Small Talk Six: What I always wanted to know...

About my teachers!





1. Did they ever gossip about the kids in the teacher's lounge? The answer is yes!

2. I still wonder about my high school Science teacher. He was extremely touchy with the boys, almost to the point of inappropriate. One time he smacked me across the face with a rolled up stack of tests. I still wonder how he got away with behaving like that. I hated him. In fact, I think my hatred of Science can be attributed to him!

3. I wonder what happened to my Educational Psychology teacher from college. He was the nicest man, but the worst teacher. All he did was make outlines from the book, put them on transparency, then read them to us. Of course, all his tests were application questions that he never covered in class. I also wonder why he never got the hint that he was a bad teacher. Everyone always failed his tests. In fact, I remember one test he had to grade on a huge curve because the highest grade was 46%!

4. I always wondered if the really young teachers ever got crushes on their students.

5. If you are an elementary teacher, is it mandatory to wear the sweaters with the little things embroidered on them? (aka pumpkins for Halloween, leaves for fall, turkeys for Thanksgiving, Christmas trees for Christmas, etc).

6. What did they do during the summer, especially the teachers with out kids. Did they have to get summer jobs? Or did they get to lay in the sun all summer? Maybe go on a three month vacation? I think that three month break was one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher so bad!

What a Crappy Day

I really try to keep my blog positive and up-beat, but I'm just having one of those days. You know, that day were it seems like EVERYTHING goes wrong?

I was scheduled to work today and I slept through my alarm. Lucky for me, I woke up in time to get everything ready. Then, I woke up Adelae to take her to the sitter's house and she started screaming and throwing a fantastic temper tantrum. Picture it..It's 6:45, I'm 6 months pregnant carrying a screaming, kicking and crying toddler down an extremely steep and narrow set of stairs. Not so much fun!

I did make it to school on time, thank goodness! My day was filled with a lot of nothing. Ok, that part wasn't that bad, just sort of boring. Then I rush to the insurance agent's office to fill out paperwork. I had called three hours before so that he would know I was coming. I even stressed the importance of having the papers ready to sign so I could dash in and out. Well, he didn't have the papers ready. In fact, he had to re-quote me the whole thing. Um, couldn't he have done that three hours before when I called? So, I had to run and get Adelae from the baby sitter's. Adelae loves her baby sitter and I had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming. Literally! Also, she was covered in chocolate pudding. Not a big deal in itself, but I had (of course) sent her to the sitter in good clothes. I probably should have mentioned that to the sitter right? Especially since I normally send her in play clothes. So, that's a big DUH on my part! (BTW..I'm confident the pudding will come out of the clothes, so it's not a problem..just one of those things!) So, with a screaming toddler in the back seat..back to the insurance agent's office we go. He's STILL not done re-quoting and printing, so we had to wait even longer. Finally we leave! Hooray..home at last!

We get home and I try to flush the toilet. Oh wait...I didn't tell you that part! We've been having some problems with our toilet not flushing. Having never had a septic tank before, we never even thought that could be a problem. We've been assuming that the ditch is too full of water for the toilet to flush properly. Well, last night we determined that the toilet is not flushable and the ditch isn't all that full. But, I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that it would work today. Guess what? It didn't. Not only did it overflow, it overflowed ALL over the floor. So, I used literally every towel we have in the house to sop up the mess. Not my idea of a good time. Have you ever tried to lift a laundry basket of soaking wet towels while 6 months pregnant? (Not the kind of wet like when you get them out of the washer, but dripping wet and covered in toilet water?) Well, it's not fun, or possible really. At this point I was so frustrated, I cried. Then I cried some more. And in case that wasn't enough...I cried more.

Just for kicks I decided to check our online banking. (I'm sort of obsessive about checking it.) I found out that the insurance agent charged me almost $30.00 more than what he said he did. Of course, the office is closed and will remain that way till Monday morning.

