A Little Less Rockin' Please

When I was studying to be a teacher, one of my friends asked how I was going to teach spelling in a misspelled world, "You know, like Dunkin' Donuts?"  That question was asked well before the Internet was widely used, before Facebook, before blogging, and way before texting.

Truth be told, I remember her question each time I need to write doughnut and find I have to stop to think of the right way to spell it.  No wonder so many folks are spelling challenged.

I am far from always grammatically correct.  I make typos and spelling errors all the time.  But there are still a few intentionally misspelled words and goofy phrases out there that drive me a little nuts.  I wish my friends (those over 35) would stop using them in writing (unless you are writing a fiction piece in which your aim is to create a dialect). I wish I'd stop using a particular one in speech.  I wish!

They include:

kewl (cool)

guhfriend (girlfriend--and there are other misspellings)

cray cray (crazy)

adorbz (adorable)

conversate (chat)

"love me some..."  (I love)

LOLZ  (shouldn't it be LzOL for laughs out loud?)

lightening (when one means lightning)

rock (as in, "I really rock my red heels.")

sista (sister)

mutha (mother)

awsum (awesome)
ahsum (see parenthesis above)
like (spoken, it would seem, instead of um--I am guilty of this too)
"I know, right?"  (spoken)
prolly (probably)
spose ta (supposed to)

True, I am a hypocrite as I am like a lazy speaker.  True, I went from my written peeves to my spoken peeves in the above list (I'm guilty of a lack of continuity). Feel free to, color me cantankerous.  Oh wait, that's not a color, I'll have to get the Cray Crayola people on that (see what I did there?)  Tell me I'm a curmudgeon, and I will agree.  Yes, slang happens, and sometimes it sticks.  I get that "groovy," was a made up word that caught on.  I've gotten used to, but still don't like, "ginormous."  (Arrggghhh, spell check didn't even underline that one.)  I've been accused of only caring about this kind of thing because I am a teacher, but that's not true!

Help me feel less alone.  Share your word peeves, would you?   And if you, like me, use some of these, please don't be offended.  I'm just venting, I'm not "hating."

Disclaimer:  If you use such terms, I will not unfriend you, stop speaking to you, or mock you.  Please avoid doing any of those things to me.  Thank you.

Fragging for the First Time?

I started this "new" blog a while back because though I loved my old one, I had posted some things there that reflected a not so pretty side of me (aka the petty side of me.)

Downside to trying to soften, many followers haven't made the move with me.

Okay dozens haven't.

Dozens?  Now that's some hefty readership.

So I'm visiting an old haunt, Friday Fragments, because my life is best sampled in bits and pieces.

• My class this year is made up of really wonderful kids.  I'm enjoying each day with them.
• Parent-teacher conferences were this week, and my mind was blown when one dad donated $100 to our class service project (Operation Christmas Child).  He wants to remain anonymous, so posting this here assures him of that!
• I had a fun birthday, and though Brad and I don't exchange gifts, he told me to order a Kindle and we went shoe shopping.  Yep, my husband likes to go shoe shopping.  (And after that little shopping excursion, I am imposing a ban on shopping for myself for months!  EEK!)
• He also bought a bottle of Jose Cuervo Margaritas for me.  This is funny because he doesn't drink, so picturing him in the local "beverage depot," even with my son's help, cracks me up.
• I've come up with a neato concept for a new advent tradition, and I can't wait to share it.  Unfortunately, my vision doesn't always align with my reality...
• I have a student who is a Jehovah's Witness, so to support him, I didn't dress up this Halloween.  Well, I guess I did, I went as the Halloween Scrooge!  Party.  Pooper.
•  I wonder, are you ever torn about how to spend money?  Lately I've been struggling with taking trips versus investing in new furniture.  The good thing is, this dilemma keeps my from spending on either.
• I'm a A-line skirt wearer in a pencil skirt world.  It's quite sad.
• Brad attends a Thursday night men's group at church where guys are rewarded for participation and question answering with a chocolate bar.  The man has a Dr.'s degree in ministry, I was counting on him bringing home something sweet each week, but he will not play that way.  Sigh!
• Last Saturday, my student B. and I went to a trunk-or-treat event at our church.  The candy collectors were children and adults with special needs, and B. was so into sharing our loot with them.  I picked the right helper! 
• Last year, B. helped a non-verbal, wheelchair ridden boy in a grade two above hers with his daily vocabulary lessons.  When I told her we'd be giving candy to people with special needs, she asked what that meant.  I explained it would be people like "J."  She said, "J. had special needs?"  She just saw him as him, and that's beautiful.

