Hot Drink Crossroads

Recently I realized that I was down to my last can of Mystic Chai. A frantic text was sent to my dad hoping that he would fix this soon to be disaster. We have only been able to find this glorious drink mix at Sam's Club, to which I am not a member but my father is.
So naturally when he was headed to Sam's I made my plea for another can.
He came home with his arms full and I started to help bring in the purchases. I made the comment that I don't like Sam's because there isn't a bag/box to carry your purchases. To this he responded with,
"Well, you are going to hate Sam's even more."
I knew instantly! NOOOOOO!
"I couldn't find your chai anywhere."
I am going to have to ration my last can. I am going to have to find another drink to take its place. I don't want to. I want my chai. I was in the depths of despair!

The next day, the dark clouds drifted away and the sun began to shine again when I got this text

I guess it was just the Sam's he went to that day that didn't have it! Crisis over!

And now, I am going to drink my cup of chai and sit down to learn something from the Sunday Morning Show on CBS.

P.S I discovered while looking for the website for Mystic Chai that I can order a can from Amazon, so it was a slight case of over reaction.

December TBR List

(source)

Winter and summer are my favorite times of year to read. Summer, obviously since I am not in school and can read as much as I want. Winter, because what is better than curling up while it is snowing with a blanket, hot cup and a good book! Winter is an indoor season for me and reading is my sport.

Here is my December To Be Read book list:

Is my current read. I have been waiting for this book for over a year. It was finally in a Scholastic book order and I was given $15 free and this is one that I got! So far so good! I need to finish it soon so I can take the reading test and get some AR points! My students will be so disappointed if I don't make my goal! This one is worth 10 whole points!

On Monday, I will start reading this to my students. I read it in college, but don't remember too much about it. I asked my Facebook friends if I should read this one or Soup on Ice by Richard Peck, and this one won! So hopefully the students enjoy it!

Also being read for AR points, but also for the Newbery checklist. I am still trying to read through all of the Newbery books. One of my students picked this one out for us to "read" together.

One of the gifts a student gave me for my birthday this year was this book. I have saved it for the snowy season. Should be a quick, easy, snowy read!

And finally, my Christmas book. Two years ago I decided to read a Christmas book each year. My dear sweet OMM loved Christmas and read Christmas books all year long. She was excited for me to join in on the fun. She gave me this book to read for this year. I will miss not being able to share with her.

There you have it! My December TBR and snow adventures to come!

What books are on your December TBR list?

Wait for it.....

I am back to the blogging world!

It has been a few months, but I had wi-fi installed this morning and I can get on the Internet Any, Time. I, Want. To!

So get ready for more randomness and *heart flutters* galore!


What do you hope to see in upcoming posts? What did you miss?

Attitude is Everything

It has been awhile since I have participated in Slice of Life over at Two Writing Teachers. Although, it appears that they took the whole month of July off, so I don't feel so bad!

With school starting just around the corner my thoughts have pretty much been consumed with the upcoming year. I keep thinking about one thing over and over.

Attitude.

It all seemed to start when I started going to the chiropractor and saw this sign each time I went.

Sometimes I flat out, no hiding it have a bad attitude and sometimes it is just starting to show. Other times I have a good attitude. Sadly, most of the time, the bad shows more than the good. I have even done my share of telling a student that they need a better attitude when I myself have a crummy one.

I have decided that this school year's word will be "attitude". We as a class will work on having a good attitude and having on that others find worth catching.

"People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude."

John C. Maxwell

Wow, if that isn't enough to make you think twice! Or this one...

"Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us."
 Earl Nightingale

Focus On the Good

Another week has gone by and it is already August. Where in the world is the year going? A friend made a comment the other day that people were already counting down to Halloween. Before we know it, it will be here. Let's not think about that right now.

Last Sunday I blogged about focusing on the good in life. I am going to try super hard to regularly post about this each week. Looking back on the past week and looking for the good.

Sadly, there aren't many pictures from this last week, but there was plenty of good!

