30 Things I am Thankful for...

30 Things I am thankful for….

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, several of my friends are posting the 30 things they are thankful for on Facebook...one for each day of the month of November (assuming there are 30 days in this month.) I am going to try to post them all at once because I just don’t know if I can commit to 30 days of anything.

*These are in no particular order.

30. November--If you have read my Blog before you would know I am thankful for the month of November. It signals the end of middle school and high school football season and has birthdays of many of my most favorite people in my life.

29. My job--I love this year more than any other, I think, I have found what I wanted to do and where I want to teach…finally for the first time in my 30 years.

28. My husband--I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I was 21 and saying I do. After 8+ years of marriage I am pretty proud of where we are and how far we have come.

27. My family. I have the best mom, dad and sister in the world. There is not one day that goes by that I don’t speak to one of them!

26. Chauncey—the best Labrador Retriever in the world. He is my walking buddy and my confidant especially when my hubby is away.

25. Michigan State University—I am proud to be a Spartan and everything it means to be one.

24. Holiday Breaks—It is the time I get to see my family and occasionally get to sleep in.

23. Pizza—My mom said when she was pregnant with me she ate a lot of pizza. I guess it’s an inherited trait.

22. Texas sunshine—95 percent of the time I love the weather here.

21. Michigan—I will always be a girl from “the mitten.”

20. My interviewing skills—I have had a lot of jobs in my day and pretty much every interview I have gone on has helped me to get to the next step.

19. Project Lead the Way—I feel lucky to be one of the 5,000 or so teachers that have been trained in their curriculum. The two weeks I spent away from home were the hardest I have ever experienced but totally worth it, especially now.

18. The power of prayer--need I say more?

17. My cousins—Growing up with cousins nearby, there was never a dull moment over the holidays. They were some of the first people I could be silly with, and some of the first I got in trouble with.

16. Traveling—I have been able to go to some awesome places with my husband and my family.

15. Cars that work—I hate having car trouble!

14. My I-phone—it has changed my life.

13. Bath and Body Works—I would die without their lip gloss and their wall flowers make my house smell divine.

12. Coworkers that make your day a little brighter. I think work is a lot more fun when you have comrades to commiserate/celebrate with.

11. Our house. Even though it is a pain at times, I love having a place to call home.

10. Books—I read a lot and I am thankful the city library is so close!

9. Nerds (I actually stole this from one of my students)—without nerds (or as I like to think of people that are way smarter than me) we would not have the improvements to technology that we currently have.

8. Dessert—Chocolatey, fruity, sweet—I don’t discriminate.

7. Coffee—I am not a huge coffee drinker but I love my Keurig and an occasional Starbucks.

6. Maurices—The material side of me is thankful for Maurices because they have the cutest clothes!

5. Christmas Decorations and Christmas music—Makes my heart happy, even if it is just for a month or so.

4. The outlet mall—we live less than five miles away from the outlet mall--sometimes I think that is too close.

3. My mom’s home cooking.

2. Parents who raised me right—they truly were my first teachers.

1. Choices in life—I try to stress this to my students, “You have the power to make choices (good or bad) in your life.”

And that is my list.

Thanks for reading.

The end.

Bunions are not sexy...neither are orthopedic tennis shoes

After weeks of Webmding my symptoms, I finally decided to go to the doctor. I had been suffering from pain in my heels for over a year, but I figured that was an easy diagnosis. It was a no brainer--plantar fasciitis.  I bought inserts and did stretches but they really never got better. I was going to go to the doctor in August before school started back again…but decided against it.

But, lately I have had a “bony protuberance” at the base of my right big toe. DAAAAANG, it hurts and it is U-G-L-Y.  I have never had pretty feet, but  is was fairly repulsive.  I finally called and made my appointment. Yes, in November.  Better one year later than never, right?

I pulled into the podiatrist’s office and filled out all my paperwork. There was an elderly couple in the waiting room-- which made me think only old people go to the podiatrist. I also noticed they both had those all-black orthopedic tennis shoes on--while I am no fashionista, even I have standards.

 

A sample shoe for your viewing pleasure

Yep, I was hoping that the podiatrist would not prescribe me ugly all black tennis shoes.

He shook my hand, put his gloves on and looked at my feet. I took the fact that he didn’t look totally repulsed by my protuberance as a good sign. Then, he took some X-rays.

He came back in the room with some inserts and starting talking about the plantar fasciitis. I was right! But, I also have heel spurs.  Darn! That never registered on my Webmd radar.

 Lastly, the bony protuberance…it is not gout, (thanks for freaking me out Mom!) or arthritis, but it is a bunion.

Like black tennis shoes, bunions are not sexy.  And, according to my research and my podiatrist—my bunions (UGH, I am claiming ownership of them) require surgery for removal.

Surgery is scary. I think I am going to put this off as long as possible.  I mean, I have waited this long what’s a few more years?  Don’t worry if it gets this bad, I will reconsider.

 

Yep, I think she needs surgery. 

Games at school = Happy Kids (and teacher)

As a teacher, I rarely ever sit down “on the job.” When there are kids in my room, (which is a computer lab), I am constantly circling my classroom watching over my students to make sure they are on task and on topic—I prefer to watch my students every move, lest they start looking up insanely inappropriate topics.

Today, I told my students after their warm up, they would have their choice of a few activities--including Google Sketchup or Gamestar Mechanic. (If you don’t know what either of these programs are, you should check them out.)

 Of course, I did not have a behavior problem and everyone did what they were supposed to—seriously. I warned them and set my expectations beforehand, but I truly think they were excited to take a break from their normal rigor and have some fun.

I monitored and monitored and then I decided to take a seat. I observed the following:

1.       Two kids who had been in a shoving match only the week before were actually asking each other for help…and complimenting each other.

2.       Kids who tend to have a little trouble socially/academically excelled at designing games in Gamestar Mechanic and adding images to their Google Sketchup creations. (I loved it when one of my more awkward boys was the expert and helped his classmates.)

3.       Kids like to share their creations with each other and seek each other’s approval. I must have heard 100 times today, “So and so, come play my game.”

4.       Kids need/sometimes like teacher instruction but they also need to have fun every once in a while.

I know, I can’t believe I got paid to watch them play games. But, watching my middle schoolers really made my heart smile. 

Now, if I could just get them to be so nice to each other—every day.