Now It's the 12 Days of Birthday

I know I said, "Birthday Month," but I've decided I'm just doing 12 days of birthdays and here are my reasons in a nice bulleted list:

• My birthday is on March 12th and it just makes sense to stop on that day.
• I feel like I'm sounding super greedy.
• I'm sick of looking for things I want on the Internet.
• All these posts about my birthday are really boring.
• I have better things to do with my off track time (like fix the hole in my ceiling, be awesome, decorate, host a house warming party, clean and organize everything, get my taxes done (hello, giant refund!), rest, relax, enjoy life.)
• Have a real birthday party instead of a cyber birthday party.
• Take a trip to somewhere.
• Snag myself a super handy, super handsome boyfriend. (Handy as in "I can fix things." Not "I touch people a lot." In case you were wondering.)
  

On the 8th Day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

a magic pill that helps me not procrastinate EVERYTHING,

via

my own private chef,

a copy of Catching Fire,

five superb headbands,

via

these Lucky Loop Flats,

size 9, how nice :)

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

On the 7th Day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

my own private chef,

a copy of Catching Fire,

five superb headbands,

via

these Lucky Loop Flats,

size 9, how nice :)

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

Mostly I Hate Things I Do to Myself

Remember how I said here I had a list of things to say "I hate you" to?

Well, we're a few days into March and February is long gone and so is the love, so here are the things that I hated while I kept blogging about love:

• Being a full-time first year teacher and getting my master's degree...full-time. Ugh! What did I do to myself?
• Having a field trip, a conference (read as: I had to write sub plans), 2 graduate classes, a trip to the junior high with all my students (who now think they're too cool for elementary school and have given up on listening to reason) and a Valentine's Day party ALL IN THE SAME WEEK!
• Doing homework. Can't I just come absorb your wisdom, wonderful professor, ma'am?
• Procrastinating.
• Organizing.
• Preparing for Parent-Teacher Conferences.
• Having a SIOP Conference on both days that I had Parent-Teacher conferences...ugh. Sub plans and coming back after the conference to a messy room and upset parents and sulky kids (I'm sorry your kiddo never turns anything in).
• Being super tired but needing to stay awake because I put off doing my homework for one whole week.
• Being so easily distracted by the wonders of the internet.
• People who don't update their blogs for months...I'm pretty positive you're not that busy.
• Only having 11 weeks left with my kids when we go back on track. Holy cow! Where did the time go?
  

On the 6th day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

a copy of Catching Fire,

five superb headbands,

via

these Lucky Loop Flats,

size 9, how nice :)

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

Baking Heavenly Goodness

I'm having a Girl's Night at my house tonight so I thought I'd make something delicious. I had seen Jessica's post about Monkey Bread awhile ago and thought, "That sounds fantastic. I should make that one day." Today, I thought, "Today is the day."

Instead of making dough like she did, I thawed some Rhode's dough. It made my life so much easier and I could continue doing laundry instead of kneading dough...win win in my mind. Needless to say, I didn't actually do much, I just rolled pre-made dough in butter, cinnamon and sugar and threw them in the oven. Let's just keep that between you and me, though. I'm telling everyone else that I spent hours making dough. I also didn't make the glaze because I didn't have powdered sugar and I didn't want to go to the store but let's say I skipped that step to make it healthier.

Early on, my house began to smell like what I'm sure heaven smells like...really. It's amazing in here. You're welcome to come over right now so you can partake of the heavenly goodness.

Then, after what seemed like forever but was really only 15 minutes, I took the lovelies out of the oven. Aren't they fabulous? And yes, those are the pot holders I won here. (Thanks, Angela! Love them!)

I couldn't wait until my friends came to taste them, so I ate one. I had to make sure they were okay, what if they tasted like junk? I can't serve junk tasting bread to friends. Luckily, they didn't taste like junk. They were magical. Probably what heaven tastes like.

Good thing I have a little self control because if I didn't the whole pan would be gone. This recipe is so easy, especially if you don't make the dough. Go make some now and tell me how amazing your house smells.

On the 5th Day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

five superb headbands,

via

these Lucky Loop Flats,

size 9, how nice :)

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

Dinner Party

We had our "dinner party" today and in case you were wondering who I chose to be, drum roll please...

That's right...Conan O'Brien. I even did the string dance for my students.



We had so much fun! Yesterday I made the kids dress up as their character and talk to each other in character. It was so fun to see some of their costumes. Some of them went all out. I had a fantastic Albert Einstein and Alice Roosevelt Longworth. I'd post the pictures but I want to keep my students safe from all the internet pervs out there.

One More Day!

6 more hours of teaching then I won't see my little turds for a month...except for when I go grocery shopping. I always see my students at the grocery store.

Maybe I should have thought about the proximity of my condo to my school (and my students) when I bought.

On the 4th Day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

these Lucky Loop Flats

size 9, how nice :)

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

On the 3rd Day...

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

students who want to learn,

these awesome skirts,

and a trip to Washington, D.C.

There's a Lump in My Throat

Have you ever had one of those days were you realize that everything you're doing is wrong?

I had one today. I try my hardest to do everything to help everyone and I put every ounce of my being into what I do but was informed today that it's not good enough. I need to do more.

I'm at a loss. I don't know how I can put more into what I'm already doing. There is nothing left to give.

I just need a break. I need to rethink everything. I really just need to cry for about a day...and a half.

Up in the Air Future = Rambling Blog Post

I'm trying to go to sleep but I can't because I'm trying to mull over all the crap of the week. It's been a rough one at school. Yep, my students are being naughty but that's not what has made it so tough. What's made it tough is knowing that there are inevitably going to be many cuts at the end of this school year. If I'm lucky enough to still have a job next year, I know that I will loose many good friends and students will loose many great teachers.

No one feels safe. Our future as educators is up in the air. Maybe we (by we, I mean teachers with little seniority like me) will have jobs next year, maybe we won't. And let's say we are laid off by our district, it's not like other school districts have loads of jobs available. We're all scared, we're all angry and none of us know what to do.

You hear it in the hushed conversations in classrooms after school, you hear it in the lack of enthusiasm, you hear it in the lack of patience with students. What is it? Apathy. We are discouraged.

We love our jobs, we love our students, and all we want is what is best for the students. With class sizes creeping into the high 30s, how are we going to give each student the care and individualized instruction that he or she needs? We want our opinions to be heard. We want to be treated as the professional people we are. We want our expertise to be used to make decisions, not some politician who's last experience in a classroom was 30 years ago when he attended high school.

Teachers teach because they love it. But when year after year we are told that we aren't doing a good job, that we need to do more with less, that we need to make all the ills of society go away, and then we aren't given the professional respect we deserve by the public; we become angry. We become the teacher you complain about. The teacher who comes at 8am and leaves at 4pm...on the dot. The teacher who complains about any extra thing he or she has to do outside of contract hours. The teacher who pulls a lesson out of the file each week and teaches it in exactly the same way he or she has for the past 10 years, no matter how outdated it is or how much the students have changed or how much the curriculum has changed. The teacher who doesn't get to know your child on a personal level. The teacher who can't wait to retire. The teacher who does the bare minimum. And who would blame them with how teachers are treated?

How can one expect teachers to feel good about teaching your children if they are crapped on day after day by various groups of people?

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job."
~Donald D. Quinn

On the 2nd Day...

**Think 12 Days of Christmas as you read this**

...of birthdays, someone awesome should give to me

these awesome skirts,

via

and a trip to Washington, D.C.