sunday

Fewer and farther inbetween wasn't my goal for posting on this blog, but I have been getting more work done in terms of my thesis, the student newspaper, and reading for the two book clubs I have this week (one professional and one personal.) Sorry, real life trumps the screen /always.

Good news though, so I thought I'd break the ice for the first time in several weeks.

In addition to a solo show at the Gage Gallery at Augsburg College in 2007
and a 5 ft. show at Gallery 360 in Mpls in August

Stephen has been offered a solo show at the Taube Museum of Art in Minot, ND
either in September if he can fill the main gallery
or later this year or in 2007 if he has less work to show.

Congratulations! This is great news because as you know if you have submitted work for shows before, the rejection letters rush in more than the acceptance letters.

This is only one facet of Stephen's work; he has two other "sides" to his professional work: wedding photography (7 weddings booked for this upcoming season so far) and the business side... just shot for Minnesota Monthly, Augsburg three days a week, headshots, theater shots, etc. He is a busy freelancer and has really built his business. Which, I might add, was a little nerve-wracking for me when we got married. Teachers are on contracts and are guaranteed wages and benefits, so the whole piece-it-together thing was foreign to me. But I haven't met many people who work harder than Stephen and still cook supper every night, so it shouldn't be a surprise! And he still plays Narnia-Polly Pockets with Abbey, too =)

Speaking of Abbey, we have loads upon loads to Girl Scout Cookies to deliver. And eat. And go to the gym to work off. What a great time of year... =)

it's been

a while. The sick has finally caught up with me so the little time I spend posting in the first place has really suffered. The week has been full of stresses...
--student newspaper not done
--thesis not done (and time is creeping forward at an amazing rate)
--Chris and Cindy flew to their new home of Costa Rica on Tuesday
--chiropractor Monday and Friday, which is good but busy
--knee doctor on Tuesday, maybe a torn meniscus, maybe surgery
--MRI on my knee today, I HATE MRIs and I'll post a poem by Bill Holm about
them sometime (I don't think he likes them either)
--haven't worked out in a couple of weeks, and that's what keeps me on-kilter


The saviors of my week
--Stephen, my cook and my love who puts up with my occasional self pity
and sick self
--Abbey, who has been great lately--we've had really good weeks with her and we
get an extra night with her this week! Sweet!
--my parents will be here tomorrow night
--my neice turns two and has a party on Sunday, such a live wire, little ones are great

Monday I get the MRI results... I'll see what's up then I guess. MLGS

TOYMN in Crash

I always get sad when I hear about things like this. Good people lost.

m-w experiences

So I write with my students. Can you really be an effective teacher of writing if you don't write yourself? Can you coach hockey if you've never laced up, have only watched the Mighty Ducks?

I'm working on MEMOIR with the kids right now. Can't say I'm all that excited about writing a piece with the thesis, loads of correcting, and the student newspaper looming, (plus regular life like sweeping the black dog hair off of the floor and making sure the laundry gets put away, recycling gets put out). But I think it will be an interesting experience. And I know that all of them aren't super crazy about it either. But (yes, you can start sentences with conjunctions, stylistic you know) the only way to become a better writer is to JUST WRITE. No other way.

So we worked on Memoir-Worthy Experiences for a bit to get some ideas for writing. Here are mine. This really isn't a well thought out list.

Memoir Worthy Experiences
Traveling to CA when I was four
Camping/using acorns as Barbie toys
Too small to go on go carts at Disney Land
Too small to go on a horse ride that Lisa got to go on
Chandelier/surfboard at Great Uncle Dan's
Trampoline/hot springs at campground
Creepy hotel in LA while Mom and Dad were at Teacher's Conv.
Someone was stabbed there that very same night

Trouble with Mr. Serr when I was a senior
Trouble in 3rd grade- punching M. Saunders, writing notes to everyone with advice,
using tape (wasting) as a medical bracelet
Trouble in 1st grade- airplane pencil. stamping Smurf stamps in the tunnel
How I strove to be a good kid/do the right think, yet sometimes trouble struck

Divorce- I don't want to write about this for class

Car crash- changed how I think

Sandy/search for a dog as an adult/companionship

Eye surgery- changed how I think, feeling of loss, so young compared, fear of other eye going bad

Changed my life- step-parenting!

