Twisted, Sister!

Fridays I never have kids and have planning time to write notes, work on lesson plans, prepare portfolios, and so forth.  I am able to have a more flexible work schedule.  So many Fridays Glen and I make plans to go to lunch together.

This past Friday was one of those days.  I picked him up and we happened to be listening to Science Friday on NPR (National Public Radio.)  Science Friday is usually fun to listen to because the topics vary so much and are pretty interesting and the host is upbeat and jovial.  This week the  topic was (well I can't tell you the whole thing because my mind wandered after the introductory part--you'll see why.)  The guy said that skin cells are able to turn themselves into beating heart cells when a huge recipe of scientific soup is added.  But first the skin cells have to be turned into stem cells and then they can be made into heart cells.  I am sure that all of this has profound scientific ramifications and will be really amazing for our coronary health in the future.  But the guy said, " If there was a way for the skin cells to skip the stem cell step then..."  After that I began concocting skin cells tongue twisters.  Glen joined in and silliness ensued.  Here is the best one:  "She seriously sears her skin cells by the shiny sea shore."  Please try to say this 5 times fast.  Impossible!!!  I laugh!!!  I tickle myself!!!

This also reminds me of a story a friend told about being roped in, at the last minute, to play and sing for/with a group of 4th-6th grade boys at RA Camp (Royal Ambassadors--pre AWANA missions group  for boys in Southern Baptist Churches.)  My friend thought it would be so fun to sing a tongue twister song with the boys, so she did.  They were laughing and singing a long at the top of their voices.  When she finished the song they yelled to do it again. My friend, thinking she was a big hit with this group she was not so sure about, enthusiastically went in for the second round.  When she finished they yelled for a third go round.  She began to start again and then saw the flailing arms of her husband.  He was jumping up and down in the back of the auditorium and trying to sign for her to stop.  She did and excused herself from the stage.  The song she had played for the boys was "Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers."  The boys had apparently been singing "PICKLED (something an 11 year old boy would think of that rhymes with peppers)" while laughing wildly and pointing to the front of their pants.  She was mortified but it sure was a funny story. 
 
I leave you with a parting twist:  How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?  "dang woodchucks!!"

 PS  Oh my!! I went and saw The King's Speech---must say it is solidly in my top 5 EVER!  In the movie they said a tongue twister that I now love "I have a sieve of sifted thistles because I am a thistle sifter."

That made me think of the one Glen is always trying to get me to say and I really CANNOT:  "A skunk sat on a stump.  The skunk thunk the stump stunk.  The stump thunk the skunk stunk.  Which one stunk, the stump or the skunk?"  Boy I even had a hard time spelling (much less saying) that one.  Want more?  Who knew there were so many?