Not Me Monday Tuesday

Okay, here it is... my procrastination post that should have been posted yesterday. But other priorities got in the way and I just plain did not have time to finish it.

Last week, I was not completely shocked when I saw this van. I was making a quick stop at Goodwill to check out their preschool games, but I was not sidetracked when I saw this van pull into the parking lot. Brand new van, I might add. The license tabs were January, so this van must have been purchased only a couple months ago. I did not see drink cups, bags upon bags upon more bags piled to the ceiling of the van. I was not thoroughly baffled as to how this lady found a place to sit to drive this van. I was not bummed that I'd left my camera at school. Oh, I have my phone. Maybe that will work. I did not try multiple times to get a shot through the windshield, so I didn't have to be obvious. With the sun blazing through the window, it was difficult to get a distinguishable photo. Realizing that I had to go to extreme measures, I did not turn on the camera mode on my camera and step outside my car. So I didn't look like an idiot, I did not pretend to be talking on my phone as I took some pictures. Of course, I was not talking out loud, carrying on a conversation with no one.

Mission accomplished. I entered the store and as I began my search for games, I did not overhear a store employee ask the van lady, "Oh, is this your first time here today?" Hmmm.... so that's where all those bags came from....



As I grabbed a quick bite to eat in the Burger King drive thru, I was not completely embarrassed by what I heard. And it wasn't even for ME to be embarrassed about. There was one car ahead of me, filled with what appeared to be teenagers. Now, I've never worked fast food, so I don't know if this is a common occurrence, but these teens were not extremely obnoxious as they ordered. They were rapping, saying their order very quickly, and then said, "Did you get that?" to the girl on the other end. Then they would turn around and look at me and just laugh. The BK worker came back with, "I'm sorry. I guess I must not be a very good listener. You'll have to repeat that, and speak in a normal voice." These kids did not proceed to order as they were before, rapping and speed-talking. After this went on for a couple minutes, they finally said, "Did you get that??? Thank you." and then they sped off.

When I approached the ordering window??? Not a female voice that greeted me. I'm sure she got an early lunch break or something! That day I did not develop a new level of respect for fast food employees.


Well, it wasn't a whole lot to wait for, but at least I have a blog post for today this week! Visit MckMama's blog to read more Not Me Monday posts!

Not Me Monday

I am not going to postpone my Not Me Monday post until tomorrow. I do not have a bunch of things to do tonight, and I do not have to get them done before school tomorrow.

Just just a taste of what's not to come....
the truth about this messy van. drive-thru manners. designing business cards.


See you tomorrow.

Not Me Monday

Wanna have some fun??? Then you should join in the blog carnival created by MckMama. Check out her blog to see what she and others have not been doing this week.

I am not totally super psyched for my upcoming craft weekend. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Three days of non-stop crafting. In preparation for this weekend, I did not visit Wal-Mart and make another fabric purchase. You know, just in case I don't have enough fabric as it is. And of course, the lady cutting the fabric did not ask, "Are you making more purses?" Shortly thereafter, another associate approached the table and asked the same question. Yes, the ladies at Wal-Mart know that I make purses. Usually I spend money at Wal-Mart, but this trip did not have a money-making opportunity. One of the associates did not approach me, asking, "Do you make purses for people? If I bought fabric, would you make me a couple?" Ummmm... sure!

Today she did not call me and I do not have orders for two purses!



My fish tank at school had stared at me long enough. It was time for a good cleaning! So, on Sunday while I was at school working on plans for the week, I decided to bite the bullet and get it done. Things were going remarkable well, as I scrubbed the tank, changed the filter, and drained the water. Wait a minute... something doesn't sound right. As I looked toward the sink, I did not see the water draining not into the sink, but rather onto the FLOOR! Oops! Fortunately I caught in quickly and not too much water soaked the floor.

And finally, the story you all my sister has been waiting for... the truth about my toe. It was a dark and stormy night... Okay, not really. It's not at all that glamorous. I was getting ready to head to bed. Just needed to put my socks in the laundry basket. The socks still on my feet, that is. No problem. I'll just slip them off and kick them into the laundry basket as I've done hundreds of times before. Right sock off and in basket. Success. Left sock off and... OUCH!



I did not bring my foot into full contact with the door jamb in my attempt to kick my sock into the laundry basket. Please take my advice and do not try this at home, or any other place for that matter.

So, another Monday has come and gone. Join the fun next week!

Not Me Monday

After the things that did not happen to me last week, I'm not sure I have the courage to write this post today. This blog carnival was created by MckMama. Check out her blog to read some other not-happenings this week.

