11/12/07

Is it burnt out in here or is it just me?



I am tired. Tired, tired, tired! I have no excitement lately for teaching and I think that makes a difference for both my students and me. I am sure that every profession has times like these. I don’t think anybody can be 100%, 100% of the time. And if you can, will you tell me how to do it?

My mom mentioned the other night that she thought I wasn’t having as much fun as I was having last year. I think it is true to some extent, but I really do believe that November is a hard month for me. I am just so tired all the time.

Tonight was fun. Spur of the moment I was invited to go to a movie and to dinner with one of the other teachers from work. Seeing I really didn’t want to do anything else tonight, I jumped on the opportunity. The movie wasn’t the best. It was Bee Movie. I suppose it wasn’t too bad seeing we took a three year old with us, but it wasn’t something I would suggest to all of you. I really think I should be a movie critic or something.

I bought myself a Christmas present today. I have been looking at new mp3 players for a while now and there was one that was on sale last week and I didn’t buy it. I was sad by it too, so when it was thirty dollars cheaper today I decided to buy it. I guess this is the substitute for not going to see Kelly Clarkson in Nashville on the 3rd of December. For those of you who hadn’t heard about this plan, I was going to use my frequent flyer miles to go and see KC in Tennessee. I thought it would be a good mini-vacation for this hard time of year. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convince anybody to go with me to see KC, which made me feel sad. But I realized it would have been pretty expensive. So, if you think about this whole thing, I really just saved myself 100 dollars by buying myself a new video mp3 player. J And I can use those miles later this year, maybe even to fly home.

How about those Green Bay Packers; 8-1, not too shabby? I like to watch them play after I have recorded the game. That thirty-second button is an amazing thing. Not only does it skip commercials, but it also skips from when the player goes down right to the start of the next play. Saves so much time! I have also loved that when I wake up at ten on Saturday mornings, I usually am able to pick up the Wisconsin football game. I really have been spoiling myself this year. I probably should quit that, but then again, I am not going to! It is the year of making Alice happy!

Well, no words of wisdom this time around. Except, eat your vitamin C, it is cold season after all. Ciao!

11/10/07

Summerlike Saturday.

WOW. It is warm today. I should have gotten up and rode my bike somewhere. Or taken a walk. Unfortunately, somebody decided to stay up until 2:30am and woke up with absolutely no energy to do anything but curl up on her futon and watch the Wisconsin football game. Dang Alice.

It is a beautiful day though. If it is cause by global warming, I am very glad for it. Thank you global warming. Thank you for all driving more and walking less. Please note that there was lots of sarcasm in those last few statements.

I like Saturdays. The only problem with a Saturday is that I never get anything done. I always have amazing plans like saving the universe from idiots or climbing Mount Everest, but usually all I can muster is getting out of bed, dressing and a trip to the library. Sad but true.

I cannot, for the life of me, find a book that I would like to read. This is hard because right now I really want a good book to read. Maybe as I wander the library today something good will jump off the shelf.

Not much news from this front. This week seemed to drag on and on, but at the end of it, it almost seemed short. I think I am in some weird time warp these days. I am very thankful that next week is the last full week of work before Thanksgiving vacation. Yipee for that!

I am pretty much floating my way through it all right now. I am not really excited to be at school and I think it shows. Poor little bored students.

Well, I think I better go and figure out what do do with myself for the last hour before I go babysit for my landlord. I told him that he should take his wife to the wonderful movie Dan in Real Life and he took me up on it. So, I get to have fun 4 and 2 year old fun later today. It is a perfect day for bike riding and park going, that will be fun.

Have a superb weekend.
A

11/6/07

Favorite Quote of the day.

One of my coworkers today came up to me in the hallway and said:

"Alice, Thanks so much for being my friend, and that was so fifth grade, but thanks for it!"

That quote made my day today. Sometimes I think it is important to go back to the good old fifth grade times.

Of course, thinking back on it, some of it was not that good. Like the kid who would always pick on you for being different. Or finding out that Santa wasn't real. Stuff like that.

But most of the times were good. Like getting stickers and prizes for doing the stuff you were supposed to do anyway. I would really enjoy that right about now. Oh Alice, you got out of bed. Here is a cookie. Oh Alice, thanks for coming to work today, here are some free movie passes. Oh Alice, you graded your classes' assignments. Here is enough money for you to stay in a hotel for free in Nashville, Tennessee on the third and fourth of December. Oh and just for taking roll we are also going to give you free Kelly Clarkson tickets to the show on the 3rd in Nashville. I would really like that.

