First graders hug regularly and without any particular reason.
Fourth graders don't hug without reason . . . but when they have one, they come back for four more and try to tie you to a chair with a jump rope and swear up and down that you can't go because they said so.
Those kids were in kindergarten when I started working there . . . gonna be feeling that all the way to Orlando . . .
P. ost S. cript
My go-to for these sort of moments.
Showing posts with label cutesy stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cutesy stuff. Show all posts
Friday, May 23, 2014
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Bottom of the Well
As far as costume drama goes, especially around here, I suppose this year wasn't bad. All that happened was that I couldn't think of anything. At all. For, like, three months. It appears that three years of awesome costumes are all it takes to completely bleed my creativity dry.
Well, either that or my truly genius but completely unfeasible idea of having Katie go in for me and tell the kids she was me dressed up as her was all the creativity I was good for this year.
Anyway. Trips to DI, trips to Halloween City, trips to every store in town that has a Halloween section (even if they do put that section on clearance in freaking August) and the brilliance, cleverness, silliness, and originality continued to elude me. However, I had my eye on the only school/Mormon kosher hippie costume they had at Halloween city as a sort of backup and finally caved and went to get it . . . only to discover I'd striven for genius a touch too long and it was completely gone. So I had to fall back on my backup for my backup (which, I suppose just by having, I must have known subconsciously that I would end up going with). Which was not terrible. Just not as original as I would have liked. (seriously - one of the 5th graders had the exact same thing)
So. Without further ado, behold Lacey's Halloween 2013 Costume
Can I just say I've kind of hated every picture taken of me for the last little while? But I'm posting it anyway. Keepin' it real around here.
One with the flash to catch all the sparkle (and fully capture my talent in wearing three different shades of BLACK!).
One without the flash . . . and also without such an emphasis on my butt . . . can you tell who took these?
And one more because I like it better than the first one, except for the part where it doesn't quite show the whole picture.
So, costume pros:
~ Easy to put together
~ Especially since I (originally) planned to just pull out the same all black ensemble I used as a cat a couple of years ago.
~ Impossible to get mistaken for something else (until all the kids started calling me a fairy when I was thinking of myself as a butterfly).
~ A wonderful excuse to randomly go get some glitter hairspray and body glitter yesterday. (I promise you could see it in person.)
~ Minimal effort required.
~ Cheap(ish).
Costume cons:
~ While pulling out my previous black costume base would have been perfect if my schedule were what is was last year, I was lucky enough to get that extra hour . . . which involves being outside in the cold approximately twenty years before the sun comes up (at least this week). And since the wings wouldn't really work over a jacket . . . well, hooray for cheap, long sleeved, black shirts at thrift stores (which need to be washed before they are promptly returned to the thrift store because it has been quite copiously covered in glitter).
~ I suppose this could go in the pro column but I don't want to put it there: posture enhancement. As in, it's impossible to slump or hunch even the slightest bit in this costume because the elastic bands holding the wings on would cut off circulation to your arms. Seriously, would it have killed them to put one more inch in those things?
~ Maneuverability. Going through doors was not quite the problem I expected. I had to sidle through some, but for the most part the wings have enough flap in them that I could just walk through. The narrow "hallways" created in the spook alley however . . . well, let's just say the wings only made it through the spook alley maybe four times. I put them back on for lunch and then the parade though. Which leads me too . . .
~ SERIOUSLY, would it have killed them to give those arm bands or whatever one more freaking inch of elastic?! Pretty sure I managed to pull every muscle in my shoulders and upper back in taking those things on and off all day.
I was kind of a hit again though. Especially the glitter on my face/hair. (I'm thinking about pulling it back out for Valentine's Day . . . lol)
A few highlights:
5th graders chickening out at the bottom of the stairs when the lights are ON . . . only to be followed by 1st graders going through with the lights off and loving it.
Conversation between me and a nervous third grader -
Me: Would I let anything get you?
Him: No!
Me: Would Ms. Sorenson let anything get you?
Him: Umm, no.
Me: Would Mrs. Bodily let anything get you?
Him: (thinks for a moment) I don't know.
*third grader proceeds to go through a lights-on spook alley with his arms wrapped around my waist the whole time and whimpering*
At the end -
Me: Now was that so bad?
Him: No! I wasn't even scared at all!
Other third grader at the same time: YES!! That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my LIFE!
Yeah . . . the lights were on and all the spooks had their masks raised and were smiling and waving at them. Terrifying, let me tell you.
Cleopatra was a hugely popular costume this year. As in at least seven kids chose it, and one teacher. And all but maybe two of them were this one. Including the teacher in the adult version (and another teacher wore it last year. Crazy, huh?) And three Medusas, two kids and a teacher. Apparently I missed the memo where all the girls were going with intellectual/historical costumes this year.
Second graders screaming in terror at the Garbage Monster . . . and then telling him that they're his biggest fans.
Good times.
In other news, I don't like to brag . . . but unless your Primary Program also involved flying monkeys I'm pretty sure ours (this past Sunday) was better.
Toward the end they were singing "A Child's Prayer" which, for those who don't know, has two verses that can be sung together to form a lovely counterpoint. For the counterpoint I was leading one of the groups of kids and around that time one of the Sunbeams decided she was done. So she left, ran down to her mom, grabbed her stuffed monkey, and came to sit with me as she often does because we're old pals from nursery. However, we were still singing so she couldn't climb into my lap immediately. So instead, right on the last line of the song, she tosses the monkey as high as she can in the air. It was funny enough to those of us close enough to see the whole thing, but I'm told that everyone who only saw a monkey randomly flying high were rather amused too.
Then there were the five years olds sitting behind the bishopric and singing so loud the bishopric had to lean forward in their seats.
And the part where people were saying it was the best Primary Program they'd ever been too . . . and can I just say I really wish there a job somewhere on the planet where I could use that as an achievement because while writing it was a group effort that's seriously the closest I've gotten to using my degree.
On that note, I've been in Primary for a year now - and I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing. A little bit. Ish. Yay.
So all in all it's been a pretty good week. And next week I don't have to go to work at midnight anymore, so it should be pretty good to, even if I do have to pull out my coat. Seriously though, it occurred to me right around the time I was in the middle of the street in front of the school this morning that I was wearing all black, the sun wasn't even beginning to pretend to come up yet, and crossing the street was perhaps not the safest thing to be doing. Good thing I looked both ways, eh?
P. ost S. cript
Every clip I could find of Disney's Sleepy Hollow short, no matter how brief, has had embedding disabled . . . how obnoxious is that?! This shall have to do instead.
Well, either that or my truly genius but completely unfeasible idea of having Katie go in for me and tell the kids she was me dressed up as her was all the creativity I was good for this year.
Anyway. Trips to DI, trips to Halloween City, trips to every store in town that has a Halloween section (even if they do put that section on clearance in freaking August) and the brilliance, cleverness, silliness, and originality continued to elude me. However, I had my eye on the only school/Mormon kosher hippie costume they had at Halloween city as a sort of backup and finally caved and went to get it . . . only to discover I'd striven for genius a touch too long and it was completely gone. So I had to fall back on my backup for my backup (which, I suppose just by having, I must have known subconsciously that I would end up going with). Which was not terrible. Just not as original as I would have liked. (seriously - one of the 5th graders had the exact same thing)
So. Without further ado, behold Lacey's Halloween 2013 Costume
Can I just say I've kind of hated every picture taken of me for the last little while? But I'm posting it anyway. Keepin' it real around here.
One with the flash to catch all the sparkle (and fully capture my talent in wearing three different shades of BLACK!).
One without the flash . . . and also without such an emphasis on my butt . . . can you tell who took these?
And one more because I like it better than the first one, except for the part where it doesn't quite show the whole picture.
So, costume pros:
~ Easy to put together
~ Especially since I (originally) planned to just pull out the same all black ensemble I used as a cat a couple of years ago.
~ Impossible to get mistaken for something else (until all the kids started calling me a fairy when I was thinking of myself as a butterfly).
~ A wonderful excuse to randomly go get some glitter hairspray and body glitter yesterday. (I promise you could see it in person.)
~ Minimal effort required.
~ Cheap(ish).
Costume cons:
~ While pulling out my previous black costume base would have been perfect if my schedule were what is was last year, I was lucky enough to get that extra hour . . . which involves being outside in the cold approximately twenty years before the sun comes up (at least this week). And since the wings wouldn't really work over a jacket . . . well, hooray for cheap, long sleeved, black shirts at thrift stores (which need to be washed before they are promptly returned to the thrift store because it has been quite copiously covered in glitter).
~ I suppose this could go in the pro column but I don't want to put it there: posture enhancement. As in, it's impossible to slump or hunch even the slightest bit in this costume because the elastic bands holding the wings on would cut off circulation to your arms. Seriously, would it have killed them to put one more inch in those things?
~ Maneuverability. Going through doors was not quite the problem I expected. I had to sidle through some, but for the most part the wings have enough flap in them that I could just walk through. The narrow "hallways" created in the spook alley however . . . well, let's just say the wings only made it through the spook alley maybe four times. I put them back on for lunch and then the parade though. Which leads me too . . .
~ SERIOUSLY, would it have killed them to give those arm bands or whatever one more freaking inch of elastic?! Pretty sure I managed to pull every muscle in my shoulders and upper back in taking those things on and off all day.
I was kind of a hit again though. Especially the glitter on my face/hair. (I'm thinking about pulling it back out for Valentine's Day . . . lol)
A few highlights:
5th graders chickening out at the bottom of the stairs when the lights are ON . . . only to be followed by 1st graders going through with the lights off and loving it.
Conversation between me and a nervous third grader -
Me: Would I let anything get you?
Him: No!
Me: Would Ms. Sorenson let anything get you?
Him: Umm, no.
Me: Would Mrs. Bodily let anything get you?
Him: (thinks for a moment) I don't know.
