Things on my mind lately...
1. Lady land is a hurting unit. I'm beginning to get back onto the bike, and let me tell you, it's a sensitive area down there!
2. There's six more weeks of school left, which means I only have a job for six more weeks.
3. I haven't been home since Christmas, so I'm looking forward to going to NE next weekend.
4. Shan and Jeff downgraded our cable, so all my favorite shows are gone!
5. I have two giant bruises on my body, and I have no idea where they came from.
6. This past weekend, I got a total of eight hours of sleep (TOTAL), and it's starting to catch up with me. I'm sleepy. But it was a fun weekend.
7. Have I ever told you I like shopping? NO? Oh, well I do, and it's now been 50 days since I bought clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc.
8. Speaking of shopping, maybe I'll go to the mall on my way home. There's a shirt there I really want.
9. I have a good shot at getting a job at Chatfield Senior High. I haven't interviewed yet, but the buzz around the school is that they really like me.
10. April is sick with strep throat and a temp, so keep her in your prayers.
11. My mama had surgery last week, and she's going in for major back surgery in May. It's a pretty high risk surgery, so keep her in your prayers.
12. I have 90 essays to start grading. I'm putting them off. Grading is the worst part of this job.
13. I'm REALLY looking forward to this weekend.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Wuv, Twue Wuv
I've never fully understood the concept of getting a divorce after being married for 15 or 20 years. It used to blow my mind that a couple could be married for so long and then just call it quits. It made more sense for the newly married to give up. As I grow older, though, I realize now more than ever that we are constantly changing, and unfortunately, if your spouse isn't changing and growing with you, then it is very easy for two people to drift further and further apart.
As I think of myself, I know for certain that I have changed a lot in the last year. Sometimes I don't recognize the person I was a year ago, but at the same time, I'm not so totally different that people wouldn't know who I am. We are changing all the time, and as we develop and grow relationships, we hope that our friends, family, and lovers are growing and changing along with us.
With that being said, my favorite radio station had a very intriguing topic today that has been on my mind all afternoon. A listener wrote in with the following problem: He and his fiance are madly in love. Everything was going great until...his fiance found God and has completely changed her life to follow Christ. She decided that they should remain celibate until their wedding...which isn't until June, 2010. Before she found God, they were having relations several times a week and this man was wondering if she had a right to change this "habit" they've formed together just because she found religion. He said he's madly in love with her still, but he doesn't know if he's willing to not sleep with her for over a year.
The thing on my mind isn't whether he should or should not break up with her, although I would love to hear your feedback on the subject. The thing that has me thinking is what happens when two people find love, get married, are happily married and then years down the road one of them has a major change that alters their relationship? What if the man I marry tells me he wants to have kids, but after several years of marriage, he changes his mind and decides he doesn't want children? Or what if we both find a wonderful church we both love, but someone from the church hurt me terribly and I decide I want nothing to do with God?
Those things, among many other huge changes, can greatly affect a marriage. What do you do when someone in the relationship so drastically changes that he/she isn't the same person you married? These questions haunt me at times, but it is then that I give my relationships to Christ and let Him lead the way. I most definitely cannot see my future, nor do I know who I'm going to marry, but Christ does.
So back to the problem at hand from the radio station, I don't know what this man is going to do. Will he break up with his woman because she won't have relations with him? If he does, he's very shallow. But at the same time, maybe they aren't meant to be together. Maybe this girl found God and will also realize that God has a better relationship in store for her. I'm a romantic at heart, and I believe God's will is at work in this relationship. I also believe that God is leading me in the direction to find my one true love, too.
As I think of myself, I know for certain that I have changed a lot in the last year. Sometimes I don't recognize the person I was a year ago, but at the same time, I'm not so totally different that people wouldn't know who I am. We are changing all the time, and as we develop and grow relationships, we hope that our friends, family, and lovers are growing and changing along with us.
