RAOK Reversed

I am so excited! I was on the receiving end of a RAOK today! I was so sappy and happy about it, my eyes reacted they way they do during the national anthem, Visa Olympic commercials and the end of Cool Runnings.

The call of coffee was strong and I had to heed it, so I made my way to the nearest Starbucks drive-thru. Who knew that the same call came to fifty other people at the same time. There was a race to get a place in line and each person inching closer and closer to edge out the next person. I sat patiently and waited my turn. Patience does pay off!

Finally I made my way to the order box, placed my order and continued to inch my way to liquid heaven. The window opened, the fun barista handed me my cold cup of Joe and I went to hand him my gift card. I was then informed that the gentleman at the counter inside wanted to pay for my order! Epic *heart flutter* All of the baristas were confused and one of them even asked me if I knew the guy. I told her not that I knew of and she thought that was weird. I on the other hand was having a hard time containing myself!

I smiled the rest of the way home and still hours later am reaping the benefits of a strangers kindness.

Not only did I get free coffee, but I got a lesson in how others feel when I am honored with the chance to bless them! Best part about the weekend by far!

What was a *heart flutter* for you this weekend?

My Burning Love

August 16, 1977 in Memphis, TN, Elvis Aaron Presley left the world. I can imagine that if there was Internet back then, he too would have crashed it with news of his death. EVERYONE (born before 1970) seems to remember where they were when this happened and what they were doing.

I on the other hand was not alive either on that day. I didn't come along until the end of 1982. I would have loved to have been alive when Elvis used his pipes to bless eager listening ears all over the world, but sadly, I just get to hear other's stories, watch his old movies and listen to his music on my ipod.

Many people have told me they think it odd that I like Elvis so much when I wasn't even around when he was.  Well I will tell you why.

• He is "A Big Hunk O' Love"

Have you seen the kid?! He is pretty dreamy!

• He was in the Army

I don't know what kind of soldier he was, but he is a man in uniform. You know what they say about men in uniforms.

• He could dance

Even if Forrest Gump taught him how to do it. I mean a guy who can shake his hips like that...

• He "lights my morning sky"

I can't help singing along and enjoying my day with his songs.

• He could sing "like a sweet song of a choir"

Almost everyone can name at least one Elvis song.

• He gives me chills

Have you heard "How Great Thou Art"? Enough said.

• He is the Kind of Rock and Roll

Who else in music is in both the rock and roll hall of fame and the country hall of fame. He has several number ones (I don't think he holds the record for the most number ones anymore) and he was in numerous movies (even if they weren't very good. Sorry honey, you aren't a very good actor.) Only one other person (that I am aware of) has been given the title of king and that would be George.

So there you have it. A few reasons why I like Elvis. I love that in Lilo and Stich, Lilo loves Elvis also. She must be a kindred spirit!

How about you? Are you old enough to know what you were doing when The King of Rock and Roll fell of the loo?

Mah Na Mah Na

I. Am. Tired.

Thankfully I made it home and am not drooling on my desk.

School starts tomorrow and twenty-two fourth graders will be flooding my classroom at 7:50 if I am ready or not.

Today is also the 14th, which is the day that I planned on doing a RAOK each month. Didn't happen. I was so busy and I only left my classroom to go to the office and to eat lunch. I did help out my teaching partner some but that happens all the time because we love each other.

So epic fail on doing it on the designated day, but there is still a few more days left of August.

Well, not much of a post, but I hadn't posted in a few days and thought I would do so. Now I need to go finish getting ready for tomorrow. Got to pick out that first day of school outfit!

Here's to everyone starting a new adventure of a new school year!

P.S Excuse the random title that appears to having nothing to do with this post. I couldn't come up with anything and this song came on while I was thinking. What can I say?

10 on 10 August 2013

I have been waiting for August 10th since July 11th and it is finally here! I found this fun blog that's main purpose is photography and she has a thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for ten hours. I wanted to do this!

I woke up with a plan and ten hours ahead of me. Out of the pictures I took today, I was only really please with one of them. I had a great day with friends, but just wouldn't work the shutter to save my life.

So I will wait patiently for another month and then give her another try. In the time being, I will share with you ten pictures I have taken, just not today.

 

 

Summer Living

It is light, but it is there!

 

This picture represents life for me.

 

In October 2011 my step-mom passed away. This was my first encounter with a grief stronger than I had ever known. My whole life changed that day in ways that I never thought were even possible.

 

I was very, very (I can’t stress enough) lucky to have the support of my team teacher, friends and boss and was allowed to have a week and a half off to deal with what I needed to do. Yet as we know, grief is not allotted to a week and a half time frame, and eventually I had to go back to work.

 

I know it would have been ok if I had had hard times at school, but how do you explain to twenty nine and ten year olds why you are crying in the middle of their math lesson on fractions? So I pushed aside a lot of my grief while at work. At home I was able to let the tears flow freely while I sat on the floor of my closet while trying to figure out what to wear that day, but not at school.

