Currently...

Thinking…of the many tasks that will accompany the many changes that we are anticipating in the coming weeks and months. I am thinking of ways to organize and maintain my sanity. I am thinking of ways to prepare for the future without forgetting to live in the moment. 

Feeling…renewed and refreshed. Spring cleaning and moving have been a great time for me to declutter our home and Lent was an excellent opportunity for me to declutter my life and focus on what matters most. 

Watching… Extreme Couponing -- and any other TLC show that I can stream on Netflix.

Excited…about moving and all the redecorating I am going to get to do - I can not wait for my house to no longer be a disastrous moving zone (although that might take a few months!). 

Reading…a lot of graduate school notes and articles... and The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan and This Star Won't Go Out by Ester Grace Earl (recommended by John Green, so it's a must read!)

Wondering…what God has planned for our family next. There are so many unknowns and questions that I am anxious to have answers for. 

Working…on lesson planning for the rest of the year. I only have a unit and a half left as a classroom teacher, and I want to make sure that I give it my all. There are a lot of fun things coming up - including book spine poetry to celebrate Poetry Month and a field trip to the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque. 

Stressed…about finishing up my semester of graduate school. I only have two weeks left and a LONG to do list. A test, a disposition, a reflection paper, and a final revision of my thesis proposal are still setting half-finished on my desktop. 

Proud…of my husband. He is so confident when making decisions that will better our lives for the future.

Wanting…for myself and those around me to be content with a calm life. We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends I need to remind myself that we have enough and to be content.

Wishing…I would have gotten this Crystal Faye sweatshirt sooner. I'm worried that it's just getting warm enough that I won't need to wear it anymore. And this Erin Condren planner sooner. It took me until April to get a 2014 planner. And that I made more time to be active.

Eating…Easter candy, Easter candy, and more Easter candy. Honeycrisp apples. Triscuits and string cheese. Anything that can be grilled.

Drinking…Diet Coke, Smart Water, and this year's first batch of sun tea. 

Loving…online shopping, Pinterest, and how inspirational all my favorite blogs have been. My family for helping us move. My husband for putting up with the many changes in our life (and my hesitation with each and every one of them). The sunshine and the rain. New babies. Spending time with friends.

#fortydaysofkind

Now that it's holy week, I wanted to take a look back on the Lenten season.

In April, I instagram-committed to doing 40 random acts of kindness for Lent with Becky from bybmg.com and a few others... I got off to a great start and spread all sorts of goodness in the first two weeks. While I haven't stayed perfect the whole time, I really have felt a difference in the way I treat those around me...

It's amazing how many times per day God gives you an opportunity to be kind. Even though I tried to do a majority of my acts of kindness randomly and anonymously (so most didn't make it to Instagram), I found drawn to the many coworkers, students, and friends that I interact with everyday that could use some extra kindness.

The two best parts:

I also have felt the love myself... a few very amazing people in my life also took on the challenge to do nice things for others (including me). This was absolutely the best part -- seeing others be inspired to spread the kindness... it really is the reason for the Lenten season!

I still have so many ideas for upcoming opportunities to do random acts of kindness for those around me... I don't plan on stoping once lent is over. I hope to continue to spread as much kindness and caring as I possibly can to those around me. 

What You Missed...

5 things you missed... (while I was away!)

1) I interviewed for and accepted a new job for the fall! I am so excited to announce that I will be the high school teacher-librarian at Muscatine High School this fall. I am so ecstatic to have this amazing opportunity as such a new teacher librarian. I am preparing myself to take all the knowledge and experience I have gained as a MS Language teacher and as a School Library Studies graduate student and put it to great use helping the staff and students at MHS.

This job means a lot of big changes in the relationships I have with my coworkers and students -- and a lot of changes in my daily schedule. But I am so excited (and already have so many ideas bouncing around in my head!).

2) With our jobs for next year all lined up, we have been on the lookout for a different place to live. Kasey and I have loved our little place on his grandparents land for the past two years, but we are so ready to have a bigger place (that we can fill with a family sometime soon!). We found an awesome 4 bedroom house in Columbus Junction that fits great with our budget -- we will be renting from a couple of retired teachers... pretty much a perfect arrangement! I'll post pictures after I go crazy redecorating!

3) A new place also means selling our current place. I want to give HUGE pats on the back to anyone who has ever sold a house... because it is a lot of work! After doing some research (and a lot of staging -- goodbye junk!) we have had several people out to look at our place. We haven't made any decisions yet, but some of the offers have two-week expiration dates so things will get busier before they slow down!

4) I am 2/3rds of the way done with with the first 1/2 of my thesis (way to tired to do the math!). My topic is: The Collaborative Relationship Between School Teacher Librarians and Public Librarians. Without boring you too much, I find it really interesting and really stressful all at the same time. This semester has been some of the latest nights in my graduate school career!

Also last month, I completed my practicum hours in the Mid-Prairie School District. It was so much fun to spend four days with the two teacher librarians in the district - I got to work with so many great kids and picked up so many great ideas for my future library!

5) Its Spring in the teaching world. I'm not sure how it happens -- but it sneaks up on me every year. From now until June 5th (ugh!) it will be a mad - but exciting - dash to get as much learning and fun completed before my students move on to high school! This also means doing lots of spring cleaning in my classroom and my computer!

High Five for Friday! x2

Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday! 

(This is actually two weeks -- this blogging on a regular schedule thing is hard than it looks! Props to all my blogger friends that can pull it off!)

