Heptadecagon

"I have to tell you something and it's about your daughters. And you can't say I told you." My heart dropped into my stomach. They are, for the most part, good kids. What had they done? Thankfully, she was quick to say, "The girls want to decorate Zoe's and Talia's lockers tomorrow and they are trying to figure out a way to do it. They want it to be a surprise." My heart lugged itself back to its rightful place (within the mediastinum, in case you were wondering) and I laughed to myself. Yes, of course their friends want to decorate the twins' lockers. They are twelve today. TWELVE. Let me say that again. TWELVE. Twelve is the number of seconds that passed between the time I noticed Tim in the parking lot and the time I moved to go and say something to him. Twelve is the number of minutes that he and I spoke before exchanging emails and saying so long, but not goodbye. Twelve is the number of days it took me to realize that eve...

I have never liked a slice of lemon in my water. I'm okay with an occasional glass of homemade lemonade, but the slightly acidic taste of a slice of lemon in my cold aqua pura has never been my cup of tea. And now, I'm happy to say that it isn't. Just a few moments ago, I found this article on the Huffington Post regarding lemon wedges in water. It says enough to get me to tell Zoe, who loves those little slices of sour, to stop asking for them at a restaurant. As stated in the article (which was summarized from an original research article published in the Journal of Environmental Health ), "Researchers swabbed the rinds and flesh of 76 lemons from 21 restaurants collected during 43 visits and found that a whopping 70 percent of them produced microbial growth." Yack. Furthermore, a clinical professor of microbiology and pathology at NYU Langone Medical Center, one Philip Tierno, Ph.D., has also conducted similar experiments and found that "half o...

The college called and they need my help. Since this is the same college that said OKAY to my break from teaching, I decided to help them out. So, as of next Tuesday, I'm going back in to work once a week. The first thing I need to teach? The axial skeleton. For those of you that don't know what the axial skeleton is, please, let me educate you. According to several general texts, "The axial skeleton forms the central axis of the body. It consists of the skull, the vertebral column, the ribs and the sternum or breastbone." Not so bad, you say, right? But the lab I will be teaching is most likely comprised of students that will go on to nursing school. So telling them that the axial skeleton includes a breastbone is like telling a builder that a house has a roof. Instead, the students will be required to know that the sternum (or breastbone) is composed of three parts, the body, the manubrium, and the xiphoid process. Furthermore, the students will need to kn...

I don't watch The Bachelor . I don't even keep up on that show. But I stumbled across the news that Sean Lowe, a former Bachelor alum, married the woman he met on the show. (Which installment of the long-running program was this man a part of? I have no idea.) I wish them much happiness and would love to see them stay out of the limelight. I'm no professional therapist, but I think lying low would help their marriage. In the same article, I found snippets of what Sean said at the wedding. The only thing I want to say is this: if you are going to be on national television when you say your vows, go ahead and find yourself a good writer. (And if what he stated is the work of an actual writer, then there's hope for me, I'd say.) Here's what Sean had to say (and you'll know exactly where I started to lose it): "The first time I saw you, you were like a light to my bug -- I had to find you. You mesmerize me with how brightly you've shone." ZAP...

Yesterday was Saturday, my day of the long run. The last few have been arduous, trekking through ice or snow and running against the wind. So Friday night, I put it into my head that I'd go to the local inside track for Saturday's long run. I knew it would be difficult to run around in circles for at least an hour, but on the other hand, I would be able to wear shorts, an item I haven't been seen in since October. The run itself wasn't difficult. I had plenty in my head to keep me from going too crazy (a new story idea jumped out at me) as I ran around and around, but the heat inside the track slammed me every step of the way, and the sheer number of runners and walkers amazed me. (Who else gets up early to run or walk on a Saturday morning? Apparently more people than I imagined. I guess I now know where all the people were the last couple of Saturday mornings.) And those people? Not so up on their track etiquette. So let me tell you how it should go. When you have...

I just happened to look and see that I've written something every day of January so far. I'm surprised by that. I didn't know I had that much to say. And, I didn't know you guys would all actually read the drivel I do have to say. But I can't keep up this pace. I have a manuscript that needs to get done by March 14 and I've got a new gig as a Profiles Co-Editor for a website (more on that later). Plus, I need to be the best mom I can, and oh, yeah, there's Tim to think of as well. Maybe he and I should spend some time together. Novel idea, don't you think? (That awful pun was so much intended.) So I think I'll finish out each day of January, and then, I'll take a breather. Not a long one, but don't expect a post a day. Unless I have something so funny or earth shattering that I just have to share.