Random Thoughts on Not Much

Chocolate croissants are best eaten slightly warm. Otherwise, it's like you're eating a Hershey bar that's been stuffed into a croissant. You shouldn't have to 'break' something when you're eating a croissant. It's just not right. So heat 'em up. Pete's Coffee in the new Raley's, take note. Get a microwave.

I shouldn't have had that chocolate croissant but it was a hard morning so I treated myself to coffee and a croissant this morning. Had to get cash at the bank anyway - the new Wells Fargo branch also opened this weekend!! YEAH! No more driving all the way across town for banking errands!

Having a bad day is really just admitting you're in a bad mood and projecting that issue onto a unit of time that can't defend itself. It's a fine thing to 'do' if you need to - but be honest about it. You're just grumpy. The day had nothing to do with it.

Storms with high winds that knock out power for hours on end suck. The rainbows and bright, crystal clear blue skies that periodically occur during these atmospheric events are the 'bonus' part.

You can get a lot done in the dark by power of your Blackberry, candlelight and various cell phones if you need to. Three hours sitting in the dark yesterday required creativity on the 'be productive at work' mantra. I did a lot, though, and that felt really good! Working by candlelight is kind of fun. And we told ghost stories off and on just to pass the time. Remember 'iiiiiiittttt flooooaaaatttssss' said in your scariest voice?.....it was a fun day, all things considered.

Jay Leno should just retire. Seriously. I never understood his 'earlier' show - he retired, didn't he? And yet, he's back. What in the world is NBC thinking allowing him to 'return' to The Tonight Show? I hope the ratings bomb and while it will be sad to see a late night institution go, I won't miss Jay Leno or his ego one bit. And I'll be watching Conan, wherever he goes. Just because I want HIM to be successful wherever he lands.

I'm getting over a cold that started last Friday. How do I remember specifically what day my cold started? 'Cuz I had to blow up 15 blue balloons that day for my volunteering in a 1st grade classroom and my throat hurt so much, I had a hard time blowing up the balloons. That, and I have the lung capacity of an 89 year old, apparently. It was hard to get them started with 20 little pairs of eyes watching my every move...but I did it. They BEGGED me to let one go so it would fly all over the room - and I probably would have, but then I'd have to blow up another one and I couldn't do it. That, and I'm slightly afraid of the teacher. She would have been so not amused by that. We made 'globes' with those balloons. It was chaos. And fun. Antarctica ended up in so many different locations on so many different globes....and I did appreciate the teacher reassuring me: Majah, we're making 1st grade globes. It's OK. Thank goodness I wasn't graded on how close the continents were to where they should have been. I'd get an "F". Anyway, today was the first day I've felt 'decent' since LAST Thursday. I know I've been feeling 'off' 'cuz I've been sleeping in until close to 6. I've been getting to work around 7:30 every morning - and I feel 'late'. When did 7:30 become 'late'? I need to sleep in more....

I can't wait to see what we're doing tomorrow in my 1st grade volunteer class. I am nervous....I'm always nervous. Last week, one of the parents got to help them play a 'spelling word' version of Candy Land and the other got to help them 'shop' at a store. Crafts? Me? It is great to be 'out of my element' but it terrifies me at the same time. It exhausts me in ways I can't describe. For all you teachers out there, you have my sincerest admiration. I don't know how you do it....every day. I can barely make it 1.5 hours and I look at the clock too much (read: all the time) 'cuz I secretly can't wait to be back in my office, with my adding machine and stacks of stuff to do. 20 unique little people with the energy of....well, I can't really pick a descriptive word that is 'best'. If we could bottle that, we'd all live to be 1,000 years old.

I love my 'big sister'. She's amazing and one of my best friends. And since we didn't really become 'friends' until less than a decade ago, it's been such an amazing thing to become such great friends this 'late' in our sisterhood. She's incredibly wonderful and I love her to pieces. Just letting her know - (Hi, Sis!). Oh, and she's a great farmer!! On Farmville!!

My oldest son turns 19 on Saturday. And he is in Santa Barbara all weekend celebrating with friends. I miss him. And it will be weird to have him 'not home' on the anniversary of his birth. We will celebrate together next week. He wants to go skydiving for his birthday 'celebration'. Not with us, but with friends. I'm not jumping out of a plane....though that's kind of what I think I felt like the day he was born. That 'wow, what in the heck just happened here?' feeling - he's enjoying the 'focus' of our parenting being diverted to his younger brother - a 'break' for him on the parental interference scale. Lucky him.

He just started his 2nd semester of college and he's really loving it! And I'm so happy for him - that he's really enjoying his classes and looks forward to learning and is finally 'seeing' that there is a practical reason for school - 'cuz if you're learning about something you're interested in, it's a lot of fun to read and study and question. I'm happy for his happiness.

OK - time to get moving in some way....even if it's heading up to bed shortly.