My friend, the dictionary, is a very reliable friend

Several years ago, back when I was still in undergrad, I was part of a Utah-based theater lovers message board, Players Anonymous. Our membership was largely comprised of community theatre practitioners in the Utah and Salt Lake valleys. It was an opportunity to keep up to date about auditions and performances and other opportunities in the area, but also a place for general socializing. Eventually, mostly with the rise of Facebook, the boards went the way of much of the internet, and I'd moved out of Utah anyway. I enjoyed my time as a part of this group and met many people who affected my life in many ways, but that's not the point of this post.

My name on this board was Stretch Armstrong, based on the doll - not the band, or Stretch for short, which is where I get the AmandaStretch I largely go by now online. For a little while on the board, I created a weekly feature called "Stretch's Word Corner" where I'd make up silly words and their definitions. I don't remember any of them anymore - nothing really took off, but it was an amusing diversion for me.

I don't remember how I came up with any of the words. Some of them I worked on, some of them were probably happy accidents, like chocolate chip cookies - one of the world's best accidental inventions, but with far less cultural significance and staying power.

Words get made up all the time, at least in English. It's a living language, after all. Merriam-Webster added 841 new words to its dictionary this year alone!

I don't know if it will become part of the dictionary anytime soon, but Blake accidentally coined a new word, a clever portmanteau, this week that we really like - packanizing.

There's packing - put stuff in bags or boxes for travel or moving.

There is organizing - shifting things around to new locations within a permanent/semi-permanent space.

Packanizing is both! Blake has both to do this week, and when mentioning them on his to do list, he accidentally combined the words and it was a perfect description of the task ahead - a little packing of things to take with him, a little organizing of things to leave at home.

So, if you find it fits in your own life, you're welcome to use it too! Maybe it will take off and make the dictionary one day. Or maybe it will just make your life easier instead of saying packing and organizing separately all the time. You just might save several seconds of time over the course of your life.

Two nerds in love at a library on a vacation to Australia

With typical folks doing things in a typical way

To be honest, I don't really have a typical day. I have a typical morning routine in getting up with Blake and sending him to work, and we have a typical bedtime routine every night, but without a job or kids, everything in between just kind of depends on the day. My schedule is fairly open and might include a class (taiko or contemporary dance, mostly), a dog walk (finally officially approved by the base to be a petsitter/dog walker), or a meeting for church (I'm second counselor in Relief Society(women's ministry)). If it's musical season at the high school, I probably have rehearsal. And I tend to run most of the family errands, since I have the time.

This schedule does leave lots of time for solo adventures or social time with friends. This week, for example, I've been to an onsen with Summer (another thing that I introduced her to, despite having lived here for 7 years) and went to Relief Society cooking group. But that's not every day. Some days are just errands and life. Today was a day like that.

I got up this morning at 5:30am, when Blake got home from his run with Malcolm. I cooked breakfast, which we ate together, and then Blake was off to the shuttle. After he left, I dawdled on the internet for a few minutes, then started some bread to bake and got showered and ready for the day whilst listening to Hamilton.  

After getting the bread out of the oven and taking Malcolm on a bathroom break, I head out to the train. I thought I was leaving lots of time to get to my hair appointment, but as I transferred trains, I remembered that my appointment was 30 minutes earlier than I thought, so I'm actually running late. Oops! 

Ultimately, I was only about ten minutes late, and it was a much needed haircut. 

Afterwards, I returned my latest library book (The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson) and then met up with Blake to go to the post office (package from his mom that we can't open until December!) and lunch (delicious curry at an Indian restaurant just off base). Blake had to head back to work for a few hours, so I picked up a few things at store on the way to the train station and headed home, where I took a little nap with Malcolm and generally lazed about.

Eventually, I got back in the kitchen and started Thanksgiving prep - toasting bread and cooking sausage and vegetables for stuffing, assembling the green bean casserole (from scratch!) that I'll actually bake tomorrow, cutting carrots, and cooking the custard for ice cream - while watching The Great British Baking Show. 

