Backsies Is What There Is Not: Philosophy Amazing Grace

Hello, weekend! I'm so happy to see you, given I haven't worked a five day week since before Christmas, thanks to snow days and snow days and snow days. Snuggle over here next to me and let me tell you my Ten Things of Thankful for this week.

1. Last weekend, my daughter's show choir attended a competition in my parents' home town. My mom and I made a day of it (and I do mean a DAY - 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.), sitting in the auditorium and listening to hours and hours of music. My daughter's group, which consists of 9th and 10th grade boys and girls, got first in their division (never mind that there were only 3 in the division, they blew away the competition) and made finals (which is a BIG DEAL) and got 6th place overall out of something like 37 choirs.

2. The College Boy was home for the weekend and also had President's Day off. I was the one who took him back to school on Monday afternoon, and my plan was to take him back early in the afternoon, dump him back at his dorm, and then maybe do a little shopping all by myself, taking my time and wandering into whatever stores struck my fancy. My son had different ideas, namely, that he wanted to go back later in the day and then have me take him out to eat before leaving him at his dorm. We compromised by going early in the afternoon, BOTH of us going to the mall (where he SWORE he would let me look at anything I wanted, and he would patiently wait without complaining, which he DID, in a way, but I felt a little like he was breathing down my neck, so we shopped a little for him instead and I put my leisurely shopping on hold for now) and then to Five Guys for an early dinner. I'm thankful for the way it turned out, however, because I hadn't seen much of him all weekend, since his sister and I were at the show choir competition most of the weekend, plus I had to work on President's Day (I KNOW, right?). We had good burgers and good conversation and made good memories.

3. Oncology appointment this week. So far, so good, however, when I got in the car after the appointment, I pulled down the visor and checked my bad self in the mirror before I went on to the next errand and found out I had cheese in my hair, meaning it was there for the entire appointment. In my bangs. Right above my eyes. The eyes that my oncologist looks into with a little light. And then studies closely as he has me do all kinds of follow-my-finger activities. He even has me raise my eyebrows and studies my forehead. Where my bangs are. Where I HAD CHEEEESE IN MY HAAAAAIR. I guess the thankful here is that he didn't embarrass me by telling me I had some kind of crap in my hair (IT WAS CHEEEEESE).

4. I am invoking the TToT Book of Secret Rules and counting #3 as two items.

5. On Wednesday, one of my pre-k girls was in a particularly huggy mood and kept coming up to me for hugs. During one of them, she said, "You smell good!" (That's Amazing Grace by Philosophy, and if anyone else wants me to continue to smell good, feel free to send me any or all of their products.)

Gratuitous picture of sleeping Ruby.

6. The church sanctuary is having a larger platform built at the front of the church, so, since learning doesn't just occur in the classroom, I took my pre-k class for a look-see. We went up to the balcony (sitting on the second row, not the first, because I'm not an idiot) and watched the workers. The kids were watching so quietly that the workers didn't see them for several minutes. This, my noisy class!

7. I got a wonderful giggle out of a couple of my kids while we were up there. The line leader, who was sitting right next to me, was a boy. Next to him was two girls. One of the girls leaned over to me to point out that both she and the girl next to her were wearing cheetah print leggings. I exclaimed over the coincidence of that EVER happening (note: any given day, I probably have at least two girls wearing something with cheetah print on it), then I turned to them and said, "I have cheetah print on my underpants." This caused the boy next to me to laugh so hard that he had to lean over and put his head down on his lap. Good times!

8. Thursday's Primary class was wound up tighter than springs. In spite of that, we managed to make individual pizzas (while wearing chef hats made out of construction and tissue paper) and, yes, once again, paint their feet for a craft project. When it was finally time to dismiss them at noon, I opened the door, looked at the waiting moms, and said, "Good luck today, every one of you. You're going to need it!"

9. The #1 Rule in my classroom ("Do not throw up in Miss Dyanne's classroom!") was very nearly broken today, but my ninja-like reaction time saved the day, and I was able to propel one of my students across the carpeted portion of the room (saying "please don't throw up on the carpet, please don't throw up on the carpet, please don't throw up on the carpet" in my head as we went), onto the tile (small sigh of relief), out the door, down the hall, into the bathroom, and TO THE TOILET before he threw up. Score one for him and one for me.

10. Another sign that winter truly cannot last forever: