Monday, February 1, 2010

Husbands for Sale

At the school I am student teaching at there are three fifth grade teachers and myself. My site teacher has been married for awhile. One of the other teachers just got married in November, and then the last teacher and myself are single.

Since the beginning of the year my students have loved to ask me about boyfriends and if I had one. They would also ask me when I was going get one because they wanted me to bring him into the classroom like another student teacher did (her boyfriend came and proposed to her in her classroom with the students, needless to say, now my students want someone to come to their classroom and do the same thing). But, it has gotten even funnier and worse since the other teacher got married.

Now my class, as well as the other single teachers class, is trying to find us husbands. At first they started with the usual questions of if we had boyfriends. Then, in the last couple of weeks it has gone on to things such as this:

Students 1: "Miss Walker, do you have a boyfriend yet?"

Me: "No. I still don't have one."

New Student: "Well, I am sure you can buy a boyfriend. Or even better, you should just buy a husband."

Next student: "You can't buy a husband. Duh. You have to go catch one."

First student: "Oh, ok. Then you need to go fishing Miss Walker and catch yourself one."

Another student: "She doesn't need to go fishing. She just needs to marry my cousin."

Next student: "I have uncle you could marry. He is a construction worker."

New student: "Yeah. Marry the construction worker. then he could build you a house, but he has to propose to you here in the classroom like that other guy did."

Whole Class: "Yeah, that would be cool."

And my personal favorite conversation:

Student 1: "Miss Walker. Did you see the science fair judges?"
Me: "Yeah. The ones from the high school?"
Student 2: "Yeah. Did you check them out?"
Me: "Mo, I didn't. Why?"
Student 1: "Miss Walker. You should have checked them out. They were soooooo cute!"
Student 2: "Yeah, Miss Walker. You would have liked them."
Me: "I don't think so. They are a bit to young for me ladies."
Student 3: "how old are you Miss Walker?"
Me: "22"
Student 3: "Oh. I guess your right. A 22 year old with a high school student wouldn't work out too well huh?"
Me: "Nope. I don't think it would. And they are bit old for any of you."
Students: "Fine, but they were really cute."

These comments are not only going on in my room, but in the other teachers classroom as well. It makes me laugh every time that I hear them. I even heard one student in the hall ask another where they could find husbands for sale. The student didn't know , but thought that they should go look it up in the phone book. I told them to let me know where they were for sale as soon as they found out. We will see if they come up with an answer.

And as funny as it is, and as much as it makes me laugh more everyday, you have to love them for trying right?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

What People Say

Do you ever sit and wonder what people say about you? Or wonder what they have said about you before or to other people? Or maybe you have just wondered what people really think of you and who you are. I know I have.

I usually start wondering these things for a few different reasons. One - someone else has come up to me and started saying things about another person that I know and then it makes me wonder what they say about me. Two - when someone I don't know or just met comes up and starts saying things like "it's so nice to finely meet you" or "so, your brittney", these makes me wonder what someone has told them, because they have obviously heard of me. And three - when someone comes up to me and says something that I have a hard time agreeing with or something that makes me think about the image I put off to others. The most recent one of these things being number three.

One time that this happened was when i was painting chairs with my mom. We had been sanding, taping, and painting for awhile. At the time, my mom was asking me how my day had gone the day before. I told her that it was fun. I had gone and done a huge service project with my ward the day before. We went and painted houses, garages, and cleaned up a bunch of yards. I told her that i had had a lot of fun doing the work with the people that I did it with. I told her that I had a really good time. The next thing she asked me was "do you ever have a bad time doing anything?" My first response to this was "yeah, of course I do", Then she said "really?" that made me think about it for a second. And in all honestly I really couldn't think of a time when I had a really bad time doing something that I choose to do. This question definitely made me think about myself and what others have noticed about me.

Another time that I had to take a moment to think about how people saw me was when I was talking with my bishop. I had gone to tithing settlement and I had spent I few moments talking to the ward clerks and then to the second counselor. Then the bishop called me in to the office to talk to him and make sure that everything was in order. He asked me about tithing and we took care of all of that stuff. Then he said, "you know, one of the reason that I really like you is that you are fearless" My response was "oh no, I would not say that I am fearless by an means." His response was "oh. I think that you are" My next response "no, I am not fearless, there are plenty of things that I am scared of." then he looked at me and said, "Brittney, I am willing to bet that there are very few things that you truly fear. And that my friend, would make you fearless." That would be a statement that I have thought about ever since he said it. It made me wonder how other people see me. It made me wonder what kind of image I portray to others. But it also made me wonder if it was true. It made me wonder what I truly fear. And I have to say that there are only a few things that I truly fear. Granted, these things are pretty big, a lot of stuff falls under the main categorizes. But, all in all, there are only a few things that truly frighten me.

