When kids start singing the whistle song

Already now listen here.  I know you are all dying to see more Mexican cruise pictures.  I'm sure you're just refreshing my blog site every half hour wondering when you're going to get part two of the fiesta.  But I just don't got it in me.  Who knew that vacation recaps would be the hardest thing to write EVER?  Tomorrow?

Besides the fact that I don't feel like recapping the vacation, we've got a couple matters of business we got to take care of and you know what they say about business!  Business is business!

#1:  Sponsorship in November is just about snatched up.  I've got one large spot left and a couple of medium and small stragglers looking for a bloggy home.  Email me at lifeofbon@gmail.com to snatch your spot.  I don't want to give away any spoilers or anything, but prices are very likely to go up in the next month.

#2:  I am excited to announce my very first edition of "Comment of the week!"  I've been wanting to do this for a long time.  The thing is all of you ladies leave these awesome comments on my blog and I read every single one of them, but I just can't seem to give them the attention they deserve.  I get all sorts of comments from profound to humbling to eye opening to hilarious to witty to absolutely genius.  Some of them make me laugh out loud.  And thus it is that I introduce to you my first ever commenter of the week, Bethany Grow.

 I said this in a recent post, "I don't understand how we as a society have accepted the song "Whistle" into our current top ten billboard hits. We should be ashamed of ourselves. And that's all I am going to say because my mom reads this blog."

Bethany commented back this:  ummmm about whistle. i was at a giant family event the other day where a lot of it involved dancing and acting crazy and such and they had a section of time devoted to all the kids there and letting them show off their moves. the dj turned "whistle" on which i had never heard before and said "does anyone know how to whistle??!!" and the kids went CRAZZZYYYYY!!!! and i'm kinda dancing along until i listen to the lyrics and HOLY CRAP. i wanted to cover all of their innocent ears. when kids across america love that song it makes me not want to be a mom. blegh.

BAHAHA.  Seriously laughed to myself for five minutes after reading that comment.  I had this weird visual of millions of kids going crazy on the dance floor all while going to town on plastic red whistles.  Thanks Bethany for your amazing comment!

#3 I've got some freaking hip chicas that you need to meet ASAP.  I'll give you a little hint for each of them and then you have to guess who is who just by the pictures.  Think you can do it?  One blogs about her weight loss journey, one is from Australia, two of them look like they could be twins (are they?!?!) and one is just starting on a journey of clipping coupons!  Wow, sounds like I've got everything under the sun today, don't I?

Rhiannon

I live in Sydney, Australia and I don’t blog about being married or having kids. Mostly because I have not yet reached either of those stages, but if you stay tuned for you know…5 years or so; you may actually get some hot tips on those topics. I do however have a boyfriend of 5 years and a pretty cute dog so they feature on the blog from time to time.

Seriously though, I blog about pretty much anything that happens and like to fill my posts with the copious amounts of photos I take (I am no photographer, I just like taking photos!).

I’d love to have you stop by, I love ‘meeting’ new bloggers. Especially if they are as hilarious as Bonnie!

Blog/ Twitter

 

Allison

 

 

 My name is Allison and I write about the happiness that comes with living life. My life may not be perfect, but I'm choosing to live it as best as I can. So come on over, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and let's chat.

Blog/ Twitter

 

Millie

Hi! I'm Millie and I blog at Little Miss Sunshine. I'm on a mission to live my life according to me and spread happiness along the way. This means I end up blogging about everything from my random acts of kindess, like the time I handed out balloons with positive quotes on them to strangers on my birthday, to my thoughts on life and dating, like the time I wrote what to expect if you date a girl like me or the dos and don't of online dating. Come on by and say hello!

Blog / Twitter

Jennifer

 

 

 

Hi! I'm Jen from over at Filling Up My Cup! I write to you guys the way I talk to my friends...on any given day I may cover cooking,fashion, motherhood, celebrities I'm BFFs with and everything in between. Basically, whatever is currently floating my boat! You never know what that may be but I almost always find the humor in it. I'd love for you to join me on this quest to fill up my cup!

