Selfies

I wanted to do a post today on how my "No-Sugar-Challenge" went in itss first week.

You know, featuring what I ate, photos of smoothies, and how I overcame the struggles of my sweet tooth to become a better person inside and out through hummus and veggies.

All of that dramatic stuff.

But then I logged into Blogger this morning and I decided I wanted to change my look again. The banner, button, color themes, order of things on the page.
EVERYTHING WAS WRONG.

One thing led to another and I had signed up for both a Pixlr and Photobooth account, and I had thrown multiple hissy fits over links not working in html.

I took a break, and even though my "grab my button" box isn't working, (that sounds dirtier than I meant it to....)  pages to delete, and organizing to do, I am done with it for the day.

I'll post about the no-sugar-challenge tomorrow, (right before I head off to my first shift at an ice cream place...PERFECT) but not tonight.

Instead, I'll just post some selfies I took with Photobooth while drinking my morning coffee.
With my dog in the seat next to me.

GET READY FOR SOME ULTRA LAMESAUCE ACTION.

First Photo

Dazed and Confused

Family photo

Linus sneaking into the photo.

And then Linus being forced in.

Bug eye effect. (I feel like I've seen dogs that look like this before.)

Bruin taking a good hard look at himself in a mirror.

Bruin falling in love with himself.

Love the new look of the blog? Hate the new look? Didn't notice? Anything that is driving you up the wall that I need to fix?
Let me know in the comments below!

Stay Awkward, 
Tricia

Weekend Recap 4/26-4/28

Thought I'd recap my weekend. More so because I have a miserable memory and if someone asked me a month from now what I've been up to I would tell them I have no idea.

Friday after school started out with Track practice. (Yes, the weekend starts Friday afternoon.) Even though it's still hanging out with 7th and 8th graders, it's really nice to hang out with 7th and 8th graders that aren't the 60 that I spend all of my time with. Don't get me wrong, love my precious cherubs.

But when a kid does a sport they actually want to be there, so it's nice to do the coach thing after school after playing teacher all day.

Then I had to book it back home, had a snack, and Dave and I had to clean up around the house because our landlords were having an appraiser in. We also had plans with our friends who lived below us in another apartment to come for dinner. It was their first time seeing our new place so we didn't want it to look like a dump. We tucked boxes into corners, laundry into baskets, and swept all of that pesky dog and cat fur, finishing up by putting Bruin and Linus in the crate so they wouldn't bug the appraiser.

That's right, Bruin and Linus in the crate.

Together.

Chilling like villains.

Not because either of them are violent or whatever. They just both think that any stranger that walks into our house needs to be their bestie.

Not taken this weekend, this is at our old apartment. But I mean I think that this has happened more than once makes it all the better.    

So the appraisal was fast, and our landlords were not only surprised by the cuddling happening in the crate, but also how the place had come together.

    

Then our former downstairs neighbors came over to visit.  (Not the ones we ran away from, the ones before them that were like our second set of parents.)

 They brought over sushi and we made homemade pizza. I love having "family dinners" with these friends because they have such great perspective on life.

Saturday morning came around and Dave wanted to take me out fly fishing.

Notice snazzy pink fly fishing vest.

Now for those of you who don't know, Dave is big on a lot of outdoor sports.

He is a big hiker, he skis, he rock climbs, ice climbs, camps (all 4 seasons) hunts, and fishes.

He's for sure a true Mainah.

While I don't participate in all of the above hobbies (you will not be seeing me with an ice axe hanging off a cliff anytime soon, and I have yet to fire a gun) I do take part in the fly fishing.

First off, it's not boring like the type of fishing where you go out and just sit there. You have to work for it by picking the right spot, putting out a cast, and reeling it in the right way.

Also, have you ever been in a pair of waders, waist high, in a cold river on a hot summer's day? It's such a cool feeling.

