on the side of what???

This time last weekend I was in LasVegas. And it was warm, and sunny, and warm, and colourful, and big, and overwhelming and amazing. I have a lot to say about my trip. Unfortunately, my computer has a 'fatal error' so that has been preventing me from blogging as much as I should. Currently I am sitting in the sound booth at church writing this blog. Don't worry, I'm still doing sound, and painting my nails, and reading a magazine, and writing this blog. I'm a multi-tasker.

I will share with you this one story. Which was probably the most awkward moment of my life. More awkward then when my pants got pulled off when I was hanging 10 feet in the air on a zipline. More awkward then the time I went on a date and he had his fly down the entire time and I din't have the courage to point it out, more awkward than the time I tried to get out of a seatbelt infraction ticket by trying to convince the police officer that I had really bad cramps.

Here's the story.
On our last night in Vegas, Bethany and I decided to get super dressed up and sexified and go out for a nice dinner and do some gambling. We don't gamble, ever, so it was sort of a special event. We each threw in $25 and that was our limit and we played within it.

We had had breakfast in New York, Lunch in Greece and decied to round out our cultural experience by having a nice dinner in Paris. We had walked SO much the previous three days that our feet were a little bit swollen, and we rarely (read:never) wear high heels, so by the time we walked to Paris (which, to be honest, was across the road from our hotel), Bethany's feet were blistering and bleeding. Our goal was to find a resturaunt as fast as possible so we could take our shoes off.

So we found a nice place. The kind of place with linnen tablecloths and napkins. The kind of place where your waiter puts your napkin on your lap for you and wears a tux. Where you get a $300 bottle of wine, some oysters and escargot. The kind of place where you actually have a heart-attack when you see the prices on the menu. Like actually. We opened the menu and realized in about 0.5 second that this place was WAY our of our league and price range. I"m talking $75 a plate. Not only is that ridiculous, but it's ridiculous.

Beth and I gave eachother the 'what the heck in the world are we going to do I'm not paying $80 to eat supper' look and started to discuss our options. We didn't know what to do, but we knew that eating there was not an option. Beth felt awkward leaving, and so did I, but I knew we couldn't eat there. So I started to come up with options of what we could do.

a. Pretend one of us was sick and leave
b. Pretend we had an emergency we had to go to
c. Tell them about my serious fish alergy and that the fact their menu had so much fish made me nervous to even be there
d. walk away really quickly (not really an option considering the state of Bethany's feet)
e. tell them we decided we weren't hungry after all

None of those are really good options. I was all gung-ho for B. It's totally legit to claim you got a text that someone just got in an accident and you have to leave right away. Unfortunately, before I could formulate what exactly I would say, the waiter came back to take our order. We didn't go with the 'emergency option' but I did lie - but only a litte bit. I told the server that we just wanted something light before our night out, we weren't really that hungry and just wanted something to tide us over. We both wanted a side salad.

Vanessa's response when we came home and told her (after laughing hysterically I might add), "On the side of what?"

Yup, just on the side... of nothing. A side salad on the side of nothing. Because we weren't 'that hungry'. Hungry enough to eat our salads (which weren't even that good), and to devour the 8 free buns that came to our table.

Then we left and filled up at Baskin Robbins.
Seriously, we are so classy.

February Blows

I suck at blogging lately.
And I apologize.
But in my defense, it is February and everyone knows that February blows. Here is my top 10 list of has what has happened in Feburary and tell me that you not only understand why I didn't blog, but that you are glad I didn't because it would just be a waste of time to read it.

1. My haunted microwave woke up from it's nap and is now working fine.
2. I painted my nails.
3. I watched a few movies and some tv.
4. Did a lot of dishes.
5. Went to the gym.
6. Had some naps.
7. Put gas in my car.
8. Saw some friends.
9. Took the garbage out a few times.
10. Showered.

So really, other than my haunted microwave working fine again, as you can see, I've had a VERY exciting few weeks.