With that being said, my favorite radio station had a very intriguing topic today that has been on my mind all afternoon. A listener wrote in with the following problem: He and his fiance are madly in love. Everything was going great until...his fiance found God and has completely changed her life to follow Christ. She decided that they should remain celibate until their wedding...which isn't until June, 2010. Before she found God, they were having relations several times a week and this man was wondering if she had a right to change this "habit" they've formed together just because she found religion. He said he's madly in love with her still, but he doesn't know if he's willing to not sleep with her for over a year.
The thing on my mind isn't whether he should or should not break up with her, although I would love to hear your feedback on the subject. The thing that has me thinking is what happens when two people find love, get married, are happily married and then years down the road one of them has a major change that alters their relationship? What if the man I marry tells me he wants to have kids, but after several years of marriage, he changes his mind and decides he doesn't want children? Or what if we both find a wonderful church we both love, but someone from the church hurt me terribly and I decide I want nothing to do with God?
Those things, among many other huge changes, can greatly affect a marriage. What do you do when someone in the relationship so drastically changes that he/she isn't the same person you married? These questions haunt me at times, but it is then that I give my relationships to Christ and let Him lead the way. I most definitely cannot see my future, nor do I know who I'm going to marry, but Christ does.
So back to the problem at hand from the radio station, I don't know what this man is going to do. Will he break up with his woman because she won't have relations with him? If he does, he's very shallow. But at the same time, maybe they aren't meant to be together. Maybe this girl found God and will also realize that God has a better relationship in store for her. I'm a romantic at heart, and I believe God's will is at work in this relationship. I also believe that God is leading me in the direction to find my one true love, too.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Oops!
This segment of my long-term sub position has me as advisor for the school newspaper. It's a big job. I have to edit every story, make sure the students make deadline, oversee everything, and most importantly, make sure that nothing goes into the paper that is libelous or represents the school in a bad way. At the end of the day, I get blamed for anything that goes awry.
My first issue went to press two weeks ago. It was our Spring Break issue, so it HAD to be passed out on the Friday before Spring Break in order to be timely. We had a huge center spread on Spring Break, which included a page with statistics about drinking and sex that takes place over Spring Break. This page had some alarming stats, such as:
*3 out of 5 women will have unprotected sex over Spring Break
*97% of college students, legal or not, will drink over Spring Break
*Students drink an average of 20 alcoholic beverages a day over Spring Break
*65% of students have at least one sexual encounter over Spring Break
At the bottom of the page, the page designer needed to fill some space, so she wrote, "Have fun this Spring Break!"
The editors and I stayed after school on the day we had to send it to the printer. We had a lot of work to do, but we were hurrying to get it done so we could all go home. I was editing pages, and the editors were designing layout. We finally felt like we had an almost perfect paper, so off it was sent to the printer. Then the snow hit, and Jeffco shut down school for the next two days. To my dissapointment, that meant that the paper wouldn't be delivered before Spring Break. Oh well, what could I do about it?
We finally returned back to school two days ago. My staff delivered the paper around the school, and I was quite proud of how great it looked. I even had an Assistant Principal come tell me he thought the paper looked great.
Today, I split my staff into two groups, and I took the seniors into another room for a meeting. During this meeting, I had another student come into the room and say, "Miss Nichols, I need to talk to you as soon as possible." I quickly excused myself into the hall to see what she needed.
"What's going on, Nicole? Is everything OK?"
"Umm. You're in trouble. Mrs. Lacy (Assistant Principal) wants to speak to you right away. It's about the paper."
"OK. Do you know what it's about?"
"She said the stats on the center spread are promoting sex and alcohol, and she's pissed. She is searching for you right now."
I'll admit, my heart started pounding, but I still had a class to run, so I continued the meeting with my seniors. I knew that as the teacher, I was the one to blame, so I was ready to take the blame for this one. The bell eventually rang, and rather than wait for Mrs. Lacy to come find me (I was afraid she'd be around every corner searching for me), I decided to go find Mrs. Lacy and get it over with. I didn't want to spend my day on the look out for my scolding.
I tracked down Mrs. Lacy and said, "I hear you wanted to talk to me?"
