A day in the life of....

Just about every day something crazy happens in my classroom. Today, there were a few crazy things to say the least. One of my students (keep in mind they are 7 years old) was leading the class through the daily news routine. This particular student, we'll call him Mike, reminds me of PigPen, you know, Charlie Brown's buddy. Mike walks around all the time with his shirt mis-buttoned, fuzz in his hair, wader pants with holes in the knees, shoes untied, shirt dingy and untucked (they wear uniforms). So today I asked him to fix himself because "a leader needs to look like a leader." He takes a look at himself and just doesn't see the problem. Sitting on the floor in front of him is one of my naughtiest students, we'll call him Jason. Jason is very quiety leaning over his criss-crossed legs tying Mike's shoes for him. This actually took my breath away. None of us even noticed Jason tying Mike's shoes and then I noticed it and when Jason realized I saw what he was doing, he froze, like I was going to yell at him or something. Mike thanked Jason and the routine went on, but just that little act of kindness from Mike (this was a HUGE deal for him to do someone a favor) made me smile and remember why I do what I do.

This next paragraph will remind me why my job drives me nuts. I picked the kids up from music and when we entered our classroom, one of my girls puked all over her desk. Lovely. I quickly call maintenance and then as I'm trying to call her mother, I'm faintly aware of 2 other girls whining and tapping me and calling my name. Well, as all teachers know, I have learned to ignore this action. Not 2 seconds later both of these girls wet their pants. As if I don't already have enough drama for the moment. A puker and 2 pee-ers. What next?

Once again, never a dull moment.

Getting to know you....

Every so often I get one of these forwards. Sometimes I like filling them out, and sometimes I delete them. I know lots of people get annoyed with them, so if you are one of those people, stop reading!! I think these survey things are fun!!

Welcome to the 2006 edition of getting to know your friends.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 4:30am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? King Kong (not my choice!)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Desperate Housewive
5. What did you have for breakfast? low fat muffin
6. What is your middle name? Marie
7. What is your favorite cuisine? spaghetti
8. What foods do you dislike? Fish or anything out of water
9. Your favorite potato chip? Regular Baked Lays
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Kelly Clarkson
11. What kind of car do you drive? Saturn Ion
12. Favorite sandwich? BMT from Subway, without the ham
13. What characteristics do you despise? Laziness
14. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans and Detroit Hard Rock sweatshirt
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would> you go? Ireland
16. What color is your bathroom? Apartment Beige & Hunter Green
17. Favorite brand of clothing? I'm changing this to FAVORITE BRAND OF PURSES? It will be a Coach when I actually throw the loot, but currently Nine West
18. Where would you want to retire to? Waterfront
19. Favorite time of day? When my key hits the lock on my door
20. Where were you born? Adrian, Michigan
21. Favorite sport to watch? Baseball
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? Kenny
23. Person you expect to send it back first? Amanda or Bethy
24. What laundry detergent do you use? The one on sale!
25. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke....on ice
26. Are you a morning person or night owl? Morning person
27. Do you have any pets? 1 Hamster, Rusty
28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? I bought a new vacuum!
29. What did you want to be when you were little? Anything but a teacher
30. Favorite candy? Reeses cups
31. What is your best childhood memory? Playing night time hide 'n' seek on the farm with the neighbors and Mark, and also camping with the Osborn Clan
32. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Babysitter, Dishwasher at the Brass Lantern (for like a week), Hostess at Big Boy (for another week), House Cleaner, Craft consultant (Ben Franklin Crafts), Substitute Teacher and now 2nd Grade Teacher (oh yeah, I worked in a food wagon one summer...talk about hell!!)
33. What color underwear are you wearing? Who cares
34. Piercing? Ears now, used to have my tongue pierced in college
35. Eye color? Blue
36. Ever been to Africa? No
37. Ever been toilet papering? Of course!
38. Ever been in love so much it made you cry? Yes
39. Been in a car accident? Yes
40. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons
41. Favorite day of the week? Thursday
42. Favorite restaurant? Outback
43. Favorite flower? Lilac
44. Favorite ice cream? Strawberry Cheescake
45. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
46. Favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy's
47. What color is your bedroom carpet? Apartment Beige
48. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None...my dad is an instructor and my best friend's dad gave me the test!
49. Before this one, from whom did you get your last email from? Kenny
50. What store would you max out your credit card in? Coach, Von Maur or Target
51. What do you do most often when you are bored? Laundry or something crafty
52. Bedtime? Between 11:00 and 12:00
53. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? Mom
54. What are you listening to right now? The furnace
55. What is your favorite color? It changes daily, but probably purple
56. Lake, Ocean or River? Ocean
57. How many tattoos do you have? 1
58. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The big guy upstairs is the only one who knows the answer
59. How many people are you sending this email to? EVERYONE!!

