Priceless

$24 train ride to Boston

$2 t-ride to the North End

one dozen cannolis from Mike's Pastry - priceless!

Enjoy ~SJ

Mac vs PC

So blogosphere.... in case you don't keep up with me on Facebook I'm seeing a new guy. There has been weeks of debate over what his blog name will be. I will spare you the list and simply share that he will be known as MacPro. And in honor of MacPro I shall share one of my favorite Mac vs PC commercials since yes I'm a Mac Geek and enjoy watching them on the Apple website.

Sea-Monkeys

I can't believe it.... I have had a colony of sea-monkeys for over two years now and have yet to blog about them. I have blogged about all of my other pets - cats, ants, but never the sea monkeys. Typically they live at school and during the summer with enjoy the window sill near my kitchen sink. They have yet to make the big trip back to school and I have to admit that I have been enjoying them at home. Indexed recently posted an index about sea monkeys that just made me laugh out loud, and I decided to share.

Friday Fill-Ins

And...here we go!

1. I have a history of eating ice cream almost every day.

2. How to knit socks is something I wish I knew.

3. I'm eating (or recently ate) my portion of 18 pounds of pumpkin seeds.

4. I use my GPS when I am on the road, even to places I know how to go.

5. So that's it, that's almost all the time I have this morning devoted to watching students fill in little bubbles on standardized tests.

6. Warm coffee better than nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the high school field hockey game with my middle school players, tomorrow my plans include getting ready for the Dempsey Challenge and Sunday, I want to not have to walk in the rain!

Seriously Folks!

I have been a long time American Girl Doll fan - since around the age of 6. I had Kirsten and then Molly. This is way back when there were only three American Girls that we made in Europe. Let's flash forward twenty plus years to today. Now the American Girl Doll company has a store on 5th Avenue and is owned by Mattel (the owners of Barbie - GASP just the reason why I started playing with American Girl in the first place - to get away from Barbie!)

Now there are many more than three dolls in the line-up. I emailed American Girl early last year suggesting that they start making an Obama inspired doll - no can do. I just read today that they now have a homeless doll! Yes folks, a doll who is homeless for our pre-teens to play with! And we were worried about the poor body image that Barbie was sending. Let's just go back to the simple days of three dolls that you buy from a beautiful catalog and call it good!

Enjoy ~SJ

Codes

I own and rent government subsidized rental property. At times the hoops that you have to go through in order to meet all of the government codes are crazy! This recent Speed Bump comic reminds me of some of my recent conversations.

Enjoy ~SJ

It's 11 p.m.

.... and my lunch is packed, the crate is filled with all of my school books that came home for summer vacation, my "Big Paper" that was supposed to be done - isn't, things have been checked off my summer to-do list, and as of tonight there is a new shed in my driveway. Although tonight marks the end of summer as so many of the other River Valley Bloggers have commented via Facebook and their blogs, tonight also marks the beginning of a new year. Years have always begun for me in September and end in June, July and August are there own separate months. So let's raise our glass of pink lemonade and toast to another wonderful summer, I can't wait to play again next summer, but until then there are many more adventures to be had.

Enjoy ~SJ

Berry Challenges

I have said this hundreds of times, I love to pick all types of berries and could pick berries all day long. Summer of course is the best time to engage in this activity. Each type of berry poses its own challenges. Strawberries strains your legs, blueberries runs the risk of bears, and blackberries requires full body combat gear to even get into the bushes!

I have a little blackberry patch in my back yard, and grew up crawling through them for the precious fruit. Blackberries, like other fruit decided to grow on uneven ground adding to the overall challenge. As you carefully climb through the picky bush you not only need to make sure that you can get back out, but you also need to watch as carefully as you can your footing. Oh, and there is usually a snake or two so don't be startled.

It looks like I will be enjoying the yummy fruit from my yard over the next few weeks as long as I can figure out how to get myself to all of the fruit.

Enjoy ~SJ