High School Homecoming

Has anyone gone back for their high school homecoming before? If you haven't, I would suggest you do. It was a ton of fun! A couple of my friends and I walked around the halls and peeked in classrooms, and it was like 13 years of my life flashed before my eyes. It was awesome! I went to a Christian school so I was in the same big building for 13 years straight. I had Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd... 7th, 8th... all the way to senior year. I love all of those memories that I forgot about. We even went into the girl's locker room to see if it still smelled the same haha.

I love high school basketball. I love the squeak on the floors. We creamed the other team too! We beat them by 45 points. That is crazy. 33 to 78 I think. I went to the Metamora vs. Washington high school basketball game last Tuesday too. I'm really getting into the basketball lately!

one more

I just had to add this on to the crying list. Yesterday I had a boy who was sent to the principal's office because he was involved with a situation on the bus. So of course when he gets back he put his head on his desk and is crying during entire Social Studies. Then after 30 or 40 minutes, he pops his head up and is ready for the rest of the day!

drama and tears all day long

I had one person after another crying in my room today. It seemed like there was no break without someone crying. Well no one was crying during PE I think. And I think it's funny. I'm actually chuckling as I write this.
From about 8:30 to 10:30 I had a girl who was teary eyed and red faced all morning about something. She wanted to go home but I said she couldn't ask.
Right before reading groups, I gave 3 boys homework notices because they didn't turn in their homework. 2 of them sat at their desks and cried and cried. One girl came up to me concerned about why there was so many people crying and I told her nothing's wrong they are just sad.
Then during reading groups a girl comes in sobbing, not just tears, but sobbing. I told her to sit down for 5 minutes before she went to reading group to control herself. She came back from reading groups and sobbed for another 4o minutes.
Oh dear. so many tears. I like teaching 5th grade, but I definitely would not want to be an actual 5th grader every again.

my space bar

The right sideofmy space bar does notwork. I'mtryingnottogobackandfixitbutitisannoying the crapout ofme. You see I havebeentyping foralongtimenow. whenwegotacomputerwheniwasfiveistarteddoingthesetypinggames.thenofcoursein juniorhigh i doofficialtypingclass. theninhigh school and collegeigetevenmoreusedtotyping.

Sojust tonight i figured out how my spacewill work. I havetotypeitwithmyleftthumbonthe leftside ofmy spacebar.so now i'm officially starting to retrain myself to punch the space bar with my left thumb. every time i have to seriously think about it. i at least was abletodoitforawhilebut ijustgaveupandnowi havenomorespaces.

helpmeandmykeyboard!

My class and I were on the front cover of our newspaper today :)

I had my kids each write a novel in November. We were the nerdy class that wrote everyday for an hour in the computer lab. It was actually a lot of fun. We even locked up our "inner editors." It's a program called NaNoWriMo. Anyways, I submitted this article and all of my kids pictures to the newspaper and it got on the front page. woop woop. The pictures were all in color in the newspaper, and they aren't on the website. So that's sad you can't see the fine colorful drawings.

http://www.pjstar.com/kjs/x692907984/Germantown-Hills-students-take-novel-approach-with-November-writing-project

It's not all that exciting, but it is exciting for now.

I want to be a postman.

So some of you may remember me saying I've always thought that being a postman would be a great job. I thought it would be a good over the hill job. How could you have a bad day as a postman? You're outside most of your day, you get good exercise walking from door to door, and you get a free car to drive around in! Of course when it rains or snows it probably stinks, but it stinks for pretty much everyone when it rains or snows. Plus I'm sure I could just put on a ton of under armor to stay warm. They probably even provide you with rain hats. Oh, but being outside on those nice days would be so worth it. I love getting mail too, so I would be the providor of good things to people. That maybe going overboard, but people appreciate the consistency of mail and the spontaneity of getting something actually exciting.

My brother-in-law Jason actually busted my bubble though because he said they usually only take veterans or active military men and women. You mean I have to go to war to be a postman? If that's their reward for serving our country all of those years than it must be a good job. I wonder if I sent in a lot of references from military guys then they would let me in?

Actually I was thinking about this again because I was driving to Walmart on Saturday. On my way there was this postman vehicle that sped right past me. It was going by so fast it made this huge noise and was maybe even a blur for a second. I started thinking about how I could be that person blazing down the street in a postman vehicle. I would recommend that my vehicle be a jeep of course. That would be sweet. I could be known for driving quickly just to get your mail there a little faster, and I could even run from door to door in the neighborhood. Any postman I've ever seen walks waaaay too slow. That's probably why they call it snail mail. They walk and drive too slow.

teacher's lounge lunch

We talk about food soo much in our teacher's lounge every day. Just today we talked about my pizza slice for a good 15 minutes.
They asked me where i got my pizza, then i didn't know the name of it so i told them about where it was, then someone figured it out, then someone talked about how they were afraid to go in their because it looked dirty, then we talked about whether we take it to go or if we eat there, then we talked about the owner, then how long they have been open, then went back and talked about how you get there, then if we could possibly get it catered, one teacher said that she thinks that is where she'll be getting her dinner this week, then it went to what type of pizza i had. i had a gyro pizza so we talked about lamb meat, then we talked about the spinach sausage pizza that place had. then we tried to find a day that maybe we could get it delivered to the school or someone could get their class watched and then go get the pizza themselves. then we talked about how slow the service is sometimes since there's only one guy who does the serving, the register, AND he cooks the pizzas in the back. he's a buzy little guy. then we actually talked about the crust at this place because someone had just told a story about a pizza with really hard crust and how they didn't take any money off for it.