I got another few hours finished in my classroom with help from Abby and Laura. I am a little confused as to why they are so eager to help me! I won't complain though since it helps me out and also gives me some time with them.

I won't be playing nurse yet this week, so I have a few more days to get work done before returning to work on Friday.

For four sleeps I got to spend time with dear friends in Saratoga, WY. This was the best part of my week. I got to cuddle with this dog each night. This is an old picture. He looks very different at the moment. He is rather naked compared to this picture.

It was lovely to sit and chat, drink wine and eat cupcakes.

And try to avoid being stuck with the "damn grapes"

 Every time I leave, I am convinced that I leave a little piece of my heart there.

Book Meet #3 was spent with one-on-one with this girl! I was sad that the others weren't able to make it, but glad for the time with her. I have known Carlie for eight years now ever since I had her sister my first year teaching. She read "The Witches" by Roal Dahl and I read "Once Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia and "The Year of the Book" by Anrea Cheng.

I look forward to this next week filled with good!

What "Focus on the Good" moments did you have this past week?

Focus On the Good

I have recently joined the world of Twitter. I am the old lady that posts pictures on to her actual wall of her house and tells her friend that she unfriends her (Esurance commercial maybe?) when it comes to Twitter. I think I am getting better but there is still a whole lot out there I need to learn.

Anyway, that isn't the point. I am a huge fan of Life is Good products and follow them both on Facebook and Twitter. Today they tweeted this and got me to thinking about my week ahead.

Here are my goals and some good that I know for sure is coming my way.

Good 
-I get to sleep in my own bed two nights this week.
-Two helpers will help me push through my to-do list in my classroom
-Road trips are better with two
-Tasty food will be consumed with friends
-I will be three more visits closer to being healed
-Book Meet #3 happens while feasting on tacos and talking books

Goals
-Meet my Fitbit goal every day this week
-Finish One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia for the Book Meet
-Get as much as I can finished in my classroom in the three days I have available to work
-Focus on the Good (kind of the point right ;0)

What are your goals for the week?
What good happened to you this last week?

Thinking Out Loud - The Last Two Weeks or So

Well hello! It has been while. Not sure why it has been so long, but it has. I figured I would do a "Thinking Out Loud Post" to recap the last few weeks.

My back is finally getting better! Two weeks ago I got home from my annual trip to Salida with my family and couldn't move. The pain was radiating down both of my legs. It hurt to stand, it hurt to sit, it hurt to lay down, it just plain hurt. I finally made an appointment with a chiropractor that my friend goes to and I wish that I had done so earlier! He didn't do anything except an exam on the first visit, but I walked out of his office with hope and that alone made me feel 83% better! Since then I have gone back a few times and am already feeling better.

Stolen summer. With my back pains I feel as if my summer has been stolen from me. I have not been able to do several of the things I have wanted to do because it simply hurt to move. My summer adventure list was neglected. My summer wasn't completely stolen, I did have some pretty amazing times with friends and family.

School is around the corner. We report on the 8th of August and then the students come marching in the door on the 14th. That's like....two weeks! Yikes! I am freaking out a tad. I have lots to do. My sister needs to have surgery and I get the honor of being her nurse. With this, I will be with her and not in my classroom. Since I have this fear of not being ready in time (aided by scary teacher dreams that are trying to prove this fear) I am freaking out even more. I have been going in here and there to work in my classroom to get ready. I keep telling myself that it will all be fine and it will all get done.


Thankful for friends. Along with the fear of not being ready for school, I have been blessed by two past students who helped me this week in my room. Abby and Laura are such great helpers. We worked for a good seven hours and got a lot accomplished! They were able to help me when my body was loudly protesting on how much work it was doing.

Second Book Meet. Once again a few of us got together to discuss the books we were reading or had read. We had a small group of four again, but had two new kiddos join us. I think that the kids enjoyed it, I know I sure did. They wanted to continue into the school year, so I am thinking about how that will work. We will meet again next Wednesday once more before school starts.

Well, I think that might be about it. I hope I will be able to blog better here on out.