Proud New Owner

I am the proud owner of a new...

Nope, it's not a car (unfortunately). Rather, I now have a membership at the new iGym that is a 1 minute drive from my house. Annnd, it's over half the cost of my previous gym membership here in CR. Which means, that even if I go there only once a month, its still less per month than the cost of going to a movie and getting popcorn. 

We had snow days yesterday and today, which was convenient because I seem to have acquired a sinus infection. So, I read 1.5 books yesterday, a different half of a book today, drank a lot of tea, ate chicken noodle soup and used a lot of Kleenex. Pacino didn't seem to like when the Kleenex weren't in their usual home, and he took it upon himself to unpack them for me.

Chilly Weekend Fun

What a weekend! Somehow, probably because my phone is on it's deathbed, there aren't many pictures from the beginning of the weekend. Friday after school our book club met at Stone City General Store. I forget how great that place is! We read the book The Light Between Oceans and discussed. I love our book club!

Then, I drove back to my parents for a surprise visit. Saturday we ate pizza and watched the Cyclone men finally get another victory. If they don't win for awhile again, I may have to make driving across the state a game-day ritual.

After the game, I drove back to CR to catch the Rough Riders hockey game with some friends. It was mostly a boring game, until the last 5 minutes of regulation, when we finally scored and sent the game into overtime. We ended up scoring with 42 seconds left in overtime to win. And the goal was right in front of our seats...it was super fun!

After the game, we went to BWW for dinner, and then I had to go to Wal*Mart to make this purchase:

Could I be any more of an old lady? I'm trying to fight off a cold, hence the Airborne. The tea is just because, well, I love tea. 

Then, after leaving Wal*Mart, we noticed how pretty the snow was, and set off to take some snow selfies. 

We walked through the snow because the sidewalks were very slippery. 

The wind had obviously picked up by this time.

These turned out fun because of how much it was snowing!

Wore this new(ish) robot necklace today. 

Sunday errands are my favorite. After the library, the mall tempted us with pretzel bites. Couldn't turn those down!

And while we're on the subject of bad habits, I'm going to stop drinking pop for 100 days starting tomorrow. So naturally, I had to stop and get this 42oz of deliciousness today.

I'm not feeling super well, my sinuses are all stuffed up, so I tossed this chicken noodle soup into the crock-pot before leaving on my Sunday afternoon adventures. It is pretty tasty, but then again, it's hard to mess up chicken noodle soup.

Forgotten Picture...

I totally forgot to post this earlier this week. It's the girls out line dancing last Saturday night. Fun times!

Pacino Post

Well, my life is borderline boring right now, but Pacino never has a dull moment. He just loves water!

Spiky wet hair in the last one. He is kind of strange for a cat...but I like him!

(Wanna Be) Lazy Saturday

I had intended to do very little on Saturday, as this last week was tiring. Well, it was tiring because I keep staying up too late reading. This next week will probably be worse, as we might actually have a full week of school without delays or early outs or snow days.

Instead, on Saturday, my phone rang at 7am. It was a call for school about canceling events for the day. Then a student sent a message about meeting for robotics. So, I went out to Menard's and bought the supplies we needed, and went up to school.

We got quite a bit done on the robot, and I got to use a hammer and a drill. We put those wood panels together then attached them to the robot. We're making progress!

This was my Sunday lunch. Basically, it's called: nothing to eat, so mix together what there is. Pasta, turkey pepperoni, and green olives. Yum.

And of course, the cat was shut in the fridge for awhile until I realized he was missing. He's so strange.

And then, there's my dinner. Apple Jacks are my guilty pleasure. 

This is Jeremiah and I on Saturday night--we matched!

We went to Steak & Shake before line dancing Saturday night and I got this banana chocolate shake. Can't go wrong with chocolate and bananas. 

And finally, my Sunday night relaxation. A cup of blueberry vanilla tea with blueberry honey. There's nothing better than a good cup of tea.

Music & Mittens

I pre-ordered an autographed copy of Jennifer Nettles' new cd which arrived in the mail on Tuesday. I just love her. 

I went out to dinner with a friend on Wednesday night. When I parked my car, I noticed that there was a pair of mittens on the ground next to the car I parked by. I assumed they belonged to a person in that car and that they would see them on their way out. Well, they did see them, but they thought the mittens were mine, so they kindly left them on my windshield. I kindly left them on the ground when I left. Hopefully someone who needed them found them. 

Chasing Snowflakes

Well, I thought my life had been more exciting the last couple of days, but it turns out I was wrong. I went to look through the pictures on my phone, and all I had were these:

That's right. Microscopes and microscope slides. I had this wild idea about looking at snowflakes under microscopes, and the internet told me it was possible. So, I borrowed these from my favorite science teacher, froze the slides and waited for the snow that the weatherman promised. It was supposed to be snowing during my classes with 1st, 2nd, and 5th graders, so I thought this would be a fun activity. We were also going to read Snowflake Bentley, a book about a scientist who took the first photos of snowflakes and discovered that each one is different.

No such luck for the kids, but right after school a few flakes started flying. I got the slides out of the freezer and propped open my emergency exit (thankfully there's no alarms) and started running around trying to catch big flakes. Then, I'd run them inside and try to get them under the microscope before they melted. I caught a very quick glimpse of one, but the rest melted too fast. And of course, my favorite science teacher was out doing the same thing. The flakes were pretty small, and we should've used either felt or hairspray on the slides. Don't worry, the slides are still in the freezer, and the microscopes in my room for the next time we get some real snow. I might have to move the microscopes outside to help keep them from melting, but now I am dead set on seeing a snowflake.  

Weekend Fun

Katie is graciously letting me borrow these. As soon as I'm done writing this post, I am busting open The Lion King book. Luckily for my neighbors, the keyboard has a volume switch.

