Dinner Prepared For Us By Kim

Kim invited us to a dinner she would prepare

Proving that as a cousin five stars we could declare

Through no fault of her own

The dinner was again posponed

We'll see if we EVER make it there

Carter in His Soccer Outfit

Carter is ready to score a goal

His adorableness you can't help but extol

He's ready for dad

A fun time will be had

When they go on the boardwalk to stroll

Lori's Lexicon and More Brought To You By John Vaughn

As usual, this week's guitar lesson provided a myriad of knowledge not limited to the subject of guitar:

First, lexical knowledge was enhanced, brought about by the playing of Wildwood Flower. While trying to find the lyrics for this song, Mr. Vaughn found that Wildwood Flower contains two instances of misheard lyrics. He then discovered the technical name for these mishearances. They are called mondegreens. This term originated when an author was referring to hearing "upon the green" as "mondegreen". Historically, mondegreens help to explain the many different lyrics in similar folk songs. In Wildwood Flower, one version has the lines "The myrtle so white and its emerald hue The pale and the leader and islip so blue" while another has "The myrtle so white and its emerald hue The pale amanita and eyes look so blue." To peruse an archive of mondegreens, go HERE.

For another tangential history lesson, John Vaughn recalled the names of Henry VIII's wives as well as the mnemonic device to remember their fates: 1) Catherine of Aragon - divorced 2) Anne Boleyn - beheaded 3) Jane Seymour - died (in childbirth) 4) Anne of Cleves - divorced 5) Katherine Howard - beheaded 6) Catherine Parr - survived. Mnemonic for remembering the fate of Henry VIII's wives: "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived"

March Madness in Parkersburg

Kel, the winner of the most upsets!

Look closely to see the live goat in the back of this vehicle traveling on the interstate in Parkersburg

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Once again chillin' in Parkersburg

The place where fun events transpire

We perused the McLain family brackets

To find which picker was most on fire

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We stumbled upon Kelly's bracket

And notice yes we did

She's the winner of the most upset picks

As sure as she and Kyle have the cutest kid

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Upon first look and gander

One might wonder if she understood

That the numbers perched beside each team

Had a meaning regarding their good

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Indeed, this was clear to her

But Oral Roberts had a cool name

So into the sweet sixteen

Their victory would be proclaimed

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These upsets were quite widespread

Florida their second game to lose

"But if I am right, I'll get a ton of points"

This logic she tried to infuse

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(Though to her I must admit

And should not so much fun at her make

As not long ago I predicted WVU

A Big East tournament championship to take)

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As a final laugh to top off the evening

We saw a goat traveling by car

We looked once, twice, and even three times

Our eyes debating this event so bizarre

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And alas Kelly and Kyle left the area

To Norfolk their journey to take

Luckily, more fun times are in sight

Virginia Beach for Spring Break!

Autographs From The Greats

Duane obtained for me this signed bar receipt by my favorite Mountaineer basketball player. It will be framed and treasured always.



While convalescing at home, I had the opportunity to visit the esteemed Frankfort High School and meet Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle. The unmatched teaching duo of Diana Mielecki and Laurie Nichols had her to their class to speak. Not only did I get the pleasure of hearing her speak, we also had dinner with her at Bunnie's in Lavale.

Diana Walks The Picket Line

Diana walked the picket line

Carrying her inventive sign

Though the endeavor seems to be in vain

And teachers mere pittance still remains

With her efforts, this teacher shined

Diana's sign made the WVEA website. Click HERE to see it. A shout out to Jess from Diana for the idea!

Ping Pong in Parkersburg

Carter steals the show!
The P.E. teacher who teaches the champs


The champ of her Frankfort High School gym class back in the day
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A trip was made to Parkersburg
To see Carter, the boy
Compared with the drive to Virginia Beach
It was a traveler’s joy

Stacy and I ran in City Park
No cops or abandoned kitties did we see
We also lacked a Pavster sighting
Which is a rarity

We visited at Courtney and Drew’s
A house with many attractions
A main one being their ping pong table
Which received a lot of action

Many mad matches were fought out
But the one that took the cake
Was the nail biting inducing meeting
Between Kelly and Stace

Kelly proclaimed superiority
As back in the day champ of her gym class
But Stacy teaches the gym class champions now
So we thought she’d kick her *?@

(As Kyle said, playing against a gym teacher in sports is like playing Drew at something computer related, a complete unfair advantage.)

