Family Happenings

It’s 32 and sunny with a light dusting of snow on the ground that fell through the night.  My husband just left to run (literally) to the car dealership about a mile and a half away to pick up my van.  It’s fixed: again.  This time they are charging us, which really isn’t fair since there were NO problems with it before they took the engine out to replace something-or-other-engine related 2 weeks ago. Since then two things have gone wrong and needed fixed.  Whatever.  Phil respectfully argued the point with them and they blamed it on the age of the vehicle. Riiiiight.

Anyway.  He didn’t ask ME to drive him there in his car since we’re ALL about ‘fair’ in this family, and I had to get up at 6:45 on a Saturday morning to get Bekah and her friend to the high school to catch the bus to their ISSMA choir competition.  Also, last night after we tried out a new Mexican restaurant near our house, we needed to run to Old Navy to get a nice outfit for Bekah to wear to the competition since her standard uniform for life is jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt.  Phil had us drop him home first.  Meaning I had to take Alisha and Rebekah clothes shopping myself.  I say, share the pain.  However, he did not agree.  So…he is running this morning.  Not because I made him, because he just knows.

Wow…our family is exciting, no?  We also pulled off one of our normal family dinners by leaving not enough time for an actual sit-down restaurant meal when Marissa needed to be dropped off at church for a youth outreach.  They were going to Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago to hand out hats, gloves, blankets, and sandwiches to the homeless.  We ordered our food, then she and Phil inhaled it, then he left to take her to the church while the other girls and I finished our meal.  What was funny about the scenario this time (yes, this is not the first time this has happened) was that it’s a new restaurant, and as soon as they stood up to leave, the wait-staff noticing we still had a lot of food on our table, rushed over, “Is everything ok, sir?  Is there something wrong with your meals?”  They were quite concerned.  I had to laugh at them since they looked devastated.  We explained and then it was fine.

Update: Phil made it home.  He’s mad about the cost of the car repair, but he survived his frigid jog.

Back to the shopping.  Bekah chose a really cute outfit for her choir competition today.  I’d give you a link, but the skirt is not on the Old Navy site.  Which is weird since it was yesterday.  Alisha got a cute shirt, and I got a fleece top that goes with my fleece pj pants for $2.99. Score!  Old Navy stuff is too often trendy, and doesn’t hold up well, but it’s cheap and cheap is what I’m all about these days.

While I’m on the topic of money, we have an opportunity to live it up tonight!  All 3 girls are going to sleepover at one of the youth leaders homes.  But we will not be doing anything other than going to church and back home to catch up on dvr’d episodes (so, so sad that Chuck is over    See, with the dinner out last night, the shopping at Old Navy, the money Bekah needed for lunch at ISSMA today, the van repair, and the money needed to give the girls for dinner and a movie tonight, there is none left for us.  Opportunity or not, it’s all about the bottom line sometimes.  In full disclosure, I spent quite a lot of money this week myself on things I wanted and didn’t need.

Blame it on the coupons and the jeans!  I got the Ulta coupon for 20% off in the mail.  Not that one that excludes 90% of the products in the store, but the one good on almost everything.  I’ve developed a love for Benefit Cosmetics eye shadow and over the past 6 months or so when I get this great coupon, I’ve expanded my collection (for the super curious, I have get figgy, strut, and birthday suit.)  You remember this story about choosing my new eyeshadow color while blinded?  Yeah, that was spending spree #1.  I’ve also fallen in love, yes, love, with a brand of jeans.   When I, the one with a ridiculously horrible self-body image, and low self-esteem can look in the mirror and say, “Man, my butt looks good!”  you buy those jeans.  Cost is really not an issue at this point.  I’ll share my secret with you since a friend told me about them, and I’m all about sharing the love.  The brand is Hydraulic and I get mine at Macy’s (my favorites are the Lilly Slim Straight which aren’t even on their website.)  I’m not sure if they have them in skinny person sizes since I’m not skinny and mine come from the “women’s” section.  They start at 14w and go up.  And they are the bomb.  The bomb I tell you!  I bought two more pairs this week (on sale of course!) since now that I’ve found the unicorn of denim I’m so afraid they will be gone or discontinued or what have you.  This was spending spree #2.

