Took a Little Break

So, I just realized that my last ACTUAL post was Valentine's Day.
Oops.
I'm sorry guys, I really am. I promised that I'd stay active in the blogging world while student teaching, but it just didn't happen. It's so hard sometimes, ya know?

So, let me catch you up.

The week before last was my break from school. I worked Saturday, had two whole days to relax and do whatever I wanted, although I can't remember what we did. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday, and then took the rest of the week and weekend off.
Thursday I headed up north midday with intentions to hang out with my sister until my mom finished work at 7 and then we'd head straight to her Zumba class. I was pretty excited to try Zumba, but unfortunately, I was unable to. Why? Because Thursday morning my mom was feeding the horse, made it angry, and the horse head butted her and gave her a concussion. So... No Zumba. But she did get one heck of a black eye. So I spent Thursday helping mom run errands and such.
The entire reason I was home was to give my dad my car so he could go to a hawk meet in Wells and the rest of us could take the family car to Massachusetts for the weekend. Mom, my sister, her boyfriend, and I got up early Friday morning and headed down, stopping back at my apartment to pick Danny up. I had to drive the first couple hours of the trip, due to Mom's very swollen eye. That night we went out to an awesome Japanese restaurant with my aunt and uncle and my grandparents. Love hibachi style food! Our show wasn't as good as the last time we went there, over the summer. We also didn't get to ride in a limo this time. :(
Friday we had to go to my nana's adopted daughter's housewarming party. Nothing too exciting there, just the obligatory family events. On the way back, we picked up decorations for Jess's surprise baby shower! (That she basically already knew about.) We also decided to check out some thrift stores in the area. So glad we did. I found an amazing needlepoint of Winnie the Pooh's hundred acre woods map, framed, for 5 dollars! FIVE DOLLARS! It will look adorable in baby Hunter's room.
Jess's baby shower was a blast. Because it was at my uncle's house, there were a lot of guys there. They were SUPPOSED to go in the living room, but they ended up participating in the shower. Guess they liked drinking from a baby bottle races and taste testing baby food. Haha.
We headed home Sunday morning, and made stops at Cabela's and the Christmas Tree Shop in southern Maine. Our plan WAS to go to the mall in Portsmouth, NH and get bubble tea, but once again, bubble tea was out of our reach, because the mall didn't open until noon. Boo!

Monday, it was back to school. And I feel like I haven't rested since. I did not come home after school and stay home ONE night last week. Monday night we went grocery shopping, Tuesday I had class, Wednesday we ran Danny's errands, Thursday we went shopping, and Friday I had to work. SUCH a busy week! Tomorrow night I'm staying home after school!!!
The school week was pretty cool though. Especially Wednesday! I obtained five walking stick insects for my students. They LOVE them.

Yesterday I worked, and felt REALLY sick all afternoon. Luckily, better today. In fact, better enough for a spontaneous road trip to Rockland! We walked across the breakwater to the lighthouse and barely made it back before it started raining!

Tomorrow begins week 7 of my student teaching, which means the end of next week is my last day with my second graders! This makes me SO incredibly sad. But it means I'm half way done, and I'm moving on to fourth graders.

Countdown to the Return of Glee, Part 8

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,

MY BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER WITH MY OBSESSION WITH GLEE!

deal with it

Mr. Shuester getting his freak on!

You definitely can't miss this one ladies. And men? I'm not judging.

6 weeks until the return of Glee!

Part 2: Guest Post by My Sister of the Blogosphere, Darah

Just to reinterate from the other day, as some of you know, I'm a part of the Sisterhood of the Blogosphere. Through this, I have acquired two lovely friends, Aeishah and Darah. As part of the sisterhood, we have all agreed to write guest posts for each other.

So, here is the post that Darah wrote for me. I encourage you all to go over and check out her blog Darah's blog, I've Come to the Realization That.... I just love Darah. She is an amazing writer and has a great perspective on life, love, and family. Please go check her out! (And tell her that I sent you, if you'd like.)

