It's the Little Things...

... that I'm thankful for.

Let me explain. Tuesday in preschool we made ice cream. Oooooo, it was yummy! The process wasn't completely painless though, and I mean that literally! Each child had his/her own bag to make their own ice cream. Well, after about 4 shakes, they asked in a chorus, "Is mine ready now, Miss Heather?" Wait a minute, didn't something like this happen once to me before? Ahhhh, yes, I remember now. Does "butter" ring a bell? (If not, read here.)

Well, Miss Heather ended up shaking bags for four very adorable preschool students who suddenly developed weak muscles. By the time the liquid had thickened to ice cream consistency, my fingers were rather cold. At least I think they were. You see, they were so numb that I could hardly feel them.

As I considered what to do for class today, I knew ice cream was on the "menu," but to be honest, I wasn't looking forward too much to making their ice cream, too, especially since I have a total of 12 preschool students on Wednesday. I figured I wouldn't have any fingers left at all!

Stopping at Walmart on the way home, I picked up the few things I needed and while taking a detour through the housewares department on the way to my destination, my eye was immediately drawn to an end cap filled with... you guessed it! ICE CREAM MAKERS! I was not expecting to see them in the store, let alone buy one. But the "Clearance" sign piqued my interest. I didn't see a price, so in my mind I determined the maximum I would be willing to pay for it. When I found a sales associate to scan the price, imagine my utter surprise when the price same up $6.00. $6.00??? Are you kidding me? I should take two at that price!

So today in preschool, I was once again excited because there were no frozen fingers in my future. Just some absolutely yummy, extremely delicious ice cream that I didn't have to make by hand!

Thank you, Jesus!

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At times, I'm amazed at God's timing, although I shouldn't be. On Monday, I received a call from a Cubbie leader saying she wouldn't be there Wednesday night. Not a major problem, since there are two leaders at most tables. Tuesday I had a similar message from another leader... I can't be there Wednesday night. Okay, no need for panic. We'll be fine. A while later, I heard from yet another leader that she had to be gone for a few minutes tonight to speak to another group. Okay, that's three leaders. I think I'll stop answering my phone now.

After school today when I was in my "Cubbie prep mode," I had a call from a friend of mine. Her first words?? "Do you need any help in Cubbies tonight?"

(Enter complete and utter shock here!)

Why, yes, I definitely do need help tonight!

She then proceeded to tell me that she'd felt a nagging today to call me. Coincidence? I don't think so! God knew exactly what help I would need tonight. Not that God "nags" us to do anything, but in His own sovereign way, He impressed upon Katie the need to call me to volunteer herself... AND her husband!

Exactly ten minutes later (yes, I checked the time on my phone), Cubbie leader #3 called to say her son has pink eye, so she wouldn't be coming tonight. Once again, God took care of my needs even before I knew what they were! As Cubbies started tonight, one parent asked, "Do you have anyone to replace the leader at the purple table? Do you want me to help?"

I had three leaders gone tonight, and three people randomly volunteered to help. Let me rephrase that... I don't think it was "random" at all. It was totally God taking care of my needs even before I knew I would have a need! Isn't God great?!?!

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So today I'm thankful for the little things... things like ice cream makers and volunteers! What are you thankful for?

My Week in Numbers

So my sister Erin did this post yesterday and it was really cute, so I thought I'd give it a try.

40—kids in Cubbies on Wednesday


100+—temperature in Cubbie room on Wednesday (might be exaggerating a tad)


117—preschool pictures I lost when my camera read "card error" and I'm unable to view pictures on that card


1—memory cards I've thrown away this week


3—days I've forgotten to wear my watch to school and been totally lost without it


2—days we've had frost this week


0—days I've worn socks to school this week


5—number of times my preschoolers shook the jar while making butter


7,597—number of times Miss Heather got to shake the jar to finish making butter


4—hours until I'll probably go to bed


19—hours until the weekend officially starts


0300—time I'll probably go to bed Friday night/Saturday morn


12—minutes I've wasted writing this post when I should have been sewing

Not Me Monday

Ready for some good clean fun? It's time for Not Me Monday again. MckMama ingeniously created this hilarious therapeutic blog idea, so check out her blog to read more.

Well, as I stated in my last Not Me post, I said I would try to post something before this week's not me post. I tried in vain to post yesterday, but something was messed up with blogger and I wasn't able to upload pictures. Therefore, to keep my "promise" from last week, I did not publish this post 10 minutes before I started to write my Not Me post. And I did not change the date so it looks like I posted it yesterday.

On the first night of Cubbies, I mentioned here that we did not have 37 kids. That's a lot of preschoolers in a small room! As I was dreading looking forward to this past Wednesday, I was not completely overwhelmed with the thought of that many kids again. Our final head count? Well, it was more than 37 and less than 41. But it most certainly was not 40. No, we definitely did not have 40 Cubbies in the same small microscopic room.