*third grader proceeds to go through a lights-on spook alley with his arms wrapped around my waist the whole time and whimpering*
At the end -
Me: Now was that so bad?
Him: No! I wasn't even scared at all!
Other third grader at the same time: YES!! That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my LIFE!
Yeah . . . the lights were on and all the spooks had their masks raised and were smiling and waving at them. Terrifying, let me tell you.
Cleopatra was a hugely popular costume this year. As in at least seven kids chose it, and one teacher. And all but maybe two of them were this one. Including the teacher in the adult version (and another teacher wore it last year. Crazy, huh?) And three Medusas, two kids and a teacher. Apparently I missed the memo where all the girls were going with intellectual/historical costumes this year.
Second graders screaming in terror at the Garbage Monster . . . and then telling him that they're his biggest fans.
Good times.
In other news, I don't like to brag . . . but unless your Primary Program also involved flying monkeys I'm pretty sure ours (this past Sunday) was better.
Toward the end they were singing "A Child's Prayer" which, for those who don't know, has two verses that can be sung together to form a lovely counterpoint. For the counterpoint I was leading one of the groups of kids and around that time one of the Sunbeams decided she was done. So she left, ran down to her mom, grabbed her stuffed monkey, and came to sit with me as she often does because we're old pals from nursery. However, we were still singing so she couldn't climb into my lap immediately. So instead, right on the last line of the song, she tosses the monkey as high as she can in the air. It was funny enough to those of us close enough to see the whole thing, but I'm told that everyone who only saw a monkey randomly flying high were rather amused too.
Then there were the five years olds sitting behind the bishopric and singing so loud the bishopric had to lean forward in their seats.
And the part where people were saying it was the best Primary Program they'd ever been too . . . and can I just say I really wish there a job somewhere on the planet where I could use that as an achievement because while writing it was a group effort that's seriously the closest I've gotten to using my degree.
On that note, I've been in Primary for a year now - and I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing. A little bit. Ish. Yay.
So all in all it's been a pretty good week. And next week I don't have to go to work at midnight anymore, so it should be pretty good to, even if I do have to pull out my coat. Seriously though, it occurred to me right around the time I was in the middle of the street in front of the school this morning that I was wearing all black, the sun wasn't even beginning to pretend to come up yet, and crossing the street was perhaps not the safest thing to be doing. Good thing I looked both ways, eh?
P. ost S. cript
Every clip I could find of Disney's Sleepy Hollow short, no matter how brief, has had embedding disabled . . . how obnoxious is that?! This shall have to do instead.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Little Holiday Things
No half pound of toblerone this year . . . which is seriously depressing, lol. But I'll gladly take being told I should be a model when I was all dressed up yesterday in exchange. (today was a half day so most of the Vamlumtimes serious times took place yesterday)
Side note: I just added Vamlumtimes to the spell check. I feel like I should be ashamed of that or something . . . but no.
Anyway. Here's the awesome.
I just could not get my camera to take a picture where you could see the words better, but this one says "you make my heart bounce." And it was accompanied by a couple of pink bouncy balls. And I"m still giggling. I'm kind of surprised this kid didn't come up with it by himself, because he's one who could, but he said his mom helped him. Luke's thinking pinterest, but his mom has come in to help out a few times and it wouldn't surprised me if she came up with it herself. Either way, it is exactly my style of humor.
(random side note again: our carpet looks a lot greener in these pictures than it does in reality. it's much more of a green blue . . . and I'm sure you were all dying to know that!)
Speaking of precisely my type of humor . . .
Can you tell that the second grader on the right and the fourth grader on the left are brothers? :-)
The fourth grader, explaining why I got the flutter-puppy
valentine: "I know girls usually like butterflies and men just really don't usually, so I gave all the girls the butterflies and the men got skeletons." Again, still laughing.
Probably a good thing that this kid didn't identify themselves. They have absolutely become my favorite and now I don't have to worry about accidentally showing it. It's just too bad the Perry the Platypus is missing. :-)
Get it?!?!?! It says "you're tops!" and it's a TRICERATOPS!!! More perfect Lacey humor!!!
And it's holographic! I love it!
I also love capturing it halfway . . . ummmmmmmm . . . holograph . . . 'd?
So I got some of these yesterday and some today. This one came today, and the giver made sure I knew yesterday that I was only waiting because she "wanted to make all the teachers' valentines extra special." And I've got to say, she got it pretty spot on. First, I totally melted when I read it (in case you can't read it: "your 1 of the best teachers" it took me a moment to decipher!). Second, brilliant move in writing over the wretched redesigned monstrosity of a princess.
Yeah, seriously, don't get me started on the new redesigns. It's bad enough the poor girls all look like survivors of a glitter factory explosion, poor Cinderella here has gone from looking like she was modeled after Grace Kelly (which she was) to looking like one of the cheap knock-off characters designed for the movies that knock off her own movie. Epic fail.
But like I said, don't get me started.
Anyway.
Pretty sure this one forgot about me, and then saw the bag the teacher had out for me and grabbed the nearest pink paper he could find. On the other hand, I kind of think my name must have been on the list because . . .
I'm really impressed with the ability of almost all the second graders to get my name right.
While the fourth graders? Were all over the place. As per usual. (yes, that says L-A-S-Y)
And finally
Delivered last night by some darling little Primary kiddies. Maybe I'm not doing a terrible job. :-)
On the other hand, while I recognized them as soon as I opened the door, I couldn't have named them if my life depended on it until I read the names. Of course, I know their names quite well . . . but don't ask me to point them out to you on Sunday because I couldn't do that either. Stupid Disney and their name tags really killed my ability to remember names and faces together. And the "remember these four people's names for ten minutes and then remember four completely new people's names for ten minutes and then never think about any of them again for the rest of your life" thing at tank probably didn't help either.
In other news: parent-teacher conferences + President's Day = FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (condolences, Katie . . . at least you get three days, lol)
P. ost S. cript
So I was looking for some cutesy silly Valentine's Day thing to put here . . . but then I got distracted by the best thing ever. You're welcome.
Side note: I just added Vamlumtimes to the spell check. I feel like I should be ashamed of that or something . . . but no.
Anyway. Here's the awesome.
(random side note again: our carpet looks a lot greener in these pictures than it does in reality. it's much more of a green blue . . . and I'm sure you were all dying to know that!)
The fourth grader, explaining why I got the flutter-puppy
valentine: "I know girls usually like butterflies and men just really don't usually, so I gave all the girls the butterflies and the men got skeletons." Again, still laughing.
Yeah, seriously, don't get me started on the new redesigns. It's bad enough the poor girls all look like survivors of a glitter factory explosion, poor Cinderella here has gone from looking like she was modeled after Grace Kelly (which she was) to looking like one of the cheap knock-off characters designed for the movies that knock off her own movie. Epic fail.
But like I said, don't get me started.
Anyway.
And finally
On the other hand, while I recognized them as soon as I opened the door, I couldn't have named them if my life depended on it until I read the names. Of course, I know their names quite well . . . but don't ask me to point them out to you on Sunday because I couldn't do that either. Stupid Disney and their name tags really killed my ability to remember names and faces together. And the "remember these four people's names for ten minutes and then remember four completely new people's names for ten minutes and then never think about any of them again for the rest of your life" thing at tank probably didn't help either.
In other news: parent-teacher conferences + President's Day = FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (condolences, Katie . . . at least you get three days, lol)
P. ost S. cript
So I was looking for some cutesy silly Valentine's Day thing to put here . . . but then I got distracted by the best thing ever. You're welcome.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Not Quite a Whimper
Soooooooooo . . . we're down to just a few more days until Christmas and I am feeling decidedly un-Christmasy. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt less in the Christmas spirit.
Honestly, I've just had an off month. It got off to a rather inauspicious start, what with being only 5,000 words off from what I was shooting for. I mean, if I wasn't going to pull it off I think I'd've rather been way off. 25 or 30 thousand is no where near 50, but at least it's a decent attempt. On the other hand - 45,000? That's just taunting. But I came up against the worst case of writer's block known to man . . . or at least the worst case I've ever had. The third week was rough, and the last week of November it was like I just slammed into a brick wall. No idea what happened . . . but it wasn't pretty.
And then there was the part where my grandma died the day before Thanksgiving (because, yeah, that happened). And the part where this Primary calling thing is making me feel utterly inept at doing anything more complicated than curling up in my corner and reading. And the part where it's apparently a crap shoot as to whether or not my car will start in the mornings when it's single digits outside. And the part where life decided that just holding up a neon sign that says "you will never fit in" wasn't enough and started beating me over the head with it a couple of weeks ago.
And while all of those are relatively minor things in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to everything else that's been going on in the world since the beginning of time - and I know they're all varying degrees of minor - they all feel like very big deals right now.
So in an attempt to feel a little more holiday-ish I thought I would bring a little laughter to everyone . . . except there has been a bit of a shortage of funny stories happening at school lately. Instead, here's one that (to me, at least) feels a bit more like a riddle at the moment.
So a certain (Ezekiel) who's class I was in back in second grade is in my fourth grade class this year. And the logic level seems to be about the same. Also, he seems to be happily taking the place of a certain (Eric) who's in fifth grade this year so I never see him. I'm sure he's moved on to new (and hopefully more age appropriate) crushes. But last week (Ezekiel) comes up to me and says, "Miss Lacey, I'm you're little honey bunny, huh?"
To which my reply was something to the effect of "splutter . . . stammer . . . what- wait- ummmmm . . . hurry up and get in line, it's time for prep."
Because I speak with the eloquence of (I don't know, but when I went to google for suggestions it auto-completed with "the eloquence of a hedgehog," so I'mma go with that) when I'm caught off guard like that.
Dude. Who are we kidding, I speak with the eloquence of a hedgehog on a daily basis.
