The Crazies

I don't know what it was, but something was in the water last week that hit Littleton. The crazies came out in droves.

Wednesday:
My school went on lockdown because someone planted a bomb inside Southwest Plaza, the mall a few miles down the street from my school. Twenty-five schools were placed on lockdown, and the man who planted the bomb is still at large.

Thursday:
My school went on lockdown for a second time, along with 25 other schools, because a man walked into a nearby elementary school and asked to go to the bathroom. He then disappeared from the bathroom, and a ceiling tile had been skewed. They found the man a few miles away from the school, questioned him, and later released him. Apparently he really did just need to use the bathroom. Note to self: don't use a school bathroom and then just disappear.

Thursday afternoon:
There was a high speed chase down the road that runs in front of Chatfield. The man the police were chasing lost control of his car, flipped it, and rolled into the golf course lake. The road was closed for hours while a flight for life helicopter landed at the golf course. The man did not survive. We all watched it from the high school back yard (the back of the school looks right to the golf course).

Saturday morning-1:45 a.m.:
I am awakened by my neighbor below me having very LOUD relations with her man. I mean LOUD! As I tried to sleep through it, I heard a car speeding down a nearby road at a very fast speed. Then I heard SCHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHH for about five seconds. I tightened up for the impact because I knew this car was about to hit something. Sure enough, within seconds, the car hit something with a loud BAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM, CRUNCH. And then complete silence. My heart was pounding. I waited for sirens. Nothing. Finally, 23 minutes later, ambulance, fire trucks and police arrived at the scene. For another 40 minutes, I listened to them clean up the scene of the accident. Josh and I looked for the report of the accident the next morning, but we never did find anything except a tree in my apartment complex that was apparently the victim of this crash.

Saturday morning-4 a.m.:
Same neighbor having very loud relations AGAIN. This was number two for the morning.

Saturday morning-6 a.m.:
Same neighbor having very loud relations AGAIN. This was number three for the morning.

Saturday morning-8 a.m.:
Yep, you get the idea. AGAIN. This was number four for the morning.

Saturday morning-10 a.m.:
AGAIN. Number five.

Yowza's!

Sunday morning-2 a.m.:
I was awakened by a man screaming at his wife/girlfriend/friend, "You don't know d*&% about f'in anything, you f'in whore. I'm f'in going to KILL YOU." And then complete silence. I waited for the gun shot but nothing came.

I wonder what this week will bring?

My Honey

I arrived home Friday after school to find these sitting outside my apartment door. Josh, my amazing boyfriend (I have to say that...he's sitting right beside me :), got me this beautiful bouquet of flowers "just because." Isn't he sweet?

In case you're wondering, we're about to hit five months! A record for me, as you know.

Snot Slingin'

There's this dance club in Wichita called Club Rodeo. When Kari and I visited Abby a couple of years ago, Abby took us and we had blast. What makes this place special is they have live bull riding in the building. It's the coolest thing ever. But I'll talk about that more in a bit.

While visiting Abby last month, we made sure to hit up Club Rodeo for the bull riding event. Since she has a child, we had to plan around Lawrence, so we went to Club Rodeo's website. It said that they opened at 7 p.m. through 2 a.m., and there was no cover until 8:30. It did not make mention of when the bull riding started, and since Abby and I had to be home by 10 to get Lawrence to bed, we decided to go at 7. We figured we could watch the bull riding at 7, 8, and 9 and be home in plenty of time to tuck Lawrence away for the night.

Upon arrival to the parking lot, there are about four cars in the parking lot. Getting out of those cars were couples ranging from the age of 50 to 110. Abby and I looked at each other. We knew we were early, but....

We went inside anyway. The door man was quite pleased to see anyone under the age of 40, so he happily escorted us in the door. The place was dead. The other eight people were dancing. Abby and I took our seats.

Soon enough, as old people like to do (or should I say, single, old creepy men like to do), Abby soon found a line forming to dance with her. Ok, well maybe not a line, but the first guy came and asked her to dance. She happily said, "No thanks, but my friend Shiloh would LOVE to dance with you." Thanks Abby.

I danced the first dance with a very strange man. No conversation. We danced, I thanked him, we parted ways.