Blogging has always been my way of expressing my feelings and thoughts about things I've come to realize or notice in life. When I first started my blog, I made it private because I was not comfortable with the feeling of having my personal thoughts and honest opinions floating around on the internet for others to see. I don't like to be judged, especially for how I think, but I don't want to conform to other people's standards and opinions as well. Yet as I continued to blog and slowly open up, even with this concept of being "judged" at the back of my mind, I grew a little more comfortable expressing my opinions with each post. It wasn't easy, but after awhile I became comfortable with what I felt compelled to say, even if no one was reading it. (Remember, my blog was still in "private" mode.) Well, one of my dear friends Chelsea at Oh Missy Me had posted a guest blog on Nahl's blog that really changed my mind about my blogging and helped me to overcome my fear of having other's read my thoughts as well. These are the words that really hit me:


"I used to keep my blog as hidden as I could without making it private. You hear all these crazy stories of bad things happening and stalkers showing up so you try to keep everything as secretive as you can. Then one day I had a darling girl named Farah show up on my blog and with her sweet kind words I have been able to branch out and break out of my shell. Since then I have made some of the most amazing friends. One day I will meet these ladies face to face and we will be able to talk like old friends, because we will be.


If you are one of those girls who was like me, afraid to open up, don't be. There is more love and kindness in this world than you'd believe."


After reading that post, I made my blog public. It was a huge and scary step for me, but something that I needed to do in order to embrace and love myself, and so I could come out of my shell and really overcome my fear of having people I don't know, read my thoughts.


After a little while, Nahl found my blog and commented on a post and it got me super excited! She left such a sweet note that really showed me how much she cared and how much my posting meant to her. I truly did not think that my blog was important or interesting enough, so I didn't think anyone would read it. I've read some fantastic blogs and the writers behind these amazing words are so inspired; I guess I thought I had to be awesome in order to be inspired. After Nahl's comment, I started to have a little more confidence in myself and slowly, other people came across my blog and commented.


When Nahl started the sisterhood of the blogosphere project, I was a bit hesitant to join because I didn't think (again, I need to stop thinking sometimes) that my sisters would find me interesting, but I was wrong. I jumped into it and decided to embrace it all and plan on making friends and I have done just that. I was paired with Ashley from Just the Ashes and Aeishah from Crunchiepie, and these girls have been awesome and amazing sisters to me!! I have enjoyed getting to know them and reading about what they find interesting or exciting.


Ashley is such an amazing and inspiring girl. She loves children and seems to have quite the knack with teaching and interacting with them. She has been crazy busy doing student teaching, in order to finish her education, but she loves it and will soon be graduating!! Woohoo! She wants to go to Korea with her boyfriend, and teach English there. I know it will be quite the experience, but a great one at the same time. I love learning about different cultures and I'm so excited for her to enjoy and see what Korea has to offer. I love that we have a lot in common with each other. Even though I do have a child of my own, we both treat our animals like they're our children too. I don't think it's a bad thing at all, because I LOVE animals and I'm glad I can relate to someone else! We have the same infatuation for Glee because it's a totally awesome show with wonderful singing. I don't know how you could not be excited for the new, upcoming season! Ashley is such a creative person as well, as she is working on some cute projects for her soon to be nephew!! And even though we both could use some culinary lessons, we both love our men so much and would do anything for them!! Ashley has been such a wonderful sister and I look forward to her posts and comments on my blog. She is so sweet and so caring, and I hope that she succeeds in all she does!! I also know that she will be the best aunty in the world!


I'm so glad that we have been able to become friends. We both live in the United States, but unfortunately on opposite sides of the nation. If ever the chance comes, I would love to meet her in person so we could go out for bagels and strawberry cream cheese and talk about all the things in our lives. I know it would be as if we'd known each other forever and are just picking up where we left off. I wish her the best in all she does!!

- Darah at I've Come to the Realization That...

Countdown to the Return of Glee, Part 7

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,

MY BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER WITH MY OBSESSION WITH GLEE!

deal with it

And front this moment, I loved Puck.

(But not NEARLY as much as Kurt. Or Mr. Shuester...)

7 weeks until the return of Glee!