I think we should keep being rewarded. Or maybe we should quit rewarding kids so much for doing the things they are supposed to do. Seriously, I am not going to be pulled over by a cop who will say: "Hey, thanks for not running that stop sign, we are so glad that people like you follow the rules." No, instead you will be pulled over for NOT stopping for that stop sign, even if it was your only offense in your life. Life is not fair and your will not get that many rewards, except for maybe rewards from credit cards and those are bogus anyway because you have to spend money to actually get rewarded. What kind of reward is that anyway? That is like going up to your friend, giving them five bucks, and then they will say: "Hey, you know you really are a good friend, right?"

And no, I did not pay my new friend at work to be my friend. It was only the first season of "The Office" on DVD and she doesn't get to keep it. Well, maybe that is why she is my friend. That IS a really awesome TV show!

Friends, I hope you are not solely my friends because of my generosity. I hope my honesty, humility, humor, likability, good looks, humility, brilliance, humility, and good personality are why you like me. Oh yeah and mostly my humility, right?

11/5/07

Manic Monday!

This is kinda weird because I am posting this through my email. So,
right now this is like writing an email but I am really blogging.
Weird. Anyway, ha ha because at work blogger is blocked but now I can
email posts and I can email that at work. Ha Ha. It makes me so
happy that I can do that. I laugh in the face of censorship!

Anybody else having problems adjusting to the new time? I sure am.
It has been weird because I normally get seven hours of sleep and that
is totally ok and normal for me, but last night I went to bed at 10pm
(I usually go to be at 11pm) and I still woke up at seven this morning
and I really didn't want to be awake. I was so tired. I think I am
getting a bit burnt out too. Oh well.

Today at school was uneventful. I really don't have much to blog
about my students for a change. T-Roy was absent and he seems to be a
common topic for me to post about. I did have a girl talk to me about
random things in girls PE today. She was talking about all the dogs
she would buy and what she would name them. She also always talks to
me in Japanese, which I find very hilarious. It is especially
hilarious when I respond to her in Spanish. My Hispanic students find
that pretty funny.

Tomorrow is voting day. If you are registered to vote, please do so.
Here in Utah, a lot is at stake for the public school system. I do
have to say that I don't care who or what you vote for, just make sure
you are educated about it. I was really mad a few weeks ago when I
found out that somebody I know actually thinks that charter schools
are private schools and that education vouchers would help her school.
So not true! I won't even get started about vouchers except to say
that parents already have a choice in education and that the
government really shouldn't give money to schools that aren't part of
their system. That just doesn't make sense. I will quit while I am
ahead or I will really start to sound like a hothead. My point is
that you do have the right to vote but that right also means that you
have the responsibility to be educated about the issues and
candidates.

I need to go work out now. I must hunt down my two exercise companions.

Have a great day and I am excited to see if that actually posts.
Cheers,
A

11/3/07

You Are What You Eat!



Well, you can learn a lot about a person by looking into their refrigerator. So, today we will look at what you can learn about me from my fridge. You do recall, “You are what you eat.”

First, let’s think about my frozen food. If you look closely you will find various items including: frozen vegetables, Lean Pockets, Michelina’s frozen dinners, frozen brown bananas, pork chops, frozen ravioli, frozen Pop Tarts, some frozen buns, and frozen Johnsonville Brats. (Funny how everything is frozen in the freezer, huh?)

From the frozen vegetables you might guess that I am some health nut, but in reality the veggies are there only in an attempt to sometimes be healthy. Next, you have all the processed dinner items. This proves that I am lazy and really can’t get myself to do anything to prepare lunch in the morning except do what I call “grocery shopping for lunch” as I go through the kitchen and put items into a bag to take to school for lunch. Don’t be fooled by the frozen brown bananas either. I do not ever bake banana bread and they are just in there because I was too lazy to walk them across the parking lot to the dumpster. One day, I hope they get there. The pork chops have been there for a few weeks waiting to be prepared and to be part of a real meal. Again, I have high hopes that one day that will also happen. The frozen ravioli is there for nights when all I can do is boil water in order to have dinner. I have the frozen Pop Tarts because I got addicted to them back in May. I have been pretty good about not buy them but I have no will power lately and I could not pass up the deal of two boxes for three dollars. Last in the freezer is the most important part: my brats and buns. Even looking into my freezer you can tell that you can take the girl out of Wisconsin but you can’t take the Wisconsin out of the girl!

