Category: Life

My final semester of grad school has been very difficult. I have hit many obstacles and been disappointed by people again and again. This weekend my belief in the good of mankind has been restored.

It always seems like things happen when Jesse leaves early to be somewhere. If you remember, he left early for work the day I got a flat tire.

Yesterday he left early for a conference on the day it snowed 10″. Because Jesse’s family was in town for the weekend, I needed to go to the grocery store. I decided to get my exercise and shovel my half of the driveway. On my way to the store I realized none of the roads in my neighborhood had been plowed yet. It was very difficult getting to the grocery store.

After I returned from the store, I decided to shovel Jesse’s half so we could be on time for Aubrie’s (our niece) birthday party. I had just finished the driveway when the plow came to place a waist high snowbank at the end of my driveway. I just stood and stared at him with my mouth open. With resignation I walked to the end of the driveway and continued shoveling. He made another pass to clear the other side of the road. When I heard the beeping a third time, I began to have hope. Sure enough, he plowed right into my driveway and cleared the entire snowbank in one pass.

This man, in a very simple way, made my day! Thank you Mr. Plow Man, I believe again…

IT is here!

We had the best dinner tonight…and I made it in 15 minutes or less! On my way home from working out, I called Jesse to boil water. When I arrived home, I put noodles on to boil for 8 minutes. I pulled Cavatini sauce from the freezer and warmed it in the microwave. Jesse chopped lettuce for a salad. At the last minute, I warmed up two crescent rolls, and we were ready to eat.

When I proclaimed this a 15-minute meal, Jesse and I cracked up. The Cavatini sauce is not a quick and easy recipe, but we had some leftover the last time I made it, so I froze it for the future. We also had the crescent rolls leftover from a dinner this weekend. So basically, you could never make this meal in 15-minutes, but I was thankful that I was able to tonight!

Many of you have wondered about the progress of our lawn…

After faithful watering, we are beginning to see growth. Whew! We were worried.

Wednesday was the official first day of fall. I talked about it with my class of second graders. I asked them to share a sign that they know it is fall.

One student said, “I know it’s fall because the flowers are wilting.”

Another noticed, “The plant seeds are beginning to drop.”

My personal favorite, “The air is getting crispier.”

Here’s to apple crisp, red leaves, sweatshirts, caramel apples, pumpkins, the color orange, wearing sweaters, the start of the school year, mums, falling leaves, and socks…

On “Labor” Day Jesse and I decided to labor in our yard. For three years we have despised the grass in our front yard. It looks ok until the hot part of the summer and then becomes a bed of weeds.

In a moment of insanity, we decided to use a friend’s front-end tiller and get rid of the old grass. As you can tell, not an easy job.

Then we spent two evenings raking up all of the dead grass. As you can tell, not an easy job.

I feel like I am telling the story of “The Little Red Hen”. Then we fertilized and planted. Stay tuned to find out if we really are crazy…

This is the time of year that I both dread and love. Being a teacher means summer brings a change in my work life. This summer was different in that I completed 140 hours of my media internship. I ran the media center for summer school and also helped a high school media specialist weed her entire reference collection. I also worked to welcome new staff members and helped to tweak our school’s magnet curriculum. It was a busy summer!

Tuesday morning starts a new school year. I dread the start of a new year for a few reasons. First, it is a loss of freedom. Even with a busy summer, I still got to run errands during the day and take naps when I needed them. 🙂 Secondly, facing a room of 21 new students scares any teacher. You constantly wonder if you will correctly handle behavior issues and whether they will really learn something this year. Most teachers barely sleep the night before the first day of school!

On the other hand there are things I love about a new year. In the fall it always feels good to get back into a regular routine. I also get to see my co-workers again. It is weird to spend so much time with people and then not see them for three months! Lastly, I have the opportunity to build a relationship with and impact 21 little people for the next nine months…and that is what I love about my job.

Here I go…

The past few weeks I have been having a bit of an age crisis. In discussing my upcoming birthday people have been trying to guess my age by saying things like, “Oh, you’re turning thirty?”. Side note: you should never try to do this! Everyone has been guessing too high.

Therefore, it was time for a change. I scheduled a haircut for today and told her I wanted something more trendy. Mt friend Paige inspired me with her makeover which you can view here. Hopefully, I look younger than 30. 🙂