My Real Life

The questions for today’s Five Question Friday were questions that I felt like I have already discussed here, multiple times in multiples ways, and so I decided to go rogue.

I live on the edge, my friends.

So, instead of Five Question Friday, I thought that, today, I’d share with you Five Things I’m Digging These Days.

1.  Monkey in the Middle came home from school yesterday with a card trick they had learned in math class.

He showed me, I read the directions and did it myself and then we just did it over and over again because it was pretty cool.

When Real Man came home, we showed him the trick.

Real Man has to know the inner workings of everything, so we played it many more times.

We tried to figure out how it works, why it works, but in the end, we just agreed that it was pretty cool and there was really no trickery involved.

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2.  I am really enjoying the CW show Beauty and the Beast.

When I was growing up, my Mom and I used to watch the original with Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman and I loved it then.

It’s a little harder to swallow Kristin Kruek (aka Lana Lang from the CW’s Smallville) as a gritty, city cop, however, it has totally sucked me in.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I am a fan of forbidden love stories, and this one is a doozy.

Great show.

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3.  Speaking of love stories, it’s that time of year.

Don’t worry, I’m not decorating the house or playing Christmas music, but it is that time of year for the sappy Christmas romance novels.

I love ’em.

Two people in love, but can’t be together for some reason, but it all resolves itself by Christmas Eve.

I just finished “The Bridge” by Karen Kingsbury who is not an author that I’ve ever read before, as she is a Christian fiction author and I don’t necessarily read that genre, but the story surrounded a bookstore and, seriously, how could I resist that.

Romance, Christmas, books.

Perfection.

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4.  My fireplace.

There is nowhere I’d rather read one of my sappy Christmas romances than in front of the fire.

And I have been getting the most out of my fireplace this season.

The impending hurricane two weeks ago caused me to finally get it cleaned (after living here over a year) and while we were all recovering and hosting and doing Sandy-related things, I finally got around to lighting it.

Glorious.

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5.  The flexibility and dedication of my colleagues.

We had to get the kids back to school.

It was time, if not simply to provide the hundreds of kids at our school who are still without power a bit of routine, structure and warmth.

However, our school is out of power.

None of the elementary schools are big enough to house over 1,000 middle schoolers, so we’re going to high school.

Again, however, it’s a big school, but not necessarily big enough for all of us.

So, we’re doing half-day sessions.

We are bussed to the HS from 7:30-11:30 and the high schoolers attend from 12-4.

It could be a disaster.

It’s not.

As with any situation, it is what you make of it, and for the most part, my colleagues and I have been doing our best to continue to make our time with the students educational and meaningful.

Business as usual in a most unusual situation, if you will.

And the students have been phenomenal, as well.

They see it as a grand adventure and are feeling pretty important getting to walk the halls of the HS.

Would things be better if we were in our own school?

Certainly.

Can we get it done in an alternate location?

Without a doubt.

Daily Gratitude, Day 9

Sounds cheesy, but I’m grateful that I am able to come up with 5 things I am digging today.  The things on my list show that I am warm, safe, and dry and am surrounded by people I like and admire.  It’s a good life.