School Daze

It is back to school season and I have to say that I LOVE this time of year!!!  We have an in-service tomorrow and next week we are back in our classrooms making them ready for a fresh new group of little ones.

I am excited about so many things this year. Two fantastic new grade partners. A new principal. Maybe some lunch bunch shifts. And of course the best part - a new group of students - cuddly and adorable and ready to have fun!

I have always been that student who looks forward to the start of school.  Being a teacher is no different.  I am excited to see the wonderful women I work with again on a regular basis.  I cannot wait to re-arrange and decorate my classroom based on what worked and did not work last year.  Did I mention school supplies?  Possibly the best things ever invented!!!  Construction paper!  Glue!  Crayons! Pencils! Yay!!!



I have always felt that September was a time for new beginnings, more so than January.  And so I go into this September with high spirits and the joy of knowing what good things I have to look forward too.  May all of you feel this joy also as the school starts and the seasons change.

The Home Stretch

I am taking a mini-break from finishing my student teaching binder.  I am really thinking I will be able to turn it in on Monday - miracle!!!

I had a good week weight loss wise - I am officially 27.2 lbs lighter than I was in August.  It feels great but what is even better is that I pulled a pair of jeans out of the "jean graveyard" in my guest room, jeans that I have not worn since summer 2005 and they fit!!!  Hooray!!!!  The fact that I spent Thursday night barfing my guts up probably contributed to the weight loss but I am not complaining.

I got the job at LOFT and start Tuesday.  Was supposed to start yesterday but was so weak from puking - and not sleeping due to Spy waking up exactly 15 minutes after I stopped puking at 4am and then staying awake until 7:30am - that I had to cancel.  I was so bummed because I could not wait to get started...sigh...I hope they don't write me off as some irresponsible person because I bailed on the first day of work.  Although I am sure they would not have wanted me potentially vomiting on LOFT customers so I guess in the end it worked out.

Despite my fantastic weight loss I am not doing a good job of exercising so I went out and got an exercise mat to try and squeeze some ab work in on those days when Spy wakes up so gosh darn early that I want to scream...I might as well try to wake up with some ab work while Spy runs around like a mad man in the AM.  I swear this kid is the earliest riser ever...where the heck did he get it from?  Clearly not Dan nor I.

OK, kiddies, back to my Diagnostic Profile.  Until next time.

You have a brown tooth...

So my weigh in on Sat went really well.  I was down 4.2 lbs (yikes!) so my total weight loss is 26.2 lbs.  I am very pleased with myself even if I am still not able to run more than 3 minutes at a time. 

I subbed today at my old pre-school in the 3 year old classroom.  It was so much fun...I really miss being a teacher at this school.  The woman that I worked with when I was there is retiring so I am hoping and praying that they will hire me in September to replace her.  In the meantime I have an interview tomorrow afternoon at Ann Taylor LOFT...totally random, I know but we could use the extra income and my wardrobe could definitely use the discount.

I think my favorite part about today was one of my little monsters telling me that my "tooth was really brown and I should brush more often."  Hummmm, I was kneeling down and looking at him right up close trying to explain to him why he needs to keep his hands to himself. Way to change the subject and disarm me, three year old sociopath.  Just kidding, he is not a sociopath but he is a bit of a terror.  And yet I had a blast today jumping back in, breaking up the "fights" and reading stories and playing with Playdoh (sp?).  I want to do it all the time!!!  Oh and for the record I asked around and I DO NOT have a brown tooth.

I am on my laptop or else I would post some pictures of the Dominican.  I will promise to do this soon...one of the times I post from our desktop.  In the meantime the weather is supposed to be getting nicer this week so I am looking forward to many walks and some playground time with Spy. 

Speaking of Spy...it hit me the other day that my baby is no longer a baby but a little boy.  I cried as I watched him try to walk down the two stairs in our family room without turning around and crawling down.  He made his way over to the wall, held onto the gate, and walk down the stairs...sniff, sniff.  Where did the last 15 months go?

Lazy Sunday

Hello all. Just an update. Down 2 lbs this week - yay!!!

I went on my run today and have to admit it is getting so much easier.  I am running now for 2 minute intervals something I never thought I could do.  I think I am starting to get addicted - the feeling I get when I finish my run is amazing.  Almost like I am taking a drug.  I know people say that exercise is the best medicine for the blues...jeeze they were not kidding!