But have no fear. Things start looking up starting tomorrow - when I attempt Vegas again.

Other things to look forward to in March:
How I have no rhythm or skills and yet go to dance class.
MC-ing Jon and Rachel's Wedding.
Spring Break.

Nag

"Z, will you take the attendence down to the office for me?"
"Ugh!!! Do I have to?"
"No, I just thought I'd ask. I can get someone else to if you want."
"Fine. Nag, nag, nag, that's all you do!"

What I love about Sunday

Driving home a few minutes ago this song was playing on the radio and it made me think about my list of what I love about Sunday.

• Sleeping in.
• Waking up, and then sleeping in some more.
• Waking up again and staying in my warm, comfy bed to read a book.
• Finally dragging my lazy carcass out of bed, dressing up a bit more than a normal day - or dressing down more than a normal day depending on how I'm feeling.
• Spending time with my sisters just chilling out.
• Driving to church and anticipating the service.
• Going to church.
• Getting welcomed at the door by friendly people that I like.
• Our AWESOME worship teams - seriously, they are fantastic.
• Worship.
• Seeing my friends.
• Sitting with Tiersa at church again, just like in the old days. (I'm SO thankful for her furlough)
• Learning new things from my 'friend' the DUDE (aka PH, aka Pastor Harry', Fields the Genius or my awesome friend DaveM. I worked closely with those men for 5 years and I love them and I miss seeing them during the week. It blesses my heart to talk and see them each Sunday)
• Chilling after church and talking with people. Talking about stuff, or the sermon, or books, or funny things.
• Getting a hug from my dad.
• Seeing and talking with my old Youth kids.
• The occasional after-church lunch outing with friends (I loved that more in Ontario where we had Church Chicken aka Swiss Chalet)
• Having a long Sunday afternoon nap.
• Reading.
• E-mailing, blogging, texting, writing letters.
• A lazy afternoon and evening at home.

LOVE it.
Sunday as a day of rest was ingrained in me from a young age, and it is a habit that I have kept for 29 years. I crave it, need it, love it.

Big Sister

I'm a big sister.
x 4

I have three biological little sisters, and as of recently I have been matched up with a 7 year old girl through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in Kamloops. It's great. I really do love time that I get to spend each week with my little sister.

It's a great program. The application is quite long. There are a lot of interviews, home visits, looking through files, meeting with co-ordinators and doing everything that needs to be done in order to make a good match between a big (me) and a little. But once it is all done, and if it is done well, it makes the process worth it.

My match is great. My little loves to bake, read, do science experiments, go to school, play, do crafts, and basically is the 7 year old version of me. It's fantastic. I knew that we were the perfect match about 6 weeks into it. We were driving to a Christmas party and I let her pick whatever song she wanted to on my i-pod to listen to on the drive. Out of ALL of the 3000 songs on my i-pod she picked "Cover Girl" by the New Kids on the Block. Seriously. She's awesome. It is now our theme song and we listen to it approximately 18 times every time we hang out.

The best part about having a little is that for a few hours each week I get to not be a teacher, and not be a young-adult, and not be 30, but I get to be 7 again.

And when you are seven, what is better than building a massive fort with all the blankets and pillows in the house and playing snakes and ladders?
Or getting a make-over?
Think about becoming a big brother or big sister. It's pretty sweet.

cold-kirk

It snowed a lot last night. More snow than I have EVER seen in one dumping in Kamloops in the past 6 years. Everything was under a good 6 inches of beautiful, dry, powdery snow. It was a winter winter wonderland. Freezing cold. But a winter wonderland nonetheless.

As Bethany and I were sitting in the living room today listening to the wind howl outside, she looked wistfully out the window and with a sad look on her face sighed, "I feel bad for Kirk. He must be so cold outside."

I scruntched up my forehead wondering who Kirk is, and why he was outside and how Bethany knew someone named Kirk and I had never heard about him before.

Then I realized.
She meant Cat-Kirk.

