Listening to: Whistle Down the Wind

Reading: Once Upon A Star Nora Roberts et al (I haven’t picked it up in days!)

Weather: 12, sunny, windy

Trivia:Where did pockets come from?

It may be hard to imagine, but pockets did not exist before the late sixteenth century. Prior to then people kept any money, keys, or other personal articles wrapped in a piece of cloth, an impromptu purse, and tucked into any convenient part of their clothing. A particularly popular place for a man to carry assorted items in was his codpiece. A frontal protrusion which originated as sort of a fly on the fronts of trousers, it was customarily stuffed with cloth and, consequently, seemed an ideal place for a gentleman to carry a cloth stuffed with his valuables. But the codpiece went out of fashion after becoming ludicrous and cumbersome, the size becoming more and more exaggerated. So, exit the codpiece, enter the drawstring bag, worn at the waist and hanging right around the area where the codpiece would have been. From there pockets evolved in two steps. Initially, an opening was made as a side seam into a man's tight-fitting trousers. Into this opening he would insert the cloth pouch containing his belongings. Later, this formerly independent pouch became an integral, sewn-in feature of the trousers, and thus the pocket was born. Once introduced, pockets became an indispensable part of clothing. Before long they were added into both men's and women's capes and coats and before too much longer regular women's clothing had pockets added as well. In the eighteenth century a man added metal rivets to them and thus was the ubitiquous bluejean born, but that's another story altogether.

Cool word:

Friday [n. FRY-day]

Friday was known in Old English as Frigedaeg (Frigg's Day), after Frigg, the wife of Odin and the goddess of the hearth and married love. The source of her name was prehistoric Germanic frijaz (noble), which was also the source of English free. The Romans called the day Veneris Dies, after Venus, their own goddess of love. The Greeks before them also named the day after a goddess of love, calling it hemera Aphrodites (day of Aphrodite). The Latin name for the day led to modern French Vendredi. The Russians, true to their pragmatic form, call the day Pyatnitsa (five).

Spent the day scrambling, much like the class pet that got loose this morning. It wasn’t "loose" in the true sense of the word, but the guinea pig was in its little ball and charging down the hall early this morning. The teacher who owned it was down by the copy machines and had no idea that an escape was in progress. It was pretty funny. The little rodent was captured and returned to the classroom without incident.

I hate class pets. I hate rodents. I’m also allergic to the dander, so some of these classrooms are really tough for me to spend time in.

I did feel much like that rodent all day today. I still am swamped with work – stupid testing and reports- and I just can’t seem to find the time, or the words, for these.

Part of this is due to the fact that I’m far more interested in getting my Dragons/ Chinese New Year unit worked out. It’s far more interesting and entertaining. I love doing units and coming up with fun but interesting things for the kids to do.

Unfortunately the reports have deadline dates, so they have to take precedence. I know I’ll end up spending Sunday trying to get them done. I’ve started them, but can’t seem to finish them.

I hate spending my Sundays writing reports.

We didn’t go out tonight, as we are going out with a few friends tomorrow night. Dee’s birthday is Sunday, and Karen’s was Monday, so we thought we’d go to Bugaboo Creek so the moose could sing to them. Bugaboo Creek has a décor like a Canadian lodge and serves steak and ribs. The moose head over the bar speaks, as does the Christmas tree. It’s a fun spot. If you celebrate your birthday there the wait staff parades out with a huge moose puppet and they sing a crazy rendition of "Happy Birthday" then make the honoree kiss the moose.

Seems like something Dee and Karen should get to experience.

I can’t believe that I have to get up at six tomorrow morning to go into Boston.

What was I thinking??? This workshop better be worthwhile or I’ll be fit to be tied.

I hate missing sleep.

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Horoscope

Aries

There's a certain wildness in the air that makes this a dangerously exciting time for all kinds of activities. You're ready to drive off at top speed, but it would help if you knew where you were going! A new beginning is not so wonderful if you are totally unprepared for it. Change a plan instead of scrapping it completely. If you accept people's weaknesses, you will very often begin to see their strengths. Open up your ears and your heart to let someone else into the picture. Your investigative talents are at a peak. Be wary of trying to find out things that you'd really rather not know. Instead, get in some good exercise to burn up your nervous energy.