Since I’ve got some awesome new jeans, I needed awesome boots to wear with said jeans.  This is a problem since my favorite tall, black boots have seen better days.  They’re Anne Klein, but they were hand-me-downs which I’ve been wearing for the past 6 years or so.  I’ve been looking to replace them and haven’t found anything I like.  I did find these which are nice and the same shape and style as mine, but mine have neat, white stitching on them, and I still like them better.  And for that price?  I’d better love the new ones!  I decided to try a shoe repair store.  One place told me to just get some new ones, that they were beyond hope.  Another store told me, “40 dollar. I mae lie new.”  A cute, little, older Asian man owns the shop.  He is now supposedly working miracles on my boots.  We shall see.  That was spending spree #3.  So, as you can see, the money has run through my fingers like sand at the seashore this week.  I’m curious…

What do you consider a “spending spree” or what is your weakness when it comes to shopping?

Past My Bedtime

It’s late.  When I decide to write when it’s late and I’m tired…? Well, let’s just say I can barely converse with my family when I’m tired.  Case in point: after running to the grocery store with the girls after school to get the needed ingredients so I could actually make a real dinner (as opposed to cereal and milk) we got home and realized the dog was out of food.  I called Phil at work to find out what kind of food we get for the dog, since that’s “his” job.  He told me we discussed it last evening.  I have no recollection of that discussion.  Nor of us speaking at all.  In my defense, yesterday was long.

I really just wanted to give you all a quick update.  My dad was released from the hospital today and both things they were concerned about (his heart and gall bladder) are fine.  They’ll continue to watch him and do some tests, but he’s home and resting.

I saw the eye guy today.  It was like yesterday…only way more intense.  If you’re at all squeamish about eye stuff, you might want to stop reading now.  My eyes had to be dilated again, and besides the normal tests you have done at the eye doctor, I got my corneas measured.  Wonder how they do that?  Oh, let me tell you!  They numb your eyes with drops (very weird feeling) and then take something that looks like a digital thermometer and place it right on your eyeball.  Yes, that’s right…ON your eyeball.  Then it beeps for a few seconds and they do the other eye.  I was extra special today since I got to have it done not once, but twice!  Special.  I guess the doctor wanted to make sure the readings were what he thought they were.  The outcome is that the weird pulsing in my eye has no real explanation.  He did say that there are some things he sees that could become a problem later in life (he mentioned glaucoma) and wants to see me again in 6 months.  All in all it wasn’t that bad.  The eye stuff, while annoying and slightly uncomfortable never hurts, so I’m cool with that.  The whole driving with dilated eyes thing again was the worst part.  Such is life when you’re the head of transportation in the family.

Wow…look at that. Past my bedtime and I managed to string some words together!  Rest well, my friends.

The Awesome

Today has been simply awesome.  And since sarcasm doesn’t translate very well into written word, I’ll just tell it to you plain…today was not AT ALL awesome.  Today was long and hard and I’m tired.  So much for keeping the Sunny Side positive, eh?  I’ll get to the positives by the end of this post, I promise.  But for now, let me walk you through my day.

My stomach was feeling a little off today and by the time recess rolled around I was literally laying on the floor in the play area praying a wild group of preschoolers would just run me over and put me out of my misery.  Alas, all that happened was much running and therefore time-outs because the running leads to bumping into others which leads to bloody noses and bumped heads.  You get the picture.  When the K teacher came for recess she informed me that one of her students was losing his breakfast all over her classroom this morning and another had a fever.  Great.  I’m hoping whatever germ has afflicted me is NOT the same stomach bug germ that’s going around.  The one clue that all is not right with me is that I only had one cup of coffee this morning.  My thermos and travel mug went completely untouched at work.  What a waste of precious caffeine!  I thought it best to not push things and stuck with tea and water.

