Peggy Hill Spanish

I am taking a Spanish class for "fun"; at least that is what the registration materials said. I took Spanish in high school and retained a little bit. In the last year, due to my job, I feel like I should strengthen my conversational skills so that I can better communicate with the Spanish speaking people I meet. Right now I feel like someone with aphasia when I try to speak Spanish. Lots of awkward pauses and uhhhhs and then a word comes out usually followed by some gesture to further emphasize what I was trying to communicate. At this point, I am lacking confidence, and I fear that my Spanish speaking skills will plateau at the level of Peggy Hill, substitute Spanish teacher of the year.

I was a fourth grade Nancy.

I remember in elementary school, there was a girl that was a year or two younger than me. I didn't really like her to begin with and she got it in her head that I was the actress that played Nancy on Little House, A New Beginning. This infuriated me because for one thing, I hated Nancy. She was conniving and evil and she wasn't even cute. Secondly, how stupid is this classmate of mine to think that I could be on TV last night and make it to school the next day. (Okay, so I was a bit naive about television programming). Anyway, I was mortified. She taunted me, calling me Nancy whenever we would cross paths in the lunchroom. I guess she eventually figured out her error. I however, will have to live with this humiliation forever :)

Check out this sweepstakes

I visited a blog called http://wordsfromabusySAHM.com and found a great sweepstakes to enter. (So I entered it). I wanted to share it on my blog as well. For those of you who are into sweepstaking, entering blog sweepstakes takes a little more time and effort. The good thing is that usually the entry period is brief so fewer people enter it than a national sweeps. Odds are usually pretty good. This giveaway includes:
- A sample of the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken Pasta variety
- Three coupons for you to try the other varieties the next time you visit your local grocer
- A colander
- Serving spoon
- Cheese grater
She is giving away 3 of them and you can enter more than once. The contest only runs until May 1, so hurry.

Coupons!!!!!!

I have just started using coupons to try and save some money. I tried to do this a while ago, but I was just overwhelmed by being so disorganized and I was poorly motivated. A couple of my co-workers are also collecting coupons to save some money, so we have enjoyed discussing the latest deals at the local grocery stores and drug stores. One of the grocery stores here had triple coupons for the weekend. I went yesterday and today. It is like gambling! I mostly purchased stuff that I needed but then I found myself buying fabric stain remover (I have 2 already stock piled at home) because I could get such a great deal. The store allowed you to use 20 coupons for tripling. I had 19 coupons that I had chosen to use and then I found myself frantically searching for another coupon that I could justify using too. Yes, I definitely need some chicken broth. I can't live without chicken broth. Must use one more coupon...Using coupons has really changed the way I shop. Previously, I would buy whatever I wanted and not obsess about the price. I would use a coupon if I had one, but usually I would forgot them at home. I had a lot of fun shopping and hearing that scanner beep and seeing all of those minus signs on my receipt. I was exhausted when I left the store, but it was well worth the extra time taken to peruse the store and figure out which coupons would help me save the most money.

Albert Ingalls

I was really joking when I sent my sister an email and told her I was going to make a blog about the show Little House on the Prairie. For the last week we have been emailing each other with dialogue from the shows and episodes that were especially notable. I found myself laughing hysterically. Being a child of the eighties, I watched that show a lot...reruns, new beginning episodes. When we got cable television, Little House was a staple program on WTBS. The show is ingrained in my brain. For the longest time, I believed that all pioneers boys had cool 70s hair just like Albert and Willie. I don't really like to admit it, but I would probably sit down right now and watch an episode even though I have already seen it 100 times. I know my sister and I aren't the only ones out there who have a secret affinity for Little House. So sister, will you just settle for my posting about our beloved show? Could I actually fill an entire blog with all that random pioneer wisdom?

Eating better

So, I just started reading this book that gives you information on how to choose food items that are healthier when you are shopping at the the grocery store. One suggestion that was given was to try and shop only in the perimenter of the grocery store because generally the healthier items are along the walls of the store. All of the packaged stuff and cans of preserved items are in the middle of the store. Apparently, that is the stuff to steer away from. Produce, diary items, fresh meat and poultry are usually around the perimeter of the store. It is so easy to get "lost" and overwhelmed when you are going up and down the grocery aisles. People probably forget to even stop and look at the items on the walls.

