Zoom Zoom

Well it has been about 22 days since my accident and though it took many many hours of research and pulling my hair out (sometimes literally) I finally found a car. A good family friend had connections to a Honda and Mazda dealership so he guided me towards some amazing people who helped me decide and get a great deal. I ended up getting a Mazda 3, it was a really close race between the Honda Civic, but in the end I liked the looks and some features of the Mazda better (the $2000 rebate was helpful too!). So, I now own a brand new, fun 'Metropolitan Gray' 2008 Mazda 3. It's fun to have a new car-my first one!

Sunday night I was hit. I was driving back from dinner/church and was right by Uptown (16th and Penn) when a man ran the stop sign and smashed into my passenger side. My passenger window shattered and glass went everywhere including into my purse, hair, coat and every imaginable spot of my car. My back driver-side tire was knocked off the wheel and the doors are pretty much smashed in. Yep, I'm going to say it a safe bet that it is totaled.
Thankfully Kelly and Mike were right around the corner and were able to come to my rescue and help with the cops, calling people and all the other fun stuff that goes with an accident.



Besides back and neck pain (and the slight embarrassment of being felt up by a cute fireman) I am okay. My wallet on the other hand...

So, the lesson is this:

Stop means stop. I know I joke and say the ones with white around the sides are optional, but seriously? STOP and p.s. pausing is not the same as stopping.

Oh and to make me even more timid about driving, today a man ran a stop sign and almost hit me in my rental car. Neat.

Thankful

After going to the dentist yesterday and hearing about the troubles of small business and the unhappiness of people in the business world, I went to work this morning very thankful that I have a job that I love.

One of my favorite things about my job is listening to my students when they don't know I am listening, or when they are in with another teacher. Today was no exception:

While my students were in art I was sitting in my classroom planning. The kindergarten rooms are an open classroom plan, so my room connects to the other kindergarten room. I could hear the other teacher introducing a book that addressed the issue of lying. She was doing a wonderful job of setting the kids up to talk about why lying isn't good. She asked the students to share why they thought it was bad to lie:

"Because you will go to hell."

There is was. The simple and honest truth as perceived by a five-year-old. Lying=bad, bad=go to hell. Duh. Oh my goodness, I could not stop laughing! The little girl said it so casually and honestly. It was so funny! I don't think my colleague anticipated that response. :)

It's funny to hear the perceptions and interpretations of kindergartners. Today we had a lock down drill and as we were all crammed into a tiny space I heard the whispers of my students to each other: "The monster is going to come in." "Shh, the ugly guy will hear us." "Move over, I'm scared of the dark." "Me too! Hold my hand." (These voices, to my surprise, came from under a desk that I thought only housed 3 terrified kindergartners, but in actuality was home to no fewer than 6).

These comments are great especially when you put them into context with the actual conversation I had with them about lock downs prior to the drill. A few days ago we had a real lock-out (we have to stay locked in our classrooms but can go on with class as usual, but there is a threat outside of the building--in this case a suspected armed man in the neighborhood.) After the lock-out was lifted the principal came on the intercom to tell the staff and students that we were safe and that there had been a "scary man" who we needed to make sure we were safe from. Well, you can't say "a scary man" to kindergartners because they think of a villain from some horror movie and for the rest of the day operate under the assumption that there is a man who looks like Freddie Kruger running around outside of the school, chainsaw in hand. I had to try to explain that no, there was not a monster outside, just someone who was not making safe or wise choices. It's hard to explain to a five year-old that some people make choices that can lead to hurting others. They are so innocent that they cannot imagine anyone wanting to hurt someone else on purpose, so they just assume that it is an actual monster. :)

On the plus side, my kids are now very practiced at lock-outs, lock-downs, and lock-ins. They are also really, really good at fitting into small spaces. I can proudly tell you that I can fit 20 students into one bathroom stall. I can also fit 6-7 under a teacher desk, 4 between a wall and filing cabinet, and if challenged, could probably fit all my kids into a space that is only 3X3 feet. Yeah, we are that good. :) I had no idea that my extraordinary packing and organizing skills would come in so handy as a teacher!

"Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off." Ellen

I should be finishing up my report cards and recording my Take My Teacher Home iPod lessons for the week, but instead I decided to update you all on my latest music downloads. Lucky you! :)

Last night, while once again procrastinating, I decided to try to find some relaxing music to listen to while I worked on report cards. An hour later and way off my intended search I ended with a cart full of good songs (some old and some new favorites). Here are some of the ones you should check out...



We All Need Saving by Jon McLaughlin

Broken Strings by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado

You Are the Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne

Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby) by Jack's Mannequin

It's Amazing by Jem

Soon We'll Be Found by Sia

That's How Strong My Love Is by Otis Redding (an old cover, but a good one)

Never Bloom Again by the Perishers

Days Go On by Greg Laswell

Human by The Killers

Matt Hires has a good sound too, got a few of his songs, but not my favorite out of them all

The Heartache Can Wait by Brandi Carlile--I LOVE Brandi, so even though this is a bit of a Christmas song I think it is great.

Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson (ahh how I love Ingrid and her off-beat character) :)

Both those songs are from the Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs album- which I like a lot too. (Hotel Cafe always has great artists).

P.S. For some reason I was in a Christmas mood last night, so some are holiday songs...sorry I guess the stores putting out their Christmas things in September has brainwashed me.

"I will cure you and will reveal unto you the abundance of peace and truth"

The fall has always been one of my favorite times of year. I love the cool weather and the feeling of "home." I was excited to see the leaves turn more then just brown and yellow in Colorado this year. When I was in Michigan I was always amazed by how beautiful the leaves were, the colors were so...amazing! :) My roommates loved to make fun of my enthusiasm for the leaves.

I always miss Michigan and my family and friends there the most this time of year. Before I moved back to Colorado in 2006 I had spent 7 straight Thanksgivings with my aunt and uncle. It has been really hard going from seeing them weekly for four and a half years to not seeing them for over a year! Two weekends ago my Uncle was out here on a quick trip to pick up a car from my grandpa. I hadn't seen him since the previous summer and was anxious to see him healthy and on the mend after a scary year with cancer. My dad and grandpa drove back to MI with him and spent a week out there with the family. They got back on Friday and shared stories of my cousins' kids and how much they have all grown. Of course, this made me miss them all the more and convinced me that I need to drive out to Michigan over Thanksgiving this year. So, if my poor old car decides it can make it, and the weather isn't too bad I fully plan on visiting over the week of Thanksgiving. I can't wait! Hopefully my lovely friends there will be able to spend a day or so with me while I am there too. (Hint, hint!)

My desire to go back to Michigan this fall increased greatly this weekend after some news from my aunt. My uncle has had some pain in his back for the past few weeks and ended up in the ER on Saturday. They found a mass on his kidney. They have not said cancer, but there is raising concern that it could be renal neoplasm, which is cancer of the kidney. Needless to say, this has been a rough and dissapointing weekend. My aunt and uncle of course are strong in their faith and know that it is all in God's hands. Anyone who knows me knows that my aunt and uncle mean the world to me, so it comes as no surpise that this news has, as my aunt says, "knocked the wind out of my sails." I ask that you all keep my uncle and family in your prayers. Please pray for his healing and that God will cure my uncle and will "reveal an abundance of peace and truth" to us all.

Espanol por favor

I have this strange habit of flipping through the channels and getting stuck on the Spanish channels. I can't help it, I just get sucked in! I don't know why but the Spanish news especially seems so much more interesting. I always want to know what is going on!! It takes me a minute or so to realize I'm watching in Spanish, and then I finally move on. Anyone else have this problem?

Oh, and did you know that they have Sesame Street en Espanol too? Yep, it's called Plaza Sesamo and Big Bird is not yellow, he is a festive pink, green, and red. I'm telling you, the Spanish channel is a whole other wonderful world. :)

Morning commute

The drive to work this morning has some interesting sights...