Soon after, another guy asked Abby if she would like to dance. Abby again, "No thanks, but my friend Shiloh would be more than happy to dance with you." Thanks Abby. This particular gentleman was also very strange. He wanted to teach me West Coast Swing, so he started by counting out the steps. I very quickly caught on, but the man insisted he count. He said, "I'm going to continue counting. I want to make sure you got it." He proceeded to count through the entire song (which was about 5 minutes worth).

Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.

Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

Again.

Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.
Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.
Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.
Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.

And while counting, he intensely started into my eyes. Awkward. He finally stopped his counting for a moment to say, "I'm only staring because you're supposed to watch your partner to look for signs of discomfort or anything out of the ordinary."

"What are my signs that I'm giving out?

"Your signs are just fine."

Triple Step. Triple Step. Rock Back.

Back to the counting.

After a long five minutes of listening to counting, the song was finally over. I joined Abby back at the stool.

We eventually asked the bar tender what time the bull riding started. We had been there an hour and nothing had happened. I had danced with two old men. There were about 10 people in the place. We wanted to know when the events would begin. The bar tender told us it started at 10:30. Oh. We were wrong. We were early. There was a little over two hours before the bull riding began. Abby had to feed Lawrence at 10. What to do? We decided to go home so Abby could feed Lawrence and then come back to watch the bull riding.

Luckily, the door man stamped our hands so we wouldn't have to pay when we came back.

Once we got back at 10:30, we were able to watch the bull riding. This is the coolest place. You sit so close to the pen that you can reach out and touch the bars. This isn't something Abby and I get to see often, so we made sure to snap some pictures. Yes, we got made fun of for taking these pictures (some guys behind us were laughing at us), but oh well.

All in all, our night was fabulous. We got to see some bull riding, we didn't have to pay, and we have a good story from the night.

My Projects

Here's a look at a few of my arts and crafts: I made Rice Krispie Treats for my newphews and nieces. They are egg shaped, and they are filled with a fun surprise in the middle (jelly beans).

The final eggs.

I then made bird nests. Easy peasy! Mix pretzels and white almond bark. Lay out in the shape of a nest. Put a peep in the middle and use jelly beans for the eggs.

I've never planted anything in my life. In fact, I have a hard time keeping plants alive, but I decided to give flower planting a try. Josh and I dug up some dirt. I bought some seeds and planters. All by myself, I planted the seeds. I didn't know how many to put in, so I just dumped. Josh said I probably put way too many seeds (is 100 or more seeds too much for these small planters? Who knew?!?!), so they might over grow into each other, but that's OK.

Once I planted them, I put them outside and waited. And waited. And waited. After a week, nothing had happened, and I was starting to get frustrated.

Nothing was growing! I felt like a failure.

Until....

This past Sunday, they started to grow! See the green plants coming up? I probably have about 10 coming up in each planter. I will keep you updated on their progress! It's raining now, so they are getting some good water and sun out on my balcony!

Lawrence

Abby and I took Lawrence out for a walk once afternoon.

I was most excited about the turtles than anyone! There were at least 15 of them warming in the sun.

Little Lawrence is so precious.

The Bevan family.

I am so thankful to have met Lawrence. He is such a sweet kid, and I am proud to be his Aunt Dido. We tried getting him to say Dido, but he didn't quite catch on. Next time, mister, next time!

In the Kitchen

I was so very blessed to be able to spend part of my spring break with my dear friend, Abby. Originally, she was thinking of flying to Denver. However, with a new baby and all the luggage she'd have to bring, it was going to be more of a hassle than a fun trip. So, she called me and invited me to make a visit. It was a pretty low-key, relaxing, much needed trip. I'll fill you in via pictures, and here's my first post.

Abby is a fabulous cook. She tends to make things from scratch. I love to cook, as well, so we decided to spend a day in the kitchen to see what we could cook up. We decided on homemade grilled pizzas. We started around 4 p.m., ate around 7:30, and had the place cleaned up by 8:30. Here's our afternoon: You can't cook without cute aprons!

Or without having a little fun with a pineapple and knife.

Abby made homemade Alfredo sauce. So good!

I whipped up the most amazing marinara sauce. So much better than store bought!

