Addicted

Heidi’s diaper bag consists of two diapers and a package of diaper wipes. The rest? Candy. She has Ziploc bags full of them. Starbursts, Skittles, and around Easter the gummy bunnies I love so much. Going anywhere with Heidi you can always count on candy. And lots of it. Going to movies with her there is no need to buy treats, she’s smuggled them in already. The only time this candy is a disadvantage to me is when I’m trying to cut back on my addiction.

You see it all started during essay time at school. If you’ve ever tried to grade 150+ essays then you may know where this is headed. It’s literally impossible without a snack at arm’s length as you go. However, popping them in your mouth as you get going can help you get into a rhythm, but you tend to lose track of how many you’re eating. Which led me to scarfing down the three bags of Starburst jellybeans in only a week in March 2010. Yep. Three large bags. By myself. I didn’t share one.

It kick-started my addiction. And soon, every morning at eleven ‘o’clock as my students wondered out my door and left me alone with my prep period, I went crazy trying to find some sort of consumable sugar to satisfy my cravings. I scoured my cupboards and at first, I always found something to keep me happy. But, as time went by, and my husband discovered the infamous Jellybean Bag Incident of March 2010, I stopped buying treats to try and prove I could stop anytime.

I couldn’t.

I’m sure my students noticed a decline in my mood. They may have been shocked to find out it was all because of candy. (In fact, maybe I should have told them. Maybe I would have Skittles suddenly appear on my desk every morning to guarantee a smiling teacher.)

I got headaches. Sometimes, when it got really bad, I had to scavenge the office secretaries for treats. Finally, I gave up on trying to quit altogether, embraced my love of candy, and bought a huge bag of salt water taffy from Costco. That got me through the rest of the year.

And now that school is out, you’ll find me with the occasional bag of Mike and Ike’s hidden in my purse or a box of Mini Charleston Chews in my nightstand drawer. I don’t need candy at a certain time everyday anymore, but I don’t think my addiction is gone, I probably just hide it better.

How to Ride Your Bike

Next time Phil takes his bike out, Caden, our four-year-old nephew, informed him how to really ride it. All he needs to do is take the front wheel off, lean back on his back wheel, and pedal really fast. After that, fire will come out, he'll go super-de-duper fast, and win the race. It's that easy.

So, Here's the Thing...

Sometimes I like to write.

Sometimes I'm funny.

I've had some claim I'm more funny when I write than I am in real life. And let's face it, I'm not funny.

However, I do want to write more. So, in an effort to inspire myself to write, I'm making some blog changes. This blog will now become my writing blog. Where I write about anything I want. And hopefully you'll make comments. (I love knowing at least someone is reading.) Sometimes I may even be funny. I guarantee there will be times when I'm not. But, hopefully it'll keep me writing. So watch for some changes coming.

I am starting another blog that will be more like my scrapbook blog to document the life of Filangela. If you want to read it, you're more than welcome to, just send me your email address by leaving a comment, facebooking, emailing, or whatever other communication you can and I'll send you an invite to my new blog. There will be pictures on that blog.

There will be lots of words on this blog. You've been warned. :)

Pillow Top Desks

My ninth graders are watching The West Side Story to wrap up our unit of Romeo and Juliet. My students are always full of energy 1st period at 8:00 in the morning. (Sarcasm, in case you missed it.) And today was an especially energetic day for them. I gave announcements and started class, and I don't think one word came out of any of their mouths. Poor tired children. But, I was feeling it too. Thank goodness for Friday.

I turned out the lights and started the movie. You all remember what it was like in high school/junior high. Desks were used more for pillows than writing sometimes. Picture it. Head down on your arms, eyes shut, mouth open, drool coming out of your mouth making a small puddle on your desk. You've been there.

And that is exactly what was happening for one girl in my class. Her desk was in the back of the room, right in front of my desk. So, there I was minding my own business grading papers at my desk. I would look up and watch some of the movie and then go back to grading. It was one of those moments when my head was up when all of a sudden this girl's whole body jerked and she jumped almost out of her desk. With her curls bouncing, her head flew up, and then smacked back down onto her arms which had been holding her head. Her desk shook and rattled nosily as her legs bumped against the sides.

Her head came up slowly after that. Her two friends turned to her with questioning looks on their faces. And I, being the only one that had seen the whole episode, and being the mature teacher that I am, slowly started to chuckle. This laughter, as this student looked around tiredly trying to figure out what happened, turned to louder bouts of giggling as I pictured her jumping and smacking her head again. Her friends figured out what had happened, started laughing, and soon my face was bright Radio Flyer wagon red, and tears were rolling down my face and I couldn't stop laughing.

Seriously one of the funniest falling asleep school moments I've ever seen. Thanks for making teaching even more fun, girl who fell asleep today. Loved it.

Cookies

I had a cookie today. It was a sugar cookie. It reminded me of the sugar cookies I used to buy in high school for 25 cents. Remember those? Mmmmm...they were good. We would get them at lunch. Or during Bradshaw's accounting class. Or before Jazz Band. Or during Journalism. Man, I loved those cookies. Sometimes I would go all out and order the double chocolate one. Or even the regular chocolate chip. They were all some of the tastiest cookies I've ever had. And today, I had to eat two sugar cookies because they reminded me of them. Except these had sprinkles. But yum, they were well worth the nauseating feeling I have now because I ate them so fast. I know. I'm feeling sick and I still want to go check and see if there are anymore in the faculty room. I guess, even now, I can't turn down a sugar cookie at school. I heart cookies.