I should be getting hazard pay

Those of you who watch Utah's news religiously (I wouldn't blame you since I love Whit Johnson's smile....) might have heard about the lockdown that happened at Kearns High School today. There was an incident and a student was shot. It happened off campus and I was never in any danger. I don't want to perpetuate rumors but I want to say this: As a sub at a school that goes into lock-down things can be a little confusing and slightly scary. My first thoughts were that I couldn't believe no one told me there would be a drill that day. I then sensed the urgency in the principles voice as he continued making announcements about different codes and schedules and all this weird stuff. I normally have a teacher across the hall that helps me out with things but of course her class had gone to the computer lab. Looking out in the hall I began to see cards sliding out from under teachers doors. I realized if they had cards I probably had cards too so I found the firedrill packet and sure enough, inside were the instructions for all of the codes being announced.

Luckily I know the username and passwords to all of my teachers files and so I was able to get into her email and recieve the emails from the office as things were being passed down to the teachers. This all happened while I was in my prep period and so I had no students in the class and so I didn't have to worry about keeping anyone calm or entertained as they continued the lock-down. My biggest worry was what to do with myself in a classroom all by myself for 2 and a half hours. I had my sudoku book and so I sat in a corner and worked on sudoku until the lockdown ended and everyone was released.

So my friends, if you are subbing at a school you should make sure there is a way to be in contact with the office and you should find out where the emergency instructions are because you never know when you will need them.

vacuums

I know I said I don't vacuum because of the noise. But I still like a clean floor. Brad vacuums every now and then. If it gets out of control I'll do it. But I honestly don't understand my upstairs neighbors. They are going to have to get new carpet soon I'm sure because they are wearing theirs out with their vacuum. They vacuum almost every other day. They also vacuum at ridiculous times. They just finished vacuuming around 10:20 tonight. The first week I started my student teaching they began vacuuming around midnight. I had been asleep but was so bugged that I got up and was getting presentable to go ask them to stop. By the time I put my shoes on they stopped. I was a little sad that I couldn't go stop them. (I have this thing about letting people know how I feel.... most of the time it's better if I don't, so I didn't) But yeah, 2 weeks from today we will be on our way out of this apartment and it can't come soon enough because I am so sick of hearing vacuums constantly above my head. Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if I liked vacuums at all.

An update on the big move..... you forgot didn't you.....

So some of you may think I moved in November. Probably because I told you I was going to. But I didn't. We got excited to leave our pot smoking neighbors but then there were some complications when Grandpa went to the doctor for his pre-mission checkup. But thankfully when Grandpa went back to the Doctor this Monday they gave him the clearance to head to Tokyo on February 2nd. So we ARE moving and it's going to be wonderful. So come visit any time after February 3rd!

Kids do the darndest things

I am officially back at work. For those of you who know, I'm being a long term sub for a lady in my ward while she stays at home taking care of her brand new baby. She had him last night. One week over due. She kept working until last Friday (2 days past due) but I took over her classes this Monday. She has her classes so well planned and prepared that I hardly have to do anything. It is so much more relaxed than student teaching. PLUS I get paid! It's nice to feel like I am contributing to our family again.

In honor of being back in the school here is a couple of fun things that have happened the past couple of days:

• On the way to the library for a group lesson the very last student thought he was all alone in the hall. Just as I rounded the corner I caught him looking at his reflection in the glass of a trophy case, brushing his hair to side, and giving himself an approving thumbs up.

• Today as I was entering scores for the journal entries the students do to start class I was reading through a few of the entries. The classes are starting a unit on marriage and so the topic for the entry today asked about qualities they desired in a mate. One of the girls had written one thing down. "Robert Pattinson". I hope she is willing to compromise a little on that one.
  

