Not a Reaction I Expected

Do you know what a helgramite is? Neither did I until yesterday.

Let's back up for a sec.  I have a completely irrational fear of cockroaches.  Like I won't even touch a dead one. I won't let one be flushed down the toilet-even if it's dead.  If I see one, I run screaming to the other side of the room, trembling until someone takes care of the situation.  I have yet to be alone with one, and I imagine  a moment like that would look something like a crying, shaking heap in a corner. Ridiculous.

So yesterday, the fella comes home from work and says, "Oh, I almost forgot, I have helgramites in my lunch box.  I found them at work, they're in a water bottle. I can use them for bait when I fish."

"Huh. Well that's neat.  Now you don't have to buy them."

He brought them over to me and held up the bottle.  He was very proud of his find.  I had a realization.  Helgramites look like skinny cockroaches.  I backed up to the counter, eyes wide, breathing heavily, voice shaking as I said, "Oh, that's so great. Uh huh. Awesome."

And then I started crying.

Not sobbing or anything, but eyes brimming with tears while the fella stared at me.  At one point I said, "I don't know what's happening. This is not the reaction I expected."  The fella said that he did not expect that reaction either-and really who would-and backed slowly away from the crazy person and put his little friends in the garage.

THEN, I decided that it was ridiculous for a grown woman to have such a strong and, frankly, insane reaction to a bug (well, bugs) trapped in a bottle.  So, I tip-toed out to the garage, crept around the 4-wheeler, and looked down at the bottle sitting by the tires.  I slowly lowered myself to the garage floor and looked at them.  I even poked the bottle to see if they would move.  I named one Helga and decided she's their leader.

True story.

Friday's Letters

I haven't done a Friday's Letter Link-Up for quite awhile (I just realized that my "Q" key sticks a little), so since I'm sitting in yoga pants (because I will work out eventually) watching Live with Kelly and Michael-did NOT know Michael Strahan was the new co-host!-I'd get back in the swing o' things-this first paragraph had a lot of interjections, and I'm ok with that.  And the fella says that sometimes he can't follow my train of thought, psh.

Dear Fella, sorry I'm not always clear about what I'm talking about and that I jump around when I tell stories, and then think you're not listening when you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm working on it.

Dear Pilates, I love you. I'm going today, especially since I skipped out on yoga yesterday in favor or a glass of wine.

Dear Fox Montana Station Manager, thanks for sending a nice, informative reply to my emotionally wrought letter of distress when you didn't play the Packer game last week. This week is a bye so you're off the hook, but PLEASE play it next week!!!

Dear Breaking Dawn Part 2, I'm excited to see you, but I'm super sad there won't be any more.  I should just re-read the books I think.

Dear Work, I suppose I'll go do some now.  Not because I want to, but because the battery on my computer is almost dead, and I figure this will be the best time to go to work.

Dear New iPad, I think I like you. I really like iMessage and because it's on the iPad, I feel like It's professional to message other teachers in between classes.  I also like Facetime.

Dear Thanksgiving/Holiday Season, I'M SO EXCITED!!!! There are only 6.5 workdays until Thanksgiving Break.  I'm getting super excited to head back east for Christmas Break, too!!!!

Dear Fella, I think it's amazing that you do dishes while I cook so we can hang out in the kitchen.  I also think it's amazing that after parent/teacher conferences and a 13+ hour workday, I came home to a roast, potatoes, and carrots.  Not all guys do stuff like that, and I consider myself very lucky :)

That's all!

Life Lately

Life lately has been crazy! Between the fella working a (sort of) second job, me working, me trying to work out regularly, helping friends, and making holiday plans (i.e. Christmas shopping) there's been a lot going on.  I think things are going to slow down a little now.  Though parent/teacher conferences are Wednesday, so we'll see.

Here are some things that have been going on:

1. We got our first snow...it's gone now.

2. I bought a pasta maker at a yard sale for TWO DOLLARS (it's like $80 online!) and had a pasta making adventure! I made it a little too thick, but it was DELICIOUS! I'm really loving this making-our-food-from-scratch thing.  We're still not the healthiest eaters, but we rarely eat processed/packaged foods.  I also made homemade meatballs with the pasta.  Num!

So pretty :)

3. The people we used to rent from and that the fella has worked for had their annual Angus sale, so we went and helped out.  I didn't take many pictures though.  I always feel a little awkward taking random pictures.  Is that something you just get over, or do other people not feel awkward? Anyway...

