Almost Wordless Wednesday...

"The Coolest Teacher Award" goes to...

ME!!!!

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Not Me! Monday

Well, it's time for Not Me! Monday again. I must warn you, this is a long one, so grab a cup of coffee--maybe two--and get ready for some crazy KC fun! Remember to check out MckMama's blog and keep praying for baby Stellan!

On Tuesday, my day with Junior and Senior Highers, I did not bribe one of my students so he would get some work done. I would never do anything like that!

After teaching preschool on Wednesday, I did not start my trip to Kansas City at 12:30. Knowing the 10-hour journey that lay ahead of me (with no working stereo in the van), I did not become creative with ways to keep myself awake.

Here are some things you would not have found me doing at any given time during my trek...

• You could not have found me singing to myself, since no one was around. (I wonder…If no one is around to hear me sing, is my voice audible?)


• I definitely, absolutely did not take pictures as I was driving. I was not kept awake by the steady raising and lowering of the windows (driver and passenger sides) to facilitate picture-taking.


• As I passed a semi, I did not see Phantom printed on the back. I was not tempted to slow down, and thus tick off the drivers behind me, just so I could take a picture of said semi. (As you continue to read this post, you'll understand the obsession with Phantom.

On Thursday, my sister Erin, Di (Erin's sister-in-law), and I went to The Phantom of the Opera. It was not one of the awesomest (yes, I’m a teacher and I’m saying that is a word) experiences of my life, even leading me to tears on several occasions. Yeah, ridiculous, I know. After my first opera experience, I was not wondering what type of apparel we'd see there. While there were some people who were very nicely dressed, I would not like to tell you that there was a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and another in jeans and cowboy boots. However, I believe the prize should go to a lady seated in our row... she was not wearing a green t-shirt with a DINOSAUR on it! Really? A dinosaur to the opera? What were you thinking?

I was not ready to watch The Phantom of the Opera DVD when we got home at 11:30 p.m. As my sister did not search for tickets for the Friday night show, I did not secretly wish we could go again!

This week, there is not even a slight chance that I bought a dorky gift for my sister Becky. Knowing how much she treasures these gifts, there’s no way on earth I’d ever do that, so don’t get your hopes up, Beck!

During one of our shopping trips, I did not buy helium balloons for Samantha and Ryan after Erin told them they didn't need one that day. My sister does not owe me for the hours of entertainment that balloon has provided for Ryan. Who needs toys? Auntie is always right! :) Ryan's balloon did not make the trip to MN with us.

At the Wal-Mart parking lot in KC, we did not encounter a lady with a very dirty mouth. For the entire story, click here to read my sister Erin's post. As we drove away, after waving to the lady and ticking her off, I did not say to Erin, "She's not following us, is she?" Scary people out there!

For the four days I was in Kansas City, I certainly did not spend a lot of time playing the Wii with Ben. And being the great competitive bowler that he is, there is no way I could have beaten him three games, one of them by over thirty points. Even if I could have the ability to win a game, I definitely would not have let it happen, knowing how he hates to lose. (I was not inwardly giddy after winning, especially when I got over 200 points.)

I did not end up with a sore arm after playing the Wii….who would have thought you’d have to stretch before playing?

I went to Wal-Mart with Samantha yesterday, and was not a little surprised with the lack of knowledge in lady who cut my batting. Granted, she did not usually work in that department, since I found her arranging pillows in housewares, but I would have thought it wouldn’t be too hard to make one cut in the batting. I asked for ½ yard and I did not stand there for at least three minutes as she mumbled to herself while she read a chart, trying to figure out what ½ yard is, even though it was printed on the ruler at the cutting table. Having worked in a fabric store during college, I did not have the urge to go around the counter and cut the batting for myself. Little did I know that the biggest puzzlement wasn’t how much ½ yard is. After a few more minutes of mumbling and looking downright uncomfortable, this lady appeared relieved when another associate walked through the department. Now let me tell you that this lady also did not work in the craft department. Well, two heads are better than one, right? I’m not completely convinced of this saying. The problem? How do you put ½ in decimal form to scan the quantity? Their conversation went something like this (names have been changed to protect the innocent)…
Lady 1: How do you put in ½ yard?
Lady 2: I’m not sure.
Lady 1: The chart says, “1 yard = 1,000” (or rather, 1.000)
Lady 2: So ½ yard would be….. Hmmmm…Would it be 500? (no, that would be .500)
Lady 1: I’m not sure.
Lady 2: Oh, here. I think I have it. A half would be .005?
** At this point, I’m thinking Wow, I’m gonna get this fleece for pennies if they do it that way!**
After another minute, they figured out how to scan the barcode with the quantity, after which they did not take another two minutes to verify that half of $2.67 should be $1.35. What should have been a quick, three-minute stop did not take more than 15 minutes!

At one of our stops on the way to MN today, a lady did not come out of the bathroom stall and tell me, “Um, this toilet doesn’t flush,“ as she pointed into the stall. As I was not debating what I should do--Do I go in there anyway and just wait until she leaves so I can go into the other stall? Should I just used that toilet anyway? Ewwww, no thanks--I did not hear the toilet flush. I did not have to choke back a laugh as I though to myself, “Welcome to the world of automatic flush toilets, lady.” As I held in my smile and closed the door of the bathroom stall, I did not hear her say to herself, “Okay, water… water? How do you turn this on?” After her verbal expression of surprise when the water turned on automatically, I thought Okay seriously. In a world where toilets can flush automatically, why would you be overly surprised to find that water can come out of a faucet in the same way? I give up.

Well, that's about a month's worth of Not Me! posts. Check out my sister's blog to read her version of Not Me! Monday.

All Dressed Up and No Place to Go...

