Catching a Break...

So I have a fear. If you recall awhile back this past Winter (Jan? maybe) when I was still fairly new to Houston, I was on my way home from work on the beltway and my car started acting up... then on the exit ramp it started to get worse and then complete silence... my car died on me. Here I am on a major road, cars honking at me, and no real idea of where I was still. I only knew how to get home from work and to work, street names were still a mystery. That was the scariest moment I have had in Houston. I had no idea what to do, so I cried. A stranger helped push my car into a construction lot, and I called my husband and gave him the wrong directions to where I was which he thankfully figured out. I was so scared about what happened that a police officer stayed with me until my husband showed up. Terrifying. Would I be that scared if it happened at back home? Heck no! My Cougar went through a phase of dying on me shortly before it kicked the bucket and it didn't scare me at all because I knew I had family and friends near by to help me and would be there within a moments notice... but in Houston? Heck no and if it happens again you can bet I'll probably cry again if I'm on another major road during rush hour.

So right before Christmas my car started to give me little hints again that it wasn't well. She was taking a lot longer to start up when I'd crank the engine and sometimes she seemed to be a little rough. So I only drove her when needed... to and from work... the fastest and shortest way home. Yesterday I jumped into my car, put the key in, and very nervously decided that maybe I shouldn't drive her that day. I called hubby up and told him that we needed to take her in before I start back at work on Monday and that hopefully it wont be expensive.

This morning we took her in, posted a Facebook status asking for mini-car prayers and while he went to work, I quickly googled all of the possible outcomes. Alternator maybe.. but not a strong contender... spark plugs... fuel pump... battery? PLEASE let it be the Battery... please please please. A few minutes later I heard the familiar PING of the Gmail chat indicator and my husband gave me the good news... I needed a new battery. Thank Goodness!

A battery and we treated my baby to new spark plugs since it was time anyways and she has been such a trooper.

Today we were blessed with just a minor car repair, and finding out our closing date. We'll close on our house on the 12th of January. I couldn't be any more excited then I was today.

... Okay well I could be but I won't be greedy ;)

Possibly Jumping Ship?

It is no secret that I started applying to various jobs around the area. Why? Because I'm having more blah days than I'm having good days. I love my kids but there is definitely some things lacking at my job that I really see as valuable as a first year teacher. I'm still optimistic that those things will change, but honestly I'm not sure. That, along with the politics that come with the school, and the completely misleading information that was given before I started work. So yes... I'm casually hunting for next year.

In other news I had an important doctors appointment last week that I'm still waiting for the results on... nothing like pregnancy or anything, but it is nerve wracking when you have to wait two weeks for results.

No update on the home front... I'm still waiting for any kind of news. The holidays has definitely stretched the process out some. However we are hoping for a closing date of late January so this could be a good thing. In the meantime I am researching refrigerators, washers, and dryers.

My New Years Goal

My goal this year is to be more organized. When my life is unorganized then I feel unorganized and out of control. So here is the first of my weekly planning entries for my blog.

Weekly Meals:

Pasta W/ Green Beans and Feta

Shepherds Pie

Bacon Pizza

Broccoli, Rice, and Beans

Cheese Potato Corn Cakes

Weekly Goals

Monday: Grocery shop, and catch up on laundry.

Tuesday: Work on first weeks lesson plans.

Wednesday: Work on special lesson plan.

Thursday: Check up on the house progress.

Friday: Prepare for a date night out for New Years :)

The House

So we didn't go into this looking for a house to buy... in fact we went just into looking to rent. However then we realized it is going to take us a lot more money to rentthan it would to buy because the amount needed each month renting wise was several hundred dollars more. So we thought about our options and looked into some information and decided to go ahead and buy our first starter home.

It was a simpler process than I thought, though it required a ton of paperwork. We negotiated a pretty good deal, and we are currently waiting for our official closing date. This week they are installing a brand new 25 year warranted roof upon the house courtesy of the sellers.

To Do List:

• switch out the carpet downstairs for hardwood floors.
• paint the living room
• Change the stairs carpet out for wood
• change out the banister and balcony banister
• change out handrails on the stairs
• totally redo the bathrooms
• Change the front of the fireplace (maybe)
• add flowers to the front along with cutting back other plants

2010 Review

January:

• Operation Get Fit started and failed.

February:

• I caught my first bug as a teacher and man what a doozy... it was strep and I caught it twice in a row. This was the start of building my teacher immunity.

March:

• I became ESL certified!
• Went to my first movie screening. (Hot Tub Time Machine)

April:

• I turned 25!!!
• I applied for my next (now current) job

May:

• I was hired for the job mentioned above in April!
• I learned a valuable lesson and that is to ask for a doctors advice before my husbands. This is also known as the day I went into shock while donating blood for the first time.
• Best of all, we celebrated one official year of being married.
• First trip to Washington DC

June:

• Stayed with my grandmother for a few weeks to help take care of her after her car wreck.
• Alex's Birthday!!

July:

• Nothing major, just spent the summer by the pool waiting for school to start up.

August:

• I started my job and two weeks later my own classroom was completed construction wise and I moved in.
• Chris turned 27!
• Diagnosed with PMDD and started a new BC pill that conviently solved all issues related to it within two months.

September:

• Celebrated our 7 year dating anniversary.