After work all I wanted to do was go lay down, but I had an eye doctor appointment.  Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I’ve been having some eye weirdness going on and felt it prudent to get it checked out.  Long story short: I have to see the next level of eye doctor (an opthamologist) and ended up with crazy dilated eyes for hours.  Four and a half hours later and I’m still seeing things fuzzy.  Also, if I get an “extremely bad headache” I’m to go to the ER because that would be considered and emergency.  Ok then.  Not sure what’s up with my eye, but I’m not worried.  I’ll keep you posted though.  Here comes the positive spin…get ready for it…

What can you possibly do when your eyes are dilated and it happens to be a sunny day in NWI?  Well, continue with your errands of course!  I went to the teacher supply store where a nice young man had to read the labels on packages for me, and to Ulta where I trust the blurry, young lady grabbed the correct shade of eyeshadow for me since you know, I couldn’t SEE.  And here’s the best part: I still had to pick the kids up from school (navigating the school pick up line is tough with 20/20 eyesight on a cloudy day!)  and get us all to the dentist for our annual cleanings.  Oh yeah…the fun never stops.  As I was sitting in the dentist’ chair thinking (still with my sunglasses on) about what a crappy day it was and, “Dear Lord, please don’t let my gag reflex kick in…my stomach it’s still not feeling so hot.”  I realized that this was actually not a bad place to be!  I sat there letting my eyes rest for 35 minutes.  I didn’t have to think, just open, close, and swish when told.  See, the positive.  Between the four of us, there are 6 cavities. Not sure how to put a positive spin on that.

Here’s some more positives for you.  I made it.  The kids ate (thanks Chik fil a) and we got home safely.  I am typing this from the comfort of my bed and in my fleece pjs.  God is good!  I did not toss my cookies at the dentist or anywhere else, and while I feel like someone has sucked all the energy out of my body, my fingers and brain are still working just fine.  I’m looking forward to a trip to the kitchen for some tea and toast as soon as I get some energy back.

As a side note, my dad called last night and is in the hospital with chest pain.  Prayers would be greatly appreciated.  I’m going to keep fighting to see the positive in things, even if it takes me typing a million words to do it!

To go out on an even better note, I remember this clip from Brian Regan. Hilarious!

 

Millions of Words

Apparently yesterday’s writing and posting of a new blog post after so many months of not opened a veritable floodgate of words that have been stored in my head.  I’m having trouble pinning them down into groups that make sense.  Speaking of pinning and groups, have you been on Pinterest yet?  If you tend to be at all obsessive as I am, I would avoid it. I knew what it was, and for months I avoided it, then while on vacation visiting a friend in Philadelphia I caved.  Now it’s my new favorite time sucker and mind numbing waste of time.  You can see my boards here if you so desire.  In defense of Pinterest, I have gotten quite a few ideas that I’ve used in my classroom.  And many more that are pipe dreams.

During my hiatus from writing I didn’t exactly use all my time wisely.  I think the distance from social media helped me to be more mentally in the moment when I was with my family or friends, but in my down time I was as foolish as ever.  Besides Pinterest I got hooked on the show “In Plain Sight” on Netflix.  It’s just so easy to watch episode after episode!  I’m sad to say that the character Mary Shannon is as sarcastic as I am.  The stuff she says (minus the bad words and taking of the Lord’s name in vain) is what I think a lot of the time.  So, so sad.  By nature I’m cynical, untrusting, and sarcasm is a love language to me.  Thank God He’s working on that nature!  In hindsight I probably shouldn’t like that show as much as I do, but hey…if nothing else I can learn how not to be.

Which brings me to something I also wanted to write about…the point of this here blog.  Because of my glass-half-empty, Eeyore personality, I have to daily fight to see the positive.  As a child of God and Christ follower one would think it would come easier to me.  Not really.  The fact that I can see the positive at all is a testament to God’s goodness to me.  That’s why I named this blog the Sunny Side.  Also because I’m an old soul (older than my years on earth anyway) and I love the song.  I’ve thought a lot about this perceived character flaw of mine.  I’ve been dealing with chronic depression for pretty much my whole life, and while I don’t think I’ve let it define me, I do think it affects everything.  Recently while reading 2 Corinthians 12 about Paul’s thorn, I think I better understand some things about myself.  Verses 7-10 in the ESV version (which seems to be the popular version to use these days) says,

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,^[a] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I see my character flaw as a weakness and used to see it as a “bad” thing I needed to get rid of in order to live life to the fullest.  Recently I’ve come to the understanding that it is indeed a weakness, but not necessarily a bad thing.  If God’s glory can best be shown through me as I rely on Him to daily help me live  with chronic depression and a negative attitude, well then, I’ll take it.   That’s my goal. To bring Him glory.  I fail at this often, and have learned the power of apology (given and received.)