...except PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! Last night, Erin, Ben's sister Diana, and I went to see the Phantom and it was AMAZING! We've loved the music forever, and were excited to see the movie, but nothing compared to seeing it live. Erin and I were on the countdown all day long. Okay, if I'm really honest, we've been on the countdown since we got the tickets four months ago!

It started to get real once we got changed, although neither of us had any furs to wear. Maybe next time. By 7:00, we were ready to go (after Erin triple-checked that she had the tickets in her purse).

After purchasing a program at the door, we made out way to our seats. The anticipation was hard to suppress, but before we knew it, the lights were going down and the show began. The stage was beautiful, the actors...incredibly talented, the music...absolutely indescribable, so much so that I won't even attempt such a task.

I have many favorite songs in this musical, but my favorite one by far is All I Ask of You. Ooooooh, let me just think of it for a minute........ okay, it sounded pretty in my head but much prettier in person. This is one of those moments when you almost have to be there. It's really hard to explain the feeling you get just from being in the room, the way your heart melts with the beautiful music, and the wholeness of particular scenes. (I once described "wholeness" as flying in an airplane in the clouds, and all of a sudden you break out of the clouds and can see the sun, mountaintops, etc. for miles. Imagine the type of music that would be played to illustrate this, and that's what "whole" is. You know, the kind of music that sends shivers down your spine.")

Yes, it was a wonderful evening, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Erin did check into tickets for tonight after we got home. No, I think I'll have to spread out the performances for a few years. I don't know if my brain could handle such stimulus overload!

Tuesday Tip

I am a teacher. An educator. A role model of sorts. I should be training my students to follow in my steps. I should want my students to follow in my steps....

Which is why, today, I am telling you...it really does work to bribe students. The end result is not for my benefit, but rather for the student. And whoever said a little incentive doesn't pay off? After a little bribery by yours truly, I witnessed results I didn't think were possible from this student....maybe I knew they were possible, but I haven't seen it for a long time. Work was getting done faster that I could comprehend! It was great!

Should I tell my students that it's okay to use bribery (for the right reasons)?

Absolutely.

And today, that is why I love being a teacher!

Not Me! Monday

It's hard to believe it's Monday again. But you know what that means... time for Not Me! Monday. Continue to keep MckMama and Stellan in your prayers.

Although my physical therapy has been progressing pretty well, I had a minor setback this week. After my appointment on Tuesday, I was not in a lot of pain and it was not me who could hardly walk on Wednesday. Yep, pretty sure I overdid it on Tuesday!

Because I had another appointment on Thursday, which I was not dreading, I did not call the therapist and tell him I wouldn't be able to do much in my session that day. I was not excited (as much as you can be excited at therapy) to have ice therapy. Thirty-nine degrees of ice compression on my leg for 15 minutes....yes, it was wonderful (although very cold!).

Friday night was craft night at church...well, it was supposed to be craft night. My mom and I were not the only ones there and Mom did not haul a bunch of stuff in to the church, when we could have worked on stuff at home. And the thought definitely did not cross my mind Maybe it's a good thing we were the only two here....I really got a lot done!

It is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, NOT me who is counting the hours until I get to leave for Kansas City to see my brother-in-law, sister, niece, and nephew (Ben, I better get brownie points for mentioning you first!). As of this point in time, it's closing in on 36 hours and not a minute too soon!

Besides the thrill of seeing my sister's family, I am not almost sick with excitement to see Phantom of the Opera in Kansas City. My sister and I have had our tickets for over four months, and I can't believe the time is almost here, although the anticipation of it has been half the fun. Not sure what we'll look forward to after this is done! Because the opera occupies a lot of my thoughts lately, the other day I was thinking about what to wear and I couldn't help thinking about my first opera experience. Upon this reflection, I was not tempted to go to Goodwill to see if I could find some type of fur to bring. And if there were sequins??? Even better!!!

And probably the most crazy, completely insane thing that didn't do this week was..... dye Easter eggs with a bunch of preschoolers. (Ironically, it went fairly well, and the kids LOVED it!)

So that's a bit of what I have not done this past week. If you have anything you'd rather not admit to doing, this is the place. Try it!

Is It Too Good to Be True?

Today as I was walking around Target, I realized something....my leg didn't hurt! I mean, I was ALMOST walking normally, and I wasn't limping. After my less than desirable therapy session last Tuesday, after which I could hardly walk on Wednesday, I'm a little reluctant to think this is the end of pain, but it does give me reason to hope. It was five weeks ago today that I tore my plantaris tendon and gastrocnemius muscle in my left calf. In a way it seems like it's been longer than that. I guess in one way my life has slowed down...LITERALLY. But life as I used to know it should be getting back to normal soon. And the next time I need an anatomy lesson, I think I'll take the easy way out and read a biology book!

Not Me! Monday--Stellan style

It's Not Me! Monday with a spin... this week, Not Me! Monday has been moved to the Cline's blog and is in honor of Stellan and the whole MckFamily. Five-month-old Stellan has been in the PICU for over a week now and desperately needs a miracle. Visit MckMama's blog to read updates about Stellan, and please pray!

This week, I have not been in one continuous prayer for Stellan... I don't think I've said "amen" yet.

I did not turn on my laptop before I went to bed, just to see if there was an update.

It was not me who spent almost an hour looking at Stellan's name gallery.

I was not disappointed today when one of my preschoolers was absent. We were going to take a picture for Stellan's name gallery and I wanted her to be included in the picture. I am not counting the hours until class on Wednesday when we can finally do it.

Today as I was telling my preschoolers about Stellan, I did not have tears forming in my eyes as I listened to them praying for him. The faith of children is so precious. Should teach us all a lesson. God STILL does miracles!