He was covered in 6 inches of snow. And in his defense - and Bethanys, despite the fact that he is ceramic, he did look really cold today.

The Haunted Microwave

My microwave is haunted. Or possessed. It depends what day it is. Interestingly enough though, it tends only to be haunted/possessed during the winter months.

What happens is this. Every January-March for the past three years, my microwave has attracted the spirit of someone who is attached to my 60$ wal-mart special microwave. The microwave will start beeping randomly. First it will start off with one beep here and there. Nothing too strange. But then it will start beeping obsessively until I can get to it and unplug it. When I want to use the microwave again, I have to plug it in and none of the buttons will work. I'll leave it, and it will start beeping again a few hours later. And the cycle continues until I get to the point where I decide, "ok, this microwave is fried, I'm just going to leave it unplugged and get a new one."

But I'm super cheap, so I never do buy a new one. After a month or two, I wonder if maybe the microwave spontaneously healed itself so I plug it in, and low and behold - it will work again for another 9 months. Amazing. MIRACLE!

Then we go through the cycle again. The cycle started again last week. We know how it goes, so the microwave has been unplugged waiting for the day for it to heal itself.

But then. Last night. 3am. The microwave starts beeping.
I wake up.
How is this possible?!?!? It's unplugged.

Man! That is one relentless ghost! Even working when the microwave has no electrical source.

In my dopey-half-sleeping state I ignored it for a while. Then as it continued to beep and as I woke up a bit more, I started thinking about all the ghost stories and ghost movies I have seen over the course of my lifetime and I started to get really freaked out. So scared. I did NOT put my brave face on and go downstairs to see what was happening.

Finally, at 7:15am, when it was a little bit light outside (read: SAFE), I went downstairs.
The microwave had been plugged in!
How? How? How?

Is my semi-new home haunted by a ghost that is trying to communicate with me via morse code from a beep-ey microwave?

Wiiiiierd.

Ridiculous Adventure

Today I want to tell you about my best and worst adventure of the summer. I can't believe that I didn't share this with you in the summer, how it slipped my mind I don't know. But I'm going to tell you about it today, and hopefully I can convey to you the ridiculousness of the situation.

As you know, my heart lives in Barkerville British Columbia. This past summer while I was there, me and my BarkervilleBestie Amber talked a lot. And one day in July - when it full out snowed, I was telling her about how in Kamloops it gets to be 40 degrees and sometimes we like to blow up air mattresses and inner tubes and float down the river. Like this:
It was a wonderful memory to share with Amber that snowy, cold JULY day. We thought to ourselves, "if only it was warm here, and if only there was a river we could float down on one of the 3 summer days that Wells/Barkerville gets." Then we remembered. There was a river. Well.... a creek really. But it was totally wide enough for us to float down (we thought) and would be deep enough to support our little blow-up fishing boat (we thought). So the plan was hatched. One day, before the end of August when I left, we would put her boat in the river/creek half way between Wells and Barkerville and float into Wells where we would climb out, walk the boat home and then pick up her truck.

Days passed. Summer came and went - on the same day nonetheless - and we never got around to floating down the river. Finally, on one of my last nights, we packed our bug spray, bear spray, and sweaters and loaded the boat. The river was four or five feet deep where we put in, and about 4 m wide. Wide and deep and fast flowing enough for us to float comfortably. For about 20 meters anyways.

The river was narrow and we often hit the sides. Especially when the banks would narrow, the water would rush quickly and a hairpin curve was ahead. It was more like... bumper boats... than anything else. We would laugh. We ran into low trees, we hit the banks often, and then the river would widen, and the water would get shallow. We would yell "BUM'S UP" and lift our butts of the bottom of the boat that was now scraping bottom. Sometimes it worked, more often than not one of us would get out and pull us to deeper water.



It was a ridiculous gong show.
But we laughed. Oh we laughed.


