Tuesday Top Ten

This post is a little early, but I got excited, so there it is.

Here it is. This list is brought to you by:
Harry Potter Side-Characters I Love

(though the order may not read like a traditional top 10)

10. Ron's Great Aunt Muriel- She is not introduced until book 6, and not seen until 7, but she has one quotes of The DH.



9. Aberforth Dumbledore- He was the reason we knew there was more to Albus than meets the eye. He was the discusson of many a Burrow.



8. Stan Shunpike- Love the name. Love how he pops up in random spots in the book. Loved the idea of him with pimples.


7.Professor Binns- I am including him in this one because of a comment Morgan made about the books. That they are our little secret. Professor Binns was great in the books, and he is our little secret.



6. Mrs. Figg- She was one of the people in the first book who I knew would come into play, and who sold the first few chapters for me. Well done old Figgy.



***BOO*** It's Peeves! Potty Baby is out of bed! I love him. He snuck in the list.


5. Petunia Dursley- What a mystery. And I loved the idea of her having twice as much neck which was good for spying over hedges and fences.



4. Percy Weasley- He was so much more significant in the books. I cried in the last book when she talked about him. Sigh.



3. Mr. Ollivander- Creepy? Yes. Significant? Yes. Glad he was created? Yes.



2. Neville Longbottom- Poor Neville. He was almost the boy who lived. Love it.



1. Luna Lovegood- She is a delightful, clever girl. I can't say it enough, she is wonderful.

Monday Musings

Today is my day to muse about work life. So here it goes:

Normally a summer for an Ig is filled with ideas and planning. I normally make lots of activity books for my class, think of themes, and organize ideas. But this summer I looked at my year and said, "Thanks, but no thanks." (Cough cough, Sarah Palin's last day in office, I guess it's time I hang up my McCain mask.)



I decided being a teacher meant I could enjoy my summer and not feel guilty about it (though other teachers try to make you feel a sense of guilt). So I have been doing just that--enjoying summer. Farah can testify I have only brought up school twice this summer (very rare). But in my dreams... I have suffered and have had many dreams/teacher nightmares about my classroom being rearranged and the addition of many students to my class (20 to be exact, all non-englilsh speaking, but at least it was only a dream). Luckily I know I pre-planned a lot the last weeks of school and can walk in on August 18th for my teacher workday ready to go.



So come the 20th of August, when kids arrive, I will be in full swing. I will have all my lessons ready, all my worksheets copied, and all of my bulletin boards up. But today, on this, the beautiful 27th of July I sit and say, "School, school stay away. Come again another day."

Ah, summer.

Sunday Sabbath

Well, we took a Sabbath, but we also went on a Peter Pan date... Here's a synopsis of the date:

It was all themed around this map:


We started near-ish the Manor and then flew off to Big Ben for a Wee Lunch



Then we followed our shadows to a reading a Wendy Tale in the Bookshop.


After that it was time for a duel. Like Hook and Peter... We battled it out over a game of Scrabble.


We then chatted in the Park, and being sure not to let go of the pram and lose a child to Neverland...


And then it was time to make like a Pirate and dig up some treasure.



And then it was time to relax in Neverland.


There it is.

Created by OnePlusYou

Saturday Snapshots

Here's the pictures of the day:

Today's theme is famous people I've seen on my travels...



An Oompa Loompa


Josh Groban


Johnny Depp's Foot(prints)


Brooke Shields


Tina Fey


The Survivor Guy


Sara Ramirez


Reuben from the Biggest Loser


The guy from the show with Sara Ramirez


and Yoda

Friday Fears

Yes, its that time again.

So here is my biggest fear: Being tricked.


Farah can testify to this one. I always keep a wary eye on how people treat me. For if something seems out of place, I believe I am being tricked. Maybe it all started with watching people get tricked on TV. Maybe it started from being the youngest kid. I'm not sure where all of this stemmed from. But maybe it was due to my poor eating habits. You see, I am convinced people will sneak a food I hate into my meal and then upon biting into it I will cringe with disgust.

Or, like my dream last night, I will be tricked into teaching a class I don't like, while the two other teachers get a simple and typical class. Tricking. That is a big fear. So you can imagine my confusion on Halloween (my favorite holiday). Children ringing my doorbell... Threatening to trick me unless I give them treats. I always give a little extra candy, just to be safe.

Well, I can't fully explain this one, but I am most always certain that people are trying to trick me.

Thoughts of Randomness of Thursday

Today's thought: Dreams.

This morning I woke up early because I was having a bad dream where I was being attacked by the LZG gang (who for the sake of this dream only exist in Michigan). They stole my wallet while I was attending some sort of reunion at Righetti High School. The only reason I cared was because I thought, "Oh no! We need to go to Rome! All of our money is in there!" Why it was all in there is beyond me, but hey, that's dream Michael. So then, the thief called my cell phone to set up a meeting to return it at the Edward's Movie Theater.