Blake came home somewhere in there and started helping, and eventually we took a break to cook some okonomiyaki for dinner which we ate while watching Madam Secretary. Malcom's best friend, Virginia, is here for the rest of the week, so we had an audience.

Now, I'm blogging, he's playing a computer game, and we're watching The Andy Griffith Show. At 10:30pm, it's an hour past our usual bedtime, but we don't have to get up as early tomorrow. 

I know it's a luxury to have such a flexible life right now. It hasn't always been that way, nor will it always be, so I'm enjoying it for the time being! Life in Japan is great, but sometimes it's just life - nothing terribly exciting, but still good.

Previous days in my life - January 2010 and October 2008.

When you have to go potty, stop, and go right away

Japan is incredibly clean. Even without garbage cans on the streets, most people carry their refuse with them home or deposit it in the appropriate receptacle in a convenience store. Even on garbage days in residential neighborhoods, the waste is neatly organized and ready for pickup. It’s not perfect - you do occasionally see some stray trash - but it’s pretty darn good.

(The exception to this rule is on Sunday morning when we have to walk through a rather seedy part of town to get to church. After a night of partying at bars and strip clubs (that’s sometimes still going on at 8:30am), there are frequently way more cigarette butts and other paraphernalia littering the roads and sidewalks. We’ve seen more than one drunken walk of shame and smelled urine and we’ve even followed a trail of blood for a few blocks. We also got applauded walking by some people once, but no idea what that was about.)

But otherwise, Japan is exceptionally clean.

Japan also has a plethora of public restrooms. They can be found in every train station and sometimes just around, unattached to any other building. Since the Japanese people are clean, every public restroom I’ve seen so far is also well taken care of. Whenever I’ve needed one, it hasn’t taken long to find one and be at ease with its level of cleanliness.

But sometimes I am not at ease with the actual toilet.

Squat toilet - I have had some difficulty learning how to use these. I think I have figured it out, but I still don't prefer these if I can afford them.

Most often it’s a Western style toilet. Frequently, if there is a squat toilet in one stall, a Western toilet is in another. Sometimes there will be signs indicating what to expect on the stall doors, and sometimes not. If you have to go badly enough, you may not be able to wait for your preference.

What’s really snazzy are these toilets:

Often these kinds of toilets have heated seats (seriously amazing in the winter), plays water sounds to mask any sounds you might be making (sometimes optional, sometimes automatic), a water spray you can direct to different areas (especially helpful for the females). You can even adjust the water pressure and temperature! I’m fairly confident we will buy one or two that you can install on a home toilet sooner or later. These are definitely my favorite toilets out in town. Generally, the nicer the building, the nicer the toilet, but you really never know what you're going to run into.

I also have found some toilet signs that amuse me.

This was in a very nice building in South Korea - Even the toilet signs were dressed nicely!

It's so cold in Sapporo, Japan, that even the toilet signs are bundled up.

In case you need a floor plan of the restroom.

I am definitely grateful for clean, easy to find restrooms. Major bonus points when they have a heated seat!

I got so much paper I just spend it like it's nothin'

Last night was our weekly Family Home Evening (I wrote about how it works for us and why we do it back in 2013). Well, sort of weekly. We try, but things come up. If we don't have a formal activity that opens with a song and a prayer, we're usually still doing something together and the family togetherness is the most important part.

This week, we kept it pretty simple. We talked about an Ensign article I'd read earlier in the day and then tried our hands at the traditional Japanese handicraft of origami whilst drinking arctic white chocolate hot cocoa. Now, I can make origami rabbits with my eyes closed. But dinosaurs? That's going to take a little more practice.

It's supposed to be a triceratops (the background came with the kit!). After we took this photo, I figured out how to make the body a little longer, but then it wouldn't stand up anymore. So, if dinosaur means terrible lizard, I think we accomplished it!

Fortunately, this kit comes with ten more dinosaurs we can try. Fittingly, we just watched Jurassic World, so it's been a bit of dinosaur themed week already. (Speaking of situationally appropriate clothing, can we talk about how ridiculous it is that Bryce Dallas Howard wears heels running from all of those dinosaurs throughout the entire movie!? I knew about this going in, and I was still flabbergasted.)

