DIY Christmas Decorations

I'm not particularly creative, but when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I thought, heck, I can do that! I love it so much, that I figured I'd blog it in case anyone else wants to do it. Also, and more likely, so that I can remind myself how easy it was for Christmases in the future!

First, you need to gather your supplies: 

Literally, just ribbon (mine is from Sam's club, and is wired and covered in Glitter), scissors, and tape.  Here's an interesting note here: if you don't mind glitter all over your kitchen, glitter ribbon is great. If you're a clean freak: steer clear of the glitter. My counters, stovetop, and floor are covered in glitter!

Next, use the ribbon to determine how long you need it. I just had enough to wrap maybe 2 inches along the back of the cabinet at the top and bottom. 

Cut to size, then tape, yes, tape, the ribbon to the cabinet. That's it. Another note here: I'm one of the least OCD people you'll meet, and I also have a terrible time deciding if things are straight or centered. If you are a little more OCD, the project may take a longer time, or you may want to just not do it. 

Another note, please be more intelligent than I am. In the process of cutting my first ribbon, I also cut the skin between my thumb and first finger (you know, that really skinny part?). I had to rush to the bathroom to stop the bleeding and grab a band-aid. I'm a klutz, so I'm sure that won't happen to you. 

Next step: gather your cards and something to attach them. Right now, I have all of 3 Christmas cards. So I picked them up and used paper clips. The pin I found had super cute clothespins, which is great also, but I had paperclips, so that's what I used. 

Attach the cards and you're done!! Here's my final project;

I love it! The husband: "mmmhmmm. Lovely." Drenched in sarcasm of course, as he is a grinch in regards to decorations. He's also a bit on the OCD side, so we'll see how many times I am asked to adjust the ribbon!

Happy decorating! 

Overheard at Christmas

My neice O had written a letter to Santa. It was short, in that she is not yet 3 and can't actually write. All it said was love and her name:

Me: "what does your letter say?"

O: "it says (and points to her name) I A"

Me: "No, that says O L"

O: "No, it says I"

Me: "No, that's an O"

O: "nuh uh. That's an I"

Me: "which one of us can read?"

O: "What?"

Me: "which one of us can read? Can you read or can I read?"

O: "You can. You can read"

Me: "Okay, so I'm telling you, because I can read, that says O."

When we were putting the presents from D & I under the tree, my nephew B saw one labeled to Daddy. He got very excited about his Daddy's present. 

Me: "no, that's not Daddy's. Who is my daddy?"

B: "ummm. D?"

Me: "No, who is my daddy?"

B: "D!"

Me: "My Daddy?"

B: "I haven't met your daddy yet."

Insert hysterical laughter. 

Me: "Papo. B, Papo is my daddy."

B: "Oh yeah! I forgot!"

Then, as we were unwrapping gifts, I glanced over at my brother in time to see him opening the book I bought my dad. The very present that led to the above conversation.  

Me: "Oh, um, that's not yours"

T: "What?"

Me: "I must have put...oh...I put To Daddy on it. You should have gotten a card"

T: "seriously? Oh man. Well...thanks for the card."

Random Ramblings

Hey everyone! I'm going to apologize in advance for the complete lack of a general theme for this post. I basically have a handful of random thoughts, and about 30 min to kill, so here goes.

- I feel like my life has taken a weird circle backwards. Currently, I'm sitting at a hotel about 30 min from my parents' house waiting for a conference to begin. Sometime in the early 2000s, I attended a different conference (or the appropriate word is probably convention) in this. Exact. Hotel. The difference: that one was for Beta, this one is for my state education association. Also, I'm choosing to stay at home tonight rather than at the hotel, and in high school I certainly chose to stay at the hotel. (My friend S & I may or may not have attempted to make coffee, then ice it down, then add the hard peppermint candies to make it taste better. It was disgusting.)

- I've hit an invisible wall of sorts where my students are driving me insane at no fault of their own. They're done with this semester; I am done with this semester; we have 12 more class periods before our state SOL and another 5 more before Christmas Break. 

- You know what I'm hoping cures that? The fact that I left work today after 2nd block. I took a gorgeous backroads drive to my parents house on a 70+ degree day. I then got to swing and ride bikes and play with a plastic toolbox and a matchbox car for a few hours. I also got to be greeted by 3 running children, grinning & shouting my name. That's true therapy. 

- I hate that my baby boy is growing up. My oldest nephew is in 1st grade. He has adult conversations. He has lost teeth. And today, I had to actually pedal quickly to keep up with him. What happened to my little mini me? The one that exhausted me by chasing me with the plastic popper all through the house? I definitely want to freeze time. Today though, as we put the bicycles up, he pulled on my hand, and when I looked down his little lips were puckered up for a kiss. Heart melting. 

- I have been riveted by the JFK coverage recently. I find it so fascinating and so saddening at the same time. Thankfully, I teach high schoolers, so I can do things like show actual assassination footage and discuss the implications on current security. And they ate it up. Standardized testing can be on hold. My freshman learned today; it didn't have anything to do with Renaissance Europe. It did, however, have 20 14 year olds riveted. Some went googling more information on their phones. Some of my sophomores have on their own watched Kennedy footage that I suggested in class. That changes lives. That infuses a lifetime love of learning. Not a forced discussion of economic interdependence, regardless of it's relevance. 

- I am a born and bred don't decorate until after Thanksgiving girl. It angers me to see commercials and decorations, and especially hear Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I will fully embrace Christmas the minute I wake up on Black Friday (though, I will not attend shopping events. I have a horrible crushing panic in that environment). I just want people to appreciate Thanksgiving. You know that picture of the Turkey yelling at Santa to back off? I am on Team Turkey. 

