Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for January, 2009
Date night
Dave and I had a date night tonight (well, really more like a date afternoon since we went to the matinee), and we saw a movie that you have to go see…now! It’s Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood’s newest. He produced, directed, and starred in it, and truly it is awesome! What I love most about the movies that he produces and directs are the complex characters and unpredictable plots. I was genuinely surprised by this movie. From the previews I had seen, I really thought I knew what the movie was about, but I was so wrong. The story grows and evolves and the ending is neither predictable or expected. Eastwood’s character made me cringe, laugh, and cry like a baby. This was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a really long time.
The really amazing thing was that we had a really hard time deciding which movie to see today. There are so many good shows out right now. The more we discussed what to see, the more difficult our decision became. “It’s Oscar season,” I kept saying to Dave. And this year, that really is the reason our choice was so tough. For the first time in a very long time, all five Best Picture nominees are movies that I really want to see. I just wish I’d get to before the Oscars actually take place. Maybe another year…
Random things
On Facebook, there’s a popular tag game going on where you list 25 random things about yourself. The idea, obviously, is to let your Facebook friends know more about you. I thought maybe some of you non-Facebookers could be interested in these, too.
1. I never thought I’d be living the life I am as a wife and mother. It’s a pleasant surprise.
2. I truly feel like I married my best friend, but there are times I wish that we’d waited a bit longer to have kids so we could have done more as a couple before the responsibility of parenthood came along.
3. My kids inspire, frustrate, teach, entertain, and surprise me every day and I value them as the most important thing in my life.
4. I love being a teacher and I really feel that I’ve changed some of my students’ lives, although I miss having close relationships with my students like I did when I was in the classroom.
5. I currently have 5 close friends named Amy, 3 of them being an “Amy M.” and 2 of them being an “Amy S.” To top it off, 3 of them are named Amy Jo!
6. I’ve always wanted to be able to play the piano. I am completely jealous and impressed by someone who can sit down and make beautiful piano music.
7. I know that I am way too emotional, yet I have a very difficult time controlling and hiding my emotions.
8. My extended family is full of wonderful people, connected by blood and marriage. I feel extremely lucky having grown up with my cousins so close that we were like siblings.
9. As a child I was always afraid that we were lost, and I learned how to navigate and read maps very well because of this fear.
10. I’ve always hated having a “boy name” so I made sure that my kids’ names were gender specific.
11. I love my minivan, and I’m not afraid to admit it! It makes me feel like a grownup.
12. I feel like my spiritual life was changed forever by the death of my grandpa when I was 12.
13. I feel truly blessed to have grown up in such a tiny town in farm country, even though I know there were things I missed out on because of it.
14. I don’t think I have a single secret that absolutely nobody knows. I love that feeling, because it tells me that I have wonderful, dear old friends who will never judge me.
15. I am loyal to a fault, but once I’ve been wronged by someone I consider a friend, it is difficult if not impossible to win back my trust.
16. I can clearly remember the first time I experienced Tivo, and I think my life is both better and worse because of it!
17. I am a little envious of our seniors every spring, because they have so much fun and adventure ahead of them in college. I loved that time of my life.
18. I am often all bark and no bite. I also like to be the center of attention around close friends or family, but am quite shy in groups.
19. I miss my old hair, which was straight, almost every day. I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything, but why oh why did having them have to make my hair curly?
20. I still have “Grant Street spirit” which was fostered by a wonderful cast of characters who lived in my childhood neighborhood. I still miss the house in which I grew up.
21. I love to watch my kids with their books. It makes my heart hurt to see the love of reading grow in them. I can’t wait to share my favorite books from childhood with them.
22. I feel like a failure when my kids have meltdowns or act naughty. It sometimes humiliates me.
23. I wish I took more time for creative activities like I used to when I was single, and I can’t wait to do them with my children. Creating art is good for my soul.
24. I’m proud of myself for becoming a part time professor at ISU. I like knowing that I play a small part in other teachers becoming school librarians.
25. I can’t really imagine things being any better than they are right now. I look forward to each new stage my kids enter while desperately trying to hang on to the one they are in right now.
