Lessons.

I'm busy. Too much. When is December here when these two classes are done?

Being too busy sucks.

Fortunately, it hasn't stopped me from planning wonderful lessons for my students which have included:

-How to pick your nose with a kleenex so that you don't have to dig it out with your dirty, dirty finger.

-How to clean off your shoes without licking them. Literally. Tongue to rubber. Which I caught two different students doing.

-That it is rude to tell another child's parent "You have a big nose!" and laugh. And say it three times in a row. Even though your teacher was hoping that the first time they didn't hear. Just KEEP on saying it. Cool.

-That hitting another kid in the back with a stick will actually get you suspended as it turns out.

-That saying "I can't hold my caca in anymore" is not an appropriate nor socially acceptable way to ask to use the restroom.

I've been very busy teaching.

I bought a little, tiny hamster this weekend at the grocery store to make myself feel better. It's our class pet. The kids come up and whisper "Good morning" to it when they get to school. I'm taming it. It's only jumped out of my hands and fallen on the floor twice. At home- the kids didn't see. I have D's sister (for those of you who know D) this year and she named it Sophie. The other options were Gracie, Cleany ("Because she cleans herself a lot"), and Eater. We voted. Sophie won. I would have been okay with Cleany though. It would have made Catboy feel less like a weirdo with his name.

I have been having lots of girly, crying fits lately.

I am doing a bit too much. Such is the story of my life.

1) School started back up. I like my class a lot. It is going well. That is good. Here are stories related to that:

-Best Adam Sandler related quote:
me: "Honey, are dogs really purple?"
I: "I just wanted to see a purple dog. So I drew one."

-Best comment referring to my having only taught in inner city schools:
T: "You talk like a thug Ms. Hinshaw."

-Best response from one student to another after sharing about getting bullied at lunch:
P: "You like masks? I have a Batman one. I'll bring my Batman mask for you tomorrow and you can wear that. It has ears like this. (demonstrating where the ears go up)"

2) I have grad class. That sucks. I have two- both 5:30-8:30, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Here's why they suck:

-It is a crap-ton of work. Last night I turned in the first paper and realized that I did it wrong. My prof let me redo it. This meant turning a 4 page paper into an 11 page paper after class at 9pm to be emailed to her by the next morning. That sucked.

-I have to pay $3.75 per night to park at the meters because it still costs less than a parking ticket. I got a parking ticket for $10 tonight anyway because I forgot to feed the meter for the last 30 minutes before they stopped ticketing. That sucked.

-I am in it with a bunch of teachers. Teachers in groups are obnoxious. I had to go get books at a break on the first day (which sucked because it cost me $300) and the following comments were made by teachers in my class in the bookstore:
"Oooooh! It smells like BOOKS in here!"
"HA! I get to max out my husband's credit card! Awesome!"
Tools.

3. I have no time to myself. That mostly just sucks for obvious reasons. Today I tried to take a 15 minute nap and left the front door open so I could get a breeze and because I'm a little bit of a cat lady and I know Catboy likes to look out the screen door. Stupid door to door college kid comes by 10 minutes into my nap and wakes me up by appearing in my front door. Conversation:
kid: "Hi! How are you? Can I just take a minute?"

me, still laying on the couch: "I'm taking a nap. This better take, like, 2 seconds. You're cutting into my nap."

kid: "I'll be quick! Do you like pizza?"

me: "No." (You're totally allowed to lie to door to door salesmen. They always make me nervous, like they're going to figure out that I live here alone. One guy asked me that if I didn't want any magazines, maybe my husband would? I told him that he doesn't read magazines either.)

kid, awkwardly: "Oh... you don't like pizza."

me: "Not really."

kid: "Okay...Would you be interested in a gas card?"

me: "No."

kid: "Okay... Have a good nap!"

me: "Have a good kick in your FACE!"

Except I didn't really say that. But I wanted to.

So things are pretty good right now, but some things suck and I'm a little bitter about it. I'll try to get over it so all of my entries aren't hardened and crude. I'll try really hard ok?