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bonniehall.com

"Writing is the soul on paper."

--Mary T. Lane

Sunday, April 24, 2005

I admit it. I bought these Pack-Mate bags. You know...the kind you vacuum out the air to create more space. I ordered them a month ago, stuck them in the linen closet and told myself, "Someday these will come in handy."

After putting off cleaning my main linen closet, I decided to tackle the beast today. With my vacuum in tow, I opened the door. Immediately Stella found me, and since the door was open she wanted to play "Look at me, I'm putting my paw between the door." After swatting at her paw a few times and her swatting right back, it was time to vacuum pack some enormous blankets which were consuming a great deal of the closet space. I read the directions on the bag and found myself searching for the correct vacuum cleaner attachment...the thin crevice one.

I couldn't believe I found it. Next I stuffed a down blanket the size of Kansas into the bag and fired up the vacuum. Just like so many infomercials, it worked....especially when I created a true vacuum by joining the attachment to the garment. Then I looked at the bag.

My puffy down blanket looked awful. I had to do it. I released the zipper and voila it was re-puffed! I used all seven bags and ordered more. I felt like I was freeze drying my linen closet. What an action-packed afternoon!

Monday, April 25, 2005

Sixteen years ago today my mom died. As I held her hand and she took her last breath, a piece of me died that day, too. We were very close, and I miss her everyday. She lives on in my heart, and I know she is still with me. To this day, when something good happens to me I still want to pick up the phone and tell her immediately. I remember visiting St. Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park with her to visit her mother's (my grandmother's) grave. After twenty/thirty years, my mother would still cry for her mother. I didn't understand why after so many years, she would still cry. Now I do. When April 25th rolls around each year I reflect on my life at that time(April 25, 1989), and what I'm doing now. I also write a check to the American Cancer Society. As I was teaching today, I couldn't help but feel how proud she'd be. Mother's Day is coming up soon...a very happy Mother's Day to all moms. I thank God for blessing me with the very best mother that ever was for 25 oh so short years.

Time to write that check and find a tissue.

Mom and my brother John

Mom, 1953

Mom and me, Nov., 1988

Click image to see a larger version

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

I want to learn how to play Chess.

I also think it would be quite cool to have

a Chess club at school. A few people have

started to teach me, but I just haven't gotten very far. I'm a fierce competitor at Checkers, hence I think for whatever reason I would like

Chess. Plus the pieces are ever so interesting.

Chess is supposedly good for thinking skills.

Since I watch so much TV and spend too much time at the computer, Chess would be good for me; I need thinking skills...I think.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

I was stuck in a traffic jam this morning on Torrence Ave., a busy street here in town. I was on my way to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee. Just as I was ready to get a little perturbed, the best song came on the radio...the Fifth Dimension's "Age of Aquarius." I was jamming away as I sat there and crawled my way through traffic. I could have taken a shortcut...down the alley and avoided the jam, but for that few minutes...it was great just to sit back and enjoy the music.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

An ivory beaked woodpecker thought to be extinct was spotted in Arkansas. In an age of usually bad news...how refreshing.

Hope's wings

take flight

through darkness,

deep in the night.

Friday, April 28, 2005

I love Ladybugs. I have several pins; I can never kill a Ladybug and always make a little wish when I release one towards freedom.

Today I learned how the Ladybug got it's name...

Legends vary about how the Ladybug came to be named, but the most common (and enduring) is this:   In Europe, during the Middle Ages, swarms of insects were destroying the crops. The farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon thereafter the Ladybugs came, devouring the plant-destroying pests and saving the crops! The farmers called these beautiful insects "The Beetles of Our Lady", and - over time - they eventually became popularly known as "Lady Beetles". The red wings were said to represent the Virgin's cloak and the black spots were symbolic of both her joys and her sorrows.

How cool is that?

Saturday, April 30, 2005

(from my gratitude journal....where I list five things I'm grateful for each day...)

*Ordering a well done hamburger and then receiving a well done hamburger

*Finishing the work in my schoolbag (by Friday night)

*The new "double pin" look

*Winning $4 on a scratch off Lottery ticket

*The sound of children playing outside

Sunday, May 1, 2005

(from my gratitude journal...)

