Could I Have the Language of Origin, Please?

That's right - it's the big night. The night of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I actually rushed home to watch it. Yeah, I did. You might think it's boring, but it's actually quite exciting. I mean, there's a struggle between right and wrong, there's suspense and tension, and we've even seen laughter and cheering. (I'm sure the tears will come later.) And get this - the Barbie doll host just said that one contestant's brother promised to douse her with water if she wins. Yes, folks, douse her with....water.

You know, the kids in big spelling bees often get made fun of, but I think the adults involved are the odd ones. The moderator is so serious, so stern. He acts as if the contestants are putting him out by asking for a definition. And heaven forbid they ask a question twice in an effort to stall for time! (Although, he did have to chuckle when a contest asked for the origin of "oxylophytic," and he had to say, "A Greek part connected to something that's probably another Greek part." Very helpful.)

I already mentioned Barbie doll host - she's interviewing the contestants between rounds, similar to Dancing with the Stars' format. This isn't surprising, considering this year's bee is on ABC (I think it's normally only on ESPN), and the main host is none other than Tom Bergeron. Oh no, he actually just said that the tension is mounting. He's a funny man. It must be interesting to go from home videos and dancing "stars" to providing color commentary for these crazy smart kids. But, thanks to his presence, these kids know they're just as important and cool as Kristi Yamaguchi and Joey Lawrence. (Whoa!)

I do like the way they've produced this contest. The rock music playing in the background as we head to commercial, the play by play from our friend, Tom, the highlights replayed as we come back from commercial. They've made it pretty slick and professional, like they're really taking this spelling bee - and the kids in it - seriously. I think that's nice.

But I won't lie. I prefer watching my national spelling bee with the Sklar brothers on Cheap Seats. For those of you who missed this late, great show, here's a taste.

Seriously, though, I wish I could have done more spelling bees as a kid. Our county didn't hold the county spelling bee early enough for winners to qualify for the state bee. And I didn't even know how kids got to the national spelling bee when I was younger. Honestly, I didn't know until tonight when I looked it up. (If only I'd known about the $30,000 prize back then! Now that's an incentive to learn those qualifying rules and study etymology!)

All this spelling talk has me in the mood for a little competition. I'm off to the national site to take the test that will tell me if I could have qualified for the quarterfinals. Here I go...wish me luck...here's hoping they don't give me "numnah" (a word from tonight that sounded like, umm, something else...imagine if that ended with a "t")!

Bonus List of the Week: Words I Missed at Bees:

• percale (As my mom said afterward, "You know, as in 'percale sheets?!' Riiiiight. Because I knew what percale sheets were in the fourth grade.)
• zucchini (I actually had to double-check it tonight before posting!)
• ulterior (I thought the moderator said "alterior," which is not a word, but in the sixth grade, I just assumed it was a word I'd never heard of. If only I'd known to ask, "Am I pronouncing this right?" like the kids are doing tonight.)
• incompetent (Funny, right? Uh-huh, hi-larious.)

(If you're lucky, I'll scan and post a picture of me with my spelling bee trophies for your viewing pleasure.)

List of the Week, v3

Movies I've Seen in the Last Couple of Weeks

• Enchanted
• 27 Dresses
• Dan in Real Life
• Made of Honor
• The Great Debaters

So, for those of you who are counting, that's two movies with Patrick Dempsey...and two movies with James Marsden. Four chick flicks and one serious-type movie. One in the theater and four rentals. One half cartoon. one Harpo production, and one Disney movie. Three movies with actors from Grey's Anatomy, and one movie with an actor from The Office. Two movies about weddings, and five movies with happily-ever-after endings.

Some random thoughts on these movies:

• I think I would have liked Enchanted more if Photobaby were old enough to appreciate it.
• No matter how cute the song, cockroaches are always disgusting.
• I can't deny it - a couple of the dresses weren't that bad.
• James Marsden is not cute. Not at all.
• I was really hoping Made of Honor would avoid a cliched ending.
• I was really hoping The Great Debaters would not.
• Dan in Real Life was good.
• I started to say that I like the movies Steve Carell makes, thinking of Little Miss Sunshine. Then I remembered 40 Year Old Virgin.

