Sound of Silence

Have you ever walked into a room and it was completely (well almost) completely quiet? I had one of those experiences today as I arrived home from a long day at work. Today was a very eventful day, as we had our first assembly, in which I had to stand at the front of the stage and sign with most of the school there. This assembly was an interactive one, where the speaker used magic to bring books to life. There was a lot of yelling and a lot of laughter. It was a great assembly and the teachers and kids enjoyed it alike. When school was finished I had a faculty meeting, a new teacher meetings, and a mandatory PTA meeting to go to. Needless to say as I walked through the door of my apartment, dropped my bag at the base of my futon, I stopped and listened....SILENCE. Now those of you who know me, know that I am not one for complete silence in a room. I like to have the TV or radio on in the background, but to tonight....only silence. The muffled sounds of the kids playing outside is the only background noise on tonight, and I'm enjoying it. Who would've thought. Now I think I know why my brother sometimes just likes when it's quiet. I may just snuggle down with a book!

Workouts and Old School Tunes

So I've discovered that it's imperative to have something to unwind after a long day at school. In an effort to get in shape, keep weight off, and just feel better, I've embarked on a personal challenge...daily workouts. Now, here in the small community that I call home, the nearest gym is about an hour away, and after being worn down with kids all day, driving an hour in the afternoon is not something I want to do. Therefore, I've invested in a Pilates video workout that I do two times a day (once in the morning and the other in the afternoon). What better way to get pumped at 5:00am for a workout than old school tunes? I know, you're probably thinking, Noie, seriously that early? Yes, that early, granted the majority of the time I don't actually get up until 5:15, but still, old school tunes are the key. With my Ipod strapped to my arm, the 35-40 minute workout occurs to tunes such as:

*It's Tricky-Run DMC
*Tootsie Roll-69 Boyz
*Push It- Salt N Pepper
*Jump Around-Beastie Boys
*Inside Out- Eve 6
*Blue-Eiffel 6
To name a few.


I've also started watching what I'm eating, but still eating what I want. I thought I'd try the Special K 2 week challenge, to which I'll eat the cereal in the morning and a snack bar throughout the day, but other than that, that's the extent that challenge goes. Sorry, it's just not for me. Instead, I'll eat breakfast in the morning, have a snack bar, eat a light lunch, and then a good dinner in the afternoon.

All in all this new outlook on working out and eating better is going well. I have now added a new workout routine in addition to the pilates in the afternoon getting my groove on with the "Pussycat Dolls Workout" DVD to which you "dance" and "lose weight", we shall see about that, and I'll keep you updated. All I know is this is day 3 of the Dolls workout, and holy moly my thighs feel like they are on fire. But I'm feeling great!

So here's to life!
Simply N :)

IT'S COMING

Ladies and Gentlemen, I realized today that in three weeks, college football season will officially begin. Now for some of you (aka my brother) you could care less about college football or football in general, however, for the rest of us, this has been the moment we've been waiting for since the final bowl game of last year. There's just something about college football that automatically makes me smile and ready to fire up the grill, create awesome tailgating finger foods, and get pumped for game day. The overall atmosphere of the fans cheering together, the players leaving it all out of the field, or the crisp fall air. There is no better feeling than the just the over all energy that you feel when the first song comes on, the crowd begins to jump, and the players charge the field. AHHHHHHH.... I'm getting excited just thinking about it!!

Although, Virginia is typically my team (I know a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes and saying completely inappropriate things), I am a little skeptical of how their season is going to go. It'll be interesting to see how the team turns around (if they do) from their challenging season last year. I am pretty stoked that Virginia will be playing FSU (ahhh takes me back to great memories of my first college football game ever), and hopefully the outcome will be the same. BUT I'm even more excited about the Virginia Tech/Boise State game that will be the season opener. To this I must say HECK YES!!! Boise State is pretty legit when it comes to football, so this should a great season opener and we'll see what Tech's team will be bringing to the field this fall.

Other teams I'm going to be keeping an eye on this year: Ol' Miss, West Virginia, UK, and Auburn.

So grab your favorite college football Ts and memorize those college fight songs 'cause IT'S COMING!!!! If you feel the same way I do, let me know! So here's to life!!

Simply N

You "speak" sign language?