October:

• Mom and Dad's birthdays!!
• I went paintballing for the first time... it is now December and one bruise very faintly remains

November:

• Thankgiving!!
• Nothing major this month other than the holidays and getting to hang out with family.

December:

• We made our second largest purchase ever... Last December we bought a car and this December we bought.... a house!

2011 will be... A year of renovations

• ripping out the carpet to put in hardwood floors.
• severely updating the bathroom.
• installing new garage doors
• painting
• and installing a sprinkler system.

I can't wait to see what the new year will bring us!

Big Life Moment....?

Tomorrow is the day....we'll meet with the seller and realtor.... will we buy this house or not? We keep going back and forth so we'll see.

It definitely has potential... and will be a great starter house that we can upgrade :)

New Week

So this week is the first week of trying the meal plans from www.emealz.com. I'm slightly nervous, and I'm pretty sure my husband thinks that it won't happen but hey... we'll see. I'm also missing some of the components for the meals such as a food processor... but hey.. I'll make it work. I'm determined to become a better wife, a less lazy wife, and show that hey.. I'll be an awesome mom not only educationally but in terms of basic needs too!

Last week we had a pajama day at school, as soon as I get a copy I'll post the picture of my assistant and I. We had a bit of questioning going on about why we were doing this that came from the "admins" but I think it all ended up okay. I'll admit I didn't exactly ask for permission to do this, but they haven't told me no about anything that I've wanted to do with the kids so far and they say it is better to ask for forgiveness. However I do think this will come up as a general new rule at the next staff meeting, something like "Ask permission before you have a celebration day to make sure it is okay..." or something. Anyways the owner totally seemed to stand up for us so I don't think its a big deal with her, but that could be because of some drama that I had to deal with at the start of the week and didn't get the needed support for.. maybe? Anyways it ended up up going from the worst week due to a student hurting others intentionally into an amazing week due to how excited and engaged the kids were. I felt things turn around in my mind, and in the classroom. Will that same feeling stick around this week? I hope so. I just need to make it to August when we'll have an actual curriculum and I'll have more direction. This is a building year so it is meant to be tough and I just have to remember that. Time is passing by so quickly that I'm not too worried.

New Series: Becoming a better wife.

Becoming a Housewife

Sooo.... I'm not the best cook... or cleaner... or just in general domesticated wife. I get things done, but they may not be to the best that I honestly could do. However I'm now officially working on that.

The first step... making laundry more efficient. We've changed out laundry detergent and decided to try out a Bounce Dryer Bar. Why? Dryer sheets drive me nuts... the waste of the sheet, it gets tangled up in the clothing, and its just a pest so I never managed to throw them in despite loving the smell of dryer sheets.

So we saw a starter set that came with a refill for $7.99 at Randalls. They can be found cheaper online and there are plenty of coupons out there to lower the cost, but really $7.99 for four months is a pretty great deal. At the moment I'm a week into using it and I haven't had any complaints. It leaves my clothes smelling great, takes the static out, and hasn't left a single mark on our clothing. Honestly I love it.

Step Two: I need to... cook? So I generally get home a good two-three hours before my husband. He comes home, works out, and then cooks the dinner. Now before you think I'm horrible, this started because he is picky. One evening I was fixing tacos and placed the meat on a paper plate with a paper towel to help remove some of the grease and my husband saw that... cue dramatic music... it was DIFFERENT than how he made it and even though it tasted the same. So needless to say he took over the cooking. Okay so he wasn't really dramatic, just mind numbingly picky. In short my husband is vegetarian who eats chicken nuggets, hot dogs, hamburgers, ground beef, meat lovers pizza, but very little vegetables. Does it make sense? No. In short, I just call him a vegetarian because it is easier to just leave it at that. Though I'm sure some people must think I'm a liar after they see him eat a huge hamburger. Needless to say we've had the same 5 meals EVERY WEEK... Tacos, oriental spaghetti, oriental salad, ravioli, and a pizza. Well I'm done and tired of them due to over exposure so I've taken charge. I have now signed up at www.emealz.com. It is a site that gives you a weekly shopping list and recipes. The biggest selling point happened to be that when I read the sample vegetarian menu my husband actually thought the meals sounded good. So for a low $15 every three months we're going to try this program out. We'll see how it goes, at the moment I'm pretty optimistic.

So I haven't been writing in here AS MUCH lately. Mostly because there has been nothing new going on lately until Thanksgiving hit.

I spent a couple of days up at my parents house with Chris. We had fun, it was really relaxing to get away and be with my family again. I think it was hands down the best Thanksgiving ever, and I know without a doubt that Chris had fun. He is moms new contractor for her model dollhouse. So far he has worked on the electricity getting it all squared away on the first floor. This Christmas he'll work on the second flood to make the electricity works on that floor. I love that they have a project together :)

Three weeks and then we'll be up there again, I can't wait.

Today was a successful day. Chris and I went out and shopped finally for some much needed clothing. I finally found a pair of skinny jeans that are long enough thanks to Levi's even though I had to go up a size to fit into them :( I'm a 6 regularly, but I had to go to a 7 to fit comfortably in these and adding in some shrinking room since my Levi's always manage to shrink. They are not as fitted at most skinny jeans but again I figure they'll shrink just a bit.

Anyway back to happiness... I also picked up some Clinique makeup again so that my makeup matches my skin tone again... totally worth it. Last but not least I picked up a pretty sweater dress that I wanted and a few other shirt dresses that I'm not too sure that I love yet, but I like them. It is different than what I normally wear so we'll see.

