TGIF...Impatiently Waiting

T.G.I.F...

I feel like the same sentence has been uttered by nearly every teacher both in the bloggy world and in my school, but darn this four day week sure took FOREVER!

Because I am just so happy it's Friday, have been on quite the random blog post roll this week and HEART me some linkys I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Teaching for Five for Friday for the first time!

Five random things from this week...

1.  GRADING! Does it ever get easier? I am pretty sure that everyone is going to answer no but still a girl can dream. RIGHT?!? I have been trying to stagger classes turning in work so that I don't have 800,000,000 emails sitting in my inbox but even that hasn't been helping. I should feel lucky, I have absolutely ZERO papers to grade and it is all electronic but its soooo daunting to see how many unread messages I have just sitting there.  Looks like I know what I will be doing Sunday.

2.  Speaking of things that waste my time are a part of my job, I was at school until 5:30 on a Friday no less, making a new seating chart. My Career Technology class does Pitsco Module Rotations: 2 students at each module for 7 class days then all students switch modules and partners.   Sounds easy enough, but making that seating chart took nearly an hour. We are starting are first module on Monday, had to wait until all schedule changes were done - fingers crossed, and I know the first round of scheduling them in the system, seating charts and materials takes a bit of time but I didn't plan on staying that late today. Who needed a workout anyways!

3.  Dear student who decided to post a picture of a barely dressed female standing in front of a weed plant as his blog avatar, get real!  Your review of your 'thug life' also needs some work, talking about gang banging, drugs and women is not cool, not cool at all. I guess spending two days stressing the importance of being school appropriate and safe while blogging just wasn't enough for you, we will be chatting Monday.  

4.  Hairspray is my new favorite spot remover. Yes you read that right, I am not that far off my rocker. Mr. B had a pair of dress khaki's with a horrible ink stain on them as well as some stained polo's. I doused those babies with hairspray, then used a towel with soap and water to rub the stain out, repeated a few times, I kicked that stain's butt! Really wish I had taken a picture of that as proof.

5.  We are patiently I am impatiently waiting on our landlord to reply back and let us know if they are going to 1) let us resign our lease and 2) keep the rent the same. A girl can only wish for a rent decrease for being such wonderful tenants... 

We have to have our 60 day notice decision submitted by the 1st so some time to think about our plan with all of the details would be nice. I really don't want to move in April. Actually the pinterest-crafting addicted decorator in me wants to move, but the reasonable we have to much sh*t part of me thinks its wiser we stay put.  

This weekend will be filled with a baby shower, laundry and grading. LOTS of grading. And hopefully a little 'together time' with Mr. B.  

Off topic: 1. I am completely addicted to The Lumineers, obsessed. 2. I am teaching my Web Design how to create unique visual imagery like this next week and picmonkey.com now needs a membership for some of its effects, so does anyone know a free website that can work with pictures, effects, texts, etc.  Thanks in advance!!!

- The Babbling Box!

Tell Me Who Has Been Mean To You

Gosh I LOVE three day weekends, only two more work days until another weekend. 

On that note I am linking up with This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

Here's what I'm LOVING...

I'm LOVING my students, I keep raving about how awesome my semester of students have started out as and they are not letting me down. Two examples:

1. Our first day of blogging in Web Design I had to approve over 60 blog posts and 50+ comments, that's just for two periods.  WOW, I couldn't even keep up.

2.  I had a new student join one of my classes last Friday. I knew he was a 'tough cookie,' I had actually had him for testing one day and had to have administrators get involved due to his disruptions and disrespect. So let's just say I was slightly worried, he was joining a class full of 24 girls, predictions were impossible. But he has been wonderful.

He asked to eat lunch with me and he had tons of questions for me. 

Here is my favorite, the cliff notes version: 

Student: "has anyone ever been mean to you here"

Me: "like students or teachers"

Student: "have students cursed at you"

Me: "yes"

Student: "tell me who has been mean to you"

For course I didn't tell him who, but the fact that after two days he was that concerned was pretty impressive.

I'm LOVING that Justified is back, and of course Shameless, House of Lies, Bachelor... Who needs mental stimulation when you have bad television.

He is just too sexy!

Of course, I'm LOVING Mr. B and the fact that he takes such wonderful care of our little abode.

We are odd, but Mr. B actually owns this shirt, I bought it for him! for Valentine's Day!

And finally I'm LOVING my pinterest finds.

Which also means I am linking up The Vintage Apple for Oh' How Pinteresting.