Even if origami does not become a shared artistic love for the rest of our lives and I am only ever good at rabbits, at least we did it together! And if anyone wants origami kits for their own FHEs, I can help you out with that. 

Look what you made me do

I found this post from September 2008 when I was searching my posts for something recently. Let's see what has changed in 9 years! The bold is the original list. Anything I've done for the first time since then is in red. Anything I should have put in bold the first time but didn't is in blue. One thing I have plans to do very soon (as in the trip is booked!) is in green.

All you have to do is copy the list (after the jump) and bold the things that you have done.

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby’s diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said “I love you” and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don’t
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (lemonade stands count, right?)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone - verbal or physical
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions (the joys of being in quality control)
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream (didn’t know it was my dream, but I’m living it anyway)

99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where at least four people asked for the recipe.
113. Buried a child
114. Been inside the pyramids
115. Shot a basketball into a basket
116. Danced at a disco
117. Played in a band
118. Shot a bird
119. Gone to an arboretum
120. Tutored someone
121. Ridden a train
122. Brought an old fad back into style
123. Eaten caviar
124. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
125. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
126. Published a book
127. Pieced a quilt
128. Lived in a historic place
129. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
130. Asked for a raise
131. Made a hole-in-one (mini-golf counts, says I)
132. Gone deep sea fishing
133. Gone roller skating
134. Run a marathon
135. Learned to surf
136. Invented something
137. Flown first class
138. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
139. Flown in a helicopter
140. Visited Africa
141. Sang a solo
142. Gone spelunking
143. Learned how to take a compliment
144. Written a love-story
145. Seen Michelangelo’s David
146. Had your portrait painted (sketched, yes)
147. Written a fan letter
148. Spent the night in something haunted
149. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
150. Ran away from home (only temporarily)
151. Learned to juggle
152. Been a boss
153. Sat on a jury
154. Lied about your weight
155. Gone on a diet
156. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
157. Written a poem
158. Carried your lunch in a lunch box
159. Gotten food poisoning
160. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
161. Hiked the Grand Canyon
162. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
163. Gone to the opera
164. Gotten a letter from someone famous
165. Worn knickers
166. Ridden in a limousine
167. Attended the Olympics
168. Can hula or waltz
169. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
170. Been stuck in an elevator
171. Had a revelatory dream
172. Thought you might crash in an airplane
173. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
174. Saved someone’s life
175. Eaten raw whale
176. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
177. Laughed till your side hurt
178. Straddled the equator (Prime Meridian!)
179. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
180. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
181. Sent a message in a bottle
182. Spent the night in a hostel
183. Been a cashier
184. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
185. Joined a union
186. Donated blood or plasma
187. Built a camp fire
188. Kept a blog
189. Had hives
190. Worn custom made shoes or boots
191. Made a PowerPoint presentation
192. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
193. Served at a soup kitchen
194. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
195. Know CPR
196. Ridden in a convertible
197. Found a long lost friend
198. Helped solve a crime
199. Shaken hands with a famous person
200. Commented on The Book Guardian’s blog

Hot sausage and mustard!

Recently, a friend asked how Blake and I save money on groceries. I realize that it's not the most exciting thing to turn into a blog after months of not blogging, but I wanted to start somewhere! This was a few weeks ago, and I can tell you that our margherita pizzas and chicken and waffles were delicious! The onion I mention at the end got cut up to use into a sauce.

This has taken a lot of practice and I've developed a small, but well stocked pantry, which I'm rather proud of. Some of this going to change in a few months, but for now, this is how we do it!

Now, we both enjoy cooking, so that helps, but we only cook dinners a couple of nights a week. Usually Sunday nights, one or two weeknights, and then pizza night. The rest of the time is leftovers, which we both enjoy. We don't burn out on cooking something new everyday and it saves us time/money. Breakfast on the weekdays is almost always scrambled eggs with a protein or fajita veggies and either toast or a fruit/veg smoothie. Lunches are grilled chicken breasts we cooked up altogether over the weekend (different marinade each week), a veg (almost always carrots) and fruit. Keeping these things the same everyday reduces the time/effort that goes into such prep and we use up what we have. We can keep dinner more creative.

