The Shi-Loh Down

Follow me as you venture through...

A Day in the Life of Shiloh

My alarm goes off at 5 a.m.

I throw the covers off and stumble to the bathroom.I turn on the coffee pot, which has already been prepared the night before. I take a 10 minute shower every morning. This is me as I begin my makeup routine. I've mentioned before that I don't have eyebrows, so I have to "paint" them on. This is with one eyebrow done and one undone. See the difference? I always do my makeup before doing my hair. My makeup in now done. Time to do the hair. After about 40 minutes, I am now showered, dressed, make-up done, and hair done. This is the final project. I hustle upstairs where I pack my lunch, eat breakfast (usually toast or cereal) and prepare my coffee. I put about 2 T Coffee-Mate and two packets of Splenda in my coffee. I must leave the house by 6:20 to make it to school on time. I arrive at the school between 6:35 and 6:45 a.m. I am tardy if I arrive any time after 6:50 a.m.It is still dark when I get to Chatfield. Eric teaches next door to me, so he comes into my classroom every morning before the bell rings to chat. We talk about news, naughty kids (we share a lot of the same kids-he teaches math), what we did the night before, etc. When I'm not chatting with Eric, I'm getting ready for the day. Or I'm texting someone...The first bell rings at 7:15, and each class is 53 minutes long with a five minute passing period between each class. Last semester, I had 1st Hour off, but I had to work in the Learning Center. Any freshman who has one or more F's in any class is required to attend the Learning Center. The LC is staffed with one teacher from every subject every single hour of the day. I am the English representative for 1st Hour, so I tutor anyone who needs help with an essay or reading, etc. If I had not signed up for the LC, I would have to cover a study hall. This is more interactive with the students, and I am able to see their success. I also had 2nd Hour off last semester. This is my one free period to get copies made, plan for the day, pick up my classroom, make up a trivia question for the day, help any students that may wander in for help, make phone calls, catch up on emails, check voicemail, etc. It is my last moment of peace and quiet before the chaos begins. 3rd Hour Freshmen-This was my biggest class, with 25 kiddos.4th Hour Freshmen-This class had 24 kiddos.At 11:01 a.m., I have my lunch half hour. I eat in the Teacher's Lounge with Jessica and Karen. A few other people joined us off and on, but the three of us are very consistent. We talk about naughty kids and tell stories. I check my phone and send a text or two. 5th Hour Freshmen-This was my smallest class, with only 17 kiddos.6th Hour Freshmen-This class only had 19 kids, but they were by far my loudest class. 7th Hour Sophomores-This was my one and only 10th grade class, and we had a lot of fun. There were 22 kids in this class, all very full of personality. This is me teaching. We were playing a vocab game on this day. The final bells rings at 2:27 p.m. I am required to stay until 2:50. Some days I leave right away. Other days I stay late to grade papers or help students. About three times a month, I stayed until 4:30 for after school detention. It's still daylight when I leave (usually).About three times a week, I head to 24 Hour Fitness after school to work out with Tiffany, Kelly, and Shannon. Tiffany was my cooperating teacher at Columbine, and Kelly is a science teacher at Columbine. If I didn't work out, I often times would meet up with Britt for coffee, drinks, food, ice cream or whatever we felt led to eat. We can sit for hours and just chat away. Britt teaches Spanish at Heritage, which is in Littleton Public, just right down the street from my house.

If I'm not hanging with Britt after school, I head home to eat dinner with the family. Shannon makes a great meal every night, and this is us at our usual spots at the table. We eat around 5:30.More texting...Jeff gives me crap because in one month alone, I can send as many as 3,000 texts. My nights vary. Sometimes I watch TV. Sometimes I go out with friends. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I work on school work or grade papers. Sometimes I'll talk on the phone. Sometimes I'll blog. Sometimes I'll play on FB. I always get the coffee ready the night before so I can just turn it on in the morning. I have a nightly ritual of cleaning my face. This takes about 10 minutes. Depending on what I have going on at night, I often times go to bed between 9:15 and 9:45. Since I am early to rise, I am also early to bed.

There you have it! There's my day in a nutshell. Starting this Monday, my entire schedule will change at school, so I'll do this again in the future. Hope you enjoyed my day!!!