Last week we did an "ocean" day, because we were on letter "O" for the week. I had seen an adorable art project. Kids color a scene with crayons, pressing hard on the crayons. Then you color over the entire picture with watercolor paint, giving the effect of an underwater scene. Well, how much fun is it to have to dip your paintbrush in those paint sets that have 8 colors, and the color is barely visible. So, I did not go against my better judgment and use liquid watercolor paint. Non-washable liquid watercolor, mind you. Because we have carpet in my preschool room (not sure of the thought process for that decision), I was worried that the kids would spill the paint and it would drip on the floor. So, I stayed at the table and got more paint on the brushes when the kids needed it. The project went well, and they turned out very cute. Wow, I can't believe we didn't spill anything, I thought, as I was cleaning up. I set the small container of paint on the counter and started cleaning the brushes. One brush done.... As I reached for the second brush, I did not hit the end of the brush and completely tip over the entire container. Liquid watercolor all over the counter. Non-washable liquid watercolor. Thankfully, I had diluted it with some water, so it was relatively easy to clean up. Note to self: Be careful when using liquid watercolor. The kids Miss Heather might make a mess!

Along with our ocean week, I filled the water table with "ocean water," seashells, and ocean animals. Since there isn't a drain in the table, I had to scoop the water out with a bucket, but toward the end, it was difficult to get any water in the bucket. I did not pick up the table and endeavor to blindly dump the water into the small sink in my classroom. When I say small, I mean 10 x 12 inches, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Well, you can imagine where I'm going with this. I definitely did not spill water all down the cupboards and onto the floor. Yet another mess I did not have to clean up.

After the paint and water incidents, I figured I was about done with messes for the week. WRONG! Being the nice teacher that I am, I gave my students candy after class one morning, with strict instructions NOT to eat it before lunch. Class done. Jar on my desk. Students gone. Eat lunch. Move box on desk. CRASH! I did not move the box and sweep the candy jar, the one that I had place there no longer than an hour before, onto the floor, shattering it into thousands of microscopic pieces. After rescuing the candy from a sea of crystal, now for the unfriendly task of cleaning up the tiny glass pieces that covered my desk. No problem, I thought. I'll just sweep them into the garbage can. For lack of a broom nearby, I did not use the closest thing nearby... my hand. Wrong decision! Tiny glass shards embedded themselves into my fingers before I realized that my fingers were in pain. And then came the tiny drops of blood on the fingers that had made contact with the glass. Oh, what was I thinking?

At no time during this week did I scream in horror as my beloved Mylo had a near-death experience as he plummeted from the heights of the counter to the floor below. No worries, folks. Mylo is recovering nicely and is resting comfortably as we speak read.

Yesterday I made my weekly daily trip to Wal-Mart before heading to a Superbowl party. School supplies... check. Snacks for party... check. Eye drops for tired eyes... check. I paid for my items, exited the store, walked to the car, attempted to unlock the car. Oops, wrong key. Tried again. What in the world? Glanced up to realize I was not attempting to unlock someone else's car! With all the salt and dirt on the side of the car, it looked just like mine. After looking down the row, I saw my car two parking spaces away, calmly walked over, unlocked the right car, stored my treasures inside, put my embarrassed self inside, and drove away to the Superbowl party.

Speaking of the Superbowl, as I was talking to my sister Erin during my Wal-Mart excursion, I did not ask her, "Who is playing in the Superbowl anyway?"

Thus proving my true feelings about football.

Ahhhh, when does baseball start?

Not Me Monday

Monday's here!!! It's time for Not Me Monday, a fun, creative idea started by MckMama. Check out her blog for more Not Me stories.

This past week, in an attempt to offer a delightful, squishy, not-your-typical-everyday kind of experience for my preschool students, I did not endeavor to cook ten plus pounds of noodles (we were learning letter "n"). I was not super excited about this week, since I did it last year and it was a definite hit. Well, trying to save time so I could move on to bigger and better things, I did not put five pounds of spaghetti noodles in one pot, hoping it would all fit. One pound... no problem. Two pounds... piece o' cake. Three pounds... getting full. Four pounds... can I fit one more in here? Five pounds... ahhhh, I made it!

Little did I realize that my frequent stirring would be insufficient. I did not begin to smell an unpleasant aroma. Probably something on the burner I thought. WRONG! Draining the pasta did not reveal nearly a pound of the noodles scorched on the bottom of the pan, stuck together where the spoon did not reach during stirring. Hmmmm. I hope four pounds will be enough!

