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So, apparently I am getting stupider and stupider as the days go by. I realized that I had not sent several e-mails because instead of hitting ‘send’ I was hitting the ‘back to the rest of your e-mails’ button. The extra-dumb thing is that after I realized it and sent a couple apology e-mails, I am still doing it.

Another dumb thing? Twice in the past three days I have gotten out of my truck without stomping on the emergency brake, as it my useless habit. (Sidebar: I just spelled ‘habit’ with two r’s and spellcheck corrected me. Why isn’t it habbit? Why isn’t it rabit? Sorry. Back to the story.) The problem is that I had also had forgotten to put it in gear. It wasn’t a problem when it was just rolling a bit as I got out in a parking lot, but it was a problem when I slow-motion-rear-ended Lloyd’s car in our driveway. Oops.

I’ve felt a bit scattered lately.

We all know that I am about as brave as a mouse, right? I abhor conflict. (Well, real-life conflict, anyway. I am all about reality t.v. conflict, and am more-than-slightly ashamed to say that I will watch anything that the Bravo channel puts in front of me, with The Real Housewives of New York/New Jersey being at the top. It is total trash television but it requires zero thought on my part and I get to observe the culture of rich bratty conflict. It fascinates me.)

Anyway, back to my non-brave life. I was in Lincoln Thursday night shopping for some supplies for the upcoming teacher workdays, and as I was finishing up checking out at Menard’s, the sweet older cashier asked the larger older man (think ‘Grumpy Santa’) behind me if he found everything alright, and he said, “No. Your store is very unfriendly to disabled people. I’ve been walking all over this d*mn store because you don’t offer scooters and I can’t find a d*mn thing. I’ll take my business to Home Depot….” She said something about people usually bringing their own scooters and handed me my receipt. I made a point to look her in the eye and say a commiserating “Thank you” and left.

It rankled.

It’s the same kind of thing when people are rude to the waiter/waitress because the food is bad. It is not their fault – they just brought it to you. Even if the service is bad, be civil. This man probably had a legitimate complaint – he was quite large and with all that walking around – I imagine that his joints were killing him. However, cursing in front of a cashier just made him look stupid and mean. He could have gone to customer service and talked to a manager with rational words and something might actually get done.

Anyway, I got in my truck and felt bad, so I thought I’d be chicken-y brave and say something to him. I pulled up to the exit just as he got out and told him (nicely, because I teach preschool) that I knew he felt crabby, but he just swore at a nice lady who didn’t deserve it.

Big surprise: He said he didn’t swear at her, then told me it was none of my d*mn business, and as we parted ways he called, “And I don’t give a d*mn what you think.”

I had conflict shakes for the next five minutes, but I’m glad I said something.

Pray for them both, will you?

A couple of weeks ago I was actually semi-social and went to a murder mystery dinner with Annette and Beth. It was based on the Brady Bunch and featured two actors who played almost every part, with some help from the audience. It was entertaining, and now I know about murder mystery dinner solutions: Don’t over-think them. The actors know you’ve had a glass or two of wine and aren’t doing your best sleuthing.

I’m not here to talk about the acting, though. I want to talk about The Beans. We were served salad, meat, bread, cupcakes and The Beans. I don’t know exactly how they made them, but I have never inhaled green beans like these before. I’m a big Green Bean Casserole fan, but that doesn’t hold a candle to these.

I’m not one of those people who is great at discerning ingredients just by tasting, but I could see green beans and tomatoes (thank you, eyesight) and guessed that there was some sort of meat used as a flavoring agent – probably ham.

Well, it seemed like a good time to experiment. I bought the beans (french-cut style, la-de-da) and diced tomatoes (pre-seasoned with onions and garlic), and looked for some smokey ham. All they had were hocks, but that seems right. Don’t those luscious down-home recipes all include a ham hock? “Ham hock” – it sounds so southern, so…. American!

I threw it all in the crock pot with a fair amount of pepper and let it simmer all day. They tasted fine for supper, but they were even better the next day after they sat in the fridge and got all hock-y.

Then I wondered, “What exactly is a hock, anyway?”

Google google google. Discover discover discover. Gag gag gag.

They were still good, though.

Yay! I finally got my blood donor card in the mail so now I know my blood type. I couldn’t stand all my friends saying, (read this out loud with your upper lip scrunched up close to your nose so you can really hear the attitude. That’s how I heard it.) “I’m A+! Of course I am! I’m a teacher.” Then they would throw things at me. (I’m certain that’s how it went down.)

Well, teacher pals, take this: I’m O positive! Woo-hooooo!!! That means I’m a lifesaver! I can give blood to practically anyone! As the flyer that came with my card says:

As a Type O donor, you should feel even more special. Since more than half of the blood needed nationwide is Type O, you can help save more lives in more ways than any other blood type, especially Type A+, which is the kind that only your teacher friends have.

I’m looking at you, Brad, Beth and Lloyd. My common blood could save your teacher life someday. You’ll have to share the one measly donation I made, though.

Lloyd and I went to Omaha on some small quests, and one of the stops was Fat Brain Toys, where I saw – and purchased – the Best Thing Ever!!

In preschool we have lots of ways to encourage children to explore writing, and traditionally the girls are raring to go – lots of ‘office work’ and such – but I often have a handful of boys that would rather eat a mountain of spinach than come over and draw for a little bit.

This will change all that.

It is so cool!! The ‘pen’ is a magnet that pulls each BB up through this little tube until it clicks into place. Tracing each letter produces the most satisfying click-click-click, and then to erase them, you trace back over them with your finger and they click back down. (I bought the number version, too.)

The directions for making some of the letters and numbers are a little wacky, but this is absolutely awesome! I can’t wait until tomorrow. 😀

Our good friends the Peperkorns came on Friday, and it was great to see them.

The last time they came through we were dealing with The Bat Bug Incident of Two Thousand Ten, so it was nice to have them here without the anxiety. 😀

Their life has been in a bit of – I don’t want to say upheaval – but I was just cracking up at the stories Kathryn was telling me. They have been packing up to leave for California, and the weekend before Kathryn had all her awesome children’s opera performances. No stress there. Then they loaded up the car on Monday to leave…. and the van died. Died as in ‘now we have to buy a new car’ kind of died. So, they unpacked the camping beds and slept in the house so they wouldn’t swelter in their camper…..then the house lost electricity. At this point I told Kathryn that their life would make a great t.v. show, titled something like “And then….” or “One more thing….”

(The replacement car is fabulous, by the way! It’s a Chevy Traverse and has seats that not only heated seats but cooled seats!)

She had stories such as this: On the morning of her daughter twice-rescheduled birthday party (due to illness), she made a gorgeous rainbow layer cake, put it in the fridge, and when youngest daughter opened the fridge, the cake fell on the floor. Then it was off to a little out-patient varicose vein surgery before the party. (!) Twenty shots in the legs / zap zap / home for the party. Honestly.

They are awesome people and I wish them a disaster-free journey across the country!