Regardless of what you do, one major key is to PLAN. Meal planning is pretty much a love it or hate it thing, but I happen to love it. I look over our schedule (what nights do I need to have something fast, how many nights will this meal last us, etc.) and what we already have in the fridge/pantry. If we can make something new with what we already have on hand - awesome. Fewer new ingredients we have to buy. For example, right now I have half a ball of mozzarella and some fresh basil in the fridge. I'm out of tomatoes for the caprese salads I was making with these things, but we do have pizza sauce and frozen pizza dough, so one night after Blake gets home, we're going to have margherita pizza. I bought one can of pizza/pasta sauce for $.95 and divided it into 5 equal containers - no more need to buy sauce for a month. Actually, we have two more cans in the pantry, so we're set for the whole summer. I also have some frozen waffles from a grocery store freebie recently, and a coupon for $.55 off some chicken tenders. So chicken and waffles it is! Occasionally, I'll have to buy all new ingredients for whatever, but there is usually something leftover from something else that I can incorporate into the next week.

Once I plan, I make my grocery list and try not to deviate from it. If there is a really good deal on something that I pass, I might get it, but I stick to my list as closely as possible. I also check my preferred stores' ads to see what's on sale, especially produce and meat. Cucumbers on sale this week? That's our dinner vegetable! I also then get a good idea of what a good price is for a certain item. If I have wiggle room in my budget that week, I can get whatever meat is on sale and stash it in the freezer for the future. I buy in bulk when it makes sense, and not when it doesn't. We keep a lot of our meals simple, so that we don't have to buy very much. I use coupons sometimes, but I'm not crazy about it. Right now I'm shopping mostly at Aldi and Shoppers. Aldi just has good prices on produce and dairy. Shoppers has weekly freebies, frequent $5 off $25 or $10 off $50, and a variety of other coupons, and yes I will walk around the store with my calculator just to reach the $25/$50, if I'm close enough with what I'm already planning to buy. I love me some Trader Joe's, but it's not convenient most of the time.

I also diy a lot of my foods. We make our own bread, brown sugar, pizza dough, salsa (sometimes), buttermilk, ice cream, and whatever else I can. If it's a specialty thing that doesn't come up a lot in my recipes, I see if there is a cheaper alternative/substitute (like making my own self-rising flour or subbing grape juice for wine, etc.) before I add it to my pantry. It takes practice, and sometimes we go over $200/month, but we're pretty close and we still eat really well.

And I typed up that post and grabbed out my lunch to microwave when I realized that instead of my grilled chicken I packed the sliced half an onion I was going to use in the sauce I'm making for manicotti (celebratory favorite dinner of husband deserves real sauce, not canned). Soooo, I'm not perfect. However! Another money saving example - onions were on a crazy sale at Aldi, but only in bulk, like 3lbs for the price of 1lb. So, I found out how one can store onions, bought the very large bag, and am set on onions for awhile. I sliced up half for a salad recently, and figured I'd know what to do with the other half eventually. Also, thank goodness I had a slice of cake at the faculty baby shower, because I'm not eating this onion.

I said that's life (that's life)

I post somewhat regularly to Instagram, which cross-posts to Twitter and Facebook, but here are some little snippets of life lately that did not make it there.

While I was in Utah, The Shops at Riverwoods we're hosting a Chalk the Block. Participants were given a parking spot to decorate using sidewalk chalk. Here are some of my favorites.

I love James Christiansen - We have two of his pieces in our house

Each beam represents an operating temple in the world

Shadow me!

In my library last year, I numbered the tables so that I could manage my students by table if needed. This year, we are doing it by color. I put the colors in sheet protectors and then taped them to the tables. It solved some of the problems I was having with the numbers, but I'll probably argue all year with some kids about whether it's the pink table or the red table. It's red, for the record. 

This did make the Instagram, but we are also doing library centers this year, again for management reasons. Generally, we have a reading center, a skills practice center related to the mini-lesson I taught  that day, and a book checkout center. It's going pretty well. 

