LES MISERABLES

I got to go out to a big girl show this weekend (not that kind, silly) with my mom! We went to see Les Miserables at the Phoenix Theatre. I've never been to this play before, and boy, was it awesome! We laughed, we cried, we were thoroughly entertained for 3+ hours! My mom's cousin, Dr. Andria Fennig, is a professional concert pianist who plays all around the world, and she was playing in this production. She was able to get us fantastic seats! My mom had just seen Les Miserables in New York, and she said she much preferred this performance, because the Phoenix Theatre is so much smaller and more intimate, and the acoustics were amazing! Off to grade some papers now--Western Expansion, not the French Revolution...and then on to MY castle on a cloud!


Not sure where this play took place, but definitely in a much larger theatre!

WORDLE AND A CUPPA JOE

This site is so fun! Everyone's doing it, and it's free! And the reason for the words in my wordle? Yup. Can't sleep! I started yet another long term sub job, and as always, whenever there's a change in routine (heck, even a change in the weather!), I have a hard time sleeping. Coincidentally, it's also usually during this time that I get the most writing done. I've got notebooks full of ideas that often come after midnight--sometimes I don't want to disturb hubby (he's already disturbed enough) so I write with the light out. Those notebooks look especially lovely, but I can usually read them! The worst thing I've ever done in the throes of insomnia is to not write a good idea down, thinking that I'll remember it in the morning. Nope. Never happens.

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I love to organize. Anything. Really. So, I've decided to start from here on out writing everything (even grocery lists!) in journals, decorated with my vast stores of scrapbook supplies. They are going to be catch-all, tabbed books that I will take with me everywhere until I fill one all the way up. It will then get a date label and be stored on a shelf in the den. I always buy the composition notebooks when they go on sale after the back-to-school season, and these are the notebooks that I love to decorate. It's late now, so I won't take and post pictures, but I will soon! For now, goodnight, and creative dreaming!

And in the morning, this is a beautiful thing!

SPEAK WITH AUTHORITY!

Here's another one by Taylor Mali--he just cracks me up! There are another few on You Tube (WARNING: not suitable for kids) that are funny too, go check them out! Besides, I really, really love his shirt! I'm a bit of a "word nerd", and think I'd like to have a Scrabble T-shirt of my own!

ERIN GO BRAUGH!

Just a wee bit o' Irish trivia for you today! I love learning about word origins and traditions (I'm kind of a geek that way!), and did a little researching on-line. I found this great site with all kinds of information, as well as some stuff for sale. Probably too late for this year, but you could always get a head start for next year! Here's some of what I found:

An odd Irish birthday tradition is to lift the birthday child upside down and give his head a few gentle bumps on the floor for good luck. The number of bumps should allegedly correspond to the child’s age plus one.

The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on it's property, at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year.

The "Oscar" statuette handed out at the Academy Awards was designed by Cedric Gibbons, who was born in Dublin in 1823. Gibbons emigrated to the US, and was considered MGM’s top set designer from the twenties right on through the fifties, working on over 1,500 films. Besides designing the coveted prize, Mr. Gibbons managed to win a dozen of them himself.

Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.

According to some historians, over 40% of all American presidents have had some Irish ancestry.

Famous wit Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde in Dublin in 1854.

Bram Stoker was working as a civil servant in Dublin when he wrote “Dracula” in 1897.

Gulliver’s Travels” writer Jonathan Swift is buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

The national symbol of Ireland is the Celtic harp, not the shamrock.

The tune of the "Star Spangled Banner" was composed by the great blind harper Turlough O’Carolan, who died about 35 years before the American revolution.

Medieval laws in Ireland allowed a man to divorce his wife if she damaged his honor through infidelity, thieving or “making a mess of everything.”

Muhammad Ali has some Irish heritage. His great grandfather was born in Ennis, County Clare, and emigrated to Kentucky in the 1860s. There, he married an African-American woman. A son born to this couple also married and African-American woman, who gave birth to Ali's mother, Odessa Grady. She married a man named Cassius Clay, and the two moved to Louisville, where the future champ was born.