Blog/Twitter   Kristyn   

 

Hello there, Life of Bon readers.  I am Kristyn and I blog over at Chits and Giggles. What is my blog about, you ask?  Well...my life.  Why would I want to read about that?  That's a good question.  Just kidding.  I blog about my weight loss journey including the many struggles, my super cute nephew, and anything else I can think of.  

 

Blog/ Twitter

 

 

Did you correctly guess all five of them?  Then congratulations, you get a free peanut butter cup!  Now go over and say hi to them already!

Twas a cruise for the ages!

I never quite know how to do vacation recaps.  They just totally befuddle me.  On Sunday we got back from this totally great cruise and I'm bursting at the seams to tell you all about it.  But I just don't know how!  I struggle to blog about vacations without
1) being totally boring to anyone who was not on the trip
2) making it seem like I am not bragging and shoving it in your face that I was on vacation while you were all at work and
3) dumping an obscene amount of pictures on my readers.

Any suggestions, folks?  How do you do your vacation highlights?

I'll try to keep the writing to the minimum and the pictures to only the high quality ones.  Come along my friends, for a 10 hour road trip and a Mexican cruise, will you?

Friday October 12, I bolted from the high school at lightening speed and was on my way with Hubs to sunny California.  The road trip was to be around ten hours- the longest road trip we've ever gone on together.  I imagined all sorts of intensity- belting songs on the road, speeding down the highway, and even a dramatic fight!  Turns out it was pretty mellow.   Twas a successful trip and I dare say we emerged unscathed.   We arrived at my bestie's house, Akasha, who lives in Irvine, CA- AKA the land of wealth and plenty- before midnight.  Yea for fast drivers!

Highlights:  Beef jerky, getting down to CA in 9.5 hours, listening to a book on tape about serial killers, holding hands with Hubs.

Lowlights:  Spending $5.09 a gallon a gas in Barstow.  Oh, the pain!

Saturday October 13, We started bright and early with a Lady Gaga dance party because that's how it is when you've got a 3 year old, a 15 month old, and a newborn.  Akasha certainly has her hands full with the three kiddos but she does it without sweating a drop and gives me hope that some day maybe someday I'll be a good mom.  We hit up a couple of beaches and I even got to watch Hubs biff it multiple times on a surfboard.  It's good to watch men get humbled.  After the beach it was off to a hotel next to the cruise ship to meet up with my fam damily.

Highlights:  Hearing Akasha scream after Camden peed all over her dress, helping Aspen make "pancakes" for Hubs' breakfast, remembering how bad it stings to have salt water in your eyes, trying to hit the seagulls with our flip flops.

Lowlights:  Everybody chose a yummy ice cream flavor and I chose a gross one.  Oh, the misery!

 

Can you find baby #3?  Hint:  It's under Akasha's towel!

Sunday October 14, We tried to hit up church before getting on the big old cruise ship that afternoon. Only no one knew when/where church was so we all got up an hour too early and then fiddled around the hotel and ate bagels.  Hubs found some peeps from Russia and busted out his Russian faster than you can say "Communist!"  I pretended like I understood, but let me tell you what Russian don't sound a thing like Spanish and it certainly don't sound a thing like English.

We found a Samoan church to go to and then my mom and sister tormented because I fell asleep during the service, but come on, the people were speaking Samoan!  What do you expect?

Finally it was cruise ship time, and unlike the last time Hubs and I went on an uber duber cruise, (AKA our honeymoon) we weren't sharing a twin bed.  (For the full details, go here.  Curse, you Larry!)

Highlights Watching my niece and nephew giggle and hug each other like long last lovers during dinner (Also the same niece and nephew that had a steamy kissing scene last Christmas), the sunset on the ocean, my nephew threatening to Hubs, "It's playtime, Greg!" before hitting him repeatedly, and creme brule that made me positively weak in the knees.

