Sisters and cell phones

I was talking to my sister on Sunday. It was her birthday and she just turned 18. She got a cell phone for her birthday. (I'm very proud of my parents for waiting until she was graduating to get her a cell phone. Since I work with high school kids, I know what a problem they can be. Kids seem to think that cell phones rank right up there with food, water, and oxygen. They might die without them attached, on, and being used at all times.) Anyway, my sister is a great girl. Actually, she's smart (like Harvard smart), talented, plays volleyball, is in student government, has a 4.0, won a bunch of scholarships in the Junior Miss pageant, is a lot of fun, is the nicest girl in the world, and is gorgeous. If she wasn't my sister, I probably wouldn't be able to stand her!! (Except she's so nice I probably wouldn't be able to help myself - I'd have to like her. Anyway...) But even she hasn't escaped the high school mentality. She was telling me how she can't believe she finally got a cell phone. I mean, maybe a few years ago people didn't have them but now everyone has one and you really just need to have a cell phone...and she went on and on. I didn't break it to her that she doesn't "need" a cell phone. They're handy and I'm glad I have one but I had graduated from college before I got a cell phone - and I got it for free! I admit that I do feel better knowing she'll be taking a phone to college. The world used to be a much safer place. Girls could walk home at night without worrying and now we have to constantly look over our shoulders because there are so many evil, creepy men out there. I'm glad she'll have a way of getting a hold of someone if she were ever in trouble. So I guess from that standpoint she may "need" a cell phone. As for the high school kids, taking away their cell phones might be the kindest, most beneficial thing we could do for them. Oh, they'd hate us because they'd feel that we'd destroyed their lives. But they're not as important as they think they are and they might just learn how to politely, respectfully, and maturely interact with real human beings. They might learn how to focus and go out and serve others and actually make a difference in the world. And those that do can have their cell phones back.

My Upcoming Adventure

Sigh ... it's starting to be real now. I'll be going to England in about 3 1/2 weeks. WOW! So, I've talked to my friend that I'm staying with and gotten more details. I'll fly into London and then take the train to York in northern England. I understand it's about 2 hours by train. I've done a little research and York looks like a beautiful, historic city of about 200,000. I'm really glad to be leaving London and getting out into the countryside. Compared to our 1 million here in Fairfax County, 200,000 sounds delightful! I can't wait to get away from the crowds. :-) I hope Jan and I will be able to explore a little of the country and see the castles and historic places. When I knew I was supposed to be in education, I chose ESL because I like diversity and foreign places and I can't wait to get away from what's familiar and experience a new culture. I hope I'll get to try some new foods (that's always an adventure!!) and hey, who doesn't love that beautiful, cultured British accent? As I learn more about York and northern England, I'm sure it will be all I write about on my blog. Hmmm...northern England... This sounds like a good excuse to watch "North and South." (Any excuse to see Mr. Thornton *wink* *wink*)

London Baby!

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! I'M GOING TO LONDON FOR SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!! YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I've been kicking around different ideas for spring break. I thought maybe I'd go to Florida or maybe I'd go help my brother build his house. Wouldn't that have been a noble way to spend spring break? Well, as usual, selfishness kicked in and I'm going to London! I've never been to Europe and I can't wait! I'll be gone from the 15 - 22 of March. I have a friend who lives there. She's working on her PhD and said she has a floor I could crash on. I can't believe it. I just bought my ticket about an hour ago so i really and truly am going! I'm so excited! I'll take tons and tons and tons of pictures and post them on my blog, facebook, and anywhere else i think I can get away with it. :-)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

One of the teachers I work with sent these out to a few of us. They're cute so I thought I'd share them with you. Apologies if you've seen them already. And remember to be at our house tonight at 8:00. :-)

Al's blog

Everyone: Please read Alexis' blog about Valentine's Day. I second her thoughts.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Good morning everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! I hope every one of you has a fun, wonderful, and amazing day today! And if you're in the DC area, we'll see you tomorrow night at our party. 8:00!! See you there!

Voting

I realize that it's been a few days since I've posted anything on my blog - and quite frankly it's because I haven't had anything interesting or exciting to write about. Unfortunately, I still don't have anything interesting or exciting to blog about but when I look at other people's blogs I like to see new posts, even if they're not filled with earth-shattering news. So I decided to write about the mundane (or not so mundane) things going on in my life. This week is a little crazy. We have our "let's make fun of valentine's day but in a fun way" party on Friday. I admit that I'm a little worried that people will think we're taking Valentine's Day seriously. We're not. It amazes me how uptight people get about Valentine's Day. It seems to me that if it's a day to celebrate love, well, there are lots of people in my life that I love but that I'm certainly not in love with. I love my friends and family, of course, and Valentine's Day is a perfect day to let them know. I think Valentine's Day should just be fun and filled with lots of candy - especially chocolate - and fun parties and telling people that you care about them. Valentine's Day should just be a fun day. So on Friday we're going to have a party to let all of our friends know that we care about them. I still have to finish coloring in cupid and we have signs to make, cookies to bake, lights to hang, and music to choose. And we have one day to get this all done in. Tomorrow is Institute and Emma's birthday and so tomorrow evening is gone. That leaves Thursday. Actually, we have Ultimate on Thursday but I think we're just going to have to miss it, as sad as that is.

Anyway, enough party stuff. I voted today. I'm so proud of myself! I got my little "I voted" sticker and proudly wore it from McLean High School to my house and no one saw it but I was proud of it anyway. I'm always excited when I vote because I realize that it's a real blessing to be able to choose the leaders of your country and because I'd rather sit at home and read a book on days when it's raining ice but I made myself go vote anyway.

That leads me to the traffic. I'm sorry for anyone and everyone that has to drive at rush hour here. Tonight it was even worse. The rain/ice was slowing everything down. I admit, it was slick, but it was also frustrating to have a ten minute drive turn into a forty minute commute. I'm just hoping that it will freeze out on the western edges of the county and at least get the schools a two hour delay. :)

Well, it's late so I'm off to take my ambien, drink my chamomile tea, and go to bed.

Drum roll, please ...

Ladies and gentlemen, here it is! The unveiling of "The Tent!" *applause*

For the record

For those of you that have been reading my blog, I'm proud to announce that the tent is finished!! It's at the dry cleaners right now being pressed and I'm hopefully going to pick it up this afternoon. (According to Maggy, having it pressed will give it a nice professional look. She's so excited that I've actually made something that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I don't think even having the tent pressed will save it. The poor thing is beyond anyone's help.) Once I have it, I'll take pictures so you can see the results of my time spent in the torture chamber (or in other words, in front of a sewing machine). No, I'm not any fonder of sewing than I was when I began this little adventure. However, I am motivated to continue sewing for a few reasons: 1) God really seems to want me to do it and I've learned that he always gets his way in the end so I may as well give in now. 2) I've had something to do at work. 3)On a church listserve, a guy posted a need for a good seamstress or tailor and I realized that if I get good at this, I can make some serious money! I didn't learn this just from this guy's post but also from a previous experience where I had to drop $160 at a tailor shop to get a dress to the point I could wear it. (And all we had to do was put on sleeves.) That doesn't include the second dress I had to buy so I would have material to tailor the first dress. Oh yes, and let me clarify that my abhorrence for all things sewing does NOT extend to you paying me two hundred bucks to put sleeves on your dress or take in your waistband. For the record. :-)