These are just a handful of the millions of words floating around my brain today.  I hope they make some sort of sense, and most of all point to the One that it’s all about.

The Silence

For a few months now I’ve been in a very weird place.  Usually I’m a pretty social person and I think some switch flipped when we started going to our new church over a year ago.  I realized something about relationships: they develop over something shared.  Be it space, a job, a church, a class, etc.  Typically it’s a physical place.

With the craze of social networks, new kinds of relationships started to form.  Those people I call “friends” despite the fact that I’ve never met them face to face, or even have spoken to them audibly.  The weird happened when I realized that the scales had tipped and I had more online friends (in people I’d never met) than I did friends in real life.  Now when I use the word friend, it’s with this definition in mind: acquaintance someone we know very little.  Although, I will say with everyone sharing so much about themselves on fb these days, it is possible to feel that someone is a good friend (someone we know quite well.)  When I had this realization, without really thinking it through, I started pulling back from all things social network related.  I stopped blogging.  I would read fb updates to keep up on family happenings and such, but didn’t really post many updates myself.  And twitter…I pretty much stopped that all together.

It wasn’t so much a stand I was taking, or even something I felt I needed to share with others via those sites.  It’s just what I needed to do.  What I found was a profound silence.  It stresses me out at times to know about all the happenings.  I feel guilty when I forget to pray for or can’t help with all the causes and stories that you hear.  20 years ago, you knew what you knew about needs and crisis and world happenings via the news or simply word of mouth from friends, and it was manageable.  With today’s internet and information overload I just couldn’t handle it.  I feel for everyone who’s lost a loved one and every diagnosis of cancer and every orphan in Africa, but the fact is I can do very little to help those situations.  I can send up a quick “arrow” prayer (one of those , “Lord…intervene in this situation…amen.”) or I can send a little money their way, but the reality is my brain can only hold so much information and I don’t have tons of extra money.  My heart can only hold so much hurt for others.  And I was overloaded.

Thus my self-imposed sabbatical from blogging.  All the posts I mentally wrote during that time were either complete downers or laced with sarcasm and much venting about stuff.  Not what I want the Sunny Side to be about.  Not what I want ME to be about!

What I heard God speaking to me about in the vacuum that was created from all that silence was that the areas I CAN do something about are the ones He’s placed right in front of me.  In my world that translates to my family, my job (the students and families I am around), my church family, my neighbors, you know…the  people I see.  The people I can look in the eyes.  The friends I’ve made online are important to me, and I think about them often.  There’s Evan in Florida.  I really hope to take the family to Disney again someday and be able to meet this awesome, young man and his family in person.  There’s Shellie in California who I count as a dear friend who I’ve also never met in person, but I have spoken to on the phone a few times.  There’s Sarah in Hawaii, and Kelly and Mike in Utah who I did get to meet on the Music Boat, but first met as online friends with a music connection.  There’s Robbie, who sent the first Christmas card I received two years in a row (way to be on it, Robbie!) who I’ve also never met.  These are people I count among the “good friend” category, and my time away from the internet has left me missing them greatly.

This past week I felt that familiar tug to write again.  To get my words out here (and I have many!)  Again, it was like someone flipped a switch and I just knew the silence was over.  I’ve learned what I needed to learn from this time.  I need to move ahead and try to find a balance between my online world and my real world friendships.  I need both!  Chances are I will be tipping the  scales one way or another every day, but I’m pretty sure that’s just life.

I’m curious…how do you balance things?  It’s something I’ve always struggled with, how to balance life.