I have two days of work this week so I'm pretty excited about that and of course Thanksgiving and seeing my family again.

Things are going pretty well here. I'm slightly not sure about teaching pre-k next year if Kinder doesn't make the enrollment again, but we'll see how many people have enrolled by the time spring comes around. We've also decided to put off the whole kid thing until we've been in a house for a year so that we can make sure the house is settled first and to make sure I'm secure in my job first. It would be pretty bad to job hunt while already pregnant because nobody wants to hire someone that will be leaving in 9 months for a maternity leave. So we'll play it by ear.

Cowboys Jokes

The cowboys have been so bad this season that a huge crop of jokes have been popping up everywhere. So far this has been the funniest one I've seen.

"*Breaking News*

Practice at Cowboy Stadium was delayed after a player found an unknown white powdery substance on the ground. Practice was suspended while police were called in.

Afer analysis, experts determined that the white substance, unfamiliar to most of the players was, in fact, the goal line. Practice will resume his afternoon after they decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again."

Money isn't the most important thing...

It is so hard for me to remember that sometimes. Especially when I am a worry wart about such things. On a good note I don't have to worry so much anymore because my husband keeps track of our finances, though I'm not completely out of the loop. Financially we have an order, we pay our bills, then we pay our savings account a set amount, then we pay ourselves. So I know where we stand each month. Plus just incase there is an emergency my husband also has a guide set up that list what site to go to, the account information, and typical cost set up... thank goodness. We set up our finances this way back when I was temporarily unemployed during my student teaching stint. I would freak out over paying the bills because for the first time in awhile I wasn't bringing in an income. That was a hard thing to overcome.

Now I've moved up from minimum wage and I have an actual salary now. In one sense things are great because I have a good job, and small class, and I'm making friends finally. Hopefully friends that will last awhile. Granted we've only hung out once, but it was a successful hangout so I'm hoping there are more in the future. So far I consider two of the girls good friends, but I think one will be leaving in May so I'm not sure how long that'll last. This school seems to have a high turnover rate... especially with certified teachers. It is pretty clear that the turnover rate is due to the pay. We work 12 months and make in the mid 30's before taxes if you are salary, and 9-12 hr if you're hourly from what I've heard.

Yet I still get down about my job sometimes. A year round pre-k teacher in a public school makes $53,000.... WAY more than what I'm making. That alone makes me want to move to a public school. Do you know what we could do with that extra money a year? I can tell you now it sure would make getting a house easier.

But then my husband reminds me... it is not all about the money. I'm blessed right now to be able to work at this job because despite how annoyed I may get sometimes, it really is a good job. I have a cap of 14 for my class size due to my classroom size, they allowed for me to pick the curriculum for writing, and I have great parental support. So okay some things do bite, like that I spend so much money on my classroom myself, that we don't have a curriculum right now, and that the kids change classrooms more than I touchup the hair color on my roots. Hopefully that'll change though. I just have to remember, it is not about pay... don't judge it based on the pay.

That really is hard to do though...

Laws

How many square feet of indoor activity space must I have for children?

Indoor Space Requirements §746.4201

Medium-High

Subchapter T, Physical Facilities Division 1, Indoor Space Requirements 09/01/03

You must have at least 30 square feet of indoor activity space for each child that you are licensed to serve, unless the child-care center is exempt based on criteria specified in this division.

My classroom has 427 sq ft. 14 kids = 420 sq feet. Classroom Size Limit - 14

§746.3601 What type of illness would prohibit a child from being admitted for care?

Medium Medium-High

Medium Medium Medium Medium

Medium

Subchapter R, Health Practices Division 3, Illness and Injury 09/01/03

Unless you are licensed to provide get-well care, you must not admit an ill child for care if one or more of the following exists:

(3) The child has one of the following, unless medical evaluation by a health-care professional indicates that you can include the child in the child-care center's activities:

(A) Oral temperature of 100.4 degrees or greater, accompanied by behavior changes or other signs or symptoms of illness;

(B) Rectal temperature of 101.4 degrees or greater, accompanied by behavior changes or other signs or symptoms of illness;

(C) Armpit temperature of 99.4 degrees or greater, accompanied by behavior changes or other signs or symptoms of illness;

§746.2901 Must children have a naptime every day?

Medium-High

Subchapter M, Naptime 09/01/03

You must provide a supervised sleep or rest period after the noon meal for all children 18 months of age or older who are in care five or more consecutive hours, or according to the child’s individual physical needs. You may provide sleep or rest for each child who attends the child-care center for fewer than five hours and whose individual physical needs call for a rest period while the child is in care.

Back to Life...

First up, I removed that last post because I was given an apology. They were joking without knowing that in the past my aide was removed from my room and that I was super stressed until I got a new one... and we're still both pretty stressed 3/5 days a week but it is getting better :D

Life isn't bad, my job isn't bad... it just really is a lot harder some days and really fun other days. I was also crazy by working so long each day instead of leaving at 3. So from now on my goal is to leave at 3. That will allow me to rest a bit more, I won't come home so tired, and I wont stress anymore on how they act with my assistant. We just finished week 2 or 3 of being together (it's a blur) so they'll just have to learn that they cannot walk all over her and she'll have to work on showing them that she is in charge (which she is definitely getting better at). Back to being a fun classroom where the stress is low :)

In other news I am also no longer a threat on the road!! I have my new glasses and while I was very nervous about them in the beginning and how they would look, I now love them! I can see so well now and read things that are farther away. I'll post a picture soon.