Where is the end of late fees???

It seems as if everywhere I go I have acquired late fees. While Kenny was in Indiana I thought it would be a great time to catch up on some movie watching, the chic flick kind. I go to Blockbuster....we owe $15 there. Ugh. Instead of paying it, (since it's probably not my fault anyway...yeah right!) I go across the street to Family Video. We owe $25 there! It looks like I'm not gettin out of this one. I decided to wait until Kenny came home to deal! For those prices, I might as well go to the bargain bin at Target and pick out a couple of $5 movies to BUY! Which is exactly what I did. Then a few days later I go to the library to pick out some books for my classroom. I have about 20 books all ready to check out, and BAM! Late fees again! At the library I owe $25 for 2 books lost! Ugh! So I hand them my credit card to pay the fees since I NEVER carry cash and the lady politely tells me that they only accept cash or checks. I don't have my check book with me, and my ATM card broke a few days prior and I won't get my new one for 7 to 10 business days! WHAH! So, brokenheartedly, I leave the books on the counter and pout all the way to the car. I returned to the library with Kenny's library card yesterday because he doesn't have any late fees. I pick out even more books this time, plus 3 videos to go along with the unit in science that I'm teaching, and when I get to the counter, I hold my breath just waiting for the same lady to tell me Kenny has late fees......and he does!! He owes $5 (which were my books anyway)!!! UGH! I write a check for the $5 (I brought the checkbook just in case since I still don't have a working ATM card yet) and take my books and videos before the lady changes her mind about me using Kenny's card. Will I ever learn??

Funny Stuff

This happened in my classroom today for real:

Student: (whispering) "Miss O....I passed gas....I'm sorry!"

Me: (also whispering) "No big deal. Everyone does it. Open the window."

Student: (not whispering) "No way. Then everyone'll think it was me. Can you open the window?"

Me: "No way. Then everyone'll think it's me."

I'm not trying to be gross, but I just wanted to pass on a little bit of the daily humor that comes from the mouths of 7 year olds.

Hehehehehehehehe

Top Ten Reasons Dick Cheney Won't Resign

10. Trying to fix up Condi Rice with his daughter
9. Turns out when you shoot somebody, if you're not vice president, you gotta do time
8. Bush leaves at two every day and then it's margaritas and Fritos
7. Set the solitare high score on his office computer
6. Wants to see if he can help Bush get his approval rating under ten
5. Too hard to give up Vice Presidential Discount at D.C. area Sam Goody stores
4. Wants to stay on the job until every country in the world hates us
3. Extra-zappy White House defibrillators (my personal favorite!!)
2. Undisclosed location has foosball and women
1. Why quit when things are going so well?