Someone was looking extra handsome. 

Pacino's new obsession is with magnets on the refrigerator. He moves them around and eventually pulls them off with his teeth. This explains why one morning I woke up and everything that used to be hanging on the fridge was on the ground. And, it explains why there were several magnets under the fridge last time I looked under there. This is very cute, and was quite entertaining, until I was laying in bed last night and heard him doing this. And that was AFTER I heard him trying to take apart the humidifier. He's such my little child.

I went to Hilton last night to watch the Lady Cyclones play Oklahoma State. Unfortunately, we lost, but it was so fun to be there. Hilton is my second favorite place on Earth! Plus, I got to see an old friend from high school, a previous teacher, and my family who was out to eat after the game! Also chatted with Naz Long for a few minutes at the restaurant. So fun being back in Ames!

It was SO nice out today, so we set out for a walk. My goal was at least 3 miles, but we went just over 4, and then decided to even it out and make it 5. I can get used to warmer weather, but I'm afraid it might not happen for awhile. I have been dreaming of bike rides, tank tops and pool days lately. Spring will come someday! 

Usefulness

I'm not always useful, but every now and then I come in handy. One of my friends had a car that wouldn't start yesterday morning. So last night when she got off of work I went over to help jump it. It took quite awhile, as the battery was NOT happy, but we got it going.

Notice the temperature on my car? -5! I was outside for about 10 minutes trying to get the cables hooked up and I could barely feel my fingers by the time I got done. Glad I had brought along some hot tea. 

Staying Warm!

I stopped and got a cup of coffee on my way to church. I love Coffeesmith's for a lot of reasons, but especially for their timely stickers.

Today, it was a snowflake. 

I have had a headache the last few days, and I fear a cold is coming on so I bought these Airborne tablets. They were rather sour, but hopefully will help me not get sick!

And finally, a shelfie picture at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. One of my all-time favorite places--and my new favorite shelf!

Gingerbread Houses!

A quick fact about me: I've never decorated a gingerbread house. Not that I remember, anyway.

Thankfully, Target assembled some very nice gingerbread houses, and Katie & I set out to decorate them. Selfishly, I gave her candy and frosting for her Christmas present, so we were all set.

Here's how they started.

And here's how they ended.

The fronts.

The sides.

And the backs.

And a picture of us with our houses. This picture took 85 tries, including an accidental picture of my finger and one of my feet. Plus 83 others of half of us.

Katie & her house.

Me and my house.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the HUGE MESS we made on the table. It was a fun, and successful afternoon. Even if it did take 3 hours. 

I also baked the pieces to try to put together my own house, I just haven't gotten around to putting them together yet. And, I accidentally ate the base. Guess it'll have to go on a plate instead!

Best Books 2013

**this is cross-posted from my school blog**

Goodreads tells me that I read 64 books this year, but I'm not entirely sure how accurate it is, as sometimes it doesn't automatically time stamp the finish date. I also rarely log my picture books, because I read several of those per day. I'm sure 64 is close, though, as far as everything besides picture books goes. I've split them up into categories, and only picked one book per category.

If you're interested in what else I've been reading, check out my Goodreads page or my book quotes document.

Favorite Picture Book:

 

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea was by far my favorite picture book that I read this year. It is just so funny! I laughed out loud several times while reading it, and then laughed again and again as I read it to my K-2 students. The goat putting the plunger on his head and dancing around like a pretty little unicorn is an image that will stay with me forever, I think. The pictures are gorgeous, and you learn to love and accept both unicorn and goat. I think everyone can relate well to goat--there's always a unicorn in your life, someone who is constantly doing everything better than you are. But, as goat learns in the end, even unicorns have their struggles. 

Middle Grade:

I first read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper in January. I absolutely loved it and handed it to every 5th-8th grader that I possibly could, and every single one of them loved it. Then, it was chosen for the Global Read Aloud for Fall 2013, and I couldn't have been happier. That means that every 4th-6th grader in our school heard this powerful story of Melody and her struggles and achievements while dealing with the cerebral palsy that had defined her for so long. This is such a powerful book that has a message that every student should hear, one of acceptance, belief and love. This book sparked so many quality conversations about how we treat people who are different than us, and what it means to be brave. 

Young Adult:

This was much too complicated to have to choose one, and since this is my blog and I get to make the rules, I'm saying that this trilogy, Divergent by Veronica Roth was my favorite YA read of 2013. I have never read books so fast, nor have I ever had as many heated conversations in as many places--Twitter, Facebook, real life conversations with students, friends, and strangers. My favorite conversation of 2013 happened with a student on Twitter about Allegiant. It was over 1.5 hours and over 70 tweets back and forth about the book. I invested several hours AFTER reading Allegiant reading review after review and tweet after tweet, plus reading all that Veronica Roth had to say about it in her blog. I just don't even have words to describe how much I love these books. Truly. 

Adult:

This was possibly the easiest choice for me, as adult books aren't my favorite. Honestly, I only read them when they are part of our book club. But this is by far my favorite book we've ever read for book club. The Storyteller was nothing like any other Jodi Picoult book I've read. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I'm wondering if I've just read the wrong books by her that didn't pique my interest. This was a story of a German man who killed people in the Holocaust, and a bakery shop girl whose Jewish family was impacted by the very same man and how their worlds collide in a strange way when he asks her to kill him.

Professional:

I can't believe I hadn't read this until this year. Every pre-service teacher should be required to read this. Such a different approach to teaching reading, but one that I truly believe would help kids enjoy reading more, thus choose to read more. This is another book that I wrote so many quotes down from it that I practically rewrote the whole book--so many I had to create a separate Google Doc from my regular book quotes one. 

Goals for next year:

--75 books

--log more picture books