Lull

Sorry I have been in a bit of a blogging funk lately. There really just hasn't been much to write about. Things are great, just not blog-worthy. So hang in there for the next two weeks with me as the summer winds down. I am sure this fall will bring lots of excitement, and hopefully more blogging.

Ah Rats!

So I have been wanting to post this for the last week, but haven't had the computer access or the energy to do so until now.

As some of you know, I spent last weekend with my grandma. She is currently recovering from from an illness and doing quite well, but still requiring a lot of help, which my aunts have been doing most of the time. I volunteered to go stay with her to give them a break and to spend time with her.

On my way up, last Friday I got a call from my mom saying that there was another guest at Grandma's, a rat. Apparently things were being knocked off the shelves, a few droppings were found, and my aunt Mary had come face to face with it in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

*Note: My oldest aunt, Judy, has been the leader in my grandma's care, staying with her the most, and OF COURSE has many phobias but none worse than her fear of mice and rats.

So I arrived. Meeting my grandma and Judy at grandma's, before we all went elsewhere for the evening, while the rat was hopefully caught. While we gathered my grandma's stuff I talked to Judy about the clues of the rat, casually mentioning that Mary had seen it. "OH NO, no one has seen it!" Ah, apparently we were keeping Judy in the dark... Great! So off we went for Friday night.

Saturday we went back to the house, with Judy conviced that there was no rat because nothing had been caught. We were to sleep there that night, and though I was careful entering rooms I wasn't really scared. We had checked under my bed, and closed the door so my room was sealed.. .Or so I thought. Amdist a good deep sleep I was awoken to the feeling of feet scampering down my chest. I tried not to make any sudden moves, hoping to get my bearings and gage whether I was just dreaming. Well, I must have budged a bit when I awoke because I felt it hop to my feet just before I flung the covers from me. All of which was in complete darkness. By the time I got the light on, it was no where to be seen... But there was no way in hell I was sleeping in there. So off I went to the couch in the living room. Each time I would begin to doze off I heard it running around the kitchen. It wasn't until the sun came up that I truly could relax because it was bedtime for the rat. (Inhale). TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! My grandma's whistle, 8am, she needed something, and so I was up.

Then Judy calls, "So any rat sightings?" "Uh, no not exactly... I think I heard it though..." But I just couldn't bring myself to tell her about my bed buddy. Thankfully I left that afternoon, and soon after Judy was informed of the sighting, so then they actually hired someone to take care of it. They ended up catching the rat. 8 inch body, and just as long of a tail. Fantastic!

So that is my long winded, rat story. The rest of the week was just AP Conference and time with cousins. Good times, but not really news worthy.

What Old Movie Am I?

Since I have had to use my cousin's computer this week, and I have been quite busy at the conference I haven't had much time to blog. I did, however, have time to find out what old movie I am...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I quite like the description it gives of me!

Calling All Liberals

Some of you may know that much of my family, including my dad, work for my cousin who is a pretty major political consultant. They are possibly going to be designing billboards to draw attention to the shortcomings of the Bush administration and the problems with gas prices and the oil industry, as well as the connections between the two. So if any of you have a clever slogans pointing out any or all of these issues, we'd love to hear them. Who knows, your phrase might make it to the side of the road in Minnesota and Ohio.

Quite the Pickle I Find Myself In

As many of you know I have been all about reading historical fictions this summer. Along with these readings I have also been working on the reading that I assigned to my class as their summer assignment. It is an informational text, A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester. Now I committed a major mistake by assigning it without having read it first and not getting it Board approved. However, it was recommended on a summer reading list on the official AP website, and the previous AP Euro teacher had mentioned hearing of its quality, though she hadn't read it either. I figured it was safe. Well until today it had just provided great detail into all aspects of medieval life, exactly what I had hoped for. Unfortunately today I realized how thoroughly it covered ALL aspects of medieval life. I reached the sex section, and oh what a section it is. For the most part it was still just informative and only slightly questionable, but I felt it was still important in understanding life during this time. It discussed views on pre-marital sex, the prevalence of adultery, courtesans, etc... Then came the part about the sexual depravity of the cardinals and some of the popes. Still I think most of it is not too bad, except this one sentence describing "Roman lore" regarding Cardinal Borgia. It said he decided to move from mother to daughter without skipping a beat... And I mean that literally. I am not going to post it as is written in the book, but it's explicit.

Needless to say, I freaked out! I called my administrator to inform her of the situations, as she may already be fielding calls. Lucky she hasn't yet. We decided though, that rather than send letters now informing the parents and therefore drawing greater attention to the section, we will just wait it out. AHHHHH! Anyhoo, this is the predicament I find myself in. Live and learn I suppose, but man, you can never be too careful.

I Am SO Embarrassed for Him

I don't know if you guys have seen this, but I was watching the Daily Show last night and they had a segment on Vladimir Putin's campaign for reelection. While mingling with the people he felt compelled to lift a boys shirt and kiss the boy's belly. Read this for the details. WHAT?!?! He goes on to defend his actions, but I find his defense just as strange as his actions. Anyway, I would maybe understand if there were a cultural explanation, but there is not... It's just weird!

Another Random Post

I find there is little to say these days, as there is little going on, but a brief update of what I have been up to.

1. Reading my second historical fiction of the summer, The Lady in the
Tower. It's about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII...
The one who is beheaded. It's gotten pretty good, and I keep picturing Ed
when they describe Henry (FYI, that is a complement by the descriptions in
the book). Hahaha, not as much now though, he's getting a little creepy and
obsessive.
2. I have been enjoying a small group from church with two good friends.
3. Playing a little tennis.
4. Going to start going to the Love, Sex and Lasting Relationships Bible
study, followed by salsa dancing with the girls.
5. Visiting Grandma next week, followed by a week of AP conference and time
with family in Sacramento.
6. Lastly, I am officially moving to Tower in the beginning of August!

So that is my summer in a nutshell. Relaxing, peaceful, at times boring, but much needed for I have a busy year that is fast approaching!

Buffy Returns

So I know you are all caught up in World Cup scores and results, but here is a tennis update... And I not talking about Wimbledon. Last night both my partner and I stunk it up on the court while the other veteran team kicked our butts, 6-1, 6-1. Though they were by far the stronger team, my partner had just come off the court having played two men's doubles matches in a row, and right into our mixed doubles match. Needless to say he was tired. I, on the other hand, should have been fresh and ready to go, unfortunately I was experimenting with shoes, and it proved detrimental to our game in the end. Earlier this week I played in my new Adidas running shoes, but was very cautious when serving to not drag my toe because it would quickly ruin these new shoes. My new technique took a bit of power off the ball, but added a bit more consistency and I played well, so I thought I'd play in them again last night. Unfortunately that strategy was a poor one because my accurate weenie serve kept getting pounded back at us. Not good.

This afternoon my parents played the couple we played last night and beat them. The way I saw it, opportunity for a three way tie. So tonight looked hopeful. PLUS, I went back to my clunky, Old Faithful tennis shoes. Well, we were definitely playing better, but we found ourselves down 1-4 in the first set. The good news was Old Faithfuls were allowing me to pound the ball. (There is something about dragging my toe with my poor formed tennis serve... It's really just my volleyball serve, but it works!) So, we ended up coming back all the way to 4-5, before they beat us that set. Unfortunately the next set was not so pretty. We lost 6-1. I must say though, I played pretty well, so nothing to complain about. My parents are good, they play a lot... They should have won. But it sure would have been great to beat them!

I do plan to continue playing, and possibly even venturing into singles as well.

Note:It would be great if a particular Texan friend of mine would move home and play women's doubles with me... Maybe someday!