Thursday Thirteen #1

I'm trying something new this week. I saw this on TeacherBee's blog, and decided that I might write more often if only I had a little direction. It would be nice to have one day a week that has a little more structure to it. So, here is my first Thursday Thirteen!

Thirteen Things about Damsel 1... Like TeacherBee mentioned in one of her posts, I prefer my own homebrewed coffee to Starbucks'. I think that Starbucks' coffee is ridiculously bitter, totally unpleasant, and insanely overpriced. 2. When I do go to Starbucks, I usually get a passion tea (sweetened) or an iced chai tea latte. It depends on how many of my Weight Watchers points I want to spend on a drink! 3. When I make my coffee at home, I make it a tad stronger than I would normally like. That's because I don't like drinking hot coffee. In a normal cup, I add two pieces of ice. In my travel mug that I take every morning, I add four. This is so that I don't have to wait for it to cool to drink it. 4. I've used the same travel mug every single school day and most Sundays since last Valentine's Day. It's pink and pretty with hearts on it. After nearly a year of use and abuse, it's showing it's age with a crack in the plastic that's only getting worse. I've been on the lookout for a new one, but am too picky. There are features I really like about mine (the shape, the height, the way the top opens and closes, that it seals well, etc.) that are really only on the ones at Starbucks. That's where I splurged and got this pink one, by the way. I just have a hard time spending $20 on a CUP, even though I know that, judging by this past year, I'll get way more than $20 of use out of it. So, I've found one at Starbucks that I'll be using Christmas gift cards to get. 5. My very favorite days of the week (month?) are the days that the housekeeper comes AND I have dinner in the slow-cooker. Walking into a clean house with dinner almost ready is heaven. I've finally figured out that those days can be planned to happen every single day that the housekeeper comes. Who knew? 6. I really, really love getting up before anyone else in my house. That is my only time to myself, and I *need* it for my sanity's sake. I don't do anything particuluarly special during that time, but I can go through my routine to get ready for the day without worrying that Knight or Jet will need me for something else. 7. I put on my makeup and style my hair everyday. I don't really consider myself high maintenance. It's just that, if I'm out and about, Murphy's Law states that I will always run into a student or parent when I'm scruffy. Since my superintendent really thinks of the teachers as the best PR the school has, I try to look presentable when I'm in public. If I do my hair and makeup, I feel like I look okay, even if I just have on jogging pants and a T-shirt. Plus, since I chopped off my hair, I can't just put it up in a ponytail anymore. 8. I'm a realist, almost to the point of being a non-dreamer. I don't have huge dreams. I don't spend time playing the "someday" game. It's sort of a method of self-defense. If I can't plan it all the way through to see the end results before I get started, I often just don't bother. That way I'm not disappointed if it turns out badly. I'm working on this, and Knight is helping. He IS a dreamer, big-time! :) 9. I always double-knot my shoes. *shrug* 10. I hate crowds. I'd much rather stay home and read a good book than go somewhere with a ton of people. Mostly, I'm scared of the "mob mentality". 11. I'm NOT trendy. I don't get caught up in the latest fads, fashion or otherwise. I'm a traditionalist, but it's mostly because I'm too lazy to keep up. I hate the thought of buying or doing something that I'll have to change next year (or month) because it's not "in style". I see it as a waste of time and money. 12. I'm a perfectionist at heart. It wasn't until my first year at my current school, when I had five science preps, a one-year-old son, and a 30+ minute commute, that I learned how to really prioritize and say "that's good enough". I probably worked 60+ hours a week during my first semester, and I could have done more. I learned that the perfectionistic tendencies I have are self-defeating. It will NEVER be good enough unless I learn to say so to myself. 13. My very favorite smell in the whole world is coming home from church to a pot roast that's been cooking in the oven all morning. THAT'S what home is.

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