Last day of Blogtember!

It's the last day of Blogtember!  So sad!  On the bright side, tomorrow is October first, which is a cause for celebration all on its own!

 

  Monday, September 30: Share a photo of something old. Maybe something that has personal history for you, that was passed down to you, and that has special meaning to you. Tell us about it and why it's special.   My grandma LOVED jewelry.  When she passed away last November, my mom, sister, and I inherited all of her jewelry.  It's nothing too expensive, or fancy, she was a frequent shopper of QVC, but there is so much of it!  These are the pieces that I have in my jewelry box.  My favorite ones are the flower ring, the golden nugget pendant (which is from a ring she melted down a long time ago), and the silver pendant with the turquoise and black center.  I wear those all the time.  The others....well I am still waiting for the perfect outfit for those.  

 

My sister inherited her spoon ring made from her baby spoon.

 

 

She actually took some of her old clip-on earrings and brooches and made this wall-art for my mom.   Talented little thing she is.  I am in LOVE with it.

 

 

 

It just so happens that my grandma's 82nd birthday would be tomorrow.  I think about her and miss her everyday, but I know she's in a better place, hanging out with my grandpa, eating fried chicken and sipping Frostys, watching over us from heaven. 

 

 

 Love you grandma!

 

I ran 11 miles today, barefoot, with no water, and a tiger was chasing me the whole way. Did I impress you?

This might be my favorite topic yet. 

 

  Friday, September 27: An anonymous letter to your Facebook friends. Be as snarky as you'd like. (but don't include people's real names.)    Disclaimer:  This is not nice.  I contemplated changing some things, but I am not a sugar-coater.   

Dear Facebook friends that  I cannot stand,

  No one cares how much you ran today.  I may not have ran 11 miles today, but I did do hot yoga for an hour and a half, and then went to kickboxing for an hour and group core for a 30 minutes.  Then I continued to workout on an elliptical while I waited for my boyfriend to finish playing basketball.  But you didn't see me posting that on Facebook because NO ONE CARES.  You should workout for you, not because you want to tell everyone how special you are.  Not mention the fact that the reason WHY you run so much is because you DON'T HAVE A JOB, and you have lots of free time.    Also please stop complaining about EVERYTHING.  Didn't your mom ever teach you that if you didn't have anything nice to say then you shouldn't say anything at all?  A little optimism goes a long way.  My grandma once told me that my Facebook posts brighten her day.  That makes me feel really good, and it also makes me think twice about posting anything hateful or pessimistic.  You should be counting your blessings for everything that you have, like a computer with internet which gives you the ability to turn Facebook into a complaint department.    And please quit taking selfies in the bathroom mirror.  At least use the mirror in your bedroom or flip around the camera on your phone.  No one wants to see your toilet.  It makes us wonder why you were in the bathroom in the first place.   And I am really glad that you are having a baby.  Really I am, but please do not take pictures of your bare stomach.  Especially at 9 months.  That **** is gross and no one wants to see it, especially if you write on it with marker.  Keep your shirt down...PLEASE.

 

Sincerely and regretfully,

 

Your positive Polly of a friend, Elyse

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed, and I'm going to pray extra hard for forgiveness from all the mean things I just said.  Sorry God!  *looking to the heavens with prayer hands*

Feeling like a potato

I betcha wondered what happened to me yesterday.  You noticed that you never saw me on your Bloglovin' feed and you thought "Hey!  Where's Elyse today?"  Well wonder no more.  I am here.  I was feeling a little lazy yesterday, decided to sleep in.  Then I decided to sleep in again today but not on purpose.  Note to my sleepy self:  the off button and the snooze button are not one in the same. 

 

 

  Thursday, September 26: Go to a coffee shop. Order a favorite drink. Write about what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Or write about anything you'd like! Bonus points for including a photo from the coffee shop. (I recommend downloading Ommwriter and bringing headphones along!) *if you can't make it to a coffee shop, at least leave your usual space and write someplace new.   Check (just pretend it's Thursday ok?)!  I went with Nathana from Zach and Nathana!  She's my IRL friend turned blog friend.  We worked together at my old school.  We didn't actually blog...or talk about blogging.  We mainly just gossiped about school-related things.  We did plan to meet because of this Blogtember topic, that and we both really wanted a PSL.  Except for neither one of us got one.  I ended up with a Salted Caramel Mocha, which in my opinion beats a Pumpkin Spice Latte any day!  And we got a free, baby hot chocolate because the workers were apparently bored and had time to give us drink samples.  It was a definite win, and I can't wait to do it again!    

A Big Oopsie Daisy

Wednesday, September 25: Write about a time you screwed up - a mistake you made.
 

This particular moment from last year comes to mind because I was just talking about it last night.

 

I was teaching my most challenging first grade group.  In that group I had a severely to moderately autistic boy (I say severely to moderately because he has probably the worst case at our school, but his disorder is not as severe compared to others).  He comes from the emotional disorder room just for art and music. 

 

This particular student has always been a challenge for me (still is).  He means well, and he wants to behave, but he is very impulsive and sometimes does not even realize what he's doing is wrong (like going into my storage closet in the middle of a lesson). 

 

Now I know you are thinking that I am a horrible teacher because this student is walking around my room, wandering all over the place, not doing what he is supposed to at all, but this WHOLE CLASS was challenging remember?  Very needy.  Lots of behavior problems across the grid. 

 

So I didn't notice that this student had gotten up out of his seat walked up to my desk while I was dealing with a problem that another student was having.  He took an Exacto-knife (Yes, I have one, I'm an art teacher remember?) off of my desk and back to his seat.  The Exacto-knife was in a pencil cup, turned blade-down, so you couldn't really tell what it was.  Also keep in mind that my room is very long and narrow, and students are rarely back by my desk. 