A Glimpse of the Past 10 Years

Thanks to Kari for this fun idea!

As the decade comes to an end tomorrow, I wanted to share one high and one low from the past ten years.

2000
High-Changed my major from Physical Therapy, to English, to Journalism, and I finally found my true calling: writing. I was excelling in college, and I was also exploring the idea of doing an exchange program and going to school in Oregon.
Low-Not living in the dorms my freshman year of college. I missed out on a lot by living with my parents (I appreciate them, though, don't get me wrong), and I did not build relationships like other people did their first year of college.

2001
High-Moving to Oregon to attend the University of Oregon in Eugene (four days after I turned 21). I spent my junior year in Oregon, and it was by far the highlight of my college career. I made fantastic friends that I'm still friends with today, and I had the time of my life. It was when I started to discover Shiloh.
Low-September 11, which was my 21st birthday. This day was also my last day at the daycare where I had worked for five years as I began my journey of moving to Oregon.

2002
High-Having the best summer of my life, which involved my new friends from Oregon, Casey and Bridget. We each got a tattoo together that summer, spent a lot of time in the water, and had a blast working together at Red Robin. I will never forget that summer.
Low-Moving back to Kearney. While I was excited to be back home, it was a very rough time in my life. All my old friends had moved on and I was left a bit lonely and confused as to what I wanted in life.

2003
High-Graduating from UNK with honors and a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with an emphasis in Mass Media. Collin and Katie got married in September.
Low-Working in a restaurant (granted, I was a manager, but still...) and letting my Journalism degree go to waste.

2004
High-Moving to Denver to work my dream job: Editor, writer and General Manager of J.O.E. Magazine. I LOVED that job and was so excited to be putting my writing to good use. Carson, my first nephew, was born in March.
Low-Discovering that my dream job was owned and managed by a manipulative, power hungry woman who didn't care who got hurt or damaged along the way. I, therefore, quit my dream job and was hired by Enterprise Rent a Car, where I wasted five years of my degree and writing skills to renting cars.

2005
High-Shannon and Jeff were married in August. April had her son, Aydan.
Low-My dad was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I very specifically remember them sitting us kids down and telling us the news.

2006
High-Kyler was born in May.
Low-April, my best friend, was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given a 20 percent chance of survival.

2007
High-Went to Cancun with Kari and Abby. Case was born in June.
Low-This was one of the lowest years of my life as I watched April waste away and nearly die. I tried to come to terms with the fact that April was going to die and I was going to be without her forever.

2008
High-April finished chemo in early January, and the five of us girls (April, Katie, Irish, Michelle and me) went to Vegas for a girls trip to celebrate April's life. Riding in the MS150 in honor of my father. I realized that I can do anything I set my mind to, even riding 150 miles when I'd never really ridden a bike before. Finishing my Master's Degree in Education to be a high school English teacher. Being a bridesmaid in Abby's wedding. Corinne, my first niece, was born in December.
Low-April sat me down in Vegas and told me she had written her Will and planned her funeral. She asked me to help take care of Aydan, her son, if she died.

2009
High-Getting a long term sub job at Chatfield High School in January through May, which eventually led to getting a full time position at Chatfield for the 2009-2010 school year. Becoming good friends with Britt. April is still alive and well and almost two years cancer free. Riding the MS150 for the second year and having Collin ride with me (or ahead of me, I should say). Having family and friends from near and far come to Denver to celebrate my Graduation and completing my Master's degree. Going to my 10 Year Class Reunion in Kearney.
Low-Realizing I turn 30 next year. Being single. The highs and lows that come along with dating and trying to make relationships work.

Baby Cakes

Now tell me this isn't the cutest little girl you've ever seen?!?! My little doll, Corinne.

Christmas Exchange

Jessica, Britt and I got together last week to exchange gifts. We met at Chili's and partook in adult beverages, ate a ton of chips and salsa and had many good laughs.

Here's a picture story of what we all got:

I had Britt's name, and I got her a cute pink winter hat and a green flower ring.

She sure knows how to sport the hat!

Jessica had my name, and she got me this super cute pink Journal and photo albums for all the pictures we take when we're together.

Britt had Jessica's name, and she got Jessica a Starbucks GC and Dexter, the book.

