Mcgilla’s Weblog

remember that paula abdul song opposites attract???  You know the one with the video of her dancing with that super cool cartoon cat?  yeah i was rocking out to that song at the roller rink in 1992.  That song danced through my head all day today.  yesterday i got really excited.  Some of my kids that i have to really work to pull anything out of them showed me that they might actually be learning.  Kids that struggle on step one were all of the sudden doing step 3 without any prompting.  It was a super fun day because i got to be all yay you! you’re a reader! kiss your brain!! Oh my goodness, you’re so smart!  all day long…… and that’s enough to put anyone in a good mood….. i’m not exaggerating when i say i was nearly dancing and skipping down the halls and little birdies were chirping lovely little melodies in my head as the soundtrack to me day.  I went to bed last night feeling like we had turned a corner and i couldn’t wait to get to school today…… unfortunately….. every single kid took their crazy pills today.  and not the kind that make the crazy go away.  it was like we were back at square one.  Every kid i saw going down the hall was off like a bat out of hell.  classrooms were loud, and not in the we’re doing creative stuff kind of way, and students who were doing step 5 two weeks ago all of the sudden couldn’t do step 2.  Maybe is something to do with the fact that it hasn’t stopped raining all week……. uhg. back to the trenches in 9.5 hours.

Today, in passing, i overheard part of a conversation between some 4th-5th graders.

Student 1: my grandma says if i talk to my cousins she’ll have me arrested

student 2: like, you’ll go to jail???

student 1: no, because if she tries it, i’ll file a lawsuit against her!

only in madison county would kids’ first thoughts on anything be lawsuit.   I don’t think i even knew what that was when i was that age….. much less think that i could ever be in one.  sheesh.

today elle came over to show off her halloween costume. While over she asked if she could get a book from my room to read….. i have a big bookshelf full of kids books so i told her to go pick one and bring it back……  well she brings me a book i have from a weekly ready series for kids on relationships and behaviors and stuff…. she brings me the one titled ” You’re Either One or the Other”  sub title, a Children’s book about Human Sexuality.  AWESOME.  So i read Elle parts of the chapter about being a girl…. basically all it talks about is stuff like some girls like to do these things… and others like to do these things…. and that’s ok.  Some girls like pink, and some like blue, that’s ok…. some girls like sports, and some don’t, that’s ok…. blah blah blah…. Well at the end it asked a few questions…. so i asked them to Elle…. and she’s not only hilarious, she’s pretty well adjusted.

Question 1: What are you? are you a girl?  Elle: yep, i’m a girl.

How do you know that you’re a girl? because that’s the way that God made me…. (great answer i was really hoping for her to say something that would be embarrassing to her mother….. but oh well)

What does it mean to be a girl?  very beautiful

How does it feel to be a girl?  Good. I feel Good

What do you like best about being a girl? being fabulous

What do you ike least?  talking all the time.

gotta love that girl.

today i went to old navy and found an 80’s pop art glow in the dark skeleton shirt that logan had to have.   this was the conversation that ensued as i presented the gift…..

Me: logan, before i give you this who’s your favorite aunt named kristi???

Logan:  ummmmmmmm……….

Tiffany: Logan, who’s your favorite aunt

Me: (to tiff) no you can’t ask that

Tiff: (to me) why not??

me: (to tiff) because the answer is Kelli…. she’s elle’s mom

Tiff: oh right…

Me: Logan who is your favorite aunt named kristi

Logan…. you mean other aunts don’t count

me: right, only the ones named Kristi

Logan:……….. slowly points at me

me: good nuff ( threw the shirt to Logan)

When he opened it and looked at it, i didn’t get a thanks….. but i did get a really excited. OOOOOOOOOOO!   That’s better than a scripted thank you any day.

today i heard the best story i’ve ever heard from a parent.  On Sunday morning, she found her daughter standing by her bedroom door wearing a scarf and she was saying good morning and welcoming in all of these imaginary friends….. Good morning Gracy, Good morning Treven, Come in Sammy, Welcome to school Andrew…. etc etc.  When mom asked her what she was doing, her answer was, i’m pretending to be Miss Kristi.  =)

due to the changing of the season, we’ve got some mouse issues.  I’ve been hearing the pitter patter of little feet above my head in the drop ceiling (delightful let me tell ya).  So, Judy insisted on putting a couple of traps in the ceiling…. to which i was not a fan.  I just imagined being awakened by the snap and little mouse squealing.  (Less than an ideal wake up call).  But of course i lost…. so when i came home and came down to my room, to my horor i found not only were the traps set, but the tile was left open with the trap right on the edge…… see….

