Alone Time= AMAZING!

I forgot to mention earlier that I had an awful, Minnesota insect experience last night. I was cleaning up after Charley had gone to bed, and went to put a washcloth from the tub in with the laundry. When I picked up the washcloth, a disgusting, inch-long bug, came crawling out from under it with lightning speed (or at least it seemed that way...melodramatic? Maybe a little...). It startled me, but I stifled my scream, because I'm kind of fond of the theory that anybody who wakes Charley up at night deserves to be punched in the stomach. So I ran around looking for a shoe or something to kill it with. This is why I need a man around...Not because I need a man to kill a bug. I can do that myself...But because I HATE using my own shoes to do it. My whole life, anytime I saw a bug, I'd grab the nearest shoe...as long as it didn't belong to me!  Ha! Is that bad? Anyway, I found an old shoe, went back into the bathroom, and of course it had disappeared. I waited for a minute or so, and sure enough, when it darted across the room, I got it with my shoe. Gross.

Tonight, I was actually pretty busy...but I had alone time! It was amazing. I took Charley to the gym after work, and of course she had a great time. Then, she went over to play with her Aunt Kelsey (whom she calls DeeDee), while I did a little bit of shopping. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I went shopping alone? It's been FOREVER! And I found it totally amazing how much easier it is to get things done when I was on my own. I got everything I need for my Vegas trip, including a cute little dress for Charley's photo shoot while we're there, and it took me about an hour. When I take Charley to the store, I know EXACTLY what I'm looking for, and generally don't have time to try things on...or if I DO try things on, I'm racing to do it, before she starts running wild. Tonight I took my time, and got exactly what I needed. It was amazing. I've known for awhile that I need to take more time for myself (more than just going to the gym...I wouldn't want them to catch on to the fact that at least half of my reason for going is for the free childcare...). Tonight just confirmed that. When I looked in the mirror as I tried clothes on, I noticed the dark circles under my eyes. I looked tired. Which is why I left the mall at 8:30, came home and put Charley in bed, and I'm about to go to bed myself.

By the way...the last couple of nights as I've been putting Charley to sleep, Oscar has come into the bedroom with us. It's completely silent in the room, except for the sound of Oscar licking his paws. It's the most awful sound. Like fingernails on a chalk board. It's just terrible. I tried throwing a pillow near him one time to get his attention, and make him stop. What happened? The pillow landed ON him, instead of next to him, and he didn't even pause for a half a second. It drives me crazy.

Okay, I promised a teaching story, so I have a quick one for you tonight. It was inspired by the poorly written emails I've received while dating online. When I taught in Las Vegas, the majority of my students were Hispanic. Many of their families didn't speak English at all, so most of my students had noticeable accents. I thought they were adorable, but found out quickly how difficult it made spelling. They spelled words the way they heard them. As one of their first writing prompts, I had the students tell me about their favorite candy. They had to describe it, tell me why they liked it, etc. One of my students wrote about his favorite candy...Sneakers. It took me a minute to process it, but when I realized he was writing about Snickers, I laughed out loud. Mostly because he DID spell it right, in terms of the way that he would hear or say the word. When I read the paper, I could hear his squeaky little voice, asking me for a Sneakers bar. Ha! On that note, goodnight!