Don't worry - I realize none of these movies have a lot of redeeming factors, and in fact, most of them have pretty crazy morals and themes. But for the most part (The Great Debaters aside), they were fun. Not award-winning. No. But fun.

Do Bad Things Really Come in Threes?

For a long time now, I've believed the superstition that things come in threes. Mainly bad things. Sometimes deaths, specifically, but often just bad things in general. I know it's silly, and the thing is, I'm not a superstitious person. After all, I believe that God is in control, and He has a plan - and those beliefs don't really leave a lot of room for superstitions and things such as fate and luck. But it really does seem as if three bad things occur close together.

This happened to me yesterday, as a matter of fact. In one afternoon, I got three e-mails with bad news. First, I learned that a former co-worker is being deployed to Iraq. Second, I found out that a friend has called off her August wedding. And third, I got an e-mail from a pregnant friend who is having complications and had to go to the hospital. All this within just a few hours!

Those three pieces of news coming so close together really made me think about this belief. Where does it come from anyway? Most superstitions or common phrases have an interesting origin or background, so I decided to find out about this one. Who originally decided that bad things come in threes?

After about an hour of searching, I'm sorry to say, I still don't know. Wikipedia let me down. Google couldn't help. Even About.com couldn't tell me much about it. I did find a long (looooooong!) list of different uses for and definitions of three and a very (verrrrrrry) vague explanation of the superstition.

What I did find was an article published in 1984 saying that no, kids, bad things don't come in threes. It's just your perspective. (Side note: This article contains a lot of the same positive thinking philosophies that have been written about in certain Oprah-promoted books. But this author makes a point to note that "[e]xpectations don't always turn into reality.")

Anyway, it's true. Looking for threes makes it a lot more likely that we'll notice thing in groups of three. I know that. So, while I didn't find out where this belief started, I did get a good reminder from this article: "Things happen one at a time. Whether they are seen as the worst or the best is determined by you alone."

This little research project has confirmed that there's really no point believing - or expecting - bad things come in threes. But maybe it wouldn't hurt to think about how many times good things come three at a time.

Because of course, there are some real and good significances to the number three. The trinity, for one. A solid marriage, for another. And don't forget some other "important" threes: nursery rhymes, trilogies, famous characters and silly movies.

List of the Week, v2

What do you want to be when you grow up?

(Who am I - Brenda Starr or Dale Messick ?)

Today I'm neither girl reporter nor famous artist. But I've wanted to be both. See, I've wanted to be a lot of things. I actually spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be, supposed to do. I think there's something BIG out there with my name on it. But I don't know what it is. Or how to figure it out. Someday (when I grow up), I might figure out which one of my ideas is right for me. Someday I'll figure out what exactly God made me to do. Until then, I'll just keep adding to my list...

• Teacher (What teacher's pet doesn't want to be a teacher? Of course, I'm still a bit jealous of those summers off!)
• Lawyer (I have to admit, this one still comes and goes occasionally.)
• Cartoon artist (I went through this phase in middle school. I thought I was the next big cartoonist. It may have had something to do with the TV show, "Caroline in the City.")
• Animal rights activist (My seventh grade civics teacher showed us a video about cock fighting. I was appalled and briefly determined to do something about it.)
• Novelist
• Journalist (I went to college with this idea. I was very close to going to a large university specifically for this major, but ended up going to a smaller school. Good thing, since I changed my major after first semester when I learned that being a reporter isn't exactly like being Brenda Starr or Lois Lane!)
• Rock star (Right, like you don't have this dream!)
• Music teacher
• Photographer
• Psychologist (This was my next bright idea in college - spent a couple semesters thinking I would be a counselor. Not a bad idea, but it wasn't the right one, either.)
• Small business owner/entrepreneur
• Event planner (This is where my career began. It was a good place, but not the ultimate place for me.)
• Fundraiser
• College professor (Turns out it only took two hostile golfers in my Speech 101 class to change my mind about changing young lives this way.)
• PR specialist (Okay, so nobody really dreams of being a "specialist," but it's my title for now.)
• Book editor
• Book publicist
• Party planner, photographer and scrapbooker (surely there's a market for this?!)
• Writer (Some days, I really think I have a book in me. What kind of book, you ask? I don't know yet...but I'll let you know when I do!)