For about 90 minutes.
Then we realized that this boat trip was taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. The lights from town were not getting any closer. It was getting darker and colder and less fun to struggle through the bog. We still laughed a lot, but the ridiculousness of the situation was less hilarious as time passed.


After 2.5 hours the lights of town were close. After 2.75 hours the lights from town were farther away and behind us. We had missed the turn off and were now heading for Quesnel. Our options were to turn the boat around and paddle against the current, or pull out and walk through the bog back to town.

We chose the second option.
AKA the wrong option.

With much difficulty (and me fully falling in the river up to my chest) we pulled the boat out of the river and walked with it approximately 2 meters through thick brush and swamp before abandoning it. Part of the difficulty was the terrain, most of the difficulty was our inability to stop laughing. It took us a further 30 minutes to stomp through calf-high stinky swamp mud OR crawl over 8 foot tall bushes. We lost our shoes I don't know how many times. We fell down a million, we screamed a lot, we laughed even more, we got a bit worried about meeting a moose or a bear, our legs and arms were scratched beyond recognition. But we made it out eventually. The boat remains lost to the bog to this day. It was a ridiculous adventure. But so ridiculous that it was hilarious.

(This is why it took so long. It's not a nice straight line. It's obnoxiously wiggly)

The 2011 List of Awesome

As a general rule, I avoid New Years. That includes parties, staying up late, acknowledging the day, everything. I have a whole rant about why I dislike New Years, but that's not the point of today. The point of today is to reflect on 2011. Despite my dislike of New Years, I do enjoy looking back and reflecting on the past year. The challenges and successes and funny moments and blessings that continue to come to my life year after year.

1. I started blogging again. Which has been fun. I enjoy telling stories and sharing funny things with people so that they can laugh too. Laughing is good.
2. I learned to play the violin.
3. I once again experienced time-travel and went back to 1862 where I had a great time living and working in the ever-awesome Barkerville. I continued to build meaningful relationships and friendships in Wells/Barkrville and I know my part in the story of Barkerville is not over yet.
4. I was a really good teacher. I had some awesome lessons, activities, field trips, jokes and stories. I have the craziest-wierdest-best relationship with this group of kids that I've had for two years now. I love them.
5. My dog died.
6. I had the craziest adventure floating, stomping and screaming through a bog.
7. I kept up old friendships with people I love and have loved for 10 years and I'm SO thankful that despite time, distance and new lives that I have these friends. Karmyn, Christy, Jacci, SaraBeth, Gosia.
8. I survived a year separated from my Bestie Tiersa who was living and working in Mexico.
9. I've made plans and dreams for the future.
10. I started running.
11. I lost 50 pounds.
12. I got kicked off an airplane and had the crappiest vacation ever.
13. I got up at 3am one day in April to watch the Royal Wedding.
14. I saved a life.
15. I volunteered with St.John Ambulance
16. I became a big sister.
17. I learned to draw. Well.
18. I decided I don't hate Vancouver anymore.
19. I designed, built and cared for a garden. And it was pretty neat.
20. I quit my job.
21. I took a ceramics class and made a gnome.
22. I tried out Hot Yoga and Zumba.
23. I fed a fox.
24. I went to a crazy hippie festival - and enjoyed myself.
25. I went to a masqurade ball.
26. I went to Seattle for the first time.
27. I laughed a lot.
28. I played a lot of games.
29. I discoved new tv shows like How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Community, Road to Avonlea
30. I spent time with my family, whom I love a lot.

Wow! I just re-read that list. I did a lot of neat things - and learned a bunch too. I think if I can keep going with a list like that year after year that would be awesome. Life is awesome. God is good. I am blessed.

And because I'm culturally obligated to say this, "Happy New Year"

50

This post has been a long time in coming. A very, very, very long time. I've been planning it for months and waiting for "the day" when I would get to write this and share with you the big... transformation... that has been happening in my life.

It's a big deal. It's not finished, but it's in progress and I've reached the point where I want to share what has been happening with my friends and family. People here in Kamloops have seen what has been happening to me, but my family and friends across Canada and the world have no idea what I have been up to.