We are also going to hold off on buying a house until 2012. Why 2012? Because my husbands office may be moving downtown once their lease ends so we're holding off. Instead we're going to rent for a year or two which will give us the chance of upping our down payment, paying our school loans down, and even more importantly we can go ahead and start the baby process next summer and as Chris said "We can have a few and then buy our dream house"..... my reaction? "A few?? how about a couple... two" and yes I won that part. Two.

Lastly I'm now on week two of pack 3 of Yaz, and I didn't have a single PMDD symptom in between packs. I know this brand gets a lot of flack for the lawsuits out there but it has been amazing for me. :)

So I'm feeling better lately, not so stressed, and life is good. :)

1/4th of the way there!!!

Saving for a house has been a huge thing for us... I want to be house shopping or in a house by this time next year. Today we reached 1/4th of our goal towards our down payment!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Houses I love.....

Why Being Childfree is Awesome

1. Sleep... I can sleep in on weekends, take naps after work, go to bed early, or stay up late. I can pretty much sleep whenever I want.

2. Money... we're doing pretty well financially, but I'd still like to put back more before we have children. Yes I get the "If you wait until you can afford kids, you'll never have them" line but really I think that line is for those that didn't plan very well financially. I may never be rich, but we can prepare ourselves to the best of our ability so that we can afford what our children will at least need without expecting to relying on others.

3. Freedom... this kind of goes along with sleep. I love that currently we have the freedom to do what we want to do without worrying about a little one. If I want to drive up and see my family I can, if we want to go to the movies suddenly then we can. If we decide tomorrow that we want to plan a vacation and just go... we can once we save up.

4. My body... having a kid is a great thing, but it can sure do a number to your body. Yes your body does recover faster typically the younger you are... but if Heidi Klum can come back 5 weeks after having a baby and model for Victorias Secret at her age then there is clearly no rush for me to have kids now just so I can hopefully look good longer.

5. I'm a teacher so I can love on all of the kids I want for 8-12 hours a day and then send them home :) I don't have to pay for their food, medical bills, schooling, or any of that. I just make sure they are learning, having fun, and eat a meal and two snacks. Yes I do buy stuff for them, but that just makes me the cool teacher because I give them neat little things each week like glow bracelets, or funky new pencils.

6. Cleaning... I hate cleaning as it is, I know I have to do it and it does get done but I'd rather not add another human to this household yet and add to the amount of cleaning we do.

* This is not a list to knock moms... but a list to remind me why it is great to not have kids at this time when so many others are pressuring us.

30 Day Challenge - Day Two

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Life as Mrs. W.

Well first off my married name starts with W...Creative... no? okay.

For years I was known as Megan S______. I loved being a S_____. I remember seeing my uncles varsity letterman jacket with our families last name and knowing that I wanted one of those jackets with our last name on it. It is a cool last name, one that people had trouble pronouncing, one that was spelled odd given the i before e rule, it was just an awesome last name. Plus the history behind our family is pretty cool... my ancestors were travelers and its easy to trace given the rarity. Well... then I got married. I debated over and over again what to do about my name... Should I be Megan Middle name S___, Megan S____ White. Megan Middle name White? It was hard. Well I finally broke down and dropped the maiden name. It took time and I adjusted to my new last name, but in my heart I'm still Megan S_____. All of my teaching stuff still says "Megan S_____" and while I do not hate my last name at all, I'm still glad my kiddos call me Ms. Megan. In my heart I'll always be a S____ though my license and cards say "White".

So now I'm Megan White... it still sounds funny to me but at least if you

google my name you get 4,000 other Megan Whites which is pretty good to know. However there are the lame White jokes... "The White Couple".... "The White House" and the most told one of all for when we have a baby and we're in the hospital "Can I see the White baby?" because I can without a doubt say that SOMEONE will use that line because we're no where near having kids and they are already using it. Not to mention never having a personalized cookie jar without the fear of someone thinking we are racist.

Can I change our last name to Purple please?? Then the blog will be "Life as Mrs. P"

30 Days: Day 1

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

In short... I'm Megan. I'm in my mid twenties, youngest child in a family of four, married to my college sweetheart, and probably as undomesticated as you can get. I'm not great at cleaning unless I'm pissed off or blasting music throughout the house and I pretty much burn or undercook anything I make unless it is a dessert. Not to mention that I'll wash all of the laundry and week after week I forget to grab the last load from the dryer even though I've folded and put away the rest of the laundry. Pretty much, I'm the bad wife. What I'm great at? Giving support, making my husband laugh, and bringing smiles to my families faces... most of the time.

I hate going to the doctor because of all the questions they ask... "do you drink, smoke, do illicit drugs?" "hello?..... did you not see what my occupation is? I'm a Pre-K teacher" Meaning in short no. I'm a goody goody who gets all giddy over office supplies like file folders and post-its.

