1000 Gifts

I know it's not Monday, but I feel like sharing some more of my 1000 Gifts anyway. It's been too long and my heart is starting to become bitter and grouchy. 

32. A job

33. A sweet and encouraging hubs

34. Birthday presents

35. Baby Showers, pink and purple

36. Going to Church with new friends from Russia

37. Having tea with new friends

38. Drinking tea. period

39. Prayer - that Jesus hears and answers, I would be a real mess without Him

40. Paying off two of my school loans! woot woo

41. Journaling. Seeing the paper slowly fill with words that come out of my hand

42. Puppy kisses

43. Polka dots 

44. A four day school week - two weeks in a row

45. Tears

46. Peanut butter treats with m&ms

47. Fresh tomatoes from the garden

48. Marshmallow flip-flops

49. Bed time

Ok. Now go over to Ann's and link up too (I give you permission to do so even though it's not Monday :)

de-lish-ish

Welp. Yesterday I rushed home from school. Surprisingly I left at 3:30ish - the earliest I think I have left school so far. Anyhow. It was great. I went to get a few things from the grocery store and I remembered everything I had written on my list even though I had forgotten my list in the car.

I had found out an hour or so earlier that the picnic we were going to actually started a whole hour earlier than we thought it did. Thus the rush. But, I was able time everything perfectly. Which is rare. In fact, I was ready to walk out the door right at 3:30 and the Hubs wasn't even home from work. I was on top of things : ) I think it surprised even myself a little bit.

Anyhow. We went to the picnic and had pretty nice time. I think I mentioned that we have some new friends from Russia. I can't remember. But if I didn't, or if you haven't been reading for long, we have some new friends from Russia. They came a day or two before I got my job. We picked them up from the airport, moved them into our guest bedroom for a few days, helped them find an apartment, took them to the store (this was the Hubs' favorite part was taking them to Walmart and Target : )

Anyhow. The picnic we went to was for International Students who are attending U of L. The Hubs and I found out we could be a part of this ministry through our church that welcomes and befriends International Students and that's how we made our new friends. So the picnic was to welcome all of the International Students to U of L. We went and had a jolly time.

And I took my treat. I wanted to eat half the pan before we got there, but I refrained. By the time I got through the line there were only five little squares left. Apparently these little guys go like hot cakes. They are delicious.

Wanna make them? It's just like Rice Crispy Treats without the Rice Crispies. Substitute Peanut Butter cereal in and add some M&Ms! Easy Peasy. 

Ok. I'm off. I just wanted to share that little tidbit : ) 

excitment

Tomorrow I am going to make some delicious yummy treats to take to a picnic. They will be a combination of rice crispy treats and peanut butter goodness. I am soooo excited. I cannot tell you just how excited I am. I will take oodles of pictures and I will share them. And I will let you know how they turn out tasting and if there are actually any left by the time we get to the picnic : )

I have a slight major love addiction if anything peanut butter : ) I'm so excited. This is gonna be a great Friday afternoon!!!

 

tears

Today I made a  student  cry. 

oh. my. 

poor dear. 

I didn't even say anything to her. 

No. Not one word. 

I graded papers and entered the grades. 

And her mom saw it and sent me an email about it. 

But, because my email has been broken since I got my job three weeks ago...

yeah. 

I didn't get that one right away. 

And I didn't write back until after the poor dear came crying in my room. 

It made me so sad.

I was about to cry with her. 

I don't like crying students. 

I hope they don't figure that out and all come crying to me when they want something 

cause I would probably cave in and  give it to them. 

Even if the tears were fake. 

But no. Her tears were real. 

Real.

Big. Fat. Tears. 

She hadn't  turned in an assignment that I was entering in the grade book. 

I didn't know what else to do. 

I didn't have it, so I put a zero. And it made her cry. 

She came to me after school asking what was wrong. What she had done. 

And then I saw her puffy red eyes and a tear roll down her check. 

Don't cry sweet dear. 

I can fix it. Bring me your paper and I will fix it for you. 

I think I will be getting that paper tomorrow first thing in the morning.

 I can't believe I made a student cry on the 11th day of school.

contacts on my eyeballs

I am such a genius. I know my left from my right.

Or, maybe not.

I got some new contacts this morning. I pulled the boxes out and looked at which was labeled Right and which was labeled Left. I put them on the appropriate sides of the sink.

I put the contact for my left on on the tip of my right finger, the finger I use to put my contacts in regardless of the eye, and after making an "L" with my fingers I stuck the contact in. Then, I put in the Right contact in my other eye.

However, my eyes would not focus. Things were blurry. I took them out and stuck them back in hoping it would help. Then I walked around the house a little bit, squinting my eyes, covering one and then the other. The real trouble came when The Hubs showed me something on the computer and I actually had to focus to read. I couldn't.

Since I was becoming ill from lack of being able to focus I decided to take them out and wear my glasses. I'm not really sure at which point I realized that I had the Left contact in the right eye and the Right contact in the Left eye. I think it must have been right before tripped on my carpet and nearly fell down the stairs because I could see so well with fuzzy eye vision.