I've thought for more than a year (way more than that if you go back to when I originally thought of it in college) that I should be a Christian book editor. It's possible that this is "it," what I've been looking for. What I'm made to do. For the record, I don't know how to get into this career, since I'm fairly entrenched in another career path. But I do know that if this is God's plan for me, we'll figure it out somehow!

What kind of job dreams do YOU have? What will YOU be when you grow up?

List of the Week, v1

I've decided that I need a list of the week. However, I should caution you at this point not to set your watches by my lists. I have in the past - twice, actually - attempted to send a "Tip of the Week" to my co-workers, and both times it ended up being more like a "Tip of the Every Once in a While When the Mood Strikes Me."

That being said, this week's list is ever-growing and ever-evolving...and begins with Everwood. Without further ado (I am big on ado, aren't I?), here it is:

TV Shows I Plan to Watch on DVD

(a.k.a., shows I missed the first time around or don't have time to watch now)

• Everwood
• West Wing
• Friday Night Lights
• Brothers & Sisters
• Wonderfalls
• Veronica Mars, season one
• So You Think You Can Dance, season one
  (Do they put reality shows on DVD?)
• Arrested Development

Now, in order to watch these shows, I will have to actually purchase the DVDs (not likely, as I only own two TV shows on DVD - The Office, season one, which was a gift; and Home Improvement, which was free and I took it for my husband) or break down and get a membership to Netflix, which I've been avoiding especially since discovering Redbox.

You know, now that I think about it, this is a pretty lofty goal. Because it's not like watching these shows in their entirety will be a short thing. No, it's going to take time. And dedication. I probably better put it on my summer projects list. (Yes, the same place my "read some classics" goal has been for years...)

So - what about you all? What's on your list?

A Battle of the Wills

You know those forwards that ask you lots of personal questions and tell you to pass it on to your friends? Like, chocolate or vanilla? Hugs or kisses? What are you listening to right now?

Well, this picture tells you what I'm listening to right now.

Apparently, this is the torture I've heard other parents speak of called "crying it out." It's pretty bad, I will admit. The doctor told us yesterday that yes, she can learn to eat more formula during the day if we don't feed her at night. And that no, she won't remember that I let her cry and hold it against me when she's 16.

The best (and by "best," I mean "worst") part of it all is that until the past couple of weeks, PhotoBaby has been sleeping like a champ. And then we added solid foods. Oh, she loves her solid foods, that PhotoBaby. Rice is yummy and carrots, well, they're the best thing since....ummm...rice. But now she thinks she's a big kid and only wants to eat solid foods. No more bottle for her.

Unfortunately, kid needs that bottle for another six months. This is evident by the way she's been waking up in the middle of the night and yelling until I feed her.

But the doctor says to stop doing that.

So here I am, at 4:42 a.m., listening to an angry, angry baby. Please, kids, don't try this at home.

Can We Have Class Outside Today?

I know it's been a few (okay, seven) years since I was in college. But beautiful spring (or fall) days always remind me of the times we would beg our professors to have class outside. I think it only happened once (the actual class outside, not the begging) - and the windy environment wasn't really conducive to note-taking. But still, it's days like today that make me want to ask my boss, "Can we work outside today?"

(By the way, this picture was taken out at my father-in-law's farm. Pretty, huh?)

And I Could Not Ask for More

Last night I watched Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother. (I taped it so I could watch Bones.) The basic premise is that Marshall quit his job at a corporate law firm because it was sucking up all his time, making him miserable, and forcing him to sell out to the man. Umm, The Man. Anyway.