Part 1: Guest Post by My Sister of the Blogosphere, Aeishah

As some of you know, I'm a part of the Sisterhood of the Blogosphere. Through this, I have acquired two lovely friends, Aeishah and Darah. As part of the sisterhood, we have all agreed to write guest posts for each other.

So, here is the post that Aeishah wrote for me. I encourage you all to go over to Aeishah's blog, Crunchiepie. She is just an absolute sweetheart (which you will definitely see in her guest post!) and she writes about things that she's very passionate about and well as some really fun stuff as well. Please go check her out! (And tell her that I sent you, if you'd like!)

This is supposed to be a guest post for Ashley, one of my sisters from Sisterhood of Blogosphere. Most of you must already know about it by now but for those of you who don’t know about it, it’s a small community of girls from the blogosphere and each one has two sisters. I was lucky enough to have Ashley and Darah Snow. We’ve been interacting for a while by now and keep ourselves updated with each other’s blog too so we’ve come to know a little about each other and basically, the idea of the sisterhood is flourishing little by little.


Ashley, as I have known her, seems to me to be a lot like me. I often see a tinge of myself in her personality and writings. The way she loves the kids she works with and her passion about whatever she does, it not only reflects my own self but encourages me to do more. The way she expresses her opinion is subtle and strong at the same time. I was just going through this discussion on Twenty Something Bloggers on Kids Lingerie Line once and Ashley’s comment left a strong impact on me. Her comment was different from a lot of other people because of the very strong words that she used to disapprove of the idea. That’s one thing that left me inspired. I was proud to have a friend who knew so well how to draw a line between right and wrong. She seems to be a very caring and sweet person from what I’ve figured out uptil now but there’s a certain air of strong headedness and control about her and trust me if I never knew she was teaching, I would have suggested that to her because she is just the right mixture of politeness and assertiveness.


Ashley’s blog, all of you would agree, is more of a breath of fresh air. Right now Hunter Wayne is influencing the blog like anything and I have never seen a more enthusiastic aunt-to-be. Hunter is surely going to be a lucky nephew :)


In the form of Ashley, I’ve come across a person who has high regard for her family and has significant achievements of her own as well. To me, that’s a complete person. I just hope and pray that everything goes fine for Jessica as well as Hunter and her plans for working in Korea turn out great.
With time, I know this friendship is going to grow stronger and I definitely look forward to that. I also look forward to a wider network of Sisterhood of Blogosphere so that a lot of other people can benefit and make friends :)


- Aeishah at Crunchiepie

Valentine's Day with my Dannybear

So for Valentine's Day this year, we went camping!!!
For real.

Okay, so it was in our living room. But still, super fun.
We pitched the tent (which just barely fits, but luckily, it's super easy to pitch) and filled it full of blankets and pillows. And also positioned it so the door opened directly to the TV. We laid in there and watched movies and ate smores (from the oven) and drank strawberry coladas. (Coconut rum in mine, virgin for my straight edge boyfriend.)

It was a lot of fun. :) The cats were sad when we took the tent down this morning. They thought it was a new fort for them.

 Even though I felt really sick yesterday, didn't get dressed at all and spent a good part of the day napping on the couch, it was still a great Valentine's Day. Although, any day when I can spend the whole day with my Dannybear is a great day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Belated)

What did you do for Valentine's Day?

On Workshops, Sushi, Candy, and Awards.

I spent allll day yesterday in my first teacher's workshop. It was for student teachers, which meant at least I got to spend the day with Katie chatting about babies and boys and rolling our eyes are those less intelligent than us. (What can I say? We're brilliant and we're well aware of it.)
The workshop wasn't too awful. I did feel fairly sick through most of it, but I lived. I learned some interesting things about interviews, getting certified, and school law. It was definitely not a waste of time by any means.

I did get a text message mid day from Danny, though, saying "Uhm, your check came."
Lovely. After I cancel the check Thursday and pay the stupid $25 fee, it shows up. Just figures, doesn't it?

At least I had my substitute teaching check, which allowed Danny and I to go out for sushi tonight. We opted to go tonight instead of tomorrow to avoid the Valentine's Day crowds. While we love sushi, what we REALLY wanted was bubble tea.