Good genes
Tonight, Emma proved that she is a true Atherton. We were eating dinner, and Dave said to me, “Look what Ems is doing…did you show her that?” I looked over and saw it…she 
was dipping a piece of cheese into her applesauce (with her left hand, I might add). Now, those of you reading this who are neither an Atherton nor very close to one may think this is a disgusting thing. I know…believe me, I’ve heard it all from many naysayers my entire life. But let me tell you, if you’ve never tried putting cheese in your applesauce, you are missing out on a taste sensation!
I’m not sure how the practice started, or really where it originated, but it’s definitely one that has been carried on in our family (and truly I think no others that I’ve ever known) for at least three generations. Wait a minute…make that four now. I’ll have to check the family history for sure, but I know that Grandpa Barley ate it that way, and my dad and both my siblings do, too. Now Ems is discovering the Atherton way all on her own. Seriously, she just may be a genius. Maybe I couldn’t carry on the family name, but I certainly can do my part in carrying on the traditions!!
The Illini game
Thursday afternoon one of my assistant principals came into my office and asked me if I’d be interested in two tickets to the Illini vs. Wisconsin basketball game on Saturday. His parents have season tickets, and apparently no one in his family could go to the game. I called Dave, and we decided to go. Dave had never been to a game at the Assembly Hall, so I was really excited to experience it though his eyes.
I was shocked, though, that he wasn’t very excited about going. I couldn’t believe it! I definitely had the impression that he just agreed to go because he could tell that I wanted to. But…we went. And of course, within five minutes of being in the Hall, Dave turned to me and said, “I’m so glad that we came, Honey. I really wasn’t sure that I wanted to, but I knew you did, and now I’m so glad we did.” Shew! That’s so like Dave…hesitant to go do something, but in almost every case, he’s very happy that he did it.
It was a good game…not great, but it was a victory, which is the most important thing. The Jesse White tumblers performed at half time, which is always a great show. And, we had Papa Del’s pizza before the game, which is always a good thing. But most of all, it was a really nice day spent with my husband. We don’t get enough time alone together these days, so we both really enjoyed each other’s company.
As for the Illini…they’re in sole posession of 2nd place in the Big Ten right now, which is awesome! We have a big game coming up vs. Minnesota on Thursday, so Go Illini!!!
My past has found me
I taught at Bethany Jr.-Sr. High School during 1994-95 and 1995-96 school years. That school doesn’t even exist anymore because it consolidated with another tiny Jr.-Sr. High school in the area. But back then it was just Bethany kids…all 160 of them in the high school. I taught 8th grade Literature and High School art, which is a weird combination, but it somehow worked. During those two years, I learned a lot about being a teacher…especially being a teacher in a small town. I could relate to those kids really well since I grew up in a town very much like Bethany. I could relate to them also because I wasn’t that much older than them, and I was still kind of living acollege life after being in Champaign for the two years prior to that. It was a fun two years, for sure, and I have fond memories of a lot of the people from there.
Then, two nights ago, I had a friend request on Facebook from a BHS student. When I saw the name, I flashed this girl’s face immediately. I couldn’t believe how well I remembered her. I friended her, and her message was filled with excitement. She told me, “ Just to let you know you were one of the best teachers I ever had in school, they need more of you out there.” Even if she was just blowing smoke up my butt, it really meant so much to me to hear that. As always, with Facebook, adding her led me to another BHS student. His first message to me was that he seconded her comment about me…and that I really was a great teacher to them. The very coolest thing, though, was that one of them told me about another classmate of theirs who is a working artist now. When I visited her website, I found this in her “Bio” section:
I have been interested in art most of my life, but did not consider becoming a professional artist until my senior year in high school when my art teacher suggested I think about majoring in art.
How freakin’ cool is that…she’s talking about me! I just kept telling Dave about this girl and how talented she was. I was so excited that I played some kind of a role in her adult life. It’s so nice to get some affirmation about the job you’re doing. I’m so happy I’m on Facebook!
Viva Las Vegas
I’ve been trying to think of a way to sum up my Vegas trip for all of you in as few words as possible, but I just can’t do it. It was fun, relaxing, tiring, rejuvinating, entertaining, enlightening, and…did I mention fun? So, as usual, you’ll just have to read my ramblings if you want an overview of the weekend!! Oh, and I’m just going to stick random pictures in here and there. Hopefully I’ll get the rest put online soon.