1. Valentines Day & the almost-sneak peak of spring have put me in a sunshiny mood, so I'm trying to spread the love by surprising people with happy grams. (Also, I love on people with food -- so they all included candy!)

 

2. Basketball season is over -- and as much as I love the season and getting to know the girls on the team, I am excited to have my husband back. We went on two dates -- TWO DATES -- this week! It was wonderful and glorious and he even sent flowers!

3. I have been book-taking to my students like crazy this week! But, one of my favorite things in the world is recommending young adult books to adults -- there are so many great books that I think people of every age should read! One of my newest favorites is Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. Besides the glowing recommendation from one of my favorite authors, John Green, the book truly did remind me what it feels like to be young and in love -- all the excitement and uncertainty of being a teenager is fun to relive. Rowell also did a brilliant job of creating such unique, but well-developed characters! 

4. I am trying my hardest to get back into the #edufashionchallenge on social media -- while I don't feel my outfits are picture-worthy everyday (especially when I wear TMS hoodies on Fridays), I managed to get post a couple this past week. It really does help me feel more put-together and confident for the day!

5. I am so looking forward to this weekend -- I need time to catch-up, recharge, and spend some quality time with family! (And hopefully write a blog post or two!)

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful week!

High Five for Friday

Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday! 

This week is many pictures… fewer words!

1. I started of this week tired after a fantastic weekend -- our family headed to Champaign, Illinois on a bus trip to watch the Hawkeyes barely squeak by with a win! So much fun with so many of my favorite people!

2. Graduate school has officially taken over my life -- I started working on the research paper I need to submit for graduation (December 2014 cannot come fast enough!). It is not as nearly as scary as I originally thought -- just a lot of work! Phew!

3. My current 8th graders -- THS class of 2018 -- received an amazing gift this week from an amazing couple from the community. Check out our media coverage below (including lots of footage of my classroom)!

KCRG - Iowa City/Cedar Rapids

KGAN - Cedar Rapids

4. The Olympics start TODAY! I am so excited to follow the games -- but the opening and closing ceremonies are by far my favorite! I already fell asleep on the couch watching the team figure skating competition and am searching for reasons to stream the games live in my classroom -- I do teach current events, after all! #sochi2014

5. This week my husband and I celebrated our sixth month anniversary! I know that's only six months -- and we hope for many more anniversaries -- but I'm never going to miss a chance to celebrate! (Or post wedding pictures!)

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful week!

High Five for Friday!

Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday! 

This week is many words and not so many pictures. 

1. Everything these day is coming up babies! So many of our friends and family are expecting or have cute little ones to cuddle. Kasey and I braved the cold on Monday (our 3rd day off school this year because of the freezing temps) and met baby Arlo at the hospital. He was only one day old and so, so cute and snuggly! My only regret is that we didn't get any pictures… another visit to him (and his mom and dad) needs to be scheduled soon!

2. Throw back… blog edition! I cannot believe it has been a whole year since this senior night! So proud of these college freshman (and their coaches)!

3. Staff workouts this week have been awesome! It's hard and sweaty and exhausting and I love it! (I'm working on another post on this soon.)

4. & 5. Reading Machines! We are getting ready for the Iowa Assessments here… it's been such a long planning process leading up to another long week of tests for the students. Sometimes, while looking at scores and requirements, it's easy to focus on what my kids don't know and don't do. I tried to take some time this week to appreciate how far the kids have come this year. 

One of the biggest things?! They read! They read all the time! I see books in study hall and at lunch and after school. They are reading chapter books and picture books and newspapers! We took some time this week to visit the library and celebrate all of our accomplishments that aren't measured by standardized tests! (And rewarded ourselves with mustache bookmarks!)

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful week!

Foods

There are a lot of new things I'm learning on my weight loss journey… but one concept that I've been trying to wrap my head around is trigger foods. This isn't something that Weight Watchers talks about -- one of the cornerstones of their plan is that you can eat everything and anything sometimes (just not anything and everything all the time!). But trigger foods are something that I've seen many health and weight loss bloggers talk about -- especially Fit and Free with Emily (the I-hope-we-become-friends blogger on my feed). Every time I read one of her posts, I struggle with the idea of trigger foods in my life.

At first it was hard for me to recognize that they existed -- Weight Watchers wasn't talking about them, and their plan was working for me. Then it was hard for me to identify what mine were -- I pretty much like all food… I don't discriminate. (Except for vegetables on pizza… ew!) I was in denial. If I decided not to be honest with myself about what foods I shouldn't have as part of a healthy life, I didn't have to give those foods up. I could continue to eat anything and everything I wanted, most of the time in moderation.

source

Then yesterday happened.

I have been having one of those weeks where I want to EAT ALL THE FOOD, but have been able to practice self control and stay within my points. Then I stopped at the store on the way home from work last night for milk and accidentally walked out with a Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie. (For those of you who aren't Little Debbie connoisseurs, the individually wrapped ones are also gigantic compared to the ones they sell in the box.) Once I got home I couldn't believe it, how did I let that snack jump into my hand? I don't even remember thinking about it…

Luckily, I was able to get control of myself and when I got home. I put the brownie in a cupboard, did a 30-minute workout video, and read two chapters of graduate school homework. I did not eat the brownie. What I did instead, was identify my trigger food one of my trigger foods. It is scary and empowering all at the same time. The brownie is gone, and Miss Debbie is not invited back to my house anytime soon.