Things Kids Say #1

Things Kids Say:

Ms Annie: I brought in ice cream for a special treat! Guess what kind it is? It's vanilla with a chocolate swirl.

R [whispers]: A chocolate squirrel?!?

We have a class bear (Bailey) that the kids get turns taking home for a week and then writing in a journal and pasting in some pictures. The bear was handed off to the latest friend: "I can't wait to go home and put undies on him!" It was clear she had been plotting this for a long time.

Annie: My tummy hurts.

R: My mommy has a baby in her tummy.

Annie: I do not.

R: Well you should get one in there.

Annie: No thanks.

We talked about Insects yesterday (can you tell it was "I" week?) and we played a guessing game where I gave them clue so they could figure out what bug it was. "It has eight legs. And eight eyes. It is black. It is fuzzy and icky. It has a web." That's how many clues I had to give for spider. Then I let a student take a crack at giving me clues after several example rounds. "Cr. Crr. Crrrr. Crrrrrrr." Uhhh... cricket? "YOU GOT IT!"

"I love the Fresh Beat Band! [quietly to self] And bacon."

There is definitely one moment a day where I am doubled over in laughter from something that a kid says. That's all I have for now. Hopefully more later. :)

"You've got a friend in me"

I just read an article on Hellogiggles about how the author thought she could be best friends with Emma Watson. This prompted a conversation with my sister of the same topic. These are my top five answers:

Five Celebrities I Think I Could Be Best Friends With:

1. Emma Stone

2. Emma Watson.

3. Kate Middleton

4. Rachel McAdams

5. Taylor Swift

Who are yours?

"Hard to control when it begins"

Okay, okay. I'm trying to get back into this. I know. You've heard it before. It's like an abusive relationship. I keep lying to you and you keep coming back for more. I'm sorry. I'm trying. And I'm really boring these days.

So I am going to try to do a "write a certain type of post on certain days of the week" thing. So since today is Friday.... let's do a Friday Favorites!

1. Favorite Song: Young Blood by The Naked and Famous

Their album (Passive Me, Aggressive You) is $5 this month on Amazon. They have a Passion Pit sound to them. Check them out.

2. Favorite Site: HelloGiggles Why didn't I think of this? Can I be a part of it? I love it.

3. Favorite Article (that had me in tears): Friday Night Lights: Greatest Moments Only read this if you've finished the series. And if you haven't seen this show, drop everything and go watch it. NOW. I've been meaning to do a blog post professing my love for the show for a while now. During Snowpocalypse 2011 I was holed up in the house for a week and watched all four seasons. I CRIED IN EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. This is hands down my favorite show of all time. Because I blitzed through it, I almost want to go back through and blog about each episode but I don't know if I can be that dedicated. But... I'm thinking about it.

4. Favorite Person to Follow on Twitter: Humblebrag

5. Favorite Blog: Hyperbole and a Half Start with The Party in the sidebar and then read Spiders: They are Scary. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even keep my eyes open to keep reading. LOVE.

There! I did it! A blog post! That wasn't so hard.

"You keep on knocking/ But you can't come in"

A few weeks ago I babysat for E, the three year old boy I've been babysitting for about a year and half. Since it was so nice outside, we decided to go play in the background. As we walked out the door I thought to myself, I should take my phone with my outside. But they have bad reception so I opted against it. This, my friend, is called ironic foreshadowing. So we played outside for about thirty-five minutes, and ninty-nine bug bites later, I decided to call it a day and take him inside. E goes to open the door and tells me it is locked. I pray that he is just weak so I go and try myself. Definitely locked. And my phone is inside the house. I am also anal about the doors being locked so the front door and door leading in from the garage (provided we can get it open) are both locked as well, thanks to my doing. Score. So I flashforward, imaging us sitting on his front stoop shivering, waiting for his parents to get home at 10:00 in the pitch black (since the porch light wasn't turned on, natch).

But Super Babysitter Annie doesn’t sit and cry. I started making a plan. Since I had no phone, I really had no option but to go and knock on the neighbor’s door. Oh but if only it were that easy. The gate leading out of their backyard, yeah locked with a steel padlock that needs a combination. A combination that neither E or I know. So I hauled my hiney over the picket fence and then lugged the little boy over after me. Once we made it to the other side, he said we could just go in the garage. I get excited thinking all we have to do is pull it up. Hopes rise. Then I saw the keypad next to the garage. Hopes crash. E claims all you need to do is press Enter. I say a prayer and do so. Nothing. I even tried 1234 hoping they hadn’t changed the temporary one. No such luck. So we go over to the neighbor’s house next door. Of course it would have been too easy for them to actually be home. Plan B.