Lowlights Waiting for a ride in a 15 passenger to shuttle us to the cruise ship.  Anything in a 15 passenger van is always a lowlight.

October 15, Monday I woke up at 9 am and realized with a sleepy satisfaction that my students had already been at school for an hour and a half. Suckers! Tis good to sluff school, my friends. The day was spent entirely on sea, basking in the sunlight, eating extravagant meals, hitting up all the trivia contests, and sending Hubs off to compete in free throw contests with my brothers. We got all dolled up for dinner, donning the red lipstick and I thought to myself, "Golly gee, this day might just be perfection."

Highlights: Laying in the sun and reading for hours, watching every type of person in the world go by, countless ice cream cones, riding on Hubs back in the swimming pool, late night karaoke, and spare ribs for dinner.  Watching my brother and his wife who have been married for ten years smooching at the dinner table.

Lowlights: We might've stopped to play a couple of hands of blackjack in the casino. We might not have come out with the money we went in with. There's a reason I don't gamble.

That's my bro.  He ruined my sexy pose.

 

 

 

 

Um... guys?  I'm totally exhausted.  This vacation recap has got me completely worn out!  Who knew summarizing your days of relaxation would be such work?!?  Can we pick up tomorrow?

And any suggestions for ways to report on vacations would be greatly appreciated...

Who can make a relationship work nowadays?!?

I'm one day back from our Mexican extravaganza, and I I know you are all dying to hear about our cruising shenanigans.  I'm sure you're clamming at the bit to get the juicy details on the large African American lady in the breakfast line who declared to me that she eat figs to help her bowel movements, or my six foot two inch brother who got swept onto the shore by the waves, bowling over three people as he went, or maybe you want to hear about how we went right through Hurricane Paul and I puked three times and promised myself to never step foot on another cruise ship ever again?!?  Yes, I know you want to hear those details, and I promise you, you will get the details! 

Bon will not hold out on you!

But first.  Something more important.

We got back from our vacation late last night and it was all I could do to throw a load of laundry in and crawl into bed.  And yet, somehow I found the energy to get on twitter.  And it was there that I heard the news...  Jef and Emily officially announced their break up on Tuesday. 

Sheesh!  I tell you what folks, you go on a little vacation and all of a sudden your favorite couple in the world goes breaking up on you behind your back!  The nerve

Jef and Emily realeased their statement to People magainze.  Emily's version:  "I am sorry to tell you that Jef and I have, indeed, parted ways," Maynard told the magazine. "It was a very difficult and heartbreaking decision.

Jef's version:  "Meeting Emily on The Bachelorette was an incredible experience, we've had quite the journey. I've never loved someone so much in my whole life, Emily is the best person and mom I have ever met. She opened up her world to me and I fell in love with her, [her daughter] Ricki, her family and the Hendricks."

I couldn't help but feel bummed after hearing the news.

Bummed doesn't quite cover it.  Severely bummed is more like it.

It should come to no surprise to most of you that I adore Jef.  (I have even talked about him at length on the blog here and here.)  He's from Utah so the homeboy makes me proud, plus I thought the dude was genuine as all get out on the show.  I rooted for him and may or may not have even shed a little tear of love when he proposed to Emily.

You can imagine my disappointment to hear that this couple that seemed so adorably and hopelessly in love had called it quits after a mere couple of months.  72 days perhaps?

I moped around the house a little bit and then sulked my way into bed.  Hubs kept asking me what was wrong and I told him, but you can't expect a boy to understand feeling sad about celebrity break ups.  He laughed a little at how upset I was and said, "Oh, Bon Bon..."  I looked at him and asked, "Do you think it's silly that I am so sad that they broke up?"  In sensitve Hubs fashion he replied, "No Bon... I think it's sweet.  You want people to have happy marriages.  But you have to understand that their relationships aren't built on solid foundations."

I'm not exactly sure what it was all supposed to mean because seven days on a ship, one horrific day through a hurricane, and twelve hours of driving can do that to a girl.  But I think maybe Hubs said something profound.  Maybe.