For those of you who don't watch, you should. But since you don't, I'll tell you about Marshall. He's married to Lily, and they're an almost sickeningly sweet couple. Some would debate the "almost" part, but I like them so I don't. Lily has a billion dollars of credit card debt, plus the couple just bought an apartment they can't really afford. So Marshall felt like he had to take the higher-paying corporate job instead of pursuing his dream of using his law degree to save the environment.

After he admitted to Lily in this week's episode that he had quit his job, he swore he would go back and beg for hisjob back. But Lily said, "No, you won't." And when her friends asked her if she was upset, she said she was just glad to have her husband back.

You might be wondering why I'm telling you this. Well, it's because that very scenario occurred in my life about four years ago. I was in a very bad job situation, completely burned out and miserable and spending all my free time on the very job that was driving me crazy. Like Marshall, I felt like the job was chipping away at my soul. Okay, that may be a bit dramatic, but it was definitely hammering away at my sanity and peace of mind and happiness. So, again like Marshall, in a fit of well, not exactly rage but close enough, I also quit my job. Without another one lined up. Knowing full and well how much debt we had and how my paycheck paid exactly half of all our bills.

And when we told our small group at church about it, all my husband said was, "I'm just glad to have my wife back."

One More Thing I Love...

...and then I'm back to very serious, mature topics.

But first: musical animals. Singing, dancing, live action, animated - I pretty much love them all. But here are my two favorites.

• Blockbuster's Carl & Ray are dancing maniacs.
• Advantix's singing puppy has no bugs.

All right, it's your turn. What crazy or embarrassing things do YOU love?

Things I Secretly Love

(I tried to think of a clever title for this post, but came up empty. I blame it on lack of sleep - thank you, PhotoBaby - and having just finished my taxes. Blech.)

So, I started thinking today about all the silly things I love. Things that most people don't appreciate. Things that I'm a little embarrassed to admit I love. And then I thought, 'Hey, Photoqueen (that's what I go by back home is Photoqueen...name that song reference), you shouldn't be ashamed of what you love. Well, maybe you should. But blog it anyway!'

So here it is. My list of things I secretly - or embarrassingly (is that even a word?) - love, in no particular order.

• Plastic cups
• Free t-shirts
• Wife Swap, the TV show
• Tostitos cheese dip (I fully blame T-Rex for this one.)
• My husband's shot glass collection (No, we don't drink shots. We just collect them as souvenirs for some reason.)
• Recipes that I look up, copy down, and never, ever use
• Reading blogs - often written by people I don't know (I'm not nosy, just extremely interested in people. And their lives. In detail.)
• Cheesy chick flicks/romantic comedies (Never Been Kissed, I'm talking to you. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, this is for you.)
• ALSO - teeny-bopper movies (She's the Man, Clueless, Drive Me Crazy) and dance movies (Save the Last Dance, Step Up)
• Romance novels (I'd like to tell you all about the classic I'm reading right now...or even the political thriller...but...it's a romance novel.)
• Air Supply (I blame my mother for this addiction. And sadly enough, I have already tried to pass it on to PhotoBaby. For about a month, I fed her and rocked her to sleep to the beautiful soft rock sounds of All Out of Love and Making Love Out of Nothing At All.)
• Looking up celebrities who look alike on imdb.com.
• Taking personality tests to learn how cool I am. (Okay, I said it. I love those tests because I get so excited when the results sound like me - as if I'm so cool that someone has written about my personality - as if I'm the only person with this personality. Hm.)
• Smelling library books (I don't know what it is. But I love the way they smell. And for the record, that's all books, not just the fluffy romances.)

Well, that's it for now. As you can see, I'm not very cool. I also have started to like Taylor Swift. For those of you unaware, she's a teeny-bopper country singer who plays a sparkly guitar. Yeah. A sparkly guitar. And I like her, okay?