How I Survived the First Week of School (RE-POST from 9/2/12)

This post was originally written in 2012. The concept is still the same with the exception of the Republican National Convention. Don't get me wrong. The RNC would still be crazy and depressing, but it's not an election year, so dodged that bullet. (Whew!)

 Here is how I survived the first week of school:

• I avoided coverage of the Republican National Convention (too crazy and a little depressing) . . . unless it was on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.
• I ate leftovers all week. As an equal-opportunity-loving feminist, I would have been happy to let Dan cook for us. And Dan, also an equal-opportunity-loving feminist, would have been happy to do so. But we would have ended up eating cheese quesadillas every night.
• I repeated this mantra: "Labor Day is just around the corner."
• Caffeine! And only because Valium is a controlled substance.
• Chocolate! And only because Valium is a controlled substance.
• Zumba! A little healthier than Valium.
• I laughed with my colleagues. We have plenty of material at an elementary school.
• I focused on anecdotes like this: A little student of mine, who looks just like my brother did at age six, called a picture of a trumpet a "trump-bone." Adorable!

At the end of the first week of school, Dan and I were both comatose by 9:00, even though I had been the one herding six hundred kids all week.

"When can we retire?" he asked. He was having sympathy fatigue, I guess.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Daring Feats on Frozen Water (or in Living Rooms) [RE-POST from 9/10/11]

Whew! Getting ready for the first day back to school is a busy time. This blog post originally ran on 9/10/11. Enjoy it for a second time while I take a quick break from writing to prep my classroom for the upcoming year.

I introduced my husband, Dan, to the Sun Valley Summer Ice Shows about a year ago. Figure skating is not a sport I would normally expect Dan to embrace. But in our seven years of marriage, I have succeeded in exposing Dan to a more sophisticated culture. And I can happily say that both of us now enjoy a variety of aesthetic entertainment on a regular basis.

Okay, so maybe it's not about the artistry. Dan's initial response to the Sun Valley Ice Show was, "This is way better than the boring stuff they do on the Olympics." The Sun Valley Ice Show is a bit like a circus-on-ice.

Last weekend, we found ourselves sitting on the west bleachers, waiting for the show to begin, watching the Zamboni circle the rink. I was excited to see Sasha Cohen.

Dan, on the other hand, said with eager anticipation, "I wonder if they're going to do that trick where they swing a woman by the legs, and her head gets so close to the ground that it looks like it's going to smack against the ice."

"You mean that trick I have to watch through my fingers, the trick where the crowd gasps in horror while you clap enthusiastically and egg the skaters on?"

"That's the one."

I handed him the camera. Dan also loves the challenge of photographing the skaters' most dangerous tricks in action.

And before you think it can't be that bad because I tend to exaggerate (as my husband is probably muttering right now while he reads this), here are some examples of those "most dangerous tricks."

One woman skates while hula hooping multiple hoops. Eventually, she graduates to a fiery hoop by the end of the show. One male skater places his female partner upside down on his shoulders as they glide around on the ice. Another male skater holds his ice partner above his head with one hand. In a different number, a skater holds his partner by her stomach . . . on his head. And that doesn't include the jumps, the back flips, and the throwing of one's partner across the ice.

While I am thrilled that I no longer have to pull teeth to get Dan to take me to an ice show, I am not so thrilled when we get back home, and he wants to try "ice skating" in our living room. I have had to fend off several attempts at being flipped in midair while simultaneously being thrown over the couch. And every now and then, Dan rushes toward me with every intention of lifting me over his head and balancing me on his index finger.

"You have to go limp," Dan instructed wisely. "Don't try to control it."

"How about we don't try ice skating moves in our living room at all?"

But truly, it's a win-win situation for all involved. I get to see live, phenomenal figure skating. Dan gets to see daring feats performed on frozen water. And our neighbors probably get to see some pretty lively entertainment through our windows when we get home.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Vacation Top Fives

I am not ashamed to "phone in" my blog this weekend. That's what my husband, Dan, calls it when I publish a simple top five (or ten or twenty) list as my weekly post. (BuzzFeed has become quite popular following this format, by the way.)

Anyway, my loyal readers lead busy lives, and sometimes it's nice to just skim through a list and look at pretty pictures. So here it is. My summer vacation 2014 top fives.

As an added bonus, I have also included Dan's top fives. We did not consult each other when creating these lists, so these are truly his top fives and not just a list of stuff I told him to say.