Here's the deal.  I know it's dumb to feel sad when celebrities break up/divorce.  But I do.  I always kind of take it personally. 

Recent break ups that I was extremely upset about:

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes  How could you not be sad that these guys broke up?  It seemed like just yesterday Tom was jumping up and down on Oprah's couch, proclaiming his unrestrained loved for Katie.  What happened to that love?  Was it all just an act?

Will Arnett and Amy Poehler  They're comedy geniuses and the fact that they had a strong nine year marriage under their belt made me respect them even more. They made me believe that not only did they work their butts off for TV, but that they went home and worked their butts off for their marriage too.

Heidi Klum and Seal  So what was the deal with all those yearly vow renewals?  Did they forget what they had promised a mere four months ago?

Kim Kardashian an Kris Humphries  Sure, I know this has been talked to death, but come on!  I watched the wedding on TV, doesn't that count for anything now days?  And in other news, holy big hand, Kris!  It's larger than Kim's head!

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore  I can't help it- I thought this relationship was adorable.  Everyone said it wouldn't last because she was much too old for him and they defied all odds and thrived in a playful, flirty marriage.  And then the odds were undefied as they announced their split.

I'm not exactly sure why these celebrity marriages affect me so deeply.  Maybe I feel tricked by them?  On the long drive to California last week I read in People magazine all about Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds recent wedding.  Lavish and Italian and oh so beautiful.  I couldn't help but feel, "Ah, in two years I'll be reading about the divorce."  Maybe I feel even the marriages in Hollywood are fake?

Or maybe I feel threatened by these break ups?  Intimidated?  If these people-  with beuaty and wealth and fame untold, with the entire world at their fingertips- cannot make a marriage work what hope in the world do I have?  What prayer does a high school English teacher who comes home grumpy from parent teacher conference and lashes out at her husband or forgets to buy groceries for the third day in a row have of succeeding in a marriage?  What prayer, my friends!?!?

What do you think?  Are you surprised when celebrities break up?  Or do you care at all?  What does a marriage take that the rich and famous just can't seem to master?

R.I.P. Jef and Emily.  I will always love you.

And this is called "I want lots of free stuff"

This is my first ever group giveaway and I'll tell you this much.

It just might be my last.

Holy freaking amount of work!  Why didn't anyone tell me it would be so hard to put this dang post together?  I have officially spent more time on this post than on any other post I've ever done.  I normally try to come up with some clever thing to say here but I'm way too burnt out right now to even try.  So here you are- a bunch of ways to win free crap.

Winner take all.

The Daily Tay

One Month's Large Ad Space

$17 Value

Blog/Twitter/Pinterest

Annie

Advanced Hair Conditioning Treatment

$25 Value

Shop

Love, The Skinnys

Mary Kay Eyelash package which includes Eyelash Building Serum and Mascara.

$50 Value

Blog/ Twitter/ Facebook

Filling up my Cup

Large Bath andBody Works Candle

$20 Value

Blog/ Facebook/ Twitter

The Framed Lady

Large Ad Space

$15 Value

Blog/ Facebook/ Twitter

Chits and Giggles

 $10 Target gift card

Blog/ Facebook/ Twitter

The Whimsical Crafter

$25 gift certificate to store

Blog/ Facebook/ Shop

Here's how it's going to play out ladies.  Leave a comment for each one you do.  I know it's the old fashioned way but I ain't got the patience or heart to figure out how to use rafflecopter right now.  So humor me, will you?  There are 33 possible entries and that kind of makes me want puke because that is a lot of entries and just the thought of it overwhelms me!

