17 in 2017

About a week ago when I should have been sleeping, or getting ready for work, or anything that is adulting, I was on Pintrest.

I found a pin from a lady who had a list of 17 things she wanted to do before 2017. Well let's face it, I wouldn't be able to do that. BUT I thought, "What about 17 IN 2017?" and I quickly became obsessed.

I got out my everything notebook and started a list. You know how I love lists. I even made a 2017 board on Pintrest. I went through and picked at least a pin from each board equaling 17 pins to do throughout the year.

Did I mention that I became obsessed?

Here's what I have so far:

• Read 17 adult books
• Read 17 children's books
• Write 17 letters
• Get 17 or more miles a week with Fitbit
• Blog 17 times
• Get rid of 17 things a month from around the house
• Make 17 phone calls to people I don't talk to often

What do you think? Have any you think I should add? 

Currently I'm....

Reading..."Wish" by Barbra O'Conner and I can not wait to share it with my class. In fact, I want to jump ship with our current read aloud so I can read this one to them. I am not finished, but I just know that it is going to be a forever book for me. I very much enjoyed "How to Steal a Dog" by O'Conner and many people in the blog/book world said that it was better. It is reminding me of some of my other forever books: Ruby Holler, Snicker of Magic and Key to Extraordinary.

Watching...the Olympics. What? How long have they been over? I was so busy when they were on that I had to record a lot of them. It is very slow going. I only seem to find time to watch about one swim race at a time, usually while I am eating breakfast before school. I know most of the results already, but still want to watch.

Trying...to keep my head above water. School came rushing at me and I didn't have my life vest securely fastened before it hit. Hopefully soon I can get it in place and start swimming.

Drinking...as much water as I can without leaving my class unattended too much. I read somewhere that lemon, lime and cucumber in your water will help with unnecessary eating so I gave it a try and I like it. Plus I have this epic water bottle that keeps ice in it for hours! It makes drinking water such a delight!

Listening to...Happier with Gretchen Rubin which is a pod cast and I am loving it! It is great to listen to in the car and each one is about 30 minutes long so it is the perfect length. I knew of this other before and enjoyed some of the tips that I had picked up. I have found a few more that I would like to implement into my every day life. I want to go back and listen to all of them and make sure I have a notebook handy!

Thankful for...my team teacher and the laughs that we find throughout the day. I believe that these are the moments that are keeping my head from exploding.

What are you currently reading. watching, trying. drinking, listening to and/or thankful for?

Four Year School Journal

I should be asleep. I was almost asleep when I realized that it was August 1st and that it was time to start journaling for school again, and since I am often a little obsessive with things, I had to get up and journal.

Two years ago I started a four year school journal that helps me see what is going on during different times of the year. I just jot down a few sentences about the day and how I am feeling. It takes about a minute and is a good record of the school year.

This way of journaling helps to me see that I often go through the same things and feel the same way each year. Often times I forget that some of the struggles I go through as a teacher with each class is a normal part of the process. This way, I can see that it happens every year and that it too does pass. It is also a good way to remember the joys and celebrations.

It's hard to believer that it is already August and even more hard to believe that I will be starting my eleventh year of teaching!

2016-2017 Everything Notebook

A few years ago, I started a notebook where I wrote everything down. I wrote short stories, shopping lists, plans for things, book club schedules, recipes, scores for Phase 10 and dominoes, you name it, it was written down in this notebook. I didn't have a name for it until recently when I found someone else on Pintrest who does the same thing.

I also started one this year for school and it was a lifesaver! Often things are written down here and there and more times than not, lost. Writing them down in one place has been so helpful. I decided to have one each year along with my new lesson plan book.

One of my projects this summer was to decorate my notebook for this year.

You can get the idea here!

This is what I wanted to do on my notebook, so I did! And I love it! 

My favorite was using pages from one of my favorite books! That is the only good thing that comes from students being tough on library books. 

In a Month....

A month from today, I go back to work. My summer will be over and I will no longer get to take a nap in the middle of the day. Yesterday I noticed that they already have back to school items out at the store. Confession: I bought something.

Last night I looked at my Summer Adventure List to see what all I have gotten done that I planned on doing. I have done four of the 23 things planned. That's a 17%. That's horrible.

I better get busy!

Summer 2016

And that is exactly why I have made a list and a plan! The past few summers (minus last summer I just realized) I have blogged about my summer to-do list and enjoyed it. So that's what you are getting again this summer!

Things That Get Ignored All School Year Long That Don't Take Very Long To Do

• Copy recipes from print outs and screen shots onto cards for the recipe box
• File and/or shred paper work
• Address a years worth of rent envelopes

Crafty Things

• Jean skirt out of old jeans
• Decorate my Everything Notebook for the 2016-2017 school year CHECK
• A thank you gift for my sister for taking care of me
• Finish the "blanket" I started ten years ago (carry over from 2013 list)
• Weekly Goal memo board
• Misc. crochet projects
• Weave in ends of my first temperature blanket

Physical/Health Things

• Get the Japan badge on Fitbit
• Sleep on my left side again CHECK
• Swallow and Coyote Song Loop (carry over from the last two years)
• Narrow Gauge and North Fork View (also a carry over)

Books

• Raymie Nightingale
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes
• I, Alex Cross CHECK
• An Echo in the Bone

Random

• Turn hangers around CHECK
• Blog/write most days
• Get caught up on all my house cleaning
• Trip to Goodwill

Not a bad list to start with. I have not been successful in the past of finishing everything on the list, but maybe this summer will be the year!