- I have a piercing and crippling fear of stingrays. It's bizarre. It came up in class this week as we were discussing global food supply and a student said he wanted to move to Australia so he could eat kangaroo and those horrible sea creatures. I cringed involuntarily. I was then called out on it as a 15 year old asked if I was aware that the fear was irrational. I'm now that teacher who is afraid of something my students thing is stupid. Yep. Yay me. 

That's all for now, my conference will start in a few minutes. If you are still reading this, thanks for sticking around so long!

School Shootings

Today, I got a text message from my mom. "Scary time to be a teacher. Love you"

Being the way uninformed history teacher I currently am, I had to ask her what was going on.

She directed me to the news, where my CNN app alerted me to not one but 2 teacher deaths at the hands of students. In two different states. In two days. 

While you, by all means, can and should go read about the incidents, I want to reflect on my own personal feelings. This post is really an emotional outlet for me right now, so feel free to just stop reading if you're hoping for anything lighthearted or well constructed. I promise to not be offended. 

When I read both articles, I first thought about how horrible it is for the family of the teachers who lost their life. Never did I ever think that I was entering a profession where my life was in jeapordy. Despite Columbine and Virginia Tech, school is a safe place to me. The family members of slain teachers probably felt the same way. Until this week. 

My next thought, was how do you expect a math class to move on when their teacher was murdered? In the land of high stakes testing, those kids are being dealt a tragic hand. I only hope they are able to heal their hearts, because only then will the begin to grasp the concepts the state says they have to have. It also occurred to me that we must live in a bizarre world when my thought was not, "how do these kids ever feel safe?" 

I then reflected on my own day. Today, in 1st block, I fussed at my freshmen for not listening. I fussed again at them for talking to much. In 2nd block, I marked 4 tardy for standing in the doorway. I gave them a harshly phrased talking to about how I'm tired of warning them about being in their seats when the bell rings. In 4th block, I fussed at a student for looking at his phone, and then for lying about it. All in front of his peers. After school, a student came to me in tears, upset about what a classmate had said about her. That one I hope I handled well, and then sent it down to guidance also. I will not have a child be called stupid and not have guidance aware that she's being bullied. 

Suffice it to say, today has not been my finest teaching day. Any one of my students could have left today feeling angry and upset. Do I think that they're angry enough to bring a gun to school? No. Do I think for a second anyone thought these young men would? No. 

So you know what my last thought was? I want to hug each and every single one of my kids tomorrow. Even if they are high schoolers. Even if they are big, burly, teenage boys. I want all of them to know that I value them. I fight for them. I want them to succeed. 

I want them to know that I love them. And I will tell them tomorrow. 

If you're still reading, thank you. I love you for that, even if you're a stranger. Change a life tomorrow, even if it's just by smiling. 

Midweek Confessions

These are going to be short, so be sure to go check out E's page for extra entertainment!



 - My uncle is coming to visit on Friday, stay the night, and participate in this cool competitive pistol shooting thing (very technical name, I know).  Great right?  Except that there are 2 cycles worth of laundry on the guest bed, and my hamper has overflowed to the ground.  And there are dishes in the sink from 2 days ago.  And I didn't vacuum at all this weekend.  And some people think that I should have my students actually learning in my classroom.

- Speaking of learning, I had my first informal evaluation of the year.  In my previous teaching roles I either (a) never turned in lesson plans because they weren't required, or (b) was always late or forgot to turn them in, facing reprimand from administration.  Here, I only need them completed when I get observed.  Today, we started a new unit in WHI and I hadn't planned out the unit yet (on paper).  Fabulous.  Granted, I did give over all my lessons, including WHII, which were done, so maybe she'll be sort of okay with it.  Yeah...probably not...

- I am not happy about this cold weather.  At all.  Except one thing, my usually sweltering classroom was finally comfortable.  Well, it was comfortable, and then in 2nd block the students opened the windows, so by the end of the block I was freezing.  I'm usually cold though, so I can deal with that.

How's your week going?

Midweek Confessions

It's that time again y'all.  And as, always, definitely go check out E at www.emyselfandi.com, because she's adorable and there's a whole link to other Midweek Confessors for your viewing pleasure.

1. I hate doing laundry.  Hate hate hate it.  Always have.  I tend to either (a) put it off until I have no more suitable options or (b) wash it, wait 2 days, fold it, wait until I need to do laundry again, put it away.  It drives my husband crazy. It drove him so crazy that instead of doing our laundry, I do mine, and he does his.  It drove my parents crazy.  It's something I just can't seem to change.  For example, 2 weekends ago, I started doing laundry, and ran out of time.  I left the dirty whites in a pile in our bedroom.  They are still there

2. I misplaced my glasses on today.  The ones I can't legally drive without.  I dug up an old pair that I keep in the bottom of my glove box.  I, in my frustration, worried that maybe my husband accidentally threw them away when he was taking out the trash.  I still haven't found them

3. I am ready for a snow day.  Not in the, I can't wait for winter way, because I hate the cold.  In the, I really need a break from my kids and work way.  We have a 2 hr early dismissal on Friday, which is great except that we have staff development.  We don't get to go home early.

How's your week going?

Midweek Confessions

For those of you who don't know, E over at emyselfandi does this hilarious midweek confessions series. I'm linking up with her to dish out some self-deprication. (And, E, I'll add one of your cute buttons tomorrow...)

1. I did not cook a meal once last week. We ate out every. Single. Day. Granted, one night I was out with D's mom & Nama. But still. We ate a lot of fast food. 

2. I also didn't do any dishes or unload the dishwasher all week. It took a long time on Saturday to go through a week's worth of breakfast, lunch, & water bottles. 

