My 2009 ~Facebook style

dawn4, originally uploaded by dmt2teach.

Here are just a few of my Facebook statuses from this year...yeah, I update the world TOO often to post them all!
Thanks mox for the idea!

keeping it clean

I walked into Spencer's bathroom. A wonderful smell of refreshing clean soap hits my nostrils. "What kind of soap is that? It smells SOOO good!" Before he could answer I said, "Oh...Dial..."

Let me explain...

As a kid, did you ever get into trouble for saying bad words? and get your mouth washed out for it?

Yeah...me too.

Except, I wasn't saying the real naughty words - cuss words - No...my mother didn't allow me to get that far. My mom washed our mouths out for words that could mean other things like: gosh (God), jeez (Jesus), or butt (ass).

By the time I was 12 or so, I can't tell you how many times I had had my mouth washed with Dial soap. Yep...so much that I had kinda acquired a taste for it. (I know...weird, right?)
And that is when I screwed up the good thing I had going...after saying another "bad" word, I made the mistake of saying to my mom, "Go ahead, wash my mouth out! I actually like the taste of Dial soap."

My mother promptly threw down the bar of Dial soap and picked up the liquid dish soap. "Stick out your tongue!" Giving my mother attitude, I stuck out my tongue...How bad could it be?

A shiver runs up my spine still to this day. Liquid soap does not come off your tongue no matter how much liquid you gulp down and sputter out!!

So for all of my friends out there that make fun of me when something goes wrong and I shout out: "By howdy!" or "Oh golly!" or "For Pete's sake!" or "Oh my goodness!" there is an honest reason for it.

...and I promise not to cuss just to see if you keep Dial soap in your bathroom. lol.

it did not go as planned

Christmas was kind of a letdown for me today.

You know when you have a preconceived idea of how something should go...and then it doesn't happen like that, but the imagined was just SO much better... it is hard to get past that.

That was today for me.

I stayed up till 2 am last night assembling new beds for my boys.
(Actually, I should clarify...
it took me 4 hours to:
assemble their new beds,
take apart their old beds,
and rearrange everything in their rooms so that everything looked like it fit.

My only downfall was that I didn't start until 9:45pm. I was told it would take 2 hours to assemble them...I guess I should have accounted for the other things, but I did not.)

So, in my head, my boys would be bouncing up and down excited about their new beds this morning. (They have been asking for them for a while because they both were sleeping in toddler beds.)
Instead, they were like, "cool. ... MOM! It snowed last night!!!!!"
Yeah...trumped by snow.
I should have known I would have to compete with the snow.

Secondly, Spencer and his kids were supposed to come spend Christmas with us.
This didn't happen either.
Again, the day that played out in my head was so much better than us wishing each other "Merry Christmas" over the phone.

Thirdly, my boys spent from noon until 6 with their dad. I understand about him wanting some Christmas time with them as well, but he originally said he just wanted them a couple of hours. There is a big difference between 2 and 6 hours.

My only saving grace for today is that my brother, Tim, and his girlfriend, Xuan, showed up right when my boys were leaving. I didn't know they were coming today...I thought they were coming tomorrow. So, instead of me sitting in the house depressed and alone on Christmas, I was taken out to lunch and learned all about this wonderful girl my brother has found.

I guess you can't plan things like that, huh?

the True Meaning of Christmas

We all know the true meaning of Christmas, but have you ever thought of what Mary, the mother of Jesus, went through when it came to His birth and His death?

My friend, ck, over @ BAD MOMMY MOMENTS, has captured it perfectly in her journey stories.

Please enjoy these stories as you thank the Lord for all that he has provided for you in this season of His son's birth.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Post It Note Tuesday: in the spirit of things

To create your own fun post-its, go here

It's the Sh**

I was gone from school on Wednesday.
I got a call right after school let out - it was my friend/co-worker, Laura.
L - "You are NOT going to believe what happened today!"
"What?" I asked.

(Seriously... crazy stuff seems to happen anytime I am away from school. Last year, a little girl almost got kidnapped on the day I was gone...but that's another story.)

L - "A kid ate poop today off the toilet seat."

yelch. gag. *attempting to not puke as my gag reflex goes into effect.* ~yeah. ok. I just threw up a little in my mouth. pretty much happens any time I hear and/or repeat the story...

me - "What??!!"
L - "Yeah...and that's not even the worst of it! It wasn't even his own poop!"

It's sad when we try to justify a disgusting action as eating feces by following it up with "it wasn't even his own." Like somehow him eating his own would have made it all better??