After cooking three other varieties of pasta, a new complication presented itself. How do I transport all this pasta to school tomorrow? My brilliant plan? I did not grab an 18 gallon tote and dump all the pasta inside, slight burnt stench and all.

At school the next day? My students were not thrilled with the opportunity to play with "food," as you can see here. Of course I did not join them!

Three classes, seventeen grubby pairs of hands, and one tired teacher later, I decided the noodles had served their purpose and could happily be thrown away. Since they were still wet, I did not opt to leave them uncovered to dry out overnight, thinking clean-up would be easier. What greeted me Friday morning was not a child's sand table filled with slightly-dried, somewhat slimy, completely rancid noodles. I was not glad I had skipped breakfast that morning, because I probably could not have kept it down! I did not find rubber gloves and after lining the same tote with a huge garbage bag, I did not dump all the noodles inside and put the lid on, only to dispose of them after class.

Class done. Kids gone. Clean up. Friend called. Go to movie. Out to dinner. Home to PJs.... I did not completely forget to get rid of the stinking, rotten mess what was in my classroom!

So there's a look at my week, and if you really think about it, I'm sure you could come up with something great to write about, so why not give it a try! It's fun and it's cheap therapy also.

Not Me Monday

Well, seeing as how January is almost over and I haven't blogged since last year, I thought it was about time I did something about that. So here it goes... it's another edition of Not Me Monday! Check out MckMama's blog too, to find out what other people have not done this past week.

Since we've only been back to school for two weeks after our Christmas break, you wouldn't think I'd be ready for a day off, right? Wrong! Yes, I love my students and I love teaching, but I must admit that I love my days off too. So it was definitely not me who discovered that I'd made a HUGE mistake on the calendar that I sent home with parents the first day back from vacation. After looking at the school district's calendar, I did not realize I had marked today, January 18th, as a "day off" instead of next Monday. I did not drive in to school to verify the information. I did not have to inform all the parents on Friday that we would have school on the 18th but would have the 25th off. I guess there wasn't too much harm done, but how embarrassing.

Once I got over the disappointment about the fact that I had school Monday, I thought the calendar fiasco was over. So as I sat at my sister's house this weekend, I was not completely embarrassed all over again. As I checked my email at 12:26 a.m. on Sunday, this is not the subject of an email I received: "NO SCHOOL" is coming up. Yes, this was an email reminder I received from the calendar on my class website. Oh no, that means this message was sent to all the parents too, after I told them today that we would have school on Monday. As if the first time telling everyone I messed up wasn't bad enough, I did not have to tell them twice... first when I told them in person and second when I had to update the calendar and re-send the message.

Now that the Do we have school/Do we NOT have school issue was solved, I thought it would be smooth sailing the rest of the week. No more embarrassing, humiliating, I-can't-believe-I-did-that moments for me. Boy, was I wrong. Our family weekend stretched out until 10 PM Sunday, and then I had to drive two hours home. Normally that would not be a problem, since I'm usually up until midnight anyway, but it's different when you're driving that late. I had to stop to take out my contacts, since my eyes were getting quite dry and gritty. Solution in case? Check. Left contact out? Check. Right contact out? Check. Lids secured on contact case? Check. Ahhhhh, that feels much better.

Today as I attempted to put in my contacts, there were no problem with the left one. Only a slight problem with the right one. The problem? I couldn't find it. I did not think I'd lost my mind as I tried to look for it. How does a contact just disappear? And that was my last one, too! I did not search for five minutes, and as I continually came up empty, I did not just give up and put on my glasses. As I got into the car, I was not expecting what I found. I did not see a dried-up, crusty, crunchy contact lens flipped upside-down on the dash. No, I did not completely miss the contact case and put my contact on the dash. Not much I could do about it during the school day, so I did not leave it there for another eight hours. Once I arrived home, I did not fill the contact case, drop in the shriveled lens, and hope my contact would be revived. Fast forward three hours... TADA! Contact lens was not completely re-hydrated and ready to be worn! YAY!

Try Not Me fun next week! You'll love it!

Not Me Monday Tuesday

Wow, what a week it's been. In fact, it was so busy that I took the liberty of creating a Not Me Monday Tuesday post. Just couldn't get it all done yesterday! You can still visit MckMama's blog to see those who were not procrastinators like me.... they actually got their Not Me posts done on the right day. But the way I see it, I'm just spreading out the fun, right? Okay, I know I'm in my own little world, but you can just humor me.

Anyway, getting on the the point of this post....