3. I left my laptop at home yesterday. As in, omgwhatamigoingtodo all my notes and prep stuff is on my laptop, which is 45 minutes away and class starts in 3 minutes. Luckily, only one student knew. She happened to be standing in front of me when I reached down into my bag and panicked. Today, she didn't bring in her homework. Guess who didn't collect homework today, largely as a result? Also luckily, my freshman class had a search through the book assignment that took them 30 minutes, so I had time to remake my French Revolution notes, which were more boring, but at least they existed!

4. I'm typing this in bed. At 9:45. Because I just can't stay staring at my computer working on grades or the next unit any longer. 

5. I cuss myself every time I give a project. Really, the technology challenged of the high school seem to land in my class every semester. 

6. My flower bed is a garden of grass calf-high. And I'm cool with that. My new goal: save enough money to totally rip it out and start over. Maybe pour concrete down to keep the wire grass out next time. I really just don't remember to weed anything. Or water it. Oops. 

Have some funny things to share: Confess away below!!!!

9/11

I teach high schoolers. I teach sophomores. I teach history. And every year on 9/11 I spend 15-20 minutes of very valuable early-in-the-year time talking with my current group of sophomores about what 9/11/2001 was like for me. 

Because I was a sophomore. 

Because it was real life for me. 

Because it was horror for our entire country. 

Because sometimes we need to set aside our standardized testing and our stresses to make sure they know everything they need to know, and take a moment to teach them from our eyes. 

Because I want them to self reflect on what they remember. On what they experienced. 

Today was eye opening for me. Today, for the first time in my teaching career, I had this chat with people who were toddlers when 9/11 happened. Yes, they know where they were. But they were 2 or 3. A couple were 4. One, and only one, was 5. A large part of this year's 7th grade class were born into a post 9/11 world. They don't know what it's like I live in a world where there wasn't 9/11. They didn't have to be told what the WTC was when it was attacked. It never was standing for them. 

And today, I reflected on my experience, and showed, as I always do, the today show coverage. It takes Matt Lauer 12 minutes from the time he says on air there is breaking news to the time he says we must suspect that something sinister is going on. And that doesn't include the commercial break they took to tell him and gather their video feed and phone call contact. And I choked back tears. 

I hope you reflected today, particularly in light of the current political sphere, and the tensions the global leaders are under. 

I also hope that you remember that we banded together in support of strangers, because we are Americans. We showed each other love, compassion, and heart. Slowly, as days have gone by, as kids were born, and lives were lived, we have forgotten that compassion. We have forgotten that love. 

Let's all try to find it every day. 

2,996 people died on 9/11/2001 

Let's find that love in honor of them. 

Midweek Confessions

I just love these! I'm a day late, but these are funny. At least to me. 

-I haven't put laundry away since teacher workdays started. For 3 weeks now, I have gotten up in the morning and sorted through the pile in the guest bedroom. Terrible, yes. Maybe that can be a weekend to do item

-I went to a volleyball game today where the school I currently teach at played a team with several of my former players on it. It was torture. I wanted to run down  to the court screaming, "I can coach!!! Please let me coach!!!" Rest assured, this was only a thought. Not an action. 

-On Tuesday, I went to hand out the tests for my 1st block to take. There weren't any. I hadn't printed the tests and copied them. I had to leave my kids with a worksheet and the teacher on my hall who has planning while I sprinted through the halls to make copies. 

-On Wednesday, in the same class, I misplaced their vocabulary quizzes. A student and I spent 5 minutes searching my classroom for them. We found them in my teacher binder. 

-We have eaten one home cooked meal this week. Just one. Granted, Wednesday was my birthday. But still. That's pretty terrible. 

Hope your week had less confessionable moments!

Wild Friday Nights

D & I are definitely not of the partytilthebreakofdawn type. Both of us prefer calm, small gatherings, and being in bed before the next day starts. (Many days this week, I've fallen asleep on the couch before 10:00, and on Wednesday I said I was going to go to bed in a few minutes, but was persuaded not to because it wasn't yet 8:30.)

Tonight has really not been an exception to that rule (hence me blogging away while he showers at 8:30). However, it has been crazy exciting. Let me tell you why:

Our basement is freezing cold in the winter, but we only have gas logs that cost us an absolute fortune to run. D's Nama has a wood stove she's looking to get rid of, and is willing to give it to us for the small fee of getting the monster price of iron out of her home. Being the newlyweds with a home and me still 2 weeks shy of my first full time paycheck since 7/2012, we LOVE free things that will save us money. 

Unfortunately, a previous owner has sealed up the chimney. They used to have a wood stove, and got rid of it for the gas logs we can't afford to use. Tonight, largely due to the fact that the leaves are changing in freaking August and it was cool enough for me to wear pants and long sleeves to work in the flower bed this afternoon, D decide to do the initial measuring for and locating of the chimney pipe. He enlisted my assistance, and it was my job to hold the beginning of the measuring tap at a particular spot. 

I did a great job on the exterior of the house. 

On the interior is when things got interesting. 

The point of reference for me to hold my end of the measuring tape up to was the corner of the basement window. When I reached up and moved aside the curtain, a bat came flying out. 

A.  Freaking. Bat

In. My. Basement. 

I squealed. I ducked. My hubby may have let out an expletive or two. All the while the bat was flying circles around the basement. I ran, ducking, to the door, left it open, and hid behind the storm door, holding it open and praying that the stupid nasty thing would fly out. D was attempting to hit it with his hat, and missing. 

D went out of sight, and then shouted, "I got it!" Sure enough, it was lying on the carpet and immobile. He had knocked it out of the air with a level. I was thoroughly  impressed. 