When I tried bubble tea this past summer, I did NOT like it. But it was also banana flavored. Not my favorite. So I was willing to try it again.
No such luck.
When we found out that a Japanese restaurant we hadn't been to yet was getting bubble tea, we rushed right over. And they didn't have the supplies yet. So we went tonight, now that their website says they definitely have it. And we get there and apparently only ONE employee knows how to make it, and she'd left and wouldn't be back for awhile. GRRRR.
So no bubble tea for Ashes. But my sushi was delightful. Danny and I each ordered a special and shared. He got spider rolls and I got Honolulu maki. We hadn't tried either before, but they were so so good!! My belly is still happy. And it was cheap! $16 total. Not bad at all.

When we got home though, I decided to have a little bit of my candy from my students. And what did I find? WRAPPERS. Danny got into my candy and ate all of the best stuff!!!! And I so wanted my mini reese's cup.
I whined about it. Loudly. Danny even made a video of it on my cell phone. I whined so much he eventually caved and we went to the store and he bought me a Reese's Heart. And two Cadbury Creme eggs!! Yay!!! My belly is even more happy now.
(Note: I just explained to Danny how much I love the satisfied feeling of eating sushi. Like with Chinese food, you feel hungry again after a short while. And with some other food, you feel too full and sick afterward. But not with sushi. I feel just full enough for quite a long time after. Do you guys get this??)

I'm so excited about tomorrow. I have TWO days off in a row, so I just get to relax. For TWO days. I always just get one day a week off. Now I have two. :) And no school next week! And not a ton of work!! And a roadtrip next weekend!!! Ahhhh so excited.
Also, tomorrow is Valentine's Day! And we have amazing plans. I found an idea on a blog, and we're going to do it!! I'll tell more and post pictures tomorrow.
Also coming tomorrow (or maybe later tonight??) will be TWO guest posts! From my sisters of the blogosphere, Darah and Aeishah.




And also, I received another award!! Wheee I love awards!

I'd like to thank Ebony for this beautiful award! It really is sunshiney.
The rules of this award are as follows.
1. Put the award on your blog (on the sidebar or in one of your posts)
2. Pass it on to 6 fellow bloggers and let them know they have received it
3. Share the love & provide a link back to the person from whom you've received it
4. Bask in the warm sunshine of your new found fame

And the bloggers I've chosen are...
1. Ari
2. Nahl
3. Stevie
4. Darah
5. Aeishah
6. Kim

Hunter's Valentine's Day and Congrats on Being a Boy presents

So, I didn't get my paycheck today... again. Big surprise. I finally decided to go into the office and have them stop payment on the check. But, not only do I have to pay the $25 fee from the bank but I also have to let them hold the money for 72 hours. (The weekend doesn't count either...) So they won't be sending me my new check until WEDNESDAY. Which means I get paid Thursday. And then get my regular check on Friday. Nice.
Needless to say, I signed up for direct deposit today.

However, I did get paid for substitute teaching. I paid Danny back for some of the money I've borrowed from him and bought a couple things for my baby nephew, Hunter.

 

Educational books!!

 

He will be Auntie's little sweetheart. :)

 

Inspired by his Papa, the pilot. :)

Today is Valentine's Day...

In my classroom anyways!!
I have a teacher's workshop for student teachers on Friday (-yawn-) so my mentor teacher was kind enough to move our party to today so that I can participate in the festivities.

And I have these lovely little cards for my students. :-)

(I adore the ribbon. Thanks Aerie, for putting this on my shopping bags!)

Countdown to the Return of Glee, Part 6

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,

MY BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER WITH MY OBSESSION WITH GLEE!

deal with it

Okay, I know not everyone loves Glee. (HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE GLEE?!) But seriously... at least watch this to see how awesomely Finn (guy on the lead mic) plays someone on drugs. (pseudo ephedrine) He looks sooooo high. Its hilarious.

Also... Kurt Hummel. Adorable. I bet even the non-Gleeks can pick out my little gay boy right away in this video. Awwwh he's so cute.