She laughed. "Well, that's not exactly what I told Nicole, but while you're here, yes, let's talk." Very gently, she proceeded to tell me that she had received a few phone calls from some parents who were upset by the center spread with the stats about sex and alcohol. She said it wasn't the fact that we put those in the paper; it was the fact that we put "Have a fun Spring Break" at the bottom of that page. Some parents took it as if we were promoting those ideas. Of course, we weren't, but you know how some people are. She said Littleton is a very Mormon community, so I just needed to be careful about what we printed in the paper. She said the paper looked great, and she was pleased by what she saw, but I needed to be careful on the next paper.
Problem solved. That was easy. Nicole made it sound like I was in for a lynching, but Mrs. Lacy was very kind. Problem averted. Phew! I'm glad I tracked her down because I would have been sick with worry all day wondering when she was going to find me.
My first issue went to press two weeks ago. It was our Spring Break issue, so it HAD to be passed out on the Friday before Spring Break in order to be timely. We had a huge center spread on Spring Break, which included a page with statistics about drinking and sex that takes place over Spring Break. This page had some alarming stats, such as:
*3 out of 5 women will have unprotected sex over Spring Break
*97% of college students, legal or not, will drink over Spring Break
*Students drink an average of 20 alcoholic beverages a day over Spring Break
*65% of students have at least one sexual encounter over Spring Break
At the bottom of the page, the page designer needed to fill some space, so she wrote, "Have fun this Spring Break!"
The editors and I stayed after school on the day we had to send it to the printer. We had a lot of work to do, but we were hurrying to get it done so we could all go home. I was editing pages, and the editors were designing layout. We finally felt like we had an almost perfect paper, so off it was sent to the printer. Then the snow hit, and Jeffco shut down school for the next two days. To my dissapointment, that meant that the paper wouldn't be delivered before Spring Break. Oh well, what could I do about it?
We finally returned back to school two days ago. My staff delivered the paper around the school, and I was quite proud of how great it looked. I even had an Assistant Principal come tell me he thought the paper looked great.
Today, I split my staff into two groups, and I took the seniors into another room for a meeting. During this meeting, I had another student come into the room and say, "Miss Nichols, I need to talk to you as soon as possible." I quickly excused myself into the hall to see what she needed.
"What's going on, Nicole? Is everything OK?"
"Umm. You're in trouble. Mrs. Lacy (Assistant Principal) wants to speak to you right away. It's about the paper."
"OK. Do you know what it's about?"
"She said the stats on the center spread are promoting sex and alcohol, and she's pissed. She is searching for you right now."
I'll admit, my heart started pounding, but I still had a class to run, so I continued the meeting with my seniors. I knew that as the teacher, I was the one to blame, so I was ready to take the blame for this one. The bell eventually rang, and rather than wait for Mrs. Lacy to come find me (I was afraid she'd be around every corner searching for me), I decided to go find Mrs. Lacy and get it over with. I didn't want to spend my day on the look out for my scolding.
I tracked down Mrs. Lacy and said, "I hear you wanted to talk to me?"
She laughed. "Well, that's not exactly what I told Nicole, but while you're here, yes, let's talk." Very gently, she proceeded to tell me that she had received a few phone calls from some parents who were upset by the center spread with the stats about sex and alcohol. She said it wasn't the fact that we put those in the paper; it was the fact that we put "Have a fun Spring Break" at the bottom of that page. Some parents took it as if we were promoting those ideas. Of course, we weren't, but you know how some people are. She said Littleton is a very Mormon community, so I just needed to be careful about what we printed in the paper. She said the paper looked great, and she was pleased by what she saw, but I needed to be careful on the next paper.
Problem solved. That was easy. Nicole made it sound like I was in for a lynching, but Mrs. Lacy was very kind. Problem averted. Phew! I'm glad I tracked her down because I would have been sick with worry all day wondering when she was going to find me.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Fighting the Temptation
You know that saying..."It's like putting an alcoholic in a liquor store"... ???
That is what I have felt like this past week. Like a chocolate addict stuck inside a candy store. It's been terrible. It's been hard. It's been miserable at times. But I am proud to say that I have resisted the temptation, and I have avoided sweets for almost 40 days now.