Guitar- follow through

How I deal with change-- cabin being sold, clarinet, Mini-Mart/old buildings, farmsteads

Important? Grad from college, travel to Europe 3X, study abroad/Spain

Night Chris was born, licorace

Travels to NY every few years to visit Dad's side, origin/place, who are we really, how much are our relatives like us without us really knowing them?

+++++++++++++
I think my Writing Territories list is better, but those lists are all at work...
Wanted to put up SOMETHING so as not to completely lose the two actual people who read this...

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday

Random things you could have heard/witnessed if you were the fly on the wall at our house tonight:

"I really need to stop eating so much chocolate." (MS)
This was after trying on two pairs of pants to figure out what to wear to work tomorrow.
"But there is so much room for chocolate in my life." (MS)
"Did you just say 'There is so much room for chocolate in my life'"? (SG)

"I'm so cute." (SG)
"No, you aren't." (MS)
"Yes, I am." (SG)
"Moms lie." (MS)
"That's the number one rule. Moms lie." (MS)

So after Abbey was thrilled half to the stars by me picking up KFC and bringing it home for supper (my plan since last night when I smelled something similarily good as I headed into the chiropractor), she came back to earth after she confessed that she hadn't indeed read the assignment of chapters 9 - 15 in her reading book for school nor had she finished the questions that go with them. Why do these things always come out at 8:15 when she is in the shower? And after she has sworn that she is done with all of her homework? Parenting. A tough job, but yes, it is ultimately rewarding. Moreso on nights unlike tonight. At 8:15. While the kid's in the shower. So it's no allowance for this week and no SNL on Saturday. Make lemonade with those lemons. There's always SNL next week.

You know you are a dedicated step-mom when you turn your kid's LIGER shirt inside out whilst ironing so as not to distrub the decal on the front. Dedicated or nuts. I prefer dedicated. No wrinkly kid here =)

A walk at Minnihaha Park today

New Year's at Chris Shaf's

We celebrated with Jeremy, Chris, and Cindy... Food, Trivial Pursuit, Music, Champagne, and Fireworks! Happy 2006 =)

happy New Year's Eve!

I'm just waiting for my jeans to finish drying before we take off for Chris and Cindy's house to ring in the new year with the two of them, Jeremy Nelson, and I don't know who else. It's nice to be spending it with them since C + C will be heading to Costa Rica in five weeks indefinitely. We just got back in to town last night, so I haven't had much blog time... Lots to do so far. Any resolutions? I'll post mine tomorrow when I have more time. Cheers! Be safe and be merry tonight. Good times with the Mai Tais, Todd-- We've got lots of Leine's =)

Pictures from a T-Wolves game about two weeks ago. They slammed New Orleans taht night. If you can't tell, we were in the nose-bleeds, but they were free tickets!

favorite things

So I don't know if you've noticed, but there are NO comments to my question of, "What are a few of YOUR favorite things?" Blogger revolt. I need some comments, some new inspiration, to know that SOMEONE is reading... =)

Got a haircut today.

The Blizzard

Phillis Levin

Now that the worst is over, they predict
Something messy and difficult, though not
Life-threatening. Clearly we needed

To stock up on water and candles, making
Tureens of soup and things that keep
When electricity fails and phone lines fall.

Igloos rise on air conditioners, gargoyles
Fly and icicles shatter. Frozen runways,
Lines in markets, and paralyzed avenues

Verify every fear. But there is warmth
In this sudden desire to sleep,
To surrender to our common condition

With joy, watching hours of news
Devoted to weather. People finally stop
To talk to each other - the neighbors

We didn't know were always here.
Today they are ready for business,
Armed with a new vocabulary,

Casting their saga in phrases as severe
As last night's snow: damage assessment,
Evacuation, emergency management.