Finally, I don't have to take it super seriously. I'm fine with not catching something. I just like being outside, hanging out in a river, usually with Dave or a group of friends of ours that like to fly fish. So that also means that I pick the fly that I like the looks of that day. (OOOH I LOVE BRIGHT GREEN TODAY, DAVE TIE THAT ONE ON MY LINE.)

It is pretty hilarious though when I do catch a fish and I'm using a fly that's "not supposed to work".

Did I mention Dave bought me a snazy pink fly fishing vest?

 That's a perk too.

We made it down to the first river which is strictly catch and release.

 We got our flies on and got into the river.

We got our casts going, got comfortable with our form and fished for an hour.

We moved spots, changed flies, but didn't see much action. I realized I had to go to the bathroom so I got out of the river to, um, spend some quality time with mother nature.

When I pulled the waders off and looked at my spandex pants I realized I had a huge wet spot right where it counts.

And I thought to myself, I think I peed my pants.

I mean this wet spot was exactly what it looks like when someone pees their pants.

Did I feel myself pee my pants? No.

Was it warm? No. Super cold. 

But Dave said there weren't any holes in these waders, and I mean, I did really have to go....

Maybe I accidentally peed myself when I hit the cold water.

So I went into the woods, did my business, and wondered whether I should tell Dave.

 If I peed my pants, that is totally gross. But if  I peed my pants that is also totally me.

After realizing on my walk back to the river that he is indeed stuck with me for better or for worse, I displayed my lovely wet spot for him.

I was cracking up, he was cracking up. I told him I honestly didn't remember peeing myself, but I had no other explanation. He rolled his eyes, told me to put the waders on and get back into the river.

He didn't care, he just wanted to catch some fish.

THIS IS MARRIAGE KIDS.

So we get back in the water, start to see some fish jump, but they're not going for anything we're throwing. Our friend Jamie ended up joining us on the river and he couldn't catch anything either.

At one point I was literally 5 feet away from some fish, I could see them in perfectly. I started just throwing the fly right in front of their face. They would look at it, move a little towards it, and I would see their tiny faces contemplate going for it, but then they were just like "Eh, I don't feel like moving to get that."

We had a case of Lazy Fish Syndrome friends. I mean we threw everything in front of them. They just weren't having it.

 But I didn't care. I had a great time hanging out and pretending I didn't pee my pants.

 Plus THE WEATHER!!!!  I could've been doing anything and enjoyed it because I was so thankful to get some sun.

It's really pretty until you realize there's a tire in the middle of the river. This was the catch and release place. No worries.

We decided to move to a different river, and wanted to put some dry clothing on so we could stop for lunch at this local farm/cafe.

I take my waders off for a second time, and it doesn't look like I peed my pants anymore. No.

 It looks like I peed my pants 13 times. So much so that there was liquid in my boot.

So the good news? I didn't pee my pants at all on Saturday.

The bad news? My waders had a leak in them and now we have to fix them. But hey, silver lining is that at least we know where the hole is right?

After eating the most organic BLT of my life we headed to the next spot a town over.

Not only did we not catch anything here, but the current was so strong that it knocked our friend right off his feet and down the river a bit. So it wasn't the most successful trip, but in the end we enjoyed our time outside.

Sunday for me brought yard work and school stuff. I posted here, then Dave and I decided that we needed to start working on our lawn.

 

Our landlord has some stuff piled up from an old shed that used to be on the property, so that stuff is piled in our backyard. It will be going soon, but with that and all of the pine needles it felt claustraphobic. Plus, what a pain in the buttox to pick up pine needles every time we go to pick up dog poo. While our landlords were going to take care of the lawn care, it was again gorgeous outside and we wanted an excuse to be in our backyard.

We also have some things we wanted to do to dress up the front of our house as far as planting goes and figured Sunday was as good a day as any.

First, we needed supplies. Supplies like window boxes, pots, rakes, gloves, seeds and soil. Our first stop was at a discount store here in Maine called Mardens. It has everything you don't need but you will buy because it is on discount due to water damage at some warehouse. We didn't find much as far as gardening but the trip was well worth it because of this gem I found in the furniture section.

