Old Friends

I have been doing a lot of stuff with old friends lately. It's made me happy to see all these people, but it has also lead me to contemplate my current life. I must say, I'm a little depressed. Part of me has improved tremendously, and another part of me feels like I've let myself go.

One of my friends sent me a video clip from when we were in France, and it made me cry. That's a weird reaction isn't it? I thought so.

I think I just need more sleep and to work out (for the endorphines). Hopefully, future "old" friend encounters will be less depressing and more positive. : s

Wild Honking Goose Under the Hood

While on my way to see my peeps a couple Friday nights ago, I ran into (literally) a little bit of trouble. sigh. I think (THINK being the key word, because I never actually saw what I hit) I ran over one of those tire treads left behind by 18 wheelers. It popped one of my blinker lights out of place and ripped out my entire inner fender. I couldn't stop in the middle of nowhere to check the car since it was almost midnight, so I decided to stop when I got to Hillsboro. However, I really started to worry about my car when it started honking on its own. Yeah, I couldn't stop it. I was so embarrassed.

When I was finally able to pull over, I realized that some of the wiring had come loose, rubbed against my tire, and started honking any time the exposed wire hit the frame of my car. Before I finally got everything squared away for the rest of my trek down to Waco, there was more uncontrollable honking by my car, awkward staring people, and the use of actual first aid products used to patch up the damage.

The car is now fixed (the guy that did the repairs is the master!) after a lot of ridiculousness from the man who aligned the new tires I had to buy. double sigh. Anyhoo, it makes a great story.

Strep

Yeah. I can't seem to NOT get sick. I thought I was home free until the end of the school year, but nooooooooo. The kids just had to "give" me the gift that keeps on givng....strep. sigh. What's a girl to do?

Anyhoo, Mother's Day is this Sunday, and my mother has asked all the kids to write down a memory from our childhood as her gift. She's been asking us to do this for the past three years. I'm already a year behind. :) Oops! So, I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Hum....maybe I'll write about the time I ran on the roof, or maybe I'll write about how I don't want to write something for Mother's Day. Hummmm.......tough decision. What do you think I should do?

Ok, bye.

Yawn

Well, since it's been over two months, I figured I should probably blog. School is almost out, and I can't wait! I need this two month break. sigh. I'm a pretty boring person. I don't have much to say. I teach. I get my hair cut. I sleep a lot. That's it. Yep, it's a thrill a minute. Just so you know, if you need me, I'll be here waiting for my tax return.

I HATE the color gray!

I have decided that I hate the color gray (or depending on how weird you are...the color "grey"). I use to be completely indifferent about gray. I actually kindof liked gray, but now I am having a hard time with the hue. Why, you ask? Because I am seeing gray in places it should NOT be.

Example A: Today, as I was preparing to take a shower (yes, I bathe) I happen to catch a glimpse of something NOT black in my hair. Sigh. I found not one, not two, but THREE gray hairs on the crown of my head. This is a very disconcerting discovery. I am 24, soon to be 25, and in my slightly off-balanced mind, you are not suppose to get more than one or two gray hairs until you are significantly past 25.

I think finding gray hairs wouldn't have bothered me so much if I didn't have such dark hair. I mean, it's a little difficult to miss grayish-white strands waving to the world from the top of a jet black head of hair. Why don't I just color my hair, you ask? Well, that's the other issue I am having problems with.

See, I'm really lazy when it comes to getting my hair cut, so I don't know if I would keep up with my hair color like I should. Then on the other side of the coin, once I start getting my hair colored, I might want to be militant about keeping up with my roots, etc. And, as we all know, getting your hair colored is expensive. I'm a teacher--I don't have that kind of dough....the kind of dough I would want to spend to make the fro look nice.

Do you see the dilemma? I do lead a tragic life.

Fan-frickin'-tastic!

I am so excited for tomorrow! It is the last day before my Christmas vacation, and I get to go see the entire family in Utah. I cannot wait to see the nieces and nephews. (Olivia is now 14!) Hopefully, we will all still be alive and unharmed by the time we come home. We'll see. ;)

Anyhoo, I have decided that I have been fated to be sick for a yet indeterminable amount of time. I am currently getting over a cold, and the only good thing I can say about that is that it did not turn into a sinus infection (my usual ailment).

We got our Christmas bonuses today! I was thrilled...hehehehe. I wasn't really expecting anything, but, man, was it great! My credit card company will be thrilled.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. Life is generally boring. Sorry, I'm not more interesting. Maybe I'll get engaged to some yet unknown individual by the time I write next time, and I can tell you all the juicy details.

I have a feeling I will not be blogging for a loooooooooong time, if that's the case.

I Was Mean and Then I Fell Asleep

After a truly horrific Thursady, I finally decided that I needed to break out the big guns with my students. I have three double blocked classes, two sixth grade classes and one seventh grade class. One of my sixth grade classes is fantastic almost all the time (*knock on wood*), but my other two classes have pushed me to my limit. They were talking out of turn, not listening during class, interrupting me while I was trying to instruct, and basically, not caring how many times I asked them to be quiet. So, I proceeded to become a resemblance of the "substitute teacher" (Miss. Viola Swamp) from the book Miss. Nelson is Missing.

So, on Friday, for my well-behaved class, I rewarded them with tickets (I give out tickets for participation and correct answers to warm-ups. The tickets go into a drawing for prizes. We draw every Friday.), and drew for prizes for all three of my classes in that one class. It was fun. I also told them how wonderful they were and that I appreciated their willingness to be respectful.

For my other classes, however, I didn't smile the whole class period, I denied any request to leave the room, and generally became the Wicked Witch of the West. I gave them a pop quiz, assigned book work for class (loooong book work), and gave them homework over the weekend. The topic was "Why Ms. Pittman shouldn't give me homework over the Thanksgiving Holidays." My 7th graders had to write two pages on that, and my 6th graders only had to write one page, but they also had to read and summarize the chapters (we were suppose to read in class that day) from our current novel. I then proceeded to tell them we were not drawing, and in fact, I had given my well-behaved class their prizes. A lecture followed that addressed disrespect, rudeness, and appropriate behavior in the classroom.

Yeah, you can say it, I became "the man." I do not like playing that role in such an obvious way, but holy cow!, they pushed it way too far. I haven't decided which Ms. Pittman is coming to class on Monday--mean Ms. Pittman or normal Ms. Pittman? Hum....we'll see.

Anyhoo, dinner with Emily and her family Friday night was fun. Her nephews are so funny and extremely cute. (Taylor is a sweetheart.) I ate a lot of tortillas and queso.....yummmm, queso. I guess all that food and meanness got to me though cause when I got home, I changed into my pajamas, started to read a book, and promptly feel asleep. It was 9 P.M. I woke up at 2 A.M. with my light still on. Next thing I know, it's 11 A.M., and I'm feelin' good.

I guess being mean just takes it out of you.....well, at least that level of meanness takes it out of you..... ;)