Goal One: Organization

It's a new year and for most of us, that means new resolutions and a fresh start.

I'm not quite ready to sift through my thoughts in terms of resolutions, but I will share one:

Be more organized.

I struggle, at times, to stay organized.  I have the best intentions, but follow through can be tricky.  I'm working on it!

But, I've already made a few significant gains in this area!

First, I bought a {new calendar} and put all the crucial dates on it (math trainings, days off, our wedding, and so forth). 

More importantly, I showed B where it is (same place as last year) and asked him to write his extra commitments on it instead of just telling me.  I also made sure pens are nearby, so there's no excuse!

There were lots of cute options, but I went with the cheapest and smallest...still fun! I'm trying to be considerate of his feelings and not have polka dots on everything we own...

I think part of my struggle with calendars and planners is which option to go with.  It seems silly, but it's a debate in my mind each year if I want to organize my life from January to December or August to July.  I think I've finally settled on January through December for the house, and August to July for my school calendar.  I always tend to fall in love with new planners in January, but I'm not going to get a new one for half of a school year.

Teacher problems, people!

Also, I realized my gift wrapping containers were getting a little full, which brings me to my second area of organization: the guest bedroom.

See, I save gift bags and reuse them.  I stock up on gift bags and wrapping paper after the holidays when it's on sale.  I'm also not ashamed to snag cute bags when they're on sale, because I hate spending full price on wrapping supplies.

So, yesterday I bought this gem at Target (save $5 when you spend $25!)

...and used it to organize my gift wrapping supplies this morning.  The top drawer has gift labels (which I love finding cute options in the Dollar Spot), the middle is assorted tissue paper, and the bottom is for bags and gift boxes.  

The whole project took about ten minutes, but I feel so much better now!

Task three: the fridge

After returning from vacation, we threw away left overs and half-used jars (mostly sauces).  I looked up new crockpot recipes on pinterest, made a grocery list, and we went shopping.  We're trying to eat healthier and try new foods (more on those resolutions later), so this was the first step.

Our fridge is not packed full of food.  There is what we plan to eat for the next few days and lots of fresh fruits (bananas, pineapple) and veggies.  We stocked our freezer and pantry, but the fridge will be about half full.  We want to do a better job at making sure we eat what we buy.

I'll spend the next few days slowly putting Christmas and winter decorations away.  I'll tidy up the house as I go.  My desk at work is a little scary when I think about it, but that's a Monday morning problem!

I'm excited to start the year organized!  

What are some of your new years resolutions?

Revisiting Goals

As I {previously shared}, I thoroughly enjoy winter break.  It's a much needed time to decompress, reflect, and make a plan to move forward.

Let's see what was accomplished:

1) Had Christmas celebrations with both families.
2) Got the ice maker fixed, free of charge.  I had to use my teacher voice, but there's no reason an 18 month old major appliance should break.  I firmly reminded them of that.
3) We made it to and from Arizona, with all three pets, safely.

As for the rest of my goals:

1) Finish this season of Once Upon a Time on Netflix.  It's season...4?  I'm making steady progress.
I have two episodes left, so I'm counting this as done.
2) Grade these student essays (at Panera, because I'm not above bribing myself).  We use a rubric sheet and four students didn't turn in their rubric, so I'm not grading theirs until I return to work.  As an added bonus, all of our passwords for AD (active directory) expired over break, and you can only change your password from a district computer...so I can't input grades anyway.  That will contribute to a rather frazzled first Monday back, which was what I was aiming to avoid.

3) Spend time coloring.  Yes, I bought a Harry Potter coloring book. I'm going to snuggle up in blankets and color.  Not as much time as I'd like, but that's okay.  It's definitely a calming experience when the pets aren't trying to eat the colored pencils that I'm using.

4) Get to the bank.  I rolled up a bunch of change we had and should deposit it. Check.

5) Spend an entire day reading in my pajamas. Check.

6) Have my best friend meet Waffles. Check.  Poor Waffles was terrified by their family dogs, but warmed up...kind of...by the end.

7) Do a tiny bit of work to be prepared for the first day back.  It's a necessary task to avoid panic attacks.  Check...ish.  It's what I'm working on for the next few days.  I'll be alternating laundry, cleaning, taking down Christmas decor, and getting ahead on work.

8) See Star Wars, but when he's not on call. Check! We saw it with my mom and all went out to eat afterward. 


What are your goals for winter break? For once, I accomplished all of mine!

As for those December Goals...they're still a work in progress!

Happy Holidays

I'll be spending the next few days disconnecting from the internet and reconnecting with family and friends.  It's time to unplug for a bit and rest, so I can tackle next year fully charged.  

May your holiday season be filled with memories and time with loved ones.

 

Unplug

The holidays can be a rough time for many, myself included.  Balancing two families and their desires can be tricky, but luckily I'm blessed with understanding relatives (for the most part).  I decorated our house (because that makes me happy), but we didn't really have any friends or family over to enjoy it, so here's our happy holiday home:

At some point, we'll upgrade to a taller tree and make this one a kids tree.  However, this is very low on the priorities totem pole.  Perhaps I'll snag one if it's super on sale!

Chloe does love her sparkling lights! She was investigating before I could put on ornaments or get out the tree skirt.

 These are supposed to be ornaments, but I like them so much better clustered in a decorative bowl.

This decorating was intentional.  There's enough space on either side of the glittery candle for one of the cats to comfortably enjoy the safety of the ledge.

Yes, we have two trees.  We may have the same last name at this point next year, but that doesn't mean I have to take his team too!