Blake and I really like a new donut shop about fifteen minutes from our place, called Sugar Shack. The best part for our budget is that they offer a daily free house donut in exchange for something. We've brought in pictures of UFOs, ordered like old curmudgeons, and traded school supplies for free donuts. Tonight, we had to act like dogs. 

One day was wear crazy socks. Blake wore a pair of my socks with monkeys and bananas all over on his hands because, as his lawyer self reasoned, they didn't say where you had to be wearing the socks. And yes, I wore these with capris and flip flops, because the point was to show them off, not be fashionable. 

Finally, a Malcolm story. A few months ago, there was an exceptionally loud thunderstorm. Malcolm is largely unbothered by thunder, but a really loud and close thunder clap sent him running behind the couch for safety. He discovered that's where we stash our blankets and has added it to his napping repertoire, sometimes during loud or bothersome times, sometimes just because. This was earlier today while Blake was vacuuming. Sorry about the laser eyes. 

Life is good. 

Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere

Officially, I moved out of my parents' home in September 2005. After 21 years, it was time to spread my wings and venture out into the wide world.

Okay, so I moved six miles down the road. Some friends I knew from the local theatre community had an opening in their townhouse, so I took it. I brought a lot of my personal belongings, but I'm sure I left a few boxes behind in my old room. I was home frequently (at least once a week for ER on Thursday nights) and at least had access to all my things.

Less than a year later, I moved across the country. I loaded up my 1999 VW Passat with as much as it would hold, had my mom mail my books, and moved into a tiny shoebox of a room in a townhouse in Virginia. I adopted the furniture left behind by the previous occupant and figured I'd get the rest of my stuff someday.

Eight years after that, I've expanded my belongings into that first townhome, a tiny efficiency of my own, and now a two bedroom walkup I share with my awesome husband. I've now been the proud owner of six hand-me-down couches in nine years. A milestone of my adult life will be buying my very own brand new couch that no one else has ever owned.

That day is not yet, but at least I finally have all of my stuff under one roof again. Since I finally have a little stability in my future, some space in my apartment (no more hallways turned into closets!), and a summer vacation, it was time to go back home and get the rest of my things. Blake's sister got married at the end of June, so we flew out to Utah, celebrated the nuptials, and while he went to Arizona to celebrate there, I spent a couple days going through all the boxes I'd stashed and closet shelves I'd never gone through and decided what was worth keeping after 9 years of not having it.

That was an adventure. Memory Lane is an emotional place to visit.

My trash/recycling and donation piles were much larger than my keep piles, thank goodness, but a lot of amusing things didn't make the cut.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Spray painted shoes from a 2004 production of Seussical

Glasses from Seussical and an umbrella hat

No comment

You were never this cool

Boot cast from my reconstructive surgeries

Maybe I should have kept these after all

My high school nickname was Bubbles, so Sisterpants made me a pillow out of a Halloween costume. Grandma took this for the great grandkids.

Yeah, I'm a little embarrassed by this too.

Inflatable chair!

Once there was a snowman

The last time DC saw snow of much significance was February of 2010. Any snowfall since then has been less than two inches and while that has been enough to shut things down and cancel school here and there, it's only been for a day, not several.

Until this week.

We had a great three day weekend for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and were all set to go back to work and school on Tuesday when the forecast of 5-8 inches was enough to cancel school before we even went to bed on Monday. Blake's work wasn't closed until Tuesday morning, but it was followed by at least three inches of snow and neither one of us had to be anywhere again until late Wednesday afternoon when Blake's school finally reopened.

My own three day weekend has turned into a six day weekend because even though the accumulation hasn't been nearly as much as our last huge storm, it's even colder this time and road conditions is some of the more rural parts of the region are still treacherous. I did get out for a very bundled up walk with Blake this morning, which was quite nice, but otherwise I haven't left the apartment complex since Monday. Shortly after I post this, I'll finally need to put something other than pajamas on so that I can go to choir rehearsal. Tomorrow, Friday, may be my only day of work this week, though it's possible it will get canceled too, as some other local school districts have already done so. (I work for a private school, but we do what our county school district does for weather cancellations.)

