The mother of all insulting comments for a woman to hear...

"Hey Ms. Strunk! You look like you're pregnant!"

Womp, womp, womp.

aghhhhhhh

Ok...one, I was slouching and shouldn't have been so my tummy is pushed out.  Two, this is coming from a six year old.  Three, she doesn't know anything.

But, still!

Yikes!


It's ironic because I had a training with my personal trainer scheduled today anyways! Ha! 

(P.S. I signed up with a personal trainer - one that I used years ago.  And before you get all I-can't-believe-you're-going-all-crazy-for-the-wedding I planned on doing this, this Summer BEFORE I got engaged! So there! I finally have a little bit of money to put towards this so I'm excited to go full out! We are meeting twice a week and she's telling me what to do on days that I don't see her! I am so excited. Today was awesome and I'm sore already but I'm excited for the results that I should get)

Have you ever gotten a comment like that, where it makes you feel awful?! From a kid? I love how brutally honest kids are, but MAN! Gimme a break!

Busy Bee

**Stupid blogger won't take off the white highlight behind my text! Sorry if it hurts your eyes to read this!

Yep.

I have been a bit MIA lately because I have been so flippin' busy!

List time! 

Why I've been such a busy bee:

*Work-- Spring time is the busiest time for 5th grade teachers! We have field trips galore, the simulated congressional hearings (which we study and work on for a month and a half), articulation with two different middle schools, the moving up ceremony and preparation for it, puberty education, and trying to get the rest of the curriculum taught in the meantime.  It's crazytown!  At least puberty education is entertaining!  One of the boys asked how long and big "it" actually gets to be (they used the term "maximum height and length"! Haha.  I guess the fascination with their genitalia starts young!

*Grad School -- Groooooaaann! My research class is kicking my butt and it sucks!! It's a lot of work, and every stinkin' little point counts! I have an 89% in the class.  How annoying! I would rather have a solid B, or a solid A. Not a freakin' B+! What a tease! I still have one more assignment left and an extra credit assignment too.  I'm hoping they can help me out with getting that A.

*Thirty-One -- I have been working SO hard to make my goals.  The first goal was to get the Ready, Set, Sell incentive.  I set my sights on the $500 goal (if you sell $500 in the first two weeks of April you get some free products).  BUT somehow I managed to pull off the $1,000 goal which got me more products for free! BAM! I also wanted to make it to the silver level for the National Conference incentive.  I am currently at the bronze level which means that I had a good chunk of the conference fees paid for and I also get a special kit of free products.  That level was for if you sold $4,000 from January to April.  Well, if you sell $8,000 in that time frame you can get to the silver level which gets you an additional $100 cash card to spend at the conference on whatever you want as well as special "perks."  Well after having two parties re-schedule last minute, I didn't think I'd make it. But I wanted it so badly, so I started offering lots of incentives to my customers and it worked!  I offered free shipping for two weeks.  I also offered an additional deal all day yesterday - a different one each hour...and I got 4 orders from it! SCORE!  So with those orders I was able to help out one of my hostesses...our goal was to get her party to at least $600 which we weren't sure we could do.  Well now it's at $850! Yeah baby! I freakin' love this job.

Why is it that I always find my energy late at night? I've been tired alllll day and now all of a sudden I want to stay up late and get more things done! Ugh! Figures!

Have a great night!

Excited

My current excitements:

• I'm having a jamberry party: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/events/572753029401724/  I'm excited! I love these things and can't wait to get some for free.

Love these!

•  I'm moving to a new place, and although the moving part of it sucks I get to style a new place! Yesssssss
• My thirty-one calendar has been filling up! I started out with a couple parties in March and only one in April.  Now I'm up to five in March and five in April! Score! I have a lot of business goals and incentives that I'm trying to work towards so I'm really happy about this.
• Spring Break is almost here! Thank goodness! 9 school days left!  Although I'll be spending a good amount of my break unpacking and settling into the new place, I will also be sleeping in every day! And I'm determined to get a tan!  I've always been interested in trying a spray tan so I figured that's a great time to try on.

