particular color. The living room will probably end up being "Orange Toffee".
• Last night I made myself a real, honest-to-goodness dinner. There was mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, a bacon wrapped filet, strawberries, and a rather generous glass of Moscato. Because I'm super awesome, I even lit a candle while I ate because it seemed wrong not to. Dinner was really, quite good.
• I saved all of my dishes from last night to do today. Ugh. What a mess I made!
• One big orange cat is sitting on my right, sleeping, and one fluffy cat is sitting on my left, shooting hate rays at the one on my right.
• It is almost 11:00am, and I am still not dressed.

Vacation Book Pile

This week is my vacation time, and I have a stack of books to read. I have already finished one, and am halfway through the second. In fact, it occurred to me a couple of hours ago that I should probably slow down or I will run out of reading material. Since this seemed a reasonable fear, I stopped reading and watched the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with my family.


Completed!

Please note that the artwork on And Only to Deceive  and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey are the same. I bought them on two completely seperate trips to my beloved Rochester Barnes and Noble, and didn't notice until I pulled them both out and put them next to each other. Perhaps Northanger Abbey will slow me down a bit, and I will have plenty to read this week.

Reading is pretty amazing.

*Don't forget to vote on the poll in the upper right hand corner! If you had to work at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflon, who would be your best work friend?*

Reflections from the Bottom of the Book Pile

A friend has lent me "First Family" by Joseph Ellis, I assume because he has learned of my geeky fascination with all things historical (whether they be accurate or not) and because he enjoyed the book quite a bit himself. Always looking for new books, I thanked him and placed it at the bottom of my reading pile, below "The Elegance of the Hedghog" by Muriel Barbery, "Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di" by Kris Waldherr, "The Bolter" by Francis Osborne , "The Dud Avacado" by Elaine Dundy, and, of course my coffee table book, "Modern American Usage: A Guide".

Having finished "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" during my unfortunate flight delay from Denver to Minneapolis on Monday (and also a little bit of Tuesday), I continued my leisurely reading of "Doomed Queens" and hit "The Bolter" pretty hard. Of course, you may remember that "Modern American Usage: A Guide" is my favorite reference book right now, and I read and re-read bits whenever the mood strikes. Since I am already reading two books for fun (and constantly referencing the work of Mr. Follett), and I have to read "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay for book club, and I haven't even started that one yet, "First Family" was at the bottom of the pile. I appreciated the book being lent, but had little intention of reading it until the end of April.

As part of my job, I am expected to constantly continue and further my education in many ways. Luckily for me, my district has a pretty good course catalog. While at the beginning of the year I was a bit too busy, I am taking full advantage of these classes now. The class I am currently taking is to get re-certified in CPR. There is an online portion as well as an in-person portion of the class. We were supposed to get the online portion two weeks before the class (which is on Monday), but that didn't happen. So I decided to bite the bullet and spend my Friday night eating over-buttered popcorn while sitting on my couch in my pink elephant pajamas and completing the required computer portion of the class.

I made it through a good chunk of the material, but after rolling my eyes at one completely ridiculous section concerning when to call EMTs (the portion of that test gave sample "injuries" and you had to decide whether or not to call the EMTs. Chapped lips? No. Excessive bleeding and bone showing through skin? Apparently, yes.), I was searching for a brief, three minute diversion. Rather than get up and walk around the apartment or risk getting involved on something online for a long time, I decided to reach for a book on the coffee table. "First Families" has a preface, and I decided to read it, contemplate for about one minute, then return to work.

Unfortunately, as you have probably correctly predicted, that is not how it went down. I am now completely entrenched (questionable vocabulary choice, I know) in the lives of John and Abigail Adams. The writing stlye of Joseph J. Ellis mixed with the individual styles of John and Abigail Adams in the excerpts of their letters have me completely fascinated. So engrossed was I in this book, I did not realize that I had read to page 30 - an entire 29 pages longer than intended - until there was a new heading.

So naturally I sent a message to the friend who owns the book, closed the coursework on the computer, boiled some water, and a read a little more. Now with my tea, I am reflecting on the small section of the book I have already read. The author seems to admire and idealize the love and relationship between John and Abigail, and his feelings are infectious. Having barely finished 16% of the book, I find myself creating an image of  a noble, affectionate, faithful, intellectually stimulating, understanding, and passionate love.

And that is something I aspire to achieve in my lifetime.

A Very Meaningful Post

This past weekend was a good one, filled with lots of rest, food, and tea. Also, I went to a small used bookstore and bought a new book! I went in just to browse, which is dangerous since I enjoy books in print so much. With much will-power, I managed to re-shelve several books from the Minnesota, children's, historical fiction, and sci-fi. There was no escape from the reference section, however.

I admit here in front of all of you that I could not keep from buying Wilson Follett's "Modern American Usage: A Guide". This amazing text, assembled by who I gather is a crotchety old man and completed by Jaques Barzun, is truly a gem. As an enormous fan of books and a bit of a linguistics geek, it would have been a sin for me to leave this book unused on the shelf!

In a nutshell, Mr. Follett has an issue with "modern" day usage of English. As a "linguist" (please note that I put that in quotes. I try, folks. I really try.), I am of the belief that language is always changing and evolving....bada bada bada.....You English majors with your English Lit degrees can just take a hike. You're wrong, and I can end my sentence with a preposition if I want to. HA!

Anyway, I would love to share a gem from this delightful, delightful book.

"Meaningful. There is no reason in logic or linguistics why one may not freely use the suffix -ful to form adjectives from nouns on the pattern of joyful, painful, sinful, youthful and many other words so familiar as to give us no reminder that they are composed of stem plus suffix. There are, however, reasons apart from logic for why formations make us uncomfortable when they lack this unfamiliarity, especially when their stems consist of more than one syllable. Many of the comparatively recent -ful words call undue attention to themselves as improvisations; they bother the ear and produce effects of deterrent ungainliness. Perhaps the most common is meaningful, a product of the feeling that significant has been overused."

                                       Mr. Wilson
                                       Follett, 1966

So what have we learned tonight? The word "meaningful" sounds stupid - ungainly, even. Stop using it. And if you think the word "meaningful" is a ridiculous use of the suffix -ful, don't even get Mr. Follett started on that disasterous word (actually, he describes it as "hack") "suspenseful".

As in, the wait to see which Canadian province you think is the best is very suspenseful. Take the poll!