Above Water SCUBA Diving is SO Not What It's Cracked Up To Be

I'm sick.
I have a cold.
Not just one of those little colds where you wake up with a sore throat and a little runny nose that goes away after a day or two. This is one of those feel it in your chest kind of colds. The kind that starts in your chest, slowly moves to your throat and then takes up a room in your nose with occasional hour-long trips to your ears. It's the kind of cold that keeps you up at night for no apparent reason except that you can't lie down without feeling like an elephant is sitting on your nose and it won't. go. away.
Cold medicine doesn't work on this cold. Humidifiers only make the room a little less dry for your poor nose. Liquids merely keep your throat from seizing up and sending you into coughing spasms. Your ears get plugged and won't pop for going on 17 hours now. You feel like you're constantly under water. ...aaand you've already discovered you hate SCUBA diving so you don't need to relive it. Ever.

On the plus side, all noise is muffled a bit and you can't tell if your first graders are being louder than normal. You also can't talk very loudly because of the throat thing and the cough thing, so you get to reinforce the fact that you don't want to get your student's attention by yelling over their chatter.
Also, since you haven't felt like eating for the past 3 days, when you do feel like eating something you feel perfectly justified in eating it on the grounds that your body needs nourishment. Any kind of nourishment. Even if that nourishment is potato chips, soda pop, and peanut butter Twix. If you're craving it, then your body probably needs it to recover, right?

May Your Christmas Be All YOU Wanted It To Be

We all have our favorites at Christmastime. Some people enjoy listening to Christmas music on the radio...constantly...starting before Halloween...and stopping sometime after Easter...if we're lucky. I am not one of those people. Other people look forward to shopping in crowded stores the day after Thanksgiving. Others might look forward to the homemade eggnog and sugar cookies. Some people can't wait to open presents! Others are happy just making sure those around them are loved. The point is, we all have things we do that make the holidays what they are.

And now to the real point I'm getting at.
A kindergartners idea of a good time at Christmas is not often the same as say, a middle-aged high school choir director's idea of a good time.

To prove my point, I shall recount an event that happened a few years ago.

Every year at my school the local high school choir comes and performs Christmas songs for the kiddies. Now, I may be a bit prejudiced about my own high school's talents, but I think it's safe to say that this high school choir doesn't win many awards in competitions and such. But they try hard and they're not too terrible. Besides, the kids don't know the difference and they think it's pretty cool to have "big kids" come and sing to them.
The problem is this: The high school choir director's idea of good Christmas music is slightly different than 5, 6 and 7 year old's. Every year the choir comes and sings song after song of slow, religious songs. I don't mind the occasional slow religious (and sometimes Latin or German) song. What I do mind is ALL the songs being slow, religious and yes, sometimes in Latin or German. Kids like to hear songs they know. Songs they can sing to. Songs like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" (even though no kid actually knows the words to that song except "Frosty the Snowman was a hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmmm...With a corn cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal. OH, Frosty the Snowman! hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmmm....)
Back to the point...
A few years ago the choir came to sing to the kids. After what was probably the 6th slow religious song, they started in on the 7th song. It was, of course, slow and not kid-friendly. That's when I heard a little, but definately not quiet, voice from among the kindergarteners say "Not again!" (Picture a little kid sitting cross-legged on the floor, with their chin in their hands, looking very very disappointed.)I tried to stiffle my giggles as the teacher tried to shush the noisy, honest, tell-it-like-it-is kindergartener.
I guess the real moral of the story is: Know Your Nigel, people. Know Your Nigel.

I've Been Sorted

The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Diggory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.

 

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Regardless of who I relate to, my true colors show up in Hufflepuff. But, it was almost a three-way tie.
I'm 81% Hufflepuff, 78% Ravenclaw, 76% Gryffindor, and 45% Slytherin. (Take THAT Voldy!)
We can't all be brave Gryffindors. And frankly, I like it that way. :)

Elf Yourself

'Tis the season to be jolly and/or elfy.
I recommend you all go to this site and check out my elf family and then create your own. You know, cuz it's Christmas time ...and stuff.

Aaaand Now He's Scared of Me.