Next came the dough, from scratch, of course!

Once the dough rose, Abby rolled out our pizza.

The longest part was cutting up all our toppings, which included:

peppers, onions, olives, chicken, pepperoni, hamburger, mushrooms, Canadian bacon, artichokes, and jalapenos. We made four different pizzas.

It took both of us to grill the dough and then quickly put the toppings on without losing all the heat in the grill.

Abby made this fabulous salad as a side dish.

And wine, of course.

Our final projects:

One pepperoni and jalapeno with marinara.

One hamburger, mushroom, and onion with marinara.

One Canadian bacon, mushroom, onions and peppers with Alfredo sauce.

One chicken, black olives, onions, artichokes, and mushrooms with Alfredo sauce.

And we topped it off with homemade Baby Lava Cakes. The middle oozed out chocolate when you cut into it, and it was so moist and delicious.

Caught Red Handed

There is a study hall in my classroom during 7th hour. Another teacher comes into the room to "man" the students, so therefore, I have to leave the room. I usually take my stuff and head toward the teacher's office at the end of the hall.

I don't enjoy the fact that I have to trust another teacher to keep my room in order. This said teacher does not have a great reputation around the building. She's a PE teacher, and she's been known to say things like, "Isn't it funny that I get paid the exact same salary as an English teacher? Look at all the essays they have to grade. I don't have to grade any papers. Sucks to be them."

She's cruel to the students. She destroys my desk. She doesn't keep an eye on the study hall kids, so they destroy my room nearly every day. I spend the first ten minutes of each day picking up the mess the study hall kids have left behind.

About a month ago, I caught a study hall kid stealing my candy. I happened to walk into the room. He was all by himself, and he was going through my candy jar. Since that time, I started hiding my candy in my desk. I figured it would be safe and sound with the teacher.

Wrong!

Get this story: Yesterday, I left my room as normal. I took my purse and papers to grade and went to my usual spot. About half way through 7th hour, I realized I needed to grab some papers I had left in my classroom. As I walked into my room, I see the teacher and a study digging through my desk. Both teacher and student have their heads buried in my food drawer (where I keep my lunch, snacks, and candy).

I hear the teacher say, "There's some M&M's. Oh, and she has Wheat Thins."
The student goes, "I see pretzels and peanut butter. What should I eat? It all sounds good."

I was so stunned, I stood at the door and watched them dig through my desk for a moment. I then said, "Are you going through my desk?" This caught the attention of the teacher, who quickly jumped up and tried to hide the student behind her. The student did not hear me and continued to say, "I think I'll have the Wheat Thins." The teacher said, "Shhhhhhh...." to quiet the girl. The girl realized I had entered the room and quickly turned red.

I repeated my question. "Are you going through my desk? Are you eating my food?"

The teacher said, "I was just telling her she needed to go sit down. Emily, go sit down."

The student went and sat down. Awkwardness ensued. I was so angry that I didn't even know what to do next. I grabbed my papers and left the room.

Since then, I've cleared out my desk and locked up all my food, candy and snacks. I realized that I can't even trust my fellow co-worker. It makes me so angry. I was tempted to leave a note on my desk for this teacher to tell her to not rummage through my desk, but I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. I'm left with this lingering question, "What do I do about this situation? Do I leave it alone and forget about it? Or do I speak to someone about this issue?"

What do you think?

Handing in the Baby

I spent a lot of money at Costco last night. Like, a lot of money. I love that store. I bought six pounds of ground hamburger, enough strawberries to last a month, enough green grapes to feed me until tomorrow (have I mentioned my love of green grapes?), black beans to feed an army, coffee to fill me up until next month, edamame to snack on, and even a cute tennis skirt (since Josh and I have played tennis once). Anything in bulk is awesome!

Oh, but wait. Costco, or how much I spent at Costco, is not the point of this blog. The point is, I walked into Costco last night, and as I walked past the checkout line, I heard a lady tell her cashier, "If someone would have told me all the work it was to be a mother, I never would have had kids. It's a lot of work." The cashier chuckled a nervous laugh. The lady thought she was hilarious. I wanted to throw up.

They make you pass a test to get a driver's license.

