Thankful Thursday

I'm sick (bleh! BLEH!) with the sinus crud, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. And maybe not even sweet, but definitely short. I'm not thankful that my head feels like it's going to explode, my ears are throbbing, and my current method of oxygen intake is that gross, creepy-kid-on-the-schoolbus mouth breathing. I am thankful, however, that I feel like this every once in a while so that I can appreciate being healthy when this passes.

I'm thankful for all the usual things: my family, friends, job, students, the upcoming weekend, etc. I'll try to make next week's Thankful Thursday the best one ever, or at least better than this one. For now, though, I feel my Benadryl coma closing in on me and I can't fight it any longer. Here's hoping that I wake up feeling like a whole new person tomorrow.

under my teacher "umbrella": mama, coach, encourager, disciplinarian, nurse, therapist...and now, magician

I love my job as a teacher. It's really the only career I've ever pictured for myself, and I truly enjoy it most days. I counted the other day and I've had 98 students (including my current ones) in my 3+ years of teaching. That's 98 little people that I've had the chance to impact; what an awesome opportunity (and responsibility)!

I try really hard to focus on the positive in things and to spend minimal time dwelling on the negative. If it's something I can't change, I try to accept it and move on. As I've spent my afternoon preparing for the first full week of school starting tomorrow, it occurred to me that I'm going to have to be a magician as well as a teacher this year. I'm going to have to make the state and district-mandated timeframes magically fit into my day. I've got about 6 hours of mandates to fit into a 5 hour instructional period. Hmmmm. I'm no genius, but that doesn't quite work, does it?

There is such a push for MORE in education right now. MORE reading. MORE math. MORE techology. MORE small group instruction. After all, No Child Left Behind states that 100% of American students should be proficient in reading and math by 2014. (I'm going to say nothing else about that statement. It could get ugly.) It truly would take a magician to make it all work. When working within a set timeframe (say, a school day) it's impossible to add MORE without doing something else LESS, right? It works out to LESS social studies, LESS downtime, LESS time for activities/experiments/projects.

It makes me wonder sometimes what this educational system is going to do to this generation of kids, long-term. Are we instilling a love for learning in these kids? Or are we pressuring them to constantly perform better, without ever showing them why learning is important?

Thankfully, the teachers/administrators at my school are trying hard to achieve a balance between pushpushpush and instilling a love for learning. As challenging as it is, I try to do that every day and I see my coworkers doing the same. I feel that we owe it to these kids to not burn them out before they even make it to middle school.

Bleh! Rant over. I feel great about this week coming up. The kids in my new class are sweeties and I foresee a lot of fun memories being made between now and May. I'll be ready for tomorrow as soon as I make my lunch...and remember where I put my magic wand.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends
• my health
• surviving the first day of school today!
• my new kiddos and the things I'm sure I'll learn from them this year
• the plan God has for me and these kiddos this year
• officially earning my tenure as of 2:45 TODAY...woohoo! I'm IN :)
• the weekend coming up tomorrow...much-needed
• guests this weekend...always love seeing Kira, Oliver, and Princess Elizabeth :)
• plenty of other stuff but my bed is calling to me

HAPPY WEEKEND!

juggling act

School starts this week (Thursday, to be exact) and it seems like I'm juggling 895,432 things right now. Every time I cross one thing off my ever present to-do list, I add two more. Meet the Teacher Day is tomorrow and I feel like I should have taken a pillow and toothbrush up to school and made a night of it. I always want everything to be PERFECT on this day. My new kiddos and their parents will be seeing the room and meeting me for the first time. I'm praying that it will go well and I really am excited to meet the new kiddos. I know God has a plan for our class this year, and I can't wait to go along for the ride! Now if I could just get these 120 labels cut out and put on folders and get into bed, I'll be ready for that ride to begin...

Thankful Thursday...Sunday...whatever

Life has had me on the move lately, so Thankful Thursday didn't happen. Thankful Sunday will have to suffice.