In other news...I have 2 full weeks left of student teaching.  I am torn - in a way I am glad to be finishing...I need the time to finish my student teaching binder and my exit portfolio.  At the same time I am really going to miss my students.  They are my shining stars and I am sad that I will not be able to see them through to the end of the year.  It has been exciting to celebrate their successes and help them through their difficulties.  I will probably cry like a baby on my last day.

I am also confused about my job search.  At this point I go between wanting to start a job right away to waiting until summer to look for a position in September.  The issue is daycare.  If I didn't have Simon I would start right away but daycare is so expensive I kind of really need to choose my next job carefully.  I won't be certified until at least April so that is an issue as well...sigh...what to do, what to do...

OK, Simon is going to wake up soon. Must run.  Have a great week everyone!

2009 Meme

I swiped this from the fabulous Michelle at Bleeding Espresso. I did not do this in 2008 (for obvious reasons) so I am happy to revisit this meme and reflect on what has been an exciting and eventful year. To see what I did in 2007 click here.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Participate in the Kids Lit Klub at Cabrini where I worked with 3 amazing women to create a reading camp from start to finish. Work in an elementary school as a reading specialist. Be a mom.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I think the only "resolution" I made was to be the best mom possible to my son - hopefully I have done this but you never know.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? So many babies so little time...the short list of new babies...Mackenzie, Isabella, Booker, Jack, Olivia (beautiful niece #1), Naomi (beautiful niece #2), Taylor (beautiful niece #3), Ethan (beautiful nephew)...I am sure there are more but who can keep track!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year, but my friend Dave passed away in Sept of 2008 after a 9 m0nth battle with Melanoma. I think of him and his family often.

5. What countries did you visit? Italy

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? My teaching certification and a job!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Jan 4 - my friend Suzie went into labor while watching the Eagles game at her parents house. April 17 - had to take Simon to the Emergency Room in the middle of the night because he fell out of his carseat. he had to have a cat scan and it was awful. May 15 - my niece Olivia was born. Oct 12 - my first day student teaching!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Passing all my Praxis tests on the first try!

9. What was your biggest failure? I wish I had been able to breast feed Simon longer - but 5 months is great.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not that I can recall. Had surgery on my gums which was heinous but I am lucky to have been healthy. Still have high blood pressure, despite my weight loss.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well my mom bought it for me but my Snuggie. There, I said it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My beautiful son who has learned to walk at 12 months!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? JD our cat...bad bad bad kitty likes to poop and pee in our basement but not in his litter box which is in the basement.

14. Where did most of your money go? Our mortgage, our bills, the last of my grad school classes. Oh yeah, and formula, diapers, etc.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Taking Simon to Italy to meet Nonna Linda!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? I Gotta Feelin by the Black Eyed Peas....Simon loves this song and dances to it all the time.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? Happier (getting more sleep!), thinner (like by 65lbs!), the same...still need to find a job.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? At the beginning of the year...sleep!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Second guessing my parenting skills.

20. How did you spend Christmas? Dad, Uncle, Dan, Simon and I had dinner at our house. Mom was in Italy and we missed her.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Yes, with Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips...I am eating some right now!

22. What was your favorite TV program? Glee!!! Makes me so happy!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I try not to be a hater.

24. What was the best book you read? The Things They Carried by Tom O'Brien. Not my usual cup of tea but a really moving book.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Laurie Berkner Band - Simon loves her and so do I!

27. What did you want and not get? A paying job.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Duh, New Moon :)

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 36 and I was in class that night so I didn't do anything. Dan took me to dinner later that week. (this was the same thing as 2007...weird)

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Getting paid for my student teaching - but I love it so I cannot complain.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? It fits? I'll wear it!

32. What kept you sane? My son's smile and giggles.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? My favorite vampire - Robert Pattinson

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Clean water is a basic human right.

35. Who did you miss? All my DC ladies...I still miss you greatly!

36. Who was the best new person you met? Karen, my cooperating teacher

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. No matter how bleak life seems, there is always someone who is worse off than you - so get over it!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Still the same as 2007. "In dreams begin responsibilities" - U2, Acrobat My dream was to have a family of my own...and with that came all my responsibilities.

How did you all fair in 2009? Post a comment if you decided to do a year end review so I can read it as well.

I have high hopes for 2010 so bring it on peeps!

A lil' bit o' this n a lil' bit o' that

Since I have lost my ability to focus on any one thing for more than a period of 5 minutes, I have decided to post a bunch of blurbs about what is going on with me. You know for the 2 of you who still tune in to read this blog.

