It's not over...Until the fat lady sings!!

I will be honest and say that teaching can be quite burdensome for me with all this data stuff (I don't think I'm the only one). After returning this January from such an exciting break (I AM ENGAGED!!), I have cried once a week in relation to how I feel about my job. I love teaching, and interacting with my kids. We have amazing rapport and the improvement in behaviour is astounding! Really. I mean it. But at the same time, it takes everything in me to keep it together sometimes. It's a heavy LOAD.

I have a very difficult assignment...and it's hard to focus on the positives sometimes.

But today, a beautiful, bright springlike day...Hope has sprung! My kids and I did a side by side comparison of tests they took in October to one they took recently. What did we see?

Progress, my friends. Progress. It's like water when you're parched. A cool breeze when you're hot. Fresh air after a stink. PROGRESS!!

I stood in front of my class and gave a speech:

I want you to look at what you have accomplished. I want you to see that you are MORE than capable of reaching the goals we have set together. I want you to know that I. AM. SOOOO. PROUD! Like, I can't even tell you HOW PROUD I am of EVERY SINGLE PERSON in my class! (Insert a pause, run for a Kleenex, Laugh some happy tears out of my eyes. Come back and finish with...) The growth I have seen in you so far is incredible! We have learned so much! Let's keep pushing!! YOU will improve. YOU have improved and I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! (insert happy dance)

My kids cheered! They CHEERED! And some of them were tearing up with me!! It was a RUDY moment. I love having RUDY moments. I know they aren't every day, but I have to remember...RUDY moments EXIST. They do happen!!

 And I have to remember that it's not over yet...And I need to remember this promise:

"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." - Jesus

Happy Weekend.
The End.

Since 2010, I've set goals for the year...A theme...a Bible verse, etc. Check out previous posts here.

It is January 24. My goals aren't set. So - for the love of tradition...I'll have them up by VALENTINE's Day. :o)

Looking at 2012 Goals....Here's how they faired:

Bible Verse: I memorized most of it. I'm terrible at memorizing scripture.

Picture: That face is perfect for 2012!! It was a happy one!! :O)

Theme song: That song takes me back to Guatemala. Being in the toddler house. Rubbing the kids backs and begging God to please send sleep to these precious little lambs quickly!! Those nights were rough, but they led to a deeper love of those kids and a greater appreciation for those who work with them on the regular.

1. Still working on reading my bible on a daily basis. I'm doing much better to date.

2. My time on Pintrest increased. However, I haven't just been pinning. I've actually made a lot of things...used advice...done some kick A$$ work outs. I mean...seriously.

3. Doing much better on making my bed. Still not on a daily sched though.

4. No more running for me. Until I figure out whats up with my left foot and right knee. I miss running like you wouldn't believe. I cry sometimes. Yeah - but it's okay. I'm okay.

5. I laid off the lists, but I'm back at 'em full force. It's incredible how dependent I am on them.

6. I didn't finish paying my student loan debt. However, It has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased. I have to scale back a little since I'm planning a wedding. :o) The loan will be paid off though - soon enough!!

7. uhm. Still. have. crooked. teef. :O) Yes. TEEF.

Seasonal Crafting Galore

I used to think that it wasn't possible to teach and come home to do crafts. Since I started teaching, I felt like my creativity relating to crafts was zapped. I realized now that it wasn't necessarily zapped...it was just that my energy level was at an all time low, there was none left over to think creatively. Sure - I had creative moments, but not so consecutively as I'm having them now. (Is my earlier bed time and freer schedule paying off? I THINK SO. On so many levels!!)

For Thanksgiving, one of my aunts asked if I would work on the table decor for the family gathering. I responded with a resounding, "ABSOLUTELY!" I quickly went to the nearest craft store (aka HOBBY LOBBY) and went to town. The most important thing on the list was BURLAP!

side note: Did you know burlap is incredibly affordable? And there's so much you can do with it!!

When I came home, I went to town folding and pressing what would later be the seam. On another day, I went over to my friend Ashley's house where I stenciled "GIVE THANKS" on the table runners while she spray painted walnuts into autumn's perfect gold. And finally, dusted off my old sewing machine and FINISHED!! (finishing a project is a big deal!!)