Jessica is obsessed with the TV series Dexter.

Merry Christmas to all from Shi, Jessica and Britt!

Halloween 2009

I know, I know. Halloween was over a month ago (almost two months ago, huh?). Well, it's not my fault. I just got the pictures yesterday (uh umm). Britt and I met up with our friend, Jessica, at a house party. I was a kitty cat (MEOW), and Britt was...you guessed it, Snow White. Upon arriving at the house, which was owned by boys, we discovered they had made an ice louge. Let me explain. It was a giant block of ice in which they had carved three different tracks of sorts. From the top, someone would pour some liquid, which would then race down the track into the mouth of whomever was below. The picture should explain.

We had a blast.

Answers

The Shi-Low Down

I have the next two weeks off from work, so I am super excited about what I have in store for you. I have pictures, I have stories, I have laughs. Hopefully I can provide some entertainment over the next two weeks.

For the moment, I am here to answer your questions. I must say I was disappointed in the response. Thanks to Lisa and Kari for asking me questions. I will forewarn you that if I don't have participation, this isn't going to work very well. I want to hear your thoughts!!!

I asked for your questions in this post: I'm Back.

1. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?

I will admit to you that I was/am a total nerd, and I used to spend Friday nights watching 20/20. Even today, it is one of my favorite shows, and I make sure to Tivo every episode so I can watch it when I have some time. Growing up watching Barbara Walters made me want to be do her job. As I entered college and began to study Journalism, I wanted to take over her job. Being the anchor for 20/20 would be my all time top job if I knew I even had a chance to try out. Without any hesitation, if I was not teaching right now, I would want to pursue a job to be a new anchor in broadcast Journalism.

2. What is the craziest hing you have ever done?

My craziness probably doesn't come close to what other people have done, but I have to say that the craziest (and dumbest) thing I've ever done was jump off RUSH Bridge, not once, not twice, but three times. For those of you not from Nebraska, RUSH is a bridge by Johnson Lake that is 40-50 above a channel of water that eventually leads into Johnson Lake. What makes this adventure crazy is that no one knows how deep the water is. No one knows what is underneath the water. People have died jumping off this bridge. However, it is an attraction for the old and young alike. I ventured there with a group of guy friends one afternoon. I was the only girl, so of course I had to show them I could do it. It took me a while to get up the nerve to jump. Let me tell you, 45 feet above water is a long fall. I finally jumped. I didn't die. After climbing back up, they talked me into jumping again. I jumped again. I didn't die again. After the entire deal was over, I was left shaking thinking about what I had just done. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I vowed never to do it again. However, a few weeks later, we ventured out again. This time, I wasn't the only girl, but I had to prove to everyone that I wasn't afraid. I jumped again. I didn't die again. It left me so scared that I will NEVER do something like that again. Luckily, none of my friends died jumping off Rush, so it ends with a happy story, but now I understand why my mom was mortified when she learned of what we had done.

3. What are your top five qualities a guy must possess before you'll date him.

This is a hard question to answer because as I get older, some of those qualities have changed. I think I have to change the wording of the question a tad, though, because I feel like you date a person to find out if they have these qualities or not. I wouldn't NOT date a guy if I didn't know the answer to these questions right away. I think the question would be more fair in stating: What are your top five qualities a guy must possess to continue a long term relationship with him?

*Must love the Lord.

*Must want children.

*Must work at a job he loves. I would rather him make $20,000 and love his job than make $90,000 and hate his job.

*Must love his family and learn to love mine.

*Must make me his number one priority (and I, in turn, will serve him and love him with my entire heart). I want a guy to want to spend time with me.

4. What other qualities do you a prefer but aren't necessarily a deal breaker in a guy?

This is where it starts to get a little bit more physical :)

*Blue eyes (so we can have blue-eyed children).

*Dark hair.

*Larger body frame.

*No kids.

*Preferably never married.

*Hopefully he has a wonderful mother.

*College educated.

*Loves his job AND makes a lot of money.

*A decent car.

*Doesn't live with his parents.

*Athletic.

*Likes to bike ride.

*Is active.

