Things I Love*

I love...

• Popcorn with extra butter and salt
• I am talking about popcorn you make in the air popper, then pour real melted butter over. Right now, I really enjoy putting the salt on the popcorn, because my salt shaker is a little yellow bear, and that makes me smile. Popcorn is so ridiculously delicious. Sometimes I have a large mixing bowl full of popcorn for dinner. While I prefer the air-popped popcorn smothered in butter, I occasionally enjoy the microwave variety, and it is practically impossible to see a movie sans-popcorn!
• Tea
• Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Mint, Orange Pekoe, Green, White, Darjeeling, Chamomile, they are all wonderful. This year, I have really been experimenting will loose teas, and I believe there are about five varieties of loose tea on my shelf right now. Tea is good in the morning, afternoon, or nighttime. Tea is just amazing. If  you don't drink tea, you should start immediately! I think I drink about 3-6 cups of tea per day.
• Playing with Squeaky
• My cat is awesome. She is 16 years old and still loves to play and run around. She also has the most attitude I have ever seen in a cat, and she things she is a person. Squeaky will try to hold a conversation with anyone who comes into our home, and I think she can understand what we're saying, because if someone makes fun of her, she glares at them for a while. Tonight I got her a new tunnel to play in and a new feathery toy on a stick. She enjoys them both.
• My Friends
• I am pretty sure I have some of the best, most amazing, talented, hilarious,unique, intelligent, kind, generous, down-right fantastic friends in all of the world. I love them all.
• Ice Cream for Breakfast
• I prefer to eat it with a spoon right out of the container while checking my email and sitting on the couch. There is nothing like a little chocolate chip cookie dough or mint chocolate chip ice cream to start your day off right.
• My Family
• My family, while absolutely crazy, is a great bunch of people. Good job, guys!
• Singing Aloud Really Loudly in the Car
• Especially now that I am listening to my ipod in the car, this has become a once again frequent activity. Songs that are super-fun to sing along with include, but are certainly not limited to: "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", "The Little Things You Do", "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side",  "Jessie's Girl", "Resistensen", and "Someday" (Leo Laleo).
• Dancing Like a Maniac
• I'm a maniac! MANIAC on the floor! And I'm dancing like I've never danced before! This can be done in the car, in the kitchen while cooking, in the living room, while cleaning, before bed, or in the classroom. Usually I try to refrain in more public places - such as the grocery store - where such activities are generally frowned upon and may cause security to come have a chat with you.
• Mittens
• If you don't agree that mittens are amazing, then I don't know that I can trust your opinion on anything. They are so fun! And they come in so many colors and designs and fabrics! Plus they keep your hands, fingers, and wrists toasty warm through the 132,004 days of Minnesota Winter!
• When the Leaves Change Colors in the Fall
• Autumn foliage can be breathtakingly beautiful, especially if admired while on the water. Plus I just enjoy the smell, feeling, and temperature of fall.
• Playing the Piano
• This is one of my favorite de-stressing activities at the end of the day.
• My Job
• While incredibly stressful, and I am overworked, under-payed,  unappreciated, and quite often thrown under the bus or verbally abused by children, I love my job. I love working with my students, even if they are hooligans! They are my hooligans! We sing songs, read books, dance, discuss, practice our pronunciation, and talk about our cultures. They make me life and teach me so much! I can't imagine doing anything else with my life!
• When Squeaky Curls up and Snuggles Me
• She always prefers to curl up and sleep near my knees. I appreciate this, and I like knowing she is there. In her older age, she stay longer with me, and doesn't get so upset when I move around in the night.
• Crossword Puzzles
• I like to think that this will help me prevent or delay Alzheimer's or make me smarter or something.  While not particularly good at the New York Times Crossword Puzzles, I have a book of them in every room in the house, almost, and one in my car. It is a good way to spend the time with a cup of tea and a cat.
• Going to See Any Kind of Live Performance
• It can be a play, opera, orchestra concert, musical, a magic show, Rick Springfield concert, a couple of banjos - it doesn't matter. I will probably enjoy it.
• Playing Board Games - Especially ones that have to do with words or words play
• Maybe I am super lame, but I love playing board games! My favorites are of course games like Bananagrams, Boggle, or anything that allows me to manipulate words and letters, however I enjoy strategy games such as Othello as well or games that encourage social interaction, such as Curses, Imaginiff, Pictophone, or Fact or Crap.
• Going to the Cabin
• The cabin is a wonderful place. Ideally I would like to have a home in the woods on the water someday. 
• Reading Signs Out Loud
• This is just really fun. When I am in the car alone, I love reading signs aloud. "WANA - mingoooooo!" "Super Soup This Way!" "Demolition Landfill" "We Do Cows!" "Karaoke every Tuesday at 7pm". The sign doesn't always have to be particularly interesting or shocking, but I really enjoy reading them out loud. Sometimes I even do it when I am in the car or walking with someone else. Occasionally I will even stop mid-sentence or interrupt a friend to read a sign out loud. This odd - but I hope charmingly quirky - habit might be contagious, because I have caught some of my friends doing it more recently as well.

*A small sampling of the list in no particular order

Now quick! Take the grocery store survey!

Games and The Search for Pants: Part 1

As part of the population that celebrates Christmas, I have been enjoying quite a bit of family time lately. Luckily, I really enjoy playing games, especially board games. Below is a brief description of the games played so far this holiday season.

1. Othello: My sister received this two-person board game for Christmas because my folks want her to play more strategy games. Apparently we need to work on thinking ahead. Much like the slogan for the game boasts, it takes only a moment to learn, but much longer to master. While my sister is pretty disinterested in the game, I have become hooked. I keep challenging my brother and my sister to games, and usually it is the brother that agrees to play with me. He usually wins, too. I keep testing to see what happens if I do something, and it seems that most of my queries end with me losing many of my color on the board. Still, I am fascinated, and I may have to go out and buy my own copy of this game next week. Too bad I don't really have anyone in Rochester to play this with.

