Inspired by lists at Elsie Tries Writing and Wahoo Literacy Teacher and in honor of the Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge’s eleventh year, here’s a list of 11 things about me:
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- I live in Western South Dakota where the prairie meets the hills. When I moved here for a teaching job, I never meant to stay. I was a short-timer. Two years, I told myself. Three at the absolute max. That was fifteen years ago….
- I have eight cats. For a few months last summer, before one died and three moved to my mother’s house, I had twelve. Once you reach four, it’s okay to keep adding. Eight doesn’t really require more work than four. (But you might want to check with my son and husband for confirmation first, because they clean the cat boxes.)
- Products I should do commercials for: Ghirardelli Dark & Sea Salt Caramel Squares, Precise Pilot Pens, Honda Accords, Cat Dancer cat toys. And maybe a PSA on the joys of taming little feral cat families.
- I routinely have 20 or 25 different books started. Eventually two or three rise to the top and I fully commit and finish. I don’t know why I read so many books at once. It doesn’t seem very efficient.
- It’s probably wrong to have a favorite child, but I don’t think it’s wrong to have a favorite cat. And I do. Chipotle. I don’t know what he has to recommend him besides the fact that he seems to prefer me to all others, but that’s enough. The feeling is mutual.
- I taught high school before I became a teacher educator. I love my work with preservice teachers, but I still miss teaching high school.
- I have practiced yoga daily since December 31. At first, daily yoga was a 30-day challenge for January. But then I kept it up through February. And now I have visions of 365 days of yoga.
- I have a lucky coffee mug. The luck it brings is that my son has never once woken up during my morning coffee and writing time when I use this mug.
- I name my cars. My friend Elizabeth started the tradition with my fourth car, a Honda Accord we named Opal. Opal was the first car I bought brand new off the lot, and she made it to 300K miles. Then came Hester, another Honda Accord. And now Irene. Ditto.
- My son is doing online high school this year, so in addition to the full-time teaching job I already have, I am also a 9th-grade teacher of all subjects. (Well, me and Khan Academy.) I’m having the reverse of my own high school experience. Then, I loved English and History. Now, I dread those subjects and like Algebra I and Physical Science, two subjects I could barely pass in high school.
- The one thing I miss living in South Dakota is rain. It rarely rains here, and when it does, it’s usually scary (thunder, lightning, hail ranging from dimes to baseballs).
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the dirigible plum 
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