To attempt to make my day a little better I thought I'd try out a a new chicken recipe. Then I realized that it's 5:45 and the recipe takes at least an hour or more. So, scratch that for dinner. Now I'm sitting here typing this thinking "What in the heck are we going to have for dinner?" Nothing is unthawed, I have NO desire to cook anything and nobody delivers. I could have Ben stop and pick something up, but I have his debit card, so that's a no go. Perhaps someone would like to bring me something? Please?!

One, Free, Four Zoey's!

As you may, or may not, know our cat, Zoey, was pregnant. Now she is the proud mommy of four brand new baby kittens! Hooray! That fact in itself is not so interesting, as the story that accompanies it.

A few days ago Adelae and I were outside enjoying the fantasic, if a bit windy, 80* day. As usual, we called for Annie (our dog) and Zoey (the above mentioned cat). Only Annie came, which isn't unusual. She was acting really really strange though. She didn't want to play, wouldn't leave my side and was very very whiney. Adelae and I proceeded with our outside fun. We played with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, took our customary walk around the yard to pick dandelions, etc. The whole time we were being followed by the dog, who continued to whine and run into her pen over and over again. I didn't pay much attention to be honest. Finally I said to Adelae "Do you think that Zoey had her babies? Maybe we should go into the barn and check!" At this point the dog quite literally sat on my foot, started whining and running into her pen. If she could talk, I think she would have said "FINALLY! I've been trying to get your attention all day!" So, we followed her. Sure enough, there was Zoey in Annie's doghouse with her brand new litter of kittens! I am happy to report that all four kittens and Mommy are doing just fine. Annie is the best aunt already! She will sit outside of the dog house when Zoey leaves to eat or roam around. If we go to look at the kittens, Annie is right there making sure we are careful and do no harm. I attribute this to the fact that we got Annie and Zoey at about the same time. They were both babies and have grown up together. I'm pretty sure they think they are sisters, or at the very least best friends.

Adelae loves her "baby Zoeys" and we have to go outside to see them about 6 times a day. We're waiting till their eyes open to handle them. I tried to pet one and Zoey didn't look very happy about that! Here are a few pictures of them they day they were born and at one day old.

Poor Zoey getting walked all over!


Four kittens in a pile. If that's not cute, I don't know what is!


Enjoying the sunshine. I just had to put this one 'cause it's funny!

You make me uncomfortable when you....

This weeks Small Talk Six is "Things people do that make you personally uncomfortable."





1. I hate it when people smoke in an enclosed space around me or child. Um...just because you turn on a fan, doesn't make it ok! Neither does going into another room and shutting the door. In case you haven't heard..second hand smoke is BAD, especially for little kids and pregnant women. I used to smoke, so I can understand why you want a cigarette (even though it's nasty) but please take it outside!

2. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable when people use racial slurs. I don't use them, I don't like them and I don't want my very impressionable two year old learning them.

3. It also makes me uncomfortable when people spout their political views with little or no research. FYI World: Just because your neighbor, best friend, TMZ, or random person on the street says it true, it doesn't mean it is! If you're going argue politics with me, please do your research first.

4. I am extremely uncomfortable when strangers talk to my daughter. With all the abductions that are on the news all the time, why do people STILL think it's ok to talk to my daughter and totally ignore me? It's weird. And creepy. If you do it, please stop.

5. I get really uncomfortable when people tell me how to parent. Ok, uncomfortable may be putting it mildly. I makes me really angry. She's MY daughter, not yours. If I think she need a hat, she wears a hat; if I say no more candy, I mean NO MORE CANDY. Or when people say "You're being over protective." Yes yes I am being over protective. Wanna know why? Because I'm her MOTHER and THAT'S MY RIGHT!

6. Smelly people make me uncomfortable. Please please please pay attention to your personal hygiene. I don't care if your clothes are old, just make sure they're clean. I don't care if you didn't take a shower, but please use deodorant. And if you don't use deodorant, please shower. If you can't do either, then stay home. I know it's mean, but I hate the smell of body odor. HATE IT!

What are your six?

Random Things I've Learned

I'm a pretty random person and these are 20 random things I've learned in the last week. I thought you might find them amusing.

