Mes Bonsaï

So, look what Mari bought me for our anniversary!
I love it. It's so pretty - and it's been blooming. Can you see the little white flowers?

I also found this one at the nursery that has a very interesting trunk...














(Take a look at this second picture to see what I mean....it's kinda on the backside of the plant.) I know it doesn't have a lot of leaves right now, but I just couldn't help falling in love with the shape of that trunk... I'm sure it will fill out after a few weeks and some good feedings.

I'm very excited. We were even able to find a full spectrum fluorescent bulb to help supplement the lighting but not drive up our electric bill! (We have very small windows, btw.)

Plus, it looks like my rose plant it going to bloom! It's the one that Mari bought me for Valentine's Day. ^.^ I'm sooo excited! Pictures soon!

La Vie en Rose

We actually went to a movie yesterday. La Vie en Rose (released as «La Môme» in France) was in the $5 Club, so I asked Mari if we could see it. It was a very well-made movie, but the story was, of course, tragic. If you don't mind sad endings and are interested in «la chanson française» or Edith Piaf, then you will probably like it.

Here's a video of Edith Piaf singing one of her most famous songs, Hymne à l'Amour. For those of you who don't speak French, there are subtitles (and they're fairly good ones, too!).

Un job! (à mi-temps)

But yeah, am I excited!! ^.^

After spending three days last week helping administer language placement tests to kindergardeners for a local school system, I was asked by my "boss" if I wanted to come in when I wasn't subbing to help him around the office.  It'll be random things, probably a lot of paperwork, but I think this will be good.  It'll at least be one more thing I can tell a school I already know how to do.  There's a lot about some teachers' jobs that the public has no clue about, let me tell you.  Some teachers (including the position I'm studying for) often includes admin work as well as teaching.  

I went in on Monday for six and a half hours, and it went really well.  I've already learned the basics of two of the databases.  I think my "mad skills of a computer user" surprised him.  I love my keyboard shortcuts!

Apparently all of those years spent in an office environment learning filing and database systems in high school and college is about to pay off....who knew??

C'est fou

Waiting in line for 30 minutes for soul food is not fun.  Mari & I, along with our next door neighbors, went to the Soul Food Festival at the park today.  There's music, dancing, food, and lots of people with booths of information or things for sale.  Last year we went and had a lot of fun.  

This year, I learned that when a lady with an order pad tells you that your fried green tomatoes will be ready in 15 minutes, you laugh at her and change your order or cancel it and go somewhere else.  Those 15 minutes turned into 30, with still no fried green tomatoes in sight.  And I wasn't the only one waiting.  I passed the time talking to a very funny woman who told me lots about her son and niece.  Now, I'm a patient person, but honestly, this got ridiculous.  I finally went back to the lady with the order pad and asked for a refund.  When she began to ask one of her co-workers about the tomatoes (as if I hadn't tried that already), I interrupted her explaining that my hypoglycemia was beginning to act up and I couldn't wait any longr.  I knew another place with better service and much better food.  Oh, yeah.  If you're ever in Bedford, go visit Chuck's Soul Food.  It's goooood.

I'm telling you, sometimes you can try and try and still not get your tomatoes...no matter how badly you want them. 

Je vous présente....

Did I mention I got a new Mac? Oh, yeah. Surfin' in style. Of course, because of my educator/student status, we got the iPod, a huge discount off a new printer (our old one sucked), and Adobe CS3!! We're gonna have fun with our pics and family movies now, don't you know it.

And today I found a widget that will let me make blogger posts from my Dashboard! ^.^ Life is good.

But, before we go any further, I need to name my new computer. Mari & I have a tradition (ok, so he started it) of naming our Apple products with names that start with a little "i". (For example: iNari is our MacMini, and it means "shrimp" in Japanese.) But we're having a little trouble coming up with a good one for the MacBook. Any suggestions?

Je suis de retour

Well, my laptop went kaput about a month ago, so that explains the absense, n'est-ce pas? We splurged and got a new one, which came in yesterday. I'm setting it up today and exploring some of its new features. "Oh, yes, itz very niice". I look forward to setting up the iTunes on it so that I can have an iPod that doesn't have Mari's 80's music popping up.

My grandparents are out of town this weekend, so we're dog-sitting their silkie. I've never been fond of dogs, but this one is very quiet. Mari is enjoying taking him on walks, which is good because the silly thing likes to find small spaces around the livingroom and kitchen in which to curl up and take a nap. I find this very strange, but it's normal behavior for this puppy. Maybe I'll get my act together and post pics. (don't count on it!)

I'm off for now. Let me know if you still read this thing!