the price of stupidity

If you would like to learn about how I managed to catch my hair on fire, read on.

I love to cook. I miss it when I don’t have time to spend in the kitchen. Since I have long hair I always make sure that my hair is tied back before I start cooking, because let’s face it, no one likes to find a long strand of hair in their food. Or a short one for that matter. Nasty. So I keep it in a ponytail. Never once did it occur to me that beyond causing sanitary problems, cooking with your hair down could also be a fire hazard.

I had been wanting to make this soup all week. I was given the recipe and told it was really yummy. I had all the stuff to make it, and finally, a night rolled around when I actually could. To make the soup you had to have a box of rice-a-roni, cooked as directed on the box, before you could make the soup. This takes a good half hour. So I pulled out the pot and started the rice. Since I wasn’t really cooking at this point, I forgot to pull my hair back.

I poured the rice into the pot, and thought I smelled some gas. We have a gas-stove top and one of the burners tends to go out while you are using it. I lowered my head to check under the pot to make sure the flame was still going. It was. When I stood back up I guess my hair fell forward RIGHT INTO THE FLAME.

The first sign that something was wrong was the horrible smell that suddenly filled the kitchen. Gag. I looked down at my hair and was extremely grateful to see that only the ends of a chunk of hair had been caught. Lucky for me, hair doesn’t seem to be too flammable. The hair that was burned looked like it had a bunch of little knots in it that were completely black. It was a pretty interesting sight. I tried to get a good picture; this was the best that I could come up with:

I spent the next half hour with a pair of scissors clipping the black ends of my hair off. The soup turned out fine, though not worth loosing your hair over. I learned my lesson, I shall never cook with my hair down again!

like a ninja

Yesterday morning when I got to work I had a startling discovery – I could not get out of my car. I locked/unlocked the doors again, thinking maybe something had happened. I pushed with my shoulder. I pulled my feet up and kicked. I turned the car back on, then off. Nothing. My door was stuck.

So I (not so) gracefully scootched across to the passenger side door and exited my car. I marched around to the driver’s side and tried to open the door from the outside. Once again, nothing.

I went to work and forgot all about my car dilemma. After getting done with work at ten I went to get in my car. The door didn’t budge. Ugg. I got in through the passenger side again. When I got home I asked my brother if he could open it. He couldn’t. Neither could my Dad.

So it’s official – my car door no longer opens. People look at you strange when you get in/out of your car through the passenger side (it will be quite entertaining when I actually have a passenger!) We’ll see how this whole thing goes on Sunday when I am in a skirt :)

I feel like a ninja as I swivel into and out of my car. Don’t ask why, I just do.

Thankfully, the car itself works well, and that is all I need until I graduate.

A Cereal Matter

I had never taken much thought to how I eat cereal until I was talking to one of my coworkers this week. You see, I am a big cereal fan. I eat it at least 6 mornings a week. My favorite use to be Frosted Flakes, but over the past year I have switched to Frosted Mini Wheat’s. There are several reasons for the transition. The first is that FMW’s is ranked as one of the healthier cold cereals. The second is that a serving size for FMW’s is large. I like my food. I eat a lot. Therefore, big serving sizes serve me well! The third reason for the switcheroo is because I found that I stay full longer when I eat FMW’s as opposed to FF. So now eat FMW almost exclusively for breakfast.

The fact that I eat FMW’s isn’t the odd thing; it’s how I eat them. After I have a huge serving of FMW’s in my bowl and pour 1% milk over it the real fun begins. I then use my spoon to flip any Mini Wheat’s over that have their frosted side down as quickly as possible. It’s like a race! You see, if the frosted side stays in the milk, then the crisp sugar will dissolve into the milk. I don’t want to drink the frosting from my FMW’s. I want to eat it while it is on the mini wheat! Sadly, each bowl has at least a few mini wheat’s that are unfrosted on BOTH sides. These little buggers are the ones I eat first, reserving the ones caked with the most frosting till the end.

I have had to skip my mini wheat – flipping tradition a few times in the past when I was late for something, and it just doesn’t taste as good! It may be strange, but it is how I like it!

Ketchup . . .or Catsup . . .

Or really, just catch up. I was so determined to have the giveaway as my hundredth post that I neglected to post about several exciting/random things that have happened. Here are a few:

I have officially finished the semester! I had no finals, which was fantastic! Lots of projects, and lots of hard work, but I am done and free (at least for four weeks!) It was a difficult semester, but I made it!

