Category: LHA

Did you read the last line in yesterday’s post?

Guess what?

I got sick.

Getting closer and closer to the end of this spring marathon. Today I spoke at West Broad Street Elementary in Souderton. It was a little weird visiting an elementary school after having been in so many high schools the last couple of months. I felt like a giant, Gulliver maybe.

And, as fate demands, a germ slipped through my careful defenses of vitamins, veggies, and tea. Something is trying to grow a colony of yukky stuff in my lungs. Ack. So let me post some photos and go to bed.

For my third presentation at North yesterday we thought 15 students were coming and then all these guys showed up. It was fun. (I am still dreaming about the food in the English teacher’s lounge, BTW.)

These second graders at West Broad showed me their haiku because I told them the first time I got excited about writing was when I learned to write haiku in second grade. They were SO EXCITED. It was like being around puppies. Second grade was the best. I wish I could go back. I used to love sharpening my pencil so I could smell it. Yes. I am a self-confessed pencil-smeller.

Now I am going to bed to think healthy thoughts – I will not get sick – I will not get sick – I will not get sick…

I promise I’ll post the photo of the third group tomorrow. I came home to a ton of paperwork and am still not done. *grumbles*

But I can’t go to sleep without saying thanks to all of you for a great day.

I’d say “You rock” but that would be completely cheesy and cliched. How about “You rawk”?

Probably not.

But thanks anyway for a terrific day. And thanks to the library “mice” and thanks to the English teachers who had an absurdly fine potluck lunch in their staff room.

All this public speaking is fraying my mind around the edges. I am an introvert when I’m not holding a microphone. (Do not hand me a microphone. Please.) Pretending to be an extrovert is taking a toll. I find myself making bizarre lists.

So here is my weird list of things to do. I came up with it while eating leftover goulash for dinner.

1. Enter a bass fishing contest.
2. Visit Iceland in the summer.
3. Grow my own popcorn.
4. Create weird artsy-fartsy tile masterpieces on random walls of our house.
5. Visit Iceland in the winter.

Once I shut up for a month or two, I might return to my senses.

Or not.

What weird thing is on your to-do list?

Yes, this post is 36 hours late, but when I finally got home at 12:30am Saturday, I couldn’t remember how to speak English, much less find the energy to post.

My Beloved Husband came down to cook for me and make me tea because he is the most awesome man on the planet. Mostly, we spent the weekend snoozing and fretting about my parents. They are elderly and my dad got very sick last weekend (extra bad because so far he has been the “healthy” one). We had planned on moving them from Florida to Oswego, NY in September so we could take care of them. Now we have to make it happen fast. I am about to get a crash course lesson in Medicare, Supplemental Insurance, assisted living facilities, etc. etc. etc.

Does anyone out there have experience with emphysema patients who need oxygen 24/7 flying on commercial airlines?

Here is a related piece of advice: don’t smoke. Don’t smoke. Just…. don’t, OK? My mom is dying an inch at a time because she sucked down all that nicotine and tar. It’s a hideous, scary way to go.

On to cheerier subjects.

Had a really good time at New London High School, my last WI stop.

This is their mascot: a giant bulldog.

The winner of the Toughest Binder of the Year Award.

This is the first PROM school project I’ve seen!! (Yes, I find this exciting.)

I’m speaking at Council Rock South High School tomorrow, Council Rock North on Tuesday, West Broad Elementary on Wednesday and Lenape Middle School on Thursday. (These are all near my house, which means I get to sleep in my own bed every night and see Meredith!)

Friday I drive down to the Frostburg State University Children’s Literature Conference.

I am a few weeks away from getting back to writing. I can’t wait!!! *salivates*