Confession....

I love crossing things off of a 'To-Do List' - actually, I even love looking at a list with things crossed off of it! Sometimes, when I do something that wasn't on my list, I add it JUST so I can cross it off. BAM! :)



Oh What a Day!

 So....This morning was my first 'official' day back in my classroom - official in that all of the teachers & staff were back today & we had to be there 8:00 to get our meetings started. For me, it also meant that I had to get up super early to get dressed in 'real' clothes and get Joshua ready for his 1st day back at school (pre-K).

In my half-asleep, running-late-on-the-first-day rush, I went to grab my body spray.....

.... see any potential problems here? I definitely missed the adidas spray and gave my self a full-frontal spray of bug spray!!! :x GROSS!!!!!! 

 

And Josh was in a *great* mood this morning - sooooo ready to go back to school (sarcasm)

See the excitement?

It was all downhill from here - his teacher had to pry him off my leg!! :*( It was soo sad - heartbreaking!!! (I picked him up as soon as we were done & we went to get ice cream!!)

 

Now...the moment you've all been waiting for..................... pictures of my room!

Here are a few of the awesome things I found on Pinterest and copied.... prepare to be dazzled (j/k;)

 ^brag board

^daily schedule, assignments & objectives

ooohhh and notice the clutter? ^ Wellll... there's more of that... I know, it's a giant mess of junk everywhere - but you just HAVE to see the 'before' so you can appreciate the 'after' :) Ready for the mess? Here goes.....

 

^future motivational wall :)

^ Promethean Board that I LOVE, a wall for problem-solving strategies & the edge of the homework wall :)

If you look closely, you might be able to see my desk under there.....

Told ya' it was ugly!

But what you can't see, is an idea I actually got from a lot of the runners' blogs and facebook motivational pages I've been reading... I'm making a motivational wall! The kids and I are going to set goals through out the year and update our progress, and even celebrate when we reach one! YAY! I'm also going to gradually add motivational meme type posters to that section of the wall & encourage the kids to add motivational quotes of their own - so excited about this - yay for being positive & uplifting! :)

 

 

****Omigosh! How could I forget.... I finally ran today!!! YAAAAY! I haven't run in over 2 weeks! *gasp* I've been doing hip strengthening exercises (xray and specialist said no bone issues). I did Week1, Day 1 of my old couch to 5k program (including warm-up only totalled 2 miles) - HUGE step back from the 20+ mile weeks I was doing before - but I DO NOT want to reinjure! I am taking it slow!! My 1/2 in December might be super slow, but since it's my 1st ever, it'll still be a PR! ;)

What Do Teachers Do on Their 1st Day of School?

 They hit the snooze button for an hour, that's what! I had all these wonderful plans for what I was going to get done between 4:30 and 5:30 this morning, but apparently, my subconscious felt that hitting snooze every 15 minutes was better........ :|

          ANYway, I am forcing myself to make time for breakfast - banana w/peanut butter & honey, and a gallon of coffee. :) We'll have a special 'Welcome Back' breakfast at school this morning, so of course, I'll eat again then! :)

 

        As I've said before, one of my 'life' goals is to take more pictures, so get ready - later today (fingers crossed that I actually remember to take the pictures!!) I'll post more of my '1st Day Back' pictures. Today is just the first day back for teachers, we don't get our kiddos until next week. Just brace yourself the awesomeness that is to come!!! ;)

 

What time do you get up in the morning? Is that with or without snooze??

 

What was your favorite grade/subject in school?

I'm a little partial to 5th grade! :) My favorite subject has always been Reading - I was an English major in college (not an education major - wanna talk about a tough transition - whew!)

Just a Quickie....

I've had a super-busy, running-all-over-the-place (errands, not actual running) kind of week. The boys have been doing Vacation Bible School all week from 6:30-8:30 at night, I've been sqeezing in a million hours working in my room, I got an x-ray on Monday & I'm going to a specialist today! Whew - that was tough to even say!!
One of my reasons behind this blog is to force myself to take more pictures of my life...epic FAIL. No pictures of this week, but I still have 1 day left to try to capture the madness, so when the dust settles this afternoon evening tonight, I will add some pics!

Selfies @ Church :)

Josh and I were hanging out in the nursery by ourselves at church this morning so, naturally, we took a selfie. I haven't upgraded my phone yet so we had to do the old school way where you can't see what you're doing.....obviously! :)

Upgrading my phone in a couple of months - iphone or android? Help! I can't decide!!!

Lunch!

Guac, mozzarella, red peppers, lettuce & a little ranch dressing - yummy! :) I think I'm going to start putting guacamole in everything!

What Have You Done This Week?

I have done a whole ton of stuff and absolutely NONE of it included actually running. :(

Warning: Teacher Rant Ahead
My oldest spent his mornings at Vacation Bible School, so Joshua and I spent our mornings in my classroom getting ready for the upcoming school year. I got a few things done, but spent a lot of time running back and forth between the bathroom (which is actually in a completely different building) and my room so Josh could take a potty break or looking for supplies in the janitor's office and another completely different building - 5th grade is in our very own special place on campus, far, far away from everyone else, so there are a lot of "completely different buildings" on campus. And, no, in 'Far, Far Away' we don't have our own bathroom - that's a problem ALL YEAR LONG... but apparently adding a whole new set of bathrooms is a pretty complicated process, so we just suck it up and walk the extra yardage.

Warning: Runner Rant Ahead
I have spent my usual running time this week trying to meditate more on my Bible and prayer time + I've also been trying to NOT have a hip injury. My hippish area has been hurting for a while (this area is at the front of my hip joint - not sure if it's the leg or the joint? so it's 'hippish') and I was trying to make it go away with rest. Didn't happen, so, I made an appointment at our local general med. office so I could get the referral train rolling sooner than later. I have an x-ray scheduled for Monday.... and I'm taking some NSAIDs in the meantime. :(

So, instead of running, I have been reading all ABOUT running, following some awesome people on Facebook, reading some great blogs and of course my Runner's World issue that came in the mail yesterday!

Facebook:
Run Hard - Always Finish
Scrambled Legs Running
Distant Runners
Running4Him

Blogs:
The Hungry Runner Girl
Skinny Chick Blog
Laced Up With Lipstick

Ever had an injury that required rest? How long did you have to take off?


How do you find balance in your life? I think this will be my LIFELONG struggle!