"I couldn't put up with it"

That phrase was going through my head tonight and I realized that there are different connotations regarding it. (or maybe I'm just sensitive to hearing more behind it....) It can come through as a positive--someone sees you as stronger than they are. Or as a negative--someone is wondering why the heck you put up with something (or someone) and why you don't do something about it.

Now that's nothing that is really bothering me. It's just something I was thinking of tonight. Yes, I have felt I'm the recipient of the "why isn't she doing something about it", but it's definitely not an issue that will bother me too much! (at least not tonight....)

So, what's been going on????
For the past two weeks I've been an Assistant Teacher for a group of Japanese girls. It was great fun!! I really enjoyed myself and felt like maybe I did an OK job. Yes, the lead teacher did rescue me on more than one occasion, but I wonder if I would have figured it out myself if she wasn't there. Y'know, all that nervousness around the expert thing.

We were originally going to host one of the students, but then she dropped out of the program. I figured that was a blessing! The girls arrived on a Thursday evening and on that Sunday morning I had a call from the program coordinator asking me if I'd take one of the students. Her host mother had been in an accident Saturday night. So we had Sanae living with us for a while. A good experience, but a surprise!

Last week our school hosted a tour from the Missoula Children's Theater. This is such a great program!! Two actor/directors arrive at the school on Sunday/Monday and at 4:00pm Monday they hold auditions for a play. Ours was The Jungle Book. At 6:00pm they announce the cast. Our school had 97 students try out. And there are parts for about 55 or so. On the following Saturday they perform the play two times. Yowza! Emma and Audrey both auditioned. Audrey got a part as a monkey. Emma wasn't chosen this year (last year she was a Magical Mexican Jumping Bean for Jack and the Beanstalk and two years ago was a flower in Tales From Hans Christian Andersen). It was a little tough for Emma to accept at first, but she was OK with it pretty quickly. So we had a busy week with that too!

Tomorrow morning we will take Sanae to Burlington to get on the charter bus with the other 12 students and their escort and head back to Japan. Well, to go to Disneyland for two days first.....Once again, it was a great experience, but it'll be nice to kind of relax for a while!

Justin found a house he likes. We'll look at it together this weekend. Damn that reality!!! I guess it could really happen. We could move to Ephrata for a while. I feel like Wile E. Coyote with a sign "Yipes". How weird is all this???

I'm tired and I loathe and despise getting up in the morning. We'll see how I do!

We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write more

OK, so maybe if I write in this blog more consistently I won't just write when I'm feeling all moopy. (I watch way too much Kim Possible with the girls!) Not that I'm unmoopy now, but maybe a bit less so than yesterday.

No new houses in Ephrata. But there are now pictures on the MLS of my brother and sister-in-law's house. I have them on my list of "favorites" and was taken aback when I was scooting through them today and saw a picture of a house I didn't recognize. Well, that I didn't recognize from the Ephrata houses on my list that is.

My moopiness is making me feel like we should just go ahead and move. But we won't really know exactly what is going on until the end of April, so by then I guess we might as well stay here until school gets out. Or we could get rid of the dog and cat and rent in Ephrata now and then buy in April/May when we know what's going on. I just feel like I need to step away.

My life expectancy is 71 years of age. Too damn long if you ask me! I finally got around to reading Sunday's paper and there was an article in the US Weekend (or whatever it's called)on life expectancy. It listed a site to go to and use the life expectancy calculator. www.livingto100.com My expectancy could be even lower if I'd remembered my cholesterol levels.

There's a PTA meeting tonight so I need to make copies of the minutes from the previous meeting. That and work on publishing student's stories in Emma's class. Then it's off to the grocery store! I have been eating like crap for months and months. And I'm really craving vegetables right now. Let's see if I am able to buy veggies and actually eat them instead of letting them rot in the fridge. Maybe I should focus on frozen instead.....

Think I'll peruse a few recipes before heading out. Just enough time to do so it looks like.

There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward. ~John Mortimer

Blah blah blah

That's how I feel today. Blah. And I've been feeling that way a lot lately. I mean, more than usual! Not sure exactly what is happening with me, but will try to remember to take all my meds now. If only the time release (one a day) pill wasn't three times as expensive as the "try to remember to take three pills a day" generic version. Hopefully that will help. Hopefully something will help. Until then I will try to avoid people and situations that may put me into contact with people. Easy, right? Ha!

I updated my reading list again. I removed a bunch---thought I'd just keep 10 books listed at a time. I can't wait--the library bought You Suck by Christopher Moore. I can't wait to read it! Only 100 pages to go in Goodbye, Jimmy Choo until I can crack open You Suck. Sounds like it's a continuation of Bloodsucking Fiends. I just need to get my hands on a copy of Fluke and I will be all updated with Christopher Moore's books. Time to make another library request......

Not much going on. Or at least not much that I want to discuss. The 13 students from Japan will arrive next Thursday. We are no longer hosting a student (two dropped out of the program and one of them happened to be ours) but I'm still going to help teach. I'm nervous and excited. Fortunately there's a real teacher making the lesson plans--I just have to facilitate what she has put together. We'll be meeting this weekend to go over things and make sure the other teacher and I aren't too freaked out.

No new houses coming up for sale in Ephrata. Well, at least none that appeal to us. We looked at nine in one day and two of them have potential. We still have another month before all this is in writing, so there's no hurry. Maybe over spring break we'll take some time to look at some again---and maybe there will be more! Justin and I started talking more about one of the houses he liked. We discussed having him look at it again (as we were trying to figure out where this fourth bedroom listed is). I told him that it would pretty much guarantee that the owners receive an offer over the weekend. It's happened a couple of times. A house doesn't seem to be quite right, then we start discussing what we could do to it and when we call our realtor we find out that there's been an offer. Messes us up but helps the seller! Wonder if we could market ourselves somehow.....

Wonder if I'll take a shower today. I guess I should.

Many of us go through life feeling as an actor might feel who does not like his part, and does not believe in the play. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960