Because of the many bodies in the room, 48 in total, I did not feel the need to open the window so we could breathe in the suffocating heat of the room... all the while telling myself Remember to shut this window before you go home.

The evening went on and we survived, and I must say I was relieved when it was done. As I cleaned up, still sweating from the busy night, I decided to leave the window open a while longer. Note to self: Remember to shut this window before you go home. I was finally ready to leave 30 minutes later, gathered my stuff, and headed home.

Upon reflection of the evening... 40 kids, not enough leaders, loud preschool conversations, suffocating heat. Wait a minute! Suffocating heat? My mind ran in fast rewind. 40 kids, very hot, open window, Remember to shut this window before you go home. There is absolutely no chance on this earth that I would have exited the church without shutting the window. And if I did by chance forget to shut the window, there is no way I would have gotten in the car, left the parking lot, and driven ALL the way home before I remembered that the window was still open.

Knowing that I couldn't be responsible for any damage that would happen if any person or creature entered the window, I did not jump back in the car and drive all the way back to church. As I was driving, what was going through my head? Did I really forget to shut the window? Maybe I did shut it. Hmmmm. Well, I arrived at church and was not relieved to see that I did leave the window open. Well, I wouldn't want to be the person who thought the window was open and realize that I'd closed it. No, I wouldn't want to be that person.

After a long day at school on Friday, I for sure did not stay up WAY too late once again. This time, I for sure did not stay up until 3:00 a.m. And I absolutely, positively, most definitely did not stay in bed until 12:00 p.m. the following day! Nope, not me!

In preschool today, I did not have a messy painting project for the kids to do. I'm sure some of the parents probably think I'm crazy, but last year parents were thrilled that I did some of these activities, because they said their kids would never get to do anything like that at home. Anyway, have you ever heard of bubble painting? It's really fun. And for all those times that kids have been disappointed when told not to blow bubbles in their milk, today made up for it. Here's how it works:

Mix water and liquid watercolor paint in a bowl.
Add a few drops of liquid soap.
Protect table with tablecloth.
Use straw to blow bubbles in the paint mixture.
When bubbles spill over the edge of bowl, place white paper on bubbles.
Voila! A beautiful bubble print will emerge.

This activity was a huge hit with the kids, which resulted in many sheets of paint-soap-water-soaked paper strewn across the table. Since drying space and time was limited, I did not dry nearly 30 sheets of paper under the automatic hand dryer to speed up the process. Well, who says teachers aren't ingenious! :)

So that's a little glimpse of my week. Join the fun! I'd love to read what you have not done this week!

Not Me Monday

Ready for some hilarious, entertaining, all-around clean confession? Well, here it is. Be sure to check out MckMama's blog also (after you read mine).

After glancing at my last Not Me post, I did not realize that it's been a week since I last wrote. And at the end of my previous post, I was determined not to wait a whole week before I posted anything. Well, there you have it... it's been a week and no blog posts. Oh well, Maybe this week? Oh who am I kidding? It will probably be next Monday before I post anything. (If I say this now, you'll be surprised when I post something this week right?)

As I was leaving for school on Tuesday morning, I for sure did not hit a wheelbarrow that was taking up residence on the side of the driveway. Not a big problem, right? WRONG! The contents of said wheelbarrow? Definitely not rotting, rancid, soon-to-be-moonshine corn cobs that my parents had processed the day before. And me? I was almost late for school, so who got to pick them up? For sure not my mom! Thanks, Mom!

This past Wednesday was the first night of Cubbies at my church. Since I'm the director, I decided I better show up, but after my long day at preschool, I was tempted not to show up. Well, when 6:00 arrived, I must admit I was feeling fairly ready. The registration forms were photocopied, the tables arranged, crayons placed on the tables along with the paper. All we needed were kids. Boy, did we get them! In all my years as Cubbies director (I think this is my 8th year) I have never seen so many kids. They just kept coming out of the woodwork! When all was said and done and I did the final headcount, we did not, I repeat, we absolutely did NOT have 37 kids! And with 5 tables in the room, you can do the math to figure out how many each teacher was responsible for. Wow, what a night.

As I was working on my computer after Cubbies, I definitely did not fall asleep only to wake up a few hours later in the recliner. The time? It most certainly was not 3:00 a.m. Oh, it was hard going to bed knowing I had to be up in t 3 1/2 hours. Wow, what little children will do to take the energy out of you!