My pinterest finds will be a little different this week, I am only posting food creations that I have made this week and HEART! I have been on a bit of a roll with so knock out recipe finds...

No Bake Energy Bites: I had to convince Mr. B that they were in fact healthy they were so yummy.

Shamrock Protein Shake: Tried this yesterday and was amazed how yummy this protein shake was.

Sweet Chili Tofu with Steamed Kale and Coconut Quinoa: Made this for dinner tonight and couldn't stop eating it.

And finally some pins for the house:

After baby shower shopping last weekend, I am over the moon at this pin. 

Big disclaimer, won't need it for a few years.

So pretty! I HEART anything with gray and white.

HEART anything to do with Johnny Cash!

Loving these two link ups!

-The Babbling Box!

Facts About The Box

I was browsing through the bloggy world and stumbled across I Wore Yoga Pants to Work's blog and her Facts of Me linky. She likes wine, I HEART wine so it seemed like kismet...

I am indecisive it actually took me a bit large amount of time before I committed to actually posting this. I lay out my outfits the night before and change my mind when I wake up. I am obsessed with tattoos and have always wanted one but can't decide what I want. It's a problem I know, admitting is the first step right...

In high school I was 'susy high school' I was student council secretary, on the debate team, Spanish club, math club, honor society, journalism, dance...I am sure there was more but its been a while. Now I despise organized clubs and such...wonder why?

I am a big FAT chicken, I am pretty much scared of everything. As a kid I was afraid of the bathtub drain, hid from bees in a bathroom, slept with every light on when no one was home. I still get nervous about being home alone at night. I blame my parents, apparently they didn't teach me the best coping mechanisms. Now there all just funny stories at holiday dinners. 

Mr. B and I never had a first date, the start of our relationship is different, but regardless we don't date. Never have, probably never will... I don't ever refer to Mr. B by his real name and he doesn't use my real name, its always nicknames. I am pretty sure it would be weird to do anything else at this point.

We are unique.

I am a extremely OCD, everything needs to be in the order that my head thinks it should. And I will reorganize the dishwasher a million times after you are done, drives Mr. B insane. Hence my last post on reorganizing my closet and bathroom, riveting stuff to some people I am sure.

I always call my students, 'my kids' never my students. Non teachers will probably find that odd, but for one semester at least they are mine for better or worse. I am incredibly goofy in front of my kids and never get bashful, one single teacher or administrator walks in and I clam up and forget how to speak like a normal adult. I ran a staff of 10 assistants and dealt with attorneys all day at the law firm, I know how to interact with adults I just seem to forget how to.

I HEART Mexican food, could eat it everyday and never get sick of it. I don't lie I worked at Mexican food restaurant in college and feed myself very nicely with any of their food I could take home each day.

I am obsessive about television shows, I invest a lot of time in characters and plot lines. I know back stories and can give you play by plays without a second thought, but can't remember what I ate the day before. My friend met Norman Reedus once and took a picture with him, I was jealous for days. I have never missed an episode of One Tree Hill, Friends, Sons of Anarchy, Shameless, Walking Dead, 90201...I will stop now for fear you will begin to judge me.

You will never find me without a glass or bottle of water. I even take one to the bathroom when I shower, probably TMI...

I laugh at everything, or giggle or cackle.  I do it mostly because I am always a pretty happy person, buts its also a coping mechanism when I don't know what to say or do. Especially uncomfortable situations, or situations where people cry or are upset. I am not insensitive promise, just not a crier.

I am interested in blog stalking reading your facts, so link up. That doesn't sound creepy at all...

- The Babbling Box!

The Day My Bathroom/Closet Revolted...

Saturday morning I was looking forward to sleeping entirely too late. Mr. B left super early to go to St. Louis. At around 9:15ish I was awoken by a large crashing noise. Not exactly the way I wanted to wake up or at the time I wanted to wake up. But regardless I went exploring and found quite the mess in our bathroom. 

I had two shelves in the bathroom that held all of my makeup and makeup supplies. It originally looked like this...

What I saw Saturday was this...

And I did what any normal person would do, closed the door and went to make breakfast.

A few hours later I finally tackled the mess and much to my dismay learned that  all of my eye-shadows had shattered. Eye-shadow is like eight bucks a pop. And I HEART colorful eye-shadow. You do the math.

Turns out the screws holding the shelves just gave up! Or revolted. With so much of it ruined by the makeup and glass I had to throw so much of it away.

