I am a fourth grade teacher, living in West Virginia. I just looked at my W2 form, and I made a whopping $$,$$$ this past year. I’m too embarrassed to share this sad little figure with you. I just stared at the paper for a long while and then thought……WTF?
So, to supplement my meager earnings, I have been trying to come up with a way to make some extra money. There’s a media lady that wants to put an ad or two on my blog posts for $30. No, I would need at least $40 to live a more comfortable lifestyle. I could write a book. A lot of my facebook friends (3 of them) think I should write a book. I think so too. But, that takes time….and talent.
OR>>>> I could invent something…..hmmmmm, an invention.
I really don’t care to invent anything, but I do think I have come up with something that will make me a millionaire. I AM SURE. My fellow teachers across the country (and some in Canada) will surely want to buy this for their classrooms.
I have lately been trying to come up with a way to make a flask out of a pencil. It looks like a pencil, but if you push over the eraser, you can sip some hard whiskey while your fourth graders are taking a test.
Why, you ask?
Because I am having one hell of a year. I don’t drink that often, maybe a total of 10 beers a year, but I am ready to start drinking in the classroom. Hard liquor. Especially after really taking note of what I make every year. Bird crumbs….no, bird poop from the bird crumbs. That’s what I make.
I think I could be in trouble for drinking hard liquor in the classroom, but I’m not really sure on that one. (I hope you idiots who have no concept of “tongue in cheek” will please head to another blog if you don’t realize that I KNOW that it is wrong to drink in the classroom…..but then again, I will have to check the law in WV. It may be permitted). We do have a margarita machine in the teacher’s lounge, but sometimes you should need something a little harder to match the kind of day you are having.
So, I figure I could take a regular pencil, drill a hole down the middle, and attach some sort of invisible hinge for the eraser….and fill it with booze. I could even sing a little song before I partake, just to get me in the mood (set to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)
“I’m a little pencil, full of lead
here is my tip and here is my eraser head
when I get all steamed up, then I shout,
“Just tip me over and pour me out……”
So, the next time a student tells me that M. is telling everyone out on the playground that A. plays with monkey titties, or the next time that J. decides he wants to fake burp and fake sneeze all flippin day, and I can’t take it any longer, I can quietly pick up the pencil, which I will call “the WRITE Stuff,” push over the eraser and just take a swig or two. Then, I wouldn’t care if someone is fake sneezing or fake burping all flippin day. I wouldn’t care when someone asks me what page the assignment is on, right after I tell them AND write it on the board. And I won’t care that M. is telling everyone out on the playground that A. plays with monkey titties. Because, you know what? Maybe she does. Quit the damn tattletaling Goober head.
One of my students asks me every day, “Is this the day that you are going to have a stroke?”
“No, Andy, not when I have “The WRITE Stuff.”
But, then, reality smacks me across my living-in-a-fantasy-face. The pencil will not hold much whiskey. One little swig and it would be time for a re-fill. What to do? What to do? Well, hell, I can make a bigger pencil, right?

That’s more like it. Teachers are going to love this. I think I have found my Field of Dreams.
If you build it, they will come.
So drink up, my dear underpaid teachers., drink up.




Posted by Anne Honzel on February 6, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I bet those kids don’t even know how lucky they are to have you – don’t all of our teachers deserve more $$ and a box of The WRITEStuff included in their classroom supply list
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on February 6, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Aww, thank you. We really do need a flask most days…lol
Posted by Rowland Jones on February 3, 2012 at 3:55 am
This isn’t quite what you wanted but it’s getting close
http://www.thisnext.com/item/BAA9864A/Cell-Phone-Flask-with-leather
Or you could revert to corporal punishment and drink at the same time with this stick based on one used by Toulouse Lautrec
http://www.anothermag.com/loves/view/7852/Toulouse_Lautrec_stick_by_James_Smith__Sons
and it contains two glasses so you could enjoy a drink with a similarly jaded colleague!
Cheers!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on February 3, 2012 at 6:52 am
omg, this is fantastic! I like the Toulouse Lautrec stick. Thank you for taking the time to post this for me. You are awesome.
Posted by backonmyown on January 19, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Bless your heart. We southerners can say that to each other, can’t we? I wonder which state is lower in salary these days, WV, NC or is it still Mississippi? I never did resort to drinking and I’m sure you won’t either but I understand perfectly how you’re feeling. We wouldn’t mind dealing with those little darlings who get no discipline at home if we were paid properly. Salaries have been frozen here for a number of years. George Bush’s fault. Oops didn’t mean to get political. Have teachers figured out yet why good classes and bad classes come in waves? I never could understand why some years almost every child in ninth grade was a little jerk. Another year almost all of them would be cooperative and nice. It’s a puzzle. Good luck with this second semester. I’ll send positive energy your way.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 19, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Yes, bless your little heart..lol You know, I don’t realize that I don’t make much money until I see that W-2 form. The figure just jumps out and slaps me across the face. But, I truly love teaching. It’s just one kid who pushes me close to the window ledge…lol And you know, the good classes and bad classes do come in waves. But, in all honesty, if I could pluck 2 out each year and make them go to school in another county, lol, it would make a huge difference…lol
Posted by backonmyown on January 20, 2012 at 3:34 pm
LOL. I know what you mean. I used to try to convince them early in the school year that they would be happier in French class.
Posted by marinasleeps on January 19, 2012 at 11:34 am
Ha ha…. I want one put in a pen.
Cause I need that invention at my work.
I feel you about the money thing…. this time of year , income tax season, its always a downer even with getting some money back.
I feel your pain!!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 20, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Pens and pencil flasks. I could make millions..and the liquor industry would be so happy with me too..lol
Posted by Donna on January 18, 2012 at 11:09 pm
My oldest son had a teacher that drank right out of her thermos. They were watching her for that very thing, but never did a thing about it.
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 20, 2012 at 3:38 pm
When I was in college, I swear an English professor I had smoked weed in his pipe. I had him for a night class and he was so creative..and probably high..lol
Posted by Elyse on January 18, 2012 at 10:14 pm
My 6th grade science teacher drank whiskey out of a Listerine bottle. ALL DAY LONG. And you don’t get that nasty lead/wood/eraser taste, either.
But as a Virginian, I feel confident saying that in WVa, you’d have to fill the bottle with moonshine. Then the parents won’t complain cause you’ll be buying it from THEM!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm
LOL Elyse, good one!
Posted by Denise McGinty on January 18, 2012 at 10:13 pm
This is a tool that could be used in many many professions! LOL Mine included!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 18, 2012 at 10:30 pm
I know! I really should market it..lol
Posted by mrtinney on January 18, 2012 at 9:10 pm
If I were a teacher I would need a pencil the size of a car to hold the alcohol needed for me to make it through one day without hanging the little boogers from the coat rack belt loops.
Posted by Mackenzie on January 18, 2012 at 8:34 pm
I love this!!
Posted by Jumping in Mud Puddles on January 18, 2012 at 8:35 pm
LOL! Thank you!