Last night before bed

I watched Amelie again. It's been a few months...years, even?
All I can say, is that it's magical--absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time.


If you haven't seen it, that's your own fault!

So an awesome Olympics announcer named Mary Carillo just said, and I quote,

"Nothing cutens up a country like panda bears."

Then she went on to add, "Almost 30 years ago, it was discovered that pandas were about to disappear forever from the steep bamboo-rich mountains of southwestern China. Ever since then, panda baby-making has been in full gear."

Can I just say that I love my job?

And I know you're not supposed to say that, especially out loud. But today, back at work, I wasn't lamenting the end of my summer vacation. I was thinking about how lucky I am to work where I work, with the people I work with, and that maybe just maybe, I have the best gig ever.

Oh, how we love Marfa.

Barbara Kingsolver says,

"Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer."

I needed to hear that. I also needed to clean and organize our spare room so that it's a space I want to write in. So that I'm surrounded by things that inspire me, but also so that the clutter is gone. Maybe fung shui is real. Who am I to argue with the Ming dynasty? The room feels better to be in--that's all I know.

I also posted all my rejection letters from agents on one wall. I could only find eleven of them, and I know I should have at least twenty, but it's a good start. And in my defense, a couple of them aren't rejection letters--they are requests for partials or my entire ms, even though in the end they were rejections. But I digress.

I walk into the room now and I want to do just what Barbara Kingsolver says. Close the door. Write...

The Kardashians have moved into our laundry room.

No, not THOSE Kardashians. I'm talking about my new family of red wigglers, the tiny worms that are hard at work in my new vermicomposting bin.


Now, we'll be able to recycle all of our fruit and veggie scraps, as well as tea and coffee grounds, eggshells, egg cartons, stale bread, old copies of the Chronicle, tons of stuff. The Kardashians will change it from trash into the best plant food that you can find anywhere.
I learned all about vermicomposting, and lots of other cool stuff at a training I went to this week through the
Sustainable Food Center of Austin. We spent time helping at a local farm, built and planted some additional raised beds at our school garden, and learned about local programs that educate teachers, students, and parents to make the planet a nicer place.
And right now, our home is a nicer place thanks to the Kardashians!

C'mon, the only other families I could think of were the Rockefellers, the Clown-Arounds, the Munsters and the Jacksons.

In case you haven't heard Nathan and me talking like little kids on Christmas lately, we finally got a Wii.

We've also gotten, shall I say, a tad carried away with creating Miis, which are the animated characters you can create, name and play with on all the games.
Then, last night we had the best time making our little Miis play baseball with each other.
Here is the breakout of teams:

Team Rosie:
Rosie (pitcher)
Amy
Tori
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Bjork
Kurt Cobain
Pootie (who is one fierce trollop)
John Goodman
Mia Michaels

Team Jesus:
Jesus (pitcher)
Nathan
Ellen
Mary Murphy
Nigel
Barbara
Joy
Whoopi
Elizabeth

It was hysterical watching Tori catch fly-balls from Ellen, Jesus pitch to John Goodman, and Whoopie hit foul balls into the crowd.
Just picture it for a minute. So, so awesomely great.

Also, as soon as we get another nunchuk, we'll be able to box with two people, and then we can have a celebrity deathmatch between Rosie and Elizabeth. Stay tuned...
I'm putting my money on Rosie.

Is there really anything to complain about when you lose weight?

Yes, actually.
I'm now too thin for my fat pants, but too big for my skinny pants.
What in the blazes did I wear when I was in the middle last time?

Summer is here again.

For most people who live in Texas, that's not such a great thing.
For teachers who live in Texas (or anywhere else for that matter), it's a glorious thing.

This year's annual summer playlist is already concocted and ready to be shared. Let me know if you'd like a copy. Making summer mixtapes is one of my rituals, and I sort of wish it was a ritual for everyone, because how great would that be? And you guys all know that when I say mixtape, I really mean mixCD, right? It's just so much cooler and nostalgic to say mixtape. I think I still have some of favorite old mixtapes in a dusty box in the top of my closet. The one from my best friend, Amber, in 7th grade that was full of Suzanne Vega, Morrisey, and was my first introduction to Tori. The one from one of my high school boyfriends, Zach, that showcased early Oasis, Pavement, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and the first song on both sides was our song, Hold My Hand, by Hootie and the Blowfish. Which one of the mixtapes would you say was cooler? To find the answer, stay tuned until the end of this post.

I also have lost a total of 5 pounds on our new Abs-Diet-workout-5-days-a-week-alternating-cardio-and-weights-Diet/Intervention Plan. I pulled out three of my favorite old skirts that I can no longer wear appropriately in public as motivation. My goal is to be able to wear them on our trip to Marfa for our anniversary.

In other news, we start our ballroom dancing class on Thursday. I absolutely can't wait. We may get there and find the only other people in the class are our friends who we convinced to sign up, but that would still be great.

The answer is A, the coolest mixtape was the one from my best friend in 7th grade, Amber. Because even though it did have Primus, it also had the live version of Somebody by Depeche Mode, and that makes it infinitely cooler.

I should probably blog.

It's been a while.
But all I'm doing at the moment is working six days a week,
trying to say "yes" to weight training and cardio and "no" to junk food,
going to bed before 10 on a regular basis because of allergies or exhaustion,
and trying to bring myself to face rewriting the end of my book.
Again.
So when you put all that together, it's not so much fun.
And not so much the stuff of great blogs.
I'm sure you understand.