Anyway. A little while back (Ezekiel) and I had a conversation about him getting into trouble in which he said that Trouble was his middle name. So now I will occasionally call him Trouble. As, you know, one does.
And then the day after he referred to himself as my little honey bunny he referred to the two of us - him and me - as "Mr. and Mrs. Trouble."
I feel like I should be laughing by now . . . but I'm still a little speechless. Constant hugs I can handle. Lasting-just-a-little-bit-too-long hugs, whatever. Mr. and Mrs. Trouble? That, I'm a little weirded out by.
P. ost S. cript
Everybody always needs a little more joy. The trippier the better. So glad Luke hunted this down for me!!!
Honestly, I've just had an off month. It got off to a rather inauspicious start, what with being only 5,000 words off from what I was shooting for. I mean, if I wasn't going to pull it off I think I'd've rather been way off. 25 or 30 thousand is no where near 50, but at least it's a decent attempt. On the other hand - 45,000? That's just taunting. But I came up against the worst case of writer's block known to man . . . or at least the worst case I've ever had. The third week was rough, and the last week of November it was like I just slammed into a brick wall. No idea what happened . . . but it wasn't pretty.
And then there was the part where my grandma died the day before Thanksgiving (because, yeah, that happened). And the part where this Primary calling thing is making me feel utterly inept at doing anything more complicated than curling up in my corner and reading. And the part where it's apparently a crap shoot as to whether or not my car will start in the mornings when it's single digits outside. And the part where life decided that just holding up a neon sign that says "you will never fit in" wasn't enough and started beating me over the head with it a couple of weeks ago.
And while all of those are relatively minor things in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to everything else that's been going on in the world since the beginning of time - and I know they're all varying degrees of minor - they all feel like very big deals right now.
So in an attempt to feel a little more holiday-ish I thought I would bring a little laughter to everyone . . . except there has been a bit of a shortage of funny stories happening at school lately. Instead, here's one that (to me, at least) feels a bit more like a riddle at the moment.
So a certain (Ezekiel) who's class I was in back in second grade is in my fourth grade class this year. And the logic level seems to be about the same. Also, he seems to be happily taking the place of a certain (Eric) who's in fifth grade this year so I never see him. I'm sure he's moved on to new (and hopefully more age appropriate) crushes. But last week (Ezekiel) comes up to me and says, "Miss Lacey, I'm you're little honey bunny, huh?"
To which my reply was something to the effect of "splutter . . . stammer . . . what- wait- ummmmm . . . hurry up and get in line, it's time for prep."
Because I speak with the eloquence of (I don't know, but when I went to google for suggestions it auto-completed with "the eloquence of a hedgehog," so I'mma go with that) when I'm caught off guard like that.
Dude. Who are we kidding, I speak with the eloquence of a hedgehog on a daily basis.
Anyway. A little while back (Ezekiel) and I had a conversation about him getting into trouble in which he said that Trouble was his middle name. So now I will occasionally call him Trouble. As, you know, one does.
And then the day after he referred to himself as my little honey bunny he referred to the two of us - him and me - as "Mr. and Mrs. Trouble."
I feel like I should be laughing by now . . . but I'm still a little speechless. Constant hugs I can handle. Lasting-just-a-little-bit-too-long hugs, whatever. Mr. and Mrs. Trouble? That, I'm a little weirded out by.
P. ost S. cript
Everybody always needs a little more joy. The trippier the better. So glad Luke hunted this down for me!!!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
And Then Today
Second grader comes to school wearing a suit jacket he hasn't quite grown into.
Me: (Boris), you look so handsome today. How come you're all dressed up?
(Billy): He's getting married.
(Boris): I'm not dressed up. I just felt like wearing my jacket.
(Billy): It's too big.
(Boris): No, it fits just right! stands up to show off his jacket . . . which is just a little big.
girl sits across from (Boris)
(Billy): Don't sit across from him! He's getting married today after school!
Entire group: Miss Lacey, what's so funny?
I will never understand their logic, but I never want it to stop. :-)
P. ost S. cript
So apparently Princess Bride is 25 years old. You know what that is? Of course you do - it's:
Me: (Boris), you look so handsome today. How come you're all dressed up?
(Billy): He's getting married.
(Boris): I'm not dressed up. I just felt like wearing my jacket.
(Billy): It's too big.
(Boris): No, it fits just right! stands up to show off his jacket . . . which is just a little big.
girl sits across from (Boris)
(Billy): Don't sit across from him! He's getting married today after school!
Entire group: Miss Lacey, what's so funny?
I will never understand their logic, but I never want it to stop. :-)
P. ost S. cript
So apparently Princess Bride is 25 years old. You know what that is? Of course you do - it's:
Friday, September 21, 2012
Is It May Yet?
Okay, so I don't quite mean that. But five and a half weeks into the new school year and it's clearly going to be a looooooooooooooooooooong year. I'm in second and fourth grade this year - mostly because pretty much all the aides are in second and fourth grade this year - mostly because the second and fourth grade classes have about five times as many kids as should be allowed in a single class that is not a university gen-ed requirement.
Well . . . that is a slight exaggeration I suppose. But my fourth grade class started the year with 34 kids and two weeks in it was 35. It's never quiet, and it's pretty much impossible to figure out who the whisperer is because there's just so many to choose from. Even with three adults in the classroom when I get there in the morning. We've come to the conclusion that this year's theme is going to be organized chaos, and it'll depend on the day whether it's more organized or more chaos.
Anyway, it isn't all bad news. A few little things going on so far:
~ Remember (Andrew) McKissypants? He's in second grade now . . . and over the kissing, but not so much over the hugging. Which is fine, because he's still such a sweet little guy, and the hugs are still quite the ego boost, and really, who couldn't benefit from two or three little-kid-hugs a day? We did have a talk about great big second graders staying in line in the hall instead of running halfway down it for hugs though. And we might have to have a talk about hugs from behind . . . because he's developing a habit of doing that. Particularly when I'm sitting down. And his hands generally end up in an area that would make my mother blush to hear about it, if you know what I mean, *wink,wink*nudge,nudge*. So far I've just kind slid them up to my shoulders. I guess we'll see if he keeps it up next week.
~ Second grade reading groups - reading a story about characters going on a plane. I ask the kids where they would go if they could go anywhere in the world on a plane. The answers were pretty typical - New York, Mexico, Australia, California . . . Blanding. His grandparents live there, so it makes sense. But I giggled.
~ Did I mention that second grade had 32 kids last week and got a new one this week? Oy.
~ The fourth grade class I'm in is with the teacher who's fifth grade class I was in last year . . . and who's fourth grade class I was in the year before. We both keep getting confused as to what exactly we're supposed to be doing sometimes. Expecting them to know all the stuff they'll be learning this year and stuff. It's kinda trippy.
~ New kid in fourth grade? Totally a drama queen. Made the year a little bit longer just by showing up. She can be sweet, but she's one of those that you have to catch in the right mood, and her moods are the most unpredictable I've ever seen.
~ So I know some of the fourth graders from second grade a couple years ago. How is it that the things they did in second grade were cute but now the exact same things are obnoxious?
~ Back to second grade. (Sam) is always in a bad mood and all uncooperative when I call his group back to work with me. And yet, ten minutes later when they're washing up for lunch he tells me he wants to come live at my house. He accidentally called me mom once earlier this week and I went into the "do you really think you want/you don't want me to be your mom" bit I've developed that usually has kids changing their minds pretty quickly. But he's totally still in to it, saying he'll come home and live with me. Even after I tell him all there is to do is read big fat books. And every day since it's been the same thing - "Miss Lacey, when are you going to take me home to your house?" I may have to fall back on my trick-or-treating line (modified, of course) - "if you can find my house you can stay." :-)
~ Did I ever mention that I got called grandma last year? Totally understandable because the kid lives with his grandparents. We both had got a laugh out of it once he stopped blushing.
Sooooooooooooooooooo . . . so far so good I guess.
P. ost S. cript
And this is why I didn't know what to do when being charged by a buffalo. All you have to do is look at the first frame to count about a gazillion stupid things happening. Seriously, they had it coming. Also: I'm 90% sure I know exactly where they are.
Well . . . that is a slight exaggeration I suppose. But my fourth grade class started the year with 34 kids and two weeks in it was 35. It's never quiet, and it's pretty much impossible to figure out who the whisperer is because there's just so many to choose from. Even with three adults in the classroom when I get there in the morning. We've come to the conclusion that this year's theme is going to be organized chaos, and it'll depend on the day whether it's more organized or more chaos.
Anyway, it isn't all bad news. A few little things going on so far:
~ Remember (Andrew) McKissypants? He's in second grade now . . . and over the kissing, but not so much over the hugging. Which is fine, because he's still such a sweet little guy, and the hugs are still quite the ego boost, and really, who couldn't benefit from two or three little-kid-hugs a day? We did have a talk about great big second graders staying in line in the hall instead of running halfway down it for hugs though. And we might have to have a talk about hugs from behind . . . because he's developing a habit of doing that. Particularly when I'm sitting down. And his hands generally end up in an area that would make my mother blush to hear about it, if you know what I mean, *wink,wink*nudge,nudge*. So far I've just kind slid them up to my shoulders. I guess we'll see if he keeps it up next week.
~ Second grade reading groups - reading a story about characters going on a plane. I ask the kids where they would go if they could go anywhere in the world on a plane. The answers were pretty typical - New York, Mexico, Australia, California . . . Blanding. His grandparents live there, so it makes sense. But I giggled.
~ Did I mention that second grade had 32 kids last week and got a new one this week? Oy.
~ The fourth grade class I'm in is with the teacher who's fifth grade class I was in last year . . . and who's fourth grade class I was in the year before. We both keep getting confused as to what exactly we're supposed to be doing sometimes. Expecting them to know all the stuff they'll be learning this year and stuff. It's kinda trippy.
