Track Changes?

I found out today that I can change tracks next year if I want to. I'm tempted. I'm really tempted.

Let's measure the pros and cons of changing tracks.

PRO:I'll have a long summer.
CON: I won't have the huge Christmas break and I'll work on my birthday instead of having a whole month to contemplate all the things I want people to buy for me.

PRO: This track tends to have more parent involvement.
CON: This track tends to have more parent involvement.

PRO: Less behavior problems.
CON: I tend to like the behavior problem kids and work really well with them.

PRO: I was on this track in elementary school and it was the best.
CON: I'm off for Halloween.

PRO: I'm always on for 9 weeks at a time instead of 6 or 3 weeks (really, this year I go off track then come back for 3 weeks then the school year's over. How many 6th graders are going to continue to work? Ummm....1...maybe...if I'm really lucky.)
CON: I won't have siblings of my students.

PRO: I hear this class coming up is kind to each other.
CON: (I cannot think of one)

PRO: This class tends to stay at the school and not move out at random times throughout the year.
CON: (I cannot think of one)

PRO: I'll have lots of time to prepare for next year.
CON: (I cannot think of one)

This list shows that I should go for it. I'm going to sleep on it and talk to my principal on Monday. This is so exciting!

Good Morning, Mr. Winter

I woke up to this:

a light dusting of snow...

Hello! It's April 29th, Mother Nature. We had to have 2...TWO...inside recesses today because you decided this dusting was not enough. Nooooo...little Miss has to snow all. freaking. day! I expect you to clean up your act Missy! May will be here on Saturday. I expect compliant weather.

Oh, Curse Word!

As you all probably know, Wednesday is Free Pie Day at Village Inn. Obviously, we had to go.

The rules are that you have to buy something to get your free pie. There were three of us there. Here is our order:

• French fries
• Toast
• Orange juice
• English muffin

Big spenders. Apparently there are restrictions on what kind of pie you can get also. Basically it's all the disgusting pie that no one ever buys for real. I swear it used to be any pie they sold. Whatev...it's free pie.

Everything was fine until we went home. Our keys would not work. Really. Watch the video.




Because I'm not a swearer but really needed to swear, this is where I said, "Curse word!!" We tried to do all kinds of things to this lock. Mostly it was just putting the key back in and trying again...and going insane, much like Albert Einstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

After much turmoil and curse wording, my little sister was finally able to break in. Don't ask how, just know that if we ever turn to a life of crime, breaking and entering will be our first choice.

What do I do? Replace the lock? Call a locksmith? What's the cheapest option?

Short List

My friend and I were talking recently about our lists. You know, the list. The one you have been writing since you were 10-years-old, the one with the gaggle of things you want in a spouse. We realized that as we get older, our lists become shorter but there are certain things that we will not compromise on.

Here's my list: (you've heard some of these before)

• Handy (in a carpenter kind of way...not a "I touch everyone inappropriately" kind of way)
• Handsome (in a "Ash J. thinks I'm hot" kind of way not a "Every girl on the planet wants to jump my bones" kind of way)
• Active in and has a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  
• Knows the difference between their, there, and they're; two, to, and too; and your and you're

If you don't know the difference between these very simple homophones, either figure it out or don't even try getting with this. It's not going to happen.

Ok, I'm lying. If he fits the first 3 criteria I would teach him the differences between each of these oh so important homophones.

Does that drive anyone else crazy or am I just nuts?

Miss J. the Rock Star

On the way to library today, I told my class that I finished my M.Ed. classes for the semester.

They clapped and cheered and gave me high fives. I felt like a rock star.

Two Things

1. I just finished my first year of master's classes. Feel free to give me a round of applause or mounds of cash.

2. High wind + being allergic to almost everything = wanting to punch the world.

Happy Birthday Bloggy!

Here's my year in review:

I finished student teaching.

I gave great Father's Day and Mother's Day present advice.

I had a goal to read 45 books in 90 days (it's been way more than 90 days and I've only read 44...sad face.)

I got a freaking awesome job.

I graduated.

I decorated my first classroom.

I handled my first puke in the classroom experience without puking myself.

I got a blood clot (boo, Sherman you creep! I'm glad you're gone!)

I cried a lot.

I cut all my hair off...twice-ish

I didn't get the swine flu.

I moved into my new house.

I got a Snuggie for Christmas.

I found a new singles ward and spoke in sacrament meeting on my 4th day.

Things annoyed me.

My bathroom ceiling fell in.

I wrote about my students all. the. time.

My heart was bruised and broken due to school issues.

I celebrated my birthday.

