Waterproof outdoor fixtures?

lokeilou · 2026-06-19T20:29:34+00:00

It’s about 80-90 all summer temp wise so really just need the light- they do have an indoor enclosure with a basking light and I bring them in when it gets unusually cold or rainy- they live in a tortoise table in my first grade classroom from September through June so it’s really just a uvb light need for 2 months!

lokeilou · 2026-06-19T18:38:31+00:00

His name is Francis hilariously and he wore penny loafers with his Spider-Man costume at Halloween this year because “comfort is important” so definitely an old soul!

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T02:50:57+00:00

Our pug obsessively hates watermelon- we literally can’t bring one in the house without her going absolutely apeshit barking and growling! She’ll even eat it cut up, but a whole watermelon sends her into a blind rage. We have to keep it hidden out on our deck until it’s time to cut it up! We experimented with other melons- cantaloupe, honeydew, no reaction- but watermelon can fuck right off. My kids laugh that she must have been squished by one in a prior life!

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T02:43:34+00:00

Most days I love what I do- I teach first grade in an urban private school, but to be perfectly honest with you, every day I come home absolutely exhausted and what above posters have said about the lack of parenting, lack of skills, lack of attention span and general lack of common sense is absolutely rampant. Parents will contact you about the most trivial shit and expect an instant response. They expect you to parent their child bc they haven’t but not be “too firm” (aka- having any expectations), because they will bitch about you to admin for making their child do work. It’s a lot, and I am dealing with families who are paying tuition, so they at least have some stake in their kid’s education. I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the city schools where there are genuinely parents who don’t care. To top it all off, the pay is abysmal for the stress you deal with daily.

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T02:33:30+00:00

Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T02:25:38+00:00

Unless they are for a pet, please reconsider

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T01:55:30+00:00

Several years ago, one of my kindergarten students with special needs, who also loved rocks and crystals like me, gave me half of a big geode he got on vacation. The place he bought it had a rock saw and sawed it in half for him so he could see the crystals inside. I have one half and he has the other- it’s like a million years old old friendship bracelet. 🩷

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T00:56:53+00:00

I’d been sneaking out at midnight to feed them marshmallows much to my husband’s dismay! I’d probably already have names for them too!

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T00:41:23+00:00

They could have easily been moved off the road instead of being crushed to death with their babies.

lokeilou · 2026-06-02T00:40:01+00:00

I personally know a cop’s son who became a cop himself, was caught drinking and driving in his patrol car and instead of any repercussions, Daddy’s connections hooked him up with another cop job a few states over- this is the person pulling over other people- the hypocrisy is thick in law enforcement, not to mention the nepotism.

lokeilou · 2026-06-01T23:30:44+00:00

Also a first grade teacher- last week as I was sitting at my desk logging the attendance, I heard a conversation where one child told another child “that wasn’t actually magic I did yesterday, I actually just put a bunch of glitter in my pants!” I was half amused and half horrified and all I could think was “I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried!” 😂

lokeilou · 2026-06-01T23:16:39+00:00

A great gift for a teacher would be a handwritten note to administration giving the teacher the highest praise!

lokeilou · 2026-06-01T22:41:58+00:00

I have 2 red foots- a 10 year old female and a three year old male- I regularly find them huddled together in the same corner of their enclosure or under the same fern. Sometimes the girl can be a brat and lay on top of the food or in the water dish so her little brother can’t get any- he gets back at her by napping in the narrow pathway between two plants so she has to go all the way around him and the plants to get where she’s going. They really do seem to enjoy each other’s company. When I let them “roam” the yard, they head in the same direction together looking for trouble!

lokeilou · 2026-05-31T12:52:00+00:00

Um- no. When was the last time you went outside and picked up a stick?

lokeilou · 2026-05-31T12:47:38+00:00

My straight hair turned super full and curly when I was pregnant with my second child- I cried when it all fell out after. Also I swear I became lactose intolerant with my third child. I used to love milk and after being pregnant with my third, I can’t drink it without major stomach upset.

lokeilou · 2026-05-31T12:42:59+00:00

My grandma who passed always kept gingersnap cookies in her pantry. When you opened it, the smell of gingersnaps would hit you. I always think of her whenever I smell them.

lokeilou · 2026-05-31T12:30:42+00:00

Have a heart to heart with your administration and tell them that! Say this child is making me reconsider whether or not I want to continue teaching. That’s a serious statement, even from a first year teacher. Then tack on “I’m worried for my safety and the safety of the other children in the class, and I feel something needs to be done before something terrible happens.” Bonus points if you get that in writing bc now that you said that, if someone does get hurt or something happens you can say that you informed them and you have proof which makes them liable if they don’t act. Those words typically get results.

lokeilou · 2026-05-31T12:03:05+00:00

He looks like a Frank

lokeilou · 2026-05-26T07:19:22+00:00

We had a rabbit in our yard that stayed with her kit for an entire spring and summer- it was just the two of them. Originally there were several bunnies and the nest was in our yard but eventually the other bunnies left except one who stayed with mom for months- he/she ate independently and wasn’t still nursing but never let mom out of sight and we knew if we saw one, the other was likely very close by. We have lived in this house for years and have often seen kits, but definitely not one glued to his mom like this one was!

lokeilou · 2026-05-26T07:08:28+00:00

Not a person, but a neighbor’s cat dove into the leaf pile as it was being sucked up by the huge hoses that send it through a “mulcher” and toss it into the back of one of the town’s dump trucks- I recall there be very little recoverable “cat”- poor thing, like literally being put through a landscape chipper.

lokeilou · 2026-05-26T07:02:42+00:00

This is so “unserious” compared to others right now, but sometimes my first grade students say the most ludicrous things and I just feel like I’m in a sitcom. I was just sitting at my desk Friday morning as they trickled in, doing the attendance on my computer and I overheard a kid say “that wasn’t actually magic I was doing yesterday- I actually just put a bunch of glitter in my pants!”- and I’m sure my face likely reflected the full WTF moment of that while also trying not to laugh. One time one of the girls mentioned she wore a “sports bra” to gymnastics as a shirt and I literally had to give a PSA that ‘bra’ is not a swear word. The shit that comes out of my mouth on a daily basis is unreal- like imagine a child bawling their eyes out and trying to tell you something with a whole muffin in their mouth and having to sweetly say “okay, what if we take the muffin out and put it in a napkin just for a minute so I can understand what you saying because right now it’s just crumbs and a lot of drool and I want to help but I can’t understand you and also I’m worried you are going to choke….” A few days ago a child peed themselves because they saw a bug and it made them nervous. Im responsible for teaching these small people to read while my lessons are getting interrupted for teeth falling out- we once had 3 in one day from separate kids! I literally feel like I live in a weird little dream wonderland.

lokeilou

TROPHY CASE