Yes! Yes! Yes!

I want to send out a big thank you to my trusty Purple and Green Essay-Grading Pens, who never ran out or exploded on me these last couple of weeks. You guys worked so hard and I really am grateful.

Also, wrist and finger muscles. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about all you've done for me. You never complained, even during that last stretch of essays, when I was writing the same criticisms over and over again. Goddess Bless.

Of course, you freshmen who did my writing assignments. If it weren't for your essays, I'd be some idle ignoramus who would be experiencing brain atrophy due to watching cable TV. I'll see some of you on Monday.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my husband and children. Without them, none of this would be possible. Thanks to Spencer, Kirby, and Elliot, who were OK with just ONE game of Candyland or ONE book right before bed. Also, Brent. I love you, sweetie. Thanks for not trying to get me in the sack these last two weeks - you knew I'd be exhausted. I'll be ready for the Yard O' Beef soon.

Let me just send out a bit 'WHOOHOO' to all those educators out there who make it happen for our youth every day. We're one-third of the way through the year! YES!

After nearly coming to fisticuffs with a ninth-grader yesterday over this very issue (OK, not really), I thought I would find out the true answer for myself once and for all. I mean, OK, I am an English teacher - but those little grammatical bits have gotten fuzzy on me in the past few decades. I've mostly been going on how it sounds...anyway, here's the sample sentence.

"General Zaroff now hunts people, mostly sailors, who he keeps as prisoners until he needs them."

I had the students correct this sentence in class, and when I said WHO should be WHOM, one student became as irate. Since I didn't have the technical reason, my lame reason was "because it sounds better." But I did tell the student I would get back to him, and so I shall.

The American Heritage Book of English Usage says, "Who is used for a grammatical subject, where a nominative pronoun such as I or he would be appropriate, and whom is used as the object of a verb or preposition."

That is fancytalk.

Use who: when you are referring to the subject of the sentence (Who is going to the store? or "My mom, who is 54, is beautiful.)

Use whom: when you are referring to the direct object (the thing being acted upon) or if it's in a preposition. (Whom did you call? or He is the person FOR whom I would die.)

So, in the above sentence, whom is the correct usage, because it is referring to SAILORS, which act as a direct object in that sentence, because they are on the receiving end of General Zaroff's action (hunting).

So. Mrs. Nelson - 1 Punk Freshman - 0

Wide awake here at 2:45 a.m.

Dammit. This is not right. I have to work tomorrow.

I think it's one of those cases where my subconscious sleeping mind started going haywire on me and began listing all the tasks I need to get done in the next week. See, end of the trimester is Thursday, so naturally, my regular life sort of gets put on hold so I can prepare final grades.

The ol' brain finally exploded about 2:35 a.m., waking me up, wondering WTF? Sooo, I got up and made myself a little handwritten list of all my "things to do," hoping to excise those demons. Then I checked my fantasy football score (I am losing to my husband because Tom Brady sucked big last night).

And now, I am here...posting about my insomnia. Seems a bit surreal, actually.

Ooh, the family and I had a lovely little Full Moon ritual last night. Even though my husband is not Pagan, he still participated, and it was just time well-spent with the family. And the weather was decent for November. I'd describe it more, but I'm sure it would put you all to sleep...the one thing I seem to cannot do right now.

Ah, well...good night. I feel a yawn coming on.

This is the first weekend in a long time that I haven't had anything really important/pressing to do or see or be. What does one do with all the free time? Heh. Heh. A Big Fat Nothing for $1000, Alex.

Last night, I went to see the high school's production of "Midsummer Night's Dream," which is a wonderful play. It was OK. I'm not trying to sound elitist here, but I understand Shakespeare, therefore, it is pretty enjoyable for me. However, I live in rural Iowa...nearest cultural experience is roughly an hour away. Not many folks around here are clamoring for Shakespeare. Although, they should be!

Today was a complete lazy day. Brent went to some Quaker Men's thing this morning. About 10:30, he and Spencer left for the Iowa State football game (we freaking lost), while Kirby and Elliot and I went out, did groceries, and had lunch together. A rather nice time. I have been grading papers this afternoon (end of trimester: five days)...while Kirby's been watching "Annie." Elliot has been napping for about the last hour. I reckon Brent will be home soon and then we'll have supper. And then I have this fabulous idea...

And it's called Candy Store!

It's my dead brilliant idea for all the leftover Halloween candy that sits atop my fridge. The kids and I went to the dollar store today and bought all kinds of non-edible goodies (puzzles, books, toys, etc.). Then we set up a "store" where the kiddos can purchase items for a certain number of candy pieces. Surely you are seeing the sheer ingeniousness of it!

"Hey, Spencer, you want that coloring book? It'll cost you 10 pieces of candy."

Then...I take all the candy they've "spent" to work, where it is devoured in roughly 2.8 hours by the faculty. No rotten teeth here! Only good times with educational books, puzzles, and toys!

On a terribly unrelated note, I tried to watch "Nacho Libre" today. I shut it off about halfway through. I normally love Jack Black...but I cannot stomach this one.

Alright, I'm off. Little Miss YappyPants is here asking me "Can you go to pbskids.org, Mommy?" Yappppppppppppppppy!

What I need...should I ever want to wear my new Regency dress in public is the proper undergarments.

Starting with a period-appropriate corset. Currently, my searches are to no avail. As you can imagine, when I type 'corset' into Google, I get all kinds of websites. But I'm not interested in PVC or vinyl at this time!

Then I'll find that one needle in a haystack...the one that says "Regency Corset," and it turns out to be someone's project that they are working on for fun. Great for them, but I am a consumer here. I am looking to buy!

So, anyway, I'll keep searching...but if any of you happen to come across something, let me know, will ya?