I gave up soda.

I finished one year of my Master's...one more to go!

And there you have it bloggy friends. My year wrapped up in a neat, cyber package.

Earth Day Rocked My Organic and Fully Compostable Socks Off

We had an Earth Day Party. It was amazing. Next year you need to come for sure. To answer your question, yes, we are making it an annual celebration.

The day began with me making super-amazing Earth-like cupcakes. Look how much fun I'm having.

It totally looks like Earth, right?

(Side note: My roommate, Jenny, had a baby shower for her sister about a month ago. We still had a bunch of tiny, plastic babies sitting around the house.)

We decided to put a baby in two of the cupcakes...one for a test and one for a surprise.



This is us making sure putting a tiny, plastic baby into a cupcake won't kill anyone because we all like our friends and didn't want to injure them in any way...we didn't take the choking hazard into account though.




I turned some of these fabulous Earth cupcakes into the continents. Shhh...Australia is the one with the baby in it.




Jenny's brother-in-law was the lucky recipient of the baby cupcake.


He won this pineapple. He was so excited.

Once people began to eat the cupcakes, we had to begin to get creative with our messages.

Happy Darth, ay...

Happy Tar or if you prefer...

Happy rat.

Did you know that the bag from Sun Chips is now 100% compostable? These obviously had to be at our party.

At the end of the night, we decided to see what would happen if we turned on the fan while the streamers were still attached to it and the walls. Here is the result.




I realize this video is not as funny as we thought it was in the moment. Give us a break ok, it was 1am.

Visa debit cards, Justin Bieber and "Owned Dissigens"

Here's the prompt:

If you could be one age for a week, what age would you be? Why? What would you do?

These are some of the gems I received today:

K. (of this lovely and this lovely) said: "If I were a age I want to be 18 so I can join the army. I would go to the gym and get a Visa debit card."

L. (featured here): "I would turn 13 or 14 then I would try to go out with Justin Bieber. These are my two reasons. 1. because he's totally cute. 2. It would seen fun to be as old as my brother and I would only be that old for a week."

and J. (our newest overheard at school contestant!): "I would like to be 18 cuz then you would be able to do your owned dissigens (decisions if you don't read 6th grader) and I would start working to by my own stuff and not ask my parents for anything. Then I could move and get my own place and even if this doesn't happen, I plan to be responsible for what I do and not blame any1 for my actions. But first I plan to live my childhood I don't wanna grown that fast but then agen (again for those of you who can't keep up) it's just one week."

Man. I love their thinking!

*All spelling mistakes are what the 6th grader actually wrote, I wanted this to be authentic...please take off your judging pants before you call me on it.

Speed Dating

When was the last time someone asked you out while driving down the road?

If your name is Ash J. the answer is today. Yep, that really happened.

I Can't Believe I'm Admitting This

If you've even read a few of my posts, you've probably figured out that lots of things make me cry. Well, today I took my crying over ridiculous things to a new level.

It started innocently enough. I was watching videos on YouTube and in the related videos section, I saw this one. I had seen it many times before (I even blogged about it here) and because it makes me immensely happy, I clicked and watched and smiled...for about the millionth time.



Then, I remembered that when Jim and Pam got married on the Office, they did the same thing and it was so funny. So I looked to see if it was available on YouTube. It is. I was happy.



About half way through, the tears began. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I was crying like my best friends who had loved each other forever were getting married. It was ridiculous.

And there you have it...another example of how I am a huge baby.

Oil Cleansing: 15 Days Later

I began the oil cleansing method on April 3. Here is a picture from tonight (yes, I realized that it's from the other side but whatever). Look how much better my skin looks already.



I'm beginning to be a believer.

Legos Have Birthdays?

I woke up early this morning thinking "Happy Birthday, Legos."

This was so important to me in my sleepy 2 am brain that I even wrote it down.



I remember thinking "This has to be important. I should write it down so I don't forget." Well, I didn't forget but I still haven't figured out how it could be important.

If You Drink Tampico, You are Rich

F: "Why don't we go on lots of field trips? It's because our school is poor, huh. We're One Title or something aren't we? What does that even mean?"

Me: "Our school is a Title One school. It just means that we are..." [L interrupts]

L.: "We're so poor we can't even afford Tampico."

6th grader logic, if you can afford Tampico, you are rich.

The truth...I can afford Tampico but I am not rich.

Shoeless Volleyball and Nylons=Not BFFs Forever

Things I learned today:

1. Do not, under any circumstance, buy the cheap nylons.



2. If you do buy the cheap nylons because you didn't read the first thing, do not play volleyball in them without wearing shoes.