I call it: Seduction of a Jaguar. Coming to an animal-print-themed bedroom near you.

3 stores and too much money later, we came home with everything we needed. 

This what my car looks like with garden stuff inside.

We raked and cleaned up the backyard, as Bruin watched with the wind blowing through his hair.

I promise we don't tie Bruin up like this, I'm not crazy about just tying a dog up in the backyard and leaving it because it could get away and it could really hurt itself But we figured since we were right there we could tie him up on the stake we usually use for camping.

Out front we wanted to put some flower boxes and pots.

Fun fact: years ago, before it was a nursery, our house was a general store. So we have this super awkward parking space and even more awkward awning. Per my mother-in-law's suggestion, we're going to put up some twine running from the white boxes you see to the awning and plant some morning glories.

If it works, we will have morning glories and moon flowers forming an almost privacy shade on either side.

If it doesn't work, we'll be the weird people on the street who made the side of their house kind of look like jail.

I'll keep you posted.

And that was my weekend! I'm now sitting on my couch, and planned ( for school) for the week. I think I've got a few blog posts up my sleeve too which will be scheduled to show up sometime this week (including this one.)

Hope your weekends were as weird, awkward, and sunny as mine.

Stay awkward,

Tricia

It's OK, OK?!

Thanks Neely and Amber for giving me a chance to affirm my life choices no matter how unhealthy and diluted they may be.

It's OK that I did a link-up yesterday and I'm participating in one again today. And guess what, I love Friday letters so I'm probably going to do that one too! And that's OK.

It's OK that if I didn't join this link-up today I was probably going to write about the West Nile Virus and other things on the news that scare me.
So just be happy I decided to do a link-up today.

It's OK that I'm addicted to my iPhone. And it's OK because everyone else is too.

It's OK that I decided to forgo the gym all week and have done Pilates and Yoga videos instead. AND I'm going to do it again today. I just hate having to pack up all of my stuff and get to the gym when I have to rush to work after. We all know what happens when I do that.
And if anyone would like to argue that I'm not getting a work-out, then you can just do Vinyasa yoga with me and we'll see how much you sweat!

It's OK that my school changed websites and I still have not created my new one. Like blogging I have to be in the right mood to get that sort of thing done. Because if I'm not there would be mucho swearing going on up in here.

It's OK that I'm a little sad for my summer job to end. Not only will I miss the paycheck, but I'll also kind of miss hanging out with college and high school kids handing out cones of frozen custard. It's a good time I promise.

It's OK that I pinned one of my own posts. I crafted and I'm not really a crafter so I feel like I'm allowed to be proud and pin that thing. (PS you can follow me on Pinterest here.)

It's OK that recently I have been watching the Youtube Vlog "Daily Grace" on a daily basis. She is ridiculously funny and the type of girl that when you watch her videos you're just like, "Yep, we should be best friends that make awkward jokes at each other." If you've never seen her, click the link above and check her out so you can spend an hour of your life watching a bunch of her videos. (Which is OK because I have.)

It's OK that I'm going to casually drop into school this morning to drop off some books when I really just want to check to see if my room's been vacuumed yet. Because if it hasn't then I'm probably just going to do it myself sometime this weekend.

It's OK that yesterday I took a 3 minute video of my cat meowing at me after my shower so I'd turn on the faucet, which may or may not also featured me talking back.
I have a dog (that I think I love more) so I officially can't be a crazy cat lady.

And finally, It's OK that I might try to squeeze in one more fun read on my Kindle before school starts, because we know that's not going to happen very often once it does!

What's OK with you today?

Let's Talk About Linus

So I dropped my blog a little bit in the fall and then suddenly picked back up in the Spring.
During that time a cat named Linus mysteriously appeared in the mix of things.

This is me finally getting around to the story of how Linus joined our little family and became one half of the world's most confusing and adorable bromance of all time.