I love kids and would love to have a child or two but at this time I still feel like I'm in my lower twenties or even late teens, I feel that personally I'm too young for a child still so I get my fix by hugging and playing with 11-13 little 4 & 5 year olds 8 hours a day. Sometimes I'm having so much fun that my boss has to tell me to go home because I've worked (played) a good 11-12

hours without a break. I swear she must be thanking her lucky stars that she put me on salary and not as an hourly employee. None the less I'll probably have kids in the next few years with my hubby, but we have some goals to line up first. 1) House, even if its a rental, and 2) get our savings sky high. We get the whole "When are you having kids??" thing a lot given that we've been together for 7+ years so I'm now on the hunt for funny responses. So far the contenders are as followed.

1) We're waiting to see how yours turn out first...

2) As soon as we figure out how...

3) Who knows, right now I like spending my 8 hours with them and then handing them off to their real parents.

4) I'm already a mom 40+ hours a week to 11 kids 5 days a week... why would I want more hours?

... my favorite line being number 2 of course.

That is hubby and I... a perfect example of how he'll age and I wont ;) Kidding, the light made the pomade in his hair shine so his hair looks grey. Thats us, and yes I think we're a pretty cute couple.

Now for 15 Facts:

1) Like I stated before I get super giddy over office supplies. A few Christmas's ago I even asked for colored file folders, matching file hangers, and a file box. I was THRILLED to get them. I also have a love affair with Post-its, Sharpies, and nice pens. At my old job I had to periodically empty my purse and return all of the pens that I had held onto without realizing that I did that. Luckily I wasn't the only one.

2) I'm a total people person. I'm not super outgoing and I'm not the one to go and make plans, but I love having social interaction. This past summer I was unemployed and it was horrible given that I still didn't really know anyone in Houston.

3) I also have a love affair with Starbucks... black cherries mixed in cherry yogurt with granola... mmmm.

4) I have major guilt issues. Even buying something I don't really need brings guilt to me unless I know my husband and I are out shopping to spoil ourselves. Seriously, $1 fries from McDonalds on my way home = Guilt and hidden garbage.

5) I'm 5'9", and weigh 125 pounds. I'm happy with myself and secretly want to stab all of the people that say things like "You can stand to gain more weight" because I'm actually at a healthy weight and it took me years to get away from being underweight. My mom has been my best support system weight wise when I struggled with accepting myself in the past.

6) I'm a daughter of an artist... people assume I have great art genes but the only I have are great Jeans. The genetic tree in our family did not give me the art gene, it went to my brother.

7) I was totally blessed to have two stay at home parents growing up. My mom was a stay at home mom for the longest time which helped ground me and keep me out of trouble, and my dad worked from home too so there was always someone around for me to chatter nonstop to.

8) My brother and I grew up pretty close, drifted apart in high school, and now we're both super close again and I love it. He is one of my best friends.

9) I married someone that has pieces of everyone in my family. Its funny, they say you marry someone that is like the people that you grew up around. My husband is like my brother in the sense that he is ultra protective of those that he cares for, and he is like my dad in the sense that he gets super focused on his goals, and he is like my mom in the sense that he reminds me of the important things in life when I'm super stressed out. He is himself in the fact that he is constantly cracking jokes and trying to make me smile no matter what is going on.

10) I wear a cross necklace everyday that my father gave me one Christmas, a heart necklace that came from my moms side of the family when I was born that we have now turned into a tradition, the ring that my grandma gave me this year, and the two rings that my husband gave me growing up. I have a piece of jewelry from everyone that is special to me except from my brother. The pieces don't go together, but they are all simple and elegant in their own way and thats why I wear them. I can look at each piece and it reminds me of a special memory of that person.

11) I can be very spoiled. I will be the most giving person at times, but sometimes I just get spoiled and its either my way or the highway. Does that make me bad? No. It is rare luckily but I think everyone should be a little spoiled once in awhile.

12) People ask me why I picked the university that I went to, and one day I was so caught off guard that I said "Because purple is my favorite color..." which made no sense and really made me look like a dumb blonde but I laughed so hard that I now use that as my actual answer even though it isn't true.

13) I still feel that I can use the term "dumb blonde" because for 22 years of my life I was blonde. Then as a rebellion I decided to dye my hair brown. Some kids rebel with drugs, crimes, and drinking.... I rebelled by dying my hair dark. Can you clearly see how hard of a child I was to raise? I'm a wild one. ;)

14) I once drove to the mall where a child approached me asking me to buy some mistletoe... I'm sure it was just parsley, but I said no thank you because the person I was with doesn't like those that beg. After dropping that person off I went back to the place and looked around for 30 minutes while crying because I felt so horrible for saying no. Moving to Houston has broken me of that guilt and now I only donate to organizations that are raising money through town (like the firefighters) because here there are so many scams.

15) I almost always leave at the last second... why? Because I am a poor planner time wise, especially in the morning. I'm working on it, but it has been a huge battle. One day at a time...

30 Blog Challenge

After reading various blogs I decided to try the 30 Day Blog Challenge. The basic point is that you write a new entry everyday to help yourself get into the habit of writing. Below is a list of the topics...