Have a great week everyone! 

Yo

So let's see, what's new:

• School is out
• Summer School starts on Monday
• I have spent the past 2 weeks relaxing, doing a lot of 31 stuff, and sleeping in. It has been glorious.  I also got to spend some time with Baby Fin and also Kins and Parker! :)
•  It soooo flippin' hot outside! I'm a bit worried that if it's this hot in June, that we will all be melting by the time August rolls around.
• I am teaching 6th graders for the first part of the day for Summer School and then first and second graders for the second half of the day.  It will be interesting! And exhausting!
• I'm going to try and walk around the lake every day after school with two of my co-workers.  One loop around is around two miles, so I'm hoping that a lot of that will help me lose some weight! 
• Tomorrow is wine day with Chris and Erin!  The 4 of us are going to a couple wineries in Northern Virginia tomorrow all day!  We are bringing snacks along and we're making a whole day out of it.  I'm really excited about it.
• 31 has been going really well.  I did really well last month (I sold over $2100! Bam!) but of course there's always room for improvement.  In the next couple weeks I plan on reaching out to my neighbors with some mini catalogs and my business cards, starting some more catalog parties, talking to my summer school staff, and also trying to find some vendor events to do.
• I start my master's this Fall! OMG.  Ok, that's enough about that.  I don't want to think about it yet!

 Ok, well I know that was incredibly sporadic and random, but that's me for right now!

Enjoy the weather and have a great weekend! :)

I'm baaaacck

Wow, it's been a long time! Sorry about that.

A lot has happened...

1. 

I was in a really baddddd car accident.

 2. I got accepted into Grad School!  I will be starting my STEM master's program this Fall.

3. Thirty-One is officially my new favorite hobby. 

My flip flop bin! I know you're jealous :)

4. I have two SUPER stinkin' cute nephews...

 

Baby Finley

Baby Parker

5.  There are only 24 school days left.  The kids are driving me crazy, but still making me laugh...

This is supposed to be "toothache."  Ha!

6. I got a new car! Wooooo! I feel much safer in this car, now that I'm sitting up higher! I LOVE it! 

2010 Honda CR-V :)

Gotta go to bed...I'll chat more later :) Night!

Lots of Updating to do...

I'm a list lover, so let's make this post list-alicious :)

Bf Update:

• D and I are still doing well, living together.  However, this house is much too small for us.  We need our own office space.  If he scoots his chair back, he runs into me.  Hopefully the next place we move into will have more room for us.
• We're about to go to Puerto Rico tomorrow for a week! We're really excited.  I had to go to the Minute Clinic this morning and it turns out what I thought was just my usual allergies, is a sinus infection that I've had for a little while. Yuck! At least I have some meds to help me get over it, to take with me on our trip.

Thirty-One Update

• I LOVE this company!
• I am going to the national conference in Atlanta this Summer and I'm so excited about it! I'm a bit terrified of travelling by myself and sharing a room with 3 people that I have only communicated with online, but I'm still so excited!  I also think it's crazy that I'll be in Atlanta in August (holy hotness) but that's ok.
• I just earned two incentives! I earned the March incentive and also my Startswell for having 3 parties within my first thirty days as a consultant. 



This is what I got for the March incentive - I LOVE that giant rolling tote! Perfect for travel!



This is my startswell incentive that I got - skirt purse with fitted skirt, thread swatches, catalogs, and nail files.

School Update:

• Report cards are due the day after we get back from Spring Break! Ugh, whose idea was that?!  Well to make sure that I didn't have anything to stress about when I get back, I did them a week in advance.  It was a lot of work, but completely worth it!  I'm glad that's out of the way. 
• I can't believe that when I get back, it'll be 4th quarter already! This year has flown by!
• I got hired again for Summer School :) I'm excited, I love teaching in the Summer - more pay, less kids, and I'm done at 1pm! Sweet!
• So apparently not enough people have signed up for my Master's program, so they have moved the start date from this Summer to this Fall hoping that more people will sign up.  Either way, it looks like it's still a go.  I really hope so, because I'm really interested in this program and I really need to start my master's degree sooner than later.
• We just went on an awesome field trip to the Newseum in DC.  If you've never been before, you should definitely go! It's awesome.  I keep meaning to go back when I'm not chaperoning/teaching so I can actually focus more on the exhibits instead of the kids.