Crazy Monday

So have you ever been to a convention that your job sent you on? Where you have to go and take notes and try to better yourself for your job? I know teachers have! Our entire staff spent our last professional development day at a convention. I always stupidly think that I'm going to get sooooooooo much out of these presentations, but it just never happens. My mom told me a long time ago that I'll be lucky to get one *good* new idea from each convention. She's right. I had to choose four presentations to listen to, and I did my best to weed out the awful sounding ones. The first one was promising at first, then a bore.....nothing new to learn! The second one was awful, like I was sitting in a lecture hall as a first semester freshman again (SCARY!!). The third one was after lunch and I was sleepy after walking downtown to eat with coworkers in the bitter cold and then walk back. Needless to say, I forced myself to stay awake for nothing, and when it was over, or supposed to be over, there were other people outside the room waiting for us to leave so they could come in and our presenter screams "I HAVE FIVE MORE MINUTES!" and then someone sitting a few rows up politely says "No, it's time." Thank goodness for that small voice!! The instructor was disgusted but gave in and we left immediatly. One more class to go! This one had potential, but then took a turn for the worst. What's new. Overall, the presentations did not match their descriptions in the book we chose from, and as always, we were disappointed. But I can't knock the whole thing. There's always the free stuff at conventions that make up for the hours of boredom. And did we ever get loaded up with free stuff!! That was cool. I was home by 2:30pm, which is unheard of, and contently napping by 4pm, right after watching Dr. Phil. Afternoon naps are a treat. Kenny makes fun of me and says that all I do is sleep. Not true. I stay up way late during the week so I only get about 4 hours of sleep a night. After dealing with children all day, I'm exhausted when I get home. And sometimes, I admit, I used to nap in the afternoon. But not anymore. Not with these masters classes. No time for that! Anyway, my point is that when you don't sleep more than 4 hours a night, a nap is acceptable. Just ask my dad. He'll tell ya. All in all, Monday was "crazily" productive (yes, I just made up that word!). A convention of free stuff, a yummy afternoon nap, and then six straight hours of masters work. Gotta love that!!

Grandma O's (and Kathleen too) Birthday #1

We met last week at Zanzibar's to celebrate Grandma Osborn's birthday, and also Kathleen's birthday. Everyone knows the story of my dad hoping Kathleen would be born on March 5th, the same day as his mother, so he could remember Kathleen's birthday. And she was! Happy Birthday Grandma and Kathleen!!

Grandma O's (and Kathleen too) Birthday #2

Lucky Charms

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Finally, this great celebrating holiday is on a Friday and I can enjoy it by going out!! This morning I was listening to the radio and they were talking about lucky charms....THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT ONES! People were calling in left and right to shout out their prized lucky charm on the air. Shoes, purses, coins, teddy bears, pens, sweatshirts, bras, hats....the list goes on. Do I have a lcuky charm? Uuuuuummmmm YES! I DO! It's my birthstone ring. I know it's not original to say that a ring is lucky, but it truly is. Not only is it beautiful, but it's like I'm wearing a little circle of safety on my hand. I love it. So, yes, my lucky charm is my ring.

We Miss You

Bad news always travels fast....but sometimes not fast enough. With the passing of a lifelong friend's mother, the last week has been one of deep thoughts. I didn't find out until it was too late to say goodbye, and I would have really cherished that goodbye. I know that we don't usually get that luxury, but I would have wanted to tell Kay's mother that I have millions of memories stock piled in my heart from her home as a child. I spend hours and hours there, playing and talking and 4-wheeling and swimming. We played our trumpets on the deck and sat in the hottub (bright turquoise, I might add) until we were pruned. Her mom was the only person who even successfully got me to taste SPAM. Yuck. If I slept over on a Friday night, I was included in the cleaning rituals on Saturday morning because I wasn't considered a guest....I was part of the family. I could go on and on and on with my memories of Kay and I at her parents' house when we were younger. At the luncheon following the funeral, I was sitting with good friends, and we were talking about Kay's mom and laughing because no matter how many times you called their house, no matter what time of day, she always answered by screaming their last name into the phone....even if she knew it was you. Kay's mom was only 50 years old when she passed away last week. FIFTY YEARS OLD. Not nearly enough time here with loved ones. But as I've learned in the last year, cancer strikes and it strikes hard, and there's nothing we can do about it except fight it the best you can and LIVE EVERY DAY. Kay's mom was diagnosed 5 weeks prior to her death, and the blow was no different. So I will dedicate this entry to Kay's mother. Wherever you are Kay's Mom, we are really missing you.

Sleep or Work??

Have you ever felt like you had so much work to do that you couldn't go to sleep? Have you ever felt like the days aren't long enough to work AND sleep? Have you ever felt like you should be doing your work but you can't because your eyes are swimming because you have been looking at the computer screen too long and you need a break but can't take one? Okay, well, this is the spot that I am in right now. I shouldn't be updating this blog, I shouldn't be listening to the Academy Awards on TV....the TV shouldn't even be on! I should be TRYING to complete more of the longest assignment of my life. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I created this blog with its title So Much To Do..... because I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!

