My Life Mirrors Jen Lancaster

As a gift for being a great "student" teacher, my mentor gave me Jen Lancaster's second novel "Bright Lights, Big Ass."

I recommended Jen to my mentor teacher earlier in the year because we seemed to have the same (good) taste in books. And right I was, I feel that my mentor (and now friend) have become even closer as we share just exactly how our lives mirror Jen's.

First, let me quickly run through the differences:
1. I do not live in Chicago. I also do not live "in the city" but in a suburb outside of it. I think that it's nice and am a fan of not having to deal with traffic on a daily basis.

2. I unfortunately do NOT own a set of pearls. However, I've been trying to convince my husband that a good teacher needs a good set of pearls. So far, it seems that my persuasion skills need a little more work.

3. Our family life is not the same. She has (obviously) amazing parents. While my father is non-existent and my mother is dead.

And I'm pretty sure those are the only differences between the two of us.

So, here's a few examples of how my life mirrors Jen's:

1. I also think that my dog smells like corn chips. I constantly mention this to the husband and he always gives me a really weird look.

2. I too have tried the "low-carb"/"no-carb" diet and have dreamed about eating cheese dip with slices of cheese, coveted Olive Garden bread sticks, and thought about food while the husband has tried to talk to me about something serious and/or important.

3. I also do the majority of my reading in the bath tub. Apparently so does my mentor ... here's a funny anecdote: After picking up "Such a Pretty Fat" (Jen's third novel), my mentor decided that she wanted to take a bath while reading. She undressed and slowly began to get into the hot water. Just as her foot hit the bottom of the tub, she slipped on something that must have been left behind by her children and dropped the book into the water. Whilst fishing it back out, she screams bloody murder causing her boyfriend to come flying into the bathroom. He finds her completely "nekkid" holding the book in a towel as if it were a small child. Needless to say, the book has been shoved under other books to try and flatten it out and get it ready for "Meet Jen Lancaster day!" Which will happen on May 12th!

4. I've attended Weight Watchers meetings and rolled my eyes when they discuss cake in the work place. Then, I've rolled my eyes when teachers in the teacher's lounge discuss cake in the work place.

5. My animals totally run the house. One sleeps in his own bed and the other sleeps in our bed. We can barely touch each other without her getting in between us for a couple of doggie kisses.

6. I have also blown out the ass of my pants. (I'm actually hoping that the fabric just snagged and ripped a hole ... but we can never be too sure.) Luckily, God made sure that I was wearing black underwear that day so that I wouldn't have to deal with some kind of indecent exposure type thing with my students.

7. I LOVE Chick Lit!

Honestly, the list could go on and on ... but I have some blogs to catch up on and some reading to do. OH, and Lost ... it is Lost day!

So until later, Good night ... hope all is well in the blogger world. Oh, and Jen if you are reading this ... Much Love!