Day 26

A thing you want to do before you die.

Oh goodness.
There are so many things I would like to do before I die.
Just to keep it interesting I'm not going to say get married. Even though that is my first thought. :)
So other than that one I'd really like to visit Europe. No particular part. Just some place in Europe. Preferably a beautiful place. I don't care if I see a big city or in the country. I just really want to go to Europe.
Someday.

And someday I'll finish this blog challenge. :) Hopefully before I ever get to go to Europe. Ha!

Back 2 School - And Loving It!

I've been waiting to post about school starting because my dad has some pictures on his camera that I wanted to post. Obviously it is taking me a while to get them (my fault, not his). So here is my back to school post minus the pictures from the first day of school.

_________________________

A few shots around my classroom. 

It is official!
I LOVE teaching!!
       I've been teaching for just over 2 weeks and I love, love, love it! It is challenging, but it is my class. Oh yes!
       I started the day with several of my students greeting me with "Hello, New Teacher!" There was a little bit of chaos as we got into the room and about 5 minutes later I shooed the parents out of the room. Phew! I really didn't want to start with them in there. The parents make me nervous.
       About half way through the first day I realized that I didn't plan enough for us to do. This resulted in a few games and an extra recess. The kids thought this was great! It made me nervous. One boy who was sick on the first day was sad because he had missed the best day "they didn't do any work and they had 3 recesses!" is what he told his dad. I laughed and said, "Yep, it won't be like that for long."
       I was on cloud nine the entire first week (and really, I still am). My voice started going on the second day. By the end of the week I sounded terrible. I think my voice is almost back to normal. By the end of the day it is a little scratchy.
       I feel so blessed to be teaching third grade this year. I have great students. There are a few challenging ones, but I'm working at helping them and trying to not get frustrated with them. (sometimes that is easier said than done) One thing I like about this group of kids is their sense of humor. They know how to laugh. Sometime they laugh at the wrong times, but we are working on that. Not only does this class have a great sense of humor they also love to learn. They are just soaking up everything I give them! It is great!
       One of my favorite things to do in class is read aloud after lunch. I've always loved doing this. I give the kids the option of coloring while I read. Half of them just sit there and listen, which makes me love them even more!

I just feel so blessed!

       I can tell you right now that I am going to have some fun stories throughout the school year. I'm being good and writing them down in a book so I don't forget them. Maybe you'll see a book of my teaching memoirs in a bookstore someday. If so, it will all make you laugh. They say hilarious things!

Feeling Blessed

Just in the last week I've felt so blessed.
God is so good and has blessed me wonderful friends and family.

A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine heard me say something about my car window not rolling up or down. Not long after he asked me if I wanted him to fix it for me. He ordered the part and installed it last weekend. It only cost me 50 bucks! I can't even imagine how much it would have cost me if I had taken it in to my mechanic.

And then...today my school computer got fixed!  I honestly wonder what my problem is with the computers at work. I always break them. Actually I really think they just die on me.
Well I've been having issues with this one since I moved my stuff from my art room. Unfortunately our computer guy is busy and hasn't had time to fix it. Well I was talking with a few co-workers this afternoon and they felt bad that my computer still wasn't working. As I was sitting in my room working after school one of my co-workers sent her husband down to take a look at my computer. Then while he was figuring it out another co-worker's husband showed up. Between the two of them they discovered that when the computer was moved to my classroom the high school guys plugged one of the cords into the wrong place.

Those are just two examples of how God has blessed me in the last week. I've also had several people praying for me this week because they knew school was starting. And my family and close friends have been such great encouragements to me. God is so good.

Fabulous Friday

I spent today getting ready for school. It is crazy to believe that it starts on Monday. 
Am I ready? 
Mostly yes. 
As I said at Back 2 School Night...I'm excited. 
(Really... I couldn't stop saying that I was excited. It was comical.) 


I have a little more to get done before Monday. I'm almost there!

I have to say though that the highlight of my day/week was watching the office ladies race their rolling office chairs around the office this afternoon! It was hilarious!!! They were trying out the new flooring. They were so quick that I couldn't get my camera out fast enough! You'll have to take my word for it, but you didn't hear it from me! 
I wonder if I can get them to do it again when I have my camera out. Hmmm... something to try later. :) 


Have a great weekend!

Sonoma County Fair 2011

       I love going to the fair with my family. This year my mom, sister and I actually entered things at the fair. It is totally worth the free ticket in! I think next year I'll enter a few more things. It was fun looking for the things we made and what our friends made as well. I'm hoping to do a few projects with my class this year to enter into the harvest fair. Then we can take a field trip! Fun! 