When I was in college for my bachelors degree, I didn't have a full time job. I had a part time job, time for my hobbies (too much time for them because I worked at a craft store), and LOTS of time for hangin' with friends. My point here is that school wasn't such a burden. There were times when I felt like I had a lot of work to do, but nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compares to the amount of work I have to do now for this masters degree. After working with 21 little runny-nosed, loving babies every day (which I love doing!), I want to come home and relax, not force myself to be focused on MY schoolwork. I know, I know, I chose to be a teacher, and I chose to go back to school for this masters degree, and I have no one here to blame but myself for my busyness. I also know that everyone is busy. But I love what I do, and this masters degree helps me do my job even better.

I guess all my babbling boils down to one question:

What is more important? Getting a decent amount of sleep or getting my work done?

I think the red words in this post give me my answer. Darn it.

The Faces of Kenny

Every few months I get the urge to scrapbook my pictures into an album. I've been sifting through pictures for about a week, deciding which ones to use. I've come to the conclusion that my man cannot just SMILE for a picture. He makes goofy faces for EVERY picture taken of him. Clearly, you can see in these pictures. Whenever he is getting his picture taken, he's told to smile nicely, and rarely does that happen. He makes the silliest and sometimes annoying faces for the camera, no mater where we are...my cousin's wedding on the dance floor, Christmas with my family, or vacationing in Tawas with Derek & Monica. The list goes on. This is why I love him. I never know what to expect, and I'm always pleasantly surprised!

PJ's, Duke Boys, and Cleaning

This weekend has consisted of mainly 3 things.........the first 2 are my PJ's and The Dukes of Hazzard. About a year ago KAL introduced me to the Dukes. I hadn't watched them as a kid. But I had heard plenty of things about them. So when he brought over the boxed set of the 1st season last winter, I was hooked immediatly. When the 2nd season came out, he was at Best Buy that day, and the same for season 3. For Christmas I unwrapped season 4 (I know it was one of those gifts that he really bought for "us" or maybe just him) and we finished that one Friday evening. So yesterday we ventured out in the 8 degrees that it was outside to get season 5. The 3rd part of the weekend is the cleaning. Today I woke up with motivation to clean and organize (translation: everything will end up in the dumpster). The Dukes are playing on my DVD player, I'm comfy in my favorite clothes, and with the faint sound of Kenny's snore drifting up from the depths of the couch, I'm in that cleaning mode. Look out dumpster, here I come!!! (in my jamies)

Valentine's Day

There are a few different theories of how Valentine's Day came about. Here's my favorite:

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire, when February 14th was a holiday to honor Juno, the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses (aka the Goddess of women and marriage). On February 15th the Feast of Lupercalia began. During these times the lives of young boys were very seperate from the lives of young girls. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry. Emperor Claudius II of Rome did not like this because men were choosing to fall in love and have families instead of serving their country. So he canceled all engagements and marriages. Saint Valentine was a priest during these times and believed in Christian marriage, so he secretly married couples. Emperor Claudius found out and had Saint Valentine killed, ironically on February 14th, which is why we celebrate Valentine's Day.

Just think ladies....you could be forever coupled with a man who drew your name from a jar. Kind of exciting, kind of scary.....

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day!

Table Tale

Since BG has moved here, her apartment has been mostly bare. After 3 months of shopping for diningroom tables, she FINALLY found a suitable one. This was almost more exciting for me then for her because I have to buy something immediatly when I want it. BG can shop and shop and shop for the perfect one, and it doesn't matter how many times she comes home empty handed. This drives me crazy, and in the last 3 months, it's happened about a zillion times. So when I got the call that she had found The One, I made her promise to wait until I could come with her to buy it. I needed the satisfaction of watching her buy it after all this!