Thanksgiving day, I filled up some glass hurricanes with the golden nuts, put a secured candle inside, surrounded the hurricane with pretty fake foliage and VIOLA! a centerpiece. 

side note: Aren't my cousins GORGEOUS??? They can sing!!! Check out my favorite video of them here. And Hannah's website here. Her EP will be coming out soon!!

Then, I remembered that we've had silicon muffin pans that have literally been stored away for years in the shape of autumn leaves & pumpkins and a light bulb went off...ICE MOLDS!! The leaves were the perfect accent to what my family calls "Mimi's Crack Punch."

My favorite piece of "decoration" was centered around the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving! I used a burlap ribbon and fastened it to the corners of my grandmother's living room and asked everyone to write what they were thankful for.

Everything that was made I plan to use for years to come! I'm so excited about it all!! :o)

My Christmas stuff is coming along! I'll post pics of that soon too! :O)

p.s. Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without my peeps. They are the people I for some reason or another revert to my ghetto talk. We don't ever talk like that in public, unless we're super comfortable. (If you've heard it, you are a priveledged individual!!)

A TV Episode

My mother recently went to get a coffee and biscuit at a nearby McDonald's. While she was there, the middle aged man in front of her ordered his food as if he was the commanding officer of a Nazi regiment. Quickly, the workers got his food together and presented it to him as if they were wilted petunias in direct heat of the afternoon sun. This man started barking: "WHY DID YOU GET MY ORDER WRONG? IT'S ALL WRONG! IT WOULD HELP IF YOU SPOKE ENGLISH! WE'RE IN F***ING AMERICA!"

As the staff scrambled to check the order, my brave mother says, "We are in AMERICA! THE LAND OF THE FREE!"

The man continued barking and my mother said it again a little louder: "WE ARE IN AMERICA! THE LAND OF THE FREE!"

After the McDonald's employees got things sorted it with the sour puss, my mother - with some serious pants on - walked up to the man and said, "Sir, she speaks English. Even a native English speaker could get the order wrong every now and then. You need to show a little more respect."

He continued with his "we're in America" speech, when a lady from the community, friend of my mother's who happened to be there, chimed in: "Don't ignore what she is telling you! These people are working. And the lady who is talking to you is a tax paying citizen. Just because they aren't white like us doesn't mean they don't deserve your respect."


The man left still fuming because those damn Mexicans screwed up his order. My mother and her friend (let's call her Suzy), who she met working the voting polls, continued talking about how appalled they were at his behavior.

Suzy asked my mom - Have you seen that show? What happened is just like that show!! What would you do? Where are the cameras?

Unfortunately, John Quiñones never showed up to relieve the misfortune.

What's in my lunch box...

Last week, I had tuna wraps.

I prepared the tuna differently every day to provide a bit of variation, but I have to say that tuna with fresh squeezed lime and some cayenne pepper is my favorite.

In one container I put all the veggies:

• romaine lettuce
• colorful bell peppers
• carrots
• cucumbers
• tomatoes

In another container I had the tuna and pepperoncinis!!

At lunch, I built my wrap and MMMMmmmmm it was tasty!

For snack I had grapes and an apple.

The only downside to having tuna wraps was that it took forever to pack. I didn't really want to cut up some of these veggies for fear that it would get soggy and gross...cucumbers and tomatoes specifically. So I waited until the morning to cut what I had rationed for the day. OMG - my morning was TIGHT!!

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I'm currently OBSESSED with the Biggest Loser. It streams online via Netflix and I have become friends with Bob and Jillian...Just like I became friends with the characters from the book - THE HELP. I talk about them at the dinner table.

Anyway - as I've been told since I stopped eating breakfast in high school due to NERVES and being unable to stomach anything in the morning, they recommend eating breakfast. They go on and on about the instant QUAKER oatmeal...but I am not an instant oatmeal girl. I'VE TRIED!! (Okay - unless it's from McDonald's - what they heck do they add to it? It's GOOD!)

