Belated (canine) Inaugural thoughts

I have a niece and nephew; Clooney and Sabrina. They are "twins" and were two years old in August. (Mommy Esq., I think their birthday might be within a couple days of your set.)

Anyway, they are pretty darn cute, and relatively well-behaved. (I highly recommend goldendoodles, although when a golden retriever is crossed with a black standard poodle, you essentially get ponies.)

The Doodles love tv. (Just like their aunty.) Sabrina especially- she will sit in front of the tv, and wait for someone to turn it on. She will bark if necessary. She has favorites; loves all things HGTV, and according to her mother, my sister-in-law Kim, "she just loves the reveal at the end of any redo show". She hates when TiVo is paused. They also love all dogs, horses, and any animals in general that they spy on tv.

The Goldendoodles also love Barak Obama. No joke. (Their dad was a black poodle:) They also hated Bush (would growl) and soldiers (they are anti-war).

So, like many other Americans, the Doodles are excited about the change in our country.

I was pretty engrossed in the inauguration; watched it at school with the kids, et al. I was intrigued by the Lincoln Bible that was chosen for the swearing in. I was also interested in the relative small size of it. (sorry I was too late to trawl the internet and find a closer picture of it)

When I'm teaching about government, or the election, I often acquait the age requirement for certain positions, to my own age for the kids. (When I first started teaching, I could run for Representative, and now I'm closing in on the presidency....hmm....) I thought of what kind of special bible (or would I even use a bible) I would be sworn in with.

The Family Bible of course- the Sellers actually have a Family Bible. Now I'd like you to imagine a cool January day, maybe many of you would be there, standing behind me, as I'm sworn in using this.....

Can you imagine the Chief Justice holding this sucker as I take the oath?

Happy Sunday- hopefully back to some tv chat soon. If you are interested in LOST info, come on over to 4 8 15 16 23 42.

This post is brought to you by the letter "B" and the number...

I'm about a week "B"hind on this blog, but I still wanted to do it.

I've caught the meme wave from the lovely Goddess in Progress. She caught the idea from Cheryl at Twinfatuation, who did her top ten H's, and entitled her blog post, "What the H..."

Now those of you who know me, will know why I got laugh out of that- as my school nickname is indeed "What the Helen" or WTH.

Goddess gave me the letter "B".

Here goes:

1. Birmingham- my middle name, my mother's maiden name- my initials are a very big part of "me"-

2. Blonde/brunette- Well, I'm a little bit of both and I haven't seen my real hair color since I was sixteen so we'll claim both...

3. beans- Lima, Green, Yellow wax, and even Baked- love 'em all

4. bison- Yes, buffalo. When I'm on the wagon and eating well, it's one of my favorite meals of the week. If you like red meat, especially on the rarer side, I would highly recommend it! It's also surprisingly very low in fat.

5. birthdays- I am one of those crazy people who loves to celebrate my birthday, well into my adult years. My birthday is August 31st, so for my 30th birthday, I celebrated what I called, "The 30 Days of Helen". I wanted to do something fun every day of August leading up to my birthday on the 31st.


This is one of the "30 Days of Helen Activities"- A birthday lunch on the Rockmore, a floating restaurant, in Salem Harbor.

6. The Boat- I've always had good sea legs, and love boating of all kinds. My very good friends the McGinnitys keep their boat on the Charles in Newton. They have been very kind to take me on many awesome adventures; down the Charles, through the locks, out to the harbor, and often stopping for a couple beverages at the Barking Crab. (We may have also most died one night after going out in a storm, but that's for another time.)

Nice view of the city behind Michelle
Melissa and I, and "Paul on the Wall", with the city behind us.

7. Blue Birds- Several years ago, Pier 1 sold these cute blue birds and I bought two for myself, and one for my mother and my sister. Since then, i have continued to snap up any other blue birds that I have found.

The original blue birds!

A Big Blue Bird!

A little blue bird, and other knick-knacks- my living room is Blue and Brown, two more Bs.


8. Bat book- Eight years ago when I starting teaching, I read aloud a book called, "Silverwing" to my class. The tagline of this book is, "how one small bat became a noble hero". This book is just amazing! The kids get so wrapped up in this book, and it's so great to see them be so excited. Ironically, I discovered that the author, Kenneth Oppell, and I have the same birthday.




9. British Royalty- well, I like most royalty, but the Mountbatten-Windsors are a particular favorite. In fifth grade I read a book called "The Little Princesses" about (now) Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret. It was written by their nanny. I ate it up. I guess it was my intro to gossip...This was followed by reading Royalty Monthly and Majesty Magazines, and then every biography, and nonfiction book in the 900s section of the Memorial Hall Library in Andover. I became a crazy expert. (If SATs had only been based on Royalty and Soap Operas, I would've been all set.)