Then we had to decide what to do with the thing. My suggestion: beat it to sure death with the shovel. D felt like bat blood would be gross on the carpet. I felt like a room full of new carpet because we killed the bat was a valid monetary sacrifice. I also suggested that bat blood on the carpet was preferable to a round of rabies vaccinations (in case you don't know, they're gross, painful, and include giant needles).  We decided to scoop it up with the snow shovel. It started crawling. We then decided to cover it with the snow shovel and scoop it up with the regular shovel. It started flying. Again. (I'd like to note here that the reason we had these tools close at hand is because I kept picking up things to protect myself with; and that by we deciding, I stood cowering while he acted out our decisions.)

After another series of squeals from me because the stupid thing was at large again, D made a masterful swing with the shovel, knocked the bat into the wall, and it fell into D's open tote box of Legos.

He then drug the box outside, picked up the Lego mat the bat was on, and dumped it out on the other side of our fence, in the woods. 

Thank freaking goodness. 

We got back to our project, only after D made a thorough check of the window for more bats. He proceeded to cut a couple of fairly large holes in the Sheetrock & insulation, exposing the concrete and no chimney pipe. But at least we don't have a bat inside anymore!

Like I said, we don't do big party nights. That doesn't mean we have boring ones!

Oh, and here's a picture of one of our dogwood trees. Its leaves are changing colors already. I'm highly upset about it. I dislike fall because it means it will be cold soon, and I hate the cold. It's a pretty picture though!

Back to School

I haven't posted anything in a while, and if you're wondering why, I'll give you a rundown. 

In the past 2 weeks, I've had my first week of teacher workdays and the students first week of classes. I've spent countless extra hours at work, including staying 3 hours late on the 1st student day because I, along with all the other 1st year teachers, had to be introduced to the school board. It's also where they officially approved us, despite the fact that we had all already put in 7 days of work. 

I've been very diligent this year in not leaving work without my desk clean and my handouts ready for the next day. I also made sure that the work turned in that day was in the grade book before I left for the day. The only exception was Friday when I had 26 projects and 67 tests submitted in one day. Those came home with me. I'm loving being absolutely totally prepared when I walk in the door each morning, but it's giving me some late afternoons. The earliest I have left is 4:00 (one day), and we are allowed to leave at 3:30. 

I wanted to share a link that E had shared on her blog. It's beautifully written and expresses so much of what I think every teacher wants to say. I hope you enjoy it! 

http://jenniechastain.blogspot.com/2013/08/why-teaching-is-so-doggone-hard.html?m=1

Weekend Wrap-Up

D & I had a pretty fantastic weekend, despite D's weird summertime cold.

Friday night, we met up with my cousin, also A, who was coming through town.  We had the chance to grab some good food at a local restaurant (for those local folks, my hubby & my cousin both grabbed a Boston zone).  There was also plenty of girl time catch up, though my poor husband I think tuned us out.  We're like 6 years apart in age, but she spent 2-3 nights a week at our house for most of her life, so she's the closest thing I have had to a sister growing up.  We tend to talk quickly and loudly, nonstop until we have to leave.  It's awesome.

Saturday morning, we debated heading over to a local car sale, just to look.  My motivation was seeing just how much money we will need to spend to replace our current vehicles.  My car is a 2005 with 175000 miles on it, and I'll be adding like 70 miles per day starting Thursday, so we're assuming next year I'll need a replacement.  D drives a truck which was made in 1990something.  His mileage isn't as high as mine, but we've already fixed the transmission twice, so we're just happy every day that it gets him to and from work.  Instead of heading to the car sale, we ended up meeting his parents.  We hit up a Cook-Out, which I'm in love with.  Everyone else?  Not so much.  Then we hit a Kohls, where his mom & dad grabbed a few quick things for the beach.  After that, we headed to the Harley Davidson store for his dad to pick up some oil-change supplies.  I slyly mentioned, "Oh look!  They sell helmets here!" This is a running joke in my household.  My husband owns a Harley (as well as 2 dirt bikes and a 4 wheeler), and, while he has a helmet that I can wear, the helmet has never fit well.  It sort of wiggles on my head, which I chalked up to my odd shaped head.  A size smaller and I have a headache because it's too tight.  The "proper size" doesn't stay 100% stationary.  Then, the salesgirl pointed me to these "new" egg-styled helmets.  Apparently, women's heads can sometimes be shaped like mine, so a change to the shape & I had a perfectly fitting helmet.  There were only 4 designs, none of which I loved, but we ordered one nonetheless.  I'll be very excited if we end up riding this fall to have a helmet that is comfortable!

That evening, we were supposed to go celebrate our friend H's birthday, but we ended up home too late.  So instead, D & I grabbed a quick bite at a new local sub shop Penn Street Station (Phenomenal subs!) and went to see The Lone Ranger.  Blog friends, if you haven't seen this movie, Go Tonight.  It's really entertaining, Johnny Depp is, of course, fabulous, as are the rest of the cast.  Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't seem to think so.  It's only been out like 3 weeks, and already it's only playing 2 times per day.
Sunday was a great, lazy day.  We filled it with a trip to Sam's Club, watching (and napping through) the NASCAR race, and grass-mowing.

I love weekends like this!  Also, I want to send a special Happy Birthday to my mom!  She had a birthday Sunday, and I get to see her Wednesday!

How was your weekend!  Do you have a weekend wrapup blog?  Leave it in the comments, I'd love to read it!

First Day(s) of School

Hey everyone!

As the new school year quickly approaches me (T minus 8 days of summer before my new teacher orientation!), I have been thinking about outfits for the first few days/weeks. 

For those who don't know me personally, I am one of those people who always gets mistaken for younger. When I was 18, my cousin, 12 at the time, was often mistaken for my older sister. At my first teaching job (and second), I was stopped in the hallway and asked to present my hall pass. Granted, I teach high school, so at least people don't think I'm 10. I had hoped that 6 years post COLLEGE graduation, I was past that stage of my life. 

