Beware the Teacher With Hot Flashes

He said, "I'm tryin' to do my mornin' work but it's a little cold in here!"

Sometimes

Sometimes heroes come in small packages

Sometimes a kindergarten teacher may be a little squeamish about smushing bugs.

 
Sometimes the thought of the crunchiness and the guts will make a kindergarten teacher unwilling to step on the half-dollar sized spider.

Sometimes a very wise kindergarten teacher will cheerfully yell, “Who wants to come squash this big, fat brown spider?”

Always, an eager little hero will rush forward.

Sometimes that hero will be a  girl whose red hair is gilded with gold.

And sometimes that sweet, innocent, beautiful child will turn into a ninja and grind that hairy spider into the carpet with her sparkly, pink light up tennis shoes.

And then she will check the bottom of her shoe for guts and walk demurely back to her place in line.

And ALWAYS, the teacher will struggle to keep a straight face while thanking her little hero!

Home Sweet Home

Today is the last day of my Winter Break.
My car has been parked in the same spot for five wonderful days!

I am convinced that I could stay home for weeks at a time.
All I need is someone to bring me groceries.
I absolutely love this house and I absolutely love being here.

Something very strange has happened during these sweet, quiet days.
I have no explanation for it and I know that it will cause great concern to all who know me well.

I have risen early...well early-ish every day.  Without giving away the exact time lets just say I've been up and going well before the morning news shows are done. 

I have gotten so much done around this house by the lake lakelit lakette big giant pond.

I have cleaned rooms and clothes.
I have stripped wallpaper from multiple (8) long walls.
I have vacuumed and steam cleaned carpets and cooked dinner (well maybe just once but I can't get all this stuff done if I have to stop working to cook).
I have sewn blankets and burp pads and I have crocheted a baby blanket, hat and boots. Not booties. Boots!
And I have spent some quality time on Pinterest.
But that was mostly work related. Well, some of it was.

Sadly, it all ends tonight.
Tomorrow is another work day. A day full of fabulous sitting. All day.

I won't publish my thoughts on what TPTB have planned for us tomorrow. I need this job for at least three more years. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

I just hope the fast food restaurants located between the two sites the entire elementary staff for the county has been assigned has been notified that all bazillion of us will be hungry and in a hurry.

It is a little know fact that teachers live for those days when we get to eat lunch like grown-ups.


Just sayin'..................

Happy Birthday, Mom

One of my favorite bloggers is back after a long silence.
http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/page/4/

She wrote about her perfectionism and how she often doesn't start a post because the conditions aren't perfect. Anyway, go read what she wrote and pretend that I wrote it too. She is funnier than I am but I may have her beat in the crazy department.

So today in honor of my mother, who often told me I was a wonderful writer, I will start again. She may have been reading through the eyes of love but that's okay.

Today would have been her birthday.

If she were still here on this earth we would drive to her favorite restaurant tomorrow to celebrate. She and my dad have, (had?...I never know the words for these moments) birthdays seperated by one day and we always celebrated on the 'in between day'.
Since Mom's death I have discovered that my eyes are indeed quite leaky. Previously, I rarely cried and even take some sort of perverse pride in traversing difficult, highly emotional event dry-eyed.

That would be some of the crazy I mentioned earlier.

I wanted to call my aunt today. She and Mom were best friends.
But tears have forged a steady trail down my cheeks and I can't find my voice underneath their salty tracks.

My sweet, sweet cousin called her for me. I didn't even ask her to.
My kids have all called to check on me.
So has my sister. 

I have the best family.

I just wish she were here too.

Just sayin'...................................

The Kindergarten Krud

It has been a long week.

I have been sick but oh so busy!

I don't know why teachers hate to take a day off when we are sick.
Maybe because it seems like such a waste of a day off?
It is a good thing we aren't paid to be logical about every single thing.

It really is a mystery how I got sick.

I don't want to point fingers at any known nose pickers but  I have been sick all week and he/she/they started it.

After 20+ years with kindergarteners I should have an immune
system medical researchers discuss in reverent tones.

Not to mention the fact that this school year
for totally unrelated reasons we wash hands,
tables and doorknobs and use hanitizer
(kindergarten for hand sanitizer)
from jumbo sized containers more often than Adrian Monk.

