March is non-fiction month for Nora!

So I have about a million papers to grade tonight which is why I keep coming back to the computer and posting inane messages, and so here is the latest:

I haven't posted any book reviews/ suggestion in a while because I haven't been reading very much as I near my final yearbook deadline. (What I have been reading is of the very bad chick lit sort that can be checked out of the library .)

I usually read strictly fiction. Who wants to deal with reality? This month, however, both grown-up book clubs that I am in are reading non-fiction. (I also moderate a student book club at school, but we read young adult novels about whether or not boys like them) I have alsofound a few non-fiction books on my own that I want to read as well. So hear is the list if you are interested, I will check back with you when I am finished.
In Cold Blood
Pullman : An Experiment in Industrial Order and Community Planning, 1880-1930
Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping (as if)
Money, A Memoir : Women, Emotions, and Cash
Bungalow Style : Creating Classic Interiors in Your Arts and Crafts Home

I doubt I'll get to all of them, but this is what I'm interested in this month. Then, I will be returning to fiction with Ahab's Wife . A recommendation from my sister, Jennifer.

I don't like...

when people use the phrase "bring the funny". I've been hearing it used more and more often lately. If you are using this phrase you have never in your life actually done what the phrase implies.

I also don't like the phrase "touch base". It sounds dumb. It sounds worse when people try to make it plural, as in "touch bases". No good. The worst part of this one is that I've actually said it. Then, the inner Nora scolds me for saying such a cheesey, over-used phrase.

There are plenty more, but I don't want to be a Negative Nancy.

R.I.P. Mr. Limpet

We used to watch Family Classics on WGN a lot when I was little. Two of my favorites were The Incredible Mr. Limpet and The Apple Dumpling Gang. I really liked Don Knotts. He also appeared in my favorite childhood cartoon (pathetic, I know, but it was Scooby Doo.) And he was the best thing on the Andy Griffith show which I had to watch with my dad maybe a million times. Anyway, sad.

I have the best niece and nephews...

Donovan is thirteen, and doesn't think we are as cool as he used to think we were. Still, he is so good to his cousins. He carried Rory around all weekend and took her bossing very good naturedly. And, we have promoted him from Admiral Sarcasmo to General Sarcasmo. This is, in part, because he punctuates everything he says by doing the two fingered point. Heeeeeyyy!
Iain is just so smart we don't know what to do with him. But he is also really giggly and good natured (unless we make him mad). And, he will still curl up in your lap and hang out while watching a movie. He is a very good big brother.
Rory is so funny and will wear anything that you put on her head. (Hence all of the pictures of her wearing ridiculous hats.) I can't believe how much she is talking and will be said when she stops calling me Nor. She also decided the holes in my bedrooms where there used to be radiators are poop holes. All weekend when anyone would visit she would bring them upstairs to see "the hole where Mr. Giles poops". Thanks for spreading those poop rumors about my house, Ror. I guess I'll forgive her because she also thinks the Swiffer is the best toy and took care of the downstairs and the upstairs for me. (Child labor laws? Ha.)

Anyway, it was a very fun weekend, and the best part about being the aunt is that when everyone left, I got to go back to bed.

To all the moms...

Check this out.

My Funny Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day. I got some home improvements for Valentine's day! (So far, Joel hasn't been terribly home improvement minded...mostly he wants to hire people to do things for us, but I'm cheap.) Anyhow, our tub has been draining rather slowly lately so he used this: to remove something from our drain that looked like this: Maybe I am easy to please, but I was pretty psyched about this, and no more nasty water lingering long after the shower.

In other news...have fun in Florida Ellie! I am so jealous I might go hang out in my bathroom with the heat lamp on and my eyes closed. And have you seen this? I am dying to know!

If you like Obsession You'll Love...

On the days where I hate my job I like to think of other jobs that I have had that have been crappy. And I have had a few bizarre jobs. Maybe not of the ultra- difficult variety, but the character-building, ridiculous kind.

One of those was at a kiosk in Ford City Mall called Similarities Fragrance Company. I was a senior in high school so I was most offended by the ugly jacket I had to wear and that my former beauty-queen boss kept attacking me with her red lipstick saying, "You'll just look so pretty with a little splash of color."

In between tracks on the Basia CD my boss insisted be played, it began to dawn on me that I did not have a bright future in sales. (Basia: cheap Enya imitator) The only thing that stuff smelled similar to was butane. Old ladies and pre-teen girls would come up to me and ask, "does it still smell like White Diamonds/ Eternity/ CK One after an hour?" And I would say a definitive, no. I think I earned maybe five dollars of commission.

The most pathetic part (and therefore hilarious to me now) was my one big, rebellious day. My high school boyfriend had broken up with me an hour before I had to work and my seventeen year old heart was just shattered to pieces, y'all. So I refused to play Basia that day and instead brought in the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. I put it on repeat and stared vacantly out at the crowds of shoppers, (none of whom were shopping for fake perfume, icidentally) and wallowed in my sel-pity to the tune of "I Will Always Love You". Teenage girl angst in all of its lame glory.

So, although my job as a high school teacher can have its soul sucking moments, I don't ever actually have to be a high school student (or a sales person) ever again. Oh yeah, and tomorrow's pay day. I can deal.