8 weeks until the return of Glee!

And the end of the Wednesday blog take over. Happy face? Sad face?

Progress on Hunter's Afghan

 

I think it's coming along quite nicely. :) 

Oh yeah, by the way... his name is Hunter. 

Baby Boo is a BOY!!!

Mom's Wicked Good Whoopie Pies

With the whoopie pie being proposed as Maine's official dessert I thought it would be fitting for me to post the recipe for my FAVORITE whoopie pies.

Note: These are not my mom's whoopie pies. I devoured them before I got a photo.

Image links back to where I stole it from.

Let me add here that I am extremely picky about my whoopie pies. I LOVE them, but they have to be just right. All of the stores around here sell Wicked Whoopies and Steve's Snacks whoopie pies, and they're okay, but they just don't cut it. They're too processed. Whoopie pies should look and taste like they just came out of grandma's kitchen. Now, my grandma doesn't make whoopie pies (that I'm aware of) but my mom does. And they're amazing. I hope she doesn't mind that I'm posting her recipe. (I copy and pasted it from facebook, so she probably doesn't. Haha)

Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
5 tbsp. cocoa
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk

Mix all ingredients together. Drop onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.


Filling
1/2 cup crisco
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Beat until fluffy and fill cookies.

On My Paycheck, the Superbowl, My camera, and a Baby Boo

So... Still no paycheck today. And I'm still holding onto my sanity.
I called the office after school today and they gave me two options.
1) Wait. I was told that almost 100% of time, the paycheck shows up within a few days.
2) Have them stop payment on the original check, come in and sign some paperwork, and they'll send out a new check immediately. Sounds good right? Well, the fee for stopping payment on a check is $25, which I would have to pay.

Gaaaaaaahhhh.
So, my plan is... wait til Wednesday. If I don't have a check by Wednesday afternoon, I'll go in, stop payment, pay the stupid $25, and get paid on Friday.

So, I watched the Superbowl yesterday. Ho hum, boring.
I used to love football. Before the whole Patriots losing the stupid Superbowl after an undefeated season I was done. Just done. Call it petty and childish, but I had no interest in watching football ever again.
In fact, last night's game may have been the first one I've watched since then. And it was boring.
I watched a good part of the commercials. They made me laugh, but honestly, I don't think I can really remember many of them today. That's sad. I don't think I'll watch any of the Superbowl at all next year. (Do they even broadcast the Superbowl in South Korea?)

I made an interesting snack for the Superbowl though. Corndog Muffins. Oh yes, they're just as amazing as they sound. Pieces of hotdog baked into cornbread muffins.
Actually, they weren't very good. They cornbread all fell apart, and while they tasted really good, I found myself having waves of nausea for hours afterward.

Oh, and here's more bad news...
The auto focus on my Nikon d40 kit lens is broken. Grrr. At least the manual focus still works so its usable, but seriously... so annoying.


However, there is one good thing coming up.
My sister Jessica is having her ultrasound tomorrow and will HOPEFULLY be finding out whether she's growing me a little niece or a little nephew. I'm getting overwhelming votes for boy, and the Chinese gender predictor says boy... but I still have hope that it could be a little girl.
God I'd be thrilled if it were a girl.
(Also, there's still time to vote if you choose. Or just see a picture of a cute baby bump. Whichever.)


Speaking of more time... it would really cheer me up if I won a charm from Tiny Hands. Go comment on this post to increase my chances!

On Being Broke, Liking Pink, and Taking Photos

*sigh*

I still don't have a paycheck... I got some mail today, so it is being delivered, but no paycheck. I went to the post office and there's nothing they can do about it. Wow, thanks US Postal Service, for giving a crap about your customers. Grr. My guess is that it was misdelivered. Danny doesn't think so, and think it will just get here late. But I've got neighbors' mail before, so what reason do I have to think it couldn't happen? I've considered knocking on every door in the complex asking if they've gotten my mail. A decent person would have delivered it to my by now if they had it, wouldn't you think?? It is a possibility that they've put it back in the mail to be returned to sender. But why would someone do that when they can see that the address is in the complex?? Jerks.
I guess my plan on action is to call my payroll office and beg them to cancel payment on that check (if it hasnt been cashed by some signature forging meanie) and send me a new one. Do you think they would/should do this?? Does anyone have any other advice??? This is just so stressful.