It has been an an orchestra of symptoms building to a crescendo
towards the end of this week. I made it through the work day
Friday without crying or using inappropriate words at school
but it was a little iffy towards the end of the day.

When I am sick the last thing I want to do is talk.
That is when it becomes inconvenient to be a teacher
because I am pretty sure that it is against the rules to sit in
a rolling chair and stare blankly at 20 or so students.

It is possibly also dangerous but that is a story for another day.
It involves a chair, a student, an unsuspecting innocent teacher,
a VERY unsupportive co-worker (just kidding, Brandy)
and a possible worker comp claim.

Stay tuned.
It is a great story.
One that happens Only IN Kindergarten.


Just sayin'.................................................

Sally, You Know Who and Jane

Times are changing my fiends friends.

The timeless Sally, You Know Who and Jane books are popular amoung
the early readers but I just can't take it anymore.

It feels like I am desecrating something almost sacred
but this week I'll be changing all of the capital Ds to capital Rs
in this set of books in my classroom.

I am reminded of the time my librarian mother used a black Sharpie
to draw shorts on the naked baby in the Maurice Sendak book,
In The Night Kitchen.

I thought she was so old fasioned and risked my life
by teasing her about it.

The snickers from some and the horrified looks from others have made
even me uncomfortable.

Sally, Rick and Jane.

It has a nice ring to it.


Just sayin'......................

The Baby Brother

I am typing this on my iPad (thank you Steve) and wondering why I can't choose my usual color or font.

Oh well, at least I am not sitting in a chair at Grady Hospital, squinting at my phone and trying to update friends and family on the condition of my little brother.

Instead, I am comfortably propped up in bed as I look for the words worthy of this update.

I wonder if these phrases will work:
Heart swelling pride
Teary eyed thankfulness
Humble appreciation for God's grace

Have you prayed for something for years and years?
Have you prayed so long for something that you worried
the words were too rote or too familiar to reach the ears of God?
Have you ever prayed for something for so long
that you had to grit your teeth and force yourself
to say the words because your faith had grown thin?

I have.

Oh, how I wish that I could shout this story in all caps so that you would all know what I know.
But, as always, I will only tell the stories that are mine to tell.

Know this-
my baby brother may look like a fabulously handsome Clark Kent
(note to Marlin-I in no way consider you as plain looking as the many actors who portrayed Superman and use this comparison only for literary purposes)
but beneath that very attractive exterior lies a superhero.

He has been my hero at many points in my life.
He allowed me to ride on his social coat tails on the many occasions
my shyness made me seem unfriendly dorky.
Marlin made friends easily and he was almost always willing to pave the way
for his awkward older sister. And while I often relied on his confidence and
charisma to make things easier for me, God help you if you insulted him or hurt
him in any way. After all, he was my baby brother.

Marlin was often braver than I was and I sometimes have a very difficult time
remaining composed when I think of things he faced down alone.
He didn't have to but he didn't know that at the time.

During most of my teenage years I had a reoccurring nightmare that scared the
ever-loving stuffing out of me and frankly still does a little.

Okay,okay a lot.
And I can still remember every horrifying detail of that silly dream.

Anyway, my little brother rarely complained when I woke him to keep me company
and keep a little black dog named Midnight who had the head of a Chinese man
from getting me.

Google Hop Sing from the old western Bonanza and you'll be looking at the

face in my dreams.

Stop laughing. I'm baring my soul here people. And it is a known fact that  we
lived in a very spooky 100 year old house.
The stories I have about that house........

Anyway.

Brother of mine, you have taught me so much over our lifetime.
Although you never managed to teach me to dance or sing you
taught me to be true to who I am proud of what makes me-
me.

But best of all,
you taught me that it is never too late for God's grace
and for Him to make us the person
He had planned for us to be all along.

My heart now bears witness to what my head has always known.

You taught me that our prayers really are ALWAYS heard.

Here's to 60 and to 90 and to all the other milestones we will mark together!

You rock, dude.
Okay, so I'm still a dork.

I'll always love you and I'll always be there to throw rocks at anyone that
picks on you.

P.S.-Mama's proud too. I can feel it all the way from heaven.