On one of my many late nights at school this week, I got a taco. Softshell chicken taco to be exact. About half-way through, I did not chomp on a chicken bone and feel like I nearly broke a tooth. Hmmmm.... maybe I should call my sister Erin for tooth-gluing tips.

Friday night after school, I did not travel to Duluth (80 miles from home) with two friends to look at Christmas lights. Why didn't you look at lights in your own town? you might ask. Well, if we were honest here, I'd tell you that the real reason we went to Duluth was not to eat at the best place on earth--Olive Garden! While there, I absolutely did not order manicotti. And if the server accidentally placed such a hideous dish in front of me, there is definitely no way on Earth I would take a picture. No, that would be totally inappropriate in a nice restaurant!



After a scrumptious dinner, we layered on our warm clothing and headed to Bentleyville, an outdoor light display in downtown Duluth. We did not nearly freeze, since we were near Lake Superior and it was rather windy. Seeing the outdoor ice skating rink, literally thousands of lights, and snowmen and reindeer roaming about, I did not envision myself in a movie. With the cheery Christmas tunes from the likes of Bing Crosby and Gene Autry, Jenny, Rebecca, and I would never have embarassed ourselves by linking arms and skipping down the path, all the while singing. No way... not us!!! Here are a couple shots from our night.



After gallivanting around on Friday night, I did not sleep in on Saturday. And when I finally woke up in the land of the living, I did not have 5 purses to finish and get in the mail. With the hand-stitching completed, I did not have to rush to the post office to meet the deadline for mail pick-up. There were not 6 people ahead of me in line and when it was all said and done, I did not have only 3 minutes until the truck came to whisk away the packages mailed late by procrastinators such as myself all those other people ahead of me in line.



Because I'm not the cool teacher I am, I did not bake sugar cookies for my students. In case you have me confused with that other crazy teacher, I did not put a couple of spoonfuls of frosting on a plate and let the kids go to it. Even more exciting, some of the frosting even make it onto the cookies!


Okay, here's the Wal-Mart story I promised you...
Yesterday I went to the Wal-Mart photo center to print out 4 pictures I needed for a school project. 4 pictures, people! I looked at the Kodak machine and there was a message saying it was out of paper. Once I got the attention of the lab technician social chatterer, I mentioned that the printer was out of paper. He looked at me like I had an alien head and said, "Yeah, that machine isn't working right now." Fine, I'll go to the next machine. As I started to touch the screen, Mr. Helpful did not say to me, "That one doesn't work either."

Okay, Buddy, would it be easier for you to tell me what machine DOES work?

"Only the Fuji machines work right now."

Is that because you don't want to take the time to add more paper? Okay, now to find a Fuji machine.

All full. Of course they are. Okay, I'll wait.

Three hours fifteen minutes later, a machine opened up, so I started to upload 300+ pictures. Once I found the ones I wanted, I tried to order the specific size I needed. When I didn't see the mini prints, I hit another button for more sizes. BIG MISTAKE! The 300+ pictures were not gone from the screen, and I did not have to start over.

So starting over once again, this time the computer did not freeze at picture #26. For four minutes! Yeah, this isn't going so well.

Back to the counter to speak to Mr. Not-So-Helpful, I mentioned that the computer was frozen. He did not walk over, hit a button, speak not a word to me, and head back to whatever it was that was consuming his time.

Another four minutes pass... computer still is not on.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

In the meantime, another computer opened up, so I moved to that machine, loaded pictures (all 300+ of them), and looked for the mini print option. When I couldn't find it, I decided once again to solicit the services of Mr. Not-So-Helpful. "Excuse me, how do you do the mini prints on this computer? You know, the ones that print 4 small prints on a standard 4 x 6 print?"

This was not his reply: "The Fuji machines don't have that option. The only machines that print the mini prints are the Kodak machines."

At this point, I was not trying to hold in a very rude comment. So I politely said, "Like Kodak as in the 4 machines that aren't working now?"

"Yes, that's right. Or you could do a collage print and print out an 8 x 10 size or larger."

Not really what I wanted, thank you. That's why I asked about "mini prints."

As I left the photo department completely defeated, I glanced at my watch. I did not waste 45 minutes and have absolutely nothing to show for it! My next step? I did not head to Target to print out my pictures... and I was not successful. Thank you, Target.



Do you have some moments you'd rather not claim? Try a not me post and see how therapeutic it can be!

Not Me Monday--Postponed until Tuesday

To all my faithful blog readers--yes, all 4 of you--I will be postponing my Not Me post until Tuesday. I actually have a really good annoying story for you, but it's going to take too long to write tonight.... so you'll just have to be patient and wait till tomorrow!