I also finished my time with my 1st graders. The last day was sad and happy all at the same time. Though I will miss their cute little smiles, hugs, and the hilarious things they say, it is exciting to finish this phase of my education and move onto the next. They were such a wonderful class! When I left they presented me with this gift:

This spiffy little gadget perfectly imitates the sound of a whistle when you push the button. No need to put your mouth on that yucky whistle filled with germs from the last time you had a cold (or a substitute) just push the button at recess and the kids come running. I love, love LOVE it! I am sure that it will get much good use! (HA! my dad just walked by and asked me what it was. I told him, and he said he wanted to hear. So I pushed the button. OUCH! This thing should NOT be used indoors!)

Another exciting development is that I received my student teaching placement. I have been worried about it for a long time! I handed in my application in August, and got my placement on December 1st. But it was worth the wait! I will spend the first half of next semester in a 2nd grade class, and the second half in a 4th grade class. YAY! And even more exciting . . . I am going back to the elementary school that I worked with this semester. This is extreamely rare, and I couldn't be more thrilled! I loved the school I was at. The students and facutly were all wonderful! It is just a really great school. I can't wait to start student teaching!

Last night I had an entertaining dream. I was on the Price is Right. I havent watching an episode in years, go figure. Not only was I on the Price is Right, but I made it all the way down to the floor. So there I was on the floor, jumping up and down, squeeling, and kissing Bob Barker on the cheek (he was still the host in my dream). Then they announced the prize I would be playing for, and what was it? A new car? Who would dream about winning a new car? No, I was playing to win a year's worth of groceries. Totally random. It's no car, but still, that would be a cool prize! I don't know what game I played, but I won! Anyone want to make a quick trip to California?

My week by numbers

This past week has been long, and at times hard, but I have also seen many blessings around me. The viewing and graveside service for my grandpa were really beautiful, and we couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. It was nice to see family and talk about all of the good times with grandpa.

The rest if my week was full as well. I tried to decide what to write about, and decided to stick it all in. So, I present to you, my week by numbers:

1- adorable sympathy card from 24 adorable first graders (and one great teacher)

2- projects done! (a movie for my social studies class, and a book for my first graders)

3- the number of times I tripped while going up the stairs on Friday (twice at home, once at work)

4- the number of days I DIDN'T have to scrape frost off my car this week!

5- hours spent on one project over two days (a six minute movie). Thanks for the help, Liz! It turned out great!

6- average hours of sleep per night.

7- meals where ham and scalloped potatoes were the main dishes. I am a bit hammed out.

8- comments left on my post about Grandpa. A Kate’s Corner record! Thanks for all of your support everyone!

9- pieces of dental floss I went through while trying to remove the first piece of dental floss that somehow got stuck between two teeth while I was flossing on Wednesday night. It took me half an hour, and my mouth was bleeding and sore by the end. It was the strangest thing ever!

10- number of snowflakes & love notes given to me on Friday (love first graders!)

7 (more) Things

I have been tagged for this seven things blog about 4 times now, so I decided I would get to it! I know I have already written about several random facts, but I probably have enough to write a book. So without further ado, here are 7 (more) random/weird facts about me:

1)- I LOVE the feeling of new (or almost new) socks. Seriously, it's like heaven. They don't need to be anything fancy or cute, I like the classic Hanes ones. They stay super comfy for the first few weeks, and then it starts to fade. Sad.

2)-I would choose ground beef over steak any day.

3)- I can't go to bed without flossing/brushing my teeth, and washing my face. If I skip these things and go to bed, I feel so guilty that I can't fall asleep. Then I end up getting up to do them.

4)- I can't read a book with a dustcover. I take them off as soon as I pick it up to read. I hate when you check out a book from the library and the dust cover is taped to the book, because then there is really no choice. It's just so much easier to keep a grip on the book without the dust cover. Plus, it stays all nice and pretty if you take it off.

5)- When I was younger I was convinced that I had been adopted. It is not that I don't love my family, but I really don't resemble anyone! Yes, Lacey has red hair, (though darker than mine) yet if you were to shave our heads, you would find very few other physical similarities between the two of us. See picture below for proof. I am the shortest of the bunch - I'm wearing heels in this picture. Steve (far right) and Liz (2nd to the left) don't count since they married into the family! I still don't think that I bear much of a resemblance to my family, but I have gotten over the idea of being adopted. Genetics are a weird thing.