Becky's Top Fives:

5. Shopping in Bend
Bend, Oregon is a hip city with lots of fun downtown restaurants, boutiques, and . . . COFFEE SHOPS. (I've become slightly addicted over the summer. To coffee, that is.)

4. Harry and David
We stayed in Medford, Oregon, home to Harry and David. And Harry and David equals chocolate.

3. Bookstore in Ashland, Oregon
Now you know. I prefer hanging out in bookstores to eating chocolate. The first thing Dan does when we travel to a new city is look for the closest local bookstore (for me) and record store (for him). I can hang out in bookstores for hours. I lead a simple life.

2. Hiking at Crater Lake
Crater Lake National Park is beautiful and a little less Disneyland than Yellowstone. And if you actually hike the trails, you can even enjoy a little solitude here and there.

1. Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Dan and I attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival four years ago. It was a quick trip over spring break. We saw one play and had to leave the next morning. This year, we spent a little more time in Ashland, and we saw two amazing shows, Into the Woods and A Wrinkle in Time. They did not disappoint!


Dan's Top Fives:

5. Plaikni Falls (at Crater Lake)

4. Into The Woods (OSF production)

3. A Wrinkle In Time (OSF production)

2. The Pinnacles (at Crater Lake)

1. Crater Lake from Watchman Lookout

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Jack and the Frickin' Beanstalk

You may remember that my husband, Dan, and I are the worst groundskeepers in the neighborhood. But sometimes during the summer, I fancy myself a bit of a gardener, and I plant seeds around my yard. And by plant seeds, I mean I throw seeds, allowing them to land where they may. I don't pay attention to what it says on the packet, and I don't worry about seed spacing because I am not convinced that anything I plant (throw) will actually grow.

Last summer, I planted (threw) some hollyhock seeds in the rock bed along the back of the house. They began to grow, a little too easily, but the plant didn't look like much other than a patch of gigantic leaves, kind of like cabbage.

This year, the hollyhocks started to grow, and they blossomed into an assortment of rich purple flowers. I was so excited that I texted Dan.

"I did it! I grew something!"

Pretty soon, the hollyhocks grew so tall that I began to call them, "Jack and the Beanstalk." I'm sure the packet warned potential growers that hollyhocks can reach up to eight feet in height, but we've already established that I didn't read the packet.

Bugs also liked the leaves of this plant, and Dan and I experimented with a garden safe ("for organic gardening," the bottle said) brand of fungicide/insecticide. Usually, we do not spray more than vinegar and soap around our yard, but any bug that would dare attack Jack and the Beanstalk intimidated us a little.

After a gust of wind blew the spray back onto me, and I had to wash all clothes and body in hot water, I told Dan, "This was a big mistake. I don't ever want to use that stuff again, not unless I'm wearing a Hazmat suit."

Now the hollyhocks are falling over because I didn't plant them where they can be propped up, and I didn't space the seeds twelve to twenty-four inches apart as suggested by wikiHow. The stalks—stalks that a month ago I am fairly certain I could have scaled and landed in the fee-fi-fo-fum giant's house—now resemble tentacles straight out of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Dan tied the stems together with wire, which just accentuated the giant killer squid motif.

Yeah, I kind of suck as a gardener.

I know a lot of you are dying to give me some terrific advice on how to remedy this issue, but the truth is, I probably won't listen to you.

Unless I can just throw the seeds around and let the finished product fend for itself, I won't do it.

I'm that lazy.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Five Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1. According to this recent article, psychologists have found that children who read the Harry Potter series have an improved "perception of stigmatized groups like immigrants, homosexuals or refugees." In other words, Harry Potter makes kids more empathetic. Yet another reason to recommend these books to young readers! (I know a few adults who might benefit from this as well.)

2. This is as close to posting cat pictures/videos as I will get. So enjoy my moment of weakness.

3. I live here.

By the way, Boise made "The 10 Best Cities to Move to in 2014." Of course, we Boiseans knew this already.

4. The Boise Co-op is expanding to my side of town. Could this mean that West Boise is becoming hipper? Could West Boise be the new North End? I mean, there are a few bearded, tattooed twenty and thirty-somethings in our neighborhood. (One of them is actually my husband, Dan.) And I see the occasional liberal bumper sticker on cars around our house. Maybe . . .?

5. I know I complain about him a lot, but Squirrel makes me happy. Summer wouldn't be summer without Squirrel contorting his body in strange, disturbing ways to get to the bird food outside our front window.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.