I do OK when I'm at school because I'm busy and don't have time to think about M&Ms. But last week was Spring Break, so I was inside my house for 11 days with not a whole lot to do. All I could think about was candy, ice cream, chocolate, M&Ms, and ICE CREAM. It took everything in my power to avoid those these, and I'm quite proud of myself.
Tonight, I was making brownies for a friend's birthday. My mouth salivated as the smell hit my nostrils. I told Jeff I was going to cheat and lick out the bowl. He frowned at me and told me, "NO!" I felt like a two year old, so I didn't lick out the bowl. I ran it under hot water and watched the remains twirl down the sink.
Now I am in complete misery as Shan, Jeff, and Case all sit upstairs eating ice cream and MY brownies. I can hear their spoon clink on the bowl while I sit downstairs writing about brownies. Oh joy. Six more days and I can have a brownie. They will probably be either 1) gone or 2) stale and hard.
Liquor never gets stale and hard!
That is what I have felt like this past week. Like a chocolate addict stuck inside a candy store. It's been terrible. It's been hard. It's been miserable at times. But I am proud to say that I have resisted the temptation, and I have avoided sweets for almost 40 days now.
I do OK when I'm at school because I'm busy and don't have time to think about M&Ms. But last week was Spring Break, so I was inside my house for 11 days with not a whole lot to do. All I could think about was candy, ice cream, chocolate, M&Ms, and ICE CREAM. It took everything in my power to avoid those these, and I'm quite proud of myself.
Tonight, I was making brownies for a friend's birthday. My mouth salivated as the smell hit my nostrils. I told Jeff I was going to cheat and lick out the bowl. He frowned at me and told me, "NO!" I felt like a two year old, so I didn't lick out the bowl. I ran it under hot water and watched the remains twirl down the sink.
Now I am in complete misery as Shan, Jeff, and Case all sit upstairs eating ice cream and MY brownies. I can hear their spoon clink on the bowl while I sit downstairs writing about brownies. Oh joy. Six more days and I can have a brownie. They will probably be either 1) gone or 2) stale and hard.
Liquor never gets stale and hard!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Nicknames
I have a new friend whom I've known for about three months now. We don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time together, but we talk on the phone every night.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting on my bed talking to my friend. Case, my nephew, was getting ready for bed, and he decided he wanted to say goodnight to me. Shannon brought him downstairs, and Case came running into my room yelling, "Night night Dido!"
I was still talking on the phone, but I didn't want to ignore my nephew, so I said, "Night night baby."
Case ran out of my room, and I realized the person on the other line had gotten really quiet. It dawned on me that he thought I was talking to him and had called him baby. I didn't want to freak him out, so I explained to him that I was talking to my nephew.
He said, "Oh. I thought you were talking to me, and I didn't realize we were at the nickname stage yet." We both had a good chuckle, but I was a little embarrassed.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting on my bed talking to my friend. Case, my nephew, was getting ready for bed, and he decided he wanted to say goodnight to me. Shannon brought him downstairs, and Case came running into my room yelling, "Night night Dido!"
I was still talking on the phone, but I didn't want to ignore my nephew, so I said, "Night night baby."
Case ran out of my room, and I realized the person on the other line had gotten really quiet. It dawned on me that he thought I was talking to him and had called him baby. I didn't want to freak him out, so I explained to him that I was talking to my nephew.
He said, "Oh. I thought you were talking to me, and I didn't realize we were at the nickname stage yet." We both had a good chuckle, but I was a little embarrassed.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Searching for a Job
I applied to my first teaching job today. It's in the Cherry Creek School District, which is a nice area to work. It's at a middle school, which wouldn't be my first choice (I really like high school), but I'm taking whatever I can get at this point. The middle school is Campus Middle School.
The application took me about three hours to fill out. The next application should go quicker, but this was my first time, so I had to spend a lot of time looking up phone numbers for references, getting addresses to the schools where I've taught, making copies of my letters of reference, etc. It took a long time. Once the application was complete, then I had to take a Gallup Poll, which took about 30 minutes. This poll asks you a million questions, all of which are very similar to one another. They want to make sure that you're answering true to what you believe, so they just re-word the questions several times to try to trick you.