Thoughts for the day.

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans" is a such a memorable quote by John Lennon. I too often am wrapped up in the daily stresses of working and having a family that I forget to live in the moment. I get anxious about plans to be made or housework to be done that I am not even enjoying what is happening in the present. Monday rolls around and I am ready for Friday. One of my co-workers has told me that she is wishing her life away, because every week she just wants Friday to hurry up and get here. What makes people happy?

Spanish or no Spanish?

I am planning on taking a Spanish class. I was planning on starting it last week (seeing as how I drove to the meeting site with pen and paper in hand), but there was had been a scheduling error and the class was actually scheduled to beging the next week on a different day, a less convenient day. I emailed the scheduling coordinator Monday (3 days ago) and she assures me that the class is actually scheduled for the next week but on Tuesday, rather than Thursday which was preferable. She expressed her apologies for the confusion and scheduling mishap. Today, when I return home from work, there is message from the scheduling coordinator that there was yet another scheduling error and the class actually starts tomorrow evening. She requested that I call her back to confirm if I still wanted to take the class since she hasn't deposited my check yet. It is wrong for me to be a bit frustrated?

Getting adventurous and buying paint for less

At one of the large home improvement warehouse stores, you can usually find gallons and pints of paint that have already been mixed for reduced prices. These are cans of paint that were either mixed incorrectly or people never picked up. My husband and I have been contemplating re-painting some rooms in our house but we were having difficulty deciding on new colors. He found pints of blue and brown each for $2 and a gallon of a robin's egg blue for $8. We now have a lovely blue/brown alternating stripe accent wall in our living room that he painted. I would not have chosen that combo of colors under other circumstances and we both were pleasantly surprised on how cool looking it turned out. It perked up our living room nicely. Next time you set out to buy some paint, check to see if the store has any reject paint at reduced prices. You may find just the color that you didn't know you were looking for.

Backyard mystery cord.

So you are probably wondering exactly why is this orange cord in my backyard? I am still not exactly sure. The electric company via phone conversation assures me that it is not their line. I thought it belonged to the phone company because when I was able to hoist myself up to look over the privacy fence, I saw some of those metal wiring boxes with the phone company logo on it. I called them and a service guy was sent out. He said it wasn't their line either. He was pretty sure it belonged to the cable company and that if it was his backyard, he would bury the cable himself because the cable company would not come out any time soon to bury it. He assures me that this orange cord coiled up in my yard is perfectly safe. I still can't rake my leaves.

Organizing shoes

My three kids all share the same bedroom so space is limited. One of the recent ongoing messes in their room is keeping their shoes organized. I had all of their shoes stacked up neatly on the bookcase at the end of the bed. "Let's knock the shoes off the bookcase" became a favorite game. I was spending entirely too much time looking for the mates of shoes and putting them back on the shelf. Visually, it was unappealing too. The bookcase is actually an organization cube with 9 cubes. We had it filled with books and we had used the cloth storage bins that fit inside, for toys and other things elsewhere in the house. The cloth bins come in different colors. I chose green, pink and blue bins which are also my kids' security blanket colors. I arranged the 3 bins in my kids' birth order from left to right. My kids are able to remove the bins themselves, and they like having all of their shoes in their very own bin. My 3 year old even put the bin back in the cube after she picked out her shoes. The cube storage system is also visually appealing.

What is that in my backyard?

Recently while raking leaves in my backyard, I happen upon what looks like an orange heavy-duty extention cord tangled in with the leaves. I do some further exploration and discover that one end is buried about a foot down in my backyard while the other end disppears under our privacy fence into the heavily wooded abyss behind our house. With unbridled zeal, I attempt to dig it up thinking what kind of moron has buried an extension cord in our backyard. After digging for a few minutes and realizing that this was making me sweat, I cease my fruitless labor and begin to feel paranoid. Why is this cord here? Are my neighbors stealing my electricity? What kind of bizarre contraption is this cord attached to? If I cut it with this shovel, will I be electricuted? I can't finish raking these leaves!!!!

Books on CD

In the last year I have enjoyed listening to books on CD during my commute to work. Reading for fun until recently wasn't something I found to be fun. I may have read a book a year since graduating from college. Since August 2008, I have listened to and/or read 25 books or more. I actually like to read now.