•  Happy gain an hour weekend!

Falling, But Not Into a Bucket

There are all sorts of things on Pinterest and the Web in general about Fall "bucket lists."  Now, when I think bucket list, I think of compiling ideas of what I'd like to do before I die.  I don't have a bucket list, and in response to a post on my old blog, some of you confirmed you don't have one either.

However, one of the cute things I saw was a banner that included a fall fun list.  I wanted to make one, but as my mental list grew, time to go through my craft stash and cut and paste dwindled.  Technically it's still summer, but autumn is pressing down, just a handful of days left...

Here's a list that's all over Pinterest, so all over I couldn't find the right source to attribute it:

There's that word "Bucket" again.  Eek!  (I know it probably means fall will kick the bucket for the year, but I still don't like it!)

And here's what I meant by banner, because for the life of me I can't find the photo I liked--though this one is cute for other reasons, I might have to have my kids make it:

So, put those together and you have the groovy idea I just don't have time for--a bannered (Spell check, what do you mean that's not a word?) autumn fun list.

What I've decided to do is to list my hopes for fall activities here, and then I'll come back to this post to line out what I've done.  It's not as cute, and my banner in my head was so durn cute, but it gets the job done in a less Martha Stewart way.

Ta.

Da.

Ellie's Autumn Fun To-Do List

('cause you really don't want to know about the unfun stuff!)

Attend my friends Amy and Jon's weeding

Dance until I have a blister

Hike a state park (amended to a county forest preserve

Bake Carmel Apple cookies

Plant pansies
Plant tulip bulbs

Make a fall martini

Host a game night

Sneak away to Chicago with Brad

See the movie The Words*

See Lincoln*

Zip Line!!   (TBB, to be blogged...)

Go to a pumpkin farm

Decorate with an S, not an e, though I like it

Operation Christmas Child Party (10/28!)

Get Brad to a football game--H.S. counts
Read four good books (amended to four so-so books)

Buy helmets and bike ride on the Fox

Wrap candles with burlap

 Walk 50 "fast" miles on my treadmill in October
Go canoeing

I will add to this idea if anything else occurs to me.  With the craziness of the school year still happening, it's nice to have fun to look forward to no matter how it's delineated.

What are you up to this Autumn?  Do tell, maybe your fun will be added to my list as well!

*despite the influence of reviews, good or bad

Pastor, Pastor

Last week, I typed the word teacher into the search box on Pinterest, and I found some blog fodder.  When I promoted that post on facebook, I commented that I might do the same with the word pastor soon.  A pastor I know suggested I share my findings...

Yep, he's a pastor!

In avoidance of all the work I should have been doing, I searched last night.  Funny thing was, I typed in pastor, then added pastor, and searching "pastor, pastor," brought me some stranger hits.


The most striking thing to note was that I learned something in this time wasting activity.  I learned that pastor is lamb in Spanish.  There were many images for food like these tacos al pastor:

Pastor is also used for sheep as in sheep dog:

Pastor Aleman* was there too, but I think this guy is cuter.

There were many photos of pastors (not the laughing/yawning pastor from above, his image I pulled from facebook), including a pastor from Brad's former Indy church, Northview. I zeroed in on him because of his bald head, I have a thing for those, only to recognize he was from Northview.  I liked that place, so I had to include Pastor Steve here.

 

I found a man who sells his drawings on esty and online, nakedpastor.com, and I liked this pin because it went so well with the message at church this week:

Interesting how that so often happens.

This one made me laugh.  I had no idea, so I guess I learned something from this too.  He certainly has that gluttony thing down, but God forgives sin--even those of Pastor Puppets--and uses us each to influence others:

All images (save the first) borrowed from Pinterest, where they are most certainly borrowed from somewhere else.

*German Shepherd, my HS Spanish coming in handy one again.  Gracias Mrs. Blanco.