They make you go to school for 18 years to get a college degree.

You have to attend practices to make the team.

Why aren't there classes on parenthood? Where are the courses that talk about how hard it is to be a parent? For that matter, why aren't parents talking to their children about parenthood?

I understand that nothing can prepare someone for parenthood. Even the best class on how to raise children will never do justice, but I see children having children as if it's just another Saturday night. I had a student with a three year old child (she gave birth in 8th grade!).

At Chatfield, we have this awesome class that I think every student should be required to take. Students in this class are given a fake baby for a week. This baby cries, pees, poops, cries, sleeps, cries, burps, cries. There is a computer system i the baby that records EVERYTHING. The student is graded on how well they take care of the baby (and in a timely manner). For an entire week, students carry their baby to class, work, and play. The baby cries for hours in the middle of the night. The baby needs feeding at 3 a.m. The baby poops at 10 a.m. during math class. It's great. For one week, these students see the real truth about what it means to be a parent. I often hear students say after they turn in their baby, "That was hard. I don't plan on having a baby any time soon."

They recently handed out the babies to the students. One girl, after one night of baby care, came back with her baby, marched into the classroom, and handed her baby back to the teacher. She said, "It cried every single hour for the entire night. I've gotten less than two hours of sleep. I am tired. I am cranky. This is too hard. I quit." She returned the baby and received a 0 on the assignment.

I doubt she'll be having a baby anytime soon.

I think EVERY person should go through this class. I almost recommended it to this lady at Costco, but I looked at her with scorn in my face and walked away.

I feel sorry for her kids.

Baptist Church Hunting

Josh and I have been trying to find a church that meets both of our needs and that we both enjoy. When he comes to visit me in Littleton, we usually attend my church, Denver Community Church, which I love. He's not opposed to the church, but there are some things that he doesn't agree with. We've scoped out a few churches in the Littleton area, but so far we haven't found one we both like.

Josh was born and raised Baptist, so he's really keen on finding a good Baptist Church. He especially wants a Baptist church that preaches from the King James Version of the Bible. So this past weekend when I was visiting him in Greeley, we opened up the yellow pages to see what we could find. In bold letters, we found Greeley Baptist Church with the advertisement: King James Version! Josh was sold.

I had not packed for the occasion; I only had jeans to wear. At my church, jeans are acceptable. In fact, if you wear a dress, you're a little out of place. Another fact: my pastor wears jeans, has tattoos, and preaches from the New International Version. Not so much at a Baptist Church! I dressed in my jeans, with Josh telling me I was going to feel a little out of place. Sure enough, he was right. I was the only one wearing jeans. All the other ladies were wearing skirts. Oops.

I also brought my coffee in with me. At my church, they hand out coffee as you walk in the door. If you don't have coffee in your hand, you feel a little out of place. At this place, I was the only one with a coffee in my hands. Oops.

I didn't have my Bible. Josh had his King James Version in his hand, but the only thing I had in my hand was, yes, my coffee. At my church, the provide Bibles for you. At this church, I was the only one without a Bible in my hand, and yes, just a coffee. Oops.

However, despite these Baptist Church faux pas, every single person in that church made us feel so welcome. From the moment we walked in the door, we had people introducing themselves to us. People welcomed us with open arms. I have never in my life felt so welcome. We got hugs. We got handshakes. They genuinely wanted to know about our story. Where did we live? What did we do? We obviously were the stars of the morning. We obviously were newbies, too. The pastor even came down from the stage to welcome us personally. The music leader came and spoke to us. Nearly every single person in the sanctuary greeted us It was great. During announcements, the pastor personally introduced us to the congregation and made sure that we got a welcome card.

Josh was ecstatic when they sang hymnals from a hymn book! He belted it out, and I giggled at his enthusiasm.

After the service, more people came to meet us. They welcomed us to come back and reported how glad they were to have us there. Josh and I left with a smile on our face and a warm feeling in our tummies. And then we did what all Baptists do after church (according to Josh): we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I'm not sure that this church will be our home Greeley Church, but it was nice to visit a place that made us feel so welcome. We're going to try out a few more places, but this place definitely made an impact on us and made us feel like we really belonged among them. I wish every church could be like that.