Consider This A Quilt!

Have you ever seen a crazy quilt before? It's made up of all sorts of pieces and scraps of material, each having its' own unique design and color. That's how this post is going to be: full of random topics but pieced together by something called "Anne's Life":o). Here goes...

Sometimes I Wonder.

Teenage girls. The thought alone can strike terror in a person's heart! I'm around them often enough (read: every day!) that I have a pretty good handle on their quirks and habits. After stepping out of the school room momentarily, I returned to find Jessica turned around in her seat and towards the direction of Eliza. I also happened to notice Eliza smiling and laughing, a good indication that Jessica had said/done something funny. As I came up behind Jessica I said, "That's a demerit for talking." The excuses began to flow quickly so I went over to where Eliza was. I asked Eliza to honestly tell me yes or no to the question "was Jessica talking?". Eliza looked up at me, and said, "Well, what do you mean by talking?"

Ahhhhhh!

Eliza is in 9th grade and my frustration was evident as I wondered why in the world she asked such a silly question! As I shared this incident with the principal, he gave a knowing smile, and then let me in on a little secret: rather than ask "were you talking?" ask "were you communicating?". Communicating includes sign language, mouthing words, irrating noises and anything else, but not talking!

Ah... I see :o). There's a difference when you put it like that. So apparently the girls weren't talking; they were just *communicating*!

Argh! Teenage girls!


Yuck!

Along the same lines, we're experiencing a major problem at home with a pesty little animal which is anything but cute: a mouse. I am not a big fan of anything that can hurt me (you should've seen me dance away from the bee that flew into a room at work today!), and this mouse is no exception. While it is not "hurting" me, it did devour some beans that were going to make a bean soup. I was a little bummed because I never had a chance to make this recipe a few weeks ago, and it looked good!

Mouse: 1. Hammonds: 0.

So my mom had this creative idea to kill it and the method she devised seemed to be harmless enough (read: poison). But I think we have a smart mouse. My mom cleared everything away from the half-eaten bean bag and set the posion bits all around the bean bag. Now if I was a mouse, warning lights would probably be jumping off in my mind: "hmm.. last night all this clutter was on top of the microwave. Tonight there's nothing but the beans and these little green beads. I bet they're trying to kill me!"

So I checked the microwave this morning before leaving.

Mouse: 2. Hammonds: 0.

Would you believe that all the green beads were gone??? I started laughing as I thought about that poor mouse. I'm starting to have sympathy for it, because it does not know the determination of Mom to be rid of this mouse. I'm not sure how this whole escapade will turn out, since I'll be gone for the next week-and-a-half! I have a feeling the score will be

Mom: victorious!
Mouse: dead!

when I come back ;).

Name Calling.

Today at lunch, one of the 8th grade boys leaned over and said to another boy, "You are sooo stupid!" Wanting to put an end to that, I called Andrew over and explained why we don't condone name calling. Andrew walked away with a shake of the head, which I hoped indicated that he learned his lesson.

HA.

About 5 minutes later, Andrew calls out across the lunchroom, "Miss Hammond, may I tell him that his actions are stupid?"

*Sigh*

What's In A Game?

I have never seen a game that requires skill, brains, and flexibility like the game that goes on in our school lunchroom every day. You know what I'm talking about:

FOURSQUARE.

Apparently you need a degree in Geometry, for getting the angle just right is important. You also need to make sure you brush up on your intimidation skills, because using a scare tactic on the person in square D is an important detail in making sure you get them "out". Plus it won't hurt if you take a class called, "How To Make The Other Person Mad And Lose While You Smile And Win". It's amazing that some of the most polite kids in the school are also the most vicious when it comes to this *innocent* game. I've seen it happen with my own eyes.

The sad part is, it's an endless cycle: you get in square D and get the person in square C out. Then you move to square C where three things can happen:

• you get out OR
• you get someone else out in one of the other three squares OR
• someone else gets out one of the other two players and you get to move to square B.

After that, chances are (if you are a girl) you will get out OR you will make it to square A only to get"out" after one turn. You would think this never-ending cycle of a game wouldn't be played after the first few weeks of school, but no, it's still going strong! Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi.....

Was He Blonde? Seriously!

My parents had our computer fixed this week. They brought it home, and anticipation was mounting for my dad as he thought about checking his Ebay bids. Their excitement was short-lived though when they found out the guy who fixed the computer never thought to check to see if it worked. Cooooome on! Are you serious?!? *Sigh* It takes all sorts of people....

There I Go.

Tomorrow night I'm heading out to Indiana with (get this for a cruel joke) two teenage girls!!! But we do have a few cards up our sleeves, including driving through the night;). But if posting is sparse around here, you'll know why. Seriously though, I would ask you to keep these two girls in prayer. They both need to be saved and they're going to camp while we're in Indiana.

I'm hoping to get in some good family time with my brother and his family and the plan is to be back next Saturday. So until then, have a great week!