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3-Your first love
Day 4-Your parents
Day 5-Your siblings
Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7-Favorite movies
Day 8-A place you've traveled to
Day 9-A picture of your friends
Day 10-Something you're afraid of
Day 11-Favorite tv shows
Day 12-What you believe
Day 13-Goals
Day 14-A picture you love
Day 15-Bible verse
Day 16-Dream house
Day 17-Something you're looking forward to
Day 18-Something you regret
Day 19-Something you miss
Day 20-Nicknames
Day 21-Picture of yourself
Day 22-Favorite city
Day 23-Favorite vacation
Day 24-Something you've learned
Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26-Picture of your family
Day 27-Pets
Day 28-Something that stresses you out
Day 29-3 Wishes
Day 30-a picture

Tough and Proud

Most of my life I have not been known as the tough girl. I'm tall but thin as can be, infact to this day you can still fit your thumb and pinky around my wrist and still have some extra room. Do you get it? I'm stick thin. Do I mind? No. Did I get a lot of flack for it growing up? You betcha. Do I care now? Nope. I now weigh 125 thanks to an Ensure diet that my doctor put me on before my wedding so that I could gain weight and feel healthier. I think it worked for the most part, but I do still get colds and such.


So back to the point... I've never been considered a tough girl... until this weekend.

This past weekend I did the ultimate "Awesome Wife" thing... I went and played with my husband and his job.

It took me four rounds to get the hang of it, but on that forth round I kicked butt... I "killed" 3 guys and made it to the very end of the round.

Before the last round:


The end results:



My take on the situation is that it was amazingly fun, I loved it, but it hurt like hell. I'm happy to say I tried it, and I'm very proud of my battle wounds, but from now on I'll stick to laser tag. Same concept... zero bruises. I ended up with three purple bruises, and five black bruises, not all are visible in the photo.

Parenting

First, forgive me for any spelling errors within this post as I am typing it from my iPhone instead of my computer.

Friday was N extremely tough day for me. Granted the mornig and afternoon went well, it was after school that royally sucked for me. You see i had a killer lesson for Friday but I scraped it because my kids were suddenly excited about friction. Four yeear olds understanding Friction??? Shocking I know but they were interested so I went with it. We talked about friction and two items rubbing together and what results can happen. The best example being static because they have been having so much fun with this whole shocking business on the playground. I decided that since we have used balloons all week safely that thy could take the balloons home. The kids were so excited and their parents enjoyed it too. Except one. She told her child that she couldn't have one. Why? It is a chocking hazzard if it pops. My boss stood up for me and explained that if it pops you just take it away from the child plus these were four year olds that are almost five. The parent had the nerve to say "I don't have time to watch and be a parent to her!".

Wait....

What?????


I wish I was rich so I could adopt this little child. If you don't have time for the child you allegedly care for then why even bother when so many other people out there can???

Wihout a doubt I know I'll be a better mother than I previously thought.

Better Day!

Today was so nice! My kiddos are listening more, and I'm having fewer and fewer discipline problems. Not only that but the angry parent came in today... she did what I guess was her best to apologize so it is over. I did re iterate that I have to follow state laws, and how great her child does with nap time when she arrives early. So it is a start. My most recent vice... my job has installed a soda vending machine... and I can't stay away.

I'm excited about this weekend, I'll be heading home to my parents house to celebrate mom and dad's birthdays! What did we get them? I'd tell but mom reads this blog so you'll have to wait until next week. :)

New Class... but same ol' child.

Starting on Monday our classes at school switched around. The short story is that I've moved up to the highest age group in the school and my assistant has her own classroom with most of the kids we had before. She is a certified teacher and amazing so I'm not upset that I lost them. The plan is that the older kids move into my class and stay with me through Kindergarten. I'm excited about it. The first day with the kids was AWESOME! The second day.... yeah it didn't. Why? because I didn't have an assistant today and with a class full of boys and two girls I honestly need the help of an assistant during the times that we're in transition especially since they just moved to my room and they are testing boundaries.

To the guardian that chewed me out because her daughter would have to wait five minutes for lunch today after lunch had already ended and then went to complain about me because I was getting the kids ready for nap and you disapprove of naptime.... you can huff, puff, and try to blow me down as much as you want but my 25 year old butt has more power than you here.

Why?

It is not because I'm simply employed here... it is because I ROCK at my job! I am a fabulous teacher. I have proved that I am there for the kids and nobody else...

• I have parents declining to have their kids moved to the right age group with this newest change because they simply LOVE that their kids are learning from me. I have a 3 1/2 year old in my 4 1/2-5 year old class because that parent loves me because her child is learning and "teaching" the parents what he knows.
• I have great relationships with my parents because I try to go above and beyond to connect to them. I send home newsletters, I send home cool projects, games, and exciting letters. The parents know that I care.
• I'm one of the few teachers that is not running out of the door at 3. My boss must be thanking her lucky stars that she put me as salary because even though I work 7-3 without a lunch... I typically stay up there until 4:30 or 5 either helping out in my class or preparing for the next few days.
• I am given the largest behavior problem children because even though it may take a week or two, I can break them of that behavior because for once at school they feel secure, they know I'm there for THEM, that I LOVE them despite how our day goes. Each and every day is a new day and every time there is a conflict we solve it together, and move on. I forgive, teach them, and then forget it so that we can grow and start off on a new foot.
• I have incorporated new things that no other classroom had done until I showed up.
• I have had a hand in the curriculum that we are building for K-2nd and even though I am new... they are trusting me and listening to me because I research what I'm talking about.
• Speaking of research, I'm staying on top of new ideas and trends. I'm excited about learning, and I'm excited about implementing new ideas in our classroom quickly.

I ROCK as a teacher and I'm not afraid to say it... even on those days that I have to sneak away for a bite of chocolate or sip of soda to calm my nerves when a child REALLY tries to push me... I still rock at those moments too.