As I spent an hour cleaning up little glass beads I decided that my Saturday would include shopping. Screw the budget. I deserved it for not crying or drinking during the entire cleaning process.

At Target I found the perfect makeup organization kit and it was only $8.99! I will not admit to how much I spent replacing all of my eye-shadows though...

I found an old painting of mine to over up the damage to the walls from the shelves. Lets just not tell Mr. B about that until its time to move...

All and all I think that I was able to solve the mess with little frustration on my part. I dislike clutter, so while it was always so nice to be able to just grab anything I needed, having my makeup put away under the cabinet makes me much happier.  Despite how much I liked my original design and how much time I spent putting it together.

The bathroom revolution definitely messed up a lot of my Saturday plans but oh well that's life, luckily we had a three day weekend. 

But...

Today I woke up with a bug up my butt.

Well not really, but I had a bone to pick with my closet. Said closet has been unkind to my clothes lately, every time I pull out something to wear its wrinkled or I hate it. The hating part isn't the closets fault I know, but I blame the closet anyways.  Friday morning I spent 40 minutes trying on clothes for work. That's bat sh*t crazy!!!

So today I decided to move some items around, hoping that if my clothes were less cramped they would be less wrinkled and I would hate all of them less, meaning no more 40 minute fashion shows at 6:30 in the morning.  

I looked at Mr. B's meager side of the closet with lust, if only I could take his stuff to the guest room I would have the perfect amount of space. But that seemed like it would be mean...

So I continued moving my stuff around, taking stuff that was unneeded to the office, all while lusting after Mr. B's space.

Talk about first world problems or white girl problems...I do know I truly have nothing to complain about. But its my blog and I will complain if I want to!

 The moving small things around turned into a five hour long closet redo. I am crazy, I get it, no need to comment on that part.  I could probably bet you money that Mr. B will come home and not even notice the difference, but I do and I guess that's what matters.  He should just be happy his stuff is still in the closet...

Since I was redoing my closet anyways I wanted to try out a pinterest tip I found...

And boy am I glad I did! Its amazing the difference it makes on my sweaters and wide necked shirts. Nothing slips off the hanger now!  And a free craft is always a nice one.

So now two days of my three day weekend have passed and I have not done anything but reorganize a perfectly organized bathroom and closet. Oh, and make my office look ridiculously stupid with all of the things I took out of my closet/bathroom. But I will NOT spend tomorrow organizing the office, it can wait. 

I have grading to do, lots of grading! A visit to the gym is required. Lunch to make for the week. Oh and I should probably relax and enjoy some part of this weekend. 

Not particularly sure why I shared all of this with my bloggy world, but thanks for listening, perhaps I need more interesting stories...

- The Babbling Box!

Stopping Cursing...One Push Up At a Time!

Before I start this post I feel like I should add a disclaimer.

I don't expect that everyone will have the same opinion of this classroom management technique.

I teach middle schoolers.

At a Title One - inner city school.

And cursing is a BIG issue. 

Every month at PBIS we discuss preventing/curving the amount of cursing.

In the classroom, in the hallway, towards teachers and towards peers.

Its a BIG issue.  Perhaps I should find a better word than big...

I heard about a consequence from a fellow teacher for cursing in the classroom, "30 minute detention or 10 push ups for cursing in the room."

I rolled the idea around in my head all over winter break of using it in my classroom, I didn't want to turn it into a chance for the boys to show off. I teach a lot of boys! 

But I bit the bullet put my big girl panties on and launched the whole shebang last week.

And its been only 8 days of using the consequence but I think know its working.  The first curse word I heard all semester happened today and the student choose to do push ups and openly complained about how embarrassing it was the entire time. 

Some of you might be thinking gesh 8 days isn't an accomplishment I go all semester, but keep in mind I am trying to break a habit that is very VERY  desensitized with my group of students.

While it is definitely up to me to be consistent for the entire semester, being able to have a consequence that really bothers the students is so empowering. Because lets face it calling home and detentions mean absolutely nothing for my particular groups of students.

With that I am off my 'teacher soap box' and linking up with This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday. 

Here's what I am LOVING today:

I am LOVING my awesome new classroom management technique, see above.

I am LOVING my new semester of students, still absolutely wonderful!  

Its lovely to have so many on task workers everyday who enjoy coming to my classroom.

I am LOVING that all 30 of my computers have updated browsers!

It might have taken me an extra hour after school but at least we will actually be able to work on our project tomorrow in google apps without it freezing every other minute. 