***I'll keep thinking on this question and might add some more answers, but for now, this is a good list.

Making a Difference...One Student at a Time

Well, I did it! I completed my very first semester as a "real" teacher. It hasn't been an easy road to get here, but it has been fulfilling and overwhelming and amazing and hard and WELL WORTH THE TIME, ENERGY AND MONEY to get here.

Our semester has been filled with smiles, lies, yelling, laughing, moaning, complaining, cookies, trivia, slip ups, late homework, grading essays, assigning homework, more complaining, meetings, FAC's, friends, support, stories, late homework passes, emails from parents, emails from students, excuses from parents, excuses from students, drugs, tardies, plants, spills, treats, drawings, death, cancer, rape, and getting to know 130 students on a pretty personal level. If I have to be honest, I was kind of sad to say goodbye on Friday.

Friday was filled with some tough choices for me. Here's something you may not know: teachers have the power to change/alter grades. There is the "real" grade. That's the grade that shows up in the grade book once all the numbers have been entered. There is no argument about it. Once the final has been taking, the essays entered, and all the other homework accounted for, a student is left with a non-arguable, black and white, look at my computer screen and this is your grade grade. It in then my job to decide if that's the grade they deserve and should go on their transcript.

I had several instances of changing the grade to reflect what the student deserved. I had three students who carried a solid A all semester, but then they didn't do so well on the final, which in turn bumped their "real" grade to a B. After a lot of thought, I decided all three of them deserved an A, so after adding some "bonus" points to a few assignments, they were at an A. Easy enough. I made their day...

Then the two tough decisions came, and I spent a lot of time reflecting and asking advice. One student had a pretty solid F most of the semester, but it wasn't because of laziness. It had more to do with comprehension. He should NOT be in a regular English class because he just doesn't get it. I tried all semester to get him tested. Nothing happened. He finally kicked it into high gear and got his grade up to a D. Passing. After the final, which he got the lowest grade out of my 100 students (41/100), it bumped him down to an F (58.9%). Failing this student is a big deal. The questions I had to ask myself:
1. Does he deserve to fail because he has tried all semester?
2. Is it fair to fail a student who doesn't comprehend just because someone failed to get him tested?
3. If I pass him, will he continue to fall further and further behind?
4. Can he afford summer school?
5. Will he even complete high school?

After a lot of thinking, his counselor and I decided I should pass him. He will be tested that first week after break and hopefully moved into a modified English class. He passed with a 60%.

The other story involved some tears, both on my end and my student. She has a sad story, filled with her father raping her most of her life and then he committed suicide last year and she found the body. She has struggled this semester because she is becoming involved in the wrong crowd. She is filled with hate and anger. I watched her grade fall as the semester went on, and my heart just went out to her. On Friday, her "real" grade was a 70%, which is a C. However, she had 5 unexcused absences, which is 3% per unexcused off her grade. That would take her from a 70% to a 55%, which is failing. I didn't feel like she deserved to fail the class, but I also didn't want to let her off easy.

As luck would have it, she happened to walk past my classroom, so I was able to pull her in to speak to her. I told her she most certainly did not deserve to have what happened to her happen. I told her I respected her and valued her as a person. I told her I knew that she has a past full of hurt and pain, but she needed to take her story and let it make her into a stronger, better person. I told her I knew she could do better than a C if she only applied herself. I gave her the pep talk of all pep talks. She was crying. I was crying. I told her I would NOT let her get away with only doing things half ass. She has a different English teacher next semester, so I told her I would be checking with that teacher every single week to make sure she was staying on track. I told her I expected an A out of her because she is fulled capable. I told her I would not reduce her grade because of her unexcused as long as she promised me with her entire heart that she would get rid of her old friends and make something of herself.

She looked at me and asked, "Ms. Nichols, why are you doing this? Do you really care about me?"

With tears in my eyes, I said, "You have no idea how much I care."

She threw her arms around me and promised me that she will check in with me every Friday. I am holding her to her word. I expect great things from this girl, and I'm going to make sure it happens.

So yeah, that was the end of my semester. As many sucky days as I had over the course of four months, seeing all about one student pass and move on with heads held high made the entire semester worth it. What a proud teacher I am!

Roommates?