I've never really been much of a cat person. I mean, enjoy cats and will play with them but dogs are just the best.  And cats aren't always looking to be my loyal and unfailing best friend. Plus cats aren't always super great at doing circus-like tricks. Hence, the whole dog-person thing.

I've always had a cat growing up,  but didn't really have an inkling to get one anytime soon.

And then this guy followed me into my apartment.

He was a thin black cat with a torn-up collar that had clearly been choking him. He obviously was recently adopted and a well meaning family put a toy collar on the cat and let him loose. He tried to rip it off which just made it tighter.

Naturally, I had to take him in and give him some food and take the collar off that was choking him.

His name tag said his name was Sirius and he made himself comfortable in our apartment.

We kept him for the night because we didn't know if he was an outdoor cat or not and wanted to make sure he went back to his right home.

Oh, and Bruin loved him.

Followed him around, gave him kisses, tried to share his toys, and all other things dogs do to show love.

We found his family of young children the next day. We talked to them about the right collars for cats instead of using toy ones especially for an outdoor cat, what they were feeding him, making sure they kept tabs on him in general, and kissed him goodbye.

Bruin was sad. He whined and whined and whined out the window as Dave handed over the perfect little black cat to the kids from next door who had identified them as theirs.

So I mean....my hands were tied.
 It was out of my control.
We just had to get our dog a cat.
(This is all normal right? People get their cats as pets for their dogs all the time right?)

After making some big eyes at Dave while hugging the dog, we ended up at the local animal shelter two days later. While there were many kittens just weeks old, there were a couple that were 3-4 months old that caught our eye.
There were a few that we liked but Dave got attached to one in particular that wouldn't stop crawling all over him. Because that's how boys fall in love.

This was him the day we brought him home.

I had heard the local pep-band playing "Linus and Lucy" on a run a few days before so you could say the name was stuck in my head. We named him Linus and brought him home.

Bruin was obviously interested in this second feline that we brought into our home in just a week.
And Linus was interested in the little polar bear that kept following him around.

They got along pretty well that first night. Lots of sniffing and noises being made. They were friendly.

With that said, when I got home the next day from work and laid down on the couch for a little nap, this happened.

That's right folks, this is just after one day. 

You can just take a minute to set this as your new desktop photo.

So, there it is, the story of how Linus came to be a part of our family.
Linus and Bruin are now besties.
Bruin cleans Linus's ears on a nightly basis. Linus eats Bruin's food when he feels like it and sometimes even shares his own. They chase each other around the apartment, watch birds out the window, wake us up in the morning, and get locked in the crate together when they just get too excited over company.
Of course they still cuddle on the couch with each other because they're trying to break my iPhone memory.

Also, they keep eachother company when we're gone. (This is literally how I left them one day on my way out to school. I HAD to take a photo.)

Like I said, a bromance that will go down in history.

A cute little end to this story is that Sirius is still around. He is officially a neighborhood cat and has grown rather attached to the neighbors downstairs.
And during one of his daily visits to our yard guess who he got to meet?

So am I a cat person now?
No, not really. I would still categorize myself as a dog person I guess.
BUT,  I guess you could see it like this:
I'm a dog person whose dog is definitely both a "cat person" and a "dog person". (Shhh Bruin still thinks he's human. It's just easier that way.)
And I'm also a dog person who owns a cat that's a "dog person" too.  :)

Have an awesome day, and go hug your pets for me!

Upcoming Vacation Adventures and Guest Blogging?

First off, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful feedback that I've been getting on my last post about suggestions for blog changes/titles. I've had some really nice feedback over both comments and email. I'm not quite settled but I might be ready to limit it down to a few different options and then look for some more feedback before making anymore changes. I also have other ideas for what I want my blog to LOOK like. Be looking for some more posts in the near future on that.

ALSO, the adorable Autumn over at "Mrs." in the Making gave me an award. I'm going to wait to address that in another post because I need to get to this next thing before the next couple of days rush up and past me. In the mean time, check out Autumns wonderful blog and all of the other award winners. There are some fun ones in there!