I am loving the weather lately! Flip flops are officially in full swing! Yessssss.

Anyways, have a great week! When I return, I'll have lots of pictures from Puerto Rico!

Love this

Long time, no blog

Ok so here are some updates:

*My school system has this pedometer program that is free and can give you gift cards/prizes based on how many steps you take during the day.  This program + my natural competitiveness has really kick started my working out this week.  My first day logging, I had 7,000 steps.  The second day, I had over 20,000!  Yesterday I had over 16,000.  It's awesome because it's great motivation and it's nice to see my progress throughout the day.

*School has started and so far I love my class.  I have two "nudges" that can be annoying, but I knew that going into this year, so not a huge deal.  I have at least one of those kids every year, so it's nothing new for me.

*Dan and I move into our new place on October 1st! I can't wait! We have been shopping a lot for it, trying to find decorative pieces (like art for the wall) as well as some furniture.  We haven't had much luck with the furniture, unless you count this sweet wine rack we got from IKEA. 

*I tried some cupcakes from Kupcakes & Co. in Elkridge during my lunch break last week and they were AWESOME.  A close second to Georgetown cupcake!  My favorite was the snickerdoodle cupcake that was cinnamon flavored with a buttercream frosting! YUM!

*I splurged and bought myself a Chi hair straightener as an early birthday gift.  I have wanted one for a long time! I had been using my roommates for a year, and when hers finally died, we found a great deal online so I took it and got one.  To top it off, it came with free gifts!  Elf makeup, a cool-down cover for the straightener, and a round hairbrush! Sweet!

*Here's one of the art pieces that I just bought for our house:

:)

Apparently the one thing we always agree on: Wine! ...and wine related products.  Gotta start somewhere, right?

Have a great weekend!

Back to Maryland

I have been a bit MIA from my blog recently, because I was at the beach for a little over a week with Dan.  While he was at work, I helped him out a little by doing some packing and getting some boxes for him.  I also did some classroom shopping at TAPS (Teacher and Parent Store - there's not one in MD) and got some fantastic polka dot decorations for my room that I'm super excited about.  I also had a fair amount of beach time, which also meant I got a lot of reading done. :)

Currently, I'm reading "Handle with Care" by Jodi Picoult.

It's about a young girl who has Osteogenesis imperfecta, which is a bone disease where her bones can break very easily.  It talks about her life and each chapter is told by a different chartacter's point of view.  So far, I like it a lot.  I've read some of Jodi's work before, and I think she's a great writer.  She is always very well researched on the subject at hand, and it's always very hard to put her books down, which I love.  It was definitely a great beach read.

So even though I went on antibiotics and finished them last Monday, all of my symptoms including coughing, sore throat, and swollen tonsils came back this past Saturday.  Awesome.  So I called my doctor and she prescribed a stronger antibiotic that I will be taking for a longer period.  Man, I hope it works this time!  I hate being sick! And especially during my favorite season!

The countdowns begin:

18 days left until I return to school to start getting my classroom ready.

22 days until I get to meet some of my students at the open house

25 days until the first day of school

I'm excited that I have a lot to look forward between now and then:

• Hanging out with a friend from Florida around town this weekend and possible laser tagging! Woo!
• Possibly signing a lease pretty soon with Dan
• Jen's wedding next weekend (I'm a bridesmaid)
• Happy Hour with my team from work next week
• Sleeping in as much as possible
• Hearing about Dan's first day at his new job!
• Getting my hair done (I lovvvveeee doing that!)
• Going to a wedding in New York for a family member of Dan's

I know that these next 18 days will probably go by much faster than I want them to, but I'm going to make the most out of them and enjoy my freedom while I can!

Tired all the time!

