3 : being such involuntarily because of a situation that makes free choice or departure difficult <a captive audience
![kids-in-classroom[1]](http://ritaoberlies.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/kids-in-classroom1.jpg?w=300&h=247 "kids-in-classroom[1]")
Whew….I survived a visit to my son’s second grade classroom. While I LOVE to be involved in school activities, I suffer from pre-anxiety jitters prior to almost every event. Today I presented a mini session (30 minutes) to the classroom on writing stories. My son’s teacher (who totally rocks, by the way) had asked me to come in and talk to the group because of my own experiences with trying to write a novel. They were a captive audience (heck, they couldn’t walk out)…I’m just not sure they were captivated. Frankly the kids are so darned polite it’s difficult to gauge their true reactions. One thing I do know is that my son will have feedback for me after school. It won’t be pretty. Inevitably he’ll point out a stumble I made or a joke that fell flat. I’ll thank him for his constructive criticism and walk away vowing to steer clear of elementary schools in the future. By next month we’ll both have forgotten our embarrassment and I’ll be ready to go back and volunteer again!!!!
And I am not a pill popper (they’re a last resort when my allergies kick into high gear). Anyway, I have much to be grateful for…my mother-in-law had an unexpected health scare yesterday, but things are looking up today. Thank goodness, because this woman has been through ten times what most people will ever have to face in one lifetime. ![ad[1]](http://ritaoberlies.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/ad1.png?w=300&h=189 "ad[1]")
Looked at a house on Sunday…well, I’ll leave it at that for now. I’ll probably be scarce for the next several days…See you soon 
By now I’m sure everyone is familiar with a recent phone survey conducted by Marist College soliciting feedback on the most annoying word or phrase overused in conversation today. Part of this was prompted by the ridicule piled upon Caroline Kennedy last summer for her use of one phrase 142 times in a NY Times interview (you know). In case you missed it, the top vote getters in Marist’s survey were:
Are you a compulsive shopper? If not, you probably know of someone that hits the mall early and often collecting obscene amounts of material goods. For the most part my purchasing habits are measured and predictable. This is a good thing. But when the urge hits — I fall victim to impulse shopping. A few weeks back my husband and I got the urge to move. So, we started looking at local real estate. We’re the same couple who purchased four different homes in seven years. Very impulsive!!! This time we talked ourselves off of the cliff. No snap decisions. No desperate calls to our realtor saying we ‘have to get this property’. 
On these very pages I’ve blogged ad nauseum about books. Love to buy ‘em. Love to read ‘em. Love to write ‘em. My oldest loves to read. He picked it up pretty quickly in kindergarten and spends quite a bit of time reading now (our house is stocked with baseball books). In the past two weeks my youngest (who is now in kindergarten) has started getting the itch to learn to read on his own.