 

So when summer came and I no longer had to push anything aside, the grief over took me. I had a very hard summer. I rarely left my house and hardly communicated with anyone. I am trying to think of one thing I did last summer, and I can’t really. When I did leave the house, I suffered from severe social anxiety issues and questioned every interaction with friends. Sadly, I fear that some bridges may have been burned during this time.

 

It is hard to know if what I went through was a helpful way to deal with the gaping hole that was now in my heart and in my life, but it was what happened.

 

In May as the school year was coming to a rapid end I decided that this summer I was going to live and the bucket list was born. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a repeat of the summer before.

 

Back to my picture, in order to get a glorious Chaco tan, one has to be outside in the sun. In order to be out in the sun, one can’t sit at home on the couch. I got up and I got out there doing things that made my *heart flutter* and built memories. Thank you to all that helped me live this summer and also for your patience and understanding when I wasn't.

 

I lived this summer.

 

This is not to say that I forgot about my grief or that there is still a void in my life that I am not sure will ever be filled again, but it does say that Sandy would have been proud of me and wouldn’t have wanted me to spend another summer not living. She always lived her life even when she knew that the end was near and could have easily just given up.

 

Thank you, Sandy for once again being an inspiration and guide and still making an impact on my life. You were such a kindred spirit with *heart flutters* and truly understood that it is about the little things in life. I love you Blue Box Mama.

Reading RAOK

I can not understand why my RAOKs don't always go as planned! I suppose it adds a little bit more of a challenge.

Today I did this RAOK for a friend from high school to honor her on her 8th wedding anniversary (married on 8/8 and this year is their 8th...how cool is that?!)

I met Trina our freshman year when her class from Crawford came down to Hotchkiss to go to high school. We also worked at the pool together for a few summers and this is where I really got to know Trina and fall in love with the person that she is.

Trina has such a beautiful heart and love for life. I very much enjoy following her goings on with her family and uber cute children! She is an amazing mom and loves her children with her whole heart.

Amazing pictures taken by Trina's SIL. Check out her website at http://www.katiericephotography.com/

For my RAOK I wanted to hide a little something in a book. I choose this because while working at the pool when I was sitting at the front desk reading and she was on her break from guarding, I would read to her from whatever book I was reading. We read parts of the Left Behind Series and also explored "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #1) by Louise Rennison. So I planned to put my little something in Angus since that book just makes me giggle.

So I made my little something and headed to the library.

 

Here is where things start to "fall apart," I can't find Angus! I look all around the young adult section and it isn't there. So I hop on the card catalogue and it is no longer even at the library anymore! Strike one.

Ok, no big deal, just find another funny book. "Matilda!" Strike two! It was checked out. Which I shouldn't complain about because some child somewhere is really enjoying a good book!

Now what am I going to do? I see tons of great books I can hide it in, but they aren't funny and since I added my P.S I had to find a funny book.

So I found "A Long Way From Chicago" by Richard Peck. Success!

 



I don't know how popular this book is (it should be read by everyone in my opinion) so I don't know how long it will take for it to be discovered. It will be fun to see if it is still there or not next time I go to the library.

Happy anniversary Adam and Trina!     

Revamped Ideas

I was once again blessed with pairs of little helping hands in my classroom again today, and boy howdy did we get lots done! As Abby exclaimed at the end, "It's starting to look like a real classroom!"

Back in July I posted about the idea of the Reading Graffiti Wall and that I had the dream of implementing it in my class this year. It almost didn't happen! *Gasp* The really cool makers I bought weren't going to work and I was going to have to use white paper. This wasn't much of a problem, but I really liked the idea of the black. Well with some quick thinking and tween obsession with polka dots, Abby helped be fix said problem! Her idea was actually even better than my original idea!

We would still use the black paper, but the students would write their quote on some sort of paper and then tape it on the paper. Abby used the di-cut to make circles out of regular copy paper and we added a colorful border and had complete success!

I like this idea better because it is a unique but also the students will be able to write on the dots easier than on the wall. Also if they make a mistake they can get a new dot and won't be scribbling on the black paper. Plus when it gets filled up, I can take the dots off and we can start over. I think it looks so cool!

We didn't just work all day, we even had time for a little picnic in the classroom!

On a side note, I had two other *heart flutters* today. Twice I had two different gentlemen keep chivalry alive! The first time I was carrying a rather heavy box down the hallway and it was promptly taken from me and taken to my destination. The second was while picking up lunch we were walking towards the door at the same time as another gentleman and he picked up his pace so he could get to the door before us and hold it. Of course I said thank you and he responded with a very friendly "have an amazing day." I exclaimed on the way to the car that chivalry was still alive and sadly Abby asked what chivalry even was. (She didn't seem all that impressed when I explained.) It just made me happy. Aren't nice people cool?

Here's to revamped ideas, creative juices and kind gentlemen sirs!