The shift of the wind matters again,
And we are so simple, so happy to hear
The scrape of a shovel next door.

from Mercury, 2001
Penguin Books

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I took a half day today... shouldn't have gone in in the first place, but I didn't have any sub plans written up, and I hate leaving people in the lurch. Besides, I have planning time periods 1 and 2, and I was only giving a test 3 and 4. I think it's been the flu all weekend. Sore back and ribs and sides, stuffy head, chills, stuff like that. It's always weird being home mid-day on a work day. Lots goes on outside of all of our jobs, and it has always been kind of mysterious to me, kind of like when I would leave the school grounds during high school. There's really a world out there that operates between 8 and 3? Generally when I see people enjoying the luxury of walking their dogs or jogging when I'm on my way to work, I swear under my breath, and wonder why they aren't heading to work. Obviously, just because they are out doesn't mean they don't have a job, but I somehow always think that. And I know that teachers get time in the summer, but I just read something where someone wrote that there aren't many jobs that are more mentally and physically labor intensive-- we have to be ON all day, every day, dealing with what seems like everything, sometimes. Last summer, I didn't ever fully unwind from all of the stress, but those kids are one year older now, and I don't have to deal with them except for occasionally in the halls. Anyhow, I just get this eerie feeling when I am home during the day. I don't watch tv much, and I don't even listen to the radio during the week days, so it's this silent world which leaves lots to wonder about. Or sleep through if you feel like I do right now.

Well, Stephen and Abbey are home, so I'm off.... Have a good week =)

McCarthy, Minnesotan

Remembering Eugene McCarthy

The hills are alive...

These are a few of my favorite things... (items not people mind you)

Aveda Light Elements Smoothing Fluid (yes, better than Hang Straight)
Oatmeal minty soap from Dunlaoghaire
A warm shower at about 9:30 on a bright day in the summer
with the bathroom light turned off
Victoria's Secret Balmy Days lip balm
My Grateful Dead/Willie Nelson and Trey ticket stubs
Barcelona (and being in Europe in general)
Reading excellent poetry, professional and student work
Minnesota/National Public Radio
specifically Cokie Roberts on Monday mornings at about 7:12 am
(just missed her this morning...)
Bright days, about 70 degrees and clear
My new Forester... rah, rah, rah it drives like such a trooper and keeps me safe
A good workout at Lifetime
Bluegrass music
Campfires and camping in general
Pad Thai
Good Indian food
Stephen's pan-smoked salmon
Election season... I LOVE election season

What are a few of your favOrite things?

sunday night

thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate on friday! seven bottles of wine and who knows how many beer bottles later... i really am thirty =) for the record, i slept by a plastic bowl all night, but i never had to use it. the surprise of the night: my parents showed up from minot! i didn't expect them to and didn't even entertain the notion that they would. they were in south dakota last week celebrating their anniversary, and we'll see them in a couple of weeks for christmas. so that was pretty cool! got some pretty cool stuff... chiang mai thai gc from jeremy, burt's bees lip assortment from paul and anna, hand-made scarves from lisa and nick, wine from my parents, marshall fields gc from jenny at work, notecards and cool post-its from christie at work, homemade bread from kim and seamus, a very cool card from amanda in minot, dessert snacks from jill, a cool package full of funny things from stephen's parents, assorted cards from relatives... a fleece robe from stephen and abbey. yea! it's different when you get older and don't expect anything. everything including the party is so appreciated.

so my niece, lauren, is just a kick lately! she will be two in mid february and has started talking a lot. of course, that means we all inundate her with requests to say our names and various sentences. at least we have moved on from imploring her to make barn animal sounds, which was our diversion for several months. this phase in her life makes me a little more excited to try to get [you know] next summer. i seem to go back and forth between being really freaked about a little baby and ok about it.

we took abbey to see the sound of music at eastview hs (apple valley) today. they did a great job, and it was fun for me to see lots of past students either acting or on the tech crew or pit orchestra lists. abbey has aspirations of acting, and i'd like to take her to so many more plays than we actually do. can't time slow down somehow?