Have I mentioned that it needs to be Christmas break and soon?!

As seen on TV

It is a good thing my 6 year old is NOT in charge of the household finances because we would be broke!

This has nothing to do with needing to teach my child the value of a dollar...no he hears it come out of my mouth plenty, "No, we can't afford that." or "Sorry, Mom's pinching pennies right now."

This has to do with the incessant amount of infomercials on between cartoons!

I mean, my son is completely convinced that he, himself, can NO longer dispense his own toothpaste, that he must have a gadget attached to our bathroom wall to do it for him.
Kids might love it... but this mom has told her children that she already has toothpaste all over her bathroom counter and inside the sink, that she will pass on it being on the bathroom walls as well.

Also, my son believes I need the 'Perfect Brownie Bake Pan' because, "Mom, it cuts them perfect every time." Yeah...'cause brownies will never get eaten in this house if they aren't perfectly cut. (Wiping evidence of a crookedly cut ~with a fork *gasp*~ brownie from the corners of my mouth)

If my son was allowed to purchase all of these things we just have to have I would be one buff Momma never having to do another sit up, while sitting wrapped in my Snuggie eating the perfect brownie while growing tomatoes upside down....ahh...the joy insanity!

Last night... it was for some website where children can log-on to play with a virtual animal in a virtual world. Repeatedly he kept saying to me, "But Mom, a HUNDRED people are already on !"

Let's not make it a hundred and one...

The author does not endorse nor promote any of the above mentioned and/or pictured items. Nor does she want to hear from her son about how much she needs any of these items because they would make her life so much easier. I'm just saying...

A night to remember??

Last night I hosted our school's staff Christmas party.
I planned for everything.
I made sure there was plenty of room for all the food that everyone was bringing.
I made sure I gathered all the dust bunnies and sent them packing.
I thought I had dusted every nook and cranny. (I found a spot this morning that I missed~Uggh!~I'm sure others saw it as well.~double Uggh!)
(Yesterday at school everyone gave me a hard time about how they were expecting to see a clean house. ~Ha Ha. I laughed with them. Why wouldn't my house be clean?~Maybe they have seen my desk...)

The time came for everyone to start arriving. My friend Laura and her husband had arrived a little early to help out. I immediately put Laura to work making the brownies she hadn't made yet...(yeah...we had some sort of deal worked out there.)

As other people started to arrive, I repeatedly had to clarify that "No. This isn't my boyfriend and/or husband. This is Laura's husband, Bill. You have all met him before." (Thanks Bill for having a good sense of humor about all that.)

Then suddenly, my house went black.
I can't even remember what I was doing at the time. I think I might have been finding tongs to serve meat with. All I know is I was completely embarrassed. (Thankfully the blackness of night was a good cover for the red blushing across my face.) "Oh this is a quick fix. Sorry everyone. "

Yet, it wasn't. I unflipped and reflipped every breaker.
Nothing.
I called the electric company.
Can I tell you how much I hate automated systems?
There are times when you need to go hysterical on someone and have a human response.
This was one of those times.

I still had guests arriving.
Some of them actually went into my neighbor's house because "There wouldn't be a party in the dark house."

Thankfully, I had an over abundance of candles.
(I know as a female, I am supposed to loooove candles. But I don't really...but my ex-husband did. I actually haven't burned a candle since he moved out. )
So, Laura went to work lighting and placing all the candles throughout my house.

Everyone seemed to take the outage in stride. People ate and joked. I heard many times, "If you didn't want to dust...."
Ha. Ha. Funny. Funny.
I, being calm and cool on the outside, was freaking out on the inside.

Finally the electric company called me back.
Electrical Man (EC) - "Ma'am, you have power going to your house."
Me: "No, I don't...I am sitting in the dark."
EC: "Did you try flipping off and on the breakers?"
Me: "yep"
EC: "Even the main breaker?"
Me: "I don't have a main breaker."
EC: "Every house has a main breaker."
He directed me outside my house to the main breaker.
Tadah! Lights! Electricity. YEAH!

That should have ended the excitement chagrin for the night, right?
WRONG.
I couldn't seem to get back into the party spirit.

I tried to quickly make and finish the brownies and dip that were headed to the oven when the power went out. I got cornered by a co-worker who decided to unload on me about her marital problems. Everyone else sat in my living room and laughed and joked.

I joined them (finally) when the contest began.~We had an Ugly Christmas shirt/sweater contest.
I thought for sure I would win...or at least come in second.
I didn't get one vote, not even a pity vote.
And to make it even worse, I had a fellow teacher ask to have my shirt (if I was going to throw it away)because she actually liked it. (That's way worse than not getting any votes!!!)