I'm a great teacher, and sadly your child is not going to benefit from that because you fail to bring them to school until just before or at nap time. I'm officially off the clock shortly after we get up from nap and no longer in charge. I help, but after 3 we are playing fun games, and social building activities as opposed to skill based learning in regards to letters, number, and such.

I'm a great teacher and I know it. So you can come in and criticize what I'm doing in my classroom, but I've proven myself, not only to me, but to my bosses, my kids parents, and all those that I need to prove myself to.

If you want your child to have lunch right away when they should, then they need to show up before or at the latest at lunch time. Otherwise yes they will have to wait until I can take a moment to settle the kids down enough to get someone to watch my class so that I may get your child their lunch. I have 13 kids in my class so no your child's needs are not at the top of the group. I attend to all of my students and will not drop everything and disrupt 12 of the kids for one unless it is a very needed situation or I am working with small groups.

And yes... my kids are going to nap. Not only because it is the state law, not because science has proven that they need the nap so that they may absorb new information, but because their little bodies are tired and they need that rest, and I'm not going to deny that to them because I love them and care for their best interest in my heart.

I love my kids

I love my job

and I am a kick ass teacher.

I will now jump off my soap box and go to bed.

Debt

Alright so forget the pressure of having kids soon, and the hopes of getting into a house by Spring. Why? Because there is no rush to grow up yet. There is no rush to have kids. I'm 25 and while I seem to notice that there are a lot of people around me that are my age or younger that have had kids already, I forget about the examples of women and men that had kids while they were older.

Mom... had me at 34, my brother at 31. I just realized that today.. I always thought she had me at 31.

My Boss... not sure of he actual age, but her son is four, and she is clearly in her 30's

Ms. G... one of the moms of my students that I look up to career wise. She is a reading specialist working at another private school. Her child is 3, and she is definitely in her mid 30's.

Enough examples. So what is our new current goal? Paying off our debt. We have school loans and one car loan. So we're going to aggressively pay those down using the snowball effect. You round up your payments, and pay whatever extra amount that you can on your largest debt.

Essentially if we follow this plan then we can be debt free in four years. I'll be 29, Chris will be 31. Then we can go for a house too and have not only an awesome down payment, but also a good bit of savings put back and still plenty young to start having kids.

I'm super excited about this!

Month One Overview

Alright so I made it through the first month with my new BC and my PMDD symptoms. Was it completely pain free? No, but at the same time it was drastically different than when I was on another BC. I did have little irritable moments, and one spell of being down yesterday, and then one today. Overall though it was a vast improvement. The doctors say it takes two months to see results and I (along with those close to me) saw results the first month. Will month two be better? I hope so, but even if this month is a preview of how it will be then life will be smooth sailing from her on out. :)

Happy Meals

In one California county there is a lawsuit against kids meals going on. In short, the group wants fast food industries to be banned from putting toys in their kids meals unless the meals meet certain nutritional guidelines. If they meet those guidelines then they can have toys, it not the no toy.

From the article.

"This advertising is unfair to kids and to parents who are put in the position of constantly telling their kids no," Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which is threatening the suit, told CBS News."The meals range from mediocre to miserable," he said. "The calories range from moderate to high. Sodium is typically excessive, especially in the cheeseburgers and the fries, where a child is getting 3/4 of their daily intake."

Okay so I'll admit, McDonalds does have healthy choices. As for McDonalds they want them to agree to only give the toy if the happy meal has one of the healthier options included. Example: Child chooses milk and apple slices over a soda and fries.. SURPRISE you get a toy! They also want to make it a requirement that the employees as "What sides would you like?" because apparently 93% of the time that it was not asked, fries were given instead of a healthier option.

I work at a school with kids, and this is a hot topic right now. The odd thing is that I'm the only one in favor for it. I get that parents have an option to choose, but how often are they choosing the healthier option? Apparently not enough. As a parent you're in charge of what your child eats and IMO I would choose the healthier options without a heart beat but some parents just don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. This suit is to protect those kids... not to hurt those that already choose the good options. They are not saying "TAKE AWAY THE TOYS!!" they are trying to say "Hey, help protect the kids by rewarding their healthier choices, they'll get a toy and we both win."

Who could be against that?? McDonalds obviously. Anyways... I hope it goes through and starts a trend throughout the rest of the US, one other county already enacted the measure and it works there. I'm all for kids health, especially after working at my last school.

If you're going to feed your kids happy meals.... do it in moderation please... and for the love of food pick atleast one healthy option.

*http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20008571-10391704.html

Truths

• I keep a watch on my arm 24/7, even in the shower... it is the least girlie digital watch that you'll find at Target.... but I need it for teaching everyday. I've found that if I take it off, I completely forget to put it on for a good week and it throws me off at work. I'm thinking of finding a cute digital watch face and attaching it in a cute way to my work apron because somehow I NEVER forget that.
• I get mad jealous inside over others that have things that I want. So I have to slow myself down. We're still saving for a house, but it might be the spring/summer of 2011 instead of 2010 because while we could save for a down payment, I'd hate to save so much and then drain our savings because of it. So we're going to add a year so that we'll have a down payment and an equal amount of fall back money. The houses around here that we like would make a 40K down payment if we went with 20% of higher. It'll suck staying in an apartment longer, but it'll be worth it.
• I want kids but I think that maybe.... I want them sooner than later due to pressure. Our parents are cool about the waiting, but others are not and have commented that "We're getting old" and how we're close to 30 (I'm 25, he is 27) so it is easy to get swayed into thinking we're doing something wrong. But we're not and I need to be reminded about that every so often.