Things I worry about- (with an update)

So I've already compared myself to the crazy lady in Lemony Snickets but for some reason I have this feeling I should share some of the crazy things I do to prove to you all that I am indeed insane. So here is a list of some of the things I worry about, things I'm afraid of and/or some of the crazy things that I have actually said out loud that I should have just kept inside my little worried head. Some of these you will probably recognize from random posts and some of them you might just already know about me.

• I worry about having diseases. Some people call this hypochondria I call this being prepared for the worst. I can't prove that my headaches aren't a brain tumor and neither can you. Unless of course you have an MRI machine; in which case go ahead and prove it cause it will probably make me feel better and make the ulcer that I got while worrying about it go away.

• I am afraid of loud noises. This is a pretty large category that has manifested itself in many different ways....

1. I don't enjoy vacuuming because it's too loud. Honest. It's not just an excuse for why my house is never clean, I really don't like it.
   
2. I don't use a blender even though I LOVE milkshakes and smoothies, I'd rather go without, than use a blender. (But anyone else can make them for me I just have to able to leave the kitchen when the blender goes off...)
   
3. I am also afraid of wind storms and thunder. Not because of the damage they can do, but because of the noise. If I was afraid of the damage they can do I would be afraid of lightening, not thunder. But I actually like to look at lightening, especially if it's pictures of lightening or lightening on tv where I don't have to listen to thunder shake the house afterwords. This is where the "things I've said" part comes in. One time my roommates and I were visiting some friends when the weather started getting a little choppy outside. The clouds got all dark and it started to rain a little. Instead of saying we should go home before it started to storm, or before it started to rain too hard I said "We should go before it gets too windy." Since we don't live in Tornado Alley I think the chances of it really getting "too windy" for us to safely drive the 4 blocks back to our apartment in our small, wind resistant car, were slim to none. But I still worried about it.

• I worry when anyone talks about being prepared for the future. Utah is overdue for that big scary earthquake but I shut down if I try to think about preparing for it. Food storage? what? So if you really like me and want me to survive a disaster you should probably prepare me a disaster kit. (side note, if we do end up moving into Brads grandparents house I think we'll be ok because they are good people who have food storage and all that kind of stuff... So we're good for the next 18 months while they will be gone)

• I worry about getting rid of things I'll need later. I didn't live through the depression but I tend to hoard things like I did. example: I had a panic attack (overexageration? maybe...) in 4th grade when we played a class game of Oregon Trail. They told us we could only pack like 150 lbs of belongings and gave us a list of all of our belongings to pack from and what they weighed. I really struggled leaving behind my imaginary grandmothers pump organ. I was sentimentally attached to something written down on a piece of paper that didn't really exsist. And if that wasn't bad enough I had to leave things like pots and pans that really could have been useful too!

I'm sure there's others. I know there are lots more but I'm starting to feel a little self concious about how much I've shared already. Plus I can't think of anymore off the top of my head. Except for my pogonophobia.

*UPDATE* - My mother just reminded me that I quit using our treadmill because I couldn't stand how loud it was. So because of my stupid problem with noise I'm also getting fat.

I'm a horrible stalker

Alright, that's it. My tracker is broken. I now know that at least some of the people I stalk on here also read my blog (thanks by the way for commenting so I could have proof of that) but my tracker still says nobody has been to the site for over 2 weeks. So I think I'll get a different one. Does anyone have any ideas? Do you have a tracker you like? I know it's not important but something inside of me wants to know.....

I'm watching you.

So I have a tracker on my blog. It tells me when people look at my blog and how long they stay and blah blah blah. I honestly don't really know how to use it to its full extent but there is one feature I understand. The day by day counter. It tells me how many times a day people look at my blog. According to this feature nobody has looked at my blog since just after Christmas. I'm pretty sure I got a comment during that time so I think it is lying to me, but I'm not sure..... Apparently people are sick of reading "year in review" blogs and so they have avoided mine.

Also, back when people looked at my blog I had hits from Africa and Europe! I wish I knew who those people were or why they were reading my blog.......