Next is this fridge itself. One time one of my friends came to visit for a weekend and she opened my fridge and said: “Oh Alice, what do you eat?” Usually my fridge is pretty scarce. I hate to grocery shop so usually I go only about once a month. Right now it is pretty stocked because I just went shopping this last week because I didn’t have anything in there to eat. It does kinda look empty still, but I think that comes from living alone. In the fridge you will see: pickles, turkey bacon, bread, Miracle Whip Light, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, lots of eggs, cheese, milk, tortillas, yogurt, oranges, apples, pears, a pomegranate, salad, carrots, salad dressing, ketchup, jam, parmesan cheese, chocolate milk mix and butter. Nothing too exciting but they all tell a bit about me.

Lately, my dinners have been all about eggs. I will fry some up and eat them with toast. Of course, I always make them over easy so I have some good juice to put on my toast. That appalls some people but I love it. Sometimes I scramble them and eat them with ketchup on top (sorry niece Rebecca, ketchup is great on eggs!). And most recently I have been scrambling them and melting cheese on top and then adding sour cream and salsa and putting them on my tortillas. Yummy breakfast burritos. Sometimes I get crazy and put turkey bacon in with my scrambled eggs! Again, all of these options tell you that I am lazy and hate to actually cook for myself. Seems like a waste to cook for one. This week I did make tacos for the weekly “Office Party”(a couple of my friends come over and watch our favorite show “The Office”.) Seems to make so much more sense to cook for multiple people. I bought the pickles because I was craving them; I have always been a pickle girl, but they must be dill, I hate sweet pickles. Yuck! I often have a salad with my meals thinking that by doing so I am making it healthier. I love to top it with cottage cheese, blue cheese and croutons of course, which doesn’t necessarily make the salad any healthier! I like to put cheese on everything. Sometimes when I am just a little hungry or bored, I will just eat some sharp cheddar cheese. Again, you can’t change the Wisconsin girl! I often make pasta for dinner. I have always been a carb girl I don’t care what Atkins has to say about it. Hence the Parmesan cheese and spaghetti sauce. I bought a pomegranate because I discovered them last year and realize how very wonderful they are. I think they are quite possibly my new favorite fruit. I bought one on Wednesday and it is almost gone. The other fruit is there to make my lunches a bit healthier. I am also addicted to chocolate milk. It goes so well with pretzels. I have even gotten friends who hate both chocolate milk and pretzels to be a lover of the combination. You must put a few little pretzels in your mouth and then add milk to mix. Very, very good. Speaking of pretzels, you should also try them with your favorite gummy candies as a mix. My personal favorite is sharkzels, which are the blue and white gummy sharks mixed with pretzels, of course. The perfect mix is about one shark to every two mini-pretzels. My second favorite is cherry gummy candy with pretzels. I named these prezies this summer on my road trip with my sister, mom and niece to Des Moines. With this the combination is a little better with a ratio of 1:3. One cherry gummy to three pretzels. Delectable.

Well, there is your tour of my fridge. Not too much going on here in my life. I am truly glad it is the weekend. This week was a hard one to get through without pulling my hair out and crying. I was a bit burnt out to say the least. I had the thought in my head again that kept saying: “Why am I in this profession again?” Don’t worry I still love my work. I got observed this week, which always makes me nervous. The day after, one of my students said that she could tell I was nervous that day. My boss is pretty awesome though; she told me that my students really do love me. I think that has always been my strong point with my students, I always connect easily with them. My classroom is a safe place for them. She did have some ideas to make my teaching better and I will consider them. Overall, it went well.

Yesterday, T-Roy and I had a great conversation back in forth at the beginning of class which started out by me saying: “T-Roy, this is Houston, come in T-Roy” (he was a little confused about what he was supposed to be doing and was asking silly questions.) It was hilarious though because he responded as if he were on a walkie-talkie and concluded by saying “Over.” So, we went on having a conversation like we were on walkie-talkies for about three minutes. I love T-Roy. He makes 8th hour bearable for me. They are becoming one of my favorites partly because of him and partly because one of my hardest students got transferred out of that class. Yippee!

We also had a school dance last night. It was entertaining to say the least. I do not know why it is fun to grind up against each other, especially when it is girl on girl but for some reason that is the popular way to dance. I, for one, would never let a friend grind on me, I probably wouldn’t even let a boyfriend grind up on me and, come to think of it, I probably wouldn’t even let my husband dance that sensually with me. It is weird to me that things we shouldn’t be doing in public are so popular with the young folk. I think I am truly becoming one of those boring, non-understanding grown ups. Oh no.

Well, I better quit writing here. I think this will hold the title for longest blog entry on this blog. I hope your eyes didn’t fall out while reading it and that it did not take up too much of your on the clock time. You know whom you are little friends who often read blogs while working. I love it! Hehe. Have a great day! Cheers, A