Okay, really off teacher stuff!

I am LOVING that we have a three day weekend ahead of us. 

For sleeping relaxing and catching up around the house. And maybe some sleeping.

I am LOVING my new homemade body scrub, I have seen tons of recipes on pinterest and finally just made a batch and its made my skin feel so soft. 

I will never buy a body scrub again and I don't really follow recipes so I can't share - shame on me.

I am LOVING that we have the house back to normal. 

We had 'house guests' for close to two weeks until their apartment was ready and it was a big change in our normal routines. We are probably too set in our ways, but oh well.

I am LOVING my new hair trick from pinterest, totally wish I had pinned it on my own board, but the google normally answers all of my questions. 

Maybe everyone already knew this, but I ain't afraid to admit that I have been doing it wrong all my life.

And per normal I am LOVING Mr. B, especially since he has put up with my extra whiny and exhausted self this week. And he went out of his way to put my car in the garage so it wouldn't be covered in ice in the morning.  He is pretty awesome like that!

What are you loving this Wednesday?

- The Babbling Box!

Friday Letters v1.2

It's Friday again...and it couldn't have come sooner. The week was definitely a long first week back at school but so positive that it hardly felt as exhausting as I expected.

I am so excited to have the entire weekend with absolutely no plans and nothing expected of me. And of course even more excited that Mr. B and I are both off tomorrow. Possible a movie and mexican food...must convince him of this. Offering to pay always helps...

HEART them both!

On to Friday's letters...

Dear New Semester of Students: You rock! I am completely  digging the new class dynamics, hopefully we can keep this up all semester.

Dear Cold/Flu/General Sickness: I have already had you so don't come back, please and thank you! Nearly half the teachers at school are sick and voiceless and many more of the students have been out sick. Lysol will become my friend.

Dear New Years Resolutions: We seem to be getting along quiet nicely, lets keep it up!

Dear George Strait Tickets: Tomorrow I plan to get my butt out of bed at the crack of 9:30 to purchase you for my Dad's 50th birthday. Please let there be 6 together and at a price that doesn't make me cry. Budget please close your eyes.

Dear Hair: I am sorry I dyed you so dark. I really did have the best of intentions, please either let me begin to like you or ... not sure what else to do with nearly black bangs.

Dear High School Alumi: You all be crazy! 
Our 10 year high school reunion is going to be this year, the president planned the reunion at an alum's parents house aka mansion where they grew up having house parties. I guess?!? And he has opened it up to any graduating class. Even though my graduating class was already close to 1000 students.

Within 24 hours of posting the location there are 100's of negative posts about the location and open invitation  While it is mildly entertaining to read, I truly don't understand all the time these people have to post, suggest alternative locations and nag. 

Don't get me wrong the logistics make no sense to me either, but I don't particularly care since I won't be going either way. But it won't be because "I am too grown up for house parties" or "this whole set up seems cliquish." 

Me and Mr. B can't realistically see spending $100, for a 4 hour drive to my home town where the best accommodation is the Motel 8 on a Saturday during football season in October.  At some point I thought we were supposed to grow up and away from the stereotypes and cliques that were high school, but guess that's why I parted ways with my hometown 10 years ago.

Dear House: Please finish cleaning yourself! I got distracted by Say Yes To The Dress, but at least I started...

Dear Mr. B:  You are delightful! You completely blew me away with all the cleaning/laundry you did today...one of the million reasons I HEART you!




- The Babbling Box!

I'd Marry You In A Minute For Your Money

I had absolutely zero plans of posting tonight. Dinner was lack luster and the house needs WAY too much cleaning now that our 'house guests' are gone.

But then in my google reader I saw that People had an article on Audrey Hepburn: Remembering the Legend, and I was compelled to post something.

I HEART Audrey Hepburn and have seen all of her movies. Or course, my favorite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany's. Even recreated the scene with an old college roommate when we visited New York! I am that lame awesome!

I could probably quote the whole movie, ok maybe that's too lame to share.

Her quotes are so memorable and empowering for young girls, it has hard to pick my favorite one. 

- The Babbling Box!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This week, both personally and at school, has been awesome!  So in an effort to do something a bit different I am linking up with This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

I'm LOVING my new classes this semester. I have never had a group a students quite like this before and its AMazing. I am just hoping that I am not jinxing myself or anything by saying this on the very first week.

I'm LOVING that I have stayed so organized that I have been able to leave work everyday before 4:30, I thank the magic of the planner.

