Monday, February 8, 2010

Happy is Me!

My blogging buddy Kelly, over at My Voice, My View, tagged me and wants to know about ten things that make me happy. I teased her that my list will probably look a lot like her list, since we seem so much alike at times. I am pretty easy to make happy, as long as you don’t ask me to move!

Here’s my happy list!


1.Answering questions for my son. As you can probably tell by my Ten Zen feature on my sidebar, he asks lots and lots of questions. I’m kept busy by Googling, searching in textbooks, and flipping through the card catalog in my own brain. Here’s a gem he came up with yesterday: “Mom, would it be considered lucky if you were being attacked by the Nazis in Germany and they shot you in the head at the exact same time that you had your mouth wide open so the bullet just went in through one cheek and came out the other?”
Yeah, lucky, dude.


2. When Computer Geek and I say the same thing at the same time. And it’s really obscure. Then we nod our heads and say, “Yup, we’ve still got it.”

3. Grown up girls who make me proud. Both of them have good jobs and have developed a good sense of ethics and love for their fellow man. They are kind. That means more to me than any other accomplishment.

4. Reading. I’ve loved to read ever since my mom sat me on her lap and read the newspaper to me, and solicited my help on the daily crossword. I feel incomplete when I’m not reading something and usually I have more than one book going at a time, although some of them are children’s books, given my teaching position. Currently reading:
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Bone Warriors by Bron Bahlmann
Clutter be Gone by Don Aslett
Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Prophecies and Promises by Bruce Porter and Rod Meldrum
Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann

5. Happy songs. Songs that make me want to dance. I don’t usually like a certain group or genre; my likes are based more on how well a song can get my feet moving. And speaking of feet moving, and since Billie Jean is one of the greatest feet movers of all time, go here for the laugh of the day: Billie Jean Literal Version.

6. Students. I love my students. I’ll just give two examples so that you can love them too!

Female Student to me: I was so happy yesterday because I read something and they referred to Phillip Nolan, and I knew who he was because of you. [All teachers live for moments like those.]


Here’s another:

Male Student: After we are done reading Sea of Monsters, can we watch The Odyssey?

Female Student: What’s the Odyssey?

Me: [explained about The Iliad and The Odyssey.] Another tidbit, did you know that Homer was known as the Blind Poet?

Male Student 2: Then how did he write?

Female Student 2: Duh. Once you know where the keys are, it’s easy.

Me: Um, the keyboard was invented slightly after Homer’s time.

Female Student 2: No seriously. My mom said they had typewriters even when she was little.
[Teachers also live for moments like these.]

7. Beautifully landscaped yards, with stone pathways, flowers, benches, overhanging trees and maybe a bubbly pond or two. A tree house is a plus.

8. Coincidences. Like the time my daughter was in NYC and was afraid to set her dinner tray outside her hotel door. We were IM’ing back and forth and I wrote “Go set it outside the door, and if you’re not back in 30 seconds, I’ll call the police,” at the same time that she wrote to me, “I’ll go set it outside the door. If I’m not back in 30 seconds, call the police.” We got each other’s messages at the same time.

9. Sandy beaches. Cold ones, warm ones, doesn’t matter.

10. Grandchildren. Ones that belong to me and ones that I’ve adopted.




Part of the tag involves me giving the award to some other bloggers. Here are some of my new favorites and a few of my old favorites.

Jessa’s Sketchbook for some whimsical art. I love going through page after page of her sketches. Very cute!

Naqvee at When Almighty Desires. Be sure to read her romantic anniversary story.

Daisy at Answer Starts with You. A good site for deep thoughts, some poetry and a good dash of humor.

Cocoa at Chocolate on my Cranium for a delectable site of daily living and craftiness. She’s my Martha.

Room Mom 101 for lots of cool Valentine ideas.

Controlling my Chaos. The queen of organization. No lie. And she’s extremely funny. What’s not to love?


All new winners, please pick up your award at the top of this page!

12 comments:

  1. Hi there soul sister! Love your list. I knew that I would. You have one very inquisitive son there. I love when kids question and push the discussion in new directions. I can tell that your a wonderful teacher. You really do connect with your kids, grandkids and students. That's a gift worth so much.

