Not all kindergarteners are scary

I know I do a lot of dramatic complaining about subbing, but usually it is a lot of fun. On Friday, I was in a Kindergarten class, and for the last three days I was in another Kindergarten class. To tell the truth, they were really cute, and it was a lot of fun to sing and play and listen to their funny little stories. I think that it really makes a difference who the teacher is and how she runs the class, as well as the plans she leaves. Anyways, I am really glad that everything went so well, because I may end up being a Kindergarten teacher, and I'm ok with that. :)

Something ironic

So last night Amanda and I went to our local ghetto Wal-Mart--that is a big step for me (ask if you're curious). Anyways we did our shopping and as we were heading back to our car I saw something very ironic. You know those trucks that are lifted so high the bottom of the truck come to your chest. Ok, so that is not so ironic by itself, but the ironic part is there was one of those very lifted trucks parked in a handicap parking spot. I know what you are thinking they did illegally, well they didn't it. They had a handicap card hanging in their window. Just thought that was weird. Am I the only one?

Families

This past weekend I had the opportunity, if you can call it that, to attend a funeral of my friend's grandmother, Sally Eleanor Polk. While it was a sad event, I was uplifted by the notion of family. I have been blessed with an immensely loving and supportive family. We are close. We are passionate. We love, laugh, and cry together. I have always felt that my family was something special and somewhat had pity for other people, only given "mediocre" families. As arrogant as it sounds, it is hard to imagine that when you are so blessed with a gift of an amazing family, that it may not be so rare.

This weekend, I found that I am not the only one with a great support system of family. I found that, indeed, other people have loving connections with their relatives. As I saw people laugh over the memories of their lost loved one as well as cry over the loss of that person, my heart was filled with what can be described as joy--joy of the fact that there are other wonderful families out there. This may not sound as profound to you as it was to me, but oh well.

Another less-than-profound revelation that occurred to me this weekend was how much impact individual members of one's family has on a person. As I watched countless people give testimonies about how this woman had really shaped the person they are today, I thought about how my own grandmothers had had an impact on who I am. Until now, this impact has gone unnoticed. When I think about it, I realize that I have my grandma Judy's strong, opinionated personality, taking on the world, not afraid of anyone. On the other hand, there is a part of me that is my great-grandmother Lillian, my "Mom-Mom", that is very compassionate as well as "domestic", taking joy in things like gardening and cooking. Even though my contact with these women was brief and considerably surface-level (as I suppose most adult-child relationships are), I can attribute much of the person I am today to their influence.

Tiny Demons

Today I subbed in a kindergarten class. They are cute on an individual basis, but when there are 20 or so of them (I couldn't even count them because they wouldn't sit still!) they turn against you. Little monsters. One of them made me believe in ADHD. By the end of the day I just let him do his own thing, because without physical force (not abuse) it was impossible to make him do (or cease doing) anything. I wasn't about to physically put him in time out. At the end of the day, there was a riot because I didn't know about snack. The teacher didn't leave anything in her notes about it. They revolted, and so I found some snacks. I don't even care if that was what I was supposed to do or not. I wanted to get home in one piece. Did I mention that there was no assistant today? Yeah, I was all alone, and all of the other Kinder teachers were gone as well. Luckily, it was a half day. I just went home and passed out. They wore me out!

Ice Cream or Something Like It

So tonight Doug had a mad hankering for a chocolate dipped cone from Dairy Queen. Actually, the craving began last night, but when we got to DQ last night it was closed. Instead we got plain vanilla cones from Sonic. Unfortunately, those did not quench Doug's thirst for a plain vanilla coned dipped in artificial chocolate covering from Dairy Queen. (Although I thought they were delicious!) So, we tried again tonight. Luckily, they were open, but everyone else apparently had the same craving as Doug. After waiting in line for quite some time, we ordered one medium chocolate-dipped vanilla cone and one chocolate dilly bar, which I had started to crave after he started talking about Dairy Queen. (You see, my dad occasionally used to pick up a bunch of dilly bars for us kids as a special treat--I was feeling reminiscent.)
We finally got to pay and they handed us our treats. Doug was disappointed in the appearance of his--"This is a MEDIUM?"--and I came to the sad realization that the dilly bar of my past was much different than the dilly bar of today. Mine was much smaller, and had been pre-packaged. We were let down by Dairy Queen. Next time, we'll just go to Coldstone. Or if we are in the Aztec area, the Vanilla Moose. :)

Too old?

So while we were in Arizona for Spring Break, we thought it would be fun to go for a bike ride. We borrowed Doug's grandparents' bikes and went for a ride around the neighborhood. We must have been a sight! Neither of us has ridden a bike in a LONG time, so we got pretty winded, and sweaty! Plus, his grandma is a lot shorter than me, so I didn't really fit on her bike. Anytime I turned a corner, I would hit my foot on the ground. But the bike ride was a lot of fun. We should do it more often!

Getting Started

So, we just started this thing. We're trying to figure it all out.