I'm LOVING my progress on my new years resolutions. I have made it to the gym 4 times so far this month, participated in all 9 of the 365 photo day challenges and have been working towards budgeting my life a bit better.

I'm LOVING all our new shows that are coming back, Shameless is one of all time favorites. I also am indulging in the new season of the Bachelor. I HEART bad television sometimes.

And of course I'm LOVING Mr. B, he is such a lovely boyfriend to keep around.

I am also linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh' How Pinterest for some of my recent pinterest finds that I'm Loving.

Clothing: Just wish the budget would allow for this purchase.

Home: So cute, young and fun!

Cooking: This recipe sounds AMazing!

Future: Such a cute wedding idea!

- The Babbling Box!

I'm Back In The Saddle Again

Today was our first day back to school for the spring semester. 

I felt like I never left.

Except, for the wave of fresh faces and my renewed energy.

I don't want to jinx anything but this feels like a great group of students. 

If only I could bottle this feeling for later when they become a different less amazing version of themselves.

One of the most AMAZING things about teaching a semester elective class is getting to redo everything right after the holidays.

One of the scariest things about teaching a semester elective class is not getting the ability to look at your new roster until 7:00 this morning.

I tried to keep a positive mind set about not knowing how many students I would be having or who I would be teaching. 

A new teacher texted me asking when we would have access to our rosters, since seating charts were due the last day of the winter semester, makes sense. I kindly told her to not expect them until the first day of the semester.

This made me think about how I do seating charts. Maybe its not new or revolutionary, but it certainly works for me.

I stand at the door and greet each student, they pull a stick which are pre-numbered with all of my computer numbers, I write the number next to there name.

Yippee! Seating chart done!

I figure this won't work for everyone, probably not lower grade levels but this works amazing with middle schoolers. I have found that middle schoolers don't fight this system, as its all done by chance and its not me forcing them to sit somewhere. I think back to the countless amount of class time I wasted  trying to convince students to get back in their assigned seats or not lie about their names, and I shake my head at my novice self.

During the second six weeks I allow most of my classes to choose partners/seats based on if they have an A or not. A students can make a suggestion of a partner they would like and then I make a seating chart based on their suggestions.

Maybe it won't work for everyone, maybe it will inspire a bit of a change. How do you design seating charts for middle schoolers/upper grades?

- The Babbling Box!

Sunday Social

I have noticed Jessica at Fantastically Average doing these Sunday Social's each week and decided I would give it a shot. Plus one of my goals for 2013 is to be more social and this counts. Right?!?

So I am linking up with Neely and Ashley for today's Sunday Social. Beware there is a bit of a photo dump below as well!

1. Do you plan to change any of your eating habits in the new year?

Not really, I already keep a pretty healthy diet and when I do cheat I never feel guilty. One of the things I want to work on is making better grocery shopping choices, both for health and expenses reasons. And I want to work harder to make my own products when I can, like cleaning solutions and body scrubs without all the chemicals.

2. Any workout tips to get us back in shape after the holidays?

Make it easy on yourself. I learned an important lesson this year, by bringing my workout clothes to work I avoid going home and allowing laziness to set in. I might seem like the bag lady at work but I know the extra trips will cut down my chances of achieving a workout. 

Make it a habit! Personally if I don't go every day its easy to get in the habit of going home after work rather than to the gym.

Take baby steps. You won't be able to live a detox diet and extreme workout regime overnight. Going cold turkey makes the drive to cheat increase. Make your goals realistic and make them fit your everyday lifestyle.

3.  Favorite thing you did over the holidays. 

Spending time with family, nearly 6 days!

Yummy Treats! Thank goodness my sister likes to bake.

My lil' sister loves me taking pictures of her!

My 'little brother' and his girlfriend.

My littlest brother, Christmas is too fun with him around!

Relaxing and not stressing about school stuff. 

Spending quality time with Mr. B and friends!

4. What is something you hope to accomplish in 2013 that you did not 2012?

Improve my financial situation. Being a second year teacher definitely means I can no longer use the excuse of taking a pay cut of why I must use my credit cards or dip into my savings each month to live.

Research and make a plan for graduate school. 

Take more pictures!

5. Name three things happening this year that you are excited about and why?

1. Both my parents will be turning 50 and me and my siblings I have been working out some really great presents!

2. My 365 photo challenge!

3. Making some 'adult' goals for the future. 

- The Babbling Box!