Whet to Fogo de Chao Sunday night and had a very un-Weight Watchers friendly dinner. Seriously, it was a crazy meat-a-licious meal. If you like meat I highly recommend the experience.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, I joined when I got back from Italy and have lost 11.2lbs in 6 weeks. I feel pretty awesome, better than I have in months. Now if only I can convince Spy to sleep through the night and I would feel 100%.

I took the Praxis II on Sept. 12. I need to pass it in order to student teach. I find out the results on Oct. 9 and I am supposed to start student teaching on Oct. 12. Talk about cutting it close and waiting until the last minute. Yeah, that is how I roll. If I fail...well I have to take it again in Nov and I student teach in Jan. Sigh.

Simon is crawling now, Lord help us all. He also has 3 teeth with at least 2 more on the way. He is still not sleeping through the night and hence I am not sleeping through the night either. If I do end up student teaching there are going to have to be some changes in our household with regards to who gets up to get Simon in the middle of the night. Yes, I am talking to you, D.

I need a mani/pedi in the worst way. My feet look like hooves. As usual, I have no time for this.

I am crazily looking forward to the next movie in the Twilight Saga: New Moon. Yes, I know it is a movie for teenagers. No, I do not care. The trailer made me squeal like a school girl at a Hot Topic meet and greet which by the way I have never been too in case you were wondering.

Finally, today is our 2 year anniversary. I cannot believe 2 years have gone by so quickly.

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Almost there

I apologize to the 3 of you who still read my blog. The last 6 weeks have been a whirlwind of grad school classes, interrupted sleep and Kids Literacy Klub (KLK). I am happy to say that as of tonight I have taken my last graduate class. There are only 3 more days of KLK left. On Wed night we will be on a plane to Italy. Hooray!

The only crappy thing is that I found out today - due to some major mis-communication on the part of me and my adviser - that I have one last Praxis test to take before I am legally allowed to student teach in the state of PA.

Um, WTF? The next testing date is July 25 which I cannot make since I will be in Italy. I will have to register for the Sept 12 test (from Italy btw) the results of which I will get 4 weeks later. So if I am lucky and pass on the first try ONLY THEN can I student teach. By then it will be mid October so I am not even sure it will be feasable which means I will have to push it off until January. I am seriously pissed off.

The beauty of this whole clusterf**k is that I just happened to have a conversation with one of my colleagues today which sparked this whole thing...if I had not talked to her I would not have known I had missed this major requirement. I mean seriously...there is a woman who is in charge of our student teaching assignments. She is supposed to make sure our portolios are complete before she gives us the assignments. When was she planning on letting me know that my file was incomplete?!?!?! Sigh.

Anyway after my quasi nervous breakdown this afternoon I realized that everything happens for a reason so who knows...maybe this will all be a good thing, right?

So I apologize for being such an absent blogger. Again I leave on Wed so it is possible that this will be my last post until August. Unless I find an awesome internet cafe and some free time to update you on my travels.

So until then enjoy your summers, stay safe, wear sunscreen and have a good time!!!

The little things

It is amazing how something so small as fresh clean sheets and new pillows can make a night's sleep so satisfying...even if I only get to sleep 3 hours at a time.

While scrounging around in my attic for shoes that might fit me (my feet have completely changed shape since my pregnancy but that is a whole other post) I found the new king size down pillows that my mom had brought over after Simon was born. I must have put them somewhere bothersome because they wound up in the attic thanks to my husband and his borderline OCD.

So I decided to retire our pillows and try these new ones and man are they awesome. Funny how such a small change can make all the difference.

Wow, what a boring post...is this what my life has become?

On the upside the new U2 album comes out on March 2 - what I have heard so far is a bit meh but I am reserving judgement until I can listen to the whole thing. New album = new tour. Too bad I will probably only see one show - if I am lucky - Ticketmaster is merging with Live Nation which is sure to eff up any attempts to buy tickets on my part. I am not even sure it would be worth the effort frankly - wow did I jut say that?

Grad school is heating up...I have to complete 15 hours with a student - my literacy partner. While I love doing this sort of thing it is a major pain to find someone when you are not teaching. Thankfully my friend has loaned me her son for this purpose - he is in third grade and I am meeting with him this afternoon.

Tuesday I take the Praxis I. I am scared out of my wits that I will fail the math part...I did a practice test and just barely made the passing score for PA certification. I really do not want to have to take this test more than once...sigh...we shall see what happens.

OK, that is pretty much all that is going on here. Simon is getting bigger and bigger. His baptism is March 1 so we are gearing up for that. I will post pictures afterwards. I still have to upload a bunch of the more recent pics we took...maybe I will do that tonight...if Spy behaves and goes to bed on time like a good boy.