*Weiner dogs

*A warmer weather forecast

*Snapple peach iced tea

*Finding a penny on the sidewalk

*Listening to Pickles snore

Monday, May 2, 2005

Yesterday I dined at the Olive Garden. Our waiter sported an unconventional hair style, to say the least. I liked it; it looked good on him. He seemed like

a pleasant young man trying to make a few bucks by working at the local Olive Garden. I couldn't help but hear how the next table greeted him when he proceeded to take their order. The table's occupants were two older gents well into their sixties, perhaps seventies; for all I know maybe they were eighty. The very first thing one of the older gents said was, "What's your barber's name?" It was said cruelly. Gent #2 then proceeded to laugh hysterically. I watched this young man. He reacted in complete elegance, never missing a beat. He simply said, "I believe his name is Dave. I haven't seen him in many years." How eloquent an answer.

My waiter, this young new hero, then smiled graciously and continued,
"Now what can I get you to drink?" Hooray for my waiter.

Today's young people never fail to amaze me day after day.

I learn so much from them.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005



Each day I begin my classes with a Snapple cap fact of the day.

It's cool the amount of information that each cap yields.

Today was Two for Tuesday. Our bits of knowledge included

the following:

*95% of lemons are grown in California and Arizona

*Houseflys fly at 4.5 mph.

I am now addicted to Snapple's Peach Iced Tea. I'm not sure how it happened; it just did.

I have a basket of Snapple caps in my classroom fueled by my new addiction as well as my students who are bringing in their caps.

Hats off to these caps!

Wednesday, May 4th and Thursday, May 5th, 2005

(Gratitude...)

*Shopping for flowers for my patio

*A waving American flag

*An evening walk

*Jon giving the Eureka dude a Contender makeover

*Invitations to parties

Sunday, May 8, 2005

As I was shopping in Target this morning, I came across their blood pressure checking device. Free to customers, you sit down, insert your arm in the sleeve, press start, and you receive a reading of your blood pressure. I couldn't resist. I caught a few strange looks, but as a teacher I'm used to that.

In went my arm into the contraption's sleeve as I selected the start button...lift off! Instead of worrying about the reading the machine might give me, I was more concerned with my purse which was in my shopping cart. Why didn't I have it on my lap? What if a thief was lurking and decided to high tail it off with my purse while I was trapped by the blood pressure machine? I chuckled to myself. The store was quite empty, except for the lady who was trying to choose between two shampoos; she'd glance at me every now and then. I could tell she was just jealous.

In the end the reading was 112/72 with a pulse of 77.

The machine said that was normal.

Normal is good.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Yesterday I attended the Crosstown Classic game at Wrigley Field featuring the White Sox vs. the Cubs. Talk about excitement in the air! My favorite part is always the National Anthem; it brings tears to my eyes every time.

There I was at the game clad in my Sox attire; my brother sported Cubs-wear. It was fan vs. fan, but in the end we were all Chicago fans having a great afternoon.  Good times! (By the way, the Sox took the series.)

Sunday, May 30, 2005

Whoa! Where did that school year go? I can't believe it's Memorial Day.

As I sit here, the smell of bbq ribs from my neighbor's grill is wafting past me! (Nearly wrote a sentence with a misplaced modifier in it...original sentence: As I sit here, the smell of my neighbor's bbq ribs is wafting past me.)

One of the best parts of being a teacher is the cycle of the job: a beginning, middle, and an end. This is the end...where thoughts go to lazy days, gravitating towards a lawn chair, cleaning a cupboard...in short, doing as little or as much as I want. Farewell, ol' schoolbag...I'll miss you. Not!

Monday, August 8, 2005

The world loses great people everyday...grandmothers, sons, best friends.

Yesterday the world lost a really great person, Peter Jennings.

He was one of my journalistic idols. Everyday at 5:30 p.m. I'd jump onto my recliner as the "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" theme music would begin. I'm a newshound. I crave professional journalism...particularly

coverage worldwide. Peter Jennings gave me that. On April 5th I sat stunned in that recliner when he revealed he had lung cancer. I knew it wasn't good; my brother succumbed to lung cancer within six months. Six of every ten

individuals diagnosed with lung cancer die within a year.

Thanks, Peter, for giving us the world. You'll be missed.

Effective August 19, 2005

I'm now posting to my blogger account.

Read my blog at

http://mrshall.blogspot.com

Be there, or be square!