Password Paranoia

Over the last few months I have noticed that my phone bill just seems to continue going up, up, and up. Of course I'm the one to blame as I forget about how many texts I'm allowed, etc. Those overage charges really add up. Soooo, I'm attempting to do a little better about keeping up to date on my phone usage, to save a little moo-lah. Just doing my duty of trying to keep track of how many texts I have left and how many minutes I can spare to my friends..................and special someone, wink-wink.

Anywho, this evening I was sitting at the computer and figured I should probably log online and check out my current standing. I pull up the web page for my phone company, type in my number and then type in my password. The next thing I know, red words pop up saying the information is invalid and I need to try again. Well, I knew my password had to be one of two options so I tried again. In goes the number, in goes the password. DENIED. I try it again, and again, and again, and still nothing is working. At this point I'm thinking---what in the world?! For the life of me I couldn't figure out why my password was NOT working, I made sure num lock was on and caps lock was off, and I still couldn't get it. I could feel an exasperated spaz attack coming on and I was just about to get my sister on the phone and ask her to confirm my password, as she knows them all, when I looked down at the keyboard and noticed that my fingers were positioned on the correct row---EXCEPT for the fact that my fingers were one letter off to the right. Just a minor detail, right?! No wonder my password wouldn't work.

Only me.

A Pet To Call My Own

I have lost all three of my beloved pets in the last three years. They all got old together and to put it plainly---I miss them. I miss having that furry ball of lovable goodness to cuddle with, but with student teaching beginning it's just not the right time for me to get a new dog or cat.

Well, as I've been working in a classroom this past week, I've enjoyed catching glimpses of our class pets. Two little gerbils named Chip and Dale. You can't help but smile at their little antics as you see them throughout the day scritching around in their chewed toilet paper rolls and burrowing down in their wood chips. After the children went home this afternoon, I decided to get a closer look at the two little rodents that have captured the attention and hearts of all the students. As I leaned over the cage and watched Chip and Dale sleeping peacefully, for a moment I thought---wow, maybe I should get a little gerbil of my own. I was pondering that thought as I leaned in for a closer look and then it HIT me, like walking into a cloud. It was the unmistakable smell of soiled wood chips. All thoughts of ever having a rodent as a pet went flying out the window. There's no way.

A fleeting moment indeed.

Ants aren't quite in the pants.....

We were in the classroom today with our 4th graders, and we'd just come in from recess about 15-20 minutes earlier, when all of a sudden I felt something crawling around on my chest. (Inside the shirt!) I immediately got that look on my face where I try not to freak out and attempt to handle the situation calmly. I carefully pulled my shirt away from my skin and glanced down to see what I could find. There squirming around underneath my clothes was some kind of QUEEN ANT! Time for a freak out! As I was standing in the middle of the classroom I quickly popped my head up to see if anyone had noticed. Obviously I couldn't shake out my shirt with all those little eyes there, so I tried to do the next best thing. I casually brought my arm up across my chest and tried to crush the bug underneath my shirt. After a few forceful crushes and rolls of the arm I thought maybe that would be it. Not quite! I still felt movement and after taking another peek I knew I needed to get this thing out NOW. The attempt to crush the little critter seemed to only make it more agitated, and I wasn't comfortable with it squirming around down there, as I did not want to get bit. So, I quietly snuck out into the hallway, did a double take to make sure no one would see, and then popped it out from the top of my shirt. Fabulous!

I was ant free! I hope they don't have any hidden cameras at that school............

What's in your refrigerator?!

I had the wonderful privilege of getting to cuddle with my 18 month old cousin after she got up from her nap today. We were sitting on the couch and she was repeating everything I was saying so I thought I'd throw out a bigger word and see what came out.

I said "refrigerator" and the next thing that came out of her mouth had my mom and I biting back our laughter. We heard something along the lines of "......beer....." come out of her mouth. I thought, hmmm---we'll try that again. So I once again said "refrigerator" and she repeats back with a ".....beer......". Refrigerator was just a little to long for her to pronounce so she shortened it to what she could handle. The sounding she came up with to replace the full word was just too funny! Every time I would say "refrigerator", she'd say a sound that resembled "beer".

Got to love the innocence of children. They say the darnedest things!

The Name Game

Yesterday was my first day of student teaching in a 4th grade classroom. We have 16 boys and 10 girls, and I'm happy to report that I have memorized each and every one of their names, despite the opinion of one redheaded boy. I was speaking to one boy in particular, called him by name, and praised his work. The little redheaded boy sitting next to him spoke up and informed me of the "correct" way to say this little boys name. I said, "Yes, his name is _____." I repeated his name exactly how it was supposed to be pronounced. The redhead looked at me and said, "No, his name is _____. He's Chinese!" Number One-I know he is Chinese, and Number Two-I said his name correctly. I felt like telling my little redhead, "NO, maybe YOU aren't listening clearly." Of course I didn't say that, but I sure thought it. That lil redhead is too smart for his own good. While on the playground later that day, I made the mistake of asking him who his friend was and he spouted off some Chinese name. I pronounced it perfectly but he once again looked at me as though he was exasperated and said, "No, his name is _____." Fabulous.

A child with "hearing" problems, wink-wink.

Gnat-rageous

Truly, it's an epidemic. The gnats are everywhere!

About a month ago my mom bought some soil for replanting a few houseplants, but what she didn't know at the time was that the soil was infested with little gnats. Now we do. These little bugs are the most ornery things alive. They bother you no matter what you are doing. You might be sitting there and all of a sudden you'll see a little black thing fly across your face. If you ignore it, he'll only come back, and this time he'll try to fly up your nose. It's like they want to get into your nose and mouth. They pester you and drive you nutso. I won't say who, due to protecting the innocent, but one family member has already had the unfortunate pleasure of feasting on four or five of them. We're always comparing notes and asking, "So how many gnats did YOU kill today?"

Last week I was down at my sisters house, and as I was sitting on the couch I saw that all too familiar black gnat fly by. I couldn't believe it! At first I thought I'd brought some stowaways with me but my sister explained that she had used some of my moms potting soil before realizing the problem within. So, we're both infested with these annoying little gnats, but we'll wait them out. They can't go on living forever. Right?!

We can't even escape them at work now! Just last week I was working at my desk and it felt like something was tickling my leg. I thought, "Oh no, it's not possible, it can't be a gnat." Oh how wrong I was. Seems as though they are breaking out everywhere. What is going on?!

When I hear someone across the house say, "Got it!", you know exactly what they are referring to and you can't help but smile. We WILL conquer this.

Toothbrush Troubles

This is what I learned last night:

When you are done brushing your teeth and it comes to the time when you quickly brush a few strokes across your tongue (gets rid of germs,etc.), do NOT stop halfway through. Just power through it, fight the desire to gag and just be done with it. For some reason I was moving at half speed last night and halfway through the tongue scrubbing I started to gag, bad. The tongue can only handle so much, you know. So I pulled the brush out, quickly regained my composure, and prepared to dive right in for the second go round and finish the job. Apparently I was still in gag-mode because as soon as the toothbrush made contact with my tongue, I found myself doubled over the sink, gagging. I felt like my stomach was lurching into my chest. Fabulous. The fact that all of this was caused by one little toothbrush made me want to laugh. I'm just glad my brother wasn't around to see that one.

Next time, no stopping till the job's done.