Morning

My husband would love it if I was more of a morning person.

And so would my Kindergarten teacher. My parents had to take me out of morning Kindergarten and put me in the afternoon class because mornings and I were already at odds when I was 5 years old.

And so would my 7th grade general music teacher. It was the first class of the day, and I arrived just a minute or two late at least 90 percent of the time. As the rest of the class sat silently in their riser seats, I would walk in, unpack my notebook and walk to my seat with a captive audience. I'm more embarrased about that now than I was back then.

And so would my early morning seminary teacher. Let's just say we didn't get to know each other very well.

And so would my high school zero-hour goverment teacher. I racked up enough tardies in his 7 a.m. class to spend several days in the "pass room" (in-school suspension). He had no mercy.

And so would my college French professor. My mom and I thought it would be a good idea for me to sign up for this 8:00 class my freshman year, to help me "get going" every morning. Not a good idea. He seemed to enjoy saying mean things about me in French, which he assumed I didn't understand. I wouldn't understand now, but I did then! I passed, but probably just so he wouldn't have to deal with me again.

And so would my first full-time boss. He threatened to cut my pay by 50 cents an hour if I was late even one more time. Which I wasn't. Thanks for the life lesson, Mr. Porter.

I could go on, but I think you get it. Becoming a morning person (if I choose to accept the mission), could prove to be an exceptional challenge.

P.S. This is way off topic, but I just bought my son a bunch of really cute clearance items from The Children's Place. I also used a promotional code from this website. But the reason I'm telling you this is because I need to have a baby girl. Someday, please! Boy clothes can be fun and cute, but I would really love to dress up a girl someday. 

Stuck in high school

I have to meet with my high school guidance counselor at noon today, to discuss if and how I am going to graduate with my class. 

Apparently I've only been attending choir, orchestra and English, and I'm failing the rest of my classes. And graduation is next week. 

I'm totally stressed out about it, even though it was just a dream. 

I have heard that high school dreams are fairly common. I have them all the time and they are definitely my most stressful dreams. About 80 times more stressful than high school actually was. 

I have always had them, but more often now that I have been helping to track down classmates for our reunion this summer. Some of these people haven't crossed my path or my mind for 10 years, so being reminded of all my classmates seems to have freshened this recurrent dream. 

This was the first time I actually made an appointment with a guidance counselor to try to get it worked out (in my dream), so I'm making progress. Maybe in another 10 years I will have it all sorted out so I can stop stressing myself out in my real life. 

Do you have dreams like this?

Coupons!

In my last post I mentioned subscribing to the newspaper, even though I didn't want to. I'm a people-pleaser, and I couldn't say no to that nice old man at Smith's. Especially after he was so impressed that I used to write for newspapers. It seemed relevant to the conversation. I don't think I was bragging. But I could have been. It's one of only a few things about me that makes me seem smart, so it comes up... you know?

Anyway, I had to give my husband a good reason for subscribing, so I told him I would use the coupons from the Sunday paper.

I have never been coupon shopping before, but I have several friends who get really excited about it, and even post pictures of their super deals online. So I thought I would give it a try and see if I could have a similar experience.

So here's what I learned from my first coupon shopping experience:

• Don't go coupon shopping on Monday afternoon. By that time most of the good stuff is cleared out and not re-stocked. And it might make you want to swear.
• Don't try to converse with the checker. She can think of about a billion better places to be than behind the checkout on coupon day. Like prison.
• If your toddler falls asleep in the shopping cart because your shopping trip takes most of the day, it doesn't make you a bad mom. It's even kind of cute. And it doesn't make you a bad mom. It doesn't make you a bad mom.
• When you have just spent most of your day grocery shopping and cashing in on all the great deals, and you don't know what you're going to fix your family for dinner, you're doing something wrong.

So I'd like to ask all you coupon shoppers out there, is it worth it? Is all the time it takes to go through the ads and then search the shelves for the exact right item really worth it?

What did I do wrong? I haven't caught the bug just yet. I know there are websites out there that help, but is there anything that is easy to use if your life and your brain are not very organized?

If I was going to finally post something new, I would tell you:

• About how I invited my mother to come help me with my flowerbeds last weekend, and how I then felt bad for making a nearly 60-year-old woman work so hard.
• About how my mom is really the best mom in the universe. If I would have known how much work it was going to be, I wouldn't have had the guts to invite her to help with my flowerbeds. But she did know how much work it was going to be. And she still came!
• About how I'm a sucker. In the last few weeks I've: 1. Signed up for newspaper delivery (even though I knew they would just pile up, but I've got a soft spot for the plight of newspapers and for nice old men in sales). 2. Bought a $35 bottle of cleaner from a door-to-door salesman to help keep him off the streets. 3. Purchased a book to have it signed, just because the man there for the book signing looked lonely because no one would buy his book at Costco. (And don't get me started on the Fraternal Order of Police. If they can trick me into answering the phone {which they did this year}, they are going to get my money.)
• About how I've lost at least 2 pounds. I know that's not a huge accomplishment, but the number is going the right way!