4 Things

An interesting way to learn more about me:

4 jobs I've had:
1. telemarketer for Olan Mills portrait studio
2. housekeeper for the Golden Kent Motel
3. women's advocate at battered women's shelter
4. Kindergarten teacher

4 favorite movies I'd watch over and over:
1. The Goonies
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Better Off Dead
4. Say Anything

4 places I've lived:
1. Great Falls, MT
2. Kent, WA
3. Bellingham, WA
4. Seattle, WA

4 TV shows I watch:
1. Lost
2. American Idol
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Smallville

4 places I've been:
1. Maynard, Massachusetts
2. New York City, New York
3. Dakar, Senegal
4. Honolulu, Hawaii

4 people who email me often:
1. John
2. King County Library System (with hold and overdue notices)
3. Tina
4. Dictionary.com (with the word of the day)

4 favorite foods:
1. gyro salad
2. strawberry waffles
3. Mongolian beef
4. chicken fajitas

4 places I'd rather be:
1. John's house
2. on the beach
3. in Henderson's used bookstore in Bellingham, WA
4. on summer vacation

4 things I look forward to doing someday:
1. calling "Car Talk"
2. buying my own house
3. getting something published
4. getting married? again?

4 favorite phrases I use all the time:
1. Sww-eet!
2. Right on!
3. What's up, yo?
4. I love you.

4 favorite English words:
1. quintessential
2. ubiquitous
3. serendipity
4. do decagon

4 favorite books of all time:
1. Harry Potter (books 1 - 7)
2. The Kite Runner
3. Summer of the Monkeys
4. The Rainmaker

Sending Valentines

Binta and I got to work last night, filling out those commercially-made valentines with the names of the kids from our classes. She did a wonderful job of using the list provided by her teacher to copy each child's name onto a valentine.

She got to Luke's name, and said, "I know Luke's first, middle, and last name. Lucas Turner."

I said, "That's only Luke's first and last name. What's his middle name?"

Binta looked at me, a little bewildered, and said, "Iss."

Hair!

When did hair start to become such a problem?

Back as a child, it was merely an inconvenience that needed to be combed or washed on occasion.

As a teen, it was a challenge to sculpt and mold. (I know I'm not the only girl who discovered the magical gravity-defying properties of the curling iron and hair spray!)

But now, as an adult, hair is a full-blown problem.

Guys I know worry about losing their hair.

As a woman, my problem is that I have hairs showing up where they're not supposed to. Like my chin.

I remember looking at women who have long or dark hairs (or both!) growing out of their chins, thinking, "How does it get like that? How does a woman get to the point when she looks into the mirror in the morning and thinks, 'Yeah, I've got long hairs sprouting from my chin, and I'm good with that!'"

And then one day, I was driving my car when I happened to glance up at my reflection in the rear-view mirror. I nearly ran off the road, when I discovered, to my horror, a hair at least 1.5 centimeters long hanging on to my chin!

The most horrifying fact was not that the hair was there, but that in order to grow to the length it was, it had to have been there for a while! It was a strange combination of the tilt of the mirror and the angle of the sunlight that brought this stray blonde hair to my attention.

And then I started noticing more. I now have a nervous habit of rubbing my chin while I'm here at my desk, searching for more unwelcome hairs through touch.

I must seek and destroy all misplaced hairs on my chin.

If you see a woman who has a long hair hanging off her chin, there's a chance that she just doesn't know it's there yet. Pull her aside, privately, and tell her. She deserves to know.

An Indicator that we Need to Spend More Time with my Family in Montana

We were enjoying a breakfast in Applebee's. Suddenly, a man wearing a cowboy hat walked in.

Binta looked at me with wide eyes, and gasped, "Mama! There's a real cowboy here!"