Just Eat Pie

I was listening to the radio this morning, as a normally do on my drive to school, and they asked the question: “When will you do your holiday shopping?”

At first I just rolled my eyes because, hey, I pay good money for no commercials with my satellite radio, so shut up, you know? I'm a snob like that. 

When I got over that I listened to a couple of the answers and was slightly surprised by what I heard. The callers had three choices of answers:

a.)    Thanksgiving Day

b.)    Black Friday

c.)    Cyber Monday

Both of the answers I listened to said “Cyber Monday” because Thanksgiving Day is a day to be with your family.

Hear that, America? Be. With. Your. Family. (No matter how much you loathe them. Also, if you’re my family…I love you?)

Besides, Thanksgiving is a day for stuffing your face and taking naps! Is standing in line waiting to buy stuff you don't need better than that? No. Thanksgiving is, if I do say so myself, the BEST HOLIDAY EVER.

So why why why do you need to leave the comfort of some family members couch and go buy a giant screen television when you could be goofing off with some people you kind of like?

Because we’re crazy, that’s why. It’s some nutso need to believe we’re getting the best deal that makes us get up before the sun, stand in line with strangers, push, yell, and fight our way to that last pair of Jingle Jammies even though they’re an XXL but OMG WE NEED THEM.        

No, you don’t need them. Chill out and read some stats from Black Friday 2012 (source: the internet, just Google it):

Total amount of money spent: $59,100,000,000

Amount per person: $423

37% of American adults will go shopping on Friday. That’s 1 in 3 of us!

That’s a lot of money and a lot of people. It’s nuts to think that you need something that bad that you will wait in line for days (there are already tents pitched in front of Best Buy, guys) to buy something for the same price that it will be in a couple of weeks. This is true: I worked retail for a very long time.

I worked at Old Navy from June 2003 to March 2013. If my math is right, that’s nine Black Fridays. That’s eighty or so hours standing at a register, arguing about signs, apologizing for lack of product, and so on…this really happens and it’s horrible. Being in retail on Black Friday these days is terrifying because you don’t know what people will do to get what they want.

Truest story ever.

When I first started working retail Black Friday was fun and exciting! My first year I think the store opened at 7AM. SEVEN. That’s crazy, right? What time do stores open on Black Friday, now?

Oh, yeah…some of them don’t even close! Or they open at midnight. One of the local malls starts at 10PM on Thanksgiving Day!

That’s not even Friday!

Seriously, people…stay home. That’s all I can tell you.

It’s not worth it. You don’t need that waffle iron that bad. Those jeans will still be there the next day. Really? That television? Those gadgets? That game? Just say no, kids.

Eat some turkey, take a nap, bother your family.

That’s what Thanksgiving is all about.

Well, that and pie. 

I like pie. 

I Deserve My Summer Vacation

I was pretty mad yesterday. Like, angry mad, not crazy mad. Not a lot of things actually make me angry, you know. I can see some of you rolling your eyes, but it’s true. I just look like I’m angry. I can’t help it, it’s just my resting face.

Jeremy Renner has an A+ resting face. Also, he's adorable.

But anyways, here’s what happened:

A comment was made on a friend's Facebook status about having to work the day after Halloween and it went like this: “You get summers off and all that vacation time!”

Pardon me while I slap you via the internet.

First off, the complaint was not that she had to work, but that she had to work the day after Halloween.

Okay, do you have kids? Were they up late? Did you feed them candy for breakfast and then ship them off to school? (If that was you, I will find you.) But really, kids are crazy enough as it is…kids the day after Halloween? Goodbye everything you had planned.

So, here’s what makes me mad: YOU GET SUMMERS OFF AND ALL THAT VACATION TIME.

I get that a lot of people work 365, 24/7, blahblahblah, okay? I’m not knocking anyone else’s profession here, so don’t look at me that way. What really gets my goat is that people think that teachers just play around for ten months, get two off plus weekends and holidays and our lives are sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns.

In reality, I’m pretty sure there are more tears and wine than sunshine and rainbows, if you catch my drift.

Teaching is hard. Again, not knocking anyone else’s career choice. I admire almost every other job and know that people have it rough, okay? I need to get that out there so you all don't think I'm a jerk. I just don’t think that a lot of people actually know how hard teaching is.

Sure, I make lesson plans and get to do fun stuff and get a lot of hugs, but do you think it ends there?

I win "Last Teacher Standing" this week, okay? I mean, IT'S DARK.

There are meetings, meltdowns, grading, meetings, colleagues, parents, grading, and oh, did I mention meetings? Phone calls, paperwork, assemblies, clubs, tutoring, reteaching, reassessing, reevaluating, rebooting (coffee break!) and all within the twenty minutes you call your lunch break.

Then! Then I take stuff home. I mean, mostly my cat just lays on things when I take it home, but sometimes it gets graded, okay?

