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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Tis the Season

It's right about that time where we stop and reflect on the year, how it went, what went fabulously and what could have gone better. With the ups and downs of 2014 there is plenty PLENTY to be thankful for. Here's my list of what I'm thankful for this past year:

1.) That I married my best friend, favorite chef, and the man who makes me laugh every day even when I really am not in the mood for it:

2.) I'm always thankful for these crazy pups who keep us busy, running and laughing each and every day. 




3.) My family and friends who do their job swimmingly - so much love and support all the time.



4.) yoga - keeps me calm, stretched, and strong. Also, for all of the wonderful people I am able to know through the studio.



5.) Running - who would I be without this one? I can't even imagine. Running keeps me sane, gives me goals, runs me down and then lifts me right back up! Nashville marathon here I come!



6.) My kiddos at school - even when things at work get really hard and frustrating I think about my wonderful students and it reminds me that it's all worth it.

7.)  Coffee... enough said.


8.)  A high of 66 degrees?? At the end of November? I'll take it!



9.) Teachers Pay Teachers - in particular this 2nd Grade Math Interactive Notebook - my kids are loving this.

10.) Pinterest - classroom inspiration, running motivation, recipes, holiday crafts, and everything inside my brain that has stemmed from this beautiful website.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thanksgiving and Marathon Maybe?

A couple of weeks ago after I dropped my kids off at their respective bus lines I let out a deep breath. Not that I don't take a deep breath every day, multiple times a day, but this day in particular one of the veteran teachers in my building just looked at me with agreeing eyes and said "ya know, some years you just have to live for the breaks." 

Boy is she right. It's now Tuesday, the last school day before Thanksgiving break and I am more than ready to pack it all up, go home for a few days, and hopefully hopefully be able to muster up enough energy, positivity, and inspiration to make it until Christmas break. 

I definitely have more to do than I can really wrap my brain around right now. As my desk looks like this:


But hopefully I'll be able to tackle a few of the projects I have going over break. 

In other news...  it's been entirely too cold here too soon. I was thinking of finding a marathon to run so that I could have a goal to carry me through the year. BUT do I really want to train for a marathon on a treadmill right now?? 

We'll see I'm leaning toward a yes just because I'm thinking it could be a way to keep me sane during my first year teaching. 13-20 mile long runs sound like a much healthier place to vent/figure out some first year teacher struggles or even just regular teacher struggles than 1.) my poor/patient husband who is currently listening to it all or 2.) the Internet. Just as  well turn some frustrations into a positive? Right?? 

Now time to run, teach some yoga and start doing that whole Thanksgiving break thing! 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Relaxing Weekend

My weekend consisted of relaxing, sleeping, running, relaxing, did I say relaxing? Oh my goodness this was a much needed catch up, pajamas and pancakes kind of weekend. It was fabulous.

Friday night we made our own pizzas and handed out halloween candy! It was bliss. Every once in a while going out on a Friday night sounds appealing but for the most part a night in spent with my husband sounds like the most perfect evening. It was much needed after the busy weeks we have been having. 

When I woke up on Saturday morning we had gotten a freak cold front and the temperature dropped into the 20s! Burr. Daylight savings time plus 20 degrees. Fall is over. Winter is here.

I did decide to brave the colder temps and make it on my 9 mile run on Saturday. I'm unofficially training for a race that I may or may not sign up for in the spring. I'm debating over the Nashville marathon in April or the Cowtown marathon in March. I would want to try Nashville because we've never been there before and if you're going to run 26.2 miles it just as well been in a fun new place to explore. If I ran the Cowtown marathon I could go see my parents who would have perfectly brewed coffee, bagels, and love waiting for me on race day. Hmm to finish another marathon would be pretty darn cool but can I handle the training right now? Do I want to handle the training right now?

First year teacher trains for marathon... is that ridiculous?

Sunday was spent teaching an early morning yoga class and meeting up with the rest of the yoga staff for brunch. What did we do for the rest of Sunday? Relax.

