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.

Airplane Man

If I'm remembering correctly, the last time I went to Mexico was almost three years ago with Abby and Kari. As luck would have it, the three of us ended up in the very last row of seats in the airplane. As you know, those seats do not recline; in fact, they practically sit straight up and down. It's not the most comfortable place to sit for a five hour plane flight.

However, as luck would have it, our flight attendant was a cute little lady who took a liking to the three of us. She had traveled to Cancun frequently, so she told us of a fabulous Thai restaurant that we just HAD to visit.

As we were waiting to take off, the last few passengers were straggling on. One guy in particular caught the attention of Abby, and she leaned over to me as this guy was walking toward our direction in the back of the plane. "Shi, he's really cute. You should talk to him!" As luck would have it, this guy ended up sitting directly in front of us. He was in the window seat, and I was behind him in the aisle seat. I could see him through the seats, and every time he turned around, he had direct eye contact with me.

Being girls, we were giggling and whispering about him, and Abby and Kari were encouraging me to talk to him. It was 10 a.m., and I wasn't quite in the mood to strike up a conversation, so I snuggled back to enjoy the company of my two friends.

As luck would have it again, while our cute attendant was passing out our free beverages, she slipped the three of us our own free bottle of vodka. She whispered, "I feel sorry that you're in the back row, so this vodka should help you relax." Nothing like a Screwdriver early in the morning, but we were on vacation, so we happily partook.

After our first Screwdriver was finished, our lady friend flight attendant slipped us each ANOTHER vodka. Now we were really starting to have fun. As the drinks flowed, we got happier and I grew bolder. This guy in front of me kept turning around, we would make eye contact and smile, and then I would blush and he would quickly turn around. It was obvious that he was paying attention to the three of us. After we finished our second drink, I was ready to make contact.

He was looking at me, so I introduced myself (through the seat crack) and asked where he was from. He was from Denver, his name was Allen, he was a musician, and he was going to Cancun to play in a wedding. From there, the conversation lasted for the rest of the flight. We discovered that he was staying at a hotel just a few spots down the beach from ours, so I invited him and his friend to come swimming with us. By the end of the flight, he had given me his number and told me to call him sometime. We went through customs together and stayed together until our shuttle came to take us away. I didn't know if I would ever see this guy again, but I thought, "Hey, that was fun. I just met a guy on an airplane."

The three of us got settled in the hotel and spent the rest of the day at the pool. We arose early the next morning and hit the pool right after breakfast. We were staking our claim in the "perfect" spot for sitting at the pool all day when Abby, wide eyed and gaping mouth, started hitting me. She was stuttering, so it took me a moment to realize what she was trying to say.

"Shi, Shi, Shi. You'll never believe who is walking toward us right now."

I turned my head to see Allen and his friend coming our way from up the beach. I was shocked. And I was mortified. I was in a swimming suit for goodness sakes!!! They told us that they had come to the our hotel the night before to find us, but the hotel security would not let them come into the hotel, so they had come up from the beach on this try and it had worked. They asked if they could hang with us for a while. We spent the next two hours swimming and getting to know each other. While we were sitting at the pool, Allen said he would really like to see me again once we got back to Denver. I told him I would call.

Around noon, he had to leave to go to the wedding, so we said our goodbye's. He told me to call. Once I got back to Denver after our week long vacation, I did call Allen. We ended up dating for about three months, and that story of our "relationship" is quite the adventure and obviously didn't last, but it makes for a really fun story of how I met a guy on an airplane thanks to a cute little flight attendant and vodka.

As I prepare to leave for Mexico tomorrow morning, I am really praying that I meet a fun guy on the airplane. I'm not sure if luck is with me, though. Our flight leaves at 6 a.m., so I doubt the vodka will be flowing (unless mom and dad are up for some fun).

The Sticker Says So

Now that I am on a roll saying NO, I also stuck up for myself this past weekend, which is something I normally don't do. I typically keep my mouth shut and stew by myself, but this time I spoke up and got what I wanted.

I went shopping with my relatives this weekend when we were home for Thanksgiving. Herberger's was having a huge sale, so while the men stayed to watch football, the ladies went shopping. The first thing I found was a pair of black snow boots for 50% off. They were $70, so that meant they would be $35 (and I had a coupon for 20 percent off). They were perfect and exactly what I had been looking for. I carried them around for 30 minutes, which was a pain because the box was not small. It was finally time to check out, and the line at the shoe counter was really long, so I went to the checkout down the aisle. There was a line there, so I waited patiently for about 10 minutes until it was my turn. Finally, I put the boots on the counter and the girl says, "I'm sorry, but you can only buy shoes at the shoe checkout." Seriously?!?!