 

I Miss Blogging

It’s been over a month since my last post.  <<sigh>>  The reasons (excuses) are totally legit.  I really miss it though, and this past week I think I’ve written 8 or 9 different posts in my head.  Sadly ten minutes after I mentally hit “publish”, they disappeared into the abyss known as my brain.  I’m sure they’re in there somewhere.  I’d need some sort of GPS to find them though.

The biggest factor in my being MIA from not only my blog, but the internet in general, is that I was focusing on my “real” life more than my online one.  For those of you who know me in “real” life and keep up with me on facebook, twitter, or this blog, I think you can attest to the fact that I’m pretty much the same.  Although I do know I tend to be able to express myself more clearly in print than in a face to face with someone.  (For all I know you could be sitting reading this and going…huh, I don’t get what you’re saying…which is sometimes how I feel conversations go in real life.)

My husband and I recently took a parenting teenagers class at our church.  It was pretty much amazing and we both learned tons of helpful things.  One week’s lesson was about social media.  Not only was it eye-opening in respect to how we raise our kids, it was especially eye-opening to how I approach all thing internet related.  I’ve had the pleasure of making some really good online friends over the past few years.  These are people that I keep in touch with regularly (through social media or texts), yet have never met face to face.  They are legitimate friends, but they aren’t here.  They aren’t the people I can call in an emotionally low moment and say, “Please go get a coffee with me!  I’m about to lose it (at home, work, whatever.)”  Doesn’t mean I love them less, it just means the miles between us put restrictions on our friendship.

One of the most glaring things I took away from that class was that I spent a LOT of time focusing on my online relationships, and the real life ones I had were either non-existent anymore, or on life support.  When we made the move from our home church of 18 years, to the one we currently attend (and have for a little over a year now) we “lost” a lot of real life friends.  Some because we chose to leave, some just because our paths no longer cross…unless we are very intentional about it, and it was hard.  Still is.

Bottom line is for the past 2 months or so, I’ve really felt like I need to be here.  Fully engaged in my “real” life.  It’s been hard.  It’s been messy.  It meant I have to put myself out there to make new friends at our new church, and that is scary.  And hard.  And time consuming.  But I love it!  I’ve met some awesome people.  Will they all be my new bff…hardly.  Through all of this I can say the thing I have gained most is insight into myself, my motives, and what my passions are, and what they should be.

It’s been a learing experience for sure, and so often I’ve wished I could fit time to write into the the equation. I’d love to share the things I’ve learned with you guys!  I get the feeling as we’re settling into fall (with what is predicted to be a horrific winter on the horizon), those long, cold winter days will give me the chance to play catch up.  For now, I leave you with a hearty, “I missed you so much!!”  Now, I need to shower and get ready to go.  The fam and I are going to the apple orchard (no i’s in sight…and I might even leave my iphone in the car) to hang out with some friends and their kids. Have a happy weekend!

Summer’s Over

Wow. It’s been over a month since I’ve even looked at this here corner of the internet! In my defense, I’ve been a bit busy.  To be perfectly honest though, I’ve enjoyed the time away.  Sometimes I find it overwhelming to be so “connected”.  Twitter, facebook, blogs…it can be tiring.  It seems that once people know what you’re doing every hour of the day, they expect to keep on knowing…like forever.  It was wearing me out.  Besides, I started getting really annoyed with the triviality of what I was saying.  Not that I don’t feel every word out of my mouth should hold great weight and meaning (I’m pretty sure there’s a verse that actually says that’s the case…but who really lives like that?!? Only the super-Christians

So, you might be wondering what’s kept me so busy during our time apart.  Mostly school/work.  This summer the girls and myself took a trip east to visit family, and it butted smack up against me having to be back to work readying my classroom.  As in a 15 hour drive on a Tuesday and back to work the next morning. Needless to say that took a me a few days of extra sleep to recover from.  Prepping my classroom for a new school year is always expensive (give me a theme and I run with it- pics to come soon…promise!) and time consuming.  This year is very different from last year in that I’m no longer flying solo.  Last year I was the only grade in the school.  This year not only do we have Kindergarten back in play, but also a second PreK class!   I’ve been investing a lot of time and energy in being with my fellow teachers (who are also good friends) and loving that.

