Four Things

Life is swirling these days. I like the verb swirling. It reminds me of vanilla/chocolate twist cones at Dairy Queen. Yum. (Can you tell I want summer to get here, like yesterday?) But, in the tradition of this blog making me slow down and reflect for a few seconds, I'm going to put down my grading and take twenty minutes to share four things with you.

These are the cookies I made for my newspaper club last week. I've been teaching an elective every Friday for some fourth and fifth grade girls as a little something extra for our school. We practiced brainstorming article ideas, interviewing key players in the stories, and put all of our hard work into a news article on our respective topics. I figured nothing fits hard-hitting-journalism like sugar cookies with funfetti frosting as a celebration for our publishing day. We did a "paper route" around the school and delivered our finished copy of The Titan News to each classroom. Then we ate cookies and drank cherry limeade. I think I'm seriously misleading some of America's youths as to what that job must really be like. I'll bet The Tribune has significantly fewer sugar cookies. Maybe I'll write in and ask because I think it'd seriously improve employee morale. 

This is the list that somehow began to form while I absentmindedly doodled during last week's grad class. I actually really enjoy my current professor (as for some of the others...I have never missed Trinity's English department so badly...) but am just a doodler/lister at heart and this started to happen. I'm still thinking of things I'd like to add. A few of these options require more schooling, a few don't. Anyone out there have ideas that you think might work for me? ...Anyone? ...Bueller? I figure my best bet might be to score a TV show starring me as a counselor who blogs about her patients. This would result in me getting sued for violation of patient-doctor privilege, losing all of my money and possessions in the ruling, and ending up as a homeless bum. That would knock four off the list right there.  

I'm a girl who likes to brush her teeth. My friend Osvaldo works for a toothbrush company. Fancy that. Meet my new, wonderful, orange toothbrush. It looked a little too furry for my liking but it turns out to be a great tooth-cleaning experience. This was a happy day. Also, I cleaned the bathroom that Kristin and I use yesterday with so much bleach that I was starting to consider things like getting into Keeping Up With the Kardashians and other nonsense. My hands are still shriveled from the chemical burn. It makes me feel like a hard worker. And a really good Dutch person. (For you non-Dutch-people...apparently my heritage was supposed to make me enjoy doing housework and chores and being clean...I think there was a gene mutation somewhere along the way when I was born.) 

Aaannnnndddddd. Last but not least. My student K came up to me last Friday and asked if she could give me something. I said, "Of course! How sweet!" She gave this box to me. Thankfully, nothing was inside of this box. The box itself was the gift. I said, "Wow! What a nice box!" and she said, "It's my mom's, but she was going to throw it away. So I thought I'd give it to you." There's a whole lot I could infer from this situation, namely that my student thinks garbage is something that I will enjoy as a present, but I'm going to go with that whole it's the thought that counts thing and call it a night. Adios, muchachos. There are my four things. Tell me some of your things sometime. I'm sure I'll have one or two (or seven) more tomorrow.