I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of my street and when I looked to the left I saw a woman riding her bike to work followed closely behind by a man on a GIANT UNICYCLE. It was such a funny sight that I couldn't help but laugh. The best part is the guy has a great handlebar mustache. I love it! Who rides a unicycle to work? Can you imagine this guy pulling up to the bike rack in front of his office building downtown and locking up his unicycle? Do you think he has to take the wheel off and bring it to his cubicle with him like other bikers? :)

The other exceptionally odd thing I saw was down the street from my school. Almost every morning I see a man in his 40's sitting outside in a camp chair with sunglasses, plaid PJ's and a thing of coffee just sitting there staring at the sun. It is so odd...he just sits there and stares! It totally cracks me up. If you are ever in Broomfield early in the morning I suggest taking a slight detour to catch a glimpse of my morning amusement. Careful though...I have a feeling he may bite. :)

TGIF

This week has been extremely long and tiring. I had parent/teacher conferences Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 3:00-8:00 and I also had to get a sub for Tuesday during the day so that I could fit in all of my conferences. Although I mostly enjoyed the 40 conferences I had, they wipe me out! It's hard to be "on" and talking from 7:30AM-8:00PM three days in a row, and still have the energy to teach the next day. Needless to say, I am very glad the week is over and am looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow morning.

Back by popular demand.

And by popular demand, I mean Mariko. :) Ok, so I admit it--I kinda forgot about having a blog. I warned you that I may not be very good at this. Let's see...last I left you I was near death in the never-ending cold.

Well, I finally am on the mend from that darn "cold." I started to feel a little better after about a week and a half of being sick and was even able to muster up the energy to go to sushi (which was delicious, by the way) with Kelly and Mike on a Friday night. I thought I would be back to "normal" by Monday, but ended up getting much worse on Saturday and spent the day in bed under a mountain of blankets despite the fact that it was 80 outside. By Sunday I could hardly talk and was absolutely miserable. I stayed home on Monday and went to the Dr. who said it was just a virus that was going around and told me to "drink lots and I hope you feel better." I was completely frustrated because it clearly was not just a virus and many of the other teachers had similar symptoms and they were all prescribed antibiotics and were better in 3 days. I tried calling back that night, but the Dr. refused to do anything that would actually help me. Two days later I still was feeling terrible, but I decided I would attempt to go to school and teach.

By the end of the day my students were saying to each other, "Poor Ms. Murphy, I feel so bad for her." I had no voice and my students were very aware of the fact that my condition was deteriorating despite my failed attempts to mask my misery. It was really sweet though, they kept offering to take care of me. One even told me that I could go to her house and she would "take real good care of me." She said I could lay on the couch and she would bring me "nice cold coffee and make me comfy." It was pretty darn cute and nice to know that they care so much about me. I ended up going to the Dr. again (a different one) that night. Turns out I was right and the other Dr. was wrong. I did not have a virus! The new Dr. (who is now my favorite Dr.) spent over an hour trying to figure out how to help me get better and making sure she covered everything. (The other Dr. spent 5 minutes with me). Since I was have a really hard time breathing I ended up getting a breathing treatment in the office, and then was prescribed a very high dose of antibiotics as well as an inhaler and codeine. It was nice that this Dr. actually took time to talk to me and allowed me to ask her questions and fill her in. As soon as she found out I taught Kindergarten she said, "Wow! Okay, well you practically work in a petri dish, I'm going to double the antibiotics." See! If the other guy would have even taken a moment to ask me about anything he would have probably had a different perspective.

Anyway, to make an already too long story short, I took the med. and slept from 10pm to 1pm and began to feel better shortly after. I am now pretty much back, but I still cough when I talk and start to lose my voice some by the end of the day.

Okay, on to other things...

School has been going really well, but I'm back to another really busy time. I have conferences next week and am already tired just thinking about them. I have to take a sub day to fit all my students in (since I have 2 classes- 45 students) so I will have conferences all day Tuesday and then after school from 3-8 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I pretty much go non-stop all evening with one 20 minute break one night, and a 40 minute break the other 2 nights. I like to get them all over with at once, but it is so hard on you after teaching all day!