We talk about food everyday like this. the questions where did you get your food always starts it. if someone made it we talk about how they made it and what is the recipe and if someone makes something similar they say how they do it. then if it's just a lean cuisine or a frozen thing we even talk about which meals are good and what they put in them and how long we heated it up. then if it's from a restaurant we talk about where the restaurant is, what the food was like, whether other people have been there, who'd you go with.

everyone eats, and i guess it is something we all have in common. if in doubt, talk about food!

could you do me a favor?

I don't take credit for thinking of this first because I heard it on tv, but i thought it was interesting.

Did you ever notice that you can tell what kind of favor someone wants by the length of the pause after you say it. short pause means a no big deal favor. long pause means a favor you might not want to do. For example, "Could you do me a favor and hand me that pencil." Practically no pause, not a big deal. And if you said, "Could you do me a favor? ....." And then you just wait and pause long enough and see if they will accept the favor before you even say it.

if you met a rock that was alive, what would you do?

I have a girl in my class, whom actually had an entire blog just of her own in the past. She comes in and tells me during snack time, "I just LOVE rocks so much. You know what I would do if I met a rock that was alive?! I would ask for its autograph!!" Then she proceeds to tell me the conversation she would have with the rock. It was just too funny; she is dead serious about her rocks. (I get rock gifts a lot.) I wish everyone could have been there.

senior year '08

So this past weekend Missy and I realized that we ("we" as in fellow '05 college grads) are in our senior year of adulthood. Senior year of adulthood. That means we must be getting really good at being adults?!

So maybe we should have a graduation and pass out diplomas of adulthood in the spring. maybe some open houses with punch and cookies.

What's after that? well, i'm sure we'll figure it out.

you have to watch my funny little nephew

Go to my sister's website and watch the "eating cereal" video. You must watch, it's not just adorable it's downright funny.

http://www.babyredoutey.blogspot.com/

star on my zipper

I love the little things about clothes. The smallest details that no one would ever notice. I put on my new jeans the other day. I wear them all of the time now. I held the little zipper to zip them up and I noticed there was a star cut out of the little zipper. It was so cute. A cut out star on my zipper. I loved it. I loved my jeans before now that it has a star on the zipper i love them even more.

I don't remember what pair of shoes i loved so much when I was little. But I remember that one day I looked on the bottom of my shoes and there was an awesome design on the bottom. It was like the bottom of my shoe could be a paint stamp.

Clothes are fun when you find secret things weeks after buying them.

don't you just love randomness?

Our moment in Chicago was beyond random and Sunday. So I get to see Missy on Saturday after the Ohio State game in Chicago. Of course what did we do all night? Dance in our friend's apartment, duh! That's what girls do in apartments, dance! Saturday was fun.

Then on Sunday morning Missy wakes me up while I was sleeping on the couch a little before 8 am and says, "I've got your whole day already planned for you!" I said, "Good." I was glad, but I probably didn't sound so thrilled that early in the morning.

Once we were ready we started on my day's plans. We picked up Angie from the Midway airport. She hopped in and it was a nostalgic moment for sure. It was weird to have three Nashvillians all of a sudden in one car in Chicago. I dropped them off at the Bears game. Turned around and headed to H & M. The moment was fleating but fun.

one man bathrooms

I can't stand one person bathrooms. I don't like the idea that they are standing out their waiting on you. Especially when they try the handle to see if it's locked. I jump a little and then I feel all rushed to go to the bathroom, wash my hands, check my hair, and run out... because they are waiting!

The worst is when you sit down on the toilet and you look at the door. Then you realize you never locked the door! Do you hurry back to the door to lock it or just hurry and go to the bathroom?

I just don't like it. I like stalls.

What would it be like?....

The new Congressman for Illinois is an energetic guy from Peoria who is my age. The youngest Congressman in the United States.. Aaron Schock. (Check out his campaigning website... http://www.aaronschock.com/index.html )

With the whole election day coming up and going to his party tonight, of course being a girl, I get all carried away with my thoughts, "Hmm... so if we get married, and then he becomes President, that means... I would be the First Lady!!" It's of course ridiculous, but it just made me wonder, "What would it be like if I was the First Lady?" My parents actually always said that my sister would be a good First Lady. I think I would be a pretty darn good one. I could tour and speak at schools. I could be an inspirational speaker.

What would it be like...

It's still okay to daydream as an adult, right?

random bike guy on highway

I was driving to work this morning and there was this guy. He was in the middle of the highway. All he was doing was trying to get to the other side of the 4 lane road. But there was a slight problem. You know those huge cement blocks that divide roads for construction? This guy was in the middle of the highway with maybe a foot between the lane and the cement barricade and he was trying to hurdle the cement block with his bike in his arms.


I drove past and looked in my rearview mirror to see how his progress was doing. He was still trying to leap over on his stomach on the top of the cement block and throw the bike over as well. Then I look farther behind me in my rearview mirror and the cement block divider stopped maybe 30 feet behind this guy who was trying to hurdle him and his bike over it. "Just walk a few more steps dude and you could have sauntered right to the other side of the highway with ease!"

Wow. I hope he finally got across safely.

prom day dress up

I had a dejavu moment on Saturday night.