Teaching is tiring. It's part of the job. Pretending to be excited about whatever the lesson is, however boring it may be, takes a lot out of you!

Teaching the intermediate grades (3-5) is what I'm used to. I'm used to that kind of work and exhaustion.

But teaching the little ones is a WHOLE other kind of exhaustion. They are so dependent every second of the lesson. If I'm not repeating the direction for the 25829271128th time, than I'm helping one student spell the word "tree," and helping another to make a proper "w" while also telling another kid to get his finger out of his nose and to go wash his hands. Good thing that class is only an hour, because to tell you the truth it's the most exhausting part of my day! I don't know how kindergarten and first grade teachers do this ALL DAY.

I also think having the big kids in the morning first before the little ones makes it worse. I would rather go from the little ones which is more demanding to the big ones which isn't as demanding.

Well on a positive note, today was better than yesterday (more smooth) so it can only go up from here! :)

Have a good night! :)

Feeling Good, and starting to look good too!

*

So with the 3 pounds and 2 inches that I lost last week, and another pound this week, I'm feeling pretty great. I've gotten some compliments from friends and family about how my midsection looks smaller which is great to hear. As a typical woman, I am my own worst critic. So the fact that I have actually personally noticed a difference is HUGE for me. I can actually tell that I'm losing weight in the places that I had previously gained it.

And Weight Watchers has been a HUGE help. I've been really good about being honest with it (if I wanted to, I could just not log in all the foods that I eat during the day, or I could be dishonest with the servings). I feel like if I'm going to do this and be serious about it, I have to do it 100%. And I'm glad I have, because it's paying off!

In other news, I've been better with my money as well. :) I've never really been 'bad' with money, but I have never been great with saving money. Well a month ago or so, I set up a separate checking account where a certain portion of each paycheck goes into. I have been really great about not even looking at that money. My hope is that I can slowly start raising that amount per paycheck and save even more. But for now, it's baby steps. I'm still paying all of my bills on time as always, and I have been paying off my credit card every month as well. So I'm in good standing, and happy with it. I'm hoping to use a good part of my extra summer school money to help pay off my car which will make me really happy. After that's paid off, the only real debt that I will have is my student loan, which I consider to be good debt so that's ok.

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer School and I have to say that I'm surprisingly nervous. I am very confident in my teaching and always have been. But I'm starting a new program this year, and I'm working with a huge range of ages this year. The first two sessions or classes are made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for reading. I'm not as nervous for that, because I teach 5th grade all year round anyways. But the 3rd session I will be teaching science to kindergarteners and first graders. Totally outside my realm of experience! I know it will be fun, but of course I have butterflies, simply for the fear of the unknown.

Wish me luck!

I'm excited that I can reward myself for my hard work this week with a beach trip to VA this upcoming weekend! I have Monday off so I can stay a little longer, and I'm happy to get some relax time in with Dan and his family.

Have a great night everyone! :)

Only...

6 DAYS until school is out!!

Technically, there are only 4 and 1/2 school days total, because the last 3 days are half days...but whose counting?

THIS GIRL!

My excitement aside, I am a bit sad for this class to leave. I will miss them dearly, and I actually teared up twice when writing my promotion speech for their graduation next week.

I start getting my summer school classroom ready the next day though, so I think my sadness will be filled with the rush to get ready for that. So, I'll be ok. :)

Good night!

Why Teachers Need a Summer Break

Yesterday was our Simulated Congressional Hearing ALL. DAY. LONG. Exhausting! Our state senator, Jim Robey was there, as well as some other members of MD government that judged our students' speeches and knowledge of American government.

Today, everyone was flat out pooped! The kids, the teachers, everyone...