The game was quite intensive
But Kelly pulled it out
Stacy proclaimed that the best two out of three
Must be played, to remove any doubt

A cut throat tournament was set up
But Carter stole the show
The real champion will be found on another day
When again to Parkersburg we all go

Inspiration to Practice Given by Mr. Vaughn

The past two weeks have been filled with files and files of replans, which I take home from work to complete in boxes. As John Vaughn and I were talking, he provoked the calculation of exactly how many pieces of paper I had filled out. By completing approximately 150 replans with 5 pieces of paper in each, I had filled out 750 pieces of paper. As we moved on to the actual lesson, I played the song that I have been trying to master, House of the Rising Sun. It was markedly improved from last week; however, still needs work. I remarked, "I still need to practice it about 200 more times. John Vaughn replied, "If you can fill out 750 pieces of paper, I have no doubt in your ability to do that. "

Quotable Quotes By Stacy

After Stacy and I finished running in City Park, I was a bit hyperactive and decided to lift her laptop up and down over my head to work out my arms. Stacy was lying down. The conversation goes as follows:
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Lori: "What, are you going to sleep?"
Stacy (very dryly and mildly annoyed): "No, I am not going to sleep. I'm just not running around lifting my laptop up and down like a blooming idiot."
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Stacy, on college: "I think they are all the same. They all have drunks and they all cost money. Ohio Valley is slightly worse."

The Agony Of Defeat

The expression to the left conveys the feeling of the crowd of people gathered around Justin's vast TV last night after West Virginia lost to Louisville in Double OT. Quotable quotes of the evening were used to create a Mad Libs and may lead to a possible Justinism's spin off in the future:

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Many friends showed up at Justin's to watch the Big East Tournament West Virginia/Louisville game last night. The TV was ________ (adjective). As WVU _____ (verb, present tense) ______ (verb, past tense) around, Chris said, "Their coach looks like a _________ (noun). Everyone was feeling ______ (adjective) as West Virginia began to come back from a 17 point deficit. At a time out, Lori cried with excitement, "There's _____ !"(WVU player Lori is fond of). As the game continued to roll on, Jess and Kayla exclaimed, "Anyone up for _______ (speciality coffee store). " Our hearts were beating fast as the game ended in a tie and sent us in to overtime. Monte, being a negative Nancy, stated, "You might as well warm up the _____ (noun). " Allison, vehemently cried out in reply, "It's not over, Monte! We are in ______ (noun) !!! As we continued into double overtime, Justin exclaimed, "_______ !"(weird exclaimation heard only in Spiderman). _________ (PlayStation 2 Game) was the only thing that could possibly turn our frowns upside down.

Jess' Flier

Jessica made a tremendous flier for one of her classes. I give it an A+. Unfortunately, difficulties were had in getting it to appear in its' full glory on the blog. Even after multiple hours and consultaions, this was the best that could be done.

Last Regular Season Game, Bring On The March Madness!

In what could be Heather's last sporting event attendance as a WVU student, we were happy she chose to spend it with us. Although disappointment and despair ran rampant due to not getting to see my favorite movie reviewer, a Gansey haircut sighting was believed to be seen. Unfortunately, this may mean that someone has lost a twin. Further, WVU's victory helped to assuage lingering disappointment from missing celebrities.

A Heather Tribute:

Heather spent her last sporting event with us

Her impending departure makes us want to cuss

Back to Petersburg she will go

On others her pressence to bestow

No more post-it notes to her door will be plussed

Karaoke Wednesday at BW3's

After I benched 75 pounds (!), Stacy and I ate some boneless wings and headed out to sing karaoke at BW3's. We decided to play a little Karaoke Idol and judge a few performances.
* In the picture, you see Thomas singing, "Just Lose It". This was an awesome song choice, which we coveted and plan to utilize in the future as our own (with song lyric viewing preparation). Our thoughts were: wrong singer, should have been us.
* Another singer, Chris, sang "I Want To Be Sedated". His enthusiasm was overwhelming. He had some difficulty keeping on track with the words, but overall a solid performance for a tough song.
* A chanteuse of whose name sends the equivalent of fingernails on the chalkboard magnified by 10, chose the song "Hero". She was very pitchy, though we admired the courage in knowing you stunk that bad and singing anyway.
* Stacy and I chose our old stand by, Ice Ice Baby. The karaoke dj tried to bust some video moves during our performance, and I quote what he said at it's commencement: "Those girls were rockin' over there."

Take the Karaoke Quiz! For answers to these questions and more, click here.
1. Karaoke literally means ______________ ?
2. What is it called when a random number is typed in and participants take a turn to try to sing as much as they can of a song?
3. A Gian is:
a) a person who loves karaoke but can only sing completely out of tune
b) a person who sings only when intoxicated
c) a private room rented for singing
4. Name three movies in which karaoke appears.