~ New kid in fourth grade? Totally a drama queen. Made the year a little bit longer just by showing up. She can be sweet, but she's one of those that you have to catch in the right mood, and her moods are the most unpredictable I've ever seen.
~ So I know some of the fourth graders from second grade a couple years ago. How is it that the things they did in second grade were cute but now the exact same things are obnoxious?
~ Back to second grade. (Sam) is always in a bad mood and all uncooperative when I call his group back to work with me. And yet, ten minutes later when they're washing up for lunch he tells me he wants to come live at my house. He accidentally called me mom once earlier this week and I went into the "do you really think you want/you don't want me to be your mom" bit I've developed that usually has kids changing their minds pretty quickly. But he's totally still in to it, saying he'll come home and live with me. Even after I tell him all there is to do is read big fat books. And every day since it's been the same thing - "Miss Lacey, when are you going to take me home to your house?" I may have to fall back on my trick-or-treating line (modified, of course) - "if you can find my house you can stay." :-)
~ Did I ever mention that I got called grandma last year? Totally understandable because the kid lives with his grandparents. We both had got a laugh out of it once he stopped blushing.
Sooooooooooooooooooo . . . so far so good I guess.
P. ost S. cript
And this is why I didn't know what to do when being charged by a buffalo. All you have to do is look at the first frame to count about a gazillion stupid things happening. Seriously, they had it coming. Also: I'm 90% sure I know exactly where they are.
Friday, April 27, 2012
So It Turns Out I'm Human . . .
So you remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when you were in elementary school and you thought the teachers lived at the school and more or less ceased when class wasn't in session? (and don't try to pretend you didn't think that, lol)
You are about to be topped.
So. Fourth grade this morning. Teacher wasn't there. Judging by the situation I'm guessing this was a planned absence with a sub found in advance. And then the sub called in sick. Good times, no? Fortunately that class has a semi-student teacher . . . I believe they are referred to as Level 2 teaching students? Or something like that? They're in the classroom but doing more observing than teaching, but maybe a little teaching sometimes . . . or something? Whatever. Anyway, the point was that she was there, and a good thing too!
So the powers that be are frantically trying to get another sub, and I have no idea what the deal is or why it's taking so long, but along about 9:30 there's a call to the classroom with (I believe) an update. So I talk to the semi-teacher briefly and she says she's the teacher unless/until they get a sub, and I wish her luck - and then. Oh, then. Our good friend Eric feels the need to chime in.
Eric: I mean, what's up with that?! Subs aren't allowed to get sick!
Me: They're people too, you know.
Eric: No they're not, they're robots!
To sum up the conversation we had when I could breathe again: Subs are robots, that's why it's so easy for teachers to get a sub when they can't be there. Teachers are human. I'm not a teacher, but I'm an aide so I'm not a robot. Isn't that reassuring? :-)
P. ost S. cript
To celebrate not being a robot. :-)
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Little Celebrations
Seriously. How does this happen?
So I'm sitting here marveling at the fact that this year is already a quarter of the way done already - and dude, when did that happen? - and thinking of how nice it will be to put this month behind me. Because it has not been particularly pleasant. No major catastrophes or anything, but lots of little things that have just piled up and piled up to make it a stressful month. Can I just say that whoever came up with the idea of kicking off April with spring break was a freaking genius? I know everyone is burned out and ready for this break.
But anyway. I'm taking today to celebrate one of the few little moments of win from this month. And to channel my inner dork . . . or perhaps just my inner Katie, as those of you who know her will see the parallel. :-)
Anyway.
So a couple of weeks ago we made our lovely little bi-annual trip to Layton to keep the warranty on the most expensive thing we own up to date. And since these trips are some of the few times we get a change of scene we like to make a bit of a day of it, always eating out somewhere that isn't an option around here like Jason's Deli or In'N'Out. And I always, ALWAYS get a large lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick for the road. Because their lemonade is seriously the nectar of the gods. Even better than Chik-fil-a's lemonade, and we all know how awesome that stuff is, don't we? :-)
I have no idea exactly how big their large lemonades are . . . other than to say that one can use the restroom at the Layton Hills Mall right before purchasing one and if one drinks the entire thing ("if" . . . ha!) during the drive back home by the time one reaches one's destination, one is likely to be hurrying into the house. (tmi? sorry . . . )
Perhaps one should let Luke take more than a couple of sips . . . nah. :-)
Anyway.
So Luke's getting a Blizzard for the road (because Dairy Queen? another thing we can't get around here - LAME!) and I'm getting my lemonade when I happen to spy the one-way ticket to my personal nirvana:
TA DA!!
Large lemonades? Cost $3. This baby? To quote a certain Brandy, it's bigger than my head (and a large), costs $4 and refills are $2 for the lifetime of the cup. Which means it will totally pay for itself come September. And you better believe I'll be making the most of the whole "lifetime of the cup" thing. In fact, we may have to make a trip to Salt Lake sometime soon just to get a refill. (and, you know, to check out the whole City Creek thing and stuff . . . but mostly for the lemonade.) And you better believe that the last thing I do on my deathbed will be to send someone out to refill it one last time. The only question will be, do I go with regular lemonade, cherry lemonade, or lime lemonade?
It's the tough questions like that that make you appreciate having time to plan your demise. :-)
Also - today my grandest dream is to get a Hot Dog on a Stick in this town so I can go get a refill everyday. (see what I mean about channeling my inner Katie, lol?)
Anyway. Here's to a brighter, cheerier, sunnier April. And lots of lemonade.
P. ost S. cript
Muppets!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
My Lord, I Only Laugh Just to Keep from Weeping
Ten points if you can name that movie quote.
The good news is I'm feeling a bit better today. Of course, that might be because I've taken more ibuprofen in the last three days than I've taken in the last three months . . . but whatever works.
Anyway.
So it turns out the school has this policy that if a kid brings a cell phone to school they're supposed to check it in at the office in the morning and they can get it back at the end of the day. And it turns out that not a lot of the kids are obeying that policy. My guess is because they didn't even know about it because I had never heard of it before today, but then again I'm not exactly on the need-to-know end of the spectrum on this one. But still.
Anyway.
So the "detention" teacher (for lack of a better all-encompassing and non-explanation needing term) comes into 5th grade today and explains the policy to the kids and says if any of them have cell phones they need to give them to her now. At this point I'm thinking we're the last class she's going to because the pocket of her hoodie is practically hanging down to her knees.
Nope. Something like EIGHT kids go to their backpacks to get phones and it sounds like that's about the norm for all the classes. The teacher totally started laughing at this point . . . although I'm not sure if he was laughing in shock or at the fact that my jaw literally dropped in shock.
I can't imagine how these phones are being paid for . . . Luke and I both have pretty bare bones plans and we barely manage to keep our total bill under triple digits, but the kids were talking about all the games and apps and internet things they use their phones for (in fact, I don't think one of them actually uses theirs as an actual phone) so they've got to have bills two ro threes times are combined total.
However, my story today is much more amusing.
Shortly after this little exchange the kid I was working with, Claudio (of the inadvertently hilarious wit), who's parents he says told him he can have a cell phone when he pays for it. My response? "Well, what would you do with one anyway? Who are you going to call?"
I kid you not, this kid didn't miss a beat. He throws his hands up in the air and exclaims "Ghostbusters!!!"
It was seriously like he knew that question was coming and was waiting patiently for me to ask so he could respond that way and make me laugh. It may be a little conceited of me to say so, but it seriously feels like he and a couple other boys are constantly wandering my way to say something they've rehearsed and try to make sound natural just hoping I'll laugh. It's kind of cute.
Anyway.
A few minutes later Claudio mentions that Mr. Cox didn't get his phone taken away, in a tone that implied he should have. Now, the detention teacher made it quite clear that the policy applied only to kids, so naturally my reply was that Mr. Cox is not a kid.
"He's not married!"
Kid logic, amirite? It's a good thing Claudio's okay with being laughed at. :-)
(confession: this is totally the first thing that popped into my head when he said that.)
P. ost S. cript
Onion videos totally make up for not being able to watch The Daily Show. :-)
(very brief language, if that's a thing for you)
The good news is I'm feeling a bit better today. Of course, that might be because I've taken more ibuprofen in the last three days than I've taken in the last three months . . . but whatever works.
Anyway.
So it turns out the school has this policy that if a kid brings a cell phone to school they're supposed to check it in at the office in the morning and they can get it back at the end of the day. And it turns out that not a lot of the kids are obeying that policy. My guess is because they didn't even know about it because I had never heard of it before today, but then again I'm not exactly on the need-to-know end of the spectrum on this one. But still.
Anyway.
So the "detention" teacher (for lack of a better all-encompassing and non-explanation needing term) comes into 5th grade today and explains the policy to the kids and says if any of them have cell phones they need to give them to her now. At this point I'm thinking we're the last class she's going to because the pocket of her hoodie is practically hanging down to her knees.
Nope. Something like EIGHT kids go to their backpacks to get phones and it sounds like that's about the norm for all the classes. The teacher totally started laughing at this point . . . although I'm not sure if he was laughing in shock or at the fact that my jaw literally dropped in shock.
I can't imagine how these phones are being paid for . . . Luke and I both have pretty bare bones plans and we barely manage to keep our total bill under triple digits, but the kids were talking about all the games and apps and internet things they use their phones for (in fact, I don't think one of them actually uses theirs as an actual phone) so they've got to have bills two ro threes times are combined total.
However, my story today is much more amusing.
Shortly after this little exchange the kid I was working with, Claudio (of the inadvertently hilarious wit), who's parents he says told him he can have a cell phone when he pays for it. My response? "Well, what would you do with one anyway? Who are you going to call?"
I kid you not, this kid didn't miss a beat. He throws his hands up in the air and exclaims "Ghostbusters!!!"