Sweet dreams!

Not Me Monday

When I saw that MckMama was skipping her Not Me Monday post, I was not tempted to do the same. However, since you are reading this, you will know that I was not successful in convincing Myself that I would ignore my blog today. Myself had a thousand things on the "To Do" list, and even though I told Myself to scratch the Not Me post, Myself won the argument. (Are you as confused as I am yet?)

Okay, enough of that rabbit trail.

I did not realize that it has been almost two weeks since I've paid any attention to my blog. TWO WEEKS! So for the many two people out there who actually read my blog, I hope you're glad to know I'm still alive.

Today I was practicing songs for my students to sing in our annual Christmas program--which is not coming too quickly, I might add--and I did not call my sister Erin, who happens to be very gifted musically, to beg for her assistance with some chords. I did not decide it would be easier/quicker to call her rather than try to figure them out myself. Thanks, Erin!

After playing the piano for 2 hours, my neck and shoulders were not entirely numb and throbbing.

I have never ever ever worked at school/church past 7:30 p.m., so you can rest assured that it was not me who left the building at 9:30 p.m. recently. Nope! Not me!

Have you ever had a "Better you than me" situation? Here is something that I would refuse to own up to... therefore you know it did not happen to me. Let's just say it happened to my friend H. Oh, she would be so embarassed if she knew I told this story, but she's not here, so don't rat me out, okay? While H was in the drive-thru recently, she did not reach for her drink with a gloved hand. Hmmmm... plastic cup + gloved hand = a bad combination. While the unsuspecting drive-thru worker was transferring the up, it did not slip from H's hand, to the point that it was completely upside-down. Thankfully, the girl had no let go yet and she was able to right the cup to the correct position and hand it to H, while the cover was completely drenched in root beer. What do you think was the next thing handed through the window? Not a pile of napkins. H gingerly wiped up the messy lid, gathered up the soggy napkins and her pride, and pulled away from the window, grateful she was in the semi-privacy of her vehicle and not inside the restaurant! Once again, this is our secret, right?

As if it wouldn't be bad enough to stretch out these events throughout a week, I have not just described my Monday. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these things did not all happen TODAY!

Stop by MckMama's blog to read some more great stories, and maybe you'll be inspired to join the fun next week!

Not Me Monday

MckMama is back for Not Me Monday, so be sure to check out her blog for more Not Me fun!


Hmmmm..... what to write about. Let's see if I can find any blogworthy news that happened did not happen to me this week.

I did not thoroughly enjoy my 3-day week last week at preschool. Let's see... Monday was a day off. End of the quarter or something like that. Let's be honest here. It was not a hunting day here in Minnesota. Tuesday, three-year-olds. Wednesday, four-year-olds, Thursday, three-year-olds. Friday... I did not take the day off to spend the weekend at my sister Becky's house. On Friday night, Becky and Chris renewed their vows. We were planning to take pictures outside, but it was not raining most of the day, so we ended up doing all the pictures in the church. It was a beautiful evening with family and friends as Becky and Chris committed their marriage and children to God. Here are a few pictures from the event.









The rest of the weekend at my sister's house was not spent in watching movies, enjoying slumber parties with the girls, playing Farmville with Callie, plenty of tickles with Natalie, trying to keep up with Micah, and losing a game of Clue to my 7-year-old niece, Ashleigh. It was not a great weekend!

Back to reality and preschool. Since we're on letter "I" this week in preschool, I did not contemplate how easy it would be to simply make ice cubes for the students to play with. You see, I usually try to plan activities that reinforce the letter we're learning for the week. So, how easy would it have been to simply make ice cubes? Maybe add a little food coloring for something more exciting? Well, I did not opt to go all out and make something more exotic. Can you guess what it is? (Mom, you can't answer!)






After several incidents with Internet Explorer crashing, stalling, not responding, and generally annoying me to no end, I did not finally give in and download Mozilla Firefox on my laptop. I've used it before, and I must admit that I hated it. But, the hopes of writing a blog post without receiving an error message that IE has unexpectedly closed... well, it is not wonderful! And I am not a converted Forefox supporter!

I did not write this entire post with zero error messages! And the pictures did not upload very quickly! I love it!

Not Me Monday

On Friday night, I did not have 7 girls come over for a movie night. Knowing my past track record, I did not resist the urge to make manicotti. I did not make something else that was almost as delicious! Here it is: Garden Ranch Pizza

Want a closer look???