I walk over the shoe checkout, which has about 10 people in front of me. I wait. And I wait. And I wait. Another 10 minutes goes by, but it's finally my turn. The lady scans them and says, "Your total is $55."

I say, "Actually, those are 50% off. The sticker on the bottom of the shoe says that."

"Oh, well, that sticker is from early this morning for the door busters. That ended at 9 a.m., so now they are only 15% off. We've been too busy to take off the stickers."

I'm highly annoyed by this time. It's hot in the store, it's completely packed with annoying shoppers, and there is no way I'm paying $55 for these boots. I tell her I'm no longer interested, and she moves on to the next shopper.

Brandi, my cousin, is trying on shoes, so I tell them all what happened. Aunt Jan tells me to stick up for myself. She says, "They should honor the 50% off since the sticker is still on the shoe."

She's totally right, so I approach the lady and ask for her manager. I was totally nice, but I let her know I meant business. She asked what I wanted, and I told her I thought they should honor the discount since the sticker was still on the shoe. She calls her manager. The manager tells her to honor the discount. So, I got the boots for $35 as originally planned.

Again, it felt amazing to stick up for myself. I was really nice to the lady about the entire thing, and it just felt good to speak up. I'm growing as a person :)

The Power of NO!

I've never been really good at saying no. This can be a positive thing or a negative thing, but I find myself trying to say no to things I don't want to do but YES comes out instead. For example, the day I tried saying NO to a massage, I ended up saying YES.

This past week, however, I'm quite proud of myself for saying no. It felt great!

There is a lady at school who sells Mary Kay. I hardly know this lady, but she confronted me during the first weeks of school and asked me if I would be interested in a Mary Kay party. Trying to make friends and be nice, I said, "Sure, maybe we can plan something sometime." A few months went by, and I was able to avoid her for the most part. Then she cornered my friend Jessica into having a party, and Jessica invited me. I decided that if I went to Jessica's party, that would take care of my obligation to having a party, so Britt, Jessica and I had this lady over. We did makeovers, and this lady did the entire sales pitch to us (it took over an hour). At the end, she goes, "So, I'll let you girls think over what you want to buy. Come chat with me when you know what you want." Jessica bought something. Britt bought something. Then she cornered me. "Shiloh, what are you going to get? I think the Premier Package is just perfect for you. What do you think? It's a $400 value, but you can buy it today for ONLY $200!"

Is this lady nuts? Does she seriously think I'm going to drop $200 on stupid Mary Kay products? I politely refused, but she still managed to get me to buy some eye shadow (it was the cheapest thing in the magazine). At this point, I hadn't perfected my saying NO skills. I made my purchase, and then she pulled out her calendar and said, "Now, when are you going to have your party?" I tried to avoid it by telling her I would email my friends to see if they were interested, and she said the only way they would agree to a party is if we had a set date on the calendar. She marked November 10 as our Mary Kay makeover party and told me to email my friends right away.

I went and emailed all my friends. I did not get a positive response from any of them, which was fine by me, so I went to her the next day and told her no one could do that day. What did she do but pull out her calendar and erased the 10th and said I should try for the 18th. Once again I was stuck. To be honest, I did NOT email any of my friends the second time around. I could tell from the first email I sent that no one wanted to do a party. I did not want to do a party, either, so when she came to be this final time, I was finally ready to tell her NO!

I found her working last Thursday, so I went up to her and said, "You know, I'm not getting a positive response from any of my friends. It sounds like they already have products they used and aren't really interested in Mary Kay. I don't want to waste your time any longer, so I think I'm going to have to cancel the party altogether."

"Well, did you call any of them personally or did you just email them?
"I just emailed. That's how most of my friends and I communicate."
"I've found that if I call my friends, they are more likely to respond positively than via email."
"I'm sure that's probably true, but I just didn't get a good response from anyone. I just think I should cancel the party."

She kind of glared at me. "Then I guess I'll just book another party for that date then if you're not interested. You do know that you get $50 of free makeup if you do the party, don't you?"
"Yes, I'm aware that I get free makeup if I have the party, but none of my friends wanted to come, so I'm just going to have to say no."

