Blogging Break

In light of the recent tragedy in Newtown, I don't really feel like chatting about movies or holding contests so I will be taking a blog break until later next week. Please enjoy your holidays with family and friends and keep the people of Newtown in your prayers. I am reminded how fortunate I am every time I go to work and see twenty shining first grade faces that are safe and healthy. Don't forget to thank the teachers in your life. They do their jobs out of love. 

Some notes:
The Memory of Light contest will start a week later than planned. 

I have a pitch for Dodge the Sun up at KTCrowley's blog as part of the Baker's Dozen Non-Chosen Entrants. It is number 37. 

If it should happen to snow before Christmas, I plan to share some pictures for friends in warmer climates. 

Quiet as a Mime or Pronouncing Fox

Although hugely rewarding, teaching is easily the most mentally draining thing I’ve ever done. I worked for five years in accounting for a large corporation, creating huge budgeting spreadsheets and working under time constraints. It was nothing compared to an elementary school. There’s no doubt teachers need and deserve time away from it. Other professions have no idea of the demands on your time and patience. Bathroom breaks—forget about it. A quiet moment—not likely. Imagine being in a room with twenty five-year-olds for six hours. Can’t see it? Here are some snippets:

During a time drawing pictures of their home and families one child said, “When my sister is one, my mommy says we get to share a room.”

Expecting the child was eagerly anticipating this day, I said, “That will be fun.”

She answered, “I told Mommy she could sleep in the closet.”

 When told they had to be very good to get to do a fun activity that afternoon, one boy raised his hand. “I’ll be quiet as a mime,” he informed us.

We had some tornados come through Indiana this spring. A smiling small boy told me his uncle got blown down by a tornado. After telling me the uncle wasn’t hurt, he then shared that he had many uncles and wouldn’t mind if the tornado got this one.

Ever heard a child with a speech impairment pronounce the word fox? The result rhymes with ducks. And how do five-year-olds know that’s a bad word?

Small children have no shame. I’ve seen it again and again. Nothing is off limits. In one recess/lunch period, a student managed to become a triple threat. He wiped a booger on a girl at lunch, licked some boys on the slide, then kissed a friend in the line to reenter the building. Personal space anyone?

Hardly a week goes by without its share of bathroom accidents, ouchies, or vomiting. Under a national emergency, the government should call in teachers instead of the National Guard. They’ll be the ones calmly standing and giving directions while everyone else panics.

Head Scratchers and Funnies

Not sure what to post as I fill time waiting on a nudge on a full. For non-writers, a nudge on a full means that an agent requested the full manuscript of my finished story, but hasn’t yet got back to me with a rejection or The Call. I waited ten weeks, and then sent a nudge email. It’s tricky, because you have to keep the nudge confident, but not cocky. You don’t want to sound whiny or needy. It’s kind of a fine line between being a pest and having the right to some closure on the whole thing.

Anyway, here are some funnies things that happened at work. I wish I had pictures to go with them. Please use your imagination.

A small girl eagerly waved me over to her line one morning before school started. She had something to show me. I expected the usual such as a much too close-up view of her gum where she lost a tooth, or the old favorite ‘it’s my birthday’, the ever amazing ‘I got a haircut’, or maybe the thrilling ‘these are my new shoes’. Instead, she pulled forth from her backpack a pink balloon. She proceeded to blow it up using only her— gasp—NOSE. Needless to say, I was enchanted with her undeniable skill and, truthfully, proud she wanted to show me. Ever tried it? She has a lot of lung power.


During a social studies lesson in the not too distant past, we were studying the fact that people live in different types of structures. The teacher began to quiz the class about what kind of homes they lived in, apartments and houses being the expected response. One little girl lived with her grandma, and she was having trouble with the question. She didn’t quite understand. “Does your grandma live in a house or an apartment,” the teacher asked. Completely straight-faced the tot replied, “My mom says grandma lives at the casino.” There you have it folks, social studies can be hilarious.


I once shared a school year with a pair of fascinating twin boys. Like a lot of twins, they were pretty small, making them even cuter. One was in my classroom and the other twin had a teacher across the hall. One day we noticed “Brian” limping. You get a lot of wardrobe problems in kindergarten. Shirts turned wrong-side out or backwards, jeans that won’t button, even (believe it or not) jeans on backwards (ouch). Of course, we see a lot of shoes on the wrong feet. This looked like a case of shoes that needed to be switched. I looked closer, trying to judge. Brian’s feet continued to puzzle. Both of his shoes curved in the same direction. How could that be? I’d never seen the like. He had on two left shoes. Brother in the other room had on two rights. Is that a case of two wrongs don’t make a right?