And now we're heading into the week! This week is full of meetings after work, yoga classes to be taught and colder temps. On some bright notes I'm writing this on Monday which means that tomorrow is Tuesday! Woohoo for making it through Monday!




Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween

Well, we made it through today! I have officially survived my first classroom halloween party. Costumes were all put on, students walked in their parade, candy was distributed, games were played, parents helped to celebrate. Phew! Then, I sent them all home with sugar filled bellies.

The only photo I have to show for today was this beauty of all of the dwarfs from our school. I forgot my hat... oops.




Thank goodness there are no students tomorrow. Whoever scheduled a Professional Development day for October 31st, thank you. I can not even imagine what kind of learning we would accomplish if we did have school. 

I did find out that party days exhaust me. Students are a little more wired on a party day than for regular school so I feel like I have been "on" more so than usual. Throw parents, candy, costumes and games into the mix and that comes out to a perfectly exhausted teacher. 

Tonight I'm off to yoga- hopefully to sweat out all the little stress bugs that hit me today. My plan is to leave a little less stressed and a little more positive.

Hurray for the weekend right around the corner! 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fall Chili

I plan. I plan my lessons for the week, I plan what I need to do each day, I plan what I'm going to wear at school, what my workouts are going to be, and I or I mean we plan what we are going to eat for the week. Like really plan - we sit down, think about what we have, what we need, and what just sounds good. Together we come up with 4-5 meals that will last us for the next 7 days or so. One of things that we have been making sure to do is make a soup or a stew on Sunday night so that we have leftovers for lunch all throughout the work week!


Our soup of choice this week? Chili! Yum. Now, Missouri has been abnormally warm this fall. I'm talking 80 degrees at the end of October! I'm not complaining one single bit but it's not technically sweater, boot and chili weather when it's 80 degrees outside.


But it's still fall. We need a soup. And sometimes chili just sounds good. Plus it's one of the easiest dinners to make. Not that I made it. BUT I did do the grocery shopping and smell it in my kitchen all day long so that counts for something right??

Here's what we used to make our chili:


1lb beef
1lb venison (or more beef)
1 can of tomato sauce
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can of navy beans
Italian Seasoning
Salt and Pepper
BBQ sauce
Ketchup
Crushed red pepper
Jalepeno juice
4 garlic cloves
1 Cup beef broth
Creole - Cajun Spices

Wanna know the greatest part about making chili? You just throw it all in the crock pot and put it on low for 6-8 hours. You can use however much of each spice or sauce that you would like!  Easy. Done.




Hats off to the chef - husband! Now we can have lunch all week long! Phew.

Once we ate our chili and made our lunches we took our doggies to the park to get some energy out and to take advantage of the 80 degree fall weather! Who knows how long this will last.




Sunday, October 26, 2014

3 Cheers for Blogs!

Hurray for blogs! Hurray that I finally decided to start my own and keep it! That's the goal at least. I love blogs, all blogs, running blogs, foodie blogs, fashion blogs, teacher blogs, you name it and I'll probably enjoy reading it. I just think it's wonderful to read a blog from a fellow elementary teacher who tried something fabulous in her classroom and succeeded! Or following the training of a runner who is running their first half or full marathon. If you can run a half or a full marathon AND you blog about it, yea I do think you're cool and I will read about you via your blog of course.

Do you write a food blog?? Then why yes I have been to it, I have ogled and ooggled at all of your delicious recipes and have tried (key word TRIED) to cook them. Some successful, some definitely not. We are an eat at home most days type of family but I can tell you that my husband is the chef around these parts. You can give him a pantry full of nothing and he will make you something pretty incredible. Me? I'm learning. Everyday. I'm learning how to be an elementary teacher, a wife, a yoga teacher, and myself! I wear many hats, along with everyone else! Trying to find a balance between all of these different hats is a tricky, tricky process. Some days I feel like I am a superwoman getting it all done while other days I feel like I have fallen face first into a pile of mud - big fail.  Good thing there is always a new day to try again.

My goal for this blog is to chronicle my little family's life, our eats and our adventures, as well as my successes and flops as a teacher, wife, and chef in training.