Brave New Girl

{ June 23, 2009 @ 12:00 am } · { Day in the Life }
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Contrary to popular belief, I did not fall off the face of the planet… although some days that would have been quite welcome. No, instead I finished up my year at the Preschool (bye bye babies! *sniff*), started at the Elementary School’s Summer program (hello little children who are taller than me *eep*), and moved in to my own apartment (is anybody else here????). Let’s play catch up, shall we?

My AmeriCorps contract ends at the end of the month. In order to have a summer job that will pay me after it ends, I decided to work with the local elementary school’s summer camp program. This meant I had to leave my Preschool. I miss my snuggle bunnies! I miss nap time! I miss conversations about talking potatoes and dancing bears! With some luck, I’ll be back in the fall… but some of those kids won’t be :’(. Growing up sucks, man!

Now, I’m working with a program that focuses on 1st-6th graders. it’s a HUGE change from my munchkins – these kids are half my age, and taller than me. Wha…. My sister – who is in 4th grade – also goes to this program. You can imagine the fun we have push each others buttons. 

I actually don’t interact with the kids too much at this point… eventually I’ll be heading up a reading program for the at-risk students. The past week, I’ve been filing papers until my eyes cross. It’s such a weird change… going from having four kids crawling to get in your lap to being alone in a quiet room with papers to go through. I have stepped in twice to fill the “teacher” spots though… so who knows what else will come up.

In-between the job shifts… I got an apartment. My dear friend Yaz and her husband had a baby last Feb. They had signed their lease for another year, but ended up finding a bigger place. She called up and asked if I wanted to move in…. and I did about two weeks later.

It’s an awesome place… right above a local brewpub… downtown… by the waterfront… my windows face the water… one bedroom… bright in the evening… free wireless.. perfect. If only I could get over the fact my posters don’t talk back to me… maybe I need a fish?

This summer is gonna be crazy. I can feel it. Ahhhh!

Conversations Pt. 1

{ May 25, 2009 @ 5:23 pm } · { Day in the Life, Preschool Fun }
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What follows are actual conversations I have had at work.

Ja:What’s for Lunch?
K:I don’t know. I’m gonna tell you it’s chicken, because you eat chicken without too much complaint. Yes, I know it smells funny and is slightly green on the edges. It’s chicken. Trust me. Tell me how it tastes, by the way. I refuse to touch it.
Ja:*takes bite and makes face* It tastes awful!
K:Yeah… have some more wilted salad or squishy apples. 
Ja:*gives me a look* You first. 

Jo:How old are you?
K:How old do you think I am? I’ll give you a hint.. I’m older than you 
Jo:6?
K:Nope, I’m 20.
Jo:No, you’re 6!
K:Sweetie, I’m a little older than that. I’m 20. I’ll be 21 in July
Jo:NO! YOU’RE 6!
K:Ok… I’m 6! Put down the scissors and slowly back away from me.

Ja:Does potato count? (for eating them and getting more of the stuff they really want to eat)
K:No J, potatoes are inanimate objects and are incapable of complex thought.
J:Why? 
K:Because they watched too much Spongebob. 
Ja:Is that what happened to you?
K:No… You small zombies have eaten my brains… finish your lunch. 
Ja: Mmmm… Brains! 

K:*I see B hiding under the bridge on the playground structure* Whatcha doing?
B:Hiding
K:From what?
B:Bombs
K:What bombs?
*two shovels wiz past my face and land on the bridge followed by the howls of another child’s tantrum*
B:Those bombs. 

R:*we are reading a book* Are those Aliens in that book?
K:I don’t know, do they look like aliens?
R:No… they don’t.
K:What do aliens look like?
R:They’re green and big. And have penises.
K:… what?
R:They have penises!
K:… oh. Do they now?
R:Yeah! They have to go to the bathroom SOMEHOW! *howls of laughter* 

 

All Day. Monday Through Friday. And you wonder why I barely watch TV anymore… *shakes head*

Sometimes… I feel like Zim

{ May 15, 2009 @ 9:19 pm } · { Day in the Life }
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… and Gir is all of the small children I deal with. See below.

(fyi: gir is an robot in a dog suit. zim is an alien hellbent on destroying earth… but is very bad at it. i loved this show when it was on nickelodeon… =P)

Love and Hate plus Eight

{ May 11, 2009 @ 7:59 pm } · { PR Musings }
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I love to hate a lot of things in pop culture; Miley Cyrus, Shutter Shades, Lifetime. However, there is nothing I love to hate more than Jon and Kate Gosselin.

John and Kate plus Eight is a “reality” show on TLC chronicling the lives of a family with two sets of multiples – twins and sextuplets. In the beginning, you’d see how this family handled everything from feeding 8 small children to grocery shopping with eight small children to grass clipping with eight small children. It reaffirmed my belief that I will never have kids of my own.

Well… as the show got more and more popular, Jon and Kate got full of themselves and sick of each other. The newer episodes show more fighting and bickering between the parents than between the kids. There is no break between filming seasons. The kids have no time away from the cameras. And now, there are rumors of infidelity in the marriage. It’s on the cover of the tabloids for Pete’s sake – bumping down Angelina and Brad – who are WAY more importaint IMO….

Cara, Maddie, Hannah, Joel, Collin, Alexa, Aaden, and Leah (holy crap I know all their names without looking!) don’t stand a chance at having anything close to resembling a normal childhood if the series continues. It’s bad enough to have your parents not get along and to do embarrassing things in front of your family; having it become public fodder is horrible. J&K+8 is a big money draw for TLC with the advertising, book deals, and what have you; do those eight kids get a cut of any of that? If they lived in Hollywood they would. I’m pretty sure filming those kids almost 24/7 violates child labor laws.

