McDonald’s French Fries and other random thoughts

One thing I love about blogging is that I can just ramble on about anything and it's OK. I guess if somebody doesn't want to read it, feel free to click somewhere else. So, here are some completely random thoughts for today.

1. Is there anything in the world as good to eat as hot, fresh, McDonald's French fries? I don't think so. Wait a minute, let me back up – the grits I ate in London may have been pretty close. Maybe it's just my approximately 12-year-old palate, but I really, really, love those fries. I was at school late today, too many papers to grade, too much work to do and it was raining and of course, I have two umbrellas in my car, but NONE in my classroom, so on the way home it was late and I was hungry so I ate early. I just happened to have a book of McDonald's gift certificates in my purse, so why not? That first fry. . . Yummy! The second and thirds ones, Ok, the entire serving, they were just perfect. Now, I have a million things I should be doing, reading chapters, figuring out a fold-able for continents and oceans, and instead, here I sit blogging about French fries.

2. Media certification test – My friend Robyn and I passed our media certification tests on Saturday. Yay for us. We were a little stressed for several reasons. A) We weren't sure we knew enough to pass yet. B) No pressure but FSU has a 100% passing rate on that test. I was afraid I would be the first one not to pass. I mean we can take it again, but still. Nothing like being reminded that our school is the "#1 ranked program in the US and Canada for youth services and #5 for school media." That's fantastic, but while I was sitting there waiting for my test questions to start rolling up, I still felt like throwing up. But we both passed, which makes three out of our group of five in our county. Our other two friends take it later this month. According to the state, I can now (when the paperwork is done) work as a certified media specialist, without the degree. Of course we still go back to that "don't know enough about what I'm doing thing." We have to finish the two classes we have right now, do an internship and one more class, and then we are done. In some ways it seems like it's been forever and in some ways it feels like we "only just begun."

3. Bills and bills – I hate paying my bills. It's not the draining of my bank account, although that is certainly not fun. I just hate the time it takes to do it. I always feel like I could be doing something so much more fun.

4. Politics – I hate it. Can't we just vote and get it over with? Teaching 6^th grade is lovely – political thoughts from 12-year olds. . . Scary thought, right? I've decided that if somebody running for office can't tell me why I should vote for him/her without telling me how bad, evil, and rotten the other person(s) are, I don't want to vote for them. . .Oh I guess that means I don't get to vote at all ever again! That's a joke, of course, I'll vote – can I vote D) none of the above??

5. Nora Roberts – Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. I accidently picked up a book of hers that I've already read and started reading it the other day in a weak moment. I know, I know, I should be reading chapters and articles on the organization of information and managing information organizations. I am, I am, but I just have to read something more fun. I love how she (Nora Roberts) writes trilogies because I like the people in them and one book just isn't enough. I love that the women in her books are always bright and funny, not stupid and bland. These are women I'd like to hang out with, seriously. In addition, her men. . . Sorry, drifted off there for a minute. There are such good stories in her books. I can't believe how prolific she is, and how many books she manages to write. My sister once said that inside my head must be a scary place, because of the way things just pop out of my mouth. I'd like to take a peek inside Nora Robert's head. . I can't imagine how she manages to create all these characters and keep them straight and yet still give them so much personality. BTW, the book I'm re-reading (for the third time I think) is Blood Brothers. It is part of the Sign of Seven Trilogy, the second book "The Hollow" came out in March. Book three "The Pagan Stone" comes in December, hopefully after the FSU semester is over. That's probably an all night, get it read it right away book.

All right, enough random thought for now. Chapters and articles are glaring at me from across the desk. To work, to work!

