Merry Christmas!

I realize it might be a little late to say Merry Christmas for actual Christmas. But by my saying it now, I'm just helping the day last a little bit longer :) I just feel like Christmas has come and gone so quickly this year. Really, I feel like it always does. Weeks and weeks build up the excitement of Christmas and then boom, it's here and gone before you can really soak it all in. Then after Christmas it's time to get back to the real world, which is just sad.

... and I will stop being depressing now. I mean, it is Christmas after all :)

Speaking of Christmas, how was yours? Mine was wonderful I got to see one of my sisters and her kiddos (even though one of them was so sick on Christmas Eve, poor little guy!) and then I got to spend a lot to time with The Hubs and his family. We ate a lot of good food. A lot. Probably more than I should have, but I just love food and it was all so yummy. Plus it was Christmas :)

I got a lot of really nice surprises and thoughtful gifts for Christmas, more than I could have dreamed of getting. One of the yummiest gifts I got was a Keurig coffee maker! I heart it so much! It have had some very yummy and cozy coffee drinks from it already :) I also got a brand new Christmas tree. I will be posting some pictures of the beauty, don't worry. I love it. And of course some other. Wry wonderful things. It was a very happy Christmas, and not just because of the gifts.

Anyhow. Merry Christmas! I hope it was a good one.

happy heart

For about five months I have been meaning to get file folders so I can get organized at school. I have a bunch of folders and such, but they just aren't as organized as I would like them to be. But instead of just going out to buy some on day number one I waited about a semester before making the investment. When I brought the folders to my classroom I was wishing I had done so earlier. I was organizing things and putting them all in new little homes and it made my heart happy. Anyhow. It's the small things that make my heart happy. I just wanted to share real quick like.

a little of this and a little of that

So, I don't have much of one thing to share. I just have a little of a lot. Stick around if you really care to know what has been going on in my wonderful life and in my thoughts.

It's almost Christmas Break. Yep. That's right. Almost break. There are seven official days of school left before break. Which is just crazy. Wonderful, but crazy. All I see is a pile of papers that have to be graded before then. Okay, that's not all I see, but I do see that pile. Funny thing about it is that as soon as it starts to shrink it magically grows. It's like it never stops. Crazy. What I want to know is how do you manage the mountain of papers? How? If you have a trick, please let me know.

In other news, the hubs is sick. Well, he's kind of been sick for a while now. But we finally found out what the trouble is. It only took about a year to find out. Or two months, either way, it took a long time. Thankfully he has a diagnoses and medicine to take and he is fixable. I must admit he called me the other day and it just was not good. I started playing the "what if" game. Not a good game. But I kept telling myself, "Just pray about it. It's ok. Nothing's really wrong. Pray. It's fine..." And it was. Is. It is. 

Also. I have a stack of papers to give back to my kids. There are papers in there from months ago. How do these not get back in their hands after they are graded? I don't know. It's like there is some super power that prevents them from getting their work back. Not really. But it is true that they don't have any of their work. At least, not most of it. Not good, I know. I just haven't figured out an efficient way to get their work back to them. I know now, at the end of the semester any way of getting it back to them will be extremely inefficient, but I just don't know what to do. Any teachers have any tips on returning work? But hey, at least the kids can't say I'm not looking at and grading their work. Cause if you saw the stack, you could see that I am. Clearly. 

I have started giving quizzes to my kids over the assigned readings. You might be thinking, "Well, duh. Giving quizzes is elementary." But I didn't really have that epiphany until a little while ago when I was thinking back on my days as a student. I remembered one of my professors used to give little five question quizzes every day of class over the assigned reading. I remember how even though I read for all my other classes the quizzes made me pay attention even more, cause you never knew what questions he would ask. So I started doing the same. At first the kids hated me. I'm sure some still do : ) But then after a while of giving the quizzes the kids started asking and even begging me to give them a quiz. ha. Yes. That's right. The kids wanted a quiz. Glorious. 

Anyhow. I know that's a really random assortment of thoughts and such. But thanks for your company. I just needed to warm up my fingers a little bit and get my brain moving. It's been a little while... I will do my very best to not be so all over the place next time.

just being

Is it bad that all I've done over break is sit around and do much of nothing... and a lot of Pinterest browsing? I hope not. I am enjoying myself soooo much. It is fabulous! I love a good break. I love chilling and seeing family. I love talking leisurely strolls with my hubs and puppy. I love being able to read, for fun, if I want to. I love not having any pressure or responsibility. I love being. I feel like it is something that I haven't been able to do in a while, so while I might feel 1.1% guilty for not doing any work over break, I'm trying to let it go. It is break after all : ) Oh, how I love this moment, this break, this time. Why can't it always be like this? ... I suppose if it were I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I am enjoying it right now. Although, I don't know. This is pretty wonderful.

Anyhow. I'm off to write my Christmas Wish List for the hubs. I think I've got a pretty good idea of some things I would like to open up on Christmas morning : )

I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a Happy Black Friday ;p (I do happen to have a story about that, and I will share it with you soon, promise).

It's Thanksgiving : )

Happy Thanksgiving!! I am so thankful that it is today : )

There are a few things I am thankful for today:

My hubby
My puppy
My family and that I get to see some of them on this very special day
That there is a break from school
Sleep
Yummy food
Making yummy food
Eating yummy food
Blogging again :)

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

A little poem

I just finished a unit on poetry with one of my classes. So I thought I would write a little poem myself. 

I'd Rather Be

Sitting alone upstairs

Work screaming at me 

Bossing me around 

begging to be finished.

Laying on the couch so fair

Just chillin' in his favorite Tee

Football sounds abound

All worries diminished. 

Not that I really care

Football to me is not key

But I want to be found

- watching the game 

by his side.

golly geepers

It's been a while. I apologize. I won't say anything else about that.

But I will say this: I love Christmas.

I used to think the stores were a little over zealous when they started putting our Christmas goodies before Halloween. Now, I think it's wonderful. It's the best feeling walking into a store and seeing happy little snowmen and penguins, Christmas trees and stockings. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It also gives me hope. Hope that I can make it through anything. Christmas is a cozy and hopeful time of year and seeing all of the cute, pretty, and festive decorations and treasures out and about gives me that hope, even though Christmas is still two months away.

So I don't care if stores set up and display Christmas things before Halloween. I Love it. It makes me happy and cheery. I love feeling cheery and right about now I can use all the cheer I can get. I might be making daily trips to the store to get me some cheer. Actually, I probably won't be doing that, but, I will enjoy the Happy Christmas Joy when ever I am lucky enough to make it to the store.

Happy Christmas thoughts to you : )