I get the old-fashion oats and whatever I want in my oatmeal ready the night before so I'm not panicking about running late. In the morning, I add water...nuke it...stirring every 30 seconds so it doesn't explode all over the microwave...and then add a tablespoon of honey and lots of BERRIES! Strawberries and Blueberries.

I haven't enjoyed breakfast like this in a LONG LONG TIME! I'll be switching out the fruit. I think I'm going to try mango next week. :o)

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This week I made my favorite bean dip that I've written about once before. Although I made some very slight changes....

In order of what I put in the mixing bowl:

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Tabasco
• 1 Lime - squeeze the ever living juice out of that sucker!
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 jalapeno (take out the seeds and cut out the veins as much as possible
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2/3 bunch of cilantro
• 1 red onion

Stir/toss to make sure you have the OO, Tabasco and Lime juice all over the veggies.

• 1 small can of corn
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 can medium size can of black beans

 Stir/toss (what's appropriate here?) again and EAT to your hearts content!

I also packed some tositito bowl chips (counted to the very last one - packed on the weekend ready to go.)

For snack I had a cheese stick and an apple.

Oh - and one of my friends brought in oranges covered in chili powder (Tajin). OMG! I only ate one slice because I was sooo full from my own lunch. But I ended up craving that so much I had some at home. DELICIOUS SNACK!!

I'm thinking about what to have for next week. Any suggestions?

What's in my lunch box...

A couple weeks ago, sitting through some long meetings, I decided I should make a list of things I would like to take to lunch as an honest to goodness effort to THINK through my meals and avoid excessive weight gain this school year.

In order to spruce up my eating habits at work and my BLOG (since I'm hardly ever here), I'm going to write a weekly post about what I ate and if it helped my efforts to eat healthier & avoiding weight gain.

Here we go:

1. Turkey sandwich with avocado, goat cheese, & baby romaine lettuce on Light Style Soft Wheat Bread
2. Baby Bell Peppers with a LITTLE ranch dressing (seriously - one of my favorite snacks EVER! you could also have them with laughing cow cheese...)

3. Grape tomatoes
4. Baby Carrots
5. Cherries
6. A nectarine or an orange

To drink - mostly water. But I'm a school teacher and it's rough in the afternoons. I used to turn to Coke for a pick me up but I found that Crystal Light has the energy mix with CAFFEINE!! So, I don't do more than one a day of the mixes.

Oh and one other thing...I'm totally into grinding two tablespoons of flax seed and putting it in my water in the mornings. LOVE IT! I don't know if you'd like it, but you should try it. What I like is flax seed, apple slices and a cinnamon stick in my water....TASTY, REFRESHING and SOOO good for you!!

It's a lot of fresh food! Very filling! Very good lunch. Some of it I ate for an afternoon snack. Delicious!

On a scale of one to 5, how did it help in my efforts? FIVE! Thank you very much.

We'll see how this next week goes!

Enjoy your Labor Free Day Monday!

Inspiring new kinds of thieves!

One thing I always try to do is to get sooooo excited about reading in my class that it's almost like I'm  a kid at the entrance of Disney Land! Or Sophia Grace meeting Nicki Minaj for the first time!

Part of the excitement is reading aloud to them the way my elementary teachers used to read to me...using VOICES!! (Yes, I remember Ms. Manuel and Ms. Smith!! And even my college professor Janet Juhlin reading Chrysanthemum!)

Okay...Do you see all the exclamation points??!?!?! It's because I actually want to SQUEAL in excitement when I talk to kids about reading! My hope is that it transmits to my students.

Last year, the last read aloud I chose was Roald Dahl's - The BFG. It is such a fun book!! The only problem is that time ran out and we didn't finish reading it. We had a few chapters left to read. What I should have done was skip some chapters and read the last one to give them some closure. I didn't give it to them, so they sought their own.

I didn't notice one bit, until I set up my classroom library this week, that more than HALF! of my class set of the BFG is missing!

Do you see what I mean? I inspired these kids to STEAL for the finish!

I'm not upset by it. Perhaps I failed on the character department...but if they took these books, I really, REALLY hope they actually read THE BFG!!