Skip ahead to yesterday. A wonderful classmate of mine from college volunteered to give me a tour of my ginormous new school. (Here's perspective: the high school I'll be at is more than 4 times larger than the last one I taught at full time.) In the hallway, we met up with another Social Studies teacher, who very politely asked me if this was my first year teaching. Seriously. My first year teaching was in 2008. But hey, I guess she didn't think I was a student. (Though I was introduced as the new social studies teacher.)

So that leads me to my big questions: Does anyone else out there have this problem? Not just in the classroom, but any workplace. 

How do you dress to overcome some of that? 

Young, young looking, or young at heart teachers, how do you dress at the beginning of the year to have visual leadership in your classroom? 

I always buy a new first day of school outfit, so I'm looking for some inspiration for my upcoming year. 

Oh, and feel free to leave any stories you have of being mistaken for much younger. The only time it really doesn't happen to me is when I'm with my nephew, who has my eyes (they're pretty common in my family). Then people at least don't openly state that they think I'm young. They probably just think I'm a teenage mom, with a 6 year old. 

Midweek Confessions

I'm linking up with a former colleague, who blogs over at http://www.emyselfandi.com/ to join her Midweek Confessions. 

-I completely forgot to order my husband's birthday present. He asked for it in the fall, and I decided to order it Monday morning. His birthday is today. So it's not here, oops. 

-I am the ultimate procrastinator! Routinely I put off laundry, cleaning, even making phone calls.  It's such a problem that I've reimplemented using a planner in order to make that change over. 

-I am super excited for the school year to begin, ending what will have been my shortest summer ever. Why? Because I will be back in my own classroom after a whole year hiatus!

-I am a newly found Grey's Anatomy addict. Seriously. Lifetime has been running 2 episodes a day for the last several months, so I have been able to catch up on 9 seasons already. I'm so hooked. 

Want to add your own confessions? Link up to E by clicking the button above!

Weekend Wrap-up

This weekend was a pretty complex one. 

I start on Friday, when I drove home for the funeral for a family friend. While under sad circumstances, I was able to spend some time with family members I don't generally see. 

Saturday morning, we had a quick visit from the kids (during which my niece wouldn't give me a hug, complaining of a sore face because, "My Daddy cut my face with grass at my house." I have no clue where that came from, nor does my brother). That was followed up by my first trip out on my parents new paddle boards. Let me just say, I love me some paddle boarding! It's super fun, and I think it's way easier than kayaking (my mom disagrees with me on this point). 

The middle of the day brought on a migraine for my mom, and my dad needed to go get some parts for the tractor and the lawn mower. On his trip, he was going to stop and pick up Subway for us. About 45 min later, he called saying that he couldn't get the food because he left his wallet at home. I got in the car and headed that way, only to discover that their credit card machine was broken. I had to dig through my car to come up with the cash for lunch. I found it, and had a quick catch up with 2 girls I went to high school with, one of whom I hadn't seen since graduation!

That afternoon, after a series of showers, my niece walked over and asked if I wanted to eat at their house (after being sidetracked asking questions about my dad on the ladder). I had to go verify the invitation after she informed me that for supper we would have, "cheese sticks dipped in ketchup." Gross. (Please note: J served roast, potatoes, and corn, not cheese sticks and ketchup.)

The kids spent the night at my parents house, so we headed back down to the pond, where we paddle boarded and kayaked. B (6) did both by himself and did an excellent job! DP (3) struggled by himself but was too stubborn to not get a chance. He had to be drug back across the pond because he was stuck against the bank. And Miss O? She's only 2, and her biggest accomplishment was standing up on the board for the first time, though she did have a death grip on my mom's shorts the. entire. time. 

On Sunday, after I was woken up at 6:53 AM by an excited 6 year old, I spent the morning with the kids and my parents, before heading back to my parents house. 

My husband surprised me by installing this: 

 

See that wooden strip between the 2 types of flooring? That is something we've been wanting for a year. Before, we had a metal strip that the nails kept loosing out of, ripping holes in countless socks. 

Then, he surprised me even more!  

See this light? That is now installed in our bedroom closet! You see, this closet is my least favorite thing in our house. It's long, but the doors only open up to half of it. 

See, here's D's side, and all those clothes are inaccessible without moving them all to the center, and nearly impossible to see with just the bedroom light. I am so super excited to have a light in there, especially since my new job will have me up before 6 AM starting 8/1! 

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy July 4th!!!

Anyone who knows me well (or has known me since high school), knows that the appearance of July brings me (and my family) into a dark place. To remedy that, above all, I try to think of ways that I can be thankful for everything I have. 

So here's a shot of the gorgeous fireworks Carowinds shot off in honor of our 1st anniversary! Wasn't that super awesome of them!!! Just kidding...

They are in honor of the sacrifices so many men and women have made over the years to secure freedom in America. 

So Happy Birthday America!!  Even if yours was just as soaking wet as ours (seriously, we huddled into a tunnel by a roller coaster with maybe 20 of our closest strangers debating whether or not to make a run to the car or wait for the coaster to start back up), I hope you enjoyed it. Even more, I hope you take the  time to remember why we get the day off to celebrate. Finally, I hope you take a minute to send up a quick thank you for all those who didn't get the day off, because their job is to keep fighting for our safety. 

Teacher Binder

In honor of my new position, I have been diligently searching for a way to organize everything I need for teaching in a much better way. In the past, I've tried electronic planners, file folders, separate gradebooks, you name it. 

Thoroughly dissatisfied with my level of disorder (if you're a former student, you know that piles are my thing, for better or for worse). So, I have been searching online for a complete binder that satisfies my high school needs. Unfortunately, most teacher binders cater to elementary folks, so I endeavored to make my own. 

Here's what I did. (Also, if you want my files I will totally send then to you, just comment below!)