This is what my weekend looks like. Clearly I'm on top of things.

Honestly, though…the stuff I (re: teachers) take home is more mental than physical. It’s emotional. It’s the kids you can’t reach or the ones who don’t care. The kids who have a horrible home life and you’re the only bit of hope they have. The ones who eat their only meal at school and wear dirty clothes.

Teaching is hard. It’s not all fun and games. There are those things, but mostly it’s just about trying to succeed in world where people criticize you, question everything you do, and don’t think about what’s important: kids. They are what matter and if I put my heart and soul into them for ten months out of the year, I, and every other teacher, deserve a break every now and then.

So, yeah. I get summers off. I’m sorry you don’t.

But I’m not sorry, so there.

It’s not my fault you didn’t choose a career where you get summer vacations, now is it? 

Faithful, Faithful, Faithful

I’ve been in a funk lately.

It hasn’t been too horrible, but it’s been rough. Sometimes things get so hectic that I have trouble balancing all of them. I get upset when I figuratively (and literally) drop the ball on things, and then everything else just spirals downward from there.

This past week was especially tough, though I’m still not sure why. It wasn’t different than any other week from the outside. Of course, on the inside I was like a little raging hurricane.

Most days it feels like life is moving too fast: demanding job, family obligations, and personal life (ha!). And, like I said before, I drop the ball sometimes. Things get pushed to the wayside; they get forgotten, swept under the rug, and etc. Personally, I hate when that happens.

See, I don’t like to let people down...even myself.

However, I’ve found that when I worry about life, it only gets worse. The storm doesn’t let up, the waves are pushing you in all different direction, and you just feel like your drowning sometimes.

(My sister informed me that the top part was totally depressing. That’s life, kid.)

Here’s where it gets interesting: the past few weeks at church the sermons have focused on being faithful through the storms of life.

*INSERT FLASHING NEON SIGN HERE*

Yeah, I needed that a few weeks ago. A big sign that says: “ARE YOU LISTENING? THIS IS FOR YOU. (And some other folks, too.)”

Of course, when we’re running a million miles an hour (in the wrong direction), we aren't going to realize that the answer to our prayers is right in front of us, are we?

I know enough to understand that when I ask for something, it doesn’t always come to me the way I expect it to. God is always surprising me in ways that I sometimes can’t explain, but I also know that is part of His wonder. The way he shows up just when I think he’s not even listening.

Sometimes it's a quiet moment in my classroom, or at the grocery store, or even in a song or scripture.

What really stuck out to me today was this, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day in its own trouble.” –Matthew 6:34

Basically what Jesus is saying, and which was taught wonderfully in worship today, is why are you worrying about tomorrow? It isn’t even here yet! Worry about today! Think about today and what you have to do with this day that’s been given to you. Tomorrow will be there tomorrow, so worry about it then, right?

I think that’s the hardest thing for people to do sometimes. We give ourselves so much to do that it’s all we can think about and everything else gets forgotten. We are but fragile humans who need certain things to survive and when we’re just goinggoinggoing all the time, we don’t get those things.

We don’t rest or love or laugh. Laughing is my favorite.

If I personally don’t do those things I walk around with my perpetual Nick Miller face and no one wants that, trust me.

Nick Miller, duh.

To me, it’s best if things are kept light. If I think positive about every situation and just know that it’s okay to be okay.

Worship leader Darlene Zscech says: “If your negative emotions get on top of you, pessimism and passivity sets in…often people become cynical when their negative emotions rule them. Eventually they start seeing the bad side in everything.”

So, laugh at your mistakes and take it a little bit at a time. Don’t worry and don’t rush, because it will still be there tomorrow.

But it’s so hard, right?

No.

It’s so easy.

Take a deep breath, say a prayer, and trust in God. When I do that I feel like myself again. Worry doesn't plague me, and even though it might be short-lived, I know that it will be okay in the long run. And that it’s totally worth it.

Runner, Runner

Seventy-five degrees, a nice breeze, blue skies. Here in southwest Florida that’s a perfect beach day, especially after a couple of weeks worth of rain. So, what was I doing at 6:45 this morning instead of prepping for some fun in the sun or a nice relaxing day?

I was slipping into my compression pants and lacing up my asics, because it’s race day, people.

When I first started this blog I talked about how I was training for a 5K and how much I hated running. Like, I hated it. I mean, a lot.

It’s been a long few months since I started the actually training, which really just consisted of running. I didn’t throw in any weights or core training because, let’s be real here, running is enough for me. (Remember that blog about no time? Yeah.)

I used the Couch to 5K app to train because it tells you when to run and how long to run. It’s a great app to help build endurance, which I did. It had been many, many years since I’d even though about running (junior year of high school, to be exact), so this was a big step for me. The app even posts your workouts to Facebook, which is how I got involved in the first place.