 I watched the sale for awhile, and it's amazing how fast everything moves.  My face always itches at auctions because I know I shouldn't move my hands.  I don't want to walk out of there with a $5000 bull!

I had a very serious conversation with a 5 year old about how poop that comes from a cow's butt is the same as poop that comes from a human's butt.  He was trying to convince his little brother that poop was not interesting.  It was awesome.

I also heard this conversation:

Buyer Check-In Lady "Have you bought from the sale before?"

Buyer "No, but I have bought semen."

 What's weird is that it was a completely normal conversation at a cattle ranch.

4. I got an iPad at school.  I'm not sure what to do with it.  I'm really not too impressed so far.  But I'll keep trying.

5. Ohio State (my Alma Mater/love of my life football team) is UNDEFEATED!!! After a shaky season riddled with scandal, an interim head coach, and ineligibility for the post-season (we're still ineligible), we're turning things around. A Heisman candidate, Urban Meyer, and a (so far) undefeated season! Never mind that I don't get to watch any of the games because of our lack of cable, I'm just happy we're doing well!!!

Confessions Link Up!

I found a new blog the other day that I've been spending my lunch hour reading. Mrs. Bear over at Think Happy Thoughts started a link up party for Wednesday's Confessions and I wanted to join! So here goes...

I confess...that I spend a lot of my lunch/prep poking around the internet while I eat.  It keeps me sane :)

I confess...I'm so excited about the pizza and wings that are in the oven for supper.

I confess...that I've gone to the bar instead of going to yoga for just about every Thursday this week. I'm changing that tomorrow...and I have wine ready for me at home so I have incentive to come home after yoga!

I confess...I kind of wish I had experienced Frankenstorm.  I used to live in VA and was there for a Noreaster, and it was really interesting/a little scary.  But really I'm glad I was safe and dry in Idaho.

I confess...I watch way too much t.v. and I can't wait to catch up on all my shows this weekend :)

There ya have it! Wednesday's Confessions! This was a quick one...there's only about 5 minutes left on my pizza!!!!

It's the Little Things

I know I've written a lot about field trips lately, but something happened on the most recent field trip that I thought was really interesting that got me thinking more about the little moments in life that we sometimes miss.  Little experiences that slip by as we look toward other things.

 I've said many times that my town is smaaaaaalllll. But sometimes even I forget how small.  When we were at the museum a few girls came up to me all excited, "Ms. K!" they said, "come ride the elevator with us!"

What?

There was a sign next to the elevator that said children had to be supervised, but I couldn't figure out why in the world they wanted to ride the elevator to the only other floor in the building, the 2nd.

"C'mon! It's so much fun!" they all exclaimed.  By that time they were pulling me towards it.

"Um...ok. Sure," I said.  As we rushed to the elevator and they pushed the button to call the elevator to us, it hit me! We don't have elevators.  I can think of one, maybe two, buildings that might have an elevator.  This was cool!  I rode with the girls to the 2nd floor and off they skipped.  I wasn't planning to ride again, but a kid that I know doesn't get out much came walking up to me expressing disappointment that he hadn't gotten to ride.  I asked if he had ridden one before, and he said maybe once or twice.  We got on the elevator, he pushed the button, and as the elevator started it's 1 floor descent he beamed.  There was a window on the back side of the elevator and he was very impressed that we could see outside.  

I must have let 30 kids ride the elevator, and it was the most fun I've ever had on an elevator ride.

The next time you ride an elevator, enjoy it :)

My morning view that I'm trying to fully appreciate everyday :)

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About a Middle School Fieldtrip

Yesterday, we took the kids on another field trip.  My little town is an hour in any direction away from another town, and those towns are smaller than this one.  The nearest Wal-Mart is 2.5 hours away.  Suffice it to say any field trip we go on require at least a two and a half hour bus ride.  As I mentioned in my last post, the smells of the bus are varied, everything from sweat to lotion to chips (I'll come back to the chips).

There are a few rules on the bus:

1. Boys in front, girls in back (just so there's no hanky panky)

2. No food on the bus because the kids have trouble picking up their own trash

3. No touching each other horse play style

4. Sit

Other than that they're allowed to wear hats, use electronics, talk, sing, laugh, pass electronic notes (i.e. writing a note/memo on their phone and passing it back and forth on the bus).

I spent the day alternately laughing hysterically and being furious depending on whether or not they decided to follow the above rules.

