Brought to You by the Letter T

T is TERRIFIC!  Play along with ABC Wednesday.

The letter T makes me think of TREASURE!

There are so many kinds!

Wealth

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Riches

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Precious Metals

Gems and Jewels

Something Valuable

Someone Valuable 

Pirate Treasure

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One man's trash is another man's treasure.

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And my favorite:

*Photos with no Image Credit caption are the copyright of Forgetfulone

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Random Tuesday (sort of), Coffee Chat, and Some ABC's

I'm linking up with Stacy for some Random Thoughts

What an incredible week last week, which explains a little bit about why I haven't been around much.  Work, of course, sucks my time dry, my husband was out of town for a week, and I had to get the house clean for my daughter's return from Oxford!  The word I use to describe this feeling is JOY!

When my twins were six years old, they went to separate summer camps.  It was the first time they'd been apart for more than a day.  Each camp was a week, and they overlapped by a day, so it was almost two weeks of not seeing each other.  This is the result:

She has lived away at college for a year and a half before leaving in January for England, but she's always been driving distance from us.  I wanted to go see her so badly while she was over there, but we just couldn't swing it financially, not to mention I can't just miss work for a week at a time.  Below is the result of her and her twin brother seeing each other after four months apart.:

My babies are home under the same roof, at least until they both leave for college again in the fall!

And on a completely unrelated topic... what do you do when you're bored at a meeting?  Do you doze off? Play on your phone?  Fold paper?  Doodle on your paper?  Make lists? Pass notes?    Don't you hate it when that ONE PERSON keeps the meeting going longer due to previously asked and answered questions or just plain idiotic nonsense?

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We have boring "lovely" state testing this week.  Sixth and seventh graders yesterday and today as well as eighth graders who had to retest in math and reading, the two tests that 8th graders "theoretically" have to pass to go to ninth grade..  Notice I said, "theoretically,"  because I have never seen any of our 8th graders held back.  Maybe they go to summer school?  Tomorrow and Thursday they take science and social studies.  They don't have to pass those tests to be promoted, but they are used, along to "rank" our school and our district.

On to more exciting things:  Coffee Chat with Ink Interrupted.  This is what our hostess has to say:
It's my birthday this weekend - I will be camping with Girl Guides.  What is your perfect "this is how I spoil myself" birthday plan?
Oh, that's not as easy as it sounds!  I can say with certainty that it would not be a camping trip with the Girl Scouts as they are called in the US.  Not that I didn't love spending time with my daughter and her troop during their camping days.  But now?  Not so much.  I would love to have a day of pampering at a spa and a fancy dinner out with my husband including an adult beverage or two.  The other things I would enjoy would include a weekend of scrapbooking with my sister or a friend, some good books to read, and some uninterrupted sleep!  This is actually fairly realistic.  Now, if I were pretending, and money was no object, I would like to spend my birthday in England, maybe visiting Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London.  Someday...

And speaking of someday... I would like to visit Rome and see up close and personal the things my daughter saw on her travels. (The weekly letter for ABC Wednesday is R.)  She photographed these in March on her trip to Italy's capital.

The Coliseum lit up green for St. Patrick's Day.

The Parthenon

Won't that be awesome? I'm counting on it!

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Brought to You by the Letter L

Lubbock.

That's where I spent my Easter weekend.

My husband and I went to Lubbock, which is about an 8 1/2 hour drive from our house each way, to visit our daughter who attends Texas Tech University.  Since we both had Good Friday off work, we thought, "Why not?"

We had such a great time!  Saturday was full of activities.

First, we went to the Buddy Holly Museum.  I learned quite a bit about this musical legend.  It's such a shame he was taken in his prime.

From there, we went to the Silent Wings Museum.  The Silent Wings refer to the Gliders, which have no motors.  Every landing is a crash landing with a glider plane.  They were crucial in getting our soldiers and equipment behind enemy lines during World War II.

Our next stop was McPherson Cellars where we had a glass of wine and a tour of the facility.  It would be a great event venue, if only it were closer to home.

Saturday evening we had dinner at Shogun, a Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse, and watched a movie with our daughter and her fiance'.

We actually spent almost all day Sunday in the car driving home, but the visit was fantastic!

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F is for Forgetfulone!

Yes, I call myself Forgetfulone.  It's not that I'm really forgetful.  I have a good memory!  But I am the kind of person who walks into a room and forgets why she is there.  When my children were younger, I would walk into a room and say, "What am I looking for?"  Their answer was always a flippant, "I don't know.  I'm not your brain!"  Haha.  Funny.

I tend to forget little things, not necessarily unimportant things.  I can name all 140 students I teach.  I can recite our bell schedule.  I can tell you what meetings I have coming up in the next few days without looking at my calendar.  I can remember books, phone numbers, conversations, and so on. But, I can't remember the answer you gave for the question I just asked, and I will probably ask you to tell me again.

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I guess that's how my blog name came about.  Here's my first post from way back in December, 2005, if you want to take a look.  My forgetfulness is not a disorder, thankfully, although my aunt who died recently truly had dementia.  That is the type of forgetting I want to avoid.