Friends, fun, fellowship, food... it was a great evening (well, evening into the morning), and once everyone had left, I did not fall asleep in the chair for several hours. When I finally became conscious, I did not look at the clock and see the numbers 4, 3, 0... I'll let you decide if this was the order I read them off the clock. And Saturday? I did not get up at 12:00 p.m.

Daylight Savings Time... how exciting to be given, free of charge, an extra hour of sleep. Okay, I know we have an hour stolen from us in the spring... but for now, it seems free! What did I do with my extra hour of sleep? I completely enjoyed it and took advantage of it. I definitely did not stay up an hour LATER than I should have. So my "free" hour of sleep ended up being NOTHING!

I'm always trying to come up with something interesting for my preschoolers to play with. Today was no exception. I did not find an ooey, gooey, sticky mess for their enjoyment today. I did not dump an entire box of corn starch into the water table, add water, and let the kids mix up the delightful concoction. How messy was it? you might ask. I did not have to stick a girl's pigtails under the faucet to wash out the starchy substance!

MckMama didn't post a Not Me Monday today, but you can check her blog for an update on her son Stellan. Keep praying!

Not Me Monday

Oh, don't you just love Mondays? No, I'm not suffering from an illness... Who wouldn't love Mondays because it's time for Not Me Monday! Check out MckMama's blog to read more.

A while back, I wrote this post about an upcoming contest. Well, Saturday was not the big day. My Etsy shop was not featured on MckMama's blog. Since I've been waiting for this for a long time, it certainly was not me who didn't even read her post until my sister told me about it. I was not on my way to bed, and I did not stay up for another hour and a half to read the comments. In the few hours after posting, there were not 331 comments, and as of today, the grand total was not 1034! I did not read EVERY SINGLE COMMENT. I am not super excited about the possibilities that could come from this type of promotion. Thanks, MckMama!

After reading this post, one would think I've learned my lesson when it somes to cooking a certain Italian dish. That is why there is absolutely, definitely, not-in-this-lifetime even a slight change that I would have given into the temptation to purchase a package of that delightful tube-shaped pasta today. I will absolutely, definitely, bet-your-bottom-dollar, NEVER EVER make m@#$*&%^! again. And if I do happen to make it anytime this week, you can be sure I'm not going to let anyone know when I'm making it. (And by the way, if any of you happen to feel the slightest bit under the weather this week, please do my self-esteem some good and don't tell me!

Well, since it's nearly Tuesday, I better get this posted, so I guess that's all for this week. Happy Monday!

Not Me Monday

It's that wonderful day again... Monday! No, it doesn't just mean the end of the weekend, the start of another loooonnnnngggg workweek. It means it's time for "Not Me Monday!" If you're as excited as I am, check out MckMama's blog to read more.

It's been a pretty boring week for me, but I do have a couple things that were funny absolutely did not happen to me this week.

I'm getting busy with making purses now (check out my Etsy shop here), so I decided to get some more fleece before I run out. When I stepped up to the cutting counter at my local Wal-Mart store, the clerk did not say to me, "Are you still making purses?" Really, am I here that often that you know that? Oh, that is just sad!

The following day, after my Wal-Mart excursion, I received my shipment of fabric from my sister in KC... for the 6 purses that I am making. Knowing that I would need to buy the matching fabric before I cut them out, I headed to Wal-Mart again before going to "craft night" at church. Oh good, it's another lady this time. Since I only had 1 bolt of fabric, not 400, I felt my confidence rise as I waited to have the fabric cut. My hopes were soon dashed. Enter lady 2: "Are you making more purses?" Um.... no, I'm NOT making purses. As you can guess, I am not well-known at my Wal-Mart fabric department.

As I mentioned earlier, every month we have craft night at church for people to come work on scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, etc. Some ladies come just for fellowship--and snacks! My project for the night: cut out purses! For the first hour or so, there was only one other lady there, and she was concentrating very hard on sewing together a quilt, so I was in my own little world cutting out purses. My friend Sue arrived with a friend of hers and we were getting acquainted. (We figured out that she attended the same school I did, but after I graduated. She was actually a friend of my younger sister.) Anyway, in the course of the conversation, Anna asked where I work. My reply: I teach preschool at this church.

I was in the process of making another comment as she asked another question, and the timing was not the greatest. Her question: "Are you married?" My reply (which was meant for a comment on my previous statement about where I work): It's what I went to school for.

After realizing that she had asked another question as I was talking, it kinda came out like this...
"Are you married?"
"It's what I went to school for."
Oh my! We did not laugh about that one for a few minutes!