    You're reading so many books right now. I better add a couple to my little bedside table pile.

    Here's one for you: My son, "Mom, was the car invented when you were born?" I guess I look like a horse and buggy girl :)

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  2. One more BIG thing: Love all the pictures of the kids. Absolutely adorable!!

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  3. ohhh Randi .. thank you so much for the award and these simple things are so amazing right? I loved it when you said your grown up daughters make you proud, a mother is blessed whose daughters can achieve this much success in a mother's eyes..
    It' s true that you are reading so many books ... wow.. you are really good with time management.

    and thanks for this lovely cute award . this is the second award I got today! thanks my dear friend..

    {{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}

    Naqvee

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  4. Wow, any excuse to show The Chunk. :)

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  5. Love the photos, Randi. And to Winston, a friend of mine once accused me of "blatant grannying." Guilty.

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  6. AHHHH, CONNECT FOUR IS LIKE MY FAVORITE GAME EVER!!!

    I'm sorry, but WHY do you always make me so happy when I come here??

    Anyway, what that girl said about typewriters and her mom is hilarious. I usually make those jokes about Chris (he's 10 years older than I am) but I just realized that we've been together for almost a decade! (Well, if you round waaay up, anyway.)

    I'll guess I'll have to lay off the Jesus-was-in-your-graduating-class jokes. So sad!

    P.S. Did I mention that you make me happy?

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  7. Randi -

    Yeah I've been wanting to read the Rod Meldrum book too, I really like his DVDs. BTW you should ask our friend Lory if she still has the DVD I sent her on the "Heartland Model" of the BoM geography. If not I can send you a link where you can get it for free.

    Right now I am reading (technically re-reading since it was originally published as a series of reprints a few years ago) Nibley's book "A New Approach to the Book of Abraham", I am waiting for his posthumous book "One Eternal Round".

    I am probably going to go through Truman Madsen's lectures again, but most of the fiction I listen to audiobooks or stuff like the Big Finish productions.

    God Bless,
    Adam

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  8. I'll come back and finish reading. Love the pics.
    Happiness is watching toddlers chase and burst bubbles.

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  9. Silly Randi,
    I would like to comment about your taste in music. I am most certain that if I pulled out my Hank Williams Cds and put them in you would not be dancing! :)

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  10. septembermom: Thanks for your super sweet comments! I do love teaching a lot--mainly because the kids are so exceptional. I laughed at your son's comment about the car! It reminded me of something one of my friend's kids said: "Mom, when you were little, had dishes been invented?" And that was the dishes you eat from, not satellite! Thanks again for the award.

    Naqvee: You are so welcome! I'm glad you are getting some nice awards. I do love going to your site to take advantage of your wisdom. And Hugs back to you!

    Winston: Yeah, I'm thinking of creating a blog that is "All Chunk, all the Time."

    Auntie M: I love it! Blatant grannying indeed. I share your guilt.

    Hayden: I know two little girls who would LOVE to challenge you to a rousing game of Connect Four. I cracked up about the "Jesus was in your graduating class" joke. I had not heard that one before. I'm so glad to be a contributor to our happiness! And I MUST say---Facebook just isn't cutting it for me, chick! Going through severe withdrawal.

    Adam: I'm wondering if I have seen that video. Send me the link, if you don't mind, so I can see if it's the one I already saw. It was quite lengthy. Nibley's books sound interesting.

    Ken: I agree! You know what is really cool? Taking the kids out on a reaaaaallly cold day and letting them blow bubbles. The skins freeze, so when they pop the bubbles, they are left holding a skin. I loved doing that as a child.

    Sandy: To that I must agree. I will admit though, that once when I was listening to country music, my foot accidentally started tapping. So you never know!

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  11. Randi, I love your blog. Its always fun and interesting. I don't always comment, but I visit often.
    I wish I was well enough often enough to keep up a blog like yours.
    Keep it coming.

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  12. I loved reading this post again...especially...everything!

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