Yep, this is the first day I wore them. They are ruined but I had an amazing time and worked on being a bit more spazzy.

Crystal Ball

I read this on my friend, Lindsay's blog, (I'd post a link but it's private) and thought it was a great writing activity to start off the day so I stole it from her.

I asked the kids to write about what they would ask if they found a crystal ball that could answer any question. I made them ask at least 5 questions. Here are some of the highlights:

• What will happen in 7th grade?
• Is the world going to end in 2012?
• Will I make it to high school?
• Will I own a bakery?
• How many children will I have?
• Am I going to Heaven or Hell?
• Will I be famous?
• Will I die alone?
• Is 7th grade hard?
• Will my grandma get better?
• Will I change in 7th grade?
• Will I be on drugs?
• Will I be a professional football player?
• Why do we live at all?
• Can I have the answers to all the tests?
• What college will I go to?

Some of these posts made me laugh (you wouldn't believe how many kids put "Will the world end in 2012?" as one of their questions...they're obsessed with the movie and thinking about it right now, if you haven't already guessed), some made me so sad, and some made me worry that because of the fact that they are already worrying about such huge things.

Spaztastic

On Friday, to begin our day, I had my class write about the following prompt:

"What would make math more enjoyable for you? What do you like most about math? What do you dislike about math?"

After they wrote we talked a bit about their answers (because I want them to enjoy math and I want to see if anything I do is helpful to them). I received pretty standard answers that my students thought would make math more enjoyable like: "pass out candy or pretzels." "Make assignments shorter." "Don't make us take the math book home."

Some things they hate are: "Having to stay quiet" (side note: they never stay quiet and I never ask them to be during math). "How heavy the math book is." "Having to do a ton of problems."

Some things they like are: "When you (Miss J.) make worksheets for our homework instead of copying a page from the book." "Playing math games." and my favorite "When you act, well, you know...like a spaz." Awesome. So under the caption "How to make math more enjoyable," I wrote, "Miss J. needs to be more spazzy." They all cheered. So I guess all the yelling and doing push-ups when they get correct answers and talking like a crazy person and making faces and singing and skipping around the classroom are good teaching strategies. I'm sure my students go home every day and tell their parents about things I do and their parents think they're being taught by a nut case but it works and they are engaged...when I'm spaztastic.

Bye Bye Soda

For about the past year, I have been enjoying one of these every day of my life.

I would stop at a gas station on my way to work every morning and fill up then drink the beverage through the morning (read as: in front of my class). Almost every day someone would ask if they could bring soda to school and I would say, "HECK NO!" and continue on in my hypocritical ways. Listen kids, it's do as I say, not as I do.

However, on Saturday April 3rd, I gave it up. I just said, "You can't control me, Pepsi!" And so it was. I was done. Never to partake again.

Easter Sunday was rough and I thought I was going to die. Oh, the life of an addict. I struggled through though and didn't go back on my word (though I wanted to with every fiber of my being!).

My class went back on-track on Tuesday. Tuesday was rough but had nothing to do with the lack of caffeine.

On Wednesday, I had a professional development class and one of my teammates asked if I wanted him to pour me a cup of Coke.

Me: "Nope. I've given it up."

Mr.: "Oh, really? When?"

Me: "Saturday."

Mr.: "Oh, well when you fall off the wagon I'll be there with a cold Coke waiting."

Me: "No. I'm really done and you can't tempt me."

Mr.: "I believe you, I'm just saying I always have a Coke if you need one."

Me: "Ok. I'll keep that in mind."

But I have been strong. I've resisted his tempations.

On Thursday, one of my students finally noticed that I hadn't had any soda all week.

J.: "Miss J., you haven't had a soda all week. Are you just drinking them really fast now so we don't see them?"

Me: "Nope, I gave it up. I'm not drinking soda any more."

J.: "Why would you do that?"

Me: "Because soda eats your insides and I like my insides intact."

J.: (Puzzled look) "Ooooh."

I'm happy to report that it has now been two weeks and not a drop of soda has entered my body.

Style Sense

JD, of this hilarity and this gem, keeps me laughing all day.

Today, we had a mom come volunteer at our school. As I was explaining what she should do with students while in the hall, JD comes up to her and asks, "Who are you?"

"I'm A's mom."

JD: "Oh. My mom says I don't have any fashion sense." (As a side note, JD was wearing a bright green--think neon 80s green--shirt with a hot pink, screen-printed horse on it, black jeans, and tennis shoes)

A's mom: "Oh, really?"