Friday night I head over to her place and we get into her truck and drive to the store to get the much needed table. We head straight to the table, I fall in love with it immediatly, and the salesman has it taken up front for us. While we're waiting, we browse at purses and girly things. I made a pit stop, and when I come back to the purses, BG is gone!! So I continue looking, and then I hear myself being paged to customer service, about 25 feet away from where I'm standing. Turns out BG just wanted me to actually WATCH her purchase the table because I've been so anxious for this moment. How thoughtful!

In all the excitement, we completely forgot one important thing: How are WE going to get her new, unassembled, still in the box, HEAVY table upstairs into her apartment? And the other important thing I had not counted on....the table has to be put together by us! The ride back to her apartment takes us to Sears to grab the essential set of tools. As BG parks her truck, it dawns on us how heavy this thing is. I briefly thought of calling my man to help us, but then I decided that we could do this thing man free. After all, BG and I are country girls (now removed from the country), but nonetheless, we can handle this situation.

We decided to take the parts upstairs piece by piece instead of the whole box, which would have injured us FOR SURE. I was aching just thinking about one.........A piece at a time, up the stairs, and about 20 mintues later it was all assembled ready to go!! Ha, just kidding.

We began with the directions, and following them to a T, things went well up to a certain point. The screw driver didn't fit....it was too long to use on the bottom of the chairs. We tried a few other things, nothing worked. At this point we were both frustrated. We had been working on this for almost 2 hours, and making good progress, really didn't want to stop until we were done! BG suggested we get another screw driver, a shorter one, so off we go to Meijers, the only place open at midnight.

This screw driver worked, thank goodness. About an hour later, the whole project was complete. The table and chairs are beautiful and very much worth the wait, even for me!

The only complaint (and there's always a few) I have is that I woke up yesterday morning with my hands in an achy state. They hurt! BG, you owe me a manicure and hand massage!

Letterman's Top 10

Top Ten Cool Things About Having the Super Bowl in Detroit

10. No need for Homeland Security as entire audience is armed to the teeth.
9. Every place you go are plaques stating "Madonna Slept Here."
8. Commemorative bullet proof vests for all fans.
7. Finally, a chance for Lions fans to watch a professional football team.
6. Burning cars in the street make it feel like Miami.
5. Sounds of heckling fans drowned out by gunfire.
4. 30,000 Ford pink slips can be reused as confetti.
3. According to James Frey, "It's great to have the Super Bowl return to the Motor City where I quarterbacked the New Orlean Saints to their first World Championship in 1973."
2. Sudden death is a real possibility.
1. Buy two hotdogs, get a free Ford Focus.

Innocent, well, sort of

One of the little people I work with today amazed me yet again. As we were talking and working one-on-one, she says to me, "I know why they (referring to the "people" who create question and answer worksheets) ask these silly questions after every story. They want to see if you're paying attention." Right on Little One! It's the moments like this when I just smile and feel happy to be doing what I'm doing. I could write about a hundred different things that the little ones have said in the last few years. "When I'm in high school, will you still be alive?" seems to stick with me, as well as "Did you take a bath this week?" Those are some extreme examples, but I'll keep throwing them out there as they come to mind. These innocent questions keep me laughing at work, which is sometimes they only way to make it through!

Down Town Pictures Before Super Sunday

Pre-Super Bowl Pictures

Crazy Week

So the big game is only 1 day away.....thank goodness I don't have to go to work on Sunday! Super Bowl XL is great, but working downtown this past week has been nutty. As I looked out the window of my classroom, I saw the grand face of Ford Field, and all the big white tents set up next to it for partying, then a huge line of camera crews and satelites from local and cable stations. When I left to drive home there has been a dead-stop line of traffic coming into the city. There are limos everywhere: hummer ones, regular ones, escalade ones, and I think I even saw a Cadillac limo. Scattered on every corner are police cars. EVERYWHERE! The good thing is, they're not looking for speeders this week! Because so many streets downtown are blocked off, many of my students didn't make it to school yesterday, so Friday was a breeze! I will have to take pictures on Monday as I roll into the city...who knows what that's going to look like. Could be pretty scary!

On another note, Kenny just recently received some pretty prestigous awards at the Michigan State Auctioneers Association Convention in Mt. Pleasant. Check out his website to see all the details along with some pictures. www.AEauctions.com Way to go honey!