During my extremely concentrated, thoroughly focused time of cutting out fabric, there is absolutely no way that I mis-measured as I was cutting. Nope, I always follow that old saying Measure twice, cut once. Since that for sure did not happen, there is no way I could have done it twice, let along three times! Well, I did measure twice... It just wasn't on the same piece. You know what they say... Third Fourth time's the charm!

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

Wow, where did the week go? It's already time for Now Me Monday again?

This past week, being the first week back to school, I did not receive my full-time preschool initiation by having not one, but TWO, kids have potty accidents in the same day. On this same day, I did not also have a student with a bloody nose. Now if this nasal mishap had been the result of an injury, I would have to seriously consider what I was doing in the preschool classroom, but I assure you it was NOT (for real, people) injury-induced.

During class today, I did not hear a student say, "Miss Heather, K is stepping on something sticky." Upon taking a closer look, I did not see something that resembled dried apricot, yet a slimier, stickier, incredibly messier substance. What did I do? Cleaned it up right away, of course! What I did not do was fold the floor mat in half to cover the ooey, gooey mess while deciding to clean it up later. I did not consider the ramifications of this action. The ooey, gooey sticky mess was now on both sides of the mat, resulting in having twice the mess to clean up.

I had to go to the Post Office today to mail... um... something. *Details to follow soon.* Anyway, I was ready to seal the package and realized I was going to enclose a note. Hmmm... what can I write one. Any paper around here? After fumbling around for a minute, the only thing I could find was the art sample from class today. I did not tear off the part that didn't have writing and proceed to write my note. Who does that? Write a letter/note on a piece of paper you ripped (quite jaggedly, I might add) off a craft sample from your preschool class? Oh well, I hope she doesn't mind.

Well, that's a glimpse of what I did not do this week. Hopefully it won't be another week until I visit with you again, but we'll see. Life is getting busy with everything starting for fall schedule. While you wait on the edge of your seats for another appearance from me Instead of holding your breath for another post from me anytime soon, head over to MckMama's blog to see what others have not done.

Not Me! Monday

This is not going to be the shortest Not Me post in the history of such things.

I am not practicing the true meaning of the day... Labor Day. Nope, I'm not at school and I'm not wishing I was outside (well, to be honest, anywhere but here) to enjoy this last day of "freedom" before my crazy life otherwise known as "school" begins.

I did not stop and buy a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way here, knowing that I'd need something for lunch and dinner because that's probably how long I'll be here. Goodness, I'll probably need a midnight snack as well.

As much as I hate to admit that summer is over, I am not completely excited about my new adventure teaching preschool full time!

I am not avoiding working right now by writing a Not Me! post. Oh, I guess all good things must come to an end.

And there you have it... the shortest Not Me! post ever!

Check out MckMama's blog for other Not Me posts every most Mondays.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Not Me! Monday

It's time once again for Not Me! Monday. Well, let's see how fast I can crank this one out!

On Tuesday, my sister Becky came with her 4 kids. We went to town and I did not decide to get my hair chopped, even though I'd just gotten 4 inches taken off a month ago. Nope, I'm totally brave enough to get 8-9 inches cut off at one time, and I would never waste money to cut my hair twice in a month.

While doing the garage sale thing this week, I absolutely did not buy more children's books. Especially since I have 2 completely jammed shelves in my preschool room and countless more in totes at home, there is for sure, without a doubt, definitely not a chance in this world that I would buy more!

Since it was so hot this week, although not Kansas City hot, my sister and I took the kids to the beach one afternoon. Knowing the icky feeling my hair has after swimming, I surely went straight home and took a shower and washed my hair. Right? Yeah, that's definitely what I did. What I didn't do is wait until 2 days later to wash it. Because that would be gross. And I wouldn't want to be gross, would I?

On Thursday, I did not make a spontaneous decision to buy a new fish at the pet store. Flippy, the fish in my preschool room, has been lonely since his buddy Rainbow died before the end of the school year. So, I was not feeling sorry for him and finally gave in to get him a companion. Now here's hoping he doesn't get ick.... but that's another story.

This week I did not have a crazy idea and email MckMama about it. Knowing how busy she is, I was not completely shocked when she emailed me back 2 days later! What was it??? Oh, you'll just have to wait for the timing to be right for her. She's kinda busy right now!

Since today is the first day I can sew uninterrupted since a month ago, I am not sitting at the computer catching up on blogs, seeing what's happening with all my online friends, reading/writing emails and blog posts... Nope, I'm being totally frugal with my time and making every minute count!