       I have to say my favorite thing at the fair this year (other than the photo booth pic with Julie and Dani - pics to be posted as soon as Julie emails them to me - hint hint) was the turkey stampede. It sounds ridiculous, but I thought it was really funny. They lady who ran it had a funny personality and she had my family laughing the entire time. The turkeys were crazy chasing after a remote control truck trying to get to the food in the bed of the truck. It was hilarious!

The green one is the one mom made. Woo Hoo 3rd place! 

My photo of Dani jumping in a puddle. Didn't win anything, but I still love it!

Julie's 3rd place painting! Way to go!

Dad didn't enter anything, but he enjoyed the food. :) 

I enjoyed the food too! Gotta love Pasta King!

Eek! I don't have any pics of Dani! That is shocking! That is what happens when we bring more than one camera to places. Oops!

On another note...

School starts on Monday! Tomorrow night I have Back 2 School night! I know it will be fine, but I'm starting to get nervous. 

1 week to go

I have to say that I'm ready to get into the routine of school again.
I've always been like that. I love summer, but when it comes to an end I look forward to the routine of school.
There is only 1 week left before the 1st day of school. I'm so excited! I still have a lot to do, but I know it will all come together. I also have to remind myself that whatever doesn't get done in the area of decorating will just have to wait a little while. I'm not too worried (at the moment). :)
I also want school to start so that the major prep will be done. I really want to work on some sort of craft/art project. I have 1 baby quilt I need to finish and 1 I need to start on. I was just looking through my google reader and found a ton of projects that look like a lot of fun. Will I ever have the free time? Hopefully in a few weeks. :)

Here are a few of the fun ideas I just found. 

10 years already?!?

Is it weird that during my entire drive home tonight I was thinking about how to blog about my evening? I'm becoming a blog-a-holic! I'm sure all 4 of my readers are just dying to hear about my evening! Ha!

There are many words to describe what my evening was like. Good, weird, sad, awkward, painful, loud, repetitive, and fun. Talk about a very well rounded evening.

Tonight I went to my 10 year high school reunion. 
Has it seriously been 10 years?!

I had the blessing of attending a small Christian school while I was growing (yes - the same one I currently work at). There were 46 people in my graduating class. Many of those people had been attending the school since elementary school (myself included). I liked going to school there. But I have to be honest. I was dreading going to this reunion tonight. I'm not the most outgoing person, but in high school I was worse than I am now. I wasn't sure how I would be around my former classmates. I only went because I knew I would regret not going.
It actually went pretty well.

• It was good to see some old friends. My best friend from high school and I have grown apart some, so it was nice to catch up with her. It was fun to hear what people are up to, and there were several baby bumps in the room. 
• It was really weird to think that it has been 10 years since we all graduated from high school. Time flies! Everyone looked pretty much the same, but different at the same time. Most of the people there tonight are married and many of them have children. 
• It was sad to hear about those from our class who aren't doing well. In high school many people appeared strong in their faith. But I'm not sure how many of the people from my class are living for the Lord now.
• There were a few times when I noticed that I was drifting in the background, kinda how I was in high school. But I tried to get out of my comfort zone and talk to more people. There were some awkward moments though. I don't really know these people that well anymore. With a few people we get through the standard questions and then not know what else to talk about. There would be an awkward pause and then "Well, it was great seeing you." Awkward!
• How was the evening painful you might ask? I wore heels from 2-10 pm today. My feet were killing me!
• Our class president planned the reunion at a nice restaurant in town. The food was amazing. The only problem was that the patio we were on was loud. There were a lot of people in there and we could hardly hear each other. I already have a hard enough time hearing people. By the end of the evening I was feeling hoarse from having to talk so loud. 
• I answered and asked the same questions all evening. "How are you?" "What have you been up to?" "Where are you working?" It was a very repetitive time. 
• Even though I was not looking forward to this reunion I did have a fun time. It was good to see many of those people. We probably had about half of our classmates there. Not a bad turnout. 

Day 25

Day 25 - A song

How can I just choose 1 song?!? 

I really like this one. 

Listen to the words they are wonderful!

I'm so thankful for what Christ has done for me!

Maybe when I'm done with the 30 day challenge I'll do a 30 day song challenge. That might be fun!

Rindercella

This had to have taken a lot of practice. My dad talks like this all the time. :) 

Day 24

Day 24 - A topic that makes you think

Yikes, it has been a long time since I posted Day 23. July flew by! June seemed to take it's time, but July...I'm not sure where it went! Now we are into August!

