St. Valentine's Day

In the year 2000 Nick was studying in Rome and he was so cute that I swallowed my fears, got a job bussing tables to fund a ticket and went to spend 2 weeks with him. During that two weeks we decided to celebrate St. Valentine's Day. I gave him a plastic hippopotamus and he took me to Paris. I said, Nick, you will never do better than this, you are off the hook for the rest of your life as far as celebrating Valentine's day. So yesterday we spent the day with our niece, ate defrosted enchilada casserole and drank hot cocoa with whipped cream and sprinkles while we watched "the holiday."

You can't be a preschool teacher and not celebrate it in your classroom, though. Then you're like the devil. We exchanged cards in our class and Karen and I brought in strawberry ice cream with whipped cream and sprinkles (i love that combo, can you tell!?). The children really loved placing the cards in their classmates boxes and also being able to take their "mail" home. Probably because much of the mail contained CANDY! Being me, I gave the children heart shaped slinkies. I hate spending money on cards!

The Thursday before Valentine's day I housed a box of Sponge Bob Squarepants Crispy Chocolatey (not real chocolate) Hearts from one of my students in approximately 7 minutes for 8 points. They weren't really all that good but I was hungry and in a chocolatey mood. Thankfully i was not in the mood for real chocolate. haha.

I think I had the same gleam in my eye as I was devouring the nasty chocolate:

update...in haiku!

we were approved for
our mortgage. sigh of relief.
on to the closing...

i've been quite ill these
past few days. body aches and
sniffles. it's hard to breathe.

it's from rocking those
darn cute babies to sleep at
nap. my job hazard.

had my best class last
night. turns out there are other
English nerds like me.

213am

i just need a hug from my sister. bad!

Example Given

Here's my Blog post from last night on the class blog.


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The section on “the method of interpretation” caught me with the words “master of truth.” As we well know and (I believe) have discussed in this online forum “history is written by the victors.” The victors are, naturally, those in power. Foucault writes “With regard to the confession his [the listener’s] power was not only to demand it before it was made, or decide what was to follow after it, but also to constitute a discourse of truth on the basis of its decipherment” (67).

While studying literary theory we are studying interpretations of interpretations. Redundant, I know. However, I think this is important to remember. Here we are reading Foucault who is interpreting the history of sexuality. Then we, as a class, interpret what he is saying. We are all interpreting through different lenses; the lens of our individual truth or reality.

Could this idea of “the master of truth” and the “hermeneutic function” help to decide what is considered literature in our 21st century Western thought? If there is enough discourse, enough interpretations made on a piece of work perhaps then we could consider it literature? I think of this because I feel like in this day and age just about anyone can write a book. If I had a nickel for everyone in my life who has told me they were writing a book I’d have at least five bucks. (haha). So what, though? Just because someone wrote down a story or their thoughts can this be considered literature?

Confession, according to Foucault, “could only reach completion in the one who assimilated and recorded it” (66). Can we apply this to literature by saying a piece of work can only truly be completed or rather reach a state of true literature through those who verify it as such?

Quick Update...

cliff's notes on my life, currently:

1) Literary Theory. The reading is superdense!! I have to blog, too. But not like on here. I have to come up with witty, intellectual things to say. Big beautiful voluptuous juicy words and thoughts. It's exhausting. Oh, I really need to decide on my topic for my Master's Thesis like SOON. We're talking by the end of Feb. and now I'm not limited to only my SUNY Cortland reads. OY!

2) Tomorrow is the inspection on the home we will hopefully close on 3/27. I will talk more about it when it's closer to definite.

3) I love my job but 14 three year olds inside for days at a time is helacious. They are literally climbing up the walls. Or at least on to bookshelves.

4) My mom was able to get a week off in July and we are going back up to Chases Lake!!

5) I HIT MY HEALTHY WEIGHT at WW!!!! 6 weeks of maintaining this weight and I am a LIFETIME member. Officially, I have lost 23 pounds since September.

I'll take the blame...or credit...

Tomorrow is Wednesday. Wednesday is when I have to drive from Binghamton to Cortland for my grad class. Please see below for tomorrow's forecast and the forecast you will likely see in and around the southern tier for the remainder of the Wednesdays until May. All apologies.

oh yeah this is what friday feels like.

first week back and i can feel the tension in my shoulders. I'm exhausted but also full of joy! I really freaking missed my kids and having them back in my life is so so so wonderful! I also am so proud of myself for waking up at the butt crack of dawn every day and Wii-ing. (did i mention i freaking love love love love love my wii?) I figure if President Obama (eek! i love it!) has to get up in the morning and face the mess of a country that Dick Cheney left him...erm, I mean, "GEORGE BUSH" (wink wink) then I can get up and face my attempts weight loss and health. much more managable.


It's been incredible to have the president speak and look at the television and see a person I respect. A person that I have respected for years. A person who realizes that there are ACTUALLY TWO WARS being fought!!! A person who shares my values of everyone working together to improve our country and in turn our lives! So let's talk about this COMMITTMENT TO SERVICE. Ashton Kutcher actually made me cry when he was talking about his celebrity call to service campaign that he and Demi Moore are leading. I was telling Nick about it and he said what are you going to do? I told him I am going to be an underpaid educator who understands that the most formative years of a child's life are from zero to five and that even though I get paid a third of what a public school teacher gets paid I'll fight the good fight in my classroom and keep advocating as a voice for my little friends whose voice is often too little to be heard (we're talking proverbial "voice" of course...you should hear the little voices in my room sometimes...yowsa!).


I would like to say thanks to President Obama for finally giving me a reason to see the American flag and feel a true sense of patriotism and pride. I'll be watching, though. You've got a high standard to uphold. I believe you can do it but I'll be damned if I just breathe a sigh of relief and stop paying attention!