There are parts of my life that I truly do not remember. When I think back to my high school years, I honestly cannot remember a lot of it. I don't remember most my teachers. I don't remember any of the books I read in English or the science projects or the math problems. There are only parts of college that I remember. When I talk to friends of the past, they always remind me of things that I wouldn't have remembered otherwise.

It's funny, though, because there are other things that I remember very well. When I read a book, I can remember certain key quotes and remember which side of the page it was on and what chapter it was in. This has come in useful when my students need help finding a quote. I remember strange facts, and I am usually pretty good at remembering birthdays.

Tonight I was chatting on FB (Facebook) with a very dear friend from the past. Holly is like a sister to me. She's my sister's best friend, she lived with my family for a while during college, and she knows virtually everything about me. We were reminiscing tonight about high school and college, and an old friend came up in our discussion. She asked me if I remembered Andy Brown, which I did. Then she said, "And remember, you lived with Andy's sister for a time in college."

That stopped me dead in my tracks. I most certainly would remember living with a girl, wouldn't I? I thought Holly was going crazy. I did NOT live with Andy's sister. That's just ridiculous, Holly! But Holly insisted that it was true. Holly said, "I'm pretty sure you lived with her in the house on Ave B. The house in the basement."

"Holly, I think you're crazy. I never lived with this girl. I can't even remember her name."
She continued to insist it was true, so I told her I would do some research and try to figure it out. I started going through "friends" on FB, trying to at last figure out her name. It hit me that he name was Kim, so I found my K "friends", and sure enough, Kim was a friend. I decided to send her a message to try to refresh my memory.

I sent Kim a message, asking her if we lived together. If so, where did we live? How long did we live together?

She replied back right away. "Hey, Shiloh. Yes, we lived together for a semester back in college. We lived in the house on Ave B in the basement. We also worked together at Sonshine World."

Holly was right! How in the world does Holly remember that I lived with Kim, and I still cannot place living with her? And not only did I live with her, but I also worked with her at the daycare!

In the meantime, while I was doing this research to figure out my old roommate, Holly wrote, "It's so funny that you can't remember the name of the girl you lived with." I replied back, "It's so funny that I don't remember LIVING with this girl."

So yeah, I lived with Kim for an entire semester, and I DO NOT remember any of it. Even after she confirmed it was true, I still don't remember it.

I'm only 29. Should I be having this problem already?

I'm Back!

The Shi-Low Down

Remember this? It all started with an experiment. This experiment involved meeting five men a week. I conquered Week 1, where I met Beau. I conquered Week 2, which was a let down. I conquered Week 3, where I met Tim (we're still developing our friendship). I didn't post anything for Week 4, and Week 5 was the end to my experiment. Beau and I started dated around that time for about two months, so I had no reason to meet new men. For those who are curious, Beau and I are no longer dating.

Perhaps one day I will resume my experiment of meeting five men a week. Or even better yet, perhaps Tim and I will continue to get to know each other and something will develop from that. For the time being, however, I am content with letting relationships happen in their own timing.

With that being said, who ever said The Shi-Low Down had to exclusively be a column on my love life? I most certainly didn't limit it to that. Therefore, I am reviving The Shi-Low Down. This column is alive and well. I've had a few months of being in the dumps, but I am coming out of those dumps and I'm ready to share my life with you again.

I have some exciting things planned for The Shi-Low Down. Even more exciting is that I am taking requests from you, my faithful readers. To be honest, I really have no idea who reads my blog. Every once in a while I receive a comment from an unknown person. It makes me smile knowing that someone who doesn't even know me finds pleasure in reading my work. I wish I could track everyone who reads this, but there is also fun in the unknown.

I will request different things from you as the weeks continue on. I need your participation, though, or this won't work. If you don't have an account, it's easy to create, and then you can leave comments.

In the comment section, this is what I need from you: This week is question week. Ask me any question, and I will answer truthfully. What do you want to know about me that I haven't shared or you wonder about? Come on...I know you have questions. I know you're curious. I'm not the only question asker in this world. What do you want to know about me?

Where Are the Men?

I went to Cherry Creek Mall today after church to get my necklace cleaned. I very quickly began to notice that were no men shopping. Coming out of every store were women. Inside Tiffany, there were only women. Walking down the halls were only women. I started to wonder where the men were. I understand that men don't like to shop like women, but I still found it strange that there were no men in the mall.

