Life in the last five months.

January.
I “got my bluff in” on the first day of student teaching at Mooreville Middle School. Student teaching. My first placement was with Mrs. Michelle Johnson in seventh grade mathematics, who was sweeter than pie to me. During the following week, the Mississippi Blizzard of 2011 hit. Okay, not really, but Lee County Schools were out for three days due to snowy and icy roads that just would not melt. Lucky for me, I had just switched to their schedule from Mississippi State’s schedule (who just missed one day). Umm…winning! January also began my 4 month long grandma lifestyle of watching The Weather and History Channels with my dad and going to be at 9:30ish.

We are amateur sledders.

Mrs. Johnson

February.
Caught the flu. Let that snotty, sneezy, achy sickness go as soon as I could. However, I was nearly removed from the internship program for missing an excess of days from it. Now, I’m not much of a complainer, but my university supervisor really was being difficult about the situation. She could have held the “Mallory can either make it to school today or drop out of the program” comment to herself. Now, maybe you’ve met my mother. Maybe you haven’t. She’s sweet as she can be to almost everyone, especially authority figures. She’s never gotten ugly with any of my schooling authorities. She hasn’t had to. But that morning, if there has ever been a need to get ugly about something, it was then. Mama let her Mallory temper go, and by the end of the twenty-minute conversation I was still in the program, and Mrs. McIntosh was more than willing to help me in any way possible. Bless her heart, she got an ear full. (fyi, Mrs. McIntosh and I later became fairly decent friends and she really did help me out a lot to find a job.) That was the highlight of February by far.

March.
I waved goodbye to the seventh graders and headed down the hall to eighth grade science with Mrs. Hussey. Rude awakening. Not really a rude awakening, just a world of difference. Mrs. Hussey is an old-school, you-will-respect-me, get-down-to-business, wonderful teacher. I love her and really learned a lot. We had a wild ride that included but not limited to: a code red school lock-down due to a gun-happy good ol’ Mooreville boy who set up target practice too close to the school, a dogfish shark dissection that involved giving 85 eighth graders scalpels, a surprise birthday party in the teacher’s lounge, weekly fights with the copy machine, and day long tornado drills.
Megan, Ben, Jeremy, Keon, Brittney, Chad, and I spent part of Spring Break in Nashville, Tennessee visiting our good friend Josh Chism at Lipscomb University. He played baseball against our beloved Bulldogs while we were there, and although Mr. Chism put his best cleat forward, the Lipscomb Bison fell to the maroon and white. :)

Lipscomb University Bison

The dogfish shark.

April.
Super Bulldog Weekend. Crimson and White Game. Said goodbye to Mrs. Hussey and the 8^th grade Mooreville Troopers. Oh…and I graduated from college. That’s a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education, thank you very much.

Jeremy bought me a shirt.

Mrs. Hussey

Mama, myself, and Memama before graduation.

May.
Oh how I love summer time! The feeling that comes after graduating from college, or really accomplishing anything significant in life, is a really strange one. What do I do now? First prerogative: find a job. I sent resumes, e-mailed, and called every school district within driving distance of Shannon, Mississippi. I interviewed with Shannon Elementary (twice) and Mantachie High School before Coach Rosenthal from Shannon High School called and said, “You need to come by here…today.” I said "Yes sir", went by there, and now you’re looking at the new 9^th grade science teacher at Shannon High School. I will be walking across Cherry Street, every morning starting this fall, to go to work teaching these Red Raiders a little bit about biology. I am thrilled to death!

Until then I’m spending my summer filling tea glasses for my little ol’ elderly couples at Comer’s, gathering red, white, and black decorations for my new classroom, traveling a little bit, honing my lightnin' bug catching skills, and mowing the yard. Again, I love summertime.

Love you all,
Mallory

Blogger Shmlogger.

I had in my mind that I was going to become this big fancy blogger like you hear about on tv... no, come to think of it, I don't really hear about bloggers on tv, but you get the picture. I did not follow through with my intentions of writing a lot. Oh well.
Since February, wow...February, I have finished the middle grades block. I have completed THE block semester of the elementary education curriculum at Mississippi State University. I have passed the Praxis test. I have packed all of my belongings in Starkville and moved home to Cherry Street. I have began the endless argument between my mother and me about when I should go to bed at night because she says, "if you don't get enough sleep, you're going to be sick as a dog." This sentence is usually followed by one from me that says, "Mama, I am 22 years old and I think I can determine when I need to go to sleep." I can see this conversation continuing for a good while longer. Yikes! I start my teaching internship at Mooreville Middle School on January the 7th. I am most excited about this because I'm thinking that the middle schoolers are less likely to vomit on their desks, ask me to tie their shoes 12 times a day, and need someone to finish pulling a tooth out of their snot incrusted heads. I was in a second grade classroom last semester.
Funny story: Let me say this first. Jeremy Haynes absolutely loves Under Armour. If he could buy an entire three piece suit made of the Under Armour material, he would and he would wear it every day. Right before we took the trip to Alaska, he bought a pair of Under Armour underwear. Since then, when a conversation about types of underwear comes up (which happens surprisingly often) that's all I hear. Under Armour is the best.
Because I don't really like surprises, I have pestered Jeremy until he told me nearly everything that he's gotten me for Christmas. One of the gifts is a ...dun, dun, dun... pair of women's Under Armour underwear. Before you think this is weird, it's not. First, Jeremy has never seen me in my underwear. Second, these underwear are not sexy at all. They look sort of manly to me. Maybe not manly, but certainly like you should have a six-pack to wear them. Look them up. To the story: Jeremy had these women's underwear mailed to his house: mistake #1. Jeremy left his mailbox unmanned with the exception of his very conservative parents and eighty-something year old grandmother Feazell: mistake #2. I get a text from Jeremy late last night that said that he had just received 3 separate lectures from his mother about how he should not buy women's underwear for a gift before he is married. Apparently Mrs. Paula had opened them thinking they were something for her. This series of events should make this year's Christmas at the Haynes house pretty entertaining at mine and Jeremy's expense. Looking forward to it. :)

Caution: Student Driver

Hello world.

This is my first post: yaaaay! I haven't kept up with a blog since my ninth grade xanga, and even then it was boring, so I'm not so sure that this is going to be the thrill of your life. Just a disclaimer. Buuuut, my problem with keeping up my paper journal and my problem with wasting five hours a day on high-speed internet led me to believe that this online blog was a good idea.

I bought a ticket from a sorority girl in class today for Valentine's Day cupcakes and Coke in a glass bottle. Haiti relief. Needless to say, I couldn't resist Coke in a glass bottle. The ticket says you can either pick it up at the sorority house or have it delivered to your apartment. Cupcakes and Coke delivered to your door... cupcakes delivered to your door...man yeah, right? Except for the fact that the phone number on the ticket rings and rings and rings and then goes to this Chinese voicemail that says nothing about baked goods, high fructose corn syrup, or Greek life. At least I don't think it says anything about that. Thick accent. What a scam, and I am not driving back to campus.

Speaking of Valentine's Day, Jeremy and I are making each other homemade valentines this year. I haven't started his yet, but I do have a collection of heart napkins that I took from the Sunday School breakfast table, heart shaped paper doily things, glitter, and a variety of construction paper. :) Sounds like a fun activity to do during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday night!

Good night and God bless.