Then it was off to the post office to mail the package. It's now in the mail, so I have to wait until the job closes, which is April 13. Once it closes, they will start calling applicants, so pray that I get a phone call. This job would be an answer to prayer. I'm also keeping my eyes open for any other Language Arts positions, but as of today, this is the one and only L/A spot open in the Denver area.
Tomorrow, I'm going to find a part time job. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do this summer for a job, so I figure if I can get a job now, I'll at least have that as a backup.
The application took me about three hours to fill out. The next application should go quicker, but this was my first time, so I had to spend a lot of time looking up phone numbers for references, getting addresses to the schools where I've taught, making copies of my letters of reference, etc. It took a long time. Once the application was complete, then I had to take a Gallup Poll, which took about 30 minutes. This poll asks you a million questions, all of which are very similar to one another. They want to make sure that you're answering true to what you believe, so they just re-word the questions several times to try to trick you.
Then it was off to the post office to mail the package. It's now in the mail, so I have to wait until the job closes, which is April 13. Once it closes, they will start calling applicants, so pray that I get a phone call. This job would be an answer to prayer. I'm also keeping my eyes open for any other Language Arts positions, but as of today, this is the one and only L/A spot open in the Denver area.
Tomorrow, I'm going to find a part time job. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do this summer for a job, so I figure if I can get a job now, I'll at least have that as a backup.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April 1, 1998
I don't play jokes on people. I'm not a good liar, and I don't like fooling people or playing games with them. It's probably no surprise, then, that I've only ever successfully played one April Fool's Day joke.
The year was 1998, and I was a senior in high school; my brother was a sophomore. Collin was in track and field, as were most of his friends, including his best friends, Ben and Luke. My best friend was Tiffany, and her sister, Brittany, was dating Luke. The six of us decided to take a road trip to Columbus, NE, to watch a track meet on April Fool's Day. Tiffany asked her mom if we could take the mini van so all of us could ride together. I was the oldest, so I was voted to do the driving.
We took off that morning on our four hour road trip. We had a blast on the way, singing songs, laughing, and sharing stories. Once at the track meet, the boys took off to watch their teammates (Collin, Luke and Ben weren't running in this meet). Tiffany, Brittany, and I spent the afternoon in the stands cheering for KHS. As the afternoon droned on, we began to get a little bored, so we decided to play a joke on the boys. We figured out all the details, and much to my horror, the main part of the joke fell on my shoulders.
After the track meet, we piled back in the mini van and headed back to Kearney. This is where the joke started. As I was driving down the two lane highway in the middle of nowhere, it was my job to make the van "break down." I started tapping on the brake, which of course made the car start to jerk.
"Uh, oh. Something is wrong with the van," I shouted.
"Try and pull over slowly," Collin said.
"This sucks. We're out in the middle of nowhere. What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry, we'll take a look and see if we can figure it out."
I carefully pulled over the van as I continued to punch the brake to make it jerk back and forth. As soon as the van was stopped, the three boys hopped out and popped the hood. We girls sat in the van giggling to ourselves. So far our plan was working like a charm. They really thought we had broken down.
We girls got out the van to see what they were seeing. All three boys had their head in the engine. Each one had their own opinion as to what was "wrong."
"The spark plugs are really dirty. Do you think that could be the problem?" asked Ben.
"No, it's not the spark plugs," replied Collin. "It for sure has something to do with the engine."
The boys continued to speculate what the problem was, when much to our dismay, a very kind motorist coming from the opposite direction saw us broken down on the side of the road. He decided to stop and assist us. This was not in the plan! We girls didn't know what to do because in all reality, there was nothing wrong with the van! Tiffany, Brittany and I knew we needed to do something because we didn't want to waste this man's time. I sent Tiffany to try to tell the man we didn't need his help.