I'm telling you - it really was ugly!

~I, mean, check out the picture!~

We had a white elephant gift exchange that produced a bowling ball, edible body gel, amongst other "unwanted" items.

I ended up with a candle....have I mentioned that I'm not all that fond of candles...and yet have an overabundance of them??? Guess I'll add it to my collection for the next blackout.

Overall, everyone said how much fun they had and thanked me for hosting it at my house...so why do I feel like this is a night that I don't want to remember?

Sign of the Times

Spencer and I headed to the mall today.
I was finally feeling the holiday shopping spirit.
I walked into Charlotte Rouse and immediately saw a coat that I just knew I had to have (You know Santa needs to have presents for me too!). The ticket read $38.95.
The sign on the rack read $24.95.
Needless to say I was tickled pink!
After I tried on several, I picked one and headed to the register.
The cashier scanned it in. It came up as $38.95.
"Oh." I said. "isn't that one on sale?"
The young cashier politely said, "Yes, it just won't show that way until I hit enter."

She hit enter.
Nothing.

She looked over to the rounder where I had gotten the jacket. "It does say $24.95, doesn't it?"
So she calls on her little headset to the manager. The manager obviously tells her it says '$24.95 and up' because she replies, "I see the $24.95, but I don't see the 'and up'."

The manager storms out of the back room, yanks the sign off the top of the rack, flips it over, and shoves it in my face. Pointing the the 'and up' that (I kid you not) was in a font of about 18pt.

I politely say, "Well that is very misleading considering the 'and up' was not on the side of the rack that this jacket was on. It just said $24.95."
The manager looks at me and says, "It's priced as marked!"
"Then I don't want it." I said, walking away.

Did I mention how much I loved that jacket when I walked in? Customer service is a huge deal~Had the manager been polite about the whole sign ordeal, I probably would have still bought it, but I refuse to be treated rudely.

The Flashing Lights

She sat in a mesmerized stare alone in her dark living room with nothing but the calming effect of the flashing lights of the Christmas tree to amuse her. There was a peace about her that she couldn't explain. A peace that she knew, as soon as she moved from this place, would leave her. She would be force to rejoin the chaotic endeavours that lay before her. Forced to know all the answers and say all the right things.

She wished she could stay in this place forever
....just her and the flashing lights.

caught off guard

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love.” ~Washington Irving

My mother was killed in a car accident 12 years ago. With each passing year, I tend to push the fact farther and farther to the back of my mind.
In earlier years, many things would catch me off guard and send tears streaming down my face.
In more recent times, I have learned to just quietly lower my head and let the tears fall, and when I had regained myself again, I would raise my head back up.

Yesterday, at our staff meeting, my principal was making announcements. She announced that another teacher's mother had been killed in a car wreck over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The news hit me like a ton of bricks! I knew that there was NO way I was going to be able to quietly lower my head and allow tears to drop from my eyes. As I got up to leave the room, the overwhelming feeling of grief swept over me. I was hyperventilating and sobbing before I reached my classroom. The loss of my mother was a turning point in my life and to know that someone else was now experiencing what I had to experience was too much for me.

After I regained myself, I returned to the meeting. Thankfully... crying is NOT an unheard of thing at our staff meetings, so no one questioned my sudden outburst. Sometimes working with a lot of women has its advantages.

We are NOT one in the same!

...nor will we ever be.

I don't have to agree with everything you say or do...and that goes for you as well. You don't have to like how I handle every situation. You don't have to think that I do it right.

Just don't make me feel like I do it wrong! I am an adult and I should NOT feel like a beaten red-headed step-child anytime my individual opinion differs from yours.

We are two different people, you and I...and that is a good thing. Life would be boring as hell if we were exact duplicates of one another.

This doesn't mean that I don't love and care for you...
it means that, sometimes, when you think you are right...so do I.

...and other times... I don't.

Not normal

I should have my tree up.
I normally do by this time of year.
I should have my shopping almost complete.
I normally do by this time of year.
I should be in the holiday spirit.
I normally am by this time of year.

It doesn't feel like the holidays to me yet.
I miss having my boys here at home every night.
I want to wait to put up the tree when they are here...but I don't feel like I have had any "down time" with them to do that.
I don't even know what they want this year. (That is except for those Zhu Zhu hamsters that you can't find anywhere!)

I'm feeling like a complete Scrooge.

I know this is stemming from the fact that I know this Christmas isn't going to be normal...and I don't know what to do about that yet.