Now, there have been a lot of things going on for me recently. This caused me to take a brief hiatus from blogging which I have been slowly doing more of. Now there have been lots of things that I've wanted to tell you, but I've gotten to about 3. Which is fine, because this is my blog and not yours.

One of the most exciting pieces of information that I've been meaning to share with everyone is this little trip I'm going on for April break. This trip?

OH I'M JUST GOING ON VACATION TO

MEXICO!!!!!!

Image Via

Cue whatever sterotypical mexican party song that probably just popped into your head. 

You know, like the song that plays in the background of that commercial where the little kid invents the flat bottomed taco and they lift them up in the air and trumpets come in. Anyone? No? Just me, Okay.

 

I know, I'm unbelievable lucky. I know, I can't believe I've been keeping this secret from you either. 

And when I say I'm going to Mexico on April break, I mean I'm leaving on a plane 3 days from now because that's when I am on April break. 

Are you hyperventilating yet out of excitement/nervousness/pure evil jealousy yet? Don't worry, we'll be okay. Because, you know, I'm going on vacation. 

Now if you're a stalker or my dad you are either excited or super mad at me because I just stated that I'm going on vacation on the internet, which can lead to bad things like break-ins. Don't worry Dad, there's someone watching my house. I like all of my cheap stuff that I pretend is expensive and don't want it stolen. And plus, Linus is spoiled and I couldn't possibly leave this one all by himself now could I?

Shhh he doesn't know the dog isn't staying home with him yet.

Sorry vandals, my cat has a live in baby sitter(that is a human, not my dog) so you can't steal him or the most expensive thing in my house. Which by the way I think is my crock-pot. 

Anyway, back to the important stuff. Yeah, I'm going on vacation to Mexico in three days and I'm just about dying from excitement. 

Image Via

How does a girl whose most expensive household item is a slow-cooker? Because the hubby's wonderful parents are taking us. 

That's right. I'm vacationing with the In-Laws. His parents and his brothers. For some of you vacationing with your husband's family might sound horrible. But it does not for me because they are pretty awesome people.

We're heading to a resort that is all inclusive. We've got only a couple of things planned like a day trip that Dave and I are planning, but other than that there is nothing planned. WHICH IS PERFECT. 

Lounging on the beach, at the pool, on the balcony. Doing nothing is exactly the prescription this crazy person needs.

It will also be nice to have a different change in scenery for photography. Despite the fact that I haven't shared much of it, I've been taking photos but the scenery seems to be the same. It will be pretty awesome to be somewhere else other than the normal places in Maine. 

Now I've been preparing for this trip for a while. I've been slowly getting new swimsuits and accumulating new outfits. I've grown up on the ocean my entire life, but I'm the type of girl that wears an old bathing suit that doesn't match and a t-shirt and athletic shorts above it. I'm not there to give a fashion show I want to get a nice tan and cool off. 

But I realized quickly as I got going into planning that now I'm a big girl going on a big girl vacation. So I've purchased some tankinis that match and a few coverups. I also have some pretty cute dinner outfits if I may say so myself! If I'm feeling good about what I'm wearing and I'm not looking like a lobster I might snap a few pictures for a little fashion blog post.

I've also been stocking up on books for the beach and the plane. As of right now I have 5. That's right, read it and weep fellow geeks, I've purchased 5 books for my upcoming vacation. I tried to do a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Again, if I'm loving any of them a bunch then I'll hop on here and do a review. 

So since this is the first time I've been on a vacation like this since my senior year in highschool as well as on a plane, and the first time I've been to Mexico I clearly am getting all nervous about what I might be forgetting or important travel tips that all of you vacation savvy people have up your sleeves. 

Here are a few questions for you my readers:

1. Have you been to an all inclusive resort lately? Is there anything you wish you'd known? Anything you wish you'd taken advantage of while you were gone?

2. The last time you went on a plane was there something that you were like  "Man, I totally wish I'd brought this" or "Man thank god I brought this!"