It was seriously like he knew that question was coming and was waiting patiently for me to ask so he could respond that way and make me laugh. It may be a little conceited of me to say so, but it seriously feels like he and a couple other boys are constantly wandering my way to say something they've rehearsed and try to make sound natural just hoping I'll laugh. It's kind of cute.
Anyway.
A few minutes later Claudio mentions that Mr. Cox didn't get his phone taken away, in a tone that implied he should have. Now, the detention teacher made it quite clear that the policy applied only to kids, so naturally my reply was that Mr. Cox is not a kid.
"He's not married!"
Kid logic, amirite? It's a good thing Claudio's okay with being laughed at. :-)
(confession: this is totally the first thing that popped into my head when he said that.)
P. ost S. cript
Onion videos totally make up for not being able to watch The Daily Show. :-)
(very brief language, if that's a thing for you)
Friday, November 11, 2011
Eleven Epic Ecritures
(Note: ecritures = French for writings. Because no way was I only going to be 2/3 alliterative, lol.)
1 ~ Singing Rebecca Black's "Friday" to the tune of Justin Bieber's "Baby"? Epic. I'm not sure if it's epically awesome or epically horrifying . . . but it's definitely epic. (btw, did I spell Beiber right?) Turns out sometimes 5th graders aren't obnoxious, but actually funny!
2 ~ Today in 5th grade: listing things that fall into the category "things with wings." The group I was with came up with only bird and plane (and one kid had bat). So I asked them to come up with one more that was neither bird nor plane. This ensues:
Kid 1: Eagle!
Me: That's a bird.
Kid 2: A flamingo!
Me: That's a bird.
Kid 3: A jet!
Me: That's a type of plane.
(Georgette): I know! A wingless bird!!
Me: *blank stare. about three beats*
*cracks up*
(thinking) aaaaaaaaaand two strikes with one swing!
Georgette gets a code name because I have the feeling this is not the last you'll be hearing from her, lol.
3 ~ Passing a random first grader in the hall - her eyes get big. "You were the princess kitty on Halloween!!" Dude, even the kids who don't know me know who I am. Pretty sure I've achieved rock star status or something. :-)
4 ~ Conversation with Luke today:
Luke: When is Thanksgiving?
Me: The 24th.
Luke: What day?
Me: *blank stare*
Luke: I don't know what day of the week that is!
Me: *face palm*
Sometimes all I can do is roll my eyes and think this. (at part 1:17)
5 ~ Bit of trivia for you - about 90 years ago an American woman came up with the idea for wearing poppies in November for Veteran's Day (then Armistice Day). Apparently it caught on pretty big. It's still big in Europe . . . in America . . . not so much. Interesting, no?
6 ~ Assuming I could put together an accurate recreation of these . . . things . . . would this not be the most horrifyingly creepy Halloween costume ever? That smile . . . those elbows . . . they're going to give me nightmares!!
7 ~ The Mark of Athena? Needs to be out now. Not exactly Deathly Hallows level of need . . . but DUDE, I hate waiting for books to come out!
8 ~ Throwing jeans in the dryer in the morning so they're warm when you get out of the shower and dress? AMAZING!
9 ~ Obnoxious neighbor story. So our downstairs neighbors sort adopted some stray cats forever ago (meaning the cats showed up and the neighbors fed them). Then our diagonal downstairs neighbors moved in and didn't have any objection to the cats. Then we move in. Fast forward to about six weeks ago. Diagonal neighbors have purchased a fancy new car and now the cats are suddenly unacceptable because apparently one of them threw up on their old car once. And their new car is, like, unwashable or something. So they complain and the landlords say get rid of the cats, which is sad because everyone else loves the cats and they keep the mice out of the outdoor storage sheds. Almost as soon as the cats are gone the fancy new car inexplicably disappears never to be seen again. And last week the universally disliked (and not just for cat-related reasons) diagonal neighbors move out. Seriously? You're too lazy to wash your new car so you get the cats disappeared and then you move out? Dear ex-neighbors: you suck.
10 ~ Scraping windows also sucks. Totally trying this sometime soon.
11 ~ Black Friday starts at 10:00 on Thursday?! Is there no low too low for someone out there to sink to in order to make a buck? Here's hoping no one shows up for at least a few hours . . . but I doubt it.
P. ost S. cript
A fun little video, particularly for the Tiger Mother readers out there, lol. And it takes some serious talent!
1 ~ Singing Rebecca Black's "Friday" to the tune of Justin Bieber's "Baby"? Epic. I'm not sure if it's epically awesome or epically horrifying . . . but it's definitely epic. (btw, did I spell Beiber right?) Turns out sometimes 5th graders aren't obnoxious, but actually funny!
2 ~ Today in 5th grade: listing things that fall into the category "things with wings." The group I was with came up with only bird and plane (and one kid had bat). So I asked them to come up with one more that was neither bird nor plane. This ensues:
Kid 1: Eagle!
Me: That's a bird.
Kid 2: A flamingo!
Me: That's a bird.
Kid 3: A jet!
Me: That's a type of plane.
(Georgette): I know! A wingless bird!!
Me: *blank stare. about three beats*
*cracks up*
(thinking) aaaaaaaaaand two strikes with one swing!
Georgette gets a code name because I have the feeling this is not the last you'll be hearing from her, lol.
3 ~ Passing a random first grader in the hall - her eyes get big. "You were the princess kitty on Halloween!!" Dude, even the kids who don't know me know who I am. Pretty sure I've achieved rock star status or something. :-)
4 ~ Conversation with Luke today:
Luke: When is Thanksgiving?
Me: The 24th.
Luke: What day?
Me: *blank stare*
Luke: I don't know what day of the week that is!
Me: *face palm*
Sometimes all I can do is roll my eyes and think this. (at part 1:17)
5 ~ Bit of trivia for you - about 90 years ago an American woman came up with the idea for wearing poppies in November for Veteran's Day (then Armistice Day). Apparently it caught on pretty big. It's still big in Europe . . . in America . . . not so much. Interesting, no?
6 ~ Assuming I could put together an accurate recreation of these . . . things . . . would this not be the most horrifyingly creepy Halloween costume ever? That smile . . . those elbows . . . they're going to give me nightmares!!
7 ~ The Mark of Athena? Needs to be out now. Not exactly Deathly Hallows level of need . . . but DUDE, I hate waiting for books to come out!
8 ~ Throwing jeans in the dryer in the morning so they're warm when you get out of the shower and dress? AMAZING!
9 ~ Obnoxious neighbor story. So our downstairs neighbors sort adopted some stray cats forever ago (meaning the cats showed up and the neighbors fed them). Then our diagonal downstairs neighbors moved in and didn't have any objection to the cats. Then we move in. Fast forward to about six weeks ago. Diagonal neighbors have purchased a fancy new car and now the cats are suddenly unacceptable because apparently one of them threw up on their old car once. And their new car is, like, unwashable or something. So they complain and the landlords say get rid of the cats, which is sad because everyone else loves the cats and they keep the mice out of the outdoor storage sheds. Almost as soon as the cats are gone the fancy new car inexplicably disappears never to be seen again. And last week the universally disliked (and not just for cat-related reasons) diagonal neighbors move out. Seriously? You're too lazy to wash your new car so you get the cats disappeared and then you move out? Dear ex-neighbors: you suck.
10 ~ Scraping windows also sucks. Totally trying this sometime soon.
11 ~ Black Friday starts at 10:00 on Thursday?! Is there no low too low for someone out there to sink to in order to make a buck? Here's hoping no one shows up for at least a few hours . . . but I doubt it.
P. ost S. cript
A fun little video, particularly for the Tiger Mother readers out there, lol. And it takes some serious talent!
Monday, October 31, 2011
I'm Kind of Brilliant
Haters gonna hate, but dangit, I had fun today! And now, my genius idea - dun-da-da-DAH!!
Presenting CATherine, Duchess of Cambridge. :-) Like I said, I'm kind of a genius.
My best kitty cat pose. And a really crooked tiara. And about-to-fall-off cat ears. It's been a long day. :-)
Anyway, this was totally not my original plan. I really have been trying to top last year ALL YEAR. I finally decided to go with Elizabeth Bennett and just throw my wedding tiara on top and tell the kids I'm a princess. And it would be totally easy because I have the perfect Regency Era-type dress. In fact, I actually wore it as a Halloween costume a few years ago. Sadly, somehow during an entire night of partying up with peoples I only ended up with one semi-good picture showing it off. Blargh.
But still, I looked pretty awesome, eh?
Interestingly enough, I had two costumes that year (long story) and the other one - how's this for crazy? Hannah Montana.
This was a few months before I bought the wig, and I'm really not sure what takes more time - straightening my hair or pinning it up to be hidden under the wig.
So anyway. I'm planning on going with this fabulously already assembled costume, and just after school starts it occurs to me - I've gained a pound or three since 2007, and I probably should make sure the dress still fits. So I go and try it on and all the areas I'm thinking might be a problem are fine . . . but my shoulders have apparently doubled in size or something because the last, like, two inches of the zipper? Just aren't happening. So at this point I have two thoughts:
1) are you FREAKING kidding me?!?!
2) good thing I tried the dress on now, because dude, how much awkward panic would there have been this morning otherwise?!?!
So I'm frantically trying to come up with something new and all thoughts of costume toppage are pretty much out the window with a flurry of grrrrrrrrrr's, and that leads me to spending an afternoon driving from store to every store in town trying to find/make up something that's cheap but still at least a little bit clever. This would be the point where I discover that Shopko had shoved all their Halloween costume stuff into a corner and put it on clearance. Six weeks before Halloween. I still can't not think what the crap? about that.
Anyway, I finally end up at Hobby Lobby, more or less in desperation, but it all worked out because that's where I found the cat ears and tail, and for only, like, ten bucks or something like that. Score! Than I get up to the register and it turns out it's on clearance too or something because it rings up at half the price. Woot!
