Talkers

So… we like to talk. We're fairly good listeners, but we're much better at talking. That being said, we tend to like people who are also talkers. It gets a little crazy sometimes, though, when we're in a room full of talkers.

Sometimes, being a good friend (or sister, as the case may be) really calls for good listening. This was the predicament I found myself in tonight.

I called my sister tonight… 's been a while since we've spoken and just wanted to catch up. When I call her, I need to get myself into listening mode. She's got so much to say and has little interest in what I might have to say, so I was ready.

This is my sister, so let's be clear… I love her… dearly.

You ever talk with people who do 98% of the talking? You try to get a word in edge-wise and just end up giving up?

In the course of the conversation, I checked the mute button about 6 times to see if maybe I had accidentally hit it (since it was clear she wasn't hearing my attempts to interject or participate in the conversation in  another way). No such luck. I hadn't hit the mute button.

My husband thinks it's the funniest thing. He's sitting there playing Angry Birds laughing all the while I've got the phone off speaker on my shoulder (not on my ear). He can hear every word she says (from about 4 feet away) and every attempt to speak that I make and he's dying with laughter.

At one point, Bill goes into the kitchen and makes us both a cosmo. Sweet. It's been a while since we've enjoyed a quiet evening at home and had a drink, so I'm a little excited about it. He brings me this cosmo… yummmmmm… and I spaz out and don't get a good grip on the stem. I spill the effn thing on my beautiful red leather chair, on my sweater, on the carpet, and on the phone, which I dropped. Both of us get all worked up and are making a racket about the mess. "Oh no! What the??!!" etc… Not too extraordinary, but the funny thing is that my sister had absolutely NO EFFN idea that anything had happened! She didn't skip a beat! She was so eager to get all of her words out that she couldn't even hear what was going on on our end. OMGOSH!

Like I said, we're talkers and we like talkers. Thankfully, we can be listeners when we're needed.

There is/There are

Just because people aren't as intent on enunciating as I am, do I have to be upset about it? Why do I care? It's their speech so it shouldn't bother me. Here's me, though, ummm… the one who can't let stuff go. So … YA it's a problem! Why do people say, "Impordid," instead of important? Seriously?! How about there is and there are? Don't even get me started… actually… too late; I'm started. Lesson. 

There IS must be followed by a SINGULAR noun or a non count noun (e.g., milk). 

There is an apple in my lunch. 

There is some chocolate in the cart.

You can make there is a contraction as well: 

(there+is=there's) 

There's an apple on the table. 

There's is NEVER followed by a singular. 

There's six people coming over. Do you want me to cut you!?! NO, you don't, so don't say that crap!

There ARE must be followed by a PLURAL noun.

There are several children reading quietly. 

There are shoes in the hallway.

Take a quiz and see how you do!!

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/74.html

Another helpful link:

http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/there_is_are.html

You're welcome and there's WAY more to come!

B & D





Oh and PS… I bought a do-it-yourself gel nail kit and I did it this week. It's awesome. I LOVELOVELOVELOVE it! I also made this amazing recipe today!

http://pinterest.com/pin/34199278390561828/

Our Girls are Silly too!

Nimbabwe

Some back-trackin!

It's not just us that are freaking hilarious… actually, being funny is on the application form that we hand out to everyone who wants to be our friend. Some people get to by-pass the application process, because we've heard first-hand stories about something funny (or better yet multiple funny crap) they've said/done or just because they look funny, so we figure they've got a good sense of humor.

So, we're playing… I think it was Trivial Pursuit with some friends a ways back. I think I'm getting more stupid as I age because I'm not even kidding you, I used to ROCK THE CRAP out of that game… now-- I'm just an Average Annie. There's some geography question and (seemingly to us), our friend answers, "I don't know… Nimbabwe." She swears to this day that she meant to say it wrong, but we stand firm in our contention that she just said it wrong. Doesn't make a crap of difference because whether it was intentional or not, omgosh… this was freaking hilarious. We still laugh about Nimbabwe. One of the months of the year, we look at flags each day of the month in my classroom and one of the flags that comes up is from Zimbabwe… I get a good chuckle because I almost can't even say, "Zimbabwe," because I'm thinking Nimbabwe. LOL!


Love you, Aim.