After a few hours or so I decided to give my contacts another try. I switched the eyes and wha-la. It's amazing how much better you can see when you have the correct contact in your eye.

You know, in as many years as I have been wearing contacts, which has been too many ... maybe 14 years?! (oh, I am so old) I think today is the first time I mixed the eyes up. whoops. I'm just glad I didn't drive all the way to school with fuzzy vision and get sick half way through the day because of it : )

I promised...

Welp, here are the few pictures I have and said I would share. They are pretty self explanatory... 

 that's me. ready for school. It's amazing I don't look more sickly. Cause, good gracious, I was sick all day long. And the picture is in our kitchen because it was far too dark in any other room in our house or outside. Shame. 

my desk. I've never had a desk at a job before. I feel so special to have this one. 

this is the back wall with very empty bulletin boards. obviously. but that's ok. I will fill them up as we go on in the year. 

 

the front of the room. exciting, eh? 

and my bookshelves. they might be my favorite part about the room. 

Welp. There's the tour. It's a work in progress and I might change it up here soon and show you. But for now I am working on the planning and teaching part. oh. my. 

Anyhow. I hope you guys are having a good week! Thanks again for all of your sweet words! They make my day more than you can know. 

Happy Wednesday to you! 

it's a going

Ok. So, get excited. Tomorrow you will get to see pictures of my classroom. Ah! How exciting I know! It's semi impressive ; ) And I think I might put up a picture of me on my first day of school as a teacher! bah!

It's still so crazy and I can hardly believe that I have a job at a school doing what I went to school to do. This is going to be a crazy year I am still scrambling to get everything I need and making lesson plans I don't know how to make. I'm also supposed to be teaching like I actually know how to teach. kehehe.

But I just wanted to say that this year (all five days of it) is going very very well. I am excited to see how the rest of the year plays out and how I manage to get through everything. I'm also excited to be working with and helping my students. There are gonna be some crazy and wild times ahead. I'm sure I will be keeping you posted.

And, I think that's about it for now. Sorry my writing has been so sporadic lately. I just feel like I'm never home any more. Yesterday I was only home for about an hour and a half total. Serious. Well, unless you count the hours I was sleeping. I don't really count those.

Anyhow. I will be catching up with a lot this week. You guys, lesson planning, grading... all kinds of fun and wonderful things! : ) Thanks again for your encouraging words. You guys are the greatest!

My First Day as a Real Live Teacher

I just wanted to say real quick like: I didn't die, pass out, or vomit in my class in front of my kids today. Though if I had died in front of them I wouldn't really care if I had. Since, you know. I'd be dead. But thankfully I survived. The kids were actually really great. I guess I was expecting the absolute worst. But they came in and sat down. When class started I hollered at them to be quiet and then got going on expectations. And I was mean. A mean ol' lady. Well, that's what I was going for. I like to think that I achieved that. I just keep telling myself that I did. And then I will be a grouchy teacher lady tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next ... I hope :D

The best thing for me was being prepared. Obviously this makes a Huge difference. But I am glad that I was overly prepared and had plenty to do with the kids as opposed to not enough. Now I have to get all the way ready for tomorrow. And the next day ... :)

But it was a good day. I enjoyed it. Once the kids were in my room I knew that I had to get down to business and be a real teacher lady to them. So I did. Even though I was nauseous all morning long (not even close to kidding, actually I've been nauseous about this morning since I found out on Friday). And I was shaking like a person on crack. And at one point during the day my foot was suddenly paralyzed. Weird. But all the sudden my toe was stuck and contorted in my shoe and painful, very painful. So, I guess maybe it wasn't paralyzed since you can't feel anything when you are paralyzed. But I was only one step away from having a paralyzed foot. It's true.

Anyhow. I just wanted to let you know I was still breathing and that I survived the day... and that it turned out to be a pretty good one. Except for the part where I got tired of talking and ran out of water and had the driest mouth ever and was parched like a desert and had to pee sooooo badly but had to hold it for five and a half hours. But other than that ... : )

ok! maybe I'll share my first day of school picture with you guys when I have a little more time to function.

Also, I just wanted to thank all of you for your sweet and encouraging comments!! I don't have the time to respond to all of you, but know that I am very grateful! And I will catch up on your blogs here soon!

yesterday, today, tomorrow

I didn't do 1000 gifts yesterday. I kind of forgot in the midst of my newly acquired busy schedule : )

My classroom is done. Well, as much as it can be. There is paper covering the bulletin boards and that's pretty much it. I'm just trying to keep my head on straight! It is exciting and overwhelming at the same time. School starts tomorrow! Ah! that means kids will be there and I will have to teach them. yikes!

And I have to go. I will give a more through update here soon.

news news news

Guess what, y'all?!

I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah!!!!!!!!!!

as you can see I am very into the exclamation mark at the moment!!  : )

Yep, that's right. A job. A real live teacher job! bah! You are lookin' at the newest teacher on the block.

9th grade English.

That's freshmen. Freshmen. Big, scary, smelly, wonderful freshmen.

