Pedestrian Parallax

5 Things I Dislike Today

• Going back to work after 5 days off
• Having to get up early again
• Dirty dishes
• Meeting all day tomorrow
• Scolded by a student for talking too loud

5 Things I Like Today

• Students put up the media center holiday tree with no complaining.
• This afternoon, I signed our school up for a subscription that gives us 11 new books (in different categories) each month for a year. I didn’t know they were doing a special incentive for November, and we get 35 books free!! And I get to pick them out! I did a little dance and waved my arms around, for real.
• Even though I usually don’t like Hitler jokes, Hipster Hitler totally made my day. (Before the 35 free books made my day, I mean.)
• Today was the absolute best I’ve ever had students evacuate during a fire drill.
• I learned a new feature that will make a big task much easier at work.

• “This tattoo of Spongebob in a flower on my butt? I designed it myself, look!”
• “This 14-year-old hit on me at the Dollar Tree. He’s like, ‘Hey baby,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s not worth going to jail to slap you.’”
• “Me and my boyfriend and all our dogs were in the pickup truck. The dogs wouldn’t sit still. A cop pulled us over because the truck was rocking back and forth. But then he saw the dogs and just laughed and let us go.”
• “I am leaving without you if you don’t walk away from that fryer right now.”
• “My mom hacked into my Facebook account and is screwing with my farm on Farmville!” (That last comment was to me. I don’t know why she thought I’d want to know.)

Spice Rack: The spice rack was my dad’s from the 1960’s, and it was in the kitchen of the house where I grew up. He never actually used the spices because he insisted it was just for decoration. I cleaned the old spices out, refilled them and put new labels on them. Now my spices are handy and not hidden in the pantry.

Breadmaker: Hooray for homemade bread. I make it with lots of herbs (from the spice rack), and it’s firm enough to stand up to dunking in soup. Great for grilled cheese sandwiches.

Plastic pizza cutter: It’s kind of a joke that the best thing about joining the teachers’ union is the free plastic pizza cutter. But really, it’s an amazing device. I even bought a new pizza pan now that I can cut pizza without damaging the pan.

Toaster oven: I gave this to Steve for Christmas last year, and we use it all the time. We really like cooking things without using the big oven.

Stepstool: I’m short. I can’t reach things on my own.

5 Things I Like This Week

Day off today!
Talked to Jaclyn today!
Yesterday I was behind a guy in an old truck with no blinkers, and he used the arm signals to let me know he was turning (like on a bike). Thanks, guy with no blinkers!
My students actually behaved during Sustained Silent Reading time this week (probably because I gave them candy, but whatever)!
It was my mom’s 60th birthday on Tuesday!