the new vehicle>>> a 2003 subaru forester, silver. we got a great deal and will have some settlement money to put towards it. still, it sucks to have a car payment after having paid off both of our cars. i must admit that the subaru is a hell of a car! yes, nicer than a saturn wagon.

superhero journal
muse to muse
cool camera
post secret

and last but not least, i found myself writing an apology letter to parents of an off-again friend of abbey's. she got herself in hot water by using things we had said at home about their kid in a different way than we intended them when she spilled the beans in the guise of "my step-mom says that... and that's why i can't be friends with you." obviously none of us (parents) who said anything meant to be malicious when abbey would ask, "who is more __(fill in the blank)__, me or her?" but it still ended up hurting this kid. so that's that. when all was said and done, i felt bad enough to write a page full of apologies.

good enough to start the week...

Michannuel... has a nice ring...

For unto us a child was born and they called Her name Michannnuel -- meaning Michelle with us! Let us not ever forget that Michelle is with us:

• Even when they take Her name out of the schools (that would be at retirement)
• Even when they take Her name out of the pledges
(hmmm, pledge to MPR every year!)
• Even when they take Her name off the walls of buildings (graffiti?)
(oh, and they took down the big M sign in Minot, that obviously stood for, well,
Michelle... damn them)
• Even when they take Her name off our currency and coins
(ain't got a lot of that anyways...)
• Even when they take the most holy and highest name of all names and
blaspheme it (students who hate me? Abbey when she is a mad teenager?)

Father, let us never forget that it is because of KAREN and LARRY and Your gift of MICHELLE that we live today -- in Bill Clinton's name I pray Amen!
(because everyone knows that he should still be president...)

I suppose that was sac-religious... And here I am being naughty when my guardian angels were so good to me last week... in that I didn't get smacked on the highway after my car crash... because hitting a cement wall isn't enough... but everyone knows they helped out just because I didn't swear at all as I crashed, just repeated, "Oh my God" over and over. Really, it's true!

As a side note, if you are coming to my party on Friday, be ready to drink some wine. Mr. Geffre picked up enough for the whole neighborhood =)

easy come, easy go

easiest money i've ever gotten
for not eating cake!

i got paid 30 bucks
for driving south
thirty blocks.

they had run out of samples
by the time my shift came around,
so i got cash instead of calories.

Happy happy

Happy wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad =)
41 years of wedded bliss
and a few gray hairs from their lovely children...

Toby- 10 years

A note from my brother, Chris:

On december fifth 2005, it will have been ten years since we lost a
good friend, Toby Mock.  I would like to invite everybody who had
anything to do with him to join in a candle light vigil in memory,
alone or with friends, whatever you're comfortable with.  nine pm
central is when i'm going to light mine, please join me and get this
out to as many people as you can who you think would like to know,
never forget.  Peace - Shaff

cake eater

i don't have the heart to post a picture of my long lost saturn wagon... totaled wagon, that is. otherwise i would.

i AM feeling better each day. today i had to fill out a bunch of paperwork about the crash. i didn't know it was so hard to get into an accident. my knee is all shades of purple, but overall achy-wise, i'm better than i was on tuesday. of course, the pain pills may have something to do with that =)

in other news, i'm getting 30 bucks on tuesday night to take part in a 45-minute cake tasting survey. ha ha! who ever thought i'd get paid for eating cake! and on the same week as my 30th birthday nonetheless!

tuesday

I crashed into the cement median going 55-60 yesterday after hitting a patch of ice. My car is done for. I'm not feeling so hot either, but nothing's broken. Out of work until next Monday. Gotta get back to the ice packs and bed... Michelle

Turkey Day

We went to Lisa and Nick's in the afternoon to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. This is my FAVORITE holiday. You get to be with family, eat good food, and not worry about presents. It's just a nice time to be together.

Wednesday night, we went to the New Dehli with Paul and Anna, so we got to spend some time with Stephen's side, too, while listening to good music a la Paul Hatleid (Lippold).

Abbey =)
Me and the husband
The three Shaf. kids
Cindy and Lauren