So then a couple of days later I decide to try the ears on to make sure the headband isn't some super tight headache inducing thing, because that would make for all sorts of torture. Turns out it fits purrrrrfectly (rim shot!) . . . so I just randomly kept the ears on. Because I could. So I'm sitting there stitching furiously and watching . . . something or other on tv . . . and then I remember - I have this!
These teeny tiny tiaras are for sale all over the place at WDW for, like, five bucks or something. I got lucky and found this perfectly intact one at the Cast Member Broken Reject Merchandise Store (that might not be its actual name, lol) for something like fifty cents.
Actually, I got two.
Because I'm awesome like that. :-)
So I run to my jewelry box and quickly discover, as you saw, that the tiara totally works, so I'm totally going with it and feeling all clever and original and now I'm stitching on the couch in cat ears and a tiara because again, I'm awesome like that. And I'm not just going to be a cat, I'm going to be a cat princess! Fun!!
This is the part that's probably obvious . . . but gradually the voice in my head switches things up from "cat princess" to "princess cat" and from there it was just a matter of word association. I mean, duh - princess cat = Princess Cat = Princess CATherine = CATherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Maybe I got there a bit faster than other people would have, but I imagine most people would have gotten there eventually.
Okay, maybe just to Princess CATherine. But that's close enough.
(Now, let's all take a moment and appreciate the fact that this was not my costume. Believe me, I appreciate it!)
So it all works out nicely, since I was planning on buying the earrings and ring anyway, and the only other thing I needed - a pair of black pants - I got at DI. And I lucked into finding a pretty great pair that I might even wear again . . . and that was certainly not in the plan! Woo. Hoo.
So by this point it's, like, the beginning of the month and I'm thinking I'm all set, and then Aunt Sharon emails asking if I have a tiara Sage can borrow, and again - two thoughts.
1) well, yeah, but I'm wearing it . . .
2) wait a second, I have THREE!
So I run to the jewelry box again to make sure my wedding tiara will work with the cat ears. And, obviously, they work together. So I take a moment to kick myself again for letting my mom talk me out of the tiara I really wanted -
Because this baby? Holy awesome. Also, the model? Totally being a really good sport. This picture was taken less than an hour after I made him pose for this one -
He must really love me, eh? :-)
Anyway, I kick myself and then I email back that Sage can have her pick and I'll wear the other one. Because Cinderella always gets top choice. :-)
So there is the long story of how I assembled my costume. As for showing it off today - yeah, no one's thought process went beyond cat princess. But hey, it even took me a few days, so I was not exactly expecting everyone to get it and spend the day telling me how immensely clever I am. It was all good.
They were short on volunteers first thing in the morning, so I started out hiding behind a bench in the spook alley jumping out and screaming and scaring the 5th graders, which was pretty awesome, but after just that grade - about half a dozen groups - my voice was already on its way out. (Let me just say right now I really don't know how certain people spent the entire day wailing last year!) So I switched out as more people showed up and went back to chief hand holder and laugher-at-tough-boys-near-hysterics . . . because oh yes, there were a few. It was great.
So now my feet are ridiculously tired again - good thing the boots I wore have half the heel of last year's boots! - and I'm all curled up because I hardly sat down all day. But it was a fabulous day, and I'm still in costume and hoping we have enough candy for all the little goblins who come by tonight. Since I'd rather not give out money. We don't keep much cash and we're even low on checks, lol. (ten points if you get the reference!)
P. ost S. cript
From the "SO going to get stuck in your head" file. Also from the "recruiting people to help wring Ashli's scrawny little neck for getting it in my head" file.
Presenting CATherine, Duchess of Cambridge. :-) Like I said, I'm kind of a genius.
My best kitty cat pose. And a really crooked tiara. And about-to-fall-off cat ears. It's been a long day. :-)Anyway, this was totally not my original plan. I really have been trying to top last year ALL YEAR. I finally decided to go with Elizabeth Bennett and just throw my wedding tiara on top and tell the kids I'm a princess. And it would be totally easy because I have the perfect Regency Era-type dress. In fact, I actually wore it as a Halloween costume a few years ago. Sadly, somehow during an entire night of partying up with peoples I only ended up with one semi-good picture showing it off. Blargh.
But still, I looked pretty awesome, eh?Interestingly enough, I had two costumes that year (long story) and the other one - how's this for crazy? Hannah Montana.
This was a few months before I bought the wig, and I'm really not sure what takes more time - straightening my hair or pinning it up to be hidden under the wig.So anyway. I'm planning on going with this fabulously already assembled costume, and just after school starts it occurs to me - I've gained a pound or three since 2007, and I probably should make sure the dress still fits. So I go and try it on and all the areas I'm thinking might be a problem are fine . . . but my shoulders have apparently doubled in size or something because the last, like, two inches of the zipper? Just aren't happening. So at this point I have two thoughts:
1) are you FREAKING kidding me?!?!
2) good thing I tried the dress on now, because dude, how much awkward panic would there have been this morning otherwise?!?!
So I'm frantically trying to come up with something new and all thoughts of costume toppage are pretty much out the window with a flurry of grrrrrrrrrr's, and that leads me to spending an afternoon driving from store to every store in town trying to find/make up something that's cheap but still at least a little bit clever. This would be the point where I discover that Shopko had shoved all their Halloween costume stuff into a corner and put it on clearance. Six weeks before Halloween. I still can't not think what the crap? about that.
Anyway, I finally end up at Hobby Lobby, more or less in desperation, but it all worked out because that's where I found the cat ears and tail, and for only, like, ten bucks or something like that. Score! Than I get up to the register and it turns out it's on clearance too or something because it rings up at half the price. Woot!
So then a couple of days later I decide to try the ears on to make sure the headband isn't some super tight headache inducing thing, because that would make for all sorts of torture. Turns out it fits purrrrrfectly (rim shot!) . . . so I just randomly kept the ears on. Because I could. So I'm sitting there stitching furiously and watching . . . something or other on tv . . . and then I remember - I have this!
These teeny tiny tiaras are for sale all over the place at WDW for, like, five bucks or something. I got lucky and found this perfectly intact one at the Cast Member Broken Reject Merchandise Store (that might not be its actual name, lol) for something like fifty cents.
Actually, I got two.
Because I'm awesome like that. :-)So I run to my jewelry box and quickly discover, as you saw, that the tiara totally works, so I'm totally going with it and feeling all clever and original and now I'm stitching on the couch in cat ears and a tiara because again, I'm awesome like that. And I'm not just going to be a cat, I'm going to be a cat princess! Fun!!
This is the part that's probably obvious . . . but gradually the voice in my head switches things up from "cat princess" to "princess cat" and from there it was just a matter of word association. I mean, duh - princess cat = Princess Cat = Princess CATherine = CATherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Maybe I got there a bit faster than other people would have, but I imagine most people would have gotten there eventually.
Okay, maybe just to Princess CATherine. But that's close enough.
(Now, let's all take a moment and appreciate the fact that this was not my costume. Believe me, I appreciate it!)
So it all works out nicely, since I was planning on buying the earrings and ring anyway, and the only other thing I needed - a pair of black pants - I got at DI. And I lucked into finding a pretty great pair that I might even wear again . . . and that was certainly not in the plan! Woo. Hoo.
So by this point it's, like, the beginning of the month and I'm thinking I'm all set, and then Aunt Sharon emails asking if I have a tiara Sage can borrow, and again - two thoughts.
1) well, yeah, but I'm wearing it . . .
2) wait a second, I have THREE!
So I run to the jewelry box again to make sure my wedding tiara will work with the cat ears. And, obviously, they work together. So I take a moment to kick myself again for letting my mom talk me out of the tiara I really wanted -
Because this baby? Holy awesome. Also, the model? Totally being a really good sport. This picture was taken less than an hour after I made him pose for this one -
He must really love me, eh? :-)Anyway, I kick myself and then I email back that Sage can have her pick and I'll wear the other one. Because Cinderella always gets top choice. :-)
So there is the long story of how I assembled my costume. As for showing it off today - yeah, no one's thought process went beyond cat princess. But hey, it even took me a few days, so I was not exactly expecting everyone to get it and spend the day telling me how immensely clever I am. It was all good.
They were short on volunteers first thing in the morning, so I started out hiding behind a bench in the spook alley jumping out and screaming and scaring the 5th graders, which was pretty awesome, but after just that grade - about half a dozen groups - my voice was already on its way out. (Let me just say right now I really don't know how certain people spent the entire day wailing last year!) So I switched out as more people showed up and went back to chief hand holder and laugher-at-tough-boys-near-hysterics . . . because oh yes, there were a few. It was great.
So now my feet are ridiculously tired again - good thing the boots I wore have half the heel of last year's boots! - and I'm all curled up because I hardly sat down all day. But it was a fabulous day, and I'm still in costume and hoping we have enough candy for all the little goblins who come by tonight. Since I'd rather not give out money. We don't keep much cash and we're even low on checks, lol. (ten points if you get the reference!)
P. ost S. cript
From the "SO going to get stuck in your head" file. Also from the "recruiting people to help wring Ashli's scrawny little neck for getting it in my head" file.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Any Attention is Good Attention
I'm generally pretty content with myself and my (limited) abilities. I may not be able to do a lot of things, but the things I can do I enjoy, and I like to think I do them pretty well (feel free to not disillusion me). College was a wonderful time for me because I spent most of my time with others in my majors, so we all did the same things and at about the same level of proficiency. And I may be a horrible person for saying this, but heaven knows there were a couple of people in the English department who were a lot worse than me and it rather helped my self esteem to know it. Florida was an absolutely fabulous place because there was no competition when it came to talents that had nothing to do with work. If there was something you could do that was awesome, but no expectation of more.