So we run across the street to another person’s house. Did I mention E was already in his pajamas and it was only 7:15? So we knock on a man’s door and he answers and we ask to use his phone. He was nice but things were a little... off in this house. I also had to navigate around two huge dog crates to get to the phone so the house did not smell pleasant. E was pinching his nose and not saying a word. Usually E does not stop talking so clearly he understood the strangeness of the situation. My mom was with E’s mom so I frantically dialed her number. My mom is also notorious for not answering calls from phone numbers she doesn’t know. So I dialed three times in rapid succession to no avail. I then took a deep breath and asked E if he knew his mom’s phone number. “Yes! I do!” My heart soars with hope. What is it? “9....1....1”. Foiled again. And like I said, things were a little off in this house, so we didn’t stick around. And I resigned to sitting on their stoop until his parents got home, whenever that may be.

So we sit and wait for a few minutes (not even in the backyard since there is no way to get back over the locked gate) on the driveway, but I can’t take it (read: had to go the bathroom) so we go to the neighbors on the other side of their house. E is already waiting, nose plugged because he is certain all neighbor’s houses must smell like the first, as we wait to see if they can be our rescuers. A man opened the door and his dog is absolutely freaking out. E has decided to cover his ears now instead of his nose. I explain our predicament and he lets me come in to use their phone. They did appear to know E and so they start talking to him and letting him play with their universal remote as I frantically dial my mom’s number approximately 14 times in the kitchen. I finally have to pause and ask to wait until she calls me back. So we sit (actually I stood awkwardly. I think I thought if I sat, I was admitting defeat) and talked while we waited for my mom to call back. This happened for about twenty minutes while E tries to sell me out saying I was the one who locked the door (it was neither of us. I have no idea how it happened).

Then I had the fear that the dad would get home and see no one was there (and worry we had been raptured... or kidnapped) so I told them we were just going to go back and hang out on their front steps until he got home. So we thanked them (profusely) and then left. We went and sat on the stoop for about two minutes before E announced he wanted to go inside. No can do, buddy. He continued to repeat this (as I tried to explain to him we didn’t just go on an adventure, we really couldn’t go inside) for fifteen minutes. Then the nice neighbor came out and told me my mom had called, I was transferred to E’s mom and got the combo for the keypad and we made it inside. Woo hoo! By this time about 45 minutes had passed and it was time for E to go to bed. So we went upstairs, brushed teeth and read a story. After some prompting from me, E’s prayers were as follows: “Thank you God for Annie. Annie’s mom. [whispered] What is your mom’s name? [normal voice] Joanne. And please don’t let us get locked out of the house ever again. Amen.” Amen!

Best part of the story? I came back downstairs after telling E goodnight and had just sat down on the couch when I heard the garage door go up. That’s right. E’s dad got home less than ten minutes after we finally made it inside. Seriously?! And as I walked out to my car, I saw the man from House #1 who called out, "I see you made it inside!" I did a victorious fist pump as I walked off into the sunset.

The story might be better told verbally but it was honestly a comedy of errors even though I was NOT laughing at the time. And considering I don't do well in times of stress, I handled this one well if I say so myself. I only almost cried twice. Almost! I’m growing up! And here’s to good people still existing in this world. Even if all my Dexter-watching sort of had me convinced I was going to get killed and never heard from again. But I lived to tell the tale. And lesson learned: Keep phone attached to hand at all times.

"There's a fire starting in my heart/ Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark"

Let's do a Television Recap Wrap Up. Yes, I know, why do it now when almost all shows are ending for the season? Because, friend, that way I can ease myself into the task. I do one, get a three month break, and then can start for real in the fall. It makes sense to me so let's run with it.

1. The Amazing Race-- Basically the order of who I wanted to win ended up being the opposite. I connected with Kisha and Jen the least. And props to the editors for not focusing on them since the beginning despite the fact they ended up winning (cough Survivor cough). I was pulling for a Zev/Justin win since they (read: Justin) dominated this season. When they got the heave-ho, somehow Mallory grew on me and I was pulling for them. Sucks that the cab driver really can make or break this race. And I'm happy the Globetrotters placed in the top three. So really, ho-hum season that had potential to be awesome. Just sucks when a team that didn't win first place any other leg ends up winning.

2. Make it or Break it. I'm a little over Emily's antics but I realize the pregnancy was written in since Chelsea Hobbs is/was pregnant in real life. Glad Sasha and Kaley are back at the Rock. Lauren is still obnoxious. Payson is hit or miss for me. I just wish these girls would actually change and develop as opposed to being consistently sucky-ish. And Summer needs to dump Steve and get over this "I need to be there for Lauren" business. Still love the show though.