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends (especially my sweet Mimi, and even though our Chattanooga trip didn't turn out quite like we planned, I still had a fabulous time with her)
• the baby news a sweet, far-away friend recently shared with me :)
• my health
• summer 2010...it's over after today (weep! wail!), but I've enjoyed nearly every second of it. This is hands down the best summer I've had since I started teaching, and I'm most thankful for it!
• a job at a great school to return to (tomorrow! sob!)
• finally getting registered for my grad school classes...all that's left is to write a hefty check and enjoy the 22 days I have left before classes start
• a few days to get back in the swing of things before the kiddos arrive on Thursday
• how hard my fam and friends worked to make my birthday weekend so spectacular...best one in recent memory!
• getting to go to Olivia's graduation yesterday...hoping she finds a job soon!
• the fabulous new kids' books I've been able to trade for at the used bookstore...25 new-to-me books for my kiddos to read
• Shark Week...I look forward to it every year...honestly, I watch to get tips on surviving a shark attack...you can never be too prepared...I've learned so much that I've decided not venturing in past my knees is the way to go...if a shark wants to come get me knee-deep and I don't see it in time to get away, it deserves to have a little nibble

HAPPY WEEKEND...eh, WEEK!

birthday weekend recap

I turned 25 on Friday, and had the most incredible weekend to celebrate my milestone birthday. Here's the (stream-of-consciousness) rundown:

Lunch at the Depot/cupcakes at school with Sasha on Thursday. Birthday in Tuscaloosa with Mom and Denny J. Bought some great books for my classroom. Birthday lunch with Mom at Taco Casa (where else?). Locked my keys in my car (first time ever...boo). Enchiladas and sangria for birthday supper. "Official" birthday lunch on Saturday with Mom, Denny J, Mimi, Grandad, Bubba, and Olivia. Chicken & grits, green beans, and pavlova for dessert. So very, very good. Thoughtful presents, including my much longed for boots. So excited! Back to Bham. Overnight guest named Kate. DQ with Kira, Oliver, and Princess Elizabeth (who's now smiling and cooing...such talent in that child!). So fun! Rogue Tavern for supper with Byrne, Guy, and fellow concert-goers. Really hot...disgustingly humid...occasional breeze...but mostly just really hot. Kinda like trying to breathe through a hot, damp towel. Try it sometime. Eric Church concert at Sloss Furnace. Sweat. Lots and lots and lots of people. More sweat. Worried my cuteness is fading. Will Hoge opened. Dripping. Waited an eternity for Eric Church to come out. Hair in a ponytail, wiping off every trace of makeup, no longer concerned with looking cute or even remotely human. Eric Church played. Phenomenal and absolutely worth the wait. Love him. Truly one of the highlights of my year. Slimed on by countless sweaty, shirtless people. Once home, 3 glasses of water and a shower were required immediately upon walking through the door. I don't yet feel human again. SO worth it, though!

I had such a fabulous, fun weekend! I am more blessed than I deserve to be. I've got one more week of freedom, some things to sew, and a quick trip to the glorious state of Tennessee before I rejoin the workforce. Plus, Shark Week starts tonight :) It's been such a great summer!





PS--Is there such a thing as sweat-communicable diseases? I'm going to look into this. If I never touch another sweaty, smelly, sticky, slimy person again in this lifetime, it'll be too soon. Ick.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

family and friends

my health

this last, precious little bit of summertime

my early birthday Depot date/cupcake party with Sash yesterday...thanks, Sash!

my birthday being tomorrow...got lots to celebrate!

a sweet last-year student willing to come help me in my classroom today

the cleaning frenzy I've been on this past week...I feel so much better when things are neat and organized

little Willy V finally getting to leave the NICU and come home this week...what a blessing!

my new purple vacuum cleaner...sounds sad, but I really do love it

getting accepted to graduate school...ready to get started

fun plans Saturday...lunch with the fam, Kate visiting, Project Uplift date to the Eric Church concert...way excited!

the funny birthday card Laura mailed me...she knows I'm a weirdo and loves me anyway, because she's a weirdo, too

our last kickball game tonight...win or lose (probably lose), we go to the playoffs next week...the fact that a team who may be sporting an 0-10 record can go to the playoffs makes me smile

HAPPY WEEKEND!