Peace out.

Math for Dummies

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking a math class at Montgomery County Community College during Summer Session II. The class is a 100 level class for Freshmen. I am the second oldest student. There is another pregnant woman in the class but she looks about 10 years younger than me. Everyone else looks about 18 years old. One girl, the one who has "lost" her text and always shares with me is taking this class for the second time. A shocker since she is always blatantly text messaging while the professor is explaining things and then has no idea what is going on.

Why am I doing this, you may ask? Well, in order to teach in the glorious state of Pennsylvania you need to have taken 2 semesters of college level math at some point in your educational career.

Now most people that go to college take some sort of math or statistics or econ class. How did I get out of math you may ask? Well at Georgetown, as a language major, you can choose between math or science. A brilliant choice that I made wisely so that I would never have to deal with variables and equations again. Until I made a career change and decided to become a teacher.

Here is the dialogue between the Dean of the Graduate Program at Cabrini and myself during my admissions interview:

Dean: "So I was looking at your transcript and I don't see any math on here."
Me: "Well as a language major I did not have to take math. I could take science instead."
Dean: "I see. Well, you are going to have to fix that. You can't get your certification without 2 semesters of college math."
Me: "I don't understand, I am applying to the READING specialist program. What does that have to do with math?"
Dean: "Absolutely nothing. But even so it is the requirement in Pennsylvania."
Me: "Um, but I went to Georgetown. Doesn't that count for something?"
Dean: "No. It doesn't."

So now that I am almost finished the program and hoping to student teach in the fall of 2009 I need to get those math classes in.

Registering for the class was a trauma in itself. I faxed in the application/registration form and a nice lady from Montco Registration called me almost immediately to discuss why she could not register me. Apparently I had to take a placement test. I told her there was no way I would have "time" to come to Montco and take a placement test - what else could I do to register?

Registrar Lady: "Do you know what you scored on your Math SAT? Was it above a 550?"
Me: "Um, lady, I took my SAT's in 1990. It may have been above a 550 - it was a 1250 combined - but I am not sure about the math portion."
RL: "Well if you have an official copy of your scores you can fax them over. If not you can call the College Board and have them sent for a fee."
Me: "Fine give me their number."

Determined NOT to have to take a placement test that I would surely fail, I contacted the College Board. $70 later the girl on the other end...who may or may not have been born in 1990 assured me that my scores would arrive in a week. (BTW, I got a 590 on my math SAT - shocking really since my math skills in high school were borderline special needs).

So here I find myself home on a Sat night studying for my first math test in 17 years. The material is not so bad - basic Algebra and Linear Equations - but I am still nervous.

The moral of this post is...be careful when you take the easy way out...you never know when it will come back to haunt you.

So many things to blog about so little time

My hubby and I just went into our basement to find that it had flooded overnight - yikes! So not what we need right now!!! Anyway I apologize for being MIA - I had finals which are now over - yee haw! I think I did well and now I have a break until mid-Jan when I tackle 3 more classes...but then in May I will have my Masters in Ed so it will be worth it!

I had my last Toddler Talk class on Tuesday - the kids were so cute - and I got gifts!!! My first as a teacher - so exciting! Toddler Talk starts up again Jan 22 so I will try to post some of our crafts for your entertainment pleasure - it was something that I wanted to do all along but never got around to photographing the final products we made.

Sofia went to see Santa yesterday - she was enthralled by him and could not tear her eyes away...

She is so cute!!! She is coming over in a little bit so her mommy and I can check out the new Steve and Barry's - aka Best. Store. Ever. which just opened up in my neighborhood. We are talking walking distance people - this could be a problem.

Other than that I am working at La Locanda and trying to get our house in order. We painted the office/den yesterday - finally - so things are coming together a little bit at a time.

I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy holiday season!

A is for Apple

I have a new job!!!

Starting Tuesday I will be a teachers aide in a three year old classroom at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Wayne, PA. It pays peanuts BUT it will allow me to get the experience I so desperately need if I am going to be a successful teacher!

I also get to lead the"Mommy and Me" classes once a week which involves reading books and doing arts and crafts. Are you jealous? I will make a Popsicle stick figure for you to alleviate your jealously. I will even put some glitter on it - PURPLE glitter - because you are special.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend!!! Dan and I have a wedding to attend for which I bought the MOST BEAUTIFUL olive green dress. I lucked out and found perfectly matching patent leather olive green shoes ON CLEARANCE no less. Needless to say I am psyched to wear my new pocketbook friendly outfit!

Be safe and I will check back in on Tuesday!