Category: teaching

The Neighbors, the Pit Bull, and the Daily Pooper

Posted in animal control, antique store, California, children, confrontation, dogs, Frisbee, high school, leash, memoir, middle school, neighbors, pit bull, poop, teaching1 Comment

(re-run) We bought a house on a street that was a long court with two courts coming off of it. We were up at the top, and it was a great and safe place for my kids to walk our greyhound mix dog. Until it wasn’t. “That was a short walk,” I said when they… Continue reading The Neighbors, the Pit Bull, and the Daily Pooper

My Life in Dogs

Posted in adopting, animal rescue, college, dogs, farm, farm house, memoir, Nebraska, Omaha, pet, roommate, sleepover, small town, Spanish, superintendent, teachingLeave a comment

(re-run) It was a dogless childhood for me, until I was thirteen. I had asked. My sisters had asked. It wasn’t until our younger brother came home from school and said that somebody in his third-grade class was giving away a perfectly good dog and could he keep it? It happened so fast. I was… Continue reading My Life in Dogs

Oopsy Daisy: Month 3 with the Rescue Dog

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, California, caregiver, dog training, dogs, humor, memoir, relationships, teacher, teachingLeave a comment

(re-run from 2018) Month number three with the rescue dog has revealed more reasons why she was surrendered. When it’s cold and rainy, Daisy prefers to pee indoors, especially in a dark room when no one is watching. Daisy is agile enough to jump on and walk across the table, as in, where we eat.… Continue reading Oopsy Daisy: Month 3 with the Rescue Dog

First Dog, Lost Dog

Posted in animal rescue, best, dogs, farm, high school, holidays, humor, memoir, Midwestern, Nebraska, Omaha, outdoors, puppy, relationships, roommate, small town, SPCA, student, teaching, worstLeave a comment

After moving to farm country to teach high school Spanish, I watched my roommate Kristy come home one day with a German Shephard puppy. “Meet Shane!” she said. She hadn’t asked me. She hadn’t asked the landlord. When she did ask him, his response was, “Not in the house.” Kristy made Shane a bed of… Continue reading First Dog, Lost Dog

How to Wreck your Cell Phone

Posted in accident, California, cell phone, Colorado, family, family reunions, Iowa, memoir, Nebraska, ocean, siblings, teachingLeave a comment

(re-run) There are lots of ways to ruin you cell phone. I thought I’d heard them all when: 1.  It fell from back pocket into toilet. 2. It fell into the hot tub. 3. It got dropped into a pan of dishwater. 4. It got wet when a glass of water wine, beer, or Coke… Continue reading How to Wreck your Cell Phone

Peace Corps Fail

Posted in dogs, memoir, Midwestern, Peace Corps, postal service, relationships, Spain, teaching, travel, VenezuelaLeave a comment

(re-run) It was in the spring of my first year of teaching when the call came. I was at Greenwood Elementary in Greenwood, Nebraska. I had applied to the Peace Corps the year before. They had just seen my application. They wanted to fly me to Chicago for an interview that weekend. They gave me… Continue reading Peace Corps Fail

Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

Posted in anorexia, body image, bulimia, college, diet, Karen Carpenter, memoir, mental health, mental illness, pregnancy, restricting, teacher, teaching, weight lossLeave a comment

(re-run) “Are you going to eat all of that?” I was sitting at a table in the teachers’ lounge, my lunch spread out before me. There was a sandwich, a red apple, carrot sticks and a glass of juice, maybe a chocolate or two. Why was the teacher I barely knew commenting on my lunch?… Continue reading Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

Learning To Trust in a World of Betrayal

Posted in apartment, betrayal, dating, grad school, landlord, memoir, Omaha, roommate, summer classes, teachingLeave a comment

Back in the 80s when I was a young school teacher in a small town, things were black and white.  People were church-going farmers, and you’d better not be sleeping with your boyfriend when he came to town and stayed overnight. We learned to park our company’s vehicles behind the barn. My classroom was the… Continue reading Learning To Trust in a World of Betrayal

Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

Posted in anorexia, body image, bulimia, college, diet, Karen Carpenter, memoir, mental health, mental illness, pregnancy, restricting, teacher, teaching, weight loss1 Comment

(re-run) “Are you going to eat all of that?” I was sitting at a table in the teachers’ lounge, my lunch spread out before me. There was a sandwich, a red apple, carrot sticks and a glass of juice, maybe a chocolate or two. Why was the teacher I barely knew commenting on my lunch?… Continue reading Dieting, Body Image, and Stay Out of my Business

The Neighbors, the Pit Bull, and the Daily Pooper

Posted in animal control, antique store, California, children, confrontation, dogs, Frisbee, high school, leash, memoir, middle school, neighbors, pit bull, poop, teaching1 Comment

(re-run) We bought a house on a street that was a long court with two courts coming off of it. We were up at the top, and it was a great and safe place for my kids to walk Penny, our greyhound-mix dog. Until it wasn’t. “That was a short walk,” I said when they… Continue reading The Neighbors, the Pit Bull, and the Daily Pooper