A personal favorite- Queen Victoria


10. Bed- need I say more. (I would've included a picture, but that would require making it, and that isn't happening right now!)

Anyone else want to give it a try?

Guess who didn't watch the show they allegedly write a blog about?

That would be yours truly. On Tuesday, TiVo determined that it was more important to record "The Biggest Loser", more inspirational anyway. I figured, oh yeah it's on again on Wednesday anyway.

Well on Wednesday, TiVo HAD to record the replay of the Lost Season Finale from last year.
This turned out to be a good move on the part of TiVo because I had really forgotten everything from last year, and it was one of those pop up episodes with good info (that prevent you from doing any kind of multitasking because you have to pay attention). They also added in some never before scenes which was really cool!

Only a week till LOST. Click here for some links to some spoilers and speculation.

I've had all sorts of ideas for posts, but I've had not time to execute, so hopefully there is some interesting stuff coming.

And her name is.....

I'm a very big fan of celebrity gossip, especially Perez Hilton.

I was so happy to hear that Bennifer II has finally named their newest daughter.

I'm sure you all know of the adorable Violet, who is simply the happiest child in Hollywood. Could Violet be anymore of a mini-me of her mother? I can only imagine the dimples this one will have.




Well, what is her name, you will ask?

Seraphina Rose Elizabeth...............Hmmmmm...........Might they call her Sera?

I thought "Helen" was hard to find on kid themed things like mugs and pens.....

Guess who's back? Back again.....

Tori's back, tell a friend!

Finally Tori Spelling and the producers of 90210 have reached an agreement and Donna will be returning. Apparently, she will start filming at the end of this month and none other than Jason Priestly will be directing the episode.

Anyone watch last night? Anyone else think it was weird about Brenda not being able to have kids? And conveniently now Adriana who hero-worships Brenda is pregnant by an unknown man.....hmmmm.....will she give her baby to Brenda?

Ugh, 9-0 is back

The whole reason for this blog is back new Tuesday night.






But I don't really care. I keep forgetting what I watch on Tuesday nights.

Is that wrong?

Will you accept this rose?

I am one of those fools who watches "The Bachelor". I haven't watched every season with great devotion, but pretty darn close. I came into the first season a few episodes in, but was quickly intrigued.

On the last "Bachelorette" I was totally sucked into single dad Jason. I mildly pined away from him. His cute face and complete dedication to his son were both very appealing. Deanna, who had been turned down on a previous "Bachelor" season, was totally annoying. I was shocked she didn't pick Jason (as I consider myself a great predictor at endings to reality shows)

What's crazier was that Nat and I just watched a Bachelor preview that was no joke 5 minutes long- and pretty much gave away the whole season for us (we took copious notes, and will not forget that it's the girl in the blue dress who wins...) Amongst all the girls and bikinis, who pops up but Deanna! If you follow this thing at all you know that she and Jesse, the snowboarder who had committment issues that she thought she could tame, recently broke off their "engagement" after flaunting the fact that they would be getting married in May. (I guess you could say that their relationship hit an avalanche.) Well, apparently Deanna is now saying that "she made a mistake", and it looks like she may hang around the show for a bit. The other ladies are not happy about this.

I've only watched a little bit of the beginning right now because I am also trying to watch "Gossip Girl". There will be a couple real good crazies- ones that the producers pick just cause they make "great t.v.". (right, Natalie) Probably a host of 23 year olds who want to be a "mom".

Shudder.....

XOXO

Helen

PS- How was my first day back at school you ask? COLD!

Sasha and Malia go to Washington

Tomorrow is back to school millions of students and teachers; this include the adorable Obama girls and myself.

As usual, I'm really, REALLY not looking forward to going back. This night is always the biggest case of "the Sundays" that I have all year, save the night before the first day of school.

I managed to completely remove myself from school this break, which was really nice. As a result I'm crunching to get all sorts of stuff done yesterday and today (and get rid of all my Christmas stuff). To top it all off, I'm actually not going to be teaching tomorrow. I'll be at a workshop supporting my work through our TAH grant. (Encounters and Exchanges in US History) This is a mixed blessing. I don't have to deal with my darlings and what I'm sure will be their very sleepy faces. I do however have to leave perfect instructions so that they are productive without me tomorrow.

I'm thinking of the Obama girls living in a hotel and getting ready to be the ultimate new kids tomorrow. I'm sure they are excited, scared, nervous. I'm sure everyone will want to be their friend, and that kids who's parents are republicans might not be as nice:) As a teacher, I hope any kind of sense of normalcy for them. I hope they feel safe at their new school, love their classmates, and their teacher, have some fun!

Can you imagine the parent conference with the Obamas? Hope those two little girls are as "good" as they seem. I'd hate to be the teacher who makes that phone call....