Luckily, we have money in the bank, so we were able to go get some groceries today after work. I got the ingredients to make my snacks for the super bowl, so I'm happy. I'm keeping my snacks a secret and I'll blog about them tomorrow. :-D
Also, I have no intentions of watching the Super Bowl. Nope. None at all. Instead, I'm going to record the game, fast forward through the boring game stuff, and just watch the commercials. Oohhh yeah. :-D
(EDIT: Okay, okay. WE don't have money in the bank. HE has money in the bank. But sometimes I spend it.)

Speaking of work... I took my client to McDonalds, our usual Saturday afternoon stop. We play at the playplace because it's too cold to hit up a playground. And who do I see there? Oh... every kid I know. Haha. My friend Sarah's boys where there with a sitter, and one of my students in my class was there. And of course, they all noticed me, and all talked and said hi. My student also hauled her mom over to say hi. There's just no hiding in a small town.. (J/K. I love the kids. It was just odd to see so many of them.)

And back to grocery shopping.
I bought this as a treat to myself.
Wanna know why I bought it? (I've never tried this stuff before)

Because the packaging is pretty!!!

And it tastes pretty good too.

I managed to get some pictures of my cute little kitties too. I feel like it's been a long time since I've taken pictures of anything, just for the heck of it.

My kitties have been NUTS lately. Absolutely nuts. Even my chubby buddy, Silas. He used to be lazy and sleep all day. He'd barely walk 10 steps before laying down and taking a test. But he's bouncing off the walls CRAZY lately. 

 

What's up Mom?

I edited these pictures in iPhoto. Not some I normally do. 

What do you think?

 

  

 

TGIF? Yeah, right.

I dislike Fridays.

Yes, seriously.

Fridays are by far my longest day of the week. I not only student teach from 8:30-3:30, but I leave and head straight for work and I'm there until 7:30. It's a long and exhausting day. The teaching part goes by fast enough, but I find myself watching the clock at work longing to be able to go home and relax. And then there's knowing that I have to get up and work again tomorrow. It's sucky.

But today particularly sucks.

I texted Danny after school and asked him to go get the mail and open my paycheck to see how much it was so I could start figuring out my budget.

No paycheck.

I made him go back and check, because he'd checked at noon and maybe it came really late. No such luck. So I called the office (I work out in the community, so no, I wasnt headed there anyways) and they transferred me to payroll. I thought maybe I forgot to sign my paperwork or there was some random issue like that that I could fix before I had to go to work and have a manual check sent to me for Monday.

Nope.
They sent my check yesterday and it was "out of there hands" from there.
Great.

So my check is "lost." Don't forget guys, Danny is currently unemployed.. I am our only source of income. My parents pay my bills (I'm in college, so dont think I'm too spoiled.) but I'm buying our gas and groceries which we currently really need to replenish. (Don't worry... we won't starve. We do have money in a savings account, but dont want to touch it unless absolutely necessary.) But seriously... losing a paycheck is NOT good.

I'm hoping it comes in the mail tomorrow. Otherwise its either a) lost in the mail... and then what do I do?? b) someone else got my mail. If someone else got it they should be kind and just bring it over. Seriously. Its an apartment complex. They probably wouldn't even have to go outside. Or they could of sent it back. Which means uber delays on me getting paid. OR they could have opened it and what not and then.... someone will die.