2. Pictophone: My family played this game New Year's Eve with the Sturm family, and boy did we have fun! This party game, where there are no winners and losers, just endless bouts of hilarity, was introduced to me by a lovely young woman named Christine. She instantly won me over with this game, and if played correctly, can end with everyone laughing so hard they are crying. Naturally, with my dad and Eugene playing, we got a lot of unnecessarily complicated sentences. And with mine and my dad's artistic abilities, we ended up with some really questionable pictures. At one point, Martin looked at my father and asked, "Why do all your animals look like cows?" Most of his animals did look like cows, except one that was supposed to look like a cow. That one looked like a decaying rabbit.

3. Catapulting Horseshoes: I purchased this game today on clearance in the men's clothing section of Macy's. Originally $40, it was a steal for $8. The game is pretty simple. You have a little catapult, and you launch weighted foam horseshoes at the other person's catapult, placed 6-8 feet away. If your horseshoe lands within 6 inches you get 1 point. When I played with Andrew, we just eyeballed it. When I played with my brother, he pulled out a ruler and insisted that it be exactly 6" or less. If your horseshoe lands touching the other catapult, you get two points, and if your horseshoe successfully goes around the catapult, you get a whopping three points. The thing about this game is that it is ridiculously hard to aim. We ended up with foam horseshoes going every which way. As the man at the cash register excitedly pointed out when I bought the game, it could pretty easily be turned into a team drinking game.

I would love to put a picture of the game here, but I can't seem to find one.

The Search for Pants: Part 1

For Christmas, I asked for some gym pants. In an effort to be more social, meet people my age, and get more in shape, I am participating in activities in my community left and right! I am participating in a book club that meets one Monday a month. This should be a lot of fun, however, I realize I probably won't be meeting a lot of people my age, and since it is a book club I joined through work, I probably won't be meeting a lot of folks that don't work in my building. It is my goal in life right now to make non-work friends.

This means that I needed more activities away from work. As you may remember, I do volunteer at the local old-folks nunnery (I am aware that that phrasing may be slightly blasphemous), but believe it or not, there are not a lot of people who want to be my friend there. There was that one woman that one time, but I was so afraid of coming on too strong (see my post titled "Coming on Too Strong") that I kind of let her slip through my fingers. I will continue reading to my old people, but clearly I need something else.

Over the fall, I took a ballroom dancing class through community education. The information made it very clear that people of all ages were encouraged to attend, and you did not need to bring a partner. So I didn't bring a partner. Unfortunately for me, all of the older married/soon-to-be-married couples had partners - you know, since they came in couples. There was one younger couple, not much older than me, and I tried desperately to be their friend, but they were recently engaged and had no time or patience for me. I'll have you know, though, that I can now do the fox trot and some basic East Coast swing steps. And it got me out of the house on Monday nights while keeping me away from work.

This time, I decided to sign up for something with a bit more rigor. I have registered for  beginning adult recreational tennis lessons through community education. I am also participating in drop-in gentle yoga at Breathe Yoga Studio. ALSO, I am registered for a west coast swing class and have made it very clear (hopefully) to the instructor that I will be coming without a partner.

Anyway, with all this physical activity, it began to dawn on me that I will be needing some actual gym clothes. I have soccer shorts and a couple pairs of sporty capris. The capris will work fine for yoga, but let's be honest. It is winter. I am single. There is no way that I am going to commit to shaving my legs on any sort of regular schedule. I will not be wearing capris or shorts to tennis or yoga most nights. This means that I need some gym pants. Oh boy is this going to be an adventure.

My grandmother bought me a pair of gym pants for Christmas. They are yoga pants, so they are a bit tighter than I usually go, but that is ok. They are also kind of short, so there is no way I can wear them with my tennis shoes to tennis lessons. Also, they don't have any pockets. So I guess my yoga clothing quota is filled.

I went to Dick's Sporting Goods with my brother today. He needed new shoes for his size 1 million feet, and they are one of the few stores to carry athletic shoes in his size. While he tried on shoes, I browsed for pants. Most pants are too short for me. I am not a tall person, but what there is of me is mostly legs, and I don't like short pants! I finally find a pair that fits, and I feel relieved, although slightly annoyed after looking at the price tag. I go over to check on my brother only to realize that they don't have pockets! Drat! Time to start again!

My brother, an avid tennis play, was appalled when he learned that I was searching for pants to play tennis in. According to Max, one does not - nay - cannot - play tennis in pants. I tried to tell him that I am not shaving my legs for tennis. I don't even shave my legs for work! I wear pants or leggings under all my skirts and dresses! I hate shaving my legs! Even when I take the time to do it, I end up missing huge chunks or strips or patches, and it still doesn't look nice. Not wanting to shave my legs was not a good enough reason for Max.

So then I tried to tell him that I might have to change at home or at work and drive over wearing my pants, and it is winter so I am not driving around in shorts. He didn't buy this excuse either.

So I told him that it is adult, recreational, beginner tennis lessons through community education during the winter time and nobody is going to care if I wear pants or shorts. I could wear pajama pants, and it would probably be fine. After disgusted and feeble arguments in favor of his side of the argument, my brother finally conceded that it is possible to play tennis in pants, but that they must be light weight wind-breaker-esque pants that don't swish too much, aren't very baggy, and have pockets. That on top of my requirement that they not be hot pink and that they must be long enough excluded almost every pair of pants in Dick's Sporting Goods except for one pair in the corner. That pair, however, was much too expensive.

Tomorrow I will look at Target.

Above is a picture of one of the pairs of dragon mittens, as promised.