There are many more times where i have taken a step back and wondered what people think of me. There have been many times when i have wondered what people have said about me and what they have really thought of me. All in all though, I try not to wonder what they think. I figure that I am living my life and if they have a problem with it, well, they can keep it to themselves, or they can tell me. Either way though, I think I am just going to keep on living it.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Flashback

Do you ever have those moments when you are suddenly reminded of something that happened long ago? Those moments when you are just going along in your life and minding your own business when you see something or hear something and are sent back to a totally different time in space? A time that you thought you had a passed and no longer existed? Well, I have. In fact, one of those moments happened today.

I had spent my day teaching my fifth graders. I taught about mean, median, and mode for math. Then for social studies we continued our work on Valley Forge. Now you think that teaching in the elementary school would be what caused the flashback. What, with all of the lunchroom scenes, art projects and just fifth graders in general. But, this would not be the case. My flashback was not caused by anything to do with the elementary school or the students that i teach there. No, my flashback happened when i came home and saw the envelope on the table with my name on it.

For you see, this envelope was no ordinary envelope. It was an envelope from Bountiful High School and it was addressed to me. Now, you have to remember that i graduated from this school about 5 years ago. So my first thought was why in the world is Bountiful High sending me a letter? My second thought was should have it really been sent to Chris since he just graduated in May. Then my third though was that it was for my 5 year reunion.

By this point i figureed that i should just open the letter and figure out what it was. Upon opening it i only found a small sheet of paper. it was about the size of 1/4 a regular sheet. On it it said "Burritos 100% OFF! That's Right, FREE". It also had a picture of a burrito on it. Needless to say i was a bit confused. Then i turned the paper over and was even more confused. This is what the back of the paper said. "There was a ring found at Bountiful High School. The name on the inside is Brittney Walker. If you know anything about this ring please call the office. Bountiful High School, Jill".

This would be where i had that flashback moment. For you see, i had lost my high school ring my senior year at Bountiful High. This ring was white gold with a ruby in it. And on the inside was name. I had momentary flashback to those high school days. Those days where my main focus was on choir and art and my only real classes where AP Lit and AP Math. Those days when i laughed my way through school and then spent the afternoons working at Hogi Yogi. Those days of high school. Then when i came back from that flashback, i just started to laugh.

First of all, i had lost this ring five years ago. Second, i couldn't figure out who would find it now. And third, i couldn't figure out why would they look me up and send me a letter about it. It just makes me laugh.

I guess the only left to do know though is to call them and find out about this ring. Who knows, it could actually be mine.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Traditions

It is that time of year again when everyone gathers together with friends or family for that special evening. They all come expecting certain things to happen and certain people to be there. We call these things traditions. And even though they happen at other times of the year as well, there seems to be an extensive amount that happen during this holiday time of Christmas and New Years.

As people who are hardwired to like routines and like things to be a certain way, we tend to love traditions. We love the familiarity of them and love the fact that we can predict what will happen at each event. We also love to reminisce about each event and what happened at the last one at the current one. And as funny as it sounds we love to get together with the same people and do the same thing year after year. We are people of routine. So, naturally, traditions are something that we love.

Over the last little while i was thinking about my family/friend traditions and i was trying to decide which ones were my favorite. I was also trying to decide what traditions i would like to do away with and what ones i would like to start either with my friends or with my own family one day.

The traditions that i love are the Whiting Family party with the egg sausage casserole, scones with honey butter, and fruit salad to eat. At this event we also have orange juice and hot chocolate to drink with marshmallows in it. All of the Whiting family gathers together and we eat food, then we play the white elephant game where it is always funny to see what people end up with (my family brings some highly entertaining things) and then we usually have some sort of family program. It is always a blast and even though we add one or two people to our group each year, we always do the same thing.

The next tradition that i like would be the Walker Family party. This party is held at my grandparents house and everyone gathers there. At this event we have chicken wings, garlic bread, salad, and shrimp for dinner. After dinner we all gather in the living room (where we all sit on top of each other and all over the floor to fit). This would be where we have our family program. We used to all dress up as the parts of the bible story for the birth of Christ. But since we have gotten older we know take turns reading different parts and singing songs. After the program we have the gift exchange from the grandparents. They always get the girls the same thing and the boys the same thing. We each have to wait until everyone has their gift before you can open it. Then we all open them at once to see what we got. From there we proceed to take the annual picture. For this picture all of the girls put on whatever they got and line up by age. Then the boys will do the same thing. I have this picture from almost every year of my life. It is fun to line them all up and see how we all have grown.

My other favorite tradition for this time of year is the annual party with my friends. Each year we get together and go to dinner. Then we usually hang out at someones house and watch Elf while drinking hot chocolate and laughing over old times. Sometimes we go to Temple Square as well. But that all depends on how cold it is and whether it is snowing or not.

Some of my other favorite traditions that go on throughout the year would be the family vacation to Bear Lake, friend trip to St. George, Friend trip to Lake Powell, Thanksgiving dinners, week at Snowbird, and especially birthday parties and dinners. All of them are fun and all of them happen every year.