All i could picture was an unlucky mouse finding the trap about 2 am and being awaken not only by the snap and squeak, but by the trap flipping and landing on the floor right next to my bed…..  unfortunately, i thought too much about this, and spent all night being woke up by dreams where not only did the mouse flip to the floor….. but it bounced off the bedside table and onto my bed, or just skipped the table and landed right on my face.  My favorite was when the snapping trap evolved into someone knocking on my window……. needless to say…. it was a long night.

oh… and we didn’t catch a mouse.

• When a kid is in trouble, and i make them cry, it makes me happy…. sometimes even gleeful. (is gleeful a word or did i just make it up??)
• When a kid is being rotten, 85% of the time, i think it’s really funny, and i have to work hard to not show it…..
• Some times when someone is doing something terrible, but thinks it’s funny ie…. two kids in the office today got in a fist fight, and were giggling because they were so proud of themselves and just thought it was great…… I say something like, look at my face, does it look i think this is funny?  And i say this not to help the kids understand that it’s not funny, as much as to challenge myself to make a really “this is not funny” face.
• I get really proud of myself when i can get the really shy sub to say a couple of sentences to me without much prompting.  Probably more proud than when a student shows that he/she learned something.   Ok maybe not that much….. but close.
• after rereading this post, I nearly deleted it because it’s really rambley and sounds like i’m hyped up on caffeine (i’m not) but then i thought, meh, these people know what i’m like, they can deal with it.
• Best compliment of the day:….. Ms. Gill (that’s not a typo that’s what i get called a lot)  You have crazy hair…. but the good kind!

kid 1: Wait…. what’s an “m”

kid 2: you know that letter that looks like a stick then 2 boobs.

oh yeah…. and we have lice and AND fleas in kindergarten. yuck.

Today i got to grab some latex gloves and wet wipes and clean a poopy bottom.  Normally that would mean that you had one of the worst days possible…. That was until i went after school to check on one of my kinders who normally rides the bus, but was sent to the office.  I found him cheerfully sitting next to his sister who was not so cheerful.  I asked what was up, and the boy said….  Dad’s picking us up today, and when i asked why, his response was…. because someone puked on my sister….. yeah, my day wasn’t so bad.

anybody remember this post it’s from new year’s eve when i was at the grocery store with a friend and we found a forgotten birthday cake that was cut into strips and sold in 4 hunks.  We were doubled in laughter in it.  Some of you suggested that i should submit it to cake wrecks…. and i assured y’all that i had submitted it before i even blogged about it…… well….. i never heard anything about it, and it was never posted….. but today, i recieved this email….

Hi there!

I’ve got some amazing news about one of the photos you submitted to Cake Wrecks: first, it made it in the book, and second, Rachael Ray (of the Rachael Ray show) liked it so much that she’d like to talk to you about it – possibly on the air! So if you could, please e-mail Holly Pakfar, the show producer, at hpakfar@kingworld.com to discuss the details. If the show segment works out, you could be sharing the spotlight with a few of your fellow Wreckporters and my fabulous Wrecksistant and sister-in-law, Anne-Marie! I don’t have many details, but I imagine they want to hear the story of your cake: where you saw it, your reaction to it, etc. I’m sending this to several of you, so here’s the breakdown of which photos the show is specifically interested in. If you’re getting this e-mail, one of them should be yours. (Be sure to tell Holly which cake is yours, btw.)

Pg 2: “God Bless Everyone- Inside a heart!”

Pg 7: Happy Birthday Hannah- lg font Cole & Alli- small font”

Pg 55: “welcome home charles/ happy 70th birthday jean”

Pg 57: Cakes cut up and sold invididually

Pg 80: wedding couple cutting cake under statue

Pg 96: Happy birthday nancy – the end

Pg 101: Huge Me

Please let me know if you have any questions…although any show-related queries should go to Holly, since I’m really just the messenger here. If you could cc me on the e-mail so I know you got this, though, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks, and congratulations, Wreckporters! You guys make me so proud [sniff].

- Jen

www.CakeWrecks.com

In case you didn’t catch that…… I’m going to be in CakeWrecks…. THE BOOK….. and if that wasn’t enough ms 30 min meals herself wants me.  =)