6)- I eat ice cream with my spoon upside down. Is this normal? I'm not sure. It just keeps the cold away from my teeth, which I greatly appreciate. Plus, I think the ice cream tastes better.

7)- I sit on the bathroom counter when I am putting my makeup on. It gets me closer to the mirror, so it works better! I can also rest my hand on the mirror when I am putting on eye liner. I once fell off when I was a freshman in college, (OUCH!) but beyond that there have never been any problems! I am at the point now that I can't put makeup on at all if I am not sitting on the counter. Whenever I get caught it leads to some really strange looks.

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged!

confession

I have a confession to make. When I go running, (sigh) I listen to the 'Newsies' soundtrack. It may come as a shock to some of you, but it is true. I know that most people run to music that is a bit more "cool", or some people even manage to run with no music at all (I was even told that the no music method is the best way to run). I, however, find that if I listen to myself gasping for breath, I don't get much running done. So I prefer to drown out my labored breathing by the sound of Christian Bale and Bill Pullman singing. I find it inspiring. I mean, what could be better than watching the sun rise over the mountain your running towards, while listening to 'Open the Gates and Seize the Day'? 'King of New York' is another favorite. You can pretty much always find me lip syncing the words. And if you catch me at just the right moment, when there are no cars around and I feel confident that no one is watching, there is a good chance I am dancing as I run. I just can't help it! It may be slightly dorky, but it is true. I run with the Newsies. That is all.

IT'S ALIVE!

When the semester started, all I had as far as school supplies was a small stack of books. It all fit quite nicely on top of my desk. And then it began to grow. And it grew. And it grew. It got to the point that my school stuff was taking over my desk, and I no longer had anywhere to sit. So I moved it to my corner. Where it has continued to grow, and grow, and grow. It has gone from taking over one corner, to now taking over a wall in my room. There are files, books, and projects in varying states of completion. I keep getting all this stuff that is for my future classroom. My only problem is, where do I put it until I have a classroom? And so it keeps on growing. If I go to bed one night, and don't come out the next morning, you will know it has eaten me.

My happy news for the day is that I think I took my last test as a college student today! I don't have any for the rest of the semester (just lots of projects and such) and I don't think I will take any as a student teacher, so I AM DONE with tests! And I even aced it! Life is good!

A Tale of Two Cell Phones

Once upon a time there was a young maiden with a lovely cell phone. The cell phone was simple and small, and didn’t seem to mind when it was dropped quite frequently. The phone worked perfectly – the young maiden could send and receive calls. For that is the purpose of a phone, is it not? The young maiden was happy.

Then, the young maiden left for a land far, far away for a long time. When she returned things had changed. Her simple cell phone was gone (stolen by the queen after her cell phone had been dropped in the royal chamber pot), and she found that cell phone’s were no longer used just to make and receive calls. There were all sorts of newfangled things that cell phones were supposed to do. But the young maiden was quite old fashioned in her ways and simply wanted a simple cell phone.

Since simple cell phones were no longer manufactured in the kingdom, buying a new one was out of the question. Instead, the young maiden inherited a cell phone from her grandparents. While the phone had been chosen because of its large size, it was still too small for them to use. So the maiden adopted the large-old fashioned-simple cell phone. She used it to call people and they could call her. And it didn’t mind one bit when it was dropped frequently. The young maiden was happy.

Then came the day when it became necessary for the young maiden to buy a new cell phone. She shopped and she fretted, but no phone seemed to suit her. Words like 'text', 'iphone', 'wi-fi', 'Bluetooth', and 'megapixel camera' confused her. “Why”, she thought to herself, “do they not create phones that just make and receive calls.” For she was quite convinced that was the purpose of a phone. She left the stores feeling sad and defeated.

Luckily, the young maidens’ sister went to a store and found a cell phone that seemed quite snazzy. The phone was purchased and sent home to the young maiden. She opened the box with trepidation, yet to her surprised she found a very pretty, sparkly-blue cell phone. Her favorite color just happened to be blue. And she loved sparkly things. The phone did all sorts of newfangled things, but the young maiden just ignored those (though she did accidentally send blank text messages to various villagers in the kingdom) and used her phone to make and receive calls. And while the sparkly-blue phone didn’t seem to appreciate being dropped, the two managed to get along quite well. The young maiden was happy.

the end