Tired from Teaching, Visualizing Vacation, and Asking for Advice

Tomorrow will mark the end of my 4th week of student teaching. I'm shocked that I've been it this long without getting some sort of illness. *knock on wood* It seemed like I was sick the entire fall semester. And I was only in the classroom once a week! May have had something to do with kindergartners and how germy they are. (So much boogers... ugh) And also how rampant H1N1 was.
However, I'm starting to feel these early mornings wearing down on me. It really hit me today. I had to be up half an hour earlier for a staff meeting, and stay late for after school club. Add in the fact that I didnt get to sleep until almost 2 and I'm pretty beat. (I couldn't get to sleep due to napping from 5-7... oops) I just felt like I was in a daze all day, and then ended up getting really emotional about pizza this evening. (True story)

I'm really looking forward to vacation. (One day and one week left!) Even though I'm working a lot of hours. Okay, so not a lot. 23 hours, but thats a lot compared to the 9 hours that I normally work. (Bear in mind that I student teach all day every day and have a 2 hr class every other week... I dont have time or energy left to work!) I'm actually not going to work either of my normal days (Friday and Saturday) during break because we're going to Massachusetts. Actually, we're free loading a trip from my mom. She's going down to visit her family and bringing my brother, sister and my sister boyfriend so Danny and I decided that she needs to take us too. Hehe. :) I especially want to go to see my cousin, Ali.

Last night (or was it the night before? I'm so tired I don't remember), my mom called me to tell me that my cousin fell during a cheerleading stunt and broke her arm... badly. So badly that it was bleeding and she had to be taken by ambulance and have surgery as soon as possible. And today I found out that she's come down with compartment syndrome. If you don't have a weak stomach, go over and check out what the treatment for this is... it's gruesome. Poor kid... she's only 15. :( I guess it turns out that she probably won't have to have a skin graft (yes, the treatment for compartment syndrome can be extreme enough to require this.)
I'll get to see my sister too! We'll know the gender of Baby Boo by then, and I'm really hoping to feel him/her kick!

In other news, I have a stockpile of posts that I need to write. Maybe you guys can help me pick which one(s) I should write first.

•  Why I deleted a ton of people from facebook
•  My mom's whoopie pie recipe (They're wicked good!)
• Things I'll miss the most when we move to Korea
• How Danny and I are like Marshall and Lily from How I Met Your Mother 
• My parents potentially applying for Wife Swap and how I think this would go down
• Photos of my Hello Kitty collection (hehe)
• More Kpop videos 

Also, I'm considering making my own cute little award, because I love them so much. :) Aaaaaaaand possibly redoing my giveaway. I had a giveaway set up to commemorate my 200th post. (I'm soooo far past that now!) But then my laptop crashed, with all of my entries on it. Yes, I could have retrieved them all by going through twitter and blog comments, etc but at the time I was so beyond frustrated about my laptop I just didn't have the gumption. (Also, would have been difficult, ya know, without a computer...) I hope I didn't disappoint/anger too many people when I didn't follow through with the giveaway. I still have the handmade scarf and hat set... and if people were interested, I could do the giveaway again. And I PROMISE I'd follow through this time. :)


Lastly, I would REALLY love it if people would comment on this post and help me win the Tiny Hands giveaway. Her charms literally make me drool and it would make my LIFE if I won these. Plus, wouldnt my fourth graders I'll be teaching in March just love it if their teacher wore a waffle/cupcake charm necklace??? I'd be your best friend!!!!! Also... they're scented!

For real lastly... If you haven't done so, check out my Tumblr and my facebook fanpage.

If you liked the Glee Mashup....

Or even if you DIDN'T like the Glee mashups (because, I'll admit, maaaaybe not everyone likes Glee.) you might like this. It's pretty friggin cool.

It's a combination of -

• Beverly Hills by Weezer
• We Will Rock You by Queen
• I Love Rock and Roll by Jett

It's a sweet combination.

Tiny Hands is doing a giveaway!!!!!

I would be THRILLED if I won something from Tiny Hands. I don't own anything - yet. They're pricey, but for the amount of work she puts into these charms, worth it. All of the charms are handmade from polymer clay. And they're also scented!!!

For every comment I receive on this post, I get an extra entry, so comment away!!
(Lurkers, you too!!!)

*EDIT*
This is actually a contest, which means I need as many entries (aka comments from you guys!) as possible to win!

Countdown to the Return of Glee, Part 5

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,

MY BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER WITH MY OBSESSION WITH GLEE!

deal with it

The mash-ups were possibly my favorite songs so far. I can not tell you how many times Ive sung this song over and over in my car on the way to work. (To help you get an idea, the song is 1:30 and my ride to work is at least half an hour.) The video makes it even better.