1. It is not necessary to run our hot water heater all the time.

2. Said hot water heater takes more electricity than all of the other appliances put together.

3. Washing my whites in hot water apparently turns them yellow.

4. Giant mutant spiders live on my front porch.

5. Said spiders have banned together and carried off all of Adelae's infant clothes.

6. I am no longer able to tie my own shoes.

7. Chiropractics is a wonderful field of medicine.

8. My cat is very pregnant.

9. Adelae's new favorite phrase is "MY do it."

10. She has started calling me "mom" instead of "mommy." I'm not ready for that yet.

11. I've fallen in love with little baby Stellan. I've never met him, but you can check out his story on his mommy's blog.

12. My coffee maker uses just about electricity as my stove.

13. My oven is broken.

14. I still can't "tweet" from my phone and that's very irritating.

15. It's suppose to be in the 70's and sunny this weekend!!!

16. My dog needs a bath and I don't want to do it.

17. I'm almost 6 months pregnant! (I truly did just figure this out. I mean, I knew I was pregnant, I just didn't realize how far along I was.)

18. My house is a disaster. (I knew this, but I keep re-discovering it every time I leave and come home.)

19. I really enjoy doing needle work. I hope to learn counted cross stitch next. Maybe someday I'll take up crocheting like my mom!

And finally....

20. Adelae's doctor can apparently diagnose strep throat by the smell of your breath.

Yikes!!

It's been a really long time since I posted anything! So, here's a quick review of the last few weeks...

I went to the OB and all is fine with our little bean. I'm quickly approaching the third trimester..YAHOO! So far no signs of that nasty problem with my blood pressure. My weight gain is actually BELOW normal, which is perfectly fine with me! At my appointment, I'd only gained a total of 11 pounds. My doctor has given me the green light to officially start eating for two! Within reason of course. The baby's heartbeat was a strong 139 beats per minute. According to him, that means we're having a boy. We'll just have to wait and see!

I've also been going to the chiropractor for my hips. They've been hurting a lot lately, almost to the point that I couldn't walk. I injured my left hip quite some time ago. I guess it's out of place and the muscles are constantly contracting to try to force it back in to place. The fact that I walk on the inside of my feet doesn't help that any. Being pregnant isn't really helping either. So, he's been working to get everything back where it needs to be. I feel so much better now and as an added bonus, my migraines are almost totally gone.

Ben is still working weekends at CPI, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In a few weeks (fingers crossed) he'll be switched to weekdays permanently! Hooray! It will be so nice to have our weekends back again!

Adelae continues to grow like a weed. She speaks in complete sentences now and definitely lets us know what she wants (even if I can't always understand her). Her attitude is making itself more and more pronounced. She doesn't like to get in trouble, what kid does though? The other day I was yelling at her for whining and she said "Mommy, you no talk to me!" Then she walked away! HA! It's so hard not to laugh when she does stuff like that. She has her likes and dislikes and lets them be known. Overall she's pretty great though. She's feeling a little under the weather today, but I'm sure she'll bounce back after a little rest.

That should catch everyone up on the latest and greatest news at the Collins household!

6 Worst Lies

Todays Small Talk 6 is the 6 Worst Lies You've Ever Told. Now, I'm not a liar, never really have been. I'm not good at it, every time I lie I get caught. It's always been like that, even when I was in high school. I was never able to get away with anything. As a result, I spent a lot of time grounded!

1...No, I wasn't drinking. It probably sounded more like "No..I shwear I washn't drunking at all.." Hiccup Hiccup

2...Yes, I really do like that haircut. Haven't we all said that a time or two?

3...No, I'm not pregnant. I told everyone that when we were trying to keep this pregnancy a secret. Too bad everyone already knew! HA! I guess I really AM a bad liar!

4...Those aren't my cigarettes!!! They were totally mine, and my aunt knew it. I still don't know why I lied. It would have been better to tell the truth.

5...Yup! That's my real phone number! I swear..it really is! Heehee...works every time!

6...I have "food poisoning"..can't make it to work today. That one used to work. I'm pretty sure my boss saw right through it, but at least I got a day off work! HA!