As much as I like my job, all this extra time off has been very enjoyable. Blake was with me for most of it, which was a lot of fun. We decided it was terrible packing snow, but I did get to make a snow angel. There's been plenty of food, games, books, electricity, and supplies around and, since we recently got a Roku, plenty of tv and movies to stream directly to our television. There has also been no shortage of naps and warm snuggles. I've even managed to do few chores around here. It's also good that I'm getting paid this time.

View from our balcony

Frozen culvert

Hooray for snow days/weeks!

It took me years to write, will you take a look?

Once upon a time, when I was in high school, I decided I wanted to write my lowercase Rs as miniature uppercase Rs. I thought that would be cool and add something unique to my handwriting. I trained myself to do it, and ever since then, that's how I've written them. I don't think anyone has ever really commented on it, but I like it, so there.

However, last fall, when I was substitute teaching, I started writing on whiteboards in front of children a lot more, especially my last name. Before I got married, my last name had one R, now it has two! I worried that it might be confusing to children just learning how to print, so I started trying to write more lowercase Rs. I was only subbing for a couple days a week for a few months, so once I was at a new librarian gig, I stopped worrying about my Rs again.

Now, as fate would have it, I'm working as a K-12 school librarian and teaching library and information literacy skills to K-6 graders and writing on a whiteboard nigh unto everyday. Once again, though no child has expressed concern either way, I find myself worried that miniature uppercase Rs might confuse them, so I'm trying to write more lowercase again.

Does it matter? I have no idea, but I'm trying to have clear and understandable handwriting, at least on things that my students will read. Oddly, I kind of like the look of my lowercase Rs, so I don't actually mind switching back and forth. It's affecting my handwriting in other situations, and I've probably spent way more time thinking about this than I need to.

And now you have too.

One thing I won't be changing about my handwriting is that I cross my Zs. I started doing that in as a result of multi-variable math, so that I wouldn't confuse my Zs with 2s. I haven't needed to do that kind of math for a while, but I still like the way it looks.

Do you have any handwriting quirks? And what you do think about lowercase v. miniature uppercase Rs?

I am a paleontologist!

We have a standing rule in our new little family that if we're driving somewhere and see a sign for some crazy roadside attraction, such as "World's Biggest Ball of Yarn!", and we have time, we can stop and check it out. Thanks to websites like Roadside America and our own quirky knowledge of things, we can actually plan trips to the offbeat and bizarre.

This was the case with Dinosaur Land.

Fifty years ago, someone decided to build and paint a bunch of fiberglass dinosaurs. They are not to scale. They are not entirely accurate physically. They are certainly not organized in any way. They are just there. And for six dollars a pop, you can take a stroll through kitschy history.

The triceratops is both of our favorite dinosaurs, so it was good to see it taking down a t-rex

It was completely worth it.

We have no idea how big this octopus actually is. Or why it's in a dinosaur park. While we were driving to Dinosaur Land, I must have been distracted or just too excited to focus, because I was having a hard time focusing on things that were rather obvious, and this inattention to detail came out a few times.

#1
Me (reading a sign): There's a County Store.

Blake: Country.

Me: That makes more sense.

#2
Me: There are two cows in that mud pond.

Blake: Three.

Me: So there is.

#3 (upon arrival to Dinosaur Land)
One of us: And there's a 70 foot octopus!

The other: This sign says it's 90 feet.

Me: It must have grown 10 feet.

Blake: 20.

Me: Right.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't driving.

Our stop through history was on our way to a campsite in West Virginia, where we stayed the night. I'd been given a tent as a birthday present last year and we used it for a fun indoor date then, but this was its inaugural trip outdoors.

We grilled pork chops and corn.

Roasted marshmallows.

Discovered what marshmallows do if dropped in a fire. SCIENCE!

Cut up firewood with a pocketknife.

We also kicked back and read, played some games, and, after it was dark, I read a chapter of The Graveyard Book to Blake. In true first world problem fashion, we discovered our air mattress was a little too big for our wee tent. It stretched the seams and took us twenty minutes to zip once we were inside, but we managed and it was fairly comfortable. We'll just have to invest in some foam pads for next time.

Hooray for adventuring!