This is the shirt I made to wear tonite to the celebrity spelling bee that benefits Schoolhouse Supplies:

http://www.schoolhousesupplies.org

When I signed on, I told the gal here at work that I can't spell. She told me not to worry... it was all for fun. "Great," I said.

And then two days later the organizer sent me a 1,000 word list, a dictionary, and a copy of Akeelah and the Bee.

Most of the words I have never heard of and can't use in a sentence. Rote memorization would be the only way to pull this off. I did some quick math and figured out that I'd have to memorize about 50 a day to get it done in time. That's when I decided I'd just take the pressure off everyone else and shoot for going out on the first round.

In all honesty, I am excited about tonite. It will be fun and it's all for a good cause. I just hope the other contestants haven't decided to adopt the "go-out-fast-and-furious" strategy or else it will be the fastest and most boring spelling bee E-V-E-R.

Okay.. look at this little cutie (I didn't say "cute" so this doesn't count toward my weekly allotment of the word). His name is Pad and no matter how many photos I took of him he kept closing his eyes. Slowly.

Finally, I must have looked pretty confused because his mom (who was a little ways away) said, "Oh yeah, does he have his eyes closed?"

"Yeah, it's weird. Everytime I go to take a picture he closes his eyes" I said.

"He's afraid of the flash."

Email me: Stephanie Stricklen