Well, if you're wasting time goal-oriented like I am, check out MckMama's blog. There are a bunch of people there who are not time-conscientious. Happy Monday everyone! How long do you think it took me to write this post?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday. This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I've been on vacation in Kansas City, and shopping was most definitely not one of our pass times. Our destinations? Absolutely not fabric stores. With several totes of fabric at home, there is no way that I would need any more. I don't know... somehow it just jumped in my cart and begged to be brought home!

Speaking of Kansas City... any idea how stinkin' how it is there? We saw temps this past week in the high 90s. Added with the humidity, the heat index was over 100. Well, what do two highly-sophisticated, not at all redneck sisters do on such a hot day? Erin and I definitely did not join Samantha in her kiddie pool in the backyard. And we did not get completely drenched in the process. Hey, what are buckets for, anyway? They were just sitting there begging to be filled with water and dumped over sisters' heads!

Sunday was my big driving day. I did not pray for clouds, because it's much easier to drive without the 100-degree sun beating down on you. It's always a challenge to keep myself entertained in the car, especially when driving alone. In reading the road signs, for a split-second I did not have a sickening feeling in my stomach. It's was more than the fact that I don't like Chinese food. Normally this wouldn't have grossed me out. The title of the restaurant? Hunan Chinese Restaurant. Driving past at 70 mph, I for sure did not misread this as Human Chinese Restaurant. Oh, I'm so thankful that double-take reassured me my eyes were playing tricks on me!

Driving through Iowa, I was impressed with the clouds (that I prayed for!). Not wanting to stop every five minutes, you would not have caught me snapping pictures as I was driving.

I did stop for this shot!

After being in KC for two weeks, I did not become accustomed to the heat... therefore, feeling the 60 degree temp when I arrived home in Minnesota, I definitely did not shiver when I got out of the car!

I almost hate to admit this, but today as I was driving through town, I most certainly did not see a red maple tree. I tried to look the other way and ignore that it was there, but I was already sucked in. My eyes were drawn to the brilliant color and before I knew it, I was seeing red leaves! Fall colors??? You have got to be kidding me! It's NOT time yet! I'm not ready. Yikes, so much to do!

So there you have it, a brief synopsis of what I did not do this week. Join the fun next week!

Not Me Monday

Once again, a week has slipped by and I haven't blogged. At least it means I'm out doing things that will give me plenty of "writable moments" for Not Me Monday! Go to MckMama's blog to see what other people have not done this week!

One day this week, I was craving macaroni and cheese, so I decided to make some. After I drained the noodles, I went to the fridge to get the milk. I did not see an empty shelf where the milk was supposed to be. Hmmmmm.... now what do I do? After weighing the options for a couple minutes, I did not get out the can of whipped cream. Hey, it's a dairy product, right? The basic ingredient is from a cow, like milk is. But when I saw that the can read "sweetened," I decided that wasn't the best option. So, I opted for choice #2. I did not take the recently-drained noodles and put water in the pan to mix with the cheese. I guess it worked fine, although it didn't taste quite right. Oh well. I learned a lesson. Check the fridge before you cook the noodles.

Because I literally have fabric coming out of my ears, when I was tempted to go to Blackduck this week, there is no way that I gave in to that temptation. No, I have way more self control than that. Upon my arrival--you know, if I had gone--I got out of the car and slammed the door and was surprised to see the back hatch of my car bounce. That's weird, I thought. So I went to the back and attempted to lift the hatch, and of course, it opened easily. I did not have a sudden revelation that the last time I had opened it was 2 weeks ago while hitting some garage sales. So, I did not drive around with my back hatch opened for 2 weeks.

On my return trip from Blackduck (wait, I didn't go there, did I?), I did not have to swerve to avoid hitting two small baby raccoons, in the middle of the day. From what I could see at 55 mph, they were really adorable. And of course, I did not leave my camera (Mylo) at home that day! Ahhh, when will I learn?

My garage sale find for this week was a pile of Mailbox Magazines, a preschool idea magazine. I was so excited to find them, and for a great price. After closer reading, I saw that there are additional ideas and patterns available online. Since I don't subscribe to the magazine, these aren't available to me. Hmmmm... the lady didn't remove her address labels. I did not compose and mail a letter to the lady, asking her if it would be okay for me to login with her information from the mailing label. I did not receive a phone call from her the very next day. Her answer? Absolutely, go ahead and use my information and I hope your year of teaching goes great. I was so super excited and can't wait to use some of the ideas I found!

Well, that about wraps up this edition of Not Me Monday. Since I'll be gone camping for the week with my family, I'm sure I'll have much more to write about next Monday. Have a great week everyone!