please stay till the end

Ways I was blessed today:

1.

I'm totally serious. This came on the radio as I was leaving school, and I risked complete & utter ridicule from any teenagers near my car by turning it up & rolling down the windows. LOVE these boys! See them all grown up and still adorable, too. Don't hate.

2. Leadership class actually enjoyed [begrudgingly, but I'll take it] the Survivor activity I made up.

3. Literature class worked vigorously on the pre-Gatsby-reading Internet scavenger hunt. Possibly because the principal was observing today, but still.

4. SUNSHINE! And WARMTH!

5. Real Simple & Everyday Food in the mailbox; best friend's copy of People at my door.

Surely more will come as the evening moves on...I'm looking forward to children playing merrily, husband rubbing my shoulders as I grade papers, brilliant lessons for the remaining days [20] of Leadership magically falling into my brain.

still lazy, times two

Two names you go by:

1. Mom
2. Mrs. Spencer

Two things you are wearing right now:

1. candy cane striped pajamas
2. WSU fleecy slippers

Two of your favorite things to do:

1. read
2. watch movies

(I know; *snore*)

Two things you want very badly at the moment:

1. Krispy Kreme donut (or 4)
2. sleep

Two favorite pets you have had/have:

1. Sally, our Beagle/practice child
2. Rosebud, our Bassett Hound/practice 2nd child

Two things you did last night:

1. Took the kids Trick-or-Treating at Hewlett-Packard (it was allowed, we didn't crash the place)
2. Watched "The Painted Veil" (and subsequently had fantastic Edward Norton-laden dreams)

Two things you ate today:

1. Sweet potato fries from Burgerville
2. Multiple Halloween-sized chocolate candy bars

Two people you last talked to:

1. Stu; it went something like this: "Stop groping me." "Oh, my hand slipped."
2. Kids as a unit: "GoodnightLoveyouSeeyouinthemorning"

Two things you're doing tomorrow:

1. Giving out costume awards at the Boy Scouts Space Derby
2. Dressing like a cowgirl at our church's Wild West carnival

Two longest trips taken:

1. Ten days divided between Singapore, Penang, Guangzhou, & Shanghai
2. Any of our summer driving vacations from Washington State to Texas, via every other state in the union

Two favorite holidays:

1. Christmas
2. my birthday (yes it is)

Two more people who will fill this out:

1. MamaMilton (please, even though you've endured a medical procedure and various PTA activities this week)
2. Katydidnot (please, even though you narrowly escaped having your house burn down and your ex-mother-in-law is visiting this week)

Two words to my readers:

1. Thank
2. You

sick day

Even though I've been up since before dawn with one kid lamenting his insomnia ("Rocky {our cat} is bugging me and Mario {his hamster} keeps turning, turning, turning and I can't get back to sleep! AND IT'S 4:32!") and the other coughing until she threw up (numerous times), I'm feeling rather sunny. Luckily, my school is late start and I don't teach until 11 am so I will hang out with my barfy daughter this morning, doing the slow & easy fun stuff you get to do on sick days.

1. wear pajamas and slippers (at least until 9:15 for me)
2. color
3. watch kids' PBS
4. eat graham crackers
5. drink blueberry tea from tiny cups
6. color
7. nap on the couch
8. play card games (or if I'm unlucky, succumb to the pleading for "Pretty Pretty Princess")
9. color
10. follow raindrop paths on the window
11. build a chair & pillow fort
12. read magazines (Real Simple for mom, Ranger Rick for the 7-year old - unless there is an article on the Kratt brothers, then we share)
13. lots of snuggling

Read more Thursday Thirteeners here.

flings

Inspired by a brilliant suggestion (thanks, Kate!), here are some gentlemen who don't quite make the 2nd husband list (like I have that much time anyway), but they would make for a fine fling - or, more realistically for me, mowing my lawn shirtless before showering and wandering around the house in a towel.

• Jude Law ~ We all know he really is Alfie but he's bloody sexy, why the hell not?
• Orlando Bloom ~ He's awfully young, we couldn't possibly have much to talk about for long
• Eminem ~ Another hottie (he'd be required to wear the wire-rimmed glasses); I'd just keep my hand over his mouth
• Ludacris ~ This one i would allow to talk...Delisshhus
• Sacha Baron Cohen ~ mmMmm, as long as he keeps Borat far, far away
• Heath Ledger and/or Jake Gyllenhaal ~ I'm sweaty already; I wish I could quit...well, you know.

I love my husband...I love my husband...

more second husband material

A sequel to the first list of Potential Second Husbands.

Not sure when I'll find the time for all them, but it's good to have options.