So, I took the Harry Potter Personality Quiz. When I got my result, I had Zack guess who I was. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Guess who I am!
Zack: Hermione!
M: Nope.
Z: Dumbledore.
M: You are WAY off.
Z: Snape?
M: Think more... evil.
Z: Lucious?
M: No.
Z: Draco?
M: Nooo. You're not thinking evil enough.
Z: (Pause.) But there's no more evil people.
M: (No response, just the knowing smile and wide eyes.)
Z: (eyes grow big and I think I see signs of fear) REALLY?
M: Does that scare you?
Z: A little...

So yeah, I'm THAT evil.


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.
Now I'm wondering how our marriage has worked all these years considering he just took the quiz and he's Molly Weasley?

Tagged

I have, up to this point, failed to respond to any tags I've been given. Hopefully this makes up for all of those. A tag a year keeps the... tag ...monster ....away....or something.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was in my freshman year at college. But exactly 10 years ago I was with Jeff at the Shelley's just hanging out. (Thank you Journal.)

What was I doing 5 years ago?
Zack and I went up with the fam and we cut down our first Christmas tree.

What was I doing 1 year ago?
Zack, Danny, Rachel and I were at the hospital playing games with Jeff. That will probably be one of my most fond memories of Jeff in the hospital (if you can have a fond memory of your brother going through Chemo treatments). We played "Malarky", "Masterpiece", and "Family Feud" where Danny tried to cheat by using the made-up word "stupendous." Silly Danny. Everybody knows that "stupendous" isn't a real word.
We laughed so hard that we cried. It was nice to see the old Jeff again.

What was I doing yesterday?
Driving home from the cabin with Zack and the puppies and stopping by my parents for dinner. Mmmm Sunday roaast.

5 Snacks I enjoy
Craisins, sunflower seeds, Cache Valley string cheese (everything else is just CRAP), bananas, cookies. Cookies count as snacks!

5 things I would do if I had a million dollars
I'll let you know when it happens. But rest assured, I'm already thinking about that terrifying possibility.

5 Places I would run away to
The Cabin. Mom and Dad's house. Mike and Jodie's house. Kim's house. Danny and Rachel's house...I mean piece of land... They would all take care of me if I decided to run away. And then they'd call Zack to tell him where I was so he could come get me. What a sweetheart. :) (Don't worry, Zack. I'll never run away from you. Ever. I'm just a little too dependent on you.)

5 T.V. Shows I Like
The Office, Scrubs, King of Queens, Today's Special and The Polka-Dot Door.

5 Things I Hate Doing
Folding socks, staying up so late that my stomach hurts, washing walls, making people feel bad, going back to work after a long vacation.

5 biggest joys of the moment
Zack, My family, My friends, Zack, My family.

I'll tag (you knew it was coming didn't you?) Allie, D'Nell, Shannon, Sharlene, and Angie (if she feels like writing about herself instead of books. I'm okay either way. :) )

Creative Minds With Turkey Time

If you have a child who is or ever was in elementary school, inevitably you have some sort of home-made holiday decoration they made in school. I'd almost bet money that at least one of those decorations is made out of construction paper and glue. I'd bet even more money that one of those decorations is made out of a cut-out of your child's hand. Am I right?

As a first grade teacher, I feel it is my DUTY to carry on the holiday hand-decoration tradition. I'm even considering making a hand-decoration for every month of the school year, I'm THAT dedicated to the cause. Last month we made bats. This month.....

we made turkeys:

Aren't they just too cute? I pretty much just let my kids go with their own creative imaginations when it comes to doing art projects. I do give directions and I walk around and give help and ideas, but when I see a child doing something that isn't perfect I don't step in and change it for them. I think the way a child does artwork shows a lot about who they are and where they are in that stage of life. With these turkeys I did try and make sure they glued the hands (aka. feathers) on correctly. When we were all finished and the glue was dry, I realized I didn't quite get to all of them which is why a few turkeys looked like this:

Personally, I think this one is aaaaawesome.

This little guys is apparently using his feathers as some sort of hide-out.

And then there's always that one. I think I'll call this one "The Ghost of Thanksgiving Present".