Cafeteria Nuggets of Wisdom

You know that feeling of stepping into a tub full of hot water?  It's the same as getting into a cold swimming pool, really--the extreme temperature change.  I always mutter, like I'm speaking in tongues.  It helps with the transition.  Ohlalalakooshalakalaka.  Something like that.  Or I'll add random actress names into my muttering, like Ohtadadahoocha-Reba McEntire-Swapadaily-Bonnie Hunt-Totolapahl-Cybill Shepherd-dddd.

I googled "Reba McEntire" just now in order to get the spelling of her name.  Weird.  Looks like it belongs in a McDonald's mission statement.  McTake over the McEntire McWorld with McFast McFood!   It's not how I would have guessed to spell her name.

So, I took a bath this evening with my Epsom salts and Japanese incense and brand new book by Martha Beck.  Have I told you lately that I love her?  She fills my heart with gladness.  Meanwhile, my dishwasher was running with nothing but a jar of vinegar in it, and my stove was running on the self-clean setting.  Still is.  It stinks.  These facts lead into my message of the day--the day before the last day of the school year--which is Things I Have Learned from being a Lunch Lady.  

1.  Being a Lunch Lady is hard work.  Lunch Ladies are not just squishy-armed women scooping up fluffy mashed potatoes.  They have muscles, chutzpah, and know-how.

2.  Students love tater tots.  I've mentioned this before.  And they would eat chicken nuggets everyday if given the option.

3.  My home, particularly my kitchen, is disgustingly dirty compared to our school kitchen.  Daily scrubbing of floors and biannual scrubbing of every inch of everything have brought me to this sad realization.  Hence the present dishwasher and oven cleaning.  If I take this realization to heart, I'll spend some time cleaning house next week.  (When I'm on break!  What?!  On Break!!!)

4.  I have become accustomed to the regular and comfortable use of the Southern contraction "ya'll" and have inevitably deepened my drawl.  Drawl, ya'll!  Howryu?  Goo-id, howryu?

5.  Summer break is good and necessary and well-deserved by teachers, students and Lunch Ladies alike.  It starts tomorrow, and it starts with a manicure.

Lunch Lady out.

Mojo Returning

I call it "Jenergy."  Because I recognized what was missing.  Because summer is drawing near.  My intention is to write a little bit everyday.  Today I submitted a story to three magazines to celebrate the return of inspiration and motivation.  Three magazines?  Three cheers!  Here's to the coming season.

Maydays

I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever write again.  I blame NaNoWriMo.  I burnt out in November and haven't been motivated since--not motivated to write blog posts, children's stories or the longer book project I started. Erglefrack.  I still attend my monthly writer's group, so at least there's that.  I am producing something, just not with my heart.  Help me, people!

What I have been motivated to do is work on the yard and plan/buy/cook fun food.  So I go with the flow of that motivation, enjoying these springtime pleasures, hoping I'll cycle back to regular writing again.

Also enjoying lately: United States of Tara.  Have you guys watched this show?  I just finished Season 2. I haven't been this interested in a show since the days of Gilmore Girls and Buffy.  Not to say it ranks up there with the Slayer (nothing does!), but it is so-o-o interesting, and Toni Collette is su-u-uch a good actress.  It's got me wondering who my own alters would be if I had Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which really is a fun psychological exercise.

That's the low-down, skinny scoop.  School's almost over for the year, and that makes me one happy Lunch Lady.