3. What are some absolute must-haves for your carry-ons?

4. Do you think it would be worthwhile to have some scheduled blog post while I'm gone?

5. Any words of advice or wisdom before I set off for a week of vacation with 5 other people, or jetsetting in general?

6. Do you think it's too late for me to arrange a guest blogger for sometime next week? How does that even work? I've played with the idea of asking someone to do a guest post for me while I'm gone on vacation or whatever but I clearly never got around to posting or researching the issue. Now that I'm 3-4 days out I am thinking ahead to my blog and going hey, that's a long time for it to be left high and dry without any intention. 

For me, I would only be comfortable with a guest post from someone who reads my blog on a  regular basis and comments, and whose blog I'm familiar with. It would be cool to have a guest post on a funny/scary/memorable vacation moment. Even if it's not for this vacation, how does it even work and is there anyone out there that would want to jump in and do one? (This last question is probably best answered by email unless it's a general comment on guest posting.)

Thanks ahead of time for the advice on the questions above. The closer to vacation I get, the more excited I get, but I also get nervous as well. I'm so worried I'm missing some big piece of information or I'm going to do some facepalm on missing some pretty obvious thing in my purse at the airport. Your input is appreciated, as always. 

And don't forget to weigh in on your opinion on my hopeful upcoming blog changes. 

Stay fabulous!

Fur Baby Friday

I think now that I decided to be a blogger again about a week ago, it's time for me to get back into link-ups.

You know, let people know that I'm around being awkward and fabulous. Get it out there.

 I just recently discovered the blog Mrs. Monologues. Not only is she  funny and has a blog name that  I wish I could steal, BUT she has the perfect link up for me to get back into the swing of things.

 

OH. YOU'D LIKE ME TO POST A PHOTO OF MY PETS???

I think that is something I can handle.

I mentioned in one of my "coming back" posts that we got a cat in October. 

He and my dog are the best of friends. 

Besties with testes if you will. 

Well, without the testes. Those got taken care of a while ago for both of them. 

You're welcome Bob Barker. 

Either way, I posted a super cute photo of them cuddling. I apologized for the cute overload and promised I had something up my sleeve.  

I think you're ready. I think the world is ready.

The color's weird and it's a little blurry because I took it with my iPhone while shaking out of excitement.

If you just went blind from adorableness let me just recap this for you:

That would be a photo of my dog napping with my cat. In the spooning position. 

Did I mention that Bruin and Linus had known each other for a week when this was taken?

Now, haters are gonna hate and ask me if they were actually like this or if I went all Fancy Cats on them and posed them like this. 

Well haters, you're just hating because you wish you knew where I lived so you could kidnap my pets. 

But....I did change one thing.
Bruin's arm was not around Linus in a loving embrace. I put it there.
BUT I MEAN COME ON. That's literally all I changed. His arm. That means they were all snug up against each other just as in love as this photo depicts.

Actually, I'd like to think Bruin didn't put his arm around him because he didn't want to squish Linus's little kitten belly.
And that, haters and friends, is even cuter.

Making a Comeback (Part 2)

I know I said I'd post Part 2 Friday. But after actually doing all of those things that I stated I'd do in my last post, (yes I actually did go to the gym, and I literally did destroy a recipe that I found on Pinterest) I fell asleep.
Because being me is exhausting.
And I think my body knows that's what usually happens to me on a typical Friday night, and my body doesn't want me to get out of my usual schedule. So thoughtful.

Oh, and then yesterday was my anniversary with husband. No big deal.
Either way, anniversary? No post-y.

Plus, you guys didn't actually think I would post twice in a day after not posting for over 4 months did you? (And with further investigation, turns out a month before that. Man this fall was not a good time for blogging huh?)

Either way, here's Part 2 of my "Making a Comeback" series, if you will. This post is going to be about the other things that have been filling up my life while I haven't been blogging for essentially the past 5 months. Or just exciting things that I need to catch you up on.