Being back in Utah is finally starting to get to me. I'd forgotten a little what it was like. I'd forgotten the "oh, you play the cello? Well, I play the piano, flute, harp, and sing!" The "oh, you did drama and color guard in high school? Well, I did volleyball, track, choir, cheerleading, and student council. And I knitted socks for the homeless in my spare time. 100 pairs a year."
It was probably silly of me, but I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing this time around seeing as I'm, you know, not single. I mean, wasn't it all an obnoxious competition to snag the guy who sang, danced, spoke fluent Portuguese and Latin, couldn't cook but loved good food, and adored watching you juggle four babies? I'm not anyone's competition anymore, dangit!
But . . . no. Now it's all about "oh I'm so tired from shuttling my gazillion kids around and I still have to make pasta from scratch for their dinner and sew their clothes from cloth I wove myself and do their homework for them (true story) and make the poster board and glitter myself for their project - oh my, you don't have kids? What do you do all day?!"
(side note: okay, I know that's not a strictly Utah thing but in this case it feels like an extension of the old version if the competition.)
Okay, I will admit I get bored sometimes and don't always have enough stuff to fill the day, especially during the summer. Combine that with my occasional employment inadequacies and my absolute inability with most crafts and sometimes I feel really useless around here.
So for a while this summer as I was working on my most genius idea ever I took pictures every day. Just to mark my progress and prove that I did do something at least a little bit useful and productive that day and all this summer. Looking them over later was kind of fun, so I made some videos for your enjoyment . . . and, of course, for you to gush over and tell me how awesome I am, lol. (j/k!)
Hey, need to entertain a bored child for a minute? (preferably a pretty young one) See if they can guess what the picture is before it's done! :-)
So that's me being productive. Actually, I've done three more since these that I haven't taken pictures of . . . because great merciful crap, I'm going to have to forget about the whole stock piling thing for a while! I don't know what's in the water right now, but it's making severe dehydration look appealing if you know what I mean. And for crying out loud, couldn't ONE of you please have a girl?! I try to stick pretty gender neutral with these things, but I can't imagine anyone appreciating the lady bug and frog prince set as a gift for their baby boy. Right now I'm working furiously to have enough done for the upcoming baby showers that are suddenly coming up really swiftly.
Back to work I go. :-)
P. ost S. cript
I do a lot of Netflix streaming on the weekends while I stitch. So I watch a lot of old TV shows . . . since that's, like, all they have on Netflix instant. Lately (in addition to Twilight Zone) it's been some Rocky and Bullwinkle. And that show is seriously a lot funnier than I remember . . . and I remember it as pretty funny! Frankly my jaw is still on the floor from "Tune in next time for Fuels Rush In or Star Spangled Boner!" I mean - how did they get away with that? And this storyline? Holy fortune telling, Batgirl!
Being back in Utah is finally starting to get to me. I'd forgotten a little what it was like. I'd forgotten the "oh, you play the cello? Well, I play the piano, flute, harp, and sing!" The "oh, you did drama and color guard in high school? Well, I did volleyball, track, choir, cheerleading, and student council. And I knitted socks for the homeless in my spare time. 100 pairs a year."
It was probably silly of me, but I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing this time around seeing as I'm, you know, not single. I mean, wasn't it all an obnoxious competition to snag the guy who sang, danced, spoke fluent Portuguese and Latin, couldn't cook but loved good food, and adored watching you juggle four babies? I'm not anyone's competition anymore, dangit!
But . . . no. Now it's all about "oh I'm so tired from shuttling my gazillion kids around and I still have to make pasta from scratch for their dinner and sew their clothes from cloth I wove myself and do their homework for them (true story) and make the poster board and glitter myself for their project - oh my, you don't have kids? What do you do all day?!"
(side note: okay, I know that's not a strictly Utah thing but in this case it feels like an extension of the old version if the competition.)
Okay, I will admit I get bored sometimes and don't always have enough stuff to fill the day, especially during the summer. Combine that with my occasional employment inadequacies and my absolute inability with most crafts and sometimes I feel really useless around here.
So for a while this summer as I was working on my most genius idea ever I took pictures every day. Just to mark my progress and prove that I did do something at least a little bit useful and productive that day and all this summer. Looking them over later was kind of fun, so I made some videos for your enjoyment . . . and, of course, for you to gush over and tell me how awesome I am, lol. (j/k!)
Hey, need to entertain a bored child for a minute? (preferably a pretty young one) See if they can guess what the picture is before it's done! :-)
So that's me being productive. Actually, I've done three more since these that I haven't taken pictures of . . . because great merciful crap, I'm going to have to forget about the whole stock piling thing for a while! I don't know what's in the water right now, but it's making severe dehydration look appealing if you know what I mean. And for crying out loud, couldn't ONE of you please have a girl?! I try to stick pretty gender neutral with these things, but I can't imagine anyone appreciating the lady bug and frog prince set as a gift for their baby boy. Right now I'm working furiously to have enough done for the upcoming baby showers that are suddenly coming up really swiftly.
Back to work I go. :-)
P. ost S. cript
I do a lot of Netflix streaming on the weekends while I stitch. So I watch a lot of old TV shows . . . since that's, like, all they have on Netflix instant. Lately (in addition to Twilight Zone) it's been some Rocky and Bullwinkle. And that show is seriously a lot funnier than I remember . . . and I remember it as pretty funny! Frankly my jaw is still on the floor from "Tune in next time for Fuels Rush In or Star Spangled Boner!" I mean - how did they get away with that? And this storyline? Holy fortune telling, Batgirl!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
7
Day 7 ~ A picture of someone/thing that has had the biggest impact on you.
(warning: I'm bored, and thereby only loosely following blogging directions . . . )
Well, I don't know about the BIGGEST impact, but . . .
If I hadn't been working for these guys . . .
. . . I would never have met this guy . . . and I imagine things might be a little different for both of us these days. :-)
Moving on.
From the "so large an impact in my childhood that I spent way more time than should have been necessary hunting him down later on (and shall have to tell that story sometime) file:"
From the "larger impact on my childhood and even now than I should admit file:"
(note: totally friends with the guy in the suit. we let people pass us in line waiting for the other guy to switch off with him. it was worth it, we all had fun when he came out and we could play around a little and nobody else got it.)
And last but certainly not least - from the "soooooooooooo freaking glad we're related because otherwise I would probably STILL be job hunting file:"
Also, she's awesome.
P. ost S. cript
How cool is this? I'm sure there's some sort of camera trickery going on, but I am an Escher junkie, and I? Do. Not. Care.
(warning: I'm bored, and thereby only loosely following blogging directions . . . )
Well, I don't know about the BIGGEST impact, but . . .
If I hadn't been working for these guys . . .
. . . I would never have met this guy . . . and I imagine things might be a little different for both of us these days. :-)Moving on.
From the "so large an impact in my childhood that I spent way more time than should have been necessary hunting him down later on (and shall have to tell that story sometime) file:"
From the "larger impact on my childhood and even now than I should admit file:"
(note: totally friends with the guy in the suit. we let people pass us in line waiting for the other guy to switch off with him. it was worth it, we all had fun when he came out and we could play around a little and nobody else got it.)And last but certainly not least - from the "soooooooooooo freaking glad we're related because otherwise I would probably STILL be job hunting file:"
Also, she's awesome.P. ost S. cript
How cool is this? I'm sure there's some sort of camera trickery going on, but I am an Escher junkie, and I? Do. Not. Care.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
3
Day 3 ~ A picture of you as a child.
This may sound a bit conceited, but I was a cute kid. Now if I could just figure out what happened . . .
Anyway. I. Was. Cute. And right now I'm bored . . . so you get more than one. Yay!
What did I tell you? :-)
I was also a bit of a daddy's girl . . . well, more like an everybody's girl, being the only grandchild for nearly two years. I'm told I had a pretty good gig going . . . until those meddling other kids spoiled it, lol.
Exhibit A as to why I wish we still wore hats on fancy occasions. We always wore hats to church on Easter Sunday - some years we even got gloves! It felt so elegant and grown-up-ish . . . seriously - why don't people wear hats anymore, dangit?!?!?!
Anyway . . . that's me. And if you just can't get enough of my adorability, there are plenty more pictures from back in the day on my facebook page. (you may also spot some other familiar faces. good times, heehee)
P. ost S. cript
K, so heaven knows I'm no trekkie, but this is kind of awesome. And to quote an even more awesome former Hamilton Hamilton roommate, "Patrick Stewart is, like, the ultimate man."
Also: while Luke and I have had our disagreement over it, I still maintain that toward the end he is saying "I am as cute as a boar. You are bored."
Also also: Wesley Crusher may have been my first character crush waaaay back in the day.
This may sound a bit conceited, but I was a cute kid. Now if I could just figure out what happened . . .
Anyway. I. Was. Cute. And right now I'm bored . . . so you get more than one. Yay!
What did I tell you? :-)
I was also a bit of a daddy's girl . . . well, more like an everybody's girl, being the only grandchild for nearly two years. I'm told I had a pretty good gig going . . . until those meddling other kids spoiled it, lol.
Exhibit A as to why I wish we still wore hats on fancy occasions. We always wore hats to church on Easter Sunday - some years we even got gloves! It felt so elegant and grown-up-ish . . . seriously - why don't people wear hats anymore, dangit?!?!?!
Anyway . . . that's me. And if you just can't get enough of my adorability, there are plenty more pictures from back in the day on my facebook page. (you may also spot some other familiar faces. good times, heehee)
P. ost S. cript
K, so heaven knows I'm no trekkie, but this is kind of awesome. And to quote an even more awesome former Hamilton Hamilton roommate, "Patrick Stewart is, like, the ultimate man."
Also: while Luke and I have had our disagreement over it, I still maintain that toward the end he is saying "I am as cute as a boar. You are bored."
Also also: Wesley Crusher may have been my first character crush waaaay back in the day.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Ahhh, Second Graders
Happy Star Wars Day . . . yesterday.~ On a poster talking about why so many Germans immigrated to America:
"They wont to leave because they were harassment."