MANDATORY:

FOLLOW LIFE OF BON ON GFC

ADDITIONAL:

Follow Life of Bon on:

Twitter (1 entry)

Facebook (1 entry)

Bloglovin (1 entry)

Pinterest (1 entry)

Instagram: @thelifeofbon (1 entry)

Follow on GFC (1 entry each)

The Daily Tay/ Love, The Skinnys/ Filling up my Cup/ The Framed Lady/

Chits and Giggles/ The Whimsical Crafter

Follow on Twitter (1 entry each)

The Daily Tay/ Love, The Skinnys/ Filling up my Cup/ The Framed Lady/

Chits and Giggles/ The Whimsical Crafter

Follow on Facebook (1 entry each)

Love, The Skinnys/ Filling up my Cup/ The Framed Lady/ Chits and Giggles/ The Whimsical Crafter/ The Daily Tay

Follow on Pinterest (1 entry each)

The Daily Tay

Visit shop and state what you would buy (2 entries each)

Annie / The Whimsical Crafter

Share this giveaway on facebook (3 entries)

Share this giveaway on twitter (3 entries)

Alright, chicas.  Get going!

Babysitting Gone Bad

Friday, 5 pm
I was buried in my down comforter, in a world far far away where disciplining 16 year olds, surviving parent teacher conferences, and grading papers doesn't exist.  Somewhere in that half asleep/ half awake world I heard a commotion.  Footsteps.  Door.  Bang.  Something hitting a wall.  Grunt.  Backpack dropping.

"Bon!  I'm home!  I got a surprise!" 

"Leave me alone!  I'm sleeping."  I'm not exactly a sweetheart when I'm tired.

"Bons!  Wake up!  Look!  Look! Look!  I brought something home for you!" 

Fine.  I mean, who could resist that?  I lifted my head high off the pillow and poked around the corner to see this:

"We're babysitting him for the weekend!" Hubs declared.
"Babysitting?"
"Well,  you've been wanting a baby and all. So I thought we could practice this weekend!"  (It's true.  That one conference talk about kids got me momentairly-most-definitely hankering for a baby!)  "You see, we didn't have anywhere to put him before the show tomorrow,"  Hubs continued,  "so me and you get to watch him.  Come on...let's just pretend he's our kid.  It'll be fun.  I promise!" 

Not totally sold on the idea, I questioned  "So what exactly do we do when we babysit a giant teddy bear?"  "Whatever we want!"  Hubs declared, as he carefully arranged Big Bear to be laying on the couch with one arm in back of his head, sending out quite the sexy vibe.  "How would you like to wake up to this every morning?!?" Hubs pointed to the bear.

"I think it would be weird.  Are we still going out for dinner tonight?"  I was obviously less enthused than Hubs.

"Well, we can't now.  We have to baby-sit!"

"You're joking."

"Or I guess we could take him with us."

"Take him with us?!?"  I freaked.  (Here's the honest truth.  I'm married to the guy, I know,  But I still can't always tell when Hubs is being straight with me or when he's pulling my leg.)

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Bon calm down.  I'm teasing," Hubs said as he moved the bear to the kitchen table.   "Let's feed him here, put him to bed, and then go out."

Finally I could see that Hubs wasn't about to budge and I better just play along and make this as painless as possible.  So we sat Big Bear at the table for awhile. About 20 minutes later, Hubs declared, "Alright, Big Bear ate.  We can go out now."

"Thank goodness," I said reaching for my purse.

"Oh, but wait!" Hubs interrupted, "We haven't put him to bed yet.  Silly us, we can't just let Big Bear stay awake while we go out.  Who knows what kind of mischief he could get into." 

So I waited again, while Hubs gently moved Big Bear to the couch, fluffed the pillow, and draped a blanket over the big guy.

Friday, 8 pm

Dinner at my favorite restaurant, Friday night, life could not be any better.
Actually... I take that back.  Life could get better.
Because somehow Big Bear was creeping his sneaky way into my romantic dinner conversation.
"Isn't he a cute bear?" Hubs wanted to know, "Doesn't he do the greatest things?"

"Yes, he does.  Have you seen the waitor?  He didn't bring any lemons."

"Isn't it going to be cute when he has little friends that he brings over?  And when he starts to talk and walk?"

"Yes, yes, now lets talk about me.  Or you.  Or anything besides the bear.  How was class today?"