As much as I enjoy and value the internet friends I’ve made over the years, nothing beats real life.  I’ve definitely been focusing on that more, and have seen the payoffs in huge ways!   Our family is getting along better, my stress level has gone way down, and I’m generally a happier person.  All this to say I’m not going to go completely dark and off the grid, but I have learned where to place my priorities.  About a month ago, this sermon got me to thinking about my use of technology also.  We really love our new church family, and are trying to get involved in things there.  The girls have been going to the youth group there, I’m serving in the nursery once a month, and Phil and I are taking a really, really good class on parenting teens.  Our church is also hosting a 5k in the fall, that I’ve decided I want to run in.  As with most things in my life, I’ve not been extremely consistent in my training, but I have surprised myself by my ability to consistenly run 2.7 miles in 30 min.  The other thing I’ve really been focusing on is my identity.  Where I find my value.  What I believe about myself, and correcting my wrong thoughts in those areas.  Deep stuff.

Like I said, things are good.  Life is going swimmingly at the moment.  How are things with you?

Spotted

In exactly 26 days I will welcome a whole new group of 4-year-olds into my Pre-Kindergarten program.  In exactly 16 days I will be back to work preparing my classroom and writing lesson plans.  Which means I have a little over 2 weeks to enjoy these last, long days of freedom from schedules, doing my hair and make-up every day (something that is tiresome to me), and working on my tan.

During my summer vacation I refuse to even wear my watch.  I try that hard to not schedule my days.  Really, the kids are the only ones with things to do and places to go, and I’m ok with that.  I’d be happier if they liked to stay home as much as I do, but they don’t. I clearly remember those days of being a teenager in the summer and wanting to be out and about!  In order to be ready for school to start, I need to be working on stuff now, but trying to get my head in the game is really, really hard when the sun is shining and the pool is calling.

It’s easier for me to get excited about planning if I’m excited about my classroom theme.  In years past, I’ve done my classroom in various themes: Winnie-the-Pooh, monkeys, dogs, camping, outer space and owls.  I should probably start recycling themes as I tend to go a little overboard and by the end of the year end up with a full rubbermade tote of items.  But I get bored easily and using a theme I’ve already done is…well, boring.  This year I’ve decided to go with the theme of ladybugs!  There’s a lot of cute things I’ve already found.  I am kind of worried about the whole gender thing.  Are the boys going to be insulted?  I thought of calling them “ladies and gentle-bugs”  since I usually refer to my students as “ladies and gentlemen.” ( I say, speak it till you see it!)

I’ve spent hours online looking up ladybug stuff and, in my opinion, used great restraint when it’s come to purchasing some really cool things!  I did get one of these (I found it at the candy factory of all places!), and the dollar store has been a great source for cheap red stuff I can add black spots to.  The theme idea is something I actually stole borrowed from my SIL.  She and my brother did their brand, new baby girl’s nursery (my 1st niece!) in Ladybug stuff and in doing my classroom the same theme, I can think of her often even though I will miss her growing up (they live 12 long hours away.)  So, in a way this room is dedicated to this Little Ladybug, Allista Evelyn.  On a side note, I will get to meet her very soon!  We’re going to Philly to visit before school starts. I. Can’t. Wait.

Back to my classroom…you guys have often been a great source of ideas! Especially Kelly who has tons of fun ideas.   So far I have: “Ladybug Library: Buggy For Books”, “Busy Bugs” (for my job helpers), and “Birthday Bugs”.  I’m kind of stuck on what to do for my behavior board this year (or if I even want to have one.)  Each class as a whole is different, and last year’s group was the only group I’ve had in 8 years of teaching this curriculum that the green, yellow, red behavior board did not work. At all!  I was thinking of: B.U.G. (Being Unbelievably Good), or “Great Behavior Spotted” and having a green ladybug, a yellow, and a red, with the goal being to keep their “spot” on the green bug.  As for whole class behavior, I’ve always done a jar of some sort.  Last year I did “rock on with good behavior” and when they filled the jar with rocks, they got to choose a prize from the treasure chest.  I have two thoughts for this year: they start each day with a snack baggie with 5 ladybug “spots” (pom-poms) in their desk, and can add them to the jar as good behavior warrants, or I can hand out “bug bucks” for good behavior that weekly they can choose to turn in for prizes.  Both systems require work, I’m just not sure which one I want to use.