Well, I told the secretary at RHS this. And the secretary at RHS told me I better not go because that gang killed people in front of the movie theaters because their gang color was pink like the theater. Did I mention it was an all girl gang? I tried to get Parker to help me but he was in training down south. So I was just angry and said, "What's this world coming to! Pink gangs!" I didn't know what to do, so I remember in the dream my solution was, "Oh, I know. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!" Eventually I woke myself up and found my wallet safe and sound. Lame. Now I am up before 7 AM all because I was worried I wouldn't be able to pay for Rome.

So there it is. My random thought. My dreams.

Wonderful Woments on Wednesdays

So tonight we had "the new couple" from church over, Matt and Miriam. They were very nice and quite fun. He's from Wisconsin and she's from England. We had a great dinner, a la fauf, and a great dessert, a la Trader Joes. After that it was time for some game playing. Well, this was a first people. Last night we played...



HERE & NOW Monopoly: World Edition. It was great, very little set up and the best part of all was you got a credit card. Secondly, on this Monopoly they have a built in auction feature, so a property that is worth 2.3 million can be auctioned for as little as 10K! It was a lot of fun. I almost won, but Matt took the lead in the end and won with a 28 million dollar net worth, I wasn't far behind with 23 million. Blast his Orange Monopoly with three homes on each!

At any rate, if you get a chance to indulge in this new fan-dangled contraption, I recommend it. And yes, Jon, that means you. You're on buddy! In addition to that I have been checking the computer ever few hours hoping I would get notice on Farah's books... None yet. Though it seems they have printed the bulk order. Hooray! More to come on that soon.

Tuesday Top Ten

Yes! I nearly fell over with delight when I realized today is time for a Tuesday Top Ten!

Today's Ten is brought to you by: Disney Princesses

10. Jane and Meg--Yes, I know neither Meg nor Jane are really princesses, but in order to get the list to a 10 level I had to include them. I like Jane, a lot. I think she is a smart girl, tough, but very feminine. Dare I say it she is a little Fauf-ish. However, she is not Fauf, so she doesn't get a high ranking for that reason, and well because she fell in love with an ape. A chiseled ape, mind you, but an ape. I appreciate Meg, but something about her waist to hip ratio drives me crazy, and not in the good way. I always want to throw her a bagel so she will gain a pound or two.




9. Pocahontas--OK, she can paint in the wind. Whatever, but really, come on. We all know she didn't resemble a Barbie Doll, why did they portray her that way? Plus her skirt is at the hoochie length. No hoochies for Ig, come back one year! I have to say if I were completely honest here, I would move Pokey here to number 10, but since (in some circles) she is classified as a princess she gets spot number nine.


8. Sleeping Beauty--Not much to say here. She sleeps. A lot.



7.Mulan--I like that she has a progression in her story, but she is not very feminine at all. But she sings pretty great. Overall I like her, but I think she needs to fem up a little bit.



6. Jasmine--She's a little crafty one. Always sneaking out. Ug. If she were my teenaged daughter I might scream. She needs to learn some boundaries and stop showing off her bellybutton. But she does have some spunk and I admire that.



5. Tiana--As you can tell by her middle of the road placement I have somewhat high hopes for a princess who we have never met before. At any rate, we will see how she handles her role.


4. Snow White-- A good princess for sure, but in contrast to Mulan I just want to scream, "Come on already!" I mean, I like her as a sweet, soft spoken girl. But I think she missed her first day of preschool when they said don't go in a strangers house, and once your in a house don't let strangers in. I think she would do well to watch Home Alone 1.



3. Cinderella--Helpful? Yes. Pretty? Yes. Willing to risk it all for true love? Yes. Crappy family? Yes... well that's a minus. But at least she got 3/4 questions right.



2. Ariel--There is something to be said for sacrifice. And Ariel, though her sacrifice is a bit premature, is great. She gives up her biggest gift to be with the one she loves. That is a good girl right there. Yup, she deserves this number two spot.


1. Belle--Ah. She is just delightful. I think she wins out. Every girl, boy and sane person will tell you that.

Monday Musings

In case you didn't know, I took Sunday as a sabbath and rested. I went to see HP6:HBP with my wife. Then we discussed the intricacies of the book's plots for about an hour and a half. With that said, I had two energies left, and quite frankly I used them brush my teeth, not blog.

But today I will muse about work. No, not school work for I am in the dead heat of summer. Yes, that's right I still have one more month of summering to go, so I thought I would blog about my work this summer.

Mainly (this past week that is) I have been assisting my lovely author-wife in completing her book. We have spent hours discussing, drawing, formating, submitting, and taking orders for her new book. So far things have been fantastic. The buzz on the street is good, and quite frankly I am gearing up for a BIG release party. Think Harry Potter Burrow minus annoying people and plus family. It will be good times. Though I am sad to report we will be planning the party while Ky and Li are in the 50th state. However, they will get a shout out at the event.

Here are few photos of people who we shared the prototype with. The real books will probably come in sometime next week. Check with me for details on the release party if you are interested in attending.

The Shelf Says, "Hey, there's a new Sherlock on the block!"


Rose says, "Oh dear! You've written a book and I'm still in my robe!"

More pictures to come...