Something Suddenly Came Up!

I have a confession to make. I'm not a very eager helper. You are probably thinking that it can't be true because I'm an elementary school teacher. After all, teaching is a helping profession  isn't it? In the confines of my day job, I do consider myself somewhat of a helpful person. I help kids all day long. And I also like sharing lessons and ideas with my colleagues. Outside of my job I like to help out at church and don't mind helping my friends. My shortcomings arise whenever my husband asks me for help. I feel like I have quite a few of my own housework type responsibilities that I take care of with little or no help from the three guys I share my home with. So when I hear "Hey Honey, Can you come out here for a minute and help me?" Let's just say I'm not one to drop whatever I am doing and dash out to the garage to hold a flashlight in the freezing cold. My husband is a busy guy. He works all day then runs a small business out of our home at night. Sometimes he needs another set of hands. I find myself conjuring up projects so I will be too busy to help. It's cold in the garage! A couple of weekends ago some trees had to come down in the yard. I made sure I had plenty to do around the house so as not to get roped into dragging tree limbs into the back yard all day long. I actually managed to avoid it and was quite pleased with myself. That is until I went to school on Monday. A friend of mine was telling me about her sore neck and shoulders that occurred from helping her husband fell trees and drag limbs and branches around all day Sunday. Suddenly I didn't feel so proud of myself. So this past weekend I made amends. I have been wanting our back deck to get finished and convinced Tom to work on it instead of cutting down more trees. Ordinarily I would come up with my usual list of have-tos in order to make myself scarce. However, I knew that the job would not only be the deck railing but assembling the new deck furniture. I decided that in order for this project to take less than two full weekends of Tom doing it by himself with two reluctant sons, that it was time for me to jump in and help. I am happy to report that a sore neck and shoulders later, I assembled all of the new deck furniture while at the same time handing Tom tools and helping him level posts. So maybe this means I've turned over a new, helpful leaf!
"What's that Honey? You're planning on cutting down more trees this weekend and you need my help? Shoot! I would, but something suddenly came up!"

Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned in Second Grade

Many years ago there was a popular poster and accompanying books and calendars titled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulgham. It was clever in that it reminded us to share and be nice to one another. I thought it was cute. However, since I am a second grade teacher, I have a version of my own. I call it "All I Need to Know I Learned in Second Grade" and it goes like this:

Have best friends. Lots of them.
Laugh loudly
Find the humor in the little things like the word, "toilet"
Run everywhere
If someone says something mean to you say "I don't want to be your friend anymore."
Be their friend again the next day anyway.
Love learning and love telling others about the stuff you learned.
If someone doesn't know the answer, whisper it to them.
Make everyone's Birthday a important as Christmas.
Believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy.
And when you have some free time, go outside and play, even if it's raining.
Hold hands.
When someone gets hurt show genuine concern and compassion.

I have actually had this idea for a few years. When the testing craze took off and education went from a place of educational freedom and creativity to a microscope of state standards and MEAP test scores, crafts and creative writing were replaced with test prep and running records. My friend was walking down the hall after a morning of trimester math testing in her second grade classroom. She was behind two little girls and overheard them say "When we go out to recess. Let's play princesses." And they held hands as they walked to the lunchroom. My friend later said to me, "These kids don't care about test scores. They just want to play princesses." I wonder when we lose the pure joy in life that we feel when we are young children. Little things make them happy and pride comes from a purple star on a spelling test. They don't care if there's still 2 feet of snow in mid-March. That just means more time to make the world's best snow fort. They don't care if it rains while camping. Heck, I don't think they even notice until the grown-ups say that the fun is over. Yes, I learned a lot of important things in Kindergarten, but I might be a bit biased when I say the real learning happens in second grade.

I Think I Watch Entirely Too Much TV

Every so often I get hooked on a particular TV show. When I was a kid I used to pretend that I was one of the Brady Bunch. I watched every episode and wondered what it would be like to grow up in a family of 6 kids. I watched Laverne and Shirley and couldn't wait to live in a basement apartment with a fun and quirky roommate. I've seen just about every single episode of Beverly Hills 90210, some more than once. That show was what one might consider a guilty pleasure. I don't particularly know what attracted me to it, other than the curiosity of how the other half lives. Now my show of choice seems to be everyone else's too: Downton Abbey. I absolutely love that show. After just one episode I found myself watching entire seasons at a time just to catch up. Downton Abbey is a PBS Masterpiece Classics show about a wealthy family in World War 1 era Britain. The family lives on the fictitious Downton Abbey estate. The show also follows the lives of the servants. It is so well written that its story lines and characters stay with me long after 10:00 Sunday night. In fact, after watching several episodes In a row I find myself thinking in a British accent.  The funny thing is that the show does not make me want to be the daughter of a wealthy estate owner in the 1920s. I actually wonder how these people did not literally die of boredom. The ladies of the house would wake up and ring for breakfast in bed. Someone would bring up the food and pick out the days outfits.  Then they'd basically walk around and talk about arranged marriages, money, and other random stuff all while looking fabulous. Another show I can't seem to get enough of is the House Hunters series on HGTV. It is a show about people looking for a new house either here in America or over seas. As I watch I am literally amazed at how picky and shallow people can be. The potential home buyers say things like "I can't possibly be happy in a home without stainless steel appliances and granite countertops." At the same time I'm a little envious. We hear all over the news how teachers are over paid yet I watch marketing reps search for their second $500,000 home in Houston. I would have to win the lotto in order to even consider just one $500,000 home. I'm also curious about the families who just pick up and move their families to places like France and Brazil. These people are described as world travelers, but really don't seem to have any sort of income. I guess that's why there are shows like Downton Abbey and House Hunters. All of these shows have something in common for me. As I think about how life could be, I remind myself to be thankful for what I have. Yes, at times I live a little vicariously through those looking for the perfect home with stunning views while at the same time knowing that a home can still be  happy with appliances that don't match and laminate countertops.