Those poor children. Hasn’t the story of the Dionne Quintuplets shown that you CAN’T market multiple births and not end up with messed up children? If they weren’t on TV, wouldn’t young children working that long raise more than a few eyebrows and probably get CPS called in? Don’t we see the demise of enough child stars in Hollywood – some who go in on their own accord and not from pushy stage parents? Is America really that messed up that we not only don’t care, but we WANT to watch this happen? Those poor kids.

Happy Mother’s Day!

{ May 10, 2009 @ 1:40 pm } · { Day in the Life }
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To all the Mommies in the world… I hope you have a wonderful day!

 

I’m making Ravioli for my Mom and Grandma (and everybody else that is coming over…). Stupid Amazon didn’t send the package fast enough, so she is giftless for the time being. I’m hoping the Dark Chocolate Brownies make up for it. =P

My Glitter Girls

{ May 6, 2009 @ 8:58 pm } · { Day in the Life, Preschool Fun }
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They say pictures are worth a thousand words. What sucks major caboodle in my line of work is that I can’t share my little smiley faces with you. Or so I thought…

K & J are two little girls in my class. K (on the left) is 3 years old and was a timid little mouse of a girl in the beginning of the year. She couldn’t make it a morning without crying. Now, she can’t make it five minutes without laughing. J is 4, and is my mini me who I babysit on occasion. She likes to change the words to songs to better suit her moods (Five Little Monkies go out to play… over the hill and far away… mother duck says Quack Quack Quack… and wonders why her ducklings turned in to monkies!) They have both decided that they are going to move home with me. It’s ok.. their mommies won’t miss them too much because they will come back and visit. We will play Barbies and make cupcakes – pink of course!

Oh, my silly little glitter girls…

Barber, Baby, Bubbles, and a Bumblebee

{ May 1, 2009 @ 1:45 pm } · { Day in the Life }
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smarty-pants me didn’t cook her eggs long enough last night, and is out for the count due to “food poisining” enjoy my bordom killers.

IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS! HIT FORWARD, ERASE MY ANSWERS, ENTER YOURS, SEND IT ON TO your friends INCLUDING THE ONE THAT SENT THIS TO YOU.
USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR LAST NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES, THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP! TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL. YOU CAN’T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME QUESTION.

1. What is your last name? Bailey
2. A 4 letter word: Bone
3. A Boys Name:  Benjamin
4. A Girls name:  Bethany
5. An Occupation:  Bill Collector
6. A Color: Baby Blue
8. A Beverage:  Bitters
9. A Food:  Banana
10. Something found in the bathroom: Badedas – German Bubble Bath
11. A place: Big Sur CA
12. A Reason for being late: Big Spiders
13. Something you shout: Booyah!

Along the line of Cupcakes…

{ April 30, 2009 @ 9:50 pm } · { Day in the Life }
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I love cupcakes… don’t you? I need to go bake some just like these…

I don’t need to fit in a swimsuit this summer, do I?

Oh you Cupcake Schmutz Faces…

{ April 30, 2009 @ 7:49 pm } · { Preschool Fun }
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Sometimes I wish I could post pictures of my little darlings for you all to enjoy. But, I wish to keep my job.

Today, we had a birthday in the room. You know what that means… yup… CUPCAKES!

Imagine this face (not my preschooler)…

… times 17. Somedays I love my job. =)

thanks stacy_brigham on flickr for posting this adorible photo.

Let’s play a Game…

{ April 27, 2009 @ 8:40 pm } · { Day in the Life, Preschool Fun }
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Yeah… so… I got pneumonia and stopped blogging. Then that darn “work” got in the way…. anywho… I’m not dead, I think.

We played a game today in school. It was the “What’s In Kiwi’s Purse” game. How do you play? Simple… have two 4-year-olds dump out your giant green and pink frog patterned work bag on the table, and squeal over all the treasures. Shall we begin?

-iPod charging cord
-Health Insurance Policy Updates
-Empty Envolopes from Studen Loan peeps.
-Master Copy of Patterned Butterfly File Folder Game
-”The Hair Book” Spring ‘09 (from my grandmother. I think she’s hinting that I need to cut my hair again)
-”Oriental Trading Scrapbooking” catalog (*twitches*… must not spend money)
-May 2009 Allure with Blake Lively on cover
-Per Diem check (I should cash that)
-Stripey covered notebook filled with notes on what kids need to learn what things, seducing Seth MacFarlane, and taking over the world with Jade
-Notes from my service project on Saturday. Fleece blanket making is a MAJOR volunteer draw.
-Beautiful artwork from D – age 5.
-Scrapbooks ETC. May/June 2009
-Silver Razr
-Lime Green iPod and earbuds.
-Crayola Marker 10 pack – missing the Grey. Grrrr….
-Dr. Seuss Beginner Concepts Cards – Shapes and Colors (the kids LOVE them… they are two sided, touch and feel, glittery, and bright. Amazing.
-Fox in Socks By Dr. Seuss (read it 5 times today… and still have feeling in my tounge)
-Partially colored Butterflies for File Folder Game
-GIANT To Do List – filled of stuff that should have been done 2 months ago. Oops?
-Lamination Scraps
-Scissors
-Wallet
-Green Crayon Toothbrush that Lights Up
-5 mini rubber ducks (To sing 5 little Ducks with)
-Gum
-Checkbook
-A Plethoria of Sharpies
-Camera
-Oobie Eyes (which are those eyes you see on the Geiko commercial with the money. It’s like a ring… with two Muppet-y eyes. Mine is green.)
-Dark Purple Nail Polish
-Blistex Silk ‘n’ Shine Chapstick
-Shout wipes

And with that, I entertained them for a solid half hour. Go me. :)

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