JD: "Yep, my mom likes plain colors like these." She proceeds to pull her pants up so we can see her socks, which are dress socks but one is black and one is khaki. "Well, these don't match but she likes plain things and thinks I should wear them too...But I don't." And then she sauntered back into the classroom on her tip toes.

Math Time is Swear Time

I have some students who struggle with math a lot. We were working with numbers with decimals today. JD (of this amazing post) says, "What are these dots in these numbers?"

Trying to be a responsive teacher and teach to all students and teach what each student needs, I began to explain decimals and how they work to her.

JD promptly interrupts me with, "I don't know what the hay-ell is going on here."

In unison, the whole class, "What?!"

JD: "I said, 'I don't know what the hay-ell is going on here.' You know, like the stuff that falls from the sky."

F: "That's hail. Not hay-ell."

J: "I think you mean hell. JD just swore in math. HA!"

Oh, gosh.

Random Thoughts, Things I Miss

I think the judges on America Idol should judge the performers just like they judge the contestants. "Yo, dawg, Rihanna, you were a bit pitchy, dawg. Yo. Dawg. Dawg. Yo. Pitchy."

Buzz Aldrin as a ballroom dancer...how freaking cute is he? I love him even though he's basically walking and waving his arms in the air.

Try this:





Here's some things that I miss:

+Duck Tales

*Side note...when I was a junior in high school, one of my teachers gave a power point presentation. At one part she included a small (probably 3 seconds) clip of this song. What did we do as a class? Sang the entire song. It was fantastic. Had mylifeisaverage been around then, I probably would have posted it.

+Animaniacs


+Watching A Goofy Movie and singing this song and not feeling like a super dork

Easter Round-Up

Easter was great. I'm too lazy to write about it so read about it here if you're so inclined.

This is what I really wanted to show you. My silly little sister Devin likes to take creep pictures. These quickly turned into "engagement" photos. We're weirdos. Live with it. Anyway...here's one of my favorites:


After taking this one, we decided that when I get married (one day. My family thinks I move way too slow. You can read about that here.) my hubby and I should take a picture similar to this but imagine rings on our left ring fingers...and maybe happier faces.


Imagine it right in front of a temple...super appropriate, right?

The Semester is Winding Down

I only have 3 more classes this semester. Woot!

The only thing is that I hate doing my homework. I should be doing it right now but I just can't make myself. Doing things late at night seems to make for really good papers though (for real, I have waited until the last minute on everything this semester and done great. Weird but why change something that's working?)

Happy Easter

"One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Oil Cleansing

I've always had trouble with my skin. Everything I try works for about 2-6 months then stops working completely. I've honestly tried everything, I think. Washes, scrubs, drinking gallons of water, antibiotics, topical ointments that basically make my face fall off, topical ointments that make me smell like your grandma, standing on my head and chanting to the skin gods (ok, maybe I didn't do that last thing but seriously, if I'd heard it worked, I would do it.)

So, one day I stumbled upon the Oil Cleansing Method. I thought, "Can't hurt. Might even help." So I tried it. (Instead of Sunflower Oil, I used Grapeseed Oil.)

I was going to start a long time ago but turns out that Castor Oil is difficult to find (or the more likely culprit is I didn't know what I was looking for and never wanted to ask the pharmacist). Finally, I found it at Smith's. Woot! Smith's! You're a great grocery store.

Here is my skin after I cleansed it tonight for first time (please don't be frightened, I know I'm not wearing makeup and the picture looks like it's a close-up of a mug shot but this is for science people!).

I used Picnic to add the text to my photo and couldn't figure out how to move the text box. Every time I clicked on the text, the box disappeared. Feel free to tell me how I'm supposed to do it if you know how.

Like the website says, the oil mixture completely took off my makeup, I had no residue (I always have mascara left overs with the soap I use, so this is already better than soap).

My face feels soft and moisturized. I am stunned. Seriously, who thinks about rubbing oil all over their face and feeling clean? Not me! But it really did work quite well.

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my skin. Let's all cross our fingers in unison and hope that this works.

Easter Yummies

I made this loveliness for Easter. Mmmm
.


Here's the recipe I used.

My sister also made some for St. Patrick's Day. She'll probably be angry with me if I don't say to see her's also. (BTW, Court, I saw this here before you even had a blog. So, no, I didn't copy you.)

Settling Soul Mates

I'm rewatching some 30 Rock episodes. So funny!

"Settling soul mates, that is grim...and I've played Monopoly alone."
Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

April Videos

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

My sister Courtney showed me this video. Credit where it's due, you're welcome, Court.