The other thing I have to decide on is show and tell.  It’s such a pain!  The kids love it though, and it’s really an educationally sound practice (the kids learn how to address a group, learn language skills as they describe what they brought to share, etc.)  However, when you have 15 kids in your class and you give them each 3 minutes, you do the math.  It’s longer than most of them can sit still!  I talked to a teacher recently who had one child do show and tell each day in a rotation.  I’m not sure I really like that idea though, and might just stick with the time-sucking old way.  Sigh.  Too many choices.

I could use your brain cells! Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions on all things ladybug?

Summer Projects

 Along with the rest of the nation, I’m thanking God for air conditioning, iced coffee, and swimming pools. This heat wave is ridiculous, but I’d take heat like this over cold, negative winter temps any day! I’m a summer type of girl.  Which explains another reason why I love my job so much…summers off!  I’ve probably got the best tan I’ve had since the days when I was a teenager and had nothing better to do than lay by my grandparent’s pool listening to a Depeche Mode tape on my boom box.  Actually, things are not all that different.  I watched Marissa float around the pool while listening to her itunes on the fancy, shmancy speaker thingy my husband got for us music freaks.  The only real difference is you know, I’m a grown up and I have stuff that has to get done (and we listen to happier tunes.) (Depeche Mode = Depress Mode…what was I thinking?!?)

This summer I had a mental list of projects I wanted to accomplish.  I say “mental” because I’m so commitment phobic that to actually write it down would mean it was real and thus if I didn’t accomplish the stuff on said list I would be a complete failure.  I have mentioned a few times that I’m a great candidate for therapy, right?  Well, I am.  And I would totally go if it weren’t so darned expensive.  Because besides being slightly OCD, and well, mental, I’m cheap frugal.  I can hear my husband scoffing at that sentence, but I AM.

In my frugality, I have certain methods to shopping.  IKEA is one of my favorite stores, and when shopping there, you definitely need to have a plan of attack.  We always start in the as-is area.  We’ve gotten some great stuff discounted simply because it was a floor model, or has a slight flaw, or whatever.  Like we’re not going to scratch stuff up anyway? Ha! We live in our home.  The last time we took a trip to IKEA they had some kids chairs in the as-is area.  The only problem with them is they were scuffed up a bit and missing their cushions.  My teacher brain immediately saw these chairs in my library center!  I scored those babies for $10 each.  Oh yeah!  I figured, how hard could it be to sew some cushions?  Turns out not that hard.  However, when it was all said and done, I only saved about $12 from purchasing the chairs brand new.  Although, then I would have had to put the frames together.  I’ll let you decide, but I think my fun fabric is way cuter than their beige cushion, and so I’m very proud of little ol’ me!  Next up…finishing the curtains for Bekah’s basement room, then I’ll finally reveal the summer-long project before and after pics.  I know, you can’t wait!

What projects have you been recently working on?  (if you look at my pics closely, you can see what theme I decided on for my classroom this year…more to come on that soon

The finished product!

 

 

 

 

 

Making Friends at VBS

It’s that time of the year again.  VBS (vacation Bible school) is going on at churches all over the area.  We’ve been going to a new church for about a year now, and I felt ready to get involved, so I signed up to help with VBS.  I figured it would be a good way to make friends, right?  I mean, the kids who go to VBS come away with tons of new “bff’s”  I however forgot that as an adult it’s just not that easy. Oh, to be a kid again!  So here are 5 things I learned this week about making friends at VBS (the grown-up way.)