Tiffany tried to pull the man aside, but he was intent on looking at the engine. Tiffany really had no choice but to tell everyone it was all a joke. As Tiffany told the group of boys, including the stranger, that the van was perfect and we were just playing a joke, the younger boys all began to laugh. They knew they had been had. The stranger, on the other hand, didn't take the news as well. In fact, he was pretty upset that he had wasted his time to try to help us when we didn't really need help. It was just a group of teenagers playing a joke on each other. We thanked the man for his help, and he left us grumbling to himself.
The six of us piled back into the van to head on our way. The entire way back, Tiffany, Brittany, and I made fun of the boys. "I think it's the gas pump..." "No, it's the anti freeze..." In all truth, the boys had no idea what they were doing, but they put on a good show. If the van really had been in trouble, I'm pretty sure the boys would not have been our savior that afternoon. In order to save their own pride, the boys told us they knew there was nothing wrong with the van.
We learned our lesson, though. I've never tried playing a joke on anyone else since that day, but every year I can't help but smile knowing that we really did fool these boys.
The year was 1998, and I was a senior in high school; my brother was a sophomore. Collin was in track and field, as were most of his friends, including his best friends, Ben and Luke. My best friend was Tiffany, and her sister, Brittany, was dating Luke. The six of us decided to take a road trip to Columbus, NE, to watch a track meet on April Fool's Day. Tiffany asked her mom if we could take the mini van so all of us could ride together. I was the oldest, so I was voted to do the driving.
We took off that morning on our four hour road trip. We had a blast on the way, singing songs, laughing, and sharing stories. Once at the track meet, the boys took off to watch their teammates (Collin, Luke and Ben weren't running in this meet). Tiffany, Brittany, and I spent the afternoon in the stands cheering for KHS. As the afternoon droned on, we began to get a little bored, so we decided to play a joke on the boys. We figured out all the details, and much to my horror, the main part of the joke fell on my shoulders.
After the track meet, we piled back in the mini van and headed back to Kearney. This is where the joke started. As I was driving down the two lane highway in the middle of nowhere, it was my job to make the van "break down." I started tapping on the brake, which of course made the car start to jerk.
"Uh, oh. Something is wrong with the van," I shouted.
"Try and pull over slowly," Collin said.
"This sucks. We're out in the middle of nowhere. What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry, we'll take a look and see if we can figure it out."
I carefully pulled over the van as I continued to punch the brake to make it jerk back and forth. As soon as the van was stopped, the three boys hopped out and popped the hood. We girls sat in the van giggling to ourselves. So far our plan was working like a charm. They really thought we had broken down.
We girls got out the van to see what they were seeing. All three boys had their head in the engine. Each one had their own opinion as to what was "wrong."
"The spark plugs are really dirty. Do you think that could be the problem?" asked Ben.
"No, it's not the spark plugs," replied Collin. "It for sure has something to do with the engine."
The boys continued to speculate what the problem was, when much to our dismay, a very kind motorist coming from the opposite direction saw us broken down on the side of the road. He decided to stop and assist us. This was not in the plan! We girls didn't know what to do because in all reality, there was nothing wrong with the van! Tiffany, Brittany and I knew we needed to do something because we didn't want to waste this man's time. I sent Tiffany to try to tell the man we didn't need his help.
Tiffany tried to pull the man aside, but he was intent on looking at the engine. Tiffany really had no choice but to tell everyone it was all a joke. As Tiffany told the group of boys, including the stranger, that the van was perfect and we were just playing a joke, the younger boys all began to laugh. They knew they had been had. The stranger, on the other hand, didn't take the news as well. In fact, he was pretty upset that he had wasted his time to try to help us when we didn't really need help. It was just a group of teenagers playing a joke on each other. We thanked the man for his help, and he left us grumbling to himself.
The six of us piled back into the van to head on our way. The entire way back, Tiffany, Brittany, and I made fun of the boys. "I think it's the gas pump..." "No, it's the anti freeze..." In all truth, the boys had no idea what they were doing, but they put on a good show. If the van really had been in trouble, I'm pretty sure the boys would not have been our savior that afternoon. In order to save their own pride, the boys told us they knew there was nothing wrong with the van.
We learned our lesson, though. I've never tried playing a joke on anyone else since that day, but every year I can't help but smile knowing that we really did fool these boys.
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