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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!

Cookie Drama

Most of the time, I am not a teacher.

Most of the time, I am a babysitter.

Most of the time, my students view me as an old hag.

Most of the time, I want to rip my hair out and walk out of the room.

For example:

My school has a cookie shack. My fellow co-teachers and I have decided that these cookies must contain some type of drug because the students are addicted to the cookies. At any time during the day, there is a line 50 kids deep waiting for these cookies. Everywhere I go in the halls, students are talking about these cookies. I have students tardy to class because of these cookies. I have students asking me if they can leave class for these cookies.

On Thursday, I showed a short video to my students. It was a little disturbing, so I told them that if they didn't want to watch it, they could sit out in the hallway. One girl opted to sit in the hall, but for some reason I had a feeling that she was up to no good. I went to the hall to find her, and she was halfway down the hall. I yelled at her and she goes, "Darn it. You caught me. I was going to get a cookie." I told her to march her butt back into the class.

About halfway through this same class, I had a student ask me if he could go to the bathroom. I allowed him to go, but I noticed that he was gone longer than he should have been. When he came back in, he looked guilty. I could tell by his face that he had done something bad. I was already fuming.

"Jake, please tell me you do not have a cookie in your pocket. I will really be ticked if you do."
With his head down, he said, "Yes, Ms. Nichols. I have a cookie in my pocket."
I lost it. I rarely get mad at my students (or if I do get mad, I try to hide it). But this took me over the line. How dare he leave class while I am teaching to get a cookie. I went on a rampage for about five minutes, telling him how disappointed I was in him. I took away all their bathroom privileges. I said that Jake had ruined it for everyone, and I could no longer trust any one of them to go the bathroom. I don't even really remember what I said to them because I was so furious. My face was red, and it was apparent to all of them that I was serious. Not a student said a peep.

After I was done yelling, a student raised his hand. "Ms. Nichols, can I go get a drink?"
"Are you serious right now? No, you may not go get a drink. I just took away all your privileges. You're stuck with me for the rest of the class period."

Jake came and apologized after class, which I appreciated. He said he felt bad and he would never do something like that again. I told him he had to come clean my desks as his punishment, which he did the following day.

My last class of the day was next, which is my one and only 10th grade class. I told them as they filed in that I was not in a good mood. They asked why, so I told them the story of Jake who left to get a cookie while I was teaching. My 10th graders had a poem due, and one student asked if he could go print his poem. I told him he could. I said, "However, if you come back with a dang cookie in your hand, I will flip a lid on you."

He said, "What if I bring a cookie back for you?"
I thought about it for a moment, and I said, "OK!"

Sure enough, Dan came back with his poem and two cookies, one for him and one for me. I ate this cookie, and it was delicious. Now I totally understand why the kids love these cookies so much.

123,457

After returning from Mexico this past weekend, I discovered my car battery to be dead. Jeff helped me jump the car, and mom and dad helped me get a new battery and install it. This, of course, reset everything in my car (clock and gas mileage ticker). Typically, I keep my mileage ticker on the miles per tank (rather than on the total miles of the car. Upon starting my car, however, the total miles of my car appeared on the display. I rarely look at how many miles my car has; in fact, if someone would have asked me how many miles my car had, I probably would have said around 115,000.

I looked at the display showcasing my mileage and saw that it read: 123,440. It didn't take me long to realize that my car was very close to reading: 123,456, which isn't something you see very often. I made a mental note to watch for it to happen.

I drove to school Monday and I ended up at 123,451. Only five more miles to go! I decided I would take a picture of this SPECIAL occasion. On my way home from school yesterday, I got my phone ready for the snapshot. At mileage 123,455, my phone beeped. I looked at it and it was flashing: LOW BATTERY. Of course, this would happen to me. The miles rolled to 123,456, so I pulled into a gas station (so that I wouldn't be driving and taking a picture at the same time). I opened my phone to take a picture and it powered down.

WHAT?!?! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I powered my phone back on. It didn't turn off, so I turned on the camera. It powered down again. I had to choice but to keep driving. I was fairly close to home, so I was holding out hope I would make it home before it flipped to 123,457. I turned the corner onto my street. I had six houses to go before I would be home. At home number two it flipped to 123,457.

Stupid son of a $#&!%

Ok, seriously, this would be my luck. The coolest thing to happen to my poor car in the five years I've owned it and I can't even take a picture to remember it by.