1. Not the VBS of My Youth- Being in a church of 3,000-some people, even after a year of attending, I still feel like the “new kid”.  That means that when you sign up to help with an event like VBS they put you where they need help, not based upon your skills.  I was assigned kitchen duty (aka “snacks”.)  When I think of snacks from my VBS days, all I remember is playing outside and then coming in and magically there were animal crackers on a napkin and a carton of sugar, water, and yellow & red dye (orange ‘drink’…not to be confused with actual juice) at the tables. If it was an affluent church, you even got a straw to drink with and didn’t have to drink straight from the carton thus swallowing pieces of disintegrating paper. The church I attend is no slouch in the snacking department!  This year we served apples and caramel sauce (we cut up the apples), trail mix (the alternative gluten-free, nut-free, taste-free snacks were super-fun to keep track of), root bear floats (no comment), and pizza (hallelujah…they were delivery!)  Serving snack to some 400 kids and 200 workers was stressful, but at the same time, fun.
2. The New Kid- The good thing about being assigned to work in the kitchen was that I was sure to be working with a lot of ladies with whom I hoped to make a friend or two.  Being the new kid is hard though. Many of them knew each other already, and the hierarchy was clearly in place.  It took the first two days of making suggestions to solve problems and being looked at like “and you are??” before I felt like I was working my way up the rungs of the service ladder.  We attended our previous church for 18 years. Everyone knew everything about me! This new group, they knew nothing.  I felt the need to prove that I did indeed have something to offer the snack team.  I’m happy to say by the end of the week, I no longer felt like an outsider, but a valuable part of the team!
3. People, They Are Different- Being a little kid at VBS, you would sit next to another child you didn’t know and strike up a conversation something like this, “Hi, my name is Lisa. I like rainbows and ponies and the everything purple,” and instantly you were best friends, because THEY liked the same things!  As an adult, things are not so simple.  In trying to be sociable and make friends this past week, I inadvertently brought up numerous hot topics that ended up being quite controversial. Which leads me to point number 4…
4. Subjects Best Avoided- The big 3 to avoid in most situations are politics (I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader), sports (um…it was a bunch of women), and religion (duh it was a church event), so these were not really an issue.  No, the big 3 when you are in a bunch of women (especially church women) are #1- food and diet, #2- homeschooling vs. other schooling , and #3- who’s in charge.  It’s kind of hard to avoid talking about food when that’s what you’re doing!  We were the snack people for goodness sakes. It was not my brightest idea to start counting calories again this week.  As the ladies were snacking on m&m’s, I looked on “my fitness pal” app to see how many I could eat.  I mentioned how many were in a serving, only to be told “it’s not about calories, it’s about what you put in your body!”,  “you really should eat organic”, and numerous other pieces of advice. Oy…I didn’t mean to open that can of worms! These ladies were sweet as could be, and I honestly think they just felt they were giving me knowledge to better myself, but that’s not how I roll.  You come at me with unsolicited advice and I tend to shut down. Same with the schooling thing…and I’m the worst. I send my kids to…gasp…public school. And not only that, we live in the second worst district in this area.  As for #3, well, the saying ”too many cooks in the kitchen” is never more applicable than when you have 12 ladies in a church kitchen.  Suffice it to say that we learned a lot about humility and being gracious and merciful this week.
5.   The True Definition of a Friend- Recently one of the pastors spoke on the Art of Christian Friendship. It was a great message, and I one I need to listen to again.  I would take it one step further and say that true friendship can only come about when God is at the center of the equation.  I wasn’t wrong to think I could make some new friends this week, but it’s not something you can expect to happen just because.  I made a lot of acquaintances this week.  One’s I hope could mature into true friendship, but the fact is that it’s just not as easy as saying, “Hi, my name is Lisa and we have x,y, and z in common. Be my friend.”  For a long time now I’ve been praying that God would hook me up with a friend, a true friend.  The kind that you can “do” life with.  Someone who knows all about you and still loves you anyway.  Someone who loves you enough to hold you accountable to the things you’re working through in your life.  And someone you can do the same for.  I do believe that certain things need to be in play, like you live in the same area, attend the same church, those kind of things.  I have yet to speak to people who are friends like that saying they met on friendharmony.com.

I’m curious…do you have a true friend?  How did the relationship come about?