"It was good, but the best part was getting the bear.  You should have seen everyone on campus when I was carrying Big Bear on my shoulders.  They were all looking and pointing and they thought it was so cute."

"You know what's cute?  You're cute..."  I could see I was quickly losing the battle.  Flirting might be the only way to bring the boy back to reality.

"Ah, thanks Bon.  You're the best.  What do you think Big Bear is doing at home right now?"

And thus the dinner conversation went. 

Friday, 11:30 pm

I was climbing into bed, excited to cuddle with Hubs and do nothing for the next eight or nine hours but sleep and snuggle.

"I wonder if I should sleep out on the couch with Big Bear.  I don't want him to be afraid." Hubs said.

"No.  You're sleeping in here."   My patience with the stuffed animal was long since gone.

"But, Bon, I need to take care of him."

"No you don't!  ME!  You need to take care of me!"  I snapped. 

"But, Bon, the bear needs attention."

And that was it.  Right there.  The moment he said the bear needed attention was the moment I truly lost it.

"ENOUGH!  I want Attention!  I need attention!  A BEAR does not need attention! Stop talking about that dumb thing.  All you ever do is think about him and talk about him and put all your energy on him!  And he's just a bear!  Will you just think about how that makes me feel?"

"Yah, that's true... I sure do love that bear.  Imagine how much I would love a child."

"Oh, you'd be bat crazy over a child!  I'd never get a lick of attention around here!"

"So... that probably means you don't still want a baby soon?"

"No!  I most certainly do not!  Six hours with that bear and I am convinced I am completely not ready to share you with kids!  Convinced, I say!"

Hubs chuckled to himself.  "Okay, Bon.  I'll sleep in the bed with you.  I think this is starting to get to you- we can stop pretending now if you want."

I breathed a deep sigh of relief.  "Thank you..."

He gave me a peck on the lips and then rolled over in bed.  He mumbled something.

And while I can't be certain, it sounded an awful lot like, "I knew it would work."

This post was originally published on October 11, 2011.

Nails and Hair, and oh now we're really getting profound!

The other day I got completely robbed at a nail salon.

I splurged on my way home from work to get a pedicure.  While there I noticed a woman getting a shellac manicure. Now, as a chronic nailbiter, I was definitely interested in this because the only thing that keeps me from biting my nails is if there is perfect nail polish on my nails.   Once the nail polish chips, I have a hey day on my nails, first biting off all the polish and then biting the nails down.  It's disgusting.  I know.

I asked the chick how much a shellac manicure would cost.  She replied "Twenty dollar!"  I contemplated it, but was running low on time, so I left without it.

But then I couldn't get it out of my mind.  Couldn't get the cursed shellac out of my mind! Thoughts, desires, plans were consumed with the shellac!

So the next day I went in and got those nails shellaced!

 

After I was all shellaced up, I went to pay.  Yes I pay for my services even though heavens knows I would love to find a way not to.  

"Thank you!  Thirty five dollar!" said the lady.

I was stunned.  What?  Thirty five bones for a 30 minutes manicure?  And hadn't the lady told me 20 the other day?  I didn't say anything.  I think I was just so caught off guard that I forked over the credit card without saying a word. 

NOW.  What would you have done?  Do you say something in situations like this?  Or do you just bite your tongue and pay the money?  I'm usually good at making sure I don't get ripped off, but for some reason this salon owner just got the best of me!

Now that we've covered the extremely important topic of nails, let's move on to hair!  We're going deep on the blog, deep I tell you!  I don't know a bunch about hair, so I've brought in the hair expert, Aunie.  Aunie is the hair expert because the went a full year without blowdrying or spraying her hair and that takes an expert for sure!  Plus I love Aunie- she's one of the bloggers I check up on the daily.  So read her little post about hair and then check out her blog- you'll be grateful I promise!

Take it away, Aunie!

Hey there! My name is Annelise, and I have a saucy little blog (aptly named) Aunie Sauce. I write most of my posts in prose, ignoring all good-natured grammar, while trying to uphold proper spelling techniques. You're welcome, Bonnie. Oh, also—I like hair.