So, on to day 24. (so much for doing 30 consecutive days)
       This may not come to as a surprise to you, but school is what makes me think. School is most definitely on my mind right now. Day camp is done and I feel like I'm at the top of a roller coaster about to go down the first drop with school at the bottom. My stomach is doing flip flops just thinking about it. There is so much to get done and only 2 weeks to go. Along with that I'm not able to work in my room for the next two days due to the carpets getting cleaned. I am thankful to have clean carpets. And there are other things I do need to get done without being in my classroom.
       I love being a teacher. And this year is going to be the best one yet! Have I mentioned that I have my own class this year? (just thought I'd throw that out there in case you forgot - lol!)
       But seriously, teaching really does get my brain going. There are so many things to consider when teaching. The kids are all at different levels and different attention spans. What do I do about the kids who just can't sit still? How can I keep the entire class engaged in the lessons? How can I reteach a subject so the kids understand? How can I encourage the kids to LOVE to learn? When am I going to get all this grading done?
       I went in to work this morning for a while and I got all pumped up for the year. As I was driving home with a list of things to do I was thinking about my relationship with my students. There are about 5 kids in my class whom I haven't met yet. I'm so excited to meet them and get to know them! I want them to all like me, but that is not my goal. I would be in big trouble if that is what I was trying to do. More importantly I want them to learn and to love learning.
       How can I keep learning interesting?

       The Magic School Bus books came to mind. I've read a few of the books and watched some of the movies. Those kids love to learn. I started picturing myself as Ms. Frizzle their kooky teacher. She is a little crazy, but she sure does make learning fun. Maybe I should get a curly orange wig. :) Thankfully I don't need that in order to keep kids interested in what we are learning in school. But as I new teacher I'm going to need a few tricks up my sleeve for those afternoons when kids don't really want to pay attention. For now I'll plan a lot of hands on activities, but I think I'll stay away from dresses that have patterns relating to what we are learning, just don't think I'm that dedicated. :)

Uh-oh

So my sink started making a strange gurgling sound just a little bit ago. Sounded exactly like the bubbles from a large water dispenser (you know the ones I'm talking about?) I kept going over there to see what it was. Then Paul, my landlord, came over and asked me if something had overflowed. Apparently there is water running down the wall (not sure how fast) downstairs in the garage.
Oh dear.
I don't think it could have been anything I've done.
I hope not.

Poor Paul. Now he is downstairs hammering away at the drywall so he can find the leak.
Goodness.
Never a dull moment.

4th of July

I had such a wonderful 4th of July weekend. As you may have read, my trip started out with a lot of prayer as I waited to get to Seattle. When I think about it that craziness really helped me rely on God more, so it really was a blessing. 

It was so nice to actually have a vacation. Don't get me wrong, I love my summer job, but everyone needs some sort of vacation. And let me tell you, it was wonderful. 

On the first day my friend Lindsay had to work so I was "stuck" at her house. It was so nice to be able to  have a cup of coffee, spend time in God's word and just take my time in the morning. I loved it. A little before lunch time I went for a walk. This is what I found. 

Isn't that a beautiful view?! And there was more to it than just that. There was no one around. All I had was the view, the sound of a lawn mower and laughter from down on the beach. Even with the sounds it was a peaceful time with Jesus. I was struck by how awesome God is while I was looking out at the water. I really needed that time to get my focus in the right place. 

The rest of the day was spent being lazy. Awww gotta love vacation. 

 On Saturday Lindsay took me over to see her brother and his family. It was so nice to reconnect with them. Their kids have grown so much and they have another one on the way. 

After our visit Linds and I met our friend Ali at a marina where we walked around a farmers market and later on a pier. 

This is where we got a little sunburned. Oops! Didn't even think we were out there that long. 

Then came the long awaited moment. Meeting Jeff. Jeff was actually one of the main reasons why I went up to Seattle. I had to meet the guy who was marrying one of my best friends! I would have felt a little funny being in the wedding and meeting him the day before. I'm sure that has been done before, but I didn't want to do that. 

 Jeff is ok. I guess. 

Haha! Just kidding! He is great and I can tell that he loves Lindsay a lot. I am so happy for the two of them. I'm looking forward to being a part of their wedding in September. 

Sunday and Monday were a lot of fun. After church we drove out to Jeff's family's beach house/cabin. I'm not sure what to call it. It was a beautiful place and I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of it. Those two days were filled with jet-skis, kayaks, swimming (some of it voluntary - lol), bbq, fireworks, digging for clams, beautiful stars, bocce ball and a lot of laughter. I had such a great time. I'm really glad I was able to go. 

Jeff & Lindsay

Ali and I kayaking

God has blessed me so much with so many great friends. I love that even though I don't talk to them or see them too often I'm still able to pick up as if we had seen each other yesterday. God is so good. 

Day 23

Day 23 - A Meme
Meme? What is a meme?
I had to google it. This is the definition that made the most sense to me. 

Meme - An idea that self-reproduces like a virus; a catchphrase or concept, or other unit of social currency. Example: "Where's the beef?"

 Well, I like the example they gave in the definition, but I can't use that one. The only thing I can think of is "Good Grief" from the Peanuts cartoons. A lot of people relate that phrase to Charlie Brown. I say it all the time and the kids I work with usually remind me that Charlie Brown says it too. 