The Graduate school diet – I don’t recommend it

It is 10:23 and I just ate a strawberry pop tart for dinner. The other night I was eating Publix Chicken Corn Chowder at 10:45. I can't decide what's more embarrassing – how late I'm eating, or the fact that I have the palate of a 12 year old. Graduate school is so bad for my eating habits. I've never been a good cook, although I love cooking tools from the Pampered Chef and have LOTS of them. If I ever do decide to cook, I've got the right stuff to use. It's just easier, when it's just me, to eat quick, easy things. However, since I started working on my Master's degree from FSU, I've started eating horrible things, and on a horrible schedule and I don't know what to do about it. Sometimes I ask my friend Robyn what she is fixing her family for dinner and try to live vicariously through her dinner options. I know it's not good for me to eat peanut butter M & M's for supper. I eat cereal quite a bit, which is not too bad, except when I choose Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. (Again, that 12-year-old palate thing.) I eat a lot of things that are hand-held or at least portable, and I don't eat at the table often enough. I eat with one hand and highlight (or type) with the other. I eat my pop-tarts on paper plates, that way I don't have to wash a plate. I know that's pitiful, but who has time to stand at the sink washing dishes? Not me, with six articles and two chapters for each class waiting for me! I just keep thinking, not much longer, not much longer. My digestive system will be glad when I'm finished.

Kudos to my friends, Kerry and Tommy

Twice recently, I've had the pleasure of attending a party for some of my friends. My father is a pastor, and so lots of people that I know are in full time Christian service. In August, and then today, I was invited to attend a pastor friends anniversary party at his church. Last month, my friend Kerry who pastors at Lone Oak Baptist Church in Plant City (his wife Laquita is my very best friend) celebrated 10 years at his church, and I just got back from my friend Tommy's church, First Thonotosassa Missionary Baptist Church, and his 15^th anniversary celebration. I've been thinking about those things a lot lately, and I just can't explain how proud I am of these two guys.

Being a pastor is hard work, if you do it right. If anybody ever says pastoring is easy, they are either fibbing or they aren't doing it properly. I grew up in a pastor's home, so I have some perspective that most people probably don't. Basically, a pastor is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's not just two hours on Sunday, and an hour on Wednesday night. To be in the same church for that length of time, is pretty impressive. No church is perfect, and no pastor is perfect, but when it's the right match, it's a great thing.

It seems like so many things in our life are disposable. If we don't like it, if it breaks, just throw it away and get a new one. People leave jobs because they don't like their boss, they leave a marriage because it gets difficult, we quit when the going gets tough. I can't imagine how many time in the 25 total years Kerry and Tommy have been at their churches, how many times they wanted to throw in the towel and walk away. But they didn't. I don't know what it is that makes some people just stick it out, and some people quit and go on.

I told Tommy's church tonight, and I wish I could tell Kerry's church, how much it means to me to see their churches love and honor my friends. It's a wonderful thing to know that my friends, who give so much of themselves to their church members, are loved and respected by those same church members. I'm so glad that the people at Lone Oak and Thonotosassa love my friends, and recognize the commitment that these men had made.

Kerry and Tommy

I love my church!

Every now and then, something happens that makes me think of things that I know, but don't often think about or verbalize. I was hit with one of these last night and today, of how much I love my church. My church is 80-something years old, and I had known "of" my church all my life, way before it was my church. I have been a member of my church for 10 years. That's easy for me to remember, because my friends son Noah was born a week before or week after I joined my church and Noah just turned ten in August. I use Noah's birthday as my anniversary date at my church. By the way, my church is First Missionary Baptist Church in Auburndale. (http://www.firstmbc.com) I was reminded again how much I love my church on Friday night, when I sat with Pastor Price at the AHS football game. A local tradition is that after half time the cheerleaders throw little plastic footballs into the crowd. Different business help pay for the footballs and the organization gets their name printed on footballs. I don't know how or why this was started but they've done in here in Auburndale as long as I can remember, even when my sisters were in high school – and one graduated in 1980 and one in 1983. Some of the footballs Friday night on Friday night said "First Missionary Baptist Church." How cool is that? Mr. Jimmy (as my niece calls him) who is our Youth Pastor was also at the game. It is amazing to watch high school age kids wave and yell "Hi Pastor!" I bet they will remember for a long time that their Pastor was at their game.