I don’t know which one of them started it, but before I knew it Lisa, Michelle, and I were signed up for our first 5K (Run or Dye, November 16^th) and in full training. Thanks to the posts on Facebook we were able to keep up with each other. You know, since it was summer and we’re teachers and yay, no school. That just means we weren’t able to see each other face to face to keep each other accountable.

Virtual training partners. It was awesome.

Me and my buddies Lisa and Michelle after our race. 

Well, we thought it was awesome; other people might have been incredibly annoyed. I don’t really care about them, though. It was like having my own little cheering section each time I put myself out there. I knew that I would post it after the workout and someone would be proud of me, someone would cheer me on, someone would motivate me. I also had my sister as a real-life training partner and someone to yell at me or for me to yell at. Which one of us needed the motivation depended on the day.

Motivation is key here, people.

It was so amazing to have your friends look out for you, even if they weren’t training, too. When school started and people started asking how it was going, I was even more motivated.

The truth is…I like running.

After my horrifying time with cross country, I never thought I’d say that.

Running is awesome. You can let your mind go, and it’s just you, your feet, and the road. If you get a good song (personally I love running to Mumford & Sons) and a good pace, that is the best feeling in the world. When I managed to run thirty minutes for the first time I almost cried. And, while three miles might not seem like that much to someone else, when you’ve worked your butt off for four months, that three miles is your Mt. Everest.

Today, I climbed my Everest. Today, I completed my first 5K.

That's me on top of the bridge. Cool, yeah? 

See, after I started the training a friend of mine noticed and mentioned the Pink Heals (Pinktoberfest) run/walk for cancer. Well, how can you pass that up?

So, my training buddies, virtual and real-life, (and a good friend) signed up.

And we rocked it, y’all.

We had a great time, ran for a good cause, and are already geared up for next time.

Personally, I can’t wait. 

My real-life running buddy and sister. 

Be Awesome: A How To Guide

I notice that by Friday everyone always starts to seem frazzled. Your hair’s a mess, there’s coffee on your shirt, you’re sure to have forgotten at least three important things on your to-do list and so on and so forth. Life's hard, I get it. 

Here’s what you need to do:

Stop.

Stop worrying, man.

Start being awesome instead.

1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Why? How? What? Guess what, people. It’s all small stuff. It really is. And what happens when you sweat it? Nothing! You know why? Because you’re so busy freaking out about little things here and there that you miss the big picture. You’re the big picture. Life is the big picture and you are totally missing it. 

2. Take a break. That whole “stop and smell the roses” crap? Yeah, you should do it. Not in the literal sense, of course (unless you really like roses). But when you stop sweating the small stuff and can like, read a book or watch a movie (or have a nice frosty adult beverage, jeez), life is good. If you’re response is “I’m too busy to take a break!” then first let me roll my eyes and then I’ll mentally punch you.

NO ONE IS THAT IMPORTANT.

Not. Even. YOU.

3. Less of you. A little “me time” is always nice, but think about others. Trust me, it makes you feel good. Don’t think about them in a weird way, though. Or because you’re being a jerk and making fun of them (“OMG, did you see that outfit?” Whatever, stop talking about me.), but because maybe you like them or want to see how they’re doing or want to do something special for them. I don’t know, just be nice, damn.

4. Do something. Get a hobby. Learn to knit, draw, write, and other various activities that people do. I’ve taken up running since this summer (oh, and blogging if you couldn’t tell) but I love to do all kinds of things. Okay, I like to read and I like to sing, but those count as a lot of things for me. (I’m really busy, you know.) Find something cathartic to help ease the stress and you’ll be super happy or something. I’m still working out the kinks, okay?

5.  Shut up. This kind of goes with #3, but I really liked the idea of telling people to shut up, so it’s here. Just be quiet. Stop bitching and moaning and have a nice conversation about the weather. (Hello, anyone want to build an ark with me, sheesh.) Talking is liberating. Talking to a friend is better. Talking to yourself…seek help? 

Okay, I’ll step off my soapbox and go back to my fourth cup of coffee for today. But really, just be awesome, all right?

Also, if anyone sees me next week and I’m being un-awesome please feel free to slap me with the internet, got it?

And seriously, just listen to Kid President. He’s a smart little dude.

Happy Friday. 

Make Good Choices

Recently I was teaching a lesson on immigration to my second graders and one of my sweet little girls raised her hand and asked a very, uh, poignant question. I use that word because sometimes they say things that really get to me: like a little life lesson or reality check that comes just at the right time.

Teaching is pretty cool, y’all.

So, she raises her hand just after we’d finished talking about naturalization (the process of immigrants becoming citizens) and says:

“But, if people promise to follow the laws, why do they still do bad things?”

Why do they still do bad things?