As I approached the middle of the mall, I found all the men. There was a giant flat screen TV surrounded by sofas and chairs. There were at least 50 men sitting and standing around the TV watching the Bronco game. Now that makes sense!

Tidbits

Tidbits from my life recently:

*I am almost done Christmas shopping. I started early this year. I still need to buy for my best friend, April, and my father. He's the tough one. I have NO clue what to get him. I can only buy him so many dollars worth of Ghirardelli chocolate.

*I finished the Christmas letter last weekend. I don't even know how I got stuck writing the thing year after year, but about four years ago I wrote it and mom has expected it ever since.

*One of my student's brother passed away yesterday. He had luekemia, and he started going into organ failure. My heart breaks for her and her family.

*I have a crush on a guy named Tim. My friends think he's interested in me, too, and yesterday at the wrestling match at Chatfield, Tim asked another teacher why I wasn't there.

*I got a new fish!!! My fish of four years died in September. Princess Sparkles was floating upside down one day when I came home from work. He was the love of my life. After a time of mourning, I went to the pet store a few weeks ago to buy a new fish. I texted Shan what I was doing and she replied, "No! We were going to get you a fish for your stocking stuffer." I went home empty handed that day, but just a week ago, Case and Shan came home with a fish for me. His name is Captain Oats, and I love him.

*In just one short week, I will have a two week, much needed, much deserved Christmas break. I have so many things I want to do while off, so I am confident it is going to be a productive time. I will spend a few days in Kearney with the family, too.

*I'm pretty sure (money allowing) that I'm going to dye my hair dark brown over Christmas. It's time for a change.

*I had no idea that my cousin and his wife moved to OK until I read her blog just now.

Twilight

If you know anything about vampires, or more specifically, Twilight, you'll appreciate this post. It cost me some embarrassment to get these pictures.

On our way home from Mexico last weekend, we had a long layover in Houston. Shan and Jeff were people watching when they saw someone who looked familiar. They asked me to look and see if I recognized him. I looked and said, "Is it Edward?" They both laughed and said yes.

You see, Edward is Edward Cullen from the books (and movie), Twilight. Edward is the vampire who falls in love with a human. You have to read the books to understand. Now that the books have been turned into movies, Edward has a face to his name. Robert Pattinson is the guy who plays Edward. So when Shan and Jeff saw this guy, and then pointed him out to me, we all thought we were looking at Robert Pattinson.

Shan told me to take a picture to prove that we had seen him (even though I must be honest and state that it really wasn't Robert-just a look alike). Trying not to be too obvious, I made it seem like I was taking a picture of mom and dad. This is what I got: What's really funny about this picture is that A). "Robert" is looking straight at me and B). Mom and dad actually thought I was taking a picture of them, so they posed and everything. See below:

"Robert" then proceeded to pick up his bags and walk right past us. I took another picture, and again, I got caught taking the pic. He looked straight as me as I pointed the camera at him. Oh well. I'll never see him again. This one is blurry, but you can still see the resemblance.

It must have been a week for vampires and werewolves because this weekend at the Parade of Lights, I then ran into "Jacob," the werewolf in Twilight who wants Edward dead. Jacob in the movie is a Native American teenager with long hair. He looks just like this man:

I can now officially say I've seen Edward and Jacob. :)

Parade of Lights

To get into the Christmas spirit, a few of us headed downtown this past weekend for the Parade of Lights. Yes, it was very cold (around 15 degrees), but we bundled up and ventured out. Britt and I had dinner at the Rio, and the marg's there helped us stay warm. We then met up some good friends. Kari was supposed to meet us, too, but she has been sick and decided it would be best to stay inside. We missed you, Kari! Full of energy and spirit, Abby (middle) was a great addition to the night. She laughed at our jokes, so that made Britt and I feel good. Ben and Lindsey came! Ben is Collin's best friend, and Lindsey is Ben's...FIANCE!!! They got engaged this past week, and her ring is beautiful. Congrats you two. Afterwards, Ben, Lindsey, Britt and I went to Paramount Cafe where we had a beer and onion rings. Yummo! Britt and I then hopped back on the light rail and headed back to Littleton.

Thanks for a great night Britt and gang!