Actual Halloween night pretty much was extremely uneventful. I passed out candy with my dad, did pushups and situps while I waited to fill my time. Watched a scary movie, went upstairs, cried some tears, and went to bed around 10. So I get up on Saturday thinking, "Jodi, you better get to wear your costume tonight."

So that afternoon I was officially going to a Halloween party. Knowing where the house is and what time it starts and who will be there means I was actually for sure going to a party. Yes! I get super excited and make sure mom is home to do my hair for my costume. She was late and I was frantic thinking I was going to be late to my party! Which let's be honest like anyone would care if someone is late haha. She does my hair. Dad watches us do it. I add the lipstick to finish the look. I go downstairs and pose for about 10 pictures for my mom in the dining room. I grab my stuff and walk out the door. I then look behind me and look onto our back porch and see my mom and dad standing next to each other smiling at me as I walk off saying, "You look great! I hope you have so much fun!!" Still waving and standing there I get in my car and drive off while they are still smiling and saying, "Have fun!"

That is when I thought, "Oh my word. I feel like I'm going to prom all over again." I think my parents were just so excited I was actually going to a fun party that they were sending me off with good fortune. Don't you just love parents? I'll have to figure out how to post a couple of the 10 pictures she took.

Aaron's aka Errands

Missy reminded me of this story of when I was little and I never posted it.

When I was little, little like before you go to Kindergarten little, I don't remember much of what my days consisted of; but I do not I went to do some "Aaron's" a LOT. Practically every day mom would say,"Jodi, we've got to go out and do some Aaron's." I would get in the car and we went to the grocery store, library, KMart, or whatever was on her list of things to do. So we did "Aaron's."

I finally went to Kindergarten, made some friends; and one day I was at a friend's house on a Saturday afternoon. I'm guessing I was either at Shelley Russell's or Summer Belsly's house. The mom said that we had to get in the car to do some errands. I was astonished and said, "What? My family does Aaron's too! Don't you go do Belsly's not Aaron's?!"

So that was the day I finally figured out that ALL families do "Aaron's" aka ERRANDS.

he's in love with me haha

So there's this guy at the halloween party I just came home from. He had a dart gun. Everyone once in a while it would boing me in the head or hit my braids or something. I would glare at him and throw the dart back at him. Then he walked over and gave me bubbles once. I think he even tried to talk to me with very little success. So it turns out an hour or so later my friend's husband says to me that this guy who is throwing darts at me told him that he was in love with Pippi! haha. He's in love with Pippi and he's throwing darts at her and blowing bubbles in her face. Don't tell mr. blue pants this, but he has no chance. I don't like that. I don't like darts thrown at my face. He must have fallen in love with me when I was on the stage singing with the band in a microphone "The Monster Mash." And then of course there's this other guy who was sits next to me at the fire. I said, "Don't you just love fires?!" He said, "I love getting drunk!" I got up and left without even answering. I wish every guy was that apparent about what they love. So we have a love of darts, love of pippi, and love of getting drunk. wow.

btw... the party setting was amazing. I pulled up and immediately thought everything was awesome. The garage had tables with candles. The house had the restrooms. There was a band in the barn with tables. Crockpots of food in the back of the barn: dip, cheese balls, chili, tortellini dip, cookies, hot wings, and i'm sure i'm forgetting other stuff. then outside of the barn was a 5' x 5' firepit. It was definitely blazin'. I felt like a rotisseurie chicken because it was so hot. I would go in circles every 30 seconds to warm all sides of me. I told my friend Jess that if I could just pick my top favorite 50 to 100 people this party would be unfreakinbelievable. Maybe that's what my wedding will be like. I will have a big bonfire and a barn band. Then everyone could stay in a big cabin. with all of my favorite people...that sounds like fun to me.

woah. i just took my pippy braids out and my head sure does feel better now.

I love Jerry Seinfeld

About 10 years or more ago I got this Jerry Seinfeld book that he wrote. It was basically things people would blog about. I just remember reading it to my mom and laughing so hard about one or two paragraphs that I would practically pee my pants and my stomach would hurt. It was the first person or book I actually considered really funny.

Anways that is the reasoning behind why I like Jerry. I am going to find the book and find those paragraphs that made me pee my pants. I'll write them and we can decide if they are still as funny as I remember.

grandparents these days...

I thought were computer illiterate!

Not my grandma. First of all, she's had email forever. That is no big deal to her. Then she got instant messenger so she can send messages to my mom. The other week the whole family gets an email that invites us all to her new blog. (If you want to check it out, it's http://earnedmygreyhairs.blogspot.com/ ) And I promise you I never even told her that I had a blog. She just came up with her own blog one day and now she updates it everyday. Then to top it all off I got an email the other day that says, "Ethel Russell requests to be your facebook friend." Oh my word, my grandma has a facebook page. I denied the request. Is that horrible of me? My answer is I definitely don't feel guilty about that.

This is just a side note from dinner at the grandparents tonight. My dad was drinking coffee out of a mug. I looked at it, read the cup, and said it outloud, "I did it in Danville." (It was from a bank grandma used to work at in Danville.) Dad and I laughed for a while, but didn't let grandma in on what was so funny about the mug.

i get your drift.