1. Use a heavy duty binder, and put in a super cute cover sheet. Mine is 1.5" which at first I thought was too big, now I'm wondering if it will all fit.  And, of course, use command strips to cover your name. 

2. Buy some tab dividers, becasue you will create tons of sections. I have one for each month, behind which I placed a month view calendar and my weekly view lesson plans. I also have one for grades and one for attendance, the pages for which I'll print off from my gradebook once the semester is underway. I'll have one for SOLs also. I'm thinking behind that will go my IEP and 504 paperwork for my SpEd students, divided by block. 

Here's a look at my monthly planning page

3. For each month, you'll have a view like this for important dates and to space out your pacing guide. I don't have a calendar or a pack g guide for my new school, so my months are blank for now. 

Weekly lesson view. I need color in my life, and I broke it into 4 sections left to right with the dark colors denoting M-F and the column on the right denoting the dates, handwritten. 

4. In each month, you'll also want the weeks lesson pages. There are tons of lesson pages online. My lesson pages are designed for a 4x4 block. This gives me 3 courses per day, plus a planning block. I leave a block for planning each day because I like to jot down, "make copies of" or "call soandso".  Thats whah I struggle to find, because most are aimed at elementary teachers with 1 class covering all the subjects. I learned a lesson here about spacing when you print, so I have to print some more. I am definitely willing to send directions for others. If they want. 

5. Wait until the semester begins to get the grade sheets, attendance pages, etc. I plan to print out a blank one for each course with my students names already typed in. I can use that for checking off HW, etc. Then, as grades are entered in, I'll also print off an updated paper copy of the grades in case the system crashes. 

As the year progresses, I'm looking forward to adapting my teacher binder for how I've been using it. 

How about you? What type of system do you use to plan and keep everything organized? Do you write anything down? Are you even asked to have lessons to show ever? Or are you at a school where you must submit lesson plans every so often?

Update: New Job

Last week I posted about all the career changes that have happened for me in the past year. 

And I now have an update! Drumroll please....

I will be teaching Social Studies full time once again beginning (gasp) August 5th!!!  It's at a not so local, full 55 minutes away school, but that's a minor issue. I am PUMPED. 

I'll be teaching WHI (which I have never taught before. Ever.) and WHII (the only course I've had regularly). I have to call in tomorrow to complete the official paperwork. Hopefully, once the principal returns from her vacation, I can head down and pick up some prep materials.  

Thank you to everyone for all of the support you have given me over the past year! I am so looking forward to an exciting new journey. 

Plum Paper Planner Perfection

Recently, I saw a post from a former colleague about her new, personalized planner. (You can find E's post here.)

I immediately wanted one.  Then and there.  I mean, the covers are gorgeous; they can be personalized; they have areas to jot down notes, month and week views, pretty tabs. The problem: the price and the size. I mean, did I really want to spend $35 plus shipping for a calendar that's the size of notebook?

So I messaged my friend L (who's super sweet family blog I'm constantly plugging.), asking her to bring along her planner, a similar one made by Erin Condren, when we met for lunch earlier this week. I spent a few minutes flipping through hers and falling deeper in love. (Note: hers has a few more bells and whistles than mine, but mine has lines. That was important to me.)

So here are some pictures and descriptions of the brand new planner. (I'm frantically typing away here so I can start filling my planner with dates!)

Here's the cover. It also has a clear, hard plastic cover over this gorgeous personalized page. The top right hand corner shows the years the planner covers. You can choose to start at any month and it can run from 12-22 months. I started mine in July 2013, and ran it for 1 year.  And under the envelope? You can put your name there, or whatever mine says, "the ourlastname"

Look: tabs! I love pretty tabs!

The first page, also includes a place for your name, number, etc. 

The left hand side of the week view (Thursday-Sunday). See those 7 boxes of lines per day? Those are customized. Check them out below. 

The top right hand side of the week view. See that checklist? That's where I envision things like "order the dogs medicine". There are 10 lines. 

The notes section, and a sneak peak at my fave part. I ordered the family planner, which allows for 7 personalized sections each week. Here are 3 of mine. The others include my name, my husband's, and some other things. Want to save $5? You can choose to separate your day by 1/2 hr increments or into morning, afternoon, and night. I wanted to be more specific. 

A page of contacts at the end. Where I intend to write my husbands cell numbers, because I have yet to learn them after 3 years and 51 weeks together. 

A glance at 2015 (and in the front there's one for 2013 & 2014) as well as a pocket for receipts, handouts, or whatever.

The whole thing is glorious, and I'm super pumped to use it for the next year. Want one for yourself? Head to etsy and search plum paper or go to www.plumpaperdesigns.com and they link back to their etsy shop. 

And just as a heads up: Plum Paper Designs didn't give me anything for writing this review. No free shipping, no discount. I'm just in love with it. 

Changes

Can you believe it, but D & I have been married for almost an entire year.  Seriously.  That's like, incredible to me.

And in that year, things have been a little different for me professionally.  This time last year, I was confident that I would find another full time, in the classroom, teaching job.  Very confident.

Then came July.  I got married.  I applied for what felt like a bazillion non-relevant positions, and one teaching job.  I was asked to consider coaching a JV volleyball team 30 minutes away.  I interviewed for ONE teaching job, that was part time, within that school's district.  Turns out, it was for the ONE high school social studies course I haven't taught yet.  I didn't get the job.  I didn't take the coaching position.  I took another one, with a local community college.

Then came August.  I found a teaching job!!! Well...sort of...  I was asked to become a homebound teacher with a local district.  (Find more about that job here.)  This has been a great experience, with awesome students, with a fantastic supervisor, with at BEST 1/2 of the take home pay I'm accustomed to (and at worst, didn't cover the full 4 wheeler payment one month.)