Budget Cuts

Well another sign has presented itself that makes me thankful that I stuck with the job at a private school rather than going to a public school despite the much lower pay grade. The news has started to back up the rumors that I heard last year. See in Texas last year there were a ton of teacher lay-offs. The economic recession hit our state quite a bit later in terms of education. Last year I went to a job fair for ONE district where 3,000 teachers showed up to. Now I get why it took two hours to stand in line to hand in my resume for simply one school only to have to go stand in another line to give my resume to another school in the district. This year the lay offs are going to be even worse according to rumors last year and the news that is starting to hit on tv again someone pulls up his big girl panties and lets outside help come in. Districts are going to have to cut 10% of jobs. UT is looking at cutting 600 jobs alone if this 10% cut goes through and right now that looks like what will happen.

I'm thanking my lucky stars that I have a stable job right now in a private school. I was thinking of still venturing out to public school in the next year or so but instead I think private school is the way to go until the economy stops beating on the door of public schools.

Day Two

I'm on day two of my placebo pills, with two more left until I start up my next pack of active pills. So far I've only had one moment of irritability but it ended as soon as I had some ice cream from Marble Slab. So technically it could have been hunger irritability which is a huge possibility because I slept from 4:30PM -7:00AM on Friday thus missing dinner. Yes, that's right 13.5 hours. Probably due to stress, and I can think of clear reasons of why I may be stressed, but it may be suppressed a bit.

Do I ACTUALLY feel stressed? Not really. The things I should be a bit stressed about are normal so I'm not stressing about them. Like teaching, they say the first year is the toughest and it is sink or swim. So I'm doing the best I can and that is all I can do. No use stressing when I know it is supposed to be like this. :)

Anyways, tomorrow is the real test, granted I'm still cutting myself some slack since the doctor said it could take a good 2-3 months for my PMDD symptoms to disappear. I'm still crossing my fingers that pack 1 is the one that does it for me :) I'll keep updating.

The importance of loved ones...

This weekend was a tough one, not for me but for my husband.  I hate when he gets his hopes up about how something will go and then it goes the complete opposite of that.  It breaks my heart and it is the very reason that I spoil him.  I understand that sometimes others have their own plans, but when the event is centered around another person then go with the original plans.  It is not fair to change the plans around to your own agenda because not only does it make the person disappointed in the plans they were excited for, but it makes it appear that you really don't care about anyone else's wants other than your own.

It hurts seeing my husbands feelings become seriously hurt.  It hurts more watching him get upset for the day, and then brush it off because this is nothing new to him.  That shouldn't happen, that is not something you should have to get use to.

Thus... why I make a huge deal out of spoiling him when I can, as do my parents.  Probably not the best response but I love him more than words and honestly I just want to see him smile.  Luckily he is an incredibly humble person and has never revealed a spoiled bone in his body otherwise we would have to stop spoiling him :)

Your family is your family for a reason... whether you think you were placed together randomly or believe that you are all there together as a group to help each other with your life goals and challenges... either way you're family.   If you love your family, then those are the people  you should be putting first. Those are the people that you sacrifice your own needs for just to make them smile, no matter how small or large the task is.   My priorities are as listed (all even, in no particular order) my mom, dad, brother, chris, max, priss, and snickers.   They are all my number 1 and while sometimes one person may need me more than the other, I do the best that I can to still be there for the others.  Everyone else should do the same.

My husband didn't even get to share his big news this weekend, which made it a double suck.

I understand that this post is a bit ranty... but I just really needed to get that out.

The Ultimate

I am clearly not the ultimate wife, daughter, or sister... but I can definitely say that I am getting better and better with my PMDD.  I kind of still hate talking about it to anyone but my mom and husband because I still feel like it means that I am broken but I'm feeling great right now so I'm a bit more optimistic about it.   The thing is though, I haven't reached the first testing point yet.  I still have two weeks left of medication before we see how I react.  I am crossing my fingers but also slightly dreading it even though I know it could take two months for it to fully be worked out.  So we'll see.

In other news I do feel like the ultimate teacher.  I have been frustrated lately because some of my extremely young kids are like blank slates... and I keep writing upon them yet they keep going blank.  They just are not ready yet.   So I went to my boss and told her how I'm feeling "a little lost and frustrated" and she asked about which kids were retaining and which kids were my blank slates.  It was obvious that it was my kids that are a good 6+ months younger than my older students that are turning four in the next month or so.  She explained that my younger kids will have two more years of pre-k before they go to to Kindergarten so that really for them this is just about exposure.  My older kids will move on to Kindergarten in one year (not counting this year) so for them it is about learning and retaining.

Big DUH moment for me, but I obviously did not catch that.  I was thinking about how there was only one class above mine before Kindergarten but in reality by next august there will be a 3 1/2, 4, 4 1/2 and 5 year old class.   I'll have the five year old class.  So okay I get it now and I feel better.  HOWEVER right after that she talked to me about how they feel that I'm doing.  That boosted my mood completely. :)  I have nothing to worry about.  So while I'm still working on becoming the ultimate in my personal life... I feel like the ultimate teacher today. :)