Now I am absolutely positive that there are no classes in your educational career that will ever fully prepare you for the first day of the school year. Yes, there are some strategies and information that are helpful for the first 7 hours of the school year, but all in all it's more or less resorting to survival mode. This isn't just being taken from a new teacher perspective, but I've come to the conclusion that more seasoned teachers think this also.

Everyone has their first day smiles on but really each and every one of us are about to vomit with nerves and hopes that the day will go without a hitch, and most of all at the end of the day all the kids, especially the kindergartners, will get on the right bus. I walked into my classroom this morning with 3 cups of coffee already in my system and had already been awake 4 hours. I would like to say that everything ran without a hitch, but there were a few glitches, but all in all I'd say on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) it was about a 7.5-8ish day.

3rd graders are so inquisitive and eager to understand things or share their thoughts on things. For example, "Ms. Lee I have slim in my shoes", or "you speak sign language" or "why can't I run up the slide?". The questions kept coming throughout the day and I realized that this was something that I should be expecting for the remaining of my career.

I'm so thankful that I have a wonderful mentor who not only has helped me with getting acquainted with the procedures and tidbits of the school but also for just the friendship that comes along with it. During the worst part of the day today, I walked into my classroom to find a note of encouragement and a basket full of goodies that will help me throughout the first few weeks and the year (sticky notes, sharpies, award badges, trail mix, chocolate, and yes, a screwdriver because "you never know when you'll have to repair something")

Not only am I blessed to have my mentor, but equally blessed to have a great Co-teaching partner that I can bounce ideas off of and we have a similar teaching style. She's amazing and I'm so thankful for her.

So here's to a great first day of my professional career, here's to getting all my students to their right places in the afternoon, and as always here's to life!

Simply N :)

So It Begins.....

"A penny for my thoughts, oh no I’ll sell them for a dollar"-- If I die young, The Band Perry.

I have come to the conclusion that as much preparation and educational classes you sit through, you'll never know what is coming next when you enter the workforce and "real world" of education.

As I write this, I am sitting on my couch enjoying the last Saturday before my first year as a teacher begins. I have sat through orientation meetings, met a lot of great people and have gone through the routine beginning of the year meetings that I've heard would happen when I was going through college. I even won a gift card to the local coffee shoppe and a book titled "Why didn't they teach me this in college" which I have a feeling will be very helpful throughout my first year.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I would have an actual classroom instead of a hallway to work with my students and equally excited to get it set up and ready for open house. I share the room with another teacher and we both agreed to go with a farm theme for the room to bring in the culture that the majority of the kids we'll be working with know. Now I've collected some things over the years that I was in school to start setting up a classroom, but when you're expecting a room that's pretty much only a 1/4 of what you are given, my little collection seemed very tiny. Now don't get me wrong, I'll take the bigger room, and with that spend more to try to get it looking nicely before my kids come. I laughed with a seasoned teacher the other day saying you can tell who the new teachers are because they are the ones walking the halls looking diligently at the items on the "free take me" tables that the seasoned teachers have put in the hallway. Yes, I was one of those people, and the good news is I found the materials the other Deaf and Hard of Hearing teacher left (which I get to inherit). The dollar general store in town and I have formed quite the relationship and most of the employees would probably know me by name right now if I would tell them. Some of my favorite purchases have been a 5X9 rug, 12 plastic blue bins, composition books, and file folders (3 in a set)! Mom and Dad have always said I'd spend most of my leftover money from paychecks on things my students need, and I'm starting to believe they were absolutely right.

For now, I'm making a list of all the things I still need to add to my classroom and last minute check lists that seems to be growing. I have a feeling that will never end.

So a penny for my thoughts, oh no I'll sell em for a dollar....if you think you're fully prepared to go into whatever job you have straight out of college, you're wrong. You'll have those "holy crap what did I get myself into moments", but you'll find that you are more prepared than you think!

