Ice Day Blues

A free day off from school. Could have been a great day. I had a pancake brunch and watched some HGTV and had every intention of being productive in the afternoon. Then suddenly I had one sneeze that turned into the allergy attack of the decade. Luckily, I had some benadryl on hand in case I had an allergic reaction to the pain meds from the wisdom teeth surgery, but it just knocked me out for the whole afternoon. I wasn't going to get anything done around the house any way, so no harm no foul, I guess. I'm feeling a little better now and I guess I should be glad I was able to rest at home instead of being miserable at school. Wednesday is my least favorite day of the week anyway, so it was nice to have a little unexpected break on one, even if my nose is now currently red, raw, and sensitive to the touch.

First Life Lesson of 2009

It became apparent to me on over the course of the past week that I need to trust my gut more. Since day one of teaching I've been insecure 90% of the time about not being good enough. I have felt out of my league with my small town East Texas roots. I am constantly self-evaluating because I always think I'm doing something wrong. Other parts of this insecurity stem from the fact that I feel my students are a reflection of my teaching and I equate their successes or failures with my teaching abilities. This means that if some ding-a-ling 11 year old still can't recognize an A on the staff that it is somehow my fault and if someone finds out one of my students can't read an A on the staff that they will think that I'm a ding-a-ling, too. Well, I think I finally realize that this isn't the case. I haven't been trusting my gut and have been swayed by perspectives that are not necessarily fully objective. I really need to start following what is inside of me. While I realize I am not any where close to being a veteran teacher that has all the knowledge of years of experience, I also realize that I'm not clueless. I know more than I've been giving myself credit for. It's time for me to stop second guessing myself and go with what I know is right for me. Am I going to make more mistakes? Yes. Am I going stop being so hard on myself? Hopefully. With age comes wisdom. I get it now.

Cosmic Hope

I was reading my horoscope for February in a magazine today and here's what it said about work:

Work Mode: Inspired. A new hire won't threaten your success - and could turn out to be the mentor you've been looking for.

We just found out Friday that a the director for the new high school was named and we got to speak with him about future plans. Turns out, he will be able to start visiting our campus twice a week starting next month! I would say it feels like a new chapter for my career, but it feels more like a whole new book. It's exciting to finally have a high school that will offer support and a place to send our students where they can continue on a positive journey. Change really IS coming!!

Karmic Smack Down

The first few days of 2009 I was trying something new: optimism. This lasted a few days until the universe smacked me with a reality check. The first weekend of the new year I started to have a tooth ache in the back of my mouth. I was sure one of my wisdom teeth was FINALLY starting to push it's way in. So the first week back to school I missed two and a half days running around to the dentist and oral surgeon to have my teeth cut out of my head. I guess the lucky part of all of it was that I've never had any wisdom teeth in the bottom of my mouth, and people tell me that those are the worst. I can't imagine because having the top two out were bad enough. My mom came up to drive me to and from the procedure because they put me to sleep. She stayed around for a few days and stocked my fridge with lots of mushy foods. It was absolutely no fun. And missing work and getting behind and having to play catch up all week was no fun either. I was finally able to eat a good meal at the end of this week, although I still don't have much of an appetite. So, trying to have a renewed sense of optimism about things I kept telling myself that at least it happened now and not the week before contest, or the week of 5th grade band auditions, or during TMEA. Then SMACK - another reality check. I had a major flat tire. I had not driven my car for several days so it had just been sitting in my garage getting flatter by the day. After a friend put my donut tire on, I spent an hour and a half at the tire store only for them to tell me that the tire could not be repaired and I would need a new $200 tire. Great. But they didn't have the tire in stock and I had to go back the next day to get it put on my car. It ended up being a very expensive week for me and I'm not sure I like this optimism stuff. Maybe I'll give it a try again soon when I have more money in my savings account.

For All You Shamwow Fans Out There

If you watched anything on cable TV over the winter break, then you have met Vince with Shamwow. If you haven't met Vince, then click here to get to know him and how you can clean up spills in fraction of the time.

Today I learned that Vinces pushes more than just the Shamwow, he also pushes the Slap Chop. Click here to see how you can chop anything in a fraction of the time.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what other life changing, time saving gadgets Vince has to offer me in 2009.