Obviously. In fact, in addition to Aunie Sauce, I also have a hairstyle blog called Bye Bye Beehive. See, a little over a year ago, I told myself it would be a great idea to go 365-days without hairspraying, teasing, dyeing or frying my hair. At the time, I was so convinced that I was the coolest person ever for putting myself to the test with this challenge. Last Thursday, October 11, 2012, I finished that challenge. Now, it's actually official—I'm still not the coolest person ever—but I did go an entire year without "doing" my hair. Yep. You heard it right. 365-days without any highlighting, cutting, teasing, hairspraying, blow drying, straightening, curling... any of it. It was a year of new hair adventures, big hair experiment fails, and a year where I learned a lot about myself... and how hair really isn't important at all. See, growing up, I was a cheerleader. A typical cheerleader. Blonde, bubbly, super-preppy, and a big-hair fanatic. Big, bouffant, southern belle, "Utah Poof" style hair (sorry, Bonnie... in Idaho, we call it the Utah Poof... and let me say I am a big fan). I used to die if I had a bad hair day. I was constantly cutting it, highlighting it, making it as big as it would go. Needless to say, it was a damaged mess. So last year, that's when I decided to forego all the damaging tactics and just let it go—au natural baby. And now, I'm proud to say I did it. Along the way, I got called a hippy, innovative, crazy, gutsy, brave, and even occasionally inspiring. But—I did it. And I gained: confidence, a gazillion new hairstyles, and a ton of inches on my hair.

So, now that I've told you all about my year-long adventure (and a blog that I use only occasionally), go check it out. And should you feel so inclined, maybe start a Beehive journey of your own. OH—and then please be sure to go visit my real blog, you know, the one that I'm actually present at 5-days a week. Also, I feel bad. I know I introduced myself, but all you've really seen is the back of my
head. So HELLO: this is me. Come say hi.

The Honeymoon is Over

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much about my students lately.

I'm mad at them.

Let me explain.  There is a cycle in any school year.  The first six weeks are teaching bliss.  Kids are on their best behavior, they're excited to be back in school, they get their homework in, and they can't get over the fact that I look just like one of them. 

The honeymoon, if you will.

It is around week six or seven that the hoodlums show their true colors. 
Spit wads start flying.
Kids begin arguing with me.
Cell phones magically appear.
Assignments go missing.
Students cease to look at me with complete awe and respect when I teach.   

The honeymoon is over. 

The good news is that after about two or three weeks of this hoop-lah, the kids realize that I do mean business, they can't get away with murder, and that I'm not going to take their crap.  And then they go back to being good students for the rest of the year.  They just need to test me for a bit, see how much they can get away with.  I have to be mean and lay down the law until they understand the boundaries of the classroom and we can all go back to business as usual. 

A happy marriage for all of us.

Right now we are right smack in the middle of week six and seven. 

The testing period.
 
Example:
I was reading/lecturing/teaching/doing one of the many things I do at the front of the class and could hear little whisperings.  I looked up just in time to see a kid in the front row mouth "F*** you!" to someone on the other side of the room. 

"Leave the room.  Now.  Wait in the hall and I'll be out to talk to you a minute.  Go." I don't have a lot of tolerance for the F word in my classroom.  He left.

When I went out to talk to him, he turned his back to me, gave me a lot of attitude and yelled, "I don't want to hear anything from you!  Don't talk to me!"

"Fine.  You don't want to talk to me?  You can talk to the principal."  And away he went.

Those are the kinds of things that I've been dealing with as of late. Meaning that I've been an ornery teacher. It is during these two testing weeks that I wonder why in the world I ever became a teacher.

Add on to that that I didn't get a raise this year.
Add on to that that I actually took a pay decrease because they aren't allowing me to teach the extra class that I taught last year.
Add on to that that it's dark as night when I drive to work at 6:30 in the morning.
Add on to that that I have a million poorly written papers to grade.