So, I looked up some causes of forgetfulness and some tips for adapting to absentmindedness.  I hope you will find some of the information useful.

Link up with ABC Wednesday here.

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Brought to you by the letter C

C is for Cousins!

According to Wikipedia,  A cousin is a relative with whom a person shares one or more common ancestors. 

My sweet aunt Mary passed away this Sunday, and I'm distraught.  She was my dad's last remaining living sibling.  This opens up a whole new can of sadness for me.

However, there is some good that comes out of it.  I get to see my COUSINS.  They live a whole state away, and we don't see each other as often as we would like.  So, I took a day and a half off work, and my dear husband drove me to Arkansas so that I could be there for them.  Here are some scenes from when I last say my cousins in 2005.

I love them so much!

Linking up with ABC Wednesday

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Brought to You by the Letter Y

Join the fun at ABC Wednesday!

Y is for Yawn.

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What is a yawn?  
yawn

yôn/

verb

1. 1.

   involuntarily open one's mouth wide and inhale deeply due to tiredness or boredom.

   "he began yawning and looking at his watch"

noun

1. 1.

   a reflex act of opening one's mouth wide and inhaling deeply due to tiredness or boredom.
2. 
   

So a yawn is involuntary.  We yawn even before we're born.  Research has shown an 11-week-old fetus yawns.

Is it true that yawns are contagious?
Research shows that at least 50% of people will catch a yawn when seeing someone else yawn or when reading or talking about yawns.  Researchers also show a link between those that can "catch" a yawn and the ability to have empathy for others.  Read about it here.  And there are other "experts" who believe that it has nothing to do with empathy.  So, basically, yes, the experts believe it's contagious!

Exactly what is involved in a yawn?
Obviously, it involves your mouth and jaw.   When air goes into the lungs, the abdominal muscles flex, and the diaphragm is pushed down.  When the lungs are at or near capacity, air is let out.  Did you know it can actually increase your heart rate up to 30%?

Does yawning mean you're tired?
Not necessarily.  Certain people yawn at odd times such as an Olympic athlete who yawns just prior to his or her event.  In this case, it is stress relief or anxiety creating the yawn.  Instead of being tired, it could also be your body's method of keeping the brain at the right temperature.

What is the one thing that is clear about yawns?
That scientists don't agree about the real reason WHY we yawn.  This much is clear.

And one last tidbit...
People tend to yawn less when they are in a cold room.
 I bet you yawned at least once while reading this!  I did!

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Brought to You by the Letter W

This post is hosted at ABC Wednesday.

W is for Wildcat!
My high school mascot and my daughter's college mascot is the Wildcat, so I thought it would be interesting to find out a little more about REAL wildcats.

Peter Trimming - Yawning 'Kendra' 

Felis silvestris is the technical name of the species, and there is a broad range of Wildcats. Different types of wildcats are found in Africa, Europe, Asia, India, and Mongolia.

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The markings, color, and fur of a Wildcat vary depending on the specific type of wildcat it is.  Some have stripes; others have spots.  Some are gray; some are orange and/or brown.  For a wild feline, the Wildcat is small, but they are larger than most housecats.  Their legs are longer.  They have a rounder face than most cats who live in the wild.  They have very long tails, often marked with black rings.

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Wildcats are basically solitary animals who prefer to be alone except during mating time. They are carnivores.  Their favorite meals are things such as rats and birds.  They often live in areas with rocks and fallen trees that they use for refuge.

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Wildcats make noises similar to housecats such as mews, hisses, and rumbles.  They also make a high-pitched whistling noise that housecats don't make.  At times in history, wildcats were domesticated, but not so much anymore.  A wildcat is not the same thing as a feral cat.

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The Wildcat is one of the top 5 most common mascot names in the U. S.  I hope you enjoyed this post!

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Brought to you by the Letter V

V is for Virtue and Virtuous.

Dictionary Definition:

vir·tue

ˈvərCHo͞o/

noun

1. 1.

   behavior showing high moral standards.

   "paragons of virtue"

   synonyms:

   goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity,rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity;

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I strive to be a virtuous person.  I don't always succeed, though.  I believe there is less virtue in the world in general than there was 30, 40, 50 years ago.  I'm not sure it's even a word that the typical school student would know, and that's a sad thing.

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Years ago, I read The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett.  The book contains stories demonstrating these virtues:
Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith.
I think I received this book as a gift.  It is for sale on Amazon, and is a great family anthology, in case you're interested. And no, I'm not getting paid to advertise it!  

I believe my strongest virtue is responsibility.  I don't think I learned it, though.  I think I was born with a natural disposition to be a responsible person.  I'm the dependable one.  The one who keeps her word.  And I admire those traits in others.

I believe courage is the most difficult virtue for me.  I sometimes exhibit courage that I don't feel.  Having to demonstrate courage can be intimidating!  Or maybe it's patience. I get impatient easily, but I am working on ways to improve this.

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Being virtuous... it seems a lofty goal, but I'm not striving for sainthood.  It's not as though I never do anything wrong.  Of course I do! I just want to be the best person that I can be, and that includes being a good role model for my children and students.  Most of all, I hope that they see virtue in me.

Come and visit ABC Wednesday!

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