I was meeting my mom today at the mall. I walk in to the department store from the parking lot and immediately ignore the person who is trying to sell something at the door. I stop though and notice that the guy who is selling something is actually my age, does not have a wedding ring, and is actually cute. That situation just does not happen very much. So I go back to the table. I talk to him about what the coupon is for, what his company was, blah blah blah. I must have been talking too much because then when I asked him if he lived around here he said, "I live in Bloomington because my girlfriend goes to school there." Then he asks me about what I do, and I say I'm a teacher. He says, "Oh my girlfriend has a friend whose a teacher!" So I was thinking then, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get your drift. You have a girlfriend." I say it was nice talking with ya and go on my merry way.

Why in the world does it matter that I need to know where his girlfriend goes to school and if his girlfriend's friends are teachers? I secretly actually think it was weird but nice of him to constanly talk about his girlfriend to a stranger.

rain

I left school and right away my gas light turns on. I had just ran through the parking lot in the cold pouring rain so of course getting gas was the last thing that I wanted to get out of my car and do. I passed a couple gas stations and still convincing myself that getting out of my car again to get gas was ridiculous. No one should have to be outside in this rain.

Then, of course, right when I think it is crazy to even be outside for 2 minutes I look over at the Peoria Stadiums and there were 2 soccer games going on. Grown men playing soccer in the pouring, cold rain. What are they thinking? They obviously are willingly doing this. Or they are an olympic team that can't allow the time to cancel a game and reschedule.

Who's more stupid, those soccer players or me driving on no gas and not wanting to get gas even though there are covers.

I did actually get gas at the next stop. If those soccer guys are that brave I will be too!

Baby Queen Video.

http://users.telenet.be/leukelinks/flash/queen.htm

aerobic class

I would just love to know what people think about when they do those aerobic workout classes. Yesterday I went to this crazy class at the riverplex that I don't remember the name to, Turbo Attack maybe? Anyways, 35 minutes after you have used up every ounce of energy you thought you had, the muscle woman leading us tells us we have the hardest part coming for the next 20 minutes. At that point is when I wonder what people are thinking. I muster up the weirdest situations in my head just to get myself to kick as high as I can, to keep jumping when they tell you to jump. I visualize someone in front of me that I have to kick his face off or that I'm filming in an action movie or that if I just jump a little higher this one last time I will win some huge award. What are these other people thinking about? Their grocery lists? That they might die that second? Maybe they are thinking about nothing. who knows. I know what I think about.

percentages not looking so good.

In church on Sunday we had a guest missionary speaker. One of the first thing he tells us is that "80% of high school students leave the church within 12 months of Senior year of high school, and 70% of them do not come back." Yousers! Don't get me wrong, I loved college; but I wonder what kind of impacts it is making on the Church.

The guy said a whole lot more, but I thought that his first statistic was food for thought.

Get me a green pepper!! NOW!

I am someone who feels the need to HAVE to have all of the ingredients in a recipe in order to eat it. I almost didn't eat my chili yesterday, and I love chili.

Yesterday, I was the first one home so I was in charge of making the chili. Well, I find all of the ingredients... except green peppers. Right then, I called mom and leave a message, "Mom, I cannot make the chili because there is no green peppers!" Then I call dad and leave him a message, "Dad , I cannot make this chili for dinner because there is no green peppers!"

I start dumping the rest of the stuff in the pot. I sit and wait for my last ingredient. I was so hungry, and I kept thinking I only had 20 more minutes until I had to leave for my game. Hungry and waiting my parents finally come home, but with NO green pepper. I said, "What are we going to eat if we don't have all of the ingredients?!" They looked at me weirdly and told me it doesn't matter if it's in there or not we are still going to eat it.

hmm... interesting, still eat it without the green pepper in it? I got a bowl and it tasted just like chili even with out the green pepper. Praise the Lord, my dinner didn't even need to be saved.

bath robe

If there was one piece of clothing I love it would be my bathrobe. The particular bathrobe I have is 7 years old, which is not too old. My grandma's is probably 20 years old.

I didn't notice I even liked it that much until quite recently. Today for instance let me fill you in on my happenings after I got home. Let me add in that it is a dreary, windy, rainy, cold day. I come home and I instantly go upstairs and put on my slippers and out of my high heels. I start dinner. I wasn't comfortable enough. I go back upstairs and put on my black pants instead of my thin dress pants. I keep dinner going. I realize I need to take Maggie our dog out so I run upstairs again and usually you would think that a person would get a coat. I go and instantly grab my white bathrobe. So now I have my cheetah slippers, thick black pants, turtleneck, and white robe. I take Maggie out into the front yart to go pee. Once I was outside in my outfit, it dawned on me that I look like an old woman who has been sick in her bed for a week. Who wears their bathrobe and slippers outside?!

I'm not taking it off. I just cooked chili in it. I even slept in my robe the other night. It's like sleeping with a hug. Well it's not as good as a warm hug, but close.

I will take it off to go to volleyball tonight. I'm not that attached.

a bit more about Friday

I forgot to add that when the kids came back from their puberty session I had mini deoderants on every kid's desk. The funny part was how excited they all were about it. The boys got Old Spice and they got them out right away and started using it on their armpits. The boys started putting it behind their knees and on their feet.

The girls came in later and didn't quite put it on right away. They did open it up right away and thought it smelled "Amazing!" They all wanted me to smell it. They did actually smell really good, like cocoa butter.

Deoderant, their prize possession for the day.

puberty talk was today.

