6 random things about me ~ I've been tagged!

One of my friends -- Janet -- "TAGGED" me! Janet and I have known each other since we were kids -- I was closer in age to her older sister, Marilyn. Marilyn and I roomed together at BYU and spent many Friday nights raising a ruckus both in Florida AND in Utah! I love all those Waters people! Janet, here goes:

1. I love to read! I can't stand to not be reading a book and can often be found reading more than one book at a time. I will read just about anything and can suggest a book for just about anyone! I love to read juvenile literature and have read many, many Sunshine State books. You almost can't go wrong with a book from that list http://myssyra.org/grades3_5/35list.html or http://myssyra.org/grades6_8/68list.html My favorite author is Sharon Creech and my favorite book (written by her) is Walk Two Moons. Some of my other favs are Touching Spirit Bear, Star Girl, The City of Ember, and I, of course, love the Harry Potter books and the Twilight series. If you ever need a suggestion, let me know :)

2. I have a secret desire to publish a children's book! I have written the copy for a picture book called A Face Without Freckles -- it is about having freckles -- you know all the Hirsche squirts have freckles and I think they are just great -- but I just haven't gotten around to doing all the leg work (which I have heard is time consuming and very few publishers accept un-solicited manuscripts). I want it to be easy - like, "here's a story I wrote" . . . . "we love it" . . . . "it's published!" But my connections in the publishing world are non-existent!

3. I teach 2nd grade. When Jared started kindergarten, I started substitute teaching and really liked it! I went back to school and took the graduate level classes to get my teacher certification. I spent the first two years as a "gypsy teacher" -- teaching with short-term contracts covering teachers that were out on maternity leave. This year I have my very own classroom and love it! (most of the time :) ) I have a candy-themed room -- on my big bulletin board, there is a HUGE "Hirsche" candy bar that I made with brown construction paper and foil and it is even spelled Hirsche. Then underneath the candy bar, it says "Welcome to Mrs. Hirsche's 2nd grade class, where learning is sweet!" My sister, Tina, helped me come up with a lot of the cute ideas and even made me some candy bar pillows out of fabric I had saved to make candy bar costumes.

4. I stole a car in college :) This is the greatest story ever! One of my best friends from high school and BYU, Stacey Harker, arranged for us to borrow a car from a friend. I had never seen his car. It was parked at the Bean Museum and after getting the keys from him, we trudged up the hill to retrieve it. It was a lovely Datsun B210 or the same version of a Nissan (you youngins' won't remember them but hey were ugly!) and it was unlocked. Stacey had some difficulty getting the keys to fit in the ignition but after wiggling them a bit, it started right up. We tooled around Provo, running errands, stopping for lunch and basically just cruisin'! We noticed he had a garter belt hanging from his rearview mirror and we made a few jokes about that. Stacey noticed his cassette player was missing and that she never knew he went to college anywhere besides BYU (there were some parking decals on the window from another school).

After a few hours, we returned it to the same parking lot but a different spot and left some cookies in the car , a few dollars to cover gas (I now sound like an old person since you really could go lots of miles on just a few dollars!) and a note thanking our friend for letting us use his car. We went back to the library to return his keys and starting giving him a hard time about the garter belt and asking questions about the missing tape player and decals. He was insistent that he did not have a garter belt hanging in his car! And after several minutes, we figured out that we had been driving the wrong car all over town! Thank goodness we didn't get pulled over or someone would have had to bail us out of jail for grand theft auto!

5. I HATE being hot! My neighbor calls me a weather wimp because I rarely venture out of my house when the temperature is up! I am in heaven right now with the windows open and the cool breeze wandering through my house! I often freeze my husband and kids to death in the winter because I don't like to turn the heat on!

6. I collect rattan handled pots/biscuit jars. My grandmother gave me a biscuit jar many years ago. It is cream colored with small pink flowers on it. Since then, I have collected about a dozen more (mostly my mom gives them to me -- thanks, mom!!) I have one that is shaped like a clown in a box and another that is a gingerbread house.

I am really new to the blogging world, so my group of blogging buddies is quite small and most of them have already been tagged - so anyone that reads this and has NOT been tagged . . . . . . YOU ARE IT!!!!