But I got to thinking as the year draws to a close, that it's time for me to share my success in case anyone else is needing the same thrilling change that I have been experiencing. If you are, call me or e-mail me and I'll get you started down the right path.

Are you ready for the big unveiling?

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about 50 lbs.

I've lost 50lbs.

That is the equivalent to a large bag of dog food, or if you don't do dogs, about the weight of an average nine year old. Amazing!

The truth is, losing weight is hard. And discouraging. It takes so much work and so much commitment that at times I wanted to give up. But for the most part I was good to stick with my diet and my program. I did not go to the gym. I did not get a personal trainer. I did not get a nutritionist. I did not sign up for WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig or any other scheme. I changed my diet and exercised. A lot of my success has to do with the above product from Visalus Sciences. No gimmick, just healthy, nutrient-rich, protein-thick, vitamin-filled, shake mix that I added to fruit smoothies.

Despite losing 50lbs, 6 dress sizes, and 2 bra sizes, I have gained many things. Confidence, a new wardrobe, energy, great skin, health (haven't even had the slightest cold since I started this journey), joy, comfort, strength, skills that I thought I would never had. I used to blame my non-athleticism on my bum ankle - which at times is a legitimate excuse, but not always. I can now run 30 minutes without stopping. My sweat is fat crying and I hate it and like it at the same time.

If you are thinking of weight-loss as a New Years Resolution and are curious about my success, contact me! I did it. I know you can too.

Creeper

Yesterday I worked forever.

Literally. ALL day and then some. It was just one of those days where there wasn't enough time to get things done and I ended up walking home from work ridiculously late. It was dark, it was cold, it was miserable, it was not a nice night to be out.

I was almost home when my sister texted me "Where are you?"

It never even occurred to me to text back, "I'm almost home, I'm walking down the street" or any other normal-boring response. Nope. I went in for the creep.

I slipped into the backyard and sat on a lawnchair, where I could see Vanessa sitting on the couch, put my feet up, and texted back, "I'm in the backyard. Where are you?"

She whipped her head around, saw me sitting in my winter coat, hat, boots, scaft, mittens, on the lawnchair, opened the back door, and laughingly told me I was a creeper.

Culture Day

Today in my class we had 'Culture Day'.

Also known as 'Chaos Day'.

Also known as 'Awesome'.

For the past few weeks students have been working on projects about different countries around the world. Today they brought their projects to school along with a traditional food for a potluck lunch and a story, game, piece of music or something interactive from their culture to share with the class.

It was a fantastic day. The projects were really well done and the activities were fun. Some students (and obviously me) had on costumes, some made movies, some made activity sheets to go with their station. It was a great fun-filled day.

Our very last presentation did me in though. I laughed. We all laughed. We all went crazy. I'm still smiling thinking about the craziness that happened during the last presentation. How could a presentation on Australia get crazy you ask?

WELL, let me tell you.

Apparently, Cody Simpson is from Australia.

So when this student put on a CD for us to listen to some "Australian Music" - Cody Simpson blared out. (Ai ai ai ai).

And you can't listen to Cody Simpson and not dance. Especially if you are eleven... or twenty-nine...

So our multi-cultural day ended in a full-out dance party. And it was awesome.

Especially when the kid who did his project on India busted out some pretty fantastic Bollywood moves.

Top 10 Obsessions

1. Sharpies
2. Facebook
3. Pinterest
4. Thrift Stores
5. Crafts
6. Jericho
7. Warm Beds
8. Warmed-up bean bags (usually aids #7)
9. Slippers
10. Painting my nails

Fun/Whiplash - it's all the same thing.

I just wanted to share a picture of me having fun with some students. And by having fun I mean getting whip-lash. I like hanging out with these kids. They keep me young and make me laugh.

My Family is Pretty

On Sunday my family headed down to Kamloops lake to take some nice family pictures. They turned out really well. Here are some of my favourites.