~ (I wore my Maori fishhook necklace today.)
(David): Where did you get that Miss Lacey?
me: It's from New Zealand.
(David): You've been lots more places than us!
me: I'm a lot older than you too. I've had more time to go places.
(Ezekiel): I've been to Salt Lake!! To the zoo!!
me: Me too!
(Ezekiel): How come I didn't see you there?
me: I think we went on different days . . .
(Ezekiel): (paying no attention to what I just said) I know! You must have been in the giraffe section.
Note: I haven't been to the Hogle Zoo since before these kids were born.
~ So Jehosaphat comes back from speech and decides to give me a little plastic lady bug he earned there. A few minutes later (Jacob) comes in and gives me two smarties from the package he just earned.
me: Awww, thank you (Jacob)!!!
Jehosaphat: I gave her this!!! (shows him the ladybug)
I hope they don't start, like, fighting over me or something. :-)
P. ost S. cript
I feel so bad for laughing, but seriously. Hilarious.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Where Time Goes
So after nearly two years of blogging you've probably realized I'm not much of the type to post the mushy "it's the 17-month anniversary of our third kiss, yay!" type of posts . . .
BUT . . .
I find myself wanting to counteract the doom and gloom, both meteorological and philosophical.
So . . .
*ahem*
Two years ago today was the day of the Salt Lake City Marathon. Most obnoxious timing on their part, I must say. Because what should have been a ten minute drive from the downtown Marriott to the Salt Lake Temple took 20+. The way my mother was freaking out you would think they canceled weddings if people were more than 2 minutes late. But Grandma, being the awesome grandma that she is, just kept telling everybody to relax and that everything would work out just fine. Which it did. And I'm sure we weren't the only ones who were late. But in the end everything was worth it.
Thus far it appears the rest of our lives is going to be just like our wedding day: the process a bit of a hassle and sometimes a pain in a few unpleasant places, but ultimately decidedly worth it.
I think this is my favorite picture . . . a little ironic since my dad took it instead of one of the professionals. But after mom raved and raved about the people she picked in the end neither of us were especially impressed with the end result.
And on a completely frivolous and shallow note, I'm still immensely glad it was better weather then than there was today. Because I would have been really bummed if I couldn't have worn my awesome wedding shoes:
Hopefully the weather will dry out soon so I can start wearing these babies again!
Okay, this picture is just to show off my awesome cathedral veil, which I might be a touch vain about. I got so many comments about it at the time . . . like people had never seen one longer than fingertip length before. It was kind of weird actually.
Anyway. The end. Or . . . not.
P. ost S. cript
Interesting stuff. And kind of cute.
BUT . . .
I find myself wanting to counteract the doom and gloom, both meteorological and philosophical.
So . . .
*ahem*
Two years ago today was the day of the Salt Lake City Marathon. Most obnoxious timing on their part, I must say. Because what should have been a ten minute drive from the downtown Marriott to the Salt Lake Temple took 20+. The way my mother was freaking out you would think they canceled weddings if people were more than 2 minutes late. But Grandma, being the awesome grandma that she is, just kept telling everybody to relax and that everything would work out just fine. Which it did. And I'm sure we weren't the only ones who were late. But in the end everything was worth it.
Thus far it appears the rest of our lives is going to be just like our wedding day: the process a bit of a hassle and sometimes a pain in a few unpleasant places, but ultimately decidedly worth it.
I think this is my favorite picture . . . a little ironic since my dad took it instead of one of the professionals. But after mom raved and raved about the people she picked in the end neither of us were especially impressed with the end result.And on a completely frivolous and shallow note, I'm still immensely glad it was better weather then than there was today. Because I would have been really bummed if I couldn't have worn my awesome wedding shoes:
Hopefully the weather will dry out soon so I can start wearing these babies again!
Okay, this picture is just to show off my awesome cathedral veil, which I might be a touch vain about. I got so many comments about it at the time . . . like people had never seen one longer than fingertip length before. It was kind of weird actually.Anyway. The end. Or . . . not.
P. ost S. cript
Interesting stuff. And kind of cute.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Crushes
True story: the first time I saw this picture it made me think of my friend Justin's joke about the first mention of a car in the Bible and I laughed for a good five minutes from both the humor and the pleasant memories.So all this school-story-telling probably does not bode well for when I have kids of my own. I live in fear that somehow I will morph into one of those obnoxious, over-sharing parents that repeatedly find their obnoxiousness showing up here. Please, if that happens, someone slap me back into my senses.
Anyway, the other day I was telling Luke about my day and how I was walking down the hall heading to kindergarten and my second grade class was lining up out in the hall and I guess someone saw me because the next thing I know the whole class is not-very-quietly whispering "Miss Lacey's coming! Miss Lacey's coming!"
For a moment, I felt like I comprised the entirety of the British army . . . circa 1776, of course. :-)
Luke's reaction to this story was: "Sooooo . . . are you, like, the most popular aide in that whole school or what?"
I hesitated (and still do) to say yes, and only partly out of not wanting to appear full of myself. However, I do feel like I'm just being honest when I say I am pretty popular. And since it's pretty much for the first time in my life, I'm kind of enjoying it. The weirdest (for me) part? I seem to be most popular with the boys, and believe me that is absolutely the most foreign thing in the world.
I was thinking the other day - I get easily half a dozen hugs a day at least. And the vast majority are from the little boys. Granted, about half of them are from "Eric" most days but still . . . most days they're all from boys. Crushing a little maybe? Like I said, this would be the first time ever I've been the subject of so many crushes at once (or more than one crush at once, to be perfectly honest) so I'm kind of enjoying the attention. And it's just cute. :-)
I'm always a little nervous when returning hugs. I'm sure there's some sort of policy about it, but I certainly couldn't tell you what it is. Disney has a pretty strict policy about it, which I will admit to violating a time or two - for the same reason I may have here too: when a five-year-old has their arms around your neck and squeezes like there's no tomorrow it just plain feels wrong to respond with one arm loosely draped on their shoulder for a second or two. They're still so sweet and loving of everyone and it seems cruel to do anything that would disillusion them so soon. Besides, it's not like I'm not doing anything wrong, if for no other reason than I'm never alone with these hug-y kids. And isn't it sad that the state of affairs in general is such that hugging policies have to exist at all?
Anyway. Enough of that. Here's some silly stories involving boys who may or may not have a crush on me.
~ So in second grade this week the spelling list is all about open syllable words. (Another concept I'm not certain I learned when I was in school. Basically we're talking two syllable words where the first syllable has a long vowel - a concept I did learn, but had forgotten . . .) I work with my spelling groups before the actual class spelling time, so on Mondays I'm introducing the concept to these kids who are having a harder time with spelling than the rest of the class. Great. I can't help but wonder sometimes if I help or hinder more, but the teacher says I've helped a lot. Anyway, what I do is I tell them what the concept is, then I explain what it means, then I ask them to tell me what I just taught them. More often then not they can't remember the first day without a little prompting, and that was the case this week. So I say "open . . ." and that little clown of a "Jehosaphat" jumps up all excited and full of a 7-year-old's confidence says "SESAME!!!!!"
Now, normally when the kids say something funny I'll have a quick laugh and move on. Not this time. All spelling work stopped for at least five minutes. We're talking tearful laughter here folks. And then the kids started laughing even though they didn't get the joke and three or four times I'd try to get myself back under control they'd keep giggling and I'd be lost for another few seconds. I really hope that group did well on the spelling test today because I'm not very sure I taught them much this week.
~ Second grade again. Today was a half day, and since I'm in second grade last things were a little bit different than usual. Shortly before the end of the day I headed out to make some copies for next week's spelling groups who shall be known as David stopped me to give me a hug, as he sometimes does when I leave. I told him I was just making copies and would be right back. A couple of minutes later when I did come back I think he asked me "How was your coffee?" I'm not entirely certain because I didn't quite catch it and he got all embarrassed and wouldn't repeat himself when I asked what he said. But clearly at least one of us heard the other incorrectly. It made me giggle, after making me a little confused.
~ There is a darling little guy in kindergarten who shall go by Andrew. If I get only one hug in a day, it is his. The teacher might be right in the middle of showing them how to write a letter or something, but he will jump up and run to me. He goes right back to his seat immediately, so we all let him get away with it. Last week he added a little something . . . lately he kisses me on the cheek too. I've seen him give others hugs the second they walk into the room too, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who gets a kiss. I keep telling Luke he has competition - because I'm pretty sure Andrew thinks he does. As do a couple of others, I'm thinking. :-)
~ Then there are the third grade boys who come to my group the second the first bell rings even though they're supposed to wait for the second. I feel like it's always crowded back in my little corner because half the time there's twice as many people there as there's supposed to be. I send them back to their desks, theoretically until the bell rings again, but in actuality they're usually back within 15 seconds. I realize that in third grade everything is still exciting, but I kind of doubt it's because they're dying to do a math word search. (side note: Katie, one of them has also asked me a couple of times if Luke has bought me anymore jewelry yet, lol. I want to bring Luke to school just to see what kind if conversation those two would have!)
All in all, good times. I hope I'm not contributing to the creation of future heart-breakers!
btw, the car in the Bible thing? I don't remember the exact reference, but it's the first couple of verses of an early chapter of Acts and it says something like "And it came to pass that they were all in one accord in that place." *rim shot*
P. ost S. cript
I'm not sure what I think of this. On the one hand there's the "holy-crap-how-did-this-happen?!?" sort of feeling that leaves me thinking it's pretty hysterical. On the other hand, for some reason screw-ups are cool or something, and someday there will be people out there who will pay big money for this . . . more than for the "right" ones. So then I'm thinking it's kind of brilliant and I should, like, invest in one or something. Also: if you can't find what's wrong with this picture, we might not be able to be friends anymore. ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)