"If we had a bulletin board, we'd put your picture on it!"

I did my weekly CVS/Publix shopping today, and encountered a character at CVS. I went up to the register determined to branch out into the multiple transactions arena. I told him my plan and he said, "Oooohhh, you're one of those!" As he rang up my stuff and then scanned my coupons/Extra Bucks, he got really excited and started calling out the new total. When he was done, he told me if they had a bulletin board, they'd put my picture on it. He seemed more excited than I was. He also mentioned that he'd only been there 3 months, but when he'd gotten in 6 months, he was going to bring his bulletin board idea up to his boss. I love meeting people with that much personality; he was a hoot!

Total before coupons/EB: $48.29 Total after coupons/EB: $29.46

(Sorry if this is mind-numbingly boring; I keep track of this as a record for myself.) Here's the breakdown: I perused the weekly ad to see what the deals were this week. Thankfully, some of the items I needed were EB deals or on sale. Then I dug through my coupons. I had coupons for Scott t.p. and Colgate toothbrushes (my fave kind, at that!) that were fixing to expire; luckily, those items were on sale this week. The sunscreen was an EB deal: buy 2, get $10 in EB. I use that sunscreen every day (I've made peace with the fact that I'm a white girl and can't tan...might as well use sunscreen so I'll have stellar skin when I'm old!) so I took advantage and bought 2.

I went to the register armed with my coupons and $8 in old EB. My first transaction was just the sunscreen. I paid full price ($21.78), and tore off the $10 EB on my receipt. I paid for the rest of the stuff in the next transaction. I used my old $8 EB, my new $10 EB, and my coupons. I got 12 mega rolls of t.p., pore strips, 2 toothbrushes, and some girly items (that didn't quite make it into the picture) for $7.68! So exciting! And I earned $6.99 in EB from that transaction to use by the end of August.

I made a trip to Publix next, and didn't do quite as well as expected. I still saved nearly $13, though. They just didn't have much on sale this week that I needed or had coupons for. I still have some things to figure out with Publix, though I still think I'm saving money versus when I was a Wal-Mart girl.

Up on the Ridge

I bought this Monday and pretty much haven't stopped listening to it since. It's so very good. I'm a huge Dierks Bentley fan (even more so after I saw him play in Auburn four years ago), but when I heard he was making a bluegrass album, I was a little skeptical. A lot of his other songs are more country-rock, and I didn't know if he'd be believable on a bluegrass CD. Good ol' Dierks proved me wrong! He totally surpassed my expectations on this one. He's got some help from Allison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson (and some other folks I don't know), so that makes it even better. I'm impressed, but now his next CD has a lot to live up to!

It may just be me, but I think there's so much great country music out right now. I'm loving it!

Teacher...and student

In case teaching wasn't enough to keep me busy, I've decided to start working on my masters degree this year. This is something I've been wanting to do, and the longer I wait, the harder it's going to be to get it done. I found out over the weekend that I got accepted to the University of Montevallo's elementary education program, and I start on August 30th!

I went to Montevallo today to meet my advisor and (despite being late, parking on the wrong side of campus, hoofing it from one end to the other in the midday sunshine, and arriving at her office sweating like a farm animal) I really enjoyed it. The campus is gorgeous and small and quiet. There were two other girls at the meeting, and I was glad to meet them. I'll be taking 6 hours this fall semester, and two of the classes are online. That should be interesting; online classes are new for me.

I'm accepting any and all prayers and good thoughts that I can make it through the next two years without turning into a crazy lady! I'm off to relearn how to be a student...