The Irish tricolor flag, created in 1848, was designed to reflect the country's political realities. Orange stands for Irish Protestants, green for Irish Catholics and the white stripe for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them.

Barack Obama’s maternal great, great, great grandfather Fulmuth Kearney came from Moneygall, in County Offaly. Mr. Kearney came to America in 1850.


Channel your inner leprechaun and see what else you can learn about Ireland today!

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...

Just when I thought they couldn't get any more creative in the way of lists, quizzes, etc. over yonder on Facebook, they've gone and done it! Do I really have time to be answering these completely useless questions? No. Should I be cleaning something in my house? Yes. Should I be at least thinking (or acting like I'm thinking) about what we're having for dinner? Yes. Am I going to answer these completely useless questions anyway? Um, yeah. I have no will power like that. I found this list while blog-surfing at this site. Here goes:

WHAT'S YOUR REAL NAME?

YOUR REAL NAME:
Lori

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (1st 3 letters of your 1st name plus ' izzle)
Lorizzle (Oooooh I love this! I may have to have my name legally changed!)

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)
Red Dog (Back up Nancy Drew, the Red Dog is on the case!)

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/ or neighborhood if it's a number)
Lynn of the Desert (But I've forgotten my name, because I'm in a coma, and when I wake up I'll have amnesia and my uncle will be my long-lost father...)

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name
Butlo (Hey, I have a light saber and I'm not afraid to use it. No laughing.)

6. SUPER HERO/ CRIMINAL NAME: ( Your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink)
Pink Margarita (I'm suddenly thirsty...)

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your mom's maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad's name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms first name) .
Otbecjy (Holy crap, it works!)

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parent's middle names )
Ann Frank (What the....)

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Sam (not so much goth as conjuring up images of the South before Lincoln stepped in...)

There's also a funny question game over at Kasey's site, All that is Good, that is hysterical! I'll be doing that one soon, as well! She even has a Mr. Linky (haven't figured that one out yet!) so that you can read all the other funny answers out there!

Thanks for all of your well-wishes, I am feeling a tiny bit better (feels only like I'm trying to suck a smallish lemon through a straw when I breathe now, not a large orange). We're on Spring Break--what's not to love?!

P.S. Spell check had a hay-day with this post!

Here, direct to you from the archives of You Tube, is Shirley Ellis, singing the original Name Game song!

Playing the game with names such as Alice, Dallas, Tucker, Chuck, Buck, Huck, Helen, Bart, Art, Mitch, Rich, Richie, or Maggie results in profanity or rude language. (We've all made that regrettable, embarrassing mistake...)

HOLD, PLEASE

I am still here...sort of! I have pneumonia that is kicking my butt right now. I come home from teaching ready to crawl into bed, but not before grading papers and doing homework with my own kids! Dinner? Homemade? What's that?!! Thank goodness for husbands that pitch in when you're having a "near death" experience! My tubby full of hot, bubbly water is calling me, so I'm going to go answer...I'll be back soon!


Always the teacher, I thought I'd include photos for a science lesson. Here's your lung on pneumonia...
P.S. Never research a disease or sickness online...you'll come away knowing way too much and "qualifying" for many more, much worse sicknesses than the one you have!



Oh, and for those of you on a diet, this should help:

A close-up of the little buggers for you! Bon appetit!

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

In light of the fact that I am nursing the mother of all colds (too whiny to post an original thought), and in light of the turmoil in the world today, especially affecting all of our children's educations, I thought I'd post this video that I received in my in-box from a fellow teacher today. All that most educators ask for is the right to do our jobs, to do what we feel we were "born to do". Just give us the basics, and we'll figure out the rest. Give us your poor, your dejected, your socially inept, and we'll figure out the rest. If possible, please give us some paper, pencils, and books. If not, though, don't worry, we'll figure that out too. If you want to see just how far the almighty dollar will stretch, give it to a teacher.

There are a couple of words that would land you in detention in this video, so be careful who is listening!