Friday afternoon I flew out of Bloomington/Normal and, after an almost two hour layover in Dallas, arrived in Vegas at 8:15 their time. My friend Amy M. was arriving from Fargo within a few minutes of me, so we met up and headed for our hotel. It was nice to have someone to share my cab with, and I must say that I was actually giddy on our way into town. The lights, the feel of the city itself, the friends waiting for us…it was all so exciting. We met up with the four other girls, got checked in, and brought all of our things to our room. By this time it was a
lmost 10:00, and we were all starving, so we went to one of the several restaurants in the Luxor to grab some food. As you can imagine, the chatting and laughing was non-stop. We finished eating and decided we should gamble a little bit before bed. Christine knew exactly what she wanted to play…Super Jackpot Party! SJP is a slot machine that she had played before. It’s really fun, and we were all quickly addicted to it. Next thing we know, it’s 1:30 am and we’re all exhausted. I can’t imagine why, considering it was really 3:30 am our time. I was so proud of myself for still being awake! We begrudgingly went to bed with plans to see the town on Saturday.
After a slowish start (due in part to our late night but more to our catching up in the hotel room) on Saturday morning, the six of us set off down the strip. I tried to take everything in, loving all the energy on the street. Some of those casinos are amazing. We didn’t do a lot of stopping, but we saw a LOT of stuff. About halfway down the strip is the Paris, complete with a gorgeous Eiffel Tower and the equally gorgeous 
Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Even though it was pretty swanky, we decided to splurge for lunch. What a treat to be waited on so attentively and to have such gourmet food. We all loved it. After lunch we set off down the strip again. The highlight of the afternoon for me was seeing the inside of the Venetian, I think. 
It was so cool to be inside but feel like you were outside…even if the “sky” was a bit disorienting. By 5:00 we were all exhausted, so we cabbed back to the Luxor to freshen up and rest a bit. Instead, most of us went to the casino to gamble. The coolest thing happened…Elizabeth won $653 on a Super Jackpot Party slot machine! 
It was amazing. Caroline also won $124 on a blackjack machine, so between the two of them they cashed out $777!! I was so happy for them, but admittedly jealous, too!
We wanted to do a buffet for dinner, true Vegas style, so we decided on the Bellagio’s Buffet. It’s probably one of the most expensive buffets in town, but it was fabulous, and well worth the hour plus wait. You name the food, it was probably on this buffet somewhere. Crab legs, shrimp cocktail, prime rib, roast turkey, manicotti, ravioli, sushi, side dishes galore, and a whole dessert section unlike any I’ve seen. Mmmm-mmm! When we were done eating, we went out front of the Bellagio just in time to watch the water show. I’m sure many of you have seen it, and I had seen it on TV or in a movie, but it was still very cool to see it in person.
After going back to the Luxor and gambling well past midnight again, we called it a night. So far most of us were not having much luck on the slots, but none of us had lost too much money. It was just fun to sit and try to make $20 last longer than an hour. I can sure see why people become gambling addicts!
Caroline and Elizabeth left for home early Sunday morning, so it was just the four of us left. We decided to head to downtown Vegas to check out the old school casinos down there. What a different place than the strip! 
I’m really glad that I saw it, but I’m not sure that I would want to go back. It certainly doesn’t have the same excitement or flashiness that the strip has. We had lunch down there, and gambled a little bit, but it was a pretty laid back day overall. We decided that we should go to at least one show while in Vegas, so we picked the 8:00 show at the Comedy Stop in the Tropicana Hotel. It was a show with three comedians. Two of them were great, and one…well, let’s just say he needs to update his act a little bit. One of his jokes was about the Backstreet Boys and one was about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Can we say hello, 1997?? But of course, we girls had fun. It was hard to believe that it was already our last night.
After the comedy show we gambled a little bit and then grabbed a bite in our hotel again. That dinner was one of my favorite parts of the weekend because we really just sat and talked for a very long time. It was a great chance to get to know three amazing women, who I already consider to be good friends, even better. It’s so fun to get to share stories with people who have never heard any of your stories, and hear all of theirs for the first time. Once we were done eating it was close to 1:00. That’s the craziest thing about Vegas, I think. Traditional schedules or mealtimes are just out the window. You can literally do whatever you want whenever you want. It’s awesome. Since I had to leave the hotel at 4:00 for the airport, I decided to head up to bed. Amy S. joined me, but Amy M. and Christine went to play more slots. Good thing, too, because Amy cashed out $150 that night! She came in at 2:30, and I decided to get up and ready to go since my alarm was set for 3:15 anyway. For any of you keeping score, that was an hour and a half of sleep for me that night. Ugh!