As much as it sucked telling this lady no (and still having to see her everyday), it felt amazing to say NO and not feel obligated to have a party when I don't want to have a party. I'm going to try to say NO more often. It's so refreshing.

All In A Day's Work

Every day with 14, 15 and 16 year olds is a new adventure. I go through many emotions on a daily basis, from anger, to annoyance, to happiness, to embarrassment. Within in a 50 minute class period, I experienced all four of those emotions.

Anger: We are reading Of Mice and Men, and chapter 6 (the very last chapter) is a HUGE scene. I've asked the students not to read ahead so we can read the chapter together. And I've asked them not to tell their classmates the ending if they already know. One student, who is one of my daily annoyances, decided to shout out the ending to the entire class. As it was completely silent, he shouted, "George shoots Lennie in the head!" I was furious.

Annoyance: I have a football player who tries to compensate for not being very smart with comedy. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a big joke to him, and when his classmates laugh at his lame jokes, it only eggs him on. He was on a roll today with lame comment after lame comment. I paired them up to work in groups, and he decided to try to entertain rather than do the work assigned to him. When I called him out on it, he made a lame comment about how I always pick on him. I was so annoyed I said, "That's because you're always making smart-ass, uneducated comments. You don't think before you speak." I think he was so surprised I said ass that he shut his trap and didn't say another word.

Happiness: In this same class, I have a student who is failed. He's had an F since the first week of class, and he's done very little to try to improve. However, he is really enjoying Of Mice and Men and is actually reading it. Today he came up and showed me all his homework (early) and asked for the next set of questions so he could get a head start on it. I was so happy to see him trying.

Embarrassment: One of the characters in Of Mice and Men is Curly. He is the only married man in the book, and his description says that he wears a glove full of Vaseline in order to keep his hand smooth for his wife. Ummmm...RACY! I blushed when I was reading it. Today we were talking about Curly and some of his characteristics. We were finishing our discussion of Curly when a student raised his hand. "Ms. Nichols, why does Curly wear a glove with Vaseline on his left hand? I don't get it." I immediately turned bright red and began to stutter. I had no idea what to say. So I avoided the issue. I said, "Ummm, well, if you don't know the answer to that question, then you don't need to know. I should not be the one to tell you that. AND we're moving on..." Every student began to whisper, trying to figure out what it meant. One boy goes, "Oh, I know what it means," and he did a gesture behind his friend's back. I have no idea what he did because I made sure we moved on. Gosh, that was awkward!

That was all in just 50 short minutes. It was an interesting day to say the least.

A Love Story

Once upon a time (about three years ago), a young man named Brian had a crush on a young lady named Tiffany. They went to the same church, and he had his eye on her for some time. In order to make contact, he started planning BBQ's at his house and invited Tiffany every time. Oblivious to the fact that Brian liked her, Tiffany couldn't quite understand why Brian was inviting her to his house every weekend. She was unable to attend every time she invited, and soon Brian began to assume that Tiffany was not interested in him. He decided to invite her to one more BBQ, and this time Tiffany could actually come! They soon began dating.

In the meantime, a girl named Shiloh began student teaching at Columbine high school with Tiffany. They soon became fast friends and found that they had a lot in common. Even after student teaching was over, Tiffany and Shiloh remained good friends. Shiloh had the opportunity to meet Brian several times, and she adored him. He was a quality guy who was just perfect for Tiffany.

Brian proposed to Tiffany this past May. She said YES! The wedding planning began. This past weekend, Tiffany and Brian got married. Shiloh, of course, was invited, and it was the fanciest, most fabulous wedding Shiloh had ever been to. The reception was at the Brown Palace Hotel, which is an amazing hotel downtown. It was a black tie event, and no cost was spared. Shiloh felt a little bit like Pretty Woman when she sat down at her table and found four knives and four forks at her place setting. What do you do with all that silverware?

It was a four course meal, which included appetizers, triangle shaped, mushroom filled pasta, salad and steak or salmon. Delicious! Dinner was followed by a live band who played until midnight. Shiloh took her friend Brandi as her date, and they had a great time enjoying the open bar, dancing and fellowship with other great people. Tiffany and Brian dancing their first dance (they took dance lessons and did a little routine that was so adorable-he dipped her).
Shiloh and Tiffany

Brandi and Shiloh dressed to the nines and enjoyed a fabulous night downtown.