Well, my kids survived the puberty talk meeting. 90 minutes long.

I was not allowed in the boys room, thank God! The boys came back first, and they definitely gave me an earful.
-"I am horrified."
-"I am going to have nightmares tonight!"
-"I was so bored."

I of course got the most exciting question told to me. Their was a boy in the other class who rose his hand and asked, "Can testicles get squashed?!" Wow. I am glad one of my boys did not ask that. If you're interested, the speaker said, "Yes, you're balls can be squashed."

The girls room was not as entertaining. There were a lot of questions though, which was surprising.

All in all, I think they learned a lot. That's what school is for, right?!

is it odd that..?

Matt calls me tonight leaves a message: "Jodi. It's Matt. Do you think it's odd that..."

Okay friends. Basically if anyone asks if what they are doing is odd, it probably is! But always remember, odd is good not bad!

So he admits to me that he has been buying tons of food at McDonalds that he can't possibly and probably won't eat just to get those Monopoly pieces. McDonalds brings back their smartest marketing idea ever. They know exactly what Americans want and love. Americans love games. Americans love food. Americans love money.

They have Matt spending his salary at McDonalds. How many others are out there?! It is odd, Matt, but I have faith that you will win something! haha.

"bye bye ketchup." tear.

We are reading this book at home. 6 ways to become healthy or 6 weeks to becoming healthy or something like either of those. Well, of course each step has a ton of things you have to do to complete the step. So, mom and I decided to do what we can each day.

At dinner tonight mom eyes the Heinz ketchup bottle, turns it around and looks at the ingredients. She says, "This has high fructose corn syrup in it!" I shook my head and said, "oooh noo." "Good bye ketchup bottle."

I laughed pretty hard about that. I actually was so serious about my "Oh no." I knew from then on our household would not see Heinz ketchup or probably any ketchup again. Oh we'll probably bust it out for picnics in the summer when the guests want it, but until then.. the Aaron's said goodbye to ketchup tonight.

tear.

what's next?! peanut butter! probably.

big guy REALLY had to go...

My mom and I were on our way to my volleyball game tonight. We were 5 minutes from our destination, but my mom HAD to go to the bathroom right away. So, we find a gas station in the middle of nowhere and found the restroom. It was a one person bathroom so I was waiting in the hall for my turn. I was lounging in the hallway when this big guy comes running past me, pushes me to the side a little and runs for the men's handle. He grabs it and it was locked. "Oh man! I can't believe it's locked!" So we stand side by side in this little hallway. I stare at him while he bounces his feet back and forth like a little kid about to pee his pants. (He is definitely a grown middle aged 40 year old man.) He tries to distract himself by reading the bulletin board fliers. Then he tries to start a conversation with me, and his opening is "I should have worn a diaper!" All I thought of to say was, "I guess you should have worn one."

I made it into my restroom before he did. Hopefully he'll go buy some diapers or at least not tell strangers that in little hallways in the middle of nowhere.

a gray rampage

I don't know what got into me this morning. It all started with a $15 Target gift card.

Gift cards are the devil. I spent 125$ when I was only supposed to spend 15$. I was going to get candy for my kids and maybe something for my halloween costume. I did that. Then I found these adorable gray sneakers. Right then was when my gray rampage started. I went to the woman's section and literally tried on 18 different items that could go with these sneakers. I bought a couple things, but I thought I could do better. Then I went to Macy's with a 10$ gift card. I bought something else that was gray. Then I went to gap and bought 2 more gray things.

I crossed "get candy" off my list. But then added... return some of the gray stuff and return something else at Target and rebuy it because I actually forgot to use my gift card when I checked out.

i'm leaving to go hiking now. i'm going to wear nothing gray for now.

puberty slips

I had no idea that in 5th grade the school has a program setup to split the boys and girls up to talk about certain things. Well maybe the first week of school they asked me when they were going to have a boy/girl meeting. I said I had no idea what they are talking about.

So a week ago, the secretary comes in with permission slips. One pile for the boys, one pile for the girls. She told me to hand them out. My kids instantly saw them on their desks when they came in to the classroom. Some just stared at it. Some said, "OH NOOO!" Some asked if they had to do it.

The funniest part is that they had to turn them back in and a few of the kids forgot to do that. So I have to go and ask them for their permission slip. They say, "Permission slip for what?" I tell them, "Oh you KNOW, the puberty slip." They get super awkward, but then kind of laugh about it. They are officially called the "puberty slips."

Next Friday, from 1 to 2:30 the program will start. I even got a few parents coming in to attend the meeting. It's going to be a big day. I'll give an update about it next weekend.

Puberty = when you are no longer a carefree child that has no worries in the world

this is a shout out to the 80's Barbie doll

We all had the 80's Barbie doll. did we not? Jess and I saw the REAL Barbie doll on Sunday. We saw her. We stared at her. We took lots of picture of her. These boys walked by and told us "Y'all are going to hell." I looked sheepish and said, "What for?" "You know why."

Here's the description. Teased hair in a high pony tail... messy with strands of hair coming down. Very tan. Very skinny. Then the dress.. oh my. i just chuckled thinking about it. the dress was very fluorescent orange. It was a very short tube dress with straps off the shoulder. I actually have no comment on the shoes. they couldn't have been normal though.

reliving life

I was just thinking about this yesterday when Matt and I were talking about how awesome Saturday's game was. I said, "I wish we could do the whole thing over again!"