Do this count?

"Are you ready for some football?"
Everything I think of has to do with TV. Does that tell you something? I watch way too much tv. 


Can you think of a Meme? 
I'm sure you can come up with a better one than me. 

Travel Adventures

Yesterday I flew to Seattle, Washington to visit my friend Lindsay. 
I have to tell you I didn't think I was going to make it here. A friend gave me a guest pass to use with Alaska Air which made the flight very (!) affordable. I am so thankful for that ticket from her. 
The hard part of the ticket was that I was flying standby and there was a chance that I wouldn't make it on the flight. The flight from Santa Rosa to Las Vegas wasn't hard to get on. There was enough room for me. 
The flight from Vegas to Seattle was the one I was nervous about. I had a 2 hour layover there and was number 5 or 6 on the standby list. The flight was full. Oh boy. My coworker, Patti, was really nervous for me. She gave me her sister's number in case I got stuck in Vegas. I guess her sister lives close to the airport there. It got to the point that I thought I was going to have to call her. 
The plane ended up having a mechanical problem and the flight was really delayed. The lady at the desk told me that I probably wouldn't get on the flight unless people started leaving the flight because it was so late. She also told me that the following flights to Seattle were full. 
I sat close to the desk and saw several people make other plans because of the delay. I was praying the entire time. "Ok, Lord, I'm trusting that no matter what happens You will take care of me. Please let me get on this flight." 
They were boarding.
The line was gone and they were calling for people who hadn't boarded yet. Then they started calling people from the standby list. "Please, Lord." The lady started calling names quickly looking for people who were waiting. Finally she called my name. I probably looked like someone on a game show. Hahaha! "That's me!" I yelled as I ran up to the desk. They had to reopen the gate door to let me on! Yikes! Talk about last minute! Thank You Lord!
As flustered as I was I don't think I'd mind flying standby again, but I think I'd prefer it to be a direct flight so that I'd be stuck at home if it didn't work out. 


So there you have my adventure. I hope the trip home is a little easier. :) 

Day 22

Day 22 - A thing you do everyday
As I'm thinking about this I'm realizing that there are somethings I do everyday and that I shouldn't. For instance watch tv. I wish I could say that I read my Bible everyday, but I'm working on that one.

I guess the thing I'm the most consistent at everyday is drinking coffee. Hahaha! I'm turning into my dad! The only time I don't drink coffee is if I don't have creamer when I make coffee at home. I love drinking coffee. I haven't had any yet today, but I'm thinking I'll get some while I have a layover on my trip today.

Have a good day!

Day 20

Day 20 - A picture of my "crew"

I have several "crews" one from high school, 2 from college and one from now. I couldn't just choose one of them to post about so I did them all. :) Unfortunately I don't have a picture from high school on my facebook. I guess I need put a few up soon.

My Chorale "Crew"

My Dorm "Crew"

My Santa Rosa "Crew"

Day 21

So I'm skipping day 20 (a picture of my "crew") because I'm not at my home computer so I don't have any pictures available. If I have time I'll pull some off of facebook, but I'm currently waiting for kids to show up at day camp. Once someone gets here I have to log off. 

Day 21 - A dream I had recently

I'm not that great at remembering my dreams. I usually remember only bits and pieces and they are usually very weird. The last one I remember had to do with a snail. All I can remember is Danika holding a really, I mean really, long snail and she was flinging it around. I was totally grossed out, which is probably why I remember it. 

This dream stems from two things. The first being that when Danika was little we found her in the sandbox with her finger in a snail and a very zoned out look on her face. NASTY! Secondly, I saw a ton of snails outside a friends house a few weeks ago. Again I say Nasty!

I wish I had a more exciting dream to share, but that's it and there is a kid here now so I have to go. 

Have a great day!

Day 19

A Recipe

This is one of my favorite recipes that I use. My family loves it when I make it. I actually found it on allrecipes.com. You should try it! It is easy and tastes SO good!

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded 1/4 inch thick
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry

Directions

1. In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Day 18

A Thing You Are Afraid Of

Oh, I am most definitely afraid of falling. It doesn't matter if I'm on the top of a cliff (which I never am, thankfully) or roller skating (fell once and broke my wrist). I get really paranoid about falling. I'm really funny to watch jump on a trampoline because I hardly relax. When I think about falling I get major knots and/or butterflies in my stomach. 

I've had many dreams where I'm falling and I wake up with a start. 

Interesting that one of the things on my 30x30 list is to go on a hot air balloon ride. Hmmm. I still want to do it. :)

Day 17

Day 17 - A Secret

Well, if I told you a secret then it wouldn't be a secret anymore!
I really don't have any good secrets to tell. How boring am I?!? 
Seriously, I'm sitting here trying to think of something and there is nothing good. 

I guess I'll go on to the next post.