If you want to join me for any of these activities, let me know! I was just thinking the other day of those who have helped me cross things off the first list.

{Summer 2014} {Summer 2013}

What I Have Been Up To

January 17th? Is that really the last time I blogged?! I know that I have thought about it a lot, but I guess thinking about things doesn't get things done!

May was a whirl wind if I have ever been in one! There was something going on every day of the month and there were times I wasn't sure I was going to make it!

 I finished up by tenth year of teaching and said goodbye to a really good group of students. It was a good year full of laughter, growth and lots of learning. The fourth graders did amazing on our district testing and got a lot of adults super excited!

In the midst of packing up my classroom, I was trying to get ready for my surgery. I was hoping to have my house cleaned, but didn't get as much done as I would have liked. Good thing my family didn't care!

Friday morning, the 27th my dad and my sister took me to Fort Collins. I had a tumor removed from my parotid gland just under my ear and along my jaw line. It was supposed to be a two hour surgery, but the tumor was bigger and deeper than they thought, doubling the surgery time. Thankfully I don't remember anything! I remember asking if we got to listen to music and then waking up trying to take all my clothes off, and when I say clothes, I mean the sexy hospital gown you get to wear. They wouldn't let me take it off, so I told them then they better get me cooled down! I hope I wasn't too rude, but I was hot! The last time I was under for my wisdom teeth, 15 some years ago, I woke up freezing.

The week to follow was NOTHING what I thought it was going to be. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I was hoping that I would be able to sleep a lot and read my book while my family checked in on me from time to time.

Nope. The medicines that I was given, the killer headache and I didn't get a long very well. I am pretty sure in my mind the worst part was the headache and it was the cause of all my problems. Once we were able to get all that figured out, things started to move along. I will save you all the details and pictures that were taken.

I wasn't able to focus and read as much as I thought I was going to, so I feel like I am already behind on my summer reading!

To recap, I am very thankful for the care that I was given the last week, the texts and phone calls to check on me and the gifts that were dropped by. I don't know how anyone could go through something like that alone.

So now, in my world, summer vacation starts tomorrow and boy do I have big plans!

Celebrating This Week

Fist pump for Sunday! Double fist pump because it is a three day weekend!

It has been awhile since I have linked up with Ruth Ayres to celebrate the week. It's good to be back.

This week was a tough week and in the midst of it all, it was hard to find things to celebrate. Which is why celebrating with Ruth is good, because it helps to look back and find those moments.

Our little restaurant in town was once again open from a two week closure and serving tacos in abundance. Naturally I met two of my friends there and we sat and chatted for a good three hours. These two friends are my young friends that are still in high school that I first met when I had them in first grade my second year of teaching. Now here we are eight years later talking over chips and salsa. That's something to celebrate.

Scholastic always gives me reason to celebrate! I was getting ready to hand out book orders and noticed that Natalie Lloyd's new book was ready to be purchased and put into the hands of students and teachers. My excitement bubbled over to my students and several copies were purchased. Thanks to all the awesome parents who bought books for their children and the students who raided their piggy banks, I was able to get my copy with points, which equals FREE for me! That's two celebrations!

Goodreads page

Friday night I finished my 15th row of my thermometer blanket. I was one degree away the other day from using a third color, on the warmer end. I want it to get warmer, mostly because I am tired of this cold, but also because I want to add another color! Come one Mother Nature, work with me! The celebration with this one is that I am still in love with this project!

What are you celebrating this week?

January 2016

It's a new year! The other day I had a student say, "I can't believe it is 2016!" I had to chuckle inside because she has no idea what that means in her whopping ten years on this planet. She had to have heard her parents utter this phrase at some point. Every adult mutters this phrase at some point during the beginning of the new year. I know this, because I too mutter it every year. It is then usually followed by, "I remember Y2K like it was yesterday!" Are these signs that I am turning into an old lady?

Anyway, it has been since August that I blogged. Here's what I am up to at the moment:

Crocheting:

Recently, I was tagged on Facebook by a few friends in this picture. It is a thermometer blanket. You crochet a row a day and the color is based on the temperate for the day. I broke my pledge to not buy anymore yarn until I used what I had and bought the first few colors. I am not doing the colors in the picture, mostly because I didn't want to.

Here is what eight days looks like. I have not used the coldest color yet, so I guess that is a plus for the people who have to do recess duty! I am excited to see the end product. I like the idea of not having to really plan anything other than the colors. Mother Nature decides the color pattern and I just go with it!

Reading:

Don't act all surprised that this is what I have been up to. I am still working on The Fiery Cross from the Outlander series. I started it in September but put it on the back burner a lot the last four months. I was able to get a lot read over the two week break and got a good chunk of the book finished. My goal is to have it all read by the end of January.

This year, I plan to read 50 books for my Goodreads reading challenge. My goal was 45 last year and I read 50. Should be a pretty attainable goal.

Teaching:
Second semester is off and running! The words "state testing" are being spoken more and more as we move forward. As a school we are hitting writing pretty hard. This excites me, but terrifies me at the same time. Once again this year, my goal is to write more. In order to teach writing well, I have to be able to write well. Cassie got me this great journal with writing prompts to help both of us write more. So far so good! I also hope to blog better this up coming year and not care if I don't get any feedback. I am writing for me, not for comments.

Here's to the new year with lots of adventures; Reading, writing, crocheting and teaching adventures.
What are you up to these days?