The heart on the wall is a present from my mom from her Europe trip last summer.  She has a coordinating heart in her home. 

Not only are these pretty (and plastic, so they won't break), but they are a favorite of the cats.  Apparently they're great for rubbing one's face on...I'll take their meows for it!

I love decorating our table.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but there is subtle shimmer in both the table cloth and the napkins.  The ornaments, of course, are glittery.  The lantern is changed seasonally.

We've been blessed with lots of new friends this year.  I love that we'll need more clips to hang cards.  

(And yes, I've already started thinking about our card we'll send out next year.  This year I went with the handwritten option, but I think next year will be something along the lines of "Eat, Drink, and Be Married" and we'll show off our wedding pictures.)

Yes, I did the pinterest hack of putting a paper towel roll inside to take up space so the ornaments would go farther.  Works like a charm!

Close up of our tree with some of my favorite ornaments.  The chalk board ones were on clearance at Joann's for less than a dollar each, so I added the lettering myself.

One of several Christmas quilts from my mom.  Blankets and pillows are some of my favorite things, period.  (Added bonus? I snagged these pillows at Target last year for half-off.  I love sales!)

I packed our stockings for our road trip, but we display our stockings in front of the television.  This C one is for the cats (Chloe & Crookshanks) and I'm super disappointed Target doesn't make a red one with a W to match.  They've got 19/26 letters, W isn't one of them.  Get with it Target!

December has been tough.  Conferences were unexpectedly difficult. I've felt anxious and overwhelmed.  Temperature changes and lack of sunlight haven't been helping my mood.  I'm more tired than normal and have irregular sleep patterns.  From all my reading on depression and SAD (Seasonal Affected Disorder), I wouldn't be surprised if that's a large part of why I'm struggling. Our water heater broke and that was an unexpected financial burden.  I had issues with my bank and extra fees that is still being resolved.  Our ice maker stopped working and there were a lot of hurdles to jump through in order to get it fixed.  It's fixed, finally, but it took three days and putting my life in limbo to be home for repairs.  B's been at work and on call, which means a lot more alone time, which isn't always a blessing. I appreciate the sacrifices he's making to make sure we are financially set. 

We've been puppy sitting, so the cats are extra elusive.  I seek them out to give them love and attention, but that attracts the puppies.  Both pups want to sit on my lap at the same time, which is wonderful...except ours is a good fifty pounds heavier than the visiting pup.  Waffles has been extra excited and rambunctious because her friend is here, which is draining. I love her, but she's a little too lively this week.

We also lost a loved one this week.  My mom had to make the difficult, no, heart-breaking decision to put down her beloved dog to end her pain.  The loss of a loved one (because pets are family) makes everything harder.  I'm glad my brother is there and that we will be there tomorrow.  We're focusing on the years of happy memories we had with the food stealing scoundrel, but it's hard. My heart is aching.

I've been burning the candle at both ends for far too long.  I've been keeping things bottled up inside and that's not okay.  I'm struggling and I'm speaking up about it.  It's time to unplug.  It's time to practice some self-care and reconnect with family.  My soul needs some quality time with people, not with screens.  So, for the next week or so, that's what I'll be doing. 

I'm pausing work.  I'll look at lesson plans and prepping for next year on Sunday, Jan 3.  I'll be back with lots of new classroom ideas and finally publish some of the drafts I've been working on.  But until then, I'll be unplugged.

Wishing you and your family a joyous and happy holiday season! See you all (virtually) next year!

A Snicker of Magic

Winter Break seemed like the perfect time to tackle my next book for battle of the books:

At three hundred pages, it took about the entire day to read...which was totally fine by me!  It was a whimsical story (and debut novel for Natalie Lloyd).  The novel lends itself really well to conversations about onomatopoeia and imagery.  

You can snag the {teacher's guide} and {chronological order sort} at my TpT {store}.  

Up next?  

A book for fun!

Ssshhh!

What's better than starting a new calendar year with new teaching resources?

That's why I'm pleased to announce I'm having an end of the year sale!

For three days (12/30-01/01), my {entire store} will be 15% off to send 2015 of with a bang! 

Don't miss out!

Skypin' it up

We wanted to ease into the concept of mystery skype,

So we set up a skype chat with Ms. G, our former technology guru who has since moved on to a position at Ohio State University.

Our students had previously learned about the Midwest region with our {geography unit} and this was a fun review before we gave our {unit test}.  We prepped them with what is appropriate and what is not appropriate to say, then crammed eighty of them into one classroom.  (Okay, eighty is a bit of an exaggeration.  The actual number is closer to seventy three...but there were three teachers, it's okay!)

Before calling with the students, we did a test run...and boy am I glad!  We didn't have a working webcam, so we:

1) Tried with the iPads, but didn't have the password for the app store.  We could hear her, but she couldn't see us or hear us. She'd ask a question and we'd type a response.

2) Admin didn't have the password for the app store.

3) The person who did wasn't at our school that day, so Ms. G called him to have him email me the password.

4) Facetime didn't work.

After about an hour of problem solving (plus one iPad, one iPhone, one desk top, one Android, four adults, and two administrators...), we got it to work.  

The kids loved it!  She showed them various sites around OSU and we got to virtually meet her coworkers.  They asked thoughtful questions about the differences between Las Vegas and Ohio as well as which Disney princess is her favorite (obviously!)  The whole call took about twenty minutes.

Of course, I rocked a Michigan hoodie out of protest.

We appreciate you Ms. G!

Our next skype call will be to Ms. V after we learn about New York.  We've got a guest speaker for upstate NY (the neighboring kinder teacher), so Ms. V will be representing downstate New York!