Seriously, WHAT IF... you could relive things over again? If I could just pick and choose days I have had and consolidate them into 365.25 days and make that the year I just relive over and over again that would be pretty awesome. The only bad thing is that what if better days are to come? Then I would be living a "perfect" year over and over, but it is actually just ho hum compared to what I would have had if I just kept on living in the present. Maybe the day before I die God will tell me, "Jodi, your life has come to an end so now you can finally pick your favorite 265.25 days of your life and relive them this next year before you come to heaven."

Maybe I should number from 1 to 365 and start jotting down the days I would like to repeat, then by the time I die I will have my days all recorded and ready.

birthday gifts

Yesterday one of my kids wanted to give me my birthday gift soo bad. She kept saying, "Can I pleeease give you your birthday gift?! I got you the coolest gift ever. You're going to love it." Finally after school I told her she could give it to me a day early. She runs over and gets it from her desk and makes me close my eyes and open my hand. Well I trust her for some reason not to do anything mean to me when my eyes are closed so I open my hand. She puts it in and tells me to look... It was a rock.

Now I know that came from the heart, (It was actually a rock shaped heart haha.) but seriously. I think this might be one of the things I miss from my old school. Last year, I got a Visa card for $200! Holy cow is all I said when I got that moulah. I used that money right up on a couple's massage.

Even thought I only have hand soap and twizzlers (I hate twizzlers) on my desk right now, I know they really like me.

sleep deprived

okay. I have got to be honest here, I need sleep. All my mom said to me when she saw me today was, "You look awful!" oh dear. I LOVE 8 hours of sleep more than anything in the world. I will hopefully get that tonight with my sleeping drugs I got today. Tomorrow... tomorrow I will not be the Debby Downer of my own blog. The real Jodi will reappear again with a good story... tomorrow.

nighty night y'all!

YES!!!!

Pa-lin! Pa-lin! Pa-lin! The democrats love her, what?! The news loves her, what?! The Truth Squad says she is all around truthful and joe is a big liar.

I love the "Truth Squad." that is a great name. What kind of squad could I be a part of? I'm not computery enough to be a part of the Geek Squad. What other squads are there that we can be a part of.

"Say it ain't so, Joe."

A wink and a smile

I'm watching the debate. That's what my friend, Val, and I do for fun on a Thursday night haha.) Did anyone hear Joe Biden say Bush's name over and over and over in one of his comments. That wasn't the funny part, it was the way he said his name.. Boooshez, Booshez, Boooshez... it was just too much I definitely lol-ed.

I do think they are both doing well, but still I love Palin's wink she does all of the time. I wish I could do that. ;) And I love Joe's teeth. Wow are his teeth big and straight. He needs to flash those pearls more.

Palin is a real woman. I like her. I hope I am like her.

sad news

I can't believe Paul Newman died. He is and was so hott. His blue eyes are unbelievably amazing. Who wants to have a Paul Newman movie marathon?

Santa Claus

This is another story about the crying polka dot girl in my class. Well we were casually talking about Santa Claus in class for some reason. We talked about him not being real, thinking this was no big deal and for sure everyone should know that by now!

The next day Megan came in and said she went straight to her mom when she saw her at home and said to her, "Mom, tell me the honest truth. Who puts out those presents on Christmas? Is Santa Claus real?!!" Her mom replied seriously, "Yes Megan, there is no Santa Claus. We are the ones who put those presents out under the tree." She told me she was a little upset/devastated /sad.

I don't remember if she said she was upset, devastated, or sad; but I thought it was better that she knew.

Santa Claus is not real.

spelling word: squirrel.

I haven't posted since Tuesday. bad me. you know my days are not that exciting so sometimes there is just not even one line to write about.

This story is a shout out to the people who were with me on fourth of july 2 years ago...
I was actually grading my kids spelling sentences in the car yesterday. (fyi...I was not driving) So, I'm reading through the sentences and one of the words was "squirrel." My student, Tyler, writes: "I act like a squirrel sometimes." I lol-ed. Now this is a kid after my own blood. I made no comment on the sentence I just gave him a 100% and laughed.

the fat boy and the "flower of youth"

Who saw Warren Sapp on Dancing with the Stars? funniest thing i've seen in a while. This guy is a 300 lb. football player who is dancing the quick step with a 120 lb. girl. Picture a Great Dane with a poodle or a Rhino with a flamingo. Then picture this Rhino actually moving his feet as fast as the flamingo and flinging the pink thing around like it's nothing but a feather. Go Great Dane Rhino! You've got my vote.

Then there is this Cody kid- the exact opposite of Warren. Right when he came on the screen my mom says, "what is he, a highschool musical weirdo?!" The judge called him "the flower of youth." I'm still not sure who he is. Does anyone?! Cody is his name, and he says he's "super excited." haha.