So here's how today went:
*We started off the day with an hour and 15 minute long staff meeting early this morning before the kids got there
*During this meeting, we learned/were reminded that report cards are due next Thursday, even though we have the kids until the 22nd, and we JUST freaking did progress reports. There goes my weekend.
*We listened to the whining, groaning, and moaning of kids who just don't really want to be there (nothing too far from the normal every day though)
*I had at least 2 students shed tears today
*I had 6 students who needed to stay in for recess today during my lunch break because they couldn't get their behavior on track and basically they were pissing me off
*Despite the easiness of health today (I literally came up with that lesson plan a few minutes before we started) some students STILL wouldn't stop talking and just do their work
*I was screamed at, while only standing a few inches from a student
*The same student tried several times to rip a paper out of my hands, while screaming
*Then, I got a chair thrown at me from across the room.
*During dismissal, I had to keep an eye on the kids in the pod playing kooshball...making sure they're not being too rough, while also watching the other kids in my class, as they run around the room touching and prodding each other (a game of tag?) even though I have asked numerous times for them to stop.
*During this, I have at least 3 students come up to me to complain that the other one is saying things, and continue to argue and tattle on one another in front of me...voices getting louder and louder
*We walk down the hall for dismissal, and even though we have been practicing "Straight, silent, single" lines in the hallways, they STILL need reminders on the 170th day of school. GOOD GOD, just BE QUIET
*As I walk down back to my classroom after fist-bumping my students (that's how we say goodbye) I am literally emotionally, physically, and mentally DRAINED.

And we have 14 more school days of this left. It can't come soon enough.

Have you ever heard someone say "Man, I so want to be a teacher! They have it easy- done at 3:30 and you have summers off!" I HATE those people. I don't think there is a single day where my job is "EASY" or a single day where I actually leave the building at the end of the school day. There's too much to do. It's a very stressful, trying, and busy job and thank goodness for summer break! We need it just as much as the kids need it.

I know that I'm saying this, while knowing that I'm teaching Summer school mere days after this school year ends, but at least it will be with a new set of kids, at a different location, and I'll be done at noon. Yesssssss

Ok, I'm going to go pass out now...

Feeling Productive & Happy

Today, I...

*Had a pretty good day at school. Got some things ready for lessons this week and next week ahead of time (which doesn't happen all the time, so that was nice).

*Went and got Mom a late Mother's Day gift (orange, yellow, and pink lilies). *She loved it :)

*Went grocery shopping - got lots of fresh fruit, granola bars, yogurts, and some things for lunches. (all things that encourage me to eat right!)

*Did the rest of my laundry and finished straightening up my room.

*Had a delicious dinner when I got home. I had a half hour or so to myself to just sit and relax.

*Saw the Chorus Concert at school (I always tell my kids that I'm their #1 fan, so I try to go to as many after school things like this as I can) :)

*Went to Target to get the things I forgot at the grocery store...and a shirt or two for work (not planned, but needed so I don't feel toooo guilty).

*Did P90X Plyometrics Workout DVD. HOLY SWEAT! There's no telling how many calories I burned, which is AWESOME...BUT my thighs are already killing me. I'm warning you now, there will definitely be whining tomorrow and especially the next day.


Now I'm off to take a long shower and then I'm going to jump in bed for some much needed rest. :)

Good night everyone!

Soooo

Is it Friday yet? *cat

Countdowns:

13 more school days until Spring Break! 19 more days until Bermuda!

Union Rally in Annapolis!

So thousands of teachers rallied in Annapolis tonight to fight to save our pensions and salaries!

Unfortunately, where we were standing we could not hear what was being said by the speakers, so I don't have much to tell about what was said there.

It's still early to see much in the news yet, but I did find a Washington Post article and WBAL article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/union-rally-draws-thousands-to-annapolis-to-protest-pension-reform-sought-by-md-gov-omalley/2011/03/14/ABAGrrV_story.html

http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/27186652/detail.html

Highlights:

*Seeing THOUSANDS of people from all over the state rally to Annapolis! We walked almost a mile while holding balloons, signs, and WOOOOing to show our support! There were over 200 busses that transported educators to Annapolis today.

*When the entire crowd put up the quiet sign (peace sign) so that everyone could hear the speakers. Only teachers!

*When the speaker wasn't speaking up, someone yelled, "Use your teacher voice!" Ha!

*State employees came out of their windows to wave and take pictures! If anything, we had a voice today and they knew we were there!