If you havent seen Glee and are thinking "Are these chicks on drugs?!" the answer is... Yes.



9 weeks until the return of Glee!

I Love Student Teaching

I really, really do.

I don't even mind having to get up so early!!
I'm having a truly great time with my second graders. They are so inspiring. I find myself coming up with so many ideas for lessons and activities with them. Stuff I could have never come up with while in my methods classes. I guess it just takes knowing them and knowing what they'd enjoy to be able to create fun things to do.

Right now I'm planning my unit. It's based around the Gooney Bird Greene books by Lois Lowry. It started off as just a read aloud, suggested by my mentor teacher. In this book, she tells a lot of stories and gives advice on how to tell good stories. All of her stories have a great hook that makes the reader assume that it's going to be about something different than its really about. For instance, one story is called "How Gooney Bird Greene Came From China on a Flying Carpet." The children in the story assume that this is a lie, but Gooney Bird insists that she only tells "absolutely true stories". And indeed, she does. As one of my student says "There is always a reasonable explanation."

For my unit, my students are going to be writing their own Gooney Bird Greene stories, which are basically just fancy, fun personal narratives.
I'm also encouraging my students to use big words in their writing. They just love learning and discovering new words. Especially "vivacious verbs." My mentor teacher and I decided today that we're going to put all of their stories into one big book at the end, and make a copy for each student. I said that if we do it, we HAVE to call it an anthology. Just to stick with the big words. The big words are a central theme in the second Gooney Bird Greene book, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother.

I haven't run it by my mentor teacher yet (well, I emailed her, but she hasn't written back) but I really want to have the students dress up like Gooney Bird one day (as you can see from the covers, she dresses rather eccentric) and take their photos. Then we could include about the author pages in our anthology. :)

I think the kids are really going to enjoy this. I KNOW one student will, because he commented today on how he wished that his weekend news journal was one big book about one weekend, instead of individual pages about separate weekends. Well, he just may get his wish!!




I start teaching this lesson tomorrow, and my instructor is coming to observe. I'm only a little nervous. Actually, not very nervous at all. I have a strange sense of confidence about this, which I normally don't when I know I'm being watched and evaluated.
But really, the students do that all the time anyways.

If I Were...

I stole this from "Hutch" at Be Awesome Instead. Who stole it from someone else. I felt the need to post, and also be random, so here you go. Feel free to steal it as well.

Also, I dont feel that these particular things REALLY represent me. It's just stuff I like or that popped into my head. Or I guess in some instances, things I think are like me.
You'll never know which are which.

If I were a month, I’d be June.

If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday.

If I were a time of day, I’d be early afternoon.

If I were a planet, I’d be Neptune.

If I were a sea animal, I’d be a sea turtle.

If I were a direction, I’d be East.

If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a bookshelf.

If I were a liquid, I’d be pink lemonade.

If I were a gemstone, I’d be a tourmaline.

If I were a tree, I’d be an apple tree.

If I were a tool, I’d be pliers.

If I were a flower, I’d be a daisy.

If I were a kind of weather, I’d be sunshine and a warm breeze.

If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a trumpet.

If I were a color, I’d be pink.

If I were an emotion, I’d be content.

If I were a fruit, I’d be a strawberry.

If I were a sound, I’d be waves crashing on the shore.

If I were an element, I’d be water.

If I were a car, I’d be a sedan.

If I were a food, I’d be pasta.

If I were a place, I’d be the coast of Maine.

If I were a material, I’d be cotton.

If I were a taste, I’d be caramel.

If I were a scent, I’d be the woods after it rains.

If I were an object, I’d be a blanket.

If I were a body part, I’d be the back of a knee.

If I were a facial expression, I’d be a sticking out my tongue.

If I were a song, I’d be bubblegum pop.

If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be practical, comfortable, and pink.

I think these are kids shoes.
Also, the actual name of these shoes is "Ashley Lace Pink Sneakers."
I'm not even kidding.