My mom just said again, "Whoo iiis he?!"





i love sprinklers.

too many points may be a bad thing

Wait a second! I just got 27,643 points on my tetris game. That's pretty good. I have too much time on my hands, oh dear. nah, being good at tetris should be a priority.

computer games

Here's something that maybe no one knows I do almost every week for the past 3 years, and I wish I did every day... I play tetris on my computer. Well Missy and Jess may know because they may have seen me do it at my desk. I'm not that good, I think the highest I've gotten is about 25,000 points. It is so addicting though. I make those silly noises like, "aheheheh." "ugh." "joooodi!" "why did you do that?" then of course my back and neck always kill at the end of it because i haven't moved my head an inch because you have to concentrate so hard on what you are going to do with that next tetris piece. ooh! I have a game that is so cool. I'll find it tomorrow and then add it. it's a really cool brain teaser game. I love any kind of puzzle thing. I did an entire puzzle last Sunday in one day. pretty good.

the beat of marley

I've been listening to Bob Marley. What is it about Bob Marley that makes you think that everything will actually be okay?
I think I know. It's the beat. I remember that beat when I was in Belize. Belize was the only time in my life where my top ten favorite thing I've done lasted only 2.5 hours. Dancing in Belize in the middle of the day on the ocean was that one time. My other top 9 were 24 hour events of good things all in one day.

Do you have to know where I am?

I was just mapping out running routes on http://www.usatf.org/. It's pretty cool if you want to try it out! You map out your route and it tells you exactly the distance you are going to run or just did run. It got me thinking that you could tell people where you are at all times. Running and Camping... those are the two places that you can actually escape and people not know where you are. But NOW.. you can map it out and tell people where you are. I could go running and leave the map out for people to know where I am going. I actually did that when Sparky and I went winter camping this past winter. I left a little map out for Jess and told her what time we would be hiking and exactly what hike we were going to be on. Of course I trusted Sparky to keep me alive in the freezing cold weather, but you just never know.

Why do we like to keep constant tabs on ourselves and make sure people know where we are? In case we die? Well, you're dead so it doesn't matter. I guess maybe in case you get kidnapped.. because then they know what point you were taken from. What's the probability that I would actually get kidnapped? hmm.. i'm sure that is online somewhere... there is probably a map of the different probablilities of getting kidnapped around the US.

you, me, him... who?

One of my students found this note in the hall and I actually had to draw the people out and point arrows to figure out what she/he was talking about.

note: "Sexi mexi I dk if it's true but did you tell ryan marten to ask me out for you."

It seemed like a simple sentence, and I instantly thought that she like Ryan Marten. But then I decided to sit down and figure out who "me," "you," "ryan marten," and "sexi mexi" all had to do with each other.

I dare you to figure it out. I did.

a girl that deserves her own blog all on her own.

I have another girl who constantly constantly constantly wants your attention. I could probably tell several stories about .along with all of this... she always wants to show your her pet rock who talks, in the middle of math she'll want to go to the computer and work on her newsletter, in the middle of spelling, reading, science, read-aloud.. anytime really she'll want to go to the bathroom, in the middle of social studies she'll feel like she is going to throw up, in the middle of science she'll want to go copy her newsletter, in the middle or reading she'll want me to get yarn out, in the middle of who knows what she'll want to show me something she brought from home, in the middle of math she'll want to tell me that we won't be needing our folders in music today, right before lunch she'll want to call her mom because she is still going to throw up, in the morning she'll want to tell me about her rock collection or the locker she made, during reading groups she wants to show me her Pippi Longstocking and friends popsicle sticks she has made and if I think there hair is the right color, She burns wood chips outside with her magnifying glass, she won't leave school just in case we will be watching Bill Nye the Science Guy, at the end of the day she'll want to show me her new book and she'll want to do ANYTHING to get an Aaron's Allowance.
You may think I'm joking or exaggerating, but this all happened today, and I don't even have a good enough memory to actually remember everything.

my kids

I think my kids are funny. My kids... meaning my 5th graders.
I have one kid who when at recess swings on the swings and sings opera on the top of his lungs. I love to listen to him. I wish I could sing opera on the top of my lungs everyday.
I have one kid who on the very first 5 minutes of meeting him ... he said, "Miss Aaron, I went to a Lego Camp this summer and I have been desperately trying to find a lego league. Could you find one for me?!!"
I have another kid who when he looks at you, I swear to God he looks like the cat from Shrek. He is the most adorable creature alive.
Of course I have already discussed my fly lover and my polka dot bathroom sobber.
I have another kid who when anything surprises him he yells, "Holy Cow!"

This is a shout out to all of my friends who are Buckeye fans,
One of my kids came in this morning with a plastic bag. He brought a buckeye for every student in the classroom for good luck on the test. He's one of the leaders of the class. I have never believed in luck and today these buckeyes did not disprove my theory. The buckeyes did not help them on their math tests.

me vs. Rachel Ray

I was making corn salsa tonight, thinking this would be quick. I start with the cherry tomatoes, the most essential ingredient for salsa. One by one I take a tomato and slice it longways, then take one of the halves and slice that in half. Then I picked up the other half and sliced that side in half. Good! 4 little pieces. Halfway through the carton, I thought Rachel Ray would have been finished with the entire salsa by now, and probably even would have moved onto the next dish by now. Well maybe I can't cook an entire Rachel Ray meal in 30 minutes for 5 people, but I sure can cute tomatoes in 30 minutes. Go me!