 

When I walked by him I saw that he was discreetly holding something shiny in his hand by his leg.  I immediately told him that he needed to give that back to me because it was very dangerous, and he should never take anything off of my desk.  That's the nice version.  I called the principal to come down and get him and requested that an aide come with him from that point on.  I cannot express my relief that I saw it when I did.  He could have seriously hurt himself or someone else.  I could've have been sued, fired, etc.  I didn't even have that job permanently yet!

 

Fast forward to now, I keep my Exacto-knife hidden in a secret place on my desk where it is not visible to the students.  This student still comes with an aide, and the class he comes with is not quite as challenging, so I am able to pay more attention to him.

 

The moral of this story:

Don't leave sharp objects on your desk.  Even if your an art teacher.

The 5 Senses of Fall

Fall.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I have to say that I have been a lot more relaxed since the fall weather has begun.  I don't feel the need to be outside by the pool when its 65 degrees.  I can get a lot more accomplished when I don't have to worry about being tan.

 

My senses have been going crazy with all kinds of fall nostalgia this week.  Sweet smells of pumpkin spice and caramel apple.  Yummy tastes of soups (its finally cold enough for soup!).  The sight of leaves starting to change colors.  The cozy feel of sweatshirts and blankets.  The sounds of my favorite songs on the radio.  Makes me go like this:

 

 

 

 

Things to SEE

 

 

 

 

Things to TASTE

 

Quinoa Chicken Soup

Poblano Cheddar Soup

 

Things to TOUCH (like cozy blankets...get your head out of the gutter)

This chair...Omg

 

Things to HEAR

 

 

 

 

 

Things to SMELL

 

If your looking for me this weekend, you can find me in the candle section of Bath and Body Works, smelling every single candle, maybe twice.

Blogtember- Day 14...I think

I'm ready to start another week with Jenni @ Story of My Life.  September is just zipping right by!

Monday, September 23: A "life lately" post. What you're up to, how you're feeling, how you're doing on your goals, etc. Bonus points for great photos!

I am not really up to anything exciting at this particular time in my life.  I am just trying to keep my head above water at school.  Just as soon as I think I'm all caught up, I am drowning in work again.  I bring home stuff to work on every night and every weekend, and I never get it all done.  I look at other teacher bloggers, how they always seem like they are on top of things and have oodles of time to make stuff to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers, in addition to try new recipes, make crafty things, run 10 miles, and play with their kids (all things I am jealous of).   I barely have time to blog with all my school stuff going on, BUT I love my job, and I get so excited to go back at the beginning of every week!  Even though I am super busy, I still feel like I am succeeding, so I will NOT compare myself to other teachers.  This is what is working for me right now. 

Other than that, I am trying to get decorated for Fall.  It always seems like such a short season once Christmas decorations start popping up, so I am trying to start right away!  My only problem is what to do with my decorations.  I could put them by the fireplace, but right now that room is like an addition to our hallway since we never sit in there.  It's used only as a passageway to the kitchen. I could put them in the entry way by the front door, but there is nothing to put them on in there except the floor.  The same with the living room...I could put them on the ottoman! Ha.  The moral of the story is, we need more furniture to put decorations on. 

That's all I've got right now!  I will be trying some new recipes this week (hopefully) and finishing a crafty project (hopefully), and I can't wait to share with you!

Here's a random selection of pics from my phone lately:

 

 

Visions of pumpkins dancing in my head...

Well here I am.  I should be writing lesson plans, making lesson plan examples, re-doing my behavior management game board (all the things that are on my "weekend list of things to do for school").  But instead, I am sitting here with my bottle glass of wine and my small plate of cheese reading blogs about fall and fun weekends, and I just can't help but to join in on the fun. 

 

Friday we were going to have a cute little dinner, at a cute little rsestaurant, in a cute little town, with cute little tables, on a cute little patio.  Then it rained ALL day...So we had Mexican.  In our sweatpants.  Well at least I was wearing sweatpants.  Kelly had actual pants on.

 

 

I think we ordered every dip they had on the menu.  We were not craving the same things.

 

Saturday I went up to Indy with my mom and my sister's friend Hannah to have a girls-ish weekend.  I say "ish" because there were actually boys, my sister's boyfriend was there and my brother was there, but Kelly and my dad were not.  Girls-ish.

 

We went to the IUPUI Regatta downtown at the canal.  The weather was so gorgeous! 

 

Then we went to Lauren's boyfriend's house and had a cookout with his family.  I took a break from drinking after this Snapchat. 

 

This morning we woke up early-ish and went to breakfast with my brother and his girlfriend.  Then we headed home.  I did some yard work and bought some mums.  I am feeling giddy about the Fall season!

 

More about Fall plans and pumpkin loves tomorrow!

 

Have a great week!

 

 

The picture of comfort

Happy Friday!  Lucky for you, you get to hear from me twice today!  I'm linking up with Jenni @ Story of My Life again.  I skipped yesterday due to the fact that the topic required me to write a short story, and, well, that is just too much thinking for an early morning!

 

Friday, September 20: React to this term: comfort. 

 

Comfort to me means my spot on the couch.

Here I am, in my spot on the couch.

 

 Here is what it looks like. 

 

I have the softest blanket ever, lots of comfy pillows, my computer, and a tray to set my coffee on (and my Kleenex for when I have my morning sneeze attack) that way I never have to move once I sit lay down.

This is where I blog, take my naps, do school work, watch TV.  This is the COMFIEST spot ever.  I could lay here all day.  I would sleep here every night if I could.  My bed has big shoes to fill. 

Don't take my spot, and everyone will be happy.  :-)