So here it is, my life in the past 5 months.

Teaching

If I had to name the one thing that has most hindered my time/energy to blog, as well as the reason I should be blogging/writing, teaching would be it. 

I'm in my third year of teaching in general, as well as my third year of teaching at this particular middle school. So reason would tell you that things should be going normally, I'm falling into routine, and this year is the easiest that it's ever been. 

Reason is wrong. 

Many expected changes came my way this fall including: the changing of teaching teams (the other teachers that I teach and work closely within a team environment), changing the students that I would be teaching, changing from having two grade levels to just one grade level, and the biggest one of them all was completely switching content areas from Language Arts to Humanities.  ( I explain more about all of these changes somewhere in one of these posts, have fun sifting)

This all sounds like reasonable and survivable professional changes, which they are, but all together at once it's quite a mix. 

Out of the aforementioned changes, probably the change that has been most taxing is teaching the subject of Humanities. I'm responsible for covering the Language Arts standards as well as the Social Studies standards for my students. Our school has a basic Language Arts curriculum aligned with state standards, and it has a basic Social Studies curriculum aligned with state standards. Humanities curriculum? No such luck. There's one other teacher in the building that teaches it, but they have a different grade level. 

Now, I have received lots of support and suggestions from colleauges. That does not change the fact that this is an extremely overwhelming endeavor. All of the Language Arts teachers in the building, including myself the last two years, teach the same curriculum but in different and unique ways. All of the Social Studies teachers in the building teach the same curriculum but in different and unique ways. That equals a lot of different handouts, philosophies, teaching styles and opinions including my own.

So taking all of this information and synthesizing it together, and essentially trying to teach what 2 teachers do in 2 years with 1 teacher in 1 year while still meeting the EXTREMELY UNIQUE AND DIVERSE needs of all of my students? 

You could say it's been overwhelming. 

Thank God for my teaching teammates and my other close colleagues. They've been guiding the way, giving me confidence, and doing their best to hit some of "my" standards and content to lighten the educational load. 

The planning and grading that goes along with Humanities? It's intimidating, immense and time consuming. I'll keep it at that.

Did I mention that I have students?
Oh yes I have 70 students. All in 8th grade.  
Which first of all,  both years that I've taught I've had 7th and 8th grade. Only teaching 8th grade is way different than teaching both 7th and 8th. Each grade level has different attributes and it's nice to get a taste of both throughout the day. So assimilating to teaching one grade level at a time (next year I loop back down to 7th) has been quite the change.

Now, I can't tell you much about my students out of respect and confidentiality.
But I will tell you this:
This has been professionally one of my toughest years. If you didn't catch it from the large sized font above, I have an extremely unique and diverse group of students this year.
I come home every night completely physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Some of you may be thinking, "Well you are surrounded by 13 year olds all day, of course you are." But there's just something about this group of students that wears me out more so than my first two years of teaching.

I've also found myself personally investing everything I have into all aspects of what these kids have going on. If I'm not in a colleague's classroom asking for classroom management advice for a single student, then I'm staying late in my classroom to making extra assignments to challenge others. Or I'm staying up late searching for and emailing tips to parents for a struggling reader. Or I'm tossing and turning in bed over a recent bullying issue that's come up.
All of this is of course "normal" teacher stuff. It just seems as though this year there's about ten times more, and in a landslide.

Fortunately, with challenges do come rewards. Since September I feel as though all of my students have come leaps and bounds academically and as young adults, no matter where each individual student started in September. 

With all of that said, I am having fun with them.
The most important part about teaching middle school is to roll with the punches, and have a sense of humor. This is an adage that I've always known, but has been tested and reconfirmed this year.

And by the way, I told all of my precious young gems that if 100% of them got either an A, B, or C in Quarter 3, I'd dye my hair pink. 

Yup. 

I'll keep you updated. 

And I'll keep repeating this:

(Pinterest)

OKAY MOVING ON. (Because believe it or not my career isn't the only thing in my life.)