And, Voi-la! You've got a woman who (temporarily!) hates her job.

Monday after school, a popular senior cheerleader was killed in a traffic accident.  As you can imagine, the mood was somber in the hallways yesterday.  In the middle of third period, one of my favorite students, Lara, came in with tears in her eyes.  It was her best friend who died.  I gave her a big hug and she didn't let go.  You know those hugs that are real hugs and you hug and hug and don't want to stop hugging because there is so much emotion behind the hug? (How many times can you say hug in once sentence?)  It was one of those.  We were just sitting there hugging away right in front of third period.  But third period is full of smart cookies- they read the situation and just sat quietly and let us have a moment.

I thought for a minute about what to say to comfort Lara.  But here's one thing I know, there's very little you can say to make someone feel better when someone close to them has died. 

But "I love you" helps.  So I told Lara that I loved her.

She looked at me with tears rolling down her cheeks.  "Thanks so much, Ms. Blackburn.  I'm so glad you teach here."

And that, my friends, is what makes it all worth it. 

Even during the testing period.

Originally posted October 17, 2011.
Still applicable today.

The importance of peanut butter cups

FAST FACT:
I buy a 12 ounce bag of Reese's Peanut Butter cups about once a week and you know I just power through them at work.  I like to think that each one I eat gives me more energy and thus I move around a lot more and get rid of all the calories from the candy and THEN some.  It's a nice thought, isn't it?

Here's the thing with mini Reese's peanut butter cups.  They're totally better than the big peanut butter cups.  This is because the big peanut butter cups have too much peanut butter.  They're bigger so there's more peanut butter in the middle and less of a chocolate perimeter.  The mini Reese's peanut butter cups have the perfect ratio of peanut butter and chocolate.  Don't believe me?  Test it for yourself.

And while we're talking about peanut butter cups, Hubs always gets mad at me for the way I say Reese's.  I always says it "Ree- sees".  He says it is pronoucned "Ree- suhs" and as an English teacher I should know better and be ashamed of myself for always mispronouncing it.  He says I mispronounce it now on purpose because he's told me the correct way so many times.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I mispronounce it on purpose, but I definitely don't make an effort to say it correctly.  I guess I feel like that's part of my personality, and I don't want to make a conscious effort to change it.  Hubs says that's Hogwash.  Please say you understand.

Now that we have talked extensively about Reese's peanut butter cups, I've got another peanut butter cup to introduce you to.  Tess! (Too cheesy?  Or should I say too peanut buttery...?)  (Yah, I'm done with the bad jokes now.)  There's a lot of reasons why I like Tess but the most important ones are 1.  She is in a love affair with diet coke.  Aren't we all?  Aren't we all?  2.  She uses words like BLAMO.  Hello.  You know someone has got to be awesome if they use a word like BLAMO, right?!?

Hey, Life of Bon readers! I'm Tess from The Framed Lady, and I'm super excited to meet lots of new bloggers! A little about me (and a glimpse into what you'll see on my blog):
I'm so in love with my husband, it's gross. Like, school-girl crush. Like, a little bit obsessed.

I'm also in love with Diet Coke (isn't that called an affair?). Literally addicted. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right? Thanks for that gene, mom.

I guess you could call me a caffeine-addicted, husband-loving, crafting foodie/student who experiments with recipes, fashion, and comedy. And plays the ukulele and owns a chinchilla.

BLAMO!

Just to sweeten the deal (you remember the deal where you come look at my blog?), I'm going to show you some really awesome stuff.
Here is a collection of wildly unflattering pictures of myself.
And here is a post with a secret that's no longer a secret.

My blog is really interactive. I do lots of forum-style posts, giveaways, and hilarious stories (narcissistic much?). I wasn't kidding when I told you I love meeting and interacting with new bloggers. I try my best to start actual conversations. You'll see questions like how often do you wash your sheets? and where's the worst place to have a bug bite?

If all of that isn't enough to get you to come check out my blog, I don't know what is.

Thanks for stopping by!