Aloha Friday is brought to you by the letter A and by Snarky!

Do you lead a peaceful or hectic life? Would you prefer one over the other?
I lead a hectic life.  I work full time, have two small children, never have enough money and go to school now.  I would love to lead a peaceful life!!!

Anything can be fun if you want it to be: agree or disagree?
Agree, as long as I am there!

Play the Boo-Yay game. Tell us about a “boo” and a “yay” from the past week.
Boo - I’ve had a personally challenging week.
Yay - Things are looking up!

I was over at my buddy Mayberry’s place this morning, reading about his oldest son who is in Kindergarten and is learning his ABC’s.  He was talking about how the particular school his son goes to is teaching the kids the D’Nealian alphabet, in lieu of the regular old alphabet that we grew up learning.  I thought back to when I was learning my alphabet (yes, I can clearly remember it).  We learned with the Alphabet People.  I loved them!  Especially Mr. T Tall Teeth.  I have no idea why I liked him so much, but I did.

There were cards all over the classroom with the pictures of each of the Letter People.  We got to watch videos, play with puppets and each letter had a little song.  Mr. T’s song went like this:

Tall, my teeth are so tall
Terrifically tall,
The tallest of all,
The tallest you see;
I’m called Mister T.

Tall teeth.  Mister T, that’s me.
Why, my teeth are so tall
It takes my toothbrush two hundred and twenty two turns
To take a trip from the top of the tip
To the tip of the top of each tooth.
And that’s the tall truth, too.

And talk about toothpaste.
From Tuesday to Tuesday
I’ll use two thousand, two hundred and twenty two tubes
Of tasty toothpaste for each tremendous tooth.
And that’s the tall truth, too.

Tall, my teeth are so tall
Terrifically tall,
The tallest of all,
The tallest you see;
I’m called Mister T.

Tall teeth, Mr. T
Tall teeth, Mr. T
Tall teeth.

I enjoyed learning with those so much and can remember each one.  I remember we had a letter people day and I came dressed as Mr. B Buttons.  It’s funny how easy it was to learn them, because we had so much fun doing it.  Did anyone else learn the alphabet with the Letter People?  Here is a listing of all of them. 

Miss A A-Choo
Mr. B Beautiful Buttons
Mr. C Cotton Candy
Mr. D Delicious Doughnuts
Miss E Exercise
Mr. F Funny Feet
Mr. G Gooey Gum
Mr. H Horrible Hair
Miss I Itchy Itches
Mr. J Jumbled Junk
Mr. K Kaboom Kick
Mr. L Lemon Lollypops
Mr. M Munching Mouth
Mr. N Noisy Nose
Miss O Obstinate
Mr. P Pointy Patches
Mr. Q Quiet
Mr. R Ripping Rubberbands
Mr. S Super Socks
Mr. T Tall Teeth
Miss U Upsy-Daisy Umbrella
Mr. V Velvet Vest
Mr. W Wonderful Wink
Mr. X Mixed Up
Mr. Y Yawning
Mr. Z Zipping Zippers

My new Napolean Dynamite pen, complete with seven phrases with the push of a button!  SWEEET!

Sometimes you just need to take a second and be thankful for what you have.

I just love Hurricane season!

(AP) - Virginia was put under a state of emergency Monday in anticipation of damage that might be wrought by Tropical Storm Ophelia.

Gov. Mark R. Warner preemptively declared an emergency after two weeks of withering nationwide criticism of the federal government’s tardy response to Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Warner’s declaration puts all state agencies to work bracing for Ophelia, which had been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm and languished about 200 miles off the Carolina coast on Monday, its course still uncertain to forecasters.

Ophelia menaces the Carolina and Virginia coasts days ahead of the second anniversary of Hurricane Isabel, which killed 47 people and did $4.1 billion in damage to the Mid-Atlantic region. One year ago, Tropical Storm Gaston left a popular, low-lying area of downtown Richmond apartments, offices shops and restaurants under 10 feet of water.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm’s status Tuesday evening, saying maximum sustained winds had reached 75 mph, with higher gusts. The storm was graded a Category One hurricane, but the center said further strengthening was possible in the hours ahead.

Unlike Hurricane Katrina’s devastating charge at the Gulf Coast, the week-old Ophelia had been following a meandering path, making predictions of its landfall difficult. The hurricane center’s latest forecasts showed it running along the coast, then veering through Pamlico Sound, crossing the Outer Banks and heading back out to sea.

Its slow movement—4 mph as of 5:30 p.m. EDT—meant heavy rain could linger over land, possibly causing serious flooding. The hurricane center said up to 15 inches of rain was possible in eastern North Carolina.