Ten Most Important Americans

I'm curious, after reading an article in Smithsonian, who would you say are the ten most famous Americans?  Could you use my comments section and let me do a survey of my own?  I'll do it the same way the Smithsonian guys did.

Starting with Columbus, first list your top five famous Americans (Please exclude presidents and first ladies), then skip a space and list your top five famous American women (excluding first ladies).  After I hear from whoever is going to participate, I'll tell you the results that were in Smithsonian and I'll tell you my personal.

(Charlotte posted an interesting question.  You should read the comments.)

I Did It!

Last June, when my kids were taking swimming lessons, I decided that maybe this would be a good time to start getting more exercise.  After all, I was there at the Y anyway and maybe more exercise would help me even out my darker moods.  I chugged away all summer, swimming or running at least three times a week, sometimes four.  In the back of my mind though, I thought, "When school starts, I'll never be able to keep this up."

The last week of August rolled around and I really didn't want to let go of summer and throw myself heartily into school, especially not that first week when I wasn't really teaching, just sitting in meetings and trainings, trying to hide that I was doing Sudoku and not listening.  I think I worked out four times that week.  After that I just kept going somehow.  I don't know how I "found" the time; I just did it.  

I even kept it up during my Thanksgiving trip to the Wisconsin Dells and over Christmas break. Those weren't my most productive weeks, but I never missed a complete week. Again though, I wasn't really confident that I would be able to keep going.  I was sure I would get sick and be unable to do much and that I would totally lose my momentum.  After all, part of what was keeping me going at this point was not wanting to lose all the progress I had made.  

Then a couple weeks ago I got a really bad cold at a very busy time. Double whammy.  I did nothing for almost two straight weeks.  I kept thinking, "This is it.  My run as a regular exerciser is over.  I'll never get back into it."  But then I noticed that I was so darn grouchy, and I couldn't blame PMS.  I also noticed that episodes of Mugglecast were piling up on my iTunes. So, on Mother's Day, I dragged myself outside, with my kids on their bikes, and gave it a shot.  

Not bad.  I didn't run three miles- I know that's not very impressive either, but it's the farthest I can go- but I did go maybe two.  Then I went out again on Monday night.  And now on Wednesday morning I got up and ran even though I left my iPod in Heidi's car!  I did it! Now I know that I can get back into a good healthy routine, even if it gets interrupted for awhile.  It makes me feel almost giggly. 

Twilight

WARNING!  If you talk to me on any kind of regular basis, you'll probably find this post boring and repetitive, unless you like seeing your name in print, and then you might like it even if you've already heard me say it all!

If you like books that can take over your day and not let you do anything but read, books that you put down to go get something done, but then find yourself creeping back to them.  If you like books that would make you let your children wear dirty clothes and exist on peanut butter until you finish them, then I (along with Charlotte, Ginger and Christi) have a book series for you.  Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, a vampire love story.  Yes, you heard me right, vampires.  No, I don't usually do vampires.  I don't do horror.  Oddly though, one of my all time favorite movies is The Lost Boys, so apparently I make exceptions.

It's sort of a funny story how I even came to this book.  I first saw it laying around our computer lab last year at school.  I was bored while I waited for something to load, so I flipped through it. It was still lying there (or is it laying there; Charlotte, help me out with this one- AGAIN!) a week later, so I took a look again.  I decided that a teen angst story about a girl lying to her dad (That's what I got out of scanning the middle) was not really my thing.  

Then a few months later Charlotte put it on my radar.  "Yeah, yeah, I've heard of it, maybe I'll get to it."  Not likely, even though I usually read what Charlotte recommends.  Ginger also read and loved all three books in the series, but she wasn't sure that I would like them.  She was worried that my irritation with stories about girls who have to change who they are (see Grease and The Little Mermaid) to get the boy, would prevent me from liking this book.

Then Andrew and Laura started raving about it on Mugglecast.  Hmmm.  A book loved by obsessive Harry Potter fans? Now you have my attention.  Plus, Christi started reading it at Ginger's recommendation, and then Ginger brought it to my house and just laid it on my counter. There it sat for several weeks while I read Inkspell for the second time.  I would read a few pages while Russ watched basketball, but I wasn't into it.

Then I got to a scene in the book where the vampire is most struggling with wether or not he is going to kill this girl, and the rest was a run away train.  I was gone.  In love. Totally obsessed. Searching the internet for more info. Crazy.

Who knew?