Ew.

If you are a girl, you will most likely be able to relate to what I'm about to write about today. If you are a boy... hopefully you won't be too traumatized by what you are about to see. And if you are a boy (or my mom), I want you to understand that the picture and story I'm about to share with you, are in fact, your fault.

It all started when I was born.
A girl.
With hair.
That grew long.
And, lets be honest, pretty glorious. I have pretty nice hair.

The one time I decided I didn't want long, luxurious, curly hair. So in grade 10 I cut it off, whereupon people called me ugly until it grew back. Ever since then I have had long hair. And it's nice. I like it. People compliment me on it. In fact, last Sunday my hair was so nice that three (THREE!) random people (read: strangers) actually reached out and ran their fingers through my hair. I know. That's weird. Really weird. It has never happened before, but it did actually happen on Sunday and works well to illustrate my point. The point that I have nice hair.

I'll get to the point of my 'hair-raising' story (see what I did there? 'hair-raising' so clever). Because I'm a girl, with a lot of hair, I gotta tell you, I shed. Quite a lot. A LOT. And occasionally the train in my tub/shower gets clogged. With hair, and shaving cream, and product, and missing razors, toothpaste lids, all sorts of treasures. Last Thursday I realized it was just about time to unclog the drain. I'm fairly environmental, so I try to avoid products like Draino, and I have this fantastic product called the Turbo Snake that works amazingly. And it gets out EVERYTHING.

Now for the gross part. The stuff I found:




Ew.
Seriously. NASTY.

Hope you all have a good day! ;)

The best feeling in the world

The best feeling in the world (for today anyways):

Visiting a friend in the hospital and getting to hold her brand-new one-day-old baby as long as I wanted and not having to share her with anyone!

Seriously. I gotta get me one of those one of these days.

Grammar can be fun!

I had a good day at school today. The kind of day where you come home and pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that you did a smashing job and deserve a raise.

The reason I was such an awesome teacher today was that I made grammar class not just fun, but absolutely roll-on-the-floor hilarious. This post might not do it justice, but I'll try.

I teach a split 5/6 class - which is a challenge, but also has it's bright spots. I try to do separate lessons as much as possible so that the curriculum and IRPs get covered. Today after setting the 6th graders to their work (wahoo subordinate clauses - bleh), I started working with the 5's on sentence types. Seriously guys, grammar is not exciting. Whenever I have a super boring grammar lesson I always apologize to my students and say, "I'm sorry guys, sometimes we just have to learn things and it's not exciting. And we have to do it cus' the government says we have to. So don't get moody with me, be mad at the government. Write Stephen Harper a letter or something to complain, don't whine to me, I can't do anything about it."

But today it was hilarious. So hilarious that most of the 6's ignored their subordinate clauses and participated with the 5's in a lesson they had already done last year. Because it was funny and they wanted to be a part of the hilarity. Why so funny? Because I used funny examples.

Declarative Sentences: State a fact.
e.g. Zac Efron is dreamy.
Then they all groaned so I crossed out Zac Efron and wrote Taylor Lautner. (More groaning)
Zane can't stop talking.
Then they all groaned so I crossed out his name and wrote Nathan. Then crossed it out and wrote Caleb, and kept doing that about 8 times going through the kids who talk all the time. It was funny. And everyone was laughing and getting all defensive (in a good funny way) so I crossed off 'can't stop talking' and wrote in 'is very smart and pretty.' (which was funny because it was mostly boys.) then as they were laughing I added more. 'But only between 7 and 8am. The rest of the time he smells. A lot.'

Interoggative Sentences: Ask a question.
e.g. Why isn't Zac Efron Miss. G's boyfriend yet?
How come people think Taylor Lautner is cool, when he clearly isn't?

Exclamatory Sentences: Express strong emotion.
I love Zac Efron! (Do you sense a theme yet?)