Other school-related things:
I am very excited about my new project I am doing called Take My Teacher Home. I applied to be a part of this grant and was one of only 5 teachers in the district selected. Basically what I do is record 30 minutes lessons that include poetry, literature, songs, vocab, and letter/sound recognition activities. I then load the lessons onto iPod Shuffles and send them home in a bag full of supporting materials with my lowest achieving students. It is a fantastic program and I am so excited to be a part of it. Of course, it is a lot of work right now too- I have to create the materials and record the lessons and maintain the bags. Each week I send home new materials and record new lessons. I will be excited to have it all done so I can just use it all again next year. I have so many new ideas to use with it too- it's an amazing intervention and I know my students will show a lot of growth! (Can you tell I am passionate about what I do??) :)

I also had my first evaluation with my new principal. I LOVE her, she is exactly what our school needed and the type of person you want to work for. I have always enjoyed coming to school and teaching, but now you can feel it through the whole building. Everyone is happy and excited about the changes and improvements that are taking place at school. Anyway, Tracy observed a shape lesson I did two Friday's ago. (I know, I know, it sounds simple, but you have no idea how much it takes). I got my feedback and it was nothing but praise. When I met with her for my post eval. she raved about the lesson and how smoothly my class runs. The best compliment was when she asked if I had only taught Kinder. When I said yes, she was like, so this is your 3rd year teaching total? When I said yes again, she said wow, and let me know that it was amazing for only being a third year teacher. :) It's so great to be appreciated and to know that I am doing a good job. As you know, I pour my heart into this job and am constantly trying to improve, so it's a great reassurance to know someone believes in you and that you are doing the right thing.

On to other things...

Kickball came to a close last weekend. Even though we lost, it was a fun Saturday. We ended up staying and watching the other teams and then later that evening we had our party at a local bar. I love my team, and it was fun to see them outside of our blue shirts. I think Saturday night was the first time any of them ever saw me with my hair down. :) I'll miss seeing everyone every week, but I'm sure I will see them at some point during the off-season.

I don't have much planned for this weekend, but it is supposed to be cool, so I am totally planning on getting out my big comforter and sleeping in on Saturday. I have been looking forward to sleeping in all week long!

I just found out that my Uncle Randy is coming out next Thursday-Tuesday and I could not be happier--well, if my whole family was coming I would be happier, but I'll take whatever I can get! I haven't seen him in almost 2 years now! I can't believe it has been that long! I'm very excited to see him!!

Well, now it is late, and this is really long, so I am off to bed. I will update more soon. Hopefully I will have something more exciting going on by then!

Can a five year-old order a hit?

An actual conversation yesterday in the middle of a handwriting lesson

student: "Whoa! Ms Murphy how do you know how to write an E?"
me: "Well, I have had a lot of practice."
student: "Oh."
Pauses...
"Ms. Murphy when you die can I be the leader of the school?"
me: "You mean you want to be a teacher?"
student: "Yeah."
me: "Well, you can be a teacher without me dying."
student: "Huh."

Little Green Pills

As many of you know, I caught a miserable cold from my snotty nosed cherubs this past week. I believe I can safely say that I am nearing the end, but in the meantime I am still suffering through.

I visited my dear friend Lis the other day, and she told me that NyQuil is heavenly. Considering the fact that she claims to still be on the sauce even though she got over her cold a week ago, I decided if it's that good I better give it a try. I went to the store to buy this magical cold relief, but once I got to the cold medicine aisle, I decided that there was no way I could get the liquid version...too many childhood memories of gagging that stuff down. So, I decided to simply go for the pill form. Or at least I thought it would be the simple choice...
I'm not really sure what has happened in the past couple of years, but I am convinced that there are heads of major cold medicine corporations all over the country doing one of two things: they are either laughing at the thought of someone dying for cold relief, staring at all the boxes before them trying to figure out what the difference between the blue box with a red stripe and the blue box with the white stripe is, or else they are laughing as they do the backstroke through their giant indoor pool filled with money. Either way, they are cold-symptom-free and laughing and I am not.

Anyway, after staring at the million boxes before me, each with slightly different symptoms listed on the front, I decided on the NyQuil Plus caplets. The Plus means there is Vitamin C and apparently Vicks too--which, by the way, I thought Vicks was a vapor rub? If so, should I really be ingesting that? My questions as to the healthfulness of these pills were multiplied tenfold when I opened the box only to discover that the pills inside were metallic green. I'm talking my 1992 Honda Accord metallic green. Seriously? Is it really good for me to swallow a pill that looks like it has been spray painted? Well, I guess we will find out. So far I am not impressed--after all I am up at 2:30 writing this blog because I still can't breathe and I am still awake...