CVS + Julie = BFF

I'm not usually a two-a-day poster, but I've got to write this down while I'm still excited. In my quest to save money and eliminate Wal-Mart from my life (two weeks and counting!), I've started shopping at CVS. It's taken some time to figure their system out, but I've finally had a breakthrough. I get it now! I mentioned here that I had accumulated $22 in Extra Bucks from some purchases last week. I went today to get some things I needed, use up some coupons, and earn some more EB. Here's what I bought today:
Total before coupons, EB, and store deals: $39.21
Total after coupons and EB: $15.36

How fun! It's not a lot of stuff, but here's the breakdown. The Dial body wash was originally $4.88. They were marked down to $3.88 (plus $1 EB with purchase) and I had a $2 off coupon, so I got 2 of them. The Fiber One bars (way yum) were normally $4.99, but they were 2/$5, plus I had a coupon. If I bought $10 worth of Revlon makeup, I would earn $5 EB. I had a $2 off coupon for Revlon, so that worked out great. I needed new eyeliner and eyeshadow anyway! There were no special deals on the cotton balls, but I needed them and they were cheap.

I'm proud of my little stash! The makeup alone would have been nearly $15 if I had paid for it "as is". I got to use up some coupons that were fixing to expire, and I have $10 EB to spend in the next month. Plus, I would buy this anyway, so I didn't have to buy junk just to use coupons/get EB. Not too shabby! Maybe I can do even better next time...

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• my family and friends
• my health
• precious summertime, which is wrapping up much faster than I would prefer!
• this ridiculously, unnecessarily hot weather, because it makes me appreciate fall so much more
• the awesome bullying workshop I went to yesterday...can't WAIT to use what I learned!
• my "school brain" kicking back into gear...not ready for summer to be over, but it's always fun to start planning for the next school year
• the time I've spent cleaning, rearranging, and organizing my classroom...not a ton of fun up front, but I know I'll appreciate it later
• the opportunity I had to meet some of my new students and parents at registration Monday
• the money I've saved with coupons and Extra Care Bucks...should've been doing this a long time ago
• my kickball game tonight
• my birfday coming up next week...and it's a big one...always a fun time

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• family and friends
• getting to meet Baby Emerson this morning! She is precious and Nicole is going to be such a sweet mama to her.
• the get-together the 5th grade teachers had on Tuesday...it was fun to catch up and meet our sweet new coworker...we take COMPLETE credit for Emerson arriving 12 hours later :)
• my health
• fabulous summertime...winding down but there's still plenty of fun to be had!
• getting our Eric Church tickets this week...can't wait to see him
• the workshop I attended yesterday...it may be the most worthwhile one I've ever been to...can't wait to use what I've learned with my new kiddos
• getting my class roll tomorrow...always love finding out who's going to make up our little "family" for the next 9 months
• my kickball game tonight...I scored a run (a whole run!) last week, so we'll see if I can keep up my "streak"

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Cold turkey

I'm quitting Wal-Mart. I'm done. I've been a Wal-Mart shopper for the better part of a decade; the prices are low and you can find everything you need right there. I've shopped there for those reasons but have always disliked it. Case in point: I went over the weekend to pick up a few things. I needed help and couldn't find a soul to help me. One employee finally said she'd help and then never came back. I found her stocking shelves a few minutes later. I went to check out and the cashier never one time looked at me or spoke to me (sadly, typical). Just to irritate her, I cheerfully carried on a one-sided conversation...she didn't even notice. When I walked out to the parking lot, it hit me...no more! I give them far too much of my money to receive such consistently terrible customer service.

Publix now has my business. Publix is a little pricier than Wal-Mart; therefore, I'm now a coupon cutter. I bought a paper on Sunday and got busy. It blew my mind how much money I could have been saving on the things I normally buy. I just got back from Publix and I'm pretty pleased with how it went. The employees are 1,000 times nicer than the ones I often encounter at Wal-Mart and the store often has great Buy 1, Get 1 Free deals. Here's what I got today:

Total out of pocket: $34.40
Total savings w/coupons and store deals: $33.13

I know there are people out there who do far better, but I didn't think this was too shabby for my first foray into couponing. It was exciting to know that this would have cost me $67.53, but it DIDN'T, all because I cut a few coupons and paid attention to the flyer. I'm sold!