In December, I quit the coaching job, which offered up more opportunities to tack on more students, leading to the better paychecks.  Awesome for the wallet, and the relationship with the hubby since I could see him more and more.

In January, I was notified by several former colleagues that a school I have taught at previously was going to have an opening!  I immediately contacted the principal in excitement.  I continued to contact him monthly.  At the same time, I applied for an opening in my current school district.  (That one, I'll go ahead and tell you, I never even got an email about, much less an interview.  In questioning the principal later about why I maybe didn't get an interview, he answered in a nutshell, "We had a lot of applicants.  I don't remember anything about you."  Only nicer, and more politically correct)

In May, I was notified of a coaching opening in the same district as the former school (and about 15 minutes closer to my house).  I interviewed there, was asked to consider teaching Special Ed, and asked to notify them of my decision The. Next. Day.  In what seemed a brilliant stroke of luck, I secured an interview that next day with the school I'd been in touch with for weeks.  The interview: teach the same subject I taught there before. YAY.  Notified the school that was interested in me coaching of my new interview, and told them I would definitely want to coach there if I got the teaching job.

Cut to 3 weeks later.  No notification from the school with the Social Studies job. The coaching job went to someone else.  No prospect for summer work.  I get notified, unofficially, from someone who technically wasn't supposed to know, that I didn't get the job, after nearly 6 months of corresponding with the principal about returning to my former position.  I sobbed.  I sobbed again when I got the official notice 2 weeks later.

Cut to the present: my homebound supervisor gave me some part time summer work (like, way part time, like at MAX if there are no absences from anyone I'll get 16 hrs per week.  It's day 1 and I'm already down 3.75 hrs.)

So I'm starting a temp office job.  That's right, a temporary, answerthephonesandmakecopies, office job.  And I am very grateful for it, because I will have steady employment that I can depend on.  Also, it will allow me to continue to work with the homebound students, even after the school year has started.  And I'm pretty stoked.  I bought a few new shirts.  The first new clothes I've bought in 2013.  I told you, I'm stoked.

Oh, and also:

 I have a Social Studies interview in TWO days.

So fingers crossed for that one!!!!

Heard at my parent's house

Momma: "Tell her about how you rescued the bunny?"

DP (age 3): "Did I rescue a bunny?"

Me: "I don't know, did you?"

DP: "Yeah. He hopped away." (A further explanation of the story detailed the fact that one of the dogs had carried a baby bunny to the yard. My mom thought it was dead. DP went to get my brother, who went to pick up said dead bunny, and it jumped up and hopped away)

J: "Tell her about talking to the policeman."

DP: "I talked to a policeman."

Me: "What did you talk about?"

DP: "Wowzers in the woods that eat you."

Me: "Did you learn about George Washington?"

B (age 6): "yeah. He's our first President"

"What is a President?"

"They make the rules and tell people what to do."

"Well, yeah, kinda. Who is our President now?"

"Abraham Lincoln."

"No...not Abraham Lincoln. Who was he?"

"He was like the 3rd president." 

"Not the third, he was like the 16th or so."

Then my dad stepped in. "Tell her about who Jesus was."

B: "He was a man who they killed on a telephone pole."

My dad: "But why did they kill him?"

B: "Because they didn't like the rules he made."

O (age 2): "Yamaw Yamaw! Your car is raining!"

My mom: "What? My car is raining?"

"Yes! Your car is raining! Come see!"

She then drags my mom to the window and points at my moms wet car. 

"See! Your car is raining. See my car? It's not raining, but your car is raining." (Note here, my sister in laws car was too far away to see whether it was wet or not.)

From the mouth of babes huh?

Currently: June

Currently
Listening	To the sounds of the yard, including the hummingbird that just flew up to the feeder
Loving	The fact that it’s warm weather time for sure!
Thinking	About the many trials and tribulations that accompany the end of the school year.
Wanting	A settled mind
Needing	To go for a run
Favorite Things	1. My flower bed, all decked out in pink windflowers once more 2. Nike+ App: even though it only works when I actually get my butt in gear 3. The Audiobook section of the local library – Beverly Lewis in my car, Please and Thank You!

Dishwasher Disaster

If you had talked to me early Friday morning, I was gearing up for a lazy weekend with my husband, with a few errands and work related tasks sprinkled through.

If you had talked to me Friday afternoon, I was gearing up for a full Saturday of husband-less errands and chores and a completely lazy Sunday enjoying having him home from his 16-hr shift on Saturday.

If you talk to me today?  Neither was the case.

On Friday evening, D & I enjoyed a mediocre dinner at a local restaurant of fame.  Not sure what had been going on in the kitchen, but D's Bostonzone had 2, count em TWO pieces of chicken in it.  My small pepperoni & cheese calzone turned out to be an ENORMOUS pepperoni, ham, & mozzarella-with-a-giant-glob-of-ricotta-in-the-middle calzone.  Throughout dinner our topic of conversation was whether or not he should go out of town to work on Saturday.  Pro:  16 hrs of overtime.  Con: 16 hrs of work on a Saturday.  We reached the verdict that he would go, because who are we to turn down that kind of cash?

(Sidenote: the money he would have earned on Saturday was more than I made all week...in the most hours in a week I'd worked all year)

When we returned home, I was unloading my dishwasher, which had done a terrible job washing the dishes.  Half the load was being placed back in the sink to be washed again.  As I unloaded the last pieces, I noticed, to my horror, that the bottom of the washer was full of dingy water.  GROSS.

So we had plans to fix the washer.  D checked the hose and found nothing.  He ran his hands down along the bottom checking for clogs.  Nothing.  He called his dad.  Advice: put some Drano in it and run the rinse cycle again.