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood

...but a questionable night in the courtyard.


Last night I opened my bedroom window to enjoy the cool air, but as I sat in bed reading I started to hear some strange guy talking below in the courtyard. Curiosity got the better of me, so I turned out the light so no one would see me and peered outside. Um...apparently nighttime...let's say...birdwatching, has become a hobby of mine... Anyway, once I was sure I could not be seen I crannied my neck to find the source of the strange voice. I couldn't see anyone in the darkness, but I could hear the guy a little better. This is basically what I could make out:

"Turn left! Left! Move your hand to the right. No! Right. arg, ack, Get back here! I sware. Get back here."

Now, at this point I had determined a general location below where the voice was coming from, but I still couldn't make anyone out. I was still trying to make sense of the random mumblings coming from the guy when I decided that maybe it was just some weird guy who had let his dog out to go to the bathroom or something...

"Get back here. I'm going to count... 5....4....3... ow! Mother F....."

This last random utterance left me thinking...why would someone count for a dog? And for that matter, why would he be giving his dog left/right directions? Half of me was wondering if I should call the cops, while the other half was thinking, well I am in Denver...stranger things have happened then weird people talking outside my window. I was about to dismiss it all as some random drunk guy on the phone or something when I did one last scan of the courtyard...

I saw a dark figure run down the side of the house. My heart raced a little, but I tried to reassure myself that is was just some dumb guy chasing after his dog. Next thing I saw was the light of a flashlight making it's way from the opposite end of the courtyard. I was a bit relieved, figuring it was one of the neighbors going to investigate the voice. My relief quickly vanished as the flashlight came into view. Out of the darkness emerged a barrel...a long, black barrel of a drawn rifle. To say I was shocked is an understatement! There was a little reassurance that the rifle was held by a cop, but in all honesty, seeing a drawn gun 20 feet away does not make you feel safe at all. I watched (and held my breath for fear any noise would make him turn around and point the gun at me) as he peered around the corner to where the voice had been and then slowly vanished into the darkness.

My NyQuil-altered mind was having a hard time making since of the situation, but I managed to hear someone say, that's a real gun! And then the police radio say something about a second perp. I'm not sure if I was more scared or curious, but I ran into Anna's room and then down to the basement to get Jamila. After quickly retelling the events I had just witnessed we all jumped on my bed to see if we could figure out what was going on. In the shadows I was able to make out three figures around a man with handcuffs on. Shortly after the courtyard was filled with more cops. After a few minutes we heard some pops, so Jamila and I ran downstairs to see if we could see more. (Probably not the smartest thing we have ever done). We went outside and saw that there were at least 10 DPD cars on our street and a handful of cops by our stairs. In the middle of the cops- a man in bunny ears.

Yes. There is never a dull moment in Denver. Last year it was a meth-lab fire across the street, in the spring it was the murder up the street, and now it is a man with two warrants and some bunny ears. We still don't really know what was going on, but my dreams were definitely filled with SWAT teams chasing the Easter Bunny for the rest of the night. :)

Why not?

Well it seems like everyone I know has a blog these days, so I figured why not give it a try?

I have to say I do feel a bit like a 6th grade girl writing in her diary though...

Dear Diary,

I'm sorry I haven't written in SOOOO long! It has been really busy. Let's see... oh! Yesterday in home ec we were sewing our stuffed animals and I was sitting at a table with Shawna, and then guess who sat by me?? Yep, Josh! I can't believe it. Wow he is so cute. I heard that Sarah likes him though. But I think that Dave likes her, oh, but Jessica likes him! I think they may have gone out for like four weeks! That is so long! But Josh is so cute, and nice too! Sigh...
Well, that's it for now, I'll write more soon! (I promise to try to write every day!)

xxoo
Beth


Ok, well I promise not to subject you to an excessive amount of middle school throwbacks, but no promises that there will not be a random childhood memory thrown in here or there...I do have to revisit those years on a daily basis now that I am back in that world as a teacher after all.