• Mark Wahlberg ~ pros: regular guy feel in a hot, muscular package, slips naturally into irresistible bad boy mode, loves his family passionately ~ cons: lingering anger management issues, devoutly catholic (only a con for me since I eschew incense and all that sitting & standing)
• Dax Shepard ~ pros: unassuming sexiness, adorably goofy, writes well (hysterical myspace blog), seems to like kids ~ cons: borders on filthy humor, frat boy tendencies
• Edward Norton ~ pros: hypnotizing gaze, slow sexy smile, refreshingly anti-hollywood, brainy & articulate ~ cons: tediously serious & political on occasion, quite possibly far smarter than me
• Alan Rickman ~ pros: that voice!, endlessly charming, likes roller coasters ~ cons: entire generation older than me, utter devotion to longtime girlfriend, he's Snape

Sometimes it's really fun being delusional.

ways my current husband is perfect

• he is perfectly willing to have any of my potential second husbands come mow our lawn for my pleasure
• he rubs my legs if I sit with him while he watches "American Chopper"
• he pretends to care about football
• he encourages me to shop as long as I bring home something from Victoria's Secret
• he accompanies me to Broadway shows with minimal eye-rolling and sighing
• he only complains a little about my furniture-moving fetish
• he's a fearless bugkiller
• he asks for just one action or comedy flick among my selection of 50 foreign & dramatic video rentals
• he knows when to bring me a creme-filled donut
• he's sexy in his greasy garage clothes...and in his sweaty just-back-from-the-gym clothes...and in his grown-up button-down work clothes
• he uses his wacky powers for good, not evil (usually)
• he occasionally indulges my travel fantasies
• he keeps his family comfortable & cared for
• he likes to be fancy
• he rarely begs
• he tells me I'm perfect

addendum to second husband list

...because it wasn't long & inclusive enough and i've been downloading songs & videos from my beloved boy band, pining away

Any Fountains of Wayne members who might be available at the time of my beloved first husband's tragic death/exile:

~ Chris, pros: great lips, nerd-sexy voice, smart & funny songwriting ~ cons: occasional bad eyewear choice, seems to tire easily, married
~ Adam, pros: adorable-puppy look, smart & funny songwriting ~ cons: seems a little too self-deprecating, perhaps smarter than me
~ Jody, pros: hot hot hot, a younger & cleaner Joe Perry ~ cons: seeks model-types, the 'bored now' attitude would inflame my insecurity
~ Brian, pros: cool & quiet type, cute sleepy look, drummer ~ cons: often neglects to shave, possibly a bit too Bohemian

short list of potential second husbands*

...because a long list would be weird

*in the unfortunate event my current, perfect first husband tragically dies or is otherwise rendered unfit for marriage to me

• Gael Garcia Bernal ~ pros: sexy accent, swoon-worthy boyish smile, multilingual, likes smart girls (dated Natalie Portman), looks hot in a cowboy hat, way younger than me (very trendy) ~ cons: way younger than me (may be more creepy than trendy later), not much taller than me (or my kids, for that matter)
• James Marsters ~ pros: sexy (fake) accent, irresistable naughty stare, in a band, appreciates Pacific NW, likes Shakespeare, left-handed ~ cons: in a band, possibly higher maintenance than me
• Peter Sarsgaard ~ pros: perpetual bedroom eyes, smart bad boy feel, voice to make me do anything ~ cons: appears to like brooding, penchant for peculiar and/or scary roles
• Jason Lee ~ pros: fabulously funny, grungy sexy, great voice, skateboarder ~ cons: needs shave & haircut more often, named his son Pilot Inspektor (what??), skateboarder
• Matthew McConaughey ~ pros: Texan (the good kind), knee-weakening smile, mom's a teacher, likes football, looks great sweaty, world traveler ~ cons: Redskins fan (counts as a double con really), the whole naked-stoned-conga-drum thing, prettier than me
• Christian Bale ~ pros: lovely accents, worldly demeanor, loves animals and books, breathtakingly beautiful & seriously sexy, makes me willingly pay money to see a superhero movie ~ cons: alarming dedication to roles, happily married
• Joseph Fiennes ~ pros: artistic, disarmingly gorgeous & deliciously bawdy, smart woman's Colin Farrell ~ cons: what...I'm sorry, were you saying something?

from the mouths of...some babes, some not

interesting words i've heard, in no particular order

"I'm pretty sure I've been to Brokeback Mountain." Spoken to my best friend by her 8-year old son.

"Would you like me to feel them?" From a cute clerk at Wild Oats when I said I couldn't tell if a package of coffee was ground or whole bean.

"I'm freaking out about living forever after I die!" My son, age 8, in the midst of playing merrily

"You've aged very well." Said to me by a classmate from HS - is this a compliment??

"When you don't wear makeup, you look, like 41 or something - really old." Again, my darling son; seems to me this rather negates the comment from my old classmate.

"I understand you have a husband, but I would very much like to be with you." This may or may not be what it seems - it was said to me in halting English by an Italian man at the Singapore Art Museum last December.