You would think that my story ends with me getting into the cab and heading to the airport, but no, of course not. This is me we’re talking about. I get into the cab, alright, and $6.00 later we’re driving right by the front of our hotel again! It seems I get the only cab driver in Vegas who doesn’t know how to get to the airport. Apparently it’s this guy’s first night…or so he said. Maybe he was just an idiot, but either way it took us $13.00 to get back on the road (which was Las Vegas Blvd…the one our hotel is ON) to the airport. He said, “uh…we’ll just deduct $13.00 off the final fare.” The only thing I could think was “just get me to the airport, Dude.” Well, finally he did…and then the difficult challenge of subtracting $13.00 from the $27.00 fare on his meter seemed to stump him. I helped him out (“uh…$14.00,” I said) and got the heck into the airport as quickly as possible. The rest of the day is pretty much a blur, as I was basically comatose on both flights. Man, that’s a great plan for air travel…no sleep the night before = GREAT short flights!
It was so wonderful to get home, but seriously the weekend was a great one. If you get the chance or have the inclination to go to Vegas, I highly recommend doing it as soon as possible!
Get Lost
It’s finally here…the premier of Lost tonight at 8:00!! Anyone who knows me well already knows about my addiction to this show. With no disrespect meant to The Brady Bunch, which will always be my all-time favorite show, Lost is truly one of the best shows ever. I love a story that is unpredictable, often shocking, and truly makes you long for the next episode to begin as soon as the current one ends. Lost does all of these. Unfortunately, if you haven’t watched it before, or if you haven’t kept up with it from the beginning, you probably won’t be able to start now. There are so many twists, turns, and layers to this story that I think it would be impossible to catch up without some serious TV watching dedication. But if you have the chance, I highly recommend renting the old seasons and catching up to where we pick up tonight. I know Dave and my butts will be parked on the couch at 8:20 or so (so we can fast forward through the commercials) glued to the set. Now if only we got the local channels in HD…
But I digress. It may be sad and pathetic to be this excited about a TV show, but I am…and I’m proud to be a freakishly obsessed Lostie!!! 
Good luck, President Obama
Today was such an historic day for our country…President Barack Obama’s inauguration. I’ve never felt such excitement in the air on Inauguration Day before. Even our principal was walking around the building turning on TVs to make sure that the students had access to watch if they wanted to. And truly, the most amazing thing was that they did watch; even though most of it was taking place during lunch. Throughout my lunch hour, there was a huge group of students crowded around the TV in the lobby with the sound blaring so they could hear Obama’s speech. These were high school students spending their free time watching a current event on a news channel. It was a remarkable sight.
I’m excited and worried about the next four years. I hope that Americans are patient with President Obama. I hope that he really will be the president I think he will. And most importantly, I hope that he and his family will be safe in this highly criticized position. Please notice that I used the word hope a lot in the previous statements…because I do really feel that hope is now much more possible for us all.
Happy birthday, Lauren!
Today Lauren is entering the double digits on her tenth birthday. What a milestone! I guess this officially makes her a ‘tween now…no longer a little kid, but not yet a teenager, either. I wish that we could send you some snow for your birthday, Lauren. I know that’s the one thing you’d love to have…if only for a day or so. I’m sure that you’re much warmer than we are here in Illinois today, so enjoy that. We all hope you have a wonderful birthday, Lauren…love you!
I’m back!
I’m back from Vegas! We had a really great time, but I can’t even begin to write about it yet. For one thing, I don’t have any of my pictures uploaded, and for another, I’m exhausted tonight. I’m not sure that I got more than five hours of sleep any night, and I literally got an hour and a half last night. Now that’s a sign of a fun vacation! I will say this–I am a lucky woman to have friends like these and a husband who understands how important this trip was to me. It really rejuvinated me to make it through these long cold winter months.
I promise I will tell you all about it very soon.