Today, our church hosted what we hope becomes an annual event the "Auburndale Sportsman's Expo." Most of the planning went on while I was in London this summer, so I came back not knowing anything about it. I guess this was the brainchild of Pastor Will, who is our Associate Pastor. Pastor Will and his wife Amy are some of my most favorite people in the whole world. I know that's not grammatically correct, but it is very true. This thing today was HUGE! There were guest speakers and prizes, auctions, booths, barbeque, exhibits, and a special area for kids. . . It was amazing. I heard someone ask the guys at the registration table what they owed our church for coming. They couldn't believe it when they were told nothing. Then, they asked what our church was getting from all this, again the guy said nothing – just an opportunity to give people some time with their friends and family and a chance to let us minister to your needs. How can I not love my church? I watched all the volunteers from my church run around everywhere today, doing all sorts of jobs from parking cars to serving food to passing out prizes and taking tickets. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, when Paul is talking about how every part of the body is important, and no part is more important than any other is. Every job today was important and it made me sad that my life is so caught up in my job and my schoolwork for FSU that I didn't have a job, and didn't even have time to know what a big deal this was. I heard that the guy who was there from the Bass Pro Shop said to go ahead and put him on the list for next year. Me too – put me on the list. Next year, I want one of those orange shirts.

 

P. S. Check out all the incredible decorating the ladies from my church created. That's another thing on my list for whenever this Master's degree is done – I want to be on the decorating crew!
P.S. again - I left my card from my camera at my sister's house. I'll have to add those pictures tomorrow!

Friday Night Lights

I don't know about everybody else, but in my little town, which I dearly love, high school athletics are a HUGE deal. So, that is part of the reason that on many Friday nights in the fall, one can find a whole lot of Auburndale's population at Bruce Canova Stadium, watching the Auburndale Bloodhounds play football. I honestly don't care much about high school football, but my nephew plays in the band, so on many Friday nights, I take my place in the stadium as well. Tonight was one of those nights and was a perfect night for football. I was trying to think about what made it such a nice night and I really can't pinpoint any particular thing. The Bloodhounds lost 9-7, but it was a pretty good game. My niece loves to watch the cheerleaders and the band – that's all she cares about. I have taught middle school for so long that I have a good number of students who have moved on to high school, so I'm always listening for names of "my boys." My family and I always laugh, because there are very few times we go out in public where someone doesn't say "Hello Ms. Jimmerson." Tonight was a usual night, the woman selling tickets teaches with me, we barely got in the gate when someone said "Ms. Jimmerson" and then on the way up the stadium someone yelled my name. I love that, to be perfectly honest. The weather was nice, not too hot; it rained earlier, so there was no rain, no bugs, and a nice, clear night. I know that Hurricane Ike is getting ready to beat up Texas, but it was a perfect night for us for football. I love the sound of the bands, and the smell of hotdogs and hamburger cooking and the whole atmosphere. It was a great night. It was even more fun when my pastor and youth pastor came, and to watch our youth pastor eat a boiled peanut for the first time in his life. He's from Chicago, and I don't think he'll rush to have any more anytime soon. It was really cool to sit at a football game with my pastor – but that's for another post. Of course, there are the eternal questions that I wonder about – why does a high school have 22 cheerleaders? Isn't' that a lot? And why are there girls who won't graduate until 2012 on the varsity cheerleading squad? And why do cheerleaders choose such unattractive uniforms? The high school in my town has uniforms with one shoulder only. Why would anybody choose a one-shoulder outfit for girls who jump around and cheer? Every single one of those 22 cheerleaders, regardless of their size or shape, sometime tonight was pulling on the side with no shoulder. And isn't it a shame that the announcers have to remind people to take off their hats while the band plays the National Anthem? Didn't people used to know that without being told? Over all, though it was a great night. If you haven't been to a high school football game recently, find one and go. Its great fun – and pretty cheap! You'll probably enjoy yourself as much as I did.

Prevention Lessons

I have had the dubious honor this week of having the county prevention nurse in my classroom. There are some really great things about that and some negative aspects as well.

Here are the good things first!

    1. Mrs. Barfield, the nurse taught all of my classes (all 155-ish students) every day all four days of last week, and will finish up tomorrow.