Last night after getting home from a Twins game, I did not remember that I had neglected to purchase a couple items that I needed in class today. My solution? I'll just get up early and stop at Wal-Mart on my way to school. Yep, that's what I decided to do, all right. Because it would be foolish to make a special trip to Wal-Mart when I could do it before school. Nope, I definitely did not drive to town at 10:00 p.m. to buy 6 apples, butter, and oatmeal, and then drive back home. I would never do something that dumb!

Well, that's about all for this week. I'll see you next week when I fill you in on what did not happen to me this week (unless I bless you with a surprise post sometime later this week!).

Not Me! Monday

Well, it's time once again for Not Me! Monday. It is good to have MckMama back on board! Check out her blog to see what she and everyone else has not been up to this week. Wow, it's been a very busy week. It's a good thing I have not done anything stupid this week, so this post will not be rather short. Grab a cup of coffee and maybe some toothpicks to stay awake for this one.....

After my sister Erin returned home after her two-week visit in MN, I did not start wondering where the awful-smelling leather "not-candle" was hidden. If you missed the complete story, click here. I was told that it would appear sometime soon, in a normal activity, so I wasn't too worried about it. BIG MISTAKE! While going the routines of a normal Tuesday--school, meetings, prep for preschool, buying gas.... WAIT A MINUTE! HOLD ON! Here's where I did not nearly freak out and get sent to the mental institution. As I opened the door to my gas tank on my car, I did not feel something stuck inside, and when seeing something duck-taped in there, I did not have thoughts such as Do I hear a ticking noise? Who would put something in a gas tank... unless they're going to blow it up!!! AAAHHHH! It's a bomb. I'm gonna die! The entire town will go up in smoke once the gas station explodes! Uh, what?!?! It's the stupid candle?!?!? Oh, Erin's gonna die! Once I regained my composure--about two seconds later--I did not call Erin and say, "You are such a FREAK!" She did not start laughing immediately because she knew exactly what I was talking about. Oh, but the paybacks are sweet, let me tell you! Just wait, little sister!

Because of the busy social life I do not have, this week I did not have something going on 4 nights; therefore, I did not realize at the end of the week that I'd eaten at Subway 3 times. In a town of less than 10,000 people we do not have 3 Subways, and I did not visit all three of them this week.

Being somewhat sick of Subway after my 3 visits, I did not choose to get a ham and cheese from Arby's. As I pulled up to the drive-thru window, I did not realize that I had left my wallet at home. I did not drive away from Arby's with a hungry stomach and I was not reminded of my stupidity all night as my tummy rumbled until I got home to eat something.

With excitement rushing through my veins in anticipation of a "girls night out" to watch a movie, I was not hurrying through Wal-Mart trying to find a snack to share. After picking up mozzarella bites and pizza dipping sauce, I was not leisurely browsing through the store when I hear a loud shattering sound. Glancing around, I definitely did not realize that the sound came from my cart, and when I looked down, I absolutely did not find a jar of pizza sauce smashed to smithereens on the floor. Not feeling like Urkel, I did not immediately think Did I do that? The proof was not in the splattering of sauce all over the legs of my jeans.... and we will not even talk about my white tennis shoes that did not have red accents. After checking to make sure no one saw this incident, I did not walk around for a few minutes, trying to find someone to clean it up--okay, I was really trying to convice myself to do so. As I was not arguing with myself, I did not hear a kind voice over the pager Can I get a member of maintenance to Men & Boys for a clean-up. (I was in the aisle between the fitting rooms and the boys' department.) I did not give up shopping for the rest of my things because I did not see pizza sauce footprints following me through the store.....

Could it be the Subway food? I did not stay up until 1:30 AM three nights this week. Hmmm... Subway 3 times.... late night 3 times.... Is there a connection?

On our last night of Cubbies, you can be certain that I would never think of giving ice cream sandwiches to preschoolers right before sending them home to their parents. That would be too cruel for Mom and Dad, so that's something I for sure did not do.

I did not kick off my garage sale season by travelling 30 miles with a friend to every garage sale seeker's dream. We did not find an entire arena filled with clothes, shoes, books, knick-knacks, plants, furniture, etc. I did not smirk when I saw that they had a concession area, and not just a couple tables. We're talkin' a small cafeteria! My first impression of amazement was not outdone by the booming voice I heard over the loudspeaker. Really, a loudspeaker? That's gotta be a new one! I did not come out of there with 6 bags of stuff, having spent only 5 dollars. I did not consider finding a 2010 calendar and marking the date for their next sale!

I am not proud to say I'll be number 818 or rather 819 to link my post on MckMama's blog!

Chances are, if you've been around for a while, you are already familiar with Not Me! Monday. If, however, you're a newcomer, check out MckMama's blog and enjoy the other brutally honest people who have done some stuff they're less than proud of, but have lived to tell about it!