Imperative Sentences: State a command.
(by this time we were out of control having fun and laughing so I wrote...)
Be quiet!
Get to work!
Do your homework!

and one of my students yelled out:

Stop being bossy! (Which made us laugh more, because I was being bossy, and it was an imperative sentence.)

So I wrote it on the board and added to the end

"Stop being bossy!" said Owen. In detention.

Oh we laughed.

It was so good to be reviewing and learning, but laughing so hard. And it's so good to have a relationship with my students where I can healthily tease them and they can tease me back. Laughter is good. Relationships are good. Being a teacher is not always about being the boss, it's about being a role model, and encourager, an entertainer, an advisor, a discipler, and a trainer.

And today I was.

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse.

Monday was one of 'those' days.

It's taken me five days to calm down, and now I can look back and see that it wasn't really that terrible. It was still terrible, but not THAT terrible.

It all started when I woke up and it was still dark out. Nobody likes that.
My students were crazy.
I had to leave school right away at 2:40 beacuse I had a meeting all the way up the moutain AND across town. So I didn't get to clean up, or do marking, or leave feeling prepared.
Went to my meeting - which was good.
Drove 1/2 way down the mountain to church. Where I realized I forgot my purse at my meeting location 15 minutes away. And no one was going to be there the rest of the night.
Cooked dinner for 40 young adults at church, even though I didn't want to.
Drove back to get my purse.
Drove ALL the way home at the very bottom of the mountain on the other side of town.
The door was locked.
We NEVER lock the door.
EVER.
My cell phone was dead.
The neighbours were all out trick-or-treating.
I was tired and crabby and just wanted to go to bed. I went over to my friend Gracie's house to use her phone. But do you think I have my sister's phone number memorized? No. Why would I? It's on speed dial.
Called the wrong number.
Called my mom to get my sister's number.
Called my sister. She didn't pick up.
Thought I'd call the church where I left her.
I worked at the church for 5 years. Do you think I have that number memorized? No. I ended up calling my pastors home instead.
Called the church. Talked to my sister and told her to come let me in the house.
Eventually made it home, way past my bedtime.

And just when I thought my night couldn't get worse....



My dog died.

Back inthe day when Sandy was a puppy... and alive... :(

Bad Idea

As much as I love every single one of my students, I have to say that sometimes they follow through with bad idea's.

Take for example what happened on Monday. I told them an interactive Bible story. So whenever I said "Esther" they had to cat call, when I said "Mordecai" they had to clap and cheer. "Haaman" got boo's, and King Xerxes called for them to stand up and shout "long live the king!"

Just a new fun way to tell a story that they have heard before.

The assignment: Choose a Biblical hero and turn his/her story into an interactive one that you can share with the class.

Now, I'm not a newbie at teaching anymore. I know full well that when an open assignment such as this is given, it will lead to distractions and a few kids not doing what they are supposed to be doing. While working with another group, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one group of boys was clearly goofing around. I storm over there.

One of the boys is holding his nose and trying not to cry. He is clearly hurt. I ask the boys what happened.

"We were working on our assignment," they replied. I gave them 'the look."
"Do NOT tell me that you were working on your assignment,"I say in my best angry teacher voice. "Do NOT tell me that is what you were doing. Clearly you were NOT working on your assignment. What is going on here?"
"Really Miss. G. We were working on our assignment!" the boys insisted. I kneel down to the boy who is hurt and ask gently,
"Bobby*, can you tell me what happened?" He looks up at me with tear filled eyes,
"We were working on our story!" I once again give him 'the look.' You know, the I-don't-believe-you-stop-tying-to-not-get-in-trouble-we-have-a-problem-here-Look. He continues. "We were doing the story, and I was being the water, and they were being Jesus and Peter and walking on me!"

First of all, I get 10 000 points for not immediately laughing at them. Secondly, I gave them my 'look' again and said, "Well boys.... didn't really think that one through did you?"

Shamefaced, and smirking a bit all four of them start giggling at what a bad idea they had followed through with.

(*Names have been changed to protect identity)