So here's to life..
Simply N

"Live in the Moments"

Any movie lovers reading this blog? If so let me tell you that Redbox is one of the best things ever invented. It's simple to use, easy, and unless you live where I do, lines are null and void. After waiting five minutes, it was my turn to check out the movie selection. Now, I am not a one of these Robert Pattinson obsessed fans, mainly because I haven't been that impressed with his acting in the Twilight series movies (which makes me a little mad because I'm a huge fan of the books), and quite honestly, he's not all that hot. However, I rented the movie "Remember Me" starring Rob Pat. and I thought, maybe, just maybe the acting wouldn't suck and it would be a decent movie. To my surprise Rob Pat can indeed act and there is a slight possibility that I actually find him somewhat hot now. But that is besides the point, "Remember Me" is a really intriguing, emotional love/drama that will leave anyone shocked by it's ending. The movie score is amazing as well.

With that being said, if you have not watched this movie and think that in the near future you will want to watch this movie, stop reading now...because I'm about to throw out a lot of SPOILERS and rant just a little. So if you don't want to see it(even through you really should), keep reading. But if you do STOP READING NOW

"Remember Me" takes place in 2001 and we are introduced to Tyler Hawkins (aka Rob Pattinson) whose life has been struck with the tragic loss of his older brother. He has an amazing relationship with his sister, Caroline and often is her backbone and main supporter. He has a loser for a father who really doesn't want anything to do with Tyler or his sister and is a workaholic businessman in New York. Tyler has his issues and gets involved with an altercation with a police officer. This throws a kink in his life, and his best friend convinces him to ask the police officer's daughter, Ally, out on a date. Well as you can guess, this date turns into a serious relationship and the poo hits the fan when she finds out why he asked her out in the first place. Now here is where I get mad. Throughout the whole movie, the father has nothing to do with the daughter or his son, but recent events has apparently made him have a change of heart and wants to be present in their lives. So Tyler and Ally have made up, their relationship is good, and Tyler leaves to meet his Dad at the office, and the dad is going to be late meeting him because he is taking Caroline to school. Long story short, his office is in the one of the Twin Towers and the last scene we see of Tyler is standing at the window of the South Tower. We see a clip at Caroline's school with the date September 11, 2001 written on the chalkboard. Now you can all guess what happens.

Now I know life isn't all roses and candies and thus not all love stories end with "happily ever after". I get that. I'm not that naive. But here's my issue, here we have a young boy who dearly loves his sister and has an amazing relationship with her, and yet he's the one that dies at the end. What the heck? I couldn't help but ask why in the world the father is the one that survives after the whole time in the film he's been a jerk and doesn't want anything to do with his kids. In my perfect "Remember Me" movie world the father would have died and Tyler would have lived. Because in my perfect movie world, Tyler was the one that was the supporter for Carloine and Ally, he was getting his life back after dealing with his brother's death, and he was the one that deserved to live. This movie had a bittersweet ending because like in many of the movies like this one, the father seems to turn his life around and you see him spending time with his daughter. So the overall outcome was meaningful...but still...really?....really? Tyler was the one who had to die? REALLY?.

This movie made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think about a lot of things in life we often take for granted. So make the time to spend with those you love, or care for. Make the time to call and talk to them, even if it's been years, months, or days. Don't leave things unsaid.

"Remember Me" will probably get added to my collection at some point and perhaps the movie poster on my wall...we shall see.

So here's to life.....
Simply N

Domestic Goddess

After working in my soon to be hobby/craft/work room for pretty much the entire day. I decided to actually cook a meal tonight. Now, this may have something to do with the fact that my parents are coming this evening to help move around some heavy things, but genuinely I had planned to fix meatloaf at some point and I figured today was just as good of a day as any.

I began to get everything together and as I started mixing the ingredients, I realized that I didn't have the onion soup mix or the oatmeal that typically (if I were at Mom and Dad's) would go into the mixture. Determined to make this work, I remembered that I had purchased an onion yesterday and had several packets of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal. So I improvised and threw in the instant oatmeal and chopped up a little onion and tadah.....I had my meatloaf mixture.

What goes well with meatloaf? Mashed potatoes!!! So I boiled some potatoes, drained, added some milk and mashed them with my awesome hand-held mixer, added some cheese and TA-DAH!!!

It's delicious and very little clean-up was necessary. In the words of the ever so blunt Rosanne (even though I not a huge fan of that show) “I hate the word housewife; I don't like the word home-maker either. I want to be called Domestic Goddess.”

So here's to life! :)
Simply N