Here's the key point here:  Drano + dishwasher = disaster.  After about 5 minutes of rinse cycle, we had bubbles pouring out of our dishwasher.  Top, sides, bottom of the door.  Bubbles.  Laughing, we cleaned the chlorine reeking mess.  D's Mr. Fix-it advice to me, "Don't open the door.  Dad & I will fix it on Sunday.  It's a good thing I'm working tomorrow; we might need a new dishwasher."

Cool.

So we go to bed, and at 11:30 (yes, 11:30 PM, after a glorious 1.5 hrs of sleep), D's out of town boss calls and decides he does not indeed need to work Saturday.  Pro: D is home all day.  Con: we still need that cash I'd already mentally spent.

So here comes Saturday.  I had already planned a mega trip to Sam's Club.  I asked if D wanted to come along.  He said sure, and why didn't we just go look at dishwashers, too.  Several hours later, we made it to Lowe's, Sears, Home Depot, another Lowe's, and Sam's Club.  We also had made the decision to just buy a dishwasher rather than fix the one we had.  Besides, I had broken the soap dispenser months ago and it wasn't apparently, even really cleaning our dishes.  It rinsing them with the soap and then washing them with just water.  Gross.  Again.

So, by the end of Saturday, we had bought a dishwasher (this one, on sale), loaded it, ran it, went out to dinner with D's parents, and returned home to a washer full of clean, shiny dishes.

What kind of adventures did you have over the weekend?

Oh, and a public service announcement: Per the Lowe's guy - never put Drano in your dishwasher, it eats your seals.  So even if we had fixed it, we may have had water running out of it the next time we ran it anyway.  So don't do that, unless you want your husband to buy a new dishwasher.

Another public service announcement: When your husband is using his shop vac to get the Drano out of the dishwasher, it'll spew the bubbles out all over your refrigerator.  He'll laugh at you as you clean that up.

Getting Back in the Groove

Happy May 1st!

I simply want to refuse to think about how fast this spring is flying by.

In light of that, I need to recommit to getting back in shape.  Last summer, I was diligent in running three times per week.  Then, over the winter, I just stopped.  Since then, I have gone running maybe 3 times.

So now, here I am, committing on the internet, available to all, that I will get my lazy butt back in shape.  And not just by running!  A facebook friend shared the 30-day ab challenge I have posted below.  I think I'll try it, and let y'all know how that goes!

It doesn't look too daunting, does it?

What are you doing to keep your body in shape?  Wanna stay on track with me?

Heard at my parent's house

Okay...I just found this...It's from months ago...But it's funny!

Over the weekend, I spent some time at my parents' house with my brother's 3 little ones. Here are some tidbits you may enjoy:

Me: "what do you learn about in science?"
B: "we learn about our bodies."
"what do you learn about in math?"
"the animals in the ocean."
"you don't learn about numbers?"
"No..."
"Well, what do you do in music? Do you sing?"
"No, we dance and listen to stories."

Wow...kindergarten is very different than I imagined it.

Currently: April

Currently
Listening	To the sounds of nature, including the birds and the wind blowing through the trees.  And also, the sound of a few unwelcome wasps and bees looking for a place to make their home…
Loving	This 90 degree Spring weather, only 7 days removed from 4” of snow on the ground
Thinking	About how much fun it has been to witness this final new season in our home.  We didn’t move in until the last weekend of April last year, so we didn’t get to see the spring plants cropping up and the buds on our forsythia, pear, and dogwood trees.  I’m still waiting for our enormous cherry tree to blossom.
Wanting	My hubby to return home.  He left at 4:30 AM, and he wasn’t supposed to return today, but he’ll be home in about 1.5 hours!
Needing	To figure out what we’re doing for dinner and finish up my graduate classes.  Only a few more weeks!
Favorite Things	1.    SPRING!!!!  Warm weather is my thing y’all!  Though I also love the snow, so I was very grateful for Mother Nature’s surprise last week. 2.    Lounging around outside with the dog. 3.    Darius Rucker’s version of Wagon Wheel.  I love the Old Crow version, and being a Roanoke College graduate it’s super ingrained in me. Being able to blast it out with the windows down is a great way to spend a few minutes!  Haven’t heard it yet?  Find it here.  The video also features my fave family, the Robertson's from Duck Dynasty.  Check it out!

What's on your Currently??

Age Appropriate Books

Happy Friday Everyone!

This morning I have been having an in depth conversation with a friend, and I want to bring you all into the conversation.

Her nephew has turned 10, and is entering the literary world of JK Rowling. As excited as we both are for him, having grown up with the wonderful series, we are trying to decide how far he should read into the series at his age. Their family is very similar to mine, with rules like, you don't watch PG13 movies until you have turned 13.

So I pose to you a series of questions:

1. How far into Harry Potter should he read this year? Just book 1? Book 2? Or let him go through the whole series?

2. What other books are age-appropriate for a 10 year old boy? I think I was reading Baby Sitter Club then, which he is obviously not going to read. We discussed Narnia, which I haven't read, Animorphs, which she hasn't read, and then, on a tangent, the incredulity we both felt knowing that Hunger Games is being introduced to some students his age.

So help us out, English majors, Elementary School teachers, and anyone who wants to weigh in!!!

How far is to far? What else can he read? What did you love as a pre-teen?

Happy Birthday!!!

Over the weekend, D & I traveled home to celebrate the birthday of a very special little girl.  

There was a cake, and a struggle to blow it out...

  

There were cheesy big brother grins...

There were cards that sang, with the exclamation "My BOOK!!!" when opened...

  

And there was a rather unenthused 3 year old brother, who really wanted a turn with presents...

And there was happiness abundant.  Happy Birthday O!!!!

(Also, there were more pictures, and I'm not sure where they ended up on my computer after transferring them last night.  Hopefully, I'll find them!)