Quote of the Week #18

One of my sweet-niks will sometimes say "based on a true story" after an announcement, or a story, or something funny. It cracks me up. He does it in a kind of announcer voice, and his timing is perfect. I will finish a free lecture (I think I keep telling you I'll explain the free lecture, but then I don't.) with a kiddo that needed one, and I will hear him say, "Based on a true story."  Funny stuff.

[Friday Free-Day] Day Off

Yes, teachers get vacations. Two weeks here, two weeks there. Oh, and the "summer off"  as everyone points out.  I'm not going to get all preachy about this "time off." At least not today. I'll link a couple of articles here and here if you feel like getting your dander up or your panties in a bunch about it, but I don't want to discuss it. I want to talk about one day off.

I took my birthday off this year. I planned ahead, I used one of my two allowable personal days, I prepared for it. In my entire teaching career (ahem... over 15 years, folks) I have never taken a personal day just because I wanted to.  I have always saved them for a family event that required a day off, a day to get some work done that was required but no time was given, or saved them and then lost them at the end of the year.  This year, I took one.  And it was fabulous.

I think I crammed the feelings of an entire vacation into one day.  I felt rested, rejuvenated and free.  What a lovely, lovely thing a day off can be!  I highly suggest it!

[Friday Free-Day] Oatmeal

I loves me my sisty-ugler. I don't tell her that because somewhere along the line I decided it was a good idea to keep it to myself,  but I loves her. I do.

We were our first best friends for those early years, and that can't be matched by anyone else in the world.

Here are the twenty things that make me think of her and either laugh, or giggle, or snort, or get boiling mad, or gassy, or sumfink. There are more than twenty, but these are the twenty that I came up with off the top'n my pointy little head.

oatmeal

the color green

The Frog Prince

farting is always funny (in fact, my dog just farted and I giggled)

"Don't you ever get tired of being so ugly?"

the LOTTD

"You smell."

Def Leppard

"Stop singing, you're ruining the song."

curling irons (and severe burns from them)

closets full of clothes

"...and I got a scratch on my elbow..."

babysitting the boys

hitting each other on the way to school, promising not to tell anyone, and then both telling everyone

a cake made to look like a fish with frosting so bright it turned my tongue colors

cheerios

swearing I wasn't copying everything she did, but secretly wondering if I was

21 Jump Street

buying the same blue and white polka-dot shirt even though we lived across the state from each other

"THEY'RE COMING RIGHT AT YOU!!!!!"

Oh, and did I mention it is her birthday today?  It is. And you wanta know something evil? For once I'm glad she's older than me. Heh.

Oatmeal,

B

[Article Review] Read This, Would Ya?

Click here for an article I want you to read.  I also want to hear what you have to say about it.  If you haven't told me yet, or chatted it to me, or commented it to me, please do so.  Send an email, an airmail, a carrier pigeon, or an unladen swallow.  I'll get the message.

[Teaching Ideas] My Oh My

Well my virtual friends, it has happened.  Last week (or was it the week after?) I was called a b****.  What's that you say?  Haven't I been called that a gabillion times?  Yes.  Yes I have.

This time though, it was a parent.  I was shocked. Flabbergasted. Gob-smacked. So much so, that I said nothing. Me.  Saying nothing. What's up with that?

I did, however, accidentally press the "hang-up" button on the phone instead of the "transfer-call" button I was meant to press.  Oopsie.

[Thoughts on Teaching] Gossip?

I have a lot to say, but I'm having a small moral quandary. What is the line between gossip and sharing stories?  Who am I allowed to tell these things to, and how much am I allowed to say? There have been a few things in my district lately that have surprised me. Things people know about my kids, my school, my career, that I wouldn't think they would know. But people talk. Am I doing the same thing here?

Honest guys--input.  Where is the line?

[Friday Free-Day] Folding Paper

My noodle-heads love to fold paper. Give them a reason to fold it (airplanes, those diamond-shaped things they call footballs, turning dollar bills into rings)--they'll sit for hours and fold, fold, fold. They'll scavenge for paper, steal it even, to keep folding paper long after they've been told not to. Why do they have to scavenge and steal? Because they've used every other piece in the school to fold other things, and there is just nothing left!

I have no idea why this is important enough to share, but it's Friday Free-Day, so I did. Here are some other random things I've noticed about my kiddos over the years:

They like the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Granted they like almost any team that is currently winning, but they have a willing-to-fight-about-it love for the Raiders and Steelers.

They have more gas than typical middle-school kidlets. I've taught in a variety of middle schools. The gas has never been as constant or as bad as it is with the kids I have had the last couple of years. This does not include the kiddo I had last year that was lactose-intolerant and drank milk on purpose just to make me suffer. He is in a category by himself. 

They love pitbulls.  Nearly all of them say they have one, or say they had one once, or say they want one.  Do I blame Michael Vick for that? I would, but he has never played for the Raiders or the Steelers.

They think pencils are considered a one-use item. After they are done writing down whatever short thing they have deigned to write, they just drop them to the ground. When it's time to write again, they look around bewildered. Where did that pencil go?

That's what I know this week. To be honest, I know a lot more than that this week, but I just don't want to dwell on it right now. It was a tough one out on the front lines, and I'd rather pretend it wasn't until I've slept it off.

Peace out my caped friends!

Quote of the Week #17

A: Ms. M, may I pop the zit on my neck?

Me:  Ummmm... Yes. But please don't show me.