3. Gossip Girl. Just when I was ready to give up, GG kicks it into gear. I still miss the contained drama of high school and could do without the parental issues. But with the addition of Crazy Cousin Charlie and the subtraction of Vanessa and Jenny, it's now on track. And loved Uncle Jack coming back. I have such a love/hate relationship with him (and every other character that actor plays). Looking forward to next week!

4. Glee. I liked this episode. Really the songs are what really determines it for me. And Jesse St James's return! I seriously hope Jonathan Groff pulls a Darren Criss and becomes a regular cast member. I LOVE him and Lea/Rachel together. I'm over Kurt and Santana's drama and wish there could be some more consistency in the writing so that plot lines ran smoothly and actually had resolution. But what can you do? I'm also embarrassed that I actually was enjoying the "Friday" song before I realized what it was. But hey they remixed it and it was almost unrecognizable. Almost. The shame.

5. Raising Hope. I think this show had potential to be in the vein of Arrested Development with the way all the little things add up in the episodes. Unfortunately, the past few episodes have been so-so. Here's to hoping next week's is better. It's still pretty funny though. And that baby is so cute.

6. Survivor. So freaking pumped about the finale tomorrow. I'm pulling for a Rob win. If another worthless, practically invisible Natalie wins because of a bitter jury, I'm going to be irked. I'd also be okay with a Grant/Mike win. I don't understand Phillip's logic of "playing crazy". It's one thing to be crazy and another to be annoying. He still annoyed his tribe on purpose even if it was just pretend. Like I tell my kids on the playground: Even if you're pretending, you still have to be nice. I'm hoping Rob ekes out the win (he's been playing for ten years trying to win. It took us ten years to find Bin Laden. I HAVE HOPE!) because he deserves it. I didn't understand why he didn't take Grant to the side after Ashley won and tell him, "Look man. Mike is dominating on Redemption Island. Since she can't go, one of us needs to and take this guy out or he is going to win it all. I can't do it. That stair immunity challenge really took it out of me. I know you can do it. You'll win, you'll get to come back, and we'll be in the final three." Maybe he didn't want to keep making promises he can't keep but that would have been flawless. If I wouldn't be miserable with no sleep, no shelter, and no food, I'd totally go on the show. But since I wouldn't get those things, I would quit three days (read: hours) in. GO ROB! Prediction for final three: Natalie, Phillip, and Rob.

7. American Idol. I can't believe James is out. I thought he had it in the bag. Sure he screeched but at least he was entertaining. I do think he started to slip these past two weeks. Lauren is still SO immature (evidence: when she was in the bottom two last week) and honestly not that great of a singer whether it is because of nerves or not (they praised her voice for cracking)! And Scotty McCreepy. I loathe thee. I know this means he is going to win but I LOATHE him and his flute playing-microphone. And how he totally pandered his vote to the southern, patriotic people. He was seven when 9/11 happened. If he was on Nashville Star, sure, win. But not American Idol. He also barely sings but rather sing/speaks. OVER HIM. The lesser of three evils is Hayley. While she has a horrible attitude (granted she is 19), she has the best voice and has actually grown as an artist while Scotty and Lauren have NOT even in the slightest. So go Hayley? I guess? My interest dropped when Casey got eliminated (for the second time). It still hurts.

8. Modern Family. This episode had some LOL moments but overall a weak episode. Season One was a lot stronger but the show is still very funny. I still laugh about the episode from a few weeks ago where Luke befriends the old neighbor: "We have oxygen in our house but we don't need to use tanks". *takes deep breathe before going inside* to paraphrase. I still chuckle.

9. The Office. It is struggling without Michael, that's for sure. I liked the antics of Dwight being manager but seriously, let's pick a boss and go with it. Glad Will Ferrell isn't permanent, wasn't feeling that.

10. The Vampire Diaries. Mock all you want, I honestly think it is one of the BEST shows on TV right now. It is SO addicting and consistently good. There are never s0-so episodes. While the final left me confused/ unsure of how I feel about several characters' fates, I still LOVE IT. I struggle with shipping Delena but I might come around just since Ian Somerhaulder is so darn attractive. Sad that Stefan has gone to the dark side. I actually screamed when Jeremy got shot. And I'm glad Bonnie loves/saved him. Totally shipping Caroline/Tyler. Matt can go. Totally want Ric to be Elena and Jeremy's new guardian. I was actually sad at the trifecta of deaths last week: Jenna, John, and Jules (apparently it was bad news bears if your name starts with a J) even though those were all characters I was only s0-so about all season. Glad Jeremy escaped the curse... or did he? I can't believe I have to wait all summer to find out. This show better get picked up for a third season.

Yeah... I watch a lot of tv. But it's really like one show a night... okay maybe two. That's how I feel. And you? You feel free to leave comments about how YOU feel! :)