It took me a moment to answer, because I was a little shocked at the question. It’s fairly early in the year and I’m still getting to know these sweet babies, and sometimes you just don’t expect something that deep from a seven-year-old.

And, trust me, that’s pretty deep for a kid.

In answering her I simply said:

“You know, sometimes people just don’t make good choices.”

It’s all I could manage at the moment, and she simply shrugged and replied with, “Well, that makes a lot of sense.”

Why does that have to make sense? Better yet, why does that have to make sense to a child?

When the shooting happened at Sandy Hook Elementary security around our school changed dramatically: locked doors, inside transitions, a security officer monitoring daily.

The hardest part was the kids, though. Telling them, talking to them, and answering their questions. There are some things that children shouldn’t have to know about or talk about. To me the number one thing is death. It’s hard enough being a kid without having to know that other kids die.

It’s sad that the only explanation we have when something like that happens is that someone made a bad choice.

Then again, aren’t we all just the choices we make?

If that’s true, then can’t we just use some common sense and like, not make a horrible, life-altering decision that will ultimately make everything suck?

I’m pretty sure the answer is “no”. We were given free will and the ability to choose and, as humans, we do our best to screw that up.

Every.

Single.

Day.

As an adult it is difficult to understand the choices that people make, so it threw me off that a child was so easy to accept that answer. I don’t understand how people choose to harm, kill, discourage, insult, and do various other horrible things to another human being.

How is it so easy?

What seriously goes through a person’s mind?

Am I just that naïve to think they life is just easier if you’re nice? (You’re all probably laughing right now because you know what a sarcastic jerk I am, but don’t I at least smile at you in the morning?)

I make a lot of jokes about hating people and pants and only being able to tolerate my cat and people in books, but it’s not really true.

Okay, it’s not that true.

What is true is that doing good things and making good choices does make it easier.

I say it to my students all the time, but sometimes I don’t realize just how great the meaning is.

“Make a good choice.”

Most of the time it’s about walking in line, or recess behavior, or when they go to specials and we’re having a tough day.

Make good choices about your behavior.

Make good choices about your life.

Make good choices about how you treat people.

Make good, do good, be good.

Simple, right?

How Times Flies...

Don’t you just love days when you have nothing to do?

Oh, you don’t have any of those days?

Yeah, me either.

I love my job. I’ve said that before, right? I love the people I work with, my school, my students…the whole shebang. It’s great.

Here’s what’s killing me. Are you ready?

If you don’t get that reference, we can’t be friends, okay?

But, in all honesty, THERE’S NEVER ANY TIME.

Okay, there’s time to work and eat and sleep…and that’s it. What fun is that?

When do I get to go to the beach or read a book or take a nap?

Those of you who aren’t teachers are totally rolling your eyes at me and shaking your heads. I can hear you muttering the word summer under your breath.

Guess what? I worked then, too.

Actually, I don’t feel sorry for myself. I’m just feeling…

Ugh. Look, if Zack Morris says it’s a feeling, it is.

Here's part of the thing: at our teacher in-service we focused on “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. It’s actually really interesting when you get down to it. But…that’s hard.

How can I put things into quadrants and prioritize when I want to do all the things?

What are my priorities? How do I map out my week when things change everyday?

Basically: what is my life?

Sadly, I find myself asking that a lot. ;)

My problem isn’t that there isn’t enough time; it’s that I want to do too much!

I can’t imagine what it’s like having a family and trying to prioritize things. (Let’s be firm though, people, this is about me. I mean, there’s a cat and a teenager at my house and they’re both pretty self-sufficient…mostly.)

Again, my problem is that I want too much out of life. Is that so wrong? I want to work, worship, read, watch television, ride a bike, talk to a friend, and, oh yeah, SLEEP.

I love my job.

I guess it’s hard to prioritize when everything seems so important: a school function, a family reunion, church events. It’s not like I think I’m that important, but maybe the things I do are? I know my job is, that’s for sure. I want to "give it all I’ve got" and "be all that I can be" and all that jazz in that aspect, but at the end of the day it’s hard to give more.

That’s where frustration pokes its ugly little head in.

Sometimes I just want the world to stop, just for a little while. I want to take an hour to read a book without a million things on my mind, or watch a movie without feeling guilty that I blew something or someone off to do it. Then I feel guilty for thinking that!

It’s lose-lose and Dr. Covey teaches us to think win-win! (Ha!)  What’s win-win when all you’ve got is twenty-four hours? Where’s my little white rabbit telling me I’m late as I watch my calendar months fly off into the wind?

I’m not worried, I guess. Maybe the busyness makes me feel like I’m serving purpose. Like, if I’m just sitting around my butt then I’m not doing anyone any good and if I’m running my butt off, then maybe my pants will fit a little bit better…hehe.

I guess the point is, sometimes you feel like Jessie Spano on caffeine pills. And sometimes, you don’t need the pills.