I'm also trying CVS. I went there today to sign up for my Extra Care Bucks card. I bought some things (that I normally use anyway) to build up my ECB, and now I have $22 in ECB to use within the next month.

I still have a lot to figure out, but I'm excited about my new "game". Goodbye forever, Wal-Mart!

Yum yum eat 'em up

This was a much-used phrase in our house growing up but for the life of me, I can't remember where it originated. Any thoughts?

Anyhoo, I've been taking advantage of my vacation from work (glorious, by the way) to spend some time cooking. I love to cook and cook much, much more than I did when I first moved out on my own. The extent of my cooking expertise then was Tuna Helper, spaghetti, and the like. I haven't taken those out of the rotation, mind you, but I've branched out a bit. I still don't like washing dishes, but I'm accepting that as a necessary evil when cooking. Here are some things I've recently whipped up...

Roasted Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas
olive oil
garlic powder

1. Drain chickpeas in a colander and rinse the bean sludge off.
2. Mix in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and garlic powder (to taste...I like an awful lot of it). Toss to coat thoroughly.
3. Dump in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. Check one before you pull 'em out to make sure they're crunchy.
*These are a great substitute for chips or salty, crunchy snacks. I think they'd be really good with other spices, too...lemon pepper, cajun seasoning, chili powder, any kind of Mrs. Dash...the possibilities are endless!*

Key Lime Pie (from July's Southern Living)
14 oz. can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
3/4 c. egg substitute (Egg substitute inexplicably gives me the heebs, and I refuse to buy it. I subsituted 3/4 cup eggs, but next time I may just make it 3/4 cup egg yolks. Depends on my mood.)
1/2 c. fresh Key lime juice (regular lime juice works fine)
2 tsp. Key lime zest (zest those regular limes before you squeeze the heck out of them)
1 ready-made graham cracker crust (I used a Nilla wafer crust and it was phenomenal)
1 8 oz. container fat-free whipped topping (I forgot to buy this, but it tasted great without it)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together first 4 ingredients until well blended. Pour mixture into pie crust; place on baking sheet.
2. Bake for about 15 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and place on wire rack; let cool completely (about 1 hour).
3. Chill in fridge 3-24 hours. Top with whipped topping just before serving (unless you're me, and your Cool Whip is still in the freezer case at the store).

Corn-and-Okra Maque Choux (also from July's Southern Living)
*I will absolutely be making this again. So, so good! FYI-Use a big skillet because everything is going in there.*

1/4 lb. spicy smoked sausage, diced (I used Conecuh Spicy & Hot sausage...way tasty)
1/2 c. chopped sweet onion
1/2 c. chopped green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 c. fresh corn kernels
1 c. sliced fresh okra
1 c. seeded and diced tomato
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook sausage over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until browned.
2. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook for 5 minutes. Don't cook the veggies to a mush...they still have 10 more minutes of cook time!
3. Add corn, okra, and tomato. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often.
4. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Remind yourself that you're an adult with some self-control and don't need to eat the entire pan in one sitting.

Fresh Corn and Avocado Salsa (Pioneer Woman's recipe)
*This was so incredibly delicious. Quite honestly, though, it didn't age very well. I think it would work better when you're making it for a crowd and it will all be eaten within a day of making it. After about 2 days, the avocado and the cilantro start to get kinda weird. I think my avocados were way too ripe to begin with. Just sharing what I learned...make it and then get lots of help to eat it up fast!

4 ears sweet corn (use more if yours are small)
2 whole very firm avocados, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
juice of 1 lime
lots of chopped cilantro
salt to taste
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. sugar (PW says optional...I think it's necessary...balances out the vinegar and brings out the taste of the lime juice)

1. Slice kernels off corn cobs.
2. Combine with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cold.
3. Serve with tortilla chips, in tacos, or on top of baked chicken (my choice...yum).