    2. The extra free time gave me LOTS of time to catch up. I know it sounds inefficient to be behind after only 2 weeks of school, but it's true, it happens. I did lots of sorting and putting away, the letters my students write to me on the second day of school, the parent information sheets that I send home, they are all filed, hole punched and put away!

    3. Someone else teaching all my students every day. Did I already mention that?

    4. Mrs. Barfield is a fabulous teacher, as well as a nurse. She is so matter of fact and easy for kids to understand. She just puts it right out there and has better classroom control than lots of teachers I know.

 

Now, the negative things about the health lessons:

    1. I teach Geography, it sounds really stupid to explain to people why the nurse teaches in my class instead of science class. (The FCAT – there's not one for Social Studies, there is for Science, so we take time away from Social Studies because it apparently isn't that important to the state of Florida anyway! That's also why monthly, I get to traipse all my students down to the nurse's office to do head lice checks! NOTE- this is NOT my idea!)

    2. For the first two days of health, the boys and girls are separated while they learn the lessons about puberty. I get the boys. Trust me; I could label a diagram of the male reproductive system in my sleep! The same lesson seven times in one day, followed by the embarrassment of 11, 12, and 13 year old boys having the learn about the female reproductive system. For some strange reason, on the day of that lesson, my boys won't look at me when they leave the room and they are really glad my desk is in the back of the room, not the front!

    3. Being constantly reminded that there are so many things that parents should teach their children, which apparently they never get to. I'm amazed that kids who are so streetwise can be so clueless about their own bodies.

    4. Only one more day!

 

 

I LOVE the beach!

In my family, we are beach people. I love the beach. My parents first real date was at the beach, the day after my mom's senior prom. My parent's last date was at the beach, in a manner of speaking, as my mom had the heart attack that ended her life on a beach in the Keys. Now, I'm not brave enough to go back to that beach yet, but I do love the beach. For two and a half years, my parents and sisters lived in the Bahamas, where they swam on a daily basis. My mom was pregnant with me at the time, which may be one reason she only gained 12 pounds the entire time she carried me, and I was 7 pounds and 15 and a half ounces of the 12 pounds. Anyway, when we were young, we were so poor, so it was a huge treat to get to go to the beach. My sisters and I go the beach nearly every summer, although for a couple of years we tried the mountains instead. This summer, I missed our week at the beach, because I was in London. I know what an incredible hardship right? We decided, after a bit of begging on my part, to spend Labor Day weekend at the beach. We got a place at Weston's, which is our favorite place at Englewood. On Friday, right after school, (after a delay for a haircut) I picked up my friend Mrs. Smith, and then Patti and Makiah and we headed to Englewood. Robyn left right after work, so she got there first. My friend Mrs. Smith just retired, she and I taught together for 14 years, and she is thoroughly enjoying her retirement. It makes me a little jealous! She and her family have spent time at Englewood for years, and she and I have spent some summer days there together. Actually, right after my mom died (on Wednesday after the funeral on Monday) she was spending time at the beach and I ran away to join her. She and the beach were just what I needed to sooth my raw feelings. She and I spent hours floating around on noodles in the water and just sitting on the beach. With her, I didn't have to pretend I was OK, because I really wasn't. It was OK for me to cry for no apparent reason with her, and most of the time, she just cried along with me. I didn't have to talk if I didn't want to; I didn't have to be gracious and kind. I could just rant, rave, and carry on and it was OK.

This weekend was not necessarily nice beach weather, thanks for Gustave hanging around, but still, it was the beach and it was marvelous. On Friday night, we got there so late, we just had time to go outside and see and smell the water and watch the stars for a while. On Saturday, we floated around, were amazed at the swarms of dragonflies in front of our room, and then were rained on. We went to eat a late lunch/early dinner at the Fishery in Placida, which is one of our favorite places to eat. We ate, and watched the crabs and the fish jumping right outside the restaurant. It was fabulous, just fabulous. The weather was awful, but we sure enjoyed watching the water. I don't know what it is about the beach, but it's good for me. If I ever win the lottery (which would require me to play), I'm buying a house near the beach. . .