Tagged...

I've been "tagged" by Danielle to answer the following questions

Four Jobs I Have Had in My Life:
LIfeguard/Pool Operator for two summers
Middle School Math teacher for one year
ESOL (English speakers of other languages) tutor
Special Education teacher

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
Sense and Sensibility
Lion King
Last of the Mohicans
Pelican Brief

Four Places I Have Lived:
Edgewood, MD
Fallston, MD
455 Crisfield, Abingdon
3467 Howell, Abingdon

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
CSI--Las Vegas
The Bachelor
Survivor
King of Queens

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
Domincan Republic
San Diego
Vermont
Germany

Four Websites I Visit Daily (or at least weekly):
Hotmail
Various blogs
kennedy krieger webmail
weather.com

Four of My Favorite Foods:
Mexican
Italian
Chicken anything
ice cream

Four Singers I Can't Live Without:
Sarah McLaughlin
Dave Matthews
Matt Redman
??uh, Amanda? ha

Four Places I'd Rather Be:
At home (I'm waiting for my evening class to start!)
In bed (that's always a fav!)
On a beach, with clear water in front of me
On a tropical island on a beach with clear water in front of me

Four Bloggers I am tagging:
Sacha
Amanda
Kris
Steve-O (since you're always bored!)

Firsts

My job often finds me performing tasks that I never imagined would happen at a work place. Today was just one of those days, though not unusual for Lois T. Murray (my school). A little background. One of my students, Adelaida, came in last week with matted, slightly greasy hair. We decided to brush it out and braid it. On Monday, she came in with the same braids. Her father reported that her mother was out of town for the next two weeks and he had NO IDEA what to do with Adelaida's hair. So he left the braids. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Same braids. Thursday afternoon we resolved to wash her hair and rebraid it if she came in on Friday with the same do. This morning, in walks Adelaida--same braids. I had come prepared--Shampoo and conditioner in one hand, towels in the other. Amanda, my coworker, and I trudged off to the bathroom, Adelaida and supplies in hand. Our bathrooms are all equipped with tubs, how convenient for us!

Adelaida started laughing as soon as she saw the water running. Little did I know that the laughing was simply mocking! She undressed and then we put her in the tub. SHe loved the water. She splashed, swam, and laughed some more. Then came the hard part. Washing her hair. A little girl of six, with downs and a will like none other, is not an easy client! She started laughing louder, and darting around, and standing up, and pushing us away, and resisting in whatever way she could. It took both Amanda and me to hold her down, put shampoo in, and rinse. All the while she is wiggling and laughing. After shampoo, she needed more shampoo. Why??? So we went through the process again. This time, we tried to trick her. We'd start to dump water on the back of her hair, then we'd sneak around the front and get her! She would laugh and then stand up, attempting to get out of the tub. Shampoo out, on to conditioner. She loved having her hair rubbed, but hated rinsing. Surprise! When it was time to rinse, Adelaida practically jumped out of the tub. Seriously. She stood up and attempted to lunge toward Amanda. Luckily, we were semi-prepared for any such attempts. We were able to calm her down and gently push her back into the tub. By the end of our hairwashing adventure, Amanda and I were just as wet as Adelaida. We finally got the job finished, no less than 45 minutes later. I now understand why her dad didn't even pretend that he would take care of her hair! I should have taken a lesson from the pro and stayed way from the bathtub!

Bathtubs and all, I can say that my job is an adventure. I never know what new "mommy" duties I will be performing. Maybe next week I will get to wipe some snotty noses or even some stinky rears. But I pray that Adelaida's mom returns soon!

On Reading

A few months ago, a friend asked if I was interested in starting a book club. I talked it over with Miguel, and he gave the go ahead for my involvement. However, time slipped by and I imagined I would never read a novel in the new year, much less join a book club. Well ladies and gents, it's happening...I've finished one novel already this year AND the book club looks to begin within the next few weeks. Anyone interested? It will be comprised of myself, two girls from work, Naomi Sherer, and anyone else! We aim to read a book a month, then host a dinner once we all finish said book to discuss and socialize. If you are interested, send an e-mail and I will be sure to give you more details once I have them. Any suggestions for good, fiction novels?

Friday's word

Last night, I sat in bed reading...Something I haven't done in years. I had forgotten how much I love reading a good book right before bed. I know my tendencies to let 10 turn into 11, which always seems to slip into 12...and then I wake up exhausted. So, I always give myself a reading curfew. "You can read until 10:23, but no later!" Then, like the morning's snooze button, I give myself "just a few more minutes." The few more minutes turned into over an hour last night!

As I sat in bed, I had my blue pen ready. Any word I didn't immediately recognize (or couldn't figure even with an educated guess) got a blue underline. No electronic dictionaries in bed. I had two or three words underlined by the time I went to bed. However, my word of the day comes from my bathroom reading this afternoon, not bed reading. so....without further ado, here is THE WORD OF THE DAY....

ELDRITCH

1. Strange or unearthly; eerie

"It looked marvellously pure, marvellously full of its own gray and eldritch charm..."

Word of the day

I have a tiny blue book, quite unlike "a little black book," to be sure. My blue book contains lists, lots of lists--things I want, things I need, Movies to watch, Restaurants to try, AND books to read. One of the books on my list is "Misery" by Stephen King. I know what you may be thinking....Cheesy horror book. I want to be the one to put that myth to death. Not rest, death. I am a closet King fan. Green Mile, great book. I started Misery on Monday and I have to say: Misery, incredible book so far. Stephen King is, to many people's (mine included) surprise, a dynamic and talented writer.

While I am not sure that I can completely recommend Misery, due to some unnecessary foul language, I can say that Stephen King has increased my vocabularly (not just those foul words!). It has been quite some time since I've read a book in which I required the help of a dictionary. But, it's refreshing. My mind is being stretched; I am being challenged, and I love it. Don't get me wrong, King is not a technical writer; he simply loves using "intelligent" words where a much more simple word could have been used.

SO, my word for the day is RICTUS. Perhaps some of you know the meaning, I however had to use my handy dandy on-line dictionary.com =)

RICTUS:

1. The expanse of an open mouth, a bird's beak, or similar structure.
2. A gaping grimace

"So you just sit there," she said, lips pulled back in that grinning rictus...