Breathing Room.

Sometimes I wonder how I'll ever have a family. Teaching takes so much time. Ha, then other times I feel like I must be a slow person...I take more time to do simple tasks it seems than other teachers. That has to be the reason I'm always there later than anyone else. Seriously. Maybe by the time I've been doing it for at least 5 years it'll get easier? Hopefully?

So some fun news. I'll be hosting a 28-year-old German named Annika when she comes to our small town to visit with her students. They get here Sunday night and she'll be staying on my futon (poor girl!) for two weeks. I think the best way to describe my feelings about this is anxious. I think it'll be fun, but I also love living by myself. Haha, selfish, I know. As long as I'm still able to make it to the gym, I'll be good. :) I'm just hoping I can find some stuff for us to do over our long Easter weekend. Suggestions? I was thinking of maybe taking her to Amish Country - at least that's what we call it - some weekend. It's pretty cool, and definitely unique.

I'm doing a 5k next weekend and I've got a goal I'm afraid to say out loud. My last 5k I ran in 25:45ish. That was on a dang hilly course. According to the results that was about a 8:19 mile pace. I've been running at least 3.5 miles at an 8:00 mile pace for the past couple weeks...so I'm crossing my fingers. Today I actually managed to run 8/mile, 7:30/mile, and then finished out my 30 minutes at an 8/minute pace. That should make it into the 24-minute range, right? That's my goal. I've said it now. Now I'll have to admit if I actually make it.

So E and I are looking for a house! I'm super excited (if you couldn't tell by the exclamation marks)!! That also means I'll get a puppy, which I'm also stoked for. The house hunt is exciting. I'm sure once we actively start viewing houses and discussing making offers it'll be stressful, too. Right now though, exciting. And I'm just fine with that :)

30 days left of this school year. Not that I'm counting or anything. It's crazy. I still have to finish Julius Caesar and cover Non-fiction with my Honors kids. Ouch.

Oh, and volleyball's over. YES! I love it, but it gets so busy. Hence the post title. I can breathe now.

Currently Reading: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Christmas presents!

So, here's a cute picture of E and Simon, who apparently loves cuddling with E who isn't really an animal person. If you're my sister-in-law, please don't look below the first picture, or you'll ruin your Christmas surprise, and that's sucky. After Christmas you can look. Course, by then you'll have it!


I did it! I did it! I made Christmas presents! That might seem like no biggie, but I'm such a procrastinator. And I actually did it. Yay me.

A clothespin bag - which will be filled with IKEA clothespins :)

And one for Mom, which won't be filled with clothespins...cause she already has a ton.

In other Christmas present news, I'm making a slideshow/video of our family for my little bro (and everyone else). E has helped me figure out how to record an old VHS (the only family video we have) so I can add it to the picture slideshow. How cool?! He's awesome I tell ya.

We're in the process of looking at houses for next year. I'm excited. I'm not gonna deny it. I watch way too much HGTV. So Mom sent me an A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E listing today. It's kinda sad though, cause most likely it won't still be on the market when we're looking. Hopefully we find something great though :)

We had a snow day today, and I'm praying we don't have one tomorrow. We have to have finals! And then...break! Yes! I swear, sometimes I think teachers have the sweetest deal. We get off for every major holiday. And can you say 3 months in the summer? Seriously. I may complain about grading, but the breaks more than make up for it.

Currently Reading: Bottled Up by Jaye Murray

B-E-A-utiful weather!

Willow River Falls (Wisconsin)

Seriously, I don't know what's going on this summer, but you won't hear me complaining. The weather lately has been absolutely amazing! I have yet to turn on my air conditioning (all summer!). Can you say lower utility bills? Heck yes!

In other news school is going so smoothly it's kind of worrying me. I'm used to being a little freaked out all the time and desperately needing every minute of my plan period, but lately it's been somewhat relaxing. We did get a bit of sad news this week, though. The teacher whom I was hired to replace died Friday afternoon of a heart attack. He was 35! He also has a baby boy who's turning 1 in October. Seriously, how unfair is life sometimes? Tomorrow the school is sponsoring a "hat day" where kids/teachers pay money to wear a hat and all the money is going to an educational fund for his son. I'm not a hat person, but I'll be sporting a Mizzou cap for the occasion.

Tomorrow we're doing a fun lesson that's taking full advantage of the wonderful weather, so I hope to post some pictures the kids take. Keep your eyes open.

Also, the Ride Like a Pro challenge is almost over (Friday's the last day). So far, with my rough estimates (I underestimated most of the times) I've biked over 650 miles this summer - since June. I guess they're recognizing the participants on September 13th when the Tour of Missouri comes through town. That should be cool :)

Well, after all that talk about teaching being a breeze this year, I must go finish planning part of tomorrow's lesson.

Currently Reading: The Off Season by Catherine Murdock

Bingo!

Or not...

Tonight the new teachers went to Bingo Thursdays at the VFW hall. Yes, this is a small town. :) And, yes, there were many "old folk." I've never played bingo, outside of a classroom game. It was fun, unfortunately I didn't win anything. I tell you what, there are sure some dedicated Bingo players. There was one lady there with about 20 bingo markers (am I the only one who didn't know they had special markers for bingo?) in her special little "bingo bag" that was embroidered and everything. No joke.

::sigh:: So, two years down. Only what, 40 more to go or so? I'm officially done with my 2nd year of teaching, and I can say for sure that there isn't a single part of me that's thinking of not continuing. I've heard so many times that most teachers don't make it past 5 years, but I can't imagine me being one of them. Which is a good thing, cause I have no idea what else I would do. None. Sure, the kids are obnoxious sometimes, but they're entertaining, too. My old high school counselor used to tell me that teaching kept him young, and I can definitely see that. Plus, I have some pretty amazing co-workers. They're a pretty energetic group.

One of the local fitness centers is having a "bootcamp" this summer three days a week. My coworker B wants me to do it with her. Ahhh! It's at six o'clock in the morning! I am so not a morning person. Period. I stay up until about 1:00 most nights, just because I'm an idiot. Seriously. My cat wakes me up many mornings when I've slept past all my alarms. And when I say all my alarms I mean: 1 alarm that sits on my dresser so I actually have to get up to turn it off, and then my cell phone which has 5 alarms - all of which I set every night. It's horrible. I never used to have this problem. If an alarm went off, I was up. But then I discovered the snooze button about 2 years ago and it's been an uphill battle ever since. Anybody have a cure for this?