There are other traditions that go on in my life and some of them i would not mind getting rid of while there are others that i would like to start. Each of us have our own traditions in our lives. Each of us have things that we like to do every year and we expect to do them every year.

So here is my question for you, answer if you would like to. My question is what are your favorite traditions? What are the things that you like to do every year?

Sunday, December 20, 2009

A 'What Happened' Moment

Do you ever have one of those moments where you are not quite sure what is going on or what just happened, but you know that it is not good? One of those moments where you really have to think about what just went on and try to figure out what you are supposed to do next in a matter of seconds?....Well i have. I have had those moments throughout my life and they are always an adventure to try to figure out. My latest adventure just happened last Thursday.

The day started off with me going to the elementary school. I technically did not have to go, but i sort of volunteered myself to show up and teach. My site teacher had asked me to teach a dance lesson to our students. she even got this great idea to do it with our second grade buddies. and me being the weirdo that i am agreed to do this. It didn't really hit me that i had just agreed to teach dance and movement to sixty student's, who are all 11 and younger, on my own. I even got this grand idea to teach them movement through language arts and have them make up a dance to the book Twas the Night Before Christmas. I seriously think that i may have been insane when i agreed to this. Anyway, When i got there on Thursday we had a lesson on caring for others. Then it was my turn. Overall the whole lesson went really well. It was a bit shaky at the beginning, but the ending product was pretty good. I am not saying that i would do it again with all of them, but i would do it again with some of them.

After dance we had sign language, grammar notes, and then off to lunch. We then had our class party of holidays around the world. Right after school was out i had to run because i had my last math class that evening. I really needed to go because i had to turn in my portfolio and we were doing our final projects in class that night. I quickly left the school and drove home to get my stuff. Then i ran out the door and was off to the U. I looked and the clock and was relieved to see that i had more then enough time to get there. Then it happened.

I was driving on the freeway and was just passing the 5th south exit. I was singing along to some song on the radio when it sounded like a gun went off. It made me jump and the next thing I knew was that I had glass falling all over me. My first though was where is it coming from? I quickly glanced to my left and realized that the glass was falling form the drivers side window. It was completely shattered and galss was going every where. My next thought was What just happened? I was still trying to sort all of this out when i realized that my arm and face were stinging. I looked down and saw that my arm was bleeding in several places. I sort of wonder why since i was still trying to figure it all out.

It finally hit me that i should do something. but what? Here i was driving down the freeway with a shattered window, glass going everywhere, my arm bleeding and i knew i couldn't just stay on the road. I needed to do something about it. I concluded that i should get off of the freeway and park somewhere. Luckily, this all had happened in about a minute and i was just nearing the 2600 south exit in Bountiful. I quickly got off the exit. As i was doing so my brain started to connect what had happened. I knew that my window shattered and that i was bleeding. I also knew that i should park somewhere and call for help. Lucky for me there is a Denny's right off of this exit. I drove right over the the parking lot and pulled in. Then i called my mom.

She asked how i was doing and i answer "not so good". I then went on to explain what had just happened. She said she was going to call and see if she could get me help. While i waited for her to call me back i started to asses the damage done and try to figure out what to do. I still had glass falling and my arm was still bleeding. I knew that i did not have any napkins so i started to look for something that i could use to clean up the blood. When she called back she said that Ben was picking up Wendi and that she would go with them to come and save me. They were going to leave right then and should be there in about a half an hour. When i got off the phone with my mom i realized that i probably was not going to make it to class on time or at all and that i needed to call someone and let them know what was going on. Once i got that covered i needed to figure out what to do next.

I wondered if i should get out of the car or just stay where i was. Since i had glass all over me and it was still falling off i decided that it would be best if i didn't move to much. I was worried that if i tried to move around a lot that i would just end up cutting my self even more than i already was. I ended up finding a rag in the door and used it to wipe up some of the blood on my arm and to put pressure on the cuts that where still bleeding. I ended up sitting there for about a half an hour. When my mom, wendi, and ben got there. They quickly came to help me out. The first thing out of Wendi's mouth was are you ok? the second was "this is uch a blog moment". She then proceed to take pictures of what was going on. (you will have to ask her for them if you want to see them) It just made me laugh and i smiled and played along.

They got enough of the glass removed that i felt safe in getting out of the car. then we proceed to somewhat get the glass off of the seat and out of the window. At the same time i was trying to get all of the glass off of me. It was decided that my mom would take my car home and that Ben and Wendi would drive me over to the train station to get my moms car. from there i would be able to drive to class and get my stuff turned in. It is a good thing that my class was three hours long. It gave me plenty of time to get there. So, i cleaned myself up as best i could and put band aids on the cuts that wouldn't stop bleeding. I then put on my sweatshirt and got my backpack and headed off with Wendi and Ben.

By the end of it i had determined that a rock had hit the window and shattered it while i was driving. I was just thankful that it was not any worse then it was and that i was not terribly hurt. and yes, i did make it to class and get my things turned in. All in all is was a very entertaining adventure, and one that i would rather not repeat.