Marriage

As of yesterday, my darling husband and I have been married for exactly a year. 

All good parties have sparklers.

 

Being married to my saint of a husband actually has made my life easier than harder. As a matter of fact, he was the person encouraging me to get blogging again and take some time for myself. 

 He cooks when I am tired, (every night) finds my keys and my hairbrush when I'm going crazy, (all of the time) and wakes me up when I fall asleep on the couch at 8:30. Even though sometimes I wake up irrationally angry about the fact that he brushed his teeth before me. 

Having said that, if anyone ever tells you that marriage isn't work, they are lying.
If they ever tell you that it's just like being in a committed relationship, they are still lying.
And if they also ever tell you that the first year there shouldn't be any disagreements because you're supposed to still be on the honeymoon, then call them a liar.
Because they have lied to you three times. That liar.

Marriage is work, and it's somehow inexplicably different than just  being in a relationship with someone, and the honeymoon is never over but that doesn't mean that you can't have disagreements.

 I can't explain it to you because I can't, it's just different. And kind of the same. And easy. And hard. And awesome.  All at the same time.

Either way, it's worth it, and it's fun. And he doesn't make me feel like a Princess, because I am a Queen and which he tells me everyday. And he's not Prince Charming, he's the genie from Aladdin. Because genie much cooler than any of the other princes anyway. 

 

We Got A Kitten!

Linus checking out the couch.

 

He got comfortable about 3 minutes in.

 Well he's not quite a kitten anymore...

 Well, he's kind of still a kitten, but not as much as when we first adopted him.

 Meet Linus. 

We adopted him at the end of October. He was 4 1/2 months old when we adopted him, which puts him at about 8 1/2 months today.

There's a whole story behind why we decided to get a cat, why we picked him, and his name, but I can tell you about all of that later.

Pretty much what you need to know is that if curiousity really did kill the cat, he would be dead. He is all over the place, brave, and always in something he shouldn't be. He wakes us up in the middle of the night by playing with curtains, he eats dog food, attacks toes, chases his tail, and has literally ripped an earring out of my ear. He's a lunatic covered in fur. 

But, he's also pretty sweet. When you come for the day, he cries and cries for you to pick him up. He's always waiting for you when you get out of the shower, and gives you kitty kisses while purring in your arms. I try to ignore the fact that he likes Dave better than he likes me.

Most importantly, he and Bruin are two peas in a pod. They are two peas in a pod, they follow each other around, and keep each other company.

Did I mention that they cuddle?

Adorable right?

Sorry for the cuteness overload.

Don't worry, I have more, but I'll save them for later.

Crafty-ness?

I don't have a crafty or homemaking bone in my body. But Pinterest has tricked me into thinking that I have the ability to be crafty. I've hung up and arranged lots of photos, made a cute little wall arrangement in my bedroom with wooden letters, and redid some bureaus in my bedroom. 

And cooking? Don't even get me started on the fact that I've used Polenta in a recipe.

I know, I'm blowing your mind. 

I'll try to make a priority to post the process or whatever of either one. Because I know you're all just dying to know what color I did my bedroom furniture and what wooden letters I painted for my bedroom wall. Just a taste.

Taking Photos/Adventuring/Being Awesome

In between essentially September and February, there is a lot of opportunity for adventuring and taking photos. Between the swarm of holidays, birthdays and long weekends I've been going and going and going. This vacation was a great time for me to just take a break. 

Maybe at some point I'll fill you in on all of my hanging out with family or gallivanting in the woods with friends. Maybe I won't, we'll see. But for now I'll again just give a teaser of some good times. 

And that my friends is it in a very wordy nutshell. 

I hope you enjoyed. Now that I've recapped my life and gotten you up to date on the essentials, I can move on to guilt free blogging. 

Now, the nice thing about not blogging for 5 months is that I now have extra stuff to blog about if I know I want to write but am having writers block. I've turned it all into a win-win!

Until next time, stay fabulous!