1st day of teaching

This is actually a story that happened to my friend Val. And to preface this story, we went to a private, Christian school where every student in the school was a car rider. You had to be a car rider.
This is Val's very first day of teaching ever. Miss Neil. The school did not give her a run through of how dismissal works at her school, I guess they thought it was obvious. The end of the first day came and the intercom comes on loud and clear and says, "The walkers may be dismissed." So several of her 7th graders stand up and start walking out of the room. "Oh no, they are not pulling one on me!" she thought. So she ran to the door and yelled at these rebellious students she had, "You cannot leave! NONE OF YOU HAVE WALKERS!!"
They had a good laugh as they explained that walkers were students that walked home. She of course was embarrased but laughed and admitted she thought there was a designated place for students with disabilities and walkers to walk out first. At least those students had something to tell their parents about their first day of 7th grade.

goals

jo's Goals… post suggestions for me if you can think of one for me!
-cake decorating
-blogging
-save me some $$$$
-clean my car often because I don’t have Sparky to clean it now
-be good at teaching
-keep running
-keep weight off
-play the clarinet in the local Peoria Band… I could, but I was just kidding on that one… I don't think i would meet an athletic guy there

dropped off

This is so my mom...

last week my mom didn't want to drop me off at home before her nail appointment. I said i didn't want to go to the nail appointment, and she pulls over on the busiest street in Peoria and just calls dad and tells him to come pick me up and then she drives off. The funny part of it is the mental picture of me standing there on the side of the road stranded for 5 to 10 minutes just because i got dumped on the side of the road. And my dad came and picked me up and didn't think it was weird at all. who drops someone off at the side of the road?! it was pretty funny.

a compliment

Yesterday it was 8:30 am, everyone should be in the room by this point. I had a girl or two missing. One of these girls comes in exasperated because Megan would not come out of the bathroom stall. People were making fun of her polka dot outfit and she said, "Even a 3rd grader said something!" The friend came back again and said she still wouldn't come back. So the class got a speech letting them know that there would be serious consequences if anything mean is said about her outfit from anyone.
She finally came in and I gave her a blanket to wear around her shoulders. Finally she got the guts to take it off and come to my desk for a question on whatever they were working on. One of the other boys was standing with her and said as serious and sincere as you can get, "Megan, I really like your outfit today." She looked at him and said, "Thanks."
The rest of the day she looked good, or at least she just felt good.

hot and cold lunch.

Hot and cold lunches. Pretty simple right? To Kindergarteners, not really. My mom took the time to explain both hot and cold lunches. "A hot lunch is a lunch you receive at school. A cold lunch you bring it from home." No one knew if they had a lunch in their backpack. So, they take a trip out to the hallway to check each backpack. They understood now. So, she starts the roll and asks them, "Hot or cold?" Everyone is doing good until she gets to a certain student, and she said, "Hot or Cold?" "Weeeeeellllll....." said the student and holding his head like this was the hardest question ever. "It's not really cold, and I believe it's not really that hot. I think... I think it is lukewarm."

haha. so, he sounds stupid but he is actually thinking too much. his lunch was lukewarm. somebody get that boy an ice pack for his lukewarm lunch!

one fly, two flies, no flies.

I thought I should start blogging again. Yesterday at school, there was a pet fly in my room. Well there was another one, but I hated that one because it would land on my head incessantly. The class started talking about the fly no. 2, the annoying one, and there was a couple girls who said, "Don't kill our pet fly!!" huh? "What do you mean you have a pet fly?" I said. So they go on to explain that they have been taking care of a fly that one of the boys had broken it's wing and the legs were mangled for two days. They named it and then they showed me where the fly was located. She brought it over to her desk. We all crowded around this littly fly and it was just chillin' by a little pool of water she made from droplets off her water bottle. The wing was bent and it was just lying there. Me and this other kid, (btw... my favorite student) looked at the fly closely and felt bad for it for a split second. I said sit down and while I read aloud the girl looked up what flies like to eat. So before recess she said that they like to eat saliva and blood and wanted to know if she could go to the restroom and spit in her hand for the fly. I told her she had a very compassionate heart which I liked about her, but no she may not spit in her hand to fead the dying, broken fly. I never saw the fly again. It probably has a mansion in my room somewhere. who knows. It even had a name. The fly we hated so much is definitely gone too.

LOL

question. today i wrote lol after i ACTUALLY laughed out loud. how many times do you write lol when you didn't laugh out loud. A little chuckle inside your brain is not a laugh out loud.

before... after!

One of my good friends in Kindergarten to 3rd grade just myspaced me. one. i love that. even though you have nothing to say. all i had to say back to her was "how long have you been married?"



anyways, it got me thinking that i love Love LOVE before and after pictures. she took pictures of her bathroom, bedroom, and study when it was ugly and i think it was all of her husband's stuff. Then she took after pictures and it was amazing. I think that is why i would love to be a decorator, you could have thousands of before adn after pictures to look at. That is another reason why i watch hgtv, tlc, extreme home makeover, or even when people get a makeover, i will waste an entire day for that one before shot, then after where i go, WOAH! that is amazing. even oprah had before and afters. biggest loser, i love the end where the person who got kicked off, sees their before fat picture and how they are now. i can't get enough of it.



i have a snow day, so i bet you i'll get to see a few before and after pictures. hopefully i'll have a lot of WOAHS, not HUH?! That is the AFTER! so not worth it.

pumped

pumped to be on a blog spot. i can't stand to write papers. i can't stand to fill out forms, except the top box that is just your name, address, and memorized info. i also stopped writing in my journal since i've graduated from college. so... i don't have anything to say today, YET. i have a few things that are way overdue to be written down. maybe that will come later.

Jodi's thought on life

This is the initial email. I am honored to be Jodi's first!
-Matt K