Here are some interesting things:

1. My hair was done no less than 7 times.

2. I actually said the phrase, "You don't poop out of your foot" when a kid kept insisting he was sitting on his bottom and was really sitting on his foot.

3. I used my talent for sniffing out food and had to yell to the back of the bus that, "I smell chips! If you have chips and I find them, I WILL eat them.  I love chips. I think you have Doritos."

4. I heard this phrase come out of nowhere from a kid who just cracks me up: "I do not like tie dye tshirts in case you were asking."

5. We had to stop after driving for only an hour because of a potty emergency.  The town's population was equal to the number of kids we had on the buses.  About a hundred.  The teeny tiny town store had only one bathroom and obviously couldn't accommodate the 60 kids who just HAD to go.  So we circled around town trying to find a bathroom and ended up at the school whose staff was kind enough to let us all run in and potty.

6. On the way back, a girl on my bus really did have to go.  She kept screaming, "It's giving me goosebumps! I have to go so bad!!! I just pushed my bellybutton and I felt a little come out!"  We passed a porta-potty and she slammed herself against the window and screamed, "NOOOOOO!"  We finally stopped, and I've never seen that girl run so fast. And she's an athlete.

7. They aren't allowed to eat on the bus.  Asking these kids to go for two and a half hours without eating is like, well I don't know what it's like because I don't think there's really anything to compare it to.  After an hour they were SO HUNGRY.  Like, "I'm going to pass out if I don't eat something RIGHT NOW," kind of hungry.  "How can you not let us eaaaaaat???"  "This is SO UNFAIR" kind of hungry.  I've never seen anything like it.  An entire bus full of starving children.  

8. We had a spell-off between two of the kids for the last few minutes of the bus ride and lots of people paid attention.  Yes, we were that bored.  But it was really cool.  Neither one could spell "patriocisity." Mostly because I made it up.

9. Overall, lots of fun.  Though I wouldn't want to do it every week!

10. On a semi-related note, the chipmunk from this post is alive and well.  Well being a relative term since we're pretty sure Jojo (that's his name) suffered some brain damage from the rock.  He lets you pet him.  I got to pet a chipmunk!!!!

And there you have it, everything you didn't know you wanted to know about middle school field trips!

Teacher Problems

I've come to realize that teacher problems are probably the most random, funniest problems there are.  We have real problems, of course, but a lot of the time I find myself standing somewhere and coming up with a solution to the most ridiculous problems I've every heard.

Just yesterday I heard a story about a teacher who had a student, that I have now, who used to smell her hair.  Like multiple times per day. Whaaaaaat!?!

The 8th graders went on a field trip to Crystal Park in Montana last week.  Crystal Park is basically a dirt hillside chock full of actual crystals.  I don't know why they're they, but it's darn cool!  After a 2.5 hour drive filled will camp songs, giggles, occasional scolding, and all the smells that come with a bus load of middle schoolers, we arrived at the park.  The kids were armed with shovels, pails, and sifting screens and off they went.  Dirt flew and kids exclaimed as they found crystals worth keeping.

At one point, one boy saw a squirrel and yelled, "SQUIRREL!!!" Four boys ran after him while one hollered, "Don't touch the wildlife."  I'm still not sure what the goal of chasing a squirrel was, but they were on a mission.  They walked back to their spot after a spirited 4-second chase.  Around that same time (here's where teacher problems come in), some other students came tearing down the hill shouting that another boy had killed a chipmunk with a rock.  It was big news! The student in question came down shortly after, and I asked him what had happened.  He replied that he didn't know.  "Well did you do it on purpose?" I asked.  He was adamant that he did not do it on purpose, and after thinking for a second, I realized that the likely hood of hitting a chipmunk with a rock on purpose probably wasn't that great.  Then he told me that another teacher had it.  When I asked why, he said that the teacher was going to take it to his wife (another teacher at the school).  I tried to wrap my mind around why this teacher would want to take a dead chipmunk to his wife while the student shrugged his shoulders and wandered off.

When I saw the teacher in question coming down to path towards me I asked if he had given the chipmunk mouth-to-mouth.  "Not yet," he said and tapped his shirt pocket.  The chipmunk, with a broken leg and a head injury, was tucked snugly in his pocket.  He transported it back to school in an empty water bottle and as of today, it's still alive!

Last year, I had a group of girls bring me a baby bird who chirped through my last three classes of the day.  I had kids feed it with an eye dropper during down time.

And that's just a taste of a day in the life of a teacher :)