And school starts on Wednesday. Wednesday. That's one, two, three, four, five days away. Yes, five days from now I will be standing in front of my new students, sitting at my teacher desk, in my classroom.

Ah!!!!

And yay!!!

So, any teachers out there? Any freshmen/high school teachers? Help? How do you go about getting ready for your first day of school? Syllabus? Seating chart? Decorations? Expectations? What do you do? Where do you start?! Any and all help or advice would be most very welcome!!! also, prayers would be wonderful. I will need them :D ha. so will my students!

crazy!

five days!

bah!

ok.

pretty places

I may have mentioned a week or so ago that I have recently discovered the wonder of Pinterest. Now I can see how it can be Incredibly addicting. It's amazing. Really.

Now that I've been looking around a little bit on there I have found a few places I would like to be...

can you say perfect? 

All beautiful and different and wonderful for a completely different reasons. And now you know where I wish I were. See? I've found so many pretty places on Pinterest : ) 

a little surprise

The other day my supervising teacher from my student teaching days sent me a text asking me if I wanted some books. Well, heck yes I wanted some books. She told me one of the other teachers from my student teaching days had a bunch of books and wanted to know if I wanted some. I did. Yesterday I went over pick them up. I was expecting one box of books. Welcome the best surprise of my life. Ever. Okay, maybe not the best surprise of my life ever, but still it was pretty darn good.

There were three whole big boxes overflowing with books. I about died of happiness. I love books. I love that now I have a pretty nice library for my classroom. bah! I love it! So much so that I stood outside in the extreme heat looking through each box. Looking at each book. Ignoring the fact that I was an afternoon snack for the local mosquito gang. When I got inside I counted 38 bites on my legs and arms, hands and feet. No joke. They itch so much!

Anyhow. That's how much I love books. 38 bug bites worth. Extreme heat worth. Now, I just need a classroom to share them with  : )

Also, I just have to say I have the best supervising teacher ever. And the best teacher friends ever. Oh, I am blessed.

What surprises have you been surprised with lately?

Menu Planner

For about the past year I have had a little note pad with the days of the week on them. It was the perfect and cutest little menu planner for the week. On the side it had a spot for a grocery list. Amazing. Sadly there were only 52 papers and when I went back to get another menu planner just like it at the store, they didn't have them any more. Sad, but true. So for the past few weeks I have been planning our meals on list paper, which works fine and all, but it's really not the same.

Today I was out and about, which means: I was at Target, I found the perfect solution. Well, the perfect cheap solution. You see I have seen fancy planner thingys at the store before, they have the days of the week, spots for names and all kinds of goodness. They also happen to be a little more than I would care to spend on such an item. Today I was in luck. I wandered back into the back-to-school section of the store and saw a little white board. The packaging said it was magnetic (even though I didn't see magnets on the back of it) and three, no six, dry erase markers came with it. bah! So exciting! And the best part was that it was on sale for very very cheap :D

When I got home I opened the packaging and found the magnets that you could stick on the back if you wanted to. I wanted to. I mean, I needed to stick it to my fridge some how. I was soooooo excited! And then, after I did the taping I actually got to write with the dry erase markers. I have a thing for dry erase markers and boards. ooo. I Love writing on them/with them!! It's pretty much the best thing in the whole entire world. ...good thing I'm a teacher : )

So now I have a permanent solution to my menu planning. It's cheap, it's fun, and it's magnetic. It's also long lasting. Which I like.

I thought about making a little something like this:

via

Which is so stinkin' adorable and cute and fun and I LOVE it. Every single bit of it. But I decided after looking and thinking it over that I wouldn't have a perfect spot to hang it. Well, I could... but I am cheap, and while this project isn't too pricey, it's a little too pricey for the time being. Maybe after I get a job I can make it... One can dream, right? If you do decide to take the plunge and make this cute little bad boy you really need to tell me and then take pictures of it so that I can envy applaud your effort. For now I'm sticking with my mini white board. 

Anyhow. That made me happy today. The white board and the thought of one day making the darling menu planner board. 

  

just a few gifts

Today is Monday (though I'm sure you might be painfully aware of that fact). That means it's time for some more gifts from this week... 

14. Visiting family.

15. Birthday cake.

16. Slobbery toddler kisses.

17. Soft and squishy baby hugs.

18. Hot tea with honey.

19. Reading, for pleasure.

20. Enjoying the sweet aroma of baking banana bread.

21. Crocheting with friends.

22. A surprise phone call from a friend far away.

23. Learning, again, that God has the perfect plan, though tears and trusting him for his perfect timing.

24. Dreaming about running a marathon with my sister and brother [note the dreaming, I haven't taken the plunge yet...]

25. Riding in the car with The Hubs and chatting about nothing in particular.

26. Sipping a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino on a hot and sticky day.

27. Birthday presents.

28. New fluffy pillows.

29. Journaling in a real live journal with pink, purple, and blue pens.

30. Folding laundry while watching a movie on a warm afternoon.

31. An encouraging, supportive, and strong husband who works hard and provides for our little family.


Now it's your turn. Go on over and link up with Ann and share the gifts you have been given.


Happy Monday, y'all.