*Phrases like "Keep the Promise" and "Move forward, not back" were chanted throughout the night.

So I didn't get home from all of this until about 10pm, so no workout for me tonight. BUT I did get about 2 miles or so in of walking tonight, so that's something!

Goodnight!

It's great to be a teacher...

This week:

Monday: Closed for MLK Jr. Day
Tuesday: Closed for Snow Day
Wednesday: 2 hour delay
Thursday: A full day for the kids, but a half day for me because of a doctor's appointment!
Friday: Scheduled half day for students, but it's supposed to freezing rain on Thursday night...oh boy!


I freakin love being a teacher in Ho Co!

SNOW DAY!

Woo, I woke up this morning hoping to see at least a 2 hour delay alert on my work email, and instead I am pleasantly surprised to find out it's a snow day! Woo no school all day! Yesssssss! 4 day weekend, alllllllll riiiiiiiiiightt!!

I should stick with education for a while, solely for its time-off schedule!

Hope everyone has a lovely day at work. Be careful out there!

I will be in here, sleeping. Muah ha ha ;)

Turning My Day Around

This post will sound strange right after the one right below this which is all lovey about teaching...but oh well. It's my blog. I do what I want.


This is week has been the longest week all year! No joke! It has just dragged on! Yesterday I had an observation so the night before I was up late typing a 6 page paper describing every part of my lesson plan, information about the students I work with, etc. Then I find out we may have a delay on Friday. So I email my principal and give her alternate times to come and observe just in case...I was not about to do all that work for nothing and not get observed!

So despite the lack of snow (literally there was NOTHING on my car at all when I came outside Friday morning), we had a 2 hour delay. Great, more sleep! Just what I needed. Also more time to stress about my observation. OH and even though I shouldn't for another 2 months and I haven't skipped anything, I started my period yesterday as well. Throw in some cramps and a nasty headache, and my morning was not starting off so well!

I got to school, got some water and excedrin, got my stuff ready, and just took some deep breaths. The nice thing about observations is that there are only two options: satisfactory and not satisfactory. So I'm fine. It's still annerving nonetheless, but I try and remind myself of that fact to come my nerves a bit.

So the observation went really well, and I felt really great about it. :) After the observation, my day turned for the better :) The day was short thanks to the delay, and I got to pronounce the words for the Spelling Bee. Most people would shy away from that job, but I jumped towards it!! I am SOOO excited about it, being the big dork that I am! I asked about doing it months in advance (I had helped out for one of the practice days last year). So that made my day. I ended it with a fun going away party for a work friend at work and then a happy hour following it. Then I went and got my hair cut which is always great because I love it when people play with my hair.

After all that, I drove over to Docco's for a movie and champagne night which was a lot of fun.

It was nice that my day had started so awful and then turned around by the end of it. :)

"So, do you have any kids?"

Why am I always tempted to answer,"Yes. I have 25. 14 boys and 11 girls."

I feel as though being a teacher is something that constantly tests you.

It feels like every day my patience is tested, my love for them is tested, my devotion and passion for the job is tested...

But every time I'm "tested," the answer is the same every time.

When I am away from my students, I miss them terribly. When I am with them, I love them unconditionally, despite how they can try my ability to endure their whining, complaining, and moaning. When I see any of them get upset in the least or show any sign of discomfort on their face, I am literally by their side in a second, just hoping I can help rescue them in some way.

It's amazing to me that I can feel this away about a group of children that are not mine, and yet they feel like they are nothing but mine. When I read the words for the spelling bee today out loud as the pronouncer, I couldn't help but feel their anxiety and nervousness as each one of my students got on stage. Almost all at once, I wanted to hug the ones that didn't get the word right, and high-five the ones that did.

Maybe I'm not a mother by exact definition...but it sure feels like it sometimes.

If I can feel this much emotion and feeling with children who I will only see for 10 short months of one year of our lives